The Gothic Style and Art - Essay Example

This art later spread to the whole of Europe. Gothic style is one of a kind that influenced the building designs which applied mostly in the religious and secular buildings not only in France but in the rest of Europe. The Wells cathedral embraced the design of being all pointed, a form in which characterized gothic art; this building set the trend for the building that was built in the later period. The building that was built after the wells cathedral was more decorated and their design concentrated more on glass windows making the structures light (Reeve, 73).

In Spain, the gothic art was partially embraced and can be said to have influenced the indigenous style together with the Arabic and Islamic architecture; the Spanish gothic influence was termed as a hybrid. The distinctive features remained in the decorations and the structural designs. The Burgos cathedral in Spain is an example of the influence that gothic art had on Spain architecture; the tall tower is due to the gothic influence (“Gothic Mid-12th century-16th century). In Germany, the influence of the gothic style was eminent in the mid-thirteenth century.

This art started with the building cologne cathedral that came into completion in the nineteenth century. The Germans adopted gothic art with a lot of emphases; the first building to adopt the art in their architecture was named as the largest in the north of Europe. The structure was so strong to the extent that it survived the Second World War bombing (Alpha, 2). Few architects adopted the gothic style in their designs in Italy. The adoption began at the beginning of the fourteenth century.

The gothic style was however exhibited in some parts of the buildings; the gambles were pointed, the windows adopted the rose shape, the pillars were made to be in rhythm and the niche was made statuary. The Orvieto cathedral and Doge’s palace built in the fourteenth and fifteenth century respectively are examples of the influence the gothic style had in Italy(Alpha, 3). In Italy, the buildings had few columns which were widely spaced, few windows, and few decorations; this made the gothic style different when compared to other countries in the European continent.

The gothic style was received differently and influenced the architecture differently according to the regions. The differences were much pronounced in the way the main parts of the structure were designed.in Italy, England, and Germany, many of the structural designs had many similarities but still, they were different. In England, the apses were mostly square in shape whereas they were semi-circular in other parts of the continent. The tower designed appeared different in most parts of the European continent, in France, the towers were tall and pointed but in other regions, the towers were mostly flat in shape.

In Italy, as earlier stated, their designs didn’t fully embrace gothic art and hence their structures did not have towers at all (Beyer, 1).