They were at first intended to be
accompanied by photographic reductions of the principal plates
in the larger volumes; but this design has been modified by the
Author's increasing desire to gather his past and present
writings into a consistent body, illustrated by one series of
plates, purchaseable in separate parts, and numbered
consecutively. <...> Of other prefatory
matter, once intended, — apologetic mostly, — the reader shall
be spared the cumber: and a clear prospectus issued by the
publisher of the new series of plates, as soon as they are in a
state of forwardness. <...> BRANTWOOD,
3rd May, 1879.
2
CHAPTER I.
[FIRST, OF THE OLD EDITION.]
THE QUARRY.
§1. <...> Since first the dominion of men was asserted over
the ocean, three thrones, of mark beyond all others, have been
set upon its sands: the thrones of Tyre, Venice, and England. <...> Of
the First of these great powers only the memory remains; of the
Second, the ruin; the Third, which inherits their greatness, if it
forget their example, may be led, through prouder eminence, to
less pitied destruction. <...> The exaltation, the sin, and the punishment of Tyre
have been recorded for us, in perhaps the most touching words
ever uttered by the Prophets of Israel against the cities of the
stranger. <...> I would endeavour to trace the lines of this image
before it be for ever lost; and to record, as far as I may, the
warning which seems to me to be uttered by every one of the
fast-gaining waves, that beat, like passing bells, against the
Stones of Venice.
§II. <...> It would be difficult to overrate the value of the
lessons which might be derived from a faithful study of the
history of this strange and mighty city: a history which, in spite
of the labour of countless chroniclers, remains in vague and
disputable outline, — barred with brightness and shade, like the
far-away edge of her own ocean, where the surf and the
3
The stones of Venice
Chapter I
sandbank are mingled with the sky. <...> The inquiries in which we
have to engage will hardly render this outline clearer, but their
results will in some degree alter its aspect; and, so far as they
bear upon it at all, they possess an interest of a far higher kind
than that usually belonging <...>
The_stones_of_Venice._Vol._1.pdf
THE STONES OF VENICE
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS AND LOCAL INDICES
(PRINTED SEPARATLY)
FOR THE USE OF TRAVELLER
WHILE STAYING IN
VENICE AND YERONA
BY
JOHN RUSKIN, LL.D.
HONORARY STUDENT OF CHRIST CHURCH AND
HONORARY FELLOW
OF CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, OXFORD
VOLUME I
NINETEENTH THOUSAND
GEORGE ALLEN, SUNNYSIDE, ORPINGTON
AND
156 CHARING CROSS ROAD, LONDON
1900
(All rights reserved)
Стр.1
CONTENTS
PREFACE.................................................................................. 2
CHAPTER I. [FIRST, OF THE OLD EDITION.] THE
QUARRY. ................................................................................. 3
CHAPTER II. [FIRST OF SECOND VOLUME IN OLD
EDITION.] THE THRONE..................................................... 37
CHAPTER III. [SECOND Of SECOND VOLUME IN
THE OLD EDITION.] TORCELLO....................................... 47
CHAPTER IV [FOURTH Of SECOND VOLUME IN
OLD EDITION.] ST. MARK'S............................................... 59
CHAPTER V. (EIGHTH OF SECOND VOLUME IN
ODD EDITION.] THE DUCAL PALACE. .......................... 113
1
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PREFACE
This volume is the first of a series designed by the
Author with the purpose of placing in the hands of the public, in
more serviceable form, those portions of his earlier works
which he thinks deserving of a permanent place in the system of
his general
teaching. They were at first
increasing desire to gather
intended to be
accompanied by photographic reductions of the principal plates
in the larger volumes; but this design has been modified by the
Author's
his past and present
writings into a consistent body, illustrated by one series of
plates, purchaseable in separate parts, and numbered
consecutively. The note at page 147 in this volume, (lying by
during my illness,) referred to the smaller photographs at that
time in preparation: but the extension of the plan will render all
directions to the binder unnecessary, except such as
the
possessor of the book may himself issue. Of other prefatory
matter, once intended, — apologetic mostly, — the reader shall
be spared the cumber: and a clear prospectus issued by the
publisher of the new series of plates, as soon as they are in a
state of forwardness. The second volume of this edition will
contain the most useful matter out of the third volume of the old
one, closed by its topical index, abridged and corrected.
