Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1837 edition. Excerpt: ... after, he ludicrously adds--" E spesso con mettere cosa sopra cosa andavano in tanta altezza, che la fine d'un porta toccava il tetto." The Italian school, which finally settled itself in the adaptation of the antient Roman orders and their details to comparatively modern habits, was engrafted at first on Gothic designs. Instances of this may be produced in the splendid loggia of Orgagna, in Sta. M. dei Fiori, and many other buildings in Florence, in Pisa, Siena, and other cities. Brunelleschi seems to have emancipated himself from the mixture of two such discordant stvles. Still there continued, as we see in the Ricardi, Strozzi, and other palaces in Florence, a lingering love for the mixture, of which the architects could scarcely divest themselves. Yet, when they came to the cornices, the massive, unbroken cornices of their palaces, the littleness of the other parts is so completely lost, that it is evident they were actuated by the same feelings of unity and breadth that lent so much value to the best works of the antients. From the time of Brunelleschi to the time of Borromini, with whom the Italian school closes, indeed from the spirit of innovation and wretched taste of this last artist, architecture seems to have previously seen its best days, included a period of about two hundred and seventy years, during which so much was done, that Italy may be fairly said to have overbuilt herself. The total decay of that commerce, which in her palmy days she possessed, has withdrawn, long since, the demand for new churches and palaces, and nothing but independence can restore her, if even that can do it, to a high rank in art. The period above mentioned includes the names of Brunelleschi, Michelozzo, L. B. Alberti, Cronaca, Bramante, ...