Chapter 15

[298]The development and construction of chevet vaults is discussed in Chapter III.[299]Apparently later than the chevet.[300]See Enlart, I, p. 490 note 3 and Lasteyrie, pp. 285 and 522 for lists. Also Neufchâtel (Seine Inférieure) fifteenth century. Porter, II, p. 95.[301]Plan in Gurlitt, p. 22.[302]See Enlart, I, p. 480 note 3 and Lasteyrie, pp. 285 and 522 for further examples.[303]In rare instances, as in Saint Hilaire at Poitiers, there are aisles along the west wall only, but this is due to a rebuilding of the church.[304]Toulouse, Saint Sernin; Reims, Saint Remi (originally) (see Lasteyrie, p. 282); Winchester, Cath. (1079-1093) (Rivoira, II, p. 205). Tribunes are also to be seen in churches without a triforium gallery along the transept walls as for example in Saint Georges-de-Boscherville, Cerisy-la-Forêt (1030-1066), etc. See list in Enlart, I, p. 236, note 1.[305]See Lasteyrie, p. 539 and Enlart, I, p. 265, note 1.[306]See Ruprich-Robert, II, p. 3.[307]Lasteyrie, p. 271, Fig. 264.[308]For other examples see Lasteyrie, p. 335, notes 3-4-5.[309]Lasteyrie, p. 336, Fig. 359.[310]See Lasteyrie, p. 270.[311]See Enlart, I, pp. 123, 124.[312]See Rivoira, II, pp. 27, 29.[313]Lasteyrie, p. 445, Fig. 463.[314]Lasteyrie, p. 316, Fig. 338.[315]See p. 106.[316]Lasteyrie, p. 249, Fig. 239.[317]Lasteyrie, p. 336, Fig. 359.[318]See also Marseilles,—La Major.[319]See p. 124.[320]Either with or without a lantern beneath them. Examples: Montagne (Gironde); Nantille, Notre Dame; Saumur, St. Pierre. See Michel, II, p. 108 and Lasteyrie, p. 479.[321]See also such other buildings as the Château de Simiane (Basses-Alpes) (apparently twelfth century). Illustrated in Revoil, III, pl. VIII.[322]See p. 125.[323]Similar domes may be seen in the old cathedral of Salamanca (finished before 1178). (Moore, Character of Renaissance Architecture, p. 57, Fig. 28.) [Street, (Fig. 7, op. p. 80) shows this dome as having flat severies, and does not mention the fact that they are curved, as he takes pains to do in regard to Zamora]; and the collegiate church at Toro (begun cir. 1160-1170, finished in thirteenth century), (Michel, II, p. 108, Fig. 76). It is difficult to tell from the photograph whether this last example has the lobed vault surface.[324]Illustrated in Simpson, II, p. 104.[325]There is an earlier and somewhat similar crossing vault in the church of S. Marien at Gelnhausen (1225-on) Hartung, III, pl. 145.[326]Michel, IV, p. 829, Fig. 546.[327]Michel, IV, p. 828, Fig. 545.[328]It is possible that this vault is of wood.[329]Simpson, II, Fig. 68, opp. p. 104.[330]Simpson, II, Fig. 69, opp. p. 164.[331]Examples are furnished by: Florence, S. M. Novella; Sens, Cath.(Fig. 28); Paris, N. D.; Soissons, Cath.; Cologne, Cath.; to cite but a few churches.[332]Cummings, II, p. 141, Fig. 330.[333]Cummings, II, p. 149, Fig. 335.[334]For example in Dol, Cath.; Étampes, Saint Gilles; Bayeux, Cath., etc.[335]For example in Angers, Cath.(Fig. 19); Bordeaux, Saint Michel, etc.[336]Numerous illustrations may be found in Bond, Gothic Architecture in England and English Church Architecture.[337]Most of the vaulting is modern but built as originally planned.[338]An example of this arrangement may be seen at Saint Nicolas-du-Port (Meurthe-et-Moselle). Enlart, Fig. 318, opp. p. 588.[339]See also Poitiers, Saint Hilaire(Fig. 7)and Notre Dame-la-Grande, etc.[340]See also Toulouse, Saint Sernin; Saint Benoît-sur-Loire(Fig. 13); and Nevers, St. Étienne, etc.[341]They may have been inspired by the salient arches of such a tunnel vault as that in the Temple of Diana at Nîmes, and in any event would seem to owe their origin to classic prototypes and to be largely decorative, a theory which is strengthened by the appearance of such a vault as that in the little church of Saint Jean-de-Moustier, at Arles (probably of the ninth century) (Revoil, I, pl. XVI), where these radiants very closely resemble Corinthian pilasters.