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Ruskin, John, 1819-1900

"Stones of Venice [introductions]"


There are also five arches in the block on which the sculptor is
working, marking the frequency of the number five in the window groups
of the time.
_Seventh side_. A figure at work on a pilaster, with Lombardic thirteenth
century capital (for account of the series of forms in Venetian capitals,
see the final Appendix of the next volume), the shaft of dark red spotted
marble.
_Eighth side_. A figure with a rich open crown, working on a
delicate recumbent statue, the head of which is laid on a pillow covered
with a rich chequer pattern; the whole supported on a block of dark red
marble. Inscription broken away, all but "ST. SYM. (Symmachus?) TV * *
ANVS." There appear, therefore, altogether to have been five saints, two
of them popes, if Simplicius is the pope of that name (three in front,
two on the fourth and sixth sides), alternating with the three uncrowned
workmen in the manual labor of sculpture. I did not, therefore, insult
our present architects in saying above that they "ought to work in the
mason's yard with their men." It would be difficult to find a more
interesting expression of the devotional spirit in which all great work
was undertaken at this time.
SECTION XCVII.


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