mullions and tracery, and are placed within triple canopies of nearly the same form, flanked by square pillars, terminating in tall crocketed pinnacles, some of them fronted with open arches, crowned with statues. The roof, as is usual in French and Flemish buildings of this date, is of a very high pitch, and harmonises well with the proportions of the building. An oriel, or rather tower, of enriched workmanship projects into the court, and varies the elevations" (an object the designer never once thought about, inasmuch as in all mediæval buildings, the first consideration was convenience, and then the skill to make convenience agreeable to the eye-an invaluable rule to the architect). "On the left hand side of the court, a wide flight of steps leads to the Salle des Procureurs" (marked A on the plan), "a place originally designed as an exchange for the merchants of the city" (sed quære), "who had previously been in the habit of assembling for that purpose in the Cathedral." Its dimensions are 135 ft. long, by 57 ft. 3 in. wide. The room B is now the Cour d'Assises; the ceiling is of oak, and is arranged in compartments with a profusion of carving and gilt ornaments. The original bosses of the ceiling are gone, as are also the doors which were enriched with sculpture, and the original chimney-piece. Round the room are gnomic sentences, admonishing the judges, jurors, witnesses, and suiters of their duties." The basement story of the salle is, or used to be, occupied as a prison. The southern and eastern façades of this elegant edifice have lately (1856) been restored under the direction of M. Grégoire, who probably superintended the internal decorations.

551. Fig. 246 is a portion of the south front of the building. The ellipse seems almost to have superseded the pointed arch in the leading forms, over which the crocketed labels or drips, in curves of contrary flexure, flow with surprising elegance. It is only in the lucarnes we find the pointed arch; and there it is almost subdued by the surrounding accessories. The connection of the lucarnes with the turrets of the façade by means of flying buttresses is most beautiful, and no less ingenious in the contrivance: their height from

Fig. 246.

the ground

to the top of the finials, is 78 ft. 6 in. The octangular turrets at the end of the salle next the Rue St. Lo, contain a very pretty example of pene. tration over the heads of the pointed arch. In the story above the basement, as also in the lu

carnes, the soffites of the windows are rounded

at

the angles,or, as the French

call it, have coussinets ar

rondis, as usual in the style, those in the principal story being, besides, slightly segmental. In the tracery of the parapet it is singular to find the quatrefoils centered throughout with what is called the Tudor rose. The arches rising above the parapet, which are crocketed and of contrary flexure, have statues substituted for finials. The richness of the ornamentation of the whole is such that we know no other example, except that of the Hôtel de Bourgtheroulde in the same city that can vie with it. The woodcut, fig. 247, is a section of the sulle. The roof presents little for remark. It is bold and simple, and seems scarcely in harmony with the rest of the place. It is impossible to form an adequate notion of this splendid monument from the figures here given, owing to the necessary smallness of the scale. Those who are desirous of thoroughly understanding its details will be gratified by referring to the plates of it in Britton's Normandy.

552. There is no city where the style of the period whereof we are treating can be better studied than Rouen. It possesses, both in secular as well as ecclesiastical architecture,

all that the student can desire. The Hôtel de Bourgtheroulde, in the Place de la Pucelle, is about the same age as the Palais de Justice we have just described, or perhaps

three or four years later in the finishing. In some respects it is more elaborate in the ornaments and the abundance of sculpture. The entire front is divided into bays by slender buttresses or pilasters, the spaces between them being filled with bassirilievi; every inch of space, indeed, in the building has been ornamented. This building still remains in a most degraded condition.

Belgium.

553. The table of styles given at the commencement of the preceding section applies to the progress of art in this portion of the history. The first appearance of the pointed arch is fixed in the first quarter of the 12th century, by Schayes, L'Architecture en Belgique, 1850-53, who notices that the semicircular arch did not disappear until the middle of the 13th, and that only ecclesiastical edifices can be adduced as examples of the style de transition. The choir aisles were continued round the chevet, in the churches of Ste. Gudule at Bruxelles, St. Quentin at Tournai, and Pamele at Audenaerde, while Nôtre Dame de la Chapelle The division of the doorway by a post and the introduction, in Flanders, of

554. The chief structures are the tower of St. Pierre at Ypres; St. Sauveur at Bruges, 1116-27, the earliest piece of medieval brickwork in Belgium; St. Nicolas, and St. Jacques, at Gand or Ghent; the abbey church at Afflighem, 1122-44; and the Chapelle du Saint

Fig. 218.

Sang at Bruges, 1150, despite the decorations added since the 15th century, and the facade reconstructed 1824, being one chapel over another (fig. 248.), with a peculiarly shaped tower which is also double, one portion being circular in plan upon a corbel, the other being square in plan at base and attached to it. Probably St. Quentin at Tournai, and St. Martin at Saint Trond, are later. It is remarkable that the blank arcade formed by crossed semicircular arches does not occur in Belgium.

