Chapter VI: The Nature of Gothic (4)

But in fig. 1, which is part of a fringe round one of the later windows in Rouen Cathedral, the foliation is first carried boldly round the arch, and then each cusp of it divided into other forms of foliation. The two larger canopies of niches below, figs. 5 and 6, are respectively those seen at the flanks of the two uppermost examples of gabled Gothic in Fig. X., p. 213. Those examples were there chosen in order also to illustrate the distinction in the character of ornamentation which we are at present examining; and if the reader will look back to them, and compare their methods of treatment, he will at once be enabled to fix that distinction clearly in his mind. He will observe that in the uppermost the element of foliation is scrupulously confined to the bearing arches of the gable, and of the lateral niches, so that, on any given side of the monument, only three foliated arches are discernible. All the rest of the ornamentation is "bossy sculpture," set on the broad marble surface. On the point of the gable are set the shield and dog-crest of the Scalas, with its bronze wings, as of a dragon, thrown out from it on either side; below, an admirably sculptured oak-tree fills the centre of the field; beneath it is the death of Abel, Abel lying dead upon his face on one side, Cain opposite, looking up to heaven in terror: the border of the arch is formed of various leafage, alternating with the scala shield; and the cusps are each filled by one flower, and two broad flowing leaves. The whole is exquisitely relieved by color; the ground being of pale red Verona marble, and the statues and foliage of white Carrara marble, inlaid.

§ CII. The figure below it, _b_, represents the southern lateral door of the principal church in Abbeville: the smallness of the scale compelled me to make it somewhat heavier in the lines of its traceries than it is in reality, but the door itself is one of the most exquisite pieces of flamboyant Gothic in the world; and it is interesting to see the shield introduced here, at the point of the gable, in exactly the same manner as in the upper example, and with precisely the same purpose,--to stay the eye in its ascent, and to keep it from being offended by the sharp point of the gable, the reversed angle of the shield being so energetic as completely to balance the upward tendency of the great convergent lines. It will be seen, however, as this example is studied, that its other decorations are altogether different from those of the Veronese tomb; that, here, the whole effect is dependent on mere multiplications of similar lines of tracery, sculpture being hardly introduced except in the seated statue under the central niche, and, formerly, in groups filling the shadowy hollows under the small niches in the archivolt, but broken away in the Revolution. And if now we turn to Plate XII., just passed, and examine the heads of the two lateral niches there given from each of these monuments on a larger scale, the contrast will be yet more apparent. The one from Abbeville (fig. 5), though it contains much floral work of the crisp Northern kind in its finial and crockets, yet depends for all its effect on the various patterns of foliation with which its spaces are filled; and it is so cut through and through that it is hardly stronger than a piece of lace: whereas the pinnacle from Verona depends for its effect on one broad mass of shadow, boldly shaped into the trefoil in its bearing arch; and there is no other trefoil on that side of the niche. All the rest of its decoration is floral, or by almonds and bosses; and its surface of stone is unpierced, and kept in broad light, and the mass of it thick and strong enough to stand for as many more centuries as it has already stood, scatheless, in the open street of Verona. The figures 3 and 4, above each niche, show how the same principles are carried out into the smallest details of the two edifices, 3 being the moulding which borders the gable at Abbeville, and 4, that in the same position at Verona; and as thus in all cases the distinction in their treatment remains the same, the one attracting the eye to broad sculptured _surfaces_, the other to involutions of intricate _lines_, I shall hereafter characterize the two schools, whenever I have occasion to refer to them, the one as Surface-Gothic, the other as Linear-Gothic.

§ CIII. Now observe: it is not, at present, the question, whether the form of the Veronese niche, and the design of its flower-work, be as good as they might have been; but simply, which of the two architectural principles is the greater and better. And this we cannot hesitate for an instant in deciding. The Veronese Gothic is strong in its masonry, simple in its masses, but perpetual in its variety. The late French Gothic is weak in masonry, broken in mass, and repeats the same idea continually. It is very beautiful, but the Italian Gothic is the nobler style.

§ CIV. Yet, in saying that the French Gothic repeats one idea, I mean merely that it depends too much upon the foliation of its traceries. The disposition of the traceries themselves is endlessly varied and inventive; and indeed, the mind of the French workman was, perhaps, even richer in fancy than that of the Italian, only he had been taught a less noble style. This is especially to be remembered with respect to the subordination of figure sculpture above noticed as characteristic of the later Gothic.

