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
“Scholarly and richly illustrated volume.... Although he himself
deprecates the value of the essays accompanying the illustrations of his
book, declaring his purpose to have been rather to present a picture
than to chronicle the romances of Spanish-Morisco art, Mr. CALVERT has
given a very complete and deeply-interesting account of the evolution of
that art, which he has skilfully combined with a condensed history of
the people who produced it.”--_Connoisseur._
“Just when the new Spanish marriage is attracting attention to a country
of departed greatness, Mr. CALVERT’S volume appears with the courtliest
of dedications to His Majesty Alfonso XIII. In many respects this
handsome volume is a timely wedding present for his Spanish Majesty, as
it is a gorgeous literary tribute to the beauty of the jewels in the
Spanish Crown--Cordova, Seville, and Toledo. Mr. CALVERT is an
enthusiast and an antiquary.... The author himself allows us to regard
his volume in the main as a picture book, and we can imagine that many a
designer who eschews the noble simplicity of fresh forms and the
Christian aspiration of Gothic art will turn with profit to the wealth
of plates here bestowed. The coloured plates are gorgeous rather than
delicate; for that we must thank the Moors, and marvel at the
inventiveness of their artist geometricians.”--_Antiquary._
“Already in his _Alhambra_ Mr. CALVERT has shown his keen appreciation
of the beauties of Spanish-Moresco architecture combined with an insight
into its special characteristics and a recognition of the manner in
which those characteristics reflect the idiosyncracies of its builders.
The present volume deals chiefly with the Cathedral Mosque of Cordova,
the Alcazar of Seville, and the less important relics of Moorish art at
Toledo, bringing vividly before the imagination the almost bewildering
richness of design, with the infinite variety, yet intrinsic simplicity,
of decorative motives, that set the art of the Moors apart from that of
any other people, the creators of the marvellous palaces and tombs of
India not excepted.... Though Mr. CALVERT relies mainly on the copious
illustrations of his book to impress upon the spectator the beauty of
the survivals of Moorish art in Spain, he supplements his descriptions
of them with a history of the Moors during the eight centuries of the
domination in Spain. To the actual story of the three typical towns
selected Mr. CALVERT has added a very interesting and richly-illustrated
chapter on the general principles of Arab ornament.”--_Studio._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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