FIG. 150.—INTERIOR OF SIENNA CATHEDRAL.
The failure to produce adequate results of scale in the interiors of the larger Italian churches, has been already alluded to. It is strikingly exemplified in the Duomo at Florence, the nave of which is 72 feet wide, with four pier-arches each over 55 feet in span. The immense vault, in square bays, starts from the level of the tops of these arches. The interior (Fig. 148) is singularly naked and cold, giving no conception of its vast dimensions. The colossal dome is an early work of the Renaissance (see [p. 276]). It is not known how Fr. Talenti, who in 1357 enlarged and vaulted the nave and planned the east end, proposed to cover the great octagon. The east end is the most effective part of the design both internally and externally, owing to the relatively moderate scale of the 15 chapels which surround the apsidal arms of the cross. In S. Petronio at Bologna, begun 1390 by Master Antonio, the scale is better handled. The nave, 300 feet long, is divided into six bays, each embracing two side chapels. It is 46 feet wide and 132 feet high, proportions which approximate those of the French cathedrals, and produce an impression of size somewhat unusual in Italian churches. Orvieto has internally little that suggests Gothic architecture; like many Franciscan and Dominican churches it is really a timber-roofed basilica with a few pointed windows. The mixed Gothic and Romanesque interior of Sienna Cathedral (Fig. 150), with its round arches and six-sided dome, unsymmetrically placed over the crossing, is one of the most impressive creations of Italian mediæval art. Alternate courses of black and white marble add richness but not repose to the effect of this interior: the same is true of Orvieto, and of some other churches. The basement baptistery of S. Giovanni, under the east end of Sienna Cathedral, is much more purely Gothic in detail.
In these, and indeed in most Italian interiors, the main interest centres less in the excellence of the composition than in the accessories of pavements, pulpits, choir-stalls, and sepulchral monuments. In these the decorative fancy and skill of the Italians found unrestrained exercise, and produced works of surpassing interest and merit.
EXTERNAL DESIGN. The greatest possible disparity generally exists between the sides and west fronts of the Italian churches. With few exceptions the flanks present nothing like the variety of sky-line and of light and shade customary in northern and western lands. The side walls are high and flat, plain, or striped with black and white masonry (Sienna, Orvieto), or veneered with marble (Duomo at Florence) or decorated with surface-ornament of thin pilasters and arcades (Lucca). The clearstory is low; the roof low—pitched and hardly visible from below. Color, rather than structural richness, is generally sought for: Milan Cathedral is almost the only exception, and goes to the other extreme, with its seemingly countless buttresses, pinnacles and statues.
The façades, on the other hand, were treated as independent decorative compositions, and were in many cases remarkably beautiful works, though having little or no organic relation to the main structure. The most celebrated are those of Sienna (cathedral begun 1243; façade 1284 by Giovanni Pisano; Fig. 151) and Orvieto (begun 1290 by Lorenzo Maitani; façade 1310). Both of these are sumptuous polychromatic compositions in marble, designed on somewhat similar lines, with three high gables fronting the three aisles, with deeply recessed portals, pinnacled turrets flanking nave and aisles, and a central circular window. That of Orvieto is furthermore embellished with mosaic pictures, and is the more brilliant in color of the two. The mediæval façades of the Florentine Gothic churches were never completed; but the elegance of the panelling and of the tracery with twisted shafts in the flanks of the cathedral, and the florid beauty of its side doorways (late 14th century) would doubtless if realized with equal success on the façades, have produced strikingly beautiful results. The modern façade of the Duomo, by the late De Fabris (1887) is a correct if not highly imaginative version of the style so applied. The front of Milan cathedral (soon to be replaced by a new façade), shows a mixture of Gothic and Renaissance forms. Ferrara Cathedral, although internally transformed in the last century, retains its fine 13th-century three-gabled and arcaded screen front; one of the most Gothic in spirit of all Italian façades. The Cathedral of Genoa presents Gothic windows and deeply recessed portals in a façade built in black and white bands, like Sienna cathedral and many churches in Pistoia and Pisa.
FIG. 151.—FAÇADE OF SIENNA CATHEDRAL.
Externally the most important feature was frequently a cupola or dome over the crossing. That of Sienna has already been mentioned; that of Milan is a sumptuous many-pinnacled structure terminating in a spire 300 feet high. The Certosa at Pavia (Fig. 152) and the earlier Carthusian church of Chiaravalle have internal cupolas or domes covered externally by many-storied structures ending in a tower dominating the whole edifice. These two churches, like many others in Lombardy, the Æmilia and Venetia, are built of brick, moulded terra-cotta being effectively used for the cornices, string-courses, jambs and ornaments of the exterior. The Certosa at Pavia is contemporary with the cathedral of Milan, to which it offers a surprising contrast, both in style and material. It is wholly built of brick and terra-cotta, and, save for its ribbed vaulting, possesses hardly a single Gothic feature or detail. Its arches, mouldings, and cloisters suggest both the Romanesque and the Renaissance styles by their semi-classic character.