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Transcriber's Note
Illustration captions in {curly brackets} have been added by the
transcriber for the convenience of the reader.
A considerable number of the page references in the index are
incorrect; however, they have been preserved as printed.
_ILLUSTRATED TEXT-BOOKS OF ART
EDUCATION_
_EDITED BY EDWARD J. POYNTER, R.A._
ARCHITECTURE
GOTHIC AND RENAISSANCE
BY T. ROGER SMITH, F.R.I.B.A.
[Illustration: P. 114
THE CERTOSA, NEAR PAVIA. FROM THE CLOISTERS.
BEGUN BY MARCO DI CAMPIONE, A.D. 1393.]
_TEXT-BOOK OF ART EDUCATION, EDITED BY
EDWARD J. POYNTER, R.A._
ARCHITECTURE
GOTHIC AND RENAISSANCE
BY T. ROGER SMITH, F.R.I.B.A.
_Occasional Lecturer on Architecture
at University College, London_
[Illustration: {SAINT GEORGE. PANEL FROM THE TOMB
OF CARDINAL AMBOISE IN ROUEN CATHEDRAL.}]
NEW YORK
SCRIBNER AND WELFORD.
LONDON
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON
CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET
1880
(_All rights reserved._)
LONDON: R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR,
BREAD STREET HILL, E. C.
[Illustration: {CRETE FROM NOTRE DAME, PARIS.}]
PREFACE.
The history, the features, and the most famous examples of European
architecture, during a period extending from the rise of the Gothic,
or pointed, style in the twelfth century to the general depression
which overtook the Renaissance style at the close of the eighteenth,
form the subject of this little volume. I have endeavoured to adopt as
free and simple a mode of treatment as is compatible with the accurate
statement of at least the outlines of so very technical a subject.
Though it is to be hoped that many professional students of
architecture will find this hand-book serviceable to them in their
elementary studies, it has been my principal endeavour to adapt it to
the requirements of those who are preparing for the professional
pursuit of the sister arts, and of that large and happily increasing
number of students who pursue the fine arts as a necessary part of a
complete liberal education, and who know that a solid and
comprehensive acquaintance with art, especially if joined to some
skill in the use of the pencil, the brush, the modelling tool, or the
etching needle, will open sources of pleasure and interest of the most
refined description.
The broad facts of all art history; the principles which underlie each
of the fine arts; and the most precious or most noteworthy examples of
each, ought to be familiar to every art student, whatever special
branch he may follow. Beyond these limits I have not attempted to
carry this account of Gothic and Renaissance architecture; within them
I have endeavoured to make the work as complete as the space at my
disposal permitted.
Some portions of the text formed part of two courses of lectures
delivered before the students of the School of Military Engineering at
Chatham, and are introduced here by the kind permission of Sir John
Stokes. Many of the descriptive and critical remarks are transcripts
of notes made by myself, almost under the shadow of the buildings to
which they refer. It would, however, have been impossible to give a
condensed view of so extended a subject had not every part of it been
treated at much greater length by previous writers. The number and
variety of the books consulted renders it impossible to make any other
acknowledgment here than this general recognition of my indebtedness
to their authors.
T. R. S.
[Illustration: {STAINED GLASS FROM CHARTRES CATHEDRAL.}]
CONTENTS.
PAGE
ILLUSTRATED GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL WORDS. xv to xxxix
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION. 1
CHAPTER II.
THE BUILDINGS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 6
CHAPTER III.
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 21
CHAPTER IV.
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN ENGLAND.
Analysis of Buildings. Plans. Walls. Towers and
Spires. Gables. Piers and Columns 28
CHAPTER V.
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN ENGLAND (_continued_).
Analysis (_continued_). Openings. Roofs. Spires.
Ornaments. Stained Glass. Sculpture 45
CHAPTER VI.
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN WESTERN EUROPE.
1. FRANCE. Chronological Sketch. Analysis of
Buildings. Plans. Walls, Towers and Gables.
Columns and Piers. Roofs and Vaults. Openings.
Mouldings and Ornaments. Construction and Design 69
2. BELGIUM and the NETHERLANDS 87
3. SCOTLAND, WALES, and IRELAND 91
CHAPTER VII.
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN CENTRAL AND NORTHERN EUROPE.
1. GERMANY. Chronological Sketch. Analysis of
Buildings. Plans. Walls, Towers and Gables.
Roofs and Vaults. Openings. Ornaments.
Construction and Design 93
2. NORTHERN EUROPE 111
CHAPTER VIII.
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SOUTHERN EUROPE.
1. ITALY and SICILY. Topographical Sketch.
NORTHERN ITALY. CENTRAL ITALY. SOUTHERN
ITALY. Analysis of Buildings. Plans. Walls,
Towers, and Columns. Openings and Arches.
Roofs and Vaults. Mouldings and Ornaments.
Construction and Design 112
2. SPAIN. Chronological Sketch 137
3. PORTUGAL 142
CHAPTER IX.
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.
Principles of Construction and Design. Materials
and Construction 143
CHAPTER X.
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE.
GENERAL VIEW. Analysis of Buildings. Plans. Walls
and Columns. Openings. Construction and Design 154
CHAPTER XI.
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN ITALY.
FLORENCE. ROME. VENICE, VICENZA, VERONA. MILAN,
PAVIA. GENOA, TURIN, NAPLES. Country Villas 165
CHAPTER XII.
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE AND NORTHERN EUROPE.
1. FRANCE. Chronological Sketch 193
2. BELGIUM and the NETHERLANDS 206
3. GERMANY 210
CHAPTER XIII.
RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN GREAT BRITAIN, SPAIN,
AND PORTUGAL.
