tion. This building is known in Venice as the Casa Farsetti.

(7.) _Casa Loredan._

The one next to it, though not conspicuous, and often passed with
neglect, will, I believe, be felt at last, by all who examine it
carefully, to be the most beautiful palace in the whole extent of the
Grand Canal. It has been restored often, once in the Gothic, once in the
Renaissance times,--some writers say, even rebuilt; but, if so, rebuilt
in its old form. The Gothic additions harmonize exquisitely with its
Byzantine work, and it is easy, as we examine its lovely central arcade,
to forget the Renaissance additions which encumber it above. It is known
as the Casa Loredan.

* * * * *

The eighth palace is the Fondaco de' Turchi, described in the text. A
ninth existed, more interesting apparently than any of these, near the
Church of San Moise, but it was thrown down in the course of
"improvements" a few years ago. A woodcut of it is given in M. Lazari's
Guide.

12. MODERN PAINTING ON GLASS.

Of all the various principles of art which, in modern days, we have
defied or forgotten, none are more indisputable, and few of more
practical importance than this, which I shall have occasion again and
again to allege in support of many future deductions:

"All art, working with given materials, must propose to itself the
objects which, with those materials, are most perfectly attainable; and
becomes illegitimate and debased if it propose to itself any other
objects, better attainable with other materials."

Thus, great slenderness, lightness, or intricacy of structure,--as in
ramifications of trees, detached folds of drapery, or wreaths of
hair,--is easily and perfectly expressible in metal-work or in painting,
but only with great difficulty and imperfectly expressible in sculpture.
All sculpture, therefore, which professes as its chief end the
expression of such characters, is debased; and if the suggestion of them
be accidentally required of it, that suggestion is only to be given to
an extent compatible with perfect ease of execution in the given
material,--not to the utmost possible extent. For instance: some of the
most delightful drawings of our own water-color painter, Hunt, have been
of birds' nests; of which, in painting, it is perfectly possible to
represent the intricate fibrous or mossy structure; therefore, the
effort is a legitimate one, and the art is well employed. But to carve a
bird