Lectures on the rise and development of medieval architecture; vol. 1Scott, George Gilbert, Sir
History
Lectures on the rise and development of medieval architecture; vol. 1
Scott, George Gilbert, Sir
Architecture, Gothic; Architecture, Medieval
Of enamel-work you have splendid relics in the monument of William de
Valence and in the shields on Edward III.’s. Of mosaic-work, whether of
porphyry or enamel, you will find abundant examples, as you so well
know: of the finer forms of painting you will find most exquisite relics
in the wonderful retabulum of the altar[72] (now preserved in the
ambulatory of the choir) and in the chapter-house; of iron-work you have
a splendid example over the tomb of Queen Eleanor; and of bronze-work
(though late in date) in the exquisite gates of Henry VII.’s Chapel and
in his tomb, with its surrounding screen, also in the accompaniments of
the bronze effigies already alluded to; while of later styles of
architecture you have as splendid a series as this country can produce,
ranging from the very earliest perpendicular in the cloisters, dating
not much after the middle of the fourteenth century, to the gorgeous
chapel of Henry VII.
[Illustration: Fig. 180.--Mosaic from the Tomb of the Children of Henry
III. and Edward I., Westminster Abbey.]
With such a storehouse of art at your doors, you need never want work.
You have, however, in London many minor works of great value. To place
them in chronological order: you have the chapel of the Tower, a work
dating back almost to the Conquest;[73] St. Bartholomew’s Priory Church
in Smithfield, a beautiful specimen of the later Norman;[74] the Temple
Church, consisting of one of the finest
[Illustration: Fig. 181.--Temple Church, London. Capitals, West Door.]
examples of the transitional[75] united with one of the finest of the
fully-developed Early Pointed style; the remains which the modern
Vandals have left us of St. Saviour’s Church, a noble Early Pointed
work; the chapel of Lambeth Palace, in the same style; Ely Place Chapel,
a work contemporary with the Eleanor Crosses;[76] the crypt of St.
Stephen’s, Westminster; the hall of Lambeth Palace; Westminster Hall,
and many an interesting object of minor importance. You have, if you
want a day’s or a week’s trip, St. Alban’s Abbey, a never-failing and
inexhaustible treasury; Waltham Abbey, with what remains unspoiled of
the Cross; Stone Church, Hampton Court, Eltham Palace, Croydon Palace,
Beddington Hall, Eastbury House, the ruins of Nether Hall, the Rye
House, and many old churches now brought within an hour’s ride of
London; not to mention the rapidly failing relics of the old churches
of Middlesex, now the mere sport of destructive and ignorant committees,
and--with shame I say it--sometimes of equally destructive but more
culpable, because only _wilfully_ ignorant, clergymen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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