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Flamboyant () is a lavishly decorated style of Gothic architecture that appeared in France and Spain in the 15th century, and lasted until the mid-sixteenth century and the beginning of the Renaissance.Encyclopedia Britannica, "Flamboyant style" (by subscription), accessed April 2024 Elaborate stone tracery covered both the exterior and the interior. Windows were decorated with a characteristic s-shaped curve. Masonry wall space was reduced further as windows grew even larger. Major examples included the northern spire of Chartres Cathedral, Trinity Abbey, Vendôme, and Burgos Cathedral and Segovia Cathedral in Spain. It was gradually replaced by Renaissance architecture in the 16th century.
The style was particularly popular in Continental Europe. In the 15th and 16th centuries, architects and masons in the Kingdom of France, the Crown of Castile, the Duchy of Milan, and Central Europe exchanged expertise through theoretical texts, architectural drawings, and travel, and spread the use of Flamboyant ornament and design across Europe. Notable examples of Flamboyant style are the west rose window of Sainte-Chapelle (1485–1498); the west porch of the Church of Saint-Maclou, Rouen, (c.1500–1514); the west front of Troyes Cathedral (early 16th century), and a very early example, the upper tracery of Great West Window of York Minster (1338–1339) in England. Further major examples include the chapel of the Constable of Castile () at Burgos Cathedral (1482–94); Notre-Dame de l'Épine, Champagne; the north spire of Chartres Cathedral (1500s–); and Segovia Cathedral (1525–).
The Late Gothic style appeared in Central Europe with the construction of the new Prague Cathedral (1344–) under the direction of Peter Parler. This model of rich, variegated tracery and intricate reticulated (net-work) Rib vault was widely used in the Late Gothic of continental Europe, and was emulated in the collegiate churches and cathedrals, and by urban parish churches that rivalled them in size and magnificence. Use of the ogee was especially common.
In the late 15th and early 16th centuries, Flamboyant forms spread from France to the Iberian Peninsula, where the Isabelline style became the dominant mode of prestige construction in the Crown of Castile, the portion of Spain governed by Isabella I of Castille. During the same period, Flamboyant features also appeared in Manueline style in the Kingdom of Portugal. In Central Europe, the Sondergotik ("Special Gothic") style was contemporaneous with Flamboyant in France and the Isabelline in Spain.
The term "Flamboyant" was first used by the French artist Eustache-Hyacinthe Langlois (1777–1837) in 1843, and then by the English historian Edward Augustus Freeman in 1851. In architectural history, the Flamboyant is considered the last phase of French Gothic architecture and appeared in the closing decades of the 14th century, succeeding the Rayonnant style and prevailing until its gradual replacement by Renaissance architecture during the first third of the 16th century.
Notable examples of Flamboyant in France include the west rose window of Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, the transepts of Sens Cathedral and Beauvais Cathedral, the façade of Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes and the west front of Trinity Abbey, Vendôme. Significant examples of civil architecture include the Palais Jacques Cœur in Bourges and the Hôtel de Cluny in Paris. In the late 15th and early 16th centuries, contemporary styles called Decorated Gothic and Perpendicular Gothic appeared in England.
Tracery patterns of the 14th century are either rich, flame-like forms inspired by the English Decorated (e.g. west façade of York Minster) or the "panelled severity" of English Perpendicular style (e.g. King's College Chapel, Cambridge). According to Robert Bork, "continental builders borrowed almost exclusively from the Decorated style, which had largely passed out of fashion in England by 1360, rather than from the more current Perpendicular style". The clear rejection of the grid-like forms in France indicates some awareness of the contrasting styles. The emergence of the Flamboyant style was a gradual process. What has been termed "proto-Flamboyant" appeared at the Saint-Ouen Abbey, Rouen in the inner wall of the north transept between 1390 and 1410. No flowing, double-curved forms were used there but the "eight double lancet panels seem to spin around a quatrefoil center". Although this rose motif appears dynamic and in motion, its design was not based on the double-curve. It is an early example of experimentation with tracery forms that anticipates the use of flowing, double-curve forms in Normandy. More so than the great churches of northern France, palaces constructed by royal and elite patrons provided "fertile grounds for innovation" with curvilinear tracery in France while England turned to the Perpendicular style.
