Mr. Freeman divides the style into three:—
1st. The direct but rude imitations of Roman work, of which Brixworth is an instance.
2nd. The developed Saxon manner, with its high towers, its pilastered strips, and suggestion of imitated timber-work, as at Earls Barton, etc.
3rd. That in which Norman features are introduced or anticipated.
I may mention, however, that we have proofs, as at Deerhurst, which is said to have been rebuilt in 1056, and elsewhere, that the style remained with little modification to the last.
I shall show you in my next lecture (in which I propose to treat of the earlier Norman buildings, erected by those who actually came over in the days of the Conqueror or of his companions) that the two styles overlapped; that there were pre-conquestal Norman and post-conquestal Saxon buildings. I will, however, at present detain you no longer; and if I have trespassed upon the rules of the Academy by giving a lecture more on archæology than on art, I must apologise on the ground that I have treated of our own early efforts in architecture; of buildings whose bold and archaic rudeness was so strangely accompanied by exquisite skill in other arts,—as in illumination, in embroidery, in jewellery; and the contemplation of which, to use the eloquent words of Mr. Freeman, “Should raise a thrill of patriotism in the heart of every genuine Englishman,” ... “whose barbaric grandeur breathes in its fulness the spirit of England’s ancient days of freedom and isolation,” and reminds us “of the long roll of our native saints and heroes; of holy bishops and no less holy princes; of Ina, and Alfred, and Athelstan; of Bede ... and the martyred Alphege; of Harold and Gurth, and Leofwine; of St. Wolstan and Abbot Frederick; of the battle-axe of Hereward and the martyr-block of Waltheof; and all the glorious train of the ‘England of saints’ ere yet she bowed beneath the yoke of a foreign lord.”
LECTURE XI.
The Transition.
Architecture of the Normans—St. Stephen’s at Caen—Canterbury Cathedral modelled on that of St. Stephen’s—Description of the Norman church built by the Confessor at Westminster before the Conquest—Instances of Anglo-Saxon architecture being used after the Conquest—Characteristics of the Norman style—Varieties of combination—Doors, windows, archways, arcades, and vaulting—Minor details—Mechanical ideal of a great Norman church—Vast scale and number of works undertaken by the early Norman builders.
MY last lecture was rather antiquarian and historical than instructive in any principles of art. It showed you how the Celtic inhabitants of Ireland and Scotland worked out for themselves,—upon Romano-British reminiscences, added to those of their own race,—a manner of building which, though severely simple, was by no means to be despised; and also how our own Anglo-Saxon forefathers went through a similar process, working partly on the same foundations, but more directly on lessons brought to them from Italy, though not always very well understood.
I might further have shown you (had it been my subject) how that both of these races were far more successful in the more delicate arts of embroidery, illuminated painting, and jewellery; and how little in their practice of those decorative arts they trusted to any but their own traditions.