Our memories of architecture are generally those of form and not of
colour. To this rule there are, however, a few exceptions, and of these
the cathedral of St. Etienne at Auxerre is one of the most noteworthy.
One remembers it chiefly for its rich brown colour, partly due to the
tint of the stone and partly to the terra-cotta tiles which cover its
roof. The deeper hue of the tiles calls out all the warmth in the
shading of the stone and they together make a mellow brown picture,
especially attractive if seen for the first time in the tones which it
takes on towards twilight, when the low rays of the sun perform for it
the same service that they do for the interior of the Corpus Christi
quadrangle at Oxford. Another cathedral whose colour lingers in our
memory is Chartres, where the dull green tiles of the roof tone into the
greyish stone of the building, accentuating and enriching it, and
leaving with us a distinct impression of a soft-hued grey church. A very
picturesque city is Auxerre, sloping up from the river, with its three
chief churches rising watchfully above the monotonous level of the
house-tops like huge rocks anchoring the city more firmly to its
foundations. Not so bulkily impressive but equally noticeable is the
quaint old bell tower, which, from its great height, rings out every now
and again reminders of the flight of time.
The proportions of the cathedral interior are very harmoniously
adjusted. The noticeable features are that the ambulatory is lower than
the nave, and that the Lady Chapel at the east end is square instead of
being rounded. In view of the geographical location of Auxerre one would
expect to find glass of the more florid Burgundian type; but instead it
is clearly of the Champagne school. There is a quantity of good
sixteenth century glazing and we would especially call the visitor's
attention to the fine blues, which he should not fail to notice. The
windows we have come to see, however, are to be found in the chapels and
the upper lights of the choir. Henri Villeneuve in 1220 caused to be
placed in the choir clerestory the great row of fifteen, each consisting
of two bays surmounted by a small rose. This arrangement is very
graceful and gives an agreeable grouping. The colouring and drawing of
the large figures with which they are filled testify to the good taste
of their donor. Nor are the windows in the clerestory any more worthy of
notice than the twenty-nine which we shall find below surrounding the
choir and filling the choir chapels--almost all complete and containing
fine types of the medallion style. The three nearest the transepts on
each side and one or two others are glazed in white, the result of
well-meaning sacrilege on the part of the monks seeking to secure more
light. Fortunately their hands were stayed, so that enough of the old
panels are left to give us the jewelled gleam which we are seeking.
There is an unique arrangement in some of the embrasures of Auxerre
which we must not fail to note. It provides an early example of the use
of grisaille to increase the illumination of the interior. In several
instances the coloured figure or panel has two borders, the one next it
being of grisaille and the outside one of rich colour. Possibly the
contrast will strike us as being too marked. We shall find that in the
next century this combination is carried to such an extreme as to become
positively disagreeable, but here at Auxerre it is so skillfully
employed that it is not at all unpleasant. In any event, it is far
better than white panes used for the same purpose.