FIG. 124.
—WEST FRONT OF NOTRE DAME, PARIS.
EXTERIOR DESIGN. Here, as in the interior, every feature had its constructive raison d’être, and the total effect was determined by the fundamental structural scheme. This was especially true of the lateral elevations, in which the pinnacled buttresses, the flying arches, and the traceried windows of the side aisle and clearstory, repeated uniformly at each bay, were the principal elements of the design. The transept façades and main front allowed greater scope for invention and fancy, but even here the interior membering gave the key to the composition. Strong buttresses marked the division of the aisles and resisted the thrust of the terminal pier arches, and rose windows filled the greater part of the wall space under the end of the lofty vaulting. The whole structure was crowned by a steep-pitched roof of wood, covered with lead, copper, or tiles, to protect the vault from damage by snow and moisture. This roof occasioned the steep gables which crowned the transept and main façades. The main front was frequently adorned, above the triple portal, with a gallery of niches or tabernacles filled with statues of kings. Different types of composition are represented by Chartres, Notre Dame, Amiens, Reims, and Rouen, of which Notre Dame (Fig. 124) and Reims are perhaps the finest. Notre Dame is especially remarkable for its stately simplicity and the even balancing of horizontal and vertical elements.
FIG. 125.—WEST FRONT OF ST. MACLOU, ROUEN.
PORCHES. In most French church façades the porches were the most striking features, with their deep shadows and sculptured arches.
The Romanesque porches were usually limited in depth to the thickness of the front wall. The Gothic builders secured increased depth by projecting the portals out beyond the wall, and crowned them with elaborate gables. The vast central door was divided in two by a pier adorned with a niche and statue. Over this the tympanum of the arch was carved with scriptural reliefs; the jambs and arches were profusely adorned with figures of saints, apostles, martyrs, and angels, under elaborate canopies. The porches of Laon, Bourges, Amiens, and Reims are especially deep and majestic in effect, the last-named (built 1380) being the richest of all. Some of the transept façades also had imposing portals. Those of Chartres (1210–1245) rank among the finest works of Gothic decorative architecture, the south porch in some respects surpassing that of the north transept. The portals of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries were remarkable for the extraordinary richness and minuteness of their tracery and sculpture, as at Abbeville, Alençon, the cathedral and St. Maclou at Rouen (Fig. 125), Tours, Troyes, Vendôme, etc.
TOWERS AND SPIRES. The emphasizing of vertical elements reached its fullest expression in the towers and spires of the churches. What had been at first merely a lofty belfry roof was rapidly developed into the spire, rising three hundred feet or more into the air. This development had already made progress in the Romanesque period, and the south spire of Chartres is a notable example of late twelfth-century steeple design. The transition from the square tower to the slender octagonal pyramid was skilfully effected by means of corner pinnacles and dormers. During and after the thirteenth century the development was almost wholly in the direction of richness and complexity of detail, not of radical constructive modification. The northern spire of Chartres (1515) and the spires of Bordeaux, Coutances, Senlis, and the Flamboyant church of St. Maclou at Rouen, illustrate this development. In Normandy central spires were common, rising over the crossing of nave and transepts. In some cases the designers of cathedrals contemplated a group of towers; this is evident at Chartres, Coutances, and Reims. This intention was, however, never realized; it demanded resources beyond even the enthusiasm of the thirteenth century. Only in rare instances were the spires of any of the towers completed, and the majority of the French towers have square terminations, with low-pitched wooden roofs, generally invisible from below. In general, French towers are marked by their strong buttresses, solid lower stories, twin windows in each side of the belfry proper—these windows being usually of great size—and a skilful management of the transition to an octagonal plan for the belfry or the spire.