CHAPTER V

.

BYZANTINE-ROMANESQUE.

CONTENTS.

Cathedrals of Naples—San Miniato, Florence—Cathedrals of Pisa and Zara— Cathedrals of Troja, Bari, and Bittonto—San Nicolo, Bari—Cloisters of St. John Lateran—Baptistery of Mont St. Angelo—San Donato, Zara— Churches in South Italy—Circular Buildings—Towers—Civil Architecture.

CHRONOLOGY.

DATES. The Normans enter Italy A.D. 1018 The Normans conquer Apulia from the Greeks 1043 The Normans attack the Saracens in Sicily 1061 Conquest of Sicily completed by Roger de Hauteville 1090 Roger II. 1101 William I., surnamed the Wicked 1153 William II., surnamed the Good 1166 Tancred 1189 Frederic Hohenstaufen of Germany 1197 Conrad 1250 Conradin 1254 Charles I., first Angiovine King of Naples 1266 René, last Angiovine King of Naples 1435

It would be easier to define the limits and character of the styles of Italian Mediæval Architecture in the centre and south of Italy by a negative than a positive title. To call them the “non-Gothic” styles would describe them correctly, but would hardly suffice to convey a distinct idea of their peculiarities. Romanesque, or even Italian Romanesque, would not be sufficient, because that term fails to take cognizance of the foreign element found in them. That element is the Byzantine, derived partly from the continued relations which such cities as Venice or Pisa maintained during the Middle Ages with the Levant, and

## partly from the intercourse which the inhabitants of Magna Gracia kept

up across the Adriatic with the people on its eastern shores. To such a mixture of styles the term Byzantine-Romanesque would be quite appropriate; and although there are in Apulia churches, such as Molfetta and St. Angelo, which look more like Levantine designs than anything to be found in other parts of Europe (except perhaps such buildings as St. Front, Périgueux, and one or two exceptional buildings in the South of France), and in a very detailed description of Italian styles it might be expedient to attempt a further subdivision with other specific terms, for the present it will probably suffice to describe the various non-Gothic styles of the centre and southern half of Italy in local sections without attempting any very minute classification of their variations. As the Italians had no great national style of their own, and both in the North and South were principally working under foreign influences, it is in vain to look for any thread that will conduct the student straight through the labyrinth of their styles. Italian unity is the aspiration of the present century; during the Middle Ages it did not exist either in politics or art.

[Illustration: 460. The Old and New Cathedrals at Naples. (From Schultz.) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.]

Although Naples is in the very centre of its province, where we naturally first look for examples of the style, there are few cities in Italy which contain so little to interest the architect or the antiquary. Still she does possess one group of churches, which, by their juxtaposition, at least serve to illustrate the progress of the style during the Middle Ages. The earliest of these, Sta. Restituta—shaded dark in the plan (Woodcut No. 460)—may be as old as the 4th or 5th century, and retains its original plan and arrangement, though much disfigured in details. The baptistery, a little behind the apse on its left, is certainly of the date indicated, and retains its mosaics, which seem to be of the same age.

In the year 1299 Charles II. of Anjou commenced the new cathedral at right angles with the old, his French prejudices being apparently shocked at the incorrect orientation of the older church. It is a spacious building, 300 ft. long, arranged, as Italian churches usually were at that age, with a wooden roof over the nave and intersecting vaults over the side-aisles. Opposite the entrance of the old cathedral is a domical chapel of Renaissance design, so that the group contains an illustration of each of the three ages of Italian art.

[Illustration: 461. Plan of San Miniato.]

[Illustration: 462. Section of San Miniato, near Florence. (From drawing by R. W. Schultz.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.]

[Illustration: 463. Elevation of San Miniato. (From drawing by R. W. Schultz.)]

