DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61894#0133
Ch. III.
THROUGH ITALY.
Ill
ment might have produced a better effect with
less prodigality. These two chapels, whatever
their magnificence or peculiar beauty may be,
have prejudiced the internal appearance of the
church, and occasioned the only material defor-
mity which even the eye of a critic can discover:
I mean the break occasioned by the arcades
formed on both sides, to serve as entrances to
these oratories. The colonnade, so beautiful even
in its present state, would have been matchless
were it not interrupted by these misplaced arches,
which after all do not produce the effect intend-
ed by giving a grand entrance into these chapels,
as the view is obstructed by the arch of the aisles,
and by the intervention of the brazen portals.
But be the defects what they may, I know not
whether any architectural exhibition surpasses
or even equals the Basilica Liberiana. The
simplicity of the plan, the correctness of the ex.
ecution, the richness of the materials and the
decorations of the parts, the length of the colon-
nades and the elevation of the canopy, form al-
together one of the noblest and most pleasing ex-
hibitions that the eye can behold. As we ad-
vance along the ample nave, we are rather pleas-
ed than astonished with the scenery around us;
we easily familiarize ourselves with the calm
grandeur of the place, and at the end retire with
THROUGH ITALY.
Ill
ment might have produced a better effect with
less prodigality. These two chapels, whatever
their magnificence or peculiar beauty may be,
have prejudiced the internal appearance of the
church, and occasioned the only material defor-
mity which even the eye of a critic can discover:
I mean the break occasioned by the arcades
formed on both sides, to serve as entrances to
these oratories. The colonnade, so beautiful even
in its present state, would have been matchless
were it not interrupted by these misplaced arches,
which after all do not produce the effect intend-
ed by giving a grand entrance into these chapels,
as the view is obstructed by the arch of the aisles,
and by the intervention of the brazen portals.
But be the defects what they may, I know not
whether any architectural exhibition surpasses
or even equals the Basilica Liberiana. The
simplicity of the plan, the correctness of the ex.
ecution, the richness of the materials and the
decorations of the parts, the length of the colon-
nades and the elevation of the canopy, form al-
together one of the noblest and most pleasing ex-
hibitions that the eye can behold. As we ad-
vance along the ample nave, we are rather pleas-
ed than astonished with the scenery around us;
we easily familiarize ourselves with the calm
grandeur of the place, and at the end retire with