Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/37

Rh Bk. IV. Ch. II. MAYENCE. 21 the central dome group j)leasingly together, and, rising so far above the low roofs of the half-depopulated town at its feet, impress the spectator with awe and admiration at the boldness of the design and the o-randeur with which it has been carried out. Taken altogether, this noble building proves that the German architects at that time liad actually jirodueed a great and original style, and that had they persevered they must have succeeded in perfecting it, but they abandoned their task before it was half completed. The western apse of the cathedral at Mayence is the most modern in Germany where a triapsal arrangement has been attempted with polygonal instead of circular forms. In this instance, as shown in Woodcut No. 470, the three apses, each forming thi:ee sides of an octagon, are com- bined together so as to form a singularly spacious and elegant choir, both exter- nally and internally as beautiful as anything of its kind in Germany. Its style is so nearly identical with that of the eastern apse of the cathedral at Treves (Woodcut No. 463), that there can be no doubt but that, like it, it belongs to the beginning of the 13th century. At this time more variety and angu- larity Avere coming into use, suggested no doubt by the greater con- venience which flat surfaces presented for inserting larger windoAVS than could conveniently be used with the older curved outlines; for now that painted glass had come into general use, large openings had become indispensable for its display. Notwithstanding this advantage, and the great beauty of the other forms often adopted, none of them compensate for the external effect of the circular lines of the older buildings. Proceeding northwards, it may be asserted as a general rule, that the churches of Westphalia are singularly devoid of taste and good design. They are extremely numerous, and many of them are sufli- ciently large for architectural effect ; but in the earlier or round Gothic period they betray a clumsiness which is the reverse of pleasing, and in the age of the pointed Gothic the style is wire-drawn and attenuated to a degree which is almost worse than the heaviness of that which preceded it. The fact, indeed, is only too apparent that the northern Germans were not architecturally an artistic people, for neither in Westphalia nor in any of the countries between it and the 47U. Western Apse of Cathedral at Mayeuce.
 * )art of these three great cathedrals, and perhaps the only example