VIII. THE DUCAL PALACE 429

which contain the principal evidence of the feeling of its builders. The capitals of the upper arcade are exceedingly various in their character; their design is formed, as in the lower series, of eight leaves, thrown into volutes at the angles, and sustaining figures at the flanks; but these figures have no inscriptions, and though evidently not without meaning, cannot be interpreted without more knowledge than I possess of ancient symbolism. Many of the capitals towards the Sea appear to have been restored, and to be rude copies of the ancient ones; others, though apparently original, have been somewhat carelessly wrought; but those of them which are both genuine and carefully treated are even finer in composition than any, except the eighteenth, in the lower arcade.¹ The traveller in Venice ought to ascend into the corridor, and examine with great care the series of capitals which extend on the Piazzetta side from the Fig-tree angle to the pilaster which carries the party wall of the Sala del Gran Consiglio. As examples of graceful composition in massy capitals meant for hard service and distant effect, these are among the finest things I know in Gothic art; and that above the fig-tree is remarkable for its sculptures of the four winds; each on the side turned towards the wind represented. Levante, the east wind; a figure with rays round its head, to show that it is always clear weather when that wind blows, raising the sun out of the sea: Hotro, the south wind; crowned, holding the sun in its right hand: Ponente, the west wind;² plunging the sun into the sea: and Tramontana, the north wind; looking up at the north star. This capital should be carefully examined, if for no

¹ [For Ruskin’s first impression of the capitals of the upper arcade, and for his correction of it later when he perceived their carefully calculated effect, see the passage from his diary at Vol. IX. p. 292 n. A portion of the upper arcade is shown in Plate 15 of the Examples.]

² [In his copy of the volume Ruskin has here made the following note:-

“ ‘East, melting snow; West, shedding it.’-Odyssey, xix. 206.”

The lines are,

wV de ciwn katathket en akropoloisin oressin,

hv t EnroV katethxen, ephn ZefnroV katacenh

(“And even as the snow melts in the high places of the hills, the snow that the South-east wind has thawed when the West has scattered it abroad”).]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]