A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Z

Stones of Venice [introductions]

J >> John Ruskin >> Stones of Venice [introductions]




SECTION LXII. I shall pursue this subject farther in another place; but
I allude to it here in order to meet the objections of those persons who
suppose the mosaics of St. Mark's, and others of the period, to be
utterly barbarous as representations of religious history. Let it be
granted that they are so; we are not for that reason to suppose they
were ineffective in religious teaching. I have above spoken of the whole
church as a great Book of Common Prayer; the mosaics were its
illuminations, and the common people of the time were taught their
Scripture history by means of them, more impressively perhaps, though
far less fully, than ours are now by Scripture reading. They had no
other Bible, and--Protestants do not often enough consider this--_could_
have no other. We find it somewhat difficult to furnish our poor with
printed Bibles; consider what the difficulty must have been when they
could be given only in manuscript. The walls of the church necessarily
became the poor man's Bible, and a picture was more easily read upon the
walls than a chapter. Under this view, and considering them merely as the
Bible pictures of a great nation in its youth, I shall finally invite the
reader to examine the connection and subjects of these mosaics; but in
the meantime I have to deprecate the idea of their execution being in any
sense barbarous. I have conceded too much to modern prejudice, in
permitting them to be rated as mere childish efforts at colored
portraiture: they have characters in them of a very noble kind; nor are
they by any means devoid of the remains of the science of the later Roman
empire. The character of the features is almost always fine, the
expression stern and quiet, and very solemn, the attitudes and draperies
always majestic in the single figures, and in those of the groups which
are not in violent action; [Footnote: All the effects of Byzantine art to
represent violent action are inadequate, most of them ludicrously so,
even when the sculptural art is in other respects far advanced. The early
Gothic sculptors, on the other hand, fail in all points of refinement,
but hardly ever in expression of action. This distinction is of course
one of the necessary consequences of the difference in all respects
between the repose of the Eastern, and activity of the Western mind,
which we shall have to trace out completely in the inquiry into the
nature of Gothic.] while the bright coloring and disregard of chiaroscuro
cannot be regarded as imperfections, since they are the only means by
which the figures could be rendered clearly intelligible in the distance
and darkness of the vaulting. So far am I from considering them
barbarous, that I believe of all works of religious art whatsoever,
these, and such as these, have been the most effective. They stand
exactly midway between the debased manufacture of wooden and waxen images
which is the support of Romanist idolatry all over the world, and the
great art which leads the mind away from the religious subject to the art
itself. Respecting neither of these branches of human skill is there, nor
can there be, any question. The manufacture of puppets, however
influential on the Romanist mind of Europe, is certainly not deserving of
consideration as one of the fine arts. It matters literally nothing to a
Romanist what the image he worships is like. Take the vilest doll that is
screwed together in a cheap toy-shop, trust it to the keeping of a large
family of children, let it be beaten about the house by them till it is
reduced to a shapeless block, then dress it in a satin frock and declare
it to have fallen from heaven, and it will satisfactorily answer all
Romanist purposes. Idolatry, [Footnote: Appendix X, "Proper Sense of the
word Idolatry."] it cannot be too often repeated, is no encourager of the
fine arts. But, on the other hand, the highest branches of the fine arts
are no encouragers either of idolatry or of religion. No picture of
Leonardo's or Raphael's, no statue of Michael Angelo's, has ever been
worshipped, except by accident. Carelessly regarded, and by ignorant
persons, there is less to attract in them than in commoner works.
Carefully regarded, and by intelligent persons, they instantly divert the
mind from their subject to their art, so that admiration takes the place
of devotion. I do not say that the Madonna di S. Sisto, the Madonna del
Cardellino, and such others, have not had considerable religious
influence on certain minds, but I say that on the mass of the people of
Europe they have had none whatever, while by far the greater number of
the most celebrated statues and pictures are never regarded with any
other feelings than those of admiration of human beauty, or reverence for
human skill. Effective religious art, therefore, has always lain, and I
believe must always lie, between the two extremes--of barbarous
idol-fashioning on one side, and magnificent craftsmanship on the other.
It consists partly in missal-painting, and such book-illustrations as,
since the invention of printing, have taken its place; partly in
glass-painting; partly in rude sculpture on the outsides of buildings;
partly in mosaics; and partly in the frescoes and tempera pictures which,
in the fourteenth century, formed the link between this powerful, because
imperfect, religious art, and the impotent perfection which succeeded it.

