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HARVARD COLLEGE
LIBRARY
TRANSFERREiy
f INE ARTS
■
U^R 'R^
FINE ARTS L B
FROM THE LIBRARY OF
MRS, GEORGE R MONKS
presented by her children
Rev. G. Gardker Monks
Dr, John P. Monks
Mrs. Constantin A* Pertzoff
June;, 1944
TO
tfARY I
. i (■ J
•v. ^
•A'^1
ANNALS
OP THE
ARTISTS OF SPAIN
VOLUME THE THIRD
PUBLISHER'S NOTE.
Six hundred and forty copies of this New Edition printed
for En^a$Mt^ and four hundred for America,
Each copy numbered and type distributed,
No^jfiff.
ANNALS
OF THE
ARTISTS OF SPAIN
BY
SIR WILLIAM STIRLING-MAXWELL
BARONET
INCORPORATING THE AUTHOR'S OWN NOTES
ADDITIONS AND EMENDATIONS
IRBftb portrait an5 JSwcnt^tont Steel an5 Ae330tfnt Ettdravitidd
ALSO NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD
IN POUR VOLUMES
VOLUME THE THIRD
LONDON
JOHN C. N 1 M M O
14, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND
MDCCCXCX
•3
ThAfi was the shiU, 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 soofb, reliev'd and rounded seem'd^
And hands, deluded, vainly strove to clasp
Those airy nothings mocking still their grasp,^
VOLUME THE THIRD.
PACK
Diego Valentin Diaz and his Wife. From the original by
himself in the Chapel of the Hospital for the Maintenance and
Education of Orphan Girls at Valladolid, Engraved in mezzotint
on copper by R, B. Parkes 874
JusEPE Martinez and his Son. From the original picture by the
son in the possession of the late Don Valentin Carderera, En-
graved in mezzotint on copper by R. B. Parkes .... 884
Jacob's Dream. Executed from the picture \of Josef de Ribera in
the Royal Gallery at Madrid, No. 982 904
A Tile, 2 J inches square^from the Casa de Pilatos, Seville . . .916
Francisco de Zurbaran. From the portrait by himself formerly
in the Louvre, Gal, Esp. No. 401. Engraved on steel by H.
Adlard 920
Town and Castle of Lebrija. From a sketch taken from the
road to Cabezas de San Juan 934
Alonso Cano. From the portrait by himself formerly in the Louvre,
Gal. Esp. No. yi. Engraved on steel by H. Adlard . . . 936
Our Lady of Bethlehem. From a copy, now at Keir, by Don
Josi Roldan, of the picture by Alonso Cano in the Cathedral of
Seville. The inscription is copied from the original frame, from
which the engraved border is mainly taken. Engraved on steel
by H, Adlard 956
Pedro de Moya. From a drawing by Gabriel Decker, 1850 . . 969
vi ILLUSTRATIONS.
PACB
Iron Cross on the Casa de Ayuntamiento^ Yepes . . . .981
Diego Velazquez 982
Caspar Estevan Murillo 984
Bartolom^ Estevan Mxtrillo. From the portrait by himself
formerly in the Louvre^ Gal. Esp, No. 183. Engraved by H.
Adlard 984
Church of the Hospital of Charity at Seville. Showing
the pictures of ** San Juan de Dios^ and " Moses striking the
Rock^ by Murillo^ and the grand altar-pieu carved by Pedro
Roldan, From a picture by Don Josi Roldan . • • .1016
Charity. Painted on tiles in the front of the Church of the Hospital
of Charity at Seville^ and supposed to have been designed by
Murillo. From a sketch by Don Josi Roldcm . • . • 1035
Capuchin Convent, beyond the walls of Seville. From a drawing
by Richard Ford^ Esq. 1038
Nuestra SeSIora ds la Servilleta— Our Lady of the
Napkin. From the engraving by Bfas Amettlerj executed from
the picture by Murillo ; now in the Museum of Seville . . 1045
Angel de la Guarda— Guardian Angel and Child. From
a copy^ executed in 1809, by Don Salvador Gutierrez^ cmd now
at Keiry of the picture by Murillo in the Cathedral of Seville*
Engraved on steel by R. C. Bell 1048
House of Murillo at Seville ; garden front .... 1066
Las Gallegas— a Woman and Girl at a Window. From the
engraving by Ballester of the picture formerly in the collection
of the Duke of Almodovar^ at Madrid^ and now in that. of Lard
Heytesbury^ at Heytesbury House^ Wilts 1092
Iron Cro^S at Aranda de Duero 1122
Iron Cross AND Vane a/ TV/Ai;? 1254
CHAPTEE X.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 1621-1665— (coaKnu«0.
Ga^e
Famtin^ flourifihes at Madrid,
declines at Toledo
Amateurs^- Don Lazaro Diaz
VftUe
Hifi notes on art ,
Don Kaiaol Smiguineto
Antonio Lane bares
Luli Fernandez
Baitf^lom^ Boman
Ju^i de la Corte
Gabriel de la Corte
Corto of Anteqaera
Ft, Juan Rizi
Mcnserrate
Ynso .
Boigofl
Madrid
Goes to Italy
Made a Bishop
Francisoo Rtzi
Hi^ yonlhfnl faoilltiy of hand
.82s
and
. 825-6
del
. S26
. S26
. S27
* 827
. S2S
- S29
. $29
- Sp
^ 830
. 830
. Sji
-831
. 831
^ S32
.832
. S32
^SJJ
S3i
Works at Toledo.
Made painter to the Eing *
Corrupt arcbitecttmil taste
Legend of the Santa Forma, of
the Escorjal
Riii designs an altftr for it
Works,
Style ....
Jnan Valdotmira da Leon
Pedro de Obregon ,
His &ther .
Diego de Obregon .
Mareos de Obregon
Antonio Pereda
Works,
Wife; her airs, and her sham
dneliaf painted by her hus-
band . . . . p
Son
Character of Pereda .
Existing works . . . .
Francisco CoUantes
834
SJ4
S3S
S36
836
837
S3S
S38
83S
S39
S39
S39
S40
S41
841
842
843
844
vm
CONTENTS.
TAom
FrandBOO Fenumdes * . 845
Pictures 846
Etchings S^S
Pedro Nofies 846
Juan de Pareja .... 847
Secret studies .... 848
Discovered by Philip IV. to be
a painter 848
Is set free 849
Attachment to Yelazques . . 849
Portraits 849
Works 850
Juan Bautista del Mazo Martines . 851
First marriage • • • . 852
Second marriage, death, and por-
trait 853
Santiago Moran .... 853
Pedro Diaz Morante . 854
Francisco Camilo .... 855
Francisco Ignacio .... 856
Juan de Licalde .... 856
Antonio Fernandez Arias . . 856
Francisco Aguirre .... 858
Juan de Arellano .... 859
Takes to flower-painting . . 860
Success 860
Industry 861
Simon de Leon Leal . . 861
Pedro de Yalpuesta . . . 862
Juan de Montero de Bozas . . 863
Eugenic de las Cuevas . . . 863
Josef Leonardo .... 864
Sebastian de Herrera Bamuevo . 865
Antonio Puga 867
Francisco Burgos y Mantilla . . 867
Tomas de Agmar .... 867
Benito Manuel de AgUero . . 868
AlonsoMesa 868
Juan Simon Navarro . 868
Pablo de Yillafa&e .... 869
Engravers — Pedro de YiUafranca
Malagon 869
His paintfngs .... 872
Francisco Navarro . . 872
Toledo : Alexandre Loarte . . 873
Juan de Toledo • . .873
Yalladolid: MatiasBlasco . .874
Diego Yalentin Diaz .874
Endows an hospital . . 874
Epitaph by himself . .875
Felipe Gil de Mena • .876
Cristobal Garcia Salmeron . 877
Andres de Yargas .... 877
Burgos : Di^^ de Leyva . 878
Diego de Polo el menor . . 879
Diego de Polo el mayor . . 880
Juan de Espinosa .... 880
Sculptors-^. M. Theotocopuli . 880
Pedro de la Torre . 88x
Domingo de Rioja . . .881
Luis de Llamosa . .881
Luis Fernandez de la Y^;a . 881
Axagon and Gatalonia : Francisco
Ximenes 882
Antonio Bisquert . . . . 883
Juan de Galvan .... 883
Miguel de Espinosa . . 884
Pietro Micier 885
Pablo Micier 885
Urzanqui 885
Engravers — Josef and Juan Yalles 885
Fray Ramon Berenguer . . 886
Francisco Gassen .... 886
Pedro Cuquet .886
Angelica 886
Sculptors— Francisco de Santa Cruz 886
Agustino Pujol . . . .887
Yalencia : Josef de Bibera . . 887
In Italy 889
Poverty 889
CONTENTS. ix
rAOB
PAOK
Industry 8S9
Bibera's style 901
CaUed <« Lo Spagnoletto " . .889
His fondness for horrors . . 901
TravelB 890
Works of a more pleasing char-
Goes to Naples . . . .890
acter 903
Marries a rich wife • » .891
"Jacob's Dream*' . . . .903
Introdactioa to the Tioe-regal
His portraits, sketches, and etch-
court 891
ings ... . 904-S
Appointed oonrt-painter • . 892
Est^an March . • .905
Faction of painters, headed by
Strange method of study . . 906
Bibeia 892
Belisario Corenzio . . . .892
Coarse subjects .... 907
GianbattistaCaiacciolo, . . 893
Beligious pictures . . .907
Contest for the chapel of St.
Eccentric and disorderly habits 908
Jannarins . . .893
Adventure of the fish fried in
D'Aipino 894
linseed-oil . . . .909
GHoido 894
Miguel March . . .
. 910
Gessi and his assistants . 894
Fray Agustin Leonardo .
. 911
Domenichino 895
Jacinto Gerdnimo de Espinosa
912
Lanlranco 896
Miguel Gerdnimo de Espinosa
.913
Neapolitan stoiy of the dose of
Garcia Ferrer.
.914
Ribera'slife . . . .896
GiegorioBaustf
.915
Spanish account .... 897
Vicente Guirri
91S
Bibera's philosopher's stone . . 898
Pablo Pontons
.915
Bibera's person, portrait, wife,
TomasdeYepes •
. 91S
children 899
Andres and Urban Marzo
. 916
His house and scholars . . 900
Luis Puig, goldsmith
. 916
His popularity in Italy and in Spain 900
CHAPl
"ER TTT
REIGN OF PHILIP IV
. 1621-1625— {«met»ti«0.
Diego Vidal de Liendo . . .917
Churches and convents . . 923
Francisco de Zurbaxan . . . 918
Appointed paints to the Eiog . 924
Works: at Seville . .919
Pictures for the Carthusians of
Picture of St. Thomas Aquinas . 920
Xeres 924
Guadalupe 921
Works at Buenretiro . . . 924
Seville: Chartreuse . . .921
His death 925
St Bruno, St. Hugo, and Virgin 922
Wife and children . . .925
X CONTENTS.
PAGE
PAQX
Works at SeviUe, ChA% and
Visit to Madrid . . . .947
Madrid 926
Restored to his stall . .948
At Paris and London
. . 927
Charities » » . . . 948
Style and merits.
. 928
Hatred of Jews . . .949
His monks .
• 928
He finds a Jew in his house . 949
Women and animals
. . 928-9
Illness 950
Fiancisoo Lopez Caro
. 929
Deathbed scenes and sayings • 951
Francisco Caro
. . . 939
Death and funeral . . 951-2
Cristobal Vela
. 930
Antonio Vela .
. . 930
Merits as a painter • . .953
Francisco Yarela .
. 930
Works at Madrid and Getef e . 954
Juan Uceda Castroverde
• 931
Granada 955
AlonsoCano .
. 931
Malaga, Valencia^ and Seville . 956
Retablos at SeviUe
. - . 932
Portraits 957
Betablo at Lebri ja
• .933
Engraved works . . .958
View of Lebrija .
. . 934
Sculpture 959
Carvings .
• • 934
Architecture .... 960
Seville: Chartrense
' . . 935
Sebastian Martinez . . .961
Church of Monte Sion . . 935
Juan Leandro de la Fuente . . 961
Duel, and flight to Madrid . . 936
Antonio del Castillo • • .962
Church pictures at Madrid . 936
Visit to SeviUe . . . .962
Church of Santiago . . . 936
His jealous admiration of Mu-
Church of §an Gines . . . 936
rine's works • . . .963
Church of S*^ Maria . . .937
Character and accomplishments 964
Murder of his wife • • .938
Works 964
Cano suspected of the crime . 93S
Joseph de Sarabia .... 966
Flight and return • . .938
Pablo Legote 967
Apprehension and torture . • 939
Alonso de Lleia Zambrano . . 967
Occupations at Madrid and To-
Mateo NuSiez de Sepulveda . . 968
ledo .... 940-1
Pedro de Moya . . .968
Removal to Granada . . .941
Visit to England and Vandyck . 970
Appointed to a canoniy . . 942
Return to Spain . • . .971
Works at Granada for the Cathe-
Works : *' Adoration of the Shep-
dral, churches, and conyents 942-3
herds" 971
Visit to Malaga . . . .944
Leda and Swan, disguised . . 972
Story of the Bishop . . . 944
Juan de Toledo . . . .973
Return to Granada . . .945
Miguel Manrique . . . .974
with the auditor . . .946
Santisimo Saozamento . . 975
Deprived of his canonry . . 947
Manuel de Molina . . . .977
CONTENTS. xi
PAOB
PAOB
Pedro Antonio
. 977
Sebastian deLlanoeyValddB . 979
Sebastian Ck>me8 .
978
LosPolanoos .... 980
Miguel and Oeronimo Garcia
. 978
Juan Caro de Tavira . . 980
Fray Oeronimo Helgarejo •
97«
Francisco de Beyna ... 981
BernaM Ximenas de Slescas
979
CHAPTER XTT.
Bartolom^ Est^yan Mnrillo .
983
Legend of K^ Seft»- de la Nieve 1005
Kaxlylife
98s
The senator's dream . 1006
Schools of art at Seville .
986
Interview with the Pope . . 1006
Early works of Murillo .
987
Murillo's third style. . . X007
Works for the Feria .
988
Foundation of the Academy of
ArfcistsoftheFeria .
989
Seville; first meeting . . 1008
Hoya's inflaence on Murillo
990
OiQce-bearers ; their duties . 1009
Murillo at Madrid .
991
Rules 1009
Return to Seville
993
Events of the first year . . loio
The Franoiscans
993
Progress and success . .1011
Murillo's works in the " Claustrc
Results 1012
chioo," of the Franciscan con-
Pictures for the Cathedral . 1013
vent ....
. 994
Hospital de la Caridad . . Z014
San Francisco . • . ,
994
The philanthropist Mafiara . Z014
San Diego.
994
Building of the Hospital . .1018
S*^ Clara ....
. 995
Murillo's works . • . 1019
The rapt cook .
996
Eight pictures of Charity . 1019
San Oil .
996
Prices 1019
The two friars .
. 996
"Moses striking the Rock" . 1020
Murillo's success
. 997
"Miracle of Loaves and Fishes" 1023
Marriage ....
997
"Charity of San Juan de
Mode of life
. 998
Dios" 1024
His second style
999
"St Elizabeth of Hungary
Hctures for the Cathedral
999
tending the Sick " . . 1025
San Leandro .
xooo
Smaller pictures . . . 1028
San Isidore
1000
" Abzaham receiving the
Nativity of the Virgin .
lOOI
Angels" .... 1028
San Antonio de Padua .
1002
"Return of the Prodigal Son" 1029
Pictures for church of S^
"Healing of the Paralytic" . 1029
Maria la Blanca .
X004
" Release of St. Peter " . . 1030
Xll
CONTENTS.
Remarks on the pictures of
Charity.
Pictures on tHes
Convent "de los Capachinos"
at Seville
Murillo's pictures
Great altar-pieoe
Capnchin pictures now in the
Mnsemn at Seville .
«S*^BufinaandJiista" .
"Nativity" .
*'S^ Leander and Bonaven-
tnre" ....
"St. Francis" .
"St. Anthony"
"St. Felix" .
•• St Thomas of Villanneva
" Conception " .
"Virgin of the Napkin" .
" Angel de la Guarda "
Hnrillo invited to Court .
Pictures at "Los Yenerables
at Seville
Portrait of D. Jnstino Neve
Pictures at the Augustine con-
vent ....
Last work of Murillo
Death ....
Funeral ....
Tomb ....
Wife, children, and sister
Gaspar Murillo .
Francisca Murillo
Fortxme and will and inventory
of effects
Murillo*s house .
Portraits of Murillo .
Character ....
Fame ....
St3^e
1031
1033
1036
1037
1039
1040
1040
1040
1040
IG41
1041
IG41
1042
1044
1044
IG46
1048
1050
105 1
1052
1054
1055
loss
ioS6
IOS7
ios8
1059
1059
1064
1066
1068
1070
1072
PAOS
Favourite subject ; The Imma-
culate Conception . . . 1074
Orthodox mode of painting it • 1075
Murillo's treatment of the Con-
ception 1077
Murillo's "Virgin and Child" . 1080
The Virgin learning to read . 1081
Christ and St. John as chil-
dren 1083
Virgin and St. Bernard . 1084
Virgin and St. Ildefonso . . 1085
Legend of the Chasuble . . 1086
Bebekah at the Well . . 1087
Pictures of low life . . . xo88
Portraits 1089
Landscapes .... 1093
Drawings 1095
Etching 1096
Murillo compared with Velaz-
qnea 1097
Opinion of Talkie . 1098
Murillo at Seville . . 1099
Sebastian Gomez . .1101
Works . . . . . nor
JuandeZamora .... 1102
Henrique de las Marinas . 1102
Pedro de Medina Valbuena . . 1 103
Andres de Medina . 1 103
Ignado de Iriarte . . 1104
Marriages. .... 1104
Quarrel with Murillo . iios
Works 1 106
Cristobal Ferrado . .1107
Francisco de Herrera^ el Mozo . 1 109
Flight to Bome . . . 1x09
Betum to Seville . . . 1109
Bemoval to Madrid . . mo
Chosen painter to the King .1112
Works of architecture . .1113
Character 1113
CONTENTS.
xiii
PAOB
PAOI
Anecdotes.
. III4
Bngravers— Fray Tomas de los |
Style and merits
. ins
Arcos .
. III9
Feniando Marqnes Joya
. 1115
Fray Ignacio de Cardenas
. XII9
. 1116
Sculptors-i-Gaspar de Ribas
. III9
BemaM de AyaU
. 1116
Frandsoo de Ribas .
. III9
Pedro Bamirea
. 1117
Gonzalo de Ribas
. II20
Felipe Ramires
. 1117
Alfonso Martines
. II20
Cristobal Ramires
. 1117
Josef deArce .
. II2I
Gerdnimo Ramirez
. 1118
Giuseppe Micael
. II22
Pedro de Camprobin .
. 1118
Juan Bautista Franconio,
gold.
Bngrayers— Juan Mendez
. 1118
smith .
. II22
. 1119 '^
CHAPTER XIII.
REION OF CHARLES 11. 1665-1700.
Death of Philip IV. . .
. 1 123
Don Francisco de Artiga
. II4I
Queen Mariana .
. 1124
Don Pedro Nufies de Yillayl- |
Fernando Yalenznela .
. 1125
cendo •
. II4I
Don Juan of Austria .
. 1126
Don Salvador Rozas.
. 1142
Charles XL .
. 1129
Don Bsteran de Espadafis
i . II42
Arohitectnral and other wor
ks . 1132
Don Nicolas de YiUaois
. 1142
Financial distresses .
. I'tSZ
Lady artists— Duchess of Bejar . 1142
Portraits
. . 1134
Countess of Yillaumbrosa
. 1X42
Queen Maria Louisa .
• "35
Do&a Mariana CuevaBenarides 1142
Qaeen Mariana .
. 1138
Splendour of the nobility and the
Other patrons of art
. . 1138
Church . . . ■
. II43
Admiral of Castile
. 1138
Foreign artists .
. II44
Marquess of Heliche .
. . "39
Dionisio Mantuano .
. II4S
Count of Monterey
• "39
Giuseppe Romani .
. II46
Amateurs— Don Francisco
An-
Francisco Leonardoni
. I146
. 1140
Luca Giordano
. 1 147
Don Juan de Yaldes .
. 1140
YisittoRome .
. II48
Count of Las Torres .
. 1140
. I149
Bishop MaaoareAas
. . 1141
Travels .
. X149
Fzay Cristobal del Yiso
. 1141
Return to Naples .
. 1 150
Don Fcandsoo Vera Cabe
Bade
Marriage •
. 1x50
Yaca
. . 1141
Skill in forging pictures
. 1x50
nv
CONTENTS.
TAOM
Various works .... 1150
Picture in hononr of the peace
and the Viceroy de Los Telex 1151
Visit to Florence • . .1152
Incident with the Viceroy He-
licheandtheJesmtsatNaples 11 52
Afiair with the Duke of Diano z 154
Continued success . • Z156
Count of SantisteYsn . .1156
Invitationtothe court of Madrid 11 56
Jonmej and reception . .1156
Successful imitation of Bassano 11 58
Works for Buenretiro, and the
Escorial; staircase . 1 158-9
Frescoes in the church of the
Escorial .... 1159
Frescoes at Buenretiro . 1162
Toledo 1162
Madrid 1162
Industry 1163
Habits of life .... 1164
Parsimony . .1164
Success 1164
Claudio CoeIlo*s enyy , . 1164
Skill and celerity of hand . 1165
Saying of Charles IL . .1166
Death of Charles II. . .1167
Giordano returns to Italy . Z167
Death 1167
Person and character . .1168
Wealth 1168
Popularity .... 1169
Faults of his style • . .1 169
Merits 1170
His pictures in Spain • ; 1170
Francisquito, scholar of Giordano X171
JuanVankesel • . • . 1172
Charles II. perpetrates a pun • 1 173
John Closterman . . . . 1174
Nicolas Busi, sculptor . . .1175
PAOB
Painters of Castfle . . .1176
Juan Carre&o de Miranda . . 1176
Civic posts .... 1177
Obtains good emptoymeni at
the Alcazar .... 1177
Appointed painter to the King 1 178
Various works . . . .1178
Works at Toledo .1180
Portraits 1181
Death and character . 1183
Anecdotes 1183
Style 1185
Di^^ Gonzales de la V^a . . 1 186
Alonso del Arco .... 1187
Antonio de Castrejon . . . 1189
Francisco Perez Sierra . . . 1189
Works 1190
Flower-pieces . . . .1191
Clandio Coello .... 1192
Youthful industry . . . 1192
Friendship of Carrefto . .1193
Queen Maria Louisa's entry to
Madrid 1194
Visit to Zaragosa . . 1195
Made painter to the King . 1195
Picture of the "Adoration of
the Santa Forma" at the
Escorial. . . . . X196
Other works .... 1198
Success 1199
Eclipsed by Giordano . . xi99
Death . • • • . 1200
Style and merits as a painter . 1200
Sketches and engravings • .1201
Juan Ximenez Donoso . . . 1202
His works 1202
Painting Z202
Architecture .... 1203
Writings 1204
Anecdotes of him . . . 1204
CONTENTS.
XV
PAOK
FranciBOO de Soils . .1205
Matias de Torres .... 1207
Solis*8 pleasantry .... 1208
Josef de Ledesma . . 1209
Juan Antonio Escalante . . 1209
Joan Fernandez de Laredo . .1211
Pedro Ruiz Gonzalez . . . 1212
Juan Martin Cabezalero .1213
Juan Giachineti Gonzales . . 1213
Lorenzo de Soto .... 1214
Baztolom^ Feres .... 1215
Mateo de Gerezo .... 1216
His style . « . . . 1219
Vicente BenaTides . 1220
Isiddro de Burgos . . . 1220
Francisco PsJacios . . .1221
Gabriel de la Corte . . . 1221
Francisco Ignacio Buls de la
Iglesia ..... I23I
Disease of the kidneys cured by
a miracle .... 1224
Isidoro Arredondo . 1225
Sebastian Mulioz .... 1226
Works at Madrid . . 1227
Pictures of St. Eloy» St Sebas-
tian, and Queen Mazia Louisa
dead .... 1227-8
Works at the Alcazar, and
church of Atooha . . . 1228
Death 1229
Juan Cano de Arevalo . . . 1229
Manuel de Castro . . . 1232
Theodore Ardemans . . 1232
Juan Bautista Medina, or Sir
John Medina of Scotland . 1234
Death 1237
WiU 1237
Style 1239
His son and grandson . . 1239
Engravers — Gregorio Fosman . 1240
Maioos de Orozco . . . 1241
Sculptors — Eugenic Gutierrez
de Torices .... 1242
Josef de Churriguera . . 1243
Catalonia and Aragon: Fray
Joaquin Juncosa . . . 1244
Dr. Joseph Juncosa . . 1246
Bastard of Palma. . . 1247
Fray Salvador Ilia . . 1248
Francisco Vera Cabeza de Yaca . 1248
Francisco de Artiga . . . 1249
Juan de Benedo, engraver . . 1250
Gertfnimo Secano . . . 1250
Fray Antonio Martinez . . 1250
Bartolom^ Vicente . . 1250
Francisco Piano .... 1251
Juan de Bebenga, sculptor . .1251
Miguel Serra of Marseilles . . 1252
His noble conduct during the
plague 1253
■)
CHAPTEE X.
EEIGN OF PHILIP IV, I621-1665 — (coiUinued).
fEW of the painters of Cas-
tile, contemporary with
Velazquez, were men of
sufficient mark to be
considered as rivals of
that great artist. Of
those upon whose story
we are now entering,
only one or two would
have shone as stars of much lustre, even if he had
not risen, like a sun on their hemisphere, to eclipse
them. But it must be remembered that Vincencio
Carducho, Mayno, Eugenie Cases, Pedro de las
Cuevas, and other artists who rose to fame under
Philip III,, lived far into the present reign, and
rendered the age which commenced at the arrival
of Velazquez, in 1623, the most splendid epoch in
the history of painting at Madrid- Nearly all the
VOL. ni, A
CH. X.
Castile*
Pamting
at Madrid,
826
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X.
and de-
clines at
Toledo.
Amateurs.
DonLasaro
Diasdel
VaUe.
His notes
on art.
pictorial genius of Castile was concentrated in the
capital. The last fine pencil of ancient Toledo was
buried with Luis Tristan; and Yalladolid, Burgos,
and Cuen9a, although not altogether barren of
painters, were not in a condition to contest the palm
with the court-town, of which the forces were con-
tinually recruited from the flower of the provinces.
Don Lazaro Diaz del Yalle, a man of letters and
chronicler of the kingdoms of Castile and Leon,^
likewise deserves notice as a lover of art, and a
friend of artists. Cean Bermudez saw a clever pen
and ink sketch of his, representing the King Don
Pelayo, and a variety of heraldic drawings. But his
most important contribution to the province of art
was a copious collection of manuscript notes on
the lives and works of contemporary painters and
sculptors,* of which both Palomino, and Cean Ber-
mudez after him, made large use. In 1658 he
composed an eulogy, and drew up a catalogue of
the painters who had been knights of the various
military orders, which he appropriately dedicated to
his friend Velazquez, the last and greatest whose
breast had received the red cross. He was likewise
1 I find no mention of him, either in the first or second edition of
Nicolas Antonio.
' A copy of these was in the possession of Don Joseph Rnenes, of the
Academy of History, who allowed Cean Bermudez to have it transcribed
for his own nse.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
827
a tolerable poet, and has left several sonnets in
praise of his artist-friends. Don Rafael Sanguineto,
knight of Santiago, and dean of the Begidors of
Madrid, was also an amateur painter and a patron
of art, who gave Alonso Cano lodging in his house,
when that master returned from Valencia.
Antonio Lanchares was bom at Madrid as early
as 1586, and entered the school of Patricio Caxes,
where he acquired a style so like that of the master's
son, Eugenio, that their works could hardly be dis-
tinguished from each other. He was employed to
paint various pictures for the Jesuits' convent at
Madrid, and for the Carthusians of Paular, who
paid him 7,(XX) reals for some frescoes in their
sagrario ; but most of these had perished before the
close of the last century. In the Chapter-room at
El Paular, two of his works, " Our Lord's Ascen-
sion," and the " Descent of the Holy Ghost," were
seen by Cean Bermudez, who considered them of
sufficient merit to entitle him to rank amongst the
best painters of Spain. One of them bore the
signature, Antonius Lanchares, Hispanus in Car-
tuxia Pavlaris, fecit anno 1620. In 1625 he was
commissioned by Fray Gaspar Prieto, General of the
Order of Mercy, to paint for the convent of that
order at Madrid some pictures on the life of the holy
Catalan, Pedro Nolasco, a kinsman of St. Julian
of Cuenja, and a zealous redeemer of Christian
OIL X.
Don Baf ael
Sangui-
neto.
Antonio
Lanohares.
828
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X.
Lais Fer-
nandez.
captives in the thirteenth century, and the first
monk who assumed the white robe of Mercy. ^ He
likewise executed a large composition for the choir,
representing Our Lady and a chorus of angels
coming to the aid of a company of friars, whose
anthems failed for lack of voices; a worthy and
graceful thought, and an adornment well suited to
the place. These works were executed in a pleas-
ing and natural style; and it is to be hoped that
some of them survive in the National Museum.
Lanchares died at Madrid in 1658, and was buried
in the church of S. Felipe el Real. Cean Ber-
mudez possessed one of his sketches, a bishop
seated, drawn in a masterly manner. His name is
unknown in the Royal Gallery.
Luis Fernandez, who must not be confounded
with the Sevillian artist of the same name in the
reign of Philip H.,* was bom at Madrid in 1596,
and became one of the best scholars of Eugenio
Caxes. For the cloister of the Convent of Mercy,
in the capital, he painted a variety of pictures on
passages from the life of St. Raymond, a holy hero
of the white robe and red cross.' He also furnished
the paintings in fresco, distemper, and oil for the
church of Santa Cruz, which was burnt down in
^ Interian de Ayala, Fietor Chrittianus erudUtts, p. 230-1 ; Villegas,
Flos Sanctorum^ p. 83.
8 Supra, chap. vi. p. 375. ■ Ibid. p. 374.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
829
the last century. In execution and colouring his
works much resembled those of his master. He
died at Madrid in 1654.
Bartolom^ Roman was bom at Madrid in 1596.
He studied painting first in the school of Vincencio
Carducho, and afterwards in that of Velazquez. Few
Castilian painters, says Cean Bermudez, equalled
him in power of drawing, and in richness and har-
mony of colouring. But his success was by no
means commensurate with his merits, and his works
were not often to be met with. One of his most
important pictures seems to have been a large
composition in the sacristy of the church of the
Incarnation, representing the marriage-feast, in the
parable, whence a guest was ejected for appearing
without a wedding garment.^ At Alcald de Henares
the convent of San Diego had some pictures by
him, amongst which was a St. Anthony that had
been begun by Alonso Cano.
Juan de la Corte, a painter bom at Madrid
in 1597, finished his artistic studies in the school
of Velazquez. For the palace of Buenretiro he
executed pictures of the *' Judgment of Paris," and
the "Rape of Helen," the "Buming of Troy," and
the "Relief in 1635 of Valenza on the Po," a town
important for its bridge. Of these compositions
CH. X.
