I. ARCHITECTURE 35

18. You have then, observe, two great principles, as far as northern architecture is concerned; first, that the pointed arch is to be the means by which the weight of the wall or roof is to be sustained; secondly, that the steep gable is the form most proper for the roof itself. And now observe this most interesting fact, that all the loveliest Gothic architecture in the world is based on the group of lines composed of the pointed arch and the gable. If you look at the beautiful apse of Amiens Cathedral-a work justly celebrated over all Europe-you will find it formed merely of a series of windows surmounted by pure gables of open work.¹ If you look at the transept porches of Rouen, or at the great and celebrated porch of the Cathedral of Rheims, or that of Strasbourg, Bayeux, Amiens, or Peterborough, still you will see that these lovely compositions are nothing more than richly decorated forms of gable over pointed arch.² But more than this, you must be all well aware how fond our best architectural artists are of the street effects of foreign cities; and even those now present who have not personally visited any of the continental towns must remember, I should think, some of the many interesting drawings by Mr. Prout, Mr. Nash,³ and other excellent draughtsmen, which have for many years adorned our exhibitions. Now, the principal charm of all those continental street effects is dependent on the houses having high-pitched gable roofs. In the Netherlands, and Northern France, where the material for building is brick or stone, the fronts of the stone gables are raised above the roofs, and you have magnificent and grotesque ranges of steps or curves decorated with various ornaments, succeeding one another in endless perspective along the

¹ [See Bible of Amiens, ch. iv., where Ruskin says that the apse of Amiens is “not only the best, but the very first thing done perfectly in its manner, by Northern Christendom ... the first virgin perfect work ... of Gothic Architecture.”]

² [For the porches of Rouen, see Seven Lamps, Vol. VIII. pp. 123, 136; for Bayeux, Vol. VIII. p. 132; for Rheims, Vol. VIII. p. 136, and Stones of Venice, Vol. IX. p. 238; for Peterborough, Vol. I. p. 447, Vol. IX. p. 215.]

³ [See note on Vol. III. p. 220.]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]