Plate 79. The Great Hall of the Baths of Diocletian

In this class of buildings was unfolded by the Roman Emperors their great love for beauty and art; paintings, statuary, and ornament of all kinds were here united in extravagance, but always arranged with rare taste.

Our order is from the great hall of the Baths of Diocletian, wherein one notices the peculiarity that, of the eight columns with which it is decorated, the four which stand in the corners are Corinthian, while the others are Composite. These columns are very slender, being nearly 10[…] diameters high, and for that reason are similar in proportion to the corner columns on the Vesta Temple in Rome. The very decorative entablature, with the exception of the small secondary corona supported by the modillions, is to be considered as Corinthian; but the Composite capital, which we have already seen under a similar entablature (Plate 77) has given the reason for its discussion here, and particularly because the examples thereof are not numerous, and this capital by its decorative abacus gives us another variety. The abacus also springs far out over the small volutes, and the leaves lie closer to the bell than is usually the case.

The capital is slender, and is composed of two rows of acanthus leaves, with a low Ionic column capital thereover. The leafwork here is more natural than on the Titus example, and the points are similar to the leaves of parsley.

The lower corona is ornamented on the soffit. Criticism is to be made of the enrichment on the cyma insomuch that the elements have a downward movement in some parts, which is against the principal of the cyma.