Plan of Cologne CathedralPlan of Cologne Cathedral
To the third period of Gothic architecture in Germany belong Ulm Cathedral, which has a nave of exceptional height; the unfinished Church of S. Barbara at Kullenberg, with a very picturesque chevet, the exterior of which is most lavishly decorated, and a steeply pitched roof of unusual height, with soaring towers and pinnacles; S. Catherine at Oppenheim, the over ornate complex decorative carvings of which are specially typical; and the parish Church of Thaun, the western portal of which is remarkably fine.
With these ecclesiastical buildings may be named the town halls of Lübeck, Brunswick, Münster, and other German towns, which, though they are neither so beautiful or so characteristic as those of Belgium, are of noble and symmetrical proportions, whilst a word of recognition must also be given to the beautiful domestic architecture of Germany, especially that of Prague, Nuremberg, and Frankfort all rich in survivals of mediæval times.
Gothic architecture in England and Scotland followed to some extent the same lines as in France, with, however, certain notable differences that were the outcome of the national feeling which had begun to make itself felt as early as the close of the 11th century. Until then the Normans had remained a distinct and alien element in what appeared to them a foreign land, but now they had become fused with the natives of that land, sharing their æsthetic as well as their political aspirations. The note of change was first sounded in the architecture of the now united races in a rebellion against the heavy massiveness of the Norman style, and a desire for a greater redundancy of what may be called structural decoration in place of extraneous surface ornamentation. The general proportions of buildings gradually became slenderer, the wallsloftier, the windows longer, the piers and columns slighter, and the arches more pointed, these peculiarities becoming more and more accentuated as time went on, till they culminated in the noble and exquisitely beautiful cathedrals and churches that vied even with the best of those of Northern France.
Early English Lancet WindowEarly English Lancet Window
Early English WindowEarly English Window
It is usual to divide the development of English Gothic architecture into three periods: the Early English, the Decorated, and the Perpendicular—the first prevailing from about 1189 to 1307, the second from the latter date to 1380, and the third from 1380 to 1485, whilst the name of Tudor has been given to the transitional time between the last phase of Gothic and the introduction of the Renaissance style, lasting from 1485 to about 1546. It must, however, be added that hardly any buildings exist belonging entirely to one period, architects having in almost every case been compelled to be content with adding to or modifying the work of their predecessors.
Early English CapitalEarly English Capital
Amongst the characteristics of Early English architecture are groined vaulting with main diagonal ribs only, long narrow lancet-headed windows, clustered piers with capitals consisting generally of delicately carved foliage, pointed arcading, the archivolt or arched portion enriched with mouldings, in which the ornament known as the dog-tooth is of frequent occurrence, ornate yet dignified western façades with deeply recessed doorways decorated with slender columns and beautiful bas-reliefs, high-pitched roofs with stilted gable ends, lofty towers and spires, and plain buttresses ranged in pairs at the angles of buildings.
Early English Capital, Early English Capital, Base of Early English Pillar
The Early English lancet window has a unique significancein the development of Gothic architecture this side of the Channel, for it inaugurated an important structural change, its constantly increasing length aiding greatly in the breaking up of the triple division of walls—supposed by some to have been emblematic of the Holy Trinity—with arcading, triforium, and clerestory. By slow degrees the triforium was first reduced to a mere decorative feature, and then eliminated altogether, whilst the clerestory usurped its place in addition to its own.
Capitals of Early English Clustered PillarCapitals of Early English Clustered Pillar
In Decorated buildings the windows are larger and divided into a greater number of lights than in Early English, the heads being filled with tracery of geometrical design; the façades are more complicated and at the same time less effective, the towers and spires are loftier and supplemented by many pinnacles and finials, flying buttresses are multiplied; parapets with pierced openings, canopied niches containing figures and other purely decorative features give to the exteriors a great richness of general appearance. In the interiors the simple Early English vaulting is superseded by roofs divided into a great number of different compartments, the points of intersection being marked by stone bosses or masses of carving, whilst increased lavishness of decoration characterises every portion of the building,mouldings of a great variety, amongst which the ballflower is of frequent occurrence, being introduced wherever possible.
