Chapter XXIX: Moorish Art in Southern Europe

Absolute Ignorance of Art among the Original
Arabs--Their Debt to Antiquity--Their Early
Architecture--Materials--Massive Character of the First
Edifices of the Moslems--The Horseshoe Arch--Its Phallic
Derivation--Progress of Artistic Embellishment--Its
Wonderful Diversity--Byzantine Influence--Employment
of Encaustic Tiles--Mosaics of the Mosque of
Cordova--Stuccoes--Their Composition and Infinite
Variety of Form--Stalactitic Pendentives--Woodwork--Its
Beautiful and Intricate Designs--Disappearance of
Arabic Architectural Monuments in Sicily--Military
Structures of Mohammedan Spain--Typical Form of the
Mosque--Its Hebrew Origin--Manifold Derivation of
Hispano-Arab Architecture--Development of Art in
Moorish Spain--Its Three Epochs--The Alhambra its
Culmination--Representation of Animal Forms--Painting and
Sculpture--Mural Decoration--The Industrial Arts--Working
of Metals--Arms--Engraved Gems--Ceramics--The Leathern
Tapestry of Cordova--Textile Fabrics--Calligraphy and
Illumination--Destruction of the Artistic Remains of the
Moors 534