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ANNALS
OF THE
ARTISTS OF SPAIN
VOLUME THE FIRST
PUBLISHER’S NOTE.
Six hundred and forty copies of this New Edition printed
for England , , and four hundred for America.
Each copy numbered and type distributed.
No.aZ.3d.
!!£ GOTY CENTER
LIBRARY
ANNALS
OF THE
ARTISTS OF SPAIN
BY
SIR WILLIAM STIRLING-MAXWELL
BARONET
3 iraeto GEtrinon
INCORPORATING THE AUTHOR’S OWN NOTES
ADDITIONS AND EMENDATIONS
portrait anC> Swcntg=four Steel an£> /Iftc330tint En^ravln^s
ALSO NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD
IN FOUR VOLUMES
VOLUME THE FIRST
LONDON
J O LI N C, N T M M O
14, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND
MDCCCXCI
Theirs was the skill, rich colour and clear light
To weave in graceful forms by fancy dream’d,
So well that many a shape and figure bright,
Though flat, in sooth, reliev’d and rounded seem’d.
And hands, deluded, vainly strove to clasp
Those airy nothings mocking still their grasp.
DEDICATION OF THE FIRST EDITION.
Z o tbc IRcabcr.
Many Alterations and Additions made by my father,
and referred to in the Editor’s Preface, have been carefully
incorporated in this New Edition of his Works; and the
Illustrations now added are chosen from many which he
had collected for that purpose.
JOHN STIRLING-MAXWELL.
POLLOK, Sept. 1890.
VOLUME THE FIRST.
PAGE
General Title-page — Design for an Altar. From a drawing by
Alonso Cano , drawn on stone ........ i
Sir William Stirling-Maxwell, Baronet. From a portrait by
George Richmond , R.A., at Keir; engraved on copper by R. B.
Parkes Frontispiece
Vase of Lilies. H. Golzius xiv
Iron Cross 071 a Church at Mira7ido del Ebro .... xxxiv
Seal of Don John of Austria. From a paper addressed to “ nos
bons amis les bourgeois peres et echavins de Beaumont 23 rd April
1578, in the Collection of T. Weigel, Leipzig .... xlviii
Iron Cross at Toledo 80
Iron Cross on the Belfry of the Convent at Almeria , i7i the Cork
Wood near Gibraltar 114
A Woman’s Hand, k7iown as La Mano de la teta ; supposed to be a
frag7ne7it of the Statue of the Virgm executed by Torrigia7io . 127
Alonso Berruguete. Fro77i a panel in the Silleria del Coro,
for77ierly in San Benito el Real, at Valladolid, and now ( 1 849 ) in
the Museo there. Fro7n the autho7 : 's ow7i sketch, which he le7it to
Mr. Tho77ias Macquoid to 77iake a drawing for the head in the
Renaissa7ice Court in the Crystal Palace, Sydenha77i , 1854 . . 160
Signature of Juan de Yciar 172
Iron Cross on a Stone Pillar at Illescas . . . . . 199
vol. 1. b
X
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Don Gaspar de Guzman, Count of Olivares. Engraved in
mezzotint on copper by R. B. Parkes 249
Iron Cross and Vane on one of the towers of the Lonja at Seville . 267
Domenico Theotocopuli, known as El Greco. From a picture by
himself now at Keir; engraved on steel by H. Adlard . . .328
Daughter of Theotocopuli, painted by her father ; now at Keir.
Engraved in mezzotint on copper by R. B. Parkes .... 338
Iron Cross 7 iear the Hospital of St.John Baptist at Toledo . . 360
Ornamental Scutcheon, designed by Jean de Laune, and engraved by Etienne
de Laune, 1578-9 — the Arms of Stirling- Maxicell inserted
instead of the Artist's Name.
PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION.
HE importance of this work,
still the most complete general
survey of Spanish art, seemed
to warrant its republication ;
and this appeared fully justi-
fied as well by the scarcity
and consequent high price
of the original edition as by
the prominence to which the
subject has risen in public estimation.
During the last thirty years of his life, the accom-
plished author made numerous corrections and altera-
tions in both the text and the notes, besides inserting
copious additions ; and all these are now carefully
incorporated.
With many additions which the author subsequently
made to it, the revised, and, in many passages, rewritten,
(I
PREFACE.
xii
portion relating to Spain’s greatest painter, Velazquez,
which he published separately in 1856, is here placed in
its proper position ; effect being also given to a number
of incidental modifications affecting other parts of the
work.
As the introductory chapter of that publication in-
volved, in both the matter and the form of the introduc-
tory chapter of the “ Annals,” so many changes to which
effect could not possibly be given by mere alteration, it
is now printed in the Appendix, the original text being
reprinted with merely verbal corrections. The compari-
son will doubtless be interesting to the student, as
showing the changes, on some points, that occurred in
the author’s views between the dates of the two publi-
cations.
Since the work was published, many of the pictures
referred to have changed hands or location ; but by the
aid of the most recent catalogues of the important public
galleries, and otherwise, the editor has been able to give
the present references to nearly all, as well as to amplify
many on other points.
In referring to Ford’s “ Handbook for Spain,” the
author chiefly used the first edition, of 1845, but as that
has been long out of print, and is practically inaccessible,
references are now also given to the third edition, of
^55, which was “entirely revised, with great additions,”
and is recognised as the best edition of that charming
guide-book.
PREFACE.
xiii
All the editor’s additions in the notes are placed
within brackets.
The editor desires to acknowledge the great value of
the comprehensive and accurate catalogue of the works
of Velazquez and Murillo, by Mr. Charles B. Curtis, as
well as of the elaborate and appreciative “ Diego Velaz-
quez and his Times,” of Professor Carl Justi of Bonn,
translated by Professor Keane, works which are both
invaluable to the student of Spanish art.
Sir John Stirling-Maxwell, Baronet, of Pollok, and
Archibald Stirling, Esquire, of Keir, placed in the editor’s
hands not only the author’s corrected and annotated
copies of the works, but also his extensive collection of
illustrations of Spanish art, from which the additional
plates now given are carefully chosen. They also gave
the use of all the original steel and wood engravings, as
well as of the ornamental initial letters, &c., selected
by the author, and permitted the most free reference to
be made to everything in the rich and unique store
of literature and art at Keir that could be of service
in the preparation of this edition of their distinguished
father’s work.
For this, and for their uniform courtesy and kindness,
as well as for the personal trouble and interest which
they have taken, both publisher and editor beg to thank
them.
ROBERT GUY.
September, 1890.
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
HERE are but two valid excuses for
the publication of a book. One is,
that the subject is new, or at least, un-
exhausted ; the other, that the writer
is so graced and gifted, that the gentle
reader may be supposed willing to
tread even a beaten path for the sake
of the pleasure of his company. Preferring no claim to
the latter plea, I hope to be able to show that these
“ Annals of the Artists of Spain ” are entitled to the benefit
of the former. They were first conceived in 1S43, i n
the course of a journey through the delightful land of
V elazquez and Murillo ; and they were in great part
composed before the more cultivated languages on this
side the Pyrenees possessed any separate work on Spanish
art better than the few books of which I shall now give
a brief notice.
The earliest English work on the subject, with which
XVI
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
1 am acquainted, is “ The Lives of Spanish Painters,
Sculptors, and Architects, translated from Velasco,”
8vo, London, 1739, a meagre abridgment of the bio-
graphical part of the Spanish work of Palomino, and at
once scarce and worthless.
The next is “Anecdotes of Eminent Painters in Spain,
during the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, with
Cursory Remarks on the Present State of the Arts in
that Kingdom ; ” by Richard Cumberland, 2 vols. 1 2mo,
London, 1782; reprinted, in 1787, without revision or
correction, but with a supplementary volume, likewise
in i2ino, entitled “Catalogue of Paintings in the King
of Spain’s Palace at Madrid.”
The author, well known as a second-rate novelist,
dramatist, and poet, was sent to Spain in 1780, by Lord
North, on a secret mission, and resided about a year
at Madrid, where his agreeable qualities and pretty
daughters rendered him very popular in society. But
failing to effect the diplomatic purposes for which he was
sent, the Government at home, according to his account,
refused to repay him the expenses of his journey, and
reduced him to the brink of ruin. His anecdotes were,
therefore, drawn up under the pressure of necessity, and
rather with a view to the publisher’s cash than the
author’s reputation. Palomino was the author from
whom he drew most of his flimsy materials ; for, although
he acknowledges his obligations to the scarce treatise of
Pacheco, he culls nothing from it which he did not find in
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
xvii
the pages of Palomino. His work has been justly styled
by Bourgoing, “ une compilation indigeste, peu digne
d’etre la sceur des Mesdemoiselles Cumberland.” 1 Cor-
recting none of Palomino’s numerous errors, he blunders
largely and intrepidly on his own account. Por instance,
he tells us first (vol. ii. p. 32), that Velazquez went to
Italy with the ambassador, who was going to bring back
the Archduchess Mariana, the second Queen of Philip
IV., and soon afterwards (p. 36), that her predecessor,
Queen Isabella, had died during Velazquez’s absence,
leaving us to infer that the King, a pedant in etiquette,
had negotiated, and perhaps solemnised his second
marriage during the life of his first wife. Describing
the familiarity and friendship in which Philip II. lived
with his painter Sanchez Coello, he says (vol. i. p. 90),
that “in those moments when his temper relaxed into
complacency,” the King “would mount the ladder (the
only one he ever climbed without ambition or disgrace)
that privately communicated with the painting-room ” of
the artist. The words of Palomino, whom he followed,
are these, “ The King was accustomed often to come to
the apartment of Sanchez, por un transito secreto, con
ropa delevantar , 2 by a secret passage, in his dressing-
gown , ,” an article of apparel which Cumberland, catch-
ing at the sound, and impatient of wasting a moment
1 Nouveau Voyage en Espagne, 3 tom. Svo, Paris, 1789, tom. iii. p. 25S.
2 Palomino, fol. Madrid, 1724, tom. iii. p. 260.
xviii PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
in reaching his dictionary, pleasantly converted into a
ladder. Besides its inaccuracy, his work also labours
under another grave disadvantage, that of having been
composed without personal acquaintance, on the author’s
part, with Valencia and Andalusia, and their rich trea-
suries of local art. The Catalogue of the King of
Spain’s galleries at Madrid, made at Cumberland’s
request by the superintendent of the pictures in the
royal palace, though meagre and unsatisfactory, is valu-
able as a record of the condition of one of the finest
collections in Europe before it had been thinned by the
pillaging Bonaparte and imbecile Bourbon.
The next work on Spanish art, now somewhat rare,
is called “The Life of Bartolome E. Murillo,” compiled
from the writings of various authors ; translated by
Edward Davis, Esq., late Captain in the First Regiment
of Life Guards, 8vo, London, 1819, pp. ciii. 183. It
is a collection of extracts relating to Murillo from the
writings of Cumberland, Bourgoing, D’Argenvilla, Palo-
mino, Ponz, Jovellanos, and Cean Bermudez, some of
them translated, and some in the original French or
Spanish, and strung together with a few pages and
notes by the gallant captain himself. The sole merit
of the book consists in the version of Cean Bermudez’s
Letter on the life and works of Murillo, which, though
sufficiently ill done, is not quite so unintelligible as the
original compositions of the translator.
Fourteen years after the utterances of the ex-life-
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
xix
guardsman, appeared “A Dictionary of Spanish Painters,”
comprehending simply that part of their biography im-
mediately connected with the arts ; from the fourteenth
century to the eighteenth ; by A. O’Neil, two parts, 1833-4,
pp. xi. 280, 308, with four illustrations. This work
seems to be an abridgment of Cean Bermudez’s excellent
dictionary, although the lady author has not seen fit to
entrust the reader with the name of any one of her
sources of information. I am sorry to be able to praise
nothing in the book but the beauty of the paper and
printing.
Even this slender praise must be withheld from the
next work on the subject, “The History of the Spanish
School of Painting,” to which is appended an historical
sketch of the rise and progress of the art of miniature
illumination, by the author of “Travels through Sicily and
the Lipari Islands,” the “ History of the Azores,” and the
“ History of the Various Styles of Architecture,” sm. Svo,
London, 1843, pp. ii. 199. From so voluminous a writer
some slight knowledge of his business might have been
expected. Yet he cites none of his authorities, and from
the gross blunders of his own production, I suspect Mrs.
O’Neil’s book to have been the only one which he con-
sulted. No Frenchman could have mis-spelt Spanish
names with more persevering ingenuity than this his-
torian, who likewise rivals Cumberland in inaccuracy,
and Davies in dulness and bad English.
These were the only books on Spanish art in our
XX
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
language when I conceived the design of the present
work. Up to that time even the journals of our travellers,
our rich periodical literature, and the labours of our
encyclopaedists afforded, so far as my researches have
extended, little worthy of note on the subject, except the
brief but accurate accounts of some of the Spanish artists
in the second volume of “ Sketches in Spain during
the Years 1S29-1832;” by Captain S. S. Cook (now
Widdrington), R.N., &c. ; 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1834;
an excellent article on the Spanish painters, con-
tributed to the Foreign Quarterly Review, No. xxvi.,
May 1834, by Sir Edmund Head ; and an admirable
life of Velazquez, for which the Penny Cyclopcedia is
indebted to the pen of Mr. Ford. Two-thirds of the
following chapters were written, and the greater part of
the materials for the remainder was collected before I
was informed that another and a better labourer was
turning up the almost virgin soil of my literary field.
Had I sooner become aware that Sir Edmund Head had
undertaken the task, I would gladly have resigned to
his abler hands the care of the tillage, and to his well-
established reputation, the undivided honours of a new
harvest. The “ Handbook of the History of the Spanish
and French Schools of Painting,” sm. 8vo, London, 1848,
pp. xiv. 373, is not only the most complete book on the
subject, but is worthy both of the author’s cultivated
artistic taste and literary skill. Sir Edmund’s readers
will doubtless regret what I, as a later writer on the same
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
xxi
subject, must regard as very fortunate for myself, that the
plan of his work demanded brevity and condensation, and
compelled the artist, who was best qualified to execute
a finished picture, to restrict himself to the production
of a sketch. As one of his readers, I may take the
liberty of suggesting that his above-mentioned article in
the Foreign Quarterly Review might be interwoven with
advantage into the next edition of his “ Handbook.”
From a list of English works treating of Spanish art,
it would be absurd to omit “ The Handbook for Travellers
in Spain and Readers at Home,” by Richard Ford, post
8vo, London 1845, pp. x. 1064; second edition, 1847,
pp. lxii. 645. It would be equally absurd to attempt
to say anything new in praise of a book which, put
forth with the humblest of all titles and in the least
inviting of forms, immediately became one of the most
popular books in our language. A cyclopaedia of learn-
ing on all matters pertaining to the Peninsula, the
“ Handbook ” deserves my gratitude, not only as the most
delightful of travelling companions, but as the principal
pioneer of my researches in the artistic history of Spain.
Although the second edition contains much new and
valuable matter, I have chiefly referred to the first, by
which indeed Mr. Ford desires to be judged. Yielding
to the mistaken wish of his publisher that the volume
should be rendered cheaper and more portable, “ many
are the wild Iberian fiow r ers,” says the author in his
second edition (p. lvi.), “ which have been rooted out, and
xxii PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
more are the old stones of antiquity which have been
removed.” These “ stones ” and “ flowers ” all readers
of the original work will regret, and they will be little
disposed to approve the self-sacrifice of the writer at the
Albemarle Street shrine. The charming “ Gatherings in
Spain,” fcap. Svo, 1846, have certainly preserved some
of the loppings of the “ Handbook.” But let us hope that
Mr. Ford will some day give us a complete edition of
his unrivalled writings on Spain, worthy of himself and
his subject, and embellished with some of his original
drawings, which prove his pencil to possess no less grace
and vigour than his pen. To these Annals he has kindly
contributed a sketch of the Capuchin convent at Seville,
(p. 1038), to which, I am sorry to say, the woodcutter has
done great injustice. I am also indebted to him for the
use of his rich and rare Spanish prints, drawings, and
library, and for much general advice and assistance,
without which my work would have been disfigured
with far more than its present numerous imperfections.
French literature has done even less for the history of
Spanish art than our own. “ The Irish are a very Catholic
people, and by no means malignant in their manners,”
says the Canon Fernandez Navarrete, 1 “yet, of the whole
multitude of them who have come over to Spain, not
one has ever applied himself to the arts, nor to the toils
1 Conservation de Monarquias y discursos politicos, por el Licenciado Pedro
Fernandez Navarrete, Canonigo de la Iglesia de Santiago, &c., fol., Madrid,
1626, p. 57.
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION. xxiii
of husbandry, nor to any occupation but begging.” As
those Milesian islanders of 1626 had the gift of eschew-
ing useful labour, so Frenchmen, with a few illustrious
exceptions, have a peculiar power of not appreciating
or understanding foreign genius. In evidence of this
their accounts of Spanish art may be cited.
The earliest with which I am acquainted is the
Histoire abregee des plus fameux Peintres , Sculpteurs,
et Architectes Espagnols, traduit de V Espagnol de
Palomino Velasco ; sm. 8vo, Paris, 1 749, pp. iv. 39, in
which the blunders of the old Spaniard have been mul-
tiplied by his translator.
Then comes the Dictionnaire des Peintres Espagnols,
par F. Quilliet, Svo, Paris, 1816, pp. xxxvii. 407. M.
Quilliet resided for many years in Spain, and was keeper
of the Royal Gallery of the Escorial during the reign of
the intrusive King Joseph ; but writing in Paris under
the Restoration, he dedicates his Dictionary, in dulcet
tones of legitimist loyalty, to the Duke of Berri. E[az
buena farina y no toques bocina, “ Make good flour with-
out blowing a trumpet,” says a Castilian proverb much
disregarded by M. Quilliet, who heralds his meagre per-
formance with a preface full of flourish and pretension.
Confessing that he has taken Cean Bermudez for his
guide, he assures us that he himself had consulted all
the authorities of that writer. “ Je revis tout ce qu’
avait vu Cean,” he says, and he gives a list of the Spanish
books and MSS. cited by the indefatigable Spaniard.
XXIV
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
But his work affords no evidence of such researches, and
I fear that he must endure the imputation of a literary
dishonesty, more contemptible than uncommon, of parad-
ing as authorities books of which he has never read a
line, or perhaps even seen the backs on a library shelf.
If he really consulted the curious MSS. of Diaz del Valle,
Jusepe Martinez, and the Alfaros, why does he not say
where he found them, a fact which ought always to be
stated when MSS. are quoted, and in this case of the
greater consequence, because the libraries, indicated by
Cean Bermudez as possessing these documents, may
well be supposed to have been dispersed during the
eventful space of time from 1S00 to 1 8 1 6. But whether
M. Quilliet did or did not consult the MSS. and rare
books with which he claims such intimate acquaintance,
it is certain that he has not preserved a single fact of
importance which has not already been given to the
world by Cean Bermudez, while he has omitted many
which that able writer had collected to his hand. The
scraps of new information, few and far between, which
may be detected by a careful reader in his pages, are
rendered of no value at all, because we are not in a con-
dition to judge of their authenticity. For example, at
the end of the story of Antonio Pereda and the sham
dueha painted by him on a screen to satisfy the fashion-
able requirements of his lady wife, we are told that that
picture was sold for a high price at the artist’s death.
M. Quilliet did not find this information in Palomino,
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
XXV
nor in Cean Bermudez, for neither of them mention the
sale ; and it is rather too much to expect us to take the
unsupported evidence of a French book of i S 1 6 with
regard to the prices of a Madrid auction in 1669 or
1670. But for his pretension to original research, I should
have briefly dismissed M. Quilliet as a dull and care-
less translator of Cean Bermudez, a character in which
he appeared for the second time, when he induced the
Roman Academy of St. Luke to print a work of his
entitled Les Arts Italiens en Espagne, ou histoire des
artistes Italiens qui contribuerent a embellir les Castilles ;
fol., Rome, 1824, and published in the same form and
at the same date in Italian.
The next French work on the subject is Vie complete
des Peintres Espagnols, et Histoire de la Peinture
Espagnole, par Et. Huard (de File Bourbon), Premiere
Partie; 8vo, Paris, 1839, pp. 212; Seconde et derniere
Partie, 1841, pp. 272; with three paltry illustrations,
one of which is the portrait, not of Velazquez or Murillo,
but of M. Huard. This production was begun, it appears,
as a sort of handbook for the Spanish gallery of the
Louvre, and panegyric on Baron Taylor, who amassed that
colossal collection of bad and spurious pictures. What-
ever its pages contain of truth has obviously been taken
from M. Quilliet, whose dictionary, and the Louvre cata-
logues, were probably the only books that M. Huard took
the trouble to look into. Borrowing his lives of Spanish
painters from M. Quilliet, as Goldsmith’s scribbler trans-
VOTj. I. C
xxvt
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
lated Homer out of Pope, M. Huard has likewise traduced
the rival whom he robbed. lie condemns the Dictionary
as a cold, colourless, and incomplete work, and boasts of
his own researches in libraries and cabinets of engravings
(p. ii.), prudently, however, omitting to name any collec-
tion to which he was indebted, or any author whom he
had consulted, except M. Quilliet. But more than this,
he has signalised himself by an offence of which I am
happy to say our worst English writers on the subject are
blameless. To such of his lives as appeared most want-
ing, in M. Quilliet’s pages, in warmth and colour, he
has added those agreeable qualities by freely supplying
incidents from his own imagination. In the early part
of the life of Ribera, for instance, he entertains us by
narrating how, being turned out of the school of Ribalta
for want of money to pay the customary fee, the young
artist wandered about Valencia, sketching in the streets,
and how on the evening of the second day he lay down
to die in the ruins of a chapel. “ II se mourait done
d’inanition,” proceeds this intrepid novelist (p. 6), “ quand
passa pres de lui une jeune femme qui entendit les
plaintes que la faim arrachait au pauvre artiste ; elle lui
donna, d'une main tremblante, non cette aumbne du riche
mais ce partage du malheureux ; Ribera eut la force de se
lever, il n’etait plus seul sur la terre, il avait trouve une
amie et avec elle le bonheur.” In short, “ cette ange que
Dieu avoit envoyee pour le consoler,” became his mis-
tress, and lived with him on the funds which he obtained
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION. xxvii
by sign-painting, until she “ devait retourner dans sa
demeure celeste,” and he found means of going to Italy.
Not content with thus giving the Valencian a mistress,
M. Iluard also furnishes him with a grandfather, one
Antoine Eibera (p. n), of whose existence Palomino,
Dominici, and Cean Bermudez were profoundly ignorant.
If M. Huard has been so fortunate as to discover in some
dusty MS. or forgotten book, anecdotes or names which
have escaped those writers, why does he not let the world
know where the discovery was made ; if he is fond of
inditing romance, why should he circumscribe his circle
of readers, and engender doubts in their minds as to his
own sanity, by calling his fictions complete lives of the
Spanish painters ? His inventions, for such I conclude
everything in his book that I have not seen elsewhere
to be, are marked by a singular ignorance of the most
commonplace things of Spain. Thus, he informs us that
Francisco de Solis painted for a certain convent at Madrid
a figure of the Virgin, young and beautiful, standing on
a dragon with red eyes and flame-vomiting jaws, “afin
de produire une de ces oppositions vulgaires qui ne
manquent jamais leur effet” (p. 21), as if the symbol of
the Evil One, which the etiquette of Spanish painting re-
quired to be introduced into that subject, had been a mere
tasteless whim of the painter. Plaving thus displayed his
ignorance of Spain and the Bible, he proceeds to narrate
with great gravity how all the fine ladies and Phrynes of
Madrid rushed to be pourtrayed as Virgins of the Con-
xxviii PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
ception, and in some cases compelled Solis to paint their
favourite “ bow-wow ( toutou favori) cat, or parrot,” under
the crescent, in place of “Mary’s impetuous dragon;”
and he crowns the monstrous fable by informing us that
Solis was, therefore, called the Painter of Conceptions ;
the sole foundation of the story being that Solis did paint
a picture of the Conception at Madrid, and that the title
applied to him was sometimes given to Murillo at Seville.
Of course this writer exercises his national privilege of
mis-spelling Spanish names and misplacing Spanish titles ;
of romancing about Estremadura, Toledo, Borgona, and
Vargara, and of inventing incidents for the life of Don
Guevara, as journalists of France pen paragraphs on Lord
Henry Brougham or Sir Peel, and dramatic critics parade
their acquaintance with Shakespeare by discoursing of him
with playful affection as “ le vieux Williams.” Even of
Italian he takes care to show his ignorance by explain-
ing that the Valencian companions of Ribera called
him 11 EspagnoJeto, “ en faisant allusion k la facility
prodigieuse avec laquelle il dessinait et composait”
(p. 6) ; as if calling M. Iluard “ the little Frenchman ”
would convey any adequate idea of the “ prodigious
facility” with which he has obscured a fine subject with
stupid and impudent fictions.
M. Louis Yiardot is the only other French writer on
Spanish art whose works deserve notice. Well known
as an essayist on the picture galleries of Europe, he has
given us, in Les Musees cV Espagne, d' Angleterre, et de
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
XXIX
Belgique, sm. 8vo, Paris, 1843, pp. x. 382, lively and
agreeable sketches of some of the chief Spanish masters.
Setting aside the author’s “ intuitive inspirations,” they
are light and readable, and, if they do not possess the
merit, they are at least not disfigured by an affectation,
of learning. M. Viardot is also author of the notices
of Spanish painters which form the letterpress to the
French collection of engravings known as La Galerie
Aguado, published in Paris in 1837.
Of the German works which I have consulted, by far
the best is Fiorillo’s Geschichte der Mahlerey in Spanien,
pp. x. 470, besides the index, forming vol. iv. of the
Geschichte der zeichnenden Kunst von Hirer Wiederauf-
lebung bis auf die neuesten Zeiten, 6 band. 8vo, Gottingen,
1798-1808. It appears to be a careful abstract of Cean
Bermudez’s Dictionary, and it contains (pp. 464-470)
a useful list of Spanish and other books on the subject.
In Dr. Kugler’s dry and unsatisfactory Handbuch der
Kunstgeschichte, 8vo, Stuttgart, 1842, pp. xxiv. 917, the
five pages devoted to the masters of Spain are, like most
of his other pages, a mere catalogue of names. But
even so much as this is not to be found in any Italian
work with which I am acquainted.
The Spanish authors who have been my chief guides
are, first, Cean Bermudez, and after him, Palomino, Ponz,
Pacheco, Carducho, and Butron. These writers being
also painters, I have given so full an account of them
and their literary works in their proper places in the
XXX
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
following chapters, that it is unnecessary to discuss their
merits here. So also in the case of my other authorities ;
for I have likewise made it a rule to acknowledge my
literary debts, whenever and wherever contracted, so
explicitly that my readers, unlike those of M. Iiuard,
may at once, if it please them, verify my accuracy or
detect my mistakes.
I trust that I have now established my original pro-
position, that a new book on Spanish art was a de-
sideratum in our literature when my work was begun.
I think I have also shown that at that time any accurate
or extended knowledge of the subject was to be obtained
only from Spanish authors who are not commonly found
on the shelves of private libraries in England, and still
more rarely in the hands of English readers. Even now
I venture to hope that these Annals may in some mea-
sure serve purposes as yet unattempted by an English
pen. Besides narrating the lives of the painters, I have
given an account of the more remarkable sculptors,
goldsmiths, and engravers of Spain. I have like-
wise endeavoured to afford some view of the national
and social peculiarities of condition in which Spanish
artists flourished, and which coloured their lives, and
directed, or at least strongly influenced, their genius.
In pursuance of this object, I have occasionally ventured
into the field of history, especially in reviewing the
characters of the princes of the Spanish house of Austria,
of all royal houses the foremost in the protection and
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
XXXI
promotion of the fine arts. Of the anecdotes of the more
remarkable artists, which Pacheco and Palomino nar-
rated, and Cumberland despised, I have rejected hut
few, holding that every relic of the personal history of
a man of genius has a certain value, and being disposed
to regard even the slightest with that sort of interest
with which Sir David Wilkie detected some of the
hairs of Vandyck’s pencil in the portrait of a Cardinal
in a palace at Genoa . 1 I have also dilated, more than
English writers on art have generally thought fit to do,
on the legends of the most remarkable saints whose
names do not appear in the New Testament, remember-
ing that I am addressing readers who, though versed
in the loves and labours of Jupiter and Hercules, are
by no means familiar with the bucolical achievements
of St. Isidro or the nautical skill of St. Raymond, and
may perhaps have never even heard the names of the
holy Eulalia of Merida, or Justa and Rufina, the sainted
patronesses of Seville.
The chronological system of arrangement which I
have chosen, will, I trust, secure to my work the
advantages of continuous narrative and yet permit of
occasional digressions. In order, however, to combine
these advantages with the convenience of a dictionary,
I have provided an ample table of contents and index,
by means of which the reader will be able to turn at
1 Cunningham’s Life of Wilkie, vol. ii. p. 450.
xxxil PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
once to the precise passage in the biography of any
artist that he may happen to he in seach of, to the titles
of books quoted, and to the explanation of any words
which may require it.
The Catalogues, which I have compiled, of the pic-
tures of Velazquez and Murillo now existing in the
principal national and royal galleries, and in some of the
best private collections, may perhaps one day he curious
and valuable records. While the sheets were passing
through the press, one royal collector lost, and another
abdicated, his crown ; and it is impossible to foresee the
effects of the French revolution of 1848 on the dynasties
and galleries of Europe. These Catalogues include, I
am aware, many doubtful, and some certainly spurious,
pictures ; but they also contain all the finest specimens
of those great masters. I have carefully noted as far as
possible the engravings which have been executed from
them ; and to avoid repetition, whenever a picture has
been described in the “ Annals,” the reader is referred to
the passage.
Of the illustrations to the following chapters, I may
venture to say that I am not aware of the existence of
any engraved portraits of El Greco, Joanes, V. Carducho,
and Zurbaran ; of any views of the interior of the
Hospital-church of Charity, the Capuchin convent and
Murillo’s house at Seville ; of any engraving from
Murillo’s “ Guardian Angel,” or from a drawing by Alonso
Cano, except those which are now offered to the public.
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION. xxxiii
Several monograms of artists are likewise reproduced,
which have escaped Orlandi, Bartsch, Brulliot, and other
dilligent collectors.
While I have thus ventured to point out the particulars
in which I trust these “ Annals ” may be found to possess
some value, I would not have it supposed that I am blind
to their numerous defects. The workman who compares
the conception with the result of his labour knows full
well how wide is the distance which separates the thing
hoped for and intended from the thing actually accom-
plished. It is rare, indeed, for the literary artist “ to see
of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied ; ” to find that
complacent feeling justified by the concurrent satisfaction
of the reader is scarcely more rare. In reviewing my
work, I have detected many faults of arrangement, which
are now irremediable, and many omissions which I have
been obliged to remedy by a chapter of additions and
corrections, a chapter in defence of which I have nothing
to say, except that it has enabled me to give my readers
the benefit of gleanings from certain books which have
been published since my own went to press. Worse than
all, in observing with dismay the unexpected array of
figures with which my final pages are numbered, I begin
to fear that I have myself sinned in the sort which I
have rebuked in others, and that, groaning under the
prolixity of Castilian writers, I have given my English
readers just cause to grumble under mine. Quien en
caga, o en guerra, o en amoves se mete, no sale quando
XXXIV
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
quiere, says the Castilian proverb; “he who goes hunt-
ing, campaigning, or wooing, cannot leave off at his own
pleasure.” So literary adventure, partaking somewhat of
the nature of each of these pursuits, resembles them also
in leading those who engage in it far beyond their first
intended limits. If I have sometimes overtasked my
readers’ powers of endurance, my hope is that I have
at least opened the way to “ fresh fields and pastures
new,” which a more skilful guide may one day render
as pleasant to others as they have been to me.
PREFACE
TO
“VELAZQUEZ AND HIS WORKS.”
E following pages were designed to
contain the life of Velazquez, as nar-
rated in the “Annals of the Artists
of Spain” (Svo, London, 1848), with
such additions as its re-publication
in a separate form seemed to re-
quire, and as later travel and read-
ing have enabled me to supply. In the execution of
this design, however, the work has been nearly re-written.
I hope that it may not have been increased in bulk
without being also somewhat improved in quality.
The catalogue of prints is founded on a list of those in
my own collection, and in the still larger collection of
my friend, Mr. Charles Morse, to whom I am indebted
for much kind aid in the compilation. To this list I
have added the names of all the prints that I could see,
xxxvi PREFACE TO “VELAZQUEZ AND HIS WORKS.
or hear of, elsewhere ; and if it be not a complete
catalogue, it is at least the first that has yet been
attempted of the prints after the great master of Castile.
The only materials for the personal history of Velaz-
quez are to be found in the account of his early life in
the work of his father-in-law, Pacheco, printed in 1649;
and in the biographies of Spanish artists, published by
Palomino, in 1724, and by Cean Bermudez, in 1800.
Except the brief glimpse of him afforded in the verses of
Boschini (see infra, p. 762), I know of no other source of
information. Cumberland, in compiling his “ Anecdotes
of Painting in Spain” (2 vols. i2mo, London, 1782),
appears to have followed Palomino alone ; while later
writers have generally been contented to take their facts
from the laborious and accurate Cean Bermudez. In the
preface to my “ Annals of the Artists of Spain,” I have
so fully discussed the merits of the principal writers,
Spanish, English, French, and German, on the biography
of Spanish artists, that I do not think it necessary now
to repeat my remarks.
But since the “Annals” appeared, a new biography
of Velazquez has been put forth at Paris. It forms two
livraisons of a work called Histoire des Peintres de toutes
les Ecoles, now in course of manufacture by M. Charles
Blanc, under the direction of M. Armengaud, and appa-
rently got up for the sake of the woodcuts, which,
although generally taken from well-known engraved
subjects, are often admirably executed. Of the notice
PREFACE TO “VELAZQUEZ AND HIS WORKS.” xxxvii
of Velazquez, extending to sixteen quarto pages, it is
sufficient to say that it is still more inexact than the
worthless books of MM. Quilliet and Huard, from which
it has been compiled. On the first page is a woodcut
portrait, which is called the portrait of Velazquez, because
Baron Taylor was pleased, on his own authority, so to
designate a picture which he purchased in Spain for the
late King Louis Philippe. An old copy of the well-
known portrait in the palace of the Uffizi at Florence,
which hung in the same room at the Louvre, might have
enabled him to avoid or correct the blunder, which M.
Blanc also might have escaped had he taken the trouble
to consult the ordinary print portraits of Velazquez.
The carelessness which is thus displayed on his first
page follows M. Blanc through his whole work ; and
I know few books so little capable of affording either
instruction or amusement.
London, February 25 , 1855 .
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
PAGE
PAGE
Political importance of Spain, dur-
The Church the chief patron of
ing the sixteenth and seven-
art ......
16
teenth centuries, coeval
with
The Catholic painter an important
her greatness in art .
I
servant of the Church
17
Ferdinand and Isabella .
3
Remark of Don J. de Butron .
17
Charles Y.
3
Painting popular with the multi-
Philip II. ...
4
tude
18
Philip III. .
4
Devotion of some Spanish painters
19
Philip IV.
4
Joanes
19
Charles II.
5
Vargas
19
House of Bourbon .
5
Clerical artists ....
19
Spanish sculpture .
5
Factor
20
Spanish architecture
7
Borras ......
20
Spanish painting compared
with
Leon and Fuente del Saz
20
Spanish literature
8
Cotan
20
School of Castile .
9
Berenguer
20
School of Estremadura .
IO
Ferrado
20
School of Andalusia
IO
Cespedes
20
School of Valencia
IO
Roelas
21
Aragon and Catalonia, &c.
IO
Cano
21
Grave character of Spanish
laint-
Rizi ......
21
ing . . . .
ii
Espadana
21
Spanish painters contrasted with
Mascarenas . . .
21
Italian
12
Juncosa
21
Murillo ....
13
Maria de Valdes ....
21
Inffuence of the Inquisition
14
Laws of religious painting
21
Pictorial improprieties punished .
14
Fr. J. I. de Ayala ....
22
Influence of the national
char-
Knotty points discussed
22
acter ....
i 5
Nude figures forbidden .
2 3
xl CONTENTS.
PAGE
PAGE
Story of the effects of an altar-
Female portraits not common in
piece ... .
23
Spain
41
Miraculous images
25
Spanish jealousy the cause .
41
Joanes commanded to paint the
Sir K. Digby’s adventure
4'
Virgin
25
Husbands and wives
42
Becerra aided by her in a carving
26
Habits of female life
43
She sits to S. Cotan
26
Portraits of Spanish ladies rare
43
Miracles performed by an unfinished
Female costume ....
43
picture of the Virgin .
26
Tasteless dress ....
43
The Virgin of Nieva, and the
Absurd modes of dressing hair
44
Virgin of Monserrate .
27
Court dresses
44
Micael carves a healing image and
Universal and extravagant use of
dies
27
rouge
45
Favour shown to artists by saints .
29
Ladies of Vittoria ....
46
Legend of the Painter-Friar, the
Rouged statues ....
46
Devil, and the Virgin .
30
Portraits of royal personages .
47
Legend of Our Lady, the Devil, and
Excellence of Court portrait-
the Painter ....
32
painters .....
47
Court painters in Spain, in general
The characters of the Austrian
decorous in their choice of sub-
princes to be read in their por-
jects
35
traits
48
Spanish princes not fond of pic-
Charles V. and his family
48
torial improprieties .
35
A. S. Coello
48
General character of Spanish paint-
Philip II., his queen and children .
48
ing
33
Pantoja de la Cruz ....
48
Painters of the religious orders :
Philip III. and his family
49
Murillo, Espinosa, Carducho,
Pantoja
49
Zurbaran, Roelas
38
Philip IV
49
Models of drapery excellent, and
Rubens
49
always at hand ....
38
Velazquez .....
49
Colouring — School of Castile .
39
Queens and brothers of Philip IV.
50
El Mudo
39
His children .....
50
El Greco
39
Charles II. and Queen Louisa
50
Female heads
39
Carreno
50
Tristan
39
Landscape painting little culti-
Southern schools ; Andalusia and
vated
50
Valencia
39
Landscape painters not generally
Painters of Seville fond of subjects
born amongst fine scenery .
5i
of still life ; their “ bodegones ”
40
Painters of landscape abound in the
Valencian flower-painters
40
north
52
Spanish painters distinguished in
Best painters of Italian scenery
portraiture
40
foreigners .....
52
Joanes
41
Few foreign painters of landscape
Velazquez and Murillo not inferior
in Spain
54
as portrait-painters to Titian and
The greater painters of Spain in
Vandyck
41
general natives ....
54
CONTENTS.
xli
PAGE
PAGE
Spanish art long unknown to the
Valencia: Cathedral
72
rest of Europe ....
54
Colegio del Corp. Chr. Academia
Name of Murillo early known in
de S. Carlos ....
72
England
55
Public collections of Spain might
Spanish painters known in France
be improved by exchanging with
in eighteenth century .
56
each other their superfluous pic-
Dictum of the Abbt; Dubos .
56
tures
72
Exportation of pictures during the
Foreign collections of Spanish pic-
War of Independence in Spain .
57
tures
73
Daring picture-dealers .
58
Paris : Louvre ....
73
Plundering French commanders .
58
St. Petersburg : The Hermitage .
75
King Joseph pilfers with judgment
5S
Munich : Pinakothek
75
Effects of French rapine and Eng-
Vienna : Belvedere Palace
76
lish commerce ....
59
Berlin
76
No public galleries in Europe so
Dresden
77
rich in Spanish pictures as those
Brunswick, Cassel, and Frankfort
77
of Spain
59
Antwerp, Brussels, Amsterdam
77
Madrid Real Museo
59
The Hague .....
77
Madrid Real Academia de S. Fer-
Stockholm
78
nando
62
Copenhagen
78
Museo Nacional ....
63
Frederiksborg ....
78
Toledo : Cathedral ....
64
London : National Gallery
78
Valladolid : Museo
65
Dulwich College ....
79
Zaragoza and Barcelona
66
Italy
79
Cordoba
66
Florence .....
79
Cadiz
67
Milan
79
Seville : Museo ....
67
Parma ......
79
Seville : Chapel of the University.
70
Bologna . ....
79
Chapel of the Hospital de la Cari-
Venice
79
dad
70
Rome
79
Seville : Cathedral ....
70
Turin
80
Valencia: Museo ....
70
Naples
80
CHAPTER II.
NOTICES OF EARLY ART
TO
THE END OF THE REIGN OF
FERDINAND AND ISABELLA THE CATHOLIC, 1516 .
Earlier works of painting and
Alonso VIII
S3
sculpture .....
Si
Cathedrals of Cuenca and Leon
83
Cathedrals, abbeys, and palaces of
St. Ferdinand III
S3
the Middle Ages
S 2
Cathedral of Burgos
83
Cathedral of Santiago .
82
Cathedral of Toledo — built by El
El Maestro Mateo ....
82
Maestro Pedro Perez .
S3
Cathedral of Tarragona
82
Portrait of St. Ferdinand at Seville
S3
VOL. I.
d
CONTENTS.
xlii
Alonso X. el Sabio
Pedro de Pamplona, painter of
illuminations .
Sancho IV. el Bravo
Rodrigo Esteban, painter
Pedro I. el Cruel .
Alcazar of Seville ....
Early painters in Aragon and Cata-
lonia ......
Torrente, 1323 . . . .
Fort
Cesilles, 1382
Juan I
Stamina of Florence
Chartreuse of Paular
Monastery of Guadalupe
Cathedral of Oviedo
Henry III
Cathedral of Huesca, 1400 .
Cathedral of Seville, 1401
Juan II
Dello of Florence ....
Dello’s epitaph . . . .
J. Alfon
Rogel the Fleming
Oratory
El Maestro Jorge Ingles
Toledo
Dolfin, the first stainer of glass
The Rodriguez, sculptors
Egas
School of Andalusia — J. S.de Castro
Legend of San Christobal
Gonzalo Diaz
Moorish decorations imitated by
Christian artists
Artists in gold and silver at Valla-
dolid and Valencia
The Castelnous ....
Fr. J. de Segovia, of Guadalupe :
his salt-cellar ....
Progress of taste and refinement .
Fall of Granada ; its effect on
Christian art ....
Isabella la Catdlica ; her taste and
zeal for the arts ....
84
84
85
85
85
85
85
86
86
86
87
87
88
88
88
88
89
89
90
9 1
92
92
92
92
93
93
93
94
94
94
94
96
96
97
97
97
98
99
99
Her architectural works at Segovia,
Seville, Miraflores, Santiago,
Madrid, Toledo ....
Ferdinand el Catfilico .
Effects of his conquest of Naples .
He builds a convent at Zaragoza
The Morlanes, sculptors
The Siloes, of Burgos, sculptors
and architects ....
Cathedral of Granada .
Painting
A. Rincon .....
His portraits of the Catholic sove-
reigns
Copies at Madrid ....
Ferdinand
Isabella ......
Paintings by Rincon at Toledo
Altar-piece by Rincon at Robleda
de Chavila
F. Rincon
F. Florez
P. Berruguete ....
Santos Cruz
J. de Borgona ....
Paintings in the Sala Capitular
del Invierno in the Cathedral of
Toledo
Fresco in the Capilla Muzarabe .
Frescoes in the library .
Portraits of Archbishops of Toledo
in chapter-room
Mendoza
Cisneros
Croy
School of Andalusia
J. Nunez
Aleman introduces stained glass
at Seville
A. Fernandez
Diego de la Barrera
Valencia
Neapoli and Aregio
Munificence of the Church .
Archbishop Mendoza of Toledo
Cardinal Ximenes ....
PAGE
100
100
101
101
101
102
102
102
102
103
103
104
104
105
i°5
106
106
106
107
107
107
108
109
109
109
109
1 10
no
no
1 1 1
in
in
in
112
112
112
113
CONTENTS.
xliii
PAGE
Vigarny 113
Bishop Ramirez of Salamanca . 113
J. A. de Toledo . . . .114
PAGE
Archbishop Deza . . . .114
Proof of the progress of art under
Ferdinand and Isabella . .114
CHAPTER III.
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.— 1516-1556.
Brilliant age of Charles V. . . 1 1 5
Close and increasing connection of
Spain with Italy . . . ■ 116
Charles V. as a patron of art . .116
His fine taste 1 17
His visit to the Cathedral of Cor-
doba 1 17
His regard for Titian . . .118
Anecdotes of the Emperor and the
painter 118
His architectural works . . . 119
Palaces at Madrid . . . . 119
The Pardo 1 1 9
Granada 119
Toledo 120
His love of painting . . .120
His pictures at San Yuste . .121
Spanish artists in Italy . . .122
Pedro Francione . . . .122
Giovanni di Spagna . . .122
Spanish patrons . . . .122
Marquess del Guasto . . .122
Marquess of Villafranca . . 123
Pedro de Prado . . . .123
Juan de Toledo . . . .123
Bishop of Salamanca . . .123
Miguel Florentin . . . .123
Antonio Florentin . . . .124
Pietro Torrigiano . . . .124
Examination of the popular story
of Torrigiano . . . .126
“ Mano de la teta ” . . . .126
Terra cotta statue of St. Jerome . 128
Fresco painting brought to Spain
by Julio and Alessandro . .130
Titian — effect of his works in
Spain 1 31
His portraits of Charles Y. . . 13 1
Story of his visit to Spain examined 133
Inconclusive evidence for it . . 133
Good evidence against it . . 134
Flemish painters . . . . 1 35
Jerome Bos 135
Works of Bos at Madrid . .137
Works at Valencia . . . . 138
J. C. Vermeyen . . . .138
Pedro Campana . . . . 1 39
His “Descent from the Cross” . 139
His various works at Seville . .140
F. Frutet, 1548 .... 141
Hernando Sturmio . . . .143
Legend of Sta. Rufina and Sta.
Justa ... . . 143
Felipe de Vigarny .... 145
Vigarny’s influence on Spanish art 146
Spanish painted sculpture . .147
Colour not admissible in statuary. 151
Damian Forment . . . .152
Retablo in Cathedral of Huesca . 152
Pedro Machuca . . . . 155
The origin and progress of plater-
esque architecture . . .156
Diego de Sagredo’s “ Medidas del
Romano” 157
Alonso Berruguete . . . .159
Works in various cities of Spain . 163
Salamanca 163
Toledo 163
Palencia 163
Monument of Cardinal Tavera at
Toledo 164
Genius and influence of Berruguete 165
Diego de Navas, sculptor . . 166
Gaspar de Tordesillas . . .167
xliv
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Xamete ......
168
Fernando Gallegos ....
168
Juan de Villoldo . . . .
169
Francisco Comontes
170
D. Correa
170
Juan de Yciar ....
171
His “Arte de Escribir”
172
His “ Nuevo Estilo de Screvir
Cartas ”
174
Tomas Pelegret ....
176
Cuevas ......
176
Ezpeleta
177
Hernando Yanez, 1531 .
177
Pedro Rubiales ....
178
Patrons of art ....
179
The Church
179
Chapter of Seville ....
179
Archbishop Tavera of Toledo
1 So
Francisco de Cobos
180
PAGE
Don Felipe de Guevara . .181
Painters of illuminations . . 182
Antonio de Holanda . . .183
Diego de Arroya . . . .183
Francisco de Holanda . . . 183
Visit to Charles V. at Barcelona . 184
Travels in Italy and France . .187
Drawings 189
Keturn to Portugal . . .189
Writings on art . . . .192
His dialogues ..... 192
Kemarks ascribed to Michael An-
gelo 193
Artists in gold and silver . . 194
Henrique d’Arphe .... 195
Antonio d’Arphe . . . .197
Juan Ruiz . . . . .197
A., F., and C. Becerril . . . 198
Goldsmiths permitted to. wear silk 198
CHAPTER IY.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.— 1556-1598.
Philip II., his love of the arts
201
Juan Bautista de Toledo
. 214
His urbanity and kindness
to
Juan de Herrera .
. 215
artists ....
201
Architectural merits of the Escorial 217
Titian
202
Opinion of Francisco de los Santos,
Anthony More
202
and of Cumberland
. 217
His taste less general than
his
Exterior ....
. 217
father’s ....
202
Interior ....
. . 219
Favourite pursuits
203
Patio de los Evangelistos
. . 219
Painting ....
204
Church ....
. . 219
Architecture ....
204
Capilla del Altar Mayor .
. . 220
Architectural undertakings .
206
Materials and decorations
of the
Convent palace of San Lorenzo del
Escorial brought from all parts
Escorial ....
206
of the world
. . 220
Philip’s anxiety for its completion
207
Artists employed in the decorations
Remarkable events of Philip’s
life
of the Escorial .
. 221
connected with the Escorial
208
Giacomo Trezzo
. 221
The Escorial compared with other
Benvenuto Cellini .
. 222
great buildings .
210
Josef Frecha .
. 222
Works on the Escorial .
21 1
Clemente Virago .
. 223
Purposes for which it was built
212
Foreign painters in the
King’s
Architects of the Escorial
214
service
. 223
CONTENTS.
xlv
Italians . . .
PAGE
224
Works at the Escorial .
PAGE
. 246
Titian
224
Character
• 247
His “ Cena ”
224
Merits as an artist
• 247
“Antiope”
224
0 . Cambiaso .
. 248
Portraits
224
Lazaro Tavarone .
. 248
Portraits of Philip II.
224
Castello el Genoese
. 24S
Sofonisba Anguisciola .
225
Federigo Zuccaro .
• 249
Picture by Sofonisba Anguisciola .
226
Travels ....
. 250
Journey to Spain . . . .
227
Journey to Spain .
• 251
Marriages
228
Works at the Escorial .
• 251
Sayings of Vandyck
230
Criticism of Philip II. .
. 252
Works
230
Condemned frescoes
• 253
Portraits
230
Remark of Philip II.
• 254
Sofonisba Gentilesca
231
Bartolomeo Carducho .
• 254
Castello el Bergamasco .
232
Works at the Escorial .
• 255
Nicolao Granelo . . . .
233
Good-natured criticism .
. 256
Francisco de Viana
234
His “ Cena ”,
. 256
Romulo Cincinato . . . .
234
Antonio Rizi .
• 257
“El zancajo ” at Cuen5a
236
Pellegrino Tibaldi .
• 257
Patricio Caxes . . . .
236
Invitation to Spain
. 258
Antonio and Vincenzo Campi
237
Frescoes in the library .
. 260
Antonio Campi’s work on Cre-
Bernardino del Agua
. 26l
mona
239
Flemish artists
. 26l
Luca Cambiaso . . . .
239
Anthony More
. 26l
Death of his wife, and its effects .
242
In England .
. 262
Industry
243
In Spain
• 263
Invitation to Spain
243
Michael Coxie
. 265
Works at the Escorial .
244
Antonio Pupiler
. 266
Disappointment, sickness, death .
246
Ulric Staenheyl
. 267
CHAPTER Y.
REIGN OF PHILIP II. — 1556-1598— {continued).
Artists of Castile . . . .269
Luis Morales 269
Visits the Escorial . . . 270
Last interview with the King . 271
Self-taught genius .... 272
Subjects and style . . . .273
Careful finish 276
Scholars 276
Morales the younger . . . 276
Juan Labrador . . . .277
Alonso Sanchez Coello . . .277
Favour with Philip II. . . . 278
Royal and noble friend . . . 279
Anecdote of Philip II. . . . 28a
Praise of Lope de Vega . . . 2S0
Portrait of Alonso Sanchez Coello . 2S1
Isabella Sanchez Coello . . .281
Alonso Sanchez Coello’s portraits . 2S1
Infant Don Carlos .... 282
Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia . 283
Queen Isabel de la Paz . . . 2S4
Antonio Perez .... 2S4
xlvi CONTENTS.
PAGE
Paints triumphal arches with Diego
de Urbina 285
Religious pictures .... 285
Portrait of St. Ignatius Loyola . 286
Scholars ...... 286
Cristobal Lopez .... 287
Juan de Urbina .... 287
Giovanni Narduck, or Fray Juan de
la Miseria 287
Gaspar Becerra .... 289
Works in Italy .... 289
Dr. Juan de Valverde, and his book,
illustrated by Gaspar Becerra . 290
Return to Spain . . . .291
Goes to court 291
Religious works .... 292
Carves for the Queen the figure of
Nra. Senora de la Soledad . . 293
Works in various cities . . . 296
Granada 296
Valladolid, &c 296
Burgos 296
Segovia 296
Astorga 297
Merits as a painter . . . 298
As a sculptor 299
Scholars 299
Miguel Barroso .... 299
Rio Bernuis 299
Francisco Lopez .... 300
Gerbnimo Vazquez .... 300
Miguel Ribas 300
Miguel Martinez .... 300
Juan Ruiz de Castaneda . . 300
Juan Fernandez Navarrete . . 300
Fray Vicente de Santo Domingo . 301
El Mudo in Italy . . . .301
Works at the Escorial . . . 302
Picture of “ Abraham ” in the “ Re-
cibimiento ” . . . . 304
Altar-pieces for the church . . 305
Sickness and death . . . 306
Testament 306
His quickness and intelligence . 308
Offers to copy Titian’s “ Cena ” . 308
Style and merits .... 309
Portraits 309
Portrait of El Mudo . . . 309
Verses of Lope de Vega . . 310
Luis de Carbajal . . . . 31 1
Portrait of Archbishop Carranza
de Miranda 312
Bias del Prado . . . .313
Sent to the Court of Morocco . 314
Works now existing at Madrid . 315
Portrait of Fray Alonso de Villegas 316
Juan Pantoja de la Cruz . . 316
Paints Philip III. and his family in
two sacred compositions . .319
Style and works .... 320
Portrait of an eagle . . .321
Other court artists . . . 322
Teodosio Mingot and Gerbnimo
Cabrera 322
Diego de Urbina .... 322
Antonio Segura .... 322
Rodrigo de Holanda . . . 323
Juan Gomez 323
E. Jordan 323
Painters of illuminations . . 324
Fray Andres de Leon . . . 324
Fray Julian Fuente del Saz . . 324
Fray Martin de Palencia . . 324
Embroiderers .... 325
Fray Lorenzo de Monserrate . . 325
Diego Rutiner .... 325
Castilian artists employed by the
Church 325
Nicolas de Vergara, the elder . 325
Nicolas de Vergara, the younger,
and Juan de Vergara . . 326
Luis de Velasco .... 326
Isaac de Helle .... 327
Domenico Theotocopuli, “ El
Greco ” 328
Works at Toledo .... 328
“El Despojo de las Vestiduras del
Senor ” 329
Paints “ St Maurice ” for the Es-
corial 330
Produces a disagreeable picture,
which displeases the King . 331
CONTENTS.
xlvii
PAGE |
Toledo, “ El Entierro
del Conde
Pedro Pablo, Pedro Serafin “el
de Orgaz ” in the
church of
Griego ”...
Santo Tom6
332
Pedro Guitart
Portraits
335
Isaac Hermes .
Inscription beneath
El Greco’s
Fray Luis Pascual Gaudin
“ Entierro del Conde de Orgaz ”
336
Sculptors of Castile
At Toledo
337
Juan de Juni .
Illescas .
337
Name ....
Madrid .
337
Works at Valladolid
Paris
338
Altar in church of “Nuestra Senora
Naples .
339
de la Antigua ” .
Style of painting .
339
“ Mater Dolorosa ” .
Works of sculpture and architec-
St. Anthony of Padua,
and St.
ture
34i
Francis of Asisi .
His industry .
342
Adoration of Magi .
Visited by Pacheco
342
Works in the Cathedral of Osma .
Scholars .
342
At Rioseco
Sonnet by Gongora
343
Fresco paintings
Alonso de Herrera .
344
Segovia ....
Juan Francisco, and
Estefano
Santoyo ....
Perola .
344
Valladolid
Fray Martin Galindez
345
Entombment .
Josef Martinez
346
Family ....
Gregorio Martinez .
347
Style and merits
Juan de Aneda
347
Rafael de Leon
Juan de Cea .