[342]Dartein, pl. 76.[343]Porter, Cons. of Lombard and Gothic Vaults, Fig. 62. There are also a number of churches of the more developed period in which somewhat similar ribbed half domes are found, though these are frequently laid up in flat gores over polygonal apses. Examples include: Worms, Cath.; west apse, seeFig. 58; Florence, Cath. east and transept apses.[344]Madrazo-Gurlitt, pl. 178.[345]Examples include Berzy-le-Sec and Laffaux (Aisne); Chelles (Oise) and Bonnes (Vienne) all dating cir. 1140-1150; Bruyères, and Vauxrezis (Aisne) probably of about the same date, and Torcy (Aisne) dating from the second half of the twelfth century; Étampes, St. Martin, radiating chapel. All of these are illustrated in Lefevre-Pontalis. Examples with three ribs include Thor (Vaucluse) and Saint Pierre-de-Reddes (Hérault), both illustrated in Revoil. Example with four ribs, Como, Sant’ Abondio. Example with five ribs, Montmajour (Bouches-du-Rhône), Ab. Ch. Revoil, II, pl. XXXI. For further examples, see Porter, II, p. 78.[346]For instance, at Vieil-Arcy, Ch. (Lefevre-Pontalis, pl. XLV), where there are no ribs beneath the half dome; and in the last five churches with two ribs listed in the preceding note.[347]Lasteyrie, p. 450, Fig. 470.[348]Rivoira, II, p. 38, Fig. 399.[349]Rivoira, II, pp. 39-40.[350]Rivoira, II, p. 93.[351]Moore, Mediaeval Church Architecture of England, p. 15, Fig. 11.[352]Forest-l’Abbaye (Somme) (plan in Enlart, I, p. 447, Fig. 211) furnishes one example of this and others are listed in Enlart, I, p. 447 and note 2 at the foot of that page.[353]There are occasionally to be found some late examples showing the survival of the half dome as an apse vault, but these are exceptional after cir. 1150, until the Renaissance period.[354]The word chevet is used here and elsewhere as referring to the ribbed vaulting developed and applied to the apse of the Gothic churches.[355]See p. 128, 129.[356]See p. 110.[357]Lefevre-Pontalis, pl. XXIX.[358]Lefevre-Pontalis, pl. LI.[359]At Laon the remaining bays of the chapel are groined and if their vaults are original, this presents one of the few examples of a church completely groined and especially of one with the combination of groined vault and ribbed chevet.[360]Moore, Mediaeval Church Architecture of England, pl. 1, opp. p. 19. Variously dated 1130-1150.[361]Illustrated in Moore, pp. 72 and 73, Figs. 26, 27.[362]See Moore, p. 130, et seq., and Porter, II, p. 80.[363]See also the apses of Saint Étienne at Caen, of Saint Martin-des-Champs at Paris and of Soissons cathedral transept. Other churches were probably originally designed without the flying-buttresses, among them Saint Remi at Reims. See Porter, II, p. 209 (from Lefevre-Pontalis).[364]This type of vault is later discussed. See p. 153.[365]The chevet vault is chosen for this discussion merely because the photographs are handy for reference. Similar vaults could, however, be found in all the other portions of the church.[366]For example, in Soissons transept. In certain other examples, the formeret does not follow the vault curve. See Paris, St. Martin-des-Champs(Fig. 65), Noyon transept, etc.[367]A vault of similar character may be noted in the name of Amiens and numerous other instances could be cited outside of the chevet vaults.[368]The eastern bay in this particular church was widened to give a broad opening into the Lady chapel.[369]It may be noted that La Madeleine also resembles St. Germer in having a groined triforium.[370]Vaults with just such doming were to be used side by side with those with higher window cells, as is later shown.