Rabatment of the rectangle is a compositional technique used as an aid for the placement of objects or the division of space within a rectangular frame, or as an aid for the study of art.
Every rectangle contains two implied squares, each consisting of a short side of the rectangle, an equal length along each longer side, and an imaginary fourth line parallel to the short side. The process of mentally rotating the short sides onto the long ones is called "rabatment", and often the imaginary fourth line is called "the rabatment".
Also known as rebatement and rabattement, rabatment means the rotation of a plane into another plane about their line of intersection, as in closing an open hinge.[1] In two dimensions, it means to rotate a line about a point until the line coincides with another sharing the same point. The term is used in geometry, art and architecture.[2]
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary (2 ed.). Oxford University Press. 2003.
- ^ Paynter, J.E. (1921). Practical geometry for builders and architects. London: Chapman & Hall.