wrought into the new art something of the old. Spanish domestic architecture is shot through and through with Moorish qualities, the inheritance of the “Mudejar” work of the old craftsmen. Apart from the “purism” of Herrera, there is nothing that does not show this Moorish influence, neither Gothic nor Renaissance nor Modernism. The cool patios and courts with their hanging galleries, the plashing fountains, and little rills running through marble pavements, “artesonado” and
honeycomb, and inlaid ceilings, lustrous tiles, carved plaster or “yeseria,” wrought metalwork in balconies and “rejas” and lanterns, latticed baywindows, intricate panelling, corbelled cornices, great spaces of plain plastered wall with a blazing accent of color or carving perfectly placed. These and a hundred other elements have been smitten into Spanish art and remain to this day vital factors in determining its character.
Apparently the imported and modified Gothic of the North had little or no influence, and even the Gothic-Renaissance of Egas made small impress outside of a few of the larger palaces. What we find from the Pyrenees to the Straits is a sort
of colloquial Renaissance without pedantry or pretense, perfectly adapted to conditions, and vitalized and made beautiful by the Moorish elements above named and their Spanish derivatives. All through the South and East the patio is invariable, with the family living on the ground floor where it is cool, in Summer, and above where it is warm and sunny, in Winter. The rooms are large and lofty, with plain plastered walls or formal hangings of damask or velvet. The floors
are of tile, tawny brown set with brilliant spots of glazed color, and the same tiles form the bases and sometimes the facings to the deeply embrasured windows. Doors and shutters are of the most elaborate panelling, but the point of greatest richness is the ceiling, always in wood and of a hundred different types of design, all of them superb in their originality and pictorial quality. Many are richly painted and probably all were intended to be so treated. Every room is considered, not as an architectural composition in itself, but as a frame or setting for furniture and people. The former is the most varied and beautiful I have seen in any country, structural in
A COURTYARD, ARCOS DE LA FRONTERA
(From “Picturesque Spain.” By permission of Brentano’s)
honeycomb, and inlaid ceilings, lustrous tiles, carved plaster or “yeseria,” wrought metalwork in balconies and “rejas” and lanterns, latticed baywindows, intricate panelling, corbelled cornices, great spaces of plain plastered wall with a blazing accent of color or carving perfectly placed. These and a hundred other elements have been smitten into Spanish art and remain to this day vital factors in determining its character.
Apparently the imported and modified Gothic of the North had little or no influence, and even the Gothic-Renaissance of Egas made small impress outside of a few of the larger palaces. What we find from the Pyrenees to the Straits is a sort
of colloquial Renaissance without pedantry or pretense, perfectly adapted to conditions, and vitalized and made beautiful by the Moorish elements above named and their Spanish derivatives. All through the South and East the patio is invariable, with the family living on the ground floor where it is cool, in Summer, and above where it is warm and sunny, in Winter. The rooms are large and lofty, with plain plastered walls or formal hangings of damask or velvet. The floors
are of tile, tawny brown set with brilliant spots of glazed color, and the same tiles form the bases and sometimes the facings to the deeply embrasured windows. Doors and shutters are of the most elaborate panelling, but the point of greatest richness is the ceiling, always in wood and of a hundred different types of design, all of them superb in their originality and pictorial quality. Many are richly painted and probably all were intended to be so treated. Every room is considered, not as an architectural composition in itself, but as a frame or setting for furniture and people. The former is the most varied and beautiful I have seen in any country, structural in
A COURTYARD, ARCOS DE LA FRONTERA
(From “Picturesque Spain.” By permission of Brentano’s)