DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3847#0016
6
of Calendario in the loggia of the palace of which he was the reputed architect. If, however, the reviewer had read
Venetian history in anything but guide-books, he would hardly have committed so gross a blunder as ascribing the
architecture of the ducal palace to Calendario at all ; and if he had had common honesty, he would have stated for
what crime Calendario suffered — namely, for his share in the, conspiracy of the Doge Faliero; so that there is
exactly the same kind of difference between the death of Calendario and the punishment of Leopardo, as between
the execution of Montrose and the transportation of a pickpocket. But thus I have the trouble of gathering facts
and putting them in their true light — merely that English reviewers may run their pens through them, and blot
them back into unintelligibility.
PLATE 13.
DOOR HEADS, 2. in campiello della chiesa, san euca.
This remarkable tympanum, evidently of the same school and date (13th century) as that figured in the last Plate,
is one of the most elaborate pieces of brickwork in Venice, next to the door of Campo S. Margherita. It is an
entrance to a courtyard ; and must have been singularly beautiful before the sculpture on the pieces of inlaid stone
was defaced. Neither the bearings nor design in the pointed arch, or circle above, are any more decipher-
able; but the brickwork remains entirely uninjured. It is composed of five kinds of bricks, all in regular lengths of
about 10 inches: one quite plain, but either straight or curved according to the requirements of the design : another
with a pattern of raised triangles on it; another with one of raised squares and circles alternately; another with a
chain of small squares, and another with little oblique rhombs. Their mode of arrangement is visible enough in
the plate, which is carefully drawn to scale : but one thing is to be especially noticed in the treatment of the
gabled space both here and in Plate 12th. The sloping courses of bricks are gradually set at a less and less angle ;
so that the whole system radiates like the branches of a fir tree, becoming less and less inclined as it nears the
ground. In order to be sure of my fact, I counted the courses of bricks, and measured their angles with the
dripstone at five separate points from top to bottom : and the plate may, therefore, be entirely depended upon.
Observe, especially, in Plate 12, how valuable mere joints filled with mortar may become, when they are used by a
man who knows what he is about.
The dripstone and terminal ornament at the apex of the gable in Plate 13 are of stone.
PLATE 14.
CA' BERNARDO M0CEMG0, capital of window shafts.
Before the Venetian Gothic was corrupted by the Renaissance, it assumed, for a period of about fifty years, a fixed
form, perfect in many respects ; but in others showing the kind of weakness which would naturally expose it to
dangerous innovation. At this period, a kind of capital is used for ordinary service in places not especially con-
spicuous, of which, from its frequency, it is necessary the reader should be able to form a perfect idea. I have,
therefore, drawn the angle leaf of one of them, in this Plate, of the real size. It is from the inner cortile of the
Ca' Bernardo Mocenigo, now well known as the Hotel Danieli. A form of the common English ball flower is
used on the bell between the angle leaves: and occurs also in all capitals of this group, in variously modified con-
ditions, sometimes becoming a conical bud, and sometimes a flat quatrefoil. The general effect of the capital will
be seen in many other plates : here I only wish to give a thorough idea of the workmanship and conception of
the leaves.
PLATE 15.
THE DUCAL PALACE, renaissance capitals of the loggia.
The Capitals seen in this Plate will give a general idea of the workmanship of the 15th century Gothic of the Ducal
Palace : the Capital given in Plate 1. shows that of the previous century. The reader may perhaps at first like those
in Plate 15. the best; let him give them both time ; remembering that the entire design and proportion of the
loggia in Plate 15, is of the earlier period, but executed in continuation of the older part of the palace, with, as it
was thought, improved Capitals, after the year 1424.
