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diff --git a/old/7stvn10.txt b/old/7stvn10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..00b4e21 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/7stvn10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7388 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Stones of Venice [introductions], by John Ruskin +#7 in our series by John Ruskin + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Stones of Venice [introductions] + +Author: John Ruskin + +Release Date: February, 2006 [EBook #9804] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on October 19, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STONES OF VENICE [INTRODUCTIONS] *** + + + + +Produced by Anne Soulard, Keren Vergon +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +[Illustration: John Ruskin.] + +STONES OF VENICE + +BY JOHN RUSKIN + + + + +THE STONES OF VENICE: + +INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS AND LOCAL INDICES +(PRINTED SEPARATELY) +FOR THE USE OF TRAVELLERS WHILE STAYING IN VENICE AND VERONA. + + +BY +JOHN RUSKIN, LL.D. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +This volume is the first of a series designed by the Author with the +purpose of placing in the hands of the public, in more serviceable form, +those portions of his earlier works which he thinks deserving of a +permanent place in the system of his general teaching. They were at +first intended to be accompanied by photographic reductions of the +principal plates in the larger volumes; but this design has been +modified by the Author's increasing desire to gather his past and +present writings into a consistent body, illustrated by one series of +plates, purchasable in separate parts, and numbered consecutively. Of +other prefatory matter, once intended,--apologetic mostly,--the reader +shall be spared the cumber: and a clear prospectus issued by the +publisher of the new series of plates, as soon as they are in a state of +forwardness. + +The second volume of this edition will contain the most useful matter +out of the third volume of the old one, closed by its topical index, +abridged and corrected. + +BRANTWOOD, + +_3rd May_, 1879. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAP. + +I. The Quarry + +II. The Throne + +III. Torcello + +IV. St. Mark's + +V. The Ducal Palace + + + + +THE STONES OF VENICE + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +[FIRST OF THE OLD EDITION.] + +THE QUARRY. + + +SECTION I. Since the first dominion of men was asserted over the ocean, +three thrones, of mark beyond all others, have been set upon its sands: +the thrones of Tyre, Venice, and England. Of the First of these great +powers only the memory remains; of the Second, the ruin; the Third, +which inherits their greatness, if it forget their example, may be led +through prouder eminence to less pitied destruction. + +The exaltation, the sin, and the punishment of Tyre have been recorded +for us, in perhaps the most touching words ever uttered by the Prophets +of Israel against the cities of the stranger. But we read them as a +lovely song; and close our ears to the sternness of their warning: for +the very depth of the Fall of Tyre has blinded us to its reality, and we +forget, as we watch the bleaching of the rocks between the sunshine and +the sea, that they were once "as in Eden, the garden of God." + +Her successor, like her in perfection of beauty, though less in +endurance of dominion, is still left for our beholding in the final +period of her decline: a ghost upon the sands of the sea, so weak--so +quiet,--so bereft of all but her loveliness, that we might well doubt, +as we watched her faint reflection in the mirage of the lagoon, which +was the City, and which the Shadow. + +I would endeavor to trace the lines of this image before it be for ever +lost, and to record, as far as I may, the warning which seems to me to +be uttered by every one of the fast-gaining waves, that beat, like +passing bells, against the STONES OF VENICE. + +SECTION II. It would be difficult to overrate the value of the lessons +which might be derived from a faithful study of the history of this +strange and mighty city: a history which, in spite of the labor of +countless chroniclers, remains in vague and disputable outline,--barred +with brightness and shade, like the far away edge of her own ocean, +where the surf and the sand-bank are mingled with the sky. The inquiries +in which we have to engage will hardly render this outline clearer, but +their results will, in some degree, alter its aspect; and, so far as +they bear upon it at all, they possess an interest of a far higher kind +than that usually belonging to architectural investigations. I may, +perhaps, in the outset, and in few words, enable the general reader to +form a clearer idea of the importance of every existing expression of +Venetian character through Venetian art, and of the breadth of interest +which the true history of Venice embraces, than he is likely to have +gleaned from the current fables of her mystery or magnificence. + +SECTION III. Venice is usually conceived as an oligarchy: She was so +during a period less than the half of her existence, and that including +the days of her decline; and it is one of the first questions needing +severe examination, whether that decline was owing in any wise to the +change in the form of her government, or altogether as assuredly in +great part, to changes, in the character of the persons of whom it was +composed. + +The state of Venice existed Thirteen Hundred and Seventy-six years, from +the first establishment of a consular government on the island of the +Rialto, [Footnote: Appendix I., "Foundations of Venice."] to the moment +when the General-in-chief of the French army of Italy pronounced the +Venetian republic a thing of the past. Of this period, Two Hundred and +Seventy-six years [Footnote: Appendix II., "Power of the Doges."] were +passed in a nominal subjection to the cities of old Venetia, especially +to Padua, and in an agitated form of democracy, of which the executive +appears to have been entrusted to tribunes, [Footnote: Sismondi, Hist. +des Rep. Ital., vol. i. ch. v.] chosen, one by the inhabitants of each +of the principal islands. For six hundred years, [Footnote: Appendix +III., "Serrar del Consiglio."] during which the power of Venice was +continually on the increase, her government was an elective monarchy, +her King or doge possessing, in early times at least, as much +independent authority as any other European sovereign, but an authority +gradually subjected to limitation, and shortened almost daily of its +prerogatives, while it increased in a spectral and incapable +magnificence. The final government of the nobles, under the image of a +king, lasted for five hundred years, during which Venice reaped the +fruits of her former energies, consumed them,--and expired. + +SECTION IV. Let the reader therefore conceive the existence of the +Venetian state as broadly divided into two periods: the first of nine +hundred, the second of five hundred years, the separation being marked +by what was called the "Serrar del Consiglio;" that is to say, the final +and absolute distinction of the nobles from the commonalty, and the +establishment of the government in their hands to the exclusion alike of +the influence of the people on the one side, and the authority of the +doge on the other. + +Then the first period, of nine hundred years, presents us with the most +interesting spectacle of a people struggling out of anarchy into order +and power; and then governed, for the most part, by the worthiest and +noblest man whom they could find among them, [Footnote: "Ha saputo +trovar modo che non uno, non pochi, non molti, signoreggiano, ma molti +buoni, pochi migliori, e insiememente, _un ottimo solo_." (_Sansovino_,) +Ah, well done, Venice! Wisdom this, indeed.] called their Doge or Leader, +with an aristocracy gradually and resolutely forming itself around him, +out of which, and at last by which, he was chosen; an aristocracy owing +its origin to the accidental numbers, influence, and wealth of some among +the families of the fugitives from the older Venetia, and gradually +organizing itself, by its unity and heroism, into a separate body. + +This first period includes the rise of Venice, her noblest achievements, +and the circumstances which determined her character and position among +European powers; and within its range, as might have been anticipated, +we find the names of all her hero princes,--of Pietro Urseolo, Ordalafo +Falier, Domenico Michieli, Sebastiano Ziani, and Enrico Dandolo. + +SECTION V. The second period opens with a hundred and twenty years, the +most eventful in the career of Venice--the central struggle of her +life--stained with her darkest crime, the murder of Carrara--disturbed +by her most dangerous internal sedition, the conspiracy of +Falier--oppressed by her most fatal war, the war of Chiozza--and +distinguished by the glory of her two noblest citizens (for in this +period the heroism of her citizens replaces that of her monarchs), +Vittor Pisani and Carlo Zeno. + +I date the commencement of the Fall of Venice from the death of Carlo +Zeno, 8th May, 1418; [Footnote: Daru, liv. xii. ch. xii.] the _visible_ +commencement from that of another of her noblest and wisest children, the +Doge Tomaso Mocenigo, who expired five years later. The reign of Foscari +followed, gloomy with pestilence and war; a war in which large +acquisitions of territory were made by subtle or fortunate policy in +Lombardy, and disgrace, significant as irreparable, sustained in the +battles on the Po at Cremona, and in the marshes of Caravaggio. In 1454, +Venice, the first of the states of Christendom, humiliated herself to the +Turk in the same year was established the Inquisition of State, +[Footnote: Daru, liv. xvi. cap. xx. We owe to this historian the +discovery of the statutes of the tribunal and date of its establishment.] +and from this period her government takes the perfidious and mysterious +form under which it is usually conceived. In 1477, the great Turkish +invasion spread terror to the shores of the lagoons; and in 1508 the +league of Cambrai marks the period usually assigned as the commencement +of the decline of the Venetian power; [Footnote: Ominously signified by +their humiliation to the Papal power (as before to the Turkish) in 1509, +and their abandonment of their right of appointing the clergy of their +territories.] the commercial prosperity of Venice in the close of the +fifteenth century blinding her historians to the previous evidence of the +diminution of her internal strength. + +SECTION VI. Now there is apparently a significative coincidence between +the establishment of the aristocratic and oligarchical powers, and the +diminution of the prosperity of the state. But this is the very question +at issue; and it appears to me quite undetermined by any historian, or +determined by each in accordance with his own prejudices. It is a triple +question: first, whether the oligarchy established by the efforts of +individual ambition was the cause, in its subsequent operation, of the +Fall of Venice; or (secondly) whether the establishment of the oligarchy +itself be not the sign and evidence, rather than the cause, of national +enervation; or (lastly) whether, as I rather think, the history of +Venice might not be written almost without reference to the construction +of her senate or the prerogatives of her Doge. It is the history of a +people eminently at unity in itself, descendants of Roman race, long +disciplined by adversity, and compelled by its position either to live +nobly or to perish:--for a thousand years they fought for life; for +three hundred they invited death: their battle was rewarded, and their +call was heard. + +SECTION VII. Throughout her career, the victories of Venice, and, at +many periods of it, her safety, were purchased by individual heroism; +and the man who exalted or saved her was sometimes (oftenest) her king, +sometimes a noble, sometimes a citizen. To him no matter, nor to her: +the real question is, not so much what names they bore, or with what +powers they were entrusted, as how they were trained; how they were made +masters of themselves, servants of their country, patient of distress, +impatient of dishonor; and what was the true reason of the change from +the time when she could find saviours among those whom she had cast into +prison, to that when the voices of her own children commanded her to +sign covenant with Death. [Footnote: The senate voted the abdication of +their authority by a majority of 512 to 14. (Alison, ch. xxiii.)] + +SECTION VIII. On this collateral question I wish the reader's mind to be +fixed throughout all our subsequent inquiries. It will give double +interest to every detail: nor will the interest be profitless; for the +evidence which I shall be able to deduce from the arts of Venice will be +both frequent and irrefragable, that the decline of her political +prosperity was exactly coincident with that of domestic and individual +religion. + +I say domestic and individual; for--and this is the second point which I +wish the reader to keep in mind--the most curious phenomenon in all +Venetian history is the vitality of religion in private life, and its +deadness in public policy. Amidst the enthusiasm, chivalry, or +fanaticism of the other states of Europe, Venice stands, from first to +last, like a masked statue; her coldness impenetrable, her exertion only +aroused by the touch of a secret spring. That spring was her commercial +interest,--this the one motive of all her important political acts, or +enduring national animosities. She could forgive insults to her honor, +but never rivalship in her commerce; she calculated the glory of her +conquests by their value, and estimated their justice by their facility. +The fame of success remains; when the motives of attempt are forgotten; +and the casual reader of her history may perhaps be surprised to be +reminded, that the expedition which was commanded by the noblest of her +princes, and whose results added most to her military glory, was one in +which while all Europe around her was wasted by the fire of its +devotion, she first calculated the highest price she could exact from +its piety for the armament she furnished, and then, for the advancement +of her own private interests, at once broke her faith [Footnote: By +directing the arms of the Crusaders against a Christian prince. (Daru, +liv. iv. ch. iv. viii.)] and betrayed her religion. + +SECTION IX. And yet, in the midst of this national criminality, we shall +be struck again and again by the evidences of the most noble individual +feeling. The tears of Dandolo were not shed in hypocrisy, though they +could not blind him to the importance of the conquest of Zara. The habit +of assigning to religion a direct influence over all _his own_ actions, +and all the affairs of _his own_ daily life, is remarkable in every great +Venetian during the times of the prosperity of the state; nor are +instances wanting in which the private feeling of the citizens reaches +the sphere of their policy, and even becomes the guide of its course +where the scales of expediency are doubtfully balanced. I sincerely trust +that the inquirer would be disappointed who should endeavor to trace any +more immediate reasons for their adoption of the cause of Alexander III. +against Barbarossa, than the piety which was excited by the character of +their suppliant, and the noble pride which was provoked by the insolence +of the emperor. But the heart of Venice is shown only in her hastiest +councils; her worldly spirit recovers the ascendency whenever she has +time to calculate the probabilities of advantage, or when they are +sufficiently distinct to need no calculation; and the entire subjection +of private piety to national policy is not only remarkable throughout the +almost endless series of treacheries and tyrannies by which her empire +was enlarged and maintained, but symbolized by a very singular +circumstance in the building of the city itself. I am aware of no other +city of Europe in which its cathedral was not the principal feature. But +the principal church in Venice was the chapel attached to the palace of +her prince, and called the "Chiesa Ducale." The patriarchal church, +[Footnote: Appendix 4, "San Pietro di Castello."] inconsiderable in size +and mean in decoration, stands on the outermost islet of the Venetian +group, and its name, as well as its site, is probably unknown to the +greater number of travellers passing hastily through the city. Nor is it +less worthy of remark, that the two most important temples of Venice, +next to the ducal chapel, owe their size and magnificence, not to +national effort, but to the energy of the Franciscan and Dominican monks, +supported by the vast organization of those great societies on the +mainland of Italy, and countenanced by the most pious, and perhaps also, +in his generation, the most wise, of all the princes of Venice, +[Footnote: Tomaso Mocenigo, above named, Section V.] who now rests +beneath the roof of one of those very temples, and whose life is not +satirized by the images of the Virtues which a Tuscan sculptor has placed +around his tomb. + +SECTION X. There are, therefore, two strange and solemn lights in which +we have to regard almost every scene in the fitful history of the Rivo +Alto. We find, on the one hand, a deep, and constant tone of individual +religion characterizing the lives of the citizens of Venice in her +greatness; we find this spirit influencing them in all the familiar and +immediate concerns of life, giving a peculiar dignity to the conduct +even of their commercial transactions, and confessed by them with a +simplicity of faith that may well put to shame the hesitation with which +a man of the world at present admits (even if it be so in reality) that +religious feeling has any influence over the minor branches of his +conduct. And we find as the natural consequence of all this, a healthy +serenity of mind and energy of will expressed in all their actions, and +a habit of heroism which never fails them, even when the immediate +motive of action ceases to be praiseworthy. With the fulness of this +spirit the prosperity of the state is exactly correspondent, and with +its failure her decline, and that with a closeness and precision which +it will be one of the collateral objects of the following essay to +demonstrate from such accidental evidence as the field of its inquiry +presents. And, thus far, all is natural and simple. But the stopping +short of this religious faith when it appears likely to influence +national action, correspondent as it is, and that most strikingly, with +several characteristics of the temper of our present English +legislature, is a subject, morally and politically, of the most curious +interest and complicated difficulty; one, however, which the range of my +present inquiry will not permit me to approach, and for the treatment of +which I must be content to furnish materials in the light I may be able +to throw upon the private tendencies of the Venetian character. + +SECTION XI. There is, however, another most interesting feature in the +policy of Venice which will be often brought before us; and which a +Romanist would gladly assign as the reason of its irreligion; namely, +the magnificent and successful struggle which she maintained against the +temporal authority of the Church of Rome. It is true that, in a rapid +survey of her career, the eye is at first arrested by the strange drama +to which I have already alluded, closed by that ever memorable scene in +the portico of St. Mark's, [Footnote: + "In that temple porch, + (The brass is gone, the porphyry remains,) + Did BARBAROSSA fling his mantle off, + And kneeling, on his neck receive the foot + Of the proud Pontiff--thus at last consoled + For flight, disguise, and many an aguish shake + On his stony pillow." + +I need hardly say whence the lines are taken: Rogers' "Italy" has, I +believe, now a place in the best beloved compartment of all libraries, +and will never be removed from it. There is more true expression of the +spirit of Venice in the passages devoted to her in that poem, than in all +else that has been written of her.] the central expression in most men's +thoughts of the unendurable elevation of the pontifical power; it is true +that the proudest thoughts of Venice, as well as the insignia of her +prince, and the form of her chief festival, recorded the service thus +rendered to the Roman Church. But the enduring sentiment of years more +than balanced the enthusiasm of a moment; and the bull of Clement V., +which excommunicated the Venetians and their doge, likening them to +Dathan, Abiram, Absalom, and Lucifer, is a stronger evidence of the great +tendencies of the Venetian government than the umbrella of the doge or +the ring of the Adriatic. The humiliation of Francesco Dandolo blotted +out the shame of Barbarossa, and the total exclusion of ecclesiastics +from all share in the councils of Venice became an enduring mark of her +knowledge of the spirit of the Church of Rome, and of her defiance of it. + +To this exclusion of Papal influence from her councils, the Romanist +will attribute their irreligion, and the Protestant their success. +[Footnote: At least, such success as they had. Vide Appendix 5, "The +Papal Power in Venice."] + +The first may be silenced by a reference to the character of the policy +of the Vatican itself; and the second by his own shame, when he reflects +that the English legislature sacrificed their principles to expose +themselves to the very danger which the Venetian senate sacrificed +theirs to avoid. + +SECTION XII. One more circumstance remains to be noted respecting the +Venetian government, the singular unity of the families composing +it,--unity far from sincere or perfect, but still admirable when +contrasted with the fiery feuds, the almost daily revolutions, the +restless successions of families and parties in power, which fill the +annals of the other states of Italy. That rivalship should sometimes be +ended by the dagger, or enmity conducted to its ends under the mask of +law, could not but be anticipated where the fierce Italian spirit was +subjected to so severe a restraint: it is much that jealousy appears +usually unmingled with illegitimate ambition, and that, for every +instance in which private passion sought its gratification through +public danger, there are a thousand in which it was sacrificed to the +public advantage. Venice may well call upon us to note with reverence, +that of all the towers which are still seen rising like a branchless +forest from her islands, there is but one whose office was other than +that of summoning to prayer, and that one was a watch-tower only +[Footnote: Thus literally was fulfilled the promise to St. Mark,--Pax +e.] from first to last, while the palaces of the other cities of Italy +were lifted into sullen fortitudes of rampart, and fringed with forked +battlements for the javelin and the bow, the sands of Venice never sank +under the weight of a war tower, and her roof terraces were wreathed +with Arabian imagery, of golden globes suspended on the leaves of +lilies. [Footnote: The inconsiderable fortifications of the arsenal are +no exception to this statement, as far as it regards the city itself. +They are little more than a semblance of precaution against the attack +of a foreign enemy.] + +SECTION XIII. These, then, appear to me to be the points of chief +general interest in the character and fate of the Venetian people. I +would next endeavor to give the reader some idea of the manner in which +the testimony of Art bears upon these questions, and of the aspect which +the arts themselves assume when they are regarded in their true +connection with the history of the state. + +1st. Receive the witness of Painting. + +It will be remembered that I put the commencement of the Fall of Venice +as far back as 1418. + +Now, John Bellini was born in 1423, and Titian in 1480. John Bellini, +and his brother Gentile, two years older than he, close the line of the +sacred painters of Venice. But the most solemn spirit of religious faith +animates their works to the last. There is no religion in any work of +Titian's: there is not even the smallest evidence of religious temper or +sympathies either in himself, or in those for whom he painted. His +larger sacred subjects are merely themes for the exhibition of pictorial +rhetoric,--composition and color. His minor works are generally made +subordinate to purposes of portraiture. The Madonna in the church of the +Frari is a mere lay figure, introduced to form a link of connection +between the portraits of various members of the Pesaro family who +surround her. + +Now this is not merely because John Bellini was a religious man and +Titian was not. Titian and Bellini are each true representatives of the +school of painters contemporary with them; and the difference in their +artistic feeling is a consequence not so much of difference in their own +natural characters as in their early education: Bellini was brought up +in faith; Titian in formalism. Between the years of their births the +vital religion of Venice had expired. + +SECTION XIV. The _vital_ religion, observe, not the formal. Outward +observance was as strict as ever; and doge and senator still were +painted, in almost every important instance, kneeling before the Madonna +or St. Mark; a confession of faith made universal by the pure gold of +the Venetian sequin. But observe the great picture of Titian's in the +ducal palace, of the Doge Antonio Grimani kneeling before Faith: there +is a curious lesson in it. The figure of Faith is a coarse portrait of +one of Titian's least graceful female models: Faith had become carnal. +The eye is first caught by the flash of the Doge's armor. The heart of +Venice was in her wars, not in her worship. + +The mind of Tintoret, incomparably more deep and serious than that of +Titian, casts the solemnity of its own tone over the sacred subjects +which it approaches, and sometimes forgets itself into devotion; but the +principle of treatment is altogether the same as Titian's: absolute +subordination of the religious subject to purposes of decoration or +portraiture. + +The evidence might be accumulated a thousandfold from the works of +Veronese, and of every succeeding painter,--that the fifteenth century +had taken away the religious heart of Venice. + +SECTION XV. Such is the evidence of Painting. To collect that of +Architecture will be our task through many a page to come; but I must +here give a general idea of its heads. + +Philippe de Commynes, writing of his entry into Venice in 1495, says,-- + +"Chascun me feit seoir au meillieu de ces deux ambassadeurs qui est +l'honneur d'Italie que d'estre au meillieu; et me menerent au long de la +grant rue, qu'ilz appellent le Canal Grant, et est bien large. Les +gallees y passent a travers et y ay veu navire de quatre cens tonneaux +ou plus pres des maisons: et est la plus belle rue que je croy qui soit +en tout le monde, et la mieulx maisonnee, et va le long de la ville. Les +maisons sont fort grandes et haultes, et de bonne pierre, et les +anciennes toutes painctes; les aul tres faictes depuis cent ans: toutes +ont le devant de marbre blanc, qui leur vient d'Istrie, a cent mils de +la, et encores maincte grant piece de porphire et de sarpentine sur le +devant.... C'est la plus triumphante cite que j'aye jamais veue et qui +plus faict d'honneur a ambassadeurs et estrangiers, et qui plus +saigement se gouverne, et ou le service de Dieu est le plus +sollennellement faict: et encores qu'il y peust bien avoir d'aultres +faultes, si croy je que Dieu les a en ayde pour la reverence qu'ilz +portent au service de l'Eglise." [Footnote: Memoires de Commynes, liv. +vii. ch. xviii.] + +SECTION XVI. This passage is of peculiar interest, for two reasons. +Observe, first, the impression of Commynes respecting the religion of +Venice: of which, as I have above said, the forms still remained with +some glimmering of life in them, and were the evidence of what the real +life had been in former times. But observe, secondly, the impression +instantly made on Commynes' mind by the distinction between the elder +palaces and those built "within this last hundred years; which all have +their fronts of white marble brought from Istria, a hundred miles away, +and besides, many a large piece of porphyry and serpentine upon their +fronts." + +On the opposite page I have given two of the ornaments of the palaces +which so struck the French ambassador. [Footnote: Appendix 6, +"Renaissance Ornaments."] He was right in his notice of the distinction. +There had indeed come a change over Venetian architecture in the +fifteenth century; and a change of some importance to us moderns: we +English owe to it our St. Paul's Cathedral, and Europe in general owes +to it the utter degradation or destruction of her schools of +architecture, never since revived. But that the reader may understand +this, it is necessary that he should have some general idea of the +connection of the architecture of Venice with that of the rest of +Europe, from its origin forwards. + +SECTION XVII. All European architecture, bad and good, old and new, is +derived from Greece through Rome, and colored and perfected from the +East. The history of architecture is nothing but the tracing of the +various modes and directions of this derivation. Understand this, once +for all: if you hold fast this great connecting clue, you may string all +the types of successive architectural invention upon it like so many +beads. The Doric and the Corinthian orders are the roots, the one of all +Romanesque, massy-capitaled buildings--Norman, Lombard, Byzantine, and +what else you can name of the kind; and the Corinthian of all Gothic, +Early English, French, German, and Tuscan. Now observe: those old Greeks +gave the shaft; Rome gave the arch; the Arabs pointed and foliated the +arch. The shaft and arch, the frame-work and strength of architecture, +are from the race of Japheth: the spirituality and sanctity of it from +Ismael, Abraham, and Shem. + +SECTION XVIII. There is high probability that the Greek received his +shaft system from Egypt; but I do not care to keep this earlier +derivation in the mind of the reader. It is only necessary that he +should be able to refer to a fixed point of origin, when the form of the +shaft was first perfected. But it may be incidently observed, that if +the Greeks did indeed receive their Doric from Egypt, then the three +families of the earth have each contributed their part to its noblest +architecture: and Ham, the servant of the others, furnishes the +sustaining or bearing member, the shaft; Japheth the arch; Shem the +spiritualization of both. + +SECTION XIX. I have said that the two orders, Doric and Corinthian, are +the roots of all European architecture. You have, perhaps, heard of five +orders; but there are only two real orders, and there never can be any +more until doomsday. On one of these orders the ornament is convex: +those are Doric, Norman, and what else you recollect of the kind. On the +other the ornament is concave: those are Corinthian, Early English, +Decorated, and what else you recollect of that kind. The transitional +form, in which the ornamental line is straight, is the centre or root of +both. All other orders are varieties of those, or phantasms and +grotesques altogether indefinite in number and species. [Footnote: +Appendix 7, "Varieties of the Orders."] + +SECTION XX. This Greek architecture, then, with its two orders, was +clumsily copied and varied by the Romans with no particular result, +until they begun to bring the arch into extensive practical service; +except only that the Doric capital was spoiled in endeavors to mend it, +and the Corinthian much varied and enriched with fanciful, and often +very beautiful imagery. And in this state of things came Christianity: +seized upon the arch as her own; decorated it, and delighted in it; +invented a new Doric capital to replace the spoiled Roman one: and all +over the Roman empire set to work, with such materials as were nearest +at hand, to express and adorn herself as best she could. This Roman +Christian architecture is the exact expression of the Christianity of +the time, very fervid and beautiful--but very imperfect; in many +respects ignorant, and yet radiant with a strong, childlike light of +imagination, which flames up under Constantine, illumines all the shores +of the Bosphorus and the Aegean and the Adriatic Sea, and then +gradually, as the people give themselves up to idolatry, becomes +Corpse-light. The architecture sinks into a settled form--a strange, +gilded, and embalmed repose: it, with the religion it expressed; and so +would have remained for ever,--so _does_ remain, where its languor has +been undisturbed. [Footnote: The reader will find the _weak_ points of +Byzantine architecture shrewdly seized, and exquisitely sketched, in the +opening chapter of the most delightful book of travels I ever opened,-- +Curzon's "Monasteries of the Levant."] But rough wakening was ordained. + +Section XXI. This Christian art of the declining empire is divided into +two great branches, western and eastern; one centred at Rome, the other +at Byzantium, of which the one is the early Christian Romanesque, +properly so called, and the other, carried to higher imaginative +perfection by Greek workmen, is distinguished from it as Byzantine. But +I wish the reader, for the present, to class these two branches of art +together in his mind, they being, in points of main importance, the +same; that is to say, both of them a true continuance and sequence of +the art of old Rome itself, flowing uninterruptedly down from the +fountain-head, and entrusted always to the best workmen who could be +found--Latins in Italy and Greeks in Greece; and thus both branches may +be ranged under the general term of Christian Romanesque, an +architecture which had lost the refinement of Pagan art in the +degradation of the empire, but which was elevated by Christianity to +higher aims, and by the fancy of the Greek workmen endowed with brighter +forms. And this art the reader may conceive as extending in its various +branches over all the central provinces of the empire, taking aspects +more or less refined, according to its proximity to the seats of +government; dependent for all its power on the vigor and freshness of +the religion which animated it; and as that vigor and purity departed, +losing its own vitality, and sinking into nerveless rest, not deprived +of its beauty, but benumbed and incapable of advance or change. + +SECTION XXII. Meantime there had been preparation for its renewal. While +in Rome and Constantinople, and in the districts under their immediate +influence, this Roman art of pure descent was practised in all its +refinement, an impure form of it--a patois of Romanesque--was carried by +inferior workmen into distant provinces; and still ruder imitations of +this patois were executed by the barbarous nations on the skirts of the +empire. But these barbarous nations were in the strength of their youth; +and while, in the centre of Europe, a refined and purely descended art +was sinking into graceful formalism, on its confines a barbarous and +borrowed art was organizing itself into strength and consistency. The +reader must therefore consider the history of the work of the period as +broadly divided into two great heads: the one embracing the elaborately +languid succession of the Christian art of Rome; and the other, the +imitations of it executed by nations in every conceivable phase of early +organization, on the edges of the empire, or included in its now merely +nominal extent. + +SECTION XXIII. Some of the barbaric nations were, of course, not +susceptible of this influence; and when they burst over the Alps, +appear, like the Huns, as scourges only, or mix, as the Ostrogoths, with +the enervated Italians, and give physical strength to the mass with +which they mingle, without materially affecting its intellectual +character. But others, both south and north of the empire, had felt its +influence, back to the beach of the Indian Ocean on the one hand, and to +the ice creeks of the North Sea on the other. On the north and west the +influence was of the Latins; on the south and east, of the Greeks. Two +nations, pre-eminent above all the rest, represent to us the force of +derived mind on either side. As the central power is eclipsed, the orbs +of reflected light gather into their fulness; and when sensuality and +idolatry had done their work, and the religion of the empire was laid +asleep in a glittering sepulchre, the living light rose upon both +horizons, and the fierce swords of the Lombard and Arab were shaken over +its golden paralysis. + +SECTION XXIV. The work of the Lombard was to give hardihood and system +to the enervated body and enfeebled mind of Christendom; that of the +Arab was to punish idolatry, and to proclaim the spirituality of +worship. The Lombard covered every church which he built with the +sculptured representations of bodily exercises--hunting and war. +[Footnote: Appendix 8, "The Northern Energy."] The Arab banished all +imagination of creature form from his temples, and proclaimed from their +minarets, "There is no god but God." Opposite in their character and +mission, alike in their magnificence of energy, they came from the +North, and from the South, the glacier torrent and the lava stream: they +met and contended over the wreck of the Roman empire; and the very +centre of the struggle, the point of pause of both, the dead water of +the opposite eddies, charged with embayed fragments of the Roman wreck, +is VENICE. + +The Ducal palace of Venice contains the three elements in exactly equal +proportions--the Roman, Lombard, and Arab. It is the central building of +the world. + +SECTION XXV. The reader will now begin to understand something of the +importance of the study of the edifices of a city which includes, within +the circuit of some seven or eight miles, the field of contest between +the three pre-eminent architectures of the world:--each architecture +expressing a condition of religion; each an erroneous condition, yet +necessary to the correction of the others, and corrected by them. + +SECTION XXVI. It will be part of my endeavor, in the following work, to +mark the various modes in which the northern and southern architectures +were developed from the Roman: here I must pause only to name the +distinguishing characteristics of the great families. The Christian +Roman and Byzantine work is round-arched, with single and +well-proportioned shafts; capitals imitated from classical Roman; +mouldings more or less so; and large surfaces of walls entirely covered +with imagery, mosaic, and paintings, whether of scripture history or of +sacred symbols. + +The Arab school is at first the same in its principal features, the +Byzantine workmen being employed by the caliphs; but the Arab rapidly +introduces characters half Persepolitan, half Egyptian, into the shafts +and capitals: in his intense love of excitement he points the arch and +writhes it into extravagant foliations; he banishes the animal imagery, +and invents an ornamentation of his own (called Arabesque) to replace +it: this not being adapted for covering large surfaces, he concentrates +it on features of interest, and bars his surfaces with horizontal lines +of color, the expression of the level of the Desert. He retains the +dome, and adds the minaret. All is done with exquisite refinement. + +SECTION XXVII. The changes effected by the Lombard are more curious +still, for they are in the anatomy of the building, more than its +decoration. The Lombard architecture represents, as I said, the whole of +that of the northern barbaric nations. And this I believe was, at first, +an imitation in wood of the Christian Roman churches or basilicas. +Without staying to examine the whole structure of a basilica, the reader +will easily understand thus much of it: that it had a nave and two +aisles, the nave much higher than the aisles; that the nave was +separated from the aisles by rows of shafts, which supported, above, +large spaces of flat or dead wall, rising above the aisles, and forming +the upper part of the nave, now called the clerestory, which had a +gabled wooden roof. + +These high dead walls were, in Roman work, built of stone; but in the +wooden work of the North, they must necessarily have been made of +horizontal boards or timbers attached to uprights on the top of the nave +pillars, which were themselves also of wood. [Footnote: Appendix 9, +"Wooden Churches of the North."] Now, these uprights were necessarily +thicker than the rest of the timbers, and formed vertical square +pilasters above the nave piers. As Christianity extended and +civilization increased, these wooden structures were changed into stone; +but they were literally petrified, retaining the form which had been +made necessary by their being of wood. The upright pilaster above the +nave pier remains in the stone edifice, and is the first form of the +great distinctive feature of Northern architecture--the vaulting shaft. +In that form the Lombards brought it into Italy, in the seventh century, +and it remains to this day in St. Ambrogio of Milan, and St. Michele of +Pavia. + +SECTION XXVIII. When the vaulting shaft was introduced in the clerestory +walls, additional members were added for its support to the nave piers. +Perhaps two or three pine trunks, used for a single pillar, gave the +first idea of the grouped shaft. Be that as it may, the arrangement of +the nave pier in the form of a cross accompanies the superimposition of +the vaulting shaft; together with corresponding grouping of minor shafts +in doorways and apertures of windows. Thus, the whole body of the +Northern architecture, represented by that of the Lombards, may be +described as rough but majestic work, round-arched, with grouped shafts, +added vaulting shafts, and endless imagery of active life and fantastic +superstitions. + +SECTION XXIX. The glacier stream of the Lombards, and the following one +of the Normans, left their erratic blocks, wherever they had flowed; but +without influencing, I think, the Southern nations beyond the sphere of +their own presence. But the lava stream of the Arab, even after it +ceased to flow, warmed the whole of the Northern air; and the history of +Gothic architecture is the history of the refinement and +spiritualization of Northern work under its influence. The noblest +buildings of the world, the Pisan-Romanesque, Tuscan (Giottesque) +Gothic, and Veronese Gothic, are those of the Lombard schools +themselves, under its close and direct influence; the various Gothics of +the North are the original forms of the architecture which the Lombards +brought into Italy, changing under the less direct influence of the +Arab. + +SECTION XXX. Understanding thus much of the formation of the great +European styles, we shall have no difficulty in tracing the succession +of architectures in Venice herself. From what I said of the central +character of Venetian art, the reader is not, of course, to conclude +that the Roman, Northern, and Arabian elements met together and +contended for the mastery at the same period. The earliest element was +the pure Christian Roman; but few, if any, remains of this art exist at +Venice; for the present city was in the earliest times only one of many +settlements formed on the chain of marshy islands which extend from the +mouths of the Isonzo to those of the Adige, and it was not until the +beginning of the ninth century that it became the seat of government; +while the cathedral of Torcello, though Christian Roman in general form, +was rebuilt in the eleventh century, and shows evidence of Byzantine +workmanship in many of its details. This cathedral, however, with the +church of Santa Fosca at Torcello, San Giacomo di Rialto at Venice, and +the crypt of St. Mark's, forms a distinct group of buildings, in which +the Byzantine influence is exceedingly slight; and which is probably +very sufficiently representative of the earliest architecture on the +islands. + +SECTION XXXI. The Ducal residence was removed to Venice in 809, and the +body of St. Mark was brought from Alexandria twenty years later. The +first church of St. Mark's was, doubtless, built in imitation of that +destroyed at Alexandria, and from which the relics of the saint had been +obtained. During the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries, the +architecture of Venice seems to have been formed on the same model, and +is almost identical with that of Cairo under the caliphs, [Footnote: +Appendix 10, "Church of Alexandria."] it being quite immaterial whether +the reader chooses to call both Byzantine or both Arabic; the workmen +being certainly Byzantine, but forced to the invention of new forms by +their Arabian masters, and bringing these forms into use in whatever +other parts of the world they were employed. + +To this first manner of Venetian architecture, together with such +vestiges as remain of the Christian Roman, I shall devote the first +division of the following inquiry. The examples remaining of it consist +of three noble churches (those of Torcello, Murano, and the greater part +of St. Mark's), and about ten or twelve fragments of palaces. + +SECTION XXXII. To this style succeeds a transitional one, of a character +much more distinctly Arabian: the shafts become more slender, and the +arches consistently pointed, instead of round; certain other changes, +not to be enumerated in a sentence, taking place in the capitals and +mouldings. This style is almost exclusively secular. It was natural for +the Venetians to imitate the beautiful details of the Arabian +dwelling-house, while they would with reluctance adopt those of the +mosque for Christian churches. + +I have not succeeded in fixing limiting dates for this style. It appears +in part contemporary with the Byzantine manner, but outlives it. Its +position is, however, fixed by the central date, 1180, that of the +elevation of the granite shafts of the Piazetta, whose capitals are the +two most important pieces of detail in this transitional style in +Venice. Examples of its application to domestic buildings exist in +almost every street of the city, and will form the subject of the second +division of the following essay. + +SECTION XXXIII. The Venetians were always ready to receive lessons in +art from their enemies (else had there been no Arab work in Venice). But +their especial dread and hatred of the Lombards appears to have long +prevented them from receiving the influence of the art which that people +had introduced on the mainland of Italy. Nevertheless, during the +practice of the two styles above distinguished, a peculiar and very +primitive condition of pointed Gothic had arisen in ecclesiastical +architecture. It appears to be a feeble reflection of the Lombard-Arab +forms, which were attaining perfection upon the continent, and would +probably, if left to itself, have been soon merged in the Venetian-Arab +school, with which it had from the first so close a fellowship, that it +will be found difficult to distinguish the Arabian ogives from those +which seem to have been built under this early Gothic influence. The +churches of San Giacopo dell' Orio, San Giovanni in Bragora, the +Carmine, and one or two more, furnish the only important examples of it. +But, in the thirteenth century, the Franciscans and Dominicans +introduced from the continent their morality and their architecture, +already a distinct Gothic, curiously developed from Lombardic and +Northern (German?) forms; and the influence of the principles exhibited +in the vast churches of St. Paul and the Frari began rapidly to affect +the Venetian-Arab school. Still the two systems never became united; the +Venetian policy repressed the power of the church, and the Venetian +artists resisted its example; and thenceforward the architecture of the +city becomes divided into ecclesiastical and civil: the one an +ungraceful yet powerful form of the Western Gothic, common to the whole +peninsula, and only showing Venetian sympathies in the adoption of +certain characteristic mouldings; the other a rich, luxuriant, and +entirely original Gothic, formed from the Venetian-Arab by the influence +of the Dominican and Franciscan architecture, and especially by the +engrafting upon the Arab forms of the most novel feature of the +Franciscan work, its traceries. These various forms of Gothic, the +_distinctive_ architecture of Venice, chiefly represented by the +churches of St. John and Paul, the Frari, and San Stefano, on the +ecclesiastical side, and by the Ducal palace, and the other principal +Gothic palaces, on the secular side, will be the subject of the third +division of the essay. + +SECTION XXXIV. Now observe. The transitional (or especially Arabic) +style of the Venetian work is centralized by the date 1180, and is +transformed gradually into the Gothic, which extends in its purity from +the middle of the thirteenth to the beginning of the fifteenth century; +that is to say, over the precise period which I have described as the +central epoch of the life of Venice. I dated her decline from the year +1418; Foscari became doge five years later, and in his reign the first +marked signs appear in architecture of that mighty change which Philippe +de Commynes notices as above, the change to which London owes St. +Paul's, Rome St. Peter's, Venice and Vicenza the edifices commonly +supposed to be their noblest, and Europe in general the degradation of +every art she has since practised. + +SECTION XXXV. This change appears first in a loss of truth and vitality +in existing architecture all over the world. (Compare "Seven Lamps," +chap. ii.) + +All the Gothics in existence, southern or northern, were corrupted at +once: the German and French lost themselves in every species of +extravagance; the English Gothic was confined, in its insanity, by a +strait-waistcoat of perpendicular lines; the Italian effloresced on the +main land into the meaningless ornamentation of the Certosa of Pavia and +the Cathedral of Como, (a style sometimes ignorantly called Italian +Gothic), and at Venice into the insipid confusion of the Porta della +Carta and wild crockets of St. Mark's. This corruption of all +architecture, especially ecclesiastical, corresponded with, and marked +the state of religion over all Europe,--the peculiar degradation of the +Romanist superstition, and of public morality in consequence, which +brought about the Reformation. + +SECTION XXXVI. Against the corrupted papacy arose two great divisions of +adversaries, Protestants in Germany and England, Rationalists in France +and Italy; the one requiring the purification of religion, the other its +destruction. The Protestant kept the religion, but cast aside the +heresies of Rome, and with them her arts, by which last rejection he +injured his own character, cramped his intellect in refusing to it one +of its noblest exercises, and materially diminished his influence. It +may be a serious question how far the Pausing of the Reformation has +been a consequence of this error. + +The Rationalist kept the arts and cast aside the religion. This +rationalistic art is the art commonly called Renaissance, marked by a +return to pagan systems, not to adopt them and hallow them for +Christianity, but to rank itself under them as an imitator and pupil. In +Painting it is headed by Giulio Romano and Nicolo Poussin; in +Architecture by Sansovino and Palladio. + +SECTION XXXVII. Instant degradation followed in every direction,--a +flood of folly and hypocrisy. Mythologies ill understood at first, then +perverted into feeble sensualities, take the place of the +representations of Christian subjects, which had become blasphemous +under the treatment of men like the Caracci. Gods without power, satyrs +without rusticity, nymphs without innocence, men without humanity, +gather into idiot groups upon the polluted canvas, and scenic +affectations encumber the streets with preposterous marble. Lower and +lower declines the level of abused intellect; the base school of +landscape [Footnote: Appendix II, "Renaissance Landscape."] gradually +usurps the place of the historical painting, which had sunk into +prurient pedantry,--the Alsatian sublimities of Salvator, the +confectionery idealities of Claude, the dull manufacture of Gaspar and +Canaletto, south of the Alps, and on the north the patient devotion of +besotted lives to delineation of bricks and fogs, fat cattle and +ditchwater. And thus Christianity and morality, courage, and intellect, +and art all crumbling together into one wreck, we are hurried on to the +fall of Italy, the revolution in France, and the condition of art in +England (saved by her Protestantism from severer penalty) in the time of +George II. + +SECTION XXXVIII. I have not written in vain if I have heretofore done +anything towards diminishing the reputation of the Renaissance landscape +painting. But the harm which has been done by Claude and the Poussins is +as nothing when compared to the mischief effected by Palladio, Scamozzi, +and Sansovino. Claude and the Poussins were weak men, and have had no +serious influence on the general mind. There is little harm in their +works being purchased at high prices: their real influence is very +slight, and they may be left without grave indignation to their poor +mission of furnishing drawing-rooms and assisting stranded conversation. +Not so the Renaissance architecture. Raised at once into all the +magnificence of which it was capable by Michael Angelo, then taken up by +men of real intellect and imagination, such as Scamozzi, Sansovino, +Inigo Jones, and Wren, it is impossible to estimate the extent of its +influence on the European mind; and that the more, because few persons +are concerned with painting, and, of those few, the larger number regard +it with slight attention; but all men are concerned with architecture, +and have at some time of their lives serious business with it. It does +not much matter that an individual loses two or three hundred pounds in +buying a bad picture, but it is to be regretted that a nation should +lose two or three hundred thousand in raising a ridiculous building. Nor +is it merely wasted wealth or distempered conception which we have to +regret in this Renaissance architecture: but we shall find in it partly +the root, partly the expression, of certain dominant evils of modern +times--over-sophistication and ignorant classicalism; the one destroying +the healthfulness of general society, the other rendering our schools +and universities useless to a large number of the men who pass through +them. + +Now Venice, as she was once the most religious, was in her fall the most +corrupt, of European states; and as she was in her strength the centre +of the pure currents of Christian architecture, so she is in her decline +the source of the Renaissance. It was the originality and splendor of +the palaces of Vicenza and Venice which gave this school its eminence in +the eyes of Europe; and the dying city, magnificent in her dissipation, +and graceful in her follies, obtained wider worship in her decrepitude +than in her youth, and sank from the midst of her admirers into the +grave. + +SECTION XXXIX. It is in Venice, therefore, and in Venice only that +effectual blows can be struck at this pestilent art of the Renaissance. +Destroy its claims to admiration there, and it can assert them nowhere +else. This, therefore, will be the final purpose of the following essay. +I shall not devote a fourth section to Palladio, nor weary the reader +with successive chapters of vituperation; but I shall, in my account of +the earlier architecture, compare the forms of all its leading features +with those into which they were corrupted by the Classicalists; and +pause, in the close, on the edge of the precipice of decline, so soon as +I have made its depths discernible. In doing this I shall depend upon +two distinct kinds of evidence:--the first, the testimony borne by +particular incidents and facts to a want of thought or of feeling in the +builders; from which we may conclude that their architecture must be +bad:--the second, the sense, which I doubt not I shall be able to excite +in the reader, of a systematic ugliness in the architecture itself. Of +the first kind of testimony I shall here give two instances, which may +be immediately useful in fixing in the reader's mind the epoch above +indicated for the commencement of decline. + +SECTION XL. I must again refer to the importance which I have above +attached to the death of Carlo Zeno and the doge Tomaso Mocenigo. The +tomb of that doge is, as I said, wrought by a Florentine; but it is of +the same general type and feeling as all the Venetian tombs of the +period, and it is one of the last which retains it. The classical +element enters largely into its details, but the feeling of the whole is +as yet unaffected. Like all the lovely tombs of Venice and Verona, it is +a sarcophagus with a recumbent figure above, and this figure is a +faithful but tender portrait, wrought as far as it can be without +painfulness, of the doge as he lay in death. He wears his ducal robe and +bonnet--his head is laid slightly aside upon his pillow--his hands are +simply crossed as they fall. The face is emaciated, the features large, +but so pure and lordly in their natural chiselling, that they must have +looked like marble even in their animation. They are deeply worn away by +thought and death; the veins on the temples branched and starting; the +skin gathered in sharp folds; the brow high-arched and shaggy; the +eye-ball magnificently large; the curve of the lips just veiled by the +light mustache at the side; the beard short, double, and sharp-pointed: +all noble and quiet; the white sepulchral dust marking like light the +stern angles of the cheek and brow. + +This tomb was sculptured in 1424, and is thus described by one of the +most intelligent of the recent writers who represent the popular feeling +respecting Venetian art. + + "Of the Italian school is also the rich but ugly (ricco ma non + bel) sarcophagus in which repose the ashes of Tomaso Mocenigo. + It may be called one of the last links which connect the + declining art of the Middle Ages with that of the Renaissance, + which was in its rise. We will not stay to particularize the + defects of each of the seven figures of the front and sides, + which represent the cardinal and theological virtues; nor will + we make any remarks upon those which stand in the niches above + the pavilion, because we consider them unworthy both of the age + and reputation of the Florentine school, which was then with + reason considered the most notable in Italy." [Footnote: + Selvatico, "Architettura di Venezia," p. 147.] + +It is well, indeed, not to pause over these defects; but it might have +been better to have paused a moment beside that noble image of a king's +mortality. + +SECTION XLI. In the choir of the same church, St. Giov. and Paolo, is +another tomb, that of the Doge Andrea Vendramin. This doge died in 1478, +after a short reign of two years, the most disastrous in the annals of +Venice. He died of a pestilence which followed the ravage of the Turks, +carried to the shores of the lagoons. He died, leaving Venice disgraced +by sea and land, with the smoke of hostile devastation rising in the +blue distances of Friuli; and there was raised to him the most costly +tomb ever bestowed on her monarchs. + +SECTION XLII. If the writer above quoted was cold beside the statue of +one of the fathers of his country, he atones for it by his eloquence +beside the tomb of the Vendramin. I must not spoil the force of Italian +superlative by translation. + + "Quando si guarda a quella corretta eleganza di profili e di + proporzioni, a quella squisitezza d'ornamenti, a quel certo + sapore antico che senza ombra d' imitazione traspareda tutta l' + opera"--&c. "Sopra ornatissimo zoccolo fornito di squisiti + intagli s' alza uno stylobate"--&c. "Sotto le colonne, il + predetto stilobate si muta leggiadramente in piedistallo, poi + con bella novita di pensiero e di effetto va coronato da un + fregio il piu gentile che veder si possa"--&c. "Non puossi + lasciar senza un cenno l' _arca dove_ sta chiuso il doge; + capo lavoro di pensiero e di esecuzione," etc. + +There are two pages and a half of closely printed praise, of which the +above specimens may suffice; but there is not a word of the statue of +the dead from beginning to end. I am myself in the habit of considering +this rather an important part of a tomb, and I was especially interested +in it here, because Selvatico only echoes the praise of thousands. It is +unanimously declared the chef d'oeuvre of Renaissance sepulchral work, +and pronounced by Cicognara (also quoted by Selvatico). + + "Il vertice a cui l'arti Veneziane si spinsero col ministero del + scalpello,"--"The very culminating point to which the Venetian + arts attained by ministry of the chisel." + +To this culminating point, therefore, covered with dust and cobwebs, I +attained, as I did to every tomb of importance in Venice, by the +ministry of such ancient ladders as were to be found in the sacristan's +keeping. I was struck at first by the excessive awkwardness and want of +feeling in the fall of the hand towards the spectator, for it is thrown +off the middle of the body in order to show its fine cutting. Now the +Mocenigo hand, severe and even stiff in its articulations, has its veins +finely drawn, its sculptor having justly felt that the delicacy of the +veining expresses alike dignity and age and birth. The Vendramin hand is +far more laboriously cut, but its blunt and clumsy contour at once makes +us feel that all the care has been thrown away, and well it may be, for +it has been entirely bestowed in cutting gouty wrinkles about the +joints. Such as the hand is, I looked for its fellow. At first I thought +it had been broken off, but, on clearing away the dust, I saw the +wretched effigy had only _one_ hand, and was a mere block on the +inner side. The face, heavy and disagreeable in its features, is made +monstrous by its semi-sculpture. One side of the forehead is wrinkled +elaborately, the other left smooth; one side only of the doge's cap is +chased; one cheek only is finished, and the other blocked out and +distorted besides; finally, the ermine robe, which is elaborately +imitated to its utmost lock of hair and of ground hair on the one side, +is blocked out only on the other: it having been supposed throughout the +work that the effigy was only to be seen from below, and from one side. + +SECTION XLIII. It was indeed to be seen by nearly every one; and I do +not blame--I should, on the contrary, have praised--the sculptor for +regulating his treatment of it by its position; if that treatment had +not involved, first, dishonesty, in giving only half a face, a monstrous +mask, when we demanded true portraiture of the dead; and, secondly, such +utter coldness of feeling, as could only consist with an extreme of +intellectual and moral degradation: Who, with a heart in his breast, +could have stayed his hand as he drew the dim lines of the old man's +countenance--unmajestic once, indeed, but at least sanctified by the +solemnities of death--could have stayed his hand, as he reached the bend +of the grey forehead, and measured out the last veins of it at so much +the zecchin. + +I do not think the reader, if he has feeling, will expect that much +talent should be shown in the rest of his work, by the sculptor of this +base and senseless lie. The whole monument is one wearisome aggregation +of that species of ornamental flourish, which, when it is done with a +pen, is called penmanship, and when done with a chisel, should be called +chiselmanship; the subject of it being chiefly fat-limbed boys sprawling +on dolphins, dolphins incapable of swimming, and dragged along the sea +by expanded pocket-handkerchiefs. + +But now, reader, comes the very gist and point of the whole matter. This +lying monument to a dishonored doge, this culminating pride of the +Renaissance art of Venice, is at least veracious, if in nothing else, in +its testimony to the character of its sculptor. _He was banished from +Venice for forgery_ in 1487. [Footnote: Selvatico, p. 221.] + +SECTION XLIV. I have more to say about this convict's work hereafter; +but I pass at present, to the second, slighter, but yet more interesting +piece of evidence, which I promised. + +The ducal palace has two principal facades; one towards the sea, the +other towards the Piazzetta. The seaward side, and, as far as the +seventh main arch inclusive, the Piazzetta side, is work of the early +part of the fourteenth century, some of it perhaps even earlier; while +the rest of the Piazzetta side is of the fifteenth. The difference in +age has been gravely disputed by the Venetian antiquaries, who have +examined many documents on the subject, and quoted some which they never +examined. I have myself collated most of the written documents, and one +document more, to which the Venetian antiquaries never thought of +referring,--the masonry of the palace itself. + +SECTION XLV. That masonry changes at the centre of the eighth arch from +the sea angle on the Piazzetta side. It has been of comparatively small +stones up to that point; the fifteenth century work instantly begins +with larger stones, "brought from Istria, a hundred miles away." +[Footnote: The older work is of Istrian stone also, but of different +quality.] The ninth shaft from the sea in the lower arcade, and the +seventeenth, which is above it, in the upper arcade, commence the series +of fifteenth century shafts. These two are somewhat thicker than the +others, and carry the party-wall of the Sala del Scrutinio. Now observe, +reader. The face of the palace, from this point to the Porta della +Carta, was built at the instance of that noble Doge Mocenigo beside +whose tomb you have been standing; at his instance, and in the beginning +of the reign of his successor, Foscari; that is to say, circa 1424. This +is not disputed; it is only disputed that the sea facade is earlier; of +which, however, the proofs are as simple as they are incontrovertible: +for not only the masonry, but the sculpture, changes at the ninth lower +shaft, and that in the capitals of the shafts both of the upper and +lower arcade: the costumes of the figures introduced in the sea facade +being purely Giottesque, correspondent with Giotto's work in the Arena +Chapel at Padua, while the costume on the other capitals is +Renaissance-Classic: and the lions' heads between the arches change at +the same point. And there are a multitude of other evidences in the +statues of the angels, with which I shall not at present trouble the +reader. + +SECTION XLVI. Now, the architect who built under Foscari, in 1424 +(remember my date for the decline of Venice, 1418), was obliged to +follow the principal forms of the older palace. But he had not the wit +to invent new capitals in the same style; he therefore clumsily copied +the old ones. The palace has seventeen main arches on the sea facade, +eighteen on the Piazzetta side, which in all are of course carried by +thirty-six pillars; and these pillars I shall always number from right +to left, from the angle of the palace at the Ponte della Paglia to that +next the Porta della Carta. I number them in this succession, because I +thus have the earliest shafts first numbered. So counted, the 1st, the +18th, and the 36th, are the great supports of the angles of the palace; +and the first of the fifteenth century series, being, as above stated, +the 9th from the sea on the Piazzetta side, is the 26th of the entire +series, and will always in future be so numbered, so that all numbers +above twenty-six indicate fifteenth century work, and all below it, +fourteenth century, with some exceptional cases of restoration. + +Then the copied capitals are: the 28th, copied from the 7th; the 29th, +from the 9th; the 30th, from the 10th; the 31st, from the 8th; the 33d, +from the 12th; and the 34th, from the 11th; the others being dull +inventions of the 15th century, except the 36th; which is very nobly +designed. + +SECTION XLVII. The capitals thus selected from the earlier portion of +the palace for imitation, together with the rest, will be accurately +described hereafter; the point I have here to notice is in the copy of +the ninth capital, which was decorated (being, like the rest, octagonal) +with figures of the eight Virtues:--Faith, Hope, Charity, Justice, +Temperance, Prudence, Humility (the Venetian antiquaries call it +Humanity!), and Fortitude. The Virtues of the fourteenth century are +somewhat hard-featured; with vivid and living expression, and plain +every-day clothes of the time. Charity has her lap full of apples +(perhaps loaves), and is giving one to a little child, who stretches his +arm for it across a gap in the leafage of the capital. Fortitude tears +open a lion's jaws; Faith lays her hand on her breast, as she beholds +the Cross; and Hope is praying, while above her a hand is seen emerging +from sunbeams--the hand of God (according to that of Revelations, "The +Lord God giveth them light"); and the inscription above is, "Spes optima +in Deo." + +SECTION XLVIII. This design, then, is, rudely and with imperfect +chiselling, imitated by the fifteenth century workmen: the Virtues have +lost their hard features and living expression; they have now all got +Roman noses, and have had their hair curled. Their actions and emblems +are, however, preserved until we come to Hope: she is still praying, but +she is praying to the sun only: _The hand of God is gone_. + +Is not this a curious and striking type of the spirit which had then +become dominant in the world, forgetting to see God's hand in the light +He gave; so that in the issue, when the light opened into the +Reformation on the one side, and into full knowledge of ancient +literature on the other, the one was arrested and the other perverted? + +SECTION XLIX. Such is the nature of the accidental evidence on which I +shall depend for the proof of the inferiority of character in the +Renaissance workmen. But the proof of the inferiority of the work itself +is not so easy, for in this I have to appeal to judgments which the +Renaissance work has itself distorted. I felt this difficulty very +forcibly as I read a slight review of my former work, "The Seven Lamps," +in "The Architect:" the writer noticed my constant praise of St. Mark's: +"Mr. Ruskin thinks it a very beautiful building! We," said the +Architect, "think it a very ugly building." I was not surprised at the +difference of opinion, but at the thing being considered so completely a +subject of opinion. My opponents in matters of painting always assume +that there _is_ such a thing as a law of right, and that I do not +understand it: but my architectural adversaries appeal to no law, they +simply set their opinion against mine; and indeed there is no law at +present to which either they or I can appeal. No man can speak with +rational decision of the merits or demerits of buildings: he may with +obstinacy; he may with resolved adherence to previous prejudices; but +never as if the matter could be otherwise decided than by a majority of +votes, or pertinacity of partisanship. I had always, however, a clear +conviction that there _was_ a law in this matter: that good +architecture might be indisputably discerned and divided from the bad; +that the opposition in their very nature and essence was clearly +visible; and that we were all of us just as unwise in disputing about +the matter without reference to principle, as we should be for debating +about the genuineness of a coin, without ringing it. I felt also assured +that this law must be universal if it were conclusive; that it must +enable us to reject all foolish and base work, and to accept all noble +and wise work, without reference to style or national feeling; that it +must sanction the design of all truly great nations and times, Gothic or +Greek or Arab; that it must cast off and reprobate the design of all +foolish nations and times, Chinese or Mexican, or modern European: and +that it must be easily applicable to all possible architectural +inventions of human mind. I set myself, therefore, to establish such a +law, in full belief that men are intended, without excessive difficulty, +and by use of their general common sense, to know good things from bad; +and that it is only because they will not be at the pains required for +the discernment, that the world is so widely encumbered with forgeries +and basenesses. I found the work simpler than I had hoped; the +reasonable things ranged themselves in the order I required, and the +foolish things fell aside, and took themselves away so soon as they were +looked in the face. I had then, with respect to Venetian architecture, +the choice, either to establish each division of law in a separate form, +as I came to the features with which it was concerned, or else to ask +the reader's patience, while I followed out the general inquiry first, +and determined with him a code of right and wrong, to which we might +together make retrospective appeal. I thought this the best, though +perhaps the dullest way; and in these first following pages I have +therefore endeavored to arrange those foundations of criticism, on which +I shall rest in my account of Venetian architecture, in a form clear and +simple enough to be intelligible even to those who never thought of +architecture before. To those who have, much of what is stated in them +will be well known or self-evident; but they must not be indignant at a +simplicity on which the whole argument depends for its usefulness. From +that which appears a mere truism when first stated, they will find very +singular consequences sometimes following,--consequences altogether +unexpected, and of considerable importance; I will not pause here to +dwell on their importance, nor on that of the thing itself to be done; +for I believe most readers will at once admit the value of a criterion +of right and wrong in so practical and costly an art as architecture, +and will be apt rather to doubt the possibility of its attainment than +dispute its usefulness if attained. I invite them, therefore, to a fair +trial, being certain that even if I should fail in my main purpose, and +be unable to induce in my reader the confidence of judgment I desire, I +shall at least receive his thanks for the suggestion of consistent +reasons, which may determine hesitating choice, or justify involuntary +preference. And if I should succeed, as I hope, in making the Stones of +Venice touchstones, and detecting, by the mouldering of her marble, +poison more subtle than ever was betrayed by the rending of her crystal; +and if thus I am enabled to show the baseness of the schools of +architecture and nearly every other art, which have for three centuries +been predominant in Europe, I believe the result of the inquiry may be +serviceable for proof of a more vital truth than any at which I have +hitherto hinted. For observe: I said the Protestant had despised the +arts, and the Rationalist corrupted them. But what has the Romanist done +meanwhile? He boasts that it was the papacy which raised the arts; why +could it not support them when it was left to its own strength? How came +it to yield to Classicalism which was based on infidelity, and to oppose +no barrier to innovations, which have reduced the once faithfully +conceived imagery of its worship to stage decoration? [Footnote: +Appendix XII., "Romanist Modern Art."] Shall we not rather find that +Romanism, instead of being a promoter of the arts, has never shown itself +capable of a single great conception since the separation of +Protestantism from its side? [Footnote: Perfectly true: but the whole +vital value of the truth was lost by my sectarian ignorance. +Protestantism (so far as it was still Christianity, and did not consist +merely in maintaining one's own opinion for gospel) could not separate +itself from the Catholic Church. The so-called Catholics became +themselves sectarians and heretics in casting them out; and Europe was +turned into a mere cockpit, of the theft and fury of unchristian men of +both parties; while innocent and silent on the hills and fields, God's +people in neglected peace, everywhere and for ever Catholics, lived and +died.] So long as, corrupt though it might be, no clear witness had been +borne against it, so that it still included in its ranks a vast number of +faithful Christians, so long its arts were noble. But the witness was +borne--the error made apparent; and Rome, refusing to hear the testimony +or forsake the falsehood, has been struck from that instant with an +intellectual palsy, which has not only incapacitated her from any further +use of the arts which once were her ministers, but has made her worship +the shame of its own shrines, and her worshippers their destroyers. Come, +then, if truths such as these are worth our thoughts; come, and let us +know, before we enter the streets of the Sea city, whether we are indeed +to submit ourselves to their undistinguished enchantment, and to look +upon the last changes which were wrought on the lifted forms of her +palaces, as we should on the capricious towering of summer clouds in the +sunset, ere they sank into the deep of night; or, whether, rather, we +shall not behold in the brightness of their accumulated marble, pages on +which the sentence of her luxury was to be written until the waves should +efface it, as they fulfilled--"God has numbered thy kingdom, and finished +it." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +[FIRST OF SECOND VOLUME IN OLD EDITION.] + +THE THRONE. + + +SECTION I. In the olden days of travelling, now to return no more, in +which distance could not be vanquished without toil, but in which that +toil was rewarded, partly by the power of deliberate survey of the +countries through which the journey lay, and partly by the happiness of +the evening hours, when, from the top of the last hill he had +surmounted, the traveller beheld the quiet village where he was to rest, +scattered among the meadows beside its valley stream; or, from the +long-hoped-for turn in the dusty perspective of the causeway, saw, for +the first time, the towers of some famed city, faint in the rays of +sunset--hours of peaceful and thoughtful pleasure, for which the rush of +the arrival in the railway station is perhaps not always, or to all men, +an equivalent,--in those days, I say, when there was something more to +be anticipated and remembered in the first aspect of each successive +halting-place, than a new arrangement of glass roofing and iron girder, +there were few moments of which the recollection was more fondly +cherished by the traveller than that which, as I endeavored to describe +in the close of the last chapter, brought him within sight of Venice, as +his gondola shot into the open lagoon from the canal of Mestre. Not but +that the aspect of the city itself was generally the source of some +slight disappointment, for, seen in this direction, its buildings are +far less characteristic than those of the other great towns of Italy; +but this inferiority was partly disguised by distance, and more than +atoned for by the strange rising of its walls and towers out of the +midst, as it seemed, of the deep sea, for it was impossible that the +mind or the eye could at once comprehend the shallowness of the vast +sheet of water which stretched away in leagues of rippling lustre to the +north and south, or trace the narrow line of islets bounding it to the +east. The salt breeze, the white moaning sea-birds, the masses of black +weed separating and disappearing gradually, in knots of heaving shoal, +under the advance of the steady tide, all proclaimed it to be indeed the +ocean on whose bosom the great city rested so calmly; not such blue, +soft, lake-like ocean as bathes the Neapolitan promontories, or sleeps +beneath the marble rocks of Genoa, but a sea with the bleak power of our +own northern waves, yet subdued into a strange spacious rest, and +changed from its angry pallor into a field of burnished gold, as the sun +declined behind the belfry tower of the lonely island church, fitly +named "St. George of the Seaweed." As the boat drew nearer to the city, +the coast which the traveller had just left sank behind him into one +long, low, sad-colored line, tufted irregularly with brushwood and +willows: but, at what seemed its northern extremity, the hills of Arqua +rose in a dark cluster of purple pyramids, balanced on the bright mirage +of the lagoon; two or three smooth surges of inferior hill extended +themselves about their roots, and beyond these, beginning with the +craggy peaks above Vicenza, the chain of the Alps girded the whole +horizon to the north--a wall of jagged blue, here and there showing +through its clefts a wilderness of misty precipices, fading far back +into the recesses of Cadore, and itself rising and breaking away +eastward, where the sun struck opposite upon its snow, into mighty +fragments of peaked light, standing up behind the barred clouds of +evening, one after another, countless, the crown of the Adrian Sea, +until the eye turned back from pursuing them, to rest upon the nearer +burning of the campaniles of Murano, and on the great city, where it +magnified itself along the waves, as the quick silent pacing of the +gondola drew nearer and nearer. And at last, when its walls were +reached, and the outmost of its untrodden streets was entered, not +through towered gate or guarded rampart, but as a deep inlet between two +rocks of coral in the Indian sea; when first upon the traveller's sight +opened the long ranges of columned palaces,--each with its black boat +moored at the portal,--each with its image cast down, beneath its feet, +upon that green pavement which every breeze broke into new fantasies of +rich tessellation; when first, at the extremity of the bright vista, the +shadowy Rialto threw its colossal curve slowly forth from behind the +palace of the Camerlenghi; that strange curve, so delicate, so +adamantine, strong as a mountain cavern, graceful as a bow just bent; +when first, before its moonlike circumference was all risen, the +gondolier's cry, "Ah! Stali," [Footnote: Appendix I, "The Gondolier's +Cry."] struck sharp upon the ear, and the prow turned aside under the +mighty cornices that half met over the narrow canal, where the plash of +the water followed close and loud, ringing along the marble by the +boat's side, and when at last that boat darted forth upon the breadth of +silver sea, across which the front of the Ducal palace, flushed with its +sanguine veins, looks to the snowy dome of Our Lady of Salvation, +[Footnote: Appendix II, "Our Lady of Salvation."] it was no marvel that +the mind should be so deeply entranced by the visionary charm of a scene +so beautiful and so strange, as to forget the darker truths of its +history and its being. Well might it seem that such a city had owed her +existence rather to the rod of the enchanter, than the fear of the +fugitive; that the waters which encircled her had been chosen for the +mirror of her state, rather than the shelter of her nakedness; and that +all which in nature was wild or merciless,--Time and Decay, as well as +the waves and tempests,--had been won to adorn her instead of to +destroy, and might still spare, for ages to come, that beauty which +seemed to have fixed for its throne the sands of the hour-glass as well +as of the sea. + +SECTION II. And although the last few eventful years, fraught with +change to the face of the whole earth, have been more fatal in their +influence on Venice than the five hundred that preceded them; though the +noble landscape of approach to her can now be seen no more, or seen only +by a glance, as the engine slackens its rushing on the iron line; and +though many of her palaces are for ever defaced, and many in desecrated +ruins, there is still so much of magic in her aspect, that the hurried +traveller, who must leave her before the wonder of that first aspect has +been worn away, may still be led to forget the humility of her origin, +and to shut his eyes to the depth of her desolation. They, at least, are +little to be envied, in whose hearts the great charities of the +imagination lie dead, and for whom the fancy has no power to repress the +importunity of painful impressions, or to raise what is ignoble, and +disguise what is discordant, in a scene so rich in its remembrances, so +surpassing in its beauty. But for this work of the imagination there +must be no permission during the task which is before us. The impotent +feeling of romance, so singularly characteristic of this century, may +indeed gild, but never save the remains of those mightier ages to which +they are attached like climbing flowers; and they must be torn away from +the magnificent fragments, if we would see them as they stood in their +own strength. Those feelings, always as fruitless as they are fond, are +in Venice not only incapable of protecting, but even of discerning, the +objects of which they ought to have been attached. The Venice of modern +fiction and drama is a thing of yesterday, a mere efflorescence of +decay, a stage dream which the first ray of daylight must dissipate into +dust. No prisoner, whose name is worth remembering, or whose sorrow +deserved sympathy, ever crossed that "Bridge of Sighs," which is the +centre of the Byronic ideal of Venice; no great merchant of Venice ever +saw that Rialto under which the traveller now passes with breathless +interest: the statue which Byron makes Faliero address as of one of his +great ancestors was erected to a soldier of fortune a hundred and fifty +years after Faliero's death; and the most conspicuous parts of the city +have been so entirely altered in the course of the last three centuries, +that if Henry Dandolo or Francis Foscari could be summoned from their +tombs, and stood each on the deck of his galley at the entrance of the +Grand Canal, that renowned entrance, the painter's favorite subject, the +novelist's favorite scene, where the water first narrows by the steps of +the Church of La Salute,--the mighty Doges would not know in what spot +of the world they stood, would literally not recognize one stone of the +great city, for whose sake, and by whose ingratitude, their gray hairs +had been brought down with bitterness to the grave. The remains of +_their_ Venice lie hidden behind the cumbrous masses which were the +delight of the nation in its dotage; hidden in many a grass-grown court, +and silent pathway, and lightless canal, where the slow waves have +sapped their foundations for five hundred years, and must soon prevail +over them for ever. It must be our task to glean and gather them forth, +and restore out of them some faint image of the lost city, more gorgeous +a thousand-fold than that which now exists, yet not created in the +day-dream of the prince, nor by the ostentation of the noble, but built +by iron hands and patient hearts, contending against the adversity of +nature and the fury of man, so that its wonderfulness cannot be grasped +by the indolence of imagination, but only after frank inquiry into the +true nature of that wild and solitary scene, whose restless tides and +trembling sands did indeed shelter the birth of the city, but long +denied her dominion. + +SECTION III. When the eye falls casually on a map of Europe, there is no +feature by which it is more likely to be arrested than the strange +sweeping loop formed by the junction of the Alps and the Apennines, and +enclosing the great basin of Lombardy. This return of the mountain chain +upon itself causes a vast difference in the character of the +distribution of its debris on its opposite sides. The rock fragments and +sediment which the torrents on the north side of the Alps bear into the +plains are distributed over a vast extent of country, and, though here +and there lodged in beds of enormous thickness, soon permit the firm +substrata to appear from underneath them; but all the torrents which +descend from the southern side of the High Alps, and from the northern +slope of the Apennines, meet concentrically in the recess or mountain +bay which the two ridges enclose; every fragment which thunder breaks +out of their battlements, and every grain of dust which the summer rain +washes from their pastures, is at last laid at rest in the blue sweep of +the Lombardic plain; and that plain must have risen within its rocky +barriers as a cup fills with wine, but for two contrary influences which +continually depress, or disperse from its surface, the accumulation of +the ruins of ages. + +SECTION IV. I will not tax the reader's faith in modern science by +insisting on the singular depression of the surface of Lombardy, which +appears for many centuries to have taken place steadily and continually; +the main fact with which we have to do is the gradual transport, by the +Po and its great collateral rivers, of vast masses of the finer sediment +to the sea. The character of the Lombardic plains is most strikingly +expressed by the ancient walls of its cities, composed for the most part +of large rounded Alpine pebbles alternating with narrow courses of +brick; and was curiously illustrated in 1848, by the ramparts of these +same pebbles thrown up four or five feet high round every field, to +check the Austrian cavalry in the battle under the walls of Verona. The +finer dust among which these pebbles are dispersed is taken up by the +rivers, fed into continual strength by the Alpine snow, so that, however +pure their waters may be when they issue from the lakes at the foot of +the great chain, they become of the color and opacity of clay before +they reach the Adriatic; the sediment which they bear is at once thrown +down as they enter the sea, forming a vast belt of low land along the +eastern coast of Italy. The powerful stream of the Po of course builds +forward the fastest; on each side of it, north and south, there is a +tract of marsh, fed by more feeble streams, and less liable to rapid +change than the delta of the central river. In one of these tracts is +built RAVENNA, and in the other VENICE. + +SECTION V. What circumstances directed the peculiar arrangement of this +great belt of sediment in the earliest times, it is not here the place +to inquire. It is enough for us to know that from the mouths of the +Adige to those of the Piave there stretches, at a variable distance of +from three to five miles from the actual shore, a bank of sand, divided +into long islands by narrow channels of sea. The space between this bank +and the true shore consists of the sedimentary deposits from these and +other rivers, a great plain of calcareous mud, covered, in the +neighborhood of Venice, by the sea at high water, to the depth in most +places of a foot or a foot and a half, and nearly everywhere exposed at +low tide, but divided by an intricate network of narrow and winding +channels, from which the sea never retires. In some places, according to +the run of the currents, the land has risen into marshy islets, +consolidated, some by art, and some by time, into ground firm enough to +be built upon, or fruitful enough to be cultivated: in others, on the +contrary, it has not reached the sea-level; so that, at the average low +water, shallow lakelets glitter among its irregularly exposed fields of +seaweed. In the midst of the largest of these, increased in importance +by the confluence of several large river channels towards one of the +openings in the sea bank, the city of Venice itself is built, on a +clouded cluster of islands; the various plots of higher ground which +appear to the north and south of this central cluster, have at different +periods been also thickly inhabited, and now bear, according to their +size, the remains of cities, villages, or isolated convents and +churches, scattered among spaces of open ground, partly waste and +encumbered by ruins, partly under cultivation for the supply of the +metropolis. + +SECTION VI. The average rise and fall of the tide is about three feet +(varying considerably with the seasons; [Footnote: Appendix III, "Tides +of Venice."]) but this fall, on so flat a shore, is enough to cause +continual movement in the waters, and in the main canals to produce a +reflux which frequently runs like a mill stream. At high water no land +is visible for many miles to the north or south of Venice, except in the +form of small islands crowned with towers or gleaming with villages: +there is a channel, some three miles wide, between the city and the +mainland, and some mile and a half wide between it and the sandy +breakwater called the Lido, which divides the lagoon from the Adriatic, +but which is so low as hardly to disturb the impression of the city's +having been built in the midst of the ocean, although the secret of its +true position is partly, yet not painfully, betrayed by the clusters of +piles set to mark the deep-water channels, which undulate far away in +spotty chains like the studded backs of huge sea-snakes, and by the +quick glittering of the crisped and crowded waves that flicker and dance +before the strong winds upon the unlifted level of the shallow sea. But +the scene is widely different at low tide. A fall of eighteen or twenty +inches is enough to show ground over the greater part of the lagoon; and +at the complete ebb the city is seen standing in the midst of a dark +plain of seaweed, of gloomy green, except only where the larger branches +of the Brenta and its associated streams converge towards the port of +the Lido. Through this salt and sombre plain the gondola and the +fishing-boat advance by tortuous channels, seldom more than four or five +feet deep, and often so choked with slime that the heavier keels furrow +the bottom till their crossing tracks are seen through the clear sea +water like the ruts upon a. wintry road, and the oar leaves blue gashes +upon the ground at every stroke, or is entangled among the thick weed +that fringes the banks with the weight of its sullen waves, leaning to +and fro upon the uncertain sway of the exhausted tide. The scene is +often profoundly oppressive, even at this day, when every plot of higher +ground bears some fragment of fair building: but, in order to know what +it was once, let the traveller follow in his boat at evening the +windings of some unfrequented channel far into the midst of the +melancholy plain; let him remove, in his imagination, the brightness of +the great city that still extends itself in the distance, and the walls +and towers from the islands that are near; and so wait, until the bright +investiture and, sweet warmth of the sunset are withdrawn from the +waters, and the black desert of their shore lies in its nakedness +beneath the night, pathless, comfortless, infirm, lost in dark languor +and fearful silence, except where the salt runlets plash into the +tideless pools, or the seabirds flit from their margins with a +questioning cry; and he will be enabled to enter in some sort into the +horror of heart with which this solitude was anciently chosen by man for +his habitation. They little thought, who first drove the stakes into the +sand, and strewed the ocean reeds for their rest, that their children +were to be the princes of that ocean, and their palaces its pride; and +yet, in the great natural laws that rule that sorrowful wilderness, let +it be remembered what strange preparation had been made for the things +which no human imagination could have foretold, and how the whole +existence and fortune of the Venetian nation were anticipated or +compelled, by the setting of those bars and doors to the rivers and the +sea. Had deeper currents divided their islands, hostile navies would +again and again have reduced the rising city into servitude; had +stronger surges beaten their shores, all the richness and refinement of +the Venetian architecture must have been exchanged for the walls and +bulwarks of an ordinary sea-port. Had there been no tide, as in other +parts of the Mediterranean, the narrow canals of the city would have +become noisome, and the marsh in which it was built pestiferous. Had the +tide been only a foot or eighteen inches higher in its rise, the +water-access to the doors of the palaces would have been impossible: +even as it is, there is sometimes a little difficulty, at the ebb, in +landing without setting foot upon the lower and slippery steps: and the +highest tides sometimes enter the courtyards, and overflow the entrance +halls. Eighteen inches more of difference between the level of the flood +and ebb would have rendered the doorsteps of every palace, at low water, +a treacherous mass of weeds and limpets, and the entire system of +water-carriage for the higher classes, in their easy and daily +intercourse, must have been done away with. The streets of the city +would have been widened, its network of canals filled up, and all the +peculiar character of the place and the people destroyed. + +SECTION VII. The reader may perhaps have felt some pain in the contrast +between this faithful view of the site of the Venetian Throne, and the +romantic conception of it which we ordinarily form; but this pain, if he +have felt it, ought to be more than counterbalanced by the value of the +instance thus afforded to us at once of the inscrutableness and the +wisdom of the ways of God. If, two thousand years ago, we had been +permitted to watch the slow settling of the slime of those turbid rivers +into the polluted sea, and the gaining upon its deep and fresh waters of +the lifeless, impassable, unvoyageable plain, how little could we have +understood the purpose with which those islands were shaped out of the +void, and the torpid waters enclosed with their desolate walls of sand! +How little could we have known, any more than of what now seems to us +most distressful, dark, and objectless, the glorious aim which was then +in the mind of Him in whose hand are all the corners of the earth! how +little imagined that in the laws which were stretching forth the gloomy +margins of those fruitless banks, and feeding the bitter grass among +their shallows, there was indeed a preparation, and _the only preparation +possible_, for the founding of a city which was to be set like a golden +clasp on the girdle of the earth, to write her history on the white +scrolls of the sea-surges, and to word it in their thunder, and to gather +and give forth, in world-wide pulsation, the glory of the West and of the +East, from the burning heart of her Fortitude and Splendor. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +[SECOND OF SECOND VOLUME IN OLD EDITION.] + +TORCELLO. + + +SECTION I. Seven miles to the north of Venice, the banks of sand, which +near the city rise little above low-water mark, attain by degrees a +higher level, and knit themselves at last into fields of salt morass, +raised here and there into shapeless mounds, and intercepted by narrow +creeks of sea. One of the feeblest of these inlets, after winding for +some time among buried fragments of masonry, and knots of sunburnt weeds +whitened with webs of fucus, stays itself in an utterly stagnant pool +beside a plot of greener grass covered with ground ivy and violets. On +this mound is built a rude brick campanile, of the commonest Lombardic +type, which if we ascend towards evening (and there are none to hinder +us, the door of its ruinous staircase swinging idly on its hinges), we +may command from it one of the most notable scenes in this wide world of +ours. Far as the eye can reach, a waste of wild sea moor, of a lurid +ashen gray; not like our northern moors with their jet-black pools and +purple heath, but lifeless, the color of sackcloth, with the corrupted +sea-water soaking through the roots of its acrid weeds, and gleaming +hither and thither through its snaky channels. No gathering of fantastic +mists, nor coursing of clouds across it; but melancholy clearness of +space in the warm sunset, oppressive, reaching to the horizon of its +level gloom. To the very horizon, on the north-east; but, to the north +and west, there is a blue line of higher land along the border of it, +and above this, but farther back, a misty band of mountains, touched +with snow. To the east, the paleness and roar of the Adriatic, louder at +momentary intervals as the surf breaks on the bars of sand; to the +south, the widening branches of the calm lagoon, alternately purple and +pale green, as they reflect the evening clouds or twilight sky; and +almost beneath our feet, on the same field which sustains the tower we +gaze from, a group of four buildings, two of them little larger than +cottages (though built of stone, and one adorned by a quaint belfry), +the third an octagonal chapel, of which we can see but little more than +the flat red roof with its rayed tiling, the fourth, a considerable +church with nave and aisles, but of which, in like manner, we can see +little but the long central ridge and lateral slopes of roof, which the +sunlight separates in one glowing mass from the green field beneath and +gray moor beyond. There are no living creatures near the buildings, nor +any vestige of village or city round about them. They lie like a little +company of ships becalmed on a far-away sea. + +SECTION II. Then look farther to the south. Beyond the widening branches +of the lagoon, and rising out of the bright lake into which they gather, +there are a multitude of towers, dark, and scattered among square-set +shapes of clustered palaces, a long and irregular line fretting the +southern sky. + +Mother and daughter, you behold them both in their widowhood,--TORCELLO +and VENICE. + +Thirteen hundred years ago, the gray moorland looked as it does this +day, and the purple mountains stood as radiantly in the deep distances +of evening; but on the line of the horizon, there were strange fires +mixed with the light of sunset, and the lament of many human voices +mixed with the fretting of the waves on their ridges of sand. The flames +rose from the ruins of Altinum; the lament from the multitude of its +people, seeking, like Israel of old, a refuge from the sword in the +paths of the sea. + +The cattle are feeding and resting upon the site of the city that they +left; the mower's scythe swept this day at dawn over the chief street of +the city that they built, and the swathes of soft grass are now sending +up their scent into the night air, the only incense that fills the +temple of their ancient worship. Let us go down into that little space +of meadow land. + +SECTION III. The inlet which runs nearest to the base of the campanile +is not that by which Torcello is commonly approached. Another, somewhat +broader, and overhung by alder copse, winds out of the main channel of +the lagoon up to the very edge of the little meadow which was once the +Piazza of the city, and there, stayed by a few grey stones which present +some semblance of a quay, forms its boundary at one extremity. Hardly +larger than an ordinary English farmyard, and roughly enclosed on each +side by broken palings and hedges of honeysuckle and briar, the narrow +field retires from the water's edge, traversed by a scarcely traceable +footpath, for some forty or fifty paces, and then expanding into the +form of a small square, with buildings on three sides of it, the fourth +being that which opens to the water. Two of these, that on our left and +that in front of us as we approach from the canal, are so small that +they might well be taken for the out-houses of the farm, though the +first is a conventual building, and the other aspires to the title of +the "Palazzo publico," both dating as far back as the beginning of the +fourteenth century; the third, the octagonal church of Santa Fosca, is +far more ancient than either, yet hardly on a larger scale. Though the +pillars of the portico which surrounds it are of pure Greek marble, and +their capitals are enriched with delicate sculpture, they, and the +arches they sustain, together only raise the roof to the height of a +cattle-shed; and the first strong impression which the spectator +receives from the whole scene is, that whatever sin it may have been +which has on this spot been visited with so utter a desolation, it could +not at least have been ambition. Nor will this impression be diminished +as we approach, or enter, the larger church to which the whole group of +building is subordinate. It has evidently been built by men in flight +and distress, [Footnote: Appendix IV, "Date of the Duomo of Torcello."] +who sought in the hurried erection of their Island church such a shelter +for their earnest and sorrowful worship as, on the one hand, could not +attract the eyes of their enemies by its splendor, and yet, on the +other, might not awaken too bitter feelings by its contrast with the +churches which they had seen destroyed. + +There is visible everywhere a simple and tender effort to recover some +of the form of the temples which they had loved, and to do honor to God +by that which they were erecting, while distress and humiliation +prevented the desire, and prudence precluded the admission, either of +luxury of ornament or magnificence of plan. The exterior is absolutely +devoid of decoration, with the exception only of the western entrance +and the lateral door, of which the former has carved sideposts and +architrave, and the latter, crosses of rich sculpture; while the massy +stone shutters of the windows, turning on huge rings of stone, which +answer the double purpose of stanchions and brackets, cause the whole +building rather to resemble a refuge from Alpine storm than the +cathedral of a populous city; and, internally, the two solemn mosaics of +the eastern and western extremities,--one representing the Last +Judgment, the other the Madonna, her tears falling as her hands are +raised to bless,--and the noble range of pillars which enclose the space +between, terminated by the high throne for the pastor and the +semicircular raised seats for the superior clergy, are expressive at +once of the deep sorrow and the sacred courage of men who had no home +left them upon earth, but who looked for one to come, of men "persecuted +but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed." + +SECTION IV. For observe this choice of subjects. It is indeed possible +that the walls of the nave and aisles, which are now whitewashed, may +have been covered with fresco or mosaic, and thus have supplied a series +of subjects, on the choice of which we cannot speculate. I do not, +however, find record of the destruction of any such works; and I am +rather inclined to believe that at any rate the central division of the +building was originally, decorated, as it is now, simply by mosaics +representing Christ, the Virgin, and the apostles, at one extremity, and +Christ coming to judgment at the other. And if so, I repeat, observe the +significance of this choice. Most other early churches are covered with +imagery sufficiently suggestive of the vivid interest of the builders in +the history and occupations of the world. Symbols or representations of +political events, portraits of living persons, and sculptures of +satirical, grotesque, or trivial subjects are of constant occurrence, +mingled with the more strictly appointed representations of scriptural +or ecclesiastical history; but at Torcello even these usual, and one +should have thought almost necessary, successions of Bible events do not +appear. The mind of the worshipper was fixed entirely upon two great +facts, to him the most precious of all facts,--the present mercy of +Christ to His Church, and His future coming to judge the world. That +Christ's mercy was, at this period, supposed chiefly to be attainable +through the pleading of the Virgin, and that therefore beneath the +figure of the Redeemer is seen that of the weeping Madonna in the act of +intercession, may indeed be matter of sorrow to the Protestant beholder, +but ought not to blind him to the earnestness and singleness of the +faith with which these men sought their sea-solitudes; not in hope of +founding new dynasties, or entering upon new epochs of prosperity, but +only to humble themselves before God, and to pray that in His infinite +mercy He would hasten the time when the sea should give up the dead +which were in it, and Death and Hell give up the dead which were in +them, and when they might enter into the better kingdom, "where the +wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest." + +SECTION V. Nor were the strength and elasticity of their minds, even in +the least matters, diminished by thus looking forward to the close of +all things. On the contrary, nothing is more remarkable than the finish +and beauty of all the portions of the building, which seem to have been +actually executed for the place they occupy in the present structure. +The rudest are those which they brought with them from the mainland; the +best and most beautiful, those which appear to have been carved for +their island church: of these, the new capitals already noticed, and the +exquisite panel ornaments of the chancel screen, are the most +conspicuous; the latter form a low wall across the church between the +six small shafts whose places are seen in the plan, and serve to enclose +a space raised two steps above the level of the nave, destined for the +singers, and indicated also in the plan by an open line _a b c d_. The +bas-reliefs on this low screen are groups of peacocks and lions, two +face to face on each panel, rich and fantastic beyond description, +though not expressive of very accurate knowledge either of leonine or +pavonine forms. And it is not until we pass to the back of the stair of +the pulpit, which is connected with the northern extremity of this +screen, that we find evidence of the haste with which the church was +constructed. + +SECTION VI. The pulpit, however, is not among the least noticeable of +its features. It is sustained on the four small detached shafts marked +at _p_ in the plan, between the two pillars at the north side of +the screen; both pillars and pulpit studiously plain, while the +staircase which ascends to it is a compact mass of masonry (shaded in +the plan), faced by carved slabs of marble; the parapet of the staircase +being also formed of solid blocks like paving-stones, lightened by rich, +but not deep, exterior carving. Now these blocks, or at least those +which adorn the staircase towards the aisle, have been brought from the +mainland; and, being of size and shape not easily to be adjusted to the +proportions of the stair, the architect has cut out of them pieces of +the size he needed, utterly regardless of the subject or symmetry of the +original design. The pulpit is not the only place where this rough +procedure has been permitted: at the lateral door of the church are two +crosses, cut out of slabs of marble, formerly covered with rich +sculpture over their whole surfaces, of which portions are left on the +surface of the crosses; the lines of the original design being, of +course, just as arbitrarily cut by the incisions between the arms, as +the patterns upon a piece of silk which has been shaped anew. The fact +is, that in all early Romanesque work, large surfaces are covered with +sculpture for the sake of enrichment only; sculpture which indeed had +always meaning, because it was easier for the sculptor to work with some +chain of thought to guide his chisel, than without any; but it was not +always intended, or at least not always hoped, that this chain of +thought might be traced by the spectator. All that was proposed appears +to have been the enrichment of surface, so as to make it delightful to +the eye; and this being once understood, a decorated piece of marble +became to the architect just what a piece of lace or embroidery is to a +dressmaker, who takes of it such portions as she may require, with +little regard to the places where the patterns are divided. And though +it may appear, at first sight, that the procedure is indicative of +bluntness and rudeness of feeling,--we may perceive, upon reflection, +that it may also indicate the redundance of power which sets little +price upon its own exertion. When a barbarous nation builds its +fortress-walls out of fragments of the refined architecture it has +overthrown, we can read nothing but its savageness in the vestiges of +art which may thus chance to have been preserved; but when the new work +is equal, if not superior, in execution, to the pieces of the older art +which are associated with it, we may justly conclude that the rough +treatment to which the latter have been subjected is rather a sign of +the hope of doing better things, than of want of feeling for those +already accomplished. And, in general, this careless fitting of ornament +is, in very truth, an evidence of life in the school of builders, and of +their making a due distinction between work which is to be used for +architectural effect, and work which is to possess an abstract +perfection; and it commonly shows also that the exertion of design is so +easy to them, and their fertility so inexhaustible, that they feel no +remorse in using somewhat injuriously what they can replace with so +slight an effort. + +SECTION VII. It appears however questionable in the present instance, +whether, if the marbles had not been carved to his hand, the architect +would have taken the trouble to enrich them. For the execution of the +rest of the pulpit is studiously simple, and it is in this respect that +its design possesses, it seems to me, an interest to the religious +spectator greater than he will take in any other portion of the +building. It is supported, as I said, on a group of four slender shafts; +itself of a slightly oval form, extending nearly from one pillar of the +nave to the next, so as to give the preacher free room for the action of +the entire person, which always gives an unaffected impressiveness to +the eloquence of the southern nations. In the centre of its curved +front, a small bracket and detached shaft sustain the projection of a +narrow marble desk (occupying the place of a cushion in a modern +pulpit), which is hollowed out into a shallow curve on the upper +surface, leaving a ledge at the bottom of the slab, so that a book laid +upon it, or rather into it, settles itself there, opening as if by +instinct, but without the least chance of slipping to the side, or in +any way moving beneath the preacher's hands. Six balls, or rather +almonds, of purple marble veined with white are set round the edge of +the pulpit, and form its only decoration. Perfectly graceful, but severe +and almost cold in its simplicity, built for permanence and service, so +that no single member, no stone of it, could be spared, and yet all are +firm and uninjured as when they were first set together, it stands in +venerable contrast both with the fantastic pulpits of mediaeval +cathedrals and with the rich furniture of those of our modern churches. +It is worth while pausing for a moment to consider how far the manner of +decorating a pulpit may have influence on the efficiency of its service, +and whether our modern treatment of this, to us all-important, feature +of a church be the best possible. [Footnote: Appendix V., "Modern +Pulpits."] + +SECTION VIII. When the sermon is good we need not much concern ourselves +about the form of the pulpit. But sermons cannot always be good; and I +believe that the temper in which the congregation set themselves to +listen may be in some degree modified by their perception of fitness or +unfitness, impressiveness or vulgarity, in the disposition of the place +appointed for the speaker,--not to the same degree, but somewhat in the +same way, that they may be influenced by his own gestures or expression, +irrespective of the sense of what he says. I believe, therefore, in the +first place, that pulpits ought never to be highly decorated; the +speaker is apt to look mean or diminutive if the pulpit is either on a +very large scale or covered with splendid ornament, and if the interest +of the sermon should flag the mind is instantly tempted to wander. I +have observed that in almost all cathedrals, when the pulpits are +peculiarly magnificent, sermons are not often preached from them; but +rather, and especially if for any important purpose, from some temporary +erection in other parts of the building:--and though this may often be +done because the architect has consulted the effect upon the eye more +than the convenience of the ear in the placing of his larger pulpit, I +think it also proceeds in some measure from a natural dislike in the +preacher to match himself with the magnificence of the rostrum, lest the +sermon should not be thought worthy of the place. Yet this will rather +hold of the colossal sculptures, and pyramids of fantastic tracery which +encumber the pulpits of Flemish and German churches, than of the +delicate mosaics and ivory-like carving of the Romanesque basilicas, for +when the form is kept simple, much loveliness of color and costliness of +work may be introduced, and yet the speaker not be thrown into the shade +by them. + +SECTION IX. But, in the second place, whatever ornaments we admit ought +clearly to be of a chaste, grave, and noble kind; and what furniture we +employ, evidently more for the honoring of God's word than for the ease +of the preacher. For there are two ways of regarding a sermon, either as +a human composition, or a Divine message. If we look upon it entirely as +the first, and require our clergymen to finish it with their utmost care +and learning, for our better delight whether of ear or intellect, we +shall necessarily be led to expect much formality and stateliness in its +delivery, and to think that all is not well if the pulpit have not a +golden fringe round it, and a goodly cushion in front of it, and if the +sermon be not fairly written in a black book, to be smoothed upon the +cushion in a majestic manner before beginning; all this we shall duly +come to expect: but we shall at the same time consider the treatise thus +prepared as something to which it is our duty to listen without +restlessness for half an hour or three quarters, but which, when that +duty has been decorously performed, we may dismiss from our minds in +happy confidence of being provided with another when next it shall be +necessary. But if once we begin to regard the preacher, whatever his +faults, as a man sent with a message to us, which it is a matter of life +or death whether we hear or refuse; if we look upon him as set in charge +over many spirits in danger of ruin, and having allowed to him but an +hour or two in the seven days to speak to them; if we make some endeavor +to conceive how precious these hours ought to be to him, a small vantage +on the side of God after his flock have been exposed for six days +together to the full weight of the world's temptation, and he has been +forced to watch the thorn and the thistle springing in their hearts, and +to see what wheat had been scattered there snatched from the wayside by +this wild bird and the other, and at last, when breathless and weary +with the week's labor they give him this interval of imperfect and +languid hearing, he has but thirty minutes to get at the separate hearts +of a thousand men, to convince them of all their weaknesses, to shame +them for all their sins, to warn them of all their dangers, to try by +this way and that to stir the hard fastenings of those doors where the +Master himself has stood and knocked yet none opened, and to call at the +openings of those dark streets where Wisdom herself hath stretched forth +her hands and no man regarded,--thirty minutes to raise the dead +in,--let us but once understand and feel this, and we shall look with +changed eyes upon that frippery of gay furniture about the place from +which the message of judgment must be delivered, which either breathes +upon the dry bones that they may live, or, if ineffectual, remains +recorded in condemnation, perhaps against the utterer and listener +alike, but assuredly against one of them. We shall not so easily bear +with the silk and gold upon the seat of judgment, nor with ornament of +oratory in the mouth of the messenger: we shall wish that his words may +be simple, even when they are sweetest, and the place from which he +speaks like a marble rock in the desert, about which the people have +gathered in their thirst. + +SECTION X. But the severity which is so marked in the pulpit at Torcello +is still more striking in the raised seats and episcopal throne which +occupy the curve of the apse. The arrangement at first somewhat recalls +to the mind that of the Roman amphitheatres; the flight of steps which +lead up to the central throne divides the curve of the continuous steps +or seats (it appears in the first three ranges questionable which were +intended, for they seem too high for the one, and too low and close for +the other), exactly as in an amphitheatre the stairs for access +intersect the sweeping ranges of seats. But in the very rudeness of this +arrangement, and especially in the want of all appliances of comfort +(for the whole is of marble, and the arms of the central throne are not +for convenience, but for distinction, and to separate it more +conspicuously from the undivided seats), there is a dignity which no +furniture of stalls nor carving of canopies ever could attain, and well +worth the contemplation of the Protestant, both as sternly significative +of an episcopal authority which in the early days of the Church was +never disputed, and as dependent for all its impressiveness on the utter +absence of any expression either of pride or self-indulgence. + +SECTION XI. But there is one more circumstance which we ought to +remember as giving peculiar significance to the position which the +episcopal throne occupies in this island church, namely, that in the +minds of all early Christians the Church itself was most frequently +symbolized under the image of a ship, of which the bishop was the pilot. +Consider the force which this symbol would assume in the imaginations of +men to whom the spiritual Church had become an ark of refuge in the +midst of a destruction hardly less terrible than that from which the +eight souls were saved of old, a destruction in which the wrath of man +had become as broad as the earth and as merciless as the sea, and who +saw the actual and literal edifice of the Church raked up, itself like +an ark in the midst of the waters. No marvel if with the surf of the +Adriatic rolling between them and the shores of their birth, from which +they were separated for ever, they should have looked upon each other as +the disciples did when the storm came down on the Tiberias Lake, and +have yielded ready and loving obedience to those who ruled them in His +name, who had there rebuked the winds and commanded stillness to the +sea. And if the stranger would yet learn in what spirit it was that the +dominion of Venice was begun, and in what strength she went forth +conquering and to conquer, let him not seek to estimate the wealth of +her arsenals or number of her armies, nor look upon the pageantry of her +palaces, nor enter into the secrets of her councils; but let him ascend +the highest tier of the stern ledges that sweep round the altar of +Torcello, and then, looking as the pilot did of old along the marble +ribs of the goodly temple-ship, let him repeople its veined deck with +the shadows of its dead mariners, and strive to feel in himself the +strength of heart that was kindled within them, when first, after the +pillars of it had settled in the sand, and the roof of it had been +closed against the angry sky that was still reddened by the fires of +their homesteads,--first, within the shelter of its knitted walls, +amidst the murmur of the waste of waves and the beating of the wings of +the sea-birds round the rock that was strange to them,--rose that +ancient hymn, in the power of their gathered voices: + + THE SEA IS HIS, AND HE MADE IT, + AND HIS HANDS PREPARED THE DRY LAND. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +ST. MARK'S. + + +SECTION I. "And so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus." If as +the shores of Asia lessened upon his sight, the spirit of prophecy had +entered into the heart of the weak disciple who had turned back when his +hand was on the plough, and who had been judged, by the chiefest of +Christ's captains, unworthy thenceforward to go forth with him to the +work, [Footnote: Acts, xiii. 13; xv. 38, 39.] how wonderful would he +have thought it, that by the lion symbol in future ages he was to be +represented among men! how woful, that the war-cry of his name should so +often reanimate the rage of the soldier, on those very plains where he +himself had failed in the courage of the Christian, and so often dye +with fruitless blood that very Cypriot Sea, over whose waves, in +repentance and shame, he was following the Son of Consolation! + +SECTION II. That the Venetians possessed themselves of his body in the +ninth century, there appears no sufficient reason to doubt, nor that it +was principally in consequence of their having done so, that they chose +him for their patron saint. There exists, however, a tradition that +before he went into Egypt he had founded the Church at Aquileia, and was +thus, in some sort, the first bishop of the Venetian isles and people. I +believe that this tradition stands on nearly as good grounds as that of +St. Peter having been the first bishop of Rome; [Footnote: The reader +who desires to investigate it may consult Galliciolli, "Delle Memorie +Venete" (Venice, 1795), tom. ii. p. 332, and the authorities quoted by +him.] but, as usual, it is enriched by various later additions and +embellishments, much resembling the stories told respecting the church +of Murano. Thus we find it recorded by the Santo Padre who compiled the +"Vite de' Santi spettanti alle Chiese di Venezia," [Footnote: Venice, +1761, tom. i. p. 126.] that "St. Mark having seen the people of Aquileia +well grounded in religion, and being called to Rome by St. Peter, before +setting off took with him the holy bishop Hermagoras, and went in a +small boat to the marshes of Venice. There were at that period some +houses built upon a certain high bank called Rialto, and the boat being +driven by the wind was anchored in a marshy place, when St. Mark, +snatched into ecstasy, heard the voice of an angel saying to him: 'Peace +be to thee, Mark; here shall thy body rest.'" The angel goes on to +foretell the building of "una stupenda, ne piu veduta Citta;" but the +fable is hardly ingenious enough to deserve farther relation. + +SECTION III. But whether St. Mark was first bishop of Aquileia or not, +St. Theodore was the first patron of the city; nor can he yet be +considered as having entirely abdicated his early right, as his statue, +standing on a crocodile, still companions the winged lion on the +opposing pillar of the piazzetta. A church erected to this Saint is said +to have occupied, before the ninth century, the site of St. Mark's; and +the traveller, dazzled by the brilliancy of the great square, ought not +to leave it without endeavoring to imagine its aspect in that early +time, when it was a green field cloister-like and quiet, [Footnote: St. +Mark's Place, "partly covered by turf, and planted with a few trees; and +on account of its pleasant aspect called Brollo or Broglio, that is to +say, Garden." The canal passed through it, over which is built the +bridge of the Malpassi. Galliciolli, lib. I, cap. viii.] divided by a +small canal, with a line of trees on each side; and extending between +the two churches of St. Theodore and St. Geminian, as the little piazza, +of Torcello lies between its "palazzo" and cathedral. + +SECTION IV. But in the year 813, when the seat of government was finally +removed to the Rialto, a Ducal Palace, built on the spot where the +present one stands, with a Ducal Chapel beside it, [Footnote: My +authorities for this statement are given below, in the chapter on the +Ducal Palace.] gave a very different character to the Square of St. +Mark; and fifteen years later, the acquisition of the body of the Saint, +and its deposition in the Ducal Chapel, perhaps not yet completed, +occasioned the investiture of that chapel with all possible splendor. +St. Theodore was deposed from his patronship, and his church destroyed, +to make room for the aggrandizement of the one attached to the Ducal +Palace, and thenceforward known as "St. Mark's." [Footnote: In the +Chronicles, "Sancti Marci Ducalis Cappella."] + +SECTION V. This first church was however destroyed by fire, when the +Ducal Palace was burned in the revolt against Candiano, in 976. It was +partly rebuilt by his successor, Pietro Orseolo, on a larger scale; and +with the assistance of Byzantine architects, the fabric was carried on +under successive Doges for nearly a hundred years; the main building +being completed in 1071, but its incrustation with marble not till +considerably later. It was consecrated on the 8th of October, 1085, +[Footnote: "To God the Lord, the glorious Virgin Annunciate, and the +Protector St. Mark."--_Corner_, p. 14. It is needless to trouble the +reader with the various authorities for the above statements: I have +consulted the best. The previous inscription once existing on the church +itself: + + "Anno milleno transacto bisque trigeno + Desuper undecimo fuit facta primo," + +is no longer to be seen, and is conjectured by Corner, with much +probability, to have perished "in qualche ristauro."] according to +Sansovino and the author of the "Chiesa Ducale di S. Marco," in 1094 +according to Lazari, but certainly between 1084 and 1096, those years +being the limits of the reign of Vital Falier; I incline to the +supposition that it was soon after his accession to the throne in 1085, +though Sansovino writes, by mistake, Ordelafo instead of Vital Falier. +But, at all events, before the close of the eleventh century the great +consecration of the church took place. It was again injured by fire in +1106, but repaired; and from that time to the fall of Venice there was +probably no Doge who did not in some slight degree embellish or alter +the fabric, so that few parts of it can be pronounced boldly to be of +any given date. Two periods of interference are, however, notable above +the rest: the first, that in which the Gothic school had superseded the +Byzantine towards the close of the fourteenth century, when the +pinnacles, upper archivolts, and window traceries were added to the +exterior, and the great screen, with various chapels and +tabernacle-work, to the interior; the second, when the Renaissance +school superseded the Gothic, and the pupils of Titian and Tintoret +substituted, over one half of the church, their own compositions for the +Greek mosaics with which it was originally decorated; [Footnote: Signed +Bartolomeus Bozza, 1634, 1647, 1656, etc.] happily, though with no good +will, having left enough to enable us to imagine and lament what they +destroyed. Of this irreparable loss we shall have more to say hereafter; +meantime, I wish only to fix in the reader's mind the succession of +periods of alteration as firmly and simply as possible. + +SECTION VI. We have seen that the main body of the church may be broadly +stated to be of the eleventh century, the Gothic additions of the +fourteenth, and the restored mosaics of the seventeenth. There is no +difficulty in distinguishing at a glance the Gothic portions from the +Byzantine; but there is considerable difficulty in ascertaining how +long, during the course of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, +additions were made to the Byzantine church, which cannot be easily +distinguished from the work of the eleventh century, being purposely +executed in the same manner. Two of the most important pieces of +evidence on this point are, a mosaic in the south transept, and another +over the northern door of the facade; the first representing the +interior, the second the exterior, of the ancient church. + +SECTION VII. It has just been stated that the existing building was +consecrated by the Doge Vital Falier. A peculiar solemnity was given to +that of consecration, in the minds of the Venetian people, by what +appears to have been one of the best arranged and most successful +impostures ever attempted by the clergy of the Romish church. The body +of St. Mark had, without doubt, perished in the conflagration of 976; +but the revenues of the church depended too much upon the devotion +excited by these relics to permit the confession of their loss. The +following is the account given by Corner, and believed to this day by +the Venetians, of the pretended miracle by which it was concealed. + +"After the repairs undertaken by the Doge Orseolo, the place in which +the body of the holy Evangelist rested had been altogether forgotten, so +that the Doge Vital Falier was entirely ignorant of the place of the +venerable deposit. This was no light affliction, not only to the pious +Doge, but to all the citizens and people; so that at last, moved by +confidence in the Divine mercy, they determined to implore, with prayer +and fasting, the manifestation of so great a treasure, which did not now +depend upon any human effort. A general fast being therefore proclaimed, +and a solemn procession appointed for the 25th day of June, while the +people assembled in the church interceded with God in fervent prayers +for the desired boon, they beheld, with as much amazement as joy, a +slight shaking in the marbles of a pillar (near the place where the +altar of the Cross is now), which, presently falling to the earth, +exposed to the view of the rejoicing people the chest of bronze in which +the body of the Evangelist was laid." + +SECTION VIII. Of the main facts of this tale there is no doubt. They +were embellished afterwards, as usual, by many fanciful traditions; as, +for instance, that, when the sarcophagus was discovered, St. Mark +extended his hand out of it, with a gold ring on one of the fingers, +which he permitted a noble of the Dolfin family to remove; and a quaint +and delightful story was further invented of this ring, which I shall +not repeat here, as it is now as well known as any tale of the Arabian +Nights. But the fast and the discovery of the coffin, by whatever means +effected, are facts; and they are recorded in one of the best-preserved +mosaics of the north transept, executed very certainly not long after +the event had taken place, closely resembling in its treatment that of +the Bayeux tapestry, and showing, in a conventional manner, the interior +of the church, as it then was, filled by the people, first in prayer, +then in thanksgiving, the pillar standing open before them, and the +Doge, in the midst of them, distinguished by his crimson bonnet +embroidered with gold, but more unmistakably by the inscription "Dux" +over his head, as uniformly is the case in the Bayeux tapestry, and most +other pictorial works of the period. The church is, of course, rudely +represented, and the two upper stories of it reduced to a small scale in +order to form a background to the figures; one of those bold pieces of +picture history which we in our pride of perspective, and a thousand +things besides, never dare attempt. We should have put in a column or +two of the real or perspective size, and subdued it into a vague +background: the old workman crushed the church together that he might +get it all in, up to the cupolas; and has, therefore, left us some +useful notes of its ancient form, though any one who is familiar with +the method of drawing employed at the period will not push the evidence +too far. The two pulpits are there, however, as they are at this day, +and the fringe of mosaic flowerwork which then encompassed the whole +church, but which modern restorers have destroyed, all but one fragment +still left in the south aisle. There is no attempt to represent the +other mosaics on the roof, the scale being too small to admit of their +being represented with any success; but some at least of those mosaics +had been executed at that period, and their absence in the +representation of the entire church is especially to be observed, in +order to show that we must not trust to any negative evidence in such +works. M. Lazari has rashly concluded that the central archivolt of St. +Mark's _must_ be posterior to the year 1205, because it does not +appear in the representation of the exterior of the church over the +northern door; [Footnote: Guida di Venezia, p. 6. (He is right, +however.)] but he justly observes that this mosaic (which is the other +piece of evidence we possess respecting the ancient form of the +building) cannot itself be earlier than 1205, since it represents the +bronze horses which were brought from Constantinople in that year. And +this one fact renders it very difficult to speak with confidence +respecting the date of any part of the exterior of St. Mark's; for we +have above seen that it was consecrated in the eleventh century, and yet +here is one of the most important exterior decorations assuredly +retouched, if not entirely added, in the thirteenth, although its style +would have led us to suppose it had been an original part of the fabric. +However, for all our purposes, it will be enough for the reader to +remember that the earliest parts of the building belong to the eleventh, +twelfth, and first part of the thirteenth century; the Gothic portions +to the fourteenth; some of the altars and embellishments to the +fifteenth and sixteenth; and the modern portion of the mosaics to the +seventeenth. + +SECTION IX. This, however, I only wish him to recollect in order that I +may speak generally of the Byzantine architecture of St. Mark's, without +leading him to suppose the whole church to have been built and decorated +by Greek artists. Its later portions, with the single exception of the +seventeenth century mosaics, have been so dexterously accommodated to +the original fabric that the general effect is still that of a Byzantine +building; and I shall not, except when it is absolutely necessary, +direct attention to the discordant points, or weary the reader with +anatomical criticism. Whatever in St. Mark's arrests the eye, or affects +the feelings, is either Byzantine, or has been modified by Byzantine +influence; and our inquiry into its architectural merits need not +therefore be disturbed by the anxieties of antiquarianism, or arrested +by the obscurities of chronology. + +SECTION X. And now I wish that the reader, before I bring him into St. +Mark's Place, would imagine himself for a little time in a quiet English +cathedral town, and walk with me to the west front of its cathedral. Let +us go together up the more retired street, at the end of which we can +see the pinnacles of one of the towers, and then through the low gray +gateway, with its battlemented top and small latticed window in the +centre, into the inner private-looking road or close, where nothing goes +in but the carts of the tradesmen who supply the bishop and the chapter, +and where there are little shaven grass-plots, fenced in by neat rails, +before old-fashioned groups of somewhat diminutive and excessively trim +houses, with little oriel and bay windows jutting out here and there, +and deep wooden cornices and eaves painted cream color and white, and +small porches to their doors in the shape of cockle-shells, or little, +crooked, thick, indescribable wooden gables warped a little on one side; +and so forward till we come to larger houses, also old-fashioned, but of +red brick, and with gardens behind them, and fruit walls, which show +here and there, among the nectarines, the vestiges of an old cloister +arch or shaft, and looking in front on the cathedral square itself, laid +out in rigid divisions of smooth grass and gravel walk, yet not +uncheerful, especially on the sunny side where the canons' children are +walking with their nurserymaids. And so, taking care not to tread on the +grass, we will go along the straight walk to the west front, and there +stand for a time, looking up at its deep-pointed porches and the dark +places between their pillars where there were statues once, and where +the fragments, here and there, of a stately figure are still left, which +has in it the likeness of a king, perhaps indeed a king on earth, +perhaps a saintly king long ago in heaven; and so higher and higher up +to the great mouldering wall of rugged sculpture and confused arcades, +shattered, and gray, and grisly with heads of dragons and mocking +fiends, worn by the rain and swirling winds into yet unseemlier shape, +and colored on their stony scales by the deep russet-orange lichen, +melancholy gold; and so, higher still, to the bleak towers, so far above +that the eye loses itself among the bosses of their traceries, though +they are rude and strong, and only sees like a drift of eddying black +points, now closing, now scattering, and now settling suddenly into +invisible places among the bosses and flowers, the crowd of restless +birds that fill the whole square with that strange clangor of theirs, so +harsh and yet so soothing, like the cries of birds on a solitary coast +between the cliffs and sea. + +SECTION XI. Think for a little while of that scene, and the meaning of +all its small formalisms, mixed with its serene sublimity. Estimate its +secluded, continuous, drowsy felicities, and its evidence of the sense +and steady performance of such kind of duties as can be regulated by the +cathedral clock; and weigh the influence of those dark towers on all who +have passed through the lonely square at their feet for centuries, and +on all who have seen them rising far away over the wooded plain, or +catching on their square masses the last rays of the sunset, when the +city at their feet was indicated only by the mist at the bend of the +river. And then let us quickly recollect that we are in Venice, and land +at the extremity of the Calle Lunga San Moise, which may be considered +as there answering to the secluded street that led us to our English +cathedral gateway. + +SECTION XII. We find ourselves in a paved alley, some seven feet wide +where it is widest, full of people, and resonant with cries of itinerant +salesmen,--a shriek in their beginning, and dying away into a kind of +brazen ringing, all the worse for its confinement between the high +houses of the passage along which we have to make our way. Over head an +inextricable confusion of rugged shutters, and iron balconies and +chimney flues pushed out on brackets to save room, and arched windows +with projecting sills of Istrian stone, and gleams of green leaves here +and there where a fig-tree branch escapes over a lower wall from some +inner cortile, leading the eye up to the narrow stream of blue sky high +over all. On each side, a row of shops, as densely set as may be, +occupying, in fact, intervals between the square stone shafts, about +eight feet high, which carry the first floors: intervals of which one is +narrow and serves as a door; the other is, in the more respectable +shops, wainscoted to the height of the counter and glazed above, but in +those of the poorer tradesmen left open to the ground, and the wares +laid on benches and tables in the open air, the light in all cases +entering at the front only,--and fading away in a few feet from the +threshold into a gloom which the eye from without cannot penetrate, but +which is generally broken by a ray or two from a feeble lamp at the back +of the shop, suspended before a print of the Virgin. The less pious +shop-keeper sometimes leaves his lamp unlighted, and is contented with a +penny print; the more religious one has his print colored and set in a +little shrine with a gilded or figured fringe, with perhaps a faded +flower or two on each side, and his lamp burning brilliantly. Here at +the fruiterer's, where the dark-green watermelons are heaped upon the +counter like cannon balls, the Madonna has a tabernacle of fresh laurel +leaves; but the pewterer next door has let his lamp out, and there is +nothing to be seen in his shop but the dull gleam of the studded +patterns on the copper pans, hanging from his roof in the darkness. Next +comes a "Vendita Frittole e Liquori," where the Virgin, enthroned in a +very humble manner beside a tallow candle on a back shelf, presides over +certain ambrosial morsels of a nature too ambiguous to be denned or +enumerated. But a few steps farther on, at the regular wineshop of the +calle, where we are offered "Vino Nostrani a Soldi 28'32," the Madonna +is in great glory, enthroned above ten or a dozen large red casks of +three-year-old vintage, and flanked by goodly ranks of bottles of +Maraschino, and two crimson lamps; and for the evening, when the +gondoliers will come to drink out, under her auspices, the money they +have gained during the day, she will have a whole chandelier. + +SECTION XIII. A yard or two farther, we pass the hostelry of the Black +Eagle, and, glancing as we pass through the square door of marble, +deeply moulded, in the outer wall, we see the shadows of its pergola of +vines resting on an ancient well, with a pointed shield carved on its +side; and so presently emerge on the bridge and Campo San Moise, whence +to the entrance into St. Mark's Place, called the Bocca di Piazza, +(mouth of the square), the Venetian character is nearly destroyed, first +by the frightful facade of San Moise, which we will pause at another +time to examine, and then by the modernizing of the shops as they near +the piazza, and the mingling with the lower Venetian populace of +lounging groups of English and Austrians. We will push fast through them +into the shadow of the pillars at the end of the "Bocca di Piazza," and +then we forget them all; for between those pillars there opens a great +light, and, in the midst of it, as we advance slowly, the vast tower of +St. Mark seems to lift itself visibly forth from the level field of +chequered stones; and, on each side, the countless arches prolong +themselves into ranged symmetry, as if the rugged and irregular houses +that pressed together above us in the dark alley had been struck back +into sudden obedience and lovely order, and all their rude casements and +broken walls had been transformed into arches charged with goodly +sculpture, and fluted shafts of delicate stone. + +SECTION XIV. And well may they fall back, for beyond those troops of +ordered arches there rises a vision out of the earth, and all the great +square seems to have opened from it in a kind of awe, that we may see it +far away;--a multitude of pillars and white domes, clustered into a long +low pyramid of colored light; a treasure-heap, it seems, partly of gold, +and partly of opal and mother-of-pearl, hollowed beneath into five great +vaulted porches, ceiled with fair mosaic, and beset with sculpture of +alabaster, clear as amber and delicate as ivory,--sculpture fantastic +and involved, of palm leaves and lilies, and grapes and pomegranates, +and birds clinging and fluttering among the branches, all twined +together into an endless network of buds and plumes; and, in the midst +of it, the solemn forms of angels, sceptred, and robed to the feet, and +leaning to each other across the gates, their figures indistinct among +the gleaming of the golden ground through the leaves beside them, +interrupted and dim, like the morning light as it faded back among the +branches of Eden, when first its gates were angel-guarded long ago. And +round the walls of the porches there are set pillars of variegated +stones, jasper and porphyry, and deep-green serpentine spotted with +flakes of snow, and marbles, that half refuse and half yield to the +sunshine, Cleopatra-like, "their bluest veins to kiss"--the shadow, as +it steals back from them, revealing line after line of azure undulation, +as a receding tide leaves the waved sand; their capitals rich with +interwoven tracery, rooted knots of herbage, and drifting leaves of +acanthus and vine, and mystical signs, all beginning and ending in the +Cross; and above them, in the broad archivolts, a continuous chain of +language and of life--angels, and the signs of heaven, and the labors of +men, each in its appointed season upon the earth; and above these, +another range of glittering pinnacles, mixed with white arches edged +with scarlet flowers,--a confusion of delight, amidst which the breasts +of the Greek horses are seen blazing in their breadth of golden +strength, and the St. Mark's Lion, lifted on a blue field covered with +stars, until at last, as if in ecstasy, the crests of the arches break +into a marble foam, and toss themselves far into the blue sky in flashes +and wreaths of sculptured spray, as if the breakers on the Lido shore +had been frost-bound before they fell, and the sea-nymphs had inlaid +them with coral and amethyst. + +Between that grim cathedral of England and this, what an interval! There +is a type of it in the very birds that haunt them; for, instead of the +restless crowd, hoarse-voiced and sable-winged, drifting on the bleak +upper air, the St. Mark's porches are full of doves, that nestle among +the marble foliage, and mingle the soft iridescence of their living +plumes, changing at every motion, with the tints, hardly less lovely, +that have stood unchanged for seven hundred years. + +SECTION XV. And what effect has this splendor on those who pass beneath +it? You may walk from sunrise to sunset, to and fro, before the gateway +of St. Mark's, and you will not see an eye lifted to it, nor a +countenance brightened by it. Priest and layman, soldier and civilian, +rich and poor, pass by it alike regardlessly. Up to the very recesses of +the porches, the meanest tradesmen of the city push their counters; nay, +the foundations of its pillars are themselves the seats--not "of them +that sell doves" for sacrifice, but of the vendors of toys and +caricatures. Round the whole square in front of the church there is +almost a continuous line of cafes, where the idle Venetians of the +middle classes lounge, and read empty journals; in its centre the +Austrian bands play during the time of vespers, their martial music +jarring with the organ notes,--the march drowning the miserere, and the +sullen crowd thickening round them,--a crowd, which, if it had its will, +would stiletto every soldier that pipes to it. And in the recesses of +the porches, all day long, knots of men of the lowest classes, +unemployed and listless, lie basking in the sun like lizards; and +unregarded children,--every heavy glance of their young eyes full of +desperation and stony depravity, and their throats hoarse with +cursing,--gamble, and fight, and snarl, and sleep, hour after hour, +clashing their bruised centesimi upon the marble ledges of the church +porch. And the images of Christ and His angels look down upon it +continually. + +That we may not enter the church out of the midst of the horror of this, +let us turn aside under the portico which looks towards the sea, and +passing round within the two massive pillars brought from St. Jean +d'Acre, we shall find the gate of the Baptistery; let us enter there. +The heavy door closes behind us instantly, and the light, and the +turbulence of the Piazzetta, are together shut out by it. + +SECTION XVI. We are in a low vaulted room; vaulted, not with arches, but +with small cupolas starred with gold, and chequered with gloomy figures: +in the centre is a bronze font charged with rich bas-reliefs, a small +figure of the Baptist standing above it in a single ray of light that +glances across the narrow room, dying as it falls from a window high in +the wall, and the first thing that it strikes, and the only thing that +it strikes brightly, is a tomb. We hardly know if it be a tomb indeed; +for it is like a narrow couch set beside the window, low-roofed and +curtained, so that it might seem, but that it has some height above the +pavement, to have been drawn towards the window, that the sleeper might +be wakened early;--only there are two angels who have drawn the curtain +back, and are looking down upon him. Let us look also and thank that +gentle light that rests upon his forehead for ever, and dies away upon +his breast. + +The face is of a man in middle life, but there are two deep furrows +right across the forehead, dividing it like the foundations of a tower: +the height of it above is bound by the fillet of the ducal cap. The rest +of the features are singularly small and delicate, the lips sharp, +perhaps the sharpness of death being added to that of the natural lines; +but there is a sweet smile upon them, and a deep serenity upon the whole +countenance. The roof of the canopy above has been blue, filled with +stars; beneath, in the centre of the tomb on which the figure rests, is +a seated figure of the Virgin, and the border of it all around is of +flowers and soft leaves, growing rich and deep, as if in a field in +summer. + +It is the Doge Andrea Dandolo, a man early great among the great of +Venice; and early lost. She chose him for her king in his 36th year; he +died ten years later, leaving behind him that history to which we owe +half of what we know of her former fortunes. + +SECTION XVII. Look round at the room in which he lies. The floor of it +is of rich mosaic, encompassed by a low seat of red marble, and its +walls are of alabaster, but worn and shattered, and darkly stained with +age, almost a ruin,--in places the slabs of marble have fallen away +altogether, and the rugged brickwork is seen through the rents, but all +beautiful; the ravaging fissures fretting their way among the islands +and channelled zones of the alabaster, and the time-stains on its +translucent masses darkened into fields of rich golden brown, like the +color of seaweed when the sun strikes on it through deep sea. The light +fades away into the recess of the chamber towards the altar, and the eye +can hardly trace the lines of the bas-relief behind it of the baptism of +Christ: but on the vaulting of the roof the figures are distinct, and +there are seen upon it two great circles, one surrounded by the +"Principalities and powers in heavenly places," of which Milton has +expressed the ancient division in the single massy line, + + "Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers," + +and around the other, the Apostles; Christ the centre of both; and upon +the walls, again and again repeated, the gaunt figure of the Baptist, in +every circumstance of his life and death; and the streams of the Jordan +running down between their cloven rocks; the axe laid to the root of a +fruitless tree that springs upon their shore. "Every tree that bringeth +not forth good fruit shall be hewn down, and cast into the fire." Yes, +verily: to be baptized with fire, or to be cast therein; it is the +choice set before all men. The march-notes still murmur through the +grated window, and mingle with the sounding in our ears of the sentence +of judgment, which the old Greek has written on that Baptistery wall. +Venice has made her choice. + +SECTION XVIII. He who lies under that stony canopy would have taught her +another choice, in his day, if she would have listened to him; but he +and his counsels have long been forgotten by her, the dust lies upon his +lips. + +Through the heavy door whose bronze network closes the place of his +rest, let us enter the church itself. It is lost in still deeper +twilight, to which the eye must be accustomed for some moments before +the form of the building can be traced; and then there opens before us a +vast cave, hewn out into the form of a Cross, and divided into shadowy +aisles by many pillars. Round the domes of its roof the light enters +only through narrow apertures like large stars; and here and there a ray +or two from some far away casement wanders into the darkness, and casts +a narrow phosphoric stream upon the waves of marble that heave and fall +in a thousand colors along the floor. What else there is of light is +from torches, or silver lamps, burning ceaselessly in the recesses of +the chapels; the roof sheeted with gold, and the polished walls covered +with alabaster, give back at every curve and angle some feeble gleaming +to the flames; and the glories round the heads of the sculptured saints +flash out upon us as we pass them, and sink again into the gloom. Under +foot and over head, a continual succession of crowded imagery, one +picture passing into another, as in a dream; forms beautiful and +terrible mixed together; dragons and serpents, and ravening beasts of +prey, and graceful birds that in the midst of them drink from running +fountains and feed from vases of crystal; the passions and the pleasures +of human life symbolized together, and the mystery of its redemption; +for the mazes of interwoven lines and changeful pictures lead always at +last to the Cross, lifted and carved in every place and upon every +stonel sometimes with the serpent of eternity wrapt round it, sometimes +with doves beneath its arms, and sweet herbage growing forth from its +feet; but conspicuous most of all on the great rood that crosses the +church before the altar, raised in bright blazonry against the shadow of +the apse. And although in the recesses of the aisles and chapels, when +the mist of the incense hangs heavily, we may see continually a figure +traced in faint lines upon their marble, a woman standing with her eyes +raised to heaven, and the inscription above her, "Mother of God," she is +not here the presiding deity. It is the Cross that is first seen, and +always, burning in the centre of the temple; and every dome and hollow +of its roof has the figure of Christ in the utmost height of it, raised +in power, or returning in judgment. + +SECTION XIX. Nor is this interior without effect on the minds of the +people. At every hour of the day there are groups collected before the +various shrines, and solitary worshippers scattered through the dark +places of the church, evidently in prayer both deep and reverent, and, +for the most part, profoundly sorrowful. The devotees at the greater +number of the renowned shrines of Romanism may be seen murmuring their +appointed prayers with wandering eyes and unengaged gestures; but the +step of the stranger does not disturb those who kneel on the pavement of +St. Mark's; and hardly a moment passes, from early morning to sunset, in +which we may not see some half-veiled figure enter beneath the Arabian +porch, cast itself into long abasement on the floor of the temple, and +then rising slowly with more confirmed step, and with a passionate kiss +and clasp of the arms given to the feet of the crucifix, by which the +lamps burn always in the northern aisle, leave the church, as if +comforted. + +SECTION XX. But we must not hastily conclude from this that the nobler +characters of the building have at present any influence in fostering a +devotional spirit. There is distress enough in Venice to bring many to +their knees, without excitement from external imagery; and whatever +there may be in the temper of the worship offered in St. Mark's more +than can be accounted for by reference to the unhappy circumstances of +the city, is assuredly not owing either to the beauty of its +architecture or to the impressiveness of the Scripture histories +embodied in its mosaics. That it has a peculiar effect, however slight, +on the popular mind, may perhaps be safely conjectured from the number +of worshippers which it attracts, while the churches of St. Paul and the +Frari, larger in size and more central in position, are left +comparatively empty. [Footnote: The mere warmth of St. Mark's in winter, +which is much greater than that of the other two churches above named, +must, however, be taken into consideration, as one of the most efficient +causes of its being then more frequented.] But this effect is altogether +to be ascribed to its richer assemblage of those sources of influence +which address themselves to the commonest instincts of the human mind, +and which, in all ages and countries, have been more or less employed in +the support of superstition. Darkness and mystery; confused recesses of +building; artificial light employed in small quantity, but maintained +with a constancy which seems to give it a kind of sacredness; +preciousness of material easily comprehended by the vulgar eye; close +air loaded with a sweet and peculiar odor associated only with religious +services, solemn music, and tangible idols or images having popular +legends attached to them,--these, the stage properties of superstition, +which have been from the beginning of the world, and must be to the end +of it, employed by all nations, whether openly savage or nominally +civilized, to produce a false awe in minds incapable of apprehending the +true nature of the Deity, are assembled in St. Mark's to a degree, as +far as I know, unexampled in any other European church. The arts of the +Magus and the Brahmin are exhausted in the animation of a paralyzed +Christianity; and the popular sentiment which these arts excite is to be +regarded by us with no more respect than we should have considered +ourselves justified in rendering to the devotion of the worshippers at +Eleusis, Ellora, or Edfou. [Footnote: I said above that the larger +number of the devotees entered by the "Arabian" porch; the porch, that +is to say, on the north side of the church, remarkable for its rich +Arabian archivolt, and through which access is gained immediately to the +northern transept. The reason is, that in that transept is the chapel of +the Madonna, which has a greater attraction for the Venetians than all +the rest of the church besides. The old builders kept their images of +the Virgin subordinate to those of Christ; but modern Romanism has +retrograded from theirs, and the most glittering portions of the whole +church are the two recesses behind this lateral altar, covered with +silver hearts dedicated to the Virgin.] + +SECTION XXI. Indeed, these inferior means of exciting religious emotion +were employed in the ancient Church as they are at this day, but not +employed alone. Torchlight there was, as there is now; but the +torchlight illumined Scripture histories on the walls, which every eye +traced and every heart comprehended, but which, during my whole +residence in Venice, I never saw one Venetian regard for an instant. I +never heard from any one the most languid expression of interest in any +feature of the church, or perceived the slightest evidence of their +understanding the meaning of its architecture; and while, therefore, the +English cathedral, though no longer dedicated to the kind of services +for which it was intended by its builders, and much at variance in many +of its characters with the temper of the people by whom it is now +surrounded, retains yet so much of its religious influence that no +prominent feature of its architecture can be said to exist altogether in +vain, we have in St. Mark's a building apparently still employed in the +ceremonies for which it was designed, and yet of which the impressive +attributes have altogether ceased to be comprehended by its votaries. +The beauty which it possesses is unfelt, the language it uses is +forgotten; and in the midst of the city to whose service it has so long +been consecrated, and still filled by crowds of the descendants of those +to whom it owes its magnificence; it stands, in reality, more desolate +than the ruins through which the sheep-walk passes unbroken in our +English valleys; and the writing on its marble walls is less regarded +and less powerful for the teaching of men, than the letters which the +shepherd follows with his finger, where the moss is lightest on the +tombs in the desecrated cloister. + +SECTION XXII. It must therefore be altogether without reference to its +present usefulness, that we pursue our inquiry into the merits and +meaning of the architecture of this marvellous building; and it can only +be after we have terminated that inquiry, conducting it carefully on +abstract grounds, that we can pronounce with any certainty how far the +present neglect of St. Mark's is significative of the decline of the +Venetian character, or how far this church is to be considered as the +relic of a barbarous age, incapable of attracting the admiration, or +influencing the feelings of a civilized community. + +The inquiry before us is twofold. Throughout the first volume, I +carefully kept the study of _expression_ distinct from that of abstract +architectural perfection; telling the reader that in every building we +should afterwards examine, he would have first to form a judgment of its +construction and decorative merit, considering it merely as a work of +art; and then to examine farther, in what degree it fulfilled its +expressional purposes. Accordingly, we have first to judge of St. Mark's +merely as a piece of architecture, not as a church; secondly, to estimate +its fitness for its special duty as a place of worship, and the relation +in which it stands, as such, to those northern cathedrals that still +retain so much of the power over the human heart, which the Byzantine +domes appear to have lost for ever. + +SECTION XXIII. In the two succeeding sections of this work, devoted +respectively to the examination of the Gothic and Renaissance buildings +in Venice, I have endeavored to analyze and state, as briefly as +possible, the true nature of each school,--first in Spirit, then in +Form. I wished to have given a similar analysis, in this section, of the +nature of Byzantine architecture; but could not make my statements +general, because I have never seen this kind of building on its native +soil. Nevertheless, in the following sketch of the principles +exemplified in St. Mark's, I believe that most of the leading features +and motives of the style will be found clearly enough distinguished to +enable the reader to judge of it with tolerable fairness, as compared +with the better known systems of European architecture in the middle +ages. + +SECTION XXIV. Now the first broad characteristic of the building, and +the root nearly of every other important peculiarity in it, is its +confessed _incrustation_. It is the purest example in Italy of the +great school of architecture in which the ruling principle is the +incrustation of brick with more precious materials; and it is necessary +before we proceed to criticise any one of its arrangements, that the +reader should carefully consider the principles which are likely to have +influenced, or might legitimately influence, the architects of such a +school, as distinguished from those whose designs are to be executed in +massive materials. + +It is true, that among different nations, and at different times, we may +find examples of every sort and degree of incrustation, from the mere +setting of the larger and more compact stones by preference at the +outside of the wall, to the miserable construction of that modern brick +cornice, with its coating of cement, which, but the other day, in +London, killed its unhappy workmen in its fall. [Footnote: Vide +"Builder," for October, 1851.] But just as it is perfectly possible to +have a clear idea of the opposing characteristics of two different +species of plants or animals, though between the two there are varieties +which it is difficult to assign either to the one or the other, so the +reader may fix decisively in his mind the legitimate characteristics of +the incrusted and the massive styles, though between the two there are +varieties which confessedly unite the attributes of both. For instance, +in many Roman remains, built of blocks of tufa and incrusted with +marble, we have a style, which, though truly solid, possesses some of +the attributes of incrustation; and in the Cathedral of Florence, built +of brick and coated with marble, the marble facing is so firmly and +exquisitely set, that the building, though in reality incrusted, assumes +the attributes of solidity. But these intermediate examples need not in +the least confuse our generally distinct ideas of the two families of +buildings: the one in which the substance is alike throughout, and the +forms and conditions of the ornament assume or prove that it is so, as +in the best Greek buildings, and for the most part in our early Norman +and Gothic; and the other, in which the substance is of two kinds, one +internal, the other external, and the system of decoration is founded on +this duplicity, as pre-eminently in St. Mark's. + +SECTION XXV. I have used the word duplicity in no depreciatory sense. In +chapter ii. of the "Seven Lamps," Section 18, I especially guarded this +incrusted school from the imputation of insincerity, and I must do so +now at greater length. It appears insincere at first to a Northern +builder, because, accustomed to build with solid blocks of freestone, he +is in the habit of supposing the external superficies of a piece of +masonry to be some criterion of its thickness. But, as soon as he gets +acquainted with the incrusted style, he will find that the Southern +builders had no intention to deceive him. He will see that every slab of +facial marble is fastened to the next by a confessed _rivet_, and that +the joints of the armor are so visibly and openly accommodated to the +contours of the substance within, that he has no more right to complain +of treachery than a savage would have, who, for the first time in his +life seeing a man in armor, had supposed him to be made of solid steel. +Acquaint him with the customs of chivalry, and with the uses of the coat +of mail, and he ceases to accuse of dishonesty either the panoply or the +knight. + +These laws and customs of the St. Mark's architectural chivalry it must +be our business to develop. + +SECTION XXVI. First, consider the natural circumstances which give rise +to such a style. Suppose a nation of builders, placed far from any +quarries of available stone, and having precarious access to the +mainland where they exist; compelled therefore either to build entirely +with brick, or to import whatever stone they use from great distances, +in ships of small tonnage, and for the most part dependent for speed on +the oar rather than the sail. The labor and cost of carriage are just as +great, whether they import common or precious stone, and therefore the +natural tendency would always be to make each shipload as valuable as +possible. But in proportion to the preciousness of the stone, is the +limitation of its possible supply; limitation not determined merely by +cost, but by the physical conditions of the material, for of many +marbles, pieces above a certain size are not to be had for money. There +would also be a tendency in such circumstances to import as much stone +as possible ready sculptured, in order to save weight; and therefore, if +the traffic of their merchants led them to places where there were ruins +of ancient edifices, to ship the available fragments of them home. Out +of this supply of marble, partly composed of pieces of so precious a +quality that only a few tons of them could be on any terms obtained, and +partly of shafts, capitals, and other portions of foreign buildings, the +island architect has to fashion, as best he may, the anatomy of his +edifice. It is at his choice either to lodge his few blocks of precious +marble here and there among his masses of brick, and to cut out of the +sculptured fragments such new forms as may be necessary for the +observance of fixed proportions in the new building; or else to cut the +colored stones into thin pieces, of extent sufficient to face the whole +surface of the walls, and to adopt a method of construction irregular +enough to admit the insertion of fragmentary sculptures; rather with a +view of displaying their intrinsic beauty, than of setting them to any +regular service in the support of the building. + +An architect who cared only to display his own skill, and had no respect +for the works of others, would assuredly have chosen the former +alternative, and would have sawn the old marbles into fragments in order +to prevent all interference with his own designs. But an architect who +cared for the preservation of noble work, whether his own or others', +and more regarded the beauty of his building than his own fame, would +have done what those old builders of St. Mark's did for us, and saved +every relic with which he was entrusted. + +SECTION XXVII. But these were not the only motives which influenced the +Venetians in the adoption of their method of architecture. It might, +under all the circumstances above stated, have been a question with +other builders, whether to import one shipload of costly jaspers, or +twenty of chalk flints; and whether to build a small church faced with +porphyry and paved with agate, or to raise a vast cathedral in +freestone. But with the Venetians it could not be a question for an +instant; they were exiles from ancient and beautiful cities, and had +been accustomed to build with their ruins, not less in affection than in +admiration: they had thus not only grown familiar with the practice of +inserting older fragments in modern buildings, but they owed to that +practice a great part of the splendor of their city, and whatever charm +of association might aid its change from a Refuge into a Home. The +practice which began in the affections of a fugitive nation, was +prolonged in the pride of a conquering one; and beside the memorials of +departed happiness, were elevated the trophies of returning victory. The +ship of war brought home more marble in triumph than 'the merchant +vessel in speculation; and the front of St. Mark's became rather a +shrine at which to dedicate the splendor of miscellaneous spoil, than +the organized expression of any fixed architectural law, or religious +emotion. + +SECTION XXVIII. Thus far, however, the justification of the style of +this church depends on circumstances peculiar to the time of its +erection, and to the spot where it arose. The merit of its method, +considered in the abstract, rests on far broader grounds. + +In the fifth chapter of the "Seven Lamps," Section 14, the reader will +find the opinion of a modern architect of some reputation, Mr. Wood, +that the chief thing remarkable in this church "is its extreme +ugliness;" and he will find this opinion associated with another, +namely, that the works of the Caracci are far preferable to those of the +Venetian painters. This second statement of feeling reveals to us one of +the principal causes of the first; namely, that Mr. Wood had not any +perception of color, or delight in it. The perception of color is a gift +just as definitely granted to one person, and denied to another, as an +ear for music; and the very first requisite for true judgment of St. +Mark's, is the perfection of that color-faculty which few people ever +set themselves seriously to find out whether they possess or not. For it +is on its value as a piece of perfect and unchangeable coloring, that +the claims of this edifice to our respect are finally rested; and a deaf +man might as well pretend to pronounce judgment on the merits of a full +orchestra, as an architect trained in the composition of form only, to +discern the beauty of St. Mark's. It possesses the charm of color in +common with the greater part of the architecture, as well as of the +manufactures, of the East; but the Venetians deserve especial note as +the only European people who appear to have sympathized to the full with +the great instinct of the Eastern races. They indeed were compelled to +bring artists from Constantinople to design the mosaics of the vaults of +St. Mark's, and to group the colors of its porches; but they rapidly +took up and developed, under more masculine conditions, the system of +which the Greeks had shown them the example: while the burghers and +barons of the North were building their dark streets and grisly castles +of oak and sandstone, the merchants of Venice were covering their +palaces with porphyry and gold; and at last, when her mighty painters +had created for her a color more priceless than gold or porphyry, even +this, the richest of her treasures, she lavished upon walls whose +foundations were beaten by the sea; and the strong tide, as it runs +beneath the Rialto, is reddened to this day by the reflection of the +frescoes of Giorgione. + +SECTION XXIX. If, therefore, the reader does not care for color, I must +protest against his endeavor to form any judgment whatever of this +church of St. Mark's. But, if he both cares for and loves it, let him +remember that the school of incrusted architecture is _the only one in +which perfect and permanent chromatic decoration is possible_; and +let him look upon every piece of jasper and alabaster given to the +architect as a cake of very hard color, of which a certain portion is to +be ground down or cut off, to paint the walls with. Once understand this +thoroughly, and accept the condition that the body and availing strength +of the edifice are to be in brick, and that this under muscular power of +brickwork is to be clothed with the defence and the brightness of the +marble, as the body of an animal is protected and adorned by its scales +or its skin, and all the consequent fitnesses and laws of the structure +will be easily discernible. These I shall state in their natural order. + +SECTION XXX. LAW I. _That the plinths and cornices used for binding +the armor are to be light and delicate._ A certain thickness, at +least two or three inches, must be required in the covering pieces (even +when composed of the strongest stone, and set on the least exposed +parts), in order to prevent the chance of fracture, and to allow for the +wear of time. And the weight of this armor must not be trusted to +cement; the pieces must not be merely glued to the rough brick surface, +but connected with the mass which they protect by binding cornices and +string courses; and with each other, so as to secure mutual support, +aided by the rivetings, but by no means dependent upon them. And, for +the full honesty and straightforwardness of the work, it is necessary +that these string courses and binding plinths should not be of such +proportions as would fit them for taking any important part in the hard +work of the inner structure, or render them liable to be mistaken for +the great cornices and plinths already explained as essential parts of +the best solid building. They must be delicate, slight, and visibly +incapable of severer work than that assigned to them. + +SECTION XXXI. LAW II. _Science of inner structure is to be abandoned._ As +the body of the structure is confessedly of inferior, and comparatively +incoherent materials, it would be absurd to attempt in it any expression +of the higher refinements of construction. It will be enough that by its +mass we are assured of its sufficiency and strength; and there is the +less reason for endeavoring to diminish the extent of its surface by +delicacy of adjustment, because on the breadth of that surface we are to +depend for the better display of the color, which is to be the chief +source of our pleasure in the building. The main body of the work, +therefore, will be composed of solid walls and massive piers; and +whatever expression of finer structural science we may require, will be +thrown either into subordinate portions of it, or entirely directed to +the support of the external mail, where in arches or vaults it might +otherwise appear dangerously independent of the material within. + +SECTION XXXII. LAW III. _All shafts are to be solid._ Wherever, by the +smallness of the parts, we may be driven to abandon the incrusted +structure at all, it must be abandoned altogether. The eye must never be +left in the least doubt as to what is solid and what is coated. Whatever +appears _probably_ solid, must be _assuredly_ so, and therefore it +becomes an inviolable law that no shaft shall ever be incrusted. Not only +does the whole virtue of a shaft depend on its consolidation, but the +labor of cutting and adjusting an incrusted coat to it would be greater +than the saving of material is worth. Therefore the shaft, of whatever +size, is always to be solid; and because the incrusted character of the +rest of the building renders it more difficult for the shafts to clear +themselves from suspicion, they must not, in this incrusted style, be in +any place jointed. No shaft must ever be used but of one block; and this +the more, because the permission given to the builder to have his walls +and piers as ponderous as he likes, renders it quite unnecessary for him +to use shafts of any fixed size. In our Norman and Gothic, where definite +support is required at a definite point, it becomes lawful to build up a +tower of small stones in the shape of a shaft. But the Byzantine is +allowed to have as much support as he wants from the walls in every +direction, and he has no right to ask for further license in the +structure of his shafts. Let him, by generosity in the substance of his +pillars, repay us for the permission we have given him to be superficial +in his walls. The builder in the chalk valleys of France and England may +be blameless in kneading his clumsy pier out of broken flint and calcined +lime; but the Venetian, who has access to the riches of Asia and the +quarries of Egypt, must frame at least his shafts out of flawless stone. + +SECTION XXXIII. And this for another reason yet. Although, as we have +said, it is impossible to cover the walls of a large building with +color, except on the condition of dividing the stone into plates, there +is always a certain appearance of meanness and niggardliness in the +procedure. It is necessary that the builder should justify himself from +this suspicion; and prove that it is not in mere economy or poverty, but +in the real impossibility of doing otherwise, that he has sheeted his +walls so thinly with the precious film. Now the shaft is exactly the +portion of the edifice in which it is fittest to recover his honor in +this respect. For if blocks of jasper or porphyry be inserted in the +walls, the spectator cannot tell their thickness, and cannot judge of +the costliness of the sacrifice. But the shaft he can measure with his +eye in an instant, and estimate the quantity of treasure both in the +mass of its existing substance, and in that which has been hewn away to +bring it into its perfect and symmetrical form. And thus the shafts of +all buildings of this kind are justly regarded as an expression of their +wealth, and a form of treasure, just as much as the jewels or gold in +the sacred vessels; they are, in fact, nothing else than large jewels, +[Footnote: "Quivi presso si vedi una colonna di tanta bellezza e finezza +che e riputato _piutosto gioia che pietra_,"--Sansovino, of the +verd-antique pillar in San Jacomo dell' Orio. A remarkable piece of +natural history and moral philosophy, connected with this subject, will +be found in the second chapter of our third volume, quoted from the work +of a Florentine architect of the fifteenth century.] the block of +precious serpentine or jasper being valued according to its size and +brilliancy of color, like a large emerald or ruby; only the bulk +required to bestow value on the one is to be measured in feet and tons, +and on the other in lines and carats. The shafts must therefore be, +without exception, of one block in all buildings of this kind; for the +attempt in any place to incrust or joint them would be a deception like +that of introducing a false stone among jewellery (for a number of +joints of any precious stone are of course not equal in value to a +single piece of equal weight), and would put an end at once to the +spectator's confidence in the expression of wealth in any portion of the +structure, or of the spirit of sacrifice in those who raised it. + +SECTION XXXIV. LAW IV. _The shafts may sometimes be independent of the +construction._ Exactly in proportion to the importance which the +shaft assumes as a large jewel, is the diminution of its importance as a +sustaining member; for the delight which we receive in its abstract +bulk, and beauty of color, is altogether independent of any perception +of its adaptation to mechanical necessities. Like other beautiful things +in this world, its end is to _be_ beautiful; and, in proportion to +its beauty, it receives permission to be otherwise useless. We do not +blame emeralds and rubies because we cannot make them into heads of +hammers. Nay, so far from our admiration of the jewel shaft being +dependent on its doing work for us, it is very possible that a chief +part of its preciousness may consist in a delicacy, fragility, and +tenderness of material, which must render it utterly unfit for hard +work; and therefore that we shall admire it the more, because we +perceive that if we were to put much weight upon it, it would be +crushed. But, at all events, it is very clear that the primal object in +the placing of such shafts must be the display of their beauty to the +best advantage, and that therefore all imbedding of them in walls, or +crowding of them into groups, in any position in which either their real +size or any portion of their surface would be concealed, is either +inadmissible together, or objectionable in proportion to their value; +that no symmetrical or scientific arrangements of pillars are therefore +ever to be expected in buildings of this kind, and that all such are +even to be looked upon as positive errors and misapplications of +materials: but that, on the contrary, we must be constantly prepared to +see, and to see with admiration, shafts of great size and importance set +in places where their real service is little more than nominal, and +where the chief end of their existence is to catch the sunshine upon +their polished sides, and lead the eye into delighted wandering among +the mazes of their azure veins. + +SECTION XXXV. LAW V. _The shafts may be of variable size._ Since +the value of each shaft depends upon its bulk, and diminishes with the +diminution of its mass, in a greater ratio than the size itself +diminishes, as in the case of all other jewellery, it is evident that we +must not in general expect perfect symmetry and equality among the +series of shafts, any more than definiteness of application; but that, +on the contrary, an accurately observed symmetry ought to give us a kind +of pain, as proving that considerable and useless loss has been +sustained by some of the shafts, in being cut down to match with the +rest. It is true that symmetry is generally sought for in works of +smaller jewellery; but, even there, not a perfect symmetry, and obtained +under circumstances quite different from those which affect the placing +of shafts in architecture. First: the symmetry is usually imperfect. The +stones that seem to match each other in a ring or necklace, appear to do +so only because they are so small that their differences are not easily +measured by the eye; but there is almost always such difference between +them as would be strikingly apparent if it existed in the same +proportion between two shafts nine or ten feet in height. Secondly: the +quantity of stones which pass through a jeweller's hands, and the +facility of exchange of such small objects, enable the tradesman to +select any number of stones of approximate size; a selection, however, +often requiring so much time, that perfect symmetry in a group of very +fine stones adds enormously to their value. But the architect has +neither the time nor the facilities of exchange. He cannot lay aside one +column in a corner of his church till, in the course of traffic, he +obtain another that will match it; he has not hundreds of shafts +fastened up in bundles, out of which he can match sizes at his ease; he +cannot send to a brother-tradesman and exchange the useless stones for +available ones, to the convenience of both. His blocks of stone, or his +ready hewn shafts, have been brought to him in limited number, from +immense distances; no others are to be had; and for those which he does +not bring into use, there is no demand elsewhere. His only means of +obtaining symmetry will therefore be, in cutting down the finer masses +to equality with the inferior ones; and this we ought not to desire him +often to do. And therefore, while sometimes in a Baldacchino, or an +important chapel or shrine, this costly symmetry may be necessary, and +admirable in proportion to its probable cost, in the general fabric we +must expect to see shafts introduced of size and proportion continually +varying, and such symmetry as may be obtained among them never +altogether perfect, and dependent for its charm frequently on strange +complexities and unexpected rising and falling of weight and accent in +its marble syllables; bearing the same relation to a rigidly chiselled +and proportioned architecture that the wild lyric rhythm of Aeschylus or +Pindar bears to the finished measures of Pope. + +SECTION XXXVI. The application of the principles of jewellery to the +smaller as well as the larger blocks, will suggest to us another reason +for the method of incrustation adopted in the walls. It often happens +that the beauty of the veining in some varieties of alabaster is so +great, that it becomes desirable to exhibit it by dividing the stone, +not merely to economize its substance, but to display the changes in the +disposition of its fantastic lines. By reversing one of two thin plates +successively taken from the stone, and placing their corresponding edges +in contact, a perfectly symmetrical figure may be obtained, which will +enable the eye to comprehend more thoroughly the position of the veins. +And this is actually the method in which, for the most part, the +alabasters of St. Mark are employed; thus accomplishing a double +good,--directing the spectator, in the first place, to close observation +of the nature of the stone employed, and in the second, giving him a +farther proof of the honesty of intention in the builder: for wherever +similar veining is discovered in two pieces, the fact is declared that +they have been cut from the same stone. It would have been easy to +disguise the similarity by using them in different parts of the +building; but on the contrary they are set edge to edge, so that the +whole system of the architecture may be discovered at a glance by any +one acquainted with the nature of the stones employed. Nay, but, it is +perhaps answered me, not by an ordinary observer; a person ignorant of +the nature of alabaster might perhaps fancy all these symmetrical +patterns to have been found in the stone itself, and thus be doubly +deceived, supposing blocks to be solid and symmetrical which were in +reality subdivided and irregular. I grant it; but be it remembered, that +in all things, ignorance is liable to be deceived, and has no right to +accuse anything but itself as the source of the deception. The style and +the words are dishonest, not which are liable to be misunderstood if +subjected to no inquiry, but which are deliberately calculated to lead +inquiry astray. There are perhaps no great or noble truths, from those +of religion downwards, which present no mistakable aspect to casual or +ignorant contemplation. Both the truth and the lie agree in hiding +themselves at first, but the lie continues to hide itself with effort, +as we approach to examine it; and leads us, if undiscovered, into deeper +lies; the truth reveals itself in proportion to our patience and +knowledge, discovers itself kindly to our pleading, and leads us, as it +is discovered, into deeper truths. + +SECTION XXXVII. LAW VI. _The decoration must be shallow in +cutting._ The method of construction being thus systematized, it is +evident that a certain style of decoration must arise out of it, based +on the primal condition that over the greater part of the edifice there +can be _no deep cutting_. The thin sheets of covering stones do not +admit of it; we must not cut them through to the bricks; and whatever +ornaments we engrave upon them cannot, therefore, be more than an inch +deep at the utmost. Consider for an instant the enormous differences +which this single condition compels between the sculptural decoration of +the incrusted style, and that of the solid stones of the North, which +may be hacked and hewn into whatever cavernous hollows and black +recesses we choose; struck into grim darknesses and grotesque +projections, and rugged ploughings up of sinuous furrows, in which any +form or thought may be wrought out on any scale,--mighty statues with +robes of rock and crowned foreheads burning in the sun, or venomous +goblins and stealthy dragons shrunk into lurking-places of untraceable +shade: think of this, and of the play and freedom given to the +sculptor's hand and temper, to smite out and in, hither and thither, as +he will; and then consider what must be the different spirit of the +design which is to be wrought on the smooth surface of a film of marble, +where every line and shadow must be drawn with the most tender +pencilling and cautious reserve of resource,--where even the chisel must +not strike hard, lest it break through the delicate stone, nor the mind +be permitted in any impetuosity of conception inconsistent with the fine +discipline of the hand. Consider that whatever animal or human form is +to be suggested, must be projected on a flat surface; that all the +features of the countenance, the folds of the drapery, the involutions +of the limbs, must be so reduced and subdued that the whole work becomes +rather a piece of fine drawing than of sculpture; and then follow out, +until you begin to perceive their endlessness, the resulting differences +of character which will be necessitated in every part of the ornamental +designs of these incrusted churches, as compared with that of the +Northern schools. I shall endeavor to trace a few of them only. + +SECTION XXXVIII. The first would of course be a diminution of the +builder's dependence upon human form as a source of ornament: since +exactly in proportion to the dignity of the form itself is the loss +which it must sustain in being reduced to a shallow and linear +bas-relief, as well as the difficulty of expressing it at all under such +conditions. Wherever sculpture can be solid, the nobler characters of +the human form at once lead the artist to aim at its representation, +rather than at that of inferior organisms; but when all is to be reduced +to outline, the forms of flowers and lower animals are always more +intelligible, and are felt to approach much more to a satisfactory +rendering of the objects intended, than the outlines of the human body. +This inducement to seek for resources of ornament in the lower fields of +creation was powerless in the minds of the great Pagan nations, +Ninevite, Greek, or Egyptian: first, because their thoughts were so +concentrated on their own capacities and fates, that they preferred the +rudest suggestion of human form to the best of an inferior organism; +secondly, because their constant practice in solid sculpture, often +colossal, enabled them to bring a vast amount of science into the +treatment of the lines, whether of the low relief, the monochrome vase, +or shallow hieroglyphic. + +SECTION XXXIX. But when various ideas adverse to the representation of +animal, and especially of human, form, originating with the Arabs and +iconoclast Greeks, had begun at any rate to direct the builders' minds +to seek for decorative materials in inferior types, and when diminished +practice in solid sculpture had rendered it more difficult to find +artists capable of satisfactorily reducing the high organisms to their +elementary outlines, the choice of subject for surface sculpture would +be more and more uninterruptedly directed to floral organisms, and human +and animal form would become diminished in size, frequency, and general +importance. So that, while in the Northern solid architecture we +constantly find the effect of its noblest features dependent on ranges +of statues, often colossal, and full of abstract interest, independent +of their architectural service, in the Southern incrusted style we must +expect to find the human form for the most part subordinate and +diminutive, and involved among designs of foliage and flowers, in the +manner of which endless examples had been furnished by the fantastic +ornamentation of the Romans, from which the incrusted style had been +directly derived. + +SECTION XL. Farther. In proportion to the degree in which his subject +must be reduced to abstract outline will be the tendency in the sculptor +to abandon naturalism of representation, and subordinate every form to +architectural service. Where the flower or animal can be hewn into bold +relief, there will always be a temptation to render the representation +of it more complete than is necessary, or even to introduce details and +intricacies inconsistent with simplicity of distant effect. Very often a +worse fault than this is committed; and in the endeavor to give vitality +to the stone, the original ornamental purpose of the design is +sacrificed or forgotten. But when nothing of this kind can be attempted, +and a slight outline is all that the sculptor can command, we may +anticipate that this outline will be composed with exquisite grace; and +that the richness of its ornamental arrangement will atone for the +feebleness of its power of portraiture. On the porch of a Northern +cathedral we may seek for the images of the flowers that grow in the +neighboring fields, and as we watch with wonder the gray stones that +fret themselves into thorns, and soften into blossoms, we may care +little that these knots of ornament, as we retire from them to +contemplate the whole building, appear unconsidered or confused. On the +incrusted building we must expect no such deception of the eye or +thoughts. It may sometimes be difficult to determine, from the +involutions of its linear sculpture, what were the natural forms which +originally suggested them: but we may confidently expect that the grace +of their arrangement will always be complete; that there will not be a +line in them which could be taken away without injury, nor one wanting +which could be added with advantage. + +SECTION XLI. Farther. While the sculptures of the incrusted school will +thus be generally distinguished by care and purity rather than force, +and will be, for the most part, utterly wanting in depth of shadow, +there will be one means of obtaining darkness peculiarly simple and +obvious, and often in the sculptor's power. Wherever he can, without +danger, leave a hollow behind his covering slabs, or use them, like +glass, to fill an aperture in the wall, he can, by piercing them with +holes, obtain points or spaces of intense blackness to contrast with the +light tracing of the rest of his design. And we may expect to find this +artifice used the more extensively, because, while it will be an +effective means of ornamentation on the exterior of the building, it +will be also the safest way of admitting light to the interior, still +totally excluding both rain and wind. And it will naturally follow that +the architect, thus familiarized with the effect of black and sudden +points of shadow, will often seek to carry the same principle into other +portions of his ornamentation, and by deep drill-holes, or perhaps +inlaid portions of black color, to refresh the eye where it may be +wearied by the lightness of the general handling. + +SECTION XLII. Farther. Exactly in proportion to the degree in which the +force of sculpture is subdued, will be the importance attached to color +as a means of effect or constituent of beauty. I have above stated that +the incrusted style was the only one in which perfect or permanent color +decoration was _possible_. It is also the only one in which a true +system of color decoration was ever likely to be invented. In order to +understand this, the reader must permit me to review with some care the +nature of the principles of coloring adopted by the Northern and +Southern nations. + +SECTION XLIII. I believe that from the beginning of the world there has +never been a true or fine school of art in which color was despised. It +has often been imperfectly attained and injudiciously applied, but I +believe it to be one of the essential signs of life in a school of art, +that it loves color; and I know it to be one of the first signs of death +in the Renaissance schools, that they despised color. + +Observe, it is not now the question whether our Northern cathedrals are +better with color or without. Perhaps the great monotone gray of Nature +and of Time is a better color than any that the human hand can give; but +that is nothing to our present business. The simple fact is, that the +builders of those cathedrals laid upon them the brightest colors they +could obtain, and that there is not, as far as I am aware, in Europe, +any monument of a truly noble school which has not been either painted +all over, or vigorously touched with paint, mosaic, and gilding in its +prominent parts. Thus far Egyptians, Greeks, Goths, Arabs, and mediaeval +Christians all agree: none of them, when in their right senses, ever +think of doing without paint; and, therefore, when I said above that the +Venetians were the only people who had thoroughly sympathized with the +Arabs in this respect, I referred, first, to their intense love of +color, which led them to lavish the most expensive decorations on +ordinary dwelling-houses; and, secondly, to that perfection of the +color-instinct in them, which enabled them to render whatever they did, +in this kind, as just in principle as it was gorgeous in appliance. It +is this principle of theirs, as distinguished from that of the Northern +builders, which we have finally to examine. + +SECTION XLIV. In the second chapter of the first volume, it was noticed +that the architect of Bourges Cathedral liked hawthorn, and that the +porch of his cathedral was therefore decorated with a rich wreath of it; +but another of the predilections of that architect was there unnoticed, +namely, that he did not at all like _gray_ hawthorn, but preferred +it green, and he painted it green accordingly, as bright as he could. +The color is still left in every sheltered interstice of the foliage. He +had, in fact, hardly the choice of any other color; he might have gilded +the thorns, by way of allegorizing human life, but if they were to be +painted at all, they could hardly be painted anything but green, and +green all over. People would have been apt to object to any pursuit of +abstract harmonies of color, which might have induced him to paint his +hawthorn blue. + +SECTION XLV. In the same way, whenever the subject of the sculpture was +definite, its color was of necessity definite also; and, in the hands of +the Northern builders, it often became, in consequence, rather the means +of explaining and animating the stories of their stone-work, than a +matter of abstract decorative science. Flowers were painted red, trees +green, and faces flesh-color; the result of the whole being often far +more entertaining than beautiful. And also, though in the lines of the +mouldings and the decorations of shafts or vaults, a richer and more +abstract method of coloring was adopted (aided by the rapid development +of the best principles of color in early glass-painting), the vigorous +depths of shadow in the Northern sculpture confused the architect's eye, +compelling him to use violent colors in the recesses, if these were to +be seen as color at all, and thus injured his perception of more +delicate color harmonies; so that in innumerable instances it becomes +very disputable whether monuments even of the best times were improved +by the color bestowed upon them, or the contrary. But, in the South, the +flatness and comparatively vague forms of the sculpture, while they +appeared to call for color in order to enhance their interest, presented +exactly the conditions which would set it off to the greatest advantage; +breadth or surface displaying even the most delicate tints in the +lights, and faintness of shadow joining with the most delicate and +pearly grays of color harmony; while the subject of the design being in +nearly all cases reduced to mere intricacy of ornamental line, might be +colored in any way the architect chose without any loss of rationality. +Where oak-leaves and roses were carved into fresh relief and perfect +bloom, it was necessary to paint the one green and the other red; but in +portions of ornamentation where there was nothing which could be +definitely construed into either an oak-leaf or a rose, but a mere +labyrinth of beautiful lines, becoming here something like a leaf, and +there something like a flower, the whole tracery of the sculpture might +be left white, and grounded with gold or blue, or treated in any other +manner best harmonizing with the colors around it. And as the +necessarily feeble character of the sculpture called for and was ready +to display the best arrangements of color, so the precious marbles in +the architect's hands give him at once the best examples and the best +means of color. The best examples, for the tints of all natural stones +are as exquisite in quality as endless in change; and the best means, +for they are all permanent. + +SECTION XLVI. Every motive thus concurred in urging him to the study of +chromatic decoration, and every advantage was given him in the pursuit +of it; and this at the very moment when, as presently to be noticed, the +_naivete_ of barbaric Christianity could only be forcibly appealed +to by the help of colored pictures: so that, both externally and +internally, the architectural construction became partly merged in +pictorial effect; and the whole edifice is to be regarded less as a +temple wherein to pray, than as itself a Book of Common Prayer, a vast +illuminated missal, bound with alabaster instead of parchment, studded +with porphyry pillars instead of jewels, and written within and without +in letters of enamel and gold. + +SECTION XLVII. LAW VII. _That the impression of the architecture is +not to be dependent on size._ And now there is but one final +consequence to be deduced. The reader understands, I trust, by this +time, that the claims of these several parts of the building upon his +attention will depend upon their delicacy of design, their perfection of +color, their preciousness of material, and their legendary interest. All +these qualities are independent of size, and partly even inconsistent +with it. Neither delicacy of surface sculpture, nor subtle gradations of +color, can be appreciated by the eye at a distance; and since we have +seen that our sculpture is generally to be only an inch or two in depth, +and that our coloring is in great part to be produced with the soft +tints and veins of natural stones, it will follow necessarily that none +of the parts of the building can be removed far from the eye, and +therefore that the whole mass of it cannot be large. It is not even +desirable that it should be so; for the temper in which the mind +addresses itself to contemplate minute and beautiful details is +altogether different from that in which it submits itself to vague +impressions of space and size. And therefore we must not be +disappointed, but grateful, when we find all the best work of the +building concentrated within a space comparatively small; and that, for +the great cliff-like buttresses and mighty piers of the North, shooting +up into indiscernible height, we have here low walls spread before us +like the pages of a book, and shafts whose capitals we may touch with +our hand. + +SECTION XLVIII. The due consideration of the principles above stated +will enable the traveller to judge with more candor and justice of the +architecture of St. Mark's than usually it would have been possible for +him to do while under the influence of the prejudices necessitated by +familiarity with the very different schools of Northern art. I wish it +were in my power to lay also before the general reader some +exemplification of the manner in which these strange principles are +developed in the lovely building. But exactly in proportion to the +nobility of any work, is the difficulty of conveying a just impression +of it: and wherever I have occasion to bestow high praise, there it is +exactly most dangerous for me to endeavor to illustrate my meaning, +except by reference to the work itself. And, in fact, the principal +reason why architectural criticism is at this day so far behind all +other, is the impossibility of illustrating the best architecture +faithfully. Of the various schools of painting, examples are accessible +to every one, and reference to the works themselves is found sufficient +for all purposes of criticism; but there is nothing like St. Mark's or +the Ducal Palace to be referred to in the National Gallery, and no +faithful illustration of them is possible on the scale of such a volume +as this. And it is exceedingly difficult on any scale. Nothing is so +rare in art, as far as my own experience goes, as a fair illustration of +architecture; _perfect_ illustration of it does not exist. For all +good architecture depends upon the adaptation of its chiselling to the +effect at a certain distance from the eye; and to render the peculiar +confusion in the midst of order, and uncertainty in the midst of +decision, and mystery in the midst of trenchant lines, which are the +result of distance, together with perfect expression of the +peculiarities of the design, requires the skill of the most admirable +artist, devoted to the work with the most severe conscientiousness, +neither the skill nor the determination having as yet been given to the +subject. And in the illustration of details, every building of any +pretensions to high architectural rank would require a volume of plates, +and those finished with extraordinary care. With respect to the two +buildings which are the principal subjects of the present volume, St. +Mark's and the Ducal Palace, I have found it quite impossible to do them +the slightest justice by any kind of portraiture; and I abandoned the +endeavor in the case of the latter with less regret, because in the new +Crystal Palace (as the poetical public insist upon calling it, though it +is neither a palace, nor of crystal) there will be placed, I believe, a +noble cast of one of its angles. As for St. Mark's, the effort was +hopeless from the beginning. For its effect depends not only upon the +most delicate sculpture in every part, out, as we have just stated, +eminently on its color also, and that the most subtle, variable, +inexpressible color in the world,--the color of glass, of transparent +alabaster, of polished marble, and lustrous gold. It would be easier to +illustrate a crest of Scottish mountain, with its purple heather and +pale harebells at their fullest and fairest, or a glade of