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Two different styles of rustication in the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence; smooth-faced above and rough-faced below">Florence.html" ;"title="Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence">Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence; smooth-faced above and rough-faced below Rustication is a range of masonry techniques used in classical architecture giving visible surfaces a finish texture that contrasts with smooth, squared-block masonry called
ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...
. The visible face of each individual block is cut back around the edges to make its size and placing very clear. In addition the central part of the face of each block may be given a deliberately rough or patterned surface. Rusticated masonry is usually "dressed", or squared off neatly, on all sides of the stones except the face that will be visible when the stone is put in place. This is given wide joints that emphasize the edges of each block, by angling the edges ("channel-jointed"), or dropping them back a little. The main part of the exposed face may be worked flat and smooth or left with, or worked, to give a more or less rough or patterned surface. Rustication is often used to give visual weight to the ground floor in contrast to smooth ashlar above. Though intended to convey a "rustic" simplicity, the finish is highly artificial, and the faces of the stones often carefully worked to achieve an appearance of a coarse finish. Rustication was used in ancient times, but became especially popular in the revived classical styles of
Italian Renaissance architecture Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought ...
and that of subsequent periods, particularly in the lower floors of secular buildings. It remains in use in some modern architecture. Similar finishes are very common in medieval architecture, especially in
castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...
s, walls and similar buildings, but here it merely arises from an unwillingness to spend the extra money required for ashlar masonry in a particular building, and lacks the deliberate emphasis on the joints between blocks. Though it often achieves a decorative effect, this is something of a by-product, and the exploitation for architectural effect within a single building of contrasts between rusticated and ashlar surfaces is rarely seen. In some buildings, such as the
Palazzo Vecchio The ( "Old Palace") is the town hall of Florence, Italy. It overlooks the , which holds a copy of Michelangelo's ''David'' statue, and the gallery of statues in the adjacent Loggia dei Lanzi. Originally called the ''Palazzo della Signoria'', a ...
in
Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...
(begun 1298) something other than cost-saving is at play, and this may be the association of the technique with the display of power and strength, from its use in military architecture.Woodman Rough finishes on stone are also very common in architecture outside the European tradition, but these too would generally not be called rustication. For example, the bases of
Japanese castle are fortresses constructed primarily of wood and stone. They evolved from the wooden stockades of earlier centuries and came into their best-known form in the 16th century. Castles in Japan were built to guard important or strategic sites, such a ...
s and other fortifications usually use rough stone, often very attractively.


