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At the extreme western end of this long, ragged silhouette rose the massive walls of Fort Taylor, with its double tier of antiquated embrasures; and on the left of it, as the distance lessened and the light increased, I could distinguish the cream-colored front of the Marine Hospital, the slender white shaft of the lighthouse, the red pyramidal roof of the Government Building, and the pale-yellow walls and cupola of the Key West Hotel all interspersed with graceful leaning palms, or thrown into effective relief against dark masses of feathery Australian pine.
The central dome is not remarkable, but on each side of the large flagged space which surrounds it are rows and rows of miniature temples, each with an ornamental cupola, supported upon pillars. Each of these 729 cupolas contains a slab of alabaster, on which is inscribed a chapter of the Pali Bible. The entrance-gates, also, are large, and unusually ornate in design.
It was a dull roar from the direction of the bay. Almost instantly came another, and another, and then several broke together. And I knew that the battle had begun. Forgetting for the moment my loneliness, I ran into the house and up the stairs two at a time, and up the ladder into the cupola, where I flung open the casement and leaned out.
In a grove of primitive oaks, near the main-travelled road, against the misty blue background of the distant mountain-range, stood the stately white residence, with its long veranda supported by dignified Corinthian columns, its steep roof, quaint dormer-windows, and central cupola. "What a joke!" Henley said, with a wry smile, as he started his horse slowly down the incline.
Still receiving no response, he seized the knob and shook the door until the little house appeared to rattle from cellar to cupola. "Nan! Nan! Where are you?" he called. "It is I Donald. Answer me, Nan. I know you haven't gone away. You wouldn't! Please answer me, Nan!"
His method of securing amplitude was exactly opposite to that of Sangallo, who relied upon the multiplication rather than the simplification of details. A kind of organic unity was what Michelangelo desired. For this reason, he employed in the construction of S. Peter's those stupendous orders which out-soar the columns of Baalbec, and those grandiose curves which make the cupola majestic.
A work illustrative of this cupola is one of Ludwig Grüner's best publications. South Italy and Florence are distinguished by two marked styles in this decoration of inlaid marbles or opera di commesso. Compare the Medicean chapel in S. Lorenzo, for instance, with the high altar of the cathedral of Messina. The roof of the Duomo at Volterra is a fine specimen.
It gives it the form of an elliptic cupola, and prepares a semicircular opening for entry and exit. Its name is owing to the form of the nest which it constructs for brooding, and which has the appearance of an oven. It is very skilful and knows how to build a dome of clay without scaffolding, which is not altogether easy.
Descending from the cupola, I paused in the garret to observe the ponderous white-oak framework, so much more massive than the frames of modern houses, and thereby resembling an antique skeleton.
In the thirteenth century a large number of mosaic artists appeared in Florence, many of whose names and histories are available. In the Baptistery, Andrea Tafi, who lived between 1213 and 1294, decorated the cupola.
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