Part 8

San Vitale has a special interest from its having formed the model adopted by Charlemagne for the church which he erected at Aix-la-Chapelle, to serve also as his own mausoleum. It thus constitutes an example of a Roman design reproduced in Ravenna, under the late Empire, as a Christian structure, and again serving as a model for a mediæval mausoleum as late as the eighth century. This shows distinctly the continuity of Roman design and its direct influence on the art of later times.

The above three edifices at Ravenna present fully developed examples of the three chief buildings required in connection with the church services up to the ninth century, viz., the church, the baptistery, and the mausoleum. As we proceed we shall meet with proofs that the same classes of edifices were in use and were carried out in a similar manner in other parts of the Western Empire. The circular or octagonal baptistery is of frequent occurrence in Southern Gaul. Examples of circular churches are also not awanting, but there is every ground for believing that the basilican form of church, like that of St Apollinare, was the plan most generally adopted in Western Europe.

At Ravenna, an early circular tower or campanile, generally similar to the square ones at Rome and elsewhere, still exists. This is a feature the origin of which has not yet been accurately determined. The prevailing opinion, however, now is that these towers were at first erected as places of observation and defence, being in that respect somewhat similar in their conception to the round towers of Ireland. As in San Vitale, one form of a Roman octagonal-domed building is followed, so at San Lorenzo in Milan another design of a somewhat similar character is carried out, showing that the basilican form, although general, was not universal.

In consequence of the destruction caused by the invasions of the Barbarians, by fire or otherwise, very few edifices now exist in Western Europe of the time between Justinian and Charlemagne. During all that time of disaster in the West, the Eastern Empire still maintained itself in splendour, and gave encouragement to architecture and the fine arts. From an early time the Byzantine architects showed a preference for the dome over the intersecting vault, and it is possible to follow in the still existing edifices, the mode in which the domical form of roof was gradually worked out, until in the great church of Sta. Sophia, erected under Justinian, in the sixth century, the largest and noblest building of the style was successfully completed.

In the details of the style of the Lower Empire, as practised in the East, there is considerable evidence of Greek taste. The sharp thistle-like sculpture of the foliage is designed in a manner not unlike that of the Corinthian capitals of the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates at Athens. The Byzantines also excelled in flat and delicate carving, such as that generally executed in ivory or fine wood, and in ornamental metal work and jewellery. When the West began to revive, this Byzantine art naturally produced some influence on it. A very remarkable example of this occurs in the church of St Mark’s at Venice, erected about A.D. 950, which in every feature--in plan, in distribution of parts, in the use of the dome, and in its mosaic decorations,--is a distinct importation from Constantinople.

But the art of the East was destined to produce, at a later period, a much stronger effect, as we shall afterwards see, in Provence and Aquitaine. Besides the domical structures of Constantinople, another series of Christian buildings which had a great influence on Western architecture exists in the East. A large number of churches have been brought to light in Syria by the work of Count Melchior de Vogüé. These correspond in general features with the early churches of the West. They comprise a central nave and side aisles, separated by rows of piers, with nave arches thrown longitudinally between them. The nave is also crossed transversely with arches cast between the piers, and these are abutted by arches thrown over the side aisles. The latter, in order to resist the thrust of the central arch, require to be placed at a considerable height. The side aisles are thus rendered unnecessarily lofty, and are therefore divided into two storys with a floor which forms a gallery. The nave piers and their transverse arches are placed pretty close together in order to carry the great flag stones of which the roof is frequently composed, and which are supported upon them. Although the roof is in some cases flat, the general system of construction of these Syrian churches is very similar to what is found in the oldest churches of Southern Gaul; and which, as already mentioned, was also used in the Nymphæum at Nimes. There can be little doubt but that the Syrian structures were carefully studied by the numerous monks who visited the East in the eleventh century, while Palestine was in the hands of the Crusaders, and that they were thereby helped forward in the enterprise which was then absorbing the attention of the Western architects, viz., how to roof their churches with stone vaults.

Hitherto the Western basilicas had been roofed with timber. A few examples of these early basilicas have escaped the universal destruction, and serve to indicate what the other churches which existed before the eleventh century were like.

