CHAPTER IX.FRENCH GOTHIC CATHEDRALS.

CONTENTS.

Paris—Chartres—Rheims—Amiens—Other Cathedrals—Later Style—St. Ouen’s, Rouen.

Thegreat difficulty in attempting to describe the architecture of France during the glorious period of the 13th century is really theembarras de richesse. There are even now some thirty or forty cathedrals of the first class in France, all owing their magnificence to this great age. Some of these, it is true, were commenced even early in the 12th, and many were not completed till after the 14th century; but all their principal features, as well as all their more important beauties, belong to the 13th century, which, as a building epoch, is perhaps the most brilliant in the whole history of architecture. Not even the great Pharaonic era in Egypt, the age of Pericles in Greece, nor the great period of the Roman Empire, will bear comparison with the 13th century in Europe, whether we look to the extent of the buildings executed, their wonderful variety and constructive elegance, the daring imagination that conceived them, or the power of poetry and of lofty religious feelings that is expressed in every feature and in every part of them.

During the previous age almost all the greater ecclesiastical buildings were abbeys, or belonged exclusively to monastic establishments—were in fact the sole property, and built only for the use, of the clergy, though the laity, it is true, were admitted to them, but only on sufferance. They had no right to be there, and took no part in the ceremonies performed. In the 13th century, however, almost all the great buildings were cathedrals, in the erection of which the laity bore the greater part of the expense, and shared, in at least an equal degree, in their property and purposes. In a subsequent age the parochial system went far to supersede even the cathedral, the people’s church taking almost entirely the place of the priest’s church, a step which was subsequently carried to its utmost length by the Reformation. Our present subject requires us to fix our attention on that stage of this great movement which gave rise to the building of the principal cathedrals throughout Europe from the 12th to the 15th century.

The transition from the Romanesque to the true pointed Gothic style in the centre of France took place with the revival of the national power under the guidance of the great Abbé Suger, about the year 1144. In England it hardly appeared till the rebuilding of Canterbury Cathedral, under the guidance of a French architect,A.D.1175; and in Germany it is not found till, at all events, the beginning of the 13th century, and can hardly be said to have taken firm root in that country till a century at least after it had been fairly established in France.

The development of particular features will be pointed out as we proceed; but no attempt will be made to arrange the cathedrals and great buildings in chronological order. Such an attempt would merely lead to confusion, as most of them took a century at least to erect—many of them two.

In France, as in England, there is no one great typical building to which we can refer as a standard of perfection—no Hypostyle Hall or Parthenon which combines in itself all the excellences of the style adopted; and we are forced therefore to cull from a number of examples materials for the composition, even in imagination, of a perfect whole. Germany has in this respect been more fortunate, possessing in Cologne Cathedral an edifice combining all the beauties ever attempted to be produced in pointed Gothic in that country. But even this is only an imitation of French cathedrals, erected by persons who admired and understood the details of the style, but were incapable of appreciating its higher principles. The great cathedrals of Rheims, Chartres, and Amiens, are all early examples of the style, and as they were erected nearly simultaneously, none of their architects were able to profit by the experience obtained in the others; they are consequently all more or less experiments in a new and untried style. The principal parts of the church of St. Ouen at Rouen, on the contrary, are of somewhat too late a date; and beautiful though it is, masonic perfection was then coming to be more considered than the expression either of poetry or of power.

Still in Rheims Cathedral we have a building possessing so many of the perfections and characteristic beauties of the art, that it may almost serve as a type of the earlier style, as St. Ouen may of the later; and though we may regret the absence of the intermediate steps, except in such fragments as the Sainte Chapelle at Paris, still between them we may obtain a tolerably clear idea of the form to which French art aspired during its most flourishing age.

To avoid as far as may be possible the tediousness of repetition necessary if the attempt were made to describe each building separately, and at the same time not to fall into the confusion that must result from grouping the whole together, the most expedient mode will perhaps be, to describe first the four great typical cathedrals ofParis, Chartres, Rheims, and Amiens, and then to point out briefly the principal resemblances and differences between these and the other cathedrals of France.