[371]Unfortunately the vaults of Sens and Noyon have been rebuilt though apparently in the original manner, while those of Senlis, which would have been of much value, have been reconstructed in a later style.[372]Examples include: Bologna, San Francesco; Auxerre Cath. (planned for six-part type of vaults), etc.[373]Other examples not mentioned include Albi (Tarn) cath.; Troyes (Aube) cath.; Semur-en-Auxois (Côte-d’or), Notre Dame.[374]It is possible that it owes this arrangement to the church of Saint Remi(Fig. 64).[375]Although not originally planned for four-part vaults in the choir, its present arrangement illustrates the combination referred to.[376]This is not a noticeable fault with sexpartite choir vaulting since the crowns of all the window cells form similar angles.[377]Porter, II, p. 83, Fig. 176.[378]In referring to chevet vaults, the terms three-celled, four-celled, etc., refer to the number of window panels or severies, while the terms four-part, five-part, etc., refer to the total number of severies in the vault, generally one more than the number of window cells.[379]See also the five-part chevet in the cathedral of Saint Louis at Blois (Loire-et-Cher) which is, however, of much later date.[380]This may explain the fact that the buttressing rib type of chevet persisted side by side with this fourth form.[381]In St. Étienne this rib would seem to be an addition to the original chevet.[382]Street, pl. XXV. op. p. 408.[383]Bond, p. 63.[384]This church has a rather exceptional chevet in that it is considerably more than a semicircle in plan.[385]Plan in Street, pl. XVI, opp. p. 306.[386]The double apse of the Chapel of the Seminaire at Bayeux (thirteenth century) (Baudot and Perrault-Dabot, II, pl. 44) has two chevets of similar character.[387]Plan in Caumont, p. 590.[388]See the illustration in Bond, p. 165.[389]See also Pirna, Hauptkirche (1502-1546), Hartung, I, pl. 57.[390]See also Le Mans, Notre Dame-de-la-Couture: Padua, Sant’ Antonio.[391]And sometimes in churches where this arrangement is not found.[392]See also Neubourg (Eure). Plan in Enlart, I, Fig. 317.[393]Baudot and Perrault-Dabot, I, pl. 46.[394]See Fig. 31.[395]The vault has been recently reconstructed along original lines.[396]A feature which certainly enhances the present appearance of the cathedral, though it is quite possible that the builders originally intended to shut off this vista by a high reredos behind the altar.[397]Compare for example the chevet of Reims with that of Saint Urbain.[398]Needless to say, no flying-buttresses are necessary with such a vault as the thrusts are easily absorbed by the piers.[399]Similar openings are to be seen in the apse of Saint Nazaire at Carcassonne.[400]For other examples showing the employment of this feature even in the Renaissance see Enlart, I, p. 506, note 2.[401]Hartung, I, pl. 15.[402]For a discussion of this point see E. Gall’s series of articles on the ambulatory in Monatschefte fur Kunstwissenschaft, beginning with the fifth volume, 1912, pp. 134-149.[403]See Rivoira I, p. 184.[404]Now destroyed. See Rivoira I, p. 184.[405]Some examples of the walled off ambulatory are found, however. See Enlart, I, p. 234, note 5.[406]See Rivoira, I, p. 183, for dates of Santo Stefano and Ivrea.[407]An annular tunnel vault also covered the passage around the tribune of the so-called stadium of Domitian already mentioned. See Rivoira, I, p. 184.[408]For other examples, see Enlart, I, p. 266, note 6. A similar vault is sometimes found in the aisles of circular churches, as for example in Ste. Croix at Quimperlé (eleventh century). Baudot and Perrault-Dabot, II, pl. 5.[409]See Rivoira, II, p. 289.[410]At intervals this vault is cut by lunettes or groined bays but it is fundamentally an annular tunnel vault.[411]Exactly as has been suggested in regard to similar side aisle vaults.[412]See Enlart, I, p. 266, note 6.[413]Enlart, I, p. 34, Fig. 14.