Tag: renaissance architecture

Postcard from Zaragoza, Spain: Renaissance landmark rescued from Paris

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Above: Contemporary painting depicting Patio de la Infante (by Jacqueline Treloar?)

“Courtyard of the Princess,” F.J. Parceriso, lithograph, circa 1850

On the edge of the former Jewish Quarter in Zaragoza, Micer Gabriel Zaporta (abt 1500-1580) built an 18,000-square-foot house in 1549 in honor of his second wife. Zaporta himself was born into a Jewish family whose members converted to Catholicism in compliance with the Edicts of 1492 and enforced by the Inquisition. The elegant house built around a central courtyard with elaborate Italianate ornamentation reflected Zaporta’s success as a merchant and a banker who served as treasurer to King Charles I of Spain (1500-1558).

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Postcard from Toulouse, France: Pull out your walking shoes

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Toulouse managed to captivate our attention in a way that we ended up with an abundance of snapshots taken from her pedestrian-friendly streets.

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Postcard from Toulouse, France: How to fall in love, one quirky detail at a time

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Above: 19th-century molded terracotta caryatids

Walk and walk. And, even at the risk of stumbling, always look up. The rewards are rich, and you will be smitten.

An architectural embellishment I’ve never noticed elsewhere is the frequent usage of lacy, “picado” metalwork at the top of windows in Toulouse. Hoping someone will provide a proper term for this or know of other places it is found. Sometimes the wrought-iron designs on balconies echo those patterns, and often elaborate wrought-iron railings meticulously match the carved or molded work adorning the buildings. And the contrasting patterns of brick and stone are striking and distinctively Toulouse.

These architectural details range about six centuries or so in age, but this randomness represents how they are encountered around the city.

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