Gothic & Blind. It’s Still Fretwork.
St. Elizabeths Cathedral in Slovikia represents Gothic fretwork typical at the turn of the 19th century. An art historian, Autre/Marko, who specializes in medieval and modern art (and who is from Slovenia) turned me onto fretwork prevalent during the neo-gothic revival period. He even gave me the the Slovenian translation for it, “krogovičje” [kro-go-vich-ye]. It’s as detailed as it sounds too. Thank you Marko. It’s rich beyond words. Thank goodness for images.
Then I found this: Blind Fret Detail–Applied fretwork as opposed to pierced or open fretwork, this is an intricate form of decoration often based on Chinoiserie and Gothic designs. So, Class, we will next go onto Chinoiserie, Cloisonne, and Champleve (Thanks again, Marko, for champleve….I’ll look forward to figuring out what that is).
But before I do that, we will go to the Neo-Gothic revival period once again and check out the craftsmenship on these Gothic fretwork cabinets. Talk about detail. You can go to the Row Antiques site for an even more detailed explanation of the cabinets and if they are still available. Yikes, I can almost hear the organ playing in the background for this one. Wonder what castle this came from; wherever it is, I want to go visit. Seems fitting to be publishing this on Labor Day in the U.S.A….since this one was a real labor of love.
Glad I was of assistance. Basically, fretwork, as I know it, implies “cutting out” (mostly out of wood and metal) - but the use is broad, and can hold for a certain type of architecture decoration (gothic fretwork).
Best,