Page:A history of architecture on the comparative method for the student, craftsman, and amateur.djvu/592

 534 COMPARATIVE ARCHITECTURE. consolidation of Spain, the expulsion of the Moors, and the beginning of the Spanish Renaissance. The great dominions of Spain were due to a succession of marriages, Charles V. reigning over Spain, the Netherlands, Sardinia, Sicily, and Naples, Germany, and Austria. This empire was held together by his skill in government, and by the excellence of the Spanish army, the infantry being the finest at that time in Europe. Philip II. checked the power of the Turks by winning the great naval battle of Lepanto, 1571, but his harsh and despotic rule alienated the Netherlands, and the expedition against England ended in the defeat of the Armada in 1588. Provinces were gradually lost, and Spain as a power ceased to exist. Napoleon's invasion, at the commencement of the nineteenth century, led to an outburst of national resistance, which was aided by the English. Many revolutions followed, but progress, as understood by other nations, has been slow. 2. ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER. Refer to pages 439, 442. The style, as in other European countries, may be diided into three tolerably distinct periods : — (a) The Early Renaissance Peiod, lasting to the middle of the sixteenth century ; (b) The Classical Period of the latter half of the sixteenth century and the first half of the seventeenth century ; and (c) The Rococo Period of the latter part of the seventeenth and the eighteenth century. In the early period. Renaissance details, grafted on to Gothic forms, and influenced to some extent by the exuberant fancy of the Moorish work, produced a style as rich and poetic as any other of the numerous phases of the Renaissance in Europe. The style of this period, from being minute in detail, is called " Plateresque," from its likeness to silversmith's work, from " platero " — silversmith. The middle period became more classical, as was the case in Europe generally, and the chief expositors were the architects Berruguete (d. 1560), and Herrera (d. 1597), a pupil of Michael Angelo. The late period shows that the style, known as Churrigueresque, fell away from true principles, becoming imbued with the Rococo innovations. 3. EXAMPLES. SECULAR ARCHITECTURE. The University, Alcala (a.d. 1500-1517), has an open arcaded story under the roof^ — a specially characteristic feature — and details showing the lace-like character of the Plateresque period.