Sox, JV^o. 
 
 Essex Institute. 
 
 LIBRARY Oin IPR^^^CIS FEA.BODY. 
 
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ICK y\NI) MAUP.LE 
 
 IN 
 
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.—NORTH PORCH, 3TA. MARIA MAGGIORE, BERGAMO. 
 
 Page CQ. 
 
BRICK AND MARBLE 
 
 IN 
 
 THE MIDDLE AGRS: 
 
 NOTES OF A TOLU IN TJIJ-: XOUTH OF ITALY. 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE EDMUND STIIEET, \\iru^., F.S.A. 
 
 COPI OIJSL Y 1 1, 1. ( 'ST II A T K F ). 
 L () N D O N : 
 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 
 1855. 
 
 Tlir Hnhl nf T^avtlaHfyii in rrsfi r,ii. 
 
LONDON : PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET, 
 AND CHARING CROSS. 
 
 THE GEHY CENTER 
 LIBRARY 
 
TO 
 
 THE RIGHT REVEREND 
 
 THE LORD BISHOP OF OXFORD, 
 
 ETC. ETC., 
 
 IN TOKEN 
 OF SINCERE AFFECTION TO HIMSELF, 
 
 AND 
 
 DKKP IIEVEIIENCE FOR UIS HOLY OFFICE, 
 
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 INSCRIBED. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In these days of railways and rapid travelling there 
 is scarcely any excuse for stopping quietly at home. 
 The most busy man finds some short holiday in the 
 course of the year, and, if wise as well as busy, spends 
 it not in quiet sojourn at some watering-place, but in 
 active search of the picturesque, the beautiful, or the 
 old, in nature or in art, eitlier at home or abroad. 
 
 And as the holidays of busy men are short, and 
 therefore to be made as much of as possible, I conceive 
 that 1 shall be rendering some service, and providing 
 myself with a fair excuse for my presumption, if I 
 venture to show, by a simple narrative of a tour under- 
 taken in the course of the year before last, how much 
 it is possible to accomplish with pleasure, and, when 
 one has some definite object in view, with profit of no 
 common kind, even in a short holiday. 
 
 There are many classes of travellers, and each 
 doubtless flatters itself that its own is the very best 
 of all modes of travelling ; and sorry should I be to 
 attempt to disabuse any one of so pleasant a self-deceit. 
 But the more I think of it, the more certain it appears 
 that the reasons and objects which always take me 
 away from home are precisely such as make up the sum 
 of happiness and pleasure to a traveller. 
 
VIU 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Indeed, without some definite object before him, 
 beyond the mere desire of relaxation and pleasure, 
 I can scarcely understand that thorough joy of heart 
 being felt which an architect feels as he seats himself 
 in the railway carriage which bears him away from 
 home on some ecclesiological or architectural ramble. 
 
 Such an one, hard worked for more than five- 
 sixths of the year, may, if he will, press into the short 
 remainder left to him for a holiday as much both 
 of profit and of pleasure as it is possible to conceive. 
 He goes, sketch-book in hand, with some ancient town 
 or thrice noble cathedral set before him as his goal ; 
 and, passing along smiHng valleys, or over noble moun- 
 tains, drinks in all that he sees, not the less gratefully 
 or delightedly in that he views it as the preface only 
 to his more intense enjoyment in the study and pur- 
 suit of his own well-beloved art. 
 
 If such be my case — and such it is — wonder not, 
 gentle reader, that I desire to show how much enjoy- 
 ment may be snatched from time in little more than 
 one short month, nor that I am anxious to put on 
 paper the thoughts that have been uppermost in my 
 mind as I travelled, and looked at and drew the old 
 builders' works in the north of Italy, the more as they 
 seem to bear with much force upon questions debated 
 with more and more eagerness and anxiety every day, 
 by very many of those who take the most lively 
 interest in the progress of Christian art. 
 
 In past years I had travelled — rapidly it is true, 
 but not without learning much, very much, of what 
 was useful — by the noble cities of Belgium, up the 
 church-besprinkled banks of the fair Rhine, over the 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 ix 
 
 plains of Bavaria, and through much that was most 
 noble and interesting in different parts of France and 
 Germany ; I had dreamt of old times and old men in 
 the antique streets of Bruges and Nuremberg, and 
 under the shade of the still more ancient walls of 
 Uatisbon, in the solemn naves of Amiens, of Cologne, 
 of Freiburg, of Strasburg and Chartres, and of many 
 more most noble piles ; I had paced the ruins of old 
 abbeys, and studied, so far as I could, in all of them 
 the science and the art of our forefathers ; but so 
 far all my time had been devoted to the study of 
 northern art, and I had found no time and no 
 opportunity for the study of that modification of the 
 pointed style which distinguishes the cities and the 
 churches of the north of Italy. No wonder then that, 
 with a prospect at last of a sight of Italy and Italian 
 architecture before me, I looked forward long and 
 anxiously for the end of summer, for that happy 
 autumn which brings ease and relaxation to so many 
 a wearied heart, and that when, at last, at the latter 
 end of August, I found myself absolutely on my 
 way, I was in no common degree disposed for the 
 tliorough enjoyment of all that I met with. 
 
 It is well here to observe, by the way, that there 
 is much in the present position of architects and the 
 world which may give to these few remarks upon 
 the pointed arcliitecture of the north of Italy— slight 
 and sketchy though they may be-a degree of value 
 beyond what they would have had only a short time 
 since. 
 
 Tt is impossible not to feel that tlie great and 
 ..encral interest in art, created by the revival of true 
 
X 
 
 PKEFACE. 
 
 principles within the last few years, is a subject of the 
 greatest congratulation to all true artists. It is not 
 only in architecture, but happily in painting also, that 
 first principles are now studied with some determina- 
 tion by men who command the respect of a world edu- 
 cated hitherto to admire and believe in the falsest and 
 weakest schools of art. It was, therefore, with the 
 desire to see how far these first principles were worked 
 out by the architects of the middle ages in Italy, 
 how far moreover they were developed in directions 
 unattempted by their brethren in the North, and how 
 far they have succeeded in leaving us really noble 
 works for our study and admiration, that I undertook 
 my journey. 
 
 Let me say, too, at the same time, that I started 
 without either the intention or the desire to examine 
 at all carefully the works of the Renaissance archi- 
 tects. For this there were many reasons — among 
 others my own unfitness by predilection and education 
 for the task, the shortness of my time, and the fact 
 that, as it appears to me, their works have already re- 
 ceived as much both in the way of illustration and of 
 description as they deserve. 
 
 I should wish also, I must confess, in all my studies 
 of foreign architecture, to confine myself to those 
 buildings in which there appear to me to be the germs 
 at least of an art true and beautiful in itself, and of 
 service to us in our attempts to improve our own 
 work. It does not appear to me that the works 
 of the Italian Renaissance architects really contain 
 this. I see no reason whatever for doubting that 
 if we wish for a purer school of art we must either 
 
PUEFACE. xi 
 
 entirely forget their works, or remember them so far 
 only as to take warning by their faults and failures, 
 r see no reason for allowing that they have succeeded 
 in carrying out true principles, either of construction 
 or ornamentation, to any greater extent than their 
 imitators in England. The same falseness of con- 
 struction, and heaviness, coarseness, and bad grotesque- 
 ness of ornamentation, seem ever to attend their 
 works, together with the same contempt of simphcity, 
 repose, and delicacy which we are so accustomed to 
 connect witJi them. In short, I see but little reason 
 to differ from the estimate which Mr. Euskin has 
 given of their merits in the ' Stones of Venice,' and 
 what he has so well said I need not attempt to en- 
 large upon. 
 
 My own feeling is, that, as in the pointed arch we 
 have not only the most beautiful, but at the same time 
 incomparably the most convenient feature in construc- 
 tion which has ever been, or which, I firmly believe, 
 ever can be invented, we should not be true artists if 
 we neglected to use it. 
 
 I hold firmly the doctrine that no architect has any 
 right whatever to neglect to avail himself of every im- 
 provement in construction which the growing intelli- 
 gence of this mechanical age can afford him ; but this 
 doctrine in no way hinders the constant employment 
 of the pointed arch ; on the contrary, it makes it 
 necessary, because it is at once the most beautiful and 
 the most economical way of doing the work we have 
 to be done. 
 
 There are, I well know, advocates for the round 
 arch, whose theory appears to be that we ought to go 
 
xii 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 back for some ages, to throw ourselves as it were into 
 the position of men who knew only the round arch, 
 and from this to attempt to develop in some new 
 direction ; this is Mr. Petit's theory, and it is, as 
 appears to me, one which it is not difficult to meet. 
 
 Its supporters assert that pointed architecture is so 
 essentially the effort of a particular age, and marked by 
 certain peculiarities so decided, as to be filled, even in 
 its most noble works, with a kind of spirit which in this 
 age it is vain to attempt again to evoke. The old Gothic 
 spirit is, they say, dead, and, glorious as it was, its 
 flight was but meteor-like, and, having passed across 
 the horizon of the world in its rapid flight, it has sunk 
 beyond all possibility of revival. 
 
 It appears to me that those who so argue confound 
 the accidents with the elements of the true Grothic 
 architecture of the middle ages, and mistake altogether 
 the object which, I trust, most architects would pro- 
 pose to themselves in striving for its revival. The 
 elements are the adoption of the best principles of 
 construction, and the ornamentation naturally and pro- 
 perly, and without concealment, of the construction ; 
 the accidents are, as it appears to me, the particular 
 character which individual minds may have given to 
 their work, the savageness, or the grotesqueness as it 
 has been called, which is mainly to be discovered in 
 the elaboration of particular features by some particular 
 sculptor or architect, and which in the noblest works — 
 and, indeed, I might say, in most works — one sees no 
 trace of The true Gothic architects of the middle ages 
 had, in short, an intense love of nature grafted on an 
 equally intense love of reality and truth, and to this it 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Xlll 
 
 is that we owe the true nobility and abiding beauty 
 of their works ; nor need we in this age despond, for, 
 if we be really earnest in our work, there is nothing 
 in this which we need fear to miss, nothing which we 
 may not ourselves possess if we will, and nothing 
 therefore to prevent our working in the same spirit, 
 and with the same results, as our forefathers. 
 
 The medijcval architecture of Italy presents, how- 
 ever, one further practical argument against this theory 
 of the lovers of the round arch which they cannot, I 
 think, meet. 
 
 It will be found in the following pages that in 
 Italy there did not exist that distinction between the 
 use of round and pointed arches which did exist for 
 three centuries north of the Alps. They were content 
 there to use whichever was most convenient, and 
 whichever appeared to them to be most effective in its 
 intended position. We therefore find, I might almost 
 say invariably, round and pointed arches perpetually 
 used in the same work, the former generally for orna- 
 ment, the latter for construction; and the effect of 
 this is in some degree to make us lessen the rigidity 
 with whicli a study of northern art might otherwise 
 affect our views on this point. But I think no 
 argument can be used by the lovers of the round 
 arch which would ever go farther than to leave us 
 open to the choice of both round and pointed arches, 
 just as in these old Italian buildings : they have no 
 right to say " You may not use the pointed arch at 
 all," but they perhaps may be allowed to ask " Why 
 exclude for ever the round arch ? " and then I should 
 refer them to Italy for a proof that as a rule the 
 
XIV 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 mixture of the two is neither harmonious nor satis- 
 factory ; at the same time I should show them that, 
 when they talk of the virtues of Eoman and Eo- 
 inanesque architecture, of the repose and the simplicity 
 which distinguish them, of their grandeur and their 
 general breadth and nobility of effect, — in all these 
 things they do but sing the praises of the best Italian 
 architecture of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, 
 and that we therefore in selecting a style may well be 
 guided by it in all we do, not to the forgetfulness of 
 the glories of our own land, but to the development in 
 a forward direction of what we inherit from our fore- 
 fathers of that architecture which, after a lapse of three 
 centuries, we now see on all sides reviving with fresh 
 vigour from its temporary grave, and which requires 
 only prudence and skill on the part of its professors to 
 make even more perfect than before. 
 
 My object therefore in the following pages will be 
 mainly, to show the peculiarities of the development of 
 pointed architecture in Italy, and specially to show in 
 what way the materials so commonly used there — 
 brick and marble — were introduced both in decoration 
 and in construction. All these points are of the very 
 greatest importance to us, for I am persuaded that not 
 only will some reference to Italian models do some- 
 what towards the improvement of our art, but that in 
 no matter is information more needed, and improve- 
 ment more easy, than in the use of brick in architecture ; 
 whilst working in marble has been as yet so little 
 practised among us, that we may almost regard it as at 
 present unattempted, though, as I hope to show, there 
 is no longer any reason why this should be the case. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 XV 
 
 It is impossible to conclude this preface without 
 mention of the obligations which not only all who 
 travel in Italy, but all who are interested in good 
 architecture, owe to Mr. Ruskin. No man need or 
 can profess his acquiescence in every one of the 
 opinions which he has propounded, but as an architect 
 r feel strongly that a great debt of gratitude is owing 
 to him for his brilliant advocacy of many laws and 
 truths in which every honest architect ought gladly to 
 acquiesce. He may be well content to bear the oppo- 
 sition which he has evoked, satisfied that all that he 
 has written is in the main most certainly for the 
 benefit and exaltation of art of all kinds. 
 
 Nor less is a debt of gratitude to be acknowledged 
 by every traveller to my friend Mr. Webb for his most 
 excellent and trusty work on Continental Ecclesiology : 
 it is certainly the most absolutely correct guide-book 
 ever drawn up for ecclesiologists anywhere ; and in 
 travelling over the same ground, as I have done in 
 this tour, my excuse for giving what I have in the 
 way of descriptions of the same buildings is, that what 
 I have written has been all with a view, beyond that 
 of merely describing the churches, of showing the 
 principles upon which their builders worked, and 
 giving, so far as the limits of such a work will allow, 
 drawings of the buildings I have described. 
 
 It will depend on circumstances whether I am able 
 at some future day to continue my inquiries among 
 the churches and domestic buildings of Central Italy, 
 a tract at least as rich as that over which the tour 
 described in the following pages took me. 
 
 It remains only to say that all the illustrations 
 
XVI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 which I have given are engraved from my own 
 drawings on the wood from my sketches made on 
 the spot/ and that I have endeavoured as much 
 as possible to avoid giving subjects which have 
 been before pubhshed. It would have been easy 
 to add largely to them, especially from my sketches 
 in Venice, but it seemed to me that, as this could 
 only be accomplished by adding also to the cost 
 of the book, it was much better to omit them. I 
 have avoided therefore giving drawings of any build- 
 ings already drawn by Mr. Grally Knight, to whose 
 work I must refer my readers for representations of 
 several of the buildings described, and for illustrations 
 of Venice I must refer to Mr. Ruskin's engravings 
 and to the photographs which have rendered her 
 features so well known to almost all students of 
 architecture. 
 
 In conclusion, I cannot speak too highly of the 
 assistance afforded to the architectural student by 
 Murray's Handbook of Northern Italy : it is almost 
 invariably correct, and gives just what one wants to 
 know of nearly all buildings of any interest or im- 
 portance. 
 
 ^ With one exception — the drawing, namely, of the curious cloister at 
 Zurich, borrowed from Mr. Fergusson's ' Handbook of Architecture.' 
 
( xvii ) 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER 1. 
 
 South-P^astern Raihvay Company's handbills — Crossing the Channel — 
 Novelties of the French coast — Journey to Paris — The Madeleine — 
 'J'he Tnvalides — S. Clothilde — Unreality of modern sculpture — S. Ge- 
 nevieve — Notre Dame — The Sainte Chapelle — Parisian art — Stras- 
 burg Railway — Bale — The Rhine .... Page 1 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 Churches of Bale — Storks — Rheinfelden — Frick — Baden — Zurich : 
 the cathedral — Fon(hiess of the Swiss for bright colours — Lake of 
 Zurich — English tourists — Rapperschwyl — Linth canal — A wayside 
 inn — AVesen 15 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Wallenstadt — Sargans — Gorge of the Tamina — Ragatz — Coire — Ems 
 — Rcichenau — Thusis — Zillis — Andeer — Splugen — The Spliigen 
 i-oute — The custom-house — Cascade of the Medessimo — Campo 
 Dolcino — A storm 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ( 'luiivenua — Lake of lUva — Colico — Lake of Como — Varenna — Stelvio 
 pass— Lecco— Bergamo: its Broletto and churches ... 47 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Pal 1 azzol o — Coccaglio — Brescia : its new and old cathedrals, Broletto, 
 and churches — A dusty road — Donato - Dezinzano — Peschiera — 
 
 \r .... 61 
 
 V erona . , 
 
xviii 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEK VI. 
 
 Verona : Campanile of the Palazzo dei Signori — Sta. Anastasia — Monu- 
 ments — Piazza dell' Erbe — The Duomo — Sta. Maria 1' Antica — 
 Cemetery and palace of the Scaligers — Domestic architecture — Piazza 
 di Bra — The Austrians — Ponte di Castel-Vecchio — S. Zenone — 
 S. Fermo Maggiore — Chapel near the Duomo — Romeo and Juliet 
 — Dwarfs — Wells Page 75 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Neighbourhood of Verona — The two schools of art — Padua; Palazzo 
 della Ragione — Giotto's Chapel — The Eremitani — S. Antonio — 
 The Duomo — Few antiquarian remains 108 
 
 CHAPTER Vin. 
 
 Padua and Venice railway — Venice : the gondola — Piazza and church 
 of S. Mark — Beauties of the city — Inferiority of its churches — 
 Sta. Maria Gloriosa dei Frari — SS. Giovanni and Paolo — Sta. Maria 
 deir Orto — S. Stefano — Domestic architecture — The Fondaco de' 
 Turchi — Especial fault of the Venetians — Description of an ordinary 
 palace — House in the Corte del Remer — The Ducal Palace — Arch- 
 way — Other palaces — Balconies — Venetian architecture — A festival 
 — Paintings 120 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Venice to Verona — Verona to Mantua — Villa Franca — Mantua : it.s 
 churches and palaces ; the theatre — Montenara — Campitello — Casal- 
 maggiore — Longadore — Cremona : the cathedral ; churches and public 
 buildings — Lodi — Pavia : its churches ; castle of the Visconti — The 
 Certosa — Drive to Milan 181 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Milan : the cathedral — S.. Ambrogio — S. Eustorgio — Sta. Maria delle 
 Grazie — Monza : tlie cathedral — The Broletto — Sta. Maria in Strada 
 — Como : the Broletto — The cathedral 213 
 
COJS'TENTS. 
 
 xix 
 
 CHAPTER Xf. 
 
 Departure from Como — Varese — Lake of Varese — Italian boatmeu — 
 Intra — Laveuo — Lago Maggiore — Magadino — Road to Hospenthal 
 
 — The Dazio Grande — Rivolo — Hospenthal — Ascent of the Furca 
 
 — Valley of the Reuss — Lake of Lucerne — Lucerne — The Unter 
 Hauenstein — Strasburg Page 235 
 
 CHAPTER Xn. 
 
 Contrast of English and Italian mediaeval architecture — Use of the arch 
 — The bearing-shaft — The cornice — Chief aim of Italian archi- 
 tects — Tracery — Mouldings — Carving — Planning — Groining — 
 Italian brickwork — Introduction of colour in construction — Principle 
 of truth 254 
 
( XX ) 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS. 
 
 Page 
 
 1. N. porch, Sta. Maria Maggiore, 
 
 Bergamo .... Frontispiece. 
 
 2. Shop-window, Rheinfelden . . 17 
 
 3. Cloister of Zurich Cathedral to face 20 
 
 4. Church on the Lake of Zurich . 24 
 
 5. Wooden Spire, Ragatz .... 35 
 
 6. Interior of Cathedral, Coire to face 36 
 
 7. Broletto, Bergamo . , „ 53 
 
 8. Campanile, Bergamo .... 59 
 
 9. Window, Coccaglio .... 62 
 
 10. House at Coccaglio . . to face 62 
 
 11. Detail of windows and corbelling 
 
 for chimneys, Coccaglio ... 63 
 
 12. Wooden balcony, Coccaglio . . 64 
 
 13. Cloister, Broletto, Brescia . . 66 
 
 14. Broletto, Brescia . . to face 66 
 
 15. Detail of circular window, Bro- 
 
 letto, Brescia 67 
 
 16. Doorway, Broletto, Brescia . . 68 
 
 17. Brick cornice, Broletto, Brescia . 68 
 
 18. Details of brickwork in ditto to face 68 
 
 19. S. Francesco, Brescia , . . . 69 
 
 20. Campanile, Verona . . to face 75 
 
 21. Pavements, Verona . . 78 
 
 22. Door-frame, Sta. Anastasia . . 80 
 
 23. Door-frame, S. Pietro Martire . 82 
 
 24. Crest of metal railing, Verona . 91 
 
 25. Metal railing, Verona . . . . 91 
 
 26. Court-yard of Palazzo Scaligeri, 
 
 Verona to face 92 
 
 27. Doorway, old house, Verona . . 93 
 
 28. Court-yard of old house, Verona 
 
 to face 93 
 
 29. Windows, old house, Verona , 94 
 
 30. Brick battlement, Viccolo Cava- 
 
 letto, Verona 94 
 
 31. CloisterofS. Zenone, Verona toface 98 
 
 32. Coupled shafts, ditto . . „ 100 
 
 33. S. Fermo Maggiore, Verona „ 103 
 
 34. Italian brickwork , . . 104 
 
 35. Domestic window, Verona . . 105 
 
 36. Interior of Sta. Maria dei Frari, 
 
 Venice to face 1 32 
 
 37. East end of ditto . . . „ 134 
 
 38. Corte del Remer, Venice . „ 144 
 
 39. Archway, Ponte del Paradise, 
 
 Venice to face 153 
 
 Page 
 
 40. Balcony, Venice 158 
 
 41. Angle window, Venice . toface 160 
 
 42. Ca' d'Oro and other houses, Ve- 
 
 nice to face 161 
 
 43. Capital of window-shaft, Venice 162 
 
 44. Ducal Palace, Mantua . to face 183 
 
 45. Window in ditto . . . „ 184 
 
 46. Castello di Corte, Mantua . ,, 185 
 
 47. Gateway, Palazzo della Ragione, 
 
 Mantua toface 186 
 
 48. Campanile, S.Andrea, Mantua „ 187 
 
 49. Brick window, S. Andrea, Mantua 187 
 
 50. Brick window, S. Andrea, Mantua 187 
 
 51. Window, Campitello . . . .190 
 
 52. Belfry window, near Casalmaggiore 191 
 
 53. Brick window, Cremona Cathe- 
 
 dral 196 
 
 54. Cathedral, Cremona, N. transept 
 
 toface 196 
 
 55. Rose window, Cremona Cathe- 
 
 dral 197 
 
 56. Palace of Jurist Consults, Cre- 
 
 mona toface 198 
 
 57. Window-jamb, ditto . . . .198 
 
 58. Chimney . and battlement, Cre- 
 
 mona 199 
 
 59. West front of S. Pantaleone, 
 
 Pavia toface 206 
 
 60. East end of ditto . . . „ 207 
 
 61. West end of S. Francesco, Pavia 
 
 toface 208 
 
 62. Window, Cathedral, Monza . . 227 
 
 63. The Broletto, Monza . to face 22^ 
 
 64. Sta. Maria in Strada, Monza „ 229 
 
 65. Broletto, Monza . . . . .229 
 
 66. The Broletto, Como . toface 232 
 
 67. Cornice, S. Francesco, Brescia . 262 
 
 68. String-course, Palace of Jurist 
 
 Consults, Cremona .... 270 
 
 69. Window in north transept, Cre- 
 
 mona Cathedral 271 
 
 70. Detail of window-jamb, Cremona 271 
 
 71. Brick archivolt, Vescovato, Man- 
 
 tua 272 
 
 72. Arch-mould, Ciemona . . . 272 
 
 73. Window, Verona 274 
 
 74. Brick window, S. Andrea, Man-^ ' 
 
 tua 275 
 
BRICK AND MARBLE 
 
 IN THE 
 
 MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 " Yet waft me from the harbour-moutli, 
 Wild wind ! I seek a wanner sky, 
 And I will see before I die 
 
 The palms and temples of the South." — Tennijson. 
 
 South-Kasterii Railway Company's liandbills — Crossing the Channel — 
 Xoveltics of the r'rench coast — Journey to Paris — The Madeleine 
 
 — The Invalides — S. Clothilde — Unreality of modern scul})ture — 
 S. Genevieve — Notre Dame — The Sainte Chapelle — Parisian art 
 
 — Strasburg Railway — Pale — The Rhine. 
 
 No doubt all that portion of the world which does not 
 always stop at home remembers the alluring views of 
 Swiss mountains heading tlie South-Eastern Eailway 
 Company's announcements of the fact tliat Switzerland 
 was to 1)0 reached in twenty-six hours from London ! 
 And no doubt many, without stopping to think much 
 of the degree of art which characterized the views so 
 generously published to the world, had their attention 
 caught by the announcement, and made up their 
 minds, faute de mieitx, to try for themselves the 
 amount of truth contained in the advertisement ; 
 much as the foolish mechanic who, captivated with the 
 dashing portrait of some imaginary trooper cutting 
 down imaginary foes, goes into a recruiting depot and 
 binds himself on a voyage, in the service of the " Ho- 
 nourable Company," to the Indies, where, perhaps, he 
 
 B 
 
2 
 
 THE START. 
 
 Chap. L 
 
 finds that, thougli he never looks exactly like the 
 much-admired cavalier, he is nevertheless dressed in a 
 uniform, and has some real foes to encounter. So he 
 who sanguinely anticipated that in twenty-six hours 
 he might find himself in Switzerland would have been 
 disappointed, but nevertheless would, in as short a 
 time as he could reasonably expect, have been dis- 
 charged on the borders of that most pleasant land. 
 
 Attracted by the aforesaid artistic handbills, T, like 
 many others, was bold enough to take return tickets 
 from London to Bale and back ; nor had I any reason 
 whatever for regretting that I had done so. They 
 allowed me to be absent for six weeks, to travel by any 
 train I chose, and they saved me the trouble — and 
 this is no sHght saving^ — which one always has on 
 foreign railways of getting fresh tickets for every 
 journey. Besides all which recommendations came 
 the weightiest of all — their economy. Our journey to 
 Paris was like most other journeys on that much- 
 travelled road. There was the confidence between 
 London Bridge and Folkestone that " there would be 
 no sea to-day," with which the nervous always attempt 
 in vain to cheer up their drooping spirits ; there was 
 the bustle of embarking, and some doubt as to the 
 intentions of that enemy the sea; then there was a 
 marvellous packing up of everybody by everybody 
 else, with plaids, shawls, comforters^ and the like ; then 
 the word of command ; and in a minute, as the little 
 steamer clears the harbour-gates, there comes a squall 
 which throws her over on one side, discharges all the 
 carefully packed-up ladies and gentlemen in a confused 
 sprawl upon the deck, and confirms so decidedly the 
 worst forebodings of the most nervous of the pas- 
 sengers, that perhaps it is best to draw a veil over 
 the remainder of the passage, and to imagine ourselves 
 
ClIAl'. I. 
 
 FRENCH COAST SCENERY. 
 
 3 
 
 quietly seated in a railway-carriage — comfortable to 
 excess — on our way from Boulogne to Paris. 
 
 Perhaps there are no two places on the whole Con- 
 tinent which in every way are worse specimens of 
 continental towns than those two in which Eni^lish- 
 men on their travels generally first set foot — Ostend 
 and Boulogne. 
 
 It is dilHcult to say w^hicli is worst, but I incline to 
 give the palm to Boulogne, as being a degree in advance 
 of Ostend in the assertion of a respectability which 
 neither of them in any sense really has. 
 
 There is something very novel, and it strikes you as 
 much every time it is seen, in the aspect of every- 
 thing directly you have crossed the Channel ; indeed, 
 T am inclined to think that there is no country in 
 Euroj)e so much as France, and no city, perhaps, so 
 much as Paris, so thoroughly foreign in its aspect and 
 so thoroughly new in all its customs and proceedings. 
 So the dress of every one, not omitting the remarkable 
 development of their trowsers, the female \w\iceinen pre- 
 senting arms as the train Hies by, the Ijujfets so common 
 and generally so good, are all quite new. Nor less so 
 the aspect of the countr}' : fields cut up into small strips 
 of a dozen kinds of crops ; unprosperous-looking cows, 
 each feeding discontentedly and drearily, tethered to a 
 man or woman on a small patch of grass ; corn cut and 
 then stacked in small cocks for a month or two of 
 exposure to the pleasant changes of the atmosphere ; 
 and the entire absence of hedge-rows and other trees 
 than poplars, all go to make up a thoroughly un- 
 English picture. 
 
 After skirting the coast and its dreary expanse of 
 sand-hills, reminding one very much of those singular 
 sands on the north coast of Cornwall, which are so 
 often sliirtinu" al)(>\it, coverinii- uj) new churches, or un- 
 
 B 2 
 
4 
 
 AMIENS. 
 
 CUAP. I. 
 
 covering the old oratory of some early British saint, 
 we reach the banks of the Somme, and then travel 
 along a miserably peaty tract of country until the 
 famous west front and short but lofty nave of Abbe- 
 ville come in view. Thence by a valley (rather more 
 rich than is common in good churches) we continue 
 our race for Amiens. Among these churches I may 
 instance the hipped saddle-back roofed steeples of Pic- 
 quigny, Hangest, and Pont Eemy, as very valuable 
 examples of their order ; that of Picquigny, indeed, 
 surmounting a noble early central steeple, and finished 
 at the top with some delicate open ironwork, is about 
 as graceful a specimen as I know. 
 
 At Longpre is another church with a steeple of some 
 pretension, but not satisfactory. It has a perforated 
 spire of stone much too small for the size of the tower, 
 and ungraceful in the extreme. 
 
 At Amiens one always longs to stop again to feast 
 ones eyes upon its glorious cathedral, perhaps the 
 noblest and most masculine piece of architecture in 
 the world. But with us this was impossible ; our 
 destiny was — come what might — to endeavour at any 
 rate to discharge ourselves in Paris within the 
 promised twelve hours from London : and the dusk 
 of the early autumn evening prevented our having 
 more than the very slightest glimpse of the Minster. 
 
 The refreshment-room at Amiens is one of the best 
 I have ever been in — reasonable, clean, and good — 
 and placed just at that happy distance from the sea 
 at which the poor wretches who have been in the 
 depths of woe on the passage begin to recover their 
 presence of mind, and with it of course — as good 
 Englishmen — their appetites ; what wonder then if 
 the Buffet at Amiens prospers ! 
 
 The rest of our journey to Paris was all performed 
 
Chap. I. PAKIS : THE MADELEINE— THE INVALIDES. 5 
 
 in the dark, relieved only by the sight of the then long- 
 expected comet, and it was almost midnight ere we 
 found ourselves settled — how comfortably I say not — 
 at the Hotel des Princes. 
 
 A day in Paris may always be spent pleasantly and 
 profitably ; and under the new regime there is cer- 
 tainly no lack of change and improvement in the 
 architectural condition of the city. 
 
 It is always pleasant, too, to be able to walk down 
 the Boulevard des Italiens to the Madeleine, and for a 
 few minutes to gaze at a church which certainly pre- 
 sents one very grand idea — that of space — clothed 
 in very gorgeous dress. Moreover, one always feels 
 a certain kind of sympathy lor a church in which 
 so many people are ever praying ; and I have never 
 yet been into this church without being able to count 
 them by scores. The last time I was at Paris I re- 
 member, by the way, being struck here by seeing for 
 the first time a peripteral l)uilding made use of. The 
 walls within the columns were liung witli ricli dra- 
 peries, and a long procession coming out marched 
 round the circuit of the cluu'ch between the columns 
 and the walls, and in again at the west door ; the 
 effect was, as may be imagined, very striking. 
 
 From the Madeleine we went to the Invalides, hop- 
 ing to see something of the tomb of Xapoleon, wliich 
 is, I believe, just completed ; but the church was 
 partially closed, so we were fain to satisfy ourselves 
 with the examination of an altar recently erected in a 
 small apsidal projection from one of the side walls of 
 the nave. The back of the apse was painted light 
 blue as a relief to a kind of apotheosis of some 
 saint, executed in the whitest-looking plaster; the 
 figure, in the worst possible taste, with the light 
 admitted from above, completed the thoroughly thea- 
 
6 
 
 PAIUS: S. CLOTHILDE. 
 
 Chap. T. 
 
 trical effect of the altar ; and the name of the artist, 
 not illegibly written, and in fall view, entirely settled 
 all question as to the amount of his self-sacrifice in 
 his pursuit of religious art. 
 
 I fear it is too often the case that French arrangements 
 of altars are more likely to remind one of a scene from 
 the Prophete, or some such representation in an opera- 
 house, than of the real dignity of the Christian altar. 
 
 From the Invalides we found our way to the new 
 church of S. Clotliilde, a large cruciform church now 
 in progress, but approaching completion. Its design 
 is intended to be of early character, but in reality is 
 quite late in its effect ; nor do I know when I have 
 seen anything much less successful than the two 
 western steeples rising but a short distance above the 
 nave roof, and looking mean and wasted to a degree. 
 In plan the church is not badly arranged ; there is 
 just such a choir as might easily be properly used, and 
 a large space for congregational purposes. 
 
 How much we want churches, in this respect at 
 least, somewhat like S. Clotliilde, in our large cities in 
 England ! 
 
 The clerestory of the choir was being filled with 
 stained glass, executed, as I understood, by a Mons. 
 de Marischal. His windows were illustrations of a 
 truth which men are very slow to receive and act 
 upon, viz. that in decorating a transparent material, 
 one whose transparency moreover is the sole cause of 
 its use, we have no right to shade it with dark colours 
 so far as to destroy its brilliancy. These windows 
 were elaborately shaded, and, as a necessary conse- 
 quence, were heavy and dismal in their effect ; besides 
 which, there were most unpleasant mixtures of green, 
 yellow, and ruby, and of ruby and blue, very glaring 
 and very bad. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 MODERN SrriJTUKE. 
 
 7 
 
 The carving of the capitals was, very sensibly, all 
 derived from natural types of foliage, and looked well : 
 but the carving of rather elaborate sculptures of the 
 " Stations " did not please me, having none of the 
 severity of ancient examples. When shall we see a 
 school of sculptors rise able really to satisfy the 
 requirements of the times ? I confess I despair more 
 on this point than on any other ; for I have as yet seen 
 no fair attempt made to recover the style, or work 
 upon the princi])les, of the best mediicval sculptors. 
 The work of our modern sculptors is all foreign and 
 unreal, and almost always involves the assumption 
 that they are representing the proceedings of the 
 Greeks or llomans, and not of the English : it is 
 impossible therefore that such a school can be healthy, 
 strong, or successful. It has not been enough con- 
 sidered how much the draperies of different countries 
 always must and will affect the style of sculpture 
 suitable for them. In the north, witli our thick 
 woollen garments and warm clothing, no figure, either 
 nude or clothed in muslin, can hope to appeal to the 
 mind of the world at large, except as an unreal repre- 
 sentation, which, as unreal, is wondered at and passed 
 by without a thought of love or gratitude. 
 
 And if I am told that the art of sculpture in the 
 middle ages was unknown or rude in comparison with 
 its state now, let me refer to some of the modern 
 attempts at its imitation for a proof that this was 
 not the case, as e. g, to the recumbent effigy of 
 Archbisho]) Howley at Canterbury, or to another, of 
 some more humble individual, in the south transept 
 of Chichester Cathedral ; a glance at which only, and 
 a comparison with some of the noble mediaeval effigies 
 lying in all the stateliness of their repose by their 
 sides, will at once show any one that it is not merely 
 
8 
 
 PARIS : S. GENEVIEVE. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 necessary to put an effigy upon its back with its hands 
 in prayer in order to vie with the effigies of the thir- 
 teenth and fourteenth centuries. The position is much, 
 but not all, and requires very much more skill in its 
 treatment than of late years we have had to bestow. 
 
 From S. Clothilde we went first to the pleasant 
 gardens of the Luxembourg — gardens which always 
 make one envious for London — and thence to the 
 recently recovered church of Ste. Genevieve. It has 
 been arranged for service since T was in Paris last 
 year, and is quite worth describing as an illustration 
 of the way in which these things, sometimes at all 
 events, are managed there. 
 
 The choir has an altar raised under a baldachin, and 
 there is another, though smaller, in the transept. The 
 choir has stalls, and each angle of the dome is fitted 
 up, one with a pulpit, the rest with seats. All these 
 fittings are of the most trumpery kind ; the stalls, 
 pulpit, &c., are mainly composed of canvas painted to 
 imitate wood panelling, whilst the great altar itself is 
 an entire sham, composed of paintings of curtains, 
 marbles, and the like, which vie with each other in 
 the attempt to deceive. To complete the picture, the 
 church is lighted with common moderateur lamps ; 
 and one cannot help feeling that, as the Pantheon has 
 been so economically converted into the church of 
 S. Genevieve, so, with equal ease and at small sacrifice, 
 might it again return to its Pagan name and use. 
 One cannot but hope that this may not be, for the 
 scheme for the establishment of clergy, and for their 
 work in connection with this church, was conceived, as 
 I thought at the time, in a fine old missionary spirit.^ 
 
 ' It is only fair to say that I have since heard that these fittings are 
 said to be temporary, and that a simi has already been granted for the 
 execution of more permanent substitutes. May they be more worthy of 
 their purpose ! 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 THE SAINTE ClIAPKLLE 
 
 9 
 
 From S. Genevieve we went to Notre Dame, and 
 were amazed to find that the painted imitations of 
 statues still desecrate the long row of niches in the 
 west front. In the interior still more miserable is the 
 taste displayed in the papering of the vaulting of the 
 aisles with blue paper powdered with gold bees. If 
 the effect of the inauguration of Louis Napoleon's 
 reign is not to be more longlived than the papering 
 of Notre Dame, I shall enrol my self in the numljer of 
 those who trust in a speedy change ! 
 
 In Notre Dame I always feel more pleasure in 
 looking at the beautiful sculptures behind the stalls 
 of the choir than in anything else. They are a 
 most valuable series, treated in a bold and simple 
 manner ; and I am not a little glad tliat some casts 
 of them grace the prodigious architectural collection 
 which has been gathered with so much zeal and in- 
 dustry to astonish the world at the Crystal Palace at 
 Sydenham.^ 
 
 From Notre Dame all the world goes of course to 
 the Saintc Chapelle, and could we do otherwise than 
 follow so good an examj)le ? The turret was just 
 being placed upon the roof, and certainly looked over- 
 lofty and attenuated, and, as far as I could judge 
 through the scaUblding, of latish detail ; when seen 
 from the Tuileries it considerably overtops the towers 
 of the cathedral. 
 
 One never seems to see any progress inside the 
 chapel; the same porters, above and below, always 
 protest that they cannot admit any one without an 
 order from some distant board of works, but neverthe- 
 less always relent conveniently upon the slightest pros- 
 pect of a fee, so that it is not a very diflicult matter to 
 
 ' The arclntecturivl imiseuiii in Cninion l\ow lias also some casts riuiii 
 these magnilicciit works. 
 
10 
 
 PARISIAN ART. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 gain admission to see what is being done. During the 
 last year the works about the wonderfully delicate bald- 
 achin seem to have progressed, but still it is far from 
 being complete ; the same man appears to be always 
 busy stencilling in the same place as before, and, except 
 that one or two more windows were finished, and ano- 
 ther statue in its place, there really seemed to be no 
 progress since I was last there. When is the chapel to 
 be used at the present rate of going on ? and when 
 used, by whom is it to be used ? At present it looks 
 as though it were always to be a mere hall, with an 
 altar in its eastern apse, as there is no sign of an 
 intention to have any kind of permanent fittings, and 
 one scarcely sees how they could be introduced. 
 
 Altogether I cannot help thinking that the effect 
 upon the mind of what one sees in Paris is very un- 
 satisfactory ; the revival of Christian art seems, as it 
 were, to be only skin-deep ; and beyond all doubt, were 
 it otherwise, such abominations as the papering of the 
 vaulting of Notre Dame, and of painted statues in its 
 west front, if tolerated at all, would be so for a mo- 
 mentary purpose only, and as an experiment, and would 
 be taken away again directly. The scaflfolding, which 
 was just being removed from the avenue leading from 
 the Tuileries to the Barriere de I'Etoile, after having 
 assisted at the fete of Napoleon, was an illustration 
 sufficiently apt of the work which seems to engage the 
 artists of Paris ; Parisian fete composers and decorators 
 really appear to be the architects of the day, and of course 
 this fact must militate very much against real art in 
 every branch, as its tendency is to make people accus- 
 tomed to temporary exhibitions, whose shortcomings 
 are pardoned on the score of their temporary character, 
 and so the artist is lowered in his tone by assisting in 
 the production of works which are not intended — 
 
Chap. i. 
 
 STHASBIJUG liAILWAY. 
 
 11 
 
 as all great works ought to Ijc intended — to last for 
 ages. 
 
 A day in Paris is generally a long day and a tiring 
 day ; and so we found it ; but nevertheless we boldly 
 determined to push on without delay, and so, leaving 
 our hotel before the table-d'hote was much more than 
 half over, we drove to the station of the Strasburg 
 Railway, and in a few minutes were en route. If any 
 one doubts the possibility of really resting one's body 
 in a railway carriage, let him take the same precau- 
 tion that we took, and he need not despair : a day of 
 sight-seeing in Paris is certainly the best possible 
 recipe for sound sleep in a railway carriage, and I 
 believe that when we arrived at Strasburg, at about 
 eight the next morning, we were very fairly rested. I 
 confess, however, that I did feel a twinge of horror 
 when I ibund tliat the train by which we were anxious 
 to reach l^rde left again in about half an hour — too 
 long to wait, but not long enough for either breakfast 
 or dressing. There seemed, however, to be no alter- 
 native, and so on we went, comforting ourselves as 
 best we might w^ith some sour grapes and bad dry 
 bread — the sole edibles procuralile at the Strasburg 
 Buffet ! 
 
 The railway from Strasburg to Bale is much more 
 enjoyable than iron-ways generally are. There is 
 scarce a cutting during the whole extent of the jour- 
 ney, and the views of the chain of the Vosges are — 
 before one has gazed on real mountains in Switzerland 
 — very delightful. 
 
 The railway runs up the broad valley of the Ehine, 
 and within a few miles of Strasburg approaches very 
 near to the mountainous district. The outlines of the 
 hills are bold, picturescpie, and well varied; and, as 
 they rise rather precipitously from the valley, are often 
 
12 
 
 KOUFFACH. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 crowned with ruined castles, and have on their lower 
 slopes large and populous-looking villages, they are 
 at any rate very pleasing neighbours for a railway 
 journey. 
 
 A few architectural notes of such churches as are 
 passed on this route (which I travelled not for the 
 first time) will not be out of place, though, with one 
 exception, there is not anything of great value. 
 
 At Schlestadt there is a large tower of late date to 
 the principal church, which is rather fine in its efiect. 
 It has its two upper stages nearly similar, which is 
 rarer at home than abroad. Another church has an 
 early spire ; and there is a smaller church with a good 
 open turret. 
 
 Opposite Schlestadt the chain of the Yosges is very 
 striking, and some of the picturesque outlines of hills 
 capped with ruined castles remind one of the more 
 famous banks of the lower portion of the Ehine. 
 
 Beyond Schlestadt we reached Colmar, whose cathe- 
 dral is large, and has a late tower capped with an ugly 
 bulbous roof. Another church in Colmar has a good 
 open-work and very light turret rising from the middle 
 of the length of its roof. The efiect of this kind of 
 turret, which is peculiar to the Continent, is always 
 very satisfactory. 
 
 But the best church in the whole extent of this 
 journey is that of Eoufiach, one on whose merits 
 " Murray" — whose services all travellers must grate- 
 fully acknowledge — is silent. It is of early date, cru- 
 ciform in its plan, and the crossing surmounted by a 
 noble early tower and spire of octangular form. Each 
 side of the tower has a good window, above which a 
 string-course forms the base to a gable on each side. 
 The angles of the spire spring from the base of these 
 gables, and the whole design reminded me strongly of 
 
Chap. 1. 
 
 BALE. 
 
 13 
 
 the only example of the same type in England — the 
 beautiful steeple of* Lostwithiel. liouffach has a good 
 choir terminating in an apse, and a south-western 
 steeple, surmounted by a slender spire too small for 
 the tower. Altogether, tlie general eflect of the church 
 is very fine. Beyond this point there are no features 
 of interest ; the Vosges retreat into the distance, and 
 nothing is to be seen but a dead flat of field and wood, 
 relieved occasionally by a village or town, remarkable 
 mainly for the ugliness of its church. The busy 
 manufacturing town of Mulhausen is passed, the num- 
 ber of stations is carefully reckoned, and long before 
 you catch the first view of J^;lle you are heartily sick 
 of the slow pace at which the Strasbui'g and Bille Bail- 
 way Company always arrange to carry their pas- 
 sengers. 
 
 Those who know the Hotel des Trois Bois at Bfde 
 will understand how grateful was the information 
 given to us, as we mounted its steps, that the table- 
 d'hote was to be ready in liall'aii liour. Befreshing 
 enough at any time, such an annount'cnicnt was doubly 
 so to travellers just arrived from a journey from Baris 
 without a stoppage ; and in no bad spirit did we enter 
 the salle-a-manger, whose windows, opening into bal- 
 conies which absolutely overhang tlie green and glo- 
 rious Bhine flowing strong and rapidly for ever in the 
 same unceasing current, make it about the pleasantest 
 room of the kind that I know. 
 
 Tliere are few things in the world so fine as a 
 mighty river, few rivers so fine as the Bhine, and few 
 spots so favourable for its contemplation as the balcony 
 at Bille. As you look at the deep colour of the water, 
 you think of all the wonders which on its way it has 
 seen. You remember your own exploits and plea- 
 sant walks in past times along the lovely valley of 
 
14 
 
 THE RHINE. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 the Aar, and over the barren and stony waste of the 
 Grrimsel, to the source of this beautiful feeder of the 
 Ehine ; or you think of Lake Constance and Schaff- 
 hausen, and of the beautiful valley of the Upper Ehine, 
 and of the lakes of Wallenstadt, Lucerne, Brienz, and 
 Tliun — every one of which seems to the mind's eye 
 to be represented and brought near by each wave 
 that dashes madly along before your gaze. And then, 
 whither do they all so swiftly wend their way? 
 Down by minsters and by castles, along broad plains, 
 through narrow water-worn chasms, and again through 
 great, dreary, but many-peopled flats, into the sea, 
 there to mix themselves and aU their recollections in 
 the great, glorious, but tradition-despising depth of 
 Old Ocean. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 VIEW OF BxVI.K. 
 
 15 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 " For pallid autumn onco again 
 
 llath swcll'd each torrent of the hill ; 
 Her chxids collec t, her shadows sail, 
 And watery winds that sweep the vale 
 Grow loud and louder still." — Ompbell. 
 
 Churches of Bale — Storks — rihoinfeldcn — Frick — B.idcn — Znricli : 
 tlie cathedral — Fondness of tlic Swiss for briirht colours — Lake of 
 Zurich — English tourists — liappcrschwyl — Linth canal — A waysido 
 inn — Wcsen. 
 
 At Brde we enf^ac^ed a voiturier to take us to Baden, 
 whence the only Swiss railway was to liave the ])rivi- 
 Icge of conveying^ us to Zurieli. Our scheme lor 
 reaching Italy was to pass by tlie lakes of Zurich and 
 Wallenstadt, and then, followin<j^ the valley of the 
 Bhine, to cross over the pass of the Spliigen to Chia- 
 venna, and so to reach Lake Como. 
 
 We left Brde at two o'clock in the afternoon, hoping 
 to reach Baden by about nine ; the weather looked 
 threatening, but we took a cheerful view of this, as 
 of everything else, as all good travellers should, and 
 comforted ourselves with the thought that at any rate 
 we could better afford to have a wet day between 
 Brde and Baden than between Zurich and the Spliigen. 
 
 The view of Belle as you leave it is certainly very 
 striking ; the cathedral spires are picturesque in their 
 outline, and the number of churches with turrets and 
 steep roofs combine with them to produce a most 
 ecclesiastical-looking town. Nor need any one inte- 
 rested in arcliitecture desj)air of finding inucli pleasure 
 
16 
 
 STORKS. 
 
 Chap. II. 
 
 in a more careful inspection of its buildings. They 
 are full of interest, though generally passed too 
 rapidly by people in a hurry to get on to enjoy the 
 pleasures which await them beyond. 
 
 The roofing of the cathedral is worthy of notice as 
 being composed of variously coloured tiles, arranged in 
 diamond patterns over the surface of the roof, and 
 giving a degree of animation to the effect of this 
 generally heavy part of the building which is very 
 commendable. 
 
 There is another church of the early part of the 
 fourteenth century which is very fine; and here I 
 remember being amused to see how quietly the storks 
 possess themselves of all kinds of places for their 
 nests, and think even the ridge of the steep roof of a 
 church a proper place for their abode. The good 
 people at Bale build their chimneys with flat tops 
 for the express benefit of their long-legged friends ; 
 who, from their elevated and well-warmed abodes, look 
 down sedately and with a well-satisfied air upon their 
 unfledged brethren below. 
 
 Why the people of Bale love storks, the people 
 of Venice pigeons, and the people of Berne bears, 
 T leave to more industrious inquirers into local pecu- 
 liarities to decide, satisfied myself to notice the fact 
 that it is so, as each of these fancies adds one to the 
 list of local peculiarities so valuable in the recollections 
 of a journey. 
 
 The road from Bale to Baden is for the first half of 
 the way very pretty ; we came in unfortunately for rather 
 drenching rain, and so lost all beyond the suggestion 
 of some striking views. The towns through which 
 we passed were not of much interest, though there 
 were many picturesque and pleasant-looking subjects 
 for the pencil. The most striking place on the road 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 JOURNEY TO BADEN. 
 
 17 
 
 was Rheinfeldcn, a largish village (or perhaps I ought 
 to say small town, as it rejoices in a Ratli-haus of 
 some pretension), surrounded by very high walls, and 
 entered by tall stone gate towers, pierced with pointed 
 arches, and surmounted by upper stages of timber, with 
 tiled roofs of quaint and elective character ; and liere 
 and at Stein and Ba- 
 den I noticed tliat 
 almost all the houses 
 were old and very 
 little altered. I ob- 
 served particularly the 
 old shop-windows of 
 very simple design, 
 closed with folding 
 shutters, and taking 
 one back to old times 
 most decidedly in 
 their design. 
 
 Beyond Kheinfelden llie road, which so far has 
 skirted the Rhine rather closely, leaves it again for a 
 few miles until it touches it for the last time at the 
 small town of Stein. 
 
 From Stein we saw an imposing-looking church on 
 the other side of the river at Sekingen. It has a 
 great western front with two bulljous-topped steeples, 
 and is of very considerable length. The division 
 between choir and nave is marked by a delicate turret, 
 and the whole church, as far as one can judge by 
 a distant view, looks as though it would well repay 
 a visit. There are six bays in the nave, five and an 
 apse in the choir. The former has very simple 
 windows, whilst in the latter they are rather ela- 
 borate. There is no aisle to the choir and no 
 transept. 
 
 c 
 
18 
 
 FRICK— BADEN. 
 
 Chap. 11. 
 
 The rain continued incessantly until we reached the 
 long straggling village of Frick, a quaint and antique- 
 looking place, where our voiturier stopped for an hour 
 to bait his horses, who however at Rheinfelden had 
 enjoyed a treat in the shape of a loaf of very brown- 
 looking bread, a kind of food quite appreciated by our 
 four-footed friends, and second only in their estimation 
 apparently to the precious morceaux of lump sugar 
 with which Swiss voituriers are so fond of encouraging 
 and petting them. 
 
 We were nothing loth to stretch our legs ; and 
 finding that the church was worthless — one of those 
 unhappy bulbous-spired and bulbous-roofed erections 
 so common in some parts of the Continent, and 
 the roof of whose eastern apse even was twisted 
 into a most ingenious and ugly compound curve — we 
 took up our quarters in the respectable hostelry and 
 " Bierbrauerei " of the Angel, and devoted ourselves 
 to the consumption of coffee and beer of no bad 
 quality. Our host wished sadly to see us located 
 under his roof for the night, but we were resolute in 
 our determination to reach Baden that night, and so 
 persisted in going, though to our subsequent regret. 
 
 It was soon dark, and the new moon, which shone 
 cheerfully upon us, gave us just a glimpse occasionally 
 of good scenery. About Brugg, where we crossed 
 the Aar, and again at Konigsfelden, it seemed to be 
 remarkably good. 
 
 At last, at about half-past ten o'clock, we reached 
 what we fondly hoped was to be our resting-place. 
 But Baden chose not to take us in, and to our horror, 
 as we drove up to the chief and only available inn, we 
 were met with the dismal words " keine Platze " from 
 the mouth of the civil landlord. 
 
 However, we dismounted, and found that there was 
 
CirAP. ir. 
 
 ZURICH. 
 
 in 
 
 no otlier inn in Baden Proper, but that at the Baths 
 tliere were several ; at tliem our landlord assured us 
 that he knew we should find no room, and so we 
 tliou<^ht it useless to return and try. Our only course 
 seemed to be to feed our horses apiin and then go on 
 to Zurich ; and as Swiss drivers and Swiss horses never 
 seem to tire of trotting on slowly and drowsily along 
 the road, tliere was no difficulty in at once coming to an 
 arrangement with our driver. 
 
 Accordingly, at midnight we started again, hoping 
 at some early hour in the morning to reach Zurich. 
 It was sufficiently provoking to be toiling on slowly 
 and sleepily for nearly four hours alongside almost of a 
 railroad which would have taken us early the next 
 morning in three-quarters of an hour ; but there was 
 no help for it, and so we did the best we could, by 
 sleeping whenever we could, to pass the weary hours 
 away. 
 
 At last, just as the day began to dawn, we came in 
 sight of Zurich and its lake, and last, not least, we 
 reached the great hotel. Here we pulled up, knocked 
 desperately, awoke the slumbering porter — but, alas ! 
 only to hear again tlie unwelcome sounds which 
 had greeted our ears at Haden ! Our friend, however, 
 suggested that at the Hotel Belle Vue we should j)ro- 
 bably find beds, and so on we drove, rather in despair 
 at our prospects, though happily unnecessarily so, I'or 
 the Belle Vue gladly opened its arms for our reception, 
 and ere long we were, oblivious of all our toil, com- 
 fortably ensconced in bed. From our windows we had 
 had a pleasant view of our cpiarters ; it was broad day- 
 light, and the pros])ect was — as from such a position, 
 looking up a lake, it always is — veiy fair and 
 charming. 
 
 We were up again soon alter eight, and were glad 
 
 c 2 
 
20 
 
 ZURICH. 
 
 Chap. 11. 
 
 to find tlie morning fine, though the clouds were low, 
 and we saw, consequently, nothing of the mountains 
 which lend to Zurich its greatest charm. 
 
 The town is, however, very pretty and striking. 
 The picturesque houses of the town, with wooded 
 hills on all sides beyond them, and very charming 
 views of the lake, if they do not make its attractions 
 first-rate, at any rate make them very considerable. 
 
 The main feature of interest for me was the cathe- 
 dral, a fine Eomanesque church, very fairly perfect, 
 but mutilated in its interior arrangements by the Pro- 
 testants, in whose hands it now is. In plan, it has a 
 nave with aisles of six bays, a choir, and a construc- 
 tional sanctuary. In the nave two of the side arches 
 make one groining bay. The transverse groining ribs 
 are of a simple square section, the diagonal ribs having 
 in addition a large round member. The triforium is 
 very large and fine, and is made use of for congrega- 
 tional purposes, being fitted up with seats, which, 
 curiously enough, are all made to turn up as misereres. 
 There are no transepts. The sanctuary arch is loftier 
 than the choir arch, and seems to have been in- 
 tended to be very distinctly marked. In the clerestory 
 there are two simple round-headed lights in each bay ; 
 the choir is arcaded all round internally, and for 
 frigidity of effect could not be surpassed ; the internal 
 fittings comprise an immense pulpit, but, so far as I 
 could see, no apology for an altar. 
 
 The exterior has two western steeples,^ and a noble 
 north doorway, each jamb of which has three detached 
 shafts, standing considerably in advance of the wall, 
 
 ' In a view of Zurich, published a.d. 1654, these steeples are shown 
 with octagonal spires rising above the gabled sides of the towers ; the 
 belfrj'- stages and cupolas now existing must therefore be of a date subse- 
 quent to the publication of this view. 
 
-CLOISTER. ZURICH CATHEDRAL. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 CilUKCHES. 
 
 21 
 
 which is entirely covered with diapers. The arch itself 
 is semicircular, and very simple in its moulding, but this 
 simplicity rather adds to than detracts I'rom its general 
 grandeur of effect. The whole is inserted in an addi- 
 tional thickness of wall, set on, as it were, against the 
 original wall, and the extreme width of the doorway 
 itself is no less than eighteen feet nine inches. The 
 cloisters are remarkable, and very good of their kind ; 
 the arches rest on detached shafts, whose capitals are 
 elaborately carved in a very peculiar manner, but very 
 effectively. The whole design is unlike any Xortheru 
 Uomanes(|ue, and bears much more similarity to the 
 best Lombard work. Tlie clioir has a s(|uare east end, 
 with a crypt below it, l)ut its aisles are apsidal, and 
 round these, and indeed round most of the exterior, 
 there are good arcaded corbel-tables under the eaves. 
 It will be seen that this is, therel'ore, a very fine church 
 of a very early type, and peculiarly valuable in a couu 
 try which, like Switzerland, has so little that is really 
 good in the vvay of architectural remains. 
 
 There are other churches in Ziu'ich, but 1 believe 
 not old, and at any rate 1 had no time to examine 
 them. One of them is a])propriated to the use of the 
 Roman Catholics ; and there is one desecrated, rising 
 from the edge of the lake, and forming a prominent 
 object in the general view of the town as you leave by 
 the steamer ; this is of good outline, but has no details 
 remaining of any value. The })oint chiefly to be 
 noticed in the churches of Zurich appears to be the 
 way in which their spires are all painted red, looking 
 in the full sunshine very bright and picturescpie. 
 
 The Swiss have a great feeling for bright colour 
 and on our way from Bille to Haden we noticed one of 
 the many instances of this in several turrets covered 
 with brightly-coloured glazed tiles. A light gnvn 
 
22 
 
 COLOURED ROOFS. 
 
 Chap. IT. 
 
 seems to be the favourite colour, and is commonly 
 used without mixture with other colours. They look 
 best with their lower side rounded, and when of small 
 size ; and are constantly used in turrets rising out of roofs 
 which are entirely covered with plain tiles. I remem- 
 ber, two years before, noticing with extreme pleasure 
 the beauty of some dark green tiles used at Schaff- 
 hausen ; and I have already had occasion to mention 
 those on the cathedral at Bale with equal commenda- 
 tion. Unhappily, we have to lament that English 
 people, in their insane hatred of bright colours, if they 
 saw such tiles used in England, would be horrified at 
 such a violation of the correct simplicity and uniformity 
 of colour to which the cheapness of slate has made 
 them accustomed. Some modern attempts, however, at 
 introducing coloured tiles have not been so successful 
 as could be wished, and of all, perhaps, the least so 
 is the roof of the new church of St. Maria Hilf at 
 Munich, on which tiles of light blue colour are used 
 in such large masses, that at first sight it seems 
 that half the roof is stripped, and that the pale blue 
 sky is seen instead of roof. 
 
 Would, however, that we had less of that puritanical 
 love of black than we have, and then there would be 
 some hope for the introduction of colour, not only 
 outside but inside our churches, much more generally 
 than we see it attempted at present ! 
 
 At ten o'clock we left our hotel by the steamer for 
 Schmerikon at the head of the Lake of Zurich. The 
 weather still looked doubtful, though much better than 
 on the previous day, and our host of the Belle Vue, 
 taking a good view of this as of other matters, con- 
 ducted us to the boat with smiling anticipations of fine 
 days to come. 
 
 The shores of the lake are, for the greater part 
 
Chap, II. 
 
 LAKH UF ZL'lUCH. 
 
 23 
 
 of its len<^tli, literally covered with houses all painted 
 white, and contrasting decidedly enouj^h with the 
 trees, vineyards, and green hills by which they are 
 backed. On the north the shore is low and gradually 
 shelving down to the water ; on the south it is more 
 precipitous, but alter all not very decidedly so. At 
 the head of the lake heavy dark round clouds hung 
 upon the hills, and left us in pleasant doubt as to 
 whether or no we had fine mountains to discover 
 when they cleared away ; a doubt as it happened not 
 settled as far as we were concerned, save by certain 
 lively representations which we afterwards met with, 
 in the shape of advertisements of the Zurich hotels, 
 and which showed a line of snowy-peaked iiKtinif ains 
 as the ordinary horizon of their visitors. 
 
 The churches on the lake are very numerous and 
 very similar. The steeples are almost always gabled, 
 and I'roin these gables rise spires ])ainted red, and very 
 thin and taper in their lorni. The gabled sides ol'tlie 
 towers are generally made usel'ul as well as ornamental 
 by the introduction of enormous clock-dials. The 
 single decidedly medijeval clnu'ch which I saw between 
 Zurich and l^apperschwyl was at one of the villages on 
 the north shore of the lake, I think at Aleilen, but I 
 am rather uncertain as to the name. Its design is 
 both novel and very good; the pinnacles on the gable 
 being unusual in saddle-backed steeples, and giving 
 considerable picturesquencss of outline. Hie accom- 
 panying woodcut will show the general character of 
 the design, and it will be seen that the tower is on the 
 north side of the choir. The steeple roof is covered 
 with greyish-red tiles, with a ])attern marked on them 
 with yellow tiles. 
 
