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In 1438 Giovanni and Bartolomeo Bon were given the commission for the building of the Porta della Carta, the main ceremonial entrance to the Ducal Palace. The work was completed and signed by Bartolomeo after the death of Giovanni.
The Bon style is defined for Ruskin by the Porta della Carta, which he sees as the prime Venetian example of the degradation of Gothic, an understanding of which was a major part of the agenda he set himself at the beginning of the journey. So for example at Works, 11.433f the door of the church of Santo Stefano is defined in relation to the Porta della Carta (but on that compare Notebook M p.166 which makes a distinction between Bon style and the ‘Porta San Stefano’). At Works, 11.14 the Morosini tomb shows every one of the ‘Renaissance errors in complete development’; in the Porta della Carta ‘the vice reaches its climax’.
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At Works, 9.44 the ‘insipid confusion’ of the Porta della Carta and the ‘wild crockets’ of St. Marks (on the latter see ‘its branching crockets & niches’) are cited as prime examples of the corruption of Gothic throughout Europe by the ‘degradation of the Romanist superstition’.
At Works, 9.48 a footnote records a note by Ruskin which uses the ‘violent crocketing all over in Porta della Carta style’ as a marker of what he saw as wrong with the Mocenigo tomb.
At Works, 10.352 Ruskin relies on Cadorin (1838) p.131 for 1439 as the date of the commissioning of the Porta della Carta and its completion two years later. Works, 11.249 suggests that it marked a decisive turning point for the architecture of the Ducal Palace: work on the rebuilding of the Ducal Palace proceeded in accordance with the old plan as far the Porta della Carta. ‘Thenceforward’ the Renaissance architects ‘broke through the design, and built everything else according to their own humours.’
Notebook M p.150 distinguishes the cut-out tracery of the Porta della Carta and the ‘adjusted’ tracery of the North, that is tracery apparently cut out from a larger pattern and tracery design adjusted to suit its particular situation. For a photograph see here, and compare the drawing at Palace Book p.26L.
Notebook M pp.157-158 - screen of the Frari, dated 1475, and ambones in the style of the inner arcade of, and the passage under, the Porta della Carta
Notebook M2 p.13 the Porta della Carta and the ‘Figure’ (presumably the plural of the Italian ‘figura’ rather than the English ‘figure’) of the Bons in relation to the dating of the Ducal Palace
Notebook M2 p.55 traceries of the Porta della Carta as shown in an old print (this seems to be the only reference to the Porta della Carta in Ruskin’s index to M2)
Palace Book pp.26L and 26 tracery of the Porta della Carta with diagram / drawing, and for a photograph of details of the tracery see the photograph by George Landow here.
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Notebook N p.44 capitals of Ca Foscari compared with those under the Porta della Carta, and said to be of the same time - finely flowering and well ribbed four lobed roses
St M[arks] Book p.71 lion on Porta della carta shown as gilded in Gentile Bellini (1429 - 1507) Procession in Piazza San Marco (Miracles of the True Cross), 1496, Tempera and oil on canvas, 367 x 745 cm Gallerie dell’ Accademia, Venice. The image is available here, and compare the photograph here.
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[Version 0.05: May 2008]