refined of these "transitional" churches, or of the choir of St. Pierre of Caen (Ill. 259), will give a sufficient idea of the death agony of flamboyant architecture. The task of recording these final convulsions belongs rather to the historian of the architecture of the Renaissance, of that new epoch which was dawning upon the artistic world with a sky so full of doubt and ill-omen. The course of the art of the Middle Ages had been run. Born in obscurity and baseness, this wonderful architecture had by its own virtue raised itself to the loftiest heights which it is perhaps granted for human art to attain; it had long maintained its supremacy; at last it had declined and lay vanquished before the revivified skeleton of Antiquity. Medieval art was dead, dead with the age, with the faith that produced it utterly, irretrievably, forever dead. Requiescat in pace. FLAMBOYANT MONUMENTS MONUMENTS OF THE SECOND CLASS ROUEN, Seine-Inférieure. St. Maclou. (Ill. 278.) This church must have been begun during the English occupation, for in 1432, Hugh, Archbishop of Rouen, granted forty days of indulgence to those of the faithful who should contribute towards the expenses of the new edifice. An appeal was made in 1445,' to "the very high and powerful prince, the Lord Duke of York, Lieutenant-General and Governor of France and Normandy" to give twenty pounds sterling to complete the works already begun. In 1453 Guillaume d'Etouteville granted further indulgences in favor of those who should aid in the construction of the church. In 1471 Pierre du Four, bourgeois of Rouen, made an important gift that the building might be finished. However, the edifice must still have been far from completion since on the second of April, 1500, twenty cardinals granted a hundred days of indulgence to those who should visit the church and give money for its construction, while it was only in 1511 that Martin Deperrois commenced to build a platform over the lantern to carry the spire. Thus St. Maclou was in construction for nearly a century. Since, however, the original plans were for the most part executed without material change, the edifice may fairly be considered as an homogeneous example of the architecture of the second quarter of the XV century. The monument, which forms approximately a Greek cross in plan, consists of a nave, two side aisles, a complete set of lateral chapels, transepts, a central 1 This letter was published in Archives de la Normandie II, 333. 2 The history of St. Maclou has been worked up from the original sources by Du Val. (Vol. II, pp. 154-156.) The most important texts are cited in the original by Inkersley, 115. lantern covered with an open-work spire, a choir, an ambulatory, and radiating chapels. Before the portals is a five-sided narthex of considerable projection an unusual feature which forms a most imposing entrance. Internally the vaults of the nave are singularly lofty; though the mouldings are prismatic, the system continuous, and capitals omitted, there are no disappearing mouldings nor multiple rib vaults. The tracery is fully developed flamboyant, but a certain restraint and awkwardness is noticeable in the use of the ogee arch. The flying buttresses are arcaded and of great lightness. Originally a spire in wood and lead, gilded, surmounted the lantern, but this is known only from the model in the Archaeological Museum, for it was destroyed in the XVIII century. The existing stone flèche was erected in the XIX century. (De Baurepaire; Frothingham.) St. Vincent. The nave, the chapel formerly known as of St. Nicholas, now as of the Sacré Coeur, and the northern portal are said to have been built between 1458 and 1471. The transepts were in construction from 1470 to 1480, the southern portal having been finished about 1475. In 1480 the first stone of the main portal was laid. The choir was begun in 1515 on designs entirely different from, and much more ambitious than, those of the rest of the edifice; it was terminated probably by about 1526, notwithstanding the fact that the dedication did not take place before 1531. Though flamboyant in style, the central tower dates from 1669. The existing edifice consists of a nave shorter than the choir, two side aisles, a complete set of lateral chapels, transepts, a polygonal chevet, and an ambulatory. The flying buttresses of the choir are singularly light and fantastic. Before the western façade is a fine narthex porch. The great glory of the St. Vincent, however, is its glass of the XVI century. (Renaud; De la Balle.) St. Laurent. In 1248 a fire which started at the Porte-Beauvoisine destroyed the churches of St. Ouen, St. Goddard, and St. Laurent. The reconstruction of St. Laurent was probably begun immediately afterwards. In the XV century, however, another rebuilding seems to have been undertaken, for works upon this church are mentioned as being in progress in documents of 1444, 1445, and 1446. This "new work," however, was in all probability merely the reconstruction of the side aisles and clearstory. Certain windows were placed in 1464, but the alterations seem to have been completed only in 1482. From 1490 to 15011 the tower a gem of flamboyant art was in construction. The existing edifice consists of a nave, two side aisles, a polygonal chevet, and an ambulatory. (De la Balle.) 