347
Pedro Arbulo Marguvete
Artists of Catalonia
347
Miguel de Ancheta
PAGE
347
348
348
348
349
349
350
351
3Si
352
353
353
354
354
355
355
355
355
355
356
356
358
359
360
ANNALS
OF
THE ARTISTS OF SPAIN.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
MONG the most remark-
able features in the his-
tory of Spain are the
rapid growth and decay
of her power. She first
began to rank among the
great kingdoms in the
reign of Ferdinand and
Isabella. Their great-
grandson, Philip II., was the acknowledged leader
and protector of Catholic Europe. Under Charles
II., great-grandson of the second Philip, Castile had
VOL. I. A
CHAP. i.
Political
importance
of Spain
during the
sixteenth
and seven-
teenth cen-
turies,
2
INTRODUCTION.
CIIAP. I.
ceased to produce statesmen and soldiers, and Peru
to furnish ducats, at least to the royal treasury.
The monarchy was as feeble as the monarch ; its
star had run its course in little more than six
coeval with
her great-
ness in Art.
generations, rising at the end of the fifteenth, and
setting at the end of the seventeenth century.
This era was likewise the great period of literature
and art in Spain. Growing up with her political
greatness, they added lustre to her prosperity, and
a grace and charm to her decline. During the
middle ages, her taste and imagination had been
embodied in the unrivalled multitude of ballads,
sung by unknown bards, part of which the Castilian
llomanceros still preserve, and in the magnificent
cathedrals reared by nameless architects in her
Christian cities ; the songs and the shrines being
equally tinged with the colouring of northern piety
and oriental fancy. Poetry, the eldest and most
docile of the fine arts, was the first of the sisterhood
to be affected by the revival of ancient learning.
Spanish writers had borrowed somewhat of refine-
ment and correctness from the Latin and Italian,
long ere architecture in Spain had yielded submis-
sion to Greek and Roman rules, and ere painting
and sculpture had produced aught but uncouth cari-
catures of the human form. Juan de Mena had
written his graceful love songs, Santillana had even
wandered from the gay science into the strange field
INTRODUCTION.
of criticism, and Hernan Castillo was probably pre-
paring the first cancionero for the press of Valencia,
before the pencil of Rincon had obtained for him
the cross of Santiago from the hands of Ferdinand
and Isabella.
The reign of “ the Catholic Sovereigns ” is memor-
able for the discovery not merely of a new continent,
but also of vast regions of intellectual enterprise. His-
tory, the drama, and painting, were revived in Spain
in the same stirring age that sought and found new
empires beyond the great ocean. Pulgar, the father
of Castilian history, Cota, the earliest forerunner of
Calderon, Rincon, the first native painter in the
Peninsula who deserved the name, were the con-
temporaries of Columbus, and, with the great navi-
gator, mingled in the courtly throngs of the presence
chamber of Isabella. The progress of refinement
during the first half of the sixteenth century was
perhaps more rapid in Spain than in any other
country. The iron soldier of Castile, the Roman of
his age, became the intellectual vassal of the elegant
Italians whom he conquered :
“ Grsecia capta ferum victorem cepit, et artes
Intulit agresti Latio.” 1
Under the Emperor Charles V., the Iberian Penin-
sula, the fairest province of ancient Rome, grew
1 Horat., Ep. II. i. 156.
3
CHAP. I.
Ferdinand
and Isa-
bella.
Charles V.
4
INTRODUCTION.
CHAP. I.
into the fairest colony of modern art. The classical
Boscan and Garcilasso, and the many-gifted Mendoza,
left behind them monuments of literature which
Philip II.
might bear comparison with those of Italy, Berruguete
and Vigarny, schools of painting and sculpture that
Florence might have been proud to own. The odes
of Fray Luis de Leon were excelled in strength and
grace by none ever recited at the court of Ferrara ;
and pastoral Estremadura could boast a painter —
Morales of Badajoz — not unworthy to cope with
Sebastian del Piombo on his own lofty ground.
During the reigns of the three Philips, litera-
ture and art kept an even pace in their rapid and
triumphant march. When Juan de Toledo laid the
foundations of the Escorial, Cervantes was writing
his early poems and romances in the schools of
Madrid. The versatile Theotocopuli was designing
his various churches in and around Toledo, and
embellishing them with paintings and sculptures,
whilst Lope de Vega was dashing off his thousand
dramas for the diversion of the court. Mariana com-
Philip III.
posed in the cloister his great history of Spain,
whilst Sanchez Coello, the courtier and man of
fashion, was illustrating the story of his own times
by his fine portraits of royal and noble personages.
In the reign of Philip III., Velazquez and Murillo
were born, and the great novel of Cervantes first
Philip IV.
saw the light. Solis and Villegas, Moreto and the
INTRODUCTION.
brothers Leonardo de Argensola, famous in history,
poetry, and the drama, were contemporaries of Ribera,
Cano, and Zurbaran, and with them shared the favour
and patronage of the tasteful Philip IV. When
Velazquez received the cross of Santiago, Calderon
was amongst the knights who greeted the new com-
panion of that ancient order. In the evil days of
Charles II., Spain and her literature and her arts
drooped and declined together. Painting strove the
hardest against fate, and was the last to succumb.
Murillo and Valdes, Mazo and Carreno, and their
scholars nobly maintained the honour of a long line
of painters, till the total eclipse of Spain in the War
of the Succession. With the House of Bourbon
came in foreign fashions, and foreign standards of
taste. Henceforth Crebillon and Voltaire became
the models of Castilian writing ; Vanloo and Mengs,
of Spanish painting. From the effects of this dis-
astrous imitation, painting, at least, has never re-
covered.
If Spain holds a high place in the roll of nations
illustrious in art, it owes it to her painters ; her
sculptors have never obtained, nor indeed have often
deserved, much notice beyond the limits of the
Peninsula. Amongst them, however, were several
men of fine genius. Alonso Berruguete, the disciple
of Michael Angelo, was a great sculptor ; Juni and
Hernandez modelled with singular feeling and grace ;
CHAP. i.
Charles II.
House of
Bourbon.
Spanish
Sculpture.
6
INTRODUCTION.
CHAR I.
and had Montahes and Cano flourished beneath the
shadow of the Vatican, they would have been for-
midable rivals to Bernini and Algardi. Flanders
can show no carvings more delicate and masterly
than those which still enrich the venerable choirs
of many of the Peninsula churches, with stalls, em-
bowered in foliage — almost as light as that which
trembled on the living tree — where fruits cluster and
birds perch, in endless variety, or those arabesque
panels and pillars, where children rise from the cups
of lily blossoms, and strange monsters twine them-
selves in a network of garlands, or the niches, filled
with exquisite figures, or the fretted pinnacles,
crowned with a thousand various finials, and tower-
ing above each other in graceful confusion. But
in his high religious statuary — the Virgin of the
chapel, or the tutelar saint of the abbey — the Spanish
sculptor was too often unhappy in his choice of
materials. Neglecting the pure marble and abiding
bronze, the time-honoured and fitting vehicles of
his thought, he wrought either in metals too precious
to escape the chances of war and the rapacity of
bankrupt power, or in wood and clay, offering little
resistance to the tooth of time, and but too much
temptation to the foreign trooper, weary and hungry
with his march, and seeking wherewithal to kindle
his fire and make the camp-kettle boil. The use of
colour — universally adopted in the larger statues and
INTRODUCTION.
groups — was also injurious to Spanish sculpture ;
bringing the art, so far as it addressed the taste of
vulgar monks and country clowns, within the reach
of every hewer of wood who possessed a paint-pot ;
and causing the works of even the man of genius, at
first sight, rather to startle than to please, by their
similitude to real flesh and blood.
The early religious architects of Spain were great
masters in art. Their magnificent cathedrals — too
often mere portions of giant plans — were worthy of
a people who possessed so many noble remains of
older times, who inherited from the Roman the
bridge of Alcantara and the aqueduct of Segovia,
and who had won from the Saracen the Mosque of
Cordoba and the Alhambra of Granada. But the
architects of the Renaissance were a feebler folk,
lovers of the ornate, rather than the grand. Machuca,
Toledo, and Herrera, indeed, left examples of a pure
and admirable style ; but they found few followers.
Ecclesiastical buildings, while they increased in
numbers, grew likewise in ugliness ; and the mo-
nastic system bore equally hard on the financial
resources and the architectural taste of the country.
Amongst the churches and convents erected since
the end of the sixteenth century, there are few that
are not either plain to bareness, or loaded with
tawdry decoration ; and rare, indeed, it is to meet
with that graceful propriety of design, which lends
CHAP. i.
Spanish
Architec-
ture.
8
INTRODUCTION.
CHAP. I.
its chief charm to Italian architecture, and is often
to be found in the monastery of the Apennine wood-
lands, as well as in the princely palace on the
Corso.
Spanish
Painting,
In age, the Spanish school of painting ranks third
amongst the national schools of Europe, after the
German, and before the French ; in artistic im-
compared
with
Spanish
Literature.
portance, second only to the Italian. But Spanish
painting, like Spanish literature, has a glory proper
and peculiar to itself. It is true that no Spaniard
can claim to rank with those great Italian painters,
whom their most illustrious followers have regarded
with a reverence that forbade rivalry. Spain has no
Rafael — no Correggio — nor has she a Dante or a
Shakespeare ; yet her noble Castilian tongue pos-
sesses the single book of which the humour — so
strictly national, and yet so true and universal —
has become native to all Europe. And Spain has
produced the painters whose works unite high
excellence of conception and execution, with an
absolute adherence to nature, and are thus best
fitted to please the most critical as well as the most
uneducated eyes. If the visible and material efforts
of the pencil may be compared with the airy flights
of thought, Velazquez and Murillo may be said to
appeal, like Cervantes, to the feelings and percep-
tions of all men ; and, like him, they will be under-
stood and enjoyed where the loftiest strains of
INTRODUCTION.
Shakespeare, and the ideal creations of Rafael, would
find no sympathy, because addressed to a kindred
and responsive imagination belonging only to minds
of a higher order. The crazy gentleman of La
Mancha and his squire will always be more popular
with the many than the wondrous Prince of Den-
mark. And those who turn away, perplexed and dis-
appointed, from the “ Spasimo ” or the “ Transfigura-
tion,” would probably gaze with ever fresh delight on
the living and moving captains and spearmen of
Velazquez, or on Murillo’s thirsty multitudes flock-
ing to the rock that gushed in Horeb.
The venerable city of Toledo was the cradle of
Spanish painting : there the school of Castile was
founded in the first half of the fifteenth century, and
flourished chiefly under the fostering care of muni-
ficent prelates and chapters till the close of the
reign of Charles V. Villoldo, Bias del Prado, El
Greco, Tristan, and others, maintained the reputa-
tion of Toledo till the days of Philip IV. Under
Philip II., Madrid, the seat of government, became
the resort of many good Flemish and Italian artists,
and of those native painters, such as El Mudo and
Sanchez Coello, who enjoyed, or hoped for, the royal
favour. Valladolid, a city more famous for its gold-
smiths and sculptors than for its painters, was the
chief residence of Philip III. ; Madrid, however,
continued to prosper as a school of art, and finally
CHAP. i.
School of
Castile.
IO
INTRODUCTION.
CHAP. I.
became, in the brilliant times of Philip IV. and
Velazquez, the metropolis of Castilian painting as
well as of the monarchy.
School of
Estrema-
dura.
Of the school of Estremadura, if school it can
be called, Morales is the sole glory and represen-
tative ; and, if his history were better known, it
would probably be found that, although he lived
and laboured at Badajoz, he belonged to the school
of Castile.
School of
Andalusia.
The great school of Andalusia was founded by
Sanchez de Castro, at Seville, about 1454, and
nourished till the troubles of the War of Succession.
The beautiful Terra Bsetica has ever been prolific of
genius. The country of Lucan, and Seneca, and
Trajan, of Averroes, and Azzarkal, likewise brought
forth Vargas, Velazquez, and Murillo. Seville was
always the principal seat of Andalusian painting,
but some able masters resided also in other cities,
School of
Valencia.
as Cespedes at Cordoba, Castillo at Cadiz, and Cano
and Moya at Granada.
The Valencian school sprang into eminence under
Vicente Joanes about the middle of the sixteenth
Aragon
and Cata-
lonia, &c.
century, and sank into mediocrity at the death of
the younger Espinosa in 16S0.
The northern provinces and the Balearic Isles
were not prolific, yet not altogether destitute, of
artists. Till the end of the eighteenth century,
Zaragoza possessed a respectable school of painting,
INTRODUCTION.
1 1
of which Josef Martinez 1 may be considered the
chief; and Barcelona is justly proud of Viladomat, 2
who maintained the honour of the Spanish pencil in
the corrupt age of Philip V.
CHAP. I.
Spanish art, like Spanish nature, is in the highest
degree national and peculiar. Its three principal
schools of painting differ in style from each other,
but they all agree in the great features which dis-
tinguish them from the other schools of Europe.
The same deeply religious tone is common to all.
In Spain alone can painting be said to have drawn
all its inspiration from Christian fountains, and,
like the architecture of the middle ages, to be an
exponent of a people’s faith. Its first professors,
indeed, acquired their skill by the study of Italian
models and by communion with Italian minds.
But the skill which at Florence and Venice would
have been employed chiefly to adorn palace-halls
with the adventures of pious iEneas, or ladies’
bowers with passages from the Art of Love, was
at Toledo, Seville, and Valencia usually dedicated
to the service of God and the Church. Spanish
painters are very rarely to be found in the regions
of history or classical mythology. Sion hill delights
them more than the Aonian mount, and Siloa’s
brook than ancient Tiber or the laurel-shaded
Grave char-
acter of
Spanish
Painting.
1 Infra, cliap. x. 2 Infra, chap. xvi.
I 2
INTRODUCTION.
CHAP. I.
Orontes. Their pastoral scenes are laid, not in the
vales of Arcady, but in the fields of Judea, where
Ruth gleaned after the reapers of Boaz, and where
Bethlehem shepherds watched their flocks on the
night of the nativity. In their landscapes it is a
musing hermit, or, perhaps, a company of monks,
that moves through the forest solitude, or reposes
by the brink of the torrent : not there
“ Gratia cum Nymphis geminisque sororibus audet
Ducere nuda choros.” 1
Spanish
Painters
contrasted
with
Italian.
Their fancy loves best to deal with the legendary
history of the Virgin, and the life and passion of the
Redeemer, with the glorious company of Apostles,
the goodly fellowship of Prophets, and the noble
army of Martyrs and Saints ; and they tread this
sacred ground with habitual solemnity and de-
corum.
The great religious painters of Spain rarely de-
scended to secular subjects. Not so the Italians.
Rafael could pass from the creation of his heavenly
Madonnas to round the youthful contours of a
Psyche, or elaborate the charms of a Galatea ; Cor-
reggio, from the Magdalene repenting in the desert,
to Antiope surprised in the forest. Vicente Joanes
of Valencia would have held such transition to be
1 Horat., Carm. Lib. iv., 8. v. 5, 6.
INTRODUCTION.
*3
a sin, little short of sacrilege, and worthy of the
severest penance. Titian’s “ Last Supper,” and his
“ Assumption of the Virgin,” are doubtless amongst
the noblest of religious compositions. But his
fancy ranged more freely over profane than sacred
ground ; his Maries are fair and comely, but they
sometimes want the life and warmth that breathe in
his Graces and his Floras, in whom he delighted to
reproduce his auburn-haired mistress, who figures in
one of his most charming allegories 1 with his name
inscribed on her bosom. The Queen of Love herself
was his favourite subject ; she it was that most fully
drew forth all
“ The wondrous skill and sweet wit of the man.” 2
Far different were the themes on which Murillo
put forth his highest powers. After the “ Mystery
of the Immaculate Conception,” he repeated, pro-
bably more frequently than any other subject, the
“ Charity of St. Thomas of Villanueva ; ” and it w T as
his finest picture of that good prelate, inimitable for
simplicity and grandeur, that he was wont to call
emphatically “ his own.” 3
1 “The Offering to the Goddess of Fecundity.” Catdlogo del Real
Museo de Madrid por Madrazo [1843], No. 852 [edition 1889, No. 451].
Two beautiful young women, of whom the lady in question is one, bow
before a marble statue, in a forest glade ; around them gambol a multi-
tude of children of the true Titian race.
2 Spenser. 3 Infra, chap. xii.
CHAP. I.
Murillo.
14
CHAP. I.
Influence
of the In-
quisition.
Pictorial
Impro-
prieties
punished.
INTRODUCTION.
The sobriety and purity of imagination which
distinguished the Spanish painters, is mainly to be
attributed to the restraining influence of the Inquisi-
tion. Palomino 1 quotes a decree of that tribunal,
forbidding the making or exposing of immodest
paintings and sculptures, on pain of excommunica-
tion, a fine of fifteen hundred ducats, and a year’s
exile. The Holy Office also appointed inspectors,
whose duty it was to see that no works of that kind
were exposed to view in churches and other public
places. Pacheco, the painter and historian of art,
held this post at Seville, and Palomino himself at
Madrid. To treat a sacred subject in an indecorous
or unorthodox manner was an offence held to merit
personal punishment. Pacheco tells us that he
knew a painter at Cordoba, imprisoned for introduc-
ing into a picture of the Crucifixion, the Blessed
Virgin in an embroidered petticoat and fardingale,
and St. John in trunk hose ; and he styles the incar-
ceration, “ a justly deserved chastisement.” 2 But
the rules of the Inquisition cannot have been observed
to the letter, otherwise so many of the Loves and
Graces of Italian painting would not have been left
hanging, almost to our days, on the walls of the
Escorial.
Another cause of the severity and decency of
1 Pal., tom. ii., p. 138.
2 Pacheco, Arte de la Pintura, p. 456.
INTRODUCTION.
iS
Spanish art is to be found in the character of the
Spanish people. The proverbial gravity — which
distinguishes the Spaniard, like his cloak — which
appears in his manner of address, and in the
common phrases of his speech, is but an index of his
earnest and thoughtful nature. The Faith of the
Cross, nourished with the blood of Moor and Chris-
tian, nowhere struck its roots so deep, or spread
them so wide, as in Spain. Pious enthusiasm per-
vaded all orders of men ; the noble and learned as
well as the vulgar. The wisdom of antiquity could
not sap the creed of Alcaic or Salamanca, nor the
style of Plato or Cicero seduce their scholars into
any leaning to the religion of Greece or Pome.
Whilst Alexander Borgia — a Spaniard indeed by
birth, but Italianised by education — polluted the
Vatican with filthy sensuality, whilst the elegant
epicurean, Pope Leo, banqueted gaily with infidel
wits, or hunted and hawked in the woods and plains
around Viterbo — the mitre of Toledo was worn by
the Franciscan Ximenes, once a hermit in the caves
of the rocks, who had not doffed the hair-shirt in
assuming the purple, nor in his high estate feared
to peril his life for the Faith. In the nineteenth
century, of which superstition is not the character-
istic, a duchess, returning from a ball, and meeting
the Host at midnight in the streets of Madrid,
resigned her coach to the priests attendant on its
CHAP. i.
Influence
of the
National
Character.
i6
CHAP. I.
The
Church
the chief
patron of
Art.
INTRODUCTION.
Majesty 1 the Wafer, and found her way home on
foot . 2 After all the revolutions and convulsions of
Spain, where episcopal crosses have been coined into
dollars to pay for the bayonetting of friars militant
on the hills of Biscay, and the Primacy has become
a smaller ecclesiastical prize than our Sodor and
Man ; it is still in Spain — constant, when seeming
most false, — religious, when seeming careless of all
creeds — that the pious Catholic looks hopefully to
see the Faith of Rome rise, refreshed, regenerate,
and irresistible . 3
Nurtured in so devout a land, it was but natural
that Spanish art should show itself devout. The
painter was early secured to the service of religion.
Ilis first inspiration was drawn from the pictured
walls of the churches or cloisters of his native place,
where he had knelt a wondering child beside his
mother, where he had loitered or begged when a
1 " Su Magestad ” is the style and title both of Isabel II. and the con-
secrated bread of the altar.
2 L'Espagne sous Ferdinand VII., par le Marquis de Custine, 4 tom.,
i2mo. Bruxelles, 1838, tom. i. p. 224. The Duchess of Alba, it must
be confessed, turned of! her coachman for not getting out of the way.
Queen Christina herself has been known to leave her carriage and kneel
in the street as the Host went by.
3 See the able article on Spain in the Dublin Review, No. XXXVI., Art.
iv., containing an interesting sketch of the present state of the Spanish
Church, which, thougli drawn by the too favourable hand of an enthu-
siastic partisan, displays that knowledge of the subject in which some
zealous Protestant travellers, who have lately written books about it,
are so lamentably deficient, and the absence of which few of their Pro-
testant readers ever seem to detect.
INTRODUCTION.
boy : to their embellishment his earliest efforts were
dedicated, out of gratitude, perhaps, to the kindly
Carmelite or Cordelier, who had taught him to read,
or fed him with bread and soup on the days of dole ;
or who had first noted the impulse of his boyish
fancy, and guided “ his desperate charcoal round
the convent walls.” As his skill improved, he
would receive orders from neighbouring convents,
and some gracious prior would introduce him to the
notice of the bishop or the tasteful grandee of the
province. The fairest creations of his matured
genius then went to enrich the cathedral or the
royal abbey, or found their way into the gallery of
the sovereign to bloom in the gardens of Flemish
and Italian art. Throughout his whole career the
Church was his best and surest patrou. Nor was he
the least important or popular of her ministers. His
art was not merely decorative and delightful, but it
was exercised to instruct the young and the igno-
rant, that is, the great body of worshippers, in
the scenes of the Gospel history, and in the awful
or touching legends of the saints, whom they
were taught from the cradle to revere. “For the
learned and the lettered,” says Hon Juan de Butron,
a writer on art in the reign of Philip IV., “ written
knowledge may suffice ; but for the ignorant, what
master is like painting ? They may read their
duty in a picture, although they cannot search for
VOL. I. B
CHAP. I.
The Catho-
lic painter
an impor-
tant ser-
vant of the
Church.
Remark of
Don J. de
Butron.
i8
INTRODUCTION.
CHAP. I.
it in books .” 1 The painter became, therefore, in
some sort, a preacher, and his works were standing
homilies, more attractive, and perhaps more intel-
ligible, than those usually delivered from the pulpit.
The quiet pathos, the expressive silence of the
picture, might fix the eye that would drop to sleep
beneath the glozing of the Jesuit, and melt hearts
that would remain untouched by all the thunders of
the Dominican.
Painting
popular
with the
multitude.
We Protestants, to whom religious knowledge
comes through another and a better channel, are
scarcely capable of appreciating the full importance
of the Spanish artist’s functions. The Great Bible,
chained in the days of King Edward VI. to the
parish lectern, silenced for us the eloquence of the
altar-piece. But to the simple Catholic of Spain
the music of his choir and the pictures of his
ancient shrines stood in the place of the theological
dogmas which whetted and vexed the intellect of
the Protestant peasant of the north. He discoursed
of them with as much delight, and perhaps, with as
much moral advantage ; and he clung to them with
as much affectionate reverence. In the great Pen-
insular war, when the nuns of Loeches — tempted by
the gold of an English picture-dealer — had agreed to
strip their walls of the six magnificent compositions
1 Discursos Apologcticos. 4to, Madrid, 1626, p. 36.
INTRODUCTION.
19
by liubens, the gift of Olivares to their sisterhood,
the country people rose in defence of the heirloom
of the village. It was necessary to obtain the assist-
ance of a more powerful spoiler, a French general of
brigade, whom the purchaser bribed with two of the
disputed pictures, in order that the fitting decora-
tions of a Castilian church might cumber the gallery
CHAP. I.
of an English noble. 1
The Spanish painter well understood the dignity
of his task, and not seldom applied himself to it
with a zealous fervour worthy of the holiest friar.
Devotion
of some
Spanish '
painters.
Like Fra Angelico at the dawn of Italian painting,
Vicente Joanes was wont to prepare himself for a
new work by means of prayer and fasting, and the
J oanes.
holy Eucharist. The life of Luis de Vargas was as
pure as his style ; he was accustomed to discipline
his body with the scourge, and, like Charles V., he
kept by his bedside a coffin, in which he would lie
down to meditate on death.
Vargas.
The Spanish clergy have furnished at various
times some considerable names to the records of art.
The priest sometimes aspired to exhort his flock, the
friar to address his brotherhood, in a picture instead
of a sermon. There were few religious houses but
had possessed, at one time or another, an inmate
Clerical
Artists.
1 Buchanan’s Memoirs of Painting, with a History of the Importation
of Pictures, by the great Masters, into England. London, 1824. 2 vols.
8vo. Vol. ii. p. 222.
20
INTRODUCTION.
CHAP. I.
with some skill or ambition as an artist, who had
•
Factor.
left a rich chalice or pix in the sacristy, or a picture
or carving in the chapel, as the literary brother
had bequeathed to the library where he pored and
pondered, his MS. tomes, — his curious chronicle, or
interminable legend. The fine genius of the deaf
and dumb boy . of Logrono — afterwards famous
throughout Europe as “ The Dumb Painter ” (El
Mudo ) — was discovered and first directed by a father
of the Jeronymite monastery at Estrella. Nicolas
Factor, a Franciscan of Valencia, is as well known
as a painter of merit, as a “ beato,” or saint of the
Borras.
second order. Nicolas Borras, of Gandia, during a
residence of twenty-five years, filled the church and
cloisters of the Jeronymites with a multitude of
pictures, of which the best would do no discredit to
Leon and
Fuente
del Saz.
his great master Joanes. Fray Andres de Leon and
Fray Julian Fuente del Saz, monks of the Escorial,
exercised their delicate and diligent pencils in illumi-
nating the choir books (libros de coro) of their
church. The Carthusians of Paular, and Granada,
Cotan.
could boast that Sanchez Cotan, one of the ablest of
the scholars of Bias del Prado, wore their robe and
Berenguer.
dwelt within their walls. Ramon Berenguer, at
Ferrado.
Scala Dei in Catalonia, and Cristobal Ferrado, in the
Cespedes.
noble Chartreuse of Seville, likewise beguiled, by
painting, the hours of solitude and silence imposed
by the rule of St. Bruno. Cespedes, the painter-
INTRODUCTION.
21
poet, was a canon of Cordoba ; Juan de Roelas
CHAP. 1.
enjoyed a prebendal stall at Olivarez, and Alonso
Roelas.
Cano one at Granada. Juan ltizi was an excellent
painter ; and so good a Benedictine that he rose to
be an Abbot, and was at last promoted to an Italian
Rizi.
mitre. Espadaha, Inquisitor of Valencia, when the
labours of the Holy Office were over, was wont to
lay aside his torture-dealing pen for the palette and
brush of the amateur ; repeating perhaps in the
studio the martyrdoms inflicted in the dungeon.
Espadaua.
Bishop Mascarenas of Segovia also amused his
Masca-
renas.
leisure with the pencil ; and in the Cathedral of
Tarragona, Doctor Josef Juncosa figured both as a
popular preacher, and as one of the best and busiest
of Catalonian painters. Nor was artistic skill con-
Juncosa.
fined to the male religious ; for Dona Maria de
Maria de
Valdes, a Cistercian nun, and daughter of Valdes-
Leal, Murillo’s rival, painted clever portraits in the
convent of San Clemente at Seville.
Valdes.
Painting being of so much importance to the
Laws of
religious
Church, a great deal of learning and research was
devoted to the investigation of rules for representing
sacred subjects and personages. The question was
handled in every treatise of art. That considerable
portion of Pacheco’s book which relates to the sub-
ject, is said to have been furnished by his friends of
the Jesuits’ college at Seville. But the most com-
plete code of Sacro-pictorial law is, perhaps, that of
painting.
22
CHAP. I.
Fr. J. I.
de Ayala.
Knotty
points dis-
cussed.
INTRODUCTION.
Fray Juan Interian de Ayala, which was not, how-
ever, promulgated till the race of painters for whose
guidance it was designed, was nearly extinct. Fray
Juan was a doctor and professor of Salamanca, and
one of the compilers of the Dictionary of the
Spanish Academy ; his book, which was in Latin,
was entitled “ Pictor Christianus Eruditus, sive de
erroribus qui passim admittuntur circa pingendas
atque effingendas Sacras Imagines.” — Matriti, in fol.
1 730. A translation into Castilian, by Dr. Luis de
Duran, appeared at Madrid in 2 vols. 4to in 1782.
The work is, as might be expected, a fine specimen
of pompous and prosy trifling. For example —
several pages 1 are devoted to the castigation of
those unorthodox painters, who draw the Cross of
Calvary like a T instead of in the ordinary Latin form ;
— the question, whether in pictures of the Maries at
the sepulchre on the morning of the Resurrection,
two angels or only one should be seated on the stone
which was rolled away, is anxiously debated, 2 and
the artist is finally directed to make his works
square with all the Gospels, by adopting both
accounts alternately ; — and the right of the devil to
his horns and tail undergoes a strict examination,’
of which the result is that the first are fairly fixed
1 Duran’s Translation. El Pintor Christiana y Erudito, tom. i. p. 431.
2 Ibid., i. p. 469. 3 Ibid., i. p. 173.
INTRODUCTION.
2 3
on his head on the authority of a vision of Santa
Teresa, and the second is allowed as being a probable,
if not exactly proven, appendage of the fallen angel.
CHAP. I.
All the writers on this curious subject strongly
reprobate any unnecessary display of the nude figure.
Ayala censures 1 those artists who expose the feet of
their Madonnas — which Spanish women are always
so chary of displaying — almost as severely as he
does the indecent limner whom he records 2 to have
Nude
figures
forbidden.
painted for a certain church a holy Virgin suffering
martyrdom on a St. Andrew’s cross, in the state in
which the good Lady Godiva rode through Coventry.
Pacheco j illustrates his argument against immodest
altar-pieces by a singular anecdote of their distress-
ing effects. He had it, he says, from a grave and
pious bishop, himself the hero of his tale. The
picture was a “Last Judgment,” by Martin de Vos,
once in the church of the Augustines, now in the
Museum 4 at Seville, and is, like other works of the
master, a composition of considerable power and
merit, but disfigured by ill - placed episodes of
broad caricature. The grouping is effective, and
Story of
the effects
of an Altar-
piece.
1 Duran’s Translation. El Pintor Christiana y Erudito, tom. i. p. 25.
2 Ibid., i. p. 27.
3 Arte de la Pint ura, p. 201.
4 The picture is on panel, six or seven feet square, and is signed “ F.
Merthen de Vos, 1570.” It is (1S45) in the small oratory of the transept
of the church, now the principal hall of the Museum, where Montahes’
fine Crucifix is placed.
24
INTRODUCTION.
CHAP. I.
many of the principal figures are nobly drawn, and
full of various interest and character. But beyond
them in the distance the eye is offended by a
grotesque devil, who quells certain of the damned
that attempt to break their prescribed bounds, by
means of vigorous blows of his trident, and ad-
ministers to one of the more refractory a hearty kick
with his cloven hoof, aimed in the most vulgarly
insulting direction. Amongst a group of naked
women in the foreground, one magnificent specimen
of the Lais order, conspicuous for her fair flowing
locks and full voluptuous form, is being dragged off
by a hideous demon, terminating in a fish, and grin-
ning with horrid glee. It was doubtless on this
figure — “a woman remarkable,” says Pacheco, “for
the beauty and disorder of her person ” — that the
eye of the bishop chanced to rest, when he w 7 as one
day saying mass, as a simple friar, before the painting.
His quick southern imagination being thus suddenly
and strongly excited, the poor man fell into a state
of mental discomposure such as he had never before
known. “ Rather than undergo the same spiritual
conflict a second time,” said the good prelate, who
had made the voyage to America, “ I would face a
hurricane in the Gulf of Bermuda. Even at the
distance of many years, I cannot think of that
picture without dread.” St. Francis Borja was
made of sterner stuff. His son-in-law, the Count of
INTRODUCTION.
25
Leonia, in order to test the perfection of his holy
phlegm, placed on an altar at which he was to say
mass, a portrait of his dead Duchess, Leonora de
Castro, painted as St. Catherine. Thereupon the
saint’s companion asked what picture that was ?
“ Doha Leonora,” said he. He then informed him
that it caused no more “alteracion” in his soul than
if he had not seen it ; only, he commended her to
God. “Tell the Count,” he added, “to keep it in
his house, and bring it here no more, though he
has dressed up Leonora as St. Catherine.” 1
The pious enthusiasm of Spanish artists not un-
frequently led them to believe, like Fra Angelico,
that their fancy was quickened, and their hands
strengthened by inspiration from on high. The
idea was readily adopted by priestly craft and popular
superstition. To the studios of Toledo and Valencia,
if their occupants are to be trusted, angels’ visits
were neither few nor far between. Works not
seldom issued thence, little inferior in powers of
performing miracles and enriching shrines, to verit-
able portraits from the easel of St. Luke or the holy
kerchief of St. Veronica. Of this kind was a cele-
brated “Virgin,” painted by Joanes at the express
command of the holy original, who revealed herself
to Fray Martin Alberto, of the order of Jesus, and
chap. 1.
Miraculous
images.
Joanes
comman-
ded to
paint the
Virgin.
1 P. de Ribadineira, Vida del Pud. F. de Borja; 4to, Madrid, 1592.
26
INTRODUCTION.
CHAP. I.
even gave directions about the dress in which she
Becerra
aided by
her in a
carving-.
chose to appear. 1 Twice had Gaspar Becerra been
baffled in carving an image of the Virgin to the
mind of Queen Isabel of Valois ; he owed his
She sits to
S. Cotan.
success at last to a visit paid him by the blessed
Mary, who roused him in the night watches, and
enjoined him to go to work on a fire-log, which was
presently fashioned into one of the most famous
idols of Spain. The same divine personage actually
honoured Sanchez Cotan with a sitting for her
portrait, 2 of which the miracles were innumerable as
St. Apollonia’s teeth — effectual against toothache —
whereof an officer appointed for that purpose at our
Reformation — if we may credit Fuller — collected in
Miracles
performed
by an un-
finished
picture of
the Virgin.
England enough to fill a tun. 3 The miracles of an
image sometimes began when it was still under the
pencil or chisel. In a certain church, says Lope de
Vega, 4 a painter, mounted on a lofty scaffolding, was
painting, on the wall, Our Lady and the Infant
Jesus. The platform under his feet, suddenly giving
way, fell with a prodigious crash ; but not so the
painter, for he piously invoked the aid of the Virgin
in his picture, and she, promptly putting forth, from
the wall, her one finished arm, held him suspended
in mid-air till the monks brought a ladder of escape.
1 Palomino, iii. p. 395. 2 Palomino, iii. p. 433.
3 Fuller’s Church History, folio. London, 1655. B. vi. p. 331.
4 El Peregrino en su patria, Lib. i. , Obras ; tom. v., p. 66.
INTRODUCTION.
The hand which had thus stood forth in prominent
relief, then relapsed once more into the picture.
“A thing,” ejaculates the pilgrim into whose mouth
Lope puts the tale, “ worthy of wonder and tears,
that the Virgin should leave holding her son, to
uphold a sinner who, falling, might peradventure
have been damned ! ” 1 Another Madonna, of great
fame in Castile, Our Lady of Nieva, restored to life
a painter who was almost dashed to pieces by a fall
through a scaffolding, when painting the dome of
her chapel . 2 But if these holy effigies rewarded the
faithful and devout artist, they sometimes punished
him who addressed himself to their service in a spirit
of profane levity. Thus Our Lady of Monserrate
struck a painter blind, who was about to retouch
her celebrated image, carved by St. Luke and adored
in the famous monastery of Monserrate amongst the
jagged rocks of Catalonia. Lie remained sightless
for many years, till having evinced sufficient contri-
tion, the Virgin was pleased to restore his vision
whilst he was chanting “ Profer lumen ccecis ” with
the monks . 3
To have achieved a wonder-working painting or
sculpture, was, however, sometimes a perilous as
1 El Peregrino eii su patria, Lib. i., Obras ; tom. v., p. 97.
2 Villafaue, Im&genes Milagrosas, p. 372.
3 Historia de la adoration y uso de las santas Imagenes, por el maestro
Iayme Prados ; 4to, Valencia, 1597 ; p. 401.
27
CHAP. I.
The Virgin
of Nieva,
and the
Virgin of
Monser-
rate.
Micael
carves a
healing inn
age and
dies.
28 INTRODUCTION.
CHAP. I.
well as a glorious distinction. In the plague of
Malaga, in 1649, a certain statue of Christ at the
column, carved for the cathedral by Giuseppe Micael,
an Italian, performed prodigies of healing, and bade
fair to rival that holy Crucifix — sculptured at Jeru-
salem by Nicodemus, and possessed by the Capuchins
of Burgos 1 — which sweated on Fridays, and wrought
miracles all the week. While the pestilence was
yet raging, the sculptor stood one evening musing
near the door of the sanctuary where his work was
enshrined, but with so sorrowful a countenance, that
a friend, hailing him from afar, according to the
usages of plague-stricken society, inquired the cause
of his sadness. “ Think you,” said the artist, “ that
I have anything more to look for on earth, after
seeing and hearing the prodigies and marvels of
1 Madame d’Aulnoy, Relation du Voyage en Espagne — 3 toms. i2mo,
La Haye, 1693 — tom. i. p. 122. Marie Catherine Jumelle de Berneville,
—niece of Madame des Loges, famous for her wit in the reign of Louis
XIII., and wife of the Comte d’Aulnoy, who had nearly lost his head
under Louis XIV. on a false charge of treason— was one of the most
lively and agreeable lady -writers of the age of Madame de Sevigne. She
has left several romances (Contes des Fees, Histoire du Comte de
Duglas, &c.) as well as memoirs in which facts are sometimes seasoned
with fiction. Her Voyage en Espagne, and her llemoires de la Cour
d' Espagne, are rare, and deserve reprinting for the vivacity of their
style, and their curious pictures of manners. In the Amsterdam edition
of the latter — 2 toms. i2mo, 1716 — there is an indifferent portrait of her,
in which she is represented as a tall pleasing woman, attired in the
brocade petticoat and looped-up negligee of her time. She died in 1705.
There is an English translation of the Voyage, entitled The Ingenious and
Diverting Letters of the Lady 's Travels into Spain — London, 1692,
3 vols. 1 2mo — which is very scarce.
INTRODUCTION.
this sovereign image which my unworthy hands have
made? It is an old tradition amongst the masters
of our craft, that he shall soon die to whom it is
given to make a miraculous image.” And the good
Giuseppe erred not in his presentiment ; his chisel’s
task was done ; he was “ to return no more, nor see
his native country ; ” 1 and within eight days the
dead-cart had carried him to the gorged cemetery
of Malaga. His name, if not his life, was pre-
served by the statue — which was long revered for
its Esculapian powers, under the title (profanely
usurped) of the “ Lord of Health ” {El Senor de la
Salud).
Where no direct visits or angelic sittings were
vouchsafed, still the saints looked kindly on artists
who did them honour, and would stand by them in
seasons of spiritual need. Father Martin de Hoa 2
used to tell of a young painter who yielded to the
entreaty of a loose-minded lord, that he should
paint for him an immodest picture. Dying not long
after, he was forthwith cast into purgatory, and
not released till his patron had repented him of
the picture, destroyed it, and done a proportionate
number of good works. The intercession of the
saints, whom he had in his lifetime depicted, then
opened to the painter the gate of Paradise.
1 Jer. xxii. io. 2 Pacheco, Arte de la Pintura, p. 271.
29
CHAP. I.
Favour
shown to
Artists by
Saints.
3 °
INTRODUCTION.
CHAP. I.
Don Josef de Valdivielso, 1 one of the chaplains of
Legend of
the Pain-
ter-Friar,
the Devil
and the
Virgin.
the gay Cardinal Infant Ferdinand of Austria, cites
a yet more remarkable instance of celestial inter-
ference on behalf of an artist in trouble. A certain
young friar, he says, was famous amongst his order
for his skill as a painter ; and took peculiar delight
in drawing the blessed Virgin and the Devil. To
heighten the divine beauty of the one, and to devise
new and extravagant forms of ugliness for the other,
were the chief recreations of his leisure. Vexed
at last by the variety and vigour of his sketches,
Beelzebub, to be revenged, assumed the form of a
lovely maiden, and, so disguised, crossed the path of
the religious, who — being of an amorous complexion
— fell at once into the trap. The seeming damsel
smiled on her shaven wooer, but though willing to
be won, would not surrender her charms at a less
price than certain rich reliquaries and jewels in the
convent-treasury — a price which the friar, in evil
hour, consented to pay. He admitted her at mid-
night within the convent walls, and leading her to
the sacristy, took from its antique cabinets the
precious things for which she had asked. Then
came the moment of vengeance. Passing in their
return through the moonlit cloister — as the sinful
1 See Ills paper against the tax on Pictures — a subject which does not
at first sight seem capable of being much illustrated by such a legend —
appended to Carducho’s Didlogos de la Pintura, p. 184.
INTRODUCTION. 31
friar stole along, embracing the booty with one
arm and his false Duessa with the other, the demon-
lady — “ more like a woman than a demon,” as
the chaplain slyly remarks — suddenly cried out
“ Thieves ! ” with diabolical energy. The snoring
monks rushed disordered, each from his cell, and
detected their unlucky brother in the act of making
off with their plate. Excuse being impossible, they
tied the culprit to a column, and leaving him till
matins, when his punishment was to be determined,
went back to their pillows or their prayers. The
Devil, unseen during the confusion, re-appeared
when all was quiet, but this time in his most
hideous shape. Half dead with cold and terror, the
discomfited caricaturist stood shivering at his pillar,
while his tormentor made unmercifully merry with
him ; twitting him with his amorous overtures,
mocking his stammered prayers, and irreverently
suggesting an appeal for aid to the beauty he so
loved to delineate. The penitent wretch at last
took the advice thus jeeringly given — when lo ! the
Mother of Mercy, radiant in heavenly loveliness,
descended, loosed his cords, and bade him bind the
Evil One to the column in his place — an order
which, through her strength, he obeyed with not
less alacrity than astonishment. She further ordered
him to appear amongst the other monks at matins,
and charged herself with the task of restoring the
CHAP. 1.
3 2
INTRODUCTION.
CHAP. I.
stolen plate to its place. The tables were thus
suddenly turned. The friar presented himself
amongst his brethren to their no small surprise, and
voted with much contrition for his own condemna-
Legend of
Our Lady,
the Devil,
and the
Painter.
tion — a sentence which was, however, reversed, on
the sacristy being examined and its contents miracu-
lously found correct. As for the Devil, who re-
mained fast bound to the pillar, he was soundly
flogged, and so fell into the pit he had digged for
another. His dupe, on the other hand, gathered
new strength from his fall, and became not only a
wiser and a better man, but likewise an abler artist ;
for the experience of that terrible night had supplied
all that was wanting to the ideal of his favourite
subjects. Thenceforth he followed no more after
enticing damsels, but remained like a respectable
monk in his cloister, painting the Madonna more
serenely beautiful, and the Arch-enemy more curi-
ously appalling than ever.
Lope de Vega 1 relates a still stranger tale of a
painter, miraculously released by Our Lady from
toils in wdiicli the Evil One had enmeshed him.
Like the friar, this layman preferred those mys-
terious personages to all other themes ; with prayer
and the Eucharist he prepared himself for a picture
of the Virgin : and nightmare itself could suggest
1 El Peregrino ; Lib. ii. Obras ; tom. v., p. 97.
INTRODUCTION.
no form of horror with which he had not already
invested the Devil. Indignant at these proceedings,
the latter at last contrived that his persecutor should
fall desperately in love with a soldier’s wife, that she
should return his passion, and that they should
finally elope under cover of night. At the moment
of their escape, the fiend set the great hells of the
church a-ringing, and mingling in human shape
with the crowd that collected in the market-place,
he spread the report of the event. The friends of
the soldier immediately went in pursuit, and guided
by the same malicious intelligence, captured the
fugitives and lodged them in separate cells in the
city prison. Thither the husband repaired, and
there, having sufficiently upbraided his partner for
her infidelity, he cut off her long beautiful hair, once
his peculiar pride, and left her to her fate, which
was certain decapitation. Meanwhile the painter,
awaiting the same doom, commended himself to Our
Lady, and urged, in mitigation of his sin, the zeal
with which his pencil had striven to do honour to
her beauty. His prayers were crowned with singular
and signal success. Opening the prison doors, the
Blessed Mary appeared to the lovers as the angel of
their deliverance, and conducted them silently and
secretly, the one to his solitary lodging, the other to
her vacant place in the marriage-bed. At morn the
soldier, when he awoke, was confounded by finding
VOL. i. c
CHAP. i.
34
INTRODUCTION.
CHAP. I.
his wife by his side, and eagerly asked if her flight
and her shorn curls were then all a dream? “A
mere dream,” said the prudent spouse, “ to which
thy fear gives the semblance of reality ; for never
have I strayed from thy house, or harboured a
thought hurtful to our mutual honour.” Mistrust-
ful of her words, the man arose and searched for the
proofs which he had brought from the prison ; but
he not only missed “ those soft alluring locks ” from
their hiding-place, but found them growing on his
wife’s head in all their former beauty and abun-
dance. Still not altogether convinced, he went to
consult his friends, by whom he was assured that
his dishonour was indeed only too certain and too
public. On hearing his story, however, they flocked,
in eager amazement, to the prison, to satisfy them-
selves at least of the incarceration of the painter.
But his cell also was empty ; and the fortunate
Lothario was eventually found in his own studio, in
all the candour of innocence, preparing to evince his
secret gratitude by a new picture of the protectress
of his honour and his life. Thus was the Devil
once more foiled, and thus the citizens who had
been roused by the bells, the pursuers who had
captured the truants, the turnkey who barred the
prison, the husband who clipped the tresses, and
the gossips who told the tale, were made to be-
lieve, “ by the merits of Mary Our Lady,” that
INTRODUCTION.
35
they had dreamed a strange, vivid, and unanimous
dream.
These legends may serve as specimens of the
stories with which Spanish works on art are plenti-
fully garnished. They prove, at least, the intimate
connection of religion and art in Spain, and the
good understanding that subsisted between priests
and painters. But the grave and decorous taste of
the nation influenced the artists whose practice lay
chiefly in the Court, no less powerfully than it did
those who laboured exclusively for the Church. It
cannot be said that the Court of the Catholic Kings
of the Spains and the Indies was much more strict
in its morals than those of the most Christian sove-
reigns of France, or our own Defenders of the Faith.
Madrid, like Paris and London, never lacked its
Bassompierres and Rochesters : the race of Ports-
mouth and Pompadour flourished at Aranjuez as
freely as at Windsor and Versailles ; nor was the
post held by Ortiz and the Godoys a creation of the
Bourbons in Spain. But at the Spanish Court it is
certain that fewer indecorums were perpetrated on
canvas than at others ; and amongst all its painters,
not one either gained, like Pietro Liberi of Venice,
by his lascivious pictures, or deserved, the name of
“ Libertino.”
The Austrian princes descended of Charles V.
were all of them rigid formalists in religion and
CHAP. i.
Court
Painters in
Spain, in
general de-
corous in
their choice
of subjects.
Spanish
Princes not
fond of
3 6
INTRODUCTION.
CHAP. I.
etiquette, and seldom encouraged improper freedom
pictorial
improprie-
ties.
of tlie pencil. Philip II., indeed, in his youth,
suffered Titian to paint him indulging in that
singular pleasure, — offered two centuries later by
the profligate Augustus of Poland, after a drinking
bout at Dresden, to his boon companion, Frederick
William of Prussia, rejected by that intemperate
drill-sergeant with virtuous disgust, and described
with much animation by his daughter, 1 — the con-
templation of the charms of a Venus, unreservedly
abandoned to his gaze, and said to be those of his
faithless and haughty mistress, the Princess of Eboli.
That lady, it would appear, was nothing loath to
display her faultless form, holding the opinion
perhaps that —
— “ Beauty, without falsehood fair,
Needs nousrht to clothe it but the air 2
for in 1679 a portrait of her in the same character,
attended by Cupids, and probably, like the former,
the work of a foreigner, adorned one of the sump-
tuous chambers of the Castle of Buitrago, the ancient
seat of her lord, Buy Gomez de Silva.' 3 Her royal
lover, however, soon turned away his eyes from be-
holding such vanities ; and finally became so great a
1 Memoires de Fred&rique Sophie Wilhelmine de Prusse, Margrave de
Bareith, 2 tomes 8vo, Paris 1S11 — tom. i. p. 112.
2 Ben Jonson’s Works, ix. p. 67. — Gifford’s ed. Svo, 1816.
3 Mme. d’Aulnoy, Voyage en Espagne, tom. ii. p. 43.
INTRODUCTION. 37
purist in these matters of deficient drapery, that on
the arrival, at the palace, of Cellini’s magnificent
Crucifixion, his finest work in marble, a present from
the Grand Duke of Tuscany, he would not permit
the Infantas of Savoy and Flanders to see it till he
had arranged his handkerchief discreetly across the
figure, where monkish loyalty long revered it as a
relic. 1 In the times of Philip IV., the palmy days
of portrait painting and gallantry, not the freest fair
ones of the Court— neither Maria Calderona the
Spanish Nell G wynne, nor the beautiful Hippolita
d’Alby, nor the fearless Duchesse de Chevreuse, seem
ever to have loosed their zones in the studios after
the fashion of our Villierses and Stuarts — those
“ beauties of Sir Peter Lely,
Whose drapery hints we may admire them freely.” 2
The Spanish Charles II., who was so opposite in
mind and morals to his namesake and contem-
porary, our Merry Monarch, and to whom nothing
of his stern great-grandsire had descended but
the gloom and prudery of his old age, permitted
some foolish monks of the Escorial to employ the
CHAP. I.
1 Pacheco, Arte dc la Pintura, p. 632. Mr. Beckford speaks with rapture
of this “ revered image of the crucified Saviour, formed of the purest ivory,
which Cellini seems to have sculptured in moments of devout rapture and
inspiration.” — {Italy, with Sketches of Spain and Portugal; London, 8vo,
1834 — vol. ii. p. 320.) It is strange that this admirable and observing
writer should have taken a marble figure of the size of life for ivory.
2 Byron, Bon Juan, cant. xiii. st. 68.
INTRODUCTION.
CHAP. I.
pencil of Luca Giordano in letting down the robe
of Titian’s St. Margaret, because she slew her
dragon, to their thinking, with a too free exposure
of leg. 1
General
character
of Spanish
painting.
The general character of Spanish painting, there-
fore, is solemn and religious ; its compositions for
the most part dark and grand ; and its figures more
remarkable for the majesty and variety of draperies
than for display of anatomical skill. Spain being
the elysium of monks, the various religious orders,
“white, black, and grey,” were there delineated with
unusual force and frequency, as the most careless
observer will remark in traversing the Spanish
Painters of
the Religi-
ous Orders ;
Murillo,
Espinosa,
Carducho,
Zurbaran.
division of any large gallery. Murillo and Espinosa
were much employed by the friars who wore the
brown frock of St. Francis ; Carducho and Zur-
baran most affected the Carthusians, whose white
Roelas.
robes and hoods they managed with fine skill and
effect ; Roelas was the peculiar painter of the crafty
Models of
drapery
excellent,
and always
at hand.
and sable-stoled followers of Loyola. Subjects
of this kind naturally gave to the Spanish pencil
a great facility in dealing with drapery, of which
the national “ capa,” or cloak, worn alike by
Manchegan shepherd and serenading courtier, like-
wise afforded admirable studies in every street and
highway.
1 Cumberland’s Anecdotes , v. i. 65.
INTRODUCTION.
39
The school of Castile is generally distinguished
CHAP. I.
by a dark and sober style of colouring, grey back-
grounds, and clouded skies. One of its great
Colouring
— School
of Castile.
masters, however, El Mudo, imitated with success
El Mudo.
the splendour of Titian ; while another, El Greco,
who also had studied at Venice, played a hundred
fantastic tricks with colour, which amazed Toledo,
El Greco.
and injured his reputation. The female heads in
Castilian paintings, in those of Tristan especially,
are generally inferior in dignity and interest to the
male ; their features are too often coarse, and bear
the marks of being taken from models in whose
veins the blood of the Goth predominated over that
of the Moor.
Female
heads.
Tristan.
Moving southward, we enter fairer regions both in
nature and art. The tawny brown of the Castiles,
and the dismal snuff-coloured cloth (pano pardo)
that drapes the peasant who tills them, give place to
fields green and flowery, and mendicants flaunting
in blue and scarlet rags. The gay blossoms of the
cactus and oleander mantle the southern roots of
the sierra, and blush along the margin of the stream.
Vivid mulberry and violet hues brighten the canvases
of Valencia, reds and golden yellows enrich those of
Seville. The Madonnas and saintly women of the
painters of these schools reflect the grace and beauty
of the daughters of the south, whose arched brows,
lustrous eyes, and delicate features, are inherited
Southern
Schools ;
Andalusia
and Va-
lencia.
40
INTRODUCTION.
CHAP. I.
from Arabian mothers, and their Moslem lords, the
captors of Spain, “ who
“ ennobled her breed
And high-mettled the blood of her veins .” 1
Painters of
Seville fond
of subjects
of still life ;
The Sevillians were fond of introducing into their
pictures objects of still life — such as water-jars and
baskets of fruit and vegetables — which they painted
with admirable effect. These they had excellent
opportunities of studying in the weekly fair ( feria ),
where Murillo and many of his ablest compeers were
wont, in their early days, to gain a livelihood by
selling the rude productions of their pencil, which
they would retouch on the spot to suit the taste
their
“ bode-
gones."
of their homely customers. Some of their “ bode-
gones ” — kitchen pieces, as they are called — where
fish and game lie mingled with water-melons, citrons,
and the large olives of Andalusia, are works of high
Valencian
flower-
painters.
technical merit. The Valencian painters of still-
life chiefly affected the flowers that bloom so lavishly
in that soft delicious clime ; and have left flower-
pieces not excelled in dewy freshness and luxuriant
dyes by the most elaborate efforts of the garden
artists of Holland.
Spanish
painters
distin-
guished in
portrai-
ture.
In portraiture — the most useful and valuable de-
partment of painting, which lightens the labour and
1 Campbell, Lines written at sunset on the battlefield at Hastings.
INTRODUCTION.
points the tale of the historian and the biographer,
embalms beyond the arts of Egypt, and gives to
beauty centuries instead of years of triumph — the
Spaniard attained a proud eminence. All the
greatest painters of Spain have produced admirable
portraits. Joanes has been called the Spanish Rafael,
and in this branch of his art, he deserves that
proud title. If Velazquez and Murillo have not here
equalled the achievements of Titian and Vandyck,
it is not that the genius and skill of the Spaniards
were less, but that the fields of their famous rivals
were finer. The Senate of Venice, and the splen-
did throngs of the imperial court, the Lomellini
and Brignoli of Genoa, and the Herberts and
Howards of England, afforded better models of
manly beauty, than the degenerating nobility of
the court of Philip IV., and the clergy and gentry
of Seville.
With the beauty of high-born women — the finest
touchstone of skill — they were but seldom brought
into professional contact. The great portrait-painters
of Spain lived in an age of jealous husbands, who
cared not to set off to public admiration the charms
of their spouses. Velazquez came to reside at court
about the same time that Madrid was visited by Sir
Kenelm Digby, who had like to have been slain on
the night of his arrival for merely looking at a lady.
Returning with two friends from supper at Lord
41
CHAP. I.
Joanes.
Velaz-
quez and
Murillo not
inferior as
portrait-
painters to
Titian and
Vandyck.
Female
portraits
not com-
mon in
Spain.
Spanish
jealousy
the cause.
Sir K.
Digby's ad-
venture.
INTRODUCTION.