1. ENGLAND. Chronological Sketch 214
2. SCOTLAND 227
3. SPAIN and PORTUGAL 229
[Illustration: {SCULPTURED ORNAMENT FROM RHEIMS CATHEDRAL.}]
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
CERTOSA, THE, NEAR PAVIA. FROM THE CLOISTERS Frontispiece
SAINT GEORGE. PANEL FROM THE TOMB OF CARDINAL
AMBOISE IN ROUEN CATHEDRAL Title Page
GLOSSARY. FORTY ENGRAVINGS OF DETAILS xv to xxxix
1. WEST ENTRANCE, LICHFIELD CATHEDRAL. (1275.) 5
2. GROUND PLAN OF PETERBOROUGH CATHEDRAL. (1118 to 1193.) 6
3. TRANSVERSE SECTION OF THE NAVE OF SALISBURY CATHEDRAL 7
4. CHOIR OF WORCESTER CATHEDRAL. (BEGUN 1224.) 9
5. NAVE OF WELLS CATHEDRAL. (1206 to 1242.) 9
6. GROUND PLAN OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY 11
7. HOUSE OF JAQUES COEUR AT BOURGES. (BEGUN 1443.) 15
8. PLAN OF WARWICK CASTLE. (14TH AND 15TH CENTURIES.) 16
9. PALACES ON THE GRAND CANAL, VENICE. (14TH CENTURY.) 18
10. WELL AT REGENSBURG. (15TH CENTURY.) 20
11. GOTHIC ORNAMENT. FROM SENS CATHEDRAL (HEADPIECE) 21
12. LINCOLN CATHEDRAL. (MOSTLY EARLY ENGLISH.) 35
13. ST. PIERRE, CAEN, TOWER AND SPIRE. (SPIRE, 1302.) 37
14. HOUSE AT CHESTER. (16TH CENTURY.) 38
15. HOUSES AT LISIEUX, FRANCE. (16TH CENTURY.) 41
16. LANCET WINDOW. (12TH CENTURY.) 46
17. TWO-LIGHT WINDOW. (13TH CENTURY.) 47
18. GEOMETRICAL TRACERY. (14TH CENTURY.) 48
19. TRIFORIUM ARCADE, WESTMINSTER ABBEY. (1269.) 49
20. ROSE WINDOW FROM THE TRANSEPT OF LINCOLN CATHEDRAL 50
21. PERPENDICULAR WINDOW 51
22. ROOF OF HALL AT ELTHAM PALACE. (15TH CENTURY.) 53
23. HENRY VII.'S CHAPEL. (1503-1512.) 57
24. SPIRE OF ST. MARY MAGDALENE, WARBOYS, LINCOLNSHIRE 59
25. DECORATED SPIRE. ALL SAINTS' CHURCH, OAKHAM 60
26. EARLY ARCH IN RECEDING PLANES 62
27. ARCH IN RECEDING PLANES MOULDED 62
28. DOORWAY, KING'S COLLEGE CHAPEL, CAMBRIDGE. (15TH CENT.) 63
29. STAINED GLASS WINDOW FROM CHARTRES CATHEDRAL 65
30. SCULPTURE FROM CHAPTER HOUSE, WESTMINSTER ABBEY 67
31. CHURCH AT FONTEVRAULT. (BEGUN 1125.) 70
32. DOORWAY AT LOCHES, FRANCE. (1180.) 72
33. NOTRE DAME, PARIS, WEST FRONT. (1214.) 74
34. PLAN OF AMIENS CATHEDRAL. (1220-1272.) 76
35. AMIENS CATHEDRAL, WEST FRONT. (1220-1272.) 78
36. PIERS AND SUPERSTRUCTURE, RHEIMS CATHEDRAL. (1211-1240.) 80
37. CAPITAL FROM ST. NICHOLAS, BLOIS, FRANCE. (13TH CENTURY.) 84
38. BEAUVAIS CATHEDRAL, INTERIOR. (1225-1537.) 86
39. THE TOWN HALL OF MIDDLEBURGH. (1518.) 89
40. TOWER AT GHENT. (BEGUN 1183.) 90
41. ABBEY CHURCH OF ARNSTEIN. (12TH AND 13TH CENTURIES.) 94
42. CHURCH AT ANDERNACH. (EARLY 13TH CENTURY.) 96
43. CHURCH OF ST. BARBARA AT KUTTENBERG. EAST END.
(1358-1548.) 99
44. DOUBLE CHURCH AT SCHWARTZ-RHEINDORFF. SECTION. (1158.) 101
45. DOUBLE CHURCH AT SCHWARTZ-RHEINDORFF. (1158.) 102
46. COLOGNE CATHEDRAL. GROUND PLAN. (BEGUN 1248.) 104
47. WESTERN DOORWAY OF CHURCH AT THANN. (14TH CENTURY.) 106
48. CHURCH OF ST. CATHERINE AT OPPENHEIM. (1262 TO 1439.) 107
49. ST. SEBALD'S CHURCH AT NUREMBERG. THE BRIDE'S DOORWAY 109
50. PALACE OF THE JURISCONSULTS AT CREMONA 117
51. CATHEDRAL AT FLORENCE. WITH GIOTTO'S CAMPANILE 121
52. CATHEDRAL AT SIENA. WEST FRONT AND CAMPANILE 123
53. CATHEDRAL AT ORVIETO. (BEGUN 1290; FACADE, 1310.) 125
54. OGIVAL WINDOW-HEAD 129
55. TRACERY IN WINDOW-HEAD, FROM VENICE 130
56. WINDOW FROM TIVOLI 134
57. ITALIAN GOTHIC WINDOW, WITH TRACERY IN HEAD 136
58. CATHEDRAL AT TOLEDO. INTERIOR. (BEGUN 1227.) 139
59. THE GIRALDA AT SEVILLE. (BEGUN IN 1196; FINISHED
IN 1568.) 141
60. DOORWAY FROM CHURCH AT BATALHA. (BEGUN 1385.) 151
61. STROZZI PALACE AT FLORENCE. (BEGUN 1489.) 169
62. PART OF THE LOGGIA DEL CONSIGLIO AT VERONA 171
63. THE PANDOLFINI PALACE, FLORENCE. DESIGNED BY RAPHAEL 173
64. ST. PETER'S AT ROME. INTERIOR. (1506-1661.) 177
65. MONUMENT BY SANSOVINO, IN STA. MARIA DEL POPOLO, ROME 179
66. PALAZZO GIRAUD, ROME. BY BRAMANTE. (1506.) 180
67. ITALIAN SHELL ORNAMENT 183
68. THE CHURCH OF THE REDENTORE, VENICE. (1576.) 185
69. CERTOSA NEAR PAVIA. PART OF WEST FRONT. (BEGUN 1473.) 188
70. VILLA MEDICI--ON THE PINCIAN HILL NEAR ROME. BY
ANNIBALE LIPPI (NOW THE _Academie Francaise_).
