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
Contemporary with the close of this structure is the great western tower
of the Cathedral at Ely, erected by Bishop Ridel, between 1174 and 1189,
in a very grand and effective style, for the most part purely English in
character, but occasionally displaying the influence of French examples
in the use of the _crochet_ capital.
This brings me to the great type of the third class--those buildings
which are unquestionably in the Pointed style, but retain sufficient
reminiscences of their Romanesque origin to distinguish them from the
fully-developed Early English. I allude to the choir (Fig. 69) and
Trinity Chapel (Fig. 70) at Canterbury. I may here save myself and you
much time by referring you to Professor Willis’s admirable architectural
history of this cathedral, a book with which every architectural student
should be familiar. I will only mention that the splendid late Norman
choir having been destroyed by fire in 1174, the monks committed its
restoration to William of Sens, who had, in all probability, been
engaged on the recently-completed cathedral in that city. He carried on
the works till disabled by an accident in 1179, when he left them in the
hands of his assistant, called, by way of distinction, William, the
Englishman, who brought them to a close in 1184 or 1185.
[Illustration: Fig. 71.--Canterbury Cathedral, Capitals. William of
Sens.]
The work of the first William is almost purely French, and, though far
more elaborate than that at Sens, very strongly resembles it. He had,
however, the good judgment to Anglicise it in a slight degree, as we see
in the liberal use of the zigzag and other
[Illustration: Fig. 69.--Canterbury Cathedral. Choir.]
[Illustration: Fig. 70.--Canterbury Cathedral. Trinity Chapel.]
Norman ornaments. His capitals are some of the Byzantine character of
Sens, and others in the newly-developed style of Nôtre Dame at Paris,
and are very finely carved (Fig. 71). The arches are not all pointed,
the pier arches, wall ribs, and triforium arches being round.
[Illustration: Fig. 72--Trinity Chapel, Canterbury Cathedral. Capital.
William the Englishman.]
William the Englishman discarded the Byzantine foliage, and adopted,
almost exclusively, the Nôtre Dame type and the capital _à crochet_,
which he carried out with extreme beauty. His work is far more beautiful
than that of his master, though from the resemblance of the plan to that
of Sens, and from the use of doubled columns, it must have been laid
down by the French William. I know no work of the age finer than those
of these two architects. One thing I will remark about the second
architect, that he made his crypt, in which he worked unfettered by the
designs of another, more English than the superstructure, using there
(as he did also in one or two other places) the round abacus,
subsequently so characteristic of English work.
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