138 THE STONES OF VENICE

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.¹

§ 70. 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.² But this dome was little seen by the people;* 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,³ the events of the life of Christ, and the

* It is also of inferior workmanship, and perhaps later than the rest. Vide Lord Lindsay [Sketches of the History of Christian Art], vol. i., p. 124, note.

¹ [Genesis ii. 10-14. One draft of this chapter here continues:-

“Can anything more admirable be well conceived than this simple placing before the mind of the worshipper in the central dome of the temple, the fact which is the beginning of his faith and the judgment which is to be the end of his life; or than the intimation conveyed in the most splendid and central portion of the decoration of the earthly temple that He in whose honour it was raised had gone before to prepare for His worshippers an eternal temple in the Heavens?”]

² [In his later study of the mosaics Ruskin gave much greater importance to those of the Altar Dome: see St. Mark’s Rest, §§ 118-123.]

³ [In one draft of this chapter Ruskin notices some of these other mosaics:-

“The great tree at the end of the [North] transept, representing the generations of Christ, is good in its effect from below; the other modern mosaics are better than whitewash, and that is all. The small cupola over this transept retains, however, its old work; it represents the Life of St. John and his miracles, intended, however, always to enhance the honour of Christ, as we read by the inscription which encircles it: ‘Christ reigns, Christ conquers, Christ commands. He is God everywhere, doing wonders. He is seen in His saints, and this the life of St. John teaches us.’ There are also one or two interesting fragments in the sides of the vault over the genealogical tree, more especially the Miraculous Draught of Fishes, the Calming of the Sea, and the Curing of the Cripple let down through the house-top. In this latter subject, bearing the quaint inscription, ‘PONUNT LANGUENTEM, FIT SANUS, FERTQUE FERENTEM,’ a piece of architecture is introduced necessarily. In that of the Miraculous Draught of Fishes a high tower, perhaps Capernaum, is introduced as a side scene, and in the Calming of the Sea, a great rock, but the main purpose of all these objects, like that of the trees in the central fresco, is merely decorative.”

The “great tree” represents the genealogy of Mary; the date of the mosaic is 1542-1551. Ruskin attributes it to Paolo Veronese (see St. Mark’s Rest, § 108); it is, however, the work of Bianchini, from a drawing by Salviati. The mosaics on the cupola

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