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250
SECOND PERIOD.
southern transept, and 1 c, from that of the treasury,—sufficiently represent a group of fantastic forms derived from the
Arabs, and of which the exquisite decoration is one of the
most important features in St. Mark's. Their form is indeed
permitted merely to obtain more fantasy ih the curves of this
decoration.* The reader can see in a moment, that, as pieces
of masonry, or bearing arches, they are infirm or useless, and
therefore never could be employed in any building in which
dignity of structure was the primal object. It is just because
structure is not the primal object in St. Mark's, because it has
no severe weights to bear, and much loveliness of marble and
sculpture to exhibit, that they are therein allowable. They are
Fig. XXVI.
of course, like the rest of the building, built of brick and faced
with marble, and their inner masonry, which must be very ingenious, is therefore not discernible. They have settled a little,
as might have been expected, and the consequence is, that
there is in every one of them, except the upright arch of the
treasury, a small fissure across the marble of the flanks.
§ xxvi. Though, however, the Venetian builders adopted
these Arabian forms of arch where grace of ornamentation was
their only purpose, they saw that such arrangements were unfit
for ordinary work; and there is no instance, I believe, in
* Or in their own curves; as, on a small scale, in the balustrade fig. 6,
Plate XIII., above.
| 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 | 00000284 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | 250 SECOND PERIOD. southern transept, and 1 c, from that of the treasury,—sufficiently represent a group of fantastic forms derived from the Arabs, and of which the exquisite decoration is one of the most important features in St. Mark's. Their form is indeed permitted merely to obtain more fantasy ih the curves of this decoration.* The reader can see in a moment, that, as pieces of masonry, or bearing arches, they are infirm or useless, and therefore never could be employed in any building in which dignity of structure was the primal object. It is just because structure is not the primal object in St. Mark's, because it has no severe weights to bear, and much loveliness of marble and sculpture to exhibit, that they are therein allowable. They are Fig. XXVI. of course, like the rest of the building, built of brick and faced with marble, and their inner masonry, which must be very ingenious, is therefore not discernible. They have settled a little, as might have been expected, and the consequence is, that there is in every one of them, except the upright arch of the treasury, a small fissure across the marble of the flanks. § xxvi. Though, however, the Venetian builders adopted these Arabian forms of arch where grace of ornamentation was their only purpose, they saw that such arrangements were unfit for ordinary work; and there is no instance, I believe, in * Or in their own curves; as, on a small scale, in the balustrade fig. 6, Plate XIII., above. |
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