Then follows the very early Gothic, like the delightful little spandrils in the chapter house at Salisbury, and at Westminster, familiar to all travellers.  They are full of life, partly through the unanatomic contortions by means of which they are made to express their emotions.  Often one sees elbows bent the wrong way to emphasize the gesture of denunciation, or a foot stepping quite across the instep of its mate in order to suggest speed of motion.  Early Gothic work in England is usually bas-relief; one does not find the statue as early as in France.  In 1176 William of Sens went over to England, to work on Canterbury Cathedral, and after that French influence was felt in most of the best English work in that century.  Before the year 1200 there was little more than ornamented spaces, enriched by carving; after that time, figure sculpture began in earnest, and, in statues and in effigies, became a large part of the craftsmanship of the thirteenth century.

The transition was gradual.  First small separate heads began to obtain, as corbels, and were bracketed at the junctures of the arch-mouldings in the arcade and triforium of churches.  Then on the capitals little figures began to emerge from the clusters of foliage.  In many cases the figures are very inferior to the faces, as if more time and study had been given to expressing emotions than to displaying form.  The grotesque became very general.  Satire and caricature had no other vehicle in the Middle Ages than the carvings in and out of the buildings, for the cartoon had not yet become possible, and painting offered but a limited scope to the wit, especially in the North; in Italy this outlet for humour was added to that of the sculptor.

Of the special examples of great figure sculpture in England the facade at Wells is usually considered the most significant.  The angel choir at Lincoln, too, has great interest; there is real power in some of the figures, especially the angel with the flaming sword driving Adam and Eve from Eden, and the one holding aloft a small figure,—­probably typical of the Creation.  At Salisbury, too, there is much splendid figure sculpture; it is cause for regret that the names of so few of the craftsmen have survived.

Wells Cathedral is one of the most interesting spots in which to study English Gothic sculpture.  Its beautiful West Front is covered with tier after tier of heroes and saints; it was finished in 1242.  This is the year that Cimabue was three years old; Niccola Pisano had lived during its building, Amiens was finished forty-six years later, and Orvieto was begun thirty-six years later.  It is literally the earliest specimen of so advanced and complete a museum of sculpture in the West.  Many critics have assumed that the statues on the West Front of Wells were executed by foreign workmen; but there are no special characteristics of any known foreign school in these figures.  Messrs. Prior and Gardner have recently expressed their opinion that these statues,