SECTION LXIII. But of all these branches the most important are the
inlaying and mosaic of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, represented
in a central manner by these mosaics of St. Mark's. Missal-painting
could not, from its minuteness, produce the same sublime impressions,
and frequently merged itself in mere ornamentation of the page. Modern
book-illustration has been so little skillful as hardly to be worth
naming. Sculpture, though in some positions it becomes of great
importance, has always a tendency to lose itself in architectural
effect; and was probably seldom deciphered, in all its parts, by the
common people, still less the traditions annealed in the purple burning
of the painted window. Finally, tempera pictures and frescoes were often
of limited size or of feeble color. But the great mosaics of the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries covered the walls and roofs of the churches
with inevitable lustre; they could not be ignored or escaped from; their
size rendered them majestic, their distance mysterious, their color
attractive. They did not pass into confused or inferior decorations;
neither were they adorned with any evidences of skill or science, such
as might withdraw the attention from their subjects. They were before
the eyes of the devotee at every interval of his worship; vast
shadowings forth of scenes to whose realization he looked forward, or of
spirits whose presence he invoked. And the man must be little capable of
receiving a religious impression of any kind, who, to this day, does not
acknowledge some feeling of awe, as he looks up at the pale countenances
and ghastly forms which haunt the dark roofs of the Baptisteries of
Parma and Florence, or remains altogether untouched by the majesty of
the colossal images of apostles, and of Him who sent apostles, that look
down from the darkening gold of the domes of Venice and Pisa.

SECTION LXIV. I shall, in a future portion of this work, endeavor to
discover what probabilities there are of our being able to use this kind
of art in modern churches; but at present it remains for us to follow
out the connection of the subjects represented in St. Mark's so as to
fulfil our immediate object, and form an adequate conception of the
feelings of its builders, and of its uses to those for whom it was
built.

Now, there is one circumstance to which I must, in the outset, direct
the reader's special attention, as forming a notable distinction between
ancient and modern days. Our eyes are now familiar and weaned with
writing; and if an inscription is put upon a building, unless it be
large and clear, it is ten to one whether we ever trouble ourselves to
decipher it. But the old architect was sure of readers. He knew that
every one would be glad to decipher all that he wrote; that they would
rejoice in possessing the vaulted leaves of his stone manuscript; and
that the more he gave them, the more grateful would the people be. We
must take some pains, therefore, when we enter St. Mark's, to read all
that is inscribed, or we shall not penetrate into the feeling either of
the builder or of his times.

SECTION LXV. A large atrium or portico is attached to two sides of the
church, a space which was especially reserved for unbaptized persons and
new converts. It was thought right that, before their baptism, these
persons should be led to contemplate the great facts of the Old
Testament history; the history of the Fall of Man, and of the lives of
Patriarchs up to the period of the Covenant by Moses: the order of the
subjects in this series being very nearly the same as in many Northern
churches, but significantly closing with the Fall of the Manna, in order
to mark to the catechumen the insufficiency of the Mosaic covenant for
salvation,--"Our fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are
dead,"--and to turn his thoughts to the true Bread of which the manna
was the type.

SECTION LXVI. Then, when after his baptism he was permitted to enter the
church, over its main entrance he saw, on looking back, a mosaic of
Christ enthroned, with the Virgin on one side and St. Mark on the other,
in attitudes of adoration. Christ is represented as holding a book open
upon his knee, on which is written: "I AM THE DOOR; BY ME IF ANY MAN
ENTER IN, HE SHALL BE SAVED." On the red marble moulding which surrounds
the mosaic is written: "I AM THE GATE OF LIFE; LET THOSE WHO ARE MINE,
ENTER BY ME." Above, on the red marble fillet which forms the cornice of
the west end of the church, is written, with reference to the figure of
Christ below: "WHO HE WAS, AND FROM WHOM HE CAME, AND AT WHAT PRICE HE
REDEEMED THEE, AND WHY HE MADE THEE, AND GAVE THEE ALL THINGS, DO THOU
CONSIDER."

