V. BYZANTINE PALACES 149

measure 3 ft. 2 in. across, and the central 3 ft. 11 in., so that the arches in the building are altogether of six magnitudes.

§ 7. Next let us take the Casa Loredan.¹ The mode of arrangement of its pillars is precisely like that of the Fondaco de’ Turchi, so that I shall merely indicate them by vertical lines in order to be able to letter the intervals. It has five arches in the centre of the lower story, and two in each of its wings.

Ft.In.

The midmost interval, a, of the central five, is61

The two on each side, b, b52

The two extremes, c, c49

Outer arches of the wings, e, e4 6

Inner arches of the wings, d, d44

The gradation of these dimensions is visible at a glance; the boldest step being here taken nearest the centre, while

¹ [The Casa Loredan, on the Grand Canal, now forms with the adjoining Casa Farsetti the Municipal Offices. It bears on the facade the scutcheon of Peter Lusignan, King of Cyprus, who lodged there in 1363-1366. Ruskin had intended, as above stated, to describe and illustrate all these Byzantine houses in detail, and several sheets dealing with the Casa Loredan are among the MSS. The following are passages from them:-

“One of the loveliest palaces in Venice. Its two upper stories indeed are modernized, but not so discordantly as to destroy the charms of the exquisite arcades beneath. Not that even these are untouched: Renaissance balconies with common balusters have been thrown out from the lateral windows of the first story, and Gothic statues and niches have been introduced among its Byzantine marbles. Still it possesses a grace almost unrivalled....

“The capitals resemble those of St. Mark’s more than any we have hitherto met with, and the reader will notice in the double shaft, the lily pattern with which he is so familiar, and in the first shaft on the right, an ivy leaf wreath such as he saw at Torcello.... But all these Loredan capitals are excessively rude in cutting, blunt and imperfect .... Yet the effect of the capitals from beneath is altogether admirable, and I cannot conceive anything more instructive to an architect than the rich vigour of the touches of shade, and admirable placing of the principal points of the design, though so coarsely executed; and the wreaths of ivy (?) are so peculiar in the little pointed stem which holds, but does not rib the leaves, and so gracefully varied in arrangement and even in type on the four capitals on which they occur, that I am inclined to consider the whole series as of true ancient workmanship, contemporary with St. Mark’s, but more cheaply and hastily executed, and retained, with the shafts, in the rebuilding of the palace.

“On these shafts are carried a series of stilted arches ... on the same

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