This week I'm focusing on the structure that connects my columns, creating an entablature for the Pompeii Room.
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| Mark D. Ruffner |
It's really easier to explain an entablature by showing you a diagram. The cornice is the topmost moulding, which can be quite elaborate.
Cornice is also the word used for the moulding — inside one's house — that runs around the top of a wall, right below the ceiling. The frieze is directly under the cornice and takes up the greater part of the entablature. It's the surface that is often used for incised inscriptions. And finally, the architrave is a base moulding, and the space beneath it.
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| en.wikipedia.org |
Many classical buildings, like the full-scale Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee, have an entablature with an architrave almost equal to the frieze.
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| Jefferson's Monticello | photograph by Langdon Clay | Abbeville Press |
My own preference is for a more generous frieze and a reduced architrave, as Thomas Jefferson used for his home, Monticello.
I suppose one could dispute whether my two top mouldings actually constitute a true cornice, but the proportions of my entablature are in keeping with many classical buildings.
This part of the project looks deceptively simple, but it took
a lot of measuring, taping and retaping.
Notice the vertical shadow I've added to the entablature, as though the entablature is slightly behind the masonry.
Next week I'll be decorating the frieze. I haven't settled yet on any particular form of decoration, so I'm having fun looking through books on Pompeii for inspiration.
Check by next week!
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Hello Mark:
ReplyDeleteProgress is most definitely being made. Your introduction of the 'shadow' is most effective and does trick the eye with the play of light and dark.
You might be interested to Google Belsay Hall in Northumberland, a Greek Revival house of the early C19, in part derelict but nevertheless we found it, many years ago now, absolutely fascinating and imagine, when built, it was superb.
Hello, Jane and Lance:
DeleteI have googled Belsay Hall upon your advice, and enjoyed looking at the images. I was most struck by what appears to be an atrium, and I especially like the ornate Greek Revival grillwork. Wouldn't it be interesting to see how it was furnished in the early 1800s?
Hello Mark, As you are well aware, the entablature is vitally important for setting the proportions of a classical architectural composition. The total height of the entablature is especially important because it visually defines the mass that all those columns and pilasters are supporting. The height you decided on looks perfect for your room, and I am looking forward to seeing the decoration unfold.
ReplyDelete--Jim
Hello, Jim,
DeleteMy own formula for arriving at the entablature's depth was quite intuitive, which makes me wonder if there is in fact a formula. (I can't imagine that the Greek didn't have one!) In the case of my room, the entablature is exactly as deep as the colums are wide.
You know what's going to happen when you finish? The rest of your house will just call out to you to get the same treatment. You'll see. :) The same thing happens when you paint just one room. Love trompe o'eil in case I neglected to mention it. The shadowing is just right. AND oh by the way, thanks to you, I'm learning some architectural phrasing. A win-win all around, Mark. :)
ReplyDeleteHi, Yvette,
DeleteIt's funny that you should mention that, because I am already looking at the living room and imagining how some elements of the Pompeii Room might extend into it — at least in terms of the color scheeme.
I started studying Neoclassic architecture when I was remodeling the outside of my house. So much of it has to do with proportions . . .
Mark,
ReplyDeleteI think you're spot on with the entablature being the same height as the columns are wide. I came up with the same estimate when I was planning my restoration and I used our local Greek Revivals as a source.
You shadows are very believable. I didn't even notice them until you pointed them out.
Hi, Steve,
DeleteI revisited your very creative blog header and appreciate your own sense of proportion.
There's little that riles my aesthetic sensibilities more than seeing spindly columns on a large building or the current trend in which house columns look as though they were cast from drainage pipes (and perhaps they were!).
Good morning, Mark. Thank you for the very clear and instructive diagram. The progress on your project is something I am looking forward to seeing each week. I am so impressed with the shadow effect you accomplished. I cannot imagine how much time and energy you have devoted to this project but it is coming together beautifully. Barbara
ReplyDeleteGood morning Barbara,
DeleteThanks for appreciating my diagram! As I said in an earlier posting, I'm working far ahead of the images I'm posting, so the presentation is flowing at a slightly more steady pace than the actual painting. The nice thing about doing this project in my own house is that I have no deadline. And being therefore unrushed, the mural is a pleasant meditation.
The Freeze. Oh, what possibilities! Mark,there is no doubt in my mind that your sense of proportions will guide you through your fine project with the most spectacular results.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Gina. What I have settled upon actually comes from a 19th-century German designer.
DeleteDear Mark - just catching up with your progress. Really enjoyed the diagram showing the breakdown of the entablature and the fact that you pointed out how you have incorporated the horizontal shadowing. Look forward to seeing what design you have decided to use for the frieze.
ReplyDeleteDear Rosemary,
DeleteRegarding that diagram, I've read a great deal on Thomas Jefferson's architectural evolution, and it's striking to realize that until he became U. S. Minister to France, he had virtually no exposure to classical architecture except through books with engraved diagrams like the one I made.