The century of ColumbusWalsh, James J. (James Joseph)
History
The century of Columbus
Walsh, James J. (James Joseph)
Renaissance
Two royal buildings in Spain, the Palace of Charles V at Granada and
the Alcazar of Toledo, deserve to be mentioned. The Alcazar was begun
before the end of Columbus' Century, but not finished until later. The
sketch of it here presented gives an excellent idea of how simple and
yet properly ornate for monumental purposes the Spanish architects
were making their buildings at this time. The truly Spanish features
of solidity below, with the increasing richness and openness above, is
very effective and is all the more interesting because historians of
architecture declare that this effect was little understood outside of
the Spanish peninsula.
The upper portion of the famous tower of the Giralda at Seville, which
has always attracted so much attention for its beauty, was being built
just at the close of the century. We in modern America have given it
the tribute of sincerest flattery by imitating it in the tower of
Madison Square Garden. It is interesting to realize that the Spaniards
put a figure of Faith at the summit of the beautiful tower, pointing
strikingly heavenward. Is it significant that we in our time have
found nothing better to put there than the outworn symbol of a statue
to Diana?
French secular architecture at this time made some fine achievements
which are very well known and have been very much admired. The Louvre
in Paris is a succession of monuments to the architectural spirit of
the French for centuries. I think that there is very general agreement
that the portion {130} of this building erected in Columbus' Century
is not only the most interesting, but the most beautiful. The Pavilion
de I'Horloge is quite charming in its effectiveness. The ornamental
portions are said to have been sculptured from designs furnished by
Jean Goujon. This is enough of itself to make us sure that they would
be beautiful, but they were besides very artistically designed to
heighten the effect of the architecture.
[Illustration: ALCAZAR (TOLEDO, EXTERNAL FAÇADE)]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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