Bariolom^
Roman.
Juan de la
Corte.
^ Matt. xxii. 1-14.
830
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X.
Gabriel de
laCorte.
Corteof
Ante-
quera.
Fr. JoAQ
Rizi.
the last was the largest and the best ; and the
head of Don Carlos Colonna, leader of the relieving
army, was painted by Velazquez. Corte painted
several other works for the same palace, repre-
senting battle pieces, architectural views, and land-
scapes, in which his strength chiefly lay. He died
in the same year as his master, 1660, leaving a son
Gabriel, who painted with credit in the next reign.
Another Corte, a native of Antequera, likewise dis-
tinguished himself in the days of Philip IV. as a
painter of perspectives.
Juan Rizi was the son of Antonio Rizi, a Bolognese
painter, who accompanied Zuccaro to Spain.^ He
was bom at Madrid, of a Spanish mother, in 1595,
and his father being dead before the son began
to handle a pencil, he received his instructions in
painting in the school of Mayno. His talents soon
brought him distinction, and employment in the
Convent of Mercy, for which he painted six large
pictures of the Passion of Our Lord, and martyr-
doms of worthies of the red cross. Being of a
devout disposition, he passed into Catalonia, and
took the cowl of St. Benedict in 1626, at the
monastery of Monserrate. The year after, he went
to study philosophy at the university of Hirache,
and theology at Salamanca. At the college of San
^ Supra, ohap. It. p. 257.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 831
Vicente, where he entered himself, the snm of 100
ducats was required of each student, or of the
convent to which he belonged, to defray the annual
expense of his education. The purse of the painter-
friar not being able to meet this demand, the abbot
at first refused to admit him ; and finally only con-
sented to allow him two days to find the money,
fiizi, therefore, resumed his pencil, and within the
stipulated time produced a " Crucifixion," which re-
lieved him of all difficulties ; and the same resource
enabled him to finish his course of study without
costing the house at Monserrate a single maravedi.
Returning to that romantic retreat, he there filled
several conventual offices with gteat credit ; and he
was afterwards advanced to the abbacy of Medina
del Campo. Whilst holding that dignity, he went
in 1653 to Yuso, to paint a series of about thirty
pictures for the high altar of the convent of San
Millan.^ The fame of his talents and piety rose so
high, that all the houses of his order were eager to
possess him as an inmate. In that of his brethren
at Burgos he left some of his best works, the ** Bap-
tism of Our Lord," the ''Decollation of St. John
the Baptist," and many others. Amongst them was
a picture of Scholastica, the sainted sister of St.
Benedict, reading. In this holy maid he pour-
^ Supra, obap. iL p. 81.
CH. X
Mon-
serrate.
Yviao.
Bax^gos.
«3«
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. Z.
HMlrid.
GOMtO
Italy.
Made a
Bishop.
trayed a young girl, whose dower as a nun lie paid
with the price of his labours.^ The Chapter like*
wise employed him to paint St Francis of Assisi,
St. Jnlian of Caen9a, and other saintly heroes, for
the CathedraL
He afterwards returned to Madrid, and passed
some time in the convent of St Martin, for which
he painted the pictures that adorned the chief
cloister. In these, each head was a portrait of some
member or servant of the house ; and he delineated
his own features in those of a black-bearded monk,
in the composition representing the death of St
Benedict. At the capital he acquired the esteem
of many persons of distinction, and he gave instruc-
tions in his art to the Duchess of Bejar, a great
lady eminent for her accomplishments; to whom
he also dedicated a work on painting, which he
wrote, but does not seem to have given to the
press.
Towards the close of his life he went to Italy, his
fatherland ; and after some stay at Rome, took up
his abode in the famous Benedictine convent of
Monte Cassino. His virtues and his pencil delighted
his Italian brethren, and . their feme reached even to
the Quirinal ; for the Pope expressed a desire to see
him, and conferred on him a bishopric in Italy. He
* Bosarte, Vioffe, p. 333.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
833
did not live, however, to take possession of his new
crozier, for, soon after his appointment, he died at
Monte Cassino, in 1675, aged 80 years. The Queen
of Spain's gallery contains only a single work of
this good churchman, a composition representing
St. Prancis receiving the stigmata, or impressions
in his hands, feet, and side, of the five wounds
of Our Blessed Lord.^ His style was simple and
natural, and his colouring pleasing ; but his works
were often deficient in finish.*
Prancisco Bizi, younger brother of Juan, was bom
at Madrid in 1608, and was the scholar of Yincencio
Carducho. Seldom was a youth, says Cean Bermu-
dez, more plentifully endowed with dispositions and
talents for painting. No difficulty discouraged him,
and a certain success always attended his under-
takings. But a great natural facility of hand is
sometimes as hurtful to the young artist, as strong
powers of memory to the tjrro in the exact sciences,
and as apt to weaken his grasp of thought by saving
him the trouble of thinking. There was no object,
figure, or attitude that Eizi could not draw, as it
were, off-hand ; and the effect of this habit of off-
hand drawing was that he never drew anything with
perfect accuracy. He lived in an age and at a Court
CH. X.
Franoisoo
Bin.
His youth-
ful facility
of hand.
^ Catdlogo [1843], ^o* 5^ [edition 1889, No. lozS].
' Boearte, Viage, p. 331.
834
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. Z.
Worid
aiToMo.
Made
painter to
the King.
Cormpt
arofaiteo-
tnral taste.
where the arts of improyisation were highly valued
and applauded : he secured a considerable share of
contemporary fame at the least possible cost; and
he thought as little of posterity as posterity has
thought of him.
Nothing has been recorded of the earlier part of
his career, which seems to have consisted of labours
for the churches and conyents of the capital Having
painted for the sacristy of the Cathedral of Toledo a
picture of the dedication of that venerable pile, it
was so highly approved of by the Chapter, that in
1653 he was rewarded by being appointed to the
office of its painter. Three years later, on the 7th
of June 1656, he was chosen by Philip. IV. one of
his painters in ordinary. As such, he painted the
scenery and decorations of the theatre of Buenretiro,
but in a style so extravagant and fanciful, and so
generally imitated, that Cean Bermudez chaises him
with being an arch-corrupter of Spanish architec-
ture. He was employed in ecclesiastical as well as
theatrical decorations, for he designed a tasteless
high altar for the church of San Gines, since replaced
by something better.^ On the accession of Charles
n. he was continued in his office; and having
painted the fable of Pandora in a hall of Alcazar —
known as the hall of mirrors — ^to the admiration of
^ Lo9 ArquUectoa, torn. It. p. 77.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 835
the Court, he received, as a reward, the key of ch. x .
deputy- Aposentador.
In 1665, he and Juan de Carrefio were employed i^^iJdo**
to paint the octagon chapel of Toledo Cathedral,
a work which they finished in 1670, at the price
of 6,500 ducats. Whilst it was in progress, they
likewise undertook the painting of the Camarin, or
vestry of Our Lady of the Sagrario, for which they
were paid 4,500 ducats in 1667. In 1666, Kizi
executed a portrait of Cardinal Archbishop Balthazar
de Moscoso, for the winter Chapter-room*; and in
1 671, on occasion of the beatification of St Ferdinand,
a large composition, for the sacristy, representing
that kingly soldier of the cross and the Archbishop
Rodrigo examining the plans of the Cathedral, which
owed its foundation to their munificence.^ He was
afterwards again employed with other artists in
painting the monument for the Holy Week.
In 1684, Charles IL was moved with peculiar Legend of
^' ^ the Santa
devotion towards a miraculous sacramental wafer. Forma, of
' the
known as the Santa Forma, and revered as a relic BworiaL
at the Escorial. Its legend informs us that in the
religious wars in Holland it was dashed from the
high-altar of the Cathedral of Gorcum, and trodden
under foot by some fierce Zuinglian heretics. From
three rents, produced by this rough treatment, in
^ Supra, chap. it. p. 83.
836
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
FranoiBOo
Bizi de-
signs an
altar for it.
CH. X. the fragile cake, there flowed portentous drops of
bloody whereby one, at least, of the miscreants was
immediately converted ; and reverently gathering up
the wounded Host, he and the Dean of Gorcum
carried it off to a convent at Mechlin, whence, for
better security, it was afterwards removed to Vienna
and Prague. Sent in 1592 as a present to Philip
II., it has ever since been shown on days of high
festival, stained with divine gore, "to the comfort
of Catholic believers, and to the confusion of
their adversaries." ^ Charles II. having resolved to
dedicate a new altar in the sacristy to this famous
Host, Rizi was appointed to make a design, which,
although executed under his inspection, in the
richest marbles, proved, says Cean Bermudez, the
single architectural blemish of the monastery. He
also was ordered to paint a picture to serve as an
altar-piece, and as a screen at ordinary times, for the
Santa Forma ; but he had only made the first sketch
when he died at the Escorial in 1685. The work
was afterwards finished, with infinite advantage to
the altar, by his able scholar, Claudio Coello.
Works. Francisco Rizi, being one of the most rapid of
painters, left behind him a countless multitude of
works. Many of these still exist in the churches of
Madrid; as, for example, in that of San Isidro el
^ Ximenes, Deseripdon del Eseorial, p. 291.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 837
Real the pictures of St. Francis Borja, and St. Luis ch. x.
Gonzaga, a scion of the ducal house of Mantua,
and one of the highborn enthusiasts who forsook
all things to follow Ignatius Loyola; and in that
of San Andres, the two pictures of San Isidro the
husbandman, patron of Madrid, showing how that
saintly rustic saved his son from drowning in a
deep well, by praying that the waters should rise
and bear him to the brim, and how he appeared on
the side of the Christian host at Navas de Tolosa,
and so won that great battle for the King Don
Alonso.^ The Royal Gallery at Madrid possesses
but one of his works, a full-length portrait of an
unknown knight of Calatrava.* In the National
Museum, to which despoiled convents must have
famished whole acres of his canvas, there are two
of his pictures of Our Lady of the Conception,
figures of some grace, with brilliant blue drapery,
but with a complexion that recalls rather the rouge
of the terrene toilette than the " celestial rosy red,"
the proper hue of angelic beings. He left a great style.
number of sketches, displaying much talent ; but,
like his larger works, hasty and incorrect. He re-
garded his pencil, not as a weapon whereby he was
to win immortaUty, but as a manual tool that was
^ Villegas, FI08 Sanetarum^ p. 844-5.
' Catdlogo [1843], No. 5x4 [edition 1889, No. 10x7].
838
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X.
Joan
Valdelmira
de L»OD.
Pedro de
Obregon.
His father.
to bring him in as much money as possible. Being
naturally gifted with readiness, as well of invention
as of hand, he therefore got through a great amount
of labour ; and became, in Castilian painting, a kind
of industrious Blackmore. He was assisted in many
of his works at Madrid and Toledo by his pupil,
Juan Valdelmira de Leon, a native of Tafalla, in
Navarre, and an artist of greater promise, who
rivalled Arellano in flower-painting, and died in
his 30th year.
Pedro de Obregon was bom at Madrid about
1597. Cean Bermudez conjectures that he was the
son of an artist of the same name, who executed
the illuminations of the choir-books for evening
service in the Cathedral of Toledo, in 1564. He
was certainly a disciple of Vincencio Carducho,
whose style he imitated with considerable success.
Besides many easel pictures executed for private
persons, he left a good altar-piece, representing St.
Joachim and St Anne, in the church of Santa Cruz,
and a large picture of the Blessed Trinity in the
Convent of Mercy, at Madrid. He likewise used
the graver with some skill ; and amongst other
works, engraved a drawing by Alonso Cano of St.
Dominic, the darling saint of Old Castile. Dying
at Madrid in 1659, he left two sons, Diego and
Marcos, whom he had instructed in art, and who
were engravers of some reputation. The first chiefly
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 839
employed himself on title-pages for books, and on
devotional prints, amongst which was a St. Cathe-
rine, designed by Cano. Marcos de Obregon, a
name rendered as famous in Spain as that of Tom
Jones in England, by the novel of Espinel, became
a priest, and lived till 1720.
Antonio Pereda, one of the ablest painters of
Castile in this reign, was bom in 1599, at Valla-
dolid. By the death of his father, he was left in
his infancy to the care of his mother, Maria Salgado,
and an uncle, who, discovering in the child a strong
predilection for drawing, sent him to Madrid in
1606, when the Court removed to that capital. He
was placed in the school of Pedro de las Cuevas,
and soon made himself conspicuous there by his
rapid progress in art. His assiduity and skill
attracting the attention of Don Francisco de Tejada,
councillor of Castile,^ that gentleman conceived a
liking for him, and took him into his house, bring-
ing him up like his own son, and leaving him at
liberty to pursue his studies. The Court architect,
Crescenzi, by-and-by happened to see a specimen
of his drawing, and admired it so highly that he
begged the young artist of his protector, and under-
took his further education. His new friend being
powerful in the palace, Pereda thenceforth applied
* Sapra, chap. Tii. p. 483.
CH. X.
Diego de
Obregon.
Marooede
Obregon.
Antonio
Pereda.
840
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X.
Works.
himself to study in the royal galleries ; and by his
diligence in copying the works of Venetian masters
he acquired a rich style of colouring, which no
Gastilian painter has ever surpassed.
When he had attained his eighteenth year, he
exhibited a picture of the ** Mystery of the Immacu-
late Conception," the figure of Our Lady standing
upon clouds, and upborne by hovering cherubs. It
immediately arrested public attention, and was so
highly esteemed that the critics would not, for some
time, believe that it was the work of its author.
Crescenzi, proud of his young retainer, sent it to
Rome to his brother the Cardinal, and it obtained
the approbation of that churchman, and of the
Roman artists. The fame of Pereda continued
to increase, and, amongst other painters, he was
appointed by Olivares to furnish pictures for the
decoration of Buenretiro. One of his contributions
to the gallery of the new palace was an imagiuEury
portrait of the Gothic King Agilo ; another was
a large composition on the relief of Genoa by the
Admiral Marquess of Santa Cruz, which he filled
with authentic portraits of historical personages,
and executed in a style worthy of the best artists
of that able band which now had Velazquez for a
captain. He was much caressed by noble con-
noisseurs, especially by the Admiral of Castile, who
employed him to paint a picture for a chamber in
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
841
Wife ; her
ain,
his palace, set apart for the reception of works of ch. x.
the best Spanish masters. The subject was the
"Spoils of Death/' which Pereda treated in a
fanciful and effective manner.
He was married to Doiia Markt de Bustamente,
a woman of some rank, it appears, and still greater
pretension ; for she would associate only with people
of high fashion,, and insisted on having a duefia in
constant waiting in her antechamber, like a lady of
quality. Feteda was either not rich enough to
maintain, or not jealous enough to desire, such an
attendant. He therefore compromised matters by
painting on a screen an old lady sitting at her
needle, with spectacles on her nose, and so well and
truly executed, that visitors were wont to salute her
as they passed, taking her for a real duefia, too
deaf or too discreet to notice their entrance. By
this ingenious device, his wife's dignity and his
own repose were secured, the skill of his pencil
displayed, and his house provided with a piece of
furniture capable of over-awing or of sheltering the
amorous advances of a Candide.^ His lady-wife son.
bore him a son, named Don Joaquin, who took after
his mother, .and became gentleman-usher of the
royal chamber, with appointments worth 2,ocx5
ducats. This post was obtained for the son by the
and her
sham
daefia,
painted
by her
hueband.
^ See Candide, chap, i
VOL. ITL
I 842
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X
I Chanuster
; ofPereda.
Existing
worlu.
Marquess of La Lapilla, as a recompense for a
picture of St. Domingo, which the father had
painted for the family chapel of that nobleman in
St. Thomas's college at Madrid.
Pereda was a man of taste and refinement: he
possessed a large collection of prints and drawings^
models, and pieces of sculpture, and also a good
library of works on the fine arts. Palomino asserts,
that notwithstanding his love for books, he could
neither read nor write ; and that when his visitors,
seeing his well-furnished shelves, complimented him
on his extensive acquaintance with the Latin and
other tongues, he would reply that he was the most
ignorant of men, thus concealing the truth by confess-
ing it.^ This improbable story not being confirmed
by the manuscript of Diaz del Valle,' who was Pereda's
intimate friend, is rejected by Cean Bermudez.
Pereda died at Madrid in 1669, at the age of seventy.
His aristocratic spouse survived him, says Palomino,*
for twenty-nine years, and died in great penury.
In the Queen of Spain's gallery there are only
two * pictures by Pereda. Of these the best is St.
^ Palomino, torn, iii p. 549. ' Supra, p. 826.
* Palomino, torn, iii p. 55a
* [One of these, CaUUogo, 1843, No. 368, has since been attributed by
Bon Pedro de Madrazo, in deference to the opinions of Palomino and
Diaz del Valle, to Antonio Fernandez Arias (infra, p. 856), and is cata-
logued under his name in the CatdUogo descriptivo 6 histdrico, 1872. It
is curiously missing from the Catdlogo of 1889.]
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
843
Jerome in his cavern, disturbed in his reveries by
the sound of the last trumpet,^ painted with remark-
able care, and finished as highly as any canvas that
ever left the easel of Ferdinand Bol ; each separate
hair may be distinguished in the hermit's wiry white
beard, and the skull lying beside him is as minutely
laboured as that on his shoulders, nrm It is signed
with the artist's monogram, thus ™* The Na-
tional Museum possesses a beautiful composition,
representing the Blessed Virgin, St. John and the
Disciples, assembled round the dead body of Our
Lord. Here Pereda seems to have imitated the
colouring of Vandyck ; and the graceful Magdalene
weeping over the Saviour's feet much resembles
the corresponding figure in that master's picture on
the same subject in the Museum at Antwerp. The
dark figure, dusky as a Bedouin of the desert, hold-
ing the crown of thorns, is also a fine study. In
the Academy of St. Ferdinand there hangs another
excellent work of Pereda, in which some moral
lesson is intended rather than conveyed. It repre-
sents a handsome youth in a rich green dress, black
hat and white feather, asleep in his chair beside
a table. There are on the table a tiara, a crown, a
mitre, some books and pieces of armour, a casquet
of tortoise-shell, a gold clock, rings and brooches, and
CH. X.
^ Catdlogo [1843], No. 287 [edition 1889, No. 939].
844
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X.
Franoisco
Collantea.
a heap of silver and gold coins which have tumbled
out of a purse, representations, in short, of all the
good and glory of life. Over these an angel in violet
draperies bends, holding a scroll, with a bow having
the arrow fitted to the string, and the words cBteme
pungit dto volat, et occidit. The sleeping figure is
very fine, and perfectly asleep; the angel not so
good. The elegant accessories finely display the
laborious skill of the artist, who painted ornaments
of all kinds, musical instruments, and gold and
silver plate, with all the delicacy of Mabuse him-
self.^ The Magdalen nuns of Alcaic de Henares
still preserve a picture of "Our Lady's Annuncia-
tion," elegant in design, and pleasing in execution,
on the side altar of their church, for which it was
painted by Pereda.
Francisco Collantes was bom in 1599, at Madrid,
where he was one of the best scholars of Vincencio
Carducho. He painted for the monastery of San
Cajetano a series of Apostles; but his favourite
subjects were landscapes, which he executed with
far more skill and taste than was usual in Castile.
Several of his works are now in the Queen of Spain's
^ Can this be the pictnre painted for the Admiral of Castile, mentioned
at p. 840 ? In the Caidlago de las Pinturcu y Eseulturcu que se eonservan
en la Real Aeademia de San Fernando^ 8vo, Madrid, 1824, this picture
is placed as No. 18, in Sala ix., and is described as ** El Desenga&o de la
Vida porque representa a nn personaje dormido y rodeado de calaveras j
de otros despojos de la muerte. Paedede ser sn roejor obra," p. 55.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
84s
gallery. Of these, " Ezekiel in the Valley of Bones," ^
formerly at Bnenretiro, is the most striking. The
''exceeding great army" of skeletons are bestirring
and refleshing themselves, as beheld in that mys-
terious vision ; ' the brown mountain background is
well painted; and the figure of the Seer, in blue
drapery, is worthy of Salvator Rosa. It is signed
^^ Fran. Collantes^ ft. 1630." A landscape, with
trees and a brawling brook,' in the same collection,
deserves notice; as well as the "Burning Bush in
Horeb," another silvan scene, full of massy foliage
and mellow sunshine, in the long gallery of the
Louvre.* He likewise painted bodegones with good
effect, and his sketches in red crayons were also,
says Cean Bermudez, spirited and esteemed. For
a book on the chase, written by Juan Mateos,^ chief
archer to Philip IV., he designed a print of boars
driven into a circular pen to be shot at, which was
engraved by Pedro Perret.® He died at Madrid,
in 1656.
Francisco Fernandez, bom at Madrid in 1605,
was likewise a student of good promise in the
CH. X.
Franciaco
Fernandez.
1 Cdtdlogo [1843], No. io8 [edition 1889, Na 705].
^ Ezek. zzxvii. 1-14.
' CcUdlogo [1843], No. 298 [edition 1872-3, No. 706].
* Notice des Tableaux^ Ecoles dltalie, Na 952 [edition 1879, Eooles
d'Eapagne, No. 533].
' Origen y dignidad de la Ccua^ 4to, Madrid, 1634.
* Supra, chap. viiL p. 649.
846
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X.
Pkturw.
BtebiogB.
Pedro
Nnfiez.
school of Vincencio Carducho. He was employed,
amongst other artists, in painting the portraits of
the Kings of Spain, for the Alcazar; and he exe-
cuted two excellent pictures, '' St. Joachim and St
Anne," and the '' Burial of St. Francis de Paula," for
the convent of Victory. Breakfasting one morning,
in 1646, with a schoolmaster friend, one Francisco
de Varas, the painter and the pedagogue had a
dispute, which ended in blows, and the death of the
former, to the regret of his fellow-artists, amongst
whom he was popular. He etched the title*page,
and the plates not executed by Fr®- Lopez, for his
master's ''Dialogues on Fainting;"^ and he was
himself the instructor of Ximenes Donoso, a painter
of some repute in the next reign.
Pedro Nuilez, a native of Madrid, and bom early
in the seventeenth century, commenced his studies
in painting under Juan de Soto,' and finished them
at Rome, whence he returned with sufficient reputa-
tion to be employed to paint a series of the Spanish
sovereigns for the private theatre of the Alcazar.
In 1625, by command of Prieto, General of the
Order of Mercy, he painted some pictures for the
cloister of the convent under that rule ; and he was
recommended by the Board of Works and Woods
as fitted to fill the post of King's painter, which.
^ Supra, cbap. tIl pp. 4S4 and 492.
* Ibid. p. 476.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 847
however, was conferred on Nardi.J He died at ch. x .
Madrid, in 1654*
The scholars whom Velazquez left behind him Juande
were not numerous, nor haye any of them proved
his rivals in the favour of posterity. Juan de Fareja,
one of the ablest, and better known to fame as the
slave of Velasquez, was bom at Seville in 1606,
seven years after his master. His parents belonged
to the class of slaves, then numerous in Andalusia,'
the descendants of negroes imported in large num*
bers into Spain by the Moriscos in the sixteenth
century;' and in the African hue and features of
their son there is evidence that they were mulattos,
or that one or other of them was a black. It is not
knovni whether he came' into the possession of
Velazquez by purchase, or by inheritance ; but he
was in his service as early as 1623, when he accom-
panied him to Madrid. Being employed to clean
the brushes, grind the colours, prepare the palettes,
and do the other menial work of the studio, and
^ Sapra, chap. viiL p. 656.
' And throaghout Spain* for many yean afterwards. See Madame
d'Aolnoy, Voyage, let xii ; and M. M , Voyage^ p. 178*
' In 1560, so many had thas been introduced for domestic and agricnl-
tural parposes, that the repreflontatives of Granada, in the Cortes held
that year at Toledo, petitioned the king that these blacks might be sent
out of the ooantry, alleging that they were brought up in the Mahometan
faith, and that their numbers were dangerous to the Christian population.
— L. de Marmol Carvajal, Hiai, de la Eebelion y Castigo de los Moriscos,
2 vols. 4to, Madrid, 1797, L p. 135.
848
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X.
Secret
studies.
Dis-
coTored by
PhUipIV.
to bea
painter.
living amongst pictures and painters, he early ac-
quired an acquaintance with the implements of art,
and an ambition to use them. He therefore watched
the proceedings of his master, and privately copied
his works, with the eagerness of a lover, and the
secrecy of a conspirator. In the Italian journeys in
which he accompanied Velazquez,^ he seized every
opportunity of improvement ; and in the end he
became an artist of no mean skill. But his nature
was so reserved, and his candle so jealously concealed
under its bushel, that he had returned from his
second visit to Rome, and had reached the mature
age of forty-five, before his master became aware
that he could use the brushes which he washed.
When at last he determined on laying aside the
mask, he contrived that it should be removed by the
hand of the King. Finishing a small picture with
peculiar care, he deposited it in his master's studio,
with its face turned to the wall. A picture so placed
arouses curiosity, and is perhaps more certain to
attract the eye of the loitering visitor than if it were
hung up for the purpose of being seen. When
Philip IV. visited Velazquez, he never failed to cause
the daub or the masterpiece, that happened to oc-
cupy such a position, to be paraded for his inspec-
tion. He therefore fell at once into the trap, and
1 Supra, chap. ix. pp. 706, 752.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 849
being pleased with the work, asked for the author, ch. x .
Pareja, who took care to be at the royal elbow,
immediately fell on his knees, owning his guilt, and
praying for his Majesty's protection. The good- i"8etfree.
natured King, turning to Velazquez, said, "You
see that a painter like this ought not to remain a
slave." Pareja, kissing the royal hand, rose from
the ground a free man. His master gave him a
formal deed of manumission, and received the colour-
grinder as a scholar. The attached follower, how- ^^^
ever, remained with him till he died ; and continued J^j^^®'
in the service of his daughter, the wife of Mazo ^^^^y-
Martinez, until his own death in 1670. Pareja's Portraits,
portrait, finely painted by Velazquez, is in the gallery
of Lord Radnor.^ It represents him as an intelligent
bright-eyed mulatto, with the thick nose and lips
and curling black hair proper to his race, and dressed
in a dark green doublet, with a white falling collar.
This is perhaps the picture which gained Velazquez
his election into the Academy of St. Luke.* Lord
Carlisle possesses a head of a man of colour, by
the same hand,' which seems to be the likeness
of Pareja, and also a full-length portrait of Queen
Mariana. The latter is attributed to the pencil of
the freedman, but is more probably the work of his
^ [Exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1873.]
* Supra, chap. ix. p. 76a
' At Castle Howard, Yorkshire.
Sso
REIGN OF PHIUP IV.
CH. Z.
Worki.
fellow-disciple Mazo Martinez.^ She is in widow's
attire, and seated in a chnich; nuns seen behind,
with a child who is giving ahns, and is supposed to
be Charles 11. A dog lies at the Queen's feet, and
she holds in her hand a letter inscribed with the
name of Mazo Martinez.'
The Boyal Gallery of Spain possesses only a single
work of Fareja, a large picture of the " Calling of
St Matthew." ' It is well composed, and executed
with a close and successful imitation of the colour-
ing and handling of Velazquez. Our Lord and His
disciples wear the flowing Jewish gabardine ; the
collectors of customs, in doublets and flapped hats,
are booted and spurred like Spanish cavaliers. The
dusky face to the extreme right of the picture is a
portrait of the painter ; and the rich Turkey carpet
which covers the table, and the jewellery thereon dis-
played, are finished with Dutch minuteness. In the
Imperial Gallery of Russia there is also a specimen of
the powers of the Sevillian serf, a portrait of a Pro-
vincial of a religious order, in dark monastic robes, and
holding in his hand a book.* He excelled in por-
1 [Curtis, p. 328, says that this picture, << although attributed to Pareja,
is probably a repetition of the portrait by Mazo, in the collection of the
late Don Valentin Carderera, now the property of the Duke of VlUaher-
mosa, at Madrid]
^ Letter from Lord Ronald Leveson Gower, May 19, 1875.
» CcUdlogo [1843], No 134 [edition 1889, No. 935].
^ Livret de la Galerie ImpHiaU de VErmitge, Salle xlL, No. 3, p. 402 :
Waagen's Catalogue^ No. 427.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
851
traiture ; and Palomino especially notices his likeness
of an artist named Joseph Rat^s, so forcibly painted
as frequently to be taken for the work of Velazquez.^
Juan Bautista del Mazo Martinez was bom at
Madrid, but in what year remains uncertain. He
early entered the school of Velazquez, and devoted
himself to copying his works, and those of Tintoret,
Titian, and Paul Veronese, with so much assiduity
and success, that his productions were sometimes
mistaken for original pictures of those masters.
Dryden asserts that he
" who but arriyes to copy well,
Unguided will advance, unknowing will excel ; "'
and Mazo Martinez proves, in part at least, the
truth of the assertion. He acquired great skill in
portraiture, and great applause by a picture of
Queen Mariana, which he exhibited at the gate of
Guadalaxara, and which attracted much attention,
because it was one of the first pictures executed at
Madrid * of the young sovereign. A fine full-length
portrait, of an unknown military commander, in
the Royal Gallery of Spain,* proves how faithfully
CH. X.
Juan Baa-
tiiU del
Maao Mar-
tinez.
1 Palomino, torn. iii. p. 551.
* Epistle to the Earl of Boscommon,
9 Palomino, torn. liL p. 551.
« Catdlogo [1843I No. 131. [In the CcUdlogo Deicriptivo i HtsUfrieo,
1872, and also in the CkUdlogo of 18S9 (No. 789), this pictaie is described
aa "portrait of D. Tiburcio de Redin y Crnzat, caballero de S. Jnan, j
maestro de campo de la infanteria espabola en tiempo de Felipe IV.*']
8s 2
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X.
First
marriage.
he followed in the footsteps of his master. But
his best original works were hunting pieces and
landscapes, Philip IV. employed him to execute
views of Pamplona and Zaragoza, which long hung
in the palace, and of which the latter is now in the
royal picture gallery.^ The prospect of the capital
of Aragon is taken from the banks of the Ebro,
and the foregraund is enriched by an admirable
group of figures painted by Velazquez. For rich-
ness and brilliancy of effect it is equal to the best
of Canaletti's views of Dresden,^ which it much
resembles in style. A sea-port,* and a river-view,*
in the same collection, likewise deserve notice. But
he did not always paint thus ; for near them hangs
a prospect of the Escorial*^ — of all subjects that
in which a Castilian artist should have put forth
his whole strength — singularly flat and poor in
effect.
Mazo Martinez married a daughter of Velazquez,
and held the post of deputy- Aposentador ; and in
that quality he accompanied him in his journey to
the Pyrenees.' At the death of the great artist,
he succeeded to him as painter-in-ordinary, being
* CatdHogo [1843], No. 79 [edition 1889, No. 788].
' In the small gallery on the texrace of Bruhl, in that city.
' CcUdhgo [1843]. No. 231 [edition 1889, No. 792].
^ Ibid. No. 300 [edition 1889, No. 795].
