How to Layout a Pediment: 350 years of instructions

A short history of classical pediments in the Western world,  c. 1540 to c.1903. 

Vignola's Rule was first laid out by Giacomo (Jacopo) Barozzi da Vignola in his Cannon, published in 1562.

This image was  published in 1903 in William Ware's The American Vignola.* 

 

Was it Vignola's  rule or did he just record it? 

It's possible that the Rule itself was already widely known.  

 

In 1540 Sebastiano Serlio drew this sketch in Book IV of his On Architecture.* 

He wrote, "...
having drawn the cornice, divide the upper line from one side to the other in the middle, between A and B; drop half of this plumb from the middle to make C; then placing one compass point on C and the other on the side of the cornice A, arc to the side B; the highest point of the curved line will mark the required height for the pediment. A curved pediment can also be made with such a rule."*

The diagram shows the actual twine held tight at Points A and B. It is a Line with its ends dangling and curling.

 

Palladio doesn't describe this, but the roofs in his The Four Books of Architecture (1570) use the same pitch. 

 

Vignola's book on architecture was translated, of course.

This image, c. 1600, attributed to Vignola, comes from a book published in Spain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

His 5 Orders of Architecture* were translated into English and published by John Leeke in 1669. Vignola's portrait (Plate I)  is surrounded by a decorative frame topped by an extravagant  pediment.  It does not quite follow Vignola's Rule. Follow the red lines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Leeke' book  included 3 pediments attributed to 'Michel Angelo'. This one, the simplest, does seem to use Vignola's formula. The angle is the proper 22.5*. Did Michael Angelo know of Vignola's work?

 

 

 

A complete English translation of Serlio's 5 Books on Architecture, including the sketch of the pediment's layout, was available in the UK about 1720. 

James Gibbs probably had read both Vignola and Serlio.  He uses the geometry in the pediment of a Menagery, in his book, On Architecture*. Perhaps Gibbs includes the knowledge of this diagram when he writes that his 'draughts ... may be executed by  any Workman who understands  Lines'. 

William Salmon's book, Palladio Londinensis*, published in the 1750's, was intended for the London builder. Pediments are included; their proportions are measured in parts. Perhaps Salmon considered the understanding of geometry by London's builders to be scant, or that it was not applicable to London's tightly set row houses.

 

 

The rule for laying out a pediment came to the States with craftsmen as well with their pattern books. The Rockingham Meetinghouse, finished by 1797, is a classic New England meeting house:  plain and unadorned...

 

 

until you look at its doors. The pediments of the classical frontispieces follow Serlio's layout. 

 

I began my diagram here on the lower edge of the pediment's frame. If the layout is moved to the upper edge of that plate, the arc marks the top of the ridge of the pediment roof, rather than at the underside.

 

 

At about the same time William Pain includes the same arcs (lightly dashed here) and describes how to draw them in The Practical House Carpenter,* a pattern book widely available in the States.

Here is Asher Benjamin's simplification of Pain's engraving in The Country Builder's Assistant*, published in 1797.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This door front in Springfield, VT, c. 1800, was probably inspired by Benjamin's illustration.

 

 

 

 

 

The Industrial Revolution brought new tools and materials. Galvanized metal allowed shallow roof pitches which didn't leak.

 

 

 

Here's an example of a shallow roof pitch from Samuel Sloan's pattern book, The Modern Architect*, published in 1852 .

 

 

 

 

Sloan's Plate XXXV shows the steeple structure. The frame spanning the building uses the traditional roof pitch of Serlio's pediment (22*). The pitch of the roof is much shallower (15*)

For the next 50 years architectural style was giddy with the designs made possible by the Industrial Revolution.

 

 By 1900, the design possibilities made possible by 60 years of industrialization were taken for granted. Architects looked to Europe, especially the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, for inspiration, and perhaps a re-grounding in tradition.

 

William Ware wrote The American Vignola in 1903 as a guide for his students at the Architectural School of Columbia University. 

Here's his Plate XVII with many pediments. The dotted lines compare measured/built pediments in Greece and Rome to Vignola's standard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The 2 small diagrams on the right side Plate XVII are his codification to Vignola's Rule. 

 

 

 As I compiled these illustrations I found 2 caveats:

Owen Biddle* published his pattern book in 1804. Instead of a general rule for 'a pitch pediment frontispieces', Biddle wrote that the roof angle was 2/9 of the span. He also wrote that for 'the townhouse with a narrow front... the true proportions of the Orders may be dispensed with..." p. 34

William Ware noted that "...if a building is high and narrow, the slope needs to be steeper, and if it is low and wide, flatter." p. 45

And finally, this advice from William Salmon: "...when you begin to draw the Lines,... omit drawing them in Ink, and only draw them with the Point of the Compasses, or Pencil, that they may not be discovered when your Draught is finished..." p. 103.