History

Although rustication is known from a few buildings of Greek and Roman antiquity, for example Rome's Porta Maggiore, the method first became popular during the
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
, when the stone work of lower floors and sometimes entire facades of buildings were finished in this manner. It was generally used for secular buildings, and has always remained uncommon in churches, perhaps through a lingering association with the architecture of military power; there are exceptions, such as St Giles in the Fields, London (1730–34). Probably the earliest and most influential example is the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in
Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...
, built between 1444 and 1484, with two contrasting rusticated finishes. The ground floor has an irregular and genuinely rugged appearance, with a variation in the degree to which parts of the faces of blocks project from the wall that is rarely equalled later. Above, the rustication is merely to emphasize the individual blocks, and the faces are all smooth and even. Also in Florence, Palazzo Strozzi, begun 1489, with large oblong rounded cushions, and the front of the
Palazzo Pitti The Palazzo Pitti (), in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast, mainly Renaissance, palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The core of the present ...
, begun 1458, rusticated their whole facades in the same style. These facades only used the
classical order An order in architecture is a certain assemblage of parts subject to uniform established proportions, regulated by the office that each part has to perform. Coming down to the present from Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek and Ancient Roman civiliz ...
s in mullions and aedicules, with arched forms in rustication the main relief from the massive flat walls. The
Palazzo Rucellai Palazzo Rucellai is a palatial fifteenth-century townhouse on the Via della Vigna Nuova in Florence, Italy. The Rucellai Palace is believed by most scholars to have been designed for Giovanni di Paolo Rucellai by Leon Battista Alberti between 1446 ...
, probably of the 1460s, begins to classicize such facades, using smooth-faced rustication throughout, except for the pilasters at each level. In Rome, Donato Bramante's Palazzo Caprini ("House of Raphael", by 1510, now destroyed) provided a standard model for the integration of rustication with the orders. Here the obvious strength of a blind arched arcade with emphatic voussoirs on the rusticated ground storey (in fact using
stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...
) gave reassuring support to the upper storey's paired Doric columns standing on rusticated piers, set against a smooth wall. The first major Renaissance building in Spain, the Palace of Charles V in
Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...
(1527), had a deeply rusticated ground floor facade with regular rounded cushions. The technique was enthusiastically taken up by the next generation of
Mannerist Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it ...
architects, with Giulio Romano in the lead. Most early examples of this "rustic" style are therefore built for sophisticated patrons in the leading centres of taste. Giulio's Palazzo Maccarani Stati in Rome and Palazzo Te in
Mantua Mantua ( ; ; Lombard language, Lombard and ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, eponymous province. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the "Italian Capital of Culture". In 2 ...
expand the voussoirs still further, and the courtyard in Mantua plays games with the technique, with some blocks ashlar, other projecting further than the rest, and larger blocks placed higher than smaller ones. The Mannerist architectural writer Sebastiano Serlio and others of his generation enjoyed the play between rusticated and finished architectural elements. In the woodcut of a doorway from Serlio's 1537 treatise, the banded rustication of the wall is carried right across the attached column and the moldings of the doorway surround, binding together all the elements. The Italians brought in to expand the
Palace of Fontainebleau Palace of Fontainebleau ( , ; ), located southeast of the center of Paris, in the commune of Fontainebleau, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. It served as a hunting lodge and summer residence for many of the List of French monarchs ...
introduced the technique to France. Its spread to Germany and England took longer, but by about the end of the 16th century it had reached all parts of Europe. In his Banqueting House in London (1619),
Inigo Jones Inigo Jones (15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was an English architect who was the first significant Architecture of England, architect in England in the early modern era and the first to employ Vitruvius, Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmet ...
