Page:A history of architecture on the comparative method for the student, craftsman, and amateur.djvu/477

 ITALIAN GOTHIC. 419 imbued more considerably with Northern Gothic feeling. It is mainly of one period, the fagade dating from 13 10, and is more harmonious in design than the Siena example. The nave is now restored with an open timber roof of the Basilican type. S. Francis, Assisi (a.d. i228-i253),is an example which was from the designs 'of a German, Jacobus of Meruan. It consists of an upper and lower church, and is very northern in detail, depending much more on its frescoed interior than upon the architecture proper for its magnificence and character. Both churches are vaulted, built of brick and plastered, and received a complete treatment in painted decoration by Cimabue and Giotto. In Rome, churches of the Basilican type were erected through- out the Middle Ages, S. Maria sopra Minerva (1280) being quoted as the only Gothic church in Rome. SOUTHERN ITALY AND SICILY. The influences at work in these districts have already been referred to in Romanesque (page 239). The style has been described as " Greek in essence, Roman in form, and Saracenic in decoration." Messina and Palermo Cathedrals have plans founded on the Roman basilican type, the naves having timber roofs of great elaboration and intricate construction, resembling in their effect the honeycomb work of Saracenic art. The pointed arch was used, but without mouldings or even receding planes (No. 183). The main idea striven after in these churches was the unfettered display of mosaic decoration, in which the principal personages of the Bible are rendered in a stiff archaic style, with borders of arabesques in gold and color, while the lower parts of the walls have a high dado of white marble, with a border introducing green and purple porphyry in patterns. Palermo Cathedral is a remarkable example of external architectural decoration in stones of two colors, the apses in particular being very fine. At the west end is a group consisting of a central and two lower towers, with detail of an arbitrary style, but suggesting Northern Gothic in its vigour of skyline. 4. COMPARATIVE. North, Central, and South. A. Plans. — The endeavour to create a great central space in the churches, as at Florence (No. 176) and Siena Cathedrals (No. 179 d), shows the influence of Etruscan and Roman models. E E 2