It is not that such sculpture is wanting; on the contrary, it is often worked into richer groups, and carried out with a perfection of execution, far greater than those which adorn the earlier buildings: but, in the early work, it is vigorous, prominent, and essential to the beauty of the whole; in the late work it is enfeebled, and shrouded in the veil of tracery, from which it may often be removed with little harm to the general effect.[74]

§ CV. Now the reader may rest assured that no principle of art is more absolute than this,--that a composition from which anything can be removed without doing mischief is always so far forth inferior. On this ground, therefore, if on no other, there can be no question, for a moment, which of the two schools is the greater; although there are many most noble works in the French traceried Gothic, having a sublimity of their own dependent on their extreme richness and grace of line, and for which we may be most grateful to their builders. And, indeed, the superiority of the Surface-Gothic cannot be completely felt, until we compare it with the more degraded Linear schools, as, for instance, with our own English Perpendicular. The ornaments of the Veronese niche, which we have used for our example, are by no means among the best of their school, yet they will serve our purpose for such a comparison. That of its pinnacle is composed of a single upright flowering plant, of which the stem shoots up through the centres of the leaves, and bears a pendent blossom, somewhat like that of the imperial lily. The leaves are thrown back from the stem with singular grace and freedom, and foreshortened, as if by a skilful painter, in the shallow marble relief. Their arrangement is roughly shown in the little woodcut at the side (Fig. XX.); and if the reader will simply try the experiment for himself,--first, of covering a piece of paper with crossed lines, as if for accounts, and filling all the interstices with any foliation that comes into his head, as in Figure XIX. above; and then, of trying to fill the point of a gable with a piece of leafage like that in Figure XX. above, putting the figure itself aside,--he will presently find that more thought and invention are required to design this single minute pinnacle, than to cover acres of ground with English perpendicular.

§ CVI. We have now, I believe, obtained a sufficiently accurate knowledge both of the spirit and form of Gothic architecture; but it may, perhaps, be useful to the general reader, if, in conclusion, I set down a few plain and practical rules for determining, in every instance, whether a given building be good Gothic or not, and, if not Gothic, whether its architecture is of a kind which will probably reward the pains of careful examination.

§ CVII. First. Look if the roof rises in a steep gable, high above the walls. If it does not do this, there is something wrong; the building is not quite pure Gothic, or has been altered.

§ CVIII. Secondly. Look if the principal windows and doors have pointed arches with gables over them. If not pointed arches, the building is not Gothic; if they have not any gables over them, it is either not pure, or not first-rate.

If, however, it has the steep roof, the pointed arch, and gable all united, it is nearly certain to be a Gothic building of a very fine time.

§ CIX. Thirdly. Look if the arches are cusped, or apertures foliated. If the building has met the first two conditions, it is sure to be foliated somewhere; but, if not everywhere, the parts which are unfoliated are imperfect, unless they are large bearing arches, or small and sharp arches in groups, forming a kind of foliation by their own multiplicity, and relieved by sculpture and rich mouldings. The upper windows, for instance, in the east end of Westminster Abbey are imperfect for want of foliation. If there be no foliation anywhere, the building is assuredly imperfect Gothic.

§ CX. Fourthly. If the building meets all the first three conditions, look if its arches in general, whether of windows and doors, or of minor ornamentation, are carried on _true shafts with bases and capitals_. If they are, then the building is assuredly of the finest Gothic style. It may still, perhaps, be an imitation, a feeble copy, or a bad example of a noble style; but the manner of it, having met all these four conditions, is assuredly first-rate.

If its apertures have not shafts and capitals, look if they are plain openings in the walls, studiously simple, and unmoulded at the sides; as, for instance, the arch in Plate XIX. Vol. I. If so, the building may still be of the finest Gothic, adapted to some domestic or military service. But if the sides of the window be moulded, and yet there are no capitals at the spring of the arch, it is assuredly of an inferior school.

This is all that is necessary to determine whether the building be of a fine Gothic style. The next tests to be applied are in order to discover whether it be good architecture or not: for it may be very impure Gothic, and yet very noble architecture; or it may be very pure Gothic, and yet, if a copy, or originally raised by an ungifted builder, very bad architecture.

