Lectures on the rise and development of medieval architecture; vol. 2

by Sir George Gilbert Scott

I will not dwell upon the German domes, because they do not illustrate any special development. They seem to have been the offspring of those Italian domes which followed Roman traditions. They mostly cover intersections of cross churches beneath central towers. Those at Aix-la-Chapelle and Nimègue are of the ordinary type of domes covering octagonal buildings. That at Worms covers a square, but is by corbels brought out to an octagon, and then domed in that form.

In our own country I know of no nearer Mediæval approach to the cupola than the semi-dome covering the apse of the chapel in the Tower of London.[69]

The last form of dome which I will allude to is what may be called the modern type. It does not differ in essentials from what may be found among those of earlier periods, but is distinguished from them by several of the elements which it possesses in common with some of these, being developed on a larger scale and becoming more pronounced and more essentially characteristic.

This type of dome is:—1. Raised high in the manner of a tower; 2. The dome becomes an important external feature; 3. It is crowned by a smaller tower rising out of the dome; 4. It usually assumes internally the form of a lantern, with a range of windows beneath the dome; 5. In some instances the external and internal domes are independent structures, the former acting as a roof to the latter, with, perhaps, an intermediate structure to carry the culminating tower on its apex. Now, every one of these features is to be found in earlier domes.

The raising of a dome upon a drum or tower is common both in the East and West. In many instances, and especially in Mahometan buildings, the dome becomes an important external feature. The crowning of the dome by a small tower or lantern on its apex is frequent among the early domes of Northern Italy, and is seen on the five domes of St. Front at Perigueux, and, in a different form, on its prototype at Venice. The internal range of windows beneath the dome is found both in the true Byzantine districts, in Italy, in France, and in Germany; and finally, the independence of the external and the internal domes,—the former becoming the roof to the latter, with even the intermediate structure to support the culminating turret or lantern,—is found in its full integrity in St. Mark’s, at Venice, where its early date is proved by its being represented in the most ancient of the external mosaics.

Why, then, if all its essential characteristics are to be found in ancient examples, do we call this form of dome “modern”? I would reply that, though its elementary ideas were old, their systematic combination, and the vast scale on which they were worked out, is due to the architects of the Renaissance. It is, in my opinion, their greatest achievement, being the union of the Classic with the Byzantine and the Mediæval ideals, and the working them into a feature which no previous style had produced in so complete a manner or on so noble a scale. In saying this, however, I do not intend to praise this as being as an internal feature superior to the true Byzantine dome; on the contrary, I think it a less reasonable and an even less beautiful covering, because it is raised to so vast an elevation as not to be visible at any natural angle of vision, nor to become a part of the general internal view of the building. It must, however, be confessed that, when seen, it is of wonderful and almost magical aspect; while externally it produces a nobler form of tower than is to be found in any previous development. I do not think it in any degree belongs essentially to the Renaissance, though it chanced to be developed under its influence. On the contrary, the first complete type of this form of dome (though happening not to be pendentive) was designed as the completion of a Gothic structure, and its only serious fault is that it was not carried out with more perfectly Gothic detail. I refer of course to that of the Cathedral at Florence ([Fig. 451]).

Fig. 451.—Cathedral at Florence.

The Cathedral at Florence had been carried out during the fourteenth century—all but its cupola—from the design of Arnolpho and his successors. A dome equal in space to that now existing was prepared for, but various causes delayed for a century its actual erection, so that, when it was at length undertaken, the prevailing style had changed. It is probable that Arnolpho intended to have sprung his dome at a far lower level, and to have made it like that of the adjoining baptistery; perhaps not exhibiting externally its domical form. Brunelleschi raised the drum to a considerable height, exhibited his dome as a vast external feature, and crowned it with a culminating lantern, thus giving us at once the leading features—and that on a scale never since exceeded—of what I have called the modern type of dome. Had he made its details more accurately to harmonise with those of Arnolpho’s structure, his work would have been perfect. Not only is his dome erected on Gothic walls and arches, but its own section is a pointed arch, so that in all but its decorative features—and in these in some degree—it is essentially a Gothic dome. It is not, however, pendentive, nor is it circular in plan; and, though opening by arches into the arms of the cross, it is after all merely the covering of an octagonal chamber, so that its claims rest more on its size, its height, and its external beauty, than any novelty of development.