How France Built Her Cathedrals: A Study in the Twelfth and Thirteenth CenturiesO'Reilly, Elizabeth Boyle
History
How France Built Her Cathedrals: A Study in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries
O'Reilly, Elizabeth Boyle
Architecture, Gothic; Cathedrals -- France
A first cousin of St. Louis, Ferdinand III, the saint-conqueror of
Seville and Cordova, donated to Chartres a window commemorating the
patron of Spain. Three times was St. James honored here, so popular was
the Santiago Compostela pilgrimage. St. Martin and St. Nicolas of Bari
are also commemorated, the former some seven times, for it pleased the
voyagers to noted shrines to record their travels. By pilgrimages French
art and song spread in Italy and Spain.
Single monumental figures of prophet or saint were used in the
clearstory windows instead of small medallions, which would be
indistinct when viewed at such a height. Although most of the windows in
the cathedral belong to the XIII century, the XV century is represented
in the Vendôme chapel, begun in 1417 by Louis de Bourbon, an ancestor of
Henry IV. Much white was then employed for the better lighting of the
church, and the straight saddle-bars of Suger's time were again made use
of.
No attempt was made for perspective in the earlier glass, which was
treated like a translucent mosaic: relief was obtained by the skilled
juxtaposition of tones. The old workers had taught themselves many of
the secrets of optics. They knew that designs on a background of
blue--an expansive color--should be larger than those on red--an
absorbent. They knew that blue was a sedative, that red excited the
vision, and that yellow stopped contours, hence it was to be employed in
borders.
It is not of technique that one thinks when standing face to face with
the windows of Chartres. "Create in me a new heart, O God!" one murmurs
when gazing at them. When at noon the sun renders the colors dazzling
and bewildering, the cathedral seems to be chanting "_Sanctus! Sanctus!
Sanctus!_" with the seraphim proclaiming that the whole earth is full of
the glory of the Lord. Live coals from heaven's high altar are the
windows of Chartres, then, cleansing us of our iniquities; and seeing
with our eyes we see, and hearing with our ears we hear, and
understanding with our heart we comprehend the vision and are converted
and healed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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