inventive aptitude, but follows an apparently capricious fancy with singular disregard of functional needs, and not seldom in violation of all principles of grace and beauty. As might naturally be expected, his native classic bent more or less constantly displays itself, though in the pointed architecture of Italy neither Gothic nor classic principles are ever consistently adhered to.
For illustration of the types of capitals and bases, which have the most Gothic character, we may take those of the
FIG. 162.
nave of Sta. Maria Novella in Florence. Fig. 162 is a group of capitals of one of the lower piers on the south side; they are used only for those members of the pier from which the arches of the lower story spring—the vaulting shafts of the high vaults being continuous in their ascent. Such a group would hardly be out of place in France, though the projection of the lower range of ornaments breaks, rather more than it would in France, the profiles of the bells. The capitals of the piers of Sta. Croce are, in this respect, better in outline; and very fine ones of almost pure Gothic
