An aedicule ("little building") is a common framing device in both Classical architecture and Gothic architecture. An aedicular frame treats a window or a niche in a section of wall as if it were a building, sometimes with columns or pilasters flanking the opening, which support an architrave or a pediment or an arched vault-rib. Painted aedicules frame figures from sacred history in initial letters of Illuminated manuscripts. Aedicular frames, carved and gilded are favorite schemes for English Palladian mirror frames of the late 1720s through the 1740s, by such designers as William Kent. From the point of view of modern times, the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean sometimes seem to blend smoothly into one melange we call the Classical. ... See also Gothic art. ... A window is an opening in an otherwise solid, opaque surface through which light and sometimes air can pass. ... There are several things called niche, a word English has borrowed from French: Generally, a niche is a special place within the scheme of things. ... Roman pillar In architecture and structural engineering, a column is that part of a structure whose purpose is to transmit through compression the weight of the structure. ... In architecture, pilasters comprise slightly-projecting pseudo-columns built into or onto a wall, with capitals and bases. ... The architrave is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of the columns. ... A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of a triangular section or gable found above the horizontal superstructure (entablature) which lies immediately upon the columns. ... Isometric view of a typical arch An arch is a curved structure capable of spanning a space while supporting significant weight (e. ... In architecture, a vault is an arched structure of masonry, forming a ceiling or canopy. ... In the strictest definition of illuminated manuscript, only manuscripts decorated with gold or silver, like this miniature of Christ in Majesty from the Aberdeen Bestiary (folio 4v), would be considered illuminated. ... A villa with a superimposed portico, from Book IV of Palladios I Quattro Libri dellArchitettura, in a modestly priced English translation published in London, 1736. ... William Kent (born in Bridlington, Yorkshire, c. ...