GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN EUROPE
The first decades of the 12th century were marked throughout Europe, as
far as architecture was concerned, by the final breaking loose from the
Roman traditions that had so long been accepted as binding, and the
revolt against which had been inaugurated more than a hundred years
before. The struggle between the old and new methods of building very
clearly reflected that of the people for greater freedom of thought and
action in the countries in which it took place. The keynote of both was
an aspiration after nobler things, and, in architecture, a yearning for
religious expression, typified by the pointing upwards of the spires and
pinnacles of churches and cathedrals, coincided with the craving of
builders for increased lightness and grace of structure. The lofty
vaults and complicated systems of buttresses of the Gothic style bore
striking witness to the ambitious daring of their designers, a daring
more than justified by its results.
[Illustration: Gothic Vaulting]
The term Gothic, that now calls up a vision of ethereal beauty, was,
strange to say, first given to the style that grew out of the Romanesque
by the artists of the Renaissance as an expression of their contempt for
what they looked upon as outworn methods of building, similar to those
of the Gothic barbarians in warfare. It very soon, however, lost all
association with this most inappropriate comparison, becoming synonymous
with all that is most beautiful in the architecture of the period to
which it is applied.
The most important characteristics of Gothic buildings are the
introduction, wherever possible, of vertical or very sharply pointed
details, such as highly pitched roofs and gables, spires and pinnacles,
pointed arches and pointed vaulting, flying buttresses, that grew ever
slenderer and more decorative, leading downwards from the roof, and
counteracting the tremendous thrust of the suspended vault of stone, all
of true structural value. To these must be added the minor peculiarities
of slenderer columns than those of Romanesque buildings, several being
often clustered together, mouldings cut into the stone of the capitals
of the columns, arcading &c., instead of projecting beyond the surface,
the grouping of several windows under the arch, and the increase in the
beauty of their tracery. The so-called lancet or long narrow window with
stilted head, pointed like an arch, is specially distinctive of Early
Gothic, and was later supplemented by the more elaborate rose window,
the stained glass in them, and in the more complex groups, adding
greatly to the aesthetic effect of the whole building, the many coloured
light from them relieving the monotony of the stone work.
[Illustration: Gothic Vaulting]
The general appearance of the interior of a Gothic cathedral, with its
long perspective of nave, aisles, and choir, its finely proportioned
triforia and clerestories, and, above all, its graceful arches leading
up to their points of union in the soaring roof, may justly be called a
poem in stone, whilst its exterior is equally remarkable for the close
correlation of all its parts, producing an impression of consistent
unity of design. An added charm is given alike to the interior and
exterior by the combined richness and quaintness of the decorative
sculpture, in which is clearly illustrated the delight in symbolism of
the mediaeval craftsmen, who, working in close accord with architect and
builder, supplemented effigies of heroes and heroines of the faith,
royal patrons, &c., with emblematic animals, fruit, flowers, and
foliage, welding the most incongruous forms into an elaborate and
beautiful scheme of ornamentation.
[Illustration: Gargoyle]
It was in Northern France that the Gothic style was first developed, and
there, as elsewhere, it passed through three phases. The first,
characterised by comparative severity of style and simplicity of
decoration, prevailing in the 12th and 13th centuries; the second, to
which the name of Rayonnant is sometimes given, on account of the
ray-like window tracery, in the 14th; and the third, known as the
Flamboyant, because of the flame-like tracery and general brightness of
the ornamentation, in the 15th century.
[Illustration: Flying Buttress]
A hint of the coming change was, as has already been shown, given in
many a Romanesque building, notably, to quote but two cases in point, in
the Cathedral of Evreux, and the Church of S. Etienne, Beauvais, but it
was in the Cathedral of S. Denis, near Paris, founded in 1140, that the
full significance of that change was revealed. It retains, it is true,
round-headed arches above some of its windows and a few projecting
decorative mouldings, but in other respects it is essentially Gothic,
its double aisles foreshadowing those of the later Notre Dame of Paris,
which may justly be said to be an epitome of the development of the
pointed style in France. Specially dear to the French nation on account
of its intimate association with many thrilling episodes of its history,
it remains, in spite of all the vicissitudes through which it has
passed, so far as its general structure is concerned, very much what it
was when first completed in the late 13th century. The noble western
facade, with its profuse and ornate ornamentation, and the fine square
towers flanking it, each pierced with effective openings and adorned
with grotesque gargoyles, contrast with the slender central
spire--which, by the way, is modern--tiers of graceful flying
buttresses, and the numerous groups of pinnacles, whilst the long line
of the great roof ridge brings into relief the comparative intricacy of
the design of the rest of the building, especially of the extremities of
the transepts with their fairy-like arcading, beautiful sculptures, and
grand rose windows.
