Mirrored in this compendium is the mind of the Middle Ages, that

realised its dreams and needs in the most imaginative, daring, and

grandly constructive type of building that the world had ever seen--that

of Gothic Architecture. It was a mind at once practical and

transcendental; grappling alike with the actualities of life and with

the mysteries of the universe; hungry for knowledge, uncritical in

appetite, accepting the miraculous as simply as it accepted the wonder

of the world that was opening out to its eager vision with an immensity

of promise. It was the mind of a giant youth, still exulting in the glow

of growth; audacious in courage, of vaulting imagination, with thews

and sinews that achieve prodigiously. In the pursuit of abstract

knowledge the age was prone to expend itself on subtleties, to entangle

itself in sophistries, to lose itself in merest speculation. But when it

grappled with the problems of building, this weakness was transformed

into strength. Then it displayed a faculty of reasoning, apt, direct,

and original, and a readiness in the practical application of

mathematical principles. Of these, however, it was not bent on giving a

scientific demonstration; it was satisfied to employ them in the pursuit

of beauty. And its feeling for beauty, as we shall see later, was of

extraordinary subtlety, expended upon relieving the structure of

formality and imparting to it the variety and elasticity of a living

growth.

Nor was it only in this indirect way that the “Speculum Universale” was

reflected in Gothic architecture. Its chapters were represented in

sculptured illustrations upon the exteriors of the cathedrals,

particularly around the portals, in order that all who came and went

might see and learn. The statues and reliefs at Chartres comprise some

two thousand figures, while Amiens presents another memorable example.

Thus the Gothic Cathedral was not only the House of God; it was also the

House of Man--the civic centre of his religious, social, moral, and

intellectual life.

CHAPTER II

GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

I

The term Gothic, with the suggestion of “barbarian,” was applied by men

of the Renaissance to Mediæval Art. Unlike the term Romanesque, it is

not a name that defines. Hence an attempt has been made to substitute

the word, _ogival_, from the French ogive, which is applied to the curve

of the pointed arch--a distinguishing feature of the Gothic style. But

in our own language, at least, Gothic has become so embedded that it is

more convenient to preserve it.

We understand by it that style which was developed out of Romanesque

about 1150 and continued to flourish until the development and spread of

the Renaissance style.

The change which is represented in Gothic is due to several causes: (a)

development of vaulting ribs; (b) the general use of the pointed arch;

(c) reapplication of the Roman principle of concentration of vaulting

strains upon four points; (d) the development of a buttress system to

reinforce the main parts of the strain, and (e) the development of

window openings both as to their size and ornamentation.

=Periods of Gothic.=--The period of Gothic covers the thirteenth,

fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. The variations which it presented

in these several centuries are often characterised by the changes in the

treatment of the windows. Thus, in France, they have been divided

[Illustration: SCULPTURED DETAIL

FROM DOORWAY OF AMIENS CATHEDRAL. P. 269]

[Illustration: SKELETON STRUCTURE

SHOWING THE METHOD OF VAULTING, BY MEANS OF THE POINTED ARCH, AND THE

CONCENTRATION OF THRUSTS AND COUNTER THRUSTS. P. 273]

[Illustration: GOTHIC DETAIL.

EARLY ENGLISH HASELEY, OXFORDSHIRE

PERPENDICULAR CHRIST CHURCH CLOISTERS, OXFORD

DECORATED SANDHURST, KENT

EARLY HEREFORD CATHEDRAL

EARLY BYLAND ABBEY, YORKSHIRE

DECORATED HAMPTON POYLE, OXFORDSHIRE

DECORATED CHAPTER HOUSE, SOUTHWELL

PERPENDICULAR EWELME, OXON

DECORATED YORK MINSTER]

[Illustration: GOTHIC DETAIL

TOOTH ORNAMENT CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL

A CUSP PERPENDICULAR PERIOD

DIAPER OF FOUR-LEAFED FLOWER

A CUSP DECORATED PERIOD

EARLY ENGLISH WESTMINSTER ABBEY

A CUSP EARLY ENGLISH

NICHE OF DECORATED PERIOD

FINIAL KING’S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE

ORIEL WINDOW]

[Illustration: GOTHIC DETAIL

FLAMBOYANT. DOORWAY HARFLEUR, NORMANDY

BAY WINDOW COMPTON WINYATE, WARWICKSHIRE

TRANSITION TO PERPENDICULAR HEADCORN, KENT

GATEWAY BRASENOSE COLLEGE, OXFORD]

[Illustration: GOTHIC DETAIL

DECORATED PRESTON, KENT

EARLY DECORATED DORCHESTER, OXFORDSHIRE

DECORATED CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD

FLAMBOYANT S. OUEN, ROUEN

EARLY ENGLISH JESUS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE]

[Illustration: GOTHIC DETAIL

LATER PERPENDICULAR ST. MICHAEL’S, OXFORD

EARLY DECORATED PLATE TRACERY

LATER DECORATED PLATE TRACERY STONE, KENT

EARLY PERPENDICULAR KING’S SUTTON, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE]

[Illustration: GOTHIC DETAIL

ST. MARY’S CHURCH, DEVIZES, ENGLAND

A. KING POST

B. QUEEN POST

C. BRACE OR STRUTS

D. TIE-BEAMS

E. PRINCIPAL RAFTERS

F. RIDGE PIECES

G. PURLINS

H. COLLAR

J. COMMON RAFTERS

K. POLE-PLATE

L. WALL-PLATE

HALL OF WEARE GIFFORD, DEVONSHIRE, ENGLAND]

[Illustration: By Courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum of Arts

INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR VIEWS OF LICHFIELD CATHEDRAL

SHOWING THE NAVE WIDENING. THE PIERS ARE SET ON A STRAIGHT LINE, AND AT

EACH END OF THE NAVE ARE PERPENDICULAR UP TO THE CLERESTORY. MEANWHILE

THE PIERS IN BETWEEN LEAN OUTWARD WITH INCREASING INCLINATION TOWARD THE

CENTER OF THE NAVE. P. 280]

into: _Primary_, or Thirteenth Century style; _Secondary_, or Fourteenth

Century, often called _Rayonnant_ from the wheel tracery of the rose

windows; _Tertiary_, or Fifteenth Century, called _Flamboyant_ from the

flame-like shapes of the window spaces. On the other hand, in England,

the divisions are: Thirteenth century or _Early English_; Fourteenth

century or _Decorated_, because of the increased elaboration both of

window tracery and rib vaultings; Fifteenth century or _Perpendicular_,

owing to the predominance of vertical members in the tracery of the

windows.

The chief fountain-source of the early Gothic development was the Ile de

France, whence the new ideas were carried, largely by monastic activity

and especially that of the Cistercian order, to England, Germany, Italy,

and Spain. In each of these countries their application was coloured by

local conditions and England in particular produced a series of

buildings, characterised by originality of treatment and grandeur of

design. Nevertheless, it is recognised that French Gothic is

pre-eminent, not only for the logic and skill with which structural

problems were solved but also for sublimity of design, especially in the

interiors, and for the sense of proportion that distinguishes the best

examples. English Gothic, however, is a noble second.

Before enumerating some of the famous examples of French Gothic, we may

summarise the principles and devices more or less common to all Gothic.

Romanesque had substituted equilibrium in place of the inert stability

of the Roman architecture. The thirteenth century architects added to

equilibrium _elasticity_.

They achieved this by a development of the concentration of strains,

which the Romans had invented or applied in the support of

groin-vaulting on four piers, and the Romanesque architects had further

developed by the system of rib-vaulting.

=Pointed Arch.=--The Gothic was structurally evolved out of the rib

vaulting and the pointed arch. In the first place, while the Romanesque

architects used the rib system solely as a convenience of building, the

architects of the Ile de France, adopting it for the same purpose,

became conscious of its further possibilities in the direction both of

construction and of beauty. The rib, no longer a crude arch of masonry,

was constructed of mouldings that made it a feature of beauty, enhanced

by the increased height and the finer sweep of line that the skill and

taste of the French architects achieved.

In this they were helped by the substitution of the pointed for the

semi-circular arch. Not only are the curves of the pointed arch more

beautiful, but they lent themselves also to a more daring method of

building. By means of them the tops of the longitudinal and transverse

arches could be lifted to the level of the diagonal ones, so that the

filling in of the _massives_ or spaces between the ribs, was simplified.

Moreover, the strain of the pointed arch was more directly downward,

which brought the main pressure down upon the piers. Advantage was taken

of this by clustering small columns around the piers, so that each

column carried its own rib, bringing the ribs and columns into a

structural harmony and creating a continuous effect of soaring growth

from the floor up to the summit of the vaulting. And this effect could

be enhanced by the opportunity which the rib construction allowed of

lifting the vaulting higher, and so affording space for ample

clerestories.

=Buttresses.=--Meanwhile the lateral strain or thrust of the pointed arch,

though less than the vertical, had to be sustained, and this was done

by developing the buttress. These were of two kinds: abutting, as the

name implies, either on the nave wall or on the outer walls of the

aisles and chevêt. In both cases they were a development of the masonry

piers with which the Romanesque architects reinforced the walls. When

the buttresses were attached to the outer walls of the aisles and

chevêt, they were connected with the nave wall by arches which sprang

across the intervening space, and in consequence are known as _flying

buttresses_.

Sometimes these buttresses were practically vertical, at other times

they descended in offsets or steps, increasing in width toward the

ground. Further to increase their resistance they were frequently

surmounted by finials or pinnacles. The buttress, in fact, was not only

a structural member of great importance, but one of the characteristic

elements of beauty in the design.

=Concentration of Counter-thrusts.=--By the time these two principles--the

concentration of thrusts and the counter-thrusts--had been thoroughly

worked out, as they were in the thirteenth century, the Gothic

architects had extended to the whole edifice what the later Romanesque

architects had done for the vaulting. As the latter had been constructed

on a framework of ribs, so now the essential structure of the whole

edifice became a frame or skeleton, self-supporting, with its strains

distributed throughout, as in the muscular system of the human body, and

in the “steel cage” construction of modern buildings.

This enabled the Gothic architects to erect loftier and larger buildings

and at the same time lighter in appearance, compared with which the

Romanesque seem squat and heavy. The French showed a preference for

lofty interiors; the English for length of vista, the proportionate

loss of height being offset on the exterior by the extra height of the

towers and spires.

Another result of the framework system of structure was that the

intervening wall-spaces, relieved of strain, could be fully utilised for

openings, especially for windows, so important in the duller climate of

the north. The clerestory became an important feature of the Gothic

cathedral; so also the _triforium_, or gallery round the nave, which,

pierced in the thickness of the wall, separated the clerestory and

arcade arches. Further, the windows in all the outer walls took on a new

importance.

=Windows.=--The windows, in fact, became another of the distinguishing

characteristics of Gothic architecture and the variety in their

treatment marks the several centuries of its development. At first there

was the plain _lancet_ (spear-headed) window, the top of which was

composed of two segments of a circle meeting at one point. The segments

were inscribed about a triangle, which was either equilateral or

isosceles. In the case of the equilateral triangle, whose base was equal

to the sides, the distance of the point of the arch from the spring of

the curves was equal to the width of the window. On the other hand, in

the case of the isosceles triangle, if the base were longer than the

sides, the point of the arch dropped lower, while, if the base were

shorter, the arch was higher than its width--the true lancet.

Such plain openings, or _lights_, were used either singly or in pairs;

and in time two were included within one lancet opening, the space above

the heads of the lights being filled with a round or _quatrefoil_ light.

In this case the upper part or _tracery_ had the appearance of having

been cut out of one slab or plate of stone, and the pattern in

consequence was called _plate-tracery_. Later, when the number of

lights in a window was increased, the tracery above them was elaborated

into various geometric designs, technically known as _bar-tracery_.

Still later, when the architects had completely solved all the

structural problems and the only advance could be made in further

elaboration of details, the geometric forms were abandoned for more

flowing designs, which are called in French Gothic _Flamboyant_; in

English, _Decorated_.

It is to be noted that the change in the treatment of the windows was

reflected in the carved ornamental details of other parts of the

edifice; especially in the canopies over niches and the embellishment of

gables, doors, choir-screens, wall-panelling, finials, and spires. These

in the Flamboyant period (fifteenth century) reached a degree of

lace-like elaborateness, that, while beautiful in itself, tends to

obscure the actual structural elements; thereby marking the decadence of

the Gothic style.

This phase was represented in English Gothic by a gradual stiffening of

the tracery into rigid forms and barren repetitions. Because of the

insistence on rectangular motives it is known as _Perpendicular_.

The windows were decorated with stained glass, the most beautiful

remains of which are to be found in the Cathedral of Chartres. They show

a prevalence of blue and violet tones and are composed of small pieces

of glass, joined by leading. This French method was also imitated in

England, as in the early windows of Canterbury; but by degrees an

English style was adopted, in which the pieces of glass were much

larger, and the subject consisted of large figures beneath traceried

canopies, in imitation of the carved work of the sculptors.

In the decoration of =columns= the French long preserved the Corinthian

type, but in place of the acanthus, used foliage forms studied directly

from nature. The forms at first were freely conventionalised; but by

degrees, as the skill of the carver increased, became more and more

naturalistic and thereby less finely decorative. The corresponding

progress in England is from conventionalised nature to frankly

naturalistic imitation and thence to a somewhat dry and barren

conventionalism.

=Sculpture.=--A conspicuous feature of Gothic decoration is the figure

sculpture. It was used with profusion, especially in France, where the

monumental treatment of the west fronts gave freest scope for the

multiplication of niches, filled with statues. The deeply recessed

portals, for example, were flanked with tiers of figures, which were

also prolonged into the recessed planes of the arched top, while the

lunette, or half-moon space between the arch and the horizontal top of

the door, was filled with reliefs of the Saviour or Madonna. Meanwhile,

figures beneath canopies stretched in a band across the upper part of

the façade, or stood singly in niches that penetrated the surface of

buttresses; until, in time, every vantage point, whether within or

without the edifice, was enriched with statues. The noblest period of

this efflorescence was the thirteenth century, when the French

“imagers,” particularly, attained a remarkable balance between truth to

nature and decorative convention. The statues seem to have grown into

human shape out of the very material of the edifice and retain its

character. With increasing cleverness, this magnificent

conventionalisation passed into naturalistic imitation and the statues

seem to be something added for elaboration’s sake.

=Contrast to Classic.=--Gothic architecture, though it developed through

Romanesque and Early Christian out of Roman, presents an almost complete

contrast to Classic style. It is an expression of many individualities

rather than of conformity. Plans are more or less uniform; generally

basilican in France, cruciform in England. But the superstructure, while

embodying certain common features, exhibits the freedom of individual

treatment, as each city or monastery vied with others in a mighty effort

to excel.

