The Press. — London, England, 1854-02-18 00:00:00

FERRUARY 18, 1854. f it tr a tit r t. The Stones of Venice. By John Ruskin. With Illustrations. 3 vols., Bvo. 1851-3. London : Smith, Elder, and Co. (Second Notice.) A LARGE portion of the second volume of this interesting work is devoted to the minute consideration of those buildings, both public and private, which the author considers best worthy of attention. His poetical description of the island of Tor cello will be read with much pleasure, particu larly by those who are not familiar with the reality, or who love to see through the eyes of their imagination rather than of their senses. The island, remote and unwholesome, is de serted by its inhabitants, and the episcopal dignity which it preserved till the fall of the republic is now suppressed, and the title transferred to the Patriarch of Venice. It is certain that the inhabitants of the main land sought a temporary asylum at Torcello from the cruelty of Attila, in the fifth century, but it seems equally well attested that it was not till the seventh that a colony was finally settled on the island. The style of their churches Mr. Ruskin surmises might have been suggested to the exiles by the circumstances of adversity under which they founded them. Compared with Torcello, he thinks that "the Southern and Lom " bardic churches of Italy are gloomy and sepul " chral," and that the glittering mosaics and bright sunlight admitted through capacious openings are touching proofs of the desire of "men in sorrow" to avoid the depressing effects of material gloom.—Vol. 11., p.lB. This theory is picturesque, but facts must not be distorted to favour it. At an early date a church was built upon the site on which the cathedral now stands, and was very probably such a one as would be raised by " men in sorrow." It was small and mean, and constructed of wood, and was afterwards consumed by fire. The present church dates from the eleventh century, when the inhabitants of the Lagunes enjoyed as much happiness as those of any other country, and a great deal more security than their neighbours on the mainland. The Cathedral of Torcello is built rather on the model of the Roman basilica than of the Lom bard church; and the semicircular apse, the episcopal throne, and the flight of lofty steps, give it an air of greater antiquity than belongs to it. The fine mosaics at each extremity of the church, which Mr. Ruskin attributes to the peculiar cast of the early settlers minds, were not placed there till the thirteenth cen tury ; and the columns of the nave, sur mounted by capitals, which Mr. Hope justly remarks are " indifferently imitated from " the Corinthian " (but which Mr. Ruskin in dignantly denies), have evidently been removed from some more ancient building. It was thus that the triumphs of Christianity were furnished forth with the spoils of Paganism. Mr. Ruskin opens his chapter on St. Mark's with an error :—" I am aware of no other city " in Europe in which its cathedral is not the " principal feature. But the principal church " of Venice was the chapel attached to the " palace of the prince, called the Chiesa Du " cale."—Vol. 1., p. 7. Surely Mr. Ruskin, when he was an " under-graduate," (lid not consider the cathedral the principal feature of Oxford ? Has he forgotten that the magnificent Church of St. Petronio is not the Cathedral of Bologna ; that at Padua both St. Giustina and St. Anto nio are much larger and finer churches than the Duomo ; and that, at Rome, St. John La teran, and not St. Peter's, is the metropolitan church—" ecclesiartim urbis et orbis, mater et coput" The first impression of an unprejudiced stranger in beholding St. Mark's would be that it is singular rather than beautiful, that it is crushed by the magnificence of surrounding buildings, and that this defect is increased by the absence of a stylobata or elevated plat form. The facade, though dating from the twelfth century, has been materially altered in succeeding ages. A gallery divides a double tier of low arches, and the Moorish cupolas that surmount the whole give it a wild and Oriental character. The external mosaics have been renewed from time to time, the THE PRESS. marbles with which the surface is encrusted are rich and various, the bas reliefs are of different kinds, and were introduced, not as symbols, according to Mr. Ruskin's supposi tion, but for mere ornament, taken at hap hazard, wherever they could be found. One panel in a conspicuous place at the right of the façade represents Hercules slaying the Hydra. The number of columns employed on the façade is prodigious, but their profusion and their diminutive size destroy the effect and preclude the idea of utility. The pinnacles, niches, finials, and foliation of the arches are of a later date, and may be referred to the end of the fourteenth or the beginning of the following century. The whole design, external and internal, denotes a Byzantine origin : it has little resemblance to the Romanesque of Lombardy, still less to the primitive churches of Ravenna. Mr. Ruskin takes unnecessary trouble to defend " the architectural chivalry " of St. Mark's from the imputation of insincerity to which the use of " incrustation" in its decoration, he thinks, might expose it. He had foreseen the difficulty, it seems, and had provided against it in " The Seven Lamps of Architecture." The clumsiness of the workmanship and " the " visible joints," he thinks, " acquit" the archi tect of any purpose of deceiving. We doubt if the architect would thank him for the apo logy. The architect of the middle ages found in the remains of ancient grandeur both his model and his material ; and, if his imitation has been unsuccessful, itis rather to his want of skill that we must attribute it than to an excess of candour. The roof is supported by arches resting on pillars, a compound of arcade and colonnade, unknown to classic antiquity, suggested to the archi tects of the middle ages by the command that ancient buildings gave them of marble columns. Thus the multifarious pillars which everywhere abound are not to be considered " a proof of wealth," as Mr. Ruskin surmises, but rather of poverty, while the variations in the size of the shafts, which he thinks agreeable to the eye, "as proving that they " have not been cut down to match the rest," prove only the deficiency in mechanical skill at the period, when no method was known of making any impression on granite or porphyry. The interior of St. Mark's bears a greater, or, at least, more unmixed, appearance of anti quity than the façade : it is gloomy, solemn, gorgeous, and imposing. The walls, as well as the vaulted ceiling, are encrusted with mosaics, principally of the thirteenth century. The mosaic art was the last to perish in the long agony of Byzantine civilisation. Artists were summoned from Ccnstantinople for the deco ration of this national church, and their works, us Mr. Ruskin observes truly enough, but not very consistently with his theory, "have " a very noble character, and are by no means " devoid of the science of the late Roman " empire."