Venturi Francesco - Espinosa de Los Monteros Patricia.
Houses and Palaces of Andalusia.
London, Scriptum Editions
1998,
cm.25x31,5,
pp.224, illustrazioni a colori.
legatura editoriale in tela sopraccoperta figurata a colori.
Testo Inglese.
The Houses and Palaces built in Andalusia from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century are unique. Their seemingly different mix of architectural styles - on the one hand, the traditional elements of Moorish architecture, with its courtyards and gardens; and on the other, the more formal, classical symbolism of Italian Renaissance designs, gives them a character and appearance which is only found here, in the deep south of Spain. This book takes us on a journey across the Iberian peninsula, illustrating and describing the area's finest buildings, from grand palaces to modest but beautiful houses hidden down side streets, behind limewashed facades.Arab armies entered Spain in the eighth century and remained in Andalusia for eight hundred years. They built magnificent Mosques, palaces and schools in a Moorish architectural style whose influence remained strong even after the Christian conquest. In the seventeenth century, when the new Christian aristocracy felt secure enough to abandon their military fortifications and started to build more comfortable homes in the towns and cities, the designs they chose still relied heavily on these Moorish precedents. At the same time, the Renaissance was in full bloom elsewhere in Europe, and Italian craftsmen, largely Genoese who has settled in Andalusia, were in great demand. Their skilled stonemasonry and knowledge of classical symbolism meant that they could lend the buildings a grandeur and a visual code to show off the aspirations of the owners.The Andalusian aristocracy had money to spend. Seville was the customs post for the riches pouring in on ships from the newly-discovered Americas, provoking a period of extravagant living, and of building. An Andalusian arhitectural style emerged, one where the typical Arab features of a house centred around an exterior courtyard, with loggias housing summer and winter courtyards, was aggrandized with elaborate stone carvings, classical figures and prominently displayed family coats of arms. There was no doubt about the wealth or the social standing of the occupants of these palaces and houses.The architectural story of Andalusia continues with the development of an equally unusual Baroque style, right up to the new building and the restoration work done in the twentieth century. The atmosphere of life and living in southern Spain is marvellously evoked in this book; as you turn its pages you can almost hear the water of the courtyard fountains playing over the tiles, smell the jasmine, or even glimpse a Spanish grandee strolling in his gardens.
EAN:
9781900826099
Nuovo