The most distinctive details of the interior of Notre Dame are the
massive piers and symmetrical arches of varying width of the nave, the
simple but most effective vaulting of it, the double aisles and the
choir; the shortness of the transepts, atoned for by the unusual length
of the semicircular apse, with its circlet of chapels; the combination
in the clerestory of pointed-headed and rose windows, and, above all,
the exquisitely proportioned and spacious triforium, which surmounts the
whole of the double aisles and forms a circular gallery with arcaded
openings, harmonising alike with those of the nave below and the
clerestory above, and a stone vault of pointed intersecting arches
springing from slender clustered columns.
[Illustration: Gothic Arcade]
[Illustration: Gothic Steeple]
Contemporaneous with Notre Dame is Laon Cathedral, the original and
characteristic chevet of which was replaced in the early 13th century by
a square termination, in imitation it is supposed of some English
church, but which otherwise resembles the Cathedral of Paris, especially
in its fine western facade and open vaulted triforium. In the Cathedral
of Chartres, founded in the 12th century, but practically rebuilt in the
13th after its almost complete destruction by fire, the further progress
of the style may be studied, its arches being more stilted and its nave
and choir wider than those of its predecessors, whilst its closed-in
triforium is significant of the ever increasing height of the roofs,
necessitating the strengthening of the walls, a change that was,
however, quickly succeeded and, to a great extent, neutralised by the
piercing and filling in with glass of the wall behind the arcading.
Other characteristics of Chartres Cathedral are the noble sculptures of
the west front, that are not only among the finest but the least injured
in France, those of the south and north porches that are scarcely
inferior, the dignified towers surmounted by beautiful and graceful
spires of different but harmonious designs, and the double tier of
flying buttresses of the nave. The last named are moreover of unusual
construction, each consisting of two parts, the upper strengthened by an
arcade with round-headed arches, springing from massive stunted piers,
that seem to connect the advanced Gothic of the rest of the building,
with the late Romanesque style.
The Cathedral of Rheims is another typical Gothic building with a
western facade, the deeply recessed central portal of which is
especially fine, resembling those of Notre Dame, Laon, and Chartres; a
remarkably effective central tower that rises nearly sixty feet above
the high-pitched roof; a well-developed chevet, a walled-in triforium
similar to that of Chartres, a noble series of clerestory and several
grand rose windows filled with very beautiful stained glass.
[Illustration: Gothic Clustered Column]
In the Cathedral of Amiens French Gothic architecture touched its
highest point of excellence, before the over exaggeration of its
distinctive peculiarities sounded the note of decadence. Begun in 1220,
when all the structural problems of the pointed style had been finally
solved, it was completed in 1272, and although it has more than once
been seriously injured by fire, it has been so successfully restored
that it still remains one of the noblest churches of Europe, the one
thing detracting from the solemn beauty of its general external
appearance being the later Flamboyant spire, that is quite out of
character with the rest of the building. Its great height and breadth;
the symmetry of its proportions; the dignified simplicity of its
vaulting, which in nave, aisles and transepts, chevet chapels and
ambulatory is of similar design, the centre from which the ribs radiate
being in every case so situated that these ribs are all of equal length;
the grand sculptures and fine arcading of the great west front, the
towers of which, though they differ in detail, harmonise well with each
other; the exquisite statues and bas-reliefs of the transept portals;
the combined strength and grace of the many flying buttresses; the
admirable system of lighting, windows occupying the whole of the space
between the main arcades of the nave and the roof; the beautiful and
varied effects of perspective from many different points of view in the
interior; with the minor detail of the marvellous carvings in the choir,
justify the claim that Amiens Cathedral is the crowning glory of Gothic
architecture and an ample vindication of its principles.