 The steamers on this lake are very troublesome to 
 those who have not much lime to spans fhey make 
 
24 
 
 ENGLISH TOURISTS. 
 
 Ch ap. II. 
 
 Church on the Lake of Zurich. 
 
 a most zigzag path of their journey, first calling on 
 one side and then on the other, until one doubts 
 whether one will ever reach one's destination. At 
 Horgen of course we discharged a large proportion of 
 our English passengers, who were all bound for the 
 Eigi, but their places were soon occupied by the 
 umbrella-loving natives, who flocked in and out of the 
 boat in great numbers at every station, and by the 
 time we reached Eapperschwyl we had no more fellow- 
 countrymen in the boat, and perhaps, like many Eng- 
 lishmen, to say the truth, we then first felt ourselves 
 thoroughly abroad and thoroughly at our ease. Much 
 as one loves England and the English, surely one 
 
ClIAP. II. 
 
 HAPPEKSCHWYL. 
 
 25 
 
 source of pleasure when iibroud is the not hearing 
 too much English spoken or seeing too many English 
 faces. I confess that at a table-d'hote I hate to have 
 a smart specimen of a John Bull ()pposite me, got up 
 in the most killing style, and by his cold formality 
 appearing, like a large lump of ice, to freeze everytliing 
 in his neighbourhood. An intelligent traveller of an}' 
 nation is always the most agreeable of companions, 
 but nobody can see much of tlie English who haunt 
 Zurich, Lucerne, Tliun, Interlaken, and Geneva, with- 
 out feeling glad to escape being personally obliged 
 to find out whether any of them are really intelli- 
 gent travellers, or whether they are not, on the con- 
 trary, lazy fellows idhng away their time, dressing 
 smartly, and seeing nothing which requires an}' exer- 
 tion of mind or body. 
 
 At llapperscliwyl, I'amous for having the longest 
 bridge in the world, there is a most conspicuous group 
 of buildings on rising ground above tlie lake very 
 ])ictures(|uely thrown together ; they consist of a 
 church and what appears to be a castle ; the latter 
 has several towers capped with pyramidal and saddle- 
 biicked roofs, and the former has two towers in the 
 position of transe])ts, with saddle-back roofs gablrd 
 north and south, the southern tower being consider- 
 ably the larger of the two. Altogether the group is 
 one of uncommon variety and pictures(|ueness of out- 
 line. Below, in the town, is a small church with a 
 most happily-conceived though very simple bell-turret 
 rising out of the n)of, s(piare in its plan, but ca])ped 
 with an octagonal spirelet. This is a not uncommon 
 plan in this part of Switzerland, and is always most 
 satisfactory in its elfect. 
 
 Passing under, or rather through, the bridge, we 
 found that it was very narrow and had no side railing 
 
26 
 
 LINTH CANAL. 
 
 Chap. 11. 
 
 of any kind, so that it appears to be far from a pleasant 
 contrivance for crossing the mile or two of shallow 
 water which here scarce serves to keep up the appear- 
 ance even of a lake ; and perhaps it is upon the score of 
 the absence of real danger of drowning if one fell over 
 that they dispense with any side railings. At Schme- 
 rikon, which we reached in four hours from Zurich, 
 we left our steamer, and immediately embarked on a 
 barge in order to go by the Lintli canal to Wesen ; 
 but we found that, however expeditious this might 
 be in descending, it was a kind of conveyance not 
 to be recommended highly to any one wishing to 
 ascend the canal, inasmuch as — unlike ordinary canals 
 — this is nothing more nor less than the glacier-tor- 
 rent of the Linth bringing down the melting snow 
 from the Grlarnitsch and Todi glaciers, and rushing 
 along at a really tremendous pace ; to those, how- 
 ever, who have time, it may be commended as afford- 
 ing magnificent views of the mountains of Glarus 
 and of those which rise so grandly above the Lake of 
 Wallenstadt. . 
 
 As we entered the canal from the lake we were 
 amused by the unsuccessful attempts of our crew to 
 secure some wild-fowl, two of which they succeeded in 
 shooting, and then, without any kind of regard for the 
 feelings of passengers panting to arrive at Wesen in 
 the promised two hours and a half, they deliberately 
 proceeded — of course in vain — to chase the unhappy 
 birds, who, though wounded, were quite able to dive 
 much deeper than our friends could reach, and so the 
 only consequence of the chace was a hearty laugh at 
 the expense of the bafiled sportsmen, half an hour's 
 delay, and lost ground to be made up. 
 
 The entrance to the canal was very striking ; a low 
 liill covered with larch and birch rose from the water's 
 
Chap. H. 
 
 LINTH CANAL. 
 
 27 
 
 edge, and above this the mountains gradually shelving 
 upwards were terminated in a line of rocky ridges of 
 very grand and rugged character. Whilst we were 
 admiring the view a slight shower passed over us, and 
 the sun suddenly breaking out produced one of the 
 most lovely effects of colour I ever saw ; a rainbow 
 seemed exactly to fill up one of the great basins formed 
 by the undulations of the mountains, and, after bathing 
 a great sweep of mountain side in the richest and 
 most distinctly marked colours, gradually died away. 
 
 The canal, which at first looks more like a river, 
 soon takes a bend to the S.AV., and then, passing 
 under a quaint wooden bridge, over which passes 
 the road to Uznach, we found ourselves in what cer- 
 tainly looked sufhciently canal-like. The stream is 
 so rapid that tlie walls Ijuilt u]) on eitlier side are pre- 
 served from being washed away by stone groins run- 
 ning out into the stream, and acting as so many break- 
 waters to keep the water in the centre ; slowly and 
 steadily our horses pulled us up, wliilst we, mounted 
 on the top of the cabin, were able to see over the 
 walled sides of the canal, and to enjoy the glorious 
 prospect before us. 
 
 ]]efore long our captain bhmdly informed us that he 
 was going to stop for dinner at a way-side house, so 
 we, anxious to make the same good use of our time, 
 attem])ted to follow his example ; unfortunately the 
 landlord, thougli very jolly-looking, liad a very badly 
 stocked kirder, and we had to satisfy ourselves with 
 bread, honey, and wine ; it is true, indeed, that our 
 host did produce some cold meat — portion, as 1 ima- 
 gined, of a goat dressed some ten days back — but this 
 was not eatable, and was valuable only as furnishing 
 an opportunity to him of showing his perfect power ol' 
 making the best ol" a bad thing ; to season tlie goat he 
 
28 
 
 LINTH CANAL. 
 
 Chap. II. 
 
 brought in vinegar and oil, and, putting them upon 
 the table, exclaimed with some empressement, "Yoila, 
 monsieur ; mais le vinaigre ce n'est pas bon ! " just as if 
 this was the strongest recommendation he could give 
 us ! We laughed heartily, avoided the vinegar, and 
 parted good friends with our host, thanking him 
 from our hearts for having saved us the painful opera- 
 tion of making the discovery about the vinegar for 
 ourselves ! 
 
 Our not very satisfying repast finished, we em- 
 barked again upon our barge, and in the occasional 
 intervals, when sudden and heavy storms of rain 
 obliged us to seek shelter in the cabin, we were 
 much amused in watching the proceedings of some 
 men belonging to the boat, who spent the whole of the 
 five hours consumed in the journey in an unceasing 
 game of cards ; I must do them the justice to say that 
 they played very good-humouredly, and laughed with- 
 out ceasing. Under no circumxstances could we have 
 seen the scenery more gloriously ; occasional bright 
 gleams of sunshine broke in upon and followed clouds 
 of the most inky hue, and then came pelting down 
 heavy showers, accompanied by howling wind and 
 darkness ; and as we reached the opening of the valley, 
 looking up beyond Grlarus to the great mountains 
 which close in its upper end, I think the effect was 
 really more grand and terrific than anything I have 
 ever seen. The mountains are of very fine outline, 
 and of great height, as we saw by the more than occa- 
 sional glimpses which we had of snow about their 
 summits. By the time we reached Wesen the wind 
 was so violent that we found it difficult to keep our 
 places upon the top of the cabin, and we disembarked 
 just before dark, in time to see the fine mountains on 
 each side of the Lake of Wallenstadt here and there 
 
('MM'. II. 
 
 WESEN. 
 
 29 
 
 through tlie storm-clouds, and its waters beaten by the 
 wind into not insi^^nificant waves : we had to walk 
 tlirougli tlie entire length of the village, a picturesque 
 quaint little place, sheltered under the almost over- 
 hanging rocks at the side of the water, and arrived at 
 last at the capital and thoroughly Swiss inn, the Hotel 
 de I'Epre, where we were to sleep. 
 
30 . STAUT FOK WALLENSTADT. Chap. III. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 " Where the mountains • 
 Lift, through perpetual snows, their lofty and luminous summits." 
 
 Evangeline, 
 
 Wallenstadt — Sargans — Gorge of the Tamina — Eagatz — Coire — Ems 
 — Eeichetiau — Thusis — Zillis — Andeer — Spliigen — The Spliigen 
 route — The custom-house — Cascade of the Medcssimo — Campo 
 Dolcino — A storm. 
 
 The storm of the evening gave no kind augury of 
 sunshine on the morrow, and with rather anxious 
 thoughts we listened as it roared among the mountains 
 which overhung our hostelry. 
 
 But it seemed that we had suffered enough, and 
 when we woke we found that, though the clouds had 
 not yet cleared off from the sides of the mountains, 
 there was nevertheless every prospect of a fine day. 
 
 We were obliged to leave by an inexorably early 
 steamer at half-past five for Wallenstadt, and so lost 
 all but the suggestion only of the magnificence of the 
 mountains which tower up so grandly over the north 
 shore of the lake. Like Goethe on his way into Italy we 
 might exclaim, " What do we not pass over, both on 
 the right hand and on the left, in order to carry out 
 the one thought which has become almost too old for 
 the soul ! " but our time was limited, and our chief 
 anxiety to spend as much of our short holiday as we 
 could in Italy ; and so, sad though we were to miss 
 what was doubtless so well worthy of being seen, on 
 we were bound to go without delay. 
 
CllAl'. III. 
 
 WALLENSTADT. 
 
 31 
 
 Before we started I had secured a voiturier whose 
 carriage was at Wallenstadt to take us on to Coire, so 
 that on this score I had no trouble before me. Our 
 voyage was only too soon made ; unlike the Lake of 
 Zurich, where the traveller ratlier liopes tliat each place 
 at which he stops may be the last, on this lake, as the 
 tiny steamer ploughs its way rapidly over its surface, 
 with its goal always in view, and with not a place to 
 stop at on its road, he ceases not to long that his 
 pleasure may be prolonged ! 
 
 We had none but country people on board, and 
 among them two men, the one old, very brown and 
 well wrinkled, and wearing a steeple-crowned hat, 
 tight velveteen trousers and jacket, and coarse stock- 
 ings — altogether one of the most llip-Van-Winkleisli 
 looking of mankind ; tlie other young, stalwart, and 
 active-looking, a thorough Italian lx)th in dress and 
 in look ; and both of them fit subjects to sit — as they 
 did — for their portraits. 
 
 By seven o'clock we were in our carriage, and en 
 route. The sun began to shine, and every minute 
 the clouds rose higher and higher ; so that, before we 
 finally lost — by turning into tlie valley of the liliine 
 — the last view of the valley of the lake, we could see 
 the peaks of the mountains which we so wished to 
 have seen before, the Sieben-Churfiirsten, which tower 
 so grandly over the lake. 
 
 Wallenstadt is but a poor place, its situation un- 
 wholesome, and its inns, judging only from their 
 externals, not to be commended. It has a church of 
 modern character, with an old-looking tower in the 
 position of a transept, which has a saddlel)ack roof, 
 gabled north and south. On the lower part of the 
 south side of this tower are paintings of the Crucifixion 
 and some other subjects, apparently of some antiquity. 
 
32 
 
 SARGANS. 
 
 Chap. 111. 
 
 Just above the town, on the right, we passed the ruins 
 of an old castle ; and at a slight rise in the road had a 
 beautiful view of the calm waters of the lake, looking 
 blue, but very mucih smaller than it really is. This, 
 no doubt, is owing to the great height of the precipi- 
 tous rocks on its north side, which we now saw for the 
 first time, our enemies the clouds having at last risen 
 and disclosed some of the beauties which they had 
 been concealing from us. 
 
 The valley from Wallenstadt to Sargans, just beyond 
 which our route joined the valley of the Rhine, was 
 strikingly beautiful. Its ecclesiological features were 
 not, however, remarkable, if I except the constant 
 repetition of what I have often noticed in the Ca- 
 tholic cantons of Switzerland, the occurrence, namely, 
 of grated openings on either side of the western door- 
 way, commanding the interior and protected by an 
 open porch, through which passers-by, though not 
 able to enter, might still see the altar. On our 
 journey from Bale to Zurich we passed a church 
 whose altar was lighted up, and the doors behind 
 these gratings left open very late at night. It was in 
 a lonely place, and when I passed there was no one 
 in or near the church. 
 
 The cultivation of this valley was not, however, so 
 uninteresting as its ecclesiology. Here first we found 
 the vines trained about in the horizontal Italian fashion, 
 whilst under them great gourds and pumpkins deve- 
 loped themselves to a prodigious size. 
 
 Sargans is a very picturesque old town, and has 
 some capital examples of good Swiss carpentry in its 
 houses, besides a very respectable and antique-looking 
 castle, rising high above the houses on a rock, and 
 guarding the eastern entrance to the town, and com- 
 manding the junction of our road with that of the 
 
C'lr.M'. III. 
 
 (JOIJiiH OF TllK TAMIXA. 
 
 valley of the Rhine leading to the Lake of Con- 
 stance. 
 
 Our voitiirier was under a bond with us to take us 
 as fast as a diligence which lumbered on slowly enough 
 in advance of us, and as far as Eagatz was quite true 
 to his word ; there, however, we determined to pause 
 for a few hours, not willing to pass anything so famous 
 as the baths of Pfeli'ers without a visit. Leavin<r our 
 carriage, we mounted a light car, and were soon as- 
 cending the beautiful gorge of the Tanuna to the 
 baths. Tlie road is most capitally made, and follows 
 the windings of the mountain torrent so closely as to 
 require some nerve in those who drive rapidly along 
 on their road to or from the baths. The ascent is 
 steep, l)ut in rather less than an hour we found ourselves 
 at the baths. The rocks rise nearly perpendicuhirly be- 
 liind the ledge of rock on which the baths stand, and 
 the only mode of access to the upper and more wonder- 
 fid part of the chasm was by passing througli tlie long 
 corridors u hich betokened the once religious object of 
 the building. These passed, and in charge of a guide, 
 we crossed the torrent by a rude bridge, and then by a 
 rather precarious path niiide our way, as it seemed, 
 almost into tlie bowels of the mountain. The gorge 
 is so very narrow tlr.it in many parts the light of the 
 sky is no longer visible, the rocks overhanging each 
 other above the head. All the while the torrent is 
 roaring by our sides, and we feel that we are indeed 
 enjoying an excursion into the very heart of the rocky 
 earth. At last we reach the end of the path, are com- 
 pelled by our guide to ensconce ourselves one by one 
 in a small kind of box formed round the source of the 
 hot spring — to pronounce it very hot and very nasty 
 (its two most eminent qualities) — and then, still ad- 
 miring the matchless grandeur of the rocky way, we 
 
 1) 
 
34 
 
 RAGATZ. 
 
 Chap. III. 
 
 regain our car, and are soon again whirled down the 
 hill to Ragatz. 
 
 Our driver is a cheerful, pleasant fellow, talks Ger- 
 man much better than the man we brought from 
 Wesen, is communicative, moreover, and seems to 
 enjoy a laugh and a joke uncommonly. Of course we 
 become friends, and with no trouble on our parts, 
 though with some little on his, it is arranged that our 
 old driver shall remain where he is, and that our new 
 friend, proud in the possession of an Austrian pass- 
 port, shall take us on as far at any rate as Chia- 
 venna. 
 
 A hurried Swiss luncheon — wine, honey, bread and 
 butter — is soon despatched, and again we are on our 
 way under the auspices of our new voiturier. 
 
 But we must not leave Eagatz without noticing its 
 church, remarkable for its exceedingly good octagonal 
 wooden spire springing in an unusual manner out of a 
 square wooden belfry stage, and another church at (I 
 think) Yilters, close to Eagatz, which has a lofty tower 
 finished on each side with a sharp gable, and a thin 
 octagonal spire rising from the intersection of the 
 cross-gabled roof ; both these steeples are in a position 
 which for sonie reason is very popular in this district 
 — the south side of the chancel. 
 
 From Eagatz to Coire the churches are all very 
 similar ; with tall towers generally in the same posi- 
 tion as those near Eagatz, and capped with bulbous 
 roofs, or sharp spires covered with metal. The road 
 to Coire is not quite the most agreeable we have 
 travelled; some of the views, it is true, are most 
 lovely, and the mountains — among which towers pre- 
 eminent the grand outline of the Falkniss — are very 
 noble ; but, despite all this, the valley is too wide, and 
 
CUAV. 111. 
 
 COIKE 
 
 85 
 
 the Rhine, by periodical inundations, manages to 
 secure nearly its whole ex- 
 tent to itself, so that there 
 is a waste, desolate, and 
 pestilential look about the 
 valley, which is not pre- 
 possessing. We arrived 
 at Coire at about half-past 
 one, and, not sorry that 
 our horses required rest, 
 betook ourselves to the in- 
 spection of this very curious 
 town. 
 
 It is entered by old gate- 
 ways, and many of the 
 streets are still full of an- 
 cient houses. The curious 
 feature of the place is how- 
 ever its comj)lete division 
 into two quarters — the Pro- U 
 testant and the Catholic w -i'.. s,.irc- _ii«gatz. 
 
 the latter walled oil", and entered by its own gates.' It 
 occupies the ui)i)ei' part of the town, and contains in the 
 
 ' This division is seen very elearly in one of the very curious prints hy 
 Merian whicli illustrate a most valuable and interesting' book entitled 
 * TopouM-ai)hia Helvetia^' published at Frankrort-ani-:Main, a.d. 1G54, and 
 full of most vahuible and exact views of Swiss towns ; they are remarkably 
 valuable as provin<5 beyond all question their exact state in the In-ginnin;; 
 of the seventeenth century, and as bein<,' really executed with very much 
 artistic feeling. That of Coire gives the whole town in the most com])lete 
 manner ; the castle, the churches, the walls, and the many watch-towers, 
 with the magnificent mountains Indiind them, making one of the most j.ic- 
 turesque ensembles I ever saw. Many of the views of Swiss towns are 
 remarkable, as i)roving how very regularly the medijoval towns were 
 planned whenever there was the opi>ortunity, the streets all at right angle.>4, 
 ;iud the great church and market-place in the centre of the whole. 
 
 I) 2 
 
36 
 
 COIKE. 
 
 Chap. HI. 
 
 cathedral church of S. Lucius an architectural attraction 
 far above the average amount of merit. Its plan con- 
 sists of a nave of three bays, a choir of one bay raised 
 by twelve steps above the nave, and a sanctuary much 
 narrower than the nave and choir, also of one bay. 
 The steps from the nave to the choir are narrow, and 
 on each side and between them is a very flat wide 
 arch, under which access is obtained to the under 
 crypt, a few steps below the nave, and extending 
 under the choir and sanctuary. 
 
 A slight sketch of so singular a church cannot be 
 uninteresting, and it will be seen from this that the 
 whole is of the very earliest pointed work, and good 
 of its kind ; the crypt is supported in the centre by 
 a column resting upon a grotesque animal. Two of 
 the altars have fine shrines of metal of the thirteenth 
 century, and two other altars have ancient candle- 
 sticks ; the choir stalls are old, and there is a late 
 triptych behind the high altar, and a very fine sakra- 
 mensthaus with metal doors just below the northern 
 flight of steps to the choir, which reminded me much 
 of the very fine example in a similar position in 
 the cathedral at Ulm. The whole church is groined. 
 It is worthy of notice that the choir makes a great 
 bend out of the straight line towards the north — so 
 much, indeed, that it is impossible to avoid noticing it 
 as one enters the church. The steps to the choir 
 from the nave lack dignity. They ought to have 
 been in the centre, and the entrances to the crypt 
 on each side ; but then, it is true, the crypt would not 
 have been seen, as it now is, from the nave. The 
 west end has a fine round- arched doorway with several 
 shafts in each jamb, and above it a large window of 
 the same character, and in the gable a small middle 
 
i-j^.. AC. 
 
CllAI'. III. 
 
 S. LUCIUS— S. MARTIN. 
 
 87 
 
 pointed window ; and about ten feet in advance of tlie 
 west doorway is a curious remnant of a gateway witli 
 piers and shafts resting upon monsters, looking, liow- 
 ever, very much as thougli it liad been removed from 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Service commenced just as I was obliged to think of 
 leaving the church ; the priests w^ore red cassocks and 
 tippets, and very short surplices edged with lace, and 
 looked miserably unclean and untidy ; there was no 
 one in the body of the church, and the sacristan, after 
 tlie service had commenced, walked backwards and for- 
 wards aljout the choir, down the steps into the nave, 
 and then — after a little attention bestowed on some 
 matter there— out of the church. I fear the service 
 was not one with much life in it — if in such a thing 
 one may venture to judge from a cursory glance at ex- 
 ternals. 
 
 Descending from the melancholy and squalid look- 
 ing Catholic quarter, we soon came upon the Protes- 
 tant church, dedicated in lionour of 8. ^lartin, which 
 is somewhat remarkable. It is old, l)ut it has been 
 plastered, whitewashed, and ilicii ])aint("d by some 
 acute artist over its wbole exterior in an extraordinary 
 imitation of all kinds of inconsistent architectural 
 devices ; pilasters, cornices, mouldings, tracery, and 
 the like, are all boldly represented with black jiaint, 
 and in such style that we all stopped the moment we 
 saw it, struck by the conviction that it must be a 
 scene from some play, so utterly absurd, flat, and out 
 of all perspective did it look. 
 
 The situation of Coire is very lovely, placed as it 
 is just at the point where the Schalfiker 1'lial joins 
 the valley of the llhine, and upon the steep and rugged 
 bottom slope of* tlie mountains. 
 
38 
 
 EMS. 
 
 Chap. III. 
 
 The weather was every moment becoming more 
 glorious, and as we left Coire along the straight road 
 which leads to Eeichenau we had one of the most 
 lovely views we had enjoyed. It is not always the 
 case, however beautiful may be the scenery, or how- 
 ever lovely the weather, that one finds everything 
 group together perfectly ; here however I really beheve 
 it did, and I commend the subject to the pencils of 
 those who follow me on this route. 
 
 We soon reached Ems, whose church, situated upon 
 a green knoll aboA^e the village, has the peculiarity of 
 a small apsidal building east of the apse of its chancel. 
 The key was not to be found, so that I could not go 
 in to examine what this building was. This church 
 had an octangular steeple, whilst another church in the 
 same village had one of the bulbous monsters of which 
 I have before complained. At Eeichenau it is the 
 fashion to go to see the house in which Louis Philippe 
 acted in 1793 as schoolmaster under a Monsieur Jost, 
 and I fear we fell rather in the good opinion of our 
 driver when we neglected so proper and regular a 
 custom ; but so it was : I fear we deemed Louis 
 Philippe too near in point of time to ourselves, and 
 one occupying too small a portion of the world's his- 
 tory, to be a real hero, and so we passed rapidly 
 through Eeichenau, across its two quaint covered 
 wooden bridges, and by the beautiful meeting of the 
 waters of the Vorder and the Hinter Ehein, until 
 we found ourselves following the course of the latter, 
 and fairly on the Splugen road. 
 
 We only wished to reach Thusis by sunset, and so 
 our time was ample for enjoyment ; we walked much 
 of the way, beginning now to detect every here and 
 there large patches of snow, and one or two glacier 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 n E ICHEN AU— THUSIS. 
 
 39 
 
 edges, each of wliicli is hailed as a discovery by every 
 fresh voyager, who feels himself at once transported 
 with delight by the distant view of tlie pure white 
 line against the sky. 
 
 Castles are here as numerous as ever upon the 
 Rhine, and at least a dozen, T should think, might be 
 reckoned perched on every favourable spot between 
 Keichenau and Thusis. As the road advances the 
 valley widens out into a kind of basin, into which flow 
 two streams, the one through the as yet unperceived 
 gorge of the Via !Mala ratlier to our right, tlie other 
 through an opening in the mountains directly in front 
 of us, w^hich allows us a most glorious view of the snowy 
 heights above the Pass of the Julier drinking in the 
 last red rays of the setting sun, h)ng since passed away 
 from the ground on which we stand ; then there is a 
 long ascent, and, passing peasants coming in from hay- 
 making, merrily laughing and singing, we drive up 
 the straight smart street of Thusis to the Via Mala 
 Hotel. -But the evening is too glorious to lose, and in 
 five minutes we are out again on foot to explore the 
 commencement of the black defile ; and until we are 
 absolutely turning into it, so narrow is the gorge that 
 it is not seen, but when seen, and by such a light, how 
 irrand and beautiful it is ! We ascended some dis- 
 tance and then stood and admired. Above us towered 
 high into the air tremendous rocks, riven in two 
 with the narrow chasm in which we stood, at whose 
 bottom we heard the distant roar of Father Khine, 
 and down below and beyond, Iramed as it were 
 between the grand outline of rocky crag and pine- 
 covered mountain, lay the valley of Domlesehg, still 
 retaining, by contrast with the gloom around us, some 
 light \4)on its fields, and castles, and villages, liest 
 
40 
 
 VIA MALA. 
 
 Chap. 111. 
 
 was well earned after such a glorious and actively 
 spent day, and, if we overslept ourselves in the morn- 
 ing, it was as much the fault of our voiturier as of 
 ourselves, and upon his broad shoulders must be the 
 weight of our error. However, though not so early as 
 we intended, we left the next morning soon after six, 
 and in a few minutes were again in the Yia Mala. 
 And now (shall I confess it ?) I doubt whether we were 
 not all disappointed ; there is so much in a name that 
 one expects something very terrific from such a name, 
 and this it scarcely is. It is seldom fair to compare 
 one piece of scenery with another, but still I feel that 
 this was certainly not the most savage T had ever 
 seen, and therefore not justly my Via Mala. But 
 beautiful in the extreme it was, and I believe we all 
 regretted that we so soon found ourselves again in the 
 more open valley on the road to Zillis. Here we 
 found a church with a lofty tower, in the same position, 
 and with a spire of the same design, as that at Eagatz ; 
 the nave low and ugly, the chancel lofty, with a steep 
 pitched roof and apse ; the windows pointed but 
 modernised; the belfry windows of the steeple were 
 of three lights, with circular arches, and divided by 
 shafts, which were continued on in blank panels on 
 each side of the windows, so as to form an arcade of 
 five arches on each side. And this I believe was the 
 last noticeable church we saw before we reached Chi- 
 avenna, and in its arcaded belfry I fancied that I saw 
 something of an Italian influence at work, which 
 might well have been the fact. 
 
 We soon reached Andeer, where we waited but a 
 short time, and then commenced a steep ascent. The 
 lovely scenery, the mountains closing in round us, and 
 the roar of the fall of the Eofla, making music in our 
 ears, made our way very enjoyable. There was but 
 
( II.Al'. 111. 
 
 ANDKEli TU SPLLGEN. 
 
 41 
 
 little chance, however, of rapid progress, as from 
 Andeer to Spliigen tlie road is almost always on the 
 ascent, sometimes gradually, at others in steep zigzags 
 up the shoulder of some obstructive hill, and constantly 
 overhanging or crossing the rapid, white, foaming 
 mountain-stream, sole representative here of the noble 
 river whose rushing waters had been pondered over 
 at Bide. An air of desolation always grows upon the 
 feelings as one reaches such a place as Spliigen. Trees 
 and shrubs more scarce, and often blasted by the fierce 
 rush of the wintry wind, or the keener sharper blow of 
 the falling rock, or the swift sweep of the avalanche, 
 aid in making up the desolate picture. Vegetation has 
 well-nigh ceased, and the eye, though deceived at 
 first by the intensely red colour perceived every here 
 and there on the hill-sides and on the rocks, dis- 
 covers presently that not to flowers or plants, but to 
 lichen or some such more desolate vegetation, is it 
 owing. 
 
 J^y tlie time we caught the first sight of Spliigen 
 tlie sky was overclouded, the wind rose, and a sudden 
 heavy storm of rain gave us a lesson in tlie customs of 
 the weather in these regions, to which our driver's 
 quiet assurance that we should probably have a snow- 
 storm on the pass added the few remaining drops 
 required to make up the draught which we saw our- 
 selves doomed to swallow. 
 
 Spliigen, however, was reputed to liave an inn which 
 would give us enviable shelter for a couple of hours, 
 and we entered at once, hoping, if we waited, again to 
 see the blue sky before we crossed the boundary 
 between the North and the South — between Switzer- 
 land and Italy. 
 
 The table-d'hote was just about to commence, and 
 in came a diligence from ^lihm, and out came the 
 
42 
 
 SPLUGEN. 
 
 Chap. III. 
 
 passengers : another carriage, which had pursued us 
 relentlessly all the way from Andeer, came in at the 
 same moment, and down we sat, about fifteen English 
 people, not one of whom had been in the house 
 ten minutes before, not one of them stopping for more 
 than their own and their horses' dinner, and all pro- 
 ceeding in difierent directions, either on their way 
 home, satiated with travel, or just about to dive like 
 ourselves, in full quest of pleasure and excitement, into 
 a new country. These meetings are always curious, 
 generally not at all less amusing, and to the quiet and 
 attentive observer of character not a little edifying. 
 On this occasion there was subject-matter enough, and 
 we found the old gentleman, travelling sorely against 
 his will, under the care of his active and thoroughly 
 vulgar wife, the literary old maids of another party, 
 and the enthusiastic damsel of a third, each in their 
 way quite enjoyable, and not the less so in that it was 
 necessary to discuss them and part with them so 
 rapidly, 
 
 Spliigen, in a soaking rain, is not an edifying place ; 
 and as I employed myself in sketching from the inn 
 window the very picturesque old bridge, which gives 
 all its architectural character to the village, I conceive 
 that I accomplished all that was necessary ; and when 
 we got into our carriage again, and, crossing by the 
 said bridge, left the Bernardin road to the right, and 
 finally plunged really into the Spliigen route, it seemed 
 like a reward for one's industry to find the rain cease 
 and the sun again occasionally shine out. 
 
 The ascent begins with a series of zigzags, which 
 rapidly carry the road high above the valley of the 
 Ehine, and then, passing through one of the long 
 covered galleries for which this route is famous, it 
 emerges in an upland valley or dip between two 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 THE SPLUGEN ROUTE. 
 
 43 
 
 mountains, up which it takes a steady course along a 
 road paved, by the bye, with what seemed to be white 
 marble, until, just below the summit, it comes again 
 upon a steep mountain-side, to be surmounted only by 
 a patient unravelling as it were of the intricacies of 
 an endless zigzagging, which at last brings us to the 
 Swiss guard-house and the entrance to the great 
 gallery. The clouds are low and gathering ; but still 
 below us, as we see white patches of snow every here 
 and there, and above us the blue edge of a great 
 glacier marked with lines of crevasses and fringed 
 with a white edge of snow, we feel that we have 
 really at last achieved the summit. Noisily we trot 
 through the arched gallery, and then, after another 
 slight ascent for a few minutes, we stop and put on 
 the drag. Indeed ! then we have crossed ! and down 
 we go rapidly and cheerily, backwards and forwards, 
 occasionally giving a merry tap to some corner post at 
 the turns of the road, in order to let it be known that 
 we, our driver, and our horses, are all of us heartily 
 glad that we are at last on the south side of the pass 
 — no longer the Gernuiu Splilgf^/i, but, as we learn 
 from divers notices along the road, the Italian Spluga. 
 A short drive takes us to the custom-house, — not 
 looked forward to cheerlully by those who have met, 
 as we had at Spliigen, a man turned back by mistake, 
 and after two days' delay again retracing his steps, — 
 but happily, in our case, passed easily enough, and with 
 an exhibition of the greatest courtesy and civility from 
 the Austrian olHcer, a courtesy moreover by no means 
 rare, and perhaps scarce worth mentioning, were it not 
 that, because now and then some obstinately stupid 
 traveller will not obey the rules which the Austrian 
 government makes about passports, and so gets into 
 trouble, jx'ople in Kngland cIhm se to inveigh against 
 
44 
 
 THE SPLUGEN ROUTE. 
 
 Chap. 111. 
 
 and abuse one of the politest and most pleasant nations 
 in Europe. 
 
 We are soon off again across a dreary peaty -looking 
 plain, with no trace of any neighbouring mountains, and 
 for amusement accompanied along the road by a troop 
 of wild smuggler-looking fellows, in broad-brimmed 
 steeple-crowned hats, loose jackets, knee breeches, and 
 coarse stockings, riding wildly along on rough horses, 
 without saddles or bridles, but every one of them hand- 
 some grand-looking fellows, showing, as they smiled, 
 teeth of purest white, and more nearly coming up to 
 one's idea of real Italians than any with whom, later in 
 our journey and more in Italy, we happened to meet. 
 Before long, however, we again commenced the descent, 
 and then, after passing through two or three galleries 
 of prodigious length, at last came out upon one of 
 those spots, the view from which, as much perhaps by 
 reason of its associations as for its intrinsic beauty, rests 
 on the mind for ever after as one of the most lovely 
 ever seen. On our right a steep mountain track 
 slopes rapidly and perpendicularly down to a nar- 
 row valley, whose opposite and no less precipitous side 
 we are about to descend ; below us, far down, we see 
 the village roofs of Isola, with its church and Italian 
 campanile ; beyond — and this is indeed the great charm 
 of the prospect — down the valley, where the atmos- 
 phere seems redolent of the South, we see a grandly 
 formed mountain, and again to its right another but 
 more distant ; between these two dim and distant 
 shades lies Como's lake — -beyond them the broad rich 
 plain of Lombardy ; the sun shines forth, and we dream 
 henceforward of that valley, looked down upon from 
 the gallery on the Spliigen, as one of the brightest 
 prospects of our lives ! 
 
 We had not gone far beyond the last gallery before 
 
CirAP. III. CASCADE OF TIIK MEDESSIMO. 
 
 45 
 
 our voiturier made good a boast which he had often 
 repeated of showing us a real waterfall on a grand 
 scale before we parted company, and, pulling up his 
 horses, made us — not unwilling — dismount to look 
 doivn the cascade of the Medessimo. A passage has 
 been formed from the road to a point which just over- 
 hangs the fall, and here, securely parapeted round, 
 you look down over a grand sheer fall of some eight 
 hundred feet, in the course of which the noble torrent 
 which goes to feed the threadlike Lira down below 
 us in the valley, and just now roaring in bold volume 
 underneath our road, loses itself in soft, delicate, and 
 fairy-like spray, and ere it reaches the rock below 
 seems like some delicate mist falling from the sky for 
 ever in endless and exquisite change of form. Just 
 beyond the cascade the most wonderful part of the 
 descent commences — that is to say in an engineering 
 point of view — and the road seems really to descend 
 the perpendicular face of the rock, far surpassing in 
 boldness any other road that I know, and affording 
 very fine and varied views of the cascade on tlie 
 descent. We soon reached Campo Dolcino, a miser- 
 able and most dirty-looking vilhige ; and were, sorely 
 against our will, obliged to wait lor our poor horses to 
 bait ; and then on we went, the sun. some time set, and 
 the night dark and cloudy : presently a storm arose ; 
 and without lights, and travelling along a road turn- 
 ing sharp angles every minute, and never losing the 
 music in our ears of the roaring Jjira, our lot seemed 
 more wild than enviable : at last we came to a house 
 and tried unsuccessfully to borrow a light, but pre- 
 sently at another house we succeeded, and then guided 
 by a lantern we pursued our way safely enough. I 
 never saw so grand a storm ; the lightning was vivid 
 beyond all that I could conceive ; and as at one minute 
 
46 
 
 A STORM. 
 
 Chap. III. 
 
 it played about on the foaming water beneath us, and 
 at another lighted up the whole mountain-side beyond 
 with pale and intensely lovely light, flickering, playing, 
 and dancing about most wildly and most gloriously, I 
 believe we felt half sad when house after house ap- 
 peared, and at last we entered the long, narrow, and 
 thoroughly Italian streets of Chiavenna. 
 
ClIAlV 
 
 (v'llIAVKNNA. 
 
 47 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " But now 'tis passM, 
 Tliat tuihiilt'iit chaos ; and the proinist-d land 
 Lii's at mv feet in all its loveliness ! 
 To him who starts up from a terrible dream, 
 Ami lo, the sun is shininj; and the lark 
 Sin(;in|f aloud for joy, to him is not 
 Such sudden ravishment as now I feel 
 At the first glimpses of fair Italy." — Iloijers. 
 
 Cln'av'cniia — Lake of Riva — Colico — Lake of Como — Varcnna — Stclvio 
 pass — Lccco — Bergamo : its liroletto an«l cluiixhes. 
 
 The situation of Chiavcnna is eminently beautiful: 
 in a deep valley surrounded on all sides by luouiitaiiis 
 whose slopes are covered with solt and luxuriant 
 foliage of oak and chestnut, and where every avaUable 
 open space is devoted to trellised vineyards, it contrasts 
 strongly with the pine-covered hills so lately passed 
 on the northern slopes of the Alps ; placed, too, at the 
 confluence of two streams — the Meira and the Lira — 
 it rejoices in the constant rushing sound of many 
 waters. 
 
 It was only necessary to move out of the shade ol" 
 our hotel into the mehuicholy piaz/a in which it 
 stands, to discover that an Italian sun lighted up the 
 intensely blue sky ; and a walk to the prinei])al clnu'ch, 
 dedicated in honour of S. Lawrence, a stroll through 
 the narrow streets, and a rather toilsome ascent 
 through a vineyard formed upon a rock which towers 
 uj) ])ehin(l a kind of ruined castle, and from which a 
 capital idea is obtained of tlu^ singular and beautiful 
 
48 
 
 CHIAVENNA. 
 
 Chap. IV. 
 
 cul-de-sac in which the town is planted, sufficiently 
 convinced us of its power. 
 
 The church of S. Lawrence is entered from a large 
 oblong cloister, in one angle of the space enclosed by 
 which rises a tall classic-looking campanile, its simple 
 outline and arcaded belfry full of musical bells con- 
 trasting well with the outline of the hills which hem 
 it in. On the east side of the cloister are the 
 church, an octagonal baptistery, and a bone-house, 
 all ranged side by side and opening into it, and the 
 latter curious as an example of the extent to which 
 the people of Chiavenna amuse themselves by arrang- 
 ing skulls and arm-bones into all kinds of religious 
 and heraldic devices, and with labels to mark the 
 names of their former owners. The tout ensemble is 
 picturesque in its effect, and the cool pleasant shade 
 of the cloister, with the view of the church and its tall 
 campanile, and irregularly grouped buildings looking 
 brilliantly white in the clear sunshine, was very 
 pleasing. 
 
 Italian beggars, persevering, and, at any rate in ap- 
 pearance, very devout, did their best to annoy us here 
 and everywhere when we ventured to stop to ex- 
 amine or admire anything ; and Italian beggars are 
 certainly both in pertinacity and in filth about the 
 most unpleasant of their class. 
 
 My voiturier gave me a lesson worth learning, and 
 not perhaps unworthy of note for other unsuspicious 
 travellers. We had a written contract to Chiavenna, 
 and thence to Colico he had agreed verbally to take us 
 for a certain sum ; before we started I found, how- 
 ever, that he intended to charge us three times as 
 much as we had agreed upon, and, as very luckily w^e 
 found a diligence on the point of starting, we secured 
 places in the cabriolet at its back, from which we had 
 
Chap. IV. 
 
 LAKES OF RIVA AND COMO. 
 
 40 
 
 the best possible position for seeing the views, and so 
 left my friend in the lurch, with divers admonitions to 
 behave himself more honestly for the future. 
 
 At ten we left, and had a very enjoyable ride to 
 Colico. The valley, however, bore sad traces of the 
 havoc made by the inundations of the Meira, and 
 of the storm of the previous night. We soon reached 
 the shores of the little Lake of Riva, along whose 
 banks our road took us sometimes in tunnels, some- 
 times on causeways built out into the water, until at 
 last we reached the valley up which runs the Stelvio 
 road, and then, after passing along the whole length 
 of a straight road lined on each side with a most weari- 
 some and endless row of poplars, we were at Colico. 
 Here we prudently availed ourselves of the op])or- 
 tunity of an hour's delay in the departure of the boat 
 for an early dinner, and, then embarking, waited 
 ])atiently the pleasure of our captain. 
 
 The scenery of Lake Como has been so often raved 
 about, that I was ([uitc prepared to Ijc disappointed ; 
 but for the whole distance from Colico to Lecco it was 
 certainly more striking than any lake scenery I had 
 ever before seen. The mountains at its head arc 
 wonderfully irregular and picturesc^ue, and thrimghout 
 its whole length there is great change and variety, 
 [n this respect it contrasts favourably with most other 
 lakes, and I certainly think that not even in the Lake 
 of Lucerne is there any one view so grand as that 
 which one has looking up Irom within a short distance 
 of the head of (.V)ni() over the Lake of liiva to the 
 mountains closing in the Stelvio, and rising nobly 
 above the sources of the ^leira and the J^ira. 
 
 Somewhat, too, may be said perhaps oi' the innumer- 
 able villages and white villas with which the banks of 
 the lake are studded; they give a sunny, inhabited, 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 STELVIO PASS. 
 
 Chap. IV. 
 
 and cheerful feeling to the whole scene ; and, reflected 
 in the deep blue lake in those long-drawn lines of 
 flakey white which are seen in no other water to such 
 perfection, add certainly some beauty to the general 
 view. 
 
 Half our passengers were, of course, Austrian 
 soldiers and officers, the other half English or Ame- 
 ricans either resident at or going for the first time 
 to Como. We, however, stopped on the way, and, 
 leaving the steamboat in the middle of the lake, after 
 a row of about twenty minutes found ourselves at 
 Yarenna. 
 
 Here we had what seemed likely to be an endless 
 discussion upon the relative merits of a four- oared 
 boat and a carriage as a means of conveyance to 
 Lecco. We inclined to the latter ; but, leaving the 
 matter in the hands of an active waiter, we busied 
 ourselves with eating delicious fruit, admiring the tall 
 cypresses growing everywhere about the shores of the 
 lake, and watching the exquisite beauty of the reflec- 
 tions of Bellagio and the opposite mountains in the 
 smooth bosom of the water. 
 
 We were soon on the road, and well satisfied to find 
 ourselves trotting rapidly along the magnificent pass 
 of the Stelvio, instead of dragging heavily and slowly 
 along the road as one always does with a Swiss voitu- 
 rier ; soon, however, we were to find that our driver 
 was an exception to the Italian rule, and that he who 
 wishes to travel fast must not expect to do so with 
 vetturini. 
 
 The churches which we passed were in no way re- 
 markable : they all had campaniles, with the bells 
 hung in the Italian fashion in the belfry windows, 
 with their wheels projecting far beyond the line of the 
 wall ; but they all seemed alike wretched in their 
 
Chap. IV. 
 
 LECCO. 
 
 51 
 
 architecture, and we were in no way sorry to pass 
 tliem rapidly on our way to Lecco. This eastern arm 
 of the lake, though of course much less travelled 
 than the rest of its course, is very beautiful, and its 
 uninhabited and less cultivated looking shores, witli 
 bold cliffs here and there rising precipitously from 
 the water, were seen to great advantage, with the calm 
 unrippled surface of the lake below, and the sky just 
 tinged with the bright light of the sun before it set 
 above. 
 
 Lecco is but a poor place ; we had an hour to 
 spend tliere before we could get fresh horses to take 
 us on to Bergamo, and wandered about the streets 
 full of people — some idly enjoying themselves, others 
 selling delicious-looking fruit. We went into a large 
 church not yet quite completed : it was classic of 
 course, and on the old plan, with aisles and so forth, 
 but very ugly notwithstanding. In the nave was 
 a coffin covered with a pall of black and gold ; six 
 large candles stood by it, three on either side, and two 
 larger than the others on each side of a crucHix at the 
 west end ; the whole church revelled in compo inside 
 and out, and outside there was access to a wretched 
 bone-house in a kind of crypt. 
 
 We left Lecco after an hour and a half spent 
 pleasantly in wandering about its quaint old streets, 
 and had a long drive in the dark to Jk'rgamo : the 
 night was very dark, but the air was absolutely teem- 
 ing with \iih and sounds of life ; myriads of insects 
 seemed to surround us, each giving vent to its pleasure 
 in its own particular note and voice with the greates-t. 
 possible determination ; and had 1 not heard them, I 
 could scarcely have believed it possible that such sounds 
 could be made l)y insects, however numerous they 
 might be. We changed horses at a village on the 
 
52 
 
 BERGAMO. 
 
 Chap. TV. 
 
 road, and went on rapidly. The old town of Ponte S. 
 Pietro was passed, tliongli taken at first to be Bergamo, 
 and remembered by the strange sound of a troop of 
 men singing well together as they passed ns in the dark 
 in one of its narrow streets, awakening with their 
 voices all the echoes of the place, which till then had 
 seemed to us to be supernaturally silent. It was eleven 
 o'clock before we reached Bergamo, and after an excel- 
 lently cooked supper we were soon in bed. 
 
 A prodigious noise in the streets before five o'clock 
 the next morning gave us the first warning that the 
 great fair of Bergamo was in full swing ; sleep was 
 impossible, and so we were soon out, enjoying the busy 
 throng which crowded the streets of the Borgo, in a 
 before-breakfast walk ; the crowd of women selling 
 fruit, the bright colours of their dresses, the rich tints 
 of stuffs hung out for sale, the display of hair-pins and 
 other ornaments in the innumerable silversmiths' shops, 
 and the noisy, laughing, talking people who animated 
 the whole scene, made the narrow arcaded streets of 
 busy Bergamo most amusing. 
 
 After breakfast we started at once for the Citta, as 
 the old city of Bergamo is called. It stands on a steep 
 hill overlooking the Borgo di San Leonardo, within 
 whose precincts we had slept, quite distinct from it 
 and enclosed within its own walls. The ascent was 
 both steep and hot, but the view at the entrance 
 gateway of the Citta over the great flat plain of Lom- 
 bardy was very striking, and well repaid the labour of 
 the ascent ; a vast plain of bluish-green colour, inter- 
 sected in all directions by rows of mulberry-trees, pop- 
 lars, and vineyards, diversified only by the tall white 
 lines of the campaniles which mark every village in 
 this part of Lonibardy, and stretching away in the 
 same endless level as far as the eye could reach, was 
 
CllAP. IV. 
 
 THE BROLETTO. 
 
 53 
 
 grand if only on account of its simplicity, and had for 
 us all the charm of novelty. 
 
 Throu<^h very narrow, dirty streets, which do little 
 credit to the cleanly habits of the Bergamask nobility, 
 to whom it seems that the Citta is sacred, we reached 
 at last the Piazza Vecchia, around which is gathered 
 all that in my eyes gives interest to Bergamo. 
 
 Across the upper end of the Piazza stretches the 
 Broletto, or town-hall, supported on open arches, 
 through which pleasant glimpses are obtained of the 
 cathedral and church of St a. Maria Maggiore, the 
 latter the great architectural feature of the city. 
 
 But we must examine the Broletto before we go 
 farther. And first of all, its very position teaches 
 a lesson. Forming on one side the boundary of the 
 Piazza Publica, on the other it faces, within a few feet 
 only, the church of Sta. !Maria Maggiore, and abuts 
 at one end upon the west front of the Duomo ; and to 
 this singularly close — even huddled — grouping much 
 of the excjuisite 1)eauty of the whole is owing. No 
 doubt Sta. Maria and the original cathedral were 
 Iniilt first, and then the architect of tlie Broletto, not 
 fearing — as one would fear now — to damage what has 
 Ijeen done before, boldly throws his work across in front 
 of them, but upon lofty open arches, through whicli 
 glimpses just obtained of the beauties in store beyond 
 make the gazer even more deliglited with the churches 
 when he reaches them than he would liave been had 
 they been all seen from the first. It is, in fact, a not- 
 able example of the diiierence between ancient group- 
 ing and modern, and one instance only out of hundreds 
 that might be adduced I'rom our own country and from 
 the Continent of tlie principle upon which old archi- 
 tects worked ; and yet people, ignorant of real prin- 
 ciples in art, talk as though somewhat would be gained 
 
54 
 
 BEKGAMO. 
 
 Chap. IV. 
 
 if we could pull down S. Margaret's in order to let 
 Westminster Abbey be seen ; whereas, in truth, the 
 certain result would be, in the first place, a great loss 
 of scale in the Abbey seen without another building 
 to compare it with and measure it by ; and in the next, 
 the loss of that kind of intricacy and mystery which 
 is one of the chief evidences of the Gothic spirit. Let 
 us learn from such examples as this at Bergamo that 
 buildings do not always require a large open space in 
 front of them in order to give them real dignity. 
 
 The whole design of the Broletto is very simple. 
 The ground on which it stands is divided by columns 
 and piers, the spaces between them being all arched 
 and groined. Towards the Piazza three of these 
 arches, springing from rather wide piers, support the 
 main building, and another supports an additional 
 building to the west. Above the three main arches 
 are three windows, of which that in the centre, though 
 very much altered, still retains a partially old balcony 
 in front, and bears proofs that it was the Binghiera, 
 from which the people standing in the Piazza were 
 wont to be addressed by their magistrates. The win- 
 dows on either side are very similar in their design and 
 detail ; their tracery is of fair middle- pointed character ; 
 and the main points which strike one as being different 
 from English work are the marble shafts with square 
 capitals in place of mullions, a certain degree of square- 
 ness and flatness in the mouldings, and the very pro- 
 nounced effect of the sills, which have a course of 
 foliage and moulding, and below this of trefoiled arcaded 
 ornament, which in one shape or another is to meet 
 the traveller everywhere in Northern Italy ; either, as 
 here, hanging on under the sills of windows, or else 
 running up the sides of gables, forming string-courses 
 and the like, but always unsatisfactory, because un- 
 
Chai'. IV. 
 
 THE BROLETTO. 
 
 55 
 
 meaning and unconstructional. The detail of the 
 arcades supporting the upper part of the building is 
 tliroughout bold and simple, and I should say of the 
 tliirteenth century ; the bases are quite northern in 
 their section, the caps rather less deep in their 
 cutting, but still in their idea, and in the grouping of 
 tufts of drooping foliage reguhirly one above the other, 
 reminding one much of French and German work, 
 though certainly not so good as this generally is. 
 There is a flatness about the carving, too, which gives 
 one the impression of a struggle, in the hand of the 
 carver, between the Classic and Gothic principles, in 
 which the latter never quite asserted the mastery. 
 
 The lesson to be learnt from such a building as this 
 Broletto appears to me to be the excessive value of 
 simplicity and regularity of parts carefully and construc- 
 tionally treated ; for there are no breaks or buttresses 
 in the design, and all its elements are most simple, yet 
 nevertheless most beautiful. 
 
 To tlie west of the Broletto is a good open staircase 
 (much like that in the Piazza dei Signori at Verona), 
 forming a portion of one side of the Piazza, and leading 
 to the upper part of the buildings, and, I think, to 
 the great clock-tower, which, gaunt and severe in its 
 outline, undecorated and apparently uncared for, llings 
 up its great height of rough stone wall boldly against 
 the sky, and groups picturescpiely with tlie irregular 
 buildings around it. 1 believe that I liave omitted to 
 notice that the whole of the Broletto, with the excep- 
 tion of the window-shafts, is executed in stone, and 
 without any introduction of coloured material, so that 
 it in no way jars with the exquisite piece of coloured 
 construction which we have next to examine, imme- 
 diately behind it. 
 
 A few ste])s will take us under the ()])en-arched and 
 
56 
 
 BERGAMO. 
 
 Chap. IV. 
 
 cool space beneath the Broletto, and in face of the 
 north porch and baptistery of Sta. Maria Maggiore. 
 
 This is a very fine early Eomanesque church, with 
 many additions and alterations, and indeed so much 
 altered inside as to be quite uninteresting in regard to 
 our present objects. The plan is cruciform, with apses 
 to the choir, on the east and west sides of the south 
 transept, on the east of the north transept, and at the 
 west end of an additional north aisle ; in all no less 
 than five apsidal ends. The nave is of three bays 
 with aisles, and to each transept have been added, in 
 the early part of the fourteenth century, porches, 
 thoroughly Italian in their whole idea, and novel to a 
 degree in their effect upon an English eye. 
 
 A chapel, erected as a sepulchral chapel by Barto- 
 lomeo CoUeone in the Eenaissance style, on the north 
 side of the nave, is most elaborately constructed of 
 coloured marbles. The effect is too bizarre to be 
 good, there is an entire absence of any true style in its 
 design, and this makes it difficult to criticize it with 
 much minuteness. 
 
 But the best and most striking feature in the whole 
 church is the north porch, ^ a most elaborate structure 
 of red, grey, and white marble, to which a drawing with- 
 out colour can hardly do justice. It is supported upon 
 detached marble shafts, whose bases rest upon the backs 
 of rather grand-looking lions, curiously grouped with 
 children and cubs. Above the arches which rest upon 
 these shafts, and which, though circular, are elabo- 
 rately cusped, is another stage divided by columns and 
 trefoiled arches into three spaces, the centre of which 
 is occupied by a noble figure of a certain Duke Lupus 
 
 ' Mr. Hope, in his valuable ' History of Architecture,' gives the date of 
 this porch as a.d. 1360, and says that it was designed by Giovanni 
 Campellio. The church was built in a.d. 1134 by Maestro Fedro. 
 
( HAP. IV. 
 
 STA. MARIA MAGGIOUE. 
 
 57 
 
 on horseback, with a saint on either side in the other 
 divisions. All the shafts except those in the upper 
 division are of red marble : the highest stage of all is 
 entirely of grey marble : in the middle stage all the 
 moulded parts are of red, and the trefoiled arches 
 and their spandrels of grey marble : the space at the 
 back of the open divisions and the wall over the main 
 arches of the porch are built in courses of red and 
 white marble. All the groining is divided into dia- 
 mond-shaped panels, composed alternately of black, 
 red, and white marble, all carved in the same kind of 
 pattern. In the great arch of tlie porch the outer 
 moulding is of red marble, and all the cusping of grey. 
 The construction of the whole is very weak, and 
 depends altogether for its staljility upon iron ties in 
 every direction. 
 
 Tlie approach to the porch, by seven steps formed 
 alternately of black and white marble, increases tlie 
 impressiveness of the grand doorway in front of 
 which it is built, the whole of wliich is of wliitisli 
 marble, whose carved surfaces and riclily moulded and 
 traceried work have obtained a soft yellow colour by 
 their exposure to the changing atmosphere, and are 
 relieved by one — the central — shaft being executed 
 in purest red marl)le. There are three shafts in each 
 jamb, carved, twisted, and moulded very beautifully. 
 These shafts are set in square recesses, ornamented, 
 not with mouldings, but with elaborate Hat carvings, 
 in one place of saints, in another of animals, and with 
 foliage very Hat in its character, and mainly founded 
 on the acanthus. 
 
 To an English eye these columns in the doorways 
 are some of the most charming features of Italian 
 architecture ; but they must be always looked at as 
 simply ornamental, and not as constructional features ; 
 
58 
 
 BEEGAMO. 
 
 Chap. IV. 
 
 and perhaps in all doorways the shafts, being really 
 incapable of supporting any considerable weight, would 
 be better if, by their twisting and moulding, they were 
 clearly shown by their architect to be meant to be 
 ornamental only. In the Bergamo doorway the spaces 
 between the shafts are so strong in their effect, though 
 carved all over their surface, that any lightness in 
 the shafts is amply atoned for. Such a porch as this 
 northern porch at Bergamo is indeed a great treat to 
 an ecclesiologist, teeming as it does with ideas so fresh 
 and new, and in a small compass giving so much of 
 the radical points of difference between northern and 
 southern Grothic, and at the same time offering so 
 beautiful a study of constructional colouring, that it is 
 impossible to tire of gazing at it. 
 
 The south transept has also a porch, somewhat of 
 the same kind, though smaller and simpler, but, like 
 the other, apparently a monument as well as a porch. 
 Neither of these porches is in the centre of the tran- 
 septs, but placed quite to one side — a departure from 
 the ordinary arrangement worthy of notice, and in this 
 case not unsuccessful. Some of the Eomanesque work 
 is very noble. The apses are of two divisions in 
 height, the lower adorned with very lofty, boldly - 
 moulded arcades, above which is an elaborate cornice, 
 and above this again a low arcade on detached shafts, 
 behind which, the walls being considerably recessed, 
 are galleries which leave a noble shadow. The capi- 
 tals are elaborately carved, and the upper cornice is 
 again very rich. Altogether, little as remains of the 
 old fabric, it is enough to give an idea of a very noble 
 and glorious phase of art. Near a doorway into the 
 north chancel aisle the external walls have traces, faint 
 and rapidly decaying, of some very exquisite frescoes. 
 
 The steeple is in a most unusual position — east. 
 
(.11 A r. IV. 
 
 STA. MARIA MAGGIOKE. 
 
 59 
 
 namely, of the south transept — not less, I believe, tluin 
 300 feet hi^^h, and of good pointed character, very 
 simple, and without any approach to buttressing, and 
 remarkable as having an elaborately arcaded string- 
 course a few feet below the belfry windows, which, by 
 the way, have geometrical tracery enclosed within semi- 
 circular arches. 
 
 Italian campaniles have quite a character of their 
 own, so distinct from and utterly unlike the steeples 
 of Northern Europe, that this, the first Gothic example 
 I have seen, interested me ex- 
 ceedingly. Perhaps its detail was 
 almost too little peculiar, if I 
 may venture to say so ; for cer- 
 tainly it has left no such impres- 
 sion of individuality or of beauty 
 on my mind as has the wonder- 
 fully beautiful campanile to whose 
 graces so much of the charm of 
 Verona is due. 
 
 The cathedral at Bergamo may 
 be dismissed in a word. It has 
 been rebuilt within the last two 
 hundred years, and is therefore, 
 of course, uninteresting, and so 
 far as I saw in no way deserving 
 of notice. ]3eside S. Maria iMag- 
 giore and the liroletto we Ibund 
 little to sec in Bergamo. Two \^-'S^T 
 churches — one in the Citta, and 
 another, desecrated, in the Borgo 
 — had very good simple pointed 
 doorways, with square -headed 
 openings and carved tynq)ana ; but 
 beyond these we saw scarce any trace of pointed work. 
 
60 
 
 BERGAMO. 
 
 Chap. IV. 
 
 We had a luxuriously hot day in Bergamo, and, as 
 we sat and sketched the Broletto, a crowd, thoroughly 
 Italian in its composition and proceedings, gathered 
 round us and gave us a first lesson in the penance 
 which all sketchers must be content to undergo in 
 Italy. Before long I found that my only plan was to 
 start an umbrella as a defence both against the sun 
 and the crowd, and this, though not entirely success- 
 ful, still effected a great improvement. 
 
 The walk down the hill to the Borgo was more 
 pleasant than the climb up, and we were soon at our 
 inn again ; and then, after a most dehcious luncheon 
 of exquisite fruit and coolest lemonade, concluded by a 
 very necessary dispute with our landlord about the 
 amount of his bill, ending, as such disputes generally 
 do in Italy, with a considerable reduction in the 
 charge and the strongest expressions of regard and 
 good wishes for our welfare on our way, we mounted 
 our carriage, and were soon on the road towards 
 Brescia. 
 
CllAl'. V. 
 
 PALLAZZOLO. 
 
 01 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 " Am I in Italy ? [s this the Mincius ? 
 Are those tlie distjint turrets of Verona ? 
 And shall I sup where Juliet at the masque 
 Saw lier loved Montague, and now sleeps hy him ? " — Roijers. 
 
 Pallazzolo — Coccaglio — Brescia : its new and old cathedrals, Broletto, 
 and churches — A dusty road — Donate — Dezinzano — Peschiera — 
 Verona. 
 
 Our drive from Bergamo to Brescia was strikingly 
 unlike what we had hitherto been so much enjoying. 
 Mile after mile of straight roads, between fields so 
 closely planted with fruit-trees that one never sees 
 more than the merest glimpse of anything beyond 
 them, are certainly not pleasant ; and the hot sun 
 above us, and the thirsty and dry beds of rivers which 
 we crossed on our way, made us feel glad when even- 
 ing drew on, and we lound ourselves rapidly nearing 
 Brescia. 
 
 I made notes at two or three places on the way. 
 At Pallazzolo is a great circular belfry, ornamented 
 with a large figure at the top and divers others about 
 its base, built of brick rusticated to look like stone, 
 and altogether about as base a piece of architecture as 
 could well be found, but pardoned here because of the 
 glorious blue of the sky behind it, and partly on ac- 
 count of the view which it commands, reaching, it is 
 said, as far as Milan, and including the great plain 
 out of which, upon a slight hill, it rises. Pallazzolo is 
 nicely situated, and upon the first of the many rivers 
 which we had passed from IJergaino which had any 
 
62 
 
 COCCAGLIO. 
 
 Chap. V. 
 
 water in its bed. The houses, too, were almost all sup- 
 ported on arcades, giving pleasant shelter from the sun. 
 
