DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29899#0071
Bk. III. Ch. I.
PROYENCE.
51
20 ft. in width. The side aisles have been so altered and rebuilt, that
it is difficult to say what their plan and dimensions originally may
have been.
The most remarkable feature and the least altered is the porch,
which is so purely Romanesque that it might almost be said to be
copied from such examples as the arches on the bridge of Chamas
(Woodcut No. 221). It presents, however, all that attenuation of the
horizontal features which is so characteristic of the Lower Ernpire, and
cannot rank higher than the Carlovingian era ; though it is not quite
so easy to determine how much more modern it may be. The same
547. Porch of Notre Dame de Doms, Avignon. (From Laborde’s ‘ Monuments de la France.’)
ornaments are found in the interior, and being integral parts of the
ornamentation of the pointed roof, have led to various theories to
account for this copying of classical details after the period at which
it was assumed that the pointed arch had been introduced. It has
been sufficiently explained above, how early this was the case as a
vaulting expedient in this quarter ; and that difficulty being removed,
we may safely ascribe the whole of the essential parts of this church
to a period not long, if at all, subsequent to the age of Charlemagne.
Next perhaps in importance to this, is the church of St. Trophime
at Arles, the nave of which, with its pointed vault, probably belongs
to the same age, though its porch (Woodcut No. 548), instead of being
e 2
PROYENCE.
51
20 ft. in width. The side aisles have been so altered and rebuilt, that
it is difficult to say what their plan and dimensions originally may
have been.
The most remarkable feature and the least altered is the porch,
which is so purely Romanesque that it might almost be said to be
copied from such examples as the arches on the bridge of Chamas
(Woodcut No. 221). It presents, however, all that attenuation of the
horizontal features which is so characteristic of the Lower Ernpire, and
cannot rank higher than the Carlovingian era ; though it is not quite
so easy to determine how much more modern it may be. The same
547. Porch of Notre Dame de Doms, Avignon. (From Laborde’s ‘ Monuments de la France.’)
ornaments are found in the interior, and being integral parts of the
ornamentation of the pointed roof, have led to various theories to
account for this copying of classical details after the period at which
it was assumed that the pointed arch had been introduced. It has
been sufficiently explained above, how early this was the case as a
vaulting expedient in this quarter ; and that difficulty being removed,
we may safely ascribe the whole of the essential parts of this church
to a period not long, if at all, subsequent to the age of Charlemagne.
Next perhaps in importance to this, is the church of St. Trophime
at Arles, the nave of which, with its pointed vault, probably belongs
to the same age, though its porch (Woodcut No. 548), instead of being
e 2