Die Salomonische S ulenordnung. Eine unkonventionelle Erfindung und ihre historischen Umst nde

As early as 1549, i.e. 50 years before Villalpando's famous Ezechiel commentary was published, Jacques Androuet Ducerceau introduced the Salomonic Order in his Exempla arcuum, a series of engravings in which the Salomonic Order is even presented as a part of a canon of orders. For the first time, the article draws attention to this hitherto neglected early example. The author analyses Ducerceau's canon within the broader context of renaissance theories of architecture, treatises on the columnar order, and conceptions of the origins of good or artful architecture, some of which can be traced back to medieval positions. Furthermore, it is argued that the dismissal of the italic orders in favor of the Salomonic order by Ducerceau and others is inextricably linked to the increasing nationalist tendencies of the renaissance.