French art, known as “Gothic”, in Beauvais
Born in Île-de-France in the 12th century, French art sought to let light into the building. In Beauvais, Saint-Pierre Cathedral and Saint-Étienne church offer two major expressions of it, from Rayonnant to Flamboyant Gothic.
An architecture designed for light
French art was born from a joint renewal of architecture and theology. Natural light became the symbol of divine light. As it passed through the narrative stained-glass windows, it took on colour and carried the word of God.
This architectural language would only be called “Gothic” in the 16th century, then in a pejorative sense. It was restored to favour by the Romantics in the 19th century.
The origins of French art
French art first appeared at the Abbey of Saint-Denis around 1135. Abbot Suger was one of the leading minds behind this new art, along with the architects of Saint-Étienne Cathedral in Sens.
Sens is considered the first Gothic cathedral. The first Gothic cathedral in Picardy is Noyon’s, begun around 1140. Amiens and Beauvais, whose vaults soar even higher, belong to the 13th century.
Saint-Pierre, the pinnacle of French art
In the 19th century, Viollet-le-Duc called Beauvais Cathedral the “Parthenon of French art”. Its choir vaults rise above 48 metres, and the ridge of its roof reaches around 63 metres.
The heaviest masonry is concentrated in the buttresses, while the walls are opened wide by large stained-glass bays. The 16th-century transept respects the older section while adding the delicacy of Flamboyant Gothic.
A gaze drawn towards the sky
The choir’s large windows spread light widely and naturally draw the eye upward. At every level, the openings lighten the construction and give the stone an apparent weightlessness.
This spectacular elevation makes the choir of Beauvais one of the boldest expressions of 13th-century Gothic architecture.
Stone coloured by stained glass
In the apse vaults, especially at sunset, the colours cast by the windows play across the stone and transform the space as the hours pass.
Light is therefore not just a means of illumination: it becomes an essential element of the architecture and of the building’s spiritual message.
The narrative stained-glass windows
The stained glass in the lower sections works like genuine stories told in pictures. They recount the life of Christ, the Virgin and the saints through scenes the faithful could read at a glance.
In the Lady Chapel, the window depicting Christ’s childhood shows the Nativity and the Visitation in particular. In the 16th century, the panels of the south rose took on the quality of true paintings on glass.
How does Gothic architecture gain height?
Ribbed vaulting, capitals, buttresses and flying buttresses form a coherent system that allows the vaults to rise while opening the walls up widely.
Ribbed vaulting
The ribs concentrate the loads and allow the vaults to be lightened between the load-bearing points.
Buttresses
Set perpendicular to the walls, they absorb the main thrusts of the building.
Flying buttresses
They carry the thrust of the vaults outward and free up the walls for the great windows.
Stained glass
The openings become surfaces of coloured glass, turning light into narrative and symbol.
Several centuries of rebuilding
In the apse, the 13th-century vault is original and was not affected by the 1284 collapse. The central section dates from the 14th century, after extra pillars were added.
Since the older bays had been divided, the vault became sexpartite. The first two bays were rebuilt at the end of the 16th century after the collapse of the lantern tower.
The capitals and the canopy
Gothic capitals are adorned with foliage that symbolises the canopy separating earth from heaven.
The earliest use simplified acanthus leaves shaped into palmettes. In the 13th century, sculptors observed nature more closely and carved oak, hawthorn or maple leaves.
The double flying buttresses
Flying buttresses carry the thrust of the vaults while still letting light reach the great windows.
In Beauvais, unlike in Amiens, the system is double: the lower arch absorbs the vault’s thrust, while the upper arch channels rainwater down to the base of the roof.
The gargoyles
Gargoyles carry rainwater away from the walls. They often take the shape of fantastical animals and, more rarely, human figures.
Exposed to the weather by both their shape and their function, they are among the most fragile sculptures. Many have been replaced since the Middle Ages.
The Flamboyant choir of Saint-Étienne
A Flamboyant architecture
Built in the 16th century, the choir stands out for its large bays, its decorative tracery and its softer, more intricate forms.
The contrast with the Romanesque nave
The choir, brightly lit by clear-glass windows, contrasts with the darker Romanesque nave. The chapels house the famous stained glass of the Beauvais workshops.
The Flamboyant keystones
The skill of 16th-century sculptors allowed for virtuoso compositions, in which the ribs and keystones become sculptures suspended in mid-air.
Stained glass at its height
Engrand Le Prince and his successors created true paintings on glass in Beauvais. The Tree of Jesse is among the most celebrated works of this period.
Explore Beauvais’s Gothic heritage
Saint-Pierre Cathedral and Saint-Étienne church trace several centuries in the evolution of French art, from the Rayonnant choir to Flamboyant Gothic.