Notre-Dame de Paris.
Text, unless stated otherwise, from:
Development And Character Of Gothic Architecture.
By: Charles Herbert Moore.
Published: 1890.
Publisher: London, MacMillan.
Collection: Robarts. Toronto.
University of Toronto.
This Choir of Canterbury (above) (Fig. 71) is the real beginning of what Gothic there is in the Pointed Architecture of England.
From it, as the main source at least, is derived
what is commonly known as the Early English Style.
It is in five Bays, and is Vaulted with one Quadripartite and two Sexpartite compartments. These Vaults are provided with Transverse and Diagonal Ribs, but without Longitudinal Ribs.
The Transverse Ribs only are Pointed. The Vaulting Shafts correspond in number with the Ribs to be carried — there are three in the main group and one in the intermediate Pier.
The single Shaft in the intermediate Pier was probably derived from Sens Cathedral, where the Longitudinal Rib Shaft is carried on the Clerestory Ledge, rendering a single support
for the intermediate Transverse Rib all that is necessary.
We see that this single Vaulting Shaft subsequently became frequent in England, where, with little constructive propriety, it is made to carry three Ribs of Quadripartite Vaults.
The criticism which early Gothic façades, like the Cathedral
of Notre-Dame de Paris, sometimes receive, as wanting
in Gothic character, is not well founded.
The façade of Notre-Dame de Paris (Fig. 60, above) is
one of the most Gothic, as it is also one of the grandest
of structures of this kind.
It is certainly the most remarkable façade that had been erected up to its time; and for dignity, sobriety, and extreme beauty of details, it has hardly been surpassed.
Abbaye aux Hommes, Caen.
Photo: 8 February 2005.
Source: Own work.
This File is licensed under the
Share Alike 3.0 Unported Licence.
Author: Urban
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Abbey of Saint-Étienne, Caen, also known as Abbaye
aux Hommes (“Men’s Abbey”), by contrast with the
Abbaye aux Dames (“Ladies’ Abbey”), is a former
Normandy, dedicated to Saint Stephen.
It was Founded in 1063[1] by William the Conqueror and one of the most important Romanesque buildings in Normandy.
(Wikipedia)
The general scheme of design is still the same as in the Abbaye-aux-Hommes, Caen; but such is the treatment of its elements that the Gothic spirit is manifest in every part.
Its large divisions are admirably proportioned and beautifully sub-divided. The Romanesque characteristics have completely disappeared from the Apertures, Arcades, and even from the Moulding profiles, while, in Senlis Cathedral, the Romanesque profiles are largely retained.
At Notre-Dame de Paris, three majestic Portals on the Ground Storey, above them a great Central Rose Window, flanked on each side by twin Pointed Apertures, and a Circle embraced by an encompassing Arch, a magnificent Shafted Arcade, sheltering twenty-eight Sculptured Statues, dividing these Storeys, an elegant, though gigantic, Open Arcade over all, and the two Towers, each pierced by coupled Pointed Openings, rising one Storey higher, make up a most impressive architectural composition.
Senlis Cathedral, Picardy.
Photo: 14 April 2015.
Source: Own work.
This File is licensed under the
Share Alike 3.0 Unported Licence.
Attribution: Photo by DAVID ILIFF.
Licence:
Author: Diliff
(Wikimedia Commons)
The magnificence, without extravagance, of the still-richer façade of Amiens Cathedral (Fig. 61) is, in some respects, beyond all praise.
Amiens Cathedral.
Illustration: INTERNET ARCHIVE
In addition to the leading features of Notre-Dame de Paris, Amiens Cathedral has Gables over its three vast Portals; these Gables are advanced, so as to be even with the outer faces of the Buttresses — an arrangement which adds greatly to the depth of the Archivolts, and converts the lower portions of the Buttresses into Doorway Jambs.
Beneath the Arcade of sculptured Statues, is an elegant open Arcaded Gallery; while the great open Arcade of the top Storey of Notre-Dame de Paris gives place, here at Amiens, to two superposed lesser Arcades connecting the Towers above the Cornice.
It is sadly to be regretted that the Great Rose Stained-Glass Window has lost its original Tracery — the existing Flamboyant Tracery wholly disagreeing with the spirit of the rest of the design.
In this façade, Wall - Spaces are everywhere in effect suppressed, and the Gothic character is everywhere strongly emphasised.
Indeed, this façade, like the Interior which it encloses, marks the culmination of Gothic art in its entirely normal condition.
Reims Cathedral.
Photo: 7 August 2022.
Source: Own work.
This File is licensed under the
Share Alike 4.0 International Licence.
Author: Gennadii Saus i Segura
(Wikimedia Commons)
It is hard to speak critically of so marvellous a structure as the façade of the Cathedral of Reims. The period of its Foundation (1260) was a time when the vitality and spontaneity of the Gothic movement were, in great measure, spent; and the signs of waning life are not wanting in this monument.
It has qualities, however, which almost entitle it to a first place among Gothic façades.
