“Scholarly and richly illustrated volume.... Although he himself deprecates the value of the essays accompanying the illustrations of his book, declaring his purpose to have been rather to present a picture than to chronicle the romances of Spanish-Morisco art, Mr. Calvert has given a very complete and deeply-interesting account of the evolution of that art, which he has skilfully combined with a condensed history of the people who produced it.”—Connoisseur.
“Just when the new Spanish marriage is attracting attention to a country of departed greatness, Mr. Calvert’s volume appears with the courtliest of dedications to His Majesty Alfonso XIII. In many respects this handsome volume is a timely wedding present for his Spanish Majesty, as it is a gorgeous literary tribute to the beauty of the jewels in the Spanish Crown—Cordova, Seville, and Toledo. Mr. Calvert is an enthusiast and an antiquary.... The author himself allows us to regard his volume in the main as a picture book, and we can imagine that many a designer who eschews the noble simplicity of fresh forms and the Christian aspiration of Gothic art will turn with profit to the wealth of plates here bestowed. The coloured plates are gorgeous rather than delicate; for that we must thank the Moors, and marvel at the inventiveness of their artist geometricians.”—Antiquary.
“Already in his Alhambra Mr. Calvert has shown his keen appreciation of the beauties of Spanish-Moresco architecture combined with an insight into its special characteristics and a recognition of the manner in which those characteristics reflect the idiosyncracies of its builders. The present volume deals chiefly with the Cathedral Mosque of Cordova, the Alcazar of Seville, and the less important relics of Moorish art at Toledo, bringing vividly before the imagination the almost bewildering richness of design, with the infinite variety, yet intrinsic simplicity, of decorative motives, that set the art of the Moors apart from that of any other people, the creators of the marvellous palaces and tombs of India not excepted.... Though Mr. Calvert relies mainly on the copious illustrations of his book to impress upon the spectator the beauty of the survivals of Moorish art in Spain, he supplements his descriptions of them with a history of the Moors during the eight centuries of the domination in Spain. To the actual story of the three typical towns selected Mr. Calvert has added a very interesting and richly-illustrated chapter on the general principles of Arab ornament.”—Studio.
“An interesting, well-written, and illuminative work, sumptuously illustrated and tasteful alike in method and detail. Mr. Calvert is to be heartily congratulated. His admirable work on the Alhambra, to which the present volume is designed to be complementary, showed him to be not merely a careful and appreciative student of Moorish art, but a connoisseur possessed of remarkable powers of discrimination. Of the new book before us we can at once say that it is in every way worthy of its fascinating subject, and a fitting companion to its predecessor.... The exquisiteness of the Mosque Cathedral of Cordova, and the superb tracery and decoration of the Alcazar of Seville, are here adequately revealed, perhaps for the first time. Indeed, to the traveller familiar with these wonders of Moorish delicacy, the present volume will reveal new beauties. Mr. Calvert, as in his previous work, has made his letterpress subservient to his illustrations, and the illustrations are given with a minuteness and faithfulness of detail and colour, which will be particularly appreciated and acknowledged by those who are most acquainted with the subjects themselves.”—Liverpool Post.
“For his history and description of the mark which the Moor has left on Toledo, Cordova, and Seville, Mr. Calvert has consulted many authorities, and has produced a useful and well-written letterpress which is in style touched by the colour and romance of the subject.... Certainly the marvellous loveliness and richness and intricacy of detail, as well as the vastness of extent of boldness of conception of the relics of Moorish art in the three cities named, could not be more fully and vividly brought before the eyes than in this series of illustrations.... The great feature of the book is the series of eighty full-page coloured plates, in which the colour as well as form of the wonderful arabesque and diapering which distinguish the typical buildings of the best age of Moorish architecture in Spain, are shown with remarkable vividness and fidelity.”—Scotsman.
“It is only fitting that this important volume has been dedicated to the King of Spain, for it would be difficult to imagine a more sumptuous work illustrating the beautiful buildings which the Moors left behind them in the Peninsula to bear everlasting record to their taste and culture.... The illustrations are such a prominent feature of this volume that they claim our first attention. At the risk of being suspected of exaggeration we can only say that it is impossible to praise too highly the care with which they have been prepared. There are some hundreds of them, of which between eighty and ninety are exact reproductions in colour and gold of various portions of the marvellously beautiful decorations so beloved of the Moors and so characteristic of their work. The other illustrations are so numerous and well chosen as to give a perfect series of pictures of every portion of these Moorish buildings. Details of tracery, capitals of pillars, sections of friezes, decorations and roofs are pictured with absolute faithfulness, and as a treasure-house of Moorish art this book and its predecessor are, and will probably remain, unique. But by modestly remarking in his preface that he has made the letterpress subservient to the illustrations, the author has done himself a great injustice. Not only is the book carefully thought out and well arranged, but it is written in a most sympathetic spirit, and abounds in passages of real eloquence.”—Birmingham Daily Post.
“This handsome volume is the complement of Mr. Calvert’s work on the Alhambra, and, like its predecessor, is lavishly illustrated.... The illustrations have been chosen with excellent taste, and executed with considerable skill.... It would be difficult to find anything more representative in their respective ways.”—Manchester Guardian.
IMPRESSIONS OF SPAIN
By ALBERT F. CALVERT
8vo. 10s. 6d. NET