620. Plan of Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris. (From Chapuy, ‘Moyen-Âge Monumental.’) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

Of these four, that of Paris is the oldest; the foundation-stone having been laid 1163, and the work carried on with such activity by the bishop, Maurice de Sully, that the high altar was dedicated 1182, the interior completed 1208, and the west front finished about the year 1214.

The history of the cathedral of Chartres (Woodcut No.623) is not so easily traced. An important church was erected there by Bishop Fulbert in the beginning of the 11th century, of which building scarcely anything now remains but the piers of the western doors and the vast crypt. In 1115, according to Mr. Street,[36]a west front was commenced and in 1194 the whole church was destroyed by fire. The new cathedral was at once commenced, but upon the old foundations. As the old crypt sustained no damage and it extended the whole length of the church, the architect was obliged to build on the old lines, and thus we have, as Mr. Street points out, a variation in the chapels of the chevet which is extremely original and unlike any other example. The rebuilding was not completed till the year 1260.

The cathedral of Rheims (Woodcut No.624) was commenced in the year 1211, immediately after a fire which consumed the preceding building, and under the auspices of Archbishop Alberic de Humbert,—Robert de Coucy acting as trustee on the part of the laity. It was so far completed in all essential parts as to be dedicated in 1241.

Amiens Cathedral (Woodcut No.625) was commenced in 1220, and completed in 1257; but being partially destroyed by fire the year afterwards, the clerestory and all the upper parts of the church were rebuilt. The whole appears to have been completed, nearly as we nowfind it, about the year 1272. From this period to the building of the choir of St. Ouen, at Rouen, 1318-1339, there is a remarkable deficiency of great examples in France. The intermediate space is very imperfectly filled by the examples of St. Urbain at Troyes, St. Benigne at Dijon, and a few others. These are just sufficient to show how exquisite the style then was, and what we have lost by almost all the cathedrals of France having been commenced simultaneously, and none being left in which the experience of their predecessors could be made available.

Though the plans of these cathedrals differ to some extent, their dimensions are very nearly the same; that at—

These dimensions, though inferior to those of Cologne, Milan, Seville, and some other exceptional buildings, are still as large as those of any erected in the Middle Ages.

621. Section of Side Aisles, Cathedral of Paris. (From Gailhabaud, ‘Architecture.’) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.

Original Design | Improved Design622. External Elevation, Cathedral of Paris. (From Gailhabaud.)

The cathedral of Paris was designed at a time when the architects had not obtained that confidence in their own skill which made them afterwards complete masters of the constructive difficulties of the design. As shown in the plan (Woodcut No.620), the points of support are far more numerous and are placed nearer to one another than is usually the case; and as may be seen from the section, instead of two tall storeys, the height is divided into three, and made up, if Imay so express it, of a series of cells built over and beside each, so as to obtain immense strength with a slight expenditure of materials.

623. Plan of Chartres Cathedral. (From Chapuy.) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

It must at the same time be confessed that this result was obtained with a considerable sacrifice of grandeur and simplicity of effect. Even before the building was completed, the architects seem to have become aware of these defects; and as is shown in the woodcut (No.622), the simple undivided windows of the clerestory were cut down so as to give them the greatest possible height, and the roof of the upper gallery made flat to admit of this. Subsequently larger windows were introduced between the buttresses, with a view to obtaining fewer and larger parts, and also of course to admit of larger surfaces for painted glass. With all these improvements the cathedral has not internally the same grandeur as the other three, though externally there is a very noble simplicity of outline and appearance of solidity in the whole design. Internally it still retains, as may be seen from the plan, the hexapartite arrangement in its vaults over the central aisle, and the quadripartite in the side-aisles only. This causes the central vault to overpower those on each side, and makes not only the whole church, but all parts, look much smaller than would have been the case had the roof been cut into smaller divisions, as was always subsequently the case.

