Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/591

 Bk. II. Ch. IX. COLLEGIATE CHURCHES. 559 V V! V il Y
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-,<;<?- is not only beautiful in itself, but interesting as almost the only example of an open-work spire in France. The church of St. Ouen, at Rouen, was beyond comparison the most beautiful and perfect of the abbey edifices of France. This was commenced by Marc d' Argent in the year 1318, and was carried on uninterruptedly for twenty-one years, and at his death the choir and transepts were comjileted, or very nearly so. The English wars inter- rupted at tliis time the progress of this, as of many other buildings, and the Avorks of the nave Avere not seemintilv resumed till about 1490, and twenty-five years later the beautiful Avestern front was commenced. Except that of Limoges, the choir is almost the only perfect building of its age, and, l)eing nearly contemporary with the choir at Cologne (1276 to 1321), affords a means of comparison between the two styles of Germany and France at that age, entirely to the advantage of the French example, Avhich, though very much smaller, avoids all the more glaring faults of the other. Nothing, indeed, can exceed the beauty of proportion of this most elegant church ; and, except that it wants the depth and earnestness of the earlier examples, it may be con- sidered as the most beautiful thing of its kind in Europe. The propor- tion, too, of the nave, transe])ts, and choir to one another is remarkably happy, and affords a most striking conti-ast to the very imperfect proportions of Cologne. Its three towers also would have formed a perfect group as originally designed, but the central one was not completed till so late that its details have lost the aspiring character of the building on which it stands, and the westei-n spires, as rebuilt within the last few years, are incongruous and inappi'o- priate ; whereas, had the original design been carried out according to the drawinijs which still exist, it would have been one of the most 411. Plan of Church of St. Ouen at Kouen (From Peyree's " Manuel.") Scale 100 ft. to 1 ill.