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Title: Granada and the Alhambra
Author: Calvert, Albert Frederick
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Granada and the Alhambra" ***
THE SPANISH SERIES
GRANADA AND THE ALHAMBRA
THE SPANISH SERIES
_EDITED BY ALBERT F. CALVERT_
GOYA
TOLEDO
MADRID
SEVILLE
MURILLO
CORDOVA
EL GRECO
VELAZQUEZ
THE PRADO
THE ESCORIAL
ROYAL PALACES OF SPAIN
GRANADA AND ALHAMBRA
SPANISH ARMS AND ARMOUR
LEON, BURGOS AND SALAMANCA
VALLADOLID, OVIEDO, SEGOVIA
ZAMORA, AVILA AND ZARAGOZA
GRANADA AND
THE ALHAMBRA
A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE
ANCIENT CITY OF GRANADA
WITH A PARTICULAR ACCOUNT
OF THE MOORISH PALACE
BY ALBERT F. CALVERT
WITH 460 ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD
NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY MCMVII
Printed by BALLANTYNE & CO. LIMITED
Tavistock Street, London
TO
H.I.M. THE EMPRESS EUGÉNIE
THIS SOUVENIR OF THAT FAIR GRANADAN HOME
FROM WHICH SHE CARRIED
THE CROWN OF SPANISH BEAUTY
TO GRACE THE THRONE OF FRANCE
IS DEDICATED
IN ACCORDANCE WITH HER MAJESTY’S
GRACIOUS PERMISSION
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION
Although the admission may be construed by the censorious as betraying a
lack of becoming diffidence, I am tempted to believe that no apology
will be demanded for the publication of this volume by that section of
the reading public for which it has been chiefly compiled. My temerity
goes even further, and I anticipate with some confidence that visitors
to the Alhambra, and pilgrims to that famous Mecca of Moorish
workmanship, will recognise in this book an earnest attempt to supply a
long-felt want. When I paid my first visit to Granada some years ago, I
was surprised and disappointed to find that no such thing as an even
fairly adequate illustrated souvenir of this “city of the dawn” was to
be obtained. Many tomes, costly and valuable (not necessarily the same
thing), have been written to place on record the wonders of “the
glorious sanctuary of Spain,” but these are beyond the reach of the
general public. Many beautiful pictures have caught odd ecstasies of
this superb and perfectly harmonised palace of art, but these
impressions are not available to the ordinary tourist.
What is wanted, as I imagine, is a concise history and description of
the Alhambra, illustrated with a series of pictures constituting a
tangible remembrancer of the delights of this Granadian paradise
“Where glory rests ’tween laurels,
A torch to give thee light!”
The Alhambra may be likened to an exquisite opera which can only be
appreciated to the full when one is under the spell of its magic
influence. But as the witchery of an inspired score can be recalled by
the sound of an air whistled in the street, so--it is my hope--the pale
ghost of this Moorish fairy-land may live again in the memories of
travellers through the medium of this pictorial epitome.
I desire, however, to submit an explanation--or excuse--for the unusual
form in which this volume is issued. At the commencement of my work I
experienced no little difficulty in collecting the requisite
illustrations, for most of the obtainable photographs were ill-chosen
and but carelessly developed, and I was compelled to press my own
cameras into the service of my scheme. But when my designs became known,
I was inundated with offers of pictures of every description, until the
embarrassment of artistic treasures entirely upset the original purpose
of my book. Artists placed their studies at my disposal; collectors
begged me, with irresistible Spanish courtesy, to regard their galleries
as my own; and students directed my attention to little-known
publications on the subject.
Don Mariano Contreras, Conservator of the Alhambra, the son of the
gifted Raphaël Contreras, who devoted thirty-seven years of his life to
the restoration of the Palace--gave me the benefit of his knowledge of
this unique treasure-house of art; and I have also laid under
contribution the beautiful plates of Owen Jones, who disposed of a Welsh
inheritance in order to produce his great work on the _Plans,
Elevations, Sections, and Details of the Alhambra_. Jones’s _Grammar of
Ornament_, which has been described as “beautiful enough to be the
horn-book of the Angels,” also contains the result of his researches in
the Alhambra, which occupied him for the greater part of eleven years. A
selection of these illustrations is here rescued from the obscurity of
public libraries and the inaccessible fastnesses of private collections.
The inclusion of John F. Lewis’s drawings, and the reproduction of a
series of pictures by James C. Murphy, who spent seven years in the
study of the artistic marvels of the Alhambra, I do not feel called upon
to defend. The photographs, several of which were placed at my disposal
by Don Rafaël Garzón, represent the buildings as they appear to-day; the
drawings were made before the Palace was damaged by the disastrous fire
of September, 1890.
For the historical portions of the description contained in the
letterpress I have levied tribute on a variety of authors. _The History
of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain_, by the learned Spanish
Orientalist, Don Pascual de Gayángos; Raphaël Contreras’ _Étude
Descriptive des Monuments Arabes_; Richard Ford’s reverent
appreciations; Dr. R. Dozy’s history; Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole’s _The
Moors in Spain_; Washington Irving’s fascinating writings; and _The
Alhambra Album_, presented by Prince Dolgorouki in 1829, containing the
autographs, poems, and thoughts of succeeding generations of visitors to
Granada, these and many others have been drawn upon in the following
pages.
But the multiplicity of my illustrations convinced me that if I adhered
to my idea of furnishing an amount of letterpress sufficient to “carry”
the blocks, I should only end in producing a book that would tax the
physical endurance of my readers by reason of its bulk, and exhaust
their patience with a tedious super-abundance of minute descriptive
pabulum. I resolved, therefore, to give pride of place to the pictorial
side of the volume; to abandon the traditions regulating the proportions
of prose to pictures; and make my appeal to the public by the beauty and
variety of the illustrations I have collected, and the immensity of
elaborate letterpress which I have not written.
A. F. C.
“ROYSTON,”
HAMPSTEAD, N.W., 1904.
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION
The compilation of a book of this kind reveals in the author a
refreshing optimism which does not always survive the ordeal of
publication, and it is, perhaps, out of sympathy with the misgivings
that assail him as he approaches the bar of public and critical opinion,
that convention cedes to him the privilege of making some apology for
the faith that is in him. In his preface he is permitted to explain
himself, and this _apologia_ or justification, call it which you will,
stands as the last word in his own defence. But the demand for a further
edition is the outcome of an amiable conspiracy on the part of the
public, and it is not required of the author to explain, justify, or
excuse an issue for which he is not directly responsible. Any revision
or amplification, however, which is to be found in a second impression,
may be briefly referred to, and at the same time tradition allows him to
express the feelings of gratitude and gratification that the occasion
inspires.
It has been my ambition to acknowledge the favour with which this book
has been received, by having the present edition produced with the
greatest care on special paper, and by the addition of a number of new
illustrations, including some half-tone and coloured plates reproduced
from the _Monumentos Arquitectónicos de España_ and other sources, which
I have acquired since it was first produced. It will be seen that
several of the coloured pictures in this book illustrate designs which
are common to the Arabian ornamentation to be found in Cordova and
Seville, and, as being representative of the Moresco work of the period,
they also appear in the companion volume on _Moorish Remains in Spain_,
but it may be stated that the whole of the plates reproduced here are
from photographs and drawings secured or specially made to illustrate
_The Alhambra_. In its pictorial appeal it has been my ambition to make
this edition as worthy of its subject as means and ability permit, and I
offer this assurance as an earnest of my sincere appreciation of the
generous manner in which the Press and public rewarded my previous
effort.
A. F. C.
PREFACE TO NEW EDITION
The generous appreciation with which my larger book on the Alhambra was
received by both the Press and the public in Spain and America, as well
as in this country, encourages me to hope that the present volume will
prove a popular addition to this Spanish Series. Three years ago, when I
published _The Alhambra_ to supply what my own experience taught me to
be a real want, the scale and quality of the illustrations made it
impossible to issue the work at a popular price. I am now enabled to
present an inexpensive and, I trust, adequate souvenir of the
fascinating city of Granada and its Red Palace. The text is no mere
reprint of the matter which appeared in my former work, but embodies the
results of a more critical, though not less appreciative, survey of the
last monuments of the Spanish Moor. Bearing in mind, too, that the
illustrations, being on a reduced scale, called for fuller explanation,
I have endeavoured to condense as much detail and descriptive matter
into the letterpress as the limits I had laid down for myself admitted.
Those limits were still further encroached upon by the additional wealth
of illustration which resulted from the decision to include the city of
Granada in a work which, in previous issues, had been devoted entirely
to the palace of the Alhambra, and the new pictorial matter so acquired
threatened to annex all the space allotted for the text. But little as I
liked the idea of further condensing the letterpress, I was even less
inclined to neglect the opportunity of enhancing the pictorial value of
the volume. In dealing with the Moorish art of Spain, I have always
recognised that the popular want is for pictures rather than the printed
word, and I venture to hope that the present volume, which surpasses its
costlier predecessors in the number of the plates reproduced, will
constitute a serviceable if not exhaustive guide to the beautiful
Moorish capital, and an artistic remembrancer of its fascinating
monuments.
I have to acknowledge my obligations to Mr. E. B. d’Auvergne for his
kind and valuable assistance in the compilation of the text, and for
permission to reproduce many of the additional photographs I am indebted
to the courtesy of Don Senan y Gonzalez, of Herr Ernst Wasmuth of
Berlin, publisher of Uhde’s _Baudenkmaeler in Spanien und Portugal_, and
of Herr Eugen Twietmeyer of Leipzig, publisher of Junghandel’s _Die
Baukunst Spaniens_.
As I have remarked in the preface to the volume on Cordova, it may be
thought that in the present work I have given an excess of detail of
Arabian decoration and ornament, but it has been my aim to provide the
last word on Moorish art--so far at least as the pictorial
representation of it is concerned--wherever I have dealt with it in
Spain. To the general reader these reproductions of tracery and
elaborate detail may seem superfluous, but they will, I trust, lend to
the book an additional interest in the eyes of students and artists, for
whose delectation they are included here.
A. F. C.
CONTENTS
PAGE
THE CITY OF THE MOOR 1
THE ALHAMBRA 25
THE GENERALIFE 61
CATHOLIC GRANADA 65
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
TITLE PLATE
View of Granada, showing the Alhambra and the Sierra
Nevada 1
General View of the Alhambra 2
View of the Alhambra from the Sacromonte Road 3
The Alhambra from the Moor’s Seat--La Silla del Moro 4
General View of the Alhambra from San Nicolás 5
View of the Gate of Elvira 6
A View of the Alhambra from the Albaicin (_Sketch_) 7
View of the Cathedral and the Alhambra from San
Gerónimo 8
View of the Sierra Nevada from the Carrera de las
Angustias 9
View of the Royal Gate 10
View from the Tower in the Alhambra 11
La Plaza Nueva 12
Monument to Columbus in the Paseo del Salon; the
Sierra Nevada in the Distance 13
The Street of the Catholic Sovereigns 14
Arab Silk Market 15
La Casa de los Tiros 16
Church of Santa Ana 17
Limoges Enamel Triptych which belonged to the Gran
Capitán. (Provincial Museum, Granada) 18
Altar in the Church of San Gerónimo 19
House in the Calle de Darro. The Palacio de Justicia 20
The House of Castril 21
Typical Gypsies and their Quarters 22
Gypsies in Front of their Dwellings 23
Gypsy-dwellings in the Sacromonte 24
General View of the Gypsy Quarters 25
Interior of a Gypsy’s Cave 26
Group of Gypsies 27
A Gypsy Family 28
Gypsies bivouacking 29
Gypsies 30
Gypsies clipping a Mule 31
Gypsies 32
Gypsies 33
Gypsy Dance 34
Interior of the Sacristy of the Cartuja 35
Interior of Cartuja: The Sacristy 36
Interior of the Cartuja Church 37
Saint Bruno, by Alonso Cano, at the Carthusian Monastery
of Granada 38
Exterior of the Royal Chapel 39
The Gate of Pardon and the Exterior of the Cathedral 40
Façade of the Cathedral 41
Exterior Gate of the Royal Chapel 42
Detail in the Royal Chapel 43
Ancient Gothic Entrance to the Royal Chapel 44
General Exterior View of the Royal Chapel, Upper
Part 45
General Exterior View of the Royal Chapel 46
Façade of the Cathedral. Exterior of the Royal Chapel 47
General View of the Interior of the Cathedral 48
The Cathedral. General View of the Interior 49
The Cathedral. View of the Principal Nave 50
The High Altar in the Cathedral 51
Altar-piece in the Royal Chapel, by F. de Borgoña 52
The Cathedral. Boabdil giving up the Keys of Granada
to the Catholic Sovereigns. Fragment of the Altar-piece
in the Royal Chapel 53
The Inner Choir of the Cathedral 54
The Cathedral. Tombs of the Catholic Sovereigns in
the Royal Chapel 55
View of the Royal Chapel and Tombs of the Catholic
Sovereigns, by P. Gonzalvo 56
Royal Chapel. Tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella 57
Vault of the Catholic Sovereigns at Granada 58
Tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella, Doña Juana and
Philip the Handsome 59
Tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella, Doña Juana and
Philip the Handsome 60
Sceptre, Crown, Sword, Mass-book, and Coffer of the
Catholic Sovereigns 61
Relics of the Catholic Sovereigns 62
Royal Chapel: Statue of Queen Isabella the Catholic 63
Statue of Isabella the Catholic 64
Chapel of San Miguel in the Cathedral, Marble Sculpture 65
Plan of the Alhambra Palace at Granada 66
General Plan of the Alhambra 67
General View of the Alhambra from San Nicolás 68
The Red Towers from the Ramparts 69
View of the Alhambra from the Sacromonte 70
General View of the Alhambra and Algibillo Promenade 71
View of the Alhambra from the Cuesta del Chapiz 72
The Red Towers 73
General View of the Alhambra 74
The Tower of the Peaks 75
The Infantas’ Tower and Captive’s Tower 76
View of the Watch Tower and Granada 77
View of the Ramparts and the Watch Tower 78
The Aqueduct Tower and the Aqueduct 79
The Gate of Justice. Detail of a Door in the Court
of the Myrtles 80
The Alhambra and the Sierra Nevada 81
Granada, from the Homage Tower 82
“The Queen’s Dressing-room,” at the Summit of the
Mihrab Tower, with Distant View of the Generalife 83
The Gate of Justice, erected by Yúsuf I. 84
The Tower of the Peaks 85
The Captive’s Tower 86
Exterior of the Mosque, Private Property 87
Tower of the Aqueduct 88
Ascent to the Alhambra by the Cuesta del Rey Chico--Lesser
King Hill 89
The Ladies’ Tower 90
Part of the Alhambra, Exterior 91
The Homage Tower. Ancient Arab Ruins in the
Alcazába 92
Gate of Justice, the Alhambra 93
Gate of Justice (_Sketch_) 94
The Gate of Justice 95
Plan, Height, and Details of the Gate of the Law, commonly
called of Justice 96
Elevation of the Ancient Gate of Justice 97
Portal commonly called the Wine Gate 98
Porch of the Gate of Judgment 99
Elevation of the Wine Gate 100
Transverse Section of Part of the Alhambra 101
Section showing Heights of the Alhambra 102, 103
Promenades at the Entrance to the Alhambra 104
The Hall of Justice and Court of the Lions 105
Hall of Justice. Left Side 106
Hall of Justice, showing Fountain of Court of the Lions 107
Section of the Hall of Justice (looking East) 108
Section of the Hall of Justice (looking towards the
Court of the Lions) 109
Vertical Section of the Hall of Justice 110
Details of the Hall of Justice 111
Plan and Window of the Hall of Justice 112
Painting on the Ceiling of the Hall of Justice. No. 1 113
Painting on the Ceiling of the Hall of Justice. No. 3 114
Part of Picture in the Hall of Justice--The Moor’s
Return from Hunting 115
Hall of Justice--The Death of the Lion at the Hands of
a Christian Knight 116
Part of Picture in the Hall of Justice representing a
Christian Knight rescuing a Maiden from a wicked
Magician, or Wild-Man-o’-the-Woods 117
Part of Picture in Hall of Justice--Moorish Huntsman
slaying the Wild Boar 118
Hall of Justice--Three Figures from the Picture of the
Moorish Tribunal 119
The Mosque and Generalife 120
Court of the Mosque 121
Façade of the Mosque 122
Interior of the Mosque in the Alhambra 123
Interior of the Mosque 124
Elevation of the Portico adjacent to the Mosque 125
Detail of the Entrance Door of the Mosque 126
An Arched Window of the Mosque 127
An Arched Window of the Mosque 128
The Koran Recess in the Mosque, the Scene of Yusuf’s
Assassination 129
The Mosque from Koran Recess 130
Details of Ornament of Koran Recess near the Entrance
Door of the Mosque 131
Cornice and Window in the Façade of the Mosque 132
Vertical Section of the Mosque 133
Arab Lamp in Mosque 134
Details of the Front of the Mosque of the Harem 135
Details of Ornament in the Court of the Mosque 136
Details in the Court of the Mosque, Eastern Façade 137
Ornament in Panels, Court of the Mosque 138
Window in the Hall of Ambassadors 139
Entrance to the Hall of Ambassadors 140
Hall of Ambassadors 141
Section and Elevation of the Interior of the Hall of
Ambassadors 142
Encaustic-tile Work of the Hall of Ambassadors 143
Ornament in Panels, Hall of Ambassadors 144
Inscriptions in the Hall of Ambassadors 145
Kufic Inscriptions, Hall of Ambassadors 146
“Wa la Ghálib ila Alá”--There is no Conqueror but
God!--The famous Motto of Mohammed I. and his
Successors. An Example from the Hall of Ambassadors 147
The Court of the Lions from the Templete Pomiente 148
Entrance to the Court of the Lions through the Pomiente
Corner 149
North Gallery and Façade of the Hall of the Abencerrages 150
The Court of the Lions from the Pomiente Corner 151
View in the Court of the Lions 152
View in the Court of the Lions from the Hall of Justice 153
The Court of the Lions 154
General View of the Court of the Lions 155
Court of the Lions 156
North Gallery in the Court of the Lions 157
Section, Court of the Lions 158
Pavilion in the Court of the Lions 159
Fountain and East Temple in the Court of the Lions 160
Hall of Justice and Court of the Lions 161
Angle in the Hall of Justice 162
Hall of Justice 163
Ceiling of the Hall of Justice 164
The Mosque, and View of the Generalife 165
Exterior of a Window in the Mosque 166
The Mosque, and View of the Generalife 167
Interior of the Mosque 168
Court of the Mosque, West Façade 169
Interior of the Mosque, converted into a Roman Catholic
Church 170
Interior of the Mosque, converted into a Roman Catholic
Church 171
Jalousies in the Court of the Mosque 172
Entrance to the Hall of Ambassadors 173
Balcony in the Hall of Ambassadors 174
Detail of the Hall of the Arched Windows 175
Detail in the Hall of the Abencerrages 176
The Court of the Lions 177
General View of the Court of the Lions 178
The Fountain and West Temple of the Court of the Lions 179
Elevation of the Fountain of the Court of the Lions 180
The Fountain of the Court of the Lions, with Details
of the Ornament 181
Plan of the Basin of the Fountain in the Court of the
Lions 182
Section of the Pavilion in the Court of the Lions 183
Section of the Hall of the Two Sisters, and Section of
Part of the Court of the Lions 184, 185
Capital in the Court of the Lions, with a Scale of One
Metre 186
Details of the Centre Arcade of the Court of the Lions 187
Frieze over Columns, Court of the Lions 188
Detail of the Central Arch in the Court of the Lions 189
The First Six Verses of the Inscription around the Basin
of the Fountain of the Court of the Lions 190
Entablature in the Court of the Lions 191
Cupola of the Pavilion in the Court of the Lions 192
Entrance to the Court of the Lions. Little Temple, the
Court of the Lions 193
The Court of the Lions 194
The Little Temple, and the Fountain, the Court of the
Lions 195
The Court of the Lions 196
The Court of the Lions, West Angle 197
Morocco Embassy, December 1885 198
The Court of the Lions from the West Temple 199
The Court of the Lions from the West Temple 200
West Gallery in the Court of the Lions 201
The Court of the Lions, Façade of the Hall of the Two
Sisters 202
The Court of the Lions, Left-hand Angle 203
The Court of the Lions, Façade of the Hall of Two
Sisters 204
The Court of the Lions from the Entrance 205
Detail of the Entrance to the Court of the Lions 206
Detail in the Court of the Lions 207
Mosaics, North and South Sides, the Court of the Lions 208
Hall of the Abencerrages 209
Hall of the Abencerrages 210
Hall of the Abencerrages 211
Hall of the Abencerrages 212
Wooden Doors, Hall of the Abencerrages 213
Gallery in the Court of the Fish-pond; or, of the
Myrtles 214
Court of the Myrtles; or, of the Fish-pond. Façade
of the Hall of Ambassadors 215
Court of the Myrtles; or, of the Fish-pond 216
General View of the Court of the Myrtles; or, of the
Fish-pond 217
North Side of the Court of the Fish-pond; or, of the
Myrtles 218
Entrance to the Court of the Fish-pond; or, of the
Myrtles 219
Gallery in the Court of the Myrtles; or, of the Fish-pond 220
General View of the Court of the Myrtles and Comares
Tower 221
Court of the Myrtles, East Façade 222
Detail in the Court of the Myrtles 223
Court of the Myrtles, East Façade 224
Exterior of the Gallery in the Court of the Fish-pond;
or, of the Myrtles 225
The Court of the Fish-pond; or, of the Myrtles 226
Ornament in the Court of the Fish-pond; or, of the
Myrtles 227
Court of the Myrtles; or, of the Fish-pond, formed by
Yúsuf I. 228
The Court of the Fish-pond; or, of the Myrtles. Gallery
in the Court of the Fish-pond; or, of the Myrtles 229
The Hall of the Baths 230
The Sultan’s Bath 231
The Sultana’s Bath 232
The Baths, Hall of Repose 233
Chamber of Repose 234
Section of the Hall of the Baths 235
Longitudinal Section through the Baths 236
Ground Plan of the Baths in the Alhambra 237
Ceiling of the Hall of the Baths 238
Plan and Section of the great Cistern in the Alhambra 239
A Section of the Baths in the Alhambra 240
Chamber of Repose. Sultan’s Bath constructed by
Yúsuf I. 241
Interior of the Infantas’ Tower 242
Sections of the Infantas’ Tower 243
Interior of the Tower of the Infantas, Upper Part 244
Balcony of the “Captive” (Isabel de Solis), overlooking
the Vega, or Plain, of Granada 245
Alcove of the “Captive” (Isabel de Solis) 246
Interior of the Tower of the “Captive” (Isabel de
Solis) 247
The “Captive’s” Tower from the Entrance 248
Interior of the Mosque. Room in the “Captive’s”
Tower 249
Hall of Justice. Baths, the Chamber of Repose 250
Balcony of the Favourite, “Lindaraja” 251
Alcove in the “Lindaraja” Apartments 252
Garden of “Lindaraja,” and the Apartments traditionally
said to have been occupied by “Lindaraja,”
a favourite Sultana 253
Detail, Interior of the Balcony of “Lindaraja” 254
Detail, Lower Part of the Balcony of “Lindaraja” 255
Detail of the Central Part of the Balcony of “Lindaraja” 256
The Queen’s Boudoir and Distant View of the Generalife 257
The Queen’s Boudoir and View of the Generalife 258
The Queen’s Boudoir and old Albaicin Quarter 259
The Queen’s Boudoir and Defile of the Darro 260
“Lindaraja’s” Garden and the Apartments in which
Washington Irving stayed 261
Angle of the Balcony of “Lindaraja” 262
Balcony of the favourite “Lindaraja” 263
Interior of the Tower of the Captive, Isabel de Solis 264
Exterior of the Captive’s Tower 265
The Tower of the Captive, Isabel de Solis 266
Interior of the Infantas’ Tower, Upper Part 267
Interior of the Infantas’ Tower 268
Detail of the Upper Part of the Balcony of “Lindaraja” 269
Hall of the Two Sisters 270
Entrance to the Hall of the Two Sisters 271
Interior of the Hall of the Two Sisters 272
Hall of the Two Sisters 273
Hall of the Two Sisters 274
Temple and Façade of the Hall of the Two Sisters 275
View in the Hall of the Two Sisters 276
Hall of the Two Sisters from the Entrance Door, built
by Yúsuf I. 277
Upper Balcony of the Hall of the Two Sisters 278
Hall of the Two Sisters from the Entrance Door 279
Ceiling of the Hall of the Two Sisters 280
Detail of the Upper Story, Hall of the Two Sisters 281
Detail of the Lateral Windows of the Hall of the Two
Sisters 282
Detail in the Hall of the Two Sisters 283
Panel, Ornament, and Inscriptions in the Hall of the
Two Sisters 284
Inscription in the Hall of the Two Sisters 285
Frieze in the Hall of the Two Sisters 286
Panel on Jambs of Doorways, Hall of the Two Sisters 287
Details of the Glazed Tiles in the Dado of the Hall
of the Two Sisters 288
Band round Panels in Windows, Hall of the Two Sisters 289
Mosaic in Dado of Recess. Mosaic in Dado of the
Entrance to the Hall of the Two Sisters 290
Mosaic in Dado of Hall of Ambassadors. Mosaic in
Dado of the Hall of the Two Sisters 291
Wine Gate. West Façade 292
Detail of the only ancient “Jalousie” remaining in
the Alhambra 293
El Jarro. Arab Vase now in the Museum of the Palace 294
El Jarro. The Arabian Vase and Niche in which it
formerly stood, Hall of the Two Sisters 295
An Arab Vase of the Fourteenth Century in the Niche
wherein it stood until the Year 1837 296
Sword of the last Moorish King of Granada, commonly
called “The Sword of Boabdil” 297
The Surrender of Granada by Boabdil to Ferdinand
and Isabella, January 2, 1492 298
Gold Coin (obverse and reverse) of Mohammed I., the
Founder of the Alhambra, who reigned 1232-1272
A.D. 299
Details and Inscriptions, and Arabian Capitals 300
The Gothic Inscription set up in the Alhambra by the
Count of Tendilla, to commemorate the Surrender
of the Fortress in 1492 301
Mosaic Pavement in the Queen’s Dressing-room (Tocador
de la Reyna.) Mosaic, from a Fragment in
the Alhambra 302
The House of Carbon 303
The ancient Granary Market and House of Carbon 304
Elevation of the Casa del Carbon, or House of
Carbon, once known as the House of the Weathercock 305
Courtyard of a Moorish House in the Albaicin 306
Interior of an Arab House in the Albaicin 307
