Part I: Byzantine Examples
1. The incrustation of brick with more precious materials.
2. Mouldings along the
3. The favored convex capital is modeled after flowers that “form rounded cups…the leaves springing horizontally from the stalk, and closing together upwards.”
According to the Byzantine mind, the unpleasant concave column is modeled after the “trumpet-flower in that the lower part of the bell is slender, and the lip curves outward at the top.”
4. The symbol for Resurrection, the peacock, encrusted three times on the side of an apartment building in
Part II: Gothic Examples
1. A second order window on a building along the 
2. Third and fourth order windows on buildings along the
3. A glorious example of Gothic beauty that is reminiscent of the 
4. The ever occurring Venetian Dentil:
Part III: Renaissance Examples
1. Groups of colored marble circles can be found on the building below as seen from the 
2. A colorless stone building of the Renaissance as seen from the 
3. An ugly Renaissance style building that now houses Gallery of International Modern Art, as seen from the 
This building is an example of Ruskin’s disdain for Renaissance architecture, especially the “theatrical” mess of figures surrounding the arched entryway and the dull gray stone carved in all sorts of shapes. Ruskin would view the gaudiness and the excess of carved stone as a large step away from what he viewed as refined architecture, for which he favored the Gothic style. His critique of Venetian Renaissance architecture specifically was of the “meaningless ornamentation” of the buildings, the “rigid formalism” of the rectangular windows and heavy structure, its “perfect finish, its cold tranquility,” all of which are evident even in this small section of the building. Ruskin preferred a building’s material to gracefully reflect its natural qualities, and would have strongly disliked the “truncated pyramid pattern” and the individually carved stone blocks of this building.
No comments:
Post a Comment