5/27/2019 Geometric Design: The North Rose Window in Chartres

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DESIGN & ILLUSTRATION > GLOBAL INFLUENCES

Geometric Design: The

North Rose Window in
Chartres
by Joumana Medlej 12 Aug 2015 Di culty: Advanced Length: Short Languages: English

Global In uences Geometric Drawing Drawing Theory

This post is part of a series called Geometric Design for Beginners.

Geometric Design: Two Variations on an Islamic Tiling Pattern

Geometric Design: A Celtic Grid

What You'll Be Creating

Too much has been written about the magical cathedral of Chartres for me to
introduce it here. It is a geometer's dream, and we will work with it more than
once. Today we are focusing on one of its famous rose windows, referred to as

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the north transept rose window but also known by it subject matter: The
Glori cation of the Virgin. 

Rose windows, which reached their apogee in Gothic cathedrals in France, can
be found in various sizes in these structures, but the main ones were meant to
evoke a vision of heaven, and bathe the worshipper in divine light. In the
otherwise drab surroundings of the medieval city, there is no doubt that their
beauty and luminous colours created an experience for the viewer that is
unimaginable in our current, visually saturated culture. 

The north transept rose window in Chartres, c. 1235. Photo by Eusebius (Guillaume Piolle)

The construction process below results in a slightly simpli ed version of this

rose window, leaving out the smallest details. It requires working on a large
sheet of paper (nothing less than A3, but larger is recommended) as the scale
gets quite intricate even then!

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Step 1

Begin with a circle divided into 12. 

While we usually do this by dividing it into 6 rst (see Working With 6 and 12),
we have seen that constructing a square around a circle also results in 12
divisions of the circle (see Working With 4 and 8). This is the method chosen
here, because it has the advantage of requiring no construction lines outside
the circle, meaning we can draw the circle as large as possible on our sheet of
paper. It will be clear later on why this is desirable. 

Below, note how I also reduced the crossing arcs used to nd the bisector, so
that they'd fall inside the circle.

Step 2

Join every fth point on the circle to form a dodecagram.

Step 3

Connect opposite points of the dodecagram so that each of the outer kites is
bisected.

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Step 4

We now need to nest a circle inside each of these kites. First I'll zoom in on a
single one of them, and name some points for clarity.

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Step 5

This is the method we learned in Working With Circles. Start by bisecting the
angle ACB. The bisector cuts the segment AB at O, which will be the centre of
the circle.

Step 6

With the point of the compass on A, opening AO, draw a partial arc outside the
kite. Repeat with the point on D, opening DO. The two arcs intersect at E.

Step 7

Connect EO to nd point F on the side of the kite.

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Step 8

Draw the circle centered on O, opening OF.

We now have the rst of our 12 circles.

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Step 9

There's no need to repeat these steps for the 11 remaining circles! We have the
two measurements we need for this set of outer circles (remember this
denomination because we will refer back to them): the position of the centre O
on the kite's bisector, and the diameter. 

Transferring the position of O to the rest of the set is done by placing the
compass point on the centre of the original circle (we'll refer to it as the
original centre), and drawing the circle that passes through O. This cuts the
bisectors of all the kites in their respective O's. 

Then, returning the compass to the radius of the outer circle, draw all the
circles. Having more than one compass can be handy in such constructions,
because some measurements are used repeatedly, and it's always more
accurate not to have to change the compass opening back and forth. 

Step 10

Connect the outer point of the outer circles (it is on the bisector) to draw
another dodecagram. It is exactly the same as the rst one, only smaller.

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Step 11

Now, here is why we worked with a circle as large as possible: only the central
part actually makes up the rose window. To de ne the window proper, draw the
triangle shown here...

... then the circle inscribed in it—in ink, as it is a nal line. Everything outside
this circle is extraneous to the nal design!

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From now on, for clarity, the diagrams will show the close-up version below, up
to the outer circles.

Step 12

The combined lines of the two dodecagrams create squares. It is good to ink
them now (or at least darken them) as it helps make the array of lines less
confusing. They may not appear to be perfect squares, but that's an optical
illusion due to all the criss-crossing lines. They are in fact each created by two
pairs of perfect parallels, and cannot be anything other than perfect!

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Step 13

Also ink the parts of the outer circles that are inside the de ning circle.

Step 14

For what comes next, which is nesting a smaller circle into these partial circles,
we'll work with a close-up again:

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Step 15

Bisect the median line in this shape:

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Step 16

Draw the inscribed circle.

Step 17

As we have done before, use an overall circle to mark all the centres, and draw
the full set of small circles.

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Step 18

Let us now zoom in on the central area of the window.

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Step 19

With the compass still set to draw small circles (step 17), draw a circle in the
original centre.

Step 20

Move the compass to its "west" point and draw an arc to cut the rst circle in
two places.

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Step 21

Join these two points to de ne the centre of a new circle, and draw that.

Step 22

Now move the compass to its "east" point and draw another circle.

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Step 23

Finally, draw the circle encompassing this pair. All this was to create a circle
with a diameter of 1.5 times the diameter of the small circle.

Step 24

From now on, for clarity, I am showing new lines in blue. Draw the following
lines, which join a series of points so they pass between the squares.

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Step 25

Keeping the same compass measurement used to draw the central circle in
step 23, place the point at its north pole and make a mark on the vertical line.

Step 26

Return the point to the original centre, and use this mark to draw the circle
below.

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Step 27

Set the compass to the same measurement as the small circles, and draw 12
circles centered on the intersections shown here. Ink the circles.

Step 28

From the original centre, pull two lines touching a circle on either side.

Step 29
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Using the circle drawn in step 26, place the compass point and draw a circle
tangent to the two lines. (If things are getting very small by now, a circular
template may be useful, but with a good compass it's possible to draw very tiny
circles.)

Step 30

Ink the shape formed by the two lines and part of the circle.

Step 31

Repeat all around.

Step 32

Draw the circle that connects the outer point of the squares.

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Step 33

Draw a circle as shown. Its centre is the intersection of this circle with a
diameter of the window circle, and its radius is up to the point where two lines
of the original dodecagram cross.

Step 34

Move the compass point to each of its cardinal points in turn to draw four
more circles.

Step 35

Ink the outline of this quatrefoil shape.

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Step 36

Repeat all around.

Step 37

The nished window, here inked with different line thicknesses to create a
visually pleasing hierarchy of shapes.

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Colour to your liking... Each of these shapes can also be lled in with
arabesques or gures to echo the feel of the original window.

Rose windows range from fairly simple to incredibly complex, and an entire
course could be dedicated to them. Next month we are traveling east again, to
a land of most intricate knotwork...

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Joumana Medlej
London, UK

Joumana Medlej is a Lebanese calligraphy artist, trained by a master in

Beirut and now living in England. Her body of work encompasses
drawing tutorials, graphic design, illustration, comic books, digital
games and children's literature.

joumajnouna

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Joumana Medlej > Guest • 3 years ago

Great result!
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Joumana Medlej > Guest • 4 years ago

We are working on paper :) using only compass and straight edge.
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