The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Brochure Series of Architectural
Illustration, by Various

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Title: The Brochure Series of Architectural Illustration
Vol 1, No. 9 1895

Author: Various

Release Date: June 9, 2008 [EBook #25735]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE BROCHURE SERIES

OF ARCHITECTURAL ILLUSTRATION.

VOL. I.
SEPTEMBER, 1895.
No. 9.

PULPITS OF SOUTHERN ITALY.

The pulpits and ambos chosen for the illustrations in this issue of THE
BROCHURES are mainly interesting for their wonderful mosaic decorations
which are among the finest of their kind which have ever been executed.
The work of the family of Cosmati, by whose name the Roman mosaic or
inlay of this description is known, such as that in plate LXXI, is
similar in design and method of execution to that shown in the other
plates. There is one point, however, in which the Roman work is quite
different. In Sicily and southern Italy the bands and borders of
geometrical patterns are largely made up of glass or composition, while
the Cosmati confined themselves to the use of colored marbles. In the
south, and particularly in Sicily, gold is freely used, but this is
lacking in the work of the Cosmati. As a result of this difference in
material a wider range of color is possible in the southern mosaics than
in those of Rome; and this is especially noticeable in the use of blues,
which give much of the character to the beautiful examples shown in our
plates, which we regret we cannot reproduce in color. The altar, pulpit,
and bishop's throne in the churches of SS. Nerone ed Achille and S.
Cesario in Rome may be taken as additional examples.

This is a form of decoration which may be found in many of the Byzantine
churches of the eleventh and twelfth centuries and also in the Tuscan
churches of the same epoch, notably in the Baptistery at Pisa and in the
church of San Miniato al Monte in Florence.

The mosaic floors, dados, and solid railings of the Palermitan monuments
all seem