Character of Renaissance ArchitectureMoore, Charles Herbert
History
Character of Renaissance Architecture
Moore, Charles Herbert
Architecture, Renaissance
In the façade of San Francesco della Vigna, also in Venice, and by
the same architect, the design of San Giorgio is repeated, with some
notable changes in detail. In this case the small order, as well as the
larger one, consists of columns, except that on each angle a pilaster
takes the place of a column, and both orders rise from the same level,
the smaller one resting on a continuous podium, and the larger one
on pedestals which are ressauts of the podium. The entablature of
the small order is here not continuous, but is broken by the nave
compartment, though a fragment of it is inserted in the central bay of
this compartment over the small columns that flank the portal.
[Illustration: FIG. 55.--The Redentore, Venice.]
The scheme of the Redentore differs from that of San Giorgio. It has
no transept and no aisles, but in the place of aisles a series of side
chapels. A square area in front of the sanctuary is covered with a
dome on pendentives, while the nave has a barrel vault, and the side
chapels have barrel vaults with their axes perpendicular to the axis
of the nave. From the dividing walls of these chapels solid abutments
in pairs are carried up through the lean-to roofs over the chapels to
meet the thrusts of the nave vaulting, as shown in the general view of
the exterior (Fig. 55). The plan of the east end is peculiar. A round
apse opens out of the north and south sides of the square covered by
the dome, and a colonnade on a curved plan forming the sanctuary bounds
this square area on the east side. Beyond this is an oblong enclosure
the eastern wall of which is on a curved plan, and the sanctuary is
flanked by small towers. The interior has a great order of Corinthian
columns, one against each pier, resting directly on the pavement, and
the small pilasters under the archivolts carry entablatures which
extend to the outer wall and from them the barrel vaults of the chapels
spring. The entablature of the great order is not set in the wall and
broken by ressauts to cover the columns, as in San Giorgio; but is
carried by the columns, and thus overhangs the wall with a supporting
corbel in the middle of each intercolumniation which forms a keystone
to the arch beneath. The façade of the Redentore is a variation of
that of San Giorgio with the pedestals omitted from the great order,
as in the interior, and it has an attic behind the pediment like that
of Vignola’s small church of St. Andrea at Rome. Such is the nature
of Palladian church architecture. We shall see more of Palladio’s art
when we come to the consideration of the later civil and domestic
architecture of the Renaissance.
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