Toscanella.
On the boundary-line which separates the Guelfic from the Ghibelline influence, there exist at Toscanella, near Viterbo, two churches of great beauty of detail; but which, as might almost be predicated from their situation, defy any attempt at classification. They are not Gothic, for they have no vaults, nor does their style suggest any vaulting contrivances. They are scarcely debased Roman, for the tracery of their circular windows, their many-shafted doors, and generally their details are such as to indicate a Northern rather than a Roman affinity; and the Byzantine sculpture which is found in the pulpit was probably taken from an earlier church—though an Italian Byzantine influence can be traced in much of its decoration. Under these circumstances, it is better to treat them as exceptional, than to attempt to give them a name which might mislead without conveying any correct information.
The elder of these two churches, Sta. Maria, was erected in the beginning of the 13th century (1206?), but is so unlike most buildings of that age, that it is usually ascribed to the 6th or 7th. On a close examination, however, all its details are found to be full of advanced Romanesque forms. The pillars are rude Corinthian, with a Lombardic abacus. They are widely spaced, having no vault to support; and the mouldings of the arches are what we should call “Transitional Early English.”
451. Plan of Sta. Maria, Toscanella. (From Gailhabaud.) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.
Externally the façade is too plain to be quite pleasing, but this arises from its depending originally on painting for its decoration—some traces of which still remain, but the greater part has perished. Its three doorways are richly and beautifully ornamented with shafts and sculptured foliage, quite equal in detail to anything of the class to be found in Italy, and its great circular window would not be thought out of place at Chartres or Lincoln.
452. View of the Interior of Sta. Maria, Toscanella. (From Gailhabaud.)
The church of St. Pietro is probably a century later than that of Sta. Maria, and its façade is richer and more elegant—a difference arising more from those details being in this instance carved which in the earlier church were painted. The design, however, deserves attention for its historical, perhaps, even more than its artistic claims; for it was this class of façade that Palladio and the architects of the cinque-cento period seized upon, and, applying pilasters and pediments of classical type, converted it into the fashionable churches which are to be found in every part of Europe.[[301]]
453. Elevation of the Exterior of Sta. Maria, Toscanella. (From Gailhabaud.) No scale.
The difficulty which the Italians never entirely conquered, was how to amalgamate the sloping lines of the roofs of the aisles with the horizontal lines of the rest of the façade. The gallery over the central doorway enabled them very nearly to accomplish it in these Toscanella churches, and if the same string-courses had been carried all across, the whole might have been harmonised; but it was just missed, and, what is strange, more so in the second than in the first example.