Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 11.djvu/359

NOTICES OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL PUBLICATIONS. 301 very different character ; of these St. Front at Perigueux appears to be the earliest and most remarkable example (See Woodcut, No. IV.) It is evidently copied from St. Mark's at Venice, with the exception that the arches carrying the domes are pointed instead of circular. Any one who is acquainted with the history of English architecture alone, will be startled at finding that this church, containing pointed arches, is confidently asserted to have been begun in 984, and dedicated in 1047. Mr. Petit, however, informs us, that the pointed barrel roof is found in the south of France in buildings of the Xlth, and even, perhaps, of the Xth century. In St. Front, it would appear that it is only in the " arch compartments," which are really portions of barrel roofs, that the pointed arch occurs. The church of St. Etienne, in the Cite, at Perigueux, which is said to have been begun in 1013, and consecrated on the same day as St. Front, in 1047, preserves the original form of the exterior, the domes being visible instead of being hidden by the roof, as in the latter church (See Woodcut, No. VI.) The higher and more conspicuous of them, is, however, not of the earlier period, but a careful restoration, in the XVIth century, of a part of the church constructed in the Xllth. A fine example of the later period of this style is to be found in the cathedral of Angouleme ; in Mr. .J. H. Parker's opinion, it is clearly an imitation of St. Front, at Perigueux ; it was built between 1101 and 1136. The massive arches which support the central dome,^ and the fine range of windows in the drum are very impressive. (See Woodcut, No. VII.) Although not in strictness an example of the third or Angevine style, the collegiate church of St. Ours, at Loches, is so remarkable a building, that we cannot omit to notice it. Mr. Petit says of it, " If we consider, with M. de Verneilh, that there is a connection between the roofs of Perigord, which consist of a series of domes, and the domical cross vaultings of Anjou, this church is interesting as a kind of link between the two. It certainly occupies an intermediate position in point of date, for it is later than the earliest specimens of the Perigueux dome, and earlier than the Angevine vaultings. To what extent it was influenced by the one, or exercised influence on the other, it is impossible to say, but it cannot be passed over by any one who wishes to enter fully into the examination of the two different styles." (See Woodcuts, Nos. X. and XI.) The nave, it will be seen, consists of " two square compartments, each covered by an octagonal pyramid of stone, the same shell of stone forming both the exterior and interior roof." We cannot do more than glance at the numerous examples of buildings of lesser, but still great interest, of which Mr. Petit has given us notes and engravings ; as an example of these, we will, however, refer to the church of Civray (See Woodcut, No. V.), with a singularly picturesque octagonal central tower, and as beautiful examples of detail of a period not far from ^ See a paper in the 35th vol. of the work, " L' Architecture Byzantine en Archseologia, by Mr. J. H. Parker, where France." The .3rd part of the 14th vol. of both this church and St. Fi'ont are the AnnalesArcheoiogiques contains a very described at some length. interesting paper by the same author on ^ In Mr. Digby Wyatt's Handbook to the French churches of the Byzantine the Byzantine Court of the Crystal Palace school. is an engraving representing the exterior * A good engraving of the inferior is of St. Front ill its supposed original state, given in Mr. Parker's paper mentioned taken most jn'ob.ibly from M. de Verneiih's above.