Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/89

Bk. IV.Ch. V. NUREMBERG — KUTTENBERG. 78 produces one of the most magical effects to be found in any church in Europe. The details of the vault, as is only too usual at that age, are not constructively correct ; but if this design had been carried out with Englisli fan-tracery nothing could well be more beau- tiful. In jilan and dimensions tliis choir very nearly resembles Henry VII. 's Chapel at Westminster; but in design the German surpasses the Englisli example to a greater extent than it falls short of it in beauty of detail. St. Lawrence's Church at Nuremberg is a larger and better known example of the same class of design. It was commenced in 1275, and finished after 202 years' labor. The style of this church is con- sequently much more uniform; and though not large, being only 300 ft. long by 100 in width, its proportions are so good that it is a very beautiful and impressive example of the style. It is a little too late in its details, but beautiful in its arrangements. The view, standing by the pulpit and looking towards the east, is as poetic as that of St. Stephen's, and as spacious as that at Salzburg, The two rows of windows round the apse are a defect that might easily have been avoided, but which the beauty of the painted glass goes far to redeem. Externally, the western front, though on a small scale, only 250 ft. in height, is better proportioned and more ])leasing in its detail than almost any other double-spire facade in Germany than can be named. The real defect of the exterior is the overwhelming roof ot the nave and the want of external buttresses, which, with bold pinnacles, would have gone far to correct its heaviness. St. Sebald's Church at Nuremberg seems originally to have been a chevet turned the wrong way, to the eastern end of which a choir of somewhat exaggerated dimensions was added at a later age (1303- 1377). Tliis choir was not only placed unsymmetrically as regards the axis of the older part, but also as regards its own parts. It is, however, lofty and airy, with the same arrangement as to vaulting as the two last examples, but, being lighted by a single row of tall windows, it avoids tiie defect of the two-storied arrangement. These windows are 50 ft. high, and barely 8 ft. in width, which is far too narrow in proportion. Their mullions are nearly 40 ft. in lieiglit ; and, though triumphs of German masonic skill, are most unpleasing features of architectural design. When the Germans had once mastered this invention in vaultino* they applied it Avherever an opportunity presented itself, and in one instance at least, to a five-aisled basilica. It is true the church of St. Barbara at Kuttenberg,i in Bohemia, is only a fragment, but it is a very remarkable one. The building was apparently commenced about the year 1358, and completed, as far as we now see it, in 1548. See " Mittelalterliclie Kunstdenkiuale Ostereicbs," vol. i. p. 171.