APPENDIX, 11 297

the emblem of Christ. Now observe in what an interesting position this tomb stands as a sign of the gradual change which was about to manifest itself in religious feeling. In the earlier tombs we have had no figures introduced but those of Christ or the saints. There might be eulogy in the epitaph, but all that was expressed in the figures was trust either in Christ [or in the saints]. For the first time in this tomb we find trust expressed also in the virtue of the deceased, and for the Baptist and Madonna we have at the angles of the sarcophagus Justice and Temperance. These figures are still, however, altogether subordinate, and the features which attract the eye are the central cross on the sarcophagus, and the circlet with the Lamb above. We are still in a time of noble feeling, but it is interesting to note the subtle and invidious approaches of evil.

[In a note on the tomb, in his diary (1850), Ruskin remarks on the beauty of the hands, “the smallest and loveliest in veining I have seen; the countenance, as usual, death-like, but pure and fine.”]

§ 7. Andrea Morosini¹ (A.D. 1347: SS. Giovanni e Paolo)

In the chapel next the choir, but on its northern side, in St. John and Paul, are two tombs, consisting each of a sarcophagus only, opposite each other. That on the north or left-hand side of the chapel seems to have been intended to be richer than it is now, for two large brackets are placed at its side, as if a preparation for a canopy; beneath it there is a tablet on which the name of Andrea Morosini may be traced and little more, as a confessional has been so set in front of it that hardly any light can reach it; and from below it is altogether invisible, such care have the modern Venetians for the memorials of their great ancestors. If the traveller ask the sacristan to whom this tomb belongs, he will be told, “non si sa”; and I am myself obliged to trust for the date 1347 to Selvatico, as it is indistinguishable on the stone.

In the centre of the sarcophagus is a Madonna enthroned; between two small shafts, at its angles, the Annunciation group, the angel holding a scroll, both raising the hands in the attitude of blessing, and with glories round the heads. The Madonna is one of the curious forms which has been the object of so much idolatry throughout Italy; she is giving suck to the infant Christ, who stands upon her knee; in form more like a boy or youth than a young child. All the figures are cut with extreme rudeness, but they are evidently formed on good models; and if the spectator will examine the angel at the angle and the figure of the infant, I believe he will come to the conclusion that their sculptor must have seen the angels at the angle of the Ducal Palace and the small figure at their feet; the correspondence in outline and gestures is so marked that it is impossible not to conclude the derivation of one from the other. It is, of course, absurd to suppose that the noble work of the Ducal Palace could have been borrowed from the rude sculpture of this unimportant tomb.

The leaf moulding of this tomb is very effective and sharp, though coarsely cut ... [references to intended plates]. It is one of the best

¹ [Details from this tomb are given in Vol. IX. p. 375.]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]