The two nearest shafts are of red marble, as well as the portion of balustrade between them. They are the
ninth and tenth from the judgment angle (I shall usually thus call the angle of the palace on which is the sculpture
of the Judgment of Solomon) ; and the red marble was substituted for the Istrian stone in order to commemorate
the showing of the head of Faliero to the people from between those shafts. When the substitution took place I
know not, but the capitals are unquestionably of the date I have assigned to them.
of Calendario in the loggia of the palace of which he was the reputed architect. If, however, the reviewer had read
Venetian history in anything but guide-books, he would hardly have committed so gross a blunder as ascribing the
architecture of the ducal palace to Calendario at all ; and if he had had common honesty, he would have stated for
what crime Calendario suffered — namely, for his share in the, conspiracy of the Doge Faliero; so that there is
exactly the same kind of difference between the death of Calendario and the punishment of Leopardo, as between
the execution of Montrose and the transportation of a pickpocket. But thus I have the trouble of gathering facts
and putting them in their true light — merely that English reviewers may run their pens through them, and blot
them back into unintelligibility.
PLATE 13.
DOOR HEADS, 2. in campiello della chiesa, san euca.
This remarkable tympanum, evidently of the same school and date (13th century) as that figured in the last Plate,
is one of the most elaborate pieces of brickwork in Venice, next to the door of Campo S. Margherita. It is an
entrance to a courtyard ; and must have been singularly beautiful before the sculpture on the pieces of inlaid stone
was defaced. Neither the bearings nor design in the pointed arch, or circle above, are any more decipher-
able; but the brickwork remains entirely uninjured. It is composed of five kinds of bricks, all in regular lengths of
about 10 inches: one quite plain, but either straight or curved according to the requirements of the design : another
with a pattern of raised triangles on it; another with one of raised squares and circles alternately; another with a
chain of small squares, and another with little oblique rhombs. Their mode of arrangement is visible enough in
the plate, which is carefully drawn to scale : but one thing is to be especially noticed in the treatment of the
gabled space both here and in Plate 12th. The sloping courses of bricks are gradually set at a less and less angle ;
so that the whole system radiates like the branches of a fir tree, becoming less and less inclined as it nears the
ground. In order to be sure of my fact, I counted the courses of bricks, and measured their angles with the
dripstone at five separate points from top to bottom : and the plate may, therefore, be entirely depended upon.
Observe, especially, in Plate 12, how valuable mere joints filled with mortar may become, when they are used by a
man who knows what he is about.
The dripstone and terminal ornament at the apex of the gable in Plate 13 are of stone.
PLATE 14.
CA' BERNARDO M0CEMG0, capital of window shafts.
Before the Venetian Gothic was corrupted by the Renaissance, it assumed, for a period of about fifty years, a fixed
form, perfect in many respects ; but in others showing the kind of weakness which would naturally expose it to
dangerous innovation. At this period, a kind of capital is used for ordinary service in places not especially con-
spicuous, of which, from its frequency, it is necessary the reader should be able to form a perfect idea. I have,
therefore, drawn the angle leaf of one of them, in this Plate, of the real size. It is from the inner cortile of the
Ca' Bernardo Mocenigo, now well known as the Hotel Danieli. A form of the common English ball flower is
used on the bell between the angle leaves: and occurs also in all capitals of this group, in variously modified con-
ditions, sometimes becoming a conical bud, and sometimes a flat quatrefoil. The general effect of the capital will
be seen in many other plates : here I only wish to give a thorough idea of the workmanship and conception of
the leaves.
PLATE 15.
THE DUCAL PALACE, renaissance capitals of the loggia.
The Capitals seen in this Plate will give a general idea of the workmanship of the 15th century Gothic of the Ducal
Palace : the Capital given in Plate 1. shows that of the previous century. The reader may perhaps at first like those
in Plate 15. the best; let him give them both time ; remembering that the entire design and proportion of the
loggia in Plate 15, is of the earlier period, but executed in continuation of the older part of the palace, with, as it
was thought, improved Capitals, after the year 1424.
The two nearest shafts are of red marble, as well as the portion of balustrade between them. They are the
ninth and tenth from the judgment angle (I shall usually thus call the angle of the palace on which is the sculpture
of the Judgment of Solomon) ; and the red marble was substituted for the Istrian stone in order to commemorate
the showing of the head of Faliero to the people from between those shafts. When the substitution took place I
know not, but the capitals are unquestionably of the date I have assigned to them.