PLATE 9 337

this drawing, of the difficulty of being absolutely faithful, however earnestly we may desire it. There was no way of drawing this arch but out of a gondola immediately underneath, in a position from which it was quite impossible to see the upper portion of the archivolt distinctly. I made the sketch before I fully appreciated the importance of the building, chiefly for the sake of its picturesqueness; and coming to the piece of archivolt which I could not clearly discern, drew it carelessly, with what appeared to me to be an upright leaf in its centre. Afterwards, discovering the great importance of these remains, I went up to examine every piece of them, and found the supposed upright leaf to be the Byzantine symbol-a hand, between the Sun and Moon, in the attitude of benediction¹. This sign is almost always used in the centres of Byzantine arches and crosses: it is properly inserted in the previous Plate, and will be found also in the upper subject of Plate 11.

¹ [See Vol. X. pp. 57-58, 166-167.]

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