Flamboyant in Gothic architecture

Flamboyant is the name given to a florid style of late Gothic architecture in vogue in France from about 1350, until it was superseded by Renaissance architecture during the early 16th century. The term has been mainly used to describe French buildings and sometimes the early period of English Gothic architecture, usually called the Decorated Style; the historian Edward Augustus Freeman proposed this in a work of 1851. A version of the style spread to Spain and Portugal during the 15th century. It evolved from the Rayonnant style and the English Decorated Style and was marked by even greater attention to decoration and the use of double curved tracery. The term was first used by Eustache-Hyacinthe Langlois (1777–1837), and like all the terms mentioned in this paragraph except “Sondergotik” describes the style of window tracery, which is much the easiest way of distinguishing within the overall Gothic period, but ignores other aspects of style. In England the later part of the period is known as Perpendicular architecture. In Germany Sondergotik (“Special Gothic”) is the more usual term.

The name derives from the flame-like windings of its tracery and the dramatic lengthening of gables and the tops of arches. A key feature is the ogee arch, originating in Beverley Minster, England around 1320, which spread to York and Durham, although the form was never widely used in England, being superseded by the rise of the Perpendicular style around 1350. A possible point of connection between the early English work and the later development in France is the church at Chaumont. The Manueline in Portugal, and the Isabelline in Spain were even more extravagant continuations of the style in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.

In the past the Flamboyant style, along with its antecedent Rayonnant, has frequently been disparaged by critics. More recently some have sought to rehabilitate it. William W Clark commented:

The Flamboyant is the most neglected period of Gothic architecture because of the prejudices of past generations; but the neglect of these highly original and inventive architectural fantasies is unwarranted. The time has come to discard old conceptions and look anew at Late Gothic architecture.

Examples in France
Religious buildings
Abbeville (Somme), St. Vulfran Collegiate Church
Auch (Gers), Auch Cathedral (except the façade)
Beauvais (Oise), choir and chapels of the Church of Saint-Étienne de Beauvais
Bourg-en-Bresse (Ain), Royal Monastery of Brou
Caudebec-en-Caux (Seine-Maritime), Church of Notre-Dame
L’Épine (Marne), Notre-Dame de l’Épine
Évreux (Eure), north transept of Évreux Cathedral
Louviers (Eure), Notre-Dame de Louviers (north and south façade)
Nantes (Loire-Atlantique), Nantes Cathedral
Paris, Church of Saint-Séverin
Paris, Saint-Jacques Tower, bell tower of the former church of Saint-Jacques de la Boucherie
Pont-de-l’Arche (Eure), Notre-Dame-des-Arts
Rouen, Rouen Cathedral (in part)
Rouen, Church of Saint-Maclou
Rouen, abbey-church of Saint-Ouen
Rue (Somme), Chapel of Saint-Esprit
Saint-Nicolas-de-Port (Meurthe-et-Moselle), Basilica of Saint-Nicolas
Saint-Riquier (Somme), Abbey
Senlis (Oise), transepts of Senlis Cathedral
Sens (Yonne), Sens Cathedral (south transept)
Thann (Haut-Rhin), St Theobald’s Church
Toul (Meurthe-et-Moselle), west façade of Toul Cathedral
Tours, Tours Cathedral
Vendôme (Loir-et-Cher), west façade of the Abbaye de la Trinité
Vincennes (Val-de-Marne), Sainte-Chapelle.
Civil buildings
Beaune (Côte-d’Or), hospices
Beauvais (Oise), former episcopal palace
Bourges (Cher), palace of Jacques-Cœur
Paris, Hôtel de Cluny
Paris, Hôtel de Sens
Rouen, Palais de Justice

Some examples of the Flamboyant Gothic Style outside France
St. Lorenz, Nuremberg (nave ceiling in particular), Germany
Milan Cathedral, a relatively rare Italian building in the style, which is adopted very fully here
Vladislav Hall in Prague Castle (vaults), Czech Republic
Seville Cathedral, Spain
Batalha Monastery, Portugal
Brussels Town Hall, Belgium
Leuven Town Hall, Belgium
Church of St. Anne, Vilnius, Lithuania

Source From Wikipedia