(A.D. 1540.) 191
70A. EARLY RENAISSANCE CORBEL 192
71. WINDOW FROM A HOUSE AT ORLEANS. (EARLY 16TH CENTURY.) 195
72. CAPITAL FROM THE HOUSE OF FRANCIS I., ORLEANS. (1540.) 197
73. PAVILLON RICHELIEU OF THE LOUVRE, PARIS 199
74. PART OF THE TUILERIES, PARIS. (BEGUN 1564.) 201
75. CAPITAL FROM DELORME'S WORK AT THE LOUVRE 202
76. HOTEL DES INVALIDES, PARIS 204
77. WINDOW FROM COLMAR. (1575.) 208
78. ZEUGHAUS, DANTZIC. (1605.) 209
79. COUNCIL-HOUSE AT LEYDEN. (1599.) 211
80. QUADRANGLE OF THE CASTLE OF SCHALABURG 213
81. HOLLAND HOUSE, KENSINGTON. (1607.) 216
82. ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL, LONDON. (1675-1710.) 220
83. HOUSES AT CHESTER. (16TH CENTURY.) 225
84. THE ALCAZAR AT TOLEDO. (BEGUN 1568.) 231
[Illustration: {STAINED GLASS FROM CHARTRES CATHEDRAL.}]
GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL WORDS.
ABACUS.--The upper portion of the capital of a column, upon
which the weight to be carried rests.
AISLE (Lat. _ala_).--The side subdivision in a church;
occasionally all the subdivisions, including the nave, are
called aisles.
APSE.--A semicircular or polygonal termination to, or
projection from, a church or other public building.
ARCADE.--A range of arches, supported on piers or columns.
ARCH.--A construction of wedge-shaped blocks of stone, or of
bricks, of a curved outline, and spanning an open space. The
principal forms of arch in use are Semicircular;
Acutely-pointed, or Lancet; Equilateral, or Less
Acutely-pointed; Four-centred, or Depressed Tudor;
Three-centred, or Elliptic; Ogival; Segmental; and Stilted.
(Figs. _A_ to _F_.)
ARCHITRAVE.--(1) The stone which in Classic and Renaissance
architecture is thrown from one column or pilaster to the
next. (2) The moulding which in the same styles is used to
ornament the margin of a door or window opening or arch.
ASHLAR.--Finely-wrought masonry, employed for the facing of
a wall of coarser masonry or brick.
ATTIC (In Renaissance Architecture).--A low upper story,
distinctly marked in the architecture of the building,
usually surmounting an order; (2) in ordinary building, any
story in a roof.
BAILEY (from _vallum_).--The enclosure of the courtyard of a
castle.
BALL-FLOWER.--An ornament representing a globular bud,
placed usually in a hollow moulding.
BALUSTER.--A species of small column, generally of curved
outline.
BALUSTRADE.--A parapet or rail formed of balusters.
[Illustration: FIG. _A_.--SEMICIRCULAR ARCH.]
[Illustration: FIG. _B_.--STILTED ARCH.]
The Semicircular and the Stilted Semicircular Arch were the
only arches in use till the introduction of the Pointed
Arch. Throughout the Early English, Decorated, and
Perpendicular periods they occur as exceptional features,
but they were practically superseded after the close of the
12th cent.
[Illustration: FIG. _C_.--EQUILATERAL ARCH.]
[Illustration: FIG. _D_.--LANCET ARCH.]
The Lancet Arch was characteristic of the Early English
period, is never found earlier, and but rarely occurs later.
The Equilateral Arch was the favourite arch of the
architects of the geometrical Decorated, but is not
unfrequently met with in the early part of the Perpendicular
period.
[Illustration: FIG. _E_.--OGIVAL ARCH.]
[Illustration: FIG. _F_.--DEPRESSED TUDOR ARCH.]
The Depressed (or Four-centred) Tudor Arch is characteristic
of the Perpendicular period, and was then constantly
employed. The Ogival Arch is occasionally employed late in
that period, but was more used by French and Italian
architects than by those of Great Britain.
BAND.--A flat moulding or projecting strip of stone.
BARREL-VAULTING.--See Waggon-head vaulting.
BARGE-BOARD (OR VERGE-BOARD).--An inclined and pierced or
ornamented board placed along the edge of a roof when it
overhangs a gable wall.
BASE.--(1) The foot of a column; (2) sometimes that of a
buttress or wall.
[Illustration: FIG. _G_.--BASE OF EARLY ENGLISH SHAFT.]
[Illustration: FIG. _H_.--BASE OF PERPENDICULAR SHAFT.]
[Illustration: FIG. _I_.--BASE OF DECORATED SHAFT.]
BASILICA.--(1) A Roman public hall; (2) an early Christian
church, similar to a Roman basilica in disposition.
BASTION (in Fortification).--A bold projecting mass of
building, or earthwork thrown out beyond the general line of
a wall.
BATTLEMENT.--A notched or indented parapet.
BAY.--One of the compartments in a building which is made up
of several repetitions of the same group of features;
_e.g._, in a church the space from one column of the nave
arcade to the next is a bay.
BAY-WINDOW.--A window projecting outward from the wall. It
may be rectangular or polygonal. It must be built up from
the ground. If thrown out above the ground level, a
projecting window is called an Oriel. (See Bow window.)
BEAD.--A small moulding of circular profile.
BELFRY.--A chamber fitted to receive a peal of bells.
BELFRY STAGE.--The story of a tower where the belfry occurs.
Usually marked by large open arches or windows, to let the
sound escape.
BELL (of a capital).--The body between the necking and the
abacus (which see).
BILLET MOULDING.--A moulding consisting of a group of small
blocks separated by spaces about equal to their own length.
BLIND STORY.--Triforium (which see).
BOSS.--A projecting mass of carving placed to conceal the
intersection of the ribs of a vault, or at the end of a
string course which it is desired to stop, or in an
analogous situation.
BOW WINDOW.--Similar to a Bay-window (which see), but
circular or segmental.
BROACH-SPIRE.--A spire springing from a tower without a
parapet and with pyramidal features at the feet of its four
oblique sides (see Fig. 22) to connect them to the four
angles of the tower.
BROACHEAD (SPIRE).--Formed as above described.
BUTTRESS.--A projection built up against a wall to create
additional strength or furnish support (see Flying
Buttress).
BYZANTINE.--The round-arched Christian architecture of the
Eastern Church, which had its origin in Byzantium
(Constantinople).
CANOPY.--(1) An ornamented projection over doors, windows,
&c.; (2) a covering over niches, tombs, &c.
CAMPANILE.--The Italian name for a bell-tower.
[Illustration: FIG. _J_.--BUTTRESS.]
CAPITAL.--The head of a column or pilaster (Figs. _L_ to
_P_).