A cathedral embodies such miracles of audacity and aspiration, that one

scarcely looks in it for that complete harmony of proportion which

distinguishes a Classic temple. The latter was the product of men who

had ceased to believe in the deities they professed to honour and had

made a religion, according as they were Hellenes or Romans, of abstract

perfection or of systematised order.

Gothic cathedrals, on the other hand, were the material and spiritual

expression of intense religious devotion and of civic pride and freedom.

They were the memorials, not of old nations in the decline of their

political and social ideals, but of young races, struggling toward

nationalism and fired with the splendour of dawning aspirations. No

level line of entablature, resting upon columns ever so stately, could

embody such elevated enthusiasm. It must mount into the sky, with

soaring lines and vaulting arches, spires and pinnacles, ever straining

upward; giving voice to the grandeur of concerted uplift. Some of the

cathedrals grew up from ground to ridge roof and towers under the

guiding mind of one architect; more represent the continuous growth of

the community; but in either case embody in their variety and organised

complexity the Soul of the Crowd.

For one must not think of them only as temples of worship. They embraced

also the functions now distributed in schools and libraries. They were

the shrines of the culture of their day, in which the truths of

religion, legends of saints, and the mysteries of belief were unfolded

in sculpture, paintings, and stained glass.

=Asymmetries or Refinements.=--In order to ensure their monopoly the gilds

of masons of the Middle Ages jealously preserved the secrets of their

art. Accordingly, there are no written treatises of the period.

Moreover, with the advent of the Renaissance the Gothic was held in

contempt and the indifference to it continued until about the middle of

the nineteenth century. Then, in the renewed enthusiasm for Mediæval

architecture, buildings were studied, measurements taken, and plans of

the old churches and cathedrals were drafted. But the surveyors, having

measured the distance between one pair of piers on opposite sides of the

nave and between two piers on one side, plotted the plan as if these

measurements were uniform throughout the whole nave. In this and in

other matters they assumed that the design was symmetrical. The

contrary, however, in the case of many churches and cathedrals, has been

proved by the recent researches of Professor William H. Goodyear, whose

work in connection with Hellenic, Byzantine, and Romanesque refinements

or asymmetries has been noted already.

His researches, which have covered most of the Gothic edifices of Italy,

many of the most important churches and cathedrals in France, and some

in England, prove that the “mysteries” of the Mediæval gilds included

asymmetrical refinements. The most important deviations from mechanical

formality are as follows:

1. _Widening of the Nave_ in a vertical direction. Where this occurs,

each side of the nave leans outward; three methods being employed,

though not more than one appears in a given church. In one case, there

is a continuous and absolutely straight outward inclination from floor

to vaulting. In another, the outward inclinations recede from floor to

vaulting in delicate vertical curves. In the third, the piers are

perpendicular up to the arcade capitals, where the inclination begins

and is continued in straight lines through the triforium and

clerestories. In this last case, the angle, formed by the two lines,

produces in the large scale of the building the effect of a curve.

The widening in all cases tends to offset the perspective illusion of

vertical lines converging toward the vaulting; but also appears to have

been preferred for other aesthetic reasons.

Instances of continuous widening in straight lines are found in the

=Cathedral= and =Church of St. Ouen=, in =Rouen=. Continuous widening combined

with vertical curvature occurs at =Canterbury=; while the perpendicular

pier, combined with inclined vaulting-shafts, triforium and clerestories

is found in =Amiens= and =Rheims=.

2. _Horizontal Curvature in Plan._ Where this occurs, one of five

methods is adopted.

In the first, the piers are set on parallel curves, which consequently

are convex to the nave on one side and concave to the nave on the other.

In the second, both curves are concave to the nave, which thus widens

slightly from both ends toward the centre. In the third, both curves are

convex to the centre. In the fourth, the curves are parallel, but

reverse their direction at or near the choir, in the form of an

attenuated S, or “Hogarth’s line of beauty.” In all the above instances

the curves start at the bases of the piers and continue in the

triforium, clerestory and roof parapets; in certain cases being also

repeated in the outer aisle walls.

The fifth system is connected with a special phase of the Widening. For,

in this case, the piers are set on a straight line and with the

triforium and clerestory are perpendicular from floor to ceiling. That

is to say, at the west end and the crossing; but, in between, from both

ends, the piers gradually lean outward with an increasing inclination

toward the centre of the nave. Thus result curves, concave to the

interior, which, however, since the bases of the piers are on straight

lines, are found only in the triforium, clerestory and parapet walls.

=Lichfield Cathedral= presents an example; =Rheims= another, but with a

difference. For while the widening in Lichfield begins at the pavement,

that of Rheims starts at the arcade capitals.

3. _So-called Perspective illusions._ These were intended to emphasise

the effect of the choir and generally to increase the suggestion of size

and distance. This was accomplished in three ways.

a. By making the nave arcade and the outside walls converge toward the

choir.

b. By lowering the height of the arches as they approach the choir.

c. By reducing the width of the arches as they approach the choir.

The result of all these asymmetries is to create an impression of

elasticity in place of rigidity; an impression, in fact, of life; of the

flexible, varied movement of organic growth.

[Illustration:

PLAN OF AMIENS PLAN OF NOTRE DAME

The Perfect Plan of French Gothic

BOTH PLANS ARE BASILICAN AND HAVE DOUBLE AISLES AND CHEVÊTS. BUT IN

AMIENS NOTE THE SERIES OF APSES AND THEIR COMPLICATED VAULTING. THE NAVE

VAULTING OF NOTRE DAME HAS SIX DIVISIONS IN EACH DOUBLE BAY; THAT OF

AMIENS IS TREATED IN A SINGLE BAY WITH FOUR DIVISIONS BY MEANS OF GROIN

RIBS AND POINTED ARCHES. P. 281]

[Illustration: NOTRE DAME, PARIS

EARLY TYPE]

[Illustration: AMIENS CATHEDRAL

TRANSITION TO RAYONNANT]

[Illustration: RHEIMS CATHEDRAL

UPPER PART MARKS TRANSITION TO FLAMBOYANT]

[Illustration: ROUEN CATHEDRAL

FLAMBOYANT]

[Illustration: INTERIOR OF NOTRE DAME

NOTE THE CLASSIC CAPITALS. P. 281, ET SEQ.]

[Illustration: INTERIOR OF AMIENS CATHEDRAL

NOTE THE INCREASED SENSE OF ELASTICITY, GRACE AND SOARING. P. 281, ET

SEQ.]

[Illustration: HOTEL DE BOURGTHEROULDE, ROUEN

LATE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. NOTE HEXAGONAL TOWER]

[Illustration: INTERIOR OF RHEIMS CATHEDRAL]

[Illustration: HOUSE OF JACQUES CŒUR

NOW THE PALAIS DE JUSTICE, BOURGES. P. 286]

[Illustration: SAINTE CHAPELLE, PARIS

OWING TO THE SIZE OF THE WINDOWS, THE WALL SPACES ARE VIRTUALLY PIERS,

SUPPORTING THE VAULTING. P. 285]

CHAPTER III

GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE

The Early French Gothic dates from about 1150 to 1275. It is the period

in which most of the great cathedrals were created and in most instances

with money contributed by the laity. Roughly speaking it begins with

=Notre Dame=, in =Paris=, and ends with the =Cathedral of Amiens=.

=Notre Dame, Paris, and Amiens.=--The plan of Amiens is regarded as the

typical example of French cathedrals. Comparing it with that of Notre

Dame one observes that, while both are of the basilican type, the latter

is distinguished by having double side aisles enclosing the entire nave,

choir, and chevêt. The only other example of this is the =Cathedral of

Bourges=. In Notre Dame the transepts do not project beyond the aisles.

Further, in the vaulting of the nave the system is still one of square

bays, embracing two aisle bays, having six divisions in the vaulting. In

Amiens, however, the groin rib and pointed arch have taken the place of

the sexpartite plan and the bays are oblong. The elasticity of this

later system simplified the vaulting of the curved aisle of the chevêt,

whereas in Notre Dame the awkwardness of the rhomboidal spaces was

ingeniously evaded by dividing each into nearly equal triangles, which

could easily be vaulted. Note in both plans the disposition of the

buttresses in the outer walls. It is interesting to know that the area

of Notre Dame is about equal to that of the Hypostyle Hall at Karnak,

while that of Amiens is smaller, but the height of its nave is 140 feet

as compared with 80 at Karnak.

=West Fronts.=--In all French cathedrals a special feature of the exterior

is the West Front, and a comparison of that of Notre Dame may well be

made with the façade of Amiens, which marks the transition to the second

style, the _Rayonnant_, and with that of Rheims, the upper part of which

marks the transition to the third style, _Flamboyant_. The design of all

three is constructively the same--a development of the Romanesque twin

towers, connected by an arcade, while a rose or wheel window is placed

above the central recessed door. The spires, which were intended to

crown the towers, were never built. How they would have affected the

appearance may be gathered from a comparison of the West Front of

=Cologne Cathedral=--a cathedral that is “completely French in plan,

uniting in one design the leading characteristics of the most notable

French Churches.” (Hamlin.)

It is in the West Front of =Notre Dame= that the structural purport of the

design is most definitely pronounced. When we study the vertical

elements of the design, we note the division of the façade into three

vertical masses corresponding with the interior divisions of nave and

double aisles. The division is made by the buttresses which sustain the

longitudinal strain of the interior arcades and the outer walls and

insure the stability of the towers. And this stability is also

associated with a suggestion of upward growth, due to the three setbacks

in the profile of the buttresses; which setbacks, it is to be noted,

correspond to the three main horizontal divisions of the façade.

The lowest is distinguished by massive simplicity; an effect of solid

masonry, the thickness of which is emphasised by the deeply recessed

door arches, while its simplicity is finely contrasted with the ordered

distribution of the sculptured enrichments. Greater diversity

characterises the second horizontal division. The openings present a

varied patterning of light and shade, while the arcading lends a

lightness of effect, echoing also the ordered repetition of the band of

figures below, and at the same time involving variety according as the

arcade is seen against the sky or is felt as a breastwork of the towers.

Lastly, there is a reassertion of the vertical direction in the masses

and coupled openings of the towers.

And if the contrast of these several divisions delights us, what is to

be said of the balance that correlates these vertical and horizontal

features, these various values of form, of plain and ornamental work, of

light and shade, into a harmonious unity? It is the product of

structural logic and grandeur of feeling; and compared with the reserve

of its nobility the west front of Amiens, even the still finer one of

Rheims, may seem less impressive. In these, it will be noted, the depth

of the door recesses is increased by a pronounced offset in the lower

story of the buttress, into which the sculptured jambs of the doorways

merge, while the projection thus contrived is crowned with a canopy in

the nature of a porch. How does the division at Amiens of the second

story into two compare with the simple unity of the one in Notre Dame?

Or how does the latter’s arcade compare with the corresponding band at

Rheims of figures in arcaded niches, surmounted by ornate canopies?

The answer will depend on one’s individual temperament; perhaps also on

one’s mood. It may seem to some that in Notre Dame the variety in unity

is worked out with more consciousness of the principles to be applied,

whereas in the other two façades there is a suggestion of freer and more

individual treatment.

So much for the exteriors of these cathedrals. It is, however, when we

compare the interior of Notre Dame with that of Amiens, that we see in

what direction French Gothic was travelling. In the case of Amiens, it

is as if some power had pulled the older form upward into a slenderer,

more elastic fabric; less massive, possibly less stately, but also less

inert, infinitely alive in its inspiring growth, with grace of movement

as well as dignity. Notre Dame is still, as it were, anchored to the

comparative ponderousness of the Romanesque style. The round columns

with capitals of the Corinthian type still follow the model, though not

the proportions, of the Roman. Their effect of dumpiness is further

increased by the projecting half-round pilaster column that supports the

main member of the vaulting shaft. On the other hand, the clustered

piers at Amiens are slender, loftier in proportion to width; while a

simple logic of structural purpose is apparent in the three-quarter

attached shafts which carry the arches and aisle-vaults, and the main

shaft of the nave vaulting rises uninterruptedly from the ground. The

pier, in fact, operates as an abutting support to the members, which

actually sustain the arch and vaulting, and their relation to the pier

is asserted by the continuous _abacus_ which binds all lightly but

firmly together. A corresponding logical simplicity distinguishes the

four-part nave vaulting at Amiens, where the pressure is concentrated

equally on all the columns in succession without the need of

intermediate ones to carry the added transverse rib.

Other great examples of the thirteenth century are the cathedrals of

=Laon=, =Chartres=, =Rouen=, =Beauvais=, =Auxerre=, =Bourges=, and =Le Mans=--the

last especially celebrated for its superb chevêt and flying

buttresses--and the =Collegiate Church= of =S. Quentin=.

=Sainte Chapelle.=--The problem of concentration of strains was most

triumphantly solved in the _Sainte Chapelle_ (1242-1247) or Royal

Chapel, in Paris, in which the Gothic system of construction may be said

to have reached complete maturity. Here the vaulting is carried on

buttress-piers, and the spaces between the latter are entirely filled

with windows, 15 feet wide and 50 high. The structure below the vaulting

is literally a framework, a lantern for the display of the stained

glass; “a great translucent tabernacle merely ribbed and braced with

stone.”

The influence of Sainte Chapelle affected French construction for half a

century and was developed to its furthest possible point in =S. Urban= at

=Troyes=, begun in 1260.

=Second Period.=--This cathedral represents the transition into the second

period of French Gothic, which may be roughly placed at 1275 to 1375.

The principles of construction could be carried no further and the style

began to turn in on itself, the designers expending their invention on

elaboration of ornament. This period is called in France the

_Rayonnant_, from the raylike traceries that were introduced into the

rose-windows and from the prevalence of circular forms in windows

generally. The façade of =Amiens= is one of the best examples of the

style.

=Third Period.=--By degrees the Rayonnant style passed into the so-called

_Flamboyant_, which lasted until the introduction of the Renaissance

style early in the sixteenth century. In it the principles of design

were gradually sacrificed to the multiplication of decorative details.

Constructive imagination disappeared in a maze of skilful elaboration.

The transition from Rayonnant to Flamboyant is shown in the upper part

of the west front of =Rheims=. Some of the finest memorials of this

period’s maturity are to be found in =Rouen=: namely the nave and central

tower of the =Church of S. Ouen=; the west portals of =S. Maclou= and the

façade of the =Cathedral=, the last being a late example in which the very

material of the stone seems to have dissolved into lace. Other instances

are the church of =S. Jacques= at =Dieppe=, =S. Wulfrand= at =Abbeville= and the

façade of the =Cathedral= of =Tours=.

