Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/310

294 2D1 ITALIAN ARCHITECTUILE. Pakt U. however, the architecture forms a better guide-line through the tangled mazes of the labyrinth than the written record of political events, and those who can read her language have before them a more trustworthy and vivid picture of the j^ast than can be obtained by any other means. The great charm of the history of Mediaeval art in England is its imity. It affords the picture of a people working out a style from ' chaos to completeness, with only slight assistance from those in foreign countries engaged in the same task. In France we have two elements, the old Southern Romanesque long struggling Avith the Northern Celtic, and unity only obtained l)y the suppression of tlie former, wherever they came in contact. In Italy we have three elements, — the Roman, the Gothic, and the Byzantine, — sometimes existing nearly pure, at others mixed, in the most varying propor- tions, the one Avith the other. In the North, the Gothic element prevailed nearly pure, except in so far as it was based on a Romanesque element, and was practised by a people who still clung to the traditions of imperial Rome, and who consequently allowed the classical forms to influence their art, throughout the Middle Ages, to a far greater extent than was the case on this side of the Alps. In the South, the Byzantine forms prevailed, partly because the art was there based on the traditions of Magna Grecia, and more, perhaps, from the intimate connection that existed between Apulia and the Peloponnesus during the Middle Ages. Between the two stood Rome, nearly unchanged and unchangeable — the thi'ee terms, Roman, Romanesque, and Renaissance comprise all the variation she submitted to. In vain the Bvzantine besieoed her on the south and the Gothic on the north. Their waves spent them- selves on her rock Avithout produciug much impression, Avhile her influence extended more or less over the Avhole peninsula. It Avas distinctly felt at Florence and at Pisa on the north and west, though these conquests Avere nearly balanced by the Byzantine influence Avhich is so distinctly felt at Venice or Padua on the east coast. The great diftieulty in the attempt to reconcile these architectural varieties Avith the local and ethnographical peculiarities of the people — a difliculty Avhich at first sight appears all but insuperable — is, that sometimes all three styles are found side by side in the same city. This, however, constitutes, in reality, the intrinsic jnerit of architec- ture as a guide in these difliculties. What neither the language of the peoi:)le nor their histories tell us, their arts proclaim in a manner not to be mistaken. Just in that ratio in Avhich the Roman, Byzantine, or Gothic style prevails in their churches, to that extent did either of these elements exist in the blood of the people. Once thoroughly