A Text-Book of the History of Architecture Part 16

Etienne at Chalons-sur-Marne, 1230 (spire, 1520); Seez C., 1230, rebuilt 1260 (remodelled 14th century); Notre Dame de Dijon, 1230; Reims, Lady chapel of Archbishop's palace, 1230; Chapel Royal at St. Germain-en-Laye, 1240; Ste. Chapelle at Paris, 1242-47 (W.

rose, 15th century); Coutances C., 1254-74; Beauvais C., 1247-72 (rebuilt 1337-47; trans. portals, 1500-48); Notre Dame de Grace at Clermont, 1248 (finished 1350); Dol C., 13th century; St.

Martin-des-Champs at Paris, nave 13th century (choir Romanesque); Bordeaux C., 1260; Narbonne C., 1272-1320; Limoges, 1273 (finished 16th century); St. Urbain, Troyes, 1264; Rodez C., 1277-1385 (altered, completed 16th century); church St. Quentin, 1280-1300; St. Benigne at Dijon, 1280-91; Alby C., 1282 (nave, 14th; choir, 15th century; S. portal, 1473-1500); Meaux C., mainly rebuilt 1284 (W. end much altered 15th, finished 16th century); Cahors C., rebuilt 1285-93 (W. front, 15th century); Orleans, 1287-1328 (burned, rebuilt 1601-1829).--14th century: St. Bertrand de Comminges, 1304-50; St. Nazaire at Carca.s.sonne, choir and trans.

on Romanesque nave; Montpellier C., 1364; St. Ouen at Rouen, choir, 1318-39 (trans., 1400-39; nave, 1464-91; W. front, 1515); Royal Chapel at Vincennes, 1385 (?)-1525.--15th and 16th century: St. Nizier at Lyons rebuilt; St. Severin, St. Merri, St. Germain l'Auxerrois, all at Paris; Notre Dame de l'Epine at Chalons-sur-Marne; choir of St. Etienne at Beauvais; Saintes C., rebuilt, 1450; St. Maclou at Rouen (finished 16th century); church at Brou; St. Wulfrand at Abbeville; abbey of St. Riquier--these three all early 16th century.--HOUSES, CASTLES, AND PALACES: Bishop's palace at Paris, 1160 (demolished); castle of Coucy, 1220-30; Louvre at Paris (the original chateau), 1225-1350; Palais de Justice at Paris, originally the royal residence, 1225-1400; Bishop's palace at Laon, 1245 (addition to Romanesque hall); castle Montargis, 13th century; castle Pierrefonds, Bishop's palace at Narbonnne, palace of Popes at Avignon--all 14th century; donjon of palace at Poitiers, 1395; Hotel des Amba.s.sadeurs at Dijon, 1420; house of Jacques Cur at Bourges, 1443; Palace, Dijon, 1467; Ducal palace at Nancy, 1476; Hotel Cluny at Paris, 1490; castle of Creil, late 15th century, finished in 16th; E.

wing palace of Blois, 1498-1515, for Louis XII.; Palace de Justice at Rouen, 1499-1508.

CHAPTER XVII.

GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN GREAT BRITAIN.

BOOKS RECOMMENDED: As before, Corroyer, Parker, Reber. Also, Bell's Series of _Handbooks of English Cathedrals_. Billings, _The Baronial and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Scotland_. Bond, _Gothic Architecture in England_. Brandon, _a.n.a.lysis of Gothic Architecture_. Britton, _Cathedral Antiquities of Great Britain_.

Ditchfield, _The Cathedrals of England_. Murray, _Handbooks of the English Cathedrals_. Parker, _Introduction to Gothic Architecture_; _Glossary of Architectural Terms_; _Companion to Glossary_, etc. Rickman, _An Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of English Architecture_. Sharpe, _Architectural Parallels_; _The Seven Periods of English Architecture_. Van Rensselaer, _English Cathedrals_. Winkles and Moule, _Cathedral Churches of England and Wales_. Willis, _Architectural History of Canterbury Cathedral_; ditto _of Winchester Cathedral_; _Treatise on Vaults_.

+GENERAL CHARACTER.+ Gothic architecture was developed in England under a strongly established royal power, with an episcopate in no sense hostile to the abbots or in arms against the barons. Many of the cathedrals had monastic chapters, and not infrequently abbots were invested with the episcopal rank.

