French Gothic architecture
French Gothic architecture is an architectural style which emerged in France in 1140, and was dominant until the mid-16th century. The most notable examples are the great Gothic cathedrals of France, including Notre-Dame Cathedral, Reims Cathedral, Chartres Cathedral, and Amiens Cathedral. Its main characteristics are verticality, or height, and the use of the rib vault and flying buttresses and other architectural innovations to distribute the weight of the stone structures to supports on the outside, allowing unprecedented height and volume. The new techniques also permitted the addition of larger windows, including enormous stained glass windows, which fill the cathedrals with light.
French scholars divide the Gothic of their country into four phases: British and American historians use similar periods.
- Gothique primitif or Gothique premier, from short before 1140 until shortly after 1180, marked by tribunes above the aisles of basilicas. The British and American term for the period is Early Gothic.
- Gothique Classique or, from the 1180s to the first third of 13th century, marked by basilicas without lateral tribunes and with triforia without windows. The British and American term is for the period is High Gothic. and Some buildings of this phase, like Chartres Cathedral, are included in Early Gothic; others, like the Reims Cathedral and the western parts of Amiens Cathedral, are included in High Gothic.
- Gothique rayonnant, from the second third of 13th century to the first half of 14th century, marked by triforia with windows and a general preference for stained glass instead of stone walls. It forms the greater portion of High Gothic. American and British historians also use the term Rayonnant.
- Gothique flamboyant, since mid 14th century, marked by swinging and flaming forms of tracery. British and American historians use the same term.
The French style was widely copied in other parts of northern Europe, particularly Germany and England. It was gradually supplanted as the dominant French style in the mid-16th century by French Renaissance architecture.
Origins
French Gothic architecture was the result of the emergence in the 12th century of a powerful French state centered in the Île-de-France. During the reign of Louis VI of France, Paris was the principal residence of the Kings of France, Reims the place of coronation, and the Abbey of Saint-Denis became their ceremonial burial place. The Abbot of Saint-Denis, Suger, was a counselor of Louis VI and Louis VII, as well as a historian. He oversaw the reconstruction of the ambulatory of Saint-Denis, making it the first and most influential example of Gothic architecture in France. The first complete Gothic cathedral, Sens Cathedral, was finished shortly afterwards.Over the later course of the Capetian dynasty, three Kings: Philip Augustus, Louis IX of France, and Philip le Bel, established France as the major economic and political power on the Continent. The period also saw the founding of the University of Paris or Sorbonne. It produced the High Gothic and the Flamboyant Gothic styles, and the construction of some of the most famous cathedrals, including Chartres Cathedral, Reims Cathedral, and Amiens Cathedral.
Primary or Early Gothic Style - Saint-Denis, Sens, Senlis, and Notre Dame
The birthplace of the new style was the Basilica of Saint-Denis in the Île-de-France, not far north of Paris where, in 1137, the Abbé Suger began the reconstruction of the Carolingian-era abbey church. Just to the west of the original church, he began building a new structure with two towers, and then, from 1140 to 1144, he began to reconstruct the old church. Most of his modifications were traditional, but he made one remarkable innovation; he decided to create a new choir at the east end of the building, using the pointed arch and the rib vault in the construction of the choir and the ambulatory with radiating chapels. The use of rib vaults, and buttresses outside supporting the walls, allowed the elimination of the traditional walls between the chapels, and the installation of large stained glass windows. This gave the ambulatory a striking openness, light, and greater height.The builders then constructed the nave of the church, also using rib vaults. It was constructed in four levels; the arcades on the ground floor whose two rows of columns received the ribs of the ceiling vaults; the tribune above it, a gallery which concealed the massive contreforts or buttresses which pressed against the walls; the triforium, another, narrower gallery; and, just below the ceiling, the claire-voie or clerestorey, where the windows were located. The resulting greater height and light differed dramatically from the heaviness of Romanesque architecture. On the facade of the church, Suger introduced another innovation; he used columns in the form of statues of saints to decorate the portal of the church, adding a new element of verticality to the facade. This idea too was soon copied in new cathedrals. Ninety years later, the upper parts of the choir and the whole nave had to be renewed because of signs of decay; the new upper choir was built with a triforium with windows. This was the onset of Rayonnant style.
The first cathedral constructed in the new style was Sens Cathedral, begun between 1135 and 1140 and consecrated in 1160. It featured a Gothic choir, and six-part rib vaults over the nave and collateral aisles, alternating pillars and doubled columns to support the vaults, and flying buttresses. But note, much of the ambulatory is still Romanesque, and all adjacent chapels are younger. One of the builders believed to have worked on that Cathedral, William of Sens, later traveled to England and became the architect who reconstructed the choir of Canterbury Cathedral in the Gothic style. Sens Cathedral was soon followed by Senlis Cathedral, and the most prominent of all, Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Their builders abandoned the traditional plans and introduced the new Gothic elements. The builders of Notre Dame went further by introducing the flying buttress, heavy columns of support outside the walls connected by arches to the walls, which received and counterbalanced the thrust from the rib vaults of the roof. This allowed the builders to construct higher walls and larger windows.
Classic Gothic or High Gothic Cathedrals – Chartres, Bourges, Reims, western parts of Amiens
The second phase of Gothic in France is called Gothique Classique or Classic Gothic. The similar phase in English is called High Gothic. From the end of the 12th century until the middle of the 13th century, the Gothic style spread from the cathedrals in Île-de-France to appear in other cities of northern France, notably Chartres Cathedral ; Bourges Cathedral, Reims Cathedral, and Amiens Cathedral ; The characteristic Gothic elements were refined to make the new cathedrals taller, wider, and more full of light. At Chartres, the use of the flying buttresses allowed the elimination of the tribune level, which allowed much higher arcades and nave, and larger windows. The pillars were made of a central column surrounded by four more slender columns, which reached up to support the arches of the vaulted ceiling. The rib vault changed from six to four ribs, simpler and stronger. The flying buttresses at Amiens and Chartes were strengthened by an additional arch and with a supporting arcade, allowing even higher walls and more windows. At Reims, the buttresses were given greater weight and strength by the addition of heavy stone pinnacles on top. These were often decorated with statues of angels, and became an important decorative element of the High Gothic style. Another practical and decorative element, the gargoyle, appeared; it was an ornamental rain spout that channeled the water from the roof away from the building. At Amiens, the windows of the nave were made larger, and an additional row of clear glass windows flooded the interior with light. The new structural technologies allowed the enlargement of the transepts and the choirs at the east end of the cathedrals, creating the space for a ring of well-lit chapels.Rayonnant Gothic – Sainte-Chapelle and the rose windows of Notre-Dame
The third period of French Gothic architecture, from the second half of the 13th century until the 1370s, is termed Rayonnant in both French and English, describing the radiating pattern of the tracery in the stained glass windows, and also describing the tendency toward the use of more and more stained glass and less masonry in the design of the structure, until the walls seemed entirely made of glass. The most celebrated example was the chapel of Sainte-Chapelle, attached to the royal residence on the Palais de la Cité. An elaborate system of exterior columns and arches reduced the walls of the upper chapel to a thin framework for the enormous windows. The weight of each of the masonry gables above the archivolt of the windows also helped the walls to resist the thrust and to distribute the weight.Other landmarks of the Rayonnant Gothic are the two rose windows on the north and south of the transept of Notre-Dame Cathedral, whereas earlier rose windows, like those of Amiens Cathedral, were framed by stone and occupied only a portion of the wall, these two windows, with a delicate lacelike framework, occupied the entire space between the pillars.