BERLIN—Gothic sculptors had God in mind with every piece that they made. Their carefully crafted sculptures, illustrating the Bible and the lives of saints, formed an important part of church architecture—cementing the word of God into the heart of man.
Architects, artists, and artisans ensured everything in the church glorified God, so that even the illiterate could understand the word of God.
In his article “Erwin Panofsky’s Gothic Architecture,” Benedictine monk Daniel J. Heisey distills some of the 20th-century art critic’s work. “Panofsky’s insight was that through proportion and distinction of parts, a Gothic cathedral was as solid and precise in its service of Catholic doctrine as was the treatise of a Scholastic theologian.”…