s of the Renaissance are much the same as
those of the Roman style, which the Italians revived; their sculptures
and their mural decorations were all originally drawn from classic
sources. These, however, attained very great excellence, and it is
probable that such decorative paintings as Raphael and his scholars
executed in Rome, at Genoa, at Mantua, and elsewhere, far surpass
anything which the old Roman decorative artists ever executed.

_Construction and Design._

The earlier Renaissance buildings are remarkable for the great use
which their architects made of carpentry, as the most modern
structures are for the use of wrought and cast-iron construction. As
regards carpentry, it is of course true that all the woodwork of the
classic periods, and much of that done in the Gothic period, has
perished, either through decay or fire; but making every allowance for
this, we must still recognise a very great increase in the employment
of timber as an integral part of large structures. Vaulted roofs for
example are comparatively rare, and domes, even when the inner dome is
of brickwork or masonry, have their outer envelope of carpentry. A
disuse of brick and rough masonry, or rather a constant effort to
conceal them from view, is a distinctive mark of Renaissance work. The
Roman method of facing rough walls with fine stone was resorted to in
the best buildings. In humbler buildings plaster is employed.

Renaissance architects made very free use of plaster. Inside and out
this material is utilised, not merely to cover surfaces, but to form
architectural features. Cornices, panels, and enrichments of all kinds
modelled in plaster are constantly employed in the interior of rooms
and buildings. On the exterior we constantly find imitations of
similar architectural features proper to stone executed in plaster and
simulating stone; a short-sighted practice which cannot be commended,
and which has only cheapness and convenience in its favour. There can
be no question of the fact that the features thus executed never
equal those done in stone in their effectiveness, and are far more
liable to decay.

Design in Renaissance buildings may be said to be directed towards
producing a telling result by the effect of the buildings taken as a
whole, rather than by the intricacy or the beauty of individual parts;
and herein lies one of the great contrasts between Renaissance and
Gothic architecture. A Renaissance building which fails to