Gothic 2.pdf

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE III
Module III (Part 2)
History of Architecture III
Faculty - Ar. Laxmi Menon
Assistant Professor

• The France in which the first experiments of Gothic architecture were made around 1140
was a geographical rather than a political entity.
• Paris was more than ever the administrative and cultural center of France and an
education at the University of Paris became important for anyone wishing to attain high
position in either church or state. In effect Paris became the cultural centre for the whole
of western Europe.
• Population expanded, economy increased, towns and trade grew, particularly from
c.1180, though by around 1230 the rate of growth was levelling off.
• Thus the great age of Gothic architectural experiment coincided with this century of
France’s political and economic expansion.
• The earliest development occurred in the Ile de France in the 1130s, as architects tried to
vault the thin walls that were traditional in the area, and culminated in Suger’s choir at
S.Denis, which achieved a new luminosity and spaciousness.
• Sens cathedral with its considerable
width and height, established scale
as a vital element in Gothic design,
prepared the way for next generation
Of buildings.
Suger’s Choir at St.Denis
Sens Cathedral
France: Architecture Character

• Early Gothic is the style of architecture that appeared in northern France ,
Normandy and then England between about 1130 and the mid-13th century. It
combined and developed several key elements from earlier styles, particularly
from Romanesque architecture, including the rib vault, flying buttress, and
the pointed arch, and used them in innovative ways in Gothic cathedrals and
churches, of exceptional height and grandeur, filled with light from stained glass
windows. Notable examples of early Gothic architecture in France include the
ambulatory and facade of Saint-Denis Basilica; Sens Cathedral (1140); Laon
Cathedral; Senlis Cathedral; (1160) and most famously Notre-Dame de
Paris (begun 1160).
• Early English Gothic was influenced by the French style, particularly in the new choir
of Canterbury Cathedral, some features as polychrome decoration, using Purbeck
marble. Major examples are the nave and west front of Wells Cathedral, the choir
of Lincoln Cathedral, and the early portions of Salisbury Cathedral.
Early Gothic style
• Early Gothic was succeeded in the early 13th century by a new wave of larger and
taller buildings, with further technical innovations, in a style later known as High
Gothic.

Notre Dame in Paris
• High Gothic style started taking its shape in these three
cathedrals
Cathedral of Arras, now destroyed
Laon in the Aisne valley
• High Gothic is a particularly refined and imposing
style of Gothic architecture that appeared in northern
France from about 1195 until 1250. Notable examples
include Chartres Cathedral, Reims
Cathedral, Amiens Cathedral, Beauvais Cathedral,
and Bourges Cathedral. It is characterized by great
height, harmony, subtle and refined tracery and
realistic sculpture, and by large stained glass windows,
particularly rose windows and larger windows on the
upper levels, which filled the interiors with light. It
followed Early Gothic architecture and was succeeded
by the Rayonnant style. It is often described as the
high point of the Gothic style.
High Gothic style

• The last years of the 12th
century brought an increase
in the scale of buildings – the
cathedral of Bourges
drawing largely on Parisian
traditions and Chartres
drawing on the Aisne valley.
• Bourges is perhaps the
grandest of all medieval
churches, but Chartres
proved the more popular
design, providing the model
for big cathedrals and path
for the ever increasing scale
at Reims and Amiens.
Chartres Cathedral
Bourges Cathedral
Amiens Cathedral
Reims Cathedral
The Bourges
tradition gave rise
to its own group of
institutions lemans
and countances,
whereas the
cathedral of
Beauvais was a
conflation of both
traditions.
Countances Cathedral
Le Man Cathedral
Beauvais Cathedral

