MDMD 18th Century Madness & Gothic

[jbor]

on 6/11/01 3:49 PM, Terrance at lycidas2 at earthlink.net wrote:

> The term "Gothic" has three main connotations: barbarous, like the
> Gothic tribes of the Middle Ages—which is what the Renaissance meant by
> the word; medieval, with all the associations of castles, knights in
> armor, and chivalry; and the supernatural, with the associations of the
> fearful, the unknown, and the mysterious.
> 
> On the TV program I heard that the word gothic was used in the
> derogatory to describe certain architecture during the 17th and 18th
> century--the Goths being the Germanic tribes that invaded Rome.


That would be Gothic Revival or Neo-Gothic architecture, such as the Houses
of Parliament, and much colonial architecture here, and it also incorporates
landscape design: hahas, follies, mazes, fake ruins etc. Faked Gothic, in
other words. An offshoot of Romanticism and "the Sublime".

Gothic architecture is quite magnificent:

http://infoeagle.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/arch/gothic_arch.html

Gothic art and architecture (+ Romanesque, Byzantine, Early Christian)
pre-empted, and paved the way for, the Renaissance.

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