Page:EB1911 - Volume 20.djvu/208

semi-detached columns of the Ionic order, and these are found in the upper storey of the theatre of Marcellus, the earliest example existing of the superposed orders. A certain proportion exists between the orders employed; thus the upper diameter of the Doric column (which is 71/2 diameters high with a diminution of between one-fifth and one-sixth of the lower diameter) is the same as the lower diameter of the Ionic column, which is 81/2 diameters high and a much slighter diminution. In the Colosseum

Fig. 13.—The Arcade Order; Theatre of Marcellus.

there were three storeys pierced with arcades, with the Corinthian order on the third storey, and a superstructure (added at a later date) without an arcade, and decorated with Corinthian pilasters only. Apparently this scheme of decoration was considered to be the best for the purpose, and with some slight changes was employed for all the amphitheatres throughout the Empire. The intercolumniation, on which the design is made, varies in the examples of later date. With an intercolumniation of 6 diameters, the arcades are wider and a lighter effect is obtained, and this is the proportion in the Colosseum.

The Five Orders: Italian.—The two Italian architects whose text-books with illustrations of the five orders have been accepted generally as the chief authorities on the subject are Vignola

and Palladio, the former in France and the latter in England, the dates of the publication of their works being 1563 and 1570 respectively. In 1759 Sir William Chambers published a treatise on civil architecture, in which he set forth his interpretation of the five orders, and his treatise is still consulted by students. They all of them based their conjectural restorations on the descriptions given by Vitruvius, who, however, avoids using the same term throughout, the words genus, ratio, species, mores being employed, from which it may be concluded that the Greeks themselves had no such term as that which is now defined as “order,” especially as in his book he invariably quotes the Greek name when describing various parts of the temple. In the preface to the fourth book he speaks only of the three orders (genus), so that the Tuscan described in Book IV. chap. vii. would seem to have been an afterthought, and his description of the entablature shows that it was entirely in wood and therefore an incomplete development. The Italian revivalists, however, evolved one of their orders out of it and added a fifth, the Composite, of which there was no example in Rome before A.D. 82. In the description which follows it must be understood that it refers only to the Italian version of what the revivalists considered the Roman orders to consist of, and as a rule Vignola's interpretation will be given, because he seems to have kept closer to Vitruvius's descriptions and to have taken as his models the finest examples then existing in Rome.

The Tuscan Order.—The base consists of a torus moulding, resting on square plinths; the shaft is terminated below by an apophyge and fillet and tapers upwards, the diminution being between one-quarter and one-fifth of the lower diameter, with an apophyge, fillet and astragal at the top, the capital consists of a square abacus with fillet and cavetto, an echinus, fillet and a necking; the whole column being 7 diameters high. The intercolumniation given by Vignola is 21/2 diameters, instead of the 31/2 diameters of Vitruvius’s areostyle. The architrave, frieze and cornice, are simple versions of the Doric, except that there are no triglyphs in the frieze.

The Doric Order.—In his Doric order Vignola has followed the Roman Doric order of the theatre of Marcellus, but he gives it a base consisting of an astragal and torus resting on a square plinth; in his shaft he copies the fluting (24 flutes) with the arris of the columns of the thermae of Diocletian; his capital, except the flowers decorating the necking and his entablature, are entirely taken from the theatre of Marcellus; in a second study he introduces an Attic base, carves the echinus of the capital with the egg-and-tonguc, introduces two fasciae in his architrave, and to support the cornice provides shallow plain mod ill ions with guttae on the soffits. In both the examples given the columns taper upwards and are 8 diameters high.

The Ionic Order.—For the Ionic order Vignola discards the temple of Fortuna Virilis, but enriches the order of the theatre of Marcellus, adopting the base of the temple of Castor and the fluted columns of the same; in his frieze he introduces that of the Corinthian temple of Antoninus and Faustina, and in the bedmould and cornice copies that of the thermae of Diocletian. Palladio in his entablature introduces the convex friezes and adopts a single uncarved mod ill ion under the cornice. In both cases the columns are fluted and 9 diameters high.

The Corinthian Order.—In this order Vignola, for his base, returns to the temple of Castor, makes his columns 10 diameters high, copies the capital of the portico of the Pantheon, introduces a rib frieze with winged female figures and a bull about to be sacrificed, and adopts the bedmould of the temple of Castor, reversing the carving of two of the mouldings and the cornice, and omitting the fluting of the corona of that temple. In Palladio's Corinthian order the frieze is too narrow and the bedmould, though copied from the temple of Castor, is of smaller scale.

The Composite Order.—As in the Roman Composite order the only original feature was the capital, there were no new versions to be given of the entablature, but unfortunately they were unable to copy the many examples in Rome. In the three best known capitals, those of the arches of Titus and Septimus