Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/337

Rh Bk. vin. cet- in pointed Italian gothic. 321 CHAPTER ni POINTED ITALIAN GOTHIC. CONTENTS. Fresco paintings — Churches at Vercelli, Asti, Verona, and Lucca — Cathedral at Siena — Sta. Maria, Florence — Church at Chiaravalle — St. Petronio, Bologna — Cathedral at Milan — Certosa, near Pavia — Duomo at Ferrara — Churches at Toscanella. CHRONOLOGY. DATES. Bologna independent a.d. 1112 Countess Matilda at Florence .... 1115 Obizzo d'Este at Ferrara 1184 Enrico Dandolo takes Constantinople. 1203 War between Genoa and Venice. . . 1205 Azzo d'Este at Ferrara 1208 Martino della Scala at Verona .... 1259 DATES. Martino delle Torre at Milan. . a.d. 1260 Viscouti, Lord of Milan 1277 Taddeo de Pepoli at Bologna .... 1334 Conspiracy of Marino Faliero .... 1.355 Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan 1395 Verona ceded to Venice 1409 Cosmo de' Medici 1434 BEFORE the commencement of the 13tli century, the Italians had acquired such mastery over the details of their round-arched style, and had worked it into such originality and completeness, that it is surprising that they should so easily have abandoned it for that form of pointed Gothic which they afterwards adoj^ted. It is true the Italians never rose to the conception of such buildings as the great Rhenish cathedrals, like those of Spires and Worms, or the old churches at Cologne ; nor did they perhaps even rival the quasi- classical grace and elegance of the Provencal churches ; but at Verona, Modena, and indeed throughout the North of Italy, they had elaborated a complete round-arched style, all the details of which were not only appropriate and elegant, but §eemed capable of indefinite development in the direction in which they were j^ro- ceeding. They had also before their eyes the Romanesque style of Pisa and Lucca with all its elegance, and the example of Rome, where the architects steadily refused to acknowledge the pointed arch during the whole of the Mediaeval period. Yet in the beginning of the 13th century — say 1220, when the cathedrals of Amiens, Salisbury, and Toledo were designed — Italy too was smitten with admiration for the pointed arch, and set to work to adapt it to her tastes and uses. It would be difficult to account for this, were we not aware how deeply the feelings that gave rise to the Ghibelline faction were vol,. IT. — 21