ARCHITECTURE. 



(fig. 31), and in the Tudor style the fan-tracer} 

 vaults (fig. 32) form the distinguishing features 

 Every other feature, every moulding even, is charac 

 teristic of its period ; but we cannot at presen 



Fig- 30- 



describe them more fully. We may, however, state 

 generally, that both in France and England, the 

 style had a complete existence. It was born, arrived 



Fig. 32. Fan -tracery : from King's College Chapel, 

 Cambridge, 



at maturity, and died. When the spirit of the early 

 architects had pushed the design to its utmost 

 limits, they rested from their labours, well satisfied 

 with their splendid achievements. Their succes- 

 sors occupied themselves with forms and details, 

 and the perfecting of every minute part. The art 

 finally passed away, and left architecture in the 

 hands of trade corporations masons, carpenters, 

 plumbers, &c. who monopolised the whole work, 

 and acted independently, to the exclusion of one 

 directing mind, and the art became lost in the 

 artificer's skill. The late Gothic of Germany is a 

 most striking illustration of the stone-cutter's art 

 and the draughtsman's ingenuity, in. which the 

 feeling of the artist is entirely awanting. 



In Italy, the Gothic style never took a firm hold. 

 Some of the Gothic buildings of Italy are, how- 

 ever, remarkable for their size, such as San 

 Petronio at Bologna, and the Cathedral of Milan. 

 The former well illustrates the defects of Italian 

 Gothic. There is a want of variety of parts to give 

 scale, and indicate the size of the building. It has 



a cold bare feeling, such as is never experienced in 

 the north, where jill the parts in large edifices are 

 imiltiplied, not enlarged, as in this instance. 



In a true Gothic building of large dimensions, 

 the shafts and columns remain of the same size as 

 in a smaller building, but their number is increased, 

 and thus by multiplicity and variety, size and 

 proportion are attained. 



The same spirit which actuated the designers of 

 the Gothic cathedrals, influenced all the products 

 of Gothic art, down to the minutest instrument 

 or ornament. Domestic, military, municipal, and 

 all forms of architecture, were impressed with the 

 same influence, as the magnificent town-halls of 

 Belgium and Italy, and the stately castles and 

 mansions of France and England, still testify. 



BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE. 



While the Gothic styles were growing from the 

 debased Roman architecture, in the west of 

 Europe, another style, taking its origin from the 

 same late Roman forms, was developed in the 

 Eastern Empire. It was after the building of 

 Constantinople that the divergence of style took 

 place. We have seen that Gothic owes its forms 

 chiefly to the nature and exigences of the 

 vaulting. The same is the case in Byzantine 

 architecture. The Goths adopted the square in- 

 tersecting vault, while the Byzantines clung to the 

 dome ; and from these different forms of vaults 

 may be traced the leading features of each 

 style. 



There are many examples of the early efforts of 

 the Byzantines to adapt the circular dome to a 

 rectangular building still to be found in the 

 eastern provinces ; but the building in which all 

 these endeavours culminated is Santa Sophia, 

 erected by Justinian, 537 A.D. This church has 

 one great dome 100 feet span in centre, and a 

 half-dome at each end. The arches are all semi- 

 circular (there being no requirement of the pointed 

 form in this style), and the columns of the most 

 exquisite marbles. 



The same features distinguish the later Byzan- 

 tine styles, variously developed in the different 

 countries, such as Greece, Turkey, Armenia, &c. 

 in which it prevailed. In Russia, the same forms 

 prevail to the present day, but Russian archi- 

 recture is its most barbaric type. 



To some extent connected with Byzantine art 



is the Saracenic architecture, which arose 

 :owards the end of the seventh century. It must, 

 lowever, be observed that the Arabs themselves 

 lad at first no architecture ; they adopted the 

 styles of the countries they conquered. But great 

 variations were introduced, according to local 

 circumstances. In Egypt, the Mosque of Ibn 

 Touloun at Cairo (876 A.D.) shews the Saracenic 

 style well advanced in all its forms and details. 

 These mosques consist of a great court surrounded 

 ,vith colonnades, and having niches in the wall 

 :owards Mecca. 



The annexed illustration (fig. 33) of one of the 

 vindows of this mosque gives a good notion of the 

 tyle, and shews the peculiar tracery adopted by 

 he Saracens. In Spain, the mosque at Cordoba 

 790) and the Alhambra at Seville (1250) are 

 characteristic examples. 



In Constantinople the mosques are not pillared 

 courts, like those above described, but are buildings 



475 