• [CkUdlogo, 1889, No. 793.] « Supra, chap ix. p. 780.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 853
appointed to the vacant post on the 19th of ch. x.
April 1 66 1. He frequently painted Queen Mariana
after she had veiled her luxuriant tresses with the
sombre weeds of widowhood ; and he likewise
delineated the sickly countenance of her son,
Charles II. By the daughter of Velazquez he had
two sons, Gaspar and Balthasar, who obtained honour-
able preferment at court. Becoming a widower, second
noarriage.
he contracted a second marriage with Dofia Anna
de la Vega; and he died on the 19th of February Death.
1687, in the Treasury at Madrid, and was buried
in the church of San Gines. His portrait, by the Portrait.
dashing Esteban March, hangs in the Royal Gal-
lery : ^ his face is that of a swarthy and somewhat
plain Spaniard, and he holds in his hands the im-
plements of his calling.
Santiago Moran flourished as a painter at Madrid, ^^^
about 1640. Cean Bermudez mentions with praise
three of his works, all pictures of St. Jerome, as
displaying considerable knowledge of anatomy, and
one of them adorned with a good landscape back-
ground. His style somewhat resembled that of
Albano ; and one of. these St. Jeromes was en-
graved, and palmed on the world as a work of
Guercino. He designed the nine Muses for
Quevedo's nine books of poems, called the Spanish
> Catdlogo [1843], No. 184 [edition 1SS9, No. 779].
854
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X.
Pedro
DiaE
Morante.
Parnassus, with which the edition of 1670 was
illustrated.^
Pedro Diaz Moraute was a writing-master who
was bom near Toledo in 1566, and flourished at
Madrid, in the reigns of the second, third, and
fourth Philips. He was the most voluminous of
the early Spanish writers on penmanship, and
published no less than four volumes on the sub-
ject,* each preceded by an introduction full of un-
measured praise of his art, his scholars, and him-
self. He was especially proud of having taught a
Greek prelate, the Archbishop of Naxia, who was
at Madrid, in the reign of Philip HI., on ecclesi-
^ El Pamaao Espaflol y Mustu CaateUancLS, 4tO| Madrid, 1670.
* Arte de Escribir, primera parte, 16 15, segunda parte, 1624, teroera
parte, 1627, quarta psurte, 1630, Madrid long folio. His disciple Bias
Lopez republished a selection of his specimens of writing in 1657, and
Santiago Pobnares in 1776. Amongst the most spirited of his many
flourished designs is a pair of fighting dogs, which occurs in his second
volume. An idea of his portrait of Philip IV. may perhaps be gained
by looking at the portly nymph supporting the dedication, to the Count
of Floridablanca, of Servidori's Beflexiones, where there is a full account
of Morante, torn, i p. 5a Is the Instruceion de Prineipes mentioned
by Cean Bermudez, Dice. p. 66, v. vi., identical with this work or another t
The story is there also told of his being accused, before the Holy Office,
of witchcraft, because he could write with both hands at once.
Mr. Salvd had a very fine copy of Morante's Arte de Escribir, four
parts, which belonged to Ventura Montera y Montolier, who appears to
have spent many years in making it up. He says, in his MS. note to
Part IV., that a perfect copy is hardly to be found in Spain, the plates
(like those of Casanova's book) having been lost at sea, going to Mexico,
in the possession of a foreigner. He also speaks of a fifth part, of which
I have not elsewhere heard. In Part II. there is a fine portrait, without
engraver's name. On one of the flourished pages is an engraver's name,
AntotUo de VUUrfafU,
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 855
astical business, to write the Roman character in ch. x
good fomiy in three weeks/ Quevedo honoured
him with a sonnet' in commendation of a portrait
of Philip IV. which he had executed with dashes
and flourishes of the pen ; and, in another poem,'
makes eulogistic mention of him amongst the artists
of Spain.
Francisco Camilo was son of an Italian settled jv»n««»
Camilo.
at Madrid, whose Spanish widow married Pedro
de las Cuevas the painter.^ This master brought
up his stepchild as if he had been his own son,
instructing him in painting, for which he early
gave indication of a vigorous talent. At the age
of eighteen he was employed to paint, for the high
altar of the Jesuits' house at Madrid, a picture
representing St. Francis Borja holding a Custodia
in his hands, and spuming with his foot the world
and a heap of military trophies and cardinals' hats,^
which was afterwards removed to make way for an
altar-piece in plaster. Some years later, the Count-
Duke of Olivares ordered him to execute, with
other artists, a series of portraits of Kings of Spain
for the theatre of Buenretiro ; and he also chose
^ Parte segnnda, p. 3.
' Al retrato del Rey n®. seV, hecho de rasgos y lazos, con ploma por
Pedro Morante. Obrcu, torn. viL p. 9.
' ObraSf torn, ix p. 375, and supra, chap. yii. p. 548.
^ Snpra, chap. viL p. 506. ' Ibid. chap. ix. p. 805-808.
856
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X.
Francisco
Ignacio.
Jmuide
licalde.
Antonio
Fernandez
Arias.
him to adorn the western gallery of that palace
with fourteen frescoes from Oyid^s Metamorphoses.
His chief business lay, however, in painting religious
subjects for the monasteries of Madrid, Toledo,
AlcaM, and Segoria, and the adjacent country, which
he executed in a soft and agreeable style, and with
considerable brilliancy of colouring. He likewise
painted and draped some of the statuary of Manuel
Pereyra.^ He was a favourite in the capital, where
he died in 1671, leaving many disciples. Of these
the best was Francisco Ignacio, none of whose
works remains.
Juan de Licalde, likewise a scholar of Pedro de
las Cuevas, displayed considerable ability in his early
works, but died young. One of his drawings, a
crowned lion, upholding a shield of the arms of Spain
and Portugal, neatly executed with the pen, was
seen by Cean Bermudez in the collection of Don
Pedro Gonzalez de Sepulveda. It bore the signature
^'Juan de lAcalde en el amor de Dios d, 10 de
Noviemhre de 1628," which places his death after
that year. He made a clever portrait of Olivares
with pen and ink.
Antonio Fernandez Arias was also a scholar of
Pedro de las Cuevas, and one of the most precocious
painters on record, having executed a series of
^ Sapra, chap. viiL p. 668.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
857
pictures for the high-altar of the shod Carmelites of
Toledo, at the age of fourteen. The applause which
he gained by this achievement only spurred his
industry ; and when he was twenty-five years old he
was reckoned one of the best painters in Madrid.
Olivares employed him with Camilo, on the series of
royal portraits for Buenretiro.^ He likewise wrought
largely for churches and convents ; and he was paid
800 ducats for eleven pictures of Our Lord's Pas-
sion, executed in 1657, for the church of San Felipe
el Real. The year following he finished a fine com-
position, representing the body of Our Lord in the
arms of the Blessed Virgin, for the church of the
Carbajal nuns at Leon. He was one of those, says
Palomino, who cultivated both of the sister arts of
painting and poetry; for he wrote polite Castilian
verse, which showed a knowledge of mythology and
history; he was, moreover, a man of taste and
pleasure, fond of conversation, and very jovial
withal; friendly with his friends, courteous and
generally beloved. By a virtuous wife he had
several children, amongst whom was a daughter
who inherited his talent for the pencil Nothing
was wanting to him but fortune ; and this in old
age and decrepitude declined so low, that he sub-
sisted on the charity of his friends, and at length
OH. X.
VOL. IIL
1 Supra, p. 855.
S5<
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CtL X
A^QJfrs.
died miserably in m public hospital of Madrid.^
"^Oh force of an milncky star!"' The Queen of
Spain's gallery possesses one of his pictures, the
Fhaiisees tempting Onr Lord as to the lawfulness of
paying tribute to Csesar.' The colouring is good,
but the draperies aie somewhat stiff; the interro-
gating Pharisee, anayed in a yellow robe, applies a
pair of spectacles to his nose with a very pompous
air and much comic effect. It bears the signature
" AfU, Arias FernandeZy'fecit, 1646."
Francisco Aguirre was a disciple of Eugenio
Gaxes. He was residing at Madrid in 1646, when
he was recalled to Toledo to retouch an ancient
'' Assumption of the Yiigin/' in the winter Chapter-
room of the Cathedral/ on which Bias del Prado
had performed a like operation sixty years befora
Under the direction of Felipe Lazaro de Goiti,
master of works, he also repaired all the other
paintings of the chamber that stood in need of
restoration. He likewise painted a picture of the
Cardinal-InfEuit Don Fernando,' to be placed amongst
the portraits of the Primates of Spain.^ It is strange
that the Ruby of Toledo^ should not have been
> [In 16S4. CcOdloffo, 1889, p. 115.] * Palomino, torn. iiL p. 604.
' Catdlogo [1843], No. 242 [edition 1889, Na 640].
^ Supra, chap. iL pp. 107-8. * Ibid. chap. viii. p. 615.
^ Ibid. chap. ii. p. 109.
^ So he IB called by Qnevedo, in one of his poems ; Ohras, torn, viii
p. 164.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 859
installed in his place in that august line until five ch. x .
years after his death. Aguirre has evidently copied
an early portrait of the boy- Archbishop, perhaps
one of those by Velazquez. The youthful features
of the Infant, and his simple red cap and cape as a
Cardinal, contrast strongly with the wrinkled faces
and hoary beards of his companions, who are mitred
and stoled in all their archiepiscopal pomp. In the
matter of gravity of face, Philip would have made a
better prelate than his brother, who, however, has
the benevolence and kindliness of aspect befitting
one, and, although a soldier and a man of pleasure,
was ready to fulfil his priestly functions at the
death-beds of the poorest of his flock.^
Juan de Arellano, bom in 16 14, at Santorcaz, Juande
^' Arellano.
near Toledo^ lost his father when he was only eight
years old^ and was taken by his mother to AlcaU de
Henares, where he studed painting for eight years,
under a provincial professor. During his days of
pupilage he was so poor, says Palomino, that when
he was sent to Madrid on business, hj his master,
' Fencu en la muerte y cUivios en lot virtudes d§ el Bey CkUhdlieo de
las EspafUu nuestro setior Felipe IV, el Orande, en an oracum funehre
que dezia Fray Bart, Garcia de Eecaifluela, Beligioso menor de S, Fran-
eiseo, 4to, Madrid, 1666. The preacher informs ua that he has known the
King get out of his coach at Barcelona to ''-ayndar a hien morir a nn
nio^o de coche, mientras sn hermano el Infante Gardenal rezava la
litania y le encomendava el alma." The picture is pleasing, and this
work of charity was one of the last acts in which the royal hrothers were
engaged together, the Infant being then on his way to Flanders.
S6o
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X.
Takes to
flowers-
painting
Success.
having trudged thither, a distance of six leagues,
on foot, he used to sleep at night on the broad
steps of the church of San Felipe el Real. He
afterwards lived at Madrid, partly as a servant and
partly as a scholar, with Juan de Solis, an obscure
disciple of Herrera of Segovia.^ His wife, Maria
Vanela, dying after his removal to the capital, he
married Maria de Corcuera, a kinswoman of his
second master. He had attained the age of thirty-
six years without evincing any talent, or obtaining
any success in his profession.
The cares of a family, however, rendering his
exertions every year more necessary, he, in a lucky
moment, took to copying the flower-pieces of an
Italian, known as Mario dei Fiori, whose works are
now somewhat rare. By this experiment he learned
that his natural vocation was to delineate the
blossoms of the garden, instead of the flowers of
the Calendar ; his works became highly esteemed ;
and the last shift of his poverty opened his way to
wealth and fame. He wrought chiefly for private
patrons, and the gallery of the Count of Onate was
rich in his pictures. But the church of San Isidro
admitted four of his flower-pieces into the chapel of
Our Lady of Good-counsel; and he painted some
children and birds amongst wreaths of flowers, on
^ Supra, chap. v. p. 344.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 86 1
mirrors, and other works, for the sacristies of the ch- x.
Jeronymite and Recolete friars. He was likewise
skilful in the delineation of fruit, exercising his
pencil
'' In oranges, mask-melons, apricocks,
Lemons, pome-citrons, and such like.'' ^
No artist was ever more unwearied in the practice industry.
of his profession ; he painted at night as well as
in the day ; and for forty years he kept the largest
picture-shop in Madrid, at his house in front of
the church of San Felipe el Real, the scene of his
youthful bivouacs. He was a God-fearing, shrewd
man, says Palomino, who cites, in proof of the
latter quality, his reply to the inquiry of one of
his friends, as to why he had forsaken figures for
flowers ? " Because," said he judiciously, " the labour
is less and the gain greater." His busy life end-
ing on the 1 2th of October 1676, he was buried
in the church of San Felipe. The Royal Gallery
of Madrid possesses five of his blooming garden-
pictures.
Simon de Leon Leal, son of Diego de Leon Leal simon de
^ Loon Leal.
and Juana Duran, was bom in 16 10, at Madrid,
where he studied in the school of Pedro de las
Cuevas, and improved his style by copying the
works of Vandyck. For the Premonstratensian
^ Ben Jonson, Fox, act iii. bc. 5 ; Works, vol. iii. p. 526.
863
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X.
Pedro de
ValpuMta.
friars he painted the altar-piece of their high-altar,
representing St. Norbert, fouiider of the order, and
a vigorous opponent of the anti-pope, Anaclete/
triumphing over heresy; and another picture of
the same saint, receiving his archiepiscopal vest-
ments from the hands of the Blessed Mary. The
Jesuit Cardinal Everardo, confessor of Queen
Mariana, likewise employed him to execute, for a
new church of his order, a series of twenty-one
pictures of the infancy of Our Lord ; an altar-piece,
representing a bold fiction of the Jesuit doctors,
wherein the Eternal Father was represented as
pointing out Ignatius Loyola to the Saviour, with
the words, "Behold Thy companion." His Emi-
nence being much pleased with these works, besides
paying the artist handsomely, obtained for him the
place of usher of the Queen. He was afterwards
promoted to be guardadamas,^ in the household of
Queen Maria Louisa of Orleans ; and dying in the
enjoyment of that post in 1687, he was buried in
the church of St Martin.
The Licentiate Pedro de Valpuesta was bom at
Burgo de Osma, in 16 14, and, while receiving a
Jieam^d education at Madrid, also studied painting
in the school of Eugenio Caxes, and succeeded in
^ Ribadeneira, Fleurs des Vtes des Saints, torn. L p. 677.
' Sapra, chap, ix p. 771, note.
REIGN OP PHILIP IV.
863
imitating that master's style more exactly than any
other of his disciples. He did not relinquish the
pencil on taking priests' orders, but continued to
paint with credit till his death in 1668, at Madrid.
The Franciscan convent and the church of San
Miguel, in that capital, possessed several of his
religious works ; the nuns of S^ Clara had a series
of six pictures on the life of their virgin-patroness ;
and the church of Buensuceso had a composition
representing the Holy Family, which Cean Ber-
mudez considered the best existing specimen of
his skill.
Juan de Montero de Roxas, bom in 1613, at
Madrid, was also a scholar of Pedro de las Cuevas.
He afterwards went to Italy, and imitated the style
and copied the works of Caravaggio. Returning
to the Spanish capital, he there painted the '' An-
nunciation" on the dome of the college of St.
Thomas, the ''Passage of the Red Sea" in the
sacristy of the Convent of Mercy, and other works
held in some esteem in their day. Dying in 1683,
he was buried in the church of St. Sebastian.
Eugenio de las Cuevas was bom at Madrid in
161 3. The son of the painter, Pedro de las Cuevas,
and half brother of Francisco Camilo, he studied the
art in the school of the former. Too great applica-
tion engendering a weakness of eyesight, he laid
aside the pencil for a time, and made himself a
CH. X.
Joan de
MoDtero
de BoxaB.
Eugenio de
las Cuevas.
864
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH, X.
JoMf
Leonardo.
proficient in music, and afterwards acquired some
knowledge of grammar, rhetoric, and mathematics,
at the Imperial College. As soon as his sight
permitted, however, he returned to his original
calling, and obtained so much reputation by his
small portraits and other oil pictures, that he was
appointed drawing-master to Don Juan of Austria.
Don Bodrigo Pimentel, Marquess of Viana, When
going as governor to Oran, took him thither as his
secretary, and employed him for some time as an
engineer. At his return to Madrid, his various
accomplishments in painting, poetry, and music,
made him highly popular in society, of which he
remained an ornament until his death in 1667.
Josef Leonardo, bom in 161 6, at Calatayud, in
Aragon, the birthplace of Martial, was an able
scholar of Pedro de las Cuevas, and one of the
King's painters. He died at the age of forty, after
lingering for some years in a state of insanity, pro-
duced, says Cean Bermudez, by a poisonous potion,
administered to him by chance or design. Two of
his large compositions are now in the Queen of
Spain's gallery. One^ represents the subject so
finely treated by Velazquez,* the Surrender of Breda.
Here, however, Spinola, with far less taste and his-
* Catdlogo [1843], No. 248 [edition 1889, No. 767].
' Supra, chap. ix. p. 748.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
86s
torical accuracy, is made to receive the keys sitting
on horseback like a haughty and vulgar conqueror.
The other ^ is the march of the Duke of Feria*s
troops upon Acqui, in the Duchy of Monteferrato,
in which that unlucky and ignorant leader,* on
horseback, in the foreground, is painted in the act
of giving orders to some of his captains. These
pictures are virell coloured, but they want the life
and movement of the noble work of Velazquez.
Sebastiande Herrera Bamuevo, painter, sculptor,
and architect, and bom at Madrid in 1619, was son
of Antonio de Herrera Bamuevo, a sculptor of some
repute, who wrought under Crescenzi, and modelled
a waxen bust of Lope de Vega, widely known by
casts. From this parent, Sebastian learned sculp-
ture, and in painting and architecture he followed
the style of Alonso Cano. He was soon appointed
one of the draughtsmen of the Soyal Board of
Works. As such he designed several of the
triumphal arches in honour of the entrance of
Queen Mariana into Madrid, especially one erected
in the avenue of the Prado, called the arch of Mount
Parnassus, adorned vdth statues of Castilian poets,
and, although somewhat fantastic in design, highly
admired by Philip IV. In consequence of this
CH. X.
Sebastian
de Herrera
BamueTo.
^ Catdhgo [1843], No. 210 [edition 1889, No. 768].
' Daulop'fl Memoirs, vol. i. p. 137.
866 REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
I
CH, X , j success, he aspired to the post of gentleman of the
royal chamber ; but he was obliged to content him-
self with that of deputy- Aposentador and master
of works in some of the palaces. At the death of
Philip IV., he designed the pompous catafalque,
erected for the funeral honours of that monarch,
in the church of the Incarnation, and described
with verbose magniloquence in Monforte's official
narration of the ceremonial.^ He was afterwards
chosen as master of works to the town of Madrid ;
under Charles IL he obtained the office of painter-
in-ordinary to the King, and keeper of the galleries
of the Escorial, a post continued to his son Ignacio ;
and he died in the capital, at his lodging in the
Treasury, in 167 1. He painted in a correct and
agreeable style ; and amongst the best of his works
were the large altar-piece of the Becolete Mars, re-
presenting St Augustine in glory, and the pictures
of Mary and Joseph in the chapel of Jesus — for
which he also gave the architectural design — in
the church of San Isidro el Beal. Cean Bermudez
possessed an etching of an Apostle, etched by him
after one of his own pictures. In architecture, his
style shared and increased the general corruption
which prevailed in the art. As a sculptor, his
works had considerable merit, although none of them,
^ Deaeripdon de las hanrcu, fol. 64 (see infra, chap. xiii.).
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 867
as Palomino audaciously pretends, of a Christ at the
column, were quite worthy of Michael Angelo.^
Antonio Puga was a scholar of Velazquez, whose
early style he imitated with great exactness and
success. He executed, in 1653, six pictures, seen
by Cean Bermudez in the collection of Don Silvester
Collar y Castro, and representing a variety of com-
mon and domestic subjects so happily that they
might have passed for works painted by his master
in his youth at Seville.
Francisco Burgos y Mantilla was the son of a
lawyer, who devoted himself to the study of paint-
ing first with Pedro de las Cuevas, and next with
Velazquez. He distinguished himself by his por-
traits about 1658, and painted many personages
of rank at Madrid.
Tomas de Aguiar was a gentleman of Madrid,
who studied painting in the school of Velazquez,
and about the year 1660 executed small portraits
in oil with considerable skill and reputation. He
pourtrayed the poet and historian Antonio de Solis,
who rewarded him with a complimentary sonnet full
of praise so extravagant that it must have overpaid
any possible amount of flattery in the picture.^
^ Palomino, torn, iii p. 558.
' Varicu Poeaicta sagradas y prof anas que dexd escritas {aunque no
juntas ni retocadcu), Don Antonio de Solis y Ribadeneira, 4to, Madrid,
1716, p. 35.
CH. X.
Antonio
Puga.
Fianoaoo
Burgosy
Mantilla.
Tomas do
Aguiar.
868
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X.
Benito
Manuel de
Agttero.
Alonso
Mesa.
Juan
Simon
Navarro.
Benito Manuel de Agttero, bom at Madrid in
1626, was the disciple of Mazo Martinez/ under
whom he learned to paint battles, and views of
cities, in an agreeable manner. Some of his works
of this kind adorned the palaces of Buenretiro and
Aranjuez; and he is said to have attracted the
notice of Philip IV., in his visits to his master's
studio, as well by his wit and talent for talking,
as by the powers of his penciL He died at Madrid
in 1670, leaving in the church of the nuns of S**-
Isabel, a picture of St. Ildefonso, which had some-
thing of the colour of Titian, but was reckoned less
happy than his compositions on lighter subjects.
Alonso Mesa, likewise a scholar of Cano, was
bom at Madrid in 1628, and died there in 1668.
As an imitator of his master he belongs perhaps to
the school of Andalusia. For the church of St.
Sebastian, at Madrid, he painted a picture of St.
Anthony, the abbot; and for the Franciscan con-
vent, a series of scenes from the life of the patron
saint, afterwards removed to Guadalaxara, none of
them works of great merit.
Juan Simon Navarro was a painter who flourished
at Madrid about the middle of the century. He
executed, for the Prior's cell of the convent of the
shod Carmelites, a picture of the " Nativity of Our
* Supra, p. 851.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
869
Lord; "and, in 1654, a large picture, representing
the Blessed Virgin at her needle, and Joseph ply-
ing his carpenters' plane, whilst their Divine child
fashioned a miniature cross at their feet. The
latter picture afterwards passed into the collection
of Don Ba.mon de Posada y Soto, where it was seen
by Cean Bermudez, who commends its colouring,
and the execution of some accessory flowers.
Pablo de Villafaile was so famous as a painter of
miniatures and illuminations, at Madrid, about 1635,
that Quevedo has devoted to his honour twenty-two
lines of a poem already quoted,^ and assures the
world that he excelled both Apelles and Albert
Durer. He died young, and these laudatory verses
are his sole memorial.
Pedro de Villafranca Malagon, was bom at Alcolea,
in La Mancha, and became the scholar of Vincencio
Carducho, at Madrid. He addicted himself, how-
ever, rather to the graver than the pencil, and
he was one of the few Spaniards who used the
former instrument with neatness and dexterity.
The trumpery engravings which head the cantos
of Manuel de Faria y Sousa's edition of "The
Lusiad,'' printed at Madrid in 1639, and re-
markable for the prolixity of the notes and
the badness of the paper, are by Pedro de Villa-
CH. X.
Pablo de
Villafafie.
EnffraTers.
Pedro de
Villafranca
Malagon.
^ ObnUf torn. ix. p. 377, and supra, chap. viL p. 548, note 2.
870 REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X. franca.^ The first of his plates that attracted public
attention were those for Mendez de Silva's life of
Alvarez Pereyra, Grand-Constable of Portugal, pub-
lished in 1640; an architectural title-page, embellished
with the arms of Mendez de Haro, and two spirited
portraits of the Constable and his historian.^ Nine
years later, he published a portrait of one Josef
de Casanova, a writing-master, with his little boys
plying their pens around him; and in 1653, his
works had made him sufficiently famous to be
appointed engraver-in-ordinary to Philip IV., with
the salary of 100 ducats, the same that had been
enjoyed by Pedro Perret* He then began a series
of plates of the Pantheon of the Escorial, which, with
the portrait of the King, were finished in 1657, and
were afterwards reproduced, in 1698, as illustrations
to the work of Father Santos/ In 1 6 1 5 he engraved,
for the official Rules of the Order of Santiago,"
^ Lusuidcu de Luis Camoens, comeiitadaa por Manuel Faria y Sousa,
4 toms. folio, Madrid, 1639.
' Vida y hechoi herdicat del Qran CondeatabU de Portu{fal D. Nunc
Alvarez Pereyra Cande de Barcelas, de Orem, de ArrayoloSf mayordomo
mayor del Bey D, Juan /., por Rodrigo Mendef de Silva, Lnaitano, 8vo,
Madrid, 1640. It is dedicated to D. Luis Mendez de Haro-Sotomayor-
Guzman, Conde de Morente, &c
* Supra, chap. !▼. p. 216, and chap. yiii. p. 649.
* Ibid. chap. iv. p. 211, note i.
' Regia y Eatableeimientas de la Orden y eavalleria del glorioso Ap6stol
Santiago Patron de leu Spa'tUu, eon la historia del origen y prineipio de
ella, por Don Francisco de Yeigara y Alaba, del Consejo de las Ordenes,
folio, Madrid, 1655.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
871
a title-page, representing that glorious Apostle
hewing down turbaned Saracens, and a pretty
plate of the Immaculate Conception, in which the
Virgin is surrounded by a wreath of fruits and
flowers; in 1656 the title-page and the curious
plates for Fray Antonio de Castillo's "Pilgrimage
in the Holy Land;"^ in 1660, an allegorical title-
page for the Rules of Calatrava,' and two years
later another for those of Alc&ntanu' These works
are also embellished with portraits of Philip IV.,
of which that in the book of Calatrava is exe-
cuted with the greatest sharpness and effect. In
the reign of Charles II., he engraved the plates
for Castillo's account of the late King's journey
to the French frontier, and the marriage of the
Infanta,^ a title-page for a volume on the remaining
order of Montesa;^ and many other works. He
CH. X.
1 El Devoto PeregrinOy Viagt de Tierra SawUt, compuesto por el F. P.
Antonio de Castillo, Predicador Apo8t61ico, Guardian de Belen, &e.,
4to, Mftdridy 1656. BeBidea a large map of the Holy Land, there are
plans of Jemsalem,* as it was in the days of Christ, and in the days of
Castillo, and a great many views of sanctified spots. The author was a
Franciscan of Granada, who was sent forth on his travels in 1626 : he
lived in the Holy Land many years, was thrice Guardian of Bethlehem,
and once President of the Convent of the Holy Sepulchre ; he spent
some time in the convent at Naxareth, and visited every holy place in
Palestine. His account of his journey to the East, chap. iL to v., pp.
105-137, is very curions and entertaining.
* Deffinicumnes de la Orden y eavoUleria de CdUOrava, eonforme al
capUulo gweral eelehrado en Madrid aiio de 1652, foL, MadJid, i66a
* Deffinicumnes de la Orden y eavaUeria de Akdniara, fol. Mad., 1662.
^ Supra, chap. ix. p. 781, note 2.
" MonUia iluetrada, por el Prior de S. Jorge, i6d8.
872
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X.
Pointings.
Francisco
Nayarro.
likewise executed, at diflferent times, portraits of
the widowed Baroness Beatriz de Silveira, in the
weeds of a nun ; of Cardinal Moscoso, from Eizi's
picture;^ of good Bishop Juan de Palafox, the
eminent divine and historian ; of the dramatist,
Calderon; and of other personages of distinction.
His engravings are spirited and firm ; but they
want the delicate tis^ch of Astor, and the force of
Popma.* The only pfiintings of Villafranca, of
which any notice has Been preserved, are those
which he executed as decorSfttions for the church of
San Felipe el Real, during flbe festival in honour
of the promotion of St. Thomas de Villanueva to
the goodly fellowship of saints\in 1660, and for
which he was paid 20,136 reals. \ The date of his
death has not been recorded ; but fcis latest engrav-
ing, noticed by Cean Bermudez, is ti^^t of Calderon,
executed in 1676. .
Francisco Navarro was an engraver, Who executed
the title-page, and a large plate ofig^nas, for a
descriptive account of an auto-de-f^ heldVat Madrid
in 1632,^ and the title-page of a book galled the
"Church Militant," published by Fray Fernando Cam-
argo y Salgado in 1642.* In the same year lappeaxed
^ Supra, chap. x. p. 835. " Snpra, chap. viii. ;
•• AiUO'de-fi^ eelebrado en Madrid, el aHo tie 1632.
* La Iglesia MUitante, cronoldgica sacra y etpUame ht8t{
quanta a sueedtdo en ella, 4to, Madrid, 1642.
.651.
de todo
>—
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
873
Diego Lopez's Dissertation on Juvenal and Fersius,^
which likewise has an architectural title-page, of
no great merit, by Navarro, with the eflSgies of
Horace and the two later satirists placed on the
top, and between the supporting columns of an
arch, like saints in a retablo.
Alexandro Loarte was a painter of Toledo, and
a disciple of El Greco. In 1622 he executed a
]arge composition on the subject of the Miracles of
loaves and fishes, for the convent of the Minim
friars in that city; the year following, a hunting-
piece, afterwards in the collection of Don Nicolas
de Vargas; and in 1626, a picture of hens and
chickens, possessed by Don Bernardo Iriarte. These
are the only specimens of his skill noticed by Gean
Bermudez, who commends them for excellence of
drawing and their Venetian cast of colour.
Juan de Toledo was a disciple of Tristan, and
held the ofiice of painter to the Chapter of Toledo,
from 1 64 1 to 1645, the year of his death. In the
sacristy of the Capuchins of that city, Cean Ber-
mudez remarked an excellent small picture by this
artist, representing the Virgin, and the Infants
Christ and St. John.
Matias Blasco was a painter of credit at Valla-
^ Dedaraeion magistral sobre las S&tiraa de Juvenal y Persio, principe*
de laspoetas satiricos, por Diego Lopez, natural de Valencia, de la Orden
de Alcantara, 4to, Madrid, 1642.
VOL. III. D
ca X.
Toledo.
Alexandro
Loarte.
Joan de
Toledo.
874
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X.
ValladoUd.
Matias
Blasco.
Diego
Valentin
Diaz.
Endows an
hospitaJ.
dolid early in this reign; and painted, for the
church of San Lorenzo, four pictures of miracles
performed by a famous Virgin adored there, and a
Martyrdom of the patron saint. The latter work
was somewhat better preserved than the rest, and
bore his signature, and the date 162 1, which time
and neglect had much defaced when they were seen
by Bosarte.^ Blasco's style was simple and natural,
and his colouring pleasing in tone.
