The Composite order is a mixed order, combining the volutes of the

Ionic order The Ionic order is one of the three canonic classical order, orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric order, Doric and the Corinthian order, Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan order, Tuscan (a plainer Doric) ...

capital with the acanthus leaves of the

Corinthian order The Corinthian order (, ''Korinthiakós rythmós''; ) is the last developed and most ornate of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Ancient Roman architecture, Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric or ...

.Henig, Martin (ed.), ''A Handbook of Roman Art'', p. 50, Phaidon, 1983, In many versions the composite order volutes are larger, however, and there is generally some ornament placed centrally between the volutes. The column of the composite order is typically ten diameters high, though as with all the orders these details may be adjusted by the architect for particular buildings. The Composite order is essentially treated as Corinthian except for the capital, with no consistent differences to that above or below the capital. The Composite order is not found in

ancient Greek architecture Ancient Greek architecture came from the Greeks, or Hellenes, whose Ancient Greece, culture flourished on the Greek mainland, the Peloponnese, the Aegean Islands, and in colonies in Asia Minor, Anatolia and Italy for a period from about 900 BC ...

and until the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

was not ranked as a separate order. Instead it was considered as an imperial Roman form of the Corinthian order. Though the

Arch of Titus The Arch of Titus (; ) is a 1st-century AD honorific arch, located on the Via Sacra, Rome, just to the south-east of the Roman Forum. It was constructed in 81 AD by Emperor Domitian shortly after the death of his older brother Titus to comm ...

, in the forum in Rome and built in 82 AD, is sometimes cited as the first prominent surviving example of a composite order, the order was probably invented "a little before

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

's reign, and certainly well-developed before his death, the very time when the Roman version of Corinthian was being established." With the Tuscan order, a simplified version of the

Doric order The Doric order is one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of t ...

, also found in

ancient Roman architecture Ancient Roman architecture adopted the external language of classical ancient Greek architecture for the purposes of the ancient Romans, but was different from Greek buildings, becoming a new architectural style. The two styles are often consi ...

but not included by

Vitruvius Vitruvius ( ; ; –70 BC – after ) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work titled . As the only treatise on architecture to survive from antiquity, it has been regarded since the Renaissan ...

in his three orders, the Composite was added by Renaissance writers to make five

classical order An order in architecture is a certain assemblage of parts subject to uniform established proportions, regulated by the office that each part has to perform. Coming down to the present from Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek and Ancient Roman civiliz ...

s. Sebastiano Serlio (1475–1554) published his book '' I Sette libri dell'architettura'' in 1537 in which he was the second to mention the Composite order as its own order and not just as an evolution of the Corinthian order as previously suggested by

Leon Battista Alberti Leon Battista Alberti (; 14 February 1404 – 25 April 1472) was an Italian Renaissance humanist author, artist, architect, poet, Catholic priest, priest, linguistics, linguist, philosopher, and cryptography, cryptographer; he epitomised the natu ...

. Leon Battista Alberti in his '' De re aedificatoria'' (English: ''On the Art of Building'') mentions the Composite order, calling it "Italic".

Form of the capital

The Composite is partly based on the

, where the volutes (seen frontally) are joined by an essentially horizontal element across the top of the capital, so that they resemble a

scroll A scroll (from the Old French ''escroe'' or ''escroue''), also known as a roll, is a roll of papyrus, parchment, or paper containing writing. Structure A scroll is usually partitioned into pages, which are sometimes separate sheets of papyru ...

partly rolled at each end. Despite this origin, very many Composite capitals in fact treat the two volutes as different elements, each springing from one side of their leafy base. In this, and in having a separate ornament between them, they resemble the Archaic Greek Aeolic order, though this seems not to have been the route of their development in early Imperial Rome. Equally, where the Greek Ionic volute is usually shown from the side as a single unit of unchanged width between the front and back of the column, the Composite volutes are normally treated as four different thinner units, one at each corner of the capital, projecting at some 45° to the façade. This has the advantage of removing the necessity to have a different appearance between the front and side views, and the Ionic eventually developed bending forms that also allowed this. The treatment of details has often been very variable, with the inclusion of figures, heraldic symbols and the like in the capital. The relationship of the volutes to the leaves has been treated in many different ways, and the capital may be distinctly divided into different horizontal zones, or may treat the whole capital as a single zone. The composite order, due to its delicate appearance, was deemed by the Renaissance to be suitable for the building of churches dedicated to The Virgin Mary or other female saints. In general, it has since been used to suggest richness and grandeur.

