The Chautauquan Volume 57 - Softcover

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1909 Excerpt: ...colonnades of the entrance broadly treated grotesques support small Corinthianesque columns. All through Northern and Eastern Italy, during this period, this imported Hittite motif was frequently used. The designing of ecclesiastical furniture, such as pulpits, provided an opportunity for introducing this seemingly popular theme. Typical of a number of Byzanto-Romanesque examples is the very decorative pulpit in the Cathedral at Ravello, executed 1200 A. D. (Fig. 11.) The realistic southern school of carving is responsible for the life-like rendering of the lions. The tortionals (twisted columns) are respendent with brilliant glass mosaic. Inlays of mosaic of a guilloche pattern embellish the parapet. This detail as well as the lectern eagle support and the columns with the striding lion bases was of Hittite origin. The Prior's Door of Ely Cathedral, England (Fig. 12.), illustrates the Introduction of the Hittite column form into English Norman work. The Prior's Door is a good example of that period of the English Norman during which there was a recrudescence of the Italianized Saxon of Eastern England. In Italy, again, the pulpit that Nicolas Pisano carved for the Baptistry of Pisa (Fig. 13.) gave Renaissance expression to the Ancient Hittite theme. The reliefs illustrating the city of Kadesh (Fig. 14.) so frequently carved upon the monuments of Ramses II, together with the results of the excavations at Senjirli, and Eiguk, enable us to understand the general character of the Hittite cities. The pictures of the battle upon the walls of the Ramesseum show the capital, Kadesh, on an island in the Orontes river. The city, doubly moated, is approached by two draw bridges. A massive wall encircles the place. The main gateways are strengthened by increasing the ...