• Beauvais was the last of the monumental high Gothic churches.
• Next style which evolved was Rayonnant ideas.
• The rayonant evolved in Paris and spread rapidly to the provinces with all the
prestige of a metropolitan style and under ruler S.Louis and his court,obliterating
the flourishing regional gothic of Burgandy & Normandy, as High Gothic which
was suitable only for the very largest buildings, had never done.
• In French Gothic architecture, Rayonnant is the period from about the mid-13th
century to mid-14th century. It was characterized by a shift away from the High
Gothic search for increasingly large size toward more spatial unity, refined
decoration, and additional and larger windows, which filled the space with light.
• Most wealthy towns possessed splendid new cathedrals & the rayonant building
was palace chapel. Small private chapels were also built.
S.Chapelle
S.Germain-en-Laye
Rayonnant style

• Prominent features of Rayonnant include the large rose window, more windows in
the upper-level clerestory; the reduction of the importance of the transept; and
larger openings on the ground floor to establish greater communication between
the central vessel and the side aisles.
• Interior decoration increased, and the decorative motifs spread to the outside, to
the facade and the buttresses. utilizing great scale and spatial rationalism towards
a greater concern for two-dimensional surfaces and the repetition of decorative
motifs at different scales.
• The use of tracery gradually spread from the stained glass windows to areas of
stonework, and to architectural features such as gables.
• The first major example in France was Amiens Cathedral (1220–1270). The
most prominent and accomplished French example was the rebuilding of
portions of Notre Dame de Paris (begun 1250s), including the addition of the
great rose windows. The finest example of the late Rayonnant is the royal chapel
in Paris, Sainte-Chapelle, in which the upper floor has the appearance of a great
cage of stained glass.

• From France, the style quickly spread to England, where French Rayonnant
tracery was often incorporated into more traditional English features, such as
colonettes and vault ribs. Notable examples of Rayonnant in England include the
Angel Choir of Lincoln Cathedral, and that of Exeter Cathedral (begun before
1280). The striking retro choir of Wells Cathedral (begun before 1280), the choir of
Saint Augustine at Bristol Cathedral and Westminster Abbey are other important
examples.
• After the mid-14th century, Rayonnant was gradually replaced by the more ornate
and highly decorated Flamboyant style.
• The new flamboyant style that emerged owed its richly decorative repertory of
tracery patters, some what ironically to English decorated and perpendicular
styles.
• Paris did not play the major role in the generation of Flamboyant that it had
played it’s the Rayonnant.
• Inspite of all the unrest and depredations, France remained fundamentally the
best endowed of all European countries.

Early Gothic
Style
High Gothic Style Rayonnant
Style
Flamboyant
style
Time
line
Early Gothic is
the style of
architecture that
appeared in
northern France,
Normandy and
then England
between about
1130 and the mid-
13th century
High Gothic is a
particularly refined
and imposing style
of Gothic
architecture that
appeared in
northern France
from about 1195
until 1250.
In French Gothic
architecture,
Rayonnant is
the period from
about the mid-
13th century to
mid-14th century
Flamboyant is
a form of
late Gothic
architecture that
developed in
Europe in
the Late Middle
Ages and
Renaissance,
from around
1375 to the mid-
16th century.
Comparative Analysis

Early French
Gothic Style
Style
Flamboyant
style
PLAN • Greek Cross
plan
• Simple
• Longer and
much more
complex
Eg.
-Sens Cathedral
-Noyon cathedral
-Plan of Notre
Dame de
Paris (begun
1163)
• similar.
• extremely long
and wide, with a
minimal transept
and maximum
interior space
• larger
ceremonies and
welcomed larger
numbers of
pilgrims
Chartres &
Bourges Cathedral

Early English Gothic Style High Gothic
Style
Rayonna
nt Style
Flamboyant
style
PLAN • Longer and much more
complex
• Additional chapels,
external towers, and
usually rectangular west
end. Choir were as long
as the nave
• The form expressed the
multiple activities often
going on simultaneously in
the same building
• Wells Cathedral
• Lincoln
Salisbury

