Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/568

 53(1 FRENCH ARCHITECTURE Part H. between the buttresses, with a view to obtaining fewer and larger parts, and also of course to admit of larger surfaces for painted glass. With all these improvements the cathedral has not internally the same grandeur as the other three, though externally there is a very noble simplicity of outline and appearance of solidity in the whole design. Internally it still retains, as may be seen from the plan, the hexapartite arrange- ment in its vaults over the central aisle, and the quadri- partite in the side- aisles only. This causes the central vault to overpower those on each side, and makes not only the whole church, but all the parts, look much smaller than would have been the case had the roof been cut into smaller divi- sions, as was always subsequently the case. At Chartres most of these defects were avoided ; there is there a simplicity of design and a grand- eur of conception seldom surpassed. The great defect of proportion in that building arises from the circumstance that the architect included the three aisles of the old church in the central aisle of the ])rescnt one. At that time the architects had not attained that daring perfection of execution which afterwards enabled them to carry the vaults to so astonishing a height. At Chartres the proportion of width to height is nearly as 1 to 2, the breadth of the central nave being nearly 50 ft., and the A A A i y i A i / ! / '-^^, Xl>-]C -<sf 389. Flan of Chartres Cathedral. (From Chapuy.) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.