ypy. / / ’ J-liSUJUJt Ppix, * s CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/remarksonchurcha01peti REMARKS ON CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. WUtf) Illustrations. BY THE REV. J. L. PETIT, M.A. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: JAMES BURNS, 17 PORTMAN STREET, PORTMAN SQUARE, 1841 . LONDON : PRINTED BY ROBSON, LEVEY, AND FRANKLYN, Great New Street, Fetter Lane. PREFACE. The following pages contain no more than they profess, namely, remarks upon Church Architecture, such as might be made by one who has taken more pleasure than pains in a pursuit, and is willing to persuade his conscience that the hours he has given to his own gratification have not been altogether misemployed. My hopes of their proving in any degree useful rest upon the fact, that we are still in a great measure unac- quainted with those architectural principles to which build- ings of the middle ages owe their peculiar beauty ; and therefore, notwithstanding the very valuable works which are before the public, the writer, even of an indifferent treatise, may perform a great service, either by casually throwing out some suggestion which shall give a clue towards the discovery of an important law, or by bringing forward a collection of examples, which may be available in establishing or overthrowing theories already formed, and which will, moreover, induce others to take a comr prehensive, instead of a limited view of the subject, and obviate those evils which result from the laying down of arbitrary rules upon imperfect data, It is, I fear, no needless task to urge the fact, that many grand principles of the art, familiar to our ancestors, are lost to us ; and it is rather with the view of pressing this point, than in the hope of suggesting any idea which VI PREFACE. may lead to their recovery, that I offer the following observations. I trust, besides, that the notices of different buildings which occur, slight as they are, will not be found unserviceable. It will be perceived that reference is made rather to outline and character, than details, for reasons which, independent of the cursory nature of my examina- tions, will not fail to strike the reader. In fact, Gothic detail of every description has of late been much studied, and is w r ell understood ; nor is there a county or district in England which does not offer abun- dant examples of any kind fit for practical purposes : were it otherwise, the admirable “ Glossary of Architecture” would supply the deficiency to the student. Nothing is now wanting in this department ; but in that which relates to composition and arrangement, very much. A judicious selection of general outlines, plans, and elevations, both of whole buildings and portions, which please the eye, would be equally desirable. This should be made to afford the greatest possible variety; to be confined neither to one country, nor one age, nor one scale of importance; to comprise not only finished and elaborate specimens, but the roughest and plainest chapels or village churches, many of which, on account of their unpretending beauty, attained solely by nice proportion, are invaluable. Any selection made by a single individual, from ex- amples which have come under his own notice, must, from the nature of the case, be very incomplete in its design, and, moreover, somewhat dependent on caprice. The fol- lowing, if it can be called a selection, certainly does not profess to be free from either of these faults ; but I have done my best to set before the reader a sufficient variety, PREFACE. Vll both in form and composition, to prove to him how wide a range can be taken by architects whose works are essen- tially of the same class and character. In the great mass of modern buildings we find two faults, apparently very opposite to each other, but both resulting from the same cause, — ignorance of fundamental principles. One is the exercise of a capricious and unre- strained fancy, which leads us to suppose that the architect labours under the error (common till of late years) of pro- nouncing Gothic an irregular style, free from all laws and rules whatever ; the other is, a slavish submission to some arbitrary forms or maxims (no matter whether expressed or understood), which ensures the absence of any thing like distinctive character. On which account, the builder of churches ought to make observations on the most ex- tensive scale, to collect examples from other countries, and to look upon those in his own, not as inconvenient old fabrics, which he may one day have to enlarge or rebuild, but as models of grace and dignity, from which he may gain much instruction. He should measure most accurately both the lines and angles of many humble and unpretend- ing structures, which the antiquary, and even the artist, disdains to notice. He will thus learn, not to imitate, but to invent, perhaps to mark the period of his labours by a style distinguished from that of his ancestors otherwise than by its meagreness and deformity. I make no apology for the roughness of my sketches. Had I consulted my own interest and the gratification of the reader, I should have devoted the same pains and ex- pense to a smaller number ; but my wish is rather to excite than to indulge his curiosity ; my end will be more Vlll PREFACE. fully answered, if I can urge him to the actual examination of a building, than if I can satisfy him with a minute verbal description and accurate drawing : still I hope they will be sufficient to give him some information, and that their inaccuracies will not prove of such a nature as in any case seriously to mislead him ; and I assure him I have sometimes wished I could refer to sketches even less definite (if possible) than those I now offer. I may say that in almost every case they are from drawings taken on the spot, either by myself, or by friends whose eye and hand I would rather trust than my own ; at all events they do not, by any elaborate execution, hold out the promise of greater accuracy than they possess. It is unnecessary to say that I avail myself freely and without scruple of every work upon the subject which has fallen into my hands ; and if I were to mark all the sug- gestions for which I am indebted to others, I should only ffistract the reader ; I wish him therefore to understand, that any reference in the notes is not made only by way of acknowledgment, but for the purpose of directing his attention to some valuable passage from the work in question. I have now only to return my warmest thanks to the kind friends to whom I am indebted for drawings, and other contributions, as well as for useful hints; and to assure them, that but for their assistance my Essay must have gone forth in a very defective state. ^Explanation of Ccrms. I shall not be found to have troubled my readers with many technical terms, for the best possible reason ; but in case these pages should fall into the hands of any one still less acquainted than myself with the nomenclature of the art, I subjoin the explanation of a few that I could not help using. Some others are introduced in the course of the work ; but their meaning will, I trust, be made sufficiently clear in the passages where they occur. I think I can make myself better understood by reference to a figure than by mere description. 1. Part of a Norman or Romanesque shaft, with a cushion capital (see (Professor Whewell’s “ Architectural Notes”) and square abacus, a. 2, 3. Plans of cross churches with a single apse, a , the apse, apsis, absis, or apside, which may be semicircular or polygonal. 4. A transverse triapsal church. 5. A parallel triapsal church. — These terms are used by Professor Whe- well. Ahrweiler, in Germany, might be called oblique-triapsal. 6. A Roman arch of one order, a, the architrave, being the band that runs round on the face of the wall ; b, the archivolt, or the inner face ; c, the impost, or the mass from which the arch springs. I believe I have used the latter term rather vaguely, for I have sometimes put it for the whole struc- ture (of whatever parts it may consist) below the spring of the arch. I hope, however, the reader will not be misled. The whole system of mouldings round a Gothic arch is also called its architrave. 7. An arch of two orders, a, the superior ; b, the inferior order. 8. An arch shewing the voussoirs or blocks of which it is composed. a, a , & c., the voussoirs ; b (the highest of them) being the keystone. 9. A stilted arch. 10. A segmental arch ; which may also be pointed. 11. A Tudor, or four-centered arch. 12. A Burgundian arch ; approaching to the ellipse. 13. Interior elevation of part of the side of a cathedral, a , the piers and pier-arches; b , the triforium range, which when fitted up as a gallery is in Germany called the mannerchor (Whewell) ; c, the clerestory, which is generally a range of windows. 14. The German fan-light. 15. An arch with double foliation. 16. A foliated circle. To mark the number of cusps or foliations, this would be called a cinquefoiled circle. 17. A trefoil. 18. A trefoil arch. 19. A tref oiled arch. 20. Geometrical tracery, which may or may not be foliated. 21. Flowing tracery, which generally has foliations. 22. Perpendicular tracery, which also is mostly foliated. — All these admit of much variety, but the distinguishing principle of each is easily detected. What may be called intersecting tracery, where the stone divisions simply cross each other with or without foliation, may combine with any of the three. 23. The transom of a door. 24. Transom of a window. The upright bars are the mullions. The pendentives of a dome or octagon are the constructions supporting those parts that do not stand immediately over the main arches of the intersec- tion ; as the diagonal sides of one, and a great portion of wall in the other, if circular in plan. The distinction between the Romanesque and Byzantine pendentive will be explained in the second volume : it must be borne in mind, however, that this refers to mechanical structure, and not to style ; for the term “ Romanesque pendentive” may be applied to one of the latest Gothic. ‘T '"f' $' .iLa , t Atv _ *s- C 7\p r 7~n ASisruoy t, " Vol . X. ' _ U/toZ-Aeal'— ,/ At AtSi Sl~ /4S~. Cent. IH/K'h ■ Y z Vu? jAhSs/o - /?/, C&ixrt'n- . huHtAle. S*~ aUf tfU^ A33\ Oi&xJc- S h. oClA . ^SASfy /A? A^/&u.tx. A t— y^ J^h^AaAolAt . ~S h -&4r n StAcfr-en—- yy . ^aAhb/ a/t^c AAt-*-- -~/SJ y?cvur*i~ - IIash*, v /u ctcv fel 3 h tt C& / Ia>^ < hq.'U. < j *_ - — — / O u Z&U. <0~* 'Ia, /~ JUf) » $ d/^*. fict.2o.CjL. _ . Jl .1 SfucA tu. D$ £ vlXcn*. 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HZ. -/6 V/ ■*% - <^ 4 ? t/Z - fr - 6t. ~7 Z /sz -4-o <7 /t£ tfZ lot IZL 161 S3 41 ERRATA. Page 183, line 11, for “ Redgrove in Norfolk’’ read Redgrave in Suffolk.” Page 189, line 14, for “ Candebec” read “ Caudebec.” REMARKS ON CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. It is not only to the historian and antiquary that the architecture of the middle ages has become a subject of deep interest. In the present day, when the necessity of increased church accommodation has been so universally felt, and still demands so much exertion and liberality, it surely behoves us, without neglecting matters of higher importance, to give some attention to the designs and execu- tion of the edifices themselves, and to be careful that their appearance be worthy of their sacred character, and the great purpose to which they are appropriated. If indeed a church be considered in no other light than as a building erected for the reception VOL. i. B 2 of a certain number of persons assembled in wor- ship,, no more is necessary than to give sufficient space and to secure safety; all beyond this may be referred to mere taste and fancy. But if it be a building solemnly dedicated and consecrated to the Almighty, in this case it is our duty to provide that it be in every respect the best of which circumstances will admit ; its beauty, propriety, and solemnity cease to be matters of indifference. And this seems to have been an universal impression : in every country the tem- ples devoted to worship are the richest, the most durable, and the most beautiful, among the struc- tures remaining to us. Nor can we regard the feeling as one derived from superstition ; else it would not have been sanctioned in the temple of Solomon. A want of caution as to the character and appearance of any thing we offer to our Maker is surely not a venial fault ; and therefore the more we are restricted in our means, the more imperatively are we called upon to attain that excellence of design which gives greater value to a building than the most costly material or the most elaborate workmanship. It is by no means necessary for a church to be rich in ornament : the simplest old village church 3 has often a certain dignity, for which we look in vain in many buildings of greater pretension. The elements which constitute this seem to be gene- rally unknown ; certainly it is difficult, if not im- possible, to define them. We suppose that we are indebted for the charm to antiquity. This is true, to a certain extent; and yet how often are the marks of antiquity defaced, as by repairs, plaster, or whitewash, without destroying, or even much injuring, the venerable appearance of the fabric; and where additions have been made at several periods, and in different styles, as is the case with all our cathedrals, and a very great number of our parish churches, the character and symmetry of the whole has in most instances been completely preserved. It is, I may say, within the memory of man that the popular definition of a Gothic building was simply, one which exhibited pointed arches, no matter what might be its ornaments, its propor- tions, or its composition. And therefore it is no disparagement to the talents of our present archi- tects to assert, that the Gothic style is not yet revived; even supposing the spirit of the age to admit of such revival. We may say of an archi- tect, that he has built a good Gothic church, just 4 as we say of a scholar, that he has written a good Latin exercise, if he has committed no egregious blunder in grammar, and has shewn himself toler- ably well acquainted with the idioms of the lan- guage. And as the scholar who can do this is entitled to some praise, and cannot be said to have employed his time in a wholly unprofitable task ; so neither is the architect who has made himself master of the details of a style, and can clothe his conceptions in them, to be denied commendation. But we cannot say, that the one has revived a language, or the other a style of architecture. A competent knowledge of ordinary rules is sufficient for the mere imitator; but the reviver of an art must be thoroughly imbued with the spirit he would infuse : he must be gifted with an intuitive perception, and improve it by a diligent and anxious study of those natural principles which, so far from depending upon taught and written rules, constitute their very groundwork. The former may possibly be discovered by means of the latter, as the spring-head may be found by tracing the stream upwards ; but they certainly will not be found by those who do not search for them, who rest contented with a blind dependence on mere technical forms. 5 In the present day. Gothic architecture is in fact a dead language, one perhaps of which we have learnt little more than the grammar; yet the increasing wish to imitate shews that we have already a lively perception of its beauties, ignorant as we are of the source whence they spring, and unable to appreciate them in their full extent; even as we may form some idea of the magnificent rhythm of Homer, yEschylus, and Pindar, while we cannot so much as give the true pronunciation of their language. But our wish to imitate, if we have acted upon it prematurely, may possibly have thrown some very serious obstacles in the way of a revival. I cannot but think the taste for Gothic cottages, and even mansions, to have been on the whole unfa- vourable to the art. It has had the effect of giving the details and smaller elegances of the style an undue importance, to the neglect of fundamental principles. A fanciful outline, or a neat finish, seems to have been the end and aim of the archi- tect’s skill ; and the result is, a class of buildings, correct enough in mere details— and from this very correctness affording the less hope of improvement — but no more imbued with the spirit and cha- 6 racter of the middle ages than a schoolboy’s theme with that of Cicero.* The ecclesiastical buildings with which we are acquainted, belonging to the period between the tenth and sixteenth centuries (it might perhaps be extended each way), however they may differ in style, richness of ornament, outline, or general arrangement, are evidently designed upon certain principles of proportion, most difficult to investi- gate or explain, but of which the architects seem to have had an intuitive knowledge. Many, indeed, are open to criticism, as what human work is not ? but there is a manifest propriety, a careful adjust- ment, and a remarkable gracefulness of composi- tion, which pervades the whole, from the humblest and plainest village church to the magnificent structures of Amiens and Strasburg. Till this is not only felt and appreciated, but reduced to prac- tice, little beauty will result from the most accurate imitation of details. How great is the value of these principles in comparison with mere knowledge of detail, any one may judge who contrasts some of * A few modern edifices might be named which, like the noble hall of Christ’s Hospital, stand forward among their con- temporaries, and are worthy of the best Gothic era : but how small a proportion do they constitute ! 1 Sir Christopher Wren’s Gothic works with many of the present day. The latter have a coating of tolerably correct Gothic ; the former, barbarous in the extreme as regards ornament, yet evince a clear perception of the higher and more important beauties of the style. The tower of Warwick Church is quite a study for the architect ; it teaches him how details ill-designed and unsightly in them- selves are, by the mere force of composition, made to assume a most imposing appearance. At a short distance this tower would bear comparison even with that of Gloucester. The student is too apt to overlook buildings of this sort, as well as those Italianising churches common in France, as utter barbarisms ; and yet their otherwise “ unprofitable magnificence” may have its peculiar use, as shewing to how great an extent it is possible to compensate for a defective knowledge in the minor parts by beauty of arrangement and composition. Had Gothic buildings been popular in Sir Christopher Wren’s time, had he been induced to follow up the art of which he so boldly seized the first principles, and to graft appropriate details upon his designs in this style, he would probably have raised it even to a greater degree of splendour than it had yet attained. 8 No art seems so completely to shun the guid- ance of definite written rules, while it so evidently relies on some unexplained fundamental laws, as this of Gothic architecture. Let any traveller attempt to form a theory on the subject. The first church he examines may convince him that great height is absolutely necessary : the buttresses taper upwards in several stages, and are surmounted by fine pinnacles ; the lofty clerestory rises above the aisles, and is in its turn surmounted by a tower, itself bearing a spire almost equal in height to the rest of the building. Here, he may say, appear the true principles of the art ; in any other proportions they cannot exist. And yet perhaps he is next called upon to notice a church almost touching the ground with the eaves of its roof, having a tower whose height scarce exceeds its breadth ; never- theless he is obliged to confess that it is essentially Gothic ; that it could not have been any thing else ; that, humble as it may be, it offers nothing mean, offensive, or incongruous. In one place he will stop to admire a minster whose towers, tur- rets, chapels, and transepts, seem purposely so arranged as to break and vary the outline as much as possible ; presently he falls in with a building as plain as a Grecian temple. One edifice is 9 striking from its great length, another is compact and pyramidical ; and yet all, from the rudest Saxon to the most florid Gothic, from the simplest chapel to the richest cathedral, are recognised as belonging to one family : and though it is impos- sible to say in what the resemblance consists, still there is a very decided one, and this not produced by arbitrary rules, but by some general though in- explicable law. The extensive range which this allows, while it seems to give the modern architect a better chance of falling within its sphere acci- dentally, does in fact offer the greatest obstacles to actual discovery ; but if it were possible to im- press the conviction, that some principle has yet to be discovered, it might be hoped that much talent and energy would be directed to the search, which is now wasted upon meagre copies and incongruous adaptations. It is not always that mere copies will answer our purpose : the form and arrangement which was the best three or four centuries ago may now in- volve much inconvenience and loss of space; on which account it is the more necessary to pursue the inquiry after general principles, which may enable us to turn to account the style of the 10 middle ages in buildings designed to meet the exi- gences of the present day. That our architects are well versed in the details of the Gothic style, and that we have abundance of workmen capable of executing them with the greatest delicacy, is proved both by mo- dern buildings and the repairs of older ones. York and Beverley furnish good examples, and, above all, the new tower of Canterbury Cathedral. In mechanical contrivance we are probably at least equal to the architects whose stupendous works astonish us at this day ; but the subject of propor- tion seems to have been unaccountably neglected. If you start on a tour with a view of obtaining architectural specimens, and consult any traveller or guide-book, you will be directed to buildings remarkable for their size, or richness, or antiquity, or some peculiarity of detail; but the most truly beautiful models, the most perfect specimens of that harmony of proportion now so little under- stood, you will have to discover yourself : they are daily passed by crowds even of active and ob- servant travellers, and yet remain unnoticed. Besides the proportions of the structure itself, it is clear that our ancestors attended to its posi- 11 tion, and the objects surrounding and likely to surround it. When Gothic churches were built, the houses also were in some style which har- monised with them. In most old towns we find numbers of Gothic doors, windows, and other de- tails, scattered about, belonging to private dwell- ings; as in York, Chester, Glastonbury, Exeter, Rouen, Dijon, Avignon, Cologne, and almost every town in Holland and Belgium. The monastic buildings attached to churches were of a similar style, and these, in all probability, did not greatly differ from other houses of the same standard; while those of smaller consequence, though rude in their materials and construction, still harmonised with the richest Gothic. Is this the case with our flat fronts, square windows, low roofs, and hori- zontal parapets? Would not the oldest and most perfect Gothic edifice, if it ranged in a line with these, appear to be out of character ? We cannot help noticing how much the scenery influenced the design of the builder. In a flat country the principal churches are lofty in their proportions, and have high steeples, which catch the eye at a considerable distance. The church of Delft in Holland, Antwerp cathedral, Mechlin, Cologne, Frankfort, Strasburg, Milan, all occupy 12 stations in immense level tracts. Ely cathedral, Boston in Lincolnshire, and Howden in Yorkshire, afford instances of towers being raised to a greater height than usual, on account of a similar position. In rocky and romantic situations a less pretending edifice is preferable : many of the Welsh churches, from their extreme simplicity, are the best models that could be chosen. The small bell-niche over the gable, or the wooden belfry* where the climate admits of it, or a taper spire covered with slate or shingle, is appropriate. Switzerland, as may be supposed, affords many examples of happy situa- tion. Though most of the churches are altogether devoid of architectural character; though white- washed or painted on the outside; though the ornaments, when there are any, are often heavy and incongruous, — yet I do not remember a single instance in which the church did not add materially to the beauty of the landscape. It is likely a pro- fessed architect would turn with contempt from these unpretending structures ; yet he might do worse than take a few hints from them, and find * This is often stigmatised as resembling a pigeon-house. Is the association altogether an improper one ? On looking at Bingham, we find that one of the old names for a church was “ domus columbee.” 13 out in what their peculiar beauty consists. And it may be remarked, that except in the very moun- tainous tracts, which occupy but a small proportion of the country, Swiss scenery has a decidedly English character ; and consequently Swiss models might be used to advantage in many parts of our own country. I should, indeed, be sorry to see a continental manner generally introduced and established in the building of English churches. The models we have of our own, scattered abundantly through every county, are the very best we could procure : our parish churches, taking them in the aggregate, may be pronounced the most venerable, the most truly beautiful, the most durable in appearance, of any of their class; and, still more, they are en- deared to us by every association. On this account, it is the more painful to see them imperfectly or unworthily imitated ; while, at the same time, many circumstances may occur which render it inexpe- dient, or even impossible, to follow exactly their proportions or arrangement. Hence a wider range, and a greater variety of examples, than is to be found in our own country, becomes useful, both by overthrowing such rules of a narrow and re- stricting character as have been derived from 14 limited observations, and by shewing how exigen- ces have been met, which would force the archi- tect who is unacquainted with any beside English specimens to rely too much on his own invention. Many continental features, if adopted with discre- tion, might not only give a pleasing variety to our buildings, but prove exceedingly useful in meeting cases for which English architecture has less per- fectly provided. The circular or polygonal apse, the light central octagon, the tall slender turret, the tower surmounted by gables, are of compara- tively rare occurrence in England, while they constitute the principal beauties of many conti- nental churches. And though probably some of the best and most perfect compositions are to be found in this country, yet the great number of different combinations of outline that are presented to the student, during even a very limited conti- nental tour, will not fail to be most useful in form- ing his judgment, and may furnish him with sug- gestions to be acted upon according to a variety of contingences. Again, much may be learnt of the earlier styles of Gothic upon the Continent which is actually lost as far as English specimens are concerned. Our churches are almost uniformly finished in the later styles ; and it is only in very 15 small churches that the original character is pre- served in any degree of purity : Norman towers have battlements and pinnacles of perpendicular character — windows of a late style are introduced into early fronts. Now on the Continent, though there is often as much dilapidation, there is seldom so much alteration and insertion ; and even where later repairs have been necessary, enough is gene- rally left to enable us to judge of the original building. How much some groundwork of this kind is wanted, any one may determine, who has noticed our modern imitations of either the Nor- man or early English style. No one will dispute the necessity of providing church accommodation in large towns : but it is perhaps in remote and not very populous districts, and out-lying hamlets in extensive parishes, that the want of new churches is the most severely felt ; and in such cases it must frequently happen that the funds will not be adequate for any thing be- yond the plainest and simplest building. Yet, to resume my leading proposition, it ought to be the best in our power; to have a certain dignity of appearance which shall distinguish it above all surrounding objects : and this seems to be the real field for the genius of an architect, as he cannot. 