Some Account of Gothic Architecture in SpainStreet, George Edmund
History
Some Account of Gothic Architecture in Spain
Street, George Edmund
Architecture, Gothic -- Spain; Church architecture -- Spain
So far the work I have had to describe has been all, with the exception
of part of the steeple and Cimborio, not later than the end of the
thirteenth century. It is evident, however, that considerable works were
undertaken in various parts of the fabric at a later date. Most of the
nave windows were taken out, in order to insert others with very fair
geometrical traceries; the upper part of the steeple was, as we have
seen, erected; and finally the west front was, in great part,
reconstructed. The original west front of the aisles still remains, with
a simple doorway, and richly moulded and carved circular windows,
without tracery. Pilaster buttresses are placed at their north-west and
south-west angles, and these have shafts at their angles, but have lost
their old finish at the top. Probably another door and circular window
of large size occupied the end of the nave in the original design; but
these have been entirely removed, to make way for a work which, though
it seems to have been commenced in A.D. 1278,[273] has all the air of
complete middle-pointed work, and was evidently not completed until
late in the fourteenth century. The existing central doorway is of grand
dimensions, with figures under canopies on either side, and round the
buttresses which flank it. In the centre is a statue of the Blessed
Virgin with our Lord, and above, on the lintel, the Resurrection; and
the tympanum is pierced with rich geometrical tracery. The pedestal
under the statue of the Blessed Virgin has sculptured on its several
sides--(1) the Creation of Adam; (2) of Eve; (3) the Fall; (4) Adam and
Eve hiding themselves; and (5) the Expulsion from Paradise. These
subjects are very fitly placed here, the Fall in the centre coming just
under the feet of her who bears our Lord in her arms, and thus restores
the balance to the world. The arch is lofty, but only moulded; and above
it is a pediment of extremely flat pitch. Above this, again, is a large
and finely-traceried circular window. The lower part only of the gable
remains, and this is of very steep pitch, and must always have been
intended to be a mere sham. Whenever this sort of thing is done, there
is always some ground for suspicion that the architect may have been a
foreigner, unused to the requirements of a southern climate; and, at any
rate, most of the work in this façade might very well have been executed
by a German architect, for its character is all that of German, rather
than of Spanish art. It recalls, to some extent, the façade of the north
transept of Valencia Cathedral, though scarcely so much as to appear to
be the work of the same hands. It is to be regretted that the great
western gable is incomplete, for, unreal as it is, its outline must have
been fine; and even now, seen as it is in its small Plaza from the
steep, narrow, dark and shady street, surmounting the flights of steps
which lead up to it, the effect is very striking. The traceries, both of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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