Bristol’s, the adventurous knight relates 1 how they
came beneath a balcony where a love-lorn fair one
stood touching her lute, and how they loitered there
awhile to admire her beauty, and listen to “ her soul-
ravishing harmony.” Their delightful contempla-
tions were soon rudely disturbed by the sound of
heavy footsteps, by arms glittering in the moonlight,
and the furious onset of “ fifteen men in mail, with
dark lanterns fixed on their bucklers ; ” when, had
not the lover of Venetia Stanley, who slew the
leader, been a tall man at his weapon, the streets of
Madrid would have been red with the blood of three
bold Britons, who, but a moment before, had been
“ sucking in the fresh air and pleasing themselves
in the coolness of the night ; ” and the story told,
not in the valiant swordsman’s own curious Memoirs,
but in Bristol’s next despatch, or by honest Howell
in a quaint letter.
Few grandees were content, like the Prince of
Eboli, that their wives should play Venus even to a
royal Mars. The Duke of Albuquerque, who, at the
door of his own palace, waylaid and horsewhipped
Philip IV. and Olivares , 2 feigning ignorance of their
persons, as the monarch came to pay a nocturnal
visit to the duchess, — was not very likely to call in
1 Private Memoirs, written by himself, London, 8vo, 1827, p. 154.
2 Madame d’Aulnoy, Relation du Voyage d' Espagne, 3 vols. i2mo, La
Haye, 1693 — vol. ii. 21, 22.
INTRODUCTION.
43
the court-painter to take her grace’s portrait. Ladies
CHAP. I.
lived for the most part in a sort of Oriental seclusion
amongst duennas, waiting- women, and dwarfs ; often
treated by their lords rather as menials than as
wives, and not sitting with them at table, but eating
apart, squatted on the floor “like Turks or journey-
men tailors,” as a surprised Frenchman wrote in his
travels ; 1 and going abroad only to mass, or to take
the air in curtained coaches on the Prado. It was
Habits of
female life.
not the fashion amongst them to sit for their like-
nesses, as is proved by the rare occurrence of female
portraits — of other than royal personages — in collec-
tions of Spanish pictures. Of the sixty-two works
of Velazquez, in the royal gallery at Madrid, there
are only four of this kind ; and of these, two repre-
sent children, another an ancient matron, and the
fourth his own wife.
Portraits
of Spanish
ladies rare.
Even when permitted to make the portrait of a
great lady, in the bloom of youth and beauty, the
painter of the seventeenth century had to contend
Female
costume.
with the difficulties of tasteless and even unsightly
Tasteless
dress.
1 See the amusing Voyage d' Espagne, i2mo, Cologne, 1667 (of which
an English translation was published in London, 1670) ; and also Mme.
d’Aulnoy ( Voyage , II. p. 108), who once attempted to conform to the
national attitude, out of politeness to a young Castilian hostess, — who
never doubted but that all the Countesses of “ the Faubourg ” sat cross-
legged on carpets, — but unsuccessfully, for, says she, “les jarnbes me
faisoient un mal horrible ; tantot je m’appuyois sur le coude, tantbt sur
le main ; enfin je renoncois h, diner.” It is satisfactory to know that a
gentleman of the party, more familiar with foreign customs, at last brought
her a chair.
44
INTRODUCTION.
CHAP. T.
costume. The fairest forms were thrust into long-
waisted corsets, stiff and unyielding as armour of
proof, and were disguised in hoops of monstrous cir-
cumference, — compared, for size, to roofs of houses 1
— in which all the bending lines of beauty were lost,
and the finest and the faultiest figures brought to
one conventional shape — that of a drum with a
Absurd
modes of
dressing
hair.
funnel planted in its top. Luxuriant tresses were
twisted, plaited, and plastered into such shape that
the fair head that bore them resembled the top of
a mushroom ; or curled and bushed out into an
Court
dresses.
amplitude of frizzle that rivalled the cauliflower wig
of an Abbe. 2 An ungainly mode also prevailed of
parting the hair at the side instead of the top of
the head, thus marring the symmetry and balance of
its outline, of which some wretched portraits in the
Spanish gallery of the Louvre, impudently ascribed
to Velazquez, might be cited as examples sufficiently
offensive and deterring.
The dresses worn by the great ladies of the Eoyal
Household on state occasions were admirable for
the purposes of disguise and disfigurement. The
Duchess of Terranova, the heiress of the Mexican
principality of Cortes, mounted on a mule, and
riding behind her graceful young mistress, Louisa
of Orleans, at that Queen’s solemn entry into Madrid,
1 Voyage d' Espagne, Cologne, 1667, p. 21.
2 Madame d’Aulnoy, Voyage en Espagne, tom. ii. p. 102.
INTRODUCTION.
doubtless looked singularly forbidding ; her sombre
nunlike widow’s weeds, crowned with an enormous
hat, being well adapted to display to the worst
advantage the pale wrinkled face and small sharp
eyes of that “terrible Camarera Mayor,” whose “I
will,” and “I won’t,” made the Court tremble . 1
The baffled rival, or the scolded maid-of-honour —
with any taste in dress — could have wished for no
severer punishment to overtake her than a portrait
drawn under these circumstances by a plain-speaking-
pencil. But the truth is, the perception of the pro-
prieties of costume was wanting, and the fashions
of the fair Spaniards who lived in an age which
offered to their charms the best chance of becoming-
historical, tended — certainly by no design of the
sweet sex — to second the wishes of their jealous
lords, and to conceal, rather than to set off their
attractions ; their black eyes, the finest in the world,
their pretty hands, skilled in the “nice conduct” of
the speaking fan ; and more than all, their feet, so
dainty and fairylike, of which a glimpse was one of
the last precious favours accorded to a lover’s sighs
and tears . 2
But worse than all these absurdities was the
abomination of rouge, which tinged not only the
1 Mme. d’Aulnoy, Memoires de la Cour d' Espagne, tom. i. pp. 104-
203.
2 Mine. d’Aulnoy, Voyage en Espagne, tom. ii. p. 126.
45
CHAP. I.
Universal
and extra-
vagant use
of rouge.
46
CHAP. I.
Ladies of
Vittoria.
Piouged
I statues.
INTRODUCTION.
cheeks, but also foreheads, ears, and chins, and was
likewise bestowed on the shoulders and hands. In
the reign of Philip IV., great was the consumption
of vermilion and white-lead on the morning of a
royal bull-feast. 1 The ladies of Vittoria — who, doubt-
less, affected the newest fashions of Madrid — not
a little astonished, by their ruddiness, the French
Countess who visited their city in 1679. Writing
of the theatre there, Madame d’Aulnoy says, 2 “ toutes
les dames que je vis dans cette assemblee avoient
une si prodigieuse quantity de rouge, qui commence
juste sous l’ceil, et qui passe du menton aux oreilles
et aux epaules, et dans les mains, que je n’ai jamais
I vh d’dcrevisses cuites d’une plus belle couleur.”
“Scarlet” was an epithet that might be properly
applied to other ladies besides her of Babylon — and
to be “ rosy-fingered ” was no longer peculiar to the
Morn. Had any Castilian Burns chanted beneath
j his mistress’s window or whispered in her ear that
she resembled “ a red, red rose,” the lattice would
have been indignantly shut, or the bard, perhaps,
might have had his own ears boxed, for a blockhead
and a dealer in truisms and prose. The very nymphs
and goddesses that figured amongst the statues
on the terrace of the royal palace of Madrid had
their marble cheeks and bosoms smeared with car-
1 Voyage d'Espagne, Cologne, 1667, p. 87.
2 Madame d’Aulnoy, Voyage en Espagne, tom. i. 57.
INTRODUCTION.
mine . 1 This perversion of taste at the toilette not
only destroyed the complexions of the court-beauties,
but, what is much more distressing to lovers of art, —
spoiled the female portraits of Velazquez and Carreno.
The second King of Prussia used to amuse his
leisure by taking likenesses of his grenadiers ; and
it is said that when he found his work too highly
coloured, he would daub the patient’s face with red
paint till it assumed the same fiery hue . 2 The
difficulty with the Spanish artists was, not to subdue
their tints, but to bring them up to the crimson
glow of their well-rouged sitters.
The royal portraits of the Austrian dynasty in
Spain afford ample evidence of the fine powers of
Spanish portrait-painters. That family — perhaps the
plainest— was also the best painted of the royal
houses of Europe. The noble features of the Stuart,
the regal port of the Bourbon, found rarely and at
long intervals a Vandyck or a Philippe de Cham-
pagne ; even the princely houses of Italy want a
series of able and honest chroniclers on canvas, such
as those who have transmitted to us the faces of their
Spanish contemporaries. The policy of the Catholic
kings curbed with a heavy hand the liberty of the
press ; their taste granted full freedom to the pencil.
CHAP. i.
Portraits
of Royal
person-
ages.
Excellence
of Court
portrait-
painters.
1 Madame d’Aulnoy, Voyage en Espagne, iii. p. 5.
2 Lord Dover’s Life of Frederick II., 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1832, vol. i.
p. 62.
INTRODUCTION.
48
INTRODUCTION.
CHAP. I.
While history, therefore, has caricatured by turns
the good and evil of their characters, painting has
told the truth and nothing but the truth of their
The char-
acters of
the Aus-
trian prin-
ces to be
read in
their por-
traits.
persons. Days of study in the library will but con-
firm and fill in the story we find sketched in their
portraits, where we see the intellectual force that
stamps the brow and mouth of the great Emperor re-
produced in the gloomier countenance of his terrible
son, visible, though in far fainter reflection, in the
features — but little changed in form — of Philip III.,
gradually fading from the lack-lustre eye and sensual
lip of Philip IV., and finally lost in the forlorn idiocy
that clouds the pale face of Charles II. It is in
Charles V.
and his
family.
the colours of Titian that the person of Charles V.
is so well known to the world ; and though he was
doubtless frequently painted by Spanish artists, no
example of a contemporary portrait is to be found
in the public galleries of Spain. The mild counte-
nance, however, of his Empress, Isabella of Portugal,
A. S.
Coello.
Philip II.,
his Queen
and chil-
dren.
has been preserved by the accurate pencil of Alonso
Sanchez Coello. Philip II., pourtrayed in his better
days by Titian, ere his cold features had lost the
freshness of youth, was often painted after he became
A. S.
Coello.
King, by his favourite Sanchez Coello, who has
recorded on several canvases the lines and wrinkles
Pantoja de
la Cruz.
as they gathered on his brow, between the victory of
St. Quentin and the loss of the Armada. Pantoja
de la Cruz has likewise drawn him, noting with
INTRODUCTION.
49
unshrinking fidelity the traces of the disease and
CHAP. I.
melancholy of his ghastly old age. Ilis queens, and
his sallow sickly children, and his gallant brother
Don Juan, fell, according to their dates, to the
pencils of More, Coello, and Pantoja, the latter of
whom seems to have been warmed into rivalry with
Titian by the sweet smile and superb complexion
and figure of the dark-eyed Isabella of Valois.
Pantoja was likewise the favourite portrait-painter of
Philip III.
and his
Philip III. and Queen Margaret, whom, with their
family.
Infants and Infantas, he frequently introduced into
Pantoja.
sacred compositions, flattering at once their vanity
and piety by grouping them, in peasant garb, round
the bed of St. Anne or the manger at Bethlehem,
in pictures of the Nativities of the Virgin and our
Lord. With Philip IV. the desire of multiplying
Philip IV.
his own image on canvas seems to have amounted to
a passion. Ilis long pale face and fiercely curling
moustachios are to be found on the walls of almost
every great gallery. Rubens painted him nearly as
Rubens.
often as he did his own peculiar patrons, the good
Archduke and Duchess, Albert and Isabella. Per-
haps more hours of the King’s life were spent in
the studio of Velazquez than in the Council of
Velazquez.
Castile. That great master has painted him in every
possible costume and circumstance — attired for the
field, the chase, and the pageant, on foot, on horse-
back, and kneeling in his oratory. For the beautiful
VOL. I. D
5°
CHAP. I.
Queens and
brothers of
Philip IV.
His chil-
dren.
Charles II.
and Queen
Louisa.
Carreuo.
Landscape
painting
little cul-
tivated.
INTRODUCTION.
Isabella of Bourbon, Philip’s first Queen, he has done
all that Vandyck did for her sister, our own Hen-
rietta Maria ; for the Infants Carlos and Ferdinand
all that was done by that famous Fleming for Prince
Ilupert and his brother. In his portraits of Mariana
of Austria, Isabella’s rather pretty successor, he has
left to all future great ladies some signal warnings
against extravagant modes of dressing the hair and
the use of rouge. He has saved from oblivion, by
many delightful pictures, the little round head of
Prince Balthazar Carlos, whose early death placed
him almost beneath the level of history ; and the
girlish beauty of the Infanta Margaret Maria and
her playmates blooms for all time in one of his most
remarkable w r orks. In the next reign, in the general
dearth of genius, the Court painter, Carreno de
Miranda, showed himself a man of talent and skill,
not only in his graceful portraits of the lovely Queen
Louisa of Orleans, but in the more arduous task of
grappling with King Charles the Second’s leaden
eye and projecting nether jaw, so as to transmit to
posterity an image— faithful, and yet not altogether
unpleasing — of the last withering branch of the
royal stock.
Landscape painting was but little cultivated in
Spain. The Vega of Granada, beautiful beyond the
praise of Arabian song; the delicious “garden” of
Valencia, where the azure-tiled domes of countless
INTRODUCTION.
5i
convents glittered amidst their groves of mulberry,
and citron, and palm ; the stern plains and sierras
of Castile ; the broad valley of the Guadalquivir,
studded with towered cities and goodly abbeys ; the
wild glens of the Alpuxarras ; the pine forests of
Soria, have found no Claude or Salvator to feel and
express their beauty and magnificence. Velazquez,
in all branches of his art a great master, has painted
some noble sketches of scenery, as Murillo also
has done, though in a less vigorous style. Mazo, a
Castilian, Iriarte a Biscayan, but belonging to the
school of Andalusia, and the Sevillian Antolinez, are
almost the only Spaniards who made the fields their
place of study, or whose doings there deserve much
notice.
CHAP. I.
Italian as well as Spanish art seems to afford
evidence that the beauties of nature are not most
keenly felt where they are most lavishly bestowed.
The scenery of Italy has been studied with greater
zeal and better results by foreigners than by her own
sons. Salvator Rosa, the best of her native land-
scape-painters, does not generally dwell on the finest
and most attractive features of that glorious land.
Three Frenchmen — Gelde, Poussin, and Dughet,
whom fate might have detained in Normandy and
Lorraine, were the first to do pictorial justice to the
sky and atmosphere of Italy — to her classic ruins
and tall umbrageous pines, her ancient rivers wind-
Landscape
painters
not gene-
rally born
amongst
fine sce-
nery.
52
CHAP. I.
Painters of
landscape
abound in
the North.
Best pain-
ters of
Italian
scenery
foreigners.
INTRODUCTION.
ing through storied fields, and the soft and sunny
shores of her blue Mediterranean.
It is not till we leave the regions of noble land-
scapes, grand architecture, and picturesque popula-
tion, that we reach the lands most prolific of painters
capable of doing justice to these things. While far
finer subjects for the pencil lay unheeded around the
artists of Spain and Italy, the Fleming and the
Hollander committed to canvas every varying aspect
of their cloudy skies and leaden seas, and canals
creeping wearily through interminable flats of lush
pasturage — and studied their mills and their gardens,
their brick-built streets and trim white-washed
churches, with a zeal worthy of a better cause.
The august cathedrals of Seville and Leon, the
sumptuous mansions of Valencia, the mosques and
palaces of Moorish Spain, want their Steenwyks
and their Neefs ; the fierce sports of the bull-ring
and the wild herds of Utrera and Jarama, their
Cuyp and Wouvermans, Sneyders and Potter ; the
posada, with its gay and motley throngs, has no Jan
Steen and Ostade, nor the joyous “dance and sun-
burnt mirth ” of the Andalusian vintage a Teniers
or a Rubens.
In Italy, the omissions of native artists were
supplied by their foreign disciples, whose imagina-
tion was readily caught by all that was picturesque
and peculiar in its life and scenery. Thither
INTRODUCTION.
53
students flocked yearly from the north, full of the
curiosity and ardour of youth, and eager to see, to
learn, and to labour. They saw at once that the sea
and sky of Gaeta and Naples were brighter than
those they had known in Guelderland and Brabant ;
that Venice, with its canals margined with Palladian
palaces, was fairer and fitter for the purposes of art
than Amsterdam ; that the villas of the Medici were
not as the rural retreat of Vanderhulk ; and that
the weeds of the Flavian amphitheatre were better
than all the tulips of Haarlem. As mere tyros —
and perhaps as heretics — on arriving at Home or
Florence, they were not immediately retained by
princes and cardinals, and worn out by intense
labours prosecuted on ladders and dizzy scaffold-
ings ; but they were left at liberty to indulge fresh
emotions and gather new ideas, to sketch as they
listed the hoary ruin or the classic costume, and to
study and enjoy the new face with which nature
shone and smiled around them. Thus it was that
the great French painters of landscape turned, half
by accident, out of the beaten roads of art into
the path that led them to fame ; thus it was
that Both and Swanevelt divined the secrets of
their craft, and acquired that mastery’over the atmos-
phere of the south which covers their faults as
with a shield of gold, and makes their pictures,
when met with in a northern gallery, cheer and
CHAP. i.
54
CHAP. I.
Few for-
eign pain-
ters of
landscape
in Spain.
The great or
painters of
Spain in
general
natives.
Spanish art
long un-
known to
the rest of
Europe.
INTRODUCTION.
delight us like a burst of sunshine in an English
winters day.
But it was otherwise in Spain. There stranger
artists came— as we shall see — with few exceptions,
at the invitation of the great, to display, not to im-
prove their genius, and to perform in fresco or on
canvas feats similar to those which had won the
applause of Brussels or of Rome ; and therefore had
no leisure to bestow on scenes and subjects neglected
by the native pencil. Cambiaso was too much in
love, Zuccaro too conceited, Rubens too busy in
politics as well as painting, to glean after El Mudo,
Joanes, and Ribalta.
Many of the foreign auxiliaries of Italian art
became naturalised in their new country ; they were
made free of the academies, and after their death,
were sometimes claimed as native Italians by their
Italian biographers. Amongst the greater painters
of Spain, only three foreigners are reckoned, — the
Fleming Campana, the Greek Theotocopuli, and the
Florentine Vincenzio Carducci — the latter of whom
came to Madrid in his childhood, and lived and died
a good Castilian.
The fame of Spanish painters, like the honour of
certain crowned heads , 1 long suffered from their
1 The witty Prince de Ligne, in his Vie du Prince Engine, makes
his hero thus remark on the politic and cautious Head of his House —
“ Voilk le Puc de Savoie, pour quelque temps le meilleur Autrichien du
INTRODUCTION.
55
geographical position. Till the present century,
little was known, on this side the Pyrenees, of the
arts of the Peninsula. Ribera — the “ Spagnoletto ”
and favourite of Naples — whose passion for the
horrible was little likely to produce a favourable
impression of Spanish taste, was long the sole
Spaniard whose name and works were familiar to
Europe. At Rome, Vargas, Cespedes, and a few
others had acquired some distinction in their day ;
and Velazquez had left a few portraits in the palaces,
and enjoyed a traditionary reputation as a member
of the academy of St. Luke. Few Spanish pictures
travelled northwards, except the royal portraits sent
to imperial kinsfolk at Vienna, and the works now
and then carried home from Madrid by tasteful
ambassadors. The catalogues of the rich collection
of our Charles I. do not contain the name of a single
Spanish master. Evelyn * 1 indeed tells us, that, at the
sale of Lord Melford’s effects at Whitehall, in 1693,
“ Lord Godolphin bought the picture of the Boys, by
Morillio, the Spaniard, for eighty guineas,” which,
he remarks, was “ deare enough.” 2 Yet Curnber-
monde. Sa conduite, que je ne veux pas justifier, me rappelle celle que
les Dues de Lorraine ont tenue autre fois, ainsi que les Dues de Baviere.
La Geographic les ernpechc d'etre honnetes gens." — Melanges Historiques
et Litteraires, 5 tomes, 8vo, Paris, 1829, tom. v. p. 29.
1 Memoirs of John Evelyn, 5 vols. 8vo, London, 1827, v. iii. p. 325.
2 [A writer in Fraser's Magazine, vol. xxxviii. (September 1S48), p. 307,
says, “About the year 1760, the then Lord Godolphin took a fancy to a
colt belonging to a Mr. Leathes, of Herringlleet Hall, in Suffolk, which
CHAP. I.
Name of
Murillo
early
known in
England.
56
INTRODUCTION.
CHAP. I.
land, 1 nearly a century later, while he admits Murillo
to be better known in England than any Spanish
master except Ribera, “ very much doubts if any
historical group or composition of his be in English
Spanish
painters
known in
France in
eighteenth
century.
hands.” The Bourbon accession and increased in-
tercourse with Spain brought a few good Spanish
paintings into France to adorn the galleries of
Orleans, Praslin, and Presle, most of which at the
Dictum of
the Abbh
Dubos.
Revolution emigrated, like their possessors, to Eng-
land. Yet the Abbe Dubos, in his Reflections on
Poetry and Painting, first published in 1719, cites 2
Spain as one of those unfortunate countries where
the climate is unfavourable to art, and remarks that
she had produced no painter of the first class, and
scarcely two of the second ; thus with one stroke
of his goosequill erasing from the book of fame
Velazquez and Cano, Zurbaran and Murillo. Never-
theless the Abbd was a man of curious reading and
research, — for he made the discovery that the poetry
resembled his celebrated Arabian, and gave this very picture in ex-
change for it. The painting is now in Mr. J. F. Leathes’ valuable
gallery at Herringfleet. The signature, ‘ Morellio,’ which appears on
the picture, is in curious accordance with Evelyn’s orthography.”
Curtis states, Velazquez and Murillo , roy. 8vo, New York, 1883, p.
291, that the picture was (in 1883) in the gallery of Hill M. Leathes,
Esq., Herringfleet Hall, Lowestoft, Suffolk, and adds that, at the Earl
of Godolphin’s sale by Christie, June 6, 1803, No. 58 (Spanish Beggar
Boys), sold for .£257, 15s. — E d.]
1 Anecdotes , ii. p. 101.
2 Reflexions Critiques sur la Po'esie et sur la Pemture, sixibme Edition,
3 tomes, 4 to, Paris 1755, tom. ii. p. 148.
INTRODUCTION.
of the Dutch was superior in vigour and fire of
fancy to their painting ; 1 and his Reflections —
which formed the last round of the literary ladder
whereby he climbed into the Academy — passed
unquestioned through many editions, and were
praised by Voltaire as the best and most accurate
work of the kind in modern literature. Mean-
while the countless treasures of Spanish painting —
thus triumphantly libelled — hung neglected in their
native convents and palaces, far from the high-
ways of Europe, wasting their beauty on gloomy
walls, unstudied, unvisited, forgotten, except by a
few tasteful and patient spirits, like Ponz and
Bosarte.
But the time of their deliverance drew nigh. The
French eagles swooped on the Peninsula, and then
was the wall of partition broken down that shut out
Spanish art from the admiration of Europe. To
swell the catalogue of the Louvre was part of the
recognised duty of the French armies ; to form a
gallery for himself had become the ambition of
almost every military noble of the empire. The sale
of the Orleans, Calonne, and other great collections,
had made the acquisition of works of art fashionable
in England, and had revived the spirit of the elder
Arundels and Oxfords in the Carlisles and the
CHAP. i.
Exporta-
tion of
pictures
during the
War of
Independ-
ence in
Spain.
1 R(Jlcxions Critiques sur la Poesie et sur la Pcinture, sixikme Edition,
3 tomes, 4to, Paris 1755, tom. ii. p. 142.
58
INTRODUCTION.
CHAP. I.
Gowers. With the troops of Moore and Wellesley,
Daring
picture-
dealers.
British picture-dealers took the field, well armed
with guineas. 1 The Peninsula was overrun by
dilletanti, who invested galleries with consummate
skill, and who captured altar-pieces by brilliant
manoeuvres, that would have covered them with
Plundering
French
com-
manders.
stars had they been employed against batteries
and brigades. Convents and cathedrals — venerable
shrines of art — were beset by connoisseurs, provided
with squadrons of horse or letters of exchange, and
demanding the surrender of the Murillos or Canos
within ; and priest and prebend, prior or abbot,
seldom refused to yield to the menaces of death or
to the temptation of dollars. Soult at Seville, and
Sebastiani at Granada, collected with unerring taste
and unexampled rapacity ; and having thus sig-
nalised themselves as robbers in war, became no less
King
Joseph pil-
fers with
judgment.
eminent as picture-dealers in peace. King Joseph
himself showed great judgment and presence of
mind in his selection of the gems of art which he
snatched at the last moment from the gallery of the
Bourbons, as he fled from their palace at Madrid.
Suchet, Victor, and a few of “ the least erected
spirits,” valued paintings only for the gold and
jewels on their frames ; but the French captains in
general had profited by their morning lounges in the
1 See Buchanan's Memoirs of Painting.
INTRODUCTION.
Louvre, and had keen eyes as well for a saleable
picture as for a good position . 1
By the well-directed efforts of steel and gold,
Murillo and his brethren have now found their way,
with infinite advantage to their reputation, to the
banks of the Seine and the Iser, the Thames and the
Neva. French violence and rapine, inexcusable in
themselves, have had some redeeming consequences.
The avarice of Joseph and his robber-marshals, by
circulating the works of the great Spanish masters,
has conferred a boon on the artists of Europe. Nor
is the loss to Spain so serious as it may at first
appear. Great as was their booty, the plunderers
left behind, sorely against their will, treasures more
precious than those which they carried away ; and
the rich remainder is now more highly valued than
the whole ever was, and more carefully preserved.
A review of the various collections of Spanish
paintings now existing in the royal and public
galleries of Europe, will show that the painters of
Spain can still be studied nowhere so effectually as
on their native soil.
The Royal Museum of Madrid far exceeds all
others in the variety and splendour of its Spanish
pictures. This Museum, where Rafael appears as
1 The Handbook for Spain tracks Soult and Co. through the scenes
of their sacrilegious robberies with unwearied vigour, and a lash always
keen, ready, and richly deserved.— See Seville, Granada, — Valencia— &c.
59
CHAP. I.
Effects of
French
rapine and
English
commerce.
No public
galleries
in Europe
so rich in
Spanish
pictures as
those of
Spain.
Madrid
Real
Museo.
6o
INTRODUCTION.
CHAP. I.
great as at Home, Rubens as vigorous and versatile
as at Antwerp and Munich, Claude as sunny and
gladdening as in London and Paris, and into which
the palaces of Madrid, Aranjuez, the Prado, San
Ildefonso, and the Escorial, have poured their trea-
sures to form the richest gallery in the world, is one
of the few honourable monuments of the reign of
Ferdinand VII. That royal Vandal has, however,
little merit in the affair ; he was tired of his here-
ditary Titians, which he thought injured the effect
of his Parisian upholstery, and therefore sent them
up to the garrets ; the honour is due to his first
Queen, Maria Isabel of Braganza, whose taste and
public spirit conceived and executed the design. 1
The structure — of brick with granite pillars and
coignings — does some credit to the architect, Villa-
nueva ; its massive cornices and long colonnades
form the chief architectural feature of the avenues
of the Prado, famous in history and romance. But,
having been originally intended for a scientific in-
stitution, it is inferior in internal convenience to some
of the new’ Pinacotheks of Germany, and the long
central gallery and its vestibules are the only apart-
ments that possess the advantage of sky-light. These
favoured regions are appropriated to the patrician
pictures of Italy, while those by Velazquez, Murillo,
1 For a full, accurate, and agreeable account of this gallery see Hand-
book — Madrid.
INTRODUCTION.
and their countrymen are crowded into two side rooms
and some smaller chambers below stairs, where the
windows are few and far between ; and some of them
have even been thrust into the outer darkness of the
corridors. Besides being badly lighted, the Spanish
collection is also far less complete than it might
easily be made ; for you will look in vain for several
names of renown, such as Correa, Berruguete, and
Tristan 1 in the catalogue of Don Pedro Madrazo
( Catdlogo de los Cuadros del Reed Museo, Madrid
1843, 12 mo, pp. 435), a work accurate indeed as far
as dates and figures go, but in which a few historical
notices of the more remarkable articles are greatly
to be wished for. 2 But here, and here alone, is
Velazquez to be seen in all his glory, as the painter
of history, landscape and low life, of courtly portraits
and solemn altar-pieces, and here he may be studied
in sixty first-rate pictures. Of Murillo there are
forty-six excellent specimens ; and Joanes, Morales,
Cano, and Zurbaran, all contribute a variety of fine
works. Many good pictures are also to be found
here by artists like Pereda, Collantes, Escalante,
and Pareja, whose names have hardly crossed the
1 [Correa and Berruguete are still unrepresented, but there has been
added one portrait by Tristan (Catdlogo, 1S89, No. 1048 ). — Ed.]
2 [This want has been amply supplied in the new catalogue by Don
Pedro de Madrazo, published in 1872, which is descriptive and historical
in regard to both artists and pictures. The pictures have, however, been
renumbered, and we have added the new numbers to the references here
given. — Ed.]
61
CHAP. I.
62
CHAP. I.
Madrid
Real Aca-
demia deS.
Fernando.
INTRODUCTION.
seas and mountains that bound the Peninsula. It
is much to be regretted that the dangerous and
often fatal process of cleaning, of which some of the
finest Rafaels were the first victims when in the
Louvre, has been carried on here, in what is called
the restoring-room, with a vigour very unusual in
Spain, and an audacity not exceeded in France.
The manly touch of Velazquez, and the delicate
vapoury tones of Murillo have, in too many instances,
disappeared beneath masses of fresh paint, flat and
hard, as if they had been laid on with a pallet-knife
or a trowel.
The Royal Academy of St. Ferdinand, founded in
17 52 by Ferdinand VI., 1 possesses a collection of
about three hundred paintings, which are placed in a
suite of apartments in the vast palace in the Calle de
Alcald, which the Academy shares with the Museum
of Natural History. There is no catalogue here, 2 and
what is worse, in some of the rooms no light. Here
are good specimens of Bias del Prado, Pereda, Cin-
cinato, and Orrente ; and here also are the wonderful
“St. Isabel of Hungary,” and the “Dream of the
Roman Patrician,” masterpieces of Murillo, stolen
from Seville by the French, and dishonestly detained
by the Government of the day when sent back from
the Louvre.
1 Estatutos de la Real Academia de S. Fernando — 8vo, Madrid, 1 757, p. 6.
2 [A catalogue was printed in 1824 — see note, infra, chap, xvi.]
INTRODUCTION.
6 3
The National Museum is a vast collection of
pictures of all degrees of merit, formed for the nation
out of the spoils of the religious houses, under the
auspices of the Regent Espartero. The desecrated
monasteries of Spain have been turned to strange
uses, and have become barracks, hospitals, museums,
manufactories, theatres, bull-rings, or quarries, accord-
ing to the wants of their respective localities. Thus
the great convent of the Trinidad, of which the long
brick facade with its tall flanking towers forms a
principal object in the Calle de Atocha, and the front
enclosure, affording a nestling place for book-stalls,
serves as the Paternoster Row of the unliterary
capital, has been chosen as the magazine of the
artistic property of the nation. The pictures, which
stand much in need of weeding, arrangement, and
light, fill the upper and lower cloisters or galleries
which surround the quadrangle, and also the chapel,
refectory, and several other apartments. The museum
was opened in 1840; but Spaniards being — as a
Castilian foreign secretary once serenely observed to
an impatient French minister 1 — men and not birds,
five years have not sufficed for the preparation of a
catalogue. When published, it is to be hoped it
chap. 1.
Museo
Nacional.
1 M. de Louville writes thus to Torey, May ioth, 1701 : — “Quand on
presse Don Antonio de Ubilla d’exp6dier les ddpeches de six semaines,
il rdpond avec un beau sang froid — ‘ En Espagne les bommes ne sont
‘pas des oiseaux.’” See Correspondence, of the Honourable Alexander
Stanhope, edited by Lord Mahon, sm. 8vo, London, 1844, p. 195.
INTRODUCTION.
64
CHAP. 1.
Toledo :
Cathedral.
will connect with each of the best pictures the name
of the convent whence it was taken. The collection
contains a few Italian paintings, and some valuable
works of the older Flemings and Germans, by which
its monotony is relieved. Velazquez, whose pencil
w r as more employed in the palace than the cloister,
is here represented only by two portraits of moderate
merit. Cano, Zurbaran, and Murillo, wdiose connec-
tions were more conventual, appear to greater advan-
tage. But the contents of the museum having been
contributed chiefly by the monasteries around Madrid
and Toledo, the productions of the Castilian school
far outnumber those of the others. Vincencio Car-
ducho is the presiding genius of the place : his long
series of paintings from the Chartreuse of Paular
display a vigour of imagination worthy of Bubens,
and cover acres of canvas, which might have
astonished, (as perhaps they did) Luca Fa Presto
himself. Correa, one of the earliest, and Sebastian
Munoz, one of the last of the great Spanish masters,
may likewise be best known and appreciated in this
gallery.
Toledo possesses no museum, but its venerable
metropolitan church is a treasury and monument of
Castilian art. The grand portals and beautiful choir
display the fine fancy and manual skill of the elder
sculptors and their classical successors, while the
chapels and chapter-rooms are rich with the works
INTRODUCTION.
of Juan de Borgona, El Greco, and other Toledan
painters.
The Museum of Valladolid contains many works
of art which enriched the monastic houses of Old
Castile and Leon, and which were saved from
destruction in the civil war by the energy of Don
Pedro Gonzalez, director of the Academy, to whose
glory be it recorded ! It occupies the ancient Col-
lege of Santa Cruz, one of the six greater colleges
of Spain. Founded, in 1494, by the Grand Cardinal
Mendoza, this noble Gothic pile has been gently dealt
with by the restorers and destroyers of after-times,
and retains much of its pristine magnificence. The
ornate fa§ade looking on the Plaza, the simpler
garden front, and the rich court within, are well
preserved and neatly kept. The pictures here, of
the highest historical interest, are those by Rubens,
which once belonged to the nuns of Fuen-Saldana,
and were refused by that sisterhood to a grandee,
high in the court of Ferdinand VI. , who offered to
give them a magnificent new altar-piece and double
revenues in exchange ; 1 and which afterwards figured
in the Louvre of Napoleon. Amongst Spanish
painters — Carducho, Pereda, and Josef Martinez are
1 Bosarte, Victje Artlstico , p. 144. In Conder’s Description of Spain
and Portugal, i2mo, London, v. ii. p. 142, it is said that the offer was
made by Charles III., with this difference, that he promised a new
convent instead of an altar-piece.
VOL. 1. E
6 5
CHAP. I.
Vallado-
lid : Museo.
66
INTRODUCTION.
CHAP. I.
pre-eminent in this museum. But the collection
shines rather in sculpture than in painting. The
bronze monuments of .the Duke of Lerma and his
Duchess attest the skill of the Italian Leoni. It is
Zaragoza
and Bar-
celona.
here that the classical Berruguete, and Juan de Juni
and Hernandez — whose statues of painted wood rival
in life and spirit the marbles of Greece — must be
studied ; they are the tutelars of the place. This
museum enjoys the advantage — rare in Spain — of
possessing a catalogue, which is to be found in
Julian Pastor’s “ Compendio Historico Descriptivo
de Valladolid. Ibid. 1843.”
In Arragon and Catalonia, where art never
flourished, the monasteries were less rich in artistic
embellishment, and in the troublous times were
handled more severely than in the other provinces of
Spain. The Museums of Zaragoza 1 and Barcelona,
occupying, as usual, old conventual buildings, have
therefore little beyond good intentions to recom-
mend them.
1 Cordoba.
Andalusia, a garden of nature and art, possesses
three public museums of painting — at Cordoba,
Seville, and Cadiz. The first of these, established
in one of the dingiest convents of the dull decaying
city of the Caliphs, consists of but a few canvases,
1 There is no museum at Zaragoza, hut there are a few pictures in the
Academy of San Luis. A museum is projected in a convent church,
which was full of firewood (1849).
INTRODUCTION.
67
singularly dirty and degraded. The last occupies
part of a new Academy of Design in the Plaza de
Mina, and, as its chief ornaments, can show only
some doubtful Murillos and second-rate Zurbarans,
which do little credit to the taste of opulent Cadiz.
The Museum of Seville, however, nobly vindicates
the genius of Andalusia. Filled with many of the
fine works, once so thickly scattered amongst the
rich convents of that beautiful city, it is one of the
most characteristic and delightful shrines of art in
Europe. The edifice, formerly the Monastery of the
Merced, an order whose pious business it was to
redeem Christian captives from the Infidel, when
as yet there were friars in Seville, and corsairs in
Algiers and Sallee, — was first erected in 1249 by
St. Ferdinand, and sumptuously rebuilt in the time
of Charles V. It stood embosomed in a spacious
garden, now a waste of weeds and rubbish, amidst
which a tall cypress rises solitary and spectre-like.
Part of this garden is about to be built upon, and a
part added to the little Plaza del Museo, where the
citizens talk of erecting the statue of Murillo. The
interior of the building, however, is probably as well
kept as in the days of the monks, and is a fine
specimen of the wealthy convent of a southern
clime. The principal court is of elegant design ;
its cloisters are supported by light coupled columns
of white marble, placed on a basement enriched with
chap. 1.
Cadiz.
Seville :
Museo.
!
68
INTRODUCTION.
CHAP. I.
bright tiles ; a fountain murmurs pleasantly in the
centre, around it flowers breathe their fragrance,
some strutting peacocks spread their plumes, and
two noble weeping willows droop their green and
graceful boughs, tempering the sunshine and whisper-
ing in the breeze. The sole relics of the banished
religious are the Cross of St. John, and the Bars of
Catalonia — the arms of their order — emblazoned on
the rich ceilings, or carved on the curiously panelled
doors, and a bad picture or two, wherein turbaned
Turks, sitting arrogant and cross-legged, receive
bags of money from white-robed friars — grotesque,
but yet touching memorials of these meek soldiers
of Christ, and their bloodless beneficent crusades. 1
The holy images and inscriptions that once adorned
the walls are gone ; Our Lady of Mercy and St.
Hermenegild have been supplanted in their niches on
the grand and richly decorated staircase by plaster
casts of Venus and the Apollino — and the light
and lofty church, with gilding and gay frescoes, has
been transformed into a hall, of which the walls
are clothed with the great compositions of Castillo
and Herrera, Zurbaran, Bo el as, and Murillo. An
upper gallery over the principal cloister is also filled
with pictures, as well as some chambers opening
1 For an account of these “Padres de la limosna,” see the curious
“ Topographia e Eistoria General de Argel, por el M. Fray Diego de
Haedo, Ahad de Fromesta.” Folio. Valladolid, 1612.
INTRODUCTION.
69
from it — one of which, badly lighted by a single
window, is appropriated to a matchless collection of
eighteen of Murillo’s finest works. In pictures by
artists who lived and laboured at Seville, this museum
is richer than any other ; here Zurbaran and Murillo
appear in their full strength, and Valdes Leal,
Meneses, Marquez, and some others less generally
known, show themselves to have been men of mark
and likelihood. But in specimens of the other
schools it is very deficient; even Velazquez, a
Sevillian by birth and education, though early re-
moved to Madrid, makes no sign in the gallery of
his native place. Little pains seem to have been
bestowed in cleaning and restoring the pictures,
most of which remain in the dry, dusty, and even
tattered state in which they left their native cloisters,
and would afford fine scope for the exertions of the
gentlemen of the Queen’s “restoring room.” Those
which have been newly framed show the taste of the
Director of the institution to be curiously bad ; for
example, the eighteen pictures by Murillo, mentioned
above, have frames painted to imitate a sort of
brown marble, and also, it would appear, their own
prevailing tones. It is to be hoped that the “ very
loyal, very noble, and unconquered city of Seville,”
will find ere long a little money and a little judgment
to rectify these things ; to open a few sky-lights in
the upper rooms, and to publish a catalogue.
CHAP. I
?o
INTRODUCTION.
CHAP. I.
The chapel of the University has likewise been
Seville :
Chapel of
the Uni-
versity.
opened as a museum, under the auspices of Don
Manuel Lopez Cepero, the learned and ingenious
Dean of Seville. Besides the fine monumental
bronzes and marbles, rescued from the wreck of
Chapel of
the Hos-
pital de la
Caridad.
convents, it contains some excellent pictures by
Roelas. The gorgeous chapel of the Hospital of
Charity — though its walls were cruelly bared by
Soult — is still rich in masterpieces of Murillo.
Several of his fairest creations likewise adorn the
Cathedral.
chapels and sacristies of the magnificent cathedral,
where are also to be found the finest existing works
of Esturmio, Vargas, Campana, and Villegas, the
patriarchs of Sevillian painting.
Valencia :
Museo.
Valencia has a museum of between six and seven
hundred pictures, 1 almost entirely of its own fine
school. Entering the city from the acacia-shaded
banks of the Turia, by the gate of St. Joseph, a few
steps bring you under the high and massive walls of
the ancient convent of the Carmen, of which the
chapel, standing forward from the pile, and con-
spicuous for its florid fagade of the Ionic and Corin-
thian orders, now serves as a parish church. The
rest of the building is devoted to the museum, and
is divided into two courts, in each of which four tall
palms, rising from amidst neglected flowers, lift their
1 Manual clc Forastcros en Valencia, por J. G. ; Valencia, 1841, p. 120.
INTRODUCTION.
71
pillar-like stems and plumy heads to the brilliant
sky, assorting well with the Oriental character of
the many-domed city of the Cid. Of these courts,
one has an open and Gothic-vaulted cloister, wains-
cotted with gay tiles — now much broken — on which
sacred histories are painted and pious quatrains in-
scribed. The other is surrounded above and below
by closed galleries, in which, and in the staircase,
are gathered, as into one focus, the chief treasures
of native painting, from the various religious houses
that studded the rich plains and pleasant valleys
between the Segura and the Ebro. Marshal Suchet,
who directed the French ravages and rapine in this
province, -was, happily, curious only in church plate
and jewels, and spared the pictures — not being
aware, like his better-educated peers, of their
marketable value. Hence it is that so many
exquisite and elaborate works of Joanes, and power-
ful compositions of the Ribaltas, have found their
way into this museum ; and also a positive super-
fluity of specimens of the diligent Borras, and the
unequal Geronimo Espinosa. Still the collection —
even as regards Valencian masters — is by no means
complete, which may be attributed partly to the
ingenuity of the poor monks in saving, or as the
lay-appropriators call it, purloining, their favourite
pictures at the suppression of their monasteries ;
and partly to the ignorance or dishonesty of the
CHAP. I.
1
72
INTRODUCTION.
CHAP. I.
people employed to form the gallery, who here, as
in other provinces, too often garnered the chaff and
cast the wheat away. According to the custom of
Spanish museums, the light is defective, and a cata-
logue wanting. The old enduring gilding of many
finely-carved frames gives a rich effect to the walls ;
but the paintings are much overcrowded, and hung
with so little care that one or two tall canvases
Valencia :
Cathedral ;
have actually been placed lengthways, as if pictures
were bricks, and the one thing needful in their
arrangement was to build them into a close compact
mass. The keeper of the gallery, however, is an
artist, and far better acquainted with the history of
art than is common with such officials, especially in
Spain.
The great rambling cathedral contains some
excellent paintings by Joanes, Ribera, and Orrente ;
Colegio del
Corp. Chr.
Academia
de S.
Carlos.
the College of Corpus Christi, the masterpieces
of the elder Ribalta ; and the Academy of San
Carlos, a few good pictures of various schools and
climes.
Public col-
lections of
Spain
might be
improved
by ex-
changing
with each
other their
superfluous
pictures.
The public collections of Spain would be greatly
improved by a little judicious barter with each other.
The National Museum of Madrid might, for example,
give from its abundance a series of Castilian paint-
ings to that of Valencia, in exchange for some of the
endless productions of Borras, Espinosa, and others :
while the Sevillians might buy with a portion of
INTRODUCTION.
73
their native wealth specimens of the other schools.
The Queen of Spain possesses sixty-two pictures by
Rubens, fifty-five by Giordano, fifty -three by Teniers,
forty-nine by Breughel, twenty-seven by Tintoret,
twenty-five by Sneyders, twenty-two by Vandyck,
and sixteen by Guido. Of each of these masters
her Majesty might easily exchange a specimen with
the national collections, in order to complete the
Spanish department of her gallery, which would thus
be rendered perfect as well as unrivalled.
CHAP. I.
Leaving the Peninsula and its convent-museums,
Foreign
collections
we shall find elsewhere but few public galleries
which possess a sufficient number of Spanish
pictures to be called a collection. The ex-King
of the French 1 has made a more serious attempt to
form one than any other monarch of our times. His
of Spanish
pictures.
“ Galerie Espagnole,” in the Louvre, purchased in
Spain by the active Baron Taylor, consists of four
hundred and fourteen pictures ; and the “ Collection
Standish ” — bequeathed to his Majesty by an English
gentleman — one hundred and forty-five pictures and
two hundred and fourteen sketches and drawings by
Spanish masters. As regards size, therefore, the
Spanish gallery of Louis Philippe falls very little
short of that of Isabel II. The catalogues — for the
most part accurate and excellent in their historical
Paris :
Louvre.
1 [Louis Philippe. His collection was sold by auction at Messrs.
Christie and Manson’s rooms, London, in May 1853. — Ed.]
74 INTRODUCTION.
CHAP. I.
notices — abound in high names ; they enumerate
fifty-two works of Murillo, twenty-three of Velazquez,
twenty-five of Cano, and no less than eighty-two of
Zurbaran ; and specimens of almost every painter of
note from ancient Rincon, who painted Isabella the
Catholic, down to modern Goya, who painted Maria
Louisa the Unchaste. But it is no less true than
lamentable, that the walls of the gallery bitterly
belie the promise of the catalogues, and that a very
large proportion of the paintings fathered on the
finest masters, consists of mere copies or imitations
by scholars or admirers, or of baser forgeries — the
refuse of the studio and the sale-room. Some grains of
pure gold, however, sparkle here and there amongst
the dross ; for example, “ The Adoration of the Shep-
herds,” 1 and “View of the Escorial,” by Velazquez;
Murillo’s “Christ and St. John on the banks of
Jordan;” his “Charity of St. Thomas of Villanueva ;” 2
his “Virgin of the Conception;” and portraits of
himself and his mother; Zurbaran s “Meditating
Monk, holding a skull ; ” 3 and some of Cano’s
portraits. A few fine works of Murillo and other
Spaniards hang amongst the Italian pictures in the
long gallery. The Standisli drawings are likewise a
rare and interesting collection, well worthy of notice.
1 [Now in the National Gallery, No. 232. — Ed.]
- [Now in the collection of the Earl of Northbrook. — Ed.]
3 [Now in the National Gallery, No. 230. — Ed.]
INTRODUCTION.
7 5
Next in extent, and perhaps superior in import-
ance to the Spanish collection of the ex-King of the
French , 1 is that of the Emperor of llussia. To St.
Petersburg and the vast Hermitage of the Czar,
fate has transferred one hundred and ten paintings
of the Spanish schools, which once adorned the
palace of the Prince of the Peace on the Prado of
Madrid. The gifts lavished on the minion of the
Queen of Spain are appropriately lodged in the
sumptuous halls where Catherine wooed her OrlofFs
and Potemkins. There, beneath gilded cornices,
and amongst columns of Siberian porphyry and vases
of malachite, hang many fine and original works of
Joanes, Tristan, Cespedes, Mayno, Velazquez, and
Murillo — placed without method, and catalogued
with little accuracy . 2
At Munich, in the fine Pinakothek, the most
convenient and admirable picture-gallery ever con-
structed — the schools of Spain are represented by
only thirty pictures, which, however, form the collec-
tion that ranks third amongst those on this side the
Pyrenees. Pantoja, Cano, Zurbaran, and Claudio
CHAP. i.
St. Peters-
burg :
The Her-
mitage.
Munich :
Pinako-
thek.
1 [Supra, p. 73, note. The Spanish collection in the Hermitage, since
the dispersion of the Galerie Espagnole of Louis Philippe, is second to
none out of Spain. — Ed.]
2 [“ The first edition of the present catalogue of the Hermitage appeared
in 1863, the second and corrected edition in 1869; therefore the above
charge does not apply to the catalogue now in use .” — An Art Tour to
the Northern Capitals of Europe, by J. Beavington Atkinson, Svo,
London, 1873, p. 204, note.]
76
INTRODUCTION.
CHAP. I. |
Vienna :
Belvedere
Palace.
Berlin.
Coello, are seen to advantage here ; and Murillo
figures as a painter of low life, in six pieces re-
plete with vigorous humour. The Spanish portion
of the Bavarian catalogue is full of errors, and
quite unworthy of the rest of that well-arranged
volume . 1
The “ royal imperial ” ( honigliche kaiserliche)
gallery in the noble Belvedere Palace at Vienna,
which, from the old relations of Spain and Austria,
might be expected to be a mine of Spanish art, pos-
sesses only a single portrait by Sanchez Coello, and
a few works by Velazquez. But one of these, the
“ Painter’s Family Picture,” representing himself, his
wife and children, and some servants, is perhaps the
single production of his pencil out of Spain, that
deserves to rank with his grand compositions at
Madrid . 2 3 This priceless picture hangs in one of the
lower, and worst-lighted rooms of the palace.
The chaste and admirably-arranged gallery of
1 [A new official Catalogue was published in 1884, and there is now
also the illustrated Notes on the Principal Pictures in the Old Pinakothek,
by Charles L. Eastlake, F.R.I.B.A., 8vo, London, 1884.]
2 [Curtis, Velazquez and Murillo , p. 16, does not “concur in this
opinion, and he confesses that he cannot recognise in the picture either
the haud or the family of Velazquez; ... he is inclined to believe that
. . . the artist is Mazo (the son-in-law of Velazquez), and that the scene
depicts the family, not of Velazquez, but of his son-in-law, with his
muchos hijos, or possibly the family of some friend or patron of Mazo.”
Carlo Justi, Diego Velazquez and his Times, translated by Professor A.
Id. Keane, royal 8vo, London, 1889, p. 425, agrees with Curtis. — E d.]
3 Curtis (ibid., p. 16) says that it now (1SS3) hangs “in a well-lighted
chamber.”
INTRODUCTION.
77
Berlin has a few fair specimens of Iiibera, Zurbaran,
and Murillo. Dresden, where the finest efforts of
Italian, Flemish, Dutch, and German painting waste
their splendour and sweetness in the damp dark
chambers of a barn-like building 1 — is poor in the
Spanish masters, except Ribera. Murillo’s name,
indeed, appears in the incorrect catalogue, but it is
doubtful whether any of his works are to be found
on the walls . 2 Brunswick, Ilesse Cassel, and Frank-
fort, have hardly a Spanish picture to show ; nor are
Antwerp, Brussels, and Amsterdam much better pro-
vided. The Hague, however, has a few specimens,
especially in the private gallery of the King of Hol-
land, who possesses some excellent works of El Mudo,
Velazquez, and Murillo, and opens his palace as
freely as if his fine collection were public property . 3
CHAP. i.
Dresden.
Brunswick,
Cassel, and
Frankfort.
Antwerp,
Brussels,
Amster-
dam.
The
Hague.
1 [A handsome new museum has since been built— opened in 1854 — in
which the valuable collection is now housed to more advantage, and with
greater propriety, and there is now an excellent catalogue — compiled by
Herr Julius Hiibner — giving ample details of the pictures, of which the
edition of 1876 is before me. The pictures of the Spanish school are
enumerated and described in pp. 185-93, comprising forty-one items, four-
teen of which are from the Louis-Pliilippe collection, two are marked as
of doubtful authenticity, and one as a copy (after an original Murillo in
the Pinakothek at Munich), while the artists represented are Morales,
Joanes (Macip), Correa, Orrente, Roelas, Carducho, Herrera, Ribera,
Ribalta, Pereira, Zurbaran, Espinosa, Cano, Velazquez, Valdes Leal,
and Murillo. — E d.]
2 [The collection now includes a St. Roderick (No. 633), formerly in the
Gal. Esp. of Louis Philippe, bought for £210, and also a Virgin and Child
(No. 634), both by Murillo. See Velazquez and Murillo, by Charles R.
Curtis, M.A., royal Svo, New York, 1883, pp. 266 and 151 . — Ed.]
3 [This collection was sold by auction in London, in August 1850 . — Ed.]
78
INTRODUCTION.
CHAP. I.
Stockholm — where pictures were once so plentiful,
Stockholm.
or despised, according to Winckelman, 1 that some
line Correggios were used to stop the broken windows
of the king’s stables — has “ Two Beggar Boys,” by
Murillo, in the third-rate gallery of the royal palace.
Copen-
hagen.
Frede-
riksborg.
The Danish collection at Copenhagen has no Spanish
pictures ; but in the beautiful royal castle of Frede-
riksborg, near Elsinore — interesting not only as a
monument of the powers of Inigo Jones, but also
as a rich gallery of historical portraiture — there are
some portraits of Philip IV. and his family, which
are either original works of Velazquez, or admirable
copies by his pupils.
London :
National
Gallery.
The private collections of England could probably
furnish forth a gallery of Spanish pictures second
only to that of the Queen of Spain. But into our
unhappy national collection, lodged in a building
that would disgrace the veriest plasterer, and de-
scribed in a catalogue that seems to have been
drawn up by an auctioneer, 2 Murillo alone of Spanish
1 Reflections on Painting and Sculpture, i2mo, Glasgow, 1765, p. 5.
2 [These reproaches are no longer deserved. The removal of the Royal
Academy in 1869 to Burlington House, gave greater space to the National
collection, and two large additions have since been built ; while the
excellent catalogue, revised and brought down to December 1888 by Mr.
F. W. Burton, and issued in June 1889, is convenient in form and admir-
ably fulfils all requirements. The Spanish school has been increased by
thirteen pictures, including one additional example of Murillo, six of
Velazquez, two of Ribera, and one of each of Campana, Morales, Theo-
tocopuli, and Zurbaran. — Ed.]
INTRODUCTION.
79
painters has as yet effected an entrance. 1 He
appears there, however, to advantage in several
CHAP. I.
sacred compositions ; but the variety of his style
may be better appreciated in his works at Dulwich
College, where Velazquez likewise shines with some
lustre.
Dulwich
College.
South of the Alps, Spanish art is still less known
Italy.
than in Northern Europe. Ribera is sometimes
indeed to be met with in Italian collections, where
he is often called a Neapolitan. He and Velazquez
are the only Spanish masters whose portraits are to
be found in the “ Sala dei Pittori ” of the Florentine
gallery, “ degli Uffizi.” Amongst the glories of art
which hang between the allegorical ceilings and the
tables of precious pietre dure in the Pitti palace,
two Madonnas of moderate pretensions feebly
vindicate the fame of Murillo. There is scarce a
Florence.
canvas or a panel touched by a Spanish pencil to be
found in the Museum of Brera at Milan, the gallery
Milan.
of the Duke at Parma, the Pinacotheca at Bologna,
or the Academy of Fine Arts at Venice — collections
Parma.
Bologna.
Venice.
rich in native works. At the Vatican, Dutchmen,
but no Spaniards, are admitted to the chambers,
where Rafael holds his court ; and at the Capitol,
one good portrait by Velazquez is the sole repre-
sentative of all the schools of Spain, as another is
Rome.
1 This was written before the fine Boar-hunt at the Pardo (infra,
chap, ix.) had been purchased from the late Lord Cowley.
INTRODUCTION.
80
CHAP. I.
Turin.
Naples.
in the royal collection of Turin . 1 Naples is more
fortunate than Rome ; Ribera triumphs there not
only in the churches but also in the royal Museum
“ degli Studi,” where Murillo and Velazquez likewise
appear ; but the latter is so slightly known, that his
excellent, though — for him — not remarkable portrait
of a Cardinal is gravely entered in the catalogue as
“ suo capo d’ opera” 2 Joanes, the Ribaltas, Cano,
and the rarer Spanish masters, are as utter strangers
in Italy as Vanderhelst or Hogarth.
