358 THE STONES OF VENICE

arcade, of a single angel holding a scroll: above these angels rise the twisted pillars with their crowning niches, already noticed in the account of parapets in the seventh chapter;¹ thus forming an unbroken line of decoration from the ground to the top of the angle.²

§ 33. It was before noticed that one of the corners of the palace joins the irregular outer buildings connected with St. Mark’s, and is not generally seen. There remain, therefore, to be decorated, only the three angles, above distinguished³ as the Vine angle, the Fig-tree angle, and the Judgment angle; and at these we have, according to the arrangement just explained-

First, Three great bearing capitals (lower arcade).

Secondly, Three figure subjects of sculpture above them (lower arcade).

Thirdly, Three smaller bearing capitals (upper arcade).

Fourthly, Three angels above them (upper arcade).

Fifthly, Three spiral shafts with niches.

§ 34. I shall describe the bearing capitals hereafter, in their order, with the others of the arcade; for the first point to which the reader’s attention ought to be directed is the choice of subject in the great figure sculptures above them. These, observe, are the very corner stones of the edifice, and in them we may expect to find the most important evidences of the feeling, as well as of the skill, of the builder. If he has anything to say to us of the purpose with which he built the palace, it is sure to be said here; if there was any lesson which he wished principally to teach to those for whom he built, here it is sure to be inculcated; if there was any sentiment which they themselves desired to have expressed in the principal edifice of their city, this is the place in which we may be secure of finding it legibly inscribed.

¹ [See above, pp. 279, 280.]

² [“The national audacity of the great builder of the Ducal Palace in supporting its walls on, virtually, two rows of marble piles” is well illustrated by the drawing here given (Plate H.). It is of the Fig-tree angle, looking seaward from the Piazzetta -“just where the shafts of the angle let the winds blow through them as frankly as the timbers of Calais pier” (Notes on Prout and Hunt, s. No. 58).]

³ [See above, p. 332.]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]