ARCHITECTURE. 



ancient edifices this was not always regu- 

 lated by the columns, but perhaps de- 

 pended on the taste of the architects, or 

 destination of the edifice. The columns 

 are plane on the portico of the Pantheon, 

 while the pilasters are fluted ; and the 

 contrary, on the portico of Septimius Se- 

 verus. When pilasters are fluted, the 

 angles or quoins are frequently beaded, 

 such as those of the Pantheon, in order 

 to strengthen the angles, and the flutes 

 are generally of a semicircular section. 

 The faces of pilasters are sometimes sunk 

 within a margin, and the pannels charged 

 with foliage, arabesque or grotesque or- 

 naments, or instruments of music and 

 war, or sometimes these compounded, ac- 

 cording to the destined purpose of the 

 place in which they are employed. 



The pannels of the pilasters, in the 

 Arch of the Goldsmiths at Rome, are 

 charged with winding foliage and trophies 

 of war. Pilasters, when placed on the 

 front or outside of a building, should pro- 

 ject one quarter of their breadth at the 

 bottom ; but when placed behind a range 

 of columns, or in the interior of a build- 

 ing, should not project more than the 

 eighth part of the same breadth. 



In a large recess, when two or any even 

 number of insulated columns support an 

 entablature, which terminates at each end 

 upon a wall or pier, a pilaster is most 

 commonly placed against each wall or 

 pier, to support the extremities of the 

 architrave. When the entablature over 

 the columns is recessed within the sur- 

 face of the wall or pier at each end, the 

 pilaster projects towards the column, its 

 thickness is shewn on the front, and its 

 breadth faces the void or adjacent co- 

 lumn : in this case the architrave may 

 either profile against the sides of the aper- 

 ture or recess.; or it may return at each 

 interior angle, and then again at the ex- 

 terior angles, and proceed along each 

 wall or pier. 



If the intermediate columns and ex- 

 treme pilasters are so ranged as to pro- 

 ject a small distance beyond the face of 

 the wall at each end, the pilasters shew 

 the same breadth towards the front as to- 

 wards the void, and the entablature may 

 be continued unbroken, as in the chapels 

 of the Pantheon ; and if it breaks, it must 

 be at the extreme or most distant angles. 

 Pilasters are of great strength to a wall, 

 as well as ornamental to the building ; 

 they are less expensive than columns, and 

 in situations where they are either placed 

 behind a range of columns, or support 

 the extremes of an entablature across an 





opening, they are more concordant witk 

 the walls to which they are attached. 



Clustered pilasters, or those which have 

 both exterior and interior angles, and the 

 planes of those angles parallel and per- 

 pendicular to the front, may be executed 

 with good effect, when the order is plain, 

 as in the Tuscan : but in the three Gre- 

 cian and Composite orders, this junction 

 should be avoided as much as possible, 

 because the triglyphs and capitals of these 

 orders always meet imperfectly in the in- 

 terior angles. The same may also be 

 said of Ionic and Corinthian capitals of 

 half pilasters, meeting each other in the 

 interior angles of rooms. In the Ionic 

 order it becomes necessary to make a dif- 

 ference between the capitals of pilasters 

 and those of columns ; for in the capitals 

 of the columns the projection of the ovo- 

 lo is greater than that of the volutes; but 

 as the horizontal section of the ovolo is 

 circular, the ovolo itself is bent behind 

 the hem or border of the volutes : now 

 supposing a vertical section through the 

 axis of the column to be perpendicular to 

 the face, and another through the middle 

 of the breadth of the pilaster, and that 

 the corresponding mouldings are equal 

 and similar in both sections ; then, be- 

 cause the horizontal section, through 

 the ovolo, is rectangular, as in the trunk, 

 the ovolo would, if continued, pass over 

 the volutes, or must terminate abruptly, 

 and shew the profile of the moulding, 

 which is a palpable defect. This there- 

 fore renders it necessary to give the ovolo 

 so much convexity on the front, as to 

 make its extremes retire, and pass be- 

 hind the back of the border of the vo- 

 lutes ; or to make the ovolo of small pro- 

 jection : or to twist the volutes from a 

 plain surface, which the ancient Ionic has, 

 and make every part of the spirals pro- 

 ject more and more towards the eye ; or, 

 lastly, to project the whole abacus, with 

 the volutes, beyond the projection of the 

 ovolo. The same thing is also to be ob- 

 served with regard to the Corinthian and 

 Composite capitals, where the upper part 

 of the vase projects beyond the middle of 

 the abacus, and would, in the pilaster 

 capitals, pass over the face of the spirals 

 or volutes. 



Persians and Caryatides. Instead of 

 columns, or pilasters, it is sometimes cus- 

 tomary to support the entablature by hu- 

 man figures ; the males of which are call- 

 ed Persians, Talamones, or Atlantides ; 

 and the females, Carians, or Caryatides. 

 The history of these Vitruvius relates as 

 follows : " Caria, a cityjof Peloponnesus, 



