architectural attraction of Beauvais. Its west front has a grand arched
doorway, with a sculptured tympanum, containing the Nativity, the
Adoration of the Magi, and the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin, and
four rows of figures of angels and others in the arch. The jambs and
central pier are completely denuded of all their shafts and statues,
and the whole work is much mutilated in all its parts; nevertheless,
it is the best thing remaining in the city, as far as goodness of
sculpture and detail can make a work good. The gable of this porch
runs back into a triplet, and the main gable has a cusped circular
window, now blocked up. The date of the whole front is early in the
thirteenth century. On the north side of the nave there is a fine
doorway, of very ornate Romanesque; it has been carefully repaired.
An arcade of semicircular arches above the doorway is diapered with a
pattern sunk in the stone and marked at regular intervals by red tiles
inlaid, and about two inches square. The effect is good, and it is, I
suppose, a restoration. The circular window on the north side of the
church is remarkable for the figures sculptured outside its label;
it is evidently a Wheel of Fortune window.[19] The buttresses of the
aisles are valuable examples of late Romanesque work. They have a fair
projection, but are weathered off some five or six feet below the
eaves’ corbel-table; and from their summit in some cases one, and in
others two, shafts rise to support the corbel-table. The choir is lofty
flamboyant work, but ugly. The nave, of early Transition character,
internally has very heavy groining-shafts, and the far from admirable
peculiarity of a triforium with arches formed of very flat segments of
circles, and the string under the clerestory rising in the same line,
and forming, as it were, a label to the arch below.
The gateway to the bishop’s palace, with its steep and picturesque
roofs; the palace itself, with its valuable remains of Romanesque
work at the back; a portion of a Romanesque house near it; and a fine
fourteenth-century gabled house in the Rue S. Véronique, with three
pointed and canopied windows in its first floor, are the principal
features of interest after the cathedral and S. Étienne. There is,
too, a great store of fine timber houses, one of which, in the Rue
S. Thomas, is particularly noticeable for the elaborate filling in of
encaustic tiles between all the timbers.
From Beauvais I made an excursion of some ten or fifteen miles, to
see the abbey church of S. Germer. It is a church little known, I
suspect, to most English tourists, but of very rare interest, and
equal in scale to our churches of the first class. The drive thither
among woods and low undulating hills is pleasant. The church consists
of a nave and aisles of eight bays, transepts, and an apse of seven
sides, with an aisle and two chapels on either side. The place of the
central chapel at the east is occupied by a low passage of three bays,
leading to a grand Lady-chapel of four bays, with an apse of seven.
The whole of the nave and choir are of fine style, in transition
from Romanesque to pointed. Externally, hardly any but round arches
are seen, but internally the main arches are pointed. I know few
things much more striking than the treatment of the apse. The main
arches have their soffits composed of a very bold round member, with
a large chevron on each side; and the effect of this, in connection
with the acutely pointed arches, is strikingly good.[20] Above this
is the groined triforium, opening to the church with an arcade of
semicircular arches, subdivided into two, and supported on coupled
detached shafts. Immediately under the rather plain clerestory windows
is a corbel-table, and in each bay square recesses, now blocked up,
but which look as though they had opened to the roof of the triforium.
The groining-ribs of the apse are large, and profusely adorned with
sculpture. The aisle round the apse is all built on the curve (as is
usually the case in early work), and the groining, constructed in the
same way, has those ungraceful and difficult curves which result from
this arrangement. Very good low metal parcloses divide the choir from
the aisles. In the nave some of the capitals appear to be of very early
date (especially along the north wall, where the acanthus is freely
used); the whole of the triforium is stopped up, but the design of this
part of the church seems to have been similar to that of the choir,
with the exception of the chevron round the arches. The groining, too,
save of the two eastern bays of the nave, is of later date. At present
the only steeple is an eighteenth century erection over the crossing;
but there was evidently an intention originally to build two western
towers. An altar of the same date as the church, which remains in it,
is of much interest, as from its rather ornate character it seems
probable that it was never intended to be covered with a cloth. It is
figured at p. 180 of M. de Caumont’s _Abécédaire_.
