266 10. FINAL APPENDIX I. BASES

(i.)BASES

The principal points we have to notice are the similarity and simplicity of the Byzantine bases in general, and the distinction between those of Torcello and Murano, and of St. Mark’s, as tending to prove the earlier dates attributed in the text to the island churches. I have sufficiently illustrated the forms of the Gothic bases in Plates 10, 11, and 12 of the first volume, so that I here note chiefly the Byzantine or Romanesque ones, adding two Gothic forms for the sake of comparison.

The most characteristic examples, then, are collected in Plate 5 opposite; namely:

1, 2, 3, 4. In the upper gallery of apse of Murano.

5. Lower shafts of apse. Murano.

6. Casa Falier.

7. Small shafts of panels. Casa Farsetti.

8. Great shafts and plinth. Casa Farsetti.

9. Great lower shafts. Fondaco de’ Turchi.

10. Ducal Palace, upper arcade.

11. General late Gothic form.

PLATE 5, 12. Tomb of Dogaressa Vital Michele, in St. Mark’s atrium.

Vol.III. 13. Upper arcade of Madonnetta House.

14. Rio Foscari House.

15. Upper arcade. Terraced House.

16, 17, 18. Nave. Torcello.

19, 20. Transepts. St. Mark’s.

21. Nave. St. Mark’s.

22. External pillars of northern portico. St. Mark’s.

23, 24. Clustered pillars of northern portico. St. Mark’s.

25, 26. Clustered pillars of southern portico. St. Mark’s.

Now, observe, first, the enormous difference in style between the bases 1 to 5, and the rest in the upper row, that is to say, between the bases of Murano and the twelfth and thirteenth century bases of Venice; and, secondly, the difference between the bases 16 to 20 and the rest in the lower row, that is to say, between the bases of Torcello (with those of St. Mark’s which belong to the nave, and which may therefore be supposed to be part of the earlier church) and the later ones of the St. Mark’s façade.

Secondly, Note the fellowship between 5 and 6, one of the evidences of the early date of the Casa Falier.¹

Thirdly, Observe the slurring of the upper roll into the cavetto, in 13, 14, and 15, and the consequent relationship established between three most important buildings, the Rio Foscari House, Terraced House, and Madonnetta House.²

Fourthly, Byzantine bases, if they have an incision between the upper roll and cavetto, are very apt to approach the form of fig. 23, in which the upper roll is cut out of the flat block, and the ledge beneath it is sloping. Compare Nos. 7, 8, 9, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26. On the other hand, the later Gothic base,

¹ [For this house, see in the preceding volume, ch. vii. § 30 and Plate 15.]

² [For these houses, as also for the Casa Farsetti and Fondaco de’ Turchi, see in the preceding volume, ch. v., and appendix 11, pp. 453-454.]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]