Rayonnant
Rayonnant was a very refined style of Gothic Architecture which appeared in France in the 13th century. It was the defining style of the High Gothic period, and is often described as the high point of French Gothic architecture.
French architects turned their attention from building cathedrals of greater size and height towards bringing greater light into the cathedral interiors and adding more extensive decoration. The architects made the vertical columns and supports thinner, made extensive use of pinnacles and moldings. They combined the triforium gallery and the clerestory into single space and filled it with stained glass. They made extensive use of moldings and bar tracery to decorate the exteriors and interiors.
The most prominent features of the Rayonnant style were the enormous rose windows installed in the transepts and facades, made possible by the use of bar tracery. The design of the windows gave the name Rayonnant to the style.
The first major church built in the new style was Amiens Cathedral. Later examples include Sainte-Chapelle, the royal chapel of King Louis IX of France ; the new north and south transepts of Notre Dame de Paris, and the church of Sainte-Urbaine in Troyes.
Rayonnant cathedrals soon appeared outside of France. One of the first was Cologne Cathedral. Its choir was built from 1248 to 1322, the decoration accomplished and partly remodeled until 1360. After an interruption from 1528 to 1832, the cathedral was completed in 1880. The footplan with all foundations is medieval, but many details of the western parts are creations of the 19th century.
The style also soon appeared in England, where it took the name of Decorated Gothic. At first French Rayonnant tracery was incorporated into more traditional English features, such as colonettes and vault ribs. Notable examples of Rayonnant in England include the Angel Choir of Lincoln Cathedral, and that of Exeter Cathedral. The striking retrochoir of Wells Cathedral, the choir of Saint Augustine at Bristol Cathedral, and Westminster Abbey are other important examples.
After the mid-14th century, Rayonnant was gradually replaced by the even more lavishly decorative Flamboyant style.
Periods
Rayonnant style is the third of the four phases of Gothic architecture in France, as defined by French scholars. Related to the English division of Continental Gothic into three phases, it is the second and larger part of High Gothic.Other features of Rayonnant include development of the rose window; more windows in the upper-level clerestory; the reduction of the importance of the transept; and larger openings on the ground floor to establish greater communication between the central vessel and the side aisles.
The most prominent Rayonnant building outside France may be Cologne Cathedral. Its choir was built from 1248 to 1322, the decoration accomplished and partly remodeled until 1360. After an interruption from 1528 to 1832, the cathedral was completed in 1880. The footplan with all foundations is medieval, but many details of the western parts are creations of the 19th century.
From Medieval France, the style quickly spread to England, where French Rayonnant tracery was often incorporated into more traditional English features, such as colonettes and vault ribs. Notable examples of Rayonnant in England include the Angel Choir of Lincoln Cathedral, and that of Exeter Cathedral. The striking retrochoir of Wells Cathedral, the choir of Saint Augustine at Bristol Cathedral, and Westminster Abbey are other important examples.
After the mid-14th century, Rayonnant was gradually replaced by the more ornate and highly decorated Flamboyant style.
Name
The term "Rayonnant" comes from the radiating spokes of the rose windows of the major cathedrals. The largely contemporary Decorated style in England, used many ideas from French Rayonnant.The term was first used by the 19th-century French art historians to classify Gothic styles on the basis of window tracery.
Rayonnant in France
The style originated during the reign of Louis IX of France, or Saint Louis, from 1226 to 1270. During his reign, France was the wealthiest and most powerful nation in Europe. Louis was devoutly religious and was a major patron of the Catholic Church and arts. The University of Paris, or Sorbonne, was founded under his rule, as a school of theology. The major Rayonnant cathedrals had his patronage, and his royal chapel, Sainte-Chapelle, which he built to house his extensive collection of relics of the Saints, is considered one of the major landmarks of Rayonnant Gothic. He also had an important influence on English Gothic; King Henry III of England was the brother-in-law of Louis, visited Paris, and had Westminster Abbey modified after 1245 following the new style. He also attended the dedication of Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, and had the east end of St. Paul's Cathedral remodelled in 1258 to resemble it.Basilica of Saint-Denis rebuilding (1231)
The Basilica of Saint-Denis, which had been the most influential initial building of Gothic style, developed problems of stability in the early 13th century. Therefore, the upper parts of the choir as well as the nave and the transepts were rebuilt beginning in 1231, opening up a greater amount of interior space. The walls were rebuilt with much larger windows, which opened up the upper elevation from the main arcades to the apexes of the vaults. The apse, once dark, was filled with light. In this campaign, the first triforia with windows were built. This was the onset of Rayonnant Gothic.Amiens Cathedral
The construction of Amiens Cathedral had begun in 1220 with its western parts, in the more advanced version of Classic Gothic, similar to the eastern parts of Reims Cathedral, at the same time. Its builder, Bishop Evrard de Fouilly, set out to build the largest cathedral in France; one-hundred forty-five meters long, and seventy meters wide, with a surface area of 7700 square meters. The vaults are 42.5 meters high. The nave was completed by 1235.After the necessary enlargement of the area enclosed by the city wall, in 1236, began the construction of transept and choir, which was completed between 1241 and 1269. Here, the innovations were applied, that had been initiated in the relaunch of Saint-Denis abbey church.