If it belong to any of the great schools of color, its criticism becomes as complicated, and needs as much care, as that of a piece of music, and no general rules for it can be given; but if not--

§ CXI. First. See if it looks as if it had been built by strong men; if it has the sort of roughness, and largeness, and nonchalance, mixed in places with the exquisite tenderness which seems always to be the sign-manual of the broad vision, and massy power of men who can see _past_ the work they are doing, and betray here and there something like disdain for it. If the building has this character, it is much already in its favor; it will go hard but it proves a noble one. If it has not this, but is altogether accurate, minute, and scrupulous in its workmanship, it must belong to either the very best or the very worst of schools: the very best, in which exquisite design is wrought out with untiring and conscientious care, as in the Giottesque Gothic; or the very worst, in which mechanism has taken the place of design. It is more likely, in general, that it should belong to the worst than the best: so that, on the whole, very accurate workmanship is to be esteemed a bad sign; and if there is nothing remarkable about the building but its precision, it may be passed at once with contempt.

§ CXII. Secondly. Observe if it be irregular, its different parts fitting themselves to different purposes, no one caring what becomes of them, so that they do their work. If one part always answers accurately to another part, it is sure to be a bad building; and the greater and more conspicuous the irregularities, the greater the chances are that it is a good one. For instance, in the Ducal Palace, of which a rough woodcut is given in Chap. VIII., the general idea is sternly symmetrical; but two windows are lower than the rest of the six; and if the reader will count the arches of the small arcade as far as to the great balcony, he will find it is not in the centre, but set to the right-hand side by the whole width of one of those arches. We may be pretty sure that the building is a good one; none but a master of his craft would have ventured to do this.

§ CXIII. Thirdly. Observe if all the traceries, capitals, and other ornaments are of perpetually varied design. If not, the work is assuredly bad.

§ CXIV. Lastly. _Read_ the sculpture. Preparatory to reading it, you will have to discover whether it is legible (and, if legible, it is nearly certain to be worth reading). On a good building, the sculpture is _always_ so set, and on such a scale, that at the ordinary distance from which the edifice is seen, the sculpture shall be thoroughly intelligible and interesting. In order to accomplish this, the uppermost statues will be ten or twelve feet high, and the upper ornamentation will be colossal, increasing in fineness as it descends, till on the foundation it will often be wrought as if for a precious cabinet in a king's chamber; but the spectator will not notice that the upper sculptures are colossal. He will merely feel that he can see them plainly, and make them all out at his ease.

And, having ascertained this, let him set himself to read them. Thenceforward the criticism of the building is to be conducted precisely on the same principles as that of a book; and it must depend on the knowledge, feeling, and not a little on the industry and perseverance of the reader, whether, even in the case of the best works, he either perceive them to be great, or feel them to be entertaining.

FOOTNOTES

[56] The third kind of ornament, the Renaissance, is that in which
the inferior detail becomes principal, the executor of every minor
portion being required to exhibit skill and possess knowledge as
great as that which is possessed by the master of the design; and in
the endeavor to endow him with this skill and knowledge, his own
original power is overwhelmed, and the whole building becomes a
wearisome exhibition of well-educated imbecility. We must fully
inquire into the nature of this form of error, when we arrive at the
examination of the Renaissance schools.

[57] Vide Preface to "Fair Maid of Perth."

[58] The Elgin marbles are supposed by many persons to be "perfect."
In the most important portions they indeed approach perfection, but
only there. The draperies are unfinished, the hair and wool of the
animals are unfinished, and the entire bas-reliefs of the frieze are
roughly cut.

[59] In the eighth chapter we shall see a remarkable instance of
this sacrifice of symmetry to convenience in the arrangement of the
windows of the Ducal Palace.

[60] I am always afraid to use this word "Composition;" it is so
utterly misused in the general parlance respecting art. Nothing is
more common than to hear divisions of art into "form, composition,
and color," or "light and shade and composition," or "sentiment and
composition," or it matters not what else and composition; the
speakers in each case attaching a perfectly different meaning to the
word, generally an indistinct one, and always a wrong one.
Composition is, in plain English, "putting together," and it means
the putting together of lines, of forms, of colors, of shades, or of
ideas. Painters compose in color, compose in thought, compose in
form, and compose in effect: the word being of use merely in order
to express a scientific, disciplined, and inventive arrangement of
any of these, instead of a merely natural or accidental one.