—Vol. 11., p. 108. The subjects of these mosaics are carefully selected so as to convey a religious lesson, appropriate to each part of the church. " But this gorgeous " Bible," as our author terms it,written within and without, " for the edification of the people," which possessed so much in fluence on the sentiments of their ancestors, he thinks is gazed on by the modern Ve netians with indifference, or feelings still more reprehensible, and for this " he saddles " them with a judgment." The crimes and follies of the Venetians have been perpetuated in front of this building, and with their Bible in their hand :—" Know thou that for all these " things God will bring thee intojudgment."— Vol. II , p. 117. From the sacred buildings of Venice, Mr. Ruskin passes to a consideration of the pro fane, and many of his remarks are acute and discriminating. It is greatly to be regretted that so few of the palaces of an early date re main, and that these few should have been so frequently and so carelessly restored. Of the Byzantine period Mr. Ruskin describes seven palaces at considerable length, and with much detail. The type of the Venetian Palace, as well as of the Basilica, is to be found at Constan tinople. Outward appearance seems rather to have been considered than internal conve- 159 nience, consequently the elevation is more studied than the ground plan ; the general dis position of the apartments never varies from the earliest to the latest period. We find universally a ground floor abandoned to damp offices and store-rooms, a low and comfortless mezzanin, a steep staircase leading into a large ante-chamber or hall, technically called the " portico," which bisects the house, lighted at each extremity by large windows opening on a balcony, a suite of apart ments on each side of it, dark rooms to the rear; a second floor repeating the first, and perhaps an attic of meaner proportions but similar distribution. The Fondaco de' Turchi and the Palazzo Loredan are the most perfect specimens uow existing of the Byzantine period : the farmer is in a much worse state than the latter, but has been less altered. It once belonged to the reigning family of Este, thence called the " Casa del Marchese," and afterwards became a sort of caravanserai for the Turkish limp chants who frequented Venice. These Mr Ruskin calls unimportant details not worth recording. We cannot agree with him : archieology, separated from history, loses half its interest, and almost all its utility. Had he made himself acquainted with the history of the Loredan Palace, he would have been saved the trouble of guessing, and of guessing wrong. The escutcheon of Pierre de Lusignan, King of Cyprus, with the corre sponding shields and emblems (to which he assigns a remoter date), were placed on the palace to commemorate the visit of that prince in the latter part of the fourteenth cen tury. The palace at that time belonged to the family of Corner della Piscopia (so called from their possessions in Cyprus), who placed it at the King's disposal. Both palaces are built on the same design, with double arcades sup ported by columns coarsely imitating the Corin thian, and both probably were once encrusted with marbles and bas-reliefs removed from other buildings, of which some traces yet re main in the Fondaco de' Turchi. Mr. Ruskin praises the subtlety with which the distances of the intercolumniations are varied so as to aid the harmony of effect : we should have considered it a greater beauty had the two galleries been arranged in mutual correspon dence, so that the axis of the pillars in each tier should be in the same straight line. This has notbeen attended to, and the effect is displeasing to the eye, while the " subtle proportion" of each arch is lost upon it. Whatever neglect or carelessness Mr. Ruskin discovers in the archi tects of that remote period he attributes to deep design, a piece of candour which reminds us of the sly insinuation of the Spectator : " Whenever our renders find us particularly " dull, we beg them to believe wo have a good " reason for it." The Gothic palaces of Venice are more beautiful and richer than those of an earlier period. The two styles, however, are not un frequently blended, and part of the old mate rials were often used in refabrication, so that it is not safe to pronounce on the date of a building from the fashion of its enrichments. Mr. Ruskin, we think, has once or twice fallen into this error. The Gothic period includes all the fourteenth and part of the fifteenth centuries, and the buildings of this date bear a strong resemblance to each other. Intersecting arches of con trary flexion, with mouldings rich and va rious, arranged singly or in groups, belong to all, but each possesses some peculiarity, some individuality of character that forbids the reproach of monotony. The walls are of brick, and the enrichments of stone. The in troduction of rich and costly marbles on the façade belongs to the Renaissance period, and, if they are ever found with the pointed arch, it is indubitable that they are interpolations of a later date. Of all the buildings of the Gothic period, the Ducal Palace, though the latest, is the most interesting, and, in Mr.Rusldn's opinion, it is also the most beautiful, not of Venice only, but of Europe. We dare hardly believe that, if it had been built at Westminster in stead of the new Parliament houses, be would have maintained this opinion ; and we further suspect that not a little of his admiration is owing to the contempt of " the five orders', -4