The exterior affords many features of interest. It is, as I have said,
almost entirely round-arched, and the choir affords a good example
of the triple division in height, rendered necessary by the groined
triforium and the projecting chapels of the apse. The clerestory
and triforium are each lighted with one window in each bay, whilst
the chapels have three windows,--a wide one in the centre, and a
much smaller one in each side. There are no flying buttresses to the
clerestory, but small quasi-buttresses, formed of three-quarters of
a shaft, finished under the eaves with a conical capping. The eaves
cornice all round the church, of intersecting round arches, resting
on corbels, is so similar in its character to some of the work in the
beautiful chapter-house of S. Georges de Boscherville, that I can
hardly doubt that they were executed under the same influence, if not
even by the same workmen.
The feature, however, which lends the most interest to the building
and aids so much in its picturesque effect externally, is the grand
Lady-chapel,[21] said to have been built by the Abbot, Peter de
Wesencourt, between the years 1259 and 1266. In plan, disposition and
general arrangement it appears to be as nearly as possible identical
with the destroyed Lady-chapel of S. Germain-des-Prés at Paris, built
by the celebrated Pierre de Montéreau, between the years 1247 and
1255. Pierre de Montéreau built also the S. Chapelle at Paris, between
1241 and 1248, and died on the 17th March, 1266. A comparison of the
design of these three buildings has induced me to believe that in
this Lady-chapel of S. Germer we have another genuine work of this
great architect, for it was built before his death, and is identical
in many of its features with work which we know to be his. The plan
of all these buildings is identical.[22] They all had two staircase
turrets and a large rose-window at the west end, a parapet above
the rose-window, and a smaller rose in the otherwise plain gable.
The design of the window tracery, the gables over the windows, the
detail of the staircase turrets, buttresses and parapets, are all so
similar that my suggestion really scarcely admits of a doubt. The main
differences are, that at S. Germer the original western rose-window is
perfect, whilst in the S. Chapelle it is a flamboyant insertion, and
that the chapel is of one story in place of two. In this last point,
and in its complete separation from the church, it agrees entirely
with the destroyed chapel at S. Germain-des-Prés. The passage between
the apse and the chapel is of three bays, with a doorway at the side,
but, so far as I could see, no trace of an entrance from the apse.
It is groined: the windows (of four lights) are much elaborated with
mouldings, and have trefoiled inside arches: and an ascent of six steps
leads from it under a fine archway into the chapel. There is a north
doorway in the chapel, and the whole is groined. The dimensions appear,
as nearly as I can make out, to be precisely the same as at S. Germain,
but less than in the S. Chapelle, being about twenty-seven feet six
inches in the clear between the groining shafts, and between seventy
and eighty feet in length. The original altar of stone, supported on a
trefoiled arcading, remains fixed against the east wall. This is six
feet five and a quarter inches long by three feet three inches high.
In the museum at the Hôtel Cluny, at Paris, one of the most valuable
relics is a stone retable, painted and gilded, formerly in this chapel.
I have not its dimensions, but it is of much greater length than this
altar, and I have no doubt, therefore, that the principal altar stood
in its proper place under the chord of the apse, and that the retable
belonged to it. This arrangement was not uncommon; it was identical
with that of the altars in the S. Chapelle, the same arrangement
existed originally at Amiens; and we have an instance of it in England
in the choir of Arundel church.
The retable has subjects from the life of our Lord, and illustrative
of the legend of S. Germer. In the centre is the Crucifixion, SS. Mary
and John; to the right of the Virgin is the Church, and to the left of
S. John the Synagogue; then come figures of SS. Peter and Paul, the
Annunciation and Salutation, S. Ouen (uncle of S. Germer) healing a
knight, a noble speaking to a pilgrim, and S. Germer asking Dagobert
to allow him to leave the court, in order to found his abbey. The
whole of the figures are painted and gilded in the most sumptuous and
yet delicate fashion, and though much damaged, are still sufficiently
perfect to be intelligible.
