ddle-bow, level, and the flag stretched out behind him as he flies,
like the sail of a ship drifting from its mast; the central horseman,
who meets the shock, of storm, or enemy, whatever it be, is hurled
backwards from his seat, like a stone from a sling; and this figure
with the shattered tree trunk behind it, is the most noble part of the
picture. There is another grand horse on the right, however, also in
full action. Two gigantic figures on foot, on the left, meant to be
nearer than the others, would, it seems to me, have injured the
picture, had they been clearly visible; but time has reduced them to
perfect subordination.

ROCCO, SCUOLA DI SAN, bases of, I. 291, 431; soffit ornaments of, I.
337. An interesting building of the early Renaissance (1517), passing
into Roman Renaissance. The wreaths of leafage about its shafts are
wonderfully delicate and fine, though misplaced.

As regards the pictures which it contains, it is one of the three most
precious buildings in Italy; buildings, I mean, consistently decorated
with a series of paintings at the time of their erection, and still
exhibiting that series in its original order. I suppose there can be
little question, but that the three most important edifices of this
kind in Italy are the Sistine Chapel, the Campo Santo of Pisa, and the
Scuola di San Rocco at Venice: the first is painted by Michael Angelo;
the second by Orcagna, Benozzo Gozzoli, Pietro Laurati, and several
other men whose works are as rare as they are precious; and the third
by Tintoret.

Whatever the traveller may miss in Venice, he should therefore give
unembarrassed attention and unbroken time to the Scuola di San Rocco;
and I shall, accordingly, number the pictures, and note in them, one
by one, what seemed to me most worthy of observation.

There are sixty-two in all, but eight of these are merely of children
or children's heads, and two of unimportant figures. The number of
valuable pictures is fifty-two; arranged on the walls and ceilings of
three rooms, so badly lighted, in consequence of the admirable
arrangements of the Renaissance architect, that it is only in the
early morning that some of the pictures can be seen at all, nor can
they ever be seen but imperfectly. They were all painted, however, for
their places in the dark, and, as compared with Tintoret's other
works, are the