The south front is even more like Santo Antão. As there, three doors
take the place of the porch, and the only difference below is that each
Doric pilaster is flanked by half pilasters. Above the entablature the
front breaks out into a wild up-piling of various pediments, but even
here the likeness to Santo Antão is preserved, in that a great curve
comes down from the outer Ionic pilasters of the central part, to end,
however, not in obelisks, but in a great volute: the small towers too
are set much further back. Above, as below, the central part is divided
into three. Of these the two outer, flanked by Ionic pilasters on
pedestals, are finished off above with curved pediments broken to admit
of obelisks. The part between these has a large window below, a huge
coat of arms above, and rises high above the sides to a pediment so
arranged that while the lower mouldings form an angle the upper form a
curve on which stand two finials and a huge cross. (Fig. 95.)
[Sidenote: Oporto, Collegio Novo.]
Very soon this fantastic way of piling up pieces of pediment and of
entablature became only too popular, being copied for instance in the
Collegio Novo at Oporto, where, however, the design is not quite so bad
as the towers are brought forward and are carried up considerably
higher. But apart from this horrid misuse of classic details the
greatest fault of the façade at Coimbra is the disproportionate size of
some of the details; the obelisks and the cherubs' heads on which they
stand, the statues at the ends, and the central cross, and above all the
colossal acanthus leaves in the great scrolls are of such a size as
entirely to dwarf all the rest.
From what remains of the front of Santo Antão, it looks as if it and the
front of the Sé Velha had been very much alike. Santo Antão was not
quite finished till 1652, so that it is probable that the upper part of
the west front dates from the seventeenth century, long after Terzi's
death, and that the Sé Nova at Coimbra was finished about the same time,
and perhaps copied from it.
[Sidenote: Coimbra, Misericordia.]
But it was not only Terzi's churches which were copied at Coimbra. While
the Sé Nova, then, and for nearly two hundred years more, the church of
the Jesuits, was still being built, the architect of the chief pateo of
the Misericordia took Diogo de Torralva's cloister at Thomar as his
model.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account