The Proclamation of Boabdil. By Plácido Frances
(National Exhibition of Beaux Arts, 1884) 308
The Author in the Alhambra 309
Cornices, Capitals, and Columns in the Alhambra 310
Miscellaneous Ornament in the Alhambra 311
The Fable of Jupiter and Leda in the Alhambra 312
Bas-relief, now in the Museum of the Alhambra 313
Arabian Sword 314
Capitals from the Courts and Halls of the Alhambra 315
Encaustic-tile Work in the Royal Room of Santo
Domingo 316
Various Mosaics from the Alhambra 317
Inscriptions in the Alhambra 318
Plan of the Palace of Charles V. and of the Subterranean
Vaults of the Alhambra 319
General View of the Alhambra from the Homage Tower 320
Ancient Cistern. Early Fourteenth Century 321
The Alhambra (_Specially drawn for the Spanish
Series_) 322
Part of Exterior of the Palace of Charles V. 323
Elevation of the Palace of Charles V. 324
Section of the Palace of Charles V. 325
Fountain of the Emperor Charles V. 326
View of the Alhambra from the Homage Tower 327
Interior of the Palace of Charles V. 328
Doorway of the Palace of Charles V. 329
Bas-relief in the Palace of Charles V. 330
Porch of the Palace of Charles V. from the West 331
Roman Court, Palace of Charles V. 332
Ground Plan of the Generalife at Granada 333
The Generalife 334
The Principal Court of the Generalife 335
The Court of the Fish-pond in the Generalife 336
Promenades and Gardens of the Generalife 337
The Generalife 338
Front View of the Portico of the Generalife 339
Transverse Section of the Royal Villa of the Generalife 340
Gallery in the Generalife 341
The Generalife. Gallery in the Acequia Court 342
The Generalife. Entrance to the Portrait Gallery 343
Garden of the Generalife 344
Elevation of the Portico of the Generalife 345
The Acequia Court in the Generalife 346
A Corner of the Acequia Court in the Generalife 347
Cypress Court. A Corner in the Acequia Court 348
The Cypress of the Sultana in the Generalife 349
A Ceiling in the Generalife 350
The Generalife. The Acequia Court from the Main
Entrance 351
The Generalife. The Acequia Court from the Interior 352
Exterior View of the Generalife 353
Entrance to the Generalife 354
The Generalife. Court of the Sultana’s Cypress 355
The Generalife. The Acequia Court from the Interior 356
South Façade of the Palace of Charles V. 357
Bas-relief in the Palace of Charles V. 358
Bas-relief in the Palace of Charles V. 359
Gate of the Granadas 360
Promenades and Hotels of the Alhambra 361
The Gate of Justice and Fountain of Charles V. 362
Environs of the Alhambra. Fountain of Charles V. 363
Gate of Justice. Principal Entrance to the Alhambra 364
Gate of Justice 365
Wine Gate. East Façade 366
Environs of the Alhambra. Tower of the Peaks 367
Tower of the Peaks 368
General View of the Alhambra from the Silla del
Moro 369
General View of the Alhambra from the Gypsy
Quarters 370
General View of the Alhambra from the Generalife 371
View of Granada and the Alhambra from the Sacromonte 372
General View of the Alhambra from San Nicolas 373
The Watch Tower, the Cathedral, and Granada 374
Villas on the Banks of the River Darro 375
A View of the Alhambra 376
Villas on the Banks of the River Darro 377
The Watch Tower and Cathedral 378
The Red Tower 379
The Homage Tower and Gypsy Quarters: exterior of
their Caves 380
Carrera del Rio Darro 381
The Gate of Elvira. The old Entrance to the Fortifications 382
Washing Place in the Puerta del Sol 383
Courtyard of an Arab House 384
A Moorish Archway 385
Interior of an old House in the Calle del Horno de Oro 386
Interior of an old House in the Albaicin 387
The Cathedral and General View 388
General View of the Cathedral 389
General View of the Exterior of the Cathedral 390
Entrance to the Royal Chapel 391
Exterior of the Royal Chapel of the Catholic Sovereigns 392
Detail of the Exterior of the Royal Chapel 393
Exterior of the Royal Chapel 394
Exterior of the Cathedral 395
Exterior of the Royal Chapel 396
Exterior of the Cathedral. The Gate of Pardon 397
Gothic Pinnacle on the Royal Chapel 398
The Cathedral. View from the Choir 399
The Cathedral. General View of the Chancel and
High Altar 400
Bas-relief in the Altar-piece of the Royal Chapel 401
General View of the Chancel in the Cathedral 402
The Royal Chapel. Sepulchre of the Catholic Sovereigns 403
The Royal Chapel. Detail of the Sepulchre of the
Catholic Sovereigns 404
The Royal Chapel. Sculpture of King Ferdinand the
Catholic 405
Sepulchre of Ferdinand 406
Sepulchre of Isabella the Catholic 407
Portal of the Church of San Juan de Dios 408
Sepulchre of Alonso Caño in San Gerónimo 409
Head of John the Baptist 410
Head of John the Baptist 411
Head of John the Baptist 412
Exterior of the Cartuja Monastery 413
Sacristy in the Cartuja, Left Side 414
Sacristy in the Cartuja, Right Side 415
Cartuja. Sancta Sanctorum 416
Cartuja. Detail of the Cupboards in the Sacristy 417
Altars in the Cartuja. Pictures by Sanchez y Cotán,
a Monk of the Order 418
Cartuja. The Immaculate Conception. By Murillo 419
Cartuja. The Virgin of the Rosary. By Murillo 420
Cartuja. St. Joseph and the Child. Sculpture by
Alonso Caño 421
Cartuja. St. Mary Magdalene. Sculpture by Alonso
Caño 422
Cartuja. Horsemen hanging Martyrs. By Sanchez
Cotán 423
Cartuja. The Baptism of Our Lord. By Sanchez
Cotán 424
Cartuja. The Holy Family. By Sanchez Cotán 425
The Crucifixion of Our Lord. By Morales 426
The Conception of Our Lady. By Morales 427
The Gypsy Quarters. Exterior of the Caves 428
The Gypsy Quarters. An “At Home” 429
Gypsy Dance in their Quarters 430
Gypsy Types at the Doors of their Caves 431
Gypsy Dance in their Quarters 432
Gypsy Dancers and their Captain, J. Amaya 433
Bridge of the Genil 434
General View 435
General View of the old Albaicin 436
General View from the Watch Tower 437
Old Arab Palace, now the Property of a Spanish Nobleman 438
The old Town Hall 439
The Royal Gate and Street of the Catholic Sovereigns 440
Monument to Columbus in the Paseo del Salon 441
The Raw Silk Market 442
The Raw Silk Market. Ancient Arab Silk Market 443
Exterior of an old House, Cuesta del Pescado 444
The Court of Justice 445
Carrera del Darro 446
Market and Gypsy Fair in the Triunfo 447
Calle de San Anton 448
Antequeruela Quarter, Sierra Nevada, and the “Last
Sigh of the Moor” 449
Carrera de Genil and View of the Sierra Nevada 450
Plaza de Mariana Pineda, Arab House, and View of the
Sierra Nevada 451
General View of the Alhambra and of the Sierra Nevada
from St. Michael 452
Huétor High Road and View of the Sierra Nevada 453
Villas on the Borders of the River Darro 454
Defile of the Darro 455
The Green Bridge and View of the Sierra Nevada 456
View of the Sierra Nevada 457
General View of the Sierra Nevada and the River Genil 458
Granada. (_Specially drawn for the Spanish Series_) 459
Arms of Granada 460
Plan of Granada _page_ 89
GRANADA
THE CITY OF THE MOOR
Granada is the creation of the Moors. Its history is all of them--the
record of their glory and their fall. The Pomegranate, as its conqueror
styled it, ripened only in the warm sunshine of Islam, and withered with
its decline. Under the Christian, it fell from the rank of a splendid
capital to a poor provincial town. Now it subsists merely as a great
monument to a vanished race and a dead civilisation.
With Granada before it became the centre of an independent kingdom, we
need concern ourselves but little. Its real interest dates from the
establishment of the Nasrite dynasty in the first half of the thirteenth
century. It was the time when the great Almohade Empire was breaking up.
Probably all Andalusia would have shared the fate of Cordova and
Seville, and the conquests of the Catholic kings been anticipated by two
centuries, had not a young man of Arjona, Ibn Al Ahmar by name,
determined to fashion for himself a kingdom out of the fragments of
empire. With an ever-increasing following, he seized upon Jaen in 1232,
and obtained possession of Granada itself in 1237. City after city
opened its gates to him, including Malaga and Almeria, and in 1241 he
was recognised as Lord and Sultan of all the territory between the
Sierra Morena and the Pillars of Hercules, from Ronda to Baza.
A great man, in every sense, was this founder of the Nasrite dynasty.
His presence was fine and commanding, his manner bland and amiable, his
courage worthy of the heroic age. For all his valour and prowess on the
battlefield, no monarch prized peace more highly. He proved himself a
true national hero and the father of his people. He fostered industry
and agriculture, was a patron, like all his race, of arts and letters,
and encouraged immigration by every means in his power. A far-sighted
statesman, he perceived that a state so limited in area as his own could
only hope to exist by virtue of an unusual density of population, and he
offered every inducement to Muslims from the provinces conquered by the
Christians to settle within his dominions. Granada was the last hope of
Islam in Europe, and he resorted to all possible means to safeguard it.
He concluded alliances with the rulers of Morocco, Tlemsen, and Tunis,
and even of distant Baghdad. Above all, he neglected no means of
humouring and conciliating the irresistible Castilian. He negotiated an
alliance with Fernando III., binding himself to attend the Cortes (a
curious stipulation for a Mohammedan) and to attend the king in his wars
with 1500 lances. This latter part of the bargain he was speedily called
upon to fulfil, and against his own co-religionists of Seville. It
seemed an unnatural warfare, but, to palliate the iniquity, let it be
said that Ibn Al Ahmar probably looked upon the Almohade citizens of
Ishbiliah as heretics. At all events, whether his conscience approved
his action or not, he contributed in no small measure to Fernando’s
success, and was hailed enthusiastically as a conqueror upon his return
to Granada. That the assistance he rendered was not looked upon as
altogether voluntary by the people of Seville is shown by the fact that
thousands of them migrated to his dominions and settled there.
Ibn Al Ahmar dreaded the might of Castile. The only hope for the
Mohammedans of Spain lay, he knew, in rest and consolidation. Careful
not to give offence to his dreaded neighbour, he courteously received
the revolted and exiled Infante Don Enrique when he sought refuge at
Granada, but sent him on to Tunis with letters recommending him to the
Sultan of that country. All his diplomacy, however, could not avert a
war with Alfonso, and to add to his troubles, the Walis of Guadix,
Malaga, and Gomares revolted against his authority. But an insurrection
soon after broke out in Castile, and Alfonso was compelled to leave the
Walis to fight their own battles. Ibn Al Ahmar, an old man of eighty
years, wearily girded on his armour for another of the campaigns he had
learned to hate. But his time for rest had come at last. A few miles
beyond the gates of his capital, his charger threw him, as he rode at
the head of his army. He breathed his last at sundown, by the roadside,
surrounded by his weeping warriors. It was a dark night for Granada.
Al Ahmar’s son, under the style of Mohammed II., succeeded him at the
age of thirty-eight years, on January 21, 1273. Arabic historians have
lavished their encomiums upon him, as indeed upon most of his dynasty.
He is described as a warrior and a statesman, as a man of letters and a
poet of considerable ability. During his reign of twenty-nine years, he
was almost continuously at war. Soon after his accession he crushed the
rebel Walis at Antequera, and then paid a visit to Alfonso X. at
Seville, with a view to detaching the Castilian king from his alliance
with the defeated insurgents. In this he was successful. Queen Violante,
however, at the conclusion of his visit, asked of him a boon, which,
according to the custom of the times, as a true knight, he was bound to
grant. He then discovered, too late, that he had been tricked into
granting a year’s truce to the Walis. Smouldering with rage, he returned
to Granada and spent the year in maturing plans for the complete
overthrow of his enemies. This he effected with the aid of the Sultan
Yusuf of Morocco, whose army of 100,000 men landed at Tarifa in 1275.
The Africans, as on previous occasions in Moorish history, proved
dangerous allies. Mohammed found himself embroiled in a long and
absolutely unprofitable war with Castile, and had the mortification of
seeing the Africans possess themselves of Algeciras, Tarifa, and Malaga.
He recovered possession of the latter town by bribing the governor to
exchange it for the town of Salobreña, to be held as a personal
acquisition; and rid himself at last of the troublesome Africans by
means of an alliance with Sancho of Castile. But in 1302 we find him
again at war with the Christians, fighting against whom he died.
Mohammed III. was the worthy son of his father, and is specially
commended for his indefatigable energy. He took a short way with
traitors, even for those rough times. Ibn Nasr, the governor of Guadix,
having been removed from his office by the Sultan, exerted himself to
form a faction in his favour. Mohammed III., hearing of this, summoned
him to court, and had him slain there and then in his presence. A more
honourable exploit was his conquest of the town of Ceuta, opposite
Gibraltar, in the year 1306. With the rich spoils of the foray, he built
a magnificent mosque at Granada, resplendent with gold and silver,
jasper and marble. His success perhaps excited the jealousy of the
Catholic powers. Attacked on either side by the Kings of Castile and
Aragon, he was forced to conclude a humiliating peace. On his return to
his capital he was seized in the Alhambra itself by a band of
conspirators and forced to abdicate in favour of his brother, Muley
Nasr. The new Sultan began his reign with some military successes
(1309). He forced Jaime of Aragon to raise the siege of Almeria; but as
a set-off, he had to deal with conspiracies and rebellions at home, the
most formidable of these being headed by his nephew, Abu-l-Walid. In the
midst of these complications a curious incident occurred. Nasr was
stricken with apoplexy and left for dead. His deposed brother, Mohammed
III., was then released by some courtiers and brought to Granada, only
to find that the usurper had recovered his health and his crown. The
luckless Mohammed did not long survive his partisans’ mistake. But
retribution speedily overtook his brother. He was forced to yield to
Abu-l-Walid, and was glad to be allowed to retire to Guadix, the
sovereignty of which was allotted to him. Usurper though he was, Nasr
conducted himself with the dignity of a philosopher. His rival’s triumph
chagrined him not at all, and when invited by Pedro I. to join him in an
attack on Granada, he patriotically declined. He was a brave man, who
did not complain at meeting the fate to which he had subjected others.
The new monarch of Granada, Abu-l-Walid Ismail, was a fighter and a
fanatic. He was fond of saying that he believed only in God and his good
sword. His faith in the latter weapon was justified. He annihilated a
Spanish army which had approached Granada, among the slain being the
Infantes, Don Juan and Don Pedro; and carrying his victorious arms
eastwards, wrested Baza and Martos from the enemies of his race. But
others also reposed their faith in the sword. Like another Agamemnon, he
appropriated a beautiful captive, the prize of the young Mohammed of
Algeciras. Three days after his triumphal entry into his capital he fell
at the gates of the Alhambra, a victim to the poniard of the man he had
injured. Perceiving his sovereign to be at the point of death and
resolving to avert the horrors of a disputed succession, the Wizir
summoned the chief men of Granada to the palace, and announced that
Abu-l-Walid was recovering from his wounds. The royal order was that all
present should take the oath to the boy-prince, Muley Mohammed Ben
Ismail, as successor to the kingdom. When this command had been obeyed,
the wily Wizir announced the death of Abu-l-Walid and the accession of
Mohammed IV. This was in the year 1325.
When he had freed himself from the control of an unpopular regent, the
young Sultan displayed qualities of heart and mind in no way inferior to
those of his progenitors. It must be admitted that Arab historians have
been somewhat too partial to this line of kings, for there is hardly one
who is not described more or less explicitly as a paragon of all the
virtues. Mohammed IV. had to fight hard to hold his own against the
Spaniards on one side and the Africans on the other. He took Gibraltar,
and lost it again to Abu-l-Hasan of Fez. But the African king was soon
after obliged to ask his help to hold the fortress against the
Christians. Mohammed generously responded to the appeal, fell like a
thunderbolt upon the Spanish camp, and raised the siege. He was ill
repaid. In August 1333, he was imprudent enough to reproach his African
allies with their inability to hold the fortress; and a day or two
later, having sent his army home, made an excursion to the summit of
the Rock. He was followed by some among those he had reproached, and
quickly despatched by their poniards. His body, naked and mangled, was
found at the foot of the Rock, and conveyed to Malaga. No attempt seems
to have been made to identify or to punish his murderers.
The ill-fated Mohammed was succeeded by his brother, Yusuf I.,
Abu-l-Hejaj. While possessed, of course, of the virtues which seem to
have been inherent in the Nasrite dynasty, this prince was exceptional
in being an ardent, almost a passionate, lover of peace. He believed,
says Don Francisco Pi Margall, that it was more glorious to remedy evils
than to attempt perilous enterprises. Assisted by his able Wizir,
Redwân, he revised the laws and purified the administration of justice.
He built a magnificent palace at Malaga, and the great aljama or mosque
at Granada, of which no trace remains. Abandoning for once his settled
policy, he joined the Africans in a war against Castile. He was badly
beaten, and was glad to negotiate a truce of ten years. At the end of
that time, Alfonso of Castile died, and the Sultan of Granada was
stabbed to death by a madman, while at his prayers in the mosque, in the
year 1354.
Mohammed V. was as virtuous and as unfortunate as his father. He had
reigned but four years when he was attacked in his own palace by the
partisans of his half-brother, Ismail. Narrowly escaping death, he fled
to his harem, and in the disguise of a slave eluded his pursuers and
made his way to Guadix. Ismail II. ran a brief and inglorious career,
and was dethroned and slain (1360) by the “Red King,” Abu Saïd.
Meantime, Pedro I. of Castile espoused the cause of the lawful sultan
and invaded the territory of Granada. But the magnanimous Moor would not
consent to remount the throne at the cost of his people’s blood. Pedro
accordingly withdrew, but freed Mohammed from his enemies by murdering
Abu Saïd when the latter incautiously paid a visit to Seville. Mohammed
was reinstated on his throne, and mindful of the services rendered him
by Pedro, advanced to his support with a Grenadine army against Enrique
de Trastamara. The tragedy of Montiel made a continuance of the struggle
useless, and the Moorish sultan devoted the remainder of his reign to
improving the condition of his subjects. He founded charitable
institutions and asylums, and raised Granada to a high pitch of
prosperity. The city, according to the contemporary writer, El Khattib,
became the metropolis of the Mediterranean, the emporium of commerce,
and the common fatherland of all nations. Under Mohammed V., the kingdom
may be considered to have reached its zenith. Thence to its nadir we
count but a century of years.
Yusuf II., who succeeded his father in 1391, was so averse to war that
his subjects suspected him of Christian sympathies. His son rose against
him, and the pacific monarch was disposed to abdicate rather than draw
the sword. The exhortations of the Moroccan ambassador induced him to
take a manlier course, and putting himself at the head of the army
lately arrayed against him, he ravaged Murcia with fire and sword. It
was against this peace-loving sultan that Don Martin de la Barbuda, the
Quixotic Master of Calatrava, directed his wild expedition--defeated, of
course, and emphatically disavowed by Enrique III. of Castile. Yusuf’s
younger son and successor, Mohammed VII.,[A] was a prince of a very
different stamp. Accompanied by only twenty-five horsemen, he penetrated
to Toledo, and negotiated in the heart of Castile with Enrique III. The
peace thus concluded was soon interrupted, and Mohammed was quickly
waging war throughout the length and breadth of Andalusia. The war
continued with varying fortunes, and was carried on, as was usual in
those days, by a series of forays, neither side making any determined
effort to take the other’s capital or to secure his conquests. On
feeling his end approaching, the warlike Sultan bethought him of his
elder brother, Yusuf, whom he had confined in the castle of Salobreña.
Fearing that the captive might now supplant his own son, Mohammed sent a
messenger to command his execution. Yusuf was playing chess with the
governor of the castle when the fatal mandate arrived. He asked leave of
the emissary to finish the game, and before he had made the final move,
the news arrived of the death of Mohammed and of his proclamation as
Sultan of Granada. Yusuf showed himself as calm and unmoved at his
accession to the throne as when he had stood upon the threshold of
death.
As peaceably disposed as his father, Yusuf III. had to withstand some of
the most determined assaults upon his doomed kingdom. In his reign took
place the celebrated siege of Antequera by the Castilians, the survivors
of which founded the suburb of Antequeruela adjacent to Granada. Yusuf
ultimately found peace and a valuable ally as the outcome of a strange
story of fraternal animosity. The people of Gibraltar revolted against
Granada and proclaimed themselves the subjects of Fez. The Sultan of
that realm sent his hated brother, Abu Saïd, to take possession of the
town, and treating him as David did Uriah, left him at the mercy of the
enemy. Yusuf, however, treated the captured prince with generosity, and
showed him a letter which he shortly after received from the Sultan of
Fez, requesting that he might be poisoned. Thirsting for vengeance, Abu
Saïd procured arms and soldiers at Granada, and, invading Morocco, drove
his perfidious brother from the throne. Thereafter he was the sworn ally
of the Sultan of Granada, whom Castile and Aragon no longer ventured to
trouble. Yusuf III. passed away in 1417.
The history of Granada is henceforward one of almost continuous
revolution and tumult. Mohammed VIII. was driven into exile by a
namesake reckoned as the ninth of his name, and then restored by a
counter-revolution. A Castilian army ravaged the Vega up to the walls of
the capital. Granada itself would have fallen, had not Juan II. and the
great Constable, Alvaro de Luna, been recalled to Castile by the
disorders which resulted in the latter’s overthrow. An earthquake
desolated the distracted kingdom; and we may suppose that Mohammed VIII.
was not altogether sorry when he abandoned his throne to a pretender and
fled to Malaga.
The new sultan, Yusuf IV., held his throne as a fief of Castile, the
support of which he had to purchase with humiliating concessions. He
anticipated inevitable assassination by dying after sixteen months of
authority; and for the third time, Mohammed VIII. was proclaimed at
Granada (1432). Hostilities with Castile were at once renewed. This time
the fortune of war was with the Moors, who routed their opponents at
Illora, Archidona, and Castril. But Mohammed VIII.’s star was never long
in the ascendant. He quarrelled with the powerful family of the
Abencerrages; and, deprived of their support, was finally expelled from
his kingdom, by his kinsman, Aben Osmin.[B] The usurper was victorious
over the Christians and took several strongholds, but his army suffered
at last a bloody defeat at Alporchones. This reverse seems to have
maddened Osmin, who henceforward conducted himself as a tyrant of the
old Roman type. Revolutions had now become as frequent in Granada as in
some South American states. The usurper ran his brief career, and was
then forced to make room for Mohammed VIII.’s cousin Saïd. Granada was
all for peace. Tribute was paid to Enrique IV. of Castile, Christian
captives released--all in vain. The intermittent warfare went on as
before. Jaen, Archidona, Gibraltar, were lost, despite the desperate
valour of the Prince, Muley Hassan, and of the Chieftain, Ibrahim, who,
on being vanquished, plunged on horseback into the depths of a ravine.
At last, however, the distracted Ibn Ismail obtained peace for his
wretched country by a personal interview with Enrique, outside the walls
of Granada. He devoted the remainder of his reign to the encouragement
of commerce, industry, and agriculture in his dominions--labour that did
not benefit even those who were to succeed him; and died at Almeria in
the year 1465. The knell of the Moorish Empire in Europe was sounded
over his bier.
The reigns of Ali Abu-l-Hassan, Mohammed XI. (Boabdil), and Mohammed
XII. (Az-Zaghal) covered the years 1465-1492, during which the downfall
and extinction of the kingdom were accomplished. The history of these
events has already filled many bulky tomes, and has been made familiar
to English readers by the works of Prescott. Even our brief survey,
however, cannot be concluded without a summary of the last chapter of
the story of Granada.
The character of Muley Ali Abu-l-Hassan was the reverse of his
predecessor’s. He was arrogant, impetuous, and warlike, a fanatical
hater of the Christians, and a zealous Muslim. In the first years of his
reign he gained some successes over the feeble Enrique IV., and proved
himself strong enough to quell a revolt at Malaga. But he let slip the
opportunity of attacking the new sovereigns of Spain, Ferdinand and
Isabel, when they were engaged in war with the partisans of “La
Beltraneja,” nor did he make any attempt to effect an alliance with
their numerous enemies. State-craft does not appear to have been
possessed to any great extent by the descendants of Al Ahmar. In 1476,
Abu-l-Hassan condescended to sue for a renewal of the alliance with the
Queen of Castile; but when Ferdinand of Aragon made the payment of the
tribute stipulated by Ibn Ismail a condition of the treaty, the Moor’s
proud nature revolted. “Return to your sovereigns,” he said to the
Spanish ambassadors, “and tell them that the sultans who paid tribute to
the Christians are dead; that here we manufacture only iron spear-heads
for our enemies.” These words sealed the fate of the Moors in Spain,
though the ruler who uttered them probably thought them merely the
prelude to just such a frontier war as had raged intermittently for so
many years.