In the contemporaneous Beauvais Cathedral, that was intended to rival
that of Amiens in its height and in the ethereal lightness of its
stilted arches, a convincing proof was given of the danger of carrying
those principles too far, for the vaulting of the choir collapsed before
the completion of the building, which, though it was restored and added
to later, still remains unfinished. With it may be mentioned the Sainte
Chapelle of Paris, the window tracery in which is very fine; the
Cathedral of Coutances, which has a very fine central lantern
tower--that is to say, one with windows that throw a light upon the
centre of the interior of a building--and a beautiful tapering spire;
and the Cathedral of Lisieux, with a very characteristic chevet and
vaulting resembling that of the Cathedral of Amiens.
The Cathedral of Le Mans, already referred to in connection with its
noble Romanesque nave, has a most beautiful late 13th century Gothic
choir, with one of the finest chevets in France. The aisles, that at the
western end of the building are single, develop at the transepts into a
double circlet, with chapels radiating from them, whilst the choir has
exceptionally fine 13th and 14th century stained glass windows. The
general effect of the interior, in which the solemn dignity of the nave
contrasts with the almost ethereal beauty of the choir and its
surroundings, is most impressive, whilst the exterior with its graceful
flying buttresses and pinnacles is equally fine.
The Cathedral of Bourges is another typical 13th century Gothic building
which, though it is without the usual transepts, has a beautiful apse,
the ambulatories of which have unusually wide spaces between the
columns, double aisles flanking the nave as well as the choir and
chevet, producing a unique impression of vastness, whilst the exterior
is equally effective with its five grand western portals, a long main
roof unbroken by towers or spires, and a series of steeply pitched
supplementary roofs above the chapels of the eastern end.
Dating from the same period as the cathedrals just noticed is the
fortified Abbey of Mont St. Michel, that has been again and again
rebuilt, and in which the gradual evolution of the Gothic style in
France can be well studied, especially in the lovely chapel justly
called the Merveille or the Marvel, that, with its cloisters, is still
much what it was when finished in 1228, whilst the Chatelet or
Gate-house, with its massive round towers and the various abbatial
buildings, such as the Salle des Hotes or Guest-Hall, are equally
characteristic of French domestic architecture of the same period. On
the other hand the Abbey Church, that crowns the mount, has been so
much-restored and modified that little of the original structure
remains, except the crypt which, with its massive piers and arches and
many supplementary chapels, is practically the same as that from which
uprose the famous abbey, the building of which was a labour of love to
so many successive abbots.
The Church of S. Pierre, Caen, which has a fine tower with a beautiful
pierced spire, is a good example of the second period of the Gothic
style in France, and at Rouen the Rayonnant and Flamboyant phases are
exceptionally well illustrated. The Abbey Church of S. Ouen was built
entirely in the 14th century, and, with its characteristic high-pitched
roofs over each bay of the aisles, its lofty towers--those at the west
end with tapering spires--its delicately sculptured portals, double
tiers of flying buttresses, triple division of arcades, triforium, and
clerestory in the nave, the number and beauty of its stained glass
windows, its graceful clustered piers, that rise without a break from
the ground to the springing of the vault, and its beautiful chevet, with
its circlet of eleven chapels, is an epitome of all the most
characteristic features of Gothic architecture.
The Church of St. Maclou in the same town is a fine gem of Flamboyant
work, with its stilted arches, tapering spires and pinnacles, and lavish
internal and external decoration, whilst in the Cathedral of Rouen can
be recognised details of each of the three stages of French Gothic,
combined with those of the later Renaissance. The western facade,
lateral portals, towers, spires, and fine rose windows are typically
Flamboyant, and the general view of the interior, with its long vista of
nave and choir, its slightly pointed arcading, two tiers of which divide
the nave from the aisles, and, above all, its simple but most effective
vaulting, is essentially that of an early example of the pointed style,
that of the Lady Chapel being especially effective.
