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APPENDIX, 8. 379
gives a nearer view of one of the upper arches, and a more faithful impression of the present aspect of the work, and especially
of the seats of the horsemen ; the limb straight, and well down
on the stirrup (the warrior's seat, observe, not the jockey's), with
a single pointed spur on the heel. The bit of the lower cornice
under this arch I could not see, and therefore had not drawn ;
it was supplied from beneath another arch. I am afraid, however, the reader has lost the thread of my story while I have been
recommending my veracity to him. I was insisting upon the
healthy tone of this Lucca work as compared with the old spectral Lombard friezes. The apes of the Pavian church ride without stirrups, but all is in good order and harness here: civilisation
had done its work; there was reaping of corn in the Val d'Arno,
though rough hunting still upon its hills. But in the north,
though a century or two later, we find the forests of the Rhone,
and its rude limestone cotes, haunted by phantasms still (more
meat-eating, then, I think). I do not know a more interesting
group of cathedrals than that of Lyons, Vienne, and Valencia:
a more interesting indeed, generally, than beautiful; but there
is a row of niches on the west front of Lyons, and a course of
panelled decoration about its doors, which is, without exception,
the most exquisite piece of Northern Gothic I ever beheld, and
with which I know nothing that is even comparable, except the
work of the north transept of Rouen, described in the " Seven
Lamps," p. 159; work of about the same date,and exactly the same
plan; quatrefoils filled with grotesques, but somewhat less finished
in execution, and somewhat less wild in imagination. I wrote
down hastily, and in their oivn course, the subjects of some of
the quatrefoils of Lyons; of which I here give the reader the
sequence:—
1. Elephant and castle; less graphic than the St. Zeno one.
2. A huge head walking on two legs, turned backwards,
hoofed ; the head has a horn behind, with drapery
over it, which ends in another head.
3. A boar hunt; the boar under a tree, very spirited.
4. A bird putting its head between its legs to bite its own
tail, which ends in a head.
5. A dragon with a human head set on the wrong way.
| 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 | 00000441 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | APPENDIX, 8. 379 gives a nearer view of one of the upper arches, and a more faithful impression of the present aspect of the work, and especially of the seats of the horsemen ; the limb straight, and well down on the stirrup (the warrior's seat, observe, not the jockey's), with a single pointed spur on the heel. The bit of the lower cornice under this arch I could not see, and therefore had not drawn ; it was supplied from beneath another arch. I am afraid, however, the reader has lost the thread of my story while I have been recommending my veracity to him. I was insisting upon the healthy tone of this Lucca work as compared with the old spectral Lombard friezes. The apes of the Pavian church ride without stirrups, but all is in good order and harness here: civilisation had done its work; there was reaping of corn in the Val d'Arno, though rough hunting still upon its hills. But in the north, though a century or two later, we find the forests of the Rhone, and its rude limestone cotes, haunted by phantasms still (more meat-eating, then, I think). I do not know a more interesting group of cathedrals than that of Lyons, Vienne, and Valencia: a more interesting indeed, generally, than beautiful; but there is a row of niches on the west front of Lyons, and a course of panelled decoration about its doors, which is, without exception, the most exquisite piece of Northern Gothic I ever beheld, and with which I know nothing that is even comparable, except the work of the north transept of Rouen, described in the " Seven Lamps," p. 159; work of about the same date,and exactly the same plan; quatrefoils filled with grotesques, but somewhat less finished in execution, and somewhat less wild in imagination. I wrote down hastily, and in their oivn course, the subjects of some of the quatrefoils of Lyons; of which I here give the reader the sequence:— 1. Elephant and castle; less graphic than the St. Zeno one. 2. A huge head walking on two legs, turned backwards, hoofed ; the head has a horn behind, with drapery over it, which ends in another head. 3. A boar hunt; the boar under a tree, very spirited. 4. A bird putting its head between its legs to bite its own tail, which ends in a head. 5. A dragon with a human head set on the wrong way. |
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