Page:Charles Moore--Development and Character of Gothic Architecture.djvu/285

Rh Rather finer in spirit, as well as in quietness and breadth of treatment, are the sculptures, representing the Last Judgment, of the tympanum of the central doorway. Indeed, there is hardly another tympanum of the time in which such charming sculpture so happily embosses a field of stone. Viewed broadly its effect as an enriched surface is most admirable. Taken in detail there are, in this design, figures of unusual beauty in which fine form and execution are displayed with remarkable temperance and grace. Most noticeable, for instance, are the majestic angel in the central compartment, who holds the balance for weighing souls, the figures in the upper compartment, on the right and left of the Saviour, who hold the instruments of the passion, and, for their freedom of movement, which yet is enough restrained to accord harmoniously with the general quietness of the whole design, the figures rising from the graves in the lower compartment. In comparison with these the figures of the Judgment in the tympanum of the central doorway of Amiens are coarse in conception and treatment. In such comparison these last impress the beholder rather as hasty, though grand and impressive, sketches in stone than as finished sculptures.

Passing to the works of the second half of the thirteenth century, we have an elaborate example, dating from about 1257, in the door of the south transept of this same cathedral. It may be noticed in passing that constructive propriety is not strictly observed in this doorway. The archivolts are not sustained by shafts and capitals, but in place of shafts four slender mouldings rise, without imposts, to the crown of the arch. In this and other respects this portal belongs to a class of constructions which at this epoch first introduced the elements of decline into Gothic architecture. And in addition to this the statues which adorn these jambs are now placed in the niche-like intercolumniations, and have a degree of independent character which is in contrast to the stern architectural submission of the statues of the earlier times.

The subject of the sculptures in this tympanum is the history of St. Stephen. They contain much beautiful carving—figures of life-like freedom, technical excellence, and refined finish; but the design is somewhat scattered,