GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE AND ORNAMENT.
The Gothic or “Pointed” style grew, as we have seen, out of the
Romanesque. Churches were built in which the pointed arch was used side
by side with the round arch of Romanesque. These were the buildings of
the transitional period. In France, Germany, and in England some of the
earlier Gothic buildings were purer in style than those of the later
period. The work of the thirteenth century is more correct in artistic
principles, more restrained, and less bewildering in the principles of
construction than the work of any subsequent period. The true home of
the Gothic style was in France, from which country it extended to
Germany and England almost simultaneously. The Cathedral of Soissons in
France may be mentioned as one of the transitional buildings (1212),
though portions of it are of a still earlier date. It is noted for its
early plate tracery and very ornate foliated capitals. The hall of the
Hospital of St. John at Angers shows many features of the transitional
style. Its vaulted roofs and arching are in the Gothic or Pointed style,
and the windows are in the round-headed Romanesque. The hospital was
built by Henry II., and completed A.D. 1184.
In England, portions of Canterbury Cathedral, the hall at Oakham Castle,
Rutlandshire, and the Temple Church, London, may be given as examples of
the transitional Romanesque or Norman to the Early English Gothic. In
all the above examples, the square-moulded abacus with debased
Corinthian foliage on the bell underneath may be seen, which indicates
the transitional type of capital. The buildings of the transitional
style may be distinguished from those of the earlier one by being much
lighter in construction: the masons, having learned their trade better,
found they could economise the material—which was a great thing in those
days of rapid church building—by having more slender proportions, which
led to the more refined and elegant style of the Early Gothic both in
England and on the Continent.
[Illustration: Fig. 388.—Cathedral of Notre-Dame Paris.]
The Church of Nôtre-Dame in Paris is a fine example of the Early French
style (Fig. 388). The towers look unfinished, but they had at one time
wooden spires. Chartres (1260), Rheims (1250), and Rouen (1280) are
other typical examples of this period.
The period of the Early English style lasted from about A.D. 1190 to
1270, embracing the reigns of Richard I., John, and Henry III. This
style is distinguished from the Norman transitional by the light and
lofty pillars used singly or in groups and clusters, lancet windows,
pointed arches, and by the additional use made of buttresses and
pinnacles.
The slope or pitch of the roof is in harmony with the pointed arches and
lancet windows, and also the pyramidal towers or spires. The greatest
possible difference is thus exhibited between the Norman Romanesque and
the Early English Gothic. Although the ground plan is hardly altered in
the latter style, the general lightness and soaring vertical character
of almost every detail, and the multiplication of buttresses and
pinnacles, give to the Gothic erections of this period a triumphal look
of mastery over the material that in the science of building was
hitherto unknown.
The Early Pointed style in England is seen at its best in Lincoln, York,
and Salisbury Cathedrals and in Westminster Abbey (Fig. 389).
[Illustration: Fig. 389.—Westminster Abbey.]
The Cathedral of Cologne founded by Conrad von Hochstaden—that wonderful
and huge pile of Gothic architecture—belongs partly to the thirteenth
but more properly to the fourteenth century, having its foundations laid
in 1248 and consecrated in 1327. It has been added to considerably even
until modern days. It presents a slightly wearisome repetition of parts,
especially in the buttresses, pinnacles, and other vertical forms of the
exterior, that in a measure robs it of some part of the grandeur and
sublimity which we should naturally expect in an edifice of its size and
proportions. It is based partly on the design of the great Cathedral of
Amiens in France. The very rich canopies and windows of geometrical
tracery (Fig. 390) are later than the thirteenth century, and correspond
closely to the Decorated period in England (1270 to 1380).
[Illustration: Fig. 390.—Window, Gable, and Parapet in Cologne
Cathedral.]
The interior of the Cologne Cathedral is strikingly illustrative of the
real spirit of the Gothic style. The consistent unity and simplicity of
its stupendous and upward-soaring nave, and its still simpler
choir—which has only as its ornamental features the stringcourse below
the triforium and the carved capitals of the shafts—combine to produce
in the spectator that feeling of reverence and deep respect, not only
for the sacred associations of the building, but for the great
master-spirits who conceived the design, and who were able to work out
to such a degree of perfection this great mathematical problem in stone.
This triumphal achievement of “stylistic orthodoxy” on German soil is as
much, if not more so than any other Gothic building in Germany, indebted
to French inspiration and French models. There are also many other
churches in Germany, in the country bordering on the Rhine—Strasburg
Cathedral for instance—that have strongly marked features of the French
ogival style.
[Illustration: Fig. 391.—Porch of St. Lawrence, at Nüremberg.]
