Page:A history of architecture on the comparative method for the student, craftsman, and amateur.djvu/64

 b COMPARATIVE ARCHITECTURE. which they founded. Roman architecture was prevalent in Europe in a more or less debased form up to the tenth centur)' of our era, and is the basis on which European architecture is founded. The gradual breaking up of the Roman Empire, the formation of separate European states, and other causes which we shall enumerate separately, led to many variations of this semicircular arched style, both in construction and decoration. The transition commenced in the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries, when the later Romanesque, so called as being derived from the Roman style, was in vogue. Constructive necessity, aided largely by inventive genius, led, in the latter part of the twelfth century, to the introduction of the pointed arch. The pointed arch is the keynote of what is known as the Gothic or pointed style, which prevailed throughout Europe during the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, during which period were erected those magnificent cathedrals and churches, which form the most emphatic record of the religious feeling and character of the Middle Ages. The past styles of European architecture may be broadly summarized as being divided into two great types, viz. : (i) Classic, or the architecture of the beam, and (2) Gothic, or the architecture of the arch. Each of these types depends on an important con- structive principle, and any style may be placed under one or other of these types. The early styles, including the Greek, belong to the former. Roman architecture is a composite transition style, whose goal, if unchecked, would seem to have been the combination of the round arch and dome that are seen in the great examples of the Byzantine style. It was left to the Gothic style to formulate a complete system of arcuated construction, the working out of which was marvellously alike in all countries. It was a style, moreover, in which a decorative system was closely welded to the constructive, both uniting to reflect a more intense expression of its age than had, perhaps, hitherto been achieved in previous architecture. The revival of the arts and letters in the fifteenth century was a fresh factor in the history of architecture. The condition of Europe at that period was one of ripeness for a great change, for the Gothic system, whether in architecture or in civilization regarded as a whole, may fairly be said to have culminated. Its latest works were tinged by the coming change, or showed signs of becoming stereotyped by the mechanical repetition of architectural features. The new force was the belief that the old Romans had been wiser and more experienced than the media^valists, and the result was the earnest study of every Roman fragment, whether of art or literature, that had been preserved or could be recovered.