Early Gothic
Style
High Gothic
Style
Rayonnant Style Flamboyant
style
ELEVATI
ON
-- the flying
buttress not
common use, and
buttresses were
placed directly
close to or directly
against the walls.
The walls had to
be reinforced by
additional width.
-- four elevations
or levels in the
nave: the aisle
arcade on the
ground floor; the
gallery arcade, a
passageway,
above it;
--Thanks largely
to the efficiency
of the flying
buttress and six-
part rib vaults, All
of the major High
Gothic
cathedrals
except Bourges
used the three-
level elevation,
eliminating the
tribunes and
keeping the
ground floor
grand gallery,
the triforium, and
the clerestory, or
high windows.
--Thanks to the
more efficient
flying buttress and
quadripartite rib
vaults, the walls
could be higher
and thinner, with
more space for
windows.
--The arcade
became higher
and higher, with
much larger
openings.
--The tribune, no
longer needed for
support,
disappeared
entirely

Early Gothic
Style
Style
Flamboyant
style
ELEVATI
ON
the
blind triforium,
a narrower
passageway,
and the
clerestory, a wall
with larger
windows, just
under the vaults.
-- These multiple
levels added to
the width and
thus the stability
of the walls,
before the flying
buttress was
commonly
used.
-- The upper
windows in
particular grew in
size to cover
almost all of the
upper walls. The
arcades also grew
in height,
occupying half the
wall, so the
triforium was just a
narrow band. The
upper windows
were often made of
translucent grisaille
glass, which
allowed more light
than colored
stained glass.
-- The
intermediate
triforium nearly
disappeared, or
was itself filled
with windows.
--Most
impressive was
the change to
the top level, the
clerestory,
supported by
longer buttresses
; the upper walls
were filled with
larger and larger
windows, until
the walls at that
level nearly
disappeared.

Early Gothic
Style
High Gothic
Style
Rayonnant Style Flamboyant style
ELEVA
TION
--The
introduction of a
simpler four-part
rib vault and
especially the
flying buttress
meant that the
walls could be
thinner and
higher, with
more room for
windows. By the
end of the
period, the
triforium level
was usually
eliminated, and
larger windows
filled the space
• Chartres
Cathedral
• Ameins
• Reims
Cologne cathedral
Traditionally,
the triforium of an
Early or High
Gothic cathedral
was a dark
horizontal band,
usually housing a
narrow
passageway, that
separated the top
of the arcade from
the clerestory.

Early Gothic
Style
High Gothic
Style
Rayonnant Style Flamboyant
style
ELEVA
TION
Wells cathedral
(England
Noyon Cathedral
Notre Dame de
paris
Elevations
of Bourges
Cathedral. The
outer aisles and
nave had their
own elevations,
with galleries,
triforia and
clerestories of
different
heights.
Although it made the
interior darker, it
was a necessary
feature to
accommodate the
sloping lean-to roofs
over the side aisles
and chapels. The
Rayonnant solution
to this, as employed
to brilliant effect in
the 1230s nave of
the Abbey Church of
St Denis, was to use
double-pitched roofs
over the aisles, with
hidden gutters to
drain off the
rainwater.

Early
Gothic
Style
High Gothic
Style
ELEVA
TION
This same
system was
adapted at Le
Mans
Cathedral an
d Coutances
Cathedral in
France
and Toledo
Cathedral an
d Burgos
Cathedral in
Spain.
This meant the outer
wall of the triforium
passage could now be
glazed, and the inner
wall reduced to slender
bar tracery. Architects
also began to
emphasise the linkage
between triforium and
clerestory by extending
the central mullions
from the windows of
the latter in a
continuous moulding
running from the top of
the windows down
through the blind
tracery of the triforium
to the string course at
the top of the arcading.

Early
Gothic
Style
High Gothic
Style
ELEVA
TION
Abbey church at
St.Denis

Early
Gothic
Style
High
Gothic
Style
FACADE
Basilica of St
Urbain,Troyes (1262–
1389) & Ameins
Besides serving as a
decoration, the
pinnacles had a
structural function;
they added weight to
the buttresses, giving
greater support to the
walls.
The term "Flamboyant"
typically refers to church
façades and to some
secular buildings such as
the Palais de Justice in
Rouen. Church façades
and porches were often
the most elaborate
architectural features of
towns and cities,
especially in France, and
frequently projected
outwards onto
marketplaces and town
squares.

