Thursday, July 2, 2020 –
Okay, back to Church Architecture, specifically the fancy-fancy of Gothic architecture. Today we are going to cover…wait for iiiiiittttt…WINDOWS! Yup, we are going to go over three of the most Gothic-y windows that a Gothic Church can have: the rose window, the oculus window, and the lancet window. And, for good measure, we will go over “tracery.” Ooh la la! Now THAT is fancy-fancy!
Rose Window: in terms of windows, you cannot get more Gothic than the rose window! This is a large, circular window made up of many smaller parts and is usually found above the West entrance (this is where our Church’s is located…in the choir loft) or in the North and South transepts.
The rose window came from the oculus window (see below), but with the advent of tracery (also below) and the Gothic style of bigger and better, they grew to enormous heights. Instead of being a single window pane, a rose window is made up of many smaller windows that form sort-of rose petals, radiating outward from a central, round window.
Often, these windows are dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God. However, they can and do depict many things: the Last Judgement (often on the West window); Apostles; Saints; Angels; etc. In our Church, our rose window depicts the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus in the center. It has ten “petal” windows that depict the Guardian Angels and the nine Choirs of Angels: Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels, and Angels.
Oculus Window: oculus is Latin for “eye,” and it (i.e. “oculus”) was used to denote any circular opening that let in light. Think of the big opening in the roof of the Pantheon. Okay, so **technically** an oculus is part of Romanesque architecture and became popular again in Baroque architecture (i.e. post Gothic). However, it did carry over a bit into Gothic architecture and was the launch pad, so to speak, of the rose window. Sometimes above doorways or at the top of lancet windows (again…below) there will be a small round window. These are rightly called oculus windows.
Lancet Window: these are the tall, narrow windows with pointed tops. It looks like a lance, hence the name lancet window. They can be single windows, done in pairs with an oculus window at top, or in groups. The point (heh…see what I did there!?) is that they are tall, pointed windows with little or no tracery (below). They usually depict Saints or Bible stories. Our three lancet-style windows—although a bit wider and squattier than the typical lancet—we purchased for the South transept of our Church depict the events of Holy Thursday.
Tracery: this is the ornamental stonework that divides windows into smaller chunks. With the use of tracery, windows were able to be build bigger with more intricate designs. There are two main types of tracery: plate tracery and bar tracery.
Plate tracery has heavy ornamental stonework, kind of like a giant plate. The light (AKA glass panes) “pierce” the stonework. These windows look heavy and do not let in as much light as bar tracery.
Bar tracery has “bar-like” stonework molded around larger panes of glass. It is a more delicate looking window that lets in greater light.
In terms of windows, Gothic architecture really focused on pointed arches, large (I mean HUGE) spaces, and lots of light. The goal was to bring more light in, but also to really to show the heavenly in our Churches. By filtering the light through massive stain-glassed windows, the Church has an almost ethereal (other worldly, heavenly) quality. Likewise, the windows were used to tell Bible stories and pictorially present the Faith to those gathered for Mass.
That’s it for today. Tomorrow we will go into another nitty-gritty: doors! Oh, I can hardly wait!
Blood of Christ, the Word of God made flesh, save us!