16 in such a case, disguise false principles or bad pro- portions by redundancy of ornament. If he would attack the main difficulties of his art, let him study to produce a perfect model, with but little reference to any details of style, and at the least possible expense consistent with durability : having attained this, he will easily learn to add as much decoration as he pleases. Should any general remarks, or notices of buildings which occur in these pages, give a single useful suggestion to the student anxious to attain this object, I shall not consider the time I have bestowed upon them to be thrown away. CHAPTER II. CLASSIFICATION OF STYLES. It would be difficult to ascertain by whom, or at what period, the arch was first invented. As, however, those styles of architecture in which it does not appear involve the use of large masses, whether of stone or some other material, and as there are many parts of the world where such could not have been obtained with any degree of facility, we might fairly assign a very early date to the invention. We know that brick was used in the construction of the Tower of Babel, and also of the cities built by Pharaoh during the bondage of the Israelites in Egypt; and it is not easy to conceive a brick building of any importance that does not in some part or another involve the prin- ciple of the arch. But the earliest fabrics with which we are at present acquainted, having this for a marked and leading feature, are those of the Romans. When they first became established in their territory, VOL. i. c 18 they found, on the one hand, the colonnades of the Greeks, and, on the other, the arched and vaulted buildings of the Etrurians ;* and as it was natural that in the infancy of their city they should invite artists from both quarters, they thus gave rise to a style combining, or professing to combine, the two principles ; a style not indeed without incon- gruities^ but at the same time capable of consi- derable grandeur and elegance. Witness the am- phitheatres, temples, monuments, and triumphal arches, which remain at this day. On the decline of classical art, architects, while they corrupted the ornamental details, yet cleared the style in great measure of its inconsistencies, by rejecting those Grecian elements which had hitherto predominated ; and thus produced, or laid the foun- dation of, a style harmonising to a certain degree with the classical, and not altogether neglecting its proportions : the round arch became the main feature, and the entablature disappeared, or was marked only by string-courses of small projection. This we will call the early Romanesque; and it * See Moller’s Memorials of German- Gothic Architecture, chap. ii. f Whewell’s Architectural Notes (1835), p. 218; Hope’s Historical Essay on Architecture, chap. viii. 19 seems to have been the architecture of the Chris- tian basilicas of Rome, and the domical churches built by Constantine in the East. Though few, if any, of the earliest specimens remain in their ori- ginal form, yet the style is represented by several buildings in Italy, the south of France, and espe- cially Germany, belonging even to as late a period as the eleventh and twelfth centuries,* But long before that time a new principle had been at work. The shafts began to lose their classical proportions, and were more frequently r clustered together into compound piers ; the archi- trave of the arch partook of the same nature as the impost, and admitted of numerous mouldings, which were still further enriched by a profusion of ornament. In short, the late Romanesque, or Norman, became established, of which perhaps the richest specimens exist in England ; but they may be found more free from mixture, and of greater extent, in Normandy and other parts of France. The principle of a predominant vertical line might already be traced ; but much more was re- * Perhaps much later. I cannot help thinking small churches were in some districts built in this manner throughout the whole period in which Gothic prevailed. 20 quired for its full development. A form of arch, hitherto used sparingly and of necessity, was found to harmonise with the lengthened shafts, clustered pillars, and lofty vaults, which had be- come usual. The prevalence of the pointed arch, though not without mixture, marks the Transition style, which is represented in our own country by the first and plainest specimens of early English, and by such buildings as the choir of Canter- bury Cathedral, where Norman features and or- naments have not disappeared, and yet there is an evident advancement towards the complete Gothic. On the Continent we meet with speci- mens of a far more decided character, which we shall have occasion to notice. We now come to the full development of the style, in what may be called the early complete Gothic. In this we find shafts of great height clustered together, with delicately flowered capitals, and a round or polygonal abacus ; lofty pointed arches, with rich and deep mouldings ; ribbed vaults, and windows formed of a combination of lights, with geometrical tracery. Flying buttresses, elegant pinnacles, and angular canopies, which are often crocketed, enrich the exterior. Foliation is 21 used freely, but is not essential. The shaft is in- troduced abundantly, and may be said to mark the style in large buildings. Some of our most finished early English and early decorated churches repre- sent this style in perfection ; and fine examples abound on the Continent. We might name Co- logne, the nave of Strasburg, parts of Freyburg, Amiens, and many others* Yet, complete and beautiful as this style is, it was perhaps felt to have a certain degree of severity, which might lead it into the danger of becoming monotonous. A new element was therefore introduced — a prevalence of angular edges, instead of convex or cylindrical surfaces : by means of these, with narrow flat faces and bold concavities, a rich effect is produced, at less ex- pense and in greater variety. Shafts with capitals, though often used, were no longer the same pro- minent feature; foliation became much more ne- cessary. A great alteration took place in the tracery, which, instead of being formed of geome- trical figures touching each other, branched out into ramifications, either in free and bold curves, as in our late decorated and the continental Flam- boyant, or in lines preserving the vertical direction 22 of the mullions, as in our perpendicular. The mullion itself also had a more decided character, and not only appeared in the window, but was often repeated in panelling over a large surface of the building. The form of the arch, too, was more varied, especially at a late period ; and tran- soms, and even square heads to windows, were admitted, by which they might be more easily adapted to the space they were designed to occupy. This style we will call the late complete Gothic, which both in England and on the Continent com- prehends a very extensive range of buildings. The art having reached its summit, now began to decline ; in our own country by a gentle and gradual decay, shewing itself rather in the careless working of details than by the intrusion of any thing really at variance with the principles of the style. But on the Continent the case is different. In France the introduction of classical elements very soon affected the purity of the Gothic; while in Germany and Belgium fanciful imitations and ar- rangements took place of correct and scientific design. In Italy the classical taste can hardly be said ever to have been quite extinct : her architec- ture, throughout the whole period from the decline 23 to the revival of the arts, bears manifest traces of it ; and therefore we cannot wonder at seeing it obtain an early and complete ascendancy, the effect of which was felt by degrees at a distance. In northern countries Gothic was a favourite style, hallowed by religion, chivalry, and art ; and the inroads of any principle at variance with it could not work its overthrow without a severe struggle ; whence we often see magnificent churches of Gothic proportions almost entirely made up of Italian details. St. Eustache in Paris is a fine example of this ; and the chancel of St. Pierre at Caen is a rich specimen of Italianising Gothic. In England the innovation is more gradual; and though in small churches we occasionally meet with members referable to a classic rather than a Gothic origin, yet it is mostly in domestic buildings that we are to look for the really debased Gothic. But even when the style became extinct, the taste was not quite subdued. Architects had been accustomed to enrich their buildings with innumer- able small compartments of panelling and minute ornament : thus their successors, instead of the simple colonnade and expansive arch, used a pro- fusion of small columns, entablatures, pediments. 24 and arches, encrusting the face of the building with classical detail, as the former architects had done with Gothic. The style thus formed is usually called “cinque cento,” from the period in which it first began to prevail, and has a rich and mag- nificent effect. Witness Heidelberg Castle, and many of our own domestic edifices; in some of which, even where a profusion of ornament is not 25 used, the character is preserved by lofty propor- tions and a division into different stages. Our Elizabethan houses belong rather to this class than to any other. After this comes the revived Italian* — in Italy really revived : not a cold and formal imitation of the antique, but seizing upon its principles and animated by its spirit ; adapting itself to the differ- ent exigencies of the period, and forming new com- binations as required. In this style we may boast of works of very great beauty : I need only name St. Paul’s, which, whatever faults occur in the details, must be acknowledged a masterpiece of design, proportion, and composition. As the revived Italian is, in fact, a repetition of the old Roman, we have completed the circle. We might, in different points of it, find the germs * We must not fail to take into consideration the gradual manner in which the revived arts spread through Europe. We might find in Italy buildings of a good revived Italian earlier in date than any of our own cinque cento , and contemporaneous with our debased, or even late Perpendicular Gothic. The cinque cento , such as we have noticed it, seems to be mostly found where a rich complete Gothic has prevailed ; but an analogous style paves the way to the revived classical in Italy. S. Maria delle Grazie at Milan, and the front of the Certosa of Pavia, are instances. 26 of Turkish,, Russian, Indian, or Moorish architec- ture ; or, on the contrary, we might look to these as having exercised an external influence on the styles we have noticed. But such investigations concern the historian and antiquary, upon whose province I do not wish to intrude. CHAPTER III. ON THE ROMAN AND REVIVED ITALIAN. As our business is with styles rather than dates, we will treat the Roman and revived Italian as iden- tical, and refer indifferently to either, as occasion requires. The chief characteristic of these is an attempt to combine the Grecian column and entablature with the arch ; which is done, in the first place, by introducing the arch upon imposts between two columns, the latter either standing free, or engaged in the wall, or appearing as mere pilasters. The amphitheatre at Nismes has two stages of this arrangement. The lower one has a series of pilasters, with their respective portions of entabla- ture projecting beyond that carried round the building ; and each interval is occupied by an arch. The upper stage consists of corresponding columns on pedestals, engaged in the wall, and carrying also their projecting entablatures: the arches, of course, correspond with those below*; and the 28 whole is crowned with a small attic. Here it is evident that the column or pilaster, with its appur- tenances, is no more than an ornament ; for the amazing thickness of the walls, shewn as it is in the open arches, renders a buttress quite unne- cessary even in appearance. Nevertheless the effect is exceedingly fine. The order is either Tuscan or Doric. The amphitheatre at Arles has a similar ar- rangement ; but the arches appear to be wider in proportion to their intermediate masses. Indeed, it struck me that the edifice would not lose any beauty from the disappearance of the pilasters and columns, which has taken place in some measure from the effect of time. The upper part, including the entablature, has been entirely de- stroyed. The tower introduced in the sketch is of later date, being one of four erected on the car- dinal points about the end of the eighth century, when the building was used as a fortress. The lower range is Doric or Tuscan ; the upper one is stated to be Corinthian. I did not notice any capitals; but I understand that a single one re- mains.* Both of these amphitheatres are still * Etudes sur Arles : an interesting local work. 29 perfect in their ground-plan, and the interior ellip- tical area of each is well cleared and accurately defined. The engaged pillar or pilaster often supports a continuous entablature, and, as before, alternates with the arch. This seems to be the case — (if I have been enabled to make out the details with any clearness) — in the lower range of the theatre at Orange, where no projection of entablature cor- responds with the pilaster; and the arrangement 30 is common in revived Italian churches. In this case the columns or pilasters, constituting to all appearance the main support of the entablature, must, to admit the intermediate arches, stand at an extravagant distance from each other : at least the artist must be very careful and skilful if he can avoid producing such an effect. Another method is to make the arch itself spring from an entablature. The temple of Diana at Nismes, which has a cylindrical roof with ribs above the cornice, may be cited as an ancient ex- ample. But the revived Italian owes some of its greatest beauties to this arrangement. In churches with a central dome, nothing can be finer than the arches so situated, bounding the vault of the nave and the other limbs of the cross. Of those I have seen I may name S. Alessandro at Milan, and the Annunciata, Carignana, S. Ambrogio, and many others, in Genoa. In short, wherever there is a dome, this beauty will be found ; and provided the proportions are well preserved, which is not diffi- cult, there is no position in which the round arch appears to greater advantage. It is common to make the pier, in the nave of a church, consist of a single column, with its own proper entablature, from which spring the arches. 31 This is done in many London churches. A con- vent near Genoa offers a very beautiful example, the columns being of white marble : the order, if I recollect right, is Doric. This or the Tuscan is best suited to the purpose ; as the height of a Co- rinthian capital would add much to the heaviness, which in any case is far from pleasing. The pier is also frequently composed of two columns, standing free from each other in the di- rection of the nave, and supporting an entablature, from which rise the arches. By this the heavy appearance of the last is avoided; but it seems fitter for the front of a building than for a range in the interior of a church. If the longitudinal and transverse diameter of a pier be unequal, the latter ought to be the greater, both on mechanical principles and for optical effect. This was found out and acted upon at an early date of Gothic architecture ; for wherever the column is doubled, the line which would pass through the two is al- most invariably at right angles with the direction of the arcade. We find, however, many pleasing examples among the Genoese churches : I may notice S. Ciro as one of the best. This arrange- ment prevails in the Saoli palace, one of the finest specimens of composition in Genoa. The order 32 seems immaterial : even the Ionic, which seldom harmonises well with the arch, here appears in character. Another plan is to make the arch spring at once from the capital of the column, or from im- posts without any column at all, and crown the whole either with an entablature or a cornice. This system is at least free from inconsistency; but instead of a combination, it should be called a separation of the two principles : it belongs, in fact, rather to the next class than to this. The Annunciata at Genoa is a fine example, and is probably among the earliest churches of the re- vival. Here the columns are Composite. The Tuscan is often used. When the Corinthian is chosen, it ought not to be very lofty in its pro- portions, and the capital may be spread out more than is usual in classical specimens. In the upper part of the theatre at Orange is an arcade sup- ported by small pilasters : such might occur in Romanesque, or even in Norman. Many buildings may be considered as mixed : for instance, where a portico on the Grecian prin- ciple projects from a body that has arches, as at St. Paul’s ; or where different stages are built ac- cording to different systems, as in the theatre of Cj 33 Orange. A most beautiful specimen of this de- scription is the ancient monument at St. Remy, near Arles. One stage is entirely allotted to sculpture, which is at the same time delicate and spirited. Above is a square compartment, with engaged Corinthian columns at the corners, and an arch in each of the faces. Over this is a round open peristyle of Corinthian columns, supporting an entablature and Small cupola. In the space surrounded by these columns are two statues. The whole is very perfect. Close at hand are the remains of a triumphal arch, which is still more remarkable for delicacy of workman- ship. The hexagonal panelling on its inner sur- face is of the finest execution ; this seems to have been a common ornament, and is much used in the revived Italian. The arrangement of churches in the classical style admits of great variety. Some are simple domes, having merely small recesses for the porch and altar. Others are in the form of a cross, with a large dome at the intersection, and smaller ones over the aisles. Of this description is the Carig- nana, one of the handsomest churches in Genoa. The limbs of the cross are of equal length, except that the eastern one has a projecting apse, and VOL. I. D 34 the aisles, which come up to the respective fronts, are consequently square, and also make the whole building a square, broken only by the apse. Each of the aisles is covered with a hemispherical dome. The massiveness of the central piers, the simple construction of the vaulting (which is cylindrical without clerestory), and the boldness of the cor- nices, give the interior a fine effect. S. Ambrogio in Genoa has aisles consisting of two squares, each crowned (internally) with a dome ; but here there is a clerestory, and consequently the vault- ing has lateral cells. This church owes much of its beauty to the richness of the marbles with which it is ornamented. The Annunciata is magnificent, from the great length of the nave, and the height of the piers, which are fluted columns of red marble. The west front is unfinished as regards decoration, but its features are sufficiently marked to render a de- scription available for general use. It consists of two stages : the lower one is divided by pilasters into five compartments, of which that in the centre is the widest, and contains a handsome marble doorway, with a slightly projecting porch, formed by two columns with their entablature. In the next compartments are also doors cased with mar- 35 ble, but having no porches ; and above them are windows headed with a segmental arch. The ex- treme compartments have only niches or blank windows. The entablature above each pilaster projects, as at Nismes, and supports the corre- sponding pedestal and pilaster of the stage above. The central compartment of this upper stage has a round-headed window between two square- 36 headed ones, and is surmounted by a pediment. The intermediate compartments are represented by concave slopes, resting on the attic above the lower cornice. The extreme compartments form towers with segmental belfry windows ; each tower supports a small cupola ; their whole height not being equal to that of the central pediment. This description, with the omission of the flank- ing towers, would nearly apply to a very great number of fronts both in Italy, France, Germany, and Belgium. It is more common than the plain Grecian portico, and perhaps better suited to the rest of the building. But it is often a mere mask, rising considerably above the roof; and at a little distance it has the appearance of an un- meaning portion of wall. The finest feature of this style is unquestion- ably the dome, which gives both to the exterior and interior of a church a degree of magnificence not surpassed by the richest Gothic. It is surpris- ing that this feature should have been so rarely adopted in England on the revival of classical architecture. The cause of this may be the in- frequency of the central octagon and lantern in English Gothic; as on the Continent, where this abounds, the dome of the revived Italian is freely 37 used. There are some good specimens in Paris : that of the Hotel des Invalides is a beautiful com- position. Very few of the numerous churches in Genoa are without the dome. Some are round, some octagonal, some spring at once from the drum, others from an attic of smaller circum- ference. That of the Carignana, which is on the latter plan, forms a good combination with two elegant belfries in the west front. A bold cornice greatly improves the beauty of the Italian dome ; and much depends on the cupola at the top. This should not have too round or abrupt a termination — a fault we remark in the Pantheon at Paris : that of the Invalides, which terminates with a taper spire, is much the handsomer of the two. Some- times the drum is set upon a square base ; but this is not a common arrangement. When the plan is circular, and the windows round-headed, they ought not to be large, or a disagreeable effect will be produced by the double curvature of the arch. Perhaps the colonnade, as at St. Paul’s, is the best external ornament; and it serves to screen such buttresses as are necessary for support. I say nothing of churches in the form, and with the ornaments and members, of a Grecian temple, as, however beautiful they may be externally, the 38 interior presents insuperable difficulties. As an exterior nothing can exceed the Madeleine at Paris ; but on entering the building we cannot fail of being disappointed. Neither the size of the columns, nor their disposition, nor the plan of the vaulting, seems appropriate ; and this not from any fault of the architect, but from the very nature of the case. The church could not have been arranged to give such an effect internally as the spectator has been led to anticipate. A winter’s residence at Nice made me ac- quainted with a very interesting though unpre- tending class of buildings, namely, the small parish churches and chapels of the revival. Many of these might almost date with our latest Gothic churches ; and in their general proportions and character they do not differ very widely from them. The usual plan contains a nave and side aisles, an eastern apse, and a belfry standing on one side near the east end, sometimes engaged in the aisle, sometimes terminating it, and occasionally spring- ing from the nave itself, and in part supported by the vaulting. The west front is often perfectly simple, and of most graceful elevation. The clere- story windows, when there are any, are small, and the interior is never over-lighted. The nave and 39 aisles are vaulted ; the former with the cylindrical roof, which has sometimes round or even pointed cells branching from it, and the latter with Roman vaulting. The piers and arches are frequently with- out any Grecian admixture, the former being plain square masses ; and the exterior, though some- times painted in fresco, is free from architectural ornament. It is not rarely of plain white brick, and appears as if the architect had intended to case it at some future time with plaster or marble. It is often so attached to conventual buildings, that little can be seen besides the belfry and west front. An elegant porch, arched and vaulted, in some instances adorns the latter; but the belfry is the principal feature, and admits of great variety both in composition and ornament. Here pilasters and entablatures usually appear, even when they are found in no other part of the building. The form of the belfry is often like those of the Annunciata at Genoa, having the square tower, and round or polygonal drum and cupola; but they are varied in proportion, ornament, and even colour, to an astonishing degree. Sometimes the tower has several stages ; sometimes the pilasters are doubled, or else form a diagonal face, or are crowned with small pinnacles, or connected with the cupola by 40 buttresses of different shapes. A few are trian- gular in their plan, and some are circular turrets ; others bell-gables, either plain or with a cornice. A slender square tower is occasionally finished with a spire, having also but four sides ; and some- times the spire so situated is round or polygonal. NEAR NICE. The belfry -window is generally single, round- headed, and sufficiently large to give great light- / 41 ness ; while the position of the tower at the side entirely takes away from the formality too often found in edifices of this style. As an example, we may notice Turbia, on the road between Genoa and Nice. Here the elegant and simple belfry sets off a church otherwise heavy and uninteresting, and contrasts well with the fine old Roman ruin in the background. Whether it is owing to the peculiar character of the scenery, or to the domestic architecture of the country, it is certain these buildings are re- markably pleasing to the eye ; and as they are rarely of stone, or at least allowed to keep the colour of it, I question whether we might not take a hint from them when we are debarred the use of that material, and confined to brick or plaster. And even in England there are many situations where the horizontal lines of the Italian would harmonise better with the scenery than the more aspiring forms of Gothic. It has been sometimes asserted that the Italian style is not adapted for steeples, from the necessity of limiting the several stages in their height. I cannot see the force of the objection. Most of our Gothic towers are divided into stages, and the divisions are often very strongly marked. It is 42 true that belfry-windows of great height are used with excellent effect at Lincoln, Salisbury, Caen, Norrey, and in many other instances, and that it would be impossible to obtain a like effect by classical lines ; but again, many of our handsomest steeples have windows of a very moderate height, and quite within reach of classical proportions. There is nothing ungraceful or inelegant in such steeples as St. Martin's, St. Mary-le-Bow, and, above all, St. Bride’s, which has a lightness and simplicity not surpassed by the best Gothic spe- cimens. St. John’s at Wolverhampton has a very beautiful steeple ; and Mereworth Church in Kent has one of nearly the same design. The difficulty seems to be, not in the construction of the steeple, but in the adaptation of it to the church. From the comparative smallness of its component parts, it certainly does not harmonise with a simple portico as high as the nave. This is decidedly a fault in St. Martin’s, where both fea- tures are excellent in themselves, but do not agree ; though the great projection of the portico renders the discordance less unpleasing than in many cases which might be named. If there be no porch, the steeple stands ungracefully over a merely orna- mental pediment, or else by its projection breaks 43 up the west front ; a serious evil where this latter is so important a part of the fabric. Perhaps the difficulty is no where met better than in St. Mary -le- Strand, where an elegant semicircular portal with a half cupola rests against the tower to the westward. The usual width of the building and arrange- ment of the interior prevent any thing less spacious than a dome from occupying the centre ; and the uniformity which is generally considered essential in a church of any magnitude makes the side an objectionable position. On the Continent the steeple is occasionally placed at the east end : this is done in the magnificent church of the Jesuits at Antwerp, and in some churches at Namur. In Italy, not only in smaller churches, but in cathe- drals, it stands on one side ; as at Nice, Mentone, and other places. A detached campanile might sometimes be used to advantage. The massive square tower, of the proportion usual in our Gothic village churches, is not the most consistent with the style ; but the Lombard belfry, which we will speak of in the next chapter, may always be adopted with safety. In a convent near Genoa, already noticed, a low square tower occupies the centre of the cross — not a common 44 arrangement in the revival ; and here the lines of the church almost lead us to suppose that it is a Romanesque building modernised. It might, how- ever, have been intended to raise a dome on the square base. The roofs and gables are generally much de- pressed. A high-pitched roof occurs in the chapel at Versailles; but this is far from a pure specimen. The Italian is perhaps better adapted for a church than Gothic, where it is necessary to en- close a wide area under a single roof, or to have two tiers of windows on account of galleries, or when the front must range with modern houses. Our object will be to avoid, on the one hand a heavy, on the other a meagre, appearance. Purely Grecian combinations, as the colonnade with its entablature, should be used very sparingly; and, above all, the orders employed ought to be Roman. Heavy window-cases and key-stones are far from an improvement to the arch ; in fact, as the key- stone is not, mechanically, of more importance than the other voussoirs, it seems unnecessary to mark it more strongly, and it destroys the beauty of a continuous curve. The architrave of the arch, which we see at Nismes and St. Remy, as 45 well as the arch of two orders* may be freely used. Small pediments* especially such as are curved and broken, as well as brackets* should be rejected* or most cautiously admitted ; and square-headed or segmental windows* though we find plenty of precedents* seem to be of almost too domestic a character to be introduced into churches. The Italian clerestory window is often an ellipse* with the smaller axis vertical* and sometimes a semi- circle : in these positions a complete circle might be adopted. A few combinations in which the inconsistencies of this style are avoided* while its general appearance and