1 [According to the catalogue of La Galerie Eoyale de Peinture de
Turin, by J. M. Callery, 121110, Havre, 1854, the Spanish school is repre-
sented by seven pictures — four by Ribera, two by Velazquez, and one by
Murillo. — E d.]
2 Les Musics d’ltalie, par Louis Viardot, p. 308. i2mo, Paris, 1842.
This agreeable writer, and warm admirer of Spanish art, is an excellent
cicerone for all the great galleries of Europe. His Musics d' Espagne,
d' Angleterre et de Belgique, his Musees d' Allemagne et de Eussie, i2mo,
Paris, 1841, and the above-mentioned volume, should find a place in the
carriage or portmanteau of every picture-loving traveller.
CHAPTER II.
NOTICES OF EARLY ART TO THE END OF THE REIGN OF
FERDINAND AND ISABELLA THE CATHOLIC, I 5 I 6.
IIE most venerable speci-
mens of Spanish art which
rewarded the diligent re-
searches of Cean Bermu-
dez, were a missal in the
royal library at Madrid,
adorned with illumina-
tions and rude portraits
of ancient kings, chiefly
the work of Vigila, a monk of xlbelda at the close
of the tenth century ; and a wooden feretory or ark,
covered with plates of gold and ivory carvings, made
in 1033 ky one Aparicio, by order of King Hon
Sancho el Mayor, to receive the body of St. Millan,
and preserved with its precious contents in the
monastery of Yuso.
An historical sketch of Spanish painting would
VOL. 1. f
CHAP. II.
Earlier
works of
Painting
and Sculp-
ture.
82
EARLY ART— FERDINAND II.
CHAP. II.
hardly be complete without some notice of those
Cathe-
drals, Ab-
beys, and
Palaces of
the Middle
Ages.
great religious or royal foundations which cradled
its infancy, and were enriched with the trophies of
its prime. Of the shadowy middle ages, perhaps
the most important relic that exists in Spain, is the
Cathedral
of San-
tiago.
Cathedral of Santiago in Galicia, the holiest spot in
the Peninsula, and the Loretto of Western Europe.
Begun in 1002, and finished in 1128, by the zealous
Archbishop, Diego Gelmirez, 1 various towers, and
many a gorgeous chapel, were added in after times
El Maestro
Mateo.
by royal or mitred benefactors. To one Master
Mateo, the architect who, in 1188, built the grand
portal — rich with foliaged niches and sculptured
saints — Ferdinand II., of Castile, granted a pension
of one hundred maravedis 2 — “ ex amore omnipotentis
Cathedral
of Tarra-
gona.
Dei, per quern regnant reges, et ob reverentiam
sanctissimi apostoli Jacobi patroni nostri piissimi,” 3
— probably the first instance on record of the patron-
age of art by the munificent house of Castile. The
Norman Cathedral of Tarragona, one of the noblest
of the temples that look on the Mediterranean, w T as
begun in 1 1 3 1 , by St. Olegarius its Bishop, but re-
1 Llaguno and Cean Bermudez. Noticias de los Arquitcctos y A rquitec-
tura dc Espana , 4vols., 8vo, Madrid 1829, tom. i. p. 32, from which the
following notices of cathedral and conventual buildings are in general
taken.
- Now worth about eightpence sterling. The maravedi, however, had
anciently a higher actual, as well as relative value.
3 See the original grant, as quoted by Cean Bermudez.
ALONSO VIII.— FERDINAND III.
83
ceived most of its embellishments at the hands of
CHAP. II.
his successors in the next century.
Alonso VIII. founded, in 1177, the Cathedral of
Cuenya, which so grandly crowns the rock-built town
with its grey Gothic towers, and which within is all
glorious with native jasper and marble. The Cathe-
Alonso
VIII.
Cathedrals
of Cuenca
dral of Leon, unrivalled amongst churches in the
pointed style for the airy grace of its design, and for
its cunning lace-like masonry, was begun by Bishop
Manrique de Lara, at the close of the same century.
and Leon.
At Burgos, in 1221, St. Ferdinand, the third of
his name, founded on the site of his own palace,
St. Ferdi-
nand III,
the exquisitely ornate Cathedral, 1 which points to
heaven with spires more rich and delicate than any
that crown the cities of the imperial Rhine. Five
years later, the same pious conqueror employed a
Cathedral
of Burgos.
certain Master Pedro Perez to rebuild the Cathedral
of Toledo, the metropolitan church of the monarchy,
for four hundred years a nucleus and gathering-place
for genius, where artists swarmed and laboured like
bees, and where splendid prelates — the Popes of the
Peninsula — lavished their princely revenues to make
fair and glorious the temple of God entrusted to
their care. There is preserved in the convent of San
Cathedral
of Toledo —
built by
El Maestro
Pedro
Perez.
Clemente, at Seville, a portrait of the royal Saint,
a work of venerable aspect, “ of a dark, dingy
1 It was built by the Bishop Maurice, an Englishman. See Mariana,
lib. xii. chap. v.
Portrait of
St. Ferdi-
nand at
Seville.
8 4
EARLY ART— ALONSO X.
CHAP. II.
colour, and ornamented with gilding,” and reckoned
authentic, and coeval with the conquest of Seville.
So highly was it prized by the nuns of that royal
foundation, that they refused to send it to be copied
at the Alcazar, where Ferdinand VII. was residing
in 1823, pleading the statutes of their house; and the
copy which appears in the series of Kings in the Hall
of Ambassadors, was made in the convent. 1 At Osma,
in Old Castile, Juan, St. Ferdinand’s Chancellor and
Alonso X.
el Sabio.
the Bishop of the Diocese, built, in 1232, the fine
Cathedral, of which the beauty has been marred by
much modern patchwork, while its city has decayed
into a poor village.
Alonso X., or the Learned, whose taste inclined
rather to books than buildings, had at least one
painter of illuminations in his service ; for his Bible,
in two volumes, written on vellum, and enriched with
Pedro de
Pamplona,
painter of
illumina-
tions.
barbaric brilliancy by Pedro de Pamplona, exists, or
lately existed, in the archives of Seville Cathedral.
On the last page the artist inscribed this simple
record of himself and his patient labour, his piety,
and his humble hope of being remembered in his
work : —
HIC LIBER EXPLETVS EST : SIT PER SCECVLA LCETVS
SCRIPTOR. GRATA DIES SIT SIBI. SITQVE QYIES.
SCRIPTOR LAVDATVR SCRIPTO. PETRVSQYE VOCATVR
PAMPILONENSIS. El LAVS SIT. HONORQYE DEL
1 Cook’s Sketches in Spain, 2 vols. Svo, London, 1843, v. ii. p. 181.
SANCHO IV.— PEDRO I.
»5
In the turbulent times of King Sancho the Brave,
who reigned amidst external wars and domestic re-
bellion, Rodrigo Esteban was painter to that monarch,
and was paid for certain works, in 129 1-2, one
hundred maravedis out of the privy purse, as appears
by a MS. book of accounts in the royal library. Of
this contemporary of Cimabue, none of the produc-
tions, nor any further notices exist. His works,
doubtless, bore the same relation to the achieve-
ments of the great age of Spanish painting that the
venerable verses in which the learned Alonso
embodied his alchemical lore bear to the classical
poems of Garcilasso.
Pedro the Cruel, or the Just, whose history and
character, like that of our Richard III., form a
tilting-ground for historians, bestowed great pains
on the renovation and embellishment of the Alcazar
of Seville, the ancient palace of the Sultan Ab-
derahman. Many of its light marble columns he
brought from Valencia, and much of the delicate
stucco embroidery was the work of Moors from
Granada.
During the fourteenth century, Arragon and
Catalonia possessed a few painters, and gave a
promise of distinction in that branch of art which
they did not afterwards fulfil. In Italy, art had
already begun to revive from its mediaeval torpor,
and the genius of the pencil to breathe somewhat of
' CHAP. II.
I Sancho IV.
el Bravo.
Rodrigo
Esteban,
painter.
1
Pedro I.
el Cruel.
Alcazar of
Seville.
Early
painters in
Arragon
and Cata-
lonia.
86
EARLY ART— NORTHERN SCHOOLS.
CHAP. II.
Torrente,
1323-
Fort.
Cesilles,
1382.
life and beauty into the forms of virgins and saints,
drawn after the venerable models of Byzantium.
Spanish churchmen, returning from the Vatican,
must have observed, and perhaps may have envied,
the new and graceful adornments of Italian altars ;
and many a merchant of Barcelona had doubtless
bowed and marvelled before the frescoes of Giotto
and Orcagna in the Campo Santo at Pisa, and
beheld with jealous admiration the dawning glory
of art at Florence. The taste of the clergy and of
wealthy burghers may have been the means of foster-
ing artistic talent in the active and mercantile pro-
vinces of the north, of bringing over masters from
Italy, or sending Spanish disciples to their schools.
At Zaragoza, so early as 1323, died Ramon Torrente,
a painter, leaving behind him a scholar named
Guillen Fort. 1 Later in the century, Juan Cesilles
practised painting at Barcelona, and in 1382 engaged
himself to execute, at the price of 330 ducats of
Arragon, 2 for the high altar of the church of San
Pedro, in the town of Reus, a series of pictures on
the history of the Apostles. These early paintings
remained in the church till 1557, when they were
1 Handbook, 1845, P- 975 [3 r d edition, London, 1855, p. 907], where
some unpublished MSS. of Cean Bermudez are referred to as an autho-
rity.
2 The ducat of Arragon was probably worth about four shillings and
sixpence sterling, and the whole sum somewhat less than Y75-
JUAN I.
87
unhappily removed to make way for some newer
garniture of the altar.
Juan I. was especially the patron of painting, and
entertained in his service the first Italian artist who
appeared in Spain, Gherardo Stamina, a disciple
of Antonio da Venezia, born at Florence in 1354,
and employed to paint, in fresco, the life of St.
Antony, the Abbot, in the chapel of the Castilians
in Santa Croce. This painter attracted the notice of
the Spaniards who visited that city. Their invita-
tions, and a private feud which rendered absence
from home advisable, induced him to visit Castile,
where he lived for several years. Although even
the names of his works there have perished, his
epitaph in the church of S. Jacopo sopra Arno
assures us that they were “pulcherrima opera.”
His history bears a favourable testimony to the
generosity of Juan, and the refinement of his court ;
for, “whereas,” says Vasari, “he left Florence poor
and clownish, he returned thither a rich and cour-
teous gentleman.” He died there in 1403, or, ac-
cording to another account, in 1415. He seems to
have been a man of humour and unable to resist
a joke, even on serious subjects ; for Vasari relates
that, being ordered to paint in the chapel of S.
Girolamo nel Carmine a picture of that Saint learn-
ing his letters, he seized the occasion to introduce a
flogging scene, in which the luckless urchin who
CHAP. II.
Juan I.
Stamina of
Florence.
88
EARLY ART— JUAN I., HENRY III.
CIIAP. II.
was horsed (fcmciullo levato a cavallo ctclosso ad un
altro), writhing under the lash of the pedagogue,
took his revenge by biting the ear of the companion
whom he bestrode. The series of paintings, how-
ever, in which this facetious episode occurred made
the name of Stamina famous in Tuscany, and even
throughout Italy. 1
Chartreuse
of Paular.
Juan I. founded, in 13S8, amongst the lower hills
of the Guadarrama chain, the wealthy Chartreuse of
Paular with its sumptuous church, which afterwards
became famous for its flocks and its paper-mills, its
fine pictures, and for several cowled painters of its
own. Amidst the wilds of Estremadura he likewise
Monastery
of Guada-
lupe.
founded, about the same time, the royal monastery
of Guadalupe — the seat of a celebrated Virgin —
which, with its towers and spires and spacious courts,
resembled a town, and was, until the rise of the
Cathedral
of Oviedo.
Escorial, the most splendid of the Jeronymite houses
of Spain. In this reign also, the small, but exquisite
Cathedral of Oviedo rose on the ruins of a more
venerable church, under the auspices of its Bishop,
Gutierre de Toledo.
Henry III.
Henry III. rebuilt the Alcazar of Madrid, which
had been burnt down in previous civil wars, and
which, after it had been enlarged and beautified,
and stored with many of the finest productions of
1 Vasari, 2 vols., 4to, Bologna, 1647, tom. i. p. 138.
CATHEDRALS OF HUESCA AND SEVILLE.
art, by a long line of kings, suffered the same fate in
the reign of the first Bourbon. He also founded
the country Palace of the Pardo near Madrid,
which became another treasury of paintings, and
the scene of another conflagration in the reign of
Philip III.
The beginning of the fifteenth century saw the
commencement of two noble cathedrals. Of these
the first was begun, at ITuesca, in 1400, by Juan
de Olotzaga, a Biscayan architect, and in a hundred
and fifteen years, grew into one of the noblest
buildings in Arragon. The second was the Cathedral
of Seville, of which the ample revenues and grand
decorations were so long to foster and employ the
artistic genius of Andalusia, and of which the
interior, with its five mighty aisles and awful choir,
remains still unrivalled, the triumph of the rich and
Solemn Gothic architecture. In 1401, the see being
vacant, the chapter determined to rebuild the fabric.
“Let us build,” said these magnificent ecclesiastics,
“ a church that shall cause us to be taken for mad-
men by them who shall come after us.” 1 The name
of the architect, assuredly one of the greatest masters
of his art that ever left his mark upon the earth,
perished, with his original plans, in 1734, in the fire
of the Palace of Madrid, whither they had been
1 “ Fagamos una iglesia para que los de porvenir nos tengan por locos.”
—See Ponz, v. xi. p. 3, and, as usual, the Handbook.
89
CHAP. II.
Cathedral
of Huesca,
1400.
Cathedral
of Seville,
1401.
9 o
EARLY ART— JUAN II.
CHAP. II.
removed by order of Philip II. 1 The work went on,
with more or less activity, for more than a century
and a half, displaying in its many incongruous parts
the successive changes of architectural style. To
provide the funds needful for so vast an undertaking,
the prebendaries and canons for many years gave up
the greater part of their incomes, — an instance of
devotion and munificence not uncommon in those
old and earnest times, when churchmen were con-
tent to offer all their worldly goods on the altar of
the Church, hoping for no earthly reward, when the
wealth and genius of long ages were patiently given
to raise one glorious temple, and when the house of
God had precedence, in men’s regard, of the palace
and the prison. And the example has not even yet
been wholly forgotten ; for, within the last fifteen
years, the good Bishop Silos Moreno, of Cadiz — a
worthy follower of the Fonsecas and Lorenzanas of
old — by his holy zeal and munificence has made
his Cathedral, which he found a ruinous shell,
one of the most stately and splendid of modern
churches.
Juan II.
Juan II., of Castile, was a lover of both poetry and
painting, and his long reign was the era of nascent
taste and refinement. He had in his service for
1 Cean Bermudez, Description Artistica dc la Catedral de Sevilla, 8vo,
Sevilla, 1804, p. 20.
JUAN II.
9i
several years l)ello, a Florentine sculptor and
painter, noted for the beauty of his miniature paint-
ings, generally on subjects from Ovid — with which
it was then the custom to adorn coffers and other
furniture — and for his frescoes in the palace of Gio-
vanni de Medicis, and in the Church of S. Maria
Novella. Having acquired wealth and an order
of knighthood in Castile, that artist returned to
Florence, to indulge his vanity by displaying them.
The Signory, however, refused to accord to him the
privileges of his new rank, until the King of Castile
had written them a warm letter in his behalf. His
ostentation was likewise punished by the jeers and
gibes of his former acquaintance, as he rode through
the streets in sumptuous apparel, on a finely
caparisoned horse. With a ludicrous forgetfulness
of his new dignities, he w T ould reply to their sar-
casms by making with both hands “ the sign of
the fig ;” 1 — ( fece con combe le mane le Jiche;) but
wearied out at last by such annoyances, he returned
to Spain. There he was again honourably received
at court, lived like a great lord, always painting in
an apron of brocade ( grembiale de brocato), and died
in 1421, aged forty-nine. He was honourably
1 This quiet and expressive “retort contemptuous” is conveyed — in
Spain at least — “ by inserting the head of the thumb between the fore and
middle fingers, and raising the hack of the hand toward the person thus
complimented.” (Handbook [ 1 S45], p. 83.) The Italian method is much
the same.
CHAP. II.
Dello of
Florence.
92
EARLY ART— JUAN II.
CHAP. II.
buried, says Vasari, without informing us where,
beneath this epitaph :
Hello’s
epitaph.
DELLVS EQVES FLORENTINVS
PICTVR.E ARTE PERCELEBRIS,
REGISQVE HISPANIARVM LIBERALITATE
ET ORNAMENTIS AMPLISSIMVS,
H. S. E.
S. T. T. L. 1
J. Alfon.
Vasari says that his drawing was indifferent, but
that he was one of the first artists who attempted to
display the muscles of the naked figure. 2 None of
his works exists in Spain. In the time of Philip II.,
there was found, in a chest in the Alcazar of Sego-
via, a roll of old canvas, on which w T as painted the
Moorish rout at Higueruelas by the arms of Juan II.
It was for some time taken for a W'ork of Dello by
certain connoisseurs, who forgot, or did not know,
that he died ten years before that battle w r as fought.
At Toledo, in 1418, Juan Alfon, an artist of the
city, painted the altar-pieces of the old chapels of
the Sagrario, and of los Reyes Nuevos.
Rogel the
Fleming.
Rogel, a native of Flanders, was also painter to
Juan II., who presented, in 1445, to the Carthusian
friars whom he had established in his own palace
Oratory.
of Miraflores, near Burgos, a small oratory, painted
by that master. The centre compartment contained
1 Vasari, tom. i. p. 168. The epitaph is given in Castilian by Butron;
Discurso xv., fol. 1 18.
2 Vasari, tom. i. pp. 166-168.
PAINTING AT TOLEDO AND SEVILLE.
93
a “ Dead Christ,” and the doors or wings his
CHAP. II.
“ Nativity,” and his “ Appearing to the Virgin.” It
was surrounded by a stone border, on which various
figures were painted, and the whole was executed
with a delicacy and effect very creditable to that
early age. Brought from Spain by a Frenchman, it
was offered for sale in London, and passed into the
private gallery of the King of Holland. 1
Master Jorge Ingles, possibly an Englishman,
El Maestro
likewise flourished as a painter in this reign. The
Ingles.
famous literary Marquess of Santillana ordained him
by will, in 1455, to paint for his hospital at Buitrago
the pictures of the high altar. Those of them which
Cean Bermudez saw, though stiff and hard, like all
paintings of the time, afforded evidence of consider-
able ability. Amongst them were portraits of the
Marquess and his wife, which the Duke of Infantado,
towards the close of the last century, with a regard
for the illustrations of his house, unfortunately rare
amongst the Spanish nobility, caused to be brought
to Madrid to be cleaned. By his orders, that of the
Marquess was well engraved by Fernando Selma.
During the whole of the fifteenth century, Toledo
Toledo.
took the lead in the fine arts. Dolfin introduced
Dolfin, the
there, in 1418, painting on glass, which was brought
firststainer
of glass.
1 Sir Edmund Head’s Handbook of the Spanish and French Schools
of Painting, post 8vo, London, 1848, p. 30. [This collection was sold by
auction in London, in August 1S50 . — Ed.]
94
CHAP. II.
The Rod-
riguez,
sculptors.
Egas.
School of
Andalusia
— J. S. de
Castro.
Legend of
San Chris-
to bal.
EARLY ART— SEVILLE.
to great perfection under the patronage of the Church.
About the same time, Alonso Rodriguez and his
brothers distinguished themselves in sculpture, as
may he seen by their spirited, though rude, groups
and figures which adorn the great portal of the
Cathedral. Egas, a Fleming from Brussels, was
oue of the leading sculptors employed on the stately
florid portal of the Cathedral of Toledo, called the
Gate of Lions, which was begun so early as 1466.
At Seville, Juan Sanchez de Castro, the morning
star of the school of Andalusia, appeared about the
middle of the century. In 1454 he painted for the
Cathedral the pictures of the old Gothic altar, in
the chapel of San Josef, which, though stiff and
languid in design, still preserved their freshness of
colour, when Cean Bermudez wrote, three hundred
and fifty years afterwards. For the church of San
Julian he painted, in fresco, a giant St. Christopher
in a buff tunic and red mantle, an embellishment
common in Spanish churches, where it is placed near
the door, to inculcate humility on those who come
to pray. The legend of this saint, as told by an old
English poet, may fitly illustrate this early work of
one of the oldest Spanish painters : —
“ There was a man of stature big, and big witbal in mind,
For serve be would, yet one than whom he greater none might
find.
He hearing that the Emperor was in the world most great,
Came to his court, was entertained ; and, serving him at meat,
SEVILLE.
It chanced the Devil was named, whereat the Emperor him blest,
When as until he knew the cause, the Pagan would not rest.
But when he heard this lord to fear the Devil, his ghostly foe,
He left his service, and to seek and serve the Devil did go ;
Of Heaven, or Hell, God, or the Devil, he erst nor heard, nor cared,
Alone he sought to serve the same that would by none be dared.
He met (who soon is met) the Devil — was entertained — they walk,
Till coming to a cross, the Devil did fearfully it balk.
The servant musing, questioned his master of his fear —
‘ One Christ,’ quoth he, ‘ with dread I mind, when doth a cross
appear.’
1 Then serve thyself,’ the giant said, ‘ that Christ to serve I’ll seek.’
For him he askt an hermit, who advised him to be meek,
By which, by faith, and work of alms would sought-for Christ be
found,
And how and where to practise these, he gave directions sound.
Then he that scorned his service late to greatest potentates,
Even at a common ferry now to carry all awaits.
Thus doing long, as with a child he over once did wade,
Under his load midway he faints, from sinking hardly stayed.
Admiring how, and asking who, was answered of the child,
As on his shoulders Christ he bore, by being humbly mild,
So through humility his soul to Christ was reconciled,
And of his carriage, Cliristo-fer thenceforth himself was styled.” 1
Sanchez de Castro’s saint of burden has good reason
to faint under his load ; for besides the Divine Babe,
who holds the world in his hand, he has to sustain
the weight of two palmers in dresses of the Middle
Ages, who cling to his leathern girdle, and so pass
the river dry-shod. 2 The signature of the painter
is nearly all that remains of his work, for the figure
was repainted in 1775 and 1828 by new and heavy
1 Warner, Albion's England , book ix. chap. 50.
2 Cook’s Sketches of Spain, 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1834, v. ii. p. 182.
95
CHAP. II.
9<3
EARLY ART— MOORISH DECORATIONS.
CHAP. II.
hands. 1 In the Convent of Santiponce (now a peniten-
tiary), near Seville, there formerly existed a painting
on panel, of the “ Annunciation,” by Sanchez de
Castro, in which the angel was arrayed in pontifical
vestments, — garnished with embroideries setting all
chronology at defiance, and representing the twelve
Apostles and the Resurrection of Our Lord — and
the Virgin held in her hand a rosary and a pair of
spectacles ! 2 He must have lived to a great age,
for he received from the chapter, in 1516, payment
for painting and gilding part of the high altar of the
Cathedral. A marble slab in the nave of the church
Gonzalo
Diaz.
of San Roman, marked the sepulchre where he and
his family were laid. Gonzalo Diaz was a disciple
of Sanchez de Castro.
Moorish
decorations
imitated by
Christian
artists.
The internal troubles of the Christian kingdom in
the fifteenth century, and the Moorish wars, which
followed the union of the crowns of Arragon and
Castile, doubtless retarded the progress of the arts
in Spain. The taste of their patrons, however, and
the skill of their professors, was steadily, though
slowly, increasing. The Moorish decorations, their
1 The signature (which has likewise been repainted) is in Gothic
character — 3 ua Sancljj tic Castro, pintor, Ko. hr 1^84 (as it appeared to
me, though Cean Bermudez says 1454), and there is farther to the left —
Sc rntobo, So. 5 c IS 2 S.
2 This curious old picture is said to have been taken away by Godoy,
Prince of Peace, and may possibly still be in existence. See Davies’s
Life of Murillo, 8vo, London, 1819, p. 17, note.
GOLDSMITHS.
97
vivid painting and beautiful lace-like stucco-work,
which had been long adopted in Christian palaces,
began to be executed by uncircumcised artists even
before the fall of Granada. Cean Bermudez quotes
a contract, dated 1476, by which one Garcia del
Barco and another painter became bound to paint
with Moorish work ( obra Morisca ) the corridors of
the Duke of Alba’s castle, at Barco de Avila, for the
sum of 56,000 maravedis. The paper is drawn up
with a formal explicitness, which implies that such
documents were frequently in use.
The goldsmith’s craft was advancing towards its
future importance and perfection, and church trea-
suries were beginning to display somewhat of their
coming splendour. Valladolid became famous for the
skill of its jewellers and artificers in the precious
metals. At Valencia, in 1454, Juan de Castelnou
executed, for the Cathedral, for the exposition of the
Host on great festivals, a silver Custodia, or shrine,
of Gothic design, fourteen palms high ; and, in 1460,
his son and disciple, Jayme, a silver altar and
retablo, 1 or architectural altar-piece, forty palms high
and twenty-four wide, profusely embellished with
bas-reliefs. Fray Juan de Segovia, a Jeronymite
monk of Guadalupe, became famous for his exquisite
chalices, reliquaries, and crucifixes. One of his
CHAP. 11.
Artists in
gold and
silver
at Valla-
dolid
and Val-
encia.
The Castel-
nous.
Fr. J. de
Segovia,
of Guada-
lupe : his
salt-cellar.
1 The “retablo” comprehends the entire structure of the altar-piece
with its decorations.
VOL. I. G
9 8
REIGN OF
CHAP. II.
Progress of
taste and
refine-
ment.
best works was the silver salt-cellar, in the shape of
a lion (Icon) tearing open a pomegranate ( granada ),
afterwards presented by the Prior, with happy and
delicate courtesy, to the Catholic Sovereigns, when
they visited the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, to
give thanks for the surrender of Baza — two years
before Granada opened its gates to the army of
Castile and Leon.
The famous camp, built, not of cords and canvas,
but of stone and lime, on the slopes of Santa Fb,
where Ferdinand and Isabella held their state during
the leaguer of the Moorish capital, was remarkable,
not only for its discipline, and the daring of its
knights and nobles, but also for luxury and magnifi-
cence such as few northern courts could then have
displayed. The Great Captain — who there served his
apprenticeship in war and victory — was distinguished
by his sumptuous equipments, as well as by his youth-
ful gallantry. The banquets of the Duke of Infan-
tado 1 shone with plate, and his person glittered with
jewels, as brilliantly as if he had been holding peace-
ful revels in his ancestral halls at Guadalajara. But
it was not until that chivalrous host had sung its
solemn Te Deuin — till the Grand Cardinal, arrayed
in vestments embroidered by the fair and pious
hands of the Queen, had said the first mass within
1 Prescott’s Ferdinand and Isabella, London, 1839, vol. ii. p. 326, note.
FERDINAND AND ISABELLA.
99
the mosque of the Alhambra, that Spain enjoyed the
repose necessary for the growth and perfection of
the elegant arts.
CHAP. II.
The opening of the Damascus of the West could
not but increase that taste for luxury and splendour
which already inspired its Christian subduers. The
stately mosques and fairy palaces, its gardens and
gateways, and marble fountains, afforded superb
models for their imitation. And they brought to
the conquest of the domains of art all the energy
acquired in their long struggle with the Infidel.
Fall of
Granada ;
its effect
on Chris-
tian art.
The great Isabella, to whom Castile owed Granada
and the Indies — and history the fairest model of a
wife, a mother, and a Queen — aided the progress of
taste and intellectual culture no less studiously than
she laboured for the political prosperity of her king-
dom. 1 Her large and active mind early compre-
hended the national importance of literature and
art. She built and endowed churches, and worked
Isabella la
Catolica ;
her taste
and zeal for
the arts.
chasubles, and dalmatiques, and processional banners
for the clergy, while she also gave an impulse to the
weightier matters of learning and piety by her muni-
ficence and example. Architecture made a great
stride in her reign. By an early statute, passed at
Toledo, she provided for the erection of large and
spacious buildings for public purposes in the chief
Her archi-
tectural
works
1 Prescott’s Ferdinand and Isabella, London, 1839, vol. ii. p. 297, note.
IOO
REIGN OF
CHAP. II.
at Segovia,
Seville,
Miraflore?,
Santiago,
Madrid,
Toledo.
Ferdinand
el Catolico.
towns of her dominions. The Alcazar of Segovia,
whose tall keep and clustered turrets form a fine
feature in views of that ancient city, was a favourite
residence of Isabella, and the rich decorations of its
halls and corridors, now degraded into a military
school, afford evidence of her taste. To her Alcazar
at Seville she added the small Gothic chapel, and
she enlarged and embellished, at her own expense,
the stately Chartreuse of Miraflores . 1 2 She and her
husband built at Santiago the grand Royal Hospice
for pilgrims, and they added largely to the great
monastery of St. Jerome, once the pride of Madrid."
At Toledo, on one of the finest sites in that romantic
capital, they erected the convent of San Juan de los
Reyes, the most sumptuous edifice of its day, of
which, alas ! the church, much dilapidated, is all
that lias survived the invasion of the trans-pyrenean
Vandals. Nearly two hundred pairs of rusty
manacles, struck from Christian hands at the fall of
Granada, still hang between the rich buttresses of
the exterior, to commemorate the conquerors who, in
their holy war, vowed this convent to St. John, their
patron saint.
Ferdinand the Catholic and the Crafty, the ITenry
VII. of Spain, whom Shakespeare — speaking by the
1 Bosarte, Viaje Artistico , Madrid, Svo, 1804, p. 269.
2 Prescott’s Ferdinand and Isabella, 3 vols. 8vo, London, 1840, vol. ii.
p. 346.
FERDINAND AND ISABELLA.
IOI
mouth of his daughter, our gentle Katherine — so
CHAP. II.
justly styles —
“ The wisest prince that there had reign’d by many
A year before : ” 1
was too parsimonious, and too deeply immersed in
state intrigues, to bestow much care on the arts.
But his sagacity easily perceived some of the advan-
tages arising from their cultivation, and he approved,
if he did not much aid, the magnificent works under-
taken by his Queen. By his conquest of Naples, he
extended the communications between Italy and his
Spanish dominions ; and thus, if the fine arts owed
Effects of
his con-
quest of
Naples.
but little to his bounty, his ambition opened the
road to knowledge and improvement. He gave,
however, 10,000 ducats out of the Indian revenues
of Castile, towards the completion of the Cathedral
of Seville. In his own city of Zaragoza, he built
He builds
the monastery of Santa Engracia, which had been
a convent
at Zara-
planned by his father. An excellent sculptor of
Biscay, Juan de Morlanes, whose style resembles
The Mor-
that of the old German masters, was principally
sculptors.
employed in the decorations. lie was assisted by
his son, Diego, whose fortunes so throve, in the
course of years, by the arts, that, when the Jesuits
came, in the next reign, to Zaragoza, he gave them, !
1 Henry VIII., Act ii. sc. 4, 1 . 49.
102
REIGN OF
CHAP. II.
not only a plan for their church, but also a present
of 3,000 ducats.
The Siloes,
of Burgos,
sculptors
and archi-
tects.
The Siloes, of Burgos, father and son, were like-
wise excellent sculptors and architects. Gil, the
first, is chiefly known for his stately tombs of King
Juan II. and the Infant Don Alonso, erected in the
Chartreuse of Miraflores, by order of Queen Isabella,
in which the most fantastic imagination has found
hands to work its wildest will, and alabaster has
Cathedral
of Granada
been moulded like clay, or trained and twined like
the green osier, and where the Gothic genius of
Spain flashed with dying splendour. 1 Diego, the son,
erected, partly from his father’s designs, the noble
Cathedral of Granada, which remains an example
of the influence of Moslem taste on Christian archi-
Painting.
tecture. He died at a great age, possessed of much
wealth in houses and lands, slaves, plate, and jewels.
Painting also was improving, though perhaps more
A. Bineon.
slowly than other arts. Antonio Kincon, the first
Spanish painter mentioned by Palomino, was like-
wise the first who left the stiff Gothic style, and
attempted to give to his figures something of the
graces and proportions of nature. He was born at
Guadalajara, in 1446; and is said to have studied
in Italy, under Castagno, or Ghirlandajo, apparently
1 Bosarte, Viaje Artistico, p. 273. For an account of these wonderful
tombs, see also the Handbook ; and Theophile Gautier’s clever and
thoroughly French Voyage en Espagne, i2ino, Paris, 1845, p. 58.
I
FERDINAND AND ISABELLA.
103
on no better grounds than the improvement he made
in the barbarous style of his age and country. He
lived chiefly at Toledo, where he enjoyed the patron-
age of the Chapter, and also of Ferdinand and Isa-
bella, who made him their painter-in-ordinary, and,
CHAP. II.
about 1 500, gave him the Order of Santiago. The por-
traits of these Sovereigns, painted by him, long hung
over the high altar of the Church of San Juan de los
Reyes, at Toledo, but disappeared in the wars of the
French usurpation — so fatal to the historical relics,
as well as to the fortunes of the Peninsula. The
Church of San Bias, at Valladolid, likewise possessed
similar portraits, which, in the beginning of this
century, had been removed to the staircase of the
chaplains’ house, near San Juan Letran, in that city,
where they were suffering from exposure to the open
air, when seen by Bosarte, who praises them for
the curious exactness of their costumes. 1 If they
have escaped the perils of fire and water, they
may, perhaps, still be extant in the Museum of
Valladolid.
His por-
traits of
the Catho-
lic Sove-
reigns.
In one of the lower corridors of the royal gallery
of Madrid hang two full-length portraits of the
Catholic Sovereigns 2 copied from Rincon, and taken
perhaps from the Toledo or Valladolid originals.
Copies at
Madrid.
1 Bosarte, Viajc Artlstico, p. 125.
2 Catdlogo de los Cuadros del Beal Museo de Madrid, 1843, Nos. 1646
and 1647. [These do not appear in the new catalogue, 1SS9.]
104
REIGN OF
CHAP. II.
With much of Holbein’s hardness, they have much
of his strength, but not, however, his splendour of
colour. Both seem to have been taken when the
Ferdinand.
royal sitters were in the prime of life. Ferdinand
has the dignified presence and the fine features
clothed with “ impenetrable frigidity,” ascribed to
him in history. 1 Ilis hair, usually described as
bright chestnut, here is dark, and, being cut short
and combed over his brow, enhances the cunning
keenness of his eyes. Over a cuirass he wears a red
surcoat and black cloak, and in his hand he holds a
Isabella.
paper, apparently of accounts. The Queen’s portrait
is no less true to history than her lord’s. Her bright
auburn hair and blue eyes are amongst the points of
resemblance between her and our Queen Elizabeth,
recalling that Princess, as she appears in an early
portrait, by Holbein, at Hampton Court. But in
beauty of person, as in grace of character, the
Castilian Queen far excels our imperial “vestal
throned by the w r est.” Her forehead is high and
full, and her eyes — as yet undimmed by weeping for
her only son — softly lustrous, as they might have
been when she rode victorious into the Alhambra.
The finely-formed mouth indicates energy tempered
with gentleness ; and the whole expression of the
head and bearing of the figure are not unworthy
1 Prescott’s Ferdinand and Isabella, 8vo, London, 1840, vol. iii. pp.
470-478.
FERDINAND AND ISABELLA.
of the woman, of whom those who knew her best
have recorded, that they had never known or heard
of another, “wise, and fair, and good as she .” 1 Her
dress is a crimson robe trimmed with gold, over
which falls a dark mantle. In her hand she holds a
little breviary, as fitting and characteristic a com-
panion of the leisure of the pious Queen, as is the
financial return in the fingers of her lord.
If any works of Rincon still remain to the Cathedral
of Toledo, they will perhaps be discovered, by some
future antiquarian, in the richly carved altar-piece of
the chapel of Santiago, — where the Lunas repose in
their tombs of ivory-like marble — amongst the paint-
ings of which the Nativity and Entombment of our
Lord are the best deserving of notice, for the force
of their heads, and their accuracy of execution. At
the village of Robleda de Chavila, a few miles west
of the Escorial, there existed, and probably still
exists, an altar, in the church, containing seventeen
1 There is probably no historical lady upon whose person and character
so much trustworthy posthumous praise has been bestowed — few women
perhaps have ever deserved so much. Gerdnimo de Oviedo y Valdez
says of the one — “En liermosura puestas delante de S. A. todas las
mugeres quo yo he visto ninguna vi tan graciosa, ni tanto de ver como
su persona .” — Quincuagenas MS., quoted by Prescott, Ferdinand and
Isabella, vol. iii. p. 250. Peter Martyr speaks thus of the other, in his
letter to the Archbishop of Granada and the Count of Tendilla, written
after Isabella’s death — “ Orbata est terra? facies mirabili ornamento
inaudito hactenus. In sexu nam fcemineo et potenti licentia nullam
memini me legisse quam liuic Natura Deusque formaverit, comparari
dignam.” Opus Epistolarum. Ep. cclxxix. folio, Amstel. 1670, p. 159.
I0 5
CHAP. II.
Paintings
by Rincon
at Toledo.
Altar-piece
by Rincon
at Robleda
de Chavila.
io6
REIGN OF
CHAP. II.
F. Rincon.
F. Florez.
P. Berru-
guete.
pictures oh the life of the Virgin, painted entirely
by Rincon, which Cean Bermudez praises for their
“ drawing, beauty, character, expression, and excel-
lent draperies.” He died in 1500, leaving a son,
Fernando, his scholar, who assisted Juan de Borgoha
in various works at Toledo, and whose name appears
in the accounts of the College of San Ildefonso at
Alcala, in 1518, when he was paid 500 maravedis for
the humble service of polishing ( dando lustre) the
medallion of Cardinal de Cisneros.
Francisco Florez was an excellent painter of
illuminations, in the service of Isabella, whose
missal, in old stamped morocco, with silver clasps
and knobs — with the crown and cipher F.Y. — a fine
specimen of ancient binding, delicately embellished
by his hand, is still preserved in the Cathedral of
Granada. 1
Pedro Berruguete was a native of Paredes de Nava,
and painter to Philip I., or the Handsome, the
Flemish husband of the unhappy Infanta Juana, by
whom he was ennobled. His earliest known works
are supposed to be those which he painted with one
1 Its miniature paintings are, perhaps, hardly equal to the flowered and
scrolled borders ; the best of them, and the most gracefully designed, is
the Crucifixion (the largest in the volume, occurring at p. 312). On the
hack of the last leaf is this inscription in black-letter, like the rest : —
fHissalc miitu Sc manSato|screnisstma regine Ijtspamarcs|Somine nrc ffirlijabrtfy
explicit: Per me Jtrancisrum | florrs litrarior, tftaprllc thus | trissimi prinripis
Sni nrilsrriptarem. Die no. lunc f. ic|itmi fUcnsis julii Ennoltini m.cccc.
xcvi | (Aug. 6 has been added by a later pen).
FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 107
Santos Cruz, for the high altar of the Cathedral chap. ii.
of Avila. In 1483, he was employed with Rincon, pantos
by the Chapter of Toledo, to paint the walls of the
old “ Sagrario,” or chapel where the Host is kept,
attached to the Cathedral, 1 for which they were
paid 75,000 maravedis. He likewise painted the
cloister in 1495, and the vestry in 1497, and received
for those works respectively 57,000, and 36,000
maravedis. He married Elvira Gonzalez, a lady of
condition, by whom he had several children (one of
whom, Alonso, became famous as an artist), and died
at Madrid, it is supposed, about 1500. Cean Ber-
mudez considers him entitled to rank, as a painter,
with Pietro Perugino.
Juan de Borgona enjoyed a high reputation at
Toledo, and the patronage of its great Archbishop
Ximenes de Cisneros. From 1495 to 1499, he was
employed, with other artists, in executing, in the
cloisters of the Cathedral, a variety of sacred paint-
ings, now unhappily buried beneath the pallid frescoes
of Bayeu and Maella. He likewise worked at Alcala
de Plenares, for the university. Between 1508 and
1 5 1 1 , he painted, on the walls of the winter chapter-
room at Toledo, a series of religious subjects, the
designs for which were seen and approved by the
1 The Sagrario is usually the largest of the chapels, and separate from
the rest of the fabric. In some Cathedrals — those of Seville and Toledo,
for instance — it is used as a parish church.
J. de
Borgona.
Paintings
in the
Sala Capi-
tular del
Invierno in
the Cathe-
dral of
Toledo.
io8
REIGN OF
CHAP. II.
Archbishop. These works are well preserved, and
are admirable for their brilliant colouring and taste-
ful draperies. The “ Nativity of the Virgin ” is the
best : St. Anne lies in a canopied bed, and the Holy
Babe is brought to her to be kissed, by a young
nurse beautiful as a Madonna of Perugino. The
lower end of the finely-proportioned, but badly-
lighted room, is occupied by “The Last Judgment,”
a large and remarkable composition. Immediately
beneath the figure of Our Lord, a hideous fiend, in
the shape of a boar, roots a fair and reluctant woman
out of her grave with his snout, as if she were a
truffle, twining his tusks in her long amber locks.
To the left, are drawn up in line, a party of the
wicked, each figure being the incarnation of a sin of
which the name is written on a label above, in Gothic
letters, as “ §j>oberbta,” “ 3bartcta,” “ Lttjuria,”
and the like. On their shoulders sit little malicious
imps, in the likeness of monkeys, and round their
lower limbs flames climb and curl. The forms of
Fresco in
the Capilla
Muzarabe.
the good and faithful on the right, display far less
vigour of fancy.
In 1514, he painted, on a wall of the Muzarabic
Chapel, a fresco of the Conquest of Oran, to com-
memorate the military exploits of the active arch-
bishop — a work historically interesting and curious
as a record of costume, but so much inferior to
those in the chapter-room, that documentary evi-
FERDINAND AND ISABELLA.
109
dence alone leads us to believe it to be by the same
hand. The mitred leader has just debarked from
his galley, and mounted his mule : he wears the
scarlet robes and hat of a cardinal ; and the cross
CHAP. II.
is carried before him by a priest. The mail-clad
soldiery rush to the assault, with equal disregard
of discipline and perspective, and easily scale the
infidel walls, which they are tall enough to see over.
Borgona likewise painted, in fresco, the walls of
the Cathedral library, for which he was paid, in 1519,
100,000 maravedis. He also executed the series of
Frescoes
in the
library.
portraits of the Primates of Spain, in the winter
chapter-room, down to Cardinal de Fonseca, inclusive.
Like the Scottish Kings at Ilolyrood House, most of
the fabulous and early prelates seem to have been
taken from a single model ; and their complexions,
intended perhaps to alternate between ascetic pale-
ness and jovial rubicundity, are too often either blue
or bricky. The countenance of the Grand Cardinal
Portraits
of Arch-
bishops of
Toledo in
chapter-
room.
de Mendoza, doubtless taken from an authentic
portrait, is handsome, and his air high-bred and
cheerful ; which accords well with his character and
the words of his kinsman and chronicler, Pedro de
Mendoza.
Salazar, who describes him as “ majestic in person, and
dignified and venerable in presence ; his face well-
featured, kindly and serene.” 1 Cardinal Ximenes
Cisneros.
1 Cronica de el Gran Cardenal, folio, Toledo, 1625, cap. lxiii., p. 39S.
I IO
CHAP. II.
Croy.
School of
Andalusia.
J. Nunez.
REIGN OF
is taken in profile ; his features are spare, and his
expression earnest and stern. The Flemish Arch-
bishop de Croy has the fair complexion proper to his
country, and the high-born look befitting his princely
blood. This collection of portraits affords an inex-
haustible, and, probably, virgin mine, for the student
of ecclesiastical costume ; endless and most gorgeous
are its specimens of episcopal ornament, of the
crozier, the pallium, the pectoral cross, the gloves
and the mitre, aurifrigicita or pretiosa. Juan de
Borgona sometimes gave designs for church plate.
His name ceases to appear in the Cathedral records
in 1533, when, it is supposed, he died.
Seville, and the school of Sanchez de Castro,
meanwhile produced Juan Nunez, whose best work
was executed for the Cathedral, and represented
the Virgin supporting the dead body of Our Lord,
with St. Michael and St. Vincent Martyr at her
side, and an ecclesiastic kneeling in prayer beneath.
Notwithstanding the Gothic stiffness of Christ’s
figure, Cean Bermudez reckoned this picture not
inferior to the works of Albert Durer, for beauty and
brilliancy of colouring, fine disposition of drapery,
and finish of the extremities, and for the delicate
minuteness with which the churchman’s embroidered
robes are painted. Nunez, however, sometimes fell,
like his master, into absurdities ; for he left in the
same Cathedral, pictures of the archangels Michael
FERDINAND AND ISABELLA.
and Gabriel, each with a pair of peacock’s wings.
The art of staining glass was brought to Seville by
Cristobal Aleman, who put into the Cathedral, in
1504, a painted window, the first of that glorious
series, afterwards completed by the Flemish brothers
Arnao, and Carlos of Bruges.
Alexo Fernandez, whose master was Gonzalo Diaz,
was a painter of considerable taste and skill, and
executed for the Convent of San Jeronimo, at Cor-
doba, several altar-pieces, on subjects taken from
the life of Christ and the patron saint, which were
held to equal any contemporary production of the
Spanish pencil. Called to Seville in 1508, by the
Chapter, he was employed with his brother Jorge,
a sculptor, and other artists, in painting and gilding
the noble retablo, designed, at the close of the
previous century, for the High Altar of the Cathe-
dral, by the Flemish architect, Dancart. He re-
mained at Seville till 1525. “Though his saints,”
says Cean Burmudez, “ are still adorned with gilt
diadems and glories, they are better drawn than
those of Castro and his disciples, and there belongs
to them a noble feeling and character, and an
accuracy in the imitation of rich stuffs and other
accessories, that denote advancing knowledge.”
Diego de la Barrera was a scholar of Alexo Fer-
nandez.
At Valencia, in 1506, Francisco Neapoli and Pablo
CHAP. 11.
Aleman
introduces
stained
glass at
Seville.
A. Fer-
nandez.
Diego de la
Barrera.
Valencia.
I I 2
REIGN OF
CHAP. II.
tie Aregio, supposed to have been disciples of Leon-
Neapoli
and Aregio.
ardo da Vinci, painted, with a correctness and gran-
deur of design almost worthy of that great master,
several passages from the life of the Virgin, on
twelve panels of the doors which once enclosed the
great silver altar of the Cathedral. Of these pictures,
Philip IV. said, several ages afterwards, that “ the
altar was silver, but its doors were gold.” 1 “ The
Adorations of the Shepherds and of the Kings,” are
perhaps the most striking and effective pieces of the
series. The artists received 3,000 golden ducats for
the work, which is said to have been presented to
the church by Pope Alexander VI., of the Valencian
house of Borgia, a man equally remarkable for his
taste, his talents, and his vices. Neapoli and Aregio
likewise painted in fresco a part of the walls of the
Cathedral ; but their works fell before the improve-
ments of some mitred Goth towards the end of the
Munifi-
cence of the
Church.
seventeenth century.
Isabella was nobly supported in her efforts for the
promotion of art by the magnates of the Church. At
Arch-
bishop
Mendoza
of Toledo.
Toledo, the Cardinal- Archbishop Mendoza, “the glory
and shining light of that ancient house, the idol of
Spain, the pride of the conclave,” 2 erected at his own
1 Ponz, Viaje de Esparia, tom. iv. p. 40.
2 Writing to the Archbishop of Granada, on the death of this munifi-
cent prelate, Peter Martyr uses these words : — “ Periit patruus ejus Petrus
ille Gonzalus Mendotise Domus splendor, et lucida fax ; periit quem
FERDINAND AND ISABELLA.
charges the Foundling Hospital of Santa Cruz, and at
Valladolid a College of the same name * 1 — magnificent
piles, each of which was ten years in building . 2
His famous successor, Ximenes de Cisneros, was
still more munificent in his patronage of letters
and arts. During the reign of that good Arch-
bishop, the ancient capital of the monarchy be-
came the new metropolis of art, a proud eminence
which it long maintained. Leaving the graver cares
of Church and State, or the compilation of his
famous Polyglot, the great Cardinal of Spain was
often seen, measuring-rod in hand, amongst the rising-
walls of his university at Alcala de Henares, or over-
looking the progress of the new decorations which
he lavished on his Cathedral. The noble high altar
of marble in that venerable church was erected by
his orders, and fixed the reputation of its author,
Vigarny, one of the best sculptors of Spain. In the
Cathedral archives is still preserved his beautiful
missal, in seven folio volumes, profusely embellished
with paintings and illuminations by Vasquez, Can-
deroa, and other artists of merit, whose names that
work has rescued from oblivion. At Salamanca,
Bishop Diego llamirez, of Cuenca, founded the
universa colebat Hispania, quem exteri etiam Principes venerabantur,
quem ordo Cardineus Collegam sibi esse gloriabatur.” — Epist. clix. Opus
Epistolarum, folio, Amst. 1670, p. 89.
1 Supra, p. 65.
2 Prescott’s Ferdinand and Isabella, vol. ii. p. 340.
vol. 1. n
CHAP. II.
Cardinal
Ximenes.
Vigarny.
Bishop
Iiamirez of
Salamanca.
REIGN OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA.
1 14
CHAP. II.
J. A. de
Toledo.
Abp. Deza.
Proof of
the pro-
gress of
art under
Ferdinand
and Isa-
bella.
Colegio Mayor, which bore the name of his see, ele-
gant and gorgeous as a fairy palace, but now a ruin,
thanks to the soldiers of Ney. There also two dig-
nitaries of the Church, Juan Alvarez de Toledo
(uncle to the great Duke of Alba), and Diego de
Deza, built the Dominican Convent of San Esteban,
one of the latest and one of the most beautiful
Gothic buildings in Spain. Deza, who was a friend
of Columbus, afterwards became Archbishop of
Seville, where he founded the College of San Tomas.
That the fine arts made a rapid progress during
the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, is sufficiently
proved by the fact, that when Charles V., who
had no predilection for his Castilian subjects,
wished to erect a monument to these great an-
cestors at Granada, the scene of their glory, the
execution of the work was entrusted to a sculptor
of Burgos, in preference to a Florentine rival of
Michael Angelo.
CHAPTER III.
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES Y. — I 5 1 6- 1 556.
LUS ULTRA,” the superb
device of Charles V., was
not more significant of
his boundless ambition
than of the stirring and
ardent spirit of his age.
The universal mind of
Europe was awakening
to a fresh activity and
unheard-of achievements. The scholar and the
artist, as well as the soldier and the statesman, were
up and doing. While one cloud of adventurers
threw itself on the golden regions of the New
World, another, animated with nobler purpose,
passed into Italy to learn of the genius of the Old.
New languages blossomed into poetry and eloquence.
New arts sprang up to adorn and refine civilised life.
The Spanish and Italian peninsulas, to the infinite
CH. III.
Brilliant
age of
Charles V.
1 16
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
CH. III.
advantage of the first, had for some time been
Close and
increasing
connection
of Spain
with Italy.
brought into close relations with each other. Fer-
dinand and his Great Captain had made the Crown
of the Two Sicilies an appanage of the House of
Arragon. “ Barcelona the Rich,” Malaga, and
“Valencia the Fair,” were yearly extending their
commerce with Genoa and the Italian cities. The
union of the vast dominions of Arragon, Castile,
Burgundy, and Austria, under the young Emperor,
promoted the interchange of interests and ideas
among all the countries of Europe. The Italian
schools of art began to be filled with a crowd of
students, motley as the host revealed to Bradamante
on the visioned fields of Romagna.
“ Tedesco, Ispano, Greco, Italo e Franco ” 1 —
Charles V.
as a patron
of art.
the tasteful and inquiring spirits of all lands came
to drink at the ancient fountain-heads of refinement.
Long and deep were the draughts of the Spaniard,
and the rich effects were found, after many days, in
the splendid creations of Castilian and Andalusian
genius, till the worn-out dynasty of Austria ceased to
hold the Spanish sceptre, and the scholars of Velaz-
quez and Murillo died off at Madrid and Seville.
With the deep sagacity of his grandsire Ferdi-
nand, Charles V. inherited much of the fine taste
1 L'Orlando Furioso, canto iii. st. 53.
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
117
of Isabella of Castile. In the midst of wars and
CH. III.
intrigues, which he conducted with all the shrewd-
ness of our Dutch William, in the course of rapid
journeys from Naples to Dover, from the Tagus to
the Danube, that anticipated the fiery dispatch of
Napoleon, he found time to notice and reward many
of the chief artists of foreign countries, as well as
of his own wide dominions. As a patron of art, he
was as well known at Nuremburg and Venice as at
Antwerp and Toledo ; and, in the splendid group
of contemporary sovereigns, none went beyond him
in magnificence. Of no prince are recorded more
His fine
sayings which show a refined taste and a quick eye.
taste.
The burghers of Antwerp religiously preserve his
remark, that the light and soaring spire of their
Cathedral deserved to be put under a glass case.
Florence has not forgotten how he called her the
Queen of the Arno, decked for a perpetual holiday.
The Cordobese historians have chronicled his vain
His visit to
regrets on visiting the famous mosque of Abderah-
the Cathe-
dral of
man, which had become the Cathedral of their city,
Cordoba.
for the havoc made in its forest of fairy columns by
the erection of the Christian choir, to which, when
at a distance, he had himself, in an evil hour, con-
sented. The citizens of Cordoba had vainly sought
to arrest the cruel improvements commenced by the
Chapter; and appealed against that Vandalic body
to the Emperor ; Charles, however, as yet knowing
1 1 8
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V
CH. III.
little of the Moors and their works, sided with the
churchmen, and an ample clearing was forthwith
made in the midst of the long continuities of the
aisles. But he came, he saw, and he confessed his
error ; shifting the blame, however, as was natural
and not unjust, upon the broad shoulders of the
Chapter. “Had I wotted of what ye were doing,”
said he to the abashed improvers, “ you should have
laid no finger on this ancient pile. You have built
a something, such as is to be found anywhere, and
you have destroyed a wonder of the world.” 1 The
His regard
for Titian.
Anecdotes
of the
Emperor
and the
painter.
fine speeches which he lavished on Titian are as well
known as the more substantial rewards. The painter,
happening one day to let fall his brush, the Emperor,
who was standing by the easel, picked it up, and
gently prevented his apologies by saying that
“ Titian was worthy to be served by Ccesar.” On
another occasion, Ctesar having requested Titian to
re-touch a picture which hung over the door of the
chamber, the artist found that he could not reach it
from the floor. The Emperor and some of the
courtiers moved a table to his aid, but the height
proving insufficient, Charles, without more ado, took
the table by one corner, and calling on those gentle-
men to assist, fairly hoisted Titian aloft with his own
imperial hands, saying, “ We must all of us bear up
1 Ponz, tom. xvii. p. 2 .
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
this great man, to show that his art is empress of all
others.” The envy and displeasure with which the
men of pomp and ceremonies viewed such familiari-
ties, which appeared to them as so many breaches
made in the divinity that did hedge their king and
themselves, only gave their master an opportunity
to do fresh honour to his favourite, in that celebrated
and cutting rebuke, “ There are many princes ; there
is but one Titian.” Not less valued, perhaps, by the
great painter, than his title, orders, and pensions,
was the delicate compliment of the Emperor, when
he declared that “ no other hand should draw his
portrait, since he had thrice received immortality
from the pencil of Titian.”
In architecture, the field in which princes, from
Cheops downwards, have chiefly loved to display
their magnificence and eternise their names, Charles
left several monuments. At Madrid, he rebuilt the
greater part of the Alcazar, which, after being
further embellished by his successors, perished by fire
in the reign of Philip V. He likewise built anew
the hunting seat at the Pardo, near that capital.
His unfinished palace at Granada has obtained him
both praise and blame. The summer which followed
his marriage was passed with his young Empress in
the beautiful Alhambra. Neither his admiration 1
CH. III.
His archi-
tectural
works.
Palaces at
Madrid.
The Pardo.
Granada.
1 Cean Bermudez. Noticias de los A rquitcctos y A rquitectura de Espana,
tom. i. p. 219.
I 20
CH. HI.
