construct them of the dimensions calculated to occupy the least amount of
floor space; some were square, others circular or formed of a number of
small columns grouped together, but for a long time no very satisfactory
shape was found which avoided a clumsy adjustment of the superstructure.
It came to be gradually recognized that the form of the pier should be
subservient to, and made to correspond with, the arches and the column
receiving the arch rib of the vault above, which it had to sustain. This
was effected at first by a square pier, with rectangular projections on
each side, forming abutments for the reception of the constructional
arrangement above. Subsequently these were replaced by pilasters and
engaged columns on each face, three of which supported the rear and side
arches of the nave, the fourth being continued up to the springing of the
vault, and redeemed from exaggerated effect by bands or string-courses.
There are good examples in France at Vezelay, Beaune and Langres and
Autun. In England the contemporary architects usually employed square or
circular masses of solid masonry, carrying a heavy abacus, these pillars
being sometimes ornamented with a fluting, as in the crypt at Canterbury,
or with zigzag patterns, as at Waltham Abbey, Durham, and Lindisfarne.
The capitals of Romanesque columns are especially interesting, for they
became constructively useful instead of simply ornamental, as were those
used in the Roman orders. The section of the arch rib being square and
the column round, it was necessary to afford support to the overlapping
corners, the whole surface of the projecting tile or abacus being
occupied by the upper masonry, instead of the line of the shaft being
continued up, as had been done in Rome. The capital was therefore made to
spread outward from the shaft in order to corbel the superstructure.
[Illustration: COMPARATIVE SERIES, SHOWING GREEK, ROMAN, ROMANESQUE, AND
GOTHIC METHODS OF SUPPORT.
1. Greek Lintel.
2. Roman Arch, showing False Lintel. 3. Vault Springing from Entablature.
4. Arch Springing 5. Romanesque Column, with Arches Springing from Outer
Edge of the Capital. 6. Romanesque Pier. 7. Gothic Pier.]
A simple form of this is found in many German, Italian, and English
examples, the upper part of the capital being a cube and the lower a
hemisphere. The early examples generally imitate those of the Corinthian
order in a rude fashion corresponding with the poverty of talent of
the period. The capitals of the twelfth century are better carved and
better suited to the services they have to perform. Figures representing
biblical subjects are introduced in some and in others strange animals
and conventional foliage, sometimes arranged as the acanthus leaf had
been in the Roman models. The proportions of the Classic column
were also departed from, the capital often being a quarter or a sixth
of the whole column; its height being regulated by the size of the beds
of stone, which were generally low. In Germany, however, the older
proportions were more closely adhered to. The quality of the stone
determined in a great measure the depth of the carving, the harder kinds
having less depth of incision and the style of ornament applied to them
resembling the Byzantine.
In France the Romanesque column has usually a third of the diameter of
its shaft engaged in a pier or wall, though isolated ones are used in the
triforiums, towers, and porches; in England the latter are common, and
recessed columns, that is to say, placed in an angle of masonry, are also
frequently seen.
The bases of Romanesque columns, at first simple round and hollow moulds,
gradually became more elaborate, until they resembled the attic base.
Occasionally they were decorated with foliage or animals, and there are
instances where both capital and base are similar. The introduction of
an angle ornament, connecting the torus or round mould with the corners
of the plinth beneath, is especially noticeable; this was effective in
preventing the angles from being broken by thickening the stone at the
weakest points, and in later examples added to the beauty of the base.
The arches of the period were usually semicircular and
employed either separately or with a second and broader one, their
contour being frequently marked by a few simple mouldings of degenerate
classic origin.
Two or three arches supported by detached columns, and comprised within
a larger one, were frequently placed in the triforiums; when three
were used the central one was usually higher than the others. Besides
mouldings: billets, zigzags, stars, and similar simple ornaments were
employed in their decoration. Where Arabic taste exercised its influence,
it is not uncommon to find alternate voussoirs of different-coloured
stones, and variegated bands in the piers.
The Italians were especially fond of this treatment and it is seen in
the exteriors and interiors of many of their buildings. To them is also
due the introduction of blind arcades, the columns of which were either
engaged in the wall or separated from it by an intervening gallery. The
façade of the cathedral at Pisa is perhaps the most beautiful example of
this.
In the West, arcades of this kind became a frequent method of decorating
blank walls, and there are instances where a second series of arches
intersect the first, resulting in a number of pointed arches formed by
the crossing of the circular ones; from this an ingenious but unfounded
theory has been deducted purporting to explain the origin of Gothic
architecture.
The doors and porches of the Romanesque period are among
the most beautiful to be found in any style. Starting in the earlier
examples with a simple, round-arched opening, the number of mouldings in
the arch became richer and of greater number, and, as the style advanced,
recessed and supported by columns. These mouldings were decorated with
the zigzag, billet, and kindred ornaments, many of which were probably
copied from the decoration of the old basilica of St. Paul’s without the
walls of Rome.
