FOOTNOTES:

[30] Named after a French architect of the 17th century.

[Illustration: {FROM A TERRA-COTTA FRIEZE AT LODI.}]

CHAPTER XI.

RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN ITALY.

Renaissance architecture--the architecture of the classic revival--had
its origin in Italy, and should be first studied in the land of its
birth. There are more ways than one in which it may be attempted to
classify Italian Renaissance buildings. The names of conspicuous
architects are sometimes adopted for this purpose, for now, for the
first time, we meet with a complete record of the names and
performances of all architects of note: the men who raised the great
works of Gothic art are, with a few exceptions, absolutely unknown to
us. An approximate division into three stages can also be recognised.
There is an early, a developed, and a late Renaissance, but this is
very far indeed from being a completely marked series, and was more
interfered with by local circumstances and by the character and genius
of individual artists than in Gothic. For this reason a local division
will be of most service. The best examples exist in the great cities,
with a few exceptions, and it is almost more useful to group them--as
the paintings of the Renaissance are also often grouped--by locality
than in either of the other methods.

FLORENCE.

Renaissance architecture first sprang into existence in Florence. Here
chiefly the works of the early Renaissance are met with, and the names
of the great Florentine architects are Brunelleschi and Alberti.

Brunelleschi was a citizen of Florence, of very ardent temperament and
great energy, and a true artist. He was born in 1377, was originally
trained as a goldsmith and sculptor, but devoted himself to the study
of architecture, and early set his heart upon being appointed to
complete the dome of the then unfinished cathedral of Florence, of
which some account has already been given.

Florence in the fifteenth century was full of artistic life, and the
revival of learning and arts had then begun to take definite shape.
The first years of the century found Brunelleschi studying antiquities
at Rome, to fit himself for the work he desired to undertake. After
his return to his native city, he ultimately succeeded in the object
of his ambition; the cathedral was entrusted to him, and he erected
the large pointed dome with which it is crowned. He also erected two
large churches in Florence, which, as prob