Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/355

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Bk. VIII. Ch. III.
339

3e. VIII. Ch. III. MILAN CATHEDRAL. 339 details and many of the forms are essentially Northern ; but it is equally certain that he was not allowed to control the whole, for all the great features of the church are as thoroughly Italian as the details are German; it is therefore by no means improbable that Marco de Campione, as the Italians assert, or some other native artist, was joined with him or placed over him. In size it is, except Seville, the largest of all Mediaeval cathe- drals, covering 107,782 ft. In material it is the richest, being built wholly of Avhite marble, which is scarcely the case with any other church, large or small ; and in decoration it is the most gorgeous — the whole of the ex- terior is covered with tracery, and the amount of carving and stat- uary lavished on its pinnacles and spires is unri- valled in any other building of Europe. It is also built wholly (with the excep- tion of the f a9ade) according to one design. Yet with all these advantages, the appearance of this won- derful building is not satisfactory to any one who is familiar with the great edifices on this side of the Alps. Cologne, if complete, Avould be more beautiful ; Rheims, Chartres, Amiens, and Bourges, leave a far more satisfactory impression on the mind ; and even the -.^. 769. Plan of the Cathedral at Milan. (From "Chiesi Principal d'Europa.") Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.