The  cathedral  of  Orvieto,  like  that  of  Siena,  is  built
of  alternate  stripes  of  black  and  white,  an  Oriental  sur-
vival, and  it  has  the  Roman  form  and  bow-headed  win-
dows of  the  Siena  Duomo.  One  of  its  striking  features
is  the  facade  of  three  gables  adorned  with  polychrome
sculptures  and  enamel  work,  like  the  sides  of  a  gigantic
jewel-case  shining  with  untarnished  gold.  Standing
before  the  endless  variety  of  ornamentation  sparkling
as  if  done  yesterday  by  the  hands  of  goldsmiths,  you
say  '  what  pains  these  old  artists  took  to  adorn  the  outer
temple,  and  if  the  inner  one  of  spiritual  worship  corres-
ponded to  this  how  wonderful  and  delightful  it  would
have  been,1  and  let  us  hope  it  did.  The  panels  of  this
front  are  marked  off  by  bold  scroll-work,  and  clusters
of  oak-leaves  and  hanging  grapes  and  intricate  designs
with  flying  angels  circling  in  and  about,  making  pat-
terns of  elegant  and  entrancing  forms.  This  is  further
enriched  with  golden  mosaics  inlaid  in  lapis  lazuli,
onyx  and  jewel  stones,  that  gleam  in  the  sunshine  un-
like anything  in  Gothic  architecture,  which  though
also  of  vast  detail  is  on  the  whole  sombre.  But  here
a  bright  Italian  fancy  sparkled,  and  color,  the  Italian
delight,  flashed.  At  Orvieto  all  the  arts  met,  archi-
tecture, sculpture,  painting,  mosaic  and  gem-work.