Examples

Donato Bramante (1444–1514) used the Composite order in the second order of the cloister of Santa Maria della Pace, Rome. For the first order, the Ionic order was used.

Francesco Borromini Francesco Borromini (, ), byname of Francesco Castelli (; 25 September 1599 – 2 August 1667), was an Italian architect born in the modern Switzerland, Swiss canton of Ticino

(1599–1667) developed the Composite order in San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, Rome (1638). The interior of the church has 16 Composite columns. The load-bearing columns placed underneath the arches have inverted volutes. This choice was highly criticised at the time, thinking it was a lack of knowledge of the Vittruvian orders that led him to his decision. The inverted volutes can also be seen in Borromini's Oratorio dei Filippini in the lower order. There the controversy was even higher, considering that Borromini also removed the acanthus leaves, leaving a bare capital. ;Roman *

, Rome * Arch of Septimius Severus, Rome * Santa Costanza, Rome, interior, mid-4th century ;Modern * Ospedale degli Innocenti, Florence, 1421, Filippo Brunelleschi * Palazzo Valmarana, Vicenza, 1565, Andrea Palladio * Palazzo del Capitaniato, Vicenza, 1571–1572, Andrea Palladio * Lescot Wing, Louvre Palace, Paris *

Church of the Gesù The Church of the Gesù (, ), officially named (), is a church located at Piazza del Gesù in the Pigna (rione of Rome), Pigna ''Rioni of Rome, rione'' of Rome, Italy. It is the mother church of the Society of Jesus (best known as Jesuits). Wi ...

, Rome * Easton Neston, England, * Palazzo Madama, Turin, , Filippo Juvarra * Archbasilica of St. John Lateran *

Somerset House Somerset House is a large neoclassical architecture, neoclassical building complex situated on the south side of the Strand, London, Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadran ...

, London, 1776, William Chambers * Narva Triumphal Arch, Saint Petersburg, 1814 * Ethnographic Museum (former Palace of Justice), Budapest * Alabama Governor's Mansion, 1907

Gallery

File:Ephesus Celsus Library Façade.jpg, Roman Composite columns of the

Library of Celsus The Library of Celsus () is an Ancient Roman architecture, ancient Roman building in Ephesus, Anatolia, today located near the modern town of Selçuk, in the İzmir Province of western Turkey. The building was commissioned in the years 110s CE b ...

Ephesus Ephesus (; ; ; may ultimately derive from ) was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, in present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of Apasa, the former Arzawan capital ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, unknown architect, 110 AD file:ArcoTitoTrabeazioneCapComp.jpg, Roman Composite capital of the

, with a highly decorated entablature, Rome, unknown architect, 1st century 10 2023 Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, Roma, Italia - soffitto cassettoni lacunari lesene semicolonne composito tardo barocco angeli tripartizione sesto ribassato - Photo Paolo Villa FO232008 (cropped capitals).jpg, Roman Composite columns (not the pilasters) in the former Baths of Diocletian, Rome, now Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, unknown architect, 4th century File:Santa Costanza, interno.jpg, Roman Composite columns of the Church of Santa Costanza, Rome, originally built as a mausoleum to house the tomb of Constantina, daughter of Roman emperor

Constantine the Great Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...

