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TRACERY

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 116 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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TRACERY , a See also:

late coined word from " trace," track, See also:Lat. trahere, to draw; the See also:term given in See also:architecture (See also:French equivalents are reseau, remplissage) to the intersecting See also:rib-See also:work in the upper See also:part of a See also:Gothic window; applied also to the interlaced work of a vault, or on walls, in panels and in See also:tabernacle work or screens. The tracery in windows is usually divided into two sections, See also:plate tracery and rib or See also:bar tracery, the latter rising out of the former, and entirely superseding it in the geometrical, flowing and rectilineal designs. The windows of the See also:Early See also:English See also:period were comparatively narrow slits, and were sometimes grouped together under a single enclosing ,See also:arch; the piercing of the tympanum of this arch with a circular See also:light produced what is known as plate tracery, which is found in windows of the late 12th See also:century, as in St See also:Maurice, See also:York, but became more See also:common in the first See also:half of the 13th century. In See also:England the opening pierced in the See also:head was comparatively small, its See also:diameter never exceeding the width of one of the windows below, but in See also:France it occupied the full width of the enclosing arch and was filled with cusping, and sometimes, as in See also:Chartres, with crisping in the centre and a See also:series of small quatrefoils See also:round, all pierced on one See also:plane See also:face. In See also:order further to enrich the mullions and See also:arches of the window, they were moulded, as in See also:Stowe See also:church, See also:Kent; the other portions were pierced; and finally, to give more importance to the See also:principal See also:lights, additional See also:depth was given to their See also:mouldings, so that they gradually See also:developed into bar or rib tracery, of which the earliest examples in England are those in See also:Westminster See also:Abbey (c. 1250) and See also:Netley Abbey near See also:Southampton. Henceforth that which is described in architecture as the " See also:element " ruled the See also:design of the window, and led to the development of geometrical tracery, in which the bars or ribs are all about equidistant from one another. In windows of three lights the heads of the windows .consisted of three circular openings, but with four lights they were grouped in two pairs, with a single circle over each and a larger one at the See also:top in the centre. This led to increased dimensions being given to the moulding of the enclosing arches and the upper circle, forming virtually two planes in the tracery. In the See also:great See also:east window at See also:Lincoln, with eight lights, there was a See also:double subdivision and three planes, and here the upper circle was filled with semicircles, so that the openings were all about the same width. In France the upper circle always maintained its predominance, its subdivisions only retaining the See also:scale. The next development, which would seem to have taken See also:place in See also:Gloucester See also:Cathedral, was the omission of portions of the enclosing circle, so as to allow the ribs to run one into the other, forming therefore lines of double curvature, and giving rise to what is known as flowing or flamboyant tracery, of which the great window in See also:Carlisle Cathedral is the most important example.

In this window there are nine lights, the four See also:

outer ones in each rib being grouped together; these were not sub-divided again, and consequently there are only two planes of tracery. The Perpendicular See also:style which followed might. perhaps be considered as a reaction against the abuse of the flowing lines in See also:masonry, were it not that in the earlier examples it appears timidly. At Edington church in See also:Wiltshire (1361), in a five-light window, the centre light is wider than the others and its mullions run straight up into the arch See also:mould. In New See also:College See also:chapel, See also:Oxford (1386), the head of the window is sub-divided into narrow See also:vertical lights, each half the width of those below, and this is followed in some counties, but not in all, in the east of England the flamboyant tracery being retained a century later. In St See also:Mary's church, Oxford, with seven lights, all the mullions run straight up into the arch mould, and another feature is introduced, already found in New College chapel, and at a much earlier date in domestic work and in See also:spire-lights, viz. the See also:transom. In the later Perpendicular work another See also:change takes place; the pointed arch struck from two centres is replaced by one struck from four centres, and this eventually in domestic work is superseded by the See also:flat arch. So far reference has been made only to that which may be called the " element " of the window. The enrichment of the lights with cusping gave additional beauty to them, took away the hard See also:wire-See also:drawn effect of the mouldings, and formed openings of great variety; in some of the windows of the Decorated period the See also:ball See also:flower and other foliage is introduced into the mouldings. In French work the geometrical style lasted till the 14th century, and then there was a See also:lapse in See also:building, so that the flamboyant style which followed, and from which at one See also:time it was assumed that the English See also:mason had derived the style, was apparently taken up by the French after its See also:abandonment in England in favour of Perpendicular work. See also:Germany and See also:Spain have always followed in the See also:wake of the French ; and in See also:Italy, where architects preferred to decorate their walls with frescoes, the light from stained See also:glass interfered with their effect, so that there was no demand for huge windows or their subdivision with mullions. At the same time there are many beautiful examples of tracery in Italy, generally in See also:marble, such as those of See also:Giotto's Campanile and the cathedral at See also:Florence, in the Ducal and other palaces at See also:Venice, and in the See also:triforium arcades of See also:Pisa and See also:Siena cathedrals; but they destroyed its effect by the insertion of small capitals to the mullions, which gave See also:horizontal lines where they were not wanted, virtually dividing the window into two parts instead of emphasizing, as was done in the Perpendicular period, the verticality of the .mullions. Among the most glorious features in the Gothic architecture of France, England and Spain are the immense See also:rose windows which were introduced, generally speaking, in the transepts of the cathedrals; the tracery of these follows on the lines of those of the windows, changing from geometrical to Decorated and afterwards to flamboyant.

