[126]. Vasari probably refers to the great Corinthian column which was still to be seen in his time in the interior of the Basilica of Constantine (formerly called the Temple of Peace). The column was placed early in the seventeenth century in the Piazza in front of S. Maria Maggiore, where it is still in evidence.
[127]. ‘Largo’ is the word in the text, but it must be merely a clerical error for ‘alto.’
[128]. See Note 14, ante, p. [75].
[129]. See Note 86, ante, p. [53].
[130]. On Michelangelo’s use of architectural details M. Garnier had some rather severe remarks in the Gazette des Beaux Arts for Jan. 1, 1876. He denied to him an understanding of the grammar of the use of such forms. It is generally admitted that for the details of the Farnese cornice, the fittings and decoration of the Library of S. Lorenzo, and other such works to which his name attaches, he was indebted to professional architects, such as Vignola, whom he employed. We must never forget however that we owe to Michelangelo the dome of St. Peter’s, one of the greatest architectural creations of its kind in the world. In mentioning the ‘siti storti’ (sites that were irregular or out of the straight), Vasari probably had in view the design for laying out the Capitol, which is another of Michelangelo’s acknowledged successes. Here the existing Palazzo dei Conservatori stood somewhat askew and the site was regularized to correspond with the line of its façade. All this about Michelangelo was added for the second edition, after Vasari had himself worked at his master’s staircase at S. Lorenzo.
[131]. See Note on ‘Vasari’s Opinion on Mediaeval Architecture’ at the close of the ‘Introduction’ to Architecture, postea, p. 133 f. The phrase ‘this manner was the invention of the Goths,’ etc., is historically important as the first introduction into literature of the familiar architectural term ‘Gothic.’
[132]. Vasari makes no provision for binding together the vault in stucco and that in brick. Each is apparently independent of the other, though they are in contact, and no keys are formed in the upper surface of the stucco for the purpose of tieing it to the brickwork above.
[133]. This same subject is treated in the sixth chapter of the ‘Introduction’ to Sculpture and the thirteenth of that to Painting. In connection with it see Note on ‘Stucco Grotesques’ at the close of the ‘Introduction’ to Painting, postea, p. 299.
[134]. The ‘Tuscan work’ referred to here is the same thing as the ‘lavoro chiamato rustico’ of which Vasari writes at the beginning of the third chapter (§ 20). The so-called Tuscan Order was the simplest and heaviest of all, and so most suited for work that partook of the rough and unpolished character of natural rock. For the same reason, as was seen above, ante, p. [65], the Tuscan Order lends itself best to association with bossy or ‘rusticated’ masonry.
[135]. Piè di Lupo. This is clearly a mistake for Piè di Lugo, for at the lake of that name above the great Cascade of Terni, there are appearances corresponding exactly with what Vasari says. It is remarked in Hare’s Days near Rome, II, p. 141, that the waters of the Vellino, which makes the fall, are ‘so strongly impregnated with carbonate of lime, that they constantly tend to form a deposit of travertine, and so to block up their own channel.’