Early English OrnamentsEarly English Ornaments
Early English OrnamentsEarly English Ornaments
In Perpendicular Gothic, as its name implies, the vertical tendency became ever more and more marked; towers, spires, and pinnacles became more and more numerous, all decreasing in bulk and increasing in height. Turrets with many airy finials, springing from flying buttresses that were adorned with figures of lions, dragons, and other symbolic creatures, rise above equally ornate parapets, the dignified single-centred arch was replaced by a four-centred form, and rectilinear lines superseded the beautifully flowing tracery of earlier windows. It was, however, the complex and exquisitely delicate groined roofing that chiefly characterised the Perpendicular style, lending to the interior of the buildings in which it was employed an ethereal charm that has never been surpassed. In the so-called fan-tracery roof, that was the culmination of this distinctive form of vaulting, the entire surface of the roof is covered with radiating ribs resembling the sections of an outspread fan, connected by bands of trefoil or quatrefoil ornament known as cusping, and, in some cases—notably in that of Henry VII's chapel at Westminster—with pendant stalactite ornaments drooping fromthe point of intersection of the groins. In some Perpendicular buildings, as in the Churches of S. Stephen and S. Peter's Mancroft at Norwich, ornate open timber roofs, enriched with beautiful carving, take the place of those of stone, and in the final or Tudor phase of the style such roofs, to which the name of hammer beam has been given, and of which those of Wolsey's Great Hall at Hampton Court and of Westminster Hall are good examples, were almost as elaborate as the fan-tracery variety. Characteristic features of secular Tudor buildings are the extensive use of panelling, the bow or projecting window rising direct from the ground, the oriel window or window supported by a corbel of stone often finely carved, battlements with open tracery work and richly decorated gables, fine specimens of all of which are to be seen at Hampton Court Palace.
Early English Dog-tooth OrnamentEarly English Dog-tooth Ornament
Early English ArcadingEarly English Arcading
Early English Doorway, Westminster AbbeyEarly English Doorway,Westminster Abbey
One of the earliest Gothic structures in England is the choir of Canterbury Cathedral, designed by the Burgundian Williams of Sens, which recalls in general style certain contemporaneousFrench ecclesiastical buildings. Foreign influence is also noticeable in the somewhat later Ripon and Chichester Cathedrals, but by the beginning of the 13th century English Gothic had freed itself almost entirely from the trammels of French traditions, and started forward on the path from which it never deviated, combining a consummate mastery of structural principles and an unwearying attention to detail with a unity of expression that makes an English Gothic church or cathedral an ideal reflection of the spirit of the age which witnessed its erection.
Plan of Salisbury CathedralPlan of Salisbury Cathedral
The Cathedrals of Wells, Lincoln, and Salisbury, the choir of Ely Cathedral, and the choir, transepts, and part of thecloisters and other details of Westminster Abbey, are typical examples of the Early English phase of Gothic. The first named especially is unrivalled in the symmetry of its general proportions and the richness and appropriateness of its decorations. Its western façade rivals that of Amiens Cathedral in the restrained dignity of its general design, the delicacy of its decorative arcading, and the number and variety of its finely sculptured figures. The central tower, though its upper portion belongs to the Decorated period, harmonises well with the rest of the exterior, whilst the interior is truly a poem in stone, with the long perspective of the nave flanked by graceful arches, springing from clustered piers with capitals of exquisitely carved foliage, noble triforia and clerestories, and a simple arched vaulting of intersecting ribs. The transepts, that are of earlier date than the nave, serve as a kind of introduction to it, and in the choir the transition from Early English to Decorated Gothic can be well studied, the western portion dating from the 12th and the eastern from the 13th century.
