Branchwork
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Branchwork or branch tracery is a type of architectural ornament often used in late Gothic architecture and the Northern Renaissance, consisting of knobbly, intertwined and leafless branches. Branchwork was particularly widespread in Central European art between 1480 and 1520 and can be found in all media. The intellectual origin of branchwork lies in theories in Renaissance humanism about the origins of architecture in natural forms and barely-treated natural materials.
In artistic terms it often follows scrolling patterns that had long been used with thinner stem and tendril plant forms. The development of the representation of thicker tree branches had a long history in the crosses in representations of the Crucifixion of Jesus, and the popular subject of the Tree of Jesse.
Origins and meanings
Traditionally branchwork was conceived as a typical ornament of late Gothic art in the lands north of the Alps. Only recently has the connection between the vegetal architectural forms in branchwork and theories of early Renaissance humanism about the origins of architecture been recognized.
See also