The western rose window was renewed in the 16th century in Flamboyant style.
A close study of the tympanum in 1992 revealed traces of paint, indicating that it was entirely painted in bright colors. The original appearance is simulated today on special occasions with coloured lights.
Notre-Dame de Paris
The Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris also received a major makeover into the new style. Between 1220 and 1230, flying buttresses were constructed to replace the old wall buttresses, and to support the walls of upper level. Thirty-seven new windows were installed, each one six meters high, each with a double-arched window topped by a rose..The first rose window of Notre-Dame was built on the west facade in the 1220s. In the Middle Ages, the rose was the symbol of the Virgin Mary, to whom the cathedral was dedicated. The west window was smaller, with thick spokes of stone. The larger transept windows were added in about 1250 and 1260, with much more ornate designs and thinner mullions, or ribs, between the glass. The north window was devoted to the events of the Old Testament, and the South to the teachings of Christ and the New Testament.
Le Mans and Tours
Rayonnant spread quickly from the Ile de France to other parts of France Normandy, in many projects already under construction. At Le Mans Cathedral in Normandy, the Bishop Geoffrey de Loudon modified the plans to add double flying arches and high windows divided into lancets, as well as a circle of new Rayonnant chapels. Tours Cathedral had an even more ambitious program, financed with the assistance of Louis IX between 1236 and 1279. Its most striking Rayonnant feature was the fusion of the windows of the triforium and high clerestory windows to create a curtain of stained glass, similar to that of Sainte-Chapelle.Sainte-Chapelle (1248)
, the chapel constructed by Louis IX for the relics of the Passion of Christ that he had brought back from the Crusades, consecrated in 1248, is considered the summit of the Rayonnant style. It served as a model of several similar chapels around Europe, in Aachen, Riom, and Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes at the edge of Paris. The glass was heavily coloured, the walls were brightly painted, and the portions of the walls not covered with glass were densely covered with sculpted and painted tracery.Decorated Style in England
An English version of the Rayonnant style began to appear in England in the middle of the 13th century. Later scholars gave the English version the term "Decorated Period". English Historians sometimes subdivide this style into two periods, based on the predominant motifs of the designs. The first, the Geometric style, lasted, where ornament tended to be based on straight lines, cubes and circles, followed by the Curvilinear style which used gracefully curving lines.Henry III of England was the brother-in-law of Louis IX of France, and he had attended the consecration of Sainte-Chapelle in Paris in 1248. In 1245 he had begun reconstructing portions of Westminster Abbey. After his visit to Paris, he began adding Rayonnant elements. He also ordered the reconstruction of the east end of St. Paul's Cathedral, based upon the model of Sainte Chapelle. Unlike the French Rayonnant, the English version at Westminster was more heavily decorated with carved stonework.
The style was soon used in other cathedrals and churches across England. Lincoln Cathedral saw the addition of several important Rayonnant features; the vaulted ceiling of the chapter house ; and the Dean's Eye rose window ; the Galilee Porch and the Angel Choir. Other notable Rayonnant examples include Exeter Cathedral ; in the Choir of Saint Augustine at Bristol Cathedral; and in the unusual retrochoir of Wells Cathedral. In these structures, the French tracery and decoration was often mixed with typical English decorative features, including colonettes, and added very decorative ribs to the ceiling vaults.
In the 14th century, the technique of grisaille was more widely used in English cathedrals, such as the nave windows of York Minster. This was monochrome painting in large windows onto the glass, usually grey or white, which allowed more light to enter, and was usually surrounded by smaller panels of stained glass.