Good secular examples of the Gothic style in France are the Palais de
Justice and Hotel de Bourgtheroulde, both at Rouen, the Chateau of Coucy
near Laon, the Hotel de Cluny, Paris, the Chateau de Pierrefonds in
Normandy, and, most characteristic of all, the House of Jacques Coeur
at Bourges. It was, however, in Belgium that Gothic municipal and
domestic architecture reached its noblest development, the great halls
of the towns being remarkable for their dignified and massive
appearance, and, except in the latest examples built after the decadence
had set in, for the severe restraint of their ornamentation. Of
rectangular plan, and several stories in height, with steeply pitched
roofs, the gable ends adorned with many pinnacles, and the long sloping
sides broken by dormer windows, contrasting with the rows of
pointed-headed lights in the walls beneath, and lofty central tower of
ornate design, these noble buildings, of which those at Ypres, Bruges,
Brussels, Ghent, and Tournai are the best, are the chief pride of the
cities to which they belong. They rival in the affections of the people
even the cathedrals of contemporary date, although those of Antwerp,
specially noteworthy for its seven aisles, Louvain, the nave and
transepts of which, as already stated, are Romanesque, whilst the choir
is a fine specimen of Early Gothic, Brussels, Ghent, Louvain, and Liege
are all noble structures, resembling those of France in general plan,
though most of them are shorter and of greater width.
In Spain, as in France, Gothic architecture passed through three phases:
the first, that prevailed in the second half of the 12th and the first
of the 13th century, to a great extent the outcome of the Romanesque;
the second that succeeded it and lasted until the beginning of the 15th
century, distinguished by great dignity of structure and appropriateness
of ornamentation; the last, that prevailed until nearly the middle of
the 16th century, corresponding to a great extent with French
Flamboyant, though it lasted longer and was considerably modified by
Moorish influence.
To the first period of Gothic architecture in Spain belong the
Cathedrals of Santiago de Compostella, of cruciform plan with a vaulted
roof, semicircular headed arcades and windows, and an ornate western
facade recalling that of Chartres; Zamora, Taragona, and the older of
the two at Salamanca, the three last retaining the characteristic
cimborio, or low dome, already referred to in connection with Romanesque
work in Spain, rising from the intersection of nave and transepts, but
of more complex structure than in earlier examples, the ribs of the
vaulting being upheld by pendentives and the whole surmounted by a
secondary dome of considerable height pierced with windows, and at
Salamanca flanked by four circular towers. Unfortunately, in later
Spanish ecclesiastical architecture this beautiful feature was
abandoned, and the Cathedrals of Toledo, Leon, and Burgos are of the
French type, with chevets, double aisles, clustered pillars upholding
pointed arches, vaulted roofs, ornate decorative arcading, fine open
triforia, and lofty clerestories. The exterior of that of Burgos is
especially ornate, with three pinnacled towers, tapering open-traceried
spires rising from those at the western end. In the 14th century the
cruciform plan, which had so long prevailed, was replaced in Spain by
one without either aisles or transepts; the buttresses that had
previously been introduced outside the building to resist the thrust of
the vaulting, were brought within the walls so as to make the nave one
vast vaulted hall, flanked by lateral chapels as in the fine Cathedral
of Gerona and the Church of S. Maria del Pino at Barcelona. Later,
however, this comparatively simple mode of structure was superseded by
vast complicated buildings such as the Cathedral of Salamanca and that
of Segovia, both dating from the 16th century, the vaulting of which is
especially complicated, with very ornate ribs, whilst the towers closely
resemble those of contemporaneous Moorish mosques.
The Gothic style, that was alike alien to the Italian temperament and
unsuited to the Italian climate, never really took root in Italy, the
soil of which was thoroughly impregnated with classic traditions. The
horizontal cornice, so characteristic of Greek and Early Roman
architecture is of frequent occurrence, the round arch was long retained
in combination with pointed highly-pitched roofs, and spires are rare,
whilst the beautiful groined vaulting, the flying buttresses, and the
exquisite window-tracery, that lend so great a charm to the cathedrals
and churches of France and England, are very seldom met with. There was
no gradual evolution in Italy from Early to Late Gothic, and for this
reason it is usual to treat Italian buildings in the pointed style in
three geographical instead of chronological groups, namely, the
northern, central, and southern. To the first belongs the Cathedral of
Milan, the largest Gothic building in Italy, the exterior of which is
somewhat spoiled by its over-decorated western facade, though the effect
of the long rows of lateral pinnacles, the numerous flying buttresses,
the low conical dome and lofty spire is very fine. The interior, with
its vast nave, double aisles, and complex apse, its lofty piers, with
capitals consisting of life-sized figures in niches, and its noble
clerestory, presents an appearance of grandeur unequalled by any other
Gothic church in Italy. The Certosa or Carthusian Monastery, the facade
of which is a century older than the rest of the building; the Churches
of S. Maria del Carmine and S. Michele, both at Pavia, the latter with a
very typical campanile; the Cathedral of Genoa; the Churches of S.