[414]Revoil, I, pl. XLVIII.[415]Baudot and Perrault-Dabot, II, pl. 25.[416]Rivoira, II, p. 270, Fig. 718.[417]See Rivoira, II, p. 8. See also the Duomo Vecchio at Brescia (Porter, Cons. of Lombard and Gothic Vaults, Fig. 49).[418]Porter, Cons. of Lombard and Gothic Vaults, Fig. 53.[419]Porter, Cons. of Lombard and Gothic Vaults, Fig. 52.[420]Enlart, I, p. 273, Fig. 105.[421]The date of this cathedral is uncertain and the exceptional character of its triforium leads to the suspicion that it may not now retain its original arrangement, though the writer has no proof of this suggestion.[422]In some instances these lintels have been cut through with an arch running up into the surface of the vault between the bays.[423]Previous to Porter there had been suggestions of this origin of the ribbed vault in Choisy’s work and in Rivoira’s Lombardic architecture, but their studies had been largely confined to vaults whose ribs were sunken into the masonry panels.[424]See discussion of this point on p. 136.[425]See p. 53, 54.[426]Plan in Rivoira, I, p. 222, Fig. 327.[427]If Signor Rivoira is correct in his attribution of this ambulatory to the third quarter of the eleventh century (Rivoira, I, pp. 222, 223), it affords not only an extremely early example of the straight ribbed type but an instance of a ribbed vaulted ambulatory of large size antedating that at Morienval by half a century. I am not prepared to accept this early date. The general elevation of the piers and ribs, the geographical situation of the church, the lack of any similarly vaulted ambulatories in the fifty years following its construction and the very form of the vaults, which may easily have once been of the groined type to be seen in the gallery of Santo Stefano at Verona with ribs added at a later date or reconstruction (note lower imposts of diagonal ribs and expanding soffits of transverse arches like those at Verona) together with many other details a discussion of which the limits of this paper forbids, make it seem most improbable that this ambulatory dates from 1049-1078. As a matter of fact, the date is of little importance in the present connection, since it is the type of vault employed with which this study is largely concerned.[428]Plan and interior view in Moore, pp. 72, 73, Figs. 26, 27.[429]Plan in Moore, p. 83, Fig. 34.[430]This may be plainly seen at the cathedral of Tournai(Fig. 85).[431]Moore, Mediaeval Church Architecture of England, p. 96, Fig. 82 and pl. XV, opp. p. 104.[432]Crypt illustrated in Moore, Mediaeval Church Architecture of England, p. 94, Fig. 80, Trinity chapel, p. 103 Fig. 86 and pi. XIV. opp. same page.[433]See Moore, Mediaeval Church Architecture of England, pp. 94-95.[434]See p. 99 for theory regarding this.[435]Moore, Mediaeval Church Architecture of England, pl. XV, opp. p. 104.[436]Moore, Mediaeval Church Architecture of England, pl. XIV, opp. p. 103.[437]Ambulatories vaulted in a similar manner appear in Saint Sauveur at Bruges, the Groote Kerk at Breda, the cathedral of Burgos, the church at Gonesse (Seine-et-Oise) (plan in Enlart, I, p. 486, Fig. 233) etc. Also, in Magdeburg Cath. (Hartung I, pl. 16), there is an instance in which the intermediate rib is shortened evidently to admit the greatest possible amount of light.[438]This is also a church employing the lancet type of window common in Normandy and England and the subdivision of the ambulatory thus made possible windows of general lancet shape. Furthermore, it carried the subdivision of the triforium arcade into the clerestory above. (For a large photograph of this ambulatory see Gurlitt, pl. 84).[439]Plan in Moore, p. 83, Fig. 34.[440]Similar vaults appear at Coutances Cath., outer ambulatory, Utrecht Cath. (ridge ribs added), Malmo, Ch., and Lagny, Ab. Ch. (illustrated in Lenoir, part II, p. 207).

