Fletcher, Banister; Fletcher, Banister: A history of architecture for the student, craftsman, and amateur: being a comparative view of the historical styles from the earliest period (London, 1896)

88

COMPARATIVE ARCHITECTURE.

It will be seen that besides having regard to the
internal effect of the walls, thus coloured with mosaics,
they also employed pavements of coloured marbles, laid
out in geometrical patterns, adding greatly to the rich effect
of their interiors. These pavements were formed largely of
slices from the old Roman porphyry columns, which were
worked into designs by connecting bands of geometrical
inlay on a field of white marble. A good idea of this work,
called “opus Alexandrinum,” maybe seen in the chancel
of Westminster Abbey.

Of a finer and more delicate expression was the glass
mosaic used to decorate the ambos, screens, and episcopal
chairs. Ex. : the furniture of the church of San Clemente
at Rome (No. 44).

5. REFERENCE BOOKS.

Hubsch, “Monuments de ^architecture Chretienne depuis
Constantin jusqu’a Charlemagne.”

Bunsen’s “ Christian Basilicas of Rome.”

Prof. Baldwin Brown’s “From Schola to Cathedral.”

“ Hypatia,” by Charles Kingsley (historical novel dealing
with the period).