From Allegory to Icon:

The Christian Church Triumphant (cat. 16-30)

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20

Pilaster Capital


Marble
Constantinople (?) 5th century AD
Width: 16 inches (40.6 cm.)

"There is need of as many architects as possible; but since there are none of them, you shall encourage to this study those men...who are about eighteen years old and have had a taste of the liberal arts."
Edict of Constantine to the Praetorian Prefect Felix, posted in Carthage, 334 AD

The design of this pilaster capital derives from Greek and Roman prototypes of the Corinthian order. However, the lacey treatment of the leaves is something new altogether. The effects of light and shade employed by Classical sculptors to emphasize physical presence and monumentality are used here to reduce the volume of this capital almost to the point of abstraction. This new approach to architecture emphasizes the fluidity of a space rather than its definition by rational architectural orders. At Hagia Sophia, for example, the structural elements dissolve into one another to create a fluid and seamless spiritual space.

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