00000255 |
Previous | 255 of 445 | Next |
|
small (250x250 max)
medium (500x500 max)
Large
Extra Large
large ( > 500x500)
Full Resolution
All (PDF)
|
VI. THE NATURE OF GOTHIC. 225
§ on. The figure below it, b, represents the southern lateral
door of the principal church in Abbeville: the smallness of
the scale compelled me to make it somewhat heavier in the
lines of its traceries than it is in reality, but the door itself is
one of the most exquisite pieces of flamboyant Gothic in the
world; and it is interesting to see the shield introduced here,
at the point of the gable, in exactly the same manner as in the
upper example, and with precisely the same purpose,—to stay
the eye in its ascent, and to keep it from being offended by
the sharp point of the gable, the reversed angle of the shield
being so energetic as completely to balance the upward tendency of the great convergent lines. It will be seen, however,
as this example is studied, that its other decorations, are altogether different from those of the Veronese tomb; that, here,
the whole effect is dependent on mere multiplications of similar
lines of tracery, sculpture being hardly introduced except in
the seated statue under the central niche, and, formerly, in
groups filling the shadowy hollows under the small niches in
the archivolt, but broken away in the Revolution. And if
now we turn to Plate XIL, just passed, and examine the heads
of the two lateral niches there given from each of these monuments on a larger scale, the contrast will be yet more apparent.
The one from Abbeville (fig. 5), though it contains much
floral work of the crisp Northern kind in its finial and crockets, yet depends for all its effect on the various patterns of
foliation with which its spaces are filled; and it is so cut
through and through that it is hardly stronger than a piece
of lace: whereas the pinnacle from Verona depends for its
effect on one broad mass of shadow, boldly shaped into the
%refbil in its bearing arch; and there is no other trefoil on that
side of the niche. All the rest of its decoration is floral, or
by almonds and bosses; and its surface of stone is unpierced,
and kept in broad light, and the mass of it thick and strong
enough to stand for as many more centuries as it has already
stood, scatheless, in the open street of Verona. The figures 3
and 4, above each niche, show how the same principles are
carried out into the smallest details of the two edifices, 3 be-
| Title | The stones of Venice - 2 |
| Creator | Ruskin, John |
| Publisher | J. Wiley |
| Place of Publication | New York |
| Date | 1889 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000255 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | VI. THE NATURE OF GOTHIC. 225 § on. The figure below it, b, represents the southern lateral door of the principal church in Abbeville: the smallness of the scale compelled me to make it somewhat heavier in the lines of its traceries than it is in reality, but the door itself is one of the most exquisite pieces of flamboyant Gothic in the world; and it is interesting to see the shield introduced here, at the point of the gable, in exactly the same manner as in the upper example, and with precisely the same purpose,—to stay the eye in its ascent, and to keep it from being offended by the sharp point of the gable, the reversed angle of the shield being so energetic as completely to balance the upward tendency of the great convergent lines. It will be seen, however, as this example is studied, that its other decorations, are altogether different from those of the Veronese tomb; that, here, the whole effect is dependent on mere multiplications of similar lines of tracery, sculpture being hardly introduced except in the seated statue under the central niche, and, formerly, in groups filling the shadowy hollows under the small niches in the archivolt, but broken away in the Revolution. And if now we turn to Plate XIL, just passed, and examine the heads of the two lateral niches there given from each of these monuments on a larger scale, the contrast will be yet more apparent. The one from Abbeville (fig. 5), though it contains much floral work of the crisp Northern kind in its finial and crockets, yet depends for all its effect on the various patterns of foliation with which its spaces are filled; and it is so cut through and through that it is hardly stronger than a piece of lace: whereas the pinnacle from Verona depends for its effect on one broad mass of shadow, boldly shaped into the %refbil in its bearing arch; and there is no other trefoil on that side of the niche. All the rest of its decoration is floral, or by almonds and bosses; and its surface of stone is unpierced, and kept in broad light, and the mass of it thick and strong enough to stand for as many more centuries as it has already stood, scatheless, in the open street of Verona. The figures 3 and 4, above each niche, show how the same principles are carried out into the smallest details of the two edifices, 3 be- |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| B |
|
| C |
|
| G |
|
| H |
|
| M |
|
| T |
|
| U |
|
| Y |
|
|
|