555. Amongst the chief structures in the style de transition which were erected during the 13th century, are Nôtre Dame at Ruremonde, 1218-24, which resembles the church of the Apostles at Cologne, and is the first instance of a true cupola in Belgium; the church at Lisseweghe, about 1250; and the Abbey at Villers, which, although in ruins, is a perfect type of the style in the choir and transepts, and moreover retains more of the dependent original buildings than any other establishment in the country; the brewery dates 1197, and the church about 1225; the triforium range of windows to the choir are superposed circles, an idea repeated in the end walls of the transepts; the three-aisled nave has a third triforium and is the most perfect type of the early part of the style ogival primaire existing in Belgium, except that of Ste. Pamele; the flying buttresses are remarkable works; the cloister belongs to the 14th and 15th centuries. The chevet, 1220, of Ste. Gudule, and

the contemporaneous choir, with the transepts of Nôtre Dame de la Chapelle at Bruxelles; the Madeleine, about 1250, at Tournai; the choir, 1221, of St. Martin at Ypres, remarkable for the branches of foliage along the strings; the crypt, 1228, of St. Bavon at Gand, which was the last (except one hereafter noticed) that was constructed in the kingdom; Ste. Pamele, built 1235-9, by A. de Bincho, at Audenaerde, which is

said to be "le type le plus curieux qu'il soit possible de trouver de ce style;" and St. Jacques at Tournai, which has one triforium over another, and exhibits in the tower a pointed trefoiled arch with columns to support the cusps; are also transitional.

556. The chapel of the castle at Vianden, was about 50 ft. long and 36 ft. wide; its plan was a decagon with one side opening to the castle and another to a pentagonal choir; divided into three portions by columns engaged in square piers; the centre was a hexagonal pit over the dungeons so that the prisoners could hear prayers without leaving their cells; it is now in ruins.

557. To the style ogival primaire belong the choir and lower part of the nave of the cathedral of St. Paul at Liége; the choir and chief part of the transepts of Ste. Gudule at Bruxelles, 1250-80; great part of Notre Dame at Tongres; the church (fig. 249, width between the piers is 53 ft.) of the Dominicans at Gand, 1240-75, with a single nave covered by wooden ceiling (fig. 250.), on curves of 60 ft. radius; (both cuts from the Gentleman's Magazine for 1862), that of the Dominicans at Louvain, 1230-50, or later; the three-aisled naves and the transepts of St. Martin at Ypres, 1254-66, with one of the few rose windows, existing in Belgium, over the porch to the south transept; the choir of St. Léonard at Leau; Nôtre Dame at Dinant; Ste. Wal- Fig. 249. CHURCH OF THE burge at Furnes; the abbey and hospital called La Byloque at

DOMINICANS, GAND.

Gand, "with an oaken roof not ceiled where spiders have never come," and with a remark. able brick gable to the refectory; the brick tower of Nôtre Dame at Bruges, 1230-97, said to have been about 420 ft. high, including the spire, till 1818, when 50 ft. were removed; the choir of the cathedral at

Tournai, 197 ft. long, 121 ft. wide, and 108 ft. (inside) in height, remarkable for its stilted arches and for the means adopted to strengthen their pillars; as well as the choir of St. Bavon at Gand, begun 1275 and not finished in the 13th century, with its opposite clearstories connected by iron ties. In the Netherlands there are a great number of large churches which have a singular identity of appearance in the interior, and at the same time a manifest peculiarity of character. This appears to be due to the employment of plain, well-proportioned cylindrical shafts for their piers; the style in other respects being an elegant Gothic. The principal examples are Nôtre Dame, and the cathedral at Malines; St. Paul at Liége; Notre Dame des Victoires, La Chapelle, and Ste. Gudule, at Bruxelles; St. Jacques, and the Dominicans, at Antwerp; St. Michel at Gand; and Furnes near Bruges.

Fig. 250.

558. The style ogival secondaire was chiefly employed by the ecclesiastics in finishing structures or in commencing others conceived on so large a scale that their superstructure belongs to a later period. The chief edifices of the style are the five-aisled church of St. Jean at Bois-le-duc, curious for the revolting obscenity of the large statues to the buttresses of the choir-it was commenced 1280, but evidently was finished in the latter half of the 15th century; the five-aisled choir of St. Sulpice at Diest; the church of the GrandBéguinage at Louvain, commenced 1305, noticed for the manner in which the twelve pillars that divide it into three aisles have been strengthened by iron bars; the contemporaneous church of the Béguinage at Diest; the church at Aerschot, built 1331-7 by J. Pickart; and, finest of all, Nôtre Dame at Huy, begun 1311, with a splendid rose window.

