Page:A history of architecture on the comparative method for the student, craftsman, and amateur.djvu/426

 368 COMPARATIVE ARCHITECTURE. The Style is divided by M. de Cauinont into : — - (i.) Primary (Gothique) or thirteenth century. (2.) Secondary (Rayonnant, from the characteristic wheel tracery of the rose windows) or fourteenth century. (3.) Tertiary (Flamboyant) or fifteenth century. It is proposed, however, on account of space, to consider the subject as one continuous development — as, in fact, it really was — and to compare it where necessary with English Gothic. 3. EXAMPLES. ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE. CATHEDRALS. All the great cathedrals, numbering about 150, were erected in the first half of the thirteenth century, principally by funds provided by the laity, and not as parts of monastic establishments, and in consequence vary considerably in plan and arrangement from English cathedrals. The French cathedrals, in situation and surroundings, are also in marked contrast (page 299) with English examples (Nos. 121 and 162), and are referred to by Browning, who talks of that " Grim town, Whose cramp'd, ill-featured streets huddled about The minster for protection, never out Of its black belfry's shade and its bells" roar." Notre Dame, Paris, 1163-1214 (Nos. 153 b, 154 d, 156, 157, and 158), is one of the oldest of French Gothic cathedrals. The plan is typical in having a wide central nave with double aisles, transepts of small projection (being practically in a line with the side aisles), and the chevet arrangement with its double aisles and exterior chapels. The west front (No. 156) is the grandest composition in France, the western gable to the nave being hidden by a pierced screen, connecting the two western towers. The three deeply recessed western portals, the range of statues in niches, and the circular wheel window, are all characteristic features. The lateral facades are spoilt by chapels having been placed between the buttresses. Bourges Cathedral (commenced a.d. 1190) is chiefly remark- able as possessing no transepts, for its shortness in comparison with its width, and its general resemblance in plan to Notre Dame, Paris. It has five aisles, in three different heights, the central being 117 feet, resembling Milan Cathedral (No. 176), though in a different gradation. The vast nave of extreme height and with length unbroken by projecting transepts, presents an imposing appearance. The 'iew westwards from