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234 XX. THE MATERIAL OF ORNAMENT. DECORATION.
decorated with statues of good men, as in one hung round
with bunches of ribston pippins.
§ xxxv. 11. Birds. The perfect and simple grace of bird
form, in general, has rendered it a favorite subject with early
sculptors, and with those schools which loved form more than
action ; but the difficulty of expressing action, where the muscular markings are concealed, has limited the use of it in later
art. Half the ornament, at least, in Byzantine architecture,
and a third of that of Lombardic, is composed of birds, either
pecking at fruit or flowers, or standing on either side of a
flower or vase, or alone, as generally the symbolical peacock.,
But how much of our general sense of grace or power of
motion, of serenity, peacefulness, and spirituality, we owe tc
these creatures, it is impossible to conceive ; their wings supplying us with almost the only means of representation of spiritual motion which we possess, and with an ornamental form of
which the eye is never weary, however meaninglessly or endlessly repeated; whether in utter isolation, or associated with
the bodies of the lizard, the horse, the lion, or the man. The
heads of the birds of prey are always beautiful, and used as the
richest ornaments in all ages.
§ xxxvi. 12. Quadrupeds and Men. Of quadrupeds the
horse has received an elevation into the primal rank of sculptural subject, owing to his association with men. The full
value of other quadruped forms has hardly'been perceived, or
worked for, in late sculpture ; and the want of science is more
felt in these subjects than in any other branches of early work.
The greatest richness of quadruped ornament is found in the
hunting sculpture of the Lombards; but rude^treated (the
most noble examples of treatment being the Ms of Egypt,-
the Ninevite bulls, and the mediaeval griffins). Quadrupeds
of course form the noblest subjects of ornament next to the
human form ; this latter, the chief subject of sculpture, being
sometimes the end of architecture rather than its decoration.
We have thus completed the list of the materials of architectural decoration, and the reader may be assured that no
effort has ever been successful to draw elements of beauty from
| Title | The stones of Venice - 1 |
| Creator | Ruskin, John |
| Publisher | J. Wiley |
| Place of Publication | New York |
| Date | 1889 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000269 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | 234 XX. THE MATERIAL OF ORNAMENT. DECORATION. decorated with statues of good men, as in one hung round with bunches of ribston pippins. § xxxv. 11. Birds. The perfect and simple grace of bird form, in general, has rendered it a favorite subject with early sculptors, and with those schools which loved form more than action ; but the difficulty of expressing action, where the muscular markings are concealed, has limited the use of it in later art. Half the ornament, at least, in Byzantine architecture, and a third of that of Lombardic, is composed of birds, either pecking at fruit or flowers, or standing on either side of a flower or vase, or alone, as generally the symbolical peacock., But how much of our general sense of grace or power of motion, of serenity, peacefulness, and spirituality, we owe tc these creatures, it is impossible to conceive ; their wings supplying us with almost the only means of representation of spiritual motion which we possess, and with an ornamental form of which the eye is never weary, however meaninglessly or endlessly repeated; whether in utter isolation, or associated with the bodies of the lizard, the horse, the lion, or the man. The heads of the birds of prey are always beautiful, and used as the richest ornaments in all ages. § xxxvi. 12. Quadrupeds and Men. Of quadrupeds the horse has received an elevation into the primal rank of sculptural subject, owing to his association with men. The full value of other quadruped forms has hardly'been perceived, or worked for, in late sculpture ; and the want of science is more felt in these subjects than in any other branches of early work. The greatest richness of quadruped ornament is found in the hunting sculpture of the Lombards; but rude^treated (the most noble examples of treatment being the Ms of Egypt,- the Ninevite bulls, and the mediaeval griffins). Quadrupeds of course form the noblest subjects of ornament next to the human form ; this latter, the chief subject of sculpture, being sometimes the end of architecture rather than its decoration. We have thus completed the list of the materials of architectural decoration, and the reader may be assured that no effort has ever been successful to draw elements of beauty from |
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