gave a lightly rusticated surface texture to emphasize the blocks on both storeys, and to unify them behind his orders of pilasters and columns. During the 18th century, following the Palladian revival, rustication was widely used on the ground floors of large buildings, as its contrived appearance of simplicity and solidity contrasted well to the carved ornamental stonework and columns of the floors above: "Rustication became almost obligatory in all 18th- and 19th-century public buildings in Europe and the USA". A ground floor with rustication, especially in an English mansion such as
Kedleston Hall Kedleston Hall is a neo-classical manor house owned by the National Trust, and seat of the :Curzon family, Curzon family, located near Kedleston in Derbyshire, England, approximately 4 miles (6 km) north-west of Derby. The medieval village ...
, is sometimes referred to as the "rustic floor", in order to distinguish it from the piano nobile above. As well as uses emphasizing the horizontal, rustication is often used in relatively narrow vertical bands, on the quoins at corners or elsewhere.Chitham, 126 Rustication may also be confined to the surrounds of arches, doors or windows, especially at the top. In these and other situations where rustication stops horizontally, the edge is usually made up of vertically alternating long and short blocks. Rustication therefore often reverses the patterns of medieval and later
vernacular architecture Vernacular architecture (also folk architecture) is building done outside any academic tradition, and without professional guidance. It is not a particular architectural movement or style but rather a broad category, encompassing a wide range a ...
, where roughly dressed wall surfaces often contrast with ashlar quoins and frames to openings. Architectural books by authors such as James Gibbs and William Chambers set out detailed recommendations for the proportions of the blocks in relation to columns in the same facade, and the proportion of the block that a widened joint should occupy, though their prescriptions differ, and were not always followed by architects. Typically, rustication after 1700 is highly regular, with the front faces of blocks flat even when worked in patterns, as opposed to the real unevenness often seen in the 16th-century examples. Often the Palazzo Medici Riccardi model is followed; the ground floor has heavy rustication with textured faces, while above there is smooth-faced "V" rustication. Though such horizontal zones of rustication are the most common, vertical zones can often be used as highlights, as in the illustration from Catania above, or the Cour Napoleon in the
Louvre Palace The Louvre Palace (, ), often referred to simply as the Louvre, is an iconic French palace located on the Right Bank of the Seine in Paris, occupying a vast expanse of land between the Tuileries Gardens and the church of Saint-Germain l'Auxe ...
. The Baroque garden front of the Palazzo Pitti achieves a striking effect, not often copied, by using extensive "blocking", both rounded and rectangular, on the shafts of its columns and pilasters. Canton Viaduct, a blind arcade cavity wall railroad viaduct built in 1834–35 in
Canton, Massachusetts Canton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,370 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Canton is part of Greater Boston, about southwest of Downtown Boston. History The area that is present ...
is an example of modest effects of rustication in industrial architecture; the effect is pleasing, and the cost was probably reduced. Massive effects of contrasting rustications typify the "
Richardsonian Romanesque Richardsonian Romanesque is a architectural style, style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revivalism (architecture), revival style incorporates 11th- and 12th-century ...
" style exemplified in the 1870s and 80s by the American architect H. H. Richardson. The technique is still sometimes used in architecture of a broadly
Modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
character, especially in city centre streets where it helps modern buildings blend with older ones with rustication. Although essentially a technique for stone masonry, rustication can be imitated in brick and stucco, which began as early as Bramante's Palazzo Caprini and was common in smaller houses in
Georgian architecture Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British monarchs of the House of Han ...
, and also in wood (see below), which is mainly found in
British America British America collectively refers to various British colonization of the Americas, colonies of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and its predecessors states in the Americas prior to the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War in 1 ...
.