As the jambs of the doorways were generally built on an angle, the
contiguous shafts and arches sometimes gave the effect of an arched
passage in perspective. Such effects were frequently intentional in the
churches in Southern France, for we find that the walls of the nave and
vault of Notre Dame de Poitiers, and of other buildings, were purposely
made to converge in order to give the appearance of greater length.
It was not uncommon to give the doors square heads, supported by
corbels and occasionally by a central shaft; in these cases the arch
above relieved the lintel from the weight of the superstructure, and
gave the character of the style to the whole. The tympanum, thus
enclosed, offered a ground for rich sculpture, which was availed of
to the fullest extent. The outer door of a porch was usually richer
in design than the inner one; in England there are many examples of
shallow porches with single deeply recessed doors. In Provence there
are many beautiful examples, foremost amongst which must be mentioned
the porch of St. Trophyme, at Arles (see frontispiece). Romanesque
windows were but modifications of the doors; often having recessed
shafts at their sides and being frequently divided by a central column.
The bull’s-eye, or round window, of the early Christian basilicas
continued to be used, but it had not as yet the richness of tracery which
it attained in the Gothic period.
Classical features of design still retained their hold upon many
details, notably in the cornices, where the modillions or brackets of
the Corinthian order were frequently employed, and but slightly altered
in form, although of native composition. The corona of the cornice also
differed but little from the Roman models, and was occasionally supported
directly by engaged columns replacing buttresses, chiefly on the exterior
of apsidal chapels.
In the early Christian churches the apse had consisted of a central
semicircular termination to the building, flanked occasionally by two
smaller semicircular recesses containing altars. In the baptisteries
and Byzantine churches these had been multiplied, and had come to
be customary features in every new building. In England, the Norman
architects generally ended their churches rectangularly, without even
the original single apse, though there are a few examples in which it
is used, as at Newhaven, Sussex. In Germany it was frequently the
custom to affix apses to three sides of the square tower placed at the
intersection of the nave and transept, and the result was generally
satisfactory, as may be seen in St. Martin’s of Cologne, and in the
Apostles’ Church in the same city.
[Illustration: PLAN OF STRASBOURG CATHEDRAL (Compare with Basilica, page
89.)]
In France the plan resolved itself into an open semicircular colonnade
with a passage intervening between it and the outer wall which followed
the outline of a series of small apses. These formed an harmonious
cluster, and became a type which was matured in the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries. Those belonging to the Romanesque period, however,
had a distinct and constructively excellent character which has rarely
been subsequently surpassed. Among the best are those of Notre Dame du
Port at Clermont, St. Etienne de Nevers, and St. Sernin at Toulouse.
In France towers were generally placed at the West end of the church,
while in England and Germany the usual way was to build them at the
junction of the nave and transept; in Italy they were often detached
from the main structure. They were characterized by simple solidity; the
openings being few and the detail bold; the angles were strengthened by
stout piers; the roofs were either of timber or stone, according to the
nature of the materials in the localities in which they were erected, and
they were usually lighted by the round-arched double window. This round
arch, ornamented with a few simple mouldings and reposing
upon short sturdy columns, forms a constantly recurring feature in the
composition of the several parts of Romanesque buildings.
The corridors which surrounded the square courtyards adjoining churches,
and connected them with the dormitories, refectories, and other
apartments of the clergy, are called cloisters. They differed but little
from the Roman “impluvium” and the “atrium” of the basilica, the changes
consisting chiefly in the addition of raised sills separating them from
the court, and in their being usually vaulted instead of carrying timber
roofs. The series of arcades forming them were treated in many ways,
and the detail admitted of much elaboration and variety, as may be seen
in the many remarkable examples throughout Europe. The cloisters of St.
Paul’s, at Rome, and the atrium of St. Ambrogio, at Milan, form very
interesting historical links between the Roman and Romanesque styles and
are very beautiful specimens of their kind.
It had been the custom during the struggling period of the early Church
to bury the bodies of saints in subterranean chambers called crypts, a
word derived from the Greek verb “to hide”; subsequently these became
component parts of all churches, serving as places of interment and for
the occasional celebration of masses. Their masonry was necessarily of
the massive character required for the foundation of the piers of the
church above, consisting generally in a grouping of columns sustaining
a heavy vault.
[Illustration: CHEVET OF NOTRE DAME DU PORT AT CLERMONT.
(_From Chapuy._)]
The crypt of St. Eutrope, at Saintes in France, may be mentioned as one
of the best examples, the pillars being richly carved, and the ribs of
the vault of great boldness and strength.
