CHAPTER XX

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GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE AND ORNAMENT.

The Gothic or “Pointed” style grew, as we have seen, out of the Romanesque. Churches were built in which the pointed arch was used side by side with the round arch of Romanesque. These were the buildings of the transitional period. In France, Germany, and in England some of the earlier Gothic buildings were purer in style than those of the later period. The work of the thirteenth century is more correct in artistic principles, more restrained, and less bewildering in the principles of construction than the work of any subsequent period. The true home of the Gothic style was in France, from which country it extended to Germany and England almost simultaneously. The Cathedral of Soissons in France may be mentioned as one of the transitional buildings (1212), though portions of it are of a still earlier date. It is noted for its early plate tracery and very ornate foliated capitals. The hall of the Hospital of St. John at Angers shows many features of the transitional style. Its vaulted roofs and arching are in the Gothic or Pointed style, and the windows are in the round-headed Romanesque. The hospital was built by Henry II., and completed A.D. 1184.

In England, portions of Canterbury Cathedral, the hall at Oakham Castle, Rutlandshire, and the Temple Church, London, may be given as examples of the transitional Romanesque or Norman to the Early English Gothic. In all the above examples, the square-moulded abacus with debased Corinthian foliage on the bell underneath may be seen, which indicates the transitional type of capital. The buildings of the transitional style may be distinguished from those of the earlier one by being much lighter in construction: the masons, having learned their trade better, found they could economise the material—which was a great thing in those days of rapid church building—by having more slender proportions, which led to the more refined and elegant style of the Early Gothic both in England and on the Continent.

[Illustration: Fig. 388.—Cathedral of Notre-Dame Paris.]

The Church of Nôtre-Dame in Paris is a fine example of the Early French style (Fig. 388). The towers look unfinished, but they had at one time wooden spires. Chartres (1260), Rheims (1250), and Rouen (1280) are other typical examples of this period.

The period of the Early English style lasted from about A.D. 1190 to 1270, embracing the reigns of Richard I., John, and Henry III. This style is distinguished from the Norman transitional by the light and lofty pillars used singly or in groups and clusters, lancet windows, pointed arches, and by the additional use made of buttresses and pinnacles.

The slope or pitch of the roof is in harmony with the pointed arches and lancet windows, and also the pyramidal towers or spires. The greatest possible difference is thus exhibited between the Norman Romanesque and the Early English Gothic. Although the ground plan is hardly altered in the latter style, the general lightness and soaring vertical character of almost every detail, and the multiplication of buttresses and pinnacles, give to the Gothic erections of this period a triumphal look of mastery over the material that in the science of building was hitherto unknown.

The Early Pointed style in England is seen at its best in Lincoln, York, and Salisbury Cathedrals and in Westminster Abbey (Fig. 389).

[Illustration: Fig. 389.—Westminster Abbey.]

The Cathedral of Cologne founded by Conrad von Hochstaden—that wonderful and huge pile of Gothic architecture—belongs partly to the thirteenth but more properly to the fourteenth century, having its foundations laid in 1248 and consecrated in 1327. It has been added to considerably even until modern days. It presents a slightly wearisome repetition of parts, especially in the buttresses, pinnacles, and other vertical forms of the exterior, that in a measure robs it of some part of the grandeur and sublimity which we should naturally expect in an edifice of its size and proportions. It is based partly on the design of the great Cathedral of Amiens in France. The very rich canopies and windows of geometrical tracery (Fig. 390) are later than the thirteenth century, and correspond closely to the Decorated period in England (1270 to 1380).

[Illustration: Fig. 390.—Window, Gable, and Parapet in Cologne Cathedral.]

The interior of the Cologne Cathedral is strikingly illustrative of the real spirit of the Gothic style. The consistent unity and simplicity of its stupendous and upward-soaring nave, and its still simpler choir—which has only as its ornamental features the stringcourse below the triforium and the carved capitals of the shafts—combine to produce in the spectator that feeling of reverence and deep respect, not only for the sacred associations of the building, but for the great master-spirits who conceived the design, and who were able to work out to such a degree of perfection this great mathematical problem in stone. This triumphal achievement of “stylistic orthodoxy” on German soil is as much, if not more so than any other Gothic building in Germany, indebted to French inspiration and French models. There are also many other churches in Germany, in the country bordering on the Rhine—Strasburg Cathedral for instance—that have strongly marked features of the French ogival style.

[Illustration: Fig. 391.—Porch of St. Lawrence, at Nüremberg.]

