On the Old Road, Vol. 2 (of 2): A Collection of Miscellaneous Essays and Articles on Art and LiteratureRuskin, John
General
On the Old Road, Vol. 2 (of 2): A Collection of Miscellaneous Essays and Articles on Art and Literature
Ruskin, John
Art; Essays; Literature
218. The capitals on these two sides, the carved central shaft, and the
horizontal lintel of this door are also excellent examples of Veronese
thirteenth century sculpture, and have merits of a high order, but of
which the general observer cannot be cognizant. I do not mean, in
saying this, to extol them greatly; the best art is pleasing to all, and
its virtue, or a portion of its virtue, instantly manifest. But there
are some good qualities in every earnest work which can only be
ascertained by attention; and in saying that a casual observer cannot
see the good qualities in early Veronese sculpture, I mean that it
possesses none but these, nor of these many.
219. Yet it is worth a minute's delay to observe how much the sculpture
has counted on attention. In later work, figures of the size of life, or
multitudinous small ones, please, if they do not interest, the spectator
who can spare them a momentary glance. But all the figures on this door
are diminutive, and project so slightly from the stone as scarcely to
catch the eye; there are none in the sides and none in the vault of the
gate, and it is only by deliberate examination that we find the faith
which is to be preached in the church, and the honor of its preacher,
conclusively engraved on the lintel and door-post. The spiral flutings
of the central shaft are uninterrupted, so as to form a slight recess
for the figure of St. Dominic, with, I believe, St. Peter Martyr and St.
Thomas Aquinas, one on each side with the symbols of the sun and moon.
At the end of the lintel, on the left, is St. Anastasia; on the right,
St. Catherine (of Siena); in the center, on the projecting capital, the
Madonna; and on the lintel, the story of Christ, in the four passages of
the Annunciation, Nativity, Crucifixion, and Resurrection.
220. This is the only part of the front of the church which is certainly
part of the first structure in 1260. The two statues of St. Anastasia
and St. Catherine are so roughly joined to the lateral capitals as to
induce a suspicion that even these latter and the beautiful polychrome
vault are of later work, not, however, later than 1300. The two pointed
arches which divide the tympanum are assuredly subsequent, and the
fresco which occupies it is a bad work of the end of the fourteenth
century; and the marble frieze and foundations of the front are at least
not earlier than 1426.
Of this portion of the building the foundation is noble, and its color
beautifully disposed, but the sculpture of the paneling is poor, and of
no interest or value.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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