R

To these may be added the cathedral at Saint Rombaut, begun about 1345-50; the nave and southern aisle of Ste. Gudule at Bruxelles; the front of the cathedral at Tournai; and Ste. Croix at Liége, the only church in Belgium, since the destruction of that at Lobes, that has the three aisles of equal height, and from which the architect is reported to have fled rather than superintend the striking of the centering to the vaulting, which in the nave is corbelled out from the pillars.

559. Some of the finest structures belonging to the style ogival tertiaire are; great part of Nôtre Dame at Hal, 1341-1409; the porch and towers, completed 1439, to St. Martin at Courtrai, 1390-1439; Ste. Walburge at Audenaerde, rebuilt, except the choir, 1414–1515, with a tower 295 ft. high, by J. van den Eecken; Nôtre Dame at Anvers, the only fiveaisled church (except that at Saint-Hubert) in the country, which is really seven-aisled in plan in the nave (the choir belongs to the preceding century, and the completion of the tower, commenced 1422–3, by J. Appelmans, with the cupola and the Lady-chapel, to the first half of the 16th century); St. Gommaire at Lierre, begun 1425, and not less than 250 feet long, with a high tower, finished 1455, but altered 1702; the porch and tower of St. Martin at Ypres, 1434, by M. Utenhove; the chevet of the cathedral at Saint-Rombaut, with 320 ft. of its tower, 1452-1513, which was to have been 600 ft. high, according to the preserved design; Ste. Wandru at Mons, which was building 1450 (with aisles 1525, and nave 1580-9, by J. de Thuin and his son), and is supposed to have been designed by the architect of St. Pierre at Louvain, which was building 1433 with later nave, the design and stone model for the intended colossal triple-towered façade is preserved in the town-hall; St. Michel at Gand, 1440-1515; Nôtre Dame at Malines about 1475-1550; the contemporaneous Nôtre Dame du Sablon at Bruxelles; the upper church at Anderlicht, 1470-82; St. Jacques at Anvers, 1429-1560, with a tower, 1491, by T. de Coffermaker; and the tower, 272 ft. high, of St. Bavon, 1461-1534, by J. Stassins, with that of St. Nicolas, 1406, by T. de Steenhoukebelde, both at Gand.

560. As works of the 15th century must be named, the great entrance and its two towers, with other portions, to Ste. Gudule at Bruxelles; the tower and eastern part of Nôtre Dame at Tongres; the brick tower of St. Jean at Bois-le-duc; and the tower of the church at Aerschot, said to have carried a spire 488 ft. high, that was replaced, 1575, by the present spire, which attains about 320 ft. In the same style are the five-aisled abbey church (see Nôtre Dame at Antwerp) at Saint Hubert, about 1526-64; the brick spire, 1524, of Nôtre Dame at Bruges, which is said to have been 422 ft. high, but lessened, 1818, by 50 ft.; the upper part of the nave, the chapels, and the vaulting of the cathedral of St. Paul at Liége, 1528-9; the nave of St. Bavon at Gand, 1533-53, with an iron railing as triforium, and having the clearstories tied together by iron bars; St. Jacques at Liége, 1513-18, the best specimen of the style; with its rivals, St. Martin in the same city, finished, 1542, by P. de Rickel; the brick church at Hoogstraeten, 1534-46; and the church of the Dominicans at Anvers, 1540-71. The cloisters of St. Paul, St. Barthélemi, and St. Jean-en-Isle at Liége are rather later than that of St. Servais at Maestricht. 561. In the 13th century commences that long series of splendid civil edifices which Belgium possesses in greater number than any other country of its size-viz., the belfrys, the markets, the town-halls, and the club-houses. The most remarkable of the beffrois are at Tournai (the oldest), Gand (the original drawing is preserved) 1315-37, Ypres, Bruges, Lierre (1369–1411), Nieuport (1480), and Alost (1487). The enormous halle, now hôtel de ville, at Ypres, was commenced 1200, but not completed till 1230 in the right wing, 1285 in the left wing, and 1342 at the back; the water halle at Bruges was destroyed 1789, but another, which was attached to it, remains, with a tower, 1284–91, by the priest Simon de Genève; the halle-aux-draps at Louvain was commenced, 1317, by J. Stevens, A. Hare, and G Raes, and was given, 1424, to the University that, 1680, added the second story. The halle, now boucherie, at Diest, dates 1346, and the haile aux draps at Gand, 1424, the last in the pointed style. The boucherie at Ypres belongs to the 13th century; that at Anvers 1501-3.

