Above the leaves come the sixteen volutes, whereof the eight larger ones support the four angles of the abacus, and the eight smaller ones support the flowers which decorate the middle of the abacus. The volutes seen in profile may be drawn geometrically with the compasses, but they are always more agreeable and easy when drawn by the eye with a hand which feels the contours.

The different parts of the capital are as follow: A, plan of the leaves and abacus; B, plan of the larger and smaller volutes; C, the vase or body of the capital; D, the first tier of leaves; E, the second tier of leaves; F, the caulicolus; G, the larger volute; H, the smaller volute; I, the flower; K, the abacus; L, the lip of the vase.

2587. Vitruvius is scanty in the information he gives on the Corinthian order, and what he says respecting it relates more to the origin of the capital and the like than to the proportions of the detail. He makes the capital only 1 diameter high, and then forms upon the plan a diagonal 2 diameters long, by means whereof the four faces are equal according to the length of the arc, whose curve will be the ninth part in length and its height the seventh part of the capital. He forms the order with a pedestal, with base and cornice, as Daniel Barbaro would have it. The whole height given to it in our measures is about 27 modules and 2 parts.

2588. Palladio uses the pedestal with its ordinary subdivisions, making it between a third and fourth part of the height of the column, including its base and capital. To the base he gives 1 module, the shaft of the column a little less than 8 diameters, and places twenty-four flutes upon it, which two thirds downwards are channelled, and on the other or lower third neatly fitted with convex pieces of segments of cylinders called cablings. He makes the capital 1 diameter and a sixth in height, giving it two tiers of leaves, caulicoli, and abacus. To the architrave, frieze, and cornice he assigns a little less

than a fifth part of the column, including the base and capital. The whole height given to the order by this author is about 27 modules and 10 parts of our measures.

2589. Serlio makes his pedestal pretty nearly as the rest. To the base of the column he assigns half a diameter for the height, when that is about level with the eye, but when much above it he directs all the members to be increased in height accordingly, as where one order is placed above another, he recommends the number of parts to be diminished. To the shaft of the column he gives a little more than 7 diameters, and to the capital the same height as that given by Vitruvius, whom, nevertheless, he considers in error, or rather that some error has crept into the text, and that the abacus ought not to be included in the height. The height of the architrave, frieze, and cornice he makes a little less than a fourth part of the column, including its base and capital. The whole of the order, according to him, is 28 modules and a little more than 1 part of our measures. 2590. Scamozzi gives to the pedestal of this order the height of 3 diameters and one third, composing it with the usual parts of base, die, and cornice; to the base of the column the same height and mouldings as Palladio. To the shaft of the column he assigns the height of 8 diameters and one third, and diminishes it on each side an eighth part of its thickness at bottom. The capital is of the same height as that by Palladio. architrave, frieze, and cornice he directs to be a little less than a fifth part of the height of the column. By our measures the whole height of his order is 30 modules and 20 parts.

The

SECT. VII.
THE COMPOSITE ORDER.

2591. The Composite order, as its name imports, is a compound of other orders, the Corinthian and Ionic, and was received into the regular number of orders by Vitruvius, who has described its proportions and character. Its capital consists, like the Corinthian, of two ranges of acanthus leaves distributed over the surface of a vase, but instead of the stalks or branches, the shoots appear small and as though flowering, adhering to the vase and rounding with the capital towards its middle. A fillet terminates the vase upwards, and over the fillet an astragal is placed, from which the volutes roll themselves to meet the tops of the upper tier of leaves, on which they seem to rest. A large acanthus leaf is bent above the volutes, for the apparent purpose of sustaining the corner of the abacus, which is dissimilar to that of the Corinthian order, inasmuch as the flower is not supported by a stalk seemingly fixed on the middle of each face of the abacus. The principal examples of

the order are at Rome, in the temple of Bacchus, the arches of Septimius Severus, of the Goldsmiths, and of Titus; also in the baths of Dioclesian.

2592. Fig. 891. (see preceding page) is a representation of Vignola's profile of the order. Its measures are subjoined in the following table: —

2593. The flutes in this order are separated by a fillet between them, and are, when used, twenty-four in number.

2594. Fig. 892. (see preceding page) shows the parts of the entablature, base, and pedestal to a larger scale, and fig. 893. gives, similarly, a more intelligible, because larger, represent

ation of the mode of setting up the capital, which, as we have already observed, has only eight volutes. In this figure A is the plan, as viewed frontwise; B, that of the capital, viewed diagonally; C, the vase or body of the capital; D, the first tier of leaves; E, the second tier of the same; F, the volutes; G, the flower; H, the abacus.

2595. Vitruvius has not given any instructions on this order; we are therefore obliged to begin our parallel, as in the other orders, with

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2596. Palladio, whose examples of it are light and much decorated. To the pedestal's height this master assigns 3 diameters and three eighths of the column, adding to it a lower plinth of the height of half a diameter. He makes the base of the column half a diameter in height, and assigns to the shaft 8 diameters and a little more than one fourth, and cuts on it twenty-four flutes. The height of this capital is 1 diameter and a sixth, his volutes being very similar to those he prescribes for his Ionic. The architrave, frieze, and cornice he makes a little less than a fifth part of the height of the column. The whole height of his profile in our measures is 30 modules and 12 parts.

2597. Serlio seems to have founded his profile of this order upon the example in the Coliseum at Rome. He makes the height of the pedestal a little less than 4 diameters of the column. To the shaft of the column he assigns 8 diameters and a half. To the height of the capital he gives 1 diameter, differing therein from his profile of the Corinthian order in the disposition of the volutes and leaves. His entablature, which is a little less in height than one fourth of the column, he divides into three equal parts for the