File:A history of architecture in Italy from the time of Constantine to the dawn of the renaissance (1901) (14761517876).jpg

Identifier: historyofarchit02cumm (find matches)
Title: A history of architecture in Italy from the time of Constantine to the dawn of the renaissance
Year: 1901 (1900s)
Authors: Cummings, Charles Amos, 1833-1905
Subjects: Architecture
Publisher: Boston, New York, Houghton Mifflin and company
Contributing Library: PIMS - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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the angle buttresses (or, at least, in that of the north angle)as in the great doorways or around the central window. At Orvietothe sculpture is much less abundant, being confined chiefly to thepiers of the lower story and to the niches which enclose the greatrose window, and in which the statues, single or in couples, are ofremarkable beauty, as are also the heads in the square panels nearerthe circle of the window, which here is filled with rich tracery. Thiswhole compartment may be taken as one of the most brilliant exam-ples of the lavish use of decorative sculpture by the Italian masters,and of the absolute contrast in their method with that of the North-ern builders. The whole of the ornament is treated as surface orna-ment. The square frame of small quatrefoil panels which enclosesthe great circle — the panels themselves enclosing each a headnearly detached from its background, yet not projecting beyond thewall surface — is beautifully contrasted by the delicate borders of
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Fig. 359. Orvieto. Capital of Nave Pier. 188 ARCHITECTURE IN ITALY geometrical mosaic, and by the mosaic figures of the four greatbishops in the spandrils of the circle. On the sides of the windowand above it are ranges of niches containing standing figures whichare also, though in high relief, kept scrupulously within the wallsurface. It would be hard to find a more perfect example of grace-ful and beautiful decoration ; and its charm is enhanced by its rigidconfinement within the strong vertical buttresses whicli flank thecompartment. It is interesting to note here the early and clear fore-cast of the Renaissance, which was now so near at hand, in the hori-zontal range of niches above the window, where the niches arearranged in couples between short Corinthian pilasters supporting aclassical cornice, which is also carried up the rake of the centralgable. (Fig. 361.) The great piers of the lower story are decorated in a manner quiteunexampled. The surface is covered with a spreading

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