V. BYZANTINE PALACES 171

of colour with the Venetians, and was constantly used even in the later palaces; but never could have been seen in so great perfection as when opposed to the pale and delicate sculpture of the Byzantine time.

§ 30. Such, then, was that first and fairest Venice which rose out of the barrenness of the lagoon, and the sorrow of her people; a city of graceful arcades and gleaming walls, veined with azure and warm with gold, and fretted with white sculpture like frost upon forest branches turned to marble. And yet, in this beauty of her youth, she was no city of thoughtless pleasure. There was still a sadness of heart upon her, and a depth of devotion, in which lay all her strength. I do not insist upon the probable religious signification of many of the sculptures which are now difficult of interpretation; but the temper which made the cross the principal ornament of every building is not to be misunderstood, nor can we fail to perceive, in many of the minor sculptural subjects, meanings perfectly familiar to the mind of early Christianity. The peacock, used in preference to every other bird, is the well-known symbol of the resurrection;¹ and, when drinking from a fountain (Plate 11, fig. 1) or from a font (Plate 11, fig. 5) is, I doubt not, also, a type of the new life received in faithful baptism. The vine, used in preference to all other trees, was equally recognized as, in all cases, a type either of Christ Himself,* or of those who were in a state of visible or professed union with Him. The dove, at its foot, represents the coming of the Comforter; and even the groups of contending animals had, probably, a

* Perhaps this type is in no place of Scripture more touchingly used than in Lamentations i. 12, where the word “afflicted” is rendered in the Vulgate “vindemiavit,” “vintaged.”

¹ [The peacock was regarded as an emblem of the resurrection from the yearly changing and renewal of its brilliant feathers, and from an old belief in the incorruptibility of its flesh. It appears on the coins of Faustina [A.D. 138] as a symbol of the glorified soul, encircled with a nimbus. It was a favourite form in Byzantine art, and was often employed in later times; thus in an inventory of the property of West-minster Abbey made in 1388 there is mention of vestments worked with peacocks: see F. E. Hulme’s Symbolism in Christian Art, 1891, p. 191.]

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