The first act in the long-drawn-out drama was the capture of Zahara by
the troops of Granada, in 1481--provoked by the predatory incursions of
the Marquis of Cadiz. The Christian garrison was surprised during a
furious tempest, and put to the sword. The rest of the inhabitants were
carried off in captivity to Granada. Abu-l-Hassan, inflated with pride,
returned to his capital. There were popular rejoicings, but the wiser
Moors shook their heads and predicted that the ruins of Zahara would
fall upon their own city.
The fiery chivalry of Andalusia were not slow to retaliate. Two months
after the capture of Zahara, the more important Grenadine stronghold of
Alhama was taken by storm by the forces of the Marquis of Cadiz. The
news produced the utmost consternation in Granada. Abu-l-Hassan at once
set out with 53,000 men, and invested the place. Ferdinand the Catholic,
who had now conceived the idea of reducing the whole kingdom of Granada,
hurried to its relief; but he had only reached Lucena when tidings
arrived of the raising of the siege by the Marquis’s hereditary foe, the
Duke of Medina Sidonia. Abu-l-Hassan returned to the attack a few weeks
later, and Ferdinand resumed his advance, before which the Moors
retired. The Catholic sovereigns made their triumphal entry into Alhama
on May 14, 1482.
Great preparations were made throughout Castile and Aragon for the
prosecution of the war, but the army actually assembled before Loja on
July 1--16,000 men--fell far short of Ferdinand’s requirements and
expectations. The town was ably defended by one of the bravest Moorish
chieftains, Ali Atar, who repulsed the Christians with severe loss. The
King of Aragon narrowly escaped with his life, and was compelled to beat
a retreat. Abu-l-Hassan swept the country as far as the Rio Frio.
Such a success, if it had been followed up, might have turned the scale
in favour of the Moors. But at Granada, treason always followed closely
on the heels of victory. Years before, a beautiful Christian captive,
Doña Isabel de Solis, daughter of the Governor of Martos, had been added
to the Sultan’s harem. Under the name of Zoraya, in the course of time,
she bore him a son, Abu Abdullah, and rose to the rank of favourite
Sultana.[C] Now, jealous, it is said, of a Greek slave, or perhaps
antagonised by the first Sultana, Ayesha, she fomented a conspiracy
against her aged lord, and was imprisoned with her son in the Alhambra.
Thence they contrived to escape, and, exciting the populace in their
favour, obliged Abu-l-Hassan to seek refuge at Malaga. Abu Abdullah,
better known as Boabdil, or el Chico (the little), reigned in his stead,
but Baza, Guadix, and other eastern towns remained faithful to their old
allegiance.
These dissensions among the Moors, though ultimately benefiting the
Spaniards, contributed indirectly to one of the most serious disasters
that befell the latter during the campaign. For an expedition against
Malaga, headed by the Marquis of Cadiz and the Grandmaster of Santiago,
while threading its way through the passes of the Ajarquia, was attacked
by the lieutenants of the old lion, Abu-l-Hassan, and cut to pieces.
Eight hundred Spaniards were left dead on the field. Boabdil, emulous of
the glory his father had acquired, marched out of Granada with 9700 men,
and gave battle to the enemy under the Count of Cabra, near Lucena. The
Moors were totally defeated, their bravest general, Ali Atar, was slain,
and Boabdil himself captured by a private soldier, named Martin Hurtado.
Had this unlucky prince been left in the hands of his enemies, the war
might have had a different result, but his mother and followers at once
made proposals for his release. This was finally effected by a most
dishonourable treaty. Boabdil was accorded a two years’ truce, covering
all places that acknowledged his authority, and in return bound himself,
not only to pay a tribute of twelve thousand golden ducats, but to
assist with supplies the Spanish troops passing through his dominions to
attack his own father. Having thus exchanged his honour for his liberty,
the miserable Sultan returned to his capital, to find that the old King
had possessed himself of the Alhambra. A collision between the two
factions deluged the streets of Granada with blood. The alfakis and
ancients at length arranged an armistice, and Boabdil was suffered to
retire to Almeria, which was assigned to him as capital and residence.
For the next four years, the Catholic sovereigns abstained from any
important military demonstration, contenting themselves with ravaging
the wretched country and harrying its frontiers with incessant forays
and marauding expeditions. Meanwhile, a strong man appeared on the scene
in the person of Abu-l-Hassan’s brother, Abdullah Az-Zaghal. Determined
to put an end to the divisions which, more than the prowess of the
Spaniards, were bringing about the ruin of his country, this prince
swept down upon Almeria, slew the governor, took prisoner Zoraya, but
failed, alas! to secure the person of Boabdil, who fled to Cordova and
placed himself under Ferdinand’s protection. Not long after,
Abu-l-Hassan, aged and worn out, abdicated in favour of his warlike
brother, and died at Mondujar. This event strengthened Boabdil’s claims
upon the tottering throne; and he entered into a compact with his uncle,
whereby both were to reign in Granada, the one in the Albaicin, the
other in the Alhambra. Anxious to redeem his reputation, the newly
restored monarch attacked the Christians near Loja with vastly inferior
forces. He was soundly beaten and forced to take refuge in the Alcazar
of Loja, whence he was only allowed to emerge on renewing the
humiliating treaty he had concluded at Cordova. He was not, however,
disposed to yield the crown to his rival, and returning to Granada,
surprised and seized the Alcazaba. One of the most desperate conflicts
recorded in the history of the city then occurred between the partisans
of the rival sultans. Further bloodshed was at last averted by the
intervention of ambassadors sent by Ferdinand. The old dual arrangement
seems to have been temporarily resumed. Meanwhile, Ferdinand and Isabel
once more took the field, and, in 1487, they invested and captured
Velez-Malaga and the important city of Malaga, notwithstanding
Az-Zaghal’s efforts to relieve both places. The brave Sultan now
abandoned the capital to his nephew, and established his headquarters at
Almeria. He succeeded throughout the year 1488, in repelling an invasion
of his province; but in the following year, after the fall of the strong
city of Baza, he bowed, as he himself expressed it, to the will of
Allah, and surrendered all the places in his possession, including
Almeria and Guadix, to the Catholic sovereigns. Mohammed XIII., as he is
styled by Moorish historians, retired to Algeria, where he died, years
afterwards, in indigence and obscurity.
There remained now, of all the Moorish dominions in Europe, but the
single city of Granada, of which Mohammed XII., Boabdil, was at last
undisputed sovereign. He formed the manly resolution to sell his
hard-won crown as dearly as possible. He sallied from Granada, took
Alhendin and Marchena by assault, and laid waste the country in
possession of the Christians. Summoned by Ferdinand and Isabel to
surrender the city in accordance with an alleged treaty, he replied, and
probably with truth, that his proud and exasperated subjects would not
permit him to do so. The population of Granada was swollen by refugees
from all parts of the kingdom to thrice its normal figure. The Spanish
king perceived that the surest method to reduce it was by blockade. With
20,000 men, including some of the first chivalry of all Europe, he
entered the Vega, and built the town of Santa Fé, almost at the gates of
the threatened city. This permanent establishment of the Infidels on
their native soil plunged the Moors into profound gloom. No ray of hope
remained to the unfortunate Boabdil. The city endured the horrors of a
famine. The Spanish fleet precluded all hope of supplies from Africa,
towards which country the wretched people still turned in expectation of
help. The negotiations for the capitulation which the Sultan most
reluctantly entered upon in October 1491, had to be conducted, through
fear of the populace, with profound secrecy. Indeed, at the last moment,
Boabdil, in danger of his life, besought Ferdinand to accelerate his
entrance into the city. On January 2, 1492, accordingly, the Moorish
king, attended by fifty horsemen, surrendered the keys to the Catholic
sovereigns on the banks of the Genil, passing on to the domain allotted
him by the conquerors in the rocky Alpujarras. The story of his stopping
to gaze for the last time on his former kingdom, and of the rebuke
administered to him by his mother, is well known. We are not told
whether his eye caught the gleam of the great silver cross hoisted over
the Alhambra by Cardinal Mendoza by way of signal to the Spanish host
that the occupation of Granada was completed and that the dominion of
Islam in Spain was for ever at an end.
It had endured seven hundred and eighty-one years--a period only sixty
years short of that which has elapsed since the Norman Conquest of
England. More remarkable still, the Sultanate of Granada had survived
the virtual break-up of the Saracen empire by over two centuries. When
we consider its limited area, its isolated position, the might and the
inveterate hostility of the neighbouring states, and the attacks to
which it was unceasingly subjected, we cannot but feel the liveliest
admiration for the valour and sagacity of its rulers and the
stout-heartedness of its people. Had not the Court been too often the
theatre of contending factions, had not those factions turned their
swords against each other, the Sultanate of Granada might have outworn
Spain’s military and national vigour, and have endured to our own day as
a western Turkey. For the spirit of Tarik, of Abdurrahman, and of
Almansûr was not altogether dead, even in the brave but ill-starred
sovereign to whom alone historians ascribe the downfall of the kingdom,
and whom they, strangely enough, accuse of effeminacy and weakness. The
Moors of Granada knew how to fight a losing fight; in gambler’s
parlance, when they had lost the tricks, they struggled to win the
honours. They proved themselves worthy of their ancestors; and the
finest, as it was also the latest, monument of the Mohammedan dominion
in Spain is Granada the noble and the memorable.
THE ALHAMBRA
The Alhambra, or Red Palace, the Acropolis of Granada, is the finest
secular monument with which the Muslims have endowed Europe. It belongs
to the last period of Spanish-Arabic art, when the seed of Mohammedan
ideas and culture had long since taken deep root in the soil and
produced a style which might more properly be called Andalusian than
Moorish. If the Muslims left a deep impression upon Spanish thought and
art, it must not be supposed that they altogether escaped the influence
of their Christian neighbours. During the last two centuries of their
occupation the rigid puritanism of their creed was greatly relaxed,
especially as regarded art--always the reflection of the customs and
spirit of a people. The wave of the Renaissance did not leave untouched
the shrunken Moorish empire, and if Castilian kings did not hesitate to
employ Muslim artisans in the construction of their cathedrals, the
Sultans of Granada did not disdain the advice of Christian artists in
the embellishment of their palaces. The Alhambra remains a thoroughly
Mohammedan monument, but one which symbolises a phase of Mohammedan
culture and institutions almost peculiar to one country and epoch.
Nowhere else and never since has Islam reached such a pitch of
refinement. The Alhambra stands as the high-water mark of its art and
civilisation.
There will never be produced a new Alhambra, any more than a new
Parthenon or new Pyramids; for these great buildings were the
expressions of ideas and aspirations peculiar to societies which have
long ago perished. Thus, the Red Palace of Granada is not interesting
merely as a Mohammedan edifice left isolated in the far west of Europe,
but as the monument of a people and a civilisation long dead and gone. A
sadness, too, attaches to it, proceeding from the memory of the violent
extinction of that people with a mission unfulfilled--fraught, as it
seems to have been, with so much of light and beauty to the Christian
and the Muslim worlds.
The Sierra Nevada thrusts forward a spur which overlooks Granada on the
south-east, and is divided by two clefts or barrancos into three
eminences. The easternmost of these is crowned by the Generalife, the
westernmost by the ancient fortifications known as the Torres Bermejas
or Vermilion Towers. The hill between the two--in shape aptly compared
by Ford to a grand piano--is that on which the various buildings,
collectively styled the Alhambra, are reared. Here there existed a
settlement in remote Celtiberian days; and the later city of Illiberis
or Elvira stood here, and perhaps extended to the Torres Bermejas. When
the Moors came they erected a fortress--the Alcazaba--on the point of
the Alhambra hill, overlooking the Vermilion Towers. To this they gave
the name of _Alhamra_, “the red,” as Riaño thinks, to distinguish it
from the Alcazaba in the Albaicin quarter, or perhaps from some
confusion of the new building with the old. The builder, according to Al
Khattíb, was one Sawar Alcaysi, who lived in the second half of the
ninth century; though Contreras says it was known as the Tower of Ibn
Jaffir, and Ford names Habus Ibn Makesen as the founder. At all events,
the structure dated from the earliest period of the Arabic domination,
and Al Ahmar found here, on taking possession of Granada, a small town
girdled with walls and defended by a citadel.
Al Khattíb refers to the Citadel of Granada in these terms: “The
southern part of the city is commanded by the suburb of the Alhambra or
Medina Alhamra, the court of the sultanate, crowning it with its
turrets, its lofty towers, its strong bastions, its magnificent Alcazar,
and other sumptuous edifices, which by their splendour ravish the eye
and the soul. There is, too, such an abundance of waters that,
overflowing in torrents from the tanks and reservoirs, they form on the
declivity streams and cascades, whose sonorous murmurs are heard afar
on. At the foot of the walls are spacious gardens, the domain of the
Sultan, and leafy groves, through the dense greenery of which the white
battlements gleam like stars. There is, in short, around the circuit of
the walls, no spot that is not planted with gardens and orchards.” The
scene has not greatly changed since the Arab wrote. Gurgling brooks
still run down the slopes of the Alhambra Hill, and nightingales sing in
the thick woods of elm.
The Alcazaba, being the oldest part of the palace-fortress, should be
studied first. It is entered by the Torre and Casa de las Armas, through
a horseshoe arch in red brick, with fine azulejos or glazed tiles. To
the left is the Torre de Homenage, with which war and time have not
dealt too gently. It contains, it is interesting to note, a Roman votive
altar, embedded by the Moorish builders in the masonry, and inscribed by
“the grateful Valerius to his most indulgent wife, Cornelia.” At the
opposite extremity of the Alcazaba is the Torre de la Vela, or Watch
Tower. It is in two storeys, communicating by a dark and narrow
staircase, with loopholes in the wall.[D] In this tower is hung a
famous bell, to be heard, it is said, at Loja, thirty miles away. It is
rung on the anniversary of the Conquest of Granada, on which day it is
the custom, according to local superstition, for damsels, desirous of
husbands, to strike it with all their strength. On the summit of this
tower the cross was first planted by _el tercer rey_, Cardinal Mendoza.
The view from the platform, of city and snow-clad Sierra, luxuriant
Vega, and white-walled towns and villages, is as extensive as it is
beautiful. At the foot of the Torre de la Vela extends the place of
arms, defended by two towers, now styled de los Hidalgos and de la
Polvora, and formerly known as the Paniagua and Cristóbal del
Salto--names suggesting legends now forgotten.
An ancient document at Simancas names among the towers connecting the
Alcazaba with the rest of the fortress, the Torre del Adarguero, “the
Tower in which dwelleth the servant of Doctor Ortiz,” the Torre de
Alquiza, the Torre de Hontiveros (now the Torre de las Gallinas), and
the Tower and Room of Machuca. Of these remains exist, but of another
tower, referred to as the Torre de la Tahona, no trace remains.
The Alcazaba, according to the most recent researches, was separated
from the site of the palace by a ravine where, after the Conquest,
cisterns were constructed by order of the Conde de Tendilla and over
which the existing Plaza de los Algibes was formed. These works appear
to have necessitated the demolition of a wall which ran across from the
Torre de las Gallinas on the north to the beautiful Puerta del Vino on
the south. This gateway is now quite isolated from the wall of
circumvallation. Over the horseshoe arch is an inscription in stucco, of
the usual Moorish character, invoking the Divine protection for the
builder, Sultan Mohammed V. It appears to commemorate some striking
victory. Over the arch again is a fine double window or ajimez. On the
keystone is seen the key, so often figuring as a symbol in all parts of
the Alhambra, with a G in Kufic characters--perhaps the initial letter
of the city. The interior façade has a large horseshoe arch and the
twin-windows above. The Puerta del Vino was probably the entrance to the
courts and gardens of the palace.
Having crossed the Plaza de los Algibes, we leave behind us the early
Moorish works, and approach the buildings which owe their foundation to
the Nasrite or Grenadine dynasty. The story which credits Al Ahmar
(Mohammed I.) with the creation of the Red Palace in the middle of the
thirteenth century appears to be well-founded, for when the Alhambra is
referred to as existing in earlier times, it is undoubtedly the Alcazaba
that is meant. To the same hands may be safely attributed the great
outer wall of the Alhambra which girdles palace and fortress, following
the inequalities of the hill’s contour. Al Ahmar has left his device,
_Wa ha ghalib ila Allah_ (There is no conqueror but God), in many parts
of the building. These words were uttered by him in mournful deprecation
of the acclamations of his subjects on his return from assisting the
Christians in the Conquest of Seville. During the two and a half
centuries of the Nasrite rule, the palace underwent many radical
transformations and renovations, so that it is difficult to distinguish
between the works of the various sultans. Ford infers, rightly as it
seems to us, from the frequent repetition of their names upon the walls,
that Yusuf I. and Mohammed V. had the largest share in the embellishment
and restoration of the edifice. Since the Reconquest many changes and
additions have been made--notably the Palace of Charles V., to which
detailed reference will be made later.
The summit of the Alhambra hill was probably peopled in Al Ahmar’s time,
and it continued to be so during the reigns of his successors. The
population thus dwelling at the foot of the throne was mainly composed,
in later times at least, of hangers-on at the Court, ex-favourites and
discarded sultanas, ulemas and doctors of the law, soldiers of fortune,
and ambassadors, permanent and extraordinary. Such powerful tribes as
the Beni Serraj, which exercised so much influence in the last stages of
Nasrite rule, would also have had quarters for their leaders here. The
little town--which seems to have had no parallel before or
since--extended from the eastern extremity of the hill to within as near
the doors of the palace as the temper of the monarch for the time being
may have permitted.
The precise limits of the palace, even at the time of the Conquest of
the Catholic sovereigns, have never been ascertained. Portions of it
were undoubtedly demolished to make room for the palace of Charles V. On
the other hand, it is recorded in the archives of the Alhambra that
various private houses were acquired for the purpose of enlarging the
older building. But making due allowance for demolitions, extensions,
and restorations since the fifteenth century, we have before us in the
Palace of the Alhambra a magnificent example of the last or third period
of Hispano-Arabic architecture.
On the general plan of the edifice, the remarks of Contreras are worth
quoting _in extenso_: “We penetrate into every Arabic monument through
an outlying tower, or between two towers, except in the dwelling-houses
of the people, in which case the entrance is by a small, square opening,
a portal useless among us, though seen with frequency in the ancient
houses of Andalusia. A long, narrow hall cuts the axis perpendicularly,
thus determining the distribution into two wings of the edifice. By the
meeting of the two axes is found the entrance, before which we find
those effects of perspective which are so fantastic in these buildings.
Following the ingress we find a court with tanks and fountains, with
light and graceful arcades. Behind the second gallery, following the
same central axis, are oblong naves which cross each other at right
angles to the extreme end of the building, where the cupolas or turrets
of the innermost dwelling apartments rise majestically above the level
of the edifice and are reflected in the waters of the basins. The halls
of a house of this kind, according to its rank or grandeur, were
arranged in little pavilions on the long sides of the courts, as various
in their style of decoration as the tents of a Turkish camp, where the
quarters of an Amir may be found beside those of the common soldiers.
And if these rows of chambers are now found disposed according to the
strict alignment of Mudejar eaves, it is an indication that the severe
genius of the Christian conquerors has transformed them, not permitting
those crests, cupolas, or steeples which disturb the symmetry of the
decoration.
“Outside this plan, absolutely classical, which we may compare to a
cross with the transverse arm prolonged and cut at various distances by
perpendicular arms parallel to each other, but of different length, the
Spanish Arabs found no other easy method of building, so that, while
diminishing or prolonging the arms of the axis as much as the
dependencies of the largest palaces might require, they never departed
from the system, wherever they might build.... This, then, is the true
scheme of the Alhambra, and it is quite other than that conceived by the
classicists of the eighteenth century, with its façades, angles, and
squares.”
It must, however, be admitted that order is much more conspicuous in the
decoration than in the ground plan of the palace. All Moorish
ornamentation is based on a strictly geometrical scheme, and every
design may be resolved into a symmetrical arrangement of lines and
curves at regular distances. The intersection of lines at various angles
is the secret of the system. All these lines flow from a parent stem,
and no figure or ornament is introduced at random. Moslem ornamentation
abhors irregularity and rejects symbolism. The law of Islam which
forbade the delineation of living objects was not, 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 is surely
better--an insight into a piece of truer art--to stand outside the
eastern kiosk of the Lion’s Court and looking through spandril,
vestibule, and sala, catch the light glinting through the distant
opposite windows. That is transparency of effect, indeed! One would like
to meet with the architect who thought it out.
“Some of the irregularities which obtain here seem almost incredible.
What could be more satisfactory than this range of exquisite arcading,
its slender palm-like stems, its gracefully stilted arches, and the
fairy filigree-work of the spandrils? There seems to be not one single
point that can offend the justest eye, and yet there are nearly a dozen
different archings, differing in form, or height, or width; the cloister
varies in breadth at every turn; the upper galleries are uneven; the
doorways are the personification of self-will; the columns are placed,
sometimes singly, sometimes grouped, and the numbers of them on the
respective sides in no way correspond.... And, nevertheless, there is an
all-prevailing symmetry--and harmony. The whole is a triumph of
accurately judged effect.”
In a foot-note Mr. Lomas adds: “As an instance of the careful way in
which the architects of these olden days went to work, it may be
mentioned that the exact relation between the irregular widths of
cloistering on the long and short sides of the court is that of the
squares upon the sides of a right-angled triangle. This obtaining of
beautiful symmetry through irregularity is a strangely lost art.”
We will now proceed to a more detailed description of the Palace of Al
Ahmar.
THE PATIO DE LA MEZQUITA AND ADJACENT BUILDINGS.
Recent researches have shown that the ancient ingress to the Palace of
the Alhambra was by a doorway leading into what is now the chapel. It is
square in shape and has long been walled up. Above it may be deciphered
the following inscription: “O place of the high kingdom and asylum of
prodigious aspect! Thou hast achieved a great victory, and the merits of
the work and of the artificer [are] the glory of the Imam Mohammed. The
Shadow of the Most High [be] upon all!” This text is believed to refer
to Mohammed III. (1302-1309).
The chapel, which had been established by Ferdinand and Isabel adjacent
to the Patio de los Leones, was transferred to this part of the Palace
of Philip IV. in 1621. At that time a fine chimney-piece in the
Renaissance style was converted into an altar. The apartment contains
but few remains of its Moorish builders. Without, is the Patio de la
Mezquita, with an exquisite façade, much disfigured by a modern
gallery. The walls are adorned with the oft-recurring device, “God alone
is Conqueror,” and with sentences extolling the sultans, in various
sorts of arabesques. The inscription round the central window refers to
Mohammed V. (1354-1391).
The grand Mosque of the Alhambra was built in 1308 by Mohammed III., and
was in good preservation until the occupation of the French, who,
according to Gayangos, entirely destroyed it. An account of it has been
left to us by Ibn-ul-Khattíb, the Wizir of Yusuf I.: “It is ornamented
with mosaic work and tracery of the most beautiful and intricate
patterns intermixed with silver flowers and graceful arches, supported
by innumerable pillars of polished marble; indeed, what with the
solidity of the structure which the Sultan inspected in person, the
elegance of the design, and the beauty of the proportions, the building
has not its like in this country, and I have frequently heard our best
architects say that they have never seen or heard of a building which
can be compared with it.” Little more remains of this superb temple than
the small oratory entered through a door in the wall opposite the altar
of the chapel. Here the _mihrab_ is still to be distinguished. Before
it, Yusuf I., in the act of prayer, fell a victim to the poniard of an
assassin in the year 1354.
Adjacent to the _mihrab_ is the ruined tower of Puñales, which presents
many architectural points of difference from the rest of the palace, and
has features which may have suggested these characteristics of the
Mudejar style seen in other parts of Andalusia. The principal window of
the tower was furnished with a wooden balcony with lattices similar to
those seen in Constantinople and Cairo.
Retracing our steps across the Patio de la Mezquita, we reach the
spacious Court of the Myrtles or of the Fish-pond (Patio de los
Arrayanes, or de la Alberca). This is the court first entered by the
visitor through the modern entrance. It is one of the most beautiful
parts of the palace, and gives a foretaste of the glories that lie
beyond. One feels immediately transported to the East. “The originality
of the architecture [says Don Francisco Pi Margall], the airy galleries,
its rich _alhamis_ or alcoves, the splendid apartments of which glimpses
are obtained through its arches, the fountains and foliage, the
reflection of its stuccoed walls in the waters of the pond, the murmur
of the breezes that agitate the dense myrtles, the transparency of the
sky, the silence that reigns all about--all oppress the soul at the same
time, and leave us for some moments submerged in a sea of sensations
which reveal to us little more than the harmony of the whole scene.”