Now observe, this was not to be seen and read only by the catechumen
when he first entered the church; every one who at any time entered, was
supposed to look back and to read this writing; their daily entrance
into the church was thus made a daily memorial of their first entrance
into the spiritual Church; and we shall find that the rest of the book
which was opened for them upon its walls continually led them in the
same manner to regard the visible temple as in every part a type of the
invisible Church of God.

SECTION LXVII. Therefore the mosaic of the first dome, which is over the
head of the spectator as soon as he has entered by the great door (that
door being the type of baptism), represents the effusion of the Holy
Spirit, as the first consequence and seal of the entrance into the
Church of God. In the centre of the cupola is the Dove, enthroned in the
Greek manner, as the Lamb is enthroned, when the Divinity of the Second
and Third Persons is to be insisted upon together with their peculiar
offices. From the central symbol of the Holy Spirit twelve streams of
fire descend upon the heads of the twelve apostles, who are represented
standing around the dome; and below them, between the windows which are
pierced in its walls, are represented, by groups of two figures for each
separate people, the various nations who heard the apostles speak, at
Pentecost, every man in his own tongue. Finally, on the vaults, at the
four angles which support the cupola, are pictured four angels, each
bearing a tablet upon the end of a rod in his hand: on each of the
tablets of the three first angels is inscribed the word "Holy;" on that
of the fourth is written "Lord;" and the beginning of the hymn being
thus put into the mouths of the four angels, the words of it are
continued around the border of the dome, uniting praise to God for the
gift of the Spirit, with welcome to the redeemed soul received into His
Church:

"HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, LORD GOD OF SABAOTH:
HEAVEN AND EARTH ARE FULL OF THY GLORY.
HOSANNA IN THE HIGHEST:
BLESSED IS HE THAT COMETH IN THE NAME OF THE LORD."

And observe in this writing that the convert is required to regard the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit especially as a work of _sanctification_.
It is the _holiness_ of God manifested in the giving of His Spirit to
sanctify those who had become His children, which the four angels
celebrate in their ceaseless praise; and it is on account of this
holiness that the heaven and earth are said to be full of His glory.

SECTION LXVIII. After thus hearing praise rendered to God by the angels
for the salvation of the newly-entered soul, it was thought fittest that
the worshipper should be led to contemplate, in the most comprehensive
forms possible, the past evidence and the future hopes of Christianity,
as summed up in three facts without assurance of which all faith is
vain; namely that Christ died, that He rose again, and that He ascended
into heaven, there to prepare a place for His elect. On the vault
between the first and second cupolas are represented the crucifixion and
resurrection of Christ, with the usual series of intermediate
scenes,--the treason of Judas, the judgment of Pilate, the crowning with
thorns, the descent into Hades, the visit of the women to the sepulchre,
and the apparition to Mary Magdalene. The second cupola itself, which is
the central and principal one of the church, is entirely occupied by the
subject of the Ascension. At the highest point of it Christ is
represented as rising into the blue heaven, borne up by four angels, and
throned upon a rainbow, the type of reconciliation. Beneath him, the
twelve apostles are seen upon the Mount of Olives, with the Madonna,
and, in the midst of them, the two men in white apparel who appeared at
the moment of the Ascension, above whom, as uttered by them, are
inscribed the words, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into
heaven? This Christ, the Son of God, as He is taken from you, shall so
come, the arbiter of the earth, trusted to do judgment and justice."

SECTION LXIX. Beneath the circle of the apostles, between the windows of
the cupola, are represented the Christian virtues, as sequent upon the
crucifixion of the flesh, and the spiritual ascension together with
Christ. Beneath them, on the vaults which support the angles of the
cupola, are placed the four Evangelists, because on their evidence our
assurance of the fact of the ascension rests; and, finally, beneath
their feet, as symbols of the sweetness and fulness of the Gospel which
they declared, are represented the four rivers of Paradise, Pison,
Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates.

