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Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone bars or ribs of moulding. [1] Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support the glass in a window.
A second important feature was the iron work. In early windows, before the introduction of stone tracery, the leaded panels of glass were inserted into an iron lattice or framework of upright and horizontal bars forming squares. The framework became a part of the design.
The oldest is the Dean's Window in the north transept, which dates to 1220–1235. It is an example of an Early English plate-tracery rose window. The geometric design, with concentric tiers of circular window lights, predates the geometric tracery of the later decorated style of Gothic architecture.
As the windows became larger and larger, this led to the development of tracery, a network of stone ribs or mullions, reinforced by iron bars, that framed the lights, or sections of glass. [38] Early Gothic windows were small, and each light was set into a separate opening of the stone wall.
Tracery is the term for the intricate designs of slender stone bars and ribs which were used to support the glass and to decorate rose windows and other windows and openings. It also was used increasingly on exterior and interior walls, in the form of stone ribs or molding, to create increasingly intricate forms such as blind arcades.
The flamboyant tracery designs are the most characteristic feature of the Flamboyant style. [58] They appeared in the stone mullions, the framework of windows, particularly in the great rose windows of the period, and in complex, pointed, blind arcades and arched gables that were stacked atop one another, and which often covered the entire façade.
One important innovation was introduced in this period; the use of bar tracery to separate the pieces of glass in the windows. The earliest Gothique Classique cathedrals, including Chartres Cathedral, used plate tracery, by which the opening for the glass was cut into a stone slab or plate. This required relatively small panes of glass which ...
Tracery was a major feature of decoration. In the larger churches, the entire surface from ground to summit, including the battlements, was covered with panels of tracery composed of thin stone mullions. It also appeared frequently in the interior, and often carried the designs in the window tracery down to the floor. [21]