M. de Caumont has given a drawing in the _Abécédaire_[23] of what
seems to be a remarkably fine shrine, of twelfth or thirteenth century
character, still in the possession of the commune of Coudray, S.
Germer. I believe this is within a few miles of S. Germer, and it ought
not to be missed by ecclesiologists who take this route. It has an
arcade of four trefoiled arches on each side, and one at each end, and
has a steep roof with a fine open cresting at the ridge.
Of the other buildings of the abbey very slight traces now remain.
Close to the west end there is, however, a very simple gate-house, and
the modern conventual buildings appear to be now used for a school,
superintended by nuns.
S. Germer is certainly one of those churches which no ecclesiologist
who goes to Beauvais should on any account miss seeing. Its rare scale,
dignity, and architectural interest, and its secluded situation afford
attractions of the highest kind, and I am confident that no one who
takes my advice in this matter will come back disappointed.
III
From Beauvais I made my way to Compiègne, where I found but little
of much interest. The principal church is in size, plan, and general
design, decidedly conspicuous; yet it is remarkable how little there is
in it to detain an architect beyond the general effect. The bulk of the
structure is of good uniform first-pointed character. It consists of a
nave and aisle (fifty-three feet in width) of six bays, transepts, and
an apsidal choir, the lower part of which has been modernized and has a
very badly planned flamboyant aisle round it; and there were intended
to be two western towers. The groining of the nave is flamboyant. The
best feature is the apse, which has a glazed triforium of two lancet
windows in each bay, and a clerestory of large single lancets. It is,
I think, characteristic of many French churches of this fine scale,
that they afford much less matter for study and description than our
own churches of one-fourth the size and pretension. Their details
are so uniform, and their planning so regular that a description of
one bay is, in fact, a description of the whole church, and there is
nothing in the shape of monumental effigies, screens, brasses, or
other similar relics, to give a special interest to each part of the
building. When we lament the general scarcity of examples of groining
in our English churches, we ought not to forget that it was, in part
at least, to this that we may attribute the extraordinary variety of
their character; for it is undoubtedly very much more difficult to
obtain those picturesquely irregular effects which charm us so justly
in English examples, when groined roofs are used, than when their place
is taken by roofs of wood. The points of support must be much more
equally spaced, the piers more regularly planned, and each portion more
exactly a reproduction of every other portion; and it has sometimes
struck me as possible that we owe the much greater variety of designs
in the treatment even of our groining, as compared with the French, to
the great love of change and variety which our architects had imbibed
in dealing so largely with wooden-roofed buildings. In this respect
indeed, they sometimes ran into excesses for which they had no example,
and happily, no imitators on the Continent; but on the whole, we have
undoubtedly reason to be grateful for a feature in our national art
which helped to place it in so high a position when compared with that
of other countries.
Another church, dedicated to S. Antoine, is of large size and late
flamboyant style. It has a fine font (now disused) of the same
character and material as the well known fonts at Winchester, East
Meon, and Southampton; the bowl of which is no less than three feet
nine inches square. The floor of the nave of this church is boarded,
and fitted up with very smart chairs, whilst the aisles have tiled
floors and common chairs, and there is a rail fixed between the
columns to shut in the select occupants of the smart chairs. It is a
mistake, therefore, to suppose that the introduction of chairs will
necessarily secure the annihilation of the pew system. Here, too, I
saw a “_mandement_” of the Bishop of Beauvais, Senlis and Noyon, dated
Dec. 8th, 1856, ordering the adoption of the Roman liturgy, in place
of the local uses, of which he says there were no less than nine in
his diocese, so that it often happened that the same priest “chargé de
deux paroisses, trouve dans l’Église ou il va célébrer une première
Messe une liturgie différente de celle qui s’observe dans la paroisse
où il réside:”--“le chant, les cérémonies, la couleur des ornemens, les
usages, tout est changé.” The Bishop interdicted, among others, the
Missals of Beauvais, Noyon, Senlis, Amiens, Meaux, and Rouen, and his
order took effect from Whitsunday, 1857.