Early
Gothic
Style
High Gothic
Style
Rayonnant
Style
Flamboyant style
FACADE This architectural response to
increasing concerns with the
aesthetics of urban space is
particularly notable in Normandy,
where a striking group of late 15th-
and early 16th-century projecting
polygonal porches were
constructed in the Flamboyant
style. It combined three-
dimensional forms
nodding ogees
small niches
baldachins,
pinnacles
produce dynamic façades with a
new sense of depth at Sens
Cathedral

Early
Gothic
Style
High Gothic
Style
Rayonnant
Style
Flamboyant style
FACADE Façades and porches often
used, an arched doorway that
was topped by short pinnacle
with a fleuron or carved stone
flower, often resembling a lily.
The short pinnacle bearing the
fleuron had its own decoration
of small, sculpted forms like
twisting leaves of cabbage or
other naturalistic vegetation.
There were also two slender
pinnacles, one on either side
of the arch.
13th century
Fleuron
illustrated by
Viollet-le-Duc

Early Gothic Style High Gothic Style Rayonna
nt Style
Flamboyant style
VAULTS,
PIERS,
PILLARS,
MOULDI
NGS
--The rib vault had
thin stone ribs which
carried the vaulted
surface of thin panels.
Unlike the earlier
barrel vault, where the
weight of the vault
pressed down directly
onto the walls, the
arched ribs of a rib
vault had a pointed
arch, a rib which
directed the weight
outwards and down
wards to specific
points, usually piers
and columns in the
nave below, or
outward to the walls,
where it was
countered by
buttresses.
All of the High Gothic
Cathedrals
except Bourges
Cathedral used the
newer four-part rib
vault, which allowed
more even weight
distribution to the
piers and columns in
the nave.
Chartres: Four-part
rib vaults connected
by colonettes to
pillars below
the elimination
of capitals—
coupled with the
introduction of
continuous and
"dying" mouldings,
are additional
noteworthy
characteristics of
which the parish
church of Saint-
Maclou in Rouen

Early Gothic
Style
High Gothic Style Rayonn
ant Style
Flamboyant style
VAULTS,
PIERS,
PILLARS,
MOULDIN
GS
--The panels
between the ribs
were made of
small pieces of
stone, and were
much lighter
than the earlier
barrel vaults. A
primitive form, a
ribbed groin
vault, with round
arches, was
used at Durham
Cathedral, and
then, in the
course of
building, was
improved with
pointed arches
in about 1096.
The very high pillars with
six-part vaults of Bourges
Cathedral. In 1192 Notre
Dame, which had six-part
vaults, had introduced a
new kind of support; a
central pillar surrounded
by four engaged shafts.
The pillars supported the
gallery, while the shafts
continued upwards as
colonettes attached to the
walls and supported the
vaults. They frequently
had capitals which were
decorated with floral
sculpture.
Another charact
eristic feature were
vaults with addit
ional types of ribs
called the lierne and
the tierceron, whose
functions were purely
décorative. These
ribs spread out over
the surface to make
a star vault; a ceiling
of star vaults gave
the ceiling a dense
network of
decoration
Chapelle du Saint-
Esprit, Rue

Early Gothic Style High Gothic Style Rayonn
ant
Style
Flamboyant style
VAULTS,
PIERS,
PILLARS,
MOULDIN
GS
--The first Gothic rib
vaults were divided
by the ribs into six
compartments. A
six-part vault could
cover two sections
of the nave. Two
pointed arches
crossed diagonally
and were supported
by an intermediate
arch, which crossed
the nave from side
to side. The weight
was carried
downward by thin
columns from the
corners of the vault
to the alternating
heavy piers and
thinner columns in
the nave below.
Another feature of
the period was a
type of very tall,
round pillar with
out a capital, from
which ribs sprang
and spread upw
ards to the vaults.
They were often
used as the sup
port for a fan
vault, which bran
ched upward like a
spreading tree.
Vaults of the
chapel of the Hotel
de Cluny