[298]The development and construction of chevet vaults is discussed in Chapter III.

[299]Apparently later than the chevet.

[300]See Enlart, I, p. 490 note 3 and Lasteyrie, pp. 285 and 522 for lists. Also Neufchâtel (Seine Inférieure) fifteenth century. Porter, II, p. 95.

[301]Plan in Gurlitt, p. 22.

[302]See Enlart, I, p. 480 note 3 and Lasteyrie, pp. 285 and 522 for further examples.

[303]In rare instances, as in Saint Hilaire at Poitiers, there are aisles along the west wall only, but this is due to a rebuilding of the church.

[304]Toulouse, Saint Sernin; Reims, Saint Remi (originally) (see Lasteyrie, p. 282); Winchester, Cath. (1079-1093) (Rivoira, II, p. 205). Tribunes are also to be seen in churches without a triforium gallery along the transept walls as for example in Saint Georges-de-Boscherville, Cerisy-la-Forêt (1030-1066), etc. See list in Enlart, I, p. 236, note 1.

[305]See Lasteyrie, p. 539 and Enlart, I, p. 265, note 1.

[306]See Ruprich-Robert, II, p. 3.

[307]Lasteyrie, p. 271, Fig. 264.

[308]For other examples see Lasteyrie, p. 335, notes 3-4-5.

[309]Lasteyrie, p. 336, Fig. 359.

[310]See Lasteyrie, p. 270.

[311]See Enlart, I, pp. 123, 124.

[312]See Rivoira, II, pp. 27, 29.

[313]Lasteyrie, p. 445, Fig. 463.

[314]Lasteyrie, p. 316, Fig. 338.

[315]See p. 106.

[316]Lasteyrie, p. 249, Fig. 239.

[317]Lasteyrie, p. 336, Fig. 359.

[318]See also Marseilles,—La Major.

[319]See p. 124.

[320]Either with or without a lantern beneath them. Examples: Montagne (Gironde); Nantille, Notre Dame; Saumur, St. Pierre. See Michel, II, p. 108 and Lasteyrie, p. 479.

[321]See also such other buildings as the Château de Simiane (Basses-Alpes) (apparently twelfth century). Illustrated in Revoil, III, pl. VIII.

[322]See p. 125.

[323]Similar domes may be seen in the old cathedral of Salamanca (finished before 1178). (Moore, Character of Renaissance Architecture, p. 57, Fig. 28.) [Street, (Fig. 7, op. p. 80) shows this dome as having flat severies, and does not mention the fact that they are curved, as he takes pains to do in regard to Zamora]; and the collegiate church at Toro (begun cir. 1160-1170, finished in thirteenth century), (Michel, II, p. 108, Fig. 76). It is difficult to tell from the photograph whether this last example has the lobed vault surface.

[324]Illustrated in Simpson, II, p. 104.

[325]There is an earlier and somewhat similar crossing vault in the church of S. Marien at Gelnhausen (1225-on) Hartung, III, pl. 145.

[326]Michel, IV, p. 829, Fig. 546.

[327]Michel, IV, p. 828, Fig. 545.

[328]It is possible that this vault is of wood.

[329]Simpson, II, Fig. 68, opp. p. 104.

[330]Simpson, II, Fig. 69, opp. p. 164.

[331]Examples are furnished by: Florence, S. M. Novella; Sens, Cath.(Fig. 28); Paris, N. D.; Soissons, Cath.; Cologne, Cath.; to cite but a few churches.

[332]Cummings, II, p. 141, Fig. 330.

[333]Cummings, II, p. 149, Fig. 335.

[334]For example in Dol, Cath.; Étampes, Saint Gilles; Bayeux, Cath., etc.

[335]For example in Angers, Cath.(Fig. 19); Bordeaux, Saint Michel, etc.

[336]Numerous illustrations may be found in Bond, Gothic Architecture in England and English Church Architecture.

[337]Most of the vaulting is modern but built as originally planned.

[338]An example of this arrangement may be seen at Saint Nicolas-du-Port (Meurthe-et-Moselle). Enlart, Fig. 318, opp. p. 588.

[339]See also Poitiers, Saint Hilaire(Fig. 7)and Notre Dame-la-Grande, etc.

[340]See also Toulouse, Saint Sernin; Saint Benoît-sur-Loire(Fig. 13); and Nevers, St. Étienne, etc.

