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n. PRIDE OF STATE. II. ROMAN RENAISSANCE. 75
the desolate city to receive a few convent papers, the monks,
wanting an "archivio," have separated the tomb into three
pieces: the canopy, a simple arch sustained on brackets, still
remains on the blank walls of the desecrated chamber; the
sarcophagus has been transported to a kind of museum of antiquities, established in what was once the cloister of Santa
Maria della Salute; and the painting which filled the lunette
behind it is hung far out of sight, at one end of the sacristy of
the same church. The sarcophagus is completely charged with
bas-reliefs: at its two extremities are the types of St. Mark
and St. John; in front, a noble sculpture of the death of
the Yirgin; at the angles, angels holding vases. The whole
space is occupied by the sculpture; there are no spiral shafts
or panelled divisions; only a basic plinth below, and crowning plinth above, the sculpture being raised from a deep concave field between the two, but, in order to give piquancy and
picturesqueness to the mass of figures, two small trees are introduced at the head and foot of the Madonna's couch, an oak
and a stone pine.
§ lix. It was said above,* in speaking of the frequent disputes of the Yenetians with the Pontifical power, which in
their early days they had so strenuously supported, that " the
humiliation of Francesco Dandolo blotted out the shame of
Barbarossa." It is indeed well that the two events should be
remembered together. By the help of the Yenetians, Alexander III. was enabled, in the twelfth century, to put his foot
upon the neck of the emperor Barbarossa, quoting the words
of the Psalm, " Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder."
A hundred and fifty years later, the Yenetian ambassador,
Francesco Dandolo, unable to obtain even an audience from
the Pope, Clement Y., to whom he had been sent to pray for
a removal of the sentence of excommunication pronounced
against the republic, concealed himself (according to the common tradition) beneath the Pontiff's dining-table; and thence
coming out as he sat down to meat, embraced his feet, and ob-
* Vol. I. Chap. I.
| Title | The stones of Venice - 3 |
| Creator | Ruskin, John |
| Publisher | J. Wiley |
| Place of Publication | New York |
| Date | 1889 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000089 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | n. PRIDE OF STATE. II. ROMAN RENAISSANCE. 75 the desolate city to receive a few convent papers, the monks, wanting an "archivio," have separated the tomb into three pieces: the canopy, a simple arch sustained on brackets, still remains on the blank walls of the desecrated chamber; the sarcophagus has been transported to a kind of museum of antiquities, established in what was once the cloister of Santa Maria della Salute; and the painting which filled the lunette behind it is hung far out of sight, at one end of the sacristy of the same church. The sarcophagus is completely charged with bas-reliefs: at its two extremities are the types of St. Mark and St. John; in front, a noble sculpture of the death of the Yirgin; at the angles, angels holding vases. The whole space is occupied by the sculpture; there are no spiral shafts or panelled divisions; only a basic plinth below, and crowning plinth above, the sculpture being raised from a deep concave field between the two, but, in order to give piquancy and picturesqueness to the mass of figures, two small trees are introduced at the head and foot of the Madonna's couch, an oak and a stone pine. § lix. It was said above,* in speaking of the frequent disputes of the Yenetians with the Pontifical power, which in their early days they had so strenuously supported, that " the humiliation of Francesco Dandolo blotted out the shame of Barbarossa." It is indeed well that the two events should be remembered together. By the help of the Yenetians, Alexander III. was enabled, in the twelfth century, to put his foot upon the neck of the emperor Barbarossa, quoting the words of the Psalm, " Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder." A hundred and fifty years later, the Yenetian ambassador, Francesco Dandolo, unable to obtain even an audience from the Pope, Clement Y., to whom he had been sent to pray for a removal of the sentence of excommunication pronounced against the republic, concealed himself (according to the common tradition) beneath the Pontiff's dining-table; and thence coming out as he sat down to meat, embraced his feet, and ob- * Vol. I. Chap. I. |
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