DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29898#0598
562
LOMBARD ARCHITECTURE.
Paet II.
true, but so frequently, as to make it evident tiiat already there
existed no insuperable objection to increase either their number or
depth, as soon as additional abutment was required for wider arches.
The windows, as in all Italian churches, are small, for the Italians
never patronised the art of painting on glass, always preferring
frescoes or paintings on opaque grounds. In their bright climate,
very small openings alone were requisite to admit a sufficiency of light
without disturbing that shadowy effect which is
so favourable to architectural grandeur.
Being a parochial church, this building had
no baptistery attached to it ; but there is one
at Asti ('Woodcut No. 441) so similar in style
and age, that its plan and section, if examined
with those of San Antonio, will give a very
complete idea of Lombard architecture in the
beginning of the 11th century, when it had
completely shaken off the Roman influence, but
had not yet begun to combine the newly-
invented forms with that grace and beauty
which mark its more finished examples. One
peculiarity of this buildmg is the gloom that
reigns within, there behig absolutely no win-
dows in the dome, and those in the aisles are
so small, that even in Italy the interior must
always have been in comparative darkness.
The cathedral of ls ovara, which in its present
state is one of the most important buildings of
the 11th century in the North of Italy, shows
the style still further advanced. The coupling
and grouping of piers are here fully understood,
and the divisions of the chapels which form the
outer aisle are, in fact, concealed buttresses.
The Italians were never able to divest them-
selves of their partiality for flat walls, and
never liked the bold external projections so
universally admired on the other side of the
Alps. They therefore gladly hacl recourse to this expedient to
conceal them ; and when this was not available they used metallic
ties to resist the thrust of the arches—an expedient which is found
even in this example. As will be seen from the annexed plan, the
atrium connecting the basilica with the baptistery is retained,
which seems to have been an arrangement almost universal in those
early times. The half section, half elevation of the front (Woodcut
ISTo. 443) shows very distinctly how far the invention of the new style
had then gone ; for except some Corinthian pillars, borrowed from an
442. Plan of the Cathedral at
Novara. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.
LOMBARD ARCHITECTURE.
Paet II.
true, but so frequently, as to make it evident tiiat already there
existed no insuperable objection to increase either their number or
depth, as soon as additional abutment was required for wider arches.
The windows, as in all Italian churches, are small, for the Italians
never patronised the art of painting on glass, always preferring
frescoes or paintings on opaque grounds. In their bright climate,
very small openings alone were requisite to admit a sufficiency of light
without disturbing that shadowy effect which is
so favourable to architectural grandeur.
Being a parochial church, this building had
no baptistery attached to it ; but there is one
at Asti ('Woodcut No. 441) so similar in style
and age, that its plan and section, if examined
with those of San Antonio, will give a very
complete idea of Lombard architecture in the
beginning of the 11th century, when it had
completely shaken off the Roman influence, but
had not yet begun to combine the newly-
invented forms with that grace and beauty
which mark its more finished examples. One
peculiarity of this buildmg is the gloom that
reigns within, there behig absolutely no win-
dows in the dome, and those in the aisles are
so small, that even in Italy the interior must
always have been in comparative darkness.
The cathedral of ls ovara, which in its present
state is one of the most important buildings of
the 11th century in the North of Italy, shows
the style still further advanced. The coupling
and grouping of piers are here fully understood,
and the divisions of the chapels which form the
outer aisle are, in fact, concealed buttresses.
The Italians were never able to divest them-
selves of their partiality for flat walls, and
never liked the bold external projections so
universally admired on the other side of the
Alps. They therefore gladly hacl recourse to this expedient to
conceal them ; and when this was not available they used metallic
ties to resist the thrust of the arches—an expedient which is found
even in this example. As will be seen from the annexed plan, the
atrium connecting the basilica with the baptistery is retained,
which seems to have been an arrangement almost universal in those
early times. The half section, half elevation of the front (Woodcut
ISTo. 443) shows very distinctly how far the invention of the new style
had then gone ; for except some Corinthian pillars, borrowed from an
442. Plan of the Cathedral at
Novara. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.