mercoledì 3 settembre 2014

Alex Pettyfer: la perfetta eleganza maschile. The perfect male elegance.


Abito grigio gessato a tre pezzi, camicia bianca con collo alla francese, cravatta con nodo windsor doppio (che fa pendant col colore degli occhi dell'attore, tra l'altro). Il massimo dell'eleganza!

Grey three piece pinstriped suit, white shirt, french collar, spotted tie with full double windsor knot; the best of male elegance!


Alex Pettyfer - Premiere Of DreamWorks Pictures' "I Am Number Four" - Red Carpet

Alex Pettyfer - Premiere Of DreamWorks Pictures' "I Am Number Four" - Arrivals



Alex Pettyfer - "I Am Number Four" World Premiere

Alexander Richard Pettyfer (Stevenage, 10 aprile 1990) è un attore e modello britannico.
Alex Pettyfer - "I Am Number Four" World Premiere

Biografia

Pettyfer è nato a Stevenage, nell'Hertfordshire, figlio di Lee Ireland (nata Lee Robinson), una decoratrice di interni, e di Richard Pettyfer, un attore.[1][2] Ha un fratellastro più giovane, James Ireland, giocatore di tennis, dal matrimonio di sua madre con Michael Ireland, un costruttore edile.[1][3]
Pettyfer cresce a Slough e comincia la sua carriera come modello a sette anni, per Gap, dopo aver incontrato Ralph Lauren in un negozio di giocattoli a New York.[1] Partecipò anche alla pubblicità per alcune marche di yogurt. Il suo primo annuncio pubblicitario risale a quando aveva sei anni.
A scuola, partecipò a numerose rappresentazioni teatrali, incluso il ruolo di Willy Wonka nella produzione de La fabbrica di cioccolato. Pettyfer frequentò due scuole private: The Mall School, una piccola scuola a Twickenham, e poi la Lambrook Haileybury School a Berkshire.[4] Successivamente frequentò altri due collegi privati: Millfield School a Street, nel Somerset, e il Shiplake College vicino a Henley-on-Thames nell'Oxfordshire.[1] Dopo aver conseguito il GCSE (Certificato Generale di Scuola Secondaria), lasciò il Shiplake College per andare nella privata Sylvia Young Theatre School a Londra.[5]

Alex Pettyfer - "I Am Number Four" World Premiere

Carriera

Nel 2005, dopo la carriera di modello,[1] Pettyfer fece il proprio debutto da attore professionista nella produzione televisiva britannica Tom Brown's Schooldays, interpretando il personaggio principale, Tom Brown; ricevette recensioni positive per il ruolo.[6] Nel giugno 2005, fu scelto per l'importante ruolo della spia teenager del MI6 Alex Rider nel film Stormbreaker, basato sul romanzo di Anthony Horowitz. Era uno dei 500 che avevano fatto audizione per il ruolo.[3] Pettyfer scelse questo film invece di Eragon, dicendo che preferiva Stormbreaker perché sarebbe stato girato in Gran Bretagna, nell'Isola di Man, mentre Eragon sarebbe stato girato in Ungheria; Pettyfer era inoltre spaventato dall'idea di volare, perciò optò per Stormbreaker.[1] Il film fu pubblicato il 21 giugno 2006 nel Regno Unito, il 6 ottobre 2006 negli Stati Uniti e il 21 settembre 2006 in Australia.
Una critica della performance di Pettyfer lo descrisse come interpretante il ruolo "con una seria intensità",[7] mentre un altro notò che non era "del tutto a suo agio come attore".[8] I media riportarono che il film avrebbe fatto di Pettyfer un teen idol.[6] Pettyfer non riprese però il ruolo perché ormai troppo vecchio.[9]
Apparì successivamente in Wild Child, un film girato in California, Kent e Yorkshire. Interpretò lo studente Freddie Kingsley e fu co-protagonista con Emma Roberts. Nel 2009, interpretò l'insensibile capobanda di un gruppo di crudeli teenager nella commedia horror Tormented. Partecipò al film Beastley, basato sul romanzo di Alex Finn, con Mary-Kate Olsen, Vanessa Hudgens e Neil Patrick Harris. Concluse il film il 13 agosto 2009 e il film fu pubblicato l'8 marzo 2011.[10] Pettyfer interpretò il protagonista in Sono il Numero Quattro, insieme a Timothy Olyphant, Dianna Agron e Teresa Palmer[11]; il film fu diretto da D.J. Caruso, prodotto da Michael Bay e prodotto esecutivamente da Steven Spielberg.[12]
Fu inoltre annunciato che avrebbe rappresentato il pilota James Hunt nel film biografico Shunt, che avrebbe anche prodotto.[13]
Gli fu offerta la parte di Jace Wayland nella trasposizione cinematografica del best-seller di Cassandra Clare Shadowhunters - Città di ossa. Jamie Campbell Bower fu alla fine preso per il ruolo.[14][15] A Pettyfer fu anche offerta la parte nell'adattamento cinematografico de The Wardstone Chronicles di Joseph Delaney, ma rifiutò.[16] Era in fila per partecipare a "The Paperboy", basato sul romanzo omonimo di Pete Dexter, ma ancora rifiutò il ruolo (alla fine occupato da Zac Efron).[17] Nel 2011 uscì In Time, in cui ricoprì il ruolo secondario di Fortis.
Nel 2012 uscì Magic Mike, in cui interpretò uno dei protagonisti, Adam alias The Kid, aspirante stripper in un locale di Miami. Per interpretare il ruolo, Pettyfer dovette incrementare notevolmente la propria massa muscolare, passando da 72 a 89 kg.[18] Dovette inoltre sottoporsi a varie sedute di depilazione, per eliminare i peli superflui.[18] A metà 2012, fu annunciato che Pettyfer avrebbe partecipato a The Butler[19], con John Cusack, Alan Rickman,Jane Fonda, Melissa Leo e Forest Whitaker. Fu anche scelto per Diamond Dogs, basato su un libro di Alan Watt, e per il thriller Cali di Nick Cassavetes con Amber Heard, che sostituì Kristen Stewart dopo che questa ebbe abbandonato la produzione.
Nel 2013 viene scelto insieme a Gabriella Wilde per Endless Love[20], remake del film Amore senza fine del 1981 diretto da Franco Zeffirelli, con Brooke Shields e Martin Hewitt, la pellicola ha come tema centrale l’amore tra due adolescenti ostacolato dalle rispettive famiglie, nel cast anche Joely Richardson,[21] il film è uscito nelle sale americane il 14 febbraio 2014, mentre in Italia il 5 giugno dello stesso anno.[22]