624. Plan of Rheims Cathedral. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in. (From Chapuy.)

625. Plan of Amiens Cathedral. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

At Chartres most of these defects were avoided; there is there a simplicity of design and a grandeur of conception seldom surpassed. The great defect of proportion in that building arises from the circumstance that the architect included the three aisles of the old church in the central aisle of the present one. At that time the architects had not attained that daring perfection of execution which afterwards enabled them to carry the vaults to so astonishing a height. At Chartres the proportion of width to height is nearly as 1 to 2, the breadth of the central nave being nearly 50 ft., and the height only 106. With the great length of such buildings found in England such proportions were tolerable, but in the shorter French cathedrals it gives an appearance of depression which is far from being pleasing; and as the painted glass has been almost entirely removed from thenave, a cold glare now pervades the whole, which renders it extremely difficult to form an opinion of the original effect.

626. View of the Façade of the Cathedral at Paris. (From Chapuy.)

Most of those defects were avoided by the builders of the cathedral at Rheims, and nothing can exceed the simple beauty and perfection of the arrangement of the plan, as well as of the general harmony of all the parts. The proportion, both in width and height, of the side-aisles to the central nave, and the absence of side chapels and of any subsequent additions, render the nave one of the most perfect in France. The mode in which the church expands as you approach the choir, and the general arrangement of the eastern part,[37]as shown in the plan (Woodcut No.624), are equally excellent, and are surpassed by no building of the Middle Ages. The piers are perhaps a little heavy, andtheir capitals want simplicity; the triforium is if anything too plain; and at the present day the effect of light in the church is in one respect reversed, inasmuch as the clerestory retains its painted glass, which in the side-aisles has been almost totally destroyed, making the building appear as though lighted from below—an arrangement highly destructive of architectural beauty. Notwithstanding all this, it far surpasses those buildings which preceded it, and is only equalled by Amiens and those completed afterwards. Their superiority however arose from the introduction just at the time of their erection of complicated window-tracery, enabling the builders to dispense almost wholly with solid walls, and to make their clerestories at least one blaze of gorgeous colouring. By the improvement in tracery then introduced, they were able to dispose the glass in the most beautiful forms, and framed in stone, so as to render it, notwithstanding its extent, still an integral part of the whole building. In this respect the great height of the clerestory at Amiens, and its exceeding lightness, give it an immense advantage over the preceding churches, although this is gained at the sacrifice, to a certain extent, of the sober and simple majesty of the earlier examples. There is, nevertheless, so much beauty and so much poetry in the whole effect that it is scarcely fair to apply the cold rules of criticism to so fanciful and fascinating a creation.

Externally the same progress is observable in these four cathedrals as in their interior arrangements. The façade of the cathedral at Paris (Woodcut No.626) is simple in its outline, and bold and majestic in all its parts, and though perhaps a little open to the charge of heaviness, it is admirably adapted to its situation, and both in design and proportion fits admirably to the church to which it is attached. The flanks, too, of the building, as originally designed, must have been singularly beautiful; for, though sadly disfigured by the insertion of chapels, which obliterate the buttresses and deprive it of that light and shade so indispensable to architectural effect, there yet remain a simplicity of outline, and an elegance in the whole form of the building, which have not often been excelled in Gothic structures.

The lower part of the façade at Chartres (Woodcut No.627) is older than that of Paris, and so plain (it might almost be called rude) as hardly to admit of comparison with it; but its two spires, of different ages, are unsurpassed in France. Even in the southern or older of the two, which was probably finished in the 12th century, we find all the elements which were so fully developed in Germany and elsewhere in the following centuries. The change from the square to the octagon, and from the perpendicular part to the sloping sides of the spire, are managed with the most perfect art; and were not the effect it produces destroyed by the elaborate richness of the other spire, it would be considered one of the most beautiful of its class. The newor northern spire was erected by Jean Texier between the years 1507 and 1514, and, notwithstanding the lateness of its date, it must be considered as on the whole the most beautifully designed spire on the continent of Europe; and, though not equal in height,[38]certainly far surpassing in elegance of outline and appropriateness of design those at Strasburg, Vienna, or even Antwerp. If it has rivals it is that at Friburg, or those designed for the cathedral at Cologne; but were its details of the same date, it can hardly be doubted that it would be considered the finest spire of the three.

