nriched by gold ornaments, and
painted in rich blue and red, while the flesh parts were delicately
tinted. Colors were used with care, and often served to conceal the
defects in the sculpture itself, and were thus of great advantage. Color
was most frequently used in interior decoration, but it was not unknown
upon exterior portals, and porches were introduced to protect this
polychromy, as the painting of sculpture was called.

The subjects now represented in sculpture were far more numerous than
formerly. While the life of Christ and the Virgin still made the central
and most important topic, there were added scenes from the lives of the
saints, those who were regarded as the patrons of the city or those to
whom the edifice was dedicated being most frequently chosen. New
symbolic designs were made showing the flight of time by seasons and
months; others represented the virtues, and even the customs and habits
of the people were sometimes introduced. There were also humorous
representations, even on sacred edifices. Water-pipes and gutter-spouts
were ended with the heads of monsters and curious animals, and even with
grotesque faces; in short, the smaller details of the architecture of
this period show the vividness of the imagination of the time. For
example, the leaf-work which was used in the ornamental portions of
sculpture had hitherto copied the antique acanthus leaf; now the flowers
and leaves native to France were the models of the sculptors, and a
charming variety of life-like ornament was the result.

The church of Ste. Chapelle, at Paris, completed about 1248, was the
first edifice in which this style was seen in its full development.
Here, for the first time, the statues were not placed in the stiff,
perpendicular posture, but, by being inclined to different positions,
had a light appearance and an air of movement, which was a great relief
from the rigidity which had ruled up to this time.

The cathedral at Rheims, however, shows the perfection of
thirteenth-century art. It is conceded to be the best example of church
building of its time, and its facade the most beautiful structure of the
Middle Ages. Its wealth of sculpture is wonderful; its three great
portals, the buttresses, the space above the great window and various
other portions are so much ornamented that the whole effect is that of a
forest of sculpture, and it is difficult to turn from it to consider the
architecture of the edifice. It natura