Diego Valentin Diaz was a native of ValladoUd,
where he passed his life in successful practice of the
art of painting, and in the discharge of the functions
of a familiar of the Holy Office. He executed many
pictures for churches and monasteries, especially
for San Benito, and the Jeronymite and Franciscan
houses, of which the " Jubilee of the Porciuncula,** *
in the latter, was one of the most esteemed. He like-
wise coloured Hernandez's statue of the Conception,
for the church of San Miguel at Vittoria.* Some of
his best works still adorn the hospital for the main-
tenance and education of orphan girls, which he
founded and endowed out of his savings and the
inheritance left to him by a brother, who died in
America.* The retablo of its chapel consists of a
1 Viaje, pp. 139-140. Cean Bermudez says that he flourished ahout
1650: the date copied from the picture by Bosarte shows that he came
into notice at an earlier period.
* Supra, chap. viL p. 504. • Ibid. p. 520.
* Justerian de Ayala, Pictor Christianus JEmditvs, p. 195.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
875
large canvas covered with an architectural design
painted in imitation of carving, and containing
pictures of St. Joachin and St. Anne, and the
Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin. The chapel
likewise contains the portraits of the munificent
artist, and his wife, Dofia Maria de la Calzada, *' he
a grey-haired, sharp-eyed old man, she a dark-eyed
dame."^ The worthy pair lie buried within the
same walls, beneath a slab bearing the following
inscription, which is attributed to the pen of the
husband : —
ESTA IGLESIA HIZO, Y LA I)EDIC<) AL NOMBBE BE MARIA
SANTISIMA, DIEGO VALENTIN DIAZ, PINTOR, FAMILIAR DEL SANTO
OFIGIO. PARA GUYA G0N8ERVAGI0N T RBMEDIO DE LAS HU^-
PANAS DE SU COLBGIO DEX6 TODO SU HACIENDA. T AUNQUE
DE TODO 6E LE DI6 EL PATRONAZGO, FUS SU VOLUNTAD SE Dt
AL QUE SEA MAS BIEN HECHOR. Y A ^ Y A Df MAIUA DE
LA CALZADA SU MUGER SE LES D± ESTA SEPULTURA. FU£ A
DAR CUENTA A DI08 ANO DE 1660. AYUDESELE A PAGAR EL
ALCANCE ROGANDO A DIGS POR tL.
One of his most pleasing pictures, says Bosarte,^ was
the " Holy Family " in the church of San Benito ; a
well composed and well coloured work, bearing the
signature, '' Didacus Diaz, Pictor, 1621," which is
probably identical with that now in the Museum at
ValladoHd.*
OH. X.
§;>itaph by
mwlf.
^ Handbook [1843], p. 637 [edition 1855, p. 579.]
• Viaje, p. 147. • Compendio EistMco, p. $8.
876
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X.
Felipe Oil
de Mena.
Felipe Gil de Mena was bom at Valladolid in
1 600, and studied painting under Vanderhamen * at
Madrid, whence he returned with sufficient skill to
open a school of design, which obtained much credit
in his native city- He possessed a large collection
of drawings, prints, and models, valued at his death,
in 1674, at 3,000 ducats. For the Franciscan con-
vent he painted, in 1644, a number of pictures on
the life of the patron saint, of which Cean Bermudez
considered a large composition, representing a feast,
as the best. ISome of these are now in the Museum
at Valladolid, and one records how St. Francis and
St. Dominic, after a meeting on religious affairs, for
lack of bodily provender, refreshed themselves with
prayer, and how ministering angels thereupon ap-
peared, laden with a celestial banquet.' His most
celebrated and curious work was a representation of
a great auto-de-f6 held at Valladolid, and painted
for the Inquisition as a memorial of one of its
triumphs. Bosarte' thought his drawing superior
to his colouring, but that there was little in his
pictures to arrest the eye. His portraits of the good
painter Diaz and his wife partake of the style of
Pantoja.*
Cristobal Garcia Salmeron, was bom at Cuen9a,
^ Supra, chap. viii. p. 646. * Compendio ffist&rieo, p. 64.
» Vuy'e, p. 143. * Handbook [1843], P- ^37 [edition 1855, p. 578].
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 877
in 1603, 8.nd became a painter, under the instruc- ch. x.
tions of Pedro Orrente, who resided for some time criitobai
' Garcia
in that city/ Imitating the style of his master, he Saimeron.
painted forcibly and well, with a Venetian tone of
colouring. For the Cathedral, he executed several
pictures, placed in the chapel of St. John Baptist,
of which the principal composition represented the
percursor of Our Lord preaching in the wilderness.
He also painted the martyrdom of St. Stephen and
St. Lawrence, and other works, for the convent of
bare-footed Carmelites. Philip IV., appreciating his
abilities, probably from personal observation at
Cuenja,^ employed him to paint a picture of a grand
buU-feast given by that city in honour of the birth
of the Infant Don Carlos, afterwards the second
monarch of the name. This composition being sent
to Madrid, hung, in the days of Palomino,^ in the
gallery that connected the Alcazar and the convent
of the Incarnation ; and the artist likewise painted
a portrait of himself, at work upon the picture. The
last years of his life were passed at Madrid, where
he painted the Good Shepherd for the Carmelite
friars, and where he died, in 1666.
Andres de Vargas was bom at Cuenca, in 1613, Andre* de
Vai^os.
and, coming as a lad to Madrid, he learned painting
* Supra, chap. viL p. 585. * Ibid. chap. ix. p. 735.
• Palomino, torn, iil p. 533.
878
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X,
BorgtM.
IMagode
under Francisco Gamilo, of whom he became the
friend and imitator. He painted many works for
the friars, and for private persons of the capital, and
still more for the Cathedral and churches of his
native city, where he died, in 1647. Besides many
oil pictures, he executed, by order of the Chapter of
Cuenga, the frescoes in the chapel of Our Lady of
the Sagrario. He possessed some of the qualities of
a good painter ; but his style, says Cean Bermudez,
was feeble, and he followed the injurious practice of
regulating the quality of his pictures by their price.
Diego de Leyva was bom, about 1580, at Haro,
in the Bioja, a district of Old Castile. His youth
is supposed to have been spent at Rome, whence he
returned to Spain a painter, and married and settled
at Burgos. In 1628, the Chapter of Burgos ap-
pointed him to paint the portraits of certain digni-
taries, amongst whom was Cardinal Zapata, for the
chapel of St Catalina, in the Cathedral, where,
however, they were not placed. For the chapel
of Our Lady, he likewise painted an altar-piece,
representing her presentation in the temple. Be-
coming a widower, and his only daughter being
married, he retired, at the age of 53, to the magni-
ficent Chartreuse of Miraflores, where he took the
final vows, in 1634, and spent the rest of his life in
the diligent performance of his monastic duties, and
in the production of religious pictures. Amongst
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 879
the latter, were fifteen large compositions on the ch. x .
life of St Bruno, into one of which, the " Appearing
of St. Peter," he introduced his own portrait ; eleven
martyrdoms of members and ten pictures of saints
and generals of the order ; a Crucifixion ; and some
pictures of the Blessed Virgin. But, like a true
Carthusian, he shunned the cheerful haunts of love
and affection; and his favourite subjects^ says
Bosarte,^ were cruel martyrdoms, full of livid flesh
and grisly wounds. In drawing and composition,
says Cean Bermudez, he was considerably skilled ;
but his colouring was opaque; and although good
passages were to be found in his works, his style,
on the whole, was somewhat feeble. He died at
Miraflores, on the 24th of November, 1637.
Diego de Polo was bom at Burgos, in 1620, and Diego de
coming to Madrid, became the scholar of Lanchares.^ menor.
He afterwards copied the works of Titian, at the
Escorial, and acquired a fine Venetian-like manner
of colouring. For the Alcazar, at Madrid, he painted
two of the ancient kings of Spain — Bamiro II. and
Ordoilo 11. ; for the Convent of Mercy, a picture of
the Baptism of Christ ; and an Annunciation for the
church of S**- Maria. Some of his works, executed
for private persons, had the honour of being admired
by Velazquez ; and, but for his early death, in 1655,
1 Viajt, p. 334, « Sapm, p. 827.
88o
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X.
Diego do
Polo el
mayor.
Jaan de
Espinoea.
Sculptors.
Jorge
Manuel
Theotoco-
puli.
he might have attained a high rank amongst the
painters of Castile. He is called the younger, to
distinguish him from his uncle, another Diego de
Polo, bom at Burgos, in 1560, who painted a St.
Jerome for the Escorial,^ and died at Madrid, 1600.
Juan de Espinosa was a townsman of Puente de
la Reyna, in Navarre, who was employed, in 1653,
to paint twenty-four pictures of the life of the
patron saint, for the monastery of St. Millan, at
Yuso. He executed twelve, with tolerable skill,
but, dying before his task was accomplished, the
rest were furnished by Fray Juan Rizi.*
Castile produced no sculptor of any great note
during this reign. Jorge Manuel Theotocopuli,
son and scholar of El Greco,* practised the art, as
well as that of architecture, with some success ; and
was appointed, in 1625, to the post of sculptor and
architect to the Chapter. To the Cathedral he
added the dome and lantern of the Muzarabic
chapel,* notwithstanding the opposition of Fray
Alberto de la Madre de Dios, a barefooted Carmelite
who dabbled in architecture, and asserted that his
design could not be carried into execution. He
died in 1631, leaving, imfinished, the octagon
chapel, which he was carrying on according to the
^ He might have been mentioned in chap. v. p. 323.
• Supra, p. 831. • Ibid. chap. v. p. 328.
* Ibid. chap. iL p. 108.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
88i
plans of the younger Nicolas de Vergara,^ It was
completed, after various delays, under the direction
of Pedro de la Torre, a sculptor and architect of
Madrid, who also furnished to the Italian Fanelli'^
a model for the throne of Our Lady of the Sagrario.
Domingo de Rioja was a sculptor of Madrid, who,
with his scholar Manuel Contreras, wrought on the
bronze castings from the antique executed under the
superintendence of Velazquez for the Alcazar.' For
that palace he likewise modelled several bronze
lions for ornamental purposes; and a Crucifix and
a statue of St. Peter, for the convent of San Juan
de Dios.* He died in 1656. Luis de Uamosa, a
scholar of Gregorio Hernandez, flourished at Valla-
dolid. Having assisted his master in several of his
best works, he completed the altar of St. Benedict,
which the great sculptor had left unfinished at his
death, for the monastery of Sahagun, and to the
perfect satisfaction of the fraternity.
Luis Fernandez de la Vega was bom of a good
family at Llantones, a village of Asturias, about the
beginning of the seventeenth century. He is sup-
posed to have studied the art of sculpture under
Gregorio Hernandez, at Yalladolid, and his works
had much of the grace, feeling, and correctness
^ Supra, chap. v. p. 326. > Ibid. chap. Till. p. 666.
* Ibid, chaps, viii. p. 667, and ix. pp. 768-9.
* Ibid. chap. yiii. p. 669.
CH. X.
Pedro de la
Torre.
Domingo
de Rioja.
LttiB de
lilamoea.
Luis Fer-
nandez de
la Vega.
882
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X.
Arrafifon
and Cata-
lonia.
Francisco
Ximenofl.
which belonged to the works of that fine master.
In 1629 he married DofLa Maria de Arguelles,
apparently at Gijon, where, in 1636, he held the
post of judge of the nobles. In that year, also, he
received from the Captain Fernando de Vald^s a
water-mill and a piece of land planted with fruit-
trees, as the price of two statues^ of St. Joseph and
St. Anthony, which he had carved for that gentle-
man's family chapel in the church of Our Lady
at Gijon. In 1640 he finished a medallion for the
chapel of the Vigils in the Cathedral of Oviedo,
which likewise was enriched with some specimens
of his chisel, by Cean Bermudez esteemed his
masterpieces. He died at Oviedo, in 1675, and
was buried in the parish church of San Isidore.
Many of his carvings adorned the shrines of Gijon.
Arragon and Catalonia, as usual, have but a
meagre catalogue of artists in this reign. Fran-
cisco Ximenes was bom at Tarazona, in 1598,
and having studied at Bome, came afterwards to
Zaragoza, and painted some pictures for the Cathe-
dral of the Sen. He afterwards went to Teruel, and
painted for its Cathedral an "Adoration of the
Kings," which Cean Bermudez suspects him to have
copied from the print of Rubens' fine work on the
same subject at Madrid.^ Dying at Zaragoza in
^ Supra, chap. viiL p. 641.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 883
1666, from over-exertion in finishing a large picture cel x .
within a given time, he left his substance to found
a chapelry for sons, and a dowry-fund for orphan
daughters, of painters. His colouring was better
than his drawing; but his works being chiefly in
fresco and distemper, few of them long survived
him. His visit to Teruel deprived that city of an Antonio
^ '' Biaqnort.
able Valencian painter, Antonio Bisquert, a scholar
of the Bibaltas, who having married and settled
there in 1620, died of grief at seeing a stranger
chosen in preference to himself to paint an altar-
piece for the Cathedral. This soft-hearted artist had
executed many esteemed works for the churches
and convents, especially a picture of "St. Ursula
and her Virgins," for the Cathedral, in 1628, and
a "Dead Christ in the arms of the Virgin," an
excellent copy from Sebastian del Piombo, in the
church of Santiago.^ None of his pictures are
known to exist elsewhere.
Juan de Galvan, a man of family and fortune, Joande
G&lvan.
was bom at Lucena in Aragon, in 1598. He
learned to paint, first at Zaragoza, and afterwards
at Home ; and for the Cathedral of the Sen, in the
former city, he executed, at his return from Italy,
the " Nativity of Our Lord," " S^ Justa, and S^
Rufina,"* and other large pictures, which Cean
1 Handifook [1843], PP- 873-4 [edition 1855, P- ^^PJ
' Supra, chap. vi. p. 367.
884
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X.
Miguel de
Espinosa.
Bermudez praises for their colouring. Being a man
of studious and solitary habits, he could not bear
to be interrupted or even seen at work : he was,
however, respected by his fellow-citizens of Zaragoza,
where he drove about the streets, says Palomino, in
his coach, with much ostentation and grandeur,*
and died in 1658, leaving a plentiful estate.
Jusepe Martinez^ had a son who was his equal
in artistic ability, and who, after studying painting
at Rome, became a Carthusian at Aula Dei, where
he painted many fine works on the life of S.
Bruno.*
Miguel de Espinosa enjoyed sufficient reputation
as a painter at Zaragoza to be invited in 1654, in
that capacity, to Yuso, by the Benedictine fathers.
In their monastery of San Millan de la CogoUa he
painted Our Lord's miracles of the water turned
into wine, and of the multiplication of the loaves
^ Palomino, torn. iii. p. 471.
• Supra, chap. ix. pp. 737-9.
s [The late] Don Valentin Carderera had his bust portrait, standing
at his easel, on which is an unfinished portrait of his father. The son is
a long-haired, pretty lad, the sire a good-looking, middle-aged man, with
grey hair and large reddish moustache. The palette,'.brushes, and tiento
in the young man's hand, are admirably done, as is the whole picture.
On the comer of the easel or table on which the painting rests there is
written, in the character of the seventeenth century, Jusse^ Martinez,
Fintor del Rey Espaflol, aHo 16S2, on the white ruffle of the son, su hijo
murio Cartuxo, ano 1679. It was the intention of Don Valentin Carderera
to present it to the Academy of San Luis at Zaragoza. I possess a copy
which was made by Don Valentin in or before 1849, when I saw it at
Madrid with the original, which is about life-size.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
885
and fishes, and other works; and the expenses of
his journey thither and back were defrayed by the
brotherhood. Pietro Micier was an Italian, who
flourished as a painter at Zaragoza in this century,
and amassed a considerable fortune, which he left
for charitable purposes to the churches for which
he had painted ; and Pablo Micier, a judge of the
audience and an amateur, and one Urzanqui, were
native artists of considerable reputation in the same
city.
Josef and Juan Valles were brothers, and engra-
vers, who flourished at Zaragoza during this reign.
The first engraved the brilliant and elaborate
title-pages to Leonardo de Argensola's "Annals of
Aragon " ^ and Sellan's " Excellencies of Prayer ; " *
and the second engraved, from a design by Jusepe
Martinez, a commonplace frontispiece to a book
on the birth-place of San Lorenzo, by that prolific
and versatile writer. Dr. Juan de Ustarroz.*
In Catalonia, about the middle of the century,
^ Primera Parte de los Anales de Aragon que prosigue los del Secret.
Ger, Qurita detde el aHo 15 16, por el Dr. Bartholom^ Leonardo de Argen-
Bola, Rector de Villahermosa, Chronista del Rey, &c., fol., ^^ragoQO,
1630.
* Exceleneiae del ofido Divino y mdtivos para rezarte con mayor
devocion, por D. ViDcencio Sellan, Canonigo de Qansgo^, foL en el
Hospital Real y General de N**. S". de S*». Rngracia de ^aragofa,
alio 16—.
* Defenea de la Pairia de S, Lorenzo, por el Dr. Jaan Fran. Andres de
Ustarroz, 4to, Zaragoza, 1638.
CH. X.
Pietro
Micier.
Pablo
Micier.
Urzanqui.
EiDgraTen.
Joseph and
Juan
Valles.
886
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X.
Fray
Ramon
BereDguer.
Francisco
Gaflseo.
Pedro
Cuquet.
Angelica.
Sculptors.
Francisco
de Santa
Cruz.
at the Chartreuse of the Scala Dei, Fray Samon
Berenguer, afterwards prior, painted a series of small
pictures for the cloister, on subjects taken from the
history of St. Bruno and the order, for which he is
said to have made copies at Faular from the cele-
brated works of Carducho,^ whose style he imitated
with tolerable success. Francisco Gassen, and Fedro
Cuquet, painters of Barcelona, executed a series of
pictures on the life of St. Francis de Faula, for the
convent of Minim friars in that city ; works which
displayed considerable genius in composition, and
knowledge of colouring, although they had suflFered
severely, when Cean Bermudez saw them, by " the
havoc of repair."^ Both of these artists died at
Barcelona: Gassen in 1658, Cuquet in 1666. At
Taragona, a lady named Angelica, painted the
illuminations of the Cathedral choir-books, in
1636, with great neatness and skilL
Francisco de Santa Cruz, a sculptor, bom at
Barcelona in 1586, is believed to have studied his
art in Italy. He executed some excellent works in
his native city, of which the most esteemed were the
noble altar of the conventual church of the Holy
Trinity, of which the principal group represented
the dead Saviour in the arms of the Almighty ; the
^ Sapnip chap. vii. p. 487.
» Sir Thomas Lawrence, in a letter to Sir D. Wilkie, ii/e of WUkie,
vol. IL p. 492.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
887
stone statue of St. Francis Xavier, in a florid
canopied niche at the comer of the Jesuits' church,
now the church of San Belem. The comer joins on
the Calle del Carmen. The saint holds a bunch of
lilies in his left hand, and a crucifix in his right. It
is pretty good. The elegant figure of the young
Jesus stands on a globe, embracing His cross, over
the rich portal which opens on the public walk
called the Eambla. His carvings are also to be met
with in other churches of the province. He died at
Barcelona in 1658- Agustino Pujol of Villafranca,
who is also supposed to have gone to Italy for
instruction, was likewise an able sculptor. Cean
Bermudez speaks with high admiration of the know-
ledge of composition displayed in his bas-reliefs,
and the grandeur of his draperies. At Barcelona he
made a noble design for a high altar for the church
of St. Mary of the Sea, but the work being entrusted
to an intriguing rival, who carved galley-stems in
the arsenal, he retired in disgust to Tarragona, where
he died in an hospital, in 1643, aged 58 years. He
executed a fine Cracifix, and other works, for the
Carthusians of Scala Dei, and several saintly statues
for the parish church of Martorel.
A fairer field of art awaits us at Valencia. X6tiva,
an ancient town of that delicious region, hung
amongst cypresses and palms on a hill overlooking
the vale of the Guadamar, the cradle of the Borgias,
OH. X.
Agustino
Pujol.
Valencia.
Josef de
Bibera.
888 REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X. and so faithful to the house of Austria, in the war of
the succession, that the victorious Bourbon changed
its name to San Felipe,^ is also notable as the birth-
place of the painter Josef de Ribera. Neapolitan
writers have claimed him as a native of Qallipoli on
the Gulf of Otranto ; and they assert that he was the
son of a Spanish officer of its fortress, by a wife of
that place, and that his practice of vmting himself
on his pictures, " Spaniard of Xd^tiva," arose from
mere vainglory, and a desire to show that, by blood
at least, he belonged to the ruling nation.* Cean
Bermudez, however, has set the question at rest, by
discovering the register of his baptism, by which it
appears that he was bom at XAtiva on the 1 2th of
January 1588, and that his parents were named
Luis Ribera and Margarita Gil. They sent him, in
his boyhood, to be educated for a learned profession,
at the university of Valencia, which, however, the
bent of his inclination led him to forsake for the
school of Francisco Bibalta. His youthful talents
there obtained for him s6me distinction; and some
of his works of this period, were said, although on
doubtful authority, to hang in the library of the
convent of the Temple.
1 The original name was restored, by a decree of Cortes, in 1837.
Widdrington's Spain and the Spaniards in 1843, vol. 11. p. 328.
' Bernardo de Dominlci, Vite dei Pittori, ' Scultori, ed Arehitetti,
Napolitani, 3 tomes 4to, Napoli, 1742-3, tom. iii. p. 1-2, where his fother
is called Antonio Ribera, and his mother Dorotea Caterina IndellL
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
889
By what means he found his way to Italy, history
does not inform us. But it is certain that he was
at Borne at a very early age, and in a very desti-
tute condition ; subsisting on crusts, and clad in
rags, and endeavouring to improve himself in art by
copying the frescoes on the fa9ades of palaces, or at
the shrines at the comers of streets. His indigence
and his industry attracting the notice of a com-
passionate Cardinal, who, from his coach-window,
happened to see him at work, that dignitary pro-
vided him with clothes, and with food and lodging
in his own palace. Bibera, however, needed the
spur of want to arouse him to exertion ; he found
that to be clad in decent raiment, and to fare plenti-
fully every day, weakened his powers of application ;
and therefore, after a short trial of a life in clover,
beneath the shelter of the purple, he returned to
his poverty and to his studies in the streets. The
benevolent Cardinal was, at first, highly incensed
at his departure, and when he next saw him, rated
him soundly as an ungrateful little Spaniard; but
being informed of his motives, and observing his
diligence, he admired his stoical resolution, and
renewed his offers of protection, which, however,
Bibera thankfully declined. This adventure, and
his abilities, soon distinguished him amongst the
crowd of young artists : he became known by the
name which still belongs to him, Lo Spagnoletto,
CH. X.
Ribenin
Italy.
PoTerty.
Induftry.
CaU6d<*Lo
Spagno-
letto."
VOL. HL
890
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X.
TraTels.
Goes to
Naples.
and as an imitator of Michael Angelo Caravaggio,
the bold handling of whose works, and their power-
ful effects of light and shade, pleased his strong but
somewhat coarse mind. But he also copied several
works of Rafael, and carefully studied the works
of the Garacci in the Famese palace, with much
benefit, as he himself confessed, to his style.^
Having scraped a little money together, he like-
wise visited Farma and Modena, to examine the
masterpieces of Correggio, with which those cities
abounded ; ^ and some of the Spaniard's subsequent
works, those in the chapel of S^ Maria Bianca, in
the church of the Incurables at Naples, were con-
sidered by the critics as admirable imitations of the
soft Correggiesque style.*
Finding Bome overstocked with artists, and
having had a quarrel with Domenichino, which,
perhaps, rendered it unpleasant for him to remain
in the same city, he determined to remove to Naples.
His purse, at this time, was so low that he was
obliged to leave his cloak in pawn at his inn, in
order to clear his score, or to obtain money for the
journey. It was probably in the southern capital
that he became the scholar of Caravaggio, a ruffianly
painter of ruffians, who had fled thither to escape
^ Dominici, torn. iL p. 3.
• Dominicl ; and Lanzi, torn. iv. p. 107.
' Supra, chap. ix. p. 756.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
891
punishment for a homicide which he had perpe-
trated at Rome. He cannot, however, have been
very long benefited by the instruction, or depraved
by the example of this master, who spent the latter
portion of his turbulent life at Malta, and escaped
from deserved durance in that island, only to die
of a sunstroke, in 1609. Fortune now began to
smile upon him, and threw him in the way of a rich
picture-dealer, who gave him some employment, and
was so charmed with his genius that he offered him
his beautiful and well-dowered daughter in marriage.
The Valencian, being no less proud than poor, at
first resented the proposal as an unseasonable
pleasantry upon his forlorn condition; but at last
finding that it was made in good faith, he took the
good the gods provided, and at once stepped out of
solitary indigence into the possession of a fair wife,
a comfortable home, a present field of profitable
labour, and a prospect of future opulence.
Ease and prosperity now rather stimulated than
relaxed his exertions. Choosing for his subject the
Flaying of St. Bartholomew, he painted that horrible
martyrdom, in a composition with figures of life-size,
with a fidelity to nature so accurate and frightful,
that when exposed to the public in the street — per-
haps at the door of the picture-dealer — ^it immedi-
ately attracted a crowd of shuddering gazers. The
place of exhibition being within view of the royal
CH. X.
Marries a
rich wife.
Introduc-
tion to the
vice-regal
court.
892
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X.
Appointed
court-
painter.
Faotion of
painters,
headed by
Ribera.
Belisario
Corenzio.
palace, the eccentric Viceroy Don Pedro Giron,
Duke of Ossuna/ who chanced to be taking the
air on his balcony, inquired the cause of the unusual
concourse, and ordered the picture and the artist to
be brought into his presence. Being well pleased
with both, he bought the one for his own gallery,
and appointed the other his court-painter, with a
monthly salary of sixty doubloons, and the super-
intendence of all decorations in the palace.
The Neapolitans were equally astonished and
chagrined at the promotion of their Spagnoletto ;
and began to stand in awe of his well-known arro-
gance and malice, which they had formerly derided
or resented. Looking upon him as the possessor of
the Viceroy's ear, they immediately began to ply
him with gifts and adulation. He was soon at the
head of a faction of painters, that endeavoured, by
intrigue and violence, and for a while with signal
success, to command a monopoly of public favour.
Amongst these, Belisario Corenzio, by birth a Greek,
and a scholar of the Cavaliere d'Arpino, was pre-
eminent in audacity and address.^ His impudent
depreciations of a Madonna, painted by Annibal
Caracci, for a new church of the Jesuits, induced
those tasteless fathers to transfer a large commission
^ For some excellent stories of this whimsical humourist and lover of
practical jokes, see Voyage en Espagne, i2mo, Cologne, 1667, pp. 3i6-32a
> Dominici, torn. iL p. 296.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
893
for pictures &om that artist to himself; and his
persecutions finally drove the great Bolognese from
Naples, and caused him to undertake the fatal
journey to Rome, in the dog-days, which ended in
his death. By fawning on Ribera, and by giving
him sumptuous dinners, he obtained the place of
painter to the Viceroy, an honour which he might
have honourably attained, by means of his pencil
Gianbattista Caracciolo,^ a native Neapolitan, and a
tolerable imitator of the style of Annibal Caracci,
relying on his own favour with the nobility, at first
withstood the Valencian and Greek usurpers ; but
finding himself overborne by their superior interest,
at length consented to join their villainies.*
The conspiracy of these three miscreants, to get
themselves employed to paint the great chapel of St.
Januarius, is one of the most curious and disgraceful
passages in the history of Italian art^' Like warring
priests, they conceived that a pious end justified
the use of the basest means. They hesitated not
at fraud, violence, or murder, in order to obtain an
occasion of preaching, by the silent eloquence of the
pencil, the truths and the charities of the Christian
faiths The chapel is that sumptuous portion of the
Cathedral of Naples, known as the Treasury, rich in
OH. X.
Gumbat-
tiitaCarao-
dolo.
ContMt for
the ohapel
of St.
Janoarius.
^ Sometimes called Battistiello or Battistelli.
* Dominici, torn, ii p. 281. ' Lanzi, tom. ii. pp. 323-5.
894
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X.
D'Arpino.
Guido.
Gesd and
hisf
tants.
marble and gold, and, in the opinion of the faithful,
yet richer in its two celebrated flasks of the con-
gealed blood of St. Januarius. The commissioners
to whom the selection of the artists was left seem
to have been men of some taste, but still greater
timidity. They first entrusted the task to the
Cavaliere d'Arpino, then at work at the Chartreuse
of Naples. Him Bibera and his crew immediately
assailed with all kinds of persecution ; and at last
drove him to take shelter with the Benedictines
of Monte Cassino. Guido was next chosen. His
servant was, soon after, soundly thrashed by two
•hired bravos, and ordered to tell his master that the
same treatment was in store for himself, if he laid
a brush upon the walls of St. Januarius; a hint
which drove him also from the city. The dangerous
honour was then accepted by Gessi, an able scholar
of Guido. He arrived at Naples with two assistants,
named Buggieri and Menini, who were soon after-
wards inveigled on board a galley in the bay, and
were never more heard of. The commissioners now
gave in : they allotted the frescoes of the chapel to
the Greek and Neapolitan ruffians, Corenzio and
Caracciolo, and the altar-pieces to the Spaniard, who
actually commenced their labours. But, either be-
cause they had discovered the guilt of these wretches,
or because they repented of the choice from motives
of taste, or from mere caprice, the commissioners
ohino.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 895
again changed their minds, and with a levity worthy ch. x.
of their former pusillanimity, ordered the faction to
desist, and to make way for Domenichino. Fore- ^^;^'
seeing the danger to which he would be exposed, his
employers offered him a handsome remuneration, and
they obtained from the Viceroy an idle menace
against any one who should molest him. The
triumvirate, enraged at their discomfiture, were now
more inveterate and more active than ever. No
sooner had the unfortunate Domenichino taken
possession of the field, than they commenced their
offensive operations. They harassed him with anony-
mous letters full of dark hints and threats ; they
slandered his character ; they talked contemptuously
of his works ; they bribed the plasterers to mix ashes
with the mortar on which his frescoes were to be
painted. Ribera persuaded the Viceroy to order
certain pictures of the poor artist, and treacherously
carried them off before his slow and fastidious hand
had brought them to perfection, or re-touched and
ruined them before they met the great man's eye.
Growing desperate, the victim, who was now some-
what old and corpulent, retired from the contest,
and nearly killed himself by a gallop to Rome ; but
being, in an evil hour, persuaded to return, he
resumed his labours and his miseries; and, soon
afi;er, died of a broken heart, not without suspicion
of poison, in 1 64 1. It is a satisfaction to know that
896
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X«
Lanfianoo.
Neapolitan
story of the
close of
Ribera's
life.
the conspirators did not, after all, gain possession of
the chapel, for which they had fought vnth so much
wicked energy. The Neapolitan died in the same
year as Domenichino; the Greek, abready an old
man, two years later. The Valencian painted only
a single altar-piece, a grand composition, on a sub-
ject well suited to his gloomy genius, and represent-
ing St. Januarius, amongst his baffled tormentors,
issuing from the furnace unscathed, like a second
Daniel, at Nola, in the days of Diocletian.^ Lan-
franco executed the fine frescoes of the dome,
and finished the chapel; and thus an artist, who,
although a friend, does not seem to have been an
accomplice of the faction, reaped the chief benefit
of its crimes.
