PLATE 6¹

ST. MARK’S

Southern Portico²

THE western façade of St. Mark’s is flanked, both on the north and south, by a small porch or portico; that towards the north being open on two sides, and supported by a single detached pillar, and that towards the south open on three sides, and supported by two detached pillars.

The upper part of the southern one is given in Plate 6, as it is seen from a distance of about twenty-five feet from the base of the westernmost pillar; part of the principal façade being seen on the left. At a greater distance than this the sculpture of the capitals would become indistinct to the eyesight of most people; and the spectator is apt, therefore, to pause within this distance, in order to look at the decoration of the upper arches. The ornament of almost all good architecture is calculated for this kind of observation, and yet, strictly speaking, the resultant effect is incapable of being represented in a drawing, as the spectator’s head is thrown back and the angle of sight considerably elevated. I have long felt the difficulty of conveying a true impression of richly decorated buildings, in consequence of this; but I believe the best way is to venture the steep perspective, and calculate the arrangements of the forms of the building, on the supposition of the horizontal

¹ [Plates 6-10 were Part II. of the Examples, issued on November 1, 1851; i.e., soon after the appearance of Stones of Venice, vol. i., and before the second volume, dealing with St. Mark’s, had appeared.]

² [For other references to this portico see Stones of Venice, vol. i. (Vol. IX. p. 245), where it is cited as a peculiarly beautiful example of superimposition, and Vol. IX. p. 383, and Plate 18, where the zigzagged capital is again shown. See also Vol. IX. p. 132 n. The other (N.) portico is shown in Plate D of Vol. X. The “lily capitals” of St. Mark’s are described in Vol. IX. p. 387, and Vol. X. p. 164.]

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[Version 0.04: March 2008]