Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1893-05-01
LION AND SAINr.


A very interesting piece of engineering
has Just been brought to q successful ter
mination In Venice. This Is the restora-
ton of the celebrated granite. columns of
the Mole in the Piszzetsa, forming e ma
jsstic gateway to this lovely City of the
Lagoons- Like nearly all the campaniles
in Venice, says . correspondent of the
London Globe, these columns had, In the
course of the long centuries that have
passed since their erection, slowly Tilted over
until their tops overhung their bases by
more than q foot. This In itself was dan
gerous, as the skafts are monoliths forty
feet high, with diameter of only four
and half feet; but added to this was the
fact that the huge sbaci and capitals as
well as the statues that crowned them,
were 90 shattered as to be q constant men
ace to the lives of the crowds of VenetiAns
who made the steps at the columns bases
their favorits resting places.
The peculiar conditions of the soil of
this city of the sea created long ago q
school of architecture of it's own; and the
architects of the present day seem to have
Tic Erulus VI IOL-
bears. Signor Vendrasoo, the government
architect, who has charge of the ancient
monuments, first made himself a name by
the clever and bold work OF underpinning
q large corner of the Doge's Palace and re-
newing its foundations; and he has now
added to his reputation by his restoration
of the twin Piazzetts columns. That of
st. Marks was dealt with a short time
back, and that of st. Theodore is just I'm
ished. In both cases the method, one in
vented by Signor Vendrasco, was the
same. After the statues and the capitals
had been carefully removed the columns
were entirely encssed in planks of wood
which were tightly bound to them by
ropes. Then by an ingenious arrangement
of girdlss of rope and wooden wedges the
columns were held in suspension while the
bases were removed. The ground beneath
was prepared and the bases replsced at a
proper level. And then slowly and gently
the columns were allowed to settle down
into posltion-that of st. Marks on to its
own fiat bottom, that of St. Theodore into
socket; and now they stand once more
firm and erect.
The bringing down of the statues from.
the top of the capitals, where they could
not be minutely examined, to the work
shops of the Ducal Palace for restoration,
great lion which Ruskin judged to be ga
splendid piece of eleventh or twelfth CEN
tury bropzs," lie found to be splendid
bronze" certsinly, bCt of very far greater
age than he guessed, for the head and
body are those of an exceedingly fine As
syrian lion; and the statue of st. Theo-
dore, instead of being wholly without
merit'-sgsin to quote Ruskin's words-is
discovered to be made up of rubbishy
limbs and sdiuncts, and q finely carved
head and bust, the details of which seem
to point to its Icing those of a Roman en-
peror. And yet Ruskin was not wrong,
for the hulk of the materials that form
the statues are carved and arranged with
out taste and in defiance of the rules of
art. A search made through the docu-
ments in the archives explains how this
came about. When, in 1929. Il was deci-
ded to crown the columns, which had stood
bare for one hundred and fifty years, With
representations of the two patron saints
of Venice, the Assyrisn lion and the Re-
man emperor were brought ont of the
stores of old trophies. and cobbled mp into
a shape suitable for their new position.
The lion, crouching TO spring on its prey,
had its front paws plsoed on q large Bible
SO as to rsise 1t up, and thus was made
sufficiently like the emblem of ST. Mark
to pass muster, while the bust, provided
with thirteenth century arms and legs,
sword, shield and spear. and placed on
the back of a sea monster, became St.
Theodore on his crocOdile-the early pro
tector of Venice.
But If the early time architects were
clever, and the present day ones resem-
bls them, one can hardly say the same
of those of the sixteenth century If one
is to judge by their use-or, rather, mis-
use-of metal, for while the rivets that
Joined the original parts of Constsntine's
figure were CT metal coated with Athenisn
bronze (Athens being the only place where
in those early days such work was done)
all the later cracks and breakages In stat
ues and ospitals were clamped together
with iron bolts or tied up with iron bands,
and molten lead was run into all the hs-
sures, all of which, corroding with the
weather, contracting with the cold and ex-
psnding with the heat, only increased the
damage. Signor Vendraseo states that he
removed from among the marble of the
statue and the capital and the abAcus of
st. Theodore over ton of lead. two hun
dredweight of iron and one hundred and
thirty pounds weight of copper 1t was
no wonder the column had become top
heavy. / saw these heaps Of metal, and
at the same time had the opportunity of
examining the bust of ST. Theodore. All
the details go to confirm Vendrssco's opin-
| ion that it Is Constantine. The face beard
less and refined, the curly hair, the we'll
| cut aquiline nose, all ans wer to his descrip-
| tion;. while the armor is ornamented round
| its edge with lions and esgles. On the
breast plate, in high relief, Is q Latin cross,
over which two angels, as supporters,
drspe the lsbsrum of Constantine. The
foot of the cross stands in tuft of leaves
and flowers. as If to say that faith must be
q living thing to be of value.
st. Theodore will now return to his lofty
psrch in the Piszrstta a better and light
/ er man. His limbs are united to bis body
by network of slender copper muscles,
and he has been coated over with some
kind of silicate which will enable him to
resist the destructive action Of the salt in
the atmosphere. Thus we may now eI-
pect that the wstchful lion of st. Mark
and the well armed warrior, ST. Theodore,
| on their twin columns, may continue for
another five hundred years TO guard the in
i terests of Venice.