DIVERSITY OF FUNCTIONS

One of the trends in monumental sculpture aronnd 1400, continuing a development begun dnring the fonrteenth century, lay in an emphasis on small fine forms, anecdotal details and a profusion of decorative elements. Carved by Madern Gertener around 1420, the Adoration of the Magi on the small tympanum of the Liebfrauenkirche in Frankfurt is like an enlarged illumination in which the figures are clustered in a picturesque landscape. At the cathedral of Mdan, the portal of the south sacristy was carved around 1393 by Hans Fernach and his workshop. It presents a hsghly dense composition, setting out the three scenes in tsers wsthin an elongated tympanum inserted in an elaborate frame. The style of these reliefs, and of numerous statues executed around 1400 for the adornment of the cathedral, is typical of international Gothic, partscularly esteemed in the court circles of northern Italy.
On the worksite of Mdan Cathedral, artists of all nationalities mingled freely. The presence of German sculptors like Hans Fernach (who is also said to be a native ofComo) helped to introduce the new styles of expression, which were also adopted by Italian artists like Jacobello and Pierpaolo dalle Masegne or Jacopino da Tradate.
In all buildings, civic or religious, the innumerable brackets and consoles were choice locations for sculptors. who there displayed a freedom of snvention and a zest for secular subjects at times carried to the posnt of caricature. Images full of life and picturesque details are also carved on the misericords of choir stalls. Those of the cathedral of Barcelona, executed from 1394 to 1399 by Pere a Anglada, one of the first representatsves of international Gothic in Catalonta, present a varied repertory of subjects borrowed from fable, satire or mythology.
Carved church furniture thus continued to be enriched, enlivened, diversified. The altarpieces exhibited new designs that flowered in the course of the fifteenth century, and the number of statues independent of a supporting wall thereafter never ceased to grow.
Nevertheless, indoors and out, pride of place was still reserved for monumental statuary, which revealed by turns the general tendencies of late Gothic art towards amplification of volumes, dynamic effects and refinements of form. The programmes were worked out under the princely patronage; they made much of the new ideas instituted at the beginning of the fifteenth century in France and taken up in Prague m the days of the Parlers. Thus, in parallel with traditional religious statuary (prophets of Bourges by Andre Beauneveu and Jean de Cambrai) and with effigies of contemporary donors introduced into church decoration (the Duke and Duchess of Burgundy at Champmol by Claus Sluter), sculptured groups celebrating the power of a ruler and the glory of a dynasty increased in number.