ARCHITECTURE - Karatunov.net

Chapter,io4 FRANCE BURGUNDY[CH. xxnkind of primitive refinement. A certain delicacyisgivenby its peculiar method of execution. The figures arecarved as it were in low relief on a flat surface which isthen sunk all round them to some depth. This sametreatment may be observed in the beautiful Byzantinesquescrolls on the lintels of the north and south doorways atBourges where the leaves and flowers are carved with avery flat treatment, and much undercut, which givesthem a very precious and delicate effect and apparentlyalmost the frailty of paper. There is the same treatmenton the rather rude classic frieze of the Roman arch atSusa.Much of the effect of this grand doorway is owing tothe central pier, with its double tier of shafts below andfigures above, spreading out to great width as it rises ;the upper part immediately below the lintel being occupiedby a figure of the Baptist, holding a large discwith a mutilated figure of the mystic lamb, for which thedisc formed a nimbus. The same division into two tiersisobserved in the jambs.In many parts of the church, both Romanesque andt. - r ^ , . .House later, the influence of Roman art is observable, but it iseven more remarkably displayed in the Chapter Housewhich dates from about H5O 1 . The great consoles orbrackets from which the vaulting ribs spring have thevolutes, the foliage, the hollow abacus and the rosette ofSculpturethe Corinthian capital (Plate CXIV). There is no tracefByzantine feeling in the leaves, which have the deepchannelled folds, the piping and the rounded raffling ofthe Roman type, as distinct from that of the East. Thesame influence is observable in the vestibule or cloisterto which the Chapter House opens, with its square fluted1V.-le-Duc, vin. p. 211.