of the a ncient Buildings of Pisa . 279 



completed by one architect, and in a short space of time, was 

 continued with several interruptions, and carried on as the 

 resources of the public treasury would permit. 



Of the Duomo, in as far as the present question is concerned, 

 little will need to be said. The only part of this vast pile which 

 is involved in the controversy is the corona, or band of Gothic 

 canopies which surrounds the drum of the dome. Here at 

 least, no question can be raised as to the possibility of pos- 

 terior addition ; and as the work itself is of the same character 

 as the ornaments of the Baptistery, the same opinion must be 

 adopted respecting it. It is, perhaps, worth while to remark 

 that the three courses of stone next under the corona differ 

 from the inferior parts of the tower. As the ornaments upon 

 the ledge of the grand pediment of the west front are said to 

 have been mentioned as Gothic crockets, it may be permitted 

 to express a different opinion ; they are used for the same de- 

 corative purpose, but are surely more Grecian than Gothic, 

 and are particularly characteristic of a style to which the ap- 

 pellation of Greco-barbara has been fitly applied. 



The Church of Santa Maria della Spina having been cited 

 as a work of Giovanni da Pisa in confirmation of the origina- 

 lity of the Gothic ornaments of the Campo Santo, some observa- 

 tions upon its history and architecture will now be added. 



The Church, or rather Oratory of the Spina, called in old 

 writings Oratorium Sanctce Marice dc Ponte Novo, was a little 

 chapel standing at the foot of a bridge (since demolished) called 

 Ponte Nuovo ; the patronage of it belonged to the commonalty 

 of Pisa, and hence it seems to have been regarded with par- 

 tiality by the citizens. Its chief distinction, however, was con- 

 ferred by the donation of a spine of Our Saviour's crown of 

 thorns, said to have been brought by a merchant from beyond 

 seas, and afterwards deposited in this chapel. The building, 

 as it now appears, consists of a simple oblong room, with an 

 extension at the east end forming the present chancel or sanc- 

 tuary. This chancel, upon which rest the three spires (its 

 principal ornament) is, without any doubt, a later addition, 

 and is so termed by Morrona. The side next the street, and 

 the west end, are both covered, as well as the chancel, with a 

 case or skreen of pilasters, canopies, statues, pinnacles, &c. 

 which, though not pure and correct, are nevertheless of the 

 style which we should call florid Gothic. Upon examination 

 tin v were found neither to correspond with what may be seen 

 of the original work, nor to bind in with the masonry of the 

 walls; their present dilapidated state is, indeed, a sad con- 

 firmation 



