It may, however, be as well at this point to mention that pendentives, after all, had become mere rudiments of a form which had lost its original intent. Ever since the dome ceased to have the same curvature with its pendentives, and to be a continuation of their surface, the latter had become a mere form of _corbel_, for which any other variety might at convenience be substituted. This fact was amply acknowledged in every region where the dome was made use of; so that from the pillars of Hercules to the Bay of Bengal, and among those who occasionally adopted and developed upon Byzantine ideas in Western Europe, we find all forms of corbelling used in addition to the typical pendentive. I shall presently have to show you some of these varieties, and will only now remark that, though they are perfectly legitimate means of support, the pendentive has still the advantage of them in its simplicity and in its superior adaptation to coloured decoration. About the beginning of the eleventh century, the Byzantine style, in all its integrity (excepting only in its richer decorations), was conveyed into Aquitaine, as it is supposed, by Venetian merchants, who at that time had extensive commercial establishments in that part of France. The earliest work carried out under this semi-Byzantine influence was, so far as we know, the church of St. Front, at Perigueux (Fig. 443), a building obviously copied from St. Mark’s, at Venice.[67] The two churches are, in fact, nearly identical in their plans and sections, the one being an almost unadorned copy of the other, showing us what St. Mark’s would be if stripped of its marble encrustations and its mosaics. [Illustration: Fig. 443.--Plan, St. Front, Perigueux.] There is, however, _one_ important difference, and one which bears directly upon the foregoing observations:--The domes at St. Front, as well as the great arches which support them, are _pointed_ instead of _round_, though all the minor arches retain the older form (Figs. 444, 445). This agrees with what I have stated in my earlier lectures, that the pointed arch was introduced, not so much as a matter of _taste_ as of _construction_. Thus, in the buildings in which it first appears, we usually find it in the arches carrying towers, in the wider vaulting, and in other positions where great weight had to be sustained, before it made its appearance in minor features. [Illustration: Fig. 444.--Section, St. Front, Perigueux.] [Illustration: Fig. 445.--St. Front, Perigueux.] Here, at St. Front, we have it appearing at a date a century and a half earlier than in our own country, and used solely in the parts where the constructive necessities were the most urgent.