CATHEDRAL.--A church which contains the seat of a bishop;
usually a building of the first class.
CERTOSA.--A monastery (or church) of Carthusian monks.
CHAMFER.--A slight strip pared off from a sharp angle.
CHANCEL.--The choir or eastern part of a church.
CHANTRY CHAPEL.--A chapel connected with a monument or tomb
in which masses were to be chanted. This was usually of
small size and very rich.
CHAPEL.--(1) A chamber attached to a church and opening out
of it, or formed within it, and in which an altar was
placed; (2) a small detached church.
CHAPTER HOUSE.--The hall of assembly of the chapter (dean
and canons) of a cathedral.
[Illustration: FIG. _L_.--EARLY NORMAN CAPITAL.]
[Illustration: FIG. _M_.--EARLY ENGLISH CAPITAL.]
[Illustration: FIG. _N_.--LATER NORMAN CAPITAL.]
[Illustration: FIG. _O_.--PERPENDICULAR CAPITAL.]
[Illustration: FIG. _P_.--EARLY FRENCH CAPITAL.]
CHATEAU.--The French name for a country mansion.
CHEVRON.--A zig-zag ornament.
CHEVET.--The French name for an apse when surrounded by
chapels; see the plan of Westminster Abbey (Fig. 6).
CHOIR.--The part of a church in which the services are
celebrated; usually, but not always, the east end or
chancel. In a Spanish church the choir is often at the
crossing.
CLERESTORY.--The upper story or row of windows lighting the
nave of a Gothic church.
CLOISTER.--A covered way round a quadrangle of a monastic
building.
CLUSTERED (SHAFTS).--Grouped so as to form a pier of some
mass out of several small shafts.
CORBEL.--A projecting stone (or timber) supporting, or
seeming to support, a weight (Fig. _K_).
[Illustration: FIG. _K_.--EARLY RENAISSANCE CORBEL.]
CORBELLING.--A series of mouldings doing the same duty as a
corbel; a row of corbels.
CORBEL TABLE.--A row of corbels supporting an overhanging
parapet or cornice.
CORTILE (Italian).--The internal arcaded quadrangle of a
palace, mansion, or public building.
COLUMN.--A stone or marble post, divided usually into base,
shaft, and capital; distinguished from a pier by the shaft
being cylindrical or polygonal, and in one, or at most, in
few pieces.
CORNICE.--The projecting and crowning portion of an order
(which see) or of a building, or of a stage or story of a
building.
COURSE.--A horizontal layer of stones in the masonry of a
building.
CROCKET.--A tuft of leaves arranged in a formal shape, used
to decorate ornamental gables, the ribs of spires, &c.
[Illustration: FIG. _Q_.--DECORATED CROCKET.]
[Illustration: FIG. _R_.--PERPENDICULAR CROCKET.]
CROSSING.--The intersection (which see) in a church or
cathedral.
CROSS VAULT.--A vault of which the arched surfaces intersect
one another, forming a groin (which see).
CRYPT.--The basement under a church or other building
(almost invariably vaulted).
CUSP.--The projecting point thrown out to form the
leaf-shaped forms or foliations in the heads of Gothic
windows, and in tracery and panels.
DEC. } The Gothic architecture of the fourteenth century
DECORATED. } in England. _Abbreviated_ Dec.
DETAIL.--The minuter features of a design or building,
especially its mouldings and carving.
DIAPER (Gothic).--An uniform pattern of leaves or flowers
carved or painted on the surface of a wall.
[Illustration: FIG. _S_.--DIAPER IN SPANDREL, FROM
WESTMINSTER ABBEY.]
DOGTOOTH.--A sharply-pointed ornament in a hollow moulding
which is peculiar to Early English Gothic. It somewhat
resembles a blunt tooth.
DORMER WINDOW.--A window pierced through a sloping roof and
placed under a small gable or roof of its own.
DOME.--A cupola or spherical convex roof, ordinarily
circular on plan.
DOMICAL VAULTING.--Vaulting in which a series of small domes
are employed; in contradistinction to a waggon-head vault,
or an intersecting vault.
DOUBLE TRACERY.--Two layers of tracery one behind the other
and with a clear space between.
E. E. } The Gothic architecture of England in the
EARLY ENGLISH. } thirteenth century. _Abbreviated_ E. E.
EAVES.--The verge or edge of a roof overhanging the wall.
EAVES-COURSE.--A moulding carrying the eaves.
ELEVATION.--(1) A geometrical drawing of part of the
exterior or interior walls of a building; (2) the
architectural treatment of the exterior or interior walls of
a building.
ELIZABETHAN.--The architecture of England in, and for some
time after, the reign of Elizabeth.
EMBATTLED.--Finished with battlements, or in imitation of
battlements.
ENRICHMENTS.--The carved (or coloured) decorations applied
to the mouldings or other features of an architectural
design. (See Mouldings.)
ENTABLATURE (in Classic and Renaissance architecture).--The
superstructure above the columns where an order is employed.
It is divided into the architrave, which rests on the
columns, the frieze and the cornice.
FACADE.--The front of a building or of a principal part of a
building.
FAN VAULT.--The vaulting in use in England in the fifteenth
century, in which a series of conoids bearing some
resemblance to an open fan are employed.
FILLET.--A small moulding of square flat section.
[Illustration: FIG. _T_.--PERPENDICULAR FINIAL.]
FINIAL.--A formally arranged bunch of foliage or other
similar ornament forming the top of a pinnacle, gablet, or
other ornamented feature of Gothic architecture.
FLAMBOYANT STYLE.--The late Gothic architecture of France
at the end of the fifteenth century, so called from the
occurrence of flame-shaped forms in the tracery.
FLECHE.--A name adapted from the French. A slender spire,
mostly placed on a roof; not often so called if on a tower.
FLYING BUTTRESS.--A buttress used to steady the upper and
inner walls of a vaulted building, placed at some distance
from the wall which it supports, and connected with it by an
arch.
[Illustration: FIG. _U_.--FLYING BUTTRESS.]
FOIL.--A leaf-shaped form produced by adding cusps to the
curved outline of a window head or piece of tracery.
FOLIATION.--The decoration of an opening, or of tracery by
means of foils and cusps.
FOSSE.--The ditch of a fortress.
FRANCOIS I. STYLE.--The early Renaissance architecture of
France during part of the sixteenth century.