Toledo.
His love of
painting.
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
for its dream-like halls and cool refreshing fountains,
nor his unavailing lament for the invaded colonnades
of Cordoba, prevented him from razing the winter
palace of the Moors, to make way for an edifice out
of all keeping with the remainder. Nothing can be
said in defence of this outrage, except that Machuca’s
fragment is a noble specimen of art, and that the
Moorish buildings destroyed, were possibly inferior
to the rest. To the citadel of Toledo he added,
with happier taste, that noble court, of which the
shell, “ majestic though in ruin,” overtops the domes
and spires of the ancient city, and looks up the
valley of the Tagus to his favourite elm-groves at
Aranjuez. The front, the interior arcade, and the
staircase are the glory of the architects, Covarubias
and Vergara , 1 and are worthy of the imperial builder,
and the natural and historic grandeur of the site.
Painting was the art, however, which Charles most
delighted to honour, and in which his taste was most
cultivated and discriminating. Having learned draw-
ing in his youth, he examined pictures and prints
with all the keenness of an artist ; and much
astonished iEneas Vicus of Parma, by the searching
scrutiny that he bestowed on a plate of his own
portrait, w T hich that famous engraver had submitted
to his eye . 2 In power and ability the first monarch
1 Ponz, i. p. 122.
- Didlogo della Pittnra di M. Lodovico Dolce — i2mo, Vinegia, 1557, p. 18.
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
12 r
of his age, it was fitting that he should choose for his
peculiar painter the greatest master of his favourite
art. But in his Spanish kingdoms it owed little to
his care. Perhaps that early distrust of his Castilian
subjects, which placed the mitre of Toledo on the
head of a Croy, may have influenced him in his pre-
dilection for foreign artists. Neither Castile, how-
ever, nor his favourite Flanders, could furnish him
CH. III.
with a Titian. For such a treasure he was obliged
to look “ plus ultra,” even beyond the limits of his
far-stretching empire. Palomino is doubtless carried
away by an artist’s enthusiasm, when he asserts 1 that
Charles regarded the acquisition of a picture by
Titian, with as much satisfaction as the conquest of a
province. Yet, when he had parted with all his
provinces, he retained some of Titian’s pictures ;
when he betook himself to gardening, and watch-
making, and manifold masses at San Yuste, the sole
luxury to be found in his simple apartments, with
their hangings of sombre brown, was that master’s
St. Jerome, meditating in a cavern scooped in the
cliffs of a green and pleasant valley ; a fitting emblem
of his own retreat. Before this appropriate picture,
or the “ Glory ” which hung in the convent church,
and which, in obedience to his will, was removed,
with his body, to the Escorial, he paid his orisons,
His pic-
tures at
San Yuste.
1 Palomino, tom. iii. p. 377.
122 REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
CH. III.
Spanish
artists in
Italy.
Pedro
Francione.
Giovanni
di Spagna.
Spanish
patrons.
Marquess
del Guasto.
and schooled his mind to forgetfulness of the pomps
and vanities of power. 1
During this reign, the fine arts in Spain were
steadily advancing towards the meridian splendour
which they attained in the next. Spanish professors,
as well as Spanish patrons of art, began to be known
in Italy. So early as 1504 Alonso Berruguete, as
we shall see, had distinguished himself both at
Florence and Rome as a painter and sculptor. In
1521, Pedro Francione, a Spaniard, had earned con-
siderable reputation as a painter, at Naples, where
some of his works may still be seen in the churches.
At the death of Pietro Perugino, in 1524, a Spanish
disciple of that painter, known as Giovanni di Spagna,
was reckoned the best colourist in his school. 2 The
Spanish viceroys, the grandees who visited their
courts, and the magnates of the Iberian Church who
attended at the Vatican, were, many of them, admirers
and patrons of art. When Rafael died, his favourite
pupil and steward, Gian Francesco Penni (il Fattore),
passed into the service of the famous Marquess del
Guasto, Viceroy of Naples, whose grave Castilian
countenance has been rendered as familiar to us as
that of his master, by the portraits of Titian. To
1 The description of the Monastery of San Yuste, in the Handbook
[1845, pp. 550-553; 3rd edition, 1855, pp. 496-499], is one of the most
admirable passages in those charming volumes.
2 Vasari, tom. i. p. 41 1.
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
123
that nobleman he sold a fine copy of the “ Trans-
figuration,” possibly the same which now adorns the
National Museum at Madrid. 1 Under the orders
CH. III.
of the Marquess of Villafranca, a later Viceroy of
Naples, the Spanish architects, Pedro de Prado and
Juan de Toledo, designed and rebuilt many of the
finest portions of that noble capital. At Rome,
Marquess
of Villa-
franca.
Pedro de
Prado.
Juan de
Toledo.
Bishop Bobadilla, of Salamanca, the prelate who
superintended the building of the fine Cathedral of
that old university city, was amongst the patrons of
Benvenuto Cellini. The silver vase executed by him
for that bishop will he remembered by that irascible
artist’s readers as the cause of one of the most amus-
Bishop of
Salamanca.
ing scenes of his life. 2
While Spanish taste and skill thus found improve-
ment in Italy, Italian artists came to seek praise and
profit in Spain. Miguel Florentin, as his name im-
ports, a native of Florence, was the best of the early
sculptors of Seville. He appeared there early in the
Miguel
Florentin.
1 This picture, which has beea heavily re-painted, differs slightly from
the original— the woman who kneels in the foreground, with her back to
the spectators, having a mantle of the same pale pink colour as her robe ;
in the Vatican picture it is blue.
2 Vita di Benvenuto Cellini, 8vo, 1806, tom. i. p. 68. \Tke Life of
Benvenuto Cellini, newly translated into English by John Addington
Symonds, 3rd ed., 1 vol. demy 8vo, London, 1889, p. 44 . — Ed.] Benvenuto,
who heartily hated all Spaniards, complains that he was treated “ Spagno-
lescamente,” by which he means scurvily, in the transaction ; and says
(p. 71) that at their linal interview, when the piece of plate was paid for,
the bishop spoke to him, “ le piii pretesche spagnolissime parole che
imaginar si possa.”
1 24
CH. III.
Antonio
Florentin.
Pietro
Torrigiano.
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
century, and executed for the Cathedral, at the ex-
pense of the Count of Tendilla, the rich marble
monument of that nobleman’s brother, the Cardinal-
Archbishop Diego de Mendoza ; and afterwards (in
1519-22) the stone statues of St. Peter and St. Paul
on either side of the Moorish Gate, known as the
“ Gate of Pardon ; ” and the spirited bas-relief over
the arch, representing “ the Money-changers expelled
from the Temple by Our Lord.” His son, Antonio
Florentin, constructed, in 1545-6, for the Cathedral,
the grand monument for the exposition of the Host
in the Holy Week, annually erected at Easter near
the great portal. It was, in its original shape, a
tall tapering edifice of three storeys, supported on
columns of the three orders, and surmounted by a
large cross. Between the columns stood coloured
statues of saints, some of them of clay, and others,
like the building, of wood, for the most part
grandly designed. This monument was altered and
injured in 1624, by the addition of a fourth storey
of the composite order ; but still its effect in the
midnight service is superb, when, blazing with
church-plate and myriads of waxen tapers, it seems
a mountain of light, of which the silver crest
is lost in the impenetrable gloom of the vaults
above.
Pietro Torrigiano, the roving soldier-sculptor of
Florence, came to Spain in 1520, or 1521. Having
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V. 125
finished the beautiful tomb of Henry VII. 1 at West-
minster, — “ a pattern of despair for all posterity to
imitate,” 2 — he aspired to construct that of the
Catholic Sovereigns at Granada. There, however, he
encountered a rival more formidable than any he had
met with amongst “ the English beasts,” as he con-
temptuously styled his northern patrons ; for, although
he executed a fine medallion of Charity, in proof of
his powers, the work was adjudged, it is said, to
Vigarny, of Burgos. He thence went to Seville,
where he was more successful, and modelled a Cruci-
fix, a St. Jerome, and several other statues in terra
cotta, for the Jeronymite convent of Buenavista.
One of these, a Virgin and infant Saviour, so pleased
the Duke of Arcos that he ordered a repetition of it
for his own palace, and, when the work was delivered,
sent the artist away rejoicing with as much copper
coin as two men could carry. But on arriving at
his own house, and discovering that this weighty
recompense amounted to only thirty ducats, Torri-
giano in a fit of passion flew back, hammer in hand,
and dashed the statue to pieces before the duke’s
CH. III.
1 [The tomb stands in Henry the Seventh’s chapel, built by that king
on the site of the Lady Chapel erected by Henry III. — Antiquities of St.
Peter's Church, Westminster, 8vo, London, 17 u, p. 10. In the Hand-
book for Westminster Abbey, by “Felix Summerly” (Sir Henry Cole,
K.C.B.), 121110, London, 1842, where the tomb is well described, it is
stated (p. 88) that it cost fifteen hundred pounds, and took six years to
execute. — Ed.]
2 Fuller’s Church History, folio, London, 1655, p. 255.
126
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
CH. III.
face. For this outrage on a sacred image the un-
happy sculptor was seized by the Inquisition, con-
demned as a heretic, and died soon after in its
Examina-
tion of the
popular
story of
Torrigiano.
dungeons by voluntary starvation.
Such is his story, as told by Vasari, 1 who bears
him a pardonable grudge for having broken the nose
of Michael Angelo in a boyish fray — a fact attested
by the portraits of that great man — when they were
fellow-students, in the gardens of Lorenzo the
Magnificent. It is repeated with great unction by
Cumberland, 2 who sees a sort of poetical justice in
the tragical end of the aggressor. Cean Bermudez,
on the other hand, treats it as a fable, improbable in
itself and discreditable to his country. He admits,
indeed, that there is tangible evidence for the tradi-
tion of the broken statue, in a beautiful fragment
of sculpture — a woman’s hand placed on a bit of
drapery, supposed to be that of Torrigiano’s Virgin
Mano de
la teta.
— known as “ la mano de la teta ” — of which plaster
casts were common in his time at Seville. Some
of these are still used as models in the Sevillian
Academy, and may he found in the studios, and
from one of them the annexed woodcut is taken.
But he asserts that no Crucifix, by the Florentine,
was ever known to have existed there ; that the
meanness of his patron was very unlike the munifi-
1 Tom. ii. p. 5S-61. 2 Anecdotes, vol. i. p. 16.
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
127
cence of the grandees of that age ; that thirty ducats
in copper would have been a moderate burden for
one man ; and that not even the Inquisition would
have held it heresy for an artist to destroy his own
handiwork. 1 If Torrigiano were imprisoned at all,
he concludes that it must have been for demeanour,
CH. III.
’iplp
or expressions, not comporting with the duke’s
dignity — an offence of which he was quite capable,
if his character is fairly represented by Cellini, who
describes him as a fellow of infinite assurance, with
a loud voice, uncouth in his gestures, and more like
a bully than a sculptor. 2 On the same side it may
1 Llorente, the historian of the Spanish Inquisition, makes no mention
of Torrigiano— a victim he would not have forgotten, had there been any
documentary evidence of his seizure.
2 It is no wonder that Benvenuto had an aversion to Torrigiano, who
seems to have been cast in the same mould with himself. The portrait
he has left of his countryman is curious and characteristic : — “ Era questo
128
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
CH. III.
Terra cotta
statue of
St. Jerome.
be urged, that the price of a work of art was gene-
rally stipulated beforehand — often in writing — many
such documents of that time being still in existence,
and that it is against historical probability that the
pitiful part in the transaction, imputed to the Duke
of Arcos, should have been played by the head of the
chivalrous house of Ponce de Leon.
The story, such as it is, may afford food for
thought to the student of art and human nature, as
he pauses before Torrigiano’s delicate screens, in our
own great Abbey, or his St. Jerome, at Seville. That
celebrated statue was modelled from the steward of
the convent of Buenavista , 1 remarkable in youth for
his fine person. It does not appear whether it was
coloured, to imitate life, by the sculptor, or after-
wards. It was originally placed in a sort of grotto,
or cavern, in that convent, which Ceau Bermudez
twice visited, in company with Goya the painter,
who each time spent upwards of an hour in examin-
ing it, and pronounced it the finest piece of modern
sculpture iu Spain, and perhaps in the world. From
this appropriate site it has since been removed to
uomo da bellissimi forma, audacissimo, aveva piii aria di gran soldato
che di scultore, massime li suoi mirabild gesti e la su sonora voce, con
una aggrottar di ciglia da spaventare ogni uomo da qual cosa ; ed ogni
giorno ragionava delle sue bravure con quelle bestie di quegli Inglesi.”
Vita, tom. i. p. 29. [Symonds’ translation, 1SS9, p. 21.] Vasari also
describes Torrigiano as a “proud and choleric” man. The poor sculptor
has, however, had enemies only for his historians.
1 Vasari says, steward to the Botti, Florentine merchants in Spain.
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
the ancient church of the Merced, now the principal
hall of the Seville Museum, where it has been
improperly placed on a pedestal, and also suffers
dire eclipse from the strong and splendid colouring
of the great pictures that enrich the walls. Another,
and somewhat whimsical, circumstance further mars
its effect, and at first sight leads the visitor to
wonder at its fame. The saint is represented of life
size, with no drapery but a white cloth thrown
round his loins, and kneeling with one knee on a
rock. His left hand is raised aloft, and once held a
crucifix ; his right grasps a stone, with which he is
in the act of beating his bosom — a devotional exer-
cise which he daily performed. Unfortunately, how-
ever, his attitude — somewhat like that of a man
playing at bowls — is such that his object seems to
be, not so much to discipline his own body, as to
hurl the stone at a statue, in terra cotta, of St.
Dominic, by Montahes, at the other end of the
transept. That saint, on his part, is supposed to be
scourging himself with pious fervour, and his back
streams with blood, in proof of the vigour of his
strokes ; but as only the stump of the instrument
remains in his hand, his action, and menacing
aspect, favour the idea of defiance, and, in short, he
seems to shake his fist at St, Jerome, and dare him
to discharge his missile. The effect of two fine
works is thus destroyed by their absurd relative
VOL. I. I
CH. III.
i3°
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
CH. III.
position, which provokes the stranger’s laughter,
diverts his attention from their merits, and proves
the directors of the Museum to be either mad wags,
who prefer their jokes to their statues, or dull
citizens, equally insensible to a statue or a joke. In
spite, however, of these disadvantages, the life and
spirit of Jerome cannot fail to arrest the eye. His
sinewy and attenuated form, his frowning brow and
shaggy locks and beard, are modelled in the style of
Michael Angelo, and recall the wild energy of his
Moses. But Seville must become once more the city
of friars and inquisitors, and the Jeronymites must
drive out the glass-blowers, and repossess their Doric
cloisters of Buenavista, ere we can see, as it ought
to be seen, this revered image of their patron saint,
which the vicissitude of opinion lias dragged from
its shadowy shrine to uncover its nakedness in a rival
church, turned, by a like fate, into a secular museum.
Fresco
painting
brought to
Spain by-
Julio and
Aless-
andro.
The art of painting in fresco was brought into
Spain early in the reign of the Emperor by Julio
and Alessandro, Italian artists, who are supposed to
have belonged to the school of Giovanni da Udine.
They came to Andalusia about the same time as
Torrigiano, being invited by Francisco de los Cobos,
the Imperial Secretary, to decorate his mansion at
Ubeda. In preparation for the visit of Charles and
his bride, they were afterwards employed at the
Alhambra, to adorn some of its walls with miniature
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
frescoes in the style of the Vatican, especially those
of the Tocador, or dressing-room of the Queen, and
the adjacent gallery. In that loveliest of lady’s
bowers — from whose arched and airy windows many
a Moorish sultana, and several Christian queens,
have looked down on the stream of the Darro, the
laughing Vega, and the sparkling city lying like a
bursting pomegranate between its hills at their
feet — a few of these paintings may still be seen,
though faded and fractured by time, neglect, and
relic-loving travellers. They represent battles, ships,
and havens, and other fanciful subjects. The artists 1
afterwards established a school in Andalusia, in
which were formed some painters of distinction.
The most important service, perhaps, which the
taste of the Emperor rendered to painting in Spain,
was by bringing into that country many of the finest
pictures of Titian. Hence, probably, it was that
some of the best of the Castilian painters early
showed in their works a leaning to the style of
Venice. The portraits alone, of Charles, by Titian,
were sufficiently numerous and remarkable to exert
a powerful influence on the young artists who were
admitted to study in the royal galleries. Never was
1 Cumberland ( Anecdotes , vol. i. p. 22) has adopted an error of Palomino,
in ascribing to these masters the frescoes in the Duke of Alba's palace,
executed — as we shall have occasion to notice— by the brothers Granelo
and Castello, sixty years later.
J3 1
CH. III.
Titian—
effect of
his works
in Spain.
His por-
traits of
Charles Y.
1 3 2 REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
ch. hi. | the person of a great sovereign recorded for all time
on canvas by a more brilliant and diligent historian.
That masterly band, which has preserved for us the
faces of the princes and captains, the statesmen and
scholars of Italy in her greatest age, and of her higli-
j born beauties as they lived, and moved, and had
their graceful being — has almost outdone itself in
I the portraits of the famous Emperor. We can yet
behold his pale, but not unpleasing countenance, in
his prime of manhood, when the imperial diadem
first encircled that full and thoughtful brow amidst
the pageants of Bologna. We may see him “ turn
1 and wind” his fiery steed
“ with his beaver on ;
His cuisses on his thighs, gallantly armed . :>
for the field or the tourney ; or dressed in his buff
coat, with horn at his side, and attended by his
favourite hound, as he went to the chase in the
mountains of Toledo or the forests of Hungary ; or
apparelled in satin and cloth of gold for the banquets
of Florence or Vienna. And we may scan his fea-
tures, clouded with care, and wan with the traces of
pain, in his older sadder time, when his mind’s eye
turned from the wearisome state paper, or the glitter-
ing board, to the green solitudes of Estremadura,
and its ear from brilliant flatteries to the bells and
litanies of San Yuste. In such portraits as these,
we read more of the man’s nature and feelings than
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
in whole pages of Sandoval or Robertson ; and from
these, Castilian painters learned more of their art
than from all the lore of Carducho or Pacheco.
It has long been a question, whether Titian visited
Spain? His Venetian biographer, Ridolfi, 1 is silent
as to the fact ; the Spanish writers stoutly maintain
it. Palomino asserts that he resided there from 1548
to 1553, apparently on no better ground than the
date of his patent as Count Palatine, which he mis-
states. This instrument, he says, was signed by the
Emperor at Barcelona in 1553, a year when it is
well known that that monarch was closely confined
at Brussels, by gout and his intrigues for the mar-
riage of his son with Mary of England. Nor was he
in Spain during any part of the six previous years,
which renders it most improbable that Titian, in his
old age, then undertook the journey. It required
some higher inducement than a vice-regal court
could offer, to lure him from the enjoyment of his
wealth and honours at home, from the polished
society of the Grand Canal, and his pleasant garden
by the sea of Venice.
Cean Bermudez, with more accuracy, assigns to
the patent its proper date, 1535, when Charles was
at Barcelona, preparing to sail for Tunis. But he
maintains that Titian passed the two previous years
CH. III.
Story of
his visit to
Spain
examined.
Inconclu-
sive evi-
dence for
it.
1 Le Mctraviglie delle Arte, overo le Vite de gV illustre Pittori Veneti
e dello stato — 4to, Venetia, 1648.
i34
CH. III.
Good
evidence
against it.
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
i in Spain, alleging, as a proof, his portrait of the
Empress Isabella — once at the Palace of the Pardo
— which must have been painted in Spain, as she
never quitted that country after her marriage, and
before 1538, when she died. But it is well known
that many of his portraits of great personages were
not painted from life ; for example, that of the Great
Turk, Solyman the Magnificent, who is ranked by
Vasari amongst the subjects of his pencil, 1 but whom
he is not recorded to have visited in court or camp,
and that of the Empress herself, which he finished
at Venice in 1544. 2 The best evidence, however, as
to the fact is the long series of letters, written by the
poet Aretine to Titian and his other friends, and
extending from 1530 to 1555, which contains a
monthly chronicle of the painter’s movements, but
no mention of any journey to Spain, or residence
there. 3 We may therefore conclude that he never
travelled out of Italy, except on occasion of his visits
to the Imperial Court at Augsburg and Vienna, in
1 548 and 1550. Ilis residence there, and at Bologna
1 Vasari, tcm. iii. p. 225.
2 Northcote’s Life of Titian, 8vo, London, 1830, vol. ii. 203. This work,
though full of interesting matter, is strangely defective in arrangement.
Each volume, in fact, contains a separate, and sometimes contradictory
life. Thus, in vol. i. 309-10, we are told that Titian went to Spain, and
Ridolfi is taken to task for his view of the matter ; which, however, is
adopted in vol. ii. p. 78, where the Spanish journey is treated as a fable,
and the Spanish writers are in turn chastised.
3 Ibid., vol. ii. 178.
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
in 1530, may have led the Spaniards into their mis-
take, as well as the numberless trophies of his genius
that graced their royal galleries. The Escorial alone
possessed more of his pictures than five years of
labour in Spain could have sufficed to produce.
Italians were not the only foreigners whose
example improved the artists of Spain. The works
of Jerome Bos were so common in the royal collec-
tions, and in the convents of Spain, that some writers
have supposed that he visited the Peninsula. 1 Of
this no proof can be adduced ; but his pictures must
have been familiar to many of the Spanish painters,
and may perhaps have influenced the style of some
of them. Nothing is known of this singular artist,
except that he was born at Bois-le-duc, about 1450, 2
and painted for the churches and convents of that
town and its vicinity. Don Felipe de Guevara, the
warm admirer, and perhaps the friend of Bos, praises
ch. in.
Flemish
painters.
Jerome
Bos.
1 Cean Bermudez says some writers held this opinion, and Don Pedro
Madrazo, in his notice of Bos in his Catalogue of the Queen of Spain's
Gallery [1843] (p. 93), says, “ Sdbese que pas <5 gran parte de su vida en
Espana.”
2 Descamps, La Vie cles Peintres Flamands Allemancls et Hollandois
(4 tomes 8vo, Paris, 1753-63), tom. i. p. 19. Pilkington ( Dictionary , 8vo,
London, 1829, vol. i. p. 106) — with that indifference to historical fact, un-
fortunately too common with writers on art, says that Bos was horn in
1470, and died in 1530, and that he adopted his peculiar style in conse-
quence of despairing of equalling the great masters whose works he saw
at the Escorial— a building not founded till thirty-three years after the
time when he is supposed to have gone to that world of shadows which
he had so often visited in imagination. [The statement is repeated in
Allan Cunningham’s edition, 1 vol. 8vo, London, 1840, p. 65.— Ed.]
136
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
ch. hi. | his close and exact imitation of nature, the limits of
which, he says, he never overstepped, except in repre-
senting scenes in hell or purgatory. He bears testi-
mony, however, as well to his fondness for these
supernatural subjects as to his high reputation, by
remarking that many monstrous compositions of this
kind were falsely attributed to him, and that one of
his ablest disciples, either out of respect for his
master, or for the purpose of the better selling his
own works, was in the habit of signing his pictures
with the name of “ Bosch.” 1 The paintings of Bos
are, for the most part, executed on panel ; his style
of drawing is vigorous, though harsh ; he coloured
well, and sometimes with the brilliancy of his con-
temporary, Ilemling, to whom, however, he was far
inferior in sentiment and grace. The strange and
grotesque were the favourite fields of his fancy ; and
there he so delighted to exercise his strong powers
of caricature and exaggeration that he might be
! called the Hogarth of the lower world. He often
painted scenes from the Life of St. Anthony, the
Egyptian Abbot ; and, amongst the tormentors of
that sorely-buffeted and hardy eremite, he usually
chose to delineate, not those dangerous demons who
came in the likeness of blooming maidens, angling
with kind looks for his soul, or of jolly topers,
1 Guevara, Comentarios de la Pintura, 8vo, Madrid, 1787, p. 41-43.
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
137
pledging him in sparkling goblets “ when the wine
was red and moved itself aright ” — but the less
pleasing fiends in frightful and bestial shape, whose
wicked wont it was to invest the cavern by night,
and sting, pinch, and pummel the good man till they
CH. III.
left him for dead on the rocky floor. The “Fall of
Lucifer and his rebel Angels,” and “Adam and Eve
expelled from Eden,” were also subjects congenial
to the taste of Bos, and may be found amongst his
pictures in the Royal Gallery of Madrid, most of
which were formerly at the Escorial. One of these is
a large allegorical piece representing the “Triumphs
of Death,” and teeming with strange faces and
fancies. In the centre, Death, scythe in hand,
gallops by on his pale horse, driving reluctant multi-
tudes to his shadowy realms, of which the frontier
is marked by a fortification of coffins, manned by
a grisly host of skeletons. Behind the Destroyer
comes a car — a sort of dead-cart — to pick up the
stragglers and the slain. In the foreground a party
of revellers are disturbed at their banquet, and a
king falls dead, wearing his diadem and purple, thus
reading to royal eyes the solemn salutary lesson that
“ The glories of our blood and state,
Are shadows, not substantial things ;
There is no armour against fate ;
Death lays his icy hand on kings.” 1
1 Shirley, Ajax and Ulysses, sc. iii. Works, 8vo, London, 1833, vol. vi.
p. 396.
Works of
Bos at
Madrid.
I 3 S REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
CH. III.
Works at
Valencia.
J. C. Ver-
meyen.
When called upon to paint the person of Our
blessed Lord, the gloomy genius of Bos selected the
most appalling moments of His mortal career. The
Museum of Valencia has a series of pictures of this
kind, of which the most striking in its horrors is a
round panel, once an altar-piece in the Chapel “ de
los Reyes ” of the superb Convent of San Domingo,
and signed in Gothic characters “ ^)t0rOnpnUtG
faOGCl).” Llere we behold the countenance of the
Redeemer, pale, emaciated, and gory, beneath the
crown of thorns ; around are grouped the heads
of mocking soldiers, gloating over that Divine
agony, and grinning hideously like so many incar-
nate devils.
Juan Cornelio Vermeyen was a Dutch painter,
born at Beverwyck about 1 500, and invited to Spain,
in 1534, by Charles V., whom he accompanied in
the expedition to Tunis, of which he preserved some
scenes, afterwards transferred to Brussels tapestries.
He likewise followed the court to Italy, Germany,
and Flanders ; and having exercised his art with
honour and profit, he died in 1559 at Brussels, and
was buried in the Church of St. George, beneath an
epitaph of his own writing. The sources wdience he
drew his early instruction in painting are unknowm ;
but he excelled in several branches ; in portraiture,
landscape, and in sacred subjects. The Palace of the
Pardo w T as adorned with a number of his pictures ;
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V. 139
— eight pieces representing Imperial progresses in
Germany, and views of Madrid, Valladolid, Naples,
and London, all of which perished in the fire of 1608.
Vermeyen was a special favourite of Charles V.,
who ordered his bust to be executed in marble
“ for the sake of the gravity and nobleness of his
countenance.” He was still more remarkable for
the length of his beard, which gained him the name
of “el Barbudo ,” or “ Barbalonga,” and very justly,
if it be true, that although the wearer of this superb
specimen was a tall man, the Emperor, when in a
playful mood, used to amuse himself by treading on
it as it trailed on the ground. 1
Pedro Campaha, a Fleming, was one of the fathers
of the school of Seville. He was born, in 1503, at
Brussels, where he acquired some knowledge of paint-
ing, probably from Vander Weyde, or Van Orley.
He then went to Italy, and, passing through Bologna
in 1530, was chosen to paint a triumphal arch for
the solemn entry of Charles V. — a task which he
executed to the admiration of the citizens. After
many years spent in study at Borne, he appeared at
Seville in, or shortly before, 1548. In that year he
painted, for the Church of Santa Cruz, his famous
“ Descent from the Cross.” Though skilfully drawn
and rich in colour, this picture is, on the whole, un-
ch. in.
Pedro
Campaiia.
His “De-
scent from
the Cross.”
1 Descamps, Peintrcs Flamancls , <£•<:., tom. i. p. 86.
i 4 o
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
CH. III.
pleasing, from the meagreness of the figures and the
antique harshness of its execution. But its name is
great in Seville. Pacheco, who borrowed none of its
energy, confesses that he did not care to he left alone
before it in its dimly-lighted chapel. 1 And though
no picture was ever less akin to his own soft and
airy style, it was a favourite study of Murillo, who
would gaze for hours on its hold strong lines, and
was buried, by his own desire, in the chapel where it
hung. In spite, however, of its fame and historical
interest, it was strangely neglected by that diligent
collector, Marshal Soult, in his artistic campaign,
and cruelly maltreated by his soldiery, who split the
panel on which it was painted into five pieces, and
left them to warp and blister in the sunshine in the
court of the Alcazar. When the troubles were past,
though scarred and seamed beyond the power of
varnish, it was tolerably restored by Joaquin Cortes 2
— and it now hans-s at the end of the noble Sacristia
O
His various
works at
Seville.
Mayor of the Cathedral.
Campaha exercised his art at Seville for many
years with great success. The statues of the Kings,
in the Chapel Boyal of the Cathedral, were carved
after his designs, which he made in charcoal, receiv-
ing for each one a ducat. Many of his works still
adorn the churches. The Church of San Isidoro
1 Pacheco, Arte de la Pintura, p. 57.
2 Handbook for Spain [1845], P- 2 55 [3rd edition, 1S55, p. 182].
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
141
has a “ St. Paul the first Hermit,” and “ St. Anthony
the Abbot,” remarkable for the force and character
of the heads ; and that of San Juan de la Palma a
fine “ Crucifixion.” Age improved his style, and it
is said that he studied with advantage the works of
Vargas when that artist returned from Rome. In
his “ Purification of the Virgin,” in the Chapel of
the Mariscal of the Cathedral, we find the harsh
stiffness of the “Descent” softened to ease and
CH. III.
beanty and an Italian suavity of tone. Rafael him-
self rarely designed a figure more graceful than the
fair-haired damsel descending some steps to the left,
who contrasts well with the beggar sprawling be-
neath — a study from the streets — that, doubtless, did
not escape the eye of Murillo. The other smaller
devotional pieces in the same altar, and the forcibly
painted half-length portraits of the Mariscal Don
Pedro Caballero and his family, are likewise works of
Campana. He returned, in his old age, to Brussels,
where he died in 15 So, and was honoured by having
his portrait hung in the Consistory.
Francisco Frutet was a countryman and contem-
porary of Campana. Nothing is known of him
except that he painted several pictures for convents
and churches at Seville, about 1548; and even his
very name was lost, till exhumed from some dusty
archives by the diligent Cean Bermudez. Several
of his works are now in the Sevillian Museum.
F. Frutet,
1548.
142 REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
CH. III.
Their colouring is Flemish ; but in drawing and
composition they display a knowledge of the Italian
models and a disposition to use them. Thus in the
oratory once at the Hospital de las Bubas, in the
compartment which represents Our Lord going to
Calvary, are introduced several figures from the
“ Spasimo de Sicilia,” by Bafael, and from his
“ Burning of the Borgo ” at the Vatican. The
butcher-like figure of Simon the Cyrenian, however,
recalls the brawny vulgar forms of Flanders. In the
large central picture of the “ Crucifixion,” Our Lord
on the cross is grandly conceived ; the rest is indif-
ferent. But of the few existing works of Frutet the
best are those once in the convent of the Merced,
and [afterwards] in the collection of [the late] Don
Julian Williams, British Consul at Seville. They
consist of a large centre altar-piece, with figures of
life size, representing the Adoration of the Three
Kings, remarkable for the variety and high finish of
the heads ; and four doors or wings, on which are
painted the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple,
His Circumcision, a group of Apostles — -amongst
whom St. Paul stands foremost with his huge sword —
and a group of mitred ecclesiastics and priests, excel-
lent pictures, of which the last two are somewhat
blemished by the hard execution and monotonous
position of the hands.
Hernando Esturmio, or Sturmio of Ziriczea, re-
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
sided at Seville about the middle of the century.
He is supposed to have been a foreigner, and was
perhaps a German, whose real name was Sturm.
In 1554 he valued for the Chapter certain works of
art — as it appears from a document in their archives
— and the year following he painted for the Chapel
of the Evangelists, of the Cathedral, nine pictures on
panel, of which one is signed “ Hernandus Stur-
mius, Ziriezcensis faciebat, 1555.” The centre com-
partment represents “ St. Gregory saying Mass,” the
panel above it “ the Resurrection of Our Lord,” and
those at the sides and below “ the Four Evangelists
and several Saints.” The figures are designed with
some grace and freedom ; the colouring is good, and
affords, perhaps, the earliest example of the fine
brown tones peculiar to the school of Seville. Of
these various holy personages the most pleasing are
“ Santa Rufina and Santa Justa,” patronesses of
Seville, whom the “ loyal and unconquered ” city and
its painters delight to honour and to depict. These
virgin-martyrs were potters in the gipsy-suburb of
Triana in 287, who, being inspired with holy frenzy,
broke in pieces the statue of the great Venus of the
Sevillians as it was carried along in a solemn pro-
cession. For this outrage— on the predecessor in
popular veneration of Our Lady “ de la Antigua,”
and themselves — they were scourged with thistles,
and sent to walk barefoot in the Sierra Morena, a
ch. in.
Hernando
Sturmio.
Legend of
Sta. Kutina
and Sta.
Justa.
144
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
CH. III.
discipline through which they continued steadfast in
the Christian faith. Being brought back to Seville,
Justa was starved to death in a dungeon, while
Rufina was exposed in the amphitheatre to a hungry
lion, who behaved himself like the gentle beasts of
Androcles and Una, “ as he her wronged innocence
did weet,” and left the virgin- victim to be beaten
to death by the more savage votaries of Venus.
Burgos and an Asturian hermitage dispute with
Seville the honour of possessing the bones of these
sister-saints . 1 Sturmio has represented them in the
usual conventional form ; as two blooming maidens,
each of whom “ with bough of palm a crowned vic-
trice stands ,” 2 and who uphold between them the
Giralda, or Moorish belfry of the favoured city; on
the ground lie some earthen pots, symbols of their
lowly calling. Their hands are painted with great
care, and their rings, brooches, and ear-rings are re-
markable not only for their exquisite finish, but also
for their beauty as pieces of jewellery, in which the
gems are not less lustrous than Da Vinci’s rich ruby
on the forehead of Lucrezia Crivelli, — “ La belle
Feronniere” of the Louvre . 3 The tower, in the
hands of these pretty potters, also deserves notice,
1 Alfonso de Villegas, Flos Sanctorum, folio, Gerona, 1788, p. 631.
2 Ben Jonson, vol. ix. p. 76.
3 Notice dcs Tableaux exposts dans le Music Royal. No. 1091. [Edition
18S9, No. 461.]
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
145
as being a carefully-executed representation of the
Giralda, ere it had received its ornate crown of
Christian masonry.
These were the chief foreign auxiliaries of Spanish
art in this reign. Amongst the native leaders there
were also men whose names have hardly been
1
CH. III.
eclipsed by the glory of after- days. Felipe cle
Vigarny deserves to be first mentioned, as the reputed
successful rival of Torrigiano. lie was a native of
Burgos, but the year of his birth is not known.
His father was a Burgundian, and hence the son is
frequently called Felipe de Borgona. At the begin-
ning of the sixteenth century he had already so
distinguished himself in sculpture, that he was
called to Toledo by Cardinal Ximenes to superintend
the erection of the new high altar in the Cathedral,
for which he executed, in 1502, four historical bas-
reliefs, and the portraits of the Cardinal and his
friend Antonio de Lebrija, the illustrious scholar of
Alcala. He is supposed to have resided there for
some years, after which he went to Granada to
construct the high altar of the Chapel Eoyal in the
Cathedral. To him are attributed the curious bas-
reliefs in painted wood, in that Chapel, representing
the “ Surrender of the Alhambra,” and the “ Baptism
of the Moslem,” — curious, as authentic records of
actual scenes, faces, and costumes, but so rude and
uncouth that it seems very doubtful whether they
VOL. I. K
Felipe de
Vigarny.
146
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
CH. III.
were ever touched by his masterly hand. From
Granada he returned to Toledo, but he probably
revisited the former city to execute the monument of
the Catholic Sovereigns. It is of white marble, and
florid in design. On a sarcophagus adorned with
scrolls and scutcheons, bas-reliefs, and lovely weeping
cherubs, repose the figures of Ferdinand and Isabella,
of which the faces are admirably-finished portraits.
Much meaner dust lies inurned in more ostentatious
sepulchres ; but though the Venetian ambassador
Navigiero bestowed on it only the contemptuous
approval of an Italian, calling it “well enough for
Spain ,” 1 this monument deserves to be ranked
amongst the noblest of royal tombs and the most
fairly earned of those—
• incisa notis marmora publicis,
Per quse spiritus et vita redit bonis
Post mortem ducibus 2
Vigarny’s
influence
on Spanish
art.
Till the return of Berruguete from Italy, Vigarny
was esteemed the best artist in Spain. He improved
the Gothic style of drawing which obtained till his
1 Writing of the Capilla de los Reyes Catdlicos, in the Cathedral at
Granada, ho notices “le loro sepulture di marmo, assai belle per Spagna/'
— making no further comment upon them ; II Viaggio fatto in Spagna
et in Francia dal magnifico M. Andrea Navagiero, fu oratore dell' illu-
strissimo Senato Veneto, alia Cesarea Maesta di Carlo V., i2mo, Vinegia,
1563, fol. 23. Some writers hold this monument to have been made at
Genoa, but from this remark of the Venetian it would seem to have been
the work of a Spaniard.
2 Horat. Car. Lib. IV. viii. , 13-15.
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
time in that country, by giving greater altitude to
the human figure. Before his time the face bore to
the whole body the proportion of one to nine ; he
introduced the proportion of one to nine and one-
third. His last works were his carvings and alabaster
sculpture in the choir of Toledo Cathedral, for which
he executed one half of the upper stalls in competi-
tion with Berruguete, to whom he was held so nearly
equal that the inscription which records their rivalry
declares that
CH. III.
CERTAVERUNT TUM ARTIFICUM INGENIA,
CERTABUNT SEMPER, SPECTATORUM JUDICIA.
Vigarny died at Toledo in 1543, and was buried in
the Cathedral, near the choir.
The name of this first great Castilian sculptor may
naturally lead us to glance at the peculiar style in
which his art was practised in Spain. A large pro-
portion of Spanish ecclesiastical carving was coloured
to imitate life — and this not only in remote convents
and rural churches, but in the polite cities and their
wealthy cathedrals. This painted sculpture, which
holds a middle place between sculpture and painting,
is well deserving of notice, both for the genius it
sometimes displays, and as a national art hardly
known beyond the limits of the Peninsula. The use
of colour in Spanish statuary is of very venerable
antiquity, whether it be considered as a relic of
Spanish
painted
sculpture.
148 REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
CH. III.
heathen times or as a practice encouraged or intro-
duced by the Church to aid the illusion with which
she strove to invest her worship and move the
spirits of the faithful. The close resemblance which
exists between the pomps and ceremonies of the
ancient and modern superstitions, — those of Egypt
and Greece carried to Western Europe by the com-
merce of Carthage, and that of Papal Pome modified
by lingering Paganism, — is a curious chapter in
the history of religion. 1 In Spain image-worship
reached a height hardly attained in any other part
of Christendom, a height probably neither foreseen
by its champions, those bold Bishops of Pome, the
second and third Gregories, nor predicted by the
fiercest Iconoclast who harangued the Council of
Byzantium. Besides the most holy effigies, heaven-
descended and not made with hands, 2 and of course
plentifully endowed with miraculous power — such as
the Black Lady of the Pillar at Zaragoza, and the
Christ of the Vinestock at Valladolid — there were
many sacred images which, even before the hands
which fashioned them were cold, began to make the
blind see, the lame walk, and friars flourish and
grow sleek. To supply these representations of
1 See the admirable Essay on this subject, Handbook [4845], pp. 107-
114 [3rd edition, 1S55, pp. 49-54].
2 The “ eiKacr/rara ayapoTro^ra ” of the Eastern Church — for an account
of which see Gibbon, 8vo, London. 1838, chap. xlix. vol. ix. pp. 117-121.
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
saintly personages, became therefore an important
and lucrative part of the business of the studio ; and
that they should be as life-like as possible, the
better to strike the imagination of the vulgar, was
the natural desire of their monkish purchasers. St.
Bernard, therefore, stood forth to heal, habited, like
a brother of the order, in his own white robes ; St.
Dominic scourged himself in effigy till the red blood
flowed from his painted shoulders ; and the Virgin,
copied from the loveliest models, was presented to
her adorers, sweetly smiling, and gloriously apparelled
“ in clothing of wrought gold.” Many of these figures
not only presided in their chapels throughout the
year, but also, decked with garlands and illuminated
by tapers, were carried by Brotherhoods or Guilds
instituted in their honour, in the religious processions,
once so frequent and splendid, and still favourite
holiday shows, in the cities of Spain. For carvings
intended for these purposes, clay or terra cotta was
sometimes used ; but wood was a more convenient
and universal material, as being light, cheap, and
easily coloured. Cedar, lime, and the indestructible
“ alerce,” 1 were woods frequently employed, though
the preference was generally given to the Sorian
pine. The colouring was sometimes laid on canvas,
with which the figure was covered, as with a
1 The Thuya Articulata. It still grows on the hills of Barbary.
Cook’s Sketches in Spam, \ ol. i. p. 5.
149
CH. III.
*5°
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
CH. III.
skin ; 1 much care and labour was bestowed on it, and
it was usually applied entirely by the band of the
master-artist himself. The effects and gradation of
tints were studied as carefully as in paintings on
canvas, and distant views and groups were freely intro-
duced in the larger compositions, which were in truth
nothing more than pictures in relief, with the prin-
cipal figures altogether detached from their back-
grounds. The imitation of rich stuffs for draperies
( estofdr ) was a nice and delicate branch of the art,
and was held by writers on the subject to be of no
small difficulty and importance. 2 For single figures
real draperies were sometimes used, especially for
those of Madonnas, of whom many possessed large and
magnificent wardrobes, and caskets of jewels worthy
of the Queens of the Mogul. In these cases only
the head and extremities of the figure were finished,
the rest being often left a mere manequin, or block.
In works of this kind, there were several Spanish
sculptors who displayed, as we shall see, no incon-
siderable ability and taste. But in seeking after
effect, by means like these, they undoubtedly mis-
took the genius of their art. They might have
pleaded, perhaps, had they known it, the practice of
Athenian artists in the days of Pericles ; but although
there is evidence to prove that colour was used by
1 Bosarte, Viaje , p. 58. 2 Pacheco, Arte, de la Pintura, p. 362.
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
151
those masters in their statuary, it is by no means
certain that illusion was intended. 1 The mantles of
variegated marbles with which the Roman sculptors
decked the busts of their Caesars, — of which some
CH. III.
specimens doubtless reached Spain ; and some full-
length statues similarly draped — of which the colossal
Apollo, with ample robes of bloomy porphyry, in the
Museum of Naples, is perhaps the finest existing
example — might be cited as instances of a similar,
but more defensible deviation from the simplicity of
a pure taste. But it is the business of the sculptor
to deal with form alone, to mould the clay into
beauty, and to breathe life into the colourless marble,
with no other instruments than his modelling-stick
or his chisel ; as it is the business of the painter to
deal with colour, and with his pencil alone to deepen
his airy distances, and cause rounded shapes to
start gracefully from the flat surface of the canvas.
Neither sculpture nor painting can invade the
province of the other without loss, and a sacrifice of
the dignity of art, for which no illusion, however
perfect, can recompense. For, if exact and deceptive
imitation of nature be held to be the chief end of
art, then are the startling waxen preparations of the
anatomical school of Florence higher achievements
than the Venus “that enchants the world,” in the
1 See the able article on Spanish art in the Foreign Quarterly Review,
No. xxvi., pp. 264-5 [by Sir Edmund Head. — E d.].
Colour not
admissible
in statuary.
l 5 2
CH. III.
Damian
Forment.
Retablo in
Cathedral
of Huesca.
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
Tribune, and “ the Lord of the unerring bow,” the
glory of the Vatican ; the fairyland (of pasteboard
and gaslight) disclosed when the curtain rises on the
scenes of a Parisian ballet, than the forest- vales of
Poussin, and the stately and sunlit havens of Claude.
Damian Forment, a Valencian by birth, was a
sculptor of renown in this reign. lie studied in
Italy, and is supposed to have formed his style on
the works of Donatello. In 1 5 r i he was employed
to execute an alabaster altar-piece for the high altar
of the Cathedral “ of the Pillar,” at Zaragoza — a
work still existing, and reckoned one of the finest
monuments of art in Arragon. It is designed in the
florid Gothic style, and is divided into three com-
partments, or high-canopied niches, of which that in
the centre is filled with “ the Assumption of the
Virgin,” and those at the sides with her “Nativity”
and “Purification” — all in high relief. Above,
around, and beneath these principal groups, are
disposed a thousand figures and ornaments of grace-
ful design, and elaborately carved. The artist was
employed on this work nearly nine years, and
received for his labour 1,200 ducats. In 1520 he
began his other great work — the retablo for the high
altar of the Cathedral of Huesca, also in alabaster,
and in design somewhat like that at Zaragoza. It
consists of three principal niches, overhung by cano-
pies of the finest Gothic tracery, and foliage enriched
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
with small saintly figures. The central niche con-
tains the crucifixion of Our Lord, in high relief, the
others his progress along the via dolorosa, and his
deposition from the Cross. Below are a series of
smaller niches, in which stand the Saviour, risen
and glorified, and His apostles, six on either hand.
Lower still, seven compartments are filled with bas-
reliefs, representing Our Lord in the last scenes of
His life ; at the Last Supper, praying in the Garden,
betrayed by Judas, scourged, crowned with thorns,
led forth to the people, and brought before Pilate.
The base is adorned with columns and grotesque
figures in the florid plateresque style, which was
already superseding the Gothic, and with two ex-
quisitely-wrought medallion profile portraits of the
sculptor and his wife. Amongst the historical
figures Our Lord crucified is one of the finest, and
the executioner dragging Him to Calvary, and the
spearman standing beneath the Cross, are admir-
able for force and expression. Words can give no
adequate idea of the infinite variety of fancy and
marvellous skill of hand displayed in the ornamental
borders — of fruits, flowers, foliage, masks, and heads
of men and animals — which surround each piece of
sculpture, and the massive yet delicate and airy frame
which encompasses the whole. As the eye wanders
over this wilderness of graceful design and cunning
workmanship, it will discover no cause for surprise
CH. III.
154 REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
CH. III.
that Forment should have devoted to this superb
altar-piece no less than thirteen years, the last of
his life. The cost of its construction was 110,000
suelclos of Arragon. 1 When this superb altar-piece
was finished, he was invited by the Emperor to enter
his service ; this was, however, prevented by his
death in 1533. The liberal patronage of the Church
enabled him to leave an estate, entailed on his
family, worth 60,000 Castilian ducats. His school
was thronged with scholars, of whom he never had
fewer than twelve, and who received at his hands
both instruction and kindness. To the memory of
one of them, Pedro Munoz, his countryman and
friend, he erected a monument in the cloister of the
Cathedral of Huesca, where his own ashes also re-
pose, which commemorates both master and scholar
in its simple and touching inscription :
D. O. M.
LEX MI NATVR/E, ET TE PETRE OFFENSA
TVLERVNT NVMINA : QVOD POSSVM DO
LAPIDEM ET LACHRYMAS. PETRO MONYOSIO
P ATRIA VALENTINO DAMIANVS FORMENT
ARTE ST AT Y ARIA PHIDLE, PRAXITELISQVE
HiMVLUS : ALVMNO SVO CARISSIMO, AC
CLIENTILI SVO B. M. FLENS, POSVIT.
VIX. AN. LXVII. MENS. X. DIES XXVIII.
OB. KAL. JAN. MD. XXII.
1 Fundacion Excelencias Grandezas y Cosas Memorables de Huesca,
por Fran Diego de Aynsa y Iriarte. — Fol., Huesca, 1619, p. 510. Twenty
sueldos made a libra, or nineteen reals.
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V. 155
Pedro Machuca, painter, sculptor, and architect,
likewise studied in Italy. His birthplace is not
known, but he resided chiefly at Granada. In
painting he is said to have followed the style of
Eafael, with what success time, which has spared
none of his pictures, has not permitted us to judge.
As a sculptor, amongst his best works was the
marble fountain, richly adorned with bas-reliefs on
historical subjects, which still exists, though in a
very dilapidated condition, near the Alhambra gate,
to attest his skill and the munificence of its founder,
the Marquess of Moudejar. Seville possesses a better
preserved proof of his powers, in the three fine
medallion alto-relievos, representing Faith, Hope,
and Charity, and full of Italian grace and feeling,
which are placed over the door of the church of
the Hospital de la Sangre, 1 and have escaped the
brush of the whitewasher, who, in Andalusia, is
no respecter of marbles. But his fame rests chiefly
on his great architectural effort, that superb frag-
ment of a palace that forms so fine a feature in
distant prospects of Granada, crowning the hill, and
contrasting with the red towers, of the Alhambra.
CH. III.
Pedro
Machuca.
1 Handbook for Spain [1845], P- 2 74 [3 r o
* J
I
Piacenza, in the house of the Archdeacon, or that
noticed by Soprani 1 in the palace of Giovanni
Geronimo Lomellini at Genoa, — which is now no
mean gem amongst the treasures of the galleries
and libraries at Althorp. She has here drawn her-
self in what the Germans conveniently name a
“ knee-piece,” and perhaps rather under life-size.
Her head is small and finely formed, and well set
on a graceful neck, and its dark hair dressed smoothly
and simply ; her features are quite Italian and
regular, her complexion a clear olive, and her black
eyes large and liquid. The dark close-fitting dress
is relieved only by small white frills at the throat
and wrists, and two white tassels hanging on her
breast ; and her delicate and most exquisitely painted
hands are seen over the keys cf a spinnet. To her
right, in deep shadow, stands an old woman — per-
haps she who played at chess with her sisters —
wearing a kerchief twisted turban-wise round her
head, and resembling a St. Elizabeth or a St. Anne
in a religious composition of the Caracci. The
whole picture is painted in the clear firm manner
of the best pencils of Florence.
Another Sofonisba is mentioned by Palomino, but
by no other authority, amongst the foreign painters of
this reign. Sofonisba Gentilesca, says that writer , 2
CH. IV.
Sofonisba
Gentilesca.
1 Soprani, p. 310. 2 Palomino, tom. iii. p. 386.
232
CH. IV.
Castello el
Berga-
masco.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
was a lady illustrious in art, who came from France
in the train of Queen Isabel of the Peace, to whose
household she belonged. She painted miniature-
portraits with remarkable skill, and had for sitters
their Majesties, the Infant Don Carlos, and many
ladies of the Court of Madrid, where she died in 1 587.
Giovanni Battista Castello was born at Bergamo,
early in the sixteenth century, and became the scholar
of Aurelio Buso, a Cremonese painter, by whom he
was brought to Genoa. There he obtained the
patronage of the family of Pallavicina, who sent
him to Pome, whence he returned, a painter and
architect of great skill. At Genoa he painted many
works in conjunction with Luca Cambiaso — the
most famous artist of the proud city. Of these, one
of the most noted was the “Last Judgment,” in
the Church of the Nunziata di Portoria, of which
Cambiaso painted the multitudes expecting their
doom, and the Bergamese the Judge and His atten-
dant angels, which was reckoned the finest part of
the composition. 1 Castello drew and composed in
the style of the Homan school, and his colouring had
something of the splendour of the Venetian masters.
He painted many works in fresco— representing archi-
| tectural perspectives, then fashionable decorations of
the stately halls of Genoa. The Grillo palace pos-
1 Lanzi. Storia Pittorica della Italia, 8vo, Bassano, 1818, tom. v. p.
302.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
2 33
sessed many good specimens of his powers in this
style, and of his fine taste in architecture, especially
in the chamber in which he painted the “ Banquet
of Dido and Ahneas.” Invited to Spain in 1567, he
fixed his residence at Madrid, and received from the
King an annual salary of 300 crowns, besides pay-
ment for his works. In the palace of Madrid he
painted several ceilings ; and he also designed the
great staircase of the Escorial — by which he proved
himself a worthy compeer of Toledo and Herrera.
Dying at Madrid in 1569, he left behind him a
young son, Fabrizio, and a stepson, Nicolao Granelo,
who had also been his scholar. Granelo was named
painter to the King in 1571 — with the slender allow-
ance of fifteen ducats a month, and the younger
Castello, having acquired his art from his brother,
received the same appointment in 1584, with the yet
smaller monthly salary of 6,000 maravedis. At the
Escorial they painted in concert several ceilings, and
in the gallery known as the hall of battles the
“ Moorish Rout at Higueruelas ” — borrowing from an
old painting of that subject found at Segovia 1 — and
the “Battle of St. Quentin,” frescoes which deserve
little praise, and for stiffness are worthy of the vener-
able days of Dello. They were afterwards employed
to paint in fresco three other battles in the armoury
ch. iv.
Nicolao
Granelo.
1 See supra, chap. ii. p. 92.
234
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. IV.
of the ducal palace at Alba de Tonnes. Granelo
died at Madrid in 1593; and Fabrizio Castello in
1617, having been continued in his post of painter
by Philip HI.
Francisco
de Viana.
Francisco de Viana accompanied Castello from
Genoa to Madrid, assisted him in his works at the
Alcazar, and finished some of them after his decease,
lie was made painter to the King in 1571, with a
monthly salary of twenty ducats, which he enjoyed
till his death at Madrid in 1605.
Romulo
Cincinato.
Florence furnished to Madrid an excellent painter
in the person of Romulo Cincinato — who had studied
under Francisco de Salviati at Rome. He was sent
to Spain, in 1567, by Don Pedro de Requesens,
Spanish ambassador at Rome, and was engaged for
the King’s service for three years — at the monthly
salary of twenty ducats. He was first employed in
painting some frescoes in the Alcazar of Madrid, and
afterwards at the Escorial in various works, of which
some of the best were the pictures of two oratories
in the principal cloister. One of these represented
the “ Transfiguration of Our Lord ; ” and here he
introduced a youth under the influence of a demon,
in which he imitated the similar figure in Rafael’s
great Transfiguration. For the spaces over the seats
of the choir he painted, in imitation of fresco, four
large canvases, of which one had for its subject
the tutelar of the monastery, St. Lawrence, Arch-
REIGN OF PHILIP II. 235
deacon of Rome, following his Bishop, St. Sixtus, to
prison ; and another, the same saint in the presence
of the Roman Prefect, who demands of him the
treasures of his church, and is shown, in reply, a
company of the Christian poor. The remaining
two pictures represented passages in the life of
St. Jerome. In 1571 Cincinato was allowed six
months’ leave to go to Cuenga, where he painted,
for the Jesuits’ church, three altar-pictures, 1 repre-
senting St. Peter, St. Paul, and the “Circumcision
of Christ,” now in the Academy of St. Ferdinand
at Madrid. The “ Circumcision ” is well composed,
the draperies are broad and graceful ; the male
heads have the noble air which belongs to the
school of Rome, but the heads of the Virgin and
the other women are not so pleasing. The High
Priest, in a robe of curious pale blue, is the most
conspicuous figure ; he is seated with his back to
the spectator, and performs the operation with a
long, sharp-pointed knife, like the murderous wea-
pons still made at Albacete for the girdles of the
peasantry. The background is filled up with a high
arch, supported on pillars, and crossed by an airy
gallery, in which three figures are standing. This
“ Circumcision ” is reckoned Cincinato’s masterpiece,
and was so considered by himself ; for, when his
CPI. IV.
\
1 Ponz, tom. iii. pp. 97-9S.
236
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
cn. iv.
‘ 1 El zan-
cajo ” at
Cuenca.