 

*The books from which I have copied illustrations and quotes for this blog are listed in alphabetical order by author.

Asher Benjamin, The Country Builder's Assistant, Greenfield, MA., 1797, Plate 10. 

Owen Biddle, The Young Carpenter's Assistant, Philadelphia, 1805, Plate 15. 

James Gibbs, On Architecture, London, 1728, introduction and Plate 84.

William Pain,The Practical House Carpenter, fifth edition, London, 1794,  Plate 38.

Sebastiano Serlio, On Architecture, , c. 1545, Book IV, page xxviii.

Samuel Sloan, The Modern Architect, 1852,  Plates XXVII and XXXV.

WilliamWare, The American Vignola, W.W. Norton & Co., NYC, 1903, Plate XVII.

 

 

The Geometry of Ionic volutes, as drawn by those who used them

 

Ionic volutes, those curly ends of Ionic capitals, with these wonderful curves!
How were they drawn? 

This post began as an exploration of the use of practical geometry vs. the use of the golden section in construction.  In all my research I found no references to the golden section as a construction tool.

So, what to do with the images and descriptions I found? Write about them!

Here are the instructions, written by the designers, master builders, architects, and those who used these volutes. 

First, of course, is Vitruvius. He writes, in the 1st c. BCE,  "As for the drawings of volutes so they are properly coiled with the use of a compass, and the way they are drawn, the form and the principal of these will be set down at the end of the book.' * 

Unfortunately, those drawings at the end of his book are lost. 

Beginning about 1540, many architects, builders, historians, professional and amateur, measured the Ionic volutes still extant, those created during the Greek and Roman empires.

Giacomo Barozzi de la Vignola published his engravings in 1562. The illustration  is from the English translation of Vignola by John Leeke in 1669. Vignola begins by noting the reference lines and then the small square in the circle in the upper right corner of the page, 'A'. "Having drawn the Cathetus (the vertical guideline) of this first voluta and the other line S square to it, the said eye is divided in the manner expressed above in the figure A..." 17 lines, total, all quite easy to follow.

 

Andrea Palladio and Sebastiano Serlio worked at the same time as Vignola and probably knew him. 

 Here is Palladio's drawing in his 4 Books of Architecture, First Book, Plate IXX, 1570. 

Serlio's On Architecture, was written before 1550.  Serlio takes 32 lines to explain how to draw the volute.  He includes, "This matter (as I said) consists more in the practice than in the art because making it diminish both to a greater or lesser extent is dependent on the architect's judgement in placing the point of the compass a little higher or a little lower. The size of the band should not always be all the same."

If you look carefully at Vignola, Palladio and Serlio's drawings, you will see that they do not quite agree about the location of those 2 first lines, the cathetus and its perpendicular. They probably had measured different volutes. Later writers mention which volutes they think to be most perfect.

Serlio's treatise was translated from Italian to Dutch to English in 1611. A complete English translation of Palladio wasn't available until after 1715.

 

Batty Langely's The Builder's Director or Bench-Mate, was published in 1745, London, a compilation of "all that is useful to Workmen,... and at so easy a Rate, as to be purchased by any common Labourer." He includes variations for Ionic capitals: 'modern' and 'ancient' all of which are explained by 'Minutes and Parts'. This is his first drawing of 6.

Batty Langley's books continued to be published after his death in 1751, and were available in the Colonies.

 

William Pain published similar 'practical builder' pattern books at about the same time. Here is his Plate XVI from The Practical House Carpenter, or Youth's Instruction, London, 1794, for volutes with parts. He writes that he has included " ... all the measures figured for practice: to draw it, set the compasses at the angle a in the profile..." He rewrites the earlier instructions given by others and reminds the reader again that he has included "the measures all figured for practice."

 

 

 

 Owen Biddle's pattern book, The Young Carpenter's Assistant, 1805, Philadelphia, includes these less flowerly drawings and instructions.

                             

 

 

 Asher Benjamin's  American Builder's Companion, originally published in 1804,  includes similar diagrams.

 

 

 

However, his revised 1827 edition includes the drawing above and also this diagram. "Plate F, From the Inside of the Portico  of the Temple of Minerva, at Athens." 

"Fig. 1. Volute of the capital, with the measurements in feet, inches, tenths, hundredths, & etc."

A footnote explains how to read Feet, Inches "and the decimal parts". 

 

The Architect, or Complete Builder's Guide, written in 1839,  has  this drawing, Plate X.  Asher Benjamin notes, "The  carver will find it to his advantage to imitate these drawings faithfully, and thus escape the censure deservedly cast upon the many clumsy, awkward productions of this capital, which may be seen in both town and country." 

