Byzantine and Romanesque architecture . e,at Notre Dame du Port, are queerly fashioned as if theyhad been of wood, and the carpenter had begun to sinkthe sides, leaving a bracket in the middle, but had leftoff before cutting out the curled shavings resulting fromthe operation of his chisel. Some such incident of theworkshop probably suggested the design. This fancy 9—2 132 FRANCE—AUVERGNE [ch. xxiii NotreDame duPort,Clermont however is not peculiar to Auvergne. Corbels with thesecurious curled sides occur in the cornice of the church ofS. Radegond in the outskirts of Tours, and in that of thea
Byzantine and Romanesque architecture . e,at Notre Dame du Port, are queerly fashioned as if theyhad been of wood, and the carpenter had begun to sinkthe sides, leaving a bracket in the middle, but had leftoff before cutting out the curled shavings resulting fromthe operation of his chisel. Some such incident of theworkshop probably suggested the design. This fancy 9—2 132 FRANCE—AUVERGNE [ch. xxiii NotreDame duPort,Clermont however is not peculiar to Auvergne. Corbels with thesecurious curled sides occur in the cornice of the church ofS. Radegond in the outskirts of Tours, and in that of theancient baptistery of S. Leonard near Limoges. The church of Notre Dame du Port, at Cler-mont-Ferrand, is the best known example of theseAuvergnat buildings, and exhibits all the local pecu-liarities that have been mentioned. It is cruciform, andthe transepts are broken in height to form the shoulderor base for the tower over the crossing^ which containsan octagonal dome on squinches (Fig. 104). The nave NOTEE DAME PUPORT CLEMOMT f^. SCALE or rczr Fig. 104 (). has a barrel vault; the arches are plain and square insection without mouldings, and the piers are square withan attached shaft on all four sides, of which that towardsthe nave runs up as if to carry a transverse arch whichhowever is wanting. The aisles are lofty and are cross-groined with transverse ribs from each pier to attachedwall-shafts. The triforium is covered with the half-barrel, or quadrant vault described above ; small slits giveit light, and it opens to the nave with triple arcading of ^ This tower is a modern restoration, though a very satisfactory one. Ihave seen an old print which shows nothing above the roofs of nave andtransepts but a small wooden belfry. Plate CXVIl
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Keywords: ., bookauthorjacksont, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1913