Decorated Window Decorated Pinnacle, Decorated Capital
Though the exterior of Lincoln Cathedral is of a somewhat hybrid character, the towers and doorways of the west front being Norman, the arcading and decorative sculpture Early English, and the central tower Decorated, the general effect is grand and impressive. The interior, though not quite so ornate as that of Wells, is almost as beautiful, the great rose windows being specially noteworthy features. The so-called Angel Choir, which has a very fine triforium, is a gem of Early English work, and the three 15th century chapels adjoining it are equally characteristic of Perpendicular Gothic.
The beautiful Early English choir of Ely Cathedral contrasts forcibly with the noble Norman nave, and the so-called Galilee Porch is one of the finest examples of the first phase of Gothic in the country, but the exterior of the building has beenalmost entirely rebuilt, the great central tower, which fell in 1322, having been replaced by the present one in the Decorated phase of Gothic. The Early English portions of Westminster Abbey closely resemble the other examples of the style just quoted, though the bays of the choir are not so well proportioned as those of Lincoln. Before the 15th century additions to Salisbury Cathedral and the sweeping away of the statues and other sculptures that adorned its west front, it must have been almost as typical as that of Lincoln or of Wells of the Early English style, and it still remains, in its rectangular plan and square eastern termination, a true representative of the ideals of native architects.
Decorated Ball Flower OrnamentDecorated Ball Flower Ornament
The transepts of York Minster, in one of which is the famous window with lancet-headed lights, known as the Five Sisters, is a good example of the transition from Early English to Decorated Gothic, and the same may be said of portions of the ruins of Hexham Abbey, the Saxon crypt of which has already been referred to, notably of the transepts with windows resembling those of York Minster, and of the many relics of the noble monastic buildings of Yorkshire, including those at Ripon, Jervaulx, Rivaulx, and Whitby. The Cathedral of Glasgow is another beautiful building in the first phase of Gothic, the choir, beneath which is a noble crypt of earlier date, being especially fine, and with it must be named the ruins of the great abbey churches of Kelso, Jedburgh, and Dryburgh, that have distinctive Norman as well as Early English details.
The first half of the 14th century was the golden age of English architecture, during which the Decorated gradually grew out of the Early English style, the two being in many cases so completely merged in each other that no break is discernible. The foundations of a truly national style had been laid in the Cathedrals of Wells and of Lincoln, in which originality of design was combined with consummate technical skill of execution, and in the buildings that succeeded them, architect and craftsmen still worked together in completeharmony. The wealth of imagination of the latter found its best expression in emphasising the structural lines of the noble conceptions of the former; niches, with their figures, cusping, finials and crockets, ball flowers and bosses, all becoming essential details of one harmonious whole.
The nave and choir of Exeter Cathedral are especially typical of Decorated architecture at its best. They rise from the foundations of an earlier church, of which the Norman towers above the transepts are relics, and are absolutely unsurpassed in the simple dignity of the arcading spanning the clustered piers, the exquisite beauty of the groined roofing, the bosses of which are decorated with delicate carvings of a great variety of subjects, and the fine tracery of the windows. Unfortunately the general effect of the exterior, in spite of the fine Norman towers and the beauty of the decorative sculpture of the west front, is inferior to that of the interior, a 15th century porch harmonising ill with the earlier work, whilst breadth is too great for the height of the building.
Decorated SteepleDecorated Steeple
Other good examples of Decorated Gothic are the Church of St. Mary, Oxford, with a very fine spire; the nave and chapter-house of York Minster, which has a very beautiful window at the western end, the flowing tracing of which is specially distinctive of the style; the choir of Lichfield Cathedral, which has, however, certain Early English details; the choir of Carlisle Cathedral, with an exceptionally beautiful eastern window of nine lights with elaborate tracery; the Lady Chapel of Wells Cathedral; the crypt, all that is left of St. Stephen's, Westminster, now used as a chapel of the Houses of Parliament, the lantern tower of Ely Cathedral; the ruins of Tintern and Battle Abbeys, with those of Melrose Abbey, which has also characteristic Perpendicular features. To the same period as these ecclesiastical buildings belong the Round Tower at Windsor, the Hall of the Bishop's Palace at Wells, Conway, Caernarvon, and Chepstow Castles, all recalling Norman domestic architecture in the general massiveness of their structure, that is relieved by the comparative lightness of such details as the doors and windows.
