Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 5.djvu/219

Rh into four parts, exclusive of the principal front wherein is the great door; behind which is a Loggia eighty palms long by forty broad, and at one end of the same is a spiral staircase the steps of which are ten palms in width, while the space in the centre, which gives light to the whole, is of twenty palms. This spiral stair ascends from the ground to the third or uppermost floor, it is supported on double columns, and adorned with rich and varied cornices: at the lower end we have the Doric Order which is followed successively by the Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite, all richly decorated with balustrades, niches, and other fanciful ornaments which render it very graceful and beautiful.

Opposite to this Staircase and on the other side of the entrance, is a range of rooms commencing with a circular vestibule of size equal to that of the Staircase, and leading to a Hall on the ground floor, eighty palms long and forty broad. This is called the Hall of Jupiter, and is adorned with stucco-work and painted with Stories of Jupiter, his birth that is to say, and his infancy, when nursed by the Goat Amalthea; the coronation of the latter is added, with two other stories, one on each side of these, showing Amalthea received among the number of the Celestial Signs in one, and in the other a story of the same Goat, both of which allude, as do the others, to the name of that Palace, Caprarola. The walls of this apartment are furthermore decorated with perspective views of buildings drawn by Vignola and painted by his son-in-law; they are very beautiful, and cause the Hall to appear much larger than it is. This room is succeeded by one of forty palms only, which is likewise adorned with stucco-work and paintings, all referring to the Spring. From this room and turning the angle towards the apex of the Pentagon, where a Tower has been commenced, we proceed to three large rooms each forty palms long and thirty wide. In the first of these are stucco-work and paintings to intimate the Summer; in the second is depicted the x.utumn; and the third, which is sheltered from the north, is adorned in like manner with paintings and stucco-work symbolical of the Winter.

We have hitherto spoken of that half of this pentagonal edifice which is on the right, and immediately over the basement of the building wherein are the kitchens, cellars, larders, offices for the servants, and so forth; we have now