Residences of the nobility were among the earliest structures that were entirely built in the Flamboyant style. The Palais Jacques Coeur, residence of the treasurer of the King at Bourges was built between 1444 and 1451. It combines residential and official wings that are richly decorated with gables, turrets, and chimneys arranged around a central courtyard. The Château de Châteadun, which was transformed between 1459 and 1468 by Jehan de Dunois, the half-brother of king Charles VI, and was one earliest residences built for leisure in France. The Château has one of the seven remaining Sainte-Chapelle chapels and an elegant spiral staircase. The corresponding façade is decorated with characteristic flame-like tracery in the windows and also includes dormers with Fleur-de-lis, denoting the owner's status as a descendant of Charles V. Another notable example is the Hôtel de Cluny in Paris, originally the residence of the abbot of Cluny, now the Museum of the Middle Ages. Flamboyant details are found in the chapel, the doorways, windows, tower, and roof-line. A late example of Flamboyant civil architecture in France is the Parlement de Normandie, now the Palais de Justice of Rouen (1499–1528), which has slender, and terminated with fleurons. They were designed by architects Roger Ango and Roulland Le Roux.
In 15th-century France, few churches were constructed entirely in the Flamboyant style; it was more common to commission additions to existing structures. One exception is the Church of Saint-Maclou in Rouen, which was commissioned by the Dufour family during the English occupation of the town. It was designed by the master mason Pierre Robin, who was in charge of construction from 1434 until the church was consecrated in 1521. The church, which is referred to as "monumental architecture in the miniature", has double-tiered , fully developed transept façades with portals, curvilinear , and a projecting polygonal west porch with openwork ogee . The influence of Pierre Robin's design lasted into the 16th century, when Roulland Le Roux oversaw work on the upper parts of the Tour de Beurre ("Butter Tower") (1485–1507) and the central portal (1507–1510) of Rouen Cathedral. Increasing specialization in Gothic workshops and lodges led to the sophisticated forms characteristic of structures that were completed in the early 16th century, such as the south façade and porch of the Church of Notre-Dame de Louviers (1506–1510) and the north tower of Chartres Cathedral, which were designed by architect Jehan de Beauce (1507–1513).
The style also appeared early in Île-de-France. The west rose window of the Sainte-Chapelle was made between 1485 and 1498 by a glass artist known only as The Master of the Life of Saint-John the Baptist. It is nine meters in diameter, with 89 sections of glass, of which all but nine are original. The curling tracery of the window spills out onto the exterior of the west façade.
where the Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes, a royal chapel constructed by King Charles V of France, is a notable example. It was located just outside Paris, next to the massive Château de Vincennes and was inspired by the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. The Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes had a single floor and the windows, consisting of curvilinear tracery, covered nearly all of the walls. Construction began in 1379 but was halted by the Hundred Years War and the window and west front were completed until 1552. A significant Flamboyant landmark in Paris is the Tour Saint-Jacques, which is all that remains of the Church of Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie ("Saint James of the butchers"), which was built 1509–23 and was located close to Les Halles, the Paris central market.
In the Loire Valley, the west front of Tours Cathedral was a notable example of Flamboyant architecture. As the French Renaissance began with the royal chateaux along the Loire, the towers of the cathedral were updated with domes and lanterns in the new style, completed in 1507.