Unfortunately the second half of the 14th century was marked by a tendency to destroy or obliterate the characteristic details of Early English and Decorated buildings, anotable example of which is Gloucester Cathedral, the beautiful eastern apse of which was pulled down, whilst the piers and walls of the rest of the building were concealed as much as possible, the barbarism being, it must be owned, atoned for to some extent by the addition of a noble eastern window in the Perpendicular style. The nave of Westminster Abbey, on the other hand, begun just after the restoration of Gloucester Cathedral was completed, harmonises well with the earlier choir, and may be quoted, with the choir of York Minster and the naves of Canterbury and Winchester Cathedrals, as examples of the transition from the Decorated to the Perpendicular styles. To the final phase of the latter belong Beverley Minster, the Cathedral of Chester, and the Abbey Church at Bath, the western façades of all of which are very fine, but it was in Henry VII's Chapel, Westminster Abbey, King's College Chapel, Cambridge, and St. George's Chapel, Windsor, with those of Holyrood and Roslyn in Scotland, that the style reached its fullest development. That development was, alas, however, all too soon followed by a decadence that was ushered in by an employment of too lavish and often meaningless ornamentation which had nothing to do with structural necessities.
Hammer Beam RoofHammer Beam Roof
Perpendicular RoofingPerpendicular Roofing
Westminster Chapel, in addition to the characteristic fan-tracery roof already referred to, has an exceptionally beautiful chevet with five apsidal chapels, a finely vaulted nave, aisles, and cloisters, in which Decorated and Perpendicular details are harmoniously combined. King's College Chapel, Cambridge, and St. George's, Windsor, are both entirely in the Perpendicular style, whilst the Scotch examples quoted above are specially noticeable for the contrast their massive pillars and arcades present to the airy lightness of their vaulting.
Perpendicular WindowPerpendicular Window
Perpendicular NichePerpendicular Niche
Less important Perpendicular ecclesiastical buildings are the parish churches of Blakeney and Cley in Norfolk, the former with a specially fine east window, the latter unfortunately almost in ruins, but notable on account of the beauty of the decorative carving; the parish church of Fairford, Gloucestershire, the stained glass windows of which are amongst the finest in England; and Christ Church College, Oxford, in which town, by the way, Gothic traditions lingered longer than anywhere else in England.
CorbelCorbel
Notable secular buildings in the latest phase of English Gothic are Westminster Hall, and the earlier portions of Hampton Court Palace, whilst Longleat Palace, Wiltshire, and Christ Church Hall, Oxford, with a fine open timber roof, are good examples of the transition from the Gothic to the Renaissance styles, the general plans belonging to the former and the decorative details being Italian in feeling.
The term Renaissance, signifying revival, has been given to the style which succeeded the Gothic. It was, to a great extent, a reversion to classic ideals modified to suit modern requirements. Its leading characteristics are simplicity of plan, symmetry of proportion, and massive grandeur of general effect, a minor peculiarity being the lavish use of plaster, not only for surface decoration, but also in some cases for the actual structure of such details as cornices, &c.
Example of Renaissance OrnamentExample of Renaissance Ornament
The Renaissance style was inaugurated in Italy, where, as already stated, the Gothic never took root, and spread thence to the other countries of Europe, assuming in each country a certain distinctive character of its own in harmony with its environment. In Italian Renaissance ecclesiastical architecture the old basilican plan was revived, the dome became again, as in ancient Rome, the crowning glory of the building, and was combined with horizontal entablatures upheld by columns, with capitals of one or another of the Greek orders, and porticoes with pediments. In secular Italian Renaissance a very notable feature is the central cortile or courtyard surrounded by open arcades, above which are the principal apartments, of style corresponding with that of the arcades, the round-headed windows being divided from each other by slender pilasters, and the spandrels above them filled in with sculptured ornamentation. The principal façade of Italian palaces was especially ornate, richly decorated coursesof stone dividing the stories from each other, in which the fenestration or grouping of the windows was peculiarly effective.