English Gothic architecture was thus by no means predominantly an architecture of cathedrals. If architectural activity in England was on this account less intense and widespread in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries than in France, it was not, on the other hand, so soon exhausted. Fewer new cathedrals were built, but the progressive rebuilding of those already existing seems not to have ceased until the middle or end of the fifteenth century. Architecture in England developed more slowly, but more uniformly than in France. It contented itself with simpler problems; and if it failed to rival Amiens in boldness of construction and in lofty majesty, it at least never perpetrated a folly like Beauvais. In richness of internal decoration, especially in the mouldings and ribbed vaulting, and in the picturesque grouping of simple ma.s.ses externally, the British builders went far toward atoning for their structural timidity.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 128.--PLAN OF SALISBURY CATHEDRAL.]

+EARLY GOTHIC BUILDINGS.+ The pointed arch and ribbed vault were importations from France. Early examples appear in the Cistercian abbeys of Furness and Kirkstall, and in the Temple Church at London (1185). But it was in the +Choir of Canterbury+, as rebuilt by William of Sens, after the destruction by fire in 1170 of Anselm's Norman choir, that these French Gothic features were first applied in a thoroughgoing manner. In plan this choir resembled that of the cathedral of Sens; and its coupled round piers, with capitals carved with foliage, its pointed arches, its six-part vaulting, and its _chevet_, were distinctly French.

The Gothic details thus introduced slowly supplanted the round arch and other Norman features. For fifty years the styles were more or less mingled in many buildings, though +Lincoln Cathedral+, as rebuilt in 1185-1200, retained nothing of the earlier round-arched style. But the first church to be designed and built from the foundations in the new style was the cathedral of +Salisbury+ (1220-1258; Fig. 128).

Contemporary with Amiens, it is a h.o.m.ogeneous and typical example of the Early English style. The predilection for great length observable in the Anglo-Norman churches (as at Norwich and Durham) still prevailed, as it continued to do throughout the Gothic period; Salisbury is 480 feet long. The double transepts, the long choir, the square east end, the relatively low vault (84 feet to the ridge), the narrow grouped windows, all are thoroughly English. Only the simple four-part vaulting recalls French models. +Westminster Abbey+ (1245-1269), on the other hand, betrays in a marked manner the French influence in its internal loftiness (100 feet), its polygonal _chevet_ and chapels, and its strongly accented exterior flying-b.u.t.tresses (Fig. 137).

+MIXTURE OF STYLES.+ Very few English cathedrals are as h.o.m.ogeneous as the two just mentioned, nearly all having undergone repeated remodellings in successive periods. Durham, Norwich, and Oxford are wholly Norman but for their Gothic vaults. Ely, Rochester, Gloucester, and Hereford have Norman naves and Gothic choirs. Peterborough has an early Gothic facade and late Gothic retro-choir added to an otherwise completely Norman structure. Winchester is a Norman church remodelled with early Perpendicular details. The purely Gothic churches and cathedrals, except parish churches--in which England is very rich--are not nearly as numerous in England as in France.

+PERIODS.+ The development of English Gothic architecture followed the same general sequence as the French, and like it the successive stages were most conspicuously characterized by the forms of the tracery.

The EARLY ENGLISH or LANCET period extended roundly from 1175 or 1180 to 1280, and was marked by simplicity, dignity, and purity of design.

The DECORATED or GEOMETRIC period covered another century, 1280 to 1380, and was characterized by its decorative richness and greater lightness of construction.

The PERPENDICULAR period extended from 1380, or thereabout, well into the sixteenth century. Its salient features were the use of fan-vaulting, four-centred arches, and tracery of predominantly vertical and horizontal lines. The tardy introduction of Renaissance forms finally put an end to the Gothic style in England, after a long period of mixed and transitional architecture.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 129.--RIBBED VAULTING, CHOIR OF EXETER CATHEDRAL.]