 Beyond this we came to Coccaglio, a small village 
 with a wretchedly bad modern church, glorying in a 
 most glaringly sham front, and faced on the oppo- 
 site side of the street by the remains of a mediaeval 
 church — whose place it has taken — shut up and rapidly 
 going to ruin. The new church is built north and 
 south — the old one orientating properly ; but then the 
 west front was the great feature of the church, and 
 therefore it was necessary, of course, to place it 
 towards the road ! and so, what should be the west 
 front faces due south ! 
 
 Coccaglio still has, however, some very valuable 
 remains of mediaeval domestic work in its houses, of 
 , _ which I was able to 
 
 obtain some sketches. 
 They were I think 
 entirely executed in 
 brick and terra- cotta, 
 f except, of course, the 
 Sj capitals and shafts of 
 the windows, and ap- 
 peared to be of the 
 E- fourteenth century. 
 ^ The upper portion 
 ^ of the house of which 
 ;1 I give a sketch re- 
 mains very fairly per- 
 fect, though its lower 
 story has been entirely 
 modernized. It will 
 be seen that it is very 
 regular in its design, 
 the large and small windows alternating regularly ; and 
 
 Window — Coccaglio. 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 COCCAGLTO. 
 
 08 
 
 that semicircular arclies are used in tlie windows in 
 connection with ogee trefoils. This is one of the appa- 
 rent inconsistencies which, occur in almost all Italian 
 pointed ; and it does (if this Le needed) seem to give 
 us ancient authority for any amount of licence in our 
 combination of the elements of what we ordinarily 
 consider to be thoroughly different styles. The win- 
 dows are marked by the same elaboration of their sills 
 which we noticed in the Broletto at Bergamo, and the 
 detail of these, as also of the corbeUing out from the 
 wall of several chimney-breasts, w^as exceedingly good. 
 
 In a back street in the village I found a house the 
 balconies around which were corbelled forward on 
 finely moulded beams, which, judging by the moulding, 
 could hardly be of later date than the commencement 
 of the fourteenth century. 
 
 Wooden mouldings of this kind are much rarer in 
 
 Detail of wimlows utul corliolliiig for chimneys — 0>ccagliu. 
 
64 
 
 BRESCIA. 
 
 Chap. V. 
 
 Italy than they are in the North, and I particularly 
 notice this little relic, therefore, which still remains to 
 show how well the science of moulding was sometimes 
 understood even there. 
 
 Such a village as Coccaglio is, as I found afterwards, 
 
 a place to be made 
 much of ; for, except 
 in public buildings, 
 and in such cities 
 as Yerona, Mantua, 
 or Venice, one sees 
 very little trace of 
 any mediaeval do- 
 mestic work, beyond 
 the perpetually re- 
 curring arcading un- 
 der the houses which 
 is so general a fea- 
 ture in all the towns 
 in the north of 
 
 Wooden balcony — Coccaglio. Ital 
 
 There is nothing further of any interest on the road, 
 and just after sunset we reached Brescia, but too late 
 to see anything of the general effect of the city. 
 
 Brescia is mainly famous, I believe, first for its con- 
 nection with a story of the generosity of Bayard, the 
 " chevalier sans peur et sans reproche," and next for 
 the large discoveries of Eoman remains which have 
 from time to time been made there. It is one of 
 those towns, moreover, of which guide-books, with an 
 immense list of churches and the pictures they con- 
 tain, give perhaps too grand an idea before they have 
 been seen. 
 
 It is, however, undoubtedly a place of much inte- 
 rest, not only for the antiquary, but also for the student 
 
Chap. V 
 
 THE CATHEDRA l-S. 
 
 65 
 
 of Christian art, since, though its cliurches are many 
 and bad, it has, in the Broletto, sadly mutilated as it 
 is, the remains of one of the most extensive and grand 
 of these buildings anywhere remaining, and almost 
 entirely executed in very excellent brickwork. 
 
 Our first visit in the morning was to the Piazza, in 
 which stand the two cathedrals— the old and the new 
 — side by side, and just beyond them the front of the 
 Broletto^ stretching its great length up a slight hill 
 and along a narrow lane beyond the Piazza, whilst at 
 its angle, towering up between it and the cathedrals, 
 stands a tall and rugged stone campanile, without 
 break or window until at the top, where, just as at Ber- 
 gamo, great rudely-arched openings are left, through 
 which appear the wheels and works of the bells. 
 
 The new cathedral, approached hy a flight of steps- 
 from the Piazza, has a great sham front. It has, 
 moreover, a large dome, said to be inferior only in size 
 to those of S. Peter's and the cathedral at Florence, 
 but not prepossessing in its effect : nor did it seem to 
 contain any pictures of much value. By a descent of 
 s(mie twenty steps from the south transept the old 
 cathedral is reached. This is of very early date, and 
 constructed partly in stone and partly in brick. The 
 most remarkable I'eature is the nave, which is circular 
 in plan, with an aisle round it ; the central portion, 
 divided by eight arches from the aisles, being carried 
 u]) into a dome. The walls retain some fair media3val 
 monuments, and beneath the church is a large crypt. 
 The whole air of the Duomo Vecchio was chill and 
 dismal to a degree, neglected and dirty, and apparently 
 shut up except for occasional services, and it left no 
 pleasant impressions on our minds of our first Lombard 
 cathedral ; and yet undoubtedly there is both here and 
 at Aix-la-Cliapelle— where the ])lan of the cathedral is 
 
66 
 
 BRESCIA. 
 
 Chap. V. 
 
 SO very similar — much to admire in the idea of the 
 plan, and I can qnite imagine that a very noble and 
 glorious church might in any age have been founded 
 upon this old Lombard type.^ 
 
 From the cathedral we went at once to the Broletto. 
 The main portion of this immense building appears to 
 have been built rather early in the thirteenth century. 
 
 Cloister — Broletto, Brescia. 
 
 The arches throughout are both round and pointed, 
 and very much mixed together ; but this mixture pro- 
 
 ' S. Gereon, at Cologne, is a magnificent example of a chnrch upon the 
 same kind of plan ; a grand choir projected from a decagonal nave, the 
 effect of which is most noble. No doubt such a nave does more than 
 merely suggest the possibility of adapting the dpme to pointed buildings. 
 
ClIAP. V. 
 
 THE BROLETTO. 
 
 67 
 
 bably dues not betoken any diversity of date, as it 
 would in England. 
 
 A large ([uadranj^^le is Ibrmed by the buildini^s, which 
 has a cloister on two sides, and traces of another clois- 
 ter on a third side now built up. The cloister still 
 remaining on the east side is ancient and on a large 
 scale : it opens to the quadrangle with simple pointed 
 arches resting upon heavy piers, and a row of piers 
 running down the centre divides it into two portions, 
 so that it will be seen that its size is very considerable. 
 The groining has transverse and diagonal ribs, the 
 former being very remarkable, and, as not unfre- 
 quently seen in good Italian Avork, slightly ogeed ; not, 
 that is to say, regular ogee arches, but ordinary arches 
 with the slightest suggestion only of an ogee curve in 
 the centre. Of the external portion of the building 
 the west front is the most perfect, and nmst always 
 have been the most striking ; it consists of a build- 
 ing containing in tlie upper story five windows, 
 the centre being tlie largest and ])ossibly once the 
 Ringhiera ; to flie soutli of wliicli rises the great 
 
 I vuiil <i\ eirriilar window — Broh tlo, Hicscia. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 
 
 BRESCIA. 
 
 Chap. V. 
 
 belfry of rough stone, and beyond that a wide build- 
 ing with traces — but no more — of original windows 
 
 throughout ; north 
 of the building with 
 the five windows is 
 a very beautiful 
 composition execut- 
 ed almost entirely 
 in finely moulded 
 bricks ; it has an ex- 
 quisite door with 
 some traces of fresco 
 in its tympanum, 
 executed mainly in 
 stone, of which I 
 give a drawing, and 
 a magnificent brick 
 rose window, above 
 which is a brick 
 cornice which con- 
 tinues over the re- 
 mainder of the west 
 front, and along the whole of the north side. 
 
 The size of the building is prodigious, and certainly 
 
 the detail of all the 
 parts (excepting per- 
 haps the cornice, 
 which is of the com- 
 mon arcaded kind) is 
 most beautiful and 
 valuable. The brick- 
 work is so good and 
 characteristic that I 
 have given several 
 
 Brick cornice - Broleito, Brescia. skctchcS of it. All 
 
 Doorway — Broletto, Brescia. 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 CHURCHES. 
 
 00 
 
 the arches liave occasional voussoirs of stone, and the 
 centre of the arcli is always marked by a key-stojie, 
 and those are sometimes sli^litly carved to distin^^uish 
 them from the other stone voussoirs. The abaci are of 
 brick, moulded and very varied. The doorway given 
 in the woodcut on the opposite page has stone jambs, 
 caps and bases, lintel and outer arch, the label and cusps 
 being of terra-cotta ; above this the whole of this por- 
 tion of the front is of brick, and very admirably built. 
 
 Of the churches of Brescia there seem to be but few 
 of any interest : that of S. Francesco, of whose west 
 front I give a sketch, is the best, and, though not of 
 
 S. Francpsco — Broscla. 
 
 uncommon design, is worth notice ; the mixture of 
 white and black marble and ])ri(k is very judicious; 
 
70 
 
 BRESCIA. 
 
 Chap. V. 
 
 but I must protest once more against the arcaded 
 eaves-cornices, which are very elaborate and heavy ; 
 nor can I bring myself to like the great fiat gable, 
 covering both nave and aisles, and divided only by 
 pilaster strips, which characterizes so many mediseval 
 Italian churches. In this west front of S. Francesco 
 the cornices and the mouldings of the small circular 
 windows are all of brick, and the rest of the front 
 of stone, the rose window having voussoirs of black 
 and white marble. The only other part of the 
 church which appeared to be of any interest was a 
 brick campanile on the north side of the choir : this 
 had brick belfry windows, well treated with simple 
 plate tracery. 
 
 The sun was at its hottest as we wandered about 
 the streets of Brescia ; but there was so much pleasure 
 in the examination of the busy people who thronged 
 its narrow tortuous streets, that we enjoyed it very 
 much. In Italian towns too there is not much diffi- 
 culty in finding the way ; we ask the road to some 
 church, and forthwith, in place of a long and not very 
 intelligible direction, in which we are sure entirely to 
 confuse our right hand with our left, the person we 
 ask turns round with us, walks by our side, shows us 
 our object, and, politely taking off his hat and bowing, 
 takes leave of us. It was by such aid as this that we 
 found the church of the Carmini, which is another 
 very late pointed church ; the west front is most fan- 
 tastic and unpleasing, and the pinnacles composed of 
 round bricks, disposed alternately over each other, and 
 common in Yerona as well as in Brescia, are very 
 ugly ; there is, however, a good simple cloister at- 
 tached to the church on the north ; it is of the same 
 design as almost all in this part of the world, having 
 simple round shafts with carved caps and circular 
 
BRESCIA. 
 
 71 
 
 arches. There was another cloister beyond, which, 
 like many others in these parts, appeared to be occupied 
 by the ever-present Austrian soldiery. 
 
 One of the most picturesque spots in the city is the 
 Piazza, at the end of which stands the Palazzo della 
 Loggia : the effect on coming into it from the narrow 
 streets in which we had been wandering was very 
 pleasant, the large open space being surrounded with 
 rather elaborate Eenaissance work, with rich coloured 
 sun-blinds projecting from the windows over the sunny 
 pavement, which in its turn was thronged with people 
 in picturesque attire selling fruit and vegetables. The 
 streets are all arcaded, and some of them have con- 
 siderable remains of frescoes on the exterior, giving 
 much interest to the otherwise ugly walls ; they have, 
 however, suffered very greatly from exposure, and 
 are only in places intelligible ; still they give external 
 colour, and are therefore valuable in one s recollections 
 of Brescia. 
 
 Compared with Bergamo, Brescia has the air of a 
 smarter and busier place ; iU streets are wider and 
 better paved, and the smells which s-till greeted us 
 were not (juite so bad as there. Tlie staple manufacture 
 of the city seems to be that of copper vessels ; shop 
 after shop, indeed street after street, was full of copper- 
 smiths' shops; the men all sitting at work, and keeping 
 up a ceaseless din of hammering, in open shops, so 
 that all the world may see them. Nor is the copper- 
 smith's the only trade that loves publicity, for here as 
 elsewhere the barbers' shops are very amusini,^ (juite 
 open in front, with perhaps a yellow curtain hanging 
 down half way, affecting only to conceal the invit- 
 ing interior, which however is always sufficiently visi- 
 ble, occupied in the centre ])y a chair, on which sits 
 the customer gravely holding a soap-dish to his cliin 
 
72 
 
 A DUSTY ROAD. 
 
 Chap. V. 
 
 whilst the barber operates ; and this going on all day 
 makes one begin to think that shaving is, after all, one 
 of the great works of a man's time ! 
 
 When we left Brescia the heat was intense ; the 
 road, too, was deep in dust to an extent not to 
 be understood in England. There had been a 
 drought of some weeks' duration, and the much-tra- 
 velled road from Milan to Yerona, along which our 
 way now lay, plainly told the tale which the sad faces 
 of every one as they talked about the failure of the 
 vintage, and the dry, parched, cracked-looking earth 
 on each side of our way, amply confirmed. Unluckily 
 for ourselves we had not taken the advice of our 
 driver to have a close vehicle, but had insisted upon 
 having an open carriage, the consequence of which 
 piece of self-will was that we had hard work, even 
 with the aid of umbrellas and so forth, to protect 
 ourselves from coups-de-soleil. We now learnt that in 
 hot weather in Italy it is not always the best plan to 
 have as much of the sun as one can get. In England 
 it always is, but he who acts on his English experience 
 — as we did — in Italy, will surely repent — as we did — 
 his mistake. 
 
 We managed, however, to exist through the clouds 
 of dust, relieved perhaps by the sight of a regiment 
 of swarthy and debauched-looking Austrian soldiers 
 marching through the sun and dust, many of them 
 with their knapsacks and arms, but all with great- 
 coats on to preserve their white uniforms. When we 
 saw them we could not help contrasting our relative 
 lots, and then, feeling how much worse off they were 
 than ourselves, we went on a little more contentedly 
 than before. The road, too, became slightly more 
 interesting ; instead of miles upon miles of straight 
 lines, we had a more winding way, and after a time 
 
CllAl'. V. 
 
 DEZINZANO. 
 
 73 
 
 occasional ])eautiful glimpses of the mountains which 
 marked to us the situation of the Lago di Garda. 
 
 We drove without stopping through Donato, a 
 place of no interest apparently save for the huge dome 
 of its church, and then, passing under a very fine 
 viaduct which carries the railway (which soon after 
 our return liome was opened) above the road upon a 
 noble range of pointed arches, we commenced the 
 descent towards the town of Dezinzano, beyond and 
 above whose roofs stretched the beautiful expanse of 
 lair Lago di Garda, with its great calm surface, and 
 glorious group of distant mountains hemming in with 
 picturesque and irregular outline its upper end. 
 
 We soon reached the wretched and desolate streets 
 of the town, and, diving into the dark court of the not 
 over-clean looking hotel, gave ourselves up for a 
 couple of hours to the contempUition of the quiet 
 loveliness of the scene. The contrast between tlie flat 
 shores of the lower part of the lake and the mountains 
 whicli crowd around its upper end is very striking, 
 and to this it is that Dezinzano owes all that it has of 
 interest. We strolled out for a short time, looked at 
 vvasliervvomen kneeling in small tubs on the edge of the 
 lake, and wasliing their linen upon tlie smooth face of 
 the stones which pave its shore, and then went on, as 
 in duty bound, to look into the church. This we 
 found to be neither very old nor very interesting, but 
 curious as illustrating the extent to which, in Italy, 
 the practice is sometinnis carried of putting altars 
 in every direction without reference to their orienta- 
 tion. Here tlie high altar and some others faced due 
 south, whilst most of the remaining ones faced east, and 
 I think scarcely one west ! We waited patiently for 
 our horses to bait about a couple of hours, and then, 
 finding from our host that ii' we wished to sleej) in 
 
74 
 
 VERONA. 
 
 Chap. V. 
 
 Verona we must be there before the gates were shut, 
 and the afternoon being already far spent, we urged 
 our driver to expedite his proceedings, and, jumping 
 into our carriage, were soon again on our way, en- 
 joying the cooler air and the less dusty roads all the 
 more by contrast with what we had suffered in the 
 early part of the day. 
 
 We soon passed through Peschiera, a small but 
 very completely fortified place, situated just where the 
 Mincio falls out of the lake, and then slowly and 
 steadily made our way on to old Verona. This part 
 of our ride was most glorious, mainly on account 
 of a sunset such as I never saw before, and such as, I 
 suppose, only Italy ever knows ; lasting, moreover, so 
 long, now fading and now again lighting up the sky 
 and mountains, that it hardly seemed as if the glo- 
 rious light could bear to part from so fair an earth ! 
 Part, however, it did at last ; and then, as we anxiously 
 questioned our driver about our distance from Verona, 
 we found that he did not expect to be there in time to 
 get within its walls before the gates were closed. This, 
 however, would not do, and so, by dint of much talk- 
 ing, we got him to urge on his tired horses, and in 
 good time we rumbled over a drawbridge and through 
 a frowning gateway, gave up our passport to an 
 Austrian soldier, drove by a large barrack, then before 
 the grand old front of S. Zenone, by the gloomy walls 
 of the old castle, into a street of palaces, long, narrow, 
 and gloomy-looking, then under a narrow archway 
 into the centre of the city, and still on and on until at 
 last in the narrowest part we turn sharp rounds and 
 the Torre di Londra opens its hospitable arms for our 
 reception. We are absolutely at last in Verona, and 
 at last, as we deem, in the closest neighbourhood with 
 the best Italian pointed work that we are to see. 
 
S.— CAMPANILE, PALAZZO SCALIGERI, VERONA. 
 
 Page 75. 
 
("HAP. VI. 
 
 VERONA. 
 
 75 
 
 CHAPTER Vr. 
 
 " Como, go with me — Go, sirrah, tnidge ahout 
 
 Througli fair Verona." — Jiomeo and Juliet, act i. scene 2. 
 
 Verona: Campanile of the Palazzo dci Signori — Sta. Anastasia — Monu- 
 ments — Piazza delP Krbe — The Duomo — Sta. Maria PAntica — 
 Cemetery and palace of the Scaligers — Domestic architecture — Piazza 
 di P>ra — The Aiistrians — Ponte di Castcl-Vecchio — S. Zcnone — 
 S. Fermo Maggiore — Chapel near the Uuomo — Komeo and Juliet — 
 Dwarfs — Wells. 
 
 Wk reached Verona on a Saturday night, and were up 
 early on Sunday morning, anxious to get a general 
 idea of the city. But I was no sooner out of my bed 
 than I saw, over the roofs of tlie opposite buildings, 
 the glorious campanile of the Palazzo dei Signori, a 
 magniticent, lofty, simple, and almost unbroken piece 
 of brickwork, rising, I suppose, at least three hundred 
 feet into the air, and pierced with innumerable scaffold- 
 holes, in and out of which, as we looked, liew countless 
 beautiful doves, wliose choice of a home in the walls of 
 this tall Verona tower will make me think kindly of 
 putlog-holes for the future. Certainly, if the Italian 
 and English principles of tower-building are to be 
 compared with one another, the Italian need give no 
 fairer example of its power than this wonderfully 
 simple and grand erection. 
 
 It rises, as we found afterwards, out of a large pile 
 of l)uildings, and for a short distance above their roofs 
 is built in alternate courses of brick and a very warm- 
 
76 
 
 VEKONA. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 coloured stone, and then entirely in brick, pierced with 
 only one or two small openings, and terminating with 
 a most gloriously simple belfry stage ; the belfry win- 
 dows, with their arches formed without mouldings 
 and with the sharp edges only of brick and stone used 
 alternately, are divided into three lights by coupled 
 shafts of shining marble ; the shafts, being coupled 
 one behind the other, and thus giving strength with 
 great lightness, are very striking in their effect. They 
 have, too, remarkably large balconies, but without 
 balustrading of any kind. The upper and octangular 
 stage of the campanile is I think comparatively mo- 
 dern, but perhaps rather improves the whole effect. 
 
 I could hardly tear myself away from this glorious 
 fellow, but much more was to be seen, so I dallied not 
 long before I set forth on a journey of discovery, 
 giving myself up gladly to heat and ecclesiology. 
 
 The first thing seen on turning out of the Torre 
 di Londra is the west front of the church of Sta. 
 Anastasia, looking so beautiful at the end of the 
 narrow street whose dark shade contrasts with the 
 bright sunshine which plays upon its noble arched 
 marble doorway and frescoed tympanum, and lights 
 up by some kind of magic the rough brickwork with 
 which the unfinished church has been left, that, as you 
 gaze, thoughts pass across your mind of portions of 
 some lovely painting or some sweeter dream ; you feel 
 as though Fra Angelico might have painted such a 
 door in a Paradise, and as though it were too fair to be 
 real. There, however, it is, rich and delicate in colour, 
 shining with all the delicate tints of the red marble 
 of Verona, pure and simple in its softly-shadowed 
 mouldings, beautiful in its proportions, and on a 
 nearer approach revealing through the dark shade of 
 its opening, and over and beyond the people who early 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 STA. ANASTASIA. 
 
 77 
 
 and late throng in and ont, the vague and misty 
 forms of the glorious interior. 
 
 Sta. Anastasia is altogether about the noblest pointed 
 church in the north of Italy/ and deserves, therefore, 
 a rather detailed description. The plan is very simple 
 — a nave of seven bays, one of which is the crossing of 
 the transept, a very short choir of one bay with an 
 apse of five sides, and two chapels on the east side of 
 each transept. The nave aisles are very narrow, and 
 the whole design is characterised by intense simplicity 
 of detail and arrangement. The great width of the 
 nave, and the great height of the columns and arches, 
 give, on entering, an idea of vast space and size. 
 The columns are very simple, cylindrical in section, 
 and support arches built of brick, and only cham- 
 fered at the edge ; from the caps of the columns Hat 
 pilasters run up to the commencement of the groining, 
 and above the nave arcades there are two small cir- 
 cular openings, one in the place of a triforium opening 
 into the roof of the aisle, the other above it, filled in 
 with plate tracery in stone, and forming the only 
 a[)()l()gy for a clerestory. 
 
 The whole is so simple that it depends very much 
 for its effect on the painting which covers almost every 
 part of it, and which harmonizes well with the archi- 
 tectural lines. 
 
 The decorations appear to have been done, or, at 
 any rate, commenced, within a short period of the com- 
 pletion of the church, and are therefore very valu- 
 able. The ground of the painting is white, many of 
 the patterns of borders and the like being very elabo- 
 rate compositions of flowers and foliage. The main 
 arches are painted to represent voussoirs of red 
 
 ' I mean the noblest distinctly Italian cluircli in the north of Italy : 
 Milan cathedral is, no doubt, nobler, but hardly at all distinctively Italian. 
 
78 
 
 VERONA. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 brick and stone, but I am inclined to think that they 
 are really entirely of brick ; their soffits, which are 
 very broad and flat, are all painted with large scroll 
 patterns of foliage. In the groining the diagonal 
 ribs are painted at the intersection with stripes of 
 colour alternating with white, and on each side of all 
 the ribs a wide border of foliage is painted, whilst in 
 the centre of each groining-cell some large device is 
 painted in a medallion, some of these being merely 
 ornamental, others having figures. The detail of 
 much of the painting is cinquecento in its cha- 
 racter, and not valuable as an example to be literally 
 copied,^ but its general effect is certainly very beau- 
 tiful, and it is worthy of all praise in respect of the 
 strictness with which it is kept subservient to the 
 architecture, and in some respects, indeed, even serves 
 to atone for its deficiencies, as e. g. in the broad painted 
 horizontal borders, which take the place, very success- 
 fully, of brick or stone string-courses, which in the 
 construction are entirely omitted. 
 
 It surprised me, I confess, very much to find a 
 church painted throughout without any use of gold, 
 and yet with good result ; yet so it is ; the effect is most 
 solemn and religious, and very rich in colour, and I 
 think there is absolutely no gold used ; the fact is, 
 that the white ground answers the purpose in a de- 
 gree, though of course not to the full extent that 
 gold would. 
 
 But if the walls are beautiful in their colour, not 
 less so is the pavement, which, from one end of the 
 church to the other, remains to this day to all appear- 
 
 ^ This painting seems to Lave been followed to a considerable extent in 
 the painting of the chapel at Merton College, Oxford. Admirable drawings 
 of it have been published by Mr. Griiner, and 1 have thought it better 
 therefore not to engrave my sketches of the interior. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 ST A. 
 
 ANASTASIA. 
 
 79 
 
 ance just as it was on the day that the church was 
 finished. The nave and transepts are all in one pattern, 
 the spaces between the columns in a variety of beautiful 
 patterns, and divided from the nave and aisle pave- 
 ments by a strip of white marble on each side, and the 
 aisles again are in the same pattern. The colours of 
 the marbles used are white, red, and bluish grey, and 
 there is a quiet richness of effect in their arrangement 
 which is exceedingly beautiful. Such a pavement must 
 unhappily be for ever ItaUan, and we in England can 
 scarce hope ever to attain to anything so exquisite ; 
 but we do not well to forget that by the mixture 
 of a small quantity only of marble with our encaustic 
 tiles we should attain to much greater beauty of effect 
 than we can by the use of tiles alone, and there are 
 many towns — as e. g. Plymouth — tlie very pavement 
 of whose streets is of a material which might most 
 advantageously be introduced, as it has not yet been, 
 inside the walls of our sanctuaries, as well as under tlie 
 feet of every passer along tlie streets. 
 
 The window tracery of Sta. Anastasia is ratlier sin- 
 gular, thoroughly plate tracery, consisting apparently 
 of mere piercings through the stone without moulding: 
 most of the windows are of two very lofty trefoiled 
 liglits with circles and trefoils pierced above, very sim- 
 ple and severe, and remarkable for the quaint way in 
 which the cusping is arranged, not with some refer- 
 ence to vertical lines, as is ordinarily the case witli us, 
 but just as fancy or chance seems to have dictated. 
 
 There is a curious but not very happily treated ar- 
 rangement inside — a step all round the inside walls, 
 projecting some three or four feet from them, and 
 panelled all round against the riser, with a small tre- 
 foil arcading : the whole of it is in red marble. 
 
 Externally the church is almost entirely built in red 
 
80 
 
 VEKONA. 
 
 Chap. V\. 
 
 brick with rich cornices : the windows have brick jambs 
 with stone tracery, and on the north side of the choir 
 is a fine lofty campanile, finished at the top with a low 
 octangular capping, very plain, and unpierced with 
 openings, except in the belfry stage. Of the west front 
 
 o.JEuirr.oc. 
 
 Door-frame — Sta. Anastasia. 
 
 only the doorway has been completed ; this is in courses 
 of red, grey, and white marble, and most effective : the 
 rest of the front is left in brick finished exceedingly 
 roughly with a view to leaving a key for the marbles 
 with which, no doubt, it was intended to veneer the 
 entire front. The wooden framework of this door, of 
 which I give a detail, is very curious ; it is of deal, 
 coeval with the doorway, and the framework is exter- 
 nal, not internal. 
 
 On the morning on which we first saw Sta. Anas- 
 tasia we went in just as a sermon was concluded at 
 which a portion of an Austrian regiment had been pre- 
 sent. We found them ranged in order in the nave ; 
 several words of command were loudly given, the men 
 put on their hats, shouldered arms, moved into march- 
 ing order, and then marched out of church. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 MONUMENTS. 
 
 81 
 
 The west front of the churcli stands in a small 
 piazza, on the north side of which is the little church of 
 S. Pietro Martire, between the east end of which and 
 Sta. Anastasia is a wall dividing a small burial- ^yroiind 
 from the Piazzetta ; on the top of this wall, and sup- 
 ported upon corbels, is one of those monuments pecu- 
 liarly associated with Verona, because so numerous 
 there, though they are often met with elsewhere in 
 Ttaly : they are eitlier large pyramidal canopies sup- 
 ported upon trefoiled arches resting on four marl^le 
 shafts, with a kind of sarcophagus or an effigy beneath ; 
 or else, when attached to a wall, they have two detached 
 shafts supporting the same kind of trefoiled arch and 
 surmounted by a flattish pediment. Their effect is 
 almost invariably beautiful in the extreme, and their 
 one radical and condemning defect is, that they all re- 
 quire to be held together by rods of iron connecting 
 the capitals of the columns. This, however, is soon 
 forgotten when one feels that there is no pretence 
 ever or anywhere at its ccmcealment. Notwithstand- 
 ing this defect, one cannot help loving and admiring 
 them ; for there is a grace and beauty about the form 
 and proportion of the Veronese trefoiled arch, such as 
 is never seen, I think, elsewhere, and the very liatness 
 of the carving and the absence of deep moulding seem 
 all ad()])ted in order that nothing may interfere with 
 the simple l:)eauty of the outline of the arch. In this 
 case tlie monument is supported on a large slab of stone 
 corbelled forward and balanced upon the top of a thin 
 wall over the archway which leads into the churchj-ard 
 of San Pietro. Pour shafts with sculptured capitals, 
 resting on the angles of this slab, supi)orl lour trefoiled 
 arches, those at the ends wider than tlfe others, and 
 almost destitute of moulding save that the outer line of 
 the arch has a broad band of delicate sculpture all round 
 
 a 
 
82 
 
 VERONA. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 it. The arch terminates in a kind of small cross, 
 and above on each side is a very flat pediment, moulded 
 and finished on the under side with one of the favourite 
 Italian arcaded corbel -tables ; the finish is a heavy 
 pyramidal mass of stone rising from behind the pedi- 
 ments. The four bearing-shafts are of white marble, 
 all the rest of the monument of red. Within the four 
 supporting shafts stands a kind of sarcophagus, sup- 
 ported on the backs of coucliant lions, very plain, but 
 ornamented at the angles in very classic fashion and 
 bearing a recumbent effigy. 
 
 The church of S. Pietro has three or four smaller 
 monuments of the same type enclosed within its 
 small court-yard ; but the finest is the one I have just 
 described, as one of the features of the Piazzetta of Sta. 
 Anastasia on the wall over the entrance to the church- 
 yard. The church itself is small but interesting ; it is 
 of brick with a stone canopy on shafts corbelled out 
 above the west door ; the buttresses are mere pilasters, 
 and run up without any weathering till they finish 
 in an arcaded corbel-table at the eaves ; the windows 
 have wide brick splays outside, and trefoil heads of stone 
 without any chamfer or moulding ; on the south side, 
 
 Door-frame — S. Pietro Martiro. 
 
( 'iTAP. vr. 
 
 IMAZZA DKFJ/ EHRE. 
 
 88 
 
 Uw churcli — in point of size a mere chapel — is divided 
 into four bays, one of which has a monument corbelled 
 out by the side of the window. Tt is built entirely of 
 red brick, and not relieved by coursin^^ in any way, 
 except that the window arches are in alternate vous- 
 soirs of brick and stone. The wooden framework of the 
 west door deserves notice as being very unlike the Eng-. 
 lish mode of door-framing, and very good in its effect. 
 The accompanying sketch will best explain it : and it 
 must be understood that, instead of being internal, as 
 such framing is in England, in this example it is ex- 
 ternal, just as in the somewhat similar door of Sta. 
 Anastasia, of which I have already made mention. 
 
 Turning back from the Piazzetta of Sta. Anastasia, 
 and traversing again the narrow and gratefully shady 
 street by which we reached it, we soon found ourselves 
 at the end of the Piazza dell' Erbe, the most picturesque 
 s(piare in the city, and at an early hour cm Sunday 
 morning quite a sight to be seen. I'he whole open 
 space was as full as it could be of dealers in vegetables 
 and fruits, each of them protecting himself and liis 
 stores I'rom the intense glare ol* the sun under the 
 shade of a j)rodigious uml)rella, at least five times as 
 large as any of ordinary size, and certainly five times 
 as bright in its colours, the prevailing colour being a 
 very bright red; altogether it was a thoroughly loreign 
 scene. The houses, some ancient, but all pictures(pie 
 and irregular, surrounding the irregularly-shaped Piazza, 
 the magnificent campanile of the Scaligeri Palace rising 
 proudly behind the houses on the left, the fountain in 
 the centre, and the great column of pure Veronese 
 marble rising close to us, which at one time bore the. 
 winged lion — mark of the dominion of the Venetians 
 — all combine to produce a very striking picture. An 
 hour or two later in the day when we passed, the people, 
 
 G 2 
 
84 
 
 VERONA. 
 
 Chap. VT. 
 
 the umbrellas, and the fruit were all gone, and some- 
 what of the charm of the place was gone with them. 
 
 From the Piazza dell' Erbe we went to the cathe- 
 dral, anxious to see and hear somewhat of the service. 
 There was a great throng of people, and we had some 
 difficulty in finding even standing-room among them ; 
 we were not at all sorry, however, to have gone, for 
 we came in for a sermon most energetically preached, 
 and enforcing in very powerful language the necessity 
 of repentance. The pulpit was very large, and as the 
 preacher delivered his sermon he walked from side to 
 side, and often repeated again to those on his left the 
 substance of what he had already said to those on his 
 right. The people, who crowded every available place 
 within hearing, were exceedingly silent and attentive ; 
 and at intervals the preacher stopped for a minute to 
 cough and use his handkerchief, which was a signal 
 for an immediate general blowing of noses and cough- 
 ing all over the church. The "J^ hen infeliciV with 
 which he commenced his sermon, was a good index to 
 its whole tone, and makes me remember with pleasure 
 the vast crowd listening to Christian doctrine in the 
 grand nave of the Duo mo. Would that we could see 
 any prospect of the day when in England our larger 
 churches may be used in this way, when, with pews 
 and all their concomitant evils swept away, we may 
 see a vast crowd standing and sitting, leaving no pas- 
 sage-way and no waste room, anxious only that they 
 may, by pressing near, hear every word of warning and 
 of advice ! The nave of Westminster, so thronged, 
 would soon show how great has been our mistake in 
 leaving our large churches so long unused. 
 
 The Duomo is really a very noble church, Eoman- 
 esque in its shell, but altered completely internally in 
 the fourteenth century. The columns in the interior 
 
ClIAP. VI. 
 
 TUK UUOMO. 
 
 85 
 
 are very lofty, of red inarl)le, and, instead of bein<»' 
 plain and cylindrical, as at Sta. Anastasia, are clus- 
 tered and very noble in their effect. Their capitals 
 are, however, very heavy, and the carving of the 
 foHage on them not satisfactory. The whole interior 
 is very solemn, and specially beautiful on this bright 
 September day, with ahnost all the light excluded by 
 red damask curtains — here and there a stray gleam of 
 the most intensely bright light finding its way through 
 some chink, lighting up with sudden brilliancy the 
 deep cool shade, and, reflected from the bright surface 
 of some great marble shaft, suggesting the grandeur 
 which can hardly really be seen. 
 
 The choir is divided from the nave by a screen of 
 marble, consisting of detached columns with Ionic 
 capitals and a continuous cornice, the whole screen 
 semicircular in ]^lan, and coming forward into the nave. 
 This, the work ol" Sanniiclieli, is certainly about the 
 most effective work ol' this kind and age that 1 have 
 seen. 
 
 The west front of the Duomo is still in the main 
 original. It has a noble porch su})ported on shafts 
 (whose bases rest on the backs of lions), and of two 
 stages in height, a fiat pediment surmounting the 
 upper space. Another flat pedimental cornice is carried 
 over the whole front at the same level ; but out of this 
 rises above the central portion a wall the width of the 
 nave and height of the clerestory, which is again sur- 
 mounted by a third flat pediment — a confused and 
 not very graceful arrangement, which found an imi- 
 tator in Palladio, when he built that ugliest of fronts, 
 the west end of S. Giorgio INIaggiore at Venice. 
 
 The windows at the ends of the aisles are very Ita- 
 lian in their character. They are insertions in the 
 wall of two narrow lights within an enclosing arch, 
 
86 
 
 VERONA. 
 
 Chap. VT. 
 
 which is again surrounded by a square Hne of moulding. 
 The effect of this not uncommon Italian arrangement 
 is exceedingly unsatisfactory, as it appears to make the 
 window with its arch and tracery quite indepen- 
 dent, constructively, of the wall in which it is placed, 
 and, as it were, merely veneered on the face of the 
 wall. 
 
 On the north side of the cathedral is a cloister of 
 good detail, and originally of two stages in height, but 
 considerably altered in parts. It is exceedingly simi- 
 lar to the noble cloister of San Zenone, which I must 
 describe presently. 
 
 And now that we have visited two of the great 
 churches, we must no longer delay our visit to the 
 church of Sta. Maria I'Antica, whose small burial- 
 ground is fenced from the busy thoroughfares, which 
 on two sides bound it, by an iron raiUng of most ex- 
 quisite design, divided at intervals by piers of stone 
 on whose summits stand gazing upwards as in prayer, 
 or downwards as in warning to those who pass below, 
 a beautiful series of saintly figures. Within, a glo- 
 rious assemblage of monuments meets the eye — one 
 over the entrance doorway, the others either towering 
 up in picturesque confusion above the railing which 
 has been their guardian from all damage for so many 
 centuries, or meekly hiding their humility behind 
 the larger masses of their companions. 
 
 The monuments are all to the members of one family 
 — the Scaligeri — who seem to have risen to power in 
 the thirteenth century, and to have held sway in 
 Yerona until almost the end of the fourteenth. In this 
 space of time it was, therefore, that these monuments 
 were erected, and they are consequently of singular 
 interest, not only for the excessive beauty of the group 
 of marble and stone which, in the busiest highway of 
 
Chap. VT. 
 
 STA. MARIA L'AXTICA. 
 
 87 
 
 the city, amonf^ tall houses and crowds of people, has 
 made this cliurchyard, for some five hundred years, 
 the central point of architectural interest, but because 
 they give us dated examples of the best pointed work 
 during nearly the whole time of its prevalence in 
 Verona. In the monument of the first Duke we see 
 the elements of that beauty which, after ascending to 
 perfection in that of another, again descends surely and 
 certainly in the monument of Can Signorio, the largest 
 and most elaborate of all, and, therefore, I am afraid, 
 the most commonly admired, but the one which shows 
 most evidence of the rise of the Ivcnaissance spirit, and 
 the fall of true art. Nor is it, I think, to be forgotten, 
 as an evidence of the kind of moral turpitude which so 
 often precedes or accompanies the fall of art, that this 
 Can Signorio first murdered his own brother Can- 
 grande 11. that he might obtain his inheritance, and 
 then, before he died, erected his own niouunK'iit, and 
 adorned it with effigies of SS. (^uirinus, Valentine, 
 Martin, George, Sigismund, and Louis, together with 
 allegorical figures of the Virtues with whom he of all 
 men had least right to associate himself in death, 
 when in life he had ever despised them ; and the in- 
 scription, which records the name of the architect on 
 this monument, does but record the vanity of him wdio 
 was content thus to j)aiider to the wretched Can Sig- 
 norio 's desire to excuse the memory of his atrocious 
 life by the sight of an immense cenotaph. 
 
 The tomb of Cangrande 1. forms the portal of the 
 church as well as the monument of the first and 
 greatest of the family. It is perhaps altogether the 
 least faulty of all ; the shafts which bear the pyra- 
 midal canopy are supported on corbels ; between 
 them is a simple sarcophagus scul])tured with bas- 
 reliefs, and upon it lies Cangrande with his arms 
 
88 
 
 VERONA. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 crossed in resignation and faith. At the top of the 
 pyramidal covering is the figure of the brave knight 
 riding forth to war on his gaily caparisoned steed. 
 
 JSText to this monument in date, as in merit, is that 
 of Mastino II., wanting perhaps in some of the 
 severe simplicity of the other, but even more strik- 
 ing, as it stands at the angle of the cemetery, and a 
 thoroughly grand, lofty, and noble erection. It is of 
 two stages in height, the lower unimportant, and only 
 serving as a means of raising the monument suffi- 
 ciently high to be well seen from the exterior ; upon 
 this stand four shafts, between which, and supported 
 upon four much smaller shafts, is the sarcophagus 
 which supports the recumbent effigy, at whose head 
 stand angels with expanded wings ^ guarding the de- 
 ceased. The sarcophagus is adorned with bas-reliefs — 
 that on the west side being the Crucifixion — and en- 
 gaged angle-shafts. The four main bearing-shafts at 
 the angles of the monument have finely-carved caps 
 with square abaci from which rise nobly simple trefoiled 
 arches with steep pediments on each side filled with 
 sculpture in relief, and between these are exquisitely 
 simple niches^ each a miniature reproduction of the 
 entire monument, and containing between their deli- 
 cate detached shafts figures of saints, the whole being 
 finished with a heavy pyramidal capping, crocketed at 
 the angles with crockets so abominable in their shape 
 and carving that they go far to spoil the entire noble 
 work, and surmounted by the figure of the Capitano del 
 Popolo, spear in hand, riding on his war-horse ; the 
 horse and horseman riding with their faces towards 
 the setting sun, as all in life must ever ride ; the effigy 
 below lying so that at the last day the beams of the 
 
 ^ The wings of these angels are of metal, though the figures are them- 
 selves of marble. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 STA. MARIA L'ANTICA. 
 
 89 
 
 dciy-sttir in the east may first meet its view, and 
 awaken liim that sleepeth here in peace. 
 
 This contrary position of the figure in life and in 
 death, observed also in otliers of these monuments, is 
 an evidence of the care and thou<j^l it fulness which 
 every detail of these noble works was wrought out. 
 
 The monument of Can Signorio is not worthy of so 
 long a description ; it is octagonal in its plan, and in 
 many respects Ix'low the idea shadowed out so beauti- 
 fully in the others ; and the reduplication of niches and 
 gables, far from improving, only perplexes the design ; 
 and when to this is added that the carving throughout, 
 as well as the other details, shows strong signs of a 
 leaning towards Kenaissance, one may see some reason 
 why tliis, the most elaborate and complicated of all 
 the monuments, is after all far from being the most 
 successful. 
 
 Mastino II. died in the year l."^")l, and we may 
 therefore, I think, look upon his monument as a fair 
 enough example of Italian architecture just at the 
 period at which in Hngland it had reached its 
 culminating point ; a careful examination of it 
 cannot, therefore, be tlirown away. In the first 
 place, I must notice that the sculpture, which has 
 the air of being rather s])aringly used as too sacred 
 a thing to be idly or profusely employed, is ex- 
 ceedingly good. The foliage is almost always very 
 closely copied from natural forms, very thin and 
 delicate in its texture, and thus really presenting to 
 the gazer that idealized petrifaction of nature which it 
 ought always to be the sculptor's effort to give, and 
 not, as is, I fear, too frequently the case, even in 
 good English work, so profusely scattered over the 
 whole surface as to give one a sense of its lack of 
 great value. The worst part of the carving is, as I 
 
90 
 
 VEKONA; 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 have before said, that of the crockets, which are as 
 bad as the worst modern Gothic could be. The sculp- 
 ture of the human figure is throughout very noble ; 
 remarkable for simple, bold, deep folds in the dra- 
 peries, quite Gothic in its spirit, and much more akin 
 to our best fourteenth-century work than to any 
 classic examples. 
 
 As an example of the science of moulding this work 
 is however valueless ; there is absolutely no moulding 
 upon it ; and why should there be ? Would it have 
 been well that the lovely marble, whose brilliant white 
 gloss was sure ere long to be stained with dark streaks 
 of black by the beating of rain and the staining of age, 
 whilst here and there the white would stand out more 
 brilliantly than ever, — would it have been well, I say, 
 that this should have been still further streaked with 
 deep lines of many mouldings ? Most assuredly not : 
 the architect had to deal with a material which best 
 takes its polish and exhibits its beauty and purity 
 when used in flat surfaces and in shallow carving, and 
 he did right therefore in not moulding it as he would 
 have moulded stone. 
 
 But the grand point in which such work is an ex- 
 ample to us is in the value which it shows us that we 
 ought to place upon the simple detached circular shaft, 
 and, next, in the beauty and strength of effect which 
 the cusping of a large arch in a proper manner gives. 
 In these two points this monimient and all its class 
 teach us a lesson which we ought not to be unwilling 
 to learn, and which, if we at all wish to develop 
 beyond the point at which our own ancestors ever 
 arrived, we must not fail to adopt in our own work. 
 
 There is a sharpness and hardness about the lines of 
 the arches however which perhaps almost verges upon 
 rudeness, and, though I can see that it may be fairly 
 
ClIAP. VI. 
 
 STA. MARIA L'ANTTCA. 
 
 01 
 
 defended, I could yet wish tluit it miglit have been 
 softened. 
 
 And now 1 must bid farewell to this lovely spot, 
 the most attractive certainly, to me, in Verona. The 
 situation of the monuments, rather huddled tog-ether, 
 with the old church behind them, the archway into 
 the Piazza dei Signori on the other side, and tlie 
 
 Crest of nicLil railing — Verona. 
 
 beautiful iron grille which surrounds them, the number 
 of saintly and warlike figures, and the confused mass 
 of pinnacle and shaft, half obscured by the nuling, 
 
 Mclal railing — \'erun.i. 
 
92 
 
 VEEONA. 
 
 Chap. YI. 
 
 do, I verily believe, make the cemetery of Sta. Maria 
 I'Antica one of the most striking spots in the world 
 for the study of Christian art in perfection. What 
 either Cologne Cathedral, or Ratisbon, or the Wiesen- 
 Kirclie at Soest is to Glermany, the Choir of West- 
 minster Abbey or the Chapter-House at Southwell to 
 England, Amiens Cathedral or the Sainte Chapelle of 
 Paris to France, that is the Cemetery of the Scaligeri 
 in Yerona to Italy, — the spot, i. e., where at a glance 
 the whole essence of the system of a school of artists 
 may be comprehended, lavished on a small but most 
 stately effort of their genius. 
 
 Close to their burial-place stands also the Palace of 
 the Scaligers. The old portion of this fronts towards 
 the Piazza dei Signori, a small square used only by 
 foot-passengers, and surrounded by elaborate Renais- 
 sance work. The building still forms a quadrangle, 
 out of one angle of which rises the immense cam- 
 panile which I have already noticed, and v/hich is said 
 to have been erected by Can Signorio about a.d. 1368, 
 though I confess I sliould have thought that a rather 
 earlier date would have tallied better with its style. 
 Beside this the most striking feature is the external 
 staircase in the courtyard, whose treatment, of a kind 
 not uncommon in ancient Italian architecture, is 
 striking and very beautiful, though I fear very weak 
 and unstable, if I may judge by the number of the 
 iron bars by which it is held together. 
 
 In a street close to the monuments of the Scaligers, 
 whose name I have forgotten, but in a line with the 
 Viccolo Cavaletto, I found a most valuable example of 
 domestic work in a very fairly perfect state. As far 
 as I could make it out, it consisted originally of three 
 sides of a quadrangle, the fourth side towards the 
 
-COURT-YARD OK OLD HODSE. VERONA. 
 
ClIAP. VI. 
 
 DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 93 
 
 street being enclosed l)y a wall iind arched gateway. 
 The Iniildings all had arcades on the ground-line, 
 forming a kind of cloister, and the staircase to the 
 first floor was external, and built against the wall on 
 the road-side. A great many alterations have been 
 made in the house at various times, but in the sketch 
 which I give I have shown so much only of it as 
 appeared to belong to the original foundation. In its 
 construction pointed and round arches seem to have 
 been used quite indiscriminately, and in some of the 
 arches the deptli ol" the vonssoirs incroasos towards the 
 centre of the arch, f 
 noticed this in several 
 buildings afterwards, 
 and I was always as 
 much pleased as at tlu^ 
 first with the nobh' 
 effect of strengtli and 
 good proportion whicli 
 it produces. Most of 
 the arches are built with 
 alternate voussoirs ol" 
 brick and stone, ljut Ix'- 
 yond the outside line 
 of the brick and stone 
 arch there is invariably 
 a line of very thin 
 bricks laid all round the 
 arch, delicately defining 
 without pretending to 
 strengthen the main arch, just as a label does with 
 US: I noticed too, generally, that this thin brick 
 was of a deeper better colour than the other bricks, 
 which are seldom any better than the conmion English 
 
 I>oor\vay — old house. Verona. 
 
94 
 
 VERONA. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 ones, and are always built with very coarse joints. 
 This house is finished at the top with the quaint 
 forked or swallow-tailed battlement, so characteristic 
 of Yerona, that I must call it the Veronese battlement 
 for distinction, and which, as we found afterwards, was 
 
 Windows — old house, Verona, 
 
 in use at Mantua, Cremona, and for some distance 
 south of Yerona, but which must, I think, first have 
 arisen in Yerona. 
 
 Brick battlement — Viccolo Cavaletto, Verona. 
 
 I am not. pretending to journalize regularly, but 
 rather to note down the remarkable points of the 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 IMAZZA m I'.IIA. 
 
 95 
 
 various l^uildings as they occur to mo, and, Ijefore I 
 for<^et tliat it was Sunday wlien I was first looking at 
 the Veronese churches, I must mention that in the 
 evening we found our way to the great Piazza di Bra, 
 surrounded hy harracks and puhHc huikhngs, and con- 
 taining tlie vast Koman amphitlieatre for which Verona 
 is so celehrated. Its size is prodigious, and, except in 
 the outer circuit of wall, it is nearly perfect ; indeed, 
 it is impossible to look upon such a vast structure 
 without a degree of admiration for the men who ven- 
 tured to conceive and carry it into execution. 
 
 All the Austrian portion of the inhabitants of 
 Verona crowded the Piazza di Bra on Sunday evening 
 to hear a glorious Austrian hand, and we enjoyed not 
 a little a strange stroll among a crowd of uniforms 
 of all shapes, kinds, cind colours. Verona more than 
 most towns, even in Austrian Lombardy, seems to be 
 devoted entirely to Austrian soldiery. It is (piite 
 melancholy to walk along a street of palaces, some of 
 them converted into oKl-i'uruiture stores, others going 
 to ruin ; and when suddenly you come upon a palace 
 flourishing and smart, if you look in you are sure to 
 see an Austrian sentinel, and find that it is an officer's 
 quarters ; and equally when you meet a conveyance, ii' 
 it is smart and dashing, with good horses and a stylish 
 coachman, it is quite certain to be occupied by some 
 dignified-looking military man. So, too, on the Mon- 
 day evening, when we went to the French opera — a 
 very pretty, tastefully got-up theatre by the way — 
 there were absolutely none but Austrians in the house 
 — in the boxes officers and their wives, in the pit 
 subordinate officers and privates. Who can see this 
 immense staff of foreigners in occupation of a city like 
 Verona without feeling sadly for the people who live 
 under such a rule, and for the ruler who is com])ell(Ml 
 
90 
 
 VERONA. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 to maintain such a force to keep his subjects in 
 order ? 
 
 This, however, is a digression, and I must go on to 
 describe the remaining architectural features of the 
 old city. 
 
 On the way to San Zenone Maggiore, which is quite 
 on the extreme western verge of the city, one passes 
 the Castello Vecchio, a very noble pile of mediseval 
 fortifications erected in the fourteenth century by 
 Cangrande II. There are several towers and lofty 
 walls, all topped with the forked Veronese battle- 
 ment ; and connected with it is the magnificent Ponte 
 di Castel- Vecchio, a grand bridge across the rushing 
 Adige, built entirely of brick, the parapet of the regular 
 Veronese type, and the piers between the arches rather 
 large and angular, and finishing with battlements rather 
 above those of the bridge. The main arch is of great 
 size — according to Murray, not less than one hundred 
 and sixty feet — and one of the most remarkable points 
 in its appearance is, that, instead of being in the 
 centre, it is on the side of the river next the castle, 
 w^hile the other two arches, descending rapidly to the 
 north bank of the river, give the bridge an odd, irre- 
 gular, and down-hill kind of look. The architectural 
 features of this bridge are, however, not the only 
 objects of interest on this spot ; for just after passing 
 the castle the road bends down to the side of the river, 
 and presents a most noble view of the campaniles, 
 steeples, and spires, with the steep hills on the opposite 
 bank of the stream, and the mountains in the distance, 
 with the rapid, turgid, w^hite-looking Adige flowing 
 strongly at one's feet. 
 
 A longish walk through squalid suburbs leads us to 
 the open space in front of the noble basilica of S. 
 Zenone ; it is a desolate waste-looking space, and the 
 
TiiAP. VT. 
 
 S. ZENONE. 
 
 97 
 
 j)oor, old, uncared-for church looks now as though its 
 (lay was well-nigh past ; as if neglect and apathy 
 were all that men could give now where once they 
 were wont to lavish so much of their treasure and 
 love and art. 
 
 The church, as it now stands, seems to have heen 
 entirely rebuilt in the course of the twelfth century, 
 and its proportions are so very grand, and its detail 
 generally so perfect, that I think it may certainly be 
 regarded as one of the noblest examples of a very noble 
 type of church ; for, next to the very best pointed 
 work of the best period, I doubt whether any work 
 of the middle ages so much commands respect and 
 admiration as this noble Lombard work. There is a 
 Ijreadth and simplicity about it, and such an expression 
 of deep thought in the arrangement of nuiterials and 
 in the delicate scul])ture, which with a sparing hand 
 is introduced, that one cannot sulHciently admire the 
 men who pUmned and exe(!uted it ; beyond this, tlie 
 constructive science was so excellent and so careful, 
 that with ordinary care such a church as S. Zeno 
 would seem still likely to last I'or ages. 
 
 The west front is very simple, and is divided by a 
 great number of vertical lines whicli run up to the ar- 
 caded eaves-course, the nave finished witli a ilat gal)le, 
 and the aisles with lean-to roofs of the same pitch as 
 that of the nave. There is a grand west doorway, 
 full of noble and elaborate sculpture, having round 
 the arch representations of the signs of the various 
 months of the year, with detached shafts standing out 
 on monsters and supporting a low canopy. The doors 
 themselves are of bronze, very elaborate and of great 
 interest, owing to their excessively early date and good 
 character. A row of small windows, one in each of 
 the many divisions ol' tlie front, extends all across near 
 
 H 
 
98 
 
 VERONA. 
 
 Chap. YI. 
 
 the top of the porch ; whilst above is a very noble 
 circular window, filled in with wheel tracery. 
 
 We went first into the cloister on the north side of 
 the nave. The arches are very small, and of brick, 
 supported on coupled shafts of red Veronese marble, 
 which have marble caps and bases, and rest on a dwarf 
 wall of stone capped with a thin course of marble. 
 The arch bricks are of a rich red colour, and contrast 
 well with the brickwork of the ordinary kind above 
 them; they are used without any kind of mould- 
 ing or ornament — and yet I doubt whether I have 
 ever seen a more lovely cloister than this. The 
 arcades on the north and south sides have round arches; 
 those on the east and west are pointed; and on the 
 north is a projecting arcade of the same detail, which 
 once formed the lavatory. The whole of this cloister 
 is in a very sad state of filth, neglected and unused, 
 and will, I fear, ere long become ruinous. 
 
 From the cloister you enter by a side door into the 
 north aisle of the choir ; much better, however, would 
 it have been to have entered from the west, for it is 
 there, when looking down the great length of the 
 church, with its singular perspective of timber roofing 
 and the gloriously clear and shining marble shafts 
 which support its clerestory walls, that one feels 
 most deeply the great and religious effect of the 
 church. To an eye used to northern Grothic there is 
 something very new in such a building. Its shape, 
 its materials, its arrangement, are all so unlike what 
 an English eye is used to, that I paused for an instant 
 in doubt as to whether I might really admire or not ; 
 but it was only for an instant, and I soon felt how 
 very glorious the work was, not only in its general 
 effect, but as much, or even more, in the treatment 
 of the details of sculpture and the like. 
 
( 'llAl'. VI. 
 
 S. ZENONE. 
 
 99 
 
 Tlie general plan is very simple — a great paral- 
 lelogram, divided into a nave of vast width with 
 northern and southern aisles ; the aisles terminated 
 with square east ends, the choir with an apse of 
 five bays, which is, however, of very much later 
 date than the rest of the church. The chief sinjju- 
 larity in the design is the division of the piers of the 
 main arcades into primary and secondary — the first 
 being large heavy piers supporting great arches span- 
 ning the nave and aisles, which are finished in a line 
 with tlie top of the walls ; and the latter delicate 
 circular marble columns of very classical character, 
 with finely carved capitals, and looking almost too 
 slight to support the vast height of clerestory wall 
 which towers up above the arcade which they support. 
 The roof is curious ; the framing all concealed, with 
 the exception of the collar-beams, which connect the 
 j)oints of the trefoil which forms the internal line of 
 roofing. Tliis trcloil outline is all boarded, divided 
 into panels, and painted. The ell'ect of this great 
 length of singular roofing, partly concealed by the 
 great arches which cross the nave, is certainly fine. 
 The roofs of the aisles, too, are original, and their 
 beams are painted very much like the Austrian sentry- 
 boxes, in zigzag lines of black and bufl'. Much of 
 this painting did not appear to me to be old. 
 
 At the west door there is a descent of ten steps into 
 the nave ; and the effect, on entering, of a portion 
 of the church sunk deep between the tw^o flights of 
 steps at its east and west ends is singular and well- 
 like. As far as I could make it out, however, it cer- 
 tainly appeared to me to be original, as the earth does 
 not seem to have accumulated against the west front. 
 If so, it shows a curious seeking after a peculiar effect, 
 and forms a parallel case to the old cathedral at 
 
 H 2 
 
100 
 
 VEKONA. 
 
 Chap. VL 
 
 Brescia, which is similarly entered by a downward 
 flight of steps. 
 
 At the entrance to the choir there is an ascent of 
 thirteen steps from the nave, whilst on each side, in 
 the aisles, a flight of some twenty steps leads down to 
 the crypt ; and one of these downward flights deserves 
 special notice for the exquisite beanty of the coupled 
 shafts, with their capitals, which support the two arches 
 forming the entrance to the northern side of the crypt, 
 and of which the drawing which I give will explain 
 the peculiarity and beauty. These two shafts, with 
 their capitals, are of red Veronese marble, the archivolt 
 being of stone. The section of both shafts is similar, 
 though one of them is twisted in its upward course. 
 Nothing can be better than the sculpture of the 
 archivolt ; it is very slightly relieved, and its outline 
 is so graceful, its imitation of nature so close, and its 
 fitness for its position so complete, that I think I have 
 rarely if ever seen anything so satisfactory, and cer- 
 tainly never anything the elements of which were 
 more severely simple. 
 
 The crypt itself, too, is singularly fine, the main 
 piers being continued down from above, and the inter- 
 mediate spaces divided by numerous slender marble 
 shafts supporting the groining. Some points in the 
 relative arrangement of these piers and shafts in- 
 duced me at the time to think it probable, or at any 
 rate possible, that this crypt had been formed in the 
 church at a date subsequent to the original foundation 
 — just as in the church at Wimborne, where the four- 
 teenth century crypt is clearly built up in the thir- 
 teenth century church. 
 
 The colour of the whole church is very striking^ 
 the walls being built in alternate and very irregular 
 courses of red brick and stone, and here and there 
 
Cn.M'. VI. 
 
 S. ZENONE. 
 
 101 
 
 frescoed, the whole of the apsidal portion of the 
 clioir having its groining very elaborately painted, 
 though with but little gold ; the groining ribs are 
 richly coloured, and on each side of them is a wide 
 border, generally subdivided into regular geometri- 
 cal figures, and the spa^^e between is painted blue 
 and powdered with gold stars. The number of fres- 
 coes is very great ; and it is curious that the same 
 subjects are repeated over and over again. In the 
 south aisle is an altar under an ancient baldachin, sup- 
 ported at each angle by four clustered shafts knotted 
 together in mid height — a capricious custom of which 
 Italians seem to have been especially fond, and the 
 only excuse for which, so far as I can see, is that it 
 proves that all the shafts were cut out of one block, 
 and therefore of more value than four plain detached 
 shafts cut out of separate blocks could be. There is per- 
 haps, also, a relief to the mind, after looking at a long 
 series of similar shafts, to come at last upon some one 
 or two marked by capricious singularity such as this. 
 13e this, however, as it may, the eye certainly always 
 feels inclined to admire them, though the reason is 
 never quite satisfied ; and perhaps some better excuse 
 does exist in nature for their use than I have as yet 
 been able to discover. 
 
 I must not leave S. Zenone without mentioning the 
 construction of the exterior, which — with the exception 
 of the west end, which is of stone and marble — is en- 
 tirely of red brick and very warm-coloured stone. The 
 courses of stone are, as a general rule, of about the 
 same height, whilst those of brick are very varied, 
 some only of one course, others of four or five. The 
 cornices at the tops of the walls, too, are very noble, 
 supported upon corbel-tables with round arches resting 
 upon corbels, and much improved in their effect by 
 
102 
 
 VERONA. 
 
 Chap. VT. 
 
 the judicious introduction of thin deep-red bricks 
 between the courses of carved stone, which are thus 
 thrown out wonderfully. 
 
 It is in this use of red brick, and in the bold and 
 successful way in which brick and stone are shown in 
 the interior, that this church is so full of instruction 
 to an English eye ; and I could not see such a work 
 without regretting bitterly the insane prejudice in 
 which most people indulge against anything but the 
 cold, dreary, chilling respectability of our English 
 plastered walls. ^ 
 
 I left this noble church really with great regret ; its 
 exceeding grandeur appeared to deserve a better fate 
 than the careless irreverence to which it seems now to 
 be abandoned. To see all these painted or coloured 
 walls, all these marble piers, and all that vast expanse 
 of wall and roof shut up and desolate, apparently half- 
 used and never filled with a throng of worshippers, 
 reminded me too strongly of the sad and similar fate 
 of our own dear English cathedrals not to awaken a 
 sigh as I looked at it. To some men it is a comfort 
 to find that their neighbours are no better than them- 
 selves in these matters, but I confess that to my 
 mind a noble church disused is a subject only for 
 mournful recollection, just as a noble church much 
 used and filled with crowds of worshippers is, so far, 
 an object for our emulation and admiration. 
 