Whereas in the history of mediæval architecture few names emerge from the obscurity in which those who planned and erected the great cathedrals, churches, and castles were content to remain, in that of Renaissance the individual architect comes to the front, all the designing having been done by him and the whole work carried on under his personal superintendence. In the new movement Florence took the lead, owing the pre-eminence she quickly won to the gifted and versatile Filippo Brunelleschi, who, like so many of his famous contemporaries, was a skilled goldsmith and sculptor before he became an architect. His first work of importance was the dome he added to the unfinished cathedral of his native city, which was soon succeeded by the Churches of S. Spirito and S. Lorenzo, both of which are typical Renaissance buildings, as is also the Puzzi Chapel, on which the architect displayed his wonderful sense of symmetry, combining domes, arches, and lintels with consummate skill.
Fine examples of Renaissance secular architecture in Florence are the Riccardi and Pitti Palaces, both designed by Brunelleschi, but considerably modified after his death, the Rucellai Palace by Alberti, a worthy successor of Brunelleschi, the Guadagni Palace, designed by Bramante, and the Pandolfini, designed by Raphael, the last very characteristic of the mature phase of Italian Renaissance.
Façade of a Venetian PalaceFaçade of a Venetian Palace
It was in Rome that the style reached its noblest development, and the Cathedral of S. Peter's, on which all the greatest architects of the 16th and 17th centuries were successively employed, affords a unique opportunity for its study. Built on the site of the old basilica of S. Peter, alluded to in the section on Early Christian architecture, what was to become the largest church in the world was begun by Bramante in 1506. His plan, that of a square with four projecting apses, to be covered in with a central and four supplementary domes, was followed until his death in 1514, when the work was carried on by Giuliano da San Gallo, Fra Giacondo and Raphael, who were in favour of certain modifications of the original design, that if carried out would have converted the square into a Latin cross. The withdrawal of San Gallo, and the deaths of Giacondo and Raphael in 1515, led to Baldasarre Peruzzi being appointed architect, and under his auspices the plan was changed to that of a Greek cross. Before his death in 1536 the present south transept and the vaulting, that was to encircle the central dome were finished, and the massive pendentivesthat were to uphold the latter were begun. The next architect to take up the vast scheme was Antonio da San Gallo, who, could he have obtained the necessary funds, would have added a long pronaos or corridor of approach, to be entered from a domed porch at the western end. In his model the interior of the central portion of the cathedral, with the notable exception of the dome, appears much as it does now, so that with its aid a good idea can be obtained of the state of the building when, in 1546, Michael Angelo was appointed architect in chief, and set the seal of his genius upon a complex creation which was already a reflection of the highest constructive and æsthetic achievement of the golden age of Italian architecture. Reverencing the noble design of Bramante, Michael Angelo left the interior, of which the symmetry of plan and beauty of the many pilasters with their Corinthian capitals are notable characteristics, much as he found it, but though he introduced on the exterior Corinthian pilasters resembling those of the interior, he greatly modified the general aspect of the former by the removal of the projecting chapels and the aisles roundthe apses. It was in his design for the dome that Michael Angelo achieved his greatest architectural triumph, for without tampering at all with what had already been done by Bramante, he set upon the cylindrical drum that artist had intended to uphold a dome, which was to be a mere reproduction of that of the Pantheon, a magnificent structure of original design which dominates the capital, producing an absolutely unrivalled impression of combined strength, vastness, and symmetry, the eye being irresistibly led up from drum to dome and from dome to lantern. From within the cathedral the effect is scarcely less grand, a wonderful sense of space being conveyed by the soaring vault, that seems to spring heavenwards of its own volition.
Michael Angelo died before his masterpiece was completed, but so far as the dome was concerned his design was carried out, with certain slight modifications, by Giacomo della Porta and Domenico Fontana. Unfortunately, however, the rest of the great architect's scheme was departed from and its effectiveness destroyed by additions which he would most certainly have condemned. At the suggestion of Pope Pius IV the façade built under Michael Angelo was pulled down and replaced by Maderno with that stillin situ, whilst the nave was lengthened out of all proportion to the rest of the building.
