Decorated Gothic is remarkable for its geometric tracery, its natural types of foliage, and the undulating character of line and form in its ornamental details. The foliage of the oak, the vine, the maple, the rose, and the ivy were introduced in much luxuriance and profusion, being carved with great delicacy and accuracy. Lacking the dignity and architectonic qualities of the early Gothic foliage, it surpassed it in brilliancy and inventiveness of detail. The Capitals, enriched with adaptations from nature, carved with admirable precision, were simply attached round the bell, giving variety and charm of modelling, but lacking that architectonic unity which was so characteristic of early work.
Diaper work, crockets and finials, introduced in the early English, were now treated with exceeding richness, and used in great profusion. The ball flower so characteristic of the Decorated period replaced the equally characteristic tooth enrichment of the preceeding style.
French Contemporary Work has similar characteristics, but displays more reserve and affinity for architectural forms.
This brilliant Decorated period reached its culminating point within half a century and then rapidly gave place to the Perpendicular Style, with its distinctive vertical bar tracery of windows and surface panelling, and the prevalent use of the four centred arch—of octagonal capitals enriched with the angular treatment of the vine,—of heraldic shields and arms, and of the four-leaved flower; all typical of the period.
RENASCENCE ORNAMENT. [Plate 18.]
RENASCENCE
ORNAMENT.
The arts of Rome and Byzantium lingered in Italy until the 12th century, losing their vitality and vigour, except at Venice, where the Byzantine style reached a culminating point in the glorious buildings at Murano and of St. Mark’s.
Lombardy, in the north, had witnessed a singular blending of the old classic art with the vigorous traditions and myths of the Longobards and the symbolisms of the old Byzantine, thus producing the architecture known as Lombardic, with its multiplicity of small columns and arches, quaint imagery of sculpture, and the frequent use of a lion or dragon as a support for the columns. These are features of the early art at Lucca, and at Bergamo, Padua, Verona, and other towns in Lombardy; a beautiful illustration from Lucca is given in the appendix to Ruskin’s “Stones of Venice,” Vol. 1. Contemporary with this period came the Gothic influence with its clustered columns, pointed arches, its cusps and crockets, and its strong vitality, impressing the arts and architecture with this Gothic personality; hence, during the 12th and 13th centuries in Italy, this intermingling of styles, traditions, religious beliefs and myths, produced an art barbaric and vigorous in character, the imagery full of suggestiveness, and the detail rich and varied in conception. Yet it was but the herald of a style which culminated in the glorious epoch of the Renascence, a style where symmetry was to play an important part, as in classic art, where refinement of line and detail, of culture and craftsmanship, are found; and which, though beautiful in proportion, unity of parts, and perfect adaptability, yet lacked that symbolism, suggestiveness, inventiveness, and rugged personality of the early Byzantine, Lombardic and Gothic styles.