[341]They may have been inspired by the salient arches of such a tunnel vault as that in the Temple of Diana at Nîmes, and in any event would seem to owe their origin to classic prototypes and to be largely decorative, a theory which is strengthened by the appearance of such a vault as that in the little church of Saint Jean-de-Moustier, at Arles (probably of the ninth century) (Revoil, I, pl. XVI), where these radiants very closely resemble Corinthian pilasters.

[342]Dartein, pl. 76.

[343]Porter, Cons. of Lombard and Gothic Vaults, Fig. 62. There are also a number of churches of the more developed period in which somewhat similar ribbed half domes are found, though these are frequently laid up in flat gores over polygonal apses. Examples include: Worms, Cath.; west apse, seeFig. 58; Florence, Cath. east and transept apses.

[344]Madrazo-Gurlitt, pl. 178.

[345]Examples include Berzy-le-Sec and Laffaux (Aisne); Chelles (Oise) and Bonnes (Vienne) all dating cir. 1140-1150; Bruyères, and Vauxrezis (Aisne) probably of about the same date, and Torcy (Aisne) dating from the second half of the twelfth century; Étampes, St. Martin, radiating chapel. All of these are illustrated in Lefevre-Pontalis. Examples with three ribs include Thor (Vaucluse) and Saint Pierre-de-Reddes (Hérault), both illustrated in Revoil. Example with four ribs, Como, Sant’ Abondio. Example with five ribs, Montmajour (Bouches-du-Rhône), Ab. Ch. Revoil, II, pl. XXXI. For further examples, see Porter, II, p. 78.

[346]For instance, at Vieil-Arcy, Ch. (Lefevre-Pontalis, pl. XLV), where there are no ribs beneath the half dome; and in the last five churches with two ribs listed in the preceding note.

[347]Lasteyrie, p. 450, Fig. 470.

[348]Rivoira, II, p. 38, Fig. 399.

[349]Rivoira, II, pp. 39-40.

[350]Rivoira, II, p. 93.

[351]Moore, Mediaeval Church Architecture of England, p. 15, Fig. 11.

[352]Forest-l’Abbaye (Somme) (plan in Enlart, I, p. 447, Fig. 211) furnishes one example of this and others are listed in Enlart, I, p. 447 and note 2 at the foot of that page.

[353]There are occasionally to be found some late examples showing the survival of the half dome as an apse vault, but these are exceptional after cir. 1150, until the Renaissance period.

[354]The word chevet is used here and elsewhere as referring to the ribbed vaulting developed and applied to the apse of the Gothic churches.

[355]See p. 128, 129.

[356]See p. 110.

[357]Lefevre-Pontalis, pl. XXIX.

[358]Lefevre-Pontalis, pl. LI.

[359]At Laon the remaining bays of the chapel are groined and if their vaults are original, this presents one of the few examples of a church completely groined and especially of one with the combination of groined vault and ribbed chevet.

[360]Moore, Mediaeval Church Architecture of England, pl. 1, opp. p. 19. Variously dated 1130-1150.

[361]Illustrated in Moore, pp. 72 and 73, Figs. 26, 27.

[362]See Moore, p. 130, et seq., and Porter, II, p. 80.

[363]See also the apses of Saint Étienne at Caen, of Saint Martin-des-Champs at Paris and of Soissons cathedral transept. Other churches were probably originally designed without the flying-buttresses, among them Saint Remi at Reims. See Porter, II, p. 209 (from Lefevre-Pontalis).

[364]This type of vault is later discussed. See p. 153.

[365]The chevet vault is chosen for this discussion merely because the photographs are handy for reference. Similar vaults could, however, be found in all the other portions of the church.

[366]For example, in Soissons transept. In certain other examples, the formeret does not follow the vault curve. See Paris, St. Martin-des-Champs(Fig. 65), Noyon transept, etc.

[367]A vault of similar character may be noted in the name of Amiens and numerous other instances could be cited outside of the chevet vaults.

[368]The eastern bay in this particular church was widened to give a broad opening into the Lady chapel.