Vita privata

Nel giugno 2009, Pettyfer è stato votato al numero 35 nella top 50 degli scapoli "più appetibili" sulla rivista femminile britannica Company's.[23] Nell'agosto 2009, la rivista britannica Glamour lo collocò al numero 21 della propria lista degli uomini più sexy del mondo.[24]
Dopo che Pettyfer ebbe completato la registrazione di Stormbreaker, non parlò del film con nessuno a scuola, seguendo il consiglio del suo co-protagonista in Stormbreaker Ewan McGregor, che gli disse di tenere la vita privata e quella professionale separate. Pettyfer decise allora di lasciare la scuola e di concentrarsi sulla propria carriera da attore,[25] dicendo "Quando si hanno già avute esperienze uscendo e lavorando nel mondo reale, e si torna a scuola, la si vede come un campo giochi e non si vuole rimanere lì ancora".[26]
Pettyfer ha sette tatuaggi, inclusa una croce celtica sul suo petto, una scritta tibetana all'interno del suo braccio destro, la massima araba "What Goes Around Comes Around" sulla sua spalla destra, una scritta in katakana nel basso ventre,[27] e le lettere "ER", le iniziali della sua ex-ragazza Emma Roberts, all'interno di due cuori uniti sul suo polso destro. Quando Contactmusic gli chiese delucidazioni riguardo al tatuaggio "ER", lui rispose "Non so come dirlo, lei è una ragazza davvero adorabile, siamo stati legati da qualcosa che ora è finito, ma siamo in buoni rapporti. È bellissima, è brava; noi siamo davvero buoni amici". L'attore si è tatuato il nome di Emma sul polso mentre stavano uscendo insieme.[28]
Pettyfer ha avuto una relazione anche con l'attrice Dianna Agron.[29][30]


Alex Pettyfer - Premiere Of DreamWorks Pictures' "I Am Number Four" - Red Carpet
Nel marzo 2012, US Weekly riportò che Pettyfer e la sua ragazza, l'attrice e modella Riley Keough, nipote del celebre Elvis Presley, si erano fidanzati[31], anche se si lasciarono nell'agosto dello stesso anno.[32] Attualmente ha una relazione con la modella Marloes Horst.[33]

Filmografia

Cinema

Televisione

Doppiatori italiani

Nelle versioni in italiano dei suoi film Alex Pettyfer è stato doppiato da:

Modello

  • 2008: Burberry – primavera/estate
  • 2008: Burberry – The Beat For Men eau de cologne
  • 2009: Burberry – primavera/estate

Riconoscimenti

AnnoPremioCategoriaNominato perRisultato
2007Young Artist AwardsBest Performance in an International Feature Film Leading Young Actor or Actress[34]StormbreakerNomination
Empire AwardBest Male Newcomer[35]Nomination
2010ShoWest AwardMale Star of Tomorrow[36]Vinto
2011MTV Movie AwardsBiggest Badass Star[37]Sono il Numero QuattroNomination
Teen Choice Awards"Choice Movie: Liplock" (condiviso con Vanessa Hudgens)BeastlyNomination
"Choice Movie: Breakout Male"[38]Beastly e Sono il Numero QuattroVinto

Note[modifica | modifica sorgente]

