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Etruscan Volumnii, each lolling in white travertine on the sculptured lid of his own sarcophagus urn, and all duly ranged in the twilight of their tomb at their spectral banquet, stirred her heart but feebly. St. Francis, Santa Chiara, fell flat on her English fancy. But as for Alan, he revelled all day long in his native element.
The whole is built of solid yellow travertine, a material which, by its warmth of colour, is pleasing to the eye, and mitigates the mathematical severity of the design. Upon entering, we feel at once what Alberti called the music of this style; its large and simple harmonies, depending for effect upon sincerity of plan and justice of balance.
At the present day it is to be seen carried to perfect completion, having been executed with supreme grace, and with truly marvellous beauty and variety of composition, by the genius of Antonio, and all the masonry is of a certain stone that has a tinge of white, after the manner of travertine. It stands without the Porta di S. Biagio, on the right hand, half-way up the slope of the hill.
We seem unable to breathe, and lack that element of life and picturesqueness which the splendid retinues of nobles in the age of Pinturicchio might have added to the now forlorn Piazza. Yet the material is a fine warm travertine, mellowing to dark red, brightening to golden, with some details, especially the tower of the Palazzo Communale, in red brick.
It contains interesting exhibits of the products of the Northern State, including a noteworthy display of pottery made at the University of North Dakota, an institution which devotes much of its effort to promoting state industries. The Montana Building, Carl Nuese, San Francisco, architect, is one of the group of classic structures finished in plastic travertine.
At its highest stage Lake Bonneville, then one thousand feet deep, overflowed to the north and was a fresh-water lake. As it shrank below the outlet it became more and more salty, and the Great Salt Lake, its withered residue, is now depositing salt along its shores. In its strong brine lime carbonate is insoluble, and that brought in by streams is thrown down at once in the form of travertine.
It is regrettable that we have no large museum on the coast where these fine doorways in the outer walls of the Palace of Varied Industries could be preserved permanently. The travertine marble has nowhere been used more effectively than in just such details. The entrance of the Palace of Education at the western end of the south façade is also of great beauty of design.
They set snugly against the pink panel just over the flaring basin of travertine wherein the water trickles. At night, these niches are flecked with shadows cast by the surrounding trees. Electric lights, concealed beneath the water, shed a warm glow upon the head of the elephant in its frame of sculptured half columns.
We find lacustrine marls on the sides of the Esquiline Hill where it slopes down into the Forum, and fresh-water bivalve and univalve shells in the ground under the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius on the Capitol; while on the face of the Aventine Hill, overhanging the Tiber at a height of ninety feet, is a cliff of travertine, which is half a mile long.
After a good deal of experimenting Denneville had found that for his purpose gypsum rock was most serviceable. On being ground and colored it could be used as a plaster and made to seem in texture so close to Travertine marble as to be almost indistinguishable. The results perfectly justified his faith.
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