COL
180
COL
projecting from tWo opposite sides of the shaft, after themanner of brackets or corbels, and sculpturedjnto the shapeof the fore-part of an animal, which in some degree resemblesa horse. These columns must have possessed a considerableshare of simplicity and elegance.
Of the columns of the Grecian or Roman orders we needsay nothing in this place, not only because their forms areso well known, but also because they are so fully and minutelydescribed in other parts of this book, and amply delineated inits illustrations. Some few remarks as to their form, &c. isappended to this article.
In those styles of architecture which immediately succeededthe Roman, and were indeed but debased copies of it, thecolumn followed the general form and character of theoriginal; some were formed of portions of columns takenfrom Roman buildings, and piled together indiscriminately inthe new structures, which destroyed their proportions, whileit preserved their form and details. Out of this chaos arosethe styles afterwards prevalent in Italy and that portion ofthe continent, and we may add in Greece , for doubtlessByzantine architecture, although in a certain sense a distinctstyle, borrowed largely, both in its general features and itsdetails, from the edifices of the deserted capital; indeed adebased imitation of the Corinthian column was very preva-lent in the buildings of Constantinople . The copy was moresuccessful in some instances than others, the foliage beingfrequently of very inferior design, and only carved outslightly in relief above the surface. The more characteristiccapitals of the Byzantine style consisted of mere truncatedpyramids inverted and ornamented with a kind of basket-work in low relief.
In Lomhardic columns the base is frequently but a simplesquare block, rounded off at the top, though it sometimesconsists of a carved lion or other monster supporting theshaft on its back ; such bases are frequent in porches and insmaller structures, as tombs, &c. The shafts, especially ofthe larger columns, are circular, and of the same diameterfrom top to bottom; the proportion between the height anddiameter varies very considerably, according to the purposeof the column and its material; when the weight to be sup-ported is great, or the material used but little compacted, theshaft is low and massive ; but when the weight is inconsider-able, it becomes tall and slender, and is sometimes dividedin its height by moulded bands. Columns are sometimescoupled together, standing either side by side, or one infront of the other, of both which arrangements we haveexamples in the cloisters of S. Lorenzo and Santa Sabina , atRome , where either arrangement is copied in the alternatepiers; quadrupled columns are to be met with in the churchof Boppart. When columns are attached to walls or piers,they not unfrequently have smaller shafts either before orbeside them, somewhat similar to the clustered columns oflater date; these smaller shafts, however, are never prolongedin the shape of ribs of a vault. Tiie shafts of the smallercolumns are not unfrequently polygonal, fluted, or reeded,and are sometimes formed of small shafts twisted together ina spiral line. The capitals are, for the most part, barbarousimitations of the classic orders, more usually Corinthian , andare sometimes ornamented with spear-heads, and scroll orfret-work, while some again are formed of animals real andmonstrous, and ornamented with grotesque designs of alldescriptions.
We have now arrived at the period of Gothic art, whenthe forms, proportions, and ornamentation of columns becameof infinite variety, subject to no law save that of beauty andutility; so that to attempt to describe them in this placewould be futile. We have them of all proportions save the
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stunted, and of all degrees of decoration, some withmouldings, others with foliated capitals; some with "j,shafts, others clustered; some circular, others p°yn ^j c |iThese, as is necessary, will be considered in detail, f° r '' mjcwe refer to the various subdivisions into which thestyle is usually distributed. . 0 f a
Column, in the orders of classic architecture, consisconic or conoidal frustum, called the shaft, tapering U P t j 1 ein the manner of a tree, with an assemblage of p iirt9 . 1)6 supper extremity, termed the capital, and with somanother assemblage of parts at the lower extremity-the base. The capital finishes with a horizontal table*square on the plan, or capable of being inscribed in a ^gsicalled the abacus. The base, also, when there is ° n f’jiori'frequently stands on a table, square on the plan, anzontal on the upper and lower sides, called the p .heVitruvius directs the columns at the angles t0 f colu " 1113thicker than the intermediate ones; the diameter ofto be proportioned to the intercolumns; that the big 1 ^ !l0 JsSare, their diminution should be less ; that those on * * r pefl'and angles have their inner faces toward the walls P s gtdicular, but those of the pronaos and posticum t0 ^ gl ]iefperpendicular on their axes ; that those in theatres an ^ ^ gS eworks of gaiety, should not have the same proportion o3 itein sacred edifices ; and that the two middle columns, oyr t ],e
the entry, should have a wider interval than anyothers.
two 1
the
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are
The Greeks seldom employed attached columns,instances of the kind in Attica, and indeed in all ^ jjine 1 ”^the monument of Lysicrates and the temple o w p 1 .Polias, where the columns present something moretheir diameter. In the temples of Agrigentum “rhe i' erP ^pius, in Sicily , the columns are also attached. * c 0 lua )I J 3 jof Roman edifices show mnm, ;noton»a nf attache _
many instances of attacheu " ^ thas in the temple of Fortune, the triumphal arch oi ^ tl'Coliseum, and the theatre of Marcellus, at R° ine ’." rU le ' v j\columns project only half their diameter; and thi . e d tastrictly observed by the ancients, who generally rshafts from the base.
The Grecian Doric is without a base, which is P j c°
been s»*
mu^erV
depend upon their situation, whether disposed on g ye
.
or interior, attached or insulated, on a level wraised-above it; circumstances which will affect U ^ s otion, and render all canonical rules uncertain. ’’® re ot ’ 1of the proportion of columns from the materials ware constructed, as a column of iron will reqw ie ‘ jproportion from one of stone. dri ci ^’ -W
Some columns have the lower third quite cyl 111 ^11 [1the upper two-thirds only diminished, but the W 0diminish from the bottom. . ^
In the preface to Stewart’s third volume oi ^ A^ ,e Ltspeaking of the temple of Jupiter 01 ymp uS ’ rV e 9 ,
Mr. Reveley, who conducted that volume, o jf u l c l, ‘ f“ the columns diminish from the bottom by a f* ea j |g fa 1 '' .line.” In another part of the same preface, c 0 n= ,a j 3observes, generally, that “ the columns rise, ' V1 . g S ,” ^ j (able diminution, in the most graceful sweeping ‘ g«n emuch to be regretted, that Mr. Stewart, who ^ a ^ rc iiite r '
r e,
muen 10 oe regreueu, u.ul Ml .
been so particukr in the measures of Grecian arc 1 "-’;,^* a ^ e ne glected a thing so important as the 01
of the shafts of columns. Ve 9 t», ‘
The columns of the Pantheon, of the temples of ' 0 f(l ;upher Stator, of Antoninus and Faustina, of Co nC ®" g c “, of l l tus ’ of the portico of Septimius , and of ’ 0 .Marcellus, at Rome , are all diminished from the
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