iir. PIERS AND COLU.MNS.

975
Fig. 1072
view might pass for mere unmeaning orniii.cfnts, hut will he found
explicable upon this system of interpenetraiion." Fig. 1072, "is a
vindow from a house near Koinne, at the base of whose njullions,
knol)s may he observed, which really represent the Gothic base of
a
square mullion on the same plinth with the hollow chamfered muUion,
and interpenetrating with it." Tiie Professor also states that,
"
it may
perhaps be found that this character belongs to one period, or one
district, of the Flamboyant style;
"
but from our own observation, we
are inclined to believe it to have been universal from the middle of the
fifteenth century to tlie period when the style of the Renaissance super-
seded it. The principles on which it is conducted certainly prevailed
in Germany and in the Low Countries, as Professor Willis afterwards states. A notion
to what extent it proceeded may be perceived i)y
fig.
1073, taken from ftlijller's Deuknuikr
der Deutschen Bau-
k'lnst, 1821, and ex-
\
/"---=
\
.-X
liibits on the i)lan
a
series of interferences
contrived with great
ingenuity and a cnn-
sumniate acquaint-
ance with practical
geometry. Tiie sub-
,
ject is the plan of a
tabernacle, or canopy,
such as is not un-
frequent in churches
on the Continent. It
shows, says IMuller,
how the simjjle and
severe architecture of
the 13th and 14th
centuries had been
debased. The square
BCDE is the com-
mencing figure.
A comparison of
English and French
mouldings has been
made, with illustra-
tions, by the Rev. J.
L. Petit, in his work, ^
", ~''^"---'--.
/'
'**
Architectural Studies .
*
tn France, 8vo. 1854,
page 141. Of course Viollet le "Due's Dictionnaire has now become a well of information
on this as on many other details. Some few examples are given at the end of the ensuing
chapter of this Book. Venetian details have been carefully elucidated by J.
lluskin, in
Stones
of
Venice, Vol. Ill
,
1853, wherein
pp.
221-249 are devoted to the examination in
succession of the bnses. doorways and jambs, capitals, archivolts, cornices, and tracery
bars, of Venetian arciiitecture. We do not, iiowever, perceive tiiat any scale or dinieiisloa
is given to the examples illustrated, the absence of which materially lessens the useful-
ness of the examples. German details may be sought in IMolier's work before quoted
;
in King, Study Book
of
Medicecal Architecture and Art, 1860; in Statz. Ungewitter, and
Kiechensperger, Co/ZiiC Model Book, 1859
;
and in HoHstadt, Gothisches ADC buck, 1840.
D^------
V^._
Sect. IV.
PIERS AND COLUMNS.
The general plans of the piers supporting the principal arches are either simple or com-
pound : simple, when composed o['onei)lain member; and comjjound, when coiisisiing of
a core surrounded by smaller shafts, detached or engaged. Piers of the earliest period
for carrying walls were .square, as at the cathedral at Worms. 'J'hese were relieved i)y
engaged shafts, as in
fig.
1074. In the 12th century the shaft begins to take the
form on its plan of a Greek cross
(^fig.
1075.),
with engaged colunuis ia its angles as
well as on its principal faces.
For the benefit of those making surveys of l)uildings, we think it useful to sulyoin
the following recommendation from the "llemaiks"of Professor Willis:

" in making