Tuscan order
Architectural order
The Tuscan order (Latin Ordo Tuscanicus or Ordo Tuscanus, with the meaning of Etruscan order) is one of the two classical orders developed by the Romans, the other being the composite order. It is influenced by the Doric order, but with un-fluted columns and a simpler entablature with no triglyphs or guttae. While relatively simple columns with round capitals had been part of the vernacular architecture of Italy and much of Europe since at least Etruscan architecture, the Romans did not consider this style to be a distinct architectural order (for example, the Roman architect Vitruvius did not include it alongside his descriptions of the Greek Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders). Its classification as a separate formal order is first mentioned in Isidore of Seville's 6th-century Etymologiae and refined during the Italian Renaissance.
Sebastiano Serlio described five orders including a "Tuscan order", "the solidest and least ornate", in his fourth book of Regole generali di architettura sopra le cinque maniere de gli edifici (1537). Though Fra Giocondo had attempted a first illustration of a Tuscan capital in his printed edition of Vitruvius (1511), he showed the capital with an egg and dart enrichment that belonged to the Ionic. The "most rustic" Tuscan order of Serlio was later carefully delineated by Andrea Palladio.
In its simplicity, the Tuscan order is seen as similar to the Doric order, and yet in its overall proportions, intercolumniation and simpler entablature, it follows the ratios of the Ionic. This strong order was considered most appropriate in military architecture and in docks and warehouses when they were dignified by architectural treatment. Serlio found it "suitable to fortified places, such as city gates, fortresses, castles, treasuries, or where artillery and ammunition are kept, prisons, seaports and other similar structures used in war."
01Italian writers on architecture
From the perspective of these writers, the Tuscan order was an older primitive Italic architectural form, predating the Greek Doric and Ionic, associated by Serlio with the practice of rustication and the architectural practice of Tuscany. Giorgio Vasari made a valid argument for this claim by reference to Il Cronaca's graduated rustication on the facade of Palazzo Strozzi, Florence. Like all architectural theory of the Renaissance, precedents for a Tuscan order were sought for in Vitruvius, who does not include it among the three canonic orders, but peripherally, in his discussion of the Etruscan temple (book iv, 7.2-3). Later Roman practice ignored the Tuscan order, and so did Leon Battista Alberti in De re aedificatoria (shortly before 1452).
Following Serlio's interpretation of Vitruvius (who gives no indication of the column's capital), in the Tuscan order the column had a simpler base, circular rather than squared as in the other orders, where Vitruvius was being followed, and with a simple torus and collar, and the column was unfluted, while both capital and entablature were without adornments. The modular proportion of the column was 1:7 in Vitruvius, and in Palladio's illustration for Daniele Barbaro's commentary on Vitruvius), in Vignola's Cinque ordini d'architettura (1562), and in Palladio's I quattro libri dell'architettura (1570). Serlio alone gives a stockier proportion of 1:6. A plain astragal or taenia ringed the column beneath its plain cap.
Palladio agreed in essence with Serlio:
The Tuscan, being rough, is rarely used above ground except in one-storey buildings like villa barns or in huge structures like Amphitheatres and the like which, having many orders, can take this one in place of the Doric, under the Ionic.
Unlike the other authors Palladio found Roman precedents, of which he named the arena of Verona and the Pula Arena, both of which, James Ackerman points out, are arcuated buildings that did not present columns and entablatures. A striking feature is his rusticated frieze resting upon a perfectly plain entablature
Examples of the use of the order are the Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne in Rome, by Baldassarre Peruzzi, 1532-1536, and the pronaos portico to Santa Maria della Pace added by Pietro da Cortona (1656-1667).
02Later spread
A relatively rare church in the Tuscan order is St Paul's, Covent Garden by Inigo Jones (1633). According to an often repeated story, recorded by Horace Walpole, Lord Bedford gave Jones a very low budget and asked him for a simple church "not much better than a barn", to which the architect replied "Then you shall have the handsomest barn in England". Christ Church, Spitalfields in London (1714-29) by Nicholas Hawksmoor, uses it outside, and Corinthian within.
In a typical usage, at the very grand Palladian house of Wentworth Woodhouse in Yorkshire, which is mainly Corinthian, the stable court of 1768 uses Tuscan. Another English house, West Wycombe Park, has a loggia facade in two storeys with Tuscan on the ground floor and Corinthian above. This recalls Palladio's Palazzo Chiericati, which uses Ionic over Doric.
The Neue Wache is a Greek Revival guardhouse in Berlin, by Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1816). Though in most respects the Greek temple frontage is a careful exercise in revivalism, there are minimal plain bases to the thick fluted columns and, despite having metope reliefs and a large group of sculpture in the pediment, there are no triglyphs or guttae. Nonetheless, despite these "Tuscan" aspects, the overall impression is strongly Greek and it is rightly always described as "Doric".
