Page:A history of architecture on the comparative method for the student, craftsman, and amateur.djvu/499

 RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN EUROPE. 44I metal work the bronze baptistery gates at F"lorence were won in competition by the sculptor Ghiberti, in 1404, and are the finest examples of a class of work for which these craftsmen- architects were famous. These accessories of architecture were erected, or added to many old buildings, both in Italy and elsewhere. ' The Renaissance architects followed the Byzantine treatment of the Dome, but increased it in importance by lifting it boldly from its substructure and placing it on a " drum," in which windows were formed, thus making it a great external dominating feature (Nos. 202, 212, 254). Likewise, they were the first to introduce as an architectural ^^ motif' the wall of massive rusticated masonry with arched openings, as in the Palazzo Riccardi, Florence (Nos. 191 and 192), the Palazzo Pesaro, Venice (No. 209), and elsewhere, in which buildings the wall was frankly treated as architecture, and was in no way imitative of ancient Roman buildings. Renaissance Vaulting. — In the beginning of the fifteenth century the Gothic principles of ribbed vaulting were abandoned, giving place to the revival of the Classic method of solid semicir- cular vaulting (page 117). This type of vaulting was much used in the halls, passages, and staircases of Renaissance palaces and churches, and was besides frequently built of wooden framing, plastered and painted with colored decoration, often of remark- able richness and beauty, as at the Vatican palace by Raphael. In cases of cross-vaulting with narrow and wide spans, it appears that the groins were now formed by means of ^' ordinatcs" (No. iii e), with elliptical soffits, groins forming a straight line on plan instead of the wavy line produced by the intersection of a semicircular vault with one stilted above its springing. Note.— Having now taken a rapid survey of the causes which led to the revival of Classic architecture throughout Europe, and before proceeding to consider the development in each country, a comparison of a few of the more prominent charac- teristics of the style with the treatment which obtained in Gothic architecture is ji-iven. 3. EXAMPLES (refer to each country). Although important types of church design were evolved, yet in the main the most characteristic monuments were the municipal buildings, palaces, country houses and elaborate facades to town buildings. In addition, chapels, tombs, gates, oratories and public fountains were special creations.