The Moors also followed another principle, that of radiation from the parent stem, as we may see exemplified in nature by the human hand, or in a chestnut leaf. When style becomes debased, neither of these laws is followed; as in Elizabethan ornament, where nothing is continuous, nothing radiates, all is haphazard.
All junctions of curved lines with curved, or of curved with straight, should be tangential to each other. The Oriental practice always accords with this principle. Many of their ornaments are on the principle which is observable in the lines of a feather and in the articulations of a leaf; and to this is due that additional charm found in all perfect ornamentation, which is called “the graceful.”
[Illustration: MISCELLANEOUS ORNAMENT IN THE ALHAMBRA]
[Illustration: CORNICES, CAPITALS, AND COLUMNS IN THE ALHAMBRA. THE SPLENDID CORNICE AT THE RIGHT-HAND TOP CORNER IS FROM THE LOGGIA OF THE GENERALIFE.]
[Illustration: CAPITALS FROM THE COURTS AND HALLS OF THE ALHAMBRA.]
A further charm is found in the works of the Arabs and Moors from their conventional treatment of ornament, which, forbidden as they were by their creed to represent living forms, they carried to the highest perfection. They ever worked as Nature works, but always avoided a direct transcript; they took her principles, but did not attempt to copy her works.
It is true that the Arabs in Spain, as already pointed out, once or twice allowed themselves to disregard the behests of the Korán, as instanced in the Fountain of Lions, and the bas-relief which is now preserved in the Museum of the Alhambra; but the Mohammedan mosques of Egypt, India, and Spain, show everywhere the calm, voluptuous translation of the doctrines of the Korán: an art in unison with its imaginative and poetic teachings which led them to adorn their temples in a manner peculiar to themselves.
The colours employed by the Moors on their stucco work were in all cases, the primaries--blue, red, and yellow (gold). The secondary colours--purple, green, and orange, occur only in the Mosaic dados; which, being near the eye, formed a point of repose from the more brilliant colouring above. It is true that, at the present day, the grounds of many of the ornaments are found to be green; it will readily be seen, however, on a minute examination, that the colour originally employed was blue, which, being a metallic pigment, has become green from the effects of time. This is proved by the presence of particles of blue colour, which occur everywhere in the crevices: in the “restorations” also, which were made by the Catholic kings, green and purple were freely used.