netian forms, by one of the purest
Gothic ornaments in the world; and the small window here, fig. 6, is a
similar example at Venice itself, from the Campo Santa Maria Mater
Domini, where the reversed curve at the head of the pointed arch is just
perceptible and no more. The other examples, figs. 3 and 7, the first
from a small but very noble house in the Merceria, the second from an
isolated palace at Murano, show more advanced conditions of the reversed
curve, which, though still employing the broad decorated architrave of
the earlier examples, are in all other respects prepared for the
transition to the simple window of the fifth order.

Sec. XL. The next example, the uppermost of the three lower series in
Plate XVII., shows this order in its early purity; associated with
intermediate decorations like those of the Byzantines, from a palace
once belonging to the Erizzo family, near the Arsenal. The ornaments
appear to be actually of Greek workmanship (except, perhaps, the two
birds over the central arch, which are bolder, and more free in
treatment), and built into the Gothic fronts; showing, however, the
early date of the whole by the manner of their insertion, corresponding
exactly with that employed in the Byzantine palaces, and by the covering
of the intermediate spaces with sheets of marble, which, however,
instead of being laid over the entire wall, are now confined to the
immediate spaces between and above the windows, and are bounded by a
dentil moulding.

In the example below this the Byzantine ornamentation has vanished, and
the fifth order window is seen in its generic form, as commonly employed
throughout the early Gothic period. Such arcades are of perpetual
occurrence; the one in the Plate was taken from a small palace on the
Grand Canal, nearly opposite the Casa Foscari. One point in it deserves
especial notice, the increased size of the lateral window as compared
with the rest: a circumstance which occurs in a great number of the
groups of windows belonging to this period, and for which I have never
been able to account.

Sec. XLI. Both these figures have been most carefully engraved; and the
uppermost will give the reader a perfectly faithful idea of the general
effect of the Byzantine sculptures, and of the varied alabaster among
which they are inlaid, as well as of the manner in which these pieces
are set together, every joint having been drawn on the spot: and the
transition from the embroidered