Examples of Architecture of Venice - The Ducal Palace, Twentieth CapitalBy Samuel William Reynolds, Thomas Shotter Boys, John Ruskin 1887 Accession number: 1920P658 Mezzotint and etching on paper. Width: 435 mm Height: 635 mm Information'Examples of the Architecture of Venice' was a folio of plates first published in 1851 in connection with Ruskin's book on Venetian architecture, 'The Stones of Venice.' The preface to the folio explains that: ' Mr Ruskin has found it impossible to reduce to the size of an octavo volume all the sketches made to illustrate his intended Essay on Venetian architecture; at least, without loss of accuracy in detail: he has thought it better to separate some of the plates from the text, than either to throw the latter into a folio form, or diminish the fidelity of the drawings.' Ruskin selected 16 of his drawings of architectural details to be published as plates in a large format folio each accompanied by an explanatory text. This is the first plate from the 1887 edition published by G. Allen. It shows a detail from one of the columns in the Ducal Palace. Ruskin was particularly taken with the carved animals on the capitals, and explained to his readers that he had made this a large-scale illustration so 'that its details may be fully visible; even down to the bees which cluster on the honeycomb in the bear's mouth.'
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