DOI Artikel:
Szybisty, Tomasz: Between light and shadows: reflecting on varied conceptual perspectives on the peculiar lambency suffusing gothic churches as evidenced by German literature from the latter decades of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth century
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51154#0013
12
a sphere of milky luminescence. Our companion felt
as if he were gazing at the mystical sun of the pole, an
oneiric counterpart of the real celestial body, and for the
time being, the duties of the latter being fulfilled by the
former’.45
The image itself of ‘reaching the very keystone of the
vault of the sky’ in the quotation above puts us in mind of
a Gothic cathedral, while the light of the aurora borealis is
associated with the colourful glow of stained glass. It looks
as if Goethes juvenile texts contrast between the South,
with its emanation in the shape of classical architecture,
and the North, manifesting itself in the Gothic sensibility,
found its most extreme embodiment in the ideas presen-
ted in Schwarzs book. And the new scale of contrast was
so monumental that it necessitated the improvisation of
‘the mystical sun as a counterpoint to ‘the temporal sun.
Within this framework of reference, stained-glass is once
again presented as a mimetic genre of art; nevertheless,
this time the colourful panes do not pretend to imitate the
luminous effects of beams of light shooting through the
vaulted canopies of forest trees, but aspire to symbolize
the mystical light of the North.
As outlined in this paper, there were several factors
leading to the landmark developments recorded in turn-
of-the-nineteenth-century German literature and relating
to the novel perspective on the meaning of the ambient
light inside Gothic churches. Such transformations mir-
rored a society-wide process of the re-evaluation of the
significance of the Middle Ages, especially Gothic archi-
tecture, which came to be viewed as the distillation of the
German or Germanic soul. Additionally, we should also
single out the fresh reinterpretation of shade, which was
prompted by the desire to improvise a symbolic counter-
point to light, which had previously come to symbolize
Enlightenment. Not a whit less transformative was the ro-
mantic reimagining of light as a conduit for supra-ratio-
nal understanding. The new ideas modified the percep-
tion of the interiors of Gothic churches flooded with sub-
dued, multicolour light, which predestined such premises
for the role of intermediary buffers between the world of
matter and the realm of spirit. Moreover, they jump-start-
ed a surge of interest in stained glass, which encouraged
efforts to revive the stained-glass tradition, occasionally
spawning fantastical interpretations of this genre of art.
Translated by Mariusz Szerocki
45 Ibidem, vol. 2, p. 401.
SUMMARY
Tomasz Szybisty
BETWEEN EIGHT AND SHADOWS; REFEECTING
ON VARIED CONCEPTUAL PERSPECTIVES ON
THE PECULIAR LAMBENCY SUFFUSING GOTHIC
CHURCHES AS EVIDENCED BY GERMAN LIT-
ERATURE FROM THE LATTER DECADES OF THE
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY AND THE BEGINNING
OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
Keywords: Gothic architecture, light, shadow, German lit-
erature, i8th/i9th century, stained glass
What seems to emanate from the dominant tenor per-
meating the scholarship dedicated to exploring the early
nineteenth century resurgence of stained-glass ornamen-
tation is the significant function ascribed to the variegat-
ed ‘mystical’ twilight, which played a pivotal role in the
expansion of the renewed interest in this form of art. Nev-
ertheless, no comprehensive studies have been attempt-
ed to investigate this subject matter. Drawing on selected
German-language texts from the end of the eighteenth
and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries, this ar-
ticle undertakes to examine the transformative develop-
ments regarding perception of ambient light prevailing in
Gothic churches. There is enough evidence to ascertain
that before 1800 such buildings had been habitually as-
sociated with significantly bedimmed interiors; however,
in the decades that followed, this perception underwent
some modification and the light was not only just sub-
dued, but it was suffused with colourful lambency. For
one, the change was the result of the re-evaluation of the
image of the Middle Ages, and of the Gothic style, in par-
ticular, as it was regarded as the manifestation of the Ger-
man or Germanic character; for another, the transforma-
tion was effected, to a large extent by Romanticism’s pro-
nouncements on the meaning of colour and shade. In ad-
dition, research into this phenomenon should not neglect
to acknowledge the part played by studies on light phe-
nomena, which were conducted extensively at that time,
among others by Goethe. All those issues conditioned the
perception of the interiors of Gothic churches flooded
with subdued, multicolour light, which predestined such
premises for the role of intermediary buffers between the
world of matter and the realm of spirit. Moreover, the
aforementioned developments jump-started a surge of
interest in stained glass, and encouraged increasingly en-
thusiastic efforts to revive the stained-glass tradition, oc-
casionally spawning fantastical interpretations pertaining
this genre of art.
