88 



RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE. 



their actual and apparent strength, 

 for it cannot be used as a passage. 

 At St Pantaleon, at Troyes, is a 

 similar gallery, which breaks round 

 the piers on corbelling, and thus 

 forms a real passage. 



COMPOUND PIERS. A variety 

 of true compound piers occurs 

 composed of alternating shafts and 

 pilasters. Sometimes these 

 pseudo - orders extend unbroken 

 from top to bottom, as in the 

 crossing pier at St Pierre, Tonnerre 

 (Fig. 88), where they carry the 

 vaults, and are combined with 

 shorter ones carrying the arcade. 

 A further stage is found at St 

 Maclou, Pontoise, and Ennery 

 (Fig. 87), where long and short 

 members, corresponding to their 

 respective functions, are used in 

 alternation, and an element of 

 horizontality is consequently in- 

 troduced. The piers of St 

 Eustache (Fig. 85) are the best 

 example of this type. On their 

 angles a series of superposed 

 pilasters and engaged shafts, mark- 

 ing by the horizontal lines of their 

 capitals and entablatures the stages 

 in the height of the building, such 



as the springing of the chapel and aisle vaults, and carrying the 

 relatively light diagonal ribs, while on the faces are unbroken panelled 

 pilasters carrying the heavier arches and transverse ribs. They supply 

 a strongly vertical element, which is even further emphasised at the 

 intersection. 



Capitals are generally of Renaissance character, but bases retain 

 their Gothic type much longer. It being difficult to assimilate the 

 plan of a classical capital or entablature to that of the vaulting ribs, 

 the junction of the pier and the vaults is seldom so satisfactorily solved 

 as in St Taurin, Evreux (Fig. 93), where a wall shaft is increased to the 

 requisite area by a system of corbelling. 



VAULTS. The science of vaulting had reached such a consummate 

 pitch in the fifteenth century that there was little room for development 



85. PARIS : ST EUSTACHE. 

 VIEW IN AISLE. 