Patricio
Caxes.
friends praised his works at the Escorial, he would
say— “There is a shin at Cuenga that is worth them
all.” This celebrated shin belongs to the High
Priest’s left leg, which is thrust out behind him, as
he sits with his back turned, so as to display the
heel and ankle. It is an accurate representation of
a rather clumsy model. Cincinato was afterwards
employed by the Duke of Infantado to paint a
variety of frescoes in his palace at Guadalajara.
About 1591 he became a cripple, and disabled from
pursuing his profession ; but the King permitted him
to enjoy his pension till 1600, w 7 hen he died at
Madrid, “ universally deplored by the artists,” says
Palomino, 1 “ for his amiable manners and eminent
ability,” and leaving behind him two sons, whose
names will appear in a later reign.
With Romulo Cincinato, the Spanish ambassador
sent from Rome, in 1567, Patricio Caxesi, or Caxes,
a native of Arezzo, wdiom he had engaged for the
King’s service, on the same terms as his companion.
They at first painted together in the Alcazar of
Madrid ; Caxes was not, however, employed at the
Escorial, nor does he seem greatly to have distin-
guished himself as a painter. The Queen of Spain’s
gallery possesses only one of his works — a large picture
of the Madonna, with the infant Saviour asleep on her
1 Pal., tom. iii. p. 403.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
lap, and surrounded by adoring angels ; * 1 the sleeping
babe is pretty, but the rest unpleasing and poorly exe-
cuted. Having some taste for architecture, he was,
in 1570, employed to design a high altar for the
Church of San Felipe el Real, at Madrid. He long
laboured on a translation into Castilian of Vignola’s
book on the Five Orders, which was at last published
in 1593, in folio, with an architectural title-page
designed and engraved by himself, and an epistle
dedicatory to Prince Philip, who afterwards mounted
the throne as the third monarch of the name. 2 By
order of that prince he painted certain works at the
Pardo in 1 608 ; and he died at an advanced age, in
1612, leaving a son by whom he was eclipsed.
Antonio and Vincenzo Campi were the second
and third sons of Galeazzo Campi, a painter of
reputation at Cremona, whose profession they
followed, under his instruction and that of their
p Catdlogo, 1S43, No. 162. In the Catdlogo Descriptivo 6 Historico,
1872, No. 698, it is attributed, following Cean Bermudez, to Eugenio
Caxes. It does not appear in the Catalogue of 18S9 . — Ed.]
2 “ Regia de las cinco Ordcnes de Arcldtectura dc Jacome de Vignola ,
agora de nuevo traduzido de Toscano en Romance por Patritio Caxesi,
Florentino, Pintor y Criado de su Magestad. Dirigido al Principe
Nuestro Senor. En Madrid. Patricius Caxiesi fe. et tulsit A.D. 1 593-
i Se vende en casa de Antonio Mancelli.” This title I have copied from a
copy of the first edition, the only one which I have seen, in the Cathedral
1 Library of Seville. It wants the Epistle Dedicatory, and is a good deal
mutilated. The impressions are much better than in the later editions,
and the engraving neatly executed. The architectural first order is the
worst of the plates. It is curious to find the author’s name spelt in two
ways on the title of his book, “ Caxesi" and “ Caxiesi.”
237
CH. IV.
Antonio
and Vin-
cenzo
Campi.
238 REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. IV.
elder brother, Giulio. They visited Spain in 1583,
and were for some time in the service of the King.
The best works of Antonio, in his native city, were
a “ Holy Family,” — in which the Divine child was
represented as playing with a dove — painted in
1567 for the church of St. Peter; and the “Decol-
lation of St. John Baptist,” and other pictures,
executed, with the stucco bas-relief ornaments of
a chapel, in 1577-1581, for the church of St.
Sigismund. 1 At the Escorial he painted, for the
Vicar’s chamber, a large picture, on panel, of the
“great Doctor,” St. Jerome, wearing, in defiance of
all civil chronology, the purple robe of a cardinal,
and seated, with a pen in his right hand and his
eyes fixed on a crucifix, his left arm resting on
an open volume, and its hand twined in his bushy
beard ; near him were his inkhorn, red hat, and
the usual skull and domesticated lion. 2 Antonio
was likewise a writer of some reputation, and
1 Grasselli, p. 80.
2 Fray Francisco de los Santos ( Description del Escorial, p. 68), de-
scribes the saint’s beard as “ muy poblada ” — “ well peopled,” an expres-
sion which, though it is merely equivalent to “thick,” sounds alarming
to English ears. He states the height of the panel at four yards, and its
width at two. In the Museo Real, at Madrid, there is a picture exactly
answering the above description, except in its measurement, which is
given ( Catdlogo , No. 459), as 7 feet 8 inches high by 5 feet 1 inch wide,
and ascribed to Bernardino Campi. The friar and the catalogue-maker
doubtless mean the same picture — the former probably being wrong in
bis figures, and the latter in the name of the artist. [Now No. 72. In
the Catdlogo descriptivo 6 liistdrico of 1872, the name Bernardino was
retained, but in the editions of 1873 and 1889, Antonio has been adopted.
—Ed.]
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
2 39
printed, in 1585, a “ Chronicle of Cremona,”
CH. IV.
enriched with some fine engravings by Agostino
Caracci, his friend and admirer, and dedicated to
Philip II. 1 Pope Gregory XIII. also employed him
as an architect, and decorated him with the order
Antonio
Campi’s
work on
Cremona.
of Christ. As a painter, grace was his distinguish-
ing merit, and Correggio the model of his imitation. 2
The works of Vincenzo Campi at the Escorial,
or at least their names, have not been preserved.
For his brother’s book he engraved the topo-
graphical plan of Cremona ; and his best picture
in that city was a “ Dead Christ, in the arms of
the Virgin,” executed for the church of San Facio.
Though his colouring was good, he was inferior
to his brothers in invention and power of drawing ;
his best historical works were generally of a small
size, and he excelled in portraiture and in painting
fruit and flowers. 3 He died in 1591 . i
Luca Cambiaso, 5 one of the most famous and
most diffuse of the painters of the Escorial, is
1 Cremona fedelissima citta ct nobilissima colonia de' Romani rap-
presentata in disegno col smo contado et illustrata d’una breve historia
delle cose piu notabili appartenenti ad essa, et dei ritratti de duchi et
duchesse di Milano, e compendio delle lor vitc da Antonio Campo pittore
e cavalier Cremonese, al potentissimo e felicissimo Re di Spagna ; fol. ,
Cremona, 1585. Engraved title, with a portrait of Philip II., and the
arms of his various kingdoms, on the back of it ; and an excellent por-
trait of the author on the leaf before p. 1.
2 Lanzi, tom. iv. p. 137. 3 Grasselli, p. 81.
4 Lanzi, tom. v. p. 138.
5 For the life of this artist I am in many particulars indebted to
Soprani, pp. 35 to 51, where his portrait is engraved.
Luca Cam-
biaso.
240
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. IV.
also esteemed the head of the school of Genoa.
His parents having retired from that city on the
approach of the Constable Bourbon’s army in 1527,
he was born on 18th of October of the same year
at Moneglia — a white town that sparkles on its
hill-top on the eastern shore of the Ligurian gulf,
— and was called after the Evangelist painter, to
whom the day is dedicated. He began to paint
at the age of ten years, under the eye of his father,
Giovanni Cambiaso, who evinced good taste in
setting him to copy certain works of the correct
and noble Mantegna. His progress was so rapid
that, at the age of seventeen, he was entrusted
to decorate some facades and chambers of the
Doria palace at Genoa, where he displayed his
rash facility of hand by painting the story of Niobe
on a space of wall fifty palms long, and high in
proportion, without cartoons or any drawing larger
than his first hasty sketch on a single sheet of paper.
While he was engaged on this work, there came one
morning to look at it some Florentine artists, who,
seeing a lad enter soon after and commence painting
with prodigious fury, called out to him to desist.
Elis mode, however, of handling the brushes and the
colours, which they had imagined it was his busi-
ness merely to clean or pound, soon convinced them
that this daring youngster was no other than Luca
himself ; whereupon they crossed themselves and
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
declared that he it was who should one day eclipse
Michael Angelo. Cambiaso early acquired great
skill in fore-shortening, which he seized every occa-
sion, however difficult, of displaying, quite regard-
less, if aware, of Rafael’s precept, that it should be
used sparingly, in order to cause the greater wonder
and delight . 1 His knowledge of perspective, com-
position, and colours, was much improved by the
instructions of Castello, in conjunction with whom,
as has been already mentioned, he painted for twelve
years, “in which space of time,” says Soprani, “was
produced the flower of his works.” Amongst his
best pictures of this epoch were the “ Martyrdom of
St. George,” in the church of that saint at Genoa,
remarkable for its composition, light and shade, and
force of expression ; and the “Rape of the Sabines,”
in the palace of the Imperiali at Terralba, a large
work full of life and motion, passionate ravishers and
reluctant damsels, fine horses and glimpses of noble
architecture, and with several episodes heightening
the effect of the main story. Of this latter picture
the fastidious Mengs said that he had never been
more vividly reminded, by any other work, of the
chambers of the Vatican . 2
1 Lodovico Dolce, Didlogo della Pittura, i2mo, Vinegia, 1557, fol. 36,
a work said to have been composed from notes left by Rafael. [Aretin :
or a Dialogue on Painting , from the Italian of Lodovico Dolce, i2mo,
Glasgow, 1770, p. 130 . — Ed.]
2 Lanzi, tom. v. p. 30.
VOL. 1. Q
241
CH. IV.
242
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. IV.
Death of
his wife,
and its
effects.
While in the zenith of his fame and prosperity
Cambiaso had the misfortune to lose his wife ; a loss
which he endeavoured to remedy in some degree by
committing the management of his household and
children to her sister. This lady, by whose assist-
ance he hoped to lighten his sorrows and his cares,
proved, however, a fertile source of distress ; for, as
she plied the needle, or whipped the boys, she dis-
played so close a resemblance to the dear departed,
that the widower conceived for her a violent
passion, which the canons of the Church did not
permit him to gratify by marriage. In 1575, the
year of jubilee, he therefore set out for Rome,
to crave a dispensation from the Pope. Passing
through Florence, he was entertained by Signor
Giovanni Battista Paggi, a young Genoese noble,
and amateur painter, who carried him, by the
desire of the Grand Duke, Francesco I., to meet
his Highness in the Gardens of the Prato. The
interview was arranged without the knowledge of
Cambiaso, who was a man of shy and retiring dis-
position ; and, being unexpectedly ushered into the
presence of royalty, he was utterly confounded by
the surprise, and by the fine speeches and compli-
ments of the Duke. The circumstance shows, how-
ever, the renown which he had acquired. Arriving
at Rome, he had an audience, and kissed the
holy feet, of Gregory XIII., to whom he presented
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
2 43
two fine pictures as a peace-offering, and then,
not without blushing, unfolded his case. But
the Pontiff, although he graciously accepted the
pictures, was not to be moved by the prayers of
the painter, who was therefore obliged to return
home, having taken nothing by his journey but the
papal benediction, and advice that he should dis-
miss the beloved sister-in-law from his house ; which,
like a good son of the Church, he did, with many
tears.
Thus disappointed, he sought to forget his sorrows
in his art, which he pursued with an invention so
inexhaustible, and hands so dexterous, that he some-
times painted with two pencils at the same time.
His fame obtained for him an order from the King
of Spain to paint for the high altar of the Escorial
church the “ Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence ” — a sub-
ject which he treated so much to the royal satisfaction
that he received an invitation to the Spanish court.
Being averse to leaving home, he was induced to
comply with Philip’s request only by the entreaties
of his friends, and by the hope that Castilian interest
at Pome might perhaps enable him to accomplish
the marriage after which he was still yearning.
He arrived, therefore, at Madrid in 1583, attended
by his son, Orazio, and another scholar, Lazaro
Tavarone, both of them good fresco painters, and
was sent to the Escorial with an annual salary of 500
CH. IV.
Industry.
Invitation
to Spain.
2 44
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
C'H. IV.
Works
at the
Escorial.
ducats , 1 besides the price of his works, which were to
be paid for on a valuation. The vault of the choir was
assigned to him as the field of his first labour, for which
he made a sketch of the required subject, “ the Glory
of the Blessed in Heaven.” This was submitted to
Philip, who rejected it, “not understanding,” says
Soprani, “ Cambiaso’s extravagant foreshortenings
and figures hovering in the air ; and listening to the
counsels of his monks, who recommended that the
heavenly host should be drawn up according to their
hierarchies and degrees in due theological order.”
A design, “ more pious than picturesque,” being at
last agreed on, the artist fell to work with his wonted
fury, and so speedily covered vast spaces with a
multitude of figures, that the King, according to the
expressive Italian phrase, “ remained stupid,” not
being able to believe that the master, with only one
assistant, could have accomplished so much. Philip
and his fourth Queen, Anna of Austria (who was also
his niece), often visited Cambiaso when at work ;
and the artist, immersed in his task, sometimes felt
a hand laid on his shoulder, which proved to be that
of the King of the Spains and the Indies, a discovery
that at first must have caused no small discomposure
1 Soprani (page 49) says he received “ la somma de scuti cinquecente il
mese per il proprio manteniento ” — which seems more than is probable,
while that in the text seems rather less when compared with the allow-
ances given to artists of similar reputation at the Escorial.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
245
to the man who had so quailed before the advances
of a mere Grand Duke. Iiis Majesty one day re-
marking that the head of St. Anne, amongst the
blessed, was too youthful, the painter, with four
strokes of his pencil, so entirely altered its air, and
so seamed the face with wrinkles, that the royal critic
once more “remained stupid,” not knowing whether
he had judged amiss, or the change had been effected
by magic. By means of thus painting at full speed,
frequently without sketches, and sometimes with
both hands at once, Cambiaso clothed the vault with
its immense fresco in about fifteen months. Though
sprinkled over with noble heads and fine figures, the
composition, of which the colours are still fresh,
cannot be called pleasing. The failure must be
attributed mainly to the unlucky meddling of the
friars, who have marshalled
CH. IV.
“ The helmed cherubim
And sworded seraphim ” 1
with exact military precision, ranged the celestial
choir in rows like the fiddlers of a sublunary orchestra,
and accommodated the congregation of the righteous
with long benches, like the congregation of a Metho-
dist meeting. The artist pourtrayed himself standing
with Tray Antonio de Villacastin, master of the
works, who had probably no small hand in the
1 Miltou, Hymn on Christ’s Nativity, stanza xi.
246
CH. IV.
Disap-
pointment,
sickness.
death.
Works
at the
Escorial.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
design, on the threshold of the heavenly mansions.
The King was so well pleased with the fresco, that
he paid Cambiaso 12,000 ducats, being 3,000 more
than the award of the valuers.
The condescensions of Philip now emboldened
the love-sick artist to think of craving the royal
interposition with the Pope in behalf of his long-
wished-for marriage. He was cautioned, however,
by his acquaintances at Court, against preferring so
impious a petition, which they said would infallibly
cost him the favour of the pious monarch. This
fresh disappointment, added to the fatigue and ill
effects of painting for many hours together in con-
strained attitudes, brought on a severe illness, in
which he w ? as carefully attended by the royal physi-
cians. But, in spite of their skill, an abscess gathered
in his chest, for which they hit upon the singular
remedy of causing some of his friends to burst
suddenly into his room, and revile him as he lay, in
the hope that a hearty fit of rage might break the
obstruction. The poor man’s spirit, however, had
sunk under chagrin and disease ; he heard, but
heeded not ; the rough messengers of mercy con-
fessed the deception with tears ; and the patient
expired soon after, of a broken heart and an unbroken
imposthume, to the great regret of the King.
Besides his great fresco, Cambiaso found time to
paint, at the Escorial, two others for the grand stair-
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
247
case, representing “ The Risen Saviour appearing to
the Apostles,” and several altar-pieces in oil-colours,
of which “ The Martyrdom of St. Ursula and the
Eleven Thousand Virgins,” and the “ Triumph of
the Archangel Michael,” were so indifferent that the
King would not permit them to be placed in the
proposed sites. So careless and hasty was their exe-
cution that Father Siguenza said of them, that they
seemed to have been done, like the coarse daubs sold
in the streets, for a dinner. “ The Martyrdom of St.
Lawrence,” painted at Genoa, for some time occu-
pied the chief place in the high altar, but was removed
after the artist’s death to make room for another, by
Zuccaro. Cambiaso was a man of amiable character,
and liberal to poor artists, and on one occasion gave
a dowry to the portionless daughter of a brother
painter. His works suffered much from the careless
haste of their execution ; his drawings were easily
recognised by collectors by their free bold style, and
were so infinite in number and so negligently pre-
served, that, in his own house, they were often used
by his maid-servant for kindling fires. Of some of
them which fell in the way of Tintoretto, who rivalled
the Genoese in rapidity, that artist remarked that
they might be of service to an experienced painter,
but were enough to ruin the style of a beginner . 1
CH. IV.
Character.
Merits as
an artist.
1 Kidolfi, part ii., p. 59.
248
CH. IV.
O. Cam-
biaso.
Lazaro
Tavarone.
Castello el
Genoese.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
The younger Cambiaso was employed for a short
time at the Escorial, in painting with the sons of
Castello the Bergamese, but returned to Italy in 1586,
receiving 50 ducats to defray the cost of the journey.
His companion, Lazaro Tavarone, was named painter
to the King in 1585, with a monthly salary of 20
ducats, and had a hand in the ungainly frescoes in the
hall of battles. 1 He afterwards assisted Tibaldi, and
finally received, in 1590, 200 ducats for his travelling
expenses to Genoa, where he arrived, says Lanzi,
“rich in drawings by his master, ready money, and
honour.” 2 Cambiaso had been accompanied or fol-
lowed by a third disciple, Giovanni Battisto Cas-
tello, 3 a skilful painter of illuminations, who was
employed upon the choir-books of the Escorial. He
was called in Castile the “ Genoese,” to distinguish
him from Castello of Bergamo ; 4 and he returned to
Genoa about the end of the century.
On the death of Cambiaso, Philip invited Paul
Veronese to the Escorial, but that fine master could
1 Supra, p. 233.
2 Lanzi, tom. v. p. 304.
3 Ccan Bermudez mentions a fourth pupil of Cambiaso — one “Juan
Bautista Scorza ” — as his companion in Spain, whom I take, however, to
he identical with this Genoese Castello, from the curious concidence of
the facts of their lives. Both were painters of illuminations, and died at
Genoa, in 1637, aged ninety ; and each of them is said to have had a
son, “ who, from a mere merchant, became a prince in Sicily.” “ Scorza ”
may have been a nickname of Castello, and by some mistake converted
into a rival artist.
4 Supra, p. 232.
Printed by Willmann Paris
DON GAS PAR DE CUZMAN, COUNT Of OLIVARES.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
249
not be induced to quit Venice. The Count of
Olivares, Spanish ambassador at the Vatican, then
sent over Federigo Zuccaro, a painter whose reputa-
tion, acquired not only in Italy, but also in England,
France and Flanders, exceeded his merits as much
as it fell short of his inordinate vanity. lie was the
son of Ottaviano Zuccaro, a second-rate painter of
San Angiolo in Vado, in the duchy of Urbino, and
was born there in 1543. Having learned somewhat
from his father, he was sent, at an early age, to
study at Rome, under his elder brother Taddeo, who
had earned considerable distinction as a painter of
frescoes. There he made rapid progress, and soon
despised the fraternal counsels ; for Taddeo having
presumed to correct some parts of a fresco with
which his scholar was adorning the front of a house,
the retouchings were immediately cut out of the
plaster by the exasperated tyro. A consequent
quarrel led to a separation between the brothers,
who, however, were afterwards reconciled ; for Tad-
deo dying in 1566, was buried near Rafael, in the
Pantheon ; and Federigo inscribed a boastful and
fulsome epitaph on his tomb. The frescoes of the
cupola of Santa Maria in Fiori, at Florence, being
left unfinished by the elder brother at his death,
they were completed by the younger, much to the
satisfaction of the Grand Duke, and probably were
the cause of his being appointed by Gregory XIII.
CH. IV.
Federigo
Zuccaro.
250
CH. IV.
Travels.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
to execute some paintings in the Pauline Chapel
at the Vatican. Sustaining, however, some real or
imaginary injury from certain of his acquaintance,
Zuccaro took his revenge by painting an allegory on
the subject of calumny, wherein he pourtrayed the
offenders with the auricular head-gear of Midas.
This he irreverently hung over the portal of St.
Luke’s Church, on a day of festival ; an outrage for
which he lost the papal favour, and was forced to
leave Rome. His patron, the Cardinal of Lorraine,
befriended him in his difficulty, and sent him to
Paris, where he obtained employment for some time,
and whence he went to Antwerp, to make cartoons
for the tapestry-workers. He afterwards visited
Holland, and also passed into England, where, says
Horace Walpole, 1 he arrived in 1574, but did not
long remain. It appears, however, that he was in
this country in 15 So, that being the date on his por-
trait — now at Hampton Court — of Queen Elizabeth’s
huge porter — “the jolter-headed giant” of the
pleasures of Kenilworth in Scott’s romance. He
likewise painted the Queen herself, and her prisoner,
the unhappy Mary of Scotland. Two of his portraits
of the English princess are now at Hampton Court,
and one of them — that wherein she is drawn at full
length, fantastically attired, and musing in a forest
1 Works, 4to, London, 1798, vol. iii. p. 121.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
— is inscribed with some mysterious Latin mottoes,
and some bad English verses of her own composi-
tion. 1 Many old English houses still possess por-
traits by Zuccaro of their members who figured at
the Court of Elizabeth. From London the roving
artist seems to have moved southward to Venice,
where he painted with Paul Veronese and Tinto-
retto in the Great Council Chamber of the Doge’s
palace. Thence he ventured to return to Rome,
where he found the Pope’s anger mollified by time
and distance, and was permitted to finish his labours
in the Pauline Chapel.
It was now that he attracted the notice of
Olivares, who sent him, in 1 5S5, to Spain, as the
best artist that Rome could furnish. He was
engaged at the large annual salary of 2,000 crowns,
and, arriving at the Escorial early in 1586, was
received by the prior with almost regal honours. 2
His first works were six paintings on canvas for the
high altar — “ The Martyrdom of St. Lawrence,”
“ Christ at the Column,” and “ Christ bearing His
Cross,” for the compartments of the second storey ;
and the “Assumption of the Virgin,” “Our Lord’s
Resurrection,” and the “ Descent of the Holy
1 Horace Walpole, Works, vol. i. p. 271, and also Mrs. Jameson’s
agreeable Handbook to the Public Galleries, London, 1845, p. 406.
2 A letter dated 29 May, 1586, written by himself from the Escorial,
will be found in Dennistoun’s Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino, 3 vols.
8vo, London, 1851, vol. iii. p. 343.
CH. IV.
Journey to
Spain.
Works
at the
Escorial.
252
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. IV.
Ghost,” for those of the third, which were all fixed
in their places before the King saw them. But
observing that neither the courtiers nor the monks
said anything in praise of these pictures, hut pre-
served a doubtful silence, Zuccaro bestowed far
greater pains on the “ Nativity of the Saviour,” and
the “ Adoration of the Kings,” intended for the
lowest division of the altar, which lay more fully
than the others within the ken of criticism. When
Criticism of
Philip II.
finished he submitted them to the inspection of the
King, confident of applause, and modestly remarking
that the force of painting could no farther go.
Philip, however, was neither to he blinded by his
fame, nor awed by the assurance of this spoiled
favourite of courts. Looking at the pictures for
some time in contemptuous silence — in which Titian
has left evidence that his aspect must have been
sufficiently chilling — he at length inquired whether
those were eggs in the basket of a little shepherdess,
in the “Nativity,” who seemed hastening to lay her
offering at the feet of the Virgin-mother. The artist
answering yes, the King quietly hinted that the
said eggs, besides being ill-painted, were somewhat
out of place in the basket of a damsel running at
full speed, and purporting to he a shepherdess com-
ing at midnight from the fold, unless, indeed, her
flock consisted of fowls ; and, turning on his heel,
left the Italian not a little disconcerted by the un-
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
253
usual event of meeting with criticism which was not
flattery.
In fresco-painting, to which he next applied him-
self, Zuccaro was not more fortunate. Six pieces,
which he executed in the cloisters, were condemned
by the King, and afterwards effaced, excepting one
representing the “ Incarnation of Our Lord.” Having
laid the blame of this failure on his disciples who
had assisted in the work, he was ordered to execute,
entirely with his own hand, the “ Mystery of the
Conception,” which proved, however, as unsatis-
factory as the rest. It must be admitted that Philip
behaved on the occasion with great kindness and
generosity : dissembling his displeasure, and having
borne with the artist for three years, he finally sent
him away rejoicing, with payment, says Palomino,
at the rate of 6,000 ducats a year, 1 or, according to
Cean Bermudez, with a present of 900 over and
above his pension, a gold chain, a string of pearls,
and undiminished self-esteem. His “ St. Lawrence ”
was dismissed from the high altar to a small chapel
of the palace, and the “Nativity” and “Epiphany”
to the hall of the convent ; while his other pictures,
which their lofty position rendered less obnoxious,
w T ere suffered to retain their places. On the painter’s
departure, his friend, Fray Antonio de Villacastin,
CH. IV.
Con-
demned
frescoes.
1 Palomino, tom. iii. p. 402.
254
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. IV.
kissed the King’s hand, and thanked him for the
Remark of
Philip II.
munificence he had shown. “ It is not Zuccaro who
is to blame,” replied Philip, “ but those who brought
him hither.” Zuccaro’s failure in Spain does not
appear to have damaged his reputation in Italy.
There he was caressed by the great, and employed
by the Church as before, founded, and was chosen
first president of, the Academy of St. Luke, at Home,
under the patronage of Sixtus V., built himself a
fine house there on the Pincian hill, became a member
Bartolo-
meo Car-
ducho.
of the literary Academy, “ dell’ Insensate,” under the
whimsical title of “11 Sonnachioso ; ” published
several works on the arts, 1 and, dying at Ancona
in 1609, was buried there with great pomp. His
portrait, engraved in Walpole’s “ Anecdotes of Paint-
ing in England,” represents him in the prime of life
as a handsome man, with regular features and a fair
complexion.
Zuccaro brought with him from Italy his Floren-
tine disciple, Bartolomeo Carducci, — or Carducho,
as he was called in Spain, — who was born in 1560,
and who practised in Castile, during two reigns,
the three arts of painting, sculpture, and architec-
ture, of which he had studied the two last under
Bartolomeo Ammanati at Florence. lie was re-
1 Of these the best is entitled, L'Idea de ’ Pittori, Scultori et A rchi-
tctti del Cavalier Federigo Zuccaro, folio, Torino, 1607, in which (p. 5)
he informs us of his adoption of the style of “The Drowsy.”
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
255
tained by Philip II. at the yearly salary of 50,000
maravedis (somewhat under £ 20 ) besides the price
of his works — slender emoluments, which, however,
he declined to resign, although invited to the court
of France by Henry IV. At the Escorial he painted
several altar-pieces in oils, and the frescoes which fill
the spaces between the book-cases and the cornice
of the library, and which illustrate, and are not
unworthy of, Tibaldi’s allegorical ceiling that over-
hangs them. Each compartment relates to the
science allegorised immediately above it, and some
of them display a curious choice of subject. Thus
the force of eloquence is symbolised by a Hercules,
out of whose mouth proceed chains of silver and
gold to bind the nations ; and Arithmetic is repre-
sented by the wise King of Israel, seated at a table
and resolving the problems proposed by the Queen
of Sheba. He likewise painted for the church of
San Felipe el Real a “ Descent from the Cross,”
which reminded Cumberland of the style of Rafael. 1
On the death of his royal master, Carducho was
confirmed in his post of painter by Philip III.,
whose esteem he enjoyed, and at whose court he
lived and laboured at Valladolid till 1606. He
was then sent to the palace of the Pardo to paint
the ceiling and model the plaster ornaments of
CH. IV.
Works
at the
Escorial.
1 Anecdotes, vol. i. p. 122.
256
CH. IV.
Good-
natured
criticism.
His
“ Cena."
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
the southern gallery, and died there in 1608. His
works were distinguished by their accurate drawing,
harmonious colouring, and imitation of the antique.
A fastidious taste led him to touch and retouch his
pictures repeatedly, in order to attain his own high
ideal of excellence, of which he was wont to say that
he wished those profoundly versed in art, and not
the vulgar herd, to judge. “ Prudence and disinte-
restedness,” a rare and happy combination, “were,”
says Cean Bermudez, “ his peculiar virtues.” Ex-
pressing, one day, his admiration of a picture,
newly finished by a brother artist, a scholar of
his own drew his attention to a badly drawn and
misplaced foot. “ I did not observe it,” replied
he, “ it is so concealed by the difficult excellence
of this bosom and those hands,” — a piece of kindly
criticism that deserves to be recorded. Carducho
left two daughters, but no sons. The honours of his
name, however, were worthily worn and extended
by his younger brother and disciple, Vincenzio,
who became one of the most eminent painters
in Castile. The picture of the “Last Supper,”
in the Queen of Spain’s gallery at Madrid, 1 is one
of the best works of Bartolome Carducho. The
head of Our Lord is noble in character, and there
is considerable variety in the heads of the apostles.
1 Catdlogo, No. 925 [edition of 1889, No. 81].
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
257
Judas is distinguished from the other eleven by
his customary red hair, obnoxious to Castilian
taste, 1 and here of an unusually fiery shade. The
tablecloth, with its folds accurately marked as in
the pictures of Paul Veronese, is laid on a rich
Turkish rug, the brilliant border of which peeps
out, and is painted with Flemish minuteness.
Antonio Eizi, born at Bologna, was another of the
scholars of Zuccaro, who accompanied that master
to Spain. He is said to have assisted his chief in
executing some of the unfortunate frescoes at the
Escorial, removed by order of Philip II. Soon after
his arrival at Madrid, he married, on the 18th of
September 1588, at the church of San Gines, Dona
Gabriela de Chaves, by whom he had two sons
who became painters of reputation in the reign of
Philip IV., although he himself appears to have died
before they were of sufficient age to handle the pencil.
The only work of Antonio Bizi, discovered by Cean
Bermudez at Madrid, was a picture of St. Augustine,
in the nunnery of Santo. Domingo el Beal.
Pellegrino Tibaldi was bom in 1522, or, according
to another account, in 1527, at Valdelsa, a village
in the Milanese, where his father followed the
trade of a mason. Being early removed to Bologna,
he there studied painting, sculpture, and architec-
CH. IV.
Antonio
Rizi.
Pellegrino
Tibaldi.
VOL. I.
1 Infra, chap. vi. p. 425, note 3.
R
258
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. IV.
Invitation
to Spain.
ture, the first, it is said, under the elder Ramenghi,
a pupil of Rafael. In 1547 he went to seek im-
provement in the galleries and churches of Rome,
where he addicted himself to the study of Michael
Angelo, and to the imitation of his style. Having
painted some works in the castle of St. Angelo,
he returned to Bologna, and there executed in the
Institute a series of frescoes, on subjects taken from
the Odyssey, which fixed his reputation. He after-
wards went to Loretto to paint the chapel of the Car-
dinal of Augsburg, and he also painted some esteemed
works in the Merchants’ House at Ancona. Twenty
years of his life were devoted to the study and prac-
tice of architecture and sculpture ; he was chosen
by St. Charles Borromeo to build his college, or
“ Palace of Wisdom,” at Pavia ; and at Milan he be-
came intendant of works in the renowned Cathedral,
which, begun in the days of the old Visconti, owes
its splendid crest of marble spires to the magnifi-
cence of Napoleon. Here he designed the choir ;
and he has also left other proofs of his architectural
powers in the churches of Milan. In sculpture his
name stood so high that some of his plaster designs
were used as models by Annibal Caracci, in paint-
ing the gallery of the Farnese palace.
Invited to Spain by Philip II., this distinguished
master arrived, in 1 586, at the Escorial, where his
first w T orks were some frescoes, in the Carmarin, or
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
2 59
little chamber behind the high altar, representing
“Abraham paying tithe to Melchizedek,” and “Elias
fed by an Angel in the Desert.” The King was
much pleased with these specimens of Tibaldi’s
powers, and directed him to supply the place of
Znccaro’s condemned frescoes in the great cloister
with others on subjects belonging to the legend of
the Blessed Virgin. For the same cloister he painted
several other works, amongst which three oil pic-
tures, adorning an oratory, and representing “ The
Raising of the Cross,” “The Crucifixion, ” and “Our
Lord taken down from the Cross,” were remark-
able for the skill of their difficult fore-shortenings.
He also painted in oils, for the high altar, the
“ Martyrdom of St. Lawrence,” the “ Nativity,” and
“Epiphany,” which still exist there, having super-
seded those by Zuccaro. This gorgeous altar must
have been built under an evil star, for these pictures
were little better than their predecessors. St. Law-
rence, extended on his gridiron, is ill painted, and far
too large ; for had he really been of that gigantic
stature, the pigmy Roman cooks, who stand around,
and whom he facetiously requested to turn him that
both sides might be equally broiled and fit for eating, 1
CH. IV.
1 “Mira miserable,” said the valorous martyr to his executioner, “ que
ya tienes assada una parte de mi cuerpo : buelvele, paraque la otra se
asse, paraque sazonadas mis carues puedas comer de ellas,” &c. Vil-
legas, Flos Sanctorm, p. 380.
26o
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. IV.
would have found their functions dangerous as well
as difficult. The King approved of his work when
he saw it on the easel, but was disappointed with
its effect in the altar. Tibaldi’s greatest achieve-
Frescoes in
the library.
ment at the Escorial was the fresco of the ceiling
(194 feet long by 32 wide) of the noble library,
where the books still glitter in their cases, with
their gilt edges turned outwards, as they were
left by the first librarian, Arias Montano. This
ceiling is divided into seven compartments, each
of which contains an allegorical representation of
a science. It displays a profusion of various
and beautiful figures, brilliantly coloured, and of
colossal size ; the design is adapted with admirable
skill to the archings of the roof ; and the whole
affords a proof of the artist’s acquaintance with
the frescoes of the great Florentine. The Caracci
were wont to call Tibaldi, on account of the
combined grandeur and softness of his style,
“ the reformed Michael Angelo,” 1 a proud but
hardly merited title, for he had not proved the
giant’s armour which he had assumed, and when
he copied the exaggerated forms of his illus-
trious model, the mighty soul that inspired them
was too often wanting. For his labours at the
Escorial Philip rewarded Tibaldi with 100,000
1 Lanzi, tom. v. p. 46.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
261
crowns, 1 and the dignity of Marquess in the Milanese
states, by the title of Valdelsa, the hamlet where his
father had carried the hod. He did not long enjoy
these gifts, for he died soon after, at Milan, in 1592.
Bernardino del Agua was a Venetian painter, who
executed, in the cloister of the Court of Evangelists
at the Escorial, and under the direction of Tibaldi,
some frescoes from the sketches of that master. The
defects, from which these works were by no means
free, were attributed by the designer not to the
carelessness of Agua, but to the haste with which
Philip II. insisted that they should be finished.
Flanders, as well as Italy, furnished to the King
of Spain its contingent of painters. Sir Anthony
More, one of the best portrait-painters of his day,
and no less famous in London than at his native
Utrecht (where he was born in 1512), was the
scholar of John Schoorel, and afterwards travelled
in Italy. Cardinal Granvelle introduced him to
the service of Charles V., by whom he was sent
to Portugal to paint some of the royal family. He
had previously painted Prince Philip, and his pencil
was the means of making that marrying monarch
and the first two of his four queens, the Maries
CH. IV.
Bernar-
dino del
Agua.
Flemish
artists.
Anthony
More.
1 Pacheco (p. 94) states the sum at 50,000 crowns, in which he is
followed by Palomino (tom. iii. p. 408) ; Cean Bermudez, however, whom
I have taken as my authority, is borne out in his statement by Malvasia ;
Vite dci Pittori Bologncsi, 4to, Bologna, 1678, tom. i. p. 170.
262 REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. IV.
In Eng-
land.
of Portugal and England, acquainted with each
other’s persons. In England, More was munifi-
cently entertained, and probably received his knight-
hood ; he frequently painted Queen Mary, who
presented him with a hundred pounds and a gold
chain, and allowed him a hundred pounds a quarter
whilst he remained in her service ; and he was
largely employed by the Howards and the Russells
and other grandees of the court. 1 His portraits
of the Queen accord with the earlier ones by
Holbein, and represent her as not handsome, yet
not unpleasing, of a fair complexion and dignified
presence, and bearing in her somewhat pensive
eyes nothing akin to the horrible epithet which
history — justly, perhaps, but most invidiously —
lias wedded to her name. One of these, a half-
length, is in the Queen of Spain’s gallery ; another,
a fine full-length picture, adorns the collection of
the Duke of Wellington at Apsley House. More
was much about the person of Philip, then King
of England and Naples, and probably painted that
portrait of him — in armour, and bareheaded, out
of deference to the Queen — which poor Mary, who
privately suspected her husband of cowardice, begged
for, in her joy and surprise at hearing of his
1 For this life I have consulted Horace Walpole’s Anecdotes of Paint-
ing in England, Works, vol. iii. p. 106 ; and Descamps, La Vie dcs
Peintres Flamandes, &c., tom. i. p. 98.
REIGN OF PHILIP II. 263
presence at the field of St. Quentin. 1 When Philip
went to Spain to take possession of the throne,
More followed him to Madrid, and for some time
basked in the full sunshine of royal favour. All
of a sudden he withdrew to Brussels with a haste
that betokened disgrace and alarm, and for some
cause which has never been satisfactorily explained.
One account is that the King, visiting More accord-
ing to custom, laid his hand upon his shoulder as
he stood at the easel, a familiarity which the artist
returned by rudely rapping the royal knuckles with
his maulstick, or, according to another version of
the story, daubing them with carmine. The atten-
dants stood aghast, and the story getting wind,
the officers of the Inquisition prepared to apprehend
the playful Fleming. Philip, however, treated the
matter as a jest, good-naturedly gave the painter
warning of his danger, and enabled him to escape ;
and some time after even invited him back to court,
an invitation with which More did not think it safe
to comply. Neither Palomino nor Cean Bermudez,
however, mention this coarse and dangerous pleasan-
try, and they allege the jealousy and dislike of the
courtiers as the cause of the painter’s sudden evasion.
The former 2 asserts that More was so much an
object of royal favour and courtly envy, that he
CH. IV.
In Spain.
1 Gregorio Leti, Vie d’ Elizabeth, Eeine d’Anglcterre, Svo, Amsterdam,
1703, tom. i. p. 307. 2 Palomino, tom. iii. p. 361.
264
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. IY.
had like to have been cast into the prison of the
Inquisition on a charge of bewitching the King.
The latter writer describes him as being “ very much
the courtier, and living like a gentleman of grave
and majestic manners,” — a sort of person not likely
to play tricks on a King of Spain. Whatever
were his reasons for leaving Madrid, he was kindly
received at Brussels by the Duke of Alba, governor
of the Low Countries, and painted the portraits
of that iron commander and some of his mistresses.
To the artist’s sons lucrative posts were given by
the Duke, who is said to have even suppressed
the letters which invited him back to Madrid, that
he might not be deprived of his society and services. 1
His declining years were spent in ease and opulence
— the fruits of successful toil at the Courts of
England, Portugal, and Spain ; and he died, aged
seventy-six, at Antwerp, in 1588. The hall of
portraits in the palace of the Pardo contained six-
teen of his pictures of royal and noble personages,
which perished with those of Titian. Though he
addicted himself chiefly to portraiture, he executed
some pictures on religious subjects, and was engaged,
when he died, in painting the “ Circumcision of
Our Lord, ” for the Cathedral of Antwerp. His
works are usually finished with great care, and
1 Descamps, tom. i. p. ioo.
*.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
265
sometimes are coloured in the rich style of Titian.
In the long gallery at Althorp there is a fine
specimen of his powers, in the portrait of himself;
from which we learn that he was a tall stately man,
with a good, though somewhat rugged, countenance,
and red hair and beard ; that he wore a dark doublet
with sleeves of shining black satin, and a heavy gold
chain passed twice round his neck ; and that he
went attended by a huge brindled wolf-hound.
Michael Coxein or Coxie 1 was born at Mechlin
in 1497, and first studied there under Van Orlay,
and afterwards went to Rome. Thence he returned
with an Italian wife, and a portfolio filled with
sketches from the works of Rafael, which, as occa-
sion served, he reproduced as his own, a piece of
audacious larceny at last exposed by his countryman
Jerome Cock, who published an engraving from the
school of Athens, and thus whispered to the Flemish
churchmen the source whence Coxie had stolen
saintly figures for their shrines. Philip II. em-
ployed him to make a copy of Van Eyck’s picture,
at Ghent, of the “Triumph of the Lamb,” a work
which the dexterous plagiary carried with him to
Madrid, where it was placed over the altar of the
chapel at the Alcazar. At the Escorial he painted
several pictures for various altars and oratories, such
1 Descamps, tom. i. p. 57.
CH. IV.
Michael
Coxie.
266
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. IV.
as “ Christ and the Virgin interceding with the
Father Eternal,” “ St. Joachim and St. Anne,” and
“ David cutting off Goliath’s head.” He likewise
painted the “ Resurrection of Our Lord ” for the bare-
footed Carmelites of Medina del Campo. Returning
to Mechlin with considerable wealth, he built him-
self three houses, and adorned them with his own
pictures. He retained his faculties and industry to
the age of ninety-five, and died in 1597, of a fall
from a scaffold while painting in the Hotel de Ville
at Antwerp. Notwithstanding his pilferings, he was
an artist of considerable skill, and left in the Church
of Our Lady, at Antwerp, a “ Holy Family,” which
was praised by Rubens. The royal gallery of Madrid
possesses two of his works, of which one is “ the
Death of the Virgin,” 1 a large panel, bought for a
great sum by Philip II., from the Cathedral of
St. Gudule, at Brussels. The other is “ St. Cecilia
Antonio
Pupiler.
playing on the organ,” 2 a composition in w 7 hich
imitation of Rafael is very evident, especially in his
occasional poverty of colour ; the saint’s hands are
clumsy, the heads commonplace, and none of the
figures is pleasing, except a pretty little amber-
haired angel in the act of singing.
Antonio Pupiler was a Fleming whom Philip took
into his service in 1556, at the salary of 350 crowns
1 Catdlogo [1843], No. 1598 [edition of 1889, No. 1300].
2 Id. No. 499 [edition of 1SS9, 1299].
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
267
annually, and employed at the Pardo, and afterwards,
in 1567, to copy a retablo at Louvaine. It is not
known whether he returned to Spain, nor have any
of his works survived the ravages of time, and the
fire at the Pardo.
In Ulric Staenheyl, a soldier of his German body-
guard, Philip II. found an artist conversant with paint-
ing on glass ; and he accordingly, in 1566, employed
him for that purpose, with an annual salary of 260
ducats, and exemption from military duty.
CH. IV.
Ulric
Staenheyl.
CHAPTER V.
REIGN OF PHILIP II. 1556-1598 — (continual).
ASTILE in this long reign
produced many painters,
who neither were excel-
led in skill, nor have
been eclipsed in fame,
by the ablest of their
Italian or Flemish rivals.
First in age, and per-
haps also in reputation,
comes Luis Morales, upon whom the admiration
of his country, or the devotional character of his
works, has conferred the title of “ the Divine.”
He is the first Spaniard whose genius and good
fortune have obtained for him a place amongst the
great painters of Europe. Like many of those who
have most strongly influenced the mind or taste of
their age, he lived and laboured in obscurity, and
the records of his life are meagre and contradictory.
ch. v.
Artists of
Castile.
Luis
Morales.
270
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
Visits the
Escorial.
Born at Badajoz about 1509, he is absurdly said
by Palomino 1 to have been, at Seville, a pupil of
Campaha, a master who did not arrive in Spain
till 1548. Cean Bermudez, with more probability,
supposes him to have studied his art at Toledo or
Valladolid; and he seems to have practised it for
the greater part of his life in Estremadura, painting
chiefly for churches and for the oratories of private
mansions. By a baptismal entry in the register of
the Cathedral of Frexenal, a small town on the
Andalusian border, it appears that he was residing
there in November 1554, when his son Cristobal
was baptized in that church, and that the name of
his wife was Leonora de Chaves. In, or shortly
before, 1564, he was commanded by Philip II. to
repair to court, to paint some pictures for the newly-
founded monastery of the Escorial. Presenting
himself in magnificent attire, little suited to his
condition, his ostentation is said to have displeased
the King, who at first ordered his dismissal with
a sum of money, but was mollified by the gallant
painter’s declaration that he had spent all he had
in order to appear in a manner befitting the dig-
nity of his Majesty. 2 He seems, however, to have
painted, during his residence at court, only a single
picture, “ Christ going to Calvary,” given by Philip
1 Pal., tom. iii. p. 384.
2 Id., tom. i. p. 178.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
to the Church of the Jeronymites, at Madrid ; nor
did any work of his form part of the original
decorations of the Escorial. After his return to
Estremadura his fortunes began to decline. As
old age drew on he lost the steadiness of hand
so necessary in his profession, his eyesight failed
him, and he fell into extreme poverty. By a
writing, discovered by Cean Bermudez in the
archives of the Cathedral of Frexenal, we find him,
in February 1575, selling for 100 ducats some
vines which he possessed in the Vega of Merida.
His wretchedness was somewhat relieved, in 1581,
by the timely visit of the King to Badajoz, as
he returned from taking possession of his newly-
acquired kingdom beyond the Guadiana. The poor,
disabled painter, appearing in the royal presence
in a garb very different from that in which he had
flourished at the Escorial, attracted the notice of
Philip. “You are very old, Morales,” said he.
“ Yes, sire, and very poor,” replied the artist. Turn-
ing to his treasurer, the King immediately ordered
the old man a pension of 200 ducats, out of the
crown rents of the city, “for his dinner;” when
Morales interposed with the question, “ And for
supper, sire?” — a stroke of dexterous begging
which Philip, being in a humour to be pleased,
rewarded with another hundred ducats. “ Here
may be seen,” says Palomino, “the liberality of
ch. v.
Last inter-
view with
the King.
Z-[2
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
that great monarch, and the discreet wit of the
vassal in profiting by the occasion, and speaking at
the right time, which is a great felicity.” 1 Morales
did not long enjoy the royal bounty; for he died
five years afterwards, in 1586. Badajoz has done
honour to the memory of its great painter by naming
after him the street in which he lived. 2 It is a
Self-taught
genius.
street of considerable length, which takes a down-
ward course from the centre of the city, widening
as it approaches its termination on the terraced
bank of the Guadiana, a little way above the great
hospital. The houses are mean, especially near the
river, and the population gipsy and disreputable.
Morales was the first artist born and bred in
Spain who invested the religious thought and feel-
ing of his native land with the beauties of Italian
expression. Pure and graceful in design, and rich
in the harmonies of colour, his works might have
been painted in the schools of Pome, amongst the
models of ancient art and in the inspiring com-
panionship of Rafael and Fra Bastiano. But, as
pictures by the great foreign masters were rarely
to be met with out of the royal collections, it is
probable that his acquaintance with the creations
of Italian art began and ended with his short
residence at court, when his style was doubtless
1 Pal., tom. iii. p. 385. 2 Ponz, tom. viii. p. 162.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
273
as mature as his age. He may, indeed, have bene-
fited in his youth by the instructions of travelled
artists, and may have been numbered amongst
the scholars of Berruguete. Nothing, however, is
certain, except that he far excelled any painter
who could possibly have been his instructor. He
stands, therefore, in art, amongst the few of whom
it can be said that each was
ch. v.
“ author of himself,
And knew no other kin.” 1
He discovered for himself many of the secrets of his
craft, and triumphed over its difficulties by the mere
force of genius. At the distance of three centuries
we may still regret that his noble pencil, not excelled
at the Escorial, and not unworthy of the Vatican,
should have been doomed to ill-requited and in-
glorious toil in the wilds of Estremadura.
The subjects of Morales are always devotional, and
those few by which he is known out of Spain are gene-
rally of a. doleful cast. It is not, however, with the
ghastly sufferings of the body that, like Spagnoletto,
he chiefly deals, but with the nobler sorrows of the
soul. The Virgin whom he offers to the contempla-
tion of the pious is never the fair young mother, smil-
ing on the beauty of her Babe Divine, but the drooping
Mater Dolorosa, wan and weary with unutterable
1 Coriolanus, act v. sc. t.
vol. 1. s
Subjects
and style.
274 REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
anguish. His Christ is in every feature “ the Man
of Sorrows ancl acquainted with grief,” wrung with
the agonies of the garden, or bearing on His brow the
damps and paleness of death. Here the prostration
of physical force and the wasting frame are drawn
with terrible truth, as if Morales had groped his way
into the vaults of the Inquisition, and there chosen for
a model some lean heretic Carthusian (if such there
were) writhing in the grasp of the tormentor. 1 Our
Lord fainting under His cross was a theme which
often engaged his pencil and finely displayed his
powers. His conception of this sublime subject
recalled to the recollection of Cumberland 2 Rafael’s
famous “ Spasimo,” and his execution the manner
of Ida Vinci. The Louvre possesses a very fine
picture of this kind, by his hand, in which the head
of the Saviour much resembles that striking head of
“ Christ with the crown of thorns ” in the Queen
of Spain’s gallery, 3 perhaps the finest of all his
works for richness of colour and intensity of feeling.
So few of his larger works have found their way
out of his native province, that it has been said that
he never painted a full-length figure. This, how-
ever, is disproved by his “ Crucifixion,” overlooked by
1 [ Notice des Tableaux, Edition 1889, No. 537. A steel engraving of it is
given in Murillo and the Spanish School of Painting, by Wm. B. Scott,
4to, London, 1873.]
2 Anecdotes, vol. i. p. 76.
3 Catdlogo, No. 120 [edition of 1889, No. 851],
REIGN OF PHILIP II. 275
the French in stripping the Cathedral of Badajoz;
and still more by the altars of the once proud temple
of the military monks at Alcantara, and of the village
church of Arroyo del Puerco, a desolate hamlet on
the road from Alcantara to Truxillo. The first
of these contains a St. Michael and St. John, and
other pictures by Morales ; the second, sixteen of
his grandest works, which, though noticed in the
Dictionary of Cean Bermudez — Soult’s handbook
for Spain — escaped the keen glance and iron gripe
of that picture-pilfering commander, whose troops
long occupied the place. The best of them are the
grand “Christ and Joseph of Arimathea,” “St.
John,” and “ Christ bound ” — three-quarter length
— “ Christ at the Column,” and the “ Descent from the
Cross.” “ Though chilled and dirty, they are at least
pure ,” 1 and uninjured by either care or neglect.
“The Saviour’s Circumcision,” in the Queen of
Spain’s gallery , 2 though defective in composition,
and injured by the stiffness of some of the figures,
is remarkable for the serene beauty of the female
CH. V.
1 Handbook [1845], P- 546 [3rd edition, 1855, p. 490], which contains
the single account of these fine pictures that I have met with in any
foreign work on Spain. Cean Bermudez, who probably never saw them,
merely notices them in his list of the works of Morales as “sixteen
historical subjects ; ” and, in Ponz, I find no mention at all of their
existence.
2 Catdlogo [1843], No. 1 10 [edition of 1889, No. 849, where it is now called
“ The Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple” (St. Luke, chap. ii.).
Engraved in wood, in Murillo and the Spanish School of Painting, p. 28.
—Ed.].
276
OTT. V.
Careful
finish.
Scholars.
Morales
the
younger.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
i heads, especially those of the taper-bearing maidens
who attend upon the Blessed Virgin . 1
The works of Morales were always painted on
panel. The labour bestowed on their execution
fully accounts for their scarcity. Ilis pencil lingered
on a head, or on a fold of drapery, with the fond and
fastidious care of the early Florentine masters. lie
finished his faces with a smoothness sometimes
excessive, and in the curious elaboration of the hair
he was rivalled neither by Durer, delighting in
hyacinthine ringlets, nor by Denner, matchless in
depicting the stubbly chins of grey-beards and old
women. Like Parmegiano, he worked on the amber
locks of his cherubs till “ they curled like the little
rings of the vine ; ” 2 each particular hair was ex-
pressed, and the whole seemed ready to wave at a
breath . 3 Iiis colouring, rich though sober, is some-
times cold and greyish ; and in his full-length figures
the drawing is too often incorrect. But the fine
feeling of his countenances, and the roundness of
his forms, give his works a charm which seldom
belongs to those of his Spanish contemporaries.
He had few disciples, and those few — amongst
whom was his son, possibly the Cristobal whose birth
1 [A beautiful example is now in the National Gallery, “ The Virgin
and Child,” Catalogue, 1889, No. 1229; acquired in 1887 . — Ed.]
2 Jeremy Taylor, Sermon on Marriage. Works, 15 vols. 8vo, London,
1828, vol. v. p. 259.
3 Palomino, tom. iii. p. 384.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
has been recorded — were mere feeble imitators of his
style, who exaggerated his faults and were devoid of
his inspiration. Their dismal Madonnas, and chalky
Ecce-homos have, however, frequently been laid at his
door, to the damage of his reputation. The best of
the band was Juan Labrador, who chose a humbler
walk of art, and painted fruit and flower pieces, which
were admired for their truth and brilliancy of colour,
and their fresh-gathered leaves empearled with tran-
sparent dew-drops. He died at Madrid in 1600.
Alonso Sanchez Coello, 1 the first of the great
Spanish portrait-painters, and the Velazquez of the
court of Philip II., has been erroneously called by
several writers a Portuguese. Cean Bermudez, how-
ever, reclaims him for Spain, and, on the authority
of the heralds of Santiago, asserts that he was born
at Benifayrd, in Valencia, early in the sixteenth
century. 2 Nothing of his early history has been
preserved, nor is it known where he acquired the
rudiments of his art. His style, however, appears
to have been formed on Italian models, and he left
several careful and excellent copies of the works of
Titian. In. 1541, he was residing at Madrid, where
1 Pacheco, p. 589, and Palomino, tom. i. p. 178 — ii. , p. 388.
2 To the fact of his being a Spaniard a doubting and reluctant assent
is given by Dom Cyrillo Volkmar Machado, — the Portuguese Pilkington,
— in his Collecfdo de Memorias relatival a’s vidas dos Pintores, e Escul-
tores, Architectos, e Gravadores Portuguezes, e dos Estrangciros, que
estiverao em Portugal — 4to, Lisboa, 1823, p. 66.
277
CH. V.
Juan
Labrador.
Alonso
Sanchez
Coello.
278
CH. V.
Favour
with
Philip II.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
lie married Dona Luisa Reynalte. In 1552 he
accompanied Anthony More to Lisbon, and there
entered the service of the Infant Don Juan of
Portugal. A miniature portrait, the handsome head
of the ill-fated King Sebastian, probably painted at
this time, is now in the collection of the Duke of
Palinella in his palace of Calhariz at Lisbon. On
the death of that prince he was recommended by
his widow, the Spanish Infanta Juana, daughter of
Charles V., to her brother Philip; and, returning to
Spain, he became painter-in-ordinary to that monarch,
on More’s hasty retreat from Madrid. There his
genius and address obtained for him a distinguished
position at court; he enjoyed the full confidence of
the King, and was usually in attendance on his per-
son. Philip was wont to call him “ his Portuguese
Titian,” in allusion to his residence at Lisbon ; and
from any royal progress, in which the favourite painter
did not accompany him, he would write to him as his
“ beloved son Alonso Sanchez Coello.” At Madrid
the artist was lodged in the treasury buildings
contiguous to the palace, and connected with it by
a private door, of which Philip kept a key, and by
which he sometimes surprised him at table in the
midst of his family. At other times the King,
loosely arrayed in a morning gown, 1 would steal
1 This morning gown affords Cumberland an opportunity of making a
singular blunder, which I have noticed in the Preface.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
279
softly into the studio, and laying his hand on the
painter’s shoulder, compel him to remain seated and
pursue his labours whilst he looked on or lounged
over other pictures. These familiarities, more
flattering perhaps than agreeable, Sanchez Coello
appears to have received with all due modesty, never
forgetting, as was alleged of More, the awful dis-
tance which separated even the most playful King
of Spain and the Indies from his painter-in-ordinary.