SECTION LXX. The third cupola, that over the altar, represents the
witness of the Old Testament to Christ; showing him enthroned in its
centre, and surrounded by the patriarchs and prophets. But this dome was
little seen by the people; [Footnote: It is also of inferior workmanship,
and perhaps later than the rest. Vide Lord Lindsay, vol. i, p. 124,
note.] their contemplation was intended to be chiefly drawn to that of
the centre of the church, and thus the mind of the worshipper was at once
fixed on the main groundwork and hope of Christianity,--"Christ is
risen," and "Christ shall come." If he had time to explore the minor
lateral chapels and cupolas, he could find in them the whole series of
New Testament history, the events of the Life of Christ, and the
Apostolic miracles in their order, and finally the scenery of the Book of
Revelation; [Footnote: The old mosaics from the Revelation have perished,
and have been replaced by miserable work of the seventeenth century.] but
if he only entered, as often the common people do to this hour, snatching
a few moments before beginning the labor of the day to offer up an
ejaculatory prayer, and advanced but from the main entrance as far as the
altar screen, all the splendor of the glittering nave and variegated
dome, if they smote upon his heart, as they might often, in strange
contrast with his reed cabin among the shallows of the lagoon, smote upon
it only that they might proclaim the two great messages--"Christ is
risen," and "Christ shall come." Daily, as the white cupolas rose like
wreaths of sea-foam in the dawn, while the shadowy campanile and frowning
palace were still withdrawn into the night, they rose with the Easter
Voice of Triumph,--"Christ is risen;" and daily, as they looked down upon
the tumult of the people, deepening and eddying in the wide square that
opened from their feet to the sea, they uttered above them the sentence
of warning,--"Christ shall come."

SECTION LXXI. And this thought may surely dispose the reader to look
with some change of temper upon the gorgeous building and wild blazonry
of that shrine of St. Mark's. He now perceives that it was in the hearts
of the old Venetian people far more than a place of worship. It was at
once a type of the Redeemed Church of God, and a scroll for the written
word of God. It was to be to them, both an image of the Bride, all
glorious within, her clothing of wrought gold; and the actual Table of
the Law and the Testimony, written within and without. And whether
honored as the Church or as the Bible, was it not fitting that neither
the gold nor the crystal should be spared in the adornment of it; that,
as the symbol of the Bride, the building of the wall thereof should be
of jasper, [Footnote: Rev. xxi. 18.] and the foundations of it garnished
with all manner of precious stones; and that, as the channel of the
World, that triumphant utterance of the Psalmist should be true of
it,--"I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all
riches"? And shall we not look with changed temper down the long
perspective of St. Mark's Place towards the sevenfold gates and glowing
domes of its temple, when we know with what solemn purpose the shafts of
it were lifted above the pavement of the populous square? Men met there
from all countries of the earth, for traffic or for pleasure; but, above
the crowd swaying for ever to and fro in the restlessness of avarice or
thirst of delight, was seen perpetually the glory of the temple,
attesting to them, whether they would hear or whether they would
forbear, that there was one treasure which the merchantmen might buy
without a price, and one delight better than all others, in the word and
the statutes of God. Not in the wantonness of wealth, not in vain
ministry to the desire of the eyes or the pride of life, were those
marbles hewn into transparent strength, and those arches arrayed in the
colors of the iris. There is a message written in the dyes of them, that
once was written in blood; and a sound in the echoes of their vaults,
that one day shall fill the vault of heaven,--"He shall return, to do
judgment and justice." The strength of Venice was given her, so long as
she remembered this: her destruction found her when she had forgotten
this; and it found her irrevocably, because she forgot it without
excuse. Never had city a more glorious Bible. Among the nations of the
North, a rude and shadowy sculpture filled their temples with confused
and hardly legible imagery; but, for her, the skill and the treasures of
the East had gilded every letter, and illumined every page, till the
Book-Temple shone from afar off like the star of the Magi. In other
cities, the meetings of the people were often in places withdrawn from
religious association, subject to violence and to change; and on the
grass of the dangerous rampart, and in the dust of the troubled street,
there were deeds done and counsels taken, which, if we cannot justify,
we may sometimes forgive. But the sins of Venice, whether in her palace
or in her piazza, were done with the Bible at her right hand. The walls
on which its testimony was written were separated but by a few inches of
marble from those which guarded the secrets of her councils, or confined
the victims of her policy. And when in her last hours she threw off all
shame and all restraint, and the great square of the city became filled
with the madness of the whole earth, be it remembered how much her sin
was greater, because it was done in the face of the House of God,
burning with the letters of His Law. Mountebank and masker laughed their
laugh, and went their way; and a silence has followed them, not
unforetold; for amidst them all, through century after century of
gathering vanity and festering guilt, that white dome of St. Mark's had
uttered in the dead ear of Venice, "Know thou, that for all these things
God will bring thee into judgment."




