High relief
A sculptural technique in which
the modelled figures protrude,
with respect to the line of the
bottom plane, for about three-
quarters of their thickness or
with parts in the round. In the
high relief, the shapes,
subordinated to the background
surface, are reproduced without
particular proportional
alterations or crushing.
The first examples of high relief
date back to Egyptian art, but
the development of this kind of
art took place among the
Greeks.
The use of high relief is related,
from a historical point of view
to the discovery of three
dimensions, to the study of
human anatomy as well as to
compliance with the rules of
optical vision. Not surprisingly,
one of the most fertile moments
of the high relief corresponds to
the Renaissance. Scarcely
adopted in the neoclassical era,
high relief reappeared in the
nineteenth century in romantic
sculpture.
RENAISSANCE REVIVAL
ARCHITECTURE
ELEMENTS
The origin of the Greek capital - but the least common in Greece -
is linked to a legend. It is said, in fact, that the sculptor Callimaco
invented the Corinthian capital inspired by the tomb of a young
girl on which stood a basket full of his most expensive objects
wrapped in acanthus, a spontaneous plant with large jagged
leaves.
In reality, the Corinthian capital is a derivation of the Egyptian
lotus flower capital. Composed of a nucleus wrapped in two rows
of eight leaves, it is crowned at the top by four caulicula, thin
stems folded into volutes in the four corners. It is sumptuous and
imposing, and for this reason, it will be the most used capital in
ancient Rome.
In the Baroque age, the classical orders were taken up again in
their most pompous forms. Composite columns and capitals
The pediment is found in classical Greek, Etruscan, Roman, Renaissance,
Baroque, Rococo, and Neoclassical architecture temples. A striking
example is the Parthenon when it contains a tympanum decorated with
figures in relief sculpture. This architectural element was developed in
the architecture of ancient Greece and had appeared as gables of Greek
temples. In ancient Rome, the Renaissance, and then architectural
revivals, the pediment was used as a non-structural element on
windows, doors and aedicules. The shape of the pediment is dictated by
the primary function of the roof, which in various areas rejects
rainwater.
Rudolf Wittkower wrote: "The pilaster is the logical
transformation of the column for the decoration of a wall. It
may be defined as a flattened column which has lost its
three-dimensional and tactile value. "
The pilaster is a vertical structural, architectural element (pillar)
incorporated into a wall, from which it protrudes only slightly.
The pilaster is always equipped with capital and base, and is
present in Roman architecture and was revived with incisiveness in
the Renaissance period, starting with Filippo Brunelleschi himself
who used it in the famous interiors of the Old Sacristy. It is also
often found painted in the fake architectures of perspective
painters, for example in Masaccio's Trinity.
As a classical element, it was then taken up in derived styles, from