Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/290

274 274 SPANISH ARCHITECTURE. Pabt II. Late Spanish Gothic. The last stage of Spanish Gothic was not less remarkable than those which preceded it, and perhaps more original. At the time when other Continental na- tions were turninfif their attention to the intro- duction of the classical styles, Spain still clung to the old traditions,and 1^ actually commenced ■ Gothic cathedrals in the -O 16th century. A new cathedral was desiarned in the year 1513, for Salamanca, to supersede the old one ; and an- other very similar both in dimensions and style was commenced at Se- govia in 1523.^ Both these churches are prac- tically five-aisled, but as they have three free aisles and two ranges of chapels between the internal buttresses, making a total internal with an ' twice that dimension, no fault is to be found with their internal pro- portions. But their details want that purity and subordination so characteristic of the earlier styles. Their great peculiai-ity, however, consists in the extreme richness and elaboration of their vaults. In this respect they more resemble St. Jacques, Liege (Woodcut No. 446), and some of the late German churches, than anything to be found nearer home. But, wherever de- rived from, the practice of thus ornamenting the vaults at this late date contrast ssingularly with what was done in earlier stages of the style. One of the defects of Spanish architecture, after the earliest ex- amples in the round-arched forms, is the ])Overty of its vaults. Gene- ^^'^^ ^-yi=^ 719 Plan of Cathedral at Segovia. (Reduced from Street.) -uMrltli of 1 fiO ft Scale lOlJ ft. to 1 in. Miuux ui luu it., internal lenofth of 1 The oliurch of St. Eustaclie at Paris I those of the Spanish examples, the de- was commenced as late as 15o'2. and, ■ tails of the French church are far more although its plan is almost as Gothic as ! essentially Renaissance throughout.