Page:Charles Moore--Development and Character of Gothic Architecture.djvu/309

Rh architectural monument. These sculptures of course differ widely from the earlier ones just mentioned. They appear

to have been wrought by an insular and even a local school, yet one that must have had acquaintance, and perhaps connection, with the schools of the Continent. A good deal that is admirable appears in these figures, though they fail to show either the artistic power, or the fineness of execution that characterises the Gothic sculpture of France. Unlike proper Gothic sculpture, this sculpture has little relation to the structural forms of the building. It is not an auxiliary the place and dimensions of which are determined by the architectural scheme. It does not naturally fit itself into the leading members of the structure. The jambs, archivolts, tympanums, string-courses, and set-offs of the buttresses are everywhere crowded with arcades and panellings which form canopies and frames for its especial display. The structure exists for the sake of the sculpture, and it is, as we have before seen, but a vast screen, having no logical connection with the main building which supports it. In order to enlarge the space for the sculpture the doorways are reduced in size even beyond the usual contracted dimensions of doorways in England. The springing of the archivolts of the central portal is below the level of the base mouldings of the wall, and the capitals of the jambs are within easy reach of the hand. Every relation of ornament to structure, such as is peculiar to Gothic, is disregarded.

Yet the sculpture itself is both grand and impressive, and it sometimes attains considerable beauty. It differs primarily from the sculpture of the Ile-de-France, in being more exclusively naturalistic. That is to say, the idea of nature, as a leading motive, seems to have had a larger place in the mind of the artist than was the case with the French