Depending of your job, interests, or indeed vocation, the word “Gothic”, holds different meanings and imagery. This might include a flash of the recent news footage of the newly reconstructed Notre-Dame - where the spire alone, built from hundreds of oak trees raised and felled in ancient French forests, weighed more than 80 tonnes, was transported in the last few weeks to Paris and hoisted to the roof of the cathedral to the delight of the French - many of whom couldn’t believe that their National treasure would be re-built within the promised 5-year time-frame. From the spire to the stained glass windows that were devastated in the fire, the sheer beauty of the building cannot be fully appreciated unless you have been inside and seen the light pass through the stained glass windows and echoe into the building itself. As a 10 year old girl, I recall the wonder. For others, the word Gothic may hint to darker things – from Gothic Horror to Gothic Rock. Indeed, you may well associate Gothic with the colour black and a particular kind of fashion aesthetic. The other side of “Gothic”, however, is anything but black – quite the contrary.
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The Gothic Era was flourished between the preceding Romanesque period and the later Early Renaissance period. The defining inspiration of the Gothic was to allow more light in, which can primarily be seen in Gothic architecture.
Architecture was the main artistic style during the Gothic period. It originated in France, more within the Île-de-France (“Isle of France”) region, during the 12th Century and developed throughout Europe until the 16th Century. It was referred to as Opus Francigenum, which means “French Work” in Latin. The “French Work” was a new “style”, as it was called, pioneered by Abbot Suger.
Suger wanted to express his love for God and the divine through art and light. Within the design of a cathedral, like Notre-Dame it was an absolute priority. The light was symbolically utilized within and magically transported through the numerous stained-glass windows surrounding the people who would be inside. For these deeply religious souls, material objects were one of the vessels that took people to the divine – the Notre-Dame spire, a testament to reaching the heavens.
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Within the Arts & Crafts movement, the Gothic Revival, pioneered by the likes of William Morris and other proponents, strongly believed that the connection forged between the artist and his work through handcraft was the key to producing both human fulfilment and beautiful items that would be useful on an everyday basis. Beauty for them, emanated from the natural world and the poetry of a lost time when knights told tales and legends were made. Town of Flowers is a gothic design created entirely by hand in the Arts and Craft idiom. It is an epic design, standing at 18-inches in height and requiring highly skilled manual dexterity; the outline of the design is tubelined with liquid clay slip before being hand painted. For Moorcroft, it is one of those designs that sets the benchmark of excellence in Gothic design. Each scene is different, some buildings have staircases, and others have turrets or spires and all journey into the Gothic with tulips bursting into enchanting violet and burgundy hues as they soar up to the heavens. For Kerry, tulips, shaped like a king’s chalice, their colourful cardinal red, pink and purple hues were reminiscent of the stained glass windows in Gothic cathedrals. Nevertheless, for years, the tulip did not sit well with Moorcroft (and the reasons for this will be explained in due course) and a new Gothic tale is now in the making - will Camelot, which first first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually come to Moorcroft!
Due to the design, being a numbered edition, being withdrawn from sale imminently, Moorcroft are giving a last shout and a discount: £2165 (Was: £3,665.00) to end the epic era. Click to BUY
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