627. North-west View of the Cathedral at Chartres. (From Chapuy.)

The transepts at Chartres have more projection than those of Paris, and were originally designed with two towers to each, and two otherswere placed one on each side of the choir; so that the cathedral would have had eight towers altogether if completed; but none except the western two have been carried higher than the springing of the roof; and though they serve to vary the outline, they do not relieve, to the extent they might have done, the heavy massiveness of the roof. In other respects the external beauty of the cathedral is somewhat injured by the extreme heaviness of the flying buttresses, which were deemed necessary to resist the thrust of the enormous vault of the central nave; and, though each is in itself a massive and beautiful object, they crowd the clerestory to an inconvenient extent; the effect of which is also somewhat injured by the imperfect tracery of the windows, each of which more resembles separate openings grouped together than one grand and simple window.

628. Buttress at Chartres. (From Batissier, ‘Histoire de l’Art.’)

629. Buttresses at Rheims. (From Chapuy.)

The progress that took place between this building and that at Rheims is more remarkable on the exterior than even in the interior. The façade of that church, though small as compared with some others, was perhaps the most beautiful structure produced during the Middle Ages; and, though it is difficult to institute a rigorous comparison between things so dissimilar, there is perhaps no façade either of ancient or of modern times, that surpasses it in beauty of proportion and details, or in fitness for the purpose for which it was designed. Nothing can exceed the majesty of its deeply-recessed triple portals, the beauty of the rose-window that surmounts them, or the elegance of the gallery that completes the façade and serves as a basement to the light and graceful towers that crown the composition. These were designed to carry spires, no doubt as elegant and appropriate as themselves; but this part of the design was never completed. The beautiful range of buttresses which adorn the flanks of the building are also perhaps the most beautiful in France, and carry the design of the façade back to the transepts. These are late and less ornate than the western front, but are still singularly beautiful, though wanting the two towers designed tocomplete them. On the intersection of the nave with the transepts there rose at one time a spire of wood, probably as high as the intended spires of the western towers, and one still crowns the ridge of the chevet, rising to half the height above the roof that the central one was intended to attain. Were these all complete, we should have the beau ideal externally of a French cathedral, with one central and two western spires, and four towers at the ends of the transepts. All these perhaps never were fully completed in any instance, though the rudiments of the arrangement are found in almost all the principal French cathedrals. In some, as for instance at Rouen, it was carried out in number, though at such different periods and of such varied design as to destroy that unity of effect essential to perfect beauty.

The external effect of Amiens may be taken rather as an example of the defects of the general design of French cathedrals than as an illustration of their beauties. The western façade presents the same general features as those of Paris and Rheims, but the towers are so small in proportion to the immense building behind as to look mean and insignificant, while all the parts are so badly put together as to destroy in a great measure the effect they were designed to produce. The northern tower is 223 ft. high, the southern 205; both therefore are higher than those at York, but instead of being appropriate and beautiful adjuncts to the building they are attached to, they only serve in this instance to exaggerate the gigantic incubus of a roof, 208 ft. in height, which overpowers the building it is meant to adorn.

The same is the case with the central spire, which, though higher than that at Salisbury, being 422 ft. high from the pavement, is reduced from the same cause to comparative insignificance, and is utterly unequal to the purpose of relieving the heaviness of outline for which this cathedral is remarkable. The filling up of the spaces between the buttresses of the nave with chapels prevents the transepts from having their full value, and gives an unpleasing fulness and flatness to the entire design.

All French cathedrals are more or less open to these objections, and are deficient in consequence of that exquisite variety of outline and play of light and shade for which the English examples are so remarkable; but it still remains a question how far the internal loftiness and the glory of their painted glass compensate for these external defects. The truth perhaps would be found in a mean between the two extremes, which has not unfortunately been attained in any one example; and this arises mainly from the fact that, besides the effect of mass or beauty of outline, there were many minor considerations of use or beauty that governed the design. We must consequently look closely at the details, and restore, in imaginationat least, the building in all its completeness, before we can discover how far the general effect was necessarily sacrificed for particular purposes.

