Gothic

A tricky word with at least three different meanings in the world of art.

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• Gothic Architecture - a style of architecture which began in France in the 12th century.  Think pointed arches, flying buttresses and lancet windows.

• Neo-Gothic - or Victorian Gothic or Gothic Revival, a style (usually of architecture) popular in the 19th century, which looked back to medieval Gothic. In effect, it was often augmented with more recent styles. Examples are the Palace of Westminster and hundreds of churches built in the reign of Victoria. 

• 'Gothic' - an adjective which began to be used by writers and artists late in the 18th century, which suggested an interest in horror.

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It's the third one I want to think about here.

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Although the term was first used in the 1760's, it was in the 19th century that it blossomed into a genre. Writers such as Mary Shelley, Edgar Allen Poe, Lord Byron and Bram Stoker produced work which was variously described as 'dark', 'macabre' and 'delighting in horror'.  Henry James' Turn of the Screw, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde were all part of this movement.

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Artists too were caught up in the mood.  Henry Fuseli created a body of work focused largely on the supernatural. This was a fascinating choice of subject since it dealt with events and beings whose existence was far from normal. Arguably, religious artists had been doing this for centuries, but long-established practice had given them legitimacy.

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