ARCHITECTURE - Karatunov.net

34FRANCE [CH. xixdesPresshape, Further traces of Byzantine or Italo-Byzantineinfluence are afforded by the mosaics on a gold groundof which there are remains in the apse,and by thestucco modelling round some of the windows, of whichViollet-le-Duc gives an illustration. The mosaic hesays is unique on French soil 3 .TheAQUITAINEThe territory of the Dukes of inAquitaine the westernand west-central parts of France, included Poitou, theLimousin, most of Guienne, the Angoumois, and latterlyGascony.It was in this district that the influence ofByzantine art was most strongly felt, and the mostremarkable instance of it is the well-known church ofs. Front, S. FRONT at P^RiGUEUX which stands alone among Frenchengueuxangles between the arms of the cross, all exactly as in thesmaller churches at Constantinople such as S. Theodoreand the Pantocrator. Here however the four arms end inapses, which are in plan horse-shoes, more than semicircularand some of the interior arches are also of thatTheresemblanceexam pj es> j t consists Of two parts, of different dates.At the west end there remains part of a basilican churchwith nave and aisles, which probably finishedeastwardwith three apses. It had transepts which still exist asdetached buildings, the original crossing between themand the eastern parts having been destroyed to make way^or ^ sec^nd church 2 (Fig. 75).This later building isa gve domed cruciform building, so closely modelled onMark's the plan of S. Mark's at Venice that there can be no1 Diet. Rais. I. 38, VIII. 472. This church is illustrated by Rivoira,Origin^ etc. vol. I, p. 217220. I have not seen it myself.2Mr Phen Spiers gives a conjectural restoration of the plan of theLatin church. See his article on S. Front in Architecture East and West,Batsford, 1905.