spirit are preserved* will be noticed in the next chapter. Note. — I have spoken of the east and west ends of churches* as if the rule by which most of our Gothic buildings are planned* namely* with the altar at the east end* had been generally pre- served. Such, however* is by no means the case. Many churches of the revival stand north and south* and some have their altars inclined rather to the west than otherwise. This will often mark the distinction between the Italian and Roman- 46 esque, as the latter more nearly observes the usual direction. Nevertheless, even Norman churches are not always built east and west. The direc- tions of the two great abbeys of Caen would evidently form a considerable angle ; and each seems to have a group of churches following its own ground-line. CHAPTER IV. ON THE EARLY ROMANESQUE. As in Roman buildings the Grecian members of the system often took the character of mere orna- ment, the arch with its piers and imposts consti- tuting the real framework of the fabric ; so when strength and solidity alone were required, the Grecian members altogether vanished, and a pure system of arches was retained. Such is the Pont du Gard in Languedoc, one of the noblest of the Roman aqueducts. Two tiers of enormous round arches, supporting a third of smaller ones, span the valley of the Gardon. The whole is built of large blocks of squared stone, many of which project from the face of the masonry ; and it is perfectly devoid of ornament, though of excellent workmanship. But my reason for referring to it at present is, that it exactly gives, though in gigantic proportions, the side of a Romanesque cathedral, — the pier-arches, the tri- forium, and the clerestory. And I am mistaken if 48 it does not give it in a much grander and purer style of architecture than we ever find it in reality. Here are no prolonged vertical lines, the germs of future Gothic ; nor, again, is the horizontal line, though decidedly marked, forced upon the eye by any rich or projecting cornice, as in the Grecian and Italian; the predominant feature is the arch itself, in its simplest and most perfect form, — the semicircle ; and no other kind of impost could have given it more dignity, though perhaps higher piers would be better suited to a church. That the architects succeeding those of the classical period had works of this character in their eye, I do not pretend to say ; but it will not be amiss, while considering the later buildings in which the round arch prevails, to keep in view these ancient types. And I lay the more stress upon this, as a really pure Romanesque, if I may be allowed the term, is a style that probably does not exist ; archi- tecture having passed gradually from the Roman to the Gothic, without stopping to attain perfection at a third or intermediate point. But that such perfection has never been con- templated, or that it is not yet attainable, is by no means evident. We have seen, from a specimen of revived Italian, that a classical column may be 49 made to bear the arch (no entablature intervening) with very good effect. And we know this was done on the decline of classical architecture ; Dio- clesian’s palace at Spalatro is quoted as an instance. And in the primitive Christian churches, the co- lumns taken from the heathen temples, and other buildings, were applied in the same manner,* the arches of the nave resting upon their capitals, as in the church of the Annunciata. The change appears to have been wrought more rapidly and decisively in the East. “ If, on the one hand, Constantinople afforded not, in the prostrate porticos and peristyles of vast and nu- merous heathen temples, columns sufficient in size and number for the erection of those long naves and aisles that composed the chief features of the Roman basilicas ; on the other, the progress made in the East in the art of vaulting enabled its builders, with smaller and poorer materials, to cast over wider spaces bolder arches and cupolas. The long vaultless avenues, therefore, of the Roman basilica were suppressed; four pillars, situated at the angles of a vast square, whose sides were lengthened externally into four shorter and equal * Hope’s Historical Essay, chap, ix. VOL. I. E 50 naves, were made to support, and to be connected by, four arches, the spandrils between which, as they rose, converged so as towards the summit of the arches to compose with these a circle ; and this circle carried a cupola, which — (not made, like that of the Pantheon at Rome, or that of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, to be supported by a cylinder intervening between it and the ground, but lifted high in air over four prodigious yawning gaps) — was for the purpose of combining as much of lightness and cohesion as possible with its great expanse, constructed of cylindrical jars, fitting into each other. Conchs, or semi-cupolas, closing over the arches which supported the centre dome, crowned the four naves or branches of the cross : of these the one that presented the principal en- trance was preceded by a porch or narthex ; that opposite formed the sanctuary; while the two lateral members were divided in their height by an intermediate gallery for the reception of the female congregation ; and these sometimes again sprouted out into lesser absides, crowned with semi-domes, or chapels surmounted by small cupolas. And as long straight rows of round-headed windows had been introduced into the parallel walls that sup- ported the ceilings of the naves and absides of the 51 Roman basilicas, so circles and semicircles of similar windows made their appearance in the bases of the cupolas and semi-cupolas that crowned the centre, the transepts, and the smaller rami- fications of the Grecian churches.”* Here we evidently see the type of the later Italian dome in all its magnificence, and it is free from the in- consistencies of the style, which the architect rejected, not on the score of taste, but from the “ wish of giving to the architecture of Christianity a form wholly different from that of paganism.” The churches of the eleventh and preceding centuries in Italy, Germany, and the south of France, seem to derive their character from both these early classes of buildings. The long nave, the aisles, and the eastern apse, they owe to the former ; the domical lantern, and the western and transverse apsides, which frequently appear, are borrowed from the latter, though not without considerable alterations. The details partake of the nature of both, namely, of the elaborate clas- sical ornaments which were found in the one case ready for use, and the clumsy imitations which the Byzantine architect was obliged to substitute in * Hope’s Historical Essay, chap. xii. p. 110 (1840). 52 the other. But, in addition, the principle of the vertical line was gradually working its way into the system; in some parts so rapidly as to make the Romanesque a transition into the Gothic, as is our Norman; and in other places so slowly and covertly as to leave it the character of an independent style, struggling for a peculiar per- fection of its own. I will now notice a few instances of continental Romanesque that fell within my observation, and leave the reader to judge how near they approach to purity. In the neighbourhood of Roman antiquities the later buildings appear to partake much of their character, whether from imitation, or from the actual use of old fragments. The cathedral of St. Trophimus at Arles offers an example. The upper stage of the central tower has pilasters sup- porting a horizontal tablet; in the cloisters also are low Corinthian pilasters of some depth, standing out as buttresses ; they are fluted, and have a square abacus, but carry neither entabla- ture nor arch. The roof of these cloisters* is cylindrical ; the shafts are doubled transversely to * I speak of the Romanesque part : two sides of these clois- ters are early pointed. 53 the arcade, and the capitals much varied with sculpture ; some of them are of great elegance. The arches are round. The western door of this cathedral is very remarkable, and in its mouldings is not altogether unlike our late Norman; it dif- fers, however, in having a transom under its arch, supported in the middle by a shaft with a Co- rinthian capital, on which it rests horizontally. A rich band, which may be called an entablature, forms the lower part of this transom, and is con- tinued to the sides of the porch in which the door is placed, resting in the same manner upon shafts. The whole abounds in fine sculpture. It is sup- posed to belong to the twelfth century. The ruined church of St. Honorat in Arles has 54 a beautiful octagonal central lantern of two stories, with a round-headed arch in each face of both, and pilasters at the angles. The writer of a local work* ingeniously suggests that this arrangement may have been derived from the neighbouring amphitheatre. The cathedral at Avignon has likewise a cen- tral octagon, with fluted Corinthian columns at the angles. Although the internal arches which support this are pointed, it seems to be of great antiquity. The western porch has a Roman arch in the front, and Corinthian columns at the cor- ners. Above is a pediment of a rather higher pitch than usual in classical buildings; the tym- panum has a circular opening. This porch is said to be the remains of a temple dedicated to Her- cules. The cathedral is Romanesque, with re- vived Italian additions of very early date : in some parts it is difficult to distinguish between the two. The square western tower is in the cinque cento , and of excellent elevation. At Montmajor, near Arles, the cloisters have a segmental arch, including three smaller arches upon shafts. Etudes sur Arles 55 The chapel of St. Croix * at Montmajor is a very curious little edifice. It has four equal semi- circular apsides, branching from a square tower ; to that on the western side is attached a porch, and each apse has two buttresses of a single slope. The very few windows by which it is lighted are small and round-headed. The corners of the tower have re-entering angles, but without shafts ; each of its four faces has a pediment (of not a very high pitch) resting on a string; on the top is a cupola with plain round arches, which looks like an Italian addition : the whole, however, may possibly be of one date. The roofing is entirely of stone ; and that of the porch has a serrated ridge. A bold and rich cornice runs along the eaves; the apsides have semi-domical vaulting. This pleasing little specimen appears to belong to the eleventh or twelfth century : an inscription which has been found in it, attributing its erection to Charlemagne, is supposed to have been forged by the monks of Montmajor in the fifteenth cen- tury, for the purpose of proving their abbey to be a royal foundation. f * A cut of this will be given as the frontispiece of the second volume. f Ktudes sur Arles. 56 Aix in Provence. — The south aisle of the cathedral, originally the nave of a smaller church, is a fair specimen of Romanesque. Its west door ! I has two Corinthian columns — probably antique — - engaged in the wall, each supporting a small por- tion of entablature, and a cornice which runs en- tirely across. Under this is a semicircular arch, with something of a classical architrave, resting on small Corinthian columns, one of them fluted, the other spirally grooved ; these stand in re-enter- ing angles, and have a square abacus and entabla- ture. A plain transom makes the head of the doorway horizontal. The interior of the church * 57 has round arches of two orders, with rectangular imposts. Small shafts, resting on similar imposts, occur under the vaulting-arches : of these latter, which are pointed, we will speak hereafter. An octagonal dome occupies the centre, which is not lighted, and makes no shew on the outside. Adjoining this aisle is a baptistery, with antique columns of granite and marble, arranged in a circle, and connected by round arches. In the foregoing instances the deviation from a pure Romanesque has been rather towards the classical than the Gothic. In the next we con- sider, namely, the cathedral of Valence, upon the Rhone, an older church probably than any yet named, the Gothic principle shews itself, though not very prominently. The columns engaged in the piers are of great height compared with their diameter: if it were not for this, we could not possibly find a purer model for an interior. The piers of the nave are rectangular, and have on the front a shaft with a delicate Corinthian capital and square abacus, supporting a plain vaulting - arch ; and on the side is a similar shaft, of less height, sustaining the inferior order of the pier -arch.* * A very accurate representation of two piers, with the in- 58 The archivolts are plain. The roof of the nave is cylindrical; and there is neither triforium nor clerestory. The compartment over the crossing termediate arch, in the nave of Valence Cathedral, will be found in the fifth plate of Professor Willis’s “ Remarks on the Architecture of the Middle Ages” (1835). 59 has a domical vault ; the apse semi-domical. The latter has an aisle ; but if arches ever opened into it, they are now stopped up. On the outer wall of the nave, above the aisle roof, runs a course of small arches, alternately round and straight-sided, like those we find at Barton in Lincolnshire ; their shafts are truncated cones. These I take to be mere fancies of the builder, no way tending to the formation or development of a style : whether they be marks of antiquity, as denoting a period when the architect was less closely bound to the observance of certain general rules, is another question. These flat-sided arches occur also in the old church of Lorsch in Germany.* The west end of Valence Cathedral had a tower, which was destroyed by lightning some years ago. I have not seen any print of it; but its removal gives, roughly indeed, a design for a good and simple Romanesque front — such as may possibly have existed before the tower was built. A light belfry occupies the angle formed by the north transept and the aisle of the nave ; and the intersection is crowned by a very low square tower. The east end exhibits some remarkable buttresses, which * Moller’s Denkmahler. 60 consist of Corinthian shafts and capitals, with a slope resting on the latter. The faces of the transepts do not materially differ from the Nor- man : it is on viewing the inside of the church, that we are struck with its distinct character from any of our own edifices belonging to the eleventh and twelfth century. We now come to a church that perhaps ap- proaches nearest of any to a pure Romanesque, — that of Ainay at Lyons. Part of this is considered to be of high antiquity — as early as the time of Charlemagne ; and though some modern additions have been made, they do not seem to have inter- fered much with the original building. The piers of the nave are Corinthian columns of low pro- portion, and having the capitals, which are not very elaborately carved, somewhat flattened, and finished with a square abacus. The arch is semi- circular, of a single order, with plain archivolt. The columns supporting the square central lan- tern, though not higher than the others, are thicker, the four being made of two columns which belonged to an ancient temple ; these are of granite. As the vaulting of the nave is cylindrical, and its spring is considerably above the crown of the pier -arches, a space of wall remains between 61 the transverse arch of the lantern and the roof; this is pierced with a double arch. The east end is apsidal. The roof of the aisles is cylindrical, slightly broken by the windows. The central tower has a fine massive appearance externally ; each side has two pairs of round-headed arches. 62 with shafts doubled in the direction of the thick- ness of the wall. An engaged western tower rises higher than the central one, but is less massive ; it has also round-headed windows, and is finished with a heavy quadrangular pyramid of stone. The western door is pointed, but has not a Gothic character. We will not at present notice the numerous village churches which occur on the route north- ward, though many of them, from their extreme simplicity, almost present the character we desire. Our next object is the abbey-church of Tournus on the Saone. This has a large and lofty central tower, with Corinthian pilasters at the angles ; and the ornaments between and about its windows would almost lead us to suppose it had been re- paired in cinque cento . I am not, however, aware that we need assign it a later date than that of the rest of the building — the eleventh or twelfth cen- tury. A portion of the nave to the westward is separated by a screen above, and piers and arches below, which bear a vaulting, so as to form a kind of internal porch. The piers of the nave are massive and cylindrical, with shafts of consider- able diameter supporting cross arches. The roof is a series of transverse cylindrical compartments. 63 There is no triforium ; and the clerestory windows are small. The apse, which is semicircular, has an aisle, whence diverge several chapels with flat fronts and gables ; and underneath is a crypt. There is a north-western tower nearly as high as the central one, but lighter, and of a more Norman character. The west front and outside of the nave are extremely plain. It is likely that conventual buildings either surrounded the church very closely, or were actually connected with it. A small desecrated church at Tournus affords a good specimen of an early Romanesque door. 64 It forms a shallow porch, having a gable of the same pitch with that of the front. It will be observed how much better this treatment suits a front of the shape here given than any Gothic or Norman arrangement could have done. The inside of Beaune Church is of a very singular character, as many of its pilasters are fluted, and run up to the string above the arches. The church has a triforium and clerestory; the fine central tower belongs rather to the Transition than Romanesque. Some handsome Corinthian pillars appear in the apse, which support pointed arches. The apsidal aisle has radiating semi- circular chapels. The appearance of cinque cento , which prevails in the Romanesque of both this and the abbey-church of Tournus, ought to be noticed. As we advance northward, the larger buildings of this date are of a decidedly Norman character. We will now return to the coasts of the Medi- terranean. Between Nice and Genoa may be noticed the old church of Monaco, much disguised and modernised externally, but retaining its ancient character within. Here we are struck with the lightness of the piers, which are simple columns, supporting the vaulting shafts on large spreading capitals ; and also with the great width of the 65 pier-arch.* There is no central tower. A small belfry, apparently of later date, is attached to the north transept. Ventimiglia has a parallel triapsal church, with aisles and a central octagon, but no transepts. This, like others, has been so modernised in its interior, that it is impossible, except by very minute examination, to distinguish the original features ; but the manner in which the whole harmonises together shews the Romanesque to have had a classical character. The vaulting is cylindrical ; and a few rectangular windows form the clerestory. The western door is pointed; but can hardly be called Gothic. A rich steeple of revived Italian, standing on a base of an earlier date, is now engaged in an additional aisle : it was probably attached externally to the north aisle of the original building. Another church in the same town has Roman- esque features of rather an Italian character. The vaulting arches are pointed; and there are no transverse or lateral cells. This church has a crypt. * Professor Willis, in the ninth chapter of his “ Remarks on the Architecture of the Middle Ages,” notices the wide span of the pier-arches in Italian Gothic. VOL. I. F 66 The church of Alassio is of revived Italian, with a dome standing on a square base. But the annexed belfry-tower, whatever may be its date, is clearly a good specimen of Romanesque, and is of a form frequently repeated along this interesting coast. It consists of several stages, each of which has, or had, a couplet of round-headed windows under a large semicircle : a small corbel-table, or some kind of indented string, marks the divisions. This tower is of loftier proportions than we com- 67 monly find in the Norman structures of Eng- land. The reader must form his own judgment on the date of a ruin which occupies a rocky point near Oneglia, on the same route. The dome seems to have been supported by pointed arches, but has also had the Italian segmental windows ; while the belfry attached to it is Romanesque in detail. As the church does not stand east and west, it is probably not older than the revival. A small church near Cogoleto (the reputed birth-place of Columbus) is in the form of a cross, with a low central tower, gabled to the east and west, and having a circular turret attached to its western wall, which seems supported by the vault 68 of the nave, but makes no shew in the inside. The arches of the church are round ; the vaultings somewhat domical. The masonry throughout is exceedingly massive ; and the workmanship rude. Segmental arches of considerable width appear in the walls. The west end is in ruins, but retains a pointed door. There are several Romanesque buildings at Genoa, but few of them are of any magnitude. The annexed sketch gives one of many steeples of the same character, some of which have round belfry -windows, others slightly pointed; their general features are similar to those already no- ticed, and display no tendency to break into more Gothic forms. The pointed doorway makes its appearance when all else, even to the vaulting- arches, is round. The contrary is the case in England; our own round-headed Norman door is generally found among the last remnants of the style. There is, indeed, in the cathedral at Genoa a rich porch with a semicircular arch : this is in the Transition style, dating probably with our first early English. S. Stefano has a central octagon without transepts; attached to the north side of this oc- tagon is a square tower with narrow and slightly 69 pointed windows. It is impossible to obtain a satisfactory view of the church, beyond its mere west front, which, like many others, is striped horizontally with black and white, and has a pointed door. This church contains the cele- brated picture of St. Stephen’s martyrdom. S. Cosmo, which also has a central octagon, stands in a court just sufficiently large to hold it : hence it is utterly impossible to make a sketch of it. The same is nearly the case with another church having a higher central octagon of several stages. Tortona, on the road between Genoa and Pavia, has a Romanesque church with heavier piers than those at Monaco ; they have columns engaged in their sides, supporting the inner order of the pier-arches. The compartments of the roof are nearly square, and exhibit the Roman vaulting ; 70 the pier-arches being about as wide as the nave. The diagonal edges are strongly marked by ribs, the section of which is rectangular; these occur in most of the Lombard Romanesque churches that I have seen. There is a triforium, consisting of large undivided arches ; but no clerestory. The west front has doors not unlike our Norman, and a plain circular window. In this front the aisles are not bounded by a continuation of the central gable, as is the case with many old churches in this district; but their slopes are distinct, as in our own churches. A small belfry is attached to the south side. Pavia contains several very interesting Roman- esque edifices, and perhaps offers the best exam- ples of the style as it appears in Lombardy. S. Michele is said to date from the ninth century. The north transept, which seems unchanged, shews much that is similar to our Norman — as the door, windows, and corner- buttresses ; but it is remarkable, as well as other Lombard buildings, for a feature we do not find, at least so decidedly marked, even in Normandy and England, where in other respects the principle of the vertical line is so much more fully developed, — I mean the tall upright shafts dividing the front; and which in 71 the west end are still more striking and of greater richness. The intersection is occupied by a low octagon on a square base ; its diagonal faces are not equal in breadth to its cardinal ones. The lower part of the belfry -turret is old; the upper part seems to be a later addition. In the interior 72 we notice lofty and slender shafts engaged in the wall of the transept. The piers of the nave have round columns engaged in their front, on the capitals of which rest flat pilasters bearing the vaulting -arches. The capitals throughout have very little projection, and are, in fact, no more than bands of rude sculpture round the head of the shaft or pier. The nave has cross -vaulting, with ribs; a triforium; but no clerestory. The transepts have a cylindrical roof ; the eastern apse is semicircular, with domical vaulting. The external gables rise higher than the roofs, so as to mask their real pitch ; that of the west front comprises the aisles, and is rich in barbarous sculpture, but heavy and unpleasing from its shape and the small size of its windows. A circular west window, and one in the south transept, are later insertions. S. Pietro, a desecrated church, appears to be much of the same character, with a similar west front, a central octagon, but no belfry. S. Teodoro has a central octagon, finished with an elegant cupola on open arches and shafts, which seems original. Some pointed arches and other alterations occur in the nave ; and the west front has not the continuous gable embracing the aisles. 73 The belfry -tower is of revived Italian, but har- monises well with the rest. In the older part of the cathedral, now in course of demolition, is a door much resembling the Norman, but of more lofty proportions. Near Pavia is the church of S. Lanfranco, of which the nave, transepts, central octagon, and belfry -tower, are Romanesque. The west front has arches under the gable, which are made to follow its slope by means of steps ; as is also the case in some of the churches I have already named. Below are three circular windows and a door. The highest ornament of the gable itself is a corbel-table of intersecting arches. The front is divided by tall shafts into three parts; and the projecting buttresses of its extremities follow, at the top, the slope of the gable. The nave, which appears to have had side-aisles — now destroyed — is covered with cross vaulting; the transepts, with cylindrical. The chancel and small polygonal apse are of the revival, but in perfect harmony with the older parts. The tower, which occupies the angle between the north transept and chancel, is divided vertically by pilaster -strips, which at equal intervals support a shallow corbel-table of round arches ; the upper stage has a triplet of 74 round-headed windows, which are of the same height, and divided by shafts. This edifice, like many others of the same style in Lombardy, is of red brick. The first plate in Mr. Hope’s “ Historical Essay on Architecture” gives an accurate view of the west front of S. Ambrogio at Milan, taken from within the cortile or cloister. To the spec- tator standing in this area, scarce any architectural feature is presented which he cannot refer to a date at least as early as the ninth century. The front is much the same in its elevation and the pitch of its gable with those in Pavia ; but its composition in other respects is very different, and extremely beautiful. At Pavia the front is inter- spersed with a number of small arches and arcades ; that before us has five bold arches, decreasing in height from the centre, which fill the upper stage, including the pediment of the gable ; while an equal number, of which the extreme ones open into the cloister, compose the lower. To increase the effect, these arches form a projecting screen to the building. Vertical shafts, corbel-tables, and other appropriate ornaments, give the whole a sufficient richness. This front is flanked by two lofty towers ; the most perfect of which nearly 75 answers to the description already given of that at S. Lanfranco. Although the church has no tran- septs, it has a central octagon and semicircular apse ; the side-aisles are carried as far as the east wall of the former. The interior is much like that of S. Michele. There are other Roman- esque churches in the town, among which S. Sim- pliciano deserves attention. On the whole, the few old Lombard buildings that I had an opportunity of noticing seemed to approach nearer to our Norman than many struc- tures of the eleventh and twelfth centuries in the south of France ; and the works of a succeeding age, that we find in Genoa, Pavia, and Milan, and, I suppose, in the rest of Italy, after the introduc- tion of the pointed arch, present more of classical character than these Romanesque examples. On the lake of Geneva, about four miles to the west of Lausanne, stands the small church of St. Sulpice, which we must not pass by without notice. The nave has been destroyed, and appears to have had no side -aisles. There is a north and south transept, and three eastern apsides. The interior presents a dome at the intersection, which is not lighted. The arches are of the plainest character ; and the archivolts, as well as imposts, which are 76 WoiOPER without capitals, are flat. The windows are plain and round-headed; the vaulting of the transepts is cylindrical; that of the apsides semidomical. The exterior of the middle apse has pilaster-strips. 