Jura forest, +with its floor of anemone and moss, than a single portico of St. Mark's. +The fragment of one of its archivolts, given at the bottom of the +opposite Plate, is not to illustrate the thing itself, but to illustrate +the impossibility of illustration. + +SECTION XLIX. It is left a fragment, in order to get it on a larger +scale; and yet even on this scale it is too small to show the sharp +folds and points of the marble vine-leaves with sufficient clearness. +The ground of it is gold, the sculpture in the spandrils is not more +than an inch and a half deep, rarely so much. It is in fact nothing more +than an exquisite sketching of outlines in marble, to about the same +depth as in the Elgin frieze; the draperies, however, being filled with +close folds, in the manner of the Byzantine pictures, folds especially +necessary here, as large masses could not be expressed in the shallow +sculpture without becoming insipid; but the disposition of these folds +is always most beautiful, and often opposed by broad and simple spaces, +like that obtained by the scroll in the hand of the prophet seen in the +Plate. + +The balls in the archivolt project considerably, and the interstices +between their interwoven bands of marble are filled with colors like the +illuminations of a manuscript; violet, crimson, blue, gold, and green +alternately: but no green is ever used without an intermixture of blue +pieces in the mosaic, nor any blue without a little centre of pale +green; sometimes only a single piece of glass a quarter of an inch +square, so subtle was the feeling for color which was thus to be +satisfied. [Footnote: The fact is, that no two tesserae of the glass are +exactly of the same tint, the greens being all varied with blues, the +blues of different depths, the reds of different clearness, so that the +effect of each mass of color is full of variety, like the stippled color +of a fruit piece.] The intermediate circles have golden stars set on an +azure ground, varied in the same manner; and the small crosses seen in +the intervals are alternately blue and subdued scarlet, with two small +circles of white set in the golden ground above and beneath them, each +only about half an inch across (this work, remember, being on the +outside of the building, and twenty feet above the eye), while the blue +crosses have each a pale green centre. Of all this exquisitely mingled +hue, no plate, however large or expensive, could give any adequate +conception; but, if the reader will supply in imagination to the +engraving what he supplies to a common woodcut of a group of flowers, +the decision of the respective merits of modern and of Byzantine +architecture may be allowed to rest on this fragment of St. Mark's +alone. + +From the vine-leaves of that archivolt, though there is no direct +imitation of nature in them, but on the contrary a studious subjection +to architectural purpose more particularly to be noticed hereafter, we +may yet receive the same kind of pleasure which we have in seeing true +vine-leaves and wreathed branches traced upon golden light; its stars +upon their azure ground ought to make us remember, as its builder +remembered, the stars that ascend and fall in the great arch of the sky: +and I believe that stars, and boughs, and leaves, and bright colors are +everlastingly lovely, and to be by all men beloved; and, moreover, that +church walls grimly seared with squared lines, are not better nor nobler +things than these. I believe the man who designed and the men who +delighted in that archivolt to have been wise, happy, and holy. Let the +reader look back to the archivolt I have already given out of the +streets of London (Plate XIII. Vol. I., Stones of Venice), and see what +there is in it to make us any of the three. Let him remember that the +men who design such work as that call St. Mark's a barbaric monstrosity, +and let him judge between us. + +SECTION L. Some farther details of the St. Mark's architecture, and +especially a general account of Byzantine capitals, and of the principal +ones at the angles of the church, will be found in the following +chapter. [Footnote: Some illustration, also, of what was said in SECTION +XXXIII above, respecting the value of the shafts of St. Mark's as large +jewels, will be found in Appendix 9, "Shafts of St. Mark's."] Here I +must pass on to the second part of our immediate subject, namely, the +inquiry how far the exquisite and varied ornament of St. Mark's fits it, +as a Temple, for its sacred purpose, and would be applicable in the +churches of modern times. We have here evidently two questions: the +first, that wide and continually agitated one, whether richness of +ornament be right in churches at all; the second, whether the ornament +of St. Mark's be of a truly ecclesiastical and Christian character. + +SECTION LI. In the first chapter of the "Seven Lamps of Architecture" I +endeavored to lay before the reader some reasons why churches ought to +be richly adorned, as being the only places in which the desire of +offering a portion of all precious things to God could be legitimately +expressed. But I left wholly untouched the question: whether the church, +as such, stood in need of adornment, or would be better fitted for its +purposes by possessing it. This question I would now ask the reader to +deal with briefly and candidly. + +The chief difficulty in deciding it has arisen from its being always +presented to us in an unfair form. It is asked of us, or we ask of +ourselves, whether the sensation which we now feel in passing from our +own modern dwelling-house, through a newly built street, into a +cathedral of the thirteenth century, be safe or desirable as a +preparation for public worship. But we never ask whether that sensation +was at all calculated upon by the builders of the cathedral. + +SECTION LII. Now I do not say that the contrast of the ancient with the +modern building, and the strangeness with which the earlier +architectural forms fall upon the eye, are at this day disadvantageous. +But I do say, that their effect, whatever it may be, was entirely +uncalculated upon by the old builder. He endeavored to make his work +beautiful, but never expected it to be strange. And we incapacitate +ourselves altogether from fair judgment of its intention, if we forget +that, when it was built, it rose in the midst of other work fanciful and +beautiful as itself; that every dwelling-house in the middle ages was +rich with the same ornaments and quaint with the same grotesques which +fretted the porches or animated the gargoyles of the cathedral; that +what we now regard with doubt and wonder, as well as with delight, was +then the natural continuation, into the principal edifice of the city, +of a style which was familiar to every eye throughout all its lanes and +streets; and that the architect had often no more idea of producing a +peculiarly devotional impression by the richest color and the most +elaborate carving, than the builder of a modern meetinghouse has by his +white-washed walls and square-cut casements. [Footnote: See the farther +notice of this subject in Vol. III., Chap. IV. Stones of Venice.] + +SECTION LIII. Let the reader fix this great fact well in his mind, and +then follow out its important corollaries. We attach, in modern days, a +kind of sacredness to the pointed arch and the groined roof, because, +while we look habitually out of square windows and live under flat +ceilings, we meet with the more beautiful forms in the ruins of our +abbeys. But when those abbeys were built, the pointed arch was used for +every shop door, as well as for that of the cloister, and the feudal +baron and freebooter feasted, as the monk sang, under vaulted roofs; not +because the vaulting was thought especially appropriate to either the +revel or psalm, but because it was then the form in which a strong roof +was easiest built. We have destroyed the goodly architecture of our +cities; we have substituted one wholly devoid of beauty or meaning; and +then we reason respecting the strange effect upon our minds of the +fragments which, fortunately, we have left in our churches, as if those +churches had always been designed to stand out in strong relief from all +the buildings around them, and Gothic architecture had always been, what +it is now, a religious language, like Monkish Latin. Most readers know, +if they would arouse their knowledge, that this was not so; but they +take no pains to reason the matter out: they abandon themselves drowsily +to the impression that Gothic is a peculiarly ecclesiastical style; and +sometimes, even, that richness in church ornament is a condition or +furtherance of the Romish religion. Undoubtedly it has become so in +modern times: for there being no beauty in our recent architecture, and +much in the remains of the past, and these remains being almost +exclusively ecclesiastical, the High Church and Romanist parties have +not been slow in availing themselves of the natural instincts which were +deprived of all food except from this source; and have willingly +promulgated the theory, that because all the good architecture that is +now left is expressive of High Church or Romanist doctrines, all good +architecture ever has been and must be so,--a piece of absurdity from +which, though here and there a country clergyman may innocently believe +it, I hope the common sense of the nation will soon manfully quit +itself. It needs but little inquiry into the spirit of the past, to +ascertain what, once for all, I would desire here clearly and forcibly +to assert, that wherever Christian church architecture has been good and +lovely, it has been merely the perfect development of the common +dwelling-house architecture of the period; that when the pointed arch +was used in the street, it was used in the church; when the round arch +was used in the street, it was used in the church; when the pinnacle +was set over the garret window, it was set over the belfry tower; when +the flat roof was used for the drawing-room, it was used for the nave. +There is no sacredness in round arches, nor in pointed; none in +pinnacles, nor in buttresses; none in pillars, nor traceries. Churches +were larger than in most other buildings, because they had to hold more +people; they were more adorned than most other buildings, because they +were safer from violence, and were the fitting subjects of devotional +offering: but they were never built in any separate, mystical, and +religious style; they were built in the manner that was common and +familiar to everybody at the time. The flamboyant traceries that adorn +the facade of Rouen Cathedral had once their fellows in every window of +every house in the market place; the sculptures that adorn the porches +of St. Mark's had once their match on the walls, of every palace on the +Grand Canal; and the only difference between the church and the +dwelling-house was, that there existed a symbolical meaning in the +distribution of the parts of all buildings meant for worship, and that +the painting or sculpture was, in the one case, less frequently of +profane subject than in the other. A more severe distinction cannot be +drawn: for secular history was constantly introduced into church +architecture; and sacred history or allusion generally formed at least +one half of the ornament of the dwelling-house. + +SECTION LIV. This fact is so important, and so little considered, that I +must be pardoned for dwelling upon it at some length, and accurately +marking the limits of the assertion I have made. I do not mean that +every dwelling-house of mediaeval cities was as richly adorned and as +exquisite in composition as the fronts of their cathedrals, but that +they presented features of the same kind, often in parts quite as +beautiful; and that the churches were not separated by any change of +style from the buildings round them, as they are now, but were merely +more finished and full examples of a universal style, rising out of the +confused streets of the city as an oak tree does out of an oak copse, +not differing in leafage, but in size and symmetry. Of course the +quainter and smaller forms of turret and window necessary for domestic +service, the inferior materials, often wood instead of stone, and the +fancy of the inhabitants, which had free play in the design, introduced +oddnesses, vulgarities, and variations into house architecture, which +were prevented by the traditions, the wealth, and the skill of the monks +and freemasons; while, on the other hand, conditions of vaulting, +buttressing, and arch and tower building, were necessitated by the mere +size of the cathedral, of which it would be difficult to find examples +elsewhere. But there was nothing more in these features than the +adaptation of mechanical skill to vaster requirements; there was nothing +intended to be, or felt to be, especially ecclesiastical in any of the +forms so developed; and the inhabitants of every village and city, when +they furnished funds for the decoration of their church, desired merely +to adorn the house of God as they adorned their own, only a little more +richly, and with a somewhat graver temper in the subjects of the +carving. Even this last difference is not always clearly discernible: +all manner of ribaldry occurs in the details of the ecclesiastical +buildings of the North, and at the time when the best of them were +built, every man's house was a kind of temple; a figure of the Madonna, +or of Christ, almost always occupied a niche over the principal door, +and the Old Testament histories were curiously interpolated amidst the +grotesques of the brackets and the gables. + +SECTION LV. And the reader will now perceive that the question +respecting fitness of church decoration rests in reality on totally +different grounds from those commonly made foundations of argument. So +long as our streets are walled with barren brick, and our eyes rest +continually, in our daily life, on objects utterly ugly, or of +inconsistent and meaningless design, it may be a doubtful question +whether the faculties of eye and mind which are capable of perceiving +beauty, having been left without food during the whole of our active +life, should be suddenly feasted upon entering a place of worship; and +color, and music, and sculpture should delight the senses, and stir the +curiosity of men unaccustomed to such appeal, at the moment when they +are required to compose themselves for acts of devotion;--this, I say, +may be a doubtful question: but it cannot be a question at all, that if +once familiarized with beautiful form and color, and accustomed to see +in whatever human hands have executed for us, even for the lowest +services, evidence of noble thought and admirable skill, we shall desire +to see this evidence also in whatever is built or labored for the house +of prayer; that the absence of the accustomed loveliness would disturb +instead of assisting devotion; and that we should feel it as vain to ask +whether, with our own house full of goodly craftsmanship, we should +worship God in a house destitute of it, as to ask whether a pilgrim +whose day's journey had led him through fair woods and by sweet waters, +must at evening turn aside into some barren place to pray. + +SECTION LVI. Then the second question submitted to us, whether the +ornament of St. Mark's be truly ecclesiastical and Christian, is +evidently determined together with the first; for, if not only the +permission of ornament at all, but the beautiful execution of it, be +dependent on our being familiar with it in daily life, it will follow +that no style of noble architecture can be exclusively ecclesiastical. +It must be practised in the dwelling before it be perfected in the +church, and it is the test of a noble style that it shall be applicable +to both; for if essentially false and ignoble, it may be made to fit the +dwelling-house, but never can be made to fit the church: and just as +there are many principles which will bear the light of the world's +opinion, yet will not bear the light of God's word, while all principles +which will bear the test of Scripture will also bear that of practice, +so in architecture there are many forms which expediency and convenience +may apparently justify, or at least render endurable, in daily use, +which will yet be found offensive the moment they are used for church +service; but there are none good for church service, which cannot bear +daily use. Thus the Renaissance manner of building is a convenient style +for dwelling-houses, but the natural sense of all religious men causes +them to turn from it with pain when it has been used in churches; and +this has given rise to the popular idea that the Roman style is good for +houses and the Gothic for churches. This is not so; the Roman style is +essentially base, and we can bear with it only so long as it gives us +convenient windows and spacious rooms; the moment the question of +convenience is set aside, and the expression or beauty of the style it +tried by its being used in a church, we find it fails. But because the +Gothic and Byzantine styles are fit for churches they are not therefore +less fit for dwellings. They are in the highest sense fit and good for +both, nor were they ever brought to perfection except where they were +used for both. + +SECTION LVII. But there is one character of Byzantine work which, +according to the time at which it was employed, may be considered as +either fitting or unfitting it for distinctly ecclesiastical purposes; I +mean the essentially pictorial character of its decoration. We have +already seen what large surfaces it leaves void of bold architectural +features, to be rendered interesting merely by surface ornament or +sculpture. In this respect Byzantine work differs essentially from pure +Gothic styles, which are capable of filling every vacant space by +features purely architectural, and may be rendered, if we please, +altogether independent of pictorial aid. A Gothic church may be rendered +impressive by mere successions of arches, accumulations of niches, and +entanglements of tracery. But a Byzantine church requires expression and +interesting decoration over vast plane surfaces,--decoration which +becomes noble only by becoming pictorial; that is to say, by +representing natural objects,--men, animals, or flowers. And, therefore, +the question whether the Byzantine style be fit for church service in +modern days, becomes involved in the inquiry, what effect upon religion +has been or may yet be produced by pictorial art, and especially by the +art of the mosaicist? + +SECTION LVIII. The more I have examined the subject the more dangerous I +have found it to dogmatize respecting the character of the art which is +likely, at a given period, to be most useful to the cause of religion. +One great fact first meets me. I cannot answer for the experience of +others, but I never yet met with a Christian whose heart was thoroughly +set upon the world to come, and, so far as human judgment could +pronounce, perfect and right before God, who cared about art at all. I +have known several very noble Christian men who loved it intensely, but +in them there was always traceable some entanglement of the thoughts +with the matters of this world, causing them to fall into strange +distresses and doubts, and often leading them into what they themselves +would confess to be errors in understanding, or even failures in duty. I +do not say that these men may not, many of them, be in very deed nobler +than those whose conduct is more consistent; they may be more tender in +the tone of all their feelings, and farther-sighted in soul, and for +that very reason exposed to greater trials and fears, than those whose +hardier frame and naturally narrower vision enable them with less effort +to give their hands to God and walk with Him. But still, the general +fact is indeed so, that I have never known a man who seemed altogether +right and calm in faith, who seriously cared about art; and when +casually moved by it, it is quite impossible to say beforehand by what +class of art this impression will on such men be made. Very often it is +by a theatrical commonplace, more frequently still by false sentiment. I +believe that the four painters who have had, and still have, the most +influence, such as it is, on the ordinary Protestant Christian mind, are +Carlo Dolci, Guercino, Benjamin West, and John Martin. Raphael, much as +he is talked about, is, I believe in very fact, rarely looked at by +religious people; much less his master, or any of the truly great +religious men of old. But a smooth Magdalen of Carlo Dolci with a tear +on each cheek, or a Guercino Christ or St. John, or a Scripture +illustration of West's, or a black cloud with a flash of lightning in it +of Martin's, rarely rails of being verily, often deeply, felt for the +time. + +SECTION LIX. There are indeed many very evident reasons for this; the +chief one being that, as all truly great religious painters have been +hearty Romanists, there are none of their works which do not embody, in +some portions of them, definitely Romanist doctrines. The Protestant mind +is instantly struck by these, and offended by them, so as to be incapable +of entering, or at least rendered indisposed to enter, farther into the +heart of the work, or to the discovering those deeper characters of it, +which are not Romanist, but Christian, in the everlasting sense and power +of Christianity. Thus most Protestants, entering for the first time a +Paradise of Angelico, would be irrevocably offended by finding that the +first person the painter wished them to speak to was St. Dominic; and +would retire from such a heaven as speedily as possible,--not giving +themselves time to discover, that whether dressed in black, or white, or +gray, and by whatever name in the calendar they might be called, the +figures that filled that Angelico heaven were indeed more, saintly, and +pure, and full of love in every feature, than any that the human hand +ever traced before or since. And thus Protestantism, having foolishly +sought for the little help it requires at the hand of painting from the +men who embodied no Catholic doctrine, has been reduced to receive it +from those who believed neither Catholicism nor Protestantism, but who +read the Bible in search of the picturesque. We thus refuse to regard the +painters who passed their lives in prayer, but are perfectly ready to be +taught by those who spent them in debauchery. There is perhaps no more +popular Protestant picture than Salvator's "Witch of Endor," of which the +subject was chosen by the painter simply because, under the names of Saul +and the Sorceress, he could paint a captain of banditti, and a Neapolitan +hag. + +SECTION LX. The fact seems to be that strength of religious feeling is +capable of supplying for itself whatever is wanting in the rudest +suggestions of art, and will either, on the one hand, purify what is +coarse into inoffensiveness, or, on the other, raise what is feeble into +impressiveness. Probably all art, as such, is unsatisfactory to it; and +the effort which it makes to supply the void will be induced rather by +association and accident than by the real merit of the work submitted to +it. The likeness to a beloved friend, the correspondence with a habitual +conception, the freedom from any strange or offensive particularity, +and, above all, an interesting choice of incident, will win admiration +for a picture when the noblest efforts of religious imagination would +otherwise fail of power. How much more, when to the quick capacity of +emotion is joined a childish trust that the picture does indeed +represent a fact! It matters little whether the fact be well or ill +told; the moment we believe the picture to be true, we complain little +of its being ill-painted. Let it be considered for a moment, whether the +child, with its colored print, inquiring eagerly and gravely which is +Joseph, and which is Benjamin, is not more capable of receiving a +strong, even a sublime, impression from the rude symbol which it invests +with reality by its own effort, than the connoisseur who admires the +grouping of the three figures in Raphael's "Telling of the Dreams;" and +whether also, when the human mind is in right religious tone, it has not +always this childish power--I speak advisedly, this power--a noble one, +and possessed more in youth than at any period of after life, but +always, I think, restored in a measure by religion--of raising into +sublimity and reality the rudest symbol which is given to it of +accredited truth. + +SECTION LXI. Ever since the period of the Renaissance, however, the +truth has not been accredited; the painter of religious subject is no +longer regarded as the narrator of a fact, but as the inventor of an +idea. [Footnote: I do not mean that modern Christians believe less in +the _facts_ than ancient Christians, but they do not believe in the +representation of the facts as true. We look upon the picture as this or +that painter's conception; the elder Christians looked upon it as this +or that, painter's description of what had actually taken place. And in +the Greek Church all painting is, to this day, strictly a branch of +tradition. See M. Dideron's admirably written introduction to his +Iconographie Chretienne, p. 7:--"Un de mes compagnons s'etonnait de re +trouver a la Panagia de St. Luc, le saint Jean Chrysostome qu'il avait +dessine dans le baptistere de St. Marc, a Venise. Le costume des +personnages est partout et en tout temps le meme, non-seulement pour la +forme, mais pour la couleur, mais pour le dessin, mais jusque pour le +nombre et l'epaisseur des plis."] We do not severely criticise the +manner in which a true history is told, but we become harsh +investigators of the faults of an invention; so that in the modern +religious mind, the capacity of emotion, which renders judgment +uncertain, is joined with an incredulity which renders it severe; and +this ignorant emotion, joined with ignorant observance of faults, is the +worst possible temper in which any art can be regarded, but more +especially sacred art. For as religious faith renders emotion facile, so +also it generally renders expression simple; that is to say a truly +religious painter will very often be ruder, quainter, simpler, and more +faulty in his manner of working, than a great irreligious one. And it +was in this artless utterance, and simple acceptance, on the part of +both the workman and the beholder, that all noble schools of art have +been cradled; it is in them that they _must_ be cradled to the end +of time. It is impossible to calculate the enormous loss of power in +modern days, owing to the imperative requirement that art shall be +methodical and learned: for as long as the constitution of this world +remains unaltered, there will be more intellect in it than there can be +education; there will be many men capable of just sensation and vivid +invention, who never will have time to cultivate or polish their natural +powers. And all unpolished power is in the present state of society +lost; in other things as well as in the arts, but in the arts +especially: nay, in nine cases out of ten, people mistake the polish for +the power. Until a man has passed through a course of academy +studentship, and can draw in an approved manner with French chalk, and +knows foreshortening, and perspective, and something of anatomy, we do +not think he can possibly be an artist; what is worse, we are very apt +to think that we can _make_ him an artist by teaching him anatomy, +and how to draw with French chalk; whereas the real gift in him is +utterly independent of all such accomplishments: and I believe there are +many peasants on every estate, and laborers in every town of Europe, who +have imaginative powers of a high order, which nevertheless cannot be +used for our good, because we do not choose to look at anything but what +is expressed in a legal and scientific way. I believe there is many a +village mason who, set to carve a series of Scripture or any other +histories, would find many a strange and noble fancy in his head, and +set it down, roughly enough indeed, but in a way well worth our having. +But we are too grand to let him do this, or to set up his clumsy work +when it is done; and accordingly the poor stone-mason is kept hewing +stones smooth at the corners, and we build our church of the smooth +square stones, and consider ourselves wise. + +SECTION LXII. I shall pursue this subject farther in another place; but +I allude to it here in order to meet the objections of those persons who +suppose the mosaics of St. Mark's, and others of the period, to be +utterly barbarous as representations of religious history. Let it be +granted that they are so; we are not for that reason to suppose they +were ineffective in religious teaching. I have above spoken of the whole +church as a great Book of Common Prayer; the mosaics were its +illuminations, and the common people of the time were taught their +Scripture history by means of them, more impressively perhaps, though +far less fully, than ours are now by Scripture reading. They had no +other Bible, and--Protestants do not often enough consider this--_could_ +have no other. We find it somewhat difficult to furnish our poor with +printed Bibles; consider what the difficulty must have been when they +could be given only in manuscript. The walls of the church necessarily +became the poor man's Bible, and a picture was more easily read upon the +walls than a chapter. Under this view, and considering them merely as the +Bible pictures of a great nation in its youth, I shall finally invite the +reader to examine the connection and subjects of these mosaics; but in +the meantime I have to deprecate the idea of their execution being in any +sense barbarous. I have conceded too much to modern prejudice, in +permitting them to be rated as mere childish efforts at colored +portraiture: they have characters in them of a very noble kind; nor are +they by any means devoid of the remains of the science of the later Roman +empire. The character of the features is almost always fine, the +expression stern and quiet, and very solemn, the attitudes and draperies +always majestic in the single figures, and in those of the groups which +are not in violent action; [Footnote: All the effects of Byzantine art to +represent violent action are inadequate, most of them ludicrously so, +even when the sculptural art is in other respects far advanced. The early +Gothic sculptors, on the other hand, fail in all points of refinement, +but hardly ever in expression of action. This distinction is of course +one of the necessary consequences of the difference in all respects +between the repose of the Eastern, and activity of the Western mind, +which we shall have to trace out completely in the inquiry into the +nature of Gothic.] while the bright coloring and disregard of chiaroscuro +cannot be regarded as imperfections, since they are the only means by +which the figures could be rendered clearly intelligible in the distance +and darkness of the vaulting. So far am I from considering them +barbarous, that I believe of all works of religious art whatsoever, +these, and such as these, have been the most effective. They stand +exactly midway between the debased manufacture of wooden and waxen images +which is the support of Romanist idolatry all over the world, and the +great art which leads the mind away from the religious subject to the art +itself. Respecting neither of these branches of human skill is there, nor +can there be, any question. The manufacture of puppets, however +influential on the Romanist mind of Europe, is certainly not deserving of +consideration as one of the fine arts. It matters literally nothing to a +Romanist what the image he worships is like. Take the vilest doll that is +screwed together in a cheap toy-shop, trust it to the keeping of a large +family of children, let it be beaten about the house by them till it is +reduced to a shapeless block, then dress it in a satin frock and declare +it to have fallen from heaven, and it will satisfactorily answer all +Romanist purposes. Idolatry, [Footnote: Appendix X, "Proper Sense of the +word Idolatry."] it cannot be too often repeated, is no encourager of the +fine arts. But, on the other hand, the highest branches of the fine arts +are no encouragers either of idolatry or of religion. No picture of +Leonardo's or Raphael's, no statue of Michael Angelo's, has ever been +worshipped, except by accident. Carelessly regarded, and by ignorant +persons, there is less to attract in them than in commoner works. +Carefully regarded, and by intelligent persons, they instantly divert the +mind from their subject to their art, so that admiration takes the place +of devotion. I do not say that the Madonna di S. Sisto, the Madonna del +Cardellino, and such others, have not had considerable religious +influence on certain minds, but I say that on the mass of the people of +Europe they have had none whatever, while by far the greater number of +the most celebrated statues and pictures are never regarded with any +other feelings than those of admiration of human beauty, or reverence for +human skill. Effective religious art, therefore, has always lain, and I +believe must always lie, between the two extremes--of barbarous +idol-fashioning on one side, and magnificent craftsmanship on the other. +It consists partly in missal-painting, and such book-illustrations as, +since the invention of printing, have taken its place; partly in +glass-painting; partly in rude sculpture on the outsides of buildings; +partly in mosaics; and partly in the frescoes and tempera pictures which, +in the fourteenth century, formed the link between this powerful, because +imperfect, religious art, and the impotent perfection which succeeded it. + +SECTION LXIII. But of all these branches the most important are the +inlaying and mosaic of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, represented +in a central manner by these mosaics of St. Mark's. Missal-painting +could not, from its minuteness, produce the same sublime impressions, +and frequently merged itself in mere ornamentation of the page. Modern +book-illustration has been so little skillful as hardly to be worth +naming. Sculpture, though in some positions it becomes of great +importance, has always a tendency to lose itself in architectural +effect; and was probably seldom deciphered, in all its parts, by the +common people, still less the traditions annealed in the purple burning +of the painted window. Finally, tempera pictures and frescoes were often +of limited size or of feeble color. But the great mosaics of the twelfth +and thirteenth centuries covered the walls and roofs of the churches +with inevitable lustre; they could not be ignored or escaped from; their +size rendered them majestic, their distance mysterious, their color +attractive. They did not pass into confused or inferior decorations; +neither were they adorned with any evidences of skill or science, such +as might withdraw the attention from their subjects. They were before +the eyes of the devotee at every interval of his worship; vast +shadowings forth of scenes to whose realization he looked forward, or of +spirits whose presence he invoked. And the man must be little capable of +receiving a religious impression of any kind, who, to this day, does not +acknowledge some feeling of awe, as he looks up at the pale countenances +and ghastly forms which haunt the dark roofs of the Baptisteries of +Parma and Florence, or remains altogether untouched by the majesty of +the colossal images of apostles, and of Him who sent apostles, that look +down from the darkening gold of the domes of Venice and Pisa. + +SECTION LXIV. I shall, in a future portion of this work, endeavor to +discover what probabilities there are of our being able to use this kind +of art in modern churches; but at present it remains for us to follow +out the connection of the subjects represented in St. Mark's so as to +fulfil our immediate object, and form an adequate conception of the +feelings of its builders, and of its uses to those for whom it was +built. + +Now, there is one circumstance to which I must, in the outset, direct +the reader's special attention, as forming a notable distinction between +ancient and modern days. Our eyes are now familiar and weaned with +writing; and if an inscription is put upon a building, unless it be +large and clear, it is ten to one whether we ever trouble ourselves to +decipher it. But the old architect was sure of readers. He knew that +every one would be glad to decipher all that he wrote; that they would +rejoice in possessing the vaulted leaves of his stone manuscript; and +that the more he gave them, the more grateful would the people be. We +must take some pains, therefore, when we enter St. Mark's, to read all +that is inscribed, or we shall not penetrate into the feeling either of +the builder or of his times. + +SECTION LXV. A large atrium or portico is attached to two sides of the +church, a space which was especially reserved for unbaptized persons and +new converts. It was thought right that, before their baptism, these +persons should be led to contemplate the great facts of the Old +Testament history; the history of the Fall of Man, and of the lives of +Patriarchs up to the period of the Covenant by Moses: the order of the +subjects in this series being very nearly the same as in many Northern +churches, but significantly closing with the Fall of the Manna, in order +to mark to the catechumen the insufficiency of the Mosaic covenant for +salvation,--"Our fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are +dead,"--and to turn his thoughts to the true Bread of which the manna +was the type. + +SECTION LXVI. Then, when after his baptism he was permitted to enter the +church, over its main entrance he saw, on looking back, a mosaic of +Christ enthroned, with the Virgin on one side and St. Mark on the other, +in attitudes of adoration. Christ is represented as holding a book open +upon his knee, on which is written: "I AM THE DOOR; BY ME IF ANY MAN +ENTER IN, HE SHALL BE SAVED." On the red marble moulding which surrounds +the mosaic is written: "I AM THE GATE OF LIFE; LET THOSE WHO ARE MINE, +ENTER BY ME." Above, on the red marble fillet which forms the cornice of +the west end of the church, is written, with reference to the figure of +Christ below: "WHO HE WAS, AND FROM WHOM HE CAME, AND AT WHAT PRICE HE +REDEEMED THEE, AND WHY HE MADE THEE, AND GAVE THEE ALL THINGS, DO THOU +CONSIDER." + +Now observe, this was not to be seen and read only by the catechumen +when he first entered the church; every one who at any time entered, was +supposed to look back and to read this writing; their daily entrance +into the church was thus made a daily memorial of their first entrance +into the spiritual Church; and we shall find that the rest of the book +which was opened for them upon its walls continually led them in the +same manner to regard the visible temple as in every part a type of the +invisible Church of God. + +SECTION LXVII. Therefore the mosaic of the first dome, which is over the +head of the spectator as soon as he has entered by the great door (that +door being the type of baptism), represents the effusion of the Holy +Spirit, as the first consequence and seal of the entrance into the +Church of God. In the centre of the cupola is the Dove, enthroned in the +Greek manner, as the Lamb is enthroned, when the Divinity of the Second +and Third Persons is to be insisted upon together with their peculiar +offices. From the central symbol of the Holy Spirit twelve streams of +fire descend upon the heads of the twelve apostles, who are represented +standing around the dome; and below them, between the windows which are +pierced in its walls, are represented, by groups of two figures for each +separate people, the various nations who heard the apostles speak, at +Pentecost, every man in his own tongue. Finally, on the vaults, at the +four angles which support the cupola, are pictured four angels, each +bearing a tablet upon the end of a rod in his hand: on each of the +tablets of the three first angels is inscribed the word "Holy;" on that +of the fourth is written "Lord;" and the beginning of the hymn being +thus put into the mouths of the four angels, the words of it are +continued around the border of the dome, uniting praise to God for the +gift of the Spirit, with welcome to the redeemed soul received into His +Church: + + "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, LORD GOD OF SABAOTH: + HEAVEN AND EARTH ARE FULL OF THY GLORY. + HOSANNA IN THE HIGHEST: + BLESSED IS HE THAT COMETH IN THE NAME OF THE LORD." + +And observe in this writing that the convert is required to regard the +outpouring of the Holy Spirit especially as a work of _sanctification_. +It is the _holiness_ of God manifested in the giving of His Spirit to +sanctify those who had become His children, which the four angels +celebrate in their ceaseless praise; and it is on account of this +holiness that the heaven and earth are said to be full of His glory. + +SECTION LXVIII. After thus hearing praise rendered to God by the angels +for the salvation of the newly-entered soul, it was thought fittest that +the worshipper should be led to contemplate, in the most comprehensive +forms possible, the past evidence and the future hopes of Christianity, +as summed up in three facts without assurance of which all faith is +vain; namely that Christ died, that He rose again, and that He ascended +into heaven, there to prepare a place for His elect. On the vault +between the first and second cupolas are represented the crucifixion and +resurrection of Christ, with the usual series of intermediate +scenes,--the treason of Judas, the judgment of Pilate, the crowning with +thorns, the descent into Hades, the visit of the women to the sepulchre, +and the apparition to Mary Magdalene. The second cupola itself, which is +the central and principal one of the church, is entirely occupied by the +subject of the Ascension. At the highest point of it Christ is +represented as rising into the blue heaven, borne up by four angels, and +throned upon a rainbow, the type of reconciliation. Beneath him, the +twelve apostles are seen upon the Mount of Olives, with the Madonna, +and, in the midst of them, the two men in white apparel who appeared at +the moment of the Ascension, above whom, as uttered by them, are +inscribed the words, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into +heaven? This Christ, the Son of God, as He is taken from you, shall so +come, the arbiter of the earth, trusted to do judgment and justice." + +SECTION LXIX. Beneath the circle of the apostles, between the windows of +the cupola, are represented the Christian virtues, as sequent upon the +crucifixion of the flesh, and the spiritual ascension together with +Christ. Beneath them, on the vaults which support the angles of the +cupola, are placed the four Evangelists, because on their evidence our +assurance of the fact of the ascension rests; and, finally, beneath +their feet, as symbols of the sweetness and fulness of the Gospel which +they declared, are represented the four rivers of Paradise, Pison, +Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates. + +SECTION LXX. The third cupola, that over the altar, represents the +witness of the Old Testament to Christ; showing him enthroned in its +centre, and surrounded by the patriarchs and prophets. But this dome was +little seen by the people; [Footnote: It is also of inferior workmanship, +and perhaps later than the rest. Vide Lord Lindsay, vol. i, p. 124, +note.] their contemplation was intended to be chiefly drawn to that of +the centre of the church, and thus the mind of the worshipper was at once +fixed on the main groundwork and hope of Christianity,--"Christ is +risen," and "Christ shall come." If he had time to explore the minor +lateral chapels and cupolas, he could find in them the whole series of +New Testament history, the events of the Life of Christ, and the +Apostolic miracles in their order, and finally the scenery of the Book of +Revelation; [Footnote: The old mosaics from the Revelation have perished, +and have been replaced by miserable work of the seventeenth century.] but +if he only entered, as often the common people do to this hour, snatching +a few moments before beginning the labor of the day to offer up an +ejaculatory prayer, and advanced but from the main entrance as far as the +altar screen, all the splendor of the glittering nave and variegated +dome, if they smote upon his heart, as they might often, in strange +contrast with his reed cabin among the shallows of the lagoon, smote upon +it only that they might proclaim the two great messages--"Christ is +risen," and "Christ shall come." Daily, as the white cupolas rose like +wreaths of sea-foam in the dawn, while the shadowy campanile and frowning +palace were still withdrawn into the night, they rose with the Easter +Voice of Triumph,--"Christ is risen;" and daily, as they looked down upon +the tumult of the people, deepening and eddying in the wide square that +opened from their feet to the sea, they uttered above them the sentence +of warning,--"Christ shall come." + +SECTION LXXI. And this thought may surely dispose the reader to look +with some change of temper upon the gorgeous building and wild blazonry +of that shrine of St. Mark's. He now perceives that it was in the hearts +of the old Venetian people far more than a place of worship. It was at +once a type of the Redeemed Church of God, and a scroll for the written +word of God. It was to be to them, both an image of the Bride, all +glorious within, her clothing of wrought gold; and the actual Table of +the Law and the Testimony, written within and without. And whether +honored as the Church or as the Bible, was it not fitting that neither +the gold nor the crystal should be spared in the adornment of it; that, +as the symbol of the Bride, the building of the wall thereof should be +of jasper, [Footnote: Rev. xxi. 18.] and the foundations of it garnished +with all manner of precious stones; and that, as the channel of the +World, that triumphant utterance of the Psalmist should be true of +it,--"I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all +riches"? And shall we not look with changed temper down the long +perspective of St. Mark's Place towards the sevenfold gates and glowing +domes of its temple, when we know with what solemn purpose the shafts of +it were lifted above the pavement of the populous square? Men met there +from all countries of the earth, for traffic or for pleasure; but, above +the crowd swaying for ever to and fro in the restlessness of avarice or +thirst of delight, was seen perpetually the glory of the temple, +attesting to them, whether they would hear or whether they would +forbear, that there was one treasure which the merchantmen might buy +without a price, and one delight better than all others, in the word and +the statutes of God. Not in the wantonness of wealth, not in vain +ministry to the desire of the eyes or the pride of life, were those +marbles hewn into transparent strength, and those arches arrayed in the +colors of the iris. There is a message written in the dyes of them, that +once was written in blood; and a sound in the echoes of their vaults, +that one day shall fill the vault of heaven,--"He shall return, to do +judgment and justice." The strength of Venice was given her, so long as +she remembered this: her destruction found her when she had forgotten +this; and it found her irrevocably, because she forgot it without +excuse. Never had city a more glorious Bible. Among the nations of the +North, a rude and shadowy sculpture filled their temples with confused +and hardly legible imagery; but, for her, the skill and the treasures of +the East had gilded every letter, and illumined every page, till the +Book-Temple shone from afar off like the star of the Magi. In other +cities, the meetings of the people were often in places withdrawn from +religious association, subject to violence and to change; and on the +grass of the dangerous rampart, and in the dust of the troubled street, +there were deeds done and counsels taken, which, if we cannot justify, +we may sometimes forgive. But the sins of Venice, whether in her palace +or in her piazza, were done with the Bible at her right hand. The walls +on which its testimony was written were separated but by a few inches of +marble from those which guarded the secrets of her councils, or confined +the victims of her policy. And when in her last hours she threw off all +shame and all restraint, and the great square of the city became filled +with the madness of the whole earth, be it remembered how much her sin +was greater, because it was done in the face of the House of God, +burning with the letters of His Law. Mountebank and masker laughed their +laugh, and went their way; and a silence has followed them, not +unforetold; for amidst them all, through century after century of +gathering vanity and festering guilt, that white dome of St. Mark's had +uttered in the dead ear of Venice, "Know thou, that for all these things +God will bring thee into judgment." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE DUCAL PALACE. + + +SECTION I. It was stated in the commencement of the preceding chapter +that the Gothic art of Venice was separated by the building of the Ducal +Palace into two distinct periods; and that in all the domestic edifices +which were raised for half a century after its completion, their +characteristic and chiefly effective portions were more or less directly +copied from it. The fact is, that the Ducal Palace was the great work of +Venice at this period, itself the principal effort of her imagination, +employing her best architects in its masonry, and her best painters in +its decoration, for a long series of years; and we must receive it as a +remarkable testimony to the influence which it possessed over the minds +of those who saw it in its progress, that, while in the other cities of +Italy every palace and church was rising in some original and daily more +daring form, the majesty of this single building was able to give pause +to the Gothic imagination in its full career; stayed the restlessness of +innovation in an instant, and forbade the powers which had created it +thenceforth to exert themselves in new directions, or endeavor to summon +an image more attractive. + +SECTION II. The reader will hardly believe that while the architectural +invention of the Venetians was thus lost, Narcissus-like, in +self-contemplation, the various accounts of the progress of the building +thus admired and beloved are so confused as frequently to leave it +doubtful to what portion of the palace they refer; and that there is +actually, at the time being, a dispute between the best Venetian +antiquaries, whether the main facade of the palace be of the fourteenth +or fifteenth century. The determination of this question is of course +necessary before we proceed to draw any conclusions from the style of +the work; and it cannot be determined without a careful review of the +entire history of the palace, and of all the documents relating to it. I +trust that this review may not be found tedious,--assuredly it will not +be fruitless,--bringing many facts before us, singularly illustrative of +the Venetian character. + +SECTION III. Before, however, the reader can enter upon any inquiry into +the history of this building, it is necessary that he should be +thoroughly familiar with the arrangement and names of its principal +parts, as it at present stands; otherwise he cannot comprehend so much +as a single sentence of any of the documents referring to it. I must do +what I can, by the help of a rough plan and bird's-eye view, to give him +the necessary topographical knowledge: + +Opposite is a rude ground plan of the buildings round St. Mark's Place; +and the following references will clearly explain their relative +positions: + +A. St. Mark's Place. +B. Piazzetta. +P. V. Procuratie Vecchie. +P. N. (opposite) Procuratie Nuove. +P. L. Libreria Vecchia. +I. Piazzetta de' Leoni. +T. Tower of St. Mark. +F F. Great Facade of St. Mark's Church. +M. St. Mark's. (It is so united with the Ducal Palace, that the + separation cannot be indicated in the plan, unless all the walls had + been marked, which would have confused the whole.) +D D D. Ducal Palace. g s. Giant's stair. +C. Court of Ducal Palace. J. Judgement angle. +c. Porta della Carta. a. Fig-tree angle. +p p. Ponte della Paglia (Bridge of Straw). +S. Ponte de' Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs). +R R. Riva de' Schiavoni. + + +[Illustration: FIG. I. The Ducal Palace--Ground Plan.] + +[Illustration: FIG. II. The Ducal Palace--Bird's eye View.] + + +The reader will observe that the Ducal Palace is arranged somewhat in +the form of a hollow square, of which one side faces the Piazzetta, B, +and another the quay called the Riva de' Schiavoni, R R; the third is on +the dark canal called the "Rio del Palazzo," and the fourth joins the +Church of St. Mark. + +Of this fourth side, therefore, nothing can be seen. Of the other three +sides we shall have to speak constantly; and they will be respectively +called, that towards the Piazzetta, the "Piazzetta Facade;" that towards +the Riva de' Schiavoni, the "Sea Facade;" and that towards the Rio del +Palazzo, the "Rio Facade." This Rio, or canal, is usually looked upon by +the traveller with great respect, or even horror, because it passes +under the Bridge of Sighs. It is, however, one of the principal +thoroughfares of the city; and the bridge and its canal together occupy, +in the mind of a Venetian, very much the position of Fleet Street and +Temple Bar in that of a Londoner,--at least, at the time when Temple Bar +was occasionally decorated with human heads. The two buildings closely +resemble each other in form. + +SECTION IV. We must now proceed to obtain some rough idea of the +appearance and distribution of the palace itself; but its arrangement +will be better understood by supposing ourselves raised some hundred and +fifty feet above the point in the lagoon in front of it, so as to get a +general view of the Sea Facade and Rio Facade (the latter in very steep +perspective), and to look down into its interior court. Fig. II. roughly +represents such a view, omitting all details on the roofs, in order to +avoid confusion. In this drawing we have merely to notice that, of the +two bridges seen on the right, the uppermost, above the black canal, is +the Bridge of Sighs; the lower one is the Ponte della Paglia, the +regular thoroughfare from quay to quay, and, I believe, called the +Bridge of Straw, because the boats which brought straw from the mainland +used to sell it at this place. The corner of the palace, rising above +this bridge, and formed by the meeting of the Sea Facade and Rio Facade, +will always be called the Vine angle, because it is decorated by a +sculpture of the drunkenness of Noah. The angle opposite will be called +the Fig-tree angle, because it is decorated by a sculpture of the Fall +of Man. The long and narrow range of building, of which the roof is seen +in perspective behind this angle, is the part of the palace fronting the +Piazzetta; and the angle under the pinnacle most to the left of the two +which terminate it will be called, for a reason presently to be stated, +the Judgment angle. Within the square formed by the building is seen its +interior court (with one of its wells), terminated by small and +fantastic buildings of the Renaissance period, which face the Giant's +Stair, of which the extremity is seen sloping down on the left. + +SECTION V. The great facade which fronts the spectator looks southward. +Hence the two traceried windows lower than the rest, and to the right of +the spectator, may be conveniently distinguished as the "Eastern +Windows." There are two others like them, filled with tracery, and at +the same level, which look upon the narrow canal between the Ponte della +Paglia and the Bridge of Sighs: these we may conveniently call the +"Canal Windows." The reader will observe a vertical line in this dark +side of the palace, separating its nearer and plainer wall from a long +four-storied range of rich architecture. This more distant range is +entirely Renaissance: its extremity is not indicated, because I have no +accurate sketch of the small buildings and bridges beyond it, and we +shall have nothing whatever to do with this part of the palace in our +present inquiry. The nearer and undecorated wall is part of the older +palace, though much defaced by modern opening of common windows, +refittings of the brickwork, etc. + +SECTION VI. It will be observed that the facade is composed of a smooth +mass of wall, sustained on two tiers of pillars, one above the other. +The manner in which these support the whole fabric will be understood at +once by the rough section, Fig. III., which is supposed to be taken +right through the palace to the interior court, from near the middle of +the Sea Facade. Here _a_ and _d_ are the rows of shafts, both +in the inner court and on the Facade, which carry the main walls; +_b_, _c_ are solid walls variously strengthened with pilasters. A, B, C +are the three stories of the interior of the palace. + +[Illustration: FIG. III.] + +The reader sees that it is impossible for any plan to be more simple, +and that if the inner floors and walls of the stories A, B were removed, +there would be left merely the form of a basilica,--two high walls, +carried on ranges of shafts, and roofed by a low gable. + +The stories A, B are entirely modernized, and divided into confused +ranges of small apartments, among which what vestiges remain of ancient +masonry are entirely undecipherable, except by investigations such as I +have had neither the time nor, as in most cases they would involve the +removal of modern plastering, the opportunity, to make. With the +subdivisions of this story, therefore, I shall not trouble the reader; +but those of the great upper story, C, are highly important. + +SECTION VII. In the bird's-eye view above, Fig. II., it will be noticed +that the two windows on the right are lower than the other four of the +facade. In this arrangement there is one of the most remarkable +instances I know of the daring sacrifice of symmetry to convenience, +which was noticed in Chap. VII. as one of the chief noblenesses of the +Gothic schools. + +The part of the palace in which the two lower windows occur, we shall +find, was first built, and arranged in four stories in order to obtain +the necessary number of apartments. Owing to circumstances, of which we +shall presently give an account, it became necessary, in the beginning +of the fourteenth century, to provide another large and magnificent +chamber for the meeting of the senate. That chamber was added at the +side of the older building; but, as only one room was wanted, there was +no need to divide the added portion into two stories. The entire height +was given to the single chamber, being indeed not too great for just +harmony with its enormous length and breadth. And then came the question +how to place the windows, whether on a line with the two others, or +above them. + +The ceiling of the new room was to be adorned by the paintings of the +best masters in Venice, and it became of great importance to raise the +light near that gorgeous roof, as well as to keep the tone of +illumination in the Council Chamber serene; and therefore to introduce +light rather in simple masses than in many broken streams. A modern +architect, terrified at the idea of violating external symmetry, would +have sacrificed both the pictures and the peace of the council. He would +have placed the larger windows at the same level with the other two, and +have introduced above them smaller windows, like those of the upper +story in the older building, as if that upper story had been continued +along the facade. But the old Venetian thought of the honor of the +paintings, and the comfort of the senate, before his own reputation. He +unhesitatingly raised the large windows to their proper position with +reference to the interior of the chamber, and suffered the external +appearance to take care of itself. And I believe the whole pile rather +gains than loses in effect by the variation thus obtained in the spaces +of wall above and below the windows. + +SECTION VIII. On the party wall, between the second and third windows, +which faces the eastern extremity of the Great Council Chamber, is +painted the Paradise of Tintoret; and this wall will therefore be +hereafter called the "Wall of the Paradise." + +In nearly the centre of the Sea Facade, and between the first and second +windows of the Great Council Chamber, is a large window to the ground, +opening on a balcony, which is one of the chief ornaments of the palace, +and will be called in future the "Sea Balcony." + +The facade which looks on the Piazzetta is very nearly like this to the +Sea, but the greater part of it was built in the fifteenth century, when +people had become studious of their symmetries. Its side windows are all +on the same level. Two light the west end of the Great Council Chamber, +one lights a small room anciently called the Quarantia Civil Nuova; the +other three, and the central one, with a balcony like that to the Sea, +light another large chamber, called Sala del Scrutinio, or "Hall of +Enquiry," which extends to the extremity of the palace above the Porta +della Carta. + +SECTION IX. The reader is now well enough acquainted with the topography +of the existing building, to be able to follow the accounts of its +history. + +We have seen above, that there were three principal styles of Venetian +architecture; Byzantine, Gothic, and Renaissance. + +The Ducal Palace, which was the great work of Venice, was built +successively in the three styles. There was a Byzantine Ducal Palace, a +Gothic Ducal Palace, and a Renaissance Ducal Palace. The second +superseded the first totally; a few stones of it (if indeed so much) are +all that is left. But the third superseded the second in part only, and +the existing building is formed by the union of the two. + +We shall review the history of each in succession. [Footnote: The reader +will find it convenient to note the following editions of the printed +books which have been principally consulted in the following inquiry. The +numbers of the manuscripts referred to in the Marcian Library are given +with the quotations. + Sansovino. Venetia Descritta. 410, Venice, 1663. + Sansovino. Lettera intorno al Palazzo Ducale, 8vo, Venice, 1829. + Temanza. Antica Pianta di Venezia, with text. Venice, 1780. + Cadorin. Pareri di XV. Architetti. Svo, Venice,1838. + Filiasi. Memorie storiche. 8vo, Padua, 1811. + Bettio. Lettera discorsiva del Palazzo Ducale, 8vo, Venice, 1837. + Selvatico. Architettura di Venezia. 8vo, Venice, 1847.] + +1st. The BYZANTINE PALACE. + +In the year of the death of Charlemagne, 813, the Venetians determined +to make the island of Rialto the seat of the government and capital of +their state. [Footnote: The year commonly given is 810, as in the Savina +Chronicle (Cod. Marcianus), p. 13. "Del 810 fece principiar el pallazzo +Ducal nel luogo ditto Brucio in confin di S. Moise, et fece riedificar +la isola di Eraclia." The Sagornin Chronicle gives 804; and Filiasi, +vol. vi. chap. I, corrects this date to 813.] Their Doge, Angelo or +Agnello Participazio, instantly took vigorous means for the enlargement +of the small group of buildings which were to be the nucleus of the +future Venice. He appointed persons to superintend the raising of the +banks of sand, so as to form more secure foundations, and to build +wooden bridges over the canals. For the offices of religion, he built +the Church of St. Mark; and on, or near, the spot where the Ducal Palace +now stands, he built a palace for the administration of the government. +[Footnote: "Amplio la citta, fornilla di casamenti, _e per il culto d' +Iddio e l' amministrazione della giustizia_ eresse la capella di S. +Marco, e il palazzo di sua residenza."--Pareri, p. 120. Observe, that +piety towards God, and justice towards man, have been at least the +nominal purposes of every act and institution of ancient Venice. Compare +also Temanza, p. 24. "Quello che abbiamo di certo si e che il suddetto +Agnello lo incommincio da fondamenti, e cosi pure la capella ducale di +S. Marco."] + +The history of the Ducal Palace therefore begins with the birth of +Venice, and to what remains of it, at this day, is entrusted the last +representation of her power. + +SECTION X. Of the exact position and form of this palace of Participazio +little is ascertained. Sansovino says that it was "built near the Ponte +della Paglia, and answeringly on the Grand Canal," towards San Giorgio; +that is to say, in the place now occupied by the Sea Facade; but this +was merely the popular report of his day. [Footnote: What I call the +Sea, was called "the Grand Canal" by the Venetians, as well as the great +water street of the city; but I prefer calling it "the Sea," in order to +distinguish between that street and the broad water in front of the +Ducal Palace, which, interrupted only by the island of San Giorgio, +stretches for many miles to the south, and for more than two to the +boundary of the Lido. It was the deeper channel, just in front of the +Ducal Palace, continuing the line of the great water street itself which +the Venetians spoke of as "the Grand Canal." The words of Sansovino are: +"Fu cominciato dove si vede, vicino al ponte della paglia, et +rispondente sul canal grande." Filiasi says simply: "The palace was +built where it now is." "Il palazio fu fatto dove ora pure +esiste."--Vol. iii. chap. 27. The Savina Chronicle, already quoted, +says: "in the place called the Bruolo (or Broglio), that is to say on +the Piazzetta."] + +We know, however, positively, that it was somewhere upon the site of the +existing palace; and that it had an important front towards the +Piazzetta, with which, as we shall see hereafter, the present palace at +one period was incorporated. We know, also, that it was a pile of some +magnificence, from the account given by Sagornino of the visit paid by +the Emperor Otho the Great, to the Doge Pietro Orseolo II. The +chronicler says that the Emperor "beheld carefully all the beauty of the +palace;" [Footnote: "Omni decoritate illius perlustrata."--Sagornino, +quoted by Cadorin and Temanza.] and the Venetian historians express +pride in the buildings being worthy of an emperor's examination. This +was after the palace had been much injured by fire in the revolt against +Candiano IV., [Footnote: There is an interesting account of this revolt +in Monaci, p. 68. Some historians speak of the palace as having been +destroyed entirely; but, that it did not even need important +restorations, appears from Sagornino's expression, quoted by Cadorin and +Temanza. Speaking of the Doge Participazio, he says: "Qui Palatii +hucusque manentis fuerit fabricator." The reparations of the palace are +usually attributed to the successor of Candiano, Pietro Orseolo I.; but +the legend, under the picture of that Doge in the Council Chamber, +speaks only of his rebuilding St. Mark's, and "performing many +miracles." His whole mind seems to have been occupied with +ecclesiastical affairs; and his piety was finally manifested in a way +somewhat startling to the state, by absconding with a French priest to +St. Michael's in Gascony, and there becoming a monk. What repairs, +therefore, were necessary to the Ducal Palace, were left to be +undertaken by his son, Orseolo II., above named.] and just repaired, and +richly adorned by Orseolo himself, who is spoken of by Sagornino as +having also "adorned the chapel of the Ducal Palace" (St. Mark's) with +ornaments of marble and gold. [Footnote: "Quam non modo marmoreo, verum +aureo compsit ornamento."--_Temanza_] There can be no doubt +whatever that the palace at this period resembled and impressed the +other Byzantine edifices of the city, such as the Fondaco de Turchi, +&c., whose remains have been already described; and that, like them, it +was covered with sculpture, and richly adorned with gold and color. + +SECTION XI. In the year 1106, it was for the second time injured by +fire, [Footnote: "L'anno 1106, uscito fuoco d'una casa privata, arse +parte del palazzo."--_Sansovino_. Of the beneficial effect of these +fires, vide Cadorin.] but repaired before 1116, when it received another +emperor, Henry V. (of Germany), and was again honored by imperial +praise. [Footnote: "Urbis situm, aedificiorum decorem, et regiminis +sequitatem multipliciter commendavit."--_Cronaca Dandolo_, quoted +by Cadorin.] + +Between 1173 and the close of the century, it seems to have been again +repaired and much enlarged by the Doge Sebastian Ziani. Sansovino says +that this Doge not only repaired it, but "enlarged it in every +direction;" [Footnote: "Non solamente rinovo il palazzo, ma lo aggrandi +per ogni verso."--_Sansovino_. Zanotto quotes the Altinat Chronicle +for account of these repairs.] and, after this enlargement, the palace +seems to have remained untouched for a hundred years, until, in the +commencement of the fourteenth century, the works of the Gothic Palace +were begun. As, therefore, the old Byzantine building was, at the time +when those works first interfered with it, in the form given to it by +Ziani, I shall hereafter always speak of it as the _Ziani_ Palace; and +this the rather, because the only chronicler whose words are perfectly +clear respecting the existence of part of this palace so late as the year +1422, speaks of it as built by Ziani. The old "palace of which half +remains to this day, was built, as we now see it, by Sebastian Ziani." +[Footnote: "El palazzo che anco di mezzo se vede vecchio, per M. +Sebastian Ziani fu fatto compir, come el se vede."--_Chronicle of Pietro +Dolfino_, Cod. Ven. p. 47. This Chronicle is spoken of by Sansovino as +"molto particolare, e distinta."--_Sansovino, Venezia descritta_, p. +593.--It terminates in the year 1422.] + +So far, then, of the Byzantine Palace. + +SECTION XII. 2nd. The GOTHIC PALACE. The reader, doubtless, recollects +that the important change in the Venetian government which gave +stability to the aristocratic power took place about the year 1297, +[Footnote: See Vol. I. Appendix 3, Stones of Venice.] under the Doge +Pietro Gradenigo, a man thus characterized by Sansovino:--"A prompt and +prudent man, of unconquerable determination and great eloquence, who +laid, so to speak, the foundations of the eternity of this republic, by +the admirable regulations which he introduced into the government." + +We may now, with some reason, doubt of their admirableness; but their +importance, and the vigorous will and intellect of the Doge, are not to +be disputed. Venice was in the zenith of her strength, and the heroism +of her citizens was displaying itself in every quarter of the world. +[Footnote: Vide Sansovino's enumeration of those who flourished in the +reign of Gradenigo, p. 564.] The acquiescence in the secure +establishment of the aristocratic power was an expression, by the +people, of respect for the families which had been chiefly instrumental +in raising the commonwealth to such a height of prosperity. + +The Serrar del Consiglio fixed the numbers of the Senate within certain +limits, and it conferred upon them a dignity greater than they had ever +before possessed. It was natural that the alteration in the character of +the assembly should be attended by some change in the size, arrangement, +or decoration of the chamber in which they sat. + +We accordingly find it recorded by Sansovino, that "in 1301 another +saloon was begun on the Rio del Palazzo, _under the Doge +Gradenigo_, and finished in 1309, _in which year the Grand Council +first sat in it_." [Footnote: Sansovino, 324, I.] In the first year, +therefore, of the fourteenth century, the Gothic Ducal Palace of Venice +was begun; and as the Byzantine Palace was, in its foundation, coeval +with that of the state, so the Gothic Palace was, in its foundation, +coeval with that of the aristocratic power. Considered as the principal +representation of the Venetian school of architecture, the Ducal Palace +is the Parthenon of Venice, and Gradenigo its Pericles. + +SECTION XIII. Sansovino, with a caution very frequent among Venetian +historians, when alluding to events connected with the Serrar del +Consiglio, does not specially mention the cause for the requirement of +the new chamber; but the Sivos Chronicle is a little more distinct in +expression. "In 1301, it was determined to build a great saloon _for +the assembling_ of the Great Council, and the room was built which is +_now_ called the Sala del Scrutinio." [Footnote: "1301 fu presa +parte di fare una sala grande per la riduzione del gran consiglio, e fu +fatta quella che ora si chiama dello Scrutinio."--_Cronaca Sivos_, +quoted by Cadorin. There is another most interesting entry in the +Chronicle of Magno, relating to this event; but the passage is so ill +written, that I am not sure if I have deciphered it correctly:--"Del +1301 fu preso de fabrichar la sala fo ruina e fu fata (fatta) quella se +adoperava a far e pregadi e fu adopera per far el Gran Consegio fin +1423, che fu anni 122." This last sentence, which is of great +importance, is luckily unmistakable:--"The room was used for the +meetings of the Great Council until 1423, that is to say, for 122 +years."--_Cod. Ven._ tom. i. p. 126. The Chronicle extends from +1253 to 1454. + +Abstract 1301 to 1309; Gradenigo's room--1340-42, page 295-1419. New +proposals, p. 298.] _Now_, that is to say, at the time when the +Sivos Chronicle was written; the room has long ago been destroyed, and +its name given to another chamber on the opposite side of the palace: +but I wish the reader to remember the date 1301, as marking the +commencement of a great architectural epoch, in which took place the +first appliance of the energy of the aristocratic power, and of the +Gothic style, to the works of the Ducal Palace. The operations then +begun were continued, with hardly an interruption, during the whole +period of the prosperity of Venice. We shall see the new buildings +consume, and take the place of, the Ziani Palace, piece by piece: and +when the Ziani Palace was destroyed, they fed upon themselves; being +continued round the square, until, in the sixteenth century, they +reached the point where they had been begun in the fourteenth, and +pursued the track they had then followed some distance beyond the +junction; destroying or hiding their own commencement, as the serpent, +which is the type of eternity, conceals its tail in its jaws. + +SECTION XIV. We cannot, therefore, _see_ the extremity, wherein lay +the sting and force of the whole creature,--the chamber, namely, built +by the Doge Gradenigo; but the reader must keep that commencement and +the date of it carefully in his mind. The body of the Palace Serpent +will soon become visible to us. + +The Gradenigo Chamber was somewhere on the Rio Facade, behind the +present position of the Bridge of Sighs; i.e. about the point marked on +the roof by the dotted lines in the woodcut; it is not known whether low +or high, but probably on a first story. The great facade of the Ziani +Palace being, as above mentioned, on the Piazzetta, this chamber was as +far back and out of the way as possible; secrecy and security being +obviously the points first considered. + +SECTION XV. But the newly constituted Senate had need of other additions +to the ancient palace besides the Council Chamber. A short, but most +significant, sentence is added to Sansovino's account of the construction +of that room. "There were, _near it_," he says, "the Cancellaria, and the +_Gheba_ or _Gabbia_, afterwards called the Little Tower." [Footnote: "Vi +era appresso la Cancellarla, e la Gheba o Gabbia, iniamata poi +Torresella,"---P. 324. A small square tower is seen above the Vine angle +in the view of Venice dated 1500, and attributed to Albert Durer. It +appears about 25 feet square, and is very probably the Torresella in +question.] + +Gabbia means a "cage;" and there can be no question that certain +apartments were at this time added at the top of the palace and on the +Rio Facade, which were to be used as prisons. Whether any portion of the +old Torresella still remains is a doubtful question; but the apartments +at the top of the palace, in its fourth story, were still used for +prisons as late as the beginning of the seventeenth century. [Footnote: +Vide Bettio, Lettera, p. 23.] I wish the reader especially to notice +that a separate tower or range of apartments was built for this purpose, +in order to clear the government of the accusations so constantly made +against them, by ignorant or partial historians, of wanton cruelty to +prisoners. The stories commonly told respecting the "piombi" of the +Ducal Palace are utterly false. Instead of being, as usually reported, +small furnaces under the leads of the palace, they were comfortable +rooms, with good flat roofs of larch, and carefully ventilated. +[Footnote: Bettio, Lettera, p. 20. "Those who wrote without having seen +them described them as covered with lead; and those who have seen them +know that, between their flat timber roofs and the sloping leaden roof +of the palace the interval is five metres where it is least, and nine +where it is greatest."] The new chamber, then, and the prisons, being +built, the Great Council first sat in their retired chamber on the Rio +in the year 1309. + +SECTION XVI. Now, observe the significant progress of events. They had +no sooner thus established themselves in power than they were disturbed +by the conspiracy of the Tiepolos, in the year 1310. In consequence of +that conspiracy the Council of Ten was created, still under the Doge +Gradenigo; who, having finished his work and left the aristocracy of +Venice armed with this terrible power, died in the year 1312, some say +by poison. He was succeeded by the Doge Marino Giorgio, who reigned only +one year; and then followed the prosperous government of John Soranzo. +There is no mention of any additions to the Ducal Palace during his +reign, but he was succeeded by that Francesco Dandolo, the sculptures on +whose tomb, still existing in the cloisters of the Salute, may be +compared by any traveller with those of the Ducal Palace. Of him it is +recorded in the Savina Chronicle: "This Doge also had the great gate +built which is at the entry of the palace, above which is his statue +kneeling, with the gonfalon in hand, before the feet of the Lion of St. +Mark's." [Footnote: "Questo Dose anche fese far la porta granda che se +al intrar del Pallazzo, in su la qual vi e la sua statua che sta in +zenocchioni con lo confalon in man, davanti li pie de lo Lion S. +Marco."--_Savin Chronicle_, Cod. Ven. p. 120.] + +SECTION XVII. It appears, then, that after the Senate had completed +their Council Chamber and the prisons, they required a nobler door than +that of the old Ziani Palace for their Magnificences to enter by. This +door is twice spoken of in the government accounts of expenses, which +are fortunately preserved, [Footnote: These documents I have not +examined myself, being satisfied of the accuracy of Cadorin, from whom I +take the passages quoted.] in the following terms:-- + +"1335, June 1. We, Andrew Dandolo and Mark Loredano, procurators of St. +Mark's, have paid to Martin the stone-cutter and his associates.... +[Footnote: "Libras tres, soldeos 15 grossorum."--Cadorin, 189, I.] +for a stone of which the lion is made which is put over the gate of the +palace." + +"1344, November 4. We have paid thirty-five golden ducats for making +gold leaf, to gild the lion which is over the door of the palace +stairs." + +The position of this door is disputed, and is of no consequence to the +reader, the door itself having long ago disappeared, and been replaced +by the Porta della Carta. + +SECTION XVIII. But before it was finished, occasion had been discovered +for farther improvements. The Senate found their new Council Chamber +inconveniently small, and, about thirty years after its completion, +began to consider where a larger and more magnificent one might be +built. The government was now thoroughly established, and it was +probably felt that there was some meanness in the retired position, as +well as insufficiency in the size, of the Council Chamber on the Rio. +The first definite account which I find of their proceedings, under +these circumstances, is in the Caroldo Chronicle: [Footnote: Cod. Ven., +No. CXLI. p. 365.] + +"1340. On the 28th of December, in the preceding year, Master Marco +Erizzo, Nicolo Soranzo, and Thomas Gradenigo, were chosen to examine +where a new saloon might be built in order to assemble therein the +Greater Council.... On the 3rd of June, 1341, the Great Council elected +two procurators of the work of this saloon, with a salary of eighty +ducats a year." + +It appears from the entry still preserved in the Archivio, and quoted by +Cadorin, that it was on the 28th of December, 1340, that the +commissioners appointed to decide on this important matter gave in their +report to the Grand Council, and that the decree passed thereupon for the +commencement of a new Council Chamber on the Grand Canal. [Footnote: +Sansovino is more explicit than usual in his reference to this decree: +"For it having appeared that the place (the first Council Chamber) is not +capacious enough, the saloon on the Grand Canal was ordered." "Per cio +parendo che il luogo non fosse capace, fu ordinata la Sala sul Canal +Grande."--P. 324.] + +_The room then begun is the one now in existence_, and its building +involved the building of all that is best and most beautiful in the +present Ducal Palace, the rich arcades of the lower stories being all +prepared for sustaining this Sala del Gran Consiglio. + +SECTION XIX. In saying that it is the same now in existence, I do not +mean that it has undergone no alterations; as we shall see hereafter, it +has been refitted again and again, and some portions of its walls +rebuilt; but in the place and form in which it first stood, it still +stands; and by a glance at the position which its windows occupy, as +shown in Figure II. above, the reader will see at once that whatever can +be known respecting the design of the Sea Facade, must be gleaned out of +the entries which refer to the building of this Great Council Chamber. + +Cadorin quotes two of great importance, to which we shall return in due +time, made during the progress of the work in 1342 and 1344; then one of +1349, resolving that the works at the Ducal Palace, which had been +discontinued during the plague, should be resumed; and finally one in +1362, which speaks of the Great Council Chamber as having been neglected +and suffered to fall into "great desolation," and resolves that it shall +be forthwith completed. [Footnote: Cadorin, 185, 2. The decree of 1342 +is falsely given as of 1345 by the Sivos Chronicle, and by Magno; while +Sanuto gives the decree to its right year, 1342, but speaks of the +Council Chamber as only begun in 1345.] + +The interruption had not been caused by the plague only, but by the +conspiracy of Faliero, and the violent death of the master builder. +[Footnote: Calendario. See Appendix I., Vol. III.] The work was resumed +in 1362, and completed within the next three years, at least so far as +that Guariento was enabled to paint his Paradise on the walls; +[Footnote: "II primo che vi colorisse fu Guariento il quale l'anno 1365 +vi fece il Paradiso in testa della sala."--_Sansovino_.] so that +the building must, at any rate, have been roofed by this time. Its +decorations and fittings, however, were long in completion; the +paintings on the roof being only executed in 1400. [Footnote: "L'an poi +1400 vi fece il ciclo compartita a quadretti d'oro, ripieni di stelle, +ch'era la insegna del Doge Steno."--_Sansovino_, lib. viii.] They +represented the heavens covered with stars, [Footnote: "In questi tempi +si messe in oro il ciclo della sala del Gran Consiglio et si fece il +pergole del finestra grande chi guarda sul canale, adornato l'uno e +l'altro di stelle, eh' erano la insegne del Doge."--_Sansovino_, +lib. xiii. Compare also Pareri, p. 129.] this being, says Sansovino, the +bearings of the Doge Steno. Almost all ceilings and vaults were at this +time in Venice covered with stars, without any reference to armorial +bearings; but Steno claims, under his noble title of Stellifer, an +important share in completing the chamber, in an inscription upon two +square tablets, now inlaid in the walls on each side of the great window +towards the sea: + + "MILLE QUADRINGENTI CURREBANT QUATUOR ANNI + HOC OPUS ILLUSTRIS MICHAEL DUX STELLIFER AUXIT." + +And in fact it is to this Doge that we owe the beautiful balcony of that +window, though the work above it is partly of more recent date; and I +think the tablets bearing this important inscription have been taken out +and reinserted in the newer masonry. The labor of these final +decorations occupied a total period of sixty years. The Grand Council +sat in the finished chamber for the first time in 1423. In that year the +Gothic Ducal Palace of Venice was completed. It had taken, to build it, +the energies of the entire period which I have above described as the +central one of her life. + +SECTION XX. 3rd. The RENAISSANCE PALACE. I must go back a step or two, +in order to be certain that the reader understands clearly the state of +the palace in 1423. The works of addition or renovation had now been +proceeding, at intervals, during a space of a hundred and twenty-three +years. Three generations at least had been accustomed to witness the +gradual advancement of the form of the Ducal Palace into more stately +symmetry, and to contrast the Works of sculpture and painting with which +it was decorated,--full of the life, knowledge, and hope of the +fourteenth century,--with the rude Byzantine chiselling of the palace of +the Doge Ziani. The magnificent fabric just completed, of which the new +Council Chamber was the nucleus, was now habitually known in Venice as +the "Palazzo Nuovo;" and the old Byzantine edifice, now ruinous, and +more manifest in its decay by its contrast with the goodly stones of the +building which had been raised at its side, was of course known as the +"Palazzo Vecchio." [Footnote: Baseggio (Pareri, p. 127) is called the +Proto of the _New_ Palace. Farther notes will be found in Appendix I., +Vol. III.] That fabric, however, still occupied the principal position in +Venice. The new Council Chamber had been erected by the side of it +towards the Sea; but there was not then the wide quay in front, the Riva +dei Schiavoni, which now renders the Sea Facade as important as that to +the Piazzetta. There was only a narrow walk between the pillars and the +water; and the _old_ palace of Ziani still faced the Piazzetta, and +interrupted, by its decrepitude, the magnificence of the square where the +nobles daily met. Every increase of the beauty of the new palace rendered +the discrepancy between it and the companion building more painful; and +then began to arise in the minds of all men a vague idea of the necessity +of destroying the old palace, and completing the front of the Piazzetta +with the same splendor as the Sea Facade. But no such sweeping measure of +renovation had been Contemplated by the Senate when they first formed the +plan of their new Council Chamber. First a single additional room, then a +gateway, then a larger room; but all considered merely as necessary +additions to the palace, not as involving the entire reconstruction of +the ancient edifice. The exhaustion of the treasury, and the shadows upon +the political horizon, rendered it more than imprudent to incur the vast +additional expense which such a project involved; and the Senate, fearful +of itself, and desirous to guard against the weakness of its own +enthusiasm, passed a decree, like the effort of a man fearful of some +strong temptation to keep his thoughts averted from the point of danger. +It was a decree, not merely that the old palace should not be rebuilt, +but that no one should _propose_ rebuilding it. The feeling of the +desirableness of doing so was, too strong to permit fair discussion, and +the Senate knew that to bring forward such a motion was to carry it. + +SECTION XXI. The decree, thus passed in order to guard against their own +weakness, forbade any one to speak of rebuilding the old palace under +the penalty of a thousand ducats. But they had rated their own +enthusiasm too low: there was a man among them whom the loss of a +thousand ducats could not deter from proposing what he believed to be +for the good of the state. + +Some excuse was given him for bringing forward the motion, by a fire +which occurred in 1419, and which injured both the church of St. Mark's, +and part of the old palace fronting the Piazzetta. What followed, I +shall relate in the words of Sanuto. [Footnote: Cronaca Sanudo, No. +cxxv. in the Marcian Library, p. 568.] + +SECTION XXII. "Therefore they set themselves with all diligence and care +to repair and adorn sumptuously, first God's house; but in the Prince's +house things went on more slowly, _for it did not please the Doge_ +[Footnote: Tomaso Mocenigo.] _to restore it in the form in which it +was before_; and they could not rebuild it altogether in a better +manner, so great was the parsimony of these old fathers; because it was +forbidden by laws, which condemned in a penalty of a thousand ducats any +one who should propose to throw down the _old_ palace, and to +rebuild it more richly and with greater expense. But the Doge, who was +magnanimous, and who desired above all things what was honorable to the +city, had the thousand ducats carried into the Senate Chamber, and then +proposed that the palace should be rebuilt; saying: that, 'since the +late fire had ruined in great part the Ducal habitation (not only his +own private palace, but all the places used for public business) this +occasion was to be taken for an admonishment sent from God, that they +ought to rebuild the palace more nobly, and in a way more befitting the +greatness to which, by God's grace, their dominions had reached; and +that his motive in proposing this was neither ambition, nor selfish +interest: that, as for ambition, they might have seen in the whole +course of his life, through so many years, that he had never done +anything for ambition, either in the city, or in foreign business; but +in all his actions had kept justice first in his thoughts, and then the +advantage of the state, and the honor of the Venetian name: and that, as +far as regarded his private interest, if it had not been for this +accident of the fire, he would never have thought of changing anything +in the palace into either a more sumptuous or a more honorable form; and +that during the many years in which he had lived in it, he had never +endeavored to make any change, but had always been content with it, as +his predecessors had left it; and that he knew well that, if they took +in hand to build it as he exhorted and besought them, being now very +old, and broken down with many toils, God would call him to another life +before the walls were raised a pace from the ground. And that therefore +they might perceive that he did not advise them to raise this building +for his own convenience, but only for the honor of the city and its +Dukedom; and that the good of it would never be felt by him, but by his +successors.' Then he said, that 'in order, as he had always done, to +observe the laws,... he had brought with him the thousand ducats which +had been appointed as the penalty for proposing such a measure, so that +he might prove openly to all men that it was not his own advantage that +he sought, but the dignity of the state.'" There was no one (Sanuto goes +on to tell us) who ventured, or desired, to oppose the wishes of the +Doge; and the thousand ducats were unanimously devoted to the expenses +of the work. "And they set themselves with much diligence to the work; +and the palace was begun in the form and manner in which it is at +present seen; but, as Mocenigo had prophesied, not long after, he ended +his life, and not only did not see the work brought to a close, but +hardly even begun." + +SECTION XXIII. There are one or two expressions in the above extracts +which if they stood alone, might lead the reader to suppose that the +whole palace had been thrown down and rebuilt. We must however remember, +that, at this time, the new Council Chamber, which had been one hundred +years in building, was actually unfinished, the council had not yet sat +in it; and it was just as likely that the Doge should then propose to +destroy and rebuild it, as in this year, 1853, it is that any one should +propose in our House of Commons to throw down the new Houses of +Parliament, under the title of the "old palace," and rebuild _them_. + +SECTION XXIV. The manner in which Sanuto expresses himself will at once +be seen to be perfectly natural, when it is remembered that although we +now speak of the whole building as the "Ducal Palace," it consisted, in +the minds of the old Venetians, of four distinct buildings. There were +in it the palace, the state prisons, the senate-house, and the offices +of public business; in other words, it was Buckingham Palace, the Tower +of olden days, the Houses of Parliament, and Downing Street, all in one; +and any of these four portions might be spoken of, without involving an +allusion to any other. "Il Palazzo" was the Ducal residence, which, with +most of the public offices, Mocenigo _did_ propose to pull down and +rebuild, and which was actually pulled down and rebuilt. But the new +Council Chamber, of which the whole facade to the Sea consisted, never +entered into either his or Sanuto's mind for an instant, as necessarily +connected with the Ducal residence. + +I said that the new Council Chamber, at the time when Mocenigo brought +forward his measure, had never yet been used. It was in the year 1422 +[Footnote: Vide notes in Appendix.] that the decree passed to rebuild +the palace: Mocenigo died in the following year, and Francesco Foscari +was elected in his room. [Footnote: On the 4th of April, 1423, according +to the copy of the Zancarol Chronicle in the Marcian Library, but +previously, according to the Caroldo Chronicle, which makes Foscari +enter the Senate as Doge on the 3rd of April.] The Great Council Chamber +was used for the first time on the day when Foscari entered the Senate +as Doge,--the 3rd of April, 1423, according to the Caroldo Chronicle; +[Footnote: "Nella quale (the Sala del Gran Consiglio) non si fece Gran +Consiglio salvo nell' anno 1423, alli 3, April, et fu il primo giorno +che il Duce Foscari venisse in Gran Consiglio dopo la sua +creatione."--Copy in Marcian Library, p. 365.] the 23rd, which is +probably correct, by an anonymous MS., No. 60, in the Correr Museum; +[Footnote: "E a di 23 April (1423, by the context) sequente fo fatto +Gran Conscio in la salla nuovo dovi avanti non esta piu fatto Gran +Conscio si che el primo Gran Conscio dopo la sua (Foscari's) creation fo +fatto in la sala nuova, nel qual conscio fu el Marchese di Mantoa," &c., +p. 426.]--and, the following year, on the 27th of March, the first +hammer was lifted up against the old palace of Ziani. [Footnote: Compare +Appendix I. Vol. III.] + +SECTION XXV. That hammer stroke was the first act of the period properly +called the "Renaissance" It was the knell of the architecture of +Venice,--and of Venice herself. + +The central epoch of her life was past; the decay had already begun: I +dated its commencement above (Ch. I., Vol. I.) from the death of +Mocenigo. A year had not yet elapsed since that great Doge had been +called to his account: his patriotism, always sincere, had been in this +instance mistaken; in his zeal for the honor of future Venice, he had +forgotten what was due to the Venice of long ago. A thousand palaces +might be built upon her burdened islands, but none of them could take +the place, or recall the memory, of that which was first built upon her +unfrequented shore. It fell; and, as if it had been the talisman of her +fortunes, the city never flourished again. + +SECTION XXVI. I have no intention of following out, in their intricate +details, the operations which were begun under Foscari and continued +under succeeding Doges till the palace assumed its present form, for I +am not in this work concerned, except by occasional reference, with the +architecture of the fifteenth century: but the main facts are the +following. The palace of Ziani was destroyed; the existing facade to the +Piazzetta built, so as both to continue and to resemble, in most +particulars, the work of the Great Council Chamber. It was carried back +from the Sea as far as the Judgment angle; beyond which is the Porta +della Carta, begun in 1439, and finished in two years, under the Doge +Foscari; [Footnote: "Tutte queste fatture si compirono sotto il dogade +del Foscari, nel 1441."