OF CYLINDRICAL VAULTS.

11

eastern way of vaulting by hemispheres (Fig. 7 .)The dull uniform vaulting of St. Peter’s cannot viewith the magic crossings of vaults and domes at St.Paul’s* * * § (Fig. 10. and 11.) Torregiano would havecompensated the blow which flattened the nose ofMichael Angelo , had he on his return to Italy in-structed him in the principles of the vaulting of thecontemporary Chapel t of Cambridge (Fig. 22.) Itwas the bold conception of Bramante to raise thePantheon t (Fig. 4.), upon the arches of the Temple ofPeace (Fig. 5.), and the glory of Michael Angelo torealize the grandeur of the idea. Bramante an-nounced the intention of imitating, in the naves ofSt. Peter’s , the vaulting of the Temple of Peace.But Michael Angelo was more fortunate in a Gia­ como della Porta , than Bramante in a Michael An­ gelo . Carlo Maderno , after changing the Greekinto the Latin cross, need not have been so scrupu-lous in the detail. He might have recurred toBramante ’s intentions with honour; and a discord-ance of parts would have harmonized with thediscordance of plan and outline which he had pro-duced.

The vault of the most entire Temple of Balbec §,in Ccelosyria, as supposed to have existed by Mr.Wood, must have exhibited one of the most sublimeexamples of architecture which the Romans could

* The vaults of the nave and transepts of St. Paul’s at London are 41 feet wide and 84 feet high. See vol. xviii. Archasologia.

+ The vaulting of the Chapel of Henry VI . at Cambridge is 39feet wide and 81 feet high.

t The diameter of the domical vault of the Pantheon at Rome is142 feet wide and 143 feet high.

§ The vault of the most entire Temple at Balbec is 63 feet wideand 93 feet high.