 Beside San Zenone I think the only very grand 
 church as yet unmentioned is that of S. Fermo 
 Maggiore — a vast Eomanesque basilica without aisles, 
 but with small transepts, and a chancel and north 
 and south chancel-aisles opening into the nave by 
 
 ^ A view of the interior of San Zenone is given by Gaily Knight, but 
 it fails to convey the grand effect of colour which is one of its great beau- 
 ties. He also gives drawings of the magnificent west doorway. 
 
Chap. VT. 
 
 S. FERMO MAr.GTOEE. 
 
 103 
 
 three arches, which exactly correspond with its vast 
 width ; an ugly arrangement, which we shall meet with 
 ati^ain in the church of the Eremitani at Padua. The 
 church seems to have been entirely altered in the 
 fourteenth century, and except the crypt little now re- 
 mains to mark its original character. Inj^ide, the most 
 remarkable feature is the roof, of a curious, heavy, 
 depressed-looking design, whose construction is almost 
 entirely concealed by boarding on the under side. 
 This boarding: is arrano-ed in a succession of small 
 curves or cusps, and gives one the idea of a roof with 
 a succession of concealed hammer-beams. Besides this 
 (which by the way is richly painted), the pulpit is the 
 most noticeable thing. It projects from the wall on 
 the south side about half way down the nave, and lias 
 a delicate spiral canopy, the whole in marble and very 
 beautiful. I was distressed at not being able to get a 
 sketch of it, but the church was so dark that, though 
 it was toleraljly early in the afternoon when I was 
 there, I could not see to draw. 
 
 The west end will be best understood by the accom- 
 panying sketch. It is constructed entirely in red brick 
 and warm-coloured stone, and I confess that it im- 
 pressed me most pleasantly, as having in its four 
 delicate lancet windows an affinity to our own English 
 work. The north porch is very fine of its kind, and 
 the jambs of its doorway are constructcxl of black, 
 white, and red marble, used alternately. Ilie arcading 
 against the walls is noticeable as showing the use of red 
 brick for the purpose of defining the lines of stonework.^ 
 The east end and transepts are gabled with steep sham 
 gables, and have elaborate cornices, and at the north- 
 east there is a brick tower with a conical capping of 
 tiles, the whole of which, seen from the bridge wbieh 
 
 ' See plate 1"), " Italian bricUwork," p. 104. 
 
104 
 
 VERONA. 
 
 Chap. YI. 
 
 crosses the Adige just by the east end of the church, 
 forms one of tlie most picturesque groups in Verona. 
 
 With the mention of one more church I believe I 
 may bring my notes in Yerona to an end, and this is 
 a small chapel which stands just opposite the south 
 side of the Duomo, and whose name I could not learn. 
 It is much like S. Pietro Martire in its general 
 arrangement, but remarkable for the exquisite beauty 
 of its windows, the arrangement of the bricks and 
 stonework in which is beyond all praise. I have 
 endeavoured in the accompanying drawing to do 
 justice to them, though this is a matter of no little 
 difficulty in a print. These windows are constructed 
 with trefoiled heads of stone, enclosed within an arch 
 of mixed stone and brick, round whose outer edge 
 runs a band of delicate terra-cotta ornament. The 
 spandrels of the trefoils are filled-in with delicate 
 sculpture, not pierced with the dark eye invariably 
 found in the north. There is, too, an entire absence 
 of mouldings, yet, notwithstanding this, the general 
 effect is one of combined delicacy and richness of no 
 common degree, so much does carefully-arranged and 
 contrasted colour do for architecture. A third window 
 is entirely of brick, save the trefoil head of the opening. 
 The side elevation of this little chapel is very singular 
 in its whole arrangement ; there are three bays divided 
 by pilasters, which finish in an arcaded cornice of 
 brick ; in each of the two western bays is a lancet 
 window, and the centre bay has in addition a doorway, 
 and a corbelled- out monument above it ; in the east- 
 ern bay the window looks just like one of those curious 
 English low side windows, as to the use of which we 
 have had so many ingenious theories ; the east end 
 has no trace of any window, and is finished with a flat 
 roof, and a brick corbel-table running up the pedi- 
 
6. Wall Art'di^.S-Ftrm* Ma^^rVt^. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 DOMESTIC BUILDINGS. 
 
 105 
 
 ment. There is no stone used except in the window- 
 heads and arches. 
 
 There are many other churches in Verona on both 
 sides of the river, and into several of them we went, 
 but really without finding subjects for description here. 
 S. Eufemia has a fair west Iront, of late pointed, and 
 we found one or two good cloisters just like those 
 mentioned at Brescia. Other churches have fronts 
 built, and interiors remodelled, by Sanmicheli and his 
 successors, in a style which by no means approved 
 itself to me ; others there were which I did not succeed 
 in reaching, and among tliem one dedicated in honour 
 of S. Thomas of Canterbury, which is not however 
 otherwise, I believe, of any interest. 
 
 It is impossible to walk about Verona without meet- 
 ing at every turn with windows whoso design recalls 
 that of Venetian windows, but 
 the execution and arrangement : 
 are generally so inferior to what 
 they are there, that 1 shall delri- 
 saying much about them until 
 I am describing the palaces and 
 ancient buildings of Venice. >- 
 They are almost always finished 
 with ogeed trefoils at the top, - y- 
 and are arranged singly, or in ^ 
 couples or more together, one 
 above the other, the same in each 
 story of the house ; their mould- 
 ings are thin and reedy, and the 
 carving of their fin ials, when they 
 have any, is very poor. 
 
 The views from the bridges iicross the Adige are 
 very striking. The main part of the city is on the 
 right bank, and the river describes nearly a semicircle 
 
 Domestic window, Verona. 
 
106 
 
 VEKONA. 
 
 Chap. YI. 
 
 round it. The opposite bank is only partially built 
 over, and has a kind ol suburb, upon rather rapidly 
 rising ground ; beyond this the walls of the city are 
 seen with occasional towers, and marked all the way 
 by their serrated battlements climbing the irregular 
 outline of the hills in the boldest fashion. Then 
 crossing over to the other side and turning round, you 
 see the thickly -built city full of towers and churches 
 rising far above the turmoil of the crowd below into 
 the pure sky, and, by their number and size, making 
 Verona one of the most striking old cities I know. 
 
 Of course no one goes to Verona without thinking 
 of Eomeo and Juliet. I fear, however, that when I 
 was shown the Casa de' Cappelletti, a small inn in a 
 narrow street, and asked to connect it in any way for 
 the future with the creation of Shakspere's brain, my 
 fancy refused to be sufficiently lively to perform the 
 required feat. The fact is simply that, real relics not 
 existing, the good people of Verona have wisely met 
 the demand which Shakspere has created, and have 
 got up to order a tomb for Juliet, and other reminis- 
 cences of the fair Veronese, which T dare say satisfy 
 very well the majority of travellers. 
 
 At Verona, as in the other towns through which we 
 passed in Italy, we were quite astonished at the num- 
 ber of mis-shapen dwarfs that we saw ; we could not 
 account for this at first, but I believe that we after- 
 wards found out the true cause, namely, that children, 
 until they can walk, are tied up in roUs of linen so 
 stiffly as to deprive them of all power of motion. 
 The only wonder to my mind is how they can expect 
 any of these unfortunate children ever to walk at all. 
 
 In the courts of the houses at Verona there are 
 generally wells, with ingeniously contrived arrange- 
 ments for enabling the occupants of the different 
 
Chap. VI, 
 
 LEAVE VEKONA. 
 
 107 
 
 houses or balconies to let down their buckets for water 
 without themselves going down to the wells. There 
 are guide-ropes from each angle of the courts round 
 which the houses are usually built, along which the 
 buckets run, suspended by rings and held by ropes 
 from the balconies, until they reach the iron-work 
 over the well, and then fall perpendicularly down to 
 the water. 
 
 We left Verona sooner than we intended, for the 
 weather lor two days was so very bad and windy, 
 with constant heavy showers, that we could do little 
 in the way of moving about or sketching. On the 
 second of these wet days the waiter at our hotel 
 honestly told us that when these storms commenced 
 they generally lasted several days, and that we should 
 be very likely to fmd fine weather at Padua, whither 
 we were next to journey. AVe took his advice, promis- 
 ing ourselves another day on our return — a promise, as 
 it happened, which we were not able to keep — and then, 
 getting into an omnibus contrived to hold thirty per- 
 sons, and T should say at least five-and-twenty feet 
 long, with four horses harnessed with long drawn-out 
 traces to increase the already prodigious length, we 
 were soon at the terminus of the Verona and A enice 
 railway. 
 
108 
 
 ROAD TO VICENZA. 
 
 Chap. VIT. 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 " ' And wliither journeying ?' — ' To the holy shrine 
 Of Saint Antonio in the city of Padua.' " — Rogers. 
 
 Neighbourhood of Verona — The two schools of art — Padua ; Palazzo della 
 Ragione — Giotto's Chapel — The Eremitani — S. Antonio — The Duomo 
 — Few antiquarian remains. 
 
 Many of the villages near Verona are remarkable 
 for the remains of castles of the middle ages. I was 
 unable, however, to find time for the examination of 
 any of them, and, judging from hurried views which 
 I had of three or four castles south of Verona, I 
 suspect that they would scarce repay a long detour ; 
 they seem generally to be more remarkable for their 
 general contour, and their quaint forked battlements, 
 than for any of that delicate detail and appliance to 
 ordinary wants which it was especially my object to 
 collect and inquire into. 
 
 The railroad from Verona to Vicenza and Padua is 
 not interesting ; the country is beautiful and luxuriant 
 in detail, but rather tame, flat, and over- green in the 
 general view. The Veronese mountains, however, are 
 in view on the north, and as one approaches Vicenza 
 the hills throw out their spurs into the flat country, 
 covered with vineyards, orchards, and fruit trees ; vil- 
 lage follows close upon village, each with its white 
 church and white campanile, contrasting strangely 
 with the rich colour above and around, and at last the 
 towers and roofs of Vicenza are descried on our left. 
 
CllAP. VII. 
 
 TWO VIFAVS OF ART. 
 
 109 
 
 And is it possible, my readers will exclaim, that you^ 
 an architect, can have dared to pass within sight of 
 Vicenza without making long sojourn there to drink 
 in the lessons which the works of your great master 
 Palladio are there to instil ! Even so, reader ; for in 
 this world there are unhappily two views of art, two 
 schools of artists — armies of men fighting against 
 each other : the one numerous, working with the tradi- 
 tions and rules of their masters in the art, exclusive in 
 their views, narrow in their practice, and conventional 
 in all their proceedings, to the most painful forgetful- 
 ness of reality in construction and in ornament ; the 
 other young and earnest, fighting for truth, small in 
 numbers, disciples of nature, revivers of an art to all 
 appearance but now all but defunct, yet already rising 
 gloriously above the traditional rules of three centuries ; 
 the one class representing no new idea, breathing no 
 new thought, faithful to no religious rule ; the other 
 rapidly endeavouring to strike out paths lor themselves 
 as yet untrodden, gathering thoughts from nature, life 
 from the intense desire for realtity and practical cha- 
 racter, faithful moreover to a religious belief, whose 
 propagation will ha for ever the great touchstone of 
 their work : the one class, the disciples of Palladio, 
 journeying towards Vicenza with reverence to learn 
 how he built palaces of compo with cornices of lath 
 and plaster, already in two short centuries ialliug to 
 decay, wretched and ruinous ! the other stopping long 
 at Verona, dreaming over the everlasting art of the 
 monuments of the Scaligers, and of the nave of Sta. 
 Anastasia, still, though five centuries have passed with 
 all their storms about their heads, fresh and beautiful 
 as ever, fit objects of veneration for the artist in all ages ! 
 
 A disciple, therelbre, of the last of these two schools, 
 I stayed not at X'icenza, and, noting only one (U* two 
 
110 
 
 PADUA. 
 
 Chap. VII . 
 
 great fortress-like towers, I was soon on my way again, 
 and for Padua. 
 
 Tliere was nothing to see on the road, and we 
 were very glad when our engine gave token by its 
 whistle of our approach to Padua ; a melancholy omni- 
 bus discharged us in a few minutes at the hospitable 
 doors of the Stella d'Oro, and we were soon out again 
 with the view of making the most of our time. 
 
 Padua is a most melancholy city ; grass grows in the 
 streets, the footways are all formed under dark and 
 dismal arcades, and not the externals of the palaces 
 only, but those even of all the houses, look squalid, 
 dirty, and miserable ; nor is there any relief when one 
 gets into the more open spaces, for the large piazzas on 
 either side of the Palazzo della Eagione, or town-hall, 
 look as squalid and uncared-for, as dirty and unprepos- 
 sessing, as they well can : nor is this universal squalor 
 rendered at all less remarkable by the fact that Padua 
 rejoices in a recently erected cafe, which in size and 
 smartness is said to surpass any other even in Italy, for 
 certainly its smartness, and the array of well-dressed 
 gentlemen who frequent it, make the neighbourhood 
 look more wretched by contrast than it otherwise 
 would. 
 
 The Cafe Pedrocchi was however soon passed, and 
 our first object was the Palazzo del Pagione, whose 
 vast and singular hall, about two hundred and fifty 
 feet long by eighty feet wide, is one of the greatest 
 architectural curiosities in the city. Its exterior has 
 been modernized, so that now it is only remarkable for 
 its long expanse of roof, but the interior is still in its 
 original state. The walls are low, arcaded, and covered 
 with paintings, some of which are said to be by Giotto, 
 and the whole of which, at any rate, I believe, were 
 planned out by him, but have, one and all, probably. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 PALAZZO DEL RAGIOXE 
 
 111 
 
 been repainted and retouched long after his time. The 
 windows are small, and admit scarce more than sufficient 
 light for the lower part of the hall. The roof shows in 
 section a vast pointed arch of timber, boarded and di- 
 vided into panels by a succession of heavy vertical ribs 
 scarcely at all moulded. The construction is obviously 
 so weak as, from the very first, to have made the iron 
 ties which hold it all together absolutely necessary. A 
 curious feature in the design is, that instead of having 
 gable walls the roof is hipped, and shows therefore at 
 the end just the same section as at the sides. Wliat 
 little light finds its way into the dark obscurity of the 
 roof is admitted through some small dormers high u]) 
 in its framework. 
 
 This hall is gloomy, and, compared to our own great 
 halls, certainly shows some lack of knowledge of con- 
 struction on the part of its architect, and its gloomy 
 heaviness makes it far Irom being fitly comj)arable 
 to Westminster's noble hall, though their very similar 
 dimensions might naturally tempt us to compare the 
 two. It dates from about the beginning of the four- 
 teenth century, and is said to have been designed by 
 a certain Frate Giovanni, who, travelling in India, 
 saw the roof of a great palace whose construction 
 so pleased him that he brought back drawings of it 
 with him, and erected its fellow here at Padua. How 
 niuch truth there is in such a tradition I cannot 
 say, but this much seems clear, that in some way 
 Padua has, if not a very beautiful, at any rate a 
 very remarkable Sala, and one which is quite unlike, 
 so far as I know, any other room in Europe. 
 
 From the Palazzo del Pagione we found our way to 
 what must, so long as it lasts, be the great glory of 
 Padua, — Giotto's Chapel. Most unlbrtunately Ibr us, 
 just as we reached it, and as we walked u[) the long 
 
112 
 
 PADUA. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 desolate green walk which leads to the private house 
 of which it seems now to form a kind of appendage, a 
 cloud, black as ink, came over the sky, and we had a 
 tremendous storm of thunder and rain. We were glad 
 enough to take shelter in the chapel, and to devote our- 
 selves to the examination and admiration of the paint- 
 ings ; and when at last the storm left off, we were 
 unable to get even a hasty sketch of the exterior of 
 the little covering of so much that is most glorious in 
 the history of the painter's art. I am obliged, there- 
 fore, to content myself with a rough description of the 
 interior of the chapel, which is most interesting, as 
 remaining in all respects nearly in its original state, 
 and as being said to have been designed by Giotto 
 himself for his own painting, whilst he was living 
 with, and himself the most intimate friend of Dante. 
 
 I know, therefore, no one building, of such vel-y 
 small size and cost, which can claim the same degree 
 of interest as this small Chapel of the Arena, to which 
 all pilgrims in Italy anxious to study and to admire 
 truest art ought at all sacrifices to turn their steps. 
 It is, indeed, one of the marvels and glories of art that 
 the works of its great masters cannot diminish in value, 
 or even be competed with by subsequent masters : 
 when once done, they are done for ever ; and so the 
 Pieta of Giotto, in this little chapel at Padua, is now — 
 as it was when first painted in the commencement of 
 the fourteenth centmy, and as it will continue to be so 
 long as the neglect with which it is now treated allows 
 it to exist — one of the great paintings of the world, 
 one of those fountains from which school after school 
 and age after age of artists may drink instruction and 
 knowledge, and never fail to gain more, the more they 
 study its many excellences, and its intensity of feeling 
 and conception. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 GIOTTO'S CHAPEL. 
 
 113 
 
 The architectural portion of tlie work may be first of 
 all described. In plan it is a simple parallelogram, with 
 a small apse thrown out to the east, and a sacristy to 
 the north of the apse. The apse is simply a sanctuary, 
 and the chancel is formed by marble screens on each 
 side of the nave, leaving a broad entrance-way between 
 tliem, and enclosing about one third of its length. 
 Against the west side of these screens are altars, each 
 with a small carved marble reredos ; whilst on the east 
 are steps leading to the two ambons ; that on the 
 north being a book-rest, carved in marble, and fixed 
 with its face to the east ; that on the south of iron, 
 and turning upon a pivot. Between these screens and 
 the sanctuary arch are stalls on each side, very ugly, 
 and I think modern, though really it is rather difficult 
 to say positively whether they are not old. The 
 sanctuary has seats all round tlie apse (except in the 
 eastern bay), each with a delicate white marble canopy. 
 Tlie sacristy is groined, and has a thirteenth century 
 press of wood of a design rather curious than beautiful. 
 
 In the nave the walls have neither cornices nor 
 string-courses to break tlieir even surfaces, and their 
 face is ccmtinued on in a semicircular waggon vault. 
 There are six lancet windows on the south, none 
 at all on tlie north, and a three-light window very 
 high up in the gable at the west end above the 
 doorway. 
 
 The architectural merit of tlie building is simply, 
 I think, that it performs satisfactorily the office of 
 giving ample unbroken surfaces of wall for paintings. 
 
 The arrangement of these is very regular. The 
 vault is divided into two parts by wide coloured 
 borders, the space between which is painted blue, 
 powdered with gilt stars, and in each bay there are 
 five small medallions with figures on a gold ground. 
 
114 
 
 PADUA. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 The side walls are divided by borders into three 
 divisions in height ; the upper division containing 
 subjects from the life of the Blessed Virgin ; the 
 central, those illustrative of the life of our Blessed 
 Lord ; whilst those nearest to the ground are repre- 
 sentations of the Virtues and Vices opposed to each 
 other ; the last division tinted only in one colour, the 
 others richly painted in beautiful colours upon a field 
 of deep blue. 
 
 The borders which divide the paintings are very 
 satisfactory, their patterns always very clearly de- 
 fined with white leading lines, a line of red on either 
 side always accompanying each line of white. The 
 paintings themselves are very wonderful : there is an 
 earnestness of purpose and expression about them 
 such as one rarely meets with : each subject is treated 
 with a severe conscientiousness, not always conven- 
 tionally where a departure from strict rule is for any 
 reason necessary, but still, generally speaking, in accord- 
 ance no doubt with the ancient traditional treatment. 
 This, illuminated as it is by the thought and love 
 and earnest intensity of feeling which Giotto lavished 
 on aU that he did, makes his work here the most 
 perfect example of a series of religious paintings which 
 I have ever seen. Of course in such a large series of 
 subjects there must be great variety of excellence, and I 
 am content to agree with the rest of the world in award- 
 ing the palm of excellence to the Pieta, in which the 
 expression of intense feeling in the face of the mourners 
 over the body of Our Lord is certainly beyond any- 
 thing of the kind that I know. 
 
 Throughout the subjects our Lord, the Blessed 
 Virgin, and the apostles are represented always in 
 vestments of the same colour. 
 
 The series is very complete, and, beginning with the 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 THE KREMITANl. 
 
 115 
 
 liistory of Joachim before the birth of the Blessed 
 Vir<^in (the seventh subject), is continued down 
 tln'ough the leading acts of our Lord's life to the 
 descent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost. 
 
 I rejoiced, as I looked at these wonderful paintings, 
 to tliink that before long the Arundel Society's publi- 
 cations will enable us in England to realize to some 
 extent the exquisite beauty of the series of pictures 
 in this little chapel of Sta. Maria dell' Annunciata at 
 Padua. ^ 
 
 Close to Giotto's Chapel stands the great and singular 
 church of the Eremitani. It has a very broad nave 
 of immense length, unbroken with aisles, and roofed 
 with one of the singular roofs already noticed at 
 Verona, in which the real construction is (with the ex- 
 ception of the tie-beams) entirely concealed by board- 
 ing on the under side ; this boarding being generally, 
 as here, arranged in a succession of large cusps or 
 curves : their effect is, I think, always very heavy 
 and unsatisfactory, but we nmst bear in mind that 
 their span is generally prodigious, and their pitch very 
 Hat. ^riie chancel and an aisle on either side of it open 
 into the east end ol' the nave with three arches, and 
 look so small as to be more like recesses than im])or- 
 tant integral parts of the plan : there are in this 
 church a great many frescoes and paintings of much 
 interest — some by Mantegna — and against the walls 
 some fine monuments of the Veronese type. 
 
 ' Since this was written many uf the subjects have been publislied by 
 tlie Arundel Society, and Mr. liuskin's notice of them has also been j^iven 
 to us : botli are very valuable as excmi)lifying, as well perhaps as colour- 
 less en;j;ravings and descriptions can exemplify, the exceeding value and 
 originality of this series of i)aintings. It is to be wished that they may 
 produce some effect ujion the minds of our modern artists, who much recjuire 
 to take home to themselves the lesson of sincerity and earnestness of pur- 
 ine which Giotto so eminently feaclies in all his works. 
 
 I 2 
 
116 
 
 PADUA. Chap. VIT, 
 
 Such a church as this to be admired must be seen 
 crowded with an immense congregation ; but I confess 
 that, perfectly empty and desolate as I saw it, the 
 effect was rather chilling and unsatisfactory. It was 
 a mere immense hall with a depressed roof, and no 
 beauty of proportion or detail to make its immense 
 spaciousness gratifying. 
 
 From the Eremitani we found our way with some 
 diffiulty through miserable streets to the church of S. 
 Antonio, probably the most remarkable architectural 
 work in many respects in this part of Italy. 
 
 It seems that about a.d. 1231 it was determined to 
 erect a great church in honour of S. Antony, the 
 patron of Padua, and Niccolo Pisano, then one of the 
 most eminent men of his day, was sent for to under- 
 take the work. The view of the exterior given by 
 Mr. Gaily Knight will best serve to show to those 
 who can refer to it in how singular and original a 
 manner he accomplished his work. S. Mark's at Venice 
 must have been in his eye when he designed his church, 
 and the crowd of cupolas which form its roof remind 
 one forcibly of its most distinguishing feature. 
 
 On first sight S. Antonio certainly does not pre- 
 possess the beholder in favour of such a bold departure 
 from every-day rules of art. It is built almost entirely 
 of a Ught-coloured brick, as much like the common 
 London brick in colour as possible— a most vile 
 material wherewith to attempt the construction of a 
 noble church. Stone is used very sparingly m the 
 voussoirs of the arches and elsewhere. The cupolas 
 are heavy in their effect, but relieved by that over the 
 intersection of the nave and transepts, which rises 
 higher, and is certainly striking in its design and out- 
 line which is, for the main portion of its height, that 
 of a simple cone. Round and pointed arches are used 
 
CllAI'. VII. 
 
 S. ANTONIO. 
 
 117 
 
 indiscriminately, and the walls are divided everywhere 
 by pilasters, and surmounted by arcaded corbel-tables, 
 in all these respects giving one the idea of a much 
 earlier building than it is. The west front is very 
 uni(|ue. One great flat gable with arcaded eaves- 
 cornice finishes the whole, and out of its apex rises 
 a tall polygonal turret, almost as high as the dome, 
 in front of which it stands. The lower pai-t of 
 the west front has a central entrance of mean charac- 
 ter, and two unequal arches of construction, the walls 
 within which are pierced with windows on either side. 
 Above these, and just beneath the great pedimental 
 gable, is a long arcade of simple pointed arches, behind 
 which are a passage and three windows opening into 
 the church. This front is a sham front, and not 
 excusable on account of its grandeur or its beauty. 
 Indeed, had it followed the outline of the fabric, it 
 would have been neither ungainly nor heavy, both 
 which it most assuredly is now. 
 
 The interior is striking from its height, but cold in 
 tbe extreme in effect ; the domes are all whitewaslied 
 in the brightest and freshest manner. The plan gives 
 three domes to the nave, one and an apse of seven 
 bays to the choir, and one to each transept. The 
 aisles open into the nave with pointed arches — two 
 to each dome. The choir aisle is continued all round 
 the choir, and a chapel is thrown out to the east of 
 this again. 
 
 The north transept contains the chapel of the patron 
 saint, full of gorgeous ornaments of all kinds, but not 
 very ancient. Opposite it, in the south transept, is a 
 curious chapel, divided from the church by five pointed 
 and trefoiled arches of yellow marble, resting upon 
 classical-looking columns, groined and very richly 
 ]);nnted and inlaid. Above the arches are live statues 
 
118 
 
 rADUA. 
 
 Chap. V[I. 
 
 in niches, and the intermediate wall-surface is inlaid 
 with white and red marble in a regular pattern, such 
 as we have seen in the pavement of St a. An astasia at 
 Verona, with very good effect. 
 
 The cloister on the south side of the church is very 
 large and good, and some fine arches occur in it, com- 
 posed of black and yellow marble with bricks of varied 
 colour introduced. On its east side three open arches, 
 filled in with a double iron grille, open into a kind of 
 sacristy. I cannot say that I was at all satisfied either 
 with the internal or external effect of the church — 
 though it must be confessed that, when seen from a 
 distance, there is excessive grandeur in the grouping 
 of the multitude of domes, with the steep cone rising 
 in the centre, and giving distinctness to the whole. 
 The arranerement of the windows and arches round the 
 apse, for instance, is confused and weak to a degree ; 
 and I do not feel that Niccolo Pisano has fairly settled 
 the question of the adaptation of the dome to pointed 
 buildings by his treatment of the domes here. 
 
 The question is still, I think, an open one; and 
 though it may be doubted whether it will ever be 
 satisfactorily answered, I still feel that it would not be 
 difficult to answer it far more successfully than has yet 
 been done. 
 
 In the evening we heard some very fine music of 
 ancient character in S. Antonio, after which there was 
 a sermon ; and though it was a week-day, there was a 
 large congregation, very attentive and quiet. 
 
 The Duomo is a wretchedly cold, unattractive 
 church — said, however, to have been designed by 
 Michael Angelo, and rather bold in the treatment of 
 the pendentives under its dome. By its side stands a 
 Lombard baptistery, the interior of which I did not 
 succeed in getting a sight of ; and I believe that I 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 PADUA. 
 
 119 
 
 missed some valuable examples of fresco-painting with 
 wliich its walls and domed roof are covered. 
 
 We wandered about the melancholy streets of Padua, 
 searching in vain for objects of any interest to our 
 antiquarian eyes. It is true that the columns and 
 arcades which support the houses are, many of them, 
 ancient ; but they are of a character very common 
 throughout the nortli of Italy, and were not suffi- 
 ciently novel or striking to draw off our attention from 
 the melancholy and dilapidated look of the houses and 
 shops which they half concealed and half supported. 
 We saw also one or two old monuments at the corners 
 of streets — one of them called the tomb of Antenor — 
 similar in their idea to those which are so frequent in 
 Verona. 
 
 The next morning, therefore, saw us making our 
 way to the railway station for Venice, sad only, in 
 leaving Padua, that we could not spend another day 
 there for the study, more (piietly and carel'ully, of 
 the lovely little Arena Chapel and the paintings of 
 Giotto. 
 
120 
 
 PADUA TO VENICE. 
 
 Chap. Vlll. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 " Break, break, break, 
 
 On thy cold gray stones, 0 sea ! 
 But the tender grace of a day that is dead 
 Will never come back to me." 
 
 Tennyson. 
 
 Padua and Venice railway — Venice: the gondola — Piazza and churcli of 
 S, Mark — Beauties of the city — Inferiority of its churches — Sta. 
 Maria Gloriosa dei Frari — SS. Giovanni and Paolo — Sta. Maria dell' 
 Orto — S. Stefano — Domestic architecture — The Foudaco de' Turchi 
 — Esjjecial fault of the Venetians — Description of an ordinary palace — 
 House in the Corte del Remer — The Ducal Palace — Archway — Other 
 palaces — Balconies — Venetian architecture — A festival — Paintings, 
 
 Little is to be seen as one leaves Padua to distin- 
 guish the city at all vividly, save the oriental-looking 
 cupolas of S. Antonio, and the great roof of the Sala 
 deir Eagione, looking like the inverted hull of some 
 great ship, with its convex sides towering up above 
 the otherwise not remarkable-looking city. 
 
 And now our destination was Venice, and anxiously 
 we looked out ever and anon, impatient, long before 
 the time, to see the tall outline of S. Mark's campanile 
 against the horizon. The view was contracted enough ; 
 on each side of the railway rank and luxuriant hedges 
 of acacia sprouted their tall branches above the car- 
 riages, and beyond them might be seen plantations of 
 maize, flax, and other crops, all remarkable for their 
 prodigious growth and size, and watered with endless 
 small canals, and here and there with turgid, muddy- 
 looking streams rushing on from the mountains to 
 discharge themselves into the Adriatic, and gliding 
 between great artificial banks which gave them the 
 appearance rather of canals than rivers. Nothing 
 
CllAV. Vill. 
 
 APl'KUACH TO VENICE. 
 
 121 
 
 breaks the dead monotony of the scene, for it is misty, 
 and the Tyrolese Alps, which ought to show their 
 snowy peaks to the north, are invisible. The stations 
 follow each other in quick succession, and at each 
 stands some diligence or carriage whose ingrained 
 panoply of white dust, added to that which rises 
 here and there white and cloud-like in the dry glare 
 of the Italian sun which beams overhead, makes 
 one feel grateful that — however unpoetical such a 
 mode of approach may be - a railroad carries us to 
 Venice. Nor is such a country as this along which 
 one passes from Padua to Venice without its moral. I 
 suppose there is nothing more certain than that, ordi- 
 narily, the appreciation of liigh art, and success in its 
 practice, has never been so marked in countries whose 
 natural features are lovely as in those in which the 
 devoutest student of nature's beauties can see nothing 
 to admire or love. So Venice, surrounded In waters, 
 and then by a tame and uninteresting country, I'eU 
 back on lier own resources, and provided herself witli 
 that sul)stitute for the loveliness of nature whicli — 
 ahme ol' man's works — the loveliness of beautilul art 
 can be. And j)erlia])s, too, for the traveller, it is better 
 that no interest should be felt save in the end of the 
 journey. 
 
 At last, however, the broad watery level of the 
 Lagoon is reached ; Venice rises out of the water 
 at a distance of some two miles ; and then across an 
 almost endless bridge the railway takes us into the 
 outskirts of the city — a confused idea of steeples and 
 domes is all that is obtained — and one finds one- 
 self going through that most paini'u] of processes to 
 an excitable man, the production, namely, of the pass- 
 port, followed by permission to stop no more than 
 three days in the city without a renewal of the permit. 
 
122 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 Chap. Vlll. 
 
 Then comes a search of luggage, and at last we are 
 outside the station, the Grand Canal lies before us, and 
 we are vehemently urged to get at once into an omnibus 
 gondola. But no, this is too absurd a bathos for our 
 first act on entering Venice, and we step therefore into 
 a private gondola, and, propelled rapidly and lightly 
 over the still, unruffled water, sink at once into that 
 dreamy kind of happiness which of all conveyances in 
 the world the gondola is best calculated to encourage. 
 A short reach of the Grand Canal is soon passed, and 
 then, with the picturesque cry of warning, Ah, stall !" 
 we turn sharply into a narrow canal to the right, and, 
 shooting down the tortuous street of water, presently 
 cross the Grand Canal again midway between the 
 Eialto and the Foscari palace, dive into another 
 canal still narrower than the former, and at last, after 
 frequent glimpses of mediaeval houses and palaces, 
 find ourselves safely housed at the Albergo d' Italia, 
 an inn which we found every reason to recommend, 
 and which, from its position, close to the Grand Canal, 
 and within two or three minutes' walk of the Piazza 
 San Marco, was exceedingly convenient. 
 
 We stopped but a short time at our inn, so impa- 
 tient were we to obtain our first ghmpse of the very 
 wonderful church and palace of S. Mark, to which 
 Venice owes so much of her fame. We passed along 
 some narrow tortuous alleys, lined on either side with 
 open shops, on whose counters lie exposed for sale not 
 over dainty-looking edibles, and in whose dim interiors 
 little light of day seems ever to enter to help the busy 
 workmen who may always be seen there plying their 
 trade ; and then, going under an archway crowded with 
 busy folk in rather noisy consultation, we found our- 
 selves in four or five minutes standing under the arcade 
 at the upper end of the great Piazza San Marco. Long 
 
Chap. VIII. 
 
 S. MARK. 
 
 123 
 
 lines of regular architecture, arcaded below, heavy with 
 cornices and elaborated windows above, carry the eye 
 not unpleasantly down to the lower end of the piazza, 
 at the right of which towers up into the air a vast cam- 
 panile, simple and unbroken in its outline, without 
 visible window or any buttress-like projection, until 
 its upj)er stage, where it has a very simple open 
 arcaded belfry, capped with a pyramidal roof ; and then 
 across nearly the whole width of the piazza, and partly 
 concealed by the curiously irregular position of the 
 campanile, stretches the low singular eastern-looking 
 church of S. Mark. Before it rise the masts from 
 which of yore hung waving in the wind the banners 
 of the old Venetian state, now probably useful only 
 to show that this no longer is. The west front is 
 certainly most indescriljable ; and I confess to feel- 
 ing a douljt, as 1 looked at it, as to whether it was 
 not more akin to some fairy-like vision, such as in 
 dreams one might see, than to any real and substan- 
 tial erection of stone and mortar ; for, to a mind edu- 
 cated in and accustomed to the triiditions of northern 
 architecture, there is something so very outre in the 
 whole idea, so startling in its novelty, that it is hard 
 to know whether to admire or not. It is far from im- 
 posing in size, but yet, as it is looked at more and more 
 carefully, it grows much and ra])idly on one's love, and 
 at last imprints itself on the mind as a very beautiful 
 vision, which could never however be absolutely re- 
 produced or taken as a model. 
 
 As you pace down the broad level space of the Piazza, 
 the feeling of the strangeness of the whole scene in- 
 creases. There are of course no horses, and no vehicles 
 of any kind ; it is a large square in which all the space 
 is i'ootpath, and on which, in addition to the many men 
 who pace it rapidly with Inisy brow, or idly lounge 
 
124 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 Chap. VIII. 
 
 whilst enjoying the weather and the place, hundreds of 
 pigeons are constantly fluttering or walking about in 
 quiet confidence, sure that they will not be molested by 
 any one. And then, as one draws near to the church, 
 it is easy to understand rather better than at first in 
 what its real charm lies : this no doubt is in its beautiful 
 colour ; the whole front is shafted to a greater extent 
 than almost any building I know, the shafts all rather 
 heavy, but of marble of the richest kind ; the groining of 
 the seven entrance arches is filled with mosaics, and the 
 walls are encrusted everywhere with marble. Instead 
 of ordinary gables masking the roof properly, the front 
 finishes with great ogee gables most extravagantly 
 crocketed, and clearly an alteration of the original 
 E-omanesque finish ; behind these a cluster of cupolas 
 completes the view. Of the seven arches which com- 
 pose the facade, four have doorways ; the outer arches 
 on either side are very narrow, and answer in width 
 to the kind of cloister which masks the church on 
 the west and north sides : the central arch is both 
 much wider and loftier than the others, rising indeed 
 so high as to break through the line of balustrading 
 which runs across the front just above the other 
 arches.^ 
 
 Within this central arch is a grand doorway of 
 three orders, the central plain, the others covered with 
 carvings, and its semicircular arch considerably stilted. 
 The piers supporting the main arches have two heights 
 of shafts ; the lower tier corresponding in height with 
 those of the doors pierced within the arches, and the 
 others, which are smaller in diameter, and more 
 
 * One of the most remarkable instances of inaccurate architectural 
 drawing with which I am acquainted is afforded by a view of S. Mark's 
 in Gaily Knight's work, which shows the main arches of the south side as 
 pointed instead of round. 
 
Chap. VIII. 
 
 S. MARK. 
 
 125 
 
 numerous Hum tliose which support them, risino^ to 
 tlie springing line of the main arches. The side door- 
 ways liave very eastern-looking arches, the semicircular 
 line being carried on nearly to the centre, and then 
 turned up into an ogee. There are some insertions of 
 the fourteenth century, as, e. g., the windows over two 
 of the doors, and the pinnacles between the gables; 
 the finish of the gables themselves, in great ogee 
 crocketed gables with figures at the apex, is probably 
 of the fifteenth century. 
 
 And then, on entering, the deep tones of an organ 
 are heard reverberating through the old building ; 
 many people kneel devoutly at their prayers around 
 us ; the hot glare of the sun is gone, and in its place a 
 cool, quiet, dim light reveals the whole magnificence 
 of the interior. It is quite in vain to descril)e this 
 architecturally. The colour is so magnificent that one 
 troubles oneself but little about tlie architecture, and 
 thinks only of gazing upon the expanse of gold and 
 deep rich colour all harmonised together into one 
 glorious whole. The mosaics commence throughout 
 the church at the level of the crown of the main arches 
 dividing the nave from the aisles, and are continued 
 uj) the remainder of the wall and into the domes ; even 
 the angles or arrises of the arches are covered with gold 
 and mosaic ; so that all architectural lines of moulding 
 and the like are entirely lost, and nothing but a soft 
 swelling and undulating sea of colour is perceived. 
 The lower portion of the walls is encrusted with slabs of 
 marble of all sizes, joined together with small rivets, and 
 arranged without much symmetry or apparent design, 
 except in one particular : the slabs of marble, being 
 cut into two or more thin pieces, are then so arranged 
 next to each other that the pattern of the marble on 
 one piece may just meet and touch the corresponding 
 
126 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 Chap. VIII. 
 
 pattern on the other, so as to make a regular kind of 
 form or pattern ; just in the way in which cabinet- 
 makers at the present day arrange wahiut and* other 
 decidedly -marked wood in furniture-making. 
 
 The plan of S. Mark's is well known ; it is a Greek 
 cross, the centre and arms of which are surmounted by 
 domes, through windows in which almost all the light 
 is admitted to the interior. A kind of additional aisle 
 forms a cloister on the north side of the nave, com- 
 municating with, and forming a continuation of, the 
 cloister or porch at the west, which opens, with the 
 seven archways already described, to the Piazza. On 
 the south side, and corresponding with this, is the 
 baptistery, which also has a small dome. The choir 
 ends in a semicircular apse, and beyond this is a large 
 and very striking sacristy, filled, like the church, with 
 mosaics, and seeming to be, when we saw it, well used 
 by numerous clergy, who were either vesting for 
 service, or attending to the affairs of the church. The 
 choir is divided from the nave by a screen of marble, 
 upon which stand figures of the twelve apostles, the date 
 of which is said to be late in the fourteenth century, 
 but the detail of which is very classical ; the high altar, 
 and another small altar in the nave, stand under very 
 fine baldachins of date very nearly coeval with the 
 main fabric. But of all the features in this very noble 
 interior, that which, next to the gorgeous colour of the 
 mosaics on the walls, most attracted me, w^as the wild 
 beauty of the pavement ; for I know no other word that 
 quite describes the effect it produces. It is throughout 
 the whole church arranged in beautiful geometrical pat- 
 terns, just like those of the noble Italian pavement in 
 the choir of Westminster Abbey ; but these, instead 
 of being level and even, swell up and down as though 
 they were petrified waves of the sea, on which those 
 
Chap. VIII. 
 
 S. MAT^K. 
 
 127 
 
 who embark in the ship of the Church may kneel in 
 prayer with safety, their undulating surface serving 
 only to remind them of the stormy seas of life, and of 
 the sea actually washing tlie walls of the streets and 
 the houses throughout their city. It can hardly be 
 thought that this undulating surface is accidental or 
 unintentional, for, had it been the consequence only of 
 a settlement of the ground, we should have seen some 
 marks, too, in the walls, and some tokens of disruption 
 in the pavement itself, none of w^liich, however, could 
 I detect. 
 
 Of the mosaics witli which the interior of the church 
 is covered I cannot pretend to give an account ; but it 
 is worthy of notice that the most prominent figure in 
 the whole church is that of our Blessed Lord, who, 
 seated and surrounded by the twelve apostles, is 
 represented in mosaic in tlie principal dome ; and I 
 believe that their arrangement throughout the entire 
 cliurch is a lesson to those among ourselves who so 
 often, in selecting scripture subjects for representation 
 in churclies, do so witliout reference to their proper con- 
 secutive order or their relative importance. 
 
 We went into the treasury to see the treasures and 
 plate belonging to the clmrch, but I was much disap- 
 pointed to find tliat, in an artistic point of view, there 
 was really very little to admire. The treasury is a 
 dark room lighted up hy a few w^ax candles, but so 
 badly that it was dithcult to see at all satisfactorily. 
 
 We were unable to obtain a sight of the Pala d'Oro, 
 as the altar-piece or front for the high altar is called ; 
 I was very anxious to do so, as it appears from draw- 
 ings to be a most magnificent piece of worknumship in 
 precious metals, and similar in its use to the altar- 
 front which is still preserved at Westminster under a 
 glass case in the aisle of the choir. 
 
128 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 Chap. VIII. 
 
 In the choir I should have observed that I noticed 
 a brass eagle so precisely like the eagles common in 
 English churches, that I gave it credit for having 
 come from over the seas. 
 
 Over and over again when at Venice must one go 
 into S. Mark's, not to criticise but to admire ; and if 
 ever in any building in which the main object is the 
 study of art, assuredly here it must also be to worship. 
 I think I never saw an interior so thoroughly religious 
 and religion-inspiring as this, and it is well, there- 
 fore, not lightly to pass it by as useless for our general 
 purposes. It seems to show, as strongly as any one 
 example can, how much awe and grandeur even a small 
 building may attain to by the lavish expenditure of 
 art and precious materials throughout its fabric ; for 
 it is to this that S. Mark's owes its grandeur, and to 
 this only. There is nothing imposing either in its 
 size or in its architecture ; on the contrary, they 
 appear to me to be both rather mean, and yet this 
 grand display of mosaics upon a glorious gold ground 
 makes the work appear to be both larger and better 
 than it is. Could we but place one of our cold, bare 
 places of worship by the side of S. Mark's, and let the 
 development of Christian art in the construction of 
 the fabric be ten times as great in our northern 
 church as in the Venetian, we may yet rest assured 
 that every religious mind would turn at once to the 
 latter, and scarce deign to think of the former as a 
 place for worship at all. If this is so, does it not 
 point most forcibly to the absolute necessity for the 
 introduction of more colour in the interior of our 
 buildings, either in their construction, or afterwards 
 by the hand of the painter? And architects must 
 remember that this ought all to be within their pro- 
 vince as directors or designers, and, therefore, that 
 
Chap. VIII. 
 
 ITS BEAUTIES. 
 
 129 
 
 they must not, jis now, vent\ire to design cold shells 
 which may or may not afterwards receive the necessary 
 and indispensable decorations, but from the very first 
 must view these decorations as part and parcel of the 
 work in which they personally are concerned; then, 
 and not till then, shall we see a satisfactory school of 
 architects in England. 
 
 I have lingered on paper, as 1 did in reality, a])out 
 S. Mark's ; but I must go again to the exterior. We 
 will go out by the baptistery, and here we are on the 
 Piazzetta, the noble facade of the Ducal Palace on one 
 side, and a great work of Sansovino's — the library of 
 S. Mark — on the other ; at the end between them 
 two monolithic granite columns, one of which bears 
 the lion of S. Mark, the other the figure of the ancient 
 patron saint of Venice, S. Theodore ; between them 
 the dark-blue line of the sea rippled in a thousand 
 twinkling waves, and beyond this the Isola S. Giorgio, 
 remarkable lor one of Palladio's churches — a buildinsr, 
 as I think, irredeemably ngly, but, nevertheless, much 
 admired by many. If you walk down to the strand, 
 where a hundred gondolas wait for hire — some black 
 and funeral-like, others dressed u]) with gay awnings, 
 and all of them proud and swan-like with their Ijright 
 steel prow rising lightly and high out of the water — 
 and then, turning round, look first down the Piva dei 
 Schiavoni, taking in the long sea-front of the Ducal 
 l^dace, then the narrow gap l)ridged by the famous 
 Bridge of Sighs, and on aguin, noting bridge after 
 bridge, and the Gothic palace now turned into the Hotel 
 Danaeli, and then on to the promontory running out 
 towards the Adriatic, occupied by the Public Gardens 
 and planted with the only trees that Venice boasts — 
 how lovely is the scene ! or if, looking back up the 
 Piazzetta. to S. Mark's, noting the tall canijianile and 
 
 k 
 
130 
 
 YENICE. 
 
 (jHAP. vni. 
 
 the quaint clock and clock -tower beyond, and the domes 
 and turrets, niches and figures, which crown the church, 
 how much more vividly does it not impress the mind ! 
 
 Venice is full to excess of striking pictures, and it 
 would be endless to say in how very many respects it 
 has a character of its own which can never be for- 
 gotten. The strange silence of its watery streets, 
 broken only by the cry of the gondolier or the delicate 
 plash of his oar in the water, is not the least singular 
 thing that a stranger feels ; and when, after trying in 
 vain to thread on foot the labyrinth of passages whicli 
 confuse him irrecoverably in a few minutes, he com- 
 mits himself to the dark recesses of a gondola, how 
 delightful is the quiet, smooth, and yet rapid way in 
 which, without more labour than is necessary in look- 
 ing about, he finds himself now following the narrow 
 winding of some small canal, awakening the echoes 
 between the high walls of palaces or warehouses on 
 either side of the way, or anon, upon turning with a 
 graceful sweep into the smooth broad reach of the 
 Grand Canal, making his gondolier move gently and 
 slowly, as one by one the great palaces which grace its 
 banks and form its retaining walls are carefully scan- 
 ned, whilst the various and ever-changing perspective 
 of the whole is dwelt upon, to be remembered after- 
 wards with such intense pleasure ! 
 
 From S. Mark's I remember trying to find my way 
 to S. Stefano ; and, taking a map of Venice, and cal- 
 culating upon the orientation of the churches being 
 fairly correct, I flattered myself that I might without 
 difiiculty make my way : the result was simply that 
 for half an hour I was threading the mazes of all the 
 passages around the church, and at last reached it 
 only by ?;hance ; and I found afterwards that it would 
 not at all do to take the churches as marking the car- 
 
('hap. VIII. 
 
 TIIK CTIURCTTEft. 
 
 181 
 
 dinal points of tlie compass, for, as may l)e seen from the 
 campanile of S. Mark, there are scarcely two churches 
 in the city exactly alike in their orientation. 
 
 I was lucky in fallin<^ in with a i^ondolier who 
 quite entered into my views, and who, after I had 
 sketched some half-dozen Gothic palaces, always 
 stopped, or offered to do so, whenever he came near 
 another, and, as I succeeded in making him under- 
 stand that we wanted to see all the byways as well 
 as all the highways, I believe that we saw almost all 
 that was to be seen of architectural interest in the 
 city. 
 
 Few even of those who have never been at Venice 
 are ignorant of the more prominent features which 
 meet the eye there ; and I shall therefore pass on to 
 the description of the churches and domestic buildings 
 which most impressed me. 
 
 I must confess that T was as much disappointed 
 with the former as I was delighted with the latter. I 
 had not expected larger churches, but I had imagined 
 that their style would be more pure, and at the same 
 time more unlike what I was accustomed to elsewhere. 
 The impression they left on my mind was decidedly 
 that they were very inferior in almost every re- 
 spect to churches of the same size and degree of 
 ornament in the North of Europe, whilst in scarcely 
 any point did they seem to me to have features 
 which could with any advantage be imitated by us. 
 r had certainly been led to expect a very dilferent 
 result, and was proportionately disappointed. There 
 is no church in Venice — (in what 1 am now saying 
 [ mean always to except S. Mark's) — at all com- 
 parable either to Sta. Anastasia or to the catliecb-al 
 at Verona in the interior ; and the exteriors, though 
 fine as examples of the bold use of brick, are never- 
 
 K 2 
 
132 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 Chap. VllT. 
 
 theless not first-rate, nor at all superior to what one 
 sees elsewhere. 
 
 Sta. Maria Gloriosa dei Frari ought first to be 
 described, as being certainly the finest of its class. 
 
 The first impression of it on landing from the gon- 
 dola on the desolate-looking piece of pavement which 
 here, as in many of the Venetian churches, forms a 
 court between the canal and the west front, is not pleas- 
 ing. The design of this west front is nothing short of 
 being positively ugly ; it is finished with a great sham 
 gable, with a curved outline, somewhat akin to our 
 bad Elizabethan, but entirely foreign to any beauty 
 or even picturesqueness of appearance ; the doorways, 
 too, are particularly poor, consisting of a succession 
 of twisted and reedy mouldings, thin and shadowless, 
 like so many cords stretched from cap to base, and 
 round the arch without any proper distinction of jamb 
 and archivolt. 
 
 The internal effect of the church of the Frari 
 is much finer than its west front would lead one to 
 expect. The plan is simple ; a nave and aisles of six 
 bays, transepts with three eastern chapels to each, and 
 a choir of one bay with an apse of four bays. The 
 columns are simple, cylindrical, and very lofty, their 
 capitals carved with foliage, which looks late and poor 
 in its execution, though grouped in the old way in 
 regular tufts or balls of foliage. The arrangement of 
 the wall above the main arcade is very similar to that 
 of the Veronese churches, and, indeed, to that of most 
 Italian pointed ; a plain wall is carried up to the 
 groining, relieved only by a small clerestory window 
 at the highest point. One is apt to compare this 
 arrangement with the noble arrangement of clerestory 
 and triforium in our own churches : but herein we do 
 not fairly to Niccolo Pisano (who designed the Frari) 
 
! 
 
 ..; -INTERIOR OF STA MARTA GLORIOSA DEI FRA); 
 
 J 
 
Chap. VIII. CHURCH OF THE FRARI. 133 
 
 iind his brethren. They had to work in a country 
 where liglit must be admitted very sparingly, and 
 where therefore it is impossible to revel in the rich 
 traceries which fill the bays of the churches of the 
 North ; and they lived among a nation of artists, and 
 deemed, perhaps, that these plain surfaces of wall would 
 one day glow with colour and with scripture story. 
 For these reasons then I defend them for the bare- 
 ness and over-great plainness which is certainly at 
 first felt to be so remarkable in their work. But the 
 real beauty of these interiors is owing, I believe, 
 more to the noble sim])licity and purity of the quad- 
 ripartite groining which arches them in, and which, 
 even where other features would seem to tell of de- 
 basement and absence of feeling, invariably recalls us 
 to a proper recollection of the in Unite value of sim])li- 
 city in this important feature, a i)()int lost sight of in 
 England almost from the first, to the incalculable 
 detriment, I really believe, of the beauty of our great 
 churches. It is not difiicult to prove tliat this must 
 be the case, for I take it for granted that we all feel 
 that ornament for its own sake is valueless, and c'([ually, 
 that doing in a troublesome, and therefore costly way, 
 that which may as well be done in a simpler manner, 
 is unpleasant and distasteful as an exhibition of the 
 wasteful expenditure of human skill and energy ; and 
 therefore, as simple quadripartite groining with diago- 
 nal and transverse ribs, and none intermediate, is quite 
 sufticient for construction, and is in no degree what- 
 ever strengthened by the nmltiplication and ramification 
 of perplexing ribs, common even in our early work, and 
 in later days sinking into the effete and senseless luxury 
 of fan tracery and its contemporary modes of vaulting, 
 — that, therefore, the simplest is the only true and 
 thoroughly defensible system of rooling in stone. 
 
134 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 Chap. Vlll. 
 
 The simple groining of the Frari springs, in the 
 aisles, from pilasters corbelled out of the walls midway 
 in height, just as in Sta. Anastasia at Verona, and in 
 the nave and choir from clusters of shafts rising from 
 the caps of the columns. 
 
 The apse is the noblest feature of the whole church ; 
 its windows, with their singular and not quite pleasing 
 transome of tracery — I know not how else to express 
 it — are refreshing because they have tracery, though 
 indeed it is of a rude and heavy kind. 
 
 There is something grand, too, about the arrange- 
 ment of the church. The choir is prolonged by the 
 length of about one bay and a half into the nave, and 
 fenced off to the west by a great classic screen, sur- 
 mounted by figures of the Apostles, with a crucifix 
 rising in the centre. The nave is, of course, quite 
 free from any fixed seats, and this with the great area 
 of the transepts gives an air of spaciousness to the 
 whole interior. 
 
 There are two or three fine ancient monuments 
 of Doges (one of them of the Doge Foscari), and 
 last, but not least, two immense monuments facing 
 each other, near the west end of the nave, to Ca- 
 nova and Titian, preposterous in size, quite unsuit- 
 able to a church, and, so far at least as I could judge, 
 entirely devoid of merit as works of religious art. 
 There is, too, a painting by Giovanni Bellini of the 
 Madonna and Saints, which ought not to be forgotten, 
 and a grand and well-used sacristy, such as never 
 seems to be seen save in Italy. To the south of the 
 nave are large uninteresting cloisters, and it is only at 
 the east end that the exterior at all repays the ecclesi- 
 ologist for the pains he must take to get all round it. 
 The view which I give will best illustrate its general 
 character. The windows are all transomed, the tracery 
 
i7— .-ilA. :wlAKIA GLOKIO.SA I>EI HiAUI. VENICE. 
 
( MAI". V 111. 
 
 CIIUKCII OF THE FKAKI. 
 
 135 
 
 and portions of the arches bein<j' executed in stone, 
 the rest of* the wall bein^ entirely ol' Ijrick or terra- 
 cotta ; the bricks not particularly good, and the terra- 
 cotta borders, cornices, and the like, j)oor and meagre 
 in their design. The most observable point about the 
 detail is the great and ugly splay on the exterior ol' 
 the windows, and the fact that all the apsidal termi- 
 nations in the church finish with an angle in the 
 centre, a peculiarity which I do not remember ever 
 to have met with l>efore, and very much to be com- 
 mended on every account. 
 
 There is a degree of clumsiness about the way in 
 which the arches of the windows are set upon the 
 jambs which is very characteristic of this kind ol" 
 work; but this, and other points oj)en to criticism, 
 do not prevent the east end of this church iVom being 
 a very noble conception, broad and grand, uidjroken 
 witli the lines of buttresses which generally too 
 much confuse apsidal terminations, and yet very ver- 
 tical in its eflect. TluM'e is no attem])t at relieving- 
 or ornamenting plain wall where it occurs, but it is 
 left in the native rudeness of the rather rough-looking 
 red brick, which is in no respect better than the bricks 
 one may get anywhere in England. I'he cornices are 
 very marked, and those in the clerestory have the 
 ungraceful corbelled arcading in ])rick, to which J 
 have a special antipathy. The clerestory windows 
 of the transepts and choir are, I need hardly say, (|iiite 
 modern, and of a kind, unlbrtunately, most j)opular 
 throughout the north of Italy. North of the choir is a 
 tall brick campanile, finished with an octagonal upper 
 stage, but not very remarkable. 
 
 Next in order of merit to this church are those 
 of SS. Giovanni e Paolo and of the Madonna dell' 
 Orto, both of them savouring most strongly ot the 
 
18G 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 Chap. VIII. 
 
 school of the Pisani, and both in very many points 
 remarkably like the church of the Frari. 
 
 We will take SS. Giovanni e Paolo first. The apse 
 is so like that of the Frari that one might easily be 
 mistaken for the other, — both being full of windows 
 with traceries arranged in a similar manner, — and its 
 transepts, furnished to the east with a row of apsidal 
 chapels side by side, afford another point of similarity ; 
 indeed, this is throughout so great, that I do not feel 
 that I should be justified in taking up space and time 
 in a detailed description of it. Those who visit this 
 church for no other reason do so to see the painting 
 by Titian of S. Peter Martyr. There are some 
 other paintings of merit as well as some mediaeval 
 monuments against the walls. The west end is 
 unfinished, but bad as far as finished, and in front 
 of it a small square, bordered by a canal, is known by 
 the fine equestrian statue of Bartolomeo CoUeoni da 
 Bergamo, and by the singular building which stands 
 at right angles with the west front of the churcli, 
 the Scuola di S. Marco, elaborately constructed with 
 coloured marbles, arranged, in gross violation of all 
 proper architectural rules, in imitation of perspective, 
 and with an attempt, by means of dark and light 
 materials, to give the idea of light and shade, distance, 
 and the like ; an attempt which has failed so com- 
 pletely as to be useful as a warning to us. 
 
 Next in order of merit to SS. Giovanni e Paolo I 
 should place the church of S. Maria dell' Orto. The 
 church is in a very bad state, and so far ruinous 
 as to require to be supported in its interior by a forest 
 of shores and scafibld-poles, which make it quite im- 
 possible to get a good idea of the general efiect. It 
 appeared, however, to have fair pointed arcades resting 
 upon very classic-looking columns, with capitals of 
 
f'llAP. VI 11. 
 
 SS. GIOVANNI E PAOLO. 
 
 137 
 
 poorly i^rouped and executed foliage. It is decidedly 
 inlcrior to the others in every respect save the treat- 
 ment of its west front, whicli, poor as it is, sins less 
 a^i^ainst all acknowledged rules than do theirs ; its cha- 
 racter is of a kind of pseudo- pointed, very flat, hard, 
 and awkward. The cornice, with the open Italian 
 pinnacles above it, over the central portion, is better 
 in its eff'ect than the singular row of niches which 
 stands in lieu of cornice for the ends of the aisles ; but 
 it is worth while, nevertheless, to observe how simple 
 is tlie design of these niches, taken separately ; and 
 how far this simplicity and genuine beauty of cusping 
 and arcliing goes towards redeeming the want of 
 taste which is shown in the choice of their location. 
 The windows at the end of the aisles are remarkaljle 
 lor transomes of tracery supported upon two heights 
 of delicate marble shafts, and entirely indcjx'iidcnt of 
 the glazing which is lixed in frames within tliem. 
 This kind of arrangement, incongruous and unsatis- 
 factory as it is here, is worth recollecting, as being 
 suggestive of an obvious opening for the use of 
 traceried windows in domestic work ; and it is a 
 plan of not uncommon occurrence; in the best Italian 
 ecclesiastical architecture. ]Many of the windows of 
 Sta. Anastasia at Verona are constructed in tliis way, 
 showing on the outside elaborately-cusped and pierced 
 plates of stone, against which on the inside the glazing 
 is fixed, surrounded only with a ])lain circle of stone. 
 
 S. Stefano is another and really striking pointed 
 church. Its interior, notwithstanding the gaudy 
 red danuisk with which the Venetians here and 
 elsewhere delight in clothing the columns of their 
 churches, is very fine and unlike what is common 
 in the North of Kuro|)e. The arcades of six pointed 
 arches dividing tlie nave from eitlier aisle are very 
 
188 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 Chap. VIII. 
 
 light, and supported on delicnte marble columns, 
 whose capitals, with square abaci and classic-looking 
 foliage, hardly look like Gothic work. The moulding 
 of the arches is not arranged in a succession of 
 rims, as is the case in almost all good pointed work ; 
 but, in tlie fashion of classic arches, has a broad, plain 
 soffit, with a small and shallow moulding at the 
 edge, hnished with a kind of dentil ornament, which, 
 originally invented by the architect of S. Mark's in 
 order to lighten the lines of constructional stonework 
 within which his encrusted marbles were held, was 
 afterwards, down to the very decline of pointed archi- 
 tecture, used everywhere in Venice — not only in its 
 original position, but, as at S. Stefano, as a kind of 
 label round the arch. Its effect is much like that of 
 the English dog-tooth ornament — a succession of sharp 
 hard lights and shades, useful as giving value and 
 force to a very small piece of stonework, and therefore 
 exceedingly valuable and praiseworthy when used as it 
 is at S. Mark's, and equally contemptible, I am bound 
 to say, when used, as it is in later work at Venice, 
 simply as an ornament ; for this it is not and cannot 
 be, as it is the result of no skill or taste on the part of 
 the workman, but just such an enrichment as might be 
 rather better done by machine than by hand. 
 
 I must not forget to add that the interior of S. 
 Stefano requires to be held together by iron ties in 
 every direction — a sin to which, in Italy, the eye 
 soon becomes accustomed. 
 
