THE GOTHIC GLORY OF AMIENS
THE GOTHIC GLORY OF AMIENS
SOUTH PORTAL OF AMIENS CATHEDRALThe statue of the Virgin which stands in the portal replaces that of St. Honoré, which was moved to the north transept. The carvings about the south portal are taken from the life of St. Honoré.
SOUTH PORTAL OF AMIENS CATHEDRAL
The statue of the Virgin which stands in the portal replaces that of St. Honoré, which was moved to the north transept. The carvings about the south portal are taken from the life of St. Honoré.
NAVE OF AMIENS CATHEDRAL
NAVE OF AMIENS CATHEDRAL
It is from a side view, however, that Amiens shows at its best the true glory of Gothic architecture. Nearly five hundred feet long and over two hundred feet to the ridge line of the roof, it rises high above the buildings of the city in which it stands, a symbol of the supremacy of spiritual over earthly things. To be sure it has its faults. The towers are too low and the central spire is of awkward shape; but the huge windows, with their tracery in geometric patterns, occupying the entire space between the buttresses, and these buttresses themselves with their soaring arches spanning the aisle roofs below, afford an unsurpassed example of beauty of design combined with the utmost structural daring. Moreover, theinterior is even more imposing. Lofty piers and pointed arches separate the nave from the aisles. Slender shafts carry the ribs of the huge vaults of stone forty-three feet in span, which seem suspended in air one hundred and forty feet from the pavement below. In the support of these vaults lies the keynote of Gothic architecture. Though they seem hung as if by magic over walls of glass, with very little masonry for their support, their weight and thrust are borne by the sweeping arcs of the exterior flying buttresses and the huge piers of masonry from which they rise beyond the side aisle walls. Viewed from a central point, the majestic sweep of the nave, the soaring height of the eastern apse, the wondrous window of the northern transept, and the maze of piers and arches and chapels, all unite to produce a glorious whole which cannot be surpassed in any monument of any age.
SALISBURY'S SIMPLE BEAUTY
If the interior of Amiens personifies in the highest degree the majesty and glory of Christian faith, the spire of Salisbury may be said to embody its hope and aspiration. Rising four hundred and four feet from the ground, this spire has few to rival it in all the world. Other cathedrals might dispute its claim to first place among spires; but none is set upon a church so fine. That Salisbury is the most beautiful cathedral in England is not claimed. As was the case in France, so here,there are too many churches, each with its own distinctive points of beauty, for anyone to be the finest of them all.
SALISBURY CATHEDRALA view from the northeast, showing plainly the double-cross shape of the foundation.
SALISBURY CATHEDRAL
A view from the northeast, showing plainly the double-cross shape of the foundation.
NAVE OF SALISBURY CATHEDRALA number of interesting monuments were placed between the columns by James Wyatt.
NAVE OF SALISBURY CATHEDRAL
A number of interesting monuments were placed between the columns by James Wyatt.
But Salisbury at least must find a place among the first, and is especially interesting because it is exactly contemporary as to date with Amiens in France. Architecturally both are Gothic; yet the difference in design is as great as the distance in miles between them. Low instead of lofty, with little decoration, and set in the midst of nature's grass and trees instead of in a crowded city, Salisbury's appeal is through the quiet beauty of its line, and the simplicity of its construction in contrast to the complex structure of the French cathedral. The Gothic of England was rarely the Gothic of carefully balanced thrust and pressures, of flying buttresses and huge window spaces. Here at Salisbury the walls are still quite heavy and the windows only moderately large. They have no tracery of stone; but are simple, narrow openings in the walls, with pointed heads so like a lance in shape that they have given the name of Lancet to this period of English Gothic architecture. Slow to throw off their earlier traditions, the English builders clung, even in Gothic days, to many of the characteristics of the Norman era, which had produced such masterpieces as Durham and Peterborough, Ely and Norwich, cathedrals. The result of this is especially evident in the interior of Salisbury;for here, in spite of the shafts of Purbeck marble, one for each hour in the year, and in spite of the rich moldings of the piers and arches, the lack of structural unity, and the comparative smallness of the windows and lowness of the vaulting cause Salisbury's nave to fall far short of that of Amiens in beauty of construction. Viewed from the west, the cathedral is also disappointing; for the façade is an ugly screen wall, badly decorated, and deserving of little praise. But when seen from north or south or east, with its spire rising from the very heart of the church, Salisbury is truly inspiring. In its quiet close it seems the very expression of the church at peace.
