Huguet (died 1438), also written as Houet or Ouguete, was an
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
living in the early 15th century and active in
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
, who introduced the Flamboyant
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
style to Portugal. He played an important role in the evolution of Gothic architecture in Portugal throughout the 15th and the early 16th centuries.
Life
The origins of Huguet are unclear. One hypothesis states that he came from the Mediterranean coast of
Catalonia
Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy.
Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the nort ...
. Another states that he was called David Huguet and came from
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
. He may have been recommended to Queen
Philippa of Lancaster
Philippa of Lancaster ( pt, Filipa ; 31 March 1360 – 19 July 1415) was Queen of Portugal from 1387 until 1415 by marriage to King John I. Born into the royal family of England, her marriage secured the Treaty of Windsor and produced severa ...
by the master mason
Henry Yevele
Henry Yevele (''c''. 1320 – 1400) was the most prolific and successful master mason active in late medieval England. The first document relating to him is dated 3 December 1353, when he purchased the freedom of London. In February 1356 he was su ...
, builder of the naves of
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the Unite ...
and
Canterbury Cathedral, or Henry Yevele may have sent a few English architects, or both.
Huguet married Maria Esteves between 1436 and 1437 and was allocated a house and property near the monastery by King
Duarte.
Monastery of Batalha
In 1402 Huguet took over the construction of the
Monastery of Batalha
The Monastery of Batalha ( pt, Mosteiro da Batalha) is a Dominican order, Dominican convent in the municipality of Batalha, Portugal, Batalha, in the district of Leiria (district), Leiria, in the Centro Region, Portugal, Centro Region of Portugal ...
from the first architect
Afonso Domingues. At that time only parts of the church, transept and chapter house had been finished. Huguet would continue the construction of this immense building until his death in 1438. Under his direction the church, the cloisters and the chapter house were completed. He was later succeed the Portuguese architects Martin Vasquez and Fernão de Évora.
His first task was to close the vaults of the existing parts of the monastery. He raised the vast and narrow
nave
The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
of the church to its present height of 32.4 m, altering considerably the proportions of the church and giving it its present towering aspect, a first in Portugal. This points to a certain influence of the English Early
Perpendicular
In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It ca ...
style, as can be found in the nave and transept of the
Canterbury Cathedral. He simplified the nave's
groined vaults, using the same advanced techniques. He added on top of the building an openwork,
traceried parapet
A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...
.
The main façade of the monastery has an original Portuguese style, a mixture of Rayonnant and Flamboyant Gothic design with strong horizontal lines contrasting with elements of English Perpendicular, that finds few parallels in Europe.
Master Huguet built the square Founder's chapel between 1426 and 1434 on orders of King
João I to become the first royal
pantheon
Pantheon may refer to:
* Pantheon (religion), a set of gods belonging to a particular religion or tradition, and a temple or sacred building
Arts and entertainment Comics
*Pantheon (Marvel Comics), a fictional organization
* ''Pantheon'' (Lone S ...
in Portugal, a mausoleum for the
Aviz dynasty. In this chapel he introduced a new decorative style, a synthesis between Flamboyant Gothic and the English Perpendicular style. All elements, arches, and emblazonry have been executed with delicacy.
The square Chapter House is notable for its complex star vault lacking a central support and spanning a space of . This was so innovative at the time that prisoners, condemned to death, had to perform the task. The task was completed after two failed attempts. When the last scaffolds were removed, it is said that Huguet spent the night under the vault to silence his critics who thought that vault could not hold.
The carved tracery decoration in Gothic style (including quatrefoils, fleurs-de-lis and rosettes) by Huguet in the ambulatory of the cloister of King João I now forms a combination with the Manueline style in the arcade screens, added later by Mateus Fernandes.
In 1437, towards the end of his life, he started the construction of the mausoleum for King Duarte. This is a testimony to the fact that the monastery was never finished and are called therefore the Imperfect Chapels. They form a separate octagonal structure tacked on the choir of the church (via a retrochoir) and only accessible from the outside. The octagonal rotunda has seven radiating hexagonal chapels. There are several earlier Spanish examples of such a construction as the chapel of
Alvaro de Luna (in the
Cathedral of Toledo
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) and the chapel of the Condestable (in the
cathedral of Burgos). The original design of Huguet was later altered beyond recognition by successive architects, especially
Mateus Fernandes.
References
* Dias, Pedro. 1994. A Arquitectura Gótica Portuguesa. Lisbon: Editorial Estampa.
* Alice D. Berkeley : English art in Portuga
* Turner, J. -
Grove Dictionary of Art
''Grove Art Online'' is the online edition of ''The Dictionary of Art'', often referred to as the ''Grove Dictionary of Art'', and part of Oxford Art Online, an internet gateway to online art reference publications of Oxford University Press, ...
- Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1996;
* The Rough Guide to Portugal - 11th edition March 2005 -
* Rentes de Carvalho J. - Portugal, um guia para amigos - In Dutch translation : Portugal - De Arbeiderspers, Amsterdam; ninth edition August 1999
* Rolf Toman ''et al.'' : Gotik - Köneman Verlaggesellschaft mbH; Köln, 1998 (in Dutch translation : "De Kunst van de Gotiek");
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Portuguese architects
Gothic architects
15th-century architects