On the Old Road Vol. 1 (of 2): A Collection of Miscellaneous Essays and Articles on Art and LiteratureRuskin, John
General
On the Old Road Vol. 1 (of 2): A Collection of Miscellaneous Essays and Articles on Art and Literature
Ruskin, John
Art; Essays; Literature
specially, a marked resemblance to the mosques of the Mahometans.
"The Baptistery and the Campanile, or bell-tower, are in theory
invariable adjuncts to the Lombard cathedral, although detached from it.
The Lombards seem to have built them with peculiar zest, and to have had
a keen eye for the picturesque in grouping them with the churches they
belong to.
"I need scarcely add that the round arch is exclusively employed in pure
Lombard architecture.
"To translate this new style into its symbolical language is a
pleasurable task. The three doors and three gable ends signify the
Trinity, the Catherine-wheel window (if I mistake not) the Unity, as
concentrated in Christ, the Light of the Church, from whose Greek
monogram its shape was probably adopted. The monsters that support the
pillars of the porch stand there as talismans to frighten away evil
spirits. The crypt (as in older buildings) signifies the moral death of
man, the cross, the atonement, the cupola heaven; and these three,
taken in conjunction with the lengthened nave, express, reconcile, and
give their due and balanced prominence to the leading ideas of the
Militant and Triumphant Church, respectively embodied in the
architecture of Rome and Byzantium. Add to this, the symbolism of the
Baptistery, and the Christian pilgrimage, from the Font to the Door of
Heaven, is complete,"--Vol. ii., p. 8-11.
* * *
35. We have by-and-bye an equally comprehensive sketch of the essential
characters of the Gothic cathedral; but this we need not quote, as it
probably contains little that would be new to the reader. It is
succeeded by the following interpretation of the spirit of the two
styles:--
* * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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