DANDOLO-DUCAL PALACE 371

by far the most interesting Gothic monument of the kind in Venice, had been carried away, piece by piece, and sold for waste marble, two years before. Of what remains, the most beautiful portions are, or were, when I last saw them, the capitals of the windows in the upper story, most glorious sculpture of the fourteenth century. The fantastic window traceries are, I think, later; but the rest of the architecture of this palace is anomalous, and I cannot venture to give any decided opinion respecting it. Parts of its mouldings are quite Byzantine in character, but look somewhat like imitations.

DUCAL PALACE, IX. 52; history of, X. 328, etc., XI. 247; plan and section of, X. 330, 333; description of, X. 358, etc.; series of its capitals, X. 386, etc.; spandrils of, IX. 352 (and Plate 14), 459; shafts of, IX. 458; traceries of, derived from those of the Frari, X. liii., 273; angles of, X. 280; main balcony of, X. 287; base of, XI. 256; Rio Façade of, XI. 32; paintings in, X. 43.¹ [Plates illustrative of, IX. 14; X. H, I, 19; XI. Examples, 1, 5, 5B, 15.]

The multitude of works by various masters which cover the walls of this palace is so great that the traveller is in general merely wearied and confused by them. He had better refuse all attention except to the following works.*

1. Paradise, by Tintoret; at the extremity of the Great Council-chamber [X. 355, 438; XI. 235]. I found it impossible to count the number of figures in this picture, of which the grouping is so intricate, that at the upper part it is not easy to distinguish one figure from another; but I counted 150 important figures in one half of it alone; so that, as there are nearly as many in subordinate positions, the total number cannot be under 500. I believe this is, on the whole, Tintoret’s chef-d’ æuvre; though it is so vast that no one takes the trouble to read it, and therefore less wonderful pictures are preferred to it. I have not myself been able to study except a few fragments of it, all executed in his finest manner; but it may assist a hurried observer to point out to him that the whole composition is divided into concentric zones, represented one above another like the stories of a cupola, round the figures of Christ and the Madonna, at the central and highest point: both these figures are exceedingly dignified and beautiful. Between each zone

* I leave this notice of the Ducal Palace as originally written. Everything is changed or confused, now, I believe: and the text will only be useful to travellers who have time to correct it for themselves to present need. For fuller account of Tintoret’s Paradise, see my pamphlet on Michael Angelo and Tintoret.² 1877.

to in Vol. X. p. 284) are original, and a cornice originally existed along the whole front.” Though the palace was erected in 1424-1430, “older work was built into the front.” With regard to the “restorations,” those spoken of by Ruskin were mostly carried out when the house fell into the hands of the ballet dancer, Taglioni, in 1847. A beautiful well-head was at that time sold to a dealer. More recently, Baron Franchetti has restored the house to something of its original form, and the well-head has been recovered (Venezia: Nuovi Studi, by P. Molmenti, p. 37). For Ruskin’s notice of the difference between the original and the “restored” capitals, see above, ch. i. p. 11 n.]

¹ [For other references than Ruskin here gives, see General Index to the edition.]

² [See the note on that lecture for a summary of other references to the picture.]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]