The Neapolitans, who hated Bibera for his country
and for his arrogance, with true Italian hatred, have
a tradition which brings his story to a close with
somewhat of poetical justice.* When Don Juan of
Austria came to Naples in 1648, they say that the
Valencian entertained him at an ostentatious musical
party, and that he became enamoured of Maria Rosa,
the painter^s eldest daughter, who was remarkable
for her beauty and grace. Dancing with her at
balls, and visiting her under pretence of admiring
^ Villegas, Flos Sanctorum^ p. 446. The picture is described at great
length in Dominicl, torn. iiL p. S.
* Dominici, torn. iiL pp. 20, 21.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 897
her father's pictures, the Prince sighed and the ch. x .
maiden yielded ; he carried her to Sicily ; and when
his passion was cloyed, he placed her in a convent
at Palermo. Stnng with shame, the father sank into
profound melancholy : he retired to a house at Pausi-
lippo, where he and his wife spent the time in con-
jugal strife and recrimination on the subject of their
disaster ; and, finally, he forsook his family and dis-
appeared from Naples, leaving his end a mystery.
This story is treated as a mere fable by Cean SpanUb
" acoonnt.
Bermudez, who, departing from his usual candour,
is silent as to the misdeeds of his countryman.
According to him, the life of the Valendan at Naples
glided on in an uninterrupted flow of prosperity.
The unknown adventurer, who had stolen into the
city without a cloak to his back or a real in his
pocket, occupied sumptuous apartments in the vice-
regal palace ; he maintained a large retinue of liveried
lackeys ; and his wife took the air in her coach,
with a waiting gentleman to attend upon her, like
the proudest dame that glittered in the Strada di
Toledo. Six hours each morning he devoted to
the labours of the pencil ; the rest of the day was
given to the pleasures of life, to visiting or receiving
the best company of Naples. Whatever were his
quarrels with Italian artists, he was always on ex-
cellent terms with the Spanish Viceroys. Each
successor of Ossuna — Alba, the art-loving Monterey,
SgS
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
ca X.
Ribera'8
philo-
■opher'f
stone.
Arcos, smnptaoos Medina de las Torres, stem Oflate
— ^was, in tnm, his friend and mnnificent patron.
In 1630 the Boman Academy of St. Lake enrolled
him amongst its members. In 1644 Innocent X.
sent the cross of the Order of Christ ^ to the per-
petrator or instigator of crimes which merited the
galleys. And in 1656 he died at Naples, in the
enjoyment of riches, honours, and tame.
Bibera seems to have been a man of considerable
social talent, lively in conversation, and dealing in
playful wit and amusing sarcasm. His Neapolitan
biographer ' relates that two Spanish officers, visit-
ing at his house one day, entered upon a serious
discussion upon alchemy. The host, finding their
talk somewhat tedious, gravely informed them that
he himself happened to be in possession of the
philosopher's stone, and that they might, if they
pleased, see his way of using it next morning at his
studio. The military adepts were punctual to the
appointment, and found their friend at work, not in
a mysterious laboratory, but at his easel, on a half-
length picture of St Jerome. Entreating them to
restrain their eagerness, he painted steadily on,
1 Dominici, torn. iiL p. i8, conld not discover the order of knighthood
to which Ribera belonged, although there remained traditionary evidence
that he enjoyed knightly rank. I have followed Cean Bermudez in adopt-
ing the statement of Palomino, torn. iiL p. 481.
> Dominici, torn. iiL p. 18.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 899
finished his picture, sent it out by his servant, and
received a small rouleau in return. This he broke
open in the presence of his visitors, and throwing
ten golden doubloons on the table, said, " Learn of
me how gold is to be made ; I do it by painting,
you by serving his Majesty; diligence in business
is the true alchemy." The officers departed some-
what crestfallen, neither relishing the jest, nor
reaping much benefit from the enunciation of a
precept which doubtless had ever been the rule of
their predatory practice at Naples.
Although the Spagnoletto was diminutive in
stature, — whence his popular appellation, — he pos-
sessed considerable personal advantages ; his com-
plexion was dark, his features well-formed and
pleasing, and his air and presence befitted the great
name which he bore. His portrait — tolerably
engraved by Alegre,^ in which he has depicted him-
self with flowing' cavalier-like locks, and holding in
his hand a sketch of a grotesque head — is widely
known by prints. The name of his rich wife was
Leonora Cortese, or Cortes ; she loved to display her
charms and her finery at the gala and the revel ; and
she bore her husband five children, two of whom
died in infancy. Their son, Antonio, lived the easy
life of a private gentleman, in the enjoyment of his
^ Amongst the EspaHoles Ilustres,
CH. X.
His per-
son:
portraiti
wife,
children,
900
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X. father's gains ; their two daughters, Maria Rosa and
Annicca, were both remarkable for their beauty, and
the latter became the wife of Don Tommaso Manzano,
who held an appointment in the War Office.^ Ribera
did not remain contented all his life with his apart-
houfle, ments in the viceregal palace ; and his last house
was a spacious and sumptuous mansion in front of
the church of St. Francis Xavier, and at the comer
of the Strada di Nard6, which afterwards became the
residence of his fortunate scholar, Luca Giordano.
schoian. Of the disciplcs of the Valencian, none more success-
fully imitated his style than Giovanni D6, whose
works were frequently confounded with his; and
Aniello Falcone, the battle-painter, and the great
Salvator Bosa himself, likewise received instruction
in his school
fop^ty Few Italian artists are better known in Italy than
Ribera. At Naples no new church with any preten-
sions to splendour, no convent with any character
for taste, was thought complete without some of his
gloomy studies. The Jesuits employed him largely
in their stately temples dedicated to Jesus and St.
Francis Xavier; for the Carthusians he painted a
celebrated " Descent from the Cross ; " noble votaries
of St. Januarius adorned their palaces with his pic-
tures of that holy and incombustible being ; ' and his
^ Dominici, torn. iii. p. 19.
* Supra, p. 896.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
901
scraggy sackcloth-girt St. Jeromes and red-eyed
St. Peters were scattered over the whole wilderness
of Neapolitan shrines. In Spain he was held in
almost equal honour; and his works were more
widely diffused than those of Velazquez himself.
Philip IV. heing one of his most constant patrons,
his works abounded at the Escorial and the Alcazar,
and were also fashionable in the churches and con-
vents of Madrid. The nuns of S*^ Isabel hung over
their high altar one of his Virgins of the Conception,
in which they caused Claudio Coello to re-paint the
head because they had heard the scandal about Don
Juan of Austria, and believed their Immaculate Lady
to be a portrait of the peccant Maria Rosa.^ Sala-
manca possessed a number of his pictures in the
fine nunnery built out of the spoils of provinces by
Monterey, for whom they were painted. Specimens
of his pencil were likewise to be found at Vittoria
and Granada, Cordoba, Valladolid, and Zaragoza.
His ordinary style is familiar to all Europe. At
St. Petersburg, as weU as at Madrid, it is pro-
verbial how
''Spagnoletto tainted
His brush with aU the blood of aU the sainted." >
No Van Huysum ever lingered over the dewy breast
of a rose, or the downy wing of a tiger-moth, no
* Supra, p. 896.
' Byron, Den Juan^ canto xiii st 71.
CH. X.
and in
Spain.
Style.
Fondness
for horrors.
902 REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
cn-_^' Vanderwerf ever dwelt on the ivory limbs of Ariadne,
with more fondness than was displayed by Eibera in
elaborating the wrinkles of St. Anthony the Hermit,
or the bloodstained bosom of the martyr Sebastian,
bristling with the shafts of Diocletian's archers.
His strength lay in the delineation of anatomy, his
pleasure in seizing the exact expression of the most
hideous pain. St. Bartholomew flayed alive, now
in the Queen of Spain's gallery,* Cato of Utica tear-
ing out his own entrails, in the Louvre,* are master-
pieces of horror, too frightful to be remembered
without a shudder. Of Ixion on the wheel, in the
Royal Gallery of Madrid," the tale is told, that being
bought for a large price by Burgomaster Uffel of
Amsterdam, it so wrought on the imagination of his
good dame in her pregnancy, that she brought forth
a babe with hands incurably clenched, like those of
Juno's lover in the picture. The shocked parents
immediately got rid of their Ixion ; it was carried
back to Italy, and, in time, found its way to the
royal collection in Spain.* It is a curious example of
the perversity of the human mind, that subjects like
these should have been the chosen recreations of an
eye that opened in infancy on the palms and the fair
1 Catdlogo [1843], No. 42 [edition 1889, No. 989].
^ GaL Esp., No. 241. [Louis-Philippe collection, sold 1853.]
s Catdlogo [1843], Na 484 [edition 1889, No. 1005].
^ Palomino, torn. iiL p. 464.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
903
women of Valencia, and rested for half a lifetime
on the splendours of the Bay of Naples. The jealous
implacable Spaniard was indeed cursed with the evil
eye, seeing frightful visions in the midst of sunshine
and beautv —
" Omnia subfascans mortis nigrore." ^
He did not, however, always paint in this savage
and revolting style. At the Escorial there is a large
picture by him of Jacob watering the flock of Laban,*
in which the figure of the shepherd-patriarch is re-
markable for its dignity and grace. The Cathedral
of Valencia has an " Adoration of the Shepherds,"
a subject which he often painted, wherein the dark-
eyed mother of God is a model of calm and stately
beauty. But perhaps the picture which best displays
the vigour of his pencil is that of ** Jacob's Dream,'' in
the Queen of Spain's gallery.* The composition con-
sists of nothing more than a wayworn monk, in his
brown frock, lying asleep beneath a stump of a tree,
with his head pillowed on a stone; whilst the
phantom-ladder and a few angel shapes are dimly
indicated afar oflf, in the clouds, merely to give a
name to the picture. The deep slumber of weariness
^ Lucretius, lib. iiL 1. 39.
* In the Loavre there is a repetition of this picture, ascribed to Murillo.
Gal. Esp., No. 146 [sold 1853].
* Hepeated in the Louvre. GaL Esp., No. 220 [sold 1853].
^ Catdlogo [1843], ^o- ii^ [edition 1S89, No. 982].
OH. X.
Works of a
more pleas-
ing char-
acter.
Jacob's
Dream.
904
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X.
Portraits.
was never more exactly represented : you pause
instinctively in approaching the sleeper, and tread
softly ; you think you see his bosom heave, and hear
his measured respiration.
Ribera painted portraits in a style which few artists
have excelled. In the National Museum at Madrid
there is a full-length picture of the Duke of Modena,
doubtless the friend and sitter of Velazquez,^ a
handsome olive-complexioned prince, in a suit of
black velvet and an ample black cloak ; and a half-
length of a military commander, in a buff coat and
with spectacles of the most modish magnitude on
* Supra, chap. ix. pp. 726, 755.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 905
his nose ; ^ both ascribed to his pencil, and executed ch. x >
with a force and spirit which are worthy of the
great master of Castile, and render his atrabilarious
jealousy of other artists quite unaccountable and
inexcusable. His sketches, executed with the pen, sketchM.
or with red chalk, were finished with great care,
and highly esteemed by collectors. He etched Etching*,
twenty-six plates^ from his own pictures or designs,
with much neatness. Of this series, Cean Bermudez
esteemed '' Silenus with Satyrs and Bacchantes " ' as
the best and rarest; and there is also a spirited
portrait of Don Juan of Austria, on horseback,
with a view of Naples in the background, signed
''Jusepe de Rivera, f. 1648," in which the head
was afterwards changed by another hand to that
of the bastard's half-brother Charles II., and the
date to 1670.^ Several of these etchings bear the
painter's monogram, ^^&^ Ji^
Est^ban March was bom at the end of the i^uban
sixteenth century at Valencia, where he passed his
life in the practice of his profession as a painter.
His master was Pedro Orrente,* from whom he
learned to colour with somewhat of Venetian
^ Supra, chap. ix. p. 751, note 2. * [See supra, chap. ix. p. 701.]
• Le Feintre Graveur, par Adam Bartsch, 20 tomes, 8vo, Vienne,
1803-21, torn. XX. pp. 79-87. Bartsch enumerates only eighteen of
Ribera's etchings, besides one which he mentions as of doubtful au-
thenticity.
* [Supra, chap. vii. p. 585.]
VOL. lu. p
March.
go6
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X.
Stnuige
method of
■todj.
Paints
battles.
richness. Eccentric in character, and violent in
temperament, he appears to have resembled the
elder Herrera, as well in his reckless habits of life,
as in his dashing style of painting. Battles being
his favourite subjects, his studio was hung round
with pikes, cutlasses, javelins, and other muniments
of war, which he used in a very peculiar and
boisterous manner. As the mild and saintly Joanes
was wont to prepare himself for his daily task by
prayer and fasting, so his riotous countryman used
to excite his imagination to the proper creative
pitch by beating a drum, or blowing a trumpet,
and then assaulting the walls of his chamber with
sword and buckler, laying about him, like another
Don Quixote, with a blind enei^ that told severely
on the plaster and the furniture, and drove his
terrified scholars or assistants to seek safety in
flight. Having thus lashed himself into a sufficient
frenzy, he performed miracles, says Palomino,^ in
the field of battle-painting; throwing off many
bold and spirited pictures of Pharaoh and his host
struggling in the angry waters, or mailed Christians
quelling the turbaned armies of the Crescent. One
of his pictures on the first of these subjects is in
the Queen of Spain's gallery,' which likewise
1 Palomino, torn, iii p. 476.
* Catdlogo [1843]* No. 546 [edition 1889, Na 780].
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
907
possesses an encampment of Turks/ painted by
him. He delighted in whatever was coarse and
repulsive, preferring rough unkempt heads, skins
shrivelled with age and sun, and the bloodshot eye
of intemperance, to the damask peach-like cheek
of young beauty, and
** those doves' eyes,
which can make gods fonwom." *
A pair of old leering drunkards, with faces like that
of Bardolph, as described by Huellen, " all bubukles,
and whelks, and knobs, and flames o' fire," *' a man
with a wine-cup, and a woman with a bottle, are
amongst the most forcible and hideous heads in the
Royal Gallery of Madrid.*
He sometimes painted religious subjects, but not
with the vigour and verisimilitude which he dis-
played in those of vulgar nature. Palomino, how-
ever, commends his " Last Supper," executed for the
church of San Juan del Mercado. For the Fran-
ciscan friars of Valencia, also, he painted two
miracles of St. Francis de Paula, representing that
holy man causing, like another Moses, water to gush
from a rock, to quench the thirst of certain soldiers,
and bringing a live lamb out of a kiln of quicklime.
CH. X.
Coarse sub-
jeoti.
Religious
piotorea.
> Catdlogo [1843], No. 292 [edition 1889, No. 781].
' Coriolanus, act v. sc. 3, U. 27, 28.
' Henry K.» act iii. sc. 6.
« Catdlogo [1843], Nob. 316, 318 [edition 1889, Nos. 783-4].
9o8
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X.
Kcoentric
and du-
orderlj
habiti.
In the shaggy beard and attenuated form of St
Jerome he found a congenial subject,^ which he has
treated with his usual strength, in a picture now
in the Queen of Spain's collection. As a painter of
battles, he was undoubtedly an artist of high merit ;
and although few critics will agree with Palomino,
that his works are ** stupendous, and worthy of
eternal remembrance," few will withhold from them
the more measured praise of Cean Bermudez, for
brilliancy of tone, and for the skill with which the
dust, smoke, and dense atmosphere of the combat
are depicted.
The eccentric and disorderly manners of March
were not confined to his painting-room. Being of a
loose and idle disposition, he would work only when
compelled by want, or when the fit, the cacoethes
pingendif was strong upon him. At other times he
absented himself from his house, and kept very late
hours, to the great annoyance of his wife. Receiv-
ing him when he came home, on these occasions,
with the usual conjugal asperity, the poor woman
drew upon herself the tempest of rage which at
other times he wreaked upon his walls. She con-
sulted her confessor as to the best means of reclaim-
ing him ; and the good man, owning that it was
a hard case, suggested the obvious and only re-
* CcUdlogo [1843], No. 544 [edition 1889, No. 782].
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
909
medies, gentleness and endearments, instead of com-
plaints and reproaches. This advice she endeavoured
to follow, but with no good result, " for," says Palo-
mino, "the wild beast was not to be tamed by
caresses, and many strange passages took place
between them, which, being somewhat indecent, I
forbear to describe."
He ventures, however, to record one of the least
objectionable. The painter had gone out betimes
one day, leaving neither meat nor money in the
house, and was absent till past midnight, when he
returned with a few fish, which he insisted on having
instantly dressed for supper. The wife said there
was no oil ; and Juan Conchillos, one of the pupils,
being ordered to fetch some, objected that all the
shops were shut up. ** Then take linseed-oil," cried
the impetuous March, " for, 'por Dios^ I will have
these fish presently fried." The mess was therefore
served with this unwonted sauce, but no sooner
tasted than it began to act as a vigorous emetic
upon the whole party, ** for, indeed," says Palomino
gravely, "linseed-oil, at all times of a villanous
flavour, when hot is the very devil." ^ Without more
ado, the master of the feast threw fish and frying-
pan out of the window; and Conchillos, knowing
OH. X.
AdTanture
of the fish
fried in
linseed-oU.
^ Palomino, torn, iii p. 476. < * Porqne el acey te de linasa gustado ea in-
fame, y hervido ea nua peate.** He aeema to apeak from experience, and
I, for one, am willing to take hia word for it
910
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X.
Miguel
March.
his humour, flung the earthen chafing-dish and
charcoal after them. March was delighted with
this sally, and embracing the youth, he lifted him
from the floor, putting him in bodily fear, as he
told Palomino in his old age, that he was about to
follow the coals and viands into the street. As for
the poor weary wife, she thought of her crockery,
and remarking in a matter-of-fact way, ** What shall
we have for supper now ? " went to bed ; whither
her husband, pleased with the frolic of spoiling his
meal, and breaking his dishes, seems to have
followed her in a more complacent humour than
was usual with him. The facetious pranks and
chamber sword-play of this whimsical man came
to an end in 1660, when he died, at a good old age,
in his native city.
His son and scholar, Miguel March, bom in 1633,
being thus freed from a thraldom which he and his
fellow-disciples found suflSciently irksome, went to
study at Rome. At his return to Valencia, he fol-
lowed his father's trade of painting battles and
miracles, but with far less spirit and success. For
the Capuchin friars and nuns of the city, he executed
several passages from the life of their patron, St.
Francis de Paula, and a " Calvary" for the church of
San Miguel ; and also eight pictures of the Saviour's
Passion, which perhaps still exist, for the parish
church of Carcaxente. If a man of less genius than
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 911
his father, he was also less of a savage ; his drawing ch, x .
and colouring were agreeable ; ^ and he died at
Valencia in 1670.
Fray Agustin Leonardo, a native of the kingdom Fny
Ag^ustin
of Valencia, is supposed to have taken the habit of Leonardo.
the Order of Mercy at Xdtiva. In 1620, he was a
brother of the convent of that order at Puig, near
Valencia, where he painted for the sacristy four large
pictures of the finding of the image of Our Lady of
Puig, an idol of great fame ; the Siege of Valencia,
and its surrender to King Jayme the Conqueror,
and the battle of Puig, in which St. George fought
in person on the side of the Christians. These
paintings were used in 1 738, to adorn the fa9ade of
the Valencian convent of Mercy, during the festival
in which the city celebrated the fourth centenary of
its deliverance from the infidel. Leonardo afterwards
visited Seville, where he painted a picture, which
may perhaps exist in the Museum or elsewhere, of
Our Lord and the woman of Samaria at the well,
signed ''Frater Augustinus Leonardo Hispanus, in-
ventor faciehat Hispali die 4 Junii anno Dni 1624."
Prieto, General of his order, called him to Madrid
in 1624-5, when he painted two pictures for the
great staircase of the convent of Mercy. His works
possessed some merit, says Cean Bermudez, in draw-
^ Palomino, torn. iiL p. 554.
I 9^2
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. X.
JMisio
Oer6nimo
deEipi'
ing and composition, but were harshly coloured. He
was thought to excel in portraituie, and executed a
likeness of the poet Grabriel Bocingel, who praised
it in a sonnet, declaring, that between the poet and
the pictnre it was hard to tell —
** Qnal el pintado ea, 6 qaal el Yivo." ^
The time and place of his death remain uncertain,
but it probably happened in Valencia soon after
1640.
Jacinto Gerdnimo de Espinosa was the son of
Rodriguez de Espinosa' and Aldonza li^o, and was
bom at Cocentayna, on the 20th of July, 1600. He
became the disciple in painting of his father, and
is supposed to have also studied both at Valencia
under Francisco Ribalta, and in Italy. In his
twenty-third year, he was at Valencia painting a
picture of Our Lord, known as the " Christ of the
Rescue," in the convent of S**- Tecla ; and he appears
to have settled in that city, where he married N.
de Castro, who died in 1648. In 1638, he painted
eight large pictures for the cloister, and other works
for the convent of the Carmelites, for which he was
paid 800 pounds of Aragonese money. No painter
was ever more industrious, or more popular, and
^ For similar eulogies on pictures, by Martial, Lope de Vega, and
Cowley, see supra, chap. yii. p. 505, and note.
' Supra, chap. yii. p. 584.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 913
few more prolific or more pious. The plague ap- ch. x.
pearing at Valencia in 1647, he placed himself and
his family under the guardianship of San Luis
Beltran, who not only preserved, by his intercession,
the whole household from contc^ion, but cured the
master of water in the brain. For these benefits,
therefore, Espinosa vowed to his protector a series
of pictures, which he placed, in 1655, in San Luis's
chapel, in the convent of San Domingo. After
executing pictures for almost every town within the
dominions of Valencia, he died in that city in 1680,
and was buried in the church of St. Martin. In
many of his works he was assisted by his son Miguel Miguel
Geronimo, who imitated his style with moderate deSepi-
success, and does not appear to have survived him.
The Museum of Valencia contains many of his Worki.
picture, some of high merit, and little inferior to
the works of the Bibaltas, to which they bear a
strong family resemblance. One of the finest is
" Christ appearing to St. Ignatius Loyola," in which
the character of that stem passionless face is well
preserved: it is of life size, and signed '' Hieron.
Jadn^ de Espinosa^ ano 1653." Another excellent
specimen of his skill, although in a very ruinous
condition, is the " Communion of Mary Magdalene,"
in which that loving saint is represented kneeling in
her wonted sackcloth and luxuriant hair, to receive
the Eucharist from the hands of a priest clad in
914
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CGS. X.
Oarcia
Ferrer.
crimson robes, very like that gorgeous dalmatique
still preserved in the Patriarch's college, for which
it was embroidered by good Queen Margaret.^ St.
Luis Beltran on his bier, with the priest bending
over him to kiss his cold hand, probably one of the
pictures of his thank-offering to the saint,^ is like-
wise painted in a masterly style. A fourth composi-
tion, inferior as a work of art to these, and still more
injured by time, deserves notice as a record of one
of the most impudent fictions with which priestcraft
ever encumbered a religious faith. It represents a
stiff and sturdy Dominican, confronting a mounted
cavalier, whom he has probably been rebuking for
his ungodly life, and who, wishing to put an end
to the sermon, has drawn from his holster a pistol,
whereof the trigger being pulled converts, not the
monk into a martyr, but the barrel of the instru-
ment into a cross, bearing the efiSgy of the crucified
Redeemer.'
The licentiate Garcia Ferrer was an ecclesiastic
and painter of some reputation of Valencia. He
painted some pictures for the altar of San Vincente
Ferrer, in the convent of St. Domingo; and Don
Mariano Ferrer, Secretary of the Academy of San
Carlos, possessed a "Crucifixion," by him, bearing
^ Supia, chap. vii. p. 480. ' Sapra, p. 913.
* The picture is No. 112 in the Mnseo. The red-haired cavalier ia
the Marqaes de Albaida, the monk St. LniB Beltran himsell
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 915
the date 1632, which was approved by Cean Ber-
mndez. He is said to have practised his art at
Madrid.
Gregorio Bausd was bom in the island of Majorca
in 1590, and died at Valencia in 1656. He was the
scholar of Francisco Bibalta, and painted the holy
achievements of St. Luis Beltran, and other popular
religious subjects, for the churches and convents,
with considerable reputation.
Vicente Guirri, a native of Valencia, became a
friar in the Augustine convent of that city in 1608,
and devoted his time to prayer and penitence, and
to the execution of devotional pictures, within its
walls, till 1640, when he died.
Pablo Pontons, likewise a Valencian by birth,
was the scholar and imitator of Pedro Orrente.
The convent of Mercy was largely adorned with
the productions of his pencil ; and he painted, with
Jac. Qer. de Espinosa, four esteemed pictures for
St. Mary's church, at Morella. His last known
work, a portrait of a friar, which hung in the library
of the convent of Mercy, bore the date 1668.
Tomas de Yepes flourished at Valencia about
1642, as a painter of '* bodegones," fish, and meats,
but especially fruit and flowers, which he depicted
with great neatness of execution and brilliancy of
colour. He died at Valencia, in 1674, and was
buried in the church of San Est^ban.
CH. X.
Qregorio
BauBi.
Vicente
Guirri.
Pablo Pon-
tons.
Tomas de
Tapes.
gi6
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
ca X.
Andres and
Urban
Mano.
Goldsmith.
LuiB Puig.
Andres and Urban Marzo were brothers, and
painters of some credit, at Valencia. The first
executed two pictures of St. Anthony of Padua, one
for the parish church of Santa Cruz, and another
for that of Santa Catalina ; and he also designed
the title-page for a book, published in 1663, by
Don Juan Bautista de Valda, describing the grand
festival held in the city the year before, in cele-
bration of a bull of Alexander VII., proclaiming
the favourite Valencian doctrine of the Immaculate
Conception. Urban painted a picture of " Our
Lord bearing His Cross," in a private collection at
Valencia, and said to be a work of merit.
Luis Puig, a goldsmith, deserves notice as the
maker of a beautiful silver ark, designed to contain
the consecrated Host on Thursdays in the Holy
Week, which cost 5,cxx) ducats, and was presented
in 1630, by the Canon Leonardo de Borja, to his
Cathedral at Valencia.
CHAPTEE XI,
REIGK OF PHILIP IV. 1621-1625 — {mntinued),
HILST Andalusia, fertile
in genius J furnished a
great chief to the school
of Castile, the principal
cities of the province
still possessed some of
the ablest painters that
ever shed a lustre upon
Spanish art.
Diego Vidal de Liendo was bom at Valmaseda in
1602, his mother being sister of the elder Diego
Vidal, canon of Seville.^ Like his uncle, he pro-
bably obtained a knowledge of painting while seek-
ing preferment at Rome, and like him he returned
to Spain a canon of Seville, and an artist of consider-
able skiUp To distinguish him from that relative
CH, XI.
Pfego
Vidal da
liendo.
Supra, chap, vii. p, 557,
9i8
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XL
Franoiaco
de Zurba-
ran.
he is called Yidal the younger. His best works
are in the great sacristy of his Cathedral, and repre-
sent the Crucifixion, St. John, St Mary Magdalene,
and other saintly subjects ; and there is, besides, a
copy by him of Rafael's picture of the archangel
Michael quelling the Evil One. The figures in
these compositions were of life size. Amongst the
various works of art which adorned the canon's
residence Pacheco notices a miniature portrait of
an English boy, painted on ivory, by an English
artist, which surpassed in beauty and delicacy every-
thing of the kind that he had ever seen.^ He died at
Seville in 1648, and was buried in the Cathedral, in
front of the chapel of Our Lady de la Antigua,
Francisco de Zurbaran was bom at Fuente de
Cantos, a small town of Estremadura, situated
amongst the hills of the Sierra that divides that
province from Andalusia, and was baptized there on
the 7th of November, 1598. His first instructions
in art were drawn, says Palomino,* from some for-
gotten painter of that secluded district, who had,
perhaps, been the scholar of Morales during that
great master's sojourn at the neighbouring town
of Frexenal,^ a lonely, straggling, desolate-looking
village, with two churches, on the elevated com
plains on the north of the Sierra Morena, and touch-
^ Pacheoo, Arte de la Pintura, p. 355.
s Palomino, torn. iiL p. 527. ' Supra, chap. ▼. p. 27a
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 919
ing with one end the highroad from Badajoz to ch. xi.
Seville. The elder Zurharan had intended to
hring up his son to his own calling of husbandry,
but, observing his abilities and inclination for paint-
ing, he released him from the plough, and sent him
to the school of the licentiate Juan de Boelas, at
Seville.^ There his talents and his application being
equally extraordinary, soon gained him considerable
reputation. Like Velazquez, he early formed the
resolution that everything which he placed on his
canvas should be copied directly from nature ; and
he would not paint even a piece of drapery without
having it before him on the lay figure. As in the
case of Velazquez, the effects of this patient diligence
were soon observed in his works ; and his delinea-
tions of men and things were faithful and forcible
£Eic-similes of their faces and forms. In the manage-
ment of his lights and shadows, he loved breadth and
strong contrast ; he appears to have imitated the style
of Caravaggio, to whom many of his works might be
readily attributed ; and, on account of this resem-
blance, he has been called the Caravaggio of Spain.
In 1625, he painted for the Cathedral a series of ^?fk8;
^ *- at SeTille.
excellent pictures on the life of the Apostle Peter,
a gift to the dim unworthy chapel of that saint,
from the Marquess of Malagon. The centre-pieces
^ Sapra, chap. viL p. 522.
920
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XI.
Pictareof
8t Thomas
Aqninaa.
in the retablo represent the first bearer of the keys
sitting in pontifical vestments, and his deliverance
from prison by the angel ; and these are flanked by
other passages of his history, snch as his want of
fsEuth in walking the water/ and the vision of unclean
beasts let down in the mysterious sheet.* About
the same time he also executed the grand allegorical
picture, known as ** St. Thomas Aquinas," as an altar-
piece for the college of that saint, justly esteemed
his finest work, and one of the highest achievements
of the Spanish pencil. It now hangs over what was
once the high altar of the friars of Mercy, in the
Museum of Seville. The picture is divided into
three parts, and the figures are somewhat larger
than life. Aloft, in the opening heaven, appear the
Blessed Trinity, the Virgin, St. Paul, and St.
Dominic, and the angelic doctor St. Thomas Aquinas
ascending to join their glorious company ; lower
down, in middle air, sit the four doctors of the
Church, grand and venerable figures, on cloudy
thrones ; and on the ground kneel, on the right
hand, the Archbishop Diego de Deza, founder of
the college,' and on the left, the Emperor Charles V.,
attended by a train of ecclesiastics. The head of
St. Thomas is said to be a portrait of Don Agustin
Abreu Nufiez de Escobar, prebendary of Seville,
> Matt. xiv. 3a
* Actsx. II.
' Supra, chap. il. p. 114.
Pnoleit Ijv 'A']tTrnA.nir, !" ;r
FRANCISCO DE ZURBARAN
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
921
and from the close adherence to Titian's pictures
observable in the grave countenance of the imperial
adorer, it is reasonable to suppose that in the other
historical personages the likeness has been preserved
wherever it was practicable. The dark mild face,
immediately behind Charles, is traditionally held to
be the portrait of Zurbaran himself. In spite of its
blemishes as a composition — which are, perhaps,
chargeable less against the painter than against
his Dominican patrons of the college — and in spite
of a certain harshness of outline, this picture is
one of the grandest of altar-pieces. The colouring
throughout is rich and eflfective, and worthy the
school of Boelas ; the heads are all of them admir-
able studies ; the draperies of the doctors and
ecclesiastics are magnificent in breadth and ampli-
tude of fold ; the imperial mantle is painted with
Venetian splendour ; and the street-view, reced-
ing in the centre of the canvas, is admirable for its
atmospheric depth and distance.
