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rebuilt after the fire of 1194 and largely completed by 1220 is usually considered the first High Gothic building. High Gothic means planned from the beginning for the use of flying buttresses. Chartres uses buttresses around the chevet or apse end. The main bays are here rectangular rather than square. This
became the High Gothic norm. This new bay arrangement was accompanied by a change in vault design to only four panels which are easier to brace. The new nave wall also admits more light. Flying Buttresses make it possible to eliminate the gallery. |
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In the center is the Virgin Mary enthroned with the Christ Child in her lap,surrounded by the Fleurs de lis (the coat of arms of the French royal family. This in turn is surrounded by four doves (on top) perhaps representing the Holy Ghost of the Immaculate Conception. Below in the same circle are eight angels. In the circle of squares are the twelve great kings of the Judea including Solomon, and David. The outer half-circles contain the Twelve Minor Prophets. This huge window is
framed in stone and has to resist major wind pressures just like a sail. |
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| so named because of the statues of kings and queens on the embrasures flanking the doorways. The lower parts of the massive west towers and the portals between them are all that survived of an Early gothic cathedral that was destroyed by fire in 1194 before it was completed. The cathedral was reconstructed immediately, but in the High Gothic style. The portals, however, constitute the most complete and impressive corpus of Early Gothic sculpture. |
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The contemporary rival of Chartres. Superior in structural ingenuity, stability and economy of means. Plan different from Chartres: The transept is entirely eliminated. Double side aisles. The interior elevation is unusual in that the inner aisle has its own triforium and clerestory as does the outer aisle. This results in a much more open interior; the double clerestory increases the light.
The older six part vaults are retained. |
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| Begun 1220 to designs of Robert de Luzarches. Nave finished in 1236. Radiating chapels finished in 1247. Choir not finished until 1270. Represents a refinement of Chartres manner. Plan Derived from Chartres, but has all of the High Gothic features. Vault ribs top out at 144 feet. |
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1243-1248 Rayonnant design applied to the whole building. Joined to the royal palace at Paris. Intended to be repository of relics of the Passion of Christ brought back by St. Louis after the ill-fated sixth crusade. More than 3/4 of the structure is stained glass. Window pairs are 49 feet high by 15 feet wide. Are largest designed up to their time. Most windows are original. Statues of the Apostles
stand on pedestals almost independent of the architecture. |
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1247 Suffered Fate of many urban cathedrals for which funds were sporadic: Financing depended on collections and public contributions. Plans done in 1230's. Apse and choir finished first. Construction stopped around 1500 after a flamboyant late Gothic transept had been added to the choir. Structure remains obviously incomplete to this day. Vault height was to be 157 feet. In 1284 the
vaults collapsed. Rebuilt choir has six part vaults and additional piers. |
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1229-1290 Harmonic facade with two equal towers. The master mason is known to have been Jean d'Orbais. Gable sculpture in central portal is "Coronation of the Virgin." Fully developed Gothic style of sculpture: Jamb statues appear fully detached from background. Columns to which they are attached shrink to insignificance. Pedestals limit the figures sphere of activity. Same for canopies over their heads. Right Jamb of central portal: Figures of the Visitation group: Figures
have a classicizing bent unseen since Rome. Seem have the Classical contrappasto (in which one part of the body is turned in one way while another points in a different direction. |
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