=Secular Gothic.=--Gothic architecture was not confined to cathedrals and

churches. Monasteries, hospitals, civic buildings, houses, and castles

were erected in profusion, especially during the fifteenth century,

though few survive to the present day. But a strikingly picturesque

monument is the monastery of =Mont-St.-Michel=, of thirteenth century

design, which clusters around the base of the Abbey Church, which was

built in the eleventh century and remodelled in the sixteenth. Among the

hospitals is that of =Chartres=. Rouen possesses a fifteenth century

example of civic architecture in the =Palais de Justice=. The home of a

great merchant prince of the same century is preserved in the =House of

Jacques Cœur= at =Bourges=, while the east wing of the =Château de Blois=

represents military architecture at the commencement of the sixteenth

century.

[Illustration: SALISBURY CATHEDRAL

NOTE THE FOUR-PART RIB-VAULTING OF THE NAVE, AND THE LIERNES IN THE

VAULT AT THE CROSSING. P. 294]

[Illustration: NAVE OF NORWICH CATHEDRAL

ROMANESQUE UP TO THE VAULTING: THE LATTER AN EXAMPLE OF FAN-VAULTING. P.

295]

[Illustration: YORK MINSTER. WEST FAÇADE

THE FINEST IN ENGLAND. LOWER PART EARLY DECORATED; UPPER LATE DECORATED;

TOWERS, PERPENDICULAR. P. 298]

[Illustration: LINCOLN CATHEDRAL

NOTE SCREEN EFFECT OF WEST FAÇADE. WESTERN TOWERS ARE ROMANESQUE UP TO

RIDGE OF ROOF; PERPENDICULAR ABOVE. P. 298]

[Illustration: WEST FAÇADE OF WELLS CATHEDRAL

P. 298]

[Illustration: WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL

BEAUTIFULLY SITUATED IN ITS CLOSE. P. 288]

[Illustration: HENRY VII’S CHAPEL, WESTMINSTER

EXAMPLE OF STELLAR AND PENDANT VAULTING. PP. 294, 295]

[Illustration: TIMBER ROOF, WESTMINSTER HALL

PP. 296, 297]

CHAPTER IV

GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN ENGLAND AND WALES

The three periods of the Gothic style in Great Britain, corresponding

broadly to the Primary, Rayonnant, and Flamboyant, of France are the

Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular.

While the two later phases are distinguished, as in France, by the

character of the decorative details, they also involved in England a

certain development of constructive principles, particularly in the

matter of vaulting, and, as a result of this, in the shape of arched

openings.

=Periods.=--The Early English style, also known as Lancet, First Pointed,

Early Plantagenet, or Thirteenth Century, lasted approximately from 1189

to 1272, covering the reigns of Richard I, John, Henry III, and Edward

I.

The Decorated, also known as Geometrical or Curvilinear, Middle Pointed,

Later Plantagenet, or Fourteenth Century, comprises the reigns of Edward

II, Edward III, 1307-1377.

The Perpendicular, also called Rectangular, Late Pointed, or Fifteenth

Century, extends from 1377 to 1558, including the reigns of Richard III,

Henry VII, and Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Mary. It continued, that is to

say, through the period of the Reformation and Dissolution of

Monasteries, until it gradually became mixed with elements borrowed from

the Renaissance style. The style which prevailed from Henry VII to Mary

is sometimes specially designated Tudor.

Unlike the French cathedrals, which were mostly erected for the secular,

that is to say non-monastic, clergy with funds provided by the laity,

the English were frequently attached to a Benedictine or Augustine

monastery. In consequence they retain some of the features of a monastic

establishment, especially the cloisters and chapter-house, or room for

the transaction of business by the bishop’s or abbot’s chapter

(council).

According to the circumstances of their founding, the English cathedrals

are divided into three classes.

=Three Classes of Cathedrals.=--I. Thirteen cathedrals of the Old

Foundation, which being served by secular canons, underwent no change of

control at the Reformation. Though not attached to monastic buildings

they have chapter-houses and in some cases cloisters. They include: in

England, =Chichester=, =Exeter=, =Hereford=, =Lichfield=, =Lincoln=, =S. Paul=,

=London=, =Salisbury=, =Wells=, =York=; and, in Wales, =Bangor=, =Llandaff=, =St.

Asaph’s=, and =St. David’s=.

II. Cathedrals of monastic or New Foundation; so called because they

were originally attached to monasteries and at the dissolution of the

latter by Henry VIII were re-established under chapters of dean and

canons. They include seven, originally attached to Benedictine

Houses--=Canterbury=, =Durham=, =Ely=, =Norwich=, =Rochester=, =Winchester=,

=Worcester=, and one Augustine foundation--=Carlisle=. Further, they

comprise the following churches, converted into cathedrals by Henry

VIII--(Benedictine): =Chester=, =Gloucester=, =Peterborough=; (Augustine):

=Bristol= and =Oxford=.

III. Cathedrals of Modern Foundation, converted Churches, =Birmingham=,

=Liverpool=, =Manchester=, =Newcastle=, =Ripon=, =St. Albans=, =Southwark=,

=Southwell=, =Truro=, =Wakefield=.

=Comparison with French.=--The study of English cathedrals is more

complicated than that of French, owing to the long period over which

their construction extended. Additions were made as funds permitted and

to meet the growing needs of the community, or restorations replaced

earlier buildings that had collapsed, as some did, or had been destroyed

by fire. Accordingly, each example is more or less an epitome of all the

phases of the Gothic style; often combined with Norman (Romanesque) and

also with fragments of Anglo-Saxon architecture. They are in a very full

sense an expression of the nation’s growth.

English cathedrals differ from the French in being lower, longer, and

narrower. The extreme length of the plan is in France seldom more than

four times the width, whereas in England it sometimes reaches six times.

The square east end is characteristic; the transepts project further;

these are seldom double aisled and have few side chapels; the plan is

inclined to cruciform, and a prominent feature is a central tower over

the crossing, sometimes surmounted by a spire. The choir is

proportionately longer and occasionally projects into the crossing or

even a little way into the nave. At the east end of it is the

_presbytery_ or sanctuary; beyond which is a _retrochoir_, containing an

ambulatory or procession passage, one or more chapels to saints and a

_Lady Chapel_, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. The arcading is more

closely spaced than in French Cathedrals and generally the relation of

the parts is less large in character. The triforium in many cases is

highly elaborated; in some it is noticeably reduced and occasionally

omitted.

The doorways are often placed on the north and south sides and provided

with porches. The windows, in the Early English Period, are either of

simple lancet form, used singly or grouped in pairs or threes, united

over the top by tracery; or the lights terminate at the top in trefoils

or cinquefoils, a heading rare in France known as _cusps_. Plate tracery

is comparatively rare in England, and the tracery of the Decorated

Period is of a geometric character. Gradually the tracery becomes more

flowing, including lines of double curvature, which somewhat resembles

the French Flamboyant. Finally in the Perpendicular Period, the pointed

arch of the window becomes flattened until it reaches the slight curve

of the so-called four-centre arch. The window is divided up into many

lights (nine in =King’s College Chapel=, =Cambridge=) by vertical mullions,

which in the larger examples are reinforced by horizontal transoms, thus

producing parallel rows of cusped lights, surmounted in the heading by

small replicas of the latter in several tiers--an arrangement somewhat

rigid and monotonous.

The mouldings are generally richer and more varied than in French

cathedrals, and, owing to their being nearer to the eye, are wrought to

a greater refinement of finish.

=Ornament.=--The characteristic ornament of the Early period is the

“dog-tooth” used profusely in hollow mouldings. The foliage is

conventionalised, crisply carved in bold curving and curling masses,

known as “stiff-leaf foliage,” which in the case of capitals sometimes

projects beyond the abacus. The flat surfaces of the walls are often

diapered.

In the Decorated Period the characteristic ornament of hollow mouldings

is the “ball-flower”; but the “four-leaf flower” is frequently used. By

degrees other motives of ornament were drawn from ivy, oak, and vine

leaves; and the treatment grew more and more naturalistic.

In the Tudor period the special ornament is the Tudor rose, two

concentric layers of five petals, symbolising the union of the Houses of

York and Lancaster. Other frequent motives are the portcullis and, in

reference to the continued claim of the English kings to the throne of

France, the fleur-de-lys. The traceries of the windows were repeated in

the panelling of the walls and in the elaborate choir and chancel

screens, which were a special feature of the period.

=Stained Glass.=--Stained glass played a very important part in the

embellishment of cathedrals and churches. York Minster presents an

opportunity of studying the progress of the art through some four

centuries, as it was practised, not only in England, but throughout

Europe.

The early examples show the influence of the Byzantine enamellers. The

windows are filled with jewel-like patterns composed of small pieces of

glass, enclosed with lead-lines, like the “cloisons” in cloisonné

enamels. Gradually the figure subject becomes more pronounced; at first

in comparatively small medallions set in a frame of tracery, then

increasing in size until they become the leading motive. They are

surmounted by canopies, enriched with ornament, as in the sculptured

work of the period, and the character of the ornament reflects that of

the carving.

It is interesting to note that until the sixteenth century no use was

made of painted glass. The material was what is known as “pot-metal”;

that is to say, glass dyed with colour while in a condition of flux. The

quality of these pieces of glass was translucent, permitting the passage

of light, though not transparent. However, the deep red of ruby was so

dense that the practice was adopted of fusing a layer of ruby on a layer

of colourless glass and then of grinding away portions of the ruby, so

as to brighten the mass by the contrast of white. In time this method of

“flashing,” as it was called, was extended to other colours. Further,

about the beginning of the fourteenth century it was discovered that a

solution of silver applied to glass would under the action of the firing

impart to it a “yellow stain.” Thus it was possible to infuse a yellow

into the whole or parts of the colourless glass, and to introduce yellow

into the “flashed” parts of blue and ruby, while the stain applied to

greyish blue produced delicate tones of green.

Another process was developed; namely, the use of enamel paint. A

pigment composed of powdered coloured glass, mixed with some such binder

as glue, was applied with a brush, after which the glass was subjected

to a comparatively low degree of heat, sufficient to flux the pigment

and fuse it into the body of the material. At first the only colour

employed was brown, which being opaque in the firing was used for the

line of the drawing. It was even used for shading, the paint being

spread in gradations of thickness and, when dry, scraped off in parts

or reduced to a stipple of tiny dots, by the action of a stiff brush.

This process was also applied upon the yellow stain and comparatively

colourless glass (_grisaille_) to produce diapers of pattern and other

ornament.

Finally, about the beginning of the sixteenth century, enamel paints of

other colours were employed, and painting _upon_ glass marks the last

stage in the European technique of window glass. While the colours,

unlike the opaque brown, were translucent, they lacked the brilliance

and purity as well as the richness and depth of pot metal. But by this

time, as in other kinds of decoration, the designers were absorbed with

details. A favourite task enforced upon them was the insertion of

heraldic insignia in the windows, and brushwork was the only method that

could reproduce the complicated devices of “quartering” the coats of

arms. Window decoration, in fact, had ceased to be an art of glass work

and become confused with the art of painting. The end of glass

decoration was completed when the window was filled with rectangular

panes of white glass, on which the painter depicted figures of saints or

symbolical nymphs, as Sir Joshua Reynolds, for example, did in the

windows of the ante-chapel of =New College=, =Oxford=. This masterpiece of

the trivial is popular, but represents a debased taste, founded upon a

complete ignorance of the glass-technique, for Sir Joshua called in to

his assistance a china painter!

=Vaulting.=--The treatment of the roofing displays more variety in English

Gothic than in French. Wooden ceilings, which we will return to

presently, often replaced the vaulting and the latter also became

distinguished by elements that were only sparingly, if at all, employed

in France. The French, as we have noted, constructed the diagonal as

well as the longitudinal and transverse ribs with pointed profiles, so

that their vaults were domical. The English, on the contrary, frequently

used the half-circle for the diagonal ribs. Thus the vaults have level

tops or _ridges_, the latter being marked by ridge ribs.

=Tiercerons.=--In England, during the thirteenth century, as in France,

the plain four-part ribbed vault was used, as in the naves of =Salisbury=

and =Gloucester=, and the aisles of =Peterborough=. Toward the end of the

century, however, came in the use of subordinate ribs, called

_tiercerons_. These were introduced between the transverse and diagonal

ribs, as may be seen in the nave vaulting of =Westminster Abbey=. Their

purpose was to decrease the pressure on the main ribs, and for their own

further security a _ridge_ rib was employed for them to abut on at the

top.

=Liernes.=--During the Decorated Period of the fourteenth century a new

set of ribs were introduced, which were known as _Liernes_--holding or

binding ribs. The name was applied to any rib, other than the ridge rib,

that did not spring from an abacus. They were ornamental rather than

constructional and were freely employed to form a network of geometric

pattern over the vaulting. Meanwhile, although they increase the

apparent complexity of the vaulting, the actual constructive plan of the

latter is not affected and may be simply four part. Such multiplication

of ribs reduced the size of the intervening spaces or panels, whence

this kind of vaulting is sometimes called _rib and panel_. It is also

named _stellar_ vaulting from the star-shaped patterns produced by the

ribs. Examples are to be found in the choirs of =Gloucester=, =Wells=, =Ely=,

the nave of =Tewkesbury Abbey=, and the vaulting of =Winchester Cathedral=,

as rebuilt by William of Wykeham (1390).

=Fan Vaulting.=--The development of the Perpendicular Period or Fifteenth

Century is that of _Fan Vaulting_, examples of which occur in =Henry

VII’s Chapel=, =Westminster=; =Divinity Schools=, =Oxford=; =King’s College

Chapel=, =Cambridge=; the =retro-choir=, =Peterborough=; =Gloucester Cathedral=,

and =St. George’s Chapel=, =Windsor=. In this type of vaulting the ribs are

all of equal curvature, and separated from one another by equal angles,

terminating at the top in a circular ridge, which leaves a series of

flat lozenge-shaped spaces.

=Pendant Vaulting.=--A further development, often used in connection with

“Fan Vaulting,” as in Oxford Cathedral and Henry VII’s Chapel, is the

device known as _Pendant_ vaulting. It was at first adopted to sustain

the flat spaces of the vaulting and consisted of a stone support

suspended from an arch concealed above the vaulting. It was, in effect,

a prolonged keystone, and its lowest part formed a base from which to

build up. For by this time the old method of constructing ribs and

laying panels upon them had been abandoned, and the vaulting was

constructed of parts, interlocking like a Chinese puzzle.

A beautiful feature of English vaulting occurs in the polygonal Chapter

Houses, in which the ribs radiate from a central column to the sides and

angles of the polygon. “If these vaults are less majestic than domes of

the same diameter, they are far more decorative and picturesque, while

the Chapter Houses themselves were the most striking and original

products of English Gothic. Every feature was designed with strict

regard for the structural system determined by the admirable vaulting

and the Sainte Chapelle was not more logical in its exemplification of

Gothic principles.” (Hamlin.) Among the finest examples are those of

=Westminster=, =Wells=, =York=, =Lincoln=, and =Salisbury=.

