Gothic Art and Architecture

Old Testament kings and queens, jamb statues from the Royal Portal, west facade of Chartres Cathedral, France, mid-12th century (French Gothic)

Interior of Chartres Cathedral, France, 13th century (French Gothic)

Rose and lancets, stained glass windows in Chartres Cathedral, France, 13th century (French Gothic)

Abraham and the Three Angels, from the Psalter of Saint Louis, 13th century, France (High Gothic)

Annunciation and Visitation, jamb statues from west facade of Reims Cathedral, France, 13th century (French Gothic)

Aerial view of fortified town of Carcassonne, France, 12-13th century (French Gothic)

Guild hall, Bruges, Belgium, 13-14th century (French Gothic)

Castle of Love, ivory jewel casket, 14th century (French Gothic)

Exterior of Salisbury Cathedral, England, 13th century (English Gothic)

Interior of Salisbury Cathedral, England, 13th century (English Gothic)

Interior of Gloucester Cathedral, England, 14th century (English Gothic)

Death of the Virgin, south transept tympanum of Strasbourg Cathedral, France, 13th century (German Gothic)

Ekkehard and Uta, choir figures in Naumburg Cathedral, Germany, 13th century (German Gothic)

West facade of Orvieto Cathedral, Italy, 14th century (Italian Gothic)

Florence Cathedral, Italy, 13-15th century: architect Arnolfo di Cambio and others (Italian Gothic and Renaissance)

a vault in which the diagonal and the tranverse ribs compose a structural skeleton that partially supports the masonry web between them

jambs- in architecture, the side posts of a doorway. Jamb statues are figures carved on the jambs of a doorway or window. these statues are often human figures- either religious figures or secular or ecclesiastical leaders. Jambs are usually a part of a portal, accompanied by lintel and trumeau. 

in a Gothic cathedral, the blind arcaded gallery below the clerestory; occasionally, the arcades are filled with stained glass

buttress- an exterior masonry structure that opposes the lateral thrust of an arch or vault. a flying buttress consists typically of an inclined member carried on an arch or a series of arches and a solid buttress to which it transmits lateral thrust. 

eastern end of a church, especially of a Gothic church designed in the French manner. Beginning about the 12th century, Romanesque builders began to elaborate on the design of the area around the altar, adding a curved ambulatory behind it and constructing a series of apses or small chapels radiating from the ambulatory. Chevet design became most elaborate during the 13th century, and examples can be seen in the cathedrals of Rheims and Chartres. 

a slender, pointed window. They are often separated by mullions. especially characteristic of gothic architecture

tracery which is composed of thin stone elements rather than thick ones as in plate tracery. The glass rather than the stone dominates when bar tracey is used. It gives a more delicate, web-like effect. 

the vertical element that separates the lancets of a window