Eastern empire fell into the hands of the Turks that this symbol was
adopted by them. The crescent and the cross became antagonist standards,
therefore, first in the 15th century. And the crescent is not an element
of original Moorish decoration.

The Alhambra diapers and original Majolica (Majorca) ware afford
admirable specimens of genuine Saracenic or Moorish decoration. A
conventional floriage is common in these diapers; tracery also is a
great feature in this work, in geometrical combinations, whether
rectilinear or curvilinear; and the designs are rich in colour; idolatry
was in the reproduction of natural forms, not in the fanciful
combination of natural colours. These curves and angles, therefore, or
interlacings, chiefly in stucco, constitute the prominent elements of an
Arabian ornamental design, combining also Arabic inscriptions; composed
of a mass of foliation or floral forms conventionally disguised, as the
exclusion of all natural images was the fundamental principle of the
style in its purity. The Alhambra displays almost endless specimens of
this peculiar work, all in relief, highly coloured, and profusely
enriched with gold. The mosque of Tulun, in Cairo, A.D. 876, the known
work of a Greek, affords the completest example of this art in its early
time; and Sicily contains many remains of this same exquisite Saracenic
decoration.

Such is the genuine Arabesque of the Arabs, but a very different style
of design is implied by the Arabesque of the cinquecento, a purely
classical ornamentation. This owes its origin to the excavation and
recovery of ancient monuments, and was developed chiefly by the
sculptors of the north, and the painters of central Italy; by the
Lombardi of Venice, by Agostino Busti of Milan, by Bramante of Urbino,
by Raphael, by Giulio Romano, and others of nearly equal merit. Very
beautiful examples in sculpture of this cinquecento Arabesque are found
in the churches of Venice, Verona and Brescia; in painting, the most
complete specimens are those of the Vatican Loggie, and the Villa Madama
at Rome and the ducal palaces at Mantua. The Vatican Arabesques, chiefly
executed for Raphael by Giulio Romano, Gian Francesco Penni, and
Giovanni da Udine, though beautiful as works of painting, are often very
extravagant in their composition, ludicrous and sometimes aesthetically
offensive; as are also many of the decorations of Pompeii. The main
features of these designs are balanced scrolls in