Fig. 186.—Roman Corinthian. Entablature of Jupiter Tonans.
middle leaf, a stalk runs up behind the cauliculi, and blossoms in the abacus.
It may be observed that the cauliculi of the centre and of the volute have lost the floral character and become stony. The shafts are unfluted, being of granite, and have the favourite Roman base, a plain upper and a lower torus, with two scotias separated by double astragals and fillets. The entablature consists of an architrave of three fascias, the bottom edge of whose projections are moulded, the whole architrave is capped with a cymatium consisting of a wide fillet and an ogee with an astragal beneath. The frieze is slightly shallower than the architrave, and has nothing on it but the inscription, and its cymatium is the counterpart of that of the architrave on a smaller scale. The cornice is heavy, and its bed mould consists of an uncut dentil band, an ovolo carved with the egg and tongue, and an astragal carved with the bead and reel, a modilion band with carved modilions, a shallow corona, and a deep cyma-recta-cymatium with fillets.
I have added the fine and gigantic capital of Mars Ultor and the entablature of Jupiter Tonans, which is overladen with ornament, as a contrast to the almost stern simplicity of that of the Pantheon.
I shall only draw your attention to two points in this ornamentation, the omission of the tongues between the eggs, leaving only the upright line, and the attempt to turn the egg and tongue into a foliated form. The egg itself is covered with ornament, and is set in the centre of acanthus leaves. We must praise the boldness of the author, who has given us a new ornament, but deplore his want of tasteful invention which has forced him to give a bad one.
The varieties of leaves used in capitals have been mentioned in the body of the book.
The Roman Composite.
This order has been called the Composite, from the mixture of Ionic and Corinthian motives in its capital. The example given is from the Arch of Titus, erected to celebrate the taking of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. The main thing to be remarked is the capital; for the entablature is Corinthian, less ornate than that of Jupiter Tonans or Jupiter Stator, and very inferior to the latter in its proportions. It may be imagined that all the foliage above the upper row of leaves in a Corinthian capital has been removed, that a carved Ionic echinus has been put in at the level of the bottom of the Corinthian cauliculi, that on the centre of the echinus there is a calix, from which a flower runs up above the top of the abacus, and from each side of the calix spring curved bands running into the hollow of the abacus and ending in heavy volutes coming down to the tops of the upper row of leaves, the lower parts of the bands and the spaces between the spirals being filled with foliage. The parts of the bell thus left bare by the omission of the sheaths of the cauliculi have two little scrolls of foliage to cover them. The worst fault of the capital is, that the upper part has no artistic connection with the lower, and taken merely as an isolated capital, its volutes are too ponderous for the rest. We must, however, give the Romans credit for the merits of the invention. They