CHAPTER IX.
CURVILINEAR PERIOD.
PRINCIPAL CHARACTERISTIC.
FLOWING TRACERY IN THE WINDOWS, AND THE PREVALENCE OF THE OGEE CURVE IN ALL THE DETAILS.
Exterior Compartment.
As the Circle characterises the previous Period, so the Ogee marks the present Period. It is found not only in the principal outline of the tracery, but also in its smaller subdivisions; not only in the profiles of the mouldings, but also in the contour of the foliage and carved work.
The Windows are the most important features in the Churches of this Period. In the more important buildings they are frequently of great size and elaborate design, and in the smaller buildings, the rest of the work seems often to have been impoverished for the sake of the Windows.
The infinite variety of design that is contained in the Tracery of this Period is very remarkable, and distinguishes its Architecture, in a manner not to be mistaken, from that of other nations during the same Period.