The court forms an oblong, bounded at the north and south by two
galleries supported on eight columns of white marble, and to the east
and west by walls pierced with doors and twin-windows covered with
arabesques, but differing in degree of ornamentation. At each angle we
find an _alhami_ or alcove, where the Moors were accustomed to laze away
the day, extended on rich carpets and divans. The walls of these little
places are encrusted with reliefs in stucco, their roofs are of the
stalactite pattern. Along the middle of the court extends the _alberca_
or fish-pond, its margins hidden by orange trees and myrtles. The clear
water gushes up into two round basins at either end. To the north, the
prospect is closed by the battlemented Tower of Comares, to the south by
the walls of the Palace of Charles V. Through one of the entrances can
be seen the fountain in the Patio de los Leones. The court is redolent
of the languor, voluptuousness, and splendour of the East.
Each arcade is composed of seven semicircular arches, the central one
reaching up to the cornice, while the others, much lower, are closed
with perforated woodwork or lattices. The roof of the southern gallery
is of artesonado or troughed form, and bears seven small cupolas; over
the central arch of the northern gallery is a single cupola painted with
little gold stars on a blue ground.
In this court there are numerous inscriptions, of which the following
are the most important.
“Go and tell true believers that Divine help and ready victory are
reserved for them.”
“I am like the nuptial array of a bride, endowed with every beauty and
perfection.”
“Truly Ibn Nasr is the sun, shining in splendour.”
“May he continue in the noontide of his glory even unto the period of
his decline.”
In the Patio de la Alberca is an arch differing altogether from all
others in the Palace. Only one surface is decorated, and that with a
principal or guiding figure made out by colours. The ornaments
approximate more closely than is usual in Moorish architecture to
natural forms, and the arch has very much of a Persian character.
This court is believed to have constituted the division between the male
apartments, frequented by the general public, which we have already
described, and the _Harem_, or private quarters, including the Patio de
los Leones, &c.
We pass through a beautiful arch decorated with tasteful floral designs,
into the Sala de la Barca, or ante-room of the Hall of Ambassadors. This
fine apartment, formerly radiant with colours, was seriously damaged in
the fire of 1890. The ceiling of this hall, says Owen Jones, “is a
wagon-headed dome of wood of the most elaborate patterns, receiving its
support from pendentives of mathematical construction so curious that
they may be rendered susceptible of combinations as various as the
melodies which may be produced from the seven notes of the musical
scale; attesting the wonderful power and effect obtained by the
repetition of the most simple elements.”
Beyond this hall rises the Tower of Comares, appearing to rest on the
slenderest pillars and almost to be balanced in the air. The real
supports have been purposely kept out of sight. The view from the summit
of the massive battlemented tower is magnificent. From this platform,
Washington Irving remarks, the proud monarchs of Granada and their
queens have watched the approach of Christian armies, or gazed on the
battles in the Vega. The walls of the tower are of surprising thickness.
The interior, which is a square of 37 ft. by 75 ft. high up to the
centre of the dome, is occupied by the Sala de Embajadores, the
reception-room of the Sultans. It is the largest and perhaps the most
imposing of the halls of the Alhambra. Lifting our eyes, we behold a
glorious, airy dome, of artesonado work, with stars and painted angles.
Owen Jones is of opinion that the present ceiling replaced an earlier
one, which was supported by an arch of brick. The hall lacks its former
pavement of marble, its central fountain, and the lattices that filled
in its twin-windows. But it is still adorned by a beautiful mosaic dado
(known as _sofeisfa_) reaching to the wooden cornice. Numerous are the
Kufic and African inscriptions introduced into the decoration, the motto
of Al Ahmar being frequently repeated. Opening on to the hall are nine
alcoves, each with twin-windows, which have replaced balconies. The
alcove opposite the entrance was the site of the Sultan’s throne, as the
long poetical inscriptions testify. What gorgeous assemblies must have
filled this saloon in bygone years--and what tumultuous scenes and
fateful decisions must have been here enacted!
THE PATIO DE LOS LEONES AND ADJACENT APARTMENTS.
The Patio de los Leones (Court of the Lions) occupies, with the chambers
opening on to it, the south-eastern quarter of the Palace. “There is no
part of the edifice that gives us a more complete idea of its original
beauty and magnificence than this,” says Washington Irving, “for none
has suffered so little from the ravages of time. In the centre stands
the fountain famous in song and story. The alabaster basins still shed
their diamond drops; and the twelve lions, which support them, cast
forth their crystal streams as in the days of Boabdil. The
architecture, like that of all other parts of the palace, is
characterised by elegance rather than grandeur; bespeaking a delicate
and graceful taste, and a disposition to indolent enjoyment. When one
looks upon the fairy tracery of the peristyles, and the apparently
fragile fretwork of the walls, it is difficult to believe that so much
has survived the wear and tear of centuries, the shocks of earthquakes,
the violence of war, and the quiet, though no less baneful, pilferings
of the tasteful traveller: it is almost sufficient to excuse the popular
tradition, that the whole is protected by a magic charm.”
The court is an oblong measuring 116 ft. by 66 ft. On each side is a
peristyle or portico, and at either end a graceful pavilion with a fine
dome. The supporting marble columns are 124 in number and 11 ft. high.
They are placed irregularly, sometimes singly, sometimes in pairs--an
arrangement which does nothing to mar the general impression of harmony.
The arches exhibit a similar variety of curve, and spring from capitals
decorated with rich foliage of various designs. The space above the
arches is filled in with the usual arabesque work, and adorned with
verses from the Koran. The ceilings of the porticos are enriched with
delicate stucco work, and the walls are covered to a height of five feet
with a dado of blue and yellow azulejos, bordered with blue and gold
enamelled escutcheons bearing an Arabic motto on a bend.
In the centre of the court is the fountain from which it derives its
name. This is composed of two basins (in Moorish times there was but
one) supported by twelve marble lions. These Arabian sculptures, remarks
Ford, are rudely but heraldically carved, and closely resemble those to
be seen supporting Norman-Saracenic tombs in Apulia and Calabria. “Their
faces are barbecued, and their manes cut like the scales of a griffin,
and their legs like bedposts, while a water pipe stuck in their mouths
does not add to their dignity.” Indeed, the consolatory reminder
contained in the tremendously long inscription round the basin, that
there is nothing to be feared from these creatures, for “life is wanting
to enable them to show their fury,” seems ludicrously unnecessary. As
specimens of Arabian sculpture they are in all probability unique; the
builders of the Alhambra were evidently not over-strict in the
observance of their religion. The inscription referred to has been
versified by Valera, and runs into forty-four lines of Castilian.
On the south side of the Patio de los Leones is the Sala de los
Abencerrages (Hall of the Beni Serraj), so called because it is believed
to be the scene of the massacre of thirty-six chiefs of that tribe by
order of Boabdil. A reddish vein in the marble flooring is pointed out
as the victims’ indelible bloodstains. The story has only the slenderest
historical foundation, and was first circulated by a writer of the name
of Ginés Perez de Hita, who lived in the sixteenth century. According to
some, the usurper Aben Osmin (1446) was beheaded here by order of the
prince Muley Hassan; but others, writing of that confused period of
Granadine history, say the tyrant fled to the mountains. This chamber,
perhaps the most elegant in the Alhambra, does not seem a likely place
for deeds of blood. It is entered through a wonderfully graceful arch,
growing out of, rather than springing from, marble shafts. The chamber
is a square, prolonged on the east and west by two _alhamis_ or alcoves,
which are entered through exquisitely-curved arches. But the glory of
the Sala de los Abencerrages is its roof--its plan like that of a star,
with pendants or stalactites, and sixteen windows in its vaultings.
“Its thousand stalactites,” writes Don Francisco Pi Margall, “its
colours, its innumerable archings, its crowns of stars, its complicated
depressions and projections, its cones, its polygons, its accidents of
light, the effects of chiaroscuro, present it at first sight as
something confused, indefinable, indecipherable, resplendent, and vague,
like that broad band, the Milky Way, which crosses the pavilion of the
heavens. Yet in reality it is most regular, although irregular in
appearance; the compass of the geometrician had more to do in planning
it than the genius of the artist; but its lines are so many, and their
combinations change so rapidly, that the scheme is only to be
comprehended after a long and patient study.”
The azulejos which face the walls date from the time of Charles V. In
the centre of the hall is the marble basin beside which the Beni Serraj
are fabled to have been slain.
Opposite this hall, on the north side of the Lions’ Court, is the Sala
de las Dos Hermanas (or, of the Two Sisters), so called after two twin
slabs of marble let into the pavement. An exquisite arch gives
admittance from the court to a narrow corridor, which communicates on
the right with the upper storey, and with the mirador or latticed
balcony, from which the ladies of the Harem would gaze into the _patio_
below. The hall is as rich, as graceful, as suggestive of Eastern luxury
and repose as that which we have just left. In each wall is an arched
opening, two being entrances, the others admitting to alcoves somewhat
more shut off than in other parts of the Alhambra. Above each arch is a
window corresponding to the apartments in the upper storey, now
vanished. The roof exhibits the same marvellous combinations of
geometrical forms, the same confused symmetry, as are seen in the Sala
de los Abencerrages. Indeed, this hall is generally (but not
universally) considered the more admirable of the two. The surface of
the walls is hidden beneath costly reliefs of stucco and azulejos.
Inscriptions on the sixteen medallions and cartouches have been
deciphered into a long poem by Ibn Zamrek, composed in honour of
Mohammed V., and translated into eleven verses of Spanish by Valera. One
verse exhorts us “to look attentively at my elegance and reap the
benefit of a commentary on decoration; here are columns ornamented with
every perfection, the beauty of which has become proverbial.”
In this magnificent apartment formerly stood the famous vase (_el
jarron_), which tradition says was discovered in one of the subterranean
chambers of the Palace, full of gold. It is now in the little Alhambra
Museum. The vase, which dates from the fourteenth century, and is
beautifully enamelled in white, blue, and gold, is described by Baron
Davillier in his work on Spanish Pottery.
Beyond the Hall of the Two Sisters is a long, narrow apartment called
the Sala de los Ajimeces (Hall of the Twin Windows). Its ceiling and
decorations are little inferior to those of the larger hall. On the
north side opens the exquisite Mirador de Lindaraja, or
prospect-chamber, affording a delightful view of the garden beyond. In
wealth of detail and ornamentation, this little bower of fifteen by ten
feet surpasses all other parts of the Palace. In Moorish days the
Sultanas could look from behind the lattices of the three windows across
the town and the plain of the Vega. When their eyes wearied of the
prospect they could scan the numerous poetical effusions traced upon the
walls.
Returning to the Patio de los Leones, we enter, at its eastern
extremity, the Sala del Tribunal, or de la Justicia. This hall consists
of seven chambers opening on to a common vestibule. The four small rooms
are square, and are separated by three larger oblong apartments. The
same gorgeous colouring, the same profusion of geometrical
ornamentation, here as elsewhere in the Alhambra! The arch over the
central small chamber, or divan, is perhaps the finest in the whole
Palace. But what renders this hall the most remarkable in the edifice is
that it contains what are probably the only existing specimens of
mediæval Muslim figure painting. The ceiling of the central alcove or
_alhami_ is adorned by a painting representing ten personages, who were
formerly supposed to be judges, whence the name given to the hall. They
were intended, more probably, to represent the first ten sultans of the
Nasrite dynasty. The painting, like those in the other alcoves, is done
in bright colours (gold, green, red, &c.) on leather prepared with
gypsum. The designs appear to have been sketched in brown. The paintings
in the other _alhamis_ are of an even more interesting character. In the
first, a castle with square towers and battlements is seen; outside it
is a lion led in chains by a maiden, whose hands are rudely grasped by a
savage with shaggy hair and beard. A rescuer hurries to her assistance
in the person of a Christian knight, armed _cap-à-pie_. On the other
side of the picture, the same knight is shown attacked by a Moorish
cavalier, who plunges a lance into his breast. The Moor is evidently out
hunting, for beneath the combatants’ horses his dogs are chasing the
wild boar and fox. From the towers of the castle two fair ladies
observe, with evident pleasure, the Christian’s overthrow. In another
part of the picture both knights are shown, following the chase; and a
page is seen, leaning against a tree, with sword and shield, presumably
awaiting his master’s return.
The second painting is entirely devoted to hunting scenes. Moors are
seen chasing the wild boar, while the Christians occupy themselves with
bears and lions. The huntsmen are also seen returning and offering the
spoils of the chase to their ladies. The Moor greets his sultana with a
benign and condescending air; the Christian warrior kneels to the lady
and offers his prize.
The most competent critics have now arrived at the conclusion that these
paintings are of the fourteenth century, and therefore executed under
the Muslim sovereigns, in defiance of the precepts of the Koran. Whether
they were the work of a Mohammedan it is not so easy to say. Gayangos
has pointed out remarkable similarities between these paintings and
those in the Campo Santo at Pisa; and on the whole it is probable that
they were executed by an Italian artist, whom the Muslims may not have
scrupled to employ to do a thing for them unlawful. A parallel instance
of casuistry is that of London Jews, who on certain feasts employ
Christians to perform forbidden menial offices. It should also be said
that in the opinion of some modern Muslim doctors the prohibition of
sculpture and painting is not to be taken as absolute.
In the Sala de la Justicia was found a basin for ablutions, now in the
Museum, on which are interesting reliefs of lions, deer, and eagles.
According to the inscription, this was designed in 1305 for the service
of the mosque, a fact which seems to support the view of the authorities
just mentioned.
It was in this hall that Ferdinand and Isabel caused Mass to be
celebrated after the Reconquest, and here that the cross was set up by
Cardinal Mendoza. The devices of the Catholic sovereigns--the Yoke and
Sheaf of Arrows--have been introduced into the decoration of the
alcoves.
The ruinous tower and apartment to the south of the Hall of Justice,
called the Rauda, appears to have been the mausoleum of the Sultans. The
niches in which the _turbehs_ were placed may still be distinguished,
and the long, narrow trough used for the purification of the corpse. In
the Museum may be seen three tablets with the epitaphs of the Sultans
Yusuf III. and Mohammed II. and of a prince Abu-l-Hejaj, probably the
former’s son.
Of the few remaining apartments of the Alhambra, the most interesting
perhaps is the Tocador, or Queen’s Dressing-room, at the side of the
Patio de Lindaraja, opposite the Mirador de Lindaraja. This was the
apartment occupied by Washington Irving, according to his own showing:
“On taking up my abode in the Alhambra, one end of a suite of empty
chambers of modern architecture, intended for the residence of the
governor, was fitted up for my reception. It was in front of the
Palace.... I was dissatisfied with being lodged in a modern
apartment.... I found, in a remote gallery, a door communicating
apparently with an extensive apartment locked against the public.... I
procured the key, however, without difficulty; the door opened to a
range of vacant chambers of European architecture, though built over a
Moorish arcade.... This fanciful suite of rooms terminated in an open
gallery with balustrades, which ran at right angles with a side of the
garden.... I found that it was an apartment fitted up at the time when
Philip V. and the beautiful Elizabeth of Parma were expected at the
Alhambra, and was destined for the Queen and the ladies of her train.
One of the loftiest chambers had been her sleeping-room, and a narrow
staircase leading from it ... opened on to the delightful belvedere,
originally a mirador of the Moorish sultanas, which still retains the
name of the _tocador_. I determined at once to take up my quarters in
this apartment. My determination occasioned great surprise, but I was
not diverted from my humour.”
This exquisite apartment is adorned by four sixteenth-century paintings,
representing the legend of Phaëton. On the artesonado ceiling, painted
and gilded, may be read the invocation: “The help and protection of God
and a glorious victory for our Lord, Abu-l-Hejaj, Amir of the Muslims!”
Round the boudoir runs a gallery of nine arches on Arabic pillars,
painted and decorated with the figures of Faith, Hope, and Charity,
Justice, Strength, and Temperance, Jupiter, Neptune, Plenty, and the
Vestals’ Fire. These paintings were the work of two Italians, Giulio
Aquila and Sandro Mainere, both pupils of Raphael.
The charming little garden or patio of Lindaraja or Daraja, which
intervenes between this regal boudoir and the Moorish _mirador_, appears
to have been originally called _Jin Dar Aja_, or garden of the palace of
Ayesha. The old Moorish garden that used to extend as far as the Tower
of Comares is now confined by the walls of the Sala de las Ajimeces and
three arcades of modern construction. The fountain in the centre dates
from the seventeenth century. An enchanting spot is this, with its
cypress, orange, and citron-trees rising from trim hedges of myrtle and
rose.
Between this garden and the court of the Alberca lie the baths--those
indispensable adjuncts to the Muslim household--most skilfully and
artistically restored by Contreras. The plan is that usually followed
throughout the East. Passing through the _Sala de las Cámas_ or Unrobing
Room, where, from a high gallery the songs of the odalisques were wafted
down to the sultan reclining in one of the alcoves, we enter the Sala de
Baños, with its white marble bath and pavement of glazed tiles. This
corresponds with the apartment called by the Arabs, the hararah, or
vapour-bath, and described in Lane’s “Manners and Customs of the Modern
Egyptians”; and it was under the graceful arcades which support the
dome that the bathers underwent the kneading and rubbing processes
lately introduced among us. The chamber is lighted from above through
star-shaped apertures. The inscriptions refer to the felicity awaiting
men in this palace of delight. The bathing-apartments consist of three
halls and two smaller chambers, vulgarly called the Infantas’ Baths.
THE TOWERS AND GATES OF THE ALHAMBRA
“The wall of the Nasrites,” writes Señor Fernández Jiménez, “of which
scarcely a patch remains unimpaired, measured about 1400 metres from one
extremity to the other, and was defended by twenty-six towers, counting
as one the two buttresses that defended the gate of the Siete Suelos. To
this number should properly be added the Torre de las Armas, which is
pierced by a gate common to the Alcazaba and Alhambra, and is therefore
also a Nasrite work. The citadel was fortified, moreover, by five
bastions, corresponding to as many gates, and by various external
defences, of which traces remain in the modern alamedas. The thickness
of the towers varies according to their situation and purpose, the
distance between them ranging from 34 to 64 metres approximately.” At
the present day we can count only fifteen towers, the names of which
are: las Aguas, los Siete Suelos, las Cabezas, la Justicia, la Polvora,
los Hidalgos, la Vela, las Armas, las Gallinas, los Puñales, las Damas,
los Picos, del Candil, de la Cautiva, and las Infantas.
The Puerta de la Justicia is the principal entrance to the Alhambra. It
was built, as the inscription over the arch relates, by the Sultan Yusuf
Abu-l-Hejaj, in 1348. Here justice was administered in Moorish days
after the old patriarchal fashion. Above the arch is carved an open
hand, the signification of which is a matter of controversy. The most
probable explanation is that it is a religious symbol, the five fingers
typifying Faith in God and the Prophet, and the commandments, to pray,
to fast, to give alms, and to make the pilgrimage to Mecca. The inner
arch is beautifully decorated with arabesques, and with the symbol of
the key. The entrance is continued through another gate, with winding
passages contrived so as to embarrass an enemy. The arch which gives
egress from the tower shows some fine enamelling and festoons.
Just outside this gate is the Pilar de Carlos V., a fountain in the
Greco-Roman style, erected by the Alcaide Mendoza in 1545. It is
ornamented with the Imperial arms, and sculptured heads of the river
gods, Genil, Darro, and Beiro.
The double Torre de los Siete Suelos flanks a gateway, now walled up,
which was formerly the principal entrance to the fortress. Through it
the unfortunate Boabdil is said to have passed on his way to exile and
obscurity. The tower is so called because it is believed to descend
seven storeys underground. Four subterranean chambers have been
investigated. Here tradition places the site of much buried treasure,
and fables are told of phantom guards and enchanted sentries.
At the south-eastern angle of the _enceinte_ is the ruinous Torre del
Agua, which derives its name from the aqueduct that at this point spans
the ravine. On the north-eastern side we reach the Torre de las
Infantas, the interior of which is a perfect model of the smaller
Oriental dwelling-house. Through a small vestibule we reach a covered-in
patio with a fountain in the centre, and alcoves opening out on three
sides. The ornamentation is graceful and original. The tower is one of
the most interesting parts of the fortress. Somewhat less complete and
regular in its plan, but even more elegantly decorated with
rose-coloured tiles, is the adjoining Torre de la Cautiva (Captive’s
Tower). Here the inscriptions resound the praises of Abu-l-Hejaj and
refer to the _Lion_ residing within these walls--a very different
occupant from a captive!
The Torre de los Picos seems to have been so styled from the peaked
battlements which crown it. It evidently underwent extensive remodelling
about the time of the Spanish Reconquest, but some relics of the Nasrite
rule remain in the shape of some beautifully moulded twin windows.
The Torre de Ismaïl, or de las Damas (Ladies’ Tower), was given by
Mohammed V. to his son Ismaïl, and has a richly decorated belvedere and
a hall very tastefully ornamented. The ruined tower of Puñales has some
curious stucco decorations, differing from those found in other parts of
the palace.
Between the Torres de los Picos and de las Damas is a little _mihrab_ or
oratory built on the wall. At the Reconquest it was appropriated to the
private use of one Astasio de Bracamonte. Though it has undergone
deplorable “restorations,” the _kiblah_ or easterly niche and other
indications of the Muslim rite can still be made out. Strangely enough,
the portal is guarded by two Moorish lions brought from the old
Mint--the injunctions of the Mohammedan religion being thus ignored in
its own temple!
The parish church of Santa Maria, erected in 1581, occupies the site of
the Mosque of which Al Khattíb appears to speak, writing of the deeds
of Mohammed III. (1302-1309). “And among his great actions, the greatest
and most remarkable was the construction of the great Mosque or Aljama
of the Alhambra, with all that it contained of elegance and decoration,
mosaics, and cements; as well as lamps of pure silver and other great
marvels. In front of the Mosque were the baths, erected with the money
levied from the Christians in his dominions. With the receipts from
these baths the Mosque and its ministers were maintained.” The modern
church is of brick, and contains nothing of note, except a Visigothic
inscription, referring to the construction of three temples, dedicated
to St. Stephen, St. John, and St. Vincent, in the years 594 and 607.
THE PALACE OF CHARLES V.
The forlorn, roofless palace in the classical style, which seems so out
of place amid these Oriental buildings, was begun by order of the
Emperor Charles V. in 1538. It was never completed. The Flemish Cæsar’s
intention seems to have been to establish a permanent residence here,
whence he could contemplate the beauties of the Moorish palace. The
building is a quadrangle of four façades, each seventeen metres high.
The lower storey is of the Tuscan order, the upper, Ionic. Some of the
marble portals are very fine. In the decoration appear allusions to the
campaigns, on sea and land, directed by the Emperor, his motto, _Plus
oultre_, and the emblem of the Golden Fleece.
The interior of the palace is occupied by an imposing circular court,
with a gallery supported by thirty-two columns. The staircase is loftily
designed, and altogether the palace, if it had been completed and built
almost anywhere else, would have been a dignified memorial of Charles’s
reign.
THE GENERALIFE
Across an ivy-draped ravine--a perfect study in green and red--the
Palace of Recreations, the Generalife, overlooks the rugged walls of the
Alhambra. The name is believed to have been derived from Jennatu-l’arif,
“the garden of the architect.” The palace appears to have been built by
a Moor called Omar, from whom it was purchased by the Sultan
Abu-l-Walid. At the Reconquest it became the property of a renegade
prince, Sidi Yahya, who adopted the name of Don Pedro de Granada, and
whose descendants, the family of Campotejar, are to this day the actual
owners.
The Generalife cannot be regarded as an important monument of Moorish
architecture. Through the central court, which measures 48.70 by 12.80
metres, runs the conduit which irrigates the whole estate, and connects
with the Acequia (or canal) de la Alhambra. The arcaded southern façade
and the spacious hall adjoining have been altered in order to make a
large vestibule. The arcade resembles that of the Court of the
Fish-pond, and exhibits a poetical inscription declaring that
Abu-l-Walid restored the palace in the year 1319.
The halls of the Generalife are of little interest in themselves, and
contain several portraits of doubtful authenticity. Those of Ferdinand
and Isabel, of Juana la Loca and her husband, and of the fourth wife of
Philip II., are the most important. Among the portraits of the Granada
family is one supposed to be that of Ben Hud Al Mutawakil, the rival of
Al Ahmar, and ancestor of Sidi Yahya. This seems to be the portrait
which English travellers persist in mistaking for that of Boabdil.
But if the palace is in no way remarkable, the gardens are a veritable
bower of beauty and delight. Water bubbles up everywhere and moistens
the roots of myrtles, cedars, and tall cypresses, the finest trees in
all Spain. The legend of the Abencerrage discovered in dalliance with a
Sultana, beneath one of these cypresses, is absolutely destitute of any
sort of foundation. The nature of the spot--so eminently fitted for love
and lovers’ trysts--may have suggested the story. But the garden is
ill-kept, and many of the magnificent trees have been cut down.
* * * * *
In the city of Granada itself the memorials of the Moorish domination
are scanty and fast disappearing. In the Zacatin, which was in old
times the chief bazaar, is a building formerly styled the Casa del Gallo
de Viento (Weathercock House), and now known by the commonplace
designation of Casa del Carbon (Charcoal House), owing to its having
been appropriated to the storage of that useful product. Tradition avers
that the palace (for such the house at one time was) was built by Badis
Ibn Habus, a governor of Granada, who ruled about 1070 A.D., by whose
direction a vane was made in the shape of a warrior, mounted and armed
with shield and spear. In later years the building served as a corn
exchange. The only notable features are the entrance with its horseshoe
arch and twin-windows, and vestibule with dome and alcoves. Adjacent to
the Casa del Carbon is the house of the Duque de Abrantes. Beneath it is
said to be a subterranean passage communicating with the
Alhambra--blocked up, oddly enough, by the present owner of the site,
without any exploration or examination.