Variations

The most common variation of rustication is the smooth-faced, where the external face of the block is smooth, as in ashlar, and differs from that only by the cutting in at the joints; this became increasingly popular, and is now the most commonly seen type. If deeply cut-back edges are worked only to the horizontal joints, with the appearance of the vertical joints being minimised, the resulting effect is known as "banded rustication", mostly seen on the lowest levels of very large buildings like the
Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...
or the main
Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United ...
building in London. As at Versailles, the bands may be "elbowed", dipping diagonally around arches to join up with and emphasize the voussoirs. Banded rustication is mostly seen with smooth-faced stones, and has remained popular in Stripped Classicism and other contemporary versions of classical styles. In this style, the bands are sometimes several feet apart, making it apparent that stone facings are being used. When the stone is left with a rough external surface, rough shapes may be drilled or chiselled in the somewhat smoothed face in a technique called "vermiculation" ("vermiculate rustication" or "vermicular rustication"), so called from the Latin ''vermiculus'' meaning "little worm", because the shapes resemble worms, worm-casts or worm tracks in mud or wet sand. Carved vermiculation requires a good deal of careful mason's work, and is mostly used over limited areas to highlight them. Disparities between individual blocks are often seen, presumably as different carvers interpreted their patterns slightly differently, or had different levels of skill.McKay, 38 The small Turner Mausoleum at Kirkleatham by James Gibbs (1740) has an unusually large area vermiculated, over half of the main level. When the shapes join up to form a network, the style is called "reticulated". Often, especially from the Baroque onwards, the roughly flattened central areas of stones are indented in regular, but not too regular, patterns called "pecked" or "picked-work", and various other ways of patterning them may be found. In garden architecture, where water was to flow over or near the surface, a vertically oriented pattern evoking hanging pond-weed or
algae Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular ...
, or
icicle An icicle is a spike of ice formed when water falling from an object freezes. Formation and dynamics Icicles can form during bright, sunny, but subfreezing weather, when ice or snow melted by sunlight or some other heat source (such as a poor ...
s ("frost-work") is sometimes used. Also associated with gardens is "cyclopian" rustication, where the blocks are very large and irregular, as though placed by giants, and "rock-work", where surfaces are built up of rough rocks not placed in regular courses at all. This last goes beyond rustication, and is found in fountains and follies, and later rockeries for planting. In "prismatic rustication" the blocks are dressed at an angle near each edge, giving a prism-like shape. Where the faces rise to a single point, this is often known by terms using "diamond", and is covered below. They may also, usually in blocks that are oblong rather than square, rise to a ridge in the centre. Both types are illustrated, with several others, by Serlio. File:Bugnato casa di Giulio Romano Mantova.JPG, "V" joints and roughened faces within a flat margin, Giulio Romano for his house in
Mantua Mantua ( ; ; Lombard language, Lombard and ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, eponymous province. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the "Italian Capital of Culture". In 2 ...
File:Boulevard Saint-Germain, 286 (vermiculure).jpg, Vermiculation at 286
Boulevard Saint-Germain The Boulevard Saint-Germain () is a major street in Paris on the Rive Gauche of the Seine. It curves in a 3.5-kilometre (2.1 miles) arc from the Pont de Sully in the east (the bridge at the edge of Île Saint-Louis) to the Pont de la Concord ...
, Paris File:3428MantovaPescherie.jpg, An unusual pattern book of effects in the Loggia di Giulio Romano in
Mantua Mantua ( ; ; Lombard language, Lombard and ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, eponymous province. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the "Italian Capital of Culture". In 2 ...
File:Diana Fountain in Bushy Park 3 (cropped).jpg, "Frost-work" on the Diana Fountain, London, c. 1690 File:Scotland Yard plaque.jpg, Smooth-faced rustication with the blocks dropping back to the wall at 90°, rather than a "V" chamfer File:2010-06-12 Přestavba nádraží v Telči - (19).JPG, Quoins only, with long and short strips, on a Czech railway station File:Howard M. Metzenbaum United States Courthouse - DSC07907.JPG, Banded, with "elbows" and very wide joints,
Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...
File:Liberal Arts Building (3298746194).jpg, Banded rustication in a wholly modern context,
Hattiesburg, Mississippi Hattiesburg is a city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, located primarily in Forrest County, Mississippi, Forrest County (where it is the county seat and most populous city) and extending west into Lamar County, Mississippi, Lamar County. The ci ...