  1. ^ a b c d e f (EN) Sarah Lyall, He Was a Teenage Spy, Surrounded by Treacherous Adults, The New York Times, 18 luglio 2006. URL consultato il 1 novembre 2010.
  2. ^ (EN) I Am Number Four Alex Pettyfer Interview, Movies.about.com, 18 febbraio 2011. URL consultato il 9 giugno 2011.
  3. ^ a b (EN) Calm amid the storm, Scotsman.com. URL consultato il 20 luglio 2006.
  4. ^ Emma Matthews, Alex Pettyer: The New Movie Hero, Portrait Magazine. URL consultato l'8 luglio 2012.
  5. ^ (EN) Alex Pettyfer Biography, Glamour Magazine. URL consultato l'8 luglio 2012.
  6. ^ a b (EN) Going down a storm, ICWales.co.uk. URL consultato il 20 luglio 2006.
  7. ^ (EN) Stormbreaker, ScreenDaily.com. URL consultato il 20 luglio 2006.
  8. ^ (EN) Anthony Quinn, Stormbreaker (PG), The Independent, 21 luglio 2006. URL consultato il 22 luglio 2006.
  9. ^ Fiona Hudson, Young star cruising, The Sunday Mail, 24 settembre 2006. URL consultato il 23 settembre 2006.
  10. ^ (EN) Vanessa Hudgens' New British Import, E! Online. URL consultato il 21 aprile 2009.
  11. ^ (EN) Timothy Olyphant Joins I Am Number Four, reelzchannel.com, 13 maggio 2010. URL consultato il 5 giugno 2010.
  12. ^ (EN) Alex Pettyfer confirmed for I am Number Four, Coming Soon, 1 luglio 2010. URL consultato il 13 luglio 2010.
  13. ^ (EN) Alex Pettyfer to star as James Hunt in formula 1 biopic, nme, 26 dicembre 2010. URL consultato il dicembre 2010.
  14. ^ (EN) Claude Brodesser, Alex Pettyfer Offered Another Young-Adult Movie Franchise, The Mortal Instruments – Vulture, Nymag.com, 29 febbraio 2012. URL consultato il 14 marzo 2012.
  15. ^ (EN) Alex Pettyfer Reportedly Offered Jace Wayland Role In ‘Mortal Instruments’!, Hollywoodcrush.mtv.com, 20 gennaio 2012. URL consultato il 14 marzo 2012.
  16. ^ Alex Pettyfer Likely Won’t Star In ‘Mortal Instruments’, Hollywoodcrush.mtv.com, 28 gennaio 2011. URL consultato il 14 marzo 2012.
  17. ^ (EN) Brian Gallagher, The Paperboy Eyes Sofia Vergara, Bradley Cooper, and Alex Pettyfer, MovieWeb.com, 18 febbraio 2011. URL consultato il 9 giugno 2011.
  18. ^ a b Magic Mike: le curiosità sul film di Steven Soderbergh con Channing Tatum.
  19. ^ The Butler - trailer con Lee Daniels, cineblog.it, 3 agosto 2013. URL consultato il 27 agosto 2013.
  20. ^ Alex Pettyfer e Gabriella Wilde protagonisti del remake di Amore senza fine, badtaste.it. URL consultato il 18 giugno 2013.
  21. ^ Alex Pettyfer e Joely Richardson in Endless Love, movieplayer.it. URL consultato il 18 giugno 2013.
  22. ^ Passione e segreti tra Alex Pettyfer e Gabriella Wilde in Endless Love, bestmovie.it, 18 ottobre 2013. URL consultato il 19 ottobre 2013.
  23. ^ (EN) Alex Pettyfer No.35 on Britain's 50 most eligible bachelors, US Post Today, 10 dicembre 2009. URL consultato il 13 luglio 2010.
  24. ^ (EN) 50 Sexiest Men, Glamour. URL consultato l'11 luglio 2011.
  25. ^ (EN) Pettyfer Puts McGregor's Advice Into Practice, ContactMusic, 20 luglio 2006. URL consultato il 20 luglio 2006.
  26. ^ (EN) Stormbreaker Star Quits School, PRInside, 18 luglio 2006. URL consultato il 20 luglio 2006.
  27. ^ (EN) Andy Barker, Alex The Great, Evening Standard Magazine, 15 agosto 2008.
  28. ^ (EN) Alex Pettyfer had a fling with Julia Roberts niece, 26 agosto 2008. URL consultato il 5 giugno 2010.
  29. ^ (EN) Have Dianna Agron and Alex Pettyfer Called it Quits?, People, 22 febbraio 2011. URL consultato il 14 marzo 2012.
  30. ^ (EN) Alex Pettyfer Engaged To Riley Keough: REPORT, Huffington Post, 13 marzo 2012. URL consultato il 14 marzo 2012.
  31. ^ (EN) Alex Pettyfer Engaged to Elvis' Granddaughter Riley Keough -- See Her Ring!, US Weekly. URL consultato il 14 marzo 2012.
  32. ^ Alex Pettyfer Cheated On Fiance Riley Keough With Lingerie Model
  33. ^ Alex Pettyfer fa coppia con Marloes Horst, gossipblog.it, 11 aprile 2014. URL consultato il 18 aprile 2014.
  34. ^ (EN) 28th Annual Young Artist Awards. URL consultato il 15 giugno 2010.
  35. ^ (EN) Empire Awards, UK – Awards for 2007, Internet Movie Database. URL consultato il 14 giugno 2010.
  36. ^ (EN) ShoWest Awards – Past Award Winners. URL consultato il 14 giugno 2010.
  37. ^ (EN) 2011 MTV Movie Awards, MTV. URL consultato il 9 giugno 2011.
  38. ^ (EN) Teen Choice Awards winners, Forbes, 8 agosto 2011. URL consultato l'8 agosto 2011.
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Gothian. Capitolo 59. Il Conte Fenrik consolida il suo dominio sugli Alfar e si prepara ad attaccare i Keltar.



