John Ruskin - The Stones of Venice, Volume 2 (of 3)

§ 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.

VI.

THE VINE TREE, AND IN SERVICE.

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. 32

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Appendix 1, “The Gondolier’s Cry.”

Appendix 2, “Our Lady of Salvation.”

Appendix 3, “Tides of Venice.”

Appendix 4, “Date of the Duomo of Torcello.”

For a full account of the form and symbolical meaning of the Basilica, see Lord Lindsay’s “Christian Art,” vol. i. p. 12. It is much to be regretted that the Chevalier Bunsen’s work on the Basilicas of Rome is not translated into English.

The measures are given in Appendix 3.

Hope’s “Historical Essay on Architecture” (third edition, 1840), chap. ix. p. 95. In other respects Mr. Hope has done justice to this building, and to the style of the early Christian churches in general.

A sketch has been given of this capital in my folio work.

Appendix 5, “Modern Pulpits.”

“Mela, e buon vino, con pace e carità,” Memorie Storiche de’ Veneti Primi e Secondi, di Jacopo Filiasi (Padua, 1811), tom. iii. cap. 23. Perhaps, in the choice of the abbot’s cheer, there was some occult reference to the verse of Solomon’s Song: “Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples.”

Notizie Storiche delle Chiese di Venezia, illustrate da Flaminio Corner (Padua, 1758), p. 615.

“On the 14th day of April, 1374, there were found, in this church of the first martyr St. Stefano, two hundred and more bodies of holy martyrs, by the venerable priest, Matthew Fradello, incumbent of the church.”

Notizie Storiche, p. 620.

The intention is farther confirmed by the singular variation in the breadth of the small fillet which encompasses the inner marble. It is much narrower at the bottom than at the sides, so as to recover the original breadth in the lower border.

Its elevation is given to scale in fig. 4, Plate XIII., below.

“Luogo de’ ninfe e de’ semidei.”— M. Andrea Calmo , quoted by Mutinelli, Annali Urbani di Venezia (Venice, 1841), p. 362.

“The women, even as far back as 1100, wore dresses of blue, with mantles on the shoulder, which clothed them before and behind.”— Sansorino .

It would be difficult to imagine a dress more modest and beautiful. See Appendix 7.

Vide Appendix 8.

Acts, xiii. 13; xv. 38, 39.

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.

Venice, 1761, tom. i. p. 126.

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.

My authorities for this statement are given below, in the chapter on the Ducal Palace.

In the Chronicles, “Sancti Marci Ducalis Cappella.”

“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:

is no longer to be seen, and is conjectured by Corner, with much probability, to have perished “in qualche ristauro.”

Signed Bartolomeus Bozza, 1634, 1647, 1656, &c.

Guida di Venezia, p. 6.

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.

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.