In Germany the crypt is often raised sufficiently above the level of the
ground to obtain light from windows, as at Spires, and this is sometimes
carried to such an extreme that the church becomes double, that is, of
two stories, as at Schwartz Rheindorf.
In England, Canterbury Cathedral possesses perhaps the best example, the
crypt being very large and its details varied. Some of the capitals of
the columns remain half finished, the work upon them having been arrested
by a conflagration in the twelfth century.
X.
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.
Briefly recapitulating the preceding chapters: We have seen that the
Greek temple, composed of a cella, or oblong room, surrounded by a
colonnade, was copied by the Romans with but few alterations, the
only one of importance being the addition of a semicircular recess to
the rear wall. The columns of the colonnade having been transposed
from the outside to the interior, dividing the room in three parts,
longitudinally; a cross wall having been introduced dividing it
transversely, and the apse retained, the building became a basilica.
By extending the transept and nave the plan became cruciform and
symbolically the most suitable for that of a Christian church.
The Western architects, desiring to replace the wooden roofs by stone
vaults, found it convenient to substitute for columns carrying arches,
piers with engaged shafts connecting directly with the superstructure.
After various attempts to obtain direct light for the central division or
nave, rendered difficult by the necessity of counteracting the continuous
thrust of the barrel vault thrown across it, this vault was
finally abandoned and replaced by intersecting vaults, which conveyed the
thrust diagonally upon equidistant piers. To avoid increasing the size
of the latter to an inconvenient extent, an expedient was resorted to
which consisted in propping them from the exterior by flying buttresses
thrown from them to outside piers across the roof of the aisles. The
result of the width of the nave being usually greater than the distance
between piers was that, while the diagonal ribs of the vault remained
semicircular, their lateral intersection produced pointed arches.
This form of construction was developed during the middle and latter
half of the twelfth century. The pointed arch had been used occasionally
before by the Romanesque architects; it had been used frequently by
the Arabs, as far back as the eighth century, and had been known and
employed long before the Christian era in the sewers of Babylon. It was,
therefore, not a new invention, but a known method adopted in a fresh
departure in constructive architecture; for the circular arches being
abandoned and definitely replaced by the pointed arch the succeeding
architecture became pointed or Gothic.
This is the condensed history of the derivation of the style as generally
accepted at the present day, though the subject has given rise to much
controversy.
The concentration of the weight of the vault upon the piers, instead of
upon a continuous wall, was more or less the key to the
whole scheme of Gothic construction; for the main principle remained
the same throughout its many and varied examples. The idea was improved
upon gradually and finally pushed to exaggeration; the decoration of
the component parts of a building increased as the style advanced and
they were reduced to just the sizes needed for stability, but their
construction remained almost unaltered throughout.
We have followed the steps by which the form given to Christian churches
emanated from the early basilicas; this form of building, that is, its
plan and divisions into nave, aisles, transept, choir, apse, etc., had
become traditional and was generally accepted in all the best examples.
[Illustration: PLAN OF RHEIMS CATHEDRAL.]
The problem of accommodating large assemblies in the manner best suited
to enable them to concentrate their sight and hearing upon a given
point has been solved in various ways, perhaps most successfully in our
modern opera-houses, but this problem was not one with which the Gothic
architects endeavoured to grapple; their attention was devoted to the
improvement and embellishment of the typical plan of structure, which
custom and dogma had prescribed as the most suitable and in accordance
with the needs of the liturgy. The plan was more or less elastic, and
differed without material distinction in the different countries of
Western Europe. These differences are easily noted by comparing the
appended plans; the one, that of Rheims Cathedral, showing perhaps
the most perfect arrangement of any in France, and the other, that of a
typical English cathedral. The latter does not represent any particular
structure, but is a composition including all the usual divisions and
connecting buildings, taken from an old copy of Rickman.
_a_, _a_, Towers at West end.
_b_, _b_, Porches.
_c_, The nave.
_d_, _d_, Side aisles of the nave.
_e_, The cloisters.
_f_, Library.
_g_, North transept.
_h_, South transept.
_i_, _i_, Side aisles of South transept.
_k_, _k_, _k_, Chapels.
_l_, Chapter house with passage from the cloisters.
_m_, Central tower, cross or lantern.
_n_, Screen, over which the organ is usually placed.
_o_, Choir, at the east end of which the altar is
usually placed.
_p_, _p_, Side aisles of the choir.
_q_, Lady chapel.
In the thirteenth century the style was formed in all its purity;
it was characterized by great simplicity and beauty, and in these
respects was never surpassed. The arch had few mouldings, and these
clearly defined and graceful; the shafts of columns were of slender and
charming proportions, and the foliage employed for the decoration of
their capitals, while conventional, departed entirely from the acanthus
leaves of Classic origin, and assumed forms suggested by Western plants.