FRIEZE.--(1) The middle member of a Classic or Renaissance
entablature; this was often sculptured and carved; (2) any
band of sculptured ornament.
GABLE.--The triangular-shaped wall carrying the end of a
roof.
GABLET.--A small gable (usually ornamental only).
GALLERY.--(1) An apartment of great length in proportion to
its width; (2) a raised floor or stage in a building.
GARGOYLE.--A projecting waterspout, usually carved in stone,
more rarely formed of metal.
GEOMETRICAL.--The architecture of the earlier part of the
decorated period in England.
GRILLE.--A grating or ornamental railing of metal.
GROIN.--The curved line which is made by the meeting of the
surfaces of two vaults or portions of vaults which
intersect.
GROUP.--An assemblage of shafts or mouldings or other small
features intended to produce a combined effect.
GROUPING.--Combining architectural features as above.
HALL.--(1) The largest room in an ancient English mansion,
or a college, &c.; (2) any large and stately apartment.
HALF TIMBERED CONSTRUCTION.--A mode of building in which a
framework of timbers is displayed and the spaces between
them are filled in with plaster or tiles.
HAMMER BEAM ROOF.--A roof peculiar to English architecture
of the fifteenth century, deriving its name from the use of
a hammer beam (a large bracket projecting from the walls) to
partly support the rafters.
HEAD (of an arch or other opening).--The portion within the
curve; whether filled in by masonry or left open, sometimes
called a tympanum.
HIP.--The external angle formed by the meeting of two
sloping sides of a roof where there is no gable.
HOTEL (French).--A town mansion.
IMPOST.--A moulding or other line marking the top of the
jambs of an arched opening, and the starting point, or
apparent starting point, of the arch.
INLAY.--A mode of decoration in which coloured materials
are laid into sinkings of ornamental shape, cut into the
surface to be decorated.
INTERSECTION (OR CROSSING).--The point in a church where the
transepts cross the nave.
INTERSECTING VAULTS.--Vaults of which the surfaces cut one
another.
INTERPENETRATION.--A German mode of treating mouldings, as
though two or more sets of them existed in the same stone
and they could pass through (interpenetrate) each other.
JAMB.--The side of a door or window or arch, or other
opening.
[Illustration: FIG. _V_.--PLAN OF A JAMB AND CENTRAL
PIER OF A GOTHIC DOORWAY.]
KEEP.--The tower which formed the stronghold of a mediaeval
castle.
KING POST.--The middle post in the framing of a timber roof.
LANCET ARCH.--The sharply-pointed window-head and arch,
characteristic of English Gothic in the thirteenth century.
LANTERN.--A conspicuous feature rising above a roof or
crowning a dome, and intended usually to light a Hall, but
often introduced simply as an architectural finish to the
whole building.
LIERNE (rib).--A rib intermediate between the main ribs in
Gothic vaulting.
LIGHT.--One of the divisions of a window of which the entire
width is divided by one or more mullions.
LINTEL.--The stone or beam covering a doorway or other
opening not spanned by an arch. Sometimes applied to the
architrave of an order.
LOGGIA (Italian).--An open arcade with a gallery behind.
LOOP.--Short for loophole. A very narrow slit in the wall of
a fortress, serving as a window, or to shoot through.
LUCARNE.--A spire-light. A small window like a slender
dormer window.
MOAT (or Fosse).--The ditch round a fortress or
semi-fortified house.
MOSAIC.--An ornament for pavements, walls, and the surfaces
of vaults, formed by cementing together small pieces of
coloured material (stone, marble, tile, &c.) so as to
produce a pattern or picture.
MOULDING.--A term applied to all varieties of contour or
outline given to the angles, projections, or recesses of the
various parts of a building. The object being either to
produce an outline satisfactory to the eye; or, more
frequently, to obtain a play of light and shade, and to
produce the appearance of a line or a series of lines, broad
or narrow, and of varying intensity of lightness or shade in
the building or some of its features.
The contour which a moulding would present when cut across
in a direction at right angles to its length is called its
profile.
The profile of mouldings varied with each style of
architecture and at each period (Figs. _W_ to _Z_). When
ornaments are carved out of some of the moulded surfaces the
latter are technically termed enriched mouldings. The
enrichments in use varied with each style and each period,
as the mouldings themselves did.
MULLION.--The upright bars of stone frequently employed
(especially in Gothic architecture) to subdivide one window
into two or more lights.
NAVE.--(1) The central avenue of a church or cathedral; (2)
the western part of a church as distinguished from the
chancel or choir; (3) occasionally, any avenue in the
interior of a building which is divided by one or more rows
of columns running lengthways is called a nave.
NECKING (of a column).--The point (usually marked by a
fillet or other small projecting moulding) where the shaft
ends and the capital begins.
NEWEL POST.--The stout post at the foot of a staircase from
which the balustrade or the handrail starts.
[Illustration: FIG. _W_.--ARCH MOULDING. (Gothic, 12th
Century.)]
[Illustration: FIG. _Y_.--ARCH MOULDING. (Decorated, 14th
Century.)]
[Illustration: FIG. _Z_.--ARCH MOULDING. (Gothic, 13th
Century.)]
NICHE.--A recess in a wall for a statue, vase, or other
upright ornament.
NORMAN.--The architecture of England from the Norman
Conquest till the latter part of the twelfth century.
OGEE.--A moulding or line of part concave and part convex
curvature (see Fig. _E_, showing an ogee-shaped arch).
OGIVAL.--Ogee-shaped (see Fig. 54).
OPEN TRACERY.--Tracery in which the spaces between the bars
are neither closed by slabs of stone nor glazed.
ORDER.--(1) In Classical and Renaissance architecture a
single column or pilaster and its appropriate entablature or
superstructure; (2) a series of columns or pilasters with
their entablature; (3) an entire decorative system
appropriate to the kind of column chosen. In Renaissance
architecture there are five orders--the Tuscan, Doric,
Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite. Each has its own proper
column, and its proper base, shaft, and capital; and its own
entablature. The proportions and the degree of enrichment
appropriate to each vary. The Tuscan being the sturdiest and
plainest, the Composite the most slender and most small, and
the others taking place in the succession in which they
stand enumerated above. Where more than one order occurs in
a building, as constantly happens in Classic and Renaissance
buildings, the orders which are the plainest and most sturdy
(and have been named first) if employed, are invariably
placed below the more slender orders; _e.g._ the Doric is
never placed _over_ the Corinthian or the Ionic, but if
employed in combination with either of those orders it is
always the lowest in position.