, unknown architect, 2nd quarter of the 4th century File:Tesoro di san pietro, sarcofago di giunio basso.JPG, Roman Composite columns on the Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, 359, marble, treasury of St. Peter's Basilica, Rome File:Euphrasian Basilica Capital 3.JPG,

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

Composite capital in the Euphrasian Basilica, Poreč,

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, unknown architect, 6th century File:St Demetrius, Thessalonica Capitals in nave - Texier Charles - 1864.jpg, Byzantine reinterpretations of the Composite order in the Hagios Demetrios,

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

, Greece, unknown architect, 629–634 Lorsch, Kloster, Torhalle, Ansicht von Westen 20170609 007.jpg, Carolingian Composite columns of the Lorsch Abbey gatehouse, unknown architect, 800 File:Capital MET DP240296.jpg,

Islamic Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

Composite capital with

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

-inscribed

abacus An abacus ( abaci or abacuses), also called a counting frame, is a hand-operated calculating tool which was used from ancient times in the ancient Near East, Europe, China, and Russia, until the adoption of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system. A ...

, probably from Medina Azahara in the Umayyad

Caliphate of Córdoba A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

, 10th century, marble,

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

, New York File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia stonework at narthex side 4898.jpg, Byzantine reinterpretations of the Composite order in the

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia (; ; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque (; ), is a mosque and former Church (building), church serving as a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The last of three church buildings to be successively ...

Trabzon Trabzon, historically known as Trebizond, is a city on the Black Sea coast of northeastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. The city was founded in 756 BC as "Trapezous" by colonists from Miletus. It was added into the Achaemenid E ...

, Turkey, unknown architect, 13th century File:Allievo fiorentino del verrocchio attivo a roma, forse michele marini da fiesole, capitello con gorgone, 1485-95 ca. (roma, museo di roma) 01.jpg,

Composite pilaster capital with a

gorgon The Gorgons ( ; ), in Greek mythology, are three monstrous sisters, Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa, said to be the daughters of Phorcys and Ceto. They lived near their sisters the Graeae, and were able to turn anyone who looked at them to sto ...

mascaron, by a Florentine pupil of Verrocchio active in Rome, perhaps Michele Marini da Fiesole, 1485-1495, terracotta, Museo di Roma, Rome File:Ferrara, palazzo Prosperi-Sacrati (04).jpg, Renaissance Composite columns of the Palazzo Prosperi-Sacrati,

Ferrara Ferrara (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, capital of the province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main ...

, Italy, by

Biagio Rossetti Biagio Rossetti ( 1447 – 1516) was an Italian architect and urbanist from Ferrara. A military engineer since 1483, and the ducal architect of Ercole I d'Este, in 1492 Rossetti was assigned Addizione Erculea, the project of enlarging the city of ...

, 1493-1514 File:Paris - Palais du Louvre - PA00085992 - 219.jpg, Renaissance Composite capitals of the Lescot Wing of the Louvre Palace, Paris, by Pierre Lescot, 1546-1551 Palazzo del Capitanio - Vicenza.jpg, Renaissance Composite columns of the Palazzo del Capitaniato,

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; or , archaically ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, where it straddles the Bacchiglione, River Bacchiglione. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and e ...

, Italy, by Andrea Palladio, designed in 1565 and built in 1571-1572 File:Baldaquin Bernin Saint-Pierre Vatican.jpg,

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

Solomonic Composite columns of '' St. Peter's Baldachin'', St. Peter's Basilica,

Vatican City Vatican City, officially the Vatican City State (; ), is a Landlocked country, landlocked sovereign state and city-state; it is enclaved within Rome, the capital city of Italy and Bishop of Rome, seat of the Catholic Church. It became inde ...

, by

Gian Lorenzo Bernini Gian Lorenzo (or Gianlorenzo) Bernini (, ; ; Italian Giovanni Lorenzo; 7 December 1598 – 28 November 1680) was an Italians, Italian sculptor and Italian architect, architect. While a major figure in the world of architecture, he was more prom ...

, 1623–1634 File:Baldaquin et maître-autel du Val de Grâce.jpg, Baroque Solomonic Composite of the baldaquin in the Church of the Val-de-Grâce, Paris, by François Mansart or Gabriel Le Duc, 1634-1667 San Marcello al Corso - Facade.jpg, Baroque Composite columns of

San Marcello al Corso San Marcello al Corso, is an ancient titular and conventual church in Rome, Italy. It has been served by friars of the Servite Order since c. 1375 and is the headquarters of their General Curia. The cardinal-protector of the church is norma ...

