THE TOURIST AND THE TUTOR
any other excellency; but the monastery of St. Emeran is well worth seeing."[1]
It is not true that the eighteenth century was entirely indifferent to Gothic architecture, for an occasional word of praise for Gothic is already heard in the first half of the century, and after the middle of the century Gothic architecture has no lack of defenders. Even Misson admired the cathedral of Siena. "The cathedral is of a fine Gothic structure, and its beauty is so much the more remarkable, that the building is finished, which is scarcely to be seen in great churches."[2] Representative guide-books like Nugent's "Grand Tour" and De la Force's "Nouvelle Description de la France" devote considerable space to Gothic cathedrals. But there is in general no intelligent understanding of the principles of Gothic art, even among those who are most interested. The comment on Gothic buildings is vague, and where it is specific, it often mingles impartially praise and blame, as in the following on the cathedral of Rheims: "The front of this stupendous church consists of a vast number of statues: Saints in miniature, placed in little niches, and in exact spaces; so that the eye is pleased and shocked at the same time. Magnificence is mixed with littleness, grandeur with meanness, proportipn with disproportion; consequently it creates in our thoughts an uneasy mixture of admiration and contempt. The painted windows are all perfect, and the sun has a glorious effect upon the variety of their colours."[3]
Nugent's "Grand Tour" admirably illustrates the growing admiration for Gothic, though he has hazy ideas of the development of medieval architecture. The exquisite Romanesque church of "S. Trophimus" at Aries he calls "a vast Gothic structure."[4] "The cathedral" at Vienne, "dedicated to S. Maurice is a magnificent Gothic structure."[5] He has also a good word for the cathedrals of Strassburg, Orléans, and Chartres. It is notable that he says nothing of the exquisite stained glass at Chartres.[6] Even more than Nugent, Dr. John Moore
138
- ↑ Page 147.
- ↑ New Voyage to Italy, ii2, 239. Addison had no feeling for, or understanding of, Gothic architecture. See his remarks on the cathedral of Siena, Remarks on Italy, pp. 313, 314.
- ↑ Earl of Cork and Orrery, Letters from Italy, p. 5.
- ↑ Grand Tour, iv, 195.
- ↑ Ibid., iv, 180.
- ↑ Ibid., iv, 270. Some of Nugent's estimates of other French Gothic buildings are found in his Grand Tour, iv: Paris (Sainte-Chapelle), p. 55; Sens, pp. 167, 168; Metz, p. 205; Strassburg, p. 207; Troyes, p. 213; Bourges, p. 257 (this he pronounces "one of the finest Gothic structures in France," but he makes no mention of the superb old glass or of the great carved doorways); Le Mans, p. 271; Rouen, p. 282; Caen, p. 285; Rheims, p. 297, etc.
