The subject of the research is the artistic culture of the Middle Ages, embodied in the complexes of Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals, their architectural structure, and the decor of structural elements: niche sculptures and reliefs, stained glass, and book illumination. The object of the research is the role of the artist and artistic creativity in the concept of medieval aesthetic thought. The authors examined the role of art as a reflection of divine creation and intellectual knowledge of spirituality, with the method of copying from models as fundamental in the system of canonical visual hierarchy. The significance of the aesthetic category "the sublime" was identified as central in medieval philosophical thought, including other categories such as "the beautiful," "beauty," and "the majestic" as traits of the divine. The system of architectural and artistic structure of the cathedral was characterized as a symbolic and allegorical reflection of the heavenly portal and the earthly reality preceding it. The article employs a historical-philosophical approach in analyzing aesthetic categories, a historical-cultural approach in examining art in the medieval worldview, a semiotic approach in substantiating cultural codes and allegories of the Middle Ages, and a formal-stylistic approach in the characteristics of styles. The role of the medieval artist as a master of "mechanical art" was determined as a combination of spiritual activity and material labor. Based on the studied material in medieval philosophical treatises, as well as on artistic samples for copying in the album of Villars de Honnecourt and the analysis of the structure and decor of medieval temples, it can be concluded that the role of art in the aesthetic system of medieval scholasticism was one of the ways to know God. For architects and guild masters, it was an intellectual-spiritual transformation of their own understanding of God and His concepts as outlined in Scripture. For the laity, who observed art from the outside, its role was to visually convey and explain the meanings of Scripture to the uneducated and uninformed parishioners. As an embodiment of the divine, the sublime in Gothic architectural and artistic practice, vertical rhythms, pointed forms, and the image of light, which spreads through stained glass windows and creates a special atmosphere, were used.
Kotliar et al. (Wed,) studied this question.