From, Beautiful Buildings in France & Belgium, Including many which have been destroyed during the war. Reproductions in Colour and Monochrome from rare old Prints and Drawings, by and after Prout, Boys, Coney, W. Callow, David Roberts, C. Wild and others, with descriptive notes by C. Harrison Townsend, F.R.I.B.A.; New York: The Hubbell Publishing Co., 1916; pp. 18-21.
ABBEVILLE : CHURCH OF ST. WULFRAN
(G. Simonau)
F the two principal churches of Abbeville — St. Wulfran or Vulfran and St. Gilles — the former, a magnificent specimen of the flamboyant Gothic style, is of much interest to the architect. The dignity and importance of its West Front, as seen from the Place du Guindal, are well set forth in the drawing of Simonau, that ardent lover of Gothic architecture in England as well as in France and Belgium.
The building is of the XVth, XVIth and XVIIth centuries, but the original grand proportions upon which it was commenced 20 were not adhered to, and it was completed on a smaller scale. The nave has only two bays, while the choir is short and so insignificant as to be unworthy of the proportions of this fine church. The three portals, which have elaborately decorated doors in the Renaissance style, are rich with sculpture and figures, on which the old craftsman piously wrought and handed down to us of to-day the
Crowd of statues, in whose folded sleeves
Birds build their nests.
which forms one of the glories of St. Wulfran.
Copyright © 2007 by Elfinspell