than their predecessors had done, they were at the same time departing more widely from classic models, and introducing many monstrosities of composition, from the influence of which modern art has greatly suffered.
The works of Sanmichele show an equally exclusive employment of classic features, with the same freedom in deforming them and using them in novel and ungainly ways. In the Porta del Palio of Verona, a characteristic example of his work, he has used a pseudo-Doric order in which the columns are fluted after the Ionic manner with fillets between the channels, and are raised on heavy square plinths. The columns are dis
Fig. 70.—Two bays of the Porta del Palio.
posed in pairs, dividing the façade into three wide intervals and four narrow ones (Fig. 70), and each wide space has a large rectangular recess spanned by a fiat arch, with a sculptured keystone in the form of a console, under the entablature of the order. At the level of the soffit of this arch the wall is crowned by a cornice passing behind the columns. The central bay has a large rectangular portal without jamb mouldings, and in each lateral bay is a small doorway framed with classic jamb mouldings and a pediment on consoles. Over each of these openings is a secondary flat arch with deep voussoirs reaching to the soffit of the upper one. Pilasters take the place of columns on the angles of the façade, and the walls are rusticated. In
