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Ruskin set himself the task of defining the nature of Gothic, its moral and architectural strength and tracing the degradation of Gothic. This agenda is followed in M in the account of the niches of St. Mark’s:
Notebook M pp.211f one is superior to all the rest;
Notebook M pp.213f it is the central type Venetian Gothic, equally removed from Byzantine and late florid work;
Notebook M pp.205-206 give examples of decline with the most recent niches vulgar and distorted as if they were part of Milan cathedral or a stonemason’s yard on the Euston Road in London;
Notebook M2 pp.36L and 36 on spiral forms of niches of St Mark’s
St M[arks] Book p.9L and St M[arks] Book pp.60-64 record observations which perhaps form the basis for the notes in M.
The note at Notebook M p.i headed ‘sculpture’ refers to the top of the church of St. Mark with its ‘branching crockets and niches’ and perhaps represents an early stage in Ruskin’s organisation of his observations.
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[Version 0.05: May 2008]