CHAPTER IV

ST. MARK’S¹

§ 1. “AND so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus.” If as the shores of Asia lessened upon his sight, the spirit of prophecy had entered into the heart of the weak disciple who had turned back when his hand was on the plough, and who had been judged, by the chiefest of Christ’s captains,

¹ [This chapter forms, with some omissions noted in their places, ch. iv. in vol. i. of the “Travellers’ Edition.” Among the MS. of The Stones of Venice there is a large number of sheets belonging to earlier drafts of this chapter. Ruskin had at first intended to describe the architectural features of the building minutely throughout, with plans and diagrams. This intention was abondoned when he perceived that a volume would be required for its fulfilment. (An elaborate series of volumes has in recent years been devoted to the purpose: see above, Introduction, p. lii.). Ruskin sent home a first draft of the chapter on November 30, 1851; and the criticisms of his father, who seems to have found the architectural details a little dry, may have induced the author to adopt a more generalised treatment. Some of the material, collected and worked up for inclusion in the original draft, was afterwards transferred to other places; see below, ch. v. §§11-13 for remarks on the varied harmonies of proportion in the arches of the western facade, and Appendix 9 (pp. 448-450) for the relations of the shafts and wall, and the superimposition of the shafts. The unused material among the MSS. preserved by Ruskin is for the most part either incomplete or unintelligible without the intended illustrations. The following passage on the plinth is, however, complete in itself:-

“The base is one of the most embarrassing parts of the structure. It appears to have been restored, along the façade and northern side, at a period comparatively recent; and on the southern side, partly torn away, partly replaced by Renaissance plinths; and the restorations have been so frequent, so confused, and in many places so dextrous, that it has become altogether impossible to form any conjecture as to the original condition of this part of the building. The base, however, along the west front is at present consistent with itself, and harmonizes with the effect of the whole, so that, whatever its date, it is worth while to examine its arrangement for its own sake, even were it not necessary to do so, in order to comprehend that of the superstructure. The first elevation, then, above the pavement of St. Mark’s Place is a step, or plinth, about a foot high, more or less according to the height of the pavement itself. It retires with the line of the wall piers in the main entrances or porches, that is to say, the first and third, but it forms a raised floor in the other three porches, chequered with red and white marble. It is faced all along with panels of red marble, enclosing slabs of white, or nearly white, some of the pieces being more or less veined ... [reference to a diagram]. Above this plinth rises another, about a foot and a half high, and falling about 1,, 2 back from the lower plinth along the fronts of the piers. On this member of the base the lower pillars of the

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