Entered from the Carrera de Darro is the once handsome Moorish bath
house, now in the last stages of dilapidation and neglect. It is
believed to date from the earliest period of Mohammedan rule. The arches
are of the old horseshoe type, and the columns and capitals of a
primitive order. An inscription beginning, “In the Name of God, the
Merciful, the Compassionate ...” may still be made out.
The bath itself, the various chambers of repose and disrobing, the usual
alhamies, can also be traced.
The old Moorish mint was demolished in 1643, and the famous Gate of
Bivarrambla can no longer be described in any sense as a Mohammedan
work.
The effacement of the Moorish character of Granada, as compared with its
survival in Seville, serves to show how much more intense the religious
and racial bias became in Spain during the two hundred and odd years
that elapsed between the conquests of the two cities. The spirit in
which St. Ferdinand, Alfonso el Sabio, and Pedro I. approached the works
of their Mohammedan foes and subjects presented a very favourable
contrast to that manifested by the Catholic sovereigns, Charles V. and
Philip II.
CATHOLIC GRANADA
Almost the first act performed by a Spanish king on his entry into a
conquered Mohammedan city was to convert the chief mosque (aljama) into
a Christian church. This was also done at Granada, but the chapel of the
Alhambra remained for some time the cathedral of the new See. The mosque
in the city, afterwards elevated to that rank, is described by the Abbé
Bertaut of Rouen (quoted by Valladar), writing in 1669, as “square, or
rather longer than wide, without vaults, and the roof covered with
tiles, which for the most part were not even joined. The whole was
supported by a number of small stone columns, harmoniously arranged.”
Jorquera says the mosque was composed of five low naves. Whether or not
it was originally a Visigothic church, as some writers pretend, the
temple probably dated from the earliest centuries of the Muslim
occupation, and the tower which contained the mihrab was long famous as
the Torre Turpiana.
The building, after serving the purposes of the Catholic rite for two
centuries, disappeared between 1705 and 1759 to make room for the
present sacristia (sacristy). As a cathedral, it had been superseded by
the adjoining and existing edifice, dedicated on August 17, 1561.
Older by about a quarter of a century than the foundations of the
cathedral is the Royal Chapel (Capilla Real), which is the most striking
and interesting memorial of the Conquest of Granada. It was begun in
1505 as a mausoleum for the Catholic sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella,
under the direction of the famous Enrique Egas, and completed in the
year 1517--a year after the king’s death and thirteen years after the
queen’s. The chapel is shaped like a Latin cross, and is one of the
latest specimens of the Spanish Gothic style. It is a comparatively
modest and simple building, contrasting strongly with the ornate and
elaborate structures of the succeeding age. The decoration of the
interior consists almost entirely in a frieze bearing a long inscription
in gilt letters which reads: “This chapel was ordered to be built by the
most Catholic Don Ferdinand and Doña Isabella,” &c. &c. There is a
suggestion of Gothic influence in the magnificent railing or grille,
partly of iron, partly gilt, which divides the nave from the transept,
and was made in 1522 by Maestre Bartolome. The kneeling figures of the
Catholic sovereigns are seen on either side of the high altar. These,
says Ford, “are very remarkable, being exact representations of their
faces, forms, and costumes: behind Ferdinand is the victorious banner of
Castile, while the absorbing policy for which both lived and died--the
conquest of the Moor and the conversion of the infidel--are embodied
beneath them in singular painted carvings; these have been attributed to
Felipe Vigarny, and are certainly of the highest antiquarian interest.
In that which illustrates the surrender of the Alhambra, Isabel is
represented riding on a white palfrey between Ferdinand and the great
Cardinal Mendoza, who sits on his trapped mule, like Wolsey. He alone
wears gloves; his pinched aquiline face contrasts with the chubbiness of
the king and queen. He opens his hand to receive the key, which the
dismounted Boabdil presents, holding it by the wards. Behind are ladies,
knights, and halberdiers, while captives come out of the gates in pairs.
Few things of the kind in Spain are more interesting. The other
basso-relievo records the ‘Conversion of the Infidel’; in it the
reluctant flock is represented as undergoing the ceremony of wholesale
baptism, the principal actors being shorn monks. The mufflers and
leg-wrappers of the women--the Roman _fasciæ_--are precisely those still
worn at Tetuan by their descendants.”
These reliefs are unquestionably more vigorous and artistic, and also
more in harmony with the structure generally, than the gorgeous
Renaissance cenotaphs of Ferdinand and Isabella--most probably the work
of the Spanish sculptor, Bartolome Ordoñez. The two great sovereigns are
shown lying side by side, the faces expressing infinite dignity and
repose. At each corner of the sepulchre is seated one of the four
Doctors of the Church, below whom is a Sphinx. Medallions on two of the
four sides represent respectively the Baptism and Resurrection of Jesus,
and St. George and St. James. Beautifully done are the figures of the
Twelve Apostles, the escutcheons, and, in fact, all the details of this
grandiose but unimpressive monument.
The adjacent sepulchre of Ferdinand and Isabella’s daughter, the unhappy
Queen Juana, and of her husband, Philip I., the Handsome, is inferior in
design and execution. The heads of the recumbent figures are not
faithful portraits. The reliefs represent the Nativity, the Adoration of
the Magi, the Agony in the Garden, and the Entombment. In the niches are
figures of the Cardinal Virtues (not conspicuous in Philip during life),
and at the corners the statues of Saints Michael, George, Andrew, and
John the Divine. Very beautiful are the figures of children, and much of
the heraldic decoration. The whole is in the most florid style of the
Renaissance, and was carved at Genoa by order of Juana’s son, Charles
V.
Very different are the actual resting-places of the sovereigns so
gorgeously commemorated in stone above. Descending to a narrow vault
beneath the cenotaphs, we find five rude coffins, with iron bands.
Herein repose the remains of Ferdinand and Isabella, of Juana and
Philip, and of their son, Prince Juan. Ferdinand’s coffin may be
identified by the letter F. “Here,” writes Pi Margall, “lie together in
the dim light fathers and sons, monarchs of three dynasties united in
less than a century for the greater glory of the fatherland; here lie
the last princes of the Mediæval Age, and those who at its close
inaugurated the Modern Era. Here they lie--heroes and fathers of
heroes--kings who never retreated before the face of danger, and queens
whose lives were consumed in the fire of profound love; fortunate ones
who, returning from the battle, found rest and refreshment in the arms
of their beloved; and unhappy souls who drained the cup of suffering,
without finding in the dregs even that lethargy which the excess of
grief procures for some. Who can enter this murky precinct without
feeling his heart swayed by contrary emotions--without inclining with
reverence before the lead which covers the men who rescued the nations
from the anarchy of feudalism? While a tear may drop on the bier of that
great princess [Isabella], who can restrain his pity for that unhappy
queen [Juana] who, intoxicated with love, passed the night waiting for
the dawn to break that she might go forth, alone, to the ends of the
world, in search of her adored husband, and would not leave his coffin
till the tomb had closed upon it?”
We leave these great and unhappy ones of a bygone age, passing away to
nothingness in their last dark palace, and ascend to the chapel. There
is not much more to see. In the sacristy are preserved the crown and
sceptre of the Catholic queen, the sword of Ferdinand, and some rich
Gothic vestments. Over an altar on the south side is a _Descent from the
Cross_, of which Ford speaks highly. The Chapel Royal communicates with
the cathedral by a noble portal in the Late Gothic style. The pillars on
each side are adorned by the statues of kings-at-arms. Above the
entrance an eagle upholds the Arms of Spain. Heraldic devices, religious
emblems, and reliefs of saints and cherubim are mingled in the
decoration, which is beautiful and not over-elaborate.
The Chapel Royal, though architecturally forming part of the cathedral
building, has an entirely independent ecclesiastical organisation of its
own, with its own chapter and clergy. Amusing instances are recorded of
the bad blood existing between the cathedral canons and the royal
chaplains. This enmity (says Valladar) was carried so far that once,
when the Archbishop Carrillo de Alderete wished to visit the chapel,
attended by his canons, the chaplains refused to admit them. The
archbishop accordingly caused the disobliging priests to be arrested,
whereupon a long lawsuit ensued. The chaplains had the right of passage
across the cathedral transept to the Puerta del Perdon, which is the
official or state entrance to the royal mausoleum--a privilege which
seems to have galled the canons to the quick. Strange that such
ludicrous bickerings should have arisen out of a foundation which
commemorates the grandest and most epoch-making events in the national
history. Truly from the sublime to the ridiculous there is but one step.
THE CATHEDRAL
The Cathedral of Granada was built adjoining and connecting with the
Chapel Royal and sacristy or old mosque, between the years 1523 and
1561. Charles V. preferred the Gothic style, but at last consented to
the adoption of the designs of Diego de Siloe. The church is described
by Ford as one of the finest examples of the Græco-Roman style, but the
plan is distinctly Gothic, nor can the edifice be said to deserve the
description, “the most magnificent temple in Europe after the Vatican.”
It is impressive in its severity and vastness, and may be described as
dignified rather than beautiful.
The façade, said to have been designed by Alonso Cano, is flanked by
towers (one unfinished) and divided by four huge stone columns which
support a cornice. On this rest four pillars, sustaining three deep,
gloomy vaultings. At the foot of these pillars, on the cornice, are
statues of the Apostles. The principal door is adorned with a high
relief of the Incarnation by Risueño, the side-doors with reliefs of the
Annunciation and Assumption. The tower on the left rises seventy-five
metres above the level of the present floor; its three stages are in the
three styles of Grecian architecture respectively.
The walls of the Cathedral are, to a great extent, hidden, as is so
often the case on the Continent, by adjoining buildings. The Puerta del
Perdon, which, as we have said, officially belongs to the Chapel Royal,
is Diego de Siloe’s masterpiece, and is elaborately sculptured. Over the
arch two allegorical figures uphold a tablet on which is inscribed a
dedication to the Catholic monarchs. The great flanking columns of the
portal are decorated with huge escutcheons. The introduction of heraldic
symbols into religious architecture is nowhere more conspicuous than at
Granada.
The interior of the church, which is paved with black and white marble,
is composed of five naves with a cross-vaulting in the Gothic style,
supported by five piers, each of which is composed of four Corinthian
pillars. Above the high altar at the east end of the structure rises a
noble dome, 220 ft. high, resting on eight pillars, and opening with a
bold main arch, 190 ft. high. The expansion of the Capilla Mayor
(principal chapel) at this point into the segment of a circle is a
clever feat of architecture. Lafuente says, “The daring of the main arch
is admirable, the way it is contrived creating a wonderful effect:
looking at it from the elliptical arches it appears to be extended and
on the point of falling away through having sunk below its level.”
The Capilla Mayor is a handsome, profusely ornamented fabric, supported
on twenty-two Corinthian columns in two courses. Between the lower
columns are the elliptical arches referred to, and on the upper course
are the seven beautiful paintings of scenes from the Blessed Virgin’s
life, by Alonso Cano. Between the courses are interesting paintings by
Juan de Sevilla and Bocanegra. Much of the statuary is good, and the
Flemish stained glass in the fourteen windows is beautifully rich in
colour and well executed. The high altar itself, the work of José de
Bada, is in a depraved style; but its badness is redeemed by the two
kneeling statues of Ferdinand and Isabella on either side by Mena and
Madrano, and by the bold, great heads of Adam and Eve, above the
pulpits, carved and painted by Alonso Cano.
In the centre of the middle nave, separated from the Capilla Mayor by
the transept, is the choir, in that debased Churrigueresque style of
which every one speaks ill. The only things notable within it are the
fine organs, and the crucifix by Pablo de Rojas. Beneath the choir is
entombed Alonso Cano (died 1667), one of the greatest of Andalusian
painters, and a minor canon of the Cathedral.
One of his most characteristic pictures--the _Virgén de la Soledad_--is
to be seen over the altar of the Capilla de San Miguel (the first chapel
on the right on entering the church). It was stolen in 1873, and
recovered in the city shortly after. The chapel is beautifully adorned
with red marbles and serpentine. It was built by that high-minded,
beneficent prelate, Archbishop Moscoso, in 1804. His tomb is by the
sculptor Folch. In the chapel are placed--we do not know why--two
elegant Chinese vases.
Between this and the next chapel is the entrance to the sacristy or old
mosque, and to the left of it a small picture, before which that really
saintly saint, St. John of God, was accustomed to pray. The Capilla de
la Trinidad has some good paintings, among them a _Trinity_ by Cano, two
miniatures on copper by the same artist, a _Death of St. Joseph_ by
Maratta, and copies of works by Raphael and Ribera. There are genuine
Riberas (_The Child Jesus_, _St. Laurence_, and _St. Mary Magdalene_)
and more works by Cano in the extravagant eighteenth-century chapel of
Jesus Nazareno. After this comes the handsome Gothic door of the Chapel
Royal, by Enrique Egas; and beyond that the Chapel of Santiago, with a
fine equestrian statue of the Patron Saint of Spain, presented to the
Cathedral by the City in 1640. The old painting of the Virgen del Perdon
was given to Isabella the Catholic by Innocent VIII., and used to be
carried about by the queen. It is publicly venerated (not worshipped or
adored, please note) on the anniversary of the Reconquest, January 2.
Passing the Cathedral sacristy with its handsome door by Siloe, we pause
before the Puerta del Colegio. Behind the sculptured Ecce Homo, it is
said Maeda carved a Lucifer of extraordinary beauty. He applied to Siloe
for permission to give a proof of his skill, and was told by the testy
architect to sculpture the Devil himself if he wanted to. Maeda was wag
enough to take him at his word.
The chapel of Santa Ana covers the vault intended for the archbishops,
and contains a good sixteenth-century altar-piece, and a St. Jean de
Matha (a Frenchman, not a Spaniard) by Bocanegra. The six chapels that
follow present no features of interest. The fourth chapel on the left
side of the Cathedral is named La Virgen de la Antigua, after a Gothic
image greatly venerated by Ferdinand the Catholic, and regarded with
great reverence by the devout of Granada. Here are two portraits by Juan
de Sevilla of Ferdinand and Isabella at prayer; the king is clad in
armour. The paintings are in the Venetian style. Of the retablo by
Cornejo, the less said the better. Cano’s realistic heads of Saints John
and Paul reflect the fondness of the pietists of his day for the
morbid--they are in the Chapel of the Virgen del Carmen. The first
chapel, or baptistry, was erected by Adam and Aguado, at the expense of
Archbishop Galvan, who is buried here near another occupant of the
episcopal throne, Don Bienvenido Monzón. The fine reliefs of Saints
Jerome and Isidore are by Mora. We have now reached the entrance doors,
on each side of which hangs a good painting. The three pictures over the
doors represent mystic allegories.
The most interesting feature of the chapter room, or Sala Capitular, is
the noble porch, with its figures of Justice and Prudence, which, with
the group of the Trinity, may be safely attributed to Maeda.
Before leaving the Cathedral, the sacristy should be visited. It
contains Cano’s _Assumption_ and two small statues by him; a _Crucifix_
by Montañez; a _Holy Family_, by Juan de Sevilla; and a _Mary
Immaculate_ by Bocanegra. The treasury contains some wonderfully
embroidered vestments, and good, but not extraordinary, examples of the
silversmith’s craft. The signet ring of Sixtus III., and the monstrance
presented by Isabella, have of course, an historical interest.
A casket is also shown to visitors, who are assured it is that in which
were placed the jewels pawned by Isabella to provide funds for
Columbus’s first voyage. If this is true, Pandora’s box was as nothing
compared to this one! The Queen’s Missal, the work of Francisco Flores,
is beautifully illuminated. It is placed on the high altar on the
anniversary of the Reconquest. Those interested in arms will handle with
curiosity the sword of Ferdinand the Catholic; the hilt has a spherical
pommel and drooping quillons with branches towards the blade, which is
grooved for about two-thirds of its length. Other relics of the Catholic
sovereigns are their sceptre, Isabella’s crown, the royal standards used
at the Reconquest, and a chasuble said to have been embroidered by the
Queen.
By the door next to the Capilla de San Miguel we pass into the Sagrario
(sacristy) occupying the site of the old mosque, which it replaced in
1705. It was designed by Don Francisco Hurtado and Jose de Bada, and it
is well that the responsibility for so meretricious a piece of
architecture should be divided. It may be dismissed as Churrigueresque.
It is not, fortunately, devoid of interest. In one of the chapels is
buried “the magnificent cavalier, Fernando del Pulgar, Lord of El
Salar,” as the inscription records. This valiant knight and true, during
the last campaign against Granada, rode into the city with fifteen
horsemen, and set a lighted taper on the floor of the mosque, and, as
others say, nailed a paper bearing the Ave Maria on the door. This
exploit earned for him and his descendants the extremely valuable
privilege of wearing their hats in the Cathedral. De Pulgar’s bones have
fared better than those of the good Archbishop de Talavera, which were
scattered when the old mosque was demolished. The Sagrario possesses
several good paintings, including a San José by Cano, of whose works the
Cathedral buildings, as may have been noticed, contain a fine selection.
By the door next to the Capilla de Pulgar, and a darkish passage, the
Chapel Royal may be entered.
The oldest purely Christian building in Granada is the convent and
chapel of San Jeronimo, a foundation transferred here from Santa Fé
immediately after the Reconquest. The convent is now a cavalry barracks,
and is not to be inspected by the curious. The church, built by Diego de
Siloe, is in the form of a Latin cross--stern, plain, dignified. The
walls are adorned with frescoes representing scenes from the Passion,
portraits of the Fathers of the Church, and angels playing on the harp
and singing. They were executed in 1723 by an obscure painter called
Juan de Medina. Eight chapels open on the aisles and nave, one
containing a fine retablo, with the Entombment as subject. The principal
chapel exhibits Siloe’s skill at its best. He is said to have realised
in its construction “his lofty ideal of effecting a truly Spanish
Renaissance; an ideal which bore little fruit, since some of his
followers confined themselves to the strictest classicism, others to the
development of the plateresque.” Very much in the spirit of the
Renaissance is the decoration of the chapel with the statues of the
worthies of the classic world, Cæsar, Pompey, Hannibal, Homer, and
others, side by side with Old Testament characters. Strange, this
admiration for a pagan civilisation co-existent with violent religious
fanaticism against all contemporary non-Catholics!
The whole church was practically dedicated to the memory of Spain’s
greatest soldier, the Great Captain, Gonzalo de Cordova, who was buried
here, but whose ashes have been transferred to Madrid. The hero and his
duchess are shown, sculptured, kneeling in prayer on either side of the
high altar, over which rises a magnificent retablo, divided into several
compartments filled with reliefs and statues. The horizontal sections
are in the Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and composite Orders respectively.
The lowest central compartment is occupied by the Tabernacle, the
subjects of the three compartments immediately above being the
Immaculate Conception, St. Jerome, and the Crucifixion. Over all is
shown the figure of the Eternal Father. This splendid work, the best of
its kind in Spain, seems to have been executed by a variety of artists,
among them Juan de Aragon, Pedro de Orea, and Pedro de Raxis. The
beautiful shell-like vaulting above is adorned with figures of the
Apostles, of Saints Barbara, Katharine, Magdalen, and Lucy, and the
warrior-saints, George, Eustace, Martin, Sebastian, and Francis. The
sword given by the Pope to the Great Captain, formerly one of the
treasures of the chapel, was carried off by Sebastiani during the
Peninsular War.
There are a great many beautiful things in this old church which seem to
escape the ordinary traveller’s notice. The seats in the choir were
designed by Siloe. The frescoes, representing the Triumph of the
Church, of the Virgin, and of the Eucharist, the Assumption, &c., are
very well done. The restoration of the fabric has often been denounced,
but it is difficult to see how it could have been better carried out.
In the neighbourhood of the Great Captain’s chapel is a monument to a
hero and a great Spaniard of a very different type. Juan de Robles
devoted himself to the sick and the suffering with a zeal which earned
for him confinement in a madman’s cage. His virtues were recognised
after his death, and procured him canonisation as St. John of God in
1669. A tribute to his memory which he would have no doubt appreciated
better is the large hospital founded two years after his death, that is,
in 1552. The saint’s ashes, in a silver coffin, repose in the hospital
chapel, a gorgeous structure, characterised by costliness and bad taste.
The trail of the serpent of Spanish architecture--Churriguera--is over
all. All that is interesting in it is the portrait of the saint, a copy
of one in Madrid.
The name of the Great Captain is associated with the Cartuja, or
suppressed Carthusian monastery, the site of which was his gift. The
monastery, begun in 1516, was pulled down in 1842. A small portion of
the buildings, however, remains, together with the church. The single
nave is disfigured by over-elaborate ornamentation in the plateresque
style. The doors of the choir are richly and tastefully inlaid with
ebony and mother of pearl, cedar and tortoise-shell, and were the work
of a friar, Manuel Vazquez, who died in 1765. The sanctuary, in the
baroque style, is enriched with precious marbles, some richly veined
with agates. On some of the slabs the hand of Nature has traced the
semblances of human and animal forms. In the adjoining sacristy, various
marbles have been combined so as to produce an effect dazzling and
gorgeous in the extreme. The hall is certainly one of the most
remarkable in Spain. Scarcely less marvellous are the exquisitely inlaid
doors and presses. The generally bad style of the church is also
redeemed by a statue of St. Bruno, the founder of the Carthusian Order,
ascribed to Alonso Cano, and some pictures by Bocanegra, Giaquinto, and
Cotán. The last named, a friar, was responsible for the pictures in the
cloister, representing the martyrdom of Carthusian monks in London by
the tyrant Henry VIII. and the brigands who acted as his officers.
The Cartuja was formerly much richer in works of art, but, like San
Jeronimo, it was ransacked by the French under Sebastiani, who
exhibited, as on all occasions, the discrimination of a dilettante
coupled with the rapacity of a bandit.
In front of the church of Santos Pedro y Pablo is a very handsome
mansion built in 1539 for Hernando de Zafra, secretary of the Catholic
sovereigns. The portal is in three stages: the first contains the
entrance, a square doorway, between Doric columns; the second bears the
escutcheons of the family, above them being sculptured griffins and
lions; the third, a balcony between pilasters, carved in delicate
relief. In a line with this is another balcony, bearing the curious
inscription, _Esperandola del Cielo_--“Looking for it from Heaven.”
These words are explained by a tragic legend. De Zafra is said to have
suspected his daughter of a clandestine attachment. To satisfy his
doubts, he burst into her room one day, and found her page assisting the
lover to escape by the window. Baulked of his prey, the father turned,
with death in his face, upon the boy. “Mercy!” shrieked the page. “Look
for it in Heaven!” answered the Don, as he hurled his daughter’s
accomplice from the balcony into the street below. So runs the legend.
De Zafra does not appear, according to the records, to have left any
children; but his daughter may not have survived the terrible
consequences of her amour. “After all,” remarks Valladar, “nothing was
easier in the sixteenth century than to throw a page out of the window
without attracting the attention of the police or magistrates.”
Granada is by no means as rich in ancient churches and houses as
Seville. The house of the Great Captain now forms part of the convent of
Carmelite nuns. On the façade a tablet sets forth that “In this house
lived, and on December 2, 1515, died, the Great Captain Don Gonzalo
Fernandez de Aguilar y de Cordoba, Duke of Sessa, Terranova, and
Santangelo, the Christian hero, and conqueror of the Moors, French, and
Turks.”
The early sixteenth-century Casa de los Tiros--the property, like the
Generalife, of the Marques de Campotejar--seems to occupy the site, if
it did not actually form part, of a Moorish fortified dwelling. Some
think it was an advanced work of the fortifications known as the Torres
Bermejas. The interior certainly shows Arabic influence. The staircase
was probably built by Moors, and there are rich azulejos and a splendid
_artesanado_ hall. This is adorned with busts of various Spanish
celebrities, with the graven heads of Moors and Christians, and with
reliefs of Lucretia, Judith, Semiramis, and Penthesilea.
In this house is preserved an Arabic sword with a magnificent hilt and
scabbard, said to have belonged to Boabdil. The scabbard, at all events,
is unquestionably of workmanship posterior to the Reconquest; and it is
well to be a little on one’s guard in the matter of the numerous relics
ascribed to the last Moorish king.
Of old Granada, in truth, not much more remains than the buildings we
have already named. We may glance at the tower of San Juan de los Reyes,
so badly restored that its peculiar Moorish architecture, more markedly
Eastern than that of any other Grenadine monument, has been almost
entirely effaced. And in the old Casa de Ayuntamiento there are some
historical curiosities, notably the original draft of the charter
granted to Granada by the Catholic sovereigns, and the handsome official
shield of the city. Many sites, such as the Plaza de Bibarrambla,
commemorated in the songs and stories of old Spain, have been completely
modernised. But there is a monument--a simple column surmounted by an
iron cross--more deeply interesting than any reared by the Moors. The
inscription on the pedestal records that on this spot, on May 26, 1831,
Doña Mariana Pineda was publicly garroted at the age of thirty-two
years. She died a martyr for liberty and a victim of the strange
absolutist frenzy which did much to ruin Spain in Ferdinand VII.’s
reign. Doña Mariana’s house had been a centre for liberal gatherings,
and when raided by the police was found to contain a tricolour flag.
She met her death with a courage worthy of her cause. Five years later,
when the nation had recovered its sanity, her ashes were carried in
state to the Ayuntamiento. The magistrate who had condemned her was in
his turn executed. On the same site many Spanish patriots were shot by
the French--their labour and their lives being given to replace
Ferdinand VII. on the throne. The square, formerly called the Campillo,
is now named after Mariana Pineda. You may see there her statue in
marble, sculptured by Marna and Morales.
