• Hans Sebald Beham (engraver (printmaker))

Design for the capital and base of a column

1543

- This engraving depicts a design for an order of architecture showing the capital and the base. Although the inscriptions refer to "DORICA[E]", this is not one of the traditional orders of architecture: the acanthus leaves on the capital suggest a Corinthian model while other details, such as the dolphin heads, suggest a more personal interpretation.
- This print is one of a set of four prints of capitals and bases which were engraved by Hans Sebald Beham. Patricia Condon suggests that these prints were made for a general audience rather than for architects ('Ornament and Architecture', 29). Three of the prints in the CCA collection are from the collection of the Ducs d'Arenburg, while the provenance of this print is unknown.

• pattern drawing
• theoretical drawing
• dessin de détail

Engraving

plate mark: 7.6 x 5.0 cm sheet: 7.9 x 5.3 cm

DR1987:0342

• line drawing

• pictorial drawing

- The sheet has been trimmed unevenly just outside the plate mark. There is a pinhole at the u.r. and a repair to the c.

signed, dated, and inscribed - by the engraver ? in the plate above the image, u.l. to u.r.: "1543 VITRVVIVS HSB" [monogram]"; to the l. of the image, l.l. to u.l.: "QVODLIBET HORVM CAPITVM PONI POTEST / AD CORPVS COLVMNÆ DORICAE" [written sideways]; and to the r. of the image, u.r. to u.l.: "DISSE HAVBTER MAG EINIETLICHES GESECZ WERDEN AVF DEN / LEIB DER SEVLN DORICA" [written sideways] inscribed - by an unknown hand, in graphite, verso, c.: "P257" inscribed - by an unknown hand, in graphite, verso, b.: "13174 [underlined] / F [...] M [...] es" [illeg.]

• architecture

• capital
• base
• architectural orders