File:A history of architecture in Italy from the time of Constantine to the dawn of the renaissance (1901) (14781391321).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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, and indeed excessive, ornament, is most unsatisfactory. Concerning the exterior of this great church, little need be said.It is a mournful example of the absolute lack of appreciation andunderstanding, on the part of the Italian architects, of the principles of Gothic design. There is scarcely anyattempt at compo-sition. The heavymass of shining mar-ble challenges atten-tion by the splendorof the material andby the profusion ofits sculptured orna-ment. But these areinsufficient to com-pensate for the ab-sence of form whichresults necessarilyfrom the dispositionof the parts of thedesign. The westfront, with its contin-uous gable line, is asprimitive in its con-ception as that of SanMichele at Pavia, andits flatness is relievedonly by the buttresseswhich mark the inner divisions of the church. Of the flanks, onlythe high wall of the outer aisle is effectively visible, — the twoclerestories being insignificant, and on a near view scarcely seen at 1 The spire was not built until 1750.
Text Appearing After Image:
Fig. 385. Messina. Detail of Doorway. THE GOTHIC 225 all. The transepts are spoiled by the small and awkward apse, whichblocks up what would otherwise be a fine central window, and bythe flattening of thesrable in the middledivision; while thelantern at the cross-ing, which was meantto be the great fea-ture, governing andennobling the wholecomposition, is sougly as to neutralizecompletely the effectwhich belongs to itsposition and to itscommanding height.The east end isthe best part of theexterior. Here thegreat octagonal apse,with its three mag-nificent windows,presents the only in-stance in the wholebuilding of a noblebreadth of effect,which is not quiteeffaced by the frit-tered decoration.The decoration, in-deed, which was tobe presumably thepride and glory of thechurch, has provedits bane. It is per-haps the most striking example in existence of extravagant andmisapplied ornament. It is not only the two thousand statues ofwhich the guide-books give us the count, nor the vegetable

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