A.B. Clayton del. from Sketches by J. Woods.
Church at Aynai.
The church of St. Nizier is more deserving of attention; it was built by a citizen of the name of Renouard, who begun it in 1300, and finished it before 1315, and we find here most of the characters of the fourth style of Gothic. There are small capitals at the springing of the arches of the nave, but the ribs are carried up and spread upon the vaulting without any thing to mark the termination of the upright part. The Attic base is entirely abandoned, and we have a simple ogee in its place, and the bases of the different parts occur at different levels, though not with all the intricacy which is found in some buildings of a later period.
The vaulting in France seems to have proceeded gradually from the circular to the obtusely pointed arch, and afterwards to the more acute; it then flattened again in elliptic curves. I did not think that the latter change had taken place so early as the beginning of the fourteenth century, but as we find some examples at St. Nizier, we may probably assign to it this date. This church may be considered as an important evidence to fix the earliest introduction of these three peculiarities of the later Gothic; to all of which I should otherwise attribute a much more recent period. The windows of the clerestory are leafy, and the ribs of the roof are disposed so as to have something of the same effect.
As we proceed south we observe more evident traces of the imitation of Roman mouldings and ornaments, but this is most conspicuous in the earlier edifices. In proportion as the pointed architecture obtained a distinct style and character, these smaller parts were made to correspond with the general design, and forms quite peculiar to it were introduced. Thus we find considerable evidence of the imitation of Roman art in the cathedral, but none in St. Nizier.
One of the most curious antiquities of Lyon is the church of Aynai, a name, according to the Tableau de Lyon, derived from Athenas; it is situated a little out of the town on the long point of land which divides the Saone from the Rhone. The building was originally founded by St. Badoul in the fourth century, but destroyed by the Saracens in the eighth, and the present edifice was begun in the tenth, and perhaps not finished till 1070. The outside is ornamented with a sort of mosaic of red brick, or tiles inserted into a whitish stone. The western tower has a pyramidal roof, and a smaller quarter pyramid at each angle. All these seem to me to belong to the original construction. The inside forms a cross, with a dome at the intersection supported on four granite columns formed from two ancient ones, each of which has been sawn in two; each piece is about thirteen feet six inches high. They are said to have decorated the altar of a temple of Augustus. Over the dome is a central tower. The choir is little more than a semi-circular recess, with a semidome: this arrangement alone is a proof of very high antiquity. The ancient apsis was nothing more than a large niche, and the complete development of the cross, in the plans of our churches, is not prior to the eleventh century.
There is a building close to the cathedral called the Hotel de Chevrière, supposed to be of the same date as the church at Aynai. It is ornamented like that edifice, with red tiles inserted in the masonry, and resembles it in some other peculiarities of its architecture. It has been much cut up by modern alterations, but the original disposition was not perfectly regular. The principal decoration arises from a row of little semi-circular arches, some of which rest on Corinthian-like columns, and others on small and unornamented corbels, under each of which was a square recess containing a statue. There is a large arched doorway, but all the present windows are modern, and I doubt if there were originally any windows towards the street. Tradition asserts that this building was once inhabited by St. Thomas à Becket.
Besides these antiquities, Lyon boasts some remains of Roman magnificence, which however, in their present condition, are more interesting to the antiquary than to the architect. The principal is an aqueduct, a considerable fragment of which I visited, but it is so surrounded by high stone walls, that it was impossible to obtain a good view. This aqueduct is the more curious, as according to M. Millin, it is conducted across three of the deeper valleys, in leaden pipes, like syphons reversed, descending the hill on one side, and ascending on the other. I believe we have no other example of such a disposition in the Roman aqueducts, and it has even been asserted that the ancients did not know that water would always rise to its level.
There is an ancient crypt under the church of St. Irene, which is attributed, perhaps on no solid foundation, to the Romans. It is a continued vault supported on columns and arches. There is not sufficient character in its architecture to enable me to pronounce on the time of its erection, but I should doubt its being prior to the eleventh century.
Let me now conduct you to modern objects; a fine old convent has been converted into a museum; the suite of rooms being disposed round a quadrangle. These large convents have been very convenient for public purposes. I wish we had preserved some of them for that use in England. This at Lyon has twenty-one windows in a range towards the Place des Terreaux. Fragments of architecture and sculpture, altars and inscriptions, principally found in the neighbourhood, form a very respectable collection of antiquities. The building includes also a gallery of paintings, which, if it cannot boast any of the masterpieces of art, yet contains many paintings worth attention. The catalogue enumerates Rubens and Guido among the artists, but I saw no production of either. M. Frère Jean, a merchant of this city, conducted me there, in company with an artist of the name of Epinat, and introduced me to M. Hurtault, the director, who is a very able antiquary. I afterwards dined with M. Frère Jean, who is a very pleasant, friendly man, at his country house, if one may apply the expression to a habitation within the city. It has a nice garden, and commands a noble view, extending to the distant Alps. I endeavoured to persuade him and M. Epinat, that Napoleon was really at St. Helena, but I believe I left them incredulous. They did not seem, however, very confident, that it was the English who helped him back from Elba. This is the first time I have met any Frenchman willing to entertain a doubt on that subject.