The church of San Miniato (Woodcuts Nos. 461-463), on a hill overlooking Florence, is one of the earliest (1013), as well as one of the most perfect, of the Byzantine-Romanesque style. Internally it is only 165 ft. in length by 70 in width, divided longitudinally into aisles, and transversely into three nearly square compartments by clustered piers supporting two great arches which run up to the roof. The whole of the eastern compartment is occupied by a crypt or under-church open to the nave, above which are the choir and apse, approached by flights of steps in the aisles. The entire arrangement, together with the division of the nave into three compartments, is most satisfactory, and the proportions of the whole are very appropriate. The pillars themselves are so nearly classical in design that they almost seem to have been taken from some ancient building, and the architraves and stringcourses are all well designed and fitted to the places they occupy. The principal ornament of the interior is an inlaid pattern of simple design, sufficient to relieve the monotony of the interior, but without producing any confusion. The exterior depends principally, like the interior, for its effect on coloured panelling, but has a range of blind arches running round the sides and across the front. The façade, however, is very badly designed: either it was one of the earliest examples, and the architects had not learned how to combine the sloping roofs of the aisles with the upper part of the façades, or it has been altered in more modern times; but for this slight defect it would be difficult to find a church in Italy containing more of classic elegance, with perfect appropriateness for the purposes of Christian worship.

[Illustration: 464. Transverse Section of San Miniato. (From R. W. Schultz.)]

There must have been several, probably many, buildings in the same style erected in Tuscany during the first half of the 11th century. Otherwise it is almost impossible to understand how so complete a design as that of Pisa Cathedral could have been executed. It was commenced apparently in 1006, but it was not till 1063, after the plundering of Palermo, according to Reber,[305] that the means were provided for the extraordinary richness of the design, the magnificence of which had at that time no parallel among the ecclesiastical edifices of Italy; the work was suspended in 1095, and could only be resumed by means of pecuniary aid given to the undertaking by the Byzantine emperor. After the consecration of the cathedral in 1103, the interior decorations were carried on until the 15th century. Internally its design is evidently based on that of the basilicas of Rome and Ravenna, except that instead of the range at the latter place of figures in mosaic, it has a splendid triforium gallery and in plan strongly marked projecting transepts. Its great merit, however, as a design arises from the fact that the builders had learned to proportion the parts to one another so as to get greater magnificence with very much smaller dimensions. The size, for instance, of the nave of San Paolo fuori le Mure at Rome is 290 ft. by 215; these dimensions are nearly double those at Pisa, where they are 173 ft. by 106. Yet, in consequence of the greater relative height of the nave and the better spacing of the pillars and proportion of the parts, the interior of Pisa is more pleasing and more impressive than the Roman church. Its effect, too, is immensely increased by the truly Mediæval projection of the transepts. In no church in Italy is there such poetry of perspective as in looking anglewise across the intersection, and seldom anywhere a more satisfactory interior than that of this church.

[Illustration: 465. View of the Cathedral at Pisa. (From Chapuy’s ‘Moyen-Age Monumental.’)]

The exterior, too, is almost equally pleasing. The side-aisles are adorned with a range of blind arches running all round, adorned with

## parti-coloured marble, inlaid either in courses or in patterns. Above

this is a gallery, representing the triforium, carried all round, and in the façades formed into an open gallery; a second open gallery represents the sloping roof of the aisles, a third the clerestory, a fourth the slopes of the great roof. The difficulty here, as in almost all Italian designs, is caused by the sloping roofs; but, with this exception, the whole makes up a rich and varied composition without any glaring false construction, and expresses with sufficient clearness the arrangements of the interior. The dome is of later design, and, being oval in plan, cannot be said to be pleasing in outline.

[Illustration: 466. Plan of Zara Cathedral. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.]

The Italians were evidently delighted with their new style. It was repeated with very little variation at Lucca, in the church of San Michele (1188), only that the arcades stood free on the sides as well as on the front. The façade of San Martino, in the same city, is in the same style; so is that of the cathedral at Pistoja, and so is Sta. Maria at Arezzo. The arrangement was probably suggested by the porticoes of Pagan temples; and were it not for the awkwardness caused by the sloping line of the roofs, it might be characterised as one of the most successful inventions of the age.

