Bracket

BRACKET. - In architecture, a load-bearing element consisting of a block of stone or wood (from the Latin mensula = small tablet) that projects in part from the wall in which it is embedded, and is therefore suited to supporting other architectural parts (architraves, balconies, ceiling beams, etc.) or decorative ones (statues or pinnacles). When it serves to support galleries or overhangs it is generally unadorned and takes the name beccatello; it is called a modiglione when the projection from the wall is less than the height, and in this form it is commonly used to support cornices.

In Romanesque architecture the corbel supporting cornices is for the most part smooth or adorned with simple leaves (series of cornices with small string-course corbels characterize Roman medieval bell towers); whereas when it supports a series of small arches it is for the most part carved with twisted leaves and human and animal heads. This fanciful decoration with figurative elements is very frequent in Gothic architecture, which also makes extensive use of the corbel with a conical section, called a lamp-bottom, to support statues or pinnacles. The Renaissance too, in the decoration of the corbel, draws inspiration from classical art, with acanthus volutes elegantly twisted into an "S" shape, or with palmettes, leaves, interlace, in the more elaborate types, as in the great modiglioni of Palazzo Fava in Bologna. When the projection must be very pronounced, to avoid an effect of excessive heaviness the gattello corbel is used, consisting of two or more superimposed corbels: most elegant examples are those carved by B. da Maiano for the pulpit of S. Croce in Florence (1474) and those of the cantoria of the cathedral of Modena. The lamp-bottom corbels, for supporting pulpits, have the form of a basket or of a half-capital, most richly ornamented; they take on a flatter form and more complex decoration, with cornucopias, putti, festoons, when they support tabernacles. Finally the Baroque complicates the corbel to an extreme degree with the most bizarre decorative forms and ends by depriving this element too of all constructive appearance.

In furnishing too, corbels have the same load-bearing function, but instead of being embedded in the wall they are hung with nails. Arranged in series they serve to support shelves; isolated, to support statues or vases; in this case they have the lamp-bottom form. The name corbel is also given to wall tables with inner legs curved and set close to the wall, called in France consoles; they enjoyed great vogue and most sumptuous decorations especially in the eighteenth century and the use continued in Neoclassical furnishing. - See plate XLII.

Mario Zocca