CHÂTEAU de CHAMBORD
Between the construction of Amiens and Salisbury and the building of the Château of Chambord (shong-bore´) lie two centuries of history. In them the spiritual power of the church, and the temporal power of the pope and clergy, which had been supreme throughout the Middle Ages, gave way to a large extent to a spirit of individualism and a rising power on the part of the king and nobles. This change had its effect upon the arts. The palace took precedence over the church in architecture as the secular took precedence over the religious in painting and the other arts. The Château of Chambord dates from the earlier stages of this new architectural era. Built by King Francis I in the early years of the sixteenth century, it is but one of the hundreds of châteaux erected by the kings and nobles of France, from Francis to the fall of the monarchy. Its architectural style is what is known as early Renaissance.The claim of Chambord to beauty is due, not so much to its decoration as to its imposing size, to the sense of spaciousness it conveys, and to the manner in which it reflects the spirit of its age.
CHÂTEAU de CHAMBORDShowing the Mansard roof put on by the celebrated architect, Mansart, at the order of Louis XIV, to accommodate a large court.
CHÂTEAU de CHAMBORD
Showing the Mansard roof put on by the celebrated architect, Mansart, at the order of Louis XIV, to accommodate a large court.
TOWER OF THE GRAND STAIRCASEChâteau de Chambord.
TOWER OF THE GRAND STAIRCASE
Château de Chambord.
HALL IN THE CHÂTEAU de CHAMBORDThe two stairways seen in the back wind around the same central shaft and never join.
HALL IN THE CHÂTEAU de CHAMBORD
The two stairways seen in the back wind around the same central shaft and never join.
Four hundred feet square along its outer walls, this vast château was designed by Francis I merely as a hunting seat. The chief exterior attraction of the building lies in its roof. This is a very maze of gables, dormers, chimneys, and cupolas, dominated by the lantern that crowns the center stair, and in which lights were hung to guide belated hunters from the forest.
THE STAIRWAY OF CHAMBORD
This stairway is the chief attraction of the interior. Sweeping round a central newel which forms an open well, it rises the full height of the building. Moreover, it is not a single flight of steps, but two, so placed that one person may go up and one come down, yet never meet. From this stairway four large halls open at every floor, and four hundred and forty rooms and fifty other stairs fill up the wings of this great palace. The interior, when richly furnished, must have been magnificent.
In spite of its size, Chambord has little history of which to boast. Nothing of importance or even of special interest took place there.
NEW YORK CITY HALL
We are fortunate indeed as a nation to have had in our earlier days an architecture that could boast of such pleasing monuments as the New York City Hall. Our ancestors in both the North and South were strongly influenced from the point of view of art by that English Renaissance which reached its culmination in the hands of Sir Christopher Wren. Many a New England church and many a Southern home boasts an architectural beauty of rare charm and in rare accord with the natural setting of this new land. Nor were we less fortunate in public works. The old and new statehousesin Boston, Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and the Capitol in Washington are but a few of the early buildings in America that, like the New York City Hall, are worthy to rank among the best in beauty of design. The latter was the work of John McComb, Jr., and was built between 1803 and 1812 in a style based largely upon the Italian Renaissance. Though not of very great size, its proportions are remarkably fine, and its architecture beautiful. For good taste and for excellence of workmanship it is as worthy of the city of millions today as of the city of thousands for which it was first built.
STAIRWAY IN THE NEW YORK CITY HALL.
STAIRWAY IN THE NEW YORK CITY HALL.
OLD COLONIAL CHAMBERThe office of the Borough President of Manhattan in New York City Hall.
OLD COLONIAL CHAMBER
The office of the Borough President of Manhattan in New York City Hall.
That the source of beauty in architecture is indefinable, this brief account of six of the world's finest buildings has clearly shown. No two are alike; yet all are beautiful. And this quality lies not merely in size and proportions, in design and decoration, but in the appeal that each one makes to the mind as well as to the eye. Thus the Taj Mahal fairly speaks of human remembrance, the Alhambra is the embodiment of oriental luxury, Amiens affords a majestic picture of religious power, and Salisbury of quiet Christian worship, Chambord conjures up visions of gay kings and courtiers, while New York in its City Hall possesses a worthy monument of civic interest and pride. Many another building could be added to such a list as ours, and in the case of each it would be found that added to its visible and tangible beauty was an invisible character that marked it above its fellows. It is from this broad standpoint that all architecture should be judged.
SUPPLEMENTARY READING:—"History of Architecture," Hamlin; "Indian and Eastern Architecture," Fergusson; "Medieval Architecture," Porter; "Handbook of English Cathedrals," Van Rensselaer; "Renaissance Architecture in France," Blomfield.
SUPPLEMENTARY READING:—"History of Architecture," Hamlin; "Indian and Eastern Architecture," Fergusson; "Medieval Architecture," Porter; "Handbook of English Cathedrals," Van Rensselaer; "Renaissance Architecture in France," Blomfield.