Chapter XVII. Of the Corinthian Order

THE Corinthian order, which is more beautiful and elegant than any of the foregoing orders, was first invented in Corinth, a most noble city in Peloponnesus.

The columns are like those of the Ionic order, being five modules and a half in height, including their base and capital. ‘When they are to be fluted, they ought to have twenty four channels or flutes, whose depth must be half of their width. The spaces between two flutes must be one third of the width of the said flutes.

The £ architrave, frize and cornice are a fifth part of the height the whole column. In the design of a simple colonnade the intercolumniations are of two diameters, as they are in the portico of St. Maria la Rotunda at Rome; which manner of placing columns is by Vitruvius called Sijlilos. In that of arches the pilasters are two fifths of the void, which void is two squares and a half, including the thickness of the arch.

The pedestals to be placed under Corinthian columns ought to be one fourth of the height of the columns, and divided into eight parts; one to be given to the cimacia, two to its base, and the remaining five for the dado. The base must be divided into three parts; two to be given to the zocco or plinth, and one to the cornice or molding.

The Attick is the base to these columns, but differs from that which is placed under the Dorick order, its projecture being but one fifth part of the diameter of the column. It may also vary in some other parts; as is seen in the design, where the imposts of the arches are also profiled, whose height is half as much again as the thickness of the members ar pilasters that support the arch,: or Astragal of the column. G, Cimacia

D, Cavetto with its Astragal. 1, Cornice of the base

E, lower Bastone or Torus. K, Orlo of the base.

The imposts of the arches is by the side of the column.

T ue height of the Corinthian capital ought to be the diameter of the column below, and a sixth part more, which is allowed to the abaco. The remainder is divided into three equal parts; the first is given to the first leaf, the second to the second, and the third is again divided into two parts. In that part nearest to the abaco must be made the caulicoli or stems, with their leaves, that seem to be supported by them, and from which they arise; therefore the shaft or stem from whence they spring should be thick, and diminish gradually in their foldings, imitating thereby the plants, which are thicker in the part from whence they sprout, than at the extremities of their branches.:

The E campana, which is the body of the capital under the leaves, ought to fall directly perpendicular with the bottom of the flutes of the columns. To form the abaco, and to give it a suitable projecture, a square is to be made, every side whereof must be 2 module and a half, within which let diagonal lines be drawn, and in the middle or centre where they erect, the six’d point of the compasses ought to be placed, and towards every angle of the square a module is to be marked; then, where the points are, lines that intersect the said diagonals at rectangle must be drawn, so as to touch the sides of the square, and these will be the bounds of the projecture, the length of which will also give the width of the horns of the abaco.

THE curvature, or diminution, is made by drawing a thread from one horn to the other, and taking the point where the triangle is formed whose base is the diminution, then a line is to be drawn from the extremities of the said horn to the extremity of the astragal or tondino of the column, which line the tip of the leaves is to touch, or they may come out a little more, and this is their projecture, The width of the rose ought to be a fourth part of the lower diameter of the column,

The architrave, frize, and cornice, as I have said, are one fifth of the height of the column, and the whole to be divided into twelve parts, as in the Ionick; but with this dif-serene, that in this the cornice is to be divided into eight parts and a half, one of which is given to the intavolato or cima reversa, another to the dentello or dentils, the third to the ovolo, the fourth and fifth to the modiglion, and the remaining three and a half to the corona and gola.

Te projecture of the cornice Is equal to its height,

The panels for the roses placed between the modiglions nit be square, and the modiglions half as broad as the plane of the said roses. Tue members of this order are not marked with letters, as the foregoing; because by them these may easily be known.