The Independent. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1895-1905, 1902-08-26
The Venice campanile.
CONTINUED from Ist pdge.)

er has been a structure built by the
hand of man whose rugged grandeur
has so impressed the spectator. I'm
der the mighty inspiration of Ell Cap
itan, in the Valley of the Yosemite,
midget of man or woman or child
is awestruck, and there is feeling
of fatal fascination that would hold
one spellbound were the mighty cliff
to topple over upon him; but even
Ell Captain, with its unique impress
siveness, has not the power to awe
and fascinate and charm that was
the attribute of the Venetian watch
tower. While the great Yosemite gil
ant counts its dignity partly from its
three thousand feet of elevation
above the valley it dominates, the
tower of San Marco only aspired to
tenth of its size, but yet it seemed
the greater of the two. All measures
are only comparative, and perspective
levels them all to common dimensions.
In the perfect pile of structures that
make up the composite monument of
st. Mark, the proportions come within
the scope of intimacy; but in the
mightier dignity of Yosemite, miles of
space are required to place the fea-
lures of the landscape at proper focal
distance.
That Napoleon mounted to the top
of the -Campanile on horseback is
merely a freak incident in it's history,
and the fact that from it's loggia near
the top, where the big bells hung, no
trace of the hundred canals of Venice
could be seen, is another. The one
great feature of its dignity is the
breadth of it's mighty influence for
the potentiality of Art Thousands
will miss the shabby old Campanile
out of thir livs, as one misses the uni
yersal mother. While the tower
stood, its presence was merely an In
cident in powerful artistic creation,
but now that it lies fiat in ruin, OBJ.
scured behind the buildings 1t domi-
mated, its greatest power will be felt
be reason or it's absence.
Will it ever be rebuilt? Not yet
| their dictum in the matter. Recon
structed it must be, or crime will
have been done to Art. Why not
with the, same material, carefully re-
/ arranged on the solid base that was
mistaken even in the fall? Brick by
brick may the segments of its former
mass be put back, cemented together
by newer and stronger mortar. Re.
| construction has been going on con-
tinually in some form or other for
| centuries, until the details of the tow
er were probably entirely different
from those of the beginning. The orr.
ginal construction dawdled along, for
one reason or another, over two hun
dred years, so the journals tell us,
| and centuries are but moments in the
life of Art, What matter if the plane
of the Piazza and Piazzetta of San
Marco are CONSTRUCTED for a time
while the painstaking rebuilding
takes? Let the same loving revival
apply to the glorious Campanile as
was given to the beautiful Ca dora
| by Baron Franchetti, whose loving
enthusiasm led to the personal re-
placement of the little cubes of mar.
Bile that once formed the mosaic
pavement Of the old gilded palace.
For Arts sake, counselors of Venice,
destroy not the influence of the great
Campanile by allowing it to remain
prone In the dust of the ruin, No
picture that ever was made. can ex.
press the force of the living and
standing dignity, and the old proper.
tions and stateliness must be rein.
stated in their old surroundings.
HORACE FLETCHER,
| In S, Il. Arponaut