STRING-COURSE ON THE WEST FRONT.
[From Viollet-le-Duc.]
The late P. G. Hamerton has well expressed a feeling of vague disappointment which many persons who are not experts in Gothic construction and decoration feel on seeing the west front: “May I confess frankly,” says Mr. Hamerton, “that until I had carefully studied it under the guidance of Viollet-le-Duc, the front of Notre Dame never produced upon me the same effect as the west fronts of some other French cathedrals of equal rank? I believe the reason to be that Notre Dame is not so picturesque as some others, and does not so much excite the imagination as they do. It is well ordered, and a perfectly sane piece of work (which Gothic architecture is not always), but it has not the imaginative intricacy of Rouen, nor the rich exuberance of Amiens and Reims, nor the fortress-like grandeur of Bourges, nor the elegant variety of Chartres.... The truth is that the virtues of the west front of Notre Dame are classic rather than romantic. Everything in it seems the result of perfect knowledge and consummate calculation. There are none of those mistakes which generally occur in a work of wilder genius.”
CARVED FOLIAGE FROM THE PORTAIL DE LA VIERGE.
[From Viollet-le-Duc.]
Photo
[Ed. Hautecœur, Paris.