Yet only
half the finish of the work can be seen in the Plate: for, in several
cases, the sculptor has shown the under sides of the leaves turned
boldly to the light, and has literally _carved every rib and vein upon
them, in relief_; not merely the main ribs which sustain the lobes of
the leaf, and actually project in nature, but the irregular and sinuous
veins which chequer the membranous tissues between them, and which the
sculptor has represented conventionally as relieved like the others, in
order to give the vine leaf its peculiar tessellated effect upon the
eye.
SECTION XXXVIII. As must always be the case in early sculpture, the
figures are much inferior to the leafage; yet so skilful in many
respects, that it was a long time before I could persuade myself that
they had indeed been wrought in the first half of the fourteenth
century. Fortunately, the date is inscribed upon a monument in the
Church of San Simeon Grande, bearing a recumbent statue of the saint, of
far finer workmanship, in every respect, than those figures of the Ducal
Palace, yet so like them, that I think there can be no question that the
head of Noah was wrought by the sculptor of the palace in emulation of
that of the statue of St.
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