Beyond northern France, churches were also enlarged and updated with additions in the Flamboyant style. Due to its size and decoration, the abbey-church of Saint-Antoine in Saint-Antoine-l'Abbaye (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes) is one of the most significant examples of Gothic architecture in southeastern France. The five-aisled abbey-church was a key pilgrimage site in the Middle Ages because it contained the relics of Saint Anthony the Great, which were especially sought out by those who were suffering from "Saint Anthony's Fire" (Ergotism). Royal figures including Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1415), Louis XI of France (1475), and Anne of Brittany (1494) also visited the abbey-church. The building's most prominent architectural feature is its monumental west façade, which was completed in the Flamboyant style in the 15th century. The façade has a central portal flanked by secondary portals and a large lancet window with curvilinear tracery that includes . Additional ornamentation in the form of naturalistic vegetation, gables, pinnacles, and delicate sculpture niches are further testaments of the talents of the masons' workshop. Work on the façade stopped before it was completed; there is no evidence of the iron hooks that are needed to attach figural sculptures.
At Lyon Cathedral, the Bourbons chapel, built during the last decades of the 15th century by the Cardinal Charles II, Duke of Bourbon and his brother Pierre de Bourbon, son-in-law of Louis XI, is a key example of the trend of expanding existing Gothic churches in the newer Flamboyant style. Consisting of two bays, it features a small oratory and a sacristy. The are decorated with finely carved keystones. The mouldings of the transverse Rib vault are decorated with the monograms of Charles de Bourbon, Pierre de Bourbon, and his wife, Anne of France.
In 1495, a colony of Italian artists was established in Amboise and worked in collaboration with French master masons. This date is generally considered to be the starting point of the period of interaction between the Flamboyant Gothic and early French Renaissance styles. In general, theories of building design and structure remained French while surface decoration became Italian. There were connections between French architectural production and other stylistic traditions, including Plateresque in Spain and the of the north—especially Antwerp.
The limits of this style, which is called style Louis XII in French, were variable, especially outside the Loire Valley. This period includes the seventeen-year reign of Louis XII (1498–1515), the end of the reign of Charles VIII, and the beginning of that of Francis I, whose rule corresponded with a definitive stylistic change. The creation of the School of Fontainebleau in 1530 by Francis I is generally considered the turning point of the acceptance and establishment of the Renaissance style in France. Early evidence of the intermingling of Flamboyant and classicizing decorative motifs can be found at the Château de Meillant, which was transformed by Charles II d'Amboise, governor of Milan, in 1473. The structure remained fully medieval but the superposition of the windows in bays connected to each other by extended, cord-like pinnacles foreshadows the grid designs of the façades of early French Renaissance monuments. Other notable features include the entablature with classical egg-and-dart motifs surmounted by a Gothic Baluster and the treatment of the upper part of the helical staircase with a semi-circular arcade equipped with shells. In the final years of the reign of Charles VIII, experimentation with Italian ornamentation continued to enrich and mix with the Flamboyant repertoire. With the ascendancy of Louis XII, French masons and sculptors were further exposed to new, classicizing motifs that were popular in Italy.
In architectural sculpture, the systematic contribution of Italian elements and the "Gothic" reinterpretation of Italian Renaissance works is evident in the Solesmes Abbey, where the Gothic structure takes the form of a Roman triumphal arch flanked by with Lombard candelabra. Gothic foliage, which was now more jagged and wilted as seen at the Hôtel de Cluny in Paris, mingles with portraits of Roman emperors in medallions at the Château de Gaillon. The maison des Têtes (1528–1532) in Valence is another example of Flamboyant blind tracery and foliage mixing with classicizing figures, medallions, and portraits of Roman emperors.
In architecture, the use of brick and stone on buildings from the 16th century can be observed, for example in the Louis XII wing of the Château of Blois. The French high roofs with turrets in the corners and the façades with helical staircases perpetuated the Gothic tradition but the systematic superposition of the bays, the removal of the , and the appearance of influenced by the villa Poggio Reale and the Castel Nuovo of Naples are evidence of a new decorative art in which the structure remains deeply Gothic. The spread of ornamental vocabularies from Pavia and Milan also played major roles. Equally important is the influence of Italian architects who designed formal gardens and fountains to complement French monuments as seen at the Château de Blois (1499) and the Château de Gaillon shortly thereafter.
