Column

DEFINITION

An upright pillar or post, often used to bear weight. Columns usually consist of a base at the bottom, a round shaft tapering toward the top, and a capital. A half-column is attached to a wall and does not bear weight. Half-columns were used for decorative purposes on the Temple of Fortuna Virilis in Rome.Examples of columns: A schematic diagram of the Doric order and a diagram of the Ionic order.Roman, Rome, Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheater), 70-82 CE. A vast ellipse in plan, length 620 feet x width 513 feet (188 x 156 m), with eighty external arcaded openings on each storey, those on the ground floor forming entrances from which the various tiers of seats were reached. The upper storey was added 222-224, around the top of which were sockets for 240 wooden masts which carried a massive canopy (velarium). The fa?ade's entire height is 157 feet 6 inches (48.5 m). Each of the four storeys are pierced by arches, and have attached three-quarter columns and entablatures, Doric in the first story, Ionic in the second, Corinthian in the third, and above these are pilasters of Corinthian design, with small square window openings in alternate bays. Another view of the exterior and a cutaway view. Constantin Brancusi (French, born Romania, 1876-1957), Endless Column, 1937-38, metal-coated cast-iron modules on a steel spine, height 98 feet, T?rgu-Jiu, Romania. It was restored and reassembled in 2000, as seen here. Endless Column is one of three elements in a sculptural ensemble. the other two works are the travertine Table of Silence and the Gate of the Kiss. The Endless Column was conceived as a monument to young Romanians who died in World War I. See vertical.Related link: Do you need to depict one or more columns, and you'd like to learn how to create a more believable illusion? Visit the "Chalkboard" page about using linear perspective to draw columns. Chalkboard is produced by Ralph Larmann, on the art faculty member at the University of Evansville, IN.Also see abacus, architecture, atlantid, caryatid, classical orders, colonnette, dolmen, echinus, entasis, Greek art, intercolumniation, Ionic, pedestal, pier, pilaster, reserve column, respond, Roman art, socle, and stylobate.