I have left the front till last, because it was erected after the rest of the church, and is itself a distinct object. It was begun in 1473, from the designs of Ambrogio Fossano, and as might be supposed from the place and date, is not Gothic, but an immense heap of little parts, in the taste of the cinque cento, often beautiful in themselves, but leaving no impression as a whole, except an undefined sentiment of its immense prodigality of riches. I should not raise your ideas too high, if I were to say that there are acres of bas-reliefs in figures and ornaments, often beautifully executed, and never ill done. The material is marble throughout; but after all I could say or write, I could never sufficiently impress you with the richness of the building, or with the feeling of fatigue with which you take leave of it.
LETTER XVI.
VERONA.
Verona, 29th October, 1816.
I left Milan on the 24th of October, with some very pleasant company. One of them was Sig. Brocchi, a celebrated mineralogist, whose knowledge appeared to be general, and to embrace every subject on which the conversation turned. We stopped at Brescia, where I just ran into the theatre. It is exceedingly beautiful, and I regretted the want of time to examine it. The following day we continued our route, which lies for about eight miles along the broad end of the Lago di Guarda, commanding views of that noble piece of water; but the weather was hazy, and clouds hung about the mountains. We reached Verona at about four, where my first visit was to the church of Sta. Anastasia; but here, among so many classic antiquities, I cannot begin with a description of the Gothic; though to confess the truth, none of the fragments of Roman art can claim much merit on the score of beauty. The first object is the amphitheatre; still an immense pile, although almost all the external circuit has been destroyed. It is supposed to have been built after the death of Titus; because it seems improbable that so great a work should be undertaken in a provincial city, before one of the same sort had been erected at Rome; and before that of Trajan, from the account which the younger Pliny has left us of some shews exhibited at Verona: that is, between 81 and 117 of our era. In the thirteenth century it was used as a place for judicial combats; and it is recorded of some of the Visconti, that they received twenty-five Venetian lire for every duel fought there. As early as 1228 we find that its preservation had become an object of public attention, as the Podestà engages to spend five hundred lire in its restoration. In 1475 penalties were decreed against any one who should remove any of the stone. In 1545 a special officer was appointed to take care of it. In 1568 a voluntary contribution was raised for its support, and in 1579 a tax was imposed for its reparation. Other decrees in its favour have been since made; yet notwithstanding this continued care, only four arches remain of the seventy-two originally composing the exterior circuit, and a large portion of the steps on the inside were taken away; but the latter have lately been restored. The following dimensions are in Veronese feet, each of which is equal to thirteen English inches and two thirds:
| Ft. | In. | |
|---|---|---|
| Longitudinal axis | 450 | 0 |
| Ditto, of arena | 218 | 6 |
| Conjugate axis | 360 | 0 |
| Ditto, of arena | 129 | 0 |
| Circumference | 1290 | 0 |
| Height of what remains from the original pavement | 88 | 0 |
The second circuit of this building remains almost entire. The arches of the lower range are converted into little shops, over which shed roofs project from the upper tier. Internally, the seats continue nearly in one slope from top to bottom, nor is there any evidence that they were divided by precinctions;[[32]] for though this part is described by Vitruvius as essential to a theatre, it is certain that it was not always adopted either in them, or in the amphitheatres. Immediately above the podium, however, is a wide space, which, though never called by that name, is precisely of the nature of a precinction, and the sixth step from this is very narrow, and as it could not be used as a seat, the back of the step immediately below, would become a means of communication: it is uncertain however, whether this is any thing more than a bungling restoration. The steps now existing are forty-three, each on an average, as nearly as I could determine it, sixteen inches high, and twenty-eight wide, and sloping two inches from back to front. I will not undertake to say, that this latter circumstance arises from any thing but the settlement of the work; yet I think, from the few ancient steps which remain, that these were originally laid with a small slope, to throw off the rain water. The part which still exists of the outer circuit of the amphitheatre, is unconnected with the steps, and at the upper part, is entirely detached from the rest of the fabric; so that if we have therefore no direct proof of the existence of a wooden gallery, there is at least no evidence against it. The building is much larger than that at Nismes, but to me less interesting, from the greater destruction of the outside, and the nearly entire state of the inside; the decay of which at Nismes exposes to view the intricacies of the interior construction. It is still used, for I saw there an exhibition of horses and horsemanship, of dancing on the tight rope, and of dancing dogs.
From the amphitheatre I went to an ancient gateway of two arches. The Romans seem generally to have formed in this way the entrance to their cities, probably that the carriages entering and going out might not interfere with each other. Each arch has its own pediment, and over these are two stories of building, with windows and pilasters whimsically disposed, and without any correspondence with the gateways below, except that they occupy the same extent. An inscription seems to attribute it to Gallienus; but the Veronese antiquaries say that the style is too good for that period, and that there are traces of a more ancient inscription, which has been erased to make room for that which at present exists. The same words are repeated over each gateway. There is another arch in somewhat better style, which also appears to have made part of a double gateway, and as its situation proves that it could not have been an entrance into the city, it is supposed to have appertained to the forum. The arch of the Gavii seems to have been a triumphal, or perhaps a sepulchral arch; and we are told of some other fragments of the same sort, but they are now destroyed, or so much degraded, as hardly to claim the attention of a passing traveller. There are also vestiges of a Roman bridge, and there is another bridge, ‘Ponte del Castel Vecchio,’ built in 1354. It is remarkable for a large arch forming a portion of a circle, whose chord is 161 feet; it appears firm, but is shut up for fear of an accident.
