DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26747#0749
Chap. IX.
BAZAS.
685
553. Window of Catkedral at
Lyons. From Peyre, Manuel
de l’Arekitecture.
mentioned for its noble nave witAout aisles, possesses a chevet worthy
of it, and two spires of great beauty at the ends of the transepts, the only
spires so placed, I think, inFrance. Autun pos-
sesses a spire on the intersection of the nave with
the transepts as heautiful as anything of tlie same
class elsewhere. The cathedral of Lyons is inte-
resting, as showing liow hard it was for the
Southern people of France to shake off their old
style and adopt that of their Northern neighbours.
With much grancleur and elegance of details, it is
still so clumsy in design, that neither the whole
nor any of its parts can be consiclered as satis-
factory. Tlie windows, for instance, as shown in
the woodcut (Xo. 553), look morelike specimens
of the carpenter’s Gfothic of modem times than
examples of the art of the middle ages.
There still remains to be mentioned the cathe-
dral at Eouen. This remarkable building pos-
sesses parts belonging to all ages, and exhibits
most of the beauties, and also, it must be con-
fessed, most of the defects of the style. It was erected with a total
clisregard to all rule, yet so splendid
and so picturesque that we are al-
most driven to the wild luxuriance of
nature to find anything to which
we can compare it. Internally its
nave, though rich, is painfully cut
up into small parts. The undivided
piers of the choir, on the contrary, are
too simple for their adjuncts. Exter-
nally, the transept towers are beautifu]
inthemselves, but are overpowered by
the richness of those of the west front.
The whole of that facade, in spite of
the ruin of some of its most important
features, and the intrusion of' much
modern vulgarity, may be called a ro-
mance in stone, consisting of a profu-
sion of the most playful fancies. Like
most of the cathedrals near our shores,
that of Eouen was designed to have a
central spire ; this, however, was not
completed till late in the cinque-cento
age, and then only in vulgar wood-
work, meant to imitate stone. That
being clestroyed, an attempt has lately
Plan of Catkedral at Bazas.
Lamothe.i
Scale 100 feet to 1 inck.
1 Compte Eendu des Travaux de la Oommission des Monumens, &c. : Rapport presente
au Prefet de la Gironde, 1848 et seq.
BAZAS.
685
553. Window of Catkedral at
Lyons. From Peyre, Manuel
de l’Arekitecture.
mentioned for its noble nave witAout aisles, possesses a chevet worthy
of it, and two spires of great beauty at the ends of the transepts, the only
spires so placed, I think, inFrance. Autun pos-
sesses a spire on the intersection of the nave with
the transepts as heautiful as anything of tlie same
class elsewhere. The cathedral of Lyons is inte-
resting, as showing liow hard it was for the
Southern people of France to shake off their old
style and adopt that of their Northern neighbours.
With much grancleur and elegance of details, it is
still so clumsy in design, that neither the whole
nor any of its parts can be consiclered as satis-
factory. Tlie windows, for instance, as shown in
the woodcut (Xo. 553), look morelike specimens
of the carpenter’s Gfothic of modem times than
examples of the art of the middle ages.
There still remains to be mentioned the cathe-
dral at Eouen. This remarkable building pos-
sesses parts belonging to all ages, and exhibits
most of the beauties, and also, it must be con-
fessed, most of the defects of the style. It was erected with a total
clisregard to all rule, yet so splendid
and so picturesque that we are al-
most driven to the wild luxuriance of
nature to find anything to which
we can compare it. Internally its
nave, though rich, is painfully cut
up into small parts. The undivided
piers of the choir, on the contrary, are
too simple for their adjuncts. Exter-
nally, the transept towers are beautifu]
inthemselves, but are overpowered by
the richness of those of the west front.
The whole of that facade, in spite of
the ruin of some of its most important
features, and the intrusion of' much
modern vulgarity, may be called a ro-
mance in stone, consisting of a profu-
sion of the most playful fancies. Like
most of the cathedrals near our shores,
that of Eouen was designed to have a
central spire ; this, however, was not
completed till late in the cinque-cento
age, and then only in vulgar wood-
work, meant to imitate stone. That
being clestroyed, an attempt has lately
Plan of Catkedral at Bazas.
Lamothe.i
Scale 100 feet to 1 inck.
1 Compte Eendu des Travaux de la Oommission des Monumens, &c. : Rapport presente
au Prefet de la Gironde, 1848 et seq.