562. The hôtel-de ville at Alost has the right flank, built in the year 1200, remaining; that at Bruges, commenced 1377, with its rich ceiling, 1998, was the only edifice of its class raised during the 14th century; that at Bruxelles was begun on the left or east side, 1401-2, by J. van Thienen, the tower was completed, 1448-55, by J. van Ruysbroek, the right side was commenced 1454; that at Louvain was erected 1448-59, by M. de Layens, and is unparalleled in any city; that at Mons was built 1458; the old part of that at Gand was begun, 1481, by E. Polleyt; that at Audenaerde was erected, 1527-30, by H. van Pede, and 1528, a painter and a sculptor were sent from that town to copy, for the use of the architect, the two chimney-pieces and the parapet of that at Courtrai, built 1526-7; and even that at Leau deserves attention. We refer our readers to the end of Book III. for some further remarks on these very important buildings.

563. The maison des poissonniers and the maison des bateliers at Gand date in the first part of the 16th century. The poorter's logie (now école des beaux-arts) at Bruges was erected at the end of the 15th century, or a little later. The maison du roi at Bruxelles,

rebuilt 1514-23, by A. D and R. van Mansdale, D. de Wagemaker, L. van Bendeghem,

and H. van Pede, was much injured, 1695; and the Hôtel du Franc at Bruges dates 1521-3. The steen (prison) at Anvers was built 1520. The episcopal palace at Liége dates 1508-40.

564. According to a tradition preserved at Ypres, the timber of which the wooden houses of the 15th and 16th centuries was built, was procured from Norway; some of these dwellings remain in Anvers and Ypres. Two stone

houses of the 13th century exist at Gand, and a couple more dating 1250-1300 at Ypres. One of the 14th is in the Place du Vendredi at Gand, and many brick dwel lings of the 15th and 16th may still be seen at Anvers, Ath, Bruges, Gand, Malines, Tournai (fig. 251.), Ypres, &c. The Porte de Hal at Bruxelles, 1381; the Porte de Diest at Louvain (1526); the Pont du Broel at Courtrai; the Pont des Trous at Tournai (1290-1300), with the keeps of the châteaux at Sichem and Terheyden close the list of remarkable works of ancient pointed art in this country, with notice of the Chapelle de la Vierge attached, 1649, to the southern or right side of Ste. Gudule at Brussels to balance the chapel, built 1533-7, on the left side.

Germany.

565. In accordance with the opinion now usually adopted, that Gothic art was received into the north of Europe from France, but that it was altered during the process of naturalisation, the usual division of the styles accords with that used in France. But the periods do not altogether match, inasmuch as while examples of pure first-pointed work occur in the cathedrals at Paris and elsewhere, 1163-1212, the German instances are, like those of Belgium, not earlier than 1225. It is hardly possible, however, to refute the Fig.251 documentary evidence for some buildings being very much

HOUSE AT TOURNAI,

in advance of contemporaneous structures in England and France as to style. This seems to be admitted by Dr. Whewell, whose valuable Architectural Notes on German churches, 1842, third edition, condenses into a few lines the account of the chief peculiarities of detail in the two classes which he observed in that country. He first suggested the fact that English and German architects, beginning from the same point-the Romanesque, and arriving at the same result-the complete Gothic, or decorated period, with geometrical tracery, made the transition each through a separate style; one of these being decidedly Gothic; the other, which he calls early German, rather Romanesque than Gothic. They have in common their slender shafts, clustered and banded, their pointed arches, and their mode of vaulting; but we do not commonly find, in the interior of the transition churches of Germany, the circular cluster of shafts, the arches moulded into a broad and deep mass of small rolls with deep hollows between, the circular abacus with its rounded upper edge, the simple lancet-headed windows, tall and narrow, and the peculiar line of open flowers which is used so profusedly in all early English work. Nor do we observe, on the outside, the dripstone to the window, the moulded or shafted window-sides or jambs, the projecting buttress with its chamfered edge and triangular head, or the pyramidal pinnacles of our early cathedrals. Vaulting shafts spring from a corbel, or more usually, from an end hooked into the wall; the arch is often a square-edged opening with no mouldings, though sometimes a rebated edge, sometimes a roll, is seen; the triforium is, in a large district, meant for use as a gallery by the bachelors; the fan-shaped window, a foiled horse-shoe arch; and arch mouldings with three bands, or two bands and a roll at the apex. The difference between early English and early German work is less obvious. The resemblance obtains not only in the general forms of the members and parts, but in the details also-the canopies, bases, profiles of mouldings, &c. The latter style, however, has double planes of tracery-i.e., two frames of tracery, one behind the other, in the same opening. After this general coincidence, the styles seem again to diverge, the later Gothic of Germany being quite different from the contemporaneous or corresponding styles of England, France, and the Netherlands; these again apparently being independent of each other. Nevertheless, a German author would inscribe at the head of this section the following table:

566. The earliest truly pointed buildings seem to be, the church of St. Mary at Treves,