ABSTRACT
Secular architecture gained stature in the late Gothic period. In England the Perpendicular style and in Germany the Parler style dominate late Gothic architecture with their technical and aesthetic innovations. The sculptors of San Juan de los Reyes, with their delight in realistic detail, combined with an equal enthusiasm for abstract or geometric ornament, indicate the direction late Gothic art would take throughout Europe. When Tudor monarchs introduced classical art of the Italian Renaissance into the British Isles, builders did not have to rethink the form and structure of their buildings; they simply changed the decoration from Gothic to classical ornament. Gothic structural elements turned into applied decoration. Lavish interior decoration at San Juan honored the Catholic sovereigns. In Germany, as in England and Spain, architects experimented with the structure and decoration of buildings. Years of contact with Moorish art led the Christian builders and patrons to appreciate extravagant surface decoration.
