tlines of leafage being indicative of the luxuriant
and flowing masses, no longer expressible with a simple line, but to be
considered only as confined within it, of the later Gothic. Now _d_ is a
dated profile from the tomb of St. Isidore, 1355, which by its dog-tooth
abacus and heavy leafage distinguishes itself from all the other
profiles, and therefore throws them back into the first half of the
century. But, observe, it still retains the noble swelling root. This
character soon after vanishes; and, in 1380, the profile _e_, at once
heavy, feeble, and ungraceful, with a meagre and valueless abacus hardly
discernible, is characteristic of all the capitals of Venice.

Note, finally, this contraction of the abacus. Compare 4 _c_, which is
the earliest form in the plate, from Murano, with 4 _e_, which is the
latest. The other profiles show the gradual process of change; only
observe, in 3_a_ the abacus is not drawn; it is so bold that it would
not come into the plate without reducing the bell curve to too small a
scale.

So much for the evidence derivable from the capitals; we have next to
examine that of the archivolts or arch mouldings.

[Illustration: Plate VIII.
BYZANTINE ARCHIVOLTS.]

_IV. Archivolts._

In Plate VIII., opposite, are arranged in one view all the conditions of
Byzantine archivolt employed in Venice, on a large scale. It will be
seen in an instant that there can be no mistaking the manner of their
masonry. The soffit of the arch is the horizontal line at the bottom of
all these profiles, and each of them (except 13, 14) is composed of two
slabs of marble, one for the soffit, another for the face of the arch;
the one on the soffit is worked on the edge into a roll (fig. 10) or
dentil (fig. 9), and the one on the face is bordered on the other side
by another piece let edgeways into the wall, and also worked into a roll
or dentil: in the richer archivolts a cornice is added to this roll, as
in figs. 1 and 4, or takes its place, as in figs. 1, 3, 5, and 6; and in
such richer examples the facestone, and often the soffit, are
sculptured, the sculpture being cut into their surfaces, as indicated in
fig. 11. The concavities cut in the facestones of 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 are all
indicative of sculpture in effect like that of Fig. XXVI. Vol. II., of
which archivolt fig. 5, here, is the actual profile. The following are
the references to the whole:

1. Rio-Foscari House.