Zurbaran was afterwards called to the great
monastery of Guadalupe, to paint for the Jeronymite
friars eleven pictures on the life of the holy doctor,
their patron saint, and two altar-pieces representing
St ndefonso and St Nicolas Bari, which he exe-
cuted with brilliancy and success. Betuming to
Seville, he was employed at the Chartreuse of Santa
Maria de las Cuevas, one of the fairest mansions of
VOL. III.
CH. XI.
Guada-
lupe;
SeTille:
Chart-
reuse.
922
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XI.
St Bruno,
St. Hugo,
and Virgin.
St. Bruno, notable as having held for a while the
bones of Columbus, rich in Gothic and plateresque
architecture, in sumptuous tombs, plate, and jewels,
carvings, books, and pictures,^ and celebrated by
Navagiero a century before, for its groves of orange
and lemon-trees, on the banks of the Guadalquivir.*
For these well-lodged Carthusians he painted the
three remarkable works now in the Museum at
Seville, representing St. Bruno conversing with Pope
Urban II. ; St. Hugo visiting a refectory, where the
monks were unlawfully dining upon flesh-meat ; and
the Virgin extending her mantle over a company of
Carthusian worthies. In the first of these pictures,
the Pontiff, in a violet robe, and the recluse in
white, with a black cloak, sit opposite to each other,
with a table between them covered with books;
their heads are full of dignity, and all the accessories
finely coloured. In the third, the strangeness of the
subject detracts from the pleasure afforded by the
excellence of the painting. The second is the best
of the three, and is curious as a scene of the old
monastic life of Spain, whence the cowled friar has
passed away like the mailed knight. At a table,
spread with what seems a very frugal meal, sit seven
Carthusians in white, some of them with their high
^ * Ponz, torn. viii. pp. 231-239, and torn. ix. pp. 153- ' 55*
■ And. Navagiero, Viaggio in Spctgna, &c., fol. 14.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 923
peaked hoods drawn over their heads; the aged ch. xi .
Bishop Hugo in purple vestments, and attended by
a page, stands in the foreground ; over the heads of
the monks there hangs a picture of the Virgin, and
an open door affords a glimpse of a distant church.
These venerable friars seem portraits ; each differs
in feature from the other, yet all bear the impress of
long years of solitary and silent penance; their white
draperies chill the eye, as their cold hopeless faces
chill the heart; and the whole scene is brought
before us with a vivid fidelity, which shows that
Zurbaran studied the Carthusian in his native
cloisters with the like close and fruitful attention
that Velazquez bestowed on the courtier strutting
it in the corridors of the Alcazar or the alleys of
Aranjuez. He likewise painted for the shod and churohes
" * and coo-
barefooted friars of the Order of Mercy, a number of ^en*«-
pictures on the life of San Pedro Nolasco, and other
subjects; a variety of works for the Capuchins,
Trinitarians, and the parish churches of San Eoman,
San Esteban, and San Buenaventura; and for the
church of San Pablo a Crucifixion, signed '' Fran-
ciscus de Zurhardtiy f. 1627," and highly extolled for
the relief and roundness of the figure, which rivalled
the effect of carving.^
Before Zurbaran reached the age of thirty-five, he
1 Ponz, torn. ix. p. 89.
924
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XI.
A|>pomted
painter to
the King.
Pioturee
for the
Carthu-
siaoB of
Xeres.
Works at
Buenre-
tiro.
was appointed painter to the King. The exact time
of his promotion, the works or the interest by which
he obtained it, and the date of his first visit to
Madrid, remain unknown. But the great number
of his works in Andalusia, and their rare occurrence
in the capital and in Castile, prove that his life was
principally spent in his native province. In 1633
he finished a series of pictures, of the life of Our
Lord, and of the Evangelists, and other saints, for
the high altar of the fine Chartreuse of Xeres de la
Frontera, of which the vast decaying cloister may
still be seen on the sherry-growing banks of the
Guadalete. One of these pictures bore his signa-
ture, in which he wrote himself painter to the
King.
He was called to court, says Palomino,^ in 1650,
by Velazquez, at the desire of Philip IV., who em-
ployed him to execute for a saloon at Buenretiro
ten works, representing the labours of Hercules,
now in the Queen of Spain's gallery.^ The King,
according to his favourite custom, used to visit
him whilst engaged on these pictures, and on one
occasion expressed his admiration of his powers,
by laying his hand on his shoulder, and calling
him " painter of the King, and king of the painters."
^ Palomino, torn, iii p. 528.
» Catdlogo [1843], Nob. 203, 223, 233, 244, 251, 282, 293, 302, 309, 325
[edition 1889, Nos. 11 22-31]. Cean Bermndez enumerates only fonr.i
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 9^5
CH. XL
death;
wife;
ohildren.
Diaz de Valle mentions that he conversed with
him at Madrid, in 1662, and Palomino asserts that
his death took place there in that year. By his
wife, DoiLa Leonor de Jordera, whom he married
in early life at Seville, he left several children, and
to one of their daughters the chapter of that city
granted, in 1657, the life-rent of a house in the
Calle de Abades. In proof of the esteem in which
the painter was held at Seville, Palomino relates,
that having retired to his native town of Fuente
de Cantos, he was followed thither by a deputation
from the corporation of the city, entreating, not in
vain, his return, a story which Cean Bermudez
considers doubtful and not very probable. His
portrait in the Louvre,^ from which the present
engraving is taken, represents him a man of some
personal advantages, and dressed in the extreme
of the fashion.
Zurbaran was one of the most diligent of painters, woriw.
and his works have found their way into most of
the great galleries of Europe. The Louvre alone
possesses, or professes to possess, no less than
ninety-two of his pictures.^ The legends of the
^ GoL Eap., No. 401. [Sold in 1853 in the Louis-Philippe sale.]
' In the GaL Esp., 81 ; in the Collection Standiah, 11. [Sold in 1853 in
the Lonis-Philippe sale. Of these the " Regina Angelornm " and *' St
Catherine" are in the anther's collection at Keir ; the "Virgin in Glory"
is in that of the Earl of Wemyss ; one of the patron saints of Seville,
Santa Josta or Sauta Rufina, is in the gallery of the Right Hon. Evelyn
926
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XI.
SeviUe.
Cadis.
Madrid.
Carthusians and monks of the Order of Mercy were
his staple subjects ; and as he was called upon to
execute them in large quantities to clothe the vast
walls of convents, they are often very coarsely and
carelessly painted. The pictures in the Museum at
Seville, already noticed,^ are, without doubt, his
finest works. In that city the spacious church, also,
of the Hospital del Sangre possesses eight small
pictures by him, each representing a sainted woman.
Of these S*^ Matilda, in a crimson robe, em-
broidered with gold and pearl; S**- Dorotea, in
lilac; and S*^ Ines, in purple, carrying a lamb in
her arms, are the best, and they seem memorials
of some of the reigning beauties of Seville. The
Cathedral of Cadiz has a fine specimen of Zurbaran's
larger works in the " Adoration of the Kings," a grand
picture, rich in gorgeous draperies, which hangs on
the south side of the great door, and perhaps came
from the Chartreuse of Xeres. Besides his labours
of Hercules, the Soyal Gallery at Madrid contains
two well-painted passages from the life of his
favourite, San Pedro Nolasco,^ and a delightful
picture of the Infant Jesus,' lying asleep on a cross,
Deuison, and tho "Standing Figure of St Francis*' in that of G. A.
Hoskins, Esq., all of which were exhibited at the Manchester Art TreasurcR
Exhibition, 1857, Nos. 778, 808, 793. 796, and 790.]
^ Sapra, pp. 922, 923.
3 Catdlogo [1843], ^os- 40, 190 [edition 1889, Nos. 1121, 1120].
» Ibid. No. 317 [1 133].
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 927
and wrapped in royal purple, a subject frequently ch. xi .
painted by Guido and Murillo, but never with more
delicacy and grace. Of his gloomy monastic studies, Paris.
that in the Louvre ^ of a kneeling Franciscan hold-
ing a skull, is one of the ablest ; the face, dimly
seen beneath the brown hood, is turned to heaven ;
no trace of earthly expression is left on its pale
features, but the wild eyes seem fixed on some
dismal vision ; and a single glance at the canvas
imprints the figure on the memory for ever. Un-
rivalled in such subjects of dark fanaticism, he could
also do ample justice to the purest and most lovely
of sacred themes. His Virgin, with the Infant London.
Saviour and His playmate St. John, signed ** Fran,
de Zurbarari, 1653," in the Duke of Sutherland's
gallery at Stafford House, is one of the most de-
licious creations of the Spanish pencil. By the
mellow splendour of its colouring, the eye is " won
as it wanders " over those sumptuous walls, gemmed
with the works of far greater renown. The head
of the Virgin unites much of the soft ideal grace
of Guido's Madonnas, with the warm life that glows
and mantles in the cheek of Titian's Violante ; and
her hair is of that rich chestnut brown, Eosalind's
colour, so beautiful and so rare both in nature and
^ Gal Eiip., No. 351. [It was sold in 1853, and ifl now in the National
GftUer^, No. 250.]
928
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XL
Style and
merits.
Hia monks ;
women ;
in art. The children recall the graceful cherubs of
Correggio ; the goldfinch in the hand of the Baptist
seems to live and flutter; and the dish of apples
might have been newly gathered from the canvas
of Van Heem, or from the orchards of the Guadal-
vin or the Severn.
Zurbaran undoubtedly stands in the front rank of
Spanish painters. He painted heads with admir-
able skill, but he had not that wonderful power
which belonged to Velazquez, of producing an exact
fac-simile of a group of figures at various distances ;
none of his large compositions equal the Meniiias ^
in airy ease and truth of effect ; nor have his figures
the rounded and undefined, yet truly life-like, out-
lines which charm in the works of MuriUo. But in
colouring he is not inferior to these great masters ;
and his tints, although always sober and subdued,
have sometimes much of the brilliancy and depth of
Rembrandt's style, as is the case in his excellent
small picture of "Judith and her Handmaid," in the
collection of the Earl of Clarendon.* He is the
peculiar painter of monks, as Rafael is of Madonnas,
and Ribera of martyrdoms ; he studied the Spanish
friar, and painted him with as high a relish as Titian
painted the Venetian noble, and Vandyck the
gentleman of England. His Virgins are rare, and
Supra, chap. ix. p^ 77a
* In London.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
929
in general not very pleasing; but he frequently
painted female, saints, apparently preserving in their
persons the portraits of beauties of the day, for the
rouge of good society may often be detected on their
cheeks. In the delineation of animals he was
likewise successful; and Palomino mentions with
approbation his pictures^ of an enraged dog, from
which chance observers used to run away, and of
a yearling lamb, deemed by the possessor of more
value than a hecatomb of full-grown sheep.
Francisco Lopez Caro was bom at Seville, in
1598, and became a scholar of Eoelas. After
practising the art of painting in his native city
with indifferent success, he repaired, some time be-
fore 1660, to Madrid, where he died in 1662. Por-
traiture was the only branch of his art in which he
obtained any reputation. Francisco Caro, his son
and scholar, bom at Seville in 1627, followed
Alonso Cano to Madrid, and, under the instruction
of that master, became a painter of considerable
eminence. For the chapel of San Isidro, in the
church of San Andres in the capital, he executed
nine or ten pictures on the life of the Blessed Vir-
gin ; and his finest work was a large composition on
the subject of the Jubilee of the Porciuncula,* into
which he introduced the portraits of Don Antonio
OH. XL
animalB.
Fnuioiaoo
Lopes
Caro.
Fcanciaco
Cara
1 Palomino, torn. ilL p. 528.
* Supra, chap. vii. p. 504.
930
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XL
CrUtobal
Vela.
Antonio
Vela.
Franciaoo
Varela.
de Contreras and his wife, painted for the Franciscan
convent at Segovia. He died at Madrid, in 1667.
Cristobal Vela, bom at Jaen in 1598, acquired
the first principles of painting at Cordoba, probably
from some disciple of Cespedes, and afterwards
finished his studies in the school of Vincencio
Carducho, at Madrid. He fixed his residence at
Cordoba, where he painted several works for the
Cathedral, and the convents and hospitals, and died
suddenly in 1658, whilst quenching his thirst at the
well of his own house. His son, the Licentiate
Antonio Vela, was bom at Cordoba in 1634, and
became a priest of great virtue, and a painter of
considerable skill and reputation. For the Augus-
tine friars of his native city, he executed two ex-
cellent pictures on subjects taken from the life of
the great doctor, their patron saint, and he painted
and gilded several retablos for other convents. He
died in 1676, much regretted by the clergy and the
artists.
Francisco Vaxela was bom at Seville towards the
end of the sixteenth century, and, next to Zurbaran,
was the ablest of the scholars of Roelas. In 161 8
he was employed by the Carthusians of S^ Maria de
las Cuevas to execute copies of certain pictures, by
Fray Louis Pascual Qaudin,* to supply the place of
^ Supra, chap. v. p. 348.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
931
the originals, which they were about to send to the
Grand Chartreuse. Nothing is recorded of his life ;
but he died, according to Palomino,^ in 1656, leav-
ing many works in the churches and convents of
Seville, to attest his skill and diligence, and pre-
serve his name from oblivion. In the church of San
Bernardo, without the walls of Seville, may be seen
his " Last Supper," which Cean Bermudez esteemed
one of his best productions. It is signed ^'Ffr^-
Varda, 1622." Our Lord and His disciples are
seated at a round table, on which the cup, goblet,
and a metal dish are admirably painted ; and the
colouring throughout is agreeable. Judas in yellow
drapery, and clutching the bag with an expression
of face in which treachery strives with terror, is the
most effective of the figures.
Juan Uceda Castroverde, another scholar of Eoelas,
flourished at Seville, and painted in 1623, for the
shod fnars of the Order of Mercy, an excellent altar-
piece representing the Holy Family, with the Eternal
Father looking from the clouds above, coloured in
the Venetian style of his master.
Alonso Cano was the last of the great artists of
Spain who followed the practice of Berruguete, and
obtained distinction in the three arts of painting,
sculpture, and architecture. He was bom on the
^ Palomino, tom. iiL p. 469.
CH. XL
Joan
Uceda Cas-
troTerde.
Alonso
Cana
932
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XI.
Retablos at
Seville.
19th of March, 1601, in the city of Granada, and
was baptized in the parish church of San Ildefonso.
His parents were Miguel Cano, a native of Abno-
dovar del Campo, and Maria de Almansa, a native
of Villarobledo, in the province of La Mancha, both
of gentle blood. Miguel Cano, being a carver of
retablos, brought his son up to Jiis own calling ; and
the talents of the lad having attracted the notice
of Juan de Castillo,^ that master recommended the
removal of the family to Seville, for the sake of the
better instruction which that city afforded. This
advice being followed, Alonso was placed in the
school of the painter Pacheco ; * from which he was,
eight months afterwards, removed to that of Castillo
himself. He is also said to have partaken of the
rough training of the elder Herrera.' In sculpture
he became the disciple of Martinez Montafies ; * and
the classical dignity of his style led Cean Bermudez
to conjecture that he must have bestowed much
careful study on the antique marbles which then
graced the galleries and gardens of the Duke of
AlcaU's palace.*
Amongst the earliest known works of Cano were
three retablos, designed, carved, and painted by him
for the college of San Alberto, and two for the
^ Supra, chap. vii. p. 535.
* Supra, chap. vii. p. 529.
' Ibid. p. 537. Palomino, torn. liL p. 575.
^ Ibid. p. 562. « Ibid. p. 569.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
933
conventual church of S*^ Paula; the pictures and
statues of which, in the opinion of Cean Bermudez,
surpassed the works of his instructors. Pacheco
and Zurbaran were employed^ at the same time with
him, in the college; but his productions were so
esteemed, that the Provincial of the Order of Mercy
invited him to execute a series of paintings for
the cloister of the convent under that rule, a task
which, however, he declined, from diffidence, says
Palomino, of his own powers ; but, more probably,
because he was dissatisfied with the pay proposed
by the friars.
In 1628, Miguel Cano was engaged to erect a
new high altar in the parish church of Lebrija,^ a
small town with a ruined Moorish castle, and a tall
Moorish belfry, which tower above the olive-covered
slopes that skirt the southern marshes of the
Guadalquivir. The year following he presented his
plan, estimated to cost 3,000 ducats, which was
approved by the authorities, and the work was
begun. But, the artist dying in 1630, the execu-
tion of the design fell upon his son Alonso, who
completed it in 1636, and was paid 250 ducats over
CH. XI.
Betablo at
Lebrija.
^ A view of Lebrija, Nebrwa, by Hoefnaeghel, may be found in Braun
and Hogenberg's work. See supra, chap. tL p. 367. The sketch for the
present woodcut was taken in 1845, ^^^ ^^^ ^"^ ^o Cabezas de San
Juan. The town and its antiquities are well described in Jacob's Travels
in the South of Spain, 4to, London, 181 1. Letter viii. p. 46.
934
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH.XI.
and above the stipulated price. The painting and
gilding, and the indifferent pictures, were executed
by Pablo Legote, at the price of 35,373 reals. This
altar-piece still maintains its place in the huge
Greco-Romano church of Lebrija ; it seems to have
undergone neither alteration nor repair since the
original artists removed their tools and scaflFolding
View of
Lebrija.
Cairingt.
from the chapel; but stands, with its wealth of
tarnished gilding, a monument of the sumptuous
devotion of a former age. It consists of two storeys,
supported on four spirally-fluted columns, rich
with cornices, elaborately carved. Four pieces of
sculpture display the genius of Alonso Cano : a
Crucifixion, which crowns the edifice ; a pair of
colossal statues of St. Peter and St. Paul, in the
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 935
second storey; and a lovely image of the Blessed
Virgin, enshrined in a curtained niche over the slab
of the altar. These carvings were long famous in
Andalusia, and Palomino asserts that artists have
been known to come from Flanders, in order to copy
them for Flemish churches.* Although haxdly of
sufficient importance as works of art to repay a
journey from the Scheldt to the Guadalquivir, they
are executed with skill and spirit ; the Crucifix and
the Apostles are not inferior to works of Montafies ;
and the head of the Madonna, with its deep blue
eyes and mild melancholy grace, is one of the most
beautiful pieces of the coloured carving of Spain.
Amongst the convents of Seville, in which Cano
was largely employed, was that of the Carthusians,
whose refectory he adorned with eight pictures,
representing Adam and Eve driven from Paradise,
Joseph escaping from Potiphar's wife, and other
biblical subjects ; their sacristy with a fine copy of
a Madonna, Christ, and St. John by Eafael; and
their church with other works. For the church of
Monte Sion, he executed a large picture of Purgatory ;
for the nuns of the Immaculate Conception, a stone
statue of that mystery, which adorned the portal of
their chapel ; and for the nuns of St. Anne, a figure,
carved in wood, of the beloved Evangelist.
^ Palomino, torn, iii p. 576.
OH. XI.
Seville.
Char.
treuse.
Church of
Monte
Sion.
93^
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XI.
Duel, and
flight to
Madrid.
Church-
pictures
at Madrid.
Church of
Santiago.
Church of
SanGines.
His versatile genius soon obtained for him the
first place amongst the artists of Seville^ a position
which his somewhat arrogant temper disposed him to
maintain at all risks against all comers. In 1637 a
quarreli on some forgotten subject of dispute, pro-
duced a duel between him and Sebastian de Llanos
y Valdes, a painter of amiable character and con-
siderable talent, in which Cano, who was an expert
swordsman, severely wounded his adversary. Evad-
ing the arm of the law, he escaped to Madrid, where
he renewed his acquaintance with his fellow-scholax,
Velazquez, and by the kindness of that generous
friend, obtained the protection and the favour of
Olivares. In 1639, the minister appointed him to
superintend certain works in the royal palaces.
He was likewise engaged in painting various
pictures for the churches and convents; amongst
which some of the best were an altar-piece in the
church of Santiago, representing an angel showing
a flask of water to St. Francis, as a symbol of the
purity requisite to the priestly oflSce ; and pictures
of the Patriarch Joseph, and Our Lord at Calvary,
in the church of San Gines. The latter of these
pictures still hangs in its original chapel, on the
epistle side of the church; it is a work of great
brilliancy and power, and it commemorates a scene
in the Passion which the pencil has not very
commonly approached. Seated on a stone, with His
l-rcjnrd. "sv WitUninQ f^n*
ALONSO CANO
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
937
hands bound, the Saviour awaits the completion of
the cross with holy resignation ; his figure and noble
countenance contrast strikingly with the brawny
ruflSan who hews the timber at His side ; and further
off, the Virgin and her weeping company are dimly
seen in the shadow of the descending darkness.^
For the church of S^ Maria he also painted a large
picture of St. Isidro miraculously rescuing a drown-
ing child from a well. The praises bestowed upon
this work by the painter Mayno having excited the
curiosity of Philip IV., that royal amateur proceeded
to the church, to judge of the powers of Cano, under
pretext of adoring Our Lady of the Granary, a cele-
brated brown image carved by Nicodemus, coloured
by St. Luke, and brought to Spain by the blessed
St. James.* The abilities of the artist were soon
rewarded with the place of painter to the King ; and
he was also appointed drawing-master to the Infant
Don Balthazar Carlos, who, like the Scottish Solomon
under George Buchanan, found him altogether want-
ing in the deference which usually belongs to the
preceptor of a prince, and was wont to complain to
the King of his asperities. In 1643, he was an un-
successful candidate for the office of Master of the
OH. XL
Church of
Sta. Maria.
^ This picture has been tolerably engraved in Spain, but my impres-
sion of the plate does not bear the engraver's name.
' Villafafie, Imagenes Milagrosas, p. 14. Lope de Vega wrote a poeti-
cal history of the Virgen de la Almudena, Obras, torn. xv. p. 41 1.
VOL. m, H
93«
REIGN OF PHIUP IV.
CJBL XI.
Harder of
bit wife.
Cano sus-
pected of
the orime.
Flight and
return.
Works to the Chapter of Toledo, which was conferred,
on the 13th of August, on Felipe Lazaro de Goiti.
He was employed, however, soon after to paint the
monument for the Holy Week, in the conventual
church of San Gil, at Madrid.
The year 1644 ^^ marked in the history of Cano
by a tragical event, which embittered his life, checked
the prosperous course of his labours, and fixed upon
his character a charge which it is now impossible
either to substantiate or clear away. Betuming
home on the night of the loth of June, he found,
according to his own version of the story, his wife
lying on her bed a bleeding corpse, pierced with
fifteen wounds apparently inflicted by a small knife,
and grasping a lock of hair, indicative of a desperate
struggle. Her jewels were missing from the house ;
and an Italian servant, whom Cano used as a model,
having likewise disappeared, the murder and robbery
were at once attributed to him. But, in the hands
of the lawyers, the case assumed a new aspect. It
was proved that Cano had been jealous of this man ;
that he had lived upon bad terms with the deceased ;
and that he was notoriously engaged in an intrigue
with another woman. Alarmed for his safety, the
suspected artist fled from Madrid, and causing it to
be reported that he had taken the road to Portugal,
he sought refuge first in a Franciscan convent of
the city of Valencia, and then in the Chartreuse of
REIGN OF PHIUP IV, 939
Portacoeli, a monastery situated amongst the wood- ca xi .
lands of the neighbouring Sierra. There he painted
pictures of Our Lord bearing His cross, of the Cruci-
fixion, and of a holy woman named Inez de Moncada,
who dwelt in those solitudes ; ^ and he remained for
some time exercising his pencil on various subjects,
for the embellishment of the sheltering cloister, until
he deemed it safe to venture back to the capital.
Although received into the house of his friend, Don
Bafael Sanguineto,* the eye of the law was still upon Apprehen-
him, and he fell into the gripe of the alguazils; torture.
who, according to the barbarous usage of the time,
sought to wring from his own lips, by means of
torture, evidence sufficient to convict him. Under
this infliction, pleading excellence in art, a plea in
certain cases admitted by the law, he craved exemp-
tion for his right hand from the ligatures, a boon con-
ceded, says Palomino, by the order of the King ; ' and
having passed through the ordeal without uttering a
cry, he was set at liberty with a character judicially
spotless. From the scanty records of this transac-
tion which remain to us, it is impossible to decide
whether Alonso Cano were a brave man fallen on
evil days and evil tongues, or a remorseless villain
saved from an assassin's death by the iron strength
^ Ponz, torn. iv. p. 157. * Supra» ohap. z. p. 827.
* Palomino, torn, iii pi 579.
940
REIGN OF PHILIP IV,
CH. XT.
Occupa-
tions at
Madrid;
of his nerves. The suspicions against him must
have been very strong, otherwise his friend Velaz-
quez would probably have interfered in his behalf.
On the other hand, the Regidor Sanguineto must
have believed him innocent, otherwise he would
not have afforded him the shelter of his roof. It is
also fair to give Cano's character the benefit of the
doubts, which are suggested by the contradictory
nature of the evidence. Palomino asserts that he
fled to Valencia to escape apprehension ; but an old
document, cited by Pellicer y Tovar,^ makes it
appear that he was put to the question within a few
days after the murder. Both these authorities agree
in making Madrid the scene of the tragedy ; whereas
Bosarte relates that they still show at Valladolid
the house wherein it was enacted.'
This calamitous episode in Cano's life does not
appear to have inflicted any very permanent injury
on his reputation, or on his subsequent fortunes.
The black charge brought against him cannot have
obtained much general credit, since his patrons of
the Church and the court continued to employ and
caress him. He retained his place about the Prince
^ Josef Pellicer y Tovsr, the historian, whose MSS. AnsaJs are quoted
by Cean Beramdez» in Los Arquitectos, torn. iv. p. 37, n. 2. The paper
which he cites is dated 14th June 1644, and mentions the murder as
having taken place four days before.
' Bosarte, Viage ArtisticOt p. 145. The house, says he, is "la primera
k mano derecha entrando por la plazuela vieja 6, la calle de San Martin."
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
941
of Asturias, and his habits of plain-spoken censure
of the Infant's youthful scrawlings. In 1647, the
brotherhood of Our Lady of Sorrows appointed him
their mayor-domo, or chamberlain ; and in the same
year he was fined in that capacity 100 ducats for
absenting himself from a procession ; a fine which
gave rise to a lawsuit of fifty years' duration, in
which the painters and goldsmiths of the guild
seemed to have maintained that the burden of the
solemnity ought to fall upon the alguazils of the
court. When Queen Mariana arrived in her new
kingdom in 1648, he was architect of a great
triumphal arch, a work of a novel and fantastic
character, erected at the gate of Guadalajara, in
honour of the royal bride's entry into the capital of
the Spains. And in 1650 we find him at Toledo,
called thither by the Chapter, for the purpose of
inspecting and giving his opinion on the works in
progress in the octagon chapel of the Cathedral.
He soon afterwards determined to take priests'
orders; and leaving Madrid, he fixed his abode in
his native city of Granada. The stall of a minor
canon in the Cathedral falling vacant, he suggested
to his friends in the Chapter that it would be for
the advantage of that body were an artist appointed,
and permitted to exchange the choral duties of the
preferment for the superintendence of the archi-
tecture and decorations of the church ; and, on these
CH. XI.
and
Toledo.
BemoTalto
Granada.
94«
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CEL XL
Appointed
ioa
Woricsat
Gfanada
tenns, obtained a recommendation in his own behalf
to the Crown. Fhilip IV., always ready to befriend
a good artist, at once conferred the benefic^npon
Cano, with the Nnncio s dispensation from certain
of its duties, upon condition that he received ordina-
tion within a year. Fait of the Chapter munnured
at the choice, and even sent deputies to Madrid
to petition against the induction of an unlearned
layman into their reverend society ; but the reason*
ings of these churchmen only drew forth from their
master a reply, already recorded,^ less flattering to
their order than to their new colleague.
Thus backed by royal favour, he took peaceable
possession of his stall on the 20th of February 1652,
and soon justified his election, and conciliated the
canons, by the diligent exercise of his pencil and his
chisel for the embellishment of the stately Cathedral.
A chamber on the first floor of the great bell-tower
was assigned to him, as his studio.' For the high
^ Snpra, chap, viii p. 598. When Jean Baptisto Lnlli, the great mnsical
oompoeer, who b^gan life as a seullicNi, was made seerUatre du Roi^ his
brethren in office were as ill-pleased as our canons of Granada. His
master, Lonis XIV., oons<4ed him for their iusoleuce by saying, "I have
honoured them, not yon, by placing a man of genios among them."
' It is a large and lofty room, sorrounded with Doric or Tuscan pilasters
and shallow ardies, and above them a high carved roof. One large
balcony, approached by a passage, looks into the church (immediately
above Torrigiano's noble bas-relief of Charity), and over the heavy capitals
of the supporting pillars— another over the city roofs to the rich level
fields and groyes of the Vega. It is now inhabited by the family of the
bellman.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
943
altar he sculptured an image of Our Lady of
the Immaculate Conception, which was so highly
esteemed, that a Genoese gentleman several times
offered to purchase it at the price of 4,000 douh-
loons, of which offer, says Palomino, evidence was
preserved in the archives. He designed and super-
intended the execution of two silver lamps for the
principal chapel, and of the elaborate lectern of the
choir, formed of fine wood3, bronze, and precious
stones. The top of this lectern he also adorned
with an exquisite carving of Our Lady of the Rosary,
about eighteen inches high, which was so greatly
prized that it was afterwards removed to the sacristy,
and kept amongst the reliques and rich jewels of
the churclL And for the sacristy he gave the plan
of a new portal, and painted eleven pictures, nine
of them representing passages from the life of the
Blessed Virgin, and two, the heads of Adam and
Eve,
The Cathedral did not, however, monopolise the
time and genius of its artist-canon. He gave the
design of a magnificent altar-piece, carved for the
nuns of the convent of the Angel, by his disciple
Pedro de Mena, and executed several of its statues
with his own chisel; and he also painted for the
same sisterhood a fine picture of Our Lord parting
with the Blessed Virgin in the Via Dolorosa. For
the Capuchins of the convent of San Diego, without
•OH. XI.
for the
Cathedral ;
Cbiirohes,
aridoon-
venta.
944
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XI,
Visit to
Malaga.
Stonrof
the Bishop.
the city walls, he painted many works; and he
enriched the church of the Dominican nuns of S**^
Catalina with a series of half-length Apostles.
The Bishop of Malaga ^ being engaged in improv-
ing his Cathedral-church, invited Cano to that city,
for the purpose of designing a new tabernacle for
the high altar, and new stalls for the choir. He
had finished his plans very much to the prelate's
satisfaction, when he was privately informed that
the intendant of the works proposed to allow him
a very trifling remuneration. "These drawings,"
said he, "are either to be given away for nothing,
or to fetch 2,000 ducats ; " and packing them up, he
mounted his mule, and took the road to Granada.
