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[M2.179L] [M2.179] 179
No 191
circular shafts: The niche is supposed to be drawn in
the architecture pittoresque du moyen age - but the chief
point of it is missed altogether; namely that it is only
fastened to the shaft by its top and by props to its
The more I think of these porches, the more I am struck finials (which end in heads) these props are seen in very
with the admirable system of ornamentation in St Ambrogio rude note fig 1 No 191 as well as the 4 foil already
and St Michele; so quiet - masterly and manly in its lines marking the transition to Gothic;
every touch telling and not a touch too much - while these Ornamentation l Now, these porches are a perfect study for their
vain struggles at effect are like Hans, our old needle and elaborate failure; Everything that the Byzantines did is
pin colourist - compared to Prout, all dot and spot and twit done; and almost all Verona and St Marks is put together
and double line and deep exaggerated shade. It is curious and worked with an intention to be more elaborate than
that they miss {the mark} as much in light work as heavy - ever work was before, and all kinds of ornaments are tried
for there is a Romanesque arch at the Prefecture with one after another - chains of studs and diamonds &
faces and storks on the tympanum and two chased Dentils bosses & roses, and early dentils - one single row
round shafts with Byzantine wreaths and griffins eating and one four deep like a chequer: and leaf borders
fruit - well designed - excessively involved and of much delicate and classical, & Gothic 4 foils & Lombardic
earlier date than anything at the cathedral having no beasts and Byzantine birds, and chequered pillars.
taint of Gothic whatever; yet all so dead and valueless And all in vain - Everything is overcrowded & misplaced
owing to the lines not being sharp or deep enough, that - joyless and valueless. There is no real power of design
it is enough to disgust one with the style - and hardly and it is in every part what one’s own idle compositions
visible at all at six feet distance - the beasts not in are, when an ornament is put after another, without meaning
the least an admirable example of ill calculated design. or purpose - nay, even without felicity. I never saw
anything that after the first surprise of its richness
and antiquity was so painful - so like to the commonest
accumulations of renaissance.
But to return to purer subjects of study. The bases of
the nave -
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[Version 0.05: May 2008]