Columnar Entasis in Vignola’s and other Renaissance Works

Abstract

Entasis, upward curvature, columnar inclination and several other manipulations or deviations from the strict geometrical rules were known in Ancient Greece and Rome and some of them - entasis could be taken as example - were used up to the beginning of the 20th century in eclectic and historicizing architecture. The article mentions historical texts about entasis from Vitruvius up to Renaissance works. Mainly Vignola’s description of proper and elegant way of how to construct columnar entasis curve of the Tuscan and Doric order columns is discussed in detail and expressed mathematically.

Keywords

• Columnar entasis
• Tuscan and Doric columns
• Mathematical description
• Vignola
• The five orders of Architecture