[369]It may be noted that La Madeleine also resembles St. Germer in having a groined triforium.

[370]Vaults with just such doming were to be used side by side with those with higher window cells, as is later shown.

[371]Unfortunately the vaults of Sens and Noyon have been rebuilt though apparently in the original manner, while those of Senlis, which would have been of much value, have been reconstructed in a later style.

[372]Examples include: Bologna, San Francesco; Auxerre Cath. (planned for six-part type of vaults), etc.

[373]Other examples not mentioned include Albi (Tarn) cath.; Troyes (Aube) cath.; Semur-en-Auxois (Côte-d’or), Notre Dame.

[374]It is possible that it owes this arrangement to the church of Saint Remi(Fig. 64).

[375]Although not originally planned for four-part vaults in the choir, its present arrangement illustrates the combination referred to.

[376]This is not a noticeable fault with sexpartite choir vaulting since the crowns of all the window cells form similar angles.

[377]Porter, II, p. 83, Fig. 176.

[378]In referring to chevet vaults, the terms three-celled, four-celled, etc., refer to the number of window panels or severies, while the terms four-part, five-part, etc., refer to the total number of severies in the vault, generally one more than the number of window cells.

[379]See also the five-part chevet in the cathedral of Saint Louis at Blois (Loire-et-Cher) which is, however, of much later date.

[380]This may explain the fact that the buttressing rib type of chevet persisted side by side with this fourth form.

[381]In St. Étienne this rib would seem to be an addition to the original chevet.

[382]Street, pl. XXV. op. p. 408.

[383]Bond, p. 63.

[384]This church has a rather exceptional chevet in that it is considerably more than a semicircle in plan.

[385]Plan in Street, pl. XVI, opp. p. 306.

[386]The double apse of the Chapel of the Seminaire at Bayeux (thirteenth century) (Baudot and Perrault-Dabot, II, pl. 44) has two chevets of similar character.

[387]Plan in Caumont, p. 590.

[388]See the illustration in Bond, p. 165.

[389]See also Pirna, Hauptkirche (1502-1546), Hartung, I, pl. 57.

[390]See also Le Mans, Notre Dame-de-la-Couture: Padua, Sant’ Antonio.

[391]And sometimes in churches where this arrangement is not found.

[392]See also Neubourg (Eure). Plan in Enlart, I, Fig. 317.

[393]Baudot and Perrault-Dabot, I, pl. 46.

[394]See Fig. 31.

[395]The vault has been recently reconstructed along original lines.

[396]A feature which certainly enhances the present appearance of the cathedral, though it is quite possible that the builders originally intended to shut off this vista by a high reredos behind the altar.

[397]Compare for example the chevet of Reims with that of Saint Urbain.

[398]Needless to say, no flying-buttresses are necessary with such a vault as the thrusts are easily absorbed by the piers.

[399]Similar openings are to be seen in the apse of Saint Nazaire at Carcassonne.

[400]For other examples showing the employment of this feature even in the Renaissance see Enlart, I, p. 506, note 2.

[401]Hartung, I, pl. 15.

[402]For a discussion of this point see E. Gall’s series of articles on the ambulatory in Monatschefte fur Kunstwissenschaft, beginning with the fifth volume, 1912, pp. 134-149.

[403]See Rivoira I, p. 184.

[404]Now destroyed. See Rivoira I, p. 184.

[405]Some examples of the walled off ambulatory are found, however. See Enlart, I, p. 234, note 5.

[406]See Rivoira, I, p. 183, for dates of Santo Stefano and Ivrea.

[407]An annular tunnel vault also covered the passage around the tribune of the so-called stadium of Domitian already mentioned. See Rivoira, I, p. 184.

[408]For other examples, see Enlart, I, p. 266, note 6. A similar vault is sometimes found in the aisles of circular churches, as for example in Ste. Croix at Quimperlé (eleventh century). Baudot and Perrault-Dabot, II, pl. 5.

[409]See Rivoira, II, p. 289.

[410]At intervals this vault is cut by lunettes or groined bays but it is fundamentally an annular tunnel vault.

[411]Exactly as has been suggested in regard to similar side aisle vaults.

