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Definition: Corinthian from The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide

In classical architecture, one of the five types of column; see order.


Corinthian order

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
most ornate of the classic orders of architecture. It was also the latest, not arriving at full development until the middle of the 4th cent. B.C. The oldest known example, however, is found in the temple of Apollo at Bassae (c.420 B.C. ). The Greeks made little use of the order; the chief example is the circular structure at Athens known as the choragic monument of Lysicrates (335 B.C. ). The temple of Zeus at Athens (started in the 2d cent. B.C. and completed by Emperor Hadrian in the 2d cent. A.D. ) was perhaps the most notable of the Corinthian temples. The Greek Corinthian, aside from its distinctive capital, is similar to the Ionic, but the column is somewhat more slender. The capital, which may have been especially devised for circular structures, is of uncertain origin. Callimachus is the legendary originator of the design. The delicate foliated details make plausible an original in metalwork. The Romans used the Corinthian order in numerous monumental works of imperial…
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Full text Article Corinthian order

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
most ornate of the classic orders of architecture. It was also the latest, not arriving at full development until the middle of the 4th cent. B.C. The oldest known example, however, is found in the temple of Apollo at Bassae (c.420 B.C. ). The Greeks made little use of the order; the chief example…
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Full text Article Corinthian order

From The American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language
Corinthian order Corinthian order capital Alan...
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Full text Article Corinthian order

From Dictionary of Architecture and Construction
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Full text Article Corinthian order

From Philip's Encyclopedia
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Full text Article orders of architecture

From The Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Art Terms
orders of architecture
A system devised by the Roman architectural historian Vitruvius (1st c.   BC ) to categorize the various types of classical architecture. He bases his system on three standard types of column , together with their bases , plinths , capitals and entablature . The Doric order is the oldest, plainest…
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Full text Article Dorian and Doric

From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
Pertaining to Doris, a district of ancient Greece, or to the Doric or Dorian people, one of the four main sub-groups of the ancient Greeks, the others being the Aeolians, the Ionians and the Achaeans. The Dorians maintained some of the characteristics of a simple-living, pastoral people, and they…
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Full text Article Corinth or Corinthian

From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
The loose living of Corinth was proverbial both in Greece and Rome. Hence, in the regency period in England the term Corinthian was applied to a hard-living group of sportsmen devoted to pugilism and horse-racing. The sporting rake in Pierce Egan's Life in London (1821) was known as ‘Corinthian…
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Full text Article composite 1

From Merriam-Webster's Collegiate(R) Dictionary
(1563) 1 : made up of distinct parts: as a cap :  relating to or being a modification of the Corinthian order combining angular Ionic volutes with the acanthus-circled bell of the Corinthian b :  of or relating to a very large family (Compositae syn. Asteraceae) of dicotyledonous herbs, shrubs, and…
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Full text Article Madeleine

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(măd'Әlĭn, Fr. mädlĕn') [Fr.,=Magdalen, i.e., Mary Magdalen], large church of Paris, in the Place de la Madeleine. It was originally planned by J. A. Gabriel as a part of his layout for the Place de la Concorde , the location being selected so as to close the vista of the Rue Royale. The building…
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Interior view of the nave of the Church of Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis, seen from the organ, 1627-41
Artist: Martellange, Etienne (1569-1641) & Derand, F. (1588-1644) Location: Church of Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis, Paris, France Credit: Interior view of the nave of the Church of Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis, seen from the organ, 1627-41, Martellange, Etienne (1569-1641) & Derand, F. (1588-1644) / …
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