parts. The central portal has a round arch on fluted Corinthian pilasters framing in a deeply recessed rectangular opening with a classic lintel and jamb mouldings. It is noticeable that the arch does not spring directly from the capitals of the pilasters, but that the entablature block is interposed, as in Brunelleschi's arcades of San Lorenzo and Santo Spirito. Milizia, speaking
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Fig. 17.—Façade of Santa Maria Novella.
of this feature in another work by the same architect, says: "In these arcades Alberti observed a rule always followed in the good ancient times, but since universally disregarded. The arches are not sprung from the columns, because this would be incorrect, but architraves [sic] are interposed. It would now be ridiculous to inculcate the importance of this rule, which is familiar to children."[1] This, like other notions to which the
- ↑ Op. cit., vol. i, p. 201.