+VAULTING.+ The richness and variety of English vaulting contrast strikingly with the persistent uniformity of the French. A few of the early Gothic vaults, as in the aisles of Peterborough, and later the naves of Durham, Salisbury, and Gloucester, were simple four-part, ribbed vaults substantially like the French. But the English disliked and avoided the twisted and dome-like surfaces of the French vaults, preferring horizontal ridges, and, in the filling-masonry, straight courses meeting at the ridge in zigzag lines, as in southwest France (see p. 200). This may be seen in Westminster Abbey. The idea of ribbed construction was then seized upon and given a new application. By springing a large number of ribs from each point of support, the vaulting-surfaces were divided into long, narrow, triangles, the filling of which was comparatively easy (Fig. 129). The ridge was itself furnished with a straight rib, decorated with carved rosettes or _bosses_ at each intersection with a vaulting-rib. The naves and choirs of Lincoln, Lichfield, Exeter, and the nave of Westminster ill.u.s.trate this method. The logical corollary of this practice was the introduction of minor ribs called _liernes_, connecting the main ribs and forming complex reticulated and star-shaped patterns. Vaults of this description are among the most beautiful in England. One of the richest is in the choir of Gloucester (1337-1377). Less correct constructively is that over the choir of Wells, while the choir of Ely, the nave of Tewkesbury Abbey (Fig. 130), and all the vaulting of Winchester as rebuilt by William of Wykeham (1390), ill.u.s.trate the same system. Such vaults are called _lierne_ or _star_ vaults.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 130.--NET OR LIERNE VAULTING, TEWKESBURY ABBEY.]

+FAN-VAULTING.+ The next step in the process may be observed in the vaults of the choir of Oxford Cathedral (Christ Church), of the retro-choir of Peterborough, of the cloisters of Gloucester, and many other examples. The diverging ribs being made of uniform curvature, the _severeys_ (the inverted pyramidal vaulting-ma.s.ses springing from each support) became a species of concave conoids, meeting at the ridge in such a way as to leave a series of flat lozenge-shaped s.p.a.ces at the summit of the vault (Fig. 136). The ribs were multiplied indefinitely, and losing thus in individual and structural importance became a mere decorative pattern of tracery on the severeys. To conceal the awkward flat lozenges at the ridge, elaborate panelling was resorted to; or, in some cases, long stone pendents were inserted at those points--a device highly decorative but wholly unconstructive. At Cambridge, in +King's College Chapel+, at Windsor, in +St. George's Chapel+, and in the +Chapel of Henry VII.+ at Westminster, this sort of vaulting received its most elaborate development. The _fan-vault_, as it is called, ill.u.s.trates the logical evolution of a decorative element from a structural starting--point, leading to results far removed from the original conception. Rich and sumptuous as are these ceilings, they are with all their ornament less satisfactory than the ribbed vaults of the preceding period.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 131.--VAULT OF CHAPTER-HOUSE, WELLS.]

+CHAPTER-HOUSES.+ One of the most beautiful forms of ribbed vaulting was developed in the polygonal halls erected for the deliberations of the cathedral chapters of Lincoln (1225), Westminster (1250), Salisbury (1250), and Wells (1292), in which the vault-ribs radiated from a central column to the sides and angles of the polygon (Fig. 131). If these vaults were less majestic than domes of the same diameter, they were far more decorative and picturesque, while the chapter-houses themselves were the most original and striking products of English Gothic art. Every feature was designed with strict regard for the structural system determined by the admirable vaulting, and the Sainte Chapelle was not more logical in its exemplification of Gothic principles. To the four above-mentioned examples should be added that of York (1280-1330), which differs from them in having no central column: by some critics it is esteemed the finest of them all. Its ceiling is a Gothic dome, 57 feet in diameter, but unfortunately executed in wood.

Its geometrical window-tracery and richly canopied stalls are admirable.

+OCTAGON AT ELY.+ The magnificent +Octagon+ of Ely Cathedral, at the intersection of the nave and transepts, belongs in the same category with these polygonal chapter-house vaults. It was built by Alan of Walsingham in 1337, after the fall of the central tower and the destruction of the adjacent bays of the choir. It occupies the full width of the three aisles, and covers the ample s.p.a.ce thus enclosed with a simple but beautiful groined and ribbed vault of wood reaching to a central octagonal lantern, which rises much higher and shows externally as well as internally. Unfortunately, this vault is of wood, and would require important modifications of detail if carried out in stone. But it is so n.o.ble in general design and total effect, that one wonders the type was not universally adopted for the crossing in all cathedrals, until one observes that no cathedral of importance was built after Walsingham's time, nor did any other central towers opportunely fall to the ground.