The incorporation of Flamboyant Gothic with the classicizing forms of Italy produced eclectic, hybrid structures that were rooted in traditional French building practices yet modernized through the application of imported antique motifs and surface decoration. These transitional monuments led to the birth of French Renaissance architecture.
The town halls of Belgium, many of which were built by the prosperous textile merchants of Flanders, were even more flamboyant. They were among the last great statements of Gothic style as the Renaissance gradually came to Northern Europe, and were designed to showcase the wealth and splendour of their cities. Major examples include the town hall of Leuven (1448–1469) with its multiple, almost fantastic towers, and those of Brussels (1401–1455), Oudenaarde (1526–1536), Ghent (1519–1539), and Mons (1458–1477).
Everaert Spoorwater played an important role in spreading Brabantine Gothic into Holland and Zeeland. He perfected a method by which the drawings for large constructions allowed ordering virtually all natural stone elements from quarries on later Belgium territory, then at the destination needing merely their cementing in place. This eliminated storage near the construction site, and the work could be done without the permanent presence of the architect.
Following the 1428 Catalonia earthquake, a replacement Flamboyant rose window on the west façade of the church of Santa Maria del Mar, Barcelona, was completed by 1459. It is worth mentioning a few examples of civil buildings, in particular the trading floors(Lonjas) in Palma de Mallorca( 1420-1452) and Valencia(1482-1498) having a similar design with a columnar hall plan, the one in Valencia being more ambitious. The fine columns have a helicoidal design, characteristic of Iberian Gothic architecture. Other examples can be found in the church of Santiago in Villena, the Cistercian monastery of Secar de la Real in Palma, the church of Magdalena in Olivenza or the Palace of Montarco in Ciudad Rodrigo. Additional examples of the Flamboyant style in the Kingdom of Valencia include the cloister of the Convent of Sant Doménec, the dome of the cathedral of Valencia, or the reformed transept of the cathedral of Orihuela. In the kingdom of Castile, representative examples of civil Gothic architecture include the Infantado Palace in Guadalajara, the Casa de las Conchas in Salamanca or the castle of Manzanares el Real. There are a good number of fine cloisters built during the 15th century such us the ones in the cathedrals of Burgo de Osma, Sigüenza, Lérida(LLeida), Segovia, Oviedo, in monasteries like San Salvador in Oña, Santa Maria la Real in Nájera, Santa Maria de la Oliva in Carcastillo, or San Juan de los Reyes in Toledo, and in churches like Santo Domingo in Jerez de la Frontera, Santa Maria in Los Arcos (Navarra), San Miguel in Oñate or Santa Maria la Real in Sasamón.
Spain was united by the marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile in 1469, and saw the conquest of Granada, the last stronghold of Moorish occupation, in 1492. This was followed by a great wave of construction of new cathedrals and churches in what became known as the Isabelline style after the queen. This late Spanish Gothic style includes a mixture of French-inspired Flamboyant tracery and vaulting features, Flemish features such as fringed arches, and elements that may have been borrowed from Islamic architecture, such as the crossed rib vaults and pierced openwork tracery of Burgos Cathedral. To this, Spanish architects such as Juan Guas added distinctive new features, for example in the Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes in Toledo (1488–1496) and the Colegio de San Gregorio (completed 1487). The rose window on the west façade of Toledo Cathedral (late 15th century) is a good example.
Juan de Colonia and his son Simón de Colonia, originally from Cologne, are other notable architects of the Isabelline style; they were the chief architects of the flamboyant features of Burgos Cathedral (1440–1481), including the openwork towers and the tracery in the star vault in the Chapel of the Constable.
In 1495, Portuguese navigators opened a sea-route to India and began trading with Brazil, Goa, and Malacca, bringing enormous wealth into Portugal. King Manuel funded a series of new monasteries and churches that were covered with decoration inspired by banana trees, sea shells, billowing sails, seaweed, barnacles, and other exotic elements as a monument to the Portuguese navigator Vasco de Gama and to celebrate Portugal's empire. The most lavish example of this decoration is found on the Convent of Christ in Tomar (1510–1514).
