Page:Charles Moore--Development and Character of Gothic Architecture.djvu/305

Rh How can there be any such thing as over-naturalism in sculpture? What, more precisely, is meant by the expression architectural fitness so frequently made use of in these pages? The answer was shortly given in Chapter I. p. 23, where it was remarked in substance that the conventions of ornament grow out of obedience to the inherent conditions of architecture and the materials of which buildings are wrought. A true artist in ornamental sculpture is known by his ready recognition of these conditions, and by his unqualified and willing acceptance of them.

A stone leaf, for instance, he feels must be confessedly of a stony character; and rather than lose anything of this appropriate character, he will not in his carving approach anywhere near to an imitative rendering of natural forms and details. All deep undercutting and all finer veinings he instinctively omits. He has to regard, moreover, what will be the effect of his work upon the eye when viewed, as an architectural feature, at a greater or less distance. Hence, by mere obedience to these and other conditions which govern the art, ornamental sculpture becomes unlike nature, though it may owe its highest beauty to elements derived from the woods and fields. It is from just regard to all the conditions involved, and not from any arbitrary purpose, that the conventional character of Gothic sculpture results.

In Chapter I. the quality of breadth was mentioned as among the leading characteristics of Gothic sculpture. This ought to be emphasised, for there is no quality to which more of the impressiveness of such sculpture is owing. Multitudinous as are the details which enter into the design of any great cathedral front, there is rarely any scattered effect in the total impression. An harmonious relationship of mass to mass, from largest things to smallest, is maintained. Such breadth is, indeed, a fundamental quality of all good art; but its manifestation is perhaps more remarkable in Gothic architecture than in any other, because of the multitude of subdivisions through which it has to find expression.

The attainment of this breadth by the Gothic designers is the more remarkable in view of the individual freedom of the vast armies of men who were employed upon the