Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 5.djvu/335

MEDIEVAL ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE. 247 of tlie adininible restorations of I^a Sainte Chapelle, and of the catliedral of Notre Dame, still in progress under the direction of the same able architect and learned archjBologist, who has succeeded in persuading the republican government to continue the works for the sake of keeping so many men employed on a work which must redound to the honour and credit of the French nation. Manu.vl d'Architfxture Reltgieuse ATI MoYEN Age, resume de la doctrine des meilleurs auteurs, par M. J. F. A. Peyrc, seconde edition enrichie de figures explicatives par M. Tony Desjardins. Paris, Didron, 12mo. 212 pages and 24 steel plates, 6s. Although called a second edition, this is practically a new work ; the first edition was printed at Lyons in 1843 for private circulation only. The author modestly describes his work as a condensation of the longer and more elaborate treatises on Gothic Architecture which have appeared of late years in France, such as the " Histoire de 1' Architecture reli^ieuse au Moyen Age par M. De Caumont," the earliest and still the best, like our own Rickman, to whom ^I. De Caumont would be the first to acknowledge his obligations; the " Instructions du Comite Historique," the works of Merimee, Bourasse, Daniel Ramee, Batissier, Schmit, Vietty, Devie, Joseph Bond, and others, and the valuable series of papers by M. Viollet-Leduc, which have appeared in Didron's Annales, and others in De Caumont's Bulletin. A condensation of these works could hardly fail to be valuable, but M. Peyre has not confined himself to the labours of others ; having formed his common-place book from their works, he has proceeded to verify the facts by the buildings themselves, and assisted by a young architect of great promise, M. Desjardins, he has illustrated them by a number of examples extremely well chosen, carefully drawn, and neatly engraved in outline. A great part of these illustrations are from original drawings, previously unpublished, selected chiefly from the south of France, whilst most of the previous works are almost entirely confined to the north. This makes the work especially valuable to English readers who wish to compare the architecture of France with that of their own country, and to see how far the same divisions and the same names can be applied. The conclusion we have long since arrived at, and which is confirmed by this work, is that they cannot, that the natural divisions are so distinct both in date and in character, that nothing but confusion can result from the attempt to mix up the English and French styles under the common character of Early, Middle, and Late Pointed ; each country has in fact a distinct style of its own at each period, and it is far more really scientific to call them by distinct names, the sup- posed simplicity of the proposed new nomenclature is a mere affectation of science. The Romanesque style of the south of France, which our author shews to have continued in use to the end of the thirteenth century, is quite distinct trom our Norman, and much more resembles the Byzantine style ; the later styles are also suflSciently distinct, as exemplified by the elevations of bays and sections of aisles and buttresses here given, which notwith-