Architecture Gothic and Renaissance

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Title: Architecture

       Gothic and Renaissance

Author: Thomas Roger Smith

Editor: Edward J. Poynter

Release Date: October 3, 2010 [EBook #33837]

Language: English

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Transcriber's Note

A considerable number of the page references in the index are incorrect; however, they have been preserved as printed. The transcriber has, as far as possible, linked to the correct place in the text.

ILLUSTRATED TEXT-BOOKS OF ART

EDUCATION

EDITED BY EDWARD J. POYNTER, R.A.

ARCHITECTURE

GOTHIC AND RENAISSANCE

BY T. ROGER SMITH, F.R.I.B.A.

P. 114

THE CERTOSA, NEAR PAVIA. From the Cloisters.

Begun by Marco di Campione, A.D. 1393.

TEXT-BOOK OF ART EDUCATION, EDITED BY

EDWARD J. POYNTER, R.A.

ARCHITECTURE

GOTHIC AND RENAISSANCE

BY T. ROGER SMITH, F.R.I.B.A.

Occasional Lecturer on Architecture at University College, London

NEW YORK

SCRIBNER AND WELFORD.

LONDON

SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON

CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET

1880

(All rights reserved.)

LONDON: R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR,

BREAD STREET HILL, E. C.

PREFACE.

THE history, the features, and the most famous examples of European architecture, during a period extending from the rise of the Gothic, or pointed, style in the twelfth century to the general depression which overtook the Renaissance style at the close of the eighteenth, form the subject of this little volume. I have endeavoured to adopt as free and simple a mode of treatment as is compatible with the accurate statement of at least the outlines of so very technical a subject.

Though it is to be hoped that many professional students of architecture will find this hand-book serviceable to them in their elementary studies, it has been my principal endeavour to adapt it to the requirements of those who are preparing for the professional pursuit of the sister arts, and of that large and happily increasing number of students who pursue the fine arts as a necessary part of a complete liberal education, and who know that a solid and comprehensive acquaintance with art, especially if joined to some skill in the use of the pencil, the brush, the modelling tool, or the etching needle, will open sources of pleasure and interest of the most refined description.

The broad facts of all art history; the principles which underlie each of the fine arts; and the most precious or most noteworthy examples of each, ought to be familiar to every art student, whatever special branch he may follow. Beyond these limits I have not attempted to carry this account of Gothic and Renaissance architecture; within them I have endeavoured to make the work as complete as the space at my disposal permitted.

Some portions of the text formed part of two courses of lectures delivered before the students of the School of Military Engineering at Chatham, and are introduced here by the kind permission of Sir John Stokes. Many of the descriptive and critical remarks are transcripts of notes made by myself, almost under the shadow of the buildings to which they refer. It would, however, have been impossible to give a condensed view of so extended a subject had not every part of it been treated at much greater length by previous writers. The number and variety of the books consulted renders it impossible to make any other acknowledgment here than this general recognition of my indebtedness to their authors.

T. R. S.

CONTENTS.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL WORDS.

Abacus.—The upper portion of the capital of a column, upon which the weight to be carried rests.

Aisle (Lat. ala).—The side subdivision in a church; occasionally all the subdivisions, including the nave, are called aisles.

Apse.—A semicircular or polygonal termination to, or projection from, a church or other public building.

Arcade.—A range of arches, supported on piers or columns.

Arch.—A construction of wedge-shaped blocks of stone, or of bricks, of a curved outline, and spanning an open space. The principal forms of arch in use are Semicircular; Acutely-pointed, or Lancet; Equilateral, or Less Acutely-pointed; Four-centred, or Depressed Tudor; Three-centred, or Elliptic; Ogival; Segmental; and Stilted. (Figs. a to f.)

Architrave.—(1) The stone which in Classic and Renaissance architecture is thrown from one column or pilaster to the next. (2) The moulding which in the same styles is used to ornament the margin of a door or window opening or arch.

Ashlar.—Finely-wrought masonry, employed for the facing of a wall of coarser masonry or brick.

Attic (In Renaissance Architecture).—A low upper story, distinctly marked in the architecture of the building, usually surmounting an order; (2) in ordinary building, any story in a roof.

Bailey (from vallum).—The enclosure of the courtyard of a castle.

Ball-flower.—An ornament representing a globular bud, placed usually in a hollow moulding.

Baluster.—A species of small column, generally of curved outline.

Balustrade.—A parapet or rail formed of balusters.

Fig. a.—Semicircular Arch.

Fig. b.—Stilted Arch.

The Semicircular and the Stilted Semicircular Arch were the only arches in use till the introduction of the Pointed Arch. Throughout the Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular periods they occur as exceptional features, but they were practically superseded after the close of the 12th cent.

Fig. c.—Equilateral Arch.

Fig. d.—Lancet Arch.