BRANTWOOD,
3rd May, 1879.
2
Стр.3
CHAPTER I.
[FIRST, OF THE OLD EDITION.]
THE QUARRY.
§1. Since first the dominion of men was asserted over
the ocean, three thrones, of mark beyond all others, have been
set upon its sands: the thrones of Tyre, Venice, and England. Of
the First of these great powers only the memory remains; of the
Second, the ruin; the Third, which inherits their greatness, if it
forget their example, may be led, through prouder eminence, to
less pitied destruction.
The exaltation, the sin, and the punishment of Tyre
have been recorded for us, in perhaps the most touching words
ever uttered by the Prophets of Israel against the cities of the
stranger. But we read them as a lovely song; and close our ears
to the sternness of their warning: for the very depth of the fall
of Tyre has blinded us to its reality, and we forget, as we watch
the bleaching of the rocks between the sunshine and the sea,
that they were once "as in Eden, the garden of God."
Her successor, like her in perfection of beauty, though
less in endurance of dominion, is still left for our beholding in
the final period of her decline: a ghost upon the sands of the
sea, so weak, — so quiet, — so bereft of all but her loveliness,
that we might well doubt, as we watched her faint reflection in
the mirage of the lagoon, which was the City, and which the
Shadow. I would endeavour to trace the lines of this image
before it be for ever lost; and to record, as far as I may, the
warning which seems to me to be uttered by every one of the
fast-gaining waves, that beat,
like passing bells, against the
Stones of Venice.
§II. It would be difficult to overrate the value of the
lessons which might be derived from a faithful study of the
history of this strange and mighty city: a history which, in spite
of the labour of countless chroniclers, remains in vague and
disputable outline, — barred with brightness and shade, like the
far-away edge of her own ocean, where the surf and the
3
Стр.4
The stones of Venice
Chapter I
sandbank are mingled with the sky. The inquiries in which we
have to engage will hardly render this outline clearer, but their
results will in some degree alter its aspect; and, so far as they
bear upon it at all, they possess an interest of a far higher kind
than that usually belonging to architectural
investigations. I
may, perhaps, in the outset, and in few words, enable the
general reader to form a clearer idea of the importance of every
existing expression of Venetian character through Venetian art,
and of the breadth of interest which the true history of Venice
embraces, than he is likely to have gleaned from the current
fables of her mystery, or magnificence.
§III. Venice is usually conceived as an oligarchy : She
Seventy-six years, from the first establishment of a consular1
government on the island of the Rialto, to the moment when the
General-in-chief of the French army of Italy pronounced the
Venctian republic a thing of the past. Of this period, Two
Hundred and Seventy-six years were passed in a nominal
subjection to the cities of old Venetia, especially to Padua and
in an agitated form of democracy of which the executive
appears to have been entrusted to tribunes, chosen, one by the
inhabitants of each of the2 principal islands. For six hundred
years, during which the power of Venice was continually on the
increase, her government was an elective monarchy, her King
or Doge
was so during a period less than the half of her existence, and
that including the days of her decline; and it is one of the first
questions needing severe examination, whether that decline was
owing in any wise to the change in the form of her government,
or altogether, as assuredly in great part, to changes in the
character of the persons of whom it was composed.
The state of Venice existed Thirteen Hundred and
possessing,
in early
times
at
least,
as much
1[I affectedly called it ' consular,' because the Ducal power was
limited by the great council of the people, and often by two subordinate
ministers. But see the clearer statement in my re-written history : " St. Mark's
Rest," chap. v.]
2[There is no 'appearance'
in the matter. Each tribe or group of
people had its own natural captain, and I don't trace any subjection to the land
cities, now . — See again the new history. Rut the main truth of the statement
remains : the government was at first democratic, — agitated, and weak.]
4
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