What painted glass was to the interior of a French cathedral sculpture was to the exterior. Almost all the arrangements of the façade were modified mainly to admit of its display to the greatest possible extent. The three great cavernous porches of the lower part would be ugly and unmeaning in the highest degree without the sculptures that adorn them. The galleries above are mere ranges of niches, as unmeaning without their statues as the great mullioned windows without their “storeyed panes.” In such lateral porches too, as those for instance at Chartres, the architecture is wholly subordinate to the sculpture; and in a perfect cathedral of the 13th century the buttresses, pinnacles, even the gargoyles, every “coign of vantage,” tells its tale by some image or representation of some living thing, giving meaning and animation to the whole. The cathedral thus became an immense collection of sculptures, containing not only the whole history of the world as then known and understood, but also of an immense number of objects representing the arts and sciences of the Middle Ages. Thus the great cathedrals of Chartres and Rheims even now retain some 5000 figures, scattered about or grouped together in various parts, beginning with the history of the creation of the world and all the wondrous incidents of the 1st chapter of Genesis, and thence continuing the history through the whole of the Old Testament. In these sculptures the story of the redemption of mankind is told as set forth in the New Testament, with a distinctness, and at the same time with an earnestness, almost impossible to surpass. On the other hand ranges of statues of kings of France and other popular potentates carry on the thread of profane history to the period of the erection of the cathedral itself. In addition to these we have interspersed with them, a whole system of moral philosophy, as illustrated by the virtues and the vices, each represented by an appropriate symbol, and the reward or punishment its invariable accompaniment. In other parts are shown all the arts of peace, every process of husbandry in its appropriate season, and each manufacture or handicraft in all its principal forms. Over all these are seen the heavenly hosts, with saints, angels, and archangels. All this is so harmoniously contrived and so beautifully expressed, that it becomes a question even now whether the sculpture of these cathedrals does not excel the architecture.

In the Middle Ages, when books were rare, and those who could read them rarer still, this sculpture was certainly most valuable as a means of popular education; but, as Victor Hugo beautifully expresses it, “Ceci tuera cela: le livre tuera l’Église.” The printing-press hasrendered all this of little value to the present generation, and it is only through the eyes of the artist or the antiquary that we can even dimly appreciate what was actual instruction to the less educated citizens of the Middle Ages, and the medium through which they learned the history of the world, or heard the glad tidings of salvation conveyed from God to man. All this, few, if any, can fully enter into now; but unless it is felt to at least some extent, it is impossible these wonderful buildings can ever be appreciated. In the Middle Ages, the sculpture, the painting, the music of the people were all found in the cathedrals, and there only. Add to this their ceremonies, their sanctity, especially that conferred by the relics of saints and martyrs which they contained—all these things made these buildings all in all to those who erected and to those who worshipped in them.