CHAPTER V.

THE DUCAL PALACE.


SECTION I. It was stated in the commencement of the preceding chapter
that the Gothic art of Venice was separated by the building of the Ducal
Palace into two distinct periods; and that in all the domestic edifices
which were raised for half a century after its completion, their
characteristic and chiefly effective portions were more or less directly
copied from it. The fact is, that the Ducal Palace was the great work of
Venice at this period, itself the principal effort of her imagination,
employing her best architects in its masonry, and her best painters in
its decoration, for a long series of years; and we must receive it as a
remarkable testimony to the influence which it possessed over the minds
of those who saw it in its progress, that, while in the other cities of
Italy every palace and church was rising in some original and daily more
daring form, the majesty of this single building was able to give pause
to the Gothic imagination in its full career; stayed the restlessness of
innovation in an instant, and forbade the powers which had created it
thenceforth to exert themselves in new directions, or endeavor to summon
an image more attractive.

SECTION II. The reader will hardly believe that while the architectural
invention of the Venetians was thus lost, Narcissus-like, in
self-contemplation, the various accounts of the progress of the building
thus admired and beloved are so confused as frequently to leave it
doubtful to what portion of the palace they refer; and that there is
actually, at the time being, a dispute between the best Venetian
antiquaries, whether the main façade of the palace be of the fourteenth
or fifteenth century. The determination of this question is of course
necessary before we proceed to draw any conclusions from the style of
the work; and it cannot be determined without a careful review of the
entire history of the palace, and of all the documents relating to it. I
trust that this review may not be found tedious,--assuredly it will not
be fruitless,--bringing many facts before us, singularly illustrative of
the Venetian character.

SECTION III. Before, however, the reader can enter upon any inquiry into
the history of this building, it is necessary that he should be
thoroughly familiar with the arrangement and names of its principal
parts, as it at present stands; otherwise he cannot comprehend so much
as a single sentence of any of the documents referring to it. I must do
what I can, by the help of a rough plan and bird's-eye view, to give him
the necessary topographical knowledge:

Opposite is a rude ground plan of the buildings round St. Mark's Place;
and the following references will clearly explain their relative
positions:

A. St. Mark's Place.
B. Piazzetta.
P. V. Procuratie Vecchie.
P. N. (opposite) Procuratie Nuove.
P. L. Libreria Vecchia.
I. Piazzetta de' Leoni.
T. Tower of St. Mark.
F F. Great Façade of St. Mark's Church.
M. St. Mark's. (It is so united with the Ducal Palace, that the
separation cannot be indicated in the plan, unless all the walls had
been marked, which would have confused the whole.)
D D D. Ducal Palace. g s. Giant's stair.
C. Court of Ducal Palace. J. Judgement angle.
c. Porta della Carta. a. Fig-tree angle.
p p. Ponte della Paglia (Bridge of Straw).
S. Ponte de' Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs).
R R. Riva de' Schiavoni.


[Illustration: FIG. I. The Ducal Palace--Ground Plan.]

[Illustration: FIG. II. The Ducal Palace--Bird's eye View.]


The reader will observe that the Ducal Palace is arranged somewhat in
the form of a hollow square, of which one side faces the Piazzetta, B,
and another the quay called the Riva de' Schiavoni, R R; the third is on
the dark canal called the "Rio del Palazzo," and the fourth joins the
Church of St. Mark.

Of this fourth side, therefore, nothing can be seen. Of the other three
sides we shall have to speak constantly; and they will be respectively
called, that towards the Piazzetta, the "Piazzetta Façade;" that towards
the Riva de' Schiavoni, the "Sea Façade;" and that towards the Rio del
Palazzo, the "Rio Façade." This Rio, or canal, is usually looked upon by
the traveller with great respect, or even horror, because it passes
under the Bridge of Sighs. It is, however, one of the principal
thoroughfares of the city; and the bridge and its canal together occupy,
in the mind of a Venetian, very much the position of Fleet Street and
Temple Bar in that of a Londoner,--at least, at the time when Temple Bar
was occasionally decorated with human heads. The two buildings closely
resemble each other in form.

Copyright (c) 2007. famouswriterz.com. All rights reserved.