La première architecture gothique dans la Gascogne des Plantagenêt

Abstract

The introduction of Gothic architecture in the Bordeaux region and Gascony took place in the last decades of the 12th century. Thus it is previous to the first monuments of the new style in the Toulouse region. Until about 1230, the use of rib-vaulting and the changes in sculptured decoration took on special characteristics : the permanence of older designs, with single-naved or basilica-shaped plans, ribs in the Angevine or Cistercian style, obsolescent tendencies, for instance manifested in the taste for sexpartite vaulting. The sculpture sometimes evinces connections with the Angevine style, but often adopts characteristic forms of its own : An austere style or heavy foliage ornementation, a frequent use of faces, masks and heads for capital decoration.