Account of a Tour in Normandy, Volume 1Turner, Dawson
History
Account of a Tour in Normandy, Volume 1
Turner, Dawson
Architecture -- France -- Normandy; Normandy (France) -- Antiquities; Normandy (France) -- Description and travel
There is no great quantity of painted glass in the church, but much of
it is of good quality. The windows of the choir, on either side of the
Lady-Chapel, are as rich as a profusion of brilliant colors can make
them; but the figures are so small, and so crowded, that the subjects
cannot be traced. They are said to be the work of the thirteenth
century. The painted windows in St. Stephen's chapel, of the sixteenth
century, are generally considered the best in the cathedral. I own,
however, that I should give the preference to those in the chapel of
St. Romain, in the south transept. One of them is filled with
allegorical representations of the virtues of the archbishop; another
with his miracles: every part is distinct and clear, and executed with
great force and great minuteness. The vestments of the saint have all
the delicacy of miniature-painting.
The library of the cathedral, formerly one of the richest in France,
disappeared during the revolution; but the noble room which contained
it, one hundred feet long, by twenty-five feet wide, still remains
uninjured; as does the door which led into it from the northern
transept, and which continues to this day to bear the inscription,
_Bibliotheca_. The staircase, communicating with this door, is delicate
and beautiful. The balustrades are of the most elegant filagree; and it
has all the boldness and lightness which peculiarly characterise the
French Gothic. Its date being well ascertained, we may note it as an
architectural standard. It was erected by the archbishop, Cardinal
d'Etouteville, about the year 1460, thirty or forty years subsequently
to the building of the room.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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