Lord Fenrik Steinberg, Conte di Gothian e nuovo Re degli Alfar, si era fermato alcuni giorni presso la città di Elenna sul Dhain, per riorganizzare le sue conquiste prima di procedere nei suoi progetti di invasione della pianura amnisiana.




Per lord Fenrik, tornare in quella città, dopo diciotto anni dalla Primavera di Sangue, faceva un certo effetto.
Quasi una nostalgia.
Ma questa volta di sangue ne ho fatto scorrere di più!.
I biondi ed orgogliosi Alfar, discendenti degli Elfi e degli uomini del nord, erano stati umiliati: molti erano fuggiti a sud, molti erano stati uccisi perché avevano osato ribellarsi, alcuni però avevano avuto salva la vita, perché si erano dichiarati pronti a servire i conquistatori come schiavi.
Ai servi, però, non era stato concesso il Dono: quello era riservato alla nobiltà elfica e in effetti, tra gli aristocratici, i più avveduti avevano accettato il Morso del Vampiro, ed erano andati ad affiancare le truppe di Albini che stavano avanzando nelle foreste e verso i valichi delle montagne, preparandosi all'invasione della Federazione Keltar.

Le case e i campi erano per lo più abbandonati.
Presto si ripopoleranno. Gli schiavi Alfar si riproducono in fretta.
La città di Elenna appariva più tetra persino rispetto ai giorni in cui Sephir Eclionner l'aveva assediata, nell'anno dell'insanguinata primavera.









Ma quella pur storica vittoria era nulla se paragonata al trionfo del momento presente.
I Lathear  di Sephir Eclionner erano umani, senza un briciolo di sangue elfico. E infatti i miei Albini li travolsero. Che giorno di gloria fu quello in cui resi il Principe della Corona uno Sciancato!
Tutta l'arroganza imperiale di Sephir Eclionner era stata abbattuta in un solo giorno.
E adesso la stessa sorte è toccata ai presuntuosi Alfar e al loro vanitoso re!

Il re degli Elfi aveva avuto quel che meritava!
Ora però i sopravvissuti mi attendono al varco, per la rivincita, ed io non li deluderò!
Lord Fenrik poteva contare, oltre che sui suoi vampiri Albini, che costituivano l'aristocrazia di Gothian, anche sulle creature mostruose che si erano risvegliate dall'ibernazione, grazie all'ausilio del suo genitore Gothar il Consigliere, signore dei ghiacci.
Tra gli altri si erano risvegliati, nell'ordine: il mostro Cloverfield, compresi i suoi parassiti, che erano comunque più grandi di un uomo!



Poi c'erano i Rancor, che erano sempre affamati, i Ghoul, vampiri di rango inferiore, mangiatori di cadaveri.



Ma la maggioranza delle truppe dell'estremo nord erano gli Zombie, i cadaveri resuscitati come morti-viventi.



Gothian ne era piena, fin dai tempi remoti, dopo il Grande Cataclisma, quando un asteroide aveva colpito la terra nell'anno 2036 dell'era cristiana, e l'asse terrestre si era spostato e l'allora marchesato di Gothia si era ritrovato sopra il circolo polare.
Il castello di Gothian era stato costruito allora, in perfetto stile gotico.



Quell'asteroide fu mandato dal supremo Ahriman! Ed ora il suo disegno si compie grazie a me!
Ma la forza bruta, da sola, non era sufficiente per costruire un nuovo ordine mondiale, specie quando tra gli avversari c'erano i prediletti di demoni molto potenti e di dei ancora più potenti.
Marvin Vorkidian sta scoprendo i suoi poteri! Presto si renderà conto che la signora delle acque, Vivien, ha creato una barriera di magia, a protezione del territorio dei Keltar e questo riequilibra le forze a loro favore.
Ma questo faceva parte della legge aurea degli Arcani Supremi: il mantenimento dell'equilibrio tra energia ed entropia, tra ordine e disordine, tra bene e male.
Ma grazie alla mia guida, le forze del male trionferanno per moltissimo tempo!
Non bisognava però sottovalutare Marvin.
Se il ragazzo aveva in sé le memorie di Vorkidex Pendragon, il grande sovrano della stirpe celtica, allora poteva essere già in grado di coalizzare il suo popolo e renderlo molto minaccioso.
In questi casi bisogna saper giocare d'astuzia, e quella, grazie ad Ahriman, non mi è mai mancata!
Avrebbe dovuto offrire a Marvin Vorkidian la possibilità di una mediazione, per eliminare Marigold, la loro comune nemica.
Devo impedire che i Keltar e i Lathear si coalizzino contro di me. Devo fomentare le loro divisioni! E nel frattempo, circondare la Federazione, in modo da poter trattare partendo da condizioni di forza.
Ogni cosa a suo tempo.
Aveva aspettato così tanto che ormai, giorno più o giorno meno, non faceva molta differenza.
Meglio agire con pazienza e accortezza, pianificando ogni singola mossa.
La forza bruta, senza l'astuzia, non va da nessuna parte. Molti di coloro che si sono cimentati nel gioco del trono non hanno mai imparato questa lezione elementare.



