“Bubbles in expiring foam”

West Front of Bayeux Cathedral

Bayeux, Normandy, France

Ruskin's drawing of these architectural details

Ruskin comments in “The Lamp of Power”: “For some time the penetrative ornaments, if so they may be for convenience called, maintained their bold and independent character. Then they multiplied and enlarged, becoming shallower as they did so; then they began to run together, one swallowing up, or hanging on to, another, like bubbles in expiring foam fig. 4, from a spandrel at Bayeux, looks as if it had been blown from a pipe; finally, they lost their individual character altogether, and the eye was made to rest on the separating lines of tracery, as we saw before in the window; and then came the great change and the fall of the Gothic power. ”

Other photographs of the Cathedral of Bayeux

  • Exterior
  • Interior
  • Gargoyles and Grotedsques
  • Scanned Photograph and text by George P. Landow

    Identification by James L. Spates

    [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL]