Page:A history of architecture on the comparative method for the student, craftsman, and amateur.djvu/511

 ITALIAN (FLORENTINE) RENAISSANCE. 453 instance where isolated fragments of entablature are placed on each column with the arches springing from these. The Pazzi Chapel, Florence (in S. Croce) (a.d. 1420) (No. 193 A, B, c), is a refined example of his smaller works, consisting of a dome over a square compartment, which is entered through an open colonnade of six columns supporting a decorated vault and forming the front facade. The Riccardi Palace (1430) (Nos. 191 and 192) and the Pitti Palace (1440), in both of which he appears to have been associated with Michellozzo (i 397-1473), are examples of the massive rusticated buildings with heavy crowning cornice for which the Florentine style is noted. ALBERTI (1404- 1472) was a scholar deeply interested in classical literature, and his works exhibit more decorative treatment and are less massive than those of Brunelleschi. He wrote a work on architecture, " De Re ^dificatoria," which largely influenced men's minds in favour of the revived Roman style. The Ruccellai Palace, Florence (a.d. 1451-1455) is known as the first Renaissance building in which superimposed pilasters were used, and shows a lighter and more refined character, although dignity was lost compared with the Pitti Palace, by the reduction in size of the great crowning cornice. S. Francesco, Rimini (a.d. 1447-1455), a thirteenth century Gothic church, was remodelled in the revived style, but the fa9ade was never completed. S. Maria Novella, Florence (a.d. 1470), was one of the first churches in which consoles were placed in the fagade over the side aisles to connect them with the nave. S. Andrea, Mantua (a.d. 1472-1512) (No. 193), is particularly notable and important as the type of many modern Renaissance churches, and consists of a single nave with transepts, the interior ornamented with a single order on pedestals supporting a barrel vault. Chapels, alternating with entrance vestibules, take the place of the customary aisles on each side of the nave. Over the intersection of the nave with the transept is a dome, in the drum or lower portion of which are windows lighting the interior. The chancel is apsidal, lighted by three windows, which cause the entablature to be mitred round the pilasters of the order which carry the lunetted half dome of the apse. The perfection of the proportions makes the interior of this church one of the grandest in the style, and the front is reminiscent of a Roman triumphal archway.