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Plateresque Architecture |
| plateresque [Span.,=silversmith], earliest phase of Spanish
Renaissance architecture and decoration, in the early 16th cent. Its
richness of effect was primarily based upon the work of the Italian
Renaissance, mingled, however, with surviving Moorish and late Gothic
design. In characteristic Spanish decorative spirit, structure received
little emphasis, while doorways and other details displayed clusters of
ornament against a foil of bare wall space. Columns in candelabrum form were
among the favorite motifs, as were pilasters enriched with arabesque reliefs
and topped with free Corinthianesque capitals, columns with bracketed
capitals, heraldic escutcheons, and fancifully twisted scrolls. It was in
the plateresque period that Spanish workers in wrought iron reached an
unlimited technical skill, translating Renaissance motifs into terms of
metalwork to form the superb rejas of the churches (see rejería ). Among the
great plateresque buildings are the town hall at Seville, the university at
Alcalá de Henares, and the cathedral at Granada by Diego de Siloe. From the
latter half of the 16th cent. a much more classical and restrained form of
Renaissance design supplanted the plateresque. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press |
The earliest phase of Renaissance architecture in Spain is
usually called the Plateresque (from platero, “silversmith”) because its
rich ornament resembles silversmith's work. There has always been a long
tradition in Spain of elaborate decoration, explained in part as an
influence from Moorish art. Granada Cathedral |