under construction 11-17-09

Glossary Corbel

Adapted from Webster's International, 2d ed., 1952:

corbel (kor'bel; -bel), noun Old French (French corbeau), from Latin, corvus. Architecture: a A projection from the face of a wall, supporting a superincumbent weight. A common form of cor­bel is a single stone or timber set in and projecting from a wall, or a projection consisting of courses of stones or bricks, each projecting slightly be­yond the next below it. b A short timber placed lengthwise under a girder to afford a bearing, as on the cap of a trestle.

Historically, corbels were employed widely in Gothic architecture. in Gothic architecture, a common form of corbel consists of courses of stones or bricks, each projecting slightly beyond the next below it. Also related is "HANGING-BUTTRESS", i.e., a buttress supported on a corbel. The passage in the box below comes from The two terms are mentioned together in The Craftsman, volume 21, October 1911, page 48; and article by Gustav Stickley, The Craftsman7, No. 5 February 1905, Ornament: its use and its abuse, page 582:

FORTUNATELY for the encouragement of this virile young art in France there is now being erected in Montmartre the cathedral of Sacre'Coeur. After the death of Charles Gamier the supervision of this great building was happily entrusted to the architect Lucien Magne, who has been assisted from the begmining by his pupil, Seguin, to whom more than any other sculptor in Paris is due the honor of reviving the art of ornamental sculpture in all its beauty and picturesqueness. The return to nature for inspiration for design originated with Seguin, and all of the capitals and the corbels and the most beautiful of the buttresses of this new cathedral in Paris are ornamented with flowers or leaves or branches or charmingly humorous figures of animals. So sincere and so beautiful is this fresh art of Seguin's that his influence is being felt throughout Paris not only in the carved ornaments of the cathedral and in some of the most beautiful of the modern houses, but in the decoration of many of the shops and civic buildings. Click here for a more dramatic illustration of an architectural corbel.

On Arts and Crafts furniture, a corbel is a bracket attached to a post/leg that supports a component, such as an arm of a Morris Chair, an Apron on a table, etc. The image on the right -- adapted from Taunton Press's Designing Furniture -- illustrates corbels. I'll have more this later; my intent is to show that corbel and buttress share their historic roots.