Page:The Building News and Engineering Journal, Volume 22, 1872.djvu/540

 518 THE BUILDING NEWS. ’ June 28, 1872. the Palazzo Trissino, considered to be one of his best designs, but left unfinished, and the only completed facade placed in so narrow a street as to be seen ata disadvantage. The Palazzo Trento, also by him, is ina plain good style. At Genoa, the Palazzo Ravaschieri. At Florence, the Palazzo Roberto Strozzi. At Monselice, the Villa Duodo, and some small churches. At Salzburg, the Cathedral, a very noble specimen of the Revival, is generally ascribed to him; it is on the model of S. Peter’s at Rome, and was completed in the same year as that great Cathedral, 7.e., 1614. Kugler, in his ‘‘ Kunstgeschichte,” states that it was originally designed by a certain Santino Solari, but, according to Nagler (‘‘ Kiinstler’s Lexicon” s.y. Scamozzi), Scamozzi made drawings for the design, which Solari appears to haye carried out with many alterations of his own. As a military engineer he constructed the strong fortifications of Palma Nuova, in Friuli, the first stone of which was laid in 1593. Amidst all the business which eccupied him incessantly as a_ practical architect, he commenced his illustrated work, to be called ‘* Architettura Universale,” the idea of which appears to have arisen from a journey he made into Europe, when he formed one of a deputation from the Republic of Venice to Sigismund, King of Poland, about the year 1588, when he took advantage of the oppor- tunity to visit various great cities, and in- tended to make aselection of all the principal buildings of Europe, forming a kind of archi- tectural history. This interesting work he was engaged upon up to the time of his death, which occurred at Venice in 1616, a few months after the publication of the first six books of his ‘‘Idea del’Architetture,” &c. Scamozzi has been very differently criticised by writers on architecture, some speaking of his style in terms of great admiration, whilst with others he finds little favour. Between the two, we venture to think, is a fair middle point to place him; his designs are certainly vastly inferior in conception to those of Sansovino ; at the same time he is careful in avoiding faults, and his detail is very good. As regards the work by which (next to Salz- burg Cathedral) he is principally to be judged —yiz., the Procurazie Nuove at Venice—it cannot be denied that his deviation from Sansoyino’s facade of the Library, of which his work forms a continuation, is to be lamented; yet not only was there the natural disinclination, probably, of merely copying his predecessor’s work, however excellent in itself, but we should remember that he had also to consider that portion of the Piazza already built by Maestro Buono, the Ber- gamasci and P. Lombardo, which already consisted of three distinct stories, and with which his own design ought necessarily to har- monise, as it formed already one side of the great Piazza: thus he appears to have carried eon Sansoyino’s two first stories with little deviation; but Sansovino’s great frieze and finely-broken sky-line disappear and are replaced by another arcaded story of the Corinthian order, surmounted by a poor cornice and a straight, monotonous sky-line. We should say that Scamozzi was a good architect, but not of an artistic genius, such as characterised his great predecessor at Venice, Sansovino. As a writer on architec- ture he deserves the credit of being the first to take a general view of art in his proposed work, the “Idea del’Architettura Univer- sale,” the published portion of which, how- ever, does not bear out the title of the book, since it is little more than a rifacciamento and extension of former works on architecture. ‘Two other architects designed buildings very characteristic of the Venetian style, and noone can have visited Venice, that city of romance, without carrying away a yivid im- pression of the Bridge of the Rialto, and S. M. della Salute, by da Ponte and Longhena respectively. The Rialtois usually describedas being built by Antonio da Ponte, in 1588—91. The span of the arch is about 90ft., and its height from the water 24ft. ; the bridge itself is divided into three ways, the central one being about 21ft. wide, and the side ways 11ft. The shops on each side are about 13ft. wide. The bridge is most original, effective, and picturesque, so much so_ that we hardly regret the failure of Giocondo’s, Palladio’s, and Scamozzi’s designs. Another important work by da Ponte is the prison near the Ducal Palace, to which itis joined by the celebrated “Bridge of Sighs,” also designed by da Ponte, but stated by Milizia to have been completed by his nephew Antonio Contini. Ihe prison—which is of excellent architecture, massive, and yet not heavy, and sufficiently severe to give the idea of the purpose to which it was applied—was commenced by da Ponte in 1591. When the Ducal Palace suffered severely by fire in 1577, the Signoria consulted the most eminent Italian architects, and amongst them Palladio, whorecommended the entire rebuilding of the injured portions, but da Ponte adyocated a restoration of the former design, retaining the undestroyed parts, and to himis due the aspect of the later portions of the palace as we now see it; and the fine ceiling of the Sala del Collegio was designed by him. In 1579 he built that por- tion of the Arsenal called ‘‘ Corderia della Tana,” a vast cordage walk about 320 yards long, divided into three spacious naves by bold and well-designed ‘Tuscan columns. These are all the buildings we can find ascribed to him, and the Rialto, the prison, and the Bridge of Sighs, stamp him as an architect of great artistic power, and have connected him inseparably with our remem- brances of Venice. ‘Temanza (1778) calls him Antonio da Ponte. His full name appears to have been Giovanni Antonio da Ponte; he was born at Venice in 1512, studied architecture under Scarpagnino, and succeeded him as architect to the ‘‘ Magistrato del Sale,” in 1558; he died in 1597. His name of ‘da Ponte (of the bridge), may be merely a sou- briquet as builder of the Rialto, his title to which, however, is disputed by Magrini, who is inclined to assign it