Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/628

 596 BELGIAN ARCHITECTURE. Part II. ^ — ^^-. Europe, being 390 feet long by 170 in width inside the nave, and cover- ing rather more tlian 70,000 square feet. As will be seen by the j^lan. (Woodcut No. 445), it is divided into seven aisles, which gives a vast intricacy and picturesqueness to the perspective ; but there is a want of harmony among the parts, and of subordination and proportion, sadly destruc- tive of true architectural effect ; so that, notwith- standing its size, it looks much smaller internally than many of the French cathedrals of far smaller dimensions. If the length of the nave had been divided into ten bays instead of only SIX, and the central aisle had been at least 10 feet wider, which space could easily have been spared from the outer one, the apparent size of the church would have ^sl been greatly increased ; but besides this it wants height, and its details show a deca- dence which nothing can ^H5lfe^ IjX i A ^"H 5!,' M:l/ S,-,- .- ..a- .... J.^iA'i!/:.>- jiiVijiyis V ' /iViii Vi - ■•■a At!/..
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-ixixir^- 445. Plan of the Cathedral at Antwerp. Scale 100 feet to 1 in. redeem. Its magnificent portal, with its one finished tower, 406 feet in height, was com- menced in 1422, but only fin- ished in 1518, and is more in accordance with the taste of the 16th cen- tury than of the original design. Although from the lateness of its date, it is impossible to be satisfied either with the outline or the detail, it is still so gorgeous a specimen of art, and towers so nobly over the build- ings of the city, as to extort our admiration, and a nuan must have very little feeling for the poetry of art who can stop to criticise it too closely. The sjjire at Chartres (Woodcut No. 393) is more elegant in out- line, but the design of its base does not accord with that of the upper part, and its effect is injured by the great height of the building to which it is attached. That at Strasburg is very inferior in outline, so is St. Stephen's at Vienna, and it is not quite clear that the open- work spires of Fi-iburg and Cologne are not mistakes. The base of the Antwerp spire is perfect in pro])ortion, and good in detail ; the caprice begins only when near the top, where it constructively can do