Tracery

The term ‘Tracery’ refers to the stone element used to hold glass in Gothic windows.

Plate Tracery The earliest form of Tracery, 12^th century, is the process of cutting shapes through solid masonry.

Bar Tracery Introduced in the middle of the 13^th century, Bar Tracery has patterns involving intersecting rib-work built up from the mullions. Other types include;

• Curvilinear Tracery 14^th Century style includes the uninterruption of flowing curves.

• Geometrical Tracery Typical of the late 13^th early 14^th century, simple shapes like circles used in the high end of the window and the lancets.

• Intersecting Tracery Typical of the 13^th century, formed by interlocking mullions each branching off into two curved bars of the same radius but from different centres.

• Loop Tracery Typical of the early 15^th century, the form involved large uncusped loops.

• Panel Tracery Transoms added horizontally to create even panel divisions.

• Reticulated Tracery Typical of the early 14^th century, makes use of the Ogee arch (double curves, shaped somewhat like an S) to create net patterns.

• Y-Tracery Typical of the 13^th century, the rib work branches off in to a Y shape.

Blind and Open Tracery As Bar Tracery opened the way for more complex patterns, Masons started to apply these patterns to things other than window openings, when used on solid walls, Blind Tracery can be used as openwork screens either matching existing window tracery of creating a visual counterpoint, featuring heavily in Rayonnant Gothic.

Islamic influence

The multilobed arches and complex compound arches found atop the columns in the Tracery is an example of architectural influence from Islamic forms in developing the Gothic Tracery. Mosques and fortresses were converted into Churches and Christian castles as the Recoquista spread through Spain, and its this pattern of conversion that led to the incorporation of Islamic elements to Gothic Christian Architecture.

Venetian Gothic

The Venetian Gothic style originated in Venice in the 14^th century, integrated with Byzantine styles from Constantinople. The style used Gothic lancet arch with Byzantine and Moorish architecture influences.

At a time when the Upper Class were funding new churches and houses for themselves, monks were bringing with them the Gothic style to Venice churches from mainland Italy.

Unique characteristics to the Venetian Gothic style, compared to other European cities was a desire for lightness and grace in a structure, Venice land proved valuable due to vast canals running through the city and so weight and size of structures were never more than what was needed.

Traceries in Venetian Gothic were constructed to support the whole weight of the building alluding to the extreme weightlessness of the building as a whole, where as in Northern Gothic construction they were only made to support stained glass.

During the 14-15^th centuries the proportion in the central hall became a major aspect of the Venetian Gothic. The hall know as the Portego, evolved into a long passageway often opened by a loggia of Gothic arches.

Good architecture reveals different things about itself at varying distances.