ORIEL.--A window projecting like a bay or bow window, not
resting on the ground but thrown out above the ground level
and resting on a corbel.
PALLADIAN.--A phase of fully developed Renaissance
architecture introduced by the architect Palladio, and
largely followed in England as well as in Italy.
PANEL.--(1) The thinner portions of the framed woodwork of
doors and other such joiner's work; (2) all sunk
compartments in masonry, ceilings, &c.
PANELLING.--(1) Woodwork formed of framework containing
panels; (2) any decoration formed of a series of sunk
compartments.
PARAPET.--A breastwork or low wall used to protect the
gutters and screen the roofs of buildings; also, perhaps
primarily, to protect the ramparts of fortifications.
[Illustration: FIG. _A A_.--OPEN PARAPET, LATE DECORATED.]
[Illustration: FIG. _B B_.--BATTLEMENTED PARAPET,
PERPENDICULAR.]
PAVILION.--A strongly marked single block of building; most
frequently applied to those blocks in French and other
Renaissance buildings that are marked out by high roofs.
PEDESTAL.--(1) A substructure sometimes placed under a
column in Renaissance architecture; (2) a similar
substructure intended to carry a statue, vase, or other
ornament.
PEDIMENT.--(1) The gable, where used in Renaissance
buildings; (2) an ornamental gable sometimes placed over
windows, doors, and other features in Gothic buildings.
PERP. } The Gothic architecture of the fifteenth century
PERPENDICULAR. } in England. _Abbreviated_ Perp.
PIER.--(1) A mass of walling, either a detached portion of
a wall or a distinct structure of masonry, taking the place
of a column in the arcade of a church or elsewhere; (2) a
group or cluster of shafts substituted for a column.
[Illustration: FIG. _C C_.--EARLY ENGLISH PIERS.]
[Illustration: FIG. _D D_.--LATE DECORATED AND PERPENDICULAR
PIERS.]
PILASTER.--A square column, usually attached to a wall;
frequently used in Classic and Renaissance architecture in
combination with columns.
PINNACLE (in Gothic architecture).--A small turret, or
ornament, usually with a pointed top, employed to mark the
summit of gables, buttresses, and other tall features.
PITCH.--The degree of slope given to a roof, gable, or
pediment.
PLAN.--(1) A map of the floor of a building, showing the
piers, if any, and the walls which inclose and divide it,
with the openings in them; (2) the actual arrangement and
disposition of the floors, piers, and walls of the building
itself.
PLANE.--The imaginary surface within which a series of
mouldings lies, and which coincides with the salient and
important points of that series. Mouldings are said to be on
an oblique plane when their plane forms an angle less than a
right angle with the face of the wall; and in receding
planes, when they can be divided into a series of groups of
more or less stepped outline, each within and behind the
other, and each partly bounded by a plane parallel with the
face of the wall.
PLASTER.--The plastic material, of which the groundwork is
lime and sand, used to cover walls internally and to form
ceilings. Sometimes employed as a covering to walls
externally.
PLINTH.--The base of a wall or of a column or range of
columns.
PORTAL.--A dignified and important entrance doorway.
PORTICO.--A range of columns with their entablature (and
usually covered by a pediment), marking the entrance to a
Renaissance or Classic building.
PRISMATIC RUSTICATION.--In Elizabethan architecture
rusticated masonry with diamond-shaped projections worked on
the face of each stone.
PROFILE.--The contour or outline of mouldings as they would
appear if sawn across at right angles to their length.
PORCH.--A small external structure to protect and ornament
the doorway to a building (rarely met with in Renaissance).
QUATREFOIL.--A four-leaved ornament occupying a circle in
tracery or a panel.
RAFTERS.--The sloping beams of a roof upon which the
covering of the roof rests.
RAGSTONE.--A coarse stone found in parts of Kent and
elsewhere, and used for walling.
RECEDING PLANES.--(See Plane.)
RECESS.--A sinking in a building deeper than a mere panel.
RECESSING.--Forming one or more recesses. Throwing back some
part of a building behind the general face.
RENAISSANCE.--The art of the period of the Classic revival
which began in the sixteenth century. In this volume used
chiefly to denote the architecture of Europe in that and the
succeeding centuries.
RIB (in Gothic vaulting).--A bar of masonry or moulding
projecting beyond the general surface of a vault, to mark
its intersections or subdivide its surface, and to add
strength.
RIDGE.--(1) The straight line or ornament which marks the
summit of a roof; (2) the line or rib, straight or curved,
which marks the summit of a vault.
ROLL.--A round moulding.
ROSE WINDOW.--A wheel window (which see).
RUBBLE.--Rough stonework forming the heart of a masonry
wall; sometimes faced with ashlar (which see), sometimes
shown.
RUSTICATION (or RUSTICATED MASONRY).--The sort of ornamental
ashlar masonry (chiefly Classic and Renaissance) in which
each stone is distinguished by a broad channel all round it,
marking the joints.
RUSTICS.--The individual blocks of stone used in rustication
(as described above).
SCREEN.--An internal partition or inclosure cutting off part
of a building. At the entrance to the choir of a church
screens of beautiful workmanship were used.
SCROLL MOULDING.--A round roll moulding showing a line along
its face (distinctive of decorated Gothic).
SCROLL WORK.--Ornament showing winding spiral lines like the
edge of a scroll of paper (chiefly found in Elizabethan).
SECTION.--(1) A drawing of a building as it would appear if
cut through at some fixed plane. (2) That part of the
construction of a building which would be displayed by such
a drawing as described above. (3) The profile of a moulding.
SET-OFF.--A small ledge formed by diminishing the thickness
of a wall or pier.
SEXPARTITE VAULTING.--Where each bay or compartment is
divided by its main ribs into six portions.
SGRAFFITO (Italian).--An ornament produced by scratching
lines on the plastered face of a building so as to show a
different colour filling up the lines or surfaces scratched
away.
SHAFT.--(1) The middle part of a column between its base and
capital. (2) In Gothic, slender columns introduced for
ornamental purposes, singly or in clusters.
SHELL ORNAMENT.--A decoration frequently employed in Italian
and French Renaissance, and resembling the interior of a
shell.
SKY-LINE.--The outline which a building will show against
the sky.
SPANDREL.--The triangular (or other shaped) space between
the outside of an arch and the mouldings, or surfaces
inclosing it or in contact with it. (See Fig. _S_, under
Diaper.)
