The Alhambra: being a brief record of the Arabian conquest of the Peninsula with a particular account of the Mohammedan architecture and decorationCalvert, Albert Frederick
Islamic
The Alhambra: being a brief record of the Arabian conquest of the Peninsula with a particular account of the Mohammedan architecture and decoration
“A volume which is not only rich in elaborate reproductions of Moorish
designs in outline and colour, but is animated by a warm admiration for
the great race which has left us so many tributes to beauty. Modestly as
Mr. CALVERT states his claims, the reader should not neglect his
eloquent introduction, in which he reminds us that it was to the Moslem
Spain first owed some permanent national organisation.... The present
condition of the monuments which remain is briefly described in
subsequent chapters dealing with Cordova, Seville, and Toledo. Mr.
CALVERT’S thorough study of Arabian work enables him to give the student
valuable aid in distinguishing what are the monuments which belong to
the golden age of Islamic achievement. He shows how little there is of
this time in Seville, though Spanish taste endeavoured to maintain the
tradition for four centuries after the Moorish spirit had given way
before the conquering Christian.”--_Morning Post._
“The book gives a vivid idea of the present state and former
magnificence of Moorish buildings in the three Spanish cities which its
author now describes; while the illustrations, which include upwards of
eighty coloured plates, and an immense number of photographic halftones,
are exceptionally good.”--_Standard._
“An examination of the book reveals at once the fact that it is very
well illustrated; while the author brings to his work an unmistakable
freshness and vigour, brought about by prolonged visits to the places
described, and gives evidence of the possession of the observing eye and
a facility for expressive description.”--_Evening Standard._
“It is really impossible to do justice, in a journal of this kind, to
the sumptuous volume (its price is two guineas and the book is worth it)
before us. To do that--to give the reader any adequate notion of the
beauty of the illustrations with which it is enriched--we should have to
summon all the resources of the colour printer’s art to our assistance,
in order to reproduce them in a special _edition de luxe_ of the
“P.M.G.” Inasmuch as that is not to be done, we must ask the reader to
take it on trust from us that the illustrations of Moorish decorative
art are something quite out of the common.... The making of this book
must, surely, have been a labour of love; and love’s labour has
certainly not been lost.”--_Pall Mall Gazette._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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