Brick and marble in the middle ages: notes of a tour in the north of Italy

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Page 286 - In the elder days of Art, Builders -wrought with greatest care Each minute and unseen part ; For the gods see everywhere.
Page 98 - ... masses of their companions. " The monuments are all to the members of one family — the Scaligeri — who seem to have risen to power in the thirteenth century, and to have held sway in Verona until almost the end of the fourteenth. In this space of time it was, therefore, that these monuments were erected, and they are consequently of singular interest, not only for the excessive beauty of the group of marble and stone which, in the busiest highway of the city, among tall houses and crowds...
Page 149 - And the stately ships go on To their haven under the hill ; But O for the touch of a vanish'd hand, And the sound of a voice that is still ! Break, break, break, At the foot of thy crags, O Sea ! But the tender grace of a day that is dead Will never come back to uie.
Page 44 - That turbulent Chaos; and the promised land Lies at my feet in all its loveliness! To him who starts up from a terrible dream, And lo the sun is shining, and the lark Singing aloud for joy, to him is not Such sudden ravishment as now I feel At the first glimpses of fair Italy.
Page 1 - Wild wind ! I seek a warmer sky, And I will see before I die The palms and temples of the South.
Page 303 - ... carried on coupled shafts above. The cathedral is said to have been founded in 1099, but an inscription on the south wall gives the date of the consecration of the building by Pope Lucius III., in July 1184. I believe that the former date represents the age of the plan, and of most of the interior columns and arches still remaining, but that before the later date the whole exterior of the cathedral had been modified, and the groining added inside. The work of both periods is extremely good and...
Page 316 - Brick and Marble in the Middle Ages," says : " If it be indeed true that it was designed by a German, there is on the outside even more cause for astonishment at his work than if it had been done by an Italian. The west front is quite modern, but the rest of the exterior is as little German in its character as any building I have ever seen, and — shall I add it ? — as little really grand as a work of art. I had just caught a glimpse of its general outline and effect by the bright moonlight, and...
Page 400 - The Venetian mode was rather likely to be destructive of good architecture, because it was sure to end in an entire concealment of the real construction of the work ; the other mode, on the contrary, proceeded on true principles, and took pleasure in defining most carefully every line in the construction of the work.
Page 400 - The task, therefore, and duty of architects at the present day is mainly that of awakening and then satisfying this feeling ; and one of the best and most ready vehicles for doing this exists, no doubt, in the rich-coloured brick so easily manufactured in this country, which, if properly used, may become so effective and admirable a material.
Page 154 - It is quite in vain to describe this architecturally. The colour is so magnificent that one troubles oneself but little about the architecture, and thinks only of gazing upon the expanse of gold and deep rich colour all harmonised together into one glorious whole.

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