In some instances, as in the façade of the Cathedral at Zara in Dalmatia (Woodcut No. 467), which according to Mr. Jackson[306] was not begun before the 13th century, the consecration taking place in 1285, the difficulties of the design of the façade are to a great extent conquered by reducing the arcades to mere decorative panelling, and more than this by separating the design of the centre from that of the aisles by a bold square pilaster. This is exactly the feature we miss at Pisa and Lucca, where the want of it imparts a considerable degree of weakness to the whole design.

[Illustration: 467. View of Zara Cathedral. (From Sir Gardner Wilkinson’s ‘Dalmatia and Montenegro.’)]

The plan of the Zara Cathedral (Woodcut No. 466) is that usually adopted in churches of this class; but it possesses a lady chapel and baptistery, placed laterally in a somewhat unusual manner. Its dimensions are small, being only 170 ft. by 65 externally.

The east end of this church, its doorways and windows, show, as might be expected from its locality, a greater tendency towards Romanesque art than can be found on the western shores of the Peninsula, but in internal arrangements it belongs wholly to the Italian style.

The cathedral at Trau, also in Dalmatia, illustrated in Mr. Jackson’s work, is a fine example, which is not only built in one consistent style throughout, but possesses the still rarer advantage of being completed outside as well as inside, “instead,” as Mr. Jackson observes, “of presenting, like so many Italian churches, a rough face of unfinished brickwork or masonry awaiting in vain the splendid veneer of marble or sculpture that never comes.” The main part of the church was built in the first half of the 13th century. The floor is of the basilica type, with nave (five bays, vaulted) and aisles, centre and side apses, and a magnificent narthex, the full width of nave and aisles, with a sumptuous portal of pure Romanesque design (1240), which is perhaps finer than any example in Italy, and is only rivalled in its decorative sculpture by those of the French portals. Mr. Jackson is of opinion that Dalmatian art took a great departure under Hungarian rule, and followed more in the direction of the purer Romanesque style than in that of the Byzantine. The artists were foreigners, invited not only from Germany but also from France. Villars d’Honecourt recounts his having been sent for, and “French influence,” Mr. Jackson states, “may be detected in some other churches in Hungary.” The portal of the church at Jak, in Hungary, illustrated in Mr. Jackson’s work, is French in character, with a profusion of orders carved with the zigzag fret and dentil very similar to the later Norman work, and includes capitals “à crochet” such as belong to French 12th-century work. The series of trefoil-headed niches, with figures in them which rise above the doorway, are French in character, and remind one of the façade of St. Père-sous-Vezelay. At Cattaro, in Dalmatia, and at Veglia, in one of the islands of the Quarnero, are other examples of fine Romanesque work of the 12th century.

Further south on the mainland of Italy, at Troja, we find a singularly elegant cathedral church (1093-1115?) in the same style (Woodcut No. 468). Its flanks and apse are perhaps even more elegant than anything in the neighbourhood of Pisa. So is the lower part of its façade, which is adorned with a richness and elegance of foliage characteristic of the province where it is found; and the cornice that crowns the lower storey is perhaps unmatched by any similar example to be found in Italy, either for beauty of sculptural decoration or for appropriateness of profile. The upper part of the façade differs, however, considerably from that of the examples just quoted. A great rose-window, of elegant but ill-understood tracery, takes the place of the arcades, and, with the sculptured arch over it, completes all that remains of the original design. The plain pieces of walling that support the central window are parts of a modern repair.

[Illustration: 468. Façade of Cathedral at Troja. (From Schultz.[307]) No scale.]

[Illustration: 469. Cathedral at Bari. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.]

As a general rule, all the churches in the South of Italy are small. This one at Troja is arranged in plan like that at Pisa, with bold projecting transepts, but its length is only 167 ft., and the width of its nave 50, while in the Northern cathedral these dimensions are nearly double—310 ft. by 106—and the area four times as great. This is true of all, however elegant they may be—they are parish churches in dimensions as compared with their Northern rivals.

[Illustration: 470. East End of Cathedral at Bari. (From Schultz.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.]

