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108 THE SEVEN LAMPS OF ARCHITECTURE
into their mass. A mere projecting shelf is not enough; the whole wall must, Jupiter like, nod as well as frown. Hence, I think the propped machicolations of the Palazzo Vecchio and Duomo of Florence far grander headings than any form of Greek cornice. Sometimes the projection may be thrown lower, as in the Doge’s palace of Venice,1 where the chief appearance of it is above the second arcade; or it may become a grand swell from the ground, as the head of a ship of the line rises from the sea. This is very nobly attained by the projection of the niches in the third storey of the Tour de Beurre at Rouen.
§ 8. What is needful in the setting forth of magnitude in height, is right also in the marking it in area-let it be gathered well together. It is especially to be noted with respect to the Palazzo Vecchio and other mighty buildings of its order, how mistakenly it has been stated that dimension, in order to become impressive, should be expanded either in height or length, but not equally: whereas, rather it will be found that those buildings seem on the whole the vastest which have been gathered up into a mighty square, and which look as if they had been measured by the angel’s rod, “the length, and the breadth, and the height of it are equal;”2 and herein something is to be taken notice of, which I believe not to be sufficiently, if at all, considered among our architects.
Of the many broad divisions under which architecture may be considered, none appear to me more significant than that into buildings, whose interest is in their walls, and those whose interest is in the lines dividing their walls. In the Greek temple the wall is as nothing; the entire interest is in the detached columns and the frieze they bear; in French Flamboyant, and in our detestable Perpendicular,3 the object is to get rid of the wall surface, and keep the eye altogether
1 [See Stones of Venice, vol. ii. ch. vii. § 10, where Ruskin refers to this passage in citing a description of the Ducal Palace as “built in the air.”]
2 [Revelation xxi. 16.]
3 [For other expressions of Ruskin’s “detestation,” see Stones of Venice, vol. i. ch. xvii. §§ 13, 16, ch. xxi. § 29; Val d’ Arno, § 140.]
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[Version 0.04: March 2008]
