VENICE.

The screen of S. Mark has been so often depicted, that it has not been thought necessary to give a plate for its illustration; but it is a very fine example of an early Italian screen. Some writers have commonly described it as Byzantine, but it differs entirely from Greek screens, which are invariably solid, and entered by three doors; whereas that of S. Mark is open above the subase, and has only one pair of doors in the centre. It is a very remarkable work of the period, and decorated with several marble images above the entablature, executed by early Pisan sculptors. The images are of a much more recent date than the screen itself, which is one of the most ancient and best preserved examples of screens now remaining in Italy.

The church of Frairi, or Santa Maria Gloriosa, contains a very remarkable choir screen, which I have [figured] among the plates. It is composed of marble, and quite solid; the front is divided into compartments representing the prophets, boldly designed, and carved in bas-relief; at each end are the ambones for the Epistle and Gospel, with an angel for the book-bearer.

Beneath the corbels which support these ambones are the four Evangelists represented seated and writing the Gospels. The corbels themselves are beautifully wrought with cherubims and angels. The choir stalls within this screen are of elaborate Gothic-work, and ornamented with skilful inlay. Altogether, this church is another most striking example, out of multitudes of others, of the extreme fallacy and absurdity of the modern notion that Pointed architecture is unsuited to Italy and the south; and yet we hear this continually put forth in the most positive manner; and instead of men importing the grand ideas and spirit of those Italian artists who flourished in the mediæval era, we are inundated with the wild eccentricities of Bernini, or the more insipid productions of an even later school.

Not having visited Spain, I am not able to give any account of the church fittings from personal observation, but I have had an opportunity of inspecting several accurate drawings made on the spot, and from them it appears that huge screens of ornamental iron-work, reaching to a vast height, and elaborate in detail, are by no means uncommon. I have [figured] one on a small scale from the cathedral of Toledo, and I have little doubt that they greatly resemble the choir [screens] of St. Sernin at Toulouse, which I have given to a larger scale. This city partakes most strongly of a Spanish character, which strengthens my supposition regarding the similarity of the screen-work.

[7] Ciampini, de Sacris Ædificiis, p. xvi. Fontana, Templum Vaticanum, p. 89. Pistolezi, Il Vaticano Descritto, vol. 7, p. 57. From Professor Willis's History of Canterbury Cathedral:—"Screen of old St. Peter's, at Rome.—In front of the steps were placed twelve columns of Parian marble, arranged in two rows; these were of a spiral form, and decorated with sculpture of vine leaves: the bases were connected by lattice-work of metal, or by walls of marble breast high. The entrance was between the central pillars, where the cancelli, or lattices, were formed into doors, which gave access to the presbytery as well as the confessionary. Above these columns were laid beams, or entablatures, upon which were placed images, candelabra, and other decorations; and, indeed, the successive Popes seem to have lavished every species of decoration in gold, silver, and marble-work upon this enclosure and the crypt below. The entire height, measured to the top of the entablature, was about thirty feet; the columns, with the connecting lattices and entablatures, formed, in fact, the screen of the chancel."

[8] Anastasius, in his Lives of the Popes, mentions Sergius I., Gregory III., Adrian I., Leo III., Pascal I., Gregory IV., Sergius II., Leo IV., and Nicholas I., as munificent donors of costly veils for the altars of various churches in Rome, as may be seen at length in Thiers's Traité des Autels, chap. xiv.

[9] There are five illustrations of this church in an interesting Italian work, entitled Monumenti della Religione Cristiana.

[10] These pictures are all engraved in a work entitled Raccolta delle più celebri Pitture di Sienna.

[Plate II.]