Mascaron (architecture)

Mascaron adorning the front door of the campanile of the Church of Santa Maria Formosa in Venice.

In architecture, a mascaron ornament is a face, usually human, sometimes frightening or chimeric whose alleged function was originally to frighten away evil spirits so that they would not enter the building.^[1] The concept was subsequently adapted to become a purely decorative element. The most recent architectural styles to extensively employ mascarons were Beaux Arts and Art Nouveau.^[2]^[3] In addition to architecture, mascarons are used in the other applied arts.

Gallery[]

Mascaron above a door from Paris
Mascaron above a window on the Rüütli tänav street in Tartu (Estonia)
Details of the ancient frieze of the Portico of Tiberius (Aphrodisias, Turkey)
A Green Man corbel supporting the Bamberg Horseman, in the Bamberg Cathedral (Bamberg, Germany)
The Three gorgons on the Secession Building from Vienna (Austria)
Chandelier with mascarons, circa 1710-1715, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC)
Mascaron on a chair, circa 1875-1876, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Mascaron on the frame of a dressing table mirror, circa 1700, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Sculpted mascaron on the Palais Rohan (Strasbourg, France)
Mascaron above an oculi window upside an Art Nouveau door in Strasbourg
Art Nouveau mascaron from Paris
Mascaron on a corbel in Paris
Jugendstil straight-lined mascaron in Riga (Latvia) from 1906
Mascaron of the Central Bank of Russia, from Moscow
Mascaron on the Hungarian State Opera House, in Budapest
Mascaron of Hôtel du Commandant Militaire (Dijon, France)
Combination between a mascaron and cartouche, on the Staroměstská tržnice from Prague (Czech Republic)
Combination between a mascaron and cartouche, between a pair of festoons, in Wuppertal (Germany)
Mascaron with a swag, on the Berlin Cathedral (Germany)
Male mascaron in a cartouche in Austria
Bordeaux mascaron, quai Richelieu. The city presents more than 3,000 mascarons of the 18th and 19th centuries^[4]^{[circular reference]}
Mascaron on the Castle of Enghien from the Parc d’Enghien from Belgium
Mascaron of the head of a satyr, 28 rue Louis-Paufique, Lyon