John Taylor Arms fervently believed that Gothic architecture was man's greatest achievement, uniting spiritual and aesthetic values.  He assigned himself the task of depicting Europe's great Gothic cathedrals.  European subjects first appeared in his oeuvre in 1915-16, and from 1920 he concentrated on Gothic architecture.  He is best known for his series of gargoyles and of French, Spanish, and Italian churches.  Momento Vivere, Notre Dame (1947) is from the French Church series begun in Angouleme in 1920 and continued until his death in 1953.  The peripheral areas are sketchy or undrawn, suggesting aerial perspective, and Arms used no tonal processes like aquatint to create a range of values.  He referred to himself as a "tonal draftsman," using a tightly packed network of minute lines to create shadows in the stone.