[412]See Enlart, I, p. 266, note 6.

[413]Enlart, I, p. 34, Fig. 14.

[414]Revoil, I, pl. XLVIII.

[415]Baudot and Perrault-Dabot, II, pl. 25.

[416]Rivoira, II, p. 270, Fig. 718.

[417]See Rivoira, II, p. 8. See also the Duomo Vecchio at Brescia (Porter, Cons. of Lombard and Gothic Vaults, Fig. 49).

[418]Porter, Cons. of Lombard and Gothic Vaults, Fig. 53.

[419]Porter, Cons. of Lombard and Gothic Vaults, Fig. 52.

[420]Enlart, I, p. 273, Fig. 105.

[421]The date of this cathedral is uncertain and the exceptional character of its triforium leads to the suspicion that it may not now retain its original arrangement, though the writer has no proof of this suggestion.

[422]In some instances these lintels have been cut through with an arch running up into the surface of the vault between the bays.

[423]Previous to Porter there had been suggestions of this origin of the ribbed vault in Choisy’s work and in Rivoira’s Lombardic architecture, but their studies had been largely confined to vaults whose ribs were sunken into the masonry panels.

[424]See discussion of this point on p. 136.

[425]See p. 53, 54.

[426]Plan in Rivoira, I, p. 222, Fig. 327.

[427]If Signor Rivoira is correct in his attribution of this ambulatory to the third quarter of the eleventh century (Rivoira, I, pp. 222, 223), it affords not only an extremely early example of the straight ribbed type but an instance of a ribbed vaulted ambulatory of large size antedating that at Morienval by half a century. I am not prepared to accept this early date. The general elevation of the piers and ribs, the geographical situation of the church, the lack of any similarly vaulted ambulatories in the fifty years following its construction and the very form of the vaults, which may easily have once been of the groined type to be seen in the gallery of Santo Stefano at Verona with ribs added at a later date or reconstruction (note lower imposts of diagonal ribs and expanding soffits of transverse arches like those at Verona) together with many other details a discussion of which the limits of this paper forbids, make it seem most improbable that this ambulatory dates from 1049-1078. As a matter of fact, the date is of little importance in the present connection, since it is the type of vault employed with which this study is largely concerned.

[428]Plan and interior view in Moore, pp. 72, 73, Figs. 26, 27.

[429]Plan in Moore, p. 83, Fig. 34.

[430]This may be plainly seen at the cathedral of Tournai(Fig. 85).

[431]Moore, Mediaeval Church Architecture of England, p. 96, Fig. 82 and pl. XV, opp. p. 104.

[432]Crypt illustrated in Moore, Mediaeval Church Architecture of England, p. 94, Fig. 80, Trinity chapel, p. 103 Fig. 86 and pi. XIV. opp. same page.

[433]See Moore, Mediaeval Church Architecture of England, pp. 94-95.

[434]See p. 99 for theory regarding this.

[435]Moore, Mediaeval Church Architecture of England, pl. XV, opp. p. 104.

[436]Moore, Mediaeval Church Architecture of England, pl. XIV, opp. p. 103.

[437]Ambulatories vaulted in a similar manner appear in Saint Sauveur at Bruges, the Groote Kerk at Breda, the cathedral of Burgos, the church at Gonesse (Seine-et-Oise) (plan in Enlart, I, p. 486, Fig. 233) etc. Also, in Magdeburg Cath. (Hartung I, pl. 16), there is an instance in which the intermediate rib is shortened evidently to admit the greatest possible amount of light.

[438]This is also a church employing the lancet type of window common in Normandy and England and the subdivision of the ambulatory thus made possible windows of general lancet shape. Furthermore, it carried the subdivision of the triforium arcade into the clerestory above. (For a large photograph of this ambulatory see Gurlitt, pl. 84).

[439]Plan in Moore, p. 83, Fig. 34.

[440]Similar vaults appear at Coutances Cath., outer ambulatory, Utrecht Cath. (ridge ribs added), Malmo, Ch., and Lagny, Ab. Ch. (illustrated in Lenoir, part II, p. 207).

Back to Index Next