The niggardly intendant learning the cause of his
departure, became alarmed, and sending after him,
agreed to pay him his own price for the plans.
During his stay at Malaga, the city was visited by a
dreadful inundation of the sea, of which Palomino
tells a ridiculous story at the expense of the Bishop.
The waters rising rapidly, whilst the clergy were
assembled in the Cathedral praying for their decrease,
the terrified prelate left his throne, and took refuge
in the organ, telling Cano, who ventured to ask
why, that it was better to be crushed to death in the
1 Called by Palomino, Fray Alonso de Santo Tomas ; bnt it may have
been Bishop Antonio Henriquez, whose portrait, by Cano, long hung in
the church of the Dominicans at Malaga. Pons, torn. xviiL p. 192.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 945
mighty instrument than to undergo the slower pro- ch. xi.
cess of drowning. " My Lord," replied the canon,
"if we are to perish like eggs, it matters little
whether we be poached or boiled ; " a pleasant con-
ceit,^ which, uttered in such a conjuncture, says the
historian, displayed great magnanimity. The flood
happily subsided, leaving the organ unshaken, and
the Bishop in the enjoyment of his mitre, and the
canon of his jest.
On his return to Granada, Cano made sketches Oranada.
for a series of pictures on the life of St. Dominic,
for the Dominican friars of the royal monastery of
S*^ Cruz. Paintings from these designs were after-
wards executed in the cloister by one Castillo, but
they were in a very weather-beaten condition, so
early as the beginning of the last century; the
original sketches of Cano were in the possession of
Palomino. The canon was employed as a painter
and sculptor, as well by private persons as by re-
ligious bodies. Of the former class of patrons, was
an auditor of the Royal Chancery, who ordered the
^ The point of the speech lies in a pun which cannot he rendered in
English : *'Porqae si hemes de morir," said the Bishop, ''mas qniero
que d el hnndirse esta gran maqnina, me estrelle, que verme fluctnando
en las aguas." "Pues Seftor," replied the punning canon, "si hemes
de morir eomo hnevos, que mas tiene estrellados, 6 hechos tortilla, que
pasados por agua?" — Palomino, torn, iii p. 582. Eggs, when fried or
poached, are said to he ** estreUados,*' hroken to pieces ; when hoiled in
their shells *'pcuado8 par offuc^** a phrase most accurately expressing
the process, which is nothing more than passing them through water.
946
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
Cfi. XL
Stata«
of St
Anthony,
with the
auditor.
canon to model for him a statue, about a yard in
height, of St Anthony of Padua, desiring him to put
forth all his skill. The work being finished, he went
to see it, and after expressing his satis&ction, he
carelessly asked the price. Cano demanded one
hundred doubloons. Greatly astonished, and after
a long pause, the auditor next inquired how many
days' labour it had cost "Twenty-five," replied
Cano. "Then it appears," said the patron, "that
you esteem your labour at four doubloons a-dayt"
" You are but a bad accountant," retorted the artist,
" for I have been fifty years learning to make such
a statue as this in twenty-five days."* "And I,"
rejoined the auditor, " have spent my youth and my
patrimony on my university studies, and now, being
auditor of Granada — a far nobler profession than
yours — ^I earn each day a bare doubloon." The old
lay leaven began to work in the canon, and he re-
membered the words of Philip IV. " Yours a nobler
profession than mine ! " cried he ; " know that the
King can make auditors of the dust of the earth,
but that God reserves to Himself the creation of
^ At a meeting of the Law Amendnent Society, Lord Brougfaam, on
remarldng that no principle of remuneration oonld be fair which over-
looked the previoiiB training of the workman, told the storj of Sir Joehna
Reynolds that, on being asked by a person for whom he had painted a
small picture how he could charge so much for a work on which he had
been occupied for only five days, he replied — '' Five days ! why, I have
expended the work of thirty-five years upon it.'*
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 947
such as AI0118O Cano!" And without waiting for
further argument, he laid hold on St. Anthony and
dashed him to pieces on the floor, to the dismay of
his devotee, who immediately fled, boiling with rage.
To put such an affront upon a man in authority, says
the sagacious Palomino, was highly imprudent, especi-
ally upon an auditor of Granada, who is a little god
upon earth ; and still more when the matter might
have been brought before the Holy Office, where
small allowance would be made for the natural
irritability of an artist, and for his sacristan*^like
irreverence, engendered by daily familiarity with
saintly effigies.^ The outraged functionary, how-
ever, took another sort of revenge. By his influence
in the Chapter, Cano's stall was declared vacant,
because he had not qualified himself to hold it
by taking orders within the given time, a neglect
of which his brethren had already frequently
complained.'
The deprived canon was therefore obliged to
repair to Madrid, where he appealed to the King,
and alleged, as the cause of the delay, the pressure
of work on which he was engaged for the Cathe-
dral. Philip, with his usual good-nature, allowed
his excuse, and obtained for him, from the Bishop of
^ Palomino, torn. iii. p. 583.
' Loa Arquitectos, torn. iv. p. 159-168, where many docaments relating
to the transaction are printed.
CH. XI.
Deprived
of hit
oaoonrjr.
Visit to
Madrid.
948
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XI.
Restored
to his
stalL
Charities.
Salamanca, a chaplaincy, which entitled him to full
orders, and from the Nuncio, a dispensation from
the duties of saying mass. But the affair coming
to the knowledge of Queen Mariana, she insisted
that Cano, before the royal favour was exerted in
his behalf, should execute for her a crucifix, of life-
size, bespoken long before, but hitherto neglected.
The work being finished to her Majesty's satisfac-
tion, she presented it to the convent of Monserrate,
at Madrid ; and the artist, returning to Granada, re-
entered upon his benefice in triumph in 1659. But
he never forgave the Chapter for the attempt to
depose him, nor resumed his pencil or chisel in
the service of the Cathedral.
The remainder of his life was chiefly devoted to
pious exercises and to works of charity. Poverty
and wretchedness never appealed to him in vain,
and his gains, as soon as won, were divided amongst
widows and orphans. His purse was, therefore,
often empty, and on these occasions, if he met a
beggar in the street, whose story touched him, he
would go into the next shop, and asking for pen
and paper, sketch a head, a figure, or an architectural
design, and give it as his alms, with directions for
finding a purchaser at a price which he affixed to
it.^ His benevolence of heart being equalled by his
1 Palomino, torn. iiL p. 5S4.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
949
readiness of hand, these eleemosynary drawings were
rapidly multiplied, and a large collection of them
came in the possession of Palomino.
With that inconsistency which so often dims the
glory of genius and the beauty of virtue, Cano, whose
heart overflowed with the milk of human kindness
towards his Christian brethren, poured forth nothing
but gall and bitterness towards the Jew. No saint
or soldier of the Middle Ages ever held the race
of Israel in more holy abhorrence. In his walks
through the narrow Moorish streets of Granada, if
he met any poor Jew hawker, in his sanbenito, the
garb ordained by the Inquisition for the tribe, he
crossed over the way, or sheltered himself in the
nearest porch, lest he should brush the misbeliever
with the hem of his cassock, or cloak, and be defiled.
If such an accident befell him, he would immediately
strip oflF the unlucky garment and send home for
another. Sometimes, in cases of doubtful contact,
he would appeal to his servant, when the rogue, says
Palomino, was wont to reply that it was a mere
touch, which mattered nothing, well knowing that
the unclean thing would be immediately thrown in
his face. He was, however, subject to dismissal if
he ever ventured to put on any part of the con-
demned apparel. It happened, one day, that the
canon, returning from his walk, found his house-
keeper, who had but lately entered his service,
CH. XI.
Hatred of
Jews.
He finds a
Jew in his
house.
9SO
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XI.
Illness.
higgling within his very house with one of the
circumcised. He immediately raised a prodigious
outcry, and hastened about in search of a stick or
poker ; whereat the Hebrew gathered up his wares
and fled, and the housekeeper escaped a beating
only by taking refuge in a neighbour's housei, whence
her master would not receive her back, until he had
assured himself that she had no Jewish kin or
connections, and until she had performed quarantine.
He likewise purified his dwelling by repaying the
spot which the Israelite had polluted with his feet,
and the shoes in which he himself had followed his
track swelled the spoil of his serving-man.
In the summer or autumn of 1667, he was attacked
by his last illness, in his house in the Albaicin, in
the parish of Santiago. His finances were, at this
time, very low ; for the records of the Chapter con-
tain two entries, of which the first, dated on the
nth of August, preserves a vote of 500 reals to
'^the canon Cano, being sick and very poor, and
without means to pay the doctor ; " and the second,
dated the 19th of August, records a further grant
of 200 reals, made at the suggestion of the arch-
deacon, to buy him "poultry and sweetmeats."^
The curate of that parish, coming to see him, begged
to be informed whenever he desired to confess or
^ Lot ArguUeeiott torn. iv. p. 172,
REIGN OF PHILIP lY,
951
receive the sacrament, that he himself might attend
him. To this friendly request, the dying man re-
plied hy asking if he ever administered the sacra-
ment to Jews condemned by the Inquisition ?
Finding that the clergyman was in the habit of
performing that duty, he said, " Then, Senor
Licentiate, I must bid you farewell in God's name,
for he who communicates with them shall never
communicate with me ; '' and he obtained leave to
be attended by the curate of the adjacent parish of
San Andres. Like the Florentine Verrochio,^ two
centuries and a half before, who could not die
peaceably in the hospital at Venice without a crucifix
carved by Donatello, Cano put aside the rudely-
sculptured cross which was placed in his hand by
the priest. ''My son," said the good man, some-
what shocked by the action, " what are you doing ?
This is the image of our Lord the Redeemer, by
whom alone you can be saved." " So do I believe,
father," replied the dying man ; " yet vex me not
with this thing, but give me a simple cross, that I
may adore it, both as it is in itself, and as I can
figure it in my mind." His request being granted,
** he died," says Palomino, " in a manner highly
exemplary and edifying to those about him," * on
the 3rd of October 1667, in the sixty-sixth year of
^ Vasari, torn. L p. 389.
' Palominob torn. uL p. 585.
CH. XI.
Deathbed
8oane8 and
aayings.
Death ;
952
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XI.
funeral.
Character;
person.
his age. On the day following, his body, attended
by the Chapter, in all its pomp, was carried to its
niche in the Pantheon of the canons, beneath the
choir of the Cathedral.^
Cano seems to have been a man of a hot, im-
petuous temperament, a strong will, strong prejudices,
and kindly feelings. Hence his character wore a
diflferent complexion at diflFerent times, and the
story of his life is filled with strangely inconsistent
passages. Driven from Seville by a quarrel with
one of the gentlest of his fellow-artists, he seems to
have lived on good terms with many more formidable
rivals at Madrid ; his regular scholars found him
kind and friendly, whilst towards his royal pupil
he comported himself like another Herrera ; he was
stigmatised as the murderer of his wife ; and he
died, reduced to indigence by charities to the Chris-
tian, and breathing out hatred against the Jew.
In person he appears to have been under the middle
size; his countenance, full of quick intelligence,
also bears traces of his irritable disposition. His
portrait, if, indeed, it be his, by Velazquez,* repre-
sents him as grey-haired, but still in the full vigour
of life; those by his own hand, which still exist,
belong to a later period. From one of these the
* Lo$ Arquitectos, torn. iv. p. 173.
' Supra, chap. ix. p. 810 [and note i].
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 953
engraving by Basqnez ^ is probably taken ; two others ch. xi .
are in the Louvre,* and one of them is engraved
in the present work. The sickly emaciated features
afford evidence that it was painted not many months
before the artist went down to the Pantheon of
the canons. The wasp buzzing near his ear is,
perhaps, a contemptuous emblem of some trouble-
some rival in art or in the Chapter, the solitary
record of some forgotten feud.
Alonso Cano has been called, on account rather Menu mi
painter.
of his various skill than of the style of his works,
the Michael Angelo of Spain.* As a painter, he
was excelled by few of his brethren of Andalusia,
and his name is deservedly great in Seville and in
Granada. Although a ready draughtsman, he fre-
quently condescended to appropriate the ideas of
others, borrowing largely from prints, picking up a
hint, says Palomino, even from the coarse woodcut
at the top of a ballad, and avowing and defending
the practice.* " Do the same thing with the same
effect," he would say to those who censured it, " and
I will forgive yoo." Not gifted with Zurbaran*^B
^ In ihe Espafloles Ilu$tre9,
* Gal. £sp., No8. 31 and 32. The present engraving is from the latter.
No. 30 is called a portrait of CSaiio*when young, but no evidenee for the
fact is afforded, either by the picture or the catalogue. [Sold in 1853. One
is in the author's collection at Keir. Manchester Art Treasures Exhibi-
tion, 1857, No. 748.]
» Cumberland, Anecdotes, toL iL p. 72.
* Palomino, torn. iiL p. 578.
VOL. IIL I
954
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
Works at
Madrid:
CH. XI. facility in handling the palette and brush, and fre-
quently engaged in the other branches of his three-
fold art, he has not left many large pictures behind
him. Some of these, however, are amongst the most
beautiful creations of the Spanish pencil, unaided
by study in Italy. His eye for form was exceedingly
fine, and therefore his drawing is more correct than
that of many of his rivals: his compositions are
simple and pleasing, and in richness and variety of
colour he has not often been surpassed. The Queen
of Spain's gallery possesses eight of his works.
Amongst these, the fulUength picture of the Blessed
Virgin, seated with the Infant Saviour asleep on her
knees,^ at once arrests the eye, and long haunts the
memory. A circlet of stars surrounds the head of
this dark-haired Madonna, apparently a portrait of
some fair young mother of Granada, wrapped in
happy contemplation of her new-bom babe. Her
robe and mantle of crimson and dark blue fall in
majestic folds around her; a slender tree, a river,
and a range of low hills fill up the background.
The National Museum is fortunate in possessing a
repetition of this fine picture.
Getafa, The hugc brfck church of Getafe, a village two
leagues from Madrid, on the road to Toledo, contains
no less than six large pictures treating of the life of
1 Catdlogo [1843], No. 307 [edition 1889, No. 670].
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 955
Mary Magdalene, and still adorning the fine retablo ch. xi.
of the high-altar, for which they were painted by
Cano. In the first, the £edr penitent, arrayed in a
robe of yellow silk and ermine, her eyes red with
weeping, tears the jewels from her amber hair; a
pied cat, extremely well painted, lurks beneath a
table ; and an arch admits a view of a pleasing
landscape. The second represents her washing
Our Lord's feet at the banquet of the Pharisee ; the
third, visiting His tomb ; and the fourth, kneeling
before Him in the garden. In the fifth, she stands
by the sea-shore in the act of addressing a multitude ;
and in the sixth, robed in white, she is borne up to
heaven by angels. The last of the series, a graceful
subject, is poorly executed, and, probably, the work
of some inexperienced scholar; the second and
fourth excel all the rest, and are painted in Cano's
best style. There is much vigour and variety of
conception in the figures of the burly turbaned
Simon and his guests ; and the delineation of Our
Lord in the garden is remarkable for the head being
covered with the broad hat of a palmer. A few
pictures by the same hand likewise enrich two of
the side-altars of this little-visited church ; most of
them are single figures of saints; the best is an
Ecce Homo, painted on the door of a small taber-
nacle, and injured by the scratching of the key.
The Cathedral of Granada, though cruelly stripped o»nada.
9S6
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XI.
Malaga.
Valencia.
Seville.
by the French, still retains some good altar-pieces
by its famous canon; Our Lord bearing the cross,
a bishop in his robes, and Our Lady of Solitude ;
and in the sumptuous chapel-royal, where Ferdinand
and Isabella lie buried, a Deposition from the Cross,
one of his best works. Malaga Cathedral boasts a
fine specimen of his powers, in the noble, but fast-
decaying picture of the Virgin of the Rosary, seated
on a throne of clouds, and adored by a group of six
saintly men and women in various religious habits.
Cano drew and finished the hands and feet of his
figures with peculiar delicacy, as may be seen in
this composition, where one of the babe's feet is
gracefully placed in the left hand of the mother;
the heads below appear to be carefully executed
portraits. The Museum of Valencia contains a
"Nativity of Our Lord," and a "Christ at the
Column," brought from Portacoeli, and is said to
have been painted by Cano, whilst in hiding amongst
the Carthusians.^
The most beautiful, and one of the latest of
Cano's pictures, is that of Our Lady of Belem, or
Bethlehem, painted at Malaga, for Don Andres
Cascantes, who gave it to the Cathedral of Seville,
of which he was a minor canon. There it still
hangs, to the left of the door leading to the court
* Supra, p. 938. Handbook [1843I p. 453 [third edition, 1855, p. 384].
SIN PECAD COCLI:
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
957
of orange-trees, in a small dark chapel, where it
can be seen only by the light of votive tapers. In
serene celestial beauty, this Madonna is excelled by
no image of the Blessed Mary ever devised in Spain ;
her glorious countenance lends credit to the legends
of elder art, and might have visited the slumbers of
Becerra,^ or been revealed in answer to the prayers
of Vargas," or of Joanes.' She more nearly re-
sembles the carved Virgin at Lebrija* than any
other of Cano's works ; and the draperies are in
both cases the same colour, a crimson robe, with
a dark blue mantle drawn over the head. The
head of the divine babe is, perhaps, not sufficiently
childlike; but there is much infiantine simplicity
and grace in his attitude, as he sits with his tiny
hand resting on that of his mother. These hands
are, as usual, admirably painted; and the whole
picture is finished with exceeding care, as if the
painter had determined to crown his labours, and
honour Seville, with a masterpiece.
The portraits by Cano which remain to us are
few but excellent. Amongst the most interesting
are those of the dramatist Calderon, in the Louvre,*
and of Antonio de SoUs, the keen-faced historian
CH. XI.
PortraitB.
^ Supra, chap. v. p. 294. [A fine copy of this beautiful picture ia in the
author's collection at Keir.]
' Supra, chap. vL p. 368. ■ Ibid p. 416. * Ibid p. 935.
* GaL Esp., No. 29. [Sold in 1853.]
95«
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XL
Engrreved
works.
of Mexico, in the collection of Don Juan de
GovanteSy at Seyille.^ The National Museum at
Madrid, likewise^ has the head of a rosy-faced
laughing monk, in a hlack and white hahit, "a
round fat oQy man of God," probably the wag of
some Benedictine convent, a humorous portrait,
of which the effect is heightened by the ecstatic
saints and ghastly martyrs that cover the surround-
ing walls. For the collection of royal portraits at
the Alcazar, Cano painted Ferdinand and Isabella
the Catholic, on the same canvas,' an interesting his-
torical picture executed perhaps from lost originals,
which seems to have perished, whilst his effigies
of some imaginary Gothic monarchs, before or after
King Wamba, valueless in comparison, have been
preserved to the Royal Museum.'
He does not appear to have practised the art
of engraving, but Obregon^ and others sometimes
worked from his designs. For an edition of
Quevedo's " Spanish Parnassus," * remarkable for the
curious title-page by Van Noort, wherein the author,
with his spectacled nose and cross of Santiago,
^ Supra, chap. iz. p. 676, note.
' Palomino, torn. iiL p. 577.
' CcUdlogo [1843], N08. 90, 294 [edition 1889, Nos. 673, 674].
* Supra, chap. x. p. 839.
* El Panuuo Etpaliol, y Musas Ctutellanas de Don iK de Quevedo
Villegcu, &c, corregidas y emendadas por el Dr. Amuso Cultofragio, 4to,
Madrid, 1659. Six books only appeared in thia edition, the other three
Musee not being given to the world till 1670. Supra, chap. x. pp. 853, 854.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
959
figures amongst the tuneful Nine on the hill of song,
he furnished drawings of six of the Muses. In
these plates, however, the coarse graver of Panneels
has preserved few of the graces of Cano's pencil.
Skilful as was Cano with the brush, he loved the
chisel above his other artistic implements. He was
so fond of sculpture, that when wearied with paint-
ing, he would call for his tools, and block out a
piece of carving by way of refreshment to his hands.
A disciple one day remarking that to lay down a
pencil and take up a mallet was a strange method
of repose, he replied, " Blockhead ; don't you per-
ceive that to create form and relief on a flat surface
is a greater labour than to fashion one shape into
another." Notwithstanding his partiality for the
art, the altar at Lebrija,^ and a few carvings in the
Cathedral of Granada, are all that remain of his
sculpture. That little, however, is enough to show
that he was excelled by none of the carvers of Spain.
In the outline and attitude of his figures, there is
an elegance not found in the works of Juni, and not
surpassed in the works of Montanes. In Granada
Cathedral, his small statue of Our Lady has been
restored to its place on the lectern of the choir ; * in
CH. XL
Sculpture.
» Supra, p. 933.
* IbicL p. 943. Handbook [1S45], p. 386 [afterwards remoTed for safety
to the altar of Jesus Nazareno, " a precaution not unnecessary, as the
San Pablo by Ribera inas stolen in 1S42.*' Third edition, 1855, p. 319}.
960
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XI.
Architec-
ture.
its chapel of the Holyrood, are a ghastly head of
St. John Baptist, and a nohle head of St. Paul ;
and in the sacristy, is a little Virgin of the Con-
ception, about a foot high, the masterpiece of his
chisel. Robed in azure and white, with
<< looks commercing with the skies,
Her rapt soul sitting in her eyes,''
her delicate hands folded across her bosom, this
Virgin, so pure in design and expression, and so
exquisitely finished, must charm even those who
love not painted sculpture. Like Montanes, Cano
coloured his carvings with great care and splendour.
The only piece of marble statuary, noticed in Cean
Bermudez' long catalogue of his works,^ is a figure
of a guardian-angel,* placed over the portal of the
convent of that name at Granada, of which the
original sketch is in the Louvre.®
Cano's architectural practice was chiefly confined
to retablos, in which, says Cean Bermudez, he
followed the taste of the times, loading them with
scrolls and other heavy ornaments. Few of them
have survived the demolition of the convents ; but
the Louvre possesses some of his architectural draw-
^ Which fills nine pages and a half of his Dictionary,
' The angel was MigueL It occupied a niche over the portal of the
chnrch, now empty, the nans haring very wisely removed it to the
cloisters during some political troubles.
* Collection Standish, Dessins, No. 334.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 961
ings, amongst which are two designs for altars/ con- ch. xi.
ceived in a style of simplicity and elegance.
Sebastian Martinez was bom in the city of Jaen, sebMtun
^ Martinez.
in 1602, and studied painting under one of the
scholars of Cespedes. Most of his works were
painted for private houses ; but one of the best,
the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian, adorned the
Cathedral of his native place, and others were to
be found in the nunnery of Corpus Christi at
Cordoba. Repairing in 1660 to court, he was
made painter to Philip IV., who frequently visited
his studio, and surprising him one day as he sat
at his easel, compelled him to remain seated by
laying his royal hands on his shoulders, as Philip
II. was wont to do to Sanchez Coello.* His draw-
ing and colouring, says Cean Bermudez, were
agreeable, and his landscape-backgrounds tastefully
painted. He died at Madrid in 1667.
Juan Leandro de la Fuente flourished at Granada juan
Leandro
between 1630 and 1640. Nothing is known re- deia^
specting him, except some dates gleaned by Cean
Bermudez from his pictures in the churches and
convents of that city. The church of San Lorenzo
at Seville also possessed a Nativity by him, with
figures of life-size, and the convent of San Felipe
^ CoUection Standlah, Dessins, Nob. 317 and 541* A fac-simile of the
arehitectuial part of the first forms the engraved title-page to this work.
' Supra, chap. y. p. 279.
Fuente.
963
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XL
Antoiiio
del Gas.
tUlo.
Visit to
Seville.
el Beal at Madrid a graceful allegory on Charity.
His style seemed to have been fonned by stady
of the Venetian masters, and he sometimes intro-
duced into his compositions animals, which re*
sembled those of Bassano.
Antonio del Castillo y Saavedra was son of
Agustin, and nephew of Juan, del Castillo.^ Bom
at Cordoba in 1603, ^^ studied painting under his
father, and on that master's death, in 1626, he
further improved his hereditary talents in the school
of Zurbaran at Seville. On his return home he
became the fashionable painter of Cordoba; and
his portraits were so highly esteemed, that they
were to be met with in every house of any preten-
sion in the city. Being a diligent copyist of nature,
he sometimes sketched in the fields^ bringing home
studies of farmhouses, cottages, agricultural imple-
ments, and animals, to be interwoven in his com-
positions. Nor was he ignorant of the art of sculpture
and architecture ; for he frequently furnished draw-
ings to his friend Melchor Moreno, the architect,
and executed clay models of heads and other orna-
ments, for the silversmiths, whose craft had long
flourished with peculiar vigour at Cordoba.*
The homage paid to him by his fellow-citizens
inspired him with an overweening opinion of his
^ Supra, chap. viL p. 535.
' Palomino, torn, iii p. 543.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
963
own powers, and a desire to display them on the
wider stage of Seville. On his arrival there in
1666, he was received hy the artists with great
courtesy, to which he made a somewhat ungracious
return hy extolling his own works at the expense
of theirs. But seeing the pictures painted by Murillo
for the small cloister of the Franciscan convent, he
was surprised into high admiration.^ Affecting,
however, to doubt their authorship, he was led to
the Cathedral to see the famous St. Anthony of
Padua, St. Leander, and St. Isidore, by the same
artist.* Overpowered by the splendour of these
noble works, and by evidence which he could neither
gainsay or resist, he was compelled to own himself
vanquished. *' Castillo is dead ! " he exclaimed,
"but how is it possible that Murillo, my uncle's
servile scholar, can have arrived at so much grace
of style, and beauty of colouring ? " Returning to
Cordoba, he endeavoured to imitate the manner of
his rival, and painted a St. Francis, which with-
out equalling his models, had more of softness
and grace than any of his former works. The
conviction, however, of his inferiority preyed
upon his mind; and he sickened, and died in
1667, dying of Murillo's St. Anthony, as Fran-
cesco Francia, tjie pride of Bologna, had died, a
CH. XI.
His jealous
admiration
of MuriUo's
works.
^ Infra, chap. xii. p. 994.
' Ibid. pp. 1000-1002.
964
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XL
Cbanctor
menU.
Worki.
hundred and fifty years before^ of the St. Cecilia
ofEafeel,^
Castillo frequented the best society of Cordoba;
he was a man of wit and letters, and wrote verses
for his amusement. To the painter Juan de Albro,
who had been his disciple, he administered a
wholesome reproof when that artist returned from
Madrid pluming himself upon the knowledge of
art which he had acquired in the school of Velaz-
quez. It being the young man's custom to sign
all his pictures, in a very conspicuous manner,
** Alfaro pinxity* Castillo inscribed his "Baptism
of St. Francis," executed for the Capuchin convent,
where his juvenile rival was likewise employed,
'^N<m pinxit Alfaro** He himself, however, dis-
played nearly as much arrogance, on being told
that Alonso Cano had remarked of some of his
works that it was a pity that a man who could
draw so admirably did not come to Granada to
learn to colour. " Bather let him come here," said
the testy Cordobese, "and we will repay his kind
intentions towards us, by teaching him how to
draw/'^
Most of Castillo's works being executed in his
native city, some of them, doubtless, lurk in the
dust and darkness of its Museum. The Count of
^ Yasari, torn, i p. 410.
' Palomino, torn. iiL p. 543.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 965
Homachuelos, and Don Gomez de Cordoba y ch> xi .
Figueroa, were his principal lay-patrons; and his
pictures were thickly scattered amongst the churches
and convents. For the mosque-Cathedral he painted
the Virgin of the Rosary attended by saints ; the
martyr San Pelagio receiving his sentence to be
quartered alive ;^ a colossal San Acisclo, another
holy martyr, great in Cordoba, as a companion-piece
to a picture by C. Vela ; ^ and other works. Palo-
mino bestows very high praise on his picture of the
" Penitent Thief," in the hospital of Jesus Nazareno,
than which, says he, no painting of a single figure
was ever more eflFective.^ In the Royal Gallery at
Madrid his large composition, representing the
"Adoration of the Shepherds," * is the sole specimen
of the powers of the Castillos. It is painted in
a bold Ribera-like style, and full of eflfective heads
and strong lights and shadows; and the rules of
decorum, as expounded by Pacheco,* are obeyed
to a tittle ; for, while a full view is given of the
sinewy breast, and the tanned shoulders of one of
the shepherds, the bosom of the Virgin-mother is
veiled to the throat. Cano was not unjust in his
estimate of Castillo's style ; his drawing is good, but
1 Villegas, Fhs Sanctorum^ p. 658. ' Supra, p. 95a
* Palomino, torn. iii. p. 54a
« Catdlogo [1843], No. 187 [edition 1889, Na 696].
^ Supra, chap. L p. 21.
966
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XI.
Joseph de
Sorabia.
his colouring dry and disagreeable. His sketches,
generally executed with a pen of reed,^ and some-
times in Indian ink, were numerous and esteemed ;
and Cean Bermudez possessed a considerable col-
lection of them.
Joseph de Sarabia was bom at Seville in 1608.
Whilst he was still a boy, his father, Andres Buiz
de Sarabia, a painter, sailed for Lima, where he
died, leaving him to the care of some kinsfolk at
Cordoba. Before his departure he had given him
some instruction in art, which the lad continued to
seek in the school of Agustin de Castillo, and after
that master's death, in 1626, in the school of Zur-
baran, at Seville. Returning to Cordoba with a
collection of prints by the Flemish brothers Sadeler,
he gained a considerable reputation by reproducing
them in the form of pictures. He likewise availed
himself of engravings from the works of Bubens,
and executed for the convent of San Di^go a large
picture of the "Raising of the Cross," which, although
a plagiarism from the Fleming, was coloured with
considerable taste. His best work, and that of
which he was most proud, was painted for the
church of Victory, and represented the " Flight into
Egypt." The design was his own, or, at least, passed
^ Of the sort of reed used, says Palomino, torn. iii. p. 543, by the
urchins of Cordoba for blow-pipes through which they discharge the
berry-stones of the nettle-tree {huesos de ku eUmetaa).
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
967
for such : and he evinced his satisfaction by signing
it, a practice in which he was modest enough not
usually to indulge.^ He died at Cordoba, in 1669.
The name of Pablo Legote has survived, like a
fly in amber, by his association with Alonso Cano
at Lebrija.' The subjects of his commonplace
pictures, painted for the new retablo of the church,
in 1629-36, are the Annunciation of the Virgin,
the Epiphany, the Nativity of Our Lord, and the
two Sts. John. In 1647, Cardinal Spinola, Arch-
bishop of Seville, employed him to execute, for
the great hall of his palace, a full-length series of
Apostles, commended by Cean Bermudez, and there-
fore, perhaps, better than the Lebrija pictures. A
similar series, which hung in the church of the
Hospital of Pity, were attributed by some to Legote,
and by others to the elder Herrera. He afterwards
went to Cadiz, and certain entries in accounts pre-
served in the archives of the Indies show that he
was there employed, in 1662, to paint banners for
the royal fleet.
Alonso de Uera Zambrano, a native of Cadiz,
flourished in that city as a painter of banners to the
royal navy, and executed, in 1639, altar-pieces for
the oratories of four galleons, despatched that year
to New Spain, for which he was paid 1,400 reals.
