Gothic by Design: The Dawn of Architectural Draftsmanship

By Femke Speelberg
with an essay by Melanie Holcomb

The Gothic era produced some of the Western world’s most imposing structures, today icons of the European cityscape. Unlike buildings from the Renaissance onward, these medieval works are rarely discussed as the products of the ingenious, innovative contributions of individual architects. This book challenges that common perception by asserting the significant impact of draftsmanship on the development of the Gothic style from the twelfth to early sixteenth century. The rediscovery of a little-known corpus of architectural drawings and prints reveals the crucial role of drawings in the development of complex and visually appealing structures—from monumental stone cathedrals to small liturgical objects. Gothic by Design includes surprising ties to contemporary concerns, showing how these works on paper functioned on and off the building site, established the basis for modern concepts of artistic identity and intellectual property, and provided evidence of the long afterlife of Gothic design strategies and their potential use today in sustainable architecture.

Femke Speelberg is curator, Department of Drawings and Prints, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.