Anastasia and S. Zenone at Verona, are all good examples of
Italian-Gothic, whilst amongst secular buildings in the same style in
Northern Italy, the Ducal and other palaces at Venice, such as the
so-called Ca' d'Ora are remarkable for the beauty of their proportions,
the effectiveness of their window-grouping, and the general
appropriateness and grace of their decorative details, especially of
their balconies.
In Central Italy the Cathedrals of Florence and Siena are specially
typical, the former, with its dome of considerably later date than the
rest of the building, contrasting with the Campanile or Bell Tower named
after Giotto, the latter being noteworthy for the combination of a dome
with pointed arcading and horizontal cornices, and the association on
the west front of rounded with stilted arches, the last a peculiarity
also of the cathedral at Orvieto, the facade of which is one of the most
beautiful in Italy.
The Gothic work of Southern Italy is far more florid than that of the
rest of the peninsula, and this is equally true of that of Sicily. In
the churches of both, as in the earlier Romanesque buildings already
noticed, Saracenic, Greek, and Roman influences are alike noticeable,
especially in those of Naples and the Cathedrals of Palermo, Monreale,
and Messina, the three last named combining the pointed arch distinctive
of Gothic, with the elaborate surface decoration so characteristic of
the Norman style.
German architects did not adopt the pointed arch until considerably
later than those of the south and west of Europe, but to atone for this
they delighted in highly pitched roofs with stilted gables, and lofty
towers, with pointed roofs and tapering spires. The exteriors of their
buildings differ very greatly from the interiors, in which the
round-headed windows and semicircular arches of the Romanesque style are
retained, enriched, however, with beautiful and ornate carving. The term
round-arched Gothic is therefore often applied to the earliest phase of
the style in Germany, of which good examples are the Churches of the
Holy Apostles, of S. Martin and S. Maria in Capitolo, all in Cologne,
the Abbey Churches of Arnstein and Andernach and the Liebfrauenkirche at
Treves, the last built on the foundations of a much earlier chapel.
The second phase of Gothic architecture in Germany, in which the pointed
arch was substituted for the semicircular, did not begin until the
second half of the 13th century. To it belong the greater part of the
Cathedral of Strasburg, which combines, with much beautiful Romanesque
work, a typical Gothic facade with a fine open tracery spire, a
companion to which was designed but never erected. The Cathedral of
Freiburg, with a graceful and ornate spire, the Church of S. Stephen at
Vienna, with aisles almost as lofty as the nave, portions of the Church
of S. Sebald, Nuremberg, the decorative sculpture of which is remarkably
fine, and, above all, the Cathedral of Cologne, the noblest example of
German Gothic, with an exceptionally symmetrical plan, which in spite of
the fact that the building extended over more than a century, and that
the west point was only completed in the 19th century, was not departed
from, so that it remains a unique specimen of mediaeval design. It has a
noble nave, double aisles, one of which is continued round the eastern
apse and is divided into seven chapels, forming a picturesque chevet.
Massive towers with a tapering central spire and many pinnacles flank
the western entrance, elaborately decorated buttresses break the long
lines of the walls, and from the intersecting nave and transepts rises a
slender but most effective spire.
[Illustration: Plan of Cologne Cathedral]
To the third period of Gothic architecture in Germany belong Ulm
Cathedral, which has a nave of exceptional height; the unfinished Church
of S. Barbara at Kullenberg, with a very picturesque chevet, the
exterior of which is most lavishly decorated, and a steeply pitched roof
of unusual height, with soaring towers and pinnacles; S. Catherine at
Oppenheim, the over ornate complex decorative carvings of which are
specially typical; and the parish Church of Thaun, the western portal of
which is remarkably fine.
With these ecclesiastical buildings may be named the town halls of
Lubeck, Brunswick, Munster, and other German towns, which, though they
are neither so beautiful or so characteristic as those of Belgium, are
of noble and symmetrical proportions, whilst a word of recognition must
also be given to the beautiful domestic architecture of Germany,
especially that of Prague, Nuremberg, and Frankfort all rich in
survivals of mediaeval times.