Northern France had not ignored sculpture in the Romanesque period: its workshops had produced capitals decorated with foliage or animals, but rarely with the human figure, and the great sculpted tympanum had remained unknown there. It was in this region that Gothic art came into being, and from its beginning sculpted works of very high quality appeared, notably on the façade of Saint-Denis. What still exists of the masterpieces produced by these northern provinces of France before the end of the 13th c. is considerable, despite important losses caused by revolutionary vandalism. In all this output, sculpture was strictly subordinated to architecture: after the death of Louis IX, profound changes took place.

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