The hill called the Sacro Monte is a curious memorial of human
credulity. In 1594 one Francisco Hernandez reported to the Archbishop
Don Pedro Vaca de Castro that he had discovered the relics of several
local martyrs in the caves here. A church of no architectural merit was
raised on the spot, and became a place of pilgrimage--the evidence that
the martyrs referred to had ever existed being meanwhile wanting. Within
the church are preserved some leaden books, inscribed in Arabic
characters, and supposed to contain the acts, of the saints. These works
were the subject of a furious controversy in the seventeenth century.
The caves are interesting on account of their natural peculiarities, and
were quite probably catacombs used by the early Christians of
Illiberis. Some rocks may be noticed, in parts worn away by the repeated
kisses of devotees. There is a superstition that the person who kisses
the stone the first time will marry within the year, and that a second
kiss will ensure to those already married an early dissolution of the
conjugal tie.
On the opposite side of the city, also in the outskirts, is a little
Mohammedan oratory, now disfigured and restored beyond recognition. It
is called the Ermita de San Sebastian, and was the place where Boabdil
gave up the keys of Granada to Ferdinand and Isabel.
When we walk through the streets of the modern Granada, with its tawdry
churches and commonplace private houses, it does not seem that the city
has gained much by its change of masters. But its decline was not at
least very marked till many years after the Reconquest. The French
invasion, and still more the ruin of the silk industry, completely
undermined the prosperity of the place. During the last century it lost
its rank as the seat of a Captain General. But a new day is dawning for
the proudest city of the Moor, as for all Spain. Granada is content no
longer to brood over its splendid past; indeed, its citizens seem to
prize but lightly the monuments of those days. There is a general
appearance of wealth and elegance about the promenaders on the broad,
well-lighted paseos; and, thanks to the newly introduced manufacturing
industry of beetroot sugar, the Vega has already resumed the flourishing
smiling aspect it wore when a Mohammedan amir called it his and the cry
of the muezzin was heard from a hundred minarets.
PLAN OF GRANADA
REFERENCE TO PLAN OF GRANADA
BUILDINGS AND PLACES
1. Hospital of San Lázaro.
2. Church of San Juan de Letran.
3. Hermitage of Santo Cristo de Yedra.
4. San Bruno and the Cartuja.
5. The Sacro Monte.
6. The Holy Tomb.
7. Cavalry Barracks, and San Jerónimo.
8. San Juan de Dios.
9. San Juan de Dios (Street).
10. Lunatic Asylum.
11. Bull Ring. (Plaza de Toros.)
12. San Ildefonso, and Avenue del Triunfo.
13. Pay Office.
14. Gate of Elvira.
15. Gate of Monaita.
16. San Andrés.
17. Children’s Hospital.
18. Office for Civil Affairs.
19. Santos Justo and Pastor.
20. Institute of Music.
21. Botanical Garden and Nunnery of Piety.
22. Square of Rull and Godines.
23. Convent of the Incarnation.
24. Santa Paula.
25. Elvira (Street).
26. San Jerónimo.
27. Orlando’s Balcony.
28. San Diego.
29. San Gregorio.
30. San Luis.
31. Arab Ramparts.
32. San Miguel the Greater.
33. Gate of the Standards.
34. El Salvador.
35. San José.
36. Convent of the Angel.
37. Ecclesiastical College.
38. The Cathedral.
39. High School and Palace of the Province of Granada.
40. School of Economics.
41. Market Place, and Palace of the Archbishop.
42. Court of First Instance (Plaza Rib-Rambla).
43. Convent of Augustines and La Magdalena.
44. House of Grace.
45. Puentezuelas (Bridge).
46. Square of Marshal Prim.
47. Town Hall.
48. Santa Teresa.
49. Convent of the Holy Spirit.
50. Military Office.
51. Carmelite Convent.
52. Hospital for Leprosy.
53. Santa Ana.
54. Santa Inés.
55. Convent of the Conception.
56. San Juan de los Reyes.
57. Ex-Convent of The Victory.
58. Watch-tower of the Alhambra (Torre de la Vela).
59. The Alhambra.
60. Gate of Las Granadas.
61. Gate of Judiciary Astrology (Judiciária).
62. The Generalife.
63. Gate of Hierro.
64. San Francisco (formerly Convent of St. Francis).
65. The Chair of the Moor (Silla del Moro).
66. The Tower of the Seven Storeys (Alhambra).
67. The Fountain of Expiation.
68. Gate of the Sun.
69. Convent of Santa Catalina.
70. Ecce Homo.
71. San Cecilio, and Military Hospital.
73. Santa Escolástica.
74. Capuchin Convent and Santa Maria Egipciaca.
75. San Anton.
76. Gas Works.
77. Public Shambles.
78. San Sebastián and Avenue del Violón.
79. Las Angustias.
80. El Salon.
81. Convent of Santiago.
82. Museum of the Academy of Fine Arts.
83. Monument of Mariana.
84. Artillery Barracks.
85. Principal Theatre (Plaza de Bailén).
86. New Square.
87. Zacatín.
88. Fish Market.
89. Church of Santiago.
90. San Nicolás.
91. Convent of Tomasas.
92. Bermeja Towers.
93. Palace of Charles V.
94. Gate of the Mills.
95. San Basil.
96. Recreation Grounds.
97. Cemetery.
98. Convent of San Bernado and Church of San Pedro.
99. San Bartolomé.
100. Avenue of San Basil.
101. San Cristóbal.
102. Hospital of Corpus Christi.
103. Santa Isabel la Real, and San Miguel the Less.
104. Santa Maria (Ancient Mosque of the Alhambra).
105. San Matías.
106. Gate of Fajalanza.
107. Méndez Nuñez (Street).
[Illustration: GRANADA]
[Illustration: PLATE 1
VIEW OF GRANADA, SHOWING THE ALHAMBRA AND THE SIERRA NEVADA]
[Illustration: PLATE 2
GENERAL VIEW OF THE ALHAMBRA]
[Illustration: PLATE 3
VIEW OF THE ALHAMBRA FROM THE SACROMONTE ROAD]
[Illustration: PLATE 4
THE ALHAMBRA FROM THE MOOR’S SEAT--LA SILLA DEL MORO]
[Illustration: PLATE 5
GENERAL VIEW OF THE ALHAMBRA FROM SAN NICOLÁS]
[Illustration: PLATE 6
VIEW OF THE GATE OF ELVIRA]
[Illustration: PLATE 7
A VIEW OF THE ALHAMBRA FROM THE ALBAICIN (_Sketch_)]
[Illustration: PLATE 8
VIEW OF THE CATHEDRAL AND THE ALHAMBRA FROM SAN GERÓNIMO]
[Illustration: PLATE 9
VIEW OF THE SIERRA NEVADA FROM THE CARRERA DE LAS ANGUSTIAS]
[Illustration: PLATE 10
VIEW OF THE ROYAL GATE]
[Illustration: PLATE 11
VIEW FROM THE TOWER IN THE ALHAMBRA]
[Illustration: PLATE 12
LA PLAZA NUEVA]
[Illustration: PLATE 13
MONUMENT TO COLUMBUS IN THE PASEO DEL SALON; THE SIERRA NEVADA IN THE
DISTANCE]
[Illustration: PLATE 14
THE STREET OF THE CATHOLIC SOVEREIGNS]
[Illustration: PLATE 15
ARAB SILK MARKET]
[Illustration: PLATE 16
LA CASA DE LOS TIROS]
[Illustration: PLATE 17
CHURCH OF SANTA ANA]
[Illustration: PLATE 18
LIMOGES ENAMEL TRIPTYCH WHICH BELONGED TO THE GRAN CAPITÁN (PROVINCIAL
MUSEUM, GRANADA)]
[Illustration: PLATE 19
ALTAR IN THE CHURCH OF SAN GERÓNIMO]
[Illustration: PLATE 20
HOUSE IN THE CALLE DE DARRO THE PALACIO DE JUSTICIA]
[Illustration: PLATE 21
THE HOUSE OF CASTRIL]
[Illustration: PLATE 22
TYPICAL GYPSIES AND THEIR QUARTERS]
[Illustration: PLATE 23
GYPSIES IN FRONT OF THEIR DWELLINGS]
[Illustration: PLATE 24
GYPSY DWELLINGS IN THE SACROMONTE]
[Illustration: PLATE 25
GENERAL VIEW OF THE GYPSY QUARTERS]
[Illustration: PLATE 26
INTERIOR OF A GYPSY’S CAVE]
[Illustration: PLATE 27
GROUP OF GYPSIES]
[Illustration: PLATE 28
A GYPSY FAMILY]
[Illustration: PLATE 29
GYPSIES BIVOUACKING]
[Illustration: PLATE 30
GYPSIES]
[Illustration: PLATE 31
GYPSIES CLIPPING A MULE]
[Illustration: PLATE 32
GYPSIES]
[Illustration: PLATE 33
GYPSIES]
[Illustration: PLATE 34
GYPSY DANCE]
[Illustration: PLATE 35
INTERIOR OF THE SACRISTY OF THE CARTUJA]
[Illustration: PLATE 36
INTERIOR OF THE CARTUJA. THE SACRISTY]
[Illustration: PLATE 37
INTERIOR OF THE CARTUJA CHURCH]
[Illustration: PLATE 38
SAINT BRUNO, BY ALONSO CANO, AT THE CARTHUSIAN MONASTERY OF GRANADA]
[Illustration: PLATE 39
EXTERIOR OF THE ROYAL CHAPEL]
[Illustration: PLATE 40
THE GATE OF PARDON AND THE EXTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL]
[Illustration: PLATE 41
FAÇADE OF THE CATHEDRAL]
[Illustration: PLATE 42
EXTERIOR GATE OF THE ROYAL CHAPEL]
[Illustration: PLATE 43
DETAIL IN THE ROYAL CHAPEL]
[Illustration: PLATE 44
ANCIENT GOTHIC ENTRANCE TO THE ROYAL CHAPEL]
[Illustration: PLATE 45
GENERAL EXTERIOR VIEW OF THE ROYAL CHAPEL, UPPER PART]
[Illustration: PLATE 46
GENERAL EXTERIOR VIEW OF THE ROYAL CHAPEL]
[Illustration: PLATE 47
EXTERIOR OF THE ROYAL CHAPEL
FAÇADE OF THE CATHEDRAL]
[Illustration: PLATE 48
GENERAL VIEW OF THE INTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL]
[Illustration: PLATE 49
THE CATHEDRAL. GENERAL VIEW OF THE INTERIOR]
[Illustration: PLATE 50
THE CATHEDRAL. VIEW OF THE PRINCIPAL NAVE]
[Illustration: PLATE 51
THE HIGH ALTAR IN THE CATHEDRAL]
[Illustration: PLATE 52
ALTAR-PIECE IN THE ROYAL CHAPEL, BY F. DE BORGOÑA]
[Illustration: PLATE 53
THE CATHEDRAL. BOABDIL GIVING UP THE KEYS OF GRANADA TO THE CATHOLIC
SOVEREIGNS. FRAGMENT OF THE ALTAR-PIECE IN THE ROYAL CHAPEL]
[Illustration: PLATE 54
THE INNER CHOIR OF THE CATHEDRAL]
[Illustration: PLATE 55
THE CATHEDRAL. TOMBS OF THE CATHOLIC SOVEREIGNS IN THE ROYAL CHAPEL]
[Illustration: PLATE 56
VIEW OF THE ROYAL CHAPEL AND TOMBS OF THE CATHOLIC SOVEREIGNS, BY P.
GONZALVO]
[Illustration: PLATE 57
ROYAL CHAPEL. TOMBS OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA]
[Illustration: PLATE 58
VAULT OF THE CATHOLIC SOVEREIGNS AT GRANADA]
[Illustration: PLATE 59
TOMBS OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA, DOÑA JUANA AND PHILIP THE HANDSOME]
[Illustration: PLATE 60
TOMBS OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA, DOÑA JUANA AND PHILIP THE HANDSOME]
[Illustration: PLATE 61
SCEPTRE, CROWN, SWORD, MASS-BOOK, AND COFFER OF THE CATHOLIC
SOVEREIGNS]
[Illustration: PLATE 62
RELICS OF THE CATHOLIC SOVEREIGNS]
[Illustration: PLATE 63
ROYAL CHAPEL. STATUE OF QUEEN ISABELLA THE CATHOLIC]
[Illustration: PLATE 64
STATUE OF ISABELLA THE CATHOLIC]
[Illustration: PLATE 65
CHAPEL OF SAN MIGUEL IN THE CATHEDRAL, MARBLE SCULPTURE]
[Illustration: PLATE 66
Plan of the Alhambra Palace at Granada]
[Illustration: PLATE 67
GENERAL PLAN OF THE ALHAMBRA]
[Illustration: PLATE 68
GENERAL VIEW OF THE ALHAMBRA FROM SAN NICOLÁS]
[Illustration: PLATE 69
THE RED TOWERS FROM THE RAMPARTS]
[Illustration: PLATE 70
VIEW OF THE ALHAMBRA FROM THE SACROMONTE]
[Illustration: PLATE 71
GENERAL VIEW OF THE ALHAMBRA AND ALGIBILLO PROMENADE]
[Illustration: PLATE 72
VIEW OF THE ALHAMBRA FROM THE CUESTA DEL CHAPIZ]
[Illustration: PLATE 73
THE RED TOWERS]
[Illustration: PLATE 74
GENERAL VIEW OF THE ALHAMBRA]
[Illustration: PLATE 75
THE TOWER OF THE PEAKS]
[Illustration: PLATE 76
THE INFANTAS’ TOWER AND CAPTIVE’S TOWER]
[Illustration: PLATE 77
VIEW OF THE WATCH TOWER AND GRANADA]
[Illustration: PLATE 78
VIEW OF THE RAMPARTS AND THE WATCH TOWER]
[Illustration: PLATE 79
THE AQUEDUCT TOWER AND THE AQUEDUCT]
[Illustration: PLATE 80
THE GATE OF JUSTICE. DETAIL OF A DOOR IN THE COURT OF THE MYRTLES]
[Illustration: PLATE 81
THE ALHAMBRA AND THE SIERRA NEVADA]
[Illustration: PLATE 82
GRANADA, FROM THE HOMAGE TOWER]
[Illustration: PLATE 83
“THE QUEEN’S DRESSING-ROOM,” AT THE SUMMIT OF THE MIHRAB TOWER, WITH
DISTANT VIEW OF THE GENERALIFE]
[Illustration: PLATE 84
THE GATE OF JUSTICE, ERECTED BY YUSUF I]
[Illustration: PLATE 85
THE TOWER OF THE PEAKS]
[Illustration: PLATE 86
THE CAPTIVE’S TOWER]
[Illustration: PLATE 87
EXTERIOR OF THE MOSQUE, PRIVATE PROPERTY]
[Illustration: PLATE 88
TOWER OF THE AQUEDUCT]
[Illustration: PLATE 89
ASCENT TO THE ALHAMBRA BY THE CUESTA DEL REY CHICO--LESSER KING HILL]
[Illustration: PLATE 90
THE LADIES’ TOWER]
[Illustration: PLATE 91
PART OF THE ALHAMBRA, EXTERIOR]
[Illustration: PLATE 92
THE HOMAGE TOWER. ANCIENT ARAB RUINS IN THE ALCAZÁBA]
[Illustration: PLATE 93
GATE OF JUSTICE. THE ALHAMBRA]
[Illustration: PLATE 94
GATE OF JUSTICE (_Sketch_)]
[Illustration: PLATE 95
THE GATE OF JUSTICE]
[Illustration: PLATE 96
PLAN, HEIGHT AND DETAILS OF THE GATE OF THE LAW COMMONLY CALLED OF
JUSTICE]
[Illustration: PLATE 97
ELEVATION OF THE ANCIENT GATE OF JUSTICE]
[Illustration: PLATE 98
PORTAL COMMONLY CALLED THE GATE OF THE VINE]
[Illustration: PLATE 99
PORCH OF THE GATE OF JUDGMENT]
[Illustration: PLATE 100
ELEVATION OF THE WINE GATE]
[Illustration: PLATE 101
TRANSVERSE SECTION OF PART OF THE ALHAMBRA]
[Illustration: PLATE 102
SECTION SHOWING]
[Illustration: PLATE 103
HEIGHTS OF THE ALHAMBRA]
[Illustration: PLATE 104
PROMENADES AT THE ENTRANCE TO ALHAMBRA]
[Illustration: PLATE 105
THE HALL OF JUSTICE AND COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 106
HALL OF JUSTICE. LEFT SIDE]
[Illustration: PLATE 107
HALL OF JUSTICE, SHOWING FOUNTAIN OF COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 108
SECTION OF THE HALL OF JUSTICE (LOOKING EAST)]
[Illustration: PLATE 109
SECTION OF THE HALL OF JUSTICE (LOOKING TOWARDS THE COURT OF THE
LIONS)]
[Illustration: PLATE 110
VERTICAL SECTION OF THE HALL OF JUSTICE]
[Illustration: PLATE 111
DETAILS OF THE HALL OF JUSTICE]
[Illustration: PLATE 112
PLAN AND WINDOW OF THE HALL OF JUSTICE]
[Illustration: PLATE 113
PAINTING ON THE CEILING OF THE HALL OF JUSTICE. No. 1]
[Illustration: PLATE 114
PAINTING ON THE CEILING OF THE HALL OF JUSTICE. No. 3]
[Illustration: PLATE 115
PART OF PICTURE IN THE HALL OF JUSTICE--THE MOOR’S RETURN FROM HUNTING]
[Illustration: PLATE 116
HALL OF JUSTICE--THE DEATH OF THE LION AT THE HANDS OF A CHRISTIAN
KNIGHT]
[Illustration: PLATE 117
PART OF PICTURE IN THE HALL OF JUSTICE REPRESENTING A CHRISTIAN KNIGHT
RESCUING A MAIDEN FROM A WICKED MAGICIAN, OR WILD-MAN-O’-THE-WOODS. THE
CHRISTIAN KNIGHT IS, IN TURN, SLAIN BY A MOORISH WARRIOR]
[Illustration: PLATE 118
PART OF PICTURE IN HALL OF JUSTICE--MOORISH HUNTSMAN SLAYING THE WILD
BOAR]
[Illustration: PLATE 119
HALL OF JUSTICE--THREE FIGURES FROM THE PICTURE OF THE MOORISH
TRIBUNAL]
[Illustration: PLATE 120
THE MOSQUE AND GENERALIFE]
[Illustration: PLATE 121
COURT OF THE MOSQUE]
[Illustration: PLATE 122
FAÇADE OF THE MOSQUE]
[Illustration: PLATE 123
INTERIOR OF THE MOSQUE IN THE ALHAMBRA]
[Illustration: PLATE 124
INTERIOR OF THE MOSQUE]
[Illustration: PLATE 125
ELEVATION OF THE PORTICO ADJACENT TO THE MOSQUE]
[Illustration: PLATE 126
DETAIL OF THE ENTRANCE DOOR OF THE MOSQUE]
[Illustration: PLATE 127
AN ARCHED WINDOW OF THE MOSQUE]
[Illustration: PLATE 128
AN ARCHED WINDOW OF THE MOSQUE]
[Illustration: PLATE 129
THE KORAN RECESS IN THE MOSQUE, THE SCENE OF YUSUF’S ASSASSINATION]
[Illustration: PLATE 130
THE MOSQUE FROM KORAN RECESS]
[Illustration: PLATE 131
DETAILS OF ORNAMENT OF KORAN RECESS NEAR THE ENTRANCE DOOR OF THE
MOSQUE]
[Illustration: PLATE 132
CORNICE AND WINDOW IN THE FAÇADE OF THE MOSQUE]
[Illustration: PLATE 133
VERTICAL SECTION OF THE MOSQUE]
[Illustration: PLATE 134
ARAB LAMP IN MOSQUE]
[Illustration: PLATE 135
DETAILS OF THE FRONT OF THE MOSQUE OF THE HAREM]
[Illustration: PLATE 136
DETAILS OF ORNAMENT IN THE COURT OF THE MOSQUE]
[Illustration: PLATE 137
DETAILS IN THE COURT OF THE MOSQUE, EASTERN FAÇADE]
[Illustration: PLATE 138
ORNAMENT IN PANELS, COURT OF THE MOSQUE]
[Illustration: PLATE 139
WINDOW IN THE HALL OF AMBASSADORS]
[Illustration: PLATE 140
ENTRANCE TO THE HALL OF AMBASSADORS]
[Illustration: PLATE 141
HALL OF AMBASSADORS]
[Illustration: PLATE 142
SECTION AND ELEVATION OF THE INTERIOR OF THE HALL OF AMBASSADORS]
[Illustration: PLATE 143
ENCAUSTIC-TILE WORK OF THE HALL OF AMBASSADORS]
[Illustration: PLATE 144
ORNAMENT IN PANELS, HALL OF AMBASSADORS]
[Illustration: PLATE 145
INSCRIPTIONS IN THE HALL OF AMBASSADORS]
[Illustration: PLATE 146
KUFIC INSCRIPTIONS, HALL OF AMBASSADORS]
[Illustration: PLATE 147
“WA LA GHÁLIB ILA ALÁ!”--THERE IS NO CONQUEROR BUT GOD!--THE FAMOUS
MOTTO OF MOHAMMED I. AND HIS SUCCESSORS. AN EXAMPLE FROM THE HALL OF
AMBASSADORS]
[Illustration: PLATE 148
THE COURT OF THE LIONS FROM THE TEMPLETE POMIENTE]
[Illustration: PLATE 149
ENTRANCE TO THE COURT OF THE LIONS THROUGH THE POMIENTE CORNER]
[Illustration: PLATE 150
NORTH GALLERY AND FAÇADE OF THE HALL OF THE ABENCERRAGES]
[Illustration: PLATE 151
THE COURT OF THE LIONS FROM THE POMIENTE CORNER]
[Illustration: PLATE 152
VIEW IN THE COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 153
VIEW IN THE COURT OF THE LIONS FROM THE HALL OF JUSTICE]
[Illustration: PLATE 154
THE COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 155
GENERAL VIEW OF THE COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 156
COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 157
NORTH GALLERY IN THE COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 158
SECTION, COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 159
PAVILION IN THE COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 160
FOUNTAIN AND EAST TEMPLE IN THE COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 161
HALL OF JUSTICE AND COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 162
ANGLE IN THE HALL OF JUSTICE]
[Illustration: PLATE 163
HALL OF JUSTICE]
[Illustration: PLATE 164
CEILING OF THE HALL OF JUSTICE]
[Illustration: PLATE 165
THE MOSQUE, AND VIEW OF THE GENERALIFE]
[Illustration: PLATE 166
EXTERIOR OF A WINDOW IN THE MOSQUE]
[Illustration: PLATE 167
THE MOSQUE, AND VIEW OF THE GENERALIFE]
[Illustration: PLATE 168
INTERIOR OF THE MOSQUE]
[Illustration: PLATE 169
COURT OF THE MOSQUE, WEST FAÇADE]
[Illustration: PLATE 170
INTERIOR OF THE MOSQUE, CONVERTED INTO A ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH]
[Illustration: PLATE 171
INTERIOR OF THE MOSQUE, CONVERTED INTO A ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH]
[Illustration: PLATE 172
JALOUSIES IN THE COURT OF THE MOSQUE]
[Illustration: PLATE 173
ENTRANCE TO THE HALL OF AMBASSADORS]
[Illustration: PLATE 174
BALCONY IN THE HALL OF AMBASSADORS]
[Illustration: PLATE 175
DETAIL OF THE HALL OF THE ARCHED WINDOWS]
[Illustration: PLATE 176
DETAIL IN THE HALL OF THE ABENCERRAGES]
[Illustration: PLATE 177
THE COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 178
GENERAL VIEW OF THE COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 179
THE FOUNTAIN AND WEST TEMPLE OF THE COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 180
ELEVATION OF THE FOUNTAIN OF THE COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 181
THE FOUNTAIN OF THE COURT OF THE LIONS, WITH DETAILS OF THE ORNAMENT]
[Illustration: PLATE 182
PLAN OF THE BASIN OF THE FOUNTAIN IN THE COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 183
SECTION OF THE PAVILION IN THE COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 184
SECTION OF THE HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS, AND]
[Illustration: PLATE 185
SECTION OF PART OF THE COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 186
CAPITAL IN THE COURT OF THE LIONS, WITH A SCALE OF ONE METRE]
[Illustration: PLATE 187
DETAILS OF THE CENTRE ARCADE OF THE COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 188
FRIEZE OVER COLUMNS, COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 189
DETAIL OF THE CENTRAL ARCH IN THE COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 190
THE FIRST SIX VERSES OF THE INSCRIPTION AROUND THE BASIN OF THE FOUNTAIN
OF THE COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 191
ENTABLATURE IN THE COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 192
CUPOLA OF THE PAVILION IN THE COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 193
ENTRANCE TO THE COURT OF THE LIONS
LITTLE TEMPLE, THE COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 194
THE COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 195
THE LITTLE TEMPLE
THE FOUNTAIN
THE COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 196
THE COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 197
THE COURT OF THE LIONS, WEST ANGLE]
[Illustration: PLATE 198
MOROCCO EMBASSY, DECEMBER, 1885]
[Illustration: PLATE 199
THE COURT OF THE LIONS FROM THE WEST TEMPLE]
[Illustration: PLATE 200
THE COURT OF THE LIONS FROM THE WEST TEMPLE]
[Illustration: PLATE 201
WEST GALLERY IN THE COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 202
THE COURT OF THE LIONS, FAÇADE OF THE HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS]
[Illustration: PLATE 203
THE COURT OF THE LIONS, LEFT-HAND ANGLE]
[Illustration: PLATE 204
THE COURT OF THE LIONS, FAÇADE OF THE HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS]
[Illustration: PLATE 205
THE COURT OF THE LIONS FROM THE ENTRANCE]
[Illustration: PLATE 206
DETAIL OF THE ENTRANCE TO THE COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 207
DETAIL IN THE COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 208
MOSAICS, NORTH SIDE
MOSAICS, SOUTH SIDE
THE COURT OF THE LIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 209
HALL OF THE ABENCERRAGES]
[Illustration: PLATE 210
HALL OF THE ABENCERRAGES]
[Illustration: PLATE 211
HALL OF THE ABENCERRAGES]
[Illustration: PLATE 212
HALL OF THE ABENCERRAGES]
[Illustration: PLATE 213
WOODEN DOORS, HALL OF THE ABENCERRAGES]
[Illustration: PLATE 214
GALLERY IN THE COURT OF THE FISH-POND; OR, OF THE MYRTLES]
[Illustration: PLATE 215
COURT OF THE MYRTLES; OR, OF THE FISH-POND. FAÇADE OF THE HALL OF
AMBASSADORS]
[Illustration: PLATE 216
COURT OF THE MYRTLES; OR, OF THE FISH-POND]
[Illustration: PLATE 217
GENERAL VIEW OF THE COURT OF THE MYRTLES; OR, OF THE FISH-POND]
[Illustration: PLATE 218
NORTH SIDE OF THE COURT OF THE FISH-POND; OR, OF THE MYRTLES]
[Illustration: PLATE 219
ENTRANCE TO THE COURT OF THE FISH-POND; OR, OF THE MYRTLES]
[Illustration: PLATE 220
GALLERY IN THE COURT OF THE MYRTLES; OR, OF THE FISH-POND]
[Illustration: PLATE 221
GENERAL VIEW OF THE COURT OF THE MYRTLES AND COMARES TOWER]
[Illustration: PLATE 222
COURT OF THE MYRTLES, EAST FAÇADE]
[Illustration: PLATE 223
DETAIL IN THE COURT OF THE MYRTLES]
[Illustration: PLATE 224
COURT OF THE MYRTLES, EAST FAÇADE]
[Illustration: PLATE 225
EXTERIOR OF THE GALLERY IN THE COURT OF THE FISH-POND; OR, OF THE
MYRTLES]
[Illustration: PLATE 226
THE COURT OF THE FISH-POND; OR, OF THE MYRTLES]
[Illustration: PLATE 227
ORNAMENT IN THE COURT OF THE FISH-POND; OR, OF THE MYRTLES]
[Illustration: PLATE 228
COURT OF THE MYRTLES; OR, OF THE FISH-POND FORMED BY YUSÚF I.]
