DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41589#0031
responds, around the corners onto the west walls of the east transepts and the east walls
of the west transepts (Fig. 13).
This is no longer obvious because later dividing walls now about all except the
internal angles which are inside the rooms so formed. The one on the north is now used
as a treasury, that on the south as a choir vestry (Fig. 14) and they are not generally
open to the public. On the south side, at both east and west ends the later wall stops at
the outer level of the arcading so that the space between the two layers is still visible,
while on the north side colonnettes and capitals remain embedded in the later work.
Incidentally, one of the capitals so embedded (at the north east corner just outside the
treasury) is moulded rather than stiff-leaf, hidden away as if to show that the designer
knew of this fashion but chose not to use it7.
On the east wall of the south transept the heads of the inner arches show through
openings in the spandrels of the outer arcade (Fig. 13). This effect explains why the
arcade was built in two layers with the mouldings fully carved even where they are not
visible. Nordstrom argued from this that the walls were built at different times and was
refuted by Frankl who pointed out that the colonnettes of both layers rest upon one
stone in the plinth8. It would have been easier to have both layers fully carved than to
restrict the carving to just those bits which would be visible in the niches; any
miscalculation would have been visible. These openings are similar in shape to the
niches with busts along the aisles, a point which I will elaborate upon later.
On the north side the arcading transposes as it turns the corner; instead of the aisle
configuration of plain arches behind cusped, here there are cusped arches behind plain.
Since the heads of the cusped arches are lower than those of the plain arches they do not
show in the spandrel openings.
The major vaulting shafts rest on beses which widen at the level of the seat running
below the arcading, but then, paradoxically, narrow so that they heavy shafts seem to be
ssoating a foot or more above ground level (Fig. 12). The minor shafts rise at window sill
level from leaf corbels which are carved as approximately three-quarters of a circle so
that they stand out from the wall and also seem to be ssoating in mid-air. Where is the
plane of the wall? On the level of the arcading this is not at all clear: it might
correspond to the wall visible behing both layers of arches, but this plane is embedded
somewhere in the middle of the wall above; it might be either of the front faces of the
two arcades, that of the inner arcade being the most likely since it corresponds to the
plane of the wall above, but this is partially contradicted by the vault responds which
stand in front of the arcading. So the double arcading invites incompatible readings of
where the wall plane is located, thus forcing the onlooker to study more closely in order
to see what the structure actually is. In effect this is very reminiscent of Joan Evans’
characterisation of the Decorated style as the ”curious denial of the existence of any
plane in the design”.
There are two variant possibilities for understanding the relation between vault and
walls: the responds can be seen either as protruberances from the wall or as
free-standing supports. On the former interpretation the walls support the vault; on the
latter, the vault is seen as a series of baldachin-like compartments supported on one side
by the responds, on the other by the piers of the main arcade. Baldachins, like domes,
have traditionally been interpreted as the vault of heaven9. This use can be traced back
to ancient painted ceilings. In the early years of the Church it received a Christian
interpretation, making use of prevailing astrological symbolism but also clearly related
to biblical imagery. The Book of Psalms has many examples, especially relating the
heavens to a tent as in Psalm 104: 3; You have stretched out the heavens like a tent-cloth.
The form of the gothic vault is readily perceived as like the inside of a tent and
especially the tent of the heavens.
In the choir itself one needs to imagine away the fourteenth century stalls and
replace the vaulting shafts which would originally have continued down the wall to the
29
of the west transepts (Fig. 13).
This is no longer obvious because later dividing walls now about all except the
internal angles which are inside the rooms so formed. The one on the north is now used
as a treasury, that on the south as a choir vestry (Fig. 14) and they are not generally
open to the public. On the south side, at both east and west ends the later wall stops at
the outer level of the arcading so that the space between the two layers is still visible,
while on the north side colonnettes and capitals remain embedded in the later work.
Incidentally, one of the capitals so embedded (at the north east corner just outside the
treasury) is moulded rather than stiff-leaf, hidden away as if to show that the designer
knew of this fashion but chose not to use it7.
On the east wall of the south transept the heads of the inner arches show through
openings in the spandrels of the outer arcade (Fig. 13). This effect explains why the
arcade was built in two layers with the mouldings fully carved even where they are not
visible. Nordstrom argued from this that the walls were built at different times and was
refuted by Frankl who pointed out that the colonnettes of both layers rest upon one
stone in the plinth8. It would have been easier to have both layers fully carved than to
restrict the carving to just those bits which would be visible in the niches; any
miscalculation would have been visible. These openings are similar in shape to the
niches with busts along the aisles, a point which I will elaborate upon later.
On the north side the arcading transposes as it turns the corner; instead of the aisle
configuration of plain arches behind cusped, here there are cusped arches behind plain.
Since the heads of the cusped arches are lower than those of the plain arches they do not
show in the spandrel openings.
The major vaulting shafts rest on beses which widen at the level of the seat running
below the arcading, but then, paradoxically, narrow so that they heavy shafts seem to be
ssoating a foot or more above ground level (Fig. 12). The minor shafts rise at window sill
level from leaf corbels which are carved as approximately three-quarters of a circle so
that they stand out from the wall and also seem to be ssoating in mid-air. Where is the
plane of the wall? On the level of the arcading this is not at all clear: it might
correspond to the wall visible behing both layers of arches, but this plane is embedded
somewhere in the middle of the wall above; it might be either of the front faces of the
two arcades, that of the inner arcade being the most likely since it corresponds to the
plane of the wall above, but this is partially contradicted by the vault responds which
stand in front of the arcading. So the double arcading invites incompatible readings of
where the wall plane is located, thus forcing the onlooker to study more closely in order
to see what the structure actually is. In effect this is very reminiscent of Joan Evans’
characterisation of the Decorated style as the ”curious denial of the existence of any
plane in the design”.
There are two variant possibilities for understanding the relation between vault and
walls: the responds can be seen either as protruberances from the wall or as
free-standing supports. On the former interpretation the walls support the vault; on the
latter, the vault is seen as a series of baldachin-like compartments supported on one side
by the responds, on the other by the piers of the main arcade. Baldachins, like domes,
have traditionally been interpreted as the vault of heaven9. This use can be traced back
to ancient painted ceilings. In the early years of the Church it received a Christian
interpretation, making use of prevailing astrological symbolism but also clearly related
to biblical imagery. The Book of Psalms has many examples, especially relating the
heavens to a tent as in Psalm 104: 3; You have stretched out the heavens like a tent-cloth.
The form of the gothic vault is readily perceived as like the inside of a tent and
especially the tent of the heavens.
In the choir itself one needs to imagine away the fourteenth century stalls and
replace the vaulting shafts which would originally have continued down the wall to the
29