[M2.36L]                                                              [M2.36]								36
                                                                      					SPIRALS
                                                                      
                                                                      Spiral feeling of Venetians:  It is perhaps, in these Byzantine leaves
                                                                      		drifted by the wind;  {whether as} of St Marks, or the
                                                                      		Fondaco de Turchi, that we find the first definite representation
                                                                      		of the affection for whirled and spiral forms
                                                                      		which is so marked an element of the Venetian treatment
                                                                      		of architecture:  on the architrave of St Marks, a new
                                                                      		character is given to the classical wreath by the leaves
                                                                      		which whirl in succession round a ball of tracery - as
                                                                      		sea waves whirl about a ball of foam:  No sooner was
                                                                      		the cable form suggested than {with seamen’s} sympathy it
                                                                      		was grasped - carved into stout strands;  and thenceforward
                                                                      		became the ornament of the door of almost every
In the central groups of architecture - as on the door of             		dwelling  of rich or poor, until it was refined into the
the Abbazia it is always considered - by its coiling at               		perfect spiral shaft of the Ducal palace:  The form which
the angles as a true cable - and in the upper niches of               		the finial first assumed - and yielded surrendered only to receive display
St Marks, though it takes the place of a shaft, [?] most              		the mergent forms of angels or of saints, was that
singularly is bent into a sweeping curve.                             		of a twisted cone - rudely resembling that of the wreaths of a
                                                                      		sea shell - and its richest form on the pendants of the
                                                                      		Giustiniani palace is a whirling star of leafage:
                                                                      		Finally the flamboyant architects took up the spiral feeling;
                                                                      		and always worked on the idea of a circle surrounded by whirling flames.
                                                                      		Willis notices that the tree like shape is never found in
                                                                      		Italy (chapter on tracery)  The spiral took its place.
                                                                      		Vid Milan Ca fasari, &.

[Version 0.05: May 2008]