[61] Design is used in this place as expressive of the power to
arrange lines and colors nobly. By facts, I mean facts perceived by
the eye and mind, not facts accumulated by knowledge. See the
chapter on Roman Renaissance (Vol. III. Chap. II.) for this
distinction.

[62] "Earlier," that is to say, pre-Raphaelite ages. Men of this
stamp will praise Claude, and such other comparatively debased
artists; but they cannot taste the work of the thirteenth century.

[63] Not selfish fear, caused by want of trust in God, or of
resolution in the soul.

[64] I reserve for another place the full discussion of this
interesting subject, which here would have led me too far; but it
must be noted, in passing, that this vulgar Purism, which rejects
truth, not because it is vicious, but because it is humble, and
consists not in choosing what is good, but in disguising what is
rough, extends itself into every species of art. The most definite
instance of it is the dressing of characters of peasantry in an
opera or ballet scene; and the walls of our exhibitions are full of
works of art which "exalt nature" in the same way, not by revealing
what is great in the heart, but by smoothing what is coarse in the
complexion. There is nothing, I believe, so vulgar, so hopeless, so
indicative of an irretrievably base mind, as this species of Purism.
Of healthy Purism carried to the utmost endurable length in this
direction, exalting the heart first, and the features with it,
perhaps the most characteristic instance I can give is Stothard's
vignette to "Jorasse," in Rogers's Italy; at least it would be so if
it could be seen beside a real group of Swiss girls. The poems of
Rogers, compared with those of Crabbe, are admirable instances of
the healthiest Purism and healthiest Naturalism in poetry. The first
great Naturalists of Christian art were Orcagna and Giotto.

[65] The reader will understand this in a moment by glancing at Plate
XX., the last in this volume, where the series 1 to 12 represents
the change in one kind of leaf, from the Byzantine to the perfect
Gothic.

[66] The best art either represents the facts of its own day, or, if
facts of the past, expresses them with accessories of the time in
which the work was done. All good art, representing past events, is
therefore full of the most frank anachronism, and always _ought_ to
be. No painter has any business to be an antiquarian. We do not want
his impressions or suppositions respecting things that are past. We
want his clear assertions respecting things present.

[67] See the account of the meeting at Talla Linns, in 1682, given
in the fourth chapter of the "Heart of Midlothian." At length they
arrived at the conclusion that "they who owned (or allowed) such
names as Monday, Tuesday, January, February, and so forth, served
themselves heirs to the same if not greater punishment than had been
denounced against the idolaters of old."

[68] See the beautiful description of Florence in Elizabeth Browning's
"Casa Guidi Windows," which is not only a noble poem, but the only
book I have seen which, favoring the Liberal cause in Italy, gives a
just account of the incapacities of the modern Italian.

[69] Salisbury spire is only a tower with a polygonal gabled roof of
stone, and so also the celebrated spires of Caen and Coutances.

[70] Or by the shaded portions of Fig. XXIX. Vol. I.

[71] The reader is not to suppose that Greek architecture had always,
or often, flat ceilings, because I call its lintel the roof proper.
He must remember I always use these terms of the first simple
arrangements of materials that bridge a space; bringing in the real
roof afterwards, if I can. In the case of Greek temples it would be
vain to refer their structure to the real roof, for many were
hypæthral, and without a roof at all. I am unfortunately more
ignorant of Egyptian roofing than even of Arabian, so that I cannot
bring this school into the diagram; but the gable appears to have
been magnificently used for a bearing roof. Vide Mr. Fergusson's
section of the Pyramid of Geezeh, "Principles of Beauty in Art,"
Plate I., and his expressions of admiration of Egyptian roof
masonry, page 201.

[72] See 'Athenæum,' March 5th, 1853.

[73] Late, and chiefly confined to Northern countries, so that the
two schools may be opposed either as Early and Late Gothic, or (in
the fourteenth century) as Southern and Northern Gothic.

[74] In many of the best French Gothic churches, the groups of figures
have been all broken away at the Revolution, without much harm to
the picturesqueness, though with grievous loss to the historical
value of the architecture: whereas, if from the niche at Verona we
were to remove its floral ornaments, and the statue beneath it,
nothing would remain but a rude square trefoiled shell, utterly
valueless, or even ugly.