Page:Cracow - Lepszy.djvu/154

 ART FROM THE RENASCENCE moulded by pilasters, each one of the large arched niches, into which they divide it, being flanked by two small ones filled by marble statues, with medallions over them, containing busts (illustration 57). In the large niche to the east there is a silver altar (illustration 58). Opposite to this, there stood formerly the cenotaph of King Sigismund I. The red marble figure of the king, represented in full armour, sleeping, is a work of Gian Maria Padovano. After the death of Sigismund Augustus, his sister Anne ordered the monument of Sigismund I to be raised from the ground and a second one for her brother to be placed below it, which was executed by Santi Gucci. On the south side, Queen Anne had a marble throne erected, with a recumbent image of herself on the front of it (illustration 57).

The decoration of the Sigismund Chapel is among the most beautiful specimens of its kind, and the harmonious architectonic proportions, together with the noble structure of the cupola, make the whole a perfect masterpiece of sixteenth-century art. The monumental architecture of the palace exercised a great influence on the whole development of the Polish Renascence; it became a general custom to erect buildings, both sacred and profane, in the new style, on the model of the castle and the cathedral.

The narrow house-fronts of Gothic times were enlarged by the combination of several houses into one; and by pulling down the dividing walls, room was gained for large courts which were a favourite opportunity to Renascence architects for displaying harmonious proportions and architectonic rhythm in galleries and arcades (illustrations 63—65). The beautiful front portal led into an entrance hall. The most characteristic feature of the Cracow Renascence buildings is the so-called attic. Following the example of classic art, the architects of the Renascence laid particular stress on bringing out the horizontal lines; the rule was also observed in the attic, which served to conceal the roof on the front side, and this could be effected the more easily, as the length of house-front had been increased by the means just mentioned. A high rampart with a fantastically-shaped superstructure runs round the