Lunette

In architecture, a lunette (diminutive of French lune, "moon") is a half-moon shaped space, either masonry or void. A lunette is formed when a horizontal cornice transects a round-headed arch at the level of the imposts, where the arch springs. If a door is set within a round-headed arch, the space within the arch above the door, masonry or glass, is a lunette. If the door is a major access, and the lunette above is massive and deeply set, it may be called a tympanum.

Related Topics:
Cornice - Arch - Tympanum

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The term is usefully employed to describe the section of interior wall between the curves of a vault and its springing line. A system of intersecting vaults produces lunettes on the wall surfaces above a cornice. The lunettes in the structure of the Sistine Chapel inspired Michelangelo to come up with inventive compositions for the spaces.

Related Topics:
Sistine Chapel - Michelangelo

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In neoclassical architecture of Robert Adam and his French contemporaries, like Ange-Jacques Gabriel, a favorite scheme set a series of windows within shallow blind arches. The lunettes above lent themselves to radiating motifs: a sunburst of bellflower husks, radiating fluting, a low vase of flowers, etc.

Related Topics:
Neoclassical - Robert Adam - Ange-Jacques Gabriel

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A lunette may also be segmental, and the arch may be an arc taken from an oval. The spaces are still lunettes.

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A lunette is commonly called a half-moon window, when the space is used as a window.

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