Early Gothic
Style
High Gothic Style Rayonna
nt Style
Flamboyant style
VAULTS,
PIERS,
PILLARS,
MOULDIN
GS
-The weight was
distributed
unevenly; the
piers received the
greater weight
from diagonal
arches, while the
columns took the
lesser weight
from the
intermediate arch.
This system was
used successfully
at the Basilica of
Saint-Denis,
Noyon Cathedral,
Laon Cathedral,
and Notre-Dame
de Paris.

Early Gothic
Style
nt Style
Flamboyant style
VAULTS,
PIERS,
PILLARS,
MOULDIN
GS
Six part rib vault of
Notre dame de
paris
A simpler and
stronger vault with
just four
compartments
was developed at
the end of the
period by
eliminating the
intermediate arch.

Early Gothic
Style
nt Style
Flamboyant style
VAULTS,
PIERS,
PILLARS,
MOULDIN
GS
As a result, the
piers or columns
below all received
an equal load, and
could have the
same size and
appearance,
giving greater
harmony to the
nave. This system
was used
increasingly at the
end of the Early
Gothic period.
Four-part vaults
of Wells Cathedral

Early Gothic
Style
nt Style
Flamboyant style
VAULTS,
PIERS,
PILLARS,
MOULDIN
GS
Lincoln Cathedral
(England). These
had additional
purely decorative
ribs called
the lierne and
the tierceron, in
ornate designs like
stars and fans,
The ribs were
designed so that
the bays slightly
offset each other,
giving them the
nickname of
"Crazy vaults"

Early Gothic Style High Gothic Style Rayonnant
Style
Flamboyant
style
FLYING
BUTTRE
SSES
By counter
balancing the thrust
against the upper
walls from the rib
vaults, flying
buttress made
possible the great
height, thin walls
and large upper
windows of the
Gothic cathedrals.
The early Gothic
buttresses were
placed close to the
walls, and were
columns of stone
with a short arch to
the upper level,
between the
windows.
In High Gothic, the
buttresses were
nearly as tall as the
building itself.
massive, and meant
to be seen; they
were decorated
with pinnacles and
sculpture. The
buttresses of each
cathedral were
unique, and had its
own distinct form
and decoration.

Early Gothic
Style
High Gothic Style Rayonnant Style Flamboyant
style
FLYING
BUTTRE
SSES
Salisbury
Cathedral
Early Buttress of
Noyon Cathedral
Double arches of the
apse of Reims
Cathedral, capped
with stone pinnacles
for greater weight
Buttresses
practically
conceal
the
choir of
Beauvais
Cathedral

Early Gothic
Style
style
FLYING
BUTTRE
SSES
They were often
topped by stone
pinnacles both
for decoration,
and to make
them even
heavier. Flying buttresses
of Amiens Cathedral

Early Gothic
Style
style
WINDOW,
ROSE
WINDOW,
STAINED
GLASS
The stained glass
windows of Early
Gothic churches
had a particular
intensity of color,
partly because the
glass was thicker
and used more
color, and partly
because the early
windows were
small, their light
had a more
striking contrast
with the dark
interiors of the
churches
and cathedral
rose window was
made with plate
tracery, where the
design was formed
by a group of
variously shaped
openings that
appeared to be cut
out of the wall.
The West rose
window of Chartres
Cathedral
Rayonnant
windows were
larger, more
numerous, and
more ornate than
in earlier styles.
They also
frequently had
clear or grisaille
glass, brightening
up the interior.
The glazed
triforium of
the Abbey Church
of Saint Denis

