Title: Lectures on the rise and development of medieval architecture; vol. 1
Author: Sir George Gilbert Scott
Release date: January 31, 2020 [eBook #61255]
Most recently updated: October 17, 2024
Language: English
Credits: Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images available at The Internet Archive)
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List of Illustrations (etext transcriber's note) |
LECTURES
ON
THE RISE AND DEVELOPMENT
OF
MEDIÆVAL ARCHITECTURE
Fig. 116.—Western Porch, Ely Cathedral.
The restoration of the Vescica Piscis is taken from a print in the British Museum, dated 1730.
Delivered at the Royal Academy
By Sir GILBERT SCOTT, R.A.,
F.S.A., LL.D., Etc.
IN TWO VOLUMES—VOL. I.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET
1879
The right of Translation is reserved.
Printed by R. & R. Clark, Edinburgh.
Only half of the following Lectures were delivered by me, as the Professor of Architecture, at the Royal Academy. The first seven were delivered while Professor Cockerell held the Chair; but, owing to his infirm state of health, I being then an Associate, was, in conjunction with Mr. Smirke, called in to relieve him of this duty. The eighth and ninth Lectures were prepared six years later, after Mr. Smirke had retired, and those which follow, when I had succeeded him in the Professorship.
The Lectures are naturally somewhat disconnected; and having been written both at various times and for audiences often changing, may be found in some instances to repeat the same facts and ideas, for which, as well as for too great a prolixity of style, I beg to apologise.
They were written with much zeal; and, thanks to my staff, and to my pupils, my sons, and others, they were magnificently and profusely illustrated; more so, perhaps, than any such Lectures had ever been before.
They have lain long in abeyance; but it seemed to me, that “for better for worse,” and notwithstanding the lapse of time, they ought to be published, and Mr. Murray has most kindly undertaken to do this for me.
In correcting them for the press, I have made only verbal alterations, or corrected accidental errors, or omitted a few harsh expressions. Where I wished to amplify, I have done so by notes. The illustrations have been mainly drawn by my friend and assistant, Mr. W. S. Weatherley, chiefly from those exhibited when the Lectures were delivered, with additions from my more recent sketches, and will be found to contribute largely to the elucidation of the text.
Geo. Gilbert Scott.
London, February 1878.
At the time of the sudden and deplorable death of Sir Gilbert Scott in March last, more than 200 illustrations had been made and engraved. The remaining ones are completed in conformity with his marginal directions.
Many of these were prepared by me for the Lectures ten years ago, and all have been compared with Sir Gilbert’s sketches, with the diagrams in the MSS., and redrawn. The engraving is by “Leitch’s photographic process.”
Some valuable woodcuts, lent by permission of Mr. Fergusson and Mr. Murray, have also been inserted among the letterpress.
W. Samᴸ. Weatherley.
20 Cockspur Street,
London, S.W.
| LECTURE I.
The Claims of Mediæval Architecture upon our Study | |
|---|---|
| Introduction—Art follows the course of civilisation—Three primâ facie claims Gothic Architecture has upon Study—Additional claim, that it is Christian Architecture—Objections to the title—Explanations of the term—Byzantine the earliest Christian style—Summary of the Historical claims of Mediæval Architecture—Its intrinsic claims—Abstract beauty—Advantages of an arcuated over a trabeated style—Facility in decorating construction, and in converting structural features into elements of beauty—Adaptability to varied climates—Unites all arts in one—Painted glass—Sculpture—Foliated sculpture—Gothic Architecture suited to the severest and most elegant styles—Beauty of external outline—Delicacy of mouldings—Religious solemnity of the interior of its temples—The spirit with which the study of Mediæval Architecture should be undertaken—How to be pursued—Practical objects for which it should be followed up | Page 1 |
| LECTURE II.
Sketch of the Rise of Mediæval Architecture | |
| Anomalous state of things in Western Europe after the destruction of the Roman Empire—Art almost extinct—Saved by the Western Church and the Eastern Empire—Architectural elements of the new races—Charlemagne’s attempts to revive art—Primitive art in England and the north of France—Dawn of better things—Architecture of the tenth century—Schools of art and science—Bishop Bernward’s works—Origin of early styles in France and Germany—Early architecture of Rome—The arcuated and the trabeated systems—Development of Romanesque—Its leading characteristics—Romanesque and Pointed architecture not TWO styles, but ONE—Barrel vaults—Groined vaults—Oblong bays—Main arches of groined vaulting changed from the semicircle to the pointed arch—Flying buttresses—Groin ribs—The pointed arch arose from statical not geometrical or æsthetical motives—Wall ribs remain round long after the wider arches become pointed—Two modes adopted to avoid the difficulty of oblong groining over naves—Sexpartite vaulting | Page 37 |
| LECTURE III.
