Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Alternative spelling of spandrel.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an approximately triangular surface area between two adjacent arches and the horizontal plane above them

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word spandril.

Examples

  • The frescoes of Giotto and his school enrich every spandril and interspace with their simple, serious forms -- no other such place to study the art of that early day -- but a Virgin enthroned among saints by Lo Spagna, a disciple of Perugino's, made a pure light in the obscurity: it had all the master's golden transparency, like clear shining after the rain.

    Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 15, No. 85, January, 1875 Various

  • In the spandril above the outer archway is carved, 'amid elegant scroll-work and foliage, an arm, vested in an ermine maunch, the hand grasping a golden fleur-de-lys' -- the old coat-armour of the Mohuns; and on the other spandril 'three lions passant in pale,' the bearing of the Carews.

    Devon, Its Moorlands, Streams and Coasts Rosalind Northcote

  • In the spandril over the centre shaft there is a circular panel with a Virgin and Child; below are the arms of the diocese of Brechin on a shield.

    Scottish Cathedrals and Abbeys Herbert Story

  • GAMBIA; below, the value, which, as well as the spandril ornamentation, is embossed in white.

    Gambia Frederick John Melville 1911

  • Quite a different feeling, corresponding to differences in conception and spirit in design, comes in with the Roman round _arch_ its allied forms of _spandril_ and _vault_, _lunette_ and _medallion_, presenting new spaces for the surface designer, and new suggestions of ornamental line (see illustration, p. 117 [f069]).

    Line and Form (1900) Walter Crane 1880

  • On the right side of the nave, at the spring of the arches, between two of the piers, is a centaur armed with a bow, cut in the stone, and on the opposite spandril are two goats, disposed back to back, also cut in the rock.

    Castles and Cave Dwellings of Europe 1879

  • In the spandril of the arch on the south side of the chancel is a marble medallion of the Duke of Wellington, presented by his son, and in the corresponding position on the north side one of the Duke of Marlborough, presented by the Earl of Cadogan.

    Westminster The Fascination of London A. Murray Smith 1868

  • Piazzetta side, of which one spandril is masonry of the fourteenth and the other of the fifteenth century.

    Stones of Venice [introductions] John Ruskin 1859

  • The suspension-bolts are enclosed within spandril pillars of cast iron, which give great stiffness to the superstructure.

    Lives of the Engineers The Locomotive. George and Robert Stephenson Samuel Smiles 1858

  • a central shaft of the same, which divides it into two subordinate arches, with an opening in the spandril between them.

    Bell's Cathedrals: The Abbey Church of Tewkesbury with some Account of the Priory Church of Deerhurst Gloucestershire

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.