The Lancet Arch was characteristic of the Early English period, is never found earlier, and but rarely occurs later. The Equilateral Arch was the favourite arch of the architects of the geometrical Decorated, but is not unfrequently met with in the early part of the Perpendicular period.

Fig. e.—Ogival Arch.

Fig. f.—Depressed Tudor Arch.

The Depressed (or Four-centred) Tudor Arch is characteristic of the Perpendicular period, and was then constantly employed. The Ogival Arch is occasionally employed late in that period, but was more used by French and Italian architects than by those of Great Britain.

Band.—A flat moulding or projecting strip of stone.

Barrel-vaulting.—See Waggon-head vaulting.

Barge-board (or Verge-board).—An inclined and pierced or ornamented board placed along the edge of a roof when it overhangs a gable wall.

Base.—(1) The foot of a column; (2) sometimes that of a buttress or wall.

Fig. g.—Base of Early English Shaft.

Fig. h.—Base of Perpendicular Shaft.

Fig. i.—Base of Decorated Shaft.

Basilica.—(1) A Roman public hall; (2) an early Christian church, similar to a Roman basilica in disposition.

Bastion (in Fortification).—A bold projecting mass of building, or earthwork thrown out beyond the general line of a wall.

Battlement.—A notched or indented parapet.

Bay.—One of the compartments in a building which is made up of several repetitions of the same group of features; e.g., in a church the space from one column of the nave arcade to the next is a bay.

Bay-window.—A window projecting outward from the wall. It may be rectangular or polygonal. It must be built up from the ground. If thrown out above the ground level, a projecting window is called an Oriel. (See Bow window.)

Bead.—A small moulding of circular profile.

Belfry.—A chamber fitted to receive a peal of bells.

Belfry Stage.—The story of a tower where the belfry occurs. Usually marked by large open arches or windows, to let the sound escape.

Bell (of a capital).—The body between the necking and the abacus (which see).

Billet Moulding.—A moulding consisting of a group of small blocks separated by spaces about equal to their own length.

Blind Story.—Triforium (which see).

Boss.—A projecting mass of carving placed to conceal the intersection of the ribs of a vault, or at the end of a string course which it is desired to stop, or in an analogous situation.

Bow Window.—Similar to a Bay-window (which see), but circular or segmental.

Broach-spire.—A spire springing from a tower without a parapet and with pyramidal features at the feet of its four oblique sides (see Fig. 22) to connect them to the four angles of the tower.

Broachead (Spire).—Formed as above described.

Buttress.—A projection built up against a wall to create additional strength or furnish support (see Flying Buttress).

Byzantine.—The round-arched Christian architecture of the Eastern Church, which had its origin in Byzantium (Constantinople).

Canopy.—(1) An ornamented projection over doors, windows, &c.; (2) a covering over niches, tombs, &c.

Campanile.—The Italian name for a bell-tower.

Fig. j.—Buttress.

Capital.—The head of a column or pilaster (Figs. l to p).

Cathedral.—A church which contains the seat of a bishop; usually a building of the first class.

Certosa.—A monastery (or church) of Carthusian monks.

Chamfer.—A slight strip pared off from a sharp angle.

Chancel.—The choir or eastern part of a church.

Chantry Chapel.—A chapel connected with a monument or tomb in which masses were to be chanted. This was usually of small size and very rich.

Chapel.—(1) A chamber attached to a church and opening out of it, or formed within it, and in which an altar was placed; (2) a small detached church.

Chapter House.—The hall of assembly of the chapter (dean and canons) of a cathedral.

Fig. l.—Early Norman Capital.

Fig. m.—Early English Capital.

Fig. n.—Later Norman Capital.

Fig. o.—Perpendicular Capital.

Fig. p.—Early French Capital.

Château.—The French name for a country mansion.

Chevron.—A zig-zag ornament.

Chevet.—The French name for an apse when surrounded by chapels; see the plan of Westminster Abbey (Fig. 6).

Choir.—The part of a church in which the services are celebrated; usually, but not always, the east end or chancel. In a Spanish church the choir is often at the crossing.

Clerestory.—The upper story or row of windows lighting the nave of a Gothic church.

Cloister.—A covered way round a quadrangle of a monastic building.

Clustered (shafts).—Grouped so as to form a pier of some mass out of several small shafts.

Corbel.—A projecting stone (or timber) supporting, or seeming to support, a weight (Fig. k).

Fig. k.—Early Renaissance Corbel.

Corbelling.—A series of mouldings doing the same duty as a corbel; a row of corbels.

Corbel Table.—A row of corbels supporting an overhanging parapet or cornice.

Cortile (Italian).—The internal arcaded quadrangle of a palace, mansion, or public building.

Column.—A stone or marble post, divided usually into base, shaft, and capital; distinguished from a pier by the shaft being cylindrical or polygonal, and in one, or at most,