Page:A history of architecture on the comparative method for the student, craftsman, and amateur.djvu/475

 ITALIAN GOTHIC. 417 Venetian Gothic is obtained from the old front of S. James's Hall, Piccadilly, and the building in Lothbury, opposite the Bank of England. CENTRAL ITALY. Florence Cathedral (Sta. Maria dei Fiori) (1294-1462) (No. 176), is chiefly remarkable for the wide spacing (55 feet) of the nave arcades, the nave itself, the absence of a triforium, buttresses and pinnacles (No. 181), and for the marble fa9ades in colored panelling. The cathedral was erected from the designs of Arnolfo di Cambio, and the octagonal dome, 138 feet 6 inches in diameter, was added in 1420 by Brunelleschi, while the fagade was completed in 1887. Internally the fine effect promised by the plan is not realized, vast masses of grey pietra serena stone, in piers and arches, being contrasted by blank white-washed spandrels. The Baptistery (originally the Cathedral), erected in the tenth century, but remodelled by Arnolfo in a.d, 1294, is an octagonal structure faced with pilasters and richly colored orna- mentation, being further remarkable for the fifteenth century bronze doors by Ghiberti. The Campanile (Nos. 176 d and 181), adjoining, by Giotto (a.d. 1324), is square on plan, 292 feet high, in four stories of increasmg height, and is built in red and white marble. Tracery of an elementary character is introduced into the windows in this example, as in the adjoining cathedral, and mserted in the solidly designed lower story are sculptured panels of great interest and beauty. Below the present tile roof the start of the intended spire can be traced. S. Maria Novella, Florence (a.d. 1278), is an imposing example erected by the Dominicans, and S. Croce, Florence (1294), is a well-known example of the same type. The Palazzo Vecchio, Florence (1298), by Arnolfo di Cambio (with its remarkable tower), the Palazzo Publico, Siena, and the Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence (1376), are examples of the vigorous secular architecture of the period. Siena Cathedral (a.d. 1243-1284) (No. 182) is remarkable in having a dome, 58 feet in diameter, covering an irregular hexa- gonal space at the crossing (No. 179 d), and for its fa9ade in black and white stripes, with three portals of equal size, and charac- teristic rose window. The ground falling towards the east end, allowed of a crypt being formed under the sanctuary, which is used as a baptistery. The unfinished elevation of this east end is a grand design. The Campo Santo, Pisa (1278-1283) (No. 91), is a well- known example, having an unusual development of open tracery in the arches (No. 184 c). Orvieto Cathedral (a.d. 1290) resembles that of Siena, but is