 Benjamin's books were published through the 1850's.

 

Then there's a break - I've found no English language 'how-to' pattern
book instructions on volutes during the height of the Industrial Revolution.
Ionic volutes were used: here on c.1896 porch columns. Probably these were created by craftsmen for a company which specialized in plaster and wood composites. They are probably available today.

 

 

In 1903, in The American Vignola, William Ware describes how to construct a volute, "The vertical line a b, Fig 91, through the center of the eye of the Volute, and the horizontal line c d, will mark in the circumference of the eye the four corners of the square within which a fret whose angles may serves as centers..."* 

6 sentences;  22 lines of instructions. This is a small drawing at the bottom corner of a page.

Architectural Graphic Standards' first edition was published in 1932.  This page in every edition  I own:  2nd -1936, 3rd -1941, 4th -1953,  5th - 1966,  but not the 8th - 1988. 

The pages are quite yellow - I've toned them down here to make them more legible.

 

 

The 8th edition of  Architectural Graphic Standards, 1988, no longer dedicated a page to Ionic details. 

The last 2 pages of the book, titled  Classical Orders at the top and CLASSIC ORDERS at the bottom, are a crowded introduction to centuries of architecture. 

Here's about 2/3 of the second sheet. The architects who complied the page are credited not their sources. 

Do I have a conclusion? Not really. 

I looked for the Golden Section and didn't find it. I read convoluted and simple language as people who knew construction explained with words how to draw something complex.  Many descriptions expected experience using compasses. I appreciated the authors who said, "Practice!" Words help; they are not a substitute for drawing.

Books not listed here are in my bibliography: 

https://www.jgrarchitect.com/2019/06/bibliography-includiung-websites.html

Asher Benjamin, Practice of Architecture and The Builder's Guide, new introduction by Thomas Gordon Smith, De Capo Press, New York, 1994.

Batty Langley, The Builder's Director or Bench-Mate, published first in 1754, London, reprint, publisher unlisted.

William Pain,  The Practical House Carpenter, or Youth's Instruction, London, 1794. reprint by Dover Publications.

Ramsey/Sleeper, Architectural Graphic Standards, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York

Giacomo Barozzi daVignola, Canon of the Five Orders of Architecture, John Leeke, translator, published by William Sherwin, London, 1669.

Vitruvius, Ten Books on Architecture, edited by Ingrid D. Rowland, Thomas Noble Howe, Cambridge University Press, 1999

*Wm. R. Ware, The American Vignola, 1903, Dover Publications, 1994, p. 30. 

*Book 3, Chapter 5, paragraph 8,  translation by Ingrid D. Rowland; Viruvius, 10 Books on Architecture, Ingrid D. Rowland and Thomas Nobel Howe, Editors, Cambridge University Press, 1999.

English Construction Tools, 1669

John Leeke translated Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola's Regola delli cinque ordini from Italian into English in 1669.

While Leeke himself is worth attention; he was a mathematician, a professor, and land surveyor and well as fluent in Italian. He also helped rebuild London after its disastrous fire in 1666.  Here I want to focus on the frontispiece for his translation.

Leeke calls the translation
THE REGULAR ARCHITECT
He adds Vignola's title.

Then he writes
For the USE and BENEFIT of
Free Masons, Carpenters, Joyners, Carvers, Painters,    Bricklayers Plaisterers:
In General
For all Ingenious Persons that are concerned in the Famous Art of BUILDING 


This cartouche fills half the frontispiece. It celebrates the tools used by all those craftsmen.
Sitting on a column base are:
A compass
A carpenter square
A horizontal level
A vertical level
A measure with a curved side and regular marks
Draped around the cartouche is a Line, its spool on one end, its plumb bob on the other.

These are the tools for people who built.



130 years earlier most of the same tools are on Serlio's frontispiece which he engraved about 1540, for his book, On Architecture.
The original is black and white. This cartouche is on the cover of the 1998 translation by Hart and Hicks.
I use the color image because it makes the tools easier to see:

A compass in front of a ring - a perfect circle.
The compass pierces the scroll of the cartouche and is held in place by the ring.
A large carpenter square spearing a tetrahedron
A straight edge spearing a cube incised with diagonals, graduated circles and squares. The size of each is determined by those on either side.
A round rule pierces both the tetrahedron and the cube.
A Line with a handle is in the lower left corner, entangled in the scrolling, ending with a knot and a tassel beside the handle.
Serlio does not include any levels.



 Walther Hermann Ryff, of Nuremberg, c. 1500- 1548, considered Serlio his mentor. He did not train under him.
Ryff was probably a pharmacist and published many works on medicine.