The towers of St. Lawrence’s at Nüremberg are somewhat Romanesque; but the windows, door openings, buttresses, and pinnacles are in the Gothic style. The recessed porch has a square-headed double doorway, richly decorated (Fig. 391). The interior (Fig. 392) of this church is extremely artistic in its general effect. The stonework is of that dark brown colour that is seen in so many German churches; the rich colour of the stained glass, the pictures, and shields hung up round the piers and on the walls, with their rich tones of gold and colours, the graceful piers ending in the ribs and supporting the vaulting of the ceilings, the carved rood-cross and pulpit, and above all the great carved wood medallion of the Annunciation, by Veit Stoss (1518), make up the richest of pictures, which is a sample of what may be seen in many interiors of German churches.

[Illustration: Fig. 392.—Interior of St. Lawrence, at Nüremberg.]

Another interesting church in Nüremberg is that of St. Sebaldus, more from its association with the name and works of Adam Kraft, who carved the figure work on the exterior, and Peter Vischer, whose celebrated work is the chief glory of this church—the Shrine of St. Sebaldus (Fig. 393), one of the most important works of the fifteenth century—than from its merits as an architectural work. The plan of this church is bad in having its nave and aisles of equal width, which is at utter variance with all ideas of good proportion and of the Gothic style. The shrine of St. Sebaldus is modelled and cast in bronze; Peter Vischer and his five sons laboured on it for twelve years before it was completed. It is Gothic entirely in construction, but most of the forms and details of the ornament and figure work are purely Italian; for at this time—the beginning of the sixteenth century—Germanic artists were fascinated and strongly influenced by the art that flourished beyond the Alps. A fine cast of this monument is in the Kensington Museum. The “Bride’s Door” of St. Sebaldus (Fig. 394) has an interesting canopy of German tracery.

[Illustration: Fig. 393.—Shrine of St. Sebaldus, at Nüremberg.]

[Illustration: Fig. 394.—The “Bride’s Door” of St. Sebaldus, at Nüremberg.]

Art having gradually passed into the hands of the bourgeois element, the principal cities in Germany, especially those of the north, vied with each other in the erection of town halls and civic buildings (Fig. 395).

In the Netherlands, in Brussels, Bruges, Antwerp, Louvain, Nüremberg, Augsberg, and Marienberg, many quaint edifices are still found of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, consisting often of brick glazed black and red, and wide-jointed, or of stone throughout. They have mostly steep roofs, battlemented cornices, and stepped gables. They are decorated with little spires or pinnacles, and have horizontal or pointed openings to doorways and windows, richly decorated friezes and stringcourses, open arcades under the first story, picturesques balconies, and corner turrets ending in corbels, which were often richly carved.

[Illustration: Fig. 395.—Town Hall, Marienberg.]

[Illustration: Fig. 396.—Window Gable, from the Cathedral of Florence.]

The Gothic style was introduced into Italy in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, but it never took any great root in that country. In Rome there are no Gothic buildings of this period: there is one of the fifteenth century, the Church of Minerva, but is a bad example of the style. On the other hand, there are some exceptionally fine examples of Gothic canopies, of tombs and altars in several churches in Italy. It is believed that they were copies of French or English Gothic and were all the work of one family of artists called the Cosmati. Mixed with these Gothic forms in stonework they introduced bands and panels of coloured mosaic, and also are credited with the execution of much of the mosaic beautiful pavement work known as _opus Alexandrinum_. A particular form of the Gothic style appears in the north of Italy, and has been called the “Lombardic” or the “Pisan” style. This style of Italian Gothic was never quite free from classical influences. It is distinguished by having numerous small columns employed to decorate exteriors and interiors. Examples occur in the neighbourhood of Pisa, Lucca, and in places bordering on the Rhine. The Leaning Tower of Pisa (1174-1350) is an example. Part of the Baptistery (1278) and the earlier portion of the Duomo or Cathedral of Pisa are built in this style. Lombard Gothic was therefore contemporary with the Early English and French.

[Illustration: Fig. 397.—Crockets, Lincoln.]

[Illustration: Fig. 398.—From the Temple Church.]

In Florence a very beautiful mixture of the dome feature with Gothic is seen in the Duomo or Cathedral, a well-known and magnificent building. The window gable (Fig. 396) gives a good idea of Italian Gothic. The Cathedrals of Orvieto are other examples of Italian churches in which Gothic forms are used. In all these churches the façades are inlaid with coloured marbles of elaborate panelling.

The Cathedral of Milan is the finest example of a church in the Gothic style in Italy, though it is by no means pure Gothic. It is built of white marble and has some remarkably good stained-glass windows. The Palazzo Publico at Florence and that of Siena are built in the Italian Gothic style.

[Illustration: Fig. 399.—Dog’s Tooth or Nail-head Ornament, from Stone Church, Kent.]

[Illustration: Fig. 400.—Spandrel, from Stone Church, Kent.]

[Illustration: Fig. 400A.—Priests’ Entrance, Bishopstone Church, Wilts.]

