Capital and base of a column (Vitruvius II)

This engraving is part of a series of decorated columns based on illustrations from a 1521 edition of Vitruvius’s treatise De Architectura (On Architecture). Single-sheet engravings of Roman classical fragments proliferated in the Renaissance, disseminating knowledge about antiquity. They were, however, often reassembled in print albums and were frequently modified to create new inventions, creating a fanciful image of antiquity. Although the inscription on this print states that the column is of the Doric Order, its decorations would in fact suggest that it is a later example of ancient architecture and most likely the product of artistic fantasy. The architect Giovan Battista Aleotti (1546–1636) included a copy of this print in an album comprised of what he described as ‘fragments of each order that wandered as prints . . .’.

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