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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