21   					12
                                                                                    MILAN  ST AMBROZIO
                                                                      It is curious that in St Ambrozio there seems to be
                                                                      absolute fear of giving the piers the slightest over-
                                                                      hanging clahnge of weight - the arch mouldings
                                                                      are either equal to them, or shrink within them:
                                                                      The only thing approaching to an excess is the section
                                                                      of the three arches which form the second story of
                                                                      the entrances:  (there are five arches altogether,
                                                                      but two almost concealed behind the aisles)  Round the
                                                                      atrium the pilasters of the main piers have capitals
                                                                      which bear the cornice shaft:  but the two entrance
                                                                      piers have capitals only to their       :  their face
                                                                      		pilasters run up unbroken to the cornice which goes
                                                                      round the whole court:  only when they pass the other
                                                                      capitals, they each have a square medallion containing
                                                                      two animals carved more flatly and simply than
                                                                      usual, to prevent the disjunction of the pier ornament
                                                                      and yet without breaking on the simplicity of the
                                                                      pilaster.  Above them the cornice of curve intervening
                                                                      comes the piers of the second story, fig 1 p 33 N.
			This capital has therefore somethin[j]g like                       The shaded section is the pier below the capital,
			       work in bearing the angle of the sub-arch.                  substituting the dotted line for the        we have
                                                                      that above the capital, the outer line being the capi-
                                                                      tal itself x  The faces ab cd are richly carved
                                                                      and form the archivolt as also a2 b2; a2a forms continual
                                                                      upwards, the cornice shaft:  The stone work of
                                                                      the curved   voussoirs     a , cd is very narrow in
                                                                      proportion to the width of the arch, and the brick work

[Version 0.05: May 2008]