 The roof of the nave is a curious painted timber 
 roof, boarded on the under side of the constructional 
 arrangements, so as to hide them. The whole of the 
 exterior is very carefully executed in brick, the moulded 
 work being well done, but the whole very late in date 
 and not good in its effect. The doorway is of a 
 
CllAI-. VIll. 
 
 MKDl/EYAL REMAINS. 
 
 139 
 
 Ikvourite type, with a debased ogee arch, and above it 
 — also a favourite plan in Venice — is a lar^e circular 
 window, unadorned with tracery or tilling-in of any 
 kind. 
 
 There are other mediaeval churches in Venice ; but, 
 after in vain attemptin<^ to make notes of them, I at 
 last gave up the attempt. The late work, of which 
 they are specimens, w^as so exceedingly poor, cold, and 
 distasteful to me, that I felt much inclined to give up 
 ecclr'siology in despair. The truth is, that, S. Mark's 
 excepted — and a very wcmderful exception of course it 
 is — the churches in Venice in no respect came up to 
 my anticipations. There is, indeed, not a tithe of the 
 real delight experienced in visiting them which I 
 remember to have felt in visiting the churches of 
 much smaller cities in France, Germany, and our own 
 dear England. True, indeed, there are some fine points 
 and a certain l)readth and dignity about the general 
 effect of such a church as that of the Frari ; but for 
 all those lovely ])oints ol* detail which in everv di- 
 rection amaze by the art they display and the rich 
 array of beauty with which they clothe the walls of 
 Northern cathedrals, there is here no kind of equi- 
 valent. 
 
 When I had thoroughly come to this conclusion, 
 and settled in my own mind by actual insj)ection 
 that my judgment was not harsh or unfair, 1 con less 
 I felt a weight ofl' my mind. I was now Iree to in- 
 dulge myself to the full in the search for what Venice 
 really has in greater abundance, perhaps, than any 
 other city in Christendom — remains, namely, of medi- 
 ajval domestic work. Nothing can be conceived more 
 delighti'ul than such a search. You seldom go a 
 hundred yards — often it is much less — without coming 
 upon some remains, or perhaps some nearly perfect 
 
140 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 Chap. VIII. 
 
 example, of an old Venetian palace ; and then, with 
 the gondola fastened to one of the great posts which 
 line all the canals, the well- satisfied gondolier lying 
 stretched on his back behind the awning, and the 
 merry party laughing and talking within its dark 
 recess, you sit most luxuriously and make your 
 notes and sketches with a degree of quiet comfort 
 which is the more gratefully felt by comparison with 
 the misery which, nine times out of ten, accompanies 
 all attempts to sketch in foreign cities, with all the 
 idle, graceless fellows in the place looking over your 
 shoulder and criticising your performances. 
 
 Venetian palaces divide themselves naturally into 
 two great classes, the Byzantine and the Gothic ; and 
 it surprised me very much to find remains so perfect 
 and so extensive of the former class even on the banks 
 of the Grand Canal itself, where change has been ever 
 so frequent and so rife. Indeed, so far as I saw, all 
 the Byzantine palaces are situated on its banks, with 
 one exception, — a house just out of it in the Eio de 
 Ca' Foscari. 
 
 Of these palaces, certainly the most striking by far 
 are the Ca' Loredan, the Ca' Farsetti, and the Fondaco 
 de' Turclii. They all agree singularly in the general 
 idea of their design, and consist of a grand scheme of 
 arcading over the entire front. Divided generally 
 into two stories in height, they are again divided in a 
 marked manner in width into a centre and wings. 
 This division is effected solely by a great difference in 
 the space of the arches forming the arcades, which in 
 the wings are much narrower than in the central divi- 
 sion. In the upper arcade the spaces between the 
 columns, and indeed the w^hole arrangement, appear 
 to be very studiously unlike the lower range ; but, at 
 the same time, there is so very much similarity in the 
 
CiiAP. VITT. 
 
 FONDACO DF/ TlTRrilT. 
 
 detail of the whole, that this variety, tar from bcini^- 
 perceived as an irregularity or a fault, does in truth 
 just suffice to g^ive force and vitality to what might 
 otherwise appear to be monotonous and too often re- 
 peated, and recalls to mind not a little the very similar 
 kind of difference between the upper and lower order 
 of shafts already described in the west front of S. 
 Mark's. 
 
 We cannot do better than take, as an example of 
 the finest type of a Byzantine palace, the magnificent, 
 though now desolate, decaying, and ruined fac;ade of 
 the Fondaco de' Turchi, the whole of which was ori- 
 ginally cased with a thin facing of marble, like the 
 coeval works at S. Mark's — a kind of decoration 
 which, neglected as this fine relic has been for years, 
 we cannot be surprised to find almost altogether 
 destroyed ; small fragments do, however, still here and 
 there remain to tell of the original magnificence of the 
 work. The lower stage of the Fondaco consists ol* a 
 continuous arciule of ten open arches, with three nar- 
 rower arches at either end, forming the wings, so to 
 speak ; the upper stage has eighteen arches in the 
 centre and four in each wing. In the wings th(» ])iers 
 supporting the arches are, 1 tliink, all moulded ])ilas- 
 ters ; in the centre all the arches rest upon columns ; 
 and throughout the whole building the arches, which 
 are all semicircular, are considerably stilted. The entire 
 building is constructed in brick, which was originally, 
 as T have before said, covered all over with a thin 
 veneer of marl)le ; in the s])andrels of all the arches 
 this is relieved by small circular medallions delicately 
 carved, and over the upper stage is a string-course, 
 above which there would seem to have been a long 
 scries of slightly sunk ])anels with round-arched heads, 
 filled in with delicately arranged and beautil'ully 
 
142 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 Chap. VITl. 
 
 sculptured patterns in marble. These panels are im- 
 mediately below the eaves of the roof. Many of the 
 abaci and string-courses, and all the thin pieces of 
 marble which form the soffits of the arches, have their 
 projections finished either with a nail-head or dentil 
 moulding ; and between the shafts of the upper stage 
 there are traces of balconies. 
 
 A very noticeable point in the general effect of the 
 facade of the Fondaco de' Turchi is that, from the 
 peculiar shape and great projection of the capitals of 
 the shafts and the narrow span of the arches, the 
 whole of the arcading has, at a small distance, almost 
 the effect of a series of trefoils, and so seems to pave 
 the way for the continuous traceries of the Ducal 
 Palace and other later buildings. 
 
 One especial fault of the Venetians seems to have 
 been their proneness to repeat the same architectural 
 idea an infinite number of times ; and there is some- 
 thing in this so characteristic of the place and the 
 people, that the reason for it is worthy of some con- 
 sideration. Venice, surrounded by water, and cut off 
 from that kind of emulation which in other places 
 always has the effect of producing life and change 
 very rapidly in the phases of art, seems to have 
 contented herself, when once she had well done, with 
 the conviction that improvement was either impos- 
 sible or unnecessary, and so, whilst changes were 
 going on in the mainland, to have rested satisfied 
 with a slight alteration only, and that one of detail 
 always, for centuries ; and it is thus that I account 
 for the singular sameness which characterized all 
 the efforts of her Gothic artists. The fagade of the 
 Ducal Palace is really precisely the same in its 
 idea as that of the Fondaco de' Turchi or the Ca' 
 Loredan, altered only in detail — its very beautiful 
 
('IIAP. VIII. 
 
 rALACES. 
 
 143 
 
 traceries taking the place of, but doing the same 
 work as, the simple encrusted arcades of its predeces- 
 sors. And again, in tlie fronts of other and much 
 smaller palaces — indeed, in all the fronts of the 
 Gothic period — it is singular how exactly the same 
 idea in the general arrangement is always preserved. 
 Let me describe an ordinary palace. It is divided 
 probably into three or four stories in height, the 
 several stages generally separated by string-courses. 
 The lower story opens, by an arched doorway in the 
 centre, to the water ; and on either side of this door- 
 way a few small windows serve to light the basement. 
 The second stage has a grand window of some five or 
 six lights, divided by shafts of marble, and rich with 
 tracery, in the centre ; and on either side, one or two 
 single lights, with tracery corresponding with — and 
 often, as it were, cut out in a slice from — the traceries 
 of tbe central windows. The third stage is nearly a re- 
 production ol' the second, though perhaps slightly less 
 important ; and the upper stage is either again a repe- 
 tition of the others, or else consists of a few small win- 
 dows ])laced over the others, and very unim])ortant and 
 unpretending. The whole is crowned by a slightly- 
 projecting eaves-corpice, generally very meagre in its 
 character, and with a line of genuine dog-tooth orna- 
 ment on its lower edge. Above this, ])robably — for 
 only one or two examples remain at all near to their 
 original state — was a parapet like that which still in 
 part remains on the Ca' d'Oro and on the Ducal Palace, 
 light and fantastic to a degree, and almost masking 
 the flat roof behind. 
 
 Such, as will be seen by the views with which, I douljt 
 not, almost all my readers must be familiar, is the 
 general idea of the Gothic ])alaee in Venice, and it 
 admits of very slight moditication. Occasionally, as 
 
144 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 Chap. VIIT. 
 
 in the Ca' d'Oro, tlie windows are enclosed within a 
 square line of delicate moulding, the space within 
 which is encrusted with marble and entirely distinct 
 from the string-courses, so as to give very much the 
 impression of a plain wall veneered here and there 
 with a window; or, again, sometimes the whole central 
 division of the first and second stories is veneered on to 
 a fagade in which the other windows are treated con- 
 structionall}^ ; at any rate, from first to last (except, as 
 we shall see, in the Ducal Palace, and for this excep- 
 tion there is some explanation in its vast size and 
 other reasons), the distinction between the centre and 
 the wings was never lost sight of, and never forgotten. 
 This was the great idea of all these buildings, and 
 most perseveringly was it reproduced down to the 
 last, when, gradually losing even the life which 
 beautiful detail had once lent it, it sank through 
 successive stages, until, at last, easily and well-nigh 
 imperceptibly, it succumbed, without a struggle, to 
 the rise of the Renaissance feeling, giving only, in 
 revenge, to its successor, the curse of an obligation 
 still to go on building to the last, for whatever want 
 or on whatever occasion, with the conviction that a 
 centre and two wings must ever be. necessary to a grand 
 fagade; and it so happens that, in addition to the 
 large pure Byzantine palaces in which this arrange- 
 ment is preserved, — in a delicate manner, it is true, — 
 there still remains one remarkable example of the 
 period of transition from Byzantine to Pointed, in a 
 house which forms one side of the Corte del Eemer 
 (which opens to the Grand Canal just above the spot 
 where it is spanned by the Eialto), which serves to 
 show clearly enough the first attempt at translation of 
 this Byzantine idea into Gothic. 
 
 In the principal story of this house the central 
 
18— CORTE DEL REWl. 
 
( HAP. VIII. 
 
 THE DUCAL PALACE. 
 
 145 
 
 toature is the entrance doorway, whose finely orna- 
 mented arch of markedly horseslioe outline is very 
 conspicuous. On either side of this, and connected 
 with it in one group, are two windov/s divided by 
 shafts and with arches of very singular shape ; it is as 
 though a stilted semicircular arch had suddenly been 
 turned up in the centre, not with the graceful ogee 
 curve of later days, but with simple, hard, straight 
 lines. Beyond these windows, one of late date, pro- 
 Ijably inserted in the place of the original window, 
 completes the similarity which the arrangement of the 
 openings in this house bears to that common to all 
 the later Gothic palaces. The arches which support 
 the staircase in front of this house are entirely exe- 
 cuted in brick, and are probably later in date than the 
 house itself, though it is noticeable that they are of 
 a very early and ])ure type, and that here, as gene- 
 rally throughout the north of Italy, the pointed arch 
 was first used in construction, and then, some time 
 after its first introduction, and very generally in some 
 modified form, for ornamentation also. 
 
 And now, having so far cleared the way, let me ask 
 my reader to go with me to the Ducal Palace, and 
 there undertake a somewliat hasty examination of its 
 very glorious design. 
 
 I shall not enter into a general (lescri])tion of tlie 
 entire building, because, as this has undergone pro- 
 digious alterations since its first erection, it is un- 
 necessary to do more than to refer to tlu* two fronts, 
 which still retain, nearly without alteration, their 
 original design. 
 
 The whole building forms three sides of a hollow 
 square ; one side rises out of the deep recesses of the 
 Rio del Palazzo, spanned near its outlet by the famous 
 Bridge of Sighs, and is entirely of Renaissance work ; 
 
 li 
 
146 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 Chap. Ylll. 
 
 the next side, rising from the Eiva dei Schiavoni, faces 
 the Giudecca, and is of the purest Gothic ; and the 
 third, facing the Piazzetta di San Marco — the sYnall 
 square which opens S. Mark's to the water — is also 
 Gothic, and of the same type. The back of the palace 
 abuts upon S. Mark's. 
 
 I cannot pretend to decide at all absolutely upon 
 the vexed question of the dates of the mediaeval 
 portions, because, as the reader will find in an in- 
 teresting discussion on the subject in the second 
 volume of Mr. Euskin's ' Stones of Venice,' it is a 
 source of very hot disputes. But the following appear 
 to me to be the main points. 
 
 It seems to be clear that we may take the year 1301 
 as that in which the earliest works now existing were 
 commenced, and that again in a.d. 1341 further works 
 were undertaken, with the view of providing a grander 
 council-chamber than had before existed, and that by 
 about A.D. 1369 the structure was completed. These 
 dates are very important, and, I believe, undisputed, 
 the only question being as to which part of the 
 building they refer to. 
 
 And now, before I say more abotit dates, let me 
 describe these two Gothic fronts — the sea front and 
 the Piazzetta front — and then we may perhaps see our 
 way to some clear comprehension of the relative ages 
 of the various portions of the fabric. 
 
 In height the whole .design is divided into three 
 stages, the upper nearly equal to the united height of 
 the two lower stages, and faced entirely with a delicate 
 diaper of marble cut in small oblong pieces, and looking, 
 save in their texture and colour, much like bricks.^ In 
 
 ^ The arrangement of the marbles in this stage is worth noting. They 
 are arranged in a kind of diaper carried in diagonal lines over the entire 
 wall ; the centre of each square of the diaper is a piece of red snrroiinded 
 
( HAP. VIII. 
 
 rilH DUCAL PALACE. 
 
 147 
 
 this marble-faced wall are pierced a number of win- 
 dows with pointed arches — the tracery of which has 
 been taken out — -and in or near the centre of each 
 laf;ade a much larger window and balcony, which looks 
 ratlier as though it had been subsequently inserted : but 
 these were so obscured by scaffolding when I was at 
 Venice that I could not judge decidedly on this point. 
 The lowest stage consists of a long and uniform 
 arcade of very simple and noljle pointed arches resting 
 upon circular columns with elaborately carved caps. 
 The intermediate stage is a magnificent arcade, sup- 
 porting very glorious tracery, too well known to every- 
 body to require much description, and divided from 
 the stages above and below it by large and prononcee 
 lines of carved and moulded string-courses. 
 
 It is important to observe that up to the top of 
 the second string-course the whole of the architecture 
 is of the noblest type of Venetian pointed ; the arches 
 of the lowest stage are well ])r()p()rti()ned, and, though 
 very simply, still well moulded ; and tlie detail of the 
 whole of the second stage is, to say the least, not at 
 all inferior. They form together, without exception, J 
 believe, from all I have either seen myself or heard, 
 the very noblest and truest specimen of Christian 
 architecture south of tlie Alps. 
 
 Above this noble work the third stage comes, and I 
 confess, to my eye, with patent marks in every stone 
 of which it is composed that it was designed by some 
 other hand than that which had been so successful l^e- 
 low. There is something quite chilling in the great 
 waste of plain unbroken wall coming above the won- 
 
 by four ])i('C('s of grey marble ; then comes a row ot white, of rc«l, and of 
 white, and finally the dividin;^ lines of all the diaj)er.s of red. A nearly 
 similar diaperinfj; is tci be seen on one of the Gothic palaces on the Grand 
 Canal. 
 
 L 2 
 
148 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 Chap. VIII. 
 
 derful richness of the arcades which support it ; and, 
 moreover, this placing of the richer work below and 
 the plainer above is so contrary not only to all ordinary 
 canons of architecture, but just as much to the ordi- 
 nary practice of the Venetians, that I feel sure, now 
 that I have examined the work itself, that an impres- 
 sion which I have had from my first acquaintance with 
 drawings of it is substantially correct, viz. that the 
 line at which alterations and additions have been made 
 is to be looked for in a horizontal and not in a vertical 
 direction ; that in all probability, consequently, the 
 builders of a. d. 1301 commenced with some portion 
 of the sea facade, and gradually carried on the building 
 to, at any rate, the height of the two stages as we now 
 see them; and that then, when in a. d. 1341 the Coun- 
 cil Chamber was found to be too small, and larger 
 rooms were required, another architect suggested the 
 advantage of obtaining these by raising an immense 
 story above the others, and, without destroying much 
 of his predecessor's work, providing rooms on the most 
 magnificent scale for the Doge and his Council. 
 
 This view is, so far as I understand Mr. Euskin's, ex- 
 ceedingly difierent from his, which seems to make the 
 entire sea front to be the work of the architect of a.d. 
 1341, whilst the erection of the Piazzetta front in 
 imitation of the other is not mentioned at all in any of 
 the old accounts, and the destruction of the work com- 
 menced there in a.d. 1301 is equally unaccounted for. 
 Moreover, there is no mark of diversity of style be- 
 tween the two fronts beyond some slight difierences 
 in the treatment of the sculpture ; but it is quite im- 
 possible to argue with any certainty from this, because 
 it is plain that this difierence might arise from the 
 employment of two sculptors at the same time whose 
 minds were as different in tone as their hands were in 
 
Chap. VIII. 
 
 THE DUCAL PALACE. 
 
 149 
 
 power, or i'vom tlie completion of a portion only of the 
 carving at first, and the delay for some reason, which 
 might easily arise, of that in the Piazzetta front until 
 a later period. 
 
 Hnt if we take into consideration the extreme pro- 
 bability that the mode I have suggested was resorted 
 to, we shall see at once how very important a clue it 
 gives as to the explanation of the very evident differ- 
 ence in design between the lower part and the upper. 
 There is, it is true, but little to guide us, but still I 
 think enough. In the first place, the shafts at the 
 angles of the building, which in the earliest Venetian 
 work were simple roundings off of the sharp angles, 
 afterwards three-quarter shafts formed by rounding 
 the angle and then sinking a line on each side a few 
 inches from it, became in time detached shafts pro- 
 jecting from the face of the wall and apparently in- 
 dependent of it, and held in their places by occasional 
 bands bedded into tlie wiill ; in short, these later 
 expedients were just as unreal, unnatural, and ugly 
 expedients for marking the angle of the wall, as the 
 others were lovely and simple modes of delicately 
 softening its contour. The shafts at the angles of 
 the upper stage of the Ducal Palace are of the late 
 type, both ugly and weak, and, I am confident, 
 never de\dsed by the original architect of the finer 
 work below. 
 
 Besides this, the windows — which are indeed arched 
 — are poor in their detail, which is small and entirely 
 wanting in bold spirit : and where the tracery remains, 
 as it still does in two windows at the extreme end 
 of the sea front, it is of much later and poorer cha- 
 racter than the traceries below. 
 
 Finally, the parapet is not at aU equal in its con- 
 ception to any of the lower work, and crowns witli an 
 
150 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 Chap. Vlll. 
 
 insignificant grotesqueness the noble symmetry of the 
 two lower arcades. 
 
 The new council-chamber was not completed en- 
 tirely until A.D. 1423, and in a.d. 1429 the Doge 
 Foscari built a gate called the Porta della Carta at the 
 S. Mark's end of the Piazzetta facade. I only notice 
 this, because, above the picturesque but debased work 
 which he put up, there is a small portion of plain wall 
 diapered with marble so as to correspond exactly with 
 the upper stage of the palace, against which it is built, 
 whilst the parapet and window over this gateway are 
 also similar to those in the upper stage of the palace. 
 He could imitate work near his own in point of time, 
 he could not imitate the purer early work — he did the 
 one, and not the other ; it is ever so in the history 
 of art, and in this case it proves, I think, that no 
 long period of time could have elapsed between the 
 execution of the two similar works ; this, therefore, 
 makes the supposition that the upper part of the 
 palace was of late date still more probable than it 
 would have been had we only had the intrinsic evi- 
 dence afforded by its style to go upon. But I think 
 that we have a curious confirmation of my view in 
 another way ; for in the Bodleian Library there is a 
 manuscript of the fourteenth century (the Eomance of 
 Alexander) which contains a most curious and remark- 
 able view of Venice. It has been engraved at p. 26 
 of the second volume of the ' Domestic Architecture 
 of the Middle A ges,' to which I must refer my readers ; 
 they will see that, with the usual amount of hcence 
 which characterizes most mediseval representations of 
 places or towns, it has, nevertheless, been intended as 
 an absolute representation of what its draughtsman 
 had seen. The columns with S. Theodore and the 
 lion of S. Mark on their capitals, the bronze horses 
 
CllAI". VIII. 
 
 THE DUCAL PALACE. 
 
 151 
 
 and tlie domes of S. Mark's, the jjosition by the water- 
 side, and the representation of the Ponte del' Pao-lia, 
 are all proofs of this ; but the important point for 
 my present purpose is, that he drew the Ducal Palace 
 as a building of two stories in heir/ht, the first a simple 
 arcade, the second an arcade with tracery. In the 
 distance behind this his drawin<^ shows a picturesque 
 assemblage of buildings, whilst figures are represented 
 behind the upper arcade as though it wx^e only a 
 kind of immense balcony. There can be no doubt 
 whatever that this old drawing tells most strongly in 
 favour of my view that the upper stage was not built 
 until after a considerable interval ; for it is almost im- 
 possible — looking at the way in which the rest of the 
 drawing is made — to believe that all reference to it 
 would have been omitted had it had any existence at 
 the time. 
 
 It will be seen that my supposition that the original 
 design of the Ducal Palace was of considerably K'ss 
 elevation than the present building, would tend to 
 make it very nnicli more like the Byzantine tyj)e than 
 it now is ; but even now no one can disj)ute the family 
 likeness. The amount of constructive art is as nearly at; 
 possible the same. The weight is siij)ported ])y a suc- 
 cession of shafts ])laced at very short intervals from each 
 other, and in neither is there any approach to the sys- 
 tem of pier, and arch, and buttress, so distinctive of 
 pointed art in the North. The pointed arcli is usvd, it is 
 true, in the palace ; but, after all, the mere use of the 
 pointed arch does not make thorough pointed archi- 
 tecture, and, therefore, all-glorious as it is as a variety 
 of pointed architecture, the Ducal Palace is, T think, 
 scarcely to be placed in the first class of pointed 
 buildings. Indeed, the second stage, whose e.xquisite 
 beauty is the charm of the whole building, does not 
 
152 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 Chap. VIII. 
 
 exhibit the pointed arch at all in a properly developed 
 form, and is strong enongh to support the great 
 weight of wall above only by reason of the massy 
 character of its tracery, and not by the proper applica- 
 tion of constructional arches. I have already said that 
 there is no approach to buttressing ; but the angles re- 
 quire some help, and this is given partly by increasing 
 considerably the size of the shafts, and partly by iron 
 ties at the springing of the arches running for some 
 distance in each direction. 
 
 All the mouldings are very simple ; generally com- 
 posed of three-quarter beads, small fillets, and large 
 flat hollows, and constantly arranged in the same order. 
 The label of the main arcade is a plain bead. In the 
 string-courses boldly carved flowers are repeated with 
 a slight interval between each, and the upper string- 
 course has a row of nail-heads in one of its members. 
 The cusping of the tracery is quite square in its sec- 
 tion, and the cusps finish with a square end, to which 
 is attached — and with good effect — a small circular 
 ball of red marble. The parapet is of the somewhat 
 peculiar kind I have already mentioned, and I confess 
 I was not long enough in Venice to bring myself to 
 admire its extreme peculiarity of both outline and 
 design. 
 
 Such, then, is the Ducal Palace ; a building certainly 
 in some respects of almost unequalled beauty, but at 
 the same time of unequal merit ; its first and second 
 stages quite perfect in their bold nervous character, 
 and in the almost everlasting-looking succession of the 
 same beautiful features in shaft, and arch, and tracery, 
 forming perhaps one of the very grandest proofs in 
 the world of the exceeding beauty of perfect regularity 
 in architecture, when it is possible to obtain it on a 
 very large scale. It is, however, in spite of, not in 
 
19.— ARCHWAY, PDNTE DEL PARADISO, VENICE. 
 
CllAi'. VIII. 
 
 ARCHWAY. 
 
 153 
 
 conjunction with, the treatment of the upper stage 
 that this facade is so eminently beautiful, and I am 
 confident that without it the remainder of the palace 
 would find at least as many admirers as it does now, 
 wliilst by itself the world witli one consent would pass 
 by this upper stage as a very wortliless and inferior 
 piece of architecture. 
 
 Leaving the Piazzetta, and stepping into the gon- 
 dola, which has been waiting for us hard by, let us 
 now go in search of other palaces ; but let us not 
 imagine tliat we are to see any tiling equal to the 
 Ducal Palace. There is, it appears to me, a great gap 
 between it and all other Venetian Iniildings ; and yet 
 all others seem to have been founded on it, or on 
 the buildings out of which it grew. Their traceries, 
 seldom absolutely alike, have still so much general 
 similarity that at first one may well fancy that there 
 is no variety at all; and, as I have before said, the 
 general arrangement of their windows and doors is so 
 nearly identical that this im])ression is the more likely 
 to grow upon the mind. 
 
 We will not attempt to take the buildings as they 
 come; but rather as we think of them, and to some ex- 
 tent in the order of their merit, let us note down the 
 glories of the domestic work of Venice. And first let 
 us stop in this narrow canal, for we have by our side 
 one of the most exquisite little pieces of detail in the 
 whole city. It is an arclnvay, simple and delicate in 
 its proportions, lovely as it is simple, and appropriately 
 placed hard by the bridge called "del Paradiso." T trust 
 that my sketch is clear enough to show how pure 
 and good the work is. The main j)oints to be noted 
 are, the characteristic flatness of the details, and the 
 kind of dentil moulding, which defines all the leading 
 architectural lines, originally invented for ])orders of 
 
154 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 Chap. VIII. 
 
 incrustations at S. Mark's, and here, as everywhere in 
 Venice, used for decoration afterwards. The incrusted 
 circles of marble on each side of the figure give great 
 life to the spandrel beneath the arch, and the windows 
 seen behind show us a late example of the not un- 
 frequent use of the semicircular and ogee arches toge- 
 ther in the same window. 
 
 In another, and rather desolate, canal in the out- 
 skirts of the city, wider than usual, and with a foot- 
 path at the side of the water, instead of having the 
 walls of the houses running down into it, and forming 
 its boundary, is the Palazzo Cicogna, as it is called ; 
 which I remember gratefully because it is one of 
 the few exceptions to the rule of regularity. The 
 whole design of the house is very irregular ; a detached 
 shaft at one angle supports a portion of the house 
 which overhangs and forms a sort of open passage- 
 way ; to the right of this opening is a four-light 
 shafted window, and then a plain wall pierced with 
 two windows, each of a single ogee trefoiled light. 
 The upper story has two single windows over the 
 others, whilst over the larger windows and the 
 passage-way is a large window conspicuous by its size 
 and the peculiarity of its tracery. It is of six lights 
 divided by very good shafts, and properly arched with 
 pure and good trefoiled arches ; above these, and en- 
 closed within the perpetual indented string, is a com- 
 plicated system of intersecting circles pierced at 
 regular intervals with quatrefoils. The section of this 
 upper part is very much thinner than that of the 
 arches beneath. This window is in a most shaken 
 and decayed state, and not likely, I fear, to be long 
 preserved. The whole elevation is finished with a 
 shallow cornice supported on corbels. 
 
 And now let us go back to the Grand Canal; we 
 
CiiAi'. VIII. PALACES. 155 
 
 shall enter it by the side of the Palazzo Foscari, 
 which, with two other contiguous palaces, occupies 
 (|uite the post of honour at the bottom of the principal 
 reach of the Grand Canal, and commands the whole 
 view of its noble and ever-busy way to where the arch 
 of the Ilialto and another bend in the canal close in 
 the view. We will go a few strokes only towards the 
 llialto, and then turn round to look at the palaces we 
 have just passed. They certainly form a most magni- 
 ficent group, and are in every way worthy of their con- 
 spi(;uous position. The palace at the juncti(m of the two 
 waters is that of the Foscari ; the others belonged, 1 be- 
 lieve, to two of the Giustiniani family, and but a few 
 yards up the canal, which runs by the side of the former, 
 is one of the smaller remnants of Byzantine work already 
 referred to. This grouj) is so well known as scarcely to 
 need any description — suffice it to say, therefore, that 
 throughout these palaces the windows are shafted, and 
 the glass is fixed in wooden frames behind the stone- 
 work. This is beyond all doubt what we ought to 
 do; it is the only sensible and rational mode of adapt- 
 ing the system of traceried and shalled windows for 
 domestic ])urposes, and has here, as elsewhere, the 
 prestige of ancient authority to recommend it to the 
 consideration of those amongst us who will do nothing 
 without it. I have enlarged on this point elsewhere, 
 and will, therefore, say no more upon it now, save that 
 in Venice such a thing as an English monial. ordi- 
 narily is. was never known. Windows w^ere invariahly 
 shafted from the earliest period to the latest, and so far 
 invarial)ly of the highest order, inasmuch as they 
 admitted of the definite expression of the point at 
 which the monial terminated and the arch commenced, 
 and inasmuch, too, as the ])olished surface of the de- 
 tached marble shaft must ever l)e far more lovely than 
 
156 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 Chap. VIII. 
 
 the lines of tracery mouldings carried down even to 
 the sill. 
 
 The angle- shafts of the Palazzo Foscari have caps 
 and bases in each stage of the building ; those of the 
 other palaces continue up without interruption. 
 
 The date of the smaller palaces, and probably of the 
 large one also, is very early in the fifteenth century ; 
 and the latter had, in 1574, the honour of being the 
 grandest palace that the Venetians could find in which 
 to lodge Henry III. of France. 
 
 They are all three very similar in their design. 
 Their water-gates are pointed, and the windows in 
 the water- stage small and unimportant. The second 
 stage is more important, and has cusped ogee win- 
 dow-heads and balconies. The third stage is, how- 
 ever, the most grand, all the windows having deep 
 heads of tracery and large balconies. The fourth stage 
 is very nearly like the first, save that instead of bal- 
 conies there is a delicate balustrading between the 
 shafts of the windows, which is very frequent in good 
 Venetian work, and always very pretty in its efiect. 
 All the windows in these three palaces have ogee heads 
 generally finished with carved finials, and enclosed 
 within a square outline formed by the small dentilled 
 moulding, and giving what I have before had to refer 
 to — to some extent the effect of a panel with a win- 
 dow pierced in it veneered on the front. The Foscari 
 Palace is the only one of these three that has any 
 string-courses. The arrangement of the windows — 
 large in the centre and smaller at the sides — is so 
 nearly regular and of a sort of two-and-two kind of 
 uniformity, that one scarcely notices that, nevertheless, 
 when internal arrangements make it necessary, a de- 
 parture from this strict rule is allowed. 
 
 In a small court-yard, desolate and dreary, reached 
 
Chap. VIII. 
 
 PALACES. 
 
 157 
 
 after crossing the Ponte della Paglia and one or two 
 other bridges on the Riva dei Schiavoni, is the Pahizzo 
 Badoer, a fburteentli century palace, the ogeed arches 
 of the windows in which are more than usually good, 
 whilst the beauty of the central window, enclosed 
 within a square line of moulding, within wliich the 
 wall is encrusted with marljle relieved by medallions, 
 is very great. The structure of this, as probably of 
 most of the palaces, is brick which has been frescoed ; 
 but it is now in a very lamental)le state of decay. The 
 balconies of the lower windows are clearly modern, but 
 there is a trace of the original balustrade between the 
 shafts of the windows in the second stage ; and in 
 front of the side-lights to tlie upper window is a grille 
 of iron-work taking the place of a balcony, and com- 
 posed of a combination of quatrefoils. The arrange- 
 ment of the windows in this front is not absolutely 
 regular, but still the centre is very marked ; and 
 though it is of early date, the true use of the arch 
 nowhere appears. The usual* dog-tooth cornice finishes 
 the walls under the eaves. In this court-yard arc 
 two of the wells which give so much characit'r t() 
 all the courts in Venice. They appear generally to 
 be of early date, and look, frequently, like the caj)itals 
 of large columns, taken down and placed upon the 
 ground. Those in front of the Palazzo Hadoer arc 
 perhaps more like Ibnts. 
 
 Another palace, whose name 1 omitted to note, is 
 remarkable as an instance of the way in which win- 
 dows were sometimes placed absolutely at the very 
 angles of the building. The uj)per central window is 
 
 ' T say "usual " because it is really (piite curious to see how reiteatedly 
 either the dog-tooth or the uail-licad is used in this ))osition. The com- 
 monest eaves-cornice consists of a simple chnmfered stone — the chamfer 
 covered with dop;-tooth — supported on moulded corbels at short intervals. 
 
158 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 Chap. VIII. 
 
 curious. It is, in point of fact, three windows united 
 in one group ; the four centre hghts divided from each 
 other by shafts, and from the outer Hghts by pilasters. 
 The quatrefoils in the head are enlarged into ovals in 
 order to meet this difference in width. The traceries 
 are not pierced, and the original balconies remain in 
 front of the windows. Venetian balconies are very 
 beautiful and very characteristic. Nowhere else are 
 they seen in such perfection ; nowhere else, perhaps, 
 were they ever so absolutely necessary. The palaces 
 rose out of the dark water which washed against 
 their foundations, and no ground could be given 
 up for shady arcades as in other Italian cities, nor 
 were there any paths to be strolled along ; the only 
 resource was, therefore, to gain from the air that 
 which the land could not afford, and by projections in 
 front of the windows to obtain that power of enjoying 
 the delicious evening atmosphere, so cool and pleasant 
 after the fatigues of the too sultry day. These bal- 
 
 Balcony — Venice. 
 
( HAP. vin. 
 
 HALCONIES. 
 
 159 
 
 conies are almost always very similar, consistiii<^ of a 
 number of* delicate shafts with carved capitals, support- 
 in <^ a piece of stone whose under side is notched up in 
 a series of trefoils (generally ogee), resting upon the 
 capitals of the shafts. These are divided occasionally 
 by pilasters, under which are corbels jutting out boldly 
 to support their weight ; and above which sit, gene- 
 rally, eying quaintly and placidly the gondolas as they 
 shoot silently by, small lions, dogs, or other animals — 
 a quaint finish which one soon learns to like ; their 
 angles are often marked by corded mouldings, and 
 the edges of their floors and copings are almost always 
 moulded and specked with the perpetual notchings ol' 
 the nail-head. 
 
 There was great variety in the planning uf these 
 balconies. In the Palazzo Persico, for instance, in 
 which the central windows of the second and third 
 stages form one great panel, the lower balconv is con- 
 tinuous across all lour lli^-lits of the window, whilst 
 the outer lights only ol the uj)per window have bal- 
 conies, the two middle lights having a balustrade 
 only between their shafts, in other cases the balcony 
 extends to four lights only of a six-liglit window, 
 whilst in most they are confined to the central win- 
 dows, to which they give much additional dignity. 
 The Ca' Fasan affords, I think, a solitary example of 
 tracery in a balcony ; and the efleet of this is so vastly 
 inferior to the usnal shafted balconies, that it seems 
 scarcely necessary to pause to consider why it should 
 be so. Obviousl}', however, it is not very convenient 
 to have the fretlul points of cusps and traceries set, as 
 it were, to catch every projection or jxtint of your 
 dress whenever you lean over the edge of the bal- 
 cony to inhale the fresh air or scan the busy scene 
 below. 
 
160 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 Chap. VIII. 
 
 Another palace — also, I am sorry to say, unknown 
 to me by name — has a good example of an angle win- 
 dow, which, judging by the similarity of its tracery to 
 the Porta della Carta in the Ducal Palace, must date 
 about A.D. 1430. It has a very bold shaft at the 
 angle, whilst the jambs have pilasters ornamented at 
 their angle by a twisted cord-like moulding, which is 
 frequently met with in the later work. There is a 
 small angle-shaft elaborately twisted just above this 
 window, and very much like the angle-shafts of the 
 Ducal Palace. 
 
 The composition of the main window in the front of 
 this house is, I think, very striking. The lower win- 
 dow of four lights (one of which is larger and loftier 
 than the others — a curious instance of the junction of 
 regularity with irregularity), and whose arches are 
 ogee trefoils, is surmounted by another window of 
 four lights, with delicate balustrading between the 
 shafts ; and on each side of this upper window, and 
 forming part of the composition, is a single light, with 
 projecting balcony. The effect of the whole arrange- 
 ment is pleasing, and is frequently repeated in other 
 palaces. The marble incrustation over this window 
 is very much like that in the Palazzo Badoer ; and 
 from the centre of the medallions of marble small balls 
 of marble project, fixed with metal, and giving great 
 life and beauty to the medallions, and I think without 
 any sacrifice of truth. The main fabric of this build- 
 ing must be of the middle of the fourteenth century — 
 the arches of the principal window being of a very 
 excellent though simple type. 
 
 In the Casa Persico, to which reference has already 
 been made, the central window is an elaborate com- 
 position of the same kind ; but the lower one is of 
 more importance, and has a continuous balcony : and 
 
.0.— ANGLE WINDOW, VENICE. 
 
• IIAI'. VIII. 
 
 THE CA' D'ORU. 
 
 161 
 
 here 1 may notice the tinials with which the ogee 
 arches of Venetian windows are so often finished. 
 They appeared to me to be invariahly tasteless and 
 poor in execution, and very mean in their outline. I 
 did not see one finial in Venice which was satisfying, 
 even when found in conjunction with otlierwise fine 
 work, and T used to wish heartily, when T reached 
 some palace not before seen, that I might find its 
 arclies finished witliout them. There was some reason 
 for the wish, too, in the fact that I believe it is in 
 the later work that these tasteless ornaments are com- 
 monest. I saw them first at Verona, and lamented 
 over them there, but at Venice I was positively 
 annoyed by the persevering and endless thrusting of 
 their poverty and badness u])on my wearied eyes. 
 
 And now let us go again into the Grand Canal, and 
 we shall not have gone very i'ar up tlie l)r()ad water 
 above the Itialto before we shall tiiid, on oui* ri<rht 
 hand, one of the most striking groups of mediteval 
 palaces and houses whicli can be seen anywhere, even 
 in V^enice, where the famous CV d'Oro unites with 
 some three or i\mv other houses, of rather early date, 
 to give a very fair idea of what the water scenery of 
 the ancient city once was. 
 
 There is some difficulty in criticizing the Ca' d'Oro, 
 because, in the first place, it has been restored to 
 render it fit for the occupation of Mdlle. Tagli(mi, 
 and, in the next place, much of the elaborate decora- 
 tion, from which it derived its name, has perished or 
 been destroyed : as it is, however, it is still a very 
 sumptuous exam])le of the later fourteenth century 
 Gothic. Its whole face is inlaid with squares of red 
 and white marble, and a great amount of carving is 
 spread over the entire surface, round and between the 
 windows. This is very flat, but good in its effect. 
 
162 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 Chap. YIII. 
 
 The open arcade on the water story, and the traceried 
 arcades above, all open into recessed courts, an ar- 
 rangement peculiar, I think, to this house, and so 
 far similar in its purpose to the 
 arcades in the Ducal Palace. Some 
 of the balconies are good, and 
 the carving of the capitals and 
 moulding of the window traceries 
 are very characteristic of Vene- 
 tian pointed. The whole design 
 is one-sided, and gives the im- 
 pression of a house to which an 
 additional wing has been added. 
 The water-stage consists of an 
 open arcade of five arches, the 
 central arch round, the remainder 
 pointed, and to one side of these 
 
 Capital of Window-shaft-Venice.^^^^ wludoWS with a COUtinUOUS 
 
 balcony. The second and third stages have, above 
 the five open arches, elaborately traceried windows, of 
 no less than eight hghts in width, filling almost the 
 entire front, the outside lights having balconies, whilst 
 the others have balustrading. Over the two windows 
 of the water-stage are single-light windows in each 
 stage. There are throughout this front many medal- 
 lions of dark marble, which, let into a field of light 
 marble, are most brilliant in their efiect. 
 
 The most remarkable features in the Ca' d'Oro are, 
 however, the triple and elaborately carved and chev- 
 roned angle- shafts, which I have nowhere else seen, 
 and the very singular parapet. The height of this is 
 greater about the centre and at the two ends than 
 elsewhere ; but this appears to have been done rather 
 with the intention of carrying up to the very top 
 
CUAP. VI 11. 
 
 PALACES. 
 
 163 
 
 the noticeable division in the building itself than 
 for any other reason. A very small portion only of 
 the parapet is perfect, and this it is rather difficult to 
 get at, but its general effect will be understood on 
 reference to plate 21, in which I have drawn the 
 whole palace. The small balls of marble affixed to the 
 outer edge of the trefoils are Hke tliose in the tracery 
 of the Ducal Palace, and in tlie centre of the medal- 
 lions of marble everywhere throughout the city. Their 
 effect is certainly very piquant. 
 
 Beyond the Ca d'Oro there are three ancient houses 
 of consideraljle interest, and the second -irom the 
 Ca' d'Oro is a very good example indeed. They are 
 all more than usually irregular in the arrangement of 
 their windows. 
 
 Lower down the Grand Canal, and nearly o})posite 
 the Post-office, is the Palazzo l^isani Moretta, a very 
 late building, in which all the balconies are Renais- 
 sance, with ordinary bahistrading ; but this occurs 
 so often in connection with the latest examples of 
 [)ointed work, that I was tempted to believe that 
 they were possibly, after all, contemporary in their 
 erection. This palace, too, is remarkable for its double 
 entrance-doors, with ogee arches, and for the manner 
 in which the central window is carried up in an 
 uninterru})ted way to the very cornice ; the lower 
 traceries being very fair, those in the U])per story 
 very weak and bad. 
 
 With notices of two more buildings, the Palazzi 
 Cavalli and Barbaro, 1 shall conclude my remarks 
 upon the existing examples of V^enetian domestic 
 work. Neither of them calls for much remark. The 
 traceries of the Cavalli Palace are heavy and unsatis- 
 factory, and contrast unfavourably witli the greater 
 
 M :2 
 
164 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 Chap. VIII. 
 
 simplicity of the windows in the Palazzo Barbaro. 
 The two palaces stand, however, in a very noble 
 position on the Grand Canal, commanding the view 
 from the Foscari Palace in one direction, to the church 
 of the Salute and the mouth of the canal in the other. ^ 
 Nearly opposite them is a very striking house, the 
 Ca' Dario, built, I imagine, about the commencement 
 of the sixteenth century, before the revived classic 
 feeling had fully possessed the Venetians, and dis- 
 playing some effective and beautiful arrangements of 
 constructional decoration with coloured marbles. It 
 is, in fact» an attempt, to some (ixtent, after a revival 
 of the art of incrustation, as practised at S. Mark's, 
 and so successful is it, that I wondered nmch that 
 more examples were not met with. 
 
 Tn the Grrand Canal, and near this spot, are many 
 other buildings, all worthy of illustration, but adding, 
 I think, nothing to what we already know. The Ca' 
 Fasan is the most unlike the other mediaeval houses 
 of any ; but it pleased me so little that I could not 
 bring myself to waste time by sketching it. It is only 
 fair to say that in its traceried balconies it approaches 
 more nearly to the latest northern pointed than any 
 other building in Venice, and that it has perhaps at 
 the same time less breadth and dignity than any. 
 
 Two fine palaces are now turned into hotels, and 
 the hotel at which I stopped was another with remains 
 of pointed windows ; indeed traces of pointed work are 
 singularly plentiful, and I might go on to an inter- 
 minable length were I to attempt to describe them all. 
 
 And now that we have so far passed in review a 
 series of the finest remains of mediaeval architecture in 
 Venice, it is time to inquire how much is to be learnt 
 by what we have seen, and in how great a degree it 
 
Cjiai'. VIII. 
 
 VENETIAN AllCHlTECTUliE. 
 
 differs from the developmoiits of pointed architecture 
 with which we are famihar in northern Europe. 
 
 And I think the very first point to be observed is 
 that in Venice architecture was never essentially con- 
 structional in the sense in which it was in our own 
 land. The pointed arcli is rarely used except in 
 churches, and in its place traceries, increased in size 
 and scale to do their work, are often made to carry the 
 entire weight of wallin<^ above them, as is the case, to 
 take the noblest example, in the second stage of the 
 Ducal Palace. And it is remarkable that, when the 
 arch was used, from a very early date it was the ogee 
 arch, and not the arch formed by two simple curves : 
 indeed it may almost be said that the pure pointed arch 
 was never used, save where it would have been quite 
 impossible with any other contrivance to bridge the 
 necessary gap, or provide sufhciently for the weiglit to 
 be supported. How striking a contrast tliis is to the way 
 in which in P]ngland men worked witli, and ex]iil)ited, 
 the ])()inted arch, evidently as if, and because, they 
 loved it ! — using it not only as a sturdy servant to 
 do heavy work, but as the friend of whose friendship 
 they were ever the most anxious to boast. I do not 
 complain of the flatness and lack of breaks or indenta- 
 tions in the masses of their great ])uildings, because this 
 no doubt arose in part from the value of every foot of 
 ground so hardly gathered from the sea, and the dilH- 
 culty of throwing out buttresses into the narrow de])ths 
 of the canals out of which they rise. And the same 
 conditions which enforced this flatness are grateful 
 because they involved the charming balconies which 
 are so peculiarly Venetian. 
 
 In the science of moulding I cannot ])ut think that 
 it is exceedingly useless to compare works executed for 
 
166 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 Chap. VIII. 
 
 the sunny skies of Italy with those fitted for the 
 gloomy sunlessness of a northern climate. The one 
 kind are as properly soft, gentle in their alternations 
 of light and shade, and delicate, as the other are 
 piquant and sharp, rejoicing in the dark shade of deep 
 hollows and endless intricacy of outline and arrange- 
 ment. But I feel no doubt whatever that, unfair as it 
 may be to compare one school with the other, seeing 
 that each worked for its own wants, it is yet most clear 
 that the northern architects were developing a much 
 deeper art, and working with much more consummate 
 skill, than were the Venetian. The endless variety of 
 the arrangement of capitals, and the necessary group- 
 ing of mouldings to fit their varying outlines, was 
 carried to the extreme point of perfection by the one 
 school, whilst in the other not only was there much 
 less depth and relief, but also very much less of variety. 
 The abacus was almost always square in plan, and, as 
 an almost necessary consequence of this, mouldings re- 
 mained very much in the same arrangement and shape 
 for the whole period of the prevalence of the pointed 
 style, and generally rather leaned to the side of heavi- 
 ness than of delicacy. Venetian mouldings are com- 
 posed of the eternal combination of a three-quarter 
 bead and a shallow hollow, divided by small fillets, 
 and so invariably arranged in almost exactly the same 
 order that it requires very great care to decide upon 
 the date of buildings by their mouldings with any- 
 thing like an approach to certainty. 
 
 Besides this department of pure moulding, there are 
 also the ever-recurring ornamental mouldings which 
 are so peculiarly characteristic of Venetian works of all 
 dates. These consist generally of mouldings which in 
 England we should consider Eomanesque, but which 
 in Venice appear to be much more common in the 
 
ClIAP. VIII. 
 
 VENETIAN ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 167 
 
 liitest work than in tlie early ; chevrons, cable- 
 mouldings, billets, and the like, are seen everywhere, 
 and suggest the question whether this class of oma- 
 mentiil mouldings, so largely used in the early days of 
 architecture in England and so little afterwards, might 
 not with some advantage be rescued from the con- 
 tempt into which it has fallen with modern builders. 
 They have the advantage of being within the power of 
 any ordinary workman to execute, and do not, there- 
 lore, require the handiwork, which is so rare and so 
 precious, of thoroughly good carvers. Add to this 
 that some features, originally invented for use in the 
 way of holding together marble incrustations, were 
 afterwards used universally for their own sakes as or- 
 namental mouldings, for which office they were in no 
 way fitted, and I think nearly as much has been said 
 as can be of Venetian mouldings in stone. Those in 
 brick are even less satisfactory ; but they occur mainly 
 about the churches, and, as I do not recognise any- 
 thing at all distinctively Venetian in their design or 
 arrangement, it wiU be better to say more about them 
 after we have seen the noble brickwork in other cities 
 in the north of Italy, compared with which tliat at 
 Venice is not of the first order. 
 
 In the practice of carving, as in that of moulding, I 
 see no reason for yielding the palm to the Venetian. 
 It is true, indeed, that the early capitals — of which 
 most magnificent examples exist at S. Mark's — are 
 some of the most exquisite I have ever seen, true and 
 precise in their sculpture, revelling in the utmost deli- 
 cacy of intricate work, and always refined and elabo- 
 rated with great evidence of care and t hough tfulness ; 
 but after the earliest school, and those later examples 
 in which these were copied and regarded as models, 
 there appears to me to be much less to admire. There 
 
168 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 Chap. VITT. 
 
 is a confusion and want of fixed purpose about many 
 of those which are commonly referred to as the noblest 
 types of pointed sculpture which is at best not satis- 
 factory ; and I confess that I came away pleased much 
 more with some of the Byzantine capitals than with 
 any others. They have some notable points of differ- 
 ence from those to which we are used. They are 
 generally much larger in proportion to the shaft than 
 ours ; and instead of having a regular neck-moulding, 
 they rise out of the shaft with a kind of swell, which, 
 as being less definite, is to me less satisfactory than 
 our neck-moulding. And then in all ages they are 
 very generally similar in their outlines — this in part 
 arising from the constant occurrence of circular columns 
 with capitals whose abaci are square, and in part from 
 the imitation, more or less closely, of Byzantine mo- 
 dels. Indeed, it is impossible not to see how great 
 an influence the earliest remaining work — that of the 
 eleventh century — had in Venice until the end of the 
 fourteenth and far into the fifteenth ; the most beau- 
 tiful and striking arrangements of the former age 
 are reproduced and only slightly modified in the finest 
 work of the latter to a very remarkable extent ; 
 so much more decidedly and frequently than are the 
 traces, in Northern pointed, of any hankering after 
 the features of Bomanesque buildings, that I think 
 but one conclusion can fairly be drawn from their 
 sculpture as well as from their architecture, viz. that 
 pointed architecture was never developed as purely 
 and thoroughly in Venice as in the North of Eu- 
 rope ; and that, though it retained its sway there 
 nearly as long as it did elsewhere, it never thoroughly 
 understood or felt its own strength, and worked and 
 toiled tied down and encumbered by Byzantine fetters 
 and classic sympathies. There is much, notwith- 
 
Chap. VIH. 
 
 V KXETT AN ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 169 
 
 standing tliis, to admire — and, above all else, the 
 greatest beauty of the style, wherein it so far left us 
 behind, the thorough appreciation and unsparing use 
 of the sliaft. It is quite astonishing how very little 
 this was ever used in England. Occasionally, indeed, 
 it was freely used in grand buildings, and in some 
 individual features — as, e. y., in Eastern triplets — it 
 was frequently seen in thirteenth-century l)uildings ; 
 but, at the very period when, if ever, architecture was 
 in its perfection, in the early part of the fourteenth 
 century, it was almost entirely forgotten and thrown 
 aside. All honour, therefore, to the men who so per- 
 severingly and determinedly used it as did the l^uilders 
 at Venice for three centuries ! And all shame to us 
 if we do not attempt for the future So far at any rate 
 to follow in their steps ! So rare are any but shafted 
 windows in Venice, that at present T hardly remember 
 a single instance of a window with nionials formed 
 by the continuous mouldings of the tracery ; and it is 
 obvious that this gave occasion, not only to the use of 
 beautiful marbles — never so well used as in shafts — 
 but also to the constant use (jf carved capitals. In 
 domestic buildings, as I have before remarked, this 
 arrangement of shafted windows is very valuable, 
 because it suggests one obvious way in which we 
 may unite traceried windows with the very newest 
 arrangement of window-frames or sashes in the most 
 comfortable nineteenth-century houses ; for in these 
 Venetian palaces the glass was always contained in a 
 separate wooden frame within the marble shafts and 
 tracery.* 
 
 ' This arraiifjcTnent is not by any means unknown in Northern Euroj^o, 
 though certainly comparatively uncommon. There is an example of the 
 thirteenth century at Eashy Abbey, Yorkshire, whilst in France the won- 
 derful collection of ancient houses at (!luny all have it, and at Ratislxin, 
 
170 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 Chap. VIII. 
 
 Besides the use of the shafts in the ordinary way, I 
 must not forget to say that parapets frequently (or 
 perhaps it were better to say balustrades) — as, e. g., at 
 S. Mark's — and balconies everywhere, are composed of 
 a vast number of very delicate shafts, set very close to 
 each other, and surmounted by long pieces of stone 
 cut out in imitation of arching, and not really to be 
 regarded as a succession of arch-stones, but rather as 
 coping-stones to hold the shafts together. And, again, 
 they are used very beautifully for the support of open 
 pinnacles, one at each angle, enclosing a figure, just 
 as in the monuments of the Scaligers at Yerona. 
 Examples of this are to be seen in the pinnacles 
 which have been added between the gables of S. 
 Mark's, which are exceedingly good in their efiect ; 
 and again in the pinnacles which terminate the church 
 of the Madonna dell' Orto. 
 
 One more point is worthy of remark — the treatment, 
 namely, of the angles of buildings. These were almost 
 always marked either by a roll-moulding or by a 
 succession of nook shafts, sometimes extravagantly 
 chevroned or otherwise ornamented. This, when done 
 simply, was always satisfactory, but, in its later and 
 more elaborate form, was, I think, as unsatisfactory. 
 The delicate rounding off of the angles of walls was 
 a point not unthought of in England. In the thir- 
 teenth century a nook shaft was the common con- 
 trivance ; in the fourteenth a chamfer ; and in the 
 fifteenth men reverted entirely to the square form. 
 Here, however, there is a great and very interesting 
 variety in this apparently simple feature. The most 
 satisfactory plan of all is where a quarter-circle forms 
 
 one of the most interesting cities in Germany, every one out of a great 
 number of houses of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, of prodigious 
 architectural interest also, has it. 
 
Chap. VIII. 
 
 VENETIAN ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 171 
 
 tlie angle, and is tinished with a small incision in 
 the form of a V on either side, as it unites sim- 
 plicity with strength of construction and softness of 
 contour, and does not force itself too prominently 
 upon our observation ; and, next to this, the most 
 satisfactory form is where, instead of the moulding 
 being round, it is pointed at the angle. The twisted 
 sliafts of the upper stage of tlie Ducal Palace, and the 
 triple and chevroned shafts of the Ca' d'Oro, are not im- 
 provements upon the refinement of the earlier mode. 
 
 I have already spoken of the exquisite beauty of the 
 Inlaid marbles in S. Mark's : nothing can be more 
 glorious than their effect, and nothing seems more 
 wonderful than that they should not have been used 
 more frequently in later buildings. I w^as, perhaps, a 
 little disappointed in not finding, as I had expected, 
 the marble arranged generally in geometrical patterns ; 
 but this is quite the exception ; and one sees only, in a 
 medallion here and there, the ex([uisite beauty which 
 their arrangement in this way may produce. As a 
 rule the walls are faced with thin slabs ol' marble, each 
 of the size in which it came to hand, sawn into as 
 many slices as its substance would allow, and then 
 riveted to the walls and held in ])lace securely by 
 projecting thin lines of stonework built into the wall, 
 and cut with indented dentil ornaments along their 
 edges. There is, however, a degree of weakness whicli 
 is not at all satisfactory attendant upon this system of 
 incrustaticm, and I thought how much more noble such 
 work might well become wqyq it to be inlaid only 
 where no strong work was required to be done, as e. g. 
 in sprandrels of arches, or within arches, and not as 
 here to the concealment of every one of the necessar}' 
 constructional features. It is to be observed, however, 
 that the slabs of marble are generally higher than 
 
172 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 Chap. VIH. 
 
 tliey are wide, so as at once to destroy any thought of 
 their being really constructional. 
 
 The south side of S. Mark's is, perhaps, the place 
 above all others in Venice where this inlaid work may 
 be seen to the greatest advantage. Some of the great 
 arches which stand in place of gables are divided into 
 four or five square-headed lights by shafts supporting 
 semicircular arches, the tympana of which are filled in 
 with delicate and perpetually varied filigree-work in 
 marble, whilst above them a succession of panels or 
 medallions show all the resources of the noble mate- 
 rials which were to be exhibited. In another arch, 
 just over the entrance from the Piazzetta to the 
 church, the tympanum of the arch is filled in with 
 large medallions, one exquisitely carved, the others 
 plain ; whilst the arch of the window below the tym- 
 panum has its beautiful marble spandrels gemmed 
 on either side with medallions which, for exquisite 
 arrangement of varicoloured marbles in geometrical 
 patterns, are perfectly admirable. There is enough, 
 therefore, in the Venetian system of incrustation, 
 though much unhappily be lost, to give ample food 
 for our refiections and our admiration ; and its only 
 weak point is, as I have said, its neglect or conceal- 
 ment of the constructional necessities of the buildings 
 it adorns. 
 
 It is easy, however, to cavil at particular details, 
 and scan with a critical eye the architectural beauties 
 of Venice; but let it not be thought for an instant 
 that all the wonderful pictures which every new turn 
 or new point of view brings before the eyes are 
 unappreciated. A few days spent there suffice almost 
 to fill a lifetime with reminiscences of all that is 
 novel, beautiful, and strange ; and days such as I 
 spent, rejoicing in the daytime in the full brilliancy 
 
Chap. VIII. 
 
 A FKSTIVAL. 
 
 178 
 
 of a September sun, and at night in the eahn 
 loveliness of a Venetian moon, were, I am sure, just 
 the very most delightful in every way that could be 
 passed. 
 
 We were at Venice on the festival of the Nativity 
 of the Blessed Virgin, a great feast-day which it had 
 been my fortune to spend some two or three times 
 before in Eoman Catholic countries. I confess that 
 here we were not edified. We came in, as we went 
 from church to church, for rather more than the usual 
 number of the desagreniens which always seem to 
 attend the decoration of the churches, and especially 
 the altars, for such festivities abroad. The strongest 
 impression, I believe, left on my mind, was one of 
 wonder at the paltry character of the long array of 
 what by courtesy are called, 1 suppose, wreaths of 
 flowers, manufactured of pink gauze, or some equally 
 unnatural material. These, with vulgar draperies hung 
 outside the church doors, and in additional quantity 
 about the altars, with the most noisy and gladsome 
 ringing of bells, completed the external demonstra- 
 tions ; all the shops were most studiously closed, and 
 the churches and open places were thronged with 
 people. At S. Mark's we heard some abominably light 
 opera-music, which sounded, as may be imagined, very 
 discordant within its solemn walls. We enjoyed the 
 day, however, thoroughly ; and in the evening, alter 
 dinner, got into our gondola and went to the Public 
 Gardens, where T remember being very much amused 
 by the absurd ixM-fornianccs of three gentlemen on 
 sorry hacks, who galloped up and down the only 
 available piece of ground for horse-exercise in Venice, 
 much to the edification of the bystanders, but, I fear, 
 not so much to ours, as unfortunately their skill was 
 but small. ^riielJardens do not deserve the name, and 
 
174 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 Chap. VIII. 
 
 are indeed very wretched. In fact, I doubt whether 
 the people take pleasure in them ; their real delight is 
 in thronging the well-worn pavements of the Piazza 
 when the sun is low and when the stars begin to 
 light up the sky, which, in such nights as those we 
 enjoyed there, was of a deep blue colour, and not in 
 the least black. A stroll in the Piazza di S. Marco 
 by moonlight, with a dense crowd thronging round 
 a most glorious Austrian band, and the air resounding 
 with sounds of men's voices or of music, is indeed a 
 kind of pleasure such as can be appreciated nowhere so 
 thoroughly as in Venice. 
 
 One morning we devoted partly to the ascent of 
 the campanile in the Piazza. The ascent is entirely 
 by inclined planes ; the outer walls of the tower are 
 in fact double, and in the space between them these 
 inclined planes are formed ; and it is worth notice 
 that to this day, in all buildings which we have seen 
 in progress in this part of the world, inclined boards 
 are used instead of ladders for obtaining access to 
 scaffolding ; and in one of the mosaics in the entrance- 
 porch of S. Mark's, where the building of the Tower 
 of Babel is depicted, precisely the same kind of ar- 
 rangement is shown. This is interesting as showing 
 the tenacity with which old customs are adhered to. 
 The view, when the top is reached, quite repays the 
 labour of the ascent, as it gives the best possible idea 
 of what Venice really is. We get an impression 
 of a very densely populated town, hemmed in on all 
 sides by water, and looking very flat and low ; in the 
 distance small islands pave the way to the mainland, 
 or shelter us from the sea ; these, where they are more 
 distant, look like mere black spots on the smooth, un- 
 rippled expanse of water ; and in the far horizon we 
 
Chap. VI II. 
 
 LA8T DAY IN VENICE. 
 
 175 
 
 see to the west the purple outline of the Veronese 
 mountains ; and to the north of these, and rising 
 grandly into the sky, the snowy peaks of the southern 
 range of the Tyrolese Alps. Below and around 
 are countless churches, all placed confusedly without 
 respect to east or west — a neglect, if anywhere ex- 
 cusable, surely so here, where land is the exception 
 and water the rule. 
 
