Interarchitecturality
In literature
The Essays themselves evoke in their content the architectural form in the second degree. It is this sense that we can speak of an interarchitectural level in the apprehension of Montaigne’s work. If we borrow the configuration of the sign from Hjelmslev we could see the text as the living tower evoked by the cover of the 18th century London version of the work. This frontispiece establishes the analogy between the book and the monument as a site of memory.
The Interartistic Phenomenon through Montaigne’s Essays, Peter Lang, Bern, 2018, ISBN: 978-3034333177, p 216
Reproduction of the cover of the London edition of Montaigne’s Essays, Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, “The Essays”, 3rd edition, London, 1632.
In architecture
The church’s splendid interior makes it an exemplary work of art, where all the arts intermingle. The years 1230-1240, which were particularly fertile in terms of innovative architectural creativity, marked the birth of the Radiant Gothic style. The blossoming of artistic activity at this time is expressed in the polychrome sculptures and medallions in the Sainte-Chapelle, as well as in the stained glass windows. Generally speaking, there was a taste for miniaturising forms, which led some artists to describe the art of this period as “Mannerist”. This trend is particularly true of architecture, where appearances really do affect all the arts. In the 13th century, architecture became more closely integrated with painting than ever before. One of the most eloquent examples is undoubtedly the Psalter of Saint Louis, whose miniatures are filled with pediments, roses and spires taken directly from contemporary building sites. In addition to the framing system for the miniatures, architectural motifs can be found on a number of gold caskets. The fascination is such that today we speak of the “architecturalization” of the arts. The juxtaposition of the architecture of the Reliquary and the church reveals an interarchitecturality.
Translation in English
„Интерархитектурност в семиотиката на Сент-Шапел“, [“Interarchitecturality in the semiotics of the Sainte-Chapelle”]- Text presented at the Institute of Literature – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Scientific Forum: ‘Literary metamorphoses – between life and text’, 16 May 2022, Vassilena Kolarova
The Sainte-Chapelle of Paris, the Upper Chapel, view towards the choir and the Grande Châsse containing the reliquaries and relics
In sculpture
Interliterallity is a variety of the interartistic phenomenon when art is interacting with literature.
Antoni Gaudí’s sculptures in the Sagrada Familia basilica are natural and expressive. On the Nativity portal, there are sculptures of the Holy Family, with the Holy Name of Jesus, which is a reference to the Bible; Deo – God, text is woven into the stone which is makes it interliteral because architecture is interacting with a written text. And this is what allows us to read the work as interartistic, as well as intersculptural and interarchitectural. In addition, there are the sculptures of the musician angels, so that this symphony of stone becomes intermusical. The flowers and plants mimic a painting modelled on the stained glass windows, whose multi-dimensional colours inside of the church, complete the vision of our digital century in an interpictorial movement.
Sculpture groups on the Nativity façade of Sagrada Familia in Barcelona
Art cities like Rome, Florence and Venice contain in themselves the biblical though like an incarnation of the beauty. The grace of Michelangelo’s dome recreates the Divine mind: „11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.“, Holy Bible, Hebrew 11 : 10, King James Version. They express the essence of the interartistic idea being created following the steps of the Creator.
The Interartistic Phenomenon through Montaigne’s Essays, Peter Lang, Bern, 2018, ISBN: 978-3034333177, p. 204, p. 262
Main façade and dome of St. Peter’s Basilica, seen from St. Peter’s Square in Rome
In the context of the paragon of the arts in the Renaissance, Michelangelo had this to say:
The perfect artist cannot conceive of any image that is not already within the envelope of the marble, but only the hand that is docile to the spirit can extract it.
Michelangelo, Sonnet, L’Ottima artista, Poésies/Rime, Les Belles Lettres, 2004