Page:A history of architecture on the comparative method for the student, craftsman, and amateur.djvu/553

 ITALIAN (MILAN AND GENOA) RENAISSANCE. 495 MILAN AND GENOA. Although these cities formed no distinct school, as Florence, Rome, and Venice', there were many noteworthy buildings which may be briefly referred to. Milan was, as it is now, one of the richest and most populous of Italian towns. 'I he powerful family of the Visconti, who in former times had built Milan Cathedral (page 408), greatly encouraged art. Brick and terra-cotta were the materials chiefly to hand, and were employed in the Church of 5. Maria della Grazie (a.d. 1492) (page 457), by Bramante, and in the great courtyard of the Ospedale Maggiore (a.d. 1457), by Filarete, a Florentine. Both these buildings possess a considerable amount of Gothic feeling ; the detail is delicately and richly modelled, and is very suitable to the material employed. 6 Satiro, Milan (a.d. 1474), by Bramante, is famous for its chancel wall, treated in perspective, and for its octagonal sacristy. The Certosa, Pavia, near Milan (page 408), which was erected in the Gothic period (a.d. 1396), has the west fa9ade (a.d. 1476), by Borgognone, in the Renaissance style, and is probably the most important of the early examples. It is in marble, and is specially remarkable for the small scale of its parts, the leading lines being essentially Lombardian Gothic, although clothed with Renaissance details. The dome is interesting as a Renaissance copy of a type used in the Gothic period as at Chiaravalle and elsewhere. The arcaded galleries, the niches with statues executed by the greatest sculptors of the day, and the wealth of beautifully executed detail, make it one of the richest and most perfect specimens of the arts of the architect and sculptor. Genoa has some remarkable buildings, principally designed by Alessi (a.d. 1500-1572), a pupil of Michael Angelo. The building material at hand was brick, which was covered with stucco, to resemble stone-work. The Genoese palaces are remarkable especially for the entrance courts, the arrangement of the vestibules, courtyards, and flights of steps, in which advantage was taken of the sloping sites to produce beautiful vistas of terraces and hanging gardens (No. 217 d). These buildings usually have their basements rusticated, and pilasters were freely introduced as a decorative feature ; while the fagades were crowned by a bold projecting cornice, supported by large consoles (No. 217 b), the windows occupying the square intervals between these brackets. Many of the palaces were painted wholly in one color, and received their name from it, as the Palazzo Bianco (white), Palazzo Rosso (red), and the bright coloring, with the help of the Italian sun, gives them a very bright appearance. The Palazzo Mwiici/io (Doria-