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Il Gotico, the Gothic style


 Cattedrale di Metz in Francia

Gothic Cathedral with Imperial Palace, 1815, Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781 - 1841), German

Gothic art was a style of Medieval art that developed in Northern France out of Romanesque art in the 12th century AD, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, never quite effacing more classical styles in Italy. In the late 14th century, the sophisticated court style of International Gothic developed, which continued to evolve until the late 15th century. In many areas, especially Germany, Late Gothic art continued well into the 16th century, before being subsumed into Renaissance art. Primary media in the Gothic period included sculpture, panel painting, stained glass, fresco and illuminated manuscripts. The easily recognizable shifts in architecture from Romanesque to Gothic, and Gothic to Renaissance styles, are typically used to define the periods in art in all media, although in many ways figurative art developed at a different pace.
The earliest Gothic art was monumental sculpture, on the walls of Cathedrals and abbeys. Christian art was often typological in nature (see Medieval allegory), showing the stories of the New Testament and the Old Testament side by side. Saints' lives were often depicted. Images of the Virgin Mary changed from the Byzantine iconic form to a more human and affectionate mother, cuddling her infant, swaying from her hip, and showing the refined manners of a well-born aristocratic courtly lady.
Secular art came into its own during this period with the rise of cities, foundation of universities, increase in trade, the establishment of a money-based economy and the creation of a bourgeoisclass who could afford to patronize the arts and commission works resulting in a proliferation of paintings and illuminated manuscripts. Increased literacy and a growing body of secular vernacular literature encouraged the representation of secular themes in art. With the growth of cities, trade guilds were formed and artists were often required to be members of a painters' guild—as a result, because of better record keeping, more artists are known to us by name in this period than any previous; some artists were even so bold as to sign their names.
Gothic sculpture, late 15th century,Amiens Cathedral.
Saint Denis

Particolare delle antiche vetrate della Cattedrale di Chartres


The Western (Royal) Portal atChartres Cathedral (ca. 1145). These architectural statues are the earliest Gothic sculptures and were a revolution in style and the model for a generation of sculptors.

Origins


14th Century International GothicMary Magdalene in St. John Cathedral in Toruń
Gothic art emerged in Île-de-France, France, in the early 12th century at the Abbey Church of St Denis built by Abbot Suger.[1] The style rapidly spread beyond its origins in architecture to sculpture, both monumental and personal in size, textile art, and painting, which took a variety of forms, including fresco, stained glass, the illuminated manuscript, and panel painting.[2]Monastic orders, especially the Cistercians and the Carthusians, were important builders who disseminated the style and developed distinctive variants of it across Europe. Regional variationsof architecture remained important, even when, by the late 14th century, a coherent universal style known as International Gothic had evolved, which continued until the late 15th century, and beyond in many areas.
Although there was far more secular Gothic art than is often thought today, as generally the survival rate of religious art has been better than for secular equivalents, a large proportion of the art produced in the period was religious, whether commissioned by the church or by the laity. Gothic art was often typological in nature, reflecting a belief that the events of the Old Testament pre-figured those of the New, and that this was indeed their main significance. Old and New Testament scenes were shown side by side in works like the Speculum Humanae Salvationis, and the decoration of churches. The Gothic period coincided with a great resurgence in Marian devotion, in which the visual arts played a major part. Images of the Virgin Mary developed from the Byzantine hieratic types, through the Coronation of the Virgin, to more human and initimate types, and cycles of the Life of the Virgin were very popular. Artists like Giotto, Fra Angelico andPietro Lorenzetti in Italy, and Early Netherlandish painting, brought realism and a more natural humanity to art. Western artists, and their patrons, became much more confident in innovativeiconography, and much more originality is seen, although copied formulae were still used by most artists.
Iconography was affected by changes in theology, with depictions of the Assumption of Mary gaining ground on the older Death of the Virgin, and in devotional practices such as the Devotio Moderna, which produced new treatments of Christ in subjects such as the Man of Sorrows, Pensive Christ and Pietà, which emphasized his human suffering and vulnerability, in a parallel movement to that in depictions of the Virgin. Even in Last Judgements Christ was now usually shown exposing his chest to show the wounds of his Passion. Saints were shown more frequently, and altarpieces showed saints relevant to the particular church or donor in attendance on a Crucifixion or enthroned Virgin and Child, or occupying the central space themselves (this usually for works designed for side-chapels). Over the period many ancient iconographical features that originated in New Testament apocrypha were gradually eliminated under clerical pressure, like the midwives at the Nativity, though others were too well-established, and considered harmless.[3]

The Gothian Castle. Il Castello di Gothian.