=Open Wood Roofs.=--The Saxon use of timber construction survived as a

tradition and was developed by the Gothic builders, in the interior

roofs that sheathed the vaulting and with specially fine effect in the

ceiling-roofs of churches and halls. The simplest principle of it is the

so-called _tie-beam_ roof. In this, a succession of rafters slope up to

each side of a ridge beam and are prevented from spreading by beams that

tie them together at the foot. If the pitch of the roof were high, the

construction would be strengthened by a post supported on the centre of

the tie-beam, which is called a _King-post_. Instead of or in addition

to this, two posts might be erected between the centre and the ends of

the beams, known as _Queen-posts_. Each complete section of this

arrangement is called a _truss_. It might be further stiffened by

_struts_, that is to say cross pieces which, instead of tying the parts,

keep them from being drawn together.

The next principle is the _trussed-rafter_ or _single-framed_ roof.

Since the transverse beam might interfere with the vaulting, it was

replaced by one or more cross-beams near the upper angle of the roof

known as _collars_. These might be further stiffened by braces, fixed

diagonally from the under side of the beam to the rafter. Further, short

struts or upright posts might be added near the lower angles, connecting

the rafters with short, horizontal pieces, attached to the ends of the

rafters and resting on the wall. These were called _sole-pieces_ and

represent what would be left if the intermediate part of the tie-beam

were sawn away. Sometimes an arched profile was secured by curving

braces fixed to the rafters and collars. Or the collars were omitted and

the curved braces were carried up to the ridge-beam, forming the variety

of roof styled _arch-braced_. Frequently this style of roof was sheathed

on its under side with boards decorated with ribs and bosses.

The further development was the _hammer-beam_ roof, which came into

general use in the fifteenth century. The hammer-beam resulted from the

lengthening and thickening of the sole-piece and was supported by a

curved brace, connecting its under side with a vertical piece, attached

to the wall and hence called _the wallpiece_. The combination of this

construction with struts, collars, and curved braces produced the

magnificent effects to be seen in the roofs, for example, of =Westminster

Hall= and the =Hall= of the =Middle Temple=.

=Exteriors.=--Unlike the French cathedral, which is apt to be crowded upon

by other buildings, the English usually stands amid smooth lawns and

shade trees--a secluded spot known as the “close,” around which are the

houses and gardens of the dean and canons. Cloisters also frequently add

to the spirit of quiet. Durham is superbly set upon a steep bluff above

the River Wear. In harmony with the charm of the setting a noble

picturesqueness characterises the English cathedral. Flying buttresses,

it is true, are little in evidence, owing to the comparative lowness of

the structure and to the fact that they are often concealed in the

aisles, but the façades, because of length of transepts and additions

of Retrochoir, Lady Chapel, Chapter House, Cloisters, Chantries, and so

forth, are more irregular than in the French. There is greater variety

of points of view; frequent surprise of vistas, while from near and far

the great central towers are features of impressiveness and grandeur,

and the occasional spires, the most beautiful of which is =Salisbury’s=,

are singularly sublime.

On the other hand, the west fronts have not the special splendour of the

French cathedrals. Yet there are a few exceptions. That of =York Minster=,

for example, with its immense window and twin towers, is in respect of

size, decorativeness, and proportion a magnificent façade. Those, again,

of =Lichfield= and =Wells= are grand and beautiful, while the west fronts of

=Lincoln= and =Peterborough= are strikingly imposing and picturesque.

Both the latter are virtually screens pierced with deeply recessed

openings that include windows above doors. The designs are arresting and

boldly picturesque, but arbitrary in invention. For the façades, being

applied to the building and not growing out of its internal purpose,

lack the dignity of logical arrangement and, moreover, are deficient in

proportion of parts and harmonious unity.

=Interiors.=--Grand picturesqueness, also, rather than ordered grandeur,

characterises the English interiors. Lower and narrower than the French,

and longer, they have not their stately unity and sublime simplicity.

But their very length and the closer intercolumniation of the pillars

and the ampler size of the transepts present a greater variety of

vistas. And the picturesqueness is also increased by the variety and

superior elaboration of the vaulting and the profusion of decorative

features, the frequent use of black Purbeck marble in the cluster

columns, the number of fine mouldings on the arches, the richness and

variety of design in the triforium and clerestory, the wealth of carved

ornament in the wooden screens and choir-stalls, and the marble

enrichments of the numerous tombs. On the other hand, though an English

Cathedral is more decorative architecturally, it lacks the warmth and

colour that the embellishments of a Roman Catholic ritual impart to the

French examples.

=Secular Examples.=--The interest of English Gothic extends beyond

cathedrals to the profusion of edifices--chapels, churches, colleges,

hospitals, and almshouses--that stud the country. Oxford presents a mine

of study; Cambridge has its splendid examples; there are Royal Chapels

of magnificence, such as =St. George’s Chapel, Windsor=; and town churches

of extraordinary beauty, while scarce a village, however tiny and

remote, but has an architectural treasure in its little church,

sheltering the graves of its quiet “God’s Acre.”

The homes of the nobles, during the Norman Period, had been frankly

armed castles, including an outer “bailey” or court, an inner bailey,

and a donjon or keep, surrounded by a moat and ramparts. In the

fifteenth century the idea of domesticity increased, other buildings for

various uses clustered round the main ones and the hall became the

centre of the life of the inmates. At first there was a central

fireplace, where the logs were piled on dogs, the smoke escaping through

a flue or opening in the ceiling. The need of protecting this led

gradually to the erection on the roof of a lantern-like turret,

technically known as a _louver_, which became a characteristic feature

of the exterior of a hall, even after the central fireplace had been

moved to one of the walls and connected with a chimney. By this time

the fireplace had grown to be the distinctive feature of the hall,

embellished with a massive carved chimney-piece, around which the lord

and his lady and guests gathered, while the house-fool laboured at his

quips, or some wandering minstrel regaled the family with song or story,

while the retainers of the establishment sat in the outer ring on the

rush-strewn floor. For the hall was the common dining-room and

recreation centre of the whole establishment, and on a dais at one end

stood the high table at which the family and guests were served at

meals, the retainers occupying the body of the hall. A salt-cellar was

conspicuous in front of the lord, symbol of hospitality and also of

class distinction, since the persons of “inferior quality” were

entertained “below the salt.” In earlier times the hall also served as a

sleeping place for the retainers.

By degrees, however, as ideas of comfort and privacy increased, this

habit was abandoned. Withdrawing rooms or bowers opened from the dais of

the hall for the private use of the lord and lady, and bedroom

accommodation was improved. And the progress toward greater domesticity

was assisted by the discovery of gunpowder, which rendered the old

system of fortification useless for defensive purposes, so that the idea

of a castle was gradually superseded by that of a mansion.

[Illustration: RATISBON CATHEDRAL

P. 302]

[Illustration: STRASBURG CATHEDRAL

P. 302]

[Illustration: TOWN HALL OF MUNSTER

P. 305]

[Illustration: CATHEDRAL OF S. GUDULE, BRUSSELS

P. 307]

[Illustration: COLOGNE CATHEDRAL

P. 302]

[Illustration: CLOTH HALL OF YPRES

OLDEST OF THE GUILD HALLS (1304). P. 307]

[Illustration: TOWN HALL, LOUVAIN

P. 307]

[Illustration: TOWN HALL, BRUSSELS

THE EARLIEST OF THE FLEMISH GOTHIC HALLS (1377). P. 307]

[Illustration: ANTWERP CATHEDRAL

P. 308]

[Illustration: MECHLIN CATHEDRAL]

[Illustration: TOLEDO CATHEDRAL

NOTE THE CORO, OCCUPYING THE THREE LAST BAYS OF THE NAVE, AND

OBSTRUCTING VIEW OF THE SANCTUARY BEYOND THE CROSSING. PP. 308, 309]

[Illustration: BURGOS CATHEDRAL

OPEN-WORK SPIRES RECALL COLOGNE. P. 308]

CHAPTER V

GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN GERMANY, THE NETHERLANDS, AND SPAIN

In Germany the Romanesque style had been developed on lines so

monumental that the architects were slow to abandon it for the Gothic.

Accordingly, while the French and English worked out the constructive

principles that produced a new style, the Germans were content to borrow

its features, especially as represented in the French cathedrals. They

were drawn to this imitation through the commercial relations which

existed by way of Burgundy between the cities of Germany and Northern

France. For at the commencement of the thirteenth century the cities

played a most important rôle in the political as well as the economic

life of Germany.

Kings and emperors, recognising the value of their support, had

conferred special privileges upon them, which in times of confusion they

had themselves increased until they were practically self-governing.

Their power rivalled that of the duchies, countships, and other

governments which made up the fluctuating aggregation of authorities

comprised in the empire. Moreover, the cities had increased their power

by combinations. The most important of these were the Rhenish

Confederation and the Hanseatic League of German merchants, the latter

extending its activities to points outside of Germany, as far distant as

London and Novgorod.

Another phase of the prominence of cities lay in the fact that they

were frequently the sees of Archbishops, who were fiefs of the empire

and vied with other feudal lords in political importance. Meanwhile,

this period was marked by a revival of culture. “It was a period of

great men and great ideas, of dramatic contrasts of character; on the

one side a broad humanitarianism combined with a gay enjoyment of the

world and on the other an almost superhuman spirituality that sought its

ideal in a rejection of all the world could give.” It was the age of the

Minnesinger and of the rise of the Friars; an age, too, in which the

voice of the laity was raised on behalf of purity of religion and

religious tolerance. This higher spirit of the time found expression

both in literature and architecture, and, though in the latter field

some noble palaces and castles were created, the chief glory is to be

found in the cathedrals and town-halls--the embodiment of the religious

and civic life of the burghers.

The examples of German Gothic cathedrals are few as compared with those

in France and England. Of the three finest--=Strasburg=, =Ratisbon=,

=Cologne=--the last is the most magnificent and is also the largest of all

Mediæval cathedrals after =Seville= and =Milan=. Its plan is derived from

Amiens, while the edifice embraces the chief features of many French

cathedrals and is, in fact, an epitomised imitation of French Gothic.

=Cologne.=--Meanwhile, there is a German legend of the origin of the

design, which is interesting for the light it throws on the Mediæval

spirit. While the architect, bidden by the archbishop to build the

noblest shrine in Christendom, sat beside the river pondering, an old

man approached him and, having traced in the sand a plan, immediately

obliterated it. But the architect had seen enough to know that the plan

was the one that was dawning in his mind yet still eluded him. When the

old man consented to give it and moreover promised the master-builder a

life of fame and riches, demanding only his soul in recompense, the

master-builder’s eyes were opened and he cried “Get thee behind me,

Satan.” Then he told his confessor, who contrived a scheme whereby the

devil might be circumvented. Satan had promised to return, bringing the

plan. The master-builder kept the appointment and, snatching the

precious document with one hand, in the other brandished a fragment of

the True Cross. “I am vanquished!” exclaimed Satan; “but you shall reap

no benefit, through your treachery. Your name will be forgotten and your

work will never be completed.”

Time, however, discounted the Devil’s curse, for the cathedral was

completed during the nineteenth century. It had been begun in 1270 and

in all the additions subsequently made the original design was adhered

to. Hence =Cologne= presents a very remarkable example of structural

unity; and, by the same token, a rather chill precision, product of

imitation, instead of a growth which reflects the changing style of

successive centuries.

The plan, as at Amiens, includes double side-aisles and a chevêt of

seven apses and an ambulatory, but its transepts are extended by an

extra bay and one bay of the nave is included in the western entrance.

Here the German fondness for towers and spires, already noted in their

Romanesque architecture, finds expression in twin towers, crowned with

spires of openwork tracery. This last feature is a characteristic of

German Gothic. The transition from the tower to the spire is admirably

arranged so as to enforce the function and beauty of each; and the

effect should be compared with that of =S. Stephen, Vienna=. In the latter

the transition is more gradual, so that the spire seems to start from

the ground and, notwithstanding the splendour of the whole, “it lacks

the vigour and accent” that a better definition of tower and spire

produces.

=S. Stephen= is an example of the so-called “Hall Church,” in which the

nave and aisles are of equal height. This typically German feature, seen

also in =S. Lambert, Hildesheim=, =S. Quentin, Mainz=, and =S. Elizabeth,

Marburg=, abolishes the clerestory and triforium and thus dispenses with

flying buttresses. It reduces the importance of the nave and, while

giving the interior an impression of superior spaciousness, minimises

the variety and picturesqueness of the vistas. The nave and aisles are

covered on the exterior by a single roof of high pitch.

The German builders made up for their lack of originality by extreme

skill of handicraft, which tended to over-elaboration and a merely

mechanical excellence. This was displayed in the increasing intricacy of

the window traceries, which were more regarded than the proportions of

the window openings. Thus, an excessive height was given to the

clerestory windows and in many cases the opening is too narrow for its

height. A characteristic which often appears is the _double tracery_;

that is to say, the employment of tracery on both the outer and the

inner wall surfaces.

Piers usually take the place of columns and are treated as lofty posts

for the support of the vaulting, their surfaces being frequently

indented with niches bearing statues. The vaultings are quite often

distinguished by complicated ribs, which, however, are not employed so

constructively as in England, but rather as decorative details. The

mouldings show a steady growth away from simplicity toward increased

complexity, until in the fifteenth century occurs the characteristic

feature of “inter-penetration.” In this two separate sets of moulding

are interwoven, alternately appearing and disappearing in and out of the

same stone. Where foliage is thus used with intertwining branches the

forms are treated naturalistically; and this aptitude for exact

imitation led also to the occasional abandonment of the more formal

tracery of windows in favour of “branch tracery” or the representation

of branches of trees--another instance of preoccupation with technical

execution rather than with design.

While the stained glass is good, the iron-work is a special

characteristic of German ornamentation. Another typical feature is the

Tabernacle for enshrining the Host. It is a structure of stone or wood,

standing independent of the altar, rising to a considerable height in

the form of a tower and spire, richly decorated.

In the north, as at Lübeck and neighbouring cities in the valley of the

Elbe, the lack of stone led to the use of brick, and the substitution of

moulded and coloured brickwork for sculptured ornament.

=Secular Buildings.=--The most famous of the Gothic castles is =Marienburg=

in Prussia, including the chapel and chapter house and the Great Hall of

the Order of the German Knights. Other examples are =Heilsberg=, in =East

Prussia= and the =Albrechtsburg= at =Meissen= in Saxony. Among the finest of

the Town Halls are those of =Ratisbon=, =Brunswick=, =Halberstadt=,

=Hildesheim=, and =Munster=, and the brick examples of =Breslau= and =Lübeck=.