+WINDOWS AND TRACERY.+ In the Early English Period (1200-1280 or 1300) the windows were tall and narrow (_lancet_ windows), and generally grouped by twos and threes, though sometimes four and even five are seen together (as the "Five Sisters" in the N. transept of York). In the nave of Salisbury and the retro-choir of Ely the side aisles are lighted by coupled windows and the clearstory by triple windows, the central one higher than the others--a surviving Norman practice. Plate-tracery was, as in France, an intermediate step leading to the development of bar-tracery (see Fig. 110). The English followed here the same reasoning as the French. At first the openings const.i.tuted the design, the intervening stonework being of secondary importance. Later the forms of the openings were subordinated to the pattern of the stone framework of bars, arches, circles, and cusps. Bar-tracery of this description prevailed in England through the greater part of the Decorated Period (1280-1380), and somewhat resembled the contemporary French geometric tracery, though more varied and less rigidly constructive in design. An early example of this tracery occurs in the cloisters of Salisbury (Fig.

132); others in the clearstories of the choirs of Lichfield, Lincoln, and Ely, the nave of York, and the chapter-houses mentioned above, where, indeed, it seems to have received its earliest development. After the middle of the fourteenth century lines of double curvature were introduced, producing what is called _flowing_ tracery, somewhat resembling the French flamboyant, though earlier in date (Fig. 111).

Examples of this style are found in Wells, in the side aisles and triforium of the choir of Ely, and in the S. transept rose-window of Lincoln.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 132.--CLOISTERS, SALISBURY CATHEDRAL (SHOWING UPPER PART OF CHAPTER-HOUSE).]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 133.--PERPENDICULAR TRACERY, WEST WINDOW OF ST. GEORGE'S, WINDSOR.]

+THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.+ Flowing tracery was, however, a transitional phase of design, and was soon superseded by _Perpendicular_ tracery, in which the mullions were carried through to the top of the arch and intersected by horizontal transoms. This formed a very rigid and mechanically correct system of stone framing, but lacked the grace and charm of the two preceding periods. The earliest examples are seen in the work of Edington and of Wykeham in the reconstructed cathedral of Winchester (1360-1394), where the tracery was thus made to harmonize with the accentuated and multiplied vertical lines of the interior design. It was at this late date that the English seem first to have fully appropriated the Gothic ideas of emphasized vertical elements and wall surfaces reduced to a minimum. The development of fan-vaulting had led to the adoption of a new form of arch, the four-centred or _Tudor arch_ (Fig. 133), to fit under the depressed apex of the vault. The whole design internally and externally was thenceforward controlled by the form of the vaulting and of the openings. The windows were made of enormous size, especially at the east end of the choir, which was square in nearly all English churches, and in the west windows over the entrance. These windows had already reached, in the Decorated Period, an enormous size, as at York; in the Perpendicular Period the two ends of the church were as nearly as possible converted into walls of gla.s.s. The East Window of Gloucester reaches the prodigious dimensions of 38 by 72 feet. The most complete examples of the Perpendicular tracery and of the style in general are the three chapels already mentioned (p. 223); those, namely, of +King's College+ at Cambridge, of +St. George+ at Windsor, and of +Henry VII.+ in Westminster Abbey.

+CONSTRUCTIVE DESIGN.+ The most striking peculiarity of English Gothic design was its studious avoidance of temerity or venturesomeness in construction. Both the height and width of the nave were kept within very moderate bounds, and the supports were never reduced to extreme slenderness. While much impressiveness of effect was undoubtedly lost thereby, there was some gain in freedom of design, and there was less obtrusion of constructive elements in the exterior composition. The flying-b.u.t.tress became a feature of minor importance where the clearstory was kept low, as in most English churches. In many cases the flying arches were hidden under the aisle roofs. The English cathedrals and larger churches are long and low, depending for effect mainly upon the projecting ma.s.ses of their transepts, the imposing square central towers which commonly crown the crossing, and the grouping of the main structure with chapter-houses, cloisters, and Lady-chapels.

+FRONTS.+ The sides and east ends were, in most cases, more successful than the west fronts. In these the English displayed a singular indifference or lack of creative power. They produced nothing to rival the majestic facades of Notre Dame, Amiens, or Reims, and their portals are almost ridiculously small. The front of +York+ Cathedral is the most notable in the list for its size and elaborate decoration. Those of +Lincoln+ and +Peterborough+ are, however, more interesting in the picturesqueness and singularity of their composition. The first-named forms a vast arcaded screen, masking the bases of the two western towers, and pierced by three huge Norman arches, retained from the original facade. The west front of Peterborough is likewise a mask or screen, mainly composed of three colossal recessed arches, whose vast scale completely dwarfs the little porches which give admittance to the church. Salisbury has a curiously illogical and ineffective facade.

