Arches of the Bridge of the Holy Trinity. 3 



some than invention : he therefore assumed the curve to be a 

 scheme, and having placed together six arcs of circles approxi- 

 mating to the curve, concluded that he had found out the curve 

 itself. He was led to such a proceeding by the example of 

 modern French architects, who are very ingenious in coaxing 

 arcs of circles into an approximation to a continued curve which 

 they call anses de panier, as substitutes for regular curves, in 

 order to evade a little trouble in setting out the voussoirs of 

 arches, (not arcs of circles,) or from not knowing the method 

 of doing it. 



The accompanying drawing, CEG., Fig. 1. of the curve of the 

 middle arch is correctly drawn to Salvetti's ordinates, to a scale 

 of Florentine braccia *, and is manifestly a Gothic pointed arch 

 of the time of Henry VH. In the beginning of the reign of 

 Henry VHI, Torregiano t came to England from Florence to 

 erect the tomb of Henry VH, he returned also to Florence as 

 Cellini relates, to engage several youths to assist him, and he 

 finished the tomb in 1519. During his stay in England, the 

 chapels of St. George, Windsor, of Henry VH, Westminster, 

 and of King's College, Cambridge, were in progress ; in which 

 buildings, arches, similar to that of the bridge of Ammanati, 

 had been partially introduced as principal arches, and it is pro- 

 bable from the novelty of their appearance in such situations, 

 that the form attracted the attention of Torregiano and his 

 pupils, and by them it was introduced at Florence to the notice 

 of artists, among whom, in 1526, Ammanati I must have been 

 a student. The fitness of this curve § to the Bridge of S. Trinity 

 induced Ammanati in 1566, to adopt it, though a Gothic curve; 

 but obedient to the prevailing taste, he dressed it in the then 

 fashionable costume of Roman architecture ; but the ornaments 

 at the vertices of the arches, seem intended only to veil his ob- 



• A braccio is divided into 20 soldi, a soldo into 12 danaii. A l)raccio 

 = 1.9 feet English. See Dr. Young's Lectures on Natural Philosophy. 



t Vol. I, page 1C2, Walpole's Anec. of Painting. 



t See Malizia Memorie degli Architetti. 



§ Ferroni says, before the time of Ammanati, there is no csainplc of such 

 an arch. 



B 2 



