172 THE STONES OF VENICE

“Albertus Durer Noricus faciebat, 1504,” thereupon, his mind was not in Paradise. He was half in play, half apathetic with respect to his subject, thinking how to do his work well, as a wise master-graver, and how to receive his just reward of fame. But he rose into the true sublime in the head of Adam, and in the profound truthfulness of every creature that fills the forest. So again, in that magnificent coat of arms, with the lady and the satyr, as he cast the fluttering drapery hither and thither round the helmet, and wove the delicate crown upon the woman’s forehead, he was in a kind of play; but there is none in the dreadful skull upon the shield. And in the “Knight and Death,” and in the dragons of the illustrations to the Apocalypse, there is neither play nor apathy;¹ but their grotesque is of the ghastly kind which best illustrates the nature of death and sin. And this leads us to the consideration of the second state of mind out of which the noble grotesque is developed; that is to say, the temper of mockery.

§ 52. (B) Mockery, or Satire. In the former part of this chapter,² when I spoke of the kinds of art which were produced in the recreation of the lower orders, I only spoke of forms of ornament, not of the expression of satire or humour. But it seems probable that nothing is so refreshing to the vulgar mind as some exercise of this faculty, more especially on the failings of their superiors; and that, wherever the lower orders are allowed to express themselves freely, we shall find humour, more or less caustic, becoming a principal feature in their work. The classical

¹ [ An example of the “Adam and Eve” was placed by Ruskin in his “Standard Series” at Oxford (No. 10); in his catalogue he calls it the master’s “best plate in point of execution, and in that respect unrivalled.” He refers to the tablet in Seven Lamps, Vol. VIII. p. 149. Of the “Coat of Arms with Skull,” an impression is in the “Rudimentary Series” (No. 65); the engraving is further described in The Eagle’s Nest, § 155. For the “Knight and Death,” see “Standard Series,” No. 9; for the Dragons in the illustrations to the Apocalypse, see Modern Painters, vol. iv. ch. xv. § 25.]

² [The “Travellers’ Edition” prints from here “When I spoke ...” down to nearly the end of § 67 (see below, p. 187), as Appendix i. in its second volume, the following note being given:-

“Part of the chapter on Grotesque Renaissance-not necessary to its conclusions, but of value enough in itself to be here retained.”]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]