a. [f. the name of M. Vitruvius Pollio, a Roman architect and writer on architecture (c. 10 B.C.).] Of, relating to, or in the style of Vitruvius.
1762. H. Walpole, Vertue’s Anecd. Paint. (1765), I. 116. Our buildings must be as Vitruvian, as writings in the days of Erasmus were obliged to be Ciceronian.
1835. R. Willis, Archit. Mid. Ages, ii. 23, note. The latter [Alberti] published the first treatise on the Vitruvian architecture, in 1485.
1893. Symonds, Michelangelo, xiii. II. 217. Church, cupola, and spires are built up by a succession of Vitruvian temples.
b. Vitruvian scroll, a convoluted scroll-pattern employed as an architectural ornament.
1837. Antiq. Athens, 19. A sort of thatch of laurel leaves, surrounded by an ornamental edge, usually termed a Vitruvian scroll.
1886. G. Schumacher, Across the Jordan, iii. 173. A lintel-stone … which is likewise ornamented with the seven-branched candlestick and a sort of vitruvian scroll.
Hence Vitruvianism, the style or principles of architecture favored by Vitruvius.
1859. Jephson, Brittany, viii. 115. Going straight from the debased flamboyant or perpendicular to Vitruvianism.
