Gothic Architecture and Scholasticism An Inquiry into the analogy of the arts, philosophy and religion in the Middle Ages

180 Pages·1957·18.24 MB·English

by  Erwin Panofsky

'Gothic
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Architecture and Scholasticism
An inquiry into the analogy of tlie arts,
philosophy, and religion in the Middle Ages.
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GothicArchitectureandScholasticism

Gothic Architecture
and Scholasticism
by Erwin Panofsky
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AMERIDIAN BOOK
AMERICAIVi LiBRAfyy
INieVU
NEWYORK.LONDONAND SCARBOROUGH. ONTARIO
—
Copyright 1951, 1957bySaint VincentArchabbey
All rightsreserved.
Libraryof Congress Catalog Card Number: 57-6681
®ANMDERIDIAN TRADEMARK REG. U.S. PAT. OFF.
FOREIGN COUNTRIES
REGISTEREDTRADEMARK MARCA REGISTRADA
HECHO EN WESTFORD, MASS., U.S.A.
Signet, Signet Classics, Mentor, Plume, Meridian and
NAL Booksare published in the UnitedStatesby
The New American Library, Inc.,
1633 Broadway, New York, New York 10019,
in Canada byThe New American Library of Canada Limited,
81 MackAvenue,Scarborough, Ontario MIL 1M8
First Printing/World PublishingCompany, 1957
First Printing/New American Library, March, 1976
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Foreword
Professor Erwin Panofsky's study, Gothic Architec-
ture and Scholasticism, captured and holds an eminent
place in a series that is not without distinction, the
Wimmer Lectures. Established in memory of the
founder of the Benedictine Order in America, Boni-
face Wimmer, the series has brought to St. Vincent
College such fine scholars as Jacques Maritain (Man's
Approach to God"), William F. Albright ("Toward
a Theistic Humanism"), Helen C. White ("Prayer
and Poetry"), and Elias A. Lowe ("The Finest Book
in the World").
Boniface Wimmer would surely have approved the
matter and the manner of this lecture. In a letter
written nearly a hundred years ago he said:
In a country like America religion and art must work
. . .
together to give our liturgy an outward splendor, great
dignity, and even grandeur. Therefore the monas-
. . .
teries have a solemn duty to foster art, especially religious
art, to improve it and to spread it, because our shop-
keepers and our farmers will never do that. I am firmly
vi Foreword
convinced that a monastic school which does not strive to
advance art as much as science and religion will be de-
ficient in its work. In scientific matters shortcomings may
be more readily condoned, at least in the beginning, but
neglect in the promotion of art must be censured.
Nine decades have not diminished the force of these
words.
Professor Panofsky represents that firm, mature,
and humane learning that is the ideal and the despair
of so many. Since 1935 he has been associated with
the School of Humanistic Studies at The Institute for
Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey. His career
before that took him from his native Hanover to the
universities of Berlin, Munich, Freiburg, and Ham-
burg. Anauthorityon iconology, medieval,renaissance,
and baroque art, and Dutch and Flemish book illumi-
nation, he has been a lecturer or professor at various
universities in the United States.
Knowledge as comprehensive in its grasp and diver-
sification as it is precise and sure in detail, brilliant
insight and penetrating analysis, stimulating, radiant,
Foreword \ii
and artistic presentation—these are qualities it is cus-
tomary to take for granted in a study by Professor
Panofsky. It is a source ofsatisfaction to see his provoc-
ative lecture made available to a wider public through
Meridian Books. Extremely heavy demands upon Pro-
fessor Panofsky's time have prevented him from intro-
ducing into the text revisions he would now consider
We
desirable. do not hesitate to issue the text in its
original form, quite willing to let it stand on its own
merits.
+ QUENTIN L. SCHAUT, O.S.B.