284 SPANISH ARCHITECTURE. Part II be in our northern climate. The Spanish architects seem, in con- sequence, to have revelled in the designs of their cloisters, and from the simple arcade of Gerona (1117) to the exuberant caprice of San Juan de los Reyes, they form a series of examples completely illus- trative of the progress of Spanish art ; perhaps more so than even the churches to which they are attached. The favorite form of the earlier examples, like those in the. South of France (Woodcut No. 325), is that of an open arcade supported on coupled columns, on the capitals of which the architects delighted to lavish all their powers of variety and design. That at the convent of the Huelgas (Wood- cut No. 728) gives a fair idea of the mode in which they are carried out, and is certainly far more a]ipropriate than the traceried arches of Northern examples, which, without glazing, are most unmeaning. During the 14th and 15th centuries the Span- iards adopted them, and some of the best speci- mens of their traceries are to be found in the cloister arcades. Having gone so far, however, they went on, and car- ried the idea to its lesritimate conclusion by filling up the whole opening with a screen of pierced tracery. The most complete ex- ample of this style is that found at Tarazona in Aragon. The cloister itself is in brick, but not even plastered; the openings are filled with stone slabs pierced with the most varied and elegant Gothic tracery. It Avould seem a more reasonable plan to have used stone for the structure and terra-cotta for the openings ; but as it is, the effect of the whole is extremely pleasing. It is, however, more like an Oriental than an European design, and reveals as clearly as the churches of Toledo the continued i)resence of the Moor in the land of Spain. 729. Cloister, Tarazona. (From Street.)