The Basse Œuvre at Beauvais is a well known specimen. It has a row of square piers on each side of the nave, separating it from the side aisles and carrying, on round arches, the upper walls containing the windows of the clerestory--the whole being covered in with a wooden roof. It was probably terminated to the east with a semicircular apse, and at the west with a narthex or porch.

These early churches were no doubt all of very simple construction, the only ornaments being the marble columns and carved work which in some localities were available from Roman buildings. Where these existed the style adopted naturally followed the Roman forms, but in districts where they were absent the style gradually passed into the Romanesque, under the influence of the new elements imported by the Northern invaders. We have seen how Charlemagne attempted to follow a Roman structure in his great church at Aix, and that is a distinct indication of the general tendency. The chief object at this period of transition was to produce an effective internal design, the exterior being invariably very simple. In this also the system by which Roman architecture had been developed continued to be carried out.

When the new political conditions of the different divisions of Europe had become somewhat settled, these principles were worked out separately and independently in each country and province, and produced a great variety of styles, all comprehended under the general title of Romanesque. They were in reality all derived from ancient Roman architecture, but by their very variety they indicate the new spirit which was now beginning to express itself.

As above mentioned the great desideratum in the eleventh century was a simple form of stone roof. The earlier wooden roof had been found so liable to destruction by fire, that great efforts were now made to provide a fire-proof covering.

At San Miniato, near Florence, there still stands a very fine basilica of the beginning of the eleventh century, which shews one method in which this was attempted to be done, and which recalls the mode of construction of the Syrian Churches above referred to.

San Miniato is divided into three long bays in its length by circular stone arches, springing from clustered piers, thrown across the nave, each bay being again subdivided by three longitudinal archivolts resting on simple pillars.

The above great transverse arches do not, as in the Syrian examples, carry the roof, which is in this instance of wood, and is thus not quite fireproof; but even if the timbers were destroyed by fire, the three transverse arches would tend to bind the structure all together, and prevent further ruin.

In the church of Notre Dame du Pré at Le Mans in the north-west of France, there is another example of a similar form of roof, constructed in the middle of the eleventh century.

In Provence the system of vaulting generally adopted was of a more complete character, derived in all probability, as already mentioned, from the Roman system (as used in the Nymphæum at Nimes), and perhaps also aided by the examples of the vaulted churches seen by the Crusaders in Syria. When the revival of the eleventh century took place, the Provençal churches were usually erected on the basilican plan, which doubtless was the traditional one. These churches are small, but they generally embrace a central nave with two side aisles, each terminated to the eastward with an apse. The roof is almost invariably composed of a pointed barrel or tunnel vault, with strengthening transverse ribs springing from the caps of pilasters carried up from the nave piers, as for instance in St Trophime at Arles.

The side aisles are also arched, each with one half of a pointed vault thrown against the upper part of the nave wall, so as to abut the central vault. The roof consists of tiles laid directly on the extrados of the arches, after the Roman manner, so that there is here nothing liable to suffer from fire. There is, however, it will be noticed, one remarkable divergence from the Roman model, in which the vaults and arches are always round. In Provence they are invariably pointed. This form of vault, as mentioned by Mérimée, Fergusson, and others, was adopted, not from choice but as a necessity, or at least a convenience of construction. The pointed form was found to have several advantages over the round. It was easier of construction, a matter of great consequence in those rude times; it exerted less thrust on the side walls, and was therefore more stable; and it fitted better the slope of the tiled roof covering.

It is evident that the roof of the side aisles, in order properly to abut the central vault, had to be carried up to a considerable height. This height being more than was necessary in the aisles, is sometimes divided into two storys, the upper one forming a gallery--an arrangement which was frequently adopted in Lombardy and the Rhineland, and also, as we have seen, in the Syrian churches above referred to. One great objection to the Provençal system of vaulting is that the churches are very dark--a clerestory being obviously impossible consistently with safety. Numerous expedients were adopted to provide more light, such as by introducing windows in the gables, and by heightening the side walls so as to admit of a small clerestory over the roof of the aisles. But the latter was found to be a very unsafe course, and at the best only clerestory windows of very small size could be introduced, so that the long barrel vaults still remained dark and gloomy.