--_Pareri_, p. 131.] the interior buildings +connected with it were added by the Doge Christopher Moro, (the Othello +of Shakspeare) [Footnote: This identification has been accomplished, and +I think conclusively, by my friend Mr. Rawdon Brown, who has devoted all +the leisure which, during the last twenty years his manifold office of +kindness to almost every English visitant of Venice have left him, in +discovering and translating the passages of the Venetian records which +bear upon English history and literature. I shall have occasion to take +advantage hereafter of a portion of his labors, which I trust will +shortly be made public.] in 1462. + +SECTION XXVII. By reference to the figure the reader will see that we +have now gone the round of the palace, and that the new work of 1462 was +close upon the first piece of the Gothic palace, the _new_ Council +Chamber of 1301. Some remnants of the Ziani Palace were perhaps still +left between the two extremities of the Gothic Palace; or as is more +probable, the last stones of it may have been swept away after the fire +of 1419, and replaced by new apartments for the Doge. But whatever +buildings, old or new, stood on this spot at the time of the completion +of the Porta della Carta were destroyed by another great fire in 1479, +together with so much of the palace on the Rio that, though the saloon +of Gradenigo, then known as the Sala de' Pregadi, was not destroyed, it +became necessary to reconstruct the entire facades of the portion of the +palace behind the Bridge of Sighs, both towards the court and canal. +This work was entrusted to the best Renaissance architects of the close +of the fifteenth and opening of the sixteenth centuries; Antonio Ricci +executing the Giant's staircase, and on his absconding with a large sum +of the public money, Pietro Lombardo taking his place. The whole work +must have been completed towards the middle of the sixteenth century. +The architects of the palace, advancing round the square and led by +fire, had more than reached the point from which they had set out; and +the work of 1560 was joined to the work of 1301-1340, at the point +marked by the conspicuous vertical line in Figure II on the Rio Facade. + +SECTION XVIII. But the palace was not long permitted to remain in this +finished form. Another terrific fire, commonly called the great fire, +burst out in 1574, and destroyed the inner fittings and all the precious +pictures of the Great Council Chamber, and of all the upper rooms on the +Sea Facade, and most of those on the Rio Facade, leaving the building a +mere shell, shaken and blasted by the flames. It was debated in the +Great Council whether the ruin should not be thrown down, and an +entirely new palace built in its stead. The opinions of all the leading +architects of Venice were taken, respecting the safety of the walls, or +the possibility of repairing them as they stood. These opinions, given +in writing, have been preserved, and published by the Abbe Cadorin, in +the work already so often referred to; and they form one of the most +important series of documents connected with the Ducal Palace. + +I cannot help feeling some childish pleasure in the accidental +resemblance to my own name in that of the architect whose opinion was +first given in favor of the ancient fabric, Giovanni Rusconi. Others, +especially Palladio, wanted to pull down the old palace, and execute +designs of their own; but the best architects in Venice, and to his +immortal honor, chiefly Francesco Sansovino, energetically pleaded for +the Gothic pile, and prevailed. It was successfully repaired, and +Tintoret painted his noblest picture on the wall from which the Paradise +of Guariento had withered before the flames. + +SECTION XXIX. The repairs necessarily undertaken at this time were +however extensive, and interfered in many directions with the earlier +work of the palace: still the only serious alteration in its form was +the transposition of the prisons, formerly at the top of the palace to +the other side of the Rio del Palazzo; and the building of the Bridge of +Sighs, to connect them with the palace, by Antonio da Ponte. The +completion of this work brought the whole edifice into its present form; +with the exception of alterations indoors, partitions, and staircases +among the inner apartments, not worth noticing, and such barbarisms and +defacements as have been suffered within the last fifty years, by, I +suppose nearly every building of importance in Italy. + +SECTION XXX. Now, therefore, we are at liberty to examine some of the +details of the Ducal Palace, without any doubt about their dates. I +shall not however, give any elaborate illustrations of them here, +because I could not do them justice on the scale of the page of this +volume, or by means of line engraving. I believe a new era is opening to +us in the art of illustration, [Footnote: See the last chapter of the +third volume, Stones of Venice.] and that I shall be able to give large +figures of the details of the Ducal Palace at a price which will enable +every person who is interested in the subject to possess them; so that +the cost and labor of multiplying illustrations here would be altogether +wasted. I shall therefore direct the reader's attention only to such +points of interest as can be explained in the text. + +SECTION XXXI. First, then, looking back to the woodcut at the beginning +of this chapter, the reader will observe that, as the building was very +nearly square on the ground plan, a peculiar prominence and importance +were given to its angles, which rendered it necessary that they should +be enriched and softened by sculpture. I do not suppose that the fitness +of this arrangement will be questioned; but if the reader will take the +pains to glance over any series of engravings of church towers or other +four-square buildings in which great refinement of form has been +attained, he will at once observe how their effect depends on some +modification of the sharpness of the angle, either by groups of +buttresses, or by turrets and niches rich in sculpture. It is to be +noted also that this principle of breaking the angle is peculiarly +Gothic, arising partly out of the necessity of strengthening the flanks +of enormous buildings, where composed of imperfect materials, by +buttresses or pinnacles; partly out of the conditions of Gothic warfare, +which generally required a tower at the angle; partly out of the natural +dislike of the meagreness of effect in buildings which admitted large +surfaces of wall, if the angle were entirely unrelieved. The Ducal +Palace, in its acknowledgment of this principle, makes a more definite +concession to the Gothic spirit than any of the previous architecture of +Venice. No angle, up to the time of its erection, had been otherwise +decorated than by a narrow fluted pilaster of red marble, and the +sculpture was reserved always, as in Greek and Roman work, for the plane +surfaces of the building, with, as far as I recollect, two exceptions +only, both in St. Mark's; namely, the bold and grotesque gargoyle on its +north-west angle, and the angels which project from the four inner +angles under the main cupola; both of these arrangements being plainly +made under Lombardic influence. And if any other instances occur, which +I may have at present forgotten, I am very sure the Northern influence +will always be distinctly traceable in them. + +SECTION XXXII. The Ducal Palace, however, accepts the principle in its +completeness, and throws the main decoration upon its angles. The +central window, which looks rich and important in the woodcut, was +entirely restored in the Renaissance time, as we have seen, under the +Doge Steno; so that we have no traces of its early treatment; and the +principal interest of the older palace is concentrated in the angle +sculpture, which is arranged in the following manner. The pillars of the +two bearing arcades are much enlarged in thickness at the angles, and +their capitals increased in depth, breadth, and fulness of subject; +above each capital, on the angle of the wall, a sculptural subject is +introduced, consisting, in the great lower arcade, of two or more +figures of the size of life; in the upper arcade, of a single angel +holding a scroll: above these angels rise the twisted pillars with their +crowning niches, already noticed in the account of parapets in the +seventh chapter; thus forming an unbroken line of decoration from the +ground to the top of the angle. + +SECTION XXXIII. It was before noticed that one of the corners of the +palace joins the irregular outer buildings connected with St. Mark's, +and is not generally seen. There remain, therefore, to be decorated, +only the three angles, above distinguished as the Vine angle, the +Fig-tree angle, and the Judgment angle; and at these we have, according +to the arrangement just explained,-- + +First, Three great bearing capitals (lower arcade). + +Secondly, Three figure subjects of sculpture above them (lower arcade). + +Thirdly, Three smaller bearing capitals (upper arcade). + +Fourthly, Three angels above them (upper arcade). + +Fifthly, Three spiral, shafts with niches. + +SECTION XXXIV. I shall describe the bearing capitals hereafter, in their +order, with the others of the arcade; for the first point to which the +reader's attention ought to be directed is the choice of subject in the +great figure sculptures above them. These, observe, are the very corner +stones of the edifice, and in them we may expect to find the most +important evidences of the feeling, as well as the skill, of the +builder. If he has anything to say to us of the purpose with which he +built the palace, it is sure to be said here; if there was any lesson +which he wished principally to teach to those for whom he built, here it +is sure to be inculcated; if there was any sentiment which they +themselves desired to have expressed in the principal edifice of their +city, this is the place in which we may be secure of finding it legibly +inscribed. + +SECTION XXXV. Now the first two angles, of the Vine and Fig-tree, belong +to the old, or true Gothic, Palace; the third angle belongs to the +Renaissance imitation of it: therefore, at the first two angles, it is +the Gothic spirit which is going to speak to us; and, at the third, the +Renaissance spirit. + +The reader remembers, I trust, that the most characteristic sentiment of +all that we traced in the working of the Gothic heart, was the frank +confession of its own weakness; and I must anticipate, for a moment, the +results of our inquiry in subsequent chapters, so far as to state that +the principal element in the Renaissance spirit, is its firm confidence +in its own wisdom. + +Hear, then, the two spirits speak for themselves. + +The first main sculpture of the Gothic Palace is on what I have called +the angle of the Fig-tree: + +Its subject is the FALL OF MAN. + +The second sculpture is on the angle of the Vine: + +Its subject is the DRUNKENNESS OF NOAH. + +The Renaissance sculpture is on the Judgment angle: + +Its subject is the JUDGMENT OF SOLOMON. + +It is impossible to overstate, or to regard with too much admiration, +the significance of this single fact. It is as if the palace had been +built at various epochs, and preserved uninjured to this day, for the +sole purpose of teaching us the difference in the temper of the two +schools. + +SECTION XXXVI. I have called the sculpture on the Fig-tree angle the +principal one; because it is at the central bend of the palace, where it +turns to the Piazetta (the facade upon the Piazetta being, as we saw +above, the more important one in ancient times). The great capital, +which sustains this Fig-tree angle, is also by far more elaborate than +the head of the pilaster under the Vine angle, marking the preeminence +of the former in the architect's mind. It is impossible to say which was +first executed, but that of the Fig-tree angle is somewhat rougher in +execution, and more stiff in the design of the figures, so that I rather +suppose it to have been the earliest completed. + +SECTION XXXVII. In both the subjects, of the Fall and the Drunkenness, +the tree, which forms the chiefly decorative portion of the +sculpture,--fig in the one case, vine in the other,--was a necessary +adjunct. Its trunk, in both sculptures, forms the true outer angle of +the palace; boldly cut separate from the stonework behind, and branching +out above the figures so as to enwrap each side of the angle, for +several feet, with its deep foliage. Nothing can be more masterly or +superb than the sweep of this foliage on the Fig-tree angle; the broad +leaves lapping round the budding fruit, and sheltering from sight, +beneath their shadows, birds of the most graceful form and delicate +plumage. The branches are, however, so strong, and the masses of stone +hewn into leafage so large, that, notwithstanding the depth of the +undercutting, the work remains nearly uninjured; not so at the Vine +angle, where the natural delicacy of the vine-leaf and tendril having +tempted the sculptor to greater effort, he has passed the proper limits +of his art, and cut the upper stems so delicately that half of them have +been broken away by the casualties to which the situation of the +sculpture necessarily exposes it. What remains is, however, so +interesting in its extreme refinement, that I have chosen it for the +subject of the first illustration [Footnote: See note at end of this +chapter.] rather than the nobler masses of the fig-tree, which ought to +be rendered on a larger scale. Although half of the beauty of the +composition is destroyed by the breaking away of its central masses, +there is still enough in the distribution of the variously bending +leaves, and in the placing of the birds on the lighter branches, to +prove to us the power of the designer. I have already referred to this +Plate as a remarkable instance of the Gothic Naturalism; and, indeed, it +is almost impossible for the copying of nature to be carried farther +than in the fibres of the marble branches, and the careful finishing of +the tendrils: note especially the peculiar expression of the knotty +joints of the vine in the light branch which rises highest. Yet only +half the finish of the work can be seen in the Plate: for, in several +cases, the sculptor has shown the under sides of the leaves turned +boldly to the light, and has literally _carved every rib and vein upon +them, in relief_; not merely the main ribs which sustain the lobes of +the leaf, and actually project in nature, but the irregular and sinuous +veins which chequer the membranous tissues between them, and which the +sculptor has represented conventionally as relieved like the others, in +order to give the vine leaf its peculiar tessellated effect upon the +eye. + +SECTION XXXVIII. As must always be the case in early sculpture, the +figures are much inferior to the leafage; yet so skilful in many +respects, that it was a long time before I could persuade myself that +they had indeed been wrought in the first half of the fourteenth +century. Fortunately, the date is inscribed upon a monument in the +Church of San Simeon Grande, bearing a recumbent statue of the saint, of +far finer workmanship, in every respect, than those figures of the Ducal +Palace, yet so like them, that I think there can be no question that the +head of Noah was wrought by the sculptor of the palace in emulation of +that of the statue of St. Simeon. In this latter sculpture, the face is +represented in death; the mouth partly open, the lips thin and sharp, +the teeth carefully sculptured beneath; the face full of quietness and +majesty, though very ghastly; the hair and beard flowing in luxuriant +wreaths, disposed with the most masterly freedom, yet severity, of +design, far down upon the shoulders; the hands crossed upon the body, +carefully studied, and the veins and sinews perfectly and easily +expressed, yet without any attempt at extreme finish or display of +technical skill. This monument bears date 1317, [Footnote: "IN XRI--NOIE +AMEN ANNINCARNATIONIS MCCCXVII. INESETBR." "In the name of Christ, Amen, +in the year of the incarnation, 1317, in the month of September," &c.] +and its sculptor was justly proud of it; thus recording his name: + + "CELAVIT MARCUS OPUS HOC INSIGNE ROMANIS, + LAUDIBUS NON PARCUS EST SUA DIGNA MANUS." + +SECTION XXXIX. The head of the Noah on the Ducal Palace, evidently +worked in emulation of this statue, has the same profusion of flowing +hair and beard, but wrought in smaller and harder curls; and the veins +on the arms and breast are more sharply drawn, the sculptor being +evidently more practised in keen and fine lines of vegetation than in +those of the figure; so that, which is most remarkable in a workman of +this early period, he has failed in telling his story plainly, regret +and wonder being so equally marked on the features of all the three +brothers that it is impossible to say which is intended for Ham. Two of +the heads of the brothers are seen in the Plate; the third figure is not +with the rest of the group, but set at a distance of about twelve feet, +on the other side of the arch which springs from the angle capital. + +SECTION XL. It may be observed, as a farther evidence of the date of the +group, that, in the figures of all the three youths, the feet are +protected simply by a bandage arranged in crossed folds round the ankle +and lower part of the limb; a feature of dress which will be found in +nearly every piece of figure sculpture in Venice, from the year 1300 to +1380, and of which the traveller may see an example within three hundred +yards of this very group, in the bas-reliefs on the tomb of the Doge +Andrea Dandolo (in St. Mark's), who died in 1354. + +SECTION XLI. The figures of Adam and Eve, sculptured on each side of the +Fig-tree angle, are more stiff than those of Noah and his sons, but are +better fitted for their architectural service; and the trunk of the +tree, with the angular body of the serpent writhed around it, is more +nobly treated as a terminal group of lines than that of the vine. + +The Renaissance sculptor of the figures of the Judgment of Solomon has +very nearly copied the fig-tree from this angle, placing its trunk +between the executioner and the mother, who leans forward to stay his +hand. But, though the whole group is much more free in design than those +of the earlier palace, and in many ways excellent in itself, so that it +always strikes the eye of a careless observer more than the others, it +is of immeasurably inferior spirit in the workmanship; the leaves of the +tree, though far more studiously varied in flow than those of the +fig-tree from which they are partially copied, have none of its truth to +nature; they are ill set on the steins, bluntly defined on the edges, +and their curves are not those of growing leaves, but of wrinkled +drapery. + +SECTION XLII. Above these three sculptures are set, in the upper arcade, +the statues of the archangels Raphael, Michael, and Gabriel: their +positions will be understood by reference to the lowest figure in Plate +XVII., where that of Raphael above the Vine angle is seen on the right. +A diminutive figure of Tobit follows at his feet, and he bears in his +hand a scroll with this inscription: + + EFICE Q + SOFRE + TUR AFA + EL REVE + RENDE + QUIETU + +i.e. Effice (quseso?) fretum, Raphael reverende, quietum. [Footnote: +"Oh, venerable Raphael, make thou the gulf calm, we beseech thee." The +peculiar office of the angel Raphael is, in general, according to +tradition, the restraining the harmful influences of evil spirits. Sir +Charles Eastlake told me, that sometimes in this office he is +represented bearing the gall of the fish caught by Tobit; and reminded +me of the peculiar superstitions of the Venetians respecting the raising +of storms by fiends, as embodied in the well known tale of the Fisherman +and St. Mark's ring.] I could not decipher the inscription on the scroll +borne by the angel Michael; and the figure of Gabriel, which is by much +the most beautiful feature of the Renaissance portion of the palace, has +only in its hand the Annunciation lily. + +SECTION XLIII. Such are the subjects of the main sculptures decorating +the angles of the palace; notable, observe, for their simple expression +of two feelings, the consciousness of human frailty, and the dependence +upon Divine guidance and protection: this being, of course, the general +purpose of the introduction of the figures of the angels; and, I +imagine, intended to be more particularly conveyed by the manner in +which the small figure of Tobit follows the steps of Raphael, just +touching the hem of his garment. We have next to examine the course of +divinity and of natural history embodied by the old sculpture in the +great series of capitals which support the lower arcade of the palace; +and which, being at a height of little more than eight feet above the +eye, might be read, like the pages of a book, by those (the noblest men +in Venice) who habitually walked beneath the shadow of this great arcade +at the time of their first meeting each other for morning converse. + +SECTION XLIV. We will now take the pillars of the Ducal Palace in their +order. It has already been mentioned (Vol. I. Chap. I. Section XLVI.) +that there are, in all, thirty-six great pillars supporting the lower +story; and that these are to be counted from right to left, because then +the more ancient of them come first: and that, thus arranged, the first, +which is not a shaft, but a pilaster, will be the support of the Vine +angle; the eighteenth will be the great shaft of the Fig-tree angle; and +the thirty-sixth, that of the Judgment angle. + +SECTION XLV. All their capitals, except that of the first, are +octagonal, and are decorated by sixteen leaves, differently enriched in +every capital, but arranged in the same way; eight of them rising to the +angles, and there forming volutes; the eight others set between them, on +the sides, rising half-way up the bell of the capital; there nodding +forward, and showing above them, rising out of their luxuriance, the +groups or single figures which we have to examine. [Footnote: I have +given one of these capitals carefully already in my folio work, and hope +to give most of the others in due time. It was of no use to draw them +here, as the scale would have been too small to allow me to show the +expression of the figures.] In some instances, the intermediate or lower +leaves are reduced to eight sprays of foliage; and the capital is left +dependent for its effect on the bold position of the figures. In +referring to the figures on the octagonal capitals, I shall call the +outer side, fronting either the Sea or the Piazzetta, the first side; +and so count round from left to right; the fourth side being thus, of +course, the innermost. As, however, the first five arches were walled up +after the great fire, only three sides of their capitals are left +visible, which we may describe as the front and the eastern and western +sides of each. + +SECTION XLVI. FIRST CAPITAL: i.e. of the pilaster at the Vine angle. + +In front, towards the Sea. A child holding a bird before him, with its +wings expanded, covering his breast. + +On its eastern side. Children's heads among leaves. + +On its western side. A child carrying in one hand a comb; in the other, +a pair of scissors. + +It appears curious, that this, the principal pilaster of the facade, +should have been decorated only by these graceful grotesques, for I can +hardly suppose them anything more. There may be meaning in them, but I +will not venture to conjecture any, except the very plain and practical +meaning conveyed by the last figure to all Venetian children, which it +would be well if they would act upon. For the rest, I have seen the comb +introduced in grotesque work as early as the thirteenth century, but +generally for the purpose of ridiculing too great care in dressing the +hair, which assuredly is not its purpose here. The children's heads are +very sweet and full of life, but the eyes sharp and small. + +SECTION XLVII. SECOND CAPITAL. Only three sides of the original work are +left unburied by the mass of added wall. Each side has a bird, one +web-footed, with a fish, one clawed, with a serpent, which opens its +jaws, and darts its tongue at the bird's breast; the third pluming +itself, with a feather between the mandibles of its bill. It is by far +the most beautiful of the three capitals decorated with birds. + +THIRD CAPITAL. Also has three sides only left. They have three heads, +large, and very ill cut; one female, and crowned. + +FOURTH CAPITAL. Has three children. The eastern one is defaced: the one +in front holds a small bird, whose plumage is beautifully indicated, in +its right hand; and with its left holds up half a walnut, showing the +nut inside: the third holds a fresh fig, cut through, showing the seeds. + +The hair of all the three children is differently worked: the first has +luxuriant flowing hair, and a double chin; the second, light flowing +hair falling in pointed locks on the forehead; the third, crisp curling +hair, deep cut with drill holes. + +This capital has been copied on the Renaissance side of the palace, only +with such changes in the ideal of the children as the workman thought +expedient and natural. It is highly interesting to compare the child of +the fourteenth with the child of the fifteenth century. The early heads +are full of youthful life, playful, humane, affectionate, beaming with +sensation and vivacity, but with much manliness and firmness, also, not +a little cunning, and some cruelty perhaps, beneath all; the features +small and hard, and the eyes keen. There is the making of rough and +great men in them. But the children of the fifteenth century are dull +smooth-faced dunces, without a single meaning line in the fatness of +their stolid cheeks; and, although, in the vulgar sense, as handsome as +the other children are ugly, capable of becoming nothing but perfumed +coxcombs. + +FIFTH CAPITAL. Still three sides only left, bearing three half-length +statues of kings; this is the first capital which bears any inscription. +In front, a king with a sword in his right hand points to a handkerchief +embroidered and fringed, with a head on it, carved on the cavetto of the +abacus. His name is written above, "TITUS VESPASIAN IMPERATOR" +(contracted IPAT.). + +On eastern side, "TRAJANUS IMPERATOR." Crowned, a sword in right hand, +and sceptre in left. + +On western, "(OCT)AVIANUS AUGUSTUS IMPERATOR." The "OCT" is broken away. +He bears a globe in his right hand, with "MUNDUS PACIS" upon it; a +sceptre in his left, which I think has terminated in a human figure. He +has a flowing beard, and a singularly high crown; the face is much +injured, but has once been very noble in expression. + +SIXTH CAPITAL. Has large male and female heads, very coarsely cut, hard, +and bad. + +SECTION XLVIII. SEVENTH CAPITAL. This is the first of the series which +is complete; the first open arch of the lower arcade being between it +and the sixth. It begins the representation of the Virtues. + +_First side_. Largitas, or Liberality: always distinguished from +the higher Charity. A male figure, with his lap full of money, which he +pours out of his hand. The coins are plain, circular, and smooth; there +is no attempt to mark device upon them. The inscription above is, +"LARGITAS ME ONORAT." + +In the copy of this design on the twenty-fifth capital, instead of +showering out the gold from his open hand, the figure holds it in a +plate or salver, introduced for the sake of disguising the direct +imitation. The changes thus made in the Renaissance pillars are always +injuries. + +This virtue is the proper opponent of Avarice; though it does not occur +in the systems of Orcagna or Giotto, being included in Charity. It was a +leading virtue with Aristotle and the other ancients. + +SECTION XLIX. _Second side_. Constancy; not very characteristic. An +armed man with a sword in his hand, inscribed, "CONSTANTIA SUM, NIL +TIMENS." + +This virtue is one of the forms of fortitude, and Giotto therefore sets +as the vice opponent to Fortitude, "Inconstantia," represented as a +woman in loose drapery, falling from a rolling globe. The vision seen in +the interpreter's house in the Pilgrim's Progress, of the man with a +very bold countenance, who says to him who has the writer's ink-horn by +his side, "Set down my name," is the best personification of the +Venetian "Constantia" of which I am aware in literature. It would be +well for us all to consider whether we have yet given the order to the +man with the ink-horn, "Set down my name." + +SECTION L. _Third side_. Discord; holding up her finger, but +needing the inscription above to assure us of her meaning, "DISCORDIA +SUM, DISCORDIANS." In the Renaissance copy she is a meek and nun-like +person with a veil. + +She is the Ate of Spencer; "mother of debate," thus described in the +fourth book: + + "Her face most fowle and filthy was to see, + With squinted eyes contrarie wayes intended; + And loathly mouth, unmeete a mouth to bee, + That nought but gall and venim comprehended, + And wicked wordes that God and man offended: + Her lying tongue was in two parts divided, + And both the parts did speake, and both contended; + And as her tongue, so was her hart discided, + That never thoght one thing, but doubly stil was guided." + +Note the fine old meaning of "discided," cut in two; it is a great pity +we have lost this powerful expression. We might keep "determined" for +the other sense of the word. + +SECTION LI. _Fourth side_. Patience. A female figure, very +expressive and lovely, in a hood, with her right hand on her breast, the +left extended, inscribed "PATIENTIA MANET MECUM." + +She is one of the principal virtues in all the Christian systems: a +masculine virtue in Spenser, and beautifully placed as the _PHYSICIAN_ in +the House of Holinesse. The opponent vice, Impatience, is one of the hags +who attend the Captain of the Lusts of the Flesh; the other being +Impotence. In like manner, in the "Pilgrim's Progress," the opposite of +Patience is Passion; but Spenser's thought is farther carried. His two +hags, Impatience and Impotence, as attendant upon the evil spirit of +Passion, embrace all the phenomena of human conduct, down even to the +smallest matters, according to the adage, "More haste, worse speed." + +SECTION LII. _Fifth side_. Despair. A female figure thrusting a +dagger into her throat, and tearing her long hair, which flows down +among the leaves of the capital below her knees. One of the finest +figures of the series; inscribed "DESPERACIO MOS (mortis?) CRUDELIS." In +the Renaissance copy she is totally devoid of expression, and appears, +instead of tearing her hair, to be dividing it into long curls on each +side. + +This vice is the proper opposite of Hope. By Giotto she is represented +as a woman hanging herself, a fiend coming for her soul. Spenser's +vision of Despair is well known, it being indeed currently reported that +this part of the Faerie Queen was the first which drew to it the +attention of Sir Philip Sidney. + +SECTION LIII. _Sixth side_. Obedience: with her arms folded; meek, +but rude and commonplace, looking at a little dog standing on its hind +legs and begging, with a collar round its neck. Inscribed "OBEDIENTI * +*;" the rest of the sentence is much defaced, but looks like +"A'ONOEXIBEO." + +I suppose the note of contraction above the final A has disappeared and +that the inscription was "Obedientiam domino exhibeo." + +This virtue is, of course, a principal one in the monkish systems; +represented by Giotto at Assisi as "an angel robed in black, placing the +finger of his left hand on his mouth, and passing the yoke over the head +of a Franciscan monk kneeling at his feet." [Footnote: Lord Lindsay, +vol. ii. p. 226.] + +Obedience holds a less principal place in Spenser. We have seen her +above associated with the other peculiar virtues of womanhood. + +SECTION LIV. _Seventh side_. Infidelity. A man in a turban, with a +small image in his hand, or the image of a child. Of the inscription +nothing but "INFIDELITATE * * *" and some fragmentary letters, "ILI, +CERO," remain. + +By Giotto Infidelity is most nobly symbolized as a woman helmeted, the +helmet having a broad rim which keeps the light from her eyes. She is +covered with heavy drapery, stands infirmly as if about to fall, _is +bound by a cord round her neck to an image_ which she carries in her +hand, and has flames bursting forth at her feet. + +In Spenser, Infidelity is the Saracen knight Sans Foy,-- + + "Full large of limbe and every joint + He was, and cared not for God or man a point." + +For the part which he sustains in the contest with Godly Fear, or the +Red-cross knight, see Appendix 2, Vol. III. + +SECTION LV. _Eighth side_. Modesty; bearing a pitcher. (In the +Renaissance copy, a vase like a coffeepot.) Inscribed "MODESTIA +ROBUOBTINEO." + +I do not find this virtue in any of the Italian series, except that of +Venice. In Spenser she is of course one of those attendant on Womanhood, +but occurs as one of the tenants of the Heart of Man, thus portrayed in +the second book: + + "Straunge was her tyre, and all her garment blew, + Close rownd about her tuckt with many a plight: + Upon her fist the bird which shonneth vew. + + * * * * * + + And ever and anone with rosy red + The bashfull blood her snowy cheekes did dye, + That her became, as polisht yvory + Which cunning craftesman hand hath overlayd + With fayre vermilion or pure castory." + +SECTION LVI. EIGHTH CAPITAL. It has no inscriptions, and its subjects +are not, by themselves, intelligible; but they appear to be typical of +the degradation of human instincts. + +_First side_. A caricature of Arion on his dolphin; he wears a cap +ending in a long proboscis-like horn, and plays a violin with a curious +twitch of the bow and wag of the head, very graphically expressed, but +still without anything approaching to the power of Northern grotesque. +His dolphin has a goodly row of teeth, and the waves beat over his back. + +_Second side_. A human figure, with curly hair and the legs of a +bear; the paws laid, with great sculptural skill, upon the foliage. It +plays a violin, shaped like a guitar, with a bent double-stringed bow. + +_Third side_. A figure with a serpent's tail and a monstrous head, +founded on a Negro type, hollow-cheeked, large-lipped, and wearing a cap +made of a serpent's skin, holding a fir-cone in its hand. + +_Fourth side_. A monstrous figure, terminating below in a tortoise. +It is devouring a gourd, which it grasps greedily with both hands; it +wears a cap ending in a hoofed leg. + +_Fifth side_. A centaur wearing a crested helmet, and holding a +curved sword. + +_Sixth side_. A knight, riding a headless horse, and wearing a +chain armor, with a triangular shield flung behind his back, and a +two-edged sword. + +_Seventh side_. A figure like that on the fifth, wearing a round +helmet, and with the legs and tail of a horse. He bears a long mace with +a top like a fir-cone. + +_Eighth side_. A figure with curly hair, and an acorn in its hand, +ending below in a fish. + +SECTION LVII. NINTH CAPITAL. _First side_. Faith. She has her left +hand on her breast, and the cross on her right. Inscribed "FIDES OPTIMA +IN DEO." The Faith of Giotto holds the cross in her right hand; in her +left, a scroll with the Apostles' Creed. She treads upon cabalistic +books, and has a key suspended to her waist. Spenser's Faith (Fidelia) +is still more spiritual and noble: + + "She was araied all in lilly white, + And in her right hand bore a cup of gold, + With wine and water fild up to the hight, + In which a serpent did himselfe enfold, + That horrour made to all that did behold; + But she no whitt did chaunge her constant mood: + And in her other hand she fast did hold + A booke, that was both signd and seald with blood; + Wherein darke things were writt, hard to be understood." + +SECTION LVIII. _Second side_. Fortitude. A long-bearded man [Samson?] +tearing open a lion's jaw. The inscription is illegible, and the somewhat +vulgar personification appears to belong rather to Courage than +Fortitude. On the Renaissance copy it is inscribed "FORTITUDO SUM +VIRILIS." The Latin word has, perhaps, been received by the sculptor as +merely signifying "Strength," the rest of the perfect idea of this virtue +having been given in "Constantia" previously. But both these Venetian +symbols together do not at all approach the idea of Fortitude as given +generally by Giotto and the Pisan sculptors; clothed with a lion's skin, +knotted about her neck, and falling to her feet in deep folds; drawing +back her right hand, with the sword pointed towards her enemy; and +slightly retired behind her immovable shield, which, with Giotto, is +square, and rested on the ground like a tower, covering her up to above +her shoulders; bearing on it a lion, and with broken heads of javelins +deeply infixed. + +Among the Greeks, this is, of course, one of the principal virtues; apt, +however, in their ordinary conception of it to degenerate into mere +manliness or courage. + +SECTION LIX. _Third side_. Temperance; bearing a pitcher of water +and a cup. Inscription, illegible here, and on the Renaissance copy +nearly so, "TEMPERANTIA SUM" (INOM' L'S)? Only left. In this somewhat +vulgar and most frequent conception of this virtue (afterwards +continually repeated, as by Sir Joshua in his window at New-College) +temperance is confused with mere abstinence, the opposite of Gula, or +gluttony; whereas the Greek Temperance, a truly cardinal virtue, is the +moderator of _all_ the passions, and so represented by Giotto, who +has placed a bridle upon her lips, and a sword in her hand, the hilt of +which she is binding to the scabbard. In his system, she is opposed +among the vices, not by Gula or Gluttony, but by Ira, Anger. So also the +Temperance of Spenser, or Sir Guyon, but with mingling of much +sternness: + + "A goodly knight, all armd in harnesse meete, + That from his head no place appeared to his feete, + His carriage was full comely and upright; + His countenance demure and temperate; + But yett so sterne and terrible in sight, + That cheard his friendes, and did his foes amate." + +The Temperance of the Greeks, [Greek: sophrosunae] involves the idea +of Prudence, and is a most noble virtue, yet properly marked by Plato as +inferior to sacred enthusiasm, though necessary for its government. He +opposes it, under the name "Mortal Temperance" or "the Temperance which +is of men," to divine madness, [Greek: mania,] or inspiration; but he +most justly and nobly expresses the general idea of it under the term +[Greek: ubris], which, in the "Phaedrus," is divided into various +intemperances with respect to various objects, and set forth under the +image of a black, vicious, diseased and furious horse, yoked by the side +of Prudence or Wisdom (set forth under the figure of a white horse with a +crested and noble head, like that which we have among the Elgin Marbles) +to the chariot of the Soul. The system of Aristotle, as above stated, is +throughout a mere complicated blunder, supported by sophistry, the +laboriously developed mistake of Temperance for the essence of the +virtues which it guides. Temperance in the mediaeval systems is generally +opposed by Anger, or by Folly, or Gluttony: but her proper opposite is +Spenser's Acrasia, the principal enemy of Sir Guyon, at whose gates we +find the subordinate vice "Excesse," as the introduction to Intemperance; +a graceful and feminine image, necessary to illustrate the more dangerous +forms of subtle intemperance, as opposed to the brutal "Gluttony" in the +first book. She presses grapes into a cup, because of the words of St. +Paul, "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess;" but always delicately, + + "Into her cup she scruzd with daintie breach + Of her fine fingers, without fowle empeach, + That so faire winepresse made the wine more sweet." + +The reader will, I trust, pardon these frequent extracts from Spenser, +for it is nearly as necessary to point out the profound divinity and +philosophy of our great English poet, as the beauty of the Ducal Palace. + +SECTION LX. _Fourth side_. Humility; with a veil upon her head, +carrying a lamp in her lap. Inscribed in the copy, "HUMILITAS HABITAT IN +ME." + +This virtue is of course a peculiarly Christian one, hardly recognized +in the Pagan systems, though carefully impressed upon the Greeks in +early life in a manner which at this day it would be well if we were to +imitate, and, together with an almost feminine modesty, giving an +exquisite grace to the conduct and bearing of the well-educated Greek +youth. It is, of course, one of the leading virtues in all the monkish +systems, but I have not any notes of the manner of its representation. + +SECTION LXI. _Fifth side_. Charity. A woman with her lap full of +loaves (?), giving one to a child, who stretches his arm out for it +across a broad gap in the leafage of the capital. + +Again very far inferior to the Giottesque rendering of this virtue. In +the Arena Chapel she is distinguished from all the other virtues by +having a circular glory round her head, and a cross of fire; she is +crowned with flowers, presents with her right hand a vase of corn and +fruit, and with her left receives treasure from Christ, who appears +above her, to provide her with the means of continual offices of +beneficence, while she tramples under foot the treasures of the earth. + +The peculiar beauty of most of the Italian conceptions of Charity, is in +the subjection of mere munificence to the glowing of her love, always +represented by flames; here in the form of a cross round her head; in +Orcagna's shrine at Florence, issuing from a censer in her hand; and, +with Dante, inflaming her whole form, so that, in a furnace of clear +fire, she could not have been discerned. + +Spenser represents her as a mother surrounded by happy children, an idea +afterwards grievously hackneyed and vulgarized by English painters and +sculptors. + +SECTION LXII. _Sixth side_. Justice. Crowned, and with sword. +Inscribed in the copy, "REX SUM JUSTICIE." + +This idea was afterwards much amplified and adorned in the only good +capital of the Renaissance series, under the Judgment angle. Giotto has +also given his whole strength to the painting of this virtue, +representing her as enthroned under a noble Gothic canopy, holding +scales, not by the beam, but one in each hand; a beautiful idea, showing +that the equality of the scales of Justice is not owing to natural laws, +but to her own immediate weighing the opposed causes in her own hands. +In one scale is an executioner beheading a criminal; in the other an +angel crowning a man who seems (in Selvatico's plate) to have been +working at a desk or table. + +Beneath her feet is a small predella, representing various persons +riding securely in the woods, and others dancing to the sound of music. + +Spenser's Justice, Sir Artegall, is the hero of an entire book, and the +betrothed knight of Britomart, or chastity. + +SECTION LXIII. _Seventh side_. Prudence. A man with a book and a +pair of compasses, wearing the noble cap, hanging down towards the +shoulder, and bound in a fillet round the brow, which occurs so +frequently during the fourteenth century in Italy in the portraits of +men occupied in any civil capacity. + +This virtue is, as we have seen, conceived under very different degrees +of dignity, from mere worldly prudence up to heavenly wisdom, being +opposed sometimes by Stultitia, sometimes by Ignorantia. I do not find, +in any of the representations of her, that her truly distinctive +character, namely, _forethought_, is enough insisted upon: Giotto +expresses her vigilance and just measurement or estimate of all things +by painting her as Janus-headed, and gazing into a convex mirror, with +compasses in her right hand; the convex mirror showing her power of +looking at many things in small compass. But forethought or +anticipation, by which, independently of greater or less natural +capacities, one man becomes more _prudent_ than another, is never +enough considered or symbolized. + +The idea of this virtue oscillates, in the Greek systems, between +Temperance and Heavenly Wisdom. + +SECTION LXIV. _Eighth side_. Hope. A figure full of devotional +expression, holding up its hands as in prayer, and looking to a hand +which is extended towards it out of sunbeams. In the Renaissance copy +this hand does not appear. + +Of all the virtues, this is the most distinctively Christian (it could +not, of course, enter definitely into any Pagan scheme); and above all +others, it seems to me the _testing_ virtue,--that by the possession of +which we may most certainly determine whether we are Christians or not; +for many men have charity, that is to say, general kindness of heart, or +even a kind of faith, who have not any habitual _hope_ of, or longing +for, heaven. The Hope of Giotto is represented as winged, rising in the +air, while an angel holds a crown before her. I do not know if Spenser +was the first to introduce our marine virtue, leaning on an anchor, a +symbol as inaccurate as it is vulgar: for, in the first place, anchors +are not for men, but for ships; and in the second, anchorage is the +characteristic not of Hope, but of Faith. Faith is dependent, but Hope is +aspirant. Spenser, however, introduces Hope twice,--the first time as the +Virtue with the anchor; but afterwards fallacious Hope, far more +beautifully, in the Masque of Cupid: + + "She always smyld, and in her hand did hold + An holy-water sprinckle, dipt in deowe." + +SECTION LXV. TENTH CAPITAL. _First side_. Luxury (the opposite of +chastity, as above explained). A woman with a jewelled chain across her +forehead, smiling as she looks into a mirror, exposing her breast by +drawing down her dress with one hand. Inscribed "LUXURIA SUM IMENSA." + +These subordinate forms of vice are not met with so frequently in art as +those of the opposite virtues, but in Spenser we find them all. His +Luxury rides upon a goat: + + "In a greene gowne he clothed was full faire, + Which underneath did hide his filthinesse, + And in his hand a burning heart he bare." + +But, in fact, the proper and comprehensive expression of this vice is +the Cupid of the ancients; and there is not any minor circumstance more +indicative of the _intense_ difference between the mediaeval and +the Renaissance spirit, than the mode in which this god is represented. + +I have above said, that all great European art is rooted in the +thirteenth century; and it seems to me that there is a kind of central +year about which we may consider the energy of the middle ages to be +gathered; a kind of focus of time which, by what is to my mind a most +touching and impressive Divine appointment, has been marked for us by +the greatest writer of the middle ages, in the first words he utters; +namely, the year 1300, the "mezzo del cammin" of the life of Dante. Now, +therefore, to Giotto, the contemporary of Dante, and who drew Dante's +still existing portrait in this very year, 1300, we may always look for +the central mediaeval idea in any subject: and observe how he represents +Cupid; as one of three, a terrible trinity, his companions being Satan +and Death; and he himself "a lean scarecrow, with bow, quiver, and +fillet, and feet ending in claws," [Footnote: Lord Lindsay, vol. ii. +letter iv.] thrust down into Hell by Penance, from the presence of +Purity and Fortitude. Spenser, who has been so often noticed as +furnishing the exactly intermediate type of conception between the +mediaeval and the Renaissance, indeed represents Cupid under the form of +a beautiful winged god, and riding on a lion, but still no plaything of +the Graces, but full of terror: + + "With that the darts which his right hand did straine + Full dreadfully he shooke, that all did quake, + And clapt on hye his coloured winges twaine, + That all his many it afraide did make." + +His many, that is to say, his company; and observe what a company it is. +Before him go Fancy, Desire, Doubt, Danger, Fear, Fallacious Hope, +Dissemblance, Suspicion, Grief, Fury, Displeasure, Despite, and Cruelty. +After him, Reproach, Repentance, Shame, + + "Unquiet Care, and fond Unthriftyhead, + Lewd Losse of Time, and Sorrow seeming dead, + Inconstant Chaunge, and false Disloyalty, + Consuming Riotise, and guilty Dread + Of heavenly vengeaunce; faint Infirmity, + Vile Poverty, and lastly Death with infamy." + +Compare these two pictures of Cupid with the Love-god of the +Renaissance, as he is represented to this day, confused with angels, in +every faded form of ornament and allegory, in our furniture, our +literature, and our minds. + +SECTION LXVI. _Second side_. Gluttony. A woman in a turban, with a +jewelled cup in her right hand. In her left, the clawed limb of a bird, +which she is gnawing. Inscribed "GULA SINE ORDINE SUM." + +Spenser's Gluttony is more than usually fine: + + "His belly was upblownt with luxury, + And eke with fatnesse swollen were his eyne, + And like a crane his necke was long and fyne, + Wherewith he swallowed up excessive feast, + For want whereof poore people oft did pyne." + +He rides upon a swine, and is clad in vine-leaves, with a garland of +ivy. Compare the account of Excesse, above, as opposed to Temperance. + +SECTION LXVII. _Third side_. Pride. A knight, with a heavy and +stupid face, holding a sword with three edges: his armor covered with +ornaments in the form of roses, and with two ears attached to his +helmet. The inscription indecipherable, all but "SUPERBIA." + +Spenser has analyzed this vice with great care. He first represents it +as the Pride of life; that is to say, the pride which runs in a deep +under-current through all the thoughts and acts of men. As such, it is a +feminine vice, directly opposed to Holiness, and mistress of a castle +called the House of Pryde, and her chariot is driven by Satan, with a +team of beasts, ridden by the mortal sins. In the throne chamber of her +palace she is thus described: + + "So proud she shyned in her princely state, + Looking to Heaven, for Earth she did disdayne; + And sitting high, for lowly she did hate: + Lo, underneath her scornefull feete was layne + A dreadfull dragon with an hideous trayne; + And in her hand she held a mirrhour bright, + Wherein her face she often vewed fayne." + +The giant Orgoglio is a baser species of pride, born of the Earth and +Eolus; that is to say, of sensual and vain conceits. His foster-father +and the keeper of his castle is Ignorance. (Book I. canto viii.) + +Finally, Disdain is introduced, in other places, as the form of pride +which vents itself in insult to others. + +SECTION LXVIII. _Fourth side_. Anger. A woman tearing her dress open at +her breast. Inscription here undecipherable; but in the Renaissance Copy +it IS "IRA CRUDELIS EST IN ME." + +Giotto represents this vice under the same symbol; but it is the weakest +of all the figures in the Arena Chapel. The "Wrath" of Spenser rides +upon a lion, brandishing a firebrand, his garments stained with blood. +Rage, or Furor, occurs subordinately in other places. It appears to me +very strange that neither Giotto nor Spenser should have given any +representation of the _restrained_ Anger, which is infinitely the +most terrible; both of them make him violent. + +SECTION LXIX. _Fifth side_. Avarice. An old woman with a veil over +her forehead, and a bag of money in each hand. A figure very marvellous +for power of expression. The throat is all made up of sinews with skinny +channels deep between them, strained as by anxiety, and wasted by +famine; the features hunger-bitten, the eyes hollow, the look glaring +and intense, yet without the slightest caricature. Inscribed in the +Renaissance copy, "AVARITIA IMPLETOR." + +Spenser's Avarice (the vice) is much feebler than this; but the god +Mammon and his kingdom have been described by him with his usual power. +Note the position of the house of Richesse: + + "Betwixt them both was but a little stride, + That did the House of Richesse from Hell-mouth divide." + +It is curious that most moralists confuse avarice with covetousness, +although they are vices totally different in their operation on the +human heart, and on the frame of society. The love of money, the sin of +Judas and Ananias, is indeed the root of all evil in the hardening of +the heart; but "covetousness, which is idolatry," the sin of Ahab, that +is, the inordinate desire of some seen or recognized good,--thus +destroying peace of mind,--is probably productive of much more misery in +heart, and error in conduct, than avarice itself, only covetousness is +not so inconsistent with Christianity: for covetousness may partly +proceed from vividness of the affections and hopes, as in David, and be +consistent with much charity; not so avarice. + +SECTION LXX. _Sixth side_. Idleness. Accidia. A figure much broken +away, having had its arms round two branches of trees. + +I do not know why Idleness should be represented as among trees, unless, +in the Italy of the fourteenth century, forest country was considered as +desert, and therefore the domain of Idleness. Spenser fastens this vice +especially upon the clergy,-- + + "Upon a slouthfull asse he chose to ryde, + Arayd in habit blacke, and amis thin, + Like to an holy monck, the service to begin. + And in his hand his portesse still he bare, + That much was worne, but therein little redd." + +And he properly makes him the leader of the train of the vices: + + "May seem the wayne was very evil ledd, + When such an one had guiding of the way." + +Observe that subtle touch of truth in the "wearing" of the portesse, +indicating the abuse of books by idle readers, so thoroughly +characteristic of unwilling studentship from the schoolboy upwards. + +SECTION LXXI. _Seventh side_. Vanity. She is smiling complacently +as she looks into a mirror in her lap. Her robe is embroidered with +roses, and roses form her crown. Undecipherable. + +There is some confusion in the expression of this vice, between pride in +the personal appearance and lightness of purpose. The word Vanitas +generally, I think, bears, in the mediaeval period, the sense given it +in Scripture. "Let not him that is deceived trust in Vanity, for Vanity +shall be his recompense." "Vanity of Vanities." "The Lord knoweth the +thoughts of the wise, that they are vain." It is difficult to find this +sin,--which, after Pride, is the most universal, perhaps the most fatal, +of all, fretting the whole depth of our humanity into storm "to waft a +feather or to drown a fly,"--definitely expressed in art. Even Spenser, +I think, has only partially expressed it under the figure of Phaedria, +more properly Idle Mirth, in the second book. The idea is, however, +entirely worked out in the Vanity Fair of the "Pilgrim's Progress." + +SECTION LXXII. _Eighth side_. Envy. One of the noblest pieces of +expression in the series. She is pointing malignantly with her finger; a +serpent is wreathed about her head like a cap, another forms the girdle +of her waist, and a dragon rests in her lap. + +Giotto has, however, represented her, with still greater subtlety, as +having her fingers terminating in claws, and raising her right hand with +an expression partly of impotent regret, partly of involuntary grasping; +a serpent, issuing from her mouth, is about to bite her between the +eyes; she has long membranous ears, horns on her head, and flames +consuming her body. The Envy of Spenser is only inferior to that of +Giotto, because the idea of folly and quickness of hearing is not +suggested by the size of the ear: in other respects it is even finer, +joining the idea of fury, in the wolf on which he rides, with that of +corruption on his lips, and of discoloration or distortion in the whole +mind: + + "Malicious Envy rode + Upon a ravenous wolfe, and still did chaw + Between his cankred teeth avenemous tode + That all the poison ran about his jaw. + _And in a kirtle of discolourd say + He clothed was, ypaynted full of eies_, + And in his bosome secretly there lay + An hatefull snake, the which his taile uptyes + In many folds, and mortali sting implyes." + +He has developed the idea in more detail, and still more loathsomely, in +the twelfth canto of the fifth book. + +SECTION LXXIII. ELEVENTH CAPITAL. Its decoration is composed of eight +birds, arranged as shown in Plate V. of the "Seven Lamps," which, +however, was sketched from the Renaissance copy. These birds are all +varied in form and action, but not so as to require special description. + +SECTION LXXIV. TWELFTH CAPITAL. This has been very interesting, but is +grievously defaced, four of its figures being entirely broken away, and +the character of two others quite undecipherable. It is fortunate that +it has been copied in the thirty-third capital of the Renaissance +series, from which we are able to identify the lost figures. + +_First side_. Misery. A man with a wan face, seemingly pleading with a +child who has its hands crossed on its breast. There is a buckle at his +own breast in the shape of a cloven heart. Inscribed "MISERIA." + +The intention of this figure is not altogether apparent, as it is by no +means treated as a vice; the distress seeming real, and like that of a +parent in poverty mourning over his child. Yet it seems placed here as +in direct opposition to the virtue of Cheerfulness, which follows next +in order; rather, however, I believe, with the intention of illustrating +human life, than the character of the vice which, as we have seen, Dante +placed in the circle of hell. The word in that case would, I think, have +been "Tristitia," the "unholy Griefe" of Spenser-- + + "All in sable sorrowfully clad, + Downe hanging his dull head with heavy chere: + + * * * * * + + A pair of pincers in his hand he had, + With which he pinched people to the heart." + +He has farther amplified the idea under another figure in the fifth +canto of the fourth book: + + "His name was Care; a blacksmith by his trade, + That neither day nor night from working spared; + But to small purpose yron wedges made: + Those be unquiet thoughts that carefull minds invade. + + Rude was his garment, and to rags all rent, + Ne better had he, ne for better cared; + With blistered hands among the cinders brent." + +It is to be noticed, however, that in the Renaissance copy this figure +is stated to be, not Miseria, but "Misericordia." The contraction is a +very moderate one, Misericordia being in old MS. written always as +"Mia." If this reading be right, the figure is placed here rather as the +companion, than the opposite, of Cheerfulness; unless, indeed, it is +intended to unite the idea of Mercy and Compassion with that of Sacred +Sorrow. + +SECTION LXXV. _Second side_. Cheerfulness. A woman with long flowing +hair, crowned with roses, playing on a tambourine, and with open lips, as +singing. Inscribed "ALACRITAS." + +We have already met with this virtue among those especially set by +Spenser to attend on Womanhood. It is inscribed in the Renaissance Copy, +"ALACHRITAS CHANIT MECUM." Note the gutturals of the rich and fully +developed Venetian dialect now affecting the Latin, which is free from +them in the earlier capitals. + +SECTION LXXVI. _Third side_. Destroyed; but, from the copy, we find +it has been Stultitia, Folly; and it is there represented simply as a +man _riding_, a sculpture worth the consideration of the English +residents who bring their horses to Venice. Giotto gives Stultitia a +feather, cap, and club. In early manuscripts he is always eating with +one hand, and striking with the other; in later ones he has a cap and +bells, or cap crested with a cock's head, whence the word "coxcomb." + +SECTION LXXVII. _Fourth side_. Destroyed, all but a book, which +identifies it with the "Celestial Chastity" of the Renaissance copy; +there represented as a woman pointing to a book (connecting the convent +life with the pursuit of literature?). + +Spenser's Chastity, Britomart, is the most exquisitely wrought of all +his characters; but, as before noticed, she is not the Chastity of the +convent, but of wedded life. + +SECTION LXXVIII. _Fifth side_. Only a scroll is left; but, from the +copy, we find it has been Honesty or Truth. Inscribed "HONESTATEM +DILIGO." It is very curious, that among all the Christian systems of the +virtues which we have examined, we should find this one in Venice only. + +The Truth of Spenser, Una, is, after Chastity, the most exquisite +character in the "Faerie Queen." + +SECTION LXXIX. _Sixth side_. Falsehood. An old woman leaning on a +crutch; and inscribed in the copy, "FALSITAS IN ME SEMPER EST." The +Fidessa of Spenser, the great enemy of Una, or Truth, is far more subtly +conceived, probably not without special reference to the Papal deceits. +In her true form she is a loathsome hag, but in her outward aspect, + + "A goodly lady, clad in scarlet red, + Purfled with gold and pearle;... + Her wanton palfrey all was overspred. + With tinsell trappings, woven like a wave, + Whose bridle rung with golden bels and bosses brave." + +Dante's Fraud, Geryon, is the finest personification of all, but the +description (Inferno, canto XVII.) is too long to be quoted. + +SECTION LXXX. _Seventh side_. Injustice. An armed figure holding a +halbert; so also in the copy. The figure used by Giotto with the +particular intention of representing unjust government, is represented +at the gate of an embattled castle in a forest, between rocks, while +various deeds of violence are committed at his feet. Spenser's "Adicia" +is a furious hag, at last transformed into a tiger. + +_Eighth side_. A man with a dagger looking sorrowfully at a child, +who turns its back to him. I cannot understand this figure. It is +inscribed in the copy, "ASTINECIA (Abstinentia?) OPITIMA?" + +SECTION LXXXI. THIRTEENTH CAPITAL. It has lions' heads all round, +coarsely cut. + +FOURTEENTH CAPITAL. It has various animals, each sitting on its +haunches. Three dogs, One a greyhound, one long-haired, one short-haired +with bells about its neck; two monkeys, one with fan-shaped hair +projecting on each side of its face; a noble boar, with its tusks, +hoofs, and bristles sharply cut; and a lion and lioness. + +SECTION LXXXII. FIFTEENTH CAPITAL. The pillar to which it belongs is +thicker than the rest, as well as the one over it in the upper arcade. + +The sculpture of this capital is also much coarser, and seems to me +later than that of the rest; and it has no inscription, which is +embarrassing, as its subjects have had much meaning; but I believe +Selvatico is right in supposing it to have been intended for a general +illustration of Idleness. + +_First side_. A woman with a distaff; her girdle richly decorated, +and fastened by a buckle. + +_Second side_. A youth in a long mantle, with a rose in his hand. + +_Third side_. A woman in a turban stroking a puppy, which she holds +by the haunches. + +_Fourth side_. A man with a parrot. + +_Fifth side_. A woman in very rich costume, with braided hair, and +dress thrown into minute folds, holding a rosary (?) in her left hand, +her right on her breast. + +_Sixth side_. A man with a very thoughtful face, laying his hand +upon the leaves of the capital. + +_Seventh side_. A crowned lady, with a rose in her hand. + +_Eighth side_. A boy with a ball in his left hand, and his right +laid on his breast. + +SECTION LXXXIII. SIXTEENTH CAPITAL. It is decorated with eight large +heads, partly intended to be grotesque, [Footnote: Selvatico states that +these are intended to be representative of eight nations, Latins, +Tartars, Turks, Hungarians, Greeks, Goths, Egyptians, and Persians. +Either the inscriptions are now defaced or I have carelessly omitted to +note them.] and very coarse and bad, except only that in the sixth +side, which is totally different from all the rest, and looks like a +portrait. It is thin, thoughtful, and dignified; thoroughly fine in +every way. It wears a cap surmounted by two winged lions; and, +therefore, I think Selvatico must have inaccurately written the list +given in the note, for this head is certainly meant to express the +superiority of the Venetian character over that of other nations. +Nothing is more remarkable in all early sculpture, than its appreciation +of the signs of dignity of character in the features, and the way in +which it can exalt the principal figure in any subject by a few touches. + +SECTION LXXXIV. SEVENTEENTH CAPITAL. This has been so destroyed by the +sea wind, which sweeps at this point of the arcade round the angle of +the palace, that its inscriptions are no longer legible, and great part +of its figures are gone. Selvatico states them as follows: Solomon, the +wise; Priscian, the grammarian; Aristotle, the logician; Tully, the +orator; Pythagoras, the philosopher; Archimedes, the mechanic; Orpheus, +the musician; Ptolemy, the astronomer. The fragments actually remaining +are the following: + +_First side_. A figure with two books, in a robe richly decorated +with circles of roses. Inscribed "SALOMON (SAP) IENS." + +_Second side_. A man with one book, poring over it: he has had a +long stick or reed in his hand. Of inscription only the letters +"GRAMMATIC" remain. + +_Third side_. "ARISTOTLE:" so inscribed. He has a peaked double +beard and a flat cap, from under which his long hair falls down his +back. + +_Fourth side_. Destroyed. + +_Fifth side_. Destroyed, all but a board with, three (counters?) on +it. + +_Sixth side_. A figure with compasses. Inscribed "GEOMET * *" + +_Seventh side_. Nothing is left but a guitar with its handle +wrought into a lion's head. + +_Eighth side_. Destroyed. + +SECTION LXXXV. We have now arrived at the EIGHTEENTH CAPITAL, the most +interesting and beautiful of the palace. It represents the planets, and +the sun and moon, in those divisions of the zodiac known to astrologers +as their "houses;" and perhaps indicates, by the position in which they +are placed, the period of the year at which this great corner-stone was +laid. The inscriptions above have been in quaint Latin rhyme, but are +now decipherable only in fragments, and that with the more difficulty +because the rusty iron bar that binds the abacus has broken away, in its +expansion, nearly all the upper portions of the stone, and with them the +signs of contraction, which are of great importance. I shall give the +fragments of them that I could decipher; first as the letters actually +stand (putting those of which I am doubtful in brackets, with a note of +interrogation), and then as I would read them. + +SECTION LXXXVI. It should be premised that, in modern astrology, the +houses of the planets are thus arranged: + +The house of the Sun, is Leo. + " Moon, " Cancer. + " Mars, " Aries and Scorpio. + " Venus, " Taurus and Libra. + " Mercury, " Gemini and Virgo. + " Jupiter, " Sagittarius and Pisces. + " Saturn, " Capricorn. + " Herschel, " Aquarius. + +The Herschel planet being of course unknown to the old astrologers, we +have only the other six planetary powers, together with the sun; and +Aquarius is assigned to Saturn as his house. I could not find Capricorn +at all; but this sign may have been broken away, as the whole capital is +grievously defaced. The eighth side of the capital, which the Herschel +planet would now have occupied, bears a sculpture of the Creation of +Man: it is the most conspicuous side, the one set diagonally across the +angle; or the eighth in our usual mode of reading the capitals, from +which I shall not depart. + +SECTION LXXXVII. _The first side_, then, or that towards the Sea, +has Aquarius, as the house of Saturn, represented as a seated figure +beautifully draped, pouring a stream of water out of an amphora over the +leaves of the capital. His inscription is: + +"ET SATURNE DOMUS (ECLOCERUNT?) I'S 7BRE." + +SECTION LXXXVIII. _Second side_. Jupiter, in his houses Sagittarius +and Pisces, represented throned, with an upper dress disposed in +radiating folds about his neck, and hanging down upon his breast, +ornamented by small pendent trefoiled studs or bosses. He wears the +drooping bonnet and long gloves; but the folds about the neck, shot +forth to express the rays of the star, are the most remarkable +characteristic of the figure. He raises his sceptre in his left hand +over Sagittarius, represented as the centaur Chiron; and holds two +thunnies in his right. Something rough, like a third fish, has been +broken away below them; the more easily because this part of the group +is entirely undercut, and the two fish glitter in the light, relieved on +the deep gloom below the leaves. The inscription is: + +"INDE JOVI' DONA PISES SIMUL ATQ' CIRONA." +[Footnote: The comma in these inscriptions stands for a small cuneiform +mark, I believe of contraction, and the small for a zigzag mark of the +same kind. The dots or periods are similarly marked on the stone.] + +Or, + "Inde Jovis dona + Pisces simul atque Chirona." + +Domus is, I suppose, to be understood before Jovis: "Then the house of +Jupiter gives (or governs?) the fishes and Chiron." + +SECTION LXXXIX. _Third side_. Mars, in his houses Aries and Scorpio. +Represented as a very ugly knight in chain mail, seated sideways on the +ram, whose horns are broken away, and having a large scorpion in his left +hand, whose tail is broken also, to the infinite injury of the group, for +it seems to have curled across to the angle leaf, and formed a bright +line of light, like the fish in the hand of Jupiter. The knight carries a +shield, on which fire and water are sculptured, and bears a banner upon +his lance, with the word "DEFEROSUM," which puzzled me for some time. It +should be read, I believe, "De ferro sum;" which would be good _Venetian_ +Latin for "I am of iron." + +SECTION XC. _Fourth side_. The Sun, in his house Leo. Represented +under the figure of Apollo, sitting on the Lion, with rays shooting from +his head, and the world in his hand. The inscription: + +"TU ES DOMU' SOLIS (QUO?) SIGNE LEONI." + +I believe the first phrase is, "Tune est Domus solis;" but there is a +letter gone after the "quo," and I have no idea what case of signum +"signe" stands for. + +SECTION XCI. _Fifth side_. Venus, in her houses Taurus and Libra. +The most beautiful figure of the series. She sits upon the bull, who is +deep in the dewlap, and better cut than most of the animals, holding a +mirror in her right hand, and the scales in her left. Her breast is very +nobly and tenderly indicated under the folds of her drapery, which is +exquisitely studied in its fall. What is left of the inscription, runs: + +"LIBRA CUM TAURO DOMUS * * * PURIOR AUR*." + +SECTION XCII. _Sixth side_. Mercury, represented as wearing a pendent +cap, and holding a book: he is supported by three children in reclining +attitudes, representing his houses Gemini and Virgo. But I cannot +understand the inscription, though more than usually legible. + +"OCCUPAT ERIGONE STIBONS GEMINUQ' LAGONE." + +SECTION XCIII. _Seventh side_. The Moon, in her house Cancer. This +sculpture, which is turned towards the Piazzetta, is the most +picturesque of the series. The moon is represented as a woman in a boat, +upon the sea, who raises the crescent in her right hand, and with her +left draws a crab out of the waves, up the boat's side. The moon was, I +believe, represented in Egyptian sculptures as in a boat; but I rather +think the Venetian was not aware of this, and that he meant to express +the peculiar sweetness of the moonlight at Venice, as seen across the +lagoons. Whether this was intended by putting the planet in the boat, +may be questionable, but assuredly the idea was meant to be conveyed by +the dress of the figure. For all the draperies of the other figures on +this capital, as well as on the rest of the facade, are disposed in +severe but full folds, showing little of the forms beneath them; but the +moon's drapery _ripples_ down to her feet, so as exactly to suggest +the trembling of the moonlight on the waves. This beautiful idea is +highly characteristic of the thoughtfulness of the early sculptors: five +hundred men may be now found who could have cut the drapery, as such, +far better, for one who would have disposed its folds with this +intention. The inscription is: + +"LUNE CANCER DOMU T. PBET IORBE SIGNORU." + +SECTION XCIV. _Eighth side_. God creating Man. Represented as a +throned figure, with a glory round the head, laying his left hand on the +head of a naked youth, and sustaining him with his right hand. The +inscription puzzled me for a long time; but except the lost r and m of +"formavit," and a letter quite undefaced, but to me unintelligble, +before the word Eva, in the shape of a figure of 7, I have safely +ascertained the rest. + +"DELIMO DSADA DECO STAFO * * AVIT7EVA." + +Or + + "De limo Dominus Adam, de costa fo(rm) avit Evam;" + From the dust the Lord made Adam, and from the rib Eve. + +I imagine the whole of this capital, therefore--the principal one of the +old palace,--to have been intended to signify, first, the formation of +the planets for the service of man upon the earth; secondly, the entire +subjection of the fates and fortune of man to the will of God, as +determined from the time when the earth and stars were made, and, in +fact, written in the volume of the stars themselves. + +Thus interpreted, the doctrines of judicial astrology were not only +consistent with, but an aid to, the most spiritual and humble +Christianity. + +In the workmanship and grouping of its foliage, this capital is, on the +whole, the finest I know in Europe. The Sculptor has put his whole +strength into it. I trust that it will appear among the other Venetian +casts lately taken for the Crystal Palace; but if not, I have myself +cast all its figures, and two of its leaves, and I intend to give +drawings of them on a large scale in my folio work. + +SECTION XCV. NINETEENTH CAPITAL. This is, of course, the second counting +from the Sea, on the Piazzetta side of the palace, calling that of the +Fig-tree angle the first. + +It is the most important capital, as a piece of evidence in point of +dates, in the whole palace. Great pains have been taken with it, and in +some portion of the accompanying furniture or ornaments of each of its +figures a small piece of colored marble has been inlaid, with peculiar +significance: for the capital represents the _arts of sculpture and +architecture_; and the inlaying of the colored stones (which are far +too small to be effective at a distance, and are found in this one +capital only of the whole series) is merely an expression of the +architect's feeling of the essential importance of this art of inlaying, +and of the value of color generally in his own art. + +SECTION XCVI. _First side_. "ST. SIMPLICIUS": so inscribed. A +figure working with a pointed chisel on a small oblong block of green +serpentine, about four inches long by one wide, inlaid in the capital. +The chisel is, of course, in the left hand, but the right is held up +open, with the palm outwards. + +_Second side_. A crowned figure, carving the image of a child on a +small statue, with a ground of red marble. The sculptured figure is +highly finished, and is in type of head much like the Ham or Japheth at +the Vine angle. Inscription effaced. + +_Third side_. An old man, uncrowned, but with curling hair, at work +on a small column, with its capital complete, and a little shaft of dark +red marble, spotted with paler red. The capital is precisely of the form +of that found in the palace of the Tiepolos and the other thirteenth +century work of Venice. This one figure would be quite enough, without +any other evidence whatever, to determine the date of this flank of the +Ducal Palace as not later, at all events, than the first half of the +fourteenth century. Its inscription is broken away, all but "DISIPULO." + +_Fourth side_. A crowned figure; but the object on which it has +been working is broken away, and all the inscription except "ST. +E(N?)AS." + +_Fifth side_. A man with a turban, and a sharp chisel, at work on a +kind of panel or niche, the back of which is of red marble. + +_Sixth side_. A crowned figure, with hammer and chisel, employed +_on a little range of windows of the fifth order_, having roses +set, instead of orbicular ornaments, between the spandrils with a rich +cornice, and a band of marble inserted above. This sculpture assures us +of the date of the fifth order window, which it shows to have been +universal in the early fourteenth century. + +There are also five arches in the block on which the sculptor is +working, marking the frequency of the number five in the window groups +of the time. + +_Seventh side_. A figure at work on a pilaster, with Lombardic thirteenth +century capital (for account of the series of forms in Venetian capitals, +see the final Appendix of the next volume), the shaft of dark red spotted +marble. + +_Eighth side_. A figure with a rich open crown, working on a +delicate recumbent statue, the head of which is laid on a pillow covered +with a rich chequer pattern; the whole supported on a block of dark red +marble. Inscription broken away, all but "ST. SYM. (Symmachus?) TV * * +ANVS." There appear, therefore, altogether to have been five saints, two +of them popes, if Simplicius is the pope of that name (three in front, +two on the fourth and sixth sides), alternating with the three uncrowned +workmen in the manual labor of sculpture. I did not, therefore, insult +our present architects in saying above that they "ought to work in the +mason's yard with their men." It would be difficult to find a more +interesting expression of the devotional spirit in which all great work +was undertaken at this time. + +SECTION XCVII. TWENTIETH CAPITAL. It is adorned with heads of animals, +and is the finest of the whole series in the broad massiveness of its +effect; so simply characteristic, indeed, of the grandeur of style in +the entire building, that I chose it for the first Plate in my folio +work. In spite of the sternness of its plan, however, it is wrought with +great care in surface detail; and the ornamental value of the minute +chasing obtained by the delicate plumage of the birds, and the clustered +bees on the honeycomb in the bear's mouth, opposed to the strong +simplicity of its general form, cannot be too much admired. There are +also more grace, life, and variety in the sprays of foliage on each side +of it, and under the heads, than in any other capital of the series, +though the earliness of the workmanship is marked by considerable +hardness and coldness in the larger heads. A Northern Gothic workman, +better acquainted with bears and wolves than it was possible to become +in St. Mark's Place, would have put far more life into these heads, but +he could not have composed them more skilfully. + +SECTION XCVIII. _First side_. A lion with a stag's haunch in his +mouth. Those readers who have the folio plate, should observe the +peculiar way in which the ear is cut into the shape of a ring, jagged or +furrowed on the edge; an archaic mode of treatment peculiar, in the +Ducal Palace, to the lion's heads of the fourteenth century. The moment +we reach the Renaissance work, the lion's ears are smooth. Inscribed +simply, "LEO." + +_Second side_. A wolf with a dead bird in his mouth, its body +wonderfully true in expression of the passiveness of death. The feathers +are each wrought with a central quill and radiating filaments. Inscribed +"LUPUS." + +_Third side_. A fox, not at all like one, with a dead cock in his mouth, +its comb and pendent neck admirably designed so as to fall across +the great angle leaf of the capital, its tail hanging down on the other +side, its long straight feathers exquisitely cut. Inscribed ("VULP?)IS." + +_Fourth side_. Entirely broken away. + +_Fifth side_. "APER." Well tusked, with a head of maize in his mouth; at +least I suppose it to be maize, though shaped like a pine-cone. + +_Sixth side_. "CHANIS." With a bone, very ill cut; and a bald-headed +species of dog, with ugly flap ears. + +_Seventh side_. "MUSCIPULUS." With a rat (?) in his mouth. + +_Eighth side_. "URSUS." With a honeycomb, covered with large bees. + +SECTION XCIX. TWENTY-FIRST CAPITAL. Represents the principal inferior +professions. + +_First side_. An old man, with his brow deeply wrinkled, and very +expressive features, beating in a kind of mortar with a hammer. +Inscribed "LAPICIDA SUM." + +_Second side_. I believe, a goldsmith; he is striking a small flat bowl +or patera, on a pointed anvil, with a light hammer. The inscription is +gone. + +_Third side_. A shoemaker with a shoe in his hand, and an instrument for +cutting leather suspended beside him. Inscription undecipherable. + +_Fourth side_. Much broken. A carpenter planing a beam resting on +two horizontal logs. Inscribed "CARPENTARIUS SUM." + +_Fifth side_. A figure shovelling fruit into a tub; the latter very +carefully carved from what appears to have been an excellent piece of +cooperage. Two thin laths cross each other over the top of it. The +inscription, now lost, was, according to Selvatico, "MENSURATOR"? + +_Sixth side_. A man, with a large hoe, breaking the ground, which +lies in irregular furrows and clods before him. Now undecipherable, but +according to Selvatico, "AGRICHOLA." + +_Seventh side_. A man, in a pendent cap, writing on a large scroll +which falls over his knee. Inscribed "NOTARIUS SUM." + +_Eighth side_. A man forging a sword, or scythe-blade: he wears a +large skull-cap; beats with a large hammer on a solid anvil; and is +inscribed "FABER SUM." + +SECTION C. TWENTY-SECOND CAPITAL. The Ages of Man; and the influence of +the planets on human life. + +_First side_. The moon, governing infancy for four years, according +to Selvatico. I have no note of this side, having, I suppose, been +prevented from raising the ladder against it by some fruit-stall or +other impediment in the regular course of my examination; and then +forgotten to return to it. + +_Second side_. A child with a tablet, and an alphabet inscribed on +it. The legend above is + +"MECUREU' DNT. PUERICIE PAN. X." + +Or, "Mercurius dominatur puerilite per annos X." (Selvatico reads VII.) +"Mercury governs boyhood for ten (or seven) years." + +_Third side_. An older youth, with another tablet, but broken. +Inscribed + +"ADOLOSCENCIE * * * P. AN. VII." + +Selvatico misses this side altogether, as I did the first, so that the +lost planet is irrecoverable, as the inscription is now defaced. Note +the o for e in adolescentia; so also we constantly find u for o; +showing, together with much other incontestable evidence of the same +kind, how full and deep the old pronunciation of Latin always remained, +and how ridiculous our English mincing of the vowels would have sounded +to a Roman ear. + +_Fourth side_. A youth with a hawk on his fist. + +"IUVENTUTI DNT. SOL. P. AN. XIX." +The sue governs youth for nineteen years. + +_Fifth side_. A man sitting, helmed, with a sword over his shoulder. +Inscribed + +"SENECTUTI DNT MARS. P. AN. XV." +Mars governs manhood for fifteen years. + +_Sixth side_. A very graceful and serene figure, in the pendent cap, +reading. + +"SENICIE DNT JUPITER, P. ANN. XII." +Jupiter governs age for twelve years. + +_Seventh side_. An old man in a skull-cap, praying. + +"DECREPITE DNT SATN UQ' ADMOTE." (Saturnus usque ad mortem.) +Saturn governs decrepitude until death. + +_Eighth side_. The dead body lying on a mattress. + +"ULTIMA EST MORS PENA PECCATI." +Last comes death, the penalty of sin. + +SECTION CI. Shakespeare's Seven Ages are of course merely the expression +of this early and well-known system. He has deprived the dotage of its +devotion; but I think wisely, as the Italian system would imply that +devotion was, or should be, always delayed until dotage. + +TWENTY-THIRD CAPITAL. I agree with Selvatico in thinking this has been +restored. It is decorated with large and vulgar heads. + +SECTION CII. TWENTY-FOURTH CAPITAL. This belongs to the large shaft +which sustains the great party wall of the Sala del Gran Consiglio. The +shaft is thicker than the rest; but the capital, though ancient, is +coarse and somewhat inferior in design to the others of the series. It +represents the history of marriage: the lover first seeing his mistress +at a window, then addressing her, bringing her presents; then the +bridal, the birth and the death of a child. But I have not been able to +examine these sculptures properly, because the pillar is encumbered by +the railing which surrounds the two guns set before the Austrian +guard-house. + +SECTION CIII. TWENTY-FIFTH CAPITAL. We have here the employments of the +months, with which we are already tolerably acquainted. There are, +however, one or two varieties worth noticing in this series. + +_First side_. March. Sitting triumphantly in a rich dress, as the +beginning of the year. + +_Second side_. April and May. April with a lamb: May with a feather +fan in her hand. + +_Third side_. June. Carrying cherries in a basket. + +I did not give this series with the others in the previous chapter, +because this representation of June is peculiarly Venetian. It is called +"the month of cherries," mese delle ceriese, in the popular rhyme on the +conspiracy of Tiepolo, quoted above, Vol. I. + +The cherries principally grown near Venice are of a deep red color, and +large, but not of high flavor, though refreshing. They are carved upon +the pillar with great care, all their stalks undercut. + +_Fourth side_. July and August. The first reaping; the leaves of the +straw being given, shooting out from the tubular stalk. August, opposite, +beats (the grain?) in a basket. + +_Fifth side_. September. A woman standing in a wine-tub, and holding a +branch of vine. Very beautiful. + +_Sixth side_. October and November. I could not make out their +occupation; they seem to be roasting or boiling some root over a fire. + +_Seventh side_. December. Killing pigs, as usual. + +_Eighth side_. January warming his feet, and February frying fish. +This last employment is again as characteristic of the Venetian winter +as the cherries are of the Venetian summer. + +The inscriptions are undecipherable, except a few letters here and +there, and the words MARCIUS, APRILIS, and FEBRUARIUS. + +This is the last of the capitals of the early palace; the next, or +twenty-sixth capital, is the first of those executed in the fifteenth +century under Foscari; and hence to the Judgment angle the traveller has +nothing to do but to compare the base copies of the earlier work with +their originals, or to observe the total want of invention in the +Renaissance sculptor, wherever he has depended on his own resources. +This, however, always with the exception of the twenty-seventh and of +the last capital, which are both fine. + +I shall merely enumerate the subjects and point out the plagiarisms of +these capitals, as they are not worth description. + +SECTION CIV. TWENTY-SIXTH CAPITAL. Copied from the fifteenth, merely +changing the succession of the figures. + +TWENTY-SEVENTH CAPITAL. I think it possible that this may be part of the +old work displaced in joining the new palace with the old; at all +events, it is well designed, though a little coarse. It represents eight +different kinds of fruit, each in a basket; the characters well given, +and groups well arranged, but without much care or finish. The names are +inscribed above, though somewhat unnecessarily, and with certainly as +much disrespect to the beholder's intelligence as the sculptor's art, +namely, ZEREXIS, PIRI, CHUCUMERIS, PERSICI, ZUCHE, MOLONI, FICI, HUVA. +Zerexis (cherries) and Zuche (gourds) both begin with the same letter, +whether meant for z, s, or c I am not sure. The Zuche are the common +gourds, divided into two protuberances, one larger than the other, like +a bottle compressed near the neck; and the Moloni are the long +water-melons, which, roasted, form a staple food of the Venetians to +this day. + +SECTION CV. TWENTY-EIGHTH CAPITAL. Copied from the seventh. + +TWENTY-NINTH CAPITAL. Copied from the ninth. + +THIRTIETH CAPITAL. Copied from the tenth. The "Accidia" is noticeable as +having the inscription complete, "ACCIDIA ME STRINGIT;" and the +"Luxuria" for its utter want of expression, having a severe and calm +face, a robe up to the neck, and her hand upon her breast. The +inscription is also different: "LUXURIA SUM STERC'S (?) INFERI"(?). + +THIRTY-FIRST CAPITAL. Copied from the eighth. + +THIRTY-SECOND CAPITAL. Has no inscription, only fully robed figures +laying their hands, without any meaning, on their own shoulders, heads, +or chins, or on the leaves around them. + +THIRTY-THIRD CAPITAL. Copied from the twelfth. + +THIRTY-FOURTH CAPITAL. Copied from the eleventh. + +THIRTY-FIFTH CAPITAL. Has children, with birds or fruit, pretty in +features, and utterly inexpressive, like the cherubs of the eighteenth +century. + +SECTION CVI. THIRTY-SIXTH CAPITAL. This is the last of the Piazzetta +facade, the elaborate one under the Judgment angle. Its foliage is +copied from the eighteenth at the opposite side, with an endeavor on the +part of the Renaissance sculptor to refine upon it, by which he has +merely lost some of its truth and force. This capital will, however, be +always thought, at first, the most beautiful of the whole series: and +indeed it is very noble; its groups of figures most carefully studied, +very graceful, and much more pleasing than those of the earlier work, +though with less real power in them; and its foliage is only inferior to +that of the magnificent Fig-tree angle. It represents, on its front or +first side, Justice enthroned, seated on two lions; and on the seven +other sides examples of acts of justice or good government, or figures +of lawgivers, in the following order: + +_Second side_. Aristotle, with two pupils, giving laws. Inscribed: + +"ARISTOT * * CHE DIE LEGE." +Aristotle who declares laws. + +_Third side_. I have mislaid my note of this side: Selvatico and Lazari +call it "Isidore" (?). [Footnote: Can they have mistaken the ISIPIONE of +the fifth side for the word Isidore?] + +_Fourth side_. Solon with his pupils. Inscribed: + +"SAL'O UNO DEI SETE SAVI DI GRECIA CHE DIE LEGE." +Solon, one of the seven sages of Greece, who declares +laws. + +Note, by the by, the pure Venetian dialect used in this capital, instead +of the Latin in the more ancient ones. One of the seated pupils in this +sculpture is remarkably beautiful in the sweep of his flowing drapery. + +_Fifth side_. The chastity of Scipio. Inscribed: + +"ISIPIONE A CHASTITA CH * * * E LA FIA (e la figlia?) * * ARE." + +A soldier in a plumed bonnet presents a kneeling maiden to the seated +Scipio, who turns thoughtfully away. + +_Sixth side_. Numa Pompilius building churches. + +"NUMA POMPILIO IMPERADOR EDIFICHADOR DI TEMPI E CHIESE." + +Numa, in a kind of hat with a crown above it, directing a soldier in +Roman armor (note this, as contrasted with the mail of the earlier +capitals). They point to a tower of three stories filled with tracery. + +_Seventh side_. Moses receiving the law. Inscribed: + +"QUANDO MOSE RECEVE LA LECE I SUL MONTE." + +Moses kneels on a rock, whence springs a beautifully fancied tree, with +clusters of three berries in the centre of the three leaves, sharp and +quaint, like fine Northern Gothic. The half figure of the Deity comes +out of the abacus, the arm meeting that of Moses, both at full stretch, +with the stone tablets between. + +_Eighth side_. Trajan doing justice to the Widow. + +"TRAJANO IMPERADOR CHE FA JUSTITIA A LA VEDOVA." + +He is riding spiritedly, his mantle blown out behind; the widow kneeling +before his horse. + +SECTION CVII. The reader will observe that this capital is of peculiar +interest in its relation to the much disputed question of the character +of the later government of Venice. It is the assertion by that +government of its belief that Justice only could be the foundation of +its stability; as these stones of Justice and Judgment are the +foundation of its halls of council. And this profession of their faith +may be interpreted in two ways. Most modern historians would call it, in +common with the continual reference to the principles of justice in the +political and judicial language of the period, [Footnote: Compare the +speech of the Doge Mocenigo, above,--"first justice, and _then_ the +interests of the state:" and see Vol. III. Chap. II Section LIX.] +nothing more than a cloak for consummate violence and guilt; and it may +easily be proved to have been so in myriads of instances. But in the +main, I believe the expression of feeling to be genuine. I do not +believe, of the majority of the leading Venetians of this period whose +portraits have come down to us, that they were deliberately and +everlastingly hypocrites. I see no hypocrisy in their countenances. Much +capacity of it, much subtlety, much natural and acquired reserve; but no +meanness. On the contrary, infinite grandeur, repose, courage, and the +peculiar unity and tranquillity of expression which come of sincerity or +_wholeness_ of heart, and which it would take much demonstration to +make me believe could by any possibility be seen on the countenance of +an insincere man. I trust, therefore, that these Venetian nobles of the +fifteenth century did, in the main, desire to do judgment and justice to +all men; but, as the whole system of morality had been by this time +undermined by the teaching of the Romish Church, the idea of justice had +become separated from that of truth, so that dissimulation in the +interest of the state assumed the aspect of duty. We had, perhaps, +better consider, with some carefulness, the mode in which our own +government is carried on, and the occasional difference between +parliamentary and private morality, before we judge mercilessly of the +Venetians in this respect. The secrecy with which their political and +criminal trials were conducted, appears to modern eyes like a confession +of sinister intentions; but may it not also be considered, and with more +probability, as the result of an endeavor to do justice in an age of +violence?--the only means by which Law could establish its footing in +the midst of feudalism. Might not Irish juries at this day justifiably +desire to conduct their proceedings with some greater approximation to +the judicial principles of the Council of Ten? Finally, if we examine, +with critical accuracy, the evidence on which our present impressions of +Venetian government are founded, we shall discover, in the first place, +that two-thirds of the traditions of its cruelties are romantic fables: +in the second, that the crimes of which it can be proved to have been +guilty, differ only from those committed by the other Italian powers in +being done less wantonly, and under profounder conviction of their +political expediency: and lastly, that the final degradation of the +Venetian power appears owing not so much to the principles of its +government, as to their being forgotten in the pursuit of pleasure. + +SECTION CVIII. We have now examined the portions of the palace which +contain the principal evidence of the feeling of its builders. The +capitals of the, upper arcade are exceedingly various in their +character; their design is formed, as in the lower series, of eight +leaves, thrown into volutes at the angles, and sustaining figures at the +flanks; but these figures have no inscriptions, and though evidently not +without meaning, cannot be interpreted without more knowledge than I +possess of ancient symbolism. Many of the capitals toward the Sea appear +to have been restored, and to be rude copies of the ancient ones; +others, though apparently original, have been somewhat carelessly +wrought; but those of them, which are both genuine and carefully +treated, are even finer in composition than any, except the eighteenth, +in the lower arcade. The traveller in Venice ought to ascend into the +corridor, and examine with great care the series of capitals which +extend on the Piazzetta side from the Fig-tree angle to the pilaster +which carries the party wall of the Sala del Gran Consiglio. As examples +of graceful composition in massy capitals meant for hard service and +distant effect, these are among the finest things I know in Gothic art; +and that above the fig-tree is remarkable for its sculpture of the four +winds; each on the side turned towards the wind represented. Levante, +the east wind; a figure with rays round its head, to show that it is +always clear weather when that wind blows, raising the sun out of the +sea: Hotro, the south wind; crowned, holding the sun in its right hand: +Ponente, the west wind; plunging the sun into the sea: and Tramontana, +the north wind; looking up at the north star. This capital should be +carefully examined, if for no other reason than to attach greater +distinctness of idea to the magnificent verbiage of Milton: + + "Thwart of these, as fierce, + Forth rush the Levant and the Ponent winds, + Eurus, and Zephyr; with their lateral noise, + Sirocco and Libecchio." + +I may also especially point out the bird feeding its three young ones on +the seventh pillar on the Piazzetta side; but there is no end to the +fantasy of these sculptures; and the traveller ought to observe them all +carefully, until he comes to the great Pilaster or complicated pier +which sustains the party wall of the Sala del Consiglio; that is to say, +the forty-seventh capital of the whole series, counting from the +pilaster of the Vine angle inclusive, as in the series of the lower +arcade. The forty-eighth, forty-ninth, and fiftieth are bad work, but +they are old; the fifty-first is the first Renaissance capital of the +upper arcade: the first new lion's head with smooth ears, cut in the +time of Foscari, is over the fiftieth capital; and that capital, with +its shaft, stands on the apex of the eighth arch from the Sea, on the +Piazzetta side, of which one spandril is masonry of the fourteenth and +the other of the fifteenth century. + +SECTION CIX. The reader who is not able to examine the building on the +spot may be surprised at the definiteness with which the point of +junction is ascertainable; but a glance at the lowest range of leaves in +the opposite Plate (XX.) will enable him to judge of the grounds on +which the above statement is made. Fig. 12 is a cluster of leaves from +the capital of the Four Winds; early work of the finest time. Fig. 13 is +a leaf from the great Renaissance capital at the Judgment angle, worked +in imitation of the older leafage. Fig. 14 is a leaf from one of the +Renaissance capitals of the upper arcade, which are all worked in the +natural manner of the period. It will be seen that it requires no great +ingenuity to distinguish between such design as that of fig. 12 and that +of fig. 14. + +SECTION CX. It is very possible that the reader may at first like fig. +14 best. I shall endeavor, in the next chapter, to show why he should +not; but it must also be noted, that fig. 12 has lost, and fig. 14 +gained, both largely, under the hands of the engraver. All the bluntness +and coarseness of feeling in the workmanship of fig. 14 have disappeared +on this small scale, and all the subtle refinements in the broad masses +of fig. 12 have vanished. They could not, indeed, be rendered in line +engraving, unless by the hand of Albert Durer; and I have, therefore, +abandoned, for the present, all endeavor to represent any more important +mass of the early sculpture of the Ducal Palace: but I trust that, in a +few months, casts of many portions will be within the reach of the +inhabitants of London, and that they will be able to judge for +themselves of their perfect, pure, unlabored naturalism; the freshness, +elasticity, and softness of their leafage, united with the most noble +symmetry and severe reserve,--no running to waste, no loose or +experimental lines, no extravagance, and no weakness. Their design is +always sternly architectural; there is none of the wildness or +redundance of natural vegetation, but there is all the strength, +freedom, and tossing flow of the breathing leaves, and all the +undulation of their surfaces, rippled, as they grew, by the summer +winds, as the sands are by the sea. + +SECTION CXI. This early sculpture of the Ducal Palace, then, represents +the state of Gothic work in Venice at its central and proudest period, +i. e. circa 1350. After this time, all is decline,--of what nature and +by what steps, we shall inquire in the ensuing chapter; for as this +investigation, though still referring to Gothic architecture, introduces +us to the first symptoms of the Renaissance influence, I have considered +it as properly belonging to the third division of our subject. + +SECTION CXII. And as, under the shadow of these nodding leaves, we bid +farewell to the great Gothic spirit, here also we may cease our +examination of the details of the Ducal Palace; for above its upper +arcade there are only the four traceried windows, and one or two of the +third order on the Rio Facade, which can be depended upon as exhibiting +the original workmanship of the older palace. [Footnote: Some further +details respecting these portions, as well as some necessary +confirmations of my statements of dates, are, however, given in Appendix +I., Vol. III. I feared wearying the general reader by introducing them +into the text.] I examined the capitals of the four other windows on the +facade, and of those on the Piazzetta, one by one, with great care, and +I found them all to be of far inferior workmanship to those which retain +their traceries: I believe the stone framework of these windows must +have been so cracked and injured by the flames of the great fire, as to +render it necessary to replace it by new traceries; and that the present +mouldings and capitals are base imitations of the original ones. The +traceries were at first, however, restored in their complete form, as +the holes for the bolts which fastened the bases of their shafts are +still to be seen in the window-sills, as well as the marks of the inner +mouldings on the soffits. How much the stone facing of the facade, the +parapets, and the shafts and niches of the angles, retain of their +original masonry, it is also impossible to determine; but there is +nothing in the workmanship of any of them demanding especial notice; +still less in the large central windows on each facade which are +entirely of Renaissance execution. All that is admirable in these +portions of the building is the disposition of their various parts and +masses, which is without doubt the same as in the original fabric, and +calculated, when seen from a distance, to produce the same impression. + +SECTION CXIII. Not so in the interior. All vestige of the earlier modes +of decoration was here, of course, destroyed by the fires; and the +severe and religious work of Guariento and Bellini has been replaced by +the wildness of Tintoret and the luxury of Veronese. But in this case, +though widely different in temper, the art of the renewal was at least +intellectually as great as that which had perished: and though the halls +of the Ducal Palace are no more representative of the character of the +men by whom it was built, each of them is still a colossal casket of +priceless treasure; a treasure whose safety has till now depended on its +being despised, and which at this moment, and as I write, is piece by +piece being destroyed for ever. + +SECTION CXIV. The reader will forgive my quitting our more immediate +subject, in order briefly to explain the causes and the nature of this +destruction; for the matter is simply the most important of all that can +be brought under our present consideration respecting the state of art +in Europe. + +The fact is, that the greater number of persons or societies throughout +Europe, whom wealth, or chance, or inheritance has put in possession of +valuable pictures, do not know a good picture from a bad one, and have +no idea in what the value of a picture really consists. [Footnote: Many +persons, capable of quickly sympathizing with any excellence, when once +pointed out to them, easily deceive themselves into the supposition that +they are judges of art. There is only one real test of such power of +judgment. Can they, at a glance, discover a good picture obscured by the +filth, and confused among the rubbish, of the pawnbroker's or dealer's +garret?] The reputation of certain work is raised partly by accident, +partly by the just testimony of artists, partly by the various and +generally bad taste of the public (no picture, that I know of, has ever, +in modern times, attained popularity, in the full sense of the term, +without having some exceedingly bad qualities mingled with its good +ones), and when this reputation has once been completely established, it +little matters to what state the picture may be reduced: few minds are +so completely devoid of imagination as to be unable to invest it with +the beauties which they have heard attributed to it. + +SECTION CXV. This being so, the pictures that are most valued are for +the most part those by masters of established renown, which are highly +or neatly finished, and of a size small enough to admit of their being +placed in galleries or saloons, so as to be made subjects of +ostentation, and to be easily seen by a crowd. For the support of the +fame and value of such pictures, little more is necessary than that they +should be kept bright, partly by cleaning, which is incipient +destruction, and partly by what is called "restoring," that is, painting +over, which is of course total destruction. Nearly all the gallery +pictures in modern Europe have been more or less destroyed by one or +other of these operations, generally exactly in proportion to the +estimation in which they are held; and as, originally, the smaller and +more highly finished works of any great master are usually his worst, +the contents of many of our most celebrated galleries are by this time, +in reality, of very small value indeed. + +SECTION CXVI. On the other hand, the most precious works of any noble +painter are usually those which have been done quickly, and in the heat +of the first thought, on a large scale, for places where there was +little likelihood of their being well seen, or for patrons from whom +there was little prospect of rich remuneration. In general, the best +things are done in this way, or else in the enthusiasm and pride of +accomplishing some great purpose, such as painting a cathedral or a +camposanto from one end to the other, especially when the time has been +short, and circumstances disadvantageous. + +SECTION CXVII. Works thus executed are of course despised, on account of +their quantity, as well as their frequent slightness, in the places +where they exist; and they are too large to be portable, and too vast +and comprehensive to be read on the spot, in the hasty temper of the +present age. They are, therefore, almost universally neglected, +whitewashed by custodes, shot at by soldiers, suffered to drop from the +walls, piecemeal in powder and rags by society in general; but, which is +an advantage more than counterbalancing all this evil, they are not +often "restored." What is left of them, however fragmentary, however +ruinous, however obscured and defiled, is almost always _the real +thing_; there are no fresh readings: and therefore the greatest +treasures of art which Europe at this moment possesses are pieces of old +plaster on ruinous brick walls, where the lizards burrow and bask, and +which few other living creatures ever approach; and torn sheets of dim +canvas, in waste corners of churches; and mildewed stains, in the shape +of human figures, on the walls of dark chambers, which now and then an +exploring traveller causes to be unlocked by their tottering custode, +looks hastily round, and retreats from in a weary satisfaction at his +accomplished duty. + +SECTION CXVIII. Many of the pictures on the ceilings and walls of the +Ducal Palace, by Paul Veronese and Tintoret, have been more or less +reduced, by neglect, to this condition. Unfortunately they are not +altogether without reputation, and their state has drawn the attention +of the Venetian authorities and academicians. It constantly happens, +that public bodies who will not pay five pounds to preserve a picture, +will pay fifty to repaint it; [Footnote: This is easily explained. There +are, of course, in every place and at all periods, bad painters who +conscientiously believe that they can improve every picture they touch; +and these men are generally, in their presumption, the most influential +over the innocence, whether of monarchs or municipalities. The carpenter +and slater have little influence in recommending the repairs of the +roof; but the bad painter has great influence, as well as interest, in +recommending those of the picture.] and when I was at Venice in 1846, +there were two remedial operations carrying on, at one and the same +time, in the two buildings which contain the pictures of greatest value +in the city (as pieces of color, of greatest value in the world), +curiously illustrative of this peculiarity in human nature. Buckets were +set on the floor of the Scuola di San Rocco, in every shower, to catch +the rain which came through the pictures of Tintoret on the ceiling; +while in the Ducal Palace, those of Paul Veronese were themselves laid +on the floor to be repainted; and I was myself present at the +re-illumination of the breast of a white horse, with a brush, at the end +of a stick five feet long, luxuriously dipped in a common +house-painter's vessel of paint. + +This was, of course, a large picture. The process has already been +continued in an equally destructive, though somewhat more delicate +manner, over the whole of the humbler canvases on the ceiling of the +Sala del Gran Consiglio; and I heard it threatened when I was last in +Venice (1851-2) to the "Paradise" at its extremity, which is yet in +tolerable condition,--the largest work of Tintoret, and the most +wonderful piece of pure, manly, and masterly oil-painting in the world. + +SECTION CXIX. I leave these facts to the consideration of the European +patrons of art. Twenty years hence they will be acknowledged and +regretted; at present, I am well aware, that it is of little use to +bring them forward, except only to explain the present impossibility of +stating what pictures _are_, and what _were_, in the interior +of the Ducal Palace. I can only say, that in the winter of 1851, the +"Paradise" of Tintoret was still comparatively uninjured, and that the +Camera di Collegio, and its antechamber, and the Sala de' Pregadi were +full of pictures by Veronese and Tintoret, that made their walls as +precious as so many kingdoms; so precious indeed, and so full of +majesty, that sometimes when walking at evening on the Lido, whence the +great chain of the Alps, crested with silver clouds, might be seen +rising above the front of the Ducal Palace, I used to feel as much awe +in gazing on the building as on the hills, and could believe that God +had done a greater work in breathing into the narrowness of dust the +mighty spirits by whom its haughty walls had been raised, and its +burning legends written, than in lifting the rocks of granite higher +than the clouds of heaven, and veiling them with their various mantle of +purple flower and shadowy pine. + + + + +NOTE. + + +I have printed the chapter on the Ducal Palace, quite one of the most +important pieces of work done in my life, without alteration of its +references to the plates of the first edition, because I hope both to +republish some of those plates, and together with them, a few permanent +photographs (both from the sculpture of the Palace itself, and from my +own drawings of its detail), which may be purchased by the possessors of +this smaller edition to bind with the book or not, as they please. This +separate publication I can now soon set in hand; and I believe it will +cause much less confusion to leave for the present the references to the +old plates untouched. The wood-blocks used for the first three figures +in this chapter, are the original ones: that of the Ducal Palace facade +was drawn on the wood by my own hand, and cost me more trouble than it +is worth, being merely given for division and proportion. The greater +part of the first volume, omitted in this edition after "the Quarry," +will be republished in the series of my reprinted works, with its +original wood-blocks. + +But my mind is mainly set now on getting some worthy illustration of the +St. Mark's mosaics, and of such remains of the old capitals (now for +ever removed, in process of the Palace restoration, from their life in +sea wind and sunlight, and their ancient duty, to a museum-grave) as I +have useful record of, drawn in their native light. The series, both of +these and of the earlier mosaics, of which the sequence is sketched in +the preceding volume, and farther explained in the third number of "St. +Mark's Rest," become to me every hour of my life more precious both for +their art and their meaning; and if any of my readers care to help me, +in my old age, to fulfil my life's work rightly, let them send what +pence they can spare for these objects to my publisher, Mr. Allen, +Sunnyside, Orpington, Kent. + +Since writing the first part of this note, I have received a letter from +Mr. Burne Jones, assuring me of his earnest sympathy in its object, and +giving me hope even of his superintendence of the drawings, which I have +already desired to be undertaken. But I am no longer able to continue +work of this kind at my own cost; and the fulfilment of my purpose must +entirely depend on the money-help given me by my readers. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Stones of Venice [introductions], by John Ruskin + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STONES OF VENICE [INTRODUCTIONS] *** + +This file should be named 7stvn10.txt or 7stvn10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 7stvn11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 7stvn10a.txt + +Produced by Anne Soulard, Keren Vergon +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Stones of Venice [introductions] + +Author: John Ruskin + +Release Date: February, 2006 [EBook #9804] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on October 19, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STONES OF VENICE [INTRODUCTIONS] *** + + + + +Produced by Anne Soulard, Keren Vergon, +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +[Illustration: John Ruskin.] + +STONES OF VENICE + +BY JOHN RUSKIN + + + + +THE STONES OF VENICE: + +INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS AND LOCAL INDICES +(PRINTED SEPARATELY) +FOR THE USE OF TRAVELLERS WHILE STAYING IN VENICE AND VERONA. + + +BY +JOHN RUSKIN, LL.D. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +This volume is the first of a series designed by the Author with the +purpose of placing in the hands of the public, in more serviceable form, +those portions of his earlier works which he thinks deserving of a +permanent place in the system of his general teaching. They were at +first intended to be accompanied by photographic reductions of the +principal plates in the larger volumes; but this design has been +modified by the Author's increasing desire to gather his past and +present writings into a consistent body, illustrated by one series of +plates, purchasable in separate parts, and numbered consecutively. Of +other prefatory matter, once intended,--apologetic mostly,--the reader +shall be spared the cumber: and a clear prospectus issued by the +publisher of the new series of plates, as soon as they are in a state of +forwardness. + +The second volume of this edition will contain the most useful matter +out of the third volume of the old one, closed by its topical index, +abridged and corrected. + +BRANTWOOD, + +_3rd May_, 1879. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAP. + +I. The Quarry + +II. The Throne + +III. Torcello + +IV. St. Mark's + +V. The Ducal Palace + + + + +THE STONES OF VENICE + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +[FIRST OF THE OLD EDITION.] + +THE QUARRY. + + +SECTION I. Since the first dominion of men was asserted over the ocean, +three thrones, of mark beyond all others, have been set upon its sands: +the thrones of Tyre, Venice, and England. Of the First of these great +powers only the memory remains; of the Second, the ruin; the Third, +which inherits their greatness, if it forget their example, may be led +through prouder eminence to less pitied destruction. + +The exaltation, the sin, and the punishment of Tyre have been recorded +for us, in perhaps the most touching words ever uttered by the Prophets +of Israel against the cities of the stranger. But we read them as a +lovely song; and close our ears to the sternness of their warning: for +the very depth of the Fall of Tyre has blinded us to its reality, and we +forget, as we watch the bleaching of the rocks between the sunshine and +the sea, that they were once "as in Eden, the garden of God." + +Her successor, like her in perfection of beauty, though less in +endurance of dominion, is still left for our beholding in the final +period of her decline: a ghost upon the sands of the sea, so weak--so +quiet,--so bereft of all but her loveliness, that we might well doubt, +as we watched her faint reflection in the mirage of the lagoon, which +was the City, and which the Shadow. + +I would endeavor to trace the lines of this image before it be for ever +lost, and to record, as far as I may, the warning which seems to me to +be uttered by every one of the fast-gaining waves, that beat, like +passing bells, against the STONES OF VENICE. + +SECTION II. It would be difficult to overrate the value of the lessons +which might be derived from a faithful study of the history of this +strange and mighty city: a history which, in spite of the labor of +countless chroniclers, remains in vague and disputable outline,--barred +with brightness and shade, like the far away edge of her own ocean, +where the surf and the sand-bank are mingled with the sky. The inquiries +in which we have to engage will hardly render this outline clearer, but +their results will, in some degree, alter its aspect; and, so far as +they bear upon it at all, they possess an interest of a far higher kind +than that usually belonging to architectural investigations. I may, +perhaps, in the outset, and in few words, enable the general reader to +form a clearer idea of the importance of every existing expression of +Venetian character through Venetian art, and of the breadth of interest +which the true history of Venice embraces, than he is likely to have +gleaned from the current fables of her mystery or magnificence. + +SECTION III. Venice is usually conceived as an oligarchy: She was so +during a period less than the half of her existence, and that including +the days of her decline; and it is one of the first questions needing +severe examination, whether that decline was owing in any wise to the +change in the form of her government, or altogether as assuredly in +great part, to changes, in the character of the persons of whom it was +composed. + +The state of Venice existed Thirteen Hundred and Seventy-six years, from +the first establishment of a consular government on the island of the +Rialto, [Footnote: Appendix I., "Foundations of Venice."] to the moment +when the General-in-chief of the French army of Italy pronounced the +Venetian republic a thing of the past. Of this period, Two Hundred and +Seventy-six years [Footnote: Appendix II., "Power of the Doges."] were +passed in a nominal subjection to the cities of old Venetia, especially +to Padua, and in an agitated form of democracy, of which the executive +appears to have been entrusted to tribunes, [Footnote: Sismondi, Hist. +des Rép. Ital., vol. i. ch. v.] chosen, one by the inhabitants of each +of the principal islands. For six hundred years, [Footnote: Appendix +III., "Serrar del Consiglio."] during which the power of Venice was +continually on the increase, her government was an elective monarchy, +her King or doge possessing, in early times at least, as much +independent authority as any other European sovereign, but an authority +gradually subjected to limitation, and shortened almost daily of its +prerogatives, while it increased in a spectral and incapable +magnificence. The final government of the nobles, under the image of a +king, lasted for five hundred years, during which Venice reaped the +fruits of her former energies, consumed them,--and expired. + +SECTION IV. Let the reader therefore conceive the existence of the +Venetian state as broadly divided into two periods: the first of nine +hundred, the second of five hundred years, the separation being marked +by what was called the "Serrar del Consiglio;" that is to say, the final +and absolute distinction of the nobles from the commonalty, and the +establishment of the government in their hands to the exclusion alike of +the influence of the people on the one side, and the authority of the +doge on the other. + +Then the first period, of nine hundred years, presents us with the most +interesting spectacle of a people struggling out of anarchy into order +and power; and then governed, for the most part, by the worthiest and +noblest man whom they could find among them, [Footnote: "Ha saputo +trovar modo che non uno, non pochi, non molti, signoreggiano, ma molti +buoni, pochi migliori, e insiememente, _un ottimo solo_." (_Sansovino_,) +Ah, well done, Venice! Wisdom this, indeed.] called their Doge or Leader, +with an aristocracy gradually and resolutely forming itself around him, +out of which, and at last by which, he was chosen; an aristocracy owing +its origin to the accidental numbers, influence, and wealth of some among +the families of the fugitives from the older Venetia, and gradually +organizing itself, by its unity and heroism, into a separate body. + +This first period includes the rise of Venice, her noblest achievements, +and the circumstances which determined her character and position among +European powers; and within its range, as might have been anticipated, +we find the names of all her hero princes,--of Pietro Urseolo, Ordalafo +Falier, Domenico Michieli, Sebastiano Ziani, and Enrico Dandolo. + +SECTION V. The second period opens with a hundred and twenty years, the +most eventful in the career of Venice--the central struggle of her +life--stained with her darkest crime, the murder of Carrara--disturbed +by her most dangerous internal sedition, the conspiracy of +Falier--oppressed by her most fatal war, the war of Chiozza--and +distinguished by the glory of her two noblest citizens (for in this +period the heroism of her citizens replaces that of her monarchs), +Vittor Pisani and Carlo Zeno. + +I date the commencement of the Fall of Venice from the death of Carlo +Zeno, 8th May, 1418; [Footnote: Daru, liv. xii. ch. xii.] the _visible_ +commencement from that of another of her noblest and wisest children, the +Doge Tomaso Mocenigo, who expired five years later. The reign of Foscari +followed, gloomy with pestilence and war; a war in which large +acquisitions of territory were made by subtle or fortunate policy in +Lombardy, and disgrace, significant as irreparable, sustained in the +battles on the Po at Cremona, and in the marshes of Caravaggio. In 1454, +Venice, the first of the states of Christendom, humiliated herself to the +Turk in the same year was established the Inquisition of State, +[Footnote: Daru, liv. xvi. cap. xx. We owe to this historian the +discovery of the statutes of the tribunal and date of its establishment.] +and from this period her government takes the perfidious and mysterious +form under which it is usually conceived. In 1477, the great Turkish +invasion spread terror to the shores of the lagoons; and in 1508 the +league of Cambrai marks the period usually assigned as the commencement +of the decline of the Venetian power; [Footnote: Ominously signified by +their humiliation to the Papal power (as before to the Turkish) in 1509, +and their abandonment of their right of appointing the clergy of their +territories.] the commercial prosperity of Venice in the close of the +fifteenth century blinding her historians to the previous evidence of the +diminution of her internal strength. + +SECTION VI. Now there is apparently a significative coincidence between +the establishment of the aristocratic and oligarchical powers, and the +diminution of the prosperity of the state. But this is the very question +at issue; and it appears to me quite undetermined by any historian, or +determined by each in accordance with his own prejudices. It is a triple +question: first, whether the oligarchy established by the efforts of +individual ambition was the cause, in its subsequent operation, of the +Fall of Venice; or (secondly) whether the establishment of the oligarchy +itself be not the sign and evidence, rather than the cause, of national +enervation; or (lastly) whether, as I rather think, the history of +Venice might not be written almost without reference to the construction +of her senate or the prerogatives of her Doge. It is the history of a +people eminently at unity in itself, descendants of Roman race, long +disciplined by adversity, and compelled by its position either to live +nobly or to perish:--for a thousand years they fought for life; for +three hundred they invited death: their battle was rewarded, and their +call was heard. + +SECTION VII. Throughout her career, the victories of Venice, and, at +many periods of it, her safety, were purchased by individual heroism; +and the man who exalted or saved her was sometimes (oftenest) her king, +sometimes a noble, sometimes a citizen. To him no matter, nor to her: +the real question is, not so much what names they bore, or with what +powers they were entrusted, as how they were trained; how they were made +masters of themselves, servants of their country, patient of distress, +impatient of dishonor; and what was the true reason of the change from +the time when she could find saviours among those whom she had cast into +prison, to that when the voices of her own children commanded her to +sign covenant with Death. [Footnote: The senate voted the abdication of +their authority by a majority of 512 to 14. (Alison, ch. xxiii.)] + +SECTION VIII. On this collateral question I wish the reader's mind to be +fixed throughout all our subsequent inquiries. It will give double +interest to every detail: nor will the interest be profitless; for the +evidence which I shall be able to deduce from the arts of Venice will be +both frequent and irrefragable, that the decline of her political +prosperity was exactly coincident with that of domestic and individual +religion. + +I say domestic and individual; for--and this is the second point which I +wish the reader to keep in mind--the most curious phenomenon in all +Venetian history is the vitality of religion in private life, and its +deadness in public policy. Amidst the enthusiasm, chivalry, or +fanaticism of the other states of Europe, Venice stands, from first to +last, like a masked statue; her coldness impenetrable, her exertion only +aroused by the touch of a secret spring. That spring was her commercial +interest,--this the one motive of all her important political acts, or +enduring national animosities. She could forgive insults to her honor, +but never rivalship in her commerce; she calculated the glory of her +conquests by their value, and estimated their justice by their facility. +The fame of success remains; when the motives of attempt are forgotten; +and the casual reader of her history may perhaps be surprised to be +reminded, that the expedition which was commanded by the noblest of her +princes, and whose results added most to her military glory, was one in +which while all Europe around her was wasted by the fire of its +devotion, she first calculated the highest price she could exact from +its piety for the armament she furnished, and then, for the advancement +of her own private interests, at once broke her faith [Footnote: By +directing the arms of the Crusaders against a Christian prince. (Daru, +liv. iv. ch. iv. viii.)] and betrayed her religion. + +SECTION IX. And yet, in the midst of this national criminality, we shall +be struck again and again by the evidences of the most noble individual +feeling. The tears of Dandolo were not shed in hypocrisy, though they +could not blind him to the importance of the conquest of Zara. The habit +of assigning to religion a direct influence over all _his own_ actions, +and all the affairs of _his own_ daily life, is remarkable in every great +Venetian during the times of the prosperity of the state; nor are +instances wanting in which the private feeling of the citizens reaches +the sphere of their policy, and even becomes the guide of its course +where the scales of expediency are doubtfully balanced. I sincerely trust +that the inquirer would be disappointed who should endeavor to trace any +more immediate reasons for their adoption of the cause of Alexander III. +against Barbarossa, than the piety which was excited by the character of +their suppliant, and the noble pride which was provoked by the insolence +of the emperor. But the heart of Venice is shown only in her hastiest +councils; her worldly spirit recovers the ascendency whenever she has +time to calculate the probabilities of advantage, or when they are +sufficiently distinct to need no calculation; and the entire subjection +of private piety to national policy is not only remarkable throughout the +almost endless series of treacheries and tyrannies by which her empire +was enlarged and maintained, but symbolized by a very singular +circumstance in the building of the city itself. I am aware of no other +city of Europe in which its cathedral was not the principal feature. But +the principal church in Venice was the chapel attached to the palace of +her prince, and called the "Chiesa Ducale." The patriarchal church, +[Footnote: Appendix 4, "San Pietro di Castello."] inconsiderable in size +and mean in decoration, stands on the outermost islet of the Venetian +group, and its name, as well as its site, is probably unknown to the +greater number of travellers passing hastily through the city. Nor is it +less worthy of remark, that the two most important temples of Venice, +next to the ducal chapel, owe their size and magnificence, not to +national effort, but to the energy of the Franciscan and Dominican monks, +supported by the vast organization of those great societies on the +mainland of Italy, and countenanced by the most pious, and perhaps also, +in his generation, the most wise, of all the princes of Venice, +[Footnote: Tomaso Mocenigo, above named, Section V.] who now rests +beneath the roof of one of those very temples, and whose life is not +satirized by the images of the Virtues which a Tuscan sculptor has placed +around his tomb. + +SECTION X. There are, therefore, two strange and solemn lights in which +we have to regard almost every scene in the fitful history of the Rivo +Alto. We find, on the one hand, a deep, and constant tone of individual +religion characterizing the lives of the citizens of Venice in her +greatness; we find this spirit influencing them in all the familiar and +immediate concerns of life, giving a peculiar dignity to the conduct +even of their commercial transactions, and confessed by them with a +simplicity of faith that may well put to shame the hesitation with which +a man of the world at present admits (even if it be so in reality) that +religious feeling has any influence over the minor branches of his +conduct. And we find as the natural consequence of all this, a healthy +serenity of mind and energy of will expressed in all their actions, and +a habit of heroism which never fails them, even when the immediate +motive of action ceases to be praiseworthy. With the fulness of this +spirit the prosperity of the state is exactly correspondent, and with +its failure her decline, and that with a closeness and precision which +it will be one of the collateral objects of the following essay to +demonstrate from such accidental evidence as the field of its inquiry +presents. And, thus far, all is natural and simple. But the stopping +short of this religious faith when it appears likely to influence +national action, correspondent as it is, and that most strikingly, with +several characteristics of the temper of our present English +legislature, is a subject, morally and politically, of the most curious +interest and complicated difficulty; one, however, which the range of my +present inquiry will not permit me to approach, and for the treatment of +which I must be content to furnish materials in the light I may be able +to throw upon the private tendencies of the Venetian character. + +SECTION XI. There is, however, another most interesting feature in the +policy of Venice which will be often brought before us; and which a +Romanist would gladly assign as the reason of its irreligion; namely, +the magnificent and successful struggle which she maintained against the +temporal authority of the Church of Rome. It is true that, in a rapid +survey of her career, the eye is at first arrested by the strange drama +to which I have already alluded, closed by that ever memorable scene in +the portico of St. Mark's, [Footnote: + "In that temple porch, + (The brass is gone, the porphyry remains,) + Did BARBAROSSA fling his mantle off, + And kneeling, on his neck receive the foot + Of the proud Pontiff--thus at last consoled + For flight, disguise, and many an aguish shake + On his stony pillow." + +I need hardly say whence the lines are taken: Rogers' "Italy" has, I +believe, now a place in the best beloved compartment of all libraries, +and will never be removed from it. There is more true expression of the +spirit of Venice in the passages devoted to her in that poem, than in all +else that has been written of her.] the central expression in most men's +thoughts of the unendurable elevation of the pontifical power; it is true +that the proudest thoughts of Venice, as well as the insignia of her +prince, and the form of her chief festival, recorded the service thus +rendered to the Roman Church. But the enduring sentiment of years more +than balanced the enthusiasm of a moment; and the bull of Clement V., +which excommunicated the Venetians and their doge, likening them to +Dathan, Abiram, Absalom, and Lucifer, is a stronger evidence of the great +tendencies of the Venetian government than the umbrella of the doge or +the ring of the Adriatic. The humiliation of Francesco Dandolo blotted +out the shame of Barbarossa, and the total exclusion of ecclesiastics +from all share in the councils of Venice became an enduring mark of her +knowledge of the spirit of the Church of Rome, and of her defiance of it. + +To this exclusion of Papal influence from her councils, the Romanist +will attribute their irreligion, and the Protestant their success. +[Footnote: At least, such success as they had. Vide Appendix 5, "The +Papal Power in Venice."] + +The first may be silenced by a reference to the character of the policy +of the Vatican itself; and the second by his own shame, when he reflects +that the English legislature sacrificed their principles to expose +themselves to the very danger which the Venetian senate sacrificed +theirs to avoid. + +SECTION XII. One more circumstance remains to be noted respecting the +Venetian government, the singular unity of the families composing +it,--unity far from sincere or perfect, but still admirable when +contrasted with the fiery feuds, the almost daily revolutions, the +restless successions of families and parties in power, which fill the +annals of the other states of Italy. That rivalship should sometimes be +ended by the dagger, or enmity conducted to its ends under the mask of +law, could not but be anticipated where the fierce Italian spirit was +subjected to so severe a restraint: it is much that jealousy appears +usually unmingled with illegitimate ambition, and that, for every +instance in which private passion sought its gratification through +public danger, there are a thousand in which it was sacrificed to the +public advantage. Venice may well call upon us to note with reverence, +that of all the towers which are still seen rising like a branchless +forest from her islands, there is but one whose office was other than +that of summoning to prayer, and that one was a watch-tower only +[Footnote: Thus literally was fulfilled the promise to St. Mark,--Pax +e.] from first to last, while the palaces of the other cities of Italy +were lifted into sullen fortitudes of rampart, and fringed with forked +battlements for the javelin and the bow, the sands of Venice never sank +under the weight of a war tower, and her roof terraces were wreathed +with Arabian imagery, of golden globes suspended on the leaves of +lilies. [Footnote: The inconsiderable fortifications of the arsenal are +no exception to this statement, as far as it regards the city itself. +They are little more than a semblance of precaution against the attack +of a foreign enemy.] + +SECTION XIII. These, then, appear to me to be the points of chief +general interest in the character and fate of the Venetian people. I +would next endeavor to give the reader some idea of the manner in which +the testimony of Art bears upon these questions, and of the aspect which +the arts themselves assume when they are regarded in their true +connection with the history of the state. + +1st. Receive the witness of Painting. + +It will be remembered that I put the commencement of the Fall of Venice +as far back as 1418. + +Now, John Bellini was born in 1423, and Titian in 1480. John Bellini, +and his brother Gentile, two years older than he, close the line of the +sacred painters of Venice. But the most solemn spirit of religious faith +animates their works to the last. There is no religion in any work of +Titian's: there is not even the smallest evidence of religious temper or +sympathies either in himself, or in those for whom he painted. His +larger sacred subjects are merely themes for the exhibition of pictorial +rhetoric,--composition and color. His minor works are generally made +subordinate to purposes of portraiture. The Madonna in the church of the +Frari is a mere lay figure, introduced to form a link of connection +between the portraits of various members of the Pesaro family who +surround her. + +Now this is not merely because John Bellini was a religious man and +Titian was not. Titian and Bellini are each true representatives of the +school of painters contemporary with them; and the difference in their +artistic feeling is a consequence not so much of difference in their own +natural characters as in their early education: Bellini was brought up +in faith; Titian in formalism. Between the years of their births the +vital religion of Venice had expired. + +SECTION XIV. The _vital_ religion, observe, not the formal. Outward +observance was as strict as ever; and doge and senator still were +painted, in almost every important instance, kneeling before the Madonna +or St. Mark; a confession of faith made universal by the pure gold of +the Venetian sequin. But observe the great picture of Titian's in the +ducal palace, of the Doge Antonio Grimani kneeling before Faith: there +is a curious lesson in it. The figure of Faith is a coarse portrait of +one of Titian's least graceful female models: Faith had become carnal. +The eye is first caught by the flash of the Doge's armor. The heart of +Venice was in her wars, not in her worship. + +The mind of Tintoret, incomparably more deep and serious than that of +Titian, casts the solemnity of its own tone over the sacred subjects +which it approaches, and sometimes forgets itself into devotion; but the +principle of treatment is altogether the same as Titian's: absolute +subordination of the religious subject to purposes of decoration or +portraiture. + +The evidence might be accumulated a thousandfold from the works of +Veronese, and of every succeeding painter,--that the fifteenth century +had taken away the religious heart of Venice. + +SECTION XV. Such is the evidence of Painting. To collect that of +Architecture will be our task through many a page to come; but I must +here give a general idea of its heads. + +Philippe de Commynes, writing of his entry into Venice in 1495, says,-- + +"Chascun me feit seoir au meillieu de ces deux ambassadeurs qui est +l'honneur d'Italie que d'estre au meillieu; et me menerent au long de la +grant rue, qu'ilz appellent le Canal Grant, et est bien large. Les +gallees y passent à travers et y ay veu navire de quatre cens tonneaux +ou plus pres des maisons: et est la plus belle rue que je croy qui soit +en tout le monde, et la mieulx maisonnee, et va le long de la ville. Les +maisons sont fort grandes et haultes, et de bonne pierre, et les +anciennes toutes painctes; les aul tres faictes depuis cent ans: toutes +ont le devant de marbre blanc, qui leur vient d'Istrie, à cent mils de +la, et encores maincte grant piece de porphire et de sarpentine sur le +devant.... C'est la plus triumphante cité que j'aye jamais veue et qui +plus faict d'honneur à ambassadeurs et estrangiers, et qui plus +saigement se gouverne, et où le service de Dieu est le plus +sollennellement faict: et encores qu'il y peust bien avoir d'aultres +faultes, si croy je que Dieu les a en ayde pour la reverence qu'ilz +portent au service de l'Eglise." [Footnote: Mémoires de Commynes, liv. +vii. ch. xviii.] + +SECTION XVI. This passage is of peculiar interest, for two reasons. +Observe, first, the impression of Commynes respecting the religion of +Venice: of which, as I have above said, the forms still remained with +some glimmering of life in them, and were the evidence of what the real +life had been in former times. But observe, secondly, the impression +instantly made on Commynes' mind by the distinction between the elder +palaces and those built "within this last hundred years; which all have +their fronts of white marble brought from Istria, a hundred miles away, +and besides, many a large piece of porphyry and serpentine upon their +fronts." + +On the opposite page I have given two of the ornaments of the palaces +which so struck the French ambassador. [Footnote: Appendix 6, +"Renaissance Ornaments."] He was right in his notice of the distinction. +There had indeed come a change over Venetian architecture in the +fifteenth century; and a change of some importance to us moderns: we +English owe to it our St. Paul's Cathedral, and Europe in general owes +to it the utter degradation or destruction of her schools of +architecture, never since revived. But that the reader may understand +this, it is necessary that he should have some general idea of the +connection of the architecture of Venice with that of the rest of +Europe, from its origin forwards. + +SECTION XVII. All European architecture, bad and good, old and new, is +derived from Greece through Rome, and colored and perfected from the +East. The history of architecture is nothing but the tracing of the +various modes and directions of this derivation. Understand this, once +for all: if you hold fast this great connecting clue, you may string all +the types of successive architectural invention upon it like so many +beads. The Doric and the Corinthian orders are the roots, the one of all +Romanesque, massy-capitaled buildings--Norman, Lombard, Byzantine, and +what else you can name of the kind; and the Corinthian of all Gothic, +Early English, French, German, and Tuscan. Now observe: those old Greeks +gave the shaft; Rome gave the arch; the Arabs pointed and foliated the +arch. The shaft and arch, the frame-work and strength of architecture, +are from the race of Japheth: the spirituality and sanctity of it from +Ismael, Abraham, and Shem. + +SECTION XVIII. There is high probability that the Greek received his +shaft system from Egypt; but I do not care to keep this earlier +derivation in the mind of the reader. It is only necessary that he +should be able to refer to a fixed point of origin, when the form of the +shaft was first perfected. But it may be incidently observed, that if +the Greeks did indeed receive their Doric from Egypt, then the three +families of the earth have each contributed their part to its noblest +architecture: and Ham, the servant of the others, furnishes the +sustaining or bearing member, the shaft; Japheth the arch; Shem the +spiritualization of both. + +SECTION XIX. I have said that the two orders, Doric and Corinthian, are +the roots of all European architecture. You have, perhaps, heard of five +orders; but there are only two real orders, and there never can be any +more until doomsday. On one of these orders the ornament is convex: +those are Doric, Norman, and what else you recollect of the kind. On the +other the ornament is concave: those are Corinthian, Early English, +Decorated, and what else you recollect of that kind. The transitional +form, in which the ornamental line is straight, is the centre or root of +both. All other orders are varieties of those, or phantasms and +grotesques altogether indefinite in number and species. [Footnote: +Appendix 7, "Varieties of the Orders."] + +SECTION XX. This Greek architecture, then, with its two orders, was +clumsily copied and varied by the Romans with no particular result, +until they begun to bring the arch into extensive practical service; +except only that the Doric capital was spoiled in endeavors to mend it, +and the Corinthian much varied and enriched with fanciful, and often +very beautiful imagery. And in this state of things came Christianity: +seized upon the arch as her own; decorated it, and delighted in it; +invented a new Doric capital to replace the spoiled Roman one: and all +over the Roman empire set to work, with such materials as were nearest +at hand, to express and adorn herself as best she could. This Roman +Christian architecture is the exact expression of the Christianity of +the time, very fervid and beautiful--but very imperfect; in many +respects ignorant, and yet radiant with a strong, childlike light of +imagination, which flames up under Constantine, illumines all the shores +of the Bosphorus and the Aegean and the Adriatic Sea, and then +gradually, as the people give themselves up to idolatry, becomes +Corpse-light. The architecture sinks into a settled form--a strange, +gilded, and embalmed repose: it, with the religion it expressed; and so +would have remained for ever,--so _does_ remain, where its languor has +been undisturbed. [Footnote: The reader will find the _weak_ points of +Byzantine architecture shrewdly seized, and exquisitely sketched, in the +opening chapter of the most delightful book of travels I ever opened,-- +Curzon's "Monasteries of the Levant."] But rough wakening was ordained. + +Section XXI. This Christian art of the declining empire is divided into +two great branches, western and eastern; one centred at Rome, the other +at Byzantium, of which the one is the early Christian Romanesque, +properly so called, and the other, carried to higher imaginative +perfection by Greek workmen, is distinguished from it as Byzantine. But +I wish the reader, for the present, to class these two branches of art +together in his mind, they being, in points of main importance, the +same; that is to say, both of them a true continuance and sequence of +the art of old Rome itself, flowing uninterruptedly down from the +fountain-head, and entrusted always to the best workmen who could be +found--Latins in Italy and Greeks in Greece; and thus both branches may +be ranged under the general term of Christian Romanesque, an +architecture which had lost the refinement of Pagan art in the +degradation of the empire, but which was elevated by Christianity to +higher aims, and by the fancy of the Greek workmen endowed with brighter +forms. And this art the reader may conceive as extending in its various +branches over all the central provinces of the empire, taking aspects +more or less refined, according to its proximity to the seats of +government; dependent for all its power on the vigor and freshness of +the religion which animated it; and as that vigor and purity departed, +losing its own vitality, and sinking into nerveless rest, not deprived +of its beauty, but benumbed and incapable of advance or change. + +SECTION XXII. Meantime there had been preparation for its renewal. While +in Rome and Constantinople, and in the districts under their immediate +influence, this Roman art of pure descent was practised in all its +refinement, an impure form of it--a patois of Romanesque--was carried by +inferior workmen into distant provinces; and still ruder imitations of +this patois were executed by the barbarous nations on the skirts of the +empire. But these barbarous nations were in the strength of their youth; +and while, in the centre of Europe, a refined and purely descended art +was sinking into graceful formalism, on its confines a barbarous and +borrowed art was organizing itself into strength and consistency. The +reader must therefore consider the history of the work of the period as +broadly divided into two great heads: the one embracing the elaborately +languid succession of the Christian art of Rome; and the other, the +imitations of it executed by nations in every conceivable phase of early +organization, on the edges of the empire, or included in its now merely +nominal extent. + +SECTION XXIII. Some of the barbaric nations were, of course, not +susceptible of this influence; and when they burst over the Alps, +appear, like the Huns, as scourges only, or mix, as the Ostrogoths, with +the enervated Italians, and give physical strength to the mass with +which they mingle, without materially affecting its intellectual +character. But others, both south and north of the empire, had felt its +influence, back to the beach of the Indian Ocean on the one hand, and to +the ice creeks of the North Sea on the other. On the north and west the +influence was of the Latins; on the south and east, of the Greeks. Two +nations, pre-eminent above all the rest, represent to us the force of +derived mind on either side. As the central power is eclipsed, the orbs +of reflected light gather into their fulness; and when sensuality and +idolatry had done their work, and the religion of the empire was laid +asleep in a glittering sepulchre, the living light rose upon both +horizons, and the fierce swords of the Lombard and Arab were shaken over +its golden paralysis. + +SECTION XXIV. The work of the Lombard was to give hardihood and system +to the enervated body and enfeebled mind of Christendom; that of the +Arab was to punish idolatry, and to proclaim the spirituality of +worship. The Lombard covered every church which he built with the +sculptured representations of bodily exercises--hunting and war. +[Footnote: Appendix 8, "The Northern Energy."] The Arab banished all +imagination of creature form from his temples, and proclaimed from their +minarets, "There is no god but God." Opposite in their character and +mission, alike in their magnificence of energy, they came from the +North, and from the South, the glacier torrent and the lava stream: they +met and contended over the wreck of the Roman empire; and the very +centre of the struggle, the point of pause of both, the dead water of +the opposite eddies, charged with embayed fragments of the Roman wreck, +is VENICE. + +The Ducal palace of Venice contains the three elements in exactly equal +proportions--the Roman, Lombard, and Arab. It is the central building of +the world. + +SECTION XXV. The reader will now begin to understand something of the +importance of the study of the edifices of a city which includes, within +the circuit of some seven or eight miles, the field of contest between +the three pre-eminent architectures of the world:--each architecture +expressing a condition of religion; each an erroneous condition, yet +necessary to the correction of the others, and corrected by them. + +SECTION XXVI. It will be part of my endeavor, in the following work, to +mark the various modes in which the northern and southern architectures +were developed from the Roman: here I must pause only to name the +distinguishing characteristics of the great families. The Christian +Roman and Byzantine work is round-arched, with single and +well-proportioned shafts; capitals imitated from classical Roman; +mouldings more or less so; and large surfaces of walls entirely covered +with imagery, mosaic, and paintings, whether of scripture history or of +sacred symbols. + +The Arab school is at first the same in its principal features, the +Byzantine workmen being employed by the caliphs; but the Arab rapidly +introduces characters half Persepolitan, half Egyptian, into the shafts +and capitals: in his intense love of excitement he points the arch and +writhes it into extravagant foliations; he banishes the animal imagery, +and invents an ornamentation of his own (called Arabesque) to replace +it: this not being adapted for covering large surfaces, he concentrates +it on features of interest, and bars his surfaces with horizontal lines +of color, the expression of the level of the Desert. He retains the +dome, and adds the minaret. All is done with exquisite refinement. + +SECTION XXVII. The changes effected by the Lombard are more curious +still, for they are in the anatomy of the building, more than its +decoration. The Lombard architecture represents, as I said, the whole of +that of the northern barbaric nations. And this I believe was, at first, +an imitation in wood of the Christian Roman churches or basilicas. +Without staying to examine the whole structure of a basilica, the reader +will easily understand thus much of it: that it had a nave and two +aisles, the nave much higher than the aisles; that the nave was +separated from the aisles by rows of shafts, which supported, above, +large spaces of flat or dead wall, rising above the aisles, and forming +the upper part of the nave, now called the clerestory, which had a +gabled wooden roof. + +These high dead walls were, in Roman work, built of stone; but in the +wooden work of the North, they must necessarily have been made of +horizontal boards or timbers attached to uprights on the top of the nave +pillars, which were themselves also of wood. [Footnote: Appendix 9, +"Wooden Churches of the North."] Now, these uprights were necessarily +thicker than the rest of the timbers, and formed vertical square +pilasters above the nave piers. As Christianity extended and +civilization increased, these wooden structures were changed into stone; +but they were literally petrified, retaining the form which had been +made necessary by their being of wood. The upright pilaster above the +nave pier remains in the stone edifice, and is the first form of the +great distinctive feature of Northern architecture--the vaulting shaft. +In that form the Lombards brought it into Italy, in the seventh century, +and it remains to this day in St. Ambrogio of Milan, and St. Michele of +Pavia. + +SECTION XXVIII. When the vaulting shaft was introduced in the clerestory +walls, additional members were added for its support to the nave piers. +Perhaps two or three pine trunks, used for a single pillar, gave the +first idea of the grouped shaft. Be that as it may, the arrangement of +the nave pier in the form of a cross accompanies the superimposition of +the vaulting shaft; together with corresponding grouping of minor shafts +in doorways and apertures of windows. Thus, the whole body of the +Northern architecture, represented by that of the Lombards, may be +described as rough but majestic work, round-arched, with grouped shafts, +added vaulting shafts, and endless imagery of active life and fantastic +superstitions. + +SECTION XXIX. The glacier stream of the Lombards, and the following one +of the Normans, left their erratic blocks, wherever they had flowed; but +without influencing, I think, the Southern nations beyond the sphere of +their own presence. But the lava stream of the Arab, even after it +ceased to flow, warmed the whole of the Northern air; and the history of +Gothic architecture is the history of the refinement and +spiritualization of Northern work under its influence. The noblest +buildings of the world, the Pisan-Romanesque, Tuscan (Giottesque) +Gothic, and Veronese Gothic, are those of the Lombard schools +themselves, under its close and direct influence; the various Gothics of +the North are the original forms of the architecture which the Lombards +brought into Italy, changing under the less direct influence of the +Arab. + +SECTION XXX. Understanding thus much of the formation of the great +European styles, we shall have no difficulty in tracing the succession +of architectures in Venice herself. From what I said of the central +character of Venetian art, the reader is not, of course, to conclude +that the Roman, Northern, and Arabian elements met together and +contended for the mastery at the same period. The earliest element was +the pure Christian Roman; but few, if any, remains of this art exist at +Venice; for the present city was in the earliest times only one of many +settlements formed on the chain of marshy islands which extend from the +mouths of the Isonzo to those of the Adige, and it was not until the +beginning of the ninth century that it became the seat of government; +while the cathedral of Torcello, though Christian Roman in general form, +was rebuilt in the eleventh century, and shows evidence of Byzantine +workmanship in many of its details. This cathedral, however, with the +church of Santa Fosca at Torcello, San Giacomo di Rialto at Venice, and +the crypt of St. Mark's, forms a distinct group of buildings, in which +the Byzantine influence is exceedingly slight; and which is probably +very sufficiently representative of the earliest architecture on the +islands. + +SECTION XXXI. The Ducal residence was removed to Venice in 809, and the +body of St. Mark was brought from Alexandria twenty years later. The +first church of St. Mark's was, doubtless, built in imitation of that +destroyed at Alexandria, and from which the relics of the saint had been +obtained. During the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries, the +architecture of Venice seems to have been formed on the same model, and +is almost identical with that of Cairo under the caliphs, [Footnote: +Appendix 10, "Church of Alexandria."] it being quite immaterial whether +the reader chooses to call both Byzantine or both Arabic; the workmen +being certainly Byzantine, but forced to the invention of new forms by +their Arabian masters, and bringing these forms into use in whatever +other parts of the world they were employed. + +To this first manner of Venetian architecture, together with such +vestiges as remain of the Christian Roman, I shall devote the first +division of the following inquiry. The examples remaining of it consist +of three noble churches (those of Torcello, Murano, and the greater part +of St. Mark's), and about ten or twelve fragments of palaces. + +SECTION XXXII. To this style succeeds a transitional one, of a character +much more distinctly Arabian: the shafts become more slender, and the +arches consistently pointed, instead of round; certain other changes, +not to be enumerated in a sentence, taking place in the capitals and +mouldings. This style is almost exclusively secular. It was natural for +the Venetians to imitate the beautiful details of the Arabian +dwelling-house, while they would with reluctance adopt those of the +mosque for Christian churches. + +I have not succeeded in fixing limiting dates for this style. It appears +in part contemporary with the Byzantine manner, but outlives it. Its +position is, however, fixed by the central date, 1180, that of the +elevation of the granite shafts of the Piazetta, whose capitals are the +two most important pieces of detail in this transitional style in +Venice. Examples of its application to domestic buildings exist in +almost every street of the city, and will form the subject of the second +division of the following essay. + +SECTION XXXIII. The Venetians were always ready to receive lessons in +art from their enemies (else had there been no Arab work in Venice). But +their especial dread and hatred of the Lombards appears to have long +prevented them from receiving the influence of the art which that people +had introduced on the mainland of Italy. Nevertheless, during the +practice of the two styles above distinguished, a peculiar and very +primitive condition of pointed Gothic had arisen in ecclesiastical +architecture. It appears to be a feeble reflection of the Lombard-Arab +forms, which were attaining perfection upon the continent, and would +probably, if left to itself, have been soon merged in the Venetian-Arab +school, with which it had from the first so close a fellowship, that it +will be found difficult to distinguish the Arabian ogives from those +which seem to have been built under this early Gothic influence. The +churches of San Giacopo dell' Orio, San Giovanni in Bragora, the +Carmine, and one or two more, furnish the only important examples of it. +But, in the thirteenth century, the Franciscans and Dominicans +introduced from the continent their morality and their architecture, +already a distinct Gothic, curiously developed from Lombardic and +Northern (German?) forms; and the influence of the principles exhibited +in the vast churches of St. Paul and the Frari began rapidly to affect +the Venetian-Arab school. Still the two systems never became united; the +Venetian policy repressed the power of the church, and the Venetian +artists resisted its example; and thenceforward the architecture of the +city becomes divided into ecclesiastical and civil: the one an +ungraceful yet powerful form of the Western Gothic, common to the whole +peninsula, and only showing Venetian sympathies in the adoption of +certain characteristic mouldings; the other a rich, luxuriant, and +entirely original Gothic, formed from the Venetian-Arab by the influence +of the Dominican and Franciscan architecture, and especially by the +engrafting upon the Arab forms of the most novel feature of the +Franciscan work, its traceries. These various forms of Gothic, the +_distinctive_ architecture of Venice, chiefly represented by the +churches of St. John and Paul, the Frari, and San Stefano, on the +ecclesiastical side, and by the Ducal palace, and the other principal +Gothic palaces, on the secular side, will be the subject of the third +division of the essay. + +SECTION XXXIV. Now observe. The transitional (or especially Arabic) +style of the Venetian work is centralized by the date 1180, and is +transformed gradually into the Gothic, which extends in its purity from +the middle of the thirteenth to the beginning of the fifteenth century; +that is to say, over the precise period which I have described as the +central epoch of the life of Venice. I dated her decline from the year +1418; Foscari became doge five years later, and in his reign the first +marked signs appear in architecture of that mighty change which Philippe +de Commynes notices as above, the change to which London owes St. +Paul's, Rome St. Peter's, Venice and Vicenza the edifices commonly +supposed to be their noblest, and Europe in general the degradation of +every art she has since practised. + +SECTION XXXV. This change appears first in a loss of truth and vitality +in existing architecture all over the world. (Compare "Seven Lamps," +chap. ii.) + +All the Gothics in existence, southern or northern, were corrupted at +once: the German and French lost themselves in every species of +extravagance; the English Gothic was confined, in its insanity, by a +strait-waistcoat of perpendicular lines; the Italian effloresced on the +main land into the meaningless ornamentation of the Certosa of Pavia and +the Cathedral of Como, (a style sometimes ignorantly called Italian +Gothic), and at Venice into the insipid confusion of the Porta della +Carta and wild crockets of St. Mark's. This corruption of all +architecture, especially ecclesiastical, corresponded with, and marked +the state of religion over all Europe,--the peculiar degradation of the +Romanist superstition, and of public morality in consequence, which +brought about the Reformation. + +SECTION XXXVI. Against the corrupted papacy arose two great divisions of +adversaries, Protestants in Germany and England, Rationalists in France +and Italy; the one requiring the purification of religion, the other its +destruction. The Protestant kept the religion, but cast aside the +heresies of Rome, and with them her arts, by which last rejection he +injured his own character, cramped his intellect in refusing to it one +of its noblest exercises, and materially diminished his influence. It +may be a serious question how far the Pausing of the Reformation has +been a consequence of this error. + +The Rationalist kept the arts and cast aside the religion. This +rationalistic art is the art commonly called Renaissance, marked by a +return to pagan systems, not to adopt them and hallow them for +Christianity, but to rank itself under them as an imitator and pupil. In +Painting it is headed by Giulio Romano and Nicolo Poussin; in +Architecture by Sansovino and Palladio. + +SECTION XXXVII. Instant degradation followed in every direction,--a +flood of folly and hypocrisy. Mythologies ill understood at first, then +perverted into feeble sensualities, take the place of the +representations of Christian subjects, which had become blasphemous +under the treatment of men like the Caracci. Gods without power, satyrs +without rusticity, nymphs without innocence, men without humanity, +gather into idiot groups upon the polluted canvas, and scenic +affectations encumber the streets with preposterous marble. Lower and +lower declines the level of abused intellect; the base school of +landscape [Footnote: Appendix II, "Renaissance Landscape."] gradually +usurps the place of the historical painting, which had sunk into +prurient pedantry,--the Alsatian sublimities of Salvator, the +confectionery idealities of Claude, the dull manufacture of Gaspar and +Canaletto, south of the Alps, and on the north the patient devotion of +besotted lives to delineation of bricks and fogs, fat cattle and +ditchwater. And thus Christianity and morality, courage, and intellect, +and art all crumbling together into one wreck, we are hurried on to the +fall of Italy, the revolution in France, and the condition of art in +England (saved by her Protestantism from severer penalty) in the time of +George II. + +SECTION XXXVIII. I have not written in vain if I have heretofore done +anything towards diminishing the reputation of the Renaissance landscape +painting. But the harm which has been done by Claude and the Poussins is +as nothing when compared to the mischief effected by Palladio, Scamozzi, +and Sansovino. Claude and the Poussins were weak men, and have had no +serious influence on the general mind. There is little harm in their +works being purchased at high prices: their real influence is very +slight, and they may be left without grave indignation to their poor +mission of furnishing drawing-rooms and assisting stranded conversation. +Not so the Renaissance architecture. Raised at once into all the +magnificence of which it was capable by Michael Angelo, then taken up by +men of real intellect and imagination, such as Scamozzi, Sansovino, +Inigo Jones, and Wren, it is impossible to estimate the extent of its +influence on the European mind; and that the more, because few persons +are concerned with painting, and, of those few, the larger number regard +it with slight attention; but all men are concerned with architecture, +and have at some time of their lives serious business with it. It does +not much matter that an individual loses two or three hundred pounds in +buying a bad picture, but it is to be regretted that a nation should +lose two or three hundred thousand in raising a ridiculous building. Nor +is it merely wasted wealth or distempered conception which we have to +regret in this Renaissance architecture: but we shall find in it partly +the root, partly the expression, of certain dominant evils of modern +times--over-sophistication and ignorant classicalism; the one destroying +the healthfulness of general society, the other rendering our schools +and universities useless to a large number of the men who pass through +them. + +Now Venice, as she was once the most religious, was in her fall the most +corrupt, of European states; and as she was in her strength the centre +of the pure currents of Christian architecture, so she is in her decline +the source of the Renaissance. It was the originality and splendor of +the palaces of Vicenza and Venice which gave this school its eminence in +the eyes of Europe; and the dying city, magnificent in her dissipation, +and graceful in her follies, obtained wider worship in her decrepitude +than in her youth, and sank from the midst of her admirers into the +grave. + +SECTION XXXIX. It is in Venice, therefore, and in Venice only that +effectual blows can be struck at this pestilent art of the Renaissance. +Destroy its claims to admiration there, and it can assert them nowhere +else. This, therefore, will be the final purpose of the following essay. +I shall not devote a fourth section to Palladio, nor weary the reader +with successive chapters of vituperation; but I shall, in my account of +the earlier architecture, compare the forms of all its leading features +with those into which they were corrupted by the Classicalists; and +pause, in the close, on the edge of the precipice of decline, so soon as +I have made its depths discernible. In doing this I shall depend upon +two distinct kinds of evidence:--the first, the testimony borne by +particular incidents and facts to a want of thought or of feeling in the +builders; from which we may conclude that their architecture must be +bad:--the second, the sense, which I doubt not I shall be able to excite +in the reader, of a systematic ugliness in the architecture itself. Of +the first kind of testimony I shall here give two instances, which may +be immediately useful in fixing in the reader's mind the epoch above +indicated for the commencement of decline. + +SECTION XL. I must again refer to the importance which I have above +attached to the death of Carlo Zeno and the doge Tomaso Mocenigo. The +tomb of that doge is, as I said, wrought by a Florentine; but it is of +the same general type and feeling as all the Venetian tombs of the +period, and it is one of the last which retains it. The classical +element enters largely into its details, but the feeling of the whole is +as yet unaffected. Like all the lovely tombs of Venice and Verona, it is +a sarcophagus with a recumbent figure above, and this figure is a +faithful but tender portrait, wrought as far as it can be without +painfulness, of the doge as he lay in death. He wears his ducal robe and +bonnet--his head is laid slightly aside upon his pillow--his hands are +simply crossed as they fall. The face is emaciated, the features large, +but so pure and lordly in their natural chiselling, that they must have +looked like marble even in their animation. They are deeply worn away by +thought and death; the veins on the temples branched and starting; the +skin gathered in sharp folds; the brow high-arched and shaggy; the +eye-ball magnificently large; the curve of the lips just veiled by the +light mustache at the side; the beard short, double, and sharp-pointed: +all noble and quiet; the white sepulchral dust marking like light the +stern angles of the cheek and brow. + +This tomb was sculptured in 1424, and is thus described by one of the +most intelligent of the recent writers who represent the popular feeling +respecting Venetian art. + + "Of the Italian school is also the rich but ugly (ricco ma non + bel) sarcophagus in which repose the ashes of Tomaso Mocenigo. + It may be called one of the last links which connect the + declining art of the Middle Ages with that of the Renaissance, + which was in its rise. We will not stay to particularize the + defects of each of the seven figures of the front and sides, + which represent the cardinal and theological virtues; nor will + we make any remarks upon those which stand in the niches above + the pavilion, because we consider them unworthy both of the age + and reputation of the Florentine school, which was then with + reason considered the most notable in Italy." [Footnote: + Selvatico, "Architettura di Venezia," p. 147.] + +It is well, indeed, not to pause over these defects; but it might have +been better to have paused a moment beside that noble image of a king's +mortality. + +SECTION XLI. In the choir of the same church, St. Giov. and Paolo, is +another tomb, that of the Doge Andrea Vendramin. This doge died in 1478, +after a short reign of two years, the most disastrous in the annals of +Venice. He died of a pestilence which followed the ravage of the Turks, +carried to the shores of the lagoons. He died, leaving Venice disgraced +by sea and land, with the smoke of hostile devastation rising in the +blue distances of Friuli; and there was raised to him the most costly +tomb ever bestowed on her monarchs. + +SECTION XLII. If the writer above quoted was cold beside the statue of +one of the fathers of his country, he atones for it by his eloquence +beside the tomb of the Vendramin. I must not spoil the force of Italian +superlative by translation. + + "Quando si guarda a quella corretta eleganza di profili e di + proporzioni, a quella squisitezza d'ornamenti, a quel certo + sapore antico che senza ombra d' imitazione traspareda tutta l' + opera"--&c. "Sopra ornatissimo zoccolo fornito di squisiti + intagli s' alza uno stylobate"--&c. "Sotto le colonne, il + predetto stilobate si muta leggiadramente in piedistallo, poi + con bella novita di pensiero e di effetto va coronato da un + fregio il piu gentile che veder si possa"--&c. "Non puossi + lasciar senza un cenno l' _arca dove_ sta chiuso il doge; + capo lavoro di pensiero e di esecuzione," etc. + +There are two pages and a half of closely printed praise, of which the +above specimens may suffice; but there is not a word of the statue of +the dead from beginning to end. I am myself in the habit of considering +this rather an important part of a tomb, and I was especially interested +in it here, because Selvatico only echoes the praise of thousands. It is +unanimously declared the chef d'oeuvre of Renaissance sepulchral work, +and pronounced by Cicognara (also quoted by Selvatico). + + "Il vertice a cui l'arti Veneziane si spinsero col ministero del + scalpello,"--"The very culminating point to which the Venetian + arts attained by ministry of the chisel." + +To this culminating point, therefore, covered with dust and cobwebs, I +attained, as I did to every tomb of importance in Venice, by the +ministry of such ancient ladders as were to be found in the sacristan's +keeping. I was struck at first by the excessive awkwardness and want of +feeling in the fall of the hand towards the spectator, for it is thrown +off the middle of the body in order to show its fine cutting. Now the +Mocenigo hand, severe and even stiff in its articulations, has its veins +finely drawn, its sculptor having justly felt that the delicacy of the +veining expresses alike dignity and age and birth. The Vendramin hand is +far more laboriously cut, but its blunt and clumsy contour at once makes +us feel that all the care has been thrown away, and well it may be, for +it has been entirely bestowed in cutting gouty wrinkles about the +joints. Such as the hand is, I looked for its fellow. At first I thought +it had been broken off, but, on clearing away the dust, I saw the +wretched effigy had only _one_ hand, and was a mere block on the +inner side. The face, heavy and disagreeable in its features, is made +monstrous by its semi-sculpture. One side of the forehead is wrinkled +elaborately, the other left smooth; one side only of the doge's cap is +chased; one cheek only is finished, and the other blocked out and +distorted besides; finally, the ermine robe, which is elaborately +imitated to its utmost lock of hair and of ground hair on the one side, +is blocked out only on the other: it having been supposed throughout the +work that the effigy was only to be seen from below, and from one side. + +SECTION XLIII. It was indeed to be seen by nearly every one; and I do +not blame--I should, on the contrary, have praised--the sculptor for +regulating his treatment of it by its position; if that treatment had +not involved, first, dishonesty, in giving only half a face, a monstrous +mask, when we demanded true portraiture of the dead; and, secondly, such +utter coldness of feeling, as could only consist with an extreme of +intellectual and moral degradation: Who, with a heart in his breast, +could have stayed his hand as he drew the dim lines of the old man's +countenance--unmajestic once, indeed, but at least sanctified by the +solemnities of death--could have stayed his hand, as he reached the bend +of the grey forehead, and measured out the last veins of it at so much +the zecchin. + +I do not think the reader, if he has feeling, will expect that much +talent should be shown in the rest of his work, by the sculptor of this +base and senseless lie. The whole monument is one wearisome aggregation +of that species of ornamental flourish, which, when it is done with a +pen, is called penmanship, and when done with a chisel, should be called +chiselmanship; the subject of it being chiefly fat-limbed boys sprawling +on dolphins, dolphins incapable of swimming, and dragged along the sea +by expanded pocket-handkerchiefs. + +But now, reader, comes the very gist and point of the whole matter. This +lying monument to a dishonored doge, this culminating pride of the +Renaissance art of Venice, is at least veracious, if in nothing else, in +its testimony to the character of its sculptor. _He was banished from +Venice for forgery_ in 1487. [Footnote: Selvatico, p. 221.] + +SECTION XLIV. I have more to say about this convict's work hereafter; +but I pass at present, to the second, slighter, but yet more interesting +piece of evidence, which I promised. + +The ducal palace has two principal façades; one towards the sea, the +other towards the Piazzetta. The seaward side, and, as far as the +seventh main arch inclusive, the Piazzetta side, is work of the early +part of the fourteenth century, some of it perhaps even earlier; while +the rest of the Piazzetta side is of the fifteenth. The difference in +age has been gravely disputed by the Venetian antiquaries, who have +examined many documents on the subject, and quoted some which they never +examined. I have myself collated most of the written documents, and one +document more, to which the Venetian antiquaries never thought of +referring,--the masonry of the palace itself. + +SECTION XLV. That masonry changes at the centre of the eighth arch from +the sea angle on the Piazzetta side. It has been of comparatively small +stones up to that point; the fifteenth century work instantly begins +with larger stones, "brought from Istria, a hundred miles away." +[Footnote: The older work is of Istrian stone also, but of different +quality.] The ninth shaft from the sea in the lower arcade, and the +seventeenth, which is above it, in the upper arcade, commence the series +of fifteenth century shafts. These two are somewhat thicker than the +others, and carry the party-wall of the Sala del Scrutinio. Now observe, +reader. The face of the palace, from this point to the Porta della +Carta, was built at the instance of that noble Doge Mocenigo beside +whose tomb you have been standing; at his instance, and in the beginning +of the reign of his successor, Foscari; that is to say, circa 1424. This +is not disputed; it is only disputed that the sea façade is earlier; of +which, however, the proofs are as simple as they are incontrovertible: +for not only the masonry, but the sculpture, changes at the ninth lower +shaft, and that in the capitals of the shafts both of the upper and +lower arcade: the costumes of the figures introduced in the sea façade +being purely Giottesque, correspondent with Giotto's work in the Arena +Chapel at Padua, while the costume on the other capitals is +Renaissance-Classic: and the lions' heads between the arches change at +the same point. And there are a multitude of other evidences in the +statues of the angels, with which I shall not at present trouble the +reader. + +SECTION XLVI. Now, the architect who built under Foscari, in 1424 +(remember my date for the decline of Venice, 1418), was obliged to +follow the principal forms of the older palace. But he had not the wit +to invent new capitals in the same style; he therefore clumsily copied +the old ones. The palace has seventeen main arches on the sea façade, +eighteen on the Piazzetta side, which in all are of course carried by +thirty-six pillars; and these pillars I shall always number from right +to left, from the angle of the palace at the Ponte della Paglia to that +next the Porta della Carta. I number them in this succession, because I +thus have the earliest shafts first numbered. So counted, the 1st, the +18th, and the 36th, are the great supports of the angles of the palace; +and the first of the fifteenth century series, being, as above stated, +the 9th from the sea on the Piazzetta side, is the 26th of the entire +series, and will always in future be so numbered, so that all numbers +above twenty-six indicate fifteenth century work, and all below it, +fourteenth century, with some exceptional cases of restoration. + +Then the copied capitals are: the 28th, copied from the 7th; the 29th, +from the 9th; the 30th, from the 10th; the 31st, from the 8th; the 33d, +from the 12th; and the 34th, from the 11th; the others being dull +inventions of the 15th century, except the 36th; which is very nobly +designed. + +SECTION XLVII. The capitals thus selected from the earlier portion of +the palace for imitation, together with the rest, will be accurately +described hereafter; the point I have here to notice is in the copy of +the ninth capital, which was decorated (being, like the rest, octagonal) +with figures of the eight Virtues:--Faith, Hope, Charity, Justice, +Temperance, Prudence, Humility (the Venetian antiquaries call it +Humanity!), and Fortitude. The Virtues of the fourteenth century are +somewhat hard-featured; with vivid and living expression, and plain +every-day clothes of the time. Charity has her lap full of apples +(perhaps loaves), and is giving one to a little child, who stretches his +arm for it across a gap in the leafage of the capital. Fortitude tears +open a lion's jaws; Faith lays her hand on her breast, as she beholds +the Cross; and Hope is praying, while above her a hand is seen emerging +from sunbeams--the hand of God (according to that of Revelations, "The +Lord God giveth them light"); and the inscription above is, "Spes optima +in Deo." + +SECTION XLVIII. This design, then, is, rudely and with imperfect +chiselling, imitated by the fifteenth century workmen: the Virtues have +lost their hard features and living expression; they have now all got +Roman noses, and have had their hair curled. Their actions and emblems +are, however, preserved until we come to Hope: she is still praying, but +she is praying to the sun only: _The hand of God is gone_. + +Is not this a curious and striking type of the spirit which had then +become dominant in the world, forgetting to see God's hand in the light +He gave; so that in the issue, when the light opened into the +Reformation on the one side, and into full knowledge of ancient +literature on the other, the one was arrested and the other perverted? + +SECTION XLIX. Such is the nature of the accidental evidence on which I +shall depend for the proof of the inferiority of character in the +Renaissance workmen. But the proof of the inferiority of the work itself +is not so easy, for in this I have to appeal to judgments which the +Renaissance work has itself distorted. I felt this difficulty very +forcibly as I read a slight review of my former work, "The Seven Lamps," +in "The Architect:" the writer noticed my constant praise of St. Mark's: +"Mr. Ruskin thinks it a very beautiful building! We," said the +Architect, "think it a very ugly building." I was not surprised at the +difference of opinion, but at the thing being considered so completely a +subject of opinion. My opponents in matters of painting always assume +that there _is_ such a thing as a law of right, and that I do not +understand it: but my architectural adversaries appeal to no law, they +simply set their opinion against mine; and indeed there is no law at +present to which either they or I can appeal. No man can speak with +rational decision of the merits or demerits of buildings: he may with +obstinacy; he may with resolved adherence to previous prejudices; but +never as if the matter could be otherwise decided than by a majority of +votes, or pertinacity of partisanship. I had always, however, a clear +conviction that there _was_ a law in this matter: that good +architecture might be indisputably discerned and divided from the bad; +that the opposition in their very nature and essence was clearly +visible; and that we were all of us just as unwise in disputing about +the matter without reference to principle, as we should be for debating +about the genuineness of a coin, without ringing it. I felt also assured +that this law must be universal if it were conclusive; that it must +enable us to reject all foolish and base work, and to accept all noble +and wise work, without reference to style or national feeling; that it +must sanction the design of all truly great nations and times, Gothic or +Greek or Arab; that it must cast off and reprobate the design of all +foolish nations and times, Chinese or Mexican, or modern European: and +that it must be easily applicable to all possible architectural +inventions of human mind. I set myself, therefore, to establish such a +law, in full belief that men are intended, without excessive difficulty, +and by use of their general common sense, to know good things from bad; +and that it is only because they will not be at the pains required for +the discernment, that the world is so widely encumbered with forgeries +and basenesses. I found the work simpler than I had hoped; the +reasonable things ranged themselves in the order I required, and the +foolish things fell aside, and took themselves away so soon as they were +looked in the face. I had then, with respect to Venetian architecture, +the choice, either to establish each division of law in a separate form, +as I came to the features with which it was concerned, or else to ask +the reader's patience, while I followed out the general inquiry first, +and determined with him a code of right and wrong, to which we might +together make retrospective appeal. I thought this the best, though +perhaps the dullest way; and in these first following pages I have +therefore endeavored to arrange those foundations of criticism, on which +I shall rest in my account of Venetian architecture, in a form clear and +simple enough to be intelligible even to those who never thought of +architecture before. To those who have, much of what is stated in them +will be well known or self-evident; but they must not be indignant at a +simplicity on which the whole argument depends for its usefulness. From +that which appears a mere truism when first stated, they will find very +singular consequences sometimes following,--consequences altogether +unexpected, and of considerable importance; I will not pause here to +dwell on their importance, nor on that of the thing itself to be done; +for I believe most readers will at once admit the value of a criterion +of right and wrong in so practical and costly an art as architecture, +and will be apt rather to doubt the possibility of its attainment than +dispute its usefulness if attained. I invite them, therefore, to a fair +trial, being certain that even if I should fail in my main purpose, and +be unable to induce in my reader the confidence of judgment I desire, I +shall at least receive his thanks for the suggestion of consistent +reasons, which may determine hesitating choice, or justify involuntary +preference. And if I should succeed, as I hope, in making the Stones of +Venice touchstones, and detecting, by the mouldering of her marble, +poison more subtle than ever was betrayed by the rending of her crystal; +and if thus I am enabled to show the baseness of the schools of +architecture and nearly every other art, which have for three centuries +been predominant in Europe, I believe the result of the inquiry may be +serviceable for proof of a more vital truth than any at which I have +hitherto hinted. For observe: I said the Protestant had despised the +arts, and the Rationalist corrupted them. But what has the Romanist done +meanwhile? He boasts that it was the papacy which raised the arts; why +could it not support them when it was left to its own strength? How came +it to yield to Classicalism which was based on infidelity, and to oppose +no barrier to innovations, which have reduced the once faithfully +conceived imagery of its worship to stage decoration? [Footnote: +Appendix XII., "Romanist Modern Art."] Shall we not rather find that +Romanism, instead of being a promoter of the arts, has never shown itself +capable of a single great conception since the separation of +Protestantism from its side? [Footnote: Perfectly true: but the whole +vital value of the truth was lost by my sectarian ignorance. +Protestantism (so far as it was still Christianity, and did not consist +merely in maintaining one's own opinion for gospel) could not separate +itself from the Catholic Church. The so-called Catholics became +themselves sectarians and heretics in casting them out; and Europe was +turned into a mere cockpit, of the theft and fury of unchristian men of +both parties; while innocent and silent on the hills and fields, God's +people in neglected peace, everywhere and for ever Catholics, lived and +died.] So long as, corrupt though it might be, no clear witness had been +borne against it, so that it still included in its ranks a vast number of +faithful Christians, so long its arts were noble. But the witness was +borne--the error made apparent; and Rome, refusing to hear the testimony +or forsake the falsehood, has been struck from that instant with an +intellectual palsy, which has not only incapacitated her from any further +use of the arts which once were her ministers, but has made her worship +the shame of its own shrines, and her worshippers their destroyers. Come, +then, if truths such as these are worth our thoughts; come, and let us +know, before we enter the streets of the Sea city, whether we are indeed +to submit ourselves to their undistinguished enchantment, and to look +upon the last changes which were wrought on the lifted forms of her +palaces, as we should on the capricious towering of summer clouds in the +sunset, ere they sank into the deep of night; or, whether, rather, we +shall not behold in the brightness of their accumulated marble, pages on +which the sentence of her luxury was to be written until the waves should +efface it, as they fulfilled--"God has numbered thy kingdom, and finished +it." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +[FIRST OF SECOND VOLUME IN OLD EDITION.] + +THE THRONE. + + +SECTION I. In the olden days of travelling, now to return no more, in +which distance could not be vanquished without toil, but in which that +toil was rewarded, partly by the power of deliberate survey of the +countries through which the journey lay, and partly by the happiness of +the evening hours, when, from the top of the last hill he had +surmounted, the traveller beheld the quiet village where he was to rest, +scattered among the meadows beside its valley stream; or, from the +long-hoped-for turn in the dusty perspective of the causeway, saw, for +the first time, the towers of some famed city, faint in the rays of +sunset--hours of peaceful and thoughtful pleasure, for which the rush of +the arrival in the railway station is perhaps not always, or to all men, +an equivalent,--in those days, I say, when there was something more to +be anticipated and remembered in the first aspect of each successive +halting-place, than a new arrangement of glass roofing and iron girder, +there were few moments of which the recollection was more fondly +cherished by the traveller than that which, as I endeavored to describe +in the close of the last chapter, brought him within sight of Venice, as +his gondola shot into the open lagoon from the canal of Mestre. Not but +that the aspect of the city itself was generally the source of some +slight disappointment, for, seen in this direction, its buildings are +far less characteristic than those of the other great towns of Italy; +but this inferiority was partly disguised by distance, and more than +atoned for by the strange rising of its walls and towers out of the +midst, as it seemed, of the deep sea, for it was impossible that the +mind or the eye could at once comprehend the shallowness of the vast +sheet of water which stretched away in leagues of rippling lustre to the +north and south, or trace the narrow line of islets bounding it to the +east. The salt breeze, the white moaning sea-birds, the masses of black +weed separating and disappearing gradually, in knots of heaving shoal, +under the advance of the steady tide, all proclaimed it to be indeed the +ocean on whose bosom the great city rested so calmly; not such blue, +soft, lake-like ocean as bathes the Neapolitan promontories, or sleeps +beneath the marble rocks of Genoa, but a sea with the bleak power of our +own northern waves, yet subdued into a strange spacious rest, and +changed from its angry pallor into a field of burnished gold, as the sun +declined behind the belfry tower of the lonely island church, fitly +named "St. George of the Seaweed." As the boat drew nearer to the city, +the coast which the traveller had just left sank behind him into one +long, low, sad-colored line, tufted irregularly with brushwood and +willows: but, at what seemed its northern extremity, the hills of Arqua +rose in a dark cluster of purple pyramids, balanced on the bright mirage +of the lagoon; two or three smooth surges of inferior hill extended +themselves about their roots, and beyond these, beginning with the +craggy peaks above Vicenza, the chain of the Alps girded the whole +horizon to the north--a wall of jagged blue, here and there showing +through its clefts a wilderness of misty precipices, fading far back +into the recesses of Cadore, and itself rising and breaking away +eastward, where the sun struck opposite upon its snow, into mighty +fragments of peaked light, standing up behind the barred clouds of +evening, one after another, countless, the crown of the Adrian Sea, +until the eye turned back from pursuing them, to rest upon the nearer +burning of the campaniles of Murano, and on the great city, where it +magnified itself along the waves, as the quick silent pacing of the +gondola drew nearer and nearer. And at last, when its walls were +reached, and the outmost of its untrodden streets was entered, not +through towered gate or guarded rampart, but as a deep inlet between two +rocks of coral in the Indian sea; when first upon the traveller's sight +opened the long ranges of columned palaces,--each with its black boat +moored at the portal,--each with its image cast down, beneath its feet, +upon that green pavement which every breeze broke into new fantasies of +rich tessellation; when first, at the extremity of the bright vista, the +shadowy Rialto threw its colossal curve slowly forth from behind the +palace of the Camerlenghi; that strange curve, so delicate, so +adamantine, strong as a mountain cavern, graceful as a bow just bent; +when first, before its moonlike circumference was all risen, the +gondolier's cry, "Ah! Stali," [Footnote: Appendix I, "The Gondolier's +Cry."] struck sharp upon the ear, and the prow turned aside under the +mighty cornices that half met over the narrow canal, where the plash of +the water followed close and loud, ringing along the marble by the +boat's side, and when at last that boat darted forth upon the breadth of +silver sea, across which the front of the Ducal palace, flushed with its +sanguine veins, looks to the snowy dome of Our Lady of Salvation, +[Footnote: Appendix II, "Our Lady of Salvation."] it was no marvel that +the mind should be so deeply entranced by the visionary charm of a scene +so beautiful and so strange, as to forget the darker truths of its +history and its being. Well might it seem that such a city had owed her +existence rather to the rod of the enchanter, than the fear of the +fugitive; that the waters which encircled her had been chosen for the +mirror of her state, rather than the shelter of her nakedness; and that +all which in nature was wild or merciless,--Time and Decay, as well as +the waves and tempests,--had been won to adorn her instead of to +destroy, and might still spare, for ages to come, that beauty which +seemed to have fixed for its throne the sands of the hour-glass as well +as of the sea. + +SECTION II. And although the last few eventful years, fraught with +change to the face of the whole earth, have been more fatal in their +influence on Venice than the five hundred that preceded them; though the +noble landscape of approach to her can now be seen no more, or seen only +by a glance, as the engine slackens its rushing on the iron line; and +though many of her palaces are for ever defaced, and many in desecrated +ruins, there is still so much of magic in her aspect, that the hurried +traveller, who must leave her before the wonder of that first aspect has +been worn away, may still be led to forget the humility of her origin, +and to shut his eyes to the depth of her desolation. They, at least, are +little to be envied, in whose hearts the great charities of the +imagination lie dead, and for whom the fancy has no power to repress the +importunity of painful impressions, or to raise what is ignoble, and +disguise what is discordant, in a scene so rich in its remembrances, so +surpassing in its beauty. But for this work of the imagination there +must be no permission during the task which is before us. The impotent +feeling of romance, so singularly characteristic of this century, may +indeed gild, but never save the remains of those mightier ages to which +they are attached like climbing flowers; and they must be torn away from +the magnificent fragments, if we would see them as they stood in their +own strength. Those feelings, always as fruitless as they are fond, are +in Venice not only incapable of protecting, but even of discerning, the +objects of which they ought to have been attached. The Venice of modern +fiction and drama is a thing of yesterday, a mere efflorescence of +decay, a stage dream which the first ray of daylight must dissipate into +dust. No prisoner, whose name is worth remembering, or whose sorrow +deserved sympathy, ever crossed that "Bridge of Sighs," which is the +centre of the Byronic ideal of Venice; no great merchant of Venice ever +saw that Rialto under which the traveller now passes with breathless +interest: the statue which Byron makes Faliero address as of one of his +great ancestors was erected to a soldier of fortune a hundred and fifty +years after Faliero's death; and the most conspicuous parts of the city +have been so entirely altered in the course of the last three centuries, +that if Henry Dandolo or Francis Foscari could be summoned from their +tombs, and stood each on the deck of his galley at the entrance of the +Grand Canal, that renowned entrance, the painter's favorite subject, the +novelist's favorite scene, where the water first narrows by the steps of +the Church of La Salute,--the mighty Doges would not know in what spot +of the world they stood, would literally not recognize one stone of the +great city, for whose sake, and by whose ingratitude, their gray hairs +had been brought down with bitterness to the grave. The remains of +_their_ Venice lie hidden behind the cumbrous masses which were the +delight of the nation in its dotage; hidden in many a grass-grown court, +and silent pathway, and lightless canal, where the slow waves have +sapped their foundations for five hundred years, and must soon prevail +over them for ever. It must be our task to glean and gather them forth, +and restore out of them some faint image of the lost city, more gorgeous +a thousand-fold than that which now exists, yet not created in the +day-dream of the prince, nor by the ostentation of the noble, but built +by iron hands and patient hearts, contending against the adversity of +nature and the fury of man, so that its wonderfulness cannot be grasped +by the indolence of imagination, but only after frank inquiry into the +true nature of that wild and solitary scene, whose restless tides and +trembling sands did indeed shelter the birth of the city, but long +denied her dominion. + +SECTION III. When the eye falls casually on a map of Europe, there is no +feature by which it is more likely to be arrested than the strange +sweeping loop formed by the junction of the Alps and the Apennines, and +enclosing the great basin of Lombardy. This return of the mountain chain +upon itself causes a vast difference in the character of the +distribution of its débris on its opposite sides. The rock fragments and +sediment which the torrents on the north side of the Alps bear into the +plains are distributed over a vast extent of country, and, though here +and there lodged in beds of enormous thickness, soon permit the firm +substrata to appear from underneath them; but all the torrents which +descend from the southern side of the High Alps, and from the northern +slope of the Apennines, meet concentrically in the recess or mountain +bay which the two ridges enclose; every fragment which thunder breaks +out of their battlements, and every grain of dust which the summer rain +washes from their pastures, is at last laid at rest in the blue sweep of +the Lombardic plain; and that plain must have risen within its rocky +barriers as a cup fills with wine, but for two contrary influences which +continually depress, or disperse from its surface, the accumulation of +the ruins of ages. + +SECTION IV. I will not tax the reader's faith in modern science by +insisting on the singular depression of the surface of Lombardy, which +appears for many centuries to have taken place steadily and continually; +the main fact with which we have to do is the gradual transport, by the +Po and its great collateral rivers, of vast masses of the finer sediment +to the sea. The character of the Lombardic plains is most strikingly +expressed by the ancient walls of its cities, composed for the most part +of large rounded Alpine pebbles alternating with narrow courses of +brick; and was curiously illustrated in 1848, by the ramparts of these +same pebbles thrown up four or five feet high round every field, to +check the Austrian cavalry in the battle under the walls of Verona. The +finer dust among which these pebbles are dispersed is taken up by the +rivers, fed into continual strength by the Alpine snow, so that, however +pure their waters may be when they issue from the lakes at the foot of +the great chain, they become of the color and opacity of clay before +they reach the Adriatic; the sediment which they bear is at once thrown +down as they enter the sea, forming a vast belt of low land along the +eastern coast of Italy. The powerful stream of the Po of course builds +forward the fastest; on each side of it, north and south, there is a +tract of marsh, fed by more feeble streams, and less liable to rapid +change than the delta of the central river. In one of these tracts is +built RAVENNA, and in the other VENICE. + +SECTION V. What circumstances directed the peculiar arrangement of this +great belt of sediment in the earliest times, it is not here the place +to inquire. It is enough for us to know that from the mouths of the +Adige to those of the Piave there stretches, at a variable distance of +from three to five miles from the actual shore, a bank of sand, divided +into long islands by narrow channels of sea. The space between this bank +and the true shore consists of the sedimentary deposits from these and +other rivers, a great plain of calcareous mud, covered, in the +neighborhood of Venice, by the sea at high water, to the depth in most +places of a foot or a foot and a half, and nearly everywhere exposed at +low tide, but divided by an intricate network of narrow and winding +channels, from which the sea never retires. In some places, according to +the run of the currents, the land has risen into marshy islets, +consolidated, some by art, and some by time, into ground firm enough to +be built upon, or fruitful enough to be cultivated: in others, on the +contrary, it has not reached the sea-level; so that, at the average low +water, shallow lakelets glitter among its irregularly exposed fields of +seaweed. In the midst of the largest of these, increased in importance +by the confluence of several large river channels towards one of the +openings in the sea bank, the city of Venice itself is built, on a +clouded cluster of islands; the various plots of higher ground which +appear to the north and south of this central cluster, have at different +periods been also thickly inhabited, and now bear, according to their +size, the remains of cities, villages, or isolated convents and +churches, scattered among spaces of open ground, partly waste and +encumbered by ruins, partly under cultivation for the supply of the +metropolis. + +SECTION VI. The average rise and fall of the tide is about three feet +(varying considerably with the seasons; [Footnote: Appendix III, "Tides +of Venice."]) but this fall, on so flat a shore, is enough to cause +continual movement in the waters, and in the main canals to produce a +reflux which frequently runs like a mill stream. At high water no land +is visible for many miles to the north or south of Venice, except in the +form of small islands crowned with towers or gleaming with villages: +there is a channel, some three miles wide, between the city and the +mainland, and some mile and a half wide between it and the sandy +breakwater called the Lido, which divides the lagoon from the Adriatic, +but which is so low as hardly to disturb the impression of the city's +having been built in the midst of the ocean, although the secret of its +true position is partly, yet not painfully, betrayed by the clusters of +piles set to mark the deep-water channels, which undulate far away in +spotty chains like the studded backs of huge sea-snakes, and by the +quick glittering of the crisped and crowded waves that flicker and dance +before the strong winds upon the unlifted level of the shallow sea. But +the scene is widely different at low tide. A fall of eighteen or twenty +inches is enough to show ground over the greater part of the lagoon; and +at the complete ebb the city is seen standing in the midst of a dark +plain of seaweed, of gloomy green, except only where the larger branches +of the Brenta and its associated streams converge towards the port of +the Lido. Through this salt and sombre plain the gondola and the +fishing-boat advance by tortuous channels, seldom more than four or five +feet deep, and often so choked with slime that the heavier keels furrow +the bottom till their crossing tracks are seen through the clear sea +water like the ruts upon a. wintry road, and the oar leaves blue gashes +upon the ground at every stroke, or is entangled among the thick weed +that fringes the banks with the weight of its sullen waves, leaning to +and fro upon the uncertain sway of the exhausted tide. The scene is +often profoundly oppressive, even at this day, when every plot of higher +ground bears some fragment of fair building: but, in order to know what +it was once, let the traveller follow in his boat at evening the +windings of some unfrequented channel far into the midst of the +melancholy plain; let him remove, in his imagination, the brightness of +the great city that still extends itself in the distance, and the walls +and towers from the islands that are near; and so wait, until the bright +investiture and, sweet warmth of the sunset are withdrawn from the +waters, and the black desert of their shore lies in its nakedness +beneath the night, pathless, comfortless, infirm, lost in dark languor +and fearful silence, except where the salt runlets plash into the +tideless pools, or the seabirds flit from their margins with a +questioning cry; and he will be enabled to enter in some sort into the +horror of heart with which this solitude was anciently chosen by man for +his habitation. They little thought, who first drove the stakes into the +sand, and strewed the ocean reeds for their rest, that their children +were to be the princes of that ocean, and their palaces its pride; and +yet, in the great natural laws that rule that sorrowful wilderness, let +it be remembered what strange preparation had been made for the things +which no human imagination could have foretold, and how the whole +existence and fortune of the Venetian nation were anticipated or +compelled, by the setting of those bars and doors to the rivers and the +sea. Had deeper currents divided their islands, hostile navies would +again and again have reduced the rising city into servitude; had +stronger surges beaten their shores, all the richness and refinement of +the Venetian architecture must have been exchanged for the walls and +bulwarks of an ordinary sea-port. Had there been no tide, as in other +parts of the Mediterranean, the narrow canals of the city would have +become noisome, and the marsh in which it was built pestiferous. Had the +tide been only a foot or eighteen inches higher in its rise, the +water-access to the doors of the palaces would have been impossible: +even as it is, there is sometimes a little difficulty, at the ebb, in +landing without setting foot upon the lower and slippery steps: and the +highest tides sometimes enter the courtyards, and overflow the entrance +halls. Eighteen inches more of difference between the level of the flood +and ebb would have rendered the doorsteps of every palace, at low water, +a treacherous mass of weeds and limpets, and the entire system of +water-carriage for the higher classes, in their easy and daily +intercourse, must have been done away with. The streets of the city +would have been widened, its network of canals filled up, and all the +peculiar character of the place and the people destroyed. + +SECTION VII. The reader may perhaps have felt some pain in the contrast +between this faithful view of the site of the Venetian Throne, and the +romantic conception of it which we ordinarily form; but this pain, if he +have felt it, ought to be more than counterbalanced by the value of the +instance thus afforded to us at once of the inscrutableness and the +wisdom of the ways of God. If, two thousand years ago, we had been +permitted to watch the slow settling of the slime of those turbid rivers +into the polluted sea, and the gaining upon its deep and fresh waters of +the lifeless, impassable, unvoyageable plain, how little could we have +understood the purpose with which those islands were shaped out of the +void, and the torpid waters enclosed with their desolate walls of sand! +How little could we have known, any more than of what now seems to us +most distressful, dark, and objectless, the glorious aim which was then +in the mind of Him in whose hand are all the corners of the earth! how +little imagined that in the laws which were stretching forth the gloomy +margins of those fruitless banks, and feeding the bitter grass among +their shallows, there was indeed a preparation, and _the only preparation +possible_, for the founding of a city which was to be set like a golden +clasp on the girdle of the earth, to write her history on the white +scrolls of the sea-surges, and to word it in their thunder, and to gather +and give forth, in world-wide pulsation, the glory of the West and of the +East, from the burning heart of her Fortitude and Splendor. