Spanish Renaissance

Spanish Renaissance

Historical background;

Italian Renaissance was very influential to other countries during this time period.   Spain was one of the countries that were reacted to the new movement.  The new movement encouraged people to focus in art, literature, and science.  Interestingly, there was influence from Moor in Spain which makes huge difference in design compare to Italian renaissance.  Moors who converted to Christianity is called Mudejar.  It is interesting to see their architectural design before and after the expulsion of Moors in 1607.  Besides Moorish and Italian Renaissance influences, their design elements were also contained Early Christian and medieval design styles.

 

At the time, Spain was very strong nation with wealth.  They conquered Central America and some other countries around that time.  They had many silvers and gold were brought over to their country.  They had many valuable materials that they could apply into their designs.  Also unlimited amount of esthetic materials were locally available such as granite. 

Architecture;

Alhambra; the palace was the very last palace that was completed before the expulsion of the moors.  Exterior of the palace is very plain, simplicity focused compared to Italian Renaissance.  The climate and geography allowed them to have beautiful water wells and pools. 

 

La Mota Castle; Spain is well-known for having the greatest number of castles compared to any other European countries.  I found this building very special because of the shape of the castle.  All the Renaissance period have been introducing more rectilinear shaped buildings but this castle has cylinder shaped towers.

Furniture;

Wooden bench; I think the Spanish Renaissance is the first time period that started producing bench.  It can tell us that people were more socially active and society was more stable at the time.

 

Papelera; We do not find anything new when we think about paper documents today, but printing was introduced during Italian Renaissance, so the cabinet to store the paper documents were very creative invention during this time period.  Beautiful wooden carving works were one of the Spanish's greatest achievement at the time.

 

Current Application;


The motif that were popular during Spanish Renaissance were still available today in many fabric company.