In Aquitaine an entirely different system of vaulting was accidentally introduced, and threatened at one time to spread itself over the whole of Southern Gaul. The story of the importation of this style, and the various modifications arising out of it, is somewhat strange and remarkable. Owing to the pirates who infested the Straits of Gibraltar, the trade from the Levant with the West of France and Britain, was carried on by means of caravans, which conveyed the goods across the country, from the Mediterranean to the Bay of Biscay. The goods landed at Marseilles or Narbonne were thus carried by Limoges to La Rochelle and Nantes, where they were again shipped for the North of France and Britain. The town of Perigueux, situated in the centre of Aquitaine, at that time probably the richest country in Gaul, became the head-quarters of the Venetian merchants, by whom this traffic was chiefly carried on. These Venetians, as they had in the tenth century imported the plan and decorations of St Mark’s at Venice, from the East, so they soon afterwards resolved to carry the same model with them into Aquitaine. At Perigueux they erected a church exactly after the plan of St Mark’s, being in the form of a Greek cross, crowned with one dome over the central crossing, and four domes over the four arms of the cross. The general idea of this church of St Front at Perigueux is undoubtedly borrowed from St Mark’s, but the execution seems to have been entrusted to a native artist; for, although the conception is Eastern, the style of workmanship, is that of the locality. In the original the arches and domes are spherical, while here they are polygonal and pointed, which we have seen was the Provençal system of construction. The pendentives which fill up the angles under the domes are rudely executed in horizontal corbelling, not dressed as portions of a spherical vault, as they would have been by a scientific Eastern architect.

The church of St Front at Perigueux had great influence on the subsequent architecture of Aquitaine and the West of France. The _plan_ of St Mark’s was not followed in other examples, the old traditional basilican plan being preferred and adhered to; but the dome raised upon pendentives, as introduced at St Front, became the common form of vaulting in Aquitaine and the West of France in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. In the churches thus constructed the side aisles are frequently omitted, and the building consists of a single hall, roofed with a series of domes resting on transverse arches, which are abutted with large internal buttresses. We thus find in Aquitaine and the South generally two important derivations from St Front, viz., 1st, the domed system of vaulting, and 2nd, the single or aisleless nave,--the latter being sometimes vaulted with domes and sometimes with groined arches. As late as the thirteenth century the influence of the dome made itself felt in the churches of Aquitaine, Poitou, and Anjou; while the influence of the plan of the single aisleless nave continued to be prominent in the churches of Languedoc long after the dome was abandoned, and even after the Gothic of the North had invaded the Southern provinces.

It thus happens that early churches such as the Cathedrals at Toulouse (Fig. 34) and Fréjus (_see_ Part VI.) present a mixture of these ideas, being sometimes found designed on the plan of the aisleless hall, but at the same time roofed with groined vaulting. The buttresses in all these single nave churches are frequently internal, and form deep recesses, which are utilised as side chapels.

At a distance from Perigueux as a centre, domes are sometimes used, as is the case, for instance, in Auvergne, but in Provence the dome is generally limited to the space over the crossing.

In the latter locality the Byzantine influence exhibits itself in a different direction, being chiefly confined to details and subordinate features. But here another factor comes into play. The presence of the Roman monuments still existing in Provence has evidently tended to impress a Roman character on the architecture of the district. So strikingly indeed does some of the Provençal architecture resemble Roman work, both in general design and detail, that it has frequently been maintained that it is actually the work of the Lower Empire.

The style of Provence in the twelfth century differs on this account considerably from that of the other Romanesque styles. The revival which took place all over Europe in the eleventh and twelfth centuries occurred in Provence also, but the result there was somewhat peculiar, the effect of the Roman remains being to produce in many of the features of Provençal architecture a closer resemblance to the Romanesque style of Rome and Italy than to that of the Rhineland and the North.

The towers and campaniles of Provence also either correspond in design with those of Italy or are imitated from Roman monuments in the country.

The circular baptisteries, of which a good many examples survive, are like those in Rome, constructed with columns and caps from ancient buildings, or are wrought in imitation of them.

