Alberti, Leone Battista, Architecture, 1755

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1any Thing of a Plinth between theſe two Pe­
deſtals
, the Height of that Plinth muſt be a
third
Part of the Height of the Pedeſtal itſelf;
and
this Interſpace muſt be filled up with the Fi­
gures
of chearful Deities, ſuch as Victory, Glory,
Fame
, Plenty, and the like.
Some covered the
upper
Pedeſtal with Plates of Braſs, gilt.
The
Pedeſtals
and the Baſe being compleated, the
next
Work is to erect the Column upon them,
and
its Height is uſually ſeven Times its Dia­
meter
.
If the Column be very high, let its up­
per
Diameter be no more than one tenth Part
leſs
than its lower; but in ſmaller Columns,
obſerve
the Rules given in the laſt Book.
Some
have
erected Columns an hundred Foot high,
and
enriched all the Body of the Shaft with
Figures
and Stories in Relieve, leaving a Hol­
low
within for a winding Stair to aſcend to the
Top
of the Column.
On ſuch Columns they
ſet
a Doric Capital, but without any Gorge­
rine
.
Over the upper Cymaiſe of the Capital
in
ſmaller Columns they made a regular Archi­
trave
, Freze and Cornice, full of Ornaments on
every
Side; but in theſe great Columns thoſe
Members
were omitted, it being no eaſy Mat­
ter
to find Stones ſufficiently large for ſuch a
Work
, nor to ſet them in their Places when
found
.
But at the Top of the Capital both of
great
and ſmall, there was always ſomething
to
ſerve as a Pedeſtal for the Statue to ſtand
upon
.
If this Pedeſtal was a ſquare Plinth,
then
none of its Angles ever exceeded the Solid
of
the Column: But if it was round, its Dia­
meter
was not to be more than one of the Sides
of
ſuch a Square.
The Height of the Statue
was
one third of the Column; and for this
Sort
of Columns thus much may ſuffice.
The
Structure
of Moles among the Ancients was as
follows
: Firſt they raiſed a ſquare Baſement as
they
did for the Platforms of their Temples.
Then they carried up a Wall not leſs high than
a
ſixth, nor higher than a fourth of the Length
of
the Platform.
The whole Ornament of
this
Wall was either at the Top and Bottom,
and
ſometimes at the Angles, or elſe conſiſted
in
a Kind of Colonade all along the Wall.
If
there
were no Columns but only at the Angles,
then
the whole Height of the Wall, above the
Baſement
, was divided into four Parts, three of
which
were given to the Column with its Baſe
and
Capital, and one to the other Ornaments
at
the Top, to wit, the Architrave, Freze and
Cornice
; and this laſt Part was again divided
into
ſixteen Minutes, five of which were given
to
the Architrave, five to the Freze, and ſix to
the
Cornice and its Cymaiſe.
The Space be­
tween
the Architrave and the Baſement was
divided
into five-and-twenty Parts; three
whereof
were given to the Height of the Ca­
pital
, and two to the Height of the Baſe, and
the
Remainder to the Height of the Column,
and
there were always ſquare Pilaſters at the
Angles
according to this Proportion: The Baſe
conſiſted
of a ſingle Torus, which was juſt half
the
Height of the Baſe itſelf.
The Pilaſter at
the
Bottom, inſtead of a Fillet, had juſt
the
ſame Projecture as at the Top of the
Shaft
.
The Breadth of the Pilaſter, in this
Sort
of Structure, was one fourth of its Height;
but
when the reſt of the Wall was adorned
with
an Order of Columns, then the Pilaſters
at
the Angles were in Breadth only a ſixth
Part
of their Length, and the other Columns
along
the Wall borrowed all their Ornaments
and
Proportions from the Deſign of thoſe uſed
in
Temples.
There is only this Difference be­
tween
this Sort of Colonades and the former,
that
in the firſt, as the Baſe is continued on
from
one Angle of the Wall to the other, at
the
Bottom, ſo alſo are the Fillet and Aſtragal
at
the Top of the Column under the Archi­
trave
, which is not practiced where there are a
Number
of Columns ſet againſt the Wall;
though
ſome are for carrying on the Baſe quite
round
the Structure here as well as in Temples.
Over this ſquare Structure which ſerved for a
Baſement
, roſe a round one of excellent Work­
manſhip
, exceeding the Baſement in Height
not
leſs than half its Diameter, nor more than
two
thirds, and the Breadth of this Rotunda
was
never leſs than half one of the Sides of the
Baſement
, nor more than five ſixths.
Many
took
five thirds, and over this round Building
raiſed
another ſquare one, with a ſecond round
over
that, after the ſame Manner as the former,
till
the Edifice roſe to four Stories, adorning
them
according to the foregoing Deſcription.
Neither within the Mole itſelf wanted there
Stairs
, or little Chapels for Devotion, or Co­
lumns
riſing from the Baſement to the upper
Stories
, with Statues between them, and In­
ſcriptions
diſpoſed in convenient Places.

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