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +[SECOND OF SECOND VOLUME IN OLD EDITION.] + +TORCELLO. + + +SECTION I. Seven miles to the north of Venice, the banks of sand, which +near the city rise little above low-water mark, attain by degrees a +higher level, and knit themselves at last into fields of salt morass, +raised here and there into shapeless mounds, and intercepted by narrow +creeks of sea. One of the feeblest of these inlets, after winding for +some time among buried fragments of masonry, and knots of sunburnt weeds +whitened with webs of fucus, stays itself in an utterly stagnant pool +beside a plot of greener grass covered with ground ivy and violets. On +this mound is built a rude brick campanile, of the commonest Lombardic +type, which if we ascend towards evening (and there are none to hinder +us, the door of its ruinous staircase swinging idly on its hinges), we +may command from it one of the most notable scenes in this wide world of +ours. Far as the eye can reach, a waste of wild sea moor, of a lurid +ashen gray; not like our northern moors with their jet-black pools and +purple heath, but lifeless, the color of sackcloth, with the corrupted +sea-water soaking through the roots of its acrid weeds, and gleaming +hither and thither through its snaky channels. No gathering of fantastic +mists, nor coursing of clouds across it; but melancholy clearness of +space in the warm sunset, oppressive, reaching to the horizon of its +level gloom. To the very horizon, on the north-east; but, to the north +and west, there is a blue line of higher land along the border of it, +and above this, but farther back, a misty band of mountains, touched +with snow. To the east, the paleness and roar of the Adriatic, louder at +momentary intervals as the surf breaks on the bars of sand; to the +south, the widening branches of the calm lagoon, alternately purple and +pale green, as they reflect the evening clouds or twilight sky; and +almost beneath our feet, on the same field which sustains the tower we +gaze from, a group of four buildings, two of them little larger than +cottages (though built of stone, and one adorned by a quaint belfry), +the third an octagonal chapel, of which we can see but little more than +the flat red roof with its rayed tiling, the fourth, a considerable +church with nave and aisles, but of which, in like manner, we can see +little but the long central ridge and lateral slopes of roof, which the +sunlight separates in one glowing mass from the green field beneath and +gray moor beyond. There are no living creatures near the buildings, nor +any vestige of village or city round about them. They lie like a little +company of ships becalmed on a far-away sea. + +SECTION II. Then look farther to the south. Beyond the widening branches +of the lagoon, and rising out of the bright lake into which they gather, +there are a multitude of towers, dark, and scattered among square-set +shapes of clustered palaces, a long and irregular line fretting the +southern sky. + +Mother and daughter, you behold them both in their widowhood,--TORCELLO +and VENICE. + +Thirteen hundred years ago, the gray moorland looked as it does this +day, and the purple mountains stood as radiantly in the deep distances +of evening; but on the line of the horizon, there were strange fires +mixed with the light of sunset, and the lament of many human voices +mixed with the fretting of the waves on their ridges of sand. The flames +rose from the ruins of Altinum; the lament from the multitude of its +people, seeking, like Israel of old, a refuge from the sword in the +paths of the sea. + +The cattle are feeding and resting upon the site of the city that they +left; the mower's scythe swept this day at dawn over the chief street of +the city that they built, and the swathes of soft grass are now sending +up their scent into the night air, the only incense that fills the +temple of their ancient worship. Let us go down into that little space +of meadow land. + +SECTION III. The inlet which runs nearest to the base of the campanile +is not that by which Torcello is commonly approached. Another, somewhat +broader, and overhung by alder copse, winds out of the main channel of +the lagoon up to the very edge of the little meadow which was once the +Piazza of the city, and there, stayed by a few grey stones which present +some semblance of a quay, forms its boundary at one extremity. Hardly +larger than an ordinary English farmyard, and roughly enclosed on each +side by broken palings and hedges of honeysuckle and briar, the narrow +field retires from the water's edge, traversed by a scarcely traceable +footpath, for some forty or fifty paces, and then expanding into the +form of a small square, with buildings on three sides of it, the fourth +being that which opens to the water. Two of these, that on our left and +that in front of us as we approach from the canal, are so small that +they might well be taken for the out-houses of the farm, though the +first is a conventual building, and the other aspires to the title of +the "Palazzo publico," both dating as far back as the beginning of the +fourteenth century; the third, the octagonal church of Santa Fosca, is +far more ancient than either, yet hardly on a larger scale. Though the +pillars of the portico which surrounds it are of pure Greek marble, and +their capitals are enriched with delicate sculpture, they, and the +arches they sustain, together only raise the roof to the height of a +cattle-shed; and the first strong impression which the spectator +receives from the whole scene is, that whatever sin it may have been +which has on this spot been visited with so utter a desolation, it could +not at least have been ambition. Nor will this impression be diminished +as we approach, or enter, the larger church to which the whole group of +building is subordinate. It has evidently been built by men in flight +and distress, [Footnote: Appendix IV, "Date of the Duomo of Torcello."] +who sought in the hurried erection of their Island church such a shelter +for their earnest and sorrowful worship as, on the one hand, could not +attract the eyes of their enemies by its splendor, and yet, on the +other, might not awaken too bitter feelings by its contrast with the +churches which they had seen destroyed. + +There is visible everywhere a simple and tender effort to recover some +of the form of the temples which they had loved, and to do honor to God +by that which they were erecting, while distress and humiliation +prevented the desire, and prudence precluded the admission, either of +luxury of ornament or magnificence of plan. The exterior is absolutely +devoid of decoration, with the exception only of the western entrance +and the lateral door, of which the former has carved sideposts and +architrave, and the latter, crosses of rich sculpture; while the massy +stone shutters of the windows, turning on huge rings of stone, which +answer the double purpose of stanchions and brackets, cause the whole +building rather to resemble a refuge from Alpine storm than the +cathedral of a populous city; and, internally, the two solemn mosaics of +the eastern and western extremities,--one representing the Last +Judgment, the other the Madonna, her tears falling as her hands are +raised to bless,--and the noble range of pillars which enclose the space +between, terminated by the high throne for the pastor and the +semicircular raised seats for the superior clergy, are expressive at +once of the deep sorrow and the sacred courage of men who had no home +left them upon earth, but who looked for one to come, of men "persecuted +but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed." + +SECTION IV. For observe this choice of subjects. It is indeed possible +that the walls of the nave and aisles, which are now whitewashed, may +have been covered with fresco or mosaic, and thus have supplied a series +of subjects, on the choice of which we cannot speculate. I do not, +however, find record of the destruction of any such works; and I am +rather inclined to believe that at any rate the central division of the +building was originally, decorated, as it is now, simply by mosaics +representing Christ, the Virgin, and the apostles, at one extremity, and +Christ coming to judgment at the other. And if so, I repeat, observe the +significance of this choice. Most other early churches are covered with +imagery sufficiently suggestive of the vivid interest of the builders in +the history and occupations of the world. Symbols or representations of +political events, portraits of living persons, and sculptures of +satirical, grotesque, or trivial subjects are of constant occurrence, +mingled with the more strictly appointed representations of scriptural +or ecclesiastical history; but at Torcello even these usual, and one +should have thought almost necessary, successions of Bible events do not +appear. The mind of the worshipper was fixed entirely upon two great +facts, to him the most precious of all facts,--the present mercy of +Christ to His Church, and His future coming to judge the world. That +Christ's mercy was, at this period, supposed chiefly to be attainable +through the pleading of the Virgin, and that therefore beneath the +figure of the Redeemer is seen that of the weeping Madonna in the act of +intercession, may indeed be matter of sorrow to the Protestant beholder, +but ought not to blind him to the earnestness and singleness of the +faith with which these men sought their sea-solitudes; not in hope of +founding new dynasties, or entering upon new epochs of prosperity, but +only to humble themselves before God, and to pray that in His infinite +mercy He would hasten the time when the sea should give up the dead +which were in it, and Death and Hell give up the dead which were in +them, and when they might enter into the better kingdom, "where the +wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest." + +SECTION V. Nor were the strength and elasticity of their minds, even in +the least matters, diminished by thus looking forward to the close of +all things. On the contrary, nothing is more remarkable than the finish +and beauty of all the portions of the building, which seem to have been +actually executed for the place they occupy in the present structure. +The rudest are those which they brought with them from the mainland; the +best and most beautiful, those which appear to have been carved for +their island church: of these, the new capitals already noticed, and the +exquisite panel ornaments of the chancel screen, are the most +conspicuous; the latter form a low wall across the church between the +six small shafts whose places are seen in the plan, and serve to enclose +a space raised two steps above the level of the nave, destined for the +singers, and indicated also in the plan by an open line _a b c d_. The +bas-reliefs on this low screen are groups of peacocks and lions, two +face to face on each panel, rich and fantastic beyond description, +though not expressive of very accurate knowledge either of leonine or +pavonine forms. And it is not until we pass to the back of the stair of +the pulpit, which is connected with the northern extremity of this +screen, that we find evidence of the haste with which the church was +constructed. + +SECTION VI. The pulpit, however, is not among the least noticeable of +its features. It is sustained on the four small detached shafts marked +at _p_ in the plan, between the two pillars at the north side of +the screen; both pillars and pulpit studiously plain, while the +staircase which ascends to it is a compact mass of masonry (shaded in +the plan), faced by carved slabs of marble; the parapet of the staircase +being also formed of solid blocks like paving-stones, lightened by rich, +but not deep, exterior carving. Now these blocks, or at least those +which adorn the staircase towards the aisle, have been brought from the +mainland; and, being of size and shape not easily to be adjusted to the +proportions of the stair, the architect has cut out of them pieces of +the size he needed, utterly regardless of the subject or symmetry of the +original design. The pulpit is not the only place where this rough +procedure has been permitted: at the lateral door of the church are two +crosses, cut out of slabs of marble, formerly covered with rich +sculpture over their whole surfaces, of which portions are left on the +surface of the crosses; the lines of the original design being, of +course, just as arbitrarily cut by the incisions between the arms, as +the patterns upon a piece of silk which has been shaped anew. The fact +is, that in all early Romanesque work, large surfaces are covered with +sculpture for the sake of enrichment only; sculpture which indeed had +always meaning, because it was easier for the sculptor to work with some +chain of thought to guide his chisel, than without any; but it was not +always intended, or at least not always hoped, that this chain of +thought might be traced by the spectator. All that was proposed appears +to have been the enrichment of surface, so as to make it delightful to +the eye; and this being once understood, a decorated piece of marble +became to the architect just what a piece of lace or embroidery is to a +dressmaker, who takes of it such portions as she may require, with +little regard to the places where the patterns are divided. And though +it may appear, at first sight, that the procedure is indicative of +bluntness and rudeness of feeling,--we may perceive, upon reflection, +that it may also indicate the redundance of power which sets little +price upon its own exertion. When a barbarous nation builds its +fortress-walls out of fragments of the refined architecture it has +overthrown, we can read nothing but its savageness in the vestiges of +art which may thus chance to have been preserved; but when the new work +is equal, if not superior, in execution, to the pieces of the older art +which are associated with it, we may justly conclude that the rough +treatment to which the latter have been subjected is rather a sign of +the hope of doing better things, than of want of feeling for those +already accomplished. And, in general, this careless fitting of ornament +is, in very truth, an evidence of life in the school of builders, and of +their making a due distinction between work which is to be used for +architectural effect, and work which is to possess an abstract +perfection; and it commonly shows also that the exertion of design is so +easy to them, and their fertility so inexhaustible, that they feel no +remorse in using somewhat injuriously what they can replace with so +slight an effort. + +SECTION VII. It appears however questionable in the present instance, +whether, if the marbles had not been carved to his hand, the architect +would have taken the trouble to enrich them. For the execution of the +rest of the pulpit is studiously simple, and it is in this respect that +its design possesses, it seems to me, an interest to the religious +spectator greater than he will take in any other portion of the +building. It is supported, as I said, on a group of four slender shafts; +itself of a slightly oval form, extending nearly from one pillar of the +nave to the next, so as to give the preacher free room for the action of +the entire person, which always gives an unaffected impressiveness to +the eloquence of the southern nations. In the centre of its curved +front, a small bracket and detached shaft sustain the projection of a +narrow marble desk (occupying the place of a cushion in a modern +pulpit), which is hollowed out into a shallow curve on the upper +surface, leaving a ledge at the bottom of the slab, so that a book laid +upon it, or rather into it, settles itself there, opening as if by +instinct, but without the least chance of slipping to the side, or in +any way moving beneath the preacher's hands. Six balls, or rather +almonds, of purple marble veined with white are set round the edge of +the pulpit, and form its only decoration. Perfectly graceful, but severe +and almost cold in its simplicity, built for permanence and service, so +that no single member, no stone of it, could be spared, and yet all are +firm and uninjured as when they were first set together, it stands in +venerable contrast both with the fantastic pulpits of mediaeval +cathedrals and with the rich furniture of those of our modern churches. +It is worth while pausing for a moment to consider how far the manner of +decorating a pulpit may have influence on the efficiency of its service, +and whether our modern treatment of this, to us all-important, feature +of a church be the best possible. [Footnote: Appendix V., "Modern +Pulpits."] + +SECTION VIII. When the sermon is good we need not much concern ourselves +about the form of the pulpit. But sermons cannot always be good; and I +believe that the temper in which the congregation set themselves to +listen may be in some degree modified by their perception of fitness or +unfitness, impressiveness or vulgarity, in the disposition of the place +appointed for the speaker,--not to the same degree, but somewhat in the +same way, that they may be influenced by his own gestures or expression, +irrespective of the sense of what he says. I believe, therefore, in the +first place, that pulpits ought never to be highly decorated; the +speaker is apt to look mean or diminutive if the pulpit is either on a +very large scale or covered with splendid ornament, and if the interest +of the sermon should flag the mind is instantly tempted to wander. I +have observed that in almost all cathedrals, when the pulpits are +peculiarly magnificent, sermons are not often preached from them; but +rather, and especially if for any important purpose, from some temporary +erection in other parts of the building:--and though this may often be +done because the architect has consulted the effect upon the eye more +than the convenience of the ear in the placing of his larger pulpit, I +think it also proceeds in some measure from a natural dislike in the +preacher to match himself with the magnificence of the rostrum, lest the +sermon should not be thought worthy of the place. Yet this will rather +hold of the colossal sculptures, and pyramids of fantastic tracery which +encumber the pulpits of Flemish and German churches, than of the +delicate mosaics and ivory-like carving of the Romanesque basilicas, for +when the form is kept simple, much loveliness of color and costliness of +work may be introduced, and yet the speaker not be thrown into the shade +by them. + +SECTION IX. But, in the second place, whatever ornaments we admit ought +clearly to be of a chaste, grave, and noble kind; and what furniture we +employ, evidently more for the honoring of God's word than for the ease +of the preacher. For there are two ways of regarding a sermon, either as +a human composition, or a Divine message. If we look upon it entirely as +the first, and require our clergymen to finish it with their utmost care +and learning, for our better delight whether of ear or intellect, we +shall necessarily be led to expect much formality and stateliness in its +delivery, and to think that all is not well if the pulpit have not a +golden fringe round it, and a goodly cushion in front of it, and if the +sermon be not fairly written in a black book, to be smoothed upon the +cushion in a majestic manner before beginning; all this we shall duly +come to expect: but we shall at the same time consider the treatise thus +prepared as something to which it is our duty to listen without +restlessness for half an hour or three quarters, but which, when that +duty has been decorously performed, we may dismiss from our minds in +happy confidence of being provided with another when next it shall be +necessary. But if once we begin to regard the preacher, whatever his +faults, as a man sent with a message to us, which it is a matter of life +or death whether we hear or refuse; if we look upon him as set in charge +over many spirits in danger of ruin, and having allowed to him but an +hour or two in the seven days to speak to them; if we make some endeavor +to conceive how precious these hours ought to be to him, a small vantage +on the side of God after his flock have been exposed for six days +together to the full weight of the world's temptation, and he has been +forced to watch the thorn and the thistle springing in their hearts, and +to see what wheat had been scattered there snatched from the wayside by +this wild bird and the other, and at last, when breathless and weary +with the week's labor they give him this interval of imperfect and +languid hearing, he has but thirty minutes to get at the separate hearts +of a thousand men, to convince them of all their weaknesses, to shame +them for all their sins, to warn them of all their dangers, to try by +this way and that to stir the hard fastenings of those doors where the +Master himself has stood and knocked yet none opened, and to call at the +openings of those dark streets where Wisdom herself hath stretched forth +her hands and no man regarded,--thirty minutes to raise the dead +in,--let us but once understand and feel this, and we shall look with +changed eyes upon that frippery of gay furniture about the place from +which the message of judgment must be delivered, which either breathes +upon the dry bones that they may live, or, if ineffectual, remains +recorded in condemnation, perhaps against the utterer and listener +alike, but assuredly against one of them. We shall not so easily bear +with the silk and gold upon the seat of judgment, nor with ornament of +oratory in the mouth of the messenger: we shall wish that his words may +be simple, even when they are sweetest, and the place from which he +speaks like a marble rock in the desert, about which the people have +gathered in their thirst. + +SECTION X. But the severity which is so marked in the pulpit at Torcello +is still more striking in the raised seats and episcopal throne which +occupy the curve of the apse. The arrangement at first somewhat recalls +to the mind that of the Roman amphitheatres; the flight of steps which +lead up to the central throne divides the curve of the continuous steps +or seats (it appears in the first three ranges questionable which were +intended, for they seem too high for the one, and too low and close for +the other), exactly as in an amphitheatre the stairs for access +intersect the sweeping ranges of seats. But in the very rudeness of this +arrangement, and especially in the want of all appliances of comfort +(for the whole is of marble, and the arms of the central throne are not +for convenience, but for distinction, and to separate it more +conspicuously from the undivided seats), there is a dignity which no +furniture of stalls nor carving of canopies ever could attain, and well +worth the contemplation of the Protestant, both as sternly significative +of an episcopal authority which in the early days of the Church was +never disputed, and as dependent for all its impressiveness on the utter +absence of any expression either of pride or self-indulgence. + +SECTION XI. But there is one more circumstance which we ought to +remember as giving peculiar significance to the position which the +episcopal throne occupies in this island church, namely, that in the +minds of all early Christians the Church itself was most frequently +symbolized under the image of a ship, of which the bishop was the pilot. +Consider the force which this symbol would assume in the imaginations of +men to whom the spiritual Church had become an ark of refuge in the +midst of a destruction hardly less terrible than that from which the +eight souls were saved of old, a destruction in which the wrath of man +had become as broad as the earth and as merciless as the sea, and who +saw the actual and literal edifice of the Church raked up, itself like +an ark in the midst of the waters. No marvel if with the surf of the +Adriatic rolling between them and the shores of their birth, from which +they were separated for ever, they should have looked upon each other as +the disciples did when the storm came down on the Tiberias Lake, and +have yielded ready and loving obedience to those who ruled them in His +name, who had there rebuked the winds and commanded stillness to the +sea. And if the stranger would yet learn in what spirit it was that the +dominion of Venice was begun, and in what strength she went forth +conquering and to conquer, let him not seek to estimate the wealth of +her arsenals or number of her armies, nor look upon the pageantry of her +palaces, nor enter into the secrets of her councils; but let him ascend +the highest tier of the stern ledges that sweep round the altar of +Torcello, and then, looking as the pilot did of old along the marble +ribs of the goodly temple-ship, let him repeople its veined deck with +the shadows of its dead mariners, and strive to feel in himself the +strength of heart that was kindled within them, when first, after the +pillars of it had settled in the sand, and the roof of it had been +closed against the angry sky that was still reddened by the fires of +their homesteads,--first, within the shelter of its knitted walls, +amidst the murmur of the waste of waves and the beating of the wings of +the sea-birds round the rock that was strange to them,--rose that +ancient hymn, in the power of their gathered voices: + + THE SEA IS HIS, AND HE MADE IT, + AND HIS HANDS PREPARED THE DRY LAND. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +ST. MARK'S. + + +SECTION I. "And so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus." If as +the shores of Asia lessened upon his sight, the spirit of prophecy had +entered into the heart of the weak disciple who had turned back when his +hand was on the plough, and who had been judged, by the chiefest of +Christ's captains, unworthy thenceforward to go forth with him to the +work, [Footnote: Acts, xiii. 13; xv. 38, 39.] how wonderful would he +have thought it, that by the lion symbol in future ages he was to be +represented among men! how woful, that the war-cry of his name should so +often reanimate the rage of the soldier, on those very plains where he +himself had failed in the courage of the Christian, and so often dye +with fruitless blood that very Cypriot Sea, over whose waves, in +repentance and shame, he was following the Son of Consolation! + +SECTION II. That the Venetians possessed themselves of his body in the +ninth century, there appears no sufficient reason to doubt, nor that it +was principally in consequence of their having done so, that they chose +him for their patron saint. There exists, however, a tradition that +before he went into Egypt he had founded the Church at Aquileia, and was +thus, in some sort, the first bishop of the Venetian isles and people. I +believe that this tradition stands on nearly as good grounds as that of +St. Peter having been the first bishop of Rome; [Footnote: The reader +who desires to investigate it may consult Galliciolli, "Delle Memorie +Venete" (Venice, 1795), tom. ii. p. 332, and the authorities quoted by +him.] but, as usual, it is enriched by various later additions and +embellishments, much resembling the stories told respecting the church +of Murano. Thus we find it recorded by the Santo Padre who compiled the +"Vite de' Santi spettanti alle Chiese di Venezia," [Footnote: Venice, +1761, tom. i. p. 126.] that "St. Mark having seen the people of Aquileia +well grounded in religion, and being called to Rome by St. Peter, before +setting off took with him the holy bishop Hermagoras, and went in a +small boat to the marshes of Venice. There were at that period some +houses built upon a certain high bank called Rialto, and the boat being +driven by the wind was anchored in a marshy place, when St. Mark, +snatched into ecstasy, heard the voice of an angel saying to him: 'Peace +be to thee, Mark; here shall thy body rest.'" The angel goes on to +foretell the building of "una stupenda, ne più veduta Città;" but the +fable is hardly ingenious enough to deserve farther relation. + +SECTION III. But whether St. Mark was first bishop of Aquileia or not, +St. Theodore was the first patron of the city; nor can he yet be +considered as having entirely abdicated his early right, as his statue, +standing on a crocodile, still companions the winged lion on the +opposing pillar of the piazzetta. A church erected to this Saint is said +to have occupied, before the ninth century, the site of St. Mark's; and +the traveller, dazzled by the brilliancy of the great square, ought not +to leave it without endeavoring to imagine its aspect in that early +time, when it was a green field cloister-like and quiet, [Footnote: St. +Mark's Place, "partly covered by turf, and planted with a few trees; and +on account of its pleasant aspect called Brollo or Broglio, that is to +say, Garden." The canal passed through it, over which is built the +bridge of the Malpassi. Galliciolli, lib. I, cap. viii.] divided by a +small canal, with a line of trees on each side; and extending between +the two churches of St. Theodore and St. Geminian, as the little piazza, +of Torcello lies between its "palazzo" and cathedral. + +SECTION IV. But in the year 813, when the seat of government was finally +removed to the Rialto, a Ducal Palace, built on the spot where the +present one stands, with a Ducal Chapel beside it, [Footnote: My +authorities for this statement are given below, in the chapter on the +Ducal Palace.] gave a very different character to the Square of St. +Mark; and fifteen years later, the acquisition of the body of the Saint, +and its deposition in the Ducal Chapel, perhaps not yet completed, +occasioned the investiture of that chapel with all possible splendor. +St. Theodore was deposed from his patronship, and his church destroyed, +to make room for the aggrandizement of the one attached to the Ducal +Palace, and thenceforward known as "St. Mark's." [Footnote: In the +Chronicles, "Sancti Marci Ducalis Cappella."] + +SECTION V. This first church was however destroyed by fire, when the +Ducal Palace was burned in the revolt against Candiano, in 976. It was +partly rebuilt by his successor, Pietro Orseolo, on a larger scale; and +with the assistance of Byzantine architects, the fabric was carried on +under successive Doges for nearly a hundred years; the main building +being completed in 1071, but its incrustation with marble not till +considerably later. It was consecrated on the 8th of October, 1085, +[Footnote: "To God the Lord, the glorious Virgin Annunciate, and the +Protector St. Mark."--_Corner_, p. 14. It is needless to trouble the +reader with the various authorities for the above statements: I have +consulted the best. The previous inscription once existing on the church +itself: + + "Anno milleno transacto bisque trigeno + Desuper undecimo fuit facta primo," + +is no longer to be seen, and is conjectured by Corner, with much +probability, to have perished "in qualche ristauro."] according to +Sansovino and the author of the "Chiesa Ducale di S. Marco," in 1094 +according to Lazari, but certainly between 1084 and 1096, those years +being the limits of the reign of Vital Falier; I incline to the +supposition that it was soon after his accession to the throne in 1085, +though Sansovino writes, by mistake, Ordelafo instead of Vital Falier. +But, at all events, before the close of the eleventh century the great +consecration of the church took place. It was again injured by fire in +1106, but repaired; and from that time to the fall of Venice there was +probably no Doge who did not in some slight degree embellish or alter +the fabric, so that few parts of it can be pronounced boldly to be of +any given date. Two periods of interference are, however, notable above +the rest: the first, that in which the Gothic school had superseded the +Byzantine towards the close of the fourteenth century, when the +pinnacles, upper archivolts, and window traceries were added to the +exterior, and the great screen, with various chapels and +tabernacle-work, to the interior; the second, when the Renaissance +school superseded the Gothic, and the pupils of Titian and Tintoret +substituted, over one half of the church, their own compositions for the +Greek mosaics with which it was originally decorated; [Footnote: Signed +Bartolomeus Bozza, 1634, 1647, 1656, etc.] happily, though with no good +will, having left enough to enable us to imagine and lament what they +destroyed. Of this irreparable loss we shall have more to say hereafter; +meantime, I wish only to fix in the reader's mind the succession of +periods of alteration as firmly and simply as possible. + +SECTION VI. We have seen that the main body of the church may be broadly +stated to be of the eleventh century, the Gothic additions of the +fourteenth, and the restored mosaics of the seventeenth. There is no +difficulty in distinguishing at a glance the Gothic portions from the +Byzantine; but there is considerable difficulty in ascertaining how +long, during the course of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, +additions were made to the Byzantine church, which cannot be easily +distinguished from the work of the eleventh century, being purposely +executed in the same manner. Two of the most important pieces of +evidence on this point are, a mosaic in the south transept, and another +over the northern door of the façade; the first representing the +interior, the second the exterior, of the ancient church. + +SECTION VII. It has just been stated that the existing building was +consecrated by the Doge Vital Falier. A peculiar solemnity was given to +that of consecration, in the minds of the Venetian people, by what +appears to have been one of the best arranged and most successful +impostures ever attempted by the clergy of the Romish church. The body +of St. Mark had, without doubt, perished in the conflagration of 976; +but the revenues of the church depended too much upon the devotion +excited by these relics to permit the confession of their loss. The +following is the account given by Corner, and believed to this day by +the Venetians, of the pretended miracle by which it was concealed. + +"After the repairs undertaken by the Doge Orseolo, the place in which +the body of the holy Evangelist rested had been altogether forgotten, so +that the Doge Vital Falier was entirely ignorant of the place of the +venerable deposit. This was no light affliction, not only to the pious +Doge, but to all the citizens and people; so that at last, moved by +confidence in the Divine mercy, they determined to implore, with prayer +and fasting, the manifestation of so great a treasure, which did not now +depend upon any human effort. A general fast being therefore proclaimed, +and a solemn procession appointed for the 25th day of June, while the +people assembled in the church interceded with God in fervent prayers +for the desired boon, they beheld, with as much amazement as joy, a +slight shaking in the marbles of a pillar (near the place where the +altar of the Cross is now), which, presently falling to the earth, +exposed to the view of the rejoicing people the chest of bronze in which +the body of the Evangelist was laid." + +SECTION VIII. Of the main facts of this tale there is no doubt. They +were embellished afterwards, as usual, by many fanciful traditions; as, +for instance, that, when the sarcophagus was discovered, St. Mark +extended his hand out of it, with a gold ring on one of the fingers, +which he permitted a noble of the Dolfin family to remove; and a quaint +and delightful story was further invented of this ring, which I shall +not repeat here, as it is now as well known as any tale of the Arabian +Nights. But the fast and the discovery of the coffin, by whatever means +effected, are facts; and they are recorded in one of the best-preserved +mosaics of the north transept, executed very certainly not long after +the event had taken place, closely resembling in its treatment that of +the Bayeux tapestry, and showing, in a conventional manner, the interior +of the church, as it then was, filled by the people, first in prayer, +then in thanksgiving, the pillar standing open before them, and the +Doge, in the midst of them, distinguished by his crimson bonnet +embroidered with gold, but more unmistakably by the inscription "Dux" +over his head, as uniformly is the case in the Bayeux tapestry, and most +other pictorial works of the period. The church is, of course, rudely +represented, and the two upper stories of it reduced to a small scale in +order to form a background to the figures; one of those bold pieces of +picture history which we in our pride of perspective, and a thousand +things besides, never dare attempt. We should have put in a column or +two of the real or perspective size, and subdued it into a vague +background: the old workman crushed the church together that he might +get it all in, up to the cupolas; and has, therefore, left us some +useful notes of its ancient form, though any one who is familiar with +the method of drawing employed at the period will not push the evidence +too far. The two pulpits are there, however, as they are at this day, +and the fringe of mosaic flowerwork which then encompassed the whole +church, but which modern restorers have destroyed, all but one fragment +still left in the south aisle. There is no attempt to represent the +other mosaics on the roof, the scale being too small to admit of their +being represented with any success; but some at least of those mosaics +had been executed at that period, and their absence in the +representation of the entire church is especially to be observed, in +order to show that we must not trust to any negative evidence in such +works. M. Lazari has rashly concluded that the central archivolt of St. +Mark's _must_ be posterior to the year 1205, because it does not +appear in the representation of the exterior of the church over the +northern door; [Footnote: Guida di Venezia, p. 6. (He is right, +however.)] but he justly observes that this mosaic (which is the other +piece of evidence we possess respecting the ancient form of the +building) cannot itself be earlier than 1205, since it represents the +bronze horses which were brought from Constantinople in that year. And +this one fact renders it very difficult to speak with confidence +respecting the date of any part of the exterior of St. Mark's; for we +have above seen that it was consecrated in the eleventh century, and yet +here is one of the most important exterior decorations assuredly +retouched, if not entirely added, in the thirteenth, although its style +would have led us to suppose it had been an original part of the fabric. +However, for all our purposes, it will be enough for the reader to +remember that the earliest parts of the building belong to the eleventh, +twelfth, and first part of the thirteenth century; the Gothic portions +to the fourteenth; some of the altars and embellishments to the +fifteenth and sixteenth; and the modern portion of the mosaics to the +seventeenth. + +SECTION IX. This, however, I only wish him to recollect in order that I +may speak generally of the Byzantine architecture of St. Mark's, without +leading him to suppose the whole church to have been built and decorated +by Greek artists. Its later portions, with the single exception of the +seventeenth century mosaics, have been so dexterously accommodated to +the original fabric that the general effect is still that of a Byzantine +building; and I shall not, except when it is absolutely necessary, +direct attention to the discordant points, or weary the reader with +anatomical criticism. Whatever in St. Mark's arrests the eye, or affects +the feelings, is either Byzantine, or has been modified by Byzantine +influence; and our inquiry into its architectural merits need not +therefore be disturbed by the anxieties of antiquarianism, or arrested +by the obscurities of chronology. + +SECTION X. And now I wish that the reader, before I bring him into St. +Mark's Place, would imagine himself for a little time in a quiet English +cathedral town, and walk with me to the west front of its cathedral. Let +us go together up the more retired street, at the end of which we can +see the pinnacles of one of the towers, and then through the low gray +gateway, with its battlemented top and small latticed window in the +centre, into the inner private-looking road or close, where nothing goes +in but the carts of the tradesmen who supply the bishop and the chapter, +and where there are little shaven grass-plots, fenced in by neat rails, +before old-fashioned groups of somewhat diminutive and excessively trim +houses, with little oriel and bay windows jutting out here and there, +and deep wooden cornices and eaves painted cream color and white, and +small porches to their doors in the shape of cockle-shells, or little, +crooked, thick, indescribable wooden gables warped a little on one side; +and so forward till we come to larger houses, also old-fashioned, but of +red brick, and with gardens behind them, and fruit walls, which show +here and there, among the nectarines, the vestiges of an old cloister +arch or shaft, and looking in front on the cathedral square itself, laid +out in rigid divisions of smooth grass and gravel walk, yet not +uncheerful, especially on the sunny side where the canons' children are +walking with their nurserymaids. And so, taking care not to tread on the +grass, we will go along the straight walk to the west front, and there +stand for a time, looking up at its deep-pointed porches and the dark +places between their pillars where there were statues once, and where +the fragments, here and there, of a stately figure are still left, which +has in it the likeness of a king, perhaps indeed a king on earth, +perhaps a saintly king long ago in heaven; and so higher and higher up +to the great mouldering wall of rugged sculpture and confused arcades, +shattered, and gray, and grisly with heads of dragons and mocking +fiends, worn by the rain and swirling winds into yet unseemlier shape, +and colored on their stony scales by the deep russet-orange lichen, +melancholy gold; and so, higher still, to the bleak towers, so far above +that the eye loses itself among the bosses of their traceries, though +they are rude and strong, and only sees like a drift of eddying black +points, now closing, now scattering, and now settling suddenly into +invisible places among the bosses and flowers, the crowd of restless +birds that fill the whole square with that strange clangor of theirs, so +harsh and yet so soothing, like the cries of birds on a solitary coast +between the cliffs and sea. + +SECTION XI. Think for a little while of that scene, and the meaning of +all its small formalisms, mixed with its serene sublimity. Estimate its +secluded, continuous, drowsy felicities, and its evidence of the sense +and steady performance of such kind of duties as can be regulated by the +cathedral clock; and weigh the influence of those dark towers on all who +have passed through the lonely square at their feet for centuries, and +on all who have seen them rising far away over the wooded plain, or +catching on their square masses the last rays of the sunset, when the +city at their feet was indicated only by the mist at the bend of the +river. And then let us quickly recollect that we are in Venice, and land +at the extremity of the Calle Lunga San Moisè, which may be considered +as there answering to the secluded street that led us to our English +cathedral gateway. + +SECTION XII. We find ourselves in a paved alley, some seven feet wide +where it is widest, full of people, and resonant with cries of itinerant +salesmen,--a shriek in their beginning, and dying away into a kind of +brazen ringing, all the worse for its confinement between the high +houses of the passage along which we have to make our way. Over head an +inextricable confusion of rugged shutters, and iron balconies and +chimney flues pushed out on brackets to save room, and arched windows +with projecting sills of Istrian stone, and gleams of green leaves here +and there where a fig-tree branch escapes over a lower wall from some +inner cortile, leading the eye up to the narrow stream of blue sky high +over all. On each side, a row of shops, as densely set as may be, +occupying, in fact, intervals between the square stone shafts, about +eight feet high, which carry the first floors: intervals of which one is +narrow and serves as a door; the other is, in the more respectable +shops, wainscoted to the height of the counter and glazed above, but in +those of the poorer tradesmen left open to the ground, and the wares +laid on benches and tables in the open air, the light in all cases +entering at the front only,--and fading away in a few feet from the +threshold into a gloom which the eye from without cannot penetrate, but +which is generally broken by a ray or two from a feeble lamp at the back +of the shop, suspended before a print of the Virgin. The less pious +shop-keeper sometimes leaves his lamp unlighted, and is contented with a +penny print; the more religious one has his print colored and set in a +little shrine with a gilded or figured fringe, with perhaps a faded +flower or two on each side, and his lamp burning brilliantly. Here at +the fruiterer's, where the dark-green watermelons are heaped upon the +counter like cannon balls, the Madonna has a tabernacle of fresh laurel +leaves; but the pewterer next door has let his lamp out, and there is +nothing to be seen in his shop but the dull gleam of the studded +patterns on the copper pans, hanging from his roof in the darkness. Next +comes a "Vendita Frittole e Liquori," where the Virgin, enthroned in a +very humble manner beside a tallow candle on a back shelf, presides over +certain ambrosial morsels of a nature too ambiguous to be denned or +enumerated. But a few steps farther on, at the regular wineshop of the +calle, where we are offered "Vino Nostrani a Soldi 28'32," the Madonna +is in great glory, enthroned above ten or a dozen large red casks of +three-year-old vintage, and flanked by goodly ranks of bottles of +Maraschino, and two crimson lamps; and for the evening, when the +gondoliers will come to drink out, under her auspices, the money they +have gained during the day, she will have a whole chandelier. + +SECTION XIII. A yard or two farther, we pass the hostelry of the Black +Eagle, and, glancing as we pass through the square door of marble, +deeply moulded, in the outer wall, we see the shadows of its pergola of +vines resting on an ancient well, with a pointed shield carved on its +side; and so presently emerge on the bridge and Campo San Moisè, whence +to the entrance into St. Mark's Place, called the Bocca di Piazza, +(mouth of the square), the Venetian character is nearly destroyed, first +by the frightful façade of San Moisè, which we will pause at another +time to examine, and then by the modernizing of the shops as they near +the piazza, and the mingling with the lower Venetian populace of +lounging groups of English and Austrians. We will push fast through them +into the shadow of the pillars at the end of the "Bocca di Piazza," and +then we forget them all; for between those pillars there opens a great +light, and, in the midst of it, as we advance slowly, the vast tower of +St. Mark seems to lift itself visibly forth from the level field of +chequered stones; and, on each side, the countless arches prolong +themselves into ranged symmetry, as if the rugged and irregular houses +that pressed together above us in the dark alley had been struck back +into sudden obedience and lovely order, and all their rude casements and +broken walls had been transformed into arches charged with goodly +sculpture, and fluted shafts of delicate stone. + +SECTION XIV. And well may they fall back, for beyond those troops of +ordered arches there rises a vision out of the earth, and all the great +square seems to have opened from it in a kind of awe, that we may see it +far away;--a multitude of pillars and white domes, clustered into a long +low pyramid of colored light; a treasure-heap, it seems, partly of gold, +and partly of opal and mother-of-pearl, hollowed beneath into five great +vaulted porches, ceiled with fair mosaic, and beset with sculpture of +alabaster, clear as amber and delicate as ivory,--sculpture fantastic +and involved, of palm leaves and lilies, and grapes and pomegranates, +and birds clinging and fluttering among the branches, all twined +together into an endless network of buds and plumes; and, in the midst +of it, the solemn forms of angels, sceptred, and robed to the feet, and +leaning to each other across the gates, their figures indistinct among +the gleaming of the golden ground through the leaves beside them, +interrupted and dim, like the morning light as it faded back among the +branches of Eden, when first its gates were angel-guarded long ago. And +round the walls of the porches there are set pillars of variegated +stones, jasper and porphyry, and deep-green serpentine spotted with +flakes of snow, and marbles, that half refuse and half yield to the +sunshine, Cleopatra-like, "their bluest veins to kiss"--the shadow, as +it steals back from them, revealing line after line of azure undulation, +as a receding tide leaves the waved sand; their capitals rich with +interwoven tracery, rooted knots of herbage, and drifting leaves of +acanthus and vine, and mystical signs, all beginning and ending in the +Cross; and above them, in the broad archivolts, a continuous chain of +language and of life--angels, and the signs of heaven, and the labors of +men, each in its appointed season upon the earth; and above these, +another range of glittering pinnacles, mixed with white arches edged +with scarlet flowers,--a confusion of delight, amidst which the breasts +of the Greek horses are seen blazing in their breadth of golden +strength, and the St. Mark's Lion, lifted on a blue field covered with +stars, until at last, as if in ecstasy, the crests of the arches break +into a marble foam, and toss themselves far into the blue sky in flashes +and wreaths of sculptured spray, as if the breakers on the Lido shore +had been frost-bound before they fell, and the sea-nymphs had inlaid +them with coral and amethyst. + +Between that grim cathedral of England and this, what an interval! There +is a type of it in the very birds that haunt them; for, instead of the +restless crowd, hoarse-voiced and sable-winged, drifting on the bleak +upper air, the St. Mark's porches are full of doves, that nestle among +the marble foliage, and mingle the soft iridescence of their living +plumes, changing at every motion, with the tints, hardly less lovely, +that have stood unchanged for seven hundred years. + +SECTION XV. And what effect has this splendor on those who pass beneath +it? You may walk from sunrise to sunset, to and fro, before the gateway +of St. Mark's, and you will not see an eye lifted to it, nor a +countenance brightened by it. Priest and layman, soldier and civilian, +rich and poor, pass by it alike regardlessly. Up to the very recesses of +the porches, the meanest tradesmen of the city push their counters; nay, +the foundations of its pillars are themselves the seats--not "of them +that sell doves" for sacrifice, but of the vendors of toys and +caricatures. Round the whole square in front of the church there is +almost a continuous line of cafes, where the idle Venetians of the +middle classes lounge, and read empty journals; in its centre the +Austrian bands play during the time of vespers, their martial music +jarring with the organ notes,--the march drowning the miserere, and the +sullen crowd thickening round them,--a crowd, which, if it had its will, +would stiletto every soldier that pipes to it. And in the recesses of +the porches, all day long, knots of men of the lowest classes, +unemployed and listless, lie basking in the sun like lizards; and +unregarded children,--every heavy glance of their young eyes full of +desperation and stony depravity, and their throats hoarse with +cursing,--gamble, and fight, and snarl, and sleep, hour after hour, +clashing their bruised centesimi upon the marble ledges of the church +porch. And the images of Christ and His angels look down upon it +continually. + +That we may not enter the church out of the midst of the horror of this, +let us turn aside under the portico which looks towards the sea, and +passing round within the two massive pillars brought from St. Jean +d'Acre, we shall find the gate of the Baptistery; let us enter there. +The heavy door closes behind us instantly, and the light, and the +turbulence of the Piazzetta, are together shut out by it. + +SECTION XVI. We are in a low vaulted room; vaulted, not with arches, but +with small cupolas starred with gold, and chequered with gloomy figures: +in the centre is a bronze font charged with rich bas-reliefs, a small +figure of the Baptist standing above it in a single ray of light that +glances across the narrow room, dying as it falls from a window high in +the wall, and the first thing that it strikes, and the only thing that +it strikes brightly, is a tomb. We hardly know if it be a tomb indeed; +for it is like a narrow couch set beside the window, low-roofed and +curtained, so that it might seem, but that it has some height above the +pavement, to have been drawn towards the window, that the sleeper might +be wakened early;--only there are two angels who have drawn the curtain +back, and are looking down upon him. Let us look also and thank that +gentle light that rests upon his forehead for ever, and dies away upon +his breast. + +The face is of a man in middle life, but there are two deep furrows +right across the forehead, dividing it like the foundations of a tower: +the height of it above is bound by the fillet of the ducal cap. The rest +of the features are singularly small and delicate, the lips sharp, +perhaps the sharpness of death being added to that of the natural lines; +but there is a sweet smile upon them, and a deep serenity upon the whole +countenance. The roof of the canopy above has been blue, filled with +stars; beneath, in the centre of the tomb on which the figure rests, is +a seated figure of the Virgin, and the border of it all around is of +flowers and soft leaves, growing rich and deep, as if in a field in +summer. + +It is the Doge Andrea Dandolo, a man early great among the great of +Venice; and early lost. She chose him for her king in his 36th year; he +died ten years later, leaving behind him that history to which we owe +half of what we know of her former fortunes. + +SECTION XVII. Look round at the room in which he lies. The floor of it +is of rich mosaic, encompassed by a low seat of red marble, and its +walls are of alabaster, but worn and shattered, and darkly stained with +age, almost a ruin,--in places the slabs of marble have fallen away +altogether, and the rugged brickwork is seen through the rents, but all +beautiful; the ravaging fissures fretting their way among the islands +and channelled zones of the alabaster, and the time-stains on its +translucent masses darkened into fields of rich golden brown, like the +color of seaweed when the sun strikes on it through deep sea. The light +fades away into the recess of the chamber towards the altar, and the eye +can hardly trace the lines of the bas-relief behind it of the baptism of +Christ: but on the vaulting of the roof the figures are distinct, and +there are seen upon it two great circles, one surrounded by the +"Principalities and powers in heavenly places," of which Milton has +expressed the ancient division in the single massy line, + + "Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers," + +and around the other, the Apostles; Christ the centre of both; and upon +the walls, again and again repeated, the gaunt figure of the Baptist, in +every circumstance of his life and death; and the streams of the Jordan +running down between their cloven rocks; the axe laid to the root of a +fruitless tree that springs upon their shore. "Every tree that bringeth +not forth good fruit shall be hewn down, and cast into the fire." Yes, +verily: to be baptized with fire, or to be cast therein; it is the +choice set before all men. The march-notes still murmur through the +grated window, and mingle with the sounding in our ears of the sentence +of judgment, which the old Greek has written on that Baptistery wall. +Venice has made her choice. + +SECTION XVIII. He who lies under that stony canopy would have taught her +another choice, in his day, if she would have listened to him; but he +and his counsels have long been forgotten by her, the dust lies upon his +lips. + +Through the heavy door whose bronze network closes the place of his +rest, let us enter the church itself. It is lost in still deeper +twilight, to which the eye must be accustomed for some moments before +the form of the building can be traced; and then there opens before us a +vast cave, hewn out into the form of a Cross, and divided into shadowy +aisles by many pillars. Round the domes of its roof the light enters +only through narrow apertures like large stars; and here and there a ray +or two from some far away casement wanders into the darkness, and casts +a narrow phosphoric stream upon the waves of marble that heave and fall +in a thousand colors along the floor. What else there is of light is +from torches, or silver lamps, burning ceaselessly in the recesses of +the chapels; the roof sheeted with gold, and the polished walls covered +with alabaster, give back at every curve and angle some feeble gleaming +to the flames; and the glories round the heads of the sculptured saints +flash out upon us as we pass them, and sink again into the gloom. Under +foot and over head, a continual succession of crowded imagery, one +picture passing into another, as in a dream; forms beautiful and +terrible mixed together; dragons and serpents, and ravening beasts of +prey, and graceful birds that in the midst of them drink from running +fountains and feed from vases of crystal; the passions and the pleasures +of human life symbolized together, and the mystery of its redemption; +for the mazes of interwoven lines and changeful pictures lead always at +last to the Cross, lifted and carved in every place and upon every +stonel sometimes with the serpent of eternity wrapt round it, sometimes +with doves beneath its arms, and sweet herbage growing forth from its +feet; but conspicuous most of all on the great rood that crosses the +church before the altar, raised in bright blazonry against the shadow of +the apse. And although in the recesses of the aisles and chapels, when +the mist of the incense hangs heavily, we may see continually a figure +traced in faint lines upon their marble, a woman standing with her eyes +raised to heaven, and the inscription above her, "Mother of God," she is +not here the presiding deity. It is the Cross that is first seen, and +always, burning in the centre of the temple; and every dome and hollow +of its roof has the figure of Christ in the utmost height of it, raised +in power, or returning in judgment. + +SECTION XIX. Nor is this interior without effect on the minds of the +people. At every hour of the day there are groups collected before the +various shrines, and solitary worshippers scattered through the dark +places of the church, evidently in prayer both deep and reverent, and, +for the most part, profoundly sorrowful. The devotees at the greater +number of the renowned shrines of Romanism may be seen murmuring their +appointed prayers with wandering eyes and unengaged gestures; but the +step of the stranger does not disturb those who kneel on the pavement of +St. Mark's; and hardly a moment passes, from early morning to sunset, in +which we may not see some half-veiled figure enter beneath the Arabian +porch, cast itself into long abasement on the floor of the temple, and +then rising slowly with more confirmed step, and with a passionate kiss +and clasp of the arms given to the feet of the crucifix, by which the +lamps burn always in the northern aisle, leave the church, as if +comforted. + +SECTION XX. But we must not hastily conclude from this that the nobler +characters of the building have at present any influence in fostering a +devotional spirit. There is distress enough in Venice to bring many to +their knees, without excitement from external imagery; and whatever +there may be in the temper of the worship offered in St. Mark's more +than can be accounted for by reference to the unhappy circumstances of +the city, is assuredly not owing either to the beauty of its +architecture or to the impressiveness of the Scripture histories +embodied in its mosaics. That it has a peculiar effect, however slight, +on the popular mind, may perhaps be safely conjectured from the number +of worshippers which it attracts, while the churches of St. Paul and the +Frari, larger in size and more central in position, are left +comparatively empty. [Footnote: The mere warmth of St. Mark's in winter, +which is much greater than that of the other two churches above named, +must, however, be taken into consideration, as one of the most efficient +causes of its being then more frequented.] But this effect is altogether +to be ascribed to its richer assemblage of those sources of influence +which address themselves to the commonest instincts of the human mind, +and which, in all ages and countries, have been more or less employed in +the support of superstition. Darkness and mystery; confused recesses of +building; artificial light employed in small quantity, but maintained +with a constancy which seems to give it a kind of sacredness; +preciousness of material easily comprehended by the vulgar eye; close +air loaded with a sweet and peculiar odor associated only with religious +services, solemn music, and tangible idols or images having popular +legends attached to them,--these, the stage properties of superstition, +which have been from the beginning of the world, and must be to the end +of it, employed by all nations, whether openly savage or nominally +civilized, to produce a false awe in minds incapable of apprehending the +true nature of the Deity, are assembled in St. Mark's to a degree, as +far as I know, unexampled in any other European church. The arts of the +Magus and the Brahmin are exhausted in the animation of a paralyzed +Christianity; and the popular sentiment which these arts excite is to be +regarded by us with no more respect than we should have considered +ourselves justified in rendering to the devotion of the worshippers at +Eleusis, Ellora, or Edfou. [Footnote: I said above that the larger +number of the devotees entered by the "Arabian" porch; the porch, that +is to say, on the north side of the church, remarkable for its rich +Arabian archivolt, and through which access is gained immediately to the +northern transept. The reason is, that in that transept is the chapel of +the Madonna, which has a greater attraction for the Venetians than all +the rest of the church besides. The old builders kept their images of +the Virgin subordinate to those of Christ; but modern Romanism has +retrograded from theirs, and the most glittering portions of the whole +church are the two recesses behind this lateral altar, covered with +silver hearts dedicated to the Virgin.] + +SECTION XXI. Indeed, these inferior means of exciting religious emotion +were employed in the ancient Church as they are at this day, but not +employed alone. Torchlight there was, as there is now; but the +torchlight illumined Scripture histories on the walls, which every eye +traced and every heart comprehended, but which, during my whole +residence in Venice, I never saw one Venetian regard for an instant. I +never heard from any one the most languid expression of interest in any +feature of the church, or perceived the slightest evidence of their +understanding the meaning of its architecture; and while, therefore, the +English cathedral, though no longer dedicated to the kind of services +for which it was intended by its builders, and much at variance in many +of its characters with the temper of the people by whom it is now +surrounded, retains yet so much of its religious influence that no +prominent feature of its architecture can be said to exist altogether in +vain, we have in St. Mark's a building apparently still employed in the +ceremonies for which it was designed, and yet of which the impressive +attributes have altogether ceased to be comprehended by its votaries. +The beauty which it possesses is unfelt, the language it uses is +forgotten; and in the midst of the city to whose service it has so long +been consecrated, and still filled by crowds of the descendants of those +to whom it owes its magnificence; it stands, in reality, more desolate +than the ruins through which the sheep-walk passes unbroken in our +English valleys; and the writing on its marble walls is less regarded +and less powerful for the teaching of men, than the letters which the +shepherd follows with his finger, where the moss is lightest on the +tombs in the desecrated cloister. + +SECTION XXII. It must therefore be altogether without reference to its +present usefulness, that we pursue our inquiry into the merits and +meaning of the architecture of this marvellous building; and it can only +be after we have terminated that inquiry, conducting it carefully on +abstract grounds, that we can pronounce with any certainty how far the +present neglect of St. Mark's is significative of the decline of the +Venetian character, or how far this church is to be considered as the +relic of a barbarous age, incapable of attracting the admiration, or +influencing the feelings of a civilized community. + +The inquiry before us is twofold. Throughout the first volume, I +carefully kept the study of _expression_ distinct from that of abstract +architectural perfection; telling the reader that in every building we +should afterwards examine, he would have first to form a judgment of its +construction and decorative merit, considering it merely as a work of +art; and then to examine farther, in what degree it fulfilled its +expressional purposes. Accordingly, we have first to judge of St. Mark's +merely as a piece of architecture, not as a church; secondly, to estimate +its fitness for its special duty as a place of worship, and the relation +in which it stands, as such, to those northern cathedrals that still +retain so much of the power over the human heart, which the Byzantine +domes appear to have lost for ever. + +SECTION XXIII. In the two succeeding sections of this work, devoted +respectively to the examination of the Gothic and Renaissance buildings +in Venice, I have endeavored to analyze and state, as briefly as +possible, the true nature of each school,--first in Spirit, then in +Form. I wished to have given a similar analysis, in this section, of the +nature of Byzantine architecture; but could not make my statements +general, because I have never seen this kind of building on its native +soil. Nevertheless, in the following sketch of the principles +exemplified in St. Mark's, I believe that most of the leading features +and motives of the style will be found clearly enough distinguished to +enable the reader to judge of it with tolerable fairness, as compared +with the better known systems of European architecture in the middle +ages. + +SECTION XXIV. Now the first broad characteristic of the building, and +the root nearly of every other important peculiarity in it, is its +confessed _incrustation_. It is the purest example in Italy of the +great school of architecture in which the ruling principle is the +incrustation of brick with more precious materials; and it is necessary +before we proceed to criticise any one of its arrangements, that the +reader should carefully consider the principles which are likely to have +influenced, or might legitimately influence, the architects of such a +school, as distinguished from those whose designs are to be executed in +massive materials. + +It is true, that among different nations, and at different times, we may +find examples of every sort and degree of incrustation, from the mere +setting of the larger and more compact stones by preference at the +outside of the wall, to the miserable construction of that modern brick +cornice, with its coating of cement, which, but the other day, in +London, killed its unhappy workmen in its fall. [Footnote: Vide +"Builder," for October, 1851.] But just as it is perfectly possible to +have a clear idea of the opposing characteristics of two different +species of plants or animals, though between the two there are varieties +which it is difficult to assign either to the one or the other, so the +reader may fix decisively in his mind the legitimate characteristics of +the incrusted and the massive styles, though between the two there are +varieties which confessedly unite the attributes of both. For instance, +in many Roman remains, built of blocks of tufa and incrusted with +marble, we have a style, which, though truly solid, possesses some of +the attributes of incrustation; and in the Cathedral of Florence, built +of brick and coated with marble, the marble facing is so firmly and +exquisitely set, that the building, though in reality incrusted, assumes +the attributes of solidity. But these intermediate examples need not in +the least confuse our generally distinct ideas of the two families of +buildings: the one in which the substance is alike throughout, and the +forms and conditions of the ornament assume or prove that it is so, as +in the best Greek buildings, and for the most part in our early Norman +and Gothic; and the other, in which the substance is of two kinds, one +internal, the other external, and the system of decoration is founded on +this duplicity, as pre-eminently in St. Mark's. + +SECTION XXV. I have used the word duplicity in no depreciatory sense. In +chapter ii. of the "Seven Lamps," Section 18, I especially guarded this +incrusted school from the imputation of insincerity, and I must do so +now at greater length. It appears insincere at first to a Northern +builder, because, accustomed to build with solid blocks of freestone, he +is in the habit of supposing the external superficies of a piece of +masonry to be some criterion of its thickness. But, as soon as he gets +acquainted with the incrusted style, he will find that the Southern +builders had no intention to deceive him. He will see that every slab of +facial marble is fastened to the next by a confessed _rivet_, and that +the joints of the armor are so visibly and openly accommodated to the +contours of the substance within, that he has no more right to complain +of treachery than a savage would have, who, for the first time in his +life seeing a man in armor, had supposed him to be made of solid steel. +Acquaint him with the customs of chivalry, and with the uses of the coat +of mail, and he ceases to accuse of dishonesty either the panoply or the +knight. + +These laws and customs of the St. Mark's architectural chivalry it must +be our business to develop. + +SECTION XXVI. First, consider the natural circumstances which give rise +to such a style. Suppose a nation of builders, placed far from any +quarries of available stone, and having precarious access to the +mainland where they exist; compelled therefore either to build entirely +with brick, or to import whatever stone they use from great distances, +in ships of small tonnage, and for the most part dependent for speed on +the oar rather than the sail. The labor and cost of carriage are just as +great, whether they import common or precious stone, and therefore the +natural tendency would always be to make each shipload as valuable as +possible. But in proportion to the preciousness of the stone, is the +limitation of its possible supply; limitation not determined merely by +cost, but by the physical conditions of the material, for of many +marbles, pieces above a certain size are not to be had for money. There +would also be a tendency in such circumstances to import as much stone +as possible ready sculptured, in order to save weight; and therefore, if +the traffic of their merchants led them to places where there were ruins +of ancient edifices, to ship the available fragments of them home. Out +of this supply of marble, partly composed of pieces of so precious a +quality that only a few tons of them could be on any terms obtained, and +partly of shafts, capitals, and other portions of foreign buildings, the +island architect has to fashion, as best he may, the anatomy of his +edifice. It is at his choice either to lodge his few blocks of precious +marble here and there among his masses of brick, and to cut out of the +sculptured fragments such new forms as may be necessary for the +observance of fixed proportions in the new building; or else to cut the +colored stones into thin pieces, of extent sufficient to face the whole +surface of the walls, and to adopt a method of construction irregular +enough to admit the insertion of fragmentary sculptures; rather with a +view of displaying their intrinsic beauty, than of setting them to any +regular service in the support of the building. + +An architect who cared only to display his own skill, and had no respect +for the works of others, would assuredly have chosen the former +alternative, and would have sawn the old marbles into fragments in order +to prevent all interference with his own designs. But an architect who +cared for the preservation of noble work, whether his own or others', +and more regarded the beauty of his building than his own fame, would +have done what those old builders of St. Mark's did for us, and saved +every relic with which he was entrusted. + +SECTION XXVII. But these were not the only motives which influenced the +Venetians in the adoption of their method of architecture. It might, +under all the circumstances above stated, have been a question with +other builders, whether to import one shipload of costly jaspers, or +twenty of chalk flints; and whether to build a small church faced with +porphyry and paved with agate, or to raise a vast cathedral in +freestone. But with the Venetians it could not be a question for an +instant; they were exiles from ancient and beautiful cities, and had +been accustomed to build with their ruins, not less in affection than in +admiration: they had thus not only grown familiar with the practice of +inserting older fragments in modern buildings, but they owed to that +practice a great part of the splendor of their city, and whatever charm +of association might aid its change from a Refuge into a Home. The +practice which began in the affections of a fugitive nation, was +prolonged in the pride of a conquering one; and beside the memorials of +departed happiness, were elevated the trophies of returning victory. The +ship of war brought home more marble in triumph than 'the merchant +vessel in speculation; and the front of St. Mark's became rather a +shrine at which to dedicate the splendor of miscellaneous spoil, than +the organized expression of any fixed architectural law, or religious +emotion. + +SECTION XXVIII. Thus far, however, the justification of the style of +this church depends on circumstances peculiar to the time of its +erection, and to the spot where it arose. The merit of its method, +considered in the abstract, rests on far broader grounds. + +In the fifth chapter of the "Seven Lamps," Section 14, the reader will +find the opinion of a modern architect of some reputation, Mr. Wood, +that the chief thing remarkable in this church "is its extreme +ugliness;" and he will find this opinion associated with another, +namely, that the works of the Caracci are far preferable to those of the +Venetian painters. This second statement of feeling reveals to us one of +the principal causes of the first; namely, that Mr. Wood had not any +perception of color, or delight in it. The perception of color is a gift +just as definitely granted to one person, and denied to another, as an +ear for music; and the very first requisite for true judgment of St. +Mark's, is the perfection of that color-faculty which few people ever +set themselves seriously to find out whether they possess or not. For it +is on its value as a piece of perfect and unchangeable coloring, that +the claims of this edifice to our respect are finally rested; and a deaf +man might as well pretend to pronounce judgment on the merits of a full +orchestra, as an architect trained in the composition of form only, to +discern the beauty of St. Mark's. It possesses the charm of color in +common with the greater part of the architecture, as well as of the +manufactures, of the East; but the Venetians deserve especial note as +the only European people who appear to have sympathized to the full with +the great instinct of the Eastern races. They indeed were compelled to +bring artists from Constantinople to design the mosaics of the vaults of +St. Mark's, and to group the colors of its porches; but they rapidly +took up and developed, under more masculine conditions, the system of +which the Greeks had shown them the example: while the burghers and +barons of the North were building their dark streets and grisly castles +of oak and sandstone, the merchants of Venice were covering their +palaces with porphyry and gold; and at last, when her mighty painters +had created for her a color more priceless than gold or porphyry, even +this, the richest of her treasures, she lavished upon walls whose +foundations were beaten by the sea; and the strong tide, as it runs +beneath the Rialto, is reddened to this day by the reflection of the +frescoes of Giorgione. + +SECTION XXIX. If, therefore, the reader does not care for color, I must +protest against his endeavor to form any judgment whatever of this +church of St. Mark's. But, if he both cares for and loves it, let him +remember that the school of incrusted architecture is _the only one in +which perfect and permanent chromatic decoration is possible_; and +let him look upon every piece of jasper and alabaster given to the +architect as a cake of very hard color, of which a certain portion is to +be ground down or cut off, to paint the walls with. Once understand this +thoroughly, and accept the condition that the body and availing strength +of the edifice are to be in brick, and that this under muscular power of +brickwork is to be clothed with the defence and the brightness of the +marble, as the body of an animal is protected and adorned by its scales +or its skin, and all the consequent fitnesses and laws of the structure +will be easily discernible. These I shall state in their natural order. + +SECTION XXX. LAW I. _That the plinths and cornices used for binding +the armor are to be light and delicate._ A certain thickness, at +least two or three inches, must be required in the covering pieces (even +when composed of the strongest stone, and set on the least exposed +parts), in order to prevent the chance of fracture, and to allow for the +wear of time. And the weight of this armor must not be trusted to +cement; the pieces must not be merely glued to the rough brick surface, +but connected with the mass which they protect by binding cornices and +string courses; and with each other, so as to secure mutual support, +aided by the rivetings, but by no means dependent upon them. And, for +the full honesty and straightforwardness of the work, it is necessary +that these string courses and binding plinths should not be of such +proportions as would fit them for taking any important part in the hard +work of the inner structure, or render them liable to be mistaken for +the great cornices and plinths already explained as essential parts of +the best solid building. They must be delicate, slight, and visibly +incapable of severer work than that assigned to them. + +SECTION XXXI. LAW II. _Science of inner structure is to be abandoned._ As +the body of the structure is confessedly of inferior, and comparatively +incoherent materials, it would be absurd to attempt in it any expression +of the higher refinements of construction. It will be enough that by its +mass we are assured of its sufficiency and strength; and there is the +less reason for endeavoring to diminish the extent of its surface by +delicacy of adjustment, because on the breadth of that surface we are to +depend for the better display of the color, which is to be the chief +source of our pleasure in the building. The main body of the work, +therefore, will be composed of solid walls and massive piers; and +whatever expression of finer structural science we may require, will be +thrown either into subordinate portions of it, or entirely directed to +the support of the external mail, where in arches or vaults it might +otherwise appear dangerously independent of the material within. + +SECTION XXXII. LAW III. _All shafts are to be solid._ Wherever, by the +smallness of the parts, we may be driven to abandon the incrusted +structure at all, it must be abandoned altogether. The eye must never be +left in the least doubt as to what is solid and what is coated. Whatever +appears _probably_ solid, must be _assuredly_ so, and therefore it +becomes an inviolable law that no shaft shall ever be incrusted. Not only +does the whole virtue of a shaft depend on its consolidation, but the +labor of cutting and adjusting an incrusted coat to it would be greater +than the saving of material is worth. Therefore the shaft, of whatever +size, is always to be solid; and because the incrusted character of the +rest of the building renders it more difficult for the shafts to clear +themselves from suspicion, they must not, in this incrusted style, be in +any place jointed. No shaft must ever be used but of one block; and this +the more, because the permission given to the builder to have his walls +and piers as ponderous as he likes, renders it quite unnecessary for him +to use shafts of any fixed size. In our Norman and Gothic, where definite +support is required at a definite point, it becomes lawful to build up a +tower of small stones in the shape of a shaft. But the Byzantine is +allowed to have as much support as he wants from the walls in every +direction, and he has no right to ask for further license in the +structure of his shafts. Let him, by generosity in the substance of his +pillars, repay us for the permission we have given him to be superficial +in his walls. The builder in the chalk valleys of France and England may +be blameless in kneading his clumsy pier out of broken flint and calcined +lime; but the Venetian, who has access to the riches of Asia and the +quarries of Egypt, must frame at least his shafts out of flawless stone. + +SECTION XXXIII. And this for another reason yet. Although, as we have +said, it is impossible to cover the walls of a large building with +color, except on the condition of dividing the stone into plates, there +is always a certain appearance of meanness and niggardliness in the +procedure. It is necessary that the builder should justify himself from +this suspicion; and prove that it is not in mere economy or poverty, but +in the real impossibility of doing otherwise, that he has sheeted his +walls so thinly with the precious film. Now the shaft is exactly the +portion of the edifice in which it is fittest to recover his honor in +this respect. For if blocks of jasper or porphyry be inserted in the +walls, the spectator cannot tell their thickness, and cannot judge of +the costliness of the sacrifice. But the shaft he can measure with his +eye in an instant, and estimate the quantity of treasure both in the +mass of its existing substance, and in that which has been hewn away to +bring it into its perfect and symmetrical form. And thus the shafts of +all buildings of this kind are justly regarded as an expression of their +wealth, and a form of treasure, just as much as the jewels or gold in +the sacred vessels; they are, in fact, nothing else than large jewels, +[Footnote: "Quivi presso si vedi una colonna di tanta bellezza e finezza +che e riputato _piutosto gioia che pietra_,"--Sansovino, of the +verd-antique pillar in San Jacomo dell' Orio. A remarkable piece of +natural history and moral philosophy, connected with this subject, will +be found in the second chapter of our third volume, quoted from the work +of a Florentine architect of the fifteenth century.] the block of +precious serpentine or jasper being valued according to its size and +brilliancy of color, like a large emerald or ruby; only the bulk +required to bestow value on the one is to be measured in feet and tons, +and on the other in lines and carats. The shafts must therefore be, +without exception, of one block in all buildings of this kind; for the +attempt in any place to incrust or joint them would be a deception like +that of introducing a false stone among jewellery (for a number of +joints of any precious stone are of course not equal in value to a +single piece of equal weight), and would put an end at once to the +spectator's confidence in the expression of wealth in any portion of the +structure, or of the spirit of sacrifice in those who raised it. + +SECTION XXXIV. LAW IV. _The shafts may sometimes be independent of the +construction._ Exactly in proportion to the importance which the +shaft assumes as a large jewel, is the diminution of its importance as a +sustaining member; for the delight which we receive in its abstract +bulk, and beauty of color, is altogether independent of any perception +of its adaptation to mechanical necessities. Like other beautiful things +in this world, its end is to _be_ beautiful; and, in proportion to +its beauty, it receives permission to be otherwise useless. We do not +blame emeralds and rubies because we cannot make them into heads of +hammers. Nay, so far from our admiration of the jewel shaft being +dependent on its doing work for us, it is very possible that a chief +part of its preciousness may consist in a delicacy, fragility, and +tenderness of material, which must render it utterly unfit for hard +work; and therefore that we shall admire it the more, because we +perceive that if we were to put much weight upon it, it would be +crushed. But, at all events, it is very clear that the primal object in +the placing of such shafts must be the display of their beauty to the +best advantage, and that therefore all imbedding of them in walls, or +crowding of them into groups, in any position in which either their real +size or any portion of their surface would be concealed, is either +inadmissible together, or objectionable in proportion to their value; +that no symmetrical or scientific arrangements of pillars are therefore +ever to be expected in buildings of this kind, and that all such are +even to be looked upon as positive errors and misapplications of +materials: but that, on the contrary, we must be constantly prepared to +see, and to see with admiration, shafts of great size and importance set +in places where their real service is little more than nominal, and +where the chief end of their existence is to catch the sunshine upon +their polished sides, and lead the eye into delighted wandering among +the mazes of their azure veins. + +SECTION XXXV. LAW V. _The shafts may be of variable size._ Since +the value of each shaft depends upon its bulk, and diminishes with the +diminution of its mass, in a greater ratio than the size itself +diminishes, as in the case of all other jewellery, it is evident that we +must not in general expect perfect symmetry and equality among the +series of shafts, any more than definiteness of application; but that, +on the contrary, an accurately observed symmetry ought to give us a kind +of pain, as proving that considerable and useless loss has been +sustained by some of the shafts, in being cut down to match with the +rest. It is true that symmetry is generally sought for in works of +smaller jewellery; but, even there, not a perfect symmetry, and obtained +under circumstances quite different from those which affect the placing +of shafts in architecture. First: the symmetry is usually imperfect. The +stones that seem to match each other in a ring or necklace, appear to do +so only because they are so small that their differences are not easily +measured by the eye; but there is almost always such difference between +them as would be strikingly apparent if it existed in the same +proportion between two shafts nine or ten feet in height. Secondly: the +quantity of stones which pass through a jeweller's hands, and the +facility of exchange of such small objects, enable the tradesman to +select any number of stones of approximate size; a selection, however, +often requiring so much time, that perfect symmetry in a group of very +fine stones adds enormously to their value. But the architect has +neither the time nor the facilities of exchange. He cannot lay aside one +column in a corner of his church till, in the course of traffic, he +obtain another that will match it; he has not hundreds of shafts +fastened up in bundles, out of which he can match sizes at his ease; he +cannot send to a brother-tradesman and exchange the useless stones for +available ones, to the convenience of both. His blocks of stone, or his +ready hewn shafts, have been brought to him in limited number, from +immense distances; no others are to be had; and for those which he does +not bring into use, there is no demand elsewhere. His only means of +obtaining symmetry will therefore be, in cutting down the finer masses +to equality with the inferior ones; and this we ought not to desire him +often to do. And therefore, while sometimes in a Baldacchino, or an +important chapel or shrine, this costly symmetry may be necessary, and +admirable in proportion to its probable cost, in the general fabric we +must expect to see shafts introduced of size and proportion continually +varying, and such symmetry as may be obtained among them never +altogether perfect, and dependent for its charm frequently on strange +complexities and unexpected rising and falling of weight and accent in +its marble syllables; bearing the same relation to a rigidly chiselled +and proportioned architecture that the wild lyric rhythm of Aeschylus or +Pindar bears to the finished measures of Pope. + +SECTION XXXVI. The application of the principles of jewellery to the +smaller as well as the larger blocks, will suggest to us another reason +for the method of incrustation adopted in the walls. It often happens +that the beauty of the veining in some varieties of alabaster is so +great, that it becomes desirable to exhibit it by dividing the stone, +not merely to economize its substance, but to display the changes in the +disposition of its fantastic lines. By reversing one of two thin plates +successively taken from the stone, and placing their corresponding edges +in contact, a perfectly symmetrical figure may be obtained, which will +enable the eye to comprehend more thoroughly the position of the veins. +And this is actually the method in which, for the most part, the +alabasters of St. Mark are employed; thus accomplishing a double +good,--directing the spectator, in the first place, to close observation +of the nature of the stone employed, and in the second, giving him a +farther proof of the honesty of intention in the builder: for wherever +similar veining is discovered in two pieces, the fact is declared that +they have been cut from the same stone. It would have been easy to +disguise the similarity by using them in different parts of the +building; but on the contrary they are set edge to edge, so that the +whole system of the architecture may be discovered at a glance by any +one acquainted with the nature of the stones employed. Nay, but, it is +perhaps answered me, not by an ordinary observer; a person ignorant of +the nature of alabaster might perhaps fancy all these symmetrical +patterns to have been found in the stone itself, and thus be doubly +deceived, supposing blocks to be solid and symmetrical which were in +reality subdivided and irregular. I grant it; but be it remembered, that +in all things, ignorance is liable to be deceived, and has no right to +accuse anything but itself as the source of the deception. The style and +the words are dishonest, not which are liable to be misunderstood if +subjected to no inquiry, but which are deliberately calculated to lead +inquiry astray. There are perhaps no great or noble truths, from those +of religion downwards, which present no mistakable aspect to casual or +ignorant contemplation. Both the truth and the lie agree in hiding +themselves at first, but the lie continues to hide itself with effort, +as we approach to examine it; and leads us, if undiscovered, into deeper +lies; the truth reveals itself in proportion to our patience and +knowledge, discovers itself kindly to our pleading, and leads us, as it +is discovered, into deeper truths. + +SECTION XXXVII. LAW VI. _The decoration must be shallow in +cutting._ The method of construction being thus systematized, it is +evident that a certain style of decoration must arise out of it, based +on the primal condition that over the greater part of the edifice there +can be _no deep cutting_. The thin sheets of covering stones do not +admit of it; we must not cut them through to the bricks; and whatever +ornaments we engrave upon them cannot, therefore, be more than an inch +deep at the utmost. Consider for an instant the enormous differences +which this single condition compels between the sculptural decoration of +the incrusted style, and that of the solid stones of the North, which +may be hacked and hewn into whatever cavernous hollows and black +recesses we choose; struck into grim darknesses and grotesque +projections, and rugged ploughings up of sinuous furrows, in which any +form or thought may be wrought out on any scale,--mighty statues with +robes of rock and crowned foreheads burning in the sun, or venomous +goblins and stealthy dragons shrunk into lurking-places of untraceable +shade: think of this, and of the play and freedom given to the +sculptor's hand and temper, to smite out and in, hither and thither, as +he will; and then consider what must be the different spirit of the +design which is to be wrought on the smooth surface of a film of marble, +where every line and shadow must be drawn with the most tender +pencilling and cautious reserve of resource,--where even the chisel must +not strike hard, lest it break through the delicate stone, nor the mind +be permitted in any impetuosity of conception inconsistent with the fine +discipline of the hand. Consider that whatever animal or human form is +to be suggested, must be projected on a flat surface; that all the +features of the countenance, the folds of the drapery, the involutions +of the limbs, must be so reduced and subdued that the whole work becomes +rather a piece of fine drawing than of sculpture; and then follow out, +until you begin to perceive their endlessness, the resulting differences +of character which will be necessitated in every part of the ornamental +designs of these incrusted churches, as compared with that of the +Northern schools. I shall endeavor to trace a few of them only. + +SECTION XXXVIII. The first would of course be a diminution of the +builder's dependence upon human form as a source of ornament: since +exactly in proportion to the dignity of the form itself is the loss +which it must sustain in being reduced to a shallow and linear +bas-relief, as well as the difficulty of expressing it at all under such +conditions. Wherever sculpture can be solid, the nobler characters of +the human form at once lead the artist to aim at its representation, +rather than at that of inferior organisms; but when all is to be reduced +to outline, the forms of flowers and lower animals are always more +intelligible, and are felt to approach much more to a satisfactory +rendering of the objects intended, than the outlines of the human body. +This inducement to seek for resources of ornament in the lower fields of +creation was powerless in the minds of the great Pagan nations, +Ninevite, Greek, or Egyptian: first, because their thoughts were so +concentrated on their own capacities and fates, that they preferred the +rudest suggestion of human form to the best of an inferior organism; +secondly, because their constant practice in solid sculpture, often +colossal, enabled them to bring a vast amount of science into the +treatment of the lines, whether of the low relief, the monochrome vase, +or shallow hieroglyphic. + +SECTION XXXIX. But when various ideas adverse to the representation of +animal, and especially of human, form, originating with the Arabs and +iconoclast Greeks, had begun at any rate to direct the builders' minds +to seek for decorative materials in inferior types, and when diminished +practice in solid sculpture had rendered it more difficult to find +artists capable of satisfactorily reducing the high organisms to their +elementary outlines, the choice of subject for surface sculpture would +be more and more uninterruptedly directed to floral organisms, and human +and animal form would become diminished in size, frequency, and general +importance. So that, while in the Northern solid architecture we +constantly find the effect of its noblest features dependent on ranges +of statues, often colossal, and full of abstract interest, independent +of their architectural service, in the Southern incrusted style we must +expect to find the human form for the most part subordinate and +diminutive, and involved among designs of foliage and flowers, in the +manner of which endless examples had been furnished by the fantastic +ornamentation of the Romans, from which the incrusted style had been +directly derived. + +SECTION XL. Farther. In proportion to the degree in which his subject +must be reduced to abstract outline will be the tendency in the sculptor +to abandon naturalism of representation, and subordinate every form to +architectural service. Where the flower or animal can be hewn into bold +relief, there will always be a temptation to render the representation +of it more complete than is necessary, or even to introduce details and +intricacies inconsistent with simplicity of distant effect. Very often a +worse fault than this is committed; and in the endeavor to give vitality +to the stone, the original ornamental purpose of the design is +sacrificed or forgotten. But when nothing of this kind can be attempted, +and a slight outline is all that the sculptor can command, we may +anticipate that this outline will be composed with exquisite grace; and +that the richness of its ornamental arrangement will atone for the +feebleness of its power of portraiture. On the porch of a Northern +cathedral we may seek for the images of the flowers that grow in the +neighboring fields, and as we watch with wonder the gray stones that +fret themselves into thorns, and soften into blossoms, we may care +little that these knots of ornament, as we retire from them to +contemplate the whole building, appear unconsidered or confused. On the +incrusted building we must expect no such deception of the eye or +thoughts. It may sometimes be difficult to determine, from the +involutions of its linear sculpture, what were the natural forms which +originally suggested them: but we may confidently expect that the grace +of their arrangement will always be complete; that there will not be a +line in them which could be taken away without injury, nor one wanting +which could be added with advantage. + +SECTION XLI. Farther. While the sculptures of the incrusted school will +thus be generally distinguished by care and purity rather than force, +and will be, for the most part, utterly wanting in depth of shadow, +there will be one means of obtaining darkness peculiarly simple and +obvious, and often in the sculptor's power. Wherever he can, without +danger, leave a hollow behind his covering slabs, or use them, like +glass, to fill an aperture in the wall, he can, by piercing them with +holes, obtain points or spaces of intense blackness to contrast with the +light tracing of the rest of his design. And we may expect to find this +artifice used the more extensively, because, while it will be an +effective means of ornamentation on the exterior of the building, it +will be also the safest way of admitting light to the interior, still +totally excluding both rain and wind. And it will naturally follow that +the architect, thus familiarized with the effect of black and sudden +points of shadow, will often seek to carry the same principle into other +portions of his ornamentation, and by deep drill-holes, or perhaps +inlaid portions of black color, to refresh the eye where it may be +wearied by the lightness of the general handling. + +SECTION XLII. Farther. Exactly in proportion to the degree in which the +force of sculpture is subdued, will be the importance attached to color +as a means of effect or constituent of beauty. I have above stated that +the incrusted style was the only one in which perfect or permanent color +decoration was _possible_. It is also the only one in which a true +system of color decoration was ever likely to be invented. In order to +understand this, the reader must permit me to review with some care the +nature of the principles of coloring adopted by the Northern and +Southern nations. + +SECTION XLIII. I believe that from the beginning of the world there has +never been a true or fine school of art in which color was despised. It +has often been imperfectly attained and injudiciously applied, but I +believe it to be one of the essential signs of life in a school of art, +that it loves color; and I know it to be one of the first signs of death +in the Renaissance schools, that they despised color. + +Observe, it is not now the question whether our Northern cathedrals are +better with color or without. Perhaps the great monotone gray of Nature +and of Time is a better color than any that the human hand can give; but +that is nothing to our present business. The simple fact is, that the +builders of those cathedrals laid upon them the brightest colors they +could obtain, and that there is not, as far as I am aware, in Europe, +any monument of a truly noble school which has not been either painted +all over, or vigorously touched with paint, mosaic, and gilding in its +prominent parts. Thus far Egyptians, Greeks, Goths, Arabs, and mediaeval +Christians all agree: none of them, when in their right senses, ever +think of doing without paint; and, therefore, when I said above that the +Venetians were the only people who had thoroughly sympathized with the +Arabs in this respect, I referred, first, to their intense love of +color, which led them to lavish the most expensive decorations on +ordinary dwelling-houses; and, secondly, to that perfection of the +color-instinct in them, which enabled them to render whatever they did, +in this kind, as just in principle as it was gorgeous in appliance. It +is this principle of theirs, as distinguished from that of the Northern +builders, which we have finally to examine. + +SECTION XLIV. In the second chapter of the first volume, it was noticed +that the architect of Bourges Cathedral liked hawthorn, and that the +porch of his cathedral was therefore decorated with a rich wreath of it; +but another of the predilections of that architect was there unnoticed, +namely, that he did not at all like _gray_ hawthorn, but preferred +it green, and he painted it green accordingly, as bright as he could. +The color is still left in every sheltered interstice of the foliage. He +had, in fact, hardly the choice of any other color; he might have gilded +the thorns, by way of allegorizing human life, but if they were to be +painted at all, they could hardly be painted anything but green, and +green all over. People would have been apt to object to any pursuit of +abstract harmonies of color, which might have induced him to paint his +hawthorn blue. + +SECTION XLV. In the same way, whenever the subject of the sculpture was +definite, its color was of necessity definite also; and, in the hands of +the Northern builders, it often became, in consequence, rather the means +of explaining and animating the stories of their stone-work, than a +matter of abstract decorative science. Flowers were painted red, trees +green, and faces flesh-color; the result of the whole being often far +more entertaining than beautiful. And also, though in the lines of the +mouldings and the decorations of shafts or vaults, a richer and more +abstract method of coloring was adopted (aided by the rapid development +of the best principles of color in early glass-painting), the vigorous +depths of shadow in the Northern sculpture confused the architect's eye, +compelling him to use violent colors in the recesses, if these were to +be seen as color at all, and thus injured his perception of more +delicate color harmonies; so that in innumerable instances it becomes +very disputable whether monuments even of the best times were improved +by the color bestowed upon them, or the contrary. But, in the South, the +flatness and comparatively vague forms of the sculpture, while they +appeared to call for color in order to enhance their interest, presented +exactly the conditions which would set it off to the greatest advantage; +breadth or surface displaying even the most delicate tints in the +lights, and faintness of shadow joining with the most delicate and +pearly grays of color harmony; while the subject of the design being in +nearly all cases reduced to mere intricacy of ornamental line, might be +colored in any way the architect chose without any loss of rationality. +Where oak-leaves and roses were carved into fresh relief and perfect +bloom, it was necessary to paint the one green and the other red; but in +portions of ornamentation where there was nothing which could be +definitely construed into either an oak-leaf or a rose, but a mere +labyrinth of beautiful lines, becoming here something like a leaf, and +there something like a flower, the whole tracery of the sculpture might +be left white, and grounded with gold or blue, or treated in any other +manner best harmonizing with the colors around it. And as the +necessarily feeble character of the sculpture called for and was ready +to display the best arrangements of color, so the precious marbles in +the architect's hands give him at once the best examples and the best +means of color. The best examples, for the tints of all natural stones +are as exquisite in quality as endless in change; and the best means, +for they are all permanent. + +SECTION XLVI. Every motive thus concurred in urging him to the study of +chromatic decoration, and every advantage was given him in the pursuit +of it; and this at the very moment when, as presently to be noticed, the +_naïveté_ of barbaric Christianity could only be forcibly appealed +to by the help of colored pictures: so that, both externally and +internally, the architectural construction became partly merged in +pictorial effect; and the whole edifice is to be regarded less as a +temple wherein to pray, than as itself a Book of Common Prayer, a vast +illuminated missal, bound with alabaster instead of parchment, studded +with porphyry pillars instead of jewels, and written within and without +in letters of enamel and gold. + +SECTION XLVII. LAW VII. _That the impression of the architecture is +not to be dependent on size._ And now there is but one final +consequence to be deduced. The reader understands, I trust, by this +time, that the claims of these several parts of the building upon his +attention will depend upon their delicacy of design, their perfection of +color, their preciousness of material, and their legendary interest. All +these qualities are independent of size, and partly even inconsistent +with it. Neither delicacy of surface sculpture, nor subtle gradations of +color, can be appreciated by the eye at a distance; and since we have +seen that our sculpture is generally to be only an inch or two in depth, +and that our coloring is in great part to be produced with the soft +tints and veins of natural stones, it will follow necessarily that none +of the parts of the building can be removed far from the eye, and +therefore that the whole mass of it cannot be large. It is not even +desirable that it should be so; for the temper in which the mind +addresses itself to contemplate minute and beautiful details is +altogether different from that in which it submits itself to vague +impressions of space and size. And therefore we must not be +disappointed, but grateful, when we find all the best work of the +building concentrated within a space comparatively small; and that, for +the great cliff-like buttresses and mighty piers of the North, shooting +up into indiscernible height, we have here low walls spread before us +like the pages of a book, and shafts whose capitals we may touch with +our hand. + +SECTION XLVIII. The due consideration of the principles above stated +will enable the traveller to judge with more candor and justice of the +architecture of St. Mark's than usually it would have been possible for +him to do while under the influence of the prejudices necessitated by +familiarity with the very different schools of Northern art. I wish it +were in my power to lay also before the general reader some +exemplification of the manner in which these strange principles are +developed in the lovely building. But exactly in proportion to the +nobility of any work, is the difficulty of conveying a just impression +of it: and wherever I have occasion to bestow high praise, there it is +exactly most dangerous for me to endeavor to illustrate my meaning, +except by reference to the work itself. And, in fact, the principal +reason why architectural criticism is at this day so far behind all +other, is the impossibility of illustrating the best architecture +faithfully. Of the various schools of painting, examples are accessible +to every one, and reference to the works themselves is found sufficient +for all purposes of criticism; but there is nothing like St. Mark's or +the Ducal Palace to be referred to in the National Gallery, and no +faithful illustration of them is possible on the scale of such a volume +as this. And it is exceedingly difficult on any scale. Nothing is so +rare in art, as far as my own experience goes, as a fair illustration of +architecture; _perfect_ illustration of it does not exist. For all +good architecture depends upon the adaptation of its chiselling to the +effect at a certain distance from the eye; and to render the peculiar +confusion in the midst of order, and uncertainty in the midst of +decision, and mystery in the midst of trenchant lines, which are the +result of distance, together with perfect expression of the +peculiarities of the design, requires the skill of the most admirable +artist, devoted to the work with the most severe conscientiousness, +neither the skill nor the determination having as yet been given to the +subject. And in the illustration of details, every building of any +pretensions to high architectural rank would require a volume of plates, +and those finished with extraordinary care. With respect to the two +buildings which are the principal subjects of the present volume, St. +Mark's and the Ducal Palace, I have found it quite impossible to do them +the slightest justice by any kind of portraiture; and I abandoned the +endeavor in the case of the latter with less regret, because in the new +Crystal Palace (as the poetical public insist upon calling it, though it +is neither a palace, nor of crystal) there will be placed, I believe, a +noble cast of one of its angles. As for St. Mark's, the effort was +hopeless from the beginning. For its effect depends not only upon the +most delicate sculpture in every part, out, as we have just stated, +eminently on its color also, and that the most subtle, variable, +inexpressible color in the world,--the color of glass, of transparent +alabaster, of polished marble, and lustrous gold. It would be easier to +illustrate a crest of Scottish mountain, with its purple heather and +pale harebells at their fullest and fairest, or a glade of Jura forest, +with its floor of anemone and moss, than a single portico of St. Mark's. +The fragment of one of its archivolts, given at the bottom of the +opposite Plate, is not to illustrate the thing itself, but to illustrate +the impossibility of