. Medieval architecture, its origins and development, with lists of monuments and bibliographies. III. 33.—Plan of Sta. Agata, Ravenna.(From Dehio) breach of the eighth commandment. The pagans had alreadyestablished the custom of pilfering building materials fromolder structures for use in new edifices. Even on the Archof Constantine — justly esteemed as one of the masterpiecesof Roman architecture — were sculptures which were pilferedfrom the Arch of Hadrian; and the evil example thus set waseagerly followed by the Christian architects. This use of second- This pilfering of art works has been
. Medieval architecture, its origins and development, with lists of monuments and bibliographies. III. 33.—Plan of Sta. Agata, Ravenna.(From Dehio) breach of the eighth commandment. The pagans had alreadyestablished the custom of pilfering building materials fromolder structures for use in new edifices. Even on the Archof Constantine — justly esteemed as one of the masterpiecesof Roman architecture — were sculptures which were pilferedfrom the Arch of Hadrian; and the evil example thus set waseagerly followed by the Christian architects. This use of second- This pilfering of art works has been, indeed, characteristic of Roman methods from theearliest times. The capitals of the Temple of Jupiter Olympus at Athens had been pilfered bySulla, while after the conquest of Greece, the Hellenic peninsula had served as a vast quarry, 50. 3-1. ^ Fiivadc of the Temple at Atil. (Kestoration based on IJutlers Measureiuents) PILFERED MATERIALS hand materials becomes, in fact, the dominating characteristicof Early Christian art (111. 38). New stone seems to have beenquarried only when no ancient monuments were at hand to bedespoiled; and so great was the supply of classic material thatthat event, in general, occurred only at a very late date, or inremote provinces. This habit of pilfering necessarily degradedthe style. A slovenly appearance is the invariable result ofjamming together in an edifice, willy-nilly, materials intendedfor another building. Furthermore, the sculptors and stone-cutters, already unskilful, lost what little art they still possessedfrom sheer lack of practice. As there became less and less ofthe old material to choose from, more and more heterogeneousand disproportionate fragments of columns, capitals, entabla-tures, gravestones, and every sort of debris came to be piledtogether, until, in the V
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecad, booksubjectarchitecture, bookyear1912