SPIRE.--The steep and pointed roof of a tower (usually a
church tower).
SPIRE-LIGHT (or LUCARNE).--A dormer window (which see) in a
spire.
SPLAY.--A slope making with the face of a wall an angle less
than a right angle.
STAGE.--One division in the height of any building or
portion of a building where horizontal divisions are
distinctly marked, _e.g._, the belfry stage of a tower, the
division in which the bells are hung.
STEEPLE.--A tower and spire in combination. Sometimes
applied to a tower or spire separately.
STEPPED GABLE.--A gable in which, instead of a sloping line,
the outline is formed by a series of steps.
STILTED ARCH.--An arch of which the curve does not commence
till above the level of the impost (which see).
STORY.--(1) The portion of a building between one floor and
the next; (2) any stage or decidedly marked horizontal
compartment of a building, even if not corresponding to an
actual story marked by a floor.
STRAP-WORK (Elizabethan).--An ornament representing
strap-like fillets interlaced.
STRING-COURSE.--A projecting horizontal (or occasionally
sloping) band or line of mouldings.
TABERNACLE WORK.--The richly ornamented and carved work with
which the smaller and more precious features of a church,
_e.g._, the fittings of a choir, were adorned and made
conspicuous.
TERMINAL (or Finial).--The ornamental top of a pinnacle,
gable, &c.
TERRA-COTTA.--A fine kind of brick capable of being highly
ornamented, and formed into blocks of some size.
THRUST.--The pressure exercised laterally by an arch or
vault, or by the timbers of a roof on the abutments or
supports.
TIE.--A beam of wood, bar of iron, or similar expedient
employed to hold together the feet or sides of an arch,
vault, or roof, and so counteract the thrust.
TORUS.--A large convex moulding.
TOWER.--A portion of a building rising conspicuously above
the general mass, and obviously distinguished by its height
from that mass. A detached building of which the height is
great, relative to the width and breadth.
TRACERY (Gothic).--The ornamental stonework formed by the
curving and interlacing of bars of stone, and occupying the
heads of windows, panels, and other situations where
decoration and lightness have to be combined. The simplest
and earliest tracery might be described as a combination of
openings pierced through the stone head of an arch. Cusping
and foliation (which see) are features of tracery. (See
Figs. 18, 19, 55, and 57 in the text.)
[Illustration: FIG. _E E_.--PERPENDICULAR WINDOW-HEAD.]
[Illustration: FIG. _F F_.--LATE PERPENDICULAR WINDOW-HEAD.]
TRANSEPT.--The arms of a church or cathedral which cross
the line of the nave.
TRANSITION.--The architecture of a period coming between and
sharing the characteristics of two distinctly marked styles
or phases of architecture, one of which succeeded the other.
TRANSOM.--A horizontal bar (usually of stone) across a
window or panel.
TREFOIL.--A three-leaved or three-lobed form found
constantly in the heads of windows and in other situations
where tracery is employed.
TRIFORIUM (or THOROUGH-FARE).--The story in a large church
or cathedral intermediate between the arcade separating the
nave and aisles, and the clerestory.
TUDOR.--The architecture of England during the reigns of the
Tudor kings. The use of the term is usually, however,
restricted to a period which closes with the end of Henry
VIII.'s reign, 1547.
TURRET.--A small tower, sometimes rising from the ground,
but often carried on corbels and commencing near the upper
part of the building to which it is an appendage.
TYMPANUM.--The filling in of the head of an arch, or
occasionally of an ornamental gable.
UNDERCUTTING.--A moulding or ornament of which the greater
part stands out from the mouldings or surfaces which it
adjoins, as though almost or quite detached from them, is
said to be undercut.
VAULT.--An arched ceiling to a building, or part of a
building, executed in masonry or in some substitute for
masonry.
The vaults of the Norman period were simple barrel- or
waggon-headed vaults, and semicircular arches only were used
in their construction. With the Gothic period the use of
intersecting, and as a result of pointed arches, was
introduced into vaulting, and vaults went on increasing in
complexity and elaboration till the Tudor period, when
fan-vaulting was employed. Our illustrations show some of
the steps in the development of Gothic vaults referred to in
Chapter V. of the text. No. 1 represents a waggon-head vault
with an intersecting vault occupying part of its length. No.
2 represents one of the expedients adopted for vaulting an
oblong compartment before the pointed arch was introduced.
The narrower arch is stilted and the line of the groin is
not true. No. 3 represents a similar compartment vaulted
without any distortion or irregularity by the help of the
pointed arch. No. 4 represents one lay of a sexpartite
Gothic vault. No. 5 represents a vault with lierne ribs
making a star-shaped pallom on plan, and No. 6 is a somewhat
more intricate example of the same class of vault.
[Illustration: FIG. _G G_.--VAULTS.]
Vaults are met with in Renaissance buildings, but they are a
less distinctive feature of such buildings than they were in
the Gothic period; and in many cases where a vault or a
series of vaults would have been employed by a Gothic
architect, a Renaissance architect has preferred to make use
of a dome or a series of domes. This is called domical
vaulting. Examples of it occur occasionally in Gothic work.
WAGGON-HEAD VAULTING, OR BARREL-VAULTING.--A simple form of
tunnel-like vaulting, which gets its name from its
resemblance to the tilt often seen over large waggons, or to
the half of a barrel.
WAINSCOT.--(1) The panelling often employed to line the
walls of a room or building; (2) a finely marked variety of
oak imported chiefly from Holland; probably so called
because wainscot oak was at one time largely employed for
such panelling.
WEATHERING.--A sloping surface of stone employed to cover
the set-off (which see) of a wall or buttress and protect it
from the effects of weather.
WHEEL WINDOW.--A circular window, and usually one in which
mullions radiate from a centre towards the circumference
like the spokes of a wheel; sometimes called a rose-window.
WINDOW-HEAD.--For illustrations of the various forms and
filling-in of Gothic window-heads, see the words Arch and
Tracery.
[Illustration: {ORNAMENTAL DOLPHIN PATTERN.}]
HEAD AND TAILPIECES.
