Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/382

366 mence was everything, and construction but a secondary consideration For instance, the window here shown (Woodcut No. 794) cannot fail to give the building in which it occurs an appearance of weakness and insecurity quite inexcusable in spite of its external picturesqueness or

its internal convenience.

The same remark Mpplies to the screen (Woodcut No. 795) above the Ponte del Paradiso, which, though useless and unconstructive to the last degree, by its picturesque design and elegant details, arrests all travellers. Indeed it is impossible to see it without admiring it, though, if imitated elsewhere, it could hardly be saved from being ridiculous.

Both those examples are surrounded by a curious dental moulding which is peculiar to Venice, and which, though rarely found elsewhere, is hardly ever omitted round any of the arches of the churches or private buildings of this city during the pointed Gothic period.

There are, besides these, many smaller palaces and houses of the Gothic age, all more or less beautiful, and all presenting some detail or some happy arrangement well worthy of study, and usually more refined and more beautiful than those of the