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Rh which had its cradle in Rome, was soon adopted throughout Italy. Vignola (1507-1573) had done his best to bind the

art of building to strictly classic rules, but in spite of his efforts the degeneration made progress during his own lifetime and under Carlo Maderna (1556-1639), and proceeded still more rapidly under Bernini (1598-1680). The characteristics of the barocco are the reckless abuse of curves and extravagantly broken lines, of contorted columns, twisted tympanums and highly exaggerated ornaments; yet we must confess that many monuments of this period of art exhibit such exuberant life, such contrasts of relief and shadow, and such a wonderful combination of variety and solidity as cannot fail to please the many, even now, by the magnificence of their general effect. In Rome, the numerous works of Bernini, Borromini, Maderna, Rainaldi, Salvi, Fuga, Longhi and others bear witness to the gifted activity of Italian architects during that period, if genius necessarily creates, those men showed more of it than their predecessors who adhered to the classic and revered the teachings of Vitruvius. Degeneration is tolerated and sometimes even pleases, under the name of transformation, but there is nothing to be said for the real decay which marks the 18th century. It was not universal at first, for it is by nature a slow process; such men as A. Galilei, Specchi, Peparelli, Marchionni, Morelli, Camporese and Piranesi left works not altogether without value; but the outrageous abuse of ornament increased with every year, and was made more and more evident by the clumsy heaviness of the pillars and pilasters that supported the whole. The refined purity of the Renaissance disappeared as completely as the delicate grace and exquisite ornamentation of the Cosmatesque period. Many works of the greatest beauty were destroyed outright, and many more were disfigured and often wholly hidden by horrible stucco constructions and decorations; or, on a larger scale, by the application of hideous stone façades to churches of which the simple good taste had delighted generations of mankind. The deformation of the noble old Lateran basilica is a conspicuous instance of such deeds; another is Santa Maria Maggiore, and the false fronts plastered upon San Marcello and Santa Maria in Via Lata, both in the Corso, give a very clear idea of what was generally done. The interiors of old churches suffered quite as much, and even the frescoes of early masters were not spared; those by Pinturicchio in the third chapel (south) of S. Maria del Popolo were covered with wretched stucco ornaments, only removed in 1850, and numberless works of art by Giotto and other early painters were wilfully destroyed.

The decline of architecture continued in the 19th century, notwithstanding the laudable efforts of Valadier and a few other painstaking imitators, who produced the so-called “academic neo-classic” reaction; among them may be noted the names of Canina, Poletti, Sarti and Azzurri. The futility of their works invited the feeble eclecticism which soon afterwards became so general that the architecture of the period is wholly without individuality, good or bad. The chief architectural work of the 19th century was the rebuilding of the great basilica of S. Paolo fuori le Mura, burnt in 1823, in a style of cold splendour which is anything but devotional in its general effect. The pillars are huge monoliths of grey granite from the Alps; the confession and transepts are lined with rosso and verde antico from quarries then recently rediscovered in Greece, and with Egyptian alabaster and lapis lazuli and malachite adorn the bases of the columns round the high altar in lavish profusion. Thirty years were required for the rebuilding of the frigidly magnificent edifice, which was reconsecrated in 1854. The east façade displays a quantity of gaudy mosaics, and the projected quadriportico is wanting. The belfry is nothing but a steeple, and has an unfortunate resemblance to a lighthouse. In extenuation of the result it must be admitted that the original building had been totally destroyed by fire, but no such excuse can be found for the barbarous assault on Christian art which was perpetrated by Francesco Vespignani in the extension of the Lateran basilica.

This work was begun underr Pius IX. and finished under Leo XIII.; it involved the destruction of the ancient tribune and its ambulatory, the only parts of the church which had so far escaped complete disfigurement, and the priceless mosaics (1290), among the most beautiful in Rome, were taken down and replaced in the new apse in a sadly mutilated and restored form. (For the interesting discoveries made in excavating for the new foundations, see Ann. 1st. 1877, p. 332.)