 The last day we spent in Venice was most enjoy- 
 able. We had been all day in our gondola, now 
 stopping to sketch some Gothic palace, anon shooting 
 into some narrow canal to escape the bright heat ol' 
 the sun, winding our way now here, now there, just as 
 the fancy of the moment seized us, and realizing more 
 than ever that the longest summer's day was all too 
 short " for a last day in so fair a place. In the even- 
 ing, just before sunset, we went out into the Lagoon, 
 and, rowing round the small island of (liudecca, 
 watched the gradually waning light rellccti'd on the 
 smooth, calm water, wliicli seemed too silent and too 
 soft to be disturbed by a word from any of us ; and 
 then at last, turning back and coming suddenly 
 through a short canal into the main stream just 
 opposite the Dogano, we moved on gently till we 
 came abreast of the Ducal Palace. It was just dark ; 
 the moon was rising behind us in all her beauty, and 
 in front, suddenly, lamp after lani]) was lit along the 
 Pia/zetta, then along the })alace-front, all along the 
 Riva dei Schiavoni, until at last, before we landed, 
 as far as we could see, the bright lights, retlected 
 in a hundred gleaming, flashing lines, were fitlully 
 dancing in long streams of light npon the bosom of 
 the waters. 
 
 We stepped on shore to tind ourselves led on by the 
 
176 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 Chap. VIII. 
 
 sound of military music, and to be tempted by the 
 luxury of ices eaten al fresco in the Piazza ; and then, 
 when the crowd gradually dispersed, we too, among 
 the last, found our way to our hotel, charmed so much 
 with our last night in Venice, that it is impossible 
 not to recollect that evening with deepest pleasure. 
 
 It is not without purpose that I have held silence with 
 regard to the churches and buildings generally of the 
 Eenaissance school in Venice. These have had in their 
 time many more admirers than have the noble pieces 
 of architecture which it was alike my business and my 
 delight particularly to examine ; and to the present 
 day I doubt not that nine people out of ten, led by 
 their valets-de-place, go to see what is worst in point of 
 taste, and so reap the reward of allowing themselves to 
 be made to see with another's eyes instead of enjoying 
 the intense pleasure of working out and exploring for 
 themselves all the treasures of this mine and store- 
 house of ancient art. It is partly because I feel the 
 greatest repugnance to the buildings themselves, and 
 partly because I fear to make my notes, already 
 lengthy, far too long for the patience of my readers, 
 that I do not venture upon this additional field of 
 inquiry ; but not in the least degree because I doubt 
 the result, for I believe firmly that, tried by the fair 
 rules which must regulate merit in a constructive art, 
 the Renaissance buildings of Venice would be no nearer 
 perfection than those of any other city. Something 
 perhaps there is in the gloomy grandeur of their vast 
 masses rearing their rusticated walls and deeply re- 
 cessed windows black and gloomily above the compara- 
 tively cheerful and bright-looking walls of the neigh- 
 bouring Gothic palaces, which may impress the minds 
 of some, but they must be of a sombre temperament 
 
ClIAP. VIII. 
 
 PAINTINGS IN CHURCHES. 
 
 177 
 
 who really love them. Still more must they ])e of 
 a tasteless temperament who can endure with patience 
 the succession of eccentricities with which Palladio 
 and his disciples have loaded their churches. I pre- 
 tend not, however, to discuss the point. I had not 
 time for everything, and preferred givinf^ up the 
 attempt to like what from my heart I have ever dis- 
 liked, and what nothing that I saw in Venice w^ould 
 make me dislike at all less heartily. 
 
 Neither do I pretend to say anything about Vene- 
 tian pictures ; guides without number may be found 
 of more service and more knowledge, and to their 
 hands I leave their proper charge. A word only 
 upon one point — their adaptation, namely, to the 
 sacred edifices of which they are the most notable 
 ornaments. 
 
 Now I must at once say that there is no church, 
 so far as I saw, in Venice, with the single exception 
 of S. Mark's, which is to be compared in this respect 
 (in its effect, that is, as heightened by colour) with 
 such buildings as the Arena Chapel at Padua or the 
 church of 8ta. Anastasia at Verona — the one an ex- 
 am])le of the very noblest art working under strict 
 architectural limitations ; the otlun*, of simj)le decora- 
 tive painting. The fact is, that the Venetian pictures 
 give the impression that they might do elsewhere as 
 well as in a church, and therefore entirely fail in iden- 
 tifying themselves with the walls on which they hang; 
 whilst no one can ever think of the noble works of 
 Giotto at Padua without recalling to mind the religious 
 order of his works and their identification with the 
 building which contains them ; and at Verona the result 
 of the. system adopted in the painting is marvellously 
 to enhance the effect of the architecture without in any 
 
 N 
 
178 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 Chap. VIU. 
 
 way attempting to ignore or despise it. In Venice 
 the case is quite different. The church of San Sebas- 
 tiano, in which Paul Veronese is buried, and which in- 
 ternally is almost entirely covered with his paintings, 
 is an example of what I suppose I must call the best 
 Venetian treatment. This consists, however, of im- 
 mense oil paintings covering entire walls, and abso- 
 lutely requiring, in order that they may be at all 
 properly appreciated, that the spectator should stand 
 in a particular spot — in some cases by the side of the 
 altar — and that the windows should first have blinds 
 drawn down, and then, when he goes to look at 
 another painting, have them drawn up again. This 
 is all very unpleasant. But besides this, there is no 
 very sensible advantage to the colour of the buildings 
 from their decorations ; certainly they are far behind 
 mere decorative paintings as vehicles for bringing out 
 the architectural features ; and so they are visited 
 very much as pictures in a gallery, and without in any 
 case being identified with the churches in which they 
 are preserved. The mosaics at S. Mark's are, on the 
 other hand, some of the very grandest examples of the 
 proper mode of decorating interiors with representa- 
 tions of religious subjects, all conceived and arranged 
 with some order and relation to each other. But of 
 the other Venetian churches there does not seem to 
 me to be any one whose artists at all followed in the 
 same line. 
 
 I do not pretend in this journal to speak at all 
 of paintings irrespective of architecture, or I might 
 find much to say upon the store of works, of a very 
 noble school, in which this great city is so rich. The 
 immense rooms of the Ducal Palace, covered as their 
 walls and ceilings are with the works of Tintoretto, 
 
Chap. VIII. 
 
 PAINTINGS. 
 
 179 
 
 Titian, and Paolo Veronese, cannot be forgotten ; bnt 
 this is one only among the many collections of these 
 famous painters' works. I am sorry that I was obliged 
 to take their great merits somewhat on faith ; it was 
 in vain to think of actually studying them in a short 
 time, and, educated as J have been to love the works 
 of an earlier date and another school more heartily 
 than these, I must confess, barbarous as the confes- 
 sion may appear to be, that I was not thoroughly 
 pleased with what I saw. The magnificence of the 
 chiaroscuro and colouring of these great pictures 
 scarcely atoned to me for the degree to which — 
 owing generally to the immense array of figures 
 and confusion of subject — I failed to carry away 
 distinct conceptions of the story intended to be told. 
 I am aware that this is the result mainly of want 
 of education, but still the feeling is so ditferent 
 when for the first time pictures by Fra Angelico, 
 Giotto, liaflaello, Perugino, or Francia are looked at, 
 that it is hard to avoid believing that, though their 
 jiower over colour may have been scmiewhat less, their 
 ])ower of attaining to the highest point of the true 
 painter's art — that of Icavini;- indelible impressions on 
 the minds of all beholders — was immeasurably higher. 
 Thus much only by way of excuse lor not saying more 
 about what the world in general rightly ccmceives to 
 be the great pride of Venice. 
 
 And now we must say farewell, and, doubtful though 
 we may be as to the claims of Venetian art in tlu^ 
 middle ages to be considered as at all equal to art 
 in the same period in Northern Europe, we must yet 
 be very grateful for many new ideas gathered and 
 much intense pleasure enjoyed in the examination of 
 its treasures ; and so, rather sadly laying ourselves 
 
 N 2 
 
180 
 
 VENICE. 
 
 Chap. VITT. 
 
 down to sleep for the last time in Venice, we began to 
 deem that our journey henceforward must be rather 
 less in interest than it had been ; with Venice a thing 
 of the past, instead of, as it was on our outward 
 course, full of all the beauties with which the liveliest 
 anticipations could crowd its walls and palaces. 
 
(hlAP. 1\. 
 
 VENICE TO VEUOxNA. 
 
 181 
 
 CHAl^TEH IX. 
 
 " VVitli :ill its sinful (luiiijrs, I must say 
 Tliat Italy 's a pleasant place tu nu;, 
 Who love to see the sun shine every day, 
 
 And vines (not nail'd to walls) from tree to tree 
 Kestoon'd." — Beppo. 
 
 Vciiico to Verona — Verona to Mantua — Villa Franca — Mantua : its 
 cliurches and palaces ; the theatre — Montenara — Canipitello — C'asal- 
 nia<^<^iore — Longadore — Cremona : the cathedral ; churches and 
 I)uhlic Imildings — Lotli — Pavia : itscliurches ; castle of the Visconti — 
 The Certosa — Drive to Milan. 
 
 Our p^ondolier, anxious not to be too late for iis in tlie 
 niornini;-, slept in his <^ondola beneath our windows, 
 and did his best, when the sun rose, to rouse the sleepy 
 porter of our hotel, ljut in v.iln ; and at last, when I 
 awoke, 1 found we should have a very narrow escaj)e, 
 if indeed we did not absolutely lose our train. The 
 thin<^ was, however, to be done, and was done. We 
 shot rapidly — only too rapidly lor the last time — 
 along the smooth waters on which we had been so 
 pleasantly loiterin<^ before, and soon found ourselves 
 at the railway station. Our journey was much like 
 what such journeys usually are : as far as Verona we 
 were only retracinij^ our steps, and, save that now the 
 hot sun had qiute cleared away the clouds which, when 
 we passed before, hid the Tyrolese Alps from our sii^ht, 
 and that these now made the journey so far beautiful — 
 savini^ this, I say, it was not very interestin<,^. 
 
 The names of the engines on this railway are very 
 unlike the kind of nomenclature indulged in at home : 
 we were drawn to N'erona, I l)elieve, In the 'i'itian, 
 
182 
 
 VERONA TO MANTUA. 
 
 Chap. IX. 
 
 and saw, as we rushed along, engines named after 
 Dante, Sansovino, and other celebrities. 
 
 We reached Verona at ten o'clock ; the station, 
 however, is so much out of the town, and the day was 
 so intensely hot, that we gave up the idea of again 
 going into it, and, contenting ourselves with the 
 general view of its quaint and picturesque walls rising 
 over the rugged hills which girt the city on its 
 northern side, we sat down to a breakfast of iced 
 lemonade and some of those deliciously light cakes 
 which are never had in such perfection as in Italy, and 
 amused ourselves by watching the way in which the 
 guards and drivers of the train by which we had 
 travelled proceeded to solace themselves with a game 
 at billiards, upon a table provided, I suppose, by the 
 very considerate directors of the railway company. 
 
 The railway from Verona to Mantua crosses a 
 country which is thoroughly uninteresting in point of 
 scenery ; it carried us on well into the great plain of 
 Lombardy, rich, teemingly rich, in its produce, but 
 flat, arid, and sultry to a degree. This was altogether 
 one of our hottest days, and took us fairly into a kind 
 of district in which the heat is most oppressively felt. 
 
 On the road we passed Villa Franca, a small town 
 which has a rather striking castle, with battlemented 
 walls and a good many square towers still very fairly 
 perfect ; the whole built in brick, and with battlements 
 finished square at the top, and not forked like those 
 at Verona. 
 
 We reached the station at Mantua by twelve o'clock, 
 but, as this was very far from the city, it was nearly 
 an hour later before we were fairly landed at one — I 
 forget which — of the two abominably dirty and bad 
 inns to which sojourners in Mantua have to submit with 
 the best grace that they can. 
 
Chap. IX. 
 
 MANTUA: THE DUCAL PALACE. 
 
 183 
 
 Mantua is nearly surrounded by water, two lar<^e 
 shallow and unwholesome-looking lakes giving it this 
 far from pleasant kind of isolation. Over a long 
 mediaeval bridge between these waters the way into 
 the city from the terminus lies. One of the lakes is 
 higher than the other, and accordingly twelve mills, 
 each adorned with a statue of an apostle, are formed 
 ujjon the bridge, and give it its name of Ponte Mulina, 
 
 The general air of Mantua is A ery dreary and un- 
 pleasing, perhaps, indeed, one degree less forlorn in its 
 appearance tlian l^adua, Init possessing little attraction 
 to an architect. The chief architectural feature of the 
 city is the Ducal Palace, which contains, in the midst 
 of a mass of Eenaissance work of the poorest and most 
 unsatisfactory kind, some remains of very noble pointed 
 architecture. 
 
 The finest portion is a lung building of vast height, 
 and retaining more or less of pcjinted work throughout, 
 but especially remarka])le for the ex([uisite character of 
 the range of windows in its uj)per stage. Tliis fronts 
 on one side towards the Piazza di S. Pietro, and on 
 the other with a very nearly similar elevation towards 
 the Piazza del Pallone, one of the courts in the vast 
 palace of the Gonzagas, of which it I'orms a j)art. 
 According to Murray's Handbook this building was 
 commenced about a.d. 1302 by Guido J^uonacolsi, 
 surnamed J3ottigella, tliird sovereign of ^lantua : this 
 date quite agrees with the character of all the detail. 
 The interior has been completely modernised, mainlv 
 by Giulio Romano, who carried out very extensive 
 works in other parts of the palace. The windows in 
 the upper stage of this portion of the palace deserve 
 notice as being about the most exquisite examples ol" 
 their class that 1 anywhere met with, though those in 
 the campanile of S. Andrea, hard l)y, are only second 
 
184 
 
 MANTUA. 
 
 Chap. IX. 
 
 to tliem. The main arch is of pure pointed form, and 
 executed in brick with occasional voussoirs of stone — 
 one of which forms a key-stone — and over it there is 
 a label of brick effectively notched into a kind of nail- 
 head. The same kind of label is carried round the 
 arches of the window-openings, and down the jamb as 
 a portion of the jamb-mould, and again round a pierced 
 and cusped circle of brick in the tympanum. In the 
 sub-arches the key-stones and cusps are formed of 
 stone. The whole of the jambs is of brick, but instead 
 of a monial there is a circular stone shaft, with square 
 capital and band and base. The whole is so exceed- 
 ingly simple as to be constructed with ease of ordinary 
 materials, and it is quite equal in effect to any stone 
 window of the same size that I have ever seen. 
 
 The accompanying drawings will, I trust, sufficiently 
 explain the merit of this magnificent piece of brick- 
 work. The arcading upon which it rests, and the 
 perfectly unbroken face of the whole, are very cha- 
 racteristic of Italian work. 
 
 On the opposite side of the Piazza di S. Pietro is 
 the cathedral, the only ancient portion of which is a 
 small part of the south aisle. It is of very elaborate 
 character, entirely built in brick, and so far as it re- 
 mains appears to have been portion of an aisle finished 
 with a succession of gables, one to each bay, a com- 
 mon arrangement in Grerman and French churches, 
 where additional aisles are so frequently met with, but 
 uncommon in Italy, where, as in England, churches 
 have seldom more than one aisle on either side of 
 the nave. The brickwork in this small fragment of 
 the cathedral, though elaborate, was not pleasing, 
 being of rather late date. 
 
 On the same side of the Piazza as the cathedral 
 is the Vescovato, a large pile of ancient building, 
 
ClIAP. IX. 
 
 CASTLE. 
 
 185 
 
 but very much modernized. There still remain, how- 
 ever, some good three-light windows in the upper 
 stage, enclosed within a circular arch, without tracery, 
 and divided by marble shafts. Some very good arches 
 remain also in the lowest stage, which, though now 
 built up, are still valuable as examples of the best 
 mode of treating brickwork. They consist of three 
 lines of construction, the two inner formed of alter- 
 nate voussoirs of brick and stone, carefully and regu- 
 larly counterchanged, and the outer of a moulded 
 terra-cotta ornament. Between each of these lines 
 a brick of deep red colour is set edgeways, showing 
 a dark line of little more than an inch and a half 
 in width, and valuable as very clearly defining the 
 lines of the arcli. All these courses are on the same 
 plane ; and probably another rim of the arcli is 
 concealed by the walling which has been filled in un- 
 derneath.^ 
 
 Going on from the Piazza S. Pietro, and i)assing 
 under an archway, we came upon the Castello di 
 Corte, also a part of tlie ancient palace of the ( Jon- 
 zaga family, who were for a long time lords of Man- 
 tua. It is certainly a very noble j)iece of media'val 
 fortification, but its effect is mucli damaged l)y tlie 
 erection of walls between the battlements, wliich in 
 my view I have thought it much better to show in 
 their original state, wliich is evident enough upon 
 careful inspection. The heavy machicolations which 
 run round the main building and the fianking towers 
 have a peculiar and ratlier grand ellect, ])articularly 
 in the latter. This portion of tlie pidace is said to 
 have been erected just at the close of the fourtcentli 
 century. 
 
 Close to the Castello dl (\)rt(' is the Poni(^ di San 
 
 ' Sir ]». 272 Ici- an ni-raviiii; ..1 iliis ar(.liiv..l(. 
 
186 
 
 MANTUA. 
 
 Chap. IX. 
 
 Giorgio, one of the entrances to the city, and built 
 between the Lago di Mezzo and the Lago Inferiore. 
 
 Retracing our steps, we soon found ourselves at 
 the great Palazzo della Ragione, or town-hall. It 
 has been very much altered, but one gateway remains 
 in a very perfect state, and is quite worthy of illus- 
 tration. The marble shafts in the upper stage of 
 the building are coupled one behind the other with 
 very beautiful effect. Brick and stone are used alter- 
 nately in the main arch of this gateway, with thin 
 dividing lines of brick, as in the Yescovato. In a 
 wall close to the gate is a sitting figure, intended, 
 it is said, to represent Virgil, of whom the Mantuans 
 are still, as in duty bound, very proud. I cannot 
 say much for the figure or its canopy, both of which 
 are, however, mediaeval. 
 
 We found nothing else worthy of notice in this 
 building ; but close to it stands the church of S. 
 Andi'ea, a hideous classic edifice tacked on to a most 
 beautiful brick campanile. 
 
 The detail of this is throughout very fine. The 
 tracery is all of a kind of plate-tracery, consisting, 
 that is to say, of cusped circles pierced in a tym- 
 panum within an enclosing arch ; the shafts between the 
 lights are of polished marble, and coupled one behind 
 the other. The relative proportion of the cusps in 
 this and in most other Italian buildings is very good. 
 In trefoils, for instance, the upper cusp is by far 
 smaller than the lower; and in all good cusping it must 
 be so. Modern men generally reverse the order, and, 
 at the present day, so little is the subject really under- 
 stood that at least ninety-nine out of every hundred 
 cusped window-openings are designed without feeling, 
 and quite unlike the best old examples ; and this, 
 though apparently a point of very small importance, 
 
C'llAl', IX. 
 
 S. ANDREA. 
 
 187 
 
 Ilrirk wiiidyw 
 
 Aiiiln a, M.intUiU 
 
 is really of great consequenci' to llic jHTftrtioii ol' 
 any pointed work. 
 
 The faulty portions ol" 
 this campanile are the 
 elaborate arcadings in 
 brick beneath the strinL;- 
 courses, and the rather 
 awkward and al)rupt 
 manner in which the octa- 
 gonal stage and the round 
 tile spire are set upon 
 the square tower. The 
 present appreciation of" 
 the building by the good 
 
188 
 
 MANTUA. 
 
 Chap. IX. 
 
 people of Mantua is shown by the opening pierced in 
 its lower stage, in front of which the modestly with- 
 drawn folds of a green curtain disclose the interior 
 devoted to a barber's shop, and in which the patient, 
 seated in the middle of the shop, and looking into the 
 Piazza, submits to the painful operation of shaving, — 
 a common picture in almost every street of an Italian 
 town, but not pleasant when the place is a portion of a 
 church. 
 
 The guide-books speak of the church of S. Andrea 
 as " among the finest existing specimens of an interior 
 in the revived Eoman style." If it really is so, I 
 advise all architects interested in the failure of the said 
 style to venture, notwithstanding the forbidding west 
 front, into the nave, when they will perhaps find com- 
 fort in seeing how miserable a building " one of the 
 finest " of its class may nevertherless be ! 
 
 The people at Mantua seemed to be excessively dis- 
 turbed by my attempts at sketching, and at S. Andrea 
 they mobbed me so thoroughly that I was really 
 beginning to think of giving up the attempt in despair, 
 when a kindly-disposed hatmaker, seeing my distress, 
 came down to the rescue, and gave me and my party 
 seats in a balcony on the first floor of his house, in 
 which, sitting at my ease above my persecutors, and 
 talking to the good man's wife and daughters, I finished 
 my sketch with great comfort. 
 
 In Mantua there are two or three other churches 
 with brick campaniles, but they are very inferior in 
 their character to that of S. Andrea, and really in no 
 way worth notice. We owe it to the French that there 
 are not more interesting churches, for, having suc- 
 ceeded in capturing the city after a very prolonged 
 siege, they sacked it, and are said to have destroyed no 
 less than about fifty churches. 
 
Chap. IX. 
 
 MANTUA TO CREMONA. 
 
 189 
 
 Here, as elsewhere in this part of Italy, most of the 
 streets are arcaded on either side, affording pleasant 
 shelter from the hot sun, hut every twenty yards we 
 come upon one of a detestahle class of shops, in wliich 
 cheese, oil, and the like comestibles are sold, and the 
 stench from which is so strong that it may always be 
 smelt for some distance on either side. 
 
 In the evening we found an Italian performance 
 going on at the theatre, and so thither we went, 
 anxious to see wliat kind of work Italian comedy 
 might be. I fear our inquiry was not much to our 
 edification, for the principal tavourites were mainly 
 remarkable for the prodigious rapidity witli whicli 
 they uttered their facetious sayings, and so we lost 
 more than half the dialogue. The theatre wa»s almost 
 entirely filled with Austrians, but still there was a 
 sprinkling of Itahans among them, wliich did away 
 with the absurdly martial appearance of the only other 
 theatre we had been into — that at Verona. 
 
 The next day wa,s Sunday, but, uj)on consideration, 
 we thought it best to ])ush on, and so, resigning our- 
 selves to the diligence which left ^lantua at about 
 nnie, we booked ourselves for Cremona, under the 
 promise that we should be delivered there punctually 
 by five o'clock. 
 
 We lost sight of Mantua almost inunediatelv, lor, 
 travelling along a dead Hat and by roads whose sides 
 are lined with high hedges of acacia or orchards 
 thickly planted, you never see any place or building 
 until you have absolutely arrived at it. Tlu're was not 
 much to interest me on the road, and the weather, 
 at first cloudy only and sultry, gradually became 
 worse, and, before we had gone far, settled into a 
 steady pouring rain ; so we read, wrote, and occupied 
 
190 MANTUA TO CREMONA. Chap. IX. 
 
 the many hours in the mmbhng diligence as best we 
 might. 
 
 At Montenara, which we passed on our road, the 
 church has a brick campanile, with pilasters at the 
 angles, and in the belfry two-light windows, with 
 marble central shafts and round arches. It has one 
 of the usual brick conical spires, with small angle 
 pinnacles, — a finish to these campaniles which cer- 
 tainly does not improve upon acquaintance. They 
 are constructed of bricks with semicircular ends laid 
 side by side, the joints being broken in each course, . 
 and so making a very jagged kind of cone. 
 
 The only noticeable point about the church at 
 Montenara is that it has been lately rebuilt in the 
 very worst taste, and at an angle of forty-five degrees 
 with the old steeple ! 
 
 At Campitello there are several remains of interest. 
 
 There is a small domestic 
 building, with four pointed 
 windows of two lights at 
 the side ; the windows have 
 central shafts of stone, but 
 are otherwise entirely of 
 rough brickwork. The 
 church has a kind of double 
 belfry-stage, arcaded simi- 
 larly in each stage with 
 round arches. There are 
 
 Campitello. 
 
 also here the remains of a 
 castle by the river, with a fine tower founded upon 
 the same type as the angle towers of the Castello di 
 Corte at Mantua, and covered with a very flat-pitched 
 roof. 
 
 At Casalmaggiore, a town of some importance on 
 
CuM\ FX. 
 
 MANTl'A TO CREMONA. 
 
 11)1 
 
 the Po, we stopped for dinner ; but it was too wet to 
 attempt to look at the river, and the only note I made 
 was of a lar^i^e new churcli now in course of erection, 
 Renaissance in style, and with a larg-e dome, and a choir 
 and transepts, all terminated with circular ends. The 
 redeeming feature about it was that it was entirely 
 constructed in brick with considerable care, though 
 probably ere long this will be covered with a coat of 
 plaster, of which modern Italians are not one whit * 
 less enamoured than are modern Englishmen. 
 
 At a village, the name of which 1 did not learn, be- 
 tween Casalmaggiore and Cremona, the church liad 
 a remarkably good simple 
 brick campanile. The belfry 
 windows were pointed, of 
 two pointed lights, with a 
 small pierced circle in the 
 head, the shafts of stone ol' 
 course. Jkneath the string- 
 courses there was arcading, 
 and the tower was finished 
 with three forked battle- 
 ments of the Veronese type 
 on each face, behind which 
 rose a circular l)rick spire. Ncarca*aiin«ggiorc. 
 This tower was to the south-east of the churcli. 
 
 At Longadore we saw another church with a good 
 early campanile, of which T made a ski'tch. This was 
 Eomanesque, with angle pilasters, and a central i)ilas- 
 ter carried up as high as the belfry stage. Thv belfry 
 windows were of three lights and shafted. 'J'he l)attle- 
 ment was most peculiar — a ([uart(»r circle at each angle 
 and a half circle in the centre of each side, with a 
 narrow space between tbein : the whole executed in 
 
192 
 
 CREMONA. 
 
 Chap. IX. 
 
 brick and covered in with a fiat modern roof ; the angle 
 pilasters finished in arcaded string-courses. Generally 
 speaking, in these churches the only ancient features 
 seem to be the campaniles, and these are always of brick 
 and nearly the same in their general design, with 
 pilasters at the angles, a succession of string-courses, 
 generally arcaded, and windows in the belfry stage 
 only. 
 
 It was quite six by the time we reached Cremona, 
 and, depositing our passports at the gate, we trotted 
 on along the smooth granite (which in these towns is 
 always laid in strips between the rough ordinary 
 paving for the wheels to travel on), and after tra- 
 versing a long tortuous street, and getting a glimpse 
 only of the cathedral as we passed near its east end, 
 we were soon deposited at the Albergo del Capello, 
 a comfortable hostelry, which we enjoyed the more 
 by contrast with the miserable quarters with which 
 we had to put up at Mantua. 
 
 Cremona is a city full of interest. The piazza in 
 front of the cathedral is equal in eftect to almost any 
 small piazza I know of On one side is the great 
 marble west front of the Duomo, backed by its im- 
 mense brick campanile, whose wide fame is proved by 
 the old rhyme, of which the Cremonese are still so 
 proud — 
 
 " Unus Petrus est in Eoma, 
 Una turris in Cremona." 
 
 On another side is the Lombard baptistery, a grand 
 polygonal building; on the third, a most interest- 
 ing domestic building — the palace of the Jurist Con- 
 sults — and the Palazzo Publico ; whilst on the fourth, 
 a narrow, busy street makes up, by the diversity of 
 colour and costume of the crowd which is always 
 
CUAP. IX. 
 
 THK CATHEDRAL, 
 
 passing along it, tor what it wants in architectural 
 beauty. 
 
 The cathedral must Ije first described, and it is rather 
 difficult to do this clearly ; but so far as can now Ije 
 made out it seems much as though it had at first been 
 built upon a simple plan, with nave, north and south 
 aisles, and circular apse ; and that then to this, in the 
 fourteenth century, had been added, with hardly any 
 disturbance of the original fabric, immense transepts, 
 loftier even than the nave, and so long and large as 
 to give the impression of two naves placed hy some 
 mistake across each other. The groining of the nave 
 is original in its outline, but barbarously painted in 
 sham panelling so as entirely to spoil its effect, ljut 
 otherwise there is little to notice in the interior, the 
 whole of the church having been converted into classic 
 in the most approved manner. The walls are covered 
 with painting, and round the columns, when we were 
 there, were hung great tapestries, all ol' which gave the 
 building a rich though rather gloomy colour. 
 
 The west front (if you can forget that it is a great 
 mask only to the realt>tructure) is rather grand from its 
 hirge plain surface of arcaded wall ; it has been griev- 
 ously danuiged by alterations, but the old design is 
 still not difficult to trace ; the doorway is very noble, 
 and above it the porch is carried up with a second 
 stage, in which, under oj)en arches, stand a very iinr 
 figure of the blessed Virgin, and figures of other saints 
 of more modern character on either side of her ; above 
 this is a great circular window, and the wall on either 
 side of the porch and window is nearly covered with 
 small arcading. The marble in the wall, where the 
 arcading does not occur, is arranged very regularly in 
 horizontal lines alternately of red and white, each course 
 
 o 
 
194 
 
 OKEMONA. 
 
 Chap. IX. 
 
 being perhaps about ten inches or a foot high, and 
 divided from the next by a strip of white marble abont 
 two or three inches in height. The great rose window 
 is all of red marble, with the exception of one line of 
 moulding which looks like green serpentine. There 
 are some round windows in the lower stage on eacli 
 side of the entrance, but they are quite modern. 
 
 On the north side of the nave rises the Torrazzo, as 
 the campanile is called here, the una turris in Cre- 
 mona," rising about four hundred feet from the pave- 
 ment of the piazza. Its design is much like that of all 
 the other brick campaniles in this district — a succession 
 of stages of nearly equal height, divided by arcaded 
 string-courses, and marked with perpendicular lines by 
 small pilasters, and almost without windows until near 
 the summit. The dark red outline of this magnificent 
 tower tells wonderfully well against the deep blue 
 Italian sky, which shone brightly behind it when we 
 saw it ; and the effect of its immense and almost un- 
 broken outline, rising to such an extraordinary height, 
 is so utterly unlike that of any of our northern steeples 
 that we need not trouble ourselves to compare them. 
 Each is fine in its way ; but the Italian campaniles are 
 made up of the reiteration of features so simple and so 
 generally similar that we cannot fairly class their 
 builders with the men who raised in England such a 
 multitude of steeples, all varying from one another, 
 and yet all so lovely. 
 
 The rest of the exterior of the Duomo is all of brick, 
 and it boasts of two transept fronts, which are cer- 
 tainly most remarkable and magnificent in their detail, 
 though most unreal and preposterous as wholes : they 
 are, both of them, vast sham fronts, like the west front 
 in that they entirely conceal the structure of the church 
 behind them, and pierced with numbers of windows 
 
CllAl'. IX. 
 
 THE CATHEDRAL. 
 
 195 
 
 whicli Ironi tJie very first must have been built but to be 
 blocked up. These fronts have in fact absolutely nothint^- 
 to do with the building against which they are placed, 
 and in themselves, irrespective of this very grave 
 fault, are, I think, positively ugly in their outline and 
 mass. And yet there is a breadth and grandeur ol" 
 scale about them which goes far to redeem their faults, 
 and a beauty about much of their detail which I 
 cannot but admire extremely. Both transepts are 
 almost entirely built of brick and very similar in their 
 general idea, but, whilst only the round arch is used 
 in tlie south transept, nothing but the pointed arch is 
 used in the northern, and it is (piite curious to notice 
 how very much more beautiful the latter looks than 
 does the former. The filling-in of stilted round- 
 arclied windows with ogee pointed tracery and mucli 
 delicate cusping gives tlie south transept a singuhirly 
 eastern look, and it is impossible not to feel that some 
 sucli influence has been exercised throughout its de- 
 sign. It would indeed be most interesting to find 
 out whaf) tliis was, Init I am not aware tliat there is 
 likely to be any clue to it. The date of the work is 
 in all probability somewhere about the middle of the 
 fourteenth century. The detail and management of 
 the whole of the brickwork is exceedingly delicate and 
 effective, surpassing in its way an}i:hing I have yet 
 seen. 
 
 The putlog-holes are leit unfilled, as they almost 
 always are in Italy. The only stone used is in the 
 doorway and the window-shalts, and these last are 
 almost always c()U])led in dej)th. The windows are 
 elaborately moulded, and courses of chevrons, ([uatre- 
 foils, and other ornaments are introduced occasionally as 
 a relief to what might otherwise be the tedious succes- 
 sion of mouldings which are necessarily rather similar. 
 
 o .0 
 
196 
 
 CREMONA. 
 
 Chap. IX. 
 
 Brick window — Cremona Cathedral. 
 
 The cusping of brick arches is always managed in the 
 
 same way ; the bricks all 
 radiate with the arch (not 
 from the centre of cusp), 
 and look as though they 
 might have been built, al- 
 lowing plenty of length of 
 brick for the cusps, and 
 then cut to the proper 
 outline, and the edges of 
 the cusps are almost in- 
 variably left square. Some 
 of the terra- cotta arch 
 ornaments and diapers 
 are exceedingly good of their kind. The most remark- 
 able feature, however, about these transepts is the pro- 
 digiously heavy open arcade which runs up the gables 
 under the eaves-cornice — so heavy and so rude-looking, 
 that, taken by itself, it would probably be put down 
 as of much earlier date than it really is. The facade 
 finishes with three heavy pinnacles arcaded all round, 
 and finished with conical caps. 
 
 To the north transept very nearly the same descrip- 
 tion would apply, save that the doorway is much more 
 noble and entirely of marble.^ The tracery of the 
 rose windows is all finished in brick, and the detail 
 generally is even better and more delicate in its cha- 
 racter than that of the south transept. In both the 
 bricks are all of a pale red colour, and no dark bricks 
 are anywhere used. 
 
 The exterior of the choir is hardly visible, but appears 
 to be of Lombard Eomanesque character, with an open 
 gallery carried round the apse just under the eaves. 
 
 ' The two transepts arc so very similar that it sccnicd umiecessary to 
 engrave my sketches of both. 
 
CiiAP. IX. PALACE OF JUIUST CONSULTS. 197 
 
 The baptistery, which, as has been said, stands south- 
 west of the Duonio, is entered by a doorway with a 
 
 projecting porcli, whose sliafts rest on the backs oi' 
 animals. It is entirely of brick, very simi)le in all its 
 detail, and octagonal in its plan. There are three 
 altars in it, and an immense erection of masonry in 
 the centre, which 1 could not understand, though I 
 su])posed it to have some connection with the font. 
 All the brickwork is left to view inside, and the 
 light is admitted by a pierced arcade very high up in 
 the walls. The whole is domed over with an octagonal 
 vault of brick, in the centre of which is a small 
 lantern, and the effect is exceedingly tine and solemn, 
 and enhanced very much, no doubt, by the grave, 
 sombre colour of the bricks. 
 
 Close to the baptistery is a building, called in 
 Murray's Handbook the Palace of the Jurist Consults, 
 now, however, turned into a school for a not very 
 polite set of children and teachers, who all appa- 
 rently felt the most lively interest in my architectural 
 
198 
 
 CREMONA. 
 
 (/HAP. IX. 
 
 inquiries. It seems to have been open below, but the 
 arches on which it stood are now filled up^ and one of 
 the perpetual barbers' shops, with its yellow curtain 
 and suspended brass soap-dish, has availed itself of the 
 opportunity to drive a flourishing trade by shaving the 
 fathers of the children who learn their A B C in the 
 hall above. This upper stage is very simple and very 
 beautiful, and the whole is finished at the top with a 
 cornice and parapet, with battlements pointed at the 
 top like those in the Torrazzo, and not forked as we 
 have been lately so accustomed to see them . At one 
 end of this parapet a chimney rises above the battle- 
 ment, which is, so far as I have seen, an unique 
 example of the ancient Italian contrivance for this 
 very necessary appendage.^ It is exceedingly good 
 in its detail, and coeval with the rest of the work. 
 
 Window-jamb — Palace of Jurist Consults, Cremona. 
 
 There is a simplicity and truthfulness of construction 
 about this little building which make it specially 
 
 ' The chimneys so common in Venice are perhaps ancient, but, if so, 
 they are also very ugly. They are cylindrical, with heads sloping out in a 
 strange fashion, and in the form of inverted truncated cones. 
 
I'ALACE OF IHK JURlbl UON«ULXa. CKfcilONA 
 
(,'irAP. IX. 
 
 PALAZZO PUBLICO. 
 
 199 
 
 Chinin'^y and battlement - Cremona. 
 
 pleasing alter the unreal treatnirnt of tlic great 
 transept fronts of tlic Duoino. IJy its side stands 
 the I^dazzo Pul)lie<), out ol' one side oi" wliieh rises 
 one of those singular and very tall brick towers, with- 
 out any opening whatever, which give such peculiar 
 character to some Italian cities, and of wdiich we al'ter- 
 wards saw good store at Pavia. Tlie whole of the build- 
 ing sliows either traces of arcades or perleet arciules 
 upon which the upper walls are supj)orted ; they are, 
 however, so much modernized as to be comparatively 
 uninteresting, though enough remains to show tliat 
 their detail was once very good. The ])uilding encloses 
 a quadrangle, rather small, but arcaded on tliree sides, 
 and opening from the piazza by open arches under the 
 principal facade. 
 
 There are many churches in Cremona, all more or 
 
200 
 
 CREMONA. 
 
 Chap. IX. 
 
 less appearing to be founded upon the work in the 
 transepts of the cathedral, but generally very inferior 
 to them in merit. 
 
 S. Dominic has a west front singularly like theirs, 
 but debased in its detail. It has, however, a very 
 fine campanile, lofty, very simple, and pierced with 
 pointed windows in eacli stage, one above the other. 
 The interior is completely modernized, and not worth 
 notice. 
 
 SS. Agostino and Giacomo in Breda is another 
 church of the same class, with a west front which is 
 again a very bad second edition of the cathedral, and 
 which inside has been horribly mutilated and modern- 
 ized. It is, however, to be remembered gratefully 
 for a most lovely picture by Perugino, representing 
 the blessed Virgin with our Lord seated, with SS. 
 Augustine and James on either side. The Virgin is 
 very calm, dignified, unearthly, and very simple and 
 stately. Our blessed Lord, in her arms, has per- 
 haps rather too much the character of an ordinary 
 infant ; and I think that the two saints have more of 
 a bend in their figures than is quite pleasant ; the 
 heads stooping forward, and the knees considerably 
 bent, are, as in other pictures by Perugino, a little 
 too evidently straining towards a reverential posture. 
 Such a criticism is a bold one to venture upon with 
 the recollection of so glorious a picture fresh in my 
 mind — the only one (except Giotto's frescoes at 
 Padua) from which I have really derived any intense 
 pleasure since I left home. The date of this most 
 majestic and wonderful work is a.d. 1494. 
 
 S. Agatha is another church which still has its old 
 campanile intact, with round-arched windows, very 
 simple and not large. The church which has been 
 built against it tells its story so well, that at first we 
 
CiiAi'. TX. 
 
 CREMONA TO LODI. 
 
 201 
 
 all mistook it for a theatre ! So niiieli lor classic 
 symbolism ! 
 
 Another church, dedicated in honour of S. Marp^he- 
 rita, is a very poor erection of brick, with a simple cam- 
 j)anile. One or two other churches we saw with fair 
 brick campaniles, which were not otherwise remjirk- 
 a])le ; and one there w^as, close to the Milan ;^^ate, 
 which seemed to be very singular in its arranj^ements. 
 It had 51 projecting western porch, with its columns 
 supported on beasts ; and at the north-west angle an 
 octagonal building of brick, of exceedingly late date, 
 which appeared to be a baptistery. 
 
 We really enjoyed Cremona very much indeed : its 
 rich array of buildings in elaborate brickwork is very 
 striking ; and the campanile of the cathedral, tower- 
 ing up high above the many other steeples, combines 
 well with them in the general views, and helps to 
 convert into a fine-looking city what is, perhaps, in its 
 streets and houses generally, very I'ar irom being any- 
 thing of the kind. 
 
 One evening we walked for some time on a drive 
 I'ormed upon the ramparts, which was very gav, full 
 of the townspeople walking and driving. I think, 
 indeed, that we saw here a greater nundjcr ol' snuu't 
 Italian ecpiipages than anywhere else. 
 
 From Cremona we wx'ut to Lodi, on our way to 
 Pavia, and had a very pleasant drive. The heat 
 was intense when we started, and the drivers of all 
 the cai'ts we j)assed were prudently ensconcing them- 
 selves in the baskets swung beneath their carts, to 
 escape its elfects. Throughout the Lombardo- 
 Venetian territory we were much struck by the 
 great traffic which seems to be always going on, 
 and by the much greater approach to English ar- 
 rangements, in the way of harness and so forth, than 
 
202 
 
 DRAUGHT-OXEN. 
 
 Chap. IX. 
 
 it is at all usual to see on the Continent ; though, 
 indeed, it ought in fairness to be said that their 
 carts are much more scientific than ours generally 
 are. Any vehicle with more than two wheels is 
 rarely if ever seen ; and these two wheels are some- 
 times of prodigious size — I should say quite ten feet 
 in diameter — whilst the length of the cart from end 
 to end is immense. The extent to which they are 
 loaded is almost incredible, and of course it requires 
 great care in order to make the trim exact, but 
 when loaded the draught must be light for the 
 weight. It is impossible to talk about horses and 
 carts without thinking of the magnificent cream- 
 coloured oxen which are everywhere doing hard work 
 on the roads and in the fields. They have most 
 magnificent, large, calm eyes ; and this, with their 
 great size and slow and rather dignified motion, makes 
 them look very grand. They are always harnessed to 
 a pole, which rises up above their heads at the end, 
 and has a cross-piece attached to it, against which 
 the poor animals have to press their foreheads in order 
 to go on. 
 
 At Pizzighettone we crossed the Adda, here a very 
 fine and full stream, and then, changing horses, went 
 on merrily and rapidly towards Lodi. Leaving the 
 main road, we travelled a less frequented by-road, 
 infinitely more pleasant, and in many places very 
 pretty indeed. We followed the course of a small 
 river, which was turned to good account for irri- 
 gation ; its stream being at times divided into no 
 less than three channels, in order to water the 
 pasture-land on which are fed the cows whose milk is 
 to produce the far-famed Parmesan cheese. Some 
 part of the road reminded us pleasantly of English 
 lanes and English scenery, but here and there a 
 
ClIAl'. IX. 
 
 •203 
 
 distant i^linipsc of the Api'iniiiics i\[V Ix-liiiid us. and ol' 
 the Alps beyond Milan before us, made us aware 
 that we were indeed in Italy. 
 
 There is little to be seen in Lodi. It has a huw 
 and rather shabby -look inj^ piazza, at one corner of 
 whieh is the cathedral, whose only f^ood feature is 
 its doorway, which is, however, very inferior to the 
 western d(3orway of the cathedral at Cremona, to which 
 it bears no little resemblance. 
 
 Another church has a pointed brick front. The 
 real roof is one of flat pitch, spanninijf nave and aisles ; 
 but in the fac/ade the central portion is considerally 
 higher than the sides, so as to give the idea of a 
 clerestory. This is an abominable sham, and unhappily 
 only too common in late pointed work in Italy. The 
 centre division of the front is divided into three by 
 pilasters, which are semicircular in j)l:in. In the cen- 
 tral division are a door and a circular window, in ea<'h 
 side division is a j)ointed window ; a brick cornice 
 finishes the gable, crowned with five circular brick 
 |)iiniacles. 
 
 Another church in Lodi has a very beautifully 
 pjiinted ceiling: this has been engraved by Mr. Griiner, 
 but unluckily I did not know ol' its existence until 1 
 returned home : it seems to be an admirable piece of 
 colour, and to be wxdl worth careful study. 
 
 There seemed to be nothing else worthy of notice in 
 Lodi ; but as in duty bound we walked down to the 
 bridge, a rough, unstable-looking wooden erection over 
 the broad rapid Adda, with nothing al)out it to recal 
 to mind the great event in its history, its j)assage by 
 Napoleon in 1790. 
 
 We left very early in the morning for Pa via : our 
 way led us through a country cultivated most elabo- 
 rately, and irrigated \vith a great dis])lay of science and 
 
204 
 
 PAVIA. 
 
 Chap. IX. 
 
 labour ; every field seemed to have some two or three 
 streams running rapidly in different directions, and the 
 grass everywhere was most luxuriant. ~No view, how- 
 ver, was to be had on either side, as the joad found 
 its way through a very flat line of country, and all the 
 hedges were lined with interminable rows of Lom- 
 bardy poplars. It was a country which would have 
 done more good to the heart of a Lincolnshire farmer 
 than it did to that of an architect ! 
 
 The only remarkable building passed on the road 
 was a castle at S. Angelo ; a great brick building, with 
 square towers set diagonally at the angles. The walls 
 were finished with a battlement of the Veronese kind, 
 and there were several very good early pointed brick 
 windows with brick monials in place of shafts. A 
 campanile, detached near one angle, has fine machi- 
 colations in stone, now, however, partly destroyed. 
 The effect of the whole building was very grand. 
 
 We soon reached Pavia, and were, as we expected to 
 be, well rewarded by its churches „ The general aspect of 
 the city is singular, owing to the number of tall slender 
 brick towers which seem to have formed a necessary 
 appendage to almost every house in the middle ages. 
 They are entirely without openings or ornaments of 
 any kind beyond the scaffold-holes, and one can 
 compare them to nothing that I know so well as to 
 the great shot-tower at Waterloo Bridge, save that 
 they are always square and not circular. 
 
 We did our best to see the cathedral, but were un- 
 successful ; it was being repaired, and was so full of 
 scafiblding that we could see nothing. It contains a 
 shrine with the body of S. Augustine which I much 
 wanted to see, but seemed in most respects to be an 
 unprepossessing church. 
 
 From the cathedral we found our way to S. 
 
Chap. IX. 
 
 CHURCHES. 
 
 205 
 
 Michele, a very celebrated church, but more interest- 
 ing to an antiquary in search of curiosities tlian to an 
 architect in search of the beautiful. The west end is 
 very curious, and has a succession of scidptures, intro- 
 duced in the most eccentric manner, and with ljut 
 little method in their arrangement. There are three 
 western doorways, and all of them are elaborately 
 ornamented with carvings, whilst over the central dooi* 
 is a very singular figure of 8. Michael. The interior, 
 though much damaged in many ways, still preserves 
 the old arrangement. A noble flight of steps leads up 
 to the choir, below which is a crypt opening to the 
 church on cither side of the steps ; an arrangement 
 much more felicitous than that at Coire, where, in a 
 plan of the same kind, access to the choir is obtained 
 on either side, showing the crypt between the steps. 
 
 S. Michele, together with S. Teodoro and S. Pietro, 
 seem all to be of somewhere about the same date, and 
 at any rate of the same character ; their most remark- 
 able feature being the octagonal cupolius, which rise 
 above the crossing of the nave, choir, and transepts ; 
 externally these are arcaded all loiind under the eaves, 
 and roofed with Hat ])itclied rools, and are far irom 
 being graceful; open arcades are introduced under the 
 eaves and up the gables, and everywhere there is a 
 |)rofusion of carving. It is likely enough that this 
 Lombard Komanesque style, as we see it at Pa via and 
 elsewhere, did, as has been supposed, set the example 
 which was very soon after followed in the great 
 churches at Cologne and elsewhere along the borders 
 of the Khine. In size, however, the children far 
 exceeded their parents, for this church of S. Michele is 
 not remarkable for its dimensions, except in point of 
 width. 
 
 Hy far the most interesting ehuieh to me was th.it 
 
206 
 
 PA VIA. 
 
 Chap. IX. 
 
 of S. Maria del Carmine, or S. Pantaleone (for it seems 
 to rejoice in a double dedication), which, in some 
 respects, is more akin to our .own pointed work than 
 any other church I have as yet seen in Italy. The 
 plan and all the details of the interior are exceedingly 
 simple. The nave is divided into four groining bays, 
 each of which has two arches into the aisles ; the 
 transept takes one bay and the choir one, and there are 
 an aisle and a row of chapels on either side of the nave, 
 and chapels on the east side of the transept. The 
 only openings between the arches and the groining are 
 small circles by way of clerestory, ludicrously small 
 as compared with the immense space of blank wall 
 below them, which seems to call loudly for decora- 
 tion by paintings. The whole of the interior is exe- 
 cuted in red brick, which has, however, been much 
 daubed with a coloured wash : its effect is, notwithstand- 
 ing, very noble and well worthy of imitation. As in 
 Italian churches generally, the choir is very short as 
 compared to the length of the nave. The exterior is 
 even better worth examination than the hiterior ; the 
 design of the west end is an exaggerated example of 
 the mode of finishing west fronts not uncommon in 
 Italian Gothic ; it is to some extent a sham, and there- 
 fore bad, but there is much which is of value in its 
 detail, as it is even more than usually elaborate ; and 
 apart from the general outline of the mass, which 
 pinnacles and pilasters cannot redeem from ugliness, 
 there is considerable beauty in the group of windows 
 and doors arranged so as to rise gradually as it were 
 to the centre. The cornices are very heavy and 
 elaborate, and the whole front is, I suppose, to be 
 looked at as a masterpiece of terra-cotta and brick 
 architecture. It is purely Italian in its great breadth 
 and general arrangement, and, I confess, very far from 
 
M^ai FKOM. S. PANTALKONE. PAVIA 
 
Chap. IX. 
 
 STA. MARIA DEL CARMINE. 
 
 207 
 
 being to my taste, thougli T could wish that we had 
 more often some of the same breadtli and simpHcity 
 in our elevations. 
 
 It is very curious that this west end is the only 
 elevation in this church which is at all distinctly Italian 
 in its design ; for those of the transepts and choir might 
 much more reasonably be put down as imitations of 
 northern work ; they are very similar, and a descrip- 
 tion of the latter will therefore suffice. It is Hanked 
 by massive buttresses, and has two large and lofty 
 trefoiled lancets, surmounted by a circular window of 
 great size ; the whole is very richly moulded and exe- 
 cuted entirely in brick. The buttresses and roof finish 
 at the top in a rude temporary-looking manner, and it 
 is therefore impossible to solve the interesting question 
 of their original terminations, which must I imagine 
 have been pinnacles. The ordinary ])ricks used here are 
 about 10 in. x 3 in. in size, and laid witli very wide 
 joints of mortar ; those used for window-jambs and 
 arches are of much deeper colour and finer clay than 
 the others. There is something (piite relresliing in 
 coming suddenly and unexpectedly upon such a simple 
 and English-looking elevation after the multitude of 
 thoroughly Italian fronts it has been our fate to see 
 lately. 
 
 On the north side of the nave there seems to have 
 been a fine row of pointed windows, but they have been 
 all destroyed to make way for Renaissance improve- 
 ments. There are very large buttresses dividing each 
 bay in this aisle, a feature which 1 saw here for the first 
 time in Italy, and which, in addition to the design of 
 the choir and transepts, would seem to show that this 
 church was not entirely the work of an Italian. In 
 the [)lan, too, it is remarkable that, though the general 
 arrangement is quite that of the large Italian churches, 
 
208 
 
 PA VI A. 
 
 Chap. TX. 
 
 such as the Frari at Venice and Sta. Anastasia at 
 Verona, in one particular it is unlike them. The 
 groining bays of the aisles are square, and not oblong ; 
 and as two of the aisle arches make one bay of the 
 nave, the groining compartments in both are as nearly 
 as possible square. This is an arrangement which 
 occurs often in German Romanesque, but I have not 
 seen it elsewhere in Italy. ^ 
 
 There is a fine campanile between the south transept 
 and the choir ; it has four stages above the roof of 
 the church, and scarce any opening below the belfry 
 windows ; these are exceedingly good, of three tre- 
 foiled lights under an enclosing arch, with two plain 
 circles pierced in the tympanum, the monials being 
 shafts of white marble. A low spire of circular bricks 
 finishes, but does not improve, this very beautiful belfry. 
 
 There is another brick pointed church at Pavia — 
 S. Francesco — which has a fine west front redeemed 
 from thorough Italianism by the grand window-arch in 
 its central division, and though this has been filled in 
 with later and barbarous work, to the entire conceal- 
 ment of the tracery, its effect upon the whole front is 
 astonishingly good. The detail is very elaborate, and 
 in the arch a great number of terra-cotta ornaments 
 are introduced. The front is divided by large pilasters 
 into a centre and wings corresponding with the nave 
 and aisles, but these are again subdivided by smaller 
 pilasters, each of which is composed of three circles on 
 plan, and finished rather nicely with a kind of finial 
 at the top. 
 
 S. Francesco is lighted by a succession of small 
 clerestory windows, and the aisles have large buttresses ; 
 the greater part of the upper portion of the west front 
 
 ' S. Antonio at Padua is somewhat similar in its plan, but domed instead 
 of being groined in the ordinary way. 
 
-WKSl S KKANCKSCO. PAVIA 
 
ClIAl'. IX. 
 
 THE CERTOSA. 
 
 209 
 
 is a mere mask to make out the desired outline. I 
 be^^in really to wonder whether I shall see a west front 
 before 1 leave Italy whieh is not a purely unnecessary 
 and unprepossessing sham ! 
 
 Pavia appeared to me to be rather a pleasant city, 
 and we had a delight! *ul day there ; it is true that it 
 was very hot and sultry, but to this we were fairly 
 acclimatized, and so rather enjoyed it, except when we 
 had to cross a piazza in the sun, or walk along a street 
 unprotected by arcadhig, which, by the way, is much 
 rarer here than in Padua, ^lantua, and other cities 
 through which we had recently passed. The main 
 street of the city is very picturesque, with somewhat 
 of a fall towards the south, so that just a glim])se is 
 obtained between the houses of the distant Apennines. 
 
 Close to the Milan gate there is a large pile of 
 ancient fortified buildings, formerly the castle of the 
 Yisconti. They form a parallelogram, with scpiarc 
 towers at the angles rising aljove the general height 
 of the walls, and covered with gabled roofs. The 
 walls are all of brick, boldly machicolated at the 
 top, and have a good man}- windows of earlv date, 
 still perfect, of two lights, with a plain circle in the 
 tympanum. ^J'he extent of the l)uilding is very great, 
 and the whole mass decidedly imposing-looking. 
 
 From Pavia we went, on our road to ^lilan, to pay 
 a visit to the renowned Certosa. The road thither, 
 which is also that to Milan, pursues a monotonously 
 straight course by the side of a canal, or canalized 
 river, and between rows of stifl" trees, until, about 
 four miles from Pavia, a turning at right angles 
 out of the main road soon leads to the gateway of 
 the monastery, and through this — which stands oj)en 
 apparently rather througli carelessness than out of 
 hospitality — we drove into the court-yard in I'ront of 
 
 p 
 
210 
 
 PAVIA. 
 
 C'HAl'. IX. 
 
 the church. This, grown all over with weeds, looked 
 certainly very desolate and wretched, and but poor 
 preface to the polished marbles of the west front and 
 the riches and paintings of the interior of the church. 
 
 The west front is of great magnificence of material, 
 though of a kind of design which seems to have pro- 
 ceeded upon the principle of setting all established 
 architectural styles and customs entirely at defiance. 
 This indeed may be said of the whole church, which is 
 a kind of mixture of Lombard Romanesque features 
 with some pointed, and no slight dash of the Renais- 
 sance spirit ; altogether a most magnificent hybrid, 
 but certainly a hybrid. The doors stand wide open, 
 and from the decaying and desolate court in front of 
 the church we enter into the nave, full of everything 
 that is magnificent in material, and all preserved with 
 jealous care and in admirable order : we look up to 
 the lofty vault which spans the . grand width of the 
 nave, and find the groining ribs arched over head in 
 pure pointed form, and cannot help marvelling how 
 far this one pointed feature harmonises and (I had 
 almost said) sanctifies the whole interior, though in 
 fact, save this one point, there is scarce a single detail 
 throughout the church which could ever pass muster 
 as really being of pointed character. 
 
 I think it is hardly possible to scan or criticize the 
 architecture of such a building ; it is better to follow 
 the guidance of the cicerone, and look at the pictures 
 behind the many altars set around with precious stones, 
 and enclosed within reredoses made of such an infinite 
 variety of marbles, that, with some degree of envy, one 
 thinks how precious such an array would be on this 
 side of the Alps, even if spread through fifty churches. 
 
 The nave and aisles are divided from the side 
 chapels and. from the transepts by high metal grilles, 
 
riiAP. IX. 
 
 rilK CEIJTOSA. 
 
 211 
 
 and the transept is a<^-ain divided by anotlier screen 
 from tlie clioir : tliis produces a very singular and 
 unusual effect, and makes tlie transept appear some- 
 vvliat like a nave placed at right angles with the choir. 
 All the chapels on either side of the nave communicate 
 with one another, so that the monks are able, without 
 entering the nave, to obtain access to all of them, 
 whilst females are carefully excludcxl both from the 
 chapels and from the transepts and choir. Beyond a 
 Perugino in one of tlie cha])els on the north side of 
 the nave, and one picture in the sacristy, there seemed 
 to be no pictures of any very great value : in fact, 
 travellers are asked rather to admire the value of the 
 stones which are used in the altars, and the marbles 
 in the reredoses behind them, than the ])aintings 
 which they enclose. Th(? groining of the churt^i, 
 enhanced as it is in effect by the way in which it is 
 painted — with a blue ground, ])o\vdered verv riclilv 
 with gold stars — ccmduces more than anything else to 
 the very tine etlect ol' colour whieh the nave produces ; 
 and the beautiful ])avements, compostnl mainlv of 
 red and white marbles, laid in ('lalM)rat(' geometrical 
 ])atterns, increase not a little the general eifect. This 
 is another instance of the superiority in such ])osi- 
 tions of decorative painting over pictures. 
 
 South of the church are two cloisters : that nearest 
 to the church of ordinaiy size, but the other, to which 
 it leads, prodigious in its dimensions, and verv singular 
 in its effect, being surrounded at regular intervals by 
 the houses of the monks rising out of and above the 
 regular line of the cloister roof: T went into one of 
 these houses, and found its accommodation exceedingly 
 ample, providing three rooms, closets, and a garden 
 for each monk. The arches of the cloisters are ex- 
 ceedingly rich in terra-cotta ornaments, and throu<rh- 
 
212 
 
 MILAN. 
 
 Chap. IX. 
 
 out the exterior of the church and other buildings it 
 is remarkable how very elaborate these ornamental 
 mouldings are : they are left in the natural reddish 
 colour, and, as the walls are whitewashed, they have a 
 very singular effect. We found here, as at other 
 places, men busily engaged in making casts for ,the 
 Crystal Palace at Sydenham, whose managers certainly 
 seem resolved to have casts of everything that can be 
 modelled throughout Europe ! 
 
 There are now twenty-five monks at the Certosa, 
 and the number appears to have been gradually on the 
 increase since the reconstitution of the monastery in 
 1844 : it was certainly very gratifying to see that, 
 whilst all the rest of the buildings looked forlorn and 
 dilapidated, the church itself was most scrupulously well 
 preserved, presenting in this respect a great contrast 
 to the fate of churches generally in the north of Italy. 
 
 A tedious drive by the side of a long straight canal, 
 passing on our way large well-managed farms and 
 other signs of uncommon agricultural activity, took us 
 from the Certosa to Milan ; and long before we arrived 
 there the white pinnacles of the Duomo, with the Alps 
 in the far distance, came in sight ; certainly, seen thus, 
 the Duomo is one of the least satisfactory or imposing 
 great churches I have ever seen, and does but little in 
 the way of imparting character — as most cathedrals do 
 — to the city which lies at its foot. At last we reached 
 Milan, and entering through a triumphal arch — the 
 Ticinese Gate — and passing the front of S. Eustorgio, 
 we threaded our way down a very long narrow street, 
 by the side in one place of a row of Roman columns, 
 still standing tolerably perfect in the midst of the 
 crowded highway, until at last we found ourselves at 
 the Albergo alia Gran Bretagna, a most comfortable 
 and much-to-be-recommended inn. 
 
CllAl'. X 
 
 MILAN. 
 
 218 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Launco ! by mine honesty, welcome to Milan." 
 
 Tu:o GentlcificH of VeronHj act ii. sc. 'y. 
 
 Milan: the catliedral — S. Ambrogio — S. Kustor^o — Sta. Maria dclle 
 Grazie — Monza : tlie cathedral — The Brulctto — Sta. Maria in Strada 
 — Como : the Broletto — Tlie catliedral. 
 
 Milan is better known to the ^^enemlity ot Eiit^lish 
 travellers than, perhaps, any other city south of tlie 
 Alps ; and it aflbrds a fair idea of some of tlie most 
 salient points of Italian manners and customs. Its 
 narrow busy streets, tliough they are waiitiii<^ indeed 
 in the arcading so characteristic of very many other 
 towns we had passed through, have that peculiar clianii 
 which life and bustle always give to strange j)laces ; 
 the crowds of foot-passengers threading the narrow 
 ways, with no protection from the omnibuses and carts 
 which jostle against them, are full of animation, and 
 lively and picturescpie in their costumes. Elbowing 
 our way between them, we soon found ourselves in a 
 piazza, with the Duomo rising before us in all the 
 magnificence of its white marble walls. If it be in- 
 deed true that it was designed by a CJerman, there is 
 on the outside even more cause for astonishment at 
 his work than if it had been done by an Italian. The 
 west front is ([uite modern, but the rest of the exterior, 
 all in its original state, is as little German in its 
 character as any building I have ever seen, and, — 
 
214 
 
 MILAN. 
 
