medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
persuant to my inadequate word pitchers, here are some nice shots of Bourges:
http://www.beloit.edu/~arthist/historyofart/gothic/bourges.htm
here the elevation, showing its complexity:
http://www.beloit.edu/~arthist/historyofart/gothic/bourges.htm#artifact5
and a drawing of same:
http://www.beloit.edu/~arthist/historyofart/gothic/bourges.htm#artifact6
with a transverse section, to show you what you are looking at:
http://www.pitt.edu/~medart/image/france/france-a-to-c/bourges/de376bou.jpg
note that, at Bourges, the windows of the (nave) clerestory do not extend down
into the nave wall significantly, but begin at the springing of the vault
ribbing --they are almost hidden in the webbing of the vaults (and, indeed,
there are "oculi", holes in the webbing when the bays become more narrow in
the _rondpoint_ of the choir, in order to better light that area):
http://www.beloit.edu/~arthist/historyofart/gothic/bourges.htm#artifact7
but they are quite large --three lancets and a rose, with just a bit of
"plate" (wall) tracery at the top, extending the full width of the bay-- and,
combined with the extra light comming in from the clerestory of the side
aisle(s), the first of which is fitted out with minimal "bar" tracery to
maximize the glass-to-stone ratio, there is plenty of light comming into the
nave.
however, we must remember that Bourges, like virtually all of the great gothic
buildings of France, has lost most all of its colored glass, it having been
replaced (during the "Century of Light") by clear glass or "grisaille".
thus, the original effect of all this glass would have been something much
closer to that which we see at Chartres (which alone retains most of its
original glazing) --"darker", but a darkness which is saturated with live
color.
there is a considerable amount of original glass remaining at Bourges in the
clerestory of the choir and the radiating chapels of the (double) ambulatory,
and there we can get a much better feeling for what the whole building looked
like, litewise.
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/arch/gothic/bourges/bourges_int08.jpg
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/arch/gothic/bourges/bourges_int13.jpg
the windows of the chapels are very dense with color --similar to their
contemporaries at Chartres (some of the same workshops worked at both places,
apparently)-- and the much larger expanses of color at Bourges must have been
quite breathtakingly beautiful, in their original state.
some of the glass:
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/arch/bourges_glass.html
perhaps because we can get quite close to it (even closer than we can in the
side aisles of Chartres), there is actually the impression of *heat* given off
by the reds of this guy:
http://www.uwm.edu/People/scford/final/glass3.html
a quite beatiful building, is Bourges
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/arch/gothic/bourges/bourges_int07.jpg
on the off-chance that my latest posting --sent from a different account
(usa.net being down) did not arrive in some boxes, i take the liberty of
copying it here:
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From: John Briggs <[log in to unmask]>
> Christopher Crockett wrote:
>> strictly speaking, in current Art Hysterical Parlance, the clerestory
is the level or zone of the elevation of (usually) a church wherein
the windows are to be found.
> You've missed out an "upper" or "uppermost" there, I think :-)
since i cannot recall (nor imagine) an instance in which the clerestory proper
was anywhere else *but* in the "uppermost" level of the elevation, i just
opted to not waste electrons in inserting the redundancy.
an interesting variant is to be found, however, in the elevation of Bourges
cathedral, which has --almost uniquely-- a tripartite elevation (arcade,
triforium, clerestory) not only in its nave, but also in its first side aisle
(the building is also unusual in that it has two side aisles, thereby
qualifying, with its nave as a "five aisle plan").
this means that, if one were to look transversely across the nave from one
outer side aisle to the other, one whould see an elevation (in depth) which
consists of (from bottom to top) :
--the wall of the outer side aisle opposite (which itself has windows in it)
;
--the "main arcade" of the inner side aisle, framing the wall beyond ;
--the triforium of the inner side aisle ;
--the clerestory of the inner side aisle ;
--the Main Arcade of the nave (which frames the above four elements) ;
--the triforium of the nave ;
--the clerestory of the nave (at Bourges quite high up in the webbing of the
sexpartite vaults, if i recall correctly).
again, a pitcher is worth 999+ words, but i'm too lazy to find one.
> Don't even think about mentioning "triforium", as everyone gets that one
wrong :-)
curiously so, yes.
even though the concept of a true triforium is not at all mysterious, it seems
to me, just requiring a passage *in the thickness of the wall* (behind an
arcade), rather than a much wider, paved space built over the side aisles
(also usually behind an arcade), which is, properly speaking, a "gallery" or
"tribune" or "tribune gallery".
the latter are commonly lit with their own windows, while triforia are most
commonly "blind", the other side of the nave wall being visible through the
arcade (the roof of the side aisle making it a bit difficult to bring light
into the triforim).
though, particularly in some regions (e.g., Burgundy) we do find "glazed"
triforia, which in turn gives us the concept of a "diaphanous wall"...
but, that's another story all together.
no one would suggest, however, that a glazed triforium be styled a
"clerestory", even though it is a level or zone in the elevaiton which admits
light into the nave.
From: Jim Bugslag <[log in to unmask]>
> Christopher,
> I seem to be in the same embarrassing situation quite frequently these days:
my memory is playing tricks on me. Must be those "senior moments" you keep
talking about.
yes.
welcome to the club.
the main thing to remember about memory is that, when we remember something,
we are not remembering the actual event experienced, but rather the last
memory of the event.
continual re-remembering reinforces whatever memory we might have of that
event, which means that if our memory of it is faulty all subsequent
re-rememberings will be faulty as well, though reinforced by the repetition.
quite discouraging, really, when you stop and think about it.
>The source is Yves Delaporte
[ed.],
> L'ordinaire chartrain du XIIIe siecle (Chartres, Societe archeologique
d'Eure-et-Loir, 1953), p. 130. The problem is that he clearly indicates
flowers rather than doves, as I faultily remembered. And there is a second
problem in that he doesn't actually mention clearly the holes in the vault
bosses;
Delaporte is, of course, not saying anything, himself, merely editing the 13th
c. text.
> that was my interpretation when I read it some time ago. Here is what he
viday soupra
>states, as part of the Pentecost ceremony in the cathedral: "Interim de celo
ecclesie dimittantur flores arborum in chorum." "de celo" certainly could
mean "from the vault", but it is not unambiguous.
no, but your dottering interpretation does seem probable.
wonder if DuCange has suchlike an association of "celo" for "vault".
what do you make of the "arborum" there?
"flowers of trees" ??
or is it "arborum in chorum" --the piers of the main arcade (of the choir
here), which are, themselves, topped with "flowers" (i.e., their crocket
capitals).
that's the thing about Senior Moments: there's just no end to them.
as opposed to Mare's Nests, which are quite finite creatures of our overheated
Fancy.
c
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