Page:A history of architecture on the comparative method for the student, craftsman, and amateur.djvu/295

 ITALIAN (north) ROMANESQUE. 237 3. EXAMPLES. S. Antonio, Piacenza (a.d. 1122), S. Ambrogio, Milan (a.d. 1 140), and S. Michele, Pavia (a.d. i 188), are good examples. The latter (Nos. 94 and 95) is vaulted in square bays, with side aisles in two stories, and piers of clustered section. S. Zenone, Verona (a.d. 1139) (No. 96), is an important example, having, under the slope of the gable, arcaded corbels, which are characteristic of the work in this district ; also the great western rose (wheel) window, and the projecting porch to the main doorway, with columns supporting arches, and resting on the backs of crouching lions (No. 98 g). The origin of the arcaded galleries in many of the more impor- tant churches of the period (Nos. 91 and 95), is interesting, as illustrating how such architectural features have had, originally, a constructive meaning. Thus, when a wooden roof was placed over a circular vault, the external walls did not need to be continued solid above the springing of the vault, as the ends of the rafters exerted little thrust ; hence this portion was arcaded, the arches being connected with the extrados of the vault, giving a deep shadow in an appropriate position (Nos. 104 and 105 b). This arcading, from being used merely in this position, came to be employed, in every possible part of the building, as a decorative feature, so that it even entirely covered the western fa9ade. Similarly in the later Gothic periods in England, the battlemented parapet, primarily of use for defence at the top of the building, was employed as a decorative feature on window transoms and other positions. The Palazzi Farsetti and Loredan, and the Fondaco dei Turchi,agreat warehouse on the Grand Canal, used in the Eastern trade, are well-known examples at Venice, in which are found the characteristic cubiform capital, carrying semicircular arches which are often stilted. The Campanili, or bell towers, are important features of the period. They were not joined structurally with the church to which they belonged, as in England, France, and Germany, but were placed at some little distance, and sometimes connected with the main building by cloisters (No. 96). These campanili occur in most of the North Italian towns, and in many cases are rather civic monuments than integral portions of the churches near which they are situated, as that of S. Mark, Venice. In these cases they were erected as symbols of power, or commemorative monuments, being similar in purpose to the civic towers of Belgium (page 390J. In plan they are always square, and have no projecting but- tresses, as in countries north of the Alps, being treated as plainly as possible, without breaks, and with only sufficient windows to