THE ALHAMBRA 35 



however, always observed in this palace of half- 

 Europeanised Arabs. 



Simplicity and a love of the elementary 

 characterise also the colouring of the decorations. 

 On the stucco work only the primary colours were 

 used : blue, red, and yellow. The secondary 

 colours occur only in the dados of mosaic. The 

 green groundwork of much of the ornamentation 

 as it is to-day was formerly blue, time having 

 changed the tint of the metallic pigment employed. 

 The decoration of the surfaces seems to have been 

 planned with strict regard to the colouring they 

 were to receive. Both as regards decoration 

 and colour, allowance must always be made 

 for innovations since the Alhambra passed into 

 Christian hands. 



" Let us look for a moment," writes Mr. John 

 Lomas, " at some points of detail more especially 

 of the ornamentation. Wherever the eye falls, 

 it may rest upon some fine bit of arcading or 

 peristyle, so delicate in the transparent tracery 

 of its spandrils, in the rich work of its capitals, 

 and its slenderness of pillar, that one marvels 

 at first how such fairy-like construction could 

 stand for even a single generation. ' Lovers' 

 tears ' they call this lace-work, and they tell one 

 to stand just within the dim hall or vestibule, 

 and get a vision of the blue sky that appears 

 beyond as a little cloud of sapphires. But it 



