Character of Renaissance ArchitectureMoore, Charles Herbert
History
Character of Renaissance Architecture
Moore, Charles Herbert
Architecture, Renaissance
The west front of this church (Fig. 19) is again an adaptation of
a Roman triumphal arch design. It is, in fact, as the plan (Fig.
18) shows, a great porch set against the true front, and has no
correspondence in its parts with those of the building itself. In
outline it is an unbroken rectangle crowned with a pediment. A very
shallow order of Corinthian pilasters divides it into a wide central
bay and two narrow ones. A great arch over a smaller order opens into
a barrel-vaulted recess, on the three sides of which the entablature
is returned. A rectangular portal, with square jambs and a cornice,
opens into the nave, and an arch reaching to the entablature opens into
the lateral compartment on each side, and each of these compartments
has a barrel vault with its axis perpendicular to that of the great
central one. The entablature of the small order is carried across the
front of each lateral bay, dividing it into two stages, and the great
order rises through it, embracing both stages, and forming an early
instance of the so-called colossal order that became common in the
later Renaissance. The great order is raised on pedestals, and both
pedestals and pilasters of this order are panelled, while the small
order rests directly on the pavement and its pilasters are fluted. It
is noticeable that the design of the central arch is almost exactly
like that of the central portal of Santa Maria Novella in Florence,
the smaller entablature being broken into shallow ressauts over the
pilasters, giving the same character to the imposts. The front as a
whole has the quiet and refined character that distinguishes this
architect’s work in general.
[Illustration: FIG. 20.--Arch of Septimius Severus.]
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