St. Mark's Southern Portico
John Ruskin
Engraved by Thos. Lupton
1853
Photogravure of orginal watercolor
Source: Stones of Venice, volume III
[See Ruskin's text below]
Image scan and formatting by George P. Landow. Text from Internet Archive corrected against the Library Edition.
Ruskin's text accompanying the plate
The western façade of St. Mark's is flanked, both on the north and south, by a small porch or portico ; that towards the north being open on two sides, and supported by a single detached pillar, and that towards the south open on three sides, and supported by two detached pillars.
The upper part of the southern one is given in Plate 6, as it is seen from a distance of about twenty-five feet from the base of the westernmost pillar; part of the principal facade being seen on the left. At a greater distance than this the sculpture of the capitals would become indistinct to the eyesight of most people; and the spectator is apt, therefore, to pause within this distance, in order to look at the decoration of the upper arches. The ornament of almost all good architecture is calculated for this kind of observation, and yet, strictly speaking, the resultant effect is incapable of being represented in a drawing, as the spec- tator's head is thrown back, and the angle of sight consider- ably elevated. I have long felt the difficulty of conveying a true impression of richly decorated buildings, in conse- quence of this; but I believe the best way is to venture the steep perspective, and calculate the arrangements of the forms of the building, on the supposition of the horizontal line being considerably below the bottom of the picture. I have done so in this Plate, and shall be obliged to do the same with many others.
The shafts are of solid marble, and the entire building is cased with sheets of it. The zigzag capitals of the upper shafts are curious: one of them has been already given on a larger scale in Plate XVIII. of the text. The capitals of the lower shafts are, however, far more elaborate, and on the whole the most interesting pieces of Byzantine work in Venice. They are very nearly of similar design on the three detached shafts of the porticoes; having a flower somewhat resembling a lily on each of their four sides, I shall always speak of them as the "lily capitals of St Mark's," and they, as well as the shafts which they crown, will be severally distinguished as the capitals or shafts a, b, and c ; the shaft A being that of the northern portico; b, that seen in Plate 6, on the left; and c, that seen in Plate 6, on the right.
[The plate is here reduced from 17 x 10 1/2; to 6 3/4 x 4 1/4.] — Library Edition XI, 330-31
References
Ruskin, John. Works, "The Library Edition." eds. E. T. Cook and Alexander Wedderburn. 39 vols. London: George Allen, 1903-1912.
Last modified 6 February 2011