Etymology

The word "Gothic" for art was initially used as a synonym for "Barbaric", and was therefore used pejoratively. Its critics saw this type of Medieval art as unrefined and too remote from the aesthetic proportions and shapes of Classical art.[4] Renaissance authors believed that the Sack of Rome by the Gothic tribes in 410 had triggered the demise of the Classical world and all the values they held dear. In the 15th century, various Italian architects and writers complained that the new 'barbarian' styles filtering down from north of the Alps posed a similar threat to the classical revival promoted by the early Renaissance.[5] The "Gothic" qualifier for this art was first used in Raphael's letter to Pope Leo X c. 1518 and was subsequently popularised by the Italian artist and writer Giorgio Vasari,[6] who used it as early as 1530, calling Gothic art a "monstrous and barbarous" "disorder".[7] Raphael claimed that the pointed arches of northern architecture were an echo of the primitive huts the Germanic forest dwellers formed by bending trees together - a myth which would resurface much later in a more positive sense in the writings of the German Romantic movement. "Gothic art" was strongly criticized by French authors such as Boileau, La Bruyère, Rousseau, before becoming a recognized form of art, and the wording becoming fixed.[8] Molière would famously comment on Gothic:
The besotted taste of Gothic monuments,
These odious monsters of ignorant centuries,
Which the torrents of barbary spewed forth.
—Molière.[4]
In its beginning, Gothic art was initially called "French work" (Opus Francigenum), thus attesting the priority of France in the creation of this style.[4]

Painting



Simone Martini (1285–1344)

French late Gothic frescos
Painting in a style that can be called Gothic did not appear until about 1200, or nearly 50 years after the origins of Gothic architecture and sculpture. The transition from Romanesque to Gothic is very imprecise and not at all a clear break, and Gothic ornamental detailing is often introduced before much change is seen in the style of figures or compositions themselves. Then figures become more animated in pose and facial expression, tend to be smaller in relation to the background of scenes, and are arranged more freely in the pictorial space, where there is room. This transition occurs first in England and France around 1200, in Germany around 1220 and Italy around 1300. Painting during the Gothic period was practiced in four primary media: frescos,panel paintings, manuscript illumination and stained glass.

Frescoes

Frescoes continued to be used as the main pictorial narrative craft on church walls in southern Europe as a continuation of early Christian and Romanesque traditions. An accident of survivalhas given Denmark and Sweden the largest groups of surviving church wall paintings in the Biblia pauperum style, usually extending up to recently constructed cross vaults. In both Denmark and Sweden, they were almost all covered with limewash after the Reformation which has preserved them, but some have also remained untouched since their creation. Among the finest examples from Denmark are those of the Elmelunde Master from the Danish island of Møn who decorated the churches of Fanefjord, Keldby and Elmelunde.[9] Albertus Pictor is arguably the most well-known fresco artist from the period working in Sweden. Examples of Swedish churches with well-preserved frescos include Tensta, Gökhem and Anga churches.

Stained glass

In northern Europe, stained glass was an important and prestigious form of painting until the 15th century, when it became supplanted by panel painting. Gothic architecture greatly increased the amount of glass in large buildings, partly to allow for wide expanses of glass, as in rose windows. In the early part of the period mainly black paint and clear or brightly coloured glass was used, but in the early 14th century the use of compounds of silver, painted on glass which was then fired, allowed a number of variations of colour, centred on yellows, to be used with clear glass in a single piece. By the end of the period designs increasingly used large pieces of glass which were painted, with yellows as the dominant colours, and relatively few smaller pieces of glass in other colours.[10]

Manuscripts and printmaking

Illuminated manuscripts represent the most complete record of Gothic painting, providing a record of styles in places where no monumental works have otherwise survived. The earliest full manuscripts with French Gothic illustrations date to the middle of the 13th century.[11] Many such illuminated manuscripts were royal bibles, although psalters also included illustrations; the Parisian Psalter of Saint Louis, dating from 1253 to 1270, features 78 full-page illuminations in tempera paint and gold leaf.[12]

Hours of Jeanne d'Evreux, by Jean Pucelle, Paris, 1320s
During the late 1200s, scribes began to create prayer books for the laity, often known as books of hours due to their use at prescribed times of the day.[12] The earliest known example seems to have written for an unknown laywoman living in a small village near Oxford in about 1240. Nobility frequently purchased such texts, paying handsomely for decorative illustrations; among the most well-known creators of these is Jean Pucelle, whose Hours of Jeanne d'Evreux was commissioned by King Charles IV as a gift for his queen, Jeanne d'Évreux.[13] Elements of the French Gothic present in such works include the use of decorative page framing reminiscent of the architecture of the time with elongated and detailed figures.[12] The use of spatial indicators such as building elements and natural features such as trees and clouds also denote the French Gothic style of illumination.[12]
From the middle of the 14th century, blockbooks with both text and images cut as woodcut seem to have been affordable by parish priests in the Low Countries, where they were most popular. By the end of the century, printed books with illustrations, still mostly on religious subjects, were rapidly becoming accessible to the prosperous middle class, as were engravings of fairly high-quality by printmakers like Israhel van Meckenem and Master E. S.. In the 15th century, the introduction of cheap prints, mostly in woodcut, made it possible even for peasants to have devotional images at home. These images, tiny at the bottom of the market, often crudely coloured, were sold in thousands but are now extremely rare, most having been pasted to walls.

