DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42497#0331
III.]
Opera Saracenesca.
25
columns in Rome used again in the churches to support the clere-
story walls, and for ornament.
The painting of the interior has generally been renewed from time
to time, according to the taste of the age; but the mosaic pictures
in the apses, and the marble columns, have generally been respected,
though not by any means always. There are several instances of
marble columns being encased in square brick piers, in order to
paint the surface of them, as at S. Pudentiana in the twelfth century,
and this has been done in some instances in quite recent times.
In general, the brickwork of the Middle Ages in Romeq, especially
that of the twelfth century, is an imitation of that of the Empire. Walls
of that period are often mistaken for walls of the Empire by very good
antiquaries, if they have not given special attention to the subject
of construction. One of the best living antiquaries in Rome for all
church subjects assured me that the walls of Rome were entirely
the work of the Popes, and pointed to their arms or their names on
many parts of them, but a more careful examination of them shews
that these belong to repairs of small parts of the walls only, and are
generally only skin deep, a repair of the external facing of the wall
only. In many instances the corridors of Aurelian remain within
the new surface supplied afterwards. In those places where the wall
had been battered down, or pulled down, by the Goths, an outer
wall has been rebuilt for the sake of the octroi duties, and for the
defence of the city, but it has never been thought necessary to re-
build the corridors in those parts. The interior of the wall, where
it has been thus rebuilt, is mere rubble and rubbish, with the excep-
tion of the bastions and walls of Sangallo in the sixteenth century,
which are fine fortifications of their periodr.
9 The construction of walls of the
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in
Rome is very inferior to that of build-
ings of the same periods in England
and France.
r The brick walls of his fortifications
are so extremely like those of the Wall
of Aurelian in the third century, that it
is often difficult to distinguish them on
the exterior ; it is only by examining the
plan in the interior that we see clearly
they are work of the sixteenth century,
not of the third. The builders appear
to have often used the old bricks. It
is important to notice this, because
modern authors, including even Mr.
Burn in his really valuable historical
work, consider the extent of the Wall
of Aurelian as still an open question,
whereas a single walk round the interior
of the wall shews that there can be no
possible doubt on the subject. The ex-
tent of his wall was the same as that
of the present wall, with the slight ex-
ception of the bastion of Sangallo, an
extension of a few yards only.
Opera Saracenesca.
25
columns in Rome used again in the churches to support the clere-
story walls, and for ornament.
The painting of the interior has generally been renewed from time
to time, according to the taste of the age; but the mosaic pictures
in the apses, and the marble columns, have generally been respected,
though not by any means always. There are several instances of
marble columns being encased in square brick piers, in order to
paint the surface of them, as at S. Pudentiana in the twelfth century,
and this has been done in some instances in quite recent times.
In general, the brickwork of the Middle Ages in Romeq, especially
that of the twelfth century, is an imitation of that of the Empire. Walls
of that period are often mistaken for walls of the Empire by very good
antiquaries, if they have not given special attention to the subject
of construction. One of the best living antiquaries in Rome for all
church subjects assured me that the walls of Rome were entirely
the work of the Popes, and pointed to their arms or their names on
many parts of them, but a more careful examination of them shews
that these belong to repairs of small parts of the walls only, and are
generally only skin deep, a repair of the external facing of the wall
only. In many instances the corridors of Aurelian remain within
the new surface supplied afterwards. In those places where the wall
had been battered down, or pulled down, by the Goths, an outer
wall has been rebuilt for the sake of the octroi duties, and for the
defence of the city, but it has never been thought necessary to re-
build the corridors in those parts. The interior of the wall, where
it has been thus rebuilt, is mere rubble and rubbish, with the excep-
tion of the bastions and walls of Sangallo in the sixteenth century,
which are fine fortifications of their periodr.
9 The construction of walls of the
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in
Rome is very inferior to that of build-
ings of the same periods in England
and France.
r The brick walls of his fortifications
are so extremely like those of the Wall
of Aurelian in the third century, that it
is often difficult to distinguish them on
the exterior ; it is only by examining the
plan in the interior that we see clearly
they are work of the sixteenth century,
not of the third. The builders appear
to have often used the old bricks. It
is important to notice this, because
modern authors, including even Mr.
Burn in his really valuable historical
work, consider the extent of the Wall
of Aurelian as still an open question,
whereas a single walk round the interior
of the wall shews that there can be no
possible doubt on the subject. The ex-
tent of his wall was the same as that
of the present wall, with the slight ex-
ception of the bastion of Sangallo, an
extension of a few yards only.