In spite of this lamentable mistake, the general effect of the interior is remarkably fine, and is greatly enhanced by the rich colouring of the lavish decoration of every portion, the massive piers and vast arches spanning them, and the vaulted coffered ceilings, all harmonising with and supplementing each other. Moreover, the unhappy result of the substitution of Maderno's for Michael Angelo's façade was to some extent neutralised in 1666 by the erection under Bernini of the lofty colonnade encircling the piazza of S. Peter in the simple and dignified Doric style, that forms an appropriate approach to the cathedral.
In the Renaissance palaces of Rome classic details were more closely copied than in Florence, pilasters and arcades forming, in almost every case, the chief decorations of the exteriors. Notable examples are the so-called Venetian Palaces, the Cancellaria designed by Bramante, the Sacchetti by Antonio San Gallo, and, above all, the Farnese, the grandest in the capital, begun by San Gallo and completed by Michael Angelo, with portions of the Vatican, including the Hall of the Belvedere, designed by Bramante.
In Venice, where the Renaissance style was necessarily modified by the peculiar conditions of the lagoon city, good examples of it are the Churches S. Maria dei Miracoli, S. Zaccaria,and S. Maria della Salute, with the palaces of Vendramini, Calergo, Trevisano, and Cornaro, all, however, excelled by the beautiful Palazzo Grimani designed by San Michele and the Library of S. Mark of Sansovino.
At Vicenza the famous architect Palladio erected many noble Renaissance churches, including the Redentore, enclosed the ancient Basilica in grand classic arcades, and designed a great number of fine palaces. In Milan the finest Renaissance structures are the sacristy of S. Maria Presso S. Sabino, the apse of S. Maria della Grazie and the arcaded court of the great Hospital, all designed by Bramante. Near Pavia is the fine Certosa, the façade of which is the work of Ambrogio Borgognoni; Genoa is rich in effective groups of Renaissance palaces after the designs of Alessio, and owns a late Renaissance church ascribed to Puget, and at Verona is the typical Palazzo del Conseglio, built by Fra Giocondo.
It was not until the beginning of the 16th century that the Renaissance style gained a footing in France, and even for some time after that French architects, whilst adopting its main features, clung to certain characteristic Gothic details. This is very notably the case in some of the royal chateaux on the Loire, justly considered the finest secular Renaissance buildings in the country, especially in that of Chambord, which, with a typical Renaissance façade, has a highly pitched roof with soaring pinnacles and pointed-headed dormer windows.
Other fine Early Renaissance French buildings are the wing added by Frances I to the old castle of Blois, famous for its beautiful external spiral staircase, the chateaux of Chenonceaux, Chateaudun, and Azay-le-Rideau, the Hôtel de Ville at Beaugency, the Church of S. Eustache, the Hôtel des Invalides, the western portion of the Louvre, and the Luxembourg, all in Paris. To the latest phase of what eventually became almost a national style, belong the Pantheon, the Palais Royal, the College and Church of the Sorbonne, all in Paris; the relics of the noble Chateau built for Richelieu on the site of the great minister's native village by Lemercier, the Chateau of Ballery in Normandy, the additions to the castle of Blois, the Chateau des Maisons near, and the Church of Val de Grace in Paris, all by François Mansard, whose name is associated with a picturesque form of roof invented by him.
In the chateau of Versailles, designed by Jules Mansard, a distant connection of the greater François, the first note of the decadence of the Renaissance style was sounded, for well-built and richly decorated though it is, the huge structure is lacking in the dignified grandeur, so distinctive of the buildings enumerated above.
Although it was in Italy and France that European Renaissance architecture achieved its greatest triumphs, some few fine examples of it remain in other countries, including in Spain the great Monastery and Palace of the Escurial near Madrid, the central church of which is especially fine, the Cathedrals of Burgos, Malaga, and Granada, the town halls of Saragossa and Seville, and portions of the Alcazar of Toledo, the convent of Mafra in Portugal, the Town Hall of Antwerp, the Council Halls of Leipzig and Rothenburg, the Cloth Hall of Brunswick, the Castle of Schallenburg, and the Hall of the Belvedere at Prague.
