Cathedral design

Category

Library Item

Item no

43420

Title

Cathedral design

Description

Image from James Grant's sketchbook, print numbered 381.

Artist / maker

Grant, James

Date

1846

Type

Watercolour

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

James Grant was working in architecture at a time when there was a growing demand for new churches in Scotland due to population expansion and suburban developments. Also, in the 18th and 19th century divisions in the Established Church of Scotland resulted in separate Presbyterian denominations which required their own chapels, and new churches were being constructed for the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Roman Catholic Church. The most popular style for all of them, and that favoured by Grant, was medieval gothic.

The style Grant has chosen here for his design for the west front of a cathedral is one which he would not find many examples of in his native country: late medieval Perpendicular gothic. This design, dated 1846, has highly decorative stonemasonry and carvings; at the bottom are three doorways and above the central doorway is one large five light window with spectacular tracery, while there are two smaller four light windows on either side. The design culminates in two large symmetrical towers topped by spires. The design was not actually constructed.

In the 19th century a number of European countries constructed new cathedrals in the gothic style, many of which had two symmetrical towers at their west front with four floors and topped by spires, making them very similar to Grant's design. A famous German example is Cologne Cathedral, the towers and spires of which were only constructed between 1842 and 1880. Sainte-Clotilde Basilica in Paris, Regensburg Cathedral in Germany and the Votive Church in Vienna are other examples of mid-19th century cathedrals with similar towers. It is clear that Grant wanted to bring this continental style of cathedral, originating in the late medieval period and revived in the 19th century, to Scotland, which traditionally had much more modest religious buildings.

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Related subjects

Architecture > Architectural features > Doors and doorways

Architecture > Architectural features > Steeples

Architecture > Architectural features > Towers

Architecture > Architectural features > Tracery windows

Religion > Religious facilities > Cathedrals

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