CANOPY (Fr. canape, it. eanope, Med. Lat. C(1)1(1111001, gauze net. Gk. Kurwaeior, A-oaf:fp-ion, perhaps from K6V0f CMOS, cone ops, face).
Originally a mosquito-netting in the form of a tent. In this sense the word was used as early as Herodotus ( ii. 95) of the nets which the Nile fishermen hung up at night to keep oil' in sects. and Horace ( Epistle ix. 9) shows that regular mosquito-nettings were so called. Later the term came to be used of ony fixed hang mg or projection over a bed, couch, or throne, or of similar portable objects carried over dig nitaries in processions, as the baldachin It has since passed into architectural terminolo gy to designate any overhanging covering or pro jection above an altar, tomb, or statue, whether made of wood, stone, or metal—such a canopy as was termed ciborium (q.v.) in the Middle Ages. These features became fashionable in the Gothic period, affording an opportunity for great dis play of decorative richness and variety, especial ly in connection with sculpture. The group of
Gothic canopies on the tombs of the Sealigers at Verona are the climax of a numerous series at Padua, Bologna. Verona, and other Italian cities, where they stand either against a wall or free: inside a building, or out in a square. They usually at this time end in a gable surmounting a pointed or trefoil arch, with pinnacles, crockets, and finials. There are innumerable canopies in the French Gothic cathedrals, such as Amiens, Rheims, and Chartres, surmounting even the smallest figures and forming one of the most prominent decorative features of the style not only in France, hut throughout Europe. The canopy was much used in miniature form, in reliquaries. shrines, and other goldsmith work, and in works of industrial art, tapestries, stained glass, etc. The Renaissance used it but little.