Other remarkable towers were constructed like openwork webs of stone; these include Johannes Hultz's additions to the tower of Freiburg Minster, which had an open spiral staircase and a lacework octagonal spire; the additions were begun in 1419.
In England, the contemporaneous Late Gothic (or Third Pointed) style Perpendicular Gothic was prevalent from the middle 14th century. A very early example of Flamboyant tracery is found in the top of the Great West Window in York Minster—the cathedral of the Archbishop of York. It also appears in the Flamboyant curvilinear bar-tracery of St Matthew's Church at Salford Priors, Warwickshire.
An important early example from the late 15th century is the west rose window of the royal chapel, Sainte-Chapelle (1485–98), depicting the Apocalypse of St John. It is 9 meters (29.5 feet) in diameter, with eighty-nine panels arranged in three concentric zones around a central eye. Flamboyant rose windows are also prominent features of the transept of Sens Cathedral (15th c.) and the transept of Beauvais Cathedral (1499), one of the few parts of that Cathedral still standing. The Flamboyant façades of Sens Cathedral, Beauvais Cathedral, Senlis Cathedral and Troyes Cathedral (1502–1531) were all the work of the same master builder, Martin Chambiges.
Flamboyant windows were often composed of two arched windows, over which was a pointed, oval design divided by curving lines called and . Examples are found in the Church of Saint-Pierre, Caen. Mouchettes and soufflets were also applied in openwork form to gables, as seen on the west façade of Trinity Abbey, Vendôme.
Martin Chambiges, the most prolific French architect between c. 1480 and c. 1530, combined three-dimensional forms such as nodding ogees with a miniaturized vocabulary of niches, baldachins, and pinnacles to produce dynamic façades with a new sense of depth at Sens Cathedral, Beauvais Cathedral, and Troyes Cathedral. The addition of sumptuous Flamboyant façades and porches provided new public faces to older monuments that survived the Hundred Years' War. Façades and porches often used the arc en accolade, an arched doorway that was topped by short pinnacle with a fleuron or carved stone flower, often resembling a lily. The short pinnacle bearing the fleuron had its own decoration of small, sculpted forms like twisting leaves of cabbage or other naturalistic vegetation. There were also two slender pinnacles, one on either side of the arch.
Another characteristic feature were vaults with additional types of ribs called the lierne and the tierceron, whose functions were purely decorative. These ribs spread out over the surface to make a star vault; a ceiling of star vaults gave the ceiling a dense network of decoration. Another feature of the period was a type of very tall, round pillar without a capital, from which ribs sprang and spread upwards to the vaults. They were often used as the support for a fan vault, which branched upward like a spreading tree. A fine example is found in the chapel of the Hotel de Cluny in Paris (1485–1510).
File:Cannelure torse d'un pilier, transept de Saint-Nicolas-de-Port.JPG|Transept pier and vaults, Basilica of Saint-Nicolas-de-Port
File:Rue Somme chapelle du Saint Esprit 04.JPG|Chapelle du Saint-Esprit, Rue
==Gallery==
Vaults, piers, and mouldings
Elision—the elimination of capitals—coupled with the introduction of continuous and "dying" mouldings, are additional noteworthy characteristics of which the parish church of Saint-Maclou in Rouen is a key example. The uninterrupted fluidity and merging of disparate forms led to the emergence of decorative Gothic vaults in France.
Notable examples in France
Religious architecture
Civil architecture
Notable examples outside France
See also
Footnotes
Citations
Jean Pierre Babelon (1989). 208012062X, Flammarion/Picard. 208012062X
Laurence de Finance (2025). 9782757702468, Éditions du Patrimoine, Centre des Monuments Nationaux. ISBN 9782757702468
(2025). 9782503577296, Brepols. ISBN 9782503577296
(2025). 9782344035405, Glénat. ISBN 9782344035405
Linda Elaine Neagley (1998). 9780271017167, The Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 9780271017167
(2025). 9782877474658, Gisserot. ISBN 9782877474658
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