Vintage Architecture; Capital Volute by Vignola Cushion

Vintage illustration Renaissance Era architecture image featuring an architectural element, a volute from the Canon of the Five Orders of Architecture by Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, 1562. A volute is a spiral scroll-like ornament that forms the basis of the Ionic order, found in the capital of the Ionic column. It was later incorporated into Corinthian order and Composite column capitals. Four are normally to be found on an Ionic capital, eight on Composite capitals and smaller versions (sometimes called helix) on the Corinthian capital. The word derives from the Latin voluta ("scroll"). It has been suggested that the ornament was inspired by the curve of a ram's horns, or perhaps was derived from the natural spiral of the ovule of a common species of clover native to Greece. Alternatively, it may simply be of geometrical origins.