Sculpture also abounds in Provence, being inspired by the abundant remains of ancient work in this favoured province of the Empire. Along with the imitations of Roman work, there is also, as already remarked, a considerable infusion of Byzantine influence. This, according to Viollet-le-Duc, may be observed in the polygonal form of the apses; in the polygonal cupolas supported on a series of corbelled pendentives; in the flat arcades employed to decorate the walls; in the mouldings with small projection and numerous members; in the flat and delicate ornament; and in the sharp and toothed carving of the foliage. Other writers, however, are of opinion that too much weight has been attributed to the influence of Byzantine art, and that almost all the above elements may be accounted for by the Roman traditions of the locality. It is doubtful in how far the Roman buildings which survived in Provence and the imported classic taste of Byzantium were beneficial to the arts in that country. They no doubt gave an impetus and motive which would otherwise have been awanting, and thus assisted the Provençals in making the early start they did in the revival of their architecture. But on the other hand they acted prejudicially to that revival, in impressing on it the stamp of the classic trabeated style, which in their absence it would have escaped, and might probably have been developed in the freer and more natural manner which occurred at a later date in the North.

The early use of the pointed arch in the vaulting of the Provençal churches is another striking feature of the architecture of the district. Much has been written about the origin of the pointed arch and the date of its introduction into Western Europe. In the North of France its first use occurred in the twelfth century, and it was at one time maintained that the Provençal churches, from their having pointed vaults, must necessarily be later than that date. There is now, however, no question as to the greater antiquity of many of the Southern buildings, thus proving that the use of the pointed arch was adopted in the South considerably earlier than in the North.

We have already seen that that form of arch was first used in Provence as a constructional expedient, and not from any preference for the pointed form. The original idea may possibly have been derived from the Moors in Spain, amongst whom the pointed arch was common from early times, and was employed as a decorative feature. In Provence its use was limited to the vaulting, the round arch being preferred for all the ornamental parts of the architecture, and it continued to be so employed till the thirteenth century. It is a striking circumstance, observes Mérimée, that at the moment when the round arch was entirely abandoned in the North the pointed arch experienced the same disgrace in the South. In the North the pointed arch became the decorative form, when in the South the round arch was preferred. The position of the pointed arch is thus completely reversed in the North and in the South. The greater part of the vaulted constructions of the thirteenth century in the South are exclusively round, the advancement in skill, both in execution and in the use of materials, having rendered that form more generally available. Numerous examples of this employment of the round arch will be found in the following pages.

The Roman and Byzantine influences were naturally strongest where the ancient remains and Eastern ornaments were most frequently met with. As we retire from the Mediterranean northwards and westwards the Roman buildings become less numerous and the signs of Byzantine commerce diminish. In those various countries different styles were naturally developed. These are divided by Viollet-le-Duc into the schools of Toulouse, Poitou, Auvergne, Burgundy, &c., all having distinct characteristics in plans, elevations, form of towers, ornament, sculpture, and every detail. Of these various schools the Burgundian was, during the twelfth century, in advance of all the others, not only in the size and magnificence of its buildings, but also as regards progress in design--efforts being there made to free the ornaments from the conventional and stereotyped patterns of classic art.

Viollet-le-Duc endeavours to account for this advancement in Burgundian architecture by the suggestion that it possibly arose from the study of the paintings of Byzantine MSS., which were numerous in the monasteries, and therefore more frequently under the eyes of the monks than the purely architectural forms of buildings. These paintings preserve considerable freedom of treatment both as regards natural expression in the features and dramatic action in the figure, and are much less bound and fixed by traditional and conventional rules than the architectural forms and ornament.

The artist monks of the Burgundian convents were thus led to look to nature as their model in sculpture, and their attention was gradually turned to natural objects as their guide in the representation of foliage, as well as figures. This process, in course of time, opened the way for an entire departure from ancient precedent, and led to the wonderful development of the natural school of the Royal Domain, which took place in the end of the twelfth and beginning of the thirteenth centuries.

At the head of the Burgundian school stood the great Benedictine Abbey of Cluny. (_See ante_, p. 20). The church of this Abbey was the largest building of its time, although unfortunately not one stone of it now remains upon another. Cluny had numerous dependencies and offshoots which were all animated with the same spirit, and spread a taste for richness and magnificence in architecture, wherever they were planted.

But the period we are now considering was one of awakening and expansion, not only in the direction of architectural art, but also in every department of intellectual and religious development. It is not therefore to be wondered at that all men were not actuated by the same feeling of admiration for splendid buildings and paintings. Many of the religious rather sympathised with the severity of the old ascetics. It appeared to these reformers that all this sumptuous and splendid mode of life was not in accordance with the fundamental principles of their religion, and they longed to return to the simplicity of the primitive church.