Diamond rustication

Various types of other patterns in masonry surfaces are sometimes called rustication. These include "diamond point" or "diamond rustication" where the face of each stone is a low
pyramid A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trian ...
facing out. This covered the whole facade of the Palazzo dei Diamanti in
Ferrara Ferrara (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, capital of the province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main ...
, completed in 1503, and most of that of the Palace of Facets in the
Moscow Kremlin The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Kremlin Wall along with the K ...
, designed by Italians and completed in 1492, with rectangular "diamonds". These "diamond palaces" influenced other whole walls of diamonds at Casa dos Bicos in Portugal (after 1523, alternate stones only), and Crichton Castle in Scotland (c. 1585; all stones, with flat edges between pyramids). The round towers at the
Castello Sforzesco The Sforza Castle ( ; ) is a medieval fortification located in Milan, northern Italy. It was built in the 15th century by Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, on the remnants of a 14th-century fortification. Later renovated and enlarged, in the 1 ...
in
Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
almost use diamonds, but their points are smoothed over. The illustration at right, from
Catania Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...
in Sicily, alternates rows of three square "diamond" blocks with two oblong blocks, where the faces rise to a ridge rather than a point, showing both the main forms of "prismatic rustication". The sharply pointed styles have really nothing to do with classical rustication, and are instead a development of styles of raised decoration of masonry that were popular in late
Gothic architecture Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High Middle Ages, High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved f ...
, especially the Iberian
Manueline The Manueline (, ), occasionally known as Portuguese late Gothic, is the sumptuous, composite Portuguese architectural style originating in the 16th century, during the Portuguese Renaissance and Age of Discoveries. Manueline architecture inco ...
(or Portuguese late Gothic) and its equivalent in Spain, known as Isabelline Gothic. When not figurative these are known as bossage. These are probably a development of
Mudéjar Mudéjar were Muslims who remained in Iberia in the late medieval period following the Christian reconquest. It is also a term for Mudéjar art, which was greatly influenced by Islamic art, but produced typically by Christian craftsmen for C ...
styles of patterning walls. In the spectacular late 15th-century gateway to the Palacio de Jabalquinto in Baeza, Andalucia, small widely spaced pyramids cover one of the many zones with fancy carved elements, projecting from a wall otherwise in ashlar. Later, in
Baroque architecture Baroque architecture is a highly decorative and theatrical style which appeared in Italy in the late 16th century and gradually spread across Europe. It was originally introduced by the Catholic Church, particularly by the Jesuits, as a means to ...
, relatively small areas of diamond rustication were reintegrated into architecture in the classical tradition, and were popular as highlights, especially in
Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...
and southern Italy and Eastern and
Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...
. The large Černín Palace in
Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
(1660s) repeats the Kremlin formula of a broad zone of diamonds across the middle height of the facade, though like the towers in Milan these do not come to a point. File:Fachada Palacio Jabalquinto Baeza.jpg, Late 15th-century gateway to the Palacio de Jabalquinto, with small "diamonds" erupting from
ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...
at the sides File:Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara 07.jpg, Palazzo dei Diamanti,
Ferrara Ferrara (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, capital of the province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main ...
File:Casa dos Bicos - Lisboa.jpg, Casa dos Bicos,
Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
File:Wernberg Kloster Nordportal Wappen Ehefrau Anna 14112014 915.jpg, "Diamond rustication" in Wernberg, Austria


Feigned rustication

The appearance of rustication, creating a rough, unfinished stone-like surface, can be worked on a wooden exterior. This process became popular in 18th century New England to translate the features of
Palladian architecture Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...
to the house-carpenter's idiom: in Virginia
Monticello Monticello ( ) was the primary residence and plantation of Thomas Jefferson, a Founding Father, author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third president of the United States. Jefferson began designing Monticello after inheriting l ...
and
Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is the former residence and plantation of George Washington, a Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States, and his wife, Martha. An American landmar ...
both made use of this technique. Mount Vernon in particular makes extensive use of feigned rustication and sanded paint and the original finished surfaces of several original planks still survive. Rustication of a wooden exterior consists of three basic steps. First, the wood is cut, sanded and prepared with
bevel A bevelled edge (UK) or beveled edge (US) is an edge of a structure that is not perpendicular to the faces of the piece. The words bevel and chamfer overlap in usage; in general usage, they are often interchanged, while in technical usage, they ...
ed grooves that make each plank appear as if it were a series of stone blocks. Second, the wood is painted with a thick coat of paint. Third, while the paint is still wet, sand is thrown or air blasted onto the planks until no more sand will stick. After the paint dries the plank is ready for use. In
Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...
, especially the
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
, feigned rustication in sgraffito (decoration by scraping away one colour of coating on an exterior to show another beneath) is a feature from the late Renaissance onwards, continuing into the 20th century. Often "prismatic" or "diamond" rustication is imitated.


See also

* Rusticated concrete block * Bossage


Notes


References

* Chitham, Robert, ''The Classical Orders Of Architecture'', 2005 rev edn., Elsevier/Architectural Press.
google books
*McKay, William Barr, ''McKay's Building Construction'', 2015 (reprint), Routledge, , 9781317341093
google books
* Summerson, John, '' The Classical Language of Architecture'', 1980 edition, Thames and Hudson ''World of Art'' series, *Francis Woodman and Jacques Heyman, "Masonry, ii) Rustication ''and'' Vermiculation", Grove Art Online,
Oxford Art Online Oxford Art Online is an Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press ...
, Oxford University Press, accessed 2 Apr. 2016,
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rustication (Architecture) Stonemasonry Building stone Architectural elements Architectural history