1«42.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



113 



PEN AND PENCIL SKETCHES IN POITIERS AND 



ANGOULEME: WITH SOME REMARKS ON EARLY 



ARCHITECTURE. 



By George Godwin Jun., F.R.S., &c. 



( Conlinued from page 7\.) 



ChapUr 2. 



Fig. 4. 



The western front of Notre Dame la Grande of Poitiers, represented 

 by the above engraving, (Fig. 4,) is a most interesting example of a 

 class of bn.ld.Dgs peculiar to this part of France. Tbe possession of 

 Stone easy to work, the greater inflaence of Byzantine taste, as well as 

 other circumstances, have produced a marked difference in the archi- 

 tecture of various provinces, although proceeding froni the same type : 

 thus while we find in Normandy buildings of simple severity, adorned 

 exteriorly with little more than .ig-zags and rudely-sculptured cor- 

 bels, we have here facades elaborately sculptured from tiie ground to 

 the summit, presenting not merely highlyenriched and often very 

 elegant capitals, borders, and scrolls, but multitudinous figures in all 

 .maginahle positions, and in very high relief. The absence of the 

 western towers, too, in the structures we are now speaking of, constitutes 

 another marked difference from the Norman buildings. 



The date of the erection of Notre Dime is probably at the end of 

 the 11th or beginning of the 12th century , but the entrance front is 

 unquestionably more recent. This part of the building, which is 

 bounded by clusters of columns supporting two small circular turrets 

 with conical stone roofs, is divided into three distinct stages by en- 

 riched cornice,, and terminates in a broken pediment or gable, (so to 

 speak.; which is also divided horizontally into two compartments. 

 1 he entrance doorway, which is recessed, is semicircular in the upper 

 part, a^ are the arcades above containing figures; but the blank open- 

 ing on either side of it has a pointed head with two small semicircular 

 arches beneath .t The .pandrils beneath the first cornice and corbels 



TZ^^n\ °' "'Vf'"''' '-■•^"^"""g on the left-hand side of 

 the spectator Adam and Eve, Nebuchadnezzar, some of the prophets 

 and an angel announcing to Mary the dignity of her coming child; aud 

 on the o her side the meeting of the Virgin an.l Elizabeth, and the 

 biHh of the Saviour Over the doorway is a circular-headed windotv, 

 w^h a canopied niche on either side, which is an interpolation of later 



Zl ^^,^.Y'" '" ""=/'"''" "=P'"«"t tl'e apostles and two 

 bishops. The lower part of the gable i, inlaid with a series of small 

 circular discs, and the upper part of it with squares placed diagonallr- 



in the centre of the two parU is sculptured a large veiciea pi»ci«, 

 containing a figure of Christ and symbols of the four evangelists, 

 namely ttie bull, the angel, the eagle and the lion. 



The veneration in which the form called txtcica piscis appears to 

 have been held, and iU constant occurrence in ancient buildings, have 

 afforded matter for much disquisition. The early Christians symbol- 

 ized our Saviour by the form of a fish, because, as has been supposed, 

 the initial letters of Christ's name and titles form the Greek I.XeT3 

 (fish) : moreover, according to Tertullian, who wrote in the second 

 century, they called themselves Puckuli, considering that the Chris- 

 tian life commenced in the waters of baptism.* The fish itself was 

 accordingly sculptured for decoration, but seems to have been after- 

 wards superseded by the fish-shaped compartment formed by the 

 intersection of two equal circles, in some cases rounded at one end. 

 In England this is found in a variety of positions and of various 

 dimensions, both in stone and on painted glass : it is to be seen over 

 many doorways, enclosing the figure of Christ,— as for example, in the 

 south porch at Malmsbury Abbey Church, (represented in the annexed 

 sketch, Fig. 5,) at BarfrestoD, and at Rochester Cathedral, MedallioDs 



Fii?.5. 



of this shape, containing sculptured figures, occur frequently round 

 the doorways of Anglo-Norman buildings, as at Malmsbury ; and win- 

 dows of this outline are found at Romsey Church, Hampshire, Beverley 

 Minster, Yorkshire, Salisbury Cathedral, and elsewhere. In York 

 Cathedral a boss in the groining presents the nscica pi$cit enclosing 

 a figure of the Virgin. The rose window at the south end of the 

 south transept of Lincoln Cathedral is formed by the tracery into a 

 doiille rescica; while (stepping from England into Gerraanv.) over the 

 west door of the Church of St. Cunibert, Cologne, a ial/ veiciea occurs, 

 enclosing the lamb. The seals of most religious bodies, as well as 

 of individuals, were of this shape, and continue in many cases to be 

 so ; it was likewise delineated constantly on ancient tiles, as may be seen 

 in many of our old churches: some antiquaries have even attributed the 

 whole origin of the pointed style of architecture to the use of this form. 

 Some writers have applied the term nscicapiscis to two circles inter- 

 secting each other in the centre, and not to the form produced at their 

 intersection, and have asserted the influence of this symbol over the 

 plans of early edifices. In many instances, certainly, the prevalence of 



Nos^ pisciculi siTiiiuhim Ixfluf nostrum Jcsum Clirislum. in aquft 

 nascimur." T.rlul. </<■ napL.cnp. I. Oplatus. who wrote in the fourlh century, 

 throMssome Irglii on this passaRC thus :— "Cujus |)iscis nomen sfcundum «p- 

 IHllatiiincm Gr.Tcam in uno nomine per singiilas lltcnis liirlam sanctorum 

 niiminum continct IxBut, ijuod est Lntinum Jesus Christus, Dei Filius, 

 Salvator/' He refers also in a mvslic.il m.inner to thi- tlsh rocorded in the 

 book of Tobit. An ann tntorup.111 Oiitalus refers to Cli-inens Alrianilrinus 

 for confirmalinn of his use uf Jx^us ; tut on ex;iminnlion of the conlrxt. U 

 does not srcm that (Semens at all intended to allude to it. A n f.rrrrp how- 

 ever, to St. Augustine is more satibfnctory. In his «ork /). < ^4 

 18, rap. 23. he Hrite.s, " llorum aiilem (ira^;orum iiuiiiijuc vcj mt 



Itjiouj Xpirrot.&iou wot, 2»t>|«, luod est Ivitiiii\ Jesus Chn.;.. Ijus 



Salvalor, si primas literas jungas erit Ixflut, iil est, pucrs, in cjuo nomlm 

 mysticO intelhgjiur Christus, eo .juo'J in hujus mortalitatis nhyuo. velut in 

 a |u.nrum profun.htate vivus, hoe est. sine |*ccato nsc notuorit.- The oriinn 

 or this species ol .■icroslic, nccor.linK to him, is in lh<. .Sil.vlLne venrv ,omc 

 ol Bh-ch seem re.illy to have lieen prophetic of .. My 



grounded uiH.n the Jewish propheriea. which ha ",n. 



tivily lounJlheir way .iiiiong the heathens), whi . , ter- 



iwlated by the early airi.itian». who seem, even ii> iho,e dnys to have Riven 

 way occasionally to the Icmptaticn presented ly a piouj fraud. 



R 



