Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/395

Rh Bk. VIII. Ch. VI. BITTONTO — BARI. 379 It was, however, on their entrance fajades that the architects of Southern Italy lavished their utmost care. The central doorways are usually covered with rich hoods, supported by pillars resting on monsters somewhat like those found in the North of Italy, Above this is either a gallery or one or two windows, and the whole generally 808. "W^est Front of the Church ot baa Isicolo m Ban. (From a sketch by A. J. K. Gawen, Esq.) terminates in a circular rose-window filled with tracery. As exem- plified in the front of Bittonto Cathedral (Woodcut No. 807), such a composition is not deficient in richness, though hardly jileasing as an architectural composition. The same arrangement, on about the same scale, occurs at Bari, Altamura, and R^ivo ; and on a somewhat smaller scale in the churches of Galatina, Brindisi, and Barletta. The great and peculiar beauty