The Brochure Series Of Architectural Illustration, Vol 1, No. 2. February 1895.

The Brochure Series Of
Architectural Illustration, Vol 1,
No. 2. February 1895.

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Title: The Brochure Series Of Architectural Illustration, Vol 1, No. 2.
February 1895. Byzantine-Romanesque Doorways in Southern Italy
Author: Various
Release Date: February 17, 2005 [EBook #15091]
Language: English
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[Illustration: IX. The Principal Doorway to the Cathedral at Trani,
Italy.]

THE BROCHURE SERIES
OF ARCHITECTURAL ILLUSTRATION.
VOL. I. FEBRUARY, 1895. No. 2.
* * * * *
BYZANTINE-ROMANESQUE DOORWAYS IN SOUTHERN
ITALY.
The illustrations chosen for this issue are all from the Byzantine
Romanesque work in the province of Apulia, that portion of Southern
Italy familiar in school-boy memory as the heel of the boot. Writers
upon architecture have found it difficult to strictly classify the buildings
of this neighborhood, as in fact is the case with most of the medieval
architecture of Italy, although the influences which have brought about
the conditions here seen are in the main plainly evident. The traditions
and surroundings, of Roman origin, were modified by trade and
association with the Levant through the commerce of Venice and Pisa,
resulting in a style embodying many of the characteristics of both the
Romans and the builders of Byzantium. Oftentimes these
characteristics are so blended and modified by one another as to be
entirely indistinguishable, while at other times features unquestionably
belonging to the Romanesque or the Byzantine will be found side by
side. An illustration of the latter condition may be seen in the two
views of the doorway to the cathedral of Trani. (Plates IX. and X.) On
account of the intimate relations maintained during the Middle Ages
between this province and Magna Grecia, and it may be partly on
account of the comparative remoteness from the principal cities of the
north, the Byzantine influence is here more strongly marked than in the
cities of Central and Northern Italy.
According to the classification adopted by Fergusson, the church of
San Miniato at Florence is one of the oldest examples and a good type
of this rather mixed style. It was built about the year 1013. It is
rectangular in plan, nearly three times as long as wide, with a
semicircular apse. Internally it is divided longitudinally into aisles, and
transversely into three nearly square compartments by clustered piers,
supporting two great arches which run up to the roof. The whole of the
inner compartment is occupied by a crypt or under church open to the
nave, above which is the choir and altar niche, approached by flights of
steps in the aisles. This general arrangement is followed more or less

closely in the churches at Bittonto, Bari, Altamura, Ruvo, Galatina,
Brindisi, and Barletta. The scale of the southern churches is, however,
much smaller than those of the north, the width of the nave of the
cathedral at Trani being only 50 feet, and the length 167 feet, while the
corresponding dimensions of the cathedral at Pisa, which is referred to
by Fergusson as the most notable example of this style in the north, are
106 x 310 feet.
In these smaller churches, as far as external treatment is concerned, the
main attention is devoted to the principal façade, and here most of the
ornament is usually covered with a rich hood supported by pillars
resting on monsters, following the custom prevalent throughout Italy
during this period. Above this is either a gallery or one or two windows,
and the whole generally terminates in a circular rose window filled with
tracery.
[Illustration: X. The Principal Doorway to the Catherdral at Trani,
Italy.]
Fergusson's final summing up of the architecture of this neighborhood
can scarcely be considered too enthusiastic in the light of the eight
illustrations here given. He says: "No one who takes the pains to
familiarize himself with the architecture of these Southern Italian
churches can well fail to be impressed with their beauty. That beauty
will be found, however, to arise not so much from the dimensions or
arrangement of their plans, or the form of their outline, as from the
grace and elegance of their details. Every feature displays the feeling of
an elegant and refined people, who demanded decoration as a necessity,
though they were incapable of rising to any great architectural
conception. They excelled as ornamentists, though at