WINDOW TRACERY IN THE PALAZZO CICOGNA, VENICE.
This is an example of early Gothic work in Venice and is quite unlike later examples. Ruskin speaks of it as the only instance of good complicated tracery to be found in Venice. The fact that it is moulded only on the face is considered evidence of its early date.
In this view, as, in fact, in all of the examples which we have selected, the moulding formed of alternating blocks or dentils, projecting first on one side and then the other, which is peculiar to Venice, can be seen. It was commonly used as a frame about a window or group of windows, and is very effective, especially when used, as it frequently was, relieved against a flat wall surface.
VII. Portion of the Facade of the Ca D'Oro, Venice.
VI. and VII.
TWO PORTIONS OF THE FACADE OF THE CA D'ORO, VENICE.
This, next to the Ducal Palace, is the most elaborate and it might be said the most beautiful of the Gothic Venetian palaces. It has been considerably changed in the various restorations to which it has been subjected, but still has enough of its original features to remain a wonderfully beautiful building. It is an extreme example of the characteristic disregard of the ordinary principles of building construction to be found throughout the work we have been considering. Fergusson's remarks upon this failing of the Venetian architects is pointed and well considered. He says: "Most of the faults that strike us in the buildings of Venice arise from the defective knowledge which they betray of constructive principles. The Venetian architects had not been brought up in the hard school of practical experience, nor thoroughly grounded in construction, as the northern architects were by the necessities of the large buildings which they erected. On the contrary, they merely adopted details because they were pretty, and used them so as to be picturesque in domestic edifices where convenience was everything, and construction but a secondary consideration."
The Cà D'Oro was probably built about the middle of the fourteenth century.