630. Bay of Nave of Beauvais Cathedral. No scale.

The cathedral of Beauvais is generally mentioned in conjunction with that of Amiens, and justly so, not only in consequence of its local proximity, and from its being so near it in date, but also from a general similarity in style. Beauvais is in fact an exaggeration of Amiens, and shows defects of design more to be expected in Germany than in France. It was commenced five years later than Amiens, or in 1225, and the works were vigorously pursued between the years 1249 and 1267, though the dedication did not take place till 1272. The architects, in their rivalry of their great neighbour, seem to have attempted more than they had skill to perform, for the roof fell in in 1284, and when rebuilt, additional strength was given by the insertion of another pier between every two of those in the old design, which served to exaggerate the apparent height of the pier arches. Emboldened by this, they seem to have determined to carry the clerestory to the unprecedented height of 150 ft., or about three times the width, measuring from the centre of one pier to that of the next. It is difficult to say what the effect might have been had the cathedral beencompleted with a long nave, an acute vault, wide pier-spaces and bold massive supports; possibly however not so sublime as the choir alone is at present, for, owing to its limited floor area, the eye has only to glance aloft and the stupendous height and the magnificent construction produce an effect of splendour and size which is only excelled by that of the great Hall of Karnac and the interior of St. Sophia.[39]The qualities just quoted of the choir would seem to have inspired the builders of later generations, for although the south transept was commenced only in 1500, and the northern one thirty years later, being finished only in 1537, there is a simplicity and grandeur in their treatment which places them far ahead of the contemporary façade of the cathedral of Rouen, built (1509-30) by Cardinal d’Amboise, which is of a most florid character, and looks like a piece of rough rockwork encrusted with images and tabernacles, and ornamented from top to bottom. In 1555 the architects of Beauvais being seized with the desire of rivalling the dome of St. Peter’s at Rome, which was then the object of universal admiration, undertook the construction of a spire on the intersection of the transepts, which they completed in thirteen years, but which stood only five years from that time, having fallen down on the day of the Ascension in the year 1573. This accident so damaged the works under it as to require considerable reconstruction, which is what we now see. This spire, of which the original drawings still exist, was 486 ft. in height; and although, as might be expected from the age in which it was erected, not of the purest design, must still have been a very noble and beautiful object, hardly inferior to that of Chartres, which was built only half a century earlier.

631. Doorway, South Transept, Beauvais. (From Chapuy.)

632. Plan of Cathedral at Noyon. (From Ramée’s ‘Monographie.’) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

Taken altogether, the cathedral of Beauvais may be considered as an example of that “vaulting ambition that o’erleaps itself.” Every principle of Gothic art is here carried to an extreme which tends to destroy the object with which it was designed, and not only partially has caused the ruin of the building and practically prevented its completion, but has run the risk of destroying its artistic effect, so as to make it an example of what should be avoided rather than of what should be followed. It has perhaps that want of repose and solidity which has often been made the reproach of Gothic architecture. And were it not for the perfection of its masonry and the majesty of its size, the additional piers which it was found necessary to insert might be regarded as props applied to prevent its falling, instead of suggesting,as they do, additional strength and insuring durability. There is one example in France in which this danger of carrying the principles of Gothic art to its extreme is painfully evident. The church of St. Urbain of Troyes, mentioned farther on, p.155, and the choir of which has just been restored (1891) and filled with modern stained glass, resembles more an ephemeral construction in iron and glass, a sort of mediæval crystal palace, than one in which the solid construction of its masonry should give repose and a sense of solidity and strength.

633. Spires of Laon Cathedral. (From Dusomerard.)

The cathedral of Noyon is an earlier example, and one of the best and most elegant transition specimens in France, having been commenced about the year 1137, and completed, as we now see it, in 1167. Here the circular arch had not entirelydisappeared, which was owing to its early date, and to its situation near the German border, and its connection with the see of Tournay, with which it was long united. Like the sister church of that place, it was triapsal, which gave it great elegance of arrangement. The one defect of this form seems to be, that it does not lend itself easily to the combination of towers which were then so much in vogue.

In singular contrast to this is the neighbouring cathedral of Laon, one of the very few in France which have no chevet. It terminateswith a square east end, like an English church, except that it has there a great circular window only, instead of the immense wall of glass usually adopted in this country. In style it more resembles the cathedral of Paris than any other, though covering less ground and smaller in all its features. Its great glory is its crowning group of towers. The two western (with the exception of their spires) and the two at the end of the northern transept are complete. On the southern side only one has been carried to its full height, and the central lantern is now crowned by a low pyramidal roof instead of the tall spire that must once have adorned it; but even as they now are, the six that remain, whether seen from the immediate neighbourhood of the building or from the plain below—for it stands most nobly on the flat top of a high isolated hill—have a highly picturesque and pleasing effect, and notwithstanding the rudeness of some of its details, and its deficiency in sculpture, it is in many respects one of the most interesting of the cathedrals of France.