[Illustration: 471. Apse of San Pellino. (From Schultz.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.]

[Illustration: 472. Church at Caserta Vecchia. (From Schultz.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.]

Many also, as the cathedral at Bari (Woodcut No. 469), have their apses internal, which detracts very much from the meaning of the design, and does away with the apsidal terminations, which are perhaps the most beautiful features in the external design of Italian churches; while they lack the great traceried windows which go so far to replace the absence of the apse in English design. The annexed elevation of the east end at Bari (Woodcut No. 470) gives a fair idea of the general arrangement of that part in the churches in Apulia. It is novel, and the two tall towers with a central dome combine with elegant details to make up a whole which it is impossible not to admire though it will not bear comparison with the more artistic arrangements of Northern architects.

Where the apse[308] is allowed to be seen externally, it is sometimes, as at San Pellino (Woodcut No. 471), an object of great beauty and originality, but such examples are rare in the province, and the designs suffer in proportion.

[Illustration: 473. West Front of Bittonto Cathedral. (From a Sketch by A. J. R. Gawen, Esq.)]

In the richer churches, as at Pisa, a blind arcade is carried round the flanks, sometimes with an open gallery under the eaves, as in German churches, but this was far from being universally the case; on the contrary, it would be difficult, as a typical example of the style, to select one more characteristic than the flank of the church of Caserta Vecchia (1100-1153) (Woodcut No. 472). The windows are small but numerous, and mark the number of bays in the interior. The transept is slightly projected, and ornamented with an arcade at the top, and above this rises a dome such as is found only in Calabria or Sicily. The tower was added afterwards, and, though unsymmetrical, assists in relieving a design which would otherwise run the risk of being monotonous.

[Illustration: 474. West Front of the Church of San Nicolo in Bari. (From a Sketch by A. J. R. Gawen, Esq.)]

It was, however, on their entrance façades that the architects of Southern Italy lavished their utmost care. The central doorways are usually covered with rich hoods, supported by pillars resting on monsters somewhat like those found in the North of Italy. Above this is either a gallery or one or two windows, and the whole generally terminates in a circular rose-window filled with tracery. As exemplified in the front of Bittonto Cathedral (Woodcut No. 473), such a composition is not deficient in richness, though hardly pleasing as an architectural composition.

The same arrangement, on about the same scale, occurs at Bari, Altamura, and Ruvo; and on a somewhat smaller scale in the churches of Galatina, Brindisi, and Barletta. The great and peculiar beauty of the cathedral at Bittonto is its south front, one angle of which is shown in the woodcut; but which becomes richer towards the east, where it is adorned with a portal of great magnificence and beauty. The richness of its open gallery (under what was the roof of the side-aisles) is unsurpassed in Apulia, and probably by anything of the same kind in Italy.

[Illustration: 475. View of the Interior of San Nicolo, Bari. (From Schultz.)]

The façade of San Nicolo at Bari (1197) is something like the last mentioned, except that handsome Corinthian columns have been borrowed from some older building, and add to the richness of the design, though they hardly can be said to belong to the composition. Internally this church seems to have displayed some such arrangement as that of San Miniato (Woodcuts No. 463, 464). Instead, however, of improving upon it, as might be expected from the time that had elapsed since the previous one was erected, the Southern architect hardly knew the meaning of what he was attempting. He grouped together the three pillars next to the entrance, and threw arches across the nave from them, but these arches neither support the roof nor aid the construction in any other way. They do add to the perspective effect of the interior, but it is only by a theatrical contrivance very rare in the Middle Ages, and by no means to be admired when found.

[Illustration: 476. Plan of Crypt at Otranto. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.]

[Illustration: 477. View in Crypt at Otranto. (From Schultz.)]

