Although the revival of the classic orders first took place at Florence. in the cathedral of the above city. yet the pre vious style, or rather many of its details, lingered there for a considerable titne, and even as late as the middle of the fifteenth century, as is evident in many of the windows, some of which have the intrados of their archivolts semicir cular, while the extrados is carried up in a pointed arch; others again are composed of two lights with semicircular heads, both enclosed within a larger semicircular arch, and the lights divided by a central column. The apertures on the ground floor are usually square and unimportant, and the naked of the mall of this and the other stories IDOSt fre quently rusticated, a mode of decoration very much in vogue. The limeades are usually continued in an unbroken line, and there is little diversity in plan. A bold cornice runs round the summit of the edifice, which is proportioned to the en tire building. although smaller cornices frequently intervene between every two stories. A very important distinction between this and the other two classes of Italian architec ture, is evidenced in the absence of columns from the exter nal theades.
The court in the interior presents often a very different aspect from that of the exterior ; indeed, the external distri bution scarcely ever indicates that of the interior, which ge nerally consists of a colonnaded or arcade(' quadrangle.
The buildings of Florence," says a French author, " ap pear to be not the work of ordinary men ; we enter them with respect, expecting to find them inhabited by beings of a nature superior to ours. AVhether the eye is arrested by monuments of the age of' Costno de Medici, or of the times which preceded or followed it, all in this imposing city car ries the imprint ofgrandeur and majesty. Frequent revo lutions obliged the chief parties to consider their personal safety along with the magnificence of their dwellings. Ex ternally, they are examples of the skilful union of grace with simplicity and massiveness, internally models of exquisite taste. Afar Rome, Florence is the most interesting city to every artist." BrunellesAi may he said to have been the founder of this style, and he was succeeded by Alberti, Radhelle, Sanzio, Ammanati, and others ; the style dating from A. D. 1400 to 1600. Some of the finest examples are the cathedral, the palaces Strozzi, Pitti, Riccardi, Vecchio. Podesta, and the churches of SS. Michele, Maddelina, Pancrazio, Lorenzo, and Spirito.
Descriptions of a few of the above edifices may not be out of place.
The Cathedral of S. Maria del Fiore, or the Duomo, as
it is termed, was the first building in which the Italian fea tures were introduced ; several of the peculiarities of the old style still remaining, so as to give to the edifice a kind of tran sition-character between time Gothic and Italian, of which it is a mixture. The edifice was commenced„t. D. I293, by Arnolfir, and not entirely completed by Brimelleschi, who constructed the dome. The plan is that of a Latin cross, the length measuring 520 feet, and the width across the transept 313 feet. The nave is divided into three aisles by arcades resting on piers, decorated with Corinthian pilas ters, the height of the central avenue being 153 feet, and of the aisles, properly so termed, 96# feet. The space at the intersection of the arms of the cross is octagonal, being 110 feet in width, and the terminations of the choir and transepts are semi-octagonal, covered with semi-cupolas:. Above the top of these cupolas, at the intersection of the nave and transepts, rises an octagonal drum, with a circular win dow on each side, and terminated at the top by a horizontal cornice from spring-3 the octagonal dome. Above this again is a lantern, on which rests :um octangular pyramid, sur mounted by a ball and cross. The drum rests on four mas sive piers, its height is 43 feet, and the thickness of its wall 16 feet. he dome is double, consisting of two shells one within the other, with an interval of 5 feet between ; the thickness of the lower shell being 4 feet 3 incites at the lower extremity, and 1.0 foot at the vertex ; and of the inner one 5 feet 0 inches at bottom, and '2 feet 1 inch at vertex. The span of the dome is 1-10 feet, the radius of internal curvature, 120 feet ; height from drum to lantern, 116 feet ; from ground to cupo la, 280 feet ; height of Intact-1], AS feet ; diameter, 24 feet.
The arcade in the nave consists of pointed arches, each segment being described with a radius equal to two-thirds of the span. From the top of the piers, or rather of the pil asters which adorn them, rises a second order, to support the ribs of a pointed vault. The aisle-windows are of two lights, divided by a central column, and having trefoil heads to each light, both of which are ineluded under a larger pointed arch ; on the exterior they are crowned by a rectilinear pediment, with a pinnacle at either end. The upper windows are cir cular. The external wall is almost entirely encased in coloured marbles, and is ornamented with pilasters, which at the eastern extremity are connected by semicircular arches.