 Chap. X. 
 
 shall I add it? — as little really grand as a work of art. 
 I had just caught a glimpse of its general outline 
 and effect by the bright moonlight, on the evening of 
 my arrival, with the music of an Austrian band sound- 
 ing pleasantly in my ears, and, thus seen, there was 
 certainly something wild and striking in its effect. I 
 saw the brilliantly light colour of the white marble 
 in the full brightness of the moon, and saw little of 
 the poverty of moulding, or the heaviness of traceries, 
 or the preposterous tenuity of pinnacles, which day- 
 light revealed, to the destruction of any belief I might 
 still have in its beauty ; and the more in detail I 
 examined it the less satisfactory did it appear-; for 
 neither in its general mass, nor in its detail, does it 
 bear examination. Its walls are panelled all over, 
 the panelling having a peculiarly painful kind of pen- 
 dulous, imsupported, and unconstructional character, 
 and the string-courses are marked by a continuous 
 trefoil arcading on their under side, which recalls the 
 frequent Italian string-courses in brick. The buttresses 
 are bold in their formation and scale, but poor and 
 weak-looking in their design, and finish at the top 
 with pinnacles whose thin outline, seen against the 
 deep blue sky, is painfully bad and unsatisfying. 
 The panelling of the walls is continued up to their 
 whole height without any decided line of parapet or 
 cornice, and finishes in a rough serrated line of small 
 gables, which are particularly restless and wanting in 
 repose. Great flying buttresses span the aisles, and 
 then in the clerestory is repeated exactly what we 
 have already seen below, the same panelling, the same 
 parapet, and the same light pinnacles ; the windows, 
 however, are here very small and insignificant, whilst 
 those in the aisles are remarkable for their large size 
 and for the singular traceries with which they are 
 
Chap. X. 
 
 TlIK CATHKDKAI 
 
 215 
 
 filled. All the lower windows are transomed with a 
 line of tracery, surmounted in each light hy a crocketed 
 canopy running up into the light above. In the apse 
 this tracery fills the four outer hghts only on each 
 side of the two centre lights, the others being con- 
 tinued without interruption to the sill ; and in these 
 windows it is remarkable that each light is subdivided 
 with a small monial below this band of tracery. 
 
 Altogether, an effect of a prodigious number and 
 repetition of vertical lines is produced, and yet, not- 
 withstanding this, the effect of tlie entire building is 
 decid(,'dly rather horizontal and depressing than the 
 contrary ; this is not more owing to the absence 
 of all visible roofing than to the way in which the 
 parapets, witli their irregular gabled outline, attract 
 the eye. 
 
 Upon the whole, therefore, the exteri(H* is in no 
 respect more Italian than it is German in its style : 
 it belongs to no school, and has no fellows ; from 
 the beginning it has been an exotic, and to tlie end 
 of time will probal^ly remain so, without a follower 
 or an imitator in the singular development of which it 
 is the only example; and there does a])])ear, if we con- 
 sider the matter, to be some intrinsic probability that 
 such a building must have been designed hy a foreigner 
 rather than by a native. It has, in fact, all the appear- 
 ance of having been the work of a stranger who was 
 but imperfectly ac(piainted with the wants or customs 
 of Italian architecture, working to some extent with the 
 traditions of his own native school before him, but, at 
 the same time, impressed with a strong sense of the 
 necessity under whicli he lay of doing something cpiite 
 unlike what he had been taught to consider necessary 
 for buildings in his native land. It will be found upon 
 examination that there is absolutely not one ])oint in 
 
216 
 
 MILAN. 
 
 Chap. X. 
 
 whicli this vast building follows the traditions of Italian 
 pointed work. Its windows have moulded monials 
 instead of shafts ; its walls are buttressed instead of 
 being marked with pilasters here and there ; its pin- 
 nacles are northern in their idea, for strength rather 
 than (as Italian pinnacles were) only for ornament ; its 
 walls have no cornices, and there are, finally, no sham 
 fronts or attempts at concealing the necessary features 
 of construction ; the walls are panelled instead of being 
 arcaded, and there is a constant endeavour to break 
 up plain surfaces of wall, unlike the predilection for 
 smooth surfaces of walling so usual in thoroughly 
 Italian work, and destructive of the kind of breadth 
 and dignity which this last generally has ; finally, if 
 rest and life may be taken — as by some they are — to 
 be respectively the distinguishing features of Italian 
 and Northern pointed work, then, assuredly, the 
 lack of repose in Milan Cathedral — caused mainly by 
 the degree to which the system of panelling is carried 
 over the whole building, and the extent to which 
 the use of the simple horizontal line is carefully ex- 
 cluded — goes far to consign its exterior to some school 
 of life and restlessness of the most unsatisfactory 
 character. Its architect appears to me to have been 
 shocked at the necessity under which he lay of sacri- 
 ficing the steep lines of roof so dear to him in his 
 ' native land, and to have striven with all his might to 
 provide a substitute for their vertical effect by the ver- 
 tical lines of his panelled buttresses and walls, by the 
 gabled outline of his parapets, and by the removal of 
 such a mark of horizontalism as the commencement of 
 the traceries of his windows even on one line. And 
 his work is a most remarkable standing proof of the 
 failure of such an attempt ; for, despite all these pre- 
 cautions, and I incline to believe in consequence of 
 
Chap. X. 
 
 THE CATHEDRAL. 
 
 217 
 
 them, the general effect is, after all, entirely depressing 
 and horizontal. i!xtremes meet, and so the attempt 
 to avoid absolute horizontal lines has completely failed, 
 because in their place we have a succession of vertical 
 members placed side by side in such endless numbers 
 that we really think more of their horizontal mem- 
 bers, slight though they are, than we should of the 
 simplest defined horizontal line. 
 
 And the same consequence followed the same kind 
 of work in England. I know no building in which the 
 horizontal line is more painful than in Henry VII. 's 
 Chapel at Westminster, where, nevertheless, it is 
 broken endlessly by vertical lines of pinnacles, and 
 where the walls are covered ^vith perpendicular lines 
 of panelling. 
 
 Indeed, I should liave but little respect for such a 
 building as this exterior of Milan were it not for its 
 glorious material (used thougli it is in a j)n)(ligal 
 manner, and without particular reference to its nature) 
 and its immense size — though this is far less in aj)- 
 pearance than in reality. J^ut my detraction and harsh 
 criticisms must end here; for if, having first made the 
 circuit of the entire church, the fiight of steps whicli 
 leads up to the west door is last of all mounted, the 
 first feeling must be one of perfect amazement and 
 delight — amazement that the same mind wliich con- 
 ceived the exterior should have been able also to 
 conceive anything so diverse from it as is the interior, 
 and delight that anything so magnificent and so perfect 
 should ever have been reared on the southern slope of 
 the Alps, to exhibit, to the eyes as it were of enemies, 
 the full majesty and power of the pointed architecture 
 of the North. And mark, upon consideration, how very 
 natural this was. Its architect had been tied down in 
 his exterior ])y the wants, or sup})()sed wants, of a 
 
218 
 
 MILAN. 
 
 Chap. X. 
 
 climate unlike liis own, and a material to which he 
 was unused ; his genius had thus been fettered and 
 kept under ; but here all shackles were undone, and 
 he was free to carry out to its very greatest perfection 
 what he had learnt or dreamt of in his northern 
 home. And what a result has he not achieved ! — 
 absolutely and without doubt the grandest interior 
 in the world is, I do believe, this noble work of 
 his ; its grandeur amazes one at first, and delights 
 all the more afterwards as one becomes on more inti« 
 mate terms with it, and can look at it with less 
 emotion than at first. And how shall I describe it ? — 
 for to say that it has so many bays in length or in 
 width is not sufficient : all this, and even the detail 
 of its design, was familiar enough to me before I 
 saw it, but still the reality was so very far beyond 
 any description^ that I felt, and feel still, averse to 
 attempting it. 
 
 A few only of the most noticeable points, therefore, 
 shall be touched ; and, as it seems to me to teach less 
 of Italian art or architecture than of Northern, I shall 
 feel myself acquitted of neglect, inasmuch as the main, 
 if not the sole, object of my present inquiry is as to the 
 development of really Italian work. I was struck at 
 first by the prodigious width and height of the build- 
 ing : the nave is enormously wide, and has two aisles 
 on either side, those next to the nave being also of 
 great size and height, and having clerestories in their 
 outer walls. The outer aisles are lighted with large 
 traceried windows, filled with stained glass, which 
 gives the church a character very unlike that of the 
 generality of Italian pointed churches, in which 
 coloured glass is so rarely seen in large masses. 
 
 There is, therefore, a regular gradation in the 
 heights of the five main divisions of the church, which 
 
TllK C'ATHEDKAL. 
 
 •219 
 
 are well proportioned to their respective widths ; and, 
 resting as these divisions do upon four rows of clus- 
 tered columns of immense size and height, a more 
 magnificent internal effect is produced than T can re- 
 collect even any approach to in any other church ; 
 for not even in Cologne or in Amiens is there any 
 effect so magnificent as that of this forest of prodigious 
 piers. They are finished at the top with ca])itals pecu- 
 liar to themselves, and (piite unlike anything I have 
 before seen — I suppose at least twelve feet deep, with 
 a kind of arcade of tracery surmounted by a crocketed 
 gable on each side, and finished aljove and below with 
 courses of foliage, and with figures standing in the 
 niche-like panels of the arcade. 
 
 Such a contrivance would be clumsy and absurd if 
 attempted on a small scale, ])ut here, at the summit of 
 these immense columns, is thoroughly successful, and, 
 I believe, the only contrivance which could have been 
 successlully adopted. The capitals vary very much in 
 detail and in merit ; but one of the most successfid is 
 seen close to the west entrance, and recalls forcibly the 
 best Northern pointed work, having, indeed, neitlier 
 in detail nor in design, one single trace of an Italian 
 influence. 
 
 So grand are the columns that the excessive poverty 
 and lightness of the arches which divide the nave 
 from the aisles, which is perhaps the one great defect 
 of the church, is not for a long tini ' noticed : they 
 have, however, but little work to do, and so their 
 lightness may perhaps be a virtue. 
 
 Throughout the interior there is a very remark- 
 able love shown everywhere for a moulding which was 
 never used by Italians, but was so much used among 
 ourselves — the wave-mould. Then, again, all the 
 shafts are filleted, and the lillet, turning off gradually 
 into the round line of the shaft, ])ro(luces the same 
 
220 
 
 MILAN. 
 
 Chap. X. 
 
 moulding ; a fulness and richness is consequently very 
 noticeable in all the detail of the interior, very different 
 indeed from anything else that I saw in Italy. The 
 solitary blot upon this otherwise noble work is one 
 for which its architect is in no way responsible — the 
 cells of the groining are all filled in with painted imi- 
 tations of elaborate traceries in brown colour, an abo- 
 minable device, which never ceases to offend and annoy 
 the eye more and more every time it is observed. The 
 window tracery throughout is meagre, confused, and 
 unmeaning, and the traceries introduced at mid-height 
 most unsatisfactory ; but the glass with which it is 
 filled, though poor and late in its character, contains 
 much rich colour, and gives the entire building a very 
 grand and warm tone. 
 
 Compared with other foreign churches, there is in 
 this — the largest of them all — a singular absence of 
 side altars. There are indeed some three or four ; but 
 so great is the prominence given to the high altar in 
 the choir, that one scarce thinks of the possibility of 
 the existence of any others, and has to look about a 
 good deal before discovering where they are to be 
 found. 
 
 In common with so many of the Italian churches, 
 the pavements here are very striking, and impart no 
 small degree of additional magnificence to the interior. 
 
 After I had seen the cathedral I had, by way of 
 enjoying the pleasures of a contrast, to devote myself 
 patiently to all the troubles attendant upon personally 
 procuring my passport. At Milan personal applica- 
 tion was absolutely enforced; and there, in a small 
 room crowded by voituriers and other Italians of the 
 lower order, relieved with one or two unfortunate tra- 
 vellers like myself, I had for near two hours to endure 
 heat, noise, and all the other annoyances of such a 
 work, before I succeeded in getting my passport vise. 
 
CllAI'. X. 
 
 S. AMBROGIO. 
 
 221 
 
 with permission to abide three days only within the 
 walls. This system is certainly most vexatious to an 
 Englishman ; hut at the same time, if people will make 
 a point of keeping the rulers of a city constantly on the 
 qui vive with plots or rumours of plots, I see not what 
 other resource their rulers can have. Some sign of 
 the state of the population may be drawn from the 
 way in which the soldiers patrol the streets in com- 
 panies of three or four during the whole day, giving 
 an impression of a place where men keeping guard 
 singly would be in danger ; and then again the great 
 number of the troops at the gates and elsewhere 
 throughout the city certainly presents very mucli the 
 impression of a place whose normal condition is one 
 perpetual state of siege. 
 
 Next to the cathedral the great architectural attrac- 
 tion of Milan is the famous church of S. Ambrogio, 
 which has, liowever, far greater claims upon the anti- 
 quary and upon the ecclesiologist tlian ui)()n tlie pure 
 architect. 
 
 Entering at the west end it presents a most striking 
 and, to me, most novel effect. In advance of the 
 church is an open atrium, surrounded by a cloister of 
 Lombard-Komanes(jue character, tlie columns having 
 quaintly and stilily carved capitals of stone, and tlie wall 
 and arches being built of mixed brick and stone.' Three 
 arches, open from the atrium to the west end of the 
 church, and above them three other iirches of similar 
 plan and arranged in tri})let fashion, that in the centre 
 being the highest and widest, nearly lill uji the great 
 flat pediment of the church, on either side of which 
 rise towers — that on the north divided into stages by 
 means of arcaded strings, like most Lombard belfries ; 
 that on the south perfectly plain and rude, and perhaps 
 therefore of the very early period at which some anti- 
 
 > St'c plate 15, p. 104, for an illustration of the cornier of this atrium. 
 
222 
 
 MILAN. 
 
 Chap. X. 
 
 quaries appear to place the date of tlie main structure 
 of this portion of the existing church. 
 
 This arrangement, borrowed though it may be from 
 heathen days and civil buildings, is nevertheless un- 
 commonly satisfactory ; it serves to prepare the mind 
 for the entrance to the church itself, and, instead of 
 the abrupt transition commonly made from the world 
 to the holy places, here the intermediate atrium gives 
 time and space to throw off all worldly thoughts, and 
 to enter entirely into the religious feelings proper in 
 such a place. 
 
 The entrance by the west door is of great interest, 
 for in the very ancient doors are inserted some still 
 more ancient fragments, said by tradition — and there 
 is every reason to believe the tradition to be true — 
 to be portions of the gates which S. Ambrose shut 
 against the Emperor Theodosius. 
 
 The interior has suffered much at various times, 
 either by repairs or alterations ; and as all the groining 
 is of pointed character, the first impression is that of a 
 very low, simple, and solemn -looking pointed church of 
 early date. Upon more close examination, however, it is 
 found that the main walls throughout are Romanesque, 
 and that this groining was subsequently inserted, and 
 again in later times strengthened and supported by 
 great piers and arches of classic character. 
 
 Perhaps the most striking object in the whole in- 
 terior is the magnificent Eomanesque baldachin under 
 which stands the high altar, occupying a position some 
 way removed from the east end, and protected both on 
 the west and on the east by high metal screens. The 
 front of the altar itself is very magnificent, executed 
 entirely in metal, and containing subjects from the 
 life of our blessed Lord and from that of S. Ambrose. 
 A modernised dome rises above the baldachin ; and 
 behind this an apse decorated in mosaic upon a gold 
 
ClIAI'. X. 
 
 STA. MAIMA DELf.E GIUZTE. 
 
 223 
 
 L^round finishes very <2^randly tlie interior of tliis 
 inter est in<^ church. 
 
 On the north side of tlie nav^e is a very curious 
 pulpit, coeval with the church and remarkable for its 
 carvings, and for a Roman sarcophagus which occupies 
 the space between the columns which support it. 
 
 From S. Ambrogio I made my way under a Inu'u- 
 ing sun to what I expected to find a very interesting 
 church, that of S. Eustorgio. 1 was, however, I must 
 confess, very mucli disappointed ; the interior is aljo- 
 minal^ly modernized, thougli still retaining enough of 
 its old Eomanesque features to be intelligible if care- 
 fully studied, and remarkable for many ancient monu- 
 ments on its walls. This church has nave, north and 
 south aisles, and chapels beyond the aisles, the whole 
 groined, and there is a prodigious ascent to the choir, 
 which is raised upon a crypt. 
 
 The general effect of the exterior, though there is 
 a fairly perfect brick campanile rising near the east 
 end, is painfully decayed and desolate, and the mehin- 
 clioly open space in front of the church adds n(» 
 pleasant recollection of it. 
 
 Sta. Maria delle Grazie, which I next visited, is a 
 church known generally as that in the refectory 
 attached to which is to be seen all that remains 
 of L. da Vinci's painting of the Last Su])per. I 
 know not how much this may have sulfered within 
 the last few years, but really, when I read the kind 
 of raving remarks which 1 so frequently see about it, 
 I cannot help fancying, rather strongly, that they 
 have perhaps been written before instead of after 
 seeing the veritable picture. It is in fact in the last 
 stage of decay, with scarce any of its colouring or 
 drawing intelligible ; and, as far as I can understand 
 what is perceptible, has probably been entirely re- 
 painted since Leonardo's death. 
 
224 
 
 MILAN. 
 
 Chap. X. 
 
 Sta. Maria is of very late pointed date, entirely of 
 brick, with a large and ugly dome added by Bramante. 
 The nave arcades are pretty good — pointed arches 
 springing from the square classical-looking caps of 
 equally classical-looking columns ; very much as in 
 the church of S. Francesco at Venice . Elaborate brick 
 cornices and the usual sham front leave the same kind of 
 impression on my mind in respect to this church that 
 it has of all late Italian pointed work in brick — one 
 of a tasteless, unreal, and unsatisfactory school of art. 
 
 The remaining churches in Milan seemed to be all 
 classical, of different grades of merit and size. There 
 were indeed some very late examples of brickwork of 
 some value, but really, save the cathedral, there is not 
 much architectural art to be studied or dwelt upon in 
 Milan. The cathedral, too, teaches little : its main 
 office is, rather, to prove the consummate beauty and 
 magnificence attainable by the pointed style carried 
 out severely and simply on the very grandest scale, 
 and this its interior does most triumphantly beyond 
 all cavil. South of the cathedral there is a fine 
 late brick campanile, which rises from behind some 
 of the great pubhc buildings in which the city 
 abounds. 
 
 A visit to Milan had always been looked forward to 
 by me with great interest ; first, from curiosity as to the 
 real effect and merits of the Duomo ; and secondly, from 
 a longing to see the magnificent Sposalizio of Eaffaele, 
 which forms the gem of the collection in the Brera ; 
 and this famous gallery was therefore one of the first 
 objects of my curiosity. The careful examination of 
 the pictures which adorn its walls was, however, when 
 we were there, much hindered by an exhibition of mo- 
 dern Italian pictures, hung in the same rooms as, and in 
 most cases in front of, the old works. We were able, for- 
 tunately, to get a fair view of what I believe to be the 
 
ClIAl'. X. 
 
 MI [.AX. 
 
 225 
 
 *:^reatest work of one of the greatest painters in the 
 world — the Sposalizio bein<^^ in a room unoccupied hy 
 other pictures and unmolested by the modern exhibitors. 
 The man who could so paint at the age of twenty-one 
 must, assuredly, have been almost matchless, for never 
 have I seen a painting more thoroughly noble and 
 delightful in every way, recalling to mind, it is true, 
 in every figure, the manner of his master, the great 
 Perugino, but not the less enjoyable by me on that 
 account. 
 
 The modern pictures were almost invariably worth- 
 less, and showed no sign of any revival parallel to 
 that which I trust I am not too sanguine in believ- 
 ing that one sees at the present day in England. 
 
 Jn the Piazza dei Mercanti are some traces of early 
 domestic work, very ini'erior, however, in interest to 
 what I IkuI seen elsewhere, and much modernized ; 
 and besides this then^ seemed to be I'cw if any remains 
 of domestic work.' 
 
 The whole ])lace was rather disappointing to me in 
 my architectural ca])acity, though })leasant enough in 
 every other; and after I had lounged about and driven 
 about, first in one direction and then in another, and had 
 really enjoyed my last great Italian city very much, 
 finding that little more was to be done but to eat ices, 
 look at smart carriages on the Corso, and long for 
 more chance of a clear view of the Alps and Apen- 
 nines than the hazy sultry weather allbrded, I nuide 
 up my mind to leave earlier tlian 1 lia<l originally 
 intended. 
 
 We left, therefore, after two days' stay, in the 
 middle of the day for Monza, intending to go on to 
 
 ' 1 ini.sscd a very grand brick buikling of la(e date — tlit ().s(>edale 
 Maggiore ; wliich attains, I believe, a great deal of very valuable detail, 
 though, from drawings which I have seen of it, very similar apparently 
 in its character to most of the contemporary brickwork. 
 
226 
 
 MONZA. 
 
 Chap. X. 
 
 Como in the evening to sleep. Here we were well 
 rewarded and most agreeably surprised. We found a 
 very curious and good Broletto, a cathedral of fine and 
 elaborate brickwork with a great west front of marble, 
 and another brick church of most eleborate detail. 
 
 The west front of the Duomo is a very fine example 
 of Italian Gothic in marble ; it is divided into five 
 divisions in width, those in the centre and at the 
 sides being the widest, and is constructed in yellow 
 and dark grey marble in alternate courses, the former 
 very deep, the latter generally shallow, but varying 
 without much rule. 
 
 All the roofs are flat, but finish at the west at 
 difierent levels, and not in one continuous slope. The 
 eaves have heavy cornices, and under these, all the 
 way up, is an arcade resting upon shafts supported on 
 corbels. The windows are all very fairly traceried, 
 though theirs is certainly not at all equal to English 
 tracery, as it is very flat in its eflect, and has no proper 
 subordination of parts. There is a large rose window 
 in the centre division treated in a better manner than 
 is usual, and set within a square line of moulding, with 
 small circles in the spandrels, and a line of square 
 panels on each side ; five other smaller windows 
 are similarly treated. In some parts of the wall the 
 courses of black marble are continuations of the black 
 arch-stones of the windows, which, though not un- 
 common in Italian pointed work, is never satisfactory 
 in its effect. In the upper part of the front this is 
 not the case. 
 
 The central division has a porch resting upon 
 detached shafts, and with a semicircular arch, which 
 is, however, richly cusped ; and throughout the front 
 semicircular and pointed arches seem to have been used 
 quite indiscriminately. The buttresses which divide 
 the front were originally finished with pinnacles, of 
 
ClIAP. X. 
 
 THE CATHEDRAL. 
 
 227 
 
 wliich one only now remains ; this is certainly very 
 Ijeautiful, of precisely the same type as the pinnacles 
 on some of the tombs of tlie Scaligers at Verona, 
 standin*^ on detached shafts, with gables on either 
 side, supported on trefoiled arches, and with small pin- 
 nacles between the gables, all of which are crocketed ; 
 tlie mouldings are very flat, but in the pure white 
 marble seen against the deep blue sky of Italy this 
 flatness is as much a virtue and a beauty, as its 
 counterpart executed in stone in chilly England would 
 be poverty-stricken and tame. All the remainder of 
 the exterior of the Duomo is of red brick, with some 
 particularly good detail. I give one window from the 
 south side of the choir as an example. 
 
228 
 
 MONZA. 
 
 Chap. X. 
 
 There is a large low cloister on the north side, and 
 from this the central tower is best seen ; it is of two 
 stages in brick and stone, a good deal arcaded, and 
 has a pyramidal tiled roof, with a square turret in 
 the centre. This forms a dome internally, which is 
 however (as is the whole of the church) miserably 
 modernized. 
 
 On the whole such a church as this is very interest- 
 ing, and to some extent striking ; but, much as I 
 admired the conjunction of the two marbles, and the 
 more than usually Gothic character of some of the 
 details, there was yet enough in the ungainly outline of 
 the sham front, and in the capricious use of round and 
 pointed arches indifferently, to damp my pleasure, and 
 make me cease to admire the work very decidedly. 
 There is a difference in construction, which ought to be 
 noted between this marble front and the marble work at 
 Venice, for, whilst the latter is not at all constructional, 
 this is entirely so, the marbles not being veneered on 
 to the wall, but forming a portion of its substance. I 
 need not say that in this respect, when we wish to use 
 marble in England, the paucity of our supplies will 
 probably always compel us to imitate the Venetian 
 rather than the architect of Monza, or Como, or Milan. 
 
 The Broletto, which stands near the cathedral in the 
 centre of the city, is very interesting. It is raised upon 
 open arches of stone, two at either end and five at the 
 sides. In my sketch of it the southern end is shown 
 with the projecting Eingliiera in the second stage; 
 the northern end is very singular, the tower rising out 
 of one side, with the steep-pitched roof of the other 
 half abutting against it. The detail of the windows is 
 very good, the arch-stones in some of them increasing 
 in depth towards the centre, with an effect of very 
 great strength : all the windows are shafted. The 
 
Chap. X. 
 
 ST A. MARTA IN STRADA. 
 
 220 
 
 dimensions of this buildin<^- uiv i'orty-two feet from 
 east to west, and sixty-four from north to soutli. 
 
 The only other ancient buildin^^ wliich I discovered 
 was the churcli of Sta. Maria in Strada ; tlie most 
 elaborate examj)le of hite work in l)rick and terra- 
 cotta tliat I have anywhere seen. Th(» effect is not 
 satisfactory, for when, as here, carvings arc imitated 
 and repeated in terra-eotta, and traceries entirely 
 executed in it, one begins, I confess, to long mucli for 
 a little of the fire and spirit which some mark of the 
 individual artist might have given sucli an aiiKHint of 
 elaborate decoration in stone. The west iVont is the 
 only ])art of the church of any interest, the interior 
 having been thoroughly modernized, and retaining no 
 traces of its original character. 
 
 The door and windows in the lower stage have, 
 however, been interpolated, and besides this there is a 
 strangely ugly window above them, about which — as 
 this is the last of its class we sludl see — 1 wish to say 
 a word. Tn starting on a continental journey, between 
 London and Croydon on the South- Hastern i^iil- 
 way you pass under several great semicircular-arched 
 
230 
 
 MONZA. 
 
 Chap. X. 
 
 bridges. When first built, the engineer chose, in order 
 to gratify some odd fancy, to prop these up by two 
 piers of brickwork, dividing the arch into three, and 
 putting the whole in great jeopardy. It is curious 
 that this singularly supported and divided arch finds a 
 counterpart in almost every large church in the north 
 of Italy. It was the one great idea of the Renaissance 
 builders, and, until they had taken out one of the old 
 windows, and inserted in its place one of these hideous 
 contrivances, they were never satisfied. In Venice 
 every church, even the noble church of the Trari, has 
 them, and I believe scarcely a large church in the north 
 of Italy is without at least this one evidence of the 
 delicacy of taste which characterizes a Eenaissance age ! 
 
 The skill which is shown in making and fitting 
 together brickwork such as that in the front of this 
 church is very great indeed, but, after all, I fear, rather 
 mistaken, for the effect is most unsatisfactory, and every 
 one must see that throughout the fa9ade there is an 
 evident attempt to satisfy the eye by the exceedingly 
 elaborate character of the detail, rather than by the 
 fitness of the thing itself The insufficiency of the 
 windows for the extent of wall is an obvious fault,, 
 and not less so is the fact which I am almost tired of 
 referring to, that the whole front is sham and designed 
 without any reference whatever to the wants of the 
 building, to which it forms the street front. 
 
 In the evening we left Monza for Camerlata, a 
 village within about a mile of Como, availing ourselves 
 again of the service of the Milan and Como railway. 
 The first-class carriages on this line are certainly the 
 most sumptuous and luxurious that I have ever been 
 in, but apparently not much used, as when we got in 
 they were obliged to light the wax candles with 
 which they are furnished, in place of the more vulgar 
 oil of second-class carriages. 
 
("hap. X. 
 
 (X)M( >. 
 
 The Camorlata station was soon reached, and after 
 some Httle delay we found ourselves ensconced in one 
 of those lon^ omnibuses so fashionable in Italy, and 
 driving down a long hill, planted on either side with 
 trees, towards Como. Above us, to the right and to 
 the left, we could see, by the bright moonlight, the 
 shapes of the mountains which hem in this arm of 
 the fairest of lakes, whilst just above us, ])roudly 
 perched upon a crag, were the ruins of a castle, which 
 lent, when we saw it by daylight, an additional charm 
 to the otherwise beautiful view. 
 
 Soon we were in the outskirts of the town ; but it 
 was long before we reached tlie borders of the lake, 
 after following the windings of an almost interminable 
 street, passing the guardhouse, and, to our sorrow, 
 parting again for the last time witb our ])assports, then 
 crossing the Piazza in which stand tlie Duomo and the 
 Hroletto side by side — for me the main attraction of 
 the place — until at last we were liiirly discliarged at 
 an hotel on the very edge of the water. 
 
 We had heard an Austrian band as we rolled across 
 the Piazza, and so without delay thither we returned 
 in time to hear the last of our last Austrian nnisic, 
 and to revel by moonlight in the ])eauty of the 
 many-coloured marble front of the fair liroletto. ^Ve 
 stood listening to the music for about a ([uarter ol' 
 an hour, when suddenly a word of command was given, 
 the men who held ilie lanterns marched to the Iront, 
 the band formed behind them four abreast, the lights 
 were extinguished, and, suddenly breaking into a lively 
 march, the band (lisa])[)eared, and the crowd soon lelt 
 us in quiet possession of the piazza, whose old houses 
 still rang with the clamorous echoes of the wild and 
 beautiful music. 
 
 We returned to our inn, and liad inlinite trouble in 
 the attempt to tind a voiturier to take us to the Lago 
 
232 
 
 COMO. 
 
 Chap. X. 
 
 Maggiore in time for the steamer on the morrow. The 
 route by which I had fully intended to return was to 
 go by the lake to Menaggio, thence to cross to Porlezza 
 and by the Lake of Lugano, and then from Lugano 
 across the Monte Cenere to Bellinzona ; to my great 
 annoyance I found^ however, at Milan that, owing to 
 the long-standing quarrel between the Emperor and 
 the Confederation, no travellers were allowed to pass 
 immediately from the Austrian into the Ticinese terri- 
 tory, or vice versa, and we were obliged, tlierefore, 
 instead of seeing the beautiful Lake of Lugano, to go 
 across to Laveno, and thence to Bellinzona, up the 
 Lago Maggiore ; and our difficulty at Como was to find 
 any true account of the time that it would take us to 
 reach Laveno, or of the time at which we were likely 
 to find the steamer to Magadino. In the end it was 
 decided that we should start at seven the next morning, 
 and accordingly soon after five I was out in the 
 piazza taking notes and sketches of my last Italian 
 building, the Broletto of Como. 
 
 In general character this is somewhat similar to the 
 Broletto at Bergamo^ but in real beauty it is scarcely 
 inferior to any one building I have seen in Italy. 
 Towards the Piazza it has four arches on the ground 
 story, which is divided from the next stage by an 
 arcaded string-course. This second stage has three 
 windows only over the four arches below ; and another 
 very noticeable irregularity is, that one of these 
 windows, and that not the central, has a pedimental 
 canopy above its arch, and has more shafts than the 
 others. The central window has been modernized to 
 some extent, but this was the Einghiera, and the 
 balcony still remains, though looking more modern 
 than the rest of the front. Some of the arches of 
 these windows are very noticeable, for, though they 
 
ClIAl'. X. 
 
 TIIK BKOLETTO. 
 
 .233 
 
 are semicircular, tlie back of tlie stones wliicli form 
 them is cut witli a difierent sweep, so as to produce an 
 outer pointed line, and thus to leave an impression on 
 the mind of absolutely pointed windows. Another 
 arcaded corbel-table finishes the facade, or rather ouo^ht 
 to finish it, for above this some barbarian has added 
 another stage, apparently within a few yards, and 
 nearly to the destruction of the effect of the building.' 
 North of this facade a great plain tower of rough stone 
 recalls to r§c(jllection those of Bergamo and J^rescia ; it 
 ]K)asts of an immense clock and some faint traces of 
 painting, and is left unfinished at the top. The whole 
 of this facade (with the exception of the campanile) is 
 built of red, white, and dark grey marble, which are 
 very carefully and effectively contrasted in their ar- 
 rangement ; the courses are very irregular in tlu'ir 
 widths, and a])parently arranged upon no systematic 
 rule. The opposite (east) side of the Broletto is very 
 similar, but (me of its windows is remarkable for tlie 
 way in which the shaits are knotted together in the 
 centre. This is not at all an uncommon feature in 
 Italian pointed, and I have often wondered how it is 
 that the eye is not at once disgusted with it, instead 
 of being, as it usually is, pleased. I take it to be a 
 justifiable device on some such ground as this: It 
 takes nuich labour and skill to cut several shafts 
 out of one block of marble, but all tins labour and 
 skill is unthought of, if they are entirely sej)arated, or 
 held together by ji band which might ])erchance be 
 made of some other material ; this knot therelbre is 
 devised as the only means of explaining to us tliat tlie 
 shafts so carved have really been accomplished with 
 a very great expenditure of time and ])atience and 
 
 ' 1 lliiiik no ajKjlogy is Mccc.s.s;n-\' I'or the diiii.s.sioii nf this iiKxlrru sl;i;4e 
 ill u\y view of the lirolotto. 
 
234 
 
 COMO. 
 
 Chap. X. 
 
 skill, and do not depend upon any artificial band for 
 the firmness with which they are all united in one. 
 I should liave remembered to say that the capitals of 
 all the columns in this Broletto are very well carved. 
 
 By the side of the Broletto stands the Duomo, the 
 bad character of whose west front, even though it is of 
 late Gothic, hardly tempted me to go in to see the effect 
 of the interior. I did so, however, and found a large 
 but uninteresting church, with groining of pointed 
 section, which gives considerable character to an other- 
 wise insipid work. The west front has doorways of 
 Lombard character, and above them a large rose 
 window ; but every part of the exterior and interior 
 seems to have been so much altered that little remains 
 of the original work. 
 
 Internally works of restoration were going on, and 
 these permitted me to see that the whole church had 
 a great deal of colour introduced on the walls and 
 over the groining, without being able to ascertain 
 anything satisfactorily as to its age or character. 
 
 And now, alas ! I must away, and, contenting myself 
 as best I may, with the hurried notes I have been able 
 to make of Italian architecture in this short tour, 
 must mount the carriage for the journey homeward, 
 with nothing but glorious scenery and the memories 
 of beautiful architecture to gild the termination of this 
 very happy holiday. 
 
< HAP. XI. 
 
 235 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 "And now farewell to Italy — perliaps 
 For ever ! Yet, mcthinks, I could not go, 
 1 could not leave it, were it mine to say 
 ' Farewell for ever ! ' " — Ruijers. 
 
 l)c|)artiirc from Conio — Varesc — Lake of Varcse — Italian iHiatnifii — 
 Intra — Laveno — La<;oMa;j;<ii(tre — Ma<i;a(lin(j — I'oad to Hospcntlial — 
 Tlic Dazio Grande — Ilivolo — H()Sj>enthal — Ascent of the Fnrca — 
 Valley of tlie Heiiss — Lake of Lucerne — Lucerne — Tlie Unter ILiuen- 
 stein — Stra.sbur;^. 
 
 TuKRE was fi^reat delay in leavinu^ Tonu) ; the ])ass|)()rt 
 officer was asleep, and no one dared to awaken him tor 
 our convenience; at last we determined to start, and 
 went oft* to the ])assport ofKee, and, after waitin<i^ near 
 half an hour, the dilatory clerk arrived, and our passpoi-t 
 havin<^- heen stamped with the " Ihion ])er j)artire," 
 so uncivilly <^lad to get rid of you, as it seems to 
 be, I mounted the carriage, and we were soon on our 
 way. 
 
 All Como was astir, and bedecking the houses and 
 churches, and building triumphal arches iicross the 
 roads, for some religious fete whose nature we did not 
 discover ; but soon left its streets and hills behind, 
 and began to look out anxiously ibr our first view 
 of Monte llosa and its attendant Alps ; ])ul, alas I the 
 weather, instead of clearing, rapidly became more and 
 more cloudy, and ere long we felt that we must give 
 up all ho|)e of getting even the most distant glimpse 
 ol' the monarch of this portion of the Alpine chain. 
 
230 
 
 LAKE OF VARESE. 
 
 (Jhap. XT. 
 
 Without this view, from which we had promised our- 
 selves so much pleasure, the road is tame and unin- 
 teresting all the way to Varese, where we changed 
 our horses and carriage. It is an uninteresting town, 
 with a good many villas and gardens, belonging, T 
 believe, to inhabitants of Milan, who come out here 
 for the mountain air. None of their houses are free 
 from that general look of dreariness and lack of care 
 which seems to afflict most Italian villas. Passing 
 through Yarese, we soon saw on our right a very 
 famous pilgrimage church crowning the summit of 
 a considerable hill, and approached by a succession 
 of chapels, somewhat as in the still more famous 
 pilgrimage church of Varallo, and so popular that 
 round it there seems to have grown up a small town 
 for the accommodation of the pilgrims. 
 
 Farther on we passed the Lake of Yarese, and from 
 one point in the road had a view of no less than about 
 five different lakes, one of which was Lago Maggiore. 
 The Lago de Yarese is a tame, uninteresting sheet of 
 water, surrounded by low flat woody country, except 
 at one point on the north, but even there the hills do 
 not rise immediately from the lake. 
 
 The only approach to old buildings that we saw 
 were one or two brick campaniles of early date, and 
 the remains of a castle, near Yarese, finished at the 
 top with the favourite forked battlement. 
 
 We had much ado to make our driver understand 
 our desire to reach Lago Maggiore without delay, 
 and, to say the truth, there was something too much 
 like cruelty in the attempt to compel our poor steeds 
 to any such feat of speed and strength as the perform- 
 ance of some six miles an hour really appeared to be. 
 As we neared the lake the scenery improved, and 
 woody hills, and here and there a dashing streamlet 
 
Chap, XI. 
 
 rrAr.iAN boatmen. 
 
 Hn(]in<( its way down the hill-side, and a glimpse now 
 and then of the l)lue water of the lake, made the way 
 pleasant. At last we reached the outskirts of the 
 village of Laveno, and were immediately chased by all 
 the male population of the place, who explained their 
 eager pursuit when at last we stopped on the beach, 
 by vying with one another for the privilege of convey- 
 ing us across the lake to Intra, where we had to join 
 the steamer. I asked their charge, and they rather 
 astonished me by demanding twelve francs and a 
 buono-mano ; of course I blandly offered them five 
 francs, much to their disgust, and with shrugs of their 
 shoulders and grand looks of contempt they turned 
 away. However, I was determined not to submit to 
 so palpable an imposition, so, when I was having my 
 passport vise, I asked the courteous passport-officer 
 what the fair charge miglit be? " Four and a half 
 lire,'* was the answer. " J^ut how am 1 to compel the 
 rascals to take me?" — " Oh ! bring them up to me,*' he 
 re})li('d ; so down I went to wlicrc all the boatmen were 
 discussing together the atrocity of my ofi'er, and, taking 
 two of them by the arm, I (piietly walked them uj) to 
 my friend the officer ; the rest followed, and then com- 
 menced one of the most amusing scenes I ever wit- 
 nessed. The passport-officer told them to take me for 
 the four and a half lire, upon which, tliey all, standing 
 with their right arms extended towards him, answered 
 with a furious volley of Italian ejaculations, quite unin- 
 telligil)le to me, but sufficiently absurd when contrasted 
 with the quiescent state of their antagonist. Their 
 eloquence was, however, all in vain ; for, after a short 
 attempt to reason them into submission, my friend 
 sent them off, and threatened to send a soldier with 
 us if they did not start at once. Before T could reach 
 the beach again the luggage was all in the boat, and 
 
238 
 
 INTRA. 
 
 Chap. Xr. 
 
 in another minute we were afloat, propelled by three 
 sturdy fellows, who, after having tried in vain to make 
 me pay fourteen lire and a buono-mano, were really 
 not apparently much annoyed when I paid them the 
 legal fare, being about one-fourth less than at a guess 
 I had first of all offered ! I suppose they were true 
 philosophers. 
 
 I fear that my experience of travelling in Italy 
 obliged me to look upon the proceedings of these men 
 as by no means unusual or peculiar to boatmen ; 
 wherever you go it is the same, and, unless you wish 
 to pay much more than the rest of the world ever 
 thinks of paying, you must make a point of disputing 
 hotel accounts, shop charges, and voituriers' charges ; 
 the result always is, that you pay about twenty per 
 cent, less, and are evidently looked up to with infinitely 
 more respect. 
 
 About half an hour sufficed to take us to Intra, the 
 Sardinian port opposite to Laveno, just a glimpse being 
 obtained of the famous Isola Bella as we crossed ; a 
 Sardinian soldier welcomed us to his liberal Majestj^'s 
 dominions, and, as we told him that we were going on 
 by the steamer, allowed us to go into the town with- 
 out showing our passports. There was, however, 
 nothing to see, except the pretty view of the opposite 
 hills — they are scarcely mountains — and of the long 
 sheet of water stretching up and down for many 
 a mile, and commanded almost more completely hence 
 than from any other place in its whole extent. 
 
 We dined at a very miserable inn, with a pretty look 
 out, and, as it happened to be ^jour maigre, could get 
 nothing fit to eat ; the landlord took, however, a con- 
 venient view of the matter, and, assuring us that he 
 never made any difference on this account, charged us 
 as though we had eaten all the delicacies of the season. 
 
CiiAi'. XI. LAOO MAGGK)KK. :23l) 
 
 Mere, a<j^ain, as I had time on my hands, I amused 
 myself with lowering my friend's pretensions, and 
 finally paid him a fair valuation for a very nuwjre 
 dinner. 
 
 This business was no sooner satisfactorily finished, 
 a sketch of the opposite coast having been secured 
 during the argument, than the steamer arrived, and in 
 a few minutes we were ploughing our way along the 
 fair expanse of water, leaving the not very honest 
 people of Laveno and Intra beliind us and forgotten, 
 and all our attention settled upon the gradually deve- 
 loping beauties of the upper end of the lake. 
 
 We were amused at Laveno by the warlike demon- 
 strations of the Austrians, who have there a very 
 smart little war-steamer for the protection of their in- 
 terests on the lake, besides a small fort. They have, in 
 fact, less territory on the lake than either Sardinia or 
 Switzerland ; luckily, however, for the ])eace ol" the 
 water, these last two states seem not to think it neces- 
 sary to keep up a rival force, and so the little war- 
 steamer at Laveno remains, doubtless, untouched and 
 uncared for, and her olKcers ])ass their lives, probably, 
 in smoking cigars and longing for some cliange ol' 
 place and duty. 
 
 Our steamer kept very much to the Sardinian shore 
 of the lake, and, as there are two or three great bends 
 in its course, a view of one small ])ortion only of the 
 lake is obtained, until, u])()n reacbing a promontory, 
 and rounding it, as it were a new lake and new scenery 
 are disclosed, and, hapj)ily, as the water is ascended 
 towards Magadino, each turn brings more beautiful 
 scenery than the last, until, as the head of the lake is 
 neared, the view is very grand — not ecjual, certainly, 
 to the head of Lake Como — but still exceedingly beau- 
 til'ul. The sun was just setting as we reached Laveno, 
 
240 
 
 MAGADINO. 
 
 Chap. XI. 
 
 and then our steamer, skirting along the sedgy shores 
 of the lake, where the Ticino, at its entry, brings 
 down a continually increasing deposit of mountain 
 refuse, brought us in a few minutes to Magadino. 
 
 Our principal companions on the steamer were a 
 large party of English, whose travelling-carriage and 
 horses blocked up half the boat, and a very pleasant 
 old Italian woman, whose elaborately neat hair and 
 magnificent array of pins, each filigreed at the end, 
 and all radiating like arrows from the centre knot 
 of hair, through which two larger and more magni- 
 ficent pins were passed horizontally, forced upon us — 
 but not more strongly than it had been forced before — 
 tliis wonderful smartness and elaborate treatment and 
 get-up of the hair, so common among the middle and 
 lower classes in the north of Italy, and so unlike the 
 customs of a similar class in England : I am bound to 
 say, though, that the result of the elaborate straining 
 and dressing of the hair seems generally to be, that, by 
 the time women are fifty, they have no hair at all, or, 
 at best, some two or three stray locks, which are then 
 brought carefully together, and tied up, with a bold 
 disregard of efiect, in a knot at the top of the head. 
 
 When we landed at Magadino we found a dili- 
 gence waiting, and, securing tlie coupe, jumped in, and 
 were soon trotting off rapidly on the road to Bel- 
 linzona ; in little more than an hour we passed through 
 its gateway without having our passports demanded 
 (how pleasant a change after Italy !), and were soon 
 comfortably ensconced at the very respectable Mbergo 
 del Angelo. 
 
 Here we made a contract with the landlord for 
 a carriage and five changes of liorses to Eliielen, on the 
 Lake of Lucerne, at a very moderate charge, and we 
 had most satisfactory evidence that this was, in every 
 
Chap. XI. 
 
 MAGADIXO TO TIOSPEXTIIA I.. 
 
 241 
 
 way, a far better plan than any other ; we travelled at 
 a fair rate, not too fast to see the scenery, and yet, 
 starting from Bellinzona at the same time as our Eng- 
 lish acquaintances, who had brought their horses and 
 carriage from Milan, and reaching Fliielen at exactly 
 the same time, we had a clear day's rest at Hospen- 
 thal, which enabled us to enjoy a mountain excursion 
 of no common interest, whilst they were slowly 
 climbing the mountain-side, and toiling along witli 
 jaded steeds, fit objects for the compassion of the 
 humane ! 
 
 We started from Bellinzona very early, determined, 
 if possible, to surmount the worst part of the road and 
 to sleep at Hospenthal, a small village just on the 
 nortliern side of the summit of the pass. Tlie view 
 of Bellinzona on leaving it is very striking ; three 
 old castles perched on crags above give it an air ol' 
 picturesque antiquity, and these, witli the mountains 
 rising grandly on eitlier side of the Ticino, and sloping 
 down in the distance to the l)()S()in of Lago Maggiore, 
 make a most beautiful picture. The situation is not, 
 liowever, to be compared to tliat of Cliiavenna, wliosc 
 wall of mountains, clothed with Italian luxuriance of 
 Ibliage, is pierced here and there with a chasm only, 
 lor the passage of some headlong river dashing down 
 into the broad valley below the town ; here the valKy^ 
 continues to be of considerable width for some miles 
 above the town, whilst there one scarce sees in what 
 way any road is to escape across the mountains. 
 
 The first portion of the road is not very interest- 
 ing. The pass of the Bernardin soon turns off to 
 the right up a valley which allows a partial view, 
 and from this point the S. ({(^thard road is sole pos- 
 sessor of the valley. (Jur first change of horses was 
 at Jiodio ; and from thence the road gradually became 
 
 R 
 
242 
 
 THE S. GOTHARD ROAD. 
 
 Chap. XI. 
 
 mucli more beautiful. Church-towers are seen scattered 
 here and there on the summits of the inaccessible- 
 looking mountains on either side of the valley, all of 
 them whitewashed and generally distinguished by their 
 tall campaniles, and sometimes by the small cluster of 
 houses and the patches of cultivated ground around 
 them, betokening man's labour as well as man's reli- 
 gious love, on the summit of these forbidding-looking 
 steeps. And whilst the distant prospect was so fair, 
 the scenery close to the road was embellished by vine- 
 yards and magnificent chestnuts, growing in some 
 places among great rocks shivered from the mountain- 
 side above, and, in others, in groves on either side of 
 some beautiful stream descending in a silver fall over 
 the grey precipices which overhang the road. 
 
 The villages through which we passed were pretty 
 and picturesque, and the villagers all very busy in the 
 fields bringing in their hay, and gathering their grapes, 
 which are always trained here over rocks and roofs in 
 the most picturesquely irregular way ; and altogether 
 the valley, rife with so many signs of industry and 
 activity, bore thoroughly the appearance rather of a 
 Swiss than of an Italian district. The upper slopes of 
 the mountains, on either side, were clustered with fir- 
 trees, and the deep blue water of the Ticino, here 
 gently murmuring, there hastily dashing over some 
 rocky impediment, made grateful music in our ears, 
 and imparted additional beauty to the way. 
 
 At Biasca and Giornico there are ancient churches, 
 the exteriors of which are, however, of no interest ; but 
 beside these all seemed new, and the houses as well as 
 the people and the scenery soon began to remind us of 
 Switzerland. There were those particularly large well- 
 to-do looking inns in every, village, with white walls 
 and windows resplendent witli green wooden shutter- 
 
Chap. XI. 
 
 1>.\ZI«» (i]{AXl)Iv 
 
 blinds which are so coniinoii throiii^hout tliis country; 
 and here and there were to ])e seen houses with a dis- 
 play of well-carved or craftily-framed woodwork, wliich 
 gave proof of our rapid approach to the land par 
 excellence of carpentry. 
 
 But it was not till Faido had Ijeen passed, and the 
 increasing barrenness of the hills, the entire absence 
 of vineyards, and the only occasional appearance of 
 some grand old chestnut -tree, weatlierbeaten and 
 rugged from conflict with many a storm, or, may be, 
 some frightful inundation such as the Ticino loves 
 at times to indulge in, showed how rapidly we were 
 rising into mountain regions, that the scenery became 
 really striking. Then the road seems suddenly to 
 arrive at the end of the valley, but presently as we 
 advance a narrow gorge in the mountain is perceived, 
 and we enter this, the ^most magnificent portion of 
 the Val Levantina, called Dazio Grande. Tlie road 
 is admirably engineered, carried through two or 
 three short tunnels, and in excavations in tlic rocks 
 above the torrent: the dark blue water leaps from 
 rock to rock, and here and there daslu^s down in a fine 
 wateri'all ; and the scenery is altogether so striking 
 that, on the whole, I am much inclined to give the pre- 
 ference to this portion of the valley — that is to say, 
 irom the commencement of Dazio Grande to within a 
 short distance of Airolo — over any portion of similar 
 length in the whole course ol' the Spliigen. The first 
 narrow defile passed, the valley opens out again, and, 
 with occasional glimpses, all the way, of the old road, 
 winding below near the margin of the stream, and 
 destroyed some years since in a storm, ere very hmg 
 we reach another defde as beautil'ul as the last, but 
 much shorter ; for here, after crossing the stream and 
 mounting a short distance, a projecting rock is ])ierced, 
 
 w 1> 
 
244 
 
 AIROLO. 
 
 Chap. XT. 
 
 the river finds its outlet beneath through a chasm not 
 twenty feet in width, and then, the valley opening out 
 again, Airolo is seen just before us, and beyond the 
 little cluster of houses which mark the village rise the 
 mountains, which so grandly and abruptly close in 
 the head of the Val Bedretto, up which our course now 
 lies, whilst every here and there on their rugged sides 
 or summits some snowy peak or glacier edge tells not 
 uncertainly of their grand elevation. 
 
 We arrived at Airolo by about two o'clock, and 
 here we had a rest of an hour and a half for dinner, 
 followed by a ransacking of a collection of Swiss 
 woodwork, ending — as such an operation always does 
 — much to the advantage of its proprietor. 
 
 With fresh horses we were soon on the road again, 
 and now the weather, which had been unpromising 
 and occasionally wet, seemed inclined to improve, and 
 we commenced the real ascent of the mountain under 
 rather more promising circumstances than we had at 
 first anticipated. The road soon leaves the river, and, 
 turning to the right, winds and twists about in the 
 serpentine fashion known only to Alpine roads, and 
 quite incomprehensible until one has seen them, 
 keeping the church and village of Airolo in view, first 
 on the right, then on the left, for hours. Here and 
 there a straight bit of road gives hopes that the zig- 
 zagging is over, but the thought is no sooner ex- 
 pressed than it is contradicted by another ascent worse 
 than before, and one begins to envy the electric tele- 
 graph carried here in straight lines from point to 
 point, where one would have thought it impossible to 
 gain footing for it, and giving an immense idea of the 
 directness and speed of the communication of which it 
 is the channel and the bearer. The head of the Val 
 Tremola, as the valley along which the road finds its 
 
Cjiai'. XI. 
 
 IIOSPEXTHAL. 
 
 245 
 
 way is called, is nearly reached, and the last glimpse 
 of the mountains, at the head of Val Bcdretto, is 
 cau<^ht, when a stream is crossed and the last Hio^lit of 
 zigzags is commenced ; these exceed in number and 
 intricacy any tiling I have ever seen, and as one looks 
 down upon them from above their interlacings pro- 
 duce a most singular effect. At last, however, tliese 
 are surmounted, great-coats and plaids are in reipiisi- 
 tion, and we all begin to feel uncomfortably cold. The 
 cold grey colour of the wild mountains of granite, 
 great blocks from whose sides strew the ground thickly 
 on either side, seems to harmonize well with the scene, 
 and when presently we pass the Capuchin hos])ice our 
 driver tells us that we are at the summit. Two or 
 three dark deep-looking pools or tarns stand close to 
 the hospice, and reminded me in their gloomy and 
 cold asj)ect of the tarn which gives such a fearful clui- 
 racter to the hospice of the (irimsel : the same kind of 
 scenery accompanied us on the now rapid descent ; the 
 sun went down, and the stars were soon out shining bril- 
 liantly u])()n the mountain road, when at last a sudden 
 turn brought us in sight of lights, and then, descend- 
 ing a few zigzags, we saw below us the roofs of the 
 houses of Hospenthal, and, in less time that it takes 
 to describe, were standing on the steps of one of the 
 best inns even in Switzerland, the Goldner Lowe, and 
 superintending the unpacking of our goods. 
 
 In such an inn as this everything proves forcibly 
 that one is in Switzerland ; the rooms are all very 
 clean and very small, and there is a certain homely 
 air about everybody and everything which is the 
 especial charm of the better class of Swiss country 
 iims, and in which they excel perhaps all but the very 
 best English inns ol' the same kind. 
 
 We spent an amusing evening, having lor com- 
 
246 
 
 ASCENT OF THE FURCA. 
 
 Chap. X[. 
 
 panions a Frenchman witli his wife and two daughters, 
 all very lively and exceedingly loquacious : the walls 
 of the modest salle a manger rang with hearty 
 laughter until after the time at which early travellers 
 generally go to hed, and paved the way doubtless for 
 a hearty night's rest. 
 
 The first thing to be done in the morning, after the 
 discussion of the excellent trout and honey put before 
 us, was to take a stroll up to the old castle which lends 
 so much picturesque character to the village. The 
 weather was glorious ; the perfectly blue sky over head, 
 tlie bright green of the valley, the green luxuriance 
 of the lower slopes of the mountains, and the view 
 up the pass of the Furca closed in with the white line 
 of snow, combined together to make us all regret our 
 determination to push on rapidly for Lucerne ; and 
 no sooner was the regret felt than — like idle school- 
 children enjoying themselves while they may — we 
 made up our minds to ascend the Furca, sleep on the 
 summit of the pass, and return early the next morning. 
 ISTo sooner said than done : our horses were taken 
 out of the carriage, and in half an hour, wdth a guide 
 and horses for the ladies, we were on our way for a 
 mountain excursion, full of that elastic feeling which 
 the treading a Swiss mountain-path always gives, and 
 bent upon enjoying ourselves to the full. 
 
 The contrast with the flat dusty roads and the sultry 
 weather to which you are soon forced to submit in Italy 
 made the walk especially pleasant, and though, com- 
 pared to many other mountain excursions, it was of 
 slight interest, under the circumstances it presented 
 more than common attraction to us. The path was one 
 of those pleasant ways so common in Switzerland — a 
 paved narrow road between banks of fields or low walls, 
 gradually rising and falling, now crossing the dry bed 
 
("IIAP. XI. 
 
 ASCENT OF THE FURCA. 
 
 247 
 
 ol' some o'lacior torrent, and now Lridi^nnjTf the stream 
 which descends the valley to feed the Jieuss. The 
 fields were rich in their intensely green colour, and 
 bright with various and lovely flowers, and the lower 
 slopes of the mountain were tinted a rich purple with 
 the bloom of herbs, cropped gratel'ully here and there 
 by sheep, which were nevertheless remarkable for their 
 small size and rather melancholy appearance. 
 
 The small village of liealp is soon reached, and then 
 the ascent begins ; this is rather stiff, and it has taken 
 us, when we reach the summit, just four hours and a 
 half of hard walking from Hospenthal. We found 
 dinner going on at the little hostelry at the to]), and, 
 after partaking of it, started again to ascend the Furca- 
 Horn, a mountain rising above the summit of the pass, 
 and, as we had been told, quite worth the trouble of the 
 rather difficult ascent. I'here was no kind ol'])ath, and 
 in places the mountain-side was so steep that I began 
 to think it was no place for ladies to scramble up ; how- 
 ever, they thought otherwise, and after divers tumbles 
 in the snow, and surmounting rather formidable- 
 looking obstacles, we reached at last the summif, and, 
 sitting down on the edge of a great rock, spent a 
 long time in enjoying the glorious view. 
 
 Just under us was the vast glacier of the IHione, 
 and then beyond it we saw down the long valley of the 
 Ehone until its shape was obscured by mist, and traced 
 the path by which we had walked in a previous jour- 
 ney up the steep Meyenwand to the (irimsel. Innne- 
 diately in front of us were the vast peaked mass of the 
 Slireckhorn, the whole course of the glaciers of the 
 Aar, and the peaks of the Finster-Aarhorn, the Jung- 
 frau, and the Monch ; above our heads rose the 
 (lalenstock, and o])posite us the Mutthorn and ^lonte 
 Fieudo ; whilst the suuimit of Alonte Kosa, discerned 
 
248 
 
 VALLEY OF THE KEUSS. 
 
 Chap. XL 
 
 with difficulty among a marvellous array of distant 
 peaks, completed the most magnificent near view of 
 snow-covered mountains which it has ever been my 
 good fortune to behold. 
 
 Long time did we keep our elevated seats, scanning 
 again and again the glorious panorama, and at last, 
 most unwillingly, commenced the descent ; this was 
 even more difficult, though much more speedy, than 
 the ascent, as the side of the mountain was both 
 steep and slippery. We reached the summit of the 
 pass, itself about 8300 feet above the sea, in little 
 more than an hour, the ascent to the Horn having occu- 
 pied about two hours and a half, and were amused at 
 finding there our French friends of the previous even- 
 ing, who had in vain endeavoured to follow us in our 
 ascent, but had been one and all obliged to give up the 
 attempt. 
 
 Late at night we all went out again to look at the 
 most glorious moonlight effect it is possible to ima- 
 gine ; the peaks of the mountains and the vast fields 
 of snow lighted up by the bright light of the moon had 
 a charm about them peculiarly fascinating. 
 
 Very early the next morning we started again on 
 our way back to Hospenthal, and got down to the 
 inn in three hours and a half — half an hour under 
 the right time, as our guide indignantly complained. 
 
 Half an hour was enough for breakfast, and then, 
 mounting our carriage, we were soon off again down 
 the valley of the Reuss. The Devil's Bridge was ere 
 long reached, and the glorious scenery with which it 
 is surrounded amply redeemed the expectations I had 
 always formed of its extreme beauty ; indeed, for gran- 
 deur, combined with luxuriant cultivation of the lower 
 slopes of the mountains, and for the wild beauty of the 
 course of the river itself, nothing even in Switzer- 
 
("IIAI-. XI. 
 
 LAKE OF LUCEl^NE. 
 
 249 
 
 hind surpasses the narrow valley through whicli tlie 
 turl)ulent lleuss finds its way from Anderniatt to 
 Amsteg. 
 
 Here the valley widens considerably, and orcliards 
 full of fruit-trees, covered with bright-looking a])])les, 
 spread half over the valley, on each side of which the 
 mountains are very grand in their outline. Before 
 long Altdorf is reached, and all the scenes so dear to 
 Swiss freemen are rapidly passed, until at last our car- 
 riage sets us down on tlie very edge of the lovely Lake 
 of Lucerne, where the half-hour which we have to 
 wait for the departure of the steamer is spent in 
 attempting a sketch of the rocks wliich descend so pre- 
 cipitously into the deep recesses of the lake. 
 
 Much harm is done by overpraising particular scenes, 
 and even the Lake of the Four Cantons suffers from 
 this ; for so mucli lias been said and written al)out 
 its unmatched loveliness and grandeur, that the result 
 is perhaps a slight disappointment with the reality. 
 One great beauty, no doubt, is the succession of en- 
 tirely distinct views which different ])()rti()ns of the 
 lake afford, thou<>h at the same time the irre<xular out- 
 line of the water diminishes very much its apparent 
 scale ; I doubt, too, whether there is any one view 
 so grand as that at the head of Lake Como, though 
 otherwise I know no lake which can be compared 
 to it. 
 
 On the voyage down the lake Tell's Chapel and the 
 famous Gri'itli are of course seen ; a distant view is 
 caught of the old Cradle of Switzerland, the little town 
 of Scliwytz, with the grand ])eaks of the Mythenberg 
 rising proudly behind it ; the Highi, and the blaek- 
 looking Pilatus, are each in their turn passed ; and as 
 evening draws on the flat shores of the lower part of 
 the lake are neared, and presently the spires and turrets 
 
250 
 
 LUCEENE. 
 
