Chapter IV: Early English Stiff-Leaf

The basis of the English stiff-leaf foliage, which dominated Gothic ornament here for nearly a century, is a trefoil of a very marked type. The period of its domination was from the end of the twelfth to near the end of the thirteenth century--the spring-time of Gothic architecture. It first appeared when the Saxon and Norman masons had got over their animosity and were working together, while inter-marriage was binding the two races into a new nation. The churches of King’s Walden and Kimpton afford most interesting examples of the time just preceding this fusion (Pl. 4). The masons of the dying Romanesque school were working side by side with those whom the new spirit of Gothic was animating, and who ventured on some of the earliest experiments in the coming style. It is seldom that we are able to find so concrete an example of an abstract type as the trefoils on a capital at King’s Walden (Pl. 24). Here is a double row of plain trefoils showing clearly the solid mid-rib in all three lobes, but appearing to press into, if not to pierce, the central lobe. This is the simple earliest development of the type mentioned on p. 11 as occurring in embryo-form on a string course at Sompting (Pl. 2), and representing the under surface of a leaf[4]. The other type, representing the upper surface, is shown as plainly and simply on a capital at St David’s Cathedral. Here, instead of the solid mid-rib, the central portion of the central lobe is concaved into a hollow and looks almost like a loop (Pl. 26). These two distinct types may be called the eastern, or Lincoln, and the western, or Wells, types. But it must not be supposed that this rough classification is exact or exclusive. Trefoils of both kinds may be seen both at Lincoln and Wells, but the mid-rib type is certainly more common in the eastern counties, and the hollowed type is more frequently found in the west than in the east. A capital at Bledlow Church shows simple examples of both types placed alternately (Pl. 27), and at Fountains an early capital shows the same distinctive features of the mid-rib and hollow alternately on leaves that are not trefoils (Pl. 28). At Kimpton (Pl. 29) the development is rapid. The trefoils are in groups of three, and they are made to blend so as to make a continuous garland of leafage round the capital. But the masons who carved the Kimpton capitals were not content with uniformity. There were two schools, as we have said before, working side by side; probably both of them had been at work on the great abbey of St Albans. There were the conservatives and the progressives; and the rows of capitals, apparently contemporaneous, contain some of the old decadent Romanesque type and some of the new experiments in stiff-leaf. The conservatives, not wishing to be outdone by their rivals, ornamented the Norman scallops as in the capital illustrated in Pl. 20, or like Pl. 21 in the neighbouring church of King’s Walden. The progressives varied the shapes of the trefoils and the character of the mid-ribs, which they sometimes carried up above the top of the central lobe instead of pressing into it. These variations will be seen in Pl. 30. In the last-mentioned a very remarkable piece of almost impudent experiment occurs. The spacing of the garland of trefoils round the capital not being accurately measured, when the last space had to be filled there was not room for a complete trefoil like the rest, so the mason had the temerity to push out a trefoil sideways to fill the gap. This is a crude and clumsy forerunner of such foliage as is to be found in the Lincoln Angel Choir (Pl. 47). At Minster in Thanet there are hollowed trefoils in a row on one face, and convexed mid-ribbed trefoils on another (Pl. 31). A double row of leaves appears on some capitals at Wells, the monotony being broken by an experiment, not altogether successful, which is a singular and exceptional breach of the convention, and suggests an attempt at naturalism (Pl. 32[5]). It is, however, to be observed that, in this departure, the mid-rib and concave conventions are followed in the thin leaves substituted for the expansive trefoils. In the nave of Lincoln some of the capitals have a double row of trefoils bending about with considerable freedom and exhibiting very clearly some characteristic features (Pl. 33). In most of the sprays the mid-rib is prominent, and in most cases it dies into the leaf in a way which explains the origin of the apparent pressing in or piercing. The point of the leaf is seen plainly to curl over in the way of which we have the first example at Sompting (Pl. 2). It is true that in that example it is the concaved upper surface which is curled over, but it is suggestive. The curling of all the tips in this Lincoln example led to such convolutions as we find later in such capitals as those in the Hereford north transept (Pl. 34). The semi-circular excrescences between the stalks above the necking are an early feature, seen also at Oxford, and elsewhere. This turning over of the tips is seen in the borders of Saxon ivories at the Oxford Galleries (Pl. 3). It is quite Classical in origin, and seems to be derived from the curling over of Corinthian “acanthus” leaves. A corbel at Teversham (Pl. 35) shows long flat mid-ribs apparently piercing the heads of the leaves like metal bands. This specimen looks like the work of an inferior hand who did not grasp the significance of the convention, but who slavishly copied it without understanding it. The occurrence of such exceptional examples only throws more light on the influence of _style_. It guided and kept within reasonable bounds the intelligent and artistic mason, but merely exercised a mechanical control over those less capable. We are reminded of the great sculptors of Ancient Greece who did the figure work, and the slaves who executed the patterns. The mason who did such work as this at Teversham would have been better employed at cutting dog-tooth ornament.

The trefoils exhibiting the mid-rib type are arranged in graceful wavy garlands at Eaton Bray (Pl. 36). Ivinghoe Church has a very good series of stiff-leaf foliage capitals, showing characteristics already described (Pl. 37).

