Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/700

 664 ARCHITECTURE which latter case a slender column forms, as it were, the mullion. The ribs of the groined ceilings are decorated with bosses at their in- tersections, and rest either upon corbels, or Flying Buttress, Chapter House, Lincoln. upon the shafts of slender columns which de- scend to the pavement. The piers are either simple in plan, or present several shafts clus- tered around a core of a circular, elliptical, or cruciform shape. The sculpture, wherein the national flora is introduced, supersedes alto- gether the ornamentation previously employed ; rosaces, trefoils, quatrefoils, and panelling are introduced to ornament their works in various ways. During the second period the style reached its noblest development. A greater elegance and richness pervade this period, whose characteristic features are thereby dis- tinguished from those of the previous one. The flying buttresses are extremely graceful, those at quoins being placed diagonally. The parapets are pierced or embattled, as are also the pediments. The windows gradually assume a less pointed form, the head of the arch being in general equilateral. Replacing the small columns in the windows are moulded mullions, which form graceful flowing traceries in the head of the arch. The drip-stone is often sur- mounted by a canopy or pediment resting on masks, and enriched with crockets and a finial. The clustered columns composing the columnar piers are more elaborate, and generally placed diagonally. Their bases be- come more important, and are placed upon octagonal plinths clustered together. The ribs, bosses, and carved ornaments throughout have more relief and are more elegant. The third period is remarkable for its profuse ornamenta- tion. The panelled walls, with their niches, tabernacles, canopies, and screens, highly deco- rated, the flying buttresses enriched with pin- nacles and tracery, the corbelled battlements and turrets, and the balustrades intricately carved and pierced, are characteristic of this epoch. The arch presents many varieties of form. Together with those common in the preceding periods, others exist very depressed, being in many cases almost flat. The ogee, or contrasted form, also appears in the openings and pediments. The doors are generally square- headed, the spandril above being enriched with traceries. The rose windows during the 15th century are most intricate in tracery. The ground vaults also are very elaborate, while their bosses and pendents are unequalled for their wonderful carvings. The mouldings of the archivolts, more prismatic in their forms than in the previous periods, continue down uninterruptedly to the foot of the openings, thus doing away with the columns heretofore employed. The appellations of perpendicular and flamboyant, by which this period is also known, arose from its peculiar modes of tra- cery. VI. THE RENAISSANCE OR REVIVAL. With the reformation came the gradual aban- donment of the pointed styles, accompanied as it was by the check of freemasonry occasioned by the withdrawal of the patronage of the pope. The consequent architectural reaction sprang less from admiration and a thorough knowledge of the classic styles than from ne- cessity. The return, however, to the rules of the ancient schools of design was progressive, save in Italy, where they had constantly exer- cised a powerful influence over the artistic spirit, the architecture of the country having retained through the middle ages the charac- teristics of the classic schools. We find here, however, several beautiful edifices, termed by the Italians in maniera Tedewa, which, not- withstanding a contradictory statement made by Muratori and Maffei, were the work of Ger- man artists. During the 14th century, or the trecento period, we discover in Italy, in the secular structures more especially, numerous examples exhibiting a return to the classic styles, which possess simplicity and boldness. At length, in the 16th century, the classic taste prevailed throughout Europe, and hence the different names, cinque cento, renaissance, re- vival, given to that style which supplanted everywhere the so-called Gothic architecture. Brunelleschi of Florence, who died in 1444, was among the first to encourage and disseminate this taste for a return to the classic architec- ture. He had numerous distinguished fol- lowers, among whom were Alberti, Bramante, Peruzzi, Sangallo, San Micheli, Palladio, Sca- mozzi, and many others, who obtained a well deserved reputation. In their productions the different elements of the classic style are happily introduced. The application of these elements to ecclesiastical, and more es- pecially to secular structures, accounts for the liberties taken with them, among which we will cite the following : the great variety given to the intercolumniation of columns ; the su- perposition of different orders, with and with- out broken entablatures ; the frequent use of engaged columns and pilasters; the various