with
facility rather than to think with steadfastness and propriety. As Italy
had its Borromini, so had Spain its Churriguera.
The building from which my sketch has been taken, belongs to the second
of these divisions of the architecture of the revival, as may be seen by
the grave simplicity of the Ionic columns which support the massive but
plain arches of both stories of a large and pretentious Patio. In this
sketch I have chosen the point of view from the entrance loggia of the
house, because looking from it I could well see, and therefore
illustrate, the way in which a grand staircase, covered at the top, but
open to the air upon one side, usually connects, in large houses, the
upper and lower arcades of the Patios, and consequently the upper and
lower floors of the mansion which open on to the two main arcades. The
staircase is very rarely closed by iron-work or otherwise; consequently
the visitor once obtaining access to the Patio was and is at liberty to
ramble nearly all over the house unchecked. As front doors usually stand
open from morning till night, access to Patios may generally be freely
obtained; but where the house is inhabited by one family only, or by
more than one family desiring privacy, iron or wooden doors usually
close openings to the Patio such as are shown in the sketch. It is only
when in answer to a bell, or knocker, attached to this or to an external
doorway, a servant has appeared and ascertained that the visitor is an
"amigo," that the door itself is opened, and access to the interior
afforded.
It is a popular prejudice that gravity in Spanish architecture only came
in with Herrera, after the middle of the fifteenth century in Spain, but
in reality there were several other men who before him asserted their
dissent from the plateresque redundancy of ornament, and designed works
upon a careful study of Italian models of architectural proportion.
Among such may be reckoned Pedro Machuca who in 1526 designed the palace
of Charles V. at Granada, Alonzo Covarrubias who was architect for the
noble staircase and cortile of the Alcazar at Toledo, and Diego Siloe
who a few years later created the fine Cathedral of Granada.
[Illustration: PLATE 8
LEON
SAN ISIDRO
MDW 1869]
PLATE VIII.
_LEON._
CHURCH OF SAN ISIDRO.
THE antiquity of the city of Leon and its importance as a Roman station
are well shown by its picturesque and strong walls, which in many places
yet exhibit
|