The towers of St. Lawrence’s at Nüremberg are somewhat Romanesque; but
the windows, door openings, buttresses, and pinnacles are in the Gothic
style. The recessed porch has a square-headed double doorway, richly
decorated (Fig. 391). The interior (Fig. 392) of this church is
extremely artistic in its general effect. The stonework is of that dark
brown colour that is seen in so many German churches; the rich colour of
the stained glass, the pictures, and shields hung up round the piers and
on the walls, with their rich tones of gold and colours, the graceful
piers ending in the ribs and supporting the vaulting of the ceilings,
the carved rood-cross and pulpit, and above all the great carved wood
medallion of the Annunciation, by Veit Stoss (1518), make up the richest
of pictures, which is a sample of what may be seen in many interiors of
German churches.
[Illustration: Fig. 392.—Interior of St. Lawrence, at Nüremberg.]
Another interesting church in Nüremberg is that of St. Sebaldus, more
from its association with the name and works of Adam Kraft, who carved
the figure work on the exterior, and Peter Vischer, whose celebrated
work is the chief glory of this church—the Shrine of St. Sebaldus (Fig.
393), one of the most important works of the fifteenth century—than from
its merits as an architectural work. The plan of this church is bad in
having its nave and aisles of equal width, which is at utter variance
with all ideas of good proportion and of the Gothic style. The shrine of
St. Sebaldus is modelled and cast in bronze; Peter Vischer and his five
sons laboured on it for twelve years before it was completed. It is
Gothic entirely in construction, but most of the forms and details of
the ornament and figure work are purely Italian; for at this time—the
beginning of the sixteenth century—Germanic artists were fascinated and
strongly influenced by the art that flourished beyond the Alps. A fine
cast of this monument is in the Kensington Museum. The “Bride’s Door” of
St. Sebaldus (Fig. 394) has an interesting canopy of German tracery.
[Illustration: Fig. 393.—Shrine of St. Sebaldus, at Nüremberg.]
[Illustration: Fig. 394.—The “Bride’s Door” of St. Sebaldus, at
Nüremberg.]
Art having gradually passed into the hands of the bourgeois element, the
principal cities in Germany, especially those of the north, vied with
each other in the erection of town halls and civic buildings (Fig. 395).
In the Netherlands, in Brussels, Bruges, Antwerp, Louvain, Nüremberg,
Augsberg, and Marienberg, many quaint edifices are still found of the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, consisting often of brick glazed
black and red, and wide-jointed, or of stone throughout. They have
mostly steep roofs, battlemented cornices, and stepped gables. They are
decorated with little spires or pinnacles, and have horizontal or
pointed openings to doorways and windows, richly decorated friezes and
stringcourses, open arcades under the first story, picturesques
balconies, and corner turrets ending in corbels, which were often richly
carved.
[Illustration: Fig. 395.—Town Hall, Marienberg.]
[Illustration: Fig. 396.—Window Gable, from the Cathedral of Florence.]
The Gothic style was introduced into Italy in the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries, but it never took any great root in that country. In Rome
there are no Gothic buildings of this period: there is one of the
fifteenth century, the Church of Minerva, but is a bad example of the
style. On the other hand, there are some exceptionally fine examples of
Gothic canopies, of tombs and altars in several churches in Italy. It is
believed that they were copies of French or English Gothic and were all
the work of one family of artists called the Cosmati. Mixed with these
Gothic forms in stonework they introduced bands and panels of coloured
mosaic, and also are credited with the execution of much of the mosaic
beautiful pavement work known as _opus Alexandrinum_. A particular form
of the Gothic style appears in the north of Italy, and has been called
the “Lombardic” or the “Pisan” style. This style of Italian Gothic was
never quite free from classical influences. It is distinguished by
having numerous small columns employed to decorate exteriors and
interiors. Examples occur in the neighbourhood of Pisa, Lucca, and in
places bordering on the Rhine. The Leaning Tower of Pisa (1174-1350) is
an example. Part of the Baptistery (1278) and the earlier portion of the
Duomo or Cathedral of Pisa are built in this style. Lombard Gothic was
therefore contemporary with the Early English and French.
[Illustration: Fig. 397.—Crockets, Lincoln.]
[Illustration: Fig. 398.—From the Temple Church.]
In Florence a very beautiful mixture of the dome feature with Gothic is
seen in the Duomo or Cathedral, a well-known and magnificent building.
The window gable (Fig. 396) gives a good idea of Italian Gothic. The
Cathedrals of Orvieto are other examples of Italian churches in which
Gothic forms are used. In all these churches the façades are inlaid with
coloured marbles of elaborate panelling.
The Cathedral of Milan is the finest example of a church in the Gothic
style in Italy, though it is by no means pure Gothic. It is built of
white marble and has some remarkably good stained-glass windows. The
Palazzo Publico at Florence and that of Siena are built in the Italian
Gothic style.
[Illustration: Fig. 399.—Dog’s Tooth or Nail-head Ornament, from Stone
Church, Kent.]
[Illustration: Fig. 400.—Spandrel, from Stone Church, Kent.]
[Illustration: Fig. 400A.—Priests’ Entrance, Bishopstone Church, Wilts.]
[Illustration:
Fig. 401.—Norman and Gothic Mouldings.
