Pointed arch

“ The Arches vary in form from a very blunt to a very sharp point, but they are generally acutely pointed, and are often richly moulded, as in Westminster Abbey. The mouldings, however, are the safest guide to the style, as the form of the pointed arch largely depends on convenience. As a rule, they are generally more acutely pointed in the cathedrals and large churches, whilst they are broader in small churches. ”

“ The problem was ultimately solved by the introduction of the pointed arch for the transverse and wall ribs—the pointed arch had long been known and employed, on account of its much greater strength and of the less thrust it exerted on the walls. When employed for the ribs of a vault, however narrow the span might be, by adopting a pointed arch, its summit could be made to range in height with the diagonal rib ”

“ That ingenious form of vault invented by modern plasterers, in which the transverse arch gives all the data for the shape of the diagonal rib, which is consequently neither a true pointed arch, nor a true curve of any kind, is, of course, the worst of all forms ”

“ The abacus of the capital is invariably square in plan, and has its upper edge (except in a few of the latest examples) also square in section.
In the later buildings of the Period, foliage, exhibiting considerable freedom of design, is occasionally to be seen.
The Pointed Arch first made its appearance in the Transitional Period; in the earlier buildings it is used in the Arches of Construction only, or those constituting the framework of the building, such as the Pier-arches and the Arches of the Vaulting, and of the Crossing ”

“ Suppose, for example, an oblong compartment with pointed arches of similar proportions on all its sides and on its diagonals, and the vaults of each cell generated by the motion of the curve of the surrounding arches towards the point of intersection, guided by the diagonals, we obtain at once a vault with pointed arches and raised ridges, the precise correlative of that before described with round arches and raised ridges, and one in which the filling of the vaulted spaces assumes a systematic and accurately geometrical form (Fig. 354) . ”

“ Amongst other misstatements is this, that the capitals are Norman and the arches of Moorish design. The four-centred arch is quite common in all third-pointed work.
20. Reprinted in Preb. Hingeston-Randolph's Registers of Bishop Grandisson. Exeter, 1897, p. 608.
21. The arch over door and window is decisive against sixth-century work. All the earliest Irish churches have a stone slab thrown across from the jambs, and no arch with key.
22. The church without, as outside of the camp. ”

“ Mark’s, Venice. (From Fergusson.)
The next step in the development of domes is the adoption of pointed arches for their support, often accompanied by an increase in the height of their own section beyond that of a semicircle. ”

“ This arcade of heavy columns carrying absurdly disproportionate arches is their only motive, and applied inside between aisles and nave, and outside in successive stories rising one above another. As the masons begin better to understand their art, the span of the arch increases, though a large arch for some time does duty merely as a discharging arch, and has smaller arches beneath and within it. ”

“ The arch seemed to be a full half circle, tho' its lower parts fell some degrees short of the horizon. It was very distinctly seen for about 15 minutes. Its colours the same as in the rainbow, but fainter. The lower ends of the bow arose gradually higher from the earth, as the sun declined beneath the horizon, until the whole arch disappeared. The center of the arch was above the horizon at its first appearance. What most perplexed me, was, to find the cause of this painted arch. ”

“ There the immense niche is placed against a massive wall, and the gloom of the vaulted space is lighted by a gleaming cascade which issues not at the base of the niche but high up in the very spring of the arch. ”

“ Arches are constructions built of wedge-shaped blocks, which by reason of their shape give support one to another, and to the super-imposed weight, the resulting load being transmitted through the blocks to the abutments upon which the ends of the arch rest. An arch should be composed of such materials Arches.and designed of such dimensions as to enable it to retain its proper shape and resist the crushing strain imposed upon it. ”

“ It is almost impossible to believe that from the brain of one man could have emanated such a multitude of fanciful styles of architecture. I speak of the delicate arches crowning the massive walls, and which, open to the daylight, trace their delicate proportions against the blue sky; of the row upon row of tiny domes that crown each arch, while these again, repeated in tiers above and below each other, line the three sides of the quadrangle. ”

