Charles Hiatt

“ There is probably no Gothic interior in France which has suffered more terribly from the destruction of its ancient windows than Notre Dame. The coldness and severity which the mural decorations of Viollet-le-Duc vainly strive to mitigate were perhaps not felt at all when the light from every window seemed to be transmitted in glowing and gleaming shafts of every conceivable colour and tone. Fortunately, the old glass still remains in the great rose windows. That over the west door has been described; the others will be noticed in the account of the transepts. ”

“ The Paris of magnificent vistas is at least less fascinating to the artist than the comparatively provincial city of crooked lanes which has gone to make way for a series of lofty and pretentious street fronts and spacious squares.
4
Strange it is that, where so much has been changed, the cathedral church of Notre Dame has remained almost unaltered in outline and general effect. Revolutions have surged round it; monstrous rites have been perpetrated within it; even the hail of shot and shell have left this wonderful Gothic creation poorer only in decorative detail. ”

“ THE TRANSEPTS AND THE CHOIR. The austere character of the nave emphasises the splendid decorations of the eastern parts. No massive screen prevents our seeing the church from the great entrance to the apse. The fact that the choir is open possibly lessens our sense of mystery and of awe, but we are more than compensated by the splendid view of the building from end to end. ”

“ It is well ordered, and a perfectly sane piece of work (which Gothic architecture is not always) , but it has not the imaginative intricacy of Rouen, nor the rich exuberance of Amiens and Reims, nor the fortress-like grandeur of Bourges, nor the elegant variety of Chartres.... The truth is that the virtues of the west front of Notre Dame are classic rather than romantic. Everything in it seems the result of perfect knowledge and consummate calculation. There are none of those mistakes which generally occur in a work of wilder genius. ”

“ It is pleasing and unpretentious, and contrasts only too favourably with the dull houses of the Rue du Cloître Notre-Dame, which are as undistinguished as they well can be.
The space at the back of the Cathedral is laid out as a garden. This is modern and somewhat formal, but it affords a fine view of the east end, and constitutes a welcome oasis of trees and grass in a grey waste of commonplace buildings. In the centre is a fountain with a statue of the Virgin and Child, and fragments of sculpture and carving taken from the church at different times lie about. ”

“ In the first edition of Victor Hugo’s famous novel, Notre Dame, he tells us that if we examine one by one the traces of destruction imprinted on this ancient church, the work of time would be found to form the lesser portion—the worst destruction has been perpetrated by men—especially by men of art. Since Hugo wrote this much more “restoration” has been carried out at the metropolitan church of Paris. But though I regret so-called “restoration” on principle, I cannot help feeling that the work executed by M. Viollet-le-Duc and M. Lassus is far less objectionable than it might have been. ”

“ In Westminster Abbey we have an example of the shocking effect of inappropriate statuary in a Gothic building; we know, only too well, how terribly one of the most beautiful interiors in the world suffers from a crowd of tombs which are out of keeping with the very spirit of the place. By the removal of the memorials at Notre Dame, the church has doubtless regained the aspect intended by its designers.
The nave leads uninterruptedly to the choir, which ends in the high altar; and the high altar, with the adjacent shrine of St. Marcel, was the primary reason of the existence of the cathedral. ”

“ The somewhat heavy character of the great cylindrical piers which divide the nave from the aisles is largely redeemed by the beautiful carving with which the capitals are ornamented. The plants which the sculptors have conventionalised are those commonly found in the fields adjacent to Paris. These ornate capitals are genuinely Gothic in feeling, and have nothing in common with those which crown the piers of our Anglo-Norman (Romanesque) cathedrals. ”

“ The magnificence which the system of double aisles lends to a great church need hardly be insisted upon. For a French church the nave of Paris is long, consisting of ten bays. The smaller Norman nave of Norwich possesses, however, no less than fourteen bays. At Paris one is struck by the slight projection of the transepts. In nearly all the greater churches of England the transepts are of large proportions, and frequently (as at Canterbury and Lincoln) we find two pairs of transepts. The transepts at Notre Dame are without aisles, and are so shallow that the church is only just cruciform. ”

