Gothic

The Gothic period was a time of not only great prosperity but also turmoil in EUrope.  In 1337 the Hundred Year's War began, shattering the peace between France and England.  The Black Death swept over western Europe and killed at least a quarter of its people, and the political-religious crisis known as the Great Schism happened.  Above all the Gothic age was a time of profound change in European society.

The Royal portal is named because of the statue columns of kings and queens flanking its three doorways.  The right portal archivolts for example, depict the seven female Liberal Arts and their champions.  The figures represent the core of medieval learning and symbolize human knowledge, male which thierry and others believed led to true faith.  The tympanum's theme and composition recall Byzantine representations of the theotokos.  The cult of mary reached a high point in Gothic Age.  

Three figures from the Porch of the Confessors reveal the changes Gothic sculpture underwent since the Royal Portal statues of the mid-twelfth century.  The saints communicate quietly with one another, like waiting dignitaries.  They turn slightly toward and away from each other, breaking the rigid vertical lines that, on the royal portal, fix the figures immovably.  The drapery folds fall softly over the bodies.  The faces have individualized features and distinctive personalities.