From the rooftops of Versailles Palace
(C) Collection Jean-Baptiste Leroux / Château de Versailles, Dist. RMN-GP / Jean-Baptiste Leroux
GOLDEN DOORS FROM CATHEDRAL OF THE NATIVITY OF THE VIRGIN, SUZDAL (detail)
First third of 13th c.
Fire-gilding***
***Fire-gilding or Wash-gilding is a process by which an amalgam of gold is applied to metallic surfaces, the mercury being subsequently volatilized, leaving a film of gold or an amalgam containing from 13 to 16% of mercury
Detailed view of the entire doors
ANTONY.
Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch
Of the ranged empire fall! Here is my space.
Kingdoms are clay: our dungy earth alike
Feeds beast as man: the nobleness of life
Is to do thus; when such a mutual pair
And such a twain can do’t, in which I bind,
On pain of punishment, the world to weet
We stand up peerless.
Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch
Of the ranged empire fall! Here is my space.
Kingdoms are clay: our dungy earth alike
Feeds beast as man: the nobleness of life
Is to do thus; when such a mutual pair
And such a twain can do’t, in which I bind,
On pain of punishment, the world to weet
We stand up peerless.
“
| — | Antony and Cleopatra: Act I, Scene i by William Shakespeare |
CORIOLANUS.
Like a dull actor now,
I have forgot my part and I am out,
Even to a full disgrace. Best of my flesh,
Forgive my tyranny; but do not say,
For that, ‘Forgive our Romans.’—O, a kiss
Long as my exile, sweet as my revenge;
Now, by the jealous queen of heaven, that kiss
I carried from thee, dear; and my true lip
Hath virgin’d it e’er since.—You gods! I prate,
And the most noble mother of the world
Leave unsaluted: sink, my knee, i’ the earth;
[Kneels.]
Of thy deep duty more impression show
Than that of common sons.
VOLUMNIA.
O, stand up bless’d!
Whilst, with no softer cushion than the flint,
I kneel before thee; and unproperly
Show duty, as mistaken all this while
Between the child and parent.
[Kneels.]
CORIOLANUS.
What is this?
Your knees to me? to your corrected son?
Then let the pebbles on the hungry beach
Fillip the stars; then let the mutinous winds
Strike the proud cedars ‘gainst the fiery sun,;
Murdering impossibility, to make
What cannot be, slight work.
“
| — | Coriolanus: Act V, Scene iii by William Shakespeare |
