. The story of architecture: an outline of the styles in all countries. MENT. 341 A form which admits of no explanation orwhich is mere caprice can not be beautiful, saysthe master,* but the architects of the fifteenth cen-tury knew not this truth, and toward the end of theperiod all the bolder linesbecame fused in the heatedimagination of these spend-thrifts in art, resulting ina meaningless mass, with-out character, without pur-pose, and with none of theexultant vigour of earlydays. Meanwhile, carved foli-age had been growingmore and more realisticand less decorative invalue, until after a t
. The story of architecture: an outline of the styles in all countries. MENT. 341 A form which admits of no explanation orwhich is mere caprice can not be beautiful, saysthe master,* but the architects of the fifteenth cen-tury knew not this truth, and toward the end of theperiod all the bolder linesbecame fused in the heatedimagination of these spend-thrifts in art, resulting ina meaningless mass, with-out character, without pur-pose, and with none of theexultant vigour of earlydays. Meanwhile, carved foli-age had been growingmore and more realisticand less decorative invalue, until after a time itwas tortured into formsentirely inconsistent, withstone as a material. Theleaves were crumpled,twisted, and undercut (), crockets often resem-bled cabbages, and capitals took on the shape of degagewreaths bound loosely around the attenuated piers. Occasionally the arch mouldings were carried di-rectly down the shafts, unbroken by any capitalwhatsoever, for the sake of greater apparent height ;but, as a rule, this arrangement was too simple Fig. 138.—Flamboyant doorway. * Viollet-Leduc. 342 THE GOTHIC STYLE.
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