resent state as the
creation of Buonarroti's genius. As a building, it is open to
criticism at every point. In spite of its richness and overwhelming
size, no architect of merit gives it approbation. It is vast without
being really great, magnificent without touching the heart, proudly
but not harmoniously ordered. The one redeeming feature in the
structure is the cupola; and that is the one thing which Michelangelo
bequeathed to the intelligence of his successors. The curve which it
describes finds no phrase of language to express its grace. It is
neither ellipse nor parabola nor section of the circle, but an
inspiration of creative fancy. It outsoars in vital force, in elegance
of form, the dome of the Pantheon and the dome of Brunelleschi, upon
which it was actually modelled. As a French architect, adverse to
Michelangelo, has remarked: "This portion is simple, noble, grand. It
is an unparalleled idea, and the author of this marvellous cupola had
the right to be proud of the thought which controlled his pencil when
he traced it." An English critic, no less adverse to the Italian
style, is forced to admit that architecture "has seldom produced a
more magnificent object" than the cupola, "if its bad connection with
the building is overlooked." He also adds that, internally, "the
sublime concave" of this immense dome is the one redeeming feature of
S. Peter's.

Michelangelo's reputation, not only as an imaginative builder, but
also as a practical engineer in architecture, depends in a very large
measure upon the cupola of S. Peter's. It is, therefore, of great
importance to ascertain exactly how far the dome in its present form
belongs to his conception. Fortunately for his reputation, we still
possess the wooden model constructed under his inspection by a man
called Giovanni Franzese. It shows that subsequent architects,
especially Giacomo della Porta, upon whom the task fell of raising the
vaults and lantern from the point where Michelangelo left the
building, that is, from the summit of the drum, departed in no
essential particular from his design. Della Porta omitted one feature,
however, of Michelangelo's plan, which would have added greatly to the
dignity and elegance of the exterior. The model shows that the
entablature of the drum broke into projections above each of the
buttresses. Upon these projections or consoles Buonarroti intended to
place statues of saints. He also connected their pedestals with the
spr