§ V. In other cases, however, before the entire discomfiture of the
architrave, a treaty of peace is signed between the adverse parties on
these terms: That the architrave shall entirely dismiss its inner three
meagre lines, and leave the space of them to the voussoirs, to display
themselves after their manner; but that, in return for this concession,
the architrave shall have leave to expand the small cornice which
usually terminates it (the reader had better look at the original form
in that of the Erechtheum, in the middle of the Elgin room of the
British Museum) into bolder prominence, and even to put brackets under
it, as if it were a roof cornice, and thus mark with a bold shadow the
terminal line of the voussoirs. This condition is seen in the arch from
St. Pietro of Pistoja, Plate XIII., above.
§ VI. If the Gothic spirit of the building be thoroughly determined, and
victorious, the architrave cornice is compelled to relinquish its
classical form, and take the profile of a Gothic cornice or dripstone;
while, in other cases, as in much of the Gothic of Verona, it is forced
to disappear altogether. But the voussoirs then concede, on the other
hand, so much of their dignity as to receive a running ornament of
foliage or animals, like a classical frieze, and continuous round the
arch. In fact, the contest between the adversaries may be seen running
through all the early architecture of Italy: success inclining sometimes
to the one, sometimes to the other, and various kinds of truce or
reconciliation being effected between them: sometimes merely formal,
sometimes honest and affectionate, but with no regular succession in
time. The greatest victory of the voussoir is to annihilate the cornice,
and receive an ornament of its own outline, and entirely limited by its
own joints: and yet this may be seen in the very early apse of Murano.
§ VII. The most usual condition, however, is that unity of the two
members above described, § V., and which may be generally represented by
the archivolt section _a_, Fig. LXX.; and from this descend a family of
Gothic archivolts of the highest importance. For the cornice, thus
attached to the arch, suffers exactly the same changes as the level
cornice, or capital; receives, in due time, its elaborate ogee profile
and leaf ornaments, like Fig. 8 or 9 of Plate XV.; and, when the shaft
loses its shape, and is lost in the later Gothic jamb, the archivolt has
influence enough to introduce this ogee profile in the jamb also,
through the banded impost: and we immediately find ourselves involved in
deep successions of ogee mouldings in sides of doors and windows, which
never would have been thought of, but for the obstinate resistance of
the classical architrave to the attempts of the voussoir at its
degradation or banishment.
[Illustration: Fig. LXX.]
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