The Architecture of Provence and the RivieraMacGibbon, David
History
The Architecture of Provence and the Riviera
MacGibbon, David
Architecture -- France -- Provence; Architecture -- France -- Riviera
It is not intended to attempt to describe the architecture of GENOA.
That has already formed the subject of special works, and would require
a volume to itself. Only, in closing this account of the architecture of
the Riviera, one or two examples from Genoa are given, in order to make
more distinct the analogies to which attention has been drawn between
the architecture of a large part of the Riviera and that of the famous
Republic, as well as the style of Italy generally. Thus the side doorway
of the cathedral exhibits, in a remarkable manner, the same imitation of
Roman architecture (_see_ Vignette on title page, and Heading p. 25),
modified by the introduction of Romanesque or Teutonic ornament, which
we observed at St Gilles, Arles, and other churches of Provence. This
doorway is part of the original building of the eleventh century,
although the greater part of the cathedral was restored about 1300.
[Illustration: FIG. 283. CAMPANILE, GENOA.]
The façade of San Matteo, on which are engraved so many inscriptions in
honour of the various distinguished members of the family of Doria and
that of San Stefano, shew the arcaded caves, and the inlaid moulding
under the cornice which exist at Grasse, San Remo, Ventimiglia, &c. The
doorways of these churches have the same flat porch, with small
projection, and plain pointed gable, and the same sort of arch and
shafts as several of the examples we have met with in the Riviera. San
Matteo dates from 1278. The cloister (Fig. 280) which adjoins that
church is of the beginning of the fourteenth century, and contains the
monuments of the Dorias, which have been brought here from the
suppressed church of Santa Dominica. The cloisters of San Matteo, and
also those of San Lorenzo, present shafts and caps in the same Italian
style as we have observed extended as far westwards as the cloisters at
Fréjus, and the upper cloister of the castle of St Honorat. The
sculptured lintel in the Piazza San Matteo (Fig. 281), exhibiting the
combat of St George and the Dragon, although more elaborate, is similar
in style to the lintel of the house at Taggia (Fig. 273); while the
campaniles and arcades of other churches in Genoa (Figs. 282 and 283)
recall the Italian style, of which we have met with so many examples in
Provence.
[Illustration: FIG. 284. KNOCKER, ELNE CATHEDRAL.]
[Illustration: FIG. 285. LAMP FROM OLD CHURCH, MONACO.]
INDEX.
Aegitna, 308.
Aigues Mortes, 206.
Aix-en-Provence, 217.
Alassio, 454.
Albenga, 456.
Albigensian Crusades, 27.
Antibes, 84, 371.
Arles, 50, 183.
Autun, 33.
Aurelian Way, 79.
Auribeau, 380.
Avignon, 3, 34, 137.
Barbarians, Invasions of, 14.
Beaucaire, 173.
Béziers, 222.
Biot, 387.
Burgundy, Style of, 109.
Bussana, 456.
Byzantine Architecture, 97.
Cagnes, 376.
Callian, 364.
Camargue, The, 77.
Cannes, 83, 308.
Cannet, 275.
Carcassonne, 243.
Carpentras, 47, 167.
Castellar, 441.
Castellaras, 350.
Castellated Architecture, 116.
Cavaillon, 48, 167.
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