Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/384

368 368 ITALIAN ARCHITECTURE. Part II. CHAPTEK Y. BYZANTINE ROMANESQUE STYLE OF MEDIAEVAL ITALY. CONTEXTS. Introductory Classification of Styles. IT would be easier to define the limits and character of the remaining styles of Italian Medisvval architecture by a negative than a positive title. To call them the "non-Gothic" styles Mould describe them correctly, but would hardly suffice to convey a distinct idea of their peculiarities. Romanesciue, or even Italian Komancsijue, would not be sufficient ; first, because that term aj)plies only correctly to those transitional forms which were derived directly from the Roman styles as they became impure and degraded, and has already been ap])lied to lluni ill a previous chapter; and, secondly, because there is an important foreign element in the styles in question of which that name takes no cocrnizance. That element is the Bvzantine, 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 Grecia kept up across the Adriatic with the peoj»le on its eastern shore. To such a mixture of styles the term "Byzantine Romanesque" is ]>erfectly appro})riate ; but there is still in Italy another form of ait which cannot be included in such a denomination. The typical example of this style is the church of St. Mark at Venice. St. Mark's is generally assumed to Ix' purely Byzantine ; but there is no church in the East exactly like it, though many possess features in common ; and there are in Apulia churches, such as Molfetta and St. Angelo, which look much more like Levantine designs than any- thing to be found in other parts of Europe, except perhaps such build- ings as St. Front, Perigeux, and one or two exceptional buildings in the south of France. To this style, as practised in Italy, it may be expedient to give the name " Italian Byzantine." There still remains the difficulty of knowing under which of these two branches some of the buildings of Southern Italy should be classed. The cathedrals of Bari, Bitonto, Trani, and Caserta Vecchia, may as fairly be said to belong to one as to the other style. In a very detailed description of Italian styles it might be expedient to attempt a further subdivision, and to follow up the two divisions just marked out by two