It is unnecessary to refer in detail to the many buildings in Europe in what is known as the Rococo style, of which grotesque and meaningless ornamentation is the chief characteristic, but it must be added that in the early 19th century something like a new classic revival took place on the Continent. The Church of La Madeleine and the Opera House in Paris, the Arco della Pace at Milan, the Royal Theatre at Berlin, the Glyptothex and Pinacothex of Munich, the Walhalla at Ratisbon, the Museum of Dresden, and the Church of S. Isaac at St. Petersburg being notable instances of the skilful way in which Greek details of structure were combined by the best architects with modern requirements.
It was only by very slow degrees that the Renaissance style was introduced into England, native architects and those for whom they worked having clung with almost pathetic devotion to the traditions of the past. At the end of the 15th century the Gothic style was still in full vigour on this side of the Channel, and although early in the 16th century it was to a great extent modified by the influence of the foreign artists who were attracted to the court of Henry VIII by the lavish patronage of the young monarch, it continued to the end of the century to check the development of pure Renaissance, the two styles to a great extent neutralising each other.
It is significant of the change of the attitude of rulers and ruled towards religion that took place in England during the 16th and 17th centuries, that it was no longer in churches and cathedrals that architecture achieved its greatest triumphs, but in palaces, manor-houses, colleges, and places of publicentertainment. No longer was the soaring Gothic style to voice in stone the aspirations of worshippers for closer intercourse with the divine; the best energies of architects were henceforth to be directed to the promotion of comfort and luxury in private life, and for the realisation of this comparatively ignoble aim the revived classic style was peculiarly adapted. True, the spirit of the Renaissance did not display itself so fully in architecture as in other branches of human endeavour, but for all that its working was very apparent, assuming a certain character of its own in England.
Portion of Lilford Hall, NorthantsPortion of Lilford Hall, Northants
First Italians, amongst whom the most distinguished were Torregiano, designer of the tomb of Henry VII in Westminster Abbey, Giovanni da Majano, and Giovanni da Padua, the architect of Longleat in Wiltshire, then Flemings and Germans, none of whom, however, except John of Cleves, designer of Caius College, Cambridge, rose to any special eminence, endeavoured to graft their own upon English methods, succeeding with rare exceptions only so far as the minor details of ornamentation were concerned.
It is not to these men of alien birth but to the builders and masons of rural England that the country owes the many noble residences, dating from the late 16th and early 17th centuries, that, Gothic so far as their principles of construction are concerned, are enriched or spoiled, according to the point of view from which they are considered, by Renaissance ornamentation. Amongst these builders Thomas Holt, author of the Divinity School of Oxford, and Robert Smithson and John Thorpe, joint designers of Wollaton Hall, Northamptonshire, were especially distinguished. To the last named many critics also attribute Holland House, London, Rushton, Kirkby and Apethorpe Halls in Northamptonshire, and Knowle House in Kent, all of which are truly typical examples of English 16th or early 17th domestic or academic architecture at its best. To about the same period belong Lilford Hall, Northants, Westwood, Bolsover, Charlton, and Hatfield Houses, all somewhat wanting in the dignified simplicity of plan of the work of the men quoted above, but with an undoubted charm of their own.
The master-builders who alike designed and executed the many beautiful mansions and colleges of the Elizabethan age—with whom must be associated the later John Abel, designer of several fine market-halls, including those of Kingston, Hereford, and Leominster—may justly be said to have paved the way for Inigo Jones, the first Englishman to introduce pure Renaissance architecture into his native land. Already before his advent these humble predecessors had partly evolved, out of the mediæval castle and the mediæval cottage, what was to become the typical English home, bringing about something like a revolution in planning by the innovations introduced by them with a view to admitting more air and light, and rendering access to the upper floors easier by the substitution of an internal staircase, for the external flight of steps leading up to each separate room hitherto the fashion.