“ Incongruity among things beautiful in themselves is by no means a calamity, and we may fairly question alike the taste and the learning of those who crave for uniformity at all cost. One is glad to think that Viollet-le-Duc never for a moment contemplated the banishment of these stalls, which are a particularly fine example of the best work of which the craftsmen of the time were capable. The stalls have been rearranged since they were first placed in the choir, and their number has diminished. ”

“ He must be insensible indeed to the grandeur of Gothic building who fails to be impressed when he stands at the east end of Notre Dame. There, in the great main circular sweep, we can appreciate the tiers of buttresses, the spear-like forest of pinnacles, each one constructively necessary, each duly subordinated to an ordered scheme, each wisely and appropriately decorated. ”

“ The masonry is everywhere very fine, and in the small details a high degree of wise as opposed to futile finish is maintained throughout. The galleries are excellently lighted. Above the nave-aisles low pointed arches enclose a foliated circle, the corners at the base being filled with small trefoils. In the choir the lights consist of rose or wheel windows, in the tracery of which there is great variety of pattern. The openings towards the church take their place admirably in the elevation, being in character with the main arcade beneath and the clerestory above. ”

“ The great eastern limb of the church is raised above the transepts by three steps. Once we have passed into the Ambulatory, or pourtour, of the choir, we are in the most interesting part of the building; for here our story is of historical monuments and decorative objects still happily existing, and not an account of things which have long since ceased to be. When we step into the ambulatory, we pass from newer to older work, but we experience no violent transition from one style to another. ”

“ NOTRE DAME FROM THE QUAI ST. BERNARD. NOTRE DAME DE PARIS.
CHAPTER I.
A BRIEF HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE CATHEDRAL. No city of the modern world has seen such amazing changes as the French metropolis. In the eyes of many persons, from every downfall Paris has arisen more incontestably splendid. But not to all is the Paris of Baron Hausmann lovelier than the city which preceded it. ”

“ The Nave is almost devoid of monuments; nothing breaks up the vast lines of the architecture. The most important tomb is that of Jean Etienne Yver, Canon of Paris and Rouen, who died in February 1467. It has escaped serious mutilation, and is a realistic performance in the style prevailing in France at the end of the fifteenth century. On the base is a gruesome representation of the body of the Canon being given over to the worms. Above this, two saints are helping him to rise from the coffin, and directing his attention towards Heaven. ”

“ For the vaulting is of the essence of the whole matter: compared with it the consideration of mouldings and of ornament is relatively unimportant. To put the matter plainly, the very existence of a Gothic church depends upon the proper arrangement of what we may call its mechanism—i.e. its vaulting, piers, buttresses and so forth. The mechanics being duly devised, art steps in, and renders the essential beautiful. ”

“ Most of those who have recorded their dissatisfaction with the interior of Notre Dame have sought to explain the causes thereof. The splendid promise of the exterior, it is suggested, discounts the remarkable beauties of the inside. Some feel that the regularity, the coherence which distinguish the church, produce an ensemble at once ponderous and monotonous. Others complain of the lack of colour ”

“ Suspended from the vaulting are eight imposing candelabra in bronze-gilt.
The Chapels of the Nave contain singularly few features of historic interest, nor amongst the furniture of their altars are there many recent works of art of outstanding merit. They introduce us, however, to the vast scheme of mural painting which has been carried out from the designs and partly under the direction of Viollet-le-Duc. There can be no doubt that some scheme of polychromatic decoration was legitimate: almost every ancient church in France has indisputable evidence of its employment in the middle ages. ”

“ Here, not merely is the pier itself rendered unwieldy by its satellites, but the capital loses all symmetry owing to the interposition of the small capitals which crown those satellites. It will be noticed that the arches of the main arcade are by no means uniform. Thus we have a wide arch adjacent to an extremely narrow one, while the builders of the period did not hesitate to make use of a round arch where they found that form more convenient. It is in some measure these peculiarities which have induced not a few authors to describe Notre Dame as a transitional church. ”