In domestic architecture the roofs were carried to a remarkable height,

consisting of several stories lighted by dormer windows; the space being

utilised for storage and the drying of linen in the monthly wash. And a

picturesque diversity is given to the character of the streets according

as these roofs run parallel to it or at right angles. In the latter case

the gables mount up with stepped outlines, and often are decorated with

frescoed paintings.

NETHERLANDISH GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

The Gothic architecture of the Netherlands appears at its finest in

Belgium, where it is distinguished by a mingling of French and German

influence. The latter is to be accounted for chiefly by the trade

relations which existed between the great commercial cities of Germany

by way of the Rhine, with such centres of commerce as Louvain, Brussels,

Ghent, Antwerp, Mechlin (Malines), Ypres, and Bruges. On the other hand,

the province of Flanders came under the French influence through the

marriage of Margaret of Flanders with the first Duke of the French royal

house of Valois, whose successors gradually brought the whole of Belgium

under their rule. Further, the Abbey of Noyon early established close

relations with that of Tournai, and in this way the religious

architecture of France penetrated Belgium. Owing to their pre-eminence

in weaving the Netherlandish cities became the most prosperous of the

period and this is reflected in the florid decoration of the later

ecclesiastical building, as well as in the magnificent Town, Trade, and

Guild Halls, which are the special distinction of Netherlandish

architecture.

=Guild Halls.=--They present a general similarity of character. The

façades mount in several stories, which are defined by bands of ornament

or string-courses and pierced with rows of pointed windows. These are

framed with rich traceries of carved work and separated by canopied

niches, designed for and often filled with statues. The façades

terminate at the spring of the roof in an adaptation of the Romanesque

arcaded eaves, which occasionally project like a continuous balcony,

while balconies with traceried parapets often decorate the gabled

fronts. The corners of the façade are occupied by towers, frequently

carried above the line of the eaves, in pinnacle-like structures, the

stories of which are marked by balconies. The roofs have a steep pitch

and are enriched with dormer windows and decorated chimneys.

The oldest of these beautiful edifices is the Cloth Hall of =Ypres=,

erected in 1304, while other notable examples are those of =Louvain=,

=Mechlin=, =Ghent=. The earliest of the Town Halls is the imposing one of

=Brussels= (1377), distinguished by its graceful tower and spire. The

right to attach a belfry or beffroi to a town hall was a special

privilege, granted by charter, and the bell-towers of Netherlandish

cities are among their most picturesque features. That of =Bruges=, which

forms the theme of one of Longfellow’s poems, is famous in the annals of

the city. It surmounts the central mass of a façade plainer than those

described above, offering more wall spaces and representing another type

of Gothic façade peculiar to the Netherlands.

=Ecclesiastical Buildings.=--The earliest example of Gothic work in

ecclesiastical buildings is said to be the choir of the =Cathedral of S.

Gudule in Brussels.= =Tournai Cathedral=, erected between 1146 and 1338,

illustrates three successive periods. The nave is Romanesque; the

apse-ended transepts mark the transition stage, and the choir, with its

complete chevêt, the fully developed Gothic. But the largest and most

magnificent cathedral of the Netherlands is that of =Antwerp=,

distinguished by three aisles of equal height on each side of the lofty

nave and by narrow aisleless transepts. The west front, flanked by

towers, one of which has been completed by a spire of extreme richness

and grace, belongs to that later period (1422-1518) when the taste for

decoration had become somewhat florid. Other notable =Cathedrals= are

those of =Ghent=, =Bruges=, =Ypres=, =Utrecht=, and of =Haarlem= and =Dordrecht= in

Holland.[7]

SPANISH GOTHIC

It was in the north of Spain, following the gradual destruction of the

Moorish rule and the replacing of the Crescent with the Cross, that

Gothic art took root. The time is the thirteenth century, when Ferdinand

(1217-1252), canonised as saint, united the kingdoms of Leon and

Castile, and James, called the Conqueror (1213-1276), carried the

conquest through to the east so that only Granada remained in the grip

of the Infidel.

While it is supposed that Moorish workmen were employed in the

cathedrals, the designs were derived from French examples, with certain

borrowings from the German. Thus the original of =Leon Cathedral= was

Amiens, from which, however, it differs in the larger area of its window

spaces; while Notre Dame was the model for the Cathedrals of =Toledo= and

=Barcelona=; and the west front of =Burgos=, with its openwork spires,

recalls Cologne.

Among the characteristic features of Spanish cathedrals are: the

occasional use of cloisters; the excess of width in proportion to the

length; the use of a _cimborio_ or lantern over the crossing; the

placing of the choir or _coro_ west of the chancel, so that it occupies

the centre of the edifice and with its high enclosures blocks the vistas

in all directions; an elaborate treatment of the vaulting, prompted by

decorative rather than structural considerations, and a general

tendency, especially in the later work, toward excessive embellishment.

The largest cathedral in Spain, the largest, indeed, of all mediæval

cathedrals, is =Seville=, which was erected on the site of a mosque. It

has four side aisles, each of which corresponds in height and width to

the nave of Westminster Abbey, yet the length of its nave is little more

than that of the latter’s. =Toledo=, again, has four aisles and a nave,

recalling the plan of Bourges, which it follows in length, though it is

wider by fifty feet.

=Retablos, Rejas.=--Among the distinctive features of the interior

decorations of a Spanish cathedral are the _retablo_ and _reja_. The

former, a reredos, erected behind the great altar, reaches immense

dimensions, often occupying the full width of the nave and rising as

high as the vaulting, embellished with sculpture. This is apt to be

grossly naturalistic and violently dramatic or sensational, representing

colossal figures, sprawling amid marble clouds and sunrays of gilded

metal. Far more beautiful are the _rejas_ or lofty grill-screens, upon

which the skill of Moorish metal-workers or the skill derived from their

traditions, is lavished with extraordinary fertility of design; a

special device being the enrichment of the vertical bars by the

insertion of canopied figures.

CHAPTER VI

GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN ITALY

We have already noted that the rib-vault, which made possible the

development of Gothic architecture in the Ile de France, originated in

Lombardy. But the Italian builders used the rib solely as a structural

convenience, not recognising either its further structural or its

æsthetic possibilities. Accordingly, when the Gothic style appeared in

Italy, it was imported thither by northern, usually German, architects.

=General Character.=--Nor did the style, as employed in Italy, preserve

the grandeur or purity of the northern type. The sunny climate did not

invite the large openings that had become a distinction of the true

Gothic. The windows were small, with little tracery, while the walls,

being in consequence more solid, did not need the same enforcement with

buttresses. Structurally, therefore, the walls are uninteresting, and

are regarded as surfaces to be made attractive by applied decoration.

Further, the Italian builder was everywhere influenced by the classic

tradition. He clung to the round arch, even while he employed the

pointed; frequently resorted to the Roman acanthus and Corinthian

capital as decorative features; felt his columns as columns rather than

as piers logically connected by the shafting to the vaulting, and in the

vaulting confined his design to the main ribs, instead of enriching it

with minor ones. In fact, he used the style without the structural logic

and adventurous

[Illustration: SIENA CATHEDRAL

NOTE HALF COLUMNS ATTACHED TO THE PIERS. SEXAGOXAL DOME OVER THE

CROSSING; PULPIT BY THE PISANI--MARBLE PAVEMENT WITH GRAFFITO DESIGNS.]

[Illustration: MARBLE FAÇADE OF SAN MINIATO, FLORENCE

P. 246]

[Illustration: CATHEDRAL OF FLORENCE AND CAMPANILE

BEHIND THE LATTER SHOWS THE BAPTISTRY. PP. 311, 312, 342]

[Illustration: DOGE’S PALACE, VENICE

P. 315]

[Illustration: WEST FAÇADE ORVIETO CATHEDRAL

MARBLE VENEER, MOSAICS AND SCULPTURE FORM SUPERB POLYCHROME DECORATION.

P. 311]

[Illustration: SIENA CATHEDRAL, CAMPANILE ATTACHED

FAÇADE RED, BLACK AND WHITE MARBLE, RICHLY SCULPTURED; MOSAICS MODERN.

P. 311]

[Illustration: MILAN CATHEDRAL

NOTE HOW THE FAÇADE SUGGESTS THE GERMAN USE OF INCLUDING NAVE AND AISLES

UNDER A SINGLE HIGH-PITCHED ROOF. P. 313]

[Illustration: INTERIOR OF MILAN CATHEDRAL

SHOWING CANOPIED FIGURES ABOVE THE CAPITALS. P. 314]

enthusiasm of the truly Gothic architect. He treated the edifice as a

shell to be enriched with decoration.

In the interior, the walls and vaultings offered surfaces for painting.

When this was accomplished as, for example, in the frescoes by Cimabue,

Giotto, and others in the =Church of S. Francis= in =Assisi=, by Giotto in

the =Arena Chapel, Padua=, and the chapels of the =Perozzi= and =Bardi= in =S.

Croce, Florence=, and in =S. Maria Novella=, possibly by Taddeo Gaddi, or

at any rate by some painter of the school of Giotto, the effect is

incomparably resplendent. Where, however, as in the =Cathedral of

Florence=, frescoes are missing, the appearance is cold and barren;

redeemed somewhat, it is true, in this case by the colossal dimensions

and sense of spaciousness.

For the exteriors reliance was placed upon applied embellishments. The

side walls, for example, of =Florence= are veneered with marble; those of

=Siena= and =Orvieto= with horizontal stripes of black and white masonry.

But this colour decoration is a poor substitute for the structural

enrichments, the traceried windows, flying buttresses, and mounting

roofs of the true Gothic.

The Italians concentrated chief ornateness on the west façade; the most

celebrated examples being those of =Siena= (1243-1284) and =Orvieto= (1290).

They present elaborate compositions of vari-coloured marble, charmingly

diversified, nicely balanced, sumptuously elegant and graceful. But

compare, for example, Siena with, say, Rheims or Amiens, and how it

sinks into insignificance!

In the French examples the pointed door-arches start an upward movement

which is continued to the top in the organic relations of the parts to

one another and to the interior arrangement. But in the Siena façade,

the round arches hold the eye down; for their feeling is not repeated

in the upper part, which, notwithstanding the gables, turrets, finials,

and culminating gable, has no suggestion of growth-up, but is rather a

geometric design of curves and triangles, horizontals and verticals,

carried up to a height. It is not organically structural; it is a

built-up pattern. The designer was a sculptor--Giovanni Pisano.

=Campanile.=--The campanile is usually attached to the building. In place

of string courses and mouldings are alternate courses of black and white

masonry; the sole contrast being supplied by the rectangular window

openings, which, possibly to offset the diminishing effect of

perspective, increase in number upwards. The low spire is typically

Italian Romanesque.

Fine examples of the period are to be found in Verona, Mantua, and

Pistoia, while the most beautiful is that of =Florence=, designed and

begun by Giotto and completed after his death by Andrea Pisano. It is

distinguished from other bell-towers of the Italian Gothic by the

projections which mark its four stories and the bold cornice with

machicolated ornament. The surface is further varied with geometric

designs, composed of coloured marbles; while the windows are embellished

with tracery of an elementary design, corresponding to that of the

adjoining Cathedral windows. The sides of the lowest story, broken only

by a small light, are enriched with statues and bas-reliefs, some of

which were designed by Giotto and executed partly by him and partly by

Andrea Pisano, others being added later by Luca della Robbia. In

character of subjects they correspond to the selections at Amiens from

the Encyclopædia of Vincent of Beauvais. Ruskin says of this building

that it is the only one in the world, so far as he knows, in which the

characteristics of Power and Beauty exist “in their highest possible

relative degrees.” But power is a term that connotes varied qualities to

different minds; and still more different to various temperaments and

experiences is the term beauty. Perhaps if he had said that it combined

strength and grace, or stability and tenderness, it would be easier to

appreciate his judgment. For Giotto’s Campanile has an exquisiteness

allied to dignity which is characteristic of Italian Gothic at its best,

yet to the taste of many will ill compare with the vigour of the French

and English styles.

Suggestive of the persistence of the Romanesque style during the Gothic

period the most notable instance is the =Certosa=, or Church of the

Carthusian Order, in =Pavia=. The façade and lantern over the crossing are

Renaissance additions; otherwise this splendid edifice, constructed of

brick and terra-cotta, is, except for the Gothic refinement of the

rib-vaulting, purely Romanesque. A gift to the monastery by Duke Gian

Galeazzo Visconti, it was begun in 1396, nine years after this patron of

art and letters had begun to build =Milan Cathedral=, the most important

example in Italy of the Gothic style.

Yet =Milan= involves peculiarities that may be due to the dissensions of

the Italian architects with the German and French who were called in at

various times to collaborate in the work. So strong a German influence

is perceptible in both the character and details, that the main design

has been attributed to Heinrich of Grund. Constructed entirely of white

marble, the exterior is distinguished not so much by structural grandeur

as by decorative richness. The windows, said to be the largest in any

Gothic Cathedral, have intricate and lace-like tracery; the walls are

panelled with vertical string courses; the buttresses embellished with

canopied niches, holding statues; lace-like again is the enrichment of

the parapets of the roofs, while from them rises a forest of spiring

finials, surmounted by the marble spire which was designed in 1440 by

Brunelleschi.

And in the interior, also, organic relation is sacrificed to imposing

display and delight in embellishment. The dominating feature is the

avenue of nave columns, nine on each side. They are 12 feet in diameter,

over 100 feet high, and crowned above their capitals with a cluster of

canopied niches, containing statues--a German feature. The columns

isolate themselves in the design; count only as an avenue of columns,

while their immense size dwarfs the height of the vaulting, the more so

that the height of the side aisles made a triforium impossible, and

reduced the clerestory to insignificant proportions, with mean small

windows. And the impression of squatness in the vaulting is increased by

the rupture which the canopied niches make between the pier shafts and

vault ribs. Upward growth is arrested; organic relation violated by a

merely decorative intrusion. To realise fully the diminution of

structural impressiveness thereby produced, one may compare the Milan

interior with that of Amiens or St. Ouen in Rouen.

=Secular Gothic.=--It was in their secular architecture that the Italians

used the Gothic with the greatest freedom. The official buildings of

this period, when the government of the cities and communes still

preserved a popular form, comprised the city hall or _podesta_ and the

council hall, which was variously known as the _palazzo publico_,

_palazzo communale_ or _palazzo del consiglio_.