Of less distinctly ecclesiastical edifices Compiègne retains some
remains. A cloister in the Caserne S. Corneille is a good example.
The arches have no tracery, and the piers have buttresses to resist
the thrust of the groining. This is very simple but good work,
though late in the fourteenth century. The old Hôtel-Dieu, too, has
a characteristic gable end towards the street, divided by a central
buttress, and with a pointed archway below and a large window above in
each division.
The very picturesque front of the Hôtel de Ville has been recently very
carefully restored, but so completely, that it looks almost like a new
building. The effect of the front is very good, though the belfry tower
rises awkwardly from behind the parapet of the building. There is an
illustration of this building in M. Verdier’s _Architecture Civile et
Domestique_, which will enable your readers to understand the character
of this picturesque though late building better than any description
that I can give. The roof of the main building, as well as that of the
turrets at the angles and the belfry, is covered with slate: and it
is worth notice how much the effect of these roofs depends upon the
thinness of the slate, its small size and the sharpness and neatness
with which it is cut. Foreign slating is in truth just as good in its
effect as ours is generally bad and coarse.
The château of Pierrefonds ought to be visited from Compiègne. The
ruins must be interesting, and I believe the site is very picturesque.
It is a fashionable place of resort, and at a distance of some
three hours through the forest from Compiègne. M. Viollet-le-Duc’s
description of the buildings is known probably to most of your readers.
From Compiègne I made my way to Soissons. It was here that on this
journey I came first on the grand style which distinguishes the
buildings of this part of France. Laon, chief in grandeur, both
natural and architectural, Noyon, S. Quentin, Meaux, and Soissons,
are magnificent illustrations of the main features of the style:
whilst smaller churches, remains of abbeys, such as those of Ourscamp
(near Noyon) and Longpont (near Soissons), and of castles, such as
Coucy-le-Château, enable us to appreciate all its varieties. It is to
be hoped that the stream of English travellers will for the future
set more in this direction than it has hitherto done, since it is
now possible in going to Strasbourg to take the railway through this
country to Rheims, and in so doing to make acquaintance with a group
of churches, which impress me more and more each time that I see them.
They are remarkable evidence also of the wonderful vigour of the
age in which they were built: for they are all of very nearly the same
date--the end of the twelfth and early part of the thirteenth century,
and conceived on the grandest possible scale. Indeed, France, under
Philip Augustus, affords a spectacle such as perhaps no other country
in the world can show. For if we think of the wars which characterized
his reign, it is almost incredible that it should nevertheless at the
same time have been possible to found such cathedrals as those of
Paris, Bourges, Chartres, Amiens, Laon, Meaux, Soissons, Noyon, Rouen,
Séez, Coutances, Bayeux: yet such was the case, and some of them were
completed in but a few years with extraordinary energy.
[Illustration: THE SOUTH TRANSEPT AT SOISSONS]
Few things are more impressive than the cathedral of Laon, even in its
present state: and what must it not have been with its central steeple
and the six towers and spires which once adorned its several fronts,
rising, as they all did, from the summit of a mighty hill, seen on all
sides for many a long mile by the dwellers in the plain which stretches
away from its feet! And yet, magnificent as is the cathedral of Laon,
it is one only among many; and such a city as Soissons, inferior as it
is in situation, affords nevertheless in its architectural remains,
matter of almost equal interest.
