Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/377

Rh Bk. VIII. Ch. IV. CIVIC BUILDINGS. 361 moulded bricks, which are in themselves far more durable, and, if carefully burnt, retain their sharpness of outline longer than most kmds of stone. The most common way in which the Italians used this material was by repeating around their openings or along their cornices small copies of Gothic details, as in this example from a circular window in the Broletto at Brescia (Woodcut No. 788). Where the details are small and designed with taste, the effect is almost equal to stone ; but where the details are them- selves on a large scale, as is sometimes the case, the smallness of the materials becomes apparent. Even in this example the semi- quatrefoils of the j^rincipal band are too large for the other details, though not sufficiently so to be offensive. Though not so rich, the effect is almost equally pleasing where the brick is merely moulded on its edge, without any very direct rep- etition of Gothic details, as in the upper part of the win- dow shown in Woodcut No. 789, from the cathedral of Monza. Where great depth is given so as to obtain shadow, and long tiles are used for the upper arch, as was done by the Romans, an appearance of strength and solidity is given to the con- struction unsurpassed by that obtained in any other material. Perhaps the most pleasing application of terra-cotta ornaments is where bricks of different colors are used so as to produce by variety of pattern that relief which cannot so well be given by depth of shadow — a perfectly legitimate mode of ornament when so small a material is used, and when beauty only, not sublimity, is aimed at. This is sometimes produced in Italy by introducing stone of a different color among the bricks, as in the two examples from Verona (Woodcuts Nos. 790, 791) ; and where this mode of ornamentation is carried throughout the building, the effect is very pleasing. It is difficult, however, so to proportion the two materials as to produce 789. Window from the Cathedral of Monza. (From Street.)