PLATE 1

THE DUCAL PALACE

Twentieth Capital

THIS capital belongs to the twentieth shaft of the lower arcade (the method of numbering the shafts having been already stated at p. 54 of the First Volume of the text). I have chosen it for the subject of the first Plate, because it is representative of the general characters of the sculpture in the central Venetian Gothic; that Gothic which is peculiar to the city, and whose rise and degradation are coincident with those of her fortunes.

It is drawn on a large scale¹ that its details may be fully visible; even down to the bees which cluster on the honeycomb in the bear’s mouth.² The shaft is seven feet in circumference at the base, and the capital octagonal, having leaves set on the angles, and heads of animals on the sides, each with its peculiar prey in its mouth, and its name inscribed on the tore above; while a leaf or flower is set beneath each head, of different design on every side. The order of the animals, with the sections of mouldings and other details, will be given hereafter.³

¹ [Here reduced from 18 in. x 11½ to 6¾ x 4¼.]

² [For other references to this capital, see Modern Painters, vol. ii. (Vol. IV. p. 307 n.); and Stones of Venice, Vol. IX. p. 277, Vol. X. p. 418.]

³ [The publication of The Examples was, however, suspended before this was done.]

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[Version 0.04: March 2008]