FIG. 188. GRASSE CATHEDRAL.
FIG. 189. KEEP TOWER, GRASSE.
province. It is built with the usual rough-faced ashlar work, but its other distinctive features are now lost, the interior being occupied as dwelling-rooms. This tower adjoins the ancient Bishop’s Palace, now the Municipal Buildings. Near this—and, indeed, scattered everywhere through the narrow and busy streets of Grasse—are
FIG. 190. STAIRCASE, GRASSE.
to be seen many fragments of the massive architecture of its ancient palaces. These are easily distinguished from their being built with the same rough-faced, solid masonry as the tower; and they often still retain a door or window of pointed form, recalling the older palaces occasionally found in the similar crowded lanes of Genoa. There are also some examples in Grasse of the great houses of the merchant princes of the Renaissance period, so distinctive of the Italian cities. The picturesque staircase of one of these is still preserved ([Fig. 190]). This building stands at the east end of one of the charming open “places,” surrounded with arcades, planted with trees, and enlivened with fountains, in which Grasse abounds, and which form such attractive subjects for the artist. In one of the narrow streets stands the Church of the “Oratoire,” ([Fig. 191]), the strikingly Italian façade of which at once arrests attention. It is evidently a building of the fifteenth century, and is exactly such a design as may be found in any of the cities of Northern Italy. The annexed sketch ([Fig. 192]) of one of the caps of the main piers is suggestive, and corresponds with similar details of the same period in Italy.