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History about the Corinthians and the Acanthus leaves
This citation [WWW-68] reports about the incidence of how Corinthians used the acanthus leaves in their architecture:
" The third order, which is called Corinthian, imitates the slight
figure of a maiden; because girls are represented with slighter
dimensions because of their tender age, and admit of more graceful
effects in ornament.
Now the first invention of that capital is related to have happened
thus. A girl, a native of Corinth, already of age to be married, was
attacked by a disease and died. After her funeral, the goblets which
delighted her when living, were put together in a basket by her nurse,
carried to the monument, and placed on the top. So that they might
remain longer, exposed as they were to the weather, she covered the
basket with a tile. As it happened the basket was placed upon the root
of an acanthus. Meanwhile about spring time, the root of the acanthus,
being pressed down in the middle by the weight, put forth leaves and
shoots. The shoots grew up the sides of the basket, and, being pressed
down at the angles by the force of the weight of the tile, were
compelled to form the curves of volutes at the extreme parts.
Then Callimachus, who for the elegance and refinement of his marble
carving was nick-named catatechnos by the Athenians, was passing the
monument, perceived the basket and the young leaves growing up. Pleased
with the style and novelty of the grouping, he made columns for the
Corinthians on this model and fixed the proportions. Thence he
distributed the details of the Corinthian order throughout the work "
from: A Certain "Remarkable Circumstance" by
Vitruvius, On Architecture, (ca. 30 B.C.E.). Book IV, Chapter 1.
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