5. The Gothic. — The round- arch or Romanesque style has given the Christian temple its almost complete plan, as far as concerns the disposition of the aisles, altar, choir, etc. The pointed arch began first in France and Normandy to sup- plant the round arch. The prog- ress of this new feature was then gradual and fluctuating for over a century. The two arches are found used almost promiscuous- ly till 1280, when the pointe arch, and all the constructive changes it induced, were used, purely and solely, for a centu- ry. This is hence called the golden period of the Gothic ar- chitecture. The use of this arch required, for harmony, a corre- sponding additional upward ten- dency in all the parts of the structure. To this was added a richness of conventionalized, foliated ornamentation, not sur- passing, perhaps, that of the windows and doorways of some works of the round-arch style, but far more generally diffused and more harmoniously incorpo- rated with the feeling of the en- tire edifice. The spire was made
Apse of the Apostles' Church at Cologne,
ARCHITECTURE
380
ARCHITRICLINUS
fan-shaped, the choir being encircled bya row of chap- els; its principal ornament consists in the three large portals in front ; columns replace the pillars ; the circles and arches are not connected by chamfers or astragals; the arches and buttresses are plain; the towers mostly square, and without the pyramidal apex; the perpendicular ascending tendency is bal- anced by a horizontal gallery in the facade. Its best specimens are Notre-Dame of Paris, and the cathe- drals of Rouen, Dijon, Chartres, Rheims, Amiens, St. Ouen near Rouen, etc. The Spanish Gothic inclines
rv) closed the second great division or history, and was followed by the modern in the 19th century.
III. The Modern. — The chief characteristic differ- ence between the modern, and the ancient, and me- diaeval architecture, is that it is marked by no style such as is followed by all builders of the period in all lands where a certain civilization prevails. The in- consistencies and absurdities of the Rococo style of the latter part of the 18th century were felt under the purer taste awakened by the study of the history of ancient and mediaeval art that has prevailed during to the horizontal, looks heavy, and the inside is gen- • the last fifty years. Attempts are making to revive erally overloaded with ornaments, as, for instance, j the spirit of the pure ages — of the Gothic (mostly in the cathedrals of Toledo, Barcelona, Xeres, etc. The England), of the Renaissance (mostly in France), and convent of Batalha is a line specimen of the Portu- of the Ancient Classical (mostly in Germany). A few guese Gothic, which is of purer style than the Span- j architects and critics feel the necessity of having a ish. The Gothic of Holland and Belgium partakes of ntw style of architecture, adapted to the wants of mod- the French and the German ; the former preponder- ern society, and to the use of the new materials (es- ates in the inside, and the latter in the outside, where ' pecially iron and glass) that science has brought with- we tind large pointed windows, no rosettes, smaller in the reach of the builder.
portals, and high towers, as in the cathedrals of Am- sterdam, Brussels, Utrecht, the Oude Kerk of Am- sterdam, St. Laurentius of Rotterdam, etc. The Eng- lish Gothic has many peculiarities. The richest spec- imens belong to the so-called Tudor style ; for in- stance, the Chapel of Henry VII. The Italian Goth- ic is distinguished from the same style as found in more northern countries by inclining more to the an- tique, and presenting the perpendicular features only in false facades, while in the actual buildings the hor- izontal predominates ; it also preserves the walls in
In America the early church edifices had usually no architectural merits or pretensions. This arose from the poverty of the people, the lack of artistic ed- ucation in the builders and, of a cultivated taste in the community, or from an honest desire to shun any thing that might savor of pompous display in the house of God. "Within the last twenty years a different spir- it has animated all denominations of Christians, and a most healthy feeling prevails, manifesting itself iu honest attempts to make the house cf God a building worthy of its high and holy uses. The most impor-
their original massiveness, instead of dividing them tant requisite for this is the development of a body of
by means of pillars and windows; the foundations are broad, the choir ends in a quadrangle ; they are sur- mounted by a cupola, but have no towers, as the cathe- drals of Florence, Sienna, Orvieto, Assisi, St. Antonio of Padua, St. Petronia of Bologna, St. Maria Novello of Florence, etc., etc. In the 15th and 16th centuries the spirit of the style had died out, though it still gave a tending to the character of the edifices erected in Ger- many and elsewhere, even as late as the 18th century. 6. The Renaissance. — In Italy the Gothic style had never taken such deep root as in the other countries of Europe. The revival of classical studies, and the tendency of the age to exalt ancient philosophy over Christianity, led to an extensive study of the antique. This spirit, carried into architecture, produced the Renaissance style, which is marked by an adaptation of classical (especially of Roman) architectural princi-