How to Study Architecture by Charles H. Caffin (reading the story of the .TXT) 📖

plan was the one that was dawning in his mind yet still eluded him. When the old man consented to give it and moreover promised the master-builder a life of fame and riches, demanding only his soul in recompense, the master-builder’s eyes were opened and he cried “Get thee behind me, Satan.” Then he told his confessor, who contrived a scheme whereby the devil might be circumvented. Satan had promised to return, bringing the plan. The master-builder kept the appointment and, snatching the precious document with one hand, in the other brandished a fragment of the True Cross. “I am vanquished!” exclaimed Satan; “but you shall reap no benefit, through your treachery. Your name will be forgotten and your work will never be completed.”

Time, however, discounted the Devil’s curse, for the cathedral was completed during the nineteenth century. It had been begun in 1270 and in all the additions subsequently made the original design was adhered to. Hence Cologne presents a very remarkable example of structural unity; and, by the same token, a rather chill precision, product of imitation, instead of a growth which reflects the changing style of successive centuries.

The plan, as at Amiens, includes double side-aisles and a chevêt of seven apses and an ambulatory, but its transepts are extended by an extra bay and one bay of the nave is included in the western entrance. Here the German fondness for towers and spires, already noted in their Romanesque architecture, finds expression in twin towers, crowned with spires of openwork tracery. This last feature is a characteristic of German Gothic. The transition from the tower to the spire is admirably arranged so as to enforce the function and beauty of each; and the effect should be compared with that of S. Stephen, Vienna. In the latter the transition is more gradual, so that the spire seems to start from the ground and, notwithstanding the splendour of the whole, “it lacks the vigour and accent” that a better definition of tower and spire produces.

S. Stephen is an example of the so-called “Hall Church,” in which the nave and aisles are of equal height. This typically German feature, seen also in S. Lambert, Hildesheim, S. Quentin, Mainz, and S. Elizabeth, Marburg, abolishes the clerestory and triforium and thus dispenses with flying buttresses. It reduces the importance of the nave and, while giving the interior an impression of superior spaciousness, minimises the variety and picturesqueness of the vistas. The nave and aisles are covered on the exterior by a single roof of high pitch.

The German builders made up for their lack of originality by extreme skill of handicraft, which tended to over-elaboration and a merely mechanical excellence. This was displayed in the increasing intricacy of the window traceries, which were more regarded than the proportions of the window openings. Thus, an excessive height was given to the clerestory windows and in many cases the opening is too narrow for its height. A characteristic which often appears is the double tracery; that is to say, the employment of tracery on both the outer and the inner wall surfaces.

Piers usually take the place of columns and are treated as lofty posts for the support of the vaulting, their surfaces being frequently indented with niches bearing statues. The vaultings are quite often distinguished by complicated ribs, which, however, are not employed so constructively as in England, but rather as decorative details. The mouldings show a steady growth away from simplicity toward increased complexity, until in the fifteenth century occurs the characteristic feature of “inter-penetration.” In this two separate sets of moulding are interwoven, alternately appearing and disappearing in and out of the same stone. Where foliage is thus used with intertwining branches the forms are treated naturalistically; and this aptitude for exact imitation led also to the occasional abandonment of the more formal tracery of windows in favour of “branch tracery” or the representation of branches of trees—another instance of preoccupation with technical execution rather than with design.

While the stained glass is good, the iron-work is a special characteristic of German ornamentation. Another typical feature is the Tabernacle for enshrining the Host. It is a structure of stone or wood, standing independent of the altar, rising to a considerable height in the form of a tower and spire, richly decorated.

In the north, as at Lübeck and neighbouring cities in the valley of the Elbe, the lack of stone led to the use of brick, and the substitution of moulded and coloured brickwork for sculptured ornament.

Secular Buildings.—The most famous of the Gothic castles is Marienburg in Prussia, including the chapel and chapter house and the Great Hall of the Order of the German Knights. Other examples are Heilsberg, in East Prussia and the Albrechtsburg at Meissen in Saxony. Among the finest of the Town Halls are those of Ratisbon, Brunswick, Halberstadt, Hildesheim, and Munster, and the brick examples of Breslau and Lübeck. In domestic architecture the roofs were carried to a remarkable height, consisting of several stories lighted by dormer windows; the space being utilised for storage and the drying of linen in the monthly wash. And a picturesque diversity is given to the character of the streets according as these roofs run parallel to it or at right angles. In the latter case the gables mount up with stepped outlines, and often are decorated with frescoed paintings.

NETHERLANDISH GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

The Gothic architecture of the Netherlands appears at its finest in Belgium, where it is distinguished by a mingling of French and German influence. The latter is to be accounted for chiefly by the trade relations which existed between the great commercial cities of Germany by way of the Rhine, with such centres of commerce as Louvain, Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp, Mechlin (Malines), Ypres, and Bruges. On the other hand, the province of Flanders came under the French influence through the marriage of Margaret of Flanders with the first Duke of the French royal house of Valois, whose successors gradually brought the whole of Belgium under their rule. Further, the Abbey of Noyon early established close relations with that of Tournai, and in this way the religious architecture of France penetrated Belgium. Owing to their pre-eminence in weaving the Netherlandish cities became the most prosperous of the period and this is reflected in the florid decoration of the later ecclesiastical building, as well as in the magnificent Town, Trade, and Guild Halls, which are the special distinction of Netherlandish architecture.