 Chap. XI. 
 
 of Lucerne are seen. In a few minutes the bustle of 
 landing is over, and the immense Schweizer Hof 
 receives us within its capacious walls, just in time for 
 one of those accommodating late tables-d'hote so 
 acceptable after a long day's travel. 
 
 Three or four hours spent the next morning in stroll- 
 ing about served only to convince us that there was 
 not very much of architectural interest in the city 
 itself. A line of old w^all, broken at short intervals 
 by picturesque and irregular towers, and a very long 
 covered bridge across the lake just where the Eeuss 
 runs out of it, are the only noticeable features. The 
 bridge is ornamented with an immense number of oil- 
 paintings — two to each principal rafter — illustrative of 
 the history of the place and country, not valuable as 
 works of art, but curious in themselves, and giving 
 much additional interest to the structure. 
 
 The principal church has two western towers and 
 spires ; the latter are of metal and managed in the way 
 so common in this part of the world, though, never, 
 so far as I know, attempted in England,^ with the 
 angles of the spire over the centre of the cardinal sides 
 of the tower. The whole of the rest of the church is 
 modernised ; and there is a singular modern cloister, 
 which nearly surrounds the churchyard, and contains 
 an immense array of graves and grave-crosses. 
 
 We left Lucerne, at eleven, for Bale in the diligence, 
 and had a very pleasant ride over often -travelled 
 ground, of which, therefore, the less said perhaps the 
 better. The rich luxuriance of the crops, the careful 
 farming, the vast barns, and the great loads of produce 
 
 » The famous steeple of Antwerp is arranged in the same way : but this 
 I think is a unique case so far north. The spires of S. Elizabeth at Mar- 
 burg, and the metal spires of the churches at Liibeck and Limeburg, are 
 also somewhat similarly treated. 
 
CllAl'. XI. 
 
 STRASBURG. 
 
 251 
 
 which are constantly met upon tlie road, remind the 
 traveller more of En^^land than any other portion of 
 the Continent ever does. The Lake of Sempach was 
 soon passed on oiu' right, and at last a pause was made, 
 in the good old-fashioned way, for a very comfortable 
 dinner at the little old town of Zofingen. At Aarberg 
 the dashing Aar was crossed, and soon the ascent of 
 the Unter Hauenstein range commenced ; and here 
 the most extensive of all the day's views of the Alps 
 is obtained, the last and grandest. Gradually as the 
 summit is reached, peak after peak is seen rismg 
 up above the mist which shrouds the lower slopes 
 of the mountains, and marking their white outlines 
 against the blue sky : we recognised one after the other 
 almost the entire range of the grandest mountains in 
 Europe, seen before nearer but not in fairer guise, 
 and leaving a lasting impression upon the mind. 
 Suddenly we overpass the summit, and begin rapidly 
 to descend the northern slope of the hills, but the last 
 link that bound us to the land in which we had been 
 voyaging, as we hope, not for the last time, is never ti> 
 be remembered but with affectionate regard, touched, 
 as every one must be, in viewing such a panorama, 
 with the extreme glory of the scene. 
 
 We had now done with mountains and with 
 mountain scenery, though the road was still interest- 
 ing and very pretty, and at last late in the evening 
 we reached J5Ale. The moon was sinning brightly on 
 the Uhine as we went to our beds for the last time, in 
 this journey at least, in Switzerland. 
 
 We were amused, on our way to Strasburg, by 
 the comparative insignificance in our minds of the 
 chain of the Vosges, which, on our outward journey, 
 had impressed us as really veiy striking in their 
 
252 
 
 STRASBURG. 
 
 Chap. XI. 
 
 outline ; so much for the effect of a recent acquaintance 
 with real mountains. 
 
 Strasburg Cathedral was visited, not for the first 
 time, and with a consequent increase of pleasure. 
 Such magnificent architecture as that of its most 
 glorious nave is truly refreshing after Italian work, 
 and, small as its scale is compared to that of Milan, it 
 in no way lost its effect upon my mind. I was parti- 
 cularly struck by the vast difference in the delicate art 
 shown in the design of the traceries, in the softly 
 rounded contour and dark recesses of the mouldings, 
 and in the vigour and beauty of the carving of all the 
 capitals, heightened as they are by the flood of coloured 
 light let into the interior by its immense windows 
 filled with some of the noblest stained glass in Europe, 
 compared with the rude traceries, heavy carving, and 
 plainness or absence of moulding, which characterise 
 almost all Italian work. No more strong or decided 
 example need be desired of nearly all the points of 
 contrast between the best work, north and south of 
 the Alps, than this, the first great northern pointed 
 church seen on the homeward way, presents when 
 compared with all the work which has been studied 
 with so much pleasure and advantage on the southern 
 side of the Alps. 
 
 It is only fair to say that the first impression 
 produced by the west front of Strasburg was one — felt, 
 indeed, before, but much more strongly now — of the 
 smallness of scale and narrowness of the whole. I 
 have no especial love for this front, but, after the 
 simple unbroken fa9ades of Italian churches, with 
 their grand porches and simple breadth of effect, there 
 is really something which so entirely destroys all repose 
 in a front covered as this is with lines of tracery, and 
 
Chap. XI. 
 
 STRASBURG. 
 
 25:^ 
 
 niches, and canopies in every direction, as to leave, 
 I confess, a painful feelintj^ upon tlie mind of tlie 
 restless nature of its desi<^ner's thoughts. But this 
 is true only of the west front, for, on entering by 
 the door into the nave, all such thoughts are banished 
 on the instant, and you stand awestruck at the beauty 
 and solemnity of the art in which, hitherto, nortliern 
 architects alone have ever approached at all nearly to 
 perfection, and convinced, at the same time, that, with 
 such a work of art to refer to, we need never d()ul)t 
 between the comparative merits of Gothic architecture 
 north and south of the Alps. 
 
254 
 
 POINTED ARCHITECTURE 
 
 CnAP. XIT. 
 
 CHAPTER XIL 
 
 " Alas ! of thousand bosoms kind, 
 That daily court you and caress, 
 How few the happy secret find 
 
 Of your calm loveliness!" — Christian Year. 
 
 Contrast of English and Italian medifcval architecture — Use of the arch — 
 The bearing-shaft — The cornice — Chief aim of Italian architects — 
 Tracery — Mouldings — Carving — Planning — Groining — Italian brick- 
 work — Introduction of colour in construction — Principle of truth. 
 
 And now that we have made this rapid but interesting 
 tour, it is time that T should conclude with some 
 remarks upon the beauties and failings of Italian 
 pointed architecture, and with the expression of such 
 thoughts as arise in examining its remains, as well as 
 with some notice of the lessons which may be learnt 
 from them. 
 
 I think it may be gathered, from what has been 
 already said, that it will be useless to look for any- 
 thing like the completeness in the development of 
 the style which we attained to in England ; and this is 
 easily accounted for. In England there were no classic 
 buildings to find here and there an admirer, or perhaps 
 a cluster of disciples, as in Italy ; and men worked, 
 therefore, freely, and in their own way, and apparently 
 quite untrammelled with the suspicion even that there 
 had ever been another style brought to perfection by 
 people above all others civilised and refined in their 
 habits and tastes, and distinguished by certain broad 
 
Chap. XII. 
 
 IX EXGLAXD AXD IX ITALY 
 
 and stronc^ly marked lines of separation from the style 
 which they inherited from their fathers, and practised 
 and brought, as nearly as they could, to perfection. 
 In England, therefore, in the middle ages, we may 
 look in vain for any evidence of sympathy for a more 
 ancient and venerable style than that which was then 
 in the fulness of vigour and life ; and consequently, if 
 it be likely that any infusion of the art practised by 
 the ancients could have aided the northern architects 
 in their work, we must not expect to find here any trace 
 of such assistance or such advantages. But in Italy the 
 case was far different ; the love for the remains of earlier 
 ages was never dead, but only slept, ever and anon to 
 break forth in some new appropriation of ancient mate- 
 rials, or some imitation and reproduction of an ancient 
 form or idea. So in Venice, in the thirteenth century, 
 whilst pointed arches were being reared by some to 
 sup{)ort the walls, not only of the churclies l)ut of tlie 
 houses also, otlier hands were busy with the task ol" 
 raising aloft those two classic shafts, with their anti(|ue 
 capitals and detail, wliich, even to tlie ])resent day, 
 stand a peculiar and memorable mark of tlie Piaz/A'tta 
 of S. Mark, standing proofs, if such are indeed wanted, 
 that there had been artists in earlier days whose art 
 was noble and wc^'ll worthy of the emulation of men in 
 all ages. 
 
 And this classic seed fell into not ungrateful soil ; 
 for though there, as elsewhere throughout Europe, the 
 value of the pointed arch as a feature in construction 
 — independently, that is, of its intrinsic beauty — must 
 have been well known, and was boldly recognised where 
 it could not be avoided, there were nevertheless in 
 a hundred ways proofs that men still rememl)ered the 
 lessons and traditions of the ])ast, and used it with a 
 certain degree of caution and unwillingness, and asso- 
 
256 
 
 CONTRAST OF CLASSIC 
 
 Chap. XIT, 
 
 ciated with features which, rightly or wrongly, have 
 been eschewed by northern architects, either as being 
 contrary to its spirit, or through ignorance of their 
 existence. This fact would seem, therefore, to place 
 the Italian works of the middle ages in the ranks of 
 hybrid and mixed styles, and to debar them from com- 
 petition with the more pure and contemporary works 
 of northern Europe. 
 
 There will, however, be always much profit in the 
 careful examination of such works, because it may be, 
 perchance, that their authors stand somewhat in the 
 same position that we do now, and, conversant alike 
 with the beauties of the best pointed architecture of 
 the North and the best classic examples of Italy, 
 worked in an eclectic fashion, taking what they deemed 
 best from each, and endeavouring to unite the per- 
 fections of both. 
 
 A few words only will be sufficient to explain why 
 this kind of attempt can never be expected to be entirely 
 successful unless pursued with the greatest delicacy 
 and skill. The essential elements of the two styles 
 were their constructional features ; Greek architecture 
 was that of the lintel and impost, Gothic that of the 
 arch. Each, in the finest examples, reached what we 
 may now with safety call the very .noblest elevation 
 attainable by art ; but mark how essentially the eleva- 
 tion possible to the one was different from and hardly 
 to be compared with that attainable by the other. 
 Greek architecture was the art of men in a state of 
 nature, unskilled in science, but well skilled in lovely 
 outlines, and possessed of a most delicate appreciation 
 of form ; rude, therefore, in their contrivances and con- 
 struction, but delicate and refined in all their orna- 
 mentation, its followers wasted labour incalculable in 
 the placing together of great blocks of stone or marble 
 
ClIAV. XII 
 
 AND ClOTinc AlJCIITTFXTUinv 
 
 257 
 
 so as to brid^^e the necessary openini^s in tlioir walls, 
 and then lavished with a no1)le bounty all their art 
 in the decoration of what would otherwise have been 
 the clumsy masses of their buildings. 
 
 Gothic architecture, on the other hand, was essen- 
 tially the work of scientific men ; the most consummaic 
 skill being displayed in arranging thousands ol' small 
 blocks of stones, any one of which might be carried 
 upon a strong man's shoulders, into walls rising far in 
 height above anything ever dreamt of by the Greek, 
 bridging great openings, and providing by the exactest 
 counterpoise of various parts for the perfect security 
 of works whose airiness and life would seem to have 
 lifted them out of the region of constructive skill ; and 
 yet all these wonderl'ul works were executed in male- 
 rials as ponderous in their nature as those wliich the 
 ( I reek had handled so rudely in construction, and so 
 delicately in ornamentation. 
 
 The natural result of this excess of science was, 
 perhaps, that less delicacy and beauty of detail became 
 necessary ; for when the plain rough walls, without 
 carving and without ornament, were of necessity 
 nevertheless so beautil'ul in their intricacy of outline 
 and delicacy of structure, and when too so little (com- 
 ])aratively) plain surface remained to be looked at or 
 dwelt upon, men cared less for the choicest examj^les 
 of the sculptor's art, and were less obliged to satisfy 
 the eye with them. Much, therefore, as art gained in 
 most ways by this glorious invention of the arch, she 
 at the same time lost something which had been until 
 then possessed, and which, too, was essential in the 
 highest order of work. 
 
 This was the case speaking generally ; but, as need 
 h.irdly be said, T su])p()se, there are examples scattered 
 here and there throughout tlie North of Europe, and 
 
 s 
 
258 
 
 ITALIAN MEDIAEVAL ARCHITECTS. Chap. XTT. 
 
 particularly in France and England, which show dis- 
 tinctly enough that their artists had grasped this 
 necessity in its very fullest extent. 
 
 Italian architects stood, therefore, in the thirteenth 
 and fourteenth centuries, in a position, in many re- 
 spects, very different from that held by their northern 
 contemporaries, and the marks of this difference are 
 everywhere to be seen. They endeavoured, honestly, 
 so far as they could, to reconcile the principles of two 
 styles which we are too prone to deem irreconcilable, 
 and where they have achieved a real success let it be a 
 lesson to us that the course which they pursued is still 
 open, with larger opportunities and greater knowledge. 
 At the same time they committed faults which we ought 
 especially to beware of in any respect imitating. 
 
 They ignored, as much as possible, the clear exhibi- 
 tion of the pointed arch, and, even when they did use 
 it, not unfrequently introduced it in such a way as 
 to show their contempt for it as a feature of construc- 
 tion ; employing it often only for ornament, and never 
 hesitating to construct it in so faulty a manner, that it 
 required to be held together with iron rods from the 
 very first day of its erection. This fault they often 
 found it absolutely necessary to commit, because they 
 scarcely ever brought themselves to allow the use of 
 the buttress ; and this reluctance was a remarkable 
 proof of their classic sympathies. Classic architecture 
 was as distinctly symbolic of rest as Gothic was of 
 life ; the column and lintel of the one were as still and 
 symbolical of perfect repose, as the arch of the other, 
 sustained by the strong arm of the flying buttress, was 
 of life, vigour, and motion. Italian architects then, in 
 never resorting to the buttress, avowed their feeling 
 that a state of perfect rest was the only allowable state 
 for a perfect building, and they preferred almost always 
 
riiAP. XTi. 
 
 USE OF TFIK AUCH. 
 
 259 
 
 to use the arch for its beauty only, and avowedly not for 
 its constructional value, wliich they evidenced by tying 
 it together with iron Ijars at its base, wliich there was 
 no intention of disguising, and therefore no shaniefaced- 
 ness in the use of. From this, I believe, at least one 
 beauty arose. It is obvious that the pointed arch, 
 descending upon the capital of a shaft without any 
 \dsible stay or buttress to retain it in its j lace, wouhl 
 look weak and thin, and it was soon perceived that, 
 in order to overcome this difficulty, the only course 
 was to add to its sul)stance by cusping it on the under 
 side ; thence came the trefoiled arches so fre(iuent in 
 Italy, and always so very lovely. As so much de])ended 
 upon them, no pains were spared in reducing their out- 
 line into the very purest I'orm. To this we owe the 
 absolute perfection which characterises some of tlic 
 trefoiled arches in early Italian work, those, for ex- 
 ample (to take one instance among many), in the tombs 
 of the Scaligers, at Verona, in wliicli the mass of tlie 
 trefoil descending from the aivli conveys to tlie eye 
 the impression of a firmness whicli, in i)art, certainly 
 it gives, but wliicli woidd neverthek*ss be insullicieni 
 in reality without the connecting rod of iron below . 
 
 In northern architecture arches invai iably tell their 
 own story and do their own work avowi'dly and with- 
 out any disguise; in Italy this is the exception, not 
 the rule, and the commonest excepticm is seen in the 
 arcades dividing the aisles from the naves of churches, 
 and in the large o])en arches lonning the arcades u])()n 
 which public and private buildings so often stand, 
 though even these are sometimes (as in the second 
 stage of the Ducal Palace at N'enice) formed ol' con- 
 tinuous traceries in ])lace of arches, and de])endent lor 
 their stability, like the single arehes of tombs and 
 monuments, upon the assistance of iron ties. 
 
 s 2 
 
260 
 
 USE OF THE AECH. 
 
 Chap. XII. 
 
 Another proof of the reverence for ancient tradition 
 in art is furnished by the extent to which, throughout 
 the time of the prevalence of pointed architecture in 
 Italy, the round arch was also used. Examples of this 
 are very frequent, and of the most capricious kind. 
 At Cremona, e. g., the south transept has semicircular 
 arches throughout, and the north transept pointed 
 arches ; the date of both being, however, as nearly as 
 possible the same. At Verona, in the old house given 
 in plate 11, some of the bearing arches are pointed, 
 some round; and again, in some buildings the main 
 arches are round, and the ornamental pointed. Again, 
 one of the most common cornices in all the mediaeval 
 brickwork of Italy is a continuous arcade of round 
 arches intersecting one another, and forming at their 
 intersections pointed arches ; so again, in the Ca' 
 d'Oro, perhaps the most elaborately ornate building 
 in Venice, some of the entrance arches are, as in the 
 house at Verona, pointed and some round. It needs 
 not, however, that examples should be multiplied, for 
 almost every building exhibits some trace of this kind 
 of confusion of idea. 
 
 The Venetian love for the ogee arch (which spread 
 thence, I think, to Verona, and not from Verona to 
 Venice) has been already mentioned ; but no doubt we 
 must look to the East for the introduction of this, 
 and it is only incidentally referred to here, as prov- 
 ing, from the way in which it was perpetually used, 
 that its adopters had no peculiar love for the form of 
 the pure pointed arch, of which this is certainly a most 
 base and vitiated perversion. 
 
 Next in importance to the method in which the arch 
 is used, is, I think, the great and peculiar beauty 
 which the very common use of the bearing-shaft 
 so generally gives to Italian architecture. 
 
CnAP. XTI. 
 
 THE BEARING-SHAFT. 
 
 201 
 
 This, I cannot doubt, is a relic of the same influ- 
 ence of classic art which was so potent upon Italians 
 in their use of the arch ; and it is a feature so lovely 
 and so perfect in every respect, that one cannot but 
 deeply lament that it was not more often adopted 
 in the North. So strong was the love for the shaft, 
 that moulded columns (though they occur in the 
 cathedral of Verona and at Milan) are scarcely ever 
 met with ; simple columns are used every^vhere — in 
 the arcades, in the streets, and elsewhere — in place 
 of any other form of shaft. The proof, however, 
 of the love for it is strongest when they are seen in- 
 troduced everywhere in place of monials, supporting 
 window traceries and smaller arches. In this way they 
 are frequently used in the greatest profusion, and in- 
 variably with the greatest beauty of effect, but perha])s 
 arc never so beautiful as when placed one behind tlie 
 other (as they very commonly are), so that in eU'va- 
 tion they ap])ear delicate and fragile, but when seen in 
 perspective exhibit ample strength and substance for 
 their work. 
 
 These shafts not unfrequently decrease in size as 
 they approach the capital, and olten with very beau- 
 tiful effect, herein differing from the unvarying custom 
 of the shafts in Northern architecture, and imitating, 
 no doubt, the shape of those which, as at S. Mark's, 
 Torcello, and elsewhere, the builders were recovering 
 and reviving from their forefathers' buildings. 
 
 And, if the shafts were borrowed in some sort Irom 
 the ancients, so too was the treatment of the ca])ital, 
 which, down to the commencement of the Renais- 
 sance period, still maintained in some degree the same 
 old form, invariably carved with foliage and invariably 
 with the upper portion or al)acus ' scjuarc on plan. 
 
 ' Till' octaiional abacus docs occur, l»ul il is a very rare oxccjitiou to lln^ 
 rule. 
 
262 
 
 THE CORNICE. 
 
 Chap. XTI. 
 
 The base of course followed the abacus, and was square 
 also in its lower member. 
 
 And, last of all, we come to the cornice, the feature 
 which, above all others, must most startle men who, 
 for the first time, make acquaintance with Italian 
 work, and which most recalls in its idea the classic 
 prototype ; for, though its treatment in detail is as 
 unlike that of the ancients as it can well be, it is, 
 nevertheless, so decidedly marked and so prominent a 
 feature (crowning not only the summits of walls, but 
 even running up the gables), that it is impossible not 
 to regard it as another relic of admiration for earlier 
 work. 
 
 Cornice — S. Francesco, Brescia. 
 
 The ordinary northern parapet is never used, the 
 eaves almost always finishing with the common Italian 
 tiles projecting slightly over the deep cornice of the 
 walls. We have nothing at all parallel to these cor- 
 nices in England, and I remember luit few examples 
 
Chm'. XII. 
 
 AIM OF ITALIAN AKCUITKCTS. 
 
 of anything- of the same kind in the North of EuroiKv 
 save in tlie transept of ]jilheck Cathedral and such 
 churclies as tliose at Bamberg and in the Rhine coun- 
 try ; but these seem clearly to be derived from the 
 Lombard churches of Pavia, and the district around 
 it, and to have nothing in common with subse(iuont 
 pointed work, exce[)t that at Bamberg a later church 
 has to some extent copied the cornices of the cathedral; 
 but this is a very rare instance of departure from the 
 common rule, and therelbre of very little use as an 
 example. 
 
 Enough has now F think been said to explain the 
 justice of my opinion that Italian architecture in the 
 middle ages was in reality an attempt — perhaps an 
 unconscious one — to harmonize the time-honounMl tra- 
 ditions of the land with the more recent inventions 
 and improvements in construction which at the same 
 time were creating so vast a change lhrough(>ut 
 Christendom. Opinions, it is possible, may dilfcr as to 
 the good or bad fortune of men who worked under 
 such traditions ; and my own is diridedly that they 
 fell far short of the more clear and un])rejudiced 
 works of their competitors elsewhere; l)ut at llie same 
 time it would ])e wrong to shut one's eyes to llie Irulh 
 that in some respects they were very success! iil. 
 
 The great aim of Italian architects above all others 
 was, I believe, to ol)tain what is eonnnonlv enlled 
 breadtli of effect ; and this, when successfully accom- 
 plished, is an achievement of so great value that they 
 who succeed in it can never be artists of mean ])owers ; 
 it is, too, the very point in wliirli nortliern architects 
 were most careless to succeed, and about which they 
 apparently thought least, perhaj)s in i)art ])eeause the 
 gloomy skies so usual here allowed the dee]) recessed 
 windows, hiding their beauties between the fir project- 
 ing buttresses, which only just leave them space to sliow 
 
264 
 
 PLATE TEACERY. 
 
 Chap. XIT. 
 
 themselves, to produce more effect of light and shade 
 and more picturesqueness than plain unbroken sur- 
 faces of wall would ever afford. 
 
 But in Italy, where sunshine is brilliant and con- 
 stant, men were perhaps better able to satisfy 
 themselves with plain unbroken surfaces of wall, 
 marked here and there with some delicate line of 
 moulding or ornament, whose every outline and 
 change of shape was marked unmistakably by the 
 deep black line of shade cast upon it by the power of 
 the sun. And this same feeling went much farther 
 than to the treatment of walls : for window tracery, 
 mouldings, and all details were regulated with the same 
 view. The drawings which have been already given 
 are sufficient to show how generally the tracery com- 
 monly called plate tracery was used. It is, indeed, a 
 very beautiful mode of treatment, but entirely distinct 
 from all other tracery, inasmuch as it only calls atten- 
 tion to the piercings here and there in the large block 
 of stone or marble, and not to the intricate combina- 
 tion and ramification of lines of moulding dividing 
 and marking out the spaces to be pierced. The dif- 
 ference is great, — the one kind giving that depth 
 and mystery so characteristic of Northern Gothic ; 
 the other broad and flat in its effect, and leaving 
 space for the play and flicker of the brilliant sunshine 
 on its surface, save where the black piercing of some 
 simple form — quatrefoil or trefoil — gives life to the 
 otherwise monotonous window-head; the latter perhaps, 
 when in perfection, the most perfect, but the former 
 admitting of infinitely more variety and display of 
 fancy and individuality ; both of them beautiful, and 
 both therefore to be used when possible by all men in 
 all ages. 
 
 In the treatment of mouldings the same thing is 
 particularly observable. I think an Italian of the 
 
C'lIAP. XI [. 
 
 M( >ULDIXr,S— ( 'A n VIXO. 
 
 265 
 
 fourteenth century would liave shuddered could he 
 have seen the dark recesses of the mouldin<^s in which 
 his noi*thern contemporaries so much delii^hted. He 
 rarely, if ever, indulged in a deep hollow, but rather 
 rejoiced in the hard sharp outline of square-edged 
 stones or bricks, relieved only by the interposition of 
 simple round members^ — mouldings which, when drawn 
 on paper, look hard and crude, but which in reality 
 aid in producing that breadth of general effect to 
 which he deemed that everything must be made 
 subservient. 
 
 Nor was the carving allowed to interfere with this 
 general idea, for, when it is introduced elsewhere than 
 in the capitals oi' the columns, it is always very flat and 
 delicate, with little if any relief, severe and strict in 
 its outline, and firm and true in its direct imitation of 
 nature. This however is seen only in the very best 
 examples, and even then I am Ijound to say hardly 
 ever so nobly as in the best Lombard work ; for I 
 have seen nowhere in Italy capitals so noble as those 
 in S. Mark's and elsewhere of the earliest kind, or as 
 the Hat carving round tlie arclies in San Zcnonc at 
 Verona, figured in phite 13, wliicli is of a kind met 
 with elsewhere in work of the same period. 
 
 Now this same feeling, which produced a certain 
 breadth and dignity in the elevation of their l)uil(lings, 
 is no less distinctly visible in their interiors and in their 
 planning and arrangement. Just as in the elevation of 
 Northern churches tliere is a great intricacy and inter- 
 minableness — always cliaracteristic, I believe, of tlie 
 best pointed work — so in tlieir planning the same 
 thing is visible : the spaces between arches are small, 
 and the piers and arches, infinitely reproduced and 
 repeated, give an air of confusion and intricacy, cliarm- 
 ing in the highest degree, and heiglitened in some oi' 
 the great continental cluirelies by the ei'eelivm of addi- 
 
266 
 
 PLANNING. 
 
 Chap. XII. 
 
 tional aisles on either side, and by the triple arrange- 
 ment in height of arcade, triforimn, and clerestory, 
 all differing in design and all excessively elaborated. 
 In Italian churches it will be found that the arrange- 
 ment of the ground-plan was much simpler, the spaces 
 between the main shafts being very considerably 
 spread out, so as to be nearly as wide as the nave, 
 and the groining bays in the aisles expanding conse- 
 quently into oblong compartments nearly twice as long 
 from east to west as they are from north to south, 
 instead of forming nearly exact squares, as they almost 
 invariably do with us. The first consequence of this 
 absence of subdivision is a certain air of openness and 
 clearness which is far from being equal in beauty to 
 the arrangements with which we are familiar ; and this 
 is much increased by the simplicity of the bearing- 
 shafts, the plainness of the arches, and the almost 
 complete absence of any openings at all in the space 
 between the arches and the groining — triforia and 
 clerestories, developed as in England, France, and 
 Germany, being, I believe, absolutely u.nknown in 
 Italy. 
 
 How this plainness and severity was corrected we 
 have already seen in the interior of Sta. Anastasia at 
 Verona, a church which, simple and unadorned in its 
 construction almost beyond any large church with 
 which I am acquainted, becomes, by the beauty of its 
 decorations, remarkable as more than usually ornate 
 and magnificent. 
 
 The universal simplicity of the groining in Italian 
 churches has been already referred to, and need only 
 be mentioned again here, because it illustrates in a 
 very remarkable manner the love of simplicity upon 
 which I have been enlarging ; no one feature gains 
 so much by it as this, and I can well fancy the horror 
 
('HA I'. XII. 
 
 (iUolXING. 
 
 wliicli an Italian, or indeed any other arcliitect, of 
 tlie thirteenth century, would have felt, could he have 
 seen the extent to which it was forgotten or destroyed, 
 and all good effect annihilated, in such works as 
 Henry VIF.'s and King's College Chapels. 
 
 The painting of this simple groining at Verona, at 
 Lodi, and at Assisi, proves how it ought alwa3's to he 
 treated, and happily we have an example of the same 
 kind still left to us in England, in the chapel on 
 the north side of the Lady Chapel of Winchester 
 Cathedral. 
 
 It is for us, therefore, to consider how fiir we are 
 right in looking only to our own ancestors in the 
 practice of architecture, emulating their love of (piaint 
 picturesqueness, and their ordinary contempt — as we 
 may almost call it — for perfect simplicity or reposi*, 
 and whether it would not he far hetter to attempt, in 
 some degree at any rate, and as far as the diflereiice of 
 climate will allow, to inluse into our works some ol' 
 that kind of I'eeling which is so distinct and d( liiiite 
 in almost all Italian pointed work. 
 
 My own feeling is very strong that we may learn 
 much and improve ourselves nnuli in this way ; nor 
 is this feeling the result only of what I saw with my 
 own eyes in Italy, for so long ago as 1^52 1 ventured, 
 in a paper printed in the ' Ecclesiologist,' to point out 
 what seemed then to me to he the natural and 
 ])roper mode of attempting any improvement u])on, or 
 development from, our present })osition in regard to 
 architecture ; and now that I have been able to examine 
 this old work in Italy, I am the more convinced that the 
 theory which I then suggested contains at any rate a 
 germ of the truth, if not more. My view was, that, as 
 classic and pointed architecture had ])roceeded on two 
 entirely ditterent ])rinciples, neither of thcin in aii\ 
 
268 
 
 VALUE OF THE TWO STYLES. Chap. XIL 
 
 way identical, but each in some respect true, so we 
 were well entitled, if we chose, to gather from each 
 that which was best in principle, and in our work 
 to combine them, — not in the production of a hybrid 
 and mixed style of architecture, but only in the de- 
 velopment of our application of those true principles 
 of construction, of which the architects of the pointed 
 style were the first to acknowledge the necessity, and 
 the first to introduce. 
 
 While, for instance, nothing on earth would ever 
 convince me that we ought ever to give up the use of 
 the pointed arch — unless, indeed, some better prin- 
 ciple of construction could be invented, which I be- 
 lieve to be impossible — I nevertheless feel that we are 
 quite wrong in neglecting that kind of simplicity and 
 calm repose which classic architects so often succeeded 
 in obtaining, and in accepting without protest so much 
 that is inferior and contemptible in sculpture and 
 decoration, instead of attem|)ting, as their rule was, to 
 have not much, but that of the best kind and most 
 perfect type. 
 
 It is in this respect that Italian pointed architec- 
 ture is of so much value, as showing — sometimes, it is 
 true, in too decided a manner — how this combination 
 of much of the distinctive character of classic and 
 Gothic architecture may be united and harmonised. 
 
 I fear I have said enough on this subject to weary 
 those who have so far borne with me, but there are 
 two other subjects for our consideration, upon which 
 I must still say somewhat before I conclude ; these are, 
 first, the use of brick, and, secondly, the introduction 
 of colour in construction, upon both of which points 
 Italian buildings are full of information, as they are of 
 examples. 
 
 First, then, of Italian brickwork. It has been so 
 
ClIAP. XII. 
 
 ITALIAN BKICKWOKK. 
 
 269 
 
 much tlie fashion of late years to look upon brick as a 
 vile material, fit only to be covered with compo, and 
 never fit to be used in church-building, or indeed 
 in any buildings of architectural pretension, that I 
 suspect many people, trusting to their knowledge 
 of pointed architecture in England, would be much 
 surprised to find that, throughout large tracts of 
 the Continent, brick w^as the natural, and indeed the 
 ])opular material, during the most palmy days of archi- 
 tecture in the middle ages. Yet so it was that in 
 Holland, in Northern Germany, and in Northern 
 Italy, stone w^as either scarce or not to be obtained, 
 and brick was therefore everywhere and most fear- 
 lessly used. 
 
 Both in Germany and in Italy it was used without 
 any concealment, but each country developed its prac- 
 tice in this matter for itself, and there is therefore 
 very much diversity in their practice. Both are unlike 
 and far superior to what remains to us of ancient 
 brickwork in England, for I need hardly say, tliat, 
 with a rare exception here and there, as, 6\ y., Holy 
 Trinity Church at Hull, brick was not used in England 
 between the time of the Romans and the fifteentli 
 century, and, when used afterwards, was seldom re- 
 markable either for beauty or originality of treatment. 
 In this matter, therefore, we are obliged to go to the 
 Continent Ibr information. 
 
 Italian brickwork is remarkable as being invariably 
 composed of nothing ljut red brick, with occasional 
 but rare use of stonework ; the bricks lor the ordinary 
 walling are generally rather larger tluin ours, in no 
 way superior in their quality, and not unfrequently 
 built coarsely with a wide joint of mortar. Those 
 used for windows, doorways, and generally where 
 they were required to attract attention and to be 
 
270 
 
 ITALIAN BKICKWORK. 
 
 Chap. XIT. 
 
 ornamental, were made of much finer clay and moulded 
 with the greatest care and skill. The transepts and 
 
 string-course — Palace of Jurist-Consults, Cremona. 
 
 campanile of Cremona Cathedral are instances of red 
 brick used without any intermixture of stone save in 
 the shafts of the windows, and their effect is certainly 
 very grand. The mouldings are elaborate, and the 
 way in which cusping is formed singularly successful. 
 This, it must he observed, was not usually done by 
 means of bricks moulded in the form of a cusp, but 
 with ordinary bricks, built with the same radiating 
 lines as those of the arch to which they belonged, and 
 cut and rubbed to the necessary outline. Sometimes, 
 as, e. g.^ in the windows at Mantua/ which are some 
 of the very best I have ever seen, the points of the 
 cusps and key-stones of the arches are formed in pieces 
 of stone, the alternation of which with the deep-red 
 hue of the bricks produces the most satisfactory effect 
 of colour, and is common at Brescia, Yerona, Mantua, 
 and Venice, but unknown at Cremona. 
 
 In all cases where brick is used for tracery, it 
 is invariably plate tracery. The tympanum of the 
 arch is filled in with a mass of brickwork, through 
 which are pierced the arches over the several lights 
 of the window, and these are supported on marble or 
 
 ' See ])late 23, p. 184. 
 
OlIAP. XII. 
 
 ITALIAN BUICKWolJK. 
 
 '211 
 
 stone sliafts witli carved capitals, instead ot monials ;' 
 and above these sometimes, as in the windows of 
 S. Andrea, Mantua, are three cusped circles ; some- 
 times, as in the palace at Mantua, only one cusped 
 
 \Viii<l<»« ill imrlli lraiis< pt, Ciemoim Calli< «ln»l. 
 
 IV tail of w iiulnw-jiiiiil) — i niiuiiiiL 
 
 circle; or else, as in a beautiful examph* at Cremona, 
 the plain brick tympanum is relieved l)y the intro- 
 duction of a panel of terra-cotta, bearing the cross on 
 
 ' Tlu' windows in the Castle of S. Aiii^clo, iK-twccn l.odi ainl Tavia, an- 
 the only examples I met with of the use of hrick for monials. In mu tlu rn 
 Germany, on the contrary, where the shaft was almost nnknown, hrirk 
 monials are universal, and ;Lienerall>- unsal isfaetory in tlieir rffcel. 
 
272 
 
 ITALIAN BRICKWOEK. 
 
 Chap. XTT. 
 
 a shield, whilst round its outer circumference delicately 
 treated though large cusping defines the outline of the 
 arch. 
 
 The windows at Coccaglio^ and at Monza^ are ex- 
 amples of tympana left 
 quite plain, or, as in 
 the former case, pierced 
 only with a small open- 
 ing of a few inches in 
 diameter, which never- 
 theless gives much 
 effect to the design. 
 In the latter case there 
 is a feature which is 
 well worth notice, he- 
 cause it is remarkahle 
 in the best Italian 
 brickwork, and always 
 very effective. Labels 
 are exceedingly rare, but their place is supplied by 
 a course of very narrow deep red bricks which sur- 
 round the back of the arch. 
 In a window in Monza Ca- 
 thedraP there are two such 
 courses, one about 4i inches 
 wide, the other not more 
 than 2i. They serve to 
 define the arch and keep it 
 distinct in effect from the 
 waUing around it. Some- 
 times, as in the Yescovato 
 at Mantua, these narrow 
 bricks are introduced between 
 a succession of rims of brick- 
 
 Brick arcliivolt, Vcscovato — Mantua. 
 
 Arch-mould — Cremona. 
 
 See p. 02. 
 
 See p. 227. 
 
 See p. 227. 
 
Cirvp. XTI. 
 
 ITALIAN' BIUCKWOKK. 
 
 278 
 
 work on the same face, and a^^^ain, as in some beautifnl 
 arcading outside S. Fermo Mag<^iore at Verona/ to 
 define and enliven the lines of stone-work, for in this 
 case, though the work is all in stone and no brick was 
 really required, so great was the appreciation of colour, 
 that it was gladly and most successfully introduced. 
 In the early cloister of S. Zenone we have it again," 
 as also in all the very beautiful arches which still 
 remain in the Broletto of Brescia.^ 
 
 Hut beside this there was another way in whicli 
 Italian architects produced a very beautiful effect : this 
 was in the alternation of stone and brick. We base 
 the first exam])le of this in the magnificent walls ol 
 8. Zenone at Verona, in which a deep red Ijrick is used 
 in courses alternating with a very warm-coloured stone. 
 The brick is used very irregularly ; beginning at the 
 base of the walls over the cloisters, we have three 
 courses of brick, and then one of stone, one course 
 brick, one of stone, four courses, stone, five courses, 
 stone, two courses, stone, one course, stone, and then . 
 the cornice, which is mainly of stone, but relieved by 
 two courses of the narrow brick ; the courses of stone 
 in this case are nearly uniform in depth In the west 
 I'ront of S. Fermo Maggiore ' we have brick and stoni' 
 used in alternate and regular courses all the way \\\) ; 
 in this case the brick is used rather for colour than for 
 any other reason, though, as will be seen, the side 
 walls of this church are entirely of brick and crowned 
 with excessively deep brick cornices. 
 
 The interior of S. Zenone, Verona, is lined with 
 brick and stone, arranged just as it is outside, and tlu^ 
 effect is most satisfactory ; indeed, this and the interior 
 of the Baptistery at Cremona, still lelt in their original 
 
 ' See i)lato 15, p. 104. " See i)late I'J, p. !IS. 
 
 Si'o plate 7, p. G8. * See plate 14, p. 108. 
 
 T 
 
274 
 
 ITALIAN BRICKWORK. 
 
 Chap. Xri. 
 
 state, show satisfactorily how noble an effect of colour 
 may be given by brick internally, and how mistaken 
 we are when we cover our walls with plaster. 
 
 The east end of the church of the Frari at Venice 
 is another example of coursing with stone. ^ There, 
 however, the courses are far apart, and seem to be in- 
 tended to define the lines of the springing of arches, of 
 transomes, and the like ; and this they do very satisfac- 
 torily. But, perhaps, the very best example of mixed 
 stone and brick is that which we have in the window- 
 heads of the church by the side of the Duomo at 
 Verona,'^ in which the arrangement of the two colours 
 is quite perfect. In this case the cusped head of the 
 light is executed in stone, not in brick ; and this is, I 
 
 think, as a general rule, by far 
 the better plan ; for if an at- 
 tempt is made to execute 
 tracery in brick, we have the 
 example of the Germans be- 
 fore our eyes as a warning. 
 They rarely (S. Katharine, 
 Liibeck, is almost a solitary 
 exception) used stone in their 
 window tracery, and, as they 
 never developed the kind of 
 brick plate tracery which is 
 so characteristic of the best 
 Italian work, they built win- 
 dows which were either bald 
 and ugly in their simplicity, 
 or else, endeavouring by the use of bricks, moulded 
 into the forms of component parts of tracery, to exe- 
 cute elaborate traceries, they produced what are even 
 more distasteful than any other kind of window ; in 
 
 ' See plate 17, p. 134. See plate 15, p. 104. 
 
 Verona. 
 
ClIAl'. XII. 
 
 ITALIAN BRICKWoHK. 
 
 275 
 
 part because thej consist of an endless repetition of 
 small reticulations, and in part because they lead 
 naturally to the constant re- 
 ])roduction of the same win- 
 dow for economy's sake. 
 
 AVe need have no doubt, 
 therefore, that the best win- 
 dows for brick churches are 
 either those beautiful Italian 
 developments of plate tracery 
 in which all the bricks are 
 carefully cut and rubbed for 
 their proper place, or those in 
 which, within an enclosing arch of line upon line of 
 brickwork, a small portion of stone is used lor the 
 traceries. And this last has the advantage of giving 
 much more opportunity for variety of form and beauty 
 of effect than any brick traceries can ever give. 
 
 There is one point in which a curious practical dif- 
 ference exists between our old work and most old 
 Italian. Here it was not the custom to have key- 
 st(mes to pointed arches, whilst there it is quite the 
 rule to have them ; this may have been partly, per- 
 haps, because it was a matter of convenience to nuirk 
 the central stone in arches composed of alternate 
 voussoirs of brick and stone, and partly some relic ol' 
 classic traditions ; not only, however, is there a key- 
 stone, but sometimes, as in tlu* Hroletto at Brescia, 
 this is additionally distinguished, above the rest of 
 the stone voussoirs, by some small ornament carved 
 upon it. With one more fact I think I may end 
 what T have to sa}^ on this head ; this is with refer- 
 ence to the mode in which some of the Italian 
 brick arches very beautifully follow the fiishion, not 
 so uncommon in stone, of increasing in de])th as they 
 
 T 2 
 
270 
 
 ITALIAN BEICKWORK. 
 
 Chai'. xn. 
 
 approach the centre. In this manner, one sometimes 
 sees an arch whose outer circumference is pointed 
 whilst its inner line is a semicircle ! This was a 
 fashion most popular in Florence, and not so common 
 in northern Italy ; still it is to be seen at Monza, 
 Verona, and elsewhere. The effect is always very 
 good, and, though quite unknown to our forefathers 
 in England, may well be introduced in our works, 
 as it gives great appearance of strength, and is, no 
 doubt, at the same time, the strongest possible form 
 of arch. 
 
 So far I have generally had to speak almost with 
 unqualified praise of Italian brickwork. There is, 
 however, one sin almost always pervading it which 
 I ought not to forget to notice. It will have been 
 seen from the drawings I have given how singularly 
 deep, and generally alike, the brick cornices are 
 which crown the walls of all brick churches; these 
 are not only used in their proper sphere, but carried 
 up all the gables, breaking round buttresses, and 
 doing about as much as they well can towards the 
 destruction of the effect of all the fronts which they 
 surmount. I know only one example of this kind in 
 the North, and this, as I have already said, is in the 
 north transept of the cathedral at Liibeck, and is so 
 Italian in its look, that one cannot help suspecting its 
 origin. Not the least, perhaps, of the sins of these 
 cornices is, that in nine cases out of ten, when they 
 are used in gables, the gambles are sham fronts ; sham 
 fronts seeming, bothr in Italy and Grermany, to have 
 been most popular wherever brick was most used. 
 
 I trust that enough has now been said to show 
 how useful the study of Italian brickwork must be 
 to those who are compelled, as we so often are, to 
 use the same material in buildings for whose good 
 
CllAP. XII. 
 
 COLOUR IN CONSTRUCTION. 
 
 277 
 
 architectural eflect and character we are anxious. Hut, 
 far as it is in advance of any other ancient brick- 
 work, there are points in which we must refuse to 
 follow it ; we need not, for instance, in attemptinj^ to 
 rival its beauties, confound them with faults which 
 were essentially those of the whole Italian style, and 
 not specially of the brickwork. We may with the 
 *,^reatest advantage emulate the Italian system of brick 
 window tracery, whilst we take care never to imitate 
 the equally common custom in Italy of erecting sham 
 fronts in order to display our traceries. Again, though 
 they never used any but red bricks, there is no reason 
 why we should not enliven our work with the contrast 
 of other colours ; Germany gives us examples of green 
 and black bricks, and, indeed, Italy affords one 
 (S. Antonio, in Padua) of a yellowish brick ; and, no 
 doubt, the effects producible by these contrasts ol' 
 colour are just such as Italian architects would have 
 been the very first to avail themselves of, had tbcy 
 had the o])portunitv. This their particoloured works 
 in marble sufficiently prove. 
 
 As to the question whether it be desirable or iiol 
 to introduce brick at all in ecclesiastical I'diliccs, 
 or generally in public buildings, one might, a lew 
 years ago, have been anxious to say somewhat. I 
 trust, however, that the ignorant prejudice whicli 
 made many good ])e()])le regard stone as a sort dl" 
 sacred nuiterial, and red brick as one lit only for tlu' 
 commonest and meanest purposes, is fast wearing out, 
 and that what now mainly remains to be done is to 
 show how it may most effectively be used, not only in 
 external, but also in internal works. 
 
 One word only as to its colour, lor I think that we 
 ought, as much as possible, to insist u|)on this being 
 taken into consideration. We do not, as a general 
 
278 
 
 COLOUR IN CONSTRUCTION. 
 
 Chap. XIT. 
 
 rule, I suppose, adopt any material in good works of 
 architecture simply because it is the very cheapest that 
 can be obtained ; sometimes, indeed, we must, and 
 then I should be the last to contend against what is 
 simply an act of necessity, not of choice ; but ordi- 
 narily, before, for economy's sake, we determine to 
 sacrifice the colour of our work, and to use those 
 detestable -looking dirty yellow bricks in which Lon- 
 don so much rejoices, we ought to consider whether, 
 by some economy in other respects, we may not save 
 enough to allow of the use of the best kind of red 
 brick for the general face of our walls. 
 
 At the present day there is, I think, absolutely no 
 one point in which we fail so much, and about which 
 the world in general has so little feeling, as that of 
 colour. Our buildings are, in nine cases out of ten, 
 cold, colourless, insipid, academical studies, and our 
 people have no conception of the necessity of obtaining 
 rich colour, and no sufficient love for it when success- 
 fully obtained. The task, therefore, and duty of 
 architects at the present day is mainly that of 
 awakening and then satisfying this feeling ; and one 
 of the best and most ready vehicles for doing this 
 exists, no doubt, in the rich-coloured brick so easily 
 manufactured in this country, which, if properly used, 
 may become so effective and admirable a material. 
 
 The other mode of introducing colour in construction, 
 by means of the use of marbles, deserves also some 
 notice. In my notes upon the buildings as they were 
 passed on my journey, I have described two modes in 
 which this kind of work was treated ; the first was that 
 practised in Venice, the veneering of brick walls with 
 thin layers or coats of marble ; the other, that practised 
 at Bergamo, Cremona, and Como, in which the marble 
 formed portion of the substance of the wall. 
 
ClIAP. XI 1. 
 
 COLOUR IN CONSTllUCTION. 
 
 These two modes led, as would naturally be expected, 
 to two entirely different styles and modes of architec- 
 ture. 
 
 The Venetian mode was probably rather likely to 
 be destructive of good architecture, because it was 
 sure to end in an entire concealment of the real con- 
 struction of the work ; the other mode, on the contrary, 
 proceeded on true principles, and took pleasure in 
 defining most carefully every line in the construction 
 of the work. It might almost be said that one mode 
 was devised with a view to tJie concealment, and the 
 other with a view to the explanation, of the real mode 
 of construction. 
 
 I have already described, at some lengtli, the main 
 features of these old works in marljle, and I feel, 
 therefore, that all that need now be done is to ])oint 
 out the degree to which they afford matter ior our 
 imitation with the coloured materials and marbles 
 which we fortunately have in Great Britain til ior the 
 purpose, though not in very great variety. 
 
 There certainly appears to me to be a certain extent 
 to which we may safely go in the way of inlaying or 
 incrustation : we may, for instance, so construct our 
 buildings as that there may be portions oi' the face of 
 their walls in which no strain will be felt, and in 
 which this absence of strain will be at once aj)])arent ; 
 obviously, to instance a particular place, the spaces 
 enclosed withm circles constructed in the spandrels of 
 a line of arches can have no strain of any kind. They 
 are portions of wall without any active function, and 
 may safely be filled in with materials the only object 
 of which is to be ornamental. All kinds of sunk 
 panels enclosed within arches or tracery would come 
 under the same head, so also the spaces between 
 string-courses might very fre([uently, if, as in old 
 
280 
 
 COLOUK IN CONSTRUCTION. 
 
 Chap. XII. 
 
 examples, the string-courses were large slabs of stone 
 bedded into the very midst of the wall, and so capable 
 of protecting the thin, weak slabs of marbles encrusted 
 between them. 
 
 In Venice we have some grand examples, at S.Mark's, 
 of this system of incrustation filling in the whole of 
 the space within large arches : here it is lawful, be- 
 cause there is no weight upon it to thrust it out of 
 its place or disjoint it, as the least pressure most cer- 
 tainly always will. So far in praise of the Venetian 
 system. But in other parts of the same building we 
 have this system carried to a length which I cannot 
 but think most mistaken, and which, I most heartily 
 trust, may never find imitators here. In these they 
 constructed their arches in brick, and then entirely 
 covered them with marble. Of course there was some 
 difficulty in doing this, and the way in which the 
 difficulty was met was sufficiently ingenious : a suc- 
 cession of thin slabs of marble were placed round the 
 soffit of the arch, having perhaps enough of the cohe- 
 sion given by the form of the arch to enable them to 
 support their own weight, and further supported by 
 metal staples let into the joints of the brickwork. 
 The edges of these thin slabs projected sufficiently 
 in advance of the face of the brickwork to allow of 
 their being worked with some kind of pattern — gene- 
 rally, as has before been said, a sort of dentil — and 
 giving some support to the thin slices of marble with 
 which the walls were then covered. The whole system 
 was excessively weak ; and this can nowhere be better 
 seen than in the Fondaco de Turchi, where almost 
 the whole of the marble facing and beautiful medal- 
 lions, in which it was once so rich, have peeled off, 
 and left nothing but the plain and melancholy sub- 
 stratum of brick. Few architects, I should think, 
 
Chap. Xll. 
 
 COLOUR IN CONSTRUCTION. 
 
 281 
 
 would like to contemplate their work perishing in this 
 piecemeal manner, nor any more would they enjoy the 
 thought of a west front left, like that of Sta. Anatasia 
 at Verona, unfinished and prepared only for marble 
 with rough, irregular, and unsightly brickwork. 
 
 It would be unjust not to say that often, very often, 
 this system of incrustation, even when carried to the 
 extreme limits of what seems to be lawful, wins upon 
 our love by the exquisite delicacy and taste of the 
 sculptured patterns, worked in low-relief, with which 
 it is covered. The men who did this work were, 
 perhaps, more of sculptors than of architects, and cer- 
 tainly it must be confessed that never in buildings in 
 which the construction is mainly thought of, so far as 
 I know, is so much elaborate thought and skill ex- 
 liibited in the decorative part of the work as in build- 
 ings such as these. 
 
 Sometimes, too, the sculptured medallions set in 
 the centre of a plain surface of marble are of exquisite 
 taste and beauty ; whilst here and there, as e. (/. in 
 S. Mark's and in one or two spots in the water-front 
 of the Ducal Palace, are examples of great beauty, 
 of medallions formed of nKirl)les of various colours, 
 arranged with great refinement in some kind of 
 geometrical pattern, which show another and ecpially 
 beautiful mode of relieving plain spaces of walling. 
 
 The surfaces of the walls in \'enetian work were 
 either entirely inlaid, or else inlaid within a scpiare 
 enclosing border of projecting moulding. The inlay- 
 ing was composed of a number of rectangidar slabs 
 of marble, not by any means always of the same 
 size, supported to some extent by the projections of 
 the enclosing marbles or by those of the archivolt, but 
 always de]iendent mainly on metal cramps let into the 
 fabric of the wall ; and, when possible, these iiiarbk's 
 
282 
 
 COLOUR IN CONSTRUCTION^ 
 
 Chap. XII. 
 
 were slabs cut out of the same block, and put side 
 by side, so as to produce a kind of regular pattern 
 wherever the veining of the marble was at all positively 
 marked. 
 
 The other mode of introducing constructional colour 
 in marble commends itself to one's reason as that 
 which is most likely to endure for ages, and as that, 
 therefore, which ought, wherever it may be, to be 
 adopted. The first idea of the architects of these build- 
 ings seems to have been to arrange their material with 
 as much regard to strong contrasts of colour as was 
 possible. The first thing they did, therefore, was to 
 alternate the colours of every course of masonry, either 
 simply as in the Broletto at Como^ and in Sta. Maria 
 Maggiore at Bergamo,^ or as in the west front of the 
 cathedral at Cremona, where very narrow layers of 
 white marble are laid between each of the other courses, 
 which are of course so much the more defined. 
 
 The description which I have already given of 
 these works, as well as of the porch at Bergamo, will 
 show how regular is the way in which this system of 
 counterchanging the colours was carried out by the 
 purely constructional school ; this is, in fact, the 
 great mark of difierence between the constructional 
 and the encrusting school of Italian architects, the 
 whole arrangement of coloured materials by the two 
 schools being quite difierent, and producing singularly 
 different results. The most common faults of the 
 Venetian system of incrustation must have been that 
 upon a general surface of plain wall you had here and 
 there a square patch of marble surrounding a window 
 opening ; that of the other system would be, in the 
 opinion of many, that you have too stripy an effect of 
 
 ' See plate 34, p. 232. See plate 1, frontispiece. 
 
Chap. Xll. 
 
 COLOUR IN CONSTRUCTION. 
 
 colour, and tluit all the divisions, moreover, are hori- 
 zontal. 
 
 The former must certainly have been the case 
 wherever the incrustation did not extend over the 
 whole surface of the walls ; and this was very frequent : 
 but the latter is not really a fault ; it was only 
 an elaboration in a more beautiful raateriid of the 
 same system which we have seen pursued with such 
 happy results by the builders of Verona in brick and 
 stone, ^ and which we find adopted by the architects 
 of Northern Germany in the frequent alternation of 
 courses of red and black brick, and sometimes by our 
 own forefathers in the coursing of Hint-work with 
 stone, or in the counter-charging of red and white 
 stones which we see in some of the Northamj)tonsliire 
 churches. The system was a thoroughly sound one, 
 because it not only proceeded from and depended on 
 the natural arrangement of the material, but ailbrded 
 the best possible means for displaying the various 
 colours which were to be used. 
 
 Probably all these systems are mainly useful now 
 as showing us certain principles which we may work 
 out and apply to our own somewhat dillerent circum- 
 stances ; and surely one of our first objects ought to 
 be the discovery of the extent of our means and 
 opportunities, which in this matter are at the present 
 day far beyond what is generally imagined. 
 
 It must never be I'orgotten by us that our fore- 
 fathers had very limited means of obtaining materials 
 from one locality and transporting them to anotlier ; 
 and were moreover, to a great extent, unacquainted 
 with the materials which might, if necessaiy, be ob- 
 
 ' Some of tho nioiliirval l>uil(liims in (iiinri' have miuiII |>attcni.'< i ;u\ i «1 
 in low relief all V(»nn(l tlic walls in necasinnal i-onrscs, wliicli isevitlently 
 intcnilfd to iirodncc the kiml of elUrt rclerred to al)ove. 
 
284 
 
 COLOUR IN CONSTRUCTION. 
 
 Chap. XII. 
 
 tained. We have not this excuse : we not only know 
 what materials we may obtain, but we have at the 
 same time marvellous facilities for their conveyance 
 between all parts of the country ; and we know also 
 how much has been done of old in other countries by 
 using them in a proper way. 
 
 No excuse therefore can be found for us if we con- 
 tinue to neglect to avail ourselves of them, as though 
 they were still undiscovered. We have alabaster, 
 which may be wrought at a really trifling expense ; 
 large fields of marbles, of which those of Devonshire 
 and Ireland are particularly valuable for architectural 
 decoration, and those of Derbyshire and Purbeck for 
 the formation of shafts and columns ; we have, more- 
 over, an exhaustless supply of granites of various 
 colours ; of magnificent serpentine ; and, lastly, of 
 building-stones of various colours, very effective when 
 contrasted. In addition to these natural materials 
 we have every facility for making the most perfect 
 bricks ; and, owing to the excellence already achieved 
 by our manufacturers of pottery,^ we have no dif- 
 ficulty in making tiles, either for roofing or in- 
 laying, of any degree of beauty either of colour or 
 form. 
 
 With such advantages we ought long since to have 
 effected far more than we have ever attempted, or appa- 
 rently ever thought of. Our buildings should, both 
 outside and inside, have had some of that warmth 
 which colour only can give ; they should have en- 
 abled the educated eye to revel in bright tints of 
 Nature's own formation, whilst to the uneducated 
 eye they would have afforded the best of all possible 
 lessons, and by familiarizing it with, would have en- 
 
 ' I ouglit almost to have said manufacturer, for I know no one to whom 
 wc owe a titlie of what we owe to Mr. Minton for his admirable works in 
 pottery. 
 
Chap. XII. 
 
 COLOUl? IN CONSTRUCTTOX. 
 
 285 
 
 abled it to appreciate, the proper combination of 
 colour and form. 
 
 Besides this, if ever the day shall come when our 
 buildino^s thus do their duty and teach their proper 
 lesson to the eye, we may hope that we shall see a 
 feelin^^^, more general and more natural, for colour of 
 all kinds and for art of every variety in the bulk 
 of our people. At present it is really saddenin^^ to 
 converse with the majority of educated men on any 
 question of colour ; for them it has no charms and 
 no deli^^ht. The puritanical uniformity of our coats, 
 indeed of all our garments, is but a reflection from 
 the prevailing lack of love of art or colour of any 
 kind. A rich colour is thought vulgar, and that 
 only is refined which is neutral, plain, and ugly. 
 
 Perhaps in all this there may be something more 
 than art can ever grapple with ; it may be ingrain 
 and part of the necessity of the present age; but, il 
 so, Oh ! for the days when, as of yore, colour may 
 be appreciated and beloved, when uniformity shall 
 not be considered beauty, nor an ugly plainness be 
 considered a fit substitute for severity ! Oh ! too, Ibr 
 the days when men shall have cast off their shame- 
 faced dependence* on other men's works and the art 
 of other ages, and, like true men and faithful, shall 
 honestly and with energy, each in his own sphere, 
 set to work to do all that in him lies to increase the 
 power of art and to advance its best interests. All 
 these aims and objects are more or less bound u]) with 
 the best interests of a people, however old and however 
 powerful, because they depend for ultimate and real 
 success upon the thorough belief, on the part of all its 
 votaries, in certain great and eternal prinei])les, whieh, 
 if always acted upon, would beyond all doubt some- 
 times make great artists and always good men. 
 
28G 
 
 PRINCIPLE OF TRUTH. 
 
 Chap. XIT. 
 
 The principle which artists now have mainly to 
 contend for is that of Truth ; forgotten, trodden under 
 foot, despised, and hated for ages : this must be their 
 watchword. If they be architects, let them remember 
 how vitally necessary it is to any permanent success in 
 even the smallest of their works ; or sculptors, let them 
 recollect how vain and unsatisfactory has been their 
 abandonment of truth in their attempted revival 
 among us of what in classic times were — what they 
 no longer are — real representations and natural works 
 of art; if painters, let them remember how all-im- 
 portant a return to first principles and truth in the 
 delineation of nature and natural forms is to them, ii 
 they are ever to create a school of art by which they 
 may be remembered in another age. 
 
 Finally, I wish that all artists would remember 
 the one great fact which separates by so wide a gap 
 the architects, sculptors, and painters of the best days 
 of the middle ages from us now — their earnestness 
 and their thorough self-sacrifice in the pursuit of art, 
 and in the exaltation of their religion. They were 
 men who had a faith, and hearts earnestly bent on the 
 propagation of that faith ; and were it not for this 
 their works would never have had the life, vigour, and 
 freshness which even now they so remarkably retain. 
 Why should we not three centuries hence be equally 
 remembered ? Have we less to contend for, less faith to 
 exercise, or less self-sacrifice to offer than they, because 
 we live in later days ? Or is it true that the temper 
 of men is so much changed, and that the vocation 
 of art has changed with it? Is it true that the 
 painter must content himself to paint portraits of the 
 rich and noble, and now and then of their dogs and 
 their steeds? — the sculptor to carve busts of his 
 patrons? — and the architect to build palaces wherein 
 
Chap. XII. 
 
 IMUNCirr.E OF 'I KUTII. 
 
 287 
 
 they may indulge in every extreme of unnecessary 
 luxury? Is all this really so, or is it not rather 
 true that the vocation of artists of every kind is, as it 
 always was, to lead and not to follow the stream, 
 to show by their lives and their works that there may 
 still be something of the sublime and the noble about 
 man's works even in the midst of effeminate luxury, 
 and that art, even after the deadliest and longest sleep, 
 can once more buckle on her armour, and, full of the 
 generous spirit of the men of old, breast all difficulties 
 and surmount all opposition with the one tliuught and 
 one object of doing all that she does in faith, with a 
 strong heart and earnest purpose, truth always before 
 her eyes, and manifest in all she does ? 
 
 It is truth only, in every line and every detail, 
 which can ever make great architecture, — truth only 
 which one would wish to extract from the works of 
 our forefathers, — and truth only which I have desired 
 to discover in the works of those Italian artists whose 
 labours I have been considering, and whose efforts I 
 have endeavoured to set before my readers ; and it is 
 this desire to elucidate the truth from these works of 
 theirs, and to apply it for the ])enetit of art, whieli can 
 alone be my excuse for having undertaken the w(>rk 
 which r have now brought to a conclusi(>n. 
 
 THK END. 
 
 LONDON: PKINTRD BY W. CLOWK8 AND SONS, ffTAMPORD 8TRI' KT. 
 
 ANI> niARlMJ ('nO.<«9, 
 
Albemable Stueet, Londox. 
 January, 1855. 
 
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28 
 
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