In some respects perhaps the finest examples of plate-tracery were produced in the rose windows of the 13th century. Thus in France in the rose window of Chartres in the See also:

west front (1225), and in England in those of Barfreston in Kent (118o) and See also:Beverley See also:Minster in See also:Yorkshire (1220), plate-tracery of such great beauty is found that it is unfortunate it should have been entirely superseded by rib-tracery. The rose window of Lincoln Cathedral in the See also:north See also:transept is a See also:compromise between the two, as all the lights are cut out independently and in one plane, but there are mouldings round each connected with See also:flowers; in its design and effect this window is far See also:superior to the flamboyant circular window in the See also:south transept. Sometimes a rose window is arranged in the upper portion of an See also:ordinary window, as in the west front of See also:Lichfield Cathedral, and this is constantly found in those of the transepts of the French cathedrals. In the south of Italy, at See also:Bari, See also:Bitonto and Troja, and at See also:Orvieto and See also:Assisi, farther north, there are examples of rose windows, but inferior in design to French and English work, though elaborated with See also:carving. The revival of the 16th century was fatal so far as tracery was concerned; in the place of the flamboyant work of the last phase of Gothic in France semicircular and elliptical curves with poor mouldings were introduced, and the elaborate cusping which gave such See also:interest to the light was omitted altogether, as in St Eustache, See also:Paris. There is, however, one remark-able example in the church of Le See also:Grand Andely, in See also:Normandy, dating from the See also:Henri II. period, in which a return was made to the tracery of the 13th century; but the introduction of See also:Renaissance details in the place of the cusping is not altogether satisfactory, though the See also:general design is See also:fine. The tracery decorating the vault of Gothic work began on the introduction of the See also:fan vault at Gloucester (see VAULT); it was only a See also:surface decoration, both rib and See also:web being cut out of the same See also:block of See also:stone, and it received further development in the various phases which followed. In the later Perpendicular work the walls and buttresses were all panelled with See also:blank tracery, the most See also:complete example of which is found in See also:Henry VIi.'s chapel, Westminster Abbey. In tabernacle work the tracery is purely of a decorative See also:character, copied in See also:miniature from the mullions, arch-moulds and crockets of Gothic work. Some of the most beautiful examples of tracery are those on the See also:rood screens of churches, either in stone as in the See also:Jube of the Madeleine at See also:Troyes, or in See also:wood as in the rood screens of the churches in East Anglia and in See also:Somersetshire; and with this must be included that which was introduced into the panelling of church doors, See also:choir stalls and other church fittings; this was continued, first in the early Renaissance of the 16th century, the finest examples being those of the stalls of See also:King's College, See also:Cambridge, and afterwards in the Jacobean style, in the church at Croxcombe near Shepton See also:Mallet, and the church of St See also:John at See also:Leeds, the two latter ranking as the best work of that late period. (R.

P. S.

End of Article: TRACERY

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