The most important example of a podesta is the =Palazzo Vecchio= in

=Florence=, which was designed, 1298, by Arnolfo di Cambio, the first

architect of the Cathedral. We shall study it later in comparison with

the beginnings of the Renaissance (p. 358). Opposite to it stands the

=Loggia dei Lanzi=, an example of the open-air tribunes erected for

popular ceremonies. Built in 1376 by the architects Benci di Cione and

Simone di Talenti, its design is rather Romanesque than Gothic. Its name

is derived from the fact that it was used as a guard house by the German

spearmen of Cosimo I, after he had usurped the government of Florence

and established his residence in the Palazzo Vecchio.

The finest examples of Gothic domestic architecture are to be found in

the northern cities, =Florence=, =Pisa=, =Siena=, =Bologna=, and particularly in

=Venice=, where the immunity from social disorder and outside attack,

combined with commercial prosperity, encouraged a more luxurious mode of

living. We shall refer to the =Ca d’Oro= as a type of the Gothic Venetian

palace of a merchant prince, in the chapter on the Early Renaissance (p.

360). Here let us study the =Ducal= or =Doge’s Palace=, which adjoins St.

Mark’s, the two buildings, one civil and the other religious,

representing in visible union, the mind and the soul of Venice.

=Doge’s Palace.=--Instead of preserving the suggestion of a mediæval

fortress as the Palazzo Vecchio does, the centre of Venetian authority

is a palace, designed to represent the grandeur of the city’s destiny

and to provide a setting for sumptuous civil functions and the

ceremonial entertainment of ambassadors and other distinguished guests.

The building, since it was founded in 800, thirty years before the

founding of St. Mark’s, has undergone many vicissitudes; five times

destroyed by fire and on each occasion rebuilt with greater

magnificence, so that the present design is a composite of Gothic and

Renaissance.

The Gothic is chiefly represented in the magnificent loggia, which

comprises two open arcades, ranging along two fronts, facing,

respectively, the Piazzetta and the Lagune. The lower arcade consists of

pointed arches, resting on circular columns, the shafts of which are of

stumpy proportions and rise directly from the pavement without bases.

The capitals, carved with foliage, figures, and animals, combine to an

unusual degree richness of design with delicacy of execution, while that

of the corner column, which is surmounted by a group of Adam and Eve, is

described by Ruskin in his “Stones of Venice” as being, in respect of

workmanship and the grouping of the foliage, the finest he knows in

Europe. The upper arcade is composed of twice the number of columns,

which again have circular shafts without bases, but are proportionately

taller and more graceful. They support trefoiled arches, whose ogee

curves slide up into a series of circles pierced with quatrefoils--a

combination of tracery characteristically Venetian; as indeed, is the

mingled massiveness and elegance of the whole design.

This double arcade must have presented a still finer effect in the

original design when it stood clear of the main façade. For the

advancing of the upper part to the arcade line, which dates from a

restoration after a fire in the fifteenth century, produces an effect of

top-heaviness. Moreover, its direct juxtaposition with the elaborateness

of the arcade accentuates the contrast, presented by the severe

simplicity of the surface, patterned with red, white, and black marbles,

and meagrely pierced with windows.

BOOK VI

THE RENAISSANCE PERIOD

CHAPTER I

RENAISSANCE CIVILISATION

In the early years of the fourteenth century a new spirit became

manifest in art. It showed itself, for example, in the sculpture that

embellishes Amiens and Chartres, in the bronze doors of the Baptistry of

Florence by Andrea Pisano, and in the painting and sculpture of Giotto.

It is supremely manifested in the poetry of Dante.

All of these works belong to the Gothic period. The soul in them is

still composed of the faith and knowledge of the Mediæval mind and

imagination; but the form in which the soul is enshrined has become less

generalised, abstract, and symbolical; it has become more

individualised, concrete, naturalistic. In a word, it has become more

humanised.

It represents a change of attitude toward life; a disposition to regard

the world, no longer exclusively or chiefly in relation to a future

existence, but as the scene of human endeavour, human aspirations, human

emotions. It represents a renewed consciousness on the part of Man of

his own Humanity. In a word, the thought of the world was gradually

evolving from the scholastic attitude of the Middle Ages to the

_Humanistic_ spirit, which was the breath of life of the Renaissance.

At first the movement groped. The thinker and the artist, while intent

upon the study of life, were ignorant of exact methods of study. These

were gradually learned through the rediscovery of the Greek and Roman

classics. The Rebirth, in fact, which is metaphorically suggested in

the term Renaissance, was the result of the spread of the humanistic

spirit and the “Revival of Learning”; and, in recognition of this,

Classic literature was called “Litteræ Humaniores,” the students of the

Classics were called Humanists, and Humanism is the term often applied

to the whole movement.

The movement was one that affected the whole fabric of civilisation, for

it involved no less than the self-emancipation of the human intellect

and will. The human will began to free itself from the shackles of

dogmatism and the domination of absolute authority, whether exercised by

the Church or by civil rulers. The human intellect gradually freed

itself from the subtleties and sophistries of the “Schoolmen,” ceased to

speculate on abstract questions, such as the language spoken by the

angels, and how many angelic beings could be supported on the point of a

pin, and began to apply itself to the exact study of what was actually

within the reach of human experience or research. And for this exactness

of study the Revival of Learning laid the foundation, because the

students of the Classics learned to collate the various manuscripts,

comparing them critically so as to discover the correct reading, and

were also obliged to compile grammars and dictionaries--in fact, to

construct from the ground up, a fabric of reliable knowledge and at the

same time a system of education. It was a process that encouraged both

exact and critical research.

Meanwhile, before the Revival of Learning could make itself a force,

there had been other influences which prepared the way for emancipation

from the despotism of authority. The Middle Ages had been dominated by

two authorities, the Church and the Holy Roman Empire. The former, as we

have seen in a previous chapter, was the sole agency to introduce

organisation into the chaos that succeeded the fall of the Roman Empire.

It gradually subdued the barbarian conquerors not only to a semblance of

religious fellowship but also to some degree of social order, and

further fostered the latter by throwing the weight of its influence on

the side of popular rights.

On the other hand, the attempt of Charlemagne to revive the magnificence

and the authority of a Roman Emperor had been directly to force upon the

various racial divisions of Europe the yoke of a political despotism,

under the sanction of the Church’s co-operation. The Holy Roman Empire

was an arbitrary and artificial union of unmixable elements and did not

survive the death of its founder. The central authority could not hold

in check the ambition and power of local authorities. The Frankish group

fell apart from the Germanic groups across the Rhine. The authority of

succeeding emperors was confined to the east of the Rhine and had to

meet the growing opposition of the Feudal system. The result was a

continual clash of authorities, in which all parties intrigued for the

assistance of the Church, so that the Papal authority also was drawn

into the struggle for civil power, thereby weakening its prestige in

religious and social directions.

The outcome of the prolonged embroilment was the gradual consolidation

of peoples into nationalities. France, England, and Germany emerged as

separate unities, each drawn into a whole by racial similarities and

local self-interest. The dream of a centralised and absolute authority,

whether civil or religious, was slowly replaced by the practical policy

of attempting to establish a balance of European powers.

And, while this gradual disintegration of the absoluteness of authority

was in process, other circumstances operated to undermine the old

traditional order. We have spoken of one of them--the spread of

Humanism. Meanwhile the use in warfare of gunpowder and guns hastened

the overthrow of the Feudal system. The introduction of the mariner’s

compass made possible the exploration of continents beyond the ocean.

The substitution of the Copernican for the Ptolemaic system of astronomy

revolutionised men’s idea of the universe. Further, the growth in

nationality was accompanied by the development of separate languages,

and the diffusion of these, as well as of knowledge generally, was

increased by the invention of paper and printing.

Thus, from diverse directions light was breaking into the darkness of

life, dispersing the superstitions and terrors that had shackled the

human will, and illuminating positive pathways for the human intellect

to travel. Thought ceased to be involved in allegory; the study of

nature to be “perverted into grotesque and pious parables,” while

sorcery and magic no longer seemed to be the means of compassing control

over nature and obtaining insight into the mysteries surrounding human

life. The other world, with its imagined heaven and hell, loosened its

grip on the conscience, and the joys and possibilities of this world

began to occupy men’s minds. The beauty of the visible world and the

delights of sense ceased to be regarded as snares of the devil, and in

their growing independence and belief in themselves men turned to

mastering the resources of this world and to making it better for the

purpose of life. No wonder, that as the consciousness of this new and

fuller existence became confirmed, men spoke to one another of a

Rebirth!

How this movement, which was in ferment throughout Western Europe,

operated specifically in different countries, is now to be traced. The

leadership in it was taken by the Rinascimento, to use the Italian word,

of Italy.

ITALIAN RENAISSANCE

Ever since Charlemagne’s conquest of Lombardy the Emperors had held a

foot in Italy, contesting authority with the Pope. Meanwhile, the

successors of Roger, the Norman conqueror of Sicily, held sway over the

Kingdom of Naples, which occupied the southern part of the peninsula,

and at different times was joined to or independent of the Kingdom of

Sicily. Italy, in fact, had proved herself incapable of forming a united

nation or of establishing a national state. Like Hellas of old, she was

an agglomeration of communes and cities, capable of being inspired by a

common sentiment of race, but unable to merge their independence and

mutual jealousies and rivalries in a single political organisation. Even

the individual communes and cities were split into factions: the

Ghibellines, representing the aristocratic party, favouring the Emperor,

and the Guelphs, who comprised the popular party and were assisted by

the Popes.

The result of these conditions was to quicken the growth of local

feeling. Patriotism was replaced by intense civic pride, which centred

in the city or commune and made it vie with others in self-development.

And this self-centering resulted, firstly, in each nucleus of energy

developing an independent type of community and, secondly, in bringing

to the surface the personal force of individual citizens. The Duke who

had been elevated to or usurped the headship of the community, was

compelled to maintain his position by force of character and by acts

that would redound to the pride and power of the community. He needed

the assistance of other men of parts and employed their services, no

matter from what class of the community they had sprung. There was room

higher up for every citizen who could contribute something to the

community’s power and dignity. As one result of these conditions there

sprang into existence a class of professional soldiers, or condottieri,

who sold their services and those of their trained bands to the highest

bidder, and who, when occasion offered, lifted themselves, as in the

case of Colleoni and Gattamelata, to high military commands. Moreover,

the perpetual intriguing that the conditions of politics had developed

between cities and rival authorities, encouraged the employment of a

large body of secretaries and diplomatic go-betweens, men of education

and superior sharpness of wit. In fact, any one who by his brains or his

handiwork could furnish eminent service to the community was eagerly

sought after and promoted. Such men were held in high esteem and

regarded as an honour to the community.

In an environment such as this it followed that the Italian Rinascimento

was the product of men of powerful individuality and that the trend of

it led to the exaltation of individualism. The first great personality

associated with it is that of Petrarch.

Son of a man who had shared Dante’s exile, he himself emulated the poet

of Beatrice in _canzoniere_, composed to his ideal mistress, Laura. He

too helped to refine and vivify, as Boccaccio did a little later, the

Italian tongue; but he was filled with the pride of being a descendant

of the Roman People, and looked back to Latin literature as the

worthiest object of his study. In his zeal for collecting and collating

manuscripts and through the richness of his imagination and critical

judgment, joined to a tireless devotion, he became the pioneer in that

Italian scholarship which restored to Western Europe the knowledge of

the Classics and laid the foundation of modern thought.

For hitherto, although an acquaintance with Latin had survived, it was

chiefly in the monkish form, and the Latin authors were known only by

fragments, often mutilated in the process of copying. The knowledge of

the Greek tongue, while preserved in Byzantium, had all but entirely

disappeared from Western Europe, and Petrarch, realising the need of

recovering it, urged Boccaccio to begin the work. Accordingly the latter

took lessons of an adventurer, named Leone Pilato, a native of Calabria

who had resided in Thessaly, and succeeded also in having him appointed

professor of Greek language and literature in the University of

Florence. Boccaccio, like his friend Petrarch, was indefatigable in the

search for manuscripts among the libraries and, as often, the

lumber-rooms of the monasteries. And frequently he had to mourn their

mutilation, as on one occasion when he found the precious sheets of

vellum had been scraped clean of the classic text and inscribed with

psalms for the use of the choirboys, while the decorated margins had

been cut into bits and sold to women as amulets.

During the fifteenth century the pursuit of scholarship continued,

receiving a great advancement when Constantinople, in 1451, was

conquered by the Turks. For many of the Greek scholars found refuge in

Italy, where they were received with the highest enthusiasm in

universities and the palaces of princes. Thus for a century the keenest

spirits of what was then the most intellectually advanced people of

Europe, devoted themselves to classical erudition. The world’s debt to

them is incalculable, but the boon they conferred on others was not

without detriment to themselves. Preoccupation with scholarship produced

a certain affectation and pedantry of mind; led to an extravagant

valuation of the antique over everything modern and undermined

Christianity with Paganism. Nor was it the Stoic side of Paganism that

was emulated. The pleasures of life were pursued as an ideal, and with

no moral curb on conduct; freedom was confused with license and the

desire of the senses ousted the restraint of law. The organisation alike

of the Church and of society in time became honeycombed with corruption.

In such an intellectual and moral atmosphere the ego in man was

worshipped as divinity. Individualism, extolled to a fetish and

unbridled by any considerations of good and bad, engendered faculties of

glorious capabilities and also of monstrous depravity. Individualism, in

fact, ran its hot and heady course at the expense of everything that had

once counted for strength in communal and civic spirit. By the beginning

of the sixteenth century, the culmination of the Renaissance, a few

giants survived, but the Italian people, while intellectually in the

ascendant, had degenerated physically and morally and fell an easy prey

to foreign aggression.

The expedition which Charles VIII made to Naples in 1494 brought the

French into Italy. They were soon followed by the Spaniards, until Italy

became the cockpit of European rivalries. Political as well as moral

degradation was reached when, by the League of Cambrai, 1508, Pope

Julius II made alliance with Louis XII of France, the Emperor

Maximilian, and Ferdinand “The Catholic” of Spain for the partition of

the Venetian territories. Humiliation ensued sixteen years later, when

German and Spanish mercenaries, led by the renegade Constable Bourbon,

sacked Rome. Italy, after having led the van in the emancipation of

human intellect and will, had prostituted both. Even the

Counter-Reformation, instituted by the Church to reform her own abuses

as well as to resist the tide of Protestantism, could not save Italy to

the Italians. Three hundred and fifty years had to elapse before they

could recover their nationality and once more set themselves upon the

road of progress.

GERMAN RENAISSANCE

The influence of the Italian Renaissance was firstly and most directly

absorbed by France. But the consideration of this may conveniently be

postponed until after a review of its operation in Germany and Spain.

For in both these countries the Renaissance influence bred antagonisms:

in Germany the Reformation and in Spain the Counter-Reformation.