Early Gothic
Style
style
WINDOW,
ROSE
WINDOW,
STAINED
GLASS
The glass and the
windows were
made by different
craftsmen, usually
at different
locations. The
rose windows of
the Early Gothic
churches were
composed of
plate tracery, a
geometric pattern
of openings in
stone over the
central portal.
A more ambitious
model, with the
armature of a
wheel made of
stone mullions,
appeared
South rose window
of Chartres
Cathedral
intermediate
levels of the walls,
such as the
Triforium, were
given windows. At
the high level of
the clerestory,
rows of lancet
windows
appeared, often
topped with tri-
lobed or four-part
windows and a
type of miniature
rose windows,
called an oculus.
In England, the
Rayonnant or
Decorated period

Early Gothic Style High Gothic Style Rayonnant Style Flamboyant
style
WINDOW,
ROSE
WINDOW,
STAINED
GLASS
12th century
stained glass
from Basilica of
Saint-Denis
Rose window
of Notre Dame de
Mantes
Not long after the
introduction of the
High Gothic rose
window, Gothic
architects, fearing
that the interiors of
the cathedrals
were too dark,
began
experimenting
with grisaille windo
ws, which
emphasized the
important figures
in the windows,
and also
brightened the
interiors.
was characterized
by windows of
great width and
height, divided by
mullions into
subdivisions, and
further elaborated
with tracery. Early
characteristics
were a trefoil or
quadrifoil design.
Plate tracery
, Lincoln
Cathedral "Dean's
Eye" rose window

Early
Gothic
Style
style
WINDOW,
ROSE
WINDOW,
STAINED
GLASS
Large bands of
translucent gray glass
were put around the
fully colored figures of
Christ, The Virgin
Mary, and other
prominent subjects.
Detail of "Notre-Dame
de la Belle Verrière"
window at Chartres
Cathedral
The great rose
window was among
the most distinctive
elements of the
Rayonnant. The
transepts of Notre-
Dame de Paris were
rebuilt to make a place
for two enormous rose
windows.
Rayonnant bar-
tracery, Notre-Dame
de Paris, north rose
window

Early
Gothic
Style
High
Gothic
Style
WINDOW,
ROSE
WINDOW,
STAINED
GLASS
With the use of
stone mullions separating
the pieces of glass, and
those glass pieces
supported by lead ribs,
windows became
stronger and larger, able
to resist strong winds.
Rayonnant rose windows
reached a diameter of
ten meters.
Rose window of Orvieto
Cathedral, surrounded by
small busts of Saints

Early
Gothic
Style
High Gothic Style Rayonnant Style Flamboyant style
TRACERY Tracery is the term
for the intricate
designs of slender
stone bars and ribs
which were used to
support the glass
and to
decorate rose
windows and other
windows and
openings. It also
was used
increasingly on
exterior and interior
walls, in the form of
stone ribs or
molding, to create
increasingly
intricate forms such
as blind arcades.
This form was
called blind tracery.
After the middle of
the 13th century, the
windows began to
be decorated with
even larger and
complex designs,
resembling light
shining outwards,
which gave the
name to the
Rayonnant
styleThere was also
a fundamental
change in
the tracery, or
ornamental designs,
within windows.
more delicate bar-
tracery in which the
stone ribs separating
the glass panels are
made of narrow
The
flamboyant tracery
designs are the most
characteristic feature
of the Flamboyant
style. They appeared
in the stone mullions,
the framework of
windows, particularly
in the great rose
windows of the
period, and in
complex, pointed,
blind arcades and
arched gables that
were stacked atop
one another, and
which often covered
the entire façade.
They were also used
in balustrades and
other features.

