xxxvi
FRENCH ART.
or less dictated by personal taste. There is, however, no doubt that
in France it reached its earliest period of bloom. And the earliest
examples, in which there are evident traces of a mighty struggle,
naturally attract the student first and retain his interest longest.
The transition from Romanesque to Gothic may be traced in the
abbey church of St. Denis, consecrated by Abbot Suger in the
year 1140. The earliest purely Gothic cathedral of large size is that
of Laon, with its incomparably spacious interior. Notre Dame at
Paris and the cathedral of Chartres were both founded in the 12th
century, while Rheims and Amiens belong wholly to the 13th. In all
these, as contrasted with later buildings, the horizontal line is strongly
emphasized. The facade of Notre Dame rises in five distinct stories.
One cannot too much admire the taste and skill with which the
architect has graduated these, from the elaborate portals lying closest
to the eye, up to the severely simple towers. Unfortunately much of
the original effect has been lost, owing to the ill-advised modem
isolation of the church, which deprives it of its foil, and also owing
to the erection of huge modern piles in the neighbourhood. All the
same, Notre Dame and the cathedrals of Chartres, Rheims, and
Amiens attain the high-wattr mark of early Gothic. The older
bell-tower and the spacious interior of Chartres produce a sin¬
gularly impressive effect, while Rheims is imposing from the bound¬
less wealth of its sculptures; but Amiens is, perhaps, the most
harmonious of the large cathedrals and one of the most perfect
buildings of the middle ages, in the consistency and the uni¬
formity of its construction and in its union of boldness with self-
restraint, of dignity with grace. Amongst the other chief mon¬
uments of this fabulously active period we may mention the
cathedrals of Beauvais, Rouen, Le Mans, Tours, Bourges, Troyes,
Auxerre, and Dijon. The most famous examples of late-Gothic
('style rayonnant'; 14th cent.) are the church of St. Ouen at
Rouen in the North, and the cathedral of AIM in the South. Free¬
dom has been fully achieved; the general effect suggests a consum¬
mate mastery over the difficulties of the forms. The horizontal
line seems to have disappeared from view; the building towers
towards heaven as if detached from earth. But this development
concealed within itself the geim of decline. The cleverest arith¬
metician became atjlast the greatest builder , works of art degene¬
rated into artful devices, over-elaboration usurped the place of
simple delight in richness, and the loving handling of detail sank
into pettiness and pedantry.
Secular architecture developed more slowly and therefore enjoyed
a longer period of bloom than ecclesiastical. The most imposing
Gothic castles belong to the 14th century: viz. the palace of the Popes
at Avignon and the castle of Pierrefonds, so successfully restored
by Viollet-le-Duc. No other civic palace can bear comparison with
the noble Palais de Justice at Rouen, founded as late as the close
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