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The Christian Roman and Byzantine work is round arched, with single and well-proportioned shafts, capitals imitated from Classical Roman; mouldings more or less so; and large surfaces of walls entirely covered with imagery, mosaic, and paintings, whether of scripture history or of sacred symbols (Works, 9.38).
The Byzantine and early Christian are considered together by Ruskin and examples used are Torcello Duomo (Basilica of St. Maria Assunta), Santa Fosca Torcello, Murano Duomo (SS. Maria e Donato), ‘the greater part of St. Mark's, and about ten or twelve fragments of palaces’. Byzantine Palaces are listed in Appendix 11 at Works, 10.453 and following.
According to Ruskin (Works, 9.41), Torcello Duomo (Basilica of St. Maria Assunta) is Byzantine in many of its details, but Christian Roman in general form. It together with Santa Fosca Torcello, San Giacomo di Rialto, and the crypt of St. Mark's form a distinct group of buildings in which Byzantine influence is exceedingly slight. The fact that Lindsay (Lindsay (1847) p.65), with some justification, saw Santa Fosca as an example of Byzantine style and one of the ‘principal Byzantine churches’ of Italy is beside the point: the focus here is on Ruskin's views, however misguided.
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[Version 0.05: May 2008]