PETER VISCHER
all the wealth of his luxuriant imagination. And
he made use of the patterns of the full Renais-
sance, such as were to be met with in Italy about
he beginning of the sixteenth century, in the
works of Andrea Sansovino.
The columns, with their varied capitals in the
Corinthian manner, exhibited a beautiful diversity
of invention. Every surface, too, was most richly
decorated ; every member daintily wrought; the
pilasters, shafts of the columns, pedestals, borders
and doorways, were embellished with exquisitely
drawn foliage-work mingled with masks and fan-
tastic beasts in ever fresh variations. Especial
mention must be made of the magnificent frieze
of acanthus with figures of savage men interlaced
in different moments of combat. Other friezes
showed garlands, wreaths, and festoons of fruit
hanging from the horns of oxen, and, between
them, winged angels’ heads and cornucopias over-
lowing with fruit and flowers. |
The great bays or compartments arranged be-
tween the entrances were filled with open metal-
work, the bars whereof at the points of intersection
were embellished with ornaments of manifold de-
vices. A marvellous wealth of figures in relief
was to be found in every quarter—over the arch
of the doorway ; on the spandrels of the side gates
as well as on both the crowning segmental pedi-
ments and the rectangular centre-piece. Even
the angles of the cornice were adorned with fan-
tastic beings in whose manifold forms the humour
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