More fortunate than the Fleming, he was the
favourite, not only of the monarch, but also of the
court and of the whole royal house and its allies.
The Popes Gregory XIII. and Sixtus V., Cardinal
Alexander Farnese, and the Dukes of Florence and
Savoy, bestowed on him tokens of their admira-
tion. “ Seventeen royal personages,” says Pacheco,
“ honoured him with their esteem, and would some-
times recreate and refresh themselves under his
roof, with his wife and children.” His table was
never without some nobleman or worshipful gentle-
man for a guest ; and the Infant Don Carlos, the
Archbishops of Toledo and Seville, Cardinal Gran-
velle, and Don Juan of Austria, the hero of Lepanto,
were amongst his familiar friends. The two large
courtyards of his house were often thronged with
the horses, litters, coaches, and chairs of the nobility
and the ambassadors. To maintain this expensive
hospitality, his pencil must have commanded a
ch. v.
Royal and
noble
friend.
280
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
ch. y.
noble revenue. At his death in 1 590, according to
Palomino, the seventy-fifth year of his age, he left
a fortune of 55,000 ducats, part of which went to
endow an hospital for orphans at Valladolid.
Anecdote
of Philip
II.
An anecdote related by Porreho, 1 the biographer
of Philip II., shows how high the artist stood in
the estimation of the court. Don Diego de Cordoba,
chancing to see exposed for sale some wretched
portraits of the King, in a fit of loyal indignation
rushed into the royal presence and besought his
Majesty to follow the example of Alexander the
Great, and “ grant to Alonso Sanchez, or some other
famous painter,” the exclusive right of depicting
his gracious countenance. “ Let the poor daubsters
live,” said the King, “ so long as they misrepresent
Praise of
Lope de
Vega.
our faces, and not our behaviour.” Lope de Vega,
who, amongst the myriad subjects of his fluent pen,
frequently sang the praises of painting and its pro-
fessors, has given an honourable place in the ninth
silva of his “ Laurel de Apolo ” to
“ el Espanol Protliogenes famoso
El noble Alonso Sanchez, que envidioso
Dejara al mas antiguo y celebrado
De quien hoy ha quedado
Honrando su memoria
Eternos quadros de divina historia.” 2
1 Dichos y Hechos, p. 329.
2 Obras Sueltas de Fray Lope Felix de Vega Carpio, xix. tomes, 4to,
Madrid, 1776, tom. i. p. 171.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
281
The noble, fam’d Prothogenes of Spain,
Alonso Sanchez, from whose hand remain
Pictures, the masters most renown’d of old
With looks of envious wonder might behold,
Eternal scenes of history divine,
Wherein for aye his memory shall shine.
CH. V.
A dark handsome head, painted by Alonso Sanchez
Coello, and said to be his own portrait, exists
amongst the pictures of the academy of San Carlos
at Valencia.
Portrait of
Alonso
Sanchez
Coello.
Amongst the disciples of this Spanish Prothogenes
was his daughter, Doha Isabel, born in 1564, in her
childhood the playmate of the Infants and Infantas
of Spain, and, in after life, equally distinguished as
a painter and musician. She married Don Fran-
cisco de Herrera y Saavedra, Regidor of Madrid and
knight of Santiago, by whom she had a son, Don
Antonio, likewise a member of that noble order.
She died, like her father, at Madrid, in 1612, and
was buried in her husband’s family chapel in the
church of San Juan.
Isabella
Sanchez
Coello.
Sanchez Coello almost rivals Titian himself in
the number of royal and noble personages whose
favour he enjoyed and whose countenances he
delineated. In 1582 he executed, for the hall of
portraits at the Pardo, no less than ten pieces,
amongst which were an Emperor, a Queen, and five
Archdukes, Infantas, and royal Princes. lie painted
the King many times, both on foot and on horse-
1
Alonso
Sanchez
Coello’s
portraits.
1
282
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
back, and in every variety of costume. But time,
which so frequently avenges the victims and per-
secutes the favourites of fortune, has dealt very
hardly with his works, most of which perished in
the flames of the Pardo and of the Alcazar of Madrid.
Of his many portraits of the Queen of Spain’s
famous ancestor, Philip II., 1 her gallery does not
possess one. Sufficient specimens, however, of his
powers exist there to vindicate his fame. His por-
traits of the Infant Don Carlos 2 and his half-sister
Infant Don
Carlos.
Isabel Clara Eugenia 3 are fine works of art, and
no less valuable, from the impress of fidelity which
they bear, as illustrations of history. In Carlos we
find little to heighten the pathos of his story ; and,
indeed, the pencil of Coello, like the prose of the his-
torian, furnishes a strong contrast to the touching
poetry of Schiller. The unhappy prince appears in
his seventeenth or eighteenth year ; and with the
pallid features of his father, he has also his cold grey
eye and suspicious dissatisfied expression. Both the
head and the dress — a cloth of gold doublet, short-
furred mantle, barrette, and trunk hose — recall
Titian’s early portraits of Philip. The hands, of
which one rests on the sword-hilt, the other on
1 [One of Sancliez Coello’s portraits of Philip II. is now at Keir. A
wood-engraving is given in Don John of Austria, vol. i. p. 33 . — Ed.]
2 Catdlogo [1843], No. 152 [edition of 1889, No. 1032].
3 Id. No. 154 [edition of 1889, No. 1033.]
REIGN OF PHILIP II. 283
his hip, are delicately shaped and finely painted.
The Infanta Isabel — afterwards that resolute Arch-
duchess, whose linen, unchanged during the three
years’ siege of Ostend, gave the name to the tawny
tint still known to French dyers and grooms as the
“ couleur Isabelle ” — seems about the same age as
her brother. As she was only two years old at the
time of his death, her portrait must have been
painted many years after its companion. Her coun-
tenance, both in features and expression, strongly
resembles her father’s, who loved her above all his
other children, and spoke of her on his death-bed
as “ the light and mirror of his eyes ; ” and her
swarthy complexion somewhat justifies the sarcasms
of Pierre Leroy, and the Huguenot wits, in the
“ Satyre Menippee.” These hereditary peculiarities
are far too strong for beauty, even “ in the April of
her prime ; ” her face, indeed, appears to better ad-
vantage when invested with the dignity of matronly
years on the canvas of her friend and counsellor,
Rubens, 1 or still later, when she had exchanged the
weeds of a widow for those of a Chanoinesse, and
sat for her portrait to Vandyck. 2 But though in
neither of these royal portraits was Sanchez Coello
fortunate in his subject, they, on that account per-
haps, the more display his masterly skill. He has
CH. V.
Infanta
Isabel
Clara
Eugenia.
1 In the Musee, at Brussels.
- Louvre, No. 436 [ Notice cles Tableaux, Edition 1SS9, No. 145].
284
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
Queen
Isabel de
la Paz.
Antonio
Perez.
supplied the place of beauty, as far as possible, by
something little less winning and far more difficult
to be caught and described — that air of refinement
and repose which belongs to gentle blood and deli-
cate nurture. To the graceful design and fine
colouring of these pictures Titian himself could
hardly have added anything, beyond a softer outline
and somewhat more roundness of form. Amongst
the master’s other portraits in this royal collection,
a picture 1 of the heroine of Ostend and her sister,
deserves notice, and likewise that of Queen Isabel
of the Peace , 2 to whose sweet face he has hardly
done justice, but whose black dress is magnificent,
and her jewellery, especially the knots of pearl at
the opening of the robe, worthy the imitation of the
most tasteful and sumptuous of queens. The
student of history will also look with interest on the
well-painted head 3 of a dark, handsome, bright-
eyed man, wearing a small black cap and white
plume, and the cross of Santiago on his breast ; for
it is the gay, ambitious, intriguing, banquet-giving,
1 Catdlogo [1843], No. 193 [edition of 1889, No. 1034].
2 Catdlogo [1843], No. 530. [In the new catalogue of 1S89 this picture
(No. 925) is no longer ascribed to Sanchez Coello, hut is doubtfully attri-
buted to his pupil and friend, Pantoja de la Cruz ; and Don Pedro de
Madrazo adds in a note, in his Catdlogo Dcscriptivo e Histdrico, 1872, “ En
tal caso, fud ejecutado por otro retrato anterior, quiza de Sanchez Coello,
pues segun queda dicho en la noticia biognifiea, de Pantoja, los retratos
que dste hizo de personas Reales de la familia de Felipe II. fueron por lo
general copias de cuadros anteriores ” (p. 506 ). — Ed.]
3 Id. No. 206 [edition of 1889, No. 1039].
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
285
irresistible, but unfortunate, Antonio Perez, the
Bolingbroke of Castile. In the Louvre there is a
portrait, 1 attributed to Sanchez Coello, of Don Juan,
the bold bastard of Austria, and the terror of the
Turk.
In 1570 the Court portrait-painter was employed
with Diego de Urbina to execute the paintings for
the decoration of the triumphal arches under which
Doha Anna of Austria passed into the capital of her
hoary uncle and bridegroom. Notwithstanding his
avocations in the palace, he found time to paint,
between 1574 and 1577, for the parish church of
Espinar, a village in the territory of Segovia, nine
pictures for the high altar, with the gilding and
adornment of which he was also entrusted. For
these works, and for a curtain or architectural drop-
scene, with which the altar was veiled during the
last two weeks of Lent, he was paid 3,350 ducats.
In 1580, he executed a large composition of the
“ Martyrdom of St. Sebastian ” for the church of St.
Jerome, at Madrid, where it was seen by Cumber-
land, who praises its “ great majesty of design, bold
relief, and strong masterly expression.” 2 For the
Escorial he painted, by the King’s desire, in 1582,
cn. v.
Paints
triumphal
arches with
Diego de
Urbina.
Religious
pictures.
1 Louvre, Gal. Espagn. No. 69. [Sold in the Louis-Philippe Collec-
tion in 1853, and now at Keir. A wood-engraving of it is given in Dot 1
John of Austria, 2 vols. Svo, London, 1883, vol. i. p. 3 . — Ed.]
2 Anecdotes, vol. i. p. S9.
286
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
five altar-pictures, each containing a pair of saints,
and likewise an excellent portrait of his friend,
Father Sigtienza, the historian of the order of St.
Jerome, which has been well engraved by Fernando
Portrait
of St.
Ignatius
Loyola.
Selma. In 1 5S5 he painted a portrait of Ignatius
Loyola, from waxen casts taken from the dead body
twenty-nine years before, and from the recollections
of Father Ribadeneyra, the hagiologist, which was
reckoned the best representation ever made of the
stern and melancholy countenance of the great first
Jesuit. The fate of this interesting picture is not
known ; but it may have been the original of that
striking portrait which hangs in the church of San
Miguel at Seville. In the royal gallery of Madrid
there is one fair specimen of Sanchez Coello’s powers
of treating sacred subjects in his “ Marriage of St.
Catherine.” 1 The composition and colouring are
good ; and although the Divine Babe is more like a
small man than a child, and his mystical bride un-
happily resembles an Austrian Infanta, these defects
are atoned for by the exceeding grace and beauty
of Mary and her attendant angels. The picture
is painted on cork, and is signed “AlONSVS
SANTIVS F.”
Scholars.
Sanchez Coello had a number of scholars, of
whom Juan Pantoja de la Cruz 2 (1551-1609) was the
1 Catcilogo, No. 501 [edition of 1889, No. 1041.] : Infra, p. 316.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
2S7
most famous. Cristobal Lopez became painter to
CH. V.
King John III., of Portugal, from whom he received
the order of Aviz ; and, after having executed many
portraits of that prince and his family, and some
good pictures for the chapel-royal at Belem, died at
Cristobal
Lopez.
Lisbon in 1594. 1 Juan de Urbina is said to have
painted with reputation at the Escorial ; none of
his works, however, has been preserved to our
times, and his name lives only in books and in
the verse of Lope de Vega, who calls him “Generoso
Urbina,” and laments his death as a heavy loss to
his royal patron —
“ A 1 sol del mundo, al immortal Felipe.” 2
Juan de
Urbina.
Another artist of the same school was Giovanni
Narduck, or perhaps Narducci, an Italian, whose
history is somewhat curious. Born about 1526, in
the Neapolitan county of Molica, he acquired some
knowledge of painting at Naples ; whence, being
of a devout temper, he made a pilgrimage to the
various shrines of Italy, and afterwards to Santiago
of Compostella. In the course of his Spanish
travels he passed some time with a society of
hermits who dwelt amongst the mountains of
Giovanni
Narduck,
or Fray
Juan de la
Miseria.
1 Palomino (tom. iii. p. 363) gives 1570 as the date of his death, but
I follow the Portuguese writer, Machado, who says of Lopez {Vidas,
dos Pintores, p. 67), “pintou quadros de historia com maneira boa, e
larga.”
2 Laurel de Apolo, Silva ix.
288
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
Cordoba, and with one of whom, a noble Italian
named Ambrosio Mariano, he formed a close friend-
ship. Mariano, a retired doctor of laws, being sent
to Madrid on some affairs of the fraternity, was
accompanied thither by Narduck, who, while the
business was pending, betook himself once more to
the pencil, and entered the school of Sanchez Coello.
Here his piety recommended him to the esteem
of the devout Infanta Juana, sister of Philip II.,
and other religious ladies ; and Doha Leonor de
Mascarehas, governess to Don Carlos, and a Dorcas
amongst courtly dames, employed him to paint
certain devotional pictures, which he executed to
her entire satisfaction. At her house he became
known to Santa Teresa de Jesus, who persuaded
him and his friend Mariano to assume, in 1560,
the Carmelite robe in one of her reformed convents
at Pastrana, where Narduck exchanged his secular
name for the humble title of Fray Juan de la
Miseria, and left as a specimen of his artistic
powers an “ Ecce-homo.” Removing some time
after to a cloister at Madrid, he there closed a long
life of devotion in October 1616. His body was
embalmed, and was kept in the sacristy of the
chapel of San Bruno, beneath a copious and eulogistic
epitaph. It is doubtful whether any of his works
still exist. Of Santa Teresa he made two portraits,
one for Doha Leonor ; the other, says Pacheco,
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
289
belonged to the Carmelite nuns of Seville ; he like-
wise pourtrayed S. Luis Beltran, and the holy
Friar Nicolas Factor, whose name we shall meet
with again amongst the artists of Valencia.
Gaspar Becerra, painter, sculptor, and architect,
was son of Antonio Becerra and Leonor Padilla,
and was bom in 1520, at Baeza, in the kingdom
of Jaen, revered by Spanish martyrologists as the
birthplace of St. Ursula and her eleven thousand
virgins. He seems to have gone early to Italy,
and to have passed many of his best years in study
at Borne, where he may have been a scholar of
Michael Angelo. Cean Bermudez had seen a pencil-
sketch by him of part of the “ Last Judgment.”
Amongst the artists who assisted Daniel de Volterra
in the embellishment of the Bovere chapel in the
church of the Trinita cle’ Monti, Vasari records
that “ Bizzera the Spaniard ” 1 executed a painting
of the “ Nativity of the Virgin,” and that Pellegrino
Tibaldi, afterwards famous at the Escorial, was
one of his fellow-labourers. Fie likewise worked
under the eye of Vasari himself, who enumerates
him and his countryman Bubiales amongst “his
young men ” who aided him in the historical and
ch. v.
Caspar
Becerra.
Works in
Italy.
1 Vasari, tom. iii. p. 102. Cean Bermudez has fallen into a slight error
in relating that Becerra’s work was placed beside one of Daniel de
Volterra. Its companion, says Vasari, was “ Christ presented to Simeon,”
painted by Gio. Paolo Rosetti of Volterra.
VOL. I. T
290
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
allegorical frescoes with which he adorned the hall
of the Cancelleria in the palace of Cardinal Farnese.
Perhaps the young Spaniards may have accompanied
their chief to the reunions of artists and men of
Dr. Juan
de Val-
verde, and
his book,
illustrated
by Gaspar
Becerra.
letters which were held at the supper-table of the
Cardinal, where a casual remark of “ Monsignor
Giovio ” first suggested to Vasari’s mind the idea
of writing his delightful “Lives of the Painters.” 1
For Dr. Juan de Valverde’s work on anatomy,
published in 1554, Becerra designed the plates, 2
and he likewise executed about the same time two
statues as anatomical studies, of which casts were
used as models in the studios. In 1556 he married
1 Vasari, tom. iii. p. 391.
2 Llaguno ( Arquitectos , tom. iii. p. 107) doubts this fact, which, he
says, is not confirmed by any notice of Becerra in Valverde’s book ; Cean
Bermudez, however, remarks, in his note on the passage, that it may be
true for all that. Llaguno gives 1556 as the date of the publication of
the Anatomy, which Brunet — always deficient in Spanish bibliography
— does not mention in the last edition of his bulky Manuel de Libraire.
The title of the book is Historia de la composition del cuerpo humano,
escrita por Juan de Valverde de Hamusco ; Impressa por Antonio
Salamanca y Antonio Lafrerii ; fol., Roma, 1556. A handsome engraved
title and n preliminary leaves, and 106 leaves paged on one side, besides
the anatomical plates and their explanations. I do not find any signature
of any kind in any of the plates ; but Barbosa Machado, Bibliotheca
Lusitana (tom. ii. p. 7S0-1), like Llaguno, attributes them to Becerra.
Valverde was physician to Card. Juan de Toledo, Archbishop of Santiago,
to whom his work is dedicated, and enjoyed great practice at Rome.
An Italian translation of his book, executed by himself, was published at
Venice, in fob, 1586, and a Latin one, by Michele Colombo, at the same
place, fob, 1589, a previous Latin version, with additions, having issued
from the Plan tine press, fob, Antwerp, 1579. Both the Venetian editions
have the author’s portrait, supported by skeletons and adorned with
visceral festoons, engraved by Nicolas Beatrizet; Bartsch, tom. xv.
p. 242.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
Dona Paula Velazquez, daughter of a Spaniard
of Tordesillas, and soon afterwards returned to
Spain.
He remained for some time at Zaragoza, where he
lived with the younger Morlanes, the sculptor, to
whom he presented some of his drawings, and a
small bas-relief in alabaster of “The Resurrection
of Our Lord,” which may still be seen over a tomb
in the old Cathedral of the “ Seu.” It was not long
before his abilities became known to Philip II., who
took him into his service, in 1562, as sculptor, with
a yearly salary of 200 ducats, and in August 1563,
named him one of his painters-in-ordinary, when his
salary was raised to 600 ducats. In the Alcazar of
Madrid lie painted several corridors and chambers ;
and, in conjunction with Gastello the Bergamese,
the King’s cabinet in the southern tower, and two
adjoining passages — of which the lower parts, within
the reach of hands, had greatly suffered, when Palo-
mino 1 saw them, “from careless sweepers and prank-
some pages,” and which finally perished in the flames
of the palace. Of the chambers which he painted
at the Pardo, one survived the fire there, and its
frescoes, representing the story of Perseus and Andro-
meda, were praised by Cean Bermudez for their good
drawing, spirited attitudes, and noble expression.
ch. v.
Return to
Spain.
Goes to
court.
1 Palomino, tom. iii. p. 365.
292
CH. V.
I Religious
works.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
When the artist, was making his designs for the
Pardo, the King, coming to observe his progress, and
finding only a single figure — a Mercury — finished,
exclaimed disappointedly, “ And is this all you have
done ! ” — “ a remark,” says Palomino, “ which much
disconcerted the draughtsman, and proves that kings
do not love delay, even when conducing to greater
perfection.” 1
Becerra was employed by the Infanta Juana,
Princess-Dowager of Brazil, to design and execute
the high altar for the church of the convent of
barefooted nuns which she founded at Madrid in
1559. It is a chaste structure of the Doric, Ionic,
and Corinthian orders of architecture, adorned with
painted sculptures of the Virgin and angels, and of
the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Our Lord, of
which the Crucifixion is the best. He also painted
on slabs of marble, for this and other altars, several
pictures which are still to he seen in the church.
“ His most heroical work of sculpture and the crown
of his studies,” says Palomino, 2 was the image of
Our Lady, carved for the Queen Isabella of the
Peace. This princess bore, it seems, a peculiar
affection for the religious order of St. Francis de
Paula, to which belonged her confessor, Fray Diego
de Valbuena, whom she sent soon after her nuptials
1 Palomino, tom. iii. p. 365. 2 Id.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
293
with a donative to the friars of the Holy Sepulchre
at Jerusalem ; 1 and upon that monk’s representa-
tion that his convent was in need of a statue of the
Virgin, she ordered her master of the horse, Hon
Fadrique de Portugal, to cause one to be executed
by the best sculptor in Spain. Becerra being chosen,
was instructed to take for his model a picture in the
Queen’s oratory ; and the brotherhood of Fray Diego
offered up solemn prayers for a happy conclusion of
his labours. Being himself very devoutly inclined
towards St. Francis, of whose holy austerities he
had heard in the misogynist’s native Calabria, he
addressed himself to the work with great alacrity
and earnestness ; but succeeded so ill, that, at the
end of a year, he produced an image which did not
satisfy himself, and which was at once rejected by
the Queen. His next attempt was better, for it
pleased not only Don Fadrique and the friars, but
also his artist-friends, who pronounced it worthy of
the disciple of Michael Angelo. The Queen, how-
ever, decided otherwise, and threatened to employ
another hand if he should fail a third time. The
Franciscans thereupon betook themselves to re-
doubled masses and fasting, and the poor sculptor
returned to his studio and racked his memory and
imagination for ideas of angelic grace and divine
ch. v.
Carves for
the Queen
the figure
of Nra.
Sen ora de
laSoledad.
1 Goncalez Davila, T/icatro de las Grandczas de la Villa de Madrid,
folio, Madrid, 1623, p. 250.
294 REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
beauty. Sitting one winter’s night over his draw-
ings, and fatigued with anxious thought, he fell into
a slumber, from which he was aroused by an un-
known voice saying to him, “Awake and rise, and
out of that log of wood blazing on the hearth shape
the thought within thee, and thou shalt obtain the
desired image.” He immediately bestirred himself,
plucked the indicated brand from the burning, and
having quenched it, fell to work at dawn ; and the
auspicious block proving an excellent piece of timber,
soon grew beneath his chisel into “ a miracle of art,
and became,” says Palomino, “the portentous image
of Our Lady of Solitude, to this day had in reverence,
in which are expressed beauty, grief, love, tender-
ness, constancy, and resignation, and which, above
all, is the refuge of our sorrows, the succour in our
ills, the solace of our toil, and the dispenser of
heavenly mercies.” When the carving was brought
to the Queen in 1565, she at last acknowledged
that she had been well served, and Becerra was
accordingly well paid. The Virgin was dressed by
her Majesty in a suit of those doleful weeds intro-
duced by poor Queen Juana to express her mighty
woe at the death of her handsome and worthless
lord, and worn by all Castilian widows of rank until
Queen Anna Mariana of Neuburg, loath to disfigure
herself for the sake of the defunct Charles II., had
the boldness to set a more becoming fashion. Thus
REIGN OF PHILIP II. 295
dismally draped, Our Lady of Solitude presided iu
her peculiar chapel in the convent of the Minim
Fathers at Madrid, 1 and became renowned for her
miraculous powers, “ which brought her masters
much gain.” Her history and achievements were
printed by Fray Antonio de Ares in 1640, 2 and she
remained, albeit darkened in complexion by time, 3
a star of Castilian devotion till the War of Indepen-
dence. In that stormy time it is possible that
Becerra s celebrated billet — so exactly realising the
Hebrew prophet’s description 4 of the tree-stock
which “ shall be for a man to burn : for he will take
thereof, and warm himself ; . . . and the residue
thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image ;
he falleth down unto it, . . . ” — after two cen-
CH. V.
1 Cumberland (vol. ii. p. 29) erroneously sets up tliis famous image at
Valladolid.
2 Historia de la Imagcn dc Nuestra Senora dc la Solcdad, 4to, Madrid,
1640. Besides this there is a book by Tomas de Oha, El Fcnix de los
Ingenios en la Translation de la Virgen dc la Soledad & su Capilla, 4to,
Madrid, 1664, which contains her history ; and there is also the Relation
Historial del origen de Nuestra Senora de la Soledad, de la Victoria , 4to,
Madrid, 1719. A notice of Becerra’s family chapel in the convent of
Victoria at Madrid will be found in Fr. Lucas de Montoya, Cordnica
General de la Orden de los Minimos de San Francisco de Paula, fol.,
Madrid, 1619, lib. iii. p. 98. There is a print of “Nuestra Senora de
la Soledad de la Victoria de Madrid,’’ by Pedro de Villafranca, Matriti,
1657, of which a poor impression is in Dn. B. J. Gallardo’s copy of Ofia’s
work, which was published seven years later. A very full account of the
Capilla de N. S. de la Soledad, her relics, processions, and Cofradia, will
be found in Lucas de Montoya, Cordnica General, lib. iii. p. 9S. See also
G. Quintana, Hist, de Madrid, fol., Madrid, 1629, p. 158.
3 Ponz, tom. v. p. 292.
4 Isaiah, chap. xliv. v. 15-17.
296
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
turies and a half of worship, may have fulfilled its
original destiny beneath the flesh-pot of some god-
less dragoon of Murat.
Works in
various
The time of Becerra was not wholly engrossed in
cities.
Granada.
the service of royalty. For the Cathedral of Granada
he carved a good crucifix of life size, and for the
church of St. Jerome in the same city a celebrated
“ Entombment of Our Lord ” and a pretty little
Valladolid,
“ Infant Saviour.” Valladolid, Salamanca, Bribiesca,
&c.
and Bioseco possessed specimens of both his paint-
ing and statuary in their churches and convents ;
in the church of St. Jerome, at Zamora, there was a
celebrated skeleton carved by him, wrapped in a
Burgos.
winding sheet, and grasping a scythe ; and at Burgos
the cathedral still retains his exquisite little figure
of St. Sebastian, which was reckoned so good that
it was twice stolen from its chapel, and on one of
these occasions had reached Cadiz before it could
be recovered. 1 The convent of Santa Cruz, at
Segovia.
Segovia, possessed a picture by him on panel, repre-
senting a young maiden reclining on the ground
with a pot of ointment by her side, that bespoke her
a Magdalene. Although one of those fair creatures
whose allurements tended rather to sin than to peni-
tence, she was highly admired by Bosarte, who
speaks with rapture of the grace of her head, the
1 Cook’s Sketches, vol. ii. p. 143.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
297
beauty of her arms and feet, and the tine cast of her
drapery. 1 In 1569 he completed the mighty high
CH. V.
altar of the Cathedral of Astorga, which, though
out of keeping with that Gothic pile, is a grand and
imposing work, and is reckoned his masterpiece of
architectural design and sculptural decoration. It
consists of three lofty storeys of the Doric, Corinthian,
and Composite orders, covered with elaborate orna-
ment, and with bas-reliefs illustrating the lives of
the Holy Virgin and Onr Blessed Lord, and statues
of saints and saintly virtues, of which some are not
unworthy of Michael Angelo. This noble retablo
has been cruelly repainted, and had suffered much
from the washings and scrapings of a quack-restorer
even in the days of Ponz, who nevertheless remarks
that, as Velazquez can be fully appreciated only at
Madrid, and Murillo at Seville, so Becerra can be
judged of fairly only in the Cathedral of Astorga. 2
The Chapter paid for this work in all 30,000 ducats,
of which about 11,000 fell to the share of Becerra.
Returning to Madrid, he died in 1570, at the pre-
mature age of fifty, in the full vigour of his genius
and in the sunshine of his fortune. From his will 3
it appears that his wife, Panla Velazquez, bore him
Astorga.
1 Bosarte, Viaje, p. 77.
2 Ponz, tom. xi. p. 263-4. See also Handbook [1845], P- 59 2 [3rd
edition, 1855, P- 536].
3 Printed by Cean Bermudez, Arquitectos, tom. ii. p. 261-3.
298
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
Merits as a
painter.
no children, or that none survived him ; to that
lady he bequeathed 1,100 ducats, all his clothes and
jewels, and half of his funds accumulated since their
marriage; to his brother, Juan Becerra, apparently
a sculptor and his assistant, he gave 200 ducats and
directions to complete certain of his works ; and his
mother, Leonor Padilla, was left residuary legatee.
He further ordered that “ his body, habited in the
robes of St. Francis de Paula, should be interred in
the chapel which he had purchased in the church
of the convent of Victory,” where it was accordingly
laid in the keeping of his own “Lady of Solitude.” 1
Of Becerra’s paintings few good specimens seem
to have been preserved. Pie executed no pictures
for the Escorial, nor does his name appear in the
Catalogue of the Queen of Spain’s gallery ; and his
works in the church of the Boyal Barefooted Nuns
at Madrid were commonplace. The bust of a “ Sibyl
holding tablets in her left hand,” said to be painted
by him, and once in the collection of Mr. Coesvelt, is
now in the palace of the Hermitage at St. Peters-
burg ; 2 and amongst the Standish drawings in the
Louvre there are four, executed with the pen, which
are attributed to him . 3 Cean Bermudez says that he
1 Arquitectos, tom. ii. p. in.
2 Livret de la Galerie Imperiale de VErmitage de St. Petersbourg.
Ibid. 1838, 8vo, Salle XLI. No. 107, p. 428. [ Catalogue 1S87, No. 403.]
3 Catalogue de la Collection Standish, 1842, Dessins, Nos. 299-301.
[This collection was sold in 1853 in the Louis-Philippe sale.]
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
299
followed the excellent Italian method of painting
no work without cartoons of the full size required ;
and that his sketches, usually made with black or
red chalk, and highly finished, were of great rarity
and value. Pacheco considered that, as a sculptor,
Becerra eclipsed the fame of Berruguete, 1 to whom
Cean Bermudez also esteems him superior in spirit
and grandeur of style.
Of his scholars, Miguel Barroso, born at Consue-
gra in 1538, became most distinguished in painting.
His earliest independent work of which any notice
has been preserved, was a picture executed for the
Hospital of St. John Baptist at Toledo in 1585.
In 1589 he was named one of the King’s painters,
with an annual salary of 100 ducats, and painted
some frescoes in the chief cloister of the Escorial, of
which that representing the “ Coming of the Holy
Ghost ” was considered the best. His drawing was
correct, but his invention feeble ; he was a man of
learning and general accomplishments, understood
something of music and architecture, and was a
friend of Father Sigiienza. He did not long survive
his promotion to the King’s service, but died the
year after, 1590, at the Escorial. Bartolomii del
Rio Bernuis was a promising young disciple in the
same school at the time of Becerra’s death. He
ch. v.
As a
sculptor.
Scholars.
Miguel
Barroso.
Rio
Bernuis.
1 Pacheco, p. 242.
3°°
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. v.
Francisco
Lopez.
Geronimo
Vazquez.
Miguel
Ribas.
Miguel
Martinez.
Juan Ruiz
de Casta-
neda.
Juan
Fernandez
Navarrete.
practised his art chiefly at Toledo, where he held
during the last twenty years of his life, from 1607
to 1627, the post of painter to the Chapter. Fran-
cisco Lopez and Geronimo Vazquez were also
scholars of Becerra, and painted with some credit
during this reign, the first at Madrid, the second
at Valladolid. Miguel Ribas, Miguel Martinez,
and Juan Ruiz de Castaneda were sculptors formed
under Becerra’s eye, who aided him in his works,
and attained some distinction after his death.
Juan Fernandez Navarrete was an artist whose
genius was no less remarkable than his infirmities,
and whose name — El Mudo, the dumb painter — is
as familiar to Europe as his works are unknown.
Born in 1526, at Logrono, of respectable — Palomino
says noble 1 — parents, he was attacked in his third
year by an acute disorder, which deprived him of
the sense of hearing, and consequently of the faculty
of speech. Cut off from the usual channels of
converse, and living a century before his country-
man, Bonet, 2 had invented the art of speaking on
the fingers, he was compelled to express his wants
1 Palomino, tom. iii. p. 370.
2 Juan Pablo Bonet, Secretary to the Constable of Castile, one of the
earliest, if not the first writer on tlie subject. His Reduction de las
letras y Arte para enseiiar a ablar los Mudos , 4to, Madrid, 1620, pp.
30S, with 12 leaves of licenses, encomiastic verses, &c., and 2 leaves of
index, an elegantly engraved title by Diego de Astor, 8 plates of the
Abecedario Demonstrative, and a folding sheet of Greek contractions, is
a rare and very curious volume.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
and his thoughts by rough sketches in chalk or
charcoal — a practice in which he early displayed
great readiness of hand, — and learned to draw as
other children learn to speak. Taking advan-
tage of this bent of his inclination, his father placed
him in a neighbouring monastery of Jerony mites
at Estrella, under the care of Fray Vicente de
Santo Domingo, one of the fraternity, who had
acquired some knowledge of painting at Toledo,
and who left behind him a few pictures at Estrella,
and in the convent of Santa Catalina, at Talavera
de la Reyna, where he died. This worthy monk,
after teaching him all that he himself knew, advised
his parents to send him for further improvement to
Italy, whither El Mudo, as he was called, accord-
ingly went while still a stripling. It is probable
that he remained there several years ; he visited
Florence, Rome, Naples, and Milan, and is said to
have studied for a considerable time in the school
of Titian at Venice. It was perhaps at Rome or
Milan that he was known to Pellegrino Tibaldi,
who used to remark, when admiring, many years
afterwards, El Mudo’s works at the Escorial, that
in Italy he painted nothing worthy of much notice.
He had acquired, however, sufficient reputation to
attract the notice of Don Luis Manrique, Grand
Almoner to the King of Spain, through whose re-
commendation he was called to Madrid, and on
ch. v.
Fray
Vicente de
Santo
Domingo.
El Mudo
in Italy.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
Works at
the Es-
corial.
the 6th of March, 1568, appointed painter to his
Majesty, with a yearly allowance of 200 ducats,
besides the price of his works. As a specimen of
his abilities, he brought with him a small picture
on the subject of “Our Lord’s Baptism,” — “admir-
ably painted,” says Cean Bermudez, “ though in
a style different from that which he afterwards fol-
lowed,” — which greatly pleased the King, and
became in due time an ornament of the Prior’s
cell in the Escorial.
lie was first employed there to paint on the
folding doors of an altar some figures of prophets,
in black and white, and to make a copy of a large
and excellent picture of the “ Crucifixion,” which
was highly approved by the King, who ordered it
to be placed in the royal chapel, in the wood of
Segovia. During the first three years of his engage-
ment, his health being feeble, he was permitted
to reside at Logrono. There he found time to
paint for his early friends, the monks of Estrella,
four noble pictures, of one of which, representing
St. Michael, Cean Bermudez remarks that it w r as
the finest figure of that Archangel in Castile. He
returned in 1571 to the Escorial, bringing with him
four pictures — “ The Assumption of the Virgin,”
“ The Martyrdom of St. James the Great,” “ St.
Philip,” and a “ Repenting St. Jerome.” Being
dissatisfied with the “ Assumption,” in which he
REIGN OF PHILIP II. 303
thought the Blessed Mary was lost amongst the
crowd of angels, he wished to cancel it, but this
the King would not permit. The heads of the
Virgin, and one of the apostles standing below
in the foreground, were portraits of the painter’s
parents, his mother being remarkable for her beauty.
In the “ Martyrdom ” it is said that he revenged
himself for some affront received from Santoyo,
the royal secretary, by bestowing the face of that
minister on one of the tormentors of the apostle ;
and that, notwithstanding Santoyo’s complaints,
Philip would not suffer the picture to be altered,
excusing himself on the ground of its great excel-
lence. 1 According to another account, however,
the original of the executioner was merely a young
official of Logroho. For these pictures El Mudo
was paid 500 ducats, and they were placed in the
sacristy of the Escorial. He passed the next five
years at Madrid, the buildings of the Escorial not
being in sufficient order to receive artists. His
pencil seems to have been less rapid than those of
some of his contemporaries, or his labours must have
been interrupted by ill health; for in 1575 he had
completed only four new works, — the “ Nativity
of Our Lord,” “ Christ scourged at the Column,”
the “ Holy Family,” and “ St. John writing the
CH. V.
1 Palomino, tom. iii. p. 371.
3°4
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
Apocalypse,” for which he received 800 ducats.
Of these works, the last perished by fire, with the
“St. Philip” and “Assumption” above mentioned.
The “ Nativity ” was remarkable for the skill with
which El Mudo had introduced three different
Picture of
“Abra-
ham ” in
the
“Reeibi-
miento.”
lights, proceeding from the body of the Divine
Infant — after the fashion first set by Correggio in
his famous “Notte,” now at Dresden — the glory
above, and a candle held by St. Joseph. The
adoring shepherds also were so finely treated that
Tibaldi never looked at the picture without ex-
claiming “ 0 ! gli belli pastori ! ” In the “Holy
Family” the heads were noble and expressive, and
a cat and dog in the foreground stood spitting
and snarling over a bone with laughable truth and
spirit. “The Scourging of Christ” was admirable
for the skilful foreshortening of Our Lord’s figure,
of which a front view was given.
In 1576 El Mudo painted one of his most
celebrated works, “ Abraham receiving the three
Angels,” which was hung over an altar in the
entrance-hall of the convent, where strangers were
received by the fathers. The figures were of life
size ; beneath a leafy tree the Patriarch bowed
himself to the ground, entreating the travellers to
repose themselves from the noontide heat, and taste
of his cheer ; the three angels, symbolising the
persons of the most Holy Trinity, and all clad in
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
3°5
the same fashion, smiled benignly, with countenances
of heavenly beauty, and accepted his proffered hos-
pitality; and in the background, half concealed by
the tent- door, was seen the laughing countenance
of ancient Sarah. “This picture, so appropriate to
the place it fills,” says Fray Andres Ximenes,
though the first of the master’s works that usually
meets the eye, might for its excellence be viewed
the last, and is well worth coming many a league
to see.” 1 El Mudo was paid 500 ducats for it.
CH. V.
In August of the same year he undertook to paint
thirty-two large pictures for the side altars of the
church. The contract between him and the Prior,
Julian de Tricio, curious for its minuteness, is
printed at full length by Cean Bermudez, The
price agreed on was 200 ducats for each painting,
each to be executed on a single piece of canvas,
and the whole were to be finished in four years.
It was stipulated that if any saint were intro-
duced more than once in the series, he should in
all cases appear with the same features and drapery ;
and that whenever an authentic portrait was to
be had, it was to be scrupulously copied. All
accessories that had no reference to devotion were
excluded, and dogs and cats were expressly for-
bidden, probably in allusion to the excellent, but
Altar-
pieces for
the
church.
1 Ximenes, Description del Escorial, p. 44 .
vol. I. u
3°6
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
indecorous, episode in the “Holy Family.” Of
these pictures the artist unhappily lived to finish
only eight.
Sickness
and death.
Towards the close of 1578 his health began to
decline, and he vainly sought for relief in excursions
to Segovia and some of the neighbouring villages.
In February 1579 he removed to Toledo, where he
died on the 28th of March, in the fifty-third year of
his age. Shortly before his death, he confessed
himself three times to the curate of the parish of
San Vicente, by means of signs which that church-
man declared were as intelligible as speech. Calling
for pen and paper, he then disposed of his modest
Testa-
ment.
gains in a testament, which is curious, and short
enough to be given entire : —
“Jesus, Nuestra Senora.
Albacea, Nicolas de Vergara.
Anima, Pobres, 200 ducados.
Hermano frayle, 200 ducados : Pobres.
Hija monja, 600 ducados.
Estrella, Hermanos, 500 ducados : Misa.
Maria Fernandez, 100 ducados.
Padre, Misa, 200 ducados.
Mozo, 40 ducados. Juan Fernandez.”
Then follows an explanation of this concise will,
supplied by the witnesses. The first and second
clauses imply that he died in the Catholic faith,
leaving Vergara for his executor; the third pro-
vides for the expenses of his burial, and for alms on
REIGN OF PHILIP II. 307
the occasion ; the fourth gives the sum named to
his brother Fray Bautista, for his life, and afterwards
to the poor of an hospital at Logrono ; the fifth
allots a dowry to his natural daughter, a child of four
years old, at Segovia, and directs that she is to take the
veil, “ and that as early as possible,” as the testator
contrived to say to the curate, Luis Hurtado, “ there
being no hope of a girl of her condition getting
married with so slender a portion ; ” the sixth re-
members his old friends the Jeronymites at Estrella,
on condition of their remembering him in their
masses, and giving a resting-place to his bones within
their walls ; the seventh alludes to a married cousin
living at Logrono ; the eighth establishes masses
for the souls of his parents in the family chapel at
Logrono ; and the ninth is a bequest to one Adam
Mimoso, who had been his serving-man for a year
and a half, fie was buried at Toledo, in the church
of San Juan de los Keyes ; and although Cean
Bermudez cites an agreement entered into between
Doha Catalina Ximenes and Diego Fernandez,
mother and brother of El Mudo, and the prior and
monks of Estrella — that his remains should be
brought thither at the cost of the former, received at
the door of the court, with the cross, by the latter,
and interred in the church, at the foot of the steps
leading to the high altar, and that on the payment
to the convent of 300 ducats, the office of the dead
CH. V.
3°8
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
should be sung for his soul every St. John Baptist’s
day — it does not appear that the removal of his
bones ever took place.
His quick-
ness and
intelli-
gence.
“ El Mudo,” says Cean Bermudez, “ was a man
of uncommon talent, and in no ordinary degree
versed in sacred and profane history and in mytho-
logy. He read and wrote, played at cards, and
expressed his meaning by signs with singular
clearness, to the admiration of all who conversed
Offers to
copy
Titian’s
“ Cena.”
with him.” When Titian’s celebrated picture of
the “ Last Supper ” arrived at the Escorial, it was
found to be too large for its destined place in the
refectory. The King having ordered it to be cut,
El Mudo manifested a lively indignation, and by
means of signs offered, at the risk of his head, in
six months to finish an exact copy of it of the
required size ; at the same time making the sign
of a cross on his breast, to signify that he expected
an order of knighthood as the reward of doing in
six months what had cost Titian the labour of
seven years. Philip was, however, too impatient
to wait for a copy, and the canvas of Titian, to the
great grief of his scholar, was forthwith submitted
to most sacrilegious shears. Indeed, it was not
until Navarrete had gone to the tomb that the
King fully understood his worth. When, however,
his foreign Zuccaros, engaged at immense salaries,
began to cover the walls of the Escorial with some
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
3°9
very bad paintings, he became sensible that a far
finer hand lay cold at Toledo, and frequently
declared that amongst all his Italian artists there
was none that could equal his dumb Spaniard.
CH. V.
El Mudo imitated with success many of the
chief beauties of his Venetian master, and for his
splendid colouring alone well deserved his title
of “the Spanish Titian.” His works have a free-
dom and boldness of design that belonged to none
of his contemporaries of Castile. It has been
well remarked that he “ spoke by his pencil with
the bravura of Eubens, without his coarseness .” 1
Amongst the unfinished pictures found in his studio
at his death, were several portraits, of which those
of the Duke of Medina Celi and Giovanni Andrea
Style and
merits.
Doria were the most interesting. A beautiful head
of a woman, at Bowood, painted by El Mudo — and
said to be that of Dona Maria Pacheco, wife of
Padilla, the ill-fated leader of the malcontents of
Portraits.
Toledo in 1522, — is a gem, even in the collection
of Lord Lansdowne ; brown Castile never produced
a lovelier face or a more delicately painted head ;
but as a portrait it must be either ideal or a copy,
since the brave lady died two years before the
painter’s birth. His own portrait, painted in a
striking forcible style by himself, formed part of the
Portrait of
El Mudo.
1 Handbook [1845], P- 813 [3rd edition, 1855, p. 755].
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
Verses of
Lope de
Vega.
Castilian plunder of Marshal Soult , 1 who likewise
carried off from the Escorial his picture of Abraham
and the Angels . 2 Of his few pictures on this side the
Pyrenees, the “ Holy Family,” in the private gallery
of the King of Holland , 3 also deserves notice ; the
Virgin and Babe are seated near a column, and St.
Joseph appears behind ; and the whole composition
is full of grace and Venetian richness of colour.
The saints and apostles who figure in eight of
the side altars of the Escorial, his last works, are
excellent examples of his style. Their grand and
simple forms and noble heads, and their draperies
falling in broad masses of rich warm colour, are
worthy of the majestic temple which they adorn.
Lope de Vega, in the Laurel de Apolo, laments the
death of El Mudo, whom he lauds as the Spanish
artist best able to cope with Italian rivals. Of his
works he says, —
“ Ningun rostro pinto cue fuese mudo ” —
“No countenance he painted that was dumb.”
1 [No. 4 of the sale catalogue of the Soult collection. Now in the
author’s collection at Keir. It was exhibited at the Art Treasures
Exhibition in Manchester in 1857, No. 216.] In the Revue de Paris,
tom. xxiii. p. 215, M. Thore thus describes this portrait of El Mudo:
“ Cette figure a une ire effrayante et comme une puissance magnetique ;
il semble que le muet cherche a parler ; c’est une nature primitive et
rude qu’on ne peut regarder longtemps en face, et qui, sans exaggeration,
vous force a baisser les yeux.”
3 Id. p. 214. See supra, p. 304.
3 [Sold in 1S50 . — Ed.]
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
3 ”
a thought which he also expanded into this epi-
gram : —
“ No quiso el cielo que hablase,
Porque con mi entendimiento
Diese mayor sentimiento
A las cosas que pintase
Y tanta vida les di
Con el pincel singular
Que como no pude hablar
Hice que hablasen por mi.”
Speech heaven denied to him whose dumbness threw
A deeper sense and charm o’er all he drew;
And, mute himself, his breathing pencil lent
Canvas a voice, than mine more eloquent.
CH. V.
Luis de Carbajal was born at Toledo in 1534, and
was uterine brother of Juan Bautista Monegro, a
sculptor of some repute. He studied painting in the
school of Juan de Villoldo, whom he may have
accompanied as a boy to Madrid, when that master
was employed in the Bishop of Plasencia’s chapel
in the church of S. Andres. 1 At least he early
removed to the capital, and there acquired some
eminence in his art and the post of painter to the
King, in which capacity the first picture he is
recorded to have executed was a “Magdalene,”
finished in 1570, for the cloister of the Infirmary at
the Escorial. On the death of El Mudo, Carbajal
and Sanchez Coello were appointed to complete the
Luis de
Carbajal.
1 Supra, chap. iii. p. 169.
3 12
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
Portrait of
Arch-
bishop
Carranza
de Mir-
anda.
series of pictures for the side altars of the church,
of which seven were accordingly painted by Carbajal,
who has imitated, with some success, the grand
manner of the dumb master. He painted several
other easel pictures for the monastery, and likewise
some frescoes in the great cloister, where so many
famous Italians came to display their artistic powers.
He afterwards passed some time at Toledo, where
he painted several pictures with Bias del Prado, for
the church of the Minim Fathers ; and where he
also left in the winter chapter-room of the Cathedral
the portrait of Archbishop Don BartolonM Carranza
de Miranda. This portrait was probably executed
before the prelate’s incarceration in 1559, or at least
before his removal to Borne in 1566. The sad and
anxious face deserves notice as the likeness of a man
whose cause divided the Council of Trent, agitated
the whole Spanish realm, and rang through Catholic
Europe ; who remarkably exemplified in his own
person the contradictions of the human heart and the
vicissitudes of human fortune ; who, when a simple
professor at Valladolid, sold his library to feed the
poor, and was reckoned a model of charity and meek-
ness, and yet, as a royal confessor, sitting at the ear of
Mary Tudor, sent many a martyr to the flames at
Smithfield ; who, becoming Primate of Spain, spent
his last eighteen years in the prisons of the Inquisi-
tion, on a charge, amongst others, of having preached
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
before the court of England the heresy of Philip
Melancthon ; and who was finally buried in a
Roman convent, by the order of the Pontiff who had
condemned him, beneath an epitaph which declared
him to have been a man “ illustrious in lineage, life,
eloquence, alms-deeds, and doctrine.” 1 The date
of Carbajal’s death is unknown, but he must have
lived to a good old age, for we find him, so late in
the next reign as t 6 1 3, at work with other artists
on certain ceilings at the Pardo.
Bias del Prado was likewise a Toledan, and one
of the ablest artists who ever, to use the stately
words of Don Juan de Butron, 2 “ imbibed genius
from the gilded waters of the Tagus.” The date
of his birth is very uncertain ; and Palomino and
Cean Bermudez differ in their statements by nearly
fifty years, for the former asserts that he was born
in 1497 and died in 1557, whilst the latter proves,
from documents in the Cathedral archives at Toledo,
that he was alive near the close of the century.
He was probably born about 1540; the chapter
ch. v.
Bias del
Prado.
1 The life of this unfortunate archbishop was written by Pedro Salazar
de Miranda. An able sketch of it, with an abstract of his celebrated
cause (which filled twenty-four folio volumes, each containing from 1000
to 1200 leaves, of the records of the Inquisition), may be found in
Llorente, Inquisition de Espaiia, tom. vi. p. 65 to p. 216. His portrait,
engraved by Barcelon, may be found amongst the Retratos de los
Espunoles Ilustres, folio, Madrid, 1791, a work printed in the royal
press, and of some value, which would have been greatly enhanced had
the names of the painters been appended to the portraits.
2 Discursos Apologiticos, p. 122.
3 T 4
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
employed him in 1586, and named him its second
painter in 1591. His principal works were the
pictures that he painted in 1591, with Carbajal, for
the Minims at Toledo ; a large altar-piece, represent-
ing St. Bias and other personages, for the chapel
of that saint in the Cathedral, besides some smaller
pictures ; a “ Holy Family ” for the sumptuous Jer-
onymite house at Guadalupe ; and some paintings in
the churches and convents at Madrid, amongst which
was a “ Descent from the Cross ” in the church of S.
Sent to the
court of
Morocco.
Pedro, which has been praised by Cumberland. 1
In 1593, the Emperor of Morocco applied to
Philip II. for the loan of a painter, as Pedro the
Cruel some ages before had borrowed the plasterers
of the Sultan of Granada. 2 The Catholic King
returned answer that they had in Spain two sorts
of painters — the ordinary and the excellent, — and
desired to know which his infidel brother preferred.
“Kings should always have the best,” replied the
haughty Moor ; and the Spaniard accordingly sent
Bias del Prado to Fez. 3 There he painted various
works for the palace, and a portrait of the African
monarch’s daughter, to the great satisfaction of her
father, who, though an indifferent Mussulman, was
a generous prince, for, having kept the artist in his
1 Anecdotes, i. p. 126. 2 Supra, chap, ii., p. 85.
3 Lope de Vega; Memorial Informativo appended to Carducho’s
Didlogos, p. 165.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
3i5
service for several years, lie finally sent him away
with many rich gifts. Returning to Castile with
considerable wealth, Bias del Prado indulged himself
in a traveller’s whim of wearing the Moorish dress,
and eating in the Oriental fashion, reclining amongst
cushions. Pacheco, who may have known him
either at Toledo or when he passed through Seville
011 his way to Barbary, relates that he painted fruit-
pieces with great truth and taste. He died probably
about 1600. The Academy of S. Ferdinand at
Madrid possesses a fine work by him, of which the
subject is the “Virgin and Infant Saviour ” seated
amongst clouds, which seem to hang round the
upper part of a brick tower, whilst a woman in nun’s
weeds and a man in a black dress are kneeling in
prayer beneath. The features of Mary are some-
what too Toledan and coarse ; but the adorers and
a lovely child between them are fine subjects finely
treated, with very careful execution, and a rich
though sober colouring. A still finer picture by
Bias del Prado hangs in the Queen of Spain’s
gallery, 1 representing the “ Virgin, Babe, and St.
Joseph” enthroned, attended by St. John and St.
Ildefonso, and adored by Alonso de Villegas, the
historian of the Calendar, by whom the painting
was probably given to some shrine. The Virgin
ch. v.
Works now
existing at
Madrid.
1 [ Catdlogo de los cuadros del Museo del Prado dc Madrid, sexta
edicidn, 1889, No. 944.]
3 l6
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
here shows nothing of the Gothic blood of Castile ;
her features are of Italian delicacy, and her pure
brow and eyes, bent kindly on the suppliant, might
have been painted by Andrea del Sarto, delighting
in downcast eyelids. The head of St. Joseph is
Rafaelesque, and the drawing and tone of the whole
composition displays a knowledge of the best models.
Portrait of
Fray
Alonso de
Villegas.
The portrait of the black-robed chaplain 1 — wdth
his harsh face full of lines and wrinkles, and his
stiff hands pressed rigidly palm to palm — is very
characteristic of the tedious writer whose pen dwells
with most complacency on those thoughts and deeds
of holy men that most tend to mar the beauty of
holiness. The following inscription in white letters
at the bottom of the picture — b. marie ioanni
EVANGELISTE ET ILDEFONSO BLAS DEL PRADO PICTORE
Juan Pan-
toja de la
Cruz.
M. ALFONSVS DE VILLEGAS PATRONIS D. ANO 1 5 39 —
seems to have been traced long after it had left
the easel. As Villegas was not born till 1533, it
is probable that the date ought to be 1589.
Juan Pantoja de la Cruz was born at Madrid in
1551. lie studied painting in the school of Alonso
Sanchez Coello, and soon became sufficiently dis-
tinguished to obtain the posts of painter to the
King and gentleman of the chamber ( ayuda de
cdmara). Palomino, wdio possessed the original
1 This priest’s portrait, engraved by Ballester, in the Espanoles
Ilustres, seems to he taken from this picture.
REIGN OF PHILIP II. 317
sketches of the noble monuments of Charles V. and
Philip II., in the church of the Escorial, says 1 that
these were executed for Pompeyo Leoni by Pantoja.
Oil-paintings of these monuments, likewise by him,
existed at the Escorial in the time of Cean Bermudez,
and are there still. Whilst Sanchez Coello lived,
Pantoja seems to have shared the royal favour with
him, and after his death to have enjoyed it in still
fuller measure. He made many portraits of Philip II.
and his family, most of which have perished in
the fires of the palaces. The National Museum at
Madrid possesses a fine example of his powers in the
portrait of Isabella of the Peace, 2 whose dark hair,
large brilliant black eyes, and rich complexion, afford
an agreeable relief to the monotonous grey eyes
and pale cheeks of the house of Austria. The
head is full of beauty and life ; the dress of black
velvet, though closed to the throat, is becoming,
the hoop or il guar dainf ante” of the Castilian court,
introduced in the Emperor’s reign, not having as
yet expanded into its full amplitude ; a small ruff
encircles the neck, and the robe is garnished with a
profusion of gold chains and jewellery, all admir-
ably designed and painted. Unless there is some
CH. V.
1 Palomino, tom. iii. p. 413.
2 [ Catdlogo 1889, No. 924. The author’s suggestion that it is a copy of
an earlier picture is adopted by Don Pedro de Madrazo, the compiler
of the Catalogo Dcscriptivo 6 Histdrico, 1872 (p. 505 ). — Ed.]
3*8
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
mistake in the date of the painters birth, this
portrait was probably copied from one by his master,
as Queen Isabella died in 1568, when Pantoja was
only seventeen years of age. He must often, how-
ever, have seen her on public occasions, and perhaps
may have noted her sweet smiles in some of her
visits to the studio of Sanchez Coello. Of his many
portraits of her lord, one only is to be found in the
Queen of Spain’s gallery. But that one 1 is well
worthy of note, for it shows how the crowned monk
of the Escorial looked when on the brink of the
grave. In Pantoja’s worn, sickly, sour old man,
with lack-lustre restless eyes, protruding under-lip,
| and
“ pallid cheekes and ashe hew,
In which sad Death his portraiture had writ,” 2
wearing a rusty sugar-loaf hat, and holding in his
hand a common brown rosary, we see the last stage
I of the sumptuous prince whose youthful bearing
has been made immortal by the pencil of Titian.
