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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: TOO-TUM |
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TRACERY , a late coined word from " trace," track, Lat. trahere, to draw; the term given in architecture (French equivalents are reseau, remplissage) to the intersecting rib-work in the upper part of a Gothic window; applied also to the interlaced work of a vault, or on walls, in panels and in tabernacle work or screens. The tracery in windows is usually divided into two sections, plate tracery and rib or bar tracery, the latter rising out of the former, and entirely superseding it in the geometrical, flowing and rectilineal designs. The windows of the Early English period were comparatively narrow slits, and were sometimes grouped together under a single enclosing ,arch; the piercing of the tympanum of this arch with a circular light produced what is known as plate tracery, which is found in windows of the late 12th century, as in St Maurice, York
Kent; the other portions were pierced; and finally, to give more importance to the principal lights, additional depth was given to their mouldings, so that they gradually developed into bar or rib tracery, of which the earliest examples in England are those in Westminster Abbey (c. 1250) and Netley Abbey near Southampton. Henceforth that which is described in architecture as the " element " ruled the 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 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 great east window at Lincoln, with eight lights, there was a 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 scale. The next development, which would seem to have taken place in Gloucester 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 Carlisle Cathedral is the most important example. In this window there are nine lights, the four 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 style which followed might. perhaps be considered as a reaction against the abuse of the flowing lines in masonry, were it not that in the earlier examples it appears timidly. At Edington church in Wiltshire (1361), in a five-light window, the centre light is wider than the others and its mullions run straight up into the arch mould. In New College chapel, Oxford (1386), the head of the window is sub-divided into narrow 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 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 spire-lights, viz. the transom. In the later Perpendicular work another 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 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 wire- drawn
wake
Among the most glorious features in the Gothic architecture of France, England and Spain are the immense 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 west front (1225), and in England in those of Barfreston in Kent (118o) and Beverley Minster in 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 north transept is a compromise between the two, as all the lights are cut out independently and in one plane, but there are mouldings round each connected with flowers
interest
The tracery decorating the vault of Gothic work began on the introduction of the fan vault at Gloucester (see VAULT); it was only a surface decoration, both rib and web being cut out of the same block
In tabernacle work the tracery is purely of a decorative character, copied in miniature from the mullions, arch-moulds and crockets of Gothic work. Some of the most beautiful examples of tracery are those on the rood screens of churches, either in stone as in the Jube of the Madeleine at Troyes, or in wood as in the rood screens of the churches in East Anglia and in Somersetshire; and with this must be included that which was introduced into the panelling of church doors, 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 King's College, Cambridge , and afterwards in the Jacobean style, in the church at Croxcombe near Shepton Mallet, and the church of St John at Leeds, the two latter ranking as the best work of that late period. (R. P. S. )End of Article: TRACERY If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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