“ The style which immediately preceded Gothic is known generically as Romanesque. In Romanesque the system may be described as one of inert stability: in Gothic the system is one of scientifically calculated thrusts and counter-thrusts. It was the affair of art to inform what one may call the mechanics of the building with interest and beauty. There have been many attempts to compromise the two systems, so that we often find Romanesque features in obviously Gothic buildings. Much will be said in subsequent pages of the vaulting of Notre Dame. ”

“ THE INTERIOR.—THE NAVE. It is difficult accurately to state why a sense of disappointment is so often felt on entering the Cathedral of Paris. The unsatisfactory impression given by Notre Dame is one experienced by visitors of all kinds. The architectural critic, who looks upon a Gothic church as the result of certain clearly defined principles of construction and decoration, must inevitably find in it much to admire. ”

“ The transepts of French cathedrals are rarely such important features as they are in those of this country. The vast church of Bourges has no transepts at all. At Noyon, as at Paris, the transepts have no aisles. Of the crossing and transepts at Paris Viollet-le-Duc and Guilhermy write as follows:
“At the four angles of the crossing, massive piers, some covered with combined pilasters, others with clustered columns, rise without a break from the ground to the vaulting. The two transepts at the outset were only of two bays similar to those of the nave. ”

“ Sometimes the canopies consist of beautiful open-work. Everywhere grotesque gargoyles project between them, and the mouldings terminate in48 corbels in the shape of small, highly wrought human heads. This series of windows emphasises the prodigality with which sculpture in human forms or in the forms of naturalistic or fantastic animals is to be found in nearly all parts of Notre Dame. It is this prodigality, wisely distributed, which places this cathedral in such acute contrast—speaking from the standpoint of the uninitiated observer—to our own early pointed structures. ”

“ We must now return to the Ambulatory and the adjacent chapels. It is in this part of the church that Viollet-le-Duc’s decorations are most profuse, and it is not possible to consider them successful. It is quite probable that no such scheme of decoration could be open to fewer objections than that of Viollet-le-Duc. The truth is that the colour confuses our appreciation of the fine lines of the architecture, and it is frequently restless and irritating where it should be most reposeful. ”

“ In the last few phrases Victor Hugo has, perhaps, been guilty of the licence readily granted to so great a master of rhetoric; but the west front of Notre Dame was a monument certain to29 appeal to a writer to whom none deny the gift of eloquence. Even a specialist who scrupulously avoids rhapsody is compelled to use superlatives in his description of this façade: “This vast and superb design is not only the most elaborate that had been produced up to its time, but in point of architectural grandeur it has hardly ever been equalled.” ”

“ We have travelled far from the Romanesque principle, in which the walls were primarily weight-bearers. The windows of the aisles and of the ambulatory are of great size and display many differences of detail, but they nevertheless maintain a general similarity, the designers, while appreciating the value of uniformity, being too richly endowed with the prevailing fertility of invention in matters of decorative detail exactly to repeat even the most successful arrangement. ”

“ In its tympanum is represented the Coronation of the Virgin, while in its vaulting we have scenes in the life of St. Marcel. The door gained its name from the fact that it was originally painted red. It seems always to have held a high place in the affections of the Parisians. Victor Hugo appears specially to have delighted in it, for he writes: “La petite Porte-Rouge atteint presque les limites des délicatesses gothiques du quinzième siècle.” Near the Porte Rouge, under the windows of the Choir chapels, are seven bas-reliefs representing scenes from the Virgin’s life. ”

“ Moore is a little less than fair to the Romanesque builders. The Gothic apse, which he so justly admires, is, after all, evolved from the Romanesque apse, which he holds in such light esteem. While we may admit the superiority of the Gothic apse, it is going too far to assert that the Romanesque apse “produces no imposing effect.” The apse of Norwich or Peterborough, or of St. Bartholomew’s (London) is assuredly imposing in a very high degree. ”