634. View of Cathedral at Coutances. (From ‘Transactions of Institute of British Architects.’)

One of the earliest of the complete pointed Gothic churches ofFrance is that of Coutances (Woodcut No.634), the whole of which belongs to the first half of the 13th century, and though poor in sculpture, makes up for this to some extent by the elegance of its architectural details, which are unrivalled or nearly so in France.

Externally it possesses two western spires, and one octagonal lantern over the intersection of the nave and transept, which, both for beauty of detail and appropriateness, is the best specimen of its class, and only wants the crowning spire to make this group of towers equal to anything on this side of the channel.

Notre Dame de Dijon is another example of the same early and elegant age, but possessing the Burgundian peculiarity of a deeply recessed porch or narthex, surmounted by a façade of two open galleries, one over the other, exactly in the manner of the churches of Pisa and Lucca of the 11th and 12th centuries, of which it may be considered an imitation. It is, however, as unsatisfactory in pointed Gothic, even with the very best details, as it is in the pseudo-classical style of Pisa, forming in either case a remarkably unmeaning mode of decoration.

635. Lady Chapel, Auxerre. (From Chapuy.)

The cathedrals of Sens and Auxerre are pure examples of pointed architecture. The latter (A.D.1213) internally rivals perhaps even Coutances. Nothing can be more elegant than the junction of the lady chapel here with the chevet; for though this is almost always pleasingly arranged, the design has been unusually successful in this instance. The two slender shafts, shown in the Woodcut No.635, just suffice to give it pre-eminence and dignity, without introducing any feature so large as to disturb the harmony of the whole.

In the great church of St. Quentin, the five chapels of the chevet have each two pillars, arranged similarly to these of the lady chapel at Auxerre; and though the effect is rich and varied, the result is not quite so happy as in this instance. Taken altogether, however, few chevets in France are more perfect and beautiful than this almost unknown example.

The cathedral of Troyes, commenced in 1206, and continued steadily for more than three centuries, is one of the few in France, designed originally with five aisles and a range of chapels. The effect, however, is far from satisfactory. The great width thus given makes the whole appear low, and the choir wants that expansion and dignity which isso pleasing at Rheims and Chartres. Still the details and design of the earlier parts are good and elegant; and the west front (Woodcut No.637), though belonging wholly to the 16th century, is one of the most pleasing specimens of flamboyant work in France, being rich without exuberance, and devoid of the bad taste that sometimes disfigures works of this class and age.

The cathedral at Soissons is one of the most pleasing of all these churches. Nothing can surpass the justness of the proportions of the central and side aisles both in themselves and to one another. Though the church is not large, and principally of that age—the latter half of the 13th century—in which the effect depended so much on painted glass, now destroyed or disarranged, it still deserves a place in the first rank of French cathedrals.

636. Plan of Cathedral at Troyes. (From Arnaud, ‘Voyage dans le Département de l’Aube.’) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

The two cathedrals of Toul and Tours present many points of great beauty, but their most remarkable features are their western façades, both of late date, each possessing two towers terminating in octagonal lanterns, with details verging on the style of the Renaissance, and yet so Gothic in design and so charmingly executed as almost to induce the belief, in spite of the fanciful extravagance which it displays, that the architects were approaching to something new and beautiful when the mania for classical details overtook them.

The two cathedrals of Limoges and Dijon belong to the latter half of the 13th century, and will consequently when better known fill a gap painfully felt in the history of the art.