illustration. + +SECTION XLIX. It is left a fragment, in order to get it on a larger +scale; and yet even on this scale it is too small to show the sharp +folds and points of the marble vine-leaves with sufficient clearness. +The ground of it is gold, the sculpture in the spandrils is not more +than an inch and a half deep, rarely so much. It is in fact nothing more +than an exquisite sketching of outlines in marble, to about the same +depth as in the Elgin frieze; the draperies, however, being filled with +close folds, in the manner of the Byzantine pictures, folds especially +necessary here, as large masses could not be expressed in the shallow +sculpture without becoming insipid; but the disposition of these folds +is always most beautiful, and often opposed by broad and simple spaces, +like that obtained by the scroll in the hand of the prophet seen in the +Plate. + +The balls in the archivolt project considerably, and the interstices +between their interwoven bands of marble are filled with colors like the +illuminations of a manuscript; violet, crimson, blue, gold, and green +alternately: but no green is ever used without an intermixture of blue +pieces in the mosaic, nor any blue without a little centre of pale +green; sometimes only a single piece of glass a quarter of an inch +square, so subtle was the feeling for color which was thus to be +satisfied. [Footnote: The fact is, that no two tesserae of the glass are +exactly of the same tint, the greens being all varied with blues, the +blues of different depths, the reds of different clearness, so that the +effect of each mass of color is full of variety, like the stippled color +of a fruit piece.] The intermediate circles have golden stars set on an +azure ground, varied in the same manner; and the small crosses seen in +the intervals are alternately blue and subdued scarlet, with two small +circles of white set in the golden ground above and beneath them, each +only about half an inch across (this work, remember, being on the +outside of the building, and twenty feet above the eye), while the blue +crosses have each a pale green centre. Of all this exquisitely mingled +hue, no plate, however large or expensive, could give any adequate +conception; but, if the reader will supply in imagination to the +engraving what he supplies to a common woodcut of a group of flowers, +the decision of the respective merits of modern and of Byzantine +architecture may be allowed to rest on this fragment of St. Mark's +alone. + +From the vine-leaves of that archivolt, though there is no direct +imitation of nature in them, but on the contrary a studious subjection +to architectural purpose more particularly to be noticed hereafter, we +may yet receive the same kind of pleasure which we have in seeing true +vine-leaves and wreathed branches traced upon golden light; its stars +upon their azure ground ought to make us remember, as its builder +remembered, the stars that ascend and fall in the great arch of the sky: +and I believe that stars, and boughs, and leaves, and bright colors are +everlastingly lovely, and to be by all men beloved; and, moreover, that +church walls grimly seared with squared lines, are not better nor nobler +things than these. I believe the man who designed and the men who +delighted in that archivolt to have been wise, happy, and holy. Let the +reader look back to the archivolt I have already given out of the +streets of London (Plate XIII. Vol. I., Stones of Venice), and see what +there is in it to make us any of the three. Let him remember that the +men who design such work as that call St. Mark's a barbaric monstrosity, +and let him judge between us. + +SECTION L. Some farther details of the St. Mark's architecture, and +especially a general account of Byzantine capitals, and of the principal +ones at the angles of the church, will be found in the following +chapter. [Footnote: Some illustration, also, of what was said in SECTION +XXXIII above, respecting the value of the shafts of St. Mark's as large +jewels, will be found in Appendix 9, "Shafts of St. Mark's."] Here I +must pass on to the second part of our immediate subject, namely, the +inquiry how far the exquisite and varied ornament of St. Mark's fits it, +as a Temple, for its sacred purpose, and would be applicable in the +churches of modern times. We have here evidently two questions: the +first, that wide and continually agitated one, whether richness of +ornament be right in churches at all; the second, whether the ornament +of St. Mark's be of a truly ecclesiastical and Christian character. + +SECTION LI. In the first chapter of the "Seven Lamps of Architecture" I +endeavored to lay before the reader some reasons why churches ought to +be richly adorned, as being the only places in which the desire of +offering a portion of all precious things to God could be legitimately +expressed. But I left wholly untouched the question: whether the church, +as such, stood in need of adornment, or would be better fitted for its +purposes by possessing it. This question I would now ask the reader to +deal with briefly and candidly. + +The chief difficulty in deciding it has arisen from its being always +presented to us in an unfair form. It is asked of us, or we ask of +ourselves, whether the sensation which we now feel in passing from our +own modern dwelling-house, through a newly built street, into a +cathedral of the thirteenth century, be safe or desirable as a +preparation for public worship. But we never ask whether that sensation +was at all calculated upon by the builders of the cathedral. + +SECTION LII. Now I do not say that the contrast of the ancient with the +modern building, and the strangeness with which the earlier +architectural forms fall upon the eye, are at this day disadvantageous. +But I do say, that their effect, whatever it may be, was entirely +uncalculated upon by the old builder. He endeavored to make his work +beautiful, but never expected it to be strange. And we incapacitate +ourselves altogether from fair judgment of its intention, if we forget +that, when it was built, it rose in the midst of other work fanciful and +beautiful as itself; that every dwelling-house in the middle ages was +rich with the same ornaments and quaint with the same grotesques which +fretted the porches or animated the gargoyles of the cathedral; that +what we now regard with doubt and wonder, as well as with delight, was +then the natural continuation, into the principal edifice of the city, +of a style which was familiar to every eye throughout all its lanes and +streets; and that the architect had often no more idea of producing a +peculiarly devotional impression by the richest color and the most +elaborate carving, than the builder of a modern meetinghouse has by his +white-washed walls and square-cut casements. [Footnote: See the farther +notice of this subject in Vol. III., Chap. IV. Stones of Venice.] + +SECTION LIII. Let the reader fix this great fact well in his mind, and +then follow out its important corollaries. We attach, in modern days, a +kind of sacredness to the pointed arch and the groined roof, because, +while we look habitually out of square windows and live under flat +ceilings, we meet with the more beautiful forms in the ruins of our +abbeys. But when those abbeys were built, the pointed arch was used for +every shop door, as well as for that of the cloister, and the feudal +baron and freebooter feasted, as the monk sang, under vaulted roofs; not +because the vaulting was thought especially appropriate to either the +revel or psalm, but because it was then the form in which a strong roof +was easiest built. We have destroyed the goodly architecture of our +cities; we have substituted one wholly devoid of beauty or meaning; and +then we reason respecting the strange effect upon our minds of the +fragments which, fortunately, we have left in our churches, as if those +churches had always been designed to stand out in strong relief from all +the buildings around them, and Gothic architecture had always been, what +it is now, a religious language, like Monkish Latin. Most readers know, +if they would arouse their knowledge, that this was not so; but they +take no pains to reason the matter out: they abandon themselves drowsily +to the impression that Gothic is a peculiarly ecclesiastical style; and +sometimes, even, that richness in church ornament is a condition or +furtherance of the Romish religion. Undoubtedly it has become so in +modern times: for there being no beauty in our recent architecture, and +much in the remains of the past, and these remains being almost +exclusively ecclesiastical, the High Church and Romanist parties have +not been slow in availing themselves of the natural instincts which were +deprived of all food except from this source; and have willingly +promulgated the theory, that because all the good architecture that is +now left is expressive of High Church or Romanist doctrines, all good +architecture ever has been and must be so,--a piece of absurdity from +which, though here and there a country clergyman may innocently believe +it, I hope the common sense of the nation will soon manfully quit +itself. It needs but little inquiry into the spirit of the past, to +ascertain what, once for all, I would desire here clearly and forcibly +to assert, that wherever Christian church architecture has been good and +lovely, it has been merely the perfect development of the common +dwelling-house architecture of the period; that when the pointed arch +was used in the street, it was used in the church; when the round arch +was used in the street, it was used in the church; when the pinnacle +was set over the garret window, it was set over the belfry tower; when +the flat roof was used for the drawing-room, it was used for the nave. +There is no sacredness in round arches, nor in pointed; none in +pinnacles, nor in buttresses; none in pillars, nor traceries. Churches +were larger than in most other buildings, because they had to hold more +people; they were more adorned than most other buildings, because they +were safer from violence, and were the fitting subjects of devotional +offering: but they were never built in any separate, mystical, and +religious style; they were built in the manner that was common and +familiar to everybody at the time. The flamboyant traceries that adorn +the façade of Rouen Cathedral had once their fellows in every window of +every house in the market place; the sculptures that adorn the porches +of St. Mark's had once their match on the walls, of every palace on the +Grand Canal; and the only difference between the church and the +dwelling-house was, that there existed a symbolical meaning in the +distribution of the parts of all buildings meant for worship, and that +the painting or sculpture was, in the one case, less frequently of +profane subject than in the other. A more severe distinction cannot be +drawn: for secular history was constantly introduced into church +architecture; and sacred history or allusion generally formed at least +one half of the ornament of the dwelling-house. + +SECTION LIV. This fact is so important, and so little considered, that I +must be pardoned for dwelling upon it at some length, and accurately +marking the limits of the assertion I have made. I do not mean that +every dwelling-house of mediaeval cities was as richly adorned and as +exquisite in composition as the fronts of their cathedrals, but that +they presented features of the same kind, often in parts quite as +beautiful; and that the churches were not separated by any change of +style from the buildings round them, as they are now, but were merely +more finished and full examples of a universal style, rising out of the +confused streets of the city as an oak tree does out of an oak copse, +not differing in leafage, but in size and symmetry. Of course the +quainter and smaller forms of turret and window necessary for domestic +service, the inferior materials, often wood instead of stone, and the +fancy of the inhabitants, which had free play in the design, introduced +oddnesses, vulgarities, and variations into house architecture, which +were prevented by the traditions, the wealth, and the skill of the monks +and freemasons; while, on the other hand, conditions of vaulting, +buttressing, and arch and tower building, were necessitated by the mere +size of the cathedral, of which it would be difficult to find examples +elsewhere. But there was nothing more in these features than the +adaptation of mechanical skill to vaster requirements; there was nothing +intended to be, or felt to be, especially ecclesiastical in any of the +forms so developed; and the inhabitants of every village and city, when +they furnished funds for the decoration of their church, desired merely +to adorn the house of God as they adorned their own, only a little more +richly, and with a somewhat graver temper in the subjects of the +carving. Even this last difference is not always clearly discernible: +all manner of ribaldry occurs in the details of the ecclesiastical +buildings of the North, and at the time when the best of them were +built, every man's house was a kind of temple; a figure of the Madonna, +or of Christ, almost always occupied a niche over the principal door, +and the Old Testament histories were curiously interpolated amidst the +grotesques of the brackets and the gables. + +SECTION LV. And the reader will now perceive that the question +respecting fitness of church decoration rests in reality on totally +different grounds from those commonly made foundations of argument. So +long as our streets are walled with barren brick, and our eyes rest +continually, in our daily life, on objects utterly ugly, or of +inconsistent and meaningless design, it may be a doubtful question +whether the faculties of eye and mind which are capable of perceiving +beauty, having been left without food during the whole of our active +life, should be suddenly feasted upon entering a place of worship; and +color, and music, and sculpture should delight the senses, and stir the +curiosity of men unaccustomed to such appeal, at the moment when they +are required to compose themselves for acts of devotion;--this, I say, +may be a doubtful question: but it cannot be a question at all, that if +once familiarized with beautiful form and color, and accustomed to see +in whatever human hands have executed for us, even for the lowest +services, evidence of noble thought and admirable skill, we shall desire +to see this evidence also in whatever is built or labored for the house +of prayer; that the absence of the accustomed loveliness would disturb +instead of assisting devotion; and that we should feel it as vain to ask +whether, with our own house full of goodly craftsmanship, we should +worship God in a house destitute of it, as to ask whether a pilgrim +whose day's journey had led him through fair woods and by sweet waters, +must at evening turn aside into some barren place to pray. + +SECTION LVI. Then the second question submitted to us, whether the +ornament of St. Mark's be truly ecclesiastical and Christian, is +evidently determined together with the first; for, if not only the +permission of ornament at all, but the beautiful execution of it, be +dependent on our being familiar with it in daily life, it will follow +that no style of noble architecture can be exclusively ecclesiastical. +It must be practised in the dwelling before it be perfected in the +church, and it is the test of a noble style that it shall be applicable +to both; for if essentially false and ignoble, it may be made to fit the +dwelling-house, but never can be made to fit the church: and just as +there are many principles which will bear the light of the world's +opinion, yet will not bear the light of God's word, while all principles +which will bear the test of Scripture will also bear that of practice, +so in architecture there are many forms which expediency and convenience +may apparently justify, or at least render endurable, in daily use, +which will yet be found offensive the moment they are used for church +service; but there are none good for church service, which cannot bear +daily use. Thus the Renaissance manner of building is a convenient style +for dwelling-houses, but the natural sense of all religious men causes +them to turn from it with pain when it has been used in churches; and +this has given rise to the popular idea that the Roman style is good for +houses and the Gothic for churches. This is not so; the Roman style is +essentially base, and we can bear with it only so long as it gives us +convenient windows and spacious rooms; the moment the question of +convenience is set aside, and the expression or beauty of the style it +tried by its being used in a church, we find it fails. But because the +Gothic and Byzantine styles are fit for churches they are not therefore +less fit for dwellings. They are in the highest sense fit and good for +both, nor were they ever brought to perfection except where they were +used for both. + +SECTION LVII. But there is one character of Byzantine work which, +according to the time at which it was employed, may be considered as +either fitting or unfitting it for distinctly ecclesiastical purposes; I +mean the essentially pictorial character of its decoration. We have +already seen what large surfaces it leaves void of bold architectural +features, to be rendered interesting merely by surface ornament or +sculpture. In this respect Byzantine work differs essentially from pure +Gothic styles, which are capable of filling every vacant space by +features purely architectural, and may be rendered, if we please, +altogether independent of pictorial aid. A Gothic church may be rendered +impressive by mere successions of arches, accumulations of niches, and +entanglements of tracery. But a Byzantine church requires expression and +interesting decoration over vast plane surfaces,--decoration which +becomes noble only by becoming pictorial; that is to say, by +representing natural objects,--men, animals, or flowers. And, therefore, +the question whether the Byzantine style be fit for church service in +modern days, becomes involved in the inquiry, what effect upon religion +has been or may yet be produced by pictorial art, and especially by the +art of the mosaicist? + +SECTION LVIII. The more I have examined the subject the more dangerous I +have found it to dogmatize respecting the character of the art which is +likely, at a given period, to be most useful to the cause of religion. +One great fact first meets me. I cannot answer for the experience of +others, but I never yet met with a Christian whose heart was thoroughly +set upon the world to come, and, so far as human judgment could +pronounce, perfect and right before God, who cared about art at all. I +have known several very noble Christian men who loved it intensely, but +in them there was always traceable some entanglement of the thoughts +with the matters of this world, causing them to fall into strange +distresses and doubts, and often leading them into what they themselves +would confess to be errors in understanding, or even failures in duty. I +do not say that these men may not, many of them, be in very deed nobler +than those whose conduct is more consistent; they may be more tender in +the tone of all their feelings, and farther-sighted in soul, and for +that very reason exposed to greater trials and fears, than those whose +hardier frame and naturally narrower vision enable them with less effort +to give their hands to God and walk with Him. But still, the general +fact is indeed so, that I have never known a man who seemed altogether +right and calm in faith, who seriously cared about art; and when +casually moved by it, it is quite impossible to say beforehand by what +class of art this impression will on such men be made. Very often it is +by a theatrical commonplace, more frequently still by false sentiment. I +believe that the four painters who have had, and still have, the most +influence, such as it is, on the ordinary Protestant Christian mind, are +Carlo Dolci, Guercino, Benjamin West, and John Martin. Raphael, much as +he is talked about, is, I believe in very fact, rarely looked at by +religious people; much less his master, or any of the truly great +religious men of old. But a smooth Magdalen of Carlo Dolci with a tear +on each cheek, or a Guercino Christ or St. John, or a Scripture +illustration of West's, or a black cloud with a flash of lightning in it +of Martin's, rarely rails of being verily, often deeply, felt for the +time. + +SECTION LIX. There are indeed many very evident reasons for this; the +chief one being that, as all truly great religious painters have been +hearty Romanists, there are none of their works which do not embody, in +some portions of them, definitely Romanist doctrines. The Protestant mind +is instantly struck by these, and offended by them, so as to be incapable +of entering, or at least rendered indisposed to enter, farther into the +heart of the work, or to the discovering those deeper characters of it, +which are not Romanist, but Christian, in the everlasting sense and power +of Christianity. Thus most Protestants, entering for the first time a +Paradise of Angelico, would be irrevocably offended by finding that the +first person the painter wished them to speak to was St. Dominic; and +would retire from such a heaven as speedily as possible,--not giving +themselves time to discover, that whether dressed in black, or white, or +gray, and by whatever name in the calendar they might be called, the +figures that filled that Angelico heaven were indeed more, saintly, and +pure, and full of love in every feature, than any that the human hand +ever traced before or since. And thus Protestantism, having foolishly +sought for the little help it requires at the hand of painting from the +men who embodied no Catholic doctrine, has been reduced to receive it +from those who believed neither Catholicism nor Protestantism, but who +read the Bible in search of the picturesque. We thus refuse to regard the +painters who passed their lives in prayer, but are perfectly ready to be +taught by those who spent them in debauchery. There is perhaps no more +popular Protestant picture than Salvator's "Witch of Endor," of which the +subject was chosen by the painter simply because, under the names of Saul +and the Sorceress, he could paint a captain of banditti, and a Neapolitan +hag. + +SECTION LX. The fact seems to be that strength of religious feeling is +capable of supplying for itself whatever is wanting in the rudest +suggestions of art, and will either, on the one hand, purify what is +coarse into inoffensiveness, or, on the other, raise what is feeble into +impressiveness. Probably all art, as such, is unsatisfactory to it; and +the effort which it makes to supply the void will be induced rather by +association and accident than by the real merit of the work submitted to +it. The likeness to a beloved friend, the correspondence with a habitual +conception, the freedom from any strange or offensive particularity, +and, above all, an interesting choice of incident, will win admiration +for a picture when the noblest efforts of religious imagination would +otherwise fail of power. How much more, when to the quick capacity of +emotion is joined a childish trust that the picture does indeed +represent a fact! It matters little whether the fact be well or ill +told; the moment we believe the picture to be true, we complain little +of its being ill-painted. Let it be considered for a moment, whether the +child, with its colored print, inquiring eagerly and gravely which is +Joseph, and which is Benjamin, is not more capable of receiving a +strong, even a sublime, impression from the rude symbol which it invests +with reality by its own effort, than the connoisseur who admires the +grouping of the three figures in Raphael's "Telling of the Dreams;" and +whether also, when the human mind is in right religious tone, it has not +always this childish power--I speak advisedly, this power--a noble one, +and possessed more in youth than at any period of after life, but +always, I think, restored in a measure by religion--of raising into +sublimity and reality the rudest symbol which is given to it of +accredited truth. + +SECTION LXI. Ever since the period of the Renaissance, however, the +truth has not been accredited; the painter of religious subject is no +longer regarded as the narrator of a fact, but as the inventor of an +idea. [Footnote: I do not mean that modern Christians believe less in +the _facts_ than ancient Christians, but they do not believe in the +representation of the facts as true. We look upon the picture as this or +that painter's conception; the elder Christians looked upon it as this +or that, painter's description of what had actually taken place. And in +the Greek Church all painting is, to this day, strictly a branch of +tradition. See M. Dideron's admirably written introduction to his +Iconographie Chrétienne, p. 7:--"Un de mes compagnons s'étonnait de re +trouver à la Panagia de St. Luc, le saint Jean Chrysostome qu'il avait +dessiné dans le baptistère de St. Marc, à Venise. Le costume des +personnages est partout et en tout temps le même, non-seulement pour la +forme, mais pour la couleur, mais pour le dessin, mais jusque pour le +nombre et l'épaisseur des plis."] We do not severely criticise the +manner in which a true history is told, but we become harsh +investigators of the faults of an invention; so that in the modern +religious mind, the capacity of emotion, which renders judgment +uncertain, is joined with an incredulity which renders it severe; and +this ignorant emotion, joined with ignorant observance of faults, is the +worst possible temper in which any art can be regarded, but more +especially sacred art. For as religious faith renders emotion facile, so +also it generally renders expression simple; that is to say a truly +religious painter will very often be ruder, quainter, simpler, and more +faulty in his manner of working, than a great irreligious one. And it +was in this artless utterance, and simple acceptance, on the part of +both the workman and the beholder, that all noble schools of art have +been cradled; it is in them that they _must_ be cradled to the end +of time. It is impossible to calculate the enormous loss of power in +modern days, owing to the imperative requirement that art shall be +methodical and learned: for as long as the constitution of this world +remains unaltered, there will be more intellect in it than there can be +education; there will be many men capable of just sensation and vivid +invention, who never will have time to cultivate or polish their natural +powers. And all unpolished power is in the present state of society +lost; in other things as well as in the arts, but in the arts +especially: nay, in nine cases out of ten, people mistake the polish for +the power. Until a man has passed through a course of academy +studentship, and can draw in an approved manner with French chalk, and +knows foreshortening, and perspective, and something of anatomy, we do +not think he can possibly be an artist; what is worse, we are very apt +to think that we can _make_ him an artist by teaching him anatomy, +and how to draw with French chalk; whereas the real gift in him is +utterly independent of all such accomplishments: and I believe there are +many peasants on every estate, and laborers in every town of Europe, who +have imaginative powers of a high order, which nevertheless cannot be +used for our good, because we do not choose to look at anything but what +is expressed in a legal and scientific way. I believe there is many a +village mason who, set to carve a series of Scripture or any other +histories, would find many a strange and noble fancy in his head, and +set it down, roughly enough indeed, but in a way well worth our having. +But we are too grand to let him do this, or to set up his clumsy work +when it is done; and accordingly the poor stone-mason is kept hewing +stones smooth at the corners, and we build our church of the smooth +square stones, and consider ourselves wise. + +SECTION LXII. I shall pursue this subject farther in another place; but +I allude to it here in order to meet the objections of those persons who +suppose the mosaics of St. Mark's, and others of the period, to be +utterly barbarous as representations of religious history. Let it be +granted that they are so; we are not for that reason to suppose they +were ineffective in religious teaching. I have above spoken of the whole +church as a great Book of Common Prayer; the mosaics were its +illuminations, and the common people of the time were taught their +Scripture history by means of them, more impressively perhaps, though +far less fully, than ours are now by Scripture reading. They had no +other Bible, and--Protestants do not often enough consider this--_could_ +have no other. We find it somewhat difficult to furnish our poor with +printed Bibles; consider what the difficulty must have been when they +could be given only in manuscript. The walls of the church necessarily +became the poor man's Bible, and a picture was more easily read upon the +walls than a chapter. Under this view, and considering them merely as the +Bible pictures of a great nation in its youth, I shall finally invite the +reader to examine the connection and subjects of these mosaics; but in +the meantime I have to deprecate the idea of their execution being in any +sense barbarous. I have conceded too much to modern prejudice, in +permitting them to be rated as mere childish efforts at colored +portraiture: they have characters in them of a very noble kind; nor are +they by any means devoid of the remains of the science of the later Roman +empire. The character of the features is almost always fine, the +expression stern and quiet, and very solemn, the attitudes and draperies +always majestic in the single figures, and in those of the groups which +are not in violent action; [Footnote: All the effects of Byzantine art to +represent violent action are inadequate, most of them ludicrously so, +even when the sculptural art is in other respects far advanced. The early +Gothic sculptors, on the other hand, fail in all points of refinement, +but hardly ever in expression of action. This distinction is of course +one of the necessary consequences of the difference in all respects +between the repose of the Eastern, and activity of the Western mind, +which we shall have to trace out completely in the inquiry into the +nature of Gothic.] while the bright coloring and disregard of chiaroscuro +cannot be regarded as imperfections, since they are the only means by +which the figures could be rendered clearly intelligible in the distance +and darkness of the vaulting. So far am I from considering them +barbarous, that I believe of all works of religious art whatsoever, +these, and such as these, have been the most effective. They stand +exactly midway between the debased manufacture of wooden and waxen images +which is the support of Romanist idolatry all over the world, and the +great art which leads the mind away from the religious subject to the art +itself. Respecting neither of these branches of human skill is there, nor +can there be, any question. The manufacture of puppets, however +influential on the Romanist mind of Europe, is certainly not deserving of +consideration as one of the fine arts. It matters literally nothing to a +Romanist what the image he worships is like. Take the vilest doll that is +screwed together in a cheap toy-shop, trust it to the keeping of a large +family of children, let it be beaten about the house by them till it is +reduced to a shapeless block, then dress it in a satin frock and declare +it to have fallen from heaven, and it will satisfactorily answer all +Romanist purposes. Idolatry, [Footnote: Appendix X, "Proper Sense of the +word Idolatry."] it cannot be too often repeated, is no encourager of the +fine arts. But, on the other hand, the highest branches of the fine arts +are no encouragers either of idolatry or of religion. No picture of +Leonardo's or Raphael's, no statue of Michael Angelo's, has ever been +worshipped, except by accident. Carelessly regarded, and by ignorant +persons, there is less to attract in them than in commoner works. +Carefully regarded, and by intelligent persons, they instantly divert the +mind from their subject to their art, so that admiration takes the place +of devotion. I do not say that the Madonna di S. Sisto, the Madonna del +Cardellino, and such others, have not had considerable religious +influence on certain minds, but I say that on the mass of the people of +Europe they have had none whatever, while by far the greater number of +the most celebrated statues and pictures are never regarded with any +other feelings than those of admiration of human beauty, or reverence for +human skill. Effective religious art, therefore, has always lain, and I +believe must always lie, between the two extremes--of barbarous +idol-fashioning on one side, and magnificent craftsmanship on the other. +It consists partly in missal-painting, and such book-illustrations as, +since the invention of printing, have taken its place; partly in +glass-painting; partly in rude sculpture on the outsides of buildings; +partly in mosaics; and partly in the frescoes and tempera pictures which, +in the fourteenth century, formed the link between this powerful, because +imperfect, religious art, and the impotent perfection which succeeded it. + +SECTION LXIII. But of all these branches the most important are the +inlaying and mosaic of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, represented +in a central manner by these mosaics of St. Mark's. Missal-painting +could not, from its minuteness, produce the same sublime impressions, +and frequently merged itself in mere ornamentation of the page. Modern +book-illustration has been so little skillful as hardly to be worth +naming. Sculpture, though in some positions it becomes of great +importance, has always a tendency to lose itself in architectural +effect; and was probably seldom deciphered, in all its parts, by the +common people, still less the traditions annealed in the purple burning +of the painted window. Finally, tempera pictures and frescoes were often +of limited size or of feeble color. But the great mosaics of the twelfth +and thirteenth centuries covered the walls and roofs of the churches +with inevitable lustre; they could not be ignored or escaped from; their +size rendered them majestic, their distance mysterious, their color +attractive. They did not pass into confused or inferior decorations; +neither were they adorned with any evidences of skill or science, such +as might withdraw the attention from their subjects. They were before +the eyes of the devotee at every interval of his worship; vast +shadowings forth of scenes to whose realization he looked forward, or of +spirits whose presence he invoked. And the man must be little capable of +receiving a religious impression of any kind, who, to this day, does not +acknowledge some feeling of awe, as he looks up at the pale countenances +and ghastly forms which haunt the dark roofs of the Baptisteries of +Parma and Florence, or remains altogether untouched by the majesty of +the colossal images of apostles, and of Him who sent apostles, that look +down from the darkening gold of the domes of Venice and Pisa. + +SECTION LXIV. I shall, in a future portion of this work, endeavor to +discover what probabilities there are of our being able to use this kind +of art in modern churches; but at present it remains for us to follow +out the connection of the subjects represented in St. Mark's so as to +fulfil our immediate object, and form an adequate conception of the +feelings of its builders, and of its uses to those for whom it was +built. + +Now, there is one circumstance to which I must, in the outset, direct +the reader's special attention, as forming a notable distinction between +ancient and modern days. Our eyes are now familiar and weaned with +writing; and if an inscription is put upon a building, unless it be +large and clear, it is ten to one whether we ever trouble ourselves to +decipher it. But the old architect was sure of readers. He knew that +every one would be glad to decipher all that he wrote; that they would +rejoice in possessing the vaulted leaves of his stone manuscript; and +that the more he gave them, the more grateful would the people be. We +must take some pains, therefore, when we enter St. Mark's, to read all +that is inscribed, or we shall not penetrate into the feeling either of +the builder or of his times. + +SECTION LXV. A large atrium or portico is attached to two sides of the +church, a space which was especially reserved for unbaptized persons and +new converts. It was thought right that, before their baptism, these +persons should be led to contemplate the great facts of the Old +Testament history; the history of the Fall of Man, and of the lives of +Patriarchs up to the period of the Covenant by Moses: the order of the +subjects in this series being very nearly the same as in many Northern +churches, but significantly closing with the Fall of the Manna, in order +to mark to the catechumen the insufficiency of the Mosaic covenant for +salvation,--"Our fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are +dead,"--and to turn his thoughts to the true Bread of which the manna +was the type. + +SECTION LXVI. Then, when after his baptism he was permitted to enter the +church, over its main entrance he saw, on looking back, a mosaic of +Christ enthroned, with the Virgin on one side and St. Mark on the other, +in attitudes of adoration. Christ is represented as holding a book open +upon his knee, on which is written: "I AM THE DOOR; BY ME IF ANY MAN +ENTER IN, HE SHALL BE SAVED." On the red marble moulding which surrounds +the mosaic is written: "I AM THE GATE OF LIFE; LET THOSE WHO ARE MINE, +ENTER BY ME." Above, on the red marble fillet which forms the cornice of +the west end of the church, is written, with reference to the figure of +Christ below: "WHO HE WAS, AND FROM WHOM HE CAME, AND AT WHAT PRICE HE +REDEEMED THEE, AND WHY HE MADE THEE, AND GAVE THEE ALL THINGS, DO THOU +CONSIDER." + +Now observe, this was not to be seen and read only by the catechumen +when he first entered the church; every one who at any time entered, was +supposed to look back and to read this writing; their daily entrance +into the church was thus made a daily memorial of their first entrance +into the spiritual Church; and we shall find that the rest of the book +which was opened for them upon its walls continually led them in the +same manner to regard the visible temple as in every part a type of the +invisible Church of God. + +SECTION LXVII. Therefore the mosaic of the first dome, which is over the +head of the spectator as soon as he has entered by the great door (that +door being the type of baptism), represents the effusion of the Holy +Spirit, as the first consequence and seal of the entrance into the +Church of God. In the centre of the cupola is the Dove, enthroned in the +Greek manner, as the Lamb is enthroned, when the Divinity of the Second +and Third Persons is to be insisted upon together with their peculiar +offices. From the central symbol of the Holy Spirit twelve streams of +fire descend upon the heads of the twelve apostles, who are represented +standing around the dome; and below them, between the windows which are +pierced in its walls, are represented, by groups of two figures for each +separate people, the various nations who heard the apostles speak, at +Pentecost, every man in his own tongue. Finally, on the vaults, at the +four angles which support the cupola, are pictured four angels, each +bearing a tablet upon the end of a rod in his hand: on each of the +tablets of the three first angels is inscribed the word "Holy;" on that +of the fourth is written "Lord;" and the beginning of the hymn being +thus put into the mouths of the four angels, the words of it are +continued around the border of the dome, uniting praise to God for the +gift of the Spirit, with welcome to the redeemed soul received into His +Church: + + "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, LORD GOD OF SABAOTH: + HEAVEN AND EARTH ARE FULL OF THY GLORY. + HOSANNA IN THE HIGHEST: + BLESSED IS HE THAT COMETH IN THE NAME OF THE LORD." + +And observe in this writing that the convert is required to regard the +outpouring of the Holy Spirit especially as a work of _sanctification_. +It is the _holiness_ of God manifested in the giving of His Spirit to +sanctify those who had become His children, which the four angels +celebrate in their ceaseless praise; and it is on account of this +holiness that the heaven and earth are said to be full of His glory. + +SECTION LXVIII. After thus hearing praise rendered to God by the angels +for the salvation of the newly-entered soul, it was thought fittest that +the worshipper should be led to contemplate, in the most comprehensive +forms possible, the past evidence and the future hopes of Christianity, +as summed up in three facts without assurance of which all faith is +vain; namely that Christ died, that He rose again, and that He ascended +into heaven, there to prepare a place for His elect. On the vault +between the first and second cupolas are represented the crucifixion and +resurrection of Christ, with the usual series of intermediate +scenes,--the treason of Judas, the judgment of Pilate, the crowning with +thorns, the descent into Hades, the visit of the women to the sepulchre, +and the apparition to Mary Magdalene. The second cupola itself, which is +the central and principal one of the church, is entirely occupied by the +subject of the Ascension. At the highest point of it Christ is +represented as rising into the blue heaven, borne up by four angels, and +throned upon a rainbow, the type of reconciliation. Beneath him, the +twelve apostles are seen upon the Mount of Olives, with the Madonna, +and, in the midst of them, the two men in white apparel who appeared at +the moment of the Ascension, above whom, as uttered by them, are +inscribed the words, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into +heaven? This Christ, the Son of God, as He is taken from you, shall so +come, the arbiter of the earth, trusted to do judgment and justice." + +SECTION LXIX. Beneath the circle of the apostles, between the windows of +the cupola, are represented the Christian virtues, as sequent upon the +crucifixion of the flesh, and the spiritual ascension together with +Christ. Beneath them, on the vaults which support the angles of the +cupola, are placed the four Evangelists, because on their evidence our +assurance of the fact of the ascension rests; and, finally, beneath +their feet, as symbols of the sweetness and fulness of the Gospel which +they declared, are represented the four rivers of Paradise, Pison, +Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates. + +SECTION LXX. The third cupola, that over the altar, represents the +witness of the Old Testament to Christ; showing him enthroned in its +centre, and surrounded by the patriarchs and prophets. But this dome was +little seen by the people; [Footnote: It is also of inferior workmanship, +and perhaps later than the rest. Vide Lord Lindsay, vol. i, p. 124, +note.] their contemplation was intended to be chiefly drawn to that of +the centre of the church, and thus the mind of the worshipper was at once +fixed on the main groundwork and hope of Christianity,--"Christ is +risen," and "Christ shall come." If he had time to explore the minor +lateral chapels and cupolas, he could find in them the whole series of +New Testament history, the events of the Life of Christ, and the +Apostolic miracles in their order, and finally the scenery of the Book of +Revelation; [Footnote: The old mosaics from the Revelation have perished, +and have been replaced by miserable work of the seventeenth century.] but +if he only entered, as often the common people do to this hour, snatching +a few moments before beginning the labor of the day to offer up an +ejaculatory prayer, and advanced but from the main entrance as far as the +altar screen, all the splendor of the glittering nave and variegated +dome, if they smote upon his heart, as they might often, in strange +contrast with his reed cabin among the shallows of the lagoon, smote upon +it only that they might proclaim the two great messages--"Christ is +risen," and "Christ shall come." Daily, as the white cupolas rose like +wreaths of sea-foam in the dawn, while the shadowy campanile and frowning +palace were still withdrawn into the night, they rose with the Easter +Voice of Triumph,--"Christ is risen;" and daily, as they looked down upon +the tumult of the people, deepening and eddying in the wide square that +opened from their feet to the sea, they uttered above them the sentence +of warning,--"Christ shall come." + +SECTION LXXI. And this thought may surely dispose the reader to look +with some change of temper upon the gorgeous building and wild blazonry +of that shrine of St. Mark's. He now perceives that it was in the hearts +of the old Venetian people far more than a place of worship. It was at +once a type of the Redeemed Church of God, and a scroll for the written +word of God. It was to be to them, both an image of the Bride, all +glorious within, her clothing of wrought gold; and the actual Table of +the Law and the Testimony, written within and without. And whether +honored as the Church or as the Bible, was it not fitting that neither +the gold nor the crystal should be spared in the adornment of it; that, +as the symbol of the Bride, the building of the wall thereof should be +of jasper, [Footnote: Rev. xxi. 18.] and the foundations of it garnished +with all manner of precious stones; and that, as the channel of the +World, that triumphant utterance of the Psalmist should be true of +it,--"I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all +riches"? And shall we not look with changed temper down the long +perspective of St. Mark's Place towards the sevenfold gates and glowing +domes of its temple, when we know with what solemn purpose the shafts of +it were lifted above the pavement of the populous square? Men met there +from all countries of the earth, for traffic or for pleasure; but, above +the crowd swaying for ever to and fro in the restlessness of avarice or +thirst of delight, was seen perpetually the glory of the temple, +attesting to them, whether they would hear or whether they would +forbear, that there was one treasure which the merchantmen might buy +without a price, and one delight better than all others, in the word and +the statutes of God. Not in the wantonness of wealth, not in vain +ministry to the desire of the eyes or the pride of life, were those +marbles hewn into transparent strength, and those arches arrayed in the +colors of the iris. There is a message written in the dyes of them, that +once was written in blood; and a sound in the echoes of their vaults, +that one day shall fill the vault of heaven,--"He shall return, to do +judgment and justice." The strength of Venice was given her, so long as +she remembered this: her destruction found her when she had forgotten +this; and it found her irrevocably, because she forgot it without +excuse. Never had city a more glorious Bible. Among the nations of the +North, a rude and shadowy sculpture filled their temples with confused +and hardly legible imagery; but, for her, the skill and the treasures of +the East had gilded every letter, and illumined every page, till the +Book-Temple shone from afar off like the star of the Magi. In other +cities, the meetings of the people were often in places withdrawn from +religious association, subject to violence and to change; and on the +grass of the dangerous rampart, and in the dust of the troubled street, +there were deeds done and counsels taken, which, if we cannot justify, +we may sometimes forgive. But the sins of Venice, whether in her palace +or in her piazza, were done with the Bible at her right hand. The walls +on which its testimony was written were separated but by a few inches of +marble from those which guarded the secrets of her councils, or confined +the victims of her policy. And when in her last hours she threw off all +shame and all restraint, and the great square of the city became filled +with the madness of the whole earth, be it remembered how much her sin +was greater, because it was done in the face of the House of God, +burning with the letters of His Law. Mountebank and masker laughed their +laugh, and went their way; and a silence has followed them, not +unforetold; for amidst them all, through century after century of +gathering vanity and festering guilt, that white dome of St. Mark's had +uttered in the dead ear of Venice, "Know thou, that for all these things +God will bring thee into judgment." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE DUCAL PALACE. + + +SECTION I. It was stated in the commencement of the preceding chapter +that the Gothic art of Venice was separated by the building of the Ducal +Palace into two distinct periods; and that in all the domestic edifices +which were raised for half a century after its completion, their +characteristic and chiefly effective portions were more or less directly +copied from it. The fact is, that the Ducal Palace was the great work of +Venice at this period, itself the principal effort of her imagination, +employing her best architects in its masonry, and her best painters in +its decoration, for a long series of years; and we must receive it as a +remarkable testimony to the influence which it possessed over the minds +of those who saw it in its progress, that, while in the other cities of +Italy every palace and church was rising in some original and daily more +daring form, the majesty of this single building was able to give pause +to the Gothic imagination in its full career; stayed the restlessness of +innovation in an instant, and forbade the powers which had created it +thenceforth to exert themselves in new directions, or endeavor to summon +an image more attractive. + +SECTION II. The reader will hardly believe that while the architectural +invention of the Venetians was thus lost, Narcissus-like, in +self-contemplation, the various accounts of the progress of the building +thus admired and beloved are so confused as frequently to leave it +doubtful to what portion of the palace they refer; and that there is +actually, at the time being, a dispute between the best Venetian +antiquaries, whether the main façade of the palace be of the fourteenth +or fifteenth century. The determination of this question is of course +necessary before we proceed to draw any conclusions from the style of +the work; and it cannot be determined without a careful review of the +entire history of the palace, and of all the documents relating to it. I +trust that this review may not be found tedious,--assuredly it will not +be fruitless,--bringing many facts before us, singularly illustrative of +the Venetian character. + +SECTION III. Before, however, the reader can enter upon any inquiry into +the history of this building, it is necessary that he should be +thoroughly familiar with the arrangement and names of its principal +parts, as it at present stands; otherwise he cannot comprehend so much +as a single sentence of any of the documents referring to it. I must do +what I can, by the help of a rough plan and bird's-eye view, to give him +the necessary topographical knowledge: + +Opposite is a rude ground plan of the buildings round St. Mark's Place; +and the following references will clearly explain their relative +positions: + +A. St. Mark's Place. +B. Piazzetta. +P. V. Procuratie Vecchie. +P. N. (opposite) Procuratie Nuove. +P. L. Libreria Vecchia. +I. Piazzetta de' Leoni. +T. Tower of St. Mark. +F F. Great Façade of St. Mark's Church. +M. St. Mark's. (It is so united with the Ducal Palace, that the + separation cannot be indicated in the plan, unless all the walls had + been marked, which would have confused the whole.) +D D D. Ducal Palace. g s. Giant's stair. +C. Court of Ducal Palace. J. Judgement angle. +c. Porta della Carta. a. Fig-tree angle. +p p. Ponte della Paglia (Bridge of Straw). +S. Ponte de' Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs). +R R. Riva de' Schiavoni. + + +[Illustration: FIG. I. The Ducal Palace--Ground Plan.] + +[Illustration: FIG. II. The Ducal Palace--Bird's eye View.] + + +The reader will observe that the Ducal Palace is arranged somewhat in +the form of a hollow square, of which one side faces the Piazzetta, B, +and another the quay called the Riva de' Schiavoni, R R; the third is on +the dark canal called the "Rio del Palazzo," and the fourth joins the +Church of St. Mark. + +Of this fourth side, therefore, nothing can be seen. Of the other three +sides we shall have to speak constantly; and they will be respectively +called, that towards the Piazzetta, the "Piazzetta Façade;" that towards +the Riva de' Schiavoni, the "Sea Façade;" and that towards the Rio del +Palazzo, the "Rio Façade." This Rio, or canal, is usually looked upon by +the traveller with great respect, or even horror, because it passes +under the Bridge of Sighs. It is, however, one of the principal +thoroughfares of the city; and the bridge and its canal together occupy, +in the mind of a Venetian, very much the position of Fleet Street and +Temple Bar in that of a Londoner,--at least, at the time when Temple Bar +was occasionally decorated with human heads. The two buildings closely +resemble each other in form. + +SECTION IV. We must now proceed to obtain some rough idea of the +appearance and distribution of the palace itself; but its arrangement +will be better understood by supposing ourselves raised some hundred and +fifty feet above the point in the lagoon in front of it, so as to get a +general view of the Sea Façade and Rio Façade (the latter in very steep +perspective), and to look down into its interior court. Fig. II. roughly +represents such a view, omitting all details on the roofs, in order to +avoid confusion. In this drawing we have merely to notice that, of the +two bridges seen on the right, the uppermost, above the black canal, is +the Bridge of Sighs; the lower one is the Ponte della Paglia, the +regular thoroughfare from quay to quay, and, I believe, called the +Bridge of Straw, because the boats which brought straw from the mainland +used to sell it at this place. The corner of the palace, rising above +this bridge, and formed by the meeting of the Sea Façade and Rio Façade, +will always be called the Vine angle, because it is decorated by a +sculpture of the drunkenness of Noah. The angle opposite will be called +the Fig-tree angle, because it is decorated by a sculpture of the Fall +of Man. The long and narrow range of building, of which the roof is seen +in perspective behind this angle, is the part of the palace fronting the +Piazzetta; and the angle under the pinnacle most to the left of the two +which terminate it will be called, for a reason presently to be stated, +the Judgment angle. Within the square formed by the building is seen its +interior court (with one of its wells), terminated by small and +fantastic buildings of the Renaissance period, which face the Giant's +Stair, of which the extremity is seen sloping down on the left. + +SECTION V. The great façade which fronts the spectator looks southward. +Hence the two traceried windows lower than the rest, and to the right of +the spectator, may be conveniently distinguished as the "Eastern +Windows." There are two others like them, filled with tracery, and at +the same level, which look upon the narrow canal between the Ponte della +Paglia and the Bridge of Sighs: these we may conveniently call the +"Canal Windows." The reader will observe a vertical line in this dark +side of the palace, separating its nearer and plainer wall from a long +four-storied range of rich architecture. This more distant range is +entirely Renaissance: its extremity is not indicated, because I have no +accurate sketch of the small buildings and bridges beyond it, and we +shall have nothing whatever to do with this part of the palace in our +present inquiry. The nearer and undecorated wall is part of the older +palace, though much defaced by modern opening of common windows, +refittings of the brickwork, etc. + +SECTION VI. It will be observed that the façade is composed of a smooth +mass of wall, sustained on two tiers of pillars, one above the other. +The manner in which these support the whole fabric will be understood at +once by the rough section, Fig. III., which is supposed to be taken +right through the palace to the interior court, from near the middle of +the Sea Façade. Here _a_ and _d_ are the rows of shafts, both +in the inner court and on the Façade, which carry the main walls; +_b_, _c_ are solid walls variously strengthened with pilasters. A, B, C +are the three stories of the interior of the palace. + +[Illustration: FIG. III.] + +The reader sees that it is impossible for any plan to be more simple, +and that if the inner floors and walls of the stories A, B were removed, +there would be left merely the form of a basilica,--two high walls, +carried on ranges of shafts, and roofed by a low gable. + +The stories A, B are entirely modernized, and divided into confused +ranges of small apartments, among which what vestiges remain of ancient +masonry are entirely undecipherable, except by investigations such as I +have had neither the time nor, as in most cases they would involve the +removal of modern plastering, the opportunity, to make. With the +subdivisions of this story, therefore, I shall not trouble the reader; +but those of the great upper story, C, are highly important. + +SECTION VII. In the bird's-eye view above, Fig. II., it will be noticed +that the two windows on the right are lower than the other four of the +façade. In this arrangement there is one of the most remarkable +instances I know of the daring sacrifice of symmetry to convenience, +which was noticed in Chap. VII. as one of the chief noblenesses of the +Gothic schools. + +The part of the palace in which the two lower windows occur, we shall +find, was first built, and arranged in four stories in order to obtain +the necessary number of apartments. Owing to circumstances, of which we +shall presently give an account, it became necessary, in the beginning +of the fourteenth century, to provide another large and magnificent +chamber for the meeting of the senate. That chamber was added at the +side of the older building; but, as only one room was wanted, there was +no need to divide the added portion into two stories. The entire height +was given to the single chamber, being indeed not too great for just +harmony with its enormous length and breadth. And then came the question +how to place the windows, whether on a line with the two others, or +above them. + +The ceiling of the new room was to be adorned by the paintings of the +best masters in Venice, and it became of great importance to raise the +light near that gorgeous roof, as well as to keep the tone of +illumination in the Council Chamber serene; and therefore to introduce +light rather in simple masses than in many broken streams. A modern +architect, terrified at the idea of violating external symmetry, would +have sacrificed both the pictures and the peace of the council. He would +have placed the larger windows at the same level with the other two, and +have introduced above them smaller windows, like those of the upper +story in the older building, as if that upper story had been continued +along the façade. But the old Venetian thought of the honor of the +paintings, and the comfort of the senate, before his own reputation. He +unhesitatingly raised the large windows to their proper position with +reference to the interior of the chamber, and suffered the external +appearance to take care of itself. And I believe the whole pile rather +gains than loses in effect by the variation thus obtained in the spaces +of wall above and below the windows. + +SECTION VIII. On the party wall, between the second and third windows, +which faces the eastern extremity of the Great Council Chamber, is +painted the Paradise of Tintoret; and this wall will therefore be +hereafter called the "Wall of the Paradise." + +In nearly the centre of the Sea Façade, and between the first and second +windows of the Great Council Chamber, is a large window to the ground, +opening on a balcony, which is one of the chief ornaments of the palace, +and will be called in future the "Sea Balcony." + +The façade which looks on the Piazzetta is very nearly like this to the +Sea, but the greater part of it was built in the fifteenth century, when +people had become studious of their symmetries. Its side windows are all +on the same level. Two light the west end of the Great Council Chamber, +one lights a small room anciently called the Quarantia Civil Nuova; the +other three, and the central one, with a balcony like that to the Sea, +light another large chamber, called Sala del Scrutinio, or "Hall of +Enquiry," which extends to the extremity of the palace above the Porta +della Carta. + +SECTION IX. The reader is now well enough acquainted with the topography +of the existing building, to be able to follow the accounts of its +history. + +We have seen above, that there were three principal styles of Venetian +architecture; Byzantine, Gothic, and Renaissance. + +The Ducal Palace, which was the great work of Venice, was built +successively in the three styles. There was a Byzantine Ducal Palace, a +Gothic Ducal Palace, and a Renaissance Ducal Palace. The second +superseded the first totally; a few stones of it (if indeed so much) are +all that is left. But the third superseded the second in part only, and +the existing building is formed by the union of the two. + +We shall review the history of each in succession. [Footnote: The reader +will find it convenient to note the following editions of the printed +books which have been principally consulted in the following inquiry. The +numbers of the manuscripts referred to in the Marcian Library are given +with the quotations. + Sansovino. Venetia Descritta. 410, Venice, 1663. + Sansovino. Lettera intorno al Palazzo Ducale, 8vo, Venice, 1829. + Temanza. Antica Pianta di Venezia, with text. Venice, 1780. + Cadorin. Pareri di XV. Architetti. Svo, Venice,1838. + Filiasi. Memorie storiche. 8vo, Padua, 1811. + Bettio. Lettera discorsiva del Palazzo Ducale, 8vo, Venice, 1837. + Selvatico. Architettura di Venezia. 8vo, Venice, 1847.] + +1st. The BYZANTINE PALACE. + +In the year of the death of Charlemagne, 813, the Venetians determined +to make the island of Rialto the seat of the government and capital of +their state. [Footnote: The year commonly given is 810, as in the Savina +Chronicle (Cod. Marcianus), p. 13. "Del 810 fece principiar el pallazzo +Ducal nel luogo ditto Brucio in confin di S. Moise, et fece riedificar +la isola di Eraclia." The Sagornin Chronicle gives 804; and Filiasi, +vol. vi. chap. I, corrects this date to 813.] Their Doge, Angelo or +Agnello Participazio, instantly took vigorous means for the enlargement +of the small group of buildings which were to be the nucleus of the +future Venice. He appointed persons to superintend the raising of the +banks of sand, so as to form more secure foundations, and to build +wooden bridges over the canals. For the offices of religion, he built +the Church of St. Mark; and on, or near, the spot where the Ducal Palace +now stands, he built a palace for the administration of the government. +[Footnote: "Ampliò la città, fornilla di casamenti, _e per il culto d' +Iddio e l' amministrazione della giustizia_ eresse la capella di S. +Marco, e il palazzo di sua residenza."--Pareri, p. 120. Observe, that +piety towards God, and justice towards man, have been at least the +nominal purposes of every act and institution of ancient Venice. Compare +also Temanza, p. 24. "Quello che abbiamo di certo si è che il suddetto +Agnello lo incomminciò da fondamenti, e cosi pure la capella ducale di +S. Marco."] + +The history of the Ducal Palace therefore begins with the birth of +Venice, and to what remains of it, at this day, is entrusted the last +representation of her power. + +SECTION X. Of the exact position and form of this palace of Participazio +little is ascertained. Sansovino says that it was "built near the Ponte +della Paglia, and answeringly on the Grand Canal," towards San Giorgio; +that is to say, in the place now occupied by the Sea Façade; but this +was merely the popular report of his day. [Footnote: What I call the +Sea, was called "the Grand Canal" by the Venetians, as well as the great +water street of the city; but I prefer calling it "the Sea," in order to +distinguish between that street and the broad water in front of the +Ducal Palace, which, interrupted only by the island of San Giorgio, +stretches for many miles to the south, and for more than two to the +boundary of the Lido. It was the deeper channel, just in front of the +Ducal Palace, continuing the line of the great water street itself which +the Venetians spoke of as "the Grand Canal." The words of Sansovino are: +"Fu cominciato dove si vede, vicino al ponte della paglia, et +rispondente sul canal grande." Filiasi says simply: "The palace was +built where it now is." "Il palazio fu fatto dove ora pure +esiste."--Vol. iii. chap. 27. The Savina Chronicle, already quoted, +says: "in the place called the Bruolo (or Broglio), that is to say on +the Piazzetta."] + +We know, however, positively, that it was somewhere upon the site of the +existing palace; and that it had an important front towards the +Piazzetta, with which, as we shall see hereafter, the present palace at +one period was incorporated. We know, also, that it was a pile of some +magnificence, from the account given by Sagornino of the visit paid by +the Emperor Otho the Great, to the Doge Pietro Orseolo II. The +chronicler says that the Emperor "beheld carefully all the beauty of the +palace;" [Footnote: "Omni decoritate illius perlustrata."--Sagornino, +quoted by Cadorin and Temanza.] and the Venetian historians express +pride in the buildings being worthy of an emperor's examination. This +was after the palace had been much injured by fire in the revolt against +Candiano IV., [Footnote: There is an interesting account of this revolt +in Monaci, p. 68. Some historians speak of the palace as having been +destroyed entirely; but, that it did not even need important +restorations, appears from Sagornino's expression, quoted by Cadorin and +Temanza. Speaking of the Doge Participazio, he says: "Qui Palatii +hucusque manentis fuerit fabricator." The reparations of the palace are +usually attributed to the successor of Candiano, Pietro Orseolo I.; but +the legend, under the picture of that Doge in the Council Chamber, +speaks only of his rebuilding St. Mark's, and "performing many +miracles." His whole mind seems to have been occupied with +ecclesiastical affairs; and his piety was finally manifested in a way +somewhat startling to the state, by absconding with a French priest to +St. Michael's in Gascony, and there becoming a monk. What repairs, +therefore, were necessary to the Ducal Palace, were left to be +undertaken by his son, Orseolo II., above named.] and just repaired, and +richly adorned by Orseolo himself, who is spoken of by Sagornino as +having also "adorned the chapel of the Ducal Palace" (St. Mark's) with +ornaments of marble and gold. [Footnote: "Quam non modo marmoreo, verum +aureo compsit ornamento."--_Temanza_] There can be no doubt +whatever that the palace at this period resembled and impressed the +other Byzantine edifices of the city, such as the Fondaco de Turchi, +&c., whose remains have been already described; and that, like them, it +was covered with sculpture, and richly adorned with gold and color. + +SECTION XI. In the year 1106, it was for the second time injured by +fire, [Footnote: "L'anno 1106, uscito fuoco d'una casa privata, arse +parte del palazzo."--_Sansovino_. Of the beneficial effect of these +fires, vide Cadorin.] but repaired before 1116, when it received another +emperor, Henry V. (of Germany), and was again honored by imperial +praise. [Footnote: "Urbis situm, aedificiorum decorem, et regiminis +sequitatem multipliciter commendavit."--_Cronaca Dandolo_, quoted +by Cadorin.] + +Between 1173 and the close of the century, it seems to have been again +repaired and much enlarged by the Doge Sebastian Ziani. Sansovino says +that this Doge not only repaired it, but "enlarged it in every +direction;" [Footnote: "Non solamente rinovo il palazzo, ma lo aggrandi +per ogni verso."--_Sansovino_. Zanotto quotes the Altinat Chronicle +for account of these repairs.] and, after this enlargement, the palace +seems to have remained untouched for a hundred years, until, in the +commencement of the fourteenth century, the works of the Gothic Palace +were begun. As, therefore, the old Byzantine building was, at the time +when those works first interfered with it, in the form given to it by +Ziani, I shall hereafter always speak of it as the _Ziani_ Palace; and +this the rather, because the only chronicler whose words are perfectly +clear respecting the existence of part of this palace so late as the year +1422, speaks of it as built by Ziani. The old "palace of which half +remains to this day, was built, as we now see it, by Sebastian Ziani." +[Footnote: "El palazzo che anco di mezzo se vede vecchio, per M. +Sebastian Ziani fu fatto compir, come el se vede."--_Chronicle of Pietro +Dolfino_, Cod. Ven. p. 47. This Chronicle is spoken of by Sansovino as +"molto particolare, e distinta."--_Sansovino, Venezia descritta_, p. +593.--It terminates in the year 1422.] + +So far, then, of the Byzantine Palace. + +SECTION XII. 2nd. The GOTHIC PALACE. The reader, doubtless, recollects +that the important change in the Venetian government which gave +stability to the aristocratic power took place about the year 1297, +[Footnote: See Vol. I. Appendix 3, Stones of Venice.] under the Doge +Pietro Gradenigo, a man thus characterized by Sansovino:--"A prompt and +prudent man, of unconquerable determination and great eloquence, who +laid, so to speak, the foundations of the eternity of this republic, by +the admirable regulations which he introduced into the government." + +We may now, with some reason, doubt of their admirableness; but their +importance, and the vigorous will and intellect of the Doge, are not to +be disputed. Venice was in the zenith of her strength, and the heroism +of her citizens was displaying itself in every quarter of the world. +[Footnote: Vide Sansovino's enumeration of those who flourished in the +reign of Gradenigo, p. 564.] The acquiescence in the secure +establishment of the aristocratic power was an expression, by the +people, of respect for the families which had been chiefly instrumental +in raising the commonwealth to such a height of prosperity. + +The Serrar del Consiglio fixed the numbers of the Senate within certain +limits, and it conferred upon them a dignity greater than they had ever +before possessed. It was natural that the alteration in the character of +the assembly should be attended by some change in the size, arrangement, +or decoration of the chamber in which they sat. + +We accordingly find it recorded by Sansovino, that "in 1301 another +saloon was begun on the Rio del Palazzo, _under the Doge +Gradenigo_, and finished in 1309, _in which year the Grand Council +first sat in it_." [Footnote: Sansovino, 324, I.] In the first year, +therefore, of the fourteenth century, the Gothic Ducal Palace of Venice +was begun; and as the Byzantine Palace was, in its foundation, coeval +with that of the state, so the Gothic Palace was, in its foundation, +coeval with that of the aristocratic power. Considered as the principal +representation of the Venetian school of architecture, the Ducal Palace +is the Parthenon of Venice, and Gradenigo its Pericles. + +SECTION XIII. Sansovino, with a caution very frequent among Venetian +historians, when alluding to events connected with the Serrar del +Consiglio, does not specially mention the cause for the requirement of +the new chamber; but the Sivos Chronicle is a little more distinct in +expression. "In 1301, it was determined to build a great saloon _for +the assembling_ of the Great Council, and the room was built which is +_now_ called the Sala del Scrutinio." [Footnote: "1301 fu presa +parte di fare una sala grande per la riduzione del gran consiglio, e fu +fatta quella che ora si chiama dello Scrutinio."--_Cronaca Sivos_, +quoted by Cadorin. There is another most interesting entry in the +Chronicle of Magno, relating to this event; but the passage is so ill +written, that I am not sure if I have deciphered it correctly:--"Del +1301 fu preso de fabrichar la sala fo ruina e fu fata (fatta) quella se +adoperava a far e pregadi e fu adopera per far el Gran Consegio fin +1423, che fu anni 122." This last sentence, which is of great +importance, is luckily unmistakable:--"The room was used for the +meetings of the Great Council until 1423, that is to say, for 122 +years."--_Cod. Ven._ tom. i. p. 126. The Chronicle extends from +1253 to 1454. + +Abstract 1301 to 1309; Gradenigo's room--1340-42, page 295-1419. New +proposals, p. 298.] _Now_, that is to say, at the time when the +Sivos Chronicle was written; the room has long ago been destroyed, and +its name given to another chamber on the opposite side of the palace: +but I wish the reader to remember the date 1301, as marking the +commencement of a great architectural epoch, in which took place the +first appliance of the energy of the aristocratic power, and of the +Gothic style, to the works of the Ducal Palace. The operations then +begun were continued, with hardly an interruption, during the whole +period of the prosperity of Venice. We shall see the new buildings +consume, and take the place of, the Ziani Palace, piece by piece: and +when the Ziani Palace was destroyed, they fed upon themselves; being +continued round the square, until, in the sixteenth century, they +reached the point where they had been begun in the fourteenth, and +pursued the track they had then followed some distance beyond the +junction; destroying or hiding their own commencement, as the serpent, +which is the type of eternity, conceals its tail in its jaws. + +SECTION XIV. We cannot, therefore, _see_ the extremity, wherein lay +the sting and force of the whole creature,--the chamber, namely, built +by the Doge Gradenigo; but the reader must keep that commencement and +the date of it carefully in his mind. The body of the Palace Serpent +will soon become visible to us. + +The Gradenigo Chamber was somewhere on the Rio Façade, behind the +present position of the Bridge of Sighs; i.e. about the point marked on +the roof by the dotted lines in the woodcut; it is not known whether low +or high, but probably on a first story. The great façade of the Ziani +Palace being, as above mentioned, on the Piazzetta, this chamber was as +far back and out of the way as possible; secrecy and security being +obviously the points first considered. + +SECTION XV. But the newly constituted Senate had need of other additions +to the ancient palace besides the Council Chamber. A short, but most +significant, sentence is added to Sansovino's account of the construction +of that room. "There were, _near it_," he says, "the Cancellaria, and the +_Gheba_ or _Gabbia_, afterwards called the Little Tower." [Footnote: "Vi +era appresso la Cancellarla, e la Gheba o Gabbia, iniamata poi +Torresella,"---P. 324. A small square tower is seen above the Vine angle +in the view of Venice dated 1500, and attributed to Albert Durer. It +appears about 25 feet square, and is very probably the Torresella in +question.] + +Gabbia means a "cage;" and there can be no question that certain +apartments were at this time added at the top of the palace and on the +Rio Façade, which were to be used as prisons. Whether any portion of the +old Torresella still remains is a doubtful question; but the apartments +at the top of the palace, in its fourth story, were still used for +prisons as late as the beginning of the seventeenth century. [Footnote: +Vide Bettio, Lettera, p. 23.] I wish the reader especially to notice +that a separate tower or range of apartments was built for this purpose, +in order to clear the government of the accusations so constantly made +against them, by ignorant or partial historians, of wanton cruelty to +prisoners. The stories commonly told respecting the "piombi" of the +Ducal Palace are utterly false. Instead of being, as usually reported, +small furnaces under the leads of the palace, they were comfortable +rooms, with good flat roofs of larch, and carefully ventilated. +[Footnote: Bettio, Lettera, p. 20. "Those who wrote without having seen +them described them as covered with lead; and those who have seen them +know that, between their flat timber roofs and the sloping leaden roof +of the palace the interval is five metres where it is least, and nine +where it is greatest."] The new chamber, then, and the prisons, being +built, the Great Council first sat in their retired chamber on the Rio +in the year 1309. + +SECTION XVI. Now, observe the significant progress of events. They had +no sooner thus established themselves in power than they were disturbed +by the conspiracy of the Tiepolos, in the year 1310. In consequence of +that conspiracy the Council of Ten was created, still under the Doge +Gradenigo; who, having finished his work and left the aristocracy of +Venice armed with this terrible power, died in the year 1312, some say +by poison. He was succeeded by the Doge Marino Giorgio, who reigned only +one year; and then followed the prosperous government of John Soranzo. +There is no mention of any additions to the Ducal Palace during his +reign, but he was succeeded by that Francesco Dandolo, the sculptures on +whose tomb, still existing in the cloisters of the Salute, may be +compared by any traveller with those of the Ducal Palace. Of him it is +recorded in the Savina Chronicle: "This Doge also had the great gate +built which is at the entry of the palace, above which is his statue +kneeling, with the gonfalon in hand, before the feet of the Lion of St. +Mark's." [Footnote: "Questo Dose anche fese far la porta granda che se +al intrar del Pallazzo, in su la qual vi e la sua statua che sta in +zenocchioni con lo confalon in man, davanti li pie de lo Lion S. +Marco."--_Savin Chronicle_, Cod. Ven. p. 120.] + +SECTION XVII. It appears, then, that after the Senate had completed +their Council Chamber and the prisons, they required a nobler door than +that of the old Ziani Palace for their Magnificences to enter by. This +door is twice spoken of in the government accounts of expenses, which +are fortunately preserved, [Footnote: These documents I have not +examined myself, being satisfied of the accuracy of Cadorin, from whom I +take the passages quoted.] in the following terms:-- + +"1335, June 1. We, Andrew Dandolo and Mark Loredano, procurators of St. +Mark's, have paid to Martin the stone-cutter and his associates.... +[Footnote: "Libras tres, soldeos 15 grossorum."--Cadorin, 189, I.] +for a stone of which the lion is made which is put over the gate of the +palace." + +"1344, November 4. We have paid thirty-five golden ducats for making +gold leaf, to gild the lion which is over the door of the palace +stairs." + +The position of this door is disputed, and is of no consequence to the +reader, the door itself having long ago disappeared, and been replaced +by the Porta della Carta. + +SECTION XVIII. But before it was finished, occasion had been discovered +for farther improvements. The Senate found their new Council Chamber +inconveniently small, and, about thirty years after its completion, +began to consider where a larger and more magnificent one might be +built. The government was now thoroughly established, and it was +probably felt that there was some meanness in the retired position, as +well as insufficiency in the size, of the Council Chamber on the Rio. +The first definite account which I find of their proceedings, under +these circumstances, is in the Caroldo Chronicle: [Footnote: Cod. Ven., +No. CXLI. p. 365.] + +"1340. On the 28th of December, in the preceding year, Master Marco +Erizzo, Nicolo Soranzo, and Thomas Gradenigo, were chosen to examine +where a new saloon might be built in order to assemble therein the +Greater Council.... On the 3rd of June, 1341, the Great Council elected +two procurators of the work of this saloon, with a salary of eighty +ducats a year." + +It appears from the entry still preserved in the Archivio, and quoted by +Cadorin, that it was on the 28th of December, 1340, that the +commissioners appointed to decide on this important matter gave in their +report to the Grand Council, and that the decree passed thereupon for the +commencement of a new Council Chamber on the Grand Canal. [Footnote: +Sansovino is more explicit than usual in his reference to this decree: +"For it having appeared that the place (the first Council Chamber) is not +capacious enough, the saloon on the Grand Canal was ordered." "Per cio +parendo che il luogo non fosse capace, fu ordinata la Sala sul Canal +Grande."--P. 324.] + +_The room then begun is the one now in existence_, and its building +involved the building of all that is best and most beautiful in the +present Ducal Palace, the rich arcades of the lower stories being all +prepared for sustaining this Sala del Gran Consiglio. + +SECTION XIX. In saying that it is the same now in existence, I do not +mean that it has undergone no alterations; as we shall see hereafter, it +has been refitted again and again, and some portions of its walls +rebuilt; but in the place and form in which it first stood, it still +stands; and by a glance at the position which its windows occupy, as +shown in Figure II. above, the reader will see at once that whatever can +be known respecting the design of the Sea Façade, must be gleaned out of +the entries which refer to the building of this Great Council Chamber. + +Cadorin quotes two of great importance, to which we shall return in due +time, made during the progress of the work in 1342 and 1344; then one of +1349, resolving that the works at the Ducal Palace, which had been +discontinued during the plague, should be resumed; and finally one in +1362, which speaks of the Great Council Chamber as having been neglected +and suffered to fall into "great desolation," and resolves that it shall +be forthwith completed. [Footnote: Cadorin, 185, 2. The decree of 1342 +is falsely given as of 1345 by the Sivos Chronicle, and by Magno; while +Sanuto gives the decree to its right year, 1342, but speaks of the +Council Chamber as only begun in 1345.] + +The interruption had not been caused by the plague only, but by the +conspiracy of Faliero, and the violent death of the master builder. +[Footnote: Calendario. See Appendix I., Vol. III.] The work was resumed +in 1362, and completed within the next three years, at least so far as +that Guariento was enabled to paint his Paradise on the walls; +[Footnote: "II primo che vi colorisse fu Guariento il quale l'anno 1365 +vi fece il Paradiso in testa della sala."--_Sansovino_.] so that +the building must, at any rate, have been roofed by this time. Its +decorations and fittings, however, were long in completion; the +paintings on the roof being only executed in 1400. [Footnote: "L'an poi +1400 vi fece il ciclo compartita a quadretti d'oro, ripieni di stelle, +ch'era la insegna del Doge Steno."--_Sansovino_, lib. viii.] They +represented the heavens covered with stars, [Footnote: "In questi tempi +si messe in oro il ciclo della sala del Gran Consiglio et si fece il +pergole del finestra grande chi guarda sul canale, adornato l'uno e +l'altro di stelle, eh' erano la insegne del Doge."--_Sansovino_, +lib. xiii. Compare also Pareri, p. 129.] this being, says Sansovino, the +bearings of the Doge Steno. Almost all ceilings and vaults were at this +time in Venice covered with stars, without any reference to armorial +bearings; but Steno claims, under his noble title of Stellifer, an +important share in completing the chamber, in an inscription upon two +square tablets, now inlaid in the walls on each side of the great window +towards the sea: + + "MILLE QUADRINGENTI CURREBANT QUATUOR ANNI + HOC OPUS ILLUSTRIS MICHAEL DUX STELLIFER AUXIT." + +And in fact it is to this Doge that we owe the beautiful balcony of that +window, though the work above it is partly of more recent date; and I +think the tablets bearing this important inscription have been taken out +and reinserted in the newer masonry. The labor of these final +decorations occupied a total period of sixty years. The Grand Council +sat in the finished chamber for the first time in 1423. In that year the +Gothic Ducal Palace of Venice was completed. It had taken, to build it, +the energies of the entire period which I have above described as the +central one of her life. + +SECTION XX. 3rd. The RENAISSANCE PALACE. I must go back a step or two, +in order to be certain that the reader understands clearly the state of +the palace in 1423. The works of addition or renovation had now been +proceeding, at intervals, during a space of a hundred and twenty-three +years. Three generations at least had been accustomed to witness the +gradual advancement of the form of the Ducal Palace into more stately +symmetry, and to contrast the Works of sculpture and painting with which +it was decorated,--full of the life, knowledge, and hope of the +fourteenth century,--with the rude Byzantine chiselling of the palace of +the Doge Ziani. The magnificent fabric just completed, of which the new +Council Chamber was the nucleus, was now habitually known in Venice as +the "Palazzo Nuovo;" and the old Byzantine edifice, now ruinous, and +more manifest in its decay by its contrast with the goodly stones of the +building which had been raised at its side, was of course known as the +"Palazzo Vecchio." [Footnote: Baseggio (Pareri, p. 127) is called the +Proto of the _New_ Palace. Farther notes will be found in Appendix I., +Vol. III.] That fabric, however, still occupied the principal position in +Venice. The new Council Chamber had been erected by the side of it +towards the Sea; but there was not then the wide quay in front, the Riva +dei Schiavoni, which now renders the Sea Façade as important as that to +the Piazzetta. There was only a narrow walk between the pillars and the +water; and the _old_ palace of Ziani still faced the Piazzetta, and +interrupted, by its decrepitude, the magnificence of the square where the +nobles daily met. Every increase of the beauty of the new palace rendered +the discrepancy between it and the companion building more painful; and +then began to arise in the minds of all men a vague idea of the necessity +of destroying the old palace, and completing the front of the Piazzetta +with the same splendor as the Sea Façade. But no such sweeping measure of +renovation had been Contemplated by the Senate when they first formed the +plan of their new Council Chamber. First a single additional room, then a +gateway, then a larger room; but all considered merely as necessary +additions to the palace, not as involving the entire reconstruction of +the ancient edifice. The exhaustion of the treasury, and the shadows upon +the political horizon, rendered it more than imprudent to incur the vast +additional expense which such a project involved; and the Senate, fearful +of itself, and desirous to guard against the weakness of its own +enthusiasm, passed a decree, like the effort of a man fearful of some +strong temptation to keep his thoughts averted from the point of danger. +It was a decree, not merely that the old palace should not be rebuilt, +but that no one should _propose_ rebuilding it. The feeling of the +desirableness of doing so was, too strong to permit fair discussion, and +the Senate knew that to bring forward such a motion was to carry it. + +SECTION XXI. The decree, thus passed in order to guard against their own +weakness, forbade any one to speak of rebuilding the old palace under +the penalty of a thousand ducats. But they had rated their own +enthusiasm too low: there was a man among them whom the loss of a +thousand ducats could not deter from proposing what he believed to be +for the good of the state. + +Some excuse was given him for bringing forward the motion, by a fire +which occurred in 1419, and which injured both the church of St. Mark's, +and part of the old palace fronting the Piazzetta. What followed, I +shall relate in the words of Sanuto. [Footnote: Cronaca Sanudo, No. +cxxv. in the Marcian Library, p. 568.] + +SECTION XXII. "Therefore they set themselves with all diligence and care +to repair and adorn sumptuously, first God's house; but in the Prince's +house things went on more slowly, _for it did not please the Doge_ +[Footnote: Tomaso Mocenigo.] _to restore it in the form in which it +was before_; and they could not rebuild it altogether in a better +manner, so great was the parsimony of these old fathers; because it was +forbidden by laws, which condemned in a penalty of a thousand ducats any +one who should propose to throw down the _old_ palace, and to +rebuild it more richly and with greater expense. But the Doge, who was +magnanimous, and who desired above all things what was honorable to the +city, had the thousand ducats carried into the Senate Chamber, and then +proposed that the palace should be rebuilt; saying: that, 'since the +late fire had ruined in great part the Ducal habitation (not only his +own private palace, but all the places used for public business) this +occasion was to be taken for an admonishment sent from God, that they +ought to rebuild the palace more nobly, and in a way more befitting the +greatness to which, by God's grace, their dominions had reached; and +that his motive in proposing this was neither ambition, nor selfish +interest: that, as for ambition, they might have seen in the whole +course of his life, through so many years, that he had never done +anything for ambition, either in the city, or in foreign business; but +in all his actions had kept justice first in his thoughts, and then the +advantage of the state, and the honor of the Venetian name: and that, as +far as regarded his private interest, if it had not been for this +accident of the fire, he would never have thought of changing anything +in the palace into either a more sumptuous or a more honorable form; and +that during the many years in which he had lived in it, he had never +endeavored to make any change, but had always been content with it, as +his predecessors had left it; and that he knew well that, if they took +in hand to build it as he exhorted and besought them, being now very +old, and broken down with many toils, God would call him to another life +before the walls were raised a pace from the ground. And that therefore +they might perceive that he did not advise them to raise this building +for his own convenience, but only for the honor of the city and its +Dukedom; and that the good of it would never be felt by him, but by his +successors.' Then he said, that 'in order, as he had always done, to +observe the laws,... he had brought with him the thousand ducats which +had been appointed as the penalty for proposing such a measure, so that +he might prove openly to all men that it was not his own advantage that +he sought, but the dignity of the state.'" There was no one (Sanuto goes +on to tell us) who ventured, or desired, to oppose the wishes of the +Doge; and the thousand ducats were unanimously devoted to the expenses +of the work. "And they set themselves with much diligence to the work; +and the palace was begun in the form and manner in which it is at +present seen; but, as Mocenigo had prophesied, not long after, he ended +his life, and not only did not see the work brought to a close, but +hardly even begun." + +SECTION XXIII. There are one or two expressions in the above extracts +which if they stood alone, might lead the reader to suppose that the +whole palace had been thrown down and rebuilt. We must however remember, +that, at this time, the new Council Chamber, which had been one hundred +years in building, was actually unfinished, the council had not yet sat +in it; and it was just as likely that the Doge should then propose to +destroy and rebuild it, as in this year, 1853, it is that any one should +propose in our House of Commons to throw down the new Houses of +Parliament, under the title of the "old palace," and rebuild _them_. + +SECTION XXIV. The manner in which Sanuto expresses himself will at once +be seen to be perfectly natural, when it is remembered that although we +now speak of the whole building as the "Ducal Palace," it consisted, in +the minds of the old Venetians, of four distinct buildings. There were +in it the palace, the state prisons, the senate-house, and the offices +of public business; in other words, it was Buckingham Palace, the Tower +of olden days, the Houses of Parliament, and Downing Street, all in one; +and any of these four portions might be spoken of, without involving an +allusion to any other. "Il Palazzo" was the Ducal residence, which, with +most of the public offices, Mocenigo _did_ propose to pull down and +rebuild, and which was actually pulled down and rebuilt. But the new +Council Chamber, of which the whole façade to the Sea consisted, never +entered into either his or Sanuto's mind for an instant, as necessarily +connected with the Ducal residence. + +I said that the new Council Chamber, at the time when Mocenigo brought +forward his measure, had never yet been used. It was in the year 1422 +[Footnote: Vide notes in Appendix.] that the decree passed to rebuild +the palace: Mocenigo died in the following year, and Francesco Foscari +was elected in his room. [Footnote: On the 4th of April, 1423, according +to the copy of the Zancarol Chronicle in the Marcian Library, but +previously, according to the Caroldo Chronicle, which makes Foscari +enter the Senate as Doge on the 3rd of April.] The Great Council Chamber +was used for the first time on the day when Foscari entered the Senate +as Doge,--the 3rd of April, 1423, according to the Caroldo Chronicle; +[Footnote: "Nella quale (the Sala del Gran Consiglio) non si fece Gran +Consiglio salvo nell' anno 1423, alli 3, April, et fu il primo giorno +che il Duce Foscari venisse in Gran Consiglio dopo la sua +creatione."--Copy in Marcian Library, p. 365.] the 23rd, which is +probably correct, by an anonymous MS., No. 60, in the Correr Museum; +[Footnote: "E a di 23 April (1423, by the context) sequente fo fatto +Gran Conscio in la salla nuovo dovi avanti non esta piu fatto Gran +Conscio si che el primo Gran Conscio dopo la sua (Foscari's) creation fo +fatto in la sala nuova, nel qual conscio fu el Marchese di Mantoa," &c., +p. 426.]--and, the following year, on the 27th of March, the first +hammer was lifted up against the old palace of Ziani. [Footnote: Compare +Appendix I. Vol. III.] + +SECTION XXV. That hammer stroke was the first act of the period properly +called the "Renaissance" It was the knell of the architecture of +Venice,--and of Venice herself. + +The central epoch of her life was past; the decay had already begun: I +dated its commencement above (Ch. I., Vol. I.) from the death of +Mocenigo. A year had not yet elapsed since that great Doge had been +called to his account: his patriotism, always sincere, had been in this +instance mistaken; in his zeal for the honor of future Venice, he had +forgotten what was due to the Venice of long ago. A thousand palaces +might be built upon her burdened islands, but none of them could take +the place, or recall the memory, of that which was first built upon her +unfrequented shore. It fell; and, as if it had been the talisman of her +fortunes, the city never flourished again. + +SECTION XXVI. I have no intention of following out, in their intricate +details, the operations which were begun under Foscari and continued +under succeeding Doges till the palace assumed its present form, for I +am not in this work concerned, except by occasional reference, with the +architecture of the fifteenth century: but the main facts are the +following. The palace of Ziani was destroyed; the existing façade to the +Piazzetta built, so as both to continue and to resemble, in most +particulars, the work of the Great Council Chamber. It was carried back +from the Sea as far as the Judgment angle; beyond which is the Porta +della Carta, begun in 1439, and finished in two years, under the Doge +Foscari; [Footnote: "Tutte queste fatture si compirono sotto il dogade +del Foscari, nel 1441."