MASTERS OF THE CARLOVINGIAN ERA
| 1. | 805 | Magister Natalis | A Lombard, employed at Lucca to build a church and make a canal. |
| 2. | 900? | M. Johannis de Menazio (and many other Masters from Como) | Built the church of S. Giacomo at Pontida. |
| 3. | " | A "famous Magister" from Como (name not given) | Worked at S. Zeno at Verona, and built S. Zeno at Pontida. |
| 4. | " | M. Adami | Sculptured the capitals in the atrium of S. Ambrogio at Milan. |
We may safely say that Charlemagne, who was more a warrior than a man of æsthetic tastes, had no influence whatever on Italian architecture; neither the form nor the symbolism was changed by him. The Italians were always conservative, and clung to old traditions. The Roman basilica, and not the Eastern mosque, still continued to be the plan of the Italian church. Ricci asserts that by the end of the eighth century all imitation of Oriental architecture had disappeared from Italian churches. It was not the same, however, with the ornamentations, in which the frozen Byzantine forms became vitalized under hands less technically skilful, but more natural.
Door of a Chapel in S. Prassede, Rome.
Pluteus from S. Marco dei Precipazi, now in S. Giacomo, Venice.