How to Study Architecture

by Charles H. Caffin

NETHERLANDISH GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

The Gothic architecture of the Netherlands appears at its finest in Belgium, where it is distinguished by a mingling of French and German influence. The latter is to be accounted for chiefly by the trade relations which existed between the great commercial cities of Germany by way of the Rhine, with such centres of commerce as Louvain, Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp, Mechlin (Malines), Ypres, and Bruges. On the other hand, the province of Flanders came under the French influence through the marriage of Margaret of Flanders with the first Duke of the French royal house of Valois, whose successors gradually brought the whole of Belgium under their rule. Further, the Abbey of Noyon early established close relations with that of Tournai, and in this way the religious architecture of France penetrated Belgium. Owing to their pre-eminence in weaving the Netherlandish cities became the most prosperous of the period and this is reflected in the florid decoration of the later ecclesiastical building, as well as in the magnificent Town, Trade, and Guild Halls, which are the special distinction of Netherlandish architecture.

Guild Halls.—They present a general similarity of character. The façades mount in several stories, which are defined by bands of ornament or string-courses and pierced with rows of pointed windows. These are framed with rich traceries of carved work and separated by canopied niches, designed for and often filled with statues. The façades terminate at the spring of the roof in an adaptation of the Romanesque arcaded eaves, which occasionally project like a continuous balcony, while balconies with traceried parapets often decorate the gabled fronts. The corners of the façade are occupied by towers, frequently carried above the line of the eaves, in pinnacle-like structures, the stories of which are marked by balconies. The roofs have a steep pitch and are enriched with dormer windows and decorated chimneys.

The oldest of these beautiful edifices is the Cloth Hall of Ypres, erected in 1304, while other notable examples are those of Louvain, Mechlin, Ghent. The earliest of the Town Halls is the imposing one of Brussels (1377), distinguished by its graceful tower and spire. The right to attach a belfry or beffroi to a town hall was a special privilege, granted by charter, and the bell-towers of Netherlandish cities are among their most picturesque features. That of Bruges, which forms the theme of one of Longfellow’s poems, is famous in the annals of the city. It surmounts the central mass of a façade plainer than those described above, offering more wall spaces and representing another type of Gothic façade peculiar to the Netherlands.

Ecclesiastical Buildings.—The earliest example of Gothic work in ecclesiastical buildings is said to be the choir of the Cathedral of S. Gudule in Brussels. Tournai Cathedral, erected between 1146 and 1338, illustrates three successive periods. The nave is Romanesque; the apse-ended transepts mark the transition stage, and the choir, with its complete chevêt, the fully developed Gothic. But the largest and most magnificent cathedral of the Netherlands is that of Antwerp, distinguished by three aisles of equal height on each side of the lofty nave and by narrow aisleless transepts. The west front, flanked by towers, one of which has been completed by a spire of extreme richness and grace, belongs to that later period (1422-1518) when the taste for decoration had become somewhat florid. Other notable Cathedrals are those of Ghent, Bruges, Ypres, Utrecht, and of Haarlem and Dordrecht in Holland.[7]

SPANISH GOTHIC

It was in the north of Spain, following the gradual destruction of the Moorish rule and the replacing of the Crescent with the Cross, that Gothic art took root. The time is the thirteenth century, when Ferdinand (1217-1252), canonised as saint, united the kingdoms of Leon and Castile, and James, called the Conqueror (1213-1276), carried the conquest through to the east so that only Granada remained in the grip of the Infidel.

While it is supposed that Moorish workmen were employed in the cathedrals, the designs were derived from French examples, with certain borrowings from the German. Thus the original of Leon Cathedral was Amiens, from which, however, it differs in the larger area of its window spaces; while Notre Dame was the model for the Cathedrals of Toledo and Barcelona; and the west front of Burgos, with its openwork spires, recalls Cologne.

Among the characteristic features of Spanish cathedrals are: the occasional use of cloisters; the excess of width in proportion to the length; the use of a cimborio or lantern over the crossing; the placing of the choir or coro west of the chancel, so that it occupies the centre of the edifice and with its high enclosures blocks the vistas in all directions; an elaborate treatment of the vaulting, prompted by decorative rather than structural considerations, and a general tendency, especially in the later work, toward excessive embellishment.

The largest cathedral in Spain, the largest, indeed, of all mediæval cathedrals, is Seville, which was erected on the site of a mosque. It has four side aisles, each of which corresponds in height and width to the nave of Westminster Abbey, yet the length of its nave is little more than that of the latter’s. Toledo, again, has four aisles and a nave, recalling the plan of Bourges, which it follows in length, though it is wider by fifty feet.