Most of these Apulian churches possess crypts almost as important as that of San Miniato, some more so; and the numerous pillars in some of these give rise to effects of perspective only to be found elsewhere in such buildings as the Mosque at Cordova, or the cisterns at Constantinople. As in the annexed example, from the cathedral at Otranto, it is wonderful what space and what variety may be attained with small dimensions by the employment of numerous points of support. This was the secret of most of the best effects produced by the Northern architects; but the Italians never understood it, or practised it, except in crypts. Perhaps it may have been that they thought it necessary to sacrifice architectural effect to the exigencies of public worship. Whether this were the cause or not, the result, as already pointed out, was fatal to the architectural effect of many of their designs, especially in the Northern province.

In Southern Italy this is seldom the case, but the difference arose from the fact that the naves of the churches had never vaulted roofs, and were consequently separated from the aisles by single pillars instead of composite piers. This took away all temptation to display mechanical dexterity, and left the architect free to produce the best artistic effect he was able to design with the materials at his command.

[Illustration: 478. Window in the South Side of the Cathedral Church at Matera. (From a Sketch by Mr. Gawen.)]

No one who takes the pains to familiarise himself with the architecture of these Southern Italian churches, can well fail to be impressed with their beauty. That beauty will be found, however, to arise not so much from the dimensions or arrangement of their plans, or the form of their outline, as from the grace and elegance of their details. Every feature displays the feeling of an elegant and refined people, who demanded decoration as a necessity, though they were incapable of rising to any great architectural conception. They excelled as ornamentists, though at best only indifferent architects.

It is impossible to render this evident in such a work as the present; but besides the examples already given, a window (Woodcut No. 478) from the cathedral church at Matera (1270) will explain how unlike the style of decoration is to anything with which we are familiar in the North, and at the same time how much picturesque effect may be produced by a repetition of similar details. The church itself has this peculiarity, that its west front is plain and unimportant, and that all the decoration is lavished on the south side, which faces the piazza. There are two entrances on this face, that towards the east being, as usual, the richer. Above these is a range of richly-ornamented windows, one of which—a little out of the centre—is far more splendid than the rest (Woodcut No. 478). From this it is said that letters and rescripts from the Greek patriarch at Constantinople used to be read, and it is perhaps as elaborate a specimen of the mode of decoration used in these churches as can be found in the province.

[Illustration: 479. Doorway of Church of Pappacoda, Naples. (From Schultz.)]

The same exuberance of decoration continued to be employed down to the latest period of the art, and after Northern forms had been introduced by the Angiovine dynasty at Naples. The doorway from the church at Pappacoda (Woodcut No. 479) is a type of many to be found in that city and elsewhere in the architectural province. True, it is overdone to such an extent that much of the labour bestowed upon it must be considered as thrown away; but if a love of art induced people to labour so lovingly in it, it is hard to refuse them the admiration which their enthusiasm deserves.

Another class of ornamental detail in which this province is especially rich is that of bronze doors, of which some six or seven examples still remain. Of these perhaps the finest are those of the cathedral at Trani. They were made in 1160, and for beauty of design, and for the exuberance and elegance of their ornaments, are unsurpassed by anything of the kind in Italy, or probably in the world. Another pair of doors of almost equal beauty, made in 1119, belongs to the cathedral at Troja (Woodcut No. 468), and a third, which is still in a very perfect state, constructed at Constantinople, in the year 1076, for the church of Mont San Angelo; and is consequently contemporary with the doors of Sta. Sophia, Novogorod, and San Zenone, Verona, and so similar in design as to form an interesting series for comparison.

Other churches in the same style as those mentioned above are found at Canosa, Giovenazzo, Molo, Ostuni, Manduria, and other places in the province. Those of Brindisi, from which we should expect most, have been too much modernised to be of value as examples; but there is in the town a small circular church of great beauty, built apparently by the Knights Templars, and afterwards possessed by the Knights of St. John. It is now in ruins, but many of the frescoes which once adorned its walls still remain, as well as the marble pillars that supported its roof. Being at some distance from the harbour, the Knights of St. John built another small church near the port, which still remains nearly unaltered.

[Illustration: 480. Cloisters of St. John Lateran. (From Rosengarten.)]

