of the ancient Buildings of Pisa. 277 



of course, the glaring anomaly of one arch in the gallery, fill- 

 ed with rich tracery. This embellishment exhibits precisely 

 the same appearances with the Gothic work in the Campo 

 Santo, and is no doubt the beginning of an unfinished design 

 of a similar kind, and of the same age. In the gallery which 

 runs round the building, it may be observed that for some 

 feet from the springing of the roof the side wall is continued 

 with a new material, as if carried up at a later time. This 

 change takes place just about that part where the trefoil win- 

 dows are seen in the third story of the exterior. There are 

 also traces of an intended groined roof, which would take its 

 commencement from the termination of the old work. From 

 these circumstances it may be inferred that the building was 

 either left for a time unfinished, or that a former roof was re- 

 moved for the purpose of giving it greater elevation : in either 

 way the difference of style in the exterior is accounted for. 



On a general review of the whole, the following were the 

 conclusions, as regarding the exterior, which appeared least 

 open to objection. That the work is composed in three dif- 

 ferent styles, the pure Romanesque of the first and second 

 stories ; the Lombardic, or mixed Gothic, of the third ; and 

 the Tedesque, or florid, Gothic, of the accessory details : and, 

 secondly, that from the relative position of the several parts, 

 it is probably the work of three different ages. In forming 

 the division which has just been stated, the chief difficulty was 

 found in regard to the pointed canopies above the small arches 

 of the second story. Whether there be any objection to their 

 being classed with the pinnacles with which they are connect- 

 ed must be left to a more competent decision ; but inasmuch as 

 concerns the possibility of their being additions, it will suffice 

 to say, that no architectural embellishments can hang more 

 loosely upon the fabric to which they belong. 



It may not be uninteresting to accompany the foregoing de- 

 tails with a few historical notices ; and in the first place to re- 

 mark, that a current opinion relating to the Baptistery is, that 

 it was begun and finished in the space of eight years, namely, 

 between the years 1152, and 1160*. This opinion is justly 

 condemned by Monona, in his Pisa Illust rata f, who still, how- 



* Thus Martini, in his Thccttrum Basilica Pisa nee, p. 93: " Templum 

 hoc fttil inewptum anno 1 152, mense Augus/i. — absolution veroj'uit anno 1 160, 

 ul eruitur c.i auodani pcrvctusto codicc in cjusdem />rimatialis Basilica? Ar- 

 chivio exittcntc." What this codex is, he (loos not condescend to inform 

 us. So also Milizia, in his Lives of the Architects ;" Uiotisalvi fit un ar- 

 chitctto cite net 1152 edified il Baitittero di Pisa, c dopo otto mini lo tcr- 

 mino." f Second edit. Leghorn, 1812. 



work 