77 the interval of which is occupied by two small arches in the wall, forming a kind of corbel-table. So far we find but little in common with either the classical or the Norman. But there is a square tower over the intersection, that has regular Norman belfry - windows, the shafts being con- tinued round the architraves in the shape of mouldings. This tower must have been a later addition : its Norman features, however, shew that an early tendency towards Gothic prevailed in that part of Switzerland. 78 But it is in Rhenish Germany that the Roman- esque assumes the most decided and individual character. In the south of France we meet with detached instances* widely differing from each other* and often unmarked by any characteristic feature. In Lombardy we find some local pecu- liarities* but not of sufficient value to constitute the leading distinctions of a style. But in this part of Germany we see a class of buildings having a certain link of connexion with each other* and differing* in their general description* from any to be found elsewhere. The Transition style* so carefully defined by Professor Whewell* is interest- ing* not only as a step to the succeeding Gothic* but as a sequel to the preceding Romanesque. The reluctance with which German architects evidently quitted the older style* was not owing to any slowness of comprehension in regard to the beauties and principles of that which was beginning to dawn; for the Germans* in fact, rather outran than fell short of other nations in completing it — witness Oppenheim* one of the most beautiful and advanced buildings of the age ; — but it was the re- sult of a feeling that they were in possession of a style which* though it were as yet imperfect* still admitted of perfection ; and was valuable* not as 79 a step to something beyond,, but on the score of its intrinsic merits and excellence. In the churches of The Apostles, St. Cunibert, St. Mary Capitoline, and St. Martin, at Cologne, we meet with a simplicity of design, and a classical correctness of proportion, which is not often equalled. Our own buildings of the same date have, it is true, much grandeur; but still their interiors exhibit a certain degree of heaviness, in consequence of many of their component parts being adapted to a lighter and more elegant style : some principle of beauty seems, in fact, to have been suggested, and not fully developed. Now, in these Rhenish churches the eye is perfectly satisfied ; there is nothing clumsy or ungraceful in the supporting masses, which are suited to the weights they have to sustain ; and the general height of the impost seems calculated to give the best possible effect to the fine sweep of the vault- ing arch ; the vertical and horizontal lines, though well marked, are not forced upon the eye; — in short, as in the Roman example with which we commenced this chapter, the arch, in its most simple and beautiful form, predominates. The transverse triapsal plan of St. Martin’s and the Apostles’ Church adds much to their elegance ; 80 the latter, indeed, might be taken as a perfect model, wherever an edifice of considerable width and moderate height is required. These, it may be observed, are not to be looked upon as rude relics of antiquity, but as rich and finished structures, among the latest of their style, * built at a period when the Gothic was beginning to assume its own proper charac- ter, and, for the most part, but a short time before it attained its highest perfection in the very town where they exist. And they are the purest Romanesque buildings to be found ; the most dis- tinct, both from the Italian with Grecian lines, and from the Norman with Gothic. They cannot be confounded, although they might harmonise, with either. Some features which mark the German Transi- tion are in themselves by no means of a transition character, — that is, calculated to advance the couh pletion of Gothic, — but rather improvements and refinements on the Romanesque. I may instance the fan-window, and even the foliated circle. The former occurs at Bonn and Sinzig, the latter at * A little Guide-book that I met with at Cologne notices the western transept of the Apostles’ Church, as a specimen of the round- arched style belonging to the thirteenth century. 81 St. Cunibert’s; and though they may have sug- gested foliation to succeeding architects, yet they seem intended rather as a variety of the Roman- esque window, which had hitherto been plain and without ornament ; a variety consistent with the style, and well fitted to increase the richness, of its larger and more costly buildings. The banded doorway may also be noticed: this, it is true, is mostly pointed; but a fine round-headed one occurs in St. George’s at Cologne. Whether these are really improvements, and to be imitated as such in adopting the style, need not now be discussed : they clearly were meant to be so ; and VOL. i. G 82 shewed a disposition to preserve and complete, rather than to abandon, the Romanesque. The outline of Rhenish churches of this class is strikingly varied. The towers are often ar- ranged in two groups, one at or near each end. The Apostles’ Church has a tall western tower ; to the east of this is a transept, beyond which is the nave with its aisles, which are bounded by the transverse apsides; a fine octagon occupies the intersection, and two lofty octagonal turrets stand in the eastern re-entering angles, free of the central lantern. At Laach, a large square tower, supported by transepts terminating in massive and lofty round turrets, forms the west front ; the eastern cross has an octagon with two square tur- rets, placed as in the Apostles’ Church ; each end has an apse; and to the westward is a cortile or cloister, as at St. Ambrogio. St. Castor at Coblenz, Andernach, and Arnstein on the Lahn, have two western and two eastern towers ; but are without central lanterns. Worms has, at the west end, an octagonal lantern, to the northern and southern faces of which lofty round turrets are annexed ; at the intersection of the eastern tran- septs is an octagon, and the east end, which is flat / 83 WORMS. externally, is flanked also by round turrets ; the west end has a polygonal apse. Mainz has a western group, consisting of a high octagonal steeple and two slender turrets ; and an eastern group, of an elegant lantern with a round turret — as at Laach — at the end of each transept : much of this is finished in a later style. Spire has an octagon at the intersection, and lofty square towers at the eastern re-entering angles of the transepts ; the west end is badly modernised. When the central lantern is octagonal, the turrets in the above position stand free ; but in St. Mar- tin’s at Cologne the tower is square, and conse- 84 WHIMPER. SPIRE. quently these turrets are engaged in its angles. The German octagon is usually equilateral, and rises at once from the roof, no square base ap- pearing beneath it as in Lombardy. Nothing can exceed the beauty of the apsidal gallery, or row of open arches on shafts directly under the cor- nice, especially in triapsal churches. 85 As a specimen of a front, I may describe the east end of Bonn Cathedral, which, while the rest of the building belongs to the transition, is purely Romanesque, and gives a good idea of the graceful beauty which can be attained in this style. In the centre is a semicircular apse, without aisles ; its upper compartment, surmounted by a 86 rich cornice, is occupied by the usual gallery of semicircular arches, on slender shafts with capi- tals. The next compartment below contains seven arches, on well -shaped columns engaged in the wall; in these are the windows. Beneath is a string, resting upon the capitals of engaged co- lumns, corresponding with the upper range ; be- tween them are blank arches. The lowest com- partment of all has some openings into a crypt. Above the roof of the apse is a gable, of nearly a right angle, ornamented with arches decreasing in height from the central one ; and the whole is flanked by lofty towers, tapering in stages, and also, if my eye did not deceive me, in the actual lines of their masonry. The lower stages corre- spond in ornament with those of the apse; the upper ones have various combinations of the arch and corbel. In one stage we see three windows under two arches ; in another two arches above a single one, which again comprises three windows : all the arches are semicircular. These eastern towers are crowned with wooden spires, and form a fine combination with the tall central steeple. No church upon the Rhine exceeds this in the beauty of its proportions. The church of Schwarz Rheindorf, near Bonn, 87 on the opposite side of the river, has a strong claim on our attention. The structure, in fact, contains two churches, an upper and a lower one ; for the latter, though not at present used for pur- poses of worship, is far too lofty to be considered as a mere crypt. The walls of this are of im- mense thickness, sufficient to bear not only those of the upper church, which are of necessity some- what massive, but also a roomy external gallery, which forms a passage round the whole. The lower compartment is of pure Romanesque, the arches of the roof springing from flat pilasters; and an arcade of three unequal arches on slender shafts runs across. The upper part is approached by a flight of steps leading into the gallery; and its interior might almost be taken for Italian. All the arches are round, and the capitals of many of the shafts are exquisitely carved ; a fine square tower stands over the intersection of the cross, and the eastern apse is semicircular. The interior of Laach Abbey has also a very Italian character. Here the lateral cells of the vaulting are much narrower than the longitudinal ; and the transverse arches are decidedly elliptical. Altenahr Church has a low square central tower ; and exhibits, on the whole, the proportions 88 and appearance of an English church. The Ger- man Romanesque is, however, sufficiently decided, though without ornament. The apse is finished in the complete Gothic, but retains a round- headed doorway in the extreme east end. MITTELHEIM. Mittelheim in the Rheingau has a church of much the same outline and character, with fewer additions of a different date. The interior is very plain ; and the nave has a flat wooden roof. Schwarzach, between Baden and Strasburg, has a church very similar to the last. The Abbey of Eberbach, in the Rheingau, has 89 Roman vaulting over square compartments, each comprising two pier- arches. As at Laach, there is no triforium. Both the design and proportions should be attentively studied, on account of the simplicity of the building. The east end is flat. There is no tower ; a small wooden belfry marking the intersection of the body and transepts. The interior of Mainz Cathedral is less pleasing than that of either Worms or Spire, on account of the height of its pier -arches. At Worms there is much pure Romanesque, notwithstanding the pointed vaulting arches. The vaulting shafts at Spire are peculiar, being divided by a band into two stages of different thickness. The enormous span of the roof, and the use of the round arch without mixture, make this interior very imposing. Under the choir are some crypts, of admirable workmanship. To avoid vaulting - shafts of a greater height than was deemed consistent with beauty, shorter ones were often supported by brackets, or by the capitals of the piers below, or by the horizontal string over the pier-arches; or the arches them- selves were made to rest on corbels projecting from the walk Might not a style be matured upon the sugges- 90 tions thrown out to us by these old buildings of Italy, France, and Germany? — a style admitting of great simplicity in point of workmanship, and at the same time capable of the most varied and beautiful combinations; that could be grounded and advanced upon clear and definite rules, and freed from every sort of inconsistency ; that would harmonise with our modern domestic buildings, and yet be sufficiently distinct from them to mark the high purpose to which the fabric is dedicated ? Might it not enable us to adopt with advantage forms of great convenience, but ill suited either to Italian or Gothic ? The front of S. Ambrogio teaches us how a particular kind of elevation may be treated, which in the hands of modern archi- tects has always bid defiance to grace and beauty. We have an ample range from which we may collect the necessary elements: the Roman, the Romanesque, the Norman, and the Gothic of Italy, will all contribute their share. From some examples, as Valence Cathedral, we might borrow the plan and detail, making a few changes in pro- portion ; of others, as the Cologne churches, we might be guided by the entire arrangement. Many churches of the revival, at Milan and elsewhere, exhibit portions that might be ren- -4^- /\AA/^ nnAfi AAAA ^7t2r ^ c£- 3W<) vo-Jb^ ’^Vot* G- Qyk^ycX^ t ^>v 91 dered available. Porches also of domestic build- ings* arcades, piazzas, ceilings of rooms, and other members, found abundantly in Italian towns and villages, — also their small road-side chapels, — furnish excellent suggestions for a pure Roman- esque ; in short, wherever the entablature is either dropped altogether, or made a secondary feature, the elements of this style shew themselves. Both the early and late Lombard belfry might be used freely ; the latter has one or more arches in the upper stage, separated by plain square pilaster masses, in which the spring of the arch may or may not be marked by a tablet. The roof is low, and projects a little over the wall. A characteristic ornament may be derived from a very common method of finishing the eaves of houses and churches in the south of France, and probably throughout Italy ; curved tiles are placed in tiers one above another, with considerable pro- jection, forming a series of small corbel -tables. This would be easily executed, is appropriate, and rich in effect. I may further remark, that many of the Lom- bard churches, S. Ambrogio among the number, are of red brick, and not the less pleasing on that account. 92 This style would very well admit the dome, whether round or polygonal, as well as turrets and towers of all shapes and dimensions. The Ger- man tower has often a gable over each of its faces ; an octagon of this description is always beautiful, and we see it retained in later styles. The apsi- dal gallery is one of the richest and most striking external ornaments. The arches ought in gene- ral to be semicircular, though in cases of necessity they might be elliptical, or indeed of any other shape. Gothic mouldings and Norman details should be avoided. I have ventured merely to throw out a few hints on this subject, without pretending to lay down any general rules; but surely it would be better to attempt maturing a style that might be rendered correct and pleasing, than to continue in the imitation of models, which, though far from deficient in beauty, are yet of a style manifestly imperfect in its nature, and owing its principal value to a charm we cannot impart to our copies ; I mean, that of antiquity. urhi*$ _ -ft BfAUht. . L'Jorr*\$ clr&L CHAPTER V. ON THE LATE ROMANESQUE, OR NORMAN. The Romanesque of Germany, the south of France, and Italy, takes, as we have seen, a position by itself, independent both of the preceding Roman and the succeeding Gothic, and frequently rather harmonises with the former than the latter. The Romanesque of Normandy, and still more of Eng- land, is essentially Gothic ; not indeed fully de- veloped, but quite sufficiently so to mark its direct and inevitable tendency. Hence the transition to the completer styles in these countries is easy and natural; while in Rhenish Germany, and other parts, the struggle is hard, and presents some very curious and interesting combinations. It is true, that smaller buildings may be found in Normandy, which, had they appeared in Ger- many, might well have been classed in the Roman- esque of that country ; but this is because their simplicity has prevented them from shewing any 94 very marked features. The annexed church, near the abbey of Jumieges, might be German ; and, again, such churches as those of Altenahr and Mittelheim, on and near the Rhine, might be either English or Norman. Even the magnificent abbey of Jumieges itself has many features rather of a German than a Norman character,* which do not prove a higher antiquity than that claimed by buildings of the style more usually found in Normandy, but simply that the architect was acquainted with, and ap- proved of, those which were already in existence, or else at the time in progress, throughout Ger- many. And when we consider the perfect com- munication kept up with each other by all the architects of Christendom, of which a glance at any two buildings of nearly the same date, however distant, is a sufficient proof, we shall consider it a matter of surprise that local peculiarities have ever been retained, instead of wondering that some few instances of confusion have taken place. In the crypts under many of our cathedrals, the simplicity, solidity, and squareness of the Nor- man work makes it approach to the Italian, and * See Professor Whewell’s Architectural Notes, p. 183. (1835.) 95 consequently to the German Romanesque. Nor, again, is the lofty shaft, and other of the Nor- man distinctions, entirely excluded from Germany, though her style would be purer and more ex- cellent without them. It is, in fact, impossible to lay down an invariable rule for distinguishing the two classes, which, as many contemporaneous buildings exist in both, must be to a certain ex- tent confused: the student who has an oppor- tunity of examining many specimens of each will easily learn to perceive the difference. In the interior of our larger Norman edifices the vertical line often prevails decidedly over the horizontal. This is the case in the naves of Peter- borough and Ely, and the choir of Romsey ; where the piers are much clustered ; and the very want of vaulting gives greater height to those shafts by which the whole side of the church is divided into tall and narrow compartments. In another respect also classical proportion is disregarded. Not only is the shaft lengthened, but the columnar pier is shortened almost inde- finitely. The low massive pier of Germany is rectangular, and therefore only to be considered as a space of wall intervening between two arches, the breadth of which is regulated by convenience : 96 but in Norman architecture the pier is often an actual cylindrical column, with its base, capital, and abacus; and yet not more than twice or thrice ts diameter in height. Again, the mouldings of the architrave more frequently follow the lines of the impost. The simple rectangular section of the Roman arch is exchanged for one comprehending all the re-enter- ing angles and inserted shafts that are found be- low the capital ; and the whole is, moreover, en- riched with a variety of ornaments. The great western arch of Tewkesbury is a noble specimen, though comparatively plain. The doors of Tut- bury, Iffley, Stewkeley, and many others, are too well known to require a particular description. Many doors have the transom, as Rochester ; many are without it, as Tutbury. The west door at Stewkeley is divided by a shaft with two round arches. On the continent a shaft often supports the transom without any arch, as we have al- ready noticed in St. Trophimus at Arles; the same occurs at Vezelay; and the arrangement is common in the later styles. We have many churches in this style of great richness and high finish in point of execution, though but few, if any, free from later additions 97 and alterations. Southwell church, in Nottingham- shire, is one of our finest specimens. Its nave, transepts, and three towers, are Norman, though a perpendicular window is inserted in the west front. If the pinnacles on these towers are original, they are nearly unique. The turrets flanking the west end of Tewkesbury church are finished with ele- gant lanterns, which might be adopted, with slight variation, in works of the preceding style. The west fronts of Iffley, Stewkely, and Castle Rising, are not much injured by later architects. I sub- join that of Porchester, near Portsmouth, which seems untouched. It is divided vertically into VOL. i. H 98 three compartments, of which the two extreme ones project, and are, in fact, plain wide but- tresses. The middle part is occupied by a hand- some round-headed door, of nearly the whole width ; above which is a triplet of round arches on shafts ; the central one, the highest and widest of the three, comprising a window. These two stages reach to a height about equal to the breadth of the front ; the pediment of the gable, which extends over the whole, is nearly a right angle, and without ornament.* The elevation and proportion of this front, small as it is, are very pleasing. The church has a low central tower without parapet. The apse occasionally occurs in England, as in Peterborough cathedral, and some small churches ; but it is not so frequent as in Normandy, and there it is by no means universal. The charac- teristics of the Norman, as it appears in England, are so completely described by Mr. Rickman, and must be so familiar to every one who takes an interest in the subject before us, that I need not enter into their details. * There is a small narrow round-headed opening in the gable, which has been accidentally omitted in the sketch from which the above cut was taken. Bc.tTo'K oi>. 99 What may be the extent of Saxon remains in England will probably remain a question among antiquaries. If the style differed essentially from Norman, it might be considered an offset from the German Romanesque ; but I am not aware of any thing that leads us to suppose it ever acquired the purity and marked character of the latter. And it may be observed, that this purity is not the most apparent in the earliest German edifices. The cathedrals of Worms and Spire are really more Gothic than the later churches of Laach, St. Martin, St. Cunibert, and the Apos- tles. The conventual buildings at Ely, which have sometimes been cited as Saxon, shew a more classical proportion of column than the large Norman cylindrical pier; but such instances are too few and too uncertain to establish any theory ; and the towers of Barton on the Humber, and Earl’s Barton, however valuable as specimens of antiquity or objects of curiosity, say but little for the state of art at the time they were erected. The ruined church in Dover Castle differs in some respects from our usual Norman buildings, and a little approaches to the German ; it is, however, very rough and simple ; and supposing it to be of a much earlier date than the Con- 100 EOVEB. quest, it scarcely exhibits grounds on which we can determine the precise characteristics of the Saxon style. We will now proceed, where we left off, with the French Romanesque. The churches of Tournus and Beaune, between Lyons and Dijon, we referred to the last class, on account of some slightly Italian features in their details. 101 Much, however, of both, especially the western tower of Tournus abbey, may be considered as having decidedly a Norman character. But on our route northward, this is still more developed. The next church of magnitude that we notice is that of Vezelay, near Avallon, on the road between Paris and Dijon or Lyons. In charac- ter, arrangement, and proportion, this might be a pure Romanesque; but the details and orna- ments are generally Norman. Of the west front, which is ruinous, the central compartment is chiefly of a somewhat late Gothic. The south- west tower has some pointed arches, and ap- proaches to the transition. Part of the nave, to the westward, is separated from the rest, form- ing an atrium or porch, of its full height, and opening into the body by a magnificent Norman door with a transom and central shaft. The nave is of great length, and is covered with cross vaulting, the transverse arches being elliptical, as at Laach. There is no triforium. A rich string runs horizontally above the pier-arches, and the shafts are banded. The piers have re-entering angles, and shafts on some of their faces. The doors and capitals are rich in sculpture ; and the whole interior, from its great length, is most 102 impressive. A few pointed arches occur in the atrium, and the choir and transepts are complete Gothic. Only one tower stands at present in the west front, the corresponding one having been de- stroyed. A tower of about the same height occu- pies the angle between the nave and south transept, being engaged in the aisle ; this also is Norman. But one of the most perfect and unmixed edifices of its size, belonging to this style, is the abbey of St. George Bocherville in Normandy. The west end has a recessed round-headed door, without much ornament, and triplets of round arches above ; the gable being quite plain. It is flanked by two elegant square turrets and spires, which, although they have pointed arches, seem to belong to so early a stage of the Transition that they may have been the last finish of the original building. The vaulting of the nave, lan- tern, and transepts, also exhibits the pointed arch ; the rest is pure Norman, with round arches. The interior has both triforium and clerestory, the for- mer consisting of an arcade of blank arches. The chevron, embattled fret, and other ornaments fa- miliar to us, are used freely. Many of the shafts near the roof are heavier than common. In the transepts we notice a peculiarity which occurs also 103 at Caen — a sort of interior porch or chapel, half the height of the building, vaulted, and supported by a column and round arches.* There is an apse on the east side of each transept, and one at the end of the choir, the vaulting of which is semi- domical. The central tower is square and mas- sive ; it has two tiers of arches, and is finished with a wooden spire : neither the tower, nor any of the walls, has a parapet. This church is amply described and figured in Mr. Cotman’s work upon Normandy, and several of the details and sculp- tures are given. The neighbouring abbey of Jumieges is well known to artists and antiquaries. The combina- tion of its lofty western octagonal towers with the lower and more massive square central one, now in ruins, is very pleasing. The west front is pe- culiar, having a high projecting porch; and the door exhibits a thickness of shaft not usual in this position. The two abbeys of Caen may be noticed, as shewing the progress from the Roman cross vault- ing, which occupies a square compartment of the nave, and comprises two of the pier-arches, to the * A similar arrangement is found in Winchester Cathedral. 104 more complicated sexpartite vaulting. The former I do not remember to have observed in France ; but it occurs in the Abbaye aux Dames, with this addition, that from the intermediate pier springs also a transverse round arch, supporting a plain wall, cutting the lateral cells in two. The same arrangement is found in the church of Yitteaux, between Dijon and Paris. Now this plainly gives the idea of sexpartite vaulting. Instead of the half cells, formed by the dividing wall, let perfect cells, terminated by complete arches at the sides of the nave, be led to the same central point, — the result is the sexpartite vault ; which we find with pointed arches in the Transition, and with round transverse arches and pointed longitudinal ones in St. Cunibert’s at Cologne. But in St. Stephen’s at Caen (Abbaye aux Hommes), it appears with all the arches semicircular, and is probably one of the earliest specimens of this roof in existence. Both these churches, it is well known, were built a short time before the Conquest ; and if the pointed arch had begun to obtain ground as an architectural feature earlier than the completion of the nave of St. Stephen’s abbey, I cannot but think it would have been used instead of the other, on the score of convenience. 105 The Abbaye aux Dames has a handsome Nor- man west front, flanked by square towers, which Italianise at the top ; a central tower, slightly higher than the others, has pointed arches. The west front of the Abbaye aux Hommes is com- paratively plain to the point where the towers rise above the walls of the nave ; their upper part is rich ; and they are crowned with handsome and lofty spires of a later style. At the intersection of the transepts is a low square tower, supporting a small octagon. The east end is apsidal, with aisles : some fine turrets and spires much vary the outline of this portion of the edifice. 