637. Façade of Cathedral at Troyes. (From Arnaud.)

It would be tedious to enumerate all the great cathedrals of the country, or to attempt to describe their peculiarities; but we must notomit all mention of such as Lisieux, remarkable for its beautiful façade, and Evreux, for the beauty of many of its parts, though the whole is too much a patchwork to produce an entirely pleasing effect. Nevers, too, is remarkable as being one of the only two double-apse cathedrals in France, Besançon being the other. At Nevers this was owing to the high altar having been originally at the west, a defect felt to be intolerable in France in the 16th century, when the church was rebuilt, when it was done without destroying the old sanctuary. Bordeaux, already mentioned for its noble nave without aisles, possesses a chevet worthy of it, and two spires of great beauty at the ends of the transepts, the only spires so placed, I think, in France. Autun has a spire on the intersection of the nave with the transepts as beautiful as anything of the same class elsewhere. The cathedral of Lyons is interesting, as showing how hard it was for the Southern people of France to shake off their old style and adopt that of their Northern neighbours. With much grandeur and elegance of details, it is still soclumsy in design, that neither the whole nor any of its parts can be considered as satisfactory. The windows, for instance, as shown in the woodcut (No.638), look more like specimens of the so-called carpenter’s Gothic of modern times than examples of the art of the Middle Ages.

There still remains to be mentioned the cathedral at Rouen. This remarkable building possesses parts belonging to all ages, and exhibits most of the beauties, as also, it must be confessed, most of the defects of each style. It was erected with a total disregard to all rule, yet so splendid and so picturesque that we are almost driven to the wild luxuriance of nature to find anything to which we can compare it. Internally its nave, though rich, is painfully cut up into small parts. The undivided piers of the choir, on the contrary, are too simple for their adjuncts. Externally, the transept towers are beautiful in themselves, but are overpowered by the richness of those of the west front. The whole of that façade, in spite of the ruin of some of its most important features, and the intrusion of much modern vulgarity, may be called a romance in stone, consisting as it does of a profusion of the most playful fancies. Like most of the cathedrals near our shores, that of Rouen was designed to have a central spire; this, however, was not completed till late in the cinque-cento age, and then only in vulgar woodwork, meant to imitate stone. That being destroyed, an attempt has lately been made to replace it by still more vulgar iron-work, leaner and poorer than almost anything else of modern times.

638. Window of Cathedral at Lyons. (From Peyrée’s ‘Manuel de l’Architecture.’)

639. Plan of Cathedral at Bazas. (From Lamothe.[40]) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

In the preceding pages, all mention of the cathedrals of Bazas and Bourges has been purposely omitted, because they belong to a different type from the above. The first (Woodcut No.639) is one of the most perfect specimens of the pureGothic style in the South of France. Its noble triple portal, filled with exquisite sculpture, and its extensive chevet, make it one of the most beautiful of its class. It shows no trace of a transept,—a peculiarity, as before pointed out, by no means uncommon in the South. This, though a defect in so far as external effect is concerned, gives great value to the internal dimensions, the appearance of length being far greater than when the view is broken by the intersection of the transept.

640. Plan of Cathedral at Bourges. (From Girardot, ‘Description de la Cathédrale.’) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

This is still more striking at Bourges, where the cathedral, though one of the finest and largest in France, covering 73,170 square feet, is still one of the shortest, being only 405 ft. in extreme length; yet, owing to the central aisle being wholly unbroken, it appears one of the longest, as it certainly is one of the most majestic of all. This cathedral possesses also another Southern peculiarity of more questionable advantage, in having five aisles in three different heights. The section (Woodcut No.640) will explain this. The central aisle is 117 ft. in height, those next to it 66 ft. high, the two outer only 28. These last appear to destroy the harmony of the whole, for on an inspection of the building, the outer aisles do not appear to belong to the design, but look more like afterthoughts. At Milan, Bologna, and other places in Italy, where this gradation is common, this mistake is avoided, and the effect proportionably increased; and except that this arrangement does not admit of such large window spaces, in other respects it is not quite clear that, where double aisles are used, it would not always be betterthat they should be of different heights. This arrangement of the aisles was never again fairly tried in France; but even as it is, the cathedral of Bourges must rank after the four first mentioned as the finest and most perfect of the remaining edifices of its class in that country. It is singularly beautiful in its details, and happy in its main proportions; for owing to the omission of the transept, the length is exquisitely adapted to the other dimensions. Had a transept been added, at least 100 ft. of additional length would have been required to restore the harmony; and though externally it would no doubt have gained by such an adjunct, this gain would not have been adequate to the additional expense so incurred.

Back to Index Next