a sphere of milky luminescence. Our companion felt
as if he were gazing at the mystical sun of the pole, an
oneiric counterpart of the real celestial body, and for the
time being, the duties of the latter being fulfilled by the
former’.45
The image itself of ‘reaching the very keystone of the
vault of the sky’ in the quotation above puts us in mind of
a Gothic cathedral, while the light of the aurora borealis is
associated with the colourful glow of stained glass. It looks
as if Goethes juvenile texts contrast between the South,
with its emanation in the shape of classical architecture,
and the North, manifesting itself in the Gothic sensibility,
found its most extreme embodiment in the ideas presen-
ted in Schwarzs book. And the new scale of contrast was
so monumental that it necessitated the improvisation of
‘the mystical sun as a counterpoint to ‘the temporal sun.
Within this framework of reference, stained-glass is once
again presented as a mimetic genre of art; nevertheless,
this time the colourful panes do not pretend to imitate the
luminous effects of beams of light shooting through the
vaulted canopies of forest trees, but aspire to symbolize
the mystical light of the North.
As outlined in this paper, there were several factors
leading to the landmark developments recorded in turn-
of-the-nineteenth-century German literature and relating
to the novel perspective on the meaning of the ambient
light inside Gothic churches. Such transformations mir-
rored a society-wide process of the re-evaluation of the
significance of the Middle Ages, especially Gothic archi-
tecture, which came to be viewed as the distillation of the
German or Germanic soul. Additionally, we should also
single out the fresh reinterpretation of shade, which was
prompted by the desire to improvise a symbolic counter-
point to light, which had previously come to symbolize
Enlightenment. Not a whit less transformative was the ro-
mantic reimagining of light as a conduit for supra-ratio-
nal understanding. The new ideas modified the percep-
tion of the interiors of Gothic churches flooded with sub-
dued, multicolour light, which predestined such premises
for the role of intermediary buffers between the world of
matter and the realm of spirit. Moreover, they jump-start-
ed a surge of interest in stained glass, which encouraged
efforts to revive the stained-glass tradition, occasionally
spawning fantastical interpretations of this genre of art.
Translated by Mariusz Szerocki
45 Ibidem, vol. 2, p. 401.
SUMMARY
Tomasz Szybisty
BETWEEN EIGHT AND SHADOWS; REFEECTING
ON VARIED CONCEPTUAL PERSPECTIVES ON
THE PECULIAR LAMBENCY SUFFUSING GOTHIC
CHURCHES AS EVIDENCED BY GERMAN LIT-
ERATURE FROM THE LATTER DECADES OF THE
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY AND THE BEGINNING
OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
Keywords: Gothic architecture, light, shadow, German lit-
erature, i8th/i9th century, stained glass
What seems to emanate from the dominant tenor per-
meating the scholarship dedicated to exploring the early
nineteenth century resurgence of stained-glass ornamen-
tation is the significant function ascribed to the variegat-
ed ‘mystical’ twilight, which played a pivotal role in the
expansion of the renewed interest in this form of art. Nev-
ertheless, no comprehensive studies have been attempt-
ed to investigate this subject matter. Drawing on selected
German-language texts from the end of the eighteenth
and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries, this ar-
ticle undertakes to examine the transformative develop-
ments regarding perception of ambient light prevailing in
Gothic churches. There is enough evidence to ascertain
that before 1800 such buildings had been habitually as-
sociated with significantly bedimmed interiors; however,
in the decades that followed, this perception underwent
some modification and the light was not only just sub-
dued, but it was suffused with colourful lambency. For
one, the change was the result of the re-evaluation of the
image of the Middle Ages, and of the Gothic style, in par-
ticular, as it was regarded as the manifestation of the Ger-
man or Germanic character; for another, the transforma-
tion was effected, to a large extent by Romanticism’s pro-
nouncements on the meaning of colour and shade. In ad-
dition, research into this phenomenon should not neglect
to acknowledge the part played by studies on light phe-
nomena, which were conducted extensively at that time,
among others by Goethe. All those issues conditioned the
perception of the interiors of Gothic churches flooded
with subdued, multicolour light, which predestined such
premises for the role of intermediary buffers between the
world of matter and the realm of spirit. Moreover, the
aforementioned developments jump-started a surge of
interest in stained glass, and encouraged increasingly en-
thusiastic efforts to revive the stained-glass tradition, oc-
casionally spawning fantastical interpretations pertaining
this genre of art.