VINCENZO SCAMOZZI, born 1552, died 1616.
At Venice, the deposit of the Doge Niccolo da Ponte, in the church Sa. Maria della Carita Museum to the Library of St Mark. Continuation of the Procuratie Nuove in the Piazza of St Mark.
The palace Cornaro, on the great canal, inclu ding the magnificent court.
Vicenza, the palace Trisino, now Trento.
Florence, the second story of the palace Strozzi. Genoa, Palazza Ravaschieri, of three stories, Rustic, Ionic, Corinthian.
Sabonietta, in the Mantuan, a theatre after the ancient model.
Saltzburg, the cathedral.
Six of his books on architecture were published in 1615, viz. 1,2, 3,-6, 7, 8.
From the foregoing statement, which includes only the works of the most celebrated Italian architects, it will be readily perceived with what ardour architecture had been pursued ; and when to these are joined the an cient works still existing, it will be evident what a rich field of study Italy must prove for the zealous artist ; since Rome, Florence, Venice, Vicenza, Mantua, Ge noa, Verona, Padua, Bologna, Piacenza, Ferrara, with their adjacent country residences, all exhibit splendid specimens of architecture.
We have less regret in leaving this justly celebrated peninsula, by having next to proceed with the practice of another country, still more important amongst mo dern nations—that is Britain.
Although later in point of time than some other spe cimens we shall adduce, yet, in order to preserve the progress of domestic architecture more entire, we shall first give a specimen of public buildings; and have, for this purpose, selected St Paul's cathedral, which was erected in London from a design and under the direction of Sir Christopher Wren. In Plate CLXXIV. the plan and elevation arc drawn to the same scale as St Pe ter's at Rome. This comparison renders the disparity in size very conspicuous; but when it is considered, that the Italian temple was constructed at the joint expellee of all the richest countries in Europe, and that the Eng lish temple was built at the expellee of that nation alone, and immediately after the city had been destroyed by the great fire in 1666, its magnitude will appear not a little surprising. In taste and scientific skill, the architect was fully equal to any of his predecessors in this school ; hut the funds being limited, and materials of large di mensions not easily procured, he was prevented from adopting his favourite design, and obliged to substitute one in which the individual members were more minute.
In the plan of the building, as executed, the dome is placed nearly in the middle of the length of the nave, or middle aisle ; and as the terminations of the transept arc square, the shape of the cross is not only internally dif ferent from that in St Peter's, but is externally more distinctly defined. In St Peter's the length of the mid dle aisle, from the western entrance to the extremity of the choir, is only about eight times its width. In St Paul's it is above eleven times, which adds much to the imposing effect of the internal perspective. The breadth
of the side aisles in St Paul's, bears a greater proportion to that of the middle one ; and the form is more dis tinctly continued through the whole length of the edi fice than in St Peter's. The piers which support the dome, are, in St Paul's, well disposed to afford stabili ty, without too much crowding the space on the pave ment. Immediately under the dome, a greater degree of simplicity would have been preserved, if the entire order had, as in the original design, reached sufficient ly high to receive the whispering gallery upon the en tablature, instead of resting as it now does, upon large arches and their spandrels. Externally, the height of St Paul's is greater, in proportion to its breadth, than St Peter's, but not so much as materially to lessen the idea of stability, which is also well preserved by the square terminations of the projecting part of the tran septs. This relative proportion creates a greater de gree of apparent elevation, than if the edifice had more breadth. The dome is elegantly shaped ; and the pe destal, or neck, upon which it immediately rests, be ing considerably raised, is the means of shelving the dome to advantage ; while the order which supports this neck, having its columns distributed at equal dis tances, and well relieved, and having its entablature con tinued quite round, without any break, presents a fea ture which far surpasses that of any other structure of the kind. The dome has also its simplicity well pre served, by being clear of those pitiful small windows which disgrace St Peter's. A radical defect in St Paul's, is its having two orders in the height of the eleva tion, by which the simplicity and grandeur of the ge neral effect are much diminished ; but in the western facade, the upper and lower porticos, occupying a eon siderable proportion of the breadth, being also well iso lated, and having a pediment enriched with sculptures extended over eight columns, produce, altogether, an imposing effect. The manner in which the turrets are constructed and finished, has little claim to commenda tion. The smallness and varied shape of the windows are objectionable. if there had been niches, with sta tues instead of windows, in the lower order, and the windows of the upper order made as large as the space would admit, and of uniform shape, the whole would have been more conformable to the character of a tem ple. We arc aware, that this would have required a considerable change or the interior arrangement. The drawings we have given, will convey a distinct idea of the plan and elevation. For much of the interior we must refer to the building itself, and to the very master ly section made and published by :Messrs Gwyn and Wale; but the following particulars, respecting the construction, cannot fail of being acceptible to the reader.