Those of +Lichfield+ and +Wells+ are, on the other hand, imposing and beautiful designs, the first with its twin spires and rich arcading (Fig. 134), the second with its unusual wealth of figure-sculpture, and ma.s.sive square towers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 134.--WEST FRONT, LICHFIELD CATHEDRAL.]

+CENTRAL TOWERS.+ These are the most successful features of English exterior design. Most of them form lanterns internally over the crossing, giving to that point a considerable increase of dignity.

Externally they are usually ma.s.sive and lofty square towers, and having been for the most part completed during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries they are marked by great richness and elegance of detail.

Durham, York, Ely, Canterbury, Lincoln, and Gloucester maybe mentioned as notable examples of such square towers; that of Canterbury is the finest. Two or three have lofty spires over the lantern. Among these, that of Salisbury is chief, rising 424 feet from the ground, admirably designed in every detail. It was not completed till the middle of the fourteenth century, but most fortunately carries out with great felicity the spirit of the earlier style in which it was begun. Lichfield and Chichester have somewhat similar central spires, but less happy in proportion and detail than the beautiful Salisbury example.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 135.--ONE BAY OF CHOIR, LICHFIELD CATHEDRAL.]

+INTERIOR DESIGN.+ In the Norman churches the pier-arches, triforium, and clearstory were practically equal. In the Gothic churches the pier-arches generally occupy the lower half of the height, the upper half being divided nearly equally between the triforium and clearstory, as in Lincoln, Lichfield (nave), Ely (choir). In some cases, however (as at Salisbury, Westminster, Winchester, choir of Lichfield), the clearstory is magnified at the expense of the triforium (Fig. 135).

Three peculiarities of design sharply distinguish the English treatment of these features from the French. The first is the multiplicity of fine mouldings in the pier-arches; the second is the decorative elaboration of design in the triforium; the third, the variety in the treatment of the clearstory. In general the English interiors are much more ornate than the French. Black Purbeck marble is frequently used for the shafts cl.u.s.tered around the central core of the pier, giving a striking and somewhat singular effect of contrasted color. The rich vaulting, the highly decorated triforium, the moulded pier-arches, and at the end of the vista the great east window, produce an impression very different from the more simple and lofty stateliness of the French cathedrals. The great length and lowness of the English interiors combine with this decorative richness to give the impression of repose and grace, rather than of majesty and power. This tendency reached its highest expression in the Perpendicular churches and chapels, in which every surface was covered with minute panelling.

+CARVING.+ In the Early English Period the details were carved with a combined delicacy and vigor deserving of the highest praise. In the capitals and corbels, crockets and finials, the foliage was crisp and fine, curling into convex ma.s.ses and seeming to spring from the surface which it decorated. Mouldings were frequently ornamented with foliage of this character in the hollows, and another ornament, the _dog-tooth_ or _pyramid_, often served the same purpose, introducing repeated points of light into the shadows of the mouldings. These were fine and complex, deep hollows alternating with round mouldings (_bowtels_) sometimes made pear-shaped in section by a fillet on one side. _Cusping_--the decoration of an arch or circle by triangular projections on its inner edge--was introduced during this period, and became an important decorative resource, especially in tracery design. In the Decorated Period the foliage was less crisp; sea-weed and oak-leaves, closely and confusedly bunched, were used in the capitals, while crockets were larger, double-curved, with leaves swelling into convexities like oak-galls. Geometrical and flowing tracery were developed, and the mouldings of the tracery-bars, as of other features, lost somewhat in vigor and sharpness. The _ball-flower_ or b.u.t.ton replaced the dog's-tooth, and the hollows were less frequently adorned with foliage.

In the Perpendicular Period nearly all flat surfaces were panelled in designs resembling the tracery of the windows. The capitals were less important than those of the preceding periods, and the mouldings weaker and less effective. The Tudor rose appears as an ornament in square panels and on flat surfaces; and moulded battlements, which first appeared in Decorated work, now become a frequent crowning motive in place of a cornice. There is less originality and variety in the ornament, but a great increase in its amount (Fig. 136).

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 136.--FAN-VAULTING, HENRY VII.'S CHAPEL, WESTMINSTER ABBEY.]