Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/550

534 SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE. Part III. square, and about 60 in lieight, roofed by a jxjlygonal dome of great beauty of design, and covered, like the walls, with arabesque patterns of the greatest beauty. One of its most charming peculiarities, however, is the deeply recessed windows, looking down on the city, and beyond that commanding a view of the delicious Vega, and the mountains that bound it. It is one of the most beautiful scenes in the world, of which the architect availed himself with the eye of 'a. true artist, who knew how to combine nature and art into a perfect whole. The other court, called that of the Lions (a a), from the beautiful fountain supported by twelve conventional-looking animals so called, is smaller (115 ft. by 66 from wall to wall), but far more beautiful and elaborate than the other; indeed, with the apartments that sur- round it, this is the gem of Arabian art in Spain — its most beautiful and most perfect example.' It has, however, two defects which take it entirely out of the range of monumental art : the first is its size, which is barely that of a modern parish church and smaller than many ball-rooms; the second its materials, which are only wood cov- ered with stucco. In this respect the Alhambra forms a perfect con- trast to such a building as the Hall at Karnac, or any of the greater monumental edifices of the ancient world, and, judged by the same standard, would be found lamentably deficient. But, in fact, no com- parison is applicable between objects so totally different. Each is a true representative of the feeling and character of the people by whom it was raised. The Saracenic plaster hall would be totally out of place arid contemptible beside the great temple-palace of Thebes; while the granite works of Egypt would be considered monuments ot ill-dn-ected labor if placed in the palaces of the gay and luxurious Arab fatalist, to whom the present was everything, and the enjoyment of the passing hour all in all. The shafts of the jnllars that surround the Court of Lions are far from being graceful in themselves, being more like the cast-iron props used by modern engineers than anything else. Their capitals, how- ever, are very gracefully moulded, and of a form admirably adapted for the support of the superstructure they were destined to bear, and the pillars themselves are so gracefully grouped, alternately single and coupled, and their alignment is so completely broken by the projecting portico at each end, that they cease to be i)rominent objects in themselves and become mere accessory details. The arcades which they support are moulded in stucco with a richness and beauty of ornament that is unrivalled. There is in this no offence to good taste; indeed, work executed in jilaster ovr/Af to l)e richly decorated, ^ A perfect copy of this court was re- | slightly curtailed in plan, every detail produced hy Mr. Owen .Tones at the l and every dimension is identical with Crystal Palace in 1854. Except being ] the original.