Elegant Simplicity: The Late Gothic Plan Design of St.-Maclou in Rouen

Abstract

Using a new computer-generated plan of St.-Maclou, this study examines the relationship between the abstract design schemes underlying the plan and the practical and procedural method of setting out the foundations at the site. The eccentric features, such as the axial pier, the absence of the axial chapel, the polygonal porch, variations in the straight bay dimensions, and daring structural system, are linked to the freedom and willingness of the Late Gothic master mason, Pierre Robin, to expose the geometric underpinnings of the craft and to showcase the technical virtuosity and individuality of the craftsman.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Linda Elaine Neagley

Linda Neagley has published articles on Late Gothic architecture in the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians and the Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts, and is currently completing the book Disciplined Exuberance. Essays on the Parish Church of Saint-Maclou and Late Gothic Architecture in Rouen. She is presently co-director of an NEH-funded plan survey project on St.-Urbain, Troyes, and St.-Ouen, Rouen [Department of Architecture, University of California, Berkeley, Calif. 94720].