^ Palomino, torn. iii. p. 546.
■ Supra, p. 934.
CH. XL
Pablo
IiQgote.
Alonso de
Llera Zam-
brano.
968
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XI.
Mateo
Nufiei de
SepulTeda.
Pedro de
Moyo.
Mateo Nufiez de Sepulveda was appointed by
Philip IV., on the 7th of March 1 640, to the office
of painter, gilder, and superintendent of painting
to the royal navy, in consideration of his ability,
and of his free contribution of 500 ducats towards
the expenses of the wars then raging on all sides.
By his patent, which was discovered by Cean
Bermudez in the archives at Seville, he enjoyed
the exclusive right of painting all the banners and
standards, and other works of decoration, required
in the fleet, which were to be paid for according to
the valuation of two artists named, the one by him,
and the other by the Crown. He entered on his
employment at Cadiz in 1641, and in April received
the sum of 1,350 reals for two flags on which he had
painted the figures of Our Lady of the Conception,
and the blessed St. James. They were executed on
"sarga," in the style which had so long obtained
in Andalusia,^ and displayed considerable taste and
skill in drawing and colouring.
Pedro de Moya was bom at Granada in 16 10,
and became the scholar of Juan del Castillo' at
Seville. A love of change and travel induced him
to enlist as a foot-soldier in the army of Flanders ;
but he did not lay aside the pencil in assuming the
* Supra, cbap. vL pp. 363, 371.
• Ibid. chap. vii. p. 535. ,
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
969
pike. Like his commander, the Cardinal-Infant,^
he cultivated art amidst the bustle of the camp and
the garrison ; and he improved his style by copying
the pictures which abounded in the sumptuous
churches of the Low Countries. Perhaps he may
CH. xr.
PEDRO DB MOTA.
have learned somewhat in the schools of Sneyders
or Jordaens at Antwerp, or studied the chosen
works of their great master, in the retired envoy's
villa at Steen.
Supra> chap. viiL p. 615.
VOL. III.
970
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XI.
Visit to
Enfflnnd
and Van-
dyok.
The works of Vandyck, however, so arrested his
eye and fired his ambition, that he obtained his
discharge from the ranks, and, in the summer of
1 64 1, passed over to London to become his scholar.
Sir Anthony and his Scottish wife, the beautiful
Mary Ruthven, had been in Flanders on their way
to Paris in the autumn of the preceding year;*
perhaps, therefore, the Spaniard may have visited
England at the Fleming's invitation. The journey,
however, was not auspicious. The fortunes of
Vandyck had begun to ebb; the days were over
when he feasted the lords of the solemn court, and
turned the heads of their ladies. Bishop Juxon,
drawing the strings of the privy-purse, remorselessly
curtailed his plans and his prices. The design of
adorning the banqueting-house at Whitehall with
pictures from the history of the Order of the Garter
was abandoned. Nicholas Poussin had been pre-
ferred to him at the Louvre, apd chagrin was under-
mining his health. He received his Spanish visitor
kindly ; but he cannot have afforded him much
personal instruction, for he died, to the great sorrow
of the scholar, within six months after his arrival,
in December, 1641. Puritan England was then no
place for a friendless Catholic painter. The court
was at York, the royal lover of art having left the
^ Carpenter's Memoirs of Vandyck^ p. 42.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
971
galleries and the gay masques of Whitehall for the
stormy councils and disastrous fields of the rebellion.
Moya therefore returned to Spain, and at Seville
astonished Murillo by the improvement which travel
had wrought upon his style. He thence proceeded
to Granada, where he fixed his abode, and died in
1666. Besides a few works in convents, he left
in the Cathedral there an altar-piece represent-
ing Our Lady with the infant Saviour, enthroned
amongst clouds and cherubim, and adored by a
kneeling bishop. But his pictures are so rarely to
be met with, that it is probable he did not depend
for bread on his pencil, but was rich enough to be
indolent or fastidious. The Queen of Spain's gal-
lery possesses no specimen of the early model of
Murillo, as it is without any picture by Tristan,
who stands in the same relation to Velazquez.^
In the Louvre,* there is a large "Adoration of the
Shepherds," attributed to Moya, perhaps the picture
which is noticed by Cean Bermudez as a Nativity,
and as the property of the barefooted Trinitarian
friars of Granada. The prevailing tints in this
picture are crimson and Sevillian brown ; the fair-
haired Virgin is pleasing, and some of the figures
spirited ; the sun-burnt urchin resting his hand on
a drum behind the kneeling shepherds is a forcible
^ Supra, chap. ix. p. 6Sa
" GaL Esp., No. 144 [sold in 1853].
CH. XI.
Return to
Spain.
Works.
''Adora-
tion of the
Shep-
heroB."
97»
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XL
Ledaand
Swan, dis-
guUea.
and txuly Spanish study, and the cherubs hovering
overhead, have something of that grace and softness
which Murillo afterwards carried to perfection.
In the choice collection of Mr. Ford,^ there is a
remarkable specimen of Moya, a picture of a girl
caressing a dusky swan, formerly in the possession
of Don Julian Williams at Seville. From the
attitude of the bird and damsel, there can be little
doubt that it originally represented the fable of
Leda, who, of course, was first painted in the con-
dition in which the devil appeared to St. Benedict,
a Castilian periphrasis for stark nakedness.^ But
having the fear of Pacheco and the Holy Office
before his eyes, the painter seems to have veiled
her charms with a saffron-coloured robe ; and to
have added the cat and pigeon, and the red and
white spaniel, perhaps an English pet of his own,
which leaps up to attract her attention, in order
that the picture might appear the harmless portrait
of a mere Christian maiden surrounded by her
feathered and four-footed favourites. The head of
Moya, painted by himself, was in 1 795 in the col-
lection of Don Pedro O'Crouley, at Cadiz.*
^ At Heyitre, Devon.
' " Estar como el diablo apareci6 k San Benito." CoUins's Dictionary
of Spanish Proverbs, i2mo, London, 1823, p. 153.
' Musoei O'CrotUianei, or catalogue of that collector's coins and works
of art, appended to his translation from Addison, DicUogos sobre la
utilidad de las MecUxllas antiguaSt 4tOk Madrid, 1794-5, P* 5^
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 973
Juan de Toledo, another soldier-painter, was born ch. xl
at Lorca, in 161 1, and acquired the rudiments of i"f^^*
art from his father, Miguel de Toledo. Entering
the army at an early age, he made several cam-
paigns in Italy, where his gallantry raised him to
the rank of captain of horse, and his taste led
him to improve his knowledge of painting. At
Rome he became acquainted with Michael Angelo
Cerqiiozzi, commonly called "deUe Battaglie," an
artist who entertained a love for the Spanish nation
not very usual with his countrymen, and delighted
in living with soldiers as well as in painting them.
Mutually pleased with each other, they became
associates in art, and the Italian might perhaps
have turned dragoon, had not the Spaniard laid
down his sword for the pencil. They lived together
at Rome for several years, until Toledo, having
learned all that his friend could teach, returned
to Spain. Settling at Granada, he painted for
several of the convents, especially that of St.
Francis, and obtained considerable reputation by
his small pictures on military subjects. He after-
wards lived for a while at Murcia, where he painted
a large and esteemed composition, representing the
Assumption of Our Lady, for a confraternity attached
to the Jesuits' college of San Estevan. To a
painter-friend, one Mateo Gilarte, he furnished a
sketch for a picture of the battle of Lepanto, to be
974
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH, XT.
Miguel
Manrique.
painted for the convent of Santo Domingo. The
latter part of his life was spent at Madrid, where,
after maintaining and extending his credit as an
artist, he died in 1665. ^^^ ^^^^ works are his
battle-pieces, or views of marches, or encampments,
which are full of life and movement, and in colour-
ing somewhat resemble those of the elder March.^
The Queen of Spain's gallery has several of his
marine views,* representing encounters between the
galleys of the Christian and the Turk. He was less
happy in his treatment of religious and mystical
subjects ; and Palomino relates that of his immense
picture of the Immaculate Conception with the
Blessed Trinity above, executed for the nimnery
of Don Juan de Alarcon at Madrid, some rival
artists maliciously remarked, that it would be a
fine work, were the Virgin a bold dragoon on a
night-march.*
Miguel Manrique, bom of Spanish parents in
Flanders, was likewise a captain of cavalry with
a strong inclination for art. He is supposed, with
slender probability, to have been the disciple of
Rubens; and it is certain that he brought with
him to Spain a style of colouring which betokened
careful study of the works of that master. About
^ Supra, chap. x. p. 905.
' Palomino, torn. iiL p. 53a
' Catdlogo, Nos. 297, 301. 304.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
975
the middle of the seventeenth century he established
himself at Malaga, and wrought for the churches *
and convents. For the Augustine friars he executed
several pictures on passages from the history of the
Blessed Virgin, and the " Marriage of St Catherine "
for the Hospital of Charity. His best work repre-
sented Mary Magdalene anointing Our Lord's feet,
and was painted for the refectory of the Convent
of Victory.
Juan de Guzman, bom at the little town of
Puente de Don Gonzalo, in the province of Cordoba,
in 1611, went to Rome in his youth to study
painting. There he became intimate with the best
artists, and devoted himself to the study of per-
spective and architecture. In painting he did not
sufficiently apply himself to the works of Rafael and
the antique marbles ; and bestowing more care on
his colouring than his drawing, he never attained
to an elevated style. On returning to his native
shores in 1634, he went to live at Seville, where,
although few laurels fell to his share in the field
reaped by Zurbaran and Cano, he became dis-
tinguished by the variety of his knowledge in art
and letters. Amongst his other accomplishments,
was great dexterity in the use of arms ; a dexterity
which, perhaps, seduced him into taking so active
a part in a city riot, that he was obliged to shelter
himself from the law in the convent of shod Carme-
CH. XI.
Juan de
Guzman, or
Fray Juan
del San-
tisimo
Sacra-
mento.
976
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XI. lites. There he assumed, with the robe of a lay-
brother, the solemn name of Fray Juan del Santisimo
Sacramento; and he also exemplified the proverb,
that the frock does not make the friar,^ for his high
temper and unruly spirit soon caused his removal
to the convent of the barefooted brethren of the
same order at Aguilar. Tamed by that sterner
discipline, he became a peaceable and devout monk,
and adorned the convent with a number of pic-
tures. He likewise began a translation, with notes,
of Pietro Accolti's treatise of Perspective, and ad-
vanced so far in the undertaking as to engrave
some illustrative plates; but the work remained
buried in the library of the convent.* In 1666, he
went to Cordoba to paint for the house of his order
in that city; and his pictures, executed for the
high-altar and other parts of the church, were so
highly admired, that the Bishop, Don Francisco de
Alarcon, employed his pencil in the decorations of
the episcopal palace. He remained at Cordoba till
1676, when he returned to Aguilar, where he died
in 1680. As a painter he does not take a high
rank ; his colouring was a pleasing imitation of the
tints of Rubens and Vandyck, but his drawing was
^ **No haze el habito al nionge." Hernan Nunez, Refranes o Pro-
verbios, foL Salamanca, 1555, fol. 86.
' Palomino, torn. iii. p. 597.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
977
fjaulty. Like Cano ^ and Sarabia,* he availed himself
without scruple of figures and ideas taken from
prints of other men's compositions.
Manuel de Molina, bom at Jaen in 1614, having
learned somewhat of painting there, passed over to
Italy, and studied for some time at Rome. On his
return to Spain, being overtaken by a storm at sea,
he vowed to submit himself, on reaching the shore
alive, to the rule of St. Francis; and accordingly,
he entered the Capuchin convent at Jaen as a lay
brother. He embellished his retreat with many
paintings, especially those in the cloister, in which
he attempted to eclipse, but did not equal, the style
of his townsman, Sebastian Martinez** His por-
traits, however, were better and more esteemed.
He died at Jaen in 1677, in consequence, it was
said, of severe labour in the convent garden,
whither he was sent to dig by a surly superior, to
whom he had applied for money to buy materials
for painting.*
Pedro Antonio, bom in 16 14, was a favourite
scholar of Agustin del Castillo, and exercised his
pencil with some credit in his native city of Cordoba,
till his death in 1675. His lively colouring and
courteous manners made him very popular as an
1 Snpra, p. 953.
• Supra, p. 961.
' Supra, p. 966.
* Palomino, torn. iii. p. 588.
CH. XI.
Manuel de
Molina.
Pedro
Antonio.
978
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. xr.
SebAfltian
Gomw.
Miguel and
Geronimo
Garcia.
Fray Gero-
nimo Mel-
garejo.
artist and a citizen. Amongst his works, Palomino
notices with praise pictures of the Conception in the
street of St. Paul, and of S**- Eosa of Lima in the
Dominican convent of the same name, and informs
us that he lived and died in a house in the street
of the Feria.
Sebastian Gomez, an indifferent painter, was a
native of Granada and a scholar of Alonso Cano*
Cean Bermudez notices two of his compositions, a
Virgin and Child, and other figures in the convent of
St. Paul at Seville, and a picture, representing S**-
Rosa of Viterbo haranguing an audience, in the
Franciscan convent at Ecija. Miguel and Geronimo
Garcia were twin-brothers, and canons of the colle-
giate church of San Salvador at Granada ; one being
a painter, and the other a sculptor, the first; coloured
the images which the second carved. They followed
the style, and perhaps profited by the instructions
of Cano.
Fray Geronimo Melgarejo was an Augustine friar
of Granada. He flourished about the middle of the
seventeenth century, and left two pictures of some
merit in the convent to which he belonged. The
first represented four monks of the order, and sundry
ecclesiastics, carrying in solemn procession the relics
of the patron saint, and the second related to St.
Stephen and St. Lorenzo. The composition, says
Cean Bermudez, was good, and the colouring not bad.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
979
Bemab^ Ximenes de Illescas was bom at Lucena,
in 1613, and early showed a predilection for draw-
ing by making copies of prints. The career of arms
led him to Italy, where, like Moya in Flanders, he
improved his opportunities of study, and became a
tolerable painter. Returning to his native place, he
followed painting as a profession, obtained consider-
able employment in the province, and was engaged on
some public work at Andujar when he died in 167 1.
Sebastian de Llanos y Vald^s is chiefly remark-
able as being the scholar who remained longest
beneath the rod of Herrera, and as having been
afterwards wounded in a duel by Alonso Cano.^
He practised his art with credit at Seville, working
chiefly, it appears, for private and lay patrons. In
1660, he was an active supporter of Murillo, in
founding the SeviUian Academy of Painting ; * and
he made frequent donations of oil and other neces-
saries for the use of the members. His good temper
and amiable disposition rendering him popular
amongst his fellow-artists, he was thrice chosen
president of the institution, in 1663, 1666, and 1668.
The time of his death is uncertain, but it seems
probable that he died in, or soon after, the latter
year.' Cean Bermudez mentions only two of his
CH. XL
BernaM
Ximenes
de lUeacas.
Sebastian
(le Llanoa
y Vald6s.
^ Sapra, p. 936. ' Infra, chap. xii. p. 1008.
' Had he been alive in 1670, or 1671, he would, doubtlesst have been
980
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XL
Lm
PoUuieoa.
JuAD Caro
de TaTira.
works, a Virgin of the Bosary adored by angels and
neophytes, in the college of Santo Tomas, at Seville,
and a Magdalene in the Becolete convent at Madrid.
His drawing was correct, bnt his style was some-
what heavy.
The brothers Polancos were scholars of Zurbaran,
and painters of repute at Seville. They imitated
the style of their master with so much success, that
their altar-piece in the church of St. Stephen, re-
presenting the martyrdom of the patron saint, was
ascribed, by Ponz, to his brilliant pencil.^ This
work, as well as the Nativity of Our Lord, St Her-
menegild and St. Ferdinand, by the Polancos, and
a St. Peter and a St. Paul, by Zurbaran himself, still
adorn the fine plateresque retablo of the high-altar.*
Between 1646 and 1649, they were employed by
the rector, Fray Francisco de Jesus, to paint for
the college of the Angel de la Quarda a variety
of works on the subject of the angelic visitations
enjoyed by Abraham, Jacob, Tobit, St. Joseph, and
S**- Teresa. Juan Caro de Tavira was likewise a
disciple of Zurbaran, and a painter of so much pro-
mise that Philip IV. gave him the Order of Santiago.
mentioned by La Torre Farfan, in the Fiestcu de SevUlet, for an aocoiint
of which Bee chap. xii. p. 1003, note.
* Ponz, torn. ix. p. 79. |
' Sevilla Pmtoresca, par D. Jos^ Amador de los Rios, 4to, Sev. 1S44, •
p. 3«x
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
981
He died young ; and no trace remains of the works
to which he owed his cross.
Francisco de Eeyna, a scholar and successful
imitator of the elder Herrera, flourished at Seville
in 1645. For the church of All Saints, he painted
a picture of the souls in Purgatory ; and other
works for the college cxf Monte Sion. He died
young, in 1659.
CH. XL
Francisco
deBeyiia.
CHAPTER XII.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 1621-1665 — (conchcded).
ARTOLOMfi ESTEVAN
MURILLO was bom at
Seville, near the close of
the year 161 7. He was
baptized on New Year's
Day 1618, by the curate
Francisco de Heredia, in
the parish church of La
Magdalena, destroyed in
1810 by the French.^ The names of his parents
were Qaspar Estevan and Maria Perez ; but he also
assumed, according to the frequent usage of Anda-
lusia, the surname of his maternal grandmother,
Elvira Murillo. These facts of his history were
CH. XII.
Bartoloin6
Estevan
Murillo.
^ Having long remained a rubbish-covered heap, with some of the walls
of the church left standing, it has lately been tamed into a plaza aud
planted with trees, with a foantain in the middle. The Dominican chui-ch
of San Pablo now serves as parish church of La Magdalena.
984
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XlL
brought to light by the Count of Aguila, who,
towards the close of last century, examined the
: registers of several parish churches, and the archives
of the Cathedral where a son of Murillo had held
a canonry. By the researches of that ill-fated
nobleman,^ Cean Bermudez was enabled to disprove
^ He was of the family of Espinosa, and a man of taste and learning.
His house, at Seville, in the Plazuela de los Trapes, once contained some
good pictures, amongst which was an early specimen of Velazquez (chap,
ix. p. 679), and a beautiful Virgin, by Murillo, known as la Virgen de la
faja, the Vi^ge d la eeinture of the Louvre, GaL £sp., Na 156. [Sold at
the Louis- Philippe sale, 1853, No. 72, aud \& in the collection of the late
Due de Montpcnsier.] — Guia de Forasteros de la dudad de SetfiUoy por
BARTOLOME ESTEVAN MURlLLO
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
985
Palomino's assertion, that the great painter was bom
in 16 1 3, at Pilas, a village five leagues from Seville,
and restore the honour of giving him birth to the
year and the place to which it properly belonged.
like Velazquez,^ Murillo displayed his inclination
for art, when yet a boy, by scrawling on his school-
books and covering the walls of the school with
precocious pencillings. His parents, observing the
bent of his disposition, wisely determined to humour
it, and therefore placed him, as soon as he had
learned to read and write, under the care of the
painter Juan del Castillo, who was related to their
family.' His gentle nature, and his desire to learn,
soon made him a favourite with his fellow-scholars,
and with his master, who bestowed particular care
on his instruction, and taught him all the mechanical
parts of his calling, by causing him to grind the
CBL XII.
Early Uf e.
D. J. H. D. (Herrera DaTila.), Bm. 8vo, Sev., 1832, s^nnda parte, p. 93.
In 1S08, being Proeurcuior-mayor of the city, and remaining neuter in the
popular outbreak which followed the great rising at Madrid on the dos de
Mayo, he was murdered, at the Triana gate, by the mob, as a traitor to
the Spanish cause, at the instigation of the ruffian Fr«. Guzman, alias
Count of Tilli. Schepeler, Bistoire de la Bivolutian d'Espagne et de For-
tvgal, 3 tomes 8vo, Li^, 1829, tom. i. p. 268. Handbook [1843], P* ^^
[third edition, 1855, p. 211].
* Supra, chap. ix. p. 672.
' In the Dialogo sobre el arte de la PuUura, sm. Svo, Seyilla, 1819,
p. 30, an imaginary conyersation held in the other world by Murillo and
Mengs, attributed to the pen of Gean Bermudez, Murillo is made to talk
of Castillo, as *'mi primer maestro y tto.'* Thus he may have been his
uncle by the mother's side ; but the word tio is often used as a mere term
of familiarity or endearment.
TOL. III. f L
986
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XII.
Sohoolfl of
art at
SerUle.
colours, prepare the canvases, and manage the palette
and brushes for the school.
The great artists of Seville, whose genius has
given to that city the rank of a metropolis in art, did
not live in the dayr of royal or national academies,
nor did they acquire their skill in galleries, furnished
forth at the public expense, with copies of the finest
statuary of Greece and Borne, and other expensive
appliances of study. The dwelling of each master
was a school of design, where the pupils or amateurs
who resorted thither defrayed the cost of coal and
candle, and other moderate expenses, out of a
common fund. There, around the brasero in winter,
or beneath the patio-awning in summer, they copied
the heads or limbs sketched by the master for their
use, or the few casts, or fragments of sculpture
which he had inherited or collected, such as Torri-
giano's " mano de la teta'' ^ or the anatomical models
of Becerra.* There was always a lay-figure to be
covered, as need required, with various draperies,
for which the national cloak and the monkish frock
afforded ready and excellent materials. Sometimes
a living model was obtained, especially if the master
were engaged upon any work of importance; or
if this were an expense beyond the means of the
school, the disciples would strip in turn, and lend
^ Supra, chap. iiL p. 126.
' Ibid. ohap. t. p. 29a
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
987
an ami, a leg, or a shoulder, to be copied and
studied by their fellows. The practice, followed by
Velazquez/ of painting £ruit and vegetables, game
and fish, pots and pans, for the sake of gaining
experience in the use of colours, obtained in all the
schools of Seville. The ambition of the scholars
was fired, and their industry spurred, by the emula-
tion which existed between school and school, those
of Boelas and Facheco, Herrera and Castillo ; by
the hope of winning the favour of the Chapter
or the Chartreuse, or of nobles like the Duke of
Alcali;' and by exhibitions of their works, at
windows and balconies, during the procession of
Corpus; or at other festivals, on the steps, las
gradaSj surrounding the Cathedral, when any piece
of distinguished merit became the magnet of the
throng, the theme of poets, and the talk of the
town.
Availing himself of all the means of improvement
within his reach, Murillo, in a few years, painted as
well as Castillo himself. While still in the school
of that master, he executed two pictures of Our
Lady, attended, in the one, by St. Francis and
another monk; in the other, by Santo Domingo,
which displayed a close adherence to the stiff style
of his instructor. The first of these pictures hung
OH. XII.
^ Supra, chap. ix. p. 58a
* Ibid. chap. viL p. 569.
Early
works of
Marillo.
988
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XII.
Works for
the Feria.
in the convent of Regina Angelorum, the second in
the college of St. Thomas. The removal of Castillo
to Cadiz in 1639-40,^ deprived Murillo of his in-
structions and his friendship, the latter of which,
at least, may have been of considerable importance.
For it seems that Estevan and his wife were either
dead, or too poor to afford their son the means of
pursuing his studies under another master. Certain
it is, that instead of enrolling himself in the fine
school of Zurbaran, whose merits he cannot have
failed to appreciate, he was reduced to earn his
daily bread by painting coarse and hasty pictures
for the Feria.*
Held in a broad street, branching from the
northern end of the old Alameda, and in front
of the church of All Saints, remarkable for its
picturesque semi - Moorish belfry, this venerable
market presents every Thursday an aspect which
has changed but little since the days of Murillo.
Indifferent meat, ill-savoured fish, fruit, vegetables,
and coarse pottery, old clothes, old mats, and old
iron, still cover the ground or load the stalls, as
they did on the Thursdays two centuries ago, when
the unknown youth stood there amongst gipsies,
muleteers, and mendicant friars, selling for a few
reals those productions of his early pencil for which
^ Supra, chap. viL p. 462.
* Ibid. chap. yi. p. 371.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 989
royal collectors are now ready to contend. Few ch. xii.
painters are now to be found there, the demand for
religious daubs having declined, both in the Feria
of Seyille, and in the streets of Santiago at Valla-
dolid, and the Catalans at Naples,^ once flourishing
marts for wares of that kind. In Murillo's time, V^istaof
the Feria.
these street -artists mustered in great numbers.
Like the apprentice of Portugal^ a Castilian emblem
of presumption, who would cut out before he knew
how to stitch,* they gradually taught themselves the
rudiments, by boldly entering the highest walks of
painting. Their works were sometimes executed
in the open air, and they always kept brushes and
colours at hand, ready to make any alteration, on
the spot, that customers might suggest, such as
changing a St. Onophrius, bristly as the fretful
porcupine,' into St. Christopher the ferryman, or
Our Lady of Carmel into St. Anthony of Padua.
Vast quantities of this trash, as well as works of a
better class, were bought up by the colonial mer-
chants, and shipped off, with great store of relics
and indulgences, to adorn and enrich the thousand
churches and convents, the gold and silver altars
and jewelled shrines, of transatlantic Spain. The
^ Guevara, ComerUarios, p. 52, n. i.
' "Aprendiz de Portugal, no sabe oozer y qoiere oortar." Collins's
Spanish Proverbs, p. 46.
* Yillegas, Flos Sanctorum, p. 725.
990
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XIL
Moya's in-
fluence on
MuriUo.
artists who practised this extempore kind of paint-
ing, and grappled with the difficulties of the palette,
before they had learned to cbraw, are compared by
Cean Bermudez to those intrepid students, who seek
to acquire a foreign language by speaking it, re-
gardless of blunders, and afterwards, if opportunity
serves, improve their knowledge of the idiom by
means of books. Of the success of this system,
which has produced both able painters and excellent
linguists, MuriUo can hardly be cited as an example;
but he doubtless learned to apply the precepts of
Castillo, and improved his manual skill, by the
rough off-hand practice of the market-place. A
picture of the Blessed Virgin, with the Infant
Saviour on her knee, now hanging in the precious
Murillo-room, in the Museum at Seville,^ seems to
belong to this early period. There is much promise
of future excellence in the graceful ease of the
heads; but the colouring is poor and flat, and the
whole is but cold and feeble when compared with
the masterpieces which glow on the adjacent walls.
Early in 1642, Pedro de Moya, returning from
England and the school of Vandyck,' resided for
a while and painted some pictures at Seville.
Murillo, who may have known him in the school
of Castillo, or at least had seen some of his early
^ Supra, chap. i. p. 69.
* Ibid. chap. zL p. 97a
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
991
works, was so struck by the favourable change
which travel had wrought upoa his style, that he
himself resolved upon a pilgrimage to Flanders or
Italy in search of improvement. Money, however,
to meet the expenses of such a journey, was first
to be obtained by his own unaided exertions^ for
his parents were now dead, leaving little behind
them, and his genius had not yet recommended
him to the good ofilces of any wealthy or power-
ful patron. His resolution and energy overcame
this obstacle. Buying a large quantity of canvas,
he divided it into squares of various sizes, which
he primed and prepared with his own hands for
the pencil, and then converted into pictures of the
more popular saints, landscapes, and flower-pieces.
These he sold to the American traders for expor-
tation, and thus obtained a sum sufficient for his
purpose. He then placed his sister under the
protection of some uncles and aunts, and without
communicating his plans or destination to any one,
took the road to Madrid.
Finding himself in the capital without friends or
letters, he waited on his fellow-townsman Velaz-
quez, then at the zenith of his fortune, and telling
him his story, begged for some introductions to his
friends at Rome. The King's painter asked him
various questions about his family and connections,
his master, and his motive for undertaking so
CH. XII.
Marillo at
Madrid.
992
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. xiL long a journey, and being pleased with his replies
and demeanour, offered him lodging, which was
thankfully accepted, in his own house, and pro-
cured him admission to the Alcazar, Escorial, and
the other royal galleries. There a new world of
art opened to the young Andalusian ; he saw large
instalments of all that he most wished to see, and
conversed with the great masters of Italy and the
Netherlands without crossing the Gulf of Lyons or
the Pyrenees. During the absence of the Court
in Aragon,^ he spent the summer of 1642 in dili-
gently copying the works of Bibera, Vandyck, and
his new patron. Returning from Zaragoza in the
autumn, Velazquez was so much pleased with his
labours, that he advised him to restrict his attention
to the works of the three artists whom he had taken
for his models; and, submitting the copies to the
eye of the King, he likewise introduced the stran-
ger to the favourable notice of the Count-Duke of
Olivares and the other courtiers of taste. The year
following, Murillo shared in Velazquez's grief at
the fall of the friendly minister.* Continuing to
pursue his studies in retirement, and with unabated
industry, at the return of the Court from the triumph
of Lerida,' in 1644, he surprised Velazquez with
some works of so high a merit, that that judicious
^ Supra, chap. ix. p. 733. ■ Ibid. p. 744.
» Ibid. p. 745.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
993
critic pronounced him ripe for Rome, and offered
him letters to facilitate his journey. But, whether
recalled by his sister, or deeming that he had
already reaped at Madrid all the advantages which
Rome could offer, Murillo declined to quit his
native soil, and in spite of the earnest remon-
strances of his friend, returned, early in 1645, to
Seville.
When he paused, as all travellers pause, at the
Cruz del Campo, to say a grateful Ave to the Virgin,^
or to look down on the domes and belfries of the
noble city, there were few within its walls that had
noted his absence, or even remembered the existence
of the friendless painter who was now returning
to become the pride of Andalusia. Soon after his
arrival, the friars of the fine Franciscan convent,
behind the Casa del Ayuntamiento, had determined
to expend a sum of money collected by one of their
begging brotherhood, upon a series of pictures for
their small cloister.* They wanted eleven large
pieces, but the price which they proposed to give
for these was too paltry to tempt any artist of name
to undertake the task. Murillo, however, being
^ Handbook [1S43], P* ^37 [third edition, 1855, P* i^O-
' It ocoapied the finest site in the centre of the city — all the great space,
now the Plaza Nueva, and the CalU de Madridy and even beyond it, for
there is said to be a piece of the Claustro chico still standing, forming the
paiio of the house at the end of the CcUle de Madrid^ on the side farthest
from the Plaza and the end farthest from the Cathedral (1859).
CH. XIL
Return to
Seville.
The Fran-
994
REIGK OF PHILIP IV.
CH. xn.
Korillo's
"CiMfltTO
chioo,"of
ciicaMi con-
Tent.
SanFnuti-
San Diego.
needy and onknown, offered to fulfil the bargain,
and the Franciscans, although doubting his com-
petency, were happily induced by their parsimony or
their poverty to close with his offer. They c^)«aed
a field to the young ene^es of his genius, and he
repaid the fEtvonr by rendering the walls of their
convent fiunous throughout Spain.
Each picture of the series was inscribed with
certain verses, having a reference, but not always
affording a key, to the subject. The first which met
the eye, on entering the cloister and turning to the
right, represented St. Francis of Assisi, reclining
on his iron pallet with a crucifix in