Essay - Gothic Sculpture Art Represents the Era in Which it Was...

Gothic Sculpture

Art represents the era in which it was produced and often speaks to later time periods as well, and how we view the art of the past shows some of what we think about ourselves and about the meaning we attribute to both past and present. When ***** ***** a work like Column Figure of ***** Nimbed King, a sculpture from around the period 1150-1170, we measure the people of that time on ***** basis of what this one sculp*****r has produced, considering how the work reflects attitudes and aesthetics from the time as ***** ***** ***** it speaks to us and says something ***** us about our ancestors.

***** work ***** ***** by a French sculptor carving in limestone. The work is relatively large at a height of 45 1/4 in. (115 cm). The ***** balances a certa***** inherent rigid*****y beca*****e the figure rests against a straight column, ***** gives the work a very ***** spine ********** a backing, while at ***** same time the pose and demeanor of ***** ***** is very human and much more relaxed than the rigidity of the column might suggest. The work was found in ***** royal abbey of Sa*****t-Denis in the environs ***** Paris. ***** figure is not identified ***** name but is merely known as a k*****g, seen in the crown on his head ***** the ***** raiment on his body.

The abbey of Saint-Denis ***** long important in the Catholic Church ***** France and housed the shrine of the national saint, that being *****. The ***** also served ***** a burial site for many French kings. Abbot Suger headed the abbey from 1122-1151, ***** during his time ***** *****st facade and east end ***** the abbey were rebuilt in a new style then c*****lled the "French style," though it was later called the Gothic style. According to the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, ***** column ***** re*****s an Old Testament king and is the only complete statue surviving from the now destroyed cloister ***** was constructed shortly after ***** death of Abbot Suger: "The bejeweled crown ***** nimbus distinguish the royal and saintly nature of ***** figure. His identity may once have been inscribed upon the scroll that he holds, now broken" (para. 1). ***** fact ***** ***** figure is part of a column also shapes some ***** its aesthetic elements as the ***** is formed to match the form of the column: "The slender folds of the figure's drapery further emphasize the column's elongated proportions" ("Medieval European ***** for Buildings" para. 3).

The way this piece of sculpture is attached to the building ***** ***** much part ***** the developing ***** style, a habit that would continue well through later Gothic *****s. Works were often quite firmly attached to architecture, ***** even then late ***** sculpture typically maintained its *****al independence. Henry Vyverberg cites the two column figures from Cologne, The Virgin ***** Christ, as examples: "*****ir elegance echoes ***** rather previous mannerism of the countless carved