. Brick and marble in the middle ages: notes of tours in the north of Italy . marbles used here are red and white. Eed is used forthe arcades under the cornices, for the middle order of therose window, and the inner order of the main the marble is white, except the one grey coursebelow the principal string. The whole of the lower stage isopen below on all sides and groined—in brick, I think—though it is now plastered; indeed, save the parts alreadydescribed as being of marble in the principal fronts, thewhole of this buildin^;- is built of red brick. Behind the 310 P
. Brick and marble in the middle ages: notes of tours in the north of Italy . marbles used here are red and white. Eed is used forthe arcades under the cornices, for the middle order of therose window, and the inner order of the main the marble is white, except the one grey coursebelow the principal string. The whole of the lower stage isopen below on all sides and groined—in brick, I think—though it is now plastered; indeed, save the parts alreadydescribed as being of marble in the principal fronts, thewhole of this buildin^;- is built of red brick. Behind the 310 PIACENZA. [Chap. XI. open grouud story there remains a portion of an internalquadrangle, which, incomplete as it is, sIicays, nevertheless,the same delicate attention to detail which is conspicuous onthe fapades. I know hardly any detail of Italian brickworkwhich is so refined and good as that in the arches and somecusped circles between them in this quadrangle. I have seen this building, full as it is of eccentricdepartures from ordinary rules and customs—piers being. BItlCKWORK—IALAZZO PUBLICO, TIACENZA. placed over openings, and round and pointed arches usedindifferently—quoted for our benefit as a remarkable exampleof a public building erected in the Middle Ages in the mostregular and formal fashion ! It is, on the contrary, if theplain truth is to be spoken, an example of a very bolddisregard of-such fashions indulged in without any detri-mental effect. Piacenza cannot l>oast of any very fine churches. TheyliHVC been much ]uiii(l iiitciinilK^ hy ukkIci]! alterations, and CiiAi. XI.] THE CATHEDRAL. 811 externally tlioy do not seem ever to have been very cathedral is a Lombard church of fine size, and withsome good points. There are three western porches of twostages in height, according to the usual Lombard doors are rudely sculptured; that in the centre with thesigns of the Zodiac, and the northern door with the Annun-ciation, Salutat
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookidbrickmarblei, bookyear1874