About the same time, or perhaps a little earlier,
Pantoja painted for the convent of St. Mary, 3 at
Naxera, the portrait of Buy Perez de Ribera, which
was esteemed one of his best, and those of the
Princess of Brazil and the Empress Mary, for the
1 Catdlogo, No. 277 [edition of 1889, No. 931].
2 Spenser’s Daplmaida, lines 302-3.
3 I inquired for it there, but without success. The convent is in ruins.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
royal barefooted nuns of Madrid, amongst whom
these royal ladies ended their days. He also pour-
trayed Francisco de Salinas, the famous blind musical
professor of Salamanca, and author of a Latin treatise
on music, who enjoyed the favour of the Duke of
Alba and the poetical praises of Fray Luis de Leon. 1
This portrait, which represents Salinas playing on an
organ, has been engraved by Esteve. 2
On the accession of Philip III., Pantoja retained
his post and favour at court. In 1603 he executed,
by the King’s order, for the chapel-royal of the
Treasury, two large compositions representing the
Nativities of the Virgin and Our Lord, into which
he introduced the portraits of many members of
the royal family. In the former, St. Anne is dimly
seen reclining in a state bed with crimson hang-
ings ; in the foreground stands a graceful damsel
bathing the new-born babe. In the latter, the
Virgin has the features of Queen Margaret, and the
Austrian lip and hanging cheek may be detected in
several of the surrounding shepherds and peasant
girls. Both pictures are signed jvan pantoja de
la +, 1603 5 they are now i n the royal gallery
at Madrid. 3 Pantoja afterwards painted a portrait
of Philip III. on horseback, which was sent to
3*9
ch. v.
Paints
Philip III.
and his
family in
two sacred
eompositi-
tions.
1 See his fine Ocla V., Ohms, 8vo, Madrid, 1816, tom. vi. p. 15.
2 Amongst the Espaiiolcs Ilustres.
3 [ Catdlogo , 1843, Nos. 175 and 181, edition 1872, Nos. 933 and 934].
320
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
Florence as the model for the noble equestrian
statue in bronze begun by Giovanni di Bologna,
the Flemish sculptor, and finished, after his death,
by his scholar, Pietro Tacca. The statue of Henry
IV. of France, torn from its pedestal on the Pont
Neuf at Paris and melted down in the great
Revolution, was likewise commenced by Bologna
and completed by Tacca, and the horse was said
closely to resemble the pacing steed which the
Castilian King still bestrides in the garden of the
royal Casa del Campo, near Madrid, where the
work was placed, in 1616, by Antonio Guidi,
Tacca’ s nephew. 1 The date of Pantoja’s death is
uncertain, but it must have taken place in or before
1 609, 2 for Lope de Vega, in his “Jerusalem Conquis-
tada,” Canto xix., published in that year, laments
him and some other painters in these lines —
“ A 1 pie de un lauro tres sepulcros veo
En cuyo bronce perdurable escucbo ;
Apeles yace aqui, Zeuxis, Cleoneo,
Juan de la Cruz, Caravajal, Carducbo,
Murieron ya. Que funebre trofeo
Muerte cruel !”
Style and
works.
Besides his portraits and other works painted
for the royal family, Pantoja de la Cruz executed
1 Ponz, tom. vi. pp. 141, 142.
2 Palomino and Cean Bermudez say 1610, an error for the correction
of which I am indebted to the Cartas Espanolas for August 9th, 1832,
p. 160.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
3 2 1
various altar-pieces for churches and religious
houses. His style much resembles that of his
master, Sanchez Coello, and is more remarkable
for care and finish than for force and freedom ;
his drawing is good, and his colouring rich and
pleasing. The portrait of Queen Margaret in
the royal collection at Madrid , 1 which is probably
one of his latest, is certainly one of his best
pictures, being executed in a bolder and broader
manner than is usual with him. Of his skill in
painting animals an anecdote has been preserved
by Francisco Velez de Arciniega, a writer on
medicine and natural history . 2 One of the King’s
fowlers having caught a fine eagle, of the bearded
kind, in the royal chase near the Pardo, his Majesty
commanded Pantoja to paint it, which he did so
effectively, that the sitter, getting loose, flew at
the canvas and tore it to shreds with his beak
and talons, and the work had to be done over again.
The bird, which was of a reddish black colour,
was afterwards kept in the hospital of Anton-
Martin, at Madrid, where Arciniega often saw him,
and admired “ his grave and composed manner of
gazing, which showed no little grandeur and
authority.”
ch. v.
Portrait of
an eagle.
1 Catalocjo [1843], No. 222 [edition of 1889, No. 926].
2 Historia de los Animates mas recibidos en el uso de la Medecina, por
Francisco Velez de Arciniega, Boticario, 4to, Madrid, 1613.
VOL. I. X
322
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
Other
court
artists.
Teodosio
Mingotand
Geronirno
Cabrera.
Diego de
Urbina.
Antonio
Segura.
Such were the chief Spanish artists who
flourished under the patronage of Philip II. There
are still a few who deserve a passing notice,
although their works have rarely survived. Teo-
dosio Mingot, a Catalonian, and Geronirno Cabrera,
painted certain frescoes in the Queen’s apartments
at the Pardo about 1 5 70. According to Palomino,
Mingot studied in Italy, and likewise worked
with Becerra in the Alcazar of Madrid ; he died
in 1590, aged thirty-nine. Diego de Urbina was a
native of Madrid, and one of the King’s painters ;
he may perhaps have been the scholar of Sanchez
Coello, whom he assisted in painting the triumphal
arches for the entrance of Queen Anna into the
capital in 1570. In 1572 he painted for the royal
monastery of Santa Cruz six pictures on subjects
taken from the history of the Virgin and Our blessed
Lord, and on the finding of the true cross by the
Empress Helena, and he designed the retablo in
which they were placed. The paintings, though
defective in drawing, displayed some power of
colouring; the sculpture was in the grand style
of Becerra. The chapter of Burgos employed him,
with Gregorio Martinez, to paint and gild for their
Cathedral the retablo of the high altar, a sumptuous
work, which was completed in 1594, and brought the
artists the sum of 11,000 ducats. Antonio Segura
was a painter and architect, employed in 1 580 to
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
carve a retablo for the Jeronymites of San Yuste,
and to copy for it Titian’s “ Glory,” then removed
to the Escorial. He accomplished his task so much
to the King’s satisfaction, as to be named master
of the works at the Alcazar of Madrid, and at the
Pardo, under Francisco de Mora, a post which he
held till his death in 1605. Rodrigo de Holanda
became painter to Philip II. in 1591, with an allow-
ance of 100 ducats, which, in consideration of his
good services, was continued to him by Philip III.,
in 1599, when paralysis had deprived him of the use
of his limbs. In 1593 Juan Gomez was named
as one of the royal painters, with the like salary.
For the church of the Escorial he painted, from a
design by Tibaldi, a large picture of St. Ursula and
her virgins, a pleasing work, which replaced an
unsatisfactory composition on the same subject by
Cambiaso ; he also retouched Zuccaro’s “ Annuncia-
tion ” and “St. Jerome;” and he painted a good
original picture, representing “ Our Lord, Mary
Magdalene, and St. John,” for the Carmelite friars
of Segovia. He died in 1597, leaving a widow,
Francisca, sister to the architect Mora, and seven
children. To the first the King gave a pension of
100 ducats, and one of the latter, Juan Gomez de
Mora, succeeded his uncle as master of the royal
works.
Esteban Jordan was a painter and sculptor in the
323
ch. v.
Rodrigo de
Holanda.
Juan
Gomez.
E. Jordan.
3 2 4
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
OH. V.
royal service ; his best work was a high altar, carved
for the Benedictines of Monserrate.
Painters of
illumina-
tions.
Fray
Andres de
Leon.
The art of illumination was carried to high
perfection at the Escorial ; and Fray Andres de
Leon, under whose direction it was practised there,
was one of the most skilful painters of miniature in
Spain. lie had learned somewhat of the use of the
pencil from Fray Cristobal de Truxillo, an indif-
ferent master, in the Jeronymite monastery of Me-
jorada, whence he was translated in 1568 to the
Escorial. There he distinguished himself by the
beauty and splendour of his illuminative drawings —
especially in the “Liber Capitularius ” — which were
sometimes taken for the works of the Italian Clovio.
Fray
Julian
Fuente
del Saz.
Fray
Martin de
Palencia.
lie likewise painted some little pictures which hung
in the chamber of Belies. Fray Julian Fuente del
Saz was his scholar, and little inferior to him in
skill. Fray Martin de Palencia was a Benedictine
monk of the convent of San Millan at Suso.
Between 1570 and 1580 he resided for some time
at Avila and Madrid, where he was employed by
Philip II. in illuminating various books and parch-
ments for the Escorial, and received an annual
salary of 100 ducats, raised to 150 during his stay
in the capital. Few artists ever excelled him in the
richness of his embellishments and the beauty of
his dainty devices, of which he left many valuable
specimens in a precious volume of “ Prayers for
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
325
Processions,” written on vellum, and long preserved
by the Benedictines of Suso.
In this sumptuous reign the embroiderers took
rank among artists. That nothing might be want-
ing to the splendour of the Escorial, the King
established in the convent a school of embroidery
under the direction of Fray Lorenzo de Monserrate
and Diego Butiner, where exquisite needlework for
vestments and altar-cloths was wrought from the
designs of Tibaldi and other great painters.
Meanwhile the Castilian artists of the Church
kept pace, in numbers and skill, with those of the
Court. Nicolas de Vergara, the elder, was one of the
chief artists of Toledo at the accession of Philip II.
From his profound knowledge of drawing, the gran-
deur of his figures, and his refined taste in orna-
ment, he is supposed to have studied at Florence
or Borne. The chapter of Toledo chose him for
their painter and sculptor in 1542, and many of the
windows of the Cathedral were painted by him or
under his direction. He was likewise engaged with
Berruguete in superintending the embellishments
of the tomb of Cardinal Ximenes at Alcala de
Henares. For the Cathedral-cloister, at Toledo, he
made sketches for certain frescoes representing scenes
in the infernal regions, which, however, were never
executed ; and he designed the rich silver urn, made
by the goldsmith Merino, for the precious remains
ch. . v.
Embroi-
derers.
Fray
Lorenzo de
Monser-
rate.
Diego
Rutiner.
Castilian
artists
employed
by the
Church.
Nicolas de
Vergara,
the elder.
126
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
Nicolas
de Ver-
gara, the
younger,
and Juan
de Ver-
gara.
Luis de
Velasco.
of St. Eugenius. He died at Toledo, in 1574, and
the painted windows of the Cathedral, which he left
incomplete, were finished by his sons and scholars,
Nicolas and Juan, in 1580. Nicolas de Vergara,
the younger, had been appointed, in 1573, sculptor
to the chapter ; and three years afterwards was
named master of works to the Cathedral. For the
choir he executed, in bronze and iron, the beautiful
lateral lecterns ; and he designed the new Sagrario,
or chapel of the Host, which was finished in the
next reign by Monegro. He seems to have been
a man of ready and elegant fancy in all matters of
sculpture and architecture, both great and small ; for
we find him designing, in 1573, the bronze orna-
ments for the choir-books of the Escorial, and in
1575 a church for the Bernardine nuns at Toledo;
giving a plan, in 1 590, of a sumptuous ark of silver
to enshrine the bones of S ta: Leocadia, and, in 1595,
of a chapel to contain the Host and the relics of
the rich Jeronymites at Guadalupe. He died at
Toledo, in 1606, greatly lamented by his friends and
the lovers of art.
Luis de Velasco was a painter of considerable
eminence, although he has had the misfortune to
have escaped the notice of Palomino and Ponz, who
have not only omitted all mention of his name,
but have even attributed his works to Bias del Prado.
He was living at Toledo in 1564, and in 1581 he
REIGN OF PHILIP II. 327
was chosen painter to the chapter. His best works ch. y.
were an “ Incarnation of the Saviour,” hung over a
door in the cloister ; and three pictures in an altar,
likewise in the cloister, representing “ The Virgin and
Babe attended by Saints and Angels, and adored by
an Armed Knight ” — a noble and beautiful work
— “ St. Damian,” and “ St. Cosmo.” These three
paintings were executed in 1585, by order of the
Archbishop, Cardinal Quiroga, by whom Velasco was
paid 419,788 maravedis for his labour. Pie likewise
painted, in 1594, the portrait of that prelate, and
in 1599, that of Archbishop Garcia de Loaysa,
for the winter chapter-room. In his drawing and
colouring Velasco displayed considerable acquaint-
ance with antique sculpture and with the works of
the best Italian painters. He died in 1606, leaving
a son, who became painter to Philip III.
Isaac de Helle was a painter in the employ of the Isaac de
Helle.
chapter of Toledo, and by the orders of that body
executed, in 1568, certain paintings for the cloister
of the Cathedral. I11 the sacristy there likewise
hung a picture, painted by him on panel, represent-
ing the Bishop, St. Nicasius, sick in bed, visited by
another saint or apostle. It was so good that it
sometimes passed for the work of Berruguete, and
displayed something of the bold manner of Michael
Angelo.
Domenico Theotocopuli, painter, sculptor, and
:z8
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
Domenico
Theotoco-
puli, “El
Greco.”
Works at
Toledo.
architect, more familiarly known as “ the Greek ” —
El Griego, or El Greco — holds a high place amongst
the worthies of Toledo. Contemporary with him
there were two other Greek artists in Spain, Pedro
Serafin, a painter at Barcelona, and Nicolas de la
Torre, a Candiote painter of illuminations, employed
: at the Escorial, each of -whom was sometimes called El
Griego. Of his early history nothing has been pre-
served, except the tradition that he studied in the
school of Titian. Hence it is probable that he was
born at Venice, of one of the Greek families 'who
had taken refuge beneath St. Mark’s wing from the
i sword of the Turk at the fall of Constantinople.
He was born, says Palomino, in 1548 ; and it is pos-
sible that he may have been the son of a certain
Domenico dalle Greche, who engraved, in 1549, a
drawing of Titian’s, representing “ Pharaoh and his
host overthrown in the Red Sea ; ” 1 or he may have
1 been a native of Corfu or one of the Greek islands,
like his contemporary and fellow-painter, Antonio
Vassilacchi; for, not unmindful of his race and
language, he frequently inscribed his name in the
Greek character on works painted in Castile. The
first authentic notice of his life that remains to us
is that he was residing in Toledo in 15 77, when he
1 The plate is inscribed “In Venetia, p. Domeneco dalle Greche, dipin-
tore Venetiano, MDXLIX.” See Weigel’s Kunst Catalog. Sechste
Abtheilung, No. 73 71, Leipsig, 1844.
DOMENICO THEOTOCOPUL!
REIGN OF PHILIP II. 329
began, for the Cathedral, his great picture of “The
Parting of Our Lord’s Raiment,” a work, still adorn-
ing the sacristy, on which he was employed for ten
years, and which Cumberland thought worthy of the
pencil of Titian. 1 The august figure of the Saviour,
arrayed in a red robe, occupies the centre of the
canvas ; the head with its long dark locks is superb,
and the noble and beautiful countenance seems to
mourn for the madness of them who “ knew not
what they did ; ” His right arm is folded on His
bosom, seemingly unconscious of the rope, which
encircles His wrist, and is violently dragged down-
wards by two executioners in front. Around and
behind Him appears a throng of priests and warriors,
amongst whom the Greek himself figures as the
Centurion in black armour. He has likewise
painted his beautiful daughter — distinguished by
the white drapery on her head — as one of the three
Maries in the foreground ; at least, if her portrait in
the Louvre 2 be authentic. |In drawing and composi-
tion this picture is truly admirable ; and the colour-
ing is, on the whole, rich and effective, although it
is here and there laid on in that spotted, streaky
manner which afterwards became the great and
prominent defect of El Greco’s style. He likewise
carved the retablo, in which this picture once hung;
CH. V.
“El Des-
pojo de las
Vestiduras
del Senor.”
1 Anecdotes, vol. i. p. 158. 2 [See infra, p. 338, and note 2.]
33 °
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
but, on the sacristy being rebuilt, it was removed,
and the present marble retablo was erected in its
place. For the painting he was paid by the
chapter 119,000, and for the sculpture 200,600
maravedis. In the sacristy of the Hospital of St.
John Baptist there hangs a small copy of the
“ Parting of the Baiment,” or more probably a
repetition by the master, or the original sketch, for
it differs from the picture at the Cathedral in the
colour of some of the draperies ; it is in a very
ruinous condition, and will soon be mere rags and
dust.
Paints “St.
Maurice ”
for the
Escorial.
Whilst thus engaged in the service of the
Cathedral, El Greco received the royal commands
to paint, for one of the altars of the Escorial church,
a picture on the subject of St. Maurice and his
Christian legion, who feared God rather than the
Emperor Maximian, and preferred death to idolatry.
Unluckily for the artist, it seems that his friends
had been in the habit of commending his works
by declaring that they might pass for those of
Titian — a praise which by no means satisfied the
Greek’s ambitious soul, and only prompted him to
invent a style altogether new, and peculiar to him-
self. Proceeding on this principle, he addressed
himself to the martyrdom of the pious soldiery with
great diligence, and presently produced a picture,
from an artistic point of view, little less extra-
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
331
vagant and atrocious than the massacre which it
recorded. The one must have disturbed the estab-
CH. V.
lished ideas and opinions of the artists assembled at
the Escorial almost as rudely as the other troubled
the repose of the secluded Valais. Dry, hard, and
harsh in colouring, the painting was full of strange
and distracting flashes of light, utterly destructive of
unity and breadth ; nor did the admirable heads
occurring here and there do much to counteract its
Produces a
disagree-
able pic-
ture,
general disagreeable effect. The King was greatly
disappointed when he saw it ; he ordered the stipu-
lated price, of which the amount has not been
recorded, to be paid, but would not permit the
picture to be hung in the church. It was there-
fore degraded to a more obscure part of the building,
and placed in the chapel of the college. El Greco
does not appear to have been in very flourishing
circumstances when he began to work for his royal
patron ; for an order is extant, addressed by Philip II.
to the Prior of the Escorial, and dated the 25th
of April 1580, authorising that dignitary to allow
him a little money that he might provide himself
with materials, and to furnish him with some of the
finer colours, especially “ ultra-marine.” 1 Plad he
but adhered to his Titianesque style, he might have
obtained the post of King’s painter, and found
which dis-
pleases the
King.
1 Arquitedos, tom. iii. p. 349 , where the order is given at full length.
33 2
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
employment for life, and a rich harvest of fame,
at the Escorial.
Toledo,
“El En-
tierro del
Conde de
Orgaz ” in
the church
of Santo
Tome.
The ill success of his experiment seems, for a time
at least, to have led El Greco back to his earlier
and better paths; for in 1584 he painted, by order
of Cardinal-Archbishop Quiroga, a large picture,
“The Burial of the Count of Orgaz,” which is justly
esteemed his masterpiece, and which the prelate
presented to the Toledan church of Santo TomT,
where it still remains. 1 The artist, or lover of art,
who has once beheld it, will never, as he rambles
among the winding streets of the ancient city, pass
the pretty brick belfry of that church — full of horse-
shoe niches and Moorish reticulations — without
turning aside to gaze upon its superb picture once
more. It hangs to your left, on the wall opposite
to the high altar. Gonzalo Buiz, Count of Orgaz —
head of a house famous in romance — rebuilt the
fabric of the church, and was in all respects so
religious and gracious a grandee, that when he
was buried in 1323 within these very walls, St.
Stephen and St. Augustine came down from heaven,
1 A notice of Santo Tom 6 and its picture is one of the very few deficien-
cies in the Handbook [1845].* The picture is indeed noticed (in p. 771),
but it is erroneously stated to be in the Museo Nacional, at Madrid.
Mr. Borrow remarks of the “ Entierro,” “ could it be purchased, it would
be cheap at 7^5, 000.” Bible in Spain, 121110, London, 1844, p. 214.
* [The omission and mistake were rectified in the third edition, 1855, in which
(at p. 781) an account of the picture and its correct locality is given. — Ed.]
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
333
and laid his body in the tomb with their own holy
hands, an incident which forms the subject of the
picture. St. Stephen is represented as a dark-haired
youth of noble countenance, and St. Augustine as
a hoary old man wearing a mitre, both of them
arrayed in rich pontifical vestments of golden tissue,
embroidered with coloured figures, and at the bottom
of St. Stephen’s robe a large piece of work repre-
senting his martyrdom. They support the dead
count in their arms, and gently lower him into the
grave, shrouded, like a baron of Roslin, “in his iron
panoply.” Nothing can be finer than the execution
and the contrast of these three heads ; never was
the image of the peaceful death of “ the just man ”
more happily conveyed than in the placid face and
powerless form of the warrior ; nor did Giorgione
or Titian ever excel the splendid colouring of his
black armour, rich with gold damascening. To the
right of the picture, behind St. Stephen, kneels a
fair boy in a dark dress, perhaps the son of the
count. He is looking out of the picture, and point-
ing with his left hand to a white rose embroidered on
St. Stephen’s sleeve ; out of his right pocket peeps the
corner of a white handkerchief, on which the Greek
has inscribed his name in Greek characters ; beyond
rises the stately form of a grey friar ; to the left,
near St. Augustine, stands a priest in an alb, look-
ing upwards, and farther to the left two priests in
CH. V.
334
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
gorgeous vestments, holding, the one a book, and
the other a taper. Behind this principal group
appear the noble company of mourners, hidalgos
and old Christians, all, with olive faces and beards
of formal cut, looking on with true Castilian gravity
and phlegm, as if the transaction were an every-day
occurrence. The chief mourner, whose delicate hands
and lace ruffles appear on each side of St. Stephen’s
head, wears on his breast the red cross of Santiago,
and a knight of the same order stands behind St.
Augustine. As they are mostly portraits of noted
personages, perhaps some of the originals did
actually stand a few years later, with the like awe
in their hearts and calm on their cheeks, in the
royal presence-chamber, when the news came to
Court that the proud Armada of Spain had been
vanquished by the galleys of Howard, and cast away
on the rocks of the Hebrides. The upper part of
the picture represents a different scene, in a far
inferior style — the soul of Gonzalo entering the
heavenly mansion. Here El Greco’s desire of
avoiding all resemblance to Titian again proved too
strong for his taste ; Our Lord sits enthroned
amongst clouds flat and sharp as the pasteboard
clouds of the stage ; and, somewhat lower, the
Virgin, at whose feet kneels the emancipated spirit,
in the form of a naked man, of a livid hue, and of a
size so disproportionate to the heavenly host around
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
335
him, that he might he mistaken for some ungainly
Goliath of Gath, or vanquished gyaunt of romance.
For this picture — the finest at Toledo, and, notwith-
standing its faults, one of the noblest productions
of the Castilian pencil — the painter was paid 2,000
crowns by the Archbishop. The story on which it
is founded is told in the inscription on a black
marble slab, let into the wall beneath it — an in-
CH. V.
scription which is printed on next page, because I
believe it has never been printed elsewhere. 1
In the collection of the Academy of St. Ferdinand,
at Madrid, there is a small repetition, perhaps the
original sketch, of the “ Burial of Orgaz,” admirably
painted, and perhaps more pleasing than the great
picture, inasmuch as a great part of the celestial and
defective portion is wanting.
El Greco was, when he pleased, an admirable
painter of portraits. He was eminently successful,
in 1609, in taking the likeness of the poet, Fray
Feliz Hortensio Palavicino, who rewarded him with
a laudatory sonnet, 2 wherein he was compared to
1 I find no mention of either picture or story in the Description de
la imperial ciudad de Toledo , por el Doctor Francisco de Pisa, fol.,
Toledo, 1617, nor in the Historia de la imperial noblissima inclita y
esclarecida ciudad de Toledo, por Don Pedro de Roias, Conde de Mora.
2 tom., fol., Madrid, 1654-63 ; nor in Florez, Espa/ia Sagrada, tom. v.
and vi., 8vo, Madrid, 1763-73. The whole story, with the inscription,
will he found in P. de Rejas’ Discursos illustres Historicos i Genealo-
gicos, 4to, Madrid, 1636, fol. 145-150.
5 The lover of encomiastic verses may find it in Palomino, tom. iii.
p. 428.
Portraits.
336
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
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Z DVRON 0EC0N0M0.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
Prometheus. In the hospital of St. John Baptist at
Toledo, he has finely pourtrayed the mild features of
Cardinal Tavera, which he must have copied from
the work of some older artist. At Illescas, a town
lying on the weary plain midway between Madrid
and Toledo, in the spacious church of the Hospital
of Charity, where El Greco was architect and
sculptor, he has left a good altar-piece representing
“ S. Ildefonso,” a venerable man in a dark pontifical
habit, writing at a table covered with red velvet—
for which some worshipful Toledan canon may have
served as a model. In the Iloyal Gallery at Madrid
there are many of his portraits, most of them good,
especially one 1 — a dark, handsome man in armour,
with a curious chain of gold and tri-colour silk
round his neck — which Velazquez never excelled;
and that of the President Rodrigo Vazquez , 2 the
inexorable old man who stood by whilst his fallen
rival, Antonio Perez, was tortured to the confessing
point . 3
A fine full-length portrait of Vincentio Anastagi,
in a steel cuirass, green velvet breeches, and white
1 It occurs amongst his works, which are to he found between Nos.
1134 and 1154 of the Catdlogo 1843 [edition of 1889, Nos. 238 to 247 and
2124, where his pictures are classed as belonging, not to the Spanish,
but to the Italian school. ]
2 Catdlogo, No. 1134 [edition of 1889, No. 241].
3 For an account of this striking historical scene, see Bermudez de
Castro, Ant. Perez, p. 151.
VOL. I. V
337
CH. V.
At Toledo.
Illescas.
Madrid.
338
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
hose, one of the stout Knights of St. John who kept
the outpost of Christendom against the Turk with
the Grand Master Giovanni di Yaletta, is probably
the best specimen of his pencil in England. It
adorns the rich collection of William Coningham,
Esq. On a pedestal near the warrior is the follow-
ing inscription : —
FRA VINCENTIO ANASTAGI, DOPPO ESSERE STATO GOVERNATORE
DELLA CITTA VECCIA DI MALTA, ET AVER COMANDATO NELL’
ASSEDIO DELLA MED ma - ISOLA AD UNA DELLA DUE COMPAGNIE
DE’ CAVALLI CHE DENTRO SI TROVARONO ET AD UNA COM-
PAGNIA DE FANTI COMANDO PIV VOLTE AD ALTRE COMPAGNIE
DI FANTARIA FU SARGENTE MAGGIOR DELLA MARCA, FU HON-
ORATO IN PIV VOLTE DAL GRAN MASTRO DI TRE COMMEND e ,
E MORI IN MALTA CAP* 0 DELLA CAP NA - DELLE GALERE L’ANNO
1586 e dell’ eta sua 55.
Paris,
His delineation of his own fine Hellenic features in
the Louvre, 1 from which our engraving is taken,
is a very pleasing portrait. The portrait of his
daughter 2 is one of the purest gems of that collec-
tion, and would be a gem even in the Royal Gallery
of Spain. She is painted in the prime of life and
loveliness ; her dark eyes and rich complexion are
1 Galerie Espagnole, No. 260 [now at Keir].
2 Id., No. 259 [bought by Sir William Stirling-Maxwell, Bart., and now
at Keir. Exhibited at Art Treasures Exhibition, Manchester, 1857, No.
234.— Ed.].
Tlir DAUGHTER OF DOMENICO THEOTOCOPULI
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
339
finely set off by the white-furred mantle drawn over
her head ; and her countenance, in depicting which
her fond father has put forth all his skill, is one
of the most beautiful that death ever dimmed, and
CH. V.
that the pencil ever rescued from the grave. As
this fair maiden figures in the great Toledan altar-
piece, painted between 1577 and 1587, it is
probable that her portrait was executed not long
after the latter year. In the Royal Gallery of Naples
there is a portrait (bust size) of Giulio Clorso, a
grave old man, with an illuminated missal in his
hand, ascribed to El Greco — an excellent work, but
Naples.
more probably by an artist of Venice.
El Greco has been justly described as an artist
who alternated between reason and delirium, and
displayed his great genius only at lucid intervals. 1
There is probably no other painter who has left so
many admirable and so many execrable perform-
ances. Strange to say, in his case, the critics
cannot fix the epoch when his “early bad manner”
gave way to his “ good middle-style,” or when his
pencil lost the charms of its prime ; for he painted
well and ill by turns throughout his whole career.
The disagreeable “ St. Maurice ” was executed
between the times when his two best works were
commenced. The fine portraits of Tavera and
Style of
painting.
1 Arquitectos, tom. iii. p. 138.
340
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
ch. v. Palavicina were painted in or about 1609, which is
also the date of his delightful “ Holy Family ” and
his offensive “ Baptism of Christ ” at the Toledan
Hospital of St. John Baptist. In the latter picture,
the narrow draperies, and the gleams of light, thin
and sharp as Toledo sword-blades, produce effects
not less unpleasing than difficult to be described
intelligibly to those who are unacquainted with the
Greek’s style. He might have painted it, by the
fitful flashes of lightning, on a midsummer night,
from models dressed only in floating ribands. In
the Louvre 1 we find near his excellent portraits, 2 an
“ Adoration of the Shepherds,” in his most extra-
vagant style, in which the lights on reddish
draperies and dark clouds are expressed by green
streaks of so unhappy a tint, that those harmless
objects resemble masses of bruised and discoloured
flesh. Yet the perpetrator of these enormities
sometimes painted heads that stood out from the
canvas with the sober strength of Velazquez’s, and
coloured figures and draperies with a splendour
rivalling Titian. 3 With all his faults El Greco was
1 [The Louis-Philippe collection was sold by auction in 1853 . — Ed.]
2 [That of Pompeyo Leoni, No. 2 1 of the Louis-Philippe sale catalogue,
was bought by Sir William Stirling- Maxwell, Bart., and is now at Keir.
It was exhibited at the Art Treasures Exhibition in Manchester, 1857,
No. 518 .— Ed.]
3 Amongst the other “ things of Spain,” well and wittily treated of by
the lively M. Theophile Gautier, are the works of El Greco. “Pour
donner a sa peinture,” says he, “ l’apparence d'etre faite avec une grande
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
341
a favourite artist in Spain, and his pictures were
highly valued. For the church of Bayona, a village
in the province of Segovia, he executed a series
of paintings on the life of Mary Magdalene, which
were refused, about the close of the seventeenth
century, to Cardinal Puertocarrero, although his Emi-
nence offered to buy them for 5,000 crowns, and
replace them with pictures by Luca Giordano, the
famous and fashionable court artist of the day. 1
CH. V,
Theotocopuli was much engaged as sculptor and
architect. At Madrid he designed, in 1590, the
church of the college of Doha Maria de Arragon,
and carved the “ abominable ” 2 retablo of the high
altar; at Illescas he built, about 1600, two churches,
that of the Hospital of Charity, still existing, with
its good classical altar, and that of the Franciscan
friars, with the marble tombs and effigies of the
Hinojosas, its founders, now demolished ; at Toledo,
he gave the plan of the city hall, a solid plain
building of two storeys, resting on Doric pillars
and flanked with towers ; he carved, in 1 609, the
retablos for the church of the St. John Baptist’s
fiertb de touche, il jette ca et lh, des coups de brosse d’une petulance et
d’une brutalite incroyables, des lueurs minces et ac< 5 r< 5 es qui traversent
les ombres comme des lames de sabre ; tout cela n’empeclie pas le Greco
d’etre un grand peintre ; . . . dans tout cela regnent une energie
depravfe, une puissance maladive, qui trahissent le grand peintre, et le
fou de genie.” Voyage en Espagne, pp. 43, 1S9.
1 Palomino, tom. iii. p. 426.
2 Arquitectos, tom. iii. p. 138.
Works of
sculpture
and archi-
tecture.
342
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
Hospital; and, in 1611, he erected in the Cathedral,
by order of the chapter, the catafalque, or temporary
monument for the celebration of funeral solemnities
His in-
dustry.
for Margaret of Austria, Queen of Philip III.
Few artists were ever more unweariedly indus-
trious than El Greco, even in his old age. Never
idle for a moment, he must have not a little asto-
Visited by
Pacheco.
nished, by his indomitable energy, the slow and
otiose Toledans amongst whom he lived. Pacheco,
who visited him in 1 6 1 1, relates that he showed him
a large closet filled with the plaster models of his
various sculptures, and a chamber full of the sketches
of all his pictures. In the course of their talk, El
Greco declared his opinion that colouring was a
more difficult part of the painter’s art than drawing,
and that Michael Angelo, “though a good professor,
knew nothing of painting.” Besides uttering these
heresies, to the horror of the Sevillian, he explained
and defended his own harsh and spotty style,
avowing that it was his practice to retouch a picture
till each mass of colour was distinct and separate
from the rest, and asserting that it gave strength
and character to the whole. 1 But in spite of his
Scholars.
eccentric style and opinions, the school of Theo-
tocopuli produced Maino, Tristan, and Orrente,
who rank amongst the best Castilian painters. He
. —
1 Pacheco, p. 242 .
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
343
was a man of wit ancl some learning, and is said by
Pacheco to have written on the three arts which he
professed. His brother artists were perhaps more
benefitted, however, by his legal than by his literary
efforts ; for he successfully resisted, in 1 600, a tax
attempted to be levied upon his works at Illescas, and
obtained from the Council of State a decree against its
exaction. Living till the reign of Philip IV., he saw
the veteran painters of Castile vanquished at Court by
a stripling from Andalusia ; and he died at Toledo in
1625, to the general sorrow of the city, and was buried
in the church of S. Bartolome. His friend, the poet
Luis de Gongora, celebrated his memory in the fol-
lowing fantastic sonnet, perhaps intended to be in-
scribed on his tomb : —
CH. V.
Esta en forma elegante ; 6 peregrino !
De porfido luciente dura Have,
El pincel niega al mundo mas suave,
Que dio espiritu al leno, vida al lino.
Su nombre, aun de mayor aliento digno
Que en los clarines de la fama cabe,
El campo ilustra de ese marmot grave :
Vendralo, y prosigue tu camino.
Yace el Griego : heredo naturaleza
Arte, y el arte estudio, iris colores
Febo luces, sino sombras Morfeo.
Tanta urna, apesar de su dureza,
Lagrimas beba y quantos suda olores
Corteza funeral de arbol sabeo.
Sonnet by
Gongora.
Stranger ! beneath this polish’d porphyry stone,
Lock’d from the world, the sweetest pencil lies
344
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
OH. V.
That e’er could witch thee with resplendent dyes
O’er breathing wood or living canvas thrown ;
Its name, all worthy of the loudest tone
That far and wide from Fame’s clear clarion flies
The field of this proud marble glorifies :
Pay at this shrine thy homage and pass on.
Here lies the Greek ; to nature all his art
Leaving, to art his lore, to Iris hues,
To Phoebus lights, to Morpheus shadows deep ;
Let his great urn thy tear-drops as they start,
Despite its hardness, drink, and funeral dews
Which, from their bark, Sabean forests weep.
Alonso de
Herrera.
Juan,
Francisco,
and Este-
fano
Perola.
Alonso de Herrera was a painter, living at
Segovia, in 1579, and the intimate friend of El
Mudo, whose natural daughter he brought up and
educated in his own house. In 1590, he painted,
for the high altar of the church of Yillacastin, six
pictures, on subjects chosen from the life of Our
Blessed Lord, which were sent by the parish autho-
rities to the Escorial and Madrid, for the inspection
of Fray Antonio de Yillacastin, and the painter, Juan
de Urbina, who deemed them worthy of high praise.
They were correctly drawn, says Cean Bermudez,
and well coloured; but they were ruined in 1734,
by one Josef Bermejo, a rash and presumptous
gilder, to whom they were entrusted for restoration.
Juan, Francisco, and Estefano Perola were brothers
and painters, natives of Almagro, in La Mancha,
who are supposed to have studied in the school ot
Becerra. In 1586 they were employed by the
Marquess of Santa-Cruz, with Cesare Arbasia, an
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
345
Italian, to adorn with frescoes the court, staircase,
and spacious halls of his palace at El Viso. Their
subjects were, the naval victories of the Marquess in
the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, portraits of
famous commanders, marine and architectural views,
and plans and allegorical representations of various
cities of Europe and America ; and Ponz and Cean
Bermudez highly extol the beauty and brilliancy of
their execution. In the adjacent conventual church
of the Franciscans were some oil pictures, and
various marble tombs and busts of the Bazan family,
which have likewise been attributed to these Man-
chegan brothers. They afterwards assisted Mohe-
dano in painting some frescoes in the Cathedral
of Cordoba.
OH. V.
Martin Galindez was born at Haro, in Old Castile,
in 1547, and it is possible that he may have learned
to paint, under the instructions of Fray Vicente of
Estrella, an artist of local fame, now only known
as master of El Mudo. Weary of the world, at
the age of thirty-seven he retired, in 1584, to the
Chartreuse of Paular, where he devoted his leisure
to the arts and to mechanical pursuits. For the
hospice, the church, and various chambers of that
stately monastery, he executed a number of tolerable
devotional pictures, and a variety of carvings in
wood ; and for the dormitories and little gardens of
his brethren he constructed alarums and sun-dials,
Fray
Martin
Galindez.
346
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
Josef
Martinez.
to arouse them for midnight mass, and matins, and
to number the hours of their quiet recreation. Not-
withstanding these secular employments, he paid
strict obedience to the severe rule of his order, and,
after having filled for many years the office of
procurator to the convent, he died there, in 1627,
full of days and honour.
Josef Martinez flourished at Valladolid towards
the end of the century, and painted so nearly in the
style of the Florentine masters, that it is probable
that he studied in their city. For the chapel of the
Annunciation in the convent of St. Augustin, he
executed various pictures representing events in the
life of the Virgin, and also the fresco decorations
and the designs of the rich tiles ( azulejos ) which
adorned the walls. This fine chapel was finished
in 1598, and destroyed by the French Imperial
troops. One of the pictures — that of the “ Annun-
ciation ” — was alone saved from the wreck, and is
now in the Museum of Valladolid ; 1 in the lower
part of the canvas the Blessed Mary is seen receiv-
ing the salutation and message of the angel ; above,
the heavens open, the dove descends, and the
Eternal Father is seen, with outstretched arms, as
if in the act of benediction, and attended by angels ;
throughout, the drawing is good, the draperies
In the great hall ; see Compendio Historico de Valladolid, p. 47.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
347
finely managed, and the colouring rich and effective ;
the picture is signed, with true Spanish abbreviation,
£2 The same artist also painted some
good pictures and altar-pieces for the chapel of
Christ in the convent of Bernardine nuns.
Gregorio Martinez was another painter of good
reputation at Valladolid, and was employed, in
1594, by the chapter of Burgos to gild the high
altar of that Cathedral. 1 Cean Bermudez once saw a
small picture on copper, signed with this master’s
name, representing the Virgin and some saints,
and coloured in a style resembling that of Venice.
Burgos possessed two painters, Juan de Aneda
and Juan de Cea, whose names have been preserved
by a few pictures, painted for the Cathedral of that
city, about 1565.
Catalonia produced in this reign a few artists
whose names have survived, although their works
have, for the most part, perished or been forgotten.
In the Cathedral of Tarragona, in 1563, Pedro
Pablo, and Pedro Serafin, a Greek, painted the doors
of the great organ ; the outside displaying a com-
position on the subject of the “ Annunciation of the
Virgin,” and the inside of the leaves displaying the
“Nativity” and “Resurrection” of the Saviour
The artists received for their labour 300 Catalonian
ch. v.
Gregorio
Martinez.
Juan de
Aneda.
Juan de
Cea.
Artists of
Catalonia.
Pedro
Pablo,
Pedro
Serafin “ el
Griego.”
1 Supra, p. 322.
348
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
Pedro
Guitart.
Isaac
Hermes.
Pray Luis
Pascual
Gaudin.
pounds, and were employed by the chapter in
various other works. Pedro Guitart executed six
pictures in oil for the high altar of the church of
San Pedro, at Reus, in 1576; and Isaac Hermes, in
1587, the paintings of the high altar and other
works in the Cathedral of Tarragona.
Luis Pascual Gaudin, born in 1556, at Villafranca,
in Catalonia, took the Carthusian vow in the
Chartreuse of Scala Dei, in 1595, whither he pro-
bably carried with him a considerable knowledge of
painting, which he there found leisure to improve.
Many chambers of that monastery were adorned
with his works ; in one of the Sacristies hung , a
set of “ Evangelists,” and in another a series of
“ Apostles ; ” the refectory had two large composi-
tions of “ Our Saviour washing the Disciples’ feet,”
and of Ilis “ Prayer in the Garden ; ” and many more
of his pictures were to be found in the chapter-room.
Pacheco says that he painted largely for the Grand
Chartreuse, the original retreat of St. Bruno, but it
does not appear whether the artist himself visited
the wild solitudes of Lorraine. lie seems, however,
to have travelled to Seville, where he was a guest
at the Chartreuse, and painted for that sumptuous
convent a series of works on the life of the Virgin.
In these compositions the Blessed Mary appeared
without any veil, and attired in a Venetian robe
with “sleeves as large as wheels” and fancifully
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
349
decorated with coloured ribands — a dress, in the
opinion of the purist Pacheco, “ altogether unbecom-
ing the gravity and grandeur of Our Sovereign
Lady.” Notwithstanding this breach of etiquette
in costume, Cean Bermudez considered that these
pictures established the skill, if not the orthodoxy,
of Gaudin ; who likewise painted, for the Sevillian
Carthusians, the life of their patron saint, in a series
of compositions, supposed to be a repetition of those
executed for the Grand Chartreuse. After quitting
Seville he visited another of the great foundations of
his order, that of Portacceli, near Valencia, where he
painted a “Last Supper” for the refectory, and
various other works, In his own convent at Scala
Dei he held the office of vicar, and he died there in
1621, leaving behind him many pictures, and a high
reputation as a painter, a divine, and a saint. In
the conventual record he was noticed as — “ Vir
quidem pictime arte prseclarus, theologia prseclarior,
virtuteque (patrum qui cum eo vixerunt testimonio)
prseclarissimus.”
Of Castilian sculpture in this reign, Valladolid
must be considered the principal seat, as being the
residence of Juan de Juni, the best sculptor of
Spain. Although his works obtained for him a
high reputation, and many of the finest of them
still exist, the notices of his life are few and contra-
dictory. Palomino asserts that he was a native of
CH. V.
Sculptors
of Castile.
Juan de
Juni.
35 °
CH.
Name.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
Flanders ; 1 Cean Bermudez supposes, from his
J name, that he was an Italian. Both of them relate
that he had so distinguished himself at Rome, as
an architect, that he was chosen by Don Pedro
Alvarez de Acosta, Bishop of Oporto, to build the
episcopal palace in that city ; that the same prelate,
when translated to Osma, employed him, in 1556,
as a sculptor in the Cathedral there ; and that
he died at Valladolid, in the reign of Philip III.
Acosta was raised to the See of Oporto in 1507,
and Philip III. ascended the throne in 15 98, so
that this account makes the life and labours of
the artist extend over nearly a century.
The researches of Bosarte 2 have been more recent
and accurate. He explains that the term Fleming
in the reign of Charles V. was applied not only to
natives of the Low Countries, but also to such
Castilians as followed the Court, and enjoyed the
favour of the dominant Flemish party. He sought
diligently, though in vain, for a signature of Juni ;
and in the absence of such proof, conceives that
that name may have been a corruption of some
Latinised form of Juan or Joanes. Cean Bermudez,
however, afterwards found, at Valladolid, Juni’s sig-
nature attached to a contract, where the surname
was written as above, without any accent on the
1 Palomino, tom. iii. p. 416.
2 Viaje, p. 163.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
final i — whence he infers that it was a name native
to Castile. 1 Bosarte was unable to discover any
record of the artist’s visit to Oporto, nor any
mention in the local histories of his labours there.
The earliest notice of Juni’s existence that rewarded
his research, is contained in a document which he
prints, and from which it appears that Juan de Juni,
being an inhabitant of Valladolid, acquired, in 1545,
a considerable piece of building ground on the Campo
Grande of that city, belonging to Don Hernando
Nino de Castro, and lying near the monastery of
the Holy Ghost, on perpetual lease, at the yearly
rent of 3,000 maravedis.
In the same year, Juni began one of his most
important works — the high altar of the Church of
Our Lady “ de la Antigua,” at Valladolid. The
price agreed on was 2,400 ducats. But after the
agreement had been made, and the work begun,
a rival sculptor, one Francisco de Giralte, offered
to do it for 100 ducats less. Out of this offer
arose a lawsuit, which lasted five years, and ended
in Juni’s rebating 104 ducats of his price — thus
sacrificing his fair profits, as he himself declared —
in order, it is supposed, to prevent his plans
and drawings from falling into the hands of Giralte.
A new agreement was therefore drawn up in
35i
CH. V.
Works at
Valladolid.
Altar in
church of
“ Nuestra
Sehora de
la An-
tigua.”
1 Cean Bermudez, Los Arquitectos, tom. ii. p. 69.
352
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
August 1551, and the artist’s wife, Doha Anna
Aguirre, gave security over her dowry that the
conditions should be fulfilled. The altar was of
great size, being fifty feet high and thirty wide, and
provided with concealed staircases for the con-
venience of lighting it up. It was carved of wood,
the master executing the large statues with his own
hands ; and when finished it gave so much satisfac-
tion to the parish, that Juni was paid 2,500 ducats
for his labours.
“ Mater
Dolorosa.”
For the church of “ the Anguishes ” he carved an
excellent “ Mater Dolorosa ” in Sorian pine. This
Virgin was seated on the ground, her head half
turned away, and looking with tearful eyes to
heaven. Her dress consisted of a crimson robe and
blue mantle, and a yellow cloth on her head, which
half concealed her brow. In her right hand she
held some small iron knives, which the devotion of
succeeding times changed into long swords of silver.
Hence she was called “ Our Lady of the Knives ”
(de los Cuchillos). Bosarte 1 speaks with rapture of
the fine design and draperies of this statue, and of
the sublime expression of the head, on which it was
impossible to look without emotion. The sculptor
seemed to have been inspired by the noble lament of
Jeremiah for the desolate daughter of Zion, “ who
1 Viaje, p. 174 .
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
353
sitteth solitary ; she that was great among the
nations ; who weepeth sore in the night, and whose
tears are on her cheeks ; she hath none to comfort
CH. V.
her ; all that honour her despise her ; yea, she
sigheth and turneth backwards.” This superb
image narrowly escaped being violated by a pious
and wealthy Count of Ribadavia — a peculiar votary
of the Lady of Sorrows — who many times wished
to robe her statue in costly stuffs, and was with
difficulty induced to content himself with the
ordinary and cheaper acts of devotion.
For the convent of the Franciscans, Juni executed
a “ St. Anthony of Padua with the Infant Saviour ; ”
and for the Franciscan nuns of St. Isabel a “ St.
St. An-
thony of
Padua, and
St. Francis
of Asisi.
Francis of Asisi adoring a Crucifix.” The parish
church of Santiago likewise boasted one of his finest
works — a magificent composition of many figures
as large as life, representing the “Adoration of
the Magian Kings.” In this altar-piece Bosarte 1
especially praises the head of the Virgin, “which,”
he says, “ had it been of bronze or marble, and dug
out of an excavation, would have passed for a relic
of the finest times of Greek art.” lie notices also
the haughty and life-like form of the Moorish Prince,
and remarks that some of the attendants wear caps
so like those met with in the works of Michael
Adoration
of Magi.
1 Viaje, p. 180 .
VOL. I. Z
354
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
Works in
the Cathe-
dral of
Osma.
AtRioseco.
Angelo, that it would seem that Juni had studied
the sculptures of that master.
In 1556, Juni designed and executed the carvings
of the altar on the Trascoro 1 of the Cathedral of
Osma, by order of Bishop Acosta. These noble
sculptures, which still exist, represent scenes taken
from the life and passion of Our Blessed Lord. The
munificent prelate, who presented them to the
church, died in 1563, and lies buried at Aranda de
Duero, beneath a stately monument, sculptured by
Juni.
In 1557, Juni was employed to erect a retablo in
the church of St. Mary, at Medina de Bioseco, with
sculptures representing the conception and birth of
the Virgin, for which purpose Alvaro de Benavente
had bequeathed 450 ducats. 2 The contract sub-
scribed by Juni, and preserved by Cean Bermudez,
is most prolix and precise ; it fixes the subjects of
the bas-relief in each compartment, as “ St. Joachim
upbraided in the Temple, at Jerusalem, for his
•wife’s barrenness, by the high priest, Issachar ; ”
“The Angel appearing to St. Joachim in his sheep-
fold;” and “ The Presentation of the long-hoped-
for babe, in the Temple, by St. Joachim and St.
Anne ; ” — it stipulates that the material shall be the
1 The Trascoro is the back part of the high wall which, in most Spanish
Cathedrals, closes the end of the choir.
2 Los Arquitectos, &c., tom. ii. p. 222
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
355
“ best wood of Soria, dry, and with few knots ; ” and
it binds the artist to carve, gild, and paint the whole
retablo to the satisfaction of the legatees. The
work appears to have been completed with great
success — the sculptures were bold and spirited, and
the architectural decorations rich, various, and
pleasing. It was placed in the chapel of the Bene-
ventes ; and there Juni likewise painted some
CH. V.
frescoes — representing “The Creation,” “The Fall,”
“ The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise,”
and other sacred subjects. He also sculptured some
sepulchral urns and statues in marble — and designed
the other architectural ornaments, and the rich iron
Fresco
paintings.
railing of the same chapel.
In 1571, he finished, for the Cathedral of Segovia,
a retablo, which contained a “Descent from the
Segovia.
Cross,” — a composition of many figures, and full of
power and grace. In 1 583, he executed a number
of sculptures for the high altar of the church of
Santoyo — taken from the histories of Our Lady and
St. John Baptist — amongst which was placed, in a
prominent position, a statue of the Baptist, carved
Santoyo.
by Alonso Berruguete. The Franciscans of Valla-
dolid possessed, in the chapel of their convent, a
Valladolid.
large composition in clay, representing “ The En-
tombment of Our Lord,” now in the Museum, 1 and
Entomb-
ment.
1 Compendio Histdrico , p. 76.
.
356
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
esteemed one of the best and latest of his works.
Family.
Amongst its many and various figures, those of
Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were remark-
able for their spirit — the one being a model of ideal
beauty, and the other seeming the portrait of some
venerable friend, or father of the convent. This
“Entombment” was finished in 1586; after which
year the name of Juni ceases to occur in conventual
records or tradition. It is therefore probable that
he soon afterwards went to his rest— perhaps be-
neath the shadow of some stately altar, rich with
the monuments of his genius.
By his wife, Doha Anna de Aguirre, Juni left a
daughter, Anna Maria, who seems to have been
either an only child, or the only one of his children
who survived him. She married, first, Juan de
Muniategui, and, secondly, Benito Chamoso, with
the latter of wdrom she for some time inhabited her
father’s house in Valladolid. Being sold, perhaps
after Doha Anna Maria’s death, this house became
by a singular chance, in 1616, the dwelling of
Juni’s ablest successor in art at Valladolid — the
Style and
merits.
sculptor Gregorio Hernandez.
Although the scanty memorials of Juni’s life are
altogether silent as to his early history, the evidence
of his style goes far to prove that he had studied
his art on the banks of the Arno, and was learned
in all the wisdom of the Florentine sculptors. Per-
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
357
haps no modern sculptor has ever so nearly re-
sembled or approached Michael Angelo in genius ;
like him, he wielded a fearless and furious chisel,
and delighted to dare every difficulty of attitude ;
and he loved to body forth energy and strong
emotion rather than softness and repose. His grand
imposing forms, and heads full of fire, vividly recall
those of the great Florentine, and leave little doubt
that the Spaniard had lingered beneath the dome
of the Medici Chapel, gazing on the wonderful
effigies it enshrines, that he had studied the terrible
Moses, and imbued his mind with the stern beauty
of the “ Pieta,” of the Vatican. There occur here
and there in his compositions saintly figures, in
broadly-flowing draperies, that might have been
carved out of the Sistine frescoes, and weeping
matrons — on whose dim and wasted features the
lines of beauty still linger — that seem borrowed from
those wondrous “ weird women,” the Parcse of the
Pitti palace. This strong and fiery manner may
have been adopted by Juni in opposition to that
of Berruguete, who affected the calmer and more
classical graces, and whom it was his ambition to
equal or excel. It sometimes, however, gives to his
works an air of violence and exaggeration. His
colouring is usually sombre, and sometimes heavy
and leaden ; the sculpture, as well as the painting
of the Castiles, eschewing those splendid and glow-
CH. v.
35 §
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
CH. V.
ing hues, in which the statuary and canvases of
Andalusia rejoice.
Bafael de
Leon.
Rafael de Leon was a sculptor, famous in Castile
during this reign, of whom nothing is known but
that he was an artist of reputation at Toledo, and
for some crime or misfortune was forced to take
refuge in the Bernardine convent at Valdeiglesias,
in 1561. The abbot received him kindly, and
employed him to carve the stalls and canopies of
the choir. This work — which was reckoned one of
the finest of the kind in Spain — was not completed
till 1571, and for his ten years’ labours the sculptor
received 24,921 reals of plate, and a gratuity of 300
ducats. 1 These stalls were carved in oak or walnut,
and designed in the Italian, or “cinque-cento”
style. The back of each stall was adorned with a
bas-relief on some subject taken from Holy Writ;
on the divisions between the seats stood exquisite
figures of Jewish prophets, or saints of the order of
St. Bernard ; and above all, a range of Caryatides
supported a massive overhanging cornice, profusely
enriched with masks and cupids, satyrs and cherubs,
urns, monsters, and garlands of fruit and flowers.
The Bernardine monks, therefore, chanted their
solemn litanies to Our Lord and the Virgin in a
choir most pantheistically adorned, where Judaism
1 Taking 8 reals of plate at 39 pence, and the ducat at 53 pence ster-
ling, these sums are worth £ 602 , 4s., and £ 66 , 5s. respectively.
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
359
strove with the classical mythology, and the fables
of the Calendar were blended with the truths of the
New Testament ; but the effect was grand, and the
execution of infinite delicacy. These celebrated
carvings were removed at the suppression of the
monastery, and are now in the University of Madrid,
where they are to adorn the great hall, but where
they will probably show with far less majesty than
in their native choir. 1
Pedro Arbulo Marguvete is supposed to have been
a scholar of Berruguete, and lived at San Domingo
de la Calzada, a town lying amongst the bleak hills
to the north-east of Burgos. A few leagues farther
north, there is a village on the banks of the Ebro,
called San Asensio, for the parish church of which
he carved the retablo of the high altar. It was
simple and classical in design, the lower part being
of the Ionic order, and the upper part of the
Corinthian. Between the columns, and in various
niches, were bas-reliefs and statues, displaying great
care and science in the anatomy, and much power
in the composition. On this work, and the stalls of
the choir, the artist spent six years ; and he was
paid for his labour 7,387 ducats, in 1575.
ch. v.
Pedro
Arbulo
Margu-
vete.
1 Widdrington’s Spain and the Spaniards, in 1843, v °l- P- 36.
These agreeable volumes are the work of Captain Cook, already quoted,
who has changed his name since the publication of his Sketches in
Spain.
3 6 °
REIGN OF PHILIP II.
C'H. v.
Miguel de
Ancheta.
Miguel de Anclieta studied sculpture at Florence
and Rome, and afterwards practised it at his native
city of Pamplona. For the church of Tafalla, a
neighbouring town, he executed a rich retablo ; a
“ St. George slaying the Dragon,” in alabaster for a
public hall at Zaragoza ; and a fine “ Assumption of
the Virgin,” for the high altar of the Cathedral of
Burgos. Ilis most important work was the stalls of
the choir in Pamplona Cathedral, which were carved
in English oak, and were considered the finest in
Navarre. Dying before this choir was quite finished,
he was buried in the Cathedral cloister, where this
pithy epitaph marks his place of rest : —
AQUf YACE ANCHETA
ELQUE SUS OBRAS NO ALAB<5
NT LAS AGENAS DESPRECld.
BALLANTYNE PRESS : EDINBURGH AND LONDON.
• l