Corinthian Order. The invention of this order was attributed to one Callimachus, an Athenian sculptor, who, passing by the tomb of a young lady, observed an acanthus growing up by the sides of a basket, which was covered with a tile and placed upon the tomb, and that the tops of the leaves were bent downwards by the resistance of the tile, took the hint, and executed some columns with foliated capitals, near Corinth, which were made still of a more slender proportion than the Ionic, imitating the figure and delica cy of virgins. Vitruvius mentions that the shafts of Corinthian columns have the same symmetry as the Ionic, and that the difference of the symmetry between the entire columns arises only from the dif. ference of the heights of their capitals, the Ionic being one third, and the Corin thian the whole diameter of the shaft, which, therefore,Makes the height of the Corinthian two thirds of a diameter more than that of the Ionic ; hence, as he has allowed the Ionic to be eight diameters, the Corinthian will be eight and two thirds.
The sides of the abacus of the Corin thian capital am concave, and moulded on the fronts.
The lower part of the capital consists of two rows of leaves, and each row of eig-ht plants ; one of the upper leaves fronting each side of the abacus, and the stalk of each leaf springing between each two lower leaves. The height ofthe aba cus is one seventh, the upper and lower tiers of leaves each two sevenths, and the branches and volutes, which spring from the stalks between every two leaves in the upper row, the remaining two se venths of the diameter. The breadth of the capital at the bottom is one, and each diagonal of the abacus two, diameters of the column. Vitruvius makes no men tion of obtunding the eorners of the aba cus, as is generally practised by the an cients as well as the moderns ; we are, therefore, led to suppose, that each pair of the four faces of the abacus were con tinued till they met in an acute angle, at each corner, as in the temple of Vesta at Rome, and the Stoa or portico at Athens; the division of the capital is the same as is frequently used by the moderns, but the entire height thereof is generally made one sixth more than the diameter of the column, and that of the entire column ten diameters. The best ancient speci mens of the Corinthian order arc to be collected from the Stoa, the arch of Adri m, and that most exquisite and singular specimen, the monument of Lysicrates at Athens; also in the Pantheon of Agrippa, and in the three columns of the Campo Vaccino at"Rome; these two, and parti cularly the last, are allowed to be the most complete existing examples that are to be found in all the remains of antiquity.
The taste of the foliage of the Attic Co rinthian differs considerably from that of the Roman; the small divisions of the leaves are more pointed, approaching nearer to the acanthus than those at Rome, which are for the most part olive ; how ever, in other respects, the capitals them selves are very similar, except „in the monument of Lysicrates.
The Corinthian capital exhibits the ut most degree of e legume, beauty, richness, and delicacy, that has ever been attained in architectural composition, though ma uy attempts have been made to exceed it. The columns of this order do not appear to have had any appropriate entablature in the time of Vitruvms; for, in B. IV. chap. i. he informs us, that both Doric and Ionic entablatures were supported by Corinthian columns, and that it was the columns alone which constituted this or der, and not the entablatures ; however, in the remains of Grecian and Roman an tiquity we find, almost constantly, Corin thian columns supporting an entablature with a peculiar species of cornice ; a com position which seems to be borrowed from those of the Doric and Ionic orders. In this entablature the figure of the mutules supporting the corona is changed into the form of a console, and hiFhly decorated ; and the denticulated Ionic band, with its cylnatium, and also that of the frize, are introduced below the consoles, which in this application are called modillions. This disposition is inverting the order of the original hut, and also the description given by Vitruvius. The only example, where dentils are placed above modillions, is in the second cornice of the tower of the Winds at Athens. As to the archi trave and base of this order, they may be the same as those used in the Ionic ; in deed, the Ionic entablature itself would, on many occasions, be a very appropriate one for the Corinthian. When the co lumns are fluted, the number of the flutes and fillets is generally 24, as in the Ionic order.
If the entablature be enriched, the shaft should be fluted, unless composed of va riegated marble ; for a diversity of co even a smooth surface, and, if decorated, the ornament increases the confusion to a much greater degree. When the columns are within reach, so. as to be liable to be damaged, the lower part of the flutes, to about one third of their height, is sometimes filled with ca bles, as that of the interior order of the Pantheon, with a view to strengthen the edges.