106 IVHIV>FB * The desecrated church of St. Nicholas has a low gabled central tower, of a most picturesque composition, which is probably original; the east end has an apse, with a high stone roof, and bold shafts. A tower of greater height than the central one, but much less massive, stands on the south side of the west front : this seems to be the only addition in a later style. Much of the exterior of this church differs little from the German Romanesque. The church of Cheux, near Caen, has a square central tower and wooden spire. The chancel 107 has three aisles, of equal height, with eastern gables ; to the middle one is attached a semicir- cular apse, with an arcade round the lower part, under the windows. The pier-arches of the nave are pointed. Graville, near Havre, has a low central square tower, and the transept exhibits intersecting arches ; a ruinous building, apparently the base of another tower, joins the west end at the north side : the chancel is Gothic. Montivilliers has a handsome north-western tower and spire, and a low massive central tower. Lery, near Pont de 1’ Arche, on the Seine, has a very massive and simple Norman church; the east end is flat; the tower, which is central, has an arcade of round arches ; the aisles of the nave, comprised under the same external roof, and bounded together with it by one large gable, have pointed windows; the piers are columnar, very low and massive; and the vaulting cylindrical. All these churches, with many more, are no- ticed in Mr. Cotman’s interesting work. The Norman style is distinguished by a variety of ornaments, which we can neither refer to any architectural suggestions, nor to the imitation of objects of beauty or interest. We can understand 108 the mouldings of an arch, the bands round a shaft, panellings, and foliation, and also the introduction of statuary, or the sculpture of foliage ; but we do not at once see the meaning and propriety of such ornaments as the chevron, the embattled or trian- gular fret, the chain, the cable, and many others, which seem to have been used during a certain period,* and dropped altogether on the advance- ment of the Gothic style. Doubtless the effect produced by these is very rich ; but it appears a barbarous kind of richness, dependent rather on multiplicity and variety than any law of taste. Probably they had a symbolical meaning ;f but if so, I can hardly look on them as fit subjects for imitation, even supposing we knew how to inter- pret them. They stand on the same ground with Egyptian hieroglyphics, which, interesting as they are ^s relics, could not be adopted with propriety in architectural designs. And, as we have already * The character of these ornaments must not be confounded with the elegant arabesques of the classical style, nor with the delicate ornaments of the German Romanesque, some of which are figured in Mr. Hope’s work. f The student who pursues this inquiry will peruse with much pleasure Mr. Lewis’s ingenious observations on Kilpeck Church : his illustrations will be found of great value, from their perfect accuracy. 109 observed, the details of the style, even in its most advanced stage, appear to fall short of the develop- ment of some idea or principle that has evidently been suggested. Nevertheless its remains are most valuable to the architect. I do not remember to have seen a single Norman church, whose general outline has been spared by later alterations, of which the ex- ternal proportions might not be pronounced unex- ceptionable. We do not, it is true, meet with the astonishing clerestories and steeples of the com- plete Gothic ; nor is the outline varied with the same multitude of buttresses, pinnacles, and tur- rets ; but the different portions of the fabric always harmonise well together ; the elevations of the fronts are uniformly excellent ; the towers, though mostly low and massive, are never without dig- nity ; the aspect of the whole is venerable ; and every part has an appearance of firmness and durability. The nave, in large buildings, is usually of great length ; and the transepts are often nearly equal to the choir. Of small churches, some have a tower between the nave and chancel, others a western tower, and others none at all ; but in every case, both the elevation of the gables, and 110 the relative proportion of the component parts, ought to be carefully studied; and the more so, because these proportions are perfectly suited to the latest Gothic, and can even be more easily and conveniently preserved in it. There are many churches whose outline, at a distance, appears Norman, but which, as soon as they are examined, lose every trace of that style. I may cite as instances Boughton Aluph and Boughton Mon- chelsea, in Kent. Should the architect be enamoured of the Nor- man, let him, at least, shew that he appreciates its greatest beauties ; and if he labours to imitate the minute detail, let him not neglect the propriety of design by which alone this is rendered ornamental. The towers of this style in Normandy are often finished without a parapet, having either gables, or a pointed roof or spire, coming down to the edge with eaves, or resting on a small cornice. In England, most towers, of whatever date, are finished with the parapet, which is often embattled : whether this finish is ever so old as the original building, I leave it to the antiquary to determine. The tower of Bradbourn Church in Derbyshire, as well as the old gateway at Bury St. Edmunds, Ill has battlements of a very suitable character; but in both cases the parapet may be a later addition. At Sion in the Valais, the tower of the conventual church has what would be a battlement, if it were not surmounted by a roof ; and perhaps a similar arrangement may have obtained in buildings where the embattled parapet of an early date is now seen. Circular windows, divided by radiating shafts, are occasionally found : Barfreston and Patricks- bourn in Kent offer examples. Where, however, such occur in England, there is generally a tend- ency towards the Transition. If, then, we look into the state of architecture 112 about the time of the Conquest, and to the end of the century in which that event took place, we shall perceive that the style which flourished in Normandy, and was introduced among ourselves, shewed a much nearer and more regular approach to Gothic than any other then prevalent. In the south of France the architecture of the day was still subject to classical combinations ; in the north of Italy it had an unfixed and somewhat barbarous character ; while in Germany it was gradually ripening into a new and beautiful style, equally distinct from the Italian and the Gothic, and the completion of which was prevented by the promise of superior magnificence and splendour which the latter held out to the architect. \ ... I j^__ _ -i - -Wf 3 * ^>¥i#f-P ^ f * Ul 3, vjs iii;>^i ^:i\mfr rr> %>■ i & 2 j. 'TJ&i i " , ? ,5 • :4 , - , wj\ : m Smi'^iMj ' Jib: S’ ! !| ifcffi)® . q^v. •> *-v „ 'U'-V ?:•-!. m&L-'jF ~r '•; . . ‘ * r ^ ~ 5v«i ^ S' Si 'r & oC% y y CHAPTER VI. ON THE TRANSITION STYLE. Hitherto we have seen the round arch pre- dominant: the pointed* indeed* has occasionally made its appearance ; but in many cases* as far as regards beauty and harmony* might well have been superseded by the round. Now* however* the pointed arch begins to assert a pre-eminence ; and it is therefore time we should inquire into the means of its introduction. As to what suggested its first use as a matter of convenience* it is needless to speculate ; for a pointed arch is just as easy to construct as a round one* perhaps easier. If the arch itself was sug- gested by the mutual support of two beams or slabs of stone* then the idea of a pointed arch was given sooner than that of a round arch ; nor is it unreasonable to suppose that the one may have been used as early as the other. But how it came to be an architectural fea- ture is another question. Of the different theories VOL. i. i 114 which have been advanced, none can be said to prove the manner of its introduction, though all may point to something which influenced its pre- valence. Professor Whewell derives this form from the necessity occasioned by cross -vaultings of a different width. Doubtless this had consider- able effect; but in many buildings which have square vaulting- compartments, the arches are pointed, as at Worms and Sinzig ; and oblong compartments have round vaulting -arches, as at Laach and Vezelay ; and we have noticed the round cells of the sexpartite roof at Caen: con- sequently, though the pointed arch may have been expedient, it was by no means absolutely necessary. Its convenience is, however, shewn by the frequent use of pointed cells in revived Italian vaultings. We may suggest another origin, derived also from the roof. In the south of France nothing is more common than a barrel-vault, that is, one without lateral cells, above which is a low-pitched external roof of stone. Now, it is clear that the connexion between the two for support is stronger and more easily effected the nearer their ridges approach together ; and hence it is advantageous that the internal roof should be pointed instead of round. This is frequently the case. The cathedral 115 at Avignon has a low-pitched stone roof ; the bar- rel-vault beneath it, as well as the transverse arches supporting the central octagon, are very considerably pointed. This octagon is of a clas- sical Romanesque, and said to be of an early date ; its windows, and the other arches of the church, are round-headed. The cut of St. Honorat in Arles, given in a preceding page, shews a similar i-IX, PROVENCE. 116 disposition. Here, too, the roof is of stone. The wall, terminating the part of the nave which is left, shews the pointed vault of both nave and aisles ; and the central octagon, as at Avignon, is Romanesque, with round arches, and some clas- sical features. At Aix in Provence we see the same arrangement ; the vaulting arch being pointed, while the others, including those under the octa- gon, which are considerably lower than the roof, are round. At a Romanesque church in Mar- seilles, the outer roof appeared to me to coincide with the inner, and, consequently, to follow the line of the pointed vault. But these peculiarities being local, and found where the other Gothic principles but slowly developed themselves, can hardly be looked upon as having introduced the general use of the pointed arch, though we may possibly be indebted to them for some of the ear- liest specimens we know. Expedience may have also suggested this form in another way. Where a certain space was to be occupied by an opening formed by the actual arch and the rectangle between the piers, both strength and gracefulness might be acquired by varying the shape of the former, so as to give it greater height in comparison with the latter. 117 Much beauty depends on the relation observed between these respective areas. In the interior of Mainz cathedral, the first thing that struck me was the ungraceful proportion of the pier- arches; two of which being comprised under one vaulting compartment, and moreover having lofty and massive piers, are consequently tall and nar- row, and of an elevation far better adapted to the pointed than the round arch. In Malmsbury abbey, a building of the Norman style, the pier- arches are pointed ; and if we compare them with those at Tewkesbury, which are round, and spring from high massive cylindrical columns, not very distant from each other, we shall easily perceive the advantage of the former arrangement. To a similar cause we may ascribe the pointed doors which prevail in the Romanesque of Lombardy and southern France. The round-headed doors of S. Michele and other churches in Pavia, which are much higher than our Norman ones, might have been considered ungraceful in their proportions, while the architect was not willing to dispense with height, nor able, without spoiling the whole front, to obtain greater width : the resource was a pointed arch. The Norman arcade of intersecting arches, to 118 which some writers have traced the origin of Gothic, may possibly have suggested that a form which was often found expedient in the larger members was also graceful and appropriate in the smaller and ornamental ones : to this extent, but no further, the theory may be of value. We may add, that even the appearances of pointed arches which result from perspective may have had some influence, and led the artist to suppose that what pleased him as an optical illusion, would not be without beauty when re- duced to reality. And though we cannot look to groves, or arti- ficial structures of twigs and branches, as giving an origin to the style, they may have furnished ideas during its progress : the architect observed and was pleased with the resemblance as it grew upon him ; and to this we may owe the intricate tracery of our windows, and the minute ramifi- cations of our fan-vaultings. The truth is, the pointed arch was found out to be, simply because it was, the fittest for the style now expanding into perfection ; it had been gradually familiarised to the eye, and thus, as the other members of the system became ready for its reception, it assumed its proper place, where 119 it asserted and steadily maintained its sovereignty without an effort. As might be expected. Gothic architecture ad- vanced to its completion by degrees, and during its advancement many interesting local peculiari- ties are to be observed. In Italy, where it never came to perfection, the style seems, even after the introduction of the pointed arch, to have a tend- ency towards the classical. I will notice the few churches of this character that I had an oppor- tunity of visiting. Near Nice is a monastery, the church of which has pointed vaulting arches, the compartments being square, with large diagonal ribs. The mouldings, however, have not a Gothic character ; and had the arches been round, the whole might have been pronounced Romanesque, or revived Italian. Much of the church is Italianised. The cathedral at Genoa has a west front, not unlike the early English in character, abounding in shafts, some of which are twisted, and with round as well as pointed arches introduced ; on the south side of this front is a handsome tower. The nave has cylindrical columns of nearly clas- sical proportions, with Corinthian capitals and the square abacus ; they support a pointed arch ; 120 above is a triforium of round arches, open to the aisles; the clerestory and cylindrical vault, as well as a low central dome, choir, and tran- septs, are Italian. There is a western screen in the interior; a similar one prevails in German churches. The pillars throughout are of marble ; and the whole has a rich effect. A handsome porch with a round -arched door stands on the north side ; the west front is striped horizon- tally with black and white marble. Some other churches in Genoa may also be referred to the same style. S. Pantaleone,* at Pavia, is a large and hand- some brick building, in the form of a cross; the nave being of great length, and the chancel and transepts about equal to each other. There is no dome or lantern at the intersection, but a very lofty tower and spire in the angle between the chancel and north transept. The west front has a wide gable, comprising the aisles, as in the Romanesque churches ; this, though exhibiting considerable richness and delicacy of workman- ship, is by no means a pleasing composition. It has a large central circular window, and pointed windows with mullions, arranged at different * Or S. M. del Carmine. 121 heights; the doors also have the pointed arch. The divisions of the nave and aisles, as well as the extremities, are adorned with pinnacles. The ends of the chancel and transepts, which are flat, with obtuse gables, are of much better composi- tion, having two lofty pointed windows of a single light each, with foliated heads, and surmounted by a large circular one,— the three stand at some distance from each other. The belfry-window has three lights, with geometrical tracery. The piers of the nave are massive and cylindrical, and being of dark brick, add to the gloomy and solemn effect of the interior, which is very spar- ingly lighted. The pier -arches are pointed, as are those of the roof. The vaulting compart- ments are square, comprising two pier-arches. In the centre of the arch formed by each transverse cell, directly over the intermediate pier, is a very small foliated circle, pierced as a window; these form the whole clerestory. The cross ribs of the vault are rather thin ; but altogether this interior is exceedingly impressive. The external mould- ings and ornaments round the windows, which are in terra-cotta, are most elaborate and beau- tiful. This edifice probably belongs to the four- teenth century. 122 Another church in Pavia, not quite so large as the former, has nearly the same characteristics. S. Salvadore, near Pavia, must have been built, or altered, about the time of the revival. The interior has piers with Corinthian pilasters, capitals, and entablatures. The pier-arches are pointed, but without Gothic mouldings. The cross vaulting, also pointed, occupies, as in the church above, square compartments of two pier- arches; and each lateral cell has a plain round window which forms the clerestory. The church is cruciform, and has a low central octagonal lantern supported by Romanesque pendentives. The pointed arch does not shew itself on the outside of the church, which is extremely plain, but well proportioned, and exhibits some good elevations of fronts, especially the western. The door is a square-headed Italian one. The apse is polygonal, and a very peculiar buttress occurs, which might be found useful in the revival of a Romanesque style. This church stands nearly north and south. I will here describe that extraordinary build- ing, the Certosa* of Pavia, designed by Gamodia, * About four miles from Pavia, a short distance from the Milan road. 123 the architect of Milan cathedral, and begun in the year 1396. The west front, designed by Fossano, and added in the year 1473, is in the cinque -cento style ; and, though still unfinished, is of wonderful richness, both from the multipli- city and execution of its details, and from the variety of marbles in which they are worked. The nave, transepts, choir, and walls of the aisles, are chiefly of red brick : some of the details are in terra-cotta, others in stone. And although of so late a date, their style is, externally, good Romanesque, shewing that the Gothic had not entirely superseded the taste for the round arch. As the nave has two aisles of different heights on each side, there are two clerestory ranges, both ornamented externally with an open arcade. The upper one, that of the nave, is continued round the transepts, and takes the line of their gables ; the lower one is also continued round semicircular apsides, which occupy the sides and fronts of the transepts. These apsides have a rich Norman arch, in which, however, the double curvature somewhat distorts the outer mouldings. The buttresses of the transept, which are not unlike those of S. Salvadore, are crowned with light open pinnacles and spires of a Gothic charac- 124 ter, having trefoil arches. A lofty open pinnacle also ornaments the point of the gable. The but- tresses of the side aisles have pinnacles more in character with the cinque cento of the front. The central octagon tapers in stages, the lower ones of which have a flat entablature resting on shafts, and the diagonal faces throw out round turrets with the same ornament. This octagon is finished with a cupola which has round Italian arches. There is a small and light belfry over the south wall of the choir ; a similar one occurs at S. Salvadore, in the same position. In the interior we are struck with the light- ness of the piers, which are decidedly Gothic, and, though of a simple character, are of excel- lent composition, and would suit either an early English or decorated church. The pier -arches are round, but have Gothic mouldings, and are about equal in width to the nave. A square of sexpartite vaulting covers each compartment of one pier-arch ; and each cell contains a small foliated square, with its diagonal placed verti- cally; these, being pierced as windows, form the clerestory. Consequently two small clerestory windows correspond with one pier-arch ; whereas in S. Pantaleone and S. Salvadore one window 125 corresponds with two arches. The vaulting is altogether pointed, and the octagon forms a dome internally. The whole of this church is in excellent pre- servation ; and the profusion of painting and gilding on the roofs, and of marbles and precious stones in the chapels and altars, gives it a most gorgeous appearance. It has two quadrangles of cloisters, one of them of great size, the arches of which are round, and stand on shafts ; the spandrils being richly ornamented in terra-cotta. To a person who has formed his taste upon generally received rules, this structure will appear an utter barbarism ; but if we acknowledge’ that the rules by which we have been guided are but particular applications of some grand principle, whereof we are yet ignorant, we may look upon this and similar edifices with much pleasure and advantage, and confess that it offers many beau- ties, though doubtless faults and incongruities might be detected. The adaptation of a Roman- esque exterior to a Gothic interior is boldly con- ceived and skilfully executed ; and it has this advantage, that the magnificence of the latter far surpasses any expectations excited by the former. The general outline, however, is pleas- 126 ing, and the appearance of the building vener- able. The extreme boldness of construction shewn in the interior surprises, perhaps, more than it delights us ; this, however, seems to be a characteristic of Italian churches in general. The vaulting is the most complete and beautiful specimen of the kind I have ever seen.* There are some churches in Milan of pointed architecture, with much the same character as those of Pavia. And others of an earlier date may still more properly be referred to a Tran- sition style. The cathedral, being of complete Gothic, will be noticed hereafter. The Italian Gothic, though not a style to be imitated by the architect, still has many claims on our attention. We perceive throughout a classical taste, subdued indeed, but never entirely dormant, sufficient to resist the splendid innovations of Northern architecture, and to prepare a way for that revival of art which was destined to brighten the middle ages ; we see also how little the mere use of Gothic detail goes towards the formation of * I was shewn some very accurate engravings of the plan, elevations, sections, and details of this interesting edifice ; they are by an artist of Milan, and, I presume, could be obtained in that city. 127 a Gothic building, if the spirit of the style be not preserved; for there are, in fact, very few mem- bers of the Italian pointed style which would be inadmissible in the best Gothic ; and there are many examples from which we may receive in- struction, both as to proportion and general ar- rangement. The gloom of the interior is very impressive; and this is produced, not by the use of painted glass, but by the smallness and fewness of the windows. The arrangement of S. Panta- leone would be suitable either to Romanesque or Gothic ; and gives a magnificent effect, with scarce a particle of ornament. And the tall and slender belfries which stand engaged in the angles of the buildings, are surely more pleasing to the eye than those poor and ill -proportioned towers which occupy the ends of our modern Gothic churches. We will now resume what may be really called the Transition; that is, the style through which Gothic architecture, in the countries where it grew and flourished, passed to its completion. From the tower of St. Sulpice, on the Lake of Geneva, which we have already noticed, it appears that the Norman form of the Romanesque found its way into Switzerland ; and hence it may be in- 128 ferred, that the transition to Gothic is of a gradual and consistent character. Two buildings of con- siderable size confirm us in this supposition — the cathedrals of Geneva and Lausanne. In both of these the style is very like our early English : the same combinations occur of slender and frequently detached shafts; and the same plain, undivided windows, though less acutely pointed and less lofty. At Geneva the arches are scarcely distin- guishable from round ones. In both the square abacus prevails ; both have the triforium and clere- story, the former of which is an arcade on shafts. The south transept of Lausanne has a large cir- cular window, with tracery : this may be of a later date. The outside of the cathedral at Geneva is well known from its two massive unequal towers ; they form transepts, flanking the apse, which is polygonal, and has flying buttresses ; the southern tower has windows of a later style. A wooden spire, of no great elegance, marks the intersection ; it suggests, however, a very striking combination, rising as it does between the two heavy towers. The west end has an incongruous modern colon- nade. Lausanne cathedral has a fine south-western tower ; a central one, supporting an octagon and w c / 129 taper spire; two smaller towers, eastward of the transepts; and a polygonal apse, with flying but- tresses. The south-western tower appears square, but is, in fact (in its upper part), a screen of open arches surrounding an octagonal belfry ; it has handsome pinnacles and a parapet, and is finished with a low spire, covered with tiles. The central octagon has in each face a gable of small projec- tion engaged in the wall, having a triplet of pointed arches ; the masonry of the octagon is lower than that of the west tower; but its spire, a wooden one, covered either with metal or glazed tile, forms the highest point of the building. A handsome and singular porch is attached to the south side of the nave. The varied outline of this church, and its commanding situation, render it, in every point of view, a very striking object. The piers of the nave are remarkable, from their variety of plan. The square part of the lantern is open to the in- terior. Some of the vaulting is sexpartite ; but it is mostly the ordinary cross-vaulting, with narrow lateral cells. No foliation or tracery occurs in the windows, except the circular ones, or wherever there may be later insertions. Part of the west front, which is unfinished, is evidently of not so early a date. VOL. I. K 130 The conventual church of Sion in the Valais, which stands on one of its remarkable rocky emi- nences, is chiefly of this character. The tower, which occupies the east end of the north aisle, has Romanesque features. The apse of this church, as we see it at present, exhibits battlements ; but I cannot help thinking these must have been covered, like the tower, with a roof. The cathedral of Frejus, in the south of France, has pointed arches, though its features are chiefly Romanesque. This is not a large or striking edifice. The steeple, which is later, stands over the entrance on the south side. At Marseilles is a church the exterior of which is very heavy and unpromising, having the appear- ance rather of a fort or magazine than any thing else. It has two low and ill-shaped towers, both on one side of the building ; and a polygonal apse, with enormous buttresses. Its interior, however, is handsome; and has the barrel-vaulting, with a pointed ridge, and good pier-arches, also pointed. The windows are plain. At Salon, between Aix in Provence and Arles, is a church principally of a good complete Gothic ; but the tower, which is engaged in the south aisle, has a round-headed door, and other Romanesque 131 and Transition features; it is crowned with a handsome stone spire. The cloisters of St. Trophimus at Arles have two sides, which consist of pointed arches, like our early English. The old church of Montmajor, near Arles, is of this character. It has no tower ; but a belfry, of a curious shape, with several round arches, is attached to the south transept. VILLENEUVE. Villeneuve, near Avignon, has, attached to the tower, a bell -gable, with lancet -arches. This tower, though it seems to date with our decorated 132 buildings, has round arches in the belfry-window ; it stands at the east end of the church, and its walls are not in a direct line with those of the nave. In the neighbourhood of Avignon are several country churches of very simple construction, having a nave either without side -windows, or with very small ones ; buttresses of no great pro- jection ; a round or polygonal apse, with but- tresses; and occasionally a bell -gable, either on the side-wall, or over the chancel-arch. These, in style, if not in date, may mostly be referred to the Transition. It is natural that the tourist, in passing through that district, should devote most of his time to its Roman remains, which he finds in great abundance and perfection ; especially if, like myself, he has no opportunity of visiting the more classic ground of Italy ; but should these leave him any leisure, he will discover an ample fund of interest in the works of the middle ages ; and although they will not furnish examples of that magnificence presented to him in the northern parts of France, yet their sin- gularity, and, in many cases, their beauty, will fully repay him for the labour of his investigations. The cathedral of Lyons may be cited as a fine <%t .j4.ll/in. 133 specimen of early complete Gothic, though some parts of it, perhaps, fall within the Transition. A few round arches occur, of a peculiar character, not in the least approaching to the Norman, but rather reminding us of the cinque cento : such also are to be seen in the Cathedral of Vienne, on the Rhone, which is, on the whole, of a late Gothic. The clerestory at Lyons presents an interesting series of windows, giving, in order, the gradation from plain lancets and circles without foliation, or even a comprising arch, to the perfect mullioned window with flowing tracery. As there are several windows, and they are of a large size, it is one of the best lessons that can be set before the student. Notwithstanding the general development of the style throughout, the square abacus prevails ; as it does also at St. Nizier’s, in the same city, a building of the latest, indeed of declining. Gothic. Many small village-churches on the route from Lyons to Dijon shew marks of Transition rather than any thing else, but are of so rude a character that they can hardly be cited as examples. We must not, however, omit the very curious one of St. Albin. The masonry of this church is plain and rough in the extreme. All the arches are pointed, but without Gothic mouldings ; the piers. 