DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5273#0070
i z A Parallel os the Ancient Architecture
those os this Mystwy, that the principal Piece of an Order is the Column, and that
its Entablature being once placed on the Capital, produces the entire Composition.
If therefore we will define it exactly, and give the most exprefs Meaning os
it we muft, as it were, make a very Anatomy os the Parts, and say, that the
Column, with its IBafe, and Chapiter, crowned with an Architrave, Fri^e and Cor*
nice forms that kind of 'Building which Men call an Order 3 feeing all these in-
dividual Parts do generally encounter, and are found through all the Orders s
the Difference amongft them consifting in no other Particular, than in the Pro-
portion os those farts, and the Figure of their Capitals. They have yet indeed
ibme peculiar Ornaments, as Triglyphs, the Doricfa Dentelli, or Teeth, the lo-
nick'? and the Corinthian her Modilions: But they are none of them of fo gene-
ral and indifpeniable Obligation, but that even the moft regular of the An-
dents themfelves have, upon fome Confiderations, frequently difpenfed with
them. For Ornaments are but Acceffories in the Orders, and may be diverfly
introduced as Occafion requires 3 principally in that of the Corinthian, where
Artifts being to reprefent an effeminate and virginal Beauty (as we may eafily
deduce from what VitruYius has recounted to us ofCallimachus, Chap. \. $00^4.)
ou^ht to omit nothing which may contribute to the Perfection and Embel-
liiliment of the Work : And the Ancients have prescribed us fo many Exam-
ples of this Order, in which they have been fo prosufe and luxurious in Orna-
ments, that one would fwear, they had drawn their Imagination quite dry to
crown this Mafter-piece of Architecture. But it is not with the other Orders after
this fort, where there is a more masculine Beauty required 5 efpecially in the
Dorickjthe Solidity whereos is totally repugnant to the Delicateness of thefe Or-
naments 3 fince it succeeds fo much better in the plain and fimple Regularity
of its Proportions. Garlands and Pofees fuit not with Hercules 3 he is beft adorn-
ed with a Rough-hewn and ma ssy Club; For there are Beauties of several
Kinds,and those oftentimes so unlike, as what is agreeable to the one, is quite
contrary to the other. As for the lonick^ Order, it is, as it were? in the Middle
os the two Extreams, holding in a Manner the Balance betwixt the Dor/c^So-
lidity and Genteelness of the Corinthian 5 sor which Reafon we sind it diverse-
ly employed in ancient Buildings, simple and plain, according to the Genius
os the Architect, or Quality os the Structure. So as these three Orders may very
well surnifh all the Manners os Building, without being at all obliged to have
Recourse to the Tu/can Order, or that which is composed; both which I have
theresore expresly refer ved sor the Conclusion os this Treati/e, and separated
from the reft, as in Truth but Supernumeraries and almost inutile. For the
Excellency and Persection of an Art consifts not in the Multiplicity os her
Principles 5 but contrarily, the more simple they are and sew in Number, the
more worthy they are os our Admiration. This we see manisefted in those of
Geometry, which is in Truth the very Foundation and universal Magazine
of all thofe Arts from whence this has been extracted, and without whose Aid
it were impossible it should fubfist. Well therefore may we conclude, that
the Orders being no other than the very Elements of Achitehure, and these three
firft, which we have deduced from the Greeks, comprehending all the Species
of Building 5 it were but a, fuperfluous thing we fliould pretend to augment
their Number,
CHA P.
those os this Mystwy, that the principal Piece of an Order is the Column, and that
its Entablature being once placed on the Capital, produces the entire Composition.
If therefore we will define it exactly, and give the most exprefs Meaning os
it we muft, as it were, make a very Anatomy os the Parts, and say, that the
Column, with its IBafe, and Chapiter, crowned with an Architrave, Fri^e and Cor*
nice forms that kind of 'Building which Men call an Order 3 feeing all these in-
dividual Parts do generally encounter, and are found through all the Orders s
the Difference amongft them consifting in no other Particular, than in the Pro-
portion os those farts, and the Figure of their Capitals. They have yet indeed
ibme peculiar Ornaments, as Triglyphs, the Doricfa Dentelli, or Teeth, the lo-
nick'? and the Corinthian her Modilions: But they are none of them of fo gene-
ral and indifpeniable Obligation, but that even the moft regular of the An-
dents themfelves have, upon fome Confiderations, frequently difpenfed with
them. For Ornaments are but Acceffories in the Orders, and may be diverfly
introduced as Occafion requires 3 principally in that of the Corinthian, where
Artifts being to reprefent an effeminate and virginal Beauty (as we may eafily
deduce from what VitruYius has recounted to us ofCallimachus, Chap. \. $00^4.)
ou^ht to omit nothing which may contribute to the Perfection and Embel-
liiliment of the Work : And the Ancients have prescribed us fo many Exam-
ples of this Order, in which they have been fo prosufe and luxurious in Orna-
ments, that one would fwear, they had drawn their Imagination quite dry to
crown this Mafter-piece of Architecture. But it is not with the other Orders after
this fort, where there is a more masculine Beauty required 5 efpecially in the
Dorickjthe Solidity whereos is totally repugnant to the Delicateness of thefe Or-
naments 3 fince it succeeds fo much better in the plain and fimple Regularity
of its Proportions. Garlands and Pofees fuit not with Hercules 3 he is beft adorn-
ed with a Rough-hewn and ma ssy Club; For there are Beauties of several
Kinds,and those oftentimes so unlike, as what is agreeable to the one, is quite
contrary to the other. As for the lonick^ Order, it is, as it were? in the Middle
os the two Extreams, holding in a Manner the Balance betwixt the Dor/c^So-
lidity and Genteelness of the Corinthian 5 sor which Reafon we sind it diverse-
ly employed in ancient Buildings, simple and plain, according to the Genius
os the Architect, or Quality os the Structure. So as these three Orders may very
well surnifh all the Manners os Building, without being at all obliged to have
Recourse to the Tu/can Order, or that which is composed; both which I have
theresore expresly refer ved sor the Conclusion os this Treati/e, and separated
from the reft, as in Truth but Supernumeraries and almost inutile. For the
Excellency and Persection of an Art consifts not in the Multiplicity os her
Principles 5 but contrarily, the more simple they are and sew in Number, the
more worthy they are os our Admiration. This we see manisefted in those of
Geometry, which is in Truth the very Foundation and universal Magazine
of all thofe Arts from whence this has been extracted, and without whose Aid
it were impossible it should fubfist. Well therefore may we conclude, that
the Orders being no other than the very Elements of Achitehure, and these three
firft, which we have deduced from the Greeks, comprehending all the Species
of Building 5 it were but a, fuperfluous thing we fliould pretend to augment
their Number,
CHA P.