PAGE
HEADPIECE.--CRETE FROM NOTRE DAME, PARIS 1
" SCULPTURED ORNAMENT FROM RHEIMS CATHEDRAL 6
" " " SENS CATHEDRAL 21
" " " WESTMINSTER ABBEY 28
TAILPIECE.--NORMAN CAPITALS 44
HEADPIECE.--SCULPTURED ORNAMENT FROM WESTMINSTER ABBEY 45
TAILPIECE.--MISERERE SEAT FROM WELLS CATHEDRAL 68
HEADPIECE.--STAINED GLASS FROM CHARTRES CATHEDRAL 69
TAILPIECE.--MISERERE SEAT FROM WELLS CATHEDRAL 92
" ORNAMENT FROM RHEIMS CATHEDRAL 153
HEADPIECE.--RENAISSANCE ORNAMENT FROM A FRIEZE 154
" FROM A TERRA-COTTA FRIEZE AT LODI 165
TAILPIECE.--FROM A DOOR IN SANTA MARIA, VENICE 192
HEADPIECE.--ORNAMENT BY GIULIO ROMANO 193
" FROM A FRIEZE AT VENICE 235
THE END-PAPERS ARE FROM A TAPESTRY IN HARDWICK HALL.
[Illustration: _The Lily of Florence._]
[Illustration: {CRETE FROM NOTRE DAME, PARIS.}]
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
The architecture generally known as Gothic, but often described as
Christian Pointed, prevailed throughout Europe to the exclusion of
every rival for upwards of three centuries; and it is to be met with,
more or less, during two others. Speaking broadly, it may be said that
its origin took place in the twelfth century, that the thirteenth was
the period of its development, the fourteenth that of its perfection,
and the fifteenth that of its decline; while many examples of its
employment occur in the sixteenth.
In the following chapters the principal changes in the features of
buildings which occurred during the progress of the style in England
will be described. Subsequently, the manner in which the different
stages of development were reached in different countries will be
given; for architecture passed through very nearly the same phases in
all European nations, though not quite simultaneously.
It must be understood that through the whole Gothic period, growth or
at least change was going on; the transitions from one stage to
another were only periods of more rapid change than usual. The whole
process may be illustrated by the progress of a language. If, for
instance, we compare round-arched architecture in the eleventh century
to the Anglo-Saxon form of speech of the time of Alfred the Great, and
the architecture of the twelfth century to the English of Chaucer,
that of the thirteenth will correspond to the richer language of
Shakespeare, that of the fourteenth to the highly polished language of
Addison and Pope, and that of the fifteenth to the English of our own
day. We can thus obtain an apt parallel to the gradual change and
growth which went on in architecture; and we shall find that the
oneness of the language in the former case, and of the architecture in
the latter, was maintained throughout.
For an account of the Christian round-arched architecture which
preceded Gothic, the reader is referred to the companion volume in
this series. Here it will be only necessary briefly to review the
circumstances which went before the appearance of the pointed styles.
The Roman empire had introduced into Europe some thing like a
universal architecture, so that the buildings of any Roman colony bore
a strong resemblance to those of every other colony and of the
metropolis; varying, of course, in extent and magnificence, but not
much in design. The architecture of the Dark Ages in Western Europe
exhibited, so far as is known, the same general similarity. Down to
the eleventh century the buildings erected (almost exclusively
churches and monastic buildings) were not large or rich, and were
heavy in appearance and simple in construction. Their arches were all
semicircular.
The first rays of light across the gloom of the Dark Ages seem to
have come from the energy and ability of Charlemagne in the eighth
century.
In the succeeding century, this activity received a check; an idea
became generally prevalent that the year one thousand was to see the
end of the world; men's minds were overshadowed with apprehension; and
buildings, in common with other undertakings of a permanent nature,
were but little attempted.
When the millennium came and passed, and left all as it had been, a
kind of revulsion of feeling was experienced; many important
undertakings were set on foot, such as during the preceding years it
had not been thought worth while to prosecute. The eleventh century
thus became a time of great religious activity; and if the First
Crusade, which took place 1095, may be taken as one outcome of that
pious zeal, another can certainly be found in the large and often
costly churches and monasteries which rose in every part of England,
France, Germany, Lombardy, and South Italy. Keen rivalry raged among
the builders of these churches; each one was built larger and finer
than the previous examples, and the details began to grow elaborate.
Construction and ornament were in fact advancing and improving, if not
from year to year, at any rate from decade to decade, so that by the
commencement of the twelfth century a remarkable development had taken
place. The ideas of the dimensions of churches then entertained were
really almost as liberal as during the best period of Gothic
architecture.
An illustration of this fact is furnished by the rebuilding of
Westminster Abbey under Edward the Confessor. He pulled down a small
church which he found standing on the site, in order to erect one
suitable in size and style to the ideas of the day. The style of his
cathedral (but not its dimensions) soon became so much out of date
that Henry III. pulled the buildings down in order to re-erect them of
the lofty proportions and with the pointed arches which we now see in
the choir and transepts of the Abbey; but the size remained nearly the
same, for there is evidence to show that the Confessor's buildings
must have occupied very nearly, if not quite, as much ground as those
which succeeded them.
At the beginning of the twelfth century many local peculiarities, some
of them due to accident, some to the nature and quality of the
building materials obtainable, some to differences of race, climate,
and habits, and some to other causes, had begun to make their
appearance in the buildings of various parts of Europe; and through
the whole Gothic period such peculiarities were to be met with. Still
the points of similarity were greater and more numerous than the
differences; so much so, that by going through the course which Gothic
architecture ran in one of the countries in which it flourished, it
will readily be possible to furnish a general outline of the subject
as a whole; it will then only be requisite to point out the principal
variations in the practice of other countries. On some grounds France
would be the most suitable country to select for this purpose, for
Gothic appeared earlier and flourished more brilliantly in that
country than in any other; the balance of advantage lies however, when
writing for English students, in the selection of Great Britain. The
various phases through which the art passed are well marked in this
country, they have been fully studied and described, and, what is of
the greatest importance, English examples are easily accessible to the
majority of students, while those which cannot be visited may be very
readily studied from engravings and photographs. English Gothic will
therefore be first considered; but as a preliminary a few words
remain to be said describing generally the buildings which have come
down to us from the Gothic period.
The word Gothic, which was in use in the eighteenth century, and
probably earlier, was invented at a time when a Goth was synonymous
with everything that was barbarous; and its use then implied a
reproach. It denotes, according to Mr. Fergusson, "all the styles
invented and used by the Western barbarians who overthrew the Roman
empire, and settled within its limits."
[Illustration: FIG 1.--WEST ENTRANCE, LICHFIELD CATHEDRAL, (1275.)
(_See Chapter V._)]
[Illustration: {SCULPTURED ORNAMENT FROM RHEIMS CATHEDRAL.}]