Editing Internet Texts/Gothic Architecture in France, England, and Italy/Gothic Architecture in France

Early Gothic
Gothic architecture in France begins with the rebuild of the Basilica of St Denis ordered by Abbot Suger that started around 1137. The rebuild introduced such elements as flying buttresses, pointed arches and ribbed vaulting.

High Gothic "Rayonnant"
The focus shifts from the structural to decorative. The architects no longer aim at designing the highest buildings, focusing on enhancing the beauty of their cathedrals instead. Four levels are reduced to three: ground, triforium and clerestory level.

There is a poorer variety of the patterns of traceries. Pinnacles, traceries and moldings become more popular. Quadripartite vaults become more popular. Cylindrical columns are replaced with clustered columns (cylindrical columns with smaller columns attached).



Amiens Cathedral is often said to be the Gothic ideal: "what nobody will deny to the cathedral of Amiens, is that it is the monument in which Gothic art has displayed the plenitude of its system and its resources, where it has most closely approached its ideal, where decisive solutions have been found, and where in a word we have the type of Gothic construction" (Durand qtd. in Jackson 124).

Late Gothic "Flamboyant"
The name Flamboyant derives from the flamelike curve that dominates tracery patterns. No structural innovations are introduced in this period. Cathedral plans also remain unchanged. The nave is only slightly higher than the aisles. The number of levels is reduced to two as triforia are no longer used. Instead, the architects design enormous clerestory windows and arcades. Walls are dominated with windows rather than stone.

Changes visible only in ornamentation. New pattern of tracery is introduced: fish bladder. It is first used in St John Chapel of Amiens Cathedral.

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