Calatrava in a magnificent article that provides context on the figures of Owen Jones (1806-1874), who was in charge of the interior design of the Great Exhibition venue in London in 1851 and the person who raised awareness of the Alhambra and al-Andalus art in Europe, and Leopoldo Torres Balbás (1888-1960), famous for his interventions in the Alhambra and Generalife. The fascination with Andalusi and Mudejar art also reached Latin America as a result of Spain’s colonial expansion from the 15th century onwards. This influence would endure over the centuries in the aesthetic tastes of Latin America, and we can see how the engineer Juan José Ibarrola drew inspiration from Mudejar art as he designed the Mexico pavilion for the Universal Exhibition of New Orleans in 1884, followed by the San Luis Exhibition in 1904. The so-called “Morisco pavilion” —a removable iron structure comprising various Mudejar-style arches and pillars— was taken to Mexico at the beginning of the 20th century, and today can be found in a very reasonable condition in the Santa María de la Ribera neighbourhood in Mexico City. This theme is explored by Professor Rafael López Guzmán and Aurora Yaratzeth Avilés García. José Tito Rojo, custodian of the Botanical Garden in the University of Granada and a landscape gardener specialised in the restoration of historical gardens, introduces a new dimension that analyses the concept of a Hispano-Muslim garden and its dynamic evolution until the middle of the 20th century, from Romanticism to the present day. This evolution, defined by social change in Spain, has materialised into a gardening style —initially regionalist and subsequently nationalist— extolled in the work of relevant figures from Spanish landscaping, such as Melitón Atienza and Pedro Julián Muñoz y Rubio, as well as the painter Santiago Rusiñol. Another theme addressed in this book is the relevance of the Spanish designer Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo (1871-1949) as an international promoter of Spanish heritage by way of his designs and his collection of Andalusi textiles and artworks inherited from his father, the Orientalist painter Mariano Fortuny y Marsal. This versatile artist put many of the principles promoted by Owen Jones into practice, for instance the idea that artistic styles from other epochs should inspire original contemporary creations, resoundingly rejecting mimetic imitation. Mariano Fortuny able successfully integrated many ornamental components from the Islamic legacy and other art periods into his creations, thus generating innovative designs that undoubtedly represented an important landmark in the history of fashion and design at the start of the 20th century. Guillermo de Osma, an expert on Mariano Fortuny and a renowned art historian, focuses on the “last Orientalist”.
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