Plate XXIII, Spandril of an Arch.

Category

Library Item

Item no

30821

Title

Details and ornaments from the Alhambra plate XXIII, spandril of an arch.

Description

The page shows a Spandril of an arch of a window in the Hall of the Ambassadors in The Alhambra. The design is in blue, red and white.

Artist / maker

Jones, Owen

Date

1845

Size

45.0 x 31.0 cm

Type

Lithograph

Location

Art and Design Library

Arches and their decoration were widely studied by Owen Jones. His fifth principle is one of the main concepts of his design theories; the purpose of ornament was to decorate architecture, but decoration should never be purposely constructed. The drawings of decorated arches show how at the Alhambra, decoration was born from architectural forms and not the other way round.

(Jones set out thirty-seven propositions or general principals in the Grammar of Ornament which aimed to improve the general artistic standards through mass education. Find out more about Owen Jones and his design aesthetic and ideals from the Victoria and Albert Museum.)

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Related subjects

Architecture > Architectural features > Arches

Architecture > Architectural features > Windows

Rooms and spaces > Furnishings > Designs

Rooms and spaces > Furnishings > Patterns

Rooms and spaces > Objects > Decorations

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Plate XXIII, spandril of an arch.