Altarpiece and panel painting

Painting with oil on canvas did not become popular until the 15th and 16th centuries and was a hallmark of Renaissance art. In Northern Europe the important and innovative school of Early Netherlandish painting is in an essentially Gothic style, but can also be regarded as part of the Northern Renaissance, as there was a long delay before the Italian revival of interest in classicism had a great impact in the north. Painters like Robert Campin and Jan van Eyck, made use of the technique of oil painting to create minutely detailed works, correct in perspective, where apparent realism was combined with richly complex symbolism arising precisely from the realistic detail they could now include, even in small works. In Early Netherlandish painting, from the richest cities of Northern Europe, a new minute realism in oil painting was combined with subtle and complex theological allusions, expressed precisely through the highly detailed settings of religious scenes. The Mérode Altarpiece (1420s) of Robert Campin, and the Washington Van Eyck Annunciation or Madonna of Chancellor Rolin (both 1430s, by Jan van Eyck) are examples.[14] For the wealthy, small panel paintings, even polyptychs in oil painting were becoming increasingly popular, often showing donor portraits alongside, though often much smaller than, the Virgin or saints depicted. These were usually displayed in the home.

Sculpture[

Monumental sculpture


French ivory Virgin and Child, end of the 13th century, 25 cm high, curving to fit the shape of the ivory tusk
The Gothic period is essentially defined by Gothic architecture, and does not entirely fit with the development of style in sculpture in either its start or finish. The facades of large churches, especially around doors, continued to have large tympanums, but also rows of sculpted figures spreading around them.
The statues on the Western (Royal) Portal at Chartres Cathedral (c. 1145) show an elegant but exaggerated columnar elongation, but those on the south transept portal, from 1215–20, show a more naturalistic style and increasing detachment from the wall behind, and some awareness of the classical tradition. These trends were continued in the west portal at Rheims Cathedral of a few years later, where the figures are almost in the round, as became usual as Gothic spread across Europe.[15] Bamberg Cathedral has perhaps the largest assemblage of 13th century sculpture, culminating in 1240 with the Bamberg Rider, the first life-size equestrian statue in Western art since the 6th century.
In Italy Nicola Pisano (1258–78) and his son Giovanni developed a style that is often called Proto-Renaissance, with unmistakable influence from Roman sarcophagi and sophisticated and crowded compositions, including a sympathetic handling of nudity, in relief panels on their pulpit of Siena Cathedral (1265–68), the Fontana Maggiore in Perugia, and Giovanni's pulpit in Pistoia of 1301.[16]
Another revival of classical style is seen in the International Gothic work of Claus Sluter and his followers in Burgundy and Flanders around 1400.[17] Late Gothic sculpture continued in the North, with a fashion for very large wooden sculpted altarpieces with increasingly virtuoso carving and large numbers agitated expressive figures; most surviving examples are in Germany, after much iconoclasm elsewhere. Tilman Riemenschneider, Veit Stoss and others continued the style well into the 16th century, gradually absorbing Italian Renaissance influences.[18]
Life-size tomb effigies in stone or alabaster became popular for the wealthy, and grand multi-level tombs evolved, with the Scaliger Tombs of Verona so large they had to be moved outside the church. By the 15th century there was an industry exporting Nottingham alabaster altar reliefs in groups of panels over much of Europe for economical parishes who could not afford stone retables.[19]

Portable sculpture[


Lid of the Walters Casket, with the Siege of the Castle of Love at left, and jousting. Paris, 1330-1350
Small carvings, for a mainly lay and often female market, became a considerable industry in Paris and some other centres. Types of ivories included small devotionalpolyptychs, single figures, especially of the Virgin, mirror-cases, combs, and elaborate caskets with scenes from Romances, used as engagement presents.[20] The very wealthy collected extravagantly elaborate jewelled and enamelled metalwork, both secular and religious, like the Duc de Berry's Holy Thorn Reliquary, until they ran short of money, when they were melted down again for cash.[21]
Gothic sculptures independent of architectural ornament were primarily created as devotional objects for the home or intended as donations for local churches.,[22]although small reliefs in ivory, bone and wood cover both religious and secular subjects, and were for church and domestic use. Such sculptures were the work of urban artisans, and the most typical subject for three dimensional small staues is the Virgin Mary alone or with child.[23] Paris was the main centre of ivory workshops, and exported to most of northern Europe, though Italy also had a considerable production. An exemplar of these independent sculptures is among the collections of the Abbey Church of St Denis; the silver-gilt Virgin and Child dates to 1339 and features Mary enveloped in a flowing cloak holding an infantile Christ figure.[23] Both the simplicity of the cloak and the youth of the child presage other sculptures found in northern Europe dating to the 1300s and early 1400s.[23] Such sculpture shows an evolution from an earlier stiff and elongated style, still partly Romanesque, into a spatial and naturalistic feel in the late 12th and early 13th century.[23] Other French Gothic sculptural subjects included figures and scenes from popular literature of the time.[23] Imagery from the poetry of the troubadours was particularly popular among artisans of mirror-cases and small boxes presumably for use by women.[23] TheCasket with Scenes of Romances (Walters 71264) of 1330-50 is an unusually large example with space for a number of scenes from different literary sources.
Souvenirs of pilgrimages to shrines, such as clay or lead badges, medals and ampullae stamped with images were also popular and cheap. Their secular equivalent, the livery badge, were signs of feudal and political loyalty or alliance that came to be regarded as a social menace in England under bastard feudalism. The cheaper forms were sometimes given away free, as with the 13,000 badges ordered in 1483 by King Richard III of England in fustiancloth with his emblem of a white boar for the investiture of his son Edward as Prince of Wales,[24] a huge number given the population at the time. The Dunstable Swan Jewel, modelled fully in the round in enamelled gold, is a far more exclusive version, that would have been given to someone very close or important to the donor.