_a_ _b_ _c_, Norman; _d_ _e_ _f_, Early English; _g_ _h_, Decorated;
_i_ _j_ _k_, Perpendicular.
]
[Illustration: Fig. 402.—Pedestal, Henry VII.'s Chapel.]
One of the most beautiful buildings in the world is the well-known
Doges’ Palace at Venice. The predominant forms are Gothic, especially
the lower arcading and the pointed window openings. It rests on columns
and arches which compose the lower story, and has also the second story
arcaded, and pierced in its upper part with quatre-foiled openings.
Above this is a high rectangular story, built with lozenge-shaped slabs
of pink marble, and pierced with a row of large pointed windows, and has
smaller circular openings above these. A richly designed battlement
crowns the walls of the upper story. The caps of the columns are
beautifully carved, and sculptured figure subjects decorate the corners
of the building. This palace was a long time in building; before it was
completed the style had perceptibly changed, so in consequence the
portico in some parts belongs to the fourteenth and some to the
fifteenth century.
[Illustration: Fig. 403.—Place House, Cornwall.]
Throughout Venice the architecture with Gothic pretensions is mixed very
much with fifteenth and sixteenth Venetian or Renaissance forms. The
ogee arch was used very much, and the Decorated style of windows and
doorways, arcadings, and balconies with Italian forms made a quaint
mixture that gives a very pleasing appearance to some of the Venetian
palaces.
[Illustration:
Fig. 404.—Flamboyant Panel.
French, Fifteenth Century.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 405.—Flamboyant Panelling.
French.
]
Gothic architecture in England has been divided into three styles; the
Early English, which lasted from about A.D. 1189-1272, in the reigns of
Richard I., John, and Henry III.; the Decorated, A.D. 1272-1377, in the
reigns of Edward I., II., and III.; and the Perpendicular style, A.D.
1377-1547, from the time of Richard II. to Henry VIII. After this it
became debased, and finally merged into the Tudor or English
Renaissance, sometimes called the “Elizabethan.” A still later mixture
of English Gothic with Italian or Flemish Renaissance details was
developed in the reign of James I., which has been called “Jacobean.”
The two latter styles never found much favour in ecclesiastical
architecture, but were developed mostly in domestic and civic buildings,
and used in the designs of pulpits, screens, and church furniture. A
great quantity of carved oak and chestnut furniture was made in the
Jacobean style.
[Illustration:
Fig. 406.—Forms of Gothic Arches.
_a_, Pointed; _b_, Cusped; _c_, Depressed; _d_, Flamboyant.
]
The various styles of English Gothic have their transitional periods
that extend and overlap them so much, that makes it extremely difficult
in some buildings to determine which style they belong to; the
difficulty is usually got over by assigning them to their respective
periods as the beginning, middle, or end of a style. We have already
noticed Early English, which is the best and purest form of the Gothic
in England. In it we see the finest development of window tracery based
on geometric lines. Mullions take the place of piers, windows have two
or more lights, the beginnings of the flying buttress, pinnacles,
crockets (Fig. 397), columns in clusters, round-headed capitals with or
without the characteristic trefoil foliage (Fig. 398) known as Early
English foliage (Fig. 398), which has been developed from the
Romanesque. The ornament called “dog’s tooth” is common to the early
examples of this style, and is also a Romanesque decoration (Fig. 399).
The Decorated style is a rich and more ornate phase of the preceding
style, and is further marked by the extensive use of the ogee arch in
doorways and windows (see Fig. 400A), and by the greater profusion of
sculptured foliage, flowers, and ornament in the decoration. The ball
flower used in the hollow mouldings is characteristic of this style, as
the tooth ornament is of the Early English.
[Illustration:
Fig. 407.—Forms of Gothic Tracery.
_a_, Trefoil; _b_, Quartrefoil; _c_, Cinquefoil; _d_, Cusped
Quartrefoil; _e_, Pointed and Cusped; _f_, Flamboyant.
]
The Perpendicular style, as its name denotes, is characterized by its
long and narrowly divided windows and similar panellings. Instead of the
flowing lines of tracery in the windows, the mullions are of a straight
lined and vertical character, and are divided at intervals by transoms,
or horizontal divisions. The pedestal (Fig. 402) from Henry VII.’s
Chapel is of Perpendicular panelling. The beautiful fan tracery seen in
Henry VII.’s Chapel in Westminster Abbey and in Gloucester Cathedral is
a variety of this panelling. The doorways in this style have pointed but
depressed arches, and as a rule are enclosed with square-headed
mouldings or labels. The spandrels formed by this arrangement are filled
with tracery and shields. Towers and cornices have battlements, &c.
(Fig. 403). A general squareness is given to all the ornaments, and a
more severe and dry character is the chief feature of the Perpendicular
decoration.
The Flamboyant Gothic style of the Continent is contemporaneous with the
English Perpendicular. The panels at Figs. 404 and 405 are very good
examples of Flamboyant panel decoration. Forms of Gothic arches and
tracery are given at Figs. 406 and 407.