Perhaps the very finest specimens of mid-thirteenth-century stiff-leaf are to be found on the spandrils of the wall-arcade round the chancel of Stone Church, in Kent (Pl. 38). The foliage is arranged in circling sprays designed to fill the spaces of the spandrils. The trefoils show plainly the mid-rib. Most of them have an extra lobe, and, in what we take to be the later ones, there is a tendency to emphasise the centres of the lobes by little swellings--a feature to be further developed in what is called the Decorated convention. These beautiful carvings at Stone are supposed to have been executed by the Westminster Abbey masons. It is therefore interesting to compare them with spandrils at Westminster which were probably the pioneers of those at Stone (Pl. 39).

We have next to notice a variety of foliage in the nave of Lincoln, in which the leaves are split (Pl. 40). This indicates a weakening of the tradition. At West Walton some of the capitals suggest a reminiscence of volutes and crockets. At Wells, while the trefoil form is discoverable, there was much more freedom from convention. In a capital at the west end of the nave (Pl. 41), the solid mid-rib can be recognised turned over into a volute at a corner, while the turned-over tip survives in a modified form. Many of the sprays are twisted into curves, some like those at Hereford (Pl. 34), others rather at random. In others animal forms are mixed with the foliage, and the whole treated in a very free manner. In a vaulting-shaft corbel of the transept (Pl. 42) there are a number of trefoils of the western type in which the hollowed portions of the leaves are actually cut out, turning them into loops. In the St David’s example we illustrate (Pl. 26) the leaves are similar, but not undercut. A corbel at Wells of a lizard biting fruit (Pl. 43) shows both kinds of trefoils, but the hollowed upper surfaces are not thus cut out. It would appear that the masons who carved the corbel shown in Pl. 42 had lost the sense of the origin of the hollows and were influenced by the desire, apparent in Pls. 40 and 32, to divide the leaves into strips. The Judgment Porch at Lincoln has some exquisitely undercut foliage forming bowers from which statuettes look out. This foliage exhibits all the grace of the Westminster and Stone spandrils, and stands out against the hollow of the moulding in a way that suggests ivory carving (Pl. 44). The mid-ribbed trefoil, often with one or more extra lobes, is much in evidence, also turned-over tips and occasional spiral curls, and here and there little round knobs, these last indicating the approach to a later stage, which is reached in the sculptures on the doorways to the choir aisles at Lincoln (Pl. 45). In these the newer features of curls and knobs prevail, but distinct and separate trefoil treatment is difficult to find. In another small capital at Lincoln (Pl. 46), in place of trefoils we find curling-over crockets, generally showing a substantial mid-rib, but with the lobes split and twisted into convolutions which are bold and in a way impressive, but which are too prominent, and obscure rather than reveal the architectural function of the capital. This over-profusion of ornament is even more pronounced in a capital in the wall arcading under the east window of the Angel Choir (Pl. 47). Here one cannot help feeling that the mason deliberately selected much larger stones than suitable for the capitals in order to display his cleverness in working them into great crockets projecting far from the bell. The curves are graceful and the work is refined as well as bold, but the projecting foliage overbalances the comparatively small bell of the capital, and may be regarded as the extreme limit of the stiff-leaf convention. The style had reached a bubbling-over stage.

Before passing on beyond this limit we will turn aside to notice some other variations. At St Margaret’s, King’s Lynn, there are some capitals one of which shows four-leaved flowers with a knob in the centre and on each petal. The trefoils between the flowers have the mid-rib, and are symmetrically arranged in pairs curled backwards to meet one another at the tips (Pl. 48). At Lichfield Cathedral some of the trefoils have grown into cinque-foils, the central lobe with a mid-rib rising to the abacus and there turning over in accordance with the early tradition. The side lobes are slightly indented into trefoils (Pl. 49). Some of the capitals in the chapter house at Salisbury are very characteristic (Pl. 50) though they may have been to some extent restored. They show trefoils forming crockets and used singly.

Perhaps the most beautiful and perfect specimen of the fully-developed stiff-leaf style is on the wall arcade of the ancient choir screen now placed in the transept of Salisbury Cathedral (Pl. 51). It has all the grace and refinement of the late Lincoln capitals, but is closer to the convention and is more restrained and architecturally suitable.

At Wells, where the development was on somewhat different lines, and where we find more of the hollowed or looped trefoils, the later capitals at the west end of the nave suggest a separate origin (Pl. 52). The stalks rising from the necking blossom into luxuriant foliage or fronds of bracken. A connexion between these rising stalks diverging as they rise and blossoming at the top, and the scallops of Anglo-Norman capitals resembling cornucopiae, on the top of which luxuriant vegetation overflows, is confirmed by such a capital as that shown in Pl. 53. We would also refer to the capital at St David’s (Pl. 26) in which there is a similar suggestion.

It is impossible, within reasonable limits, to describe all the variations of thirteenth-century foliage. As we have remarked before, the convention or style guided and controlled, but did not enslave, the masons. In the earlier days of the style, before the masons had fully grasped the capabilities of the tradition, the experiments were in the direction of more rigid uniformity, but mastery over the style grew rapidly, and they soon found out how to employ their skill in new and graceful ways within the limits imposed by it. Towards the end of the period, say in the third quarter of the thirteenth century, they took more liberties and added new forms and treatment until they had exhausted its capabilities and grew tired of its control. Before passing on to the next stage we will briefly refer to one or two specimens of an unusual character.

In the retrochoir of Ely (Pl. 54) the trefoils have lumps on every lobe almost like the bladders on seaweeds. This is an anticipation of the fourteenth-century convention, but the stiff-leaf features and thirteenth-century mouldings class these with the earlier style.

At Llandaff (Pl. 55) heads occur, and foliage different from any we have attempted to describe. Finally, we would mention a coffin-lid at Weobley on which the cross is formed of trefoils (Pl. 56).