Although throughout the Middle Ages Rome went on building large churches, it was in the debased-Roman style already referred to, fitting together Roman pillars with classical details of more or less purity, but hardly, except in their cloisters, deserving the name of a style.

Perhaps the most original, as it certainly is one of the most beautiful, things the Romans did, is the cloister of St. John Lateran. There the little arcades, supported by twisted columns, and adorned with mosaics, are as graceful and pleasing as anything of that class found elsewhere; and as they are encased in a framework of sufficient strength to take off all appearance of mechanical weakness, their unconstructive forms are not unpleasing. The entablature, which is the ruling feature in the design, retains the classical arrangement in almost every detail, and in such purity as could only be found in Rome in the 13th century, when this cloister appears to have been erected; but the style never extended beyond the limits of that city, and thus has little bearing on the thread of our narrative.

The cloister of the Benedictine monastery adjoining the basilica of St. Paul’s outside the walls, is another example of the same kind in which the columns present almost every variety of form; spiral, twisted, fluted, and sometimes two or three of these combined, many of them, as well as the entablature, being covered with mosaics.

SOUTHERN ITALY.

As already remarked, the architects of the southern half of the Italian peninsula were generally content to adopt the Romanesque plan of covering their naves with a wooden roof—for when an intersecting vault is found it is clearly a French or German interpolation—but they often employed one dome, generally over the altar, and used it as an ornament both external and internal. The two illustrations already given of the domes at Bari (Woodcut No. 470) and Caserta Vecchia (Woodcut No. 472) show the form these usually took in the province. They belong to a type not unusual in the East, but unknown to the Gothic architects of Europe.

[Illustration: 481. Plan of Church at Molfetta. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.]

[Illustration: 482. Section of Church at Molfetta. (From Schultz.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.]

When called upon to roof their churches with stone, they almost invariably adopted the domical in preference to the vaulted form, as at Molfetta (1162), where they make a pleasing form of roof, not unlike that of Loches Cathedral (Woodcut No. 585). The great defect of domes when thus employed is their height, which generally throws the whole of the building out of proportion; and unless light is introduced through openings in the drum, or in the dome itself, they are dark and gloomy. This is certainly the case at Molfetta, but otherwise the church seems well designed and of pleasing proportions. To be successful, domes should be low and flat internally; and any height required externally must be given by a false dome, as at St. Mark’s, or as done by the Renaissance architects generally.

[Illustration: 483. Baptistery, Mont St. Angelo Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.]

[Illustration: 484. Plan of Baptistery, Mont St. Angelo. Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.]

This was not so much felt when the building was square, and covered by only one dome, like the baptistery or tomb of Mont St. Angelo, where effect of space on the floor was not aimed at so much as a combination of external dignity with limited dimensions in plan, and was attained by the arrangement adopted. As will be observed, the pointed arch, as in the tower at Gaeta (Woodcut No. 489), is used in the basement, but above this round arches with balusters for pillars, such as we should call Saxon, though their age here may be the 12th century.

[Illustration: 485. Tomb of Bohemund at Canosa. (From Schultz.)]

Among the little bits of Orientalism that crop up here and there all over the province, one of the most pleasing is the little tomb of Bohemund at Canosa (1111). It is charming to find in Italy an Eastern Kibleh with its dome, erected to contain the remains of a Christian king. Though elegant, however, the dome is not fitted to the square, as it would have been in more experienced hands, and the whole design is somewhat badly put together. Its bronze doors are among its chiefest ornaments, and are elegant, though inferior to numerous examples of the same class in the churches of the province.

Many other examples of Byzantine domical forms might be quoted as existing in Southern Italy. It is not, however, so much in the forms as in the details that the Eastern influence is felt, and that no less in the churches which retain the basilican form of Ravenna than in those which assume the domical form of Constantinople.

The buildings of the Southern Province cannot certainly compete with those of the Northern either in size or in daring mechanical construction, but in detail they are frequently more beautiful, while their forms are more national and less constrained. Their great interest, however, in the eyes of the student, consists in their forming a link between the Eastern and Western worlds, and thus joining together two styles which we have hitherto been too much in the habit of considering as possessing no point of contact.

