An extraordinary development took place at this period in the erection of timber roofs. The skill and imagination of the car penter together with the conception of the figure and foliage carvers produced a wealth of grand architectural effects that has never been surpassed. The roof of Westminster Hall will for ever be a wonder for its construction and magnitude.
In England the type of work differs considerably in different parts of the country. There is a great deal of beautiful oak carving of this period to be seen in France, Germany and Flanders. In St. Paul's church at Abbeville, there is a beautiful reredos (Pl. V., fig. o) which is Flemish in character, illustrating the lace-like ef fect so often found in French carvings. Perhaps the most striking piece of work on account of its vast amount, its completeness, and its elaboration is the stalls at Amiens cathedral, which were begun in 15o8 and completed in 1522. One characteristic feature of French Gothic tracery carving is that the section is often but little more than a chamfer and when there is a double order it is often made by dividing the chamfer by a square incision. Most of the foliage carving is expressed by the use of the gouge, that is to say it is composed of broad hollows. In German work the tendency
is for the designs to be more intricate and to contain less breadth and freedom in the carving. Most of this work is very much undercut and the chief aim appears to have been definition of outline and strong shadows.
At the end of the 15th century Renaissance influence begins to make its appearance, and although the structural parts of wood work remain purely Gothic in design, it is in the carvings that the innovation first makes its presence known. The four oak panels (Pl. VI.) are dated 154o and indicate the effect the new style is beginning to have on the carver. The suggestion is that carvers were introduced from Flanders with which there was constant intercourse in connection with the trade in wool, and it is from this source that the splendid traditions of the Gothic period were undermined. When the fashion for this new form of art took hold of the popular imagination, the end of Gothic was not far off ; although tradition born of centuries is hard to kill; for it was not quite dead until the middle of the sixteenth century. (See also SCULPTURE TECHNIQUE: Wood-carving; GOTHIC ART.) (L. A. T.)