Nineteenth Century Style, Ornament and Colour The Contribution of James Cavanah Murphy (1760-1814) as a Gothic and Moorish Revival Pioneer

Abstract

James Cavanah Murphy (1760-1814), one of Ireland’s foremost antiquarian architects, is considered as a protagonist of the Gothic and Moorish Revival. His work was a catalyst on reception and dissemination of architectural styles in continental Europe. Murphy’s essay on the origins of Gothic architecture set the stage for his monograph, Royal Monastery of Batalha (1795). Murphy’s monumental opus Arabian Antiquities of Spain (1815) was an exponent of Moorish Revival architecture. A material source for Owen Jones’s Plans, Elevations, Sections and Details of the Alhambra produced from 1836 to 1845. This paper sets out to locate Murphy as a pioneer of developing style, ornament and colour in the Nineteenth century.