During the course of our former visit to Le Mans Cathedral (see page 60)
we remarked that the transepts were glazed in the fifteenth century. The
glass is good and the north rose is particularly well worth seeing. Of
the transepts themselves, it may be said that no others in all France
are provided with windows in such a curiously irregular way, no two
corresponding portions of wall having the same or even similar ones.
There is no window at all in the south transept end, but instead there
is a solid wall against which the organ is backed. The west side of this
transept has two very large windows with coloured borders framing
grisaille, upon which are small circles and squares. On the east side
the wall has even fewer openings. Crossing over to the north transept,
we find still more irregular arrangement, there being a marked
difference in amount of window space, as well as in the shape and
adjustment between the east and the west wall. There is, however, a
distinct improvement over the south transept in that here there are
canopy windows and that, too, of no ordinary type. But it is to the
north end of this transept that we must turn to have our admiration as
well as our interest thoroughly aroused. The writer believes this to be
the finest example of a rose window, blossoming out at the top of a
well-adjusted group of lancets, that the fifteenth century can afford.
At Clermont-Ferrand and Limoges we have noticed that the tendency at
that time was to crowd the rose up too high against the roof and then
try to counteract the effect by placing beneath it a row of lancets to
bring down the whole group. At Le Mans the adjustment in the wall is
perfect. Further, the lower range of windows is treated with the respect
it deserves, for not only is the rose beautifully glazed, but the
lancets have also received the artist's careful attention: they are
graceful, good-sized and filled with a triple tier of excellent canopied
figures. The rose is poised above and between the points of two wide
lancet windows, each of which is in turn divided perpendicularly by
mullions. The subject, The Crowning of the Virgin, is admirably treated,
and nothing could be more delightful than the numerous angels singing
and playing upon various musical instruments. For the honour of the
fifteenth century glazier it is well that we should see this splendid
effect, because we might otherwise conclude that, notwithstanding his
brilliant success in producing canopy panels, he never grasped the full
possibilities of the rose window.