square chamber within it, so that it does not look as massive on the plan as it does in elevation. The east end has the strictly Roman form of a semicircular apse with a half-dome vault. The details of the interior consist of a single order of pilasters, on high pedestals, set on the angles of the piers, and of rich Roman coffering on the surfaces of the vaulting. The piers closely resemble those of the so-called arch of the Silversmiths in Rome, which it is not unlikely that Alberti had in mind in designing them, inasmuch as he was a devoted student of Roman architectural antiquities. This interior is, I think, one of the very finest that the Renaissance produced. The justness of its proportions, the simplicity of the structural scheme, and the quietness of the ornamental details are all admirable. With the given elements it is hard to see how a better composition could be made; but the incongruity between the structural and ornamental systems, the entirely superficial use of the order, and its unfitness as ornament where it has no structural meaning, are fundamental defects of this as of most other Renaissance designs. The scheme of St. Andrea foreshadows that of St. Peter's, and was undoubtedly in the mind of Bramante when he was preparing his colossal project for Pope Julius II.
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Fig. 18.—Sant' Andrea, Mantua.
The west front of this church (Fig. 19) is again an adaptation of a Roman triumphal arch design. It is, in fact, as the plan (Fig. 18) shows, a great porch set against the true front,