The Renaissance which the Italians had initiated as a thing of Beauty,

began to operate in Germany as a thing of Power; the emancipation of the

human intellect and will was supplemented by the emancipation of the

human conscience. The Italian indifference to the latter was more than a

source of decadence to themselves; for it cleft into two channels what

should have been united in a single stream of human endeavour; it forged

barriers between what should be component elements in human ideals. It

started that antagonism between Beauty and Morality, between Æsthetics

and Ethics by which even to this day civilisation is being retarded in

its richest and most beneficent possibilities of progress.

Germany was quick to absorb Italian erudition. Hebrew, Greek, and Latin

scholars, rivalling those of Italy, became numerous in German

universities and in the free cities of Nüremburg, Augsburg, Basel, and

Strassburg. But even students who attended the universities of Italy

escaped the Pagan influence. They returned to a homeland which was not

strewn with classic remains, and whose traditions were still deeply

rooted in mediævalism and expressed in the Gothic spirit. It was the

same with the artists. For example, the art of Schongauer, Dürer,

Holbein, and Cranach is untouched by that sense of beauty which their

Italian contemporaries had evolved from classic influence. Moreover, the

German mind was more penetrating, earnest, argumentative than the

Italian, more occupied with substantial than with abstract problems. The

German temperament also was more combative; incapable of the Italian

cynical toleration and at once deeper and narrower in its character.

Consequently the German erudition began to apply itself to concrete

problems, such as theological criticism and the absolute authority

claimed by the Church. The Bible was opened up to the Germans as a new

book. As the Classics had served to emancipate the Italian intellect and

will, so the Bible emancipated the German conscience. “The touch of the

new spirit which in Italy had evolved literature, art, and culture,

sufficed in Germany to recreate Christianity.” The sale of Indulgences

by Leo X and Luther’s protest but served to set the spark to the

explosion, which, long in preparation, split Teutonic and Latin

Christianity, and involved Western Europe for two centuries in

politico-religious strife.

For gradually it had become recognised that the new “heresy” threatened

the authority alike of monarchical government and the Papacy. Orthodoxy

and absolutism were the two sides of the same shield. The Church had

begun to realise that there was as much danger to its authority in the

Pagan revival of the Italian Renaissance as in Protestantism. Both papal

and imperial authority were threatened. Accordingly, Pope Clement VII

and Emperor Charles V entered into a compact at Bologna in 1530, to

maintain in its integrity the Catholic Faith. Thus began the

Counter-Reformation, which reformed many of the abuses that had crept

into the Church and renewed the fervour of the Catholic religion, but on

the other hand, arrayed the forces of conservatism against the march of

progress.

SPANISH RENAISSANCE

It was in Spain that the Counter-Reformation was most zealous. Although

the influence of the Italian Renaissance had reached her, she had

rejected its pagan aspects. On the one hand, her rulers jealously

guarded their title of “Catholic Majesty.” On the other hand, the

released energies of the country had been largely directed to the

commercial conquests, opened up by the discovery of America, which

encouraged that self-reliance and absorption in self that were

characteristic of the Spanish temperament. Spaniards had upheld the

Faith in their long contest with the Saracen intruders and still

considered themselves the Champions of Christendom. Meanwhile, the

intellectual activity inspired by the Renaissance gave them renewed

belief in themselves and established them in their interest in the

affairs of their own life.

Typical alike of the Spanish race and of the effect upon it of the

Renaissance is the “Don Quixote” of Cervantes, whom Symonds ranks with

Ariosto, Rabelais, and Shakespeare as the four supreme literary

exponents of the Renaissance. For each of these caught the spirit of the

Renaissance when it was at the first freshness of its vigour in their

respective countries and, instead of using it to imitate the past,

captured its imagination into the vernacular of his own language, making

it a most flexible and vital medium for the expression of the spirit of

his own time and country. In Cervantes’ case the racial humour punctured

with ridicule the affectations into which the old order of Chivalry had

degenerated.

That the new attitude toward life which it indirectly advocated, failed

to be realised by the Spaniards may be attributed to two causes. One is

the Counter-Reformation which rallied the forces of reactionism and the

other, the easily gotten wealth that poured into the country from the

New World. The one, associated with Monarchical absolutism, destroyed

political progress, while the other swamped initiative and the vigorous

handling of life, resulting in both moral and economical decadence.

Yet the inherent raciness of the Spanish people could not be entirely

suppressed. It declared itself especially in the prolific, versatile,

truly national drama of Lope de Vega and Calderon, which pictured the

life of the people with a variety and richness that have been surpassed

only by Shakespeare. Moreover, after an apprenticeship of the Spanish

painters to the works of Raphael and other Italians, the seventeenth

century produced the greatest of all naturalistic painters in the person

of Velasquez. Nevertheless, despite certain brilliant exceptions, it was

the tragedy of Spain that at the moment, when her Renaissance was

approaching fulfilment, it was strangled.

FRENCH RENAISSANCE

Very different was the part played by France. Her native genius had to

some extent anticipated the spirit of Humanism, so she embraced the

learning and culture of the Renaissance eagerly but with discrimination.

She utilised both, not in the way of imitation, but as enrichment to her

own self-expression; and, finally, as Italy declined, assumed the

leadership of European culture.

Already in the twelfth century Abelard had initiated the spirit of free

inquiry in theology; later, it was upon the love-songs of the

_trouveres_ or troubadours of Provence that Petrarch patterned his

_canzoniere_, and from the _fabliaux_, popular in France, that Boccaccio

derived the character and some of the themes of his Decameron.

While in the north France maintained close relations with Flanders, she

was drawn into commercial relations with Italy, directly, in the south,

and by way of the German cities and Burgundy on the east. Her political

relations began, as we have noted, with the expedition of Charles VII to

Naples, and were continued by the efforts of Louis XII and Francis I to

secure and hold possessions in Italy. Even the latter’s disastrous

defeat at Pavia did not discourage him from subsequent warlike

enterprises, but meanwhile his zeal for things Italian caused him to

invite many Italian artists to Fontainebleau. Henri II’s queen was

Catherine de Medici and her children, Charles IX and Henri III, were

brought up as Italianated Frenchmen.

Thus, during the sixteenth century the Court and nobility of France

became largely Italianised in manners, although the survival of the

Feudal system and the distinctly military character of the aristocracy

rendered France very different from Italy in many vital particulars.

For France was engaged in developing her nationality and these

disintegrating and aggressive elements had to be subdued to the central

authority--a process made more complex by the spread of the Reformation

under the leadership of Calvin, so that the struggle was one of

conscience as well as political power. But in the process France was

awakened to a real sense of nationalism. The Gallic spirit became aware

of itself and intent upon development and consolidation.

Consequently, the presence of such artists as Leonardo da Vinci, Del

Sarto, Primaticcio, and Benvenuto Cellini could not stifle the native

art. They left their impress on the decorations of Fontainebleau and

served as models of superior knowledge and refinement to French painters

and sculptors, yet did no more than modify the French originality of

inspiration. Painters like the Clouets and the unnamed painter of the

“Diana” of the Louvre and the sculptors Goujon and Pilon, despite some

debt to Italian influence, preserved unmistakably their Gallic spirit,

as we shall also find did the architects of the French _châteaux_.

It was the spirit that had created the miracles of Gothic architecture;

a spirit highly adventurous, yet logical, which overflowed with

enthusiasm for life, but was controlled by instinctive taste.

It suffered a clipping of its freedom when France was finally

consolidated as a State and Absolutism was enthroned in the person of

Louis XIV. Under the officialdom that he established French art was

compelled to sit at the feet of the Italians. Yet, even so, the native

genius shines through acquired affectations in the work of Poussin and

Claude, while the eighteenth century witnessed the reblossoming of the

Gallic spirit in the dainty fancies of Rococo decoration. On the other

hand, the sterner issues of the Renaissance, as they affected political

liberty, culminated after long delay in the Revolution.

That the Gallic genius has been and still remains a powerful factor in

the progress of civilisation is due to its blend of the intellectual and

the aesthetic faculties. It thinks clearly and feels subtly and adjusts

thought and feeling into an admirable accord by its tact of taste. It

approximates most closely to the quality of the old Greek genius. At its

best, under the impulse of a high spiritual purpose, it has expressed

itself in terms of Truth and Beauty that no modern nation has rivalled.

Even when its motive has been trivial, its manner of expression has

redeemed it from insignificance, the craftsmanship being in itself so

true and beautiful. Moreover, the French spirit is so agile and

responsive, that it has caught and reflected back the diverse thought

and feeling of other countries, and, further, has so marked a strain of

originality that it has preserved the faculty of creativeness.

NETHERLANDISH RENAISSANCE

The Netherlands, through their commercial intercourse with Italy, early

came in touch with the Renaissance. But the self-reliance of the people

was such that the earliest influence only improved their own way of

expressing their racial consciousness. For example, the town halls in

which the pride of their cities was enshrined, owed nothing to Italy

except some later refinements of decoration. The painting of the Van

Eycks was not only different from but technically superior to the

contemporary art of Italy and furnished the latter with the practical

processes of the oil medium. In time the mannerisms of Italian painting

made themselves felt in the work of Van Orley and others, but the

genuine reaction of the Flemish genius to the Italian Renaissance did

not develop until the seventeenth century, when it produced a

reinvigorated expression of itself in the genius of Rubens.

Political and religious causes, due to the grip of the Spanish rule, had

retarded the progress of the Flemish provinces, while, on the other

hand, it was the break away from this absolutism that started the

northern provinces of Holland on their Renaissance. The Holland

Renaissance of the seventeenth century, which moved step by step with

their struggle for political and religious liberty and their

consolidation into a united nation, represented a most remarkable blend

of Humanism and Revival of Learning. It was unique at its time and has

preserved its significance, because both these engines of activity were

devoted deliberately to national and individual betterment. The Dutch

zest of life stimulated them not only to obtain their liberty, but also

to improve in a multitude of practical ways the conditions of living. It

caused them to organise industry and commerce, to cultivate their land

intensively and to extend their explorations and trade over the seven

seas. Nor were the intellectual resources overlooked. The university of

Leyden became a great centre of human culture and its scholars and

scientists set the course of thought and research in the direction of

modern life.

Holland’s prosperity, however, proved her undoing. After defying and

withstanding the absolutism of Spain, she fell a victim to that of Louis

XIV. And less by direct conquest than by the insidious sapping of

French influences. She became inflated with the ambition of being a

world-power, while her citizens emulated the fashions of French society.

Losing at the same time political liberty and intellectual and artistic

initiative and independence, she followed the human sheep-trail that led

southward over the Alps and for more than a century became a clumsy

imitator of the past art of Italy.

ENGLISH RENAISSANCE

England’s insular position tended to delay her reception of the New

Spirit. When at length it reached her it came simultaneously in the form

of Italian influence and of the Reformation. Yet both had been

anticipated a century earlier; the Reformation in the teaching of

Wycliffe, the Renaissance in the poetry of Chaucer. But the harvest of

the new spirit had been deferred by the French wars, the Wars of the

Roses, and the persecution of the Lollards, so that it was not until

1536, when the King, Lords, and Commons by the Act of Supremacy

established the Reformed Faith as the State Religion, that England

entered definitely, says Symonds, on a career of intellectual activity

abreast with the foremost nations of the Continent.

By this time the latter had accomplished the work of collating and

printing the classic authors and had produced a varied mass of

literature in the modern languages; all of which became food for the

omnivorous appetite of the English. Assimilation, at first, was slow and

retarded by imitation. Wyatt and Surrey, for example, grafted the graces

of Italian poetry onto the native stock, introducing the forms of the

sonnet and blank verse; Sidney experimented with the classic metres,

while tragedies in the style of Seneca, rivalled the similarly pedantic

imitations of Italian and French dramatists. Gradually, however, the

vigour of English digestion accomplished a complete assimilation.

England, through her sympathy with Holland, had found herself involved

in the conflict of the Counter-Reformation. She broke the rival power of

Spain by the destruction of the Armada, and through the buccaneering

exploits of Raleigh, Drake, Frobisher, and Hawkins opened up the

beginnings of colonial expansion. She leaped at a bound into

consciousness of nationality and in the glow of her enthusiasm

discovered her own capacity of originality.

Shakespeare is at once the crown and symbol of the English Renaissance.

He drew the material of his plots from a variety of foreign sources, but

creatively impressed upon his plays either a new and a universal

significance or unmistakably the English spirit of his day. Meanwhile,

Spenser, while deriving his allegory from the Middle Ages and decorative

richness from the Italian Renaissance, added thereto a sweetness,

purity, and splendour of imagination peculiarly English. And by the side

of Spenser and Shakespeare, as representative of the creative

imagination of the English Renaissance, must be set Bacon, the expositor

of the modern scientific method.

This flowering of the English Renaissance, in which intellectual

brilliance walked hand in hand with beauty, was rudely interrupted,

firstly, when the spirit of the Counter-Reformation was revived by James

I and Charles I; secondly, by the resultant Puritan reaction, and the

equally resultant license of the Restoration. A cleavage between morals

and beauty was opened up that to this day has not been bridged. On the

other hand, the spirit, let loose by the Renaissance and the

Reformation, pushed forward persistently on the path of political

liberty, and England’s mightiest contribution to the civilisation of the

world has been the realisation, however imperfect, of the ideal of human

freedom. Meanwhile, in the realm of the arts, it is in the province of

Literature, rather than in those of the Fine Arts, that her Renaissance

has reaped its most abundant harvest.

CHAPTER II

RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN ITALY

The foregoing summary of Renaissance culture anticipates three marked

characteristics of the architecture which responded to it.

Renaissance architecture was developed from the study of classical

antiquities and, to some extent, of classic literature. It was adapted

to conditions of society which became increasingly elegant and

luxurious. It was created, no longer by gilds of craftsmen, but by

individual designers, whose names are recorded and identified with their

respective works.

We are also prepared to find that as the study of classic examples lost

the freshness of its early inspiration, it led to a growing formalism in

the use of the classic details; and that, as the temper of the time

declined in taste and grew in grossness, the architectural style

reflected the decadence in increasing pretentiousness and extravagance

of forms.

The Renaissance proper, in so far as the term New-birth is justified,

occupies the fifteenth century, the period called by the Italians the

Quattrocento. To the first half of the sixteenth century, the

Cinquecento, belongs the more formally classic style, after which

appeared the decline of the latter half of the century, known as the

Baroque style, followed during the seventeenth century by the further

degeneration into the Rococo.