“ It is rather a heavy weight to bear, but a solid arch spans over our heads. The great Architect has built it of the best materials; and never could man have given it so wide a stretch. What are the finest arches of bridges and the arcades of cathedrals, compared with this far reaching vault, with a radius of three leagues, beneath which a wide and tempest-tossed ocean may flow at its ease? ”

“ The line from the roll to the upright face of the arch is also inclined to that face instead of being at right angles with it, as it usually was in early profiles, and thus the flat surfaces are greatly lessened, and the effect of the whole is materially lightened. ”

“ Sir, so long as public approval be won, what matter for the arch? But that they are two, take this as sufficient explication——that they are too tall for doorways, too narrow for gateways; too light without, too dark within; too plain to be ornamental, and withal too fantastic to be useful. And if this be not enough, you are to note further that, were it all one arch, it must needs cut short one of those shafts which grace the Quadrangle on all sides——and that were a monstrous and unheard-of thing, in good sooth, look you. ”

“ DISCHARGING ARCH, in architecture, an arch built over a lintel or architrave to take off the superincumbent weight. The earliest example is found in the Great Pyramid, over the lintels of the entrance passage to the tomb: it consisted of two stones only, resting one against the other. ”

“ A true arch is formed of a series of wedge-like stones or of bricks, supporting each other, and all bound firmly together by the pressure of the centre one upon them, which latter is therefore distinguished by the name of keystone. ”

“ An arch formed by the intersection of two short sprouting lines could suggest only a feeble power of growth; but the lines of the tall mediæval arch seem to express a crescent force immensely surpassing that of nature. ”

“ Most of the arches are built with alternate voussoirs of brick and stone, but beyond the outside line of the brick and stone arch there is invariably a line of very thin bricks laid all round the arch, delicately defining without pretending to strengthen the main arch, just as a label does with us. ”

“ An arch consists of a series of wedge shaped blocks, known as voussoirs, arranged in a curve, and so locking one another together that unless the abutments from which the arch springs give way, it will not only carry itself, but sustain a heavy load. ”

“ It is in some degree considered as a characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon and Norman styles. The stilted arch is chiefly found in conjunction with the semicircular arch in the construction of Norman vaulting over a space in plan that of a parallelogram. The segmental arch we meet with in almost all the styles, used as an arch of construction, and for doorway and window arches; whilst the form of the horse-shoe arch seems, in many instances, to have been occasioned by the settlement and inclination of the piers from which it springs. ”

“ These still are left, exhibiting external and internal ranges of arches, springing directly from the capitals of the columns, without any intervening entablature. What more, we ask, is wanting here, to one of the most decided characteristics of one species, at least, of Gothic architecture, and an elemental principle in all kinds? nothing, save a little less elegance of workmanship in the supports, a pier substituted for the column, and the soffit of the arch bevelled instead of being square; steps successively apparent in posterior remains. ”

“ The whole tendency, too, of the onward movement of the art was towards increased height; and, while walls and pillars might avail themselves to the full of this upward striving, it was hard that the arch—the very essence of the style—should be condemned to unalterable stuntiness. Proportion evidently claimed that the arch should have its fair share in the increasing height of the buildings, yet the inexorable semicircle said, “Nay, my proportions are fixed. You may lengthen your straight lines as you please; but by no law of science can my height exceed one-half of my width.” ”

“ The types which I found in nature or in practice are of the stalactitic, dome, and arch,—the horseshoe arch, the tracery on the wall, the diversified colouring of that tracery, the half-globe dome upon the cube; and these, in fact, are the modifications that the architecture of Judæa received, and by which it has been converted into the Moorish.
On the material the system of architecture depended, and it is wholly different from the classic. The great styles of antiquity depended, not on the adhesion of the stones, but their form and weight, and by science alone they obtained arches. ”

