J. M. von Mauch · The Tuscan Order

Plate 29. Tuscan Order by Vignola

1 live illustration in this chapter

Vignola seems to have originated his Tuscan order. The members of the cornice are good, but as a whole are too heavy. The taper of the shaft of the column begins at the top of the lower third. He adopts this rule in all five orders and the later masters seem to have followed him therein.

Fig. 1Vignola’s Tuscan column: the shaft stays straight for its lower third and diminishes above, a rule he applied to all five orders (Plate 29). Open in Models ↗

Names of the Members of the Tuscan Order.

The Cornice: A. Ovolo; Cyma. B. Bead; Astragal. C. Fillet. D. Corona. E. Listel.

The Frieze: F. Cyma reversa; Cymatium of the Frieze. G. The Frieze.

The Architrave: H. Tænia. I. Facia.

The Capital: K. Fillet of the Abacus. L. Abacus. M. Ovolo or Echinus. N. Fillet. O. Neck.

The Column Shaft: P. Astragal. Q. Fillet. R. Shaft. S. Shaft. T. Fillet.

The Base: U. Torus. V. Plinth.

The Pedestal: Capital of the Pedestal. X. Fillet. Y. Cyma reversa. Z. Die; Dado. a. Fillet. b. Socle or Plinth.

The Impost and Archivolt: c. Fillet. d. Upper Facia. e. Lower Facia. f. Archivolt.

Public-domain text (1910), transcribed from the archive.org OCR of the Architectural Reprint edition and cleaned for reading: line-end hyphens rejoined, running heads, page numbers and the German and French captions engraved on the plates removed, and obvious misreadings corrected. Fractions the scan does not show legibly are marked […]; words lost at a page edge are restored in [brackets]. The nomenclature lists of Plates 23, 24, 29, 49, 75 and 82 are set as running text. Mauch’s plates (from his German edition of 1845) are not reproduced; the live figures are this book’s own.