The general view of Soissons, obtained from the distance, is striking
only for its architectural character. The effect is mainly attributable
to the fact, that in addition to the cathedral, with its lofty
south-west steeple, the town also contains the west front, with two
towers and spires, of the ruined abbey of S. Jean des Vignes. It is
to this ruin that the eye first turns in anticipation of discovering
the famous cathedral of the city; but a little acquaintance with
the details of the two buildings leaves no room to doubt that the
cathedral, with its lonely steeple, is nevertheless by very much the
most interesting and noble example of art which the city contains.
Let us at once, then, bend our steps thither. We shall find a church,
the greater part of which dates probably from the end of the twelfth
or the first years of the thirteenth century, whilst its plan is very
remarkable, and its details in some parts of exquisite beauty. In plan
it consists of two western towers (one of which only is built), nave
and aisles of seven bays, transepts (of which more presently), a choir
of five bays, and an apse of five sides; chapels are obtained between
the buttresses of the choir, and the apse is surrounded by an aisle
and five chapels; these chapels are circular in plan at the ground
line, octagonal above, and are groined with a vault which covers the
aisle also; this is a mode which is seldom satisfactory in execution,
and a falling off from the structural truth of those plans in which
the groining of each chapel is complete in itself, and distinct from
that of the aisle. The south transept is finished with an apse, and
has a small circular chapel of two stages in height attached on its
south-eastern side. The north transept is square-ended and of later
date.
It is impossible to examine Soissons cathedral without having
recollections of several other churches forced upon the mind. At Noyon,
for instance, we have a grand example of a church of the same date,
both of the transepts of which are apsidal; but the south transept of
Soissons has a great advantage over its neighbour, in that it has an
aisle round the transept opening with three arches, supported upon
slender and lofty shafts, into each bay, both on the ground level and
in the triforium. Indeed there are few fairer works of the period
than this south transept of Soissons; for whether we regard its plan,
general scheme, or detail of design and sculpture, all alike show the
presence of a master hand in its conception and execution;--the same
hand, I suppose, as is seen at Noyon, but at a slightly later period.
Then, again, a comparison of Soissons with Meaux will show so great a
similarity of plan, dimensions, and design in their eastern apses, that
it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that they were the works of the
same man, and at about the same time. And each of these churches has
nevertheless some one special feature of its own, wherein it is unique
and unmatched; Soissons has its exquisite south transept, Noyon its
western porch, and Laon its cluster of steeples, by which every one who
has seen them must especially have been struck.
One of the features which most marks the churches of this school is
the fourfold division in height of the main walls. There is first the
arcade, then the triforium[24] (which is large, groined, and lighted
with its own windows), then a blank arcade which is analogous to the
triforia of our English churches, and lastly the clerestory. I cannot
say that this arrangement is ever pleasing. The clerestory always
looks disproportionately small and dwarfed, and the blank arcade below
it rather unmeaning, whilst all the divisions have the appearance
of being cramped and confined. At Soissons it occurs in the south
transept, but not in the nave--where we see the usual triple division.
Some of the capitals here are well sculptured, though generally very
simply, and in the transept they are often held with iron ties (as in
Italian examples) to resist the thrust of the groining. I should notice
that the whole of the walling in this transept is circular on plan;
this is generally a mark of early date, and though it gave rise to some
complexity in the arches and groining, it undoubtedly often produces
a very charming effect. The windows of the three eastern chapels are
full of richly-coloured early glass, rather rudely drawn and executed;
some of it, I suspect, came from the clerestory, the eastern portion of
which is still full of similar glass. The clerestory has large lancet
windows and flying buttresses of two stages in height, with the arches
supported upon detached shafts, and a passage behind the lower order on
a level with the sill of the clerestory windows.
On the exterior, one of the most noticeable features is that the ridge
of the south transept roof rises no higher than the eaves of the rest
of the church. Yet such is the care with which the design is managed,
that this smallness of scale is not noticed, until from a distance a
general view of the building is obtained, when it looks undoubtedly
very lop-sided.