to Giovan Alvise Boldu. Balthazar Longhena, the architect of S. M. della Salute, which, whatever its faults may be, will always be remembered as one of the finest and most effective of modern build- ingsin Venice, has lefta great number of works in that city. Amongst them are the Palazzo Paron and the Palazzo Pesaro, now Bevilac- qua, one of the largest and richest in Venice, erected in 1679, for the Procurator Leonardo Pesaro, at great cost, and formerly adorned with all the appliances of art; the fine Palazzo Rezzonico ; the patriarchal Seminary- circa, 1656, not devoid of grandeur; the Palazzo Giustiniani-Lolin. ‘lhe Church of the Scalzi was designed by him in 1680; its present rococo marble facade is the work of G. Sardi. The Collegio Greco was designed by Longhena in 1678. The grand staircase of the Convent of San Giorgio Maggiore was built by him. The Church ‘ del Ospedaletto,” erected by him in 1674, shows a decline in good art. The Church of S. M. del Pianto, in a plainer style, was built from his designs between the years 1647 and 1687. The Monument of Doge Giovanni Pesaro, in the Church of the Frati, is a rich and elaborate work, not in the most cor- rect taste, however; designed by Longhena in 1669, the sculpture being by Melchior Barthel. Less striking, but in better style, is the monument of two Procurators of S, Mark, in the Church of S. M. dei’Gesuiti, and the monument to Doge Domenico Michel, erected in 1637. Other minor works in Venice are by him, and he completed, also, Scamozzi’s design for the south side of the Piazza San Marco. Of all Longhena’s works, however, the one on which his position as an artist depends is, without doubt, the Church of S. M. della Salute, commenced in 1631, but not com- pleted till 1682, and erected as a votive monument on the cessation of a great pesti- lence. It is novel both in plan and compo- sition, its double cupola is original and ingenious, and, although many features in the design may be open to severe criticism and even condemnation, it nevertheless is strik- ingly effective, and is the work of a real artist—of one who knew how to place a building well, and how to combine its princi- pal features so as to produce a pictorial and pleasing result. It receives additional effect from the adjoining Dogana di Mare, erected, from the designs of G. Benoni, between 1676—82, which always comes in at some point with the view of the Church, and materially adds to its effect. In civic architecture Longhena’s Palazzo Pesaro, although now in a yery miserable condition, presents many admirable points ; it is rich, and yet massive; the rusticated basement is exceedingly effective, and on the uppermost range of arcades he has repro- duced that unusual depth in the frieze, practised by Sansovyino with such success at the Library, and has done so with judgment and taste. His Palazzo Rezzonico is also a work of great merit, and very effective. It must be admitted, however, that Longhena gives constant evidence of the decline of art in the seventeenth century, and with him may be said to have expired the thoroughly effective and pictorial style of the Venetian school of Italian architecture. ——>—_“_—__. OUR PRESENT KNOWLEDGE OF BUILDING MATERIALS, AND HOW TO IMPROVE IT.* Srone (Continued). ITH regard to sandstones, the information contained in architectural and engineering handbooks was next to nothing; in fact, in ‘“‘ Molesworth ” the whole subject of sandstones was comprised in the information that their crushing strength was 5,0001b. to the square inch, which, being an easy round number to remember, might with equal reason be adopted as the crushing strength of all stones. Very little was known with regard to the transverse strength of different kinds of stone, though there was no doubt that some were much more capable than others of taking a bending stress. Stone was a material specially unsuited to resist any stress except compression, and it was the true appreciation of the nature of stone asa building material, by the almost exclusive use of it to the best advantage (viz., under compression) by the Medieval builders that marked their great superiority, as scientific builders, over their predecessors of the more refined Classic ages. In practice, however, we constantly found stone subjected to bending stress, and that further information under this head was required struck the author very forcibly some little time ago, on seeing some stone stairs, two stories high, being carefully propped up with wood, many of the steps having split right across close up to the wall. The steps were feather-edged, of Portland stone, 11Jin. treads, and 6jin. risers, and had been exposed to the ordinary traffic of an office for about sixty-two years. The treads being much worn, a nason had been at work cutting them down at the top, preparatory to fixing an iron nosing, and filling the treads up level with asphalte, when the step he was at work on cracked close up to the wall, probably from the jarring caused by the strokes of the chisel; shortly after, several of the steps above cracked too, being no longer supported by those below, and being evidently unequal to do the work suddenly thrown upon them. Stairs with the steps only supported in the wall at one end were of con- stant occurrence, and serious accidents had some- times occurred from their sudden failure. Enough had been said, the author thought, to prove that more knowledge was required as to the special qualities of different kinds of stone, and their appli- cability to particular uses; but there was still another point about which there was not at present any certain knowledge, namely, to what extent the shape to which stones were cut, and the manner in which they were bedded, affected their strength. Some few experiments on these points had already been made by Mr. Kirkaldy, at the instance of one of the Fellows of the Institute, some of the results of which had already appeared in the Institute's “Transactions.” Captain Seddon here detailed the the results of one or two interesting experiments ea ee SSS SS Institute of British Architects April 22 last. Concluded from p. 488.
 * Paper road by Captain Ssppon R.E. before the Royal