[Illustration: PAZZI CHAPEL

BY BRUNELLESCHI: IN S. CROCE, FLORENCE. P. 343]

[Illustration: SANTA MARIA NOVELLA, FLORENCE

BY ALBERTI. EARLIEST EXAMPLE OF FLARING CONSOLES. P. 345]

[Illustration: STROZZI PALACE, FLORENCE

BY CRONACA. A FORTRESS TYPE OF CITY RESIDENCE. P. 345]

[Illustration: CAPRAROLA PALACE

BY VIGNOLA. EXAMPLE OF COUNTRY VILLA. P. 348]

[Illustration: GVIMANE PALACE, VENICE

BY SAMMICHELE. P. 355]

[Illustration: BASILICA VICENZA

BY PALLADIO. TWO-STORIED CLASSICAL ARCADES SURROUNDING THE OLD GOTHIC

EDIFICE. P. 351]

[Illustration: DOGE’S PALACE, VENICE

RENAISSANCE PORTAL ADJOINING THE GOTHIC ARCADES. BY GIOV. AND BART.

BUON. P. 353]

[Illustration: S. MARIA DELLA SALUTE, VENICE

BY BALDASSARE LONGHENA. P. 356]

The decline of taste may have been hastened by the fact that Renaissance

architecture involved no new principles of construction. It was

essentially a product of adaptation, and with less consideration for

structural problems than for external appearances. There was a change in

the status of the architect: he ceased to be pre-eminently the

master-builder; he became a designer, specifically interested in what

one may perhaps call, the pictorial aspects of his building. He was

occupied with the composition of his façade, as a painter is with the

composition of his picture. He designed it on paper, as an organised

arrangement of lines, masses, details, and patterning of light and

shade. The days of working out the structural problems in the course of

construction and of employing the co-operation of skilled craftsmen, to

create the details of decoration had ceased with the passing of the

mason-gilds. In their place were workmen, who followed implicitly the

drawings of the designer.

And the latter, as was characteristic of the time, had become an

individualist, stamping his design with the impress of his own

personality. It was revealed not only in the larger elements of the

composition but also in the exquisiteness of detailed decorations. Nor

was the actual creativeness, involved in this tireless pursuit of the

refinements of beauty, confined to the externals of buildings; it was

expended with prolific invention on the interior fittings. Thus,

churches and palaces alike became museums, enshrining endless objects of

beautiful craftsmanship in metal-work, marble, terra-cotta, ivory, and

textiles, as well as the mural decorations of the painter.

Museums, however, it is to be noted, which were not, as in our own day,

huge storehouses of objects, separated from their original environment

and use, but treasure houses of beautiful things that formed part of

the habitual life of the people, palaces for those of high degree,

churches and town halls for all classes of the community. We cannot

enter into the spirit of the Renaissance unless we realise that to all

classes of the Italians of the period beauty was a familiar and living

element in their lives.

=Classic Influences.=--The influence of the classic remains began to be

apparent in the sculpture of Nicolas Pisano, who died in 1278. It

continued in the work of his son and became more marked in that of the

latter’s pupil, Andrea Pisano. There are distinct traces of it in

Giotto’s painting, especially in the details of the buildings, which are

evidently rude imitations of Roman antiquities. That they are rude is

fortunate, a proof that imitation of the past was not Giotto’s chief

concern. Indeed, the vital thing in Giotto, which made him the leader of

a new school of painting, was his effort to bring the arts into closer

touch with human nature. It was his pursuit of natural representation

and expression which caused him to be a leader in an age that was

rediscovering an enthusiasm for human nature; and in this respect he set

the main course for the whole of the fifteenth century. The trend of

Quattrocento painting and sculpture was to relearn the principles of

correct drawing and perspective and to use the growing knowledge and

skill for the expression of subjects that, while they were suggested

both by the Christian religion and the classic mythology, were informed

with the naïve freshness and independence of the expanding Italian

spirit.

A corresponding freedom from subservience to antique forms and a truly

creative adaptiveness characterised the architecture of the period. It

was during the Quattrocento that what is most original in Renaissance

architecture was achieved, and the old methods of construction and old

details of decoration were successfully applied to the new problems

imposed by changed conditions of living and habits of thought. It is by

the actual creativeness with which the readjustment was accomplished, as

well as by the discretion and refinement of taste, exhibited in the

whole and every part of the design, that the architecture of this period

is distinguished.

The qualities which it exhibits are a direct reflection of the influence

of the classic literary revival. The latter encouraged mental qualities

of logic and orderliness and an appreciation for beauty that was

characterised by precise taste and exacting refinement. And, just as

Petrarch, Boccaccio, and Ariosto on their foundation of classic learning

built the beginnings of a literature in the native tongue--the first

natural expression of the Italian genius, liberated by the study of

antiquity to new ideals of their own modern life--so it was with the

artists. Having graduated from the school of the past, they applied what

they had learned to meeting the needs and conditions of their own day.

=Perfection of Detail.=--Again, just as Petrarch and Boccaccio and their

followers in literature devoted themselves to perfection of expression,

so the architects of the Renaissance were distinguished by the

exquisiteness of the details they introduced into their designs. They

were, in the first analysis, individualists, so that the great ones--and

they were numerous--created individual styles. But, further, they

brought the keenness of their Italian intellect and the consummate

refinement of their taste to the disposition and actual execution of the

details. It has been said--and one may believe the truth of it--that

“the layman is not capable of appreciating the refinements and the

clearness of their mouldings, and the vigour and strength their virile

natures put into their silhouettes.”

Individualism being the characteristic of the Italian architects of the

Renaissance, we will enumerate the most important personalities.

PRINCIPAL ARCHITECTS OF THE FLORENTINE SCHOOL

=Brunelleschi.=--Among the first of these deliberate students of antiquity

was the architect Brunelleschi. He was born in Florence in 1379 and

displayed early a talent for mechanical construction. Accordingly his

father apprenticed him to the Gild of Goldsmiths. He quickly became a

skilled workman and acquired a knowledge of sculpture, perspective, and

geometry. During a visit of some five years to Rome, the chief

repository of classic remains, he made a profound study of architectural

construction, especially as illustrated in the dome of the Pantheon, the

vaulted chambers of the baths, and the use of successive orders of

columns in the exterior of the Colosseum.

Returning to Florence, he entered into deliberation with the city

council to erect the =Dome of the Cathedral=. It crowns, like his Milan

cathedral dome, an octagonal plan. A design for it, which is pictured in

a fresco in the Spanish Chapel of the Church of Santa Maria Novella, had

already been prepared by Arnolfo di Cambio, the first architect of the

cathedral and the designer of the Palazzo Vecchio. Brunelleschi deviated

from it by raising the dome upon an octagonal drum, pierced with

circular windows, thereby securing the impressiveness of additional

height, while preserving the lightness of effect. He undertook to erect

the dome without the great expense of timber centerings, and

accomplished the feat, it is said, by placing voussoirs one above

another with horizontal joints.

The dome is composed of an inner and an outer shell of brickwork,

reinforced by eight main and eight intermediate ribs. It is 138 feet

wide, with a height from the spring of the drum to the eye of the dome

of 135 feet. The lantern was added after Brunelleschi’s death, from the

design he had prepared. This dome is not only a monument to the genius

of its creator, but scarcely rivalled in beauty by any other work of the

Renaissance. That of St. Peter’s may be a prouder and more imposing

structure, but it is more sophisticated in its use of classic details

lacking the grand simplicity of Brunelleschi’s--the natural nobility, if

one may say so, of a thing that has grown to life. It may be less

stately, but is more companionable; less imposing, but more intimately

inspiring. The contrast between the two domes reveals in a remarkable

way the difference between the dawn of the Renaissance and its high

noon.

Brunelleschi’s churches in =Florence= include =S. Lorenzo= and =S. Spirito=,

both of which are on a basilican plan, with elevations that involve

modifications of Roman construction. The former is barrel vaulted in the

Roman manner, but the nave ceiling of S. Spirito is of wood and flat.

The dome of the latter is erected upon _pendentives_ which henceforth

were employed on all Renaissance domes. Brunelleschi’s choicest

ecclesiastical design, however, is the =Pazzi Chapel= in =S. Croce=--a dome

over a square compartment, entered through a colonnade. He introduced

columned arcades into cloisters and palace courts and used them also as

features of the arcade in the =Loggia S. Paolo= and the =Ospedale degli

Innocente= or Foundling Hospital.

The two lower stories of the main front of the Pitti Palace were

designed by Brunelleschi, who also carved the fine crucifix in the Santa

Maria Novella. He died in 1446 and was buried in the Cathedral of

Florence.

=Michelozzo.=--Michelozzo, born in Florence in 1391, was the son of a

tailor and became a pupil of Donatello. He worked in marble, bronze, and

silver, one of the examples of his sculpture being the young S. John

over the door of the cathedral. As an architect he enjoyed the

friendship and patronage of Cosimo de’ Medici, for whom he built the

=Riccardi Palace=, which was the earliest example of stately domestic

architecture in Florence and proved a model for subsequent Tuscan

palaces. During a temporary exile of his patron he accompanied him to

Venice, where he designed the =Library of San Giorgio=. When in 1437

Cosimo bestowed the =Monastery of San Marco= on the Dominican monks of

Fiesole, Michelozzo was employed to remodel it, erecting, among other

features, the beautiful arcaded cloisters, which no doubt inspired the

architectural details in Fra Angelico’s picture of “The Annunciation.”

At his death, which appears to have occurred in 1472, he was buried in

San Marco.

=Alberti.=--Even in a higher degree than the two already mentioned,

Alberti represented the versatility of the Renaissance, for besides

being an architect he was also a painter, poet, philosopher, and

musician. He was born in Venice in 1404 and at the age of twenty wrote a

comedy in Latin verse, which in later years the publisher, Aldus

Manutius II, printed under the impression that it was a genuine classic

work. Alberti was appointed to a canonry in the Cathedral of Florence

and there established a reputation for being the finest organist of his

time. He wrote works on sculpture and painting but is most celebrated

for his treatise on architecture, “De Re Ædificatoria,” which has been

translated from the Latin into Italian, French, Spanish, and English. He

was employed in Rome by Pope Nicholas V to restore the papal palace. At

=Rimini= he was commissioned by Sigismondo Malatesta to remodel the =Church

of S. Francisco=.

Its design, of which only the lower part of the façade was erected, was

based on the Roman arch in Rimini, and along the south side Alberti

constructed vaults to receive the bodies of his patron’s friends. Both

these elements of design were introduced into his church of =Sant’ Andrea=

in =Mantua=. Here the place of the side aisles is taken by successive

chapels, separated by massive piers, which sustain the barrel vault of

the nave. The piers are faced by coupled Corinthian pilasters, mounted

upon pedestals. The intersection of nave and transepts is crowned by a

dome, which was replaced by the present one in the eighteenth century.

The façade of this church also is based upon the character of a

triumphal arch, and =Sant’ Andrea= became a type that was followed in many

subsequent churches. In Florence Alberti designed the marble-encrusted

façade of =S. Maria Novella=, in which he connected the side aisles to the

nave by means of flaring consoles, a device that was unfortunately

imitated in later churches. He died in Rome in 1472.

=Cronaca.=--Cronaca is to be mentioned as the architect of the =Strozzi= and

=Guardagni= Palaces.

PRINCIPAL ARCHITECTS OF THE ROMAN SCHOOL

The Renaissance of the Fine Arts in Rome may be dated from the

pontficate of Nicholas V (1447-1455), who vied with the Medici as a

patron of scholars and artists. Alberti--we have noted--was employed by

him, for as yet there was no Roman architect approaching the talent of

the Florentine. And the dearth continued until the accession of Julius

II in 1503, by which time Bramante had arrived in Rome and there began

the golden period of Roman architecture, identified particularly with

him and Raphael and Michelangelo.

=Bramante.=--Bramante was born in Urbino about 1444 and as a young man

studied painting as well as architecture, the latter presumably under

Alberti. He travelled through Umbria and Lombardy, studying Roman

antiquities and obtaining various commissions, and passed some years in

Milan, where his work included the enlargement of the abbey church of =S.

Maria della Grazie=, to which he added a choir, transepts, and dome, in a

style that represents the transition between the Gothic and Classic.

Then, settling in Rome, he was commissioned by Pope Alexander VI to

erect the =Cancellaria Palace=, and shortly afterwards prepared designs

for the =Palazzo Giraud=. In both of these the Classic tendency is

developed. It is even more pronounced in the beautiful little church of

=S. Pietro in Montorio=. Founded on the design of a small Roman circular

temple, it consists of a circle the interior diameter of which is only

fifteen feet, crowned by a dome and surrounded with a peristyle of

columns of the Doric order.

By the advice of Michelangelo Julius II entrusted Bramante with the

design of the new =S. Peter’s=, which the Pope intended as a mausoleum

for his own tomb. The work, which will be discussed later, was

interrupted by Bramante’s death, which occurred in 1514.

=Raphael.=--The continuation of =S. Peter’s= was officially assigned to

Bramante’s nephew and pupil, Raphael (1483-1520), who, however, under

the pressure of other engagements, did little to advance the work.

Raphael’s architectural designs in Rome include the =Façade of S. Lorenzo

in Miranda=, the =Villa Madama= with stucco decorations by his pupil Giulio

Romano, and the =Pandolfini Palace=, which was erected ten years after his

death.

=Giulio Romano.=--Giulio Romano (1492-1546) was the architect of buildings

in Mantua, his masterpiece being the =Palazzo del Te’=, at =Mantua=.

Meanwhile, Bramante’s other pupils were Baldassare Peruzzi (1481-1536),

and Antonio da Sangallo (1485-1546).

=Peruzzi.=--Peruzzi passed his early life in Siena, but while quite young

moved to Rome and studied architecture and painting. His reputation was

established when he built for the Sienese banker, Agostino Chigi, a

villa on the banks of the Tiber, which is now known as the =Farnesina=, a

design remarkable for its grace and the delicacy of its details. The

interior is famous for the frescoes, representing the myths of Psyche

and Galatea, executed by Raphael and his pupils, while Peruzzi himself

decorated a loggia with frescoes of the story of Medusa.

He was appointed architect of S. Peter’s, though his design for its

completion was never carried out. During the sack of Rome in 1527 by the

troops of the Constable Bourbon, Peruzzi fled to Siena, where he was

elected city architect, and, as the city was preparing to resist attack,

planned the fortifications which still in part exist. Returning to Rome,

he designed several villas, of which the most important is the =Massimi

Palace=. It is significant of the esteem in which Peruzzi was held by his

contemporaries that at his death in 1536 he was buried by the side of

Raphael in the Pantheon.

=Ant. da Sangallo.=--Antonio da Sangallo the Younger was one of the five

members of a Florentine family, distinguished variously in architecture,

engineering, sculpture, and painting. Coming to Rome when very young he

became a pupil of Bramante, whose style he closely followed. Among his

most notable works are the church of =S. Maria di Loreto=, near Trajan’s

Column, and the =Farnese Palace=. The latter, completed by Michelangelo by

the addition of a grand cornice, is regarded by some experts as the

finest example of a Roman palace.