CIRCULAR BUILDINGS.

One of the best known, as well as one of the largest examples of this class of buildings in Italy, is the baptistery at Pisa (seen partially on the left side of Woodcut No. 465). Internally it is, as nearly as may be, 100 ft. in diameter, and the walls are about 8 ft. 6 in. in thickness. The dome itself, however, is only 60 ft. in diameter, and is supported on four piers and eight pillars. These serve to separate the central space from the aisle which runs round it, and which is two storeys in height, but singularly ill-proportioned and clumsy in detail. The worst part of the design, however, is the dome, if dome it can be called. Internally it is conical in form, and thrust through an external hemispherical dome in a manner more clumsy and unpleasing than any other example of its class. Externally, these defects are to some extent atoned for by considerable richness and beauty of detail. It had originally only one range of blind arcades, with three-quarter columns, surmounted by an open arcade; an arrangement exactly similar to that of the two lower storeys of the cathedral and the leaning tower (Woodcut No. 488). A considerable amount of pointed Gothic decoration was afterwards added, which, though somewhat incongruous, is elegant in itself, and hides to some extent the original defects of the design. But the outline of the building and its whole arrangements are so radically bad, that no amount of ornament can ever redeem them.

Taken altogether, the Pisan baptistery is so very peculiar, that it would be interesting if its design could be traced back to some undoubted original. That this is possible will hardly be doubted by any one at all familiar with the subject; meanwhile, the building most like it that has been illustrated is the little church of San Donato, at Zara. The church was probably built according to Mr. Jackson by Bishop Donatus III. at the beginning of the 9th century, with materials taken from ancient buildings, some of them of the best period of Roman architecture. The two monolithic columns in front of the triple sanctuary, and which are 30 ft. in height, bear testimony to the size and importance of the temple they originally adorned, and the great thickness of the walls and the size of the piers suggest a wealth of material at the disposal of the builders. The rectangular building on the south side Mr. Jackson considers to be coeval with the church; and the chamber over it, which was on the same level and originally opened on to the gallery round the aisles, formed a second church intended for the use of the catechumens. The church is so built round that it is impossible to say what its external appearance may have been. Both from its resemblance to the Pisan baptistery and its own merits, it is an interesting addition to our knowledge of those circular churches which were such favourites with all the Christian architects in the Carlovingian period. The resemblance in this instance is the more remarkable, because the façade of the cathedral at Zara (Woodcut No. 467) is in the Pisan style, only slightly modified by local peculiarities. From what we already know, it seems undoubted that there was a close connection—architecturally, at least—between Pisa and Zara. If this were fully investigated, it would probably throw considerable light on the origin of the Pisan style, which has hitherto seemed so exceptional in Italy, and also explain how the Byzantine element came to be so strongly developed in what at first sight appears to be a Romanesque style of art.

[Illustration: 486. Ground and Upper Storey of San Donato, Zara. (From Jackson.) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.]

[Illustration: 487. Section San Donato, Zara. Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.]

TOWERS.

The typical example of a tower in the Italian style is the celebrated leaning tower at Pisa, partly seen in Woodcut No. 465. It is, indeed, so far as we at present know, the only one which carries out that arrangement of numerous tiers of superimposed arcades which is so characteristic of the style. The lower storey is well designed as a solid basement for the superincumbent mass; its walls are 13 ft. in thickness, and it is adorned with 15 three-quarter columns: its height being 35 ft. The six storeys above this average 20 ft. in height, and are each adorned with an open arcade. The whole is crowned by a smaller circular tower, 27 ft. in height, in which the bells are hung. The entire height is thus 182 ft.; the mean diameter of the main portion, 52. There is no doubt that it was originally intended to stand perpendicular, though the contrary has been asserted; but before the commencement of the fifth storey the foundations had given way, and the attempts to readjust the work are plainly traceable in the upper storeys, though without success. It leans 11 ft. 2 in. out of the perpendicular,[309] which, though not sufficient to endanger its stability, is enough to render it very unsightly. Even without this defect, however, its design can hardly be commended; an arrangement of six equal arcades, with horizontal entablatures, is not an expedient mode of adorning a building, where elevation is the element of success. The introduction of strongly-marked vertical lines, or some variation in the design of the arcades, would have greatly improved the design: and so the Italians seem to have thought, for it was never repeated, and the Pisan tower remains a solitary example of its class.

