Venetian dentil

noun

, Architecture.

1. (on an archivolt or molding) one of a series of small rectangular blocks having chamfers at alternate edges.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Venetian dentil¹

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

The marble casing of the front was certainly executed by Constantinopolitan artists, since the moulded string known as the “Venetian dentil” is a direct reproduction of that in St Sophia.

From Project Gutenberg

Throughout Venice the decoration of these Byzantine palaces would seem to have influenced those of later date; for the Venetian dentil, interlaced scroll-work and string courses, with the Byzantine pendant leaf, are found intermingled with Gothic work, even down to the 15th century, and the same to a certain extent is found at Padua, Verona and Vicenza.

From Project Gutenberg

Professor Willis has noticed an ornament, which he has called the Venetian dentil, “as the most universal ornament in its own district that ever I met with;” but has not noticed the reason for its frequency.

From Project Gutenberg

From the arch it therefore found its way into every position where the edge of a piece of stone projected, and became, from its constancy of occurrence in the latest Gothic as well as the earliest Byzantine, most truly deserving of the name of the “Venetian Dentil.”

From Project Gutenberg

In the porch of the church of St John Studius at Constantinople, the dentil and the interval between are equal in width, and the interval is splayed back from top to bottom; this is the form it takes in what is known as the “Venetian dentil,” which was copied from the Byzantine dentil in Santa Sophia, Constantinople.

From Project Gutenberg