[Illustration: PLATE 229
THE COURT OF THE FISH-POND; OR, OF THE MYRTLES
GALLERY IN THE COURT OF THE FISH-POND; OR, OF THE MYRTLES]
[Illustration: PLATE 230
THE HALL OF THE BATHS]
[Illustration: PLATE 231
THE SULTAN’S BATH]
[Illustration: PLATE 232
THE SULTANA’S BATH]
[Illustration: PLATE 233
THE BATHS, HALL OF REPOSE]
[Illustration: PLATE 234
CHAMBER OF REPOSE]
[Illustration: PLATE 235
SECTION OF THE HALL OF THE BATHS]
[Illustration: PLATE 236
LONGITUDINAL SECTION THROUGH THE BATHS]
[Illustration: PLATE 237
GROUND PLAN OF THE BATHS IN THE ALHAMBRA]
[Illustration: PLATE 238
CEILING OF THE HALL OF THE BATHS]
[Illustration: PLATE 239
PLAN AND SECTION OF THE GREAT CISTERN IN THE ALHAMBRA]
[Illustration: PLATE 240
A SECTION OF THE BATHS IN THE ALHAMBRA]
[Illustration: PLATE 241
CHAMBER OF REPOSE
SULTAN’S BATH CONSTRUCTED BY YUSÚF I.]
[Illustration: PLATE 242
INTERIOR OF THE INFANTAS’ TOWER]
[Illustration: PLATE 243
SECTIONS OF THE INFANTAS’ TOWER]
[Illustration: PLATE 244
INTERIOR OF THE TOWER OF THE INFANTAS, UPPER PART]
[Illustration: PLATE 245
BALCONY OF THE “CAPTIVE” (ISABEL DE SOLIS), OVERLOOKING THE VEGA, OR
PLAIN, OF GRANADA]
[Illustration: PLATE 246
ALCOVE OF THE “CAPTIVE” (ISABEL DE SOLIS)]
[Illustration: PLATE 247
INTERIOR OF THE TOWER OF THE “CAPTIVE” (ISABEL DE SOLIS)]
[Illustration: PLATE 248
THE “CAPTIVE’S” TOWER FROM THE ENTRANCE]
[Illustration: PLATE 249
INTERIOR OF THE MOSQUE
ROOM IN THE “CAPTIVE’S” TOWER]
[Illustration: PLATE 250
HALL OF JUSTICE
BATHS, THE CHAMBER OF REPOSE]
[Illustration: PLATE 251
BALCONY OF THE FAVOURITE, “LINDARAJA”]
[Illustration: PLATE 252
ALCOVE IN THE “LINDARAJA” APARTMENTS]
[Illustration: PLATE 253
GARDEN OF “LINDARAJA,” AND THE APARTMENTS TRADITIONALLY SAID TO HAVE
BEEN OCCUPIED BY “LINDARAJA” A FAVOURITE SULTANA]
[Illustration: PLATE 254
DETAIL, INTERIOR OF THE BALCONY OF “LINDARAJA”]
[Illustration: PLATE 255
DETAIL, LOWER PART OF THE BALCONY OF “LINDARAJA”]
[Illustration: PLATE 256
DETAIL OF THE CENTRAL PART OF THE BALCONY OF “LINDARAJA”]
[Illustration: PLATE 257
THE QUEEN’S BOUDOIR AND DISTANT VIEW OF THE GENERALIFE]
[Illustration: PLATE 258
THE QUEEN’S BOUDOIR AND VIEW OF THE GENERALIFE]
[Illustration: PLATE 259
THE QUEEN’S BOUDOIR AND OLD ALBAICIN QUARTER]
[Illustration: PLATE 260
THE QUEEN’S BOUDOIR AND DEFILE OF THE DARRO]
[Illustration: PLATE 261
LINDARAJA’S GARDEN AND THE APARTMENTS IN WHICH WASHINGTON IRVING
STAYED]
[Illustration: PLATE 262
ANGLE OF THE BALCONY OF LINDARAJA]
[Illustration: PLATE 263
BALCONY OF THE FAVOURITE LINDARAJA]
[Illustration: PLATE 264
INTERIOR OF THE TOWER OF THE CAPTIVE, ISABEL DE SOLIS]
[Illustration: PLATE 265
EXTERIOR OF THE CAPTIVE’S TOWER]
[Illustration: PLATE 266
THE TOWER OF THE CAPTIVE, ISABEL DE SOLIS]
[Illustration: PLATE 267
INTERIOR OF THE INFANTAS’ TOWER, UPPER PART]
[Illustration: PLATE 268
INTERIOR OF THE INFANTAS’ TOWER]
[Illustration: PLATE 269
DETAIL OF THE UPPER PART OF THE BALCONY OF LINDARAJA]
[Illustration: PLATE 270
HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS]
[Illustration: PLATE 271
ENTRANCE TO THE HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS]
[Illustration: PLATE 272
INTERIOR OF THE HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS]
[Illustration: PLATE 273
HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS]
[Illustration: PLATE 274
HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS]
[Illustration: PLATE 275
TEMPLE AND FAÇADE OF THE HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS]
[Illustration: PLATE 276
VIEW IN THE HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS]
[Illustration: PLATE 277
HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS FROM THE ENTRANCE DOOR, BUILT BY YÚSUF I.]
[Illustration: PLATE 278
UPPER BALCONY OF THE HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS]
[Illustration: PLATE 279
HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS FROM THE ENTRANCE DOOR]
[Illustration: PLATE 280
CEILING OF THE HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS]
[Illustration: PLATE 281
DETAIL OF THE UPPER STORY, HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS]
[Illustration: PLATE 282
DETAIL OF THE LATERAL WINDOWS OF THE HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS]
[Illustration: PLATE 283
DETAIL IN THE HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS]
[Illustration: PLATE 284
PANEL, ORNAMENT, AND INSCRIPTIONS IN THE HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS]
[Illustration: PLATE 285
INSCRIPTION IN THE HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS]
[Illustration: PLATE 286
FRIEZE IN THE HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS]
[Illustration: PLATE 287
PANEL ON JAMBS OF DOORWAYS, HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS]
[Illustration: PLATE 288
DETAILS OF THE GLAZED TILES IN THE DADO OF THE HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS]
[Illustration: PLATE 289
BAND ROUND PANELS IN WINDOWS, HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS]
[Illustration: PLATE 290
MOSAIC IN DADO OF RECESS
MOSAIC IN DADO OF THE ENTRANCE TO THE HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS]
[Illustration: PLATE 291
MOSAIC IN DADO OF HALL OF AMBASSADORS
MOSAIC IN DADO OF THE HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS]
[Illustration: PLATE 292
WINE GATE. WEST FAÇADE]
[Illustration: PLATE 293
DETAIL OF THE ONLY ANCIENT “JALOUSIE” REMAINING IN THE ALHAMBRA]
[Illustration: PLATE 294
EL JARRO. ARAB VASE NOW IN THE MUSEUM OF THE PALACE]
[Illustration: PLATE 295
EL JARRO. THE ARABIAN VASE AND NICHE IN WHICH IT FORMERLY STOOD, HALL OF
THE TWO SISTERS. THE VASE, CONSIDERABLY MUTILATED, IS NOW IN THE MUSEUM
OF THE PALACE]
[Illustration: PLATE 296
AN ARAB VASE OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY IN THE NICHE WHEREIN IT STOOD
UNTIL THE YEAR 1837]
[Illustration: PLATE 297
SWORD OF THE LAST MOORISH KING OF GRANADA, COMMONLY CALLED “THE SWORD OF
BOABDIL”]
[Illustration: PLATE 298
THE SURRENDER OF GRANADA BY BOABDIL TO FERDINAND AND ISABELLA, JANUARY
2, 1492]
[Illustration: PLATE 299
GOLD COIN (OBVERSE AND REVERSE) OF MOHAMMED I., THE FOUNDER OF THE
ALHAMBRA, WHO REIGNED 1232-1272 A.D.]
[Illustration: PLATE 300
DETAILS AND INSCRIPTIONS, AND ARABIAN CAPITALS]
[Illustration: PLATE 301
THE GOTHIC INSCRIPTION SET UP IN THE ALHAMBRA BY THE COUNT OF TENDILLA,
TO COMMEMORATE THE SURRENDER OF THE FORTRESS IN 1492]
[Illustration: PLATE 302
MOSAIC PAVEMENT IN THE QUEEN’S DRESSING ROOM (TOCADOR DE LA REYNA)
MOSAIC, FROM A FRAGMENT IN THE ALHAMBRA]
[Illustration: PLATE 303
THE HOUSE OF CARBON]
[Illustration: PLATE 304
THE ANCIENT GRANARY MARKET AND HOUSE OF CARBON]
[Illustration: PLATE 305
ELEVATION OF THE CASA DEL CARBON, OR HOUSE OF CARBON, ONCE KNOWN AS THE
HOUSE OF THE WEATHERCOCK]
[Illustration: PLATE 306
COURTYARD OF A MOORISH HOUSE IN THE ALBAICIN]
[Illustration: PLATE 307
INTERIOR OF AN ARAB HOUSE IN THE ALBAICIN]
[Illustration: PLATE 308
THE PROCLAMATION OF BOABDIL. BY PLÁCIDO FRANCES
(NATIONAL EXHIBITION OF BEAUX ARTS, 1884)]
[Illustration: PLATE 309
THE AUTHOR IN THE ALHAMBRA]
[Illustration: PLATE 310
CORNICES, CAPITALS, AND COLUMNS IN THE ALHAMBRA. THE SPLENDID CORNICE AT
THE RIGHT-HAND TOP CORNER IS FROM THE LOGGIA OF THE GENERALIFE]
[Illustration: PLATE 311
MISCELLANEOUS ORNAMENT IN THE ALHAMBRA]
[Illustration: PLATE 312
THE FABLE OF JUPITER AND LEDA IN THE ALHAMBRA]
[Illustration: PLATE 313
BAS-RELIEF, NOW IN THE MUSEUM OF THE ALHAMBRA]
[Illustration: PLATE 314
ARABIAN SWORD]
[Illustration: PLATE 315
CAPITALS FROM THE COURTS AND HALLS OF THE ALHAMBRA]
[Illustration: PLATE 316
ENCAUSTIC-TILE WORK IN THE ROYAL ROOM OF SANTO DOMINGO]
[Illustration: PLATE 317
VARIOUS MOSAICS FROM THE ALHAMBRA]
[Illustration: PLATE 318
INSCRIPTIONS IN THE ALHAMBRA]
[Illustration: PLATE 319
PLAN OF THE PALACE OF CHARLES V., AND OF THE SUBTERRANEAN VAULTS OF THE
ALHAMBRA]
[Illustration: PLATE 320
GENERAL VIEW OF THE ALHAMBRA FROM THE HOMAGE TOWER]
[Illustration: PLATE 321
ANCIENT CISTERN. EARLY FOURTEENTH CENTURY]
[Illustration: PLATE 322
THE ALHAMBRA
_Specially drawn for The Spanish Series_]
[Illustration: PLATE 323
PART OF EXTERIOR OF THE PALACE OF CHARLES V.]
[Illustration: PLATE 324
ELEVATION OF THE PALACE OF CHARLES V.]
[Illustration: PLATE 325
SECTION OF THE PALACE OF CHARLES V.]
[Illustration: PLATE 326
FOUNTAIN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.]
[Illustration: PLATE 327
VIEW OF THE ALHAMBRA FROM THE HOMAGE TOWER]
[Illustration: PLATE 328
INTERIOR OF THE PALACE OF CHARLES V.]
[Illustration: PLATE 329
DOORWAY OF THE PALACE OF CHARLES V.]
[Illustration: PLATE 330
BAS-RELIEF IN THE PALACE OF CHARLES V.]
[Illustration: PLATE 331
PORCH OF THE PALACE OF CHARLES V. FROM THE WEST]
[Illustration: PLATE 332
ROMAN COURT, PALACE OF CHARLES V.]
[Illustration: PLATE 333
GROUND PLAN OF THE GENERALIFE AT GRANADA
A. Advanced parts
B. The Inner Gallery, commanding a view of the Gardens
C, C, C, C. Terraces and Aqueducts
D, D, D, E, E. The surrounding country
]
[Illustration: PLATE 334
THE GENERALIFE]
[Illustration: PLATE 335
THE PRINCIPAL COURT OF THE GENERALIFE]
[Illustration: PLATE 336
THE COURT OF THE FISH POND IN THE GENERALIFE]
[Illustration: PLATE 337
PROMENADES AND GARDENS OF THE GENERALIFE]
[Illustration: PLATE 338
THE GENERALIFE]
[Illustration: PLATE 339
FRONT VIEW OF THE PORTICO OF THE GENERALIFE]
[Illustration: PLATE 340
TRANSVERSE SECTION OF THE ROYAL VILLA OF THE GENERALIFE]
[Illustration: PLATE 341
GALLERY IN THE GENERALIFE]
[Illustration: PLATE 342
THE GENERALIFE
GALLERY IN THE ACEQUIA COURT]
[Illustration: PLATE 343
THE GENERALIFE
ENTRANCE TO THE PORTRAIT GALLERY]
[Illustration: PLATE 344
GARDEN OF THE GENERALIFE]
[Illustration: PLATE 345
ELEVATION OF THE PORTICO OF THE GENERALIFE]
[Illustration: PLATE 346
THE ACEQUIA COURT IN THE GENERALIFE]
[Illustration: PLATE 347
A CORNER OF THE ACEQUIA COURT IN THE GENERALIFE]
[Illustration: PLATE 348
CYPRESS COURT
A CORNER IN THE ACEQUIA COURT]
[Illustration: PLATE 349
THE CYPRESS OF THE SULTANA IN THE GENERALIFE]
[Illustration: PLATE 350
A CEILING IN THE GENERALIFE]
[Illustration: PLATE 351
THE GENERALIFE. THE ACEQUIA COURT FROM THE MAIN ENTRANCE]
[Illustration: PLATE 352
THE GENERALIFE. THE ACEQUIA COURT FROM THE INTERIOR]
[Illustration: PLATE 353
EXTERIOR VIEW OF THE GENERALIFE]
[Illustration: PLATE 354
ENTRANCE TO THE GENERALIFE]
[Illustration: PLATE 355
THE GENERALIFE. COURT OF THE SULTANA’S CYPRESS]
[Illustration: PLATE 356
THE GENERALIFE. THE ACEQUIA COURT FROM THE INTERIOR]
[Illustration: PLATE 357
SOUTH FAÇADE OF THE PALACE OF CHARLES V.]
[Illustration: PLATE 358
BAS-RELIEF IN THE PALACE OF CHARLES V.]
[Illustration: PLATE 359
BAS-RELIEF IN THE PALACE OF CHARLES V.]
[Illustration: PLATE 360
GATE OF THE GRANADAS]
[Illustration: PLATE 361
PROMENADES AND HOTELS OF THE ALHAMBRA]
[Illustration: PLATE 362
THE GATE OF JUSTICE AND FOUNTAIN OF CHARLES V.]
[Illustration: PLATE 363
ENVIRONS OF THE ALHAMBRA. FOUNTAIN OF CHARLES V.]
[Illustration: PLATE 364
GATE OF JUSTICE. PRINCIPAL ENTRANCE TO THE ALHAMBRA]
[Illustration: PLATE 365
GATE OF JUSTICE]
[Illustration: PLATE 366
GATE OF THE VINE. EAST FAÇADE]
[Illustration: PLATE 367
ENVIRONS OF THE ALHAMBRA. TOWER OF THE PEAKS]
[Illustration: PLATE 368
TOWER OF THE PEAKS]
[Illustration: PLATE 369
GENERAL VIEW OF THE ALHAMBRA FROM THE SILLA DEL MORO]
[Illustration: PLATE 370
GENERAL VIEW OF THE ALHAMBRA FROM THE GIPSY QUARTERS]
[Illustration: PLATE 371
GENERAL VIEW OF THE ALHAMBRA FROM THE GENERALIFE]
[Illustration: PLATE 372
VIEW OF GRANADA AND THE ALHAMBRA FROM THE SACROMONTE]
[Illustration: PLATE 373
GENERAL VIEW OF THE ALHAMBRA FROM ST. NICHOLAS]
[Illustration: PLATE 374
THE WATCH TOWER, THE CATHEDRAL, AND GRANADA]
[Illustration: PLATE 375
VILLAS ON THE BANKS OF THE RIVER DARRO]
[Illustration: PLATE 376
A VIEW OF THE ALHAMBRA]
[Illustration: PLATE 377
VILLAS ON THE BANKS OF THE RIVER DARRO]
[Illustration: PLATE 378
THE WATCH TOWER AND CATHEDRAL]
[Illustration: PLATE 379
THE RED TOWER]
[Illustration: PLATE 380
THE HOMAGE TOWER AND GIPSY QUARTERS. EXTERIOR OF THEIR CAVES]
[Illustration: PLATE 381
CARRERA DEL RIO DARRO]
[Illustration: PLATE 382
THE GATE OF ELVIRA. THE OLD ENTRANCE TO THE FORTIFICATIONS]
[Illustration: PLATE 383
WASHING PLACE IN THE PUERTA DEL SOL]
[Illustration: PLATE 384
COURTYARD OF AN ARAB HOUSE]
[Illustration: PLATE 385
A MOORISH ARCHWAY]
[Illustration: PLATE 386
INTERIOR OF AN OLD HOUSE IN THE CALLE DEL HORNO DE ORO]
[Illustration: PLATE 387
INTERIOR OF AN OLD HOUSE IN THE ALBAICIN]
[Illustration: PLATE 388
THE CATHEDRAL AND GENERAL VIEW]
[Illustration: PLATE 389
GENERAL VIEW OF THE CATHEDRAL]
[Illustration: PLATE 390
GENERAL VIEW OF THE EXTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL]
[Illustration: PLATE 391
ENTRANCE TO THE ROYAL CHAPEL]
[Illustration: PLATE 392
EXTERIOR OF THE ROYAL CHAPEL OF THE CATHOLIC SOVEREIGNS]
[Illustration: PLATE 393
DETAIL OF THE EXTERIOR OF THE ROYAL CHAPEL]
[Illustration: PLATE 394
EXTERIOR OF THE ROYAL CHAPEL]
[Illustration: PLATE 395
EXTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL]
[Illustration: PLATE 396
EXTERIOR OF THE ROYAL CHAPEL]
[Illustration: PLATE 397
EXTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL. THE GATE OF PARDON]
[Illustration: PLATE 398
GOTHIC PINNACLE ON THE ROYAL CHAPEL]
[Illustration: PLATE 399
THE CATHEDRAL, VIEW FROM THE CHOIR]
[Illustration: PLATE 400
THE CATHEDRAL. GENERAL VIEW OF THE CHANCEL AND HIGH ALTAR]
[Illustration: PLATE 401
BAS RELIEF IN THE ALTAR-PIECE OF THE ROYAL CHAPEL]
[Illustration: PLATE 402
GENERAL VIEW OF THE CHANCEL IN THE CATHEDRAL]
[Illustration: PLATE 403
THE ROYAL CHAPEL. SEPULCHRE OF THE CATHOLIC SOVEREIGNS]
[Illustration: PLATE 404
ROYAL CHAPEL. DETAIL OF THE SEPULCHRE OF THE CATHOLIC SOVEREIGNS]
[Illustration: PLATE 405
THE ROYAL CHAPEL. SCULPTURE OF KING FERDINAND THE CATHOLIC]
[Illustration: PLATE 406
SEPULCHRE OF FERDINAND]
[Illustration: PLATE 407
SEPULCHRE OF ISABELLA THE CATHOLIC]
[Illustration: PLATE 408
PORTAL OF THE CHURCH OF SAN JUAN DE DIO]
[Illustration: PLATE 409
SEPULCHRE OF ALONSO CANO IN SAN GERONIMO]
[Illustration: PLATE 410
HEAD OF JOHN THE BAPTIST]
[Illustration: PLATE 411
HEAD OF JOHN THE BAPTIST]
[Illustration: PLATE 412
HEAD OF JOHN THE BAPTIST]
[Illustration: PLATE 413
EXTERIOR OF THE CARTUJA MONASTERY]
[Illustration: PLATE 414
SACRISTY IN THE CARTUJA, LEFT SIDE]
[Illustration: PLATE 415
SACRISTY IN THE CARTUJA, RIGHT SIDE]
[Illustration: PLATE 416
CARTUJA. SANTO SANTORUM]
[Illustration: PLATE 417
CARTUJA. DETAIL OF THE CUPBOARDS IN THE SACRISTY]
[Illustration: PLATE 418
ALTARS IN THE CARTUJA. PICTURES BY SANCHEZ Y COTÁN, A MONK OF THE
ORDER]
[Illustration: PLATE 419
CARTUJA. THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. BY MURILLO]
[Illustration: PLATE 420
CARTUJA. THE VIRGIN OF THE ROSARY. BY MURILLO]
[Illustration: PLATE 421
CARTUJA. ST. JOSEPH AND THE CHILD, SCULPTURE BY ALONSO CAÑO]
[Illustration: PLATE 422
CARTUJA. ST. MARY MAGDALENE, SCULPTURE BY ALONSO CAÑO]
[Illustration: PLATE 423
CARTUJA. HORSEMEN HANGING MARTYRS. BY SANCHEZ COTÁN]
[Illustration: PLATE 424
CARTUJA. THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD. BY SANCHEZ COTÁN]
[Illustration: PLATE 425
CARTUJA. THE HOLY FAMILY. BY SANCHEZ COTÁN]
[Illustration: PLATE 426
THE CRUCIFIXION OF OUR LORD. BY MORALES]
[Illustration: PLATE 427
THE CONCEPTION OF OUR LADY. BY MORALES]
[Illustration: PLATE 428
THE GIPSY QUARTERS. EXTERIOR OF THE CAVES]
[Illustration: PLATE 429
THE GIPSY QUARTERS. AN “AT HOME”]
[Illustration: PLATE 430
GIPSY DANCE IN THEIR QUARTERS]
[Illustration: PLATE 431
GIPSY TYPES AT THE DOORS OF THEIR CAVES]
[Illustration: PLATE 432
GIPSY DANCE IN THEIR QUARTERS]
[Illustration: PLATE 433
GIPSY DANCERS AND THEIR CAPTAIN, J. AMAYA]
[Illustration: PLATE 434
BRIDGE OF THE GENIL]
[Illustration: PLATE 435
GENERAL VIEW]
[Illustration: PLATE 436
GENERAL VIEW OF THE OLD ALBAICIN]
[Illustration: PLATE 437
GENERAL VIEW FROM THE WATCH TOWER]
[Illustration: PLATE 438
OLD ARAB PALACE. NOW THE PROPERTY OF A SPANISH NOBLEMAN]
[Illustration: PLATE 439
THE OLD TOWN HALL]
[Illustration: PLATE 440
THE ROYAL GATE AND STREET OF THE CATHOLIC SOVEREIGNS]
[Illustration: PLATE 441
MONUMENT TO COLUMBUS IN THE PASEO DEL SALÓN]
[Illustration: PLATE 442
THE RAW SILK MARKET]
[Illustration: PLATE 443
THE RAW SILK MARKET. ANCIENT ARAB SILK MARKET]
[Illustration: PLATE 444
EXTERIOR OF AN OLD HOUSE, CUESTA DEL PESCADO]
[Illustration: PLATE 445
THE COURT OF JUSTICE]
[Illustration: PLATE 446
CARRERA DEL DARRO]
[Illustration: PLATE 447
MARKET AND GIPSY FAIR IN THE TRIUNFO]
[Illustration: PLATE 448
CALLE DE SAN ANTON]
[Illustration: PLATE 449
ANTEQUERUELA QUARTER, SIERRA NEVADA, AND THE “LAST SIGH OF THE MOOR”]
[Illustration: PLATE 450
CARRERA DE GENIL AND VIEW OF THE SIERRA NEVADA]
[Illustration: PLATE 451
PLAZA DE MARIANA PINEDA, ARAB HOUSE, AND VIEW OF THE SIERRA NEVADA]
[Illustration: PLATE 452
GENERAL VIEW OF THE ALHAMBRA AND OF THE SIERRA NEVADA FROM ST. MICHAEL]
[Illustration: PLATE 453
HUÉTOR HIGH ROAD AND VIEW OF THE SIERRA NEVADA]
[Illustration: PLATE 454
VILLAS ON THE BORDERS OF THE RIVER DARRO]
[Illustration: PLATE 455
DEFILE OF THE DARRO]
[Illustration: PLATE 456
THE GREEN BRIDGE AND VIEW OF THE SIERRA NEVADA]
[Illustration: PLATE 457
VIEW OF THE SIERRA NEVADA]
[Illustration: PLATE 458
GENERAL VIEW OF THE SIERRA NEVADA AND THE RIVER GENIL]
[Illustration: PLATE 459
GRANADA
_Specially drawn for The Spanish Series_]
[Illustration: PLATE 460
ARMS OF GRANADA]
THE
SPANISH SERIES
Edited by ALBERT F. CALVERT
A new and important series of volumes, dealing with Spain in its various
aspects, its history, its cities and monuments. Each volume will be
complete in itself in a uniform binding, and the number and excellence
of the reproductions from pictures will justify the claim that these
books comprise the most copiously illustrated series that has yet been
issued, some volumes having over 300 pages of reproductions of pictures,
etc.
