| Fig. 24—Capital from St. Frond, Perigueux. | Fig. 25.—Fragment of Capital from St. Frond, Perigueux. |
Perigueux, was built at nearly the same time, in the centre of France, but under the influence of Venetian merchants. This church is a direct imitation of St. Mark’s at Venice; but besides the distinctly Byzantine forms which characterise this and the numerous family of churches which imitate it, it contains capitals of exactly the same kind as those at Venice ([Figs. 24], [25]); and from shortly after this time we find them becoming prevalent in districts
Fig. 26.—Capital from the Column of Marcion, Constantinople.
the other Byzantine features of the Perigordian churches are not followed. I give a series of capitals from Constantinople (Figs. [23], [26]), Venice ([Fig. 22]), and Perigueux ([Figs. 24], [25]), which can be compared with those I exhibit from St. Denis ([Figs. 20], [21]), St. Germain des Pres ([Fig. 27]), etc., etc., to show how indisputable and how direct is the importation, though, unlike the works of Classic architects, we find no two capitals alike. They have other points of resemblance to the Corinthian capital, as the cauliculi, and a rudimental relic of the concave-planned abacus. This we find also in Pisan architecture, and in that of the Moors in Sicily, and probably in all styles which were influenced by the Byzantine; and it was, no doubt, derived from the practice, which arose when the Corinthian capital began to be used directly to bear an arch (and that overhanging the column), of placing a strong square block over the more delicate abacus, to defend it against the fracture to which it would otherwise have been subject. These features will be found in nearly every church of the transitional period in the part of France of which I am speaking, and probably in nearly all parts.[14]
Fig. 27.—St. Germain des Pres, Paris.
The Corinthianesque foliage became the originator of the magnificent capitals which pervade the finest French works of the thirteenth century, though the foliage became entirely altered; and in our own country, though the Byzantine original is seen, I believe, only in the work of William of Sens, at Canterbury,[15] the effects of it are visible in the outline of many of our finest Early English capitals, though these are so distinctly national, and differ so much in treatment from those in France.