200 THE STONES OF VENICE CONSTRUCTION

buttresses, and if not, may be varied by the tracery of its penetrations. The forms of these evidently admit every kind of change; for a stone parapet, however pierced, is sure to be strong enough for its purpose of protection, and, as regards the strength of the building in general, the lighter it is the better. More fantastic forms may, therefore, be admitted in a parapet than in any other architectural feature, and for most services, the Flamboyant parapets seem to me preferable to all others; especially when the leaden roofs set off by points of darkness the lace-like intricacy of penetration. These, however, as well as the forms usually given to Renaissance balustrades (of which, by the bye, the best piece of criticism I know is the sketch in David Copperfield of the personal appearance of the man who stole Jip),¹ and the other and finer forms invented by Paul Veronese in his architectural backgrounds, together with the pure columnar balustrade of Venice, must be considered as altogether decorative features.

§ 18. So also are, of course, the jagged or crown-like finishings of walls employed where no real parapet of protection is desired; originating in the defences of outworks and single walls: these are used much in the East on walls surrounding unroofed courts. The richest examples of such decoration are Arabian; and from Cairo they seem to have been brought to Venice. It is probable that few of my readers, however familiar the general form of the Ducal Palace may have been rendered to them by innumerable drawings, have any distinct idea of its roof, owing to the staying of the eye on its superb parapet, of which we shall give an account hereafter.² In most of the Venetian cases the parapets which surround roofing are very sufficient for protection, except that the stones of which they are composed appear loose and infirm: but their purpose is entirely

¹ [“Man to be identified by broad nose, and legs like balustrades of bridge” (ch. xxxviii.). Ruskin, it will be seen, read every book by Dickens as it came out (cf. Vol. I. p. xlix., III. pp. 347, 571); David Copperfield was published in 1850, when Ruskin was writing this volume. See another reference to “Jip” in Appendix 8, p. 429, below.]

² [See Stones of Venice, vol. ii. ch. vii. §§ 12-14.]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]