[Illustration: 488. Leaning Tower at Pisa. (From Taylor and Cresy.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.]

[Illustration: 489. Tower of Gaeta. (From Schultz.) No Scale.]

Nothing at all resembling it occurs in the southern parts of the province, though it must be admitted that they contain very few really important towers of any sort.

Perhaps the earthquakes to which a great portion of the country is liable may have deterred the architects from indulging in structures of great altitude; but it must be added that the idea of belfry or tower did not enter into their municipal arrangements, and their towns are not consequently illustrated by such towers as those of Venice, Cremona, or Verona in the north. Of those which do exist that of Gaeta is perhaps as picturesque as any. It was erected 1276-1290, and is both characteristic of the style and elegant in outline. As will be observed, the lower storey has pointed arches, while those above are all round; an arrangement which, though to our eyes it may appear archæologically wrong, is certainly constructively right, and the effect is very pleasing, from the height and dignity given to the entrance.

The two towers of the cathedral at Bari (Woodcut No. 470) are not so happy in design as this. They are too tall for their other dimensions, and want accentuation throughout; while the change from the lower to the upper storey is abrupt and ill-contrived. The tower at Caserta Vecchia (Woodcut No. 472) is low and squat in its proportions, and unfortunately too typical of the towers in this land of earthquakes.

CIVIL ARCHITECTURE.

As a rule, it may be asserted that the southern province of Italy is singularly deficient in examples of civil or domestic architecture. Great monastic establishments existed there during the Middle Ages which must have possessed buildings befitting their magnificence; but these have either perished and been rebuilt, or have been so restored that their original forms can hardly be recognised. There are, indeed, cloisters at Amalfi and Sorrento; much more remarkable, however, for the beauty of their situation than for their architecture, which is extremely rude and clumsy. There are no chapter-houses: no halls or conventual buildings of any sort. In this respect, the province forms a remarkable contrast with Spain in the same age; though it must be confessed that the North of Italy is also very deficient in conventual buildings of the Middle Ages, the most magnificent and beautiful belonging more to the Renaissance than to the Mediæval period.

At Ravello there is the Casa Ruffolo, a picturesque palace of the 13th century, still nearly entire: a strange mixture of Gothic and Saracenic taste, but so exceptional, that it would not be fair to quote it as a type of any style. It seems to owe its peculiarities more to the taste of some individual patron or architect rather than to any national taste or form of design.

[Illustration: 490. Plan of Castel del Monte. (From Schultz.) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.]

There are, however, several Hohenstauffen castles of tolerable preservation, more or less typical of the domestic arts of the day in which they were erected. One of the best preserved of these is that of Castel del Monte, erected by Frederick II., 1240-44. It is an octagon in plan, with octagonal turrets at each angle. It measures 167 ft. across its extreme breadth, and surrounds a courtyard 57 ft. in diameter. Both storeys are vaulted, and all the details throughout are good and pleasing. The whole is an admixture of Italian taste, superimposed on a German design; but it will be observed how little removed the architectural details of the entrance are, even at that early age, from the style of the Renaissance. This is, indeed, the great characteristic of the architectural objects in Southern Italy. Though they adopted Christian forms, they never abandoned the classical feeling in details; and it is this which mainly renders them worthy of study. Whether considered in regard to dimensions, outline, or constructive peculiarities, their churches will not bear a moment’s comparison with those of the North; but in elegance of detail they often surpass purely Gothic buildings to such a degree as to become to some extent as worthy of study as their more ambitious rivals.

[Illustration: 491. Part Section, part Elevation, of Castel del Monte. (From Schultz.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.]

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