134 if I recollect, are square pilaster masses. The roof has cross - vaulting ; and the clerestory windows are but just sufficient to admit light. There is no triforium. The arches are lancet-shaped; the apse polygonal. A well-shaped octagon tower, not open to the inside, rises, in two stages, between the nave and chancel. There are transepts, some- what higher than the aisles, but not projecting beyond them. A smaller belfry, on a rectangular plan, stands over the west end. It will be ob- served, as we advance northward, that the pitch of the roof becomes higher. In the example before us, the slope, though by no means as great as in the northern provinces, is evidently sufficient to throw off every particle of rain or snow as it falls ; nor is there any parapet in the whole building to retain it. In short, it seems utterly impossible that this church should ever sustain much injury from the weather. Between Lyons and Geneva, on the French side of the Jura range, is the town of Nantua, where we find a very picturesque and venerable old church. The annexed sketch shews the west end and north side, as seen from an open space in front. The main entrance is a round-headed door, partaking more of the German Romanesque than 135 our Norman ; on one side is a recess with a pointed arch, the other is blocked up with houses; over the central door is a circular window. The small transept nearest the west end has an Italianising window; the rest of the building is mostly of a very early pointed. The transepts have a barrel- vault, with a ridge. The lantern, an octagon of unequal sides, is open to the interior, and has for pendentives flat triangular slopes, between the angle formed by the transept and the diagonal face of the octagon. The pier-arches are pointed ; the clerestory, I think, round-headed. This edi- fice, as offering a link between the German and French churches of the Transition, deserves some notice. The church of Chagny, between Chalons on the Saone and Dijon, has a central tower, with a belfry -story of round arches, beneath which are pointed ones. The arches of the inside, as far as they can be made out for the uncouthness of the masonry, are pointed ; and the building may safely be referred to an early stage of the Transition. The church at Beaune, already mentioned for the peculiar character of its Romanesque, has a fine central tower, of which the lowest stage ex- hibits the round, and the upper the pointed, arch. 136 The Corinthian columns and pointed arches of the apse are very beautiful. The clerestory, at the east end, is complete Gothic. The west end has a fine porch, or atrium, two arches deep, the whole width of the building, but of less height : this is of a more advanced Gothic. In the same town is a small Transition church, with a stone spire of a square section. At Dijon we meet with an admirable specimen of the Transition in a very advanced stage — the church of Notre Dame. It has much the cha- racter of Lausanne cathedral, with this difference, that, instead of the square abacus, it presents one more corresponding with the form of the shaft, the right angles being taken off : the workmanship, however, is rough. The inside of this church is singularly light and elegant, from the good pro- portion of the round columnar piers, the slender- ness of the smaller shafts, and the number and size of the windows, which are simply pointed, without foliation or tracery. The vaulting-shafts rest on the capitals of the piers ; the triforium is a plain arcade ; and the vaulting is sexpartite. Im- mense circular windows, unbroken by tracery, occupy the transept ends ; and the apse, which is polygonal, and without aisles, has two tiers 137 of lancet-windows, with circular ones interposed. The west front is a screen, whose upper stages consist of arches on detached shafts, and its lower one has three fine doorway-arches, opening into a porch or atrium of great beauty, supported by clustered piers ; the west door of the nave is very rich. The large and lofty central tower has round projections at the angles, which reach as high as the top of the lower stage, and give the whole a very striking outline. The transepts also have round turrets, with spires. All the arches are pointed; and none of them, except a few in the tower, are subdivided by shafts. The proportions of this church are better than those of any other in the town, which are mostly of later date and character. At no great distance from Dijon, on the route to Paris, is Fleury, which has a neat cross church belonging to this style. The belfry -windows are pointed, though comprised under a round arch. The clerestory consists of small square openings. On the road from Avallon to Vezelay we pass the church of Pont Auber, which is a decided example, and probably a very early one, of the Transition. The pier-arches are pointed ; and the 138 clerestory windows round. The tower, which stands engaged in the front, has a good ele- vation ; and a small western porch adds to its beauty. Sens cathedral has much of this style, and in many respects resembles the choir of Canterbury cathedral, to which it may possibly have furnished a model. Notre Dame at Paris is also chiefly of this cha- racter, though in parts much advanced. The fly- ing buttresses round the apse are of the greatest boldness. In Normandy we notice, among many others, a large, and probably an early specimen, at Li- sieux. The general appearance of this church, both external and internal, is that of a Norman Romanesque building; but round arches actually occur only in the south-west tower, the corre- sponding one having pointed belfry -windows of very great height. This edifice presents an outline very common in Normandy, — a low central tower, and taller and less massive western ones, of which that to the southward is crowned with a handsome spire ; the apse has an aisle and flying buttresses ; the square abacus prevails throughout. 139 In the above edifice, as well as in the cathe- drals of Sens, Beauvais, and Paris, the apse is semicircular. This, I think, denotes an imperfect development of the style; as a Gothic arch can scarcely be said to be perfect while it exhibits a double curvature, which must be the case if it be placed in a convex wall. The polygonal apse pre- vailed very early in Germany, probably that the arches might occupy a flat surface ; and in all the complete Gothic buildings near the Rhine, and, I suppose, through the whole country, the semicir- cular termination is avoided. Though the archi- tecture of Beauvais cathedral is generally of a late character, yet there are many proofs that it is raised upon an edifice of an early date, whose ground-plan is preserved. Staircase-turrets may be circular in any stage of Gothic, because they require merely narrow square-headed slits to light them ; but beyond these, all curved walls seem to be avoided in the advanced styles. Little Maple- sted church is an exception, being a pure and beautiful specimen of complete Gothic ; but in this, as well as in the other round churches, the architect had a particular object in view. The Transition features at Louviers will be 140 best understood from the annexed elevation of a pier-arch, with its triforium (here open as a win- dow) and clerestory; the piers are columnar. Eu church has the square abacus on its piers, the round one in its triforium, and the square one again in its clerestory. It is a fine large church, with transepts, the intersection of which is marked by a small wooden belfry, there being no other tower. The elevation of the west end is pleasing ; and the east end has some rich flying buttresses of late character. A small church near Beauvais has round- headed arches in the clerestory and transept, but ■m * riJNlMFGR pointed ones in the central tower, which has east and west gables, and a coved roof. Another church at Beauvais has plain pointed windows in the apse, which is polygonal, with buttresses of an early English character. The belfry, between the nave and chancel, has round-headed windows; but of what date I cannot tell. In England, Norman ornaments are often re- tained when every thing else bespeaks advance- ment : this is the case at Canterbury. St. Cross, near Winchester, is a very interesting example of English Transition of early date. Kirkstali in Yorkshire, Jedburgh in Scotland, Buildwas in Shropshire, Lanthony in Monmouthshire, may be 142 cited as specimens, in which both the round and pointed arch appear. The Early English style, in its usual form, will be considered in the next chapter. I have not observed much in Belgium that can fairly be classed in the Transition. The desecrated church of St. Jean, in Brussels, has certainly a polygonal apse, with lancet-windows ; but the large window of the transept, though without mullions, is of a size not usual in that style. I believe it, however, to belong to the thirteenth century. St. Nicholas, in Ghent, has also a large pointed west window, unbroken by any tracery; the turrets have lancet-arches above, and round ones below ; the western door also is round-headed. The church of St. Croix, Liege, is purely German. It has a western apse, behind which rises an octagonal tower with gables. The body of the church is early complete Gothic, of the best de- scription. In Rhenish Germany the Transition is, in fact, a modified Romanesque ; and the traveller from Cologne to Strasburg, looking at the exterior of the churches presented to his view, will scarcely perceive a step between very decided Romanesque and perfect Gothic. St. Gereon’s at Cologne, 143 indeed, exhibits a Transition character in its dome, and is, in truth, a most singular specimen. Its flying buttresses are probably among the earliest in use; and we may observe, that the walls, of immense thickness where the vaulting - ribs are supported, are hollowed out into chapels between them, thus lightening the mass and enlarging the interior, while very strong buttresses are really left for support. The shape of the church is a large polygon, forming a dome internally, which is di- vided into cells by its vaulting-ribs; a chancel is attached, with two loftier eastern towers and an apse ; this part is more nearly Romanesque. Un- derneath is a fine crypt; there is also a western porch of some magnitude. In Bonn cathedral the upper part of the nave is similar to the Early English, and the central tower has some pointed arches, comprising round ones; the piers have rather a Norman character, and support round arches ; the fan-light appears in the aisles. The ruined choir of Heisterbach, near the Drachenfels, is somewhat advanced, but not with- out round arches. Here we observe a shaft sup- porting another upon its own capital, both standing free of any wall. 144 Sinzig scarcely departs from the Romanesque* though it exhibits some pointed arches. The piers are square pilaster masses* with round arches ; the triforium* which here forms a mannerchor** and is vaulted* as well as the aisle below* has a round arch* divided by shafts into smaller ones ; the clerestory has the fan-light; the vaulting of the nave* though pointed* occupies square compart- ments over the double pier -arch. The pointed vaulting-cells of the apse and central octagon are the principal indications of a change; the former is polygonal* and* like the latter* is finished ex- ternally with gables. There is a western screen in the interior* of the same character with the rest of the church. The vaulting of the mannerchor is very remarkable ; it is designated by Professor Whewell as tripartite. Both the nave and tran- septs have pointed doors ; and some of the win- dows run obliquely through the wall. The apse is flanked by two small square turrets. Heimersheim* on the Ahr* is not unlike Sinzig in form and character* having a gabled central octagon, and two small eastern turrets. The apse of this church is round. * An open gallery occupied by the male part of the congre- gation. 145 Andernach exhibits very few features incon- sistent with the purest Romanesque : a western door, however, is so far advanced as to appear an insertion of a later period. The apse is round; and the gables of the towers, as well as those of St. Castor’s at Coblenz, which is a decidedly Ro- manesque church, are high-pitched. At Cobern, on the Moselle, we notice the chapel of St. Matthew, a curious hexagonal build- ing, in many respects similar to Little Maplested church in Essex. The central tower, a hexagon, is supported by six sharp-pointed arches on clustered piers, with flowered capitals and square abacus. These piers, however, do not, as at Maplested, throw out arches to the outer wall ; but the vault of the aisle rests on curved ‘ribs abutting against the walls and angles of the central hexagon, each rib forming half an arch. A semicircular apse opens into the body by a round arch ; a round- headed door also forms the entrance. But the outside of this building is worthy of attention, as shewing to how late a period Ro- manesque features are retained even in works of a high finish. Not a pointed arch is seen ; the trefoil arches appear to have been adopted as an appropriate Romanesque ornament, rather than as VOL. I. L 146 having a tendency towards Gothic ; and the round- headed window and corbel -table prevail. Yet this chapel was built in the thirteenth century; whereas the beautiful church of Oppenheim, of the most perfect Gothic, was commenced in 1262, and finished in 1317. I was shewn by my guide a work illustrated with very accurate elevations, sections, and details of this remarkable little build- ing : no doubt it may be obtained at Coblenz. Schonstatt, near Vallendar, on the right bank of the Rhine, a little below Ehrenbreitstein, has two towers that seem to have flanked the apse of a 147 church, of which no part is now remaining. They have round and trefoil arches ; and, with much that is Romanesque, may still be referred to the Transition. To the same class, also, belongs the ruined church of St. John, at the mouth of the Lahn : this has a large western tower, and a less massive one to the eastward ; probably one of a pair flanking the chancel. The latter tower is finished with the four gables so common in this part of Germany. At Boppart is a polygonal apse with tall arches, rather resembling the Early English, but not so acutely pointed; they have banded shafts. The towers have Romanesque details, and are surmounted by nearly equilateral pediments. The rest of the church exhibits the same wavering cha- racter that marks most of the Rhenish buildings of this date. At Bacharach, the struggle between the round and pointed style is equally undecided. I noticed the Early English toothed ornament on one of the doors. This church has a handsome western tower. The western octagon and polygonal apse of Worms cathedral, though we have already con- 148 sidered this as a Romanesque edifice, have quite an equal claim with any of the above churches to be classed in the Transition. The circular win- dows, of several lights, which are enclosed in round arches, will attract observation. As we diverge to some distance from the Rhine, the Gothic style strikes us as having made a more regular progress. The cathedral of Limburg, on the Lahn, is a fine instance. The outside still retains some Romanesque features ; but the in- terior has many in common with our best Early English. The piers, indeed, are square ; and the archivolts of the pier-arches, which are pointed, are plain and fiat. The triforium above, forming a mannerchor, consists of large arches subdivided by shafts into smaller ones. A second triforium over this is formed by an arcade against the wall ; and above is the clerestory of plain pointed win- dows. The mannerchor runs without interruption round the whole building, the apse being furnished with an aisle. The vaulting of the nave is sex- partite; the apse is round, and its aisle has an apsidal gallery, in which a horizontal line rests, without intervening arches, upon shafts. The west end has two fine square towers, with gables and wooden spires. In the centre is a gabled octagon. 149 the masonry of which is not so high as that of the western towers ; but a wooden spire, as at Lau- sanne, forms the highest part of the building. The north transept has two square turrets, also with gables ; the corresponding ones on the south tran- sept are yet unfinished. The west front has a handsome circular window. This cathedral stands on a precipitous rock, on the left bank of the Lahn ; and being lofty in proportion to its length, which is unusually small, has the appearance of a vast irregular tower, varied with turrets and pinnacles. Seligenstadt, on the Maine. This church, though somewhat modernised in parts, still retains much of its old character. The western towers and nave are Romanesque ; the latter, as well as the front, partially Italianised. The octagonal central tower is large and massive, rising well above the others, and finished with a wooden dome. The arches and pendentives which support it are peculiarly fine : they are pointed, and have deep mouldings. The exterior of the tower had a fresh and new look when I saw it, but it may have been merely cleaned. The belfry-windows, of complete Gothic, are large and well-designed. The apse is poly- gonal, with round-headed windows. Square pro- 150 jections (they might be called towers) occupy the angles between the choir and transepts. The whole church, from its length and just proportions, presents a very pleasing outline at a distance. I had not an opportunity of visiting Gelnhausen or Bamberg : these seem to approach nearer to Complete Gothic than even Limburg. From the above examples it will be seen, that while in other countries the Romanesque features faded gradually away before the new style of archi- tecture, Rhenish Germany clung to them to the last, and abandoned them with manifest reluct- ance ; as if that mighty river, that bore the tide of Roman civilisation into the heart of Europe, had infused into the nations through which it flowed a veneration of Roman memorials ; with a wish to preserve and perpetuate them, by esta- blishing, according to the principles of their con- struction, a kindred and lasting style of their own. *^3 $ CI ? o r ■ ' p’ Tinl j4t*lcr J I CHAPTER VII. ON THE EARLY COMPLETE GOTHIC. Are we to look upon the style, known in our own country as the Early English, in the light of Com- plete Gothic, or Transition ? The question is not wholly unimportant; because it touches the pro- priety and good taste of selecting this as a style of church-architecture in the present day. That which is imperfect, or to be considered as a step to something more perfect by which it is super- seded, however it may abound in beauties, be- comes antiquated and obsolete on the establish- ment of the latter ; and although, for the sake of study or practice, the artist may occasionally imi- tate it, still its universal adoption would both in- dicate and encourage either a radically false taste, or else a disposition to work up to a lower standard than may be, and has been, attained — a feeling which creates the most effectual bar against im- provement. Where two styles are of equal excel- lence, the transition between them may rival or 152 even excel either, and therefore cannot be objec- tionable as a model ; but this is not the case when the transition is from imperfect to complete. If, indeed, the complete styles of Gothic were suitable only to the largest and richest edifices, and ill adapted to the plain and humble village- church, then we must of necessity be content with the less advanced ; but a general view of the churches throughout any county or district in England will shew the very reverse of this to be the fact. It is certain that in a large number of buildings our Early English much resembles the Transition style of Geneva, Lausanne, Dijon, and continental structures of the same class. Its main difference from that of the two former churches is the want of the square abacus ; a difference not without its value, but scarce sufficient to mark the limit between the complete and imperfect; since in Lyons cathe- dral, a specimen of excellent Gothic, it prevails ; and in Notre Dame at Dijon, certainly not more advanced than Lausanne cathedral, the polygonal abacus is used. I cannot look upon Croxden abbey in Staffordshire, and many similar buildings, in which the simple lancet- window prevails, as aspiring to a higher rank than that of Transition. 153 But again ; in Salisbury cathedral, the most truly beautiful church that the middle ages have produced, the Early English prevails in its most decided character; indeed, this edifice is always cited as a type and model of the style. And this cannot be called a specimen of an incomplete style, for there is scarcely to be found in the whole structure any portion of detail, or any combination, that admits of improvement. The Gothic principle is just as fully developed here as it is in Cologne or York. What, then, is the difference between this and many other buildings nominally of the same class ? It appears to be this : that in the one the plain lancet-arch is used as a single win- dow, wherever it may be wanted ; in the other it forms part of a composition, and can no more be considered without reference to others in the same front or compartment, than if it were one of the lights of a large mullioned window. We know that the large window, consisting of several lights, is the grand and distinguishing fea- ture of a Gothic building; there is nothing ana- logous in classical edifices ; and the Romanesque, Norman, and Transition, at most but faintly sug- gest it. If, however, for the sake of diffusing light more equably over a large surface — the end, 154 for instance,, of a transept — the architect chooses to separate the lights by some little distance, in- stead of condensing the whole under one limited arch, while at the same time he takes care not to vary materially from the form which he is thus ex- panding, — he still preserves the principle on which this important feature rests — that of composition ; and shews himself able to produce by his com- binations all the grandeur and variety of which the Gothic style is capable. It is not easy to believe that the architect of Salisbury cathedral was ignorant of the large win- dow with mullions and geometrical tracery which so soon became general, and of which the finest specimens occur in the chapter-house of the same cathedral ; it was at that very time used at Amiens ; and both the triforium and west front of Salisbury shew a perception of its beauties. The artist may have preferred the lancet-arch, as one which, from practice, he was best able to manage ; but his com- binations of it shew him to have been fully alive to the principles of the complete Gothic.* Where the Early English, however rich or elaborate may be its workmanship, presents only * See Professor Whewell’s remarks on Amiens Cathedral : Architectural Notes, p, 14 L single and detached windows, it cannot be looked upon as having quite attained the standard of per- fection ; but when its combinations suggest the idea of windows of many lights, spread out, as it were, so as to occupy a larger surface, then it must be considered as a variety, and a very beautiful one, of the complete style. As instances, we may notice the body of the Temple church in London; the east end of Ely cathedral; and Kilkenny cathedral, in which a triplet of lancet -windows occupies the west end of the nave, that of the aisles having a window 156 divided into lights ; the clerestory consists of pierced quatrefoils. The east end of a ruined abbey near Cashel exhibits a fine triplet of lofty arches. The elevation of this front, with its buttresses, is very beautiful. Lanercost in Cumberland, though evi- dently of early date, has an east end that well illustrates what we have remarked. It contains two ranges of lancet-windows ; the lower ones are of equal height; of the upper ones, that in the centre is the highest : these stand at some distance apart, so that the combination occupies the whole front. The west end, too, has a very handsome triplet. The front of Ripon minster is also a fine example. In all these cases, the reason why the combination of narrow windows was used, instead of one large compound window, is obvious ; namely, that the same quantity of light may be diffused in a manner over the whole surface, instead of being condensed into one part. Which arrangement of the two is most pleasing, need not be discussed ; suffice it to say, each has beauties of its own, and the effect of either, managed with skill, is sure to be admirable. In our modern imitations of Early English, two prevailing practices appear to militate very strongly against the above principles : one is, that of scat- 157 tering windows over a large front without apparent plan or design, except so far as to preserve uni- formity ; another is, that of condensing them in a triplet with very small intervals, leaving a large blank space of wall round the composition. In the former case, some sort of combination that might suggest the regular expansion of a well- shaped compound window ought to have been employed ; in the other, the lancet-windows are not applied to the same purpose that they were even before the full development of Gothic, and a single window with mullions would be far more suitable. The occasional use of a tall window of one light is, of course, allowable, even in the most advanced stage of the art, since positions which require it must constantly occur. In the present day the architect often selects for imitation this beautiful style on account of its simplicity. Undoubtedly the cathedral at Salis- bury does, from the consummate art of its designer, suggest the idea of extreme simplicity ; but many who admire it for this excellence will, when they begin to imitate, be very liable to fall into vices from which it is totally free, those of poverty and meagreness. The Early English admits of, nay requires, beauties of a very complicated nature ; 158 many of them, both as regards contrivance and execution, far beyond the reach of the builder who adopts it as a convenient style for a plain village church. Its clustering and often detached shafts ; its capitals of the most exquisite foliage ; the deep hollows of its mouldings ; its peculiar toothed ornament, demanding the most delicate and elaborate workmanship ; its rich bands and cornices; and, above all, its bold and accurately turned vaultings, mark it as belonging rather to the splendid cathedral or costly chapel, than to the humble parish church. It is not because its orna- ments are unobtrusive, that we are to think it allows any deficiency of ornament : and it should also be remembered, that the plainer the work, the more necessary it is to compensate for such plainness by a perfect accuracy of proportion, and an exact disposition of every component part. Though our specimens of architecture answer- ing to the continental Gothic, and known in this country as Early Decorated, are not very nu- merous, yet, from the predominance of Early En- glish characteristics, they are often more strongly marked, and better distinguished from the succeed- ing style, than elsewhere. Among the best speci- 159 mens may be noticed Westminster abbey, wherever it is unaltered; the chapter-house and cloisters of Salisbury; the chapter-house of York; the east end of Lincoln cathedral, the elevation of which is admirable ; the nave of Lichfield cathe- dral ; the abbeys of Tintern and Netley ; and New abbey, near Dumfries, which, though in ruins, is valuable, as giving, probably, the ori- ginal tower — a central one, with gables over two of its sides. By examining any of these, we may determine the following characteristics : — A prevalence of shafts and prominently convex mouldings ; hollows rather deep than wide, and often narrower at the mouth than within; a constant use of capitals. 