International Gothic

International Gothic is the elegant courtly style that swept Europe's princely courts from about 1370 to the mid-fifteenth century - 'international' because painters moved between France, Burgundy, Bohemia, Italy and England, carrying a shared manner. It fused the naturalism treasured in Italy with northern love of decorative detail: aristocratic figures in flowing, fur-lined robes glide across gold grounds or blooming meadows, every brocade, bird and flower rendered with jeweller-like precision. Largely a style of manuscript illumination, panel painting and precious objects, it prized graceful line, rich colour and courtly elegance over spatial depth or drama. The next generation - Masaccio in Italy, the van Eycks in the north - pushed past its shallow ornamented space into the Renaissance and Flemish realism, but its refinement defined late-medieval luxury.

Defining characteristics

• Elongated, graceful figures in flowing, richly patterned courtly dress
• Jeweller-like detail: brocades, gold grounds, flowers and animals observed closely
• Lush, saturated colour - lapis blue, vermilion, gold leaf - over decorative surfaces
• Shallow, ornamental space: pattern and line govern over perspective
• Curvilinear, rhythmic contours and sweeping drapery ('soft style')
• Courtly subjects: hunts, processions, devotions and idealised aristocratic life

Key figures

• Simone Martini (1284-1344) — Sienese painter whose lyrical courtly elegance at Avignon seeded the style
• Melchior Broederlam (active c. 1381-1409) — Burgundian court painter whose Dijon altarpiece panels set the early manner
• Gentile da Fabriano (c. 1370-1427) — Italian master whose Adoration of the Magi is the style's grandest altarpiece
• Pisanello (c. 1395-1455) — Court painter and medallist celebrated for hunts, animals and ideal chivalry
• Limbourg brothers (active c. 1400-1416) — Illuminators of the Très Riches Heures, the supreme manuscript of the style

Example works

• Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry — Limbourg brothers (c. 1412-1416)
• Annunciation — Simone Martini (1333)
• Adoration of the Magi — Gentile da Fabriano (1423)

Sources

• International Gothic - Wikipedia encyclopedia

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