<A>
colonnades of the early period: *
2 examples of colonnades in the Old Kingdom
The Djoser complex built 27th century BC, 3rd dynasty for Pharaoh Djoser by his vizier, Imhotep. The pyramid is the central feature of a vast mortuary complex in an enormous courtyard surrounded by ceremonial structures and decoration.
2 photos
Khafra pharaoh of the 4th dynasty, 2570 BC, Old Kingdom most famous for his Giza pyramid complex. The mortuary temple comprised of an entrance hall, an open courtyard with some large pillars, 5 niches off the second chamber of the temple where probably the statues of the Pharaoh were placed, 5 storerooms behind these 5 niches and finally an innermost sanctuary that contained a pair of stelae or upright rocks with written inscriptions on them and a false door through which the dead Pharaoh was believed to enter from the burial chamber to collect the offerings given to him.
see floor plan and the 3D video of the entrance hall colonnade
<B>
Romanesque work in Baroque: *
The cathedral at Santiago de Compestella illustrate the general compatibility of widely divergent Western art styles & periods.
Pórtico da Gloria is a Romanesque masterpiece, portico & main gate, created by Master Mateo & workshop, on the orders of King Ferdinand II of León who made significant donations to Mateo between 1168 and 1188. It has 3 round arches corresponding to the 3 naves of the church, supported by thick piers with pilasters. The central arch, twice as wide as the other two, has a tympanum showing the Pantocrator, the image of Christ in Majesty, displaying the stigmata. Surrounding him are the Four Evangelists with their attributes: St. John & the eagle, St. Luke with the ox, St. Matthew on the hood of the tax collector & St. Mark and the lion. In the columns of the central door and two side doors, the apostles are represented, as well as prophets and other figures with their iconographic attributes.
The stairway, giving access to the entrance of the façade, was built in the 17th Century by Ginés Martínez who copied the Renaissance style found in Vignola’s Palazzo Farnese. It is diamond-shaped with 2 ramps that surround the entrance to the old 12th century Romanesque crypt.
​
The outstanding Baroque facade (18th century) was designed by Fernando de Casas Novoa. It has large glazed windows located between the towers of the Bells & the Ratchet. In the middle of the central body is St. James & 1 level below his 2 disciples Athanasius & Theodore, dressed as pilgrims. In between, the urn (representing the found tomb) & the star (representing the lights he saw the Hermit Pelagius) between angels and clouds. The tower on the right depicts Mary Salome, mother of St. James, the one on the left depicts his father Zebedee. The balustrade on the left side depicts St. Susanna and St. John and the one on the right depicts St. Barbara and James the Less.
<C>
late Gothic work in Rococo: *
view front facade of the Basilica of San Giovanni e Paolo, Italian Gothic, with view of interior showing supporting columns & ribbed arches of the ceilingis
see images x2
One of the chapels of the Basilica of San Giovanni e Paolo, is graced with a ceiling by Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, 1682-1754, Italian Rococo painter of religious subjects and genre scenes. This ceiling, which shows the Glory of St. Dominic, is illusionistic, Piazzetta using techniques of perspective di sotto in sù (down below), quadrature (or squaring) and foreshortening to turn a 2D flat ceiling into a 3D space (like Tiepolo)
