The windows were decorated with stained glass, the most beautiful remains of which are to be found in the Cathedral of Chartres. They show a prevalence of blue and violet tones and are composed of small pieces of glass, joined by leading. This French method was also imitated in England, as in the early windows of Canterbury; but by degrees an English style was adopted, in which the pieces of glass were much larger, and the subject consisted of large figures beneath traceried canopies, in imitation of the carved work of the sculptors. In the decoration of =columns= the French long preserved the Corinthian type, but in place of the acanthus, used foliage forms studied directly from nature. The forms at first were freely conventionalised; but by degrees, as the skill of the carver increased, became more and more naturalistic and thereby less finely decorative. The corresponding progress in England is from conventionalised nature to frankly naturalistic imitation and thence to a somewhat dry and barren conventionalism. =Sculpture.=--A conspicuous feature of Gothic decoration is the figure sculpture. It was used with profusion, especially in France, where the monumental treatment of the west fronts gave freest scope for the multiplication of niches, filled with statues. The deeply recessed portals, for example, were flanked with tiers of figures, which were also prolonged into the recessed planes of the arched top, while the lunette, or half-moon space between the arch and the horizontal top of the door, was filled with reliefs of the Saviour or Madonna. Meanwhile, figures beneath canopies stretched in a band across the upper part of the façade, or stood singly in niches that penetrated the surface of buttresses; until, in time, every vantage point, whether within or without the edifice, was enriched with statues. The noblest period of this efflorescence was the thirteenth century, when the French “imagers,” particularly, attained a remarkable balance between truth to nature and decorative convention. The statues seem to have grown into human shape out of the very material of the edifice and retain its character. With increasing cleverness, this magnificent conventionalisation passed into naturalistic imitation and the statues seem to be something added for elaboration’s sake. =Contrast to Classic.=--Gothic architecture, though it developed through Romanesque and Early Christian out of Roman, presents an almost complete contrast to Classic style. It is an expression of many individualities rather than of conformity. Plans are more or less uniform; generally basilican in France, cruciform in England. But the superstructure, while embodying certain common features, exhibits the freedom of individual treatment, as each city or monastery vied with others in a mighty effort to excel.