Tuscan is often used for doorways and other entrances where only a pair of columns are required, and using another order might seem pretentious. Because the Tuscan mode is easily worked up by a carpenter with a few planing tools, it became part of the vernacular Georgian style that lingered in places like New England and Ohio deep into the 19th century. In gardening, "carpenter's Doric" which is Tuscan, provides simple elegance to gate posts and fences in many traditional garden contexts.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Tuscan order”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Regola delli cinqve ordini d'architettvra (1563) (14778998914).jpg by Internet Archive Book Images, No restrictions
- Vignolafiveorders.jpg by Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, Public domain
- ARCHITECTURE ORDERS Greeks Etruscan Roman (Doric Ionic Corinthian Tuscan Composite) by Paolo Villa ENG edition.pdf by Paolo Villa: image correction, composition, text diagram, translate. --- Karl Baedeker. Greece, Handbook for Travellers by Karl Baedeker, second revised edition, Leipzig, Karl Baedeker, 1894. --- Comparative Greek and Roman Orders, Greek Architecture, History of Architecture, pg 160 Date 15 August 2017 Source History of architecture. Architectural Press. Author Sir Banister Flight Fletcher (15 February 1866, London, 17 August 1953, London) --- Ionic order Date 1 February 2007 Source Own work Author F l a n k e r --- Title: Andrea Palladio, his life and works Year: 1902 (1900s) Authors: Fletcher, Banister, Sir, 1866-1953 Subjects: Palladio, Andrea, 1508-1580 Publisher: London, G. Bell and Sons Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries --- Immagine di pagina 15 Date 1790 Source File:I quattro libri dell'architettura.djvu page 23 Author Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) Blue pencil.svg --- I qvattro libri dell'architettvra di Andrea Palladio : ne' quali, dopo un breue trattato de' cinque ordini, & di quelli auertimenti, che sono piu necessarii nel fabricare; si tratta delle case private, delle vie, de i ponti, delle piazze, de i xisti, et de' tempij Year: 1771 (1770s) Authors: Palladio, Andrea, 1508-1580 Smith, Joseph, 1674-1770 Subjects: Architecture Architecture, Classical Architecture, Renaissance Publisher: In Venetia : Appresso Dominico de' Franceschi, (Venice) Contributing Library: Getty Research Institute Digitizing Sponsor: Getty Research Institute --- Portikus (römisch-dorische Ordnung) im Aufriss und Grundriss Original caption Original image description from the Deutsche Fotothek Architektur & Portal & Portikus & Säulenordnung & Säule & Pfeiler & Kapitell & Basis & Architrav & Gebälk & Fries & Metope & Triglyphe & Regula & Gutta & Giebel & Dreiecksgiebel & Nische Author Vincenzo Scamozzi & Joachim Schaum Date 1664 Medium copper engraving on paper Collection Deutsche Fotothek --- Regles des cinq ordres d'architecture de Vignole : ouvrage dans lequel on donne : une idée de la géometrie, les définitions des figures géométriques nécessaires à l'étude de l'architecture, la formation des ordres, rigoureusement démontrée, dans l'origine de l'architecture ... : enfin, les notions nécessaires sur les ordres appellés accessoires Year: 1797 (1790s) Authors: Vignola, 1507-1573 Delagardette, C. M. (Claude Mathieu), 1762-1805. Leçons élémentaires des ombres dans l'architecture Subjects: Architecture Architecture Shades and shadows Publisher: A Paris : Chez Joubert, graveur, md. d'estampes, & successeur de J.F. Chéreau ... Contributing Library: Getty Research Institute Digitizing Sponsor: Getty Research Institute Source https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/14581151249/ Source book page: https://archive.org/stream/reglesdescinqord00vign/reglesdescinqord00vign#page/n64/mode/1up Author Internet Archive Book Images Permission (Reusing this file) At the time of upload, the image license was automatically confirmed using the Flickr API. For more information see Flickr API detail. Flickr tags bookid:reglesdescinqord00vign bookyear:1797 bookdecade:1790 bookcentury:1700 bookauthor:Vignola__1507_1573 bookauthor:Delagardette__C__M___Claude_Mathieu___1762_1805__Le__ons___l__mentaires_des_ombres_dans_l_architecture booksubject:Architecture booksubject:Shades_and_shadows bookpublisher:A_Paris___Chez_Joubert__graveur__md__d_estampes____successeur_de_J_F__Ch__reau____ bookcontributor:Getty_Research_Institute booksponsor:Getty_Research_Institute bookleafnumber:64 bookcollection:getty bookcollection:americana Flickr posted date 28 July 2014 --- Immagine di pagina 57 Libro I Data 1790 Fonte File:I quattro libri dell'architettura.djvu page 65 Autore Andrea Palladio (1508-1580), CC BY-SA 4.0
- St. Paul's Church, Covent Garden, London.jpg by Steve Cadman, CC BY-SA 2.0
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