Gifted with a vivid imagination and a rare faculty of design, Inigo Jones succeeded in so adapting Italian ideals, especially those of Palladio, to English needs, that he may justly be said to have founded something approaching to a national style. Unfortunately few of the many schemes evolved by him were carried out in their entirety, but his plans and drawings prove him to have been the equal and, in some respects, even the superior of his great successor, Sir Christopher Wren. Of his grand design for the new Palace of Whitehall after the fire of 1619, the Banqueting Hall, considered his masterpiece, alone was completed, but he was the real architect of the equally successful Greenwich Hospital, for it was his plan that was followed after his death by Wren.
Although it is the custom to dwell much on the unique opportunity afforded to Sir Christopher Wren by the great fire of 1666, there is no doubt that even without it he would have set his seal on the period during which he lived. His additions to Hampton Court Palace are most dignified and appropriate, his semi-Gothic Tom Tower at Oxford well illustrates his keen sense of environment, and his design for a Royal Palace at Winchester, had it been carried out, would have given to that city a building worthy to rank with its cathedral. As it is, his fame rests chiefly on his work in London, although the masterly scheme he drew up for the rebuilding of the whole town had to be considerably modified.
Portion of Greenwich HospitalPortion of Greenwich Hospital
S. Paul's Cathedral, that dominates the vast agglomeration making up the modern capital, reflects, in its solemn and dignified beauty, almost as clearly as did a mediæval ecclesiastical Gothic edifice, the spirit of its age, during which the Puritan replaced the Roman Catholic ideal, and a rigid Protestantism became the religion of the people. Of noble and most harmonious proportions, S. Paul's is cruciform in plan, every portion of its exterior and interior subordinated to the great central dome, that, consisting as it does of an outer and inner vault, is equally impressive whether seen from within or from without. From whatever point of view, the dome, with its graceful lantern surmounted by a cross, remains the central feature of a structure at unity with itself, consistent in everydetail, the western towers and the great central portico with their appropriate classic pilasters and columns all being in complete and satisfying accord.
The Churches of S. Stephen, Walbrook, S. Andrew, Holborn, S. James, Piccadilly, S. Clements Danes, S. Bride's, Fleet Street, and Bow are amongst the finest designed by Wren. The steeples of the last three are especially noteworthy as the earliest examples in England of the use of that feature in Renaissance buildings.
Sir Christopher did not pass away until the 18th century, which was to witness a rapid decline of architecture in England. His influence had begun to wane even before his death, and few of his immediate successors, with the exceptions of his pupils, Nicholas Hawkesmoor, architect of S. George's, Bloomsbury, and other London churches of similar design, and Sir John Vanburgh, who designed Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace, rose to eminence. James Gibbs, designer of the Ratcliffe Library at Oxford, also did some good work; the brothers Adam successfully imitated classic forms in certain London and Edinburgh buildings, and Sir Robert Taylor won some distinction by the Halls erected by him in Herefordshire and Essex.
Towards the close of the century a classic revival inaugurated by Sir William Chambers, designer of Somerset House, took place in England, and it became the fashion to add a Greek portico to every important public or private building. Typical examples of the new departure are S. Pancras Church, London, that is a kind of compilation from the Parthenon, the Erectheum, and the Temple of the Winds at Athens, and S. George's Hall, Liverpool, a skilful adaptation of the design of a hall of one of the great Thermæ of Rome.
Early in the 19th century a reaction took place against the classic style, which was not really adapted to the English climate, and architects began to show a desire to revert to Gothic traditions. In this new movement Sir Charles Barry took the lead. The Houses of Parliament, in the latest phase of the style, considered his masterpiece, is specially successful in its general plan and in the picturesqueness of its exterior. With Sir Charles Barry must be associated Augustine Pugin, a man of fine genius and originality, with a genuine feeling for mediæval Gothic, Norman Shaw, and Bodley, all of whom have done much to leaven the utilitarian tendencies of modern times.
General Editor—H. C. O'NEILL
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