I now return to the church of Sta. Anastasia, which, if the front were finished, would probably be the most perfect specimen in existence of the style of architecture to which it belongs. It was built at the beginning of the thirteenth century by the Dominicans. The front was to have been enriched with bas-reliefs, but this work has been only begun. The inside consists of a nave of six arches with side aisles. The transept is scarcely wider than one division of the vault, and consequently does not strikingly interrupt the series of arches; and beyond this is a choir, consisting only of one bay, without aisles, and a semicircular recess. The transept is short; and in the angle between that and the choir is a square tower, terminating in an octagonal spire. All the arches and vaultings are obtusely pointed. The springing of the middle vault hardly exceeds the points of the arches into the aisles; and the windows of the clerestory are circular and very small. In the cathedral of Milan, the width from centre to centre of each pier, measured along the church, is just half the width of the nave, measured also from centre to centre; and this may perhaps be considered as the general arrangement of a Gothic building. In some of our own churches, the proportional width of the side arch is still less. But in this edifice, the first dimension is seven-eighths of the second. This circumstance, in connexion with the little windows of the clerestory, and the want of height above the side arches, impresses upon the structure a character totally different from any thing we have; but it forms a very fine composition, and one which makes the building appear larger than it is; though it is by no means a small church, being about 75 feet wide, and 300 feet long.
The cathedral is another edifice of the same sort, the erection of which is attributed to the twelfth century. A council was held in it in 1185, and it was consecrated by Pope Urban III. in 1187. There are nevertheless several circumstances, which would have induced me to suppose it posterior to Sta. Anastasia. Externally, however, the Duomo is ornamented with simple, and Sta. Anastasia with intersecting little arches, which perhaps, on the whole, is as good a guide as we have in the dates of this style. Four columns, supporting two arches, one above the other, and the lower columns themselves resting on griffins, form the porch. This mode of supporting columns seems to have been common in Italy in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. On the sides of the door are some curious bas-reliefs, representing Orlando and Olivier. Maffei observes of them, that the armour is precisely the same as that, which according to Livy, was used by the ancient Samnites. Internally, the arrangement is nearly the same as at Sta. Anastasia; but it is shorter in proportion to the width, and not so high, and the side aisles are wider. The piers are very slender and clustered, with fillets down the middle of the shafts. The capitals are large, both at the springing of the side arches, and of that of the vault; the bases preserve the members of the Greek Attic with some peculiar modifications, but without the deepened scotia, which we see so frequently in the latter productions of our early Gothic. In beauty this church is much inferior to Sta. Anastasia. The cloister attached to it has two ranges of arches in the height of the gallery; each arch rests on a pair of columns, and each pair is of a single stone, the capitals and bases being united. Adjoining is a fragment of what is said to have been a church before the erection of the present cathedral. It is merely a rectangular room, with a groined vault, supported on columns.
The most interesting example at Verona to the antiquary, as a specimen of the architecture of the depth of the middle ages, is the church of S. Zeno. It is a most curious edifice, both externally and internally. Tradition assigns the erection of it to Pepin, father of Charlemagne; but if he begun he did not terminate it, for we find that in the tenth century, an emperor, (perhaps Otho II.) on leaving Verona, left a sum of money for its completion. In 1045, the Abbot Alberigo began the tower, which was finished in 1178; and meanwhile (in 1138), the church itself was restored and aggrandized. The front may be cited as a good example of the early architecture of this part of Italy; the general idea is that of a lofty gable, with a leanto on each side, which being the natural result of the construction is, if well proportioned, a pleasing form. The entrance is flanked on each side by a column resting on the back of a lion, and these columns support an arch, which springs some feet above the top of the capitals. There are sculptures on each side, as there are in the cathedral, but these are principally taken from Bible histories. Six of those on the left hand represent the creation, and the fall of man; on the two lower a chase is sculptured. The feet of the hunter are placed in stirrups; and this, according to Maffei, is the most ancient piece of sculpture in which they are exhibited. Some lines underneath designate him as Theodoric, and according to the vulgar notion, the infernal spirits furnished him with dogs and horses. Has this arisen from his being an Arian? On the other side are eight bas-reliefs from the New Testament, and over the doorway there are others, which seem to relate to S. Zeno. Besides these, the twelve months of the year are represented, beginning with March. All the figures are rudely sculptured; but the arabesques which enrich the divisions of the different compartments, are beautifully designed, and not ill executed. The knowledge and skill requisite for these, is much less than that required for figures, and the merit of the design is probably to be attributed to the artist having copied from some ancient specimens. The doors also are covered with scripture histories in bronze, in forty-eight panels; curious, as early specimens of art, but not pretending to any beauty. Immediately above the arch of the porch is a hand with the fore and middle fingers extended, and the two others bent, in the act of the Latin benediction. It is said, that in the early ages, before the artists thought of making him an old man supported on cherubim, the Almighty was always indicated in this way. Above the porch is a wheel window, which interrupts the lines of the rest of the architecture; but from the simplicity of its ornaments, I am inclined to believe it part of the original structure. It is a wheel of Fortune, with ascending and descending figures. Maffei gives the inscriptions: