Plate 50. Ionic Order by Serlio and Alberti

Serlio's rules for the Ionic order seem to have been formed with reference to the authority of Vitruvius, although there are considerable differences which in Serlio's order are not for the better. The columns are about 3 modules and the entablature lj modules less in height, and the cornice and also the dentils of same have too great a projection.

Alberti has studied the Roman monuments and has given out a learned work and in so doing has opened the way and been followed one after another by Serlio, Vignola, Palladio, Scamozzi, and others. These masters, however, introduced into architecture, with their rules for the orders, a certain sober feeling whereby they were led into a deterioration as will be seen by a comparison of their works with the vigorous architecture of Italy in the fifteenth century.