Piers were reduced to the precise dimensions needful, and
were formed of slender shafts, grouped together, which received the arch
mouldings on either side, and rose in the front and rear to the height
necessary to take the springing of the vault. In practice, the thrust
of the vault was found not to be transmitted directly to a point to be
received by an arch, but to two points above and below this theoretical
one, which necessitated the employment of two flying buttresses, the
one above the other. In Chartres Cathedral these are connected by
radiating columns, and there are many examples where the intervening
space is occupied by an open arcade. The French generally built their
vertical buttresses very massively, but in England the pinnacle was more
frequently used to counteract the thrust of the arch. For this purpose it
was eminently appropriate, and might be considered ornamental, but the
placing of pinnacles upon the corners of the towers and elsewhere where
they served no end, which was often done, was always a mistake; and a
defect which mars the effect of many beautiful English buildings.
In Notre Dame of Paris, we find the single round column still occupying
the first story, with the more complex arrangement of pier and connected
shafts starting above the abacus of its capital, but as a general thing,
a distinct shaft was provided for each set of mouldings. In time this was
replaced by a continuation of the vault mouldings down to the floor,
interrupted only by an occasional string-course, or a band of foliage
replacing the capital.
[Illustration: PLAN OF AN ENGLISH CATHEDRAL.
(_From Rickman._)]
Once the weight of the vault had been transferred to piers, the wall
connecting them ceased to support anything but the extremity of the
cross-vault comprised between the piers, and otherwise served only
as a screen. The Gothic architects soon took advantage of this to
widen the windows, which had been narrow in the early stages, for by
throwing a discharging arch just under the upper vault across the
piers the whole space underneath could be occupied by windows, which,
with the improvement in the making of painted glass, became extremely
desirable. This was accordingly done, the only stonework left being the
network of mullions and tracery necessary to receive the panes. This
tracery, probably suggested by the rich Arabic window fillings, made a
great advance during the latter part of the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries, the combinations of geometrical figures, chiefly the circle,
being often wonderfully beautiful. The rose window was much favoured by
the French in their West fronts and transepts, but in England the large
pointed window was generally preferred, and admirably suited the square
termination of the apse, which was the most frequently used in that
country.
The space enclosed by the pointed window had an outline to which it
was always difficult to adjust geometric traceries so as to avoid
clumsy joints, or oddly shaped patterns, and these were, therefore,
subsequently replaced by flowing lines, which could be used
with much greater freedom.
As these grew bolder they assumed a flame-like appearance, and the later
period of the style to which they belong was, in consequence, called
“Flamboyant.” This development occurred chiefly in France, some of the
best examples being in the church of St. Ouen, at Rouen.
The simplest form of the Gothic vault was that in which the compartment
comprised between two piers on one side and two on the opposite side
of the nave was marked by two ribs bridging it, and two diagonal ribs
intersecting each other. As the system advanced the vault became more
complex by the addition of other ribs, as strengtheners or as ornaments,
until in some examples the whole vault became a network of intersecting
ribs.
These intersections were frequently emphasized by a keystone or by
an ornament called a boss, which in English work was also placed at
intervals along string-courses, breaking the continuity after the manner
of modillions in Classic cornices.
A keystone placed in the centre of a vault was held there by a
combination of great strength, as it became a point of abutment for all
the main ribs, whose thrust was distributed against four piers and hence
exteriorly by buttresses to the ground. A good stone, therefore, in
this position could have extraordinary dimensions, and was susceptible
of a variety of treatment. In some French examples it was
extended, or rather hung, considerably below the surface of the vault
and ornamentally carved, while in England, in the late so-called
Perpendicular Gothic, it formed the centre of a large pendant, or
circular hanging ornament, which in some cases came down almost to the
level of the springing of the ribs.
This construction was used chiefly in connection with the fan-vaulting,
in which English architects excelled, which may indeed be said to be an
English invention and monopoly, as no examples of it are found elsewhere.
The name explains, in measure, the form taken by the ribs, which,
spreading out from the sheaf of mouldings in the pier, trace a perfect
semicircle on the upper ceiling, their intervening spaces being occupied
by panels. The four semicircles thus traced by the ribs, starting from
four piers of a compartment, are each tangent to a central and whole
circle forming the contour of the pendant.
To be successful this requires that the compartment or space included
between four piers, two on each side of the nave or choir, should
be a square, otherwise the circles do not touch, and the lines are
inharmonious.
The chapels of Henry the Seventh, at Westminster, and of St. George,
at Windsor, contain the best examples of fan-vaulting, and are very
beautiful in general effect, though it is questionable whether such
constructive tricks are worthy of unrestricted praise, while the abuse
of panelling in which English architects indulged in these later Gothic
buildings, by which the whole wall and ceiling surface was cut up in an
unending repetition, was certainly blameworthy, and tended to reduce
their art to a mechanical science.