18th Capital of the Ducal Palace Lower Arcade

This, in Ruskin’s final system, adopted from Selvatico (1847) p.128, and starting from the Ponte della Paglia, is the eighteenth of the capitals of the Ducal Palace. Series of Capitals of Lower Arcade. It is on the corner between the Molo San Marco and the Piazzetta, and above it is the Angle Sculpture of the Adam and Eve / Fall of Man, and above that the Archangel Michael.

For Ruskin’s photograph of the angle from the Reference Series see here.

• Number in Ruskin’s final system: 18
• (THIS IS CORNER CAPITAL MOLO TO PIAZZETTA)
• Alternative number starting from Porta della Carta: 19
• Number, using Ruskin’s final system, of related capital, earlier model or later copy: n/a
• Subject matter: Zodiac
• Leafage 4th Order: Notebook M2 p.102, and compare the division into rows in Plate XX at Works, 10.431. See Works, 11.276 for a list of the buildings from which the images at Plate XX are taken, and Works, 11.276-278 for a discussion of the development of the leafage of capitals.
• Date: c. 1350
• Notebook references: Notebook M p.174; Notebook M pp.181L and 181, Notebook M pp.182L and 182; Notebook M2 p.100; Notebook M2 p.102; Palace Book pp.36L-38L have been torn out of the notebook (perhaps because of perceived impropriety in the subject matter reported at Notebook M p.182); Palace Book p.45 (where it is called A).
• Library Edition references: Works, 10.412-6; (the Library Edition of Works wrongly gives Works, 10.412-3); Works, 10.425; Works, 29.124-5 [n/a]; Plate facing Works, 29.124 [n/a]

Detail of 1870s/1880s copy of the 18th capital in its current state Creation of Adam, left, side 8; Aquarius / Capricorn, side 1, centre; Jupiter, side 2, right

[Version 0.05: May 2008]