DOI Artikel:
Adamski, Jakub: The influence of 13th - and 14th century English architecture in the Southern Baltic region and Poland
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.31348#0043
The Influence of 13*- and
14^-century English
Architecture in the Southern
Baltic Region and Poland*
The significance of the English Decorated style for Northern- and Central European
Late Gothic architecture has long been recognised. It was Nikolaus Pevsner who
praised Decorated as "in some ways the most forward, the most important and cer-
tainly the most interesting in Europe T Henning Bock was the first to underline some
striking similarities between English Decorated buildings and Peter Parler s ground-
breaking choir of Prague CathedraP, which stimulated a long and vivid discussion
on the possible insular roots of European Late Gothic. The most authoritative - yet
fairly controversial - statement on the international importance of the Decorated
style was formulated by Jean Bony in his flagship book horn 1979. He argued that
around 1300 France had already lost her previous authority as the most influential
and trend-setting centre of European architecture and that this role was taken up by
England. Peter Parler s presumably direct knowledge of the Decorated style seemed to
Bony to have been "a decisive stimulus in the development of German architecture^
and to have "set off a great new art movement". He concluded that till the very end
of Gothic architecture in the Baltic area "England remained, in matters of vaulting
[...], the source and constant model for all Late Gothic elaboration^.
Jean Bony s great theory concerning the continental impact of the Decorated,
although still valid in several points, soon provoked scepticism and was seen by
some to be an overstatement^. Yet, it must be noted that it was the alleged possibility
1 The present paper was delivered as a lecture in the Department of History of Art at the University
of Cambridge on lo"' February 2014. It formed a part of the University of Cambridge Medieval
Art Seminar Series, entitled "Decorated English Architectural Style, 1250-1350", dedicated to
the memory of Professor Jean Bony.
2 See N. Pevsner, An Outline of European Architecture, Harmondsworth 1942, p. 50.
3 See H. Bock, Der Beginn spatgotischer Architektur in Prng (Peter Parter) und die Beziehnngen
zu England, "Wallraf-Richartz Jahrbuch" 23,1961, pp. 191-210.
4 J. Bony, The English Decorated Style. Gothic Architecture Transformed 1250-1350, Oxford 1979.
pp. 66-67.
5 See among others: P. Binski, The English Decorated Style. Problems and Possibilities, in: J. Hamesse
(ed.), Bilan et Perspectives des etudes medievuies en Europe. Actes du Premier Congres Buropeen
ARTYKUŁY
modus
prace z historii sztuki
xv, 2015
o
JAKUB ADAMSKI
14^-century English
Architecture in the Southern
Baltic Region and Poland*
The significance of the English Decorated style for Northern- and Central European
Late Gothic architecture has long been recognised. It was Nikolaus Pevsner who
praised Decorated as "in some ways the most forward, the most important and cer-
tainly the most interesting in Europe T Henning Bock was the first to underline some
striking similarities between English Decorated buildings and Peter Parler s ground-
breaking choir of Prague CathedraP, which stimulated a long and vivid discussion
on the possible insular roots of European Late Gothic. The most authoritative - yet
fairly controversial - statement on the international importance of the Decorated
style was formulated by Jean Bony in his flagship book horn 1979. He argued that
around 1300 France had already lost her previous authority as the most influential
and trend-setting centre of European architecture and that this role was taken up by
England. Peter Parler s presumably direct knowledge of the Decorated style seemed to
Bony to have been "a decisive stimulus in the development of German architecture^
and to have "set off a great new art movement". He concluded that till the very end
of Gothic architecture in the Baltic area "England remained, in matters of vaulting
[...], the source and constant model for all Late Gothic elaboration^.
Jean Bony s great theory concerning the continental impact of the Decorated,
although still valid in several points, soon provoked scepticism and was seen by
some to be an overstatement^. Yet, it must be noted that it was the alleged possibility
1 The present paper was delivered as a lecture in the Department of History of Art at the University
of Cambridge on lo"' February 2014. It formed a part of the University of Cambridge Medieval
Art Seminar Series, entitled "Decorated English Architectural Style, 1250-1350", dedicated to
the memory of Professor Jean Bony.
2 See N. Pevsner, An Outline of European Architecture, Harmondsworth 1942, p. 50.
3 See H. Bock, Der Beginn spatgotischer Architektur in Prng (Peter Parter) und die Beziehnngen
zu England, "Wallraf-Richartz Jahrbuch" 23,1961, pp. 191-210.
4 J. Bony, The English Decorated Style. Gothic Architecture Transformed 1250-1350, Oxford 1979.
pp. 66-67.
5 See among others: P. Binski, The English Decorated Style. Problems and Possibilities, in: J. Hamesse
(ed.), Bilan et Perspectives des etudes medievuies en Europe. Actes du Premier Congres Buropeen
ARTYKUŁY
modus
prace z historii sztuki
xv, 2015
o
JAKUB ADAMSKI