the trefoil was five or six hundred times repeated. It
is so, but observe, it is hardly ever twice of the same size; and this
law is studiously and resolutely observed. In the carvings _a_ and _b_ of
the upper series, Plate III., the diminution of the leaves might indeed
seem merely representative of the growth of the plant. But look at the
lower: the triangles of inlaid purple marble are made much more nearly
equilateral than those of white marble, into whose centres they are set,
so that the leaves may continually diminish in size as the ornament
descends at the sides. The reader may perhaps doubt the accuracy of the
drawing on the smaller scale, but in that given larger, fig. 3, Plate
IV., the angles are all measured, and the _purposeful_ variation of
width in the border therefore admits of no dispute.[14] Remember how
absolutely this principle is that of nature; the same leaf continually
repeated, but never twice of the same size. Look at the clover under
your feet, and then you will see what this Murano builder meant, and
that he was not altogether a barbarian.

Sec. XXV. Another point I wish the reader to observe is, the importance
attached to _color_ in the mind of the designer. Note especially--for it
is of the highest importance to see how the great principles of art are
carried out through the whole building--that, as only the white capitals
are sculptured below, only the white triangles are sculptured above. No
colored triangle is touched with sculpture; note also, that in the two
principal groups of the apse, given in Plate III., the centre of the
group is color, not sculpture, and the eye is evidently intended to be
drawn as much to the chequers of the stone, as to the intricacies of the
chiselling. It will be noticed also how much more precious the lower
series, which is central in the apse, is rendered, than the one above it
in the plate, which flanks it: there is no brick in the lower one, and
three kinds of variegated marble are used in it, whereas the upper is
composed of brick, with black and white marble only; and lastly--for
this is especially delightful--see how the workman made his chiselling
finer where it was to go with the variegated marbles, and used a bolder
pattern with the coarser brick and dark stone. The subtlety and
perfection of artistical feeling in all this are so redundant, that in
the building itself the eye can rest upon this colored chain with the
same kind of delight that it has