Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/317

Rh Bk. VII[. Ch. II. NOVARA. 301 turbing that shadowy effect which is so favorable to architectural grandeur. Being a j^arochial church, this building had no baptistery attached to it ; but there is one at Asti (Woodcut No. 737) so similar in style and age^ that its plan and section, if examined with those of San Antonio, will give a very com^jlete idea of Lombard architecture in the be- ginning 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 building is the gloom that reign's within, there being absolutely no windows in the dome, and those in the aisles are so small that even in Italy the interior must always have been in comparative darkn ess. The cathedral of Novara, which in its pres- ent state is one of the most important build- ings of the 11th century in the North of Italy, shows the style still further advanced. Tlic coupling and grouping of piers are here fully understood, and the divisions of the chapels which form the outer aisle are, in fact, con- cealed buttresses. The Italians were never able to divest themselves 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 had recourse to this expedient to conceal them; and wlien 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 ])lan, 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 '^^s. Plan of the Cathedral at ■^ ' Novara. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in. of the front (Woodcut No. 739) shows very distinctly how far the invention of the new style had then gone ; for exce})t some Corinthian pillars, borrowed from an older edifice, no trace of Romanesque architecture is to be found in it. The design of the facade explains what it was that suggested to the Pisan architects the form to which they adapted their Romanesque details. In both styles the arcade Avas the original model of the whole system of orna- mentation. In this case it is used first as a discharging arch, then as a mere repetition of a useful member, and lastly, without pillars, as