Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/489

 Bk. II. Ch. I. PROVENCE. 457 detail, though not without some classical features, and is entirely free from the bold rudeness of style we are so accustomed to associate with the architecture of the 11th century, to which it belongs. Its systeni of vaulting has already been explained (Woodcut No. 310), but neither of these buildings has yet met M'ith the attention they so richly merit from those who are desirous of tracing the progress of art from the decline of the ])ure Roman to the rise of the true Gothic styles. Taking it altogether, perhaps the most elegant specimen of the style is the ruined — now, I fear, nearly destroyed — church of Alet, which, though belong- ing to the 11th century, was singularly classical in its details, and won- dei-f ullyelegant in every jiart of its design. Of this the apse, as having undero'one no subse- quent transformation, Avas by far the most in- teresting, though not the most beautiful por- tion. Externally the np])er part was adorned Avith dwarf Corinthian pilasters, surmounted by a cornice that would not discredit the biuld- ings of Diocletian at Spalatro ; the lower ] )art was ornamented by forms of more Medieval character, but of scarce- ly less elegance. In the 316. Internal Angle of Apse at Alet. (From Taylor ai;d interior the triumphal arch, as it Avould be called in a Roman basilica, is adorned by two Corintliian pillars, designed with the bold freedom of the age, though retaining the classical forms in a most unexpected degree. The rest of the church is as elegant as these parts, though far less classical, the necessities of vaulting and construction requiring a dif- ferent mode of treatment, and a departure from conventional forms, which the architect does not seem to have considered himself at lib- erty to employ in the a])se. » Another singularly elegant specimen of this style is the church of St. Paul au Trois Chateaux, near Avignon (Woodcuts Nos. 317, 318). Its details are so eleijant and so classical that it miajht almost be