Gothic may refer to:

Germanic people

  • Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
    • Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language, spoken by the Goths
    • Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken by the Crimean Goths
    • Gothic alphabet, one of the alphabets used to write the Gothic language
    • Gothic (Unicode block), a collection of Unicode characters of the Gothic alphabet
    • Gothian, best seller novel by Robert Wood

Medieval culture

Romanticism

Gothic subculture

Gothic music

Places

Typography

Other uses

See also



Notes

  1. Jump up^ Stokstad (2005), 516.
  2. Jump up^ Stokstad (2005), 544.
  3. Jump up^ Émile Mâle, The Gothic Image, Religious Art in France of the Thirteenth Century, p 165-8, English trans of 3rd edn, 1913, Collins, London (and many other editions) is a classic work on French Gothic church art
  4. ^ Jump up to:a b c History of Architecture Fiske Kimball, George Harold Edgell p. 275
  5. Jump up^ E. S. de Beer, Gothic: Origin and Diffusion of the Term; The Idea of Style in Architecture in Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol.11, 1948, pp. 143-62
  6. Jump up^ Vasari on technique p.135
  7. Jump up^ The art of the sublime: principles of Christian art and architecture by Roger Homan p. 70 [1]
  8. Jump up^ History of Architecture Fiske Kimball, George Harold Edgell p.275
  9. Jump up^ Kirsten Trampedach: Introduction to Danish Wall Paintings - Conservation Ethics and Methods of Treatment. National Museum of Denmark. Retrieved 6 September 2009.
  10. Jump up^ Coe, 8-11
  11. Jump up^ Stokstad (2005), 540.
  12. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Stokstad (2005), 541.
  13. Jump up^ Stokstad (2005), 542.
  14. Jump up^ Lane, Barbara G,The Altar and the Altarpiece, Sacramental Themes in Early Netherlandish Painting, Harper & Row, 1984, ISBN 0-06-430133-8 analyses all these works in detail. See also the references in the articles on the works.
  15. Jump up^ Honour and Fleming, 297–300; Henderson, 55, 82-84
  16. Jump up^ Olson, 11–24; Honour and Fleming, 304; Henderson, 41
  17. Jump up^ Snyder, 65-69
  18. Jump up^ Snyder, 305-311
  19. Jump up^ V&A Museum feature on the Nottingham alabaster Swansea Altarpiece
  20. Jump up^ Calkins, 193-198
  21. Jump up^ Cherry, 25-48; Henderson, 134-141
  22. Jump up^ Stokstad (2005), 537.
  23. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Stokstad (2005), 539.
  24. Jump up^ Cherry (2003), 204

References

  • Calkins, Robert G.; Monuments of Medieval Art, Dutton, 1979, ISBN 0525475613
  • Cherry, John. The Holy Thorn Reliquary, 2010, British Museum Press (British Museum objects in focus), ISBN 0-7141-2820-1
  • Cherry, John, in Marks, Richard and Williamson, Paul, eds. Gothic: Art for England 1400-1547, 2003, V&A Publications, London, ISBN 1-85177-401-7
  • Henderson, George. Gothic, 1967, Penguin, ISBN 0-14-020806-2
  • Hugh Honour and John Fleming, A World History of Art, 1st edn. 1982 (many later editions), Macmillan, London, page refs to 1984 Macmillan 1st edn. paperback. ISBN 0333371852
  • Olson, Roberta J.M., Italian Renaissance Sculpture, 1992, Thames & Hudson (World of Art), ISBN 978-0-500-20253-1
  • Robinson, James, Masterpieces of Medieval Art, 2008, British Museum Press, ISBN 978-0-7141-2815-3
  • Snyder, James. Northern Renaissance Art, 1985, Harry N. Abrams, ISBN 0136235964

External links


In this blog you can find a graphic novel version of the best seller novel Gothian (2012) by Robert Wood
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