--_Pareri_, p. 131.] the interior buildings +connected with it were added by the Doge Christopher Moro, (the Othello +of Shakspeare) [Footnote: This identification has been accomplished, and +I think conclusively, by my friend Mr. Rawdon Brown, who has devoted all +the leisure which, during the last twenty years his manifold office of +kindness to almost every English visitant of Venice have left him, in +discovering and translating the passages of the Venetian records which +bear upon English history and literature. I shall have occasion to take +advantage hereafter of a portion of his labors, which I trust will +shortly be made public.] in 1462. + +SECTION XXVII. By reference to the figure the reader will see that we +have now gone the round of the palace, and that the new work of 1462 was +close upon the first piece of the Gothic palace, the _new_ Council +Chamber of 1301. Some remnants of the Ziani Palace were perhaps still +left between the two extremities of the Gothic Palace; or as is more +probable, the last stones of it may have been swept away after the fire +of 1419, and replaced by new apartments for the Doge. But whatever +buildings, old or new, stood on this spot at the time of the completion +of the Porta della Carta were destroyed by another great fire in 1479, +together with so much of the palace on the Rio that, though the saloon +of Gradenigo, then known as the Sala de' Pregadi, was not destroyed, it +became necessary to reconstruct the entire façades of the portion of the +palace behind the Bridge of Sighs, both towards the court and canal. +This work was entrusted to the best Renaissance architects of the close +of the fifteenth and opening of the sixteenth centuries; Antonio Ricci +executing the Giant's staircase, and on his absconding with a large sum +of the public money, Pietro Lombardo taking his place. The whole work +must have been completed towards the middle of the sixteenth century. +The architects of the palace, advancing round the square and led by +fire, had more than reached the point from which they had set out; and +the work of 1560 was joined to the work of 1301-1340, at the point +marked by the conspicuous vertical line in Figure II on the Rio Façade. + +SECTION XVIII. But the palace was not long permitted to remain in this +finished form. Another terrific fire, commonly called the great fire, +burst out in 1574, and destroyed the inner fittings and all the precious +pictures of the Great Council Chamber, and of all the upper rooms on the +Sea Façade, and most of those on the Rio Façade, leaving the building a +mere shell, shaken and blasted by the flames. It was debated in the +Great Council whether the ruin should not be thrown down, and an +entirely new palace built in its stead. The opinions of all the leading +architects of Venice were taken, respecting the safety of the walls, or +the possibility of repairing them as they stood. These opinions, given +in writing, have been preserved, and published by the Abbé Cadorin, in +the work already so often referred to; and they form one of the most +important series of documents connected with the Ducal Palace. + +I cannot help feeling some childish pleasure in the accidental +resemblance to my own name in that of the architect whose opinion was +first given in favor of the ancient fabric, Giovanni Rusconi. Others, +especially Palladio, wanted to pull down the old palace, and execute +designs of their own; but the best architects in Venice, and to his +immortal honor, chiefly Francesco Sansovino, energetically pleaded for +the Gothic pile, and prevailed. It was successfully repaired, and +Tintoret painted his noblest picture on the wall from which the Paradise +of Guariento had withered before the flames. + +SECTION XXIX. The repairs necessarily undertaken at this time were +however extensive, and interfered in many directions with the earlier +work of the palace: still the only serious alteration in its form was +the transposition of the prisons, formerly at the top of the palace to +the other side of the Rio del Palazzo; and the building of the Bridge of +Sighs, to connect them with the palace, by Antonio da Ponte. The +completion of this work brought the whole edifice into its present form; +with the exception of alterations indoors, partitions, and staircases +among the inner apartments, not worth noticing, and such barbarisms and +defacements as have been suffered within the last fifty years, by, I +suppose nearly every building of importance in Italy. + +SECTION XXX. Now, therefore, we are at liberty to examine some of the +details of the Ducal Palace, without any doubt about their dates. I +shall not however, give any elaborate illustrations of them here, +because I could not do them justice on the scale of the page of this +volume, or by means of line engraving. I believe a new era is opening to +us in the art of illustration, [Footnote: See the last chapter of the +third volume, Stones of Venice.] and that I shall be able to give large +figures of the details of the Ducal Palace at a price which will enable +every person who is interested in the subject to possess them; so that +the cost and labor of multiplying illustrations here would be altogether +wasted. I shall therefore direct the reader's attention only to such +points of interest as can be explained in the text. + +SECTION XXXI. First, then, looking back to the woodcut at the beginning +of this chapter, the reader will observe that, as the building was very +nearly square on the ground plan, a peculiar prominence and importance +were given to its angles, which rendered it necessary that they should +be enriched and softened by sculpture. I do not suppose that the fitness +of this arrangement will be questioned; but if the reader will take the +pains to glance over any series of engravings of church towers or other +four-square buildings in which great refinement of form has been +attained, he will at once observe how their effect depends on some +modification of the sharpness of the angle, either by groups of +buttresses, or by turrets and niches rich in sculpture. It is to be +noted also that this principle of breaking the angle is peculiarly +Gothic, arising partly out of the necessity of strengthening the flanks +of enormous buildings, where composed of imperfect materials, by +buttresses or pinnacles; partly out of the conditions of Gothic warfare, +which generally required a tower at the angle; partly out of the natural +dislike of the meagreness of effect in buildings which admitted large +surfaces of wall, if the angle were entirely unrelieved. The Ducal +Palace, in its acknowledgment of this principle, makes a more definite +concession to the Gothic spirit than any of the previous architecture of +Venice. No angle, up to the time of its erection, had been otherwise +decorated than by a narrow fluted pilaster of red marble, and the +sculpture was reserved always, as in Greek and Roman work, for the plane +surfaces of the building, with, as far as I recollect, two exceptions +only, both in St. Mark's; namely, the bold and grotesque gargoyle on its +north-west angle, and the angels which project from the four inner +angles under the main cupola; both of these arrangements being plainly +made under Lombardic influence. And if any other instances occur, which +I may have at present forgotten, I am very sure the Northern influence +will always be distinctly traceable in them. + +SECTION XXXII. The Ducal Palace, however, accepts the principle in its +completeness, and throws the main decoration upon its angles. The +central window, which looks rich and important in the woodcut, was +entirely restored in the Renaissance time, as we have seen, under the +Doge Steno; so that we have no traces of its early treatment; and the +principal interest of the older palace is concentrated in the angle +sculpture, which is arranged in the following manner. The pillars of the +two bearing arcades are much enlarged in thickness at the angles, and +their capitals increased in depth, breadth, and fulness of subject; +above each capital, on the angle of the wall, a sculptural subject is +introduced, consisting, in the great lower arcade, of two or more +figures of the size of life; in the upper arcade, of a single angel +holding a scroll: above these angels rise the twisted pillars with their +crowning niches, already noticed in the account of parapets in the +seventh chapter; thus forming an unbroken line of decoration from the +ground to the top of the angle. + +SECTION XXXIII. It was before noticed that one of the corners of the +palace joins the irregular outer buildings connected with St. Mark's, +and is not generally seen. There remain, therefore, to be decorated, +only the three angles, above distinguished as the Vine angle, the +Fig-tree angle, and the Judgment angle; and at these we have, according +to the arrangement just explained,-- + +First, Three great bearing capitals (lower arcade). + +Secondly, Three figure subjects of sculpture above them (lower arcade). + +Thirdly, Three smaller bearing capitals (upper arcade). + +Fourthly, Three angels above them (upper arcade). + +Fifthly, Three spiral, shafts with niches. + +SECTION XXXIV. I shall describe the bearing capitals hereafter, in their +order, with the others of the arcade; for the first point to which the +reader's attention ought to be directed is the choice of subject in the +great figure sculptures above them. These, observe, are the very corner +stones of the edifice, and in them we may expect to find the most +important evidences of the feeling, as well as the skill, of the +builder. If he has anything to say to us of the purpose with which he +built the palace, it is sure to be said here; if there was any lesson +which he wished principally to teach to those for whom he built, here it +is sure to be inculcated; if there was any sentiment which they +themselves desired to have expressed in the principal edifice of their +city, this is the place in which we may be secure of finding it legibly +inscribed. + +SECTION XXXV. Now the first two angles, of the Vine and Fig-tree, belong +to the old, or true Gothic, Palace; the third angle belongs to the +Renaissance imitation of it: therefore, at the first two angles, it is +the Gothic spirit which is going to speak to us; and, at the third, the +Renaissance spirit. + +The reader remembers, I trust, that the most characteristic sentiment of +all that we traced in the working of the Gothic heart, was the frank +confession of its own weakness; and I must anticipate, for a moment, the +results of our inquiry in subsequent chapters, so far as to state that +the principal element in the Renaissance spirit, is its firm confidence +in its own wisdom. + +Hear, then, the two spirits speak for themselves. + +The first main sculpture of the Gothic Palace is on what I have called +the angle of the Fig-tree: + +Its subject is the FALL OF MAN. + +The second sculpture is on the angle of the Vine: + +Its subject is the DRUNKENNESS OF NOAH. + +The Renaissance sculpture is on the Judgment angle: + +Its subject is the JUDGMENT OF SOLOMON. + +It is impossible to overstate, or to regard with too much admiration, +the significance of this single fact. It is as if the palace had been +built at various epochs, and preserved uninjured to this day, for the +sole purpose of teaching us the difference in the temper of the two +schools. + +SECTION XXXVI. I have called the sculpture on the Fig-tree angle the +principal one; because it is at the central bend of the palace, where it +turns to the Piazetta (the façade upon the Piazetta being, as we saw +above, the more important one in ancient times). The great capital, +which sustains this Fig-tree angle, is also by far more elaborate than +the head of the pilaster under the Vine angle, marking the preëminence +of the former in the architect's mind. It is impossible to say which was +first executed, but that of the Fig-tree angle is somewhat rougher in +execution, and more stiff in the design of the figures, so that I rather +suppose it to have been the earliest completed. + +SECTION XXXVII. In both the subjects, of the Fall and the Drunkenness, +the tree, which forms the chiefly decorative portion of the +sculpture,--fig in the one case, vine in the other,--was a necessary +adjunct. Its trunk, in both sculptures, forms the true outer angle of +the palace; boldly cut separate from the stonework behind, and branching +out above the figures so as to enwrap each side of the angle, for +several feet, with its deep foliage. Nothing can be more masterly or +superb than the sweep of this foliage on the Fig-tree angle; the broad +leaves lapping round the budding fruit, and sheltering from sight, +beneath their shadows, birds of the most graceful form and delicate +plumage. The branches are, however, so strong, and the masses of stone +hewn into leafage so large, that, notwithstanding the depth of the +undercutting, the work remains nearly uninjured; not so at the Vine +angle, where the natural delicacy of the vine-leaf and tendril having +tempted the sculptor to greater effort, he has passed the proper limits +of his art, and cut the upper stems so delicately that half of them have +been broken away by the casualties to which the situation of the +sculpture necessarily exposes it. What remains is, however, so +interesting in its extreme refinement, that I have chosen it for the +subject of the first illustration [Footnote: See note at end of this +chapter.] rather than the nobler masses of the fig-tree, which ought to +be rendered on a larger scale. Although half of the beauty of the +composition is destroyed by the breaking away of its central masses, +there is still enough in the distribution of the variously bending +leaves, and in the placing of the birds on the lighter branches, to +prove to us the power of the designer. I have already referred to this +Plate as a remarkable instance of the Gothic Naturalism; and, indeed, it +is almost impossible for the copying of nature to be carried farther +than in the fibres of the marble branches, and the careful finishing of +the tendrils: note especially the peculiar expression of the knotty +joints of the vine in the light branch which rises highest. Yet only +half the finish of the work can be seen in the Plate: for, in several +cases, the sculptor has shown the under sides of the leaves turned +boldly to the light, and has literally _carved every rib and vein upon +them, in relief_; not merely the main ribs which sustain the lobes of +the leaf, and actually project in nature, but the irregular and sinuous +veins which chequer the membranous tissues between them, and which the +sculptor has represented conventionally as relieved like the others, in +order to give the vine leaf its peculiar tessellated effect upon the +eye. + +SECTION XXXVIII. As must always be the case in early sculpture, the +figures are much inferior to the leafage; yet so skilful in many +respects, that it was a long time before I could persuade myself that +they had indeed been wrought in the first half of the fourteenth +century. Fortunately, the date is inscribed upon a monument in the +Church of San Simeon Grande, bearing a recumbent statue of the saint, of +far finer workmanship, in every respect, than those figures of the Ducal +Palace, yet so like them, that I think there can be no question that the +head of Noah was wrought by the sculptor of the palace in emulation of +that of the statue of St. Simeon. In this latter sculpture, the face is +represented in death; the mouth partly open, the lips thin and sharp, +the teeth carefully sculptured beneath; the face full of quietness and +majesty, though very ghastly; the hair and beard flowing in luxuriant +wreaths, disposed with the most masterly freedom, yet severity, of +design, far down upon the shoulders; the hands crossed upon the body, +carefully studied, and the veins and sinews perfectly and easily +expressed, yet without any attempt at extreme finish or display of +technical skill. This monument bears date 1317, [Footnote: "IN XRI--NOIE +AMEN ANNINCARNATIONIS MCCCXVII. INESETBR." "In the name of Christ, Amen, +in the year of the incarnation, 1317, in the month of September," &c.] +and its sculptor was justly proud of it; thus recording his name: + + "CELAVIT MARCUS OPUS HOC INSIGNE ROMANIS, + LAUDIBUS NON PARCUS EST SUA DIGNA MANUS." + +SECTION XXXIX. The head of the Noah on the Ducal Palace, evidently +worked in emulation of this statue, has the same profusion of flowing +hair and beard, but wrought in smaller and harder curls; and the veins +on the arms and breast are more sharply drawn, the sculptor being +evidently more practised in keen and fine lines of vegetation than in +those of the figure; so that, which is most remarkable in a workman of +this early period, he has failed in telling his story plainly, regret +and wonder being so equally marked on the features of all the three +brothers that it is impossible to say which is intended for Ham. Two of +the heads of the brothers are seen in the Plate; the third figure is not +with the rest of the group, but set at a distance of about twelve feet, +on the other side of the arch which springs from the angle capital. + +SECTION XL. It may be observed, as a farther evidence of the date of the +group, that, in the figures of all the three youths, the feet are +protected simply by a bandage arranged in crossed folds round the ankle +and lower part of the limb; a feature of dress which will be found in +nearly every piece of figure sculpture in Venice, from the year 1300 to +1380, and of which the traveller may see an example within three hundred +yards of this very group, in the bas-reliefs on the tomb of the Doge +Andrea Dandolo (in St. Mark's), who died in 1354. + +SECTION XLI. The figures of Adam and Eve, sculptured on each side of the +Fig-tree angle, are more stiff than those of Noah and his sons, but are +better fitted for their architectural service; and the trunk of the +tree, with the angular body of the serpent writhed around it, is more +nobly treated as a terminal group of lines than that of the vine. + +The Renaissance sculptor of the figures of the Judgment of Solomon has +very nearly copied the fig-tree from this angle, placing its trunk +between the executioner and the mother, who leans forward to stay his +hand. But, though the whole group is much more free in design than those +of the earlier palace, and in many ways excellent in itself, so that it +always strikes the eye of a careless observer more than the others, it +is of immeasurably inferior spirit in the workmanship; the leaves of the +tree, though far more studiously varied in flow than those of the +fig-tree from which they are partially copied, have none of its truth to +nature; they are ill set on the steins, bluntly defined on the edges, +and their curves are not those of growing leaves, but of wrinkled +drapery. + +SECTION XLII. Above these three sculptures are set, in the upper arcade, +the statues of the archangels Raphael, Michael, and Gabriel: their +positions will be understood by reference to the lowest figure in Plate +XVII., where that of Raphael above the Vine angle is seen on the right. +A diminutive figure of Tobit follows at his feet, and he bears in his +hand a scroll with this inscription: + + EFICE Q + SOFRE + TUR AFA + EL REVE + RENDE + QUIETU + +i.e. Effice (quseso?) fretum, Raphael reverende, quietum. [Footnote: +"Oh, venerable Raphael, make thou the gulf calm, we beseech thee." The +peculiar office of the angel Raphael is, in general, according to +tradition, the restraining the harmful influences of evil spirits. Sir +Charles Eastlake told me, that sometimes in this office he is +represented bearing the gall of the fish caught by Tobit; and reminded +me of the peculiar superstitions of the Venetians respecting the raising +of storms by fiends, as embodied in the well known tale of the Fisherman +and St. Mark's ring.] I could not decipher the inscription on the scroll +borne by the angel Michael; and the figure of Gabriel, which is by much +the most beautiful feature of the Renaissance portion of the palace, has +only in its hand the Annunciation lily. + +SECTION XLIII. Such are the subjects of the main sculptures decorating +the angles of the palace; notable, observe, for their simple expression +of two feelings, the consciousness of human frailty, and the dependence +upon Divine guidance and protection: this being, of course, the general +purpose of the introduction of the figures of the angels; and, I +imagine, intended to be more particularly conveyed by the manner in +which the small figure of Tobit follows the steps of Raphael, just +touching the hem of his garment. We have next to examine the course of +divinity and of natural history embodied by the old sculpture in the +great series of capitals which support the lower arcade of the palace; +and which, being at a height of little more than eight feet above the +eye, might be read, like the pages of a book, by those (the noblest men +in Venice) who habitually walked beneath the shadow of this great arcade +at the time of their first meeting each other for morning converse. + +SECTION XLIV. We will now take the pillars of the Ducal Palace in their +order. It has already been mentioned (Vol. I. Chap. I. Section XLVI.) +that there are, in all, thirty-six great pillars supporting the lower +story; and that these are to be counted from right to left, because then +the more ancient of them come first: and that, thus arranged, the first, +which is not a shaft, but a pilaster, will be the support of the Vine +angle; the eighteenth will be the great shaft of the Fig-tree angle; and +the thirty-sixth, that of the Judgment angle. + +SECTION XLV. All their capitals, except that of the first, are +octagonal, and are decorated by sixteen leaves, differently enriched in +every capital, but arranged in the same way; eight of them rising to the +angles, and there forming volutes; the eight others set between them, on +the sides, rising half-way up the bell of the capital; there nodding +forward, and showing above them, rising out of their luxuriance, the +groups or single figures which we have to examine. [Footnote: I have +given one of these capitals carefully already in my folio work, and hope +to give most of the others in due time. It was of no use to draw them +here, as the scale would have been too small to allow me to show the +expression of the figures.] In some instances, the intermediate or lower +leaves are reduced to eight sprays of foliage; and the capital is left +dependent for its effect on the bold position of the figures. In +referring to the figures on the octagonal capitals, I shall call the +outer side, fronting either the Sea or the Piazzetta, the first side; +and so count round from left to right; the fourth side being thus, of +course, the innermost. As, however, the first five arches were walled up +after the great fire, only three sides of their capitals are left +visible, which we may describe as the front and the eastern and western +sides of each. + +SECTION XLVI. FIRST CAPITAL: i.e. of the pilaster at the Vine angle. + +In front, towards the Sea. A child holding a bird before him, with its +wings expanded, covering his breast. + +On its eastern side. Children's heads among leaves. + +On its western side. A child carrying in one hand a comb; in the other, +a pair of scissors. + +It appears curious, that this, the principal pilaster of the façade, +should have been decorated only by these graceful grotesques, for I can +hardly suppose them anything more. There may be meaning in them, but I +will not venture to conjecture any, except the very plain and practical +meaning conveyed by the last figure to all Venetian children, which it +would be well if they would act upon. For the rest, I have seen the comb +introduced in grotesque work as early as the thirteenth century, but +generally for the purpose of ridiculing too great care in dressing the +hair, which assuredly is not its purpose here. The children's heads are +very sweet and full of life, but the eyes sharp and small. + +SECTION XLVII. SECOND CAPITAL. Only three sides of the original work are +left unburied by the mass of added wall. Each side has a bird, one +web-footed, with a fish, one clawed, with a serpent, which opens its +jaws, and darts its tongue at the bird's breast; the third pluming +itself, with a feather between the mandibles of its bill. It is by far +the most beautiful of the three capitals decorated with birds. + +THIRD CAPITAL. Also has three sides only left. They have three heads, +large, and very ill cut; one female, and crowned. + +FOURTH CAPITAL. Has three children. The eastern one is defaced: the one +in front holds a small bird, whose plumage is beautifully indicated, in +its right hand; and with its left holds up half a walnut, showing the +nut inside: the third holds a fresh fig, cut through, showing the seeds. + +The hair of all the three children is differently worked: the first has +luxuriant flowing hair, and a double chin; the second, light flowing +hair falling in pointed locks on the forehead; the third, crisp curling +hair, deep cut with drill holes. + +This capital has been copied on the Renaissance side of the palace, only +with such changes in the ideal of the children as the workman thought +expedient and natural. It is highly interesting to compare the child of +the fourteenth with the child of the fifteenth century. The early heads +are full of youthful life, playful, humane, affectionate, beaming with +sensation and vivacity, but with much manliness and firmness, also, not +a little cunning, and some cruelty perhaps, beneath all; the features +small and hard, and the eyes keen. There is the making of rough and +great men in them. But the children of the fifteenth century are dull +smooth-faced dunces, without a single meaning line in the fatness of +their stolid cheeks; and, although, in the vulgar sense, as handsome as +the other children are ugly, capable of becoming nothing but perfumed +coxcombs. + +FIFTH CAPITAL. Still three sides only left, bearing three half-length +statues of kings; this is the first capital which bears any inscription. +In front, a king with a sword in his right hand points to a handkerchief +embroidered and fringed, with a head on it, carved on the cavetto of the +abacus. His name is written above, "TITUS VESPASIAN IMPERATOR" +(contracted IPAT.). + +On eastern side, "TRAJANUS IMPERATOR." Crowned, a sword in right hand, +and sceptre in left. + +On western, "(OCT)AVIANUS AUGUSTUS IMPERATOR." The "OCT" is broken away. +He bears a globe in his right hand, with "MUNDUS PACIS" upon it; a +sceptre in his left, which I think has terminated in a human figure. He +has a flowing beard, and a singularly high crown; the face is much +injured, but has once been very noble in expression. + +SIXTH CAPITAL. Has large male and female heads, very coarsely cut, hard, +and bad. + +SECTION XLVIII. SEVENTH CAPITAL. This is the first of the series which +is complete; the first open arch of the lower arcade being between it +and the sixth. It begins the representation of the Virtues. + +_First side_. Largitas, or Liberality: always distinguished from +the higher Charity. A male figure, with his lap full of money, which he +pours out of his hand. The coins are plain, circular, and smooth; there +is no attempt to mark device upon them. The inscription above is, +"LARGITAS ME ONORAT." + +In the copy of this design on the twenty-fifth capital, instead of +showering out the gold from his open hand, the figure holds it in a +plate or salver, introduced for the sake of disguising the direct +imitation. The changes thus made in the Renaissance pillars are always +injuries. + +This virtue is the proper opponent of Avarice; though it does not occur +in the systems of Orcagna or Giotto, being included in Charity. It was a +leading virtue with Aristotle and the other ancients. + +SECTION XLIX. _Second side_. Constancy; not very characteristic. An +armed man with a sword in his hand, inscribed, "CONSTANTIA SUM, NIL +TIMENS." + +This virtue is one of the forms of fortitude, and Giotto therefore sets +as the vice opponent to Fortitude, "Inconstantia," represented as a +woman in loose drapery, falling from a rolling globe. The vision seen in +the interpreter's house in the Pilgrim's Progress, of the man with a +very bold countenance, who says to him who has the writer's ink-horn by +his side, "Set down my name," is the best personification of the +Venetian "Constantia" of which I am aware in literature. It would be +well for us all to consider whether we have yet given the order to the +man with the ink-horn, "Set down my name." + +SECTION L. _Third side_. Discord; holding up her finger, but +needing the inscription above to assure us of her meaning, "DISCORDIA +SUM, DISCORDIANS." In the Renaissance copy she is a meek and nun-like +person with a veil. + +She is the Atë of Spencer; "mother of debate," thus described in the +fourth book: + + "Her face most fowle and filthy was to see, + With squinted eyes contrarie wayes intended; + And loathly mouth, unmeete a mouth to bee, + That nought but gall and venim comprehended, + And wicked wordes that God and man offended: + Her lying tongue was in two parts divided, + And both the parts did speake, and both contended; + And as her tongue, so was her hart discided, + That never thoght one thing, but doubly stil was guided." + +Note the fine old meaning of "discided," cut in two; it is a great pity +we have lost this powerful expression. We might keep "determined" for +the other sense of the word. + +SECTION LI. _Fourth side_. Patience. A female figure, very +expressive and lovely, in a hood, with her right hand on her breast, the +left extended, inscribed "PATIENTIA MANET MECUM." + +She is one of the principal virtues in all the Christian systems: a +masculine virtue in Spenser, and beautifully placed as the _PHYSICIAN_ in +the House of Holinesse. The opponent vice, Impatience, is one of the hags +who attend the Captain of the Lusts of the Flesh; the other being +Impotence. In like manner, in the "Pilgrim's Progress," the opposite of +Patience is Passion; but Spenser's thought is farther carried. His two +hags, Impatience and Impotence, as attendant upon the evil spirit of +Passion, embrace all the phenomena of human conduct, down even to the +smallest matters, according to the adage, "More haste, worse speed." + +SECTION LII. _Fifth side_. Despair. A female figure thrusting a +dagger into her throat, and tearing her long hair, which flows down +among the leaves of the capital below her knees. One of the finest +figures of the series; inscribed "DESPERACIO MÔS (mortis?) CRUDELIS." In +the Renaissance copy she is totally devoid of expression, and appears, +instead of tearing her hair, to be dividing it into long curls on each +side. + +This vice is the proper opposite of Hope. By Giotto she is represented +as a woman hanging herself, a fiend coming for her soul. Spenser's +vision of Despair is well known, it being indeed currently reported that +this part of the Faerie Queen was the first which drew to it the +attention of Sir Philip Sidney. + +SECTION LIII. _Sixth side_. Obedience: with her arms folded; meek, +but rude and commonplace, looking at a little dog standing on its hind +legs and begging, with a collar round its neck. Inscribed "OBEDIENTI * +*;" the rest of the sentence is much defaced, but looks like +"A'ONOEXIBEO." + +I suppose the note of contraction above the final A has disappeared and +that the inscription was "Obedientiam domino exhibeo." + +This virtue is, of course, a principal one in the monkish systems; +represented by Giotto at Assisi as "an angel robed in black, placing the +finger of his left hand on his mouth, and passing the yoke over the head +of a Franciscan monk kneeling at his feet." [Footnote: Lord Lindsay, +vol. ii. p. 226.] + +Obedience holds a less principal place in Spenser. We have seen her +above associated with the other peculiar virtues of womanhood. + +SECTION LIV. _Seventh side_. Infidelity. A man in a turban, with a +small image in his hand, or the image of a child. Of the inscription +nothing but "INFIDELITATE * * *" and some fragmentary letters, "ILI, +CERO," remain. + +By Giotto Infidelity is most nobly symbolized as a woman helmeted, the +helmet having a broad rim which keeps the light from her eyes. She is +covered with heavy drapery, stands infirmly as if about to fall, _is +bound by a cord round her neck to an image_ which she carries in her +hand, and has flames bursting forth at her feet. + +In Spenser, Infidelity is the Saracen knight Sans Foy,-- + + "Full large of limbe and every joint + He was, and cared not for God or man a point." + +For the part which he sustains in the contest with Godly Fear, or the +Red-cross knight, see Appendix 2, Vol. III. + +SECTION LV. _Eighth side_. Modesty; bearing a pitcher. (In the +Renaissance copy, a vase like a coffeepot.) Inscribed "MODESTIA +ROBUOBTINEO." + +I do not find this virtue in any of the Italian series, except that of +Venice. In Spenser she is of course one of those attendant on Womanhood, +but occurs as one of the tenants of the Heart of Man, thus portrayed in +the second book: + + "Straunge was her tyre, and all her garment blew, + Close rownd about her tuckt with many a plight: + Upon her fist the bird which shonneth vew. + + * * * * * + + And ever and anone with rosy red + The bashfull blood her snowy cheekes did dye, + That her became, as polisht yvory + Which cunning craftesman hand hath overlayd + With fayre vermilion or pure castory." + +SECTION LVI. EIGHTH CAPITAL. It has no inscriptions, and its subjects +are not, by themselves, intelligible; but they appear to be typical of +the degradation of human instincts. + +_First side_. A caricature of Arion on his dolphin; he wears a cap +ending in a long proboscis-like horn, and plays a violin with a curious +twitch of the bow and wag of the head, very graphically expressed, but +still without anything approaching to the power of Northern grotesque. +His dolphin has a goodly row of teeth, and the waves beat over his back. + +_Second side_. A human figure, with curly hair and the legs of a +bear; the paws laid, with great sculptural skill, upon the foliage. It +plays a violin, shaped like a guitar, with a bent double-stringed bow. + +_Third side_. A figure with a serpent's tail and a monstrous head, +founded on a Negro type, hollow-cheeked, large-lipped, and wearing a cap +made of a serpent's skin, holding a fir-cone in its hand. + +_Fourth side_. A monstrous figure, terminating below in a tortoise. +It is devouring a gourd, which it grasps greedily with both hands; it +wears a cap ending in a hoofed leg. + +_Fifth side_. A centaur wearing a crested helmet, and holding a +curved sword. + +_Sixth side_. A knight, riding a headless horse, and wearing a +chain armor, with a triangular shield flung behind his back, and a +two-edged sword. + +_Seventh side_. A figure like that on the fifth, wearing a round +helmet, and with the legs and tail of a horse. He bears a long mace with +a top like a fir-cone. + +_Eighth side_. A figure with curly hair, and an acorn in its hand, +ending below in a fish. + +SECTION LVII. NINTH CAPITAL. _First side_. Faith. She has her left +hand on her breast, and the cross on her right. Inscribed "FIDES OPTIMA +IN DEO." The Faith of Giotto holds the cross in her right hand; in her +left, a scroll with the Apostles' Creed. She treads upon cabalistic +books, and has a key suspended to her waist. Spenser's Faith (Fidelia) +is still more spiritual and noble: + + "She was araied all in lilly white, + And in her right hand bore a cup of gold, + With wine and water fild up to the hight, + In which a serpent did himselfe enfold, + That horrour made to all that did behold; + But she no whitt did chaunge her constant mood: + And in her other hand she fast did hold + A booke, that was both signd and seald with blood; + Wherein darke things were writt, hard to be understood." + +SECTION LVIII. _Second side_. Fortitude. A long-bearded man [Samson?] +tearing open a lion's jaw. The inscription is illegible, and the somewhat +vulgar personification appears to belong rather to Courage than +Fortitude. On the Renaissance copy it is inscribed "FORTITUDO SUM +VIRILIS." The Latin word has, perhaps, been received by the sculptor as +merely signifying "Strength," the rest of the perfect idea of this virtue +having been given in "Constantia" previously. But both these Venetian +symbols together do not at all approach the idea of Fortitude as given +generally by Giotto and the Pisan sculptors; clothed with a lion's skin, +knotted about her neck, and falling to her feet in deep folds; drawing +back her right hand, with the sword pointed towards her enemy; and +slightly retired behind her immovable shield, which, with Giotto, is +square, and rested on the ground like a tower, covering her up to above +her shoulders; bearing on it a lion, and with broken heads of javelins +deeply infixed. + +Among the Greeks, this is, of course, one of the principal virtues; apt, +however, in their ordinary conception of it to degenerate into mere +manliness or courage. + +SECTION LIX. _Third side_. Temperance; bearing a pitcher of water +and a cup. Inscription, illegible here, and on the Renaissance copy +nearly so, "TEMPERANTIA SUM" (INOM' L'S)? Only left. In this somewhat +vulgar and most frequent conception of this virtue (afterwards +continually repeated, as by Sir Joshua in his window at New-College) +temperance is confused with mere abstinence, the opposite of Gula, or +gluttony; whereas the Greek Temperance, a truly cardinal virtue, is the +moderator of _all_ the passions, and so represented by Giotto, who +has placed a bridle upon her lips, and a sword in her hand, the hilt of +which she is binding to the scabbard. In his system, she is opposed +among the vices, not by Gula or Gluttony, but by Ira, Anger. So also the +Temperance of Spenser, or Sir Guyon, but with mingling of much +sternness: + + "A goodly knight, all armd in harnesse meete, + That from his head no place appeared to his feete, + His carriage was full comely and upright; + His countenance demure and temperate; + But yett so sterne and terrible in sight, + That cheard his friendes, and did his foes amate." + +The Temperance of the Greeks, [Greek: sophrosunae] involves the idea +of Prudence, and is a most noble virtue, yet properly marked by Plato as +inferior to sacred enthusiasm, though necessary for its government. He +opposes it, under the name "Mortal Temperance" or "the Temperance which +is of men," to divine madness, [Greek: mania,] or inspiration; but he +most justly and nobly expresses the general idea of it under the term +[Greek: ubris], which, in the "Phaedrus," is divided into various +intemperances with respect to various objects, and set forth under the +image of a black, vicious, diseased and furious horse, yoked by the side +of Prudence or Wisdom (set forth under the figure of a white horse with a +crested and noble head, like that which we have among the Elgin Marbles) +to the chariot of the Soul. The system of Aristotle, as above stated, is +throughout a mere complicated blunder, supported by sophistry, the +laboriously developed mistake of Temperance for the essence of the +virtues which it guides. Temperance in the mediaeval systems is generally +opposed by Anger, or by Folly, or Gluttony: but her proper opposite is +Spenser's Acrasia, the principal enemy of Sir Guyon, at whose gates we +find the subordinate vice "Excesse," as the introduction to Intemperance; +a graceful and feminine image, necessary to illustrate the more dangerous +forms of subtle intemperance, as opposed to the brutal "Gluttony" in the +first book. She presses grapes into a cup, because of the words of St. +Paul, "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess;" but always delicately, + + "Into her cup she scruzd with daintie breach + Of her fine fingers, without fowle empeach, + That so faire winepresse made the wine more sweet." + +The reader will, I trust, pardon these frequent extracts from Spenser, +for it is nearly as necessary to point out the profound divinity and +philosophy of our great English poet, as the beauty of the Ducal Palace. + +SECTION LX. _Fourth side_. Humility; with a veil upon her head, +carrying a lamp in her lap. Inscribed in the copy, "HUMILITAS HABITAT IN +ME." + +This virtue is of course a peculiarly Christian one, hardly recognized +in the Pagan systems, though carefully impressed upon the Greeks in +early life in a manner which at this day it would be well if we were to +imitate, and, together with an almost feminine modesty, giving an +exquisite grace to the conduct and bearing of the well-educated Greek +youth. It is, of course, one of the leading virtues in all the monkish +systems, but I have not any notes of the manner of its representation. + +SECTION LXI. _Fifth side_. Charity. A woman with her lap full of +loaves (?), giving one to a child, who stretches his arm out for it +across a broad gap in the leafage of the capital. + +Again very far inferior to the Giottesque rendering of this virtue. In +the Arena Chapel she is distinguished from all the other virtues by +having a circular glory round her head, and a cross of fire; she is +crowned with flowers, presents with her right hand a vase of corn and +fruit, and with her left receives treasure from Christ, who appears +above her, to provide her with the means of continual offices of +beneficence, while she tramples under foot the treasures of the earth. + +The peculiar beauty of most of the Italian conceptions of Charity, is in +the subjection of mere munificence to the glowing of her love, always +represented by flames; here in the form of a cross round her head; in +Orcagna's shrine at Florence, issuing from a censer in her hand; and, +with Dante, inflaming her whole form, so that, in a furnace of clear +fire, she could not have been discerned. + +Spenser represents her as a mother surrounded by happy children, an idea +afterwards grievously hackneyed and vulgarized by English painters and +sculptors. + +SECTION LXII. _Sixth side_. Justice. Crowned, and with sword. +Inscribed in the copy, "REX SUM JUSTICIE." + +This idea was afterwards much amplified and adorned in the only good +capital of the Renaissance series, under the Judgment angle. Giotto has +also given his whole strength to the painting of this virtue, +representing her as enthroned under a noble Gothic canopy, holding +scales, not by the beam, but one in each hand; a beautiful idea, showing +that the equality of the scales of Justice is not owing to natural laws, +but to her own immediate weighing the opposed causes in her own hands. +In one scale is an executioner beheading a criminal; in the other an +angel crowning a man who seems (in Selvatico's plate) to have been +working at a desk or table. + +Beneath her feet is a small predella, representing various persons +riding securely in the woods, and others dancing to the sound of music. + +Spenser's Justice, Sir Artegall, is the hero of an entire book, and the +betrothed knight of Britomart, or chastity. + +SECTION LXIII. _Seventh side_. Prudence. A man with a book and a +pair of compasses, wearing the noble cap, hanging down towards the +shoulder, and bound in a fillet round the brow, which occurs so +frequently during the fourteenth century in Italy in the portraits of +men occupied in any civil capacity. + +This virtue is, as we have seen, conceived under very different degrees +of dignity, from mere worldly prudence up to heavenly wisdom, being +opposed sometimes by Stultitia, sometimes by Ignorantia. I do not find, +in any of the representations of her, that her truly distinctive +character, namely, _forethought_, is enough insisted upon: Giotto +expresses her vigilance and just measurement or estimate of all things +by painting her as Janus-headed, and gazing into a convex mirror, with +compasses in her right hand; the convex mirror showing her power of +looking at many things in small compass. But forethought or +anticipation, by which, independently of greater or less natural +capacities, one man becomes more _prudent_ than another, is never +enough considered or symbolized. + +The idea of this virtue oscillates, in the Greek systems, between +Temperance and Heavenly Wisdom. + +SECTION LXIV. _Eighth side_. Hope. A figure full of devotional +expression, holding up its hands as in prayer, and looking to a hand +which is extended towards it out of sunbeams. In the Renaissance copy +this hand does not appear. + +Of all the virtues, this is the most distinctively Christian (it could +not, of course, enter definitely into any Pagan scheme); and above all +others, it seems to me the _testing_ virtue,--that by the possession of +which we may most certainly determine whether we are Christians or not; +for many men have charity, that is to say, general kindness of heart, or +even a kind of faith, who have not any habitual _hope_ of, or longing +for, heaven. The Hope of Giotto is represented as winged, rising in the +air, while an angel holds a crown before her. I do not know if Spenser +was the first to introduce our marine virtue, leaning on an anchor, a +symbol as inaccurate as it is vulgar: for, in the first place, anchors +are not for men, but for ships; and in the second, anchorage is the +characteristic not of Hope, but of Faith. Faith is dependent, but Hope is +aspirant. Spenser, however, introduces Hope twice,--the first time as the +Virtue with the anchor; but afterwards fallacious Hope, far more +beautifully, in the Masque of Cupid: + + "She always smyld, and in her hand did hold + An holy-water sprinckle, dipt in deowe." + +SECTION LXV. TENTH CAPITAL. _First side_. Luxury (the opposite of +chastity, as above explained). A woman with a jewelled chain across her +forehead, smiling as she looks into a mirror, exposing her breast by +drawing down her dress with one hand. Inscribed "LUXURIA SUM IMENSA." + +These subordinate forms of vice are not met with so frequently in art as +those of the opposite virtues, but in Spenser we find them all. His +Luxury rides upon a goat: + + "In a greene gowne he clothed was full faire, + Which underneath did hide his filthinesse, + And in his hand a burning heart he bare." + +But, in fact, the proper and comprehensive expression of this vice is +the Cupid of the ancients; and there is not any minor circumstance more +indicative of the _intense_ difference between the mediaeval and +the Renaissance spirit, than the mode in which this god is represented. + +I have above said, that all great European art is rooted in the +thirteenth century; and it seems to me that there is a kind of central +year about which we may consider the energy of the middle ages to be +gathered; a kind of focus of time which, by what is to my mind a most +touching and impressive Divine appointment, has been marked for us by +the greatest writer of the middle ages, in the first words he utters; +namely, the year 1300, the "mezzo del cammin" of the life of Dante. Now, +therefore, to Giotto, the contemporary of Dante, and who drew Dante's +still existing portrait in this very year, 1300, we may always look for +the central mediaeval idea in any subject: and observe how he represents +Cupid; as one of three, a terrible trinity, his companions being Satan +and Death; and he himself "a lean scarecrow, with bow, quiver, and +fillet, and feet ending in claws," [Footnote: Lord Lindsay, vol. ii. +letter iv.] thrust down into Hell by Penance, from the presence of +Purity and Fortitude. Spenser, who has been so often noticed as +furnishing the exactly intermediate type of conception between the +mediaeval and the Renaissance, indeed represents Cupid under the form of +a beautiful winged god, and riding on a lion, but still no plaything of +the Graces, but full of terror: + + "With that the darts which his right hand did straine + Full dreadfully he shooke, that all did quake, + And clapt on hye his coloured winges twaine, + That all his many it afraide did make." + +His many, that is to say, his company; and observe what a company it is. +Before him go Fancy, Desire, Doubt, Danger, Fear, Fallacious Hope, +Dissemblance, Suspicion, Grief, Fury, Displeasure, Despite, and Cruelty. +After him, Reproach, Repentance, Shame, + + "Unquiet Care, and fond Unthriftyhead, + Lewd Losse of Time, and Sorrow seeming dead, + Inconstant Chaunge, and false Disloyalty, + Consuming Riotise, and guilty Dread + Of heavenly vengeaunce; faint Infirmity, + Vile Poverty, and lastly Death with infamy." + +Compare these two pictures of Cupid with the Love-god of the +Renaissance, as he is represented to this day, confused with angels, in +every faded form of ornament and allegory, in our furniture, our +literature, and our minds. + +SECTION LXVI. _Second side_. Gluttony. A woman in a turban, with a +jewelled cup in her right hand. In her left, the clawed limb of a bird, +which she is gnawing. Inscribed "GULA SINE ORDINE SUM." + +Spenser's Gluttony is more than usually fine: + + "His belly was upblownt with luxury, + And eke with fatnesse swollen were his eyne, + And like a crane his necke was long and fyne, + Wherewith he swallowed up excessive feast, + For want whereof poore people oft did pyne." + +He rides upon a swine, and is clad in vine-leaves, with a garland of +ivy. Compare the account of Excesse, above, as opposed to Temperance. + +SECTION LXVII. _Third side_. Pride. A knight, with a heavy and +stupid face, holding a sword with three edges: his armor covered with +ornaments in the form of roses, and with two ears attached to his +helmet. The inscription indecipherable, all but "SUPERBIA." + +Spenser has analyzed this vice with great care. He first represents it +as the Pride of life; that is to say, the pride which runs in a deep +under-current through all the thoughts and acts of men. As such, it is a +feminine vice, directly opposed to Holiness, and mistress of a castle +called the House of Pryde, and her chariot is driven by Satan, with a +team of beasts, ridden by the mortal sins. In the throne chamber of her +palace she is thus described: + + "So proud she shyned in her princely state, + Looking to Heaven, for Earth she did disdayne; + And sitting high, for lowly she did hate: + Lo, underneath her scornefull feete was layne + A dreadfull dragon with an hideous trayne; + And in her hand she held a mirrhour bright, + Wherein her face she often vewed fayne." + +The giant Orgoglio is a baser species of pride, born of the Earth and +Eolus; that is to say, of sensual and vain conceits. His foster-father +and the keeper of his castle is Ignorance. (Book I. canto viii.) + +Finally, Disdain is introduced, in other places, as the form of pride +which vents itself in insult to others. + +SECTION LXVIII. _Fourth side_. Anger. A woman tearing her dress open at +her breast. Inscription here undecipherable; but in the Renaissance Copy +it IS "IRA CRUDELIS EST IN ME." + +Giotto represents this vice under the same symbol; but it is the weakest +of all the figures in the Arena Chapel. The "Wrath" of Spenser rides +upon a lion, brandishing a firebrand, his garments stained with blood. +Rage, or Furor, occurs subordinately in other places. It appears to me +very strange that neither Giotto nor Spenser should have given any +representation of the _restrained_ Anger, which is infinitely the +most terrible; both of them make him violent. + +SECTION LXIX. _Fifth side_. Avarice. An old woman with a veil over +her forehead, and a bag of money in each hand. A figure very marvellous +for power of expression. The throat is all made up of sinews with skinny +channels deep between them, strained as by anxiety, and wasted by +famine; the features hunger-bitten, the eyes hollow, the look glaring +and intense, yet without the slightest caricature. Inscribed in the +Renaissance copy, "AVARITIA IMPLETOR." + +Spenser's Avarice (the vice) is much feebler than this; but the god +Mammon and his kingdom have been described by him with his usual power. +Note the position of the house of Richesse: + + "Betwixt them both was but a little stride, + That did the House of Richesse from Hell-mouth divide." + +It is curious that most moralists confuse avarice with covetousness, +although they are vices totally different in their operation on the +human heart, and on the frame of society. The love of money, the sin of +Judas and Ananias, is indeed the root of all evil in the hardening of +the heart; but "covetousness, which is idolatry," the sin of Ahab, that +is, the inordinate desire of some seen or recognized good,--thus +destroying peace of mind,--is probably productive of much more misery in +heart, and error in conduct, than avarice itself, only covetousness is +not so inconsistent with Christianity: for covetousness may partly +proceed from vividness of the affections and hopes, as in David, and be +consistent with much charity; not so avarice. + +SECTION LXX. _Sixth side_. Idleness. Accidia. A figure much broken +away, having had its arms round two branches of trees. + +I do not know why Idleness should be represented as among trees, unless, +in the Italy of the fourteenth century, forest country was considered as +desert, and therefore the domain of Idleness. Spenser fastens this vice +especially upon the clergy,-- + + "Upon a slouthfull asse he chose to ryde, + Arayd in habit blacke, and amis thin, + Like to an holy monck, the service to begin. + And in his hand his portesse still he bare, + That much was worne, but therein little redd." + +And he properly makes him the leader of the train of the vices: + + "May seem the wayne was very evil ledd, + When such an one had guiding of the way." + +Observe that subtle touch of truth in the "wearing" of the portesse, +indicating the abuse of books by idle readers, so thoroughly +characteristic of unwilling studentship from the schoolboy upwards. + +SECTION LXXI. _Seventh side_. Vanity. She is smiling complacently +as she looks into a mirror in her lap. Her robe is embroidered with +roses, and roses form her crown. Undecipherable. + +There is some confusion in the expression of this vice, between pride in +the personal appearance and lightness of purpose. The word Vanitas +generally, I think, bears, in the mediaeval period, the sense given it +in Scripture. "Let not him that is deceived trust in Vanity, for Vanity +shall be his recompense." "Vanity of Vanities." "The Lord knoweth the +thoughts of the wise, that they are vain." It is difficult to find this +sin,--which, after Pride, is the most universal, perhaps the most fatal, +of all, fretting the whole depth of our humanity into storm "to waft a +feather or to drown a fly,"--definitely expressed in art. Even Spenser, +I think, has only partially expressed it under the figure of Phaedria, +more properly Idle Mirth, in the second book. The idea is, however, +entirely worked out in the Vanity Fair of the "Pilgrim's Progress." + +SECTION LXXII. _Eighth side_. Envy. One of the noblest pieces of +expression in the series. She is pointing malignantly with her finger; a +serpent is wreathed about her head like a cap, another forms the girdle +of her waist, and a dragon rests in her lap. + +Giotto has, however, represented her, with still greater subtlety, as +having her fingers terminating in claws, and raising her right hand with +an expression partly of impotent regret, partly of involuntary grasping; +a serpent, issuing from her mouth, is about to bite her between the +eyes; she has long membranous ears, horns on her head, and flames +consuming her body. The Envy of Spenser is only inferior to that of +Giotto, because the idea of folly and quickness of hearing is not +suggested by the size of the ear: in other respects it is even finer, +joining the idea of fury, in the wolf on which he rides, with that of +corruption on his lips, and of discoloration or distortion in the whole +mind: + + "Malicious Envy rode + Upon a ravenous wolfe, and still did chaw + Between his cankred teeth avenemous tode + That all the poison ran about his jaw. + _And in a kirtle of discolourd say + He clothed was, ypaynted full of eies_, + And in his bosome secretly there lay + An hatefull snake, the which his taile uptyes + In many folds, and mortali sting implyes." + +He has developed the idea in more detail, and still more loathsomely, in +the twelfth canto of the fifth book. + +SECTION LXXIII. ELEVENTH CAPITAL. Its decoration is composed of eight +birds, arranged as shown in Plate V. of the "Seven Lamps," which, +however, was sketched from the Renaissance copy. These birds are all +varied in form and action, but not so as to require special description. + +SECTION LXXIV. TWELFTH CAPITAL. This has been very interesting, but is +grievously defaced, four of its figures being entirely broken away, and +the character of two others quite undecipherable. It is fortunate that +it has been copied in the thirty-third capital of the Renaissance +series, from which we are able to identify the lost figures. + +_First side_. Misery. A man with a wan face, seemingly pleading with a +child who has its hands crossed on its breast. There is a buckle at his +own breast in the shape of a cloven heart. Inscribed "MISERIA." + +The intention of this figure is not altogether apparent, as it is by no +means treated as a vice; the distress seeming real, and like that of a +parent in poverty mourning over his child. Yet it seems placed here as +in direct opposition to the virtue of Cheerfulness, which follows next +in order; rather, however, I believe, with the intention of illustrating +human life, than the character of the vice which, as we have seen, Dante +placed in the circle of hell. The word in that case would, I think, have +been "Tristitia," the "unholy Griefe" of Spenser-- + + "All in sable sorrowfully clad, + Downe hanging his dull head with heavy chere: + + * * * * * + + A pair of pincers in his hand he had, + With which he pinched people to the heart." + +He has farther amplified the idea under another figure in the fifth +canto of the fourth book: + + "His name was Care; a blacksmith by his trade, + That neither day nor night from working spared; + But to small purpose yron wedges made: + Those be unquiet thoughts that carefull minds invade. + + Rude was his garment, and to rags all rent, + Ne better had he, ne for better cared; + With blistered hands among the cinders brent." + +It is to be noticed, however, that in the Renaissance copy this figure +is stated to be, not Miseria, but "Misericordia." The contraction is a +very moderate one, Misericordia being in old MS. written always as +"Mia." If this reading be right, the figure is placed here rather as the +companion, than the opposite, of Cheerfulness; unless, indeed, it is +intended to unite the idea of Mercy and Compassion with that of Sacred +Sorrow. + +SECTION LXXV. _Second side_. Cheerfulness. A woman with long flowing +hair, crowned with roses, playing on a tambourine, and with open lips, as +singing. Inscribed "ALACRITAS." + +We have already met with this virtue among those especially set by +Spenser to attend on Womanhood. It is inscribed in the Renaissance Copy, +"ALACHRITAS CHANIT MECUM." Note the gutturals of the rich and fully +developed Venetian dialect now affecting the Latin, which is free from +them in the earlier capitals. + +SECTION LXXVI. _Third side_. Destroyed; but, from the copy, we find +it has been Stultitia, Folly; and it is there represented simply as a +man _riding_, a sculpture worth the consideration of the English +residents who bring their horses to Venice. Giotto gives Stultitia a +feather, cap, and club. In early manuscripts he is always eating with +one hand, and striking with the other; in later ones he has a cap and +bells, or cap crested with a cock's head, whence the word "coxcomb." + +SECTION LXXVII. _Fourth side_. Destroyed, all but a book, which +identifies it with the "Celestial Chastity" of the Renaissance copy; +there represented as a woman pointing to a book (connecting the convent +life with the pursuit of literature?). + +Spenser's Chastity, Britomart, is the most exquisitely wrought of all +his characters; but, as before noticed, she is not the Chastity of the +convent, but of wedded life. + +SECTION LXXVIII. _Fifth side_. Only a scroll is left; but, from the +copy, we find it has been Honesty or Truth. Inscribed "HONESTATEM +DILIGO." It is very curious, that among all the Christian systems of the +virtues which we have examined, we should find this one in Venice only. + +The Truth of Spenser, Una, is, after Chastity, the most exquisite +character in the "Faerie Queen." + +SECTION LXXIX. _Sixth side_. Falsehood. An old woman leaning on a +crutch; and inscribed in the copy, "FALSITAS IN ME SEMPER EST." The +Fidessa of Spenser, the great enemy of Una, or Truth, is far more subtly +conceived, probably not without special reference to the Papal deceits. +In her true form she is a loathsome hag, but in her outward aspect, + + "A goodly lady, clad in scarlet red, + Purfled with gold and pearle;... + Her wanton palfrey all was overspred. + With tinsell trappings, woven like a wave, + Whose bridle rung with golden bels and bosses brave." + +Dante's Fraud, Geryon, is the finest personification of all, but the +description (Inferno, canto XVII.) is too long to be quoted. + +SECTION LXXX. _Seventh side_. Injustice. An armed figure holding a +halbert; so also in the copy. The figure used by Giotto with the +particular intention of representing unjust government, is represented +at the gate of an embattled castle in a forest, between rocks, while +various deeds of violence are committed at his feet. Spenser's "Adicia" +is a furious hag, at last transformed into a tiger. + +_Eighth side_. A man with a dagger looking sorrowfully at a child, +who turns its back to him. I cannot understand this figure. It is +inscribed in the copy, "ASTINECIA (Abstinentia?) OPITIMA?" + +SECTION LXXXI. THIRTEENTH CAPITAL. It has lions' heads all round, +coarsely cut. + +FOURTEENTH CAPITAL. It has various animals, each sitting on its +haunches. Three dogs, One a greyhound, one long-haired, one short-haired +with bells about its neck; two monkeys, one with fan-shaped hair +projecting on each side of its face; a noble boar, with its tusks, +hoofs, and bristles sharply cut; and a lion and lioness. + +SECTION LXXXII. FIFTEENTH CAPITAL. The pillar to which it belongs is +thicker than the rest, as well as the one over it in the upper arcade. + +The sculpture of this capital is also much coarser, and seems to me +later than that of the rest; and it has no inscription, which is +embarrassing, as its subjects have had much meaning; but I believe +Selvatico is right in supposing it to have been intended for a general +illustration of Idleness. + +_First side_. A woman with a distaff; her girdle richly decorated, +and fastened by a buckle. + +_Second side_. A youth in a long mantle, with a rose in his hand. + +_Third side_. A woman in a turban stroking a puppy, which she holds +by the haunches. + +_Fourth side_. A man with a parrot. + +_Fifth side_. A woman in very rich costume, with braided hair, and +dress thrown into minute folds, holding a rosary (?) in her left hand, +her right on her breast. + +_Sixth side_. A man with a very thoughtful face, laying his hand +upon the leaves of the capital. + +_Seventh side_. A crowned lady, with a rose in her hand. + +_Eighth side_. A boy with a ball in his left hand, and his right +laid on his breast. + +SECTION LXXXIII. SIXTEENTH CAPITAL. It is decorated with eight large +heads, partly intended to be grotesque, [Footnote: Selvatico states that +these are intended to be representative of eight nations, Latins, +Tartars, Turks, Hungarians, Greeks, Goths, Egyptians, and Persians. +Either the inscriptions are now defaced or I have carelessly omitted to +note them.] and very coarse and bad, except only that in the sixth +side, which is totally different from all the rest, and looks like a +portrait. It is thin, thoughtful, and dignified; thoroughly fine in +every way. It wears a cap surmounted by two winged lions; and, +therefore, I think Selvatico must have inaccurately written the list +given in the note, for this head is certainly meant to express the +superiority of the Venetian character over that of other nations. +Nothing is more remarkable in all early sculpture, than its appreciation +of the signs of dignity of character in the features, and the way in +which it can exalt the principal figure in any subject by a few touches. + +SECTION LXXXIV. SEVENTEENTH CAPITAL. This has been so destroyed by the +sea wind, which sweeps at this point of the arcade round the angle of +the palace, that its inscriptions are no longer legible, and great part +of its figures are gone. Selvatico states them as follows: Solomon, the +wise; Priscian, the grammarian; Aristotle, the logician; Tully, the +orator; Pythagoras, the philosopher; Archimedes, the mechanic; Orpheus, +the musician; Ptolemy, the astronomer. The fragments actually remaining +are the following: + +_First side_. A figure with two books, in a robe richly decorated +with circles of roses. Inscribed "SALOMON (SAP) IENS." + +_Second side_. A man with one book, poring over it: he has had a +long stick or reed in his hand. Of inscription only the letters +"GRAMMATIC" remain. + +_Third side_. "ARISTOTLE:" so inscribed. He has a peaked double +beard and a flat cap, from under which his long hair falls down his +back. + +_Fourth side_. Destroyed. + +_Fifth side_. Destroyed, all but a board with, three (counters?) on +it. + +_Sixth side_. A figure with compasses. Inscribed "GEOMET * *" + +_Seventh side_. Nothing is left but a guitar with its handle +wrought into a lion's head. + +_Eighth side_. Destroyed. + +SECTION LXXXV. We have now arrived at the EIGHTEENTH CAPITAL, the most +interesting and beautiful of the palace. It represents the planets, and +the sun and moon, in those divisions of the zodiac known to astrologers +as their "houses;" and perhaps indicates, by the position in which they +are placed, the period of the year at which this great corner-stone was +laid. The inscriptions above have been in quaint Latin rhyme, but are +now decipherable only in fragments, and that with the more difficulty +because the rusty iron bar that binds the abacus has broken away, in its +expansion, nearly all the upper portions of the stone, and with them the +signs of contraction, which are of great importance. I shall give the +fragments of them that I could decipher; first as the letters actually +stand (putting those of which I am doubtful in brackets, with a note of +interrogation), and then as I would read them. + +SECTION LXXXVI. It should be premised that, in modern astrology, the +houses of the planets are thus arranged: + +The house of the Sun, is Leo. + " Moon, " Cancer. + " Mars, " Aries and Scorpio. + " Venus, " Taurus and Libra. + " Mercury, " Gemini and Virgo. + " Jupiter, " Sagittarius and Pisces. + " Saturn, " Capricorn. + " Herschel, " Aquarius. + +The Herschel planet being of course unknown to the old astrologers, we +have only the other six planetary powers, together with the sun; and +Aquarius is assigned to Saturn as his house. I could not find Capricorn +at all; but this sign may have been broken away, as the whole capital is +grievously defaced. The eighth side of the capital, which the Herschel +planet would now have occupied, bears a sculpture of the Creation of +Man: it is the most conspicuous side, the one set diagonally across the +angle; or the eighth in our usual mode of reading the capitals, from +which I shall not depart. + +SECTION LXXXVII. _The first side_, then, or that towards the Sea, +has Aquarius, as the house of Saturn, represented as a seated figure +beautifully draped, pouring a stream of water out of an amphora over the +leaves of the capital. His inscription is: + +"ET SATURNE DOMUS (ECLOCERUNT?) I'S 7BRE." + +SECTION LXXXVIII. _Second side_. Jupiter, in his houses Sagittarius +and Pisces, represented throned, with an upper dress disposed in +radiating folds about his neck, and hanging down upon his breast, +ornamented by small pendent trefoiled studs or bosses. He wears the +drooping bonnet and long gloves; but the folds about the neck, shot +forth to express the rays of the star, are the most remarkable +characteristic of the figure. He raises his sceptre in his left hand +over Sagittarius, represented as the centaur Chiron; and holds two +thunnies in his right. Something rough, like a third fish, has been +broken away below them; the more easily because this part of the group +is entirely undercut, and the two fish glitter in the light, relieved on +the deep gloom below the leaves. The inscription is: + +"INDE JOVI' DONA PISES SIMUL ATQ' CIRONA." +[Footnote: The comma in these inscriptions stands for a small cuneiform +mark, I believe of contraction, and the small for a zigzag mark of the +same kind. The dots or periods are similarly marked on the stone.] + +Or, + "Inde Jovis dona + Pisces simul atque Chirona." + +Domus is, I suppose, to be understood before Jovis: "Then the house of +Jupiter gives (or governs?) the fishes and Chiron." + +SECTION LXXXIX. _Third side_. Mars, in his houses Aries and Scorpio. +Represented as a very ugly knight in chain mail, seated sideways on the +ram, whose horns are broken away, and having a large scorpion in his left +hand, whose tail is broken also, to the infinite injury of the group, for +it seems to have curled across to the angle leaf, and formed a bright +line of light, like the fish in the hand of Jupiter. The knight carries a +shield, on which fire and water are sculptured, and bears a banner upon +his lance, with the word "DEFEROSUM," which puzzled me for some time. It +should be read, I believe, "De ferro sum;" which would be good _Venetian_ +Latin for "I am of iron." + +SECTION XC. _Fourth side_. The Sun, in his house Leo. Represented +under the figure of Apollo, sitting on the Lion, with rays shooting from +his head, and the world in his hand. The inscription: + +"TU ES DOMU' SOLIS (QUO?) SIGNE LEONI." + +I believe the first phrase is, "Tune est Domus solis;" but there is a +letter gone after the "quo," and I have no idea what case of signum +"signe" stands for. + +SECTION XCI. _Fifth side_. Venus, in her houses Taurus and Libra. +The most beautiful figure of the series. She sits upon the bull, who is +deep in the dewlap, and better cut than most of the animals, holding a +mirror in her right hand, and the scales in her left. Her breast is very +nobly and tenderly indicated under the folds of her drapery, which is +exquisitely studied in its fall. What is left of the inscription, runs: + +"LIBRA CUM TAURO DOMUS * * * PURIOR AUR*." + +SECTION XCII. _Sixth side_. Mercury, represented as wearing a pendent +cap, and holding a book: he is supported by three children in reclining +attitudes, representing his houses Gemini and Virgo. But I cannot +understand the inscription, though more than usually legible. + +"OCCUPAT ERIGONE STIBONS GEMINUQ' LAGONE." + +SECTION XCIII. _Seventh side_. The Moon, in her house Cancer. This +sculpture, which is turned towards the Piazzetta, is the most +picturesque of the series. The moon is represented as a woman in a boat, +upon the sea, who raises the crescent in her right hand, and with her +left draws a crab out of the waves, up the boat's side. The moon was, I +believe, represented in Egyptian sculptures as in a boat; but I rather +think the Venetian was not aware of this, and that he meant to express +the peculiar sweetness of the moonlight at Venice, as seen across the +lagoons. Whether this was intended by putting the planet in the boat, +may be questionable, but assuredly the idea was meant to be conveyed by +the dress of the figure. For all the draperies of the other figures on +this capital, as well as on the rest of the façade, are disposed in +severe but full folds, showing little of the forms beneath them; but the +moon's drapery _ripples_ down to her feet, so as exactly to suggest +the trembling of the moonlight on the waves. This beautiful idea is +highly characteristic of the thoughtfulness of the early sculptors: five +hundred men may be now found who could have cut the drapery, as such, +far better, for one who would have disposed its folds with this +intention. The inscription is: + +"LUNE CANCER DOMU T. PBET IORBE SIGNORU." + +SECTION XCIV. _Eighth side_. God creating Man. Represented as a +throned figure, with a glory round the head, laying his left hand on the +head of a naked youth, and sustaining him with his right hand. The +inscription puzzled me for a long time; but except the lost r and m of +"formavit," and a letter quite undefaced, but to me unintelligble, +before the word Eva, in the shape of a figure of 7, I have safely +ascertained the rest. + +"DELIMO DSADA DECO STAFO * * AVIT7EVA." + +Or + + "De limo Dominus Adam, de costa fo(rm) avit Evam;" + From the dust the Lord made Adam, and from the rib Eve. + +I imagine the whole of this capital, therefore--the principal one of the +old palace,--to have been intended to signify, first, the formation of +the planets for the service of man upon the earth; secondly, the entire +subjection of the fates and fortune of man to the will of God, as +determined from the time when the earth and stars were made, and, in +fact, written in the volume of the stars themselves. + +Thus interpreted, the doctrines of judicial astrology were not only +consistent with, but an aid to, the most spiritual and humble +Christianity. + +In the workmanship and grouping of its foliage, this capital is, on the +whole, the finest I know in Europe. The Sculptor has put his whole +strength into it. I trust that it will appear among the other Venetian +casts lately taken for the Crystal Palace; but if not, I have myself +cast all its figures, and two of its leaves, and I intend to give +drawings of them on a large scale in my folio work. + +SECTION XCV. NINETEENTH CAPITAL. This is, of course, the second counting +from the Sea, on the Piazzetta side of the palace, calling that of the +Fig-tree angle the first. + +It is the most important capital, as a piece of evidence in point of +dates, in the whole palace. Great pains have been taken with it, and in +some portion of the accompanying furniture or ornaments of each of its +figures a small piece of colored marble has been inlaid, with peculiar +significance: for the capital represents the _arts of sculpture and +architecture_; and the inlaying of the colored stones (which are far +too small to be effective at a distance, and are found in this one +capital only of the whole series) is merely an expression of the +architect's feeling of the essential importance of this art of inlaying, +and of the value of color generally in his own art. + +SECTION XCVI. _First side_. "ST. SIMPLICIUS": so inscribed. A +figure working with a pointed chisel on a small oblong block of green +serpentine, about four inches long by one wide, inlaid in the capital. +The chisel is, of course, in the left hand, but the right is held up +open, with the palm outwards. + +_Second side_. A crowned figure, carving the image of a child on a +small statue, with a ground of red marble. The sculptured figure is +highly finished, and is in type of head much like the Ham or Japheth at +the Vine angle. Inscription effaced. + +_Third side_. An old man, uncrowned, but with curling hair, at work +on a small column, with its capital complete, and a little shaft of dark +red marble, spotted with paler red. The capital is precisely of the form +of that found in the palace of the Tiepolos and the other thirteenth +century work of Venice. This one figure would be quite enough, without +any other evidence whatever, to determine the date of this flank of the +Ducal Palace as not later, at all events, than the first half of the +fourteenth century. Its inscription is broken away, all but "DISIPULO." + +_Fourth side_. A crowned figure; but the object on which it has +been working is broken away, and all the inscription except "ST. +E(N?)AS." + +_Fifth side_. A man with a turban, and a sharp chisel, at work on a +kind of panel or niche, the back of which is of red marble. + +_Sixth side_. A crowned figure, with hammer and chisel, employed +_on a little range of windows of the fifth order_, having roses +set, instead of orbicular ornaments, between the spandrils with a rich +cornice, and a band of marble inserted above. This sculpture assures us +of the date of the fifth order window, which it shows to have been +universal in the early fourteenth century. + +There are also five arches in the block on which the sculptor is +working, marking the frequency of the number five in the window groups +of the time. + +_Seventh side_. A figure at work on a pilaster, with Lombardic thirteenth +century capital (for account of the series of forms in Venetian capitals, +see the final Appendix of the next volume), the shaft of dark red spotted +marble. + +_Eighth side_. A figure with a rich open crown, working on a +delicate recumbent statue, the head of which is laid on a pillow covered +with a rich chequer pattern; the whole supported on a block of dark red +marble. Inscription broken away, all but "ST. SYM. (Symmachus?) TV * * +ANVS." There appear, therefore, altogether to have been five saints, two +of them popes, if Simplicius is the pope of that name (three in front, +two on the fourth and sixth sides), alternating with the three uncrowned +workmen in the manual labor of sculpture. I did not, therefore, insult +our present architects in saying above that they "ought to work in the +mason's yard with their men." It would be difficult to find a more +interesting expression of the devotional spirit in which all great work +was undertaken at this time. + +SECTION XCVII. TWENTIETH CAPITAL. It is adorned with heads of animals, +and is the finest of the whole series in the broad massiveness of its +effect; so simply characteristic, indeed, of the grandeur of style in +the entire building, that I chose it for the first Plate in my folio +work. In spite of the sternness of its plan, however, it is wrought with +great care in surface detail; and the ornamental value of the minute +chasing obtained by the delicate plumage of the birds, and the clustered +bees on the honeycomb in the bear's mouth, opposed to the strong +simplicity of its general form, cannot be too much admired. There are +also more grace, life, and variety in the sprays of foliage on each side +of it, and under the heads, than in any other capital of the series, +though the earliness of the workmanship is marked by considerable +hardness and coldness in the larger heads. A Northern Gothic workman, +better acquainted with bears and wolves than it was possible to become +in St. Mark's Place, would have put far more life into these heads, but +he could not have composed them more skilfully. + +SECTION XCVIII. _First side_. A lion with a stag's haunch in his +mouth. Those readers who have the folio plate, should observe the +peculiar way in which the ear is cut into the shape of a ring, jagged or +furrowed on the edge; an archaic mode of treatment peculiar, in the +Ducal Palace, to the lion's heads of the fourteenth century. The moment +we reach the Renaissance work, the lion's ears are smooth. Inscribed +simply, "LEO." + +_Second side_. A wolf with a dead bird in his mouth, its body +wonderfully true in expression of the passiveness of death. The feathers +are each wrought with a central quill and radiating filaments. Inscribed +"LUPUS." + +_Third side_. A fox, not at all like one, with a dead cock in his mouth, +its comb and pendent neck admirably designed so as to fall across +the great angle leaf of the capital, its tail hanging down on the other +side, its long straight feathers exquisitely cut. Inscribed ("VULP?)IS." + +_Fourth side_. Entirely broken away. + +_Fifth side_. "APER." Well tusked, with a head of maize in his mouth; at +least I suppose it to be maize, though shaped like a pine-cone. + +_Sixth side_. "CHANIS." With a bone, very ill cut; and a bald-headed +species of dog, with ugly flap ears. + +_Seventh side_. "MUSCIPULUS." With a rat (?) in his mouth. + +_Eighth side_. "URSUS." With a honeycomb, covered with large bees. + +SECTION XCIX. TWENTY-FIRST CAPITAL. Represents the principal inferior +professions. + +_First side_. An old man, with his brow deeply wrinkled, and very +expressive features, beating in a kind of mortar with a hammer. +Inscribed "LAPICIDA SUM." + +_Second side_. I believe, a goldsmith; he is striking a small flat bowl +or patera, on a pointed anvil, with a light hammer. The inscription is +gone. + +_Third side_. A shoemaker with a shoe in his hand, and an instrument for +cutting leather suspended beside him. Inscription undecipherable. + +_Fourth side_. Much broken. A carpenter planing a beam resting on +two horizontal logs. Inscribed "CARPENTARIUS SUM." + +_Fifth side_. A figure shovelling fruit into a tub; the latter very +carefully carved from what appears to have been an excellent piece of +cooperage. Two thin laths cross each other over the top of it. The +inscription, now lost, was, according to Selvatico, "MENSURATOR"? + +_Sixth side_. A man, with a large hoe, breaking the ground, which +lies in irregular furrows and clods before him. Now undecipherable, but +according to Selvatico, "AGRICHOLA." + +_Seventh side_. A man, in a pendent cap, writing on a large scroll +which falls over his knee. Inscribed "NOTARIUS SUM." + +_Eighth side_. A man forging a sword, or scythe-blade: he wears a +large skull-cap; beats with a large hammer on a solid anvil; and is +inscribed "FABER SUM." + +SECTION C. TWENTY-SECOND CAPITAL. The Ages of Man; and the influence of +the planets on human life. + +_First side_. The moon, governing infancy for four years, according +to Selvatico. I have no note of this side, having, I suppose, been +prevented from raising the ladder against it by some fruit-stall or +other impediment in the regular course of my examination; and then +forgotten to return to it. + +_Second side_. A child with a tablet, and an alphabet inscribed on +it. The legend above is + +"MECUREU' DNT. PUERICIE PAN. X." + +Or, "Mercurius dominatur puerilite per annos X." (Selvatico reads VII.) +"Mercury governs boyhood for ten (or seven) years." + +_Third side_. An older youth, with another tablet, but broken. +Inscribed + +"ADOLOSCENCIE * * * P. AN. VII." + +Selvatico misses this side altogether, as I did the first, so that the +lost planet is irrecoverable, as the inscription is now defaced. Note +the o for e in adolescentia; so also we constantly find u for o; +showing, together with much other incontestable evidence of the same +kind, how full and deep the old pronunciation of Latin always remained, +and how ridiculous our English mincing of the vowels would have sounded +to a Roman ear. + +_Fourth side_. A youth with a hawk on his fist. + +"IUVENTUTI DNT. SOL. P. AN. XIX." +The sue governs youth for nineteen years. + +_Fifth side_. A man sitting, helmed, with a sword over his shoulder. +Inscribed + +"SENECTUTI DNT MARS. P. AN. XV." +Mars governs manhood for fifteen years. + +_Sixth side_. A very graceful and serene figure, in the pendent cap, +reading. + +"SENICIE DNT JUPITER, P. ANN. XII." +Jupiter governs age for twelve years. + +_Seventh side_. An old man in a skull-cap, praying. + +"DECREPITE DNT SATN UQ' ADMOTE." (Saturnus usque ad mortem.) +Saturn governs decrepitude until death. + +_Eighth side_. The dead body lying on a mattress. + +"ULTIMA EST MORS PENA PECCATI." +Last comes death, the penalty of sin. + +SECTION CI. Shakespeare's Seven Ages are of course merely the expression +of this early and well-known system. He has deprived the dotage of its +devotion; but I think wisely, as the Italian system would imply that +devotion was, or should be, always delayed until dotage. + +TWENTY-THIRD CAPITAL. I agree with Selvatico in thinking this has been +restored. It is decorated with large and vulgar heads. + +SECTION CII. TWENTY-FOURTH CAPITAL. This belongs to the large shaft +which sustains the great party wall of the Sala del Gran Consiglio. The +shaft is thicker than the rest; but the capital, though ancient, is +coarse and somewhat inferior in design to the others of the series. It +represents the history of marriage: the lover first seeing his mistress +at a window, then addressing her, bringing her presents; then the +bridal, the birth and the death of a child. But I have not been able to +examine these sculptures properly, because the pillar is encumbered by +the railing which surrounds the two guns set before the Austrian +guard-house. + +SECTION CIII. TWENTY-FIFTH CAPITAL. We have here the employments of the +months, with which we are already tolerably acquainted. There are, +however, one or two varieties worth noticing in this series. + +_First side_. March. Sitting triumphantly in a rich dress, as the +beginning of the year. + +_Second side_. April and May. April with a lamb: May with a feather +fan in her hand. + +_Third side_. June. Carrying cherries in a basket. + +I did not give this series with the others in the previous chapter, +because this representation of June is peculiarly Venetian. It is called +"the month of cherries," mese delle ceriese, in the popular rhyme on the +conspiracy of Tiepolo, quoted above, Vol. I. + +The cherries principally grown near Venice are of a deep red color, and +large, but not of high flavor, though refreshing. They are carved upon +the pillar with great care, all their stalks undercut. + +_Fourth side_. July and August. The first reaping; the leaves of the +straw being given, shooting out from the tubular stalk. August, opposite, +beats (the grain?) in a basket. + +_Fifth side_. September. A woman standing in a wine-tub, and holding a +branch of vine. Very beautiful. + +_Sixth side_. October and November. I could not make out their +occupation; they seem to be roasting or boiling some root over a fire. + +_Seventh side_. December. Killing pigs, as usual. + +_Eighth side_. January warming his feet, and February frying fish. +This last employment is again as characteristic of the Venetian winter +as the cherries are of the Venetian summer. + +The inscriptions are undecipherable, except a few letters here and +there, and the words MARCIUS, APRILIS, and FEBRUARIUS. + +This is the last of the capitals of the early palace; the next, or +twenty-sixth capital, is the first of those executed in the fifteenth +century under Foscari; and hence to the Judgment angle the traveller has +nothing to do but to compare the base copies of the earlier work with +their originals, or to observe the total want of invention in the +Renaissance sculptor, wherever he has depended on his own resources. +This, however, always with the exception of the twenty-seventh and of +the last capital, which are both fine. + +I shall merely enumerate the subjects and point out the plagiarisms of +these capitals, as they are not worth description. + +SECTION CIV. TWENTY-SIXTH CAPITAL. Copied from the fifteenth, merely +changing the succession of the figures. + +TWENTY-SEVENTH CAPITAL. I think it possible that this may be part of the +old work displaced in joining the new palace with the old; at all +events, it is well designed, though a little coarse. It represents eight +different kinds of fruit, each in a basket; the characters well given, +and groups well arranged, but without much care or finish. The names are +inscribed above, though somewhat unnecessarily, and with certainly as +much disrespect to the beholder's intelligence as the sculptor's art, +namely, ZEREXIS, PIRI, CHUCUMERIS, PERSICI, ZUCHE, MOLONI, FICI, HUVA. +Zerexis (cherries) and Zuche (gourds) both begin with the same letter, +whether meant for z, s, or c I am not sure. The Zuche are the common +gourds, divided into two protuberances, one larger than the other, like +a bottle compressed near the neck; and the Moloni are the long +water-melons, which, roasted, form a staple food of the Venetians to +this day. + +SECTION CV. TWENTY-EIGHTH CAPITAL. Copied from the seventh. + +TWENTY-NINTH CAPITAL. Copied from the ninth. + +THIRTIETH CAPITAL. Copied from the tenth. The "Accidia" is noticeable as +having the inscription complete, "ACCIDIA ME STRINGIT;" and the +"Luxuria" for its utter want of expression, having a severe and calm +face, a robe up to the neck, and her hand upon her breast. The +inscription is also different: "LUXURIA SUM STERC'S (?) INFERI"(?). + +THIRTY-FIRST CAPITAL. Copied from the eighth. + +THIRTY-SECOND CAPITAL. Has no inscription, only fully robed figures +laying their hands, without any meaning, on their own shoulders, heads, +or chins, or on the leaves around them. + +THIRTY-THIRD CAPITAL. Copied from the twelfth. + +THIRTY-FOURTH CAPITAL. Copied from the eleventh. + +THIRTY-FIFTH CAPITAL. Has children, with birds or fruit, pretty in +features, and utterly inexpressive, like the cherubs of the eighteenth +century. + +SECTION CVI. THIRTY-SIXTH CAPITAL. This is the last of the Piazzetta +façade, the elaborate one under the Judgment angle. Its foliage is +copied from the eighteenth at the opposite side, with an endeavor on the +part of the Renaissance sculptor to refine upon it, by which he has +merely lost some of its truth and force. This capital will, however, be +always thought, at first, the most beautiful of the whole series: and +indeed it is very noble; its groups of figures most carefully studied, +very graceful, and much more pleasing than those of the earlier work, +though with less real power in them; and its foliage is only inferior to +that of the magnificent Fig-tree angle. It represents, on its front or +first side, Justice enthroned, seated on two lions; and on the seven +other sides examples of acts of justice or good government, or figures +of lawgivers, in the following order: + +_Second side_. Aristotle, with two pupils, giving laws. Inscribed: + +"ARISTOT * * CHE DIE LEGE." +Aristotle who declares laws. + +_Third side_. I have mislaid my note of this side: Selvatico and Lazari +call it "Isidore" (?). [Footnote: Can they have mistaken the ISIPIONE of +the fifth side for the word Isidore?] + +_Fourth side_. Solon with his pupils. Inscribed: + +"SAL'O UNO DEI SETE SAVI DI GRECIA CHE DIE LEGE." +Solon, one of the seven sages of Greece, who declares +laws. + +Note, by the by, the pure Venetian dialect used in this capital, instead +of the Latin in the more ancient ones. One of the seated pupils in this +sculpture is remarkably beautiful in the sweep of his flowing drapery. + +_Fifth side_. The chastity of Scipio. Inscribed: + +"ISIPIONE A CHASTITA CH * * * E LA FIA (e la figlia?) * * ARE." + +A soldier in a plumed bonnet presents a kneeling maiden to the seated +Scipio, who turns thoughtfully away. + +_Sixth side_. Numa Pompilius building churches. + +"NUMA POMPILIO IMPERADOR EDIFICHADOR DI TEMPI E CHIESE." + +Numa, in a kind of hat with a crown above it, directing a soldier in +Roman armor (note this, as contrasted with the mail of the earlier +capitals). They point to a tower of three stories filled with tracery. + +_Seventh side_. Moses receiving the law. Inscribed: + +"QUANDO MOSE RECEVE LA LECE I SUL MONTE." + +Moses kneels on a rock, whence springs a beautifully fancied tree, with +clusters of three berries in the centre of the three leaves, sharp and +quaint, like fine Northern Gothic. The half figure of the Deity comes +out of the abacus, the arm meeting that of Moses, both at full stretch, +with the stone tablets between. + +_Eighth side_. Trajan doing justice to the Widow. + +"TRAJANO IMPERADOR CHE FA JUSTITIA A LA VEDOVA." + +He is riding spiritedly, his mantle blown out behind; the widow kneeling +before his horse. + +SECTION CVII. The reader will observe that this capital is of peculiar +interest in its relation to the much disputed question of the character +of the later government of Venice. It is the assertion by that +government of its belief that Justice only could be the foundation of +its stability; as these stones of Justice and Judgment are the +foundation of its halls of council. And this profession of their faith +may be interpreted in two ways. Most modern historians would call it, in +common with the continual reference to the principles of justice in the +political and judicial language of the period, [Footnote: Compare the +speech of the Doge Mocenigo, above,--"first justice, and _then_ the +interests of the state:" and see Vol. III. Chap. II Section LIX.] +nothing more than a cloak for consummate violence and guilt; and it may +easily be proved to have been so in myriads of instances. But in the +main, I believe the expression of feeling to be genuine. I do not +believe, of the majority of the leading Venetians of this period whose +portraits have come down to us, that they were deliberately and +everlastingly hypocrites. I see no hypocrisy in their countenances. Much +capacity of it, much subtlety, much natural and acquired reserve; but no +meanness. On the contrary, infinite grandeur, repose, courage, and the +peculiar unity and tranquillity of expression which come of sincerity or +_wholeness_ of heart, and which it would take much demonstration to +make me believe could by any possibility be seen on the countenance of +an insincere man. I trust, therefore, that these Venetian nobles of the +fifteenth century did, in the main, desire to do judgment and justice to +all men; but, as the whole system of morality had been by this time +undermined by the teaching of the Romish Church, the idea of justice had +become separated from that of truth, so that dissimulation in the +interest of the state assumed the aspect of duty. We had, perhaps, +better consider, with some carefulness, the mode in which our own +government is carried on, and the occasional difference between +parliamentary and private morality, before we judge mercilessly of the +Venetians in this respect. The secrecy with which their political and +criminal trials were conducted, appears to modern eyes like a confession +of sinister intentions; but may it not also be considered, and with more +probability, as the result of an endeavor to do justice in an age of +violence?--the only means by which Law could establish its footing in +the midst of feudalism. Might not Irish juries at this day justifiably +desire to conduct their proceedings with some greater approximation to +the judicial principles of the Council of Ten? Finally, if we examine, +with critical accuracy, the evidence on which our present impressions of +Venetian government are founded, we shall discover, in the first place, +that two-thirds of the traditions of its cruelties are romantic fables: +in the second, that the crimes of which it can be proved to have been +guilty, differ only from those committed by the other Italian powers in +being done less wantonly, and under profounder conviction of their +political expediency: and lastly, that the final degradation of the +Venetian power appears owing not so much to the principles of its +government, as to their being forgotten in the pursuit of pleasure. + +SECTION CVIII. We have now examined the portions of the palace which +contain the principal evidence of the feeling of its builders. The +capitals of the, upper arcade are exceedingly various in their +character; their design is formed, as in the lower series, of eight +leaves, thrown into volutes at the angles, and sustaining figures at the +flanks; but these figures have no inscriptions, and though evidently not +without meaning, cannot be interpreted without more knowledge than I +possess of ancient symbolism. Many of the capitals toward the Sea appear +to have been restored, and to be rude copies of the ancient ones; +others, though apparently original, have been somewhat carelessly +wrought; but those of them, which are both genuine and carefully +treated, are even finer in composition than any, except the eighteenth, +in the lower arcade. The traveller in Venice ought to ascend into the +corridor, and examine with great care the series of capitals which +extend on the Piazzetta side from the Fig-tree angle to the pilaster +which carries the party wall of the Sala del Gran Consiglio. As examples +of graceful composition in massy capitals meant for hard service and +distant effect, these are among the finest things I know in Gothic art; +and that above the fig-tree is remarkable for its sculpture of the four +winds; each on the side turned towards the wind represented. Levante, +the east wind; a figure with rays round its head, to show that it is +always clear weather when that wind blows, raising the sun out of the +sea: Hotro, the south wind; crowned, holding the sun in its right hand: +Ponente, the west wind; plunging the sun into the sea: and Tramontana, +the north wind; looking up at the north star. This capital should be +carefully examined, if for no other reason than to attach greater +distinctness of idea to the magnificent verbiage of Milton: + + "Thwart of these, as fierce, + Forth rush the Levant and the Ponent winds, + Eurus, and Zephyr; with their lateral noise, + Sirocco and Libecchio." + +I may also especially point out the bird feeding its three young ones on +the seventh pillar on the Piazzetta side; but there is no end to the +fantasy of these sculptures; and the traveller ought to observe them all +carefully, until he comes to the great Pilaster or complicated pier +which sustains the party wall of the Sala del Consiglio; that is to say, +the forty-seventh capital of the whole series, counting from the +pilaster of the Vine angle inclusive, as in the series of the lower +arcade. The forty-eighth, forty-ninth, and fiftieth are bad work, but +they are old; the fifty-first is the first Renaissance capital of the +upper arcade: the first new lion's head with smooth ears, cut in the +time of Foscari, is over the fiftieth capital; and that capital, with +its shaft, stands on the apex of the eighth arch from the Sea, on the +Piazzetta side, of which one spandril is masonry of the fourteenth and +the other of the fifteenth century. + +SECTION CIX. The reader who is not able to examine the building on the +spot may be surprised at the definiteness with which the point of +junction is ascertainable; but a glance at the lowest range of leaves in +the opposite Plate (XX.) will enable him to judge of the grounds on +which the above statement is made. Fig. 12 is a cluster of leaves from +the capital of the Four Winds; early work of the finest time. Fig. 13 is +a leaf from the great Renaissance capital at the Judgment angle, worked +in imitation of the older leafage. Fig. 14 is a leaf from one of the +Renaissance capitals of the upper arcade, which are all worked in the +natural manner of the period. It will be seen that it requires no great +ingenuity to distinguish between such design as that of fig. 12 and that +of fig. 14. + +SECTION CX. It is very possible that the reader may at first like fig. +14 best. I shall endeavor, in the next chapter, to show why he should +not; but it must also be noted, that fig. 12 has lost, and fig. 14 +gained, both largely, under the hands of the engraver. All the bluntness +and coarseness of feeling in the workmanship of fig. 14 have disappeared +on this small scale, and all the subtle refinements in the broad masses +of fig. 12 have vanished. They could not, indeed, be rendered in line +engraving, unless by the hand of Albert Durer; and I have, therefore, +abandoned, for the present, all endeavor to represent any more important +mass of the early sculpture of the Ducal Palace: but I trust that, in a +few months, casts of many portions will be within the reach of the +inhabitants of London, and that they will be able to judge for +themselves of their perfect, pure, unlabored naturalism; the freshness, +elasticity, and softness of their leafage, united with the most noble +symmetry and severe reserve,--no running to waste, no loose or +experimental lines, no extravagance, and no weakness. Their design is +always sternly architectural; there is none of the wildness or +redundance of natural vegetation, but there is all the strength, +freedom, and tossing flow of the breathing leaves, and all the +undulation of their surfaces, rippled, as they grew, by the summer +winds, as the sands are by the sea. + +SECTION CXI. This early sculpture of the Ducal Palace, then, represents +the state of Gothic work in Venice at its central and proudest period, +i. e. circa 1350. After this time, all is decline,--of what nature and +by what steps, we shall inquire in the ensuing chapter; for as this +investigation, though still referring to Gothic architecture, introduces +us to the first symptoms of the Renaissance influence, I have considered +it as properly belonging to the third division of our subject. + +SECTION CXII. And as, under the shadow of these nodding leaves, we bid +farewell to the great Gothic spirit, here also we may cease our +examination of the details of the Ducal Palace; for above its upper +arcade there are only the four traceried windows, and one or two of the +third order on the Rio Façade, which can be depended upon as exhibiting +the original workmanship of the older palace. [Footnote: Some further +details respecting these portions, as well as some necessary +confirmations of my statements of dates, are, however, given in Appendix +I., Vol. III. I feared wearying the general reader by introducing them +into the text.] I examined the capitals of the four other windows on the +façade, and of those on the Piazzetta, one by one, with great care, and +I found them all to be of far inferior workmanship to those which retain +their traceries: I believe the stone framework of these windows must +have been so cracked and injured by the flames of the great fire, as to +render it necessary to replace it by new traceries; and that the present +mouldings and capitals are base imitations of the original ones. The +traceries were at first, however, restored in their complete form, as +the holes for the bolts which fastened the bases of their shafts are +still to be seen in the window-sills, as well as the marks of the inner +mouldings on the soffits. How much the stone facing of the façade, the +parapets, and the shafts and niches of the angles, retain of their +original masonry, it is also impossible to determine; but there is +nothing in the workmanship of any of them demanding especial notice; +still less in the large central windows on each façade which are +entirely of Renaissance execution. All that is admirable in these +portions of the building is the disposition of their various parts and +masses, which is without doubt the same as in the original fabric, and +calculated, when seen from a distance, to produce the same impression. + +SECTION CXIII. Not so in the interior. All vestige of the earlier modes +of decoration was here, of course, destroyed by the fires; and the +severe and religious work of Guariento and Bellini has been replaced by +the wildness of Tintoret and the luxury of Veronese. But in this case, +though widely different in temper, the art of the renewal was at least +intellectually as great as that which had perished: and though the halls +of the Ducal Palace are no more representative of the character of the +men by whom it was built, each of them is still a colossal casket of +priceless treasure; a treasure whose safety has till now depended on its +being despised, and which at this moment, and as I write, is piece by +piece being destroyed for ever. + +SECTION CXIV. The reader will forgive my quitting our more immediate +subject, in order briefly to explain the causes and the nature of this +destruction; for the matter is simply the most important of all that can +be brought under our present consideration respecting the state of art +in Europe. + +The fact is, that the greater number of persons or societies throughout +Europe, whom wealth, or chance, or inheritance has put in possession of +valuable pictures, do not know a good picture from a bad one, and have +no idea in what the value of a picture really consists. [Footnote: Many +persons, capable of quickly sympathizing with any excellence, when once +pointed out to them, easily deceive themselves into the supposition that +they are judges of art. There is only one real test of such power of +judgment. Can they, at a glance, discover a good picture obscured by the +filth, and confused among the rubbish, of the pawnbroker's or dealer's +garret?] The reputation of certain work is raised partly by accident, +partly by the just testimony of artists, partly by the various and +generally bad taste of the public (no picture, that I know of, has ever, +in modern times, attained popularity, in the full sense of the term, +without having some exceedingly bad qualities mingled with its good +ones), and when this reputation has once been completely established, it +little matters to what state the picture may be reduced: few minds are +so completely devoid of imagination as to be unable to invest it with +the beauties which they have heard attributed to it. + +SECTION CXV. This being so, the pictures that are most valued are for +the most part those by masters of established renown, which are highly +or neatly finished, and of a size small enough to admit of their being +placed in galleries or saloons, so as to be made subjects of +ostentation, and to be easily seen by a crowd. For the support of the +fame and value of such pictures, little more is necessary than that they +should be kept bright, partly by cleaning, which is incipient +destruction, and partly by what is called "restoring," that is, painting +over, which is of course total destruction. Nearly all the gallery +pictures in modern Europe have been more or less destroyed by one or +other of these operations, generally exactly in proportion to the +estimation in which they are held; and as, originally, the smaller and +more highly finished works of any great master are usually his worst, +the contents of many of our most celebrated galleries are by this time, +in reality, of very small value indeed. + +SECTION CXVI. On the other hand, the most precious works of any noble +painter are usually those which have been done quickly, and in the heat +of the first thought, on a large scale, for places where there was +little likelihood of their being well seen, or for patrons from whom +there was little prospect of rich remuneration. In general, the best +things are done in this way, or else in the enthusiasm and pride of +accomplishing some great purpose, such as painting a cathedral or a +camposanto from one end to the other, especially when the time has been +short, and circumstances disadvantageous. + +SECTION CXVII. Works thus executed are of course despised, on account of +their quantity, as well as their frequent slightness, in the places +where they exist; and they are too large to be portable, and too vast +and comprehensive to be read on the spot, in the hasty temper of the +present age. They are, therefore, almost universally neglected, +whitewashed by custodes, shot at by soldiers, suffered to drop from the +walls, piecemeal in powder and rags by society in general; but, which is +an advantage more than counterbalancing all this evil, they are not +often "restored." What is left of them, however fragmentary, however +ruinous, however obscured and defiled, is almost always _the real +thing_; there are no fresh readings: and therefore the greatest +treasures of art which Europe at this moment possesses are pieces of old +plaster on ruinous brick walls, where the lizards burrow and bask, and +which few other living creatures ever approach; and torn sheets of dim +canvas, in waste corners of churches; and mildewed stains, in the shape +of human figures, on the walls of dark chambers, which now and then an +exploring traveller causes to be unlocked by their tottering custode, +looks hastily round, and retreats from in a weary satisfaction at his +accomplished duty. + +SECTION CXVIII. Many of the pictures on the ceilings and walls of the +Ducal Palace, by Paul Veronese and Tintoret, have been more or less +reduced, by neglect, to this condition. Unfortunately they are not +altogether without reputation, and their state has drawn the attention +of the Venetian authorities and academicians. It constantly happens, +that public bodies who will not pay five pounds to preserve a picture, +will pay fifty to repaint it; [Footnote: This is easily explained. There +are, of course, in every place and at all periods, bad painters who +conscientiously believe that they can improve every picture they touch; +and these men are generally, in their presumption, the most influential +over the innocence, whether of monarchs or municipalities. The carpenter +and slater have little influence in recommending the repairs of the +roof; but the bad painter has great influence, as well as interest, in +recommending those of the picture.] and when I was at Venice in 1846, +there were two remedial operations carrying on, at one and the same +time, in the two buildings which contain the pictures of greatest value +in the city (as pieces of color, of greatest value in the world), +curiously illustrative of this peculiarity in human nature. Buckets were +set on the floor of the Scuola di San Rocco, in every shower, to catch +the rain which came through the pictures of Tintoret on the ceiling; +while in the Ducal Palace, those of Paul Veronese were themselves laid +on the floor to be repainted; and I was myself present at the +re-illumination of the breast of a white horse, with a brush, at the end +of a stick five feet long, luxuriously dipped in a common +house-painter's vessel of paint. + +This was, of course, a large picture. The process has already been +continued in an equally destructive, though somewhat more delicate +manner, over the whole of the humbler canvases on the ceiling of the +Sala del Gran Consiglio; and I heard it threatened when I was last in +Venice (1851-2) to the "Paradise" at its extremity, which is yet in +tolerable condition,--the largest work of Tintoret, and the most +wonderful piece of pure, manly, and masterly oil-painting in the world. + +SECTION CXIX. I leave these facts to the consideration of the European +patrons of art. Twenty years hence they will be acknowledged and +regretted; at present, I am well aware, that it is of little use to +bring them forward, except only to explain the present impossibility of +stating what pictures _are_, and what _were_, in the interior +of the Ducal Palace. I can only say, that in the winter of 1851, the +"Paradise" of Tintoret was still comparatively uninjured, and that the +Camera di Collegio, and its antechamber, and the Sala de' Pregadi were +full of pictures by Veronese and Tintoret, that made their walls as +precious as so many kingdoms; so precious indeed, and so full of +majesty, that sometimes when walking at evening on the Lido, whence the +great chain of the Alps, crested with silver clouds, might be seen +rising above the front of the Ducal Palace, I used to feel as much awe +in gazing on the building as on the hills, and could believe that God +had done a greater work in breathing into the narrowness of dust the +mighty spirits by whom its haughty walls had been raised, and its +burning legends written, than in lifting the rocks of granite higher +than the clouds of heaven, and veiling them with their various mantle of +purple flower and shadowy pine. + + + + +NOTE. + + +I have printed the chapter on the Ducal Palace, quite one of the most +important pieces of work done in my life, without alteration of its +references to the plates of the first edition, because I hope both to +republish some of those plates, and together with them, a few permanent +photographs (both from the sculpture of the Palace itself, and from my +own drawings of its detail), which may be purchased by the possessors of +this smaller edition to bind with the book or not, as they please. This +separate publication I can now soon set in hand; and I believe it will +cause much less confusion to leave for the present the references to the +old plates untouched. The wood-blocks used for the first three figures +in this chapter, are the original ones: that of the Ducal Palace façade +was drawn on the wood by my own hand, and cost me more trouble than it +is worth, being merely given for division and proportion. The greater +part of the first volume, omitted in this edition after "the Quarry," +will be republished in the series of my reprinted works, with its +original wood-blocks. + +But my mind is mainly set now on getting some worthy illustration of the +St. Mark's mosaics, and of such remains of the old capitals (now for +ever removed, in process of the Palace restoration, from their life in +sea wind and sunlight, and their ancient duty, to a museum-grave) as I +have useful record of, drawn in their native light. The series, both of +these and of the earlier mosaics, of which the sequence is sketched in +the preceding volume, and farther explained in the third number of "St. +Mark's Rest," become to me every hour of my life more precious both for +their art and their meaning; and if any of my readers care to help me, +in my old age, to fulfil my life's work rightly, let them send what +pence they can spare for these objects to my publisher, Mr. Allen, +Sunnyside, Orpington, Kent. + +Since writing the first part of this note, I have received a letter from +Mr. Burne Jones, assuring me of his earnest sympathy in its object, and +giving me hope even of his superintendence of the drawings, which I have +already desired to be undertaken. But I am no longer able to continue +work of this kind at my own cost; and the fulfilment of my purpose must +entirely depend on the money-help given me by my readers. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Stones of Venice [introductions], by John Ruskin + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STONES OF VENICE [INTRODUCTIONS] *** + +This file should be named 8stvn10.txt or 8stvn10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8stvn11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8stvn10a.txt + +Produced by Anne Soulard, Keren Vergon, +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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