Horler Miklós: Budapest 1. budai királyi palota 1. Középkori idomtégla töredékek (Magyarország építészeti töredékeinek gyűjteménye 4. Budapest, 1995) (Magyarország építészeti töredékeinek gyűjteménye 4. Budapest, 1998)

András Végh: Medieval Terracotta finds from the royal Palace of Buda

Italy where due to the continuity of the antic tradition these forms have been preserved throughout the centuries (Fig. 51.)."° Simplicity might be mentioned as another typical characteristic of the decoration. Only the contours of the different plants were highlighted, the face was left untouched. A typical example of this is the corbel supporting the tympanum of the window decorated with leaves.

111 Simplicity of form applies to the plate tracery also, and to structural elements. Although simple, they are nevertheless varied, an effect reached by the clever combination of a limited number of basic forms and profiles (Fig. 48., 52.). Blind tracery decorated with diagonally placed squares was, for instance, one of the most common decoration for frameworks in northern Italy (Fig. 51-52.).

112 The decorated windows and cornices were assembled of several pieces. Very often these were decorated with a single mould, or two-three of them (cavetto, roll moulding) at the most. Here we have none of the complex mouldings characteristic of the red brick architecture of northern Europe. The innermost part of the window is very characteristic, which was usually decorated with a simple chamfer. Regarding this feature, examples in northern Italy are similar to each other both in form and in size (Fig. 48.)!

13

The different elements of frames also offer specific characteristics in this region. The cable moulding, for instance, that we also know from Buda seems to be widely used as a component of cornices and windows (Fig. 55.).'

14 The reconstructions allude to Italian relations, too. Decorated jambs, spandrels of the windows, and crocket decorated arches suggest windows similar to those of the Italian palazzo (Fig. 47., 50.).'

15 The cornice we reconstructed of friezes with plate tracery and fragments of arcature and corbels is also Italian in character and appear on almost all of the significant buildings (Fig. 56.).

116 Further characteristics of the terracotta architecture in northern Italy are the narrow pilasters between the bays and the simple pinnacles which crown them. Examples of this can be best observed on churches, but the feature is also present in monuments of secular architecture.

117 Most of the monuments of northern Italian terracotta architecture is to be found along the river Po, in the provinces of Piémont, Lombardy, Emilia and Veneto. This region is poor in stone, but rich in clay necessary for the making of bricks. The difficulties which the transportation of stone from the Alps or the Appenines would have meant, and the lack of political unity encouraged local architects to use brick. They developed their knowledge of this material to the point where they could accomplish as much with terracotta as was accomplished with stone in other regions. Terracotta was manufactured throughout the middle ages as well as in modern times. Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque buildings testify to this. The development of terracotta sculpture on the other hand illustrates the development of the technique. Serial production is one of the characteristics of terracotta architecture. The material was easy to handle, and in a relatively short time a great number of architectural components could be produced. Italian architecture never shrank from the idea of decorative elements and the rich embellishment of the façades. In the later phases of Gothic architecture mass-produced terracotta pieces were used for this purpose. Finaly looking at the fourteenth and early fifteenth century, a period corresponding to the building activities in Buda, attention should be called to two types of buildings among the riches of monuments. One of them is the palaces of the nobility, the local landlords, among them the Sforza, the Visconti, and the Gonzaga. Such buildings as the Castelli Sforzesco in Milan and Vigevano, the Castelli Visconteo in Pavia and Bereguardo, and the Castello di Giorgio in Mantova.

118 All of these buildings are square shaped, many with a tower at all four corners. The wings surrounding a courtyard have often broken arcades on the ground level and large double or triplet windows on the upper floor. The large window was sometimes a feature of the outer walls also of castles. The other building type is the town palaces of the leaders of municipal communities

—for example, Palazzi Capitano and Bonacolsi in Mantova, Palazzo del Commune and the Loggia dei Militi in Cremona, the Palazzo Pepoli in Bologna.

119 These buildings on the other hand were characteristically elongated, with the main façade overlooking a square. Here, too, the ground level was opened by arches and the upper level embellished by an ornate row of windows. The number of examples can be enlarged almost endlessly, so rich is the material to choose from. However, with our present state of knowledge it would be too early to try to identify the masters of the palaces of Buda. This would require a further thorough study of the monuments in Italy, since no relating monograph has so far been published.