Page:Charles Moore--Development and Character of Gothic Architecture.djvu/268

Rh type occur on the small shafts of the exterior of the Church of the Spina in Pisa, as well as in many other churches. But capitals of very inferior character are frequently met with. Perhaps the least admirable types to be found in Italy are those of the Cathedral of Florence which are sufficiently illustrated in Figure 104. As I have before remarked they are hardly capitals at all, but are rather

FIG. 163

sculptured mouldings surrounding the pier below the impost level, where neither capital nor mouldings have any proper place.

Italian bases are almost as various in form as the capitals. The profile (A, Fig. 163), that of the base of the pier in Sta. Maria Novella, is almost of the French variety of the Attic type; and bases of still more French character, especially in connection with small shafts, sometimes occur