Regional features in unique French Gothic monuments of the 16–17th centuries

Abstract

This article addresses the issue of architectural differentiation in French Gothic monuments of the 16th–17th centuries. In France, Gothic is a firmly established tradition and a national style associated with self-identity. However, due to the prevalence of other styles on the global stage, most researchers tend to overlook the Gothic monuments of the 16th–17th centuries, viewing them through the lens of Baroque or Renaissance. Such an approach seems incorrect, as it implies that Gothic architecture of the early modern period, which was once a self-sufficient phenomenon, has become a mere relic of the past. The article analyses a number of unique variants of Early Modern Gothic and attempts to prove the existence of some regional tendencies in this architectural paradigm. The Gothic style of the period under consideration offers an interesting and non-trivial synthesis of diverse architectural systems, giving it a pronounced compromise character. On the one hand, in this style of the 16–17th centuries the Gothic tradition is evident and manifested, while often appearing alongside late Gothic elements. On the other hand, this paradigm also contains certain features of the Renaissance and Baroque traditions. Consequently, attempts at architectural synthesis result in the emergence of curious chimeras that are incapable of being fully repeated and serving as a starting point for the subsequent tradition. One way or another, the Gothic style of the early Modern period is a distinctive, self-valuable, differentiated style that should be considered separately in its own system of coordinates.