Early
Gothic
Style
High Gothic
Style
TRACERY The west window
of Chartres
Cathedral used
an early form
called plate
tracery, a
geometric pattern
of openings in the
stonework filled
with glass
Plate tracery of
the West rose
window
of Chartres
Cathedral
carved mouldings,
with rounded inner
and outer profiles.
The elaborate
designs of the
spokes of the rose
windows, radiating
outward, gave the
name to the
Rayonnant style. first
appearance -Reims
cathedral & spread
across Europe.
Blind tracery in the
Angel Choir Lincoln
Cathedral
West rose window of
Saint Chapelle (1485–
1498)
Openwork gable and
balustrade, west
porch, church of
Saint-Maclou, Rouen
Flamboyant windows
were often composed
of two arched
windows, over

Early
Gothic
Style
TRACERY Prior to 1230, the
builders of Reims
Cathedral used a
more sophisticated
form, called bar
tracery, in the apse
chapel. This was a
pattern of cusped
circles, made with
thin pointed bars of
stone projecting
inward.
Early bar
tracery at
Reims
Cathedral (Prior to
1230)
The tracery within
windows inspired
another form of
Rayonnant
decoration; the use of
blind tracery, or
meshes of thin ribs
that could be used to
cover blank walls in
decorative designs,
matching the designs
within the windows.
Blind tracery and high
relief sculpture in
choir of Amiens
Cathedral (1220–
1266)
which was a pointed,
oval design divided
by curving lines
called soufflets and
mouchettes.
Mouchettes in the
south façade
windows of
the Church of Saint-
Pierre, Caen
A soufflet
from a
window
on the
south façade of
the Church of Saint-
Pierre, Caen

Early
Gothic
Style
TRACERY This model was
followed and
developed in the
transept windows
of Chartres
Cathedral,
at Amiens
Cathedral and the
other High Gothic
cathedrals.
Tracery patterns
have developed in
two contradictory
directions –
English decorated
architecture
towards rich flame
like forms &
English
perpendicular
design towards a
paneled severity.
Mouchettes and souffl
ets were also applied
in openwork form to
gables, as seen on
the west façade
of Trinity Abbey,
Vendôme.
North rose
window, Beauvais
Cathedral

Early
Gothic
Style
High
Gothic
Style
Rayonnant Style Flamboya
nt style
DECORATIVE
ELEMENTS
One distinctive element of
Rayonnant was the use of
carved stone decorative
elements on the exterior and
interior. These included
the fleuron, the pinnacle, and
the finial, which gave greater
height to everything from
doorways to buttress. They
were often added to external
structures, such as buttresses,
to give them additional weight.
13th century
Fleuron
illustrated by
Viollet-le-Duc

Early
Gothic
Style
High
Gothic
Style
Rayonnant Style Flamboya
nt style
DECORATIVE
ELEMENTS
Buttresses
decorated with
pinnacles,
Cologne Cathedral
These elements included
the crocket, in the form of a
stylized carving of curled
leaves, buds or flowers which
are used at regular intervals to
decorate the sloping edges of
spires finials, pinnacles,
and wimpergs.
Crockets on the
spire of the
church of
Notre-Dame
de Vitré, Brussels

Early Gothic Style High Gothic Style Rayonnant Style Flamboyan
t style
SCULPT
URES
Sculptural
decoration around
the portals, or
doorways, on the
tympanum and
sometimes also on
the columns. these
depicted the Holy
Family and Saints.
Central tympanum
of the royal
portal, Chartres
Cathedral
The subjects were
essentially the same
on each cathedral;
Saints, apostles,
and Kings. At the
end of the 12th
century, their poses
were very formal,
and the faces rarely
seemed to be
looking at each
other or at anyone
else. The greatest
variety was usually
in their drapery,
which could be
highly stylised or
natural.
Stone figures of
saints and the Holy
family were
featured on the
facade and
tympanum. In the
Rayonnant period,
the sculptures
became more
naturalistic and
three-dimensional,
standing out in
their own niches
across the facade.
They had individual
facial
characteristics,
natural

