DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26747#0730
666
FRENCH ARCHITECTURE.
Book III.
art combining use ancl beauty like that of arckitecture—that is, when
the latter is a real, iiving, national art—the progress made is owing,
not to the commanding ahilities of particular men, but to the united
influence of the whole public. An intelligent sailor who discusses the
good and bad qualities of a ship, does his part towards the advance-
ment of the art of ship-building. So in architecture, the merit of any
one admirable building, or of a high state of national art, is not due
to one, or to a few master minds, but to the aggregation of expe-
rience, the mass of inteUectual exertion, which alone can achieve any
practically great result. Whenever we see any work of man truly
worthy of admiration, we may be quite sure tliat the credit of it is not
due to an individual, but to thousands working through a long series
of years.
The pointed Gothic architecture of Germany furnishes a negative
illustration of the view which we have taken of the conditions
necessary for great architectural excellence. There the style was not
native, but introduced from France. Frenck masons were employed,
who executed tkeir work with the utrnost precision, and with a per-
fection of masonic skill scarcely to be found in France itself. But in
all the higher elements of beauty, the German pointed Gothic cathe-
drals are immeasurably inferior to the Frenck. Tkey are no longer
the expression of the devotional feelings of the clergy and people :
they are totally devoid of the highest order of architectural beauty.
The truth of the matter is, that the very pre-eminence of the great
masonic lodges of Germany in the 14th century destroyed the art.
When freemasonry became so powerful as to usurp to itself the design-
ing as well as tlie execution of churckes and other buildings, there
was an end of true art, tkougli accompanied by the production of some
of tlie most wonderful specimens of stone cutting and of constructive
skill that ever were produced. This, however, is “ building,” not archi-
tecture ; and though it may excite the admiration of the vulgar, it
never will touch the feelings of the true artist or man of taste.
This defcline of true art had nowliere skown itself during the 13th
century, with whicli we are concerned at present. Tlien arckitecture
was truly progressive: eveiy man and every class in the country lent
his aid, each in liis own department, and all workad togetker to pro-
duce those wonderful buildings whicli still excite our admiration. The
masons performed their part, and it was an imqiortant one; but neither
to tliem nor to their employers, such as the Abbe Suger, Maurice de
Sully, Robert de Lusarckes, or Fulbert of Chartres, is the whole merit
to be ascribed, but to all classes of the French nation carrying on
steadily a combined movement towards a well-defined end.
In the following pages, tlierefore, it will not be necessary to recur
to the freemasons nor tlieir masters—at least not more tkan incident-
ally—till we come to Germany. Nor will it be necessary to attempt
to define wlio was tlie architect of any particular building. The
names usually fixed upon by antiquaries after so much search are
merely tliose of the master-masons or foremen of the works, who had
nothing to do with tlie main designs of the buildings.
FRENCH ARCHITECTURE.
Book III.
art combining use ancl beauty like that of arckitecture—that is, when
the latter is a real, iiving, national art—the progress made is owing,
not to the commanding ahilities of particular men, but to the united
influence of the whole public. An intelligent sailor who discusses the
good and bad qualities of a ship, does his part towards the advance-
ment of the art of ship-building. So in architecture, the merit of any
one admirable building, or of a high state of national art, is not due
to one, or to a few master minds, but to the aggregation of expe-
rience, the mass of inteUectual exertion, which alone can achieve any
practically great result. Whenever we see any work of man truly
worthy of admiration, we may be quite sure tliat the credit of it is not
due to an individual, but to thousands working through a long series
of years.
The pointed Gothic architecture of Germany furnishes a negative
illustration of the view which we have taken of the conditions
necessary for great architectural excellence. There the style was not
native, but introduced from France. Frenck masons were employed,
who executed tkeir work with the utrnost precision, and with a per-
fection of masonic skill scarcely to be found in France itself. But in
all the higher elements of beauty, the German pointed Gothic cathe-
drals are immeasurably inferior to the Frenck. Tkey are no longer
the expression of the devotional feelings of the clergy and people :
they are totally devoid of the highest order of architectural beauty.
The truth of the matter is, that the very pre-eminence of the great
masonic lodges of Germany in the 14th century destroyed the art.
When freemasonry became so powerful as to usurp to itself the design-
ing as well as tlie execution of churckes and other buildings, there
was an end of true art, tkougli accompanied by the production of some
of tlie most wonderful specimens of stone cutting and of constructive
skill that ever were produced. This, however, is “ building,” not archi-
tecture ; and though it may excite the admiration of the vulgar, it
never will touch the feelings of the true artist or man of taste.
This defcline of true art had nowliere skown itself during the 13th
century, with whicli we are concerned at present. Tlien arckitecture
was truly progressive: eveiy man and every class in the country lent
his aid, each in liis own department, and all workad togetker to pro-
duce those wonderful buildings whicli still excite our admiration. The
masons performed their part, and it was an imqiortant one; but neither
to tliem nor to their employers, such as the Abbe Suger, Maurice de
Sully, Robert de Lusarckes, or Fulbert of Chartres, is the whole merit
to be ascribed, but to all classes of the French nation carrying on
steadily a combined movement towards a well-defined end.
In the following pages, tlierefore, it will not be necessary to recur
to the freemasons nor tlieir masters—at least not more tkan incident-
ally—till we come to Germany. Nor will it be necessary to attempt
to define wlio was tlie architect of any particular building. The
names usually fixed upon by antiquaries after so much search are
merely tliose of the master-masons or foremen of the works, who had
nothing to do with tlie main designs of the buildings.