Page:A history of architecture on the comparative method for the student, craftsman, and amateur.djvu/492

 434 COMPARATIVE ARCHITECTURE. good, and nothing to compare in interest with EngHsh vauUing was accompHshed. In the south, wide interiors, in one span, were successfully vaulted in a simple style, that at Gerona (No. 187 c) being no less than 73 feet span, and having a total length of 270 feet, including cJievet. The boldest and most original vaults are the great flat arches, that form galleries across the western ends of the churches, extending through nave and aisles in three spans. Their rich soffits attract attention on entering, and their curves frame the view of, and give scale to, the interior of the church beyond. E. Columns. — The favourite feature of a lantern at the crossing gives importance to the central piers, which at Burgos (No. 186) are circular in plan (rebuilt 1567), and contrast with the great octagonal piers at S. Sernin, Toulouse. In Seville Cathedral great column-like piers are employed for all the arcades, similar in effect to those of Milan, but without the tabernacle capitals. Carved capitals of characteristic form^ are indicated in No. 190 e, j. F. Mouldings. — Refinement is not the usual characteristic of Spanish art. Original and arbitrary forms were mingled with features borrowed from France. In Catalonia the best and most artistic work was produced in a restrained manner. In S. Maria del Mar, Barcelona (page 430), every moulding has its purpose and expression, but this is far from being the character of other more numerous examples in Spain. G. Ornament (No. 190). — The most decorative feature in Spanish churches is the vast retahio (reredos), which is often as wide as the nave, and reaches up to the vaulting. This feature is usually constructed of wood, stone, or alabaster, and is crowded with niches, figures, canopies and panelling (No. 190 c, f, k). Those at Toledo and Seville, resembling the great English altar screens, notably that at Christchurch, Hants, are probably the richest specimens of mediaeval woodwork in existence. Painting and gilding were used to heighten the effect, the former naturalistic, and the latter of such solidity that the effect of metal is obtained. Sculpture in stone or marble is often life-size, naturalistic, and expressive (No. 190 h, m, n), and however deficient in other qualities, it combines in producing the notoriously impressive, if sensational, interiors of Spanish churches. Stained glass was used, as at Seville, Oviedo, and elsewhere, being usually Flemish in style, heavy in outline, and strong to gaudiness in coloring. ^ Rejas,' or rich and lofty grilles (Nos. 186 and 190 h), in hammered and chiselled iron, are also characteristic, the formality of the long and vertical bars being relieved by figures beaten in repousse, or in duplicates attached back to back, and by freely