After-text exercises

1.Answer the following questions:

6. When did Gothic architecture develop?

7. What are the characteristic features of the style?

8. What is the first Gothic building?

9. What are the Gothic phases in England?

10. What are the major monuments of Gothic architecture in England?

11. To what countries did the Crusaders carry Gothic?

12. What is meant by the Gothic Survival?

2.Read and translate the following word combinations into Russian:

 

 The Middle Ages, the barbarian north, the ribbed vault, the skills and precision, to be subdivided, the most influential building, tracery designs, inventive, emphasis, to come to an end, secularbuilding

 

3. Finish the sentences:

6. At the technical level Gothic architecture is characterized by the ribbed vault, the flying buttress, and…

7. The title the “first Gothic building”is given to…

8. In English architecture, the usual subdivisions are Early English, Decorative and … style.

9. English architects for a long time retained a liking for…

10. Gothic was essentially the style of the… countries.

 

Вариант 2

THE RENAISSANCE.

 

The Renaissance began in Italy, where there was always a residue of classical feeling of art.

Knowledge of the classical style in architecture was derived during the Renaissance from two sources: the ancient classical building, particularly in Italy but also in France and Spain and the treatise De architectura by the Roman architect Vitruvius. For classical antiquity and, therefore, for the Renaissance, the basic element of architectural design was the order, which was a system of traditional architectural units. During the Renaissance five orders were used, the Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite, with various ones prevalent in different periods. For example, the ornate, decorative quality of the Corinthian order was embraced during the early Renaissance, while the masculine simplicity and strength of the Doric was preferred during the Italian High Renaissance.

On the authority of Vitruvius, the Renaissance architects found a harmony between the proportions of the human body and those of their architecture. There was even a relationship between architectural proportions and the Renaissance pictorial device of perspective.

The concern of these architects for proportion caused that clear, measures expression and definition of architectural space and mass that differentiates the Renaissance style from the Gothic and encourages in the spectator an immediate and full comprehension of the building.

In the early 15^th century an Italian architect Filippo Brunelleschi formulated linear perspective, which was to become a basic element of Renaissance art. At the same time, Brunelleschi investigated ancient Roman architecture and acquired the knowledge of classical architecture and ornament that he used as a foundation for Renaissance architecture.

His brilliant work, the loggia of the Ospedale degli Innocenti (1419 –1451) was the first building in the Renaissance manner; a very graceful arcade was designed with composite columns, and windows with classical pediment were regularly spaced above each of the arches.

In Russia the Renaissance is represented by the works of Italian masters (the Moscow Kremlin, the 15^th-16^th cc) the cathedral of the Assumption was built in 1475-1479 by Aristotile Fioravante on the site of an old church dating back to the reign of Ivan Kalita. By combining the characteristic features of the Vladimir-Suzdal and early-Moscow style with Italian Renaissance decoration and construction methods Fioravante produced a masterpiece of lasting beauty.

The Granovitaya Palata Faceted Palace (1487-1491) was built by Russian craftsmen according to the design of Italian architect. Its eastern façade is faced with faceted white stones, hence the name.

AFTER-TEXT EXERCISES.

1.Answer the following questions:

1. When and where did the Renaissance begin?

2. What were the knowledge of the classical style in architecture?

3. What was the basic element of the architectural design for the Renaissance?

4. Who was the first to elaborate and to show the Renaissance system of perspective?

5. What was the first building in the Renaissance manner?

2.Read and translate the following word combinations into Russian:

a system of traditional architectural units; the ornate, decorative quality of the Corinthian order; the masculine simplicity of the Doric order; the Renaissance pictorial device of perspective; an immediate and full comprehension of the building; a very graceful arcade; windows with classical pediment were regularly spaced above each of the arches.

3. Finish the sentences:

1. For classical antiquity and, therefore, for the Renaissance, the … was the basic element of architectural design.
2. Clear, measures expression and definition of architectural space and mass differentiates the Renaissance style from…
3. it was an Italian Renaissance architect … who formulated linear perspective.
4. The first building in the Renaissance manner was …
5. The cathedral of the Assumption was built by…
6. The eastern façade of the Faceted Palace is faced with…

Вариант 3

BAROQUE.

Baroque and late Baroque, or Rococo, are terms applied to European art of the period from the early 17^th century to the mid-18^th century.

“Baroque” was probably derive d from the Italian word barocco. This term was used by philosophers during the Middle Ages to describe an obstacle in schematic logic. This word also described an irregular or imperfectly shaped pearl.

During the Baroque period (1600-1750), architecture, painting and sculpture were integrated into decorative ensembles. Architecture and sculpture became pictorial, and painting became illusionistic. Baroque art was essentially concerned with vivid colours, hidden light sources, luxurious materials and elaborate, contrasting surface textures.

Baroque architects made architecture a means of propagating faith in the church and in the state. Baroque space, with directionality, movement, and positive molding, contrasted markedly with the static, stable, and defined space of the High Renaissance and with the frustrating conflict of unbalanced spaces of the preceding Mannerist period. Mannerism is the term applied to certain aspects of artistic style, mainly Italian, in the period between the High Renaissance of the early 16^th century and the beginning of Baroque art in the early 17^th.

The Baroque rapidly developed into two separate forms: the strongly Roman Catholic countries (Italy, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Poland, etc.) tend ed toward freer and more active architectural forms and surfaces; in Protestant regions (England, Netherlands and the remainder of northern Europe) architecture was more restrained and developed a sober quiet monumentality impressive in its refinement. In the Protestant countries and France, which sought the spirit through the mind, architecture was more geometric formal and precise – an appeal to the intellect.

Hardouin-Mansart’s Dome des Invalides, Paris (1675), is generally agreed to be the finest church of the last half of the 17^th century in France. The correctness and precision of its form, the harmony ad balance of its spaces, and the soaring vigour of its dome make it a landmark not only of the Paris skyline but also of European Baroque architecture.