DECORATED
Abbreviation: Dec
c.1240 - c.1350
Gothic gets fancy
Decorated Gothic marks the beginning of an age of experimentation and creativity in building. The development of bar tracery in France in the 1240’s allowed for an elegant masonry embellishment to windows and created multiple compartments for stained glass. On a structural note, the windows could grow larger with mullions (vertical stone bars) and transepts (horizontal bars) aiding support. Ribbed vaults became increasingly complex in their design as masons grew in confidence, creating designs that range from the intricately ordered, such as at Canterbury Cathedral, to the ‘crazy’ vault at Lincoln Cathedral - the first vault with a longitudinal rib, to the down-right bizarre vaulting at Prague Castle.
The development of Dec. can be seen through the various tracery styles:
Decorated Gothic marks the beginning of an age of experimentation and creativity in building. The development of bar tracery in France in the 1240’s allowed for an elegant masonry embellishment to windows and created multiple compartments for stained glass. On a structural note, the windows could grow larger with mullions (vertical stone bars) and transepts (horizontal bars) aiding support. Ribbed vaults became increasingly complex in their design as masons grew in confidence, creating designs that range from the intricately ordered, such as at Canterbury Cathedral, to the ‘crazy’ vault at Lincoln Cathedral - the first vault with a longitudinal rib, to the down-right bizarre vaulting at Prague Castle.
The development of Dec. can be seen through the various tracery styles:
Geometric
c.1240 - c. 1290
Advocates geometric arrangement of circles and lines, and tends to have and ordered, repetitive feel to it. Multiple cusps create trefoils, quatrefoils and cinquefoils. The first English example can be seen at the East end of Westminster Abbey, which was begun in 1245.
c.1240 - c. 1290
Advocates geometric arrangement of circles and lines, and tends to have and ordered, repetitive feel to it. Multiple cusps create trefoils, quatrefoils and cinquefoils. The first English example can be seen at the East end of Westminster Abbey, which was begun in 1245.
Intersecting
c.1240 - c. 1350
Tracery made up of multiple curves which share the same radius.
c.1240 - c. 1350
Tracery made up of multiple curves which share the same radius.
Reticulated
c.1240 - c. 1350
Tracery has a soft, honeycomb pattern.
Curvilinear
c.1290 - c.1350
Tracery shows complex designs that are flowing and natural.