Decorated Gothic Vaulted Ceiling,
with Central Bosses, in Exeter Cathedral.
Photo: 3 August 2006.
Source: Own work.
Author: Wanner-Laufer
(Wikimedia Commons)
unless stated otherwise.
Further development included the repetition of Curvilinear, or Flame-Like Forms, that occur in a great number of Windows around 1320, notably in the Retro-Choir at Wells Cathedral and the Nave of Exeter Cathedral.
This type of Tracery is often seen in combination with Vaulting Ribs of extreme projection and very rich moulding, as is seen in the Chapter House at Wells, and the Vault at Exeter, which stretches, uninterrupted by a Central Tower, for ninety-one metres (300 ft) and is the longest Mediæval Vault in the World.[4]
The last stage of Curvilinear or Flowing Decorated Gothic, is expressed in Tracery of very varied and highly complex forms. Many of the largest and most famous Windows of England date from 1320 to 1330 and are in this style.
The Lierne Vault of the Crossing at Bristol Cathedral.
Photo: 5 August 2019.
Source: Own work.
Author: Kognos
(Wikimedia Commons)
They include the South Transept Rose Window, known as the “Bishop’s Eye” at Lincoln, the “Heart of Yorkshire” Window in the West End of York, and the famous Nine-Light East Window of Carlisle.[2][4]
There are many smaller architectural works within Cathedrals which have the Curvilinear Tracery. These include the Arcading in The Lady Chapel at Ely, which also has the widest Vault in England, the Pulpitum Screen at Lincoln, and richly-decorated doorways at Ely and Rochester.
The “Bishop’s Eye” Rose Window, Lincoln Cathedral.
Photo: 9 June 2013.
Source: Own work.
Author: Jonathan Cardy
(Wikimedia Commons)
In the 1330s, when the architects of Europe were embracing the Flamboyant style, English architecture moved away from the Flowing Decorated style in an entirely different, and much more sober, direction, with the reconstruction, in highly modular form, of the Choir of the Norman Abbey, now Cathedral, at Gloucester.
The Perpendicular style, which relies on a network of intersecting Mullions and Transoms, rather than on a diversity of richly carved forms for effect, gives an overall impression of great unity, in which the structure of the vast Windows of both Clerestory and East End are integrated with the Arcades, below, and the Vault, above.
The style proved very adaptable and continued with variations in the Naves of Canterbury and Winchester, and in the Choir of York.
PART SIXTEEN FOLLOWS.
Fascinating featured facts by Zephyrinus, thank you, on “cathedral ceiling tracery” or “vaulted ribs”: “The Vault at Exeter, which stretches, uninterrupted by a Central Tower, for ninety-one metres (300 ft), is the longest Mediæval Vault in the World.”
ReplyDeleteHow could one’s mind and heart not be lifted up to the heavens and to God, looking at these extraordinary marvels of architecture and engineering? -Comment by Dante P
A most apposite Comment from our Mediæval Architectural, Liturgical, and Historical, Correspondent, Dante P, for which, as always, we are most grateful.
DeleteZephyrinus has for many years been lost for words when looking at these magnificent Mediæval Cathedrals. It is beyond Zephyrinus's comprehension how, without modern tools or technological prowess, these unbelievable edifices were constructed, often over a period of centuries.
Sometimes reaching to several hundreds of feet high, one wonders how they lifted blocks of stone weighing many tons to such great heights.
And the wooden scaffolding surrounding such great heights must have been, at best, rather flimsy.
As Dante P correctly states: “How could one’s mind and heart not be lifted up to the heavens and to God, looking at these extraordinary marvels of architecture and engineering ?”
In Zephyrinus's view, it puts to great shame the shambolic Modernistic Church buildings that one sometimes sees these days.