160 which are frequently worked with foliage in the most delicate manner; compound windows, with geometrical tracery — that is, with complete figures of trefoils, circles, &c., touching and supported by each other and the lower arches, and not run- ning into continuous lines ; a certain degree of uniformity in the shape of the arches, which sel- dom differ much from the equilateral; while in the formation of compound windows, the inferior arches are generally independent of the larger one which comprises them, though springing from the same impost. Vaulting seems essential to the style ; the buttresses, consequently, are large and deep. In England they appear in their full pro- jection to the very ground ; on the Continent the spaces between are sometimes filled up with cha- pels, which by no means improve the beauty of the building. In England the clerestory is seldom very lofty, and therefore the flying buttress is not so striking a feature as in large continental churches, in which it is often doubled. The pinnacles, espe- cially those which surmount the aisle -buttresses, are sometimes of great richness and beauty . The parapet of open-work, though admissible, be- longs rather to the next style. We have some fine steeples of this class ; the annexed one of Co oil 161 Wollaston in Northamptonshire shews how they are generally finished. I scarcely know of any square towers (without the spire) entirely belong- ing to it ; the central one of Lincoln comes the nearest. Many rich porches, both in France and Ger- many, are of this style, though they differ but little from those of the next. The western ones of Amiens cathedral are as fine, and probably of as early a date, as any that can be named. They project boldly, and have gables, and doors of great depth loaded with statuary : the central door in many instances has a richly sculptured transom, supported by a fine shaft, either without any arches, or with low and flat ones ; the latter, how- ever, belong properly to Flamboyant buildings. The circular windows also of the Early Gothic have sometimes a more advanced character than the rest of the building, exhibiting an approach to Flamboyant, or flowing tracery. Part of Rouen cathedral is of the Early Com- plete Gothic, though with many later additions. The transepts are peculiarly fine, being flanked by square towers, having each a very lofty window divided by a single shaft. The rose-window be- tween them is evidently of a later character. The VOL. i. m 162 choir of St. Ouen’s is a very pure and beautiful specimen, with fine flying buttresses and pinna- cles ; the rest of the church is later ; and as that also is designed and worked in the very best man- ner, the spectator is furnished with an admirable contrast between the two styles. The church of Norrey, near Caen, — for the sight of which I am indebted to Professor Whewell’s description, — is an exquisite specimen of Early Complete Gothic ; that is, the choir, transepts, and square central tower, which are those of a cathedral in miniature, and of more elegant proportions than I remember to have seen in France. The tower is very lofty ; each face of the belfry-story has four tall lancet-arches, of equal height, of which the middle ones are the widest, and pierced for windows. Below is also a range of arches. On the tower are the rudiments of a stone spire, with a window and pinnacles ; it is finished with a small wooden spire. The choir, which is polygonal, has a triforium and clerestory ; to the north transept is attached a handsome porch. Two chapels are annexed to the east end, with lofty stone roofs, which look like spires. As it was late in the evening when I visited this church, I could scarcely distinguish the details ; they seemed to partake of the nature of our Decorated 163 quite as much as of Early English. The nave is short, and without aisles, and lower than the choir ; its character is that of our Flowing De- corated. Near Mantes, on the Seine, is a small cross church, the nave of which is principally Norman, but its chancel and transepts are of complete Gothic, and, from their excellent design and per- fect simplicity, are well worth attention, if not imitation. The form and elevation of the gables could not be improved ; and the windows are of great beauty. The central tower is Ro- manesque, with east and west gables ; and the arches in it have rather a German than Norman 164 character. If we wished to adopt this church as a model, belfry - windows, with pointed or trefoiled heads, might be substituted, without altering the character of the building. I forget the name of the village ; it stands due west of the town of Mantes, at the distance of about a mile from it. Parts of Notre Dame at Paris are of this style ; and the chapel of the Palais de Justice is a very fine example. Its side windows are of great height, and, as is not uncommon, have angular canopies ; it is also ornamented with handsome pinnacles. In cathedrals and large churches the piers round the apse are sometimes of necessity placed very near together ; and that the arch may be of the same height with the others in the choir, it is often stilted. This never fails to give an un- pleasing appearance, and is the more remarked in consequence of the great beauty and excellent proportion of every other part of the building. In the apse at Amiens it is very striking. The effect is in some measure avoided at Auxerre, which has on this account, perhaps, the most pleasing interior of any. The choir only is Early Gothic, the rest being chiefly Flamboyant. auxerre St. Pere near Vezelay* has a church with a very remarkable steeple, which we will refer to this style, though it is, in fact, scarce clear of the * See Frontispiece. 166 Transition. It stands on the north side of the west front, and has three stages of windows di- vided by shafts; at the angles of each stage are detached shafts supporting canopies, which give the whole an air of great lightness. It is at pre- sent crowned with a small wooden spire, but is probably unfinished. The body of the church is of good Early Complete Gothic, of much simplicity: the west front, and a large and wide western porch, come nearer to our Flowing Decorated. Lyons cathedral has four low towers, two of them flanking the west front, which has a pierced gable rising higher than the roof ; the other two towers are more massive, and form transepts. The elevation of the front is not bad, but too flat, from the want of buttresses. The choir is of a later style. It is unnecessary to describe Cologne cathe- dral : the height of the pier-arches and clerestory is astonishing. The latter is supported by two tiers of flying buttresses, which are divided by pin- nacles that rise between the two aisles on each side. The windows are canopied, and the tri- forium pierced for light. The great profusion of flying buttresses gives the choir a very fine, though complicated outline. The west front, rich as it ** , - ♦ , 7 tzfrhirf - 167 is in detail, presents a striking contrast, from the simplicity of its composition. No more of this is at present finished than a part of the south-western tower, equal in height to the choir. It is hardly free from the characteristics of the next style. The same may be said of the fronts and steeples of Strasburg and Freyburg, the naves of both which cathedrals furnish splendid examples of the Early Gothic. One of the purest specimens in Rhenish Ger- many is Altenberg abbey. The traveller through Cologne, who has with him Professor Whe well’s “Architectural Notes,” will not easily resist the temptation of visiting this interesting church ; and most assuredly he will not regret the excursion. The distance is about twelve miles, chiefly on a good road; but the abbey itself, which occupies a deep and narrow wooded dell, can only be ap- proached on foot. The west front, and that of the north transept, are lofty and of excellent eleva- tion ; the choir forms a polygonal apse, with fine flying buttresses ; the aisle at the east end also projects between the principal buttresses in small angular apsides : this kind of arrangement is not uncommon in continental Gothic. The flying buttresses on the sides of the choir and transept 168 have, as at Cologne, the double spring ; the clere- story is lofty, its windows have a geometrical tracery of trefoils and quatrefoils ; those round the apsidal aisle have circles in their heads. Many of the lights are without foliation. The western and transept windows are lofty, and of great beauty. The piers are cylindrical columns. The south transept has fallen in, and much of the church is in a ruinous state ; it is now undergoing repair. There is no tower or steeple ; but from a print that was shewn me on the spot, a small wooden spire seems to have marked the inter- section. The plan of St. Werner’s chapel at Bacharach is transverse triapsal; the apsides are polygonal, and the nave very short. Its windows are large, with geometrical tracery of trefoils. Their great beauty and lightness are seen to more advantage in the present dismantled state of the building than if it had been complete. Like Altenberg, it probably never had a tower. St. Catherine’s church at Oppenheim almost approaches to the next style in the sharpness of its mouldings and the flowing lines of its tracery. The whole of the south side is a surface of open- work of the most delicate execution. The two western towers are Romanesque, or Transition. The western chapel, in ruins, is of a kind of per- pendicular, very deficient in the boldness of the English style. The central octagon, which rises nearly to the height of the western spires, has, like the eastern one at Mainz, a gable over each face; it is, in fact, an adaptation of those in the former styles, such as we see at Sinzig and Bonn. Slender buttresses occupy the angles, and the points of the belfry -windows stand higher than the spring of the gables. No better finish can be imagined for a church of this description. 170 The fabric, which is in a ruinous state, is under- going repair. I will notice St. Stephen’s at Mainz, as haying side aisles equal in height to the central one ; an arrangement to which this style is peculiarly well suited, on account of the height which it allows to its piers and arches, and the size and lightness of the windows, which, from the breadth of the edifice, can be seen to great advantage. The series of small roofs which diverge from the principal one, over each compartment of the aisle, seem preferable to three parallel longitudinal ones, and certainly less unsightly than the large heavy roof which we find at Ahrweiler, Frankfort, and Heidelberg. The interior of this church is extremely beautiful ; and the plan seems a good one when space is required. The only difficulty occurs in the manner of finishing the east and west ends. In this case, a lofty octagonal tower, the upper stage of which is a modern addition, terminates the central aisle to the westward ; but again, westward of this, is a porch or chapel of considerable dimensions. This style, as exhibited in Germany, seems to be worked with greater sharpness, and, in fact, to forestal more of the character of the next^ than with ourselves. It is singular how little the 9 h Sttfihb- . JAcJ'i^-z. 171 omission of the dripstone, which is deemed almost an essential member in our architecture, takes away from the richness of the German Gothic. The architect who adopts the Early Complete Gothic, if he intends, not merely to copy its details, but to preserve its true character, will, perhaps, find himself much more limited than he expects both as to plan and outline. His gables ought to be of a certain pitch, perhaps that of an equilateral triangle is the best ; although a front with a hori- zontal capping might be used without impropriety. His vaultings, which are nearly indispensable, should be well turned ; and these will involve the necessity of high walls, and deep and bold buttresses. It will be of consequence to attend carefully to the proportions, both as regards the length, breadth, and height of the whole building, and also the relation to each other of the several parts, the nave, transepts, and chancel. Any defect will be more fatal to beauty in this style than the next. If the tower stands at the end, or any where but at the centre, its best finish will be a spire, either of stone or wood. That used in Northamptonshire, which meets the wall without parapets, is most suitable to a square tower. If an octagonal stage be made to intervene, many continental buildings 172 may be copied or studied. A central tower, if square, and without a spire, may have the coved roof with two gables; if octagonal, may have a gable on each face, as at Oppenheim : embattled parapets and pinnacles are, perhaps, better reserved for the next style. Peterborough cathedral, how- ever, in one of its western towers, offers a good arrangement of Early Gothic pinnacles. But if the architect is prevented by the exigencies of his building from preserving those graceful proportions which the Early Complete Gothic peremptorily demands, he ought to dismiss it at once : without these it is nothing; and the very beauty of its details will only serve to place in a stronger light the deformity of the whole. OiftK CHAPTER VIII. ON THE LATE COMPLETE GOTHIC. The Gothic principle was now fully developed ; nor was it easy to devise any new arrangement by which the beauty of the style could be increased ; yet it was possible to lessen the cost and labour whereby an equal degree of richness, especially in parts remote from the eye, might be obtained ; and it was also desirable to give the system a more extended range, so that it might be adapted with facility to a greater number of forms and pur- poses. This was done, in the first place, by substitut- ing for that roundness which prevailed as well in the sections of mouldings as in the forms of tracery, a certain sharpness and angularity, which might produce with greater ease, both to the designer and workman, the contrasts of light and shade, and the varieties of line, so necessary to give richness and effect. It is evident that the architects of the 174 earlier Gothic did not always think the simple cylindrical shaft sufficient to give this contrast, even with the help of the deep hollows already mentioned; for they often made use of a shaft with a sharp edge, or a composition admitting it. Such, I think, occurs in the baptistery of Lincoln minster ; and some mouldings in the pier-arches of Stafford church are of this description. They also marked out what may be considered a division between the light and dark side of the shaft by a vertical string or fillet. The mullion of a window must in general be deep, and its section at the middle of greater width than the faces presented to the eye ; consequently, either a plain slope, or a bold concave sweep,* was given to the sides. A similar plan soon began to be introduced into piers, architraves, and the ribs of panelling ; shafts, though by no means discarded, became less neces- sary ; and even the capitals of the piers were omitted. This is the case in the church at Abbe- ville, a fine and characteristic specimen of French Flamboyant; not a single capital occurs in the interior of the nave. St. Maclou in Rouen, one * The divisions between the aisle-windows of Salisbury cathedral have this bold concavity : it would, however, be dif- ficult to find many similar instances in the Early English. f V^W0,W>**35=-Z. -5 o<& «* 175 of the most florid specimens, has the same pecu- liarity. The piers of Antwerp cathedral are also without capitals ; and in our late perpendicular churches the capital does not always embrace the whole pier, and sometimes is altogether left out. As in the sections of mouldings, so also in the lines of tracery, the same sharp and angular appear- ance was affected. The first compound windows exhibit scarce any points or angles except those of the arched lights themselves. Presently their number was increased by the openings made in the blank spaces ; and again still farther by folia- tion. But in every case the circle, whether it was complete, as in the west window of Limburg, and the great eastern one of Lincoln, or appearing only in part, as one of the arcs of a foliated figure, seems to have prevailed over the angle, and to have marked the character of the design ; the foliation was no more than a series of incomplete circles, introduced, as it were, for the sake of re- peating the original figure. But in the new system the circular arc imme- diately becomes subordinate ; for neither do the curves forming the foliations, nor those in the heads of inferior arches, of necessity preserve this form ; the mullions branch into free and beautiful 176 curves, often varying in their curvature, and having points of contrary flexure : and the figures enclosed by these lines are of necessity foliated ; whenever they are not, the design assumes a meagre and im- perfect character. I would refer the reader to any of the later French buildings in which the Flam- boyant is worked without foliation, and ask him, whether the spirit and beauty of the style is not much impaired ? When, on the contrary, geome- trical tracery is used, the want of foliation is never felt, except as rendering the design somewhat plainer : which shews, that in one case the circular arc, in the other the point or angle, is the decided characteristic. This may perhaps account for the difficulty of composing a beautiful window by the mere crossing of mullions without foliation, or by making the mullions of a window of two lights branch into the architrave, the heads of the lights and space above being left plain. Such a composition involves neither one principle nor the other : I grant it is occasionally found in Gothic buildings, as in Lich- field chapter -house. Bake well church. Wells ca- thedral, &c. ; but it requires much enrichment to render it even tolerable, and, at the best, we cannot help wishing some other form had been adopted. 177 A large window, however, of this sort, is exceed- ingly well treated in Checkley church, Stafford- shire ; the crossings of the mullions are covered by roses of stone-work, which quite compensate for the want of foliation. Similar roses occur in the chancel-windows of Norbury church, Derbyshire ; these, however, have a bold kind of foliation. As the churches are at no great distance from each other, it is possible they were erected by the same architect. I know of no other instance ; but the effect in both is rich, and not unworthy of imitation. When I say that the circle is characteristic of the style in one class, and the point or angle in the other, I mean only in tracery and sections of mouldings : in outline the angle very much pre- dominates in the Early Gothic ; and perhaps it is this very contrast between the superior and inferior lines that constitutes its beauty : hence the straight- sided angular canopy is a favourite ornament ; and it may be we are to look to some cause of this nature for the omission of the dripstone in German architecture. The purer any Gothic building is, the more nearly will it confine itself to straight lines in its external surfaces, and to curved ones in its internal. The other important change introduced by the VOL. I. N 178 later Gothic architects was an extended license in the shape both of gable and arch. Even the square-headed window seems to have been used during the prevalence of our Flowing Decorated ; we meet with it in conjunction with windows of that style, and it frequently exhibits the same kind of tracery itself. Leigh church in Staffordshire offers good examples, though possibly of rather a late period. East Sutton church in Kent has a segmental round-headed window, the tracery of which may be called Flowing, though not worked with great freedom : it probably dates with our later Decorated buildings. So large a number of gables has been altered, that it is difficult to tell when that of a low pitch was first brought into use in the northern Gothic 179 architecture. Even in the south, where a low roof is general, a high-pitched gable often stands free, as at Lyons. Many of our churches shew, by the mark upon their towers, the original roof, and consequently gable, to have been of a much higher pitch than the present. But the pediments of York and Beverley, — the former scarcely clear of the Decorated, the latter Early Perpendicular, — are low ; and those of Melrose abbey, which may be classed as a link between the two, are not of a high pitch, probably on account of the stone outer roof. Sometimes the end of a nave or transept is perfectly flat, without any gable. This is the case with Stafford church, which has evidently been much altered ; the transepts of Wolverhampton church, and all the fronts of St. Alban’s, are hori- zontal at the top. The church of Notre Dame des Victoires at Brussels, of good Flamboyant character, has a west front of this sort, the eleva- tion of which is admirable : the roof of the nave has a high pitch, but joins the straight capping of the front by a triangular slope. The introduction of the low Tudor arch in our own country, and of the elliptical Burgundian arch in France, though of a late date, can hardly 180 be said to debase the style, since it is a measure conducive to its more general application. Many fronts or compartments are better filled up with the flattened arch than with the highly pointed one ; for instance, in King’s College chapel, where any alteration in the shape of the eastern or western windows would be far from an improve- ment. Flattened windows are often the best adapted for a clerestory when a timber roof is employed, as in this case there are no pointed lateral vault- ing cells to be occupied by openings corresponding in form. It may be easily supposed that the transition between the last style and the present was by no means abrupt. Many of our buildings in the Flow- ing Decorated have both the general outline and several of the characteristics of the last ; insomuch that, in considering English architecture alone, the flowing and geometrical kinds of Decorated are very properly classed together. The east end of Selby church in Yorkshire is a very beautiful in- stance. The window of one of the aisles is still Early Gothic, having geometrical tracery; the central window has flowing tracery, and is one of the finest in England ; its mullions and sides have ^Attlrost — 181 shafts ; and the whole composition of this front, with its buttresses, turrets, and pinnacles, is ad- mirable. The interior of the choir is an excellent example of Decorated Gothic ; the roof, though of wood, is vaulted. The nave and western parts are earlier, and exhibit some very remarkable features both in Norman and Transition. The upper part of the central tower is unfortunately modernised. The west front of Howden church in York- shire presents much resemblance to the earlier style ; but the central tower is a noble specimen of Perpendicular English. The choir, a fine De- corated composition, is in ruins. Still more advanced is Melrose abbey : the south transept has flowing tracery, but its front partakes not a little of the Flamboyant character ; the east end is Perpendicular. Of much the same character is Nantwich church in Cheshire : the exterior of the chancel is very rich, and the windows have tracery of a decidedly Perpendicular character. This church has a beau- tiful central octagon : much of its delicate work- manship is destroyed from the perishable nature of the stone. The eastern gable is very flat ; in- deed it can hardly be called a gable. WWW 182 The annexed cut of Gadsby in Leicestershire, for which I am indebted to the kindness of a friend* 183 appears to offer a very beautiful species of De- corated, not quite free from the geometrical lines of the earlier class, and yet worked with the sharp- ness of the later. Windows of a similar character occur in the choir-aisles of Lichfield. Specimens of the decorated window are found in every part of England. I may name, as exhi- biting some of the best, Carlisle, York, the above- mentioned churches of Howden and Selby, Sleaford in Lincolnshire, Newark in Nottinghamshire, and Redgrove in Norfolk. The circular window in the south transept of Lincoln minster is filled with the finest flowing tracery ; and the interior of this front exhibits a semicircular arch of open-work, which contains the circle, forming a sort of frame, and shewing the window, which is of stained glass, to the greatest advantage. Some small churches in the south of England have Decorated windows, very rough in their work- manship, but of good design. I subjoin two, belong- ing to Boughton Aluph and Ulcomb, both in Kent. When the Decorated style gave way to the Per- pendicular in England, the Flamboyant prevailed in France, and other countries in Europe. The name, I need not say, is derived from the flame- like shape given to the openings in tracery, which. -1 184 BOUGHTON ALUPH. ULCOMB. in fact, has the flowing character of the Decorated, but seldom exhibits the same degree of beauty and delicacy. Specimens, however, of great elegance are occasionally to be found : I may instance the annexed circular window in the west front of the otherwise Norman church at Vaudreuil, a small village near Louviers in Normandy. The win- dows are not always symmetrical. No one would hesitate classing a Flamboyant building with our Perpendicular, even though the lines which cha- racterise the latter, and give it its name, do not prevail. Yet there are continental edifices which may 4 * * * 185 well be referred to our Flowing Decorated : one in particular is the desecrated church of St. Etienne at Caen, near the abbey of the same name. The interior has pier-arches and a clerestory, the tri- forium space being occupied by a richly and deli- cately executed band of open-work. The Spiers are such as might have belonged to the earlier Gothic ; indeed it may be remarked generally, that these parts of the building preserve the early cha- racter the longest. The arches are very well turned. A lofty central octagon is open as a lantern to the interior, and much ornamented. The west front, though it is difficult to obtain a satisfactory view of it, is admirable both in elevation and details ; the latter, however, somewhat approach to the more florid style of the Flamboyant. The whole is in a ruinous condition, and ought to be care- fully copied in detail, before it falls into utter decay. Much also of St. Pierre’s at Caen, where it does not Italianise, is of this character: here we observe the same triforium band of open-work. The steeple, engaged in the south aisle near its western extremity, with a handsome porch in front, is the type of many in the neighbourhood. Like Norrey, it has very lofty belfry - windows ; the 186 spire is complete, and, as is not uncommon, orna- mented with scales. St. Sauveur has a similar steeple, but of a less tapering form. St. Jean, which inclines to Flamboyant, has the pierced triforium band ; it has a fine western tower, with details like that of St. Pierre, but no spire. At the intersection of the transepts are the rudi- ments of an Italianising tower. Rouen. The middle part of the west front of the cathedral is a mass of fretwork, rather confused in point of detail ; but the southern tower is a fine composition, rich in panelling, and crowned with an elegant octagon. The central tower, whose masonry does not attain so great a height, is dis- figured by an enormous iron spire, yet incomplete, which will never look like any thing but a structure of scaffolding. This is one of the mistakes into which we fall, from an ignorance of the very nature and principles of art. Open-work in stone is very beautiful in appearance, and a great trial of skill to the workman. The same thing in iron, a material which cannot well be worked any other way, is meagre and unsatisfactory in the extreme. I could not have conceived such an union of flimsiness and heaviness. 187 St. Maclou is an example of Flamboyant in its most florid form. The west front is not a bad composition ; but its ornaments are so compli- cated, that it is impossible to trace their design or meaning. The church is of great height in proportion to its length, and has a fine central tower and transepts, a polygonal apse, and fly- ing buttresses. The triforium in this, and other churches in Rouen, consists of foliated arches, instead of the band noticed at Caen. This edifice, the front and nave of Abbeville, and the transepts of Beauvais, Sens, and Auxerre, are the best and most characteristic specimens of the style I have seen, and should be studied with attention, on ac- count both of their details and elevations. In too many instances the Flamboyant shews symptoms of debasement, and a leaning towards the Italianising style that soon found its way into France. Some of the churches in Caen, the south transept of Beauvais, parts of the churches of Vernon, Lou- viers, and others, are examples of this. St. Maclou, though evidently of the latest Gothic, is remark- ably free from this blemish ; but the simplicity of design that prevails in our perpendicular buildings of equal richness gives them, I think, a decided advantage. 188 The choir of St. Ouen has been noticed as a specimen of Early Complete Gothic ; but the rest of this magnificent structure is of a style peculiar to itself. It cannot be referred to our Perpen- dicular, nor yet to our Decorated ; and it may cer- tainly be said to take a much higher rank than the mass of the French Flamboyant. The outside of the nave reminds us at once of the former of these three worked in its very best manner, though both of the other two are represented in the tracery. The upper part of the beautiful central tower, with its octagon, approaches in character, though not in its actual lines, to our latest Gothic, the pin- nacles having small cupolas. The circular window, the greatest beauty of the French Flamboyant, appears in its perfection both in the transept ends and west front. The nave is very lofty, but not too much so for the other proportions of the build- ing. I had been led to expect an unpleasing degree of lightness in the interior, from the size and number of the windows, the triforium being pierced for light ; but, whether it was owing to the quantity of painted glass, or that the colour of the piers and walls had subsided into that of grey stone, such an effect did not strike me, even in the middle of a bright day ; and at the close of 189 the evening nothing could be more truly impres- sive. The west front is unfinished ; there are the rudiments of towers attached to it diagonally. I am not clear that their completion would have improved the building. If they were now to be finished, without raising them higher, as porches or chapels, and the front suitably enriched with turrets and pinnacles, it strikes me the building would be complete. As it is, I do not know a Gothic edifice, in the most advanced stage of the art, as a whole, comparable to the abbey church of St. Ouen. It is to the Late Gothic what Salis- bury is to the Early. The steeples of Harfleur and Candebec, on the Seine, should be noticed; the former for its sim- plicity, the latter for the complexity of its decora- tions. Part of the central tower at Bayeux is rich Flamboyant ; but it Italianises towards the top, and ends in a modern cupola. The transepts of Sens and Auxerre are covered externally with the boldest flowing tracery, cut with great depth and sharpness of edge, and occa- sionally standing free from the wall. The doors and rose-windows are magnificent. In the north- west tower of Auxerre, which seems hardly finished. 190 the work is not of quite so bold a character ; and even shews some slight signs of debasement. The corresponding tower has not been carried so high as the nave. The front has a rich gabled porch between the flanking buttresses, with much open tracery. The length of this cathedral, like that of some others in France, is scarcely sufficient for its height; and there is no central tower either here or at Sens. St. Germain at Auxerre, though plainer, is a fine specimen of the style ; and some of the tracery partakes of the character of Early Gothic. Part of the church is destroyed ; there remain a few compartments of the nave, and the whole of the transepts and polygonal choir, which are of great height. It has no central tower. Under the church are some curious crypts at different depths, one being placed above the other. A tower and steeple, of a much earlier date, once belonging to the west front, now stands detached. The cathedral of Dijon is also of great height in proportion to its length, and on this account does not form a pleasing outline : the west front, however, which is flanked by octagonal towers, is not inelegant. At the intersection is a tall wooden spire. . 