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Some Observations on Early Roman Corinthian*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2012

D. E. Strong
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Extract

Palladio's version of the Corinthian Order (fig. 6) is not, so far as one can see, taken directly from any Roman building but it is thoroughly Roman in inspiration and based on Palladio's careful study of ancient Roman buildings. The design and detail relate most closely to buildings of the time of Trajan and Hadrian but a similar order could have been found on any Roman building erected from the end of the Augustan period onwards. It may be seen that there are several elements in the design which are derived from Greek versions of the Ionic Order: the architrave with its three divisions and crowning mouldings, the plain continuous frieze and the cornice with dentils. One feature of the design, however, immediately distinguishes it from that of Greek Ionic and this is the presence of a series of brackets—modillions or consoles, as they are variously called—spaced at regular intervals below the projecting part of the cornice and serving to give it visible means of support. Between the modillions there are square panels or coffers, framed by a decorated moulding and each containing a rosette in relief.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Roman Studies , Volume 53 , Issue 1-2 , November 1963 , pp. 73 - 84
Copyright
Copyright © D. E. Strong 1963. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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Footnotes

*

A version of this paper was read at the Courtauld Institute of Art in February, 1962; it has been very largely rewritten into its present form.

References

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8 The capitals of the Olympieion at Athens (c. 170 B.C.) and the Bouleuterion at Miletus (Milet 1, 2, Das Rathaus, 1908, pl. XII) may be described as fully developed Corinthian.

9 cf. Dio XLVII, 18.

10 Dio LI, 22; for the architectural detail see Toebelmann, F., Römische Gebälke I (Heidelberg, 1923), fig. 7.Google Scholar

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16 There are, in fact, some early Augustan Corinthian pilaster-capitals lying between the Temple and the Basilica Julia which might be part of the original temple.

17 cf. the late Republican cornice found near the Temple of Jupiter Anxur at Terracina (Forma Italiae, I, Anxur-Terracina (Rome, 1926), 174, fig. 9).

18 cf. cornice of the podium in the apsidal hall at Palestrina (Delbrueck, R., Hellemstische Bauten in Latium I (1907), pl. 20).Google Scholar

19 Delbrueck, o.c. (n. 18), II (1912), pls. 13 and 21.

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27 Forschungen in Ephesos II (1912), 25, figs. 46–7.

28 For these entablatures see Monuments Piot XIV (1908), figs. 54 (p. 153), 55 (p. 156), and pl. VIII A, figs. n. and o.

29 Ath. Mitt. LVI (1931), 43, fig. 4.

30 Delbrueck o.c. (n. 18), II, pl. XIV.

31 Canina, L., Gli edifizi di Roma Antica VI (1856), pl. 100Google Scholar, figs. 2–4; he describes it as reconstructed from fragments (id. v, 82).

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34 Delbrueck o.c. (n. 18), II, fig. 110.

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37 ibid. pl. XXII.

38 Beyen, o.c. (n. 35), I, figs. 193–203.

39 For eastern influence on the later phase of Second Style painting (c. 50–30 B.C.) see Beyen, o.c. (n. 35). 439–41.

40 Pesce, G., ‘Il Palazzo delle Colonne’ in Tolemaide di Cirenaica (Rome, 1950).Google Scholar

41 The date is much disputed but the mixed Alexandrian and Italic Hellenistic style of the detail is difficult to explain much later than 50 B.C.; an extreme late date is proposed by Gerkan, V. (Gnomon, 1951, 337–40).Google Scholar The Alexandrian style survived into the early Empire in N. Africa; a cornice of Alexandrian type was used in the Chalcidicum (A.D. 11–12) at Lepcis Magna.

42 Pliny, Nat. Hist. XXXVI, 48.Google Scholar

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45 Unpublished; an interesting cornice of the same type was found in Juba II's capital of Caesarea in Numidia. There is other evidence for the work of Roman architects among the fragments of architecture.

46 Bartoli, A., I monumenti antichi di Roma nei disegni degli Uffizi di Firenze (Florence, 1905), II, pl. CXXXV.Google Scholar

47 For the history of the Arch see Arch. Anz., 1957, cols. 146 ff. and Nash, E., Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Rome I (London, 1961)Google Scholar, s.v. ‘Arcus Augusti’.

48 The dating of the restoration to the period 31–34 B.C. is too high (see JRS VI (1916), 183 and Kähler o.c. (n. 13), II). For the architecture of the temple see Colini, A. M., ‘Il Tempio di Apollo’ in Bull. Com. LXVIII (1940), 9–40.Google Scholar

49 The corona had already disappeared on the Arch of Rimini.

50 The Doric elements are described in Toebelmann, o.c. (n. 10), 12 ff.

51 For part of another strange ‘Doric’ entablature of this period see Capitolium XIII (1938), 404, fig. 5.

52 Suetonius, , Div. Aug. 29, 9.Google Scholar

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55 The most obvious example is the form of the cyma reversa ornament on the cornice which precisely copies the fifth-century Attic form.

56 Its date is not known, but it probably belongs to the restoration of 14 B.C. (Dio LIV, 24); the cornice is well illustrated by Toebelmann who unfortunately combines it with elements of the Upper Order.

57 Stevens, G. P., The Erechtheum (Cambridge, Mass., 1927), pl. XXV.Google Scholar

58 Stevens, o.c. (n. 57), 101 ff.

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60 Dio LV, 8, 2.

61 Dio gives A.D. 10 (LVI, 25, I), Suetonius gives A.D. 12 (Tib. 20).

62 Suet. Tib. 20 and Dio LVI, 25, I.

63 The architecture is discussed in detail in PBSR XXX (1962), I ff.

64 Toebelmann o.c. (n. 10), 42–51, pl. LV.

65 Tamaro, B. Forlati, Pola, i monumenti romani (Trieste), 145–56, figs. 6–7.Google Scholar

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67 Gusman, P., L'art décoratif de Rome II (Paris, 1912), pls. 65–66.Google Scholar