t Venice, signs of decline, owing to the entire
inconsistency of such mouldings with the ancient love of the single
square jamb and archivolt. The process of enrichment in them is shown by
the successive examples given in Plate VII., below. They are numbered,
and explained in the Appendix.

Sec. XV. The date at which this corrupt form of Gothic first prevailed
over the early simplicity of the Venetian types can be determined in an
instant, on the steps of the choir of the Church of St. John and Paul.
On our left hand, as we enter, is the tomb of the Doge Marco Cornaro,
who died in 1367. It is rich and fully developed Gothic, with crockets
and finials, but not yet attaining any extravagant developement.
Opposite to it is that of the Doge Andrea Morosini, who died in 1382.
Its Gothic is voluptuous, and over-wrought; the crockets are bold and
florid, and the enormous finial represents a statue of St. Michael.
There is no excuse for the antiquaries who, having this tomb before
them, could have attributed the severe architecture of the Ducal Palace
to a later date; for every one of the Renaissance errors is here in
complete developement, though not so grossly as entirely to destroy the
loveliness of the Gothic forms. In the Porta della Carta, 1423, the vice
reaches its climax.

Sec. XVI. Against this degraded Gothic, then, came up the Renaissance
armies; and their first assault was in the requirement of universal
perfection. For the first time since the destruction of Rome, the world
had seen, in the work of the greatest artists of the fifteenth
century,--in the painting of Ghirlandajo, Masaccio, Francia, Perugino,
Pinturicchio, and Bellini; in the sculpture of Mino da Fiesole, of
Ghiberti, and Verrocchio,--a perfection of execution and fulness of
knowledge which cast all previous art into the shade, and which, being
in the work of those men united with all that was great in that of
former days, did indeed justify the utmost enthusiasm with which their
efforts were, or could be, regarded. But when this perfection had once
been exhibited in anything, it was required in everything; the world
could no longer be satisfied with less exquisite execution, or less
disciplined knowledge. The first thing that it demanded in all work was,
that it should be done in a consummate and learned way; and men
altogether forgot that it was possible to consummate what was
contemptible, and to know what was useless. Imperatively requiring
dexte