PLATE 7

ST. MARK’S

Details of the Lily Capitals

THESE lily capitals are of so great importance that I think it necessary to give their most important features on their actual scale.¹ Fig. 1 in this Plate represents the angle of the abacus of the capital B, the nearest to the spectator in the preceding Plate. The cornice moulding which forms this abacus has already been given, d, in Plate XVI. of the text;² but the reader will be far better able to judge of its effect by having it given of the real size. Beneath it, the space a b is a rough joint, and then comes the mass of the capital; the basket-work which originally crowned it and covered its angles is in great part broken away, but some of the remaining fragments are seen on the left. The extent of the injury, however, is so great, that it is nearly impossible to obtain the original contours of this capital with perfect accuracy; that of the northern portico is somewhat better preserved, and from it was taken the section of the bell through the centre of its side, Fig. 2 in this Plate. This section is carefully drawn to scale: the portions more darkly shaded represent the pieces of stone which form the basket-work; the inner line is the limit of the incisions within the basket-work, and the outer line is the face of the lily on the front of the capital. This entire capital will be given in a future Plate,³ and will serve as an example of all the three, differing from them in very few points; the chief distinction being the straight, instead of convex, slope of the abacus.

¹ [Here reduced from 18½ x 11¼ to 7 x 4³/8.]

² [i.e. Stones of Venice, vol. i. (Vol. IX. p. 365).]

³ [Plate 9, p. 163, in Vol. X. (the second volume of The Stones).]

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[Version 0.04: March 2008]