Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, first edition - Volume I, A-B.pdf/419

 A R C JH il T OF PILASTERS. Pilasters difFer from columns only in their plan ; which is fquare, as that of columns i» round. Their b’afes, capitals, and entablatures, have the fame parts, with the fame heights and projections, as thofe of columns : They are alfo diftinguifhed in the fame manner, by the names of Tufcan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Compofite. The column is undoubtedly more perfect than the pilafter. However, they may be employed with great propriety on many occafions. Some authors declaim againft pilafters, becaufe, according to them, they do not admit of diminution. But this is a miftake; there are many inftances, in the remains of antiquity, of their being diminiihed. Seamozzi always gave his pilafters the fame diminution as his columns : Palladio and Inigo Jones have likewife diminiihed thedi in. many of their buildings. Pilafters are employed in churches, galleries, halls, and other interior decorations, to fave room; for, as they feldom projeA beyond the folid wall above one quarter ©f their diameter, they do not occupy near fo much fpace as .columns. They are likewife ufed in exterior decorations ; fometimes alone, inftead of columns, on account of their being lefs expenfive; and fometimes they accompany columns, being placed behind them to fupport the architraves, where they enter the building, as in the Panthseon at Rome; or, in the fame line with them, to fortify the angles, as in the portico of Septimius. When ' pilafters are ufed alone, they fhould project one quarter of their diameter beyond the walls. When placed behind columns, efpecially if they be very near them, they need not project above one eighth of their diameter. But, when placed on a line with columns, their projection mull be regulated by that of the columns ; and confequently, it can never be defs than a femidiameter, even when the columns are engaged as much as poflible. . The lhafts of pilafters are frequently adorned with flutings, in the fame manner as thofe of columns; the plan of which may be a trifle more than a femicircle : Their number muft be feven on each face, which makes them nearly of the fame fize with thofe of columns. The intervals, or fillets, muft either be one third or one fourth of the fluting in breadth. CJ The capitals of pilafters are profiled nearly in the fame manner as thofe of columns. OF PERSIANS AND CARYATIDES. Besides columns and pilafters, it is fometimes cuftomary to employ reprefentations of the human figure, to fupport entablatures in buildings. The male figures are called Perjians; and the female. Curta ns, ox Caryatides. The ancients made frequent ufe of Perfians and Caryatides,- and delighted in diverfifying them a thoufand ways. The modern artifts have followed their example ; and there is a great variety of compofitions of this kind to be met with in different parts of Europe. Vol. I. No. 15. 3 ?

E C T TJ R E. ' 353 Indecent attitudes, diftorted features, and all monftrous productions, ought to be avoided, of which there are many examples in Gothic biuldings. On the contrary, the attitudes fhould be fimple and graceful, the countenance always pleafing, though varied and ftrongly marked agreeable to the nature of the objeCt reprefented. The Caryatides, or female figures, ftiould never much exceed the human fize. But the Perfians, or male figures, may be of any fize; and the larger the better, as they will ftrike the beholder with the greater awe and'aftoniftiment. Perfians may be ufed with propriety in arfenals, galleries of armour, tec. under the figures of captives, heroic virtues, <bc. Their entablature ought to be Doric, and bear the fame proportion to them as to columns of the fame height. The entablature for Caryatides ought to be either Ionic or Corinthian, according as the character of the figures is more or lefs delicate. Termini are fometimes employed, inftead of Perfians or Caryatides, to fupport the entablatures of monuments, chimney-pieces, and fuch like compofitions. Thefe figures owe their origin to the ftones ufed by the ancients to mark the limits of particular poffeflions. Numa Pompilius, to render thefe inviolable, confecrated the terminus into a deity, and inftituted feftivals and facrifices to his honour. In a ftiort time, what was formerly only large upright ftones, were reprefented in human fhape ; and afterwards introduced as ornaments to temples and other buildings. The termini are now principally ufed as ornaments for gardens and fields. OF PEDESTALS. Most writers confider the Pedestal as a neceffary part of the order/ without which it is not complete. It is indeed a matter of little importance whether it be confidered in that light, or as a diftinCt cOmpofition : We ftiall therefore treat of a pedeftal as a diftinCt body, having no more connection with the order than an Attic,-a bafement, or any other part with which it may on feme occafions be affociated. A pedeftal confifts of three principal parts ; the bafe, the dye, and the cornice. The dye is always nearly, of the fame figure; being conftantly either a cube or a parallelopipedon: But the bafe and cornice are varied and adorned with more or fewer mouldings, according to the fimplicity or richnefs of the compofition in which the pedeftal is employed. Hence pedeftals are, like columns, diftinguifhed by the names of Tufcan, Doric, Ionic, Coripthian, and Compofite. Some authors are averfe to pedeftals, and compare a column raifed on a pedeftal to a man mounted on ftilts; imagining that they were introduced merely from neceffity, and for want of columns of a fufficient length. It is indeed true, that the ancients often made ufe of artifices to lengthen their columns ; as appears by fome that are in the Baptiftery of Conftantine at Rome ; the fhafts of which being too fhort for the building; were lengthened and joined to their bafes by an undulated fweep, adorned with acanthus leaves. Neverthelefs, there are maay occafions where pedeftals are evidently neceffary; and' fome in which the order, were it not fo raifed, would 4U lofe