191 St. Michel’s (Dijon) shews signs of Italianising, even in its Gothic parts. Its front is cinque cento , with two towers and cupolas. The three western doors, which are round-headed, are of great depth, and much enriched with sculpture ; they may be cited as a favourable specimen of debased Gothic. The piers of the nave are oblong in plan, and much flattened at the sides ; so that the front pre- sented to the spectator who looks across the nave is far too narrow. The church, however, is a fine one, with a low central octagon of better design than execution. It has a polygonal apse, with lofty windows and transepts. Another building at Dijon, which seems to have been a church, though now desecrated, is in the form of a cross, without aisles. Two fine towers occupy the angle between the transepts and eastern branch of the cross, ranging with the front of each ; the east end is flat, with a lofty gable. It has also an eastern door, — rather a singular feature in a church, and yet the building seems to have been designed for no other purpose. It stands east and west; and the transept -fronts much resemble those of St. Michel, having two mullioned windows, side by side, with a circle over them. The arches in the tower are without mullions or foliation. The 192 Halle au Ble, likewise a desecrated church, is chiefly Italian ; the piers and arches would fur- nish a good hint for pure Romanesque, from their simplicity ; but the vaulting is very tolerable Gothic, though with some inconsistencies. The polygonal apse has fine lancet-windows and plain external buttresses of great depth. In this interesting town are many domestic remains of the Burgundian style ; some fine towers and other parts of the old ducal palace still exist. I was shewn a very curious specimen in a build- ing which was formerly the residence of the English ambassadors. It is a Gothic staircase, on the top of which stands the figure of a man with a basket on his shoulder, whence spring, in the form of a plant or tree, the vaulting ribs of the roof: these are foliated in a very bold man- ner. The whole is of good execution, though evidently late in the style. The entrance to this is through a shop, not far from the church of Notre Dame. St. Nizier’s at Lyons has been noticed as pre- serving the square abacus in its piers. Though of a late date, and shewing manifest proofs of debase- ment, it is nevertheless a fine church, with large transepts and a polygonal apse, but no central 193 tower. The steeple is on the north side of the west front, which is much modernised. The cathedral of Vienne, on the Rhone, is a beautiful and well-proportioned church. It is of less height than those in the northern parts of France; and its length is considerable* though it has no transepts nor central tower. Two low mas- sive towers flank the west front, which is of the best Flamboyant character; rich, without being overloaded with ornament. Some parts of the church are probably of an earlier date. In the south of France we meet with churches of excellent Gothic, though without much pre- tension to magnificence, either from their scale, or quantity of ornament* They are generally of considerable width, with a very finely turned vault, the crown of which is often higher than the point of the arches terminating the lateral cells ; the vaulting-arch is rather obtuse. Neither the piers nor clerestory are very lofty, and there is seldom a triforium. In fact, their interiors are not unlike those of many English churches, with the addition of vaulting. When they are tolerably free from modern decoration, which is too rarely the case, the effect is remarkably good. Of this sort are some of the churches at Avignon ; Villeneuve, on VOL. i. o 194 the opposite side of the Rhone; the middle aisle of the cathedral at Aix in Provence, also another church in the same town ; Salon, between Aix and Arles ; St. Maximin, on the road between Aix and Nice; the museum at Arles (a desecrated church); Tourves; and many others. The out- side is mostly plain ; and, to support the span of the vault, buttresses are used, consisting of an un- broken wall extending over the aisle, where flying buttresses occur in lighter buildings. The but- tresses round the apse are often very deep, and almost without slopes, as in the annexed church, one at Avignon. At Salon, the side-buttresses of the west front slope more than the sides of the gable, giving an effect far from pleasing. The cathedral at Aix in Provence has a rich western porch ; the tower, which stands on the north side, is surmounted by a lofty open octagon, with lancet- arches. The front of St. Pierre at Avignon is rectangular, of great breadth, and flanked with turrets and spires. The door has an ogee canopy ; and the whole has rather a Perpendicular cha- racter. The tower, which has a well-proportioned spire, stands on one side near the east end. The interior is much modernised. In the neighbourhood of the Rhine it is very 195 difficult to mark the distinction between this style and the preceding. The front of Strasburg cathe- dral is certainly not in the Flamboyant style ; and yet the spectator cannot fail to perceive a differ- ence between this and the nave, which is a fine specimen of the Early Complete Gothic. In fact, the German architect seems at an early period to have combined the sharp-edged mouldings of the one with the geometrical tracery of the other, and thus to have produced a peculiar and very pleasing kind of Transition. The steeple of Frey burg is, I should say, still later (in character) than that of Strasburg. The choir is Flamboyant of a late date, and internally exhibits some of those German peculiarities which detract in a measure from its beauty. Such is the crossing or interpenetration of mouldings at the imposts,* which must have been as laborious in execution as it is poor in effect. This part of the building is, however, imposing in its proportions, and altogether a favourable example of the style as it appears in Germany. Oppenheim church may also be considered as belonging rather to a Transition between the two * An impost of this description is given in the 3d plate of Mr. Willis’s “ Remarks,” No. XIV. 196 styles, than wholly to either. Such Transition, as we have observed, if the styles are of equal excel- lence, may rival both : undoubtedly it does so in the present instance. The Liebfraukirche, near Worms, has a west front that might be referred to the Late Gothic. It has two octagonal towers, rather light than massive* The church has transepts and a poly- gonal apse, but no central tower. Heidelberg church has a lofty western tower, finished with an octagon, and a large heavy roof comprising the aisles. Frankfort cathedral has a similar roof ; but its transepts and bold apsidal choir, though with- out any central tower, give it a more varied outline. The western tower, which is rich, though un- finished, is one of the latest specimens of Gothic. Indeed, the use of a round cupola at the top, though intended, as we see in Moller’s Denkmahler , to be crowned with a spire, is a decided symptom of debasement. Berne and Freyburg in Switzerland have both handsome churches of this style. The former ex- hibits a Flamboyant of late character, with some peculiarities in the tracery, shewing the style to be drawing near to its close : its general effect is that of our latest Perpendicular. The western tower. 197 which is engaged, and, as well as the aisles, pre- ceded by a plain flat porch level with the projec- tions of the buttresses, is rich, though apparently unfinished. The church has no triforium ; neither are there any transepts nor central lantern. The architect is said to be the son of Erwin von Stein- bach, who built the front of Strasburg minster. Freyburg cathedral has a lofty western octagonal tower, with a capping of pinnacles. The church is without transepts, and somewhat deficient in length. The interior, however, is handsome, and has the triforium gallery. As it is to be hoped no tourist passes through this town without stopping to hear the celebrated organ, the church must be well known. Its western door, as well as that of Berne, is remarkable for its sculpture. Of Late Continental Gothic churches, perhaps those of Holland and Belgium are the finest. The front and steeple of Antwerp cathedral are so well known that it is needless to describe them. The lines of tracery are Flamboyant ; yet no one will hesitate to class this building with our latest Per- pendicular; — the bold projection of the cornices and galleries is a remarkable feature. The interior is fine, from its plainness and the number of its aisles. We have remarked the piers as being 198 without capitals — I cannot think them in this case improved by the omission ; they are clustered, but not with any great depth of effect. The steeple of the Niewe Kerck, at Delft in Holland, is, in its elevation and outline, scarcely inferior to that of Antwerp ; its details, however, are very different in point of richness. It stands, like that of most Dutch churches, at the west end. St. Jaques at Antwerp, the burial-place of Rubens, has a fine though probably unfinished western tower, transepts, and a polygonal choir with aisle : the whole is of great height. The piers are cylindrical, and support well -shaped pointed arches : there is no triforium, but a lofty clerestory with pointed windows. This description will serve for many large churches both in Holland and Belgium. The cathedrals at Ghent, Mechlin, Rotterdam, and Dort, have fine western towers ; St. Nicholas at Ghent, a central one ; St. Gudule at Brussels, two of great richness and good elevation, flanking the west front. Though I have spoken of Flamboyant as per- vading both Germany and Belgium, it must be understood as being very different in character from the French. I could not point out the differ- ' 199 ences without entering more minutely into the subject of detail than I have prepared myself to do ; the student will,, however, find no difficulty in procuring engravings which will assist him, should he wish to pursue the inquiry. One pecu- liarity in Dutch and Flemish architecture seems to be, that the tracery of the windows is of less importance than usual, on account of their beau- tiful proportions. Some windows still retain it, others are stripped of it, and some appear never to have had it at all. This last appears to be the case with the large transept window of St. Jean at Brussels, noticed in a former page ; the choir- windows are lancet, and might be Early English. The west window, also, of St. Nicholas in Ghent is a large undivided one. The magnificent choir of Aix-la-Chapelle has windows without tracery; but a bold feathering runs round the arches of their heads. Indeed, as doors and pier-arches are without foliation, there can be no real incon- sistency in windows without any ; but when they are large, they should have the best proportions that can be given them, and the architrave mould- ings ought to exhibit a good contrast of light and shade. St. Jacques, Liege, is a splendid church in 200 point of ornament,, but of a clearly debased style. Here the pier-arches are foliated ; and there is a double shaft under the spring of the vaulting. Huy cathedral is a fine building, with a large and massive western tower, a smaller northern one between the choir and transept, and an unfinished southern one in a similar position. It has a hand- some western rose-window. The interior is simple and beautiful. The town-halls and domestic build- ings in the Netherlands probably afford the latest specimens of the style in its purity. Before we bid adieu to continental examples of the Late Gothic, we must notice one of the most remarkable specimens in Europe — Milan cathedral. The traveller who estimates the merit of a building by its size, the richness of its work, and the costliness of its material, will pronounce this to be unrivalled ; while many who have formed their ideas of excellence in Gothic architecture upon the models furnished by Germany, France, and England, will condemn it as utterly incon- sistent with the style. I must confess I went to Milan with a disposition to find every possible fault, supposing this cathedral to be a mere sub- stitution of florid magnificence for taste and art ; but I came away impressed with the highest ad~ 201 Whitts miration. I will not say, that some of its defects did not strike me immediately. The pinnacles appear too slender, and the statues that crown them would have been better placed elsewhere ; the splendid flying buttresses are almost lost from 202 their position ; many of the windows are of an unpleasing shape ; and the use of the rose-window, which I could not help thinking would have im- proved the transepts, is unaccountably avoided; the vaulting -arches are heavy, and even clumsy. Of the details of the west front, I say nothing, as they cannot be attributed to the design of any of its Gothic architects. But these failings, serious as they may appear in description, in reality but little affect the whole. In its general proportions, I have no hesitation in pronouncing it superior to most large continental churches I have seen : the relation between the nave, which is of considerable length, the transepts, the choir, and the central octagon, is perfect; the latter, indeed, may not have been improved by its tall pinnacle. The elevations of the transepts are extremely fine, though a rose-window might have added to their beauty : perhaps, however, the low pitch of the gable renders such a form of window unsuitable. The exterior perspective of either side aisle, to a spectator standing near enough to avoid seeing the flying buttresses and clerestories above, is ad- mirable, and truly Gothic. The best view is the north-eastern ; that from the west, which is usually given on account of the large area in front, does 203 the least justice to the design of the original archi- tect. The aisle-buttresses are deep and massive, without slopes ; and the intervening windows tall, and of great beauty. The surface of the walls and buttresses are panelled ; the trefoiled arch and canopy are the prevailing features ; the para- pets are lofty, and of open-work : though some of the windows have geometrical tracery, these, as well as all the rest of the detail, may safely be re- ferred to the Late Gothic. An objection has been made to the small size of the clerestory. Before we fully admit this, let us consider the circumstances of the building. It is essentially an Italian, and not a German church ; and it is built according to Italian ideas and usages. The architect has consulted these in every part of his work: it was his task to unite the grandeur, the appearance of almost unlimited extent, the accurate mechanical arrangement, and the im- posing proportions belonging to the Gothic style, with the peculiarities which then existing Italian churches presented, and which, in compliance with national feeling, it was desirable to preserve. And this may account for the shape of the west front, which has a gable embracing all the aisles, as at S. Michele, S. Pietro, and S. Pantaleone in Pavia, 204 and S. Ambrogio and others in Milan. Now in that sunny climate, the interior of a church was evidently designed to be as gloomy as possible. In some, as we have noticed, the clerestory is wholly omitted ; in others, it is exceedingly small ; and the same effect has been studiously preserved in churches of the Revived Italian, whose gloom, on our entering their doors, contrasts pleasingly with the bright sunshine without, and seems intended to dispose the worshipper to a frame of mind which the glare of a more highly lighted edifice might have failed to produce ; and to remind him of that most beautiful of scriptural images, “ the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” This must have been contemplated by the builder of the splendid fabric now before us. The aisle-windows, though lofty, are as narrow as the nature of the building would permit, and are, moreover, filled with painted glass of the richest and deepest colours : the clere- story is only sufficient to prevent the work in the upper part of the pillars and arches from being lost in darkness ; the piers are surrounded by fine bands of niches just at the spring of the arch, and which occupy the same position, in reference to the eye of the spectator, with the triforium in the generality of cathedrals. They seem intended to 205 VJHIMRER* stand out in bold relief against the vault of the church, so as to increase its apparent height, and deepen its gloom ; an effect aided by an artifice un- worthy of so vast, and in reality so simple a struc- ture, — the imitation in fresco of intricate tracery between the ribs of the vaulting. The pendentives 206 of the central octagon are rather of the Byzantine than the Romanesque description, having concave slopes supporting the diagonals. As there are two aisles on each side, the vast number of similar pil- lars with their rich crowns of Gothic work, and, above all, their equality (for the four central ones under the dome are scarce perceptibly larger than the others) ; the great width of the nave ; the height of the vaulting -arch, which is acutely pointed ; and the length of the whole church, — render this the most imposing interior that can be conceived ; in some respects excelling those whose greater variety of parts and details tends to distract rather than tranquillise the mind of the spectator. We will now return to our English Perpendi- cular. This may be said to bear a sort of analogy to the Early Geometrical Gothic, however different in appearance. For as the one obtains richness by the repetition and reduplication of circles and figures composed of circular arcs, so the other effects it by the repetition of upright lights, or compartments in panelling. Between the two comes the Flowing Decorated; as beautiful, but as transient, as the flowers whose outline it loves to imitate : transient, 1 say, in its very nature. 207 from the difficulty of the task it imposes upon the designer and workman. The principle of repeti- tion is in a great measure abandoned; the artist is thrown upon his own resources for variety, and hence, in many cases, contents himself with a meagre, naked, and unornamented style, such as the Decorated of our village churches sometimes presents ; or else, in his pursuit after novelty, falls upon the intricate and unsuitable combinations of the later Flamboyant, and utterly confuses the design he is attempting to enrich. The introduc- tion of the perpendicular line saved the English Gothic from debasement. When it was discovered how ornament might be multiplied, to an almost indefinite extent, upon a system the most simple and easily understood, and, above all, the most in accordance with the known principles of Gothic architecture, — an important step was taken in the art, and one to which we are indebted, not only for some of the finest buildings we already possess, but, if I mistake not, for the hope of a revived style; for till we are content to take up our na- tional architecture at the point where our ancestors left it, before it became thoroughly debased, we shall be wandering, as it were, without a clue or 208 guide, and losing ourselves in the vain attempt to combine incongruous elements. A great advantage which results from this in- creased use of the vertical line, is a much freer application of the horizontal. The square-headed window, filled with flowing tracery, was sometimes used in the Decorated English ; but this was done sparingly, and in cases of necessity : and though we occasionally find a transom in a decorated window, it is a very unusual feature : in the Per- pendicular style it becomes universal ; and by its means, windows are carried to an extraordinary height, without the least appearance either of dis- proportion or insecurity. Those in the central tower, choir, and east end of York minster are fine examples. But this style appears to the greatest advantage in the finish of towers. We know how the Ger- mans avoided the horizontal line in that part of the structure. The sides of a tower or octagon often terminated in gables ; and the whole was sur- mounted by a dome or spire, which was of wood, if the substructure was not capable of bearing one of stone. In the Perpendicular English, on the contrary, the tower was boldly finished with the 209 horizontal line ; broken, it is true, with the em- battled parapet, and varied with pinnacles, but still without disguise or concealment ; for it was felt to form an excellent contrast with the vertical lines of the edifice. The square tower, with its capping of battlements and pinnacles (I cannot name a better example than that of Magdalen College, Oxford), is one of the noblest features of Gothic architecture, and is peculiarly our own : nor is it confined to one class of buildings ; the town, the village, the episcopal city, alike boast it as their chief ornament. It admits of every degree of plainness or richness, and appears to have been in general use from the Late Decorated to the very extinction of Gothic. The Perpendicular is decidedly the most ap- propriate style when it is expedient to use a low- pitched gable and flat wooden roof. I do not say that the Flowing Decorated is inadmissible, as the timber roof was probably employed at an early date ; but it cannot be denied, that the sharp arch and flame-like tracery of the Decorated and Flam- boyant are generally better combined with the high gable and pointed vault. Perpendicular buildings of the highest beauty are to be found in great variety and abundance VOL. i. p 210 in every part of England. I may name, — the front of Beverley minster, an exquisite specimen ; the lantern and choir of York ; the church of Newcastle in Northumberland, with its elegant flying spire ; Louth in Lincolnshire ; the tower of Boston, with its light and beautiful octagon ; Don- caster, Wrexham, Gresford, Evesham, Coventry; Wolverhampton, and Penkridge in Staffordshire ; the tower of All Saints’, Derby ; the rich tower of Gloucester cathedral, with its open pinnacles, imitated in many of the churches in Somersetshire ; Fairford in Gloucestershire; Bath abbey; Edding- ton church in Wiltshire — a small, but pure and beautiful example; St. George’s, Windsor; King’s chapel, Cambridge ; St. Peter’s, Norwich ; Laven- ham, Woodbridge, Bury, Framlingham, and many other churches in Suffolk ; the towers of Bright- lingsea and Dedham in Essex ; St. Neot’s in Hunt- ingdonshire ; Tenterden and Cranbrook in Kent ; and the nave, towers, and transepts of Canterbury cathedral. It now only remains to add a few suggestions as to the choice of a style for practical purposes. The Grecian seems improper for a church, on several accounts. Many have objected, and not un- reasonably, to adopting the model of a pagan temple 211 in the construction of a Christian place of worship ; and the more so, as Gothic may be called essen- tially a Christian style, both in its date and appli- cation. The Grecian is so universally applied to secular purposes, and, as far as we seem acquainted with it, admits of so little variety, that it is almost impossible to give a sacred building the peculiar character which ought to mark its destination. I have already mentioned the difficulty of designing a suitable interior, to which also may be added, that of annexing a proper belfry to the church. The Roman, or revived Italian, though grounded on inconsistent principles, nevertheless offers some beauties and advantages unattainable in other styles, and in towns will sometimes harmonise the best with surrounding buildings. So many fine churches of this class are to be found, that the architect need never be at a loss for suggestions either as to composition or detail; he should, however, be careful not to lean too much towards the Grecian. If from the study of the German Romanesque, and the simpler specimens of Italian, a pure round- arched style could be formed, it might, perhaps, be made to suit many kinds of arrangement to which no other is exactly adapted. To mature such a 212 style, however, would require much skill and judg- ment : few buildings, if any, exist which could be taken as models without alteration, but many might furnish valuable hints. The architect should lean rather towards Italian than Norman, omitting, at the same time, many characteristics of the former. The external character might in great measure be formed from both German and Lombard buildings ; the internal, chiefly from the former. The Norman and Transition, being incomplete styles, however interesting to the student who marks the progress of architecture, ought not to be selected for imitation ; they will only tie his hands, and debar him from excellences otherwise within his reach. The Early Complete Gothic, whether in the form of advanced Early English, or Geometrical Decorated, should be adopted by no architect who has not a full command of means, not only as re- gards expense, but also the choice of form, plan, and even situation. A building of this style, to speak generally, requires vaulting, deep and bold buttresses, and windows and elevations of the nicest design. The adoption of Early English, on the score of economy, I will contend, against general practice, to be wrong in principle ; that it has 213 already given rise to a class of very mean and meagre buildings, it is impossible to deny. The square tower, with battlements and pinnacles, what- ever be the form of the latter, or of the belfry- windows, can scarcely be considered appropriate in this style. The Flowing Decorated, if worked in its purity, requires nearly the same nicety, and would pro- bably be found very expensive. But all its beauties, not excepting even its tracery, may be retained in the Perpendicular style, which allows the greatest possible latitude to the architect both in outline and detail. And it is manifest, that by adopting a style at the latest period in which it flourished without debasement, we are taking the best ground ; we have the free range of all that has been done, while the wide field of improvement is spread before us. We are restrained in neither direction. It is a self-evident truth, that in the advancement of an art, the later stages command and comprehend all the earlier; and this is most eminently the case with architec- ture. Let us take, for instance, the late Perpen- dicular. This admits the flat wooden roof, the obtuse gable, the four-centred arch, the square- headed window with foliated lights, and the fan- 214 vaulting. It allows all these; but does it restrict us to their use? Far from it; we may adopt a gable as high-pitched as any at Salisbury or Lin- coln — witness the transepts to Canterbury cathe^ dral. We may use the window, with an equilateral, or any other kind of arch — the side-windows of King’s chapel furnish an example. The nave of Winchester and the choir of Gloucester shew how convertible the Norman is into this style ; and in the east end of Beverley it is made to harmonise with Early English. Do we require the low mas- sive tower of our oldest churches ? This is neither an uncommon nor an ungraceful feature in our latest ; the tower of Merton college is quite as massive as that of Tewkesbury church. Will a round arch harmonise with our other lines better than a pointed one ? We are quite at liberty to use it, and can give our authority. Not merely a depressed four -centred arch, but an actually round one, with mullions, occurs at Norbury in Derbyshire, and in other village-churches, of late date, but by no means debased in style. Do we want the long lancet-window ? A trefoiled head fits it for our use. And if more freedom be de- sirable in the tracery of our windows than is obtained by the mere repetition of the vertical 215 light, we may resort without fear to the flowing lines of the Decorated and Flamboyant, or even to the Geometrical. I doubt not we might find authority for almost every combination of De- corated and Perpendicular ; but if not, there is no incongruity which prevents them from being admissible into the best designs. The banded shaft of the Early English is found in the perpendicular pier of Canterbury nave, and the toothed ornament is seen in the mouldings of a Tudor arch at Lichfield. Not that we ought so to transfer the marks and characteristics of one style to another, but we are at full liberty to ap- propriate, by such alteration as may be necessary, any feature that pleases us. We cannot fail to observe, that the lantern of Ely cathedral is an excellent “ translation into Decorated language” of the Romanesque octagon of Germany and Italy ; and the same idea would be expressed still more easily in Perpendicular. But the use that may be made of the combina- tions of a preceding style is most strikingly illus- trated in Freyburg minster. Had the architect designed the whole from its foundation, it is not likely he would have placed two large turrets in the angles of the choir and transepts. This ar- 216 rangement is seldom found in churches of Com- plete Gothic. But having to enlarge upon a Romanesque plan, which, as was common, had a central octagon and two adjacent turrets, he skil- fully took advantage of the latter, and raised upon them beautiful spires of open-work, harmonising with the wonderful steeple at the west end, break- ing the long line of roof, otherwise too formal, and presenting to the eye one of the most pleasing combinations that it is possible to imagine. END OF VOL. i. LONDON : PRINTED BY LEVEY, ROBSON, AND FRANKLYN, Great New Street, Fetter Lane. //o co dt I;. ^ ci d i h ^rto »*- _ IcJ tit $k tr