“ But the upper part of the imaginary circle beyond cuts the middle of the attic cornice. If the arch were to be regarded as set out in reference to this circle, it should certainly have given the most important line—the top line, of the upper cornice, not an inferior and less important line; and that is pretty much the case with all these proportion theories (except in regard to Greek Doric temples) ; they are right as to one or two points of the building, but break down when you attempt to apply them further. ”

“ In front of the building, bounding the view through a vista formed by two triumphal arches, erected at proper intervals in a line with the landing-place, two pavilions, with rows of benches rising one above another, and serving as the wings of the first triumphal arch, received the ladies, while the gentlemen ranged themselves in convenient order on each side. ”

“ Q. What difference is there between the arches of this style, which support the clerestory, and those of an earlier period?
A. The lancet arch is seldom seen; the equilateral arch is generally, though not always, used. Both this and the obtuse-angled arch are, taken exclusively, difficult to be distinguished from those of an earlier period. In small buildings the edges of the pier arches are plain and chamfered. In large churches a series of quarter-round or roll-mouldings, which have often a square-edged fillet attached, are applied to the sub-arch, edges, and facing. ”

“ The Grand Arch runs east and west, and is about 150 yards in length, 60 feet high, and 70 feet wide at its western end. The eastern end is 80 feet high, and about 200 feet wide. Its proportions and outline are gloomily impressive, and rather awe-inspiring. It is like the portico to some great castle of Giant Despair. The eastern end is a marvel of natural architecture, and the wonder is how so spacious a roof can remain intact under a weight so enormous. The rugged walls are varied by many peculiar rocky formations. ”

“ One is the visible direction or curve of the arch, which may generally be considered as the under edge of its voussoirs, and which has often no more to do with the real stability of the arch, than a man’s apparent conduct has with his heart. ”

“ The heavy arch which spans the open door has bent downwards in the centre under the weight of its years, and the grey, lichen-blotched blocks of stone are bound and knitted together with withes and strands of ivy, as though the old mother had set herself to brace them up against wind and weather. ”

“ The proportions of the internal elevation are such that, if the entire height of the wall be divided into nine parts, four go to the main arcade, two to the triforium or gallery, and three to the clerestory (Fig. 253) .
Fig. 253.—Sectional view of Nave, St. Alban’s.
The arches of each are of three orders, and are, for the most part, without shafts; the section of the jamb and arch being the same, severed only by a simple{102} impost. A broad pilaster buttress runs up the face of each pier from floor to ceiling. ”

“ Even the circle of the sun would be tiresome but for the grey days that renew a truism into a gracious truth. This explains why arches in art make an appeal to the imagination that circles never equal. For example, wheel-windows in Gothic architecture never have the magic of pointed windows. Our eyes travel around them and cannot escape in a flight upwards. Nature, then, when she produced arches, brought into the world a very noble inspiration, and therefore very remote from the dull and slow mimicry of mankind. ”

“ But the most exquisite arcades are those of the Geometrical period, where each arch is often surmounted by a crocketted pediment, and the higher efforts of sculpture are tasked for their enrichment, as in the glorious chapter-house of Salisbury, Southwell, and York; these are, however, usually confined to the interior. In the Decorated period partially, and in the Perpendicular entirely, the arcade gave place to panelling, greatly to the loss of effect, for no delicacy or intricacy of pattern can compensate for the bright light and deep shadows of the Norman and Early English arcades. ”

“ It is a single gray stone arch, apparently cut from solid rock, that spans the brown rippling waters, where wild, overhanging banks, shadowy trees, and dipping wild flowers, all conspire to make a romantic picture. ”

“ A trefoiled arch on each face, supported upon clusters of shafts at the four angles, forms the design, the arches inclosed within a square301 projecting moulding, with their spandrels not carved but bearing marks of painting. The great beauty of the work is the exquisite foliage which is carved in such masses all round the arches and elsewhere as quite to take the place of mouldings. ”