Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/526

 494 FRENCH ARCHITECTURE. Pakt II. Here, however, all the parts are pleasingly subordinated one to the other, and the whole are so grouped as to form a design equal, if not superior, to the galleried apses of the German and Lombard churches. The place of these galleries is here supplied by a mosaic decoration formed with the different colored lavas of the extinct volcanoes of the district, which gives not only a pleasing local character to the style, but is interesting as the only specimen of external polychro- matic decoration now to be found so far to the north. In effect, this is perhajJS hardly equal to the open galleries of the German chiirches ; but the expense must have been considerably less and the variety of the outline of the chevet arrangement, as compared with the simple apse, gives to these churches some advantages over the contemporary buildings on the Rhine. Indeed, as far as external decoration is con- cerned, it may be questioned whether the French ever surpassed these ; 362. Plan of Chevet, Notre Dame du Port Clermont. (From Chapuy.) No scale. and had they been carried out on the same scale as those of Amiens and Chartres, they would probably be thought more beautiful. It is true the flying buttresses and ])innacles of the pointed style enabled the architects to introduce far larger windows and gorgeous decora- tions of painted glass, and so to improve the internal effect of their churches to an immense extent ; but this was done at the sacrifice of much external simplicity of outline and propriety of effect, which we cannot but lament could not be reconciled with the requisite internal arrangements. The age of these churches is not very Avell ascertained. M. Mallay is inclined to place them principally in the 10th centi;ry, though the pointed form of the vault at Issoire induces him to bring that down to the 12th century ; but we have seen enough to know that such a ])ointed form, on the contrary, is more likely to be ancient than the I'ounded one, which requires better construction, although in that age it was thought more beautiful. My own impression is that they belong generally to the 11th century, though some were no doubt