66 St. André-de-la-Porte-aux-Febvres. Only the beautiful tower, said to have been built in 1541-45, survives. It was originally crowned by a spire, now destroyed. (De la Balle.) PARIS, Seine. St. Etienne-du-Mont. (Ill. 283.) The choir was commenced in 1517 and entirely finished in 1535; the nave and the side aisles were completed in the last years of the XVI century; the date 1600 is inscribed upon the jubé; the façade, entirely Renaissance in style, was built between 1610 and 1624. An unusual disposition is the narrow gallery running around the nave and passing from column to column. Otherwise the monument is a typical three-aisled church with a com1 Du Val II, 124, cit. Inkersley, 115. plete set of chapels and an ambulatory. Except for the pendant vault of the crossing, the vaults are simple; the piers, however, are cylindrical, the mouldings disappear, there are no capitals. Much classic feeling is evident in the nave, but in the choir there are but few Renaissance details. (Arch. de la Com. des Mon. Hist. I, 88.) St. Eustache is said to have been in construction from 1532 to 1642. The details of this large and important monument are thoroughly Renaissance in character, but the structure is Gothic. (Arch. de la Com. des Mon. Hist. I, 86.) St. Nicolas-des-Champs. This monument originally erected in the XIV century was reconstructed in 1420 and again in 1576. At the latter epoch the choir and part of the nave were rebuilt in the Renaissance style. With the exception of the portal, restored in 1843, the façade is flamboyant. The present side aisles originally were chapels, but in the XV century they were altered into their present form, and new chapels constructed beyond. (Beale.) St. Médard, one of the most picturesque churches of Paris, with the exception of the choir erected between 1586 and 1655, dates from the end of the XV, or from the early XVI, century, but the interior was rebuilt in the classical style in 1784. There is an ambulatory, but there are no transepts. The piers are without capitals, and the keystones and bosses are elaborately carved. The radiating chapels have Doric columns. (Beale.) St. Méry, a vast edifice with transepts and ambulatory, was commenced in 1520 or a few years later, but was not finished before the XVII century. The beautiful west façade is a mass of rich flamboyant decoration, unfortunately much restored. Intersecting mouldings, open-work gables, and ogee arches characterize the portal. The upper part of the tower, on the other hand, is of the XVII century. With the exception of the rich pendant vaults of the nave, the entire interior was made over in the time of Louis XIV. Perhaps the most interesting parts of the edifice are the fine arcaded flying buttresses of the chevet. (Beale.) St. Gervais et St. Protais. This church was erected at the beginning of the XVI century, but is largely Renaissance in style. It consists of a nave, two side aisles, a complete set of chapels, a chevet, and an ambulatory. The façade is an over-praised work of the XVII century. St. Jacques-la-Boucherie. Of this church only the gracious tower survives. This was begun in 1508. In 1510 the first story had been constructed, and the entire tower was finished in 1521 or 1522. (Troche.) St. Laurent, reconstructed, it is said, in 1429, was enlarged in 1548, in 1595, and finally in 1865–67. The portal and spire are modern. The façade, however, is of interest. CHÂLONS-SUR-MARNE, Marne. Notre Dame-de-l'Épine (Ill. 276) seems to be an archaistic building built in conscious imitation of Reims. Work was begun in 1419 and continued with several interruptions until 1459. Then ensued a long interruption, the building being completed only in the first part of the XVI century. These two eras of construction may be readily distinguished in the existing edifice: to the first belong the choir, the transepts, the greater part of the four eastern bays of the nave; to the second, the façade, the two western bays of the nave, and portions of the eastern bays. Notwithstanding the comparatively small dimensions, this edifice (which consists of a nave six bays long, two side aisles, transepts, a choir of three bays, a polygonal chevet, and a double ambulatory) contains all the essential parts of a Gothic cathedral. Most noteworthy is the purity of the details of the interior. The picturesque exterior seems to have been influenced by military architecture. (Von Bezold.) COUTANCES, Manche. St. Pierre. (Ill. 285.) The unpublished records of the reconstruction of this church are said to be preserved in the presbytery, among the "Archives de la Fabrique." The main body of the building was finished in 1494 as is known from an inscription placed behind the choir, on one of the columns of the chapel of St. Louis; the date 1550 inscribed on one of the towers seems to indicate the epoch at which the edifice was entirely completed. The monument consists of a single western tower, a nave, two side aisles, a lofty central lantern crowned by a cupola, transepts, a choir, a polygonal chevet, and an ambulatory. Disappearing mouldings and a triforium reduced to a balustrade characterize the interior. (De la Balle; Benoist.) St. Nicolas. This church, founded in the XIII century, was in ruins at the end of the XIV century. The rebuilding was begun in 1409, and continued until about 1430, but the edifice has obviously been many times since altered, for the existing structure is a puzzling mixture of the styles of the XIII, XIV, XV, and XVII centuries. At present the monument consists of a central western tower, a nave, two side aisles, two chapels forming a sort of transept, a lantern, a choir, a chevet, and an ambulatory. The piers of the chevet are monolithic. (De la Balle; Benoist.) Eglise de l'Hospice. The fine flamboyant clocher of the XV century still survives. It seems to show English influence in some of its tracery and in the ill adjustment of the spire to the tower. (De la Balle.) CAUDEBEC-EN-CAUX, Seine-Inférieure. Notre Dame. (Ill. 273, 275.) "This nave was commenced in 1426. The blessing of God, and good life, and Paradise to its benefactors." This inscription, still existing in the church, fixes the date at which the present structure was begun; it is not known when it was finished, but the façade and spire can hardly be earlier than the XVI century. The church as it stands is one of the purest and most beautiful of all flamboyant edifices; it consists of a nave, two side aisles, a choir, a two-sided chevet with pier on axis, and an ambulatory. The mouldings of the archivolts and of the vault ribs disappear; slight capitals, however, crown the cylindrical piers. Corbels placed just above these capitals support the system of a single shaft. The high triforium is not glazed, but like the clearstory it is supplied with a balustrade. Escutcheons are carved upon the keystones of the simple vaults. Fine flamboyant tracery fills the windows. The flying buttresses have a single strut, but are finely developed. The florid west façade 1 "L'an Mil CCCCXXVI fu cette nef cy co'mencie. |