Jump to content

Page:Character of Renaissance Architecture.djvu/117

From Wikisource
This page has been validated.
v
THE ROMAN RENAISSANCE
87

of Corinthian pilasters surmounted by a classic pediment, and the entablature of the order is returned on the sides of the building. The effect of the whole may be compared to that of a Greek temple with an attic supporting a dome built upon it. So awkward is the combination that it might be supposed to be a piece of patchwork in which a building of Greek temple form had been altered to gain more height within, were it not that

Fig. 45.—Longitudinal section of Sant' Andrea, from Vignola's book.

we find in the architect's own book the plan and section reproduced in Figs. 44 and 45, which show that the building as it now exists was originally designed in its present form.[1]

On reflection we discover that the scheme suggests a derivation from the Pantheon. Not only is the dome shaped and

  1. The drawings are found in the addendum to the edition of 1617, plates 7 and 8.