Early Gothic
Style
High Gothic Style Rayonnant Style Flamboy
ant style
SCULPTU
RES
The figures were
usually stiff,
straight, simple
forms, and often
elongated. As the
period advanced,
the sculpture
became more
naturalistic. The
floral and vegetal
sculpture of the
capitals of
columns in the
nave was more
realistic, showing
a close
observation of
nature
But in the 13th
century, the faces
and figures became
much more vivid and
expressive.
Following the style of
the 12th century, the
bodies and costumes
of the figures are
practically ignored; all
the skill of the
sculptor is used on
the expressive faces.
But in the 13th
century, the faces
and figures became
much more vivid and
expressive.
gestures and
postures, and
finely-sculpted
costumes. The
other decorative
sculpture, such as
the leaves and
plants that
decorated the
capitals of columns,
also became more
realistic

Early Gothic
Style
High Gothic Style Rayonnant Style Flamboya
nt style
SCULPTU
RES
Detail of the royal
portal of Chartres
Cathedral
Adam and Eve
eating apples,
west front of
Lincoln Cathedral
The vegetal
decoration of the
capitals of the
columns of the nave
were another
distinctive feature of
High Gothic
sculpture. They were
made in finely crafted
vegetal forms,
complete with birds
and other creatures.
Sculpture and
tracery on facade
of Rouen
Cathedral
Detail of column
capital sculpture,
showing a farmer
hitting a fruit
thief Wells
Cathedral

Early Gothic
Style
High Gothic Style Rayonnant Style Flamboya
nt style
SCULPTU
RES
Accurately sculpted
vegetation (horse
chestnuts) on the
column capitals
of Reims Cathedral
Detail of Bourges
Cathedral sculpture

Double aisles
• The cathedral was begunby Bishop Maurice de sully around 1163; the west
towers were the last to be completed in 1250.
Notre Dame cathedral in Paris
ambulatories
Bent axial
lines
The transepts, in Paris did
not project beyond the
aisle wall

An Arcade of
columnar piers-
a tribune
Covered with
transverse
barrel vaults
Lit by round windows –
decorative oculi opening into
the tribune roofspaces
Small clerestory
windows
The high vault is
sexpartite(six
divisions) covering
double bays
13th century- lighten the
interior by expanding the
clerestory windows
downwards , canceling the
oculi in 3rd story ,
Tribunes were rebuilt with
larger windows and ordinary
quadripartite vaults

The vault is very
high, - 30m
The wall which supports it
very thin and articulated by
very slender (face-bedded)
shafts.
Double span flying
buttresses support the
nave.(earliest of all)

Rose Window
Flying Buttresses
Exterior View

Reims Cathedral
• Reims cathedral was begun in 1211, and construction and embellishment
continued throughout most of the thirteenth century.
• Construction proceeded from east to west, reaching the west front around 1260.
• Overall design is derived from
Chartres.
• The aisles of the western arm
are broadened for the eastern
arm into a naveand double
aisles so as to include the
transepts,thus providing space
for coronations.
• The deep radiating chapels
have passage.

• Windows at all levels are
enormous.
• Bar tracery, where the
windows are divided by
spokes,piers and arches of
masonry, rather than
sections of wall, seems to
have been invented in the
radiating chapels at Reims
and was used throughout
the building.
• The west front and the
north and south transept
facades are all dominated
by large rose windows,
which also occupy the
portal tympana on the
west front.
• The cathedral is unusually rich in sculpture
both inside and out as befitted its royal
status.
• The arcade piers have magnificient, often
naturalistic, foliage capitals, figure
sculpture extends the full height of the west
front.

• Figure sculpture extends the full
height of the west front.
• There are richly decorated portals to
both transept façades and the west
portals are covered with figure
sculpture.
• Nave Bays
interior elevation
• Exterior elevation

Normandy:
• Early Gothic architecture in Normandy was very conservative, with heavy
composite piers supporting thick walls with clerestory passages, three level
elevations with tribunes, all crowned by quadripartite vaulting.
Burgandy:
• In the twelfth century in Burgandy architectural coherence is provided by the large
number of important Cistercian abbeys in the area. Their character is elegant, but
structurally conservative and small in volume and with two level elevations.
Western France:
• Gothic architecture in western france inherited from its Romanesque forbears an
emphasis on width rather than height and a predilection for the hall church.

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