CORNICE
The cornice, besides being a decorative complement of an object and particularly of a painting, is also, according to a more strictly aesthetic purpose, a framing intended to delimit the field of visual gravity in space and to emphasize the figurative reality of the subject. In architecture, it is a crowning member of an architectural structure (v. ORDINI ARCHITETTONICI).
The first cornices isolating Byzantine icons were mostly of metal, often precious, participating more directly in the art of goldsmithing than in woodcarving. The use of wooden cornices became established in the late Middle Ages when triptychs, polyptychs, and altarpieces had cornices richly carved from the same wood on which the painter then depicted his figures, with shapes varying according to the style and taste of the workshop, the artist, or the patron. During the Gothic period, the cornice adapted to the international style prevalent in architecture and was highly ornate, with tracery, pinnacles, etc., and almost always gilded. Sometimes the shape was achieved by applying gesso to the wood, and it was not uncommon (especially in Sienese and Venetian polyptychs) to include full-round sculptures in the small tabernacles and on the small pilasters framing the painted sections. The large Spanish retablos carried this practice to an extreme, alternating carved and painted sections within the rich cornices.
The lines of Renaissance cornices were simpler, mostly with restrained decorations featuring garlands and festoons of flowers and fruit; the use of round cornices also became widespread.