The Transition | |
| Gradual refinement of Romanesque—French architects the earliest to systematise the pointed arch—The English before the Germans—The Italians from the Germans—Fully acknowledged in France 1140—Suger’s work at St. Denis—Carving in French churches—Corinthianesque outline of capitals—Distinctly Byzantine capitals—A route by which Byzantine foliage may have reached France—The importation indisputable—Its effects seen in Early English capitals—West front of Chartres—Fluting on basement of doorways—Cathedral of Noyon—St. Germain des Pres, Paris—Cathedral of Sens, prototype of the Choir and Trinity Chapel at Canterbury—Nôtre Dame, Paris—A new kind of foliage—The capital “à crochet”—English transition—Incipient specimens—Refined Norman—Pointed style, with reminiscences of Romanesque—William of Sens—William the Englishman—Influence of French work—Oakham Castle—Glastonbury Abbey—Cathedral of St. David’s—Temple Church, London—Chichester Cathedral—Tynemouth Abbey—Hexham Abbey—Unfoliated capitals—Round moulded capitals—Characteristics of English and French transition—The German transition—Practical lessons from studying these changes—Principles to which the transition was pioneer | Page 69 |
| LECTURE IV.
The Thirteenth Century | |
| Mediæval architecture usually classified under heads of centuries—Actual points of change do not coincide with these divisions—Auspices for the development of the Early Pointed style—Great works in England and France—Artistic disturbance in Germany—Progress in Italy—Energy pervades every branch of art—Perfected Early Pointed a natural growth from Romanesque—Leading characteristics—Columns—Bases of Columns—Capitals—Plan of the abacus—Circular plan—Whence this arose—Moulded capitals—Windows—Bases of buildings—Cornices and foliated bands—Doorways—French and English compared | Page 137 |
| LECTURE V.
The Thirteenth Century—continued | |
| St. Saviour’s, Southwark—Choir of Temple Church, London—Chapel at Lambeth—Westminster Abbey—Its Italian mosaic work, monuments, and ancient reredos—Chapel of St. Etheldreda, Holborn—St. Alban’s Abbey—Priory Church, Dunstable—Stone Church near Gravesend—Waltham Cross—Jesus Chapel, Cambridge—Ely and Peterborough Cathedrals—Warmington Church—West Walton Abbey—Crowland Abbey—St. Mary’s and All Saints, Stamford—Ketton, Grantham, and Frampton Churches—Lincoln Cathedral—Southwell Minster—Newstead Abbey—York Cathedral—St. Mary’s Abbey, and St. Leonard’s Hospital, York—Skelton Church—Beverley and Ripon Minsters—Fountains, Rivaulx, Whitby, Kirkham, and Guisborough Abbeys—Chapel of the Nine Altars, Durham—Hexham and Dryburgh Abbeys—Chapel of Holyrood—Elgin and Glasgow Cathedrals—Furness Abbey—Southern examples—Most great churches in France vaulted, not so in England—Universal excellence of workmanship from 1175 to 1400—Domestic architecture of France, Germany, Italy, and England—Influence of thirteenth century work on our artistic practice | Page 170 |
| LECTURE VI.
The Rationale of Gothic Architecture | |
| Contradictory opinions as to the character and origin of Gothic Architecture—True causes of its origin—The arch—The Romans eminently practical—Two defects in their architecture—Practical improvements—Use of small materials—Arches in rims—Sub-ordinating rims—Imposts—Pilaster capitals—Decorative columns—Romanesque arch decorations—Labels—Clustered columns—Weight of arches on columns—Doorways—Windows—Rejection of ancient rules of proportion—Efforts to improve construction and decoration in the twelfth century—Absolute demand for an arch of less pressure and for an abutment of greater resistance—Ribbed as distinguished from arris vaulting—Reasons for adopting the former—Pointed arch as effecting proportion | Page 215 |
| LECTURE VII.
The Rationale of Gothic Architecture—continued | |
| The bases of a thirteenth century church indicate the plan and construction of the vaulting—The system of mouldings—Windows, their development—Rationale of stained glass—A general principle of ornamentation common to all good architecture—The roof—Secular buildings—Cloth market Yprès—Warehouses, Nuremburg—Windows in secular and ecclesiastical buildings—Trabeated architecture in its truest forms—Fireplaces—Chimney-shafts—Oriel and Dormer windows—Ceilings—Subordination of external design to internal requirements—Designs adapted to the materials most readily obtained—Conditions demanded of our future architecture—Gothic architecture well fitted to unite these conditions | Page 246 |
| A Digression concerning Windows | Page 276 |
| LECTURE VIII.
On the Practical Study of Gothic Architecture | |
| Evident ignorance or neglect of those who practise Gothic architecture—Faithfulness of others—The styles should be learned from ancient buildings—Our knowledge to be continually revived and added to—Hints to students—The study of Lincoln Cathedral, Canterbury Cathedral, and examples in London—Libraries and museums in London—Foreign travel—Examples in Paris, and other parts of France—Germany, Italy, Spain, etc. etc. | Page 290 |
| LECTURE IX.
On the Study and Practice of Gothic Architecture | |
| Every-day business and practical work to go on hand in hand with the study of ancient buildings—How best to be accomplished—The study from books—Artistic and archæological portions cannot be wholly disconnected—Heraldry—A knowledge of the history of art absolutely necessary for the study of Mediæval architecture—Greek art the parent of Gothic sculpture—Ruined cities of Central Syria—Mahometan styles—Our own form of church the direct inheritance from the earliest Christian temples—Training as artists—Choice among specimens of different Mediæval periods and styles—Examples especially recommended—Practical studies of ancient buildings in connection with their structural and mechanical qualities—Vaulting—Timber-work—Stone-work, etc. etc.—The actual practice of Mediæval architecture—The repairs and restoration of ancient buildings | Page 331 |