Niccol, at Pisa, (though this was built in
continuation of the older style by Niccola himself,) all represent to
you, though in enriched condition, the general manner of buidling in
palaces of the Norman period in Val d'Arno. That of the Tosinghi, above
the old market in Florence, is especially mentioned by Villani, as more
than a hundred feet in height, entirely built with little pillars,
(colonnelli,) of marble. On their splendid masonry was founded the
exquisiteness of that which immediately succeeded them, of which the
date is fixed by definite examples both in Verona and Florence, and
which still exists in noble masses in the retired streets and courts of
either city; too soon superseded, in the great thoroughfares, by the
effeminate and monotonous luxury of Venetian renaissance, or by the
heaps of quarried stone which rise into the ruggedness of their native
cliffs, in the Pitti and Strozzi palaces.
LECTURE VI.
MARBLE COUCHANT.
137. I told you in my last lecture that the exquisiteness of Florentine
thirteenth century masonry was founded on the strength and splendour of
that which preceded it.
Pages:
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114