The Gothic revival.(Current and coming)(Pointed Style: The Gothic Revival in America, 1800-1860)

In 1858 the American painter Jasper Francis Cropsey, then residing in London, wrote in his journal that he had just purchased a copy of "'The merrie days of England' the last new illustrated book out, because of its use to me in suggestion of sports, pastimes, tournaments & c of the olden times of England." By May 1859 he had sold a pair of paintings entitled The Olden Times, one subtitled Morning (Newington-Cropsey Foundation, Hastings on Hudson, New York) the other Evening (private collection), to the American collector William T. Blodgett of New York City, confirming the usefulness of that volume. Cropsey was responding to the vogue for romantic literature and all things medieval in literary and artistic circles in England, on the Continent, and in the United States. In the arts, this period is known as the Gothic revival.

Actually there were two Gothic revivals. The first, which occurred in the mid- to late eighteenth century, is generally regarded as a more playful and less cerebral adaptation of Gothic motifs, much in the way that designers mixed all sorts of Asian motifs and created chinoiserie--a whimsical style if ever there was one. The second Gothic revival is usually seen as a more archaeologically correct interpretation of medieval art and architecture in which designers and architects borrowed, and more faithfully reproduced, motifs that defined the architecture and arts of that earlier age. This Gothic revival is the subject of an exhibition on view at Hirschl and Adler Galleries in New York City from April 15 through June 9. In Pointed Style: The Gothic Revival in America, 1800-1860 includes some one hundred paintings, drawings, furniture, lighting devices, porcelain, glass, silver, and other metalwork.

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The fascination with the Middle Ages was most evident in romantic literature, art, and architecture. From there it filtered down to the decorative arts so that chairs, tables, sugar bowls, and the like were ornamented with elements from stained-glass windows, tracery, clustered columns, trefoils and quatrefoils, and other motifs found in the Gothic cathedrals of continental Europe, particularly France. The great cathedrals of Amiens, Notre Dame, Sainte Chapelle, and Reims had recently been or were in the process of being restored by the French architect, writer, lecturer, medievalist, and head of the Office ...