ABSTRACT
We should, however, condemn out of hand those ornaments which show the thing quite differently from what by nature it ought to be. Palladio for example disapproves, and rightly so, of the abusive practice of breaking the pediments of doors, windows and loggia in the middle, there being nothing, he says, more contrary to reason than splitting that part whose purpose is to protect the occupants of and those entering the house from rain, snow and hail. Which we can take as a jibe at Michelangelo, who took such liberties, and sometimes bent the rules. I am now thinking of the cornice, and in particular the Doric cornice placed ornamentally over alleys even by architects of repute. Is there nothing more absurd than placing triglyphs, that is, feigned roof beams, with their ends exposed where, if they were really there, they could catch fire and cause the building to collapse? You will surely remember the floor of the church of Santa Giustina in Padua. Its inlay of different kinds of stones makes them look like cubes, with pieces of crossed wood: and so realistically is it contrived that in walking over it one is almost on one’s guard against stumbling, and one walks with raised legs. So much art, and more money, spent on creating an illusion of something, that if it really existed, would have to be cleared away.
