The detail out of sight: the towers of Rouen’s Cathedral
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5965/2175234614332022014Keywords:
Detail, Sculpture, Rouen, Cathedral, InvisibilityAbstract
The detail can assume several dimensions, between particularities, parts in a whole, fragments, minimal, marginal and liminal elements, to the character of an autonomous, symbolic, and a significant element, a modifying device, even a random or insignificant occurrence or, on the contrary, a formal overstatement.
The term detail has an extraordinary polysemy, applying to a great kind of situations, therefore details, in the context of the history of art and aesthetics, will not all be the same, in terms of discourse, intention, meaning and character; they will not arise for the same reasons; won’t have the same expressive force, nor should be read according to generalist models of interpretation. The complexion of the detail hinders the objectivity and fluidity of the analysis, and, above all, the construction of clean and finished narratives. Studying the detail can, by all means, constitute by itself a labour that originates fragmentary speeches.
After a theoretical introduction regarding the detail, in the density of its dimensions, we will analyse the case of the order of the three towers of Rouen's cathedral (Normandy, France): the Saint-Romain, the Manteiga, and the idealization of the spire over the cruise tower. The towers were criticized by the incumbents due to their excessive detail and the meticulous and time-consuming cutting of the stone for works out of sight. The last work, considered the pinnacle of detail, would never be built.
The unresolved issue is related to the just reasons for the harsh criticisms from the cathedral chapter which lead to the resistance undertaken by the artists, who defended the detail even at the risk of their work.
Downloads
References
ANTUNES, Joana; CRAVEIRO, Maria de Lurdes; GONÇALVES, Carla Alexandra (Coord.). The Centre as Margin: Eccentric Perspectives on Art. Delaware: Vernon Press, 2019.
ARASSE, Daniel. Le Détail. Pour une histoire rapprochée de la peinture. Paris: Flammarion, 1992.
ARASSE, Daniel. Não se vê nada. Lisboa: KKYM, 2014.
BARTHES, Rolland. A Câmara Clara, nota sobre a fotografia. Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, 1984.
BEAUREPAIRE, Charles Marie de Robillard de. Notes sur les architectes de Rouen. Jean Richier, Les Pontifs, Jacques Le Roux, Guillaume Duval, Pierre le Signerre, et Autres (Seconde moitié du XVe siècle). Les Amis des Monuments Rouennais. Bulletin de 1903. Rouen: Imprime Julien Lecerf, p. 47-77.
BEAUREPAIRE, Charles Marie de Robillard de. Les architectes de Ruen dasn la primière moitié du XVIe siècle. Les Amis des Monuments Rouennais. Bulletin de 1904. Rouen: Imprime Julien Lecerf, p. 119-130.
BELTRAMI, Costanza. Building a Crossing Tower: A Design for Rouen Cathedral of 1516. London: Sam Fogg/Paul Holberton Publishing, 2016.
BÉRARD, André. Dictionnaire Biographique Des Artistes Français Du XIIe Au XVIIe Siècle Suivi d'une Table Chronologique et Alphabetique Comprenant en vingt classes les arts mentions dans l'ouvrage. Paris: JB Dumoulin Libraire De L'École Des Chartes 13, Quai des Grands-Augustins, 1872.
BOCCACCIO, Giovanni. Decameron. Vol. Secondo. Paris: Librairie de Firmin Didot Frères, 1849.
BORK, Robert. Great Spires: Skyscrapers of the New Jerusalem. Köln: Kolner Architekturstudien, 2003.
BOTTINEAU-FUCHS, Yves. Maître d'oeuvre-maître d'ouvrage: les Le Roux et le chapitre cathédrale de Rouen. In : Artistes, artisans et production artistique au Moyen-Age. Paris, 1986. p. 183-195.
BOTTINEAU-FUCHS, Yves. La statuaire de la Première Renaissance en Haute-Normandie. Annales de Normandie, 42ᵉ année, n°4, pp. 365-393, 1992;. Doi: 10.3406/annor.1992.2143.
CHIROL, Pierre. Rouen 1939. Grenoble-Paris: B. Arthaud, 1946.
DIDI-HUBERMAN, G. Pour une anthropologie des singularités formelles. Remarque sur l'invention warburgienne. Genèses, n.º 24, pp. 145-163, 1996.
CARMENT-LANFRY, Anne-Marie; Le Maho, Jacques le (ed.). La Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen. Rouen: Presses universitaires de Rouen et du Havre, 2010.
CUSA, Nicolau. De Deo Abscondito: O Deus Escondido. Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia, 20, n.º 4, 1964, pp. 436–53. Disponível em: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40334349 Acesso em: dezembro de 2021
GINZBURG, Carlo. Mitos emblemas sinais. Morfologia e história. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 1991.
GONÇALVES, Carla Alexandra. Para uma Introdução à Psicologia da Arte: as formas e os sujeitos. Lisboa: Edições 70, 2018.
HORACIO. Arte poetica de Q. Horacio Flacco, epistola aos Pisões. Traduzida em verso portuguez por Antonio José de Lima Leitão. Lisboa: Imp. Manoel Joseph da Cruz, 1827. Disponível em: https://purl.pt/27913/1/index.html#/1/html Acesso em: novembro de 2021
KOTKOVÁ, Olga. 'The Feast of the Rose Garlands': What Remains of Dürer? The Burlington Magazine. Vol. 144, n.º 1186, pp. 4-13, Jan., 2002. Disponível em: http://www.jstor.org/stable/889418 Acesso em: dezembro de 2021.
LANFRY, Georges; CHIROL, Elisabeth; BAILLY. Jean, Le Tombau des cardinaux d’Amboise à la Cathédrale de Rouen. Rouen: Lecerf, 1959.
OLIVEIRA, Emília Rocha de. A Arte Poética de Horácio por Pedro José da Fonseca. Ágora, Aveiro: Universidade de Aveiro, n.º 2, pp. 155-183, 2000.
REBELLO, Lucia Sá. Ars Poetica de Horácio – o texto original. Organon. Porto Alegre: UFRGS, v. 29, n.º 56, pp. 259-277, 2014.
SANTO AGOSTINHO. Confissões. Trad. Santos, J. Oliveira e Pina, A. Ambrósio de. Porto: Livraria Apostolado da Imprensa, 1990.
VERDIER, François. La Tour de Beurre et la Tour couronnée, deux chefs-d'œuvre de la fin du Moyen Age à Rouen. In Situ. Revue des patrimoines. 1, 2001. Disponível em: https://journals.openedition.org/insitu/1148 Acesso em: novembro de 2021.
WARBURG, Aby. The art of Portraiture and the Florentine Bourgeoisie: Domenico Ghirlandaio in Santa Trinita: the portraites of Lorenzo de’ Medici and his household. In: WARBURG, Aby. The Renewal of Pagan Antiquity. Introduction by Kurt W. Forster; Translation by David Britt. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute for the History of Art and the Humanities, 1999. p. 184-222.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Carla Alexandra Gonçalves
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
The articles published by the magazine are free to use, intended for academic and non-commercial applications. Copyright is all assigned to the magazine. The articles whose authors are identified represent the expression from the point of view of their authors and not the official position of Palíndromo Magazine. The author (s) commits to whenever they publish material referring to the article published in Palíndromo mention this publication as follows:
This article was originally published by Palíndromo magazine in its volume (place the volume), number (place the number) in the year of (place the year) and can be accessed at: http://www.revistas.udesc.br/index.php/palindromo
