Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- INDEX TO THE ILLUSTRATIONS
- INTRODUCTION TO THIS VOLUME
- BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
- The Stones of Venice, Vol. II. (CONTANING THE TEXT OF ALL THE EDITIONS)
- FIRST, OR BYZANTINE, PERIOD
- SECOND, OR GOTHIC, PERIOD
- AUTHORS APPENDIX
- 1 THE GONDOLIER'S CRY
- 2 OUR LADY OF SALVATION
- 3 TIDES OF VENICE, AND MEASURES AT TORCELLO
- 4 DATE OF THE DUOMO OF TORCELLO
- 5 MODERN PULPITS
- 6 APSE OF MURANO
- 7 EARLY VENETIAN DRESS
- 8 INSCRIPTIONS AT MURANO
- 9 SHAFTS OF ST. MARK
- 10 PROPER SENSE OF THE WORD IDOLATRY
- 11 SITUATIONS OF BYZANTINE PALACES
- 12 MODERN PAINTING ON GLASS
- 13 LETTERS BY RUSKIN ON The Stones of Venice AND ITS INFLUENCE
- 14 PREFACE BY WILLIAM MORRIS TO CHAP. VI. (‘THE NATURE OF GOTHIC’)
- 15 NOTE BY THE AUTHOR TO CHAP. VIII. (‘THE DUCAL PALACE’)
- 16 THE CAPITALS OF THE DUCAL PALACE: LIST OF SUBJECTS
- Plate section
1 - THE GONDOLIER'S CRY
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- INDEX TO THE ILLUSTRATIONS
- INTRODUCTION TO THIS VOLUME
- BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
- The Stones of Venice, Vol. II. (CONTANING THE TEXT OF ALL THE EDITIONS)
- FIRST, OR BYZANTINE, PERIOD
- SECOND, OR GOTHIC, PERIOD
- AUTHORS APPENDIX
- 1 THE GONDOLIER'S CRY
- 2 OUR LADY OF SALVATION
- 3 TIDES OF VENICE, AND MEASURES AT TORCELLO
- 4 DATE OF THE DUOMO OF TORCELLO
- 5 MODERN PULPITS
- 6 APSE OF MURANO
- 7 EARLY VENETIAN DRESS
- 8 INSCRIPTIONS AT MURANO
- 9 SHAFTS OF ST. MARK
- 10 PROPER SENSE OF THE WORD IDOLATRY
- 11 SITUATIONS OF BYZANTINE PALACES
- 12 MODERN PAINTING ON GLASS
- 13 LETTERS BY RUSKIN ON The Stones of Venice AND ITS INFLUENCE
- 14 PREFACE BY WILLIAM MORRIS TO CHAP. VI. (‘THE NATURE OF GOTHIC’)
- 15 NOTE BY THE AUTHOR TO CHAP. VIII. (‘THE DUCAL PALACE’)
- 16 THE CAPITALS OF THE DUCAL PALACE: LIST OF SUBJECTS
- Plate section
Summary
Most persons are now well acquainted with the general aspect of the Venetian gondola, but few have taken the pains to understand the cries of warning uttered by its boatmen, although those cries are peculiarly characteristic, and very impressive to a stranger, and have been even very sweetly introduced in poetry by Mr. Monckton Milnes. It may perhaps be interesting to the traveller in Venice to know the general method of management of the boat to which he owes so many happy hours.
A gondola is in general rowed only by one man, standing at the stern; those of the upper classes having two or more boatmen, for greater speed and magnificence. In order to raise the oar sufficiently, it rests, not on the side of the boat, but on a piece of crooked timber like the branch of a tree, rising about a foot from the boat's side, and called a “fórcola.” The fórcola is of different forms, according to the size and uses of the boat, and it is always somewhat complicated in its parts and curvature, allowing the oar various kinds of rest and catches on both its sides, but perfectly free play in all cases; as the management of the boat depends on the gondolier's being able in an instant to place his oar in any position.
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- The Works of John Ruskin , pp. 441 - 443Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1904