Guild Halls.—They present a general similarity of character. The façades mount in several stories, which are defined by bands of ornament or string-courses and pierced with rows of pointed windows. These are framed with rich traceries of carved work and separated by canopied niches, designed for and often filled with statues. The façades terminate at the spring of the roof in an adaptation of the Romanesque arcaded eaves, which occasionally project like a continuous balcony, while balconies with traceried parapets often decorate the gabled fronts. The corners of the façade are occupied by towers, frequently carried above the line of the eaves, in pinnacle-like structures, the stories of which are marked by balconies. The roofs have a steep pitch and are enriched with dormer windows and decorated chimneys.

The oldest of these beautiful edifices is the Cloth Hall of Ypres, erected in 1304, while other notable examples are those of Louvain, Mechlin, Ghent. The earliest of the Town Halls is the imposing one of Brussels (1377), distinguished by its graceful tower and spire. The right to attach a belfry or beffroi to a town hall was a special privilege, granted by charter, and the bell-towers of Netherlandish cities are among their most picturesque features. That of Bruges, which forms the theme of one of Longfellow’s poems, is famous in the annals of the city. It surmounts the central mass of a façade plainer than those described above, offering more wall spaces and representing another type of Gothic façade peculiar to the Netherlands.

Ecclesiastical Buildings.—The earliest example of Gothic work in ecclesiastical buildings is said to be the choir of the Cathedral of S. Gudule in Brussels. Tournai Cathedral, erected between 1146 and 1338, illustrates three successive periods. The nave is Romanesque; the apse-ended transepts mark the transition stage, and the choir, with its complete chevêt, the fully developed Gothic. But the largest and most magnificent cathedral of the Netherlands is that of Antwerp, distinguished by three aisles of equal height on each side of the lofty nave and by narrow aisleless transepts. The west front, flanked by towers, one of which has been completed by a spire of extreme richness and grace, belongs to that later period (1422-1518) when the taste for decoration had become somewhat florid. Other notable Cathedrals are those of Ghent, Bruges, Ypres, Utrecht, and of Haarlem and Dordrecht in Holland.[7]

SPANISH GOTHIC

It was in the north of Spain, following the gradual destruction of the Moorish rule and the replacing of the Crescent with the Cross, that Gothic art took root. The time is the thirteenth century, when Ferdinand (1217-1252), canonised as saint, united the kingdoms of Leon and Castile, and James, called the Conqueror (1213-1276), carried the conquest through to the east so that only Granada remained in the grip of the Infidel.

While it is supposed that Moorish workmen were employed in the cathedrals, the designs were derived from French examples, with certain borrowings from the German. Thus the original of Leon Cathedral was Amiens, from which, however, it differs in the larger area of its window spaces; while Notre Dame was the model for the Cathedrals of Toledo and Barcelona; and the west front of Burgos, with its openwork spires, recalls Cologne.

Among the characteristic features of Spanish cathedrals are: the occasional use of cloisters; the excess of width in proportion to the length; the use of a cimborio or lantern over the crossing; the placing of the choir or coro west of the chancel, so that it occupies the centre of the edifice and with its high enclosures blocks the vistas in all directions; an elaborate treatment of the vaulting, prompted by decorative rather than structural considerations, and a general tendency, especially in the later work, toward excessive embellishment.

The largest cathedral in Spain, the largest, indeed, of all mediæval cathedrals, is Seville, which was erected on the site of a mosque. It has four side aisles, each of which corresponds in height and width to the nave of Westminster Abbey, yet the length of its nave is little more than that of the latter’s. Toledo, again, has four aisles and a nave, recalling the plan of Bourges, which it follows in length, though it is wider by fifty feet.

Retablos, Rejas.—Among the distinctive features of the interior decorations of a Spanish cathedral are the retablo and reja. The former, a reredos, erected behind the great altar, reaches immense dimensions, often occupying the full width of the nave and rising as high as the vaulting, embellished with sculpture. This is apt to be grossly naturalistic and violently dramatic or sensational, representing colossal figures, sprawling amid marble clouds and sunrays of gilded metal. Far more beautiful are the rejas or lofty grill-screens, upon which the skill of Moorish metal-workers or the skill derived from their traditions, is lavished with extraordinary fertility of design; a special device being the enrichment of the vertical bars by the insertion of canopied figures.

CHAPTER VI

GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN ITALY

We have already noted that the rib-vault, which made possible the development of Gothic architecture in the Ile de France, originated in Lombardy. But the Italian builders used the rib solely as a structural convenience, not recognising either its further structural or its æsthetic possibilities. Accordingly, when the Gothic style appeared in Italy, it was imported thither by northern, usually German, architects.

General Character.—Nor did the style, as employed in Italy, preserve the grandeur or