VIII. THE DUCAL PALACE 359

§ 35. Now the first two angles, of the Vine and Fig-tree, belong to the old, or true Gothic, Palace; the third angle belongs to the Renaissance imitation of it: therefore, at the first two angles, it is the Gothic spirit which is going to speak to us; and, at the third, the Renaissance spirit.

The reader remembers, I trust, that the most characteristic sentiment of all that we traced in the working of the Gothic heart, was the frank confession of its own weakness;¹ and I must anticipate, for a moment, the results of our inquiry in subsequent chapters, so far as to state that the principal element in the Renaissance spirit, is its firm confidence in its own wisdom.

Hear,² then, the two spirits speak for themselves.

The first main sculpture of the Gothic Palace is on what I have called the angle of the Fig-tree:

Its subject is the FALL OF MAN.

The second sculpture is on the angle of the Vine:

Its subject is the DRUNKENNESS OF NOAH.

The Renaissance sculpture is on the Judgment angle:

Its subject is the JUDGMENT OF SOLOMON.

It is impossible to overstate, or to regard with too much admiration, the significance of this single fact. It is as if the palace had been built at various epochs, and preserved uninjured to this day, for the sole purpose of teaching us the difference in the temper of the two schools.³

§ 36. I have called the sculpture on the Fig-tree angle the principal one; because it is at the central bend of the palace, where it turns to the Piazzetta (the façade upon the Piazzetta being, as we saw above, the more important one in ancient times).⁴ The great capital, which sustains this Fig-tree angle, is also by far more elaborate than the head

¹ [See above, ch. vi. § 67, p. 234.]

² [All editions except the first read “Here,” but the MS. shows that Ruskin wrote “Hear,” which reading is accordingly now restored.]

³ [In Fors Clavigera, Letter 74, Ruskin describes more fully the significance of these corner-stones of the building-“meaning, if you read them in their national lesson, ‘Let him who thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.’” In the same letter, there is some further account of the figures of Michael and Raphael: see below, § 42.]

⁴ [See above, § 20, p. 347.]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]