Crown 8vo Price 3/6 net
1 GOYA with 600 illustrations
2 TOLEDO ” 510 ”
3 MADRID ” 450 ”
4 SEVILLE ” 300 ”
5 MURILLO ” 165 ”
6 CORDOVA ” 160 ”
7 EL GRECO ” 140 ”
8 VELAZQUEZ ” 142 ”
9 THE PRADO ” 223 ”
10 THE ESCORIAL ” 278 ”
11 ROYAL PALACES OF SPAIN ” 200 ”
12 GRANADA AND ALHAMBRA ” 460 ”
13 SPANISH ARMS AND ARMOUR ” 386 ”
14 LEON, BURGOS AND SALAMANCA ” 462 ”
15 VALLADOLID, OVIEDO, SEGOVIA,
ZAMORA, AVILA AND ZARAGOZA ” 390 ”
* * * * *
_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_
MURILLO
A BIOGRAPHY AND APPRECIATION. ILLUSTRATED BY OVER 165 REPRODUCTIONS FROM
PHOTOGRAPHS OF HIS MOST CELEBRATED PICTURES
While the names of Murillo and Velazquez are inseparably linked in the
history of Art as Spain’s immortal contribution to the small band of
world-painters, the great Court-Painter to Philip IV. has ever received
the lion’s share of public attention. Many learned and critical works
have been written about Murillo, but whereas Velazquez has been
familiarised to the general reader by the aid of small, popular
biographies, the niche is still empty which it is hoped that this book
will fill.
In this volume the attempt has been made to show the painter’s art in
its relation to the religious feeling of the age in which he lived, and
his own feeling towards his art. Murillo was the product of his
religious era, and of his native province, Andalusia. To Europe in his
lifetime he signified little or nothing. He painted to the order of the
religious houses in his immediate vicinity; his works were immured in
local monasteries and cathedrals, and, passing immediately out of
circulation, were forgotten or never known.
* * * * *
_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_
SPANISH ARMS AND ARMOUR
A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE ROYAL ARMOURY AT MADRID.
ILLUSTRATED WITH 386 REPRODUCTIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS. DEDICATED BY
SPECIAL PERMISSION TO H.M. QUEEN MARIA CRISTINA OF SPAIN
Although several valuable and voluminous catalogues of the Spanish Royal
Armoury have, from time to time, been compiled, this “finest collection
of armour in the world” has been subjected so often to the disturbing
influences of fire, removal, and re-arrangement, that no hand catalogue
of the Museum is available, and this book has been designed to serve
both as a historical souvenir of the institution and a record of its
treasures.
The various exhibits with which the writer illustrates his narrative are
reproduced to the number of nearly 400 on art paper, and the selection
of weapons and armour has been made with a view not only to render the
series interesting to the general reader, but to present a useful text
book for the guidance of artists, sculptors, antiquaries, costumiers,
and all who are engaged in the reproduction or representation of
European armoury.
* * * * *
_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_
THE ESCORIAL
A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE SPANISH ROYAL PALACE,
MONASTERY AND MAUSOLEUM. ILLUSTRATED WITH PLANS AND 278 REPRODUCTIONS
FROM PICTURES AND PHOTOGRAPHS
The Royal Palace, Monastery, and Mausoleum of El Escorial, which rears
its gaunt, grey walls in one of the bleakest but most imposing districts
in the whole of Spain, was erected to commemorate a victory over the
French in 1557. It was occupied and pillaged by the French two and
a-half centuries later, and twice it has been greatly diminished by
fire; but it remains to-day, not only the incarnate expression of the
fanatic religious character and political genius of Philip II., but the
greatest mass of wrought granite which exists on earth, the leviathan of
architecture, the eighth wonder of the world.
In the text of this book the author has endeavoured to reconstitute the
glories and tragedies of the living past of the Escorial, and to
represent the wonders of the stupendous edifice by reproductions of over
two hundred and seventy of the finest photographs and pictures
obtainable. Both as a review and a pictorial record it is hoped that the
work will make a wide appeal among all who are interested in the
history, the architecture, and the art of Spain.
* * * * *
_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_
TOLEDO
A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE “CITY OF GENERATIONS,” WITH
510 ILLUSTRATIONS
The origin of Imperial Toledo, “the crown of Spain, the light of the
world, free from the time of the mighty Goths,” is lost in the
impenetrable mists of antiquity. Mighty, unchangeable, invincible, the
city has been described by Wörmann as “a gigantic open-air museum of the
architectural history of early Spain, arranged upon a lofty and
conspicuous table of rock.”
But while some writers have declared that Toledo is a theatre with the
actors gone and only the scenery left, the author does not share the
opinion. He believes that the power and virility upon which Spain built
up her greatness is reasserting itself. The machinery of the theatre of
Toledo is rusty, the pulleys are jammed from long disuse, but the
curtain is rising steadily if slowly, and already can be heard the
tuning-up of fiddles in its ancient orchestra.
In this belief the author of this volume has not only set forth the
story of Toledo’s former greatness, but has endeavoured to place before
his readers a panorama of the city as it appears to-day, and to show
cause for his faith in the greatness of the Toledo of the future.
* * * * *
_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_
SEVILLE
A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT, WITH 300 ILLUSTRATIONS
Seville, which has its place in mythology as the creation of Hercules,
and was more probably founded by the Phœnicians, which became
magnificent under the Roman rule, was made the capital of the Goths,
became the centre of Moslem power and splendour, and fell before the
military prowess of St. Ferdinand, is still the Queen of Andalusia, the
foster-mother of Velazquez and Murillo, the city of poets and pageantry
and love.
Seville is always gay, and responsive and fascinating to the receptive
visitor, and all sorts of people go there with all sorts of motives. The
artist repairs to the Andalusian city to fill his portfolio; the lover
of art makes the pilgrimage to study Murillo in all his glory. The
seasons of the Church attract thousands from reasons of devotion or
curiosity. And of all these myriad visitors, who go with their minds
full of preconceived notions, not one has yet confessed to being
disappointed in Seville.
The author has here attempted to convey in the illustrations an
impression of this laughing city where all is gaiety and mirth and
ever-blossoming roses, where the people pursue pleasure as the serious
business of life in an atmosphere of exhilarating enjoyment.
* * * * *
_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_
THE PRADO
A GUIDE AND HANDBOOK TO THE ROYAL PICTURE GALLERY OF MADRID. ILLUSTRATED
WITH 221 REPRODUCTIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS OF OLD MASTERS. DEDICATED BY
SPECIAL PERMISSION TO H.R.H. PRINCESS HENRY OF BATTENBERG
This volume is an attempt to supplement the accurate but formal notes
contained in the official catalogue of a picture gallery which is
considered the finest in the world. It has been said that the day one
enters the Prado for the first time is an important event like marriage,
the birth of a child, or the coming into an inheritance; an experience
of which one feels the effects to the day of one’s death.
The excellence of the Madrid gallery is the excellence of exclusion; it
is a collection of magnificent gems. Here one becomes conscious of a
fresh power in Murillo, and is amazed anew by the astonishing apparition
of Velazquez; here is, in truth, a rivalry of miracles of art.
The task of selecting pictures for reproduction from what is perhaps the
most splendid gallery of old masters in existence, was one of no little
difficulty, but it is believed that the collection is representative,
and that the letterpress will form a serviceable companion to the
visitor to The Prado.
* * * * *
_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_
GRANADA AND THE ALHAMBRA
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MOSLEM RULE IN SPAIN, TOGETHER WITH A PARTICULAR
ACCOUNT OF THE CONSTRUCTION, THE ARCHITECTURE, AND THE DECORATION OF THE
MOORISH PALACE, WITH 460 ILLUSTRATIONS. DEDICATED BY SPECIAL PERMISSION
TO H.I.M. THE EMPRESS EUGÉNIE
This volume is the third and abridged edition of a work which the author
was inspired to undertake by the surpassing loveliness of the Alhambra,
and by his disappointment in the discovery that no such thing as an even
moderately adequate illustrated souvenir of “this glorious sanctuary of
Spain” was obtainable. Keenly conscious of the want himself, he essayed
to supply it, and the result is a volume that has been acclaimed with
enthusiasm alike by critics, artists, architects, and archæologists.
In his preface to the first edition, Mr. Calvert wrote: “The Alhambra
may be likened to an exquisite opera which can only be appreciated to
the full when one is under the spell of its magic influence. But as the
witchery of an inspired score can be recalled by the sound of an air
whistled in the street, so--it is my hope--the pale ghost of the Moorish
fairy-land may live again in the memories of travellers through the
medium of this pictorial epitome.”
* * * * *
_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_
EL GRECO
A BIOGRAPHY AND APPRECIATION. ILLUSTRATED BY REPRODUCTIONS OF OVER 140
OF HIS PICTURES
In a Series such as this, which aims at presenting every aspect of
Spain’s eminence in art and in her artists, the work of Domenico
Theotocópuli must be allotted a volume to itself. “El Greco,” as he is
called, who reflects the impulse, and has been said to constitute the
supreme glory of the Venetian era, was a Greek by repute, a Venetian by
training, and a Toledan by adoption. His pictures in the Prado are still
catalogued among those of the Italian School, but foreigner as he was,
in his heart he was more Spanish than the Spaniards.
El Greco is typically, passionately, extravagantly Spanish, and with his
advent, Spanish painting laid aside every trace of Provincialism, and
stepped forth to compel the interest of the world. Neglected for many
centuries, and still often misjudged, his place in art is an assured
one. It is impossible to present him as a colourist in a work of this
nature, but the author has got together reproductions of no fewer than
140 of his pictures--a greater number than has ever before been
published of El Greco’s works.
* * * * *
_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_
VELAZQUEZ
A BIOGRAPHY AND APPRECIATION. ILLUSTRATED WITH 142 REPRODUCTIONS FROM
PHOTOGRAPHS OF HIS MOST CELEBRATED PICTURES
Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez--“our Velazquez,” as Palomino
proudly styles him--has been made the subject of innumerable books in
every European language, yet the Editor of this Spanish Series feels
that it would not be complete without the inclusion of yet another
contribution to the broad gallery of Velazquez literature.
The great Velazquez, the eagle in art--subtle, simple, incomparable--the
supreme painter, is still a guiding influence of the art of to-day. This
greatest of Spanish artists, a master not only in portrait painting, but
in character and animal studies, in landscapes and historical subjects,
impressed the grandeur of his superb personality upon all his work.
Spain, it has been said, the country whose art was largely borrowed,
produced Velazquez, and through him Spanish art became the light of a
new artistic life.
The author cannot boast that he has new data to offer, but he has put
forward his conclusions with modesty; he has reproduced a great deal
that is most representative of the artist’s work; and he has endeavoured
to keep always in view his object to present a concise, accurate, and
readable life of Velazquez.
* * * * *
_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_
ROYAL PALACES OF SPAIN
A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE SEVEN PRINCIPAL PALACES OF
THE SPANISH KINGS. PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED
Spain is beyond question the richest country in the world in the number
of its Royal Residences, and while few are without artistic importance,
all are rich in historical memories. Thus, from the Alcazar at Seville,
which is principally associated with Pedro the Cruel, to the Retiro,
built to divert the attention of Philip IV. from his country’s decay;
from the Escorial, in which the gloomy mind of Philip II. is perpetuated
in stone, to La Granja, which speaks of the anguish and humiliation of
Christina before Sergeant Garcia and his rude soldiery; from Aranjuéz to
Rio Frio, and from El Pardo, darkened by the agony of a good king, to
Miramar, to which a widowed Queen retired to mourn: all the history of
Spain, from the splendid days of Charles V. to the present time, is
crystallised in the Palaces that constitute the patrimony of the Crown.
The Royal Palaces of Spain are open to visitors at stated times, and it
is hoped that this volume, with its wealth of illustrations, will serve
the visitor both as a guide and a souvenir.
* * * * *
_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_
VALLADOLID, OVIEDO, SEGOVIA, ZAMORA, AVILA AND ZARAGOZA
A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT, WITH 390 ILLUSTRATIONS
The glory of Valladolid has departed, but the skeleton remains, and
attached to its ancient stones are the memories that Philip II. was born
here, that here Cervantes lived, and Christopher Columbus died. In this
one-time capital of Spain, in the Plaza Mayor, the fires of the Great
Inquisition were first lighted, and here Charles V. laid the foundation
of the Royal Armoury, which was afterwards transferred to Madrid.
More than seven hundred years have passed since Oviedo was the proud
capital of the Kingdoms of Las Asturias, Leon, and Castile. Segovia,
though no longer great, has still all the appurtenances of greatness,
and with her granite massiveness and austerity, she remains an
aristocrat even among the aristocracy of Spanish cities. Zamora, which
has a history dating from time almost without date, was the key of Leon
and the centre of the endless wars between the Moors and the Christians,
which raged round it from the eighth to the eleventh centuries.
In this volume the author has striven to re-create the ancient greatness
of these six cities, and has preserved their memories in a wealth of
excellent and interesting illustrations.
* * * * *
_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_
LEON, BURGOS AND SALAMANCA
A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT, WITH 462 ILLUSTRATIONS
In Leon, once the capital of the second kingdom in Spain; in Burgos,
which boasts one of the most magnificent cathedrals in Spain, and the
custodianship of the bones of the Cid; and in Salamanca, with its
university, which is one of the oldest in Europe, the author has
selected three of the most interesting relics of ancient grandeur in
this country of departed greatness.
Leon to-day is nothing but a large agricultural village, torpid, silent,
dilapidated; Burgos, which still retains traces of the Gotho-Castilian
character, is a gloomy and depleting capital; and Salamanca is a city of
magnificent buildings, a broken hulk, spent by the storms that from time
to time have devastated her.
Yet apart from the historical interest possessed by these cities, they
still make an irresistible appeal to the artist and the antiquary. They
are content with their stories of old-time greatness and their
cathedrals, and these ancient architectural splendours, undisturbed by
the touch of a modernising and renovating spirit, continue to attract
the visitor.
* * * * *
_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_
MADRID
A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE SPANISH CAPITAL, WITH 450
ILLUSTRATIONS
Madrid is at once one of the most interesting and most maligned cities
in Europe. It stands at an elevation of 2,500 feet above the sea level,
in the centre of an arid, treeless, waterless, and wind-blown plain; but
whatever may be thought of the wisdom of selecting a capital in such a
situation, one cannot but admire the uniqueness of its position, and the
magnificence of its buildings, and one is forced to admit that, having
fairly entered the path of progress, Madrid bids fair to become one of
the handsomest and most prosperous of European cities.
The splendid promenades, the handsome buildings, and the spacious
theatres combine to make Madrid one of the first cities of the world,
and the author has endeavoured with the aid of the camera, to place
every feature and aspect of the Spanish metropolis before the reader.
Some of the illustrations reproduced here have been made familiar to the
English public by reason of the interesting and stirring events
connected with the Spanish Royal Marriage, but the greater number were
either taken by the author, or are the work of photographers specially
employed to obtain new views for the purpose of this volume.
* * * * *
_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_
GOYA
A BIOGRAPHY AND APPRECIATION. ILLUSTRATED BY REPRODUCTIONS OF 600 OF HIS
PICTURES
The last of the old masters and the first of the moderns, as he has been
called, Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes is not so familiarised to
English readers as his genius deserves. He was born at a time when the
tradition of Velazquez was fading, and the condition of Spanish painting
was debased almost beyond hope of salvation; he broke through the
academic tradition of imitation; “he, next to Velazquez, is to be
accounted as the man whom the Impressionists of our time have to thank
for their most definite stimulus, their most immediate inspiration.”
The genius of Goya was a robust, imperious, and fulminating genius; his
iron temperament was passionate, dramatic, and revolutionary; he painted
a picture as he would have fought a battle. He was an athletic, warlike,
and indefatigable painter; a naturalist like Velazquez; fantastic like
Hogarth; eccentric like Rembrandt; the last flame-coloured flash of
Spanish genius.
It is impossible to reproduce his colouring; but in the reproductions of
his works the author has endeavoured to convey to the reader some idea
of Goya’s boldness of style, his mastery of frightful shadows and
mysterious lights, and his genius for expressing all terrible emotions.
* * * * *
_UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_
CORDOVA
A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE ANCIENT CITY WHICH THE
CARTHAGINIANS STYLED THE “GEM OF THE SOUTH,” WITH 160 ILLUSTRATIONS
Gay-looking, vivacious in its beauty, silent, ill-provided, depopulated,
Cordova was once the pearl of the West, the city of cities, Cordova of
the thirty suburbs and three thousand mosques; to-day she is no more
than an overgrown village, but she still remains the most Oriental town
in Spain.
Cordova, once the centre of European civilisation, under the Moors the
Athens of the West, the successful rival of Baghdad and Damascus, the
seat of learning and the repository of the arts, has shrunk to the
proportions of a third-rate provincial town; but the artist, the
antiquary and the lover of the beautiful, will still find in its streets
and squares and patios a mysterious spell that cannot be resisted.
BY ALBERT F. CALVERT
LIFE OF CERVANTES
A NEW LIFE OF THE GREAT SPANISH AUTHOR TO COMMEMORATE THE TERCENTENARY
OF THE PUBLICATION OF “DON QUIXOTE,” WITH NUMEROUS PORTRAITS AND
REPRODUCTIONS FROM EARLY EDITIONS OF “DON QUIXOTE”
Size Crown 8vo. 150 pp. Price 3/6 net
PRESS NOTICES
“A popular and accessible account of the career of Cervantes.”--_Daily
Chronicle._
“A very readable and pleasant account of one of the great writers of all
time.”--_Morning Leader._
“MR. CALVERT is entitled to the gratitude of book-lovers for his
industrious devotion at one of our greatest literary
shrines.”--_Birmingham Post._
“It is made trebly interesting by the very complete set of Cervantes’
portraits it contains, and by the inclusion of a valuable
bibliography.”--_Black and White._
“We recommend the book to all those to whom Cervantes is more than a
mere name.”--_Westminster Gazette._
“A most interesting résumé of all facts up to the present time
known.”--_El Nervion de Bilbao, Spain._
“The most notable work dedicated to the immortal author of Don Quixote
that has been published in England.”--_El Graduador, Spain._
“Although the book is written in English no Spaniard could have written
it with more conscientiousness and enthusiasm.”--_El Defensor de
Granada, Spain._
BY ALBERT F. CALVERT
THE ALHAMBRA
OF GRANADA, BEING A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MOSLEM RULE IN SPAIN FROM THE
REIGN OF MOHAMMED THE FIRST TO THE FINAL EXPULSION OF THE MOORS,
TOGETHER WITH A PARTICULAR ACCOUNT OF THE CONSTRUCTION, THE ARCHITECTURE
AND THE DECORATION OF THE MOORISH PALACE, WITH 80 COLOURED PLATES AND
NEARLY 300 BLACK AND WHITE ILLUSTRATIONS (NEW EDITION). DEDICATED BY
PERMISSION TO H.M. KING ALFONSO XIII.
Size 10 x 7-1/2. Price £2 2s. net
PRESS NOTICES
“It is hardly too much to say that this is one of the most magnificent
books ever issued from the English Press.”--_Building World._
“One is really puzzled where to begin and when to stop in praising the
illustrations.”--_Bookseller._
“The most complete record of this wonder of architecture which has ever
been contemplated, much less attempted.”--_British Architect._
“A treasure to the student of decorative art.”--_Morning Advertiser._
“Mr. CALVERT has given us a Book Beautiful.”--_Western Daily Press._
“It is the last word on the subject, no praise is too
high.”--_Nottingham Express._
“May be counted among the more important art books which have been
published during recent years.”--_The Globe._
“Has a pride of place that is all its own among the books of the
month.”--_Review of Reviews._
“Has in many respects surpassed any books on the Alhambra which up to
the present have appeared in our own country or abroad.”--_El Graduador,
Spain._
“It is one of the most beautiful books of modern times.”--_Ely Gazette._
“One of the most artistic productions of the year.”--_Publishers’
Circular._
“The most beautiful book on the Alhambra issued in England.”--_Sphere._
“The standard work on a splendid subject.”--_Daily Telegraph._
“A remarkable masterpiece of book production.”--_Eastern Daily Press._
“A perfect treasure of beauty and delight.”--_Keighley News._
“A magnificent work.”--_Melbourne Age, Australia._
“Immense collection of fine plates.”--_The Times._
“A standard work, the compilation of which would credit a life’s
labour.”--_Hull Daily Mail._
BY ALBERT F. CALVERT
MOORISH REMAINS IN SPAIN
BEING A BRIEF RECORD OF THE ARABIAN CONQUEST AND OCCUPATION OF THE
PENINSULA, WITH A PARTICULAR ACCOUNT OF THE MOHAMMEDAN ARCHITECTURE AND
DECORATION IN THE CITIES OF CORDOVA, SEVILLE AND TOLEDO, WITH MANY
COLOURED PLATES, AND OVER 400 BLACK AND WHITE ILLUSTRATIONS, DIAGRAMS,
ETC., DEDICATED BY PERMISSION TO H.M. KING ALFONSO XIII.
Crown 4to. (7-1/2 x 10 ins.) Price £2 2s. net
PRESS NOTICES
“The making of this book must surely have been a veritable labour of
love; and love’s labour has certainly not been lost.”--_Pall Mall
Gazette._
“The best age of Moorish architecture in Spain is shown with remarkable
vividness and vitality.”--_The Scotsman._
“A most gorgeous book.... We cheerfully admit Mr. CALVERT into the ranks
of those whom posterity will applaud for delightful yet unprofitable
work.”--_Outlook._
“A large and sumptuous volume.”--_Tribune._
“The illustrations are simply marvels of reproduction.”--_Dundee
Advertiser._
“One of the books to which a simple literary review cannot pretend to do
justice.”--_Spectator._
“A special feature of a work of peculiar interest and value are the
illustrations.”--_Newcastle Chronicle._
“The illustrations are given with a minuteness and faithfulness of
detail, and colour, which will be particularly appreciated and
acknowledged by those who are most acquainted with the subject
themselves.”--_Liverpool Post._
“It is impossible to praise too highly the care with which the
illustrations have been prepared.”--_Birmingham Daily Post._
“It is illustrated with so lavish a richness of colour that to turn its
pages gives one at first almost the same impression of splendour as one
receives in wandering from hall to hall of the Alcazar of Seville; and
this is probably the highest compliment we could pay to the book or its
author.”--_Academy._
“It is certainly one of the most interesting books of the
year.”--_Crown._
“The occasional delicacy of design and harmony of colour can scarcely be
surpassed ... a valuable and profusely illustrated volume.”--_Guardian._
“An excellent piece of work.”--_The Times._
“Mr. CALVERT has performed a useful work.”--_Daily Telegraph._
“A truly sumptuous volume.”--_The Speaker._
“Mr. CALVERT has given a very complete account of the evolution of
Moresco art.”--_The Connoisseur._
FOOTNOTES:
[A] He is reckoned as Mohammed VI. by the writers who deny the title of
Sultan to the usurper of Mohammed V.’s throne.
[B] Known as Mohammed X.
[C] I adopt Mr. U. R. Burke’s statement of the relationship between
Abu-l-Hassan, Zoraya, and Boabdil. (Burke, “History of Spain,” II. p.
98.)
[D] Here was lodged the cavalry of the Moorish Sultans.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Granada and the Alhambra" ***
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