Architecture
The estipite column is a type of pilaster used in buildings in the Mannerist and Baroque styles, a moment when many classical architectural elements lost their simple shapes and became increasingly complex, offering a variety of forms and exuberant decoration. This sort of column has the shape of an inverted pyramid or obelisk. Sometimes the shaft is wider in its middle part than in the base or capital. Examples include Michelangelo’s Biblioteca Laurenziana (1523–1571). It became later a signature element of the Churrigueresque Baroque style of Spain and Spanish America in the 18th century.
Heinrich Ernst Schirmer.
Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
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