, Rome, by Carlo Fontana, 1682-1683 Convento de San Esteban, Salamanca. Retablo mayor.jpg, Baroque Solomonic Composite columns of the main altar of the Convento de San Esteban,

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

, Spain, by José Benito de Churriguera, 1693 File:Boulle cabinet.jpg,

Composite columns on a cabinet, probably by

André-Charles Boulle André-Charles Boulle (11 November 164229 February 1732), ''le joailler du meuble'' (the "furniture jeweller"), became the most famous French Cabinet making, cabinetmaker and the preeminent artist in the field of marquetry, also known as "inlay". ...

, 17th century, Boulle work, gilt bronze,

lapis lazuli Lapis lazuli (; ), or lapis for short, is a deep-blue metamorphic rock used as a semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color. Originating from the Persian word for the gem, ''lāžward'', lapis lazuli is ...

and other materials, Rákóczi Múzeum,

Sárospatak Sárospatak (; ; Serbian language, Serbian: Муд Стреам; Slovak language, Slovakian: ''Šarišský Potok, Blatný Potok)'' History The area has been inhabited since ancient times. Sárospatak was granted town status in 1201 by Emeric ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

File:Interior of Chiesa dei Gesuiti (Venice) - High altar.jpg, Baroque Solomonic Composite columns of the high altar of the Gesuiti, Venice, Italy, by Jacopo Antonio Pozzo, 1715-1728 File:1732 wurde mit dem Bau der Hofkirche in der Würzburger Residenz begonnen. 01.jpg,

Rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

Composite columns in the chapel of the Würzburg Residence,

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...

, Germany, by Balthasar Neumann, 1732-1744 File:San Giovanni in Laterano Front.JPG, Baroque Composite columns of the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, Rome, by Alessandro Galilei, 1733-1735 File:Asamkirche - München - 2022-04-28 - 293a.jpg, Rococo Composite column and pilaster capitals of the St. Johann Nepomuk,

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, Germany, by Egid Quirin Asam and Cosmas Damian Asam, 1733-1746 File:Altaar met bisschoppen Ontwerpen voor altaren (serietitel), RP-P-1964-2671.jpg, Rococo reinterpretation of the Composite order of an altar design with bishops, with more curvy and sinuous S-shaped acanthuses, by Franz Xaver Habermann, 1740-1745, etching on paper, Rijksmuseum,

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Santa Maria Annunziata in Borgo - esterno.jpg, Baroque Composite columns of the Santa Maria Annunziata in Borgo, Rome, by Pietro Passalacqua, 1742 and 1745 Engelszell Stiftskirche - Nepomukaltar 4 Kapitell.jpg, Rococo reinterpretation of the Composite capital of the Engelszell Abbey,

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, by Johann Georg Üblhör, 1754-1764 Paris Palais Royal Jardin 184.jpg, Louis XVI style Composite

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s on a façade of the Galerie de Valois, Palais-Royal, Paris, by Victor Louis, 1780 File:BNF Richelieu (29863540447).jpg, Neoclassical stylized Composite columns in a reading room in the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

on Rue de Richelieu, Paris, by Henri Labrouste, 1859-1868 File:Composite capital, Palace of Justice (today Ethnographic Museum), Budapest.jpg, Baroque Revival composite capital in the former Palace of Justice,

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, by Alajos Hauszmann, 1893-1896 55, Strada Lipscani, Bucharest (Romania) 13.jpg, Beaux Arts Composite capital of a column from Cărturești Carusel ( Strada Lipscani no. 55),

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, unknown architect, 1900 File:Grand Foyer, Severance Hall, University Circle, Cleveland, OH - 52991405092.jpg,

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

Composite columns in the grand foyer of the Severance Hall,

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

, US, by Walker and Weeks, 1931 File:Моховая, 13.jpg, Stalinist Composite columns of the Zholtovsky House,

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, by Ivan Zholtovsky, 1932-1934 File:22 Calea Victoriei, Bucharest (01).jpg, Art Deco Composite columns on the Foreign Trade Bank Building ( Calea Victoriei no. 22), Bucharest, by Radu Dudescu, 1937-1938

Form of the capital

Examples

Gallery

Notes

References

External links