[Illustration:

Fig. 401.—Norman and Gothic Mouldings. _a_ _b_ _c_, Norman; _d_ _e_ _f_, Early English; _g_ _h_, Decorated; _i_ _j_ _k_, Perpendicular. ]

[Illustration: Fig. 402.—Pedestal, Henry VII.'s Chapel.]

One of the most beautiful buildings in the world is the well-known Doges’ Palace at Venice. The predominant forms are Gothic, especially the lower arcading and the pointed window openings. It rests on columns and arches which compose the lower story, and has also the second story arcaded, and pierced in its upper part with quatre-foiled openings. Above this is a high rectangular story, built with lozenge-shaped slabs of pink marble, and pierced with a row of large pointed windows, and has smaller circular openings above these. A richly designed battlement crowns the walls of the upper story. The caps of the columns are beautifully carved, and sculptured figure subjects decorate the corners of the building. This palace was a long time in building; before it was completed the style had perceptibly changed, so in consequence the portico in some parts belongs to the fourteenth and some to the fifteenth century.

[Illustration: Fig. 403.—Place House, Cornwall.]

Throughout Venice the architecture with Gothic pretensions is mixed very much with fifteenth and sixteenth Venetian or Renaissance forms. The ogee arch was used very much, and the Decorated style of windows and doorways, arcadings, and balconies with Italian forms made a quaint mixture that gives a very pleasing appearance to some of the Venetian palaces.

[Illustration:

Fig. 404.—Flamboyant Panel. French, Fifteenth Century. ]

[Illustration:

Fig. 405.—Flamboyant Panelling. French. ]

Gothic architecture in England has been divided into three styles; the Early English, which lasted from about A.D. 1189-1272, in the reigns of Richard I., John, and Henry III.; the Decorated, A.D. 1272-1377, in the reigns of Edward I., II., and III.; and the Perpendicular style, A.D. 1377-1547, from the time of Richard II. to Henry VIII. After this it became debased, and finally merged into the Tudor or English Renaissance, sometimes called the “Elizabethan.” A still later mixture of English Gothic with Italian or Flemish Renaissance details was developed in the reign of James I., which has been called “Jacobean.” The two latter styles never found much favour in ecclesiastical architecture, but were developed mostly in domestic and civic buildings, and used in the designs of pulpits, screens, and church furniture. A great quantity of carved oak and chestnut furniture was made in the Jacobean style.

[Illustration:

Fig. 406.—Forms of Gothic Arches. _a_, Pointed; _b_, Cusped; _c_, Depressed; _d_, Flamboyant. ]

The various styles of English Gothic have their transitional periods that extend and overlap them so much, that makes it extremely difficult in some buildings to determine which style they belong to; the difficulty is usually got over by assigning them to their respective periods as the beginning, middle, or end of a style. We have already noticed Early English, which is the best and purest form of the Gothic in England. In it we see the finest development of window tracery based on geometric lines. Mullions take the place of piers, windows have two or more lights, the beginnings of the flying buttress, pinnacles, crockets (Fig. 397), columns in clusters, round-headed capitals with or without the characteristic trefoil foliage (Fig. 398) known as Early English foliage (Fig. 398), which has been developed from the Romanesque. The ornament called “dog’s tooth” is common to the early examples of this style, and is also a Romanesque decoration (Fig. 399).

The Decorated style is a rich and more ornate phase of the preceding style, and is further marked by the extensive use of the ogee arch in doorways and windows (see Fig. 400A), and by the greater profusion of sculptured foliage, flowers, and ornament in the decoration. The ball flower used in the hollow mouldings is characteristic of this style, as the tooth ornament is of the Early English.

[Illustration:

Fig. 407.—Forms of Gothic Tracery. _a_, Trefoil; _b_, Quartrefoil; _c_, Cinquefoil; _d_, Cusped Quartrefoil; _e_, Pointed and Cusped; _f_, Flamboyant. ]

The Perpendicular style, as its name denotes, is characterized by its long and narrowly divided windows and similar panellings. Instead of the flowing lines of tracery in the windows, the mullions are of a straight lined and vertical character, and are divided at intervals by transoms, or horizontal divisions. The pedestal (Fig. 402) from Henry VII.’s Chapel is of Perpendicular panelling. The beautiful fan tracery seen in Henry VII.’s Chapel in Westminster Abbey and in Gloucester Cathedral is a variety of this panelling. The doorways in this style have pointed but depressed arches, and as a rule are enclosed with square-headed mouldings or labels. The spandrels formed by this arrangement are filled with tracery and shields. Towers and cornices have battlements, &c. (Fig. 403). A general squareness is given to all the ornaments, and a more severe and dry character is the chief feature of the Perpendicular decoration.

The Flamboyant Gothic style of the Continent is contemporaneous with the English Perpendicular. The panels at Figs. 404 and 405 are very good examples of Flamboyant panel decoration. Forms of Gothic arches and tracery are given at Figs. 406 and 407.

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