114 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[April, 



this form is strikinglv apparent; but whether this may not result frorn 

 the dependence of the early architects on geometrical proportion and 

 fixed principles, (equally in the middle ages as in classic times,) I will 

 not inquire. The symbolism of ancient architecture is an enticing 

 but a dangerous subject to enter upon.* 



In the towns under notice, the vescica piscis occurs prominently in 

 the gables of the churches, as it does also at times in the painted 

 adornments.t In one instance, I found it sculptured on the capital of 

 a column, namely, at the entrance doorway in the tower of St. Por- 

 cbaire, Poitiers ; and of this," the annexed sketch, Fig. 6, gives a slight 



Fip 



representation.! The French writers, with some few exceptions, do 

 not recognise this form in their descriptions as anything more tluui a 

 sort of oval," or " a glory." M. Didron, in an erudite and interesting 

 paper on the nimbus, printed in the " Revue Ghihale de I Architec- 

 ture,"§ says the term vescica piscis should be repudiated by allior its 

 grossness. M. Didron continues, " it was invented by the English 

 antiquaries, who use and abuse it abundantly. Moreover this denomi- 

 nation is false, for very often the glory has not the form which the 

 term suggests. This glory has been also called the sacred oval, and 

 the mystic almond; but the word mystic suggests a symbolic inten ion 

 which may very reasonably be doubted: besides, frequently it is 

 neither of an oval nor an almond shape ; it is simply [he g'^ry »* <•'« 

 whole body, as the nimbus is the glory of the head.ll The head is 

 round, the nimbus is round; the upright body forms a lengthened 

 oval, and the glory generally assumes a similar form. But v\'ben the 

 body is seated, the oval is contracted to a circle. Sometimes it becomes 

 a quatre-foil, so that the four prominent portions of the body, tbe 

 head, the legs, and the two arms, have each their particular lobe or 

 section of the nimbus." 



* As an early example, though, of the practice of symbolic architecture, if it 

 ,naytsot:?2rapaLakeinthel8thchi;pterofthelstbookof& 

 me •— " And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number ot tne triDes 

 of the sons of Jacob, and with the stones he built an altar m the name of the 

 Lord " This was about a thousand years before our era. „,,„„;„ 



t Dallaway says of the vescica pisch, " In the earliest era of the mason c 

 estabirsln ent, a geometrical figure or canon was adopted in al sacred binld- 

 'nss wh ch had an import hid From the vulgar. As it had a decided reference 

 oTlie Chr stian religion, it might have been invented by the Church -btU 

 lias likewise an equal analogy with other mysteries professed by the first 

 innieies-' of masons " * "It may be traced from the church of St John 

 Semn and oM St. Peter's at Rome: to the chtjrch of Bath, one of the latest 

 fiothic buildings of any consequence in England. j <• .i,„ 



° The tower of the dutrch of St. Porchaire, apparently of the end of the 

 nth centuy is in character what we should term Norman A very wide 

 doo w!v occ. pies nearly the whole width of the tower between the buttresses 

 Above are three stories separated by ranges of sculi-tured corbels (mostly 

 17= icl ,n,l rnntainina arched openings and columns. The recesses being 

 deeply'sunt thfSnslar;^, 'and pirts bold, the effect of this tower is 



'IV'Frencir^eriodlcah'cSnducted very ably. by M. C^sar Daly, which 

 deserves to be better known in England than it 's- 



Tilr Hope thinks differently, even of the nimbus. He says, " The Pagan 

 fashion of protecting the heads of deities, often, even in temples exposed to 

 the ouerai?, from the insults of birds, each by a metal discus had by degrees 

 so as ociated with that head-piece an idea of digmty, that the Christians 

 adonted the for, in order to mark, even in painting, the character of saint- 

 Shi? thence the nimbus introduced over saints in the more ancient paintings 

 an<f raosaTcs so far frotn being.intended to represent a -re aureole or gory 

 of imangible rays, emanating from the wearer hiinselt, is only the represent- 

 ation of a solid platter of silver or gold, often adomeJ with scrolls loUage, 

 gems, Sec. fitting the skull."— //is^. '/ ArdtU. p. Ui. 



With the greatest respect for the opinion of M. Didron, I am unable 

 at once to assent to this apparently clear and straightforward explana- 

 tion. The constant recurrence of this particular form, any departure 

 from it being apparently but the exception from a rule ; the fact that 

 in very many cases the vescica piscis encloses a sitting figure, and in 

 others no figure at all; that the quatre-foils spoken of may actually be 

 formed by one vescica crossing another ; and its use for episcopal seals 

 and for windows, as before alluded to, are all points that might be 

 urged in objection. Touching the inventio7i of the term vescica piscis, 

 Mr. Kerrich states that it is spoken of by Albert Durer, in a work 

 published in Paris at the commencement of the 16th century, as one 

 perfectly well understood at that time.* 



To return, however, from this digression, to Notre Dame of Poitiers. 

 What has been said, aided by the engraving, will be sufficient to show 

 that the entrance front of this building is a very extraordinary and 

 striking work. There is hardly a square foot of surface that is not 

 elaborately, and, in some cases, beautifully sculptured in very bold 

 relief, the effect of which, when heightened by colours and gilding, (as 

 it appears from traces was formerly the case,) must have been very 

 extraordinary.t The south side of the building, which is partly ex- 

 posed, presents simply a range of blank openings, formerly win- 

 dows: these, with the exception of two immediately adjoining the 

 west front, have semicircular heads; the two exceptions are slightly 

 pointed. There is a central tower in three stories, (the two lower 

 square, and the upper story circular,) covered with a conical roof, the 

 stones whereof are formed into scales, as likewise are the stones com- 

 posing the roof of the turrets in the entrance front before me.ntioned. 



Thi interior consists of a nave and side aisles, (the latter being very 

 narrow), choir, with semicircular termination, and attached chapels. 

 The vaulting of the nave is wagon-headed, with plain horizontal 

 bands passing from column to column ; that of the aisles is groined. 

 The arches which separate the nave and aisles are lofty, and go up to 

 the springing of the vault, there being no clerestory or triforium : the 

 whole is of massive yet elegant proportions. Some of the capitals, 

 although for the most part plain, are sculptured with interlaced 

 ornaments.^ 



At the south-western extremity of the town is a church dedicated 

 to St Hilarius, one of the most eminent of the bishops of Poitiers, who 

 lived in the fourth century, and was distinguished by his active oppo- 

 sition to the Arians.!? Clovis in the sixth century rebuilt a ruined 

 chapel which had been erected over his tomb : this, in its turn, was 

 destroyed by the Normans about the year 863, and the present church 

 was built at the commencement of the llth century, and consecrated 

 in 104^ Originally it was much larger than it is now, and was divided 

 by six ranges of columns into a nave, with three aisles on each side, 

 covered by six cupolas. During the revolution the building fell 

 greatly into decay; so much so, that when its repair was desired, a 

 commission appointed for that purpose foolishly determined on de- 

 stroying a great part of the original structure, instead of restoring it. 



The building as now seen is accordingly much confused in arrange- 

 ment, but presents, nevertheless, a striking interior. It is semicircular 

 throughout, with a plain wagon-headed roof in part, the arches sup- 

 porting which go up to the springing of it, without the interposition 

 of triforium or clerestory. At the back of the high altar is a semi- 

 circular range of columns, with plain cushion-capitals, of lofty and 

 elegant proportions. Some of the other columns in the church have 

 capitals sculptured into representations of men and ammals. Ihe 

 head of one arched opening outside the tower is cut on the face and 

 the intrados, in imitation of an arch formed of three layers of billets 

 of wood, a caprice on the part of the architect or the masons not 

 common. 



187 feet, and its « idlh 44 feet. 

 Si He was the author of the Te Deum still used. 