He also published Vitruvius first in Latin and then in German 1548.
This book, with a title of over 30 words, is referred to as Architecture. Part of the title says it is "The hardest, most necessary, belonging to the whole architecture of mathematical and mechanical art, regular report, and vastly clear, understandable information..."
 
This engraving is the frontispiece for his book. Many tools!
4 compasses are easily seen. 
Here's a close up of one, with an impressive arm that would have guaranteed accuracy - along with a knife, a plane, and calipers. 

Edward Shaw published his pattern book, The Modern Architect, in 1854, in Boston. It also had a frontispiece displaying tools,.
His engraving is in black and white: The color rendering is for clarity.

He includes:
A small compass in hand
A rule in hand
A large compass in the foreground
A hammer.
A large carpenter square
A cylinder which might be a chalk line
A saw in hand
A drawing and a portfolio of drawings
against the tool box:
A straight edge or rule
A vertical level
A brace is in the tool box.




A part of the original engraving showing most of the tools.

 The 12 presentations and workshops I gave this past year began with the portraits of master builders holding their compasses, and these engravings of their tools.
When my audience understood what tools were available before the Industrial Revolution they enjoyed seeing how a compass and a straight edge could layout a  rectangle, and then a building. Next they drew them themselves. They saw for themselves how the compass creates the first dimension and determines the next dimensions.
    
Practical Geometry was the tool  which translated a design from an idea to construction.  It was the Practical, not Theoretical, use of Geometry.

   



Note: our contemporary John Leeke is the 8th great-grandson of the man mentioned above. Yes, I asked and he told me so.

Portraits of Master Builders with Their Compasses, Part 2

My previous post had portraits of men who designed and built - Master Builders - with their compasses. 
Here are a few more.
Before 1800, in the States especially, the word 'architect' referred to master carpenters and masons, not a specialized group of people who had not trained in actual hands-on construction.
For more clarification look up the word 'architect' in the OED - the Oxford English Dictionary - which gives origins, sources, and historic uses of words. Its first definition of 'architect' is 'master builder'.

Men who drew and designed buildings, machines, and equipment used compasses. They often had other jobs too - painters, builders, tool makers, teachers, surveyors, erstwhile inventors.They are well-rounded, experienced craftsmen.


Here is James Watt, a famous Scottish inventor with his compass. He vastly improved the efficiency of the steam engine, working on the refinements from about 1765 to 1790. While he refined the parts of the steam engine, he made mathematical instruments and was a land surveyor. 
The Britannica has an excellent biography on him. 

This sculpture is in the  National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.
 
For more pictures and information about James Watt  see my blog post:
 https://www.jgrarchitect.com/2019/09/john-haviland-his-pattern-book.html

By the mid-1800's men who drew buildings were beginning to call themselves 'Architects', no longer 'Master Builders'.
Asher Benjamin and others designers are said to have joined together as 'architects' teaching in Boston in the 1840's.*
New York architects created the American Institute of Architects in 1857.
MIT, founded in 1868, was the first school to train architects. The department was, and is, called  Course IV. William Ware, mentioned below, was its first Director.
The street directories in Lawrence Massachusetts,  1845-1880, show men who first advertise themselves as carpenters, later listing themselves as builders, and then as architects.

John Haviland called himself an architect. He apprenticed to an architect in England, then sought to become an engineer in Russia, before migrating to the States in 1816. Here he is, with his compass.



For information about the portrait see the blog post listed above for James Watt.






Edward Shaw published his pattern book in 1854. He referred to himself as an architect.

His book discusses design and relationships between parts. It also includes detailed information for carpenters, masons, plasterers.  
I wrote about this illustration and the tools shown here in this blog post:
https://www.jgrarchitect.com/2012/02/edward-shaw-uses-tools.html
 

Le Pere Soubise is the legendary founder and saint of the Campagnons Passants Charpentiers de Devoir.


There is more about le Pere Soubise and his compass here: https://www.jgrarchitect.com/2018/02/how-practical-geometry-is-practical.html  

This portrait of le Pere Soubise dates from c.1880. This implies that large compasses were still known and used in the late 19th century.

An engraving of Giacoma Barozzi da Vignola (1507-1573) with his compass.
Vignola trained under Serlio, then worked in France for Francis I at the same time Serlio was there. He wrote Canon of the Five Orders of Architecture in 1562. It was widely available, reprinted, and translated into many languages. This image is from the edition translated by John Leeke into English in 1669, now available through Dover Publications.  


And why did they need compasses? The compass was a tool of layout - for design, for setting proportions. A ruler could then be used to measure those proportions. 
   
*I had the citation about 10 years ago, but cannot find it now. Perhaps it could not be substantiated.
I apologize for the type size changes. If I understood what causes them I would fix them.