An Architect's Note-Book in Spain: principally illustrating the domestic architecture of that country.Wyatt, M. Digby (Matthew Digby), Sir
History
An Architect's Note-Book in Spain: principally illustrating the domestic architecture of that country.
Wyatt, M. Digby (Matthew Digby), Sir
Architecture -- Spain
What oral tradition could teach previous to the publication of these
texts in Spain, no doubt the architect of the Cathedral of Granada,
Diego de Siloe, had learnt from his father, Gil, the even more
celebrated Sculptor of Burgos; whose monuments to Don Juan II., his
Queen, Donna Isabel, and the Infante Don Alonso, and whose "Retablo" in
the Cartuja of Miraflores in the outskirts of that city, have never been
surpassed in tasteful elaboration.[46] From whatever source Diego de
Siloe may have obtained his knowledge, certain it is that he must share
with Alonso Covarrubbias, the honour of having been the earliest
revivers of classical architecture in Spain: not in its details only as
had been attempted by the early Plateresque architects, but in its
structural proportions and in its symmetrical arrangements of great
leading features. The following is the account of the construction of
this Cathedral given by Amirola.[47]
"It was begun," he says, "on the 15th of March, 1529, and consists of
three naves, the principal of which terminates in the choir after the
Gothic manner. It is four hundred and twenty-five feet (Spanish) long,
and two hundred and forty-nine wide. The order is Corinthian, but
defective in its true proportions, since the principal nave is only
forty-five feet wide, its height is one hundred and twenty." It would
profit us but little to follow Amirola through his straight-laced
criticisms on a design the beauty of which he was unable to apprehend;
and it may be well to take a larger and juster view of its merits. The
following which, I heartily endorse, is the verdict of a far better
judge.[48] "Looking at its plan only, this is certainly one of the
finest churches in Europe. It would be difficult to point out any other
in which the central aisle leads up to the dome, so well proportioned to
its dimensions, and to the dignity of the high altar which stands under
it, or one where the side aisles have a purpose and a meaning so
perfectly appropriate to the situation, and where the centre aisle has
also its functions as perfectly marked out and so well understood. All
this being so, it is puzzling to know how it has been so neglected."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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