37i 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[Dec. 



artistic, since il tends to prevent an appearance of heaviness and excess of 

 weight, which might, but for this precaution, result from those masses being 

 above a liglit corridor and perforated gallery. We see this beautiful feature 

 made as an accessory by Titian to his splendid picture of the " Presentation 

 of the Virgin." And this ancient combination of bright red with polished 

 white marble, seen in almost every mosque of Cairo at the present day, and 

 which 50 frccpieutly occurs in Veneiian pavements, was likewise imitated 

 throughout great portions of Italy, &c., during the middle ages; and inscrip- 

 tions on the walls, grotesque carvings, heraldic ornaments, and curious 

 devices, having some peculiar reference to the inventor or proprietor, which 

 obtained among the moderns, may be traced back to a very remote period, 

 and were considered an almost indispensable decoration of ancient Arabian, 

 Chinese, Persian, and Hindu architecture. A writer states, that " in the 

 friezes between the floors [of the Square of St. Mark] we see what at first 

 sight appears to be the Stilus, or large Arabic ' writing on the wall' of 

 mosques; but as they could not, in a Christian country, write sentences from 

 the Koran, we find, on looking closer, that the characters are figures of white 

 camelopards (giraffe,-) on a red ground. These carry the mind to the East 

 by more associations than one ; for their long legs and tapering necks have 

 quite the air of Sulus writing." 



"The original Merceria," remarks the same writer,* "with its pendant 

 shutters, narrow crowded thoroughfares, and the wares of brilliant colour in 

 its dark, limpid shades, must have had very much the air of a bazaar — 

 which it lias not lost even now. Cantar, rottalo, and other Venetian 

 weights, are still the standards of quantity iu the Levant ; and in the name 

 of Campo, applied to all the khans of Aleppo, we find a Venetian expres- 

 sion. There were several places in Venice in the form of a khan ; one of 

 whicli — the Campo St. Angelo — is still remaining. The principal one — the 

 Campo dei Mori, or Khan of the Moors, at Madonna del Orto — has been 

 taken down ; but I still observed the stone figure of a Bedouin loading a 

 camel, in alto-relievo on the wall next the canal. 



" Several remarkable edifices of Saracenic architecture are yet visible on 

 the Grand canal : — one of which is the Fondaco dei Turchi. There is, how- 

 ever, no connexion between its architecture and the subsequent destination 

 which gave it its name. It is supposed to have been built in the 12th or 

 13th century, when the Saracenic taste was in full prevalence : and extracts 

 from documents which were shown to me by Count Agostino Sagredo, the 

 present accomplished president of the Academy of Fine Arts, show that it 

 was given by the republic to the Duke of Ferrara, — after him passed through 

 several hands to the Pesaro family, — and in 1G21 was let by them to the 

 Turks. It is now in course of restoration and repair by the commune. 

 The Palazzo Loredano, a peculiarly light and handsome specimen of Sara- 

 cenic architecture, built since the invasion of the Italian style — and the 

 celebrated Ca d' Oro, now the property of Taglioni — are both so well known 

 as to require no further consideration. 



" No painters caught the oriental costume nearly so well as the Venetians ; 

 who, though ambassadors, merchants, and slaves, had frequent opportunities 

 of becoming acquainted with it. The oriental air and manner are better 

 seized in Tintoretto's great picture of ' the Miracle of St. Mark,' or ' a 

 Slave liberated from Bondage,' than in any picture that I have ever seen. 

 The kaoucks were universally worn in the East in Tintoretto's time (and so 

 very nearly in our own age) ; but, with this exception, the figures might now 

 be alive in Cairo and Damascus, without any one discovering any great 

 peculiarity. Traces of the connexion with the East are constantly appearing 

 in the Venetian pictures. In Giovanni Mansueti's pictures we see segredies 

 hung out of the windows; the scarf of Titian's Maddalena is evidently of 

 Tripoli manufacture ; and the ' Supper in the House of Levi' — where Paul 

 Veronese is enthroned in all the dazzling splendour and gorgeous magnifi- 

 cence of his genius — has for its principal figure green velvet hose, of a most 

 curious arabesque pattern." 



Having pointed out some of the most important relics of Saracenial and 

 Arabic architecture and ornament in Venice, as showing her connexion with 

 the East, we shall now briefly describe its principal characteristics. 



The genius of the Arabians and Saracens abounded in liveliness of fancy 

 and in richness of invention, which manifested itself alike in their pursuits 

 and in their poetry, — in their learning and in their arts ; in all of which they 

 rendered themselves remarkable. They equally distinguished themselves by 

 their warlike achievements ; and the briskness and activity of their tem- 

 perament (whether the effect of the warmth of their clim.ate, temperance, 

 and constant exercise), joined to their enthusiasm, constantly stimulated 

 them to great exertions and extraordinary actions. Their love of learning 



* " Atlienieiim," Sept- 25. 



and the arts was cultivated throughout the whole of their dominions, and 

 was diffused abroad, being first carried into Africa (where they erected a 

 great many universities), and from thence into Spain and other countries ; 

 whilst they conquered Syria, Persia, Egypt, &c., and established themselves 

 upon the ruins of the Grecian empire.* Such a city as Venice, and such a 

 people as the Venetians, was much enriched, therefore, by its intercourse 

 and dealings with the polished Saracens. The style of their architecture is 

 generally regarded as the immediate precursor of the Gothic. To the Gothic 

 (if we may use the terra) of some countries it is more closely allied than 

 that of others ; and just as the character of the Gothic varied in different 

 localities and countries, according to the Roman and other styles with which 

 it was brought in contact, and with which it was sometimes amalgamated, 

 so we may observe the Saracenic was more or less pure, and underwent 

 different changes as it was translated into different countries. " The Sara 

 cens, in their buildings in Egypt, appear to have availed themselves in a small 

 degree only, of the style of the aboriginal inhabitants, and are distinguished 

 by the lofty boldness of their vaultings, the slendcrness of columns, the variety 

 of capitals, and the immense profusion of ornaments. The greatest pecu- 

 liarity, however, lies in the small clustered pillars of pointed arches, formed 

 by the segments of two intersecting circles. The Egyptian Saracenic varies 

 from the Spanish chiefly in the form of the arch, as will be apparent from 

 comparing the gate of Cairo with that of the Alhambra iu Grenada, or the 

 great church at Cordova." 



As examples of Saracenic decoration in Venice, including among them 

 the Byzantine, we refer more especially to St. Mark's and the adjoining 

 palace ; where, notwithstanding the intermixture of these and other styles 

 we may discern the distinctive features of each : — 1st. The blending of tht 

 pointed arch, ornate filial, and crocket-work of the Gothic, with the horse- 

 shoe scrolls and richly multiplied geometrical patterns of the Moorish orna- 

 ments; forming what the Italians call the Arabo-Tedesco. 2nd. In the 

 fa9ade of St. Mark : the clustering domes and minarets ; the tabernacles 

 terminating in pointed pinnacles ; and the circular gables, fringed with a 

 most beautiful arabesque foliage. 3rd. The turned wooden grates over the 

 great gates, and the ornamental fans to the windows, of the very patterns 

 used to this day in Cairo — and which, in the 15th century, were all gilt. 

 4th. In the interior : the twisted columns, of which there are four, two of 

 oriental alabaster — the workmanship imputed to the time of the successors 

 of Constantine ; the horse-shoe arches ; and the variety of capitals, sculp- 

 tured with grotesque imagery, where the bell is sometimes covered over 

 with a sort of basket-work of true lovers' knots ; and where the scroll, 

 the pineapple, palm-branch, and acanthus-leaf, are placed amongst lions' 

 heads, masks, and half-figures flddUng, &c. Some are beautiful ; all are 

 curious ; and although the designs might be considered great corruptions 

 and sad departures from the "correct" taste of the Ionic or Corinthian, in 

 the opinion of those who would bring them to the standard of the "five 

 orders," — yet the invention and originality displayed in some of these capi- 

 tals must be acknowledged by every unprejudiced observer. In lieu of the 

 volutes in some, pigeons are placed in the angles ; in others, rams, with 

 their feet resting ou a tier of leaves. The flutes and fillets twisting round 

 the shafts of the columns in a spiral manner, are frequent in the Venetian 

 palaces. Many other Byzantine, Moorish, and Saracenic features in St. 

 Mark's have already been mentioned. 5th. The portal, called Porta delta 

 Carta, opening into the Cortile of the Doge's palace, facing the Giant's- 

 stairs, the statues and foliage of which we class under the Saracenic, as 

 partaking much of its character, although said to have been the work of 

 Bartolomeo Buono, of the 15th century. Wood, in his " Letters," says of 

 it . — "The arches here, and indeed in all the parts, are very much broken 

 and confused; the architect appearing to have a great horror of a continusd 

 line, whether straight or curved." It is to this latter circumstance, we 

 think, that it owes all its singular beauty. Gth. The Cortile itself; the 

 arcades surrounding which, and the character imparted to it by the two 

 elegantly chased bronz; reservoirs in the marble areas, reminding us of those 

 splendid courts erected by the Spanish Moors to their Alcozara and Alham- 

 bra. 7th. Nearly all the details of the Ducal palace. — But the peculiarities 

 of the examples above enumerated constantly occur in the early edifices of 

 the Venetians. 



We will now turn to a new era that dawned upon Venice, and, with the 

 rise of new thoughts, other styles which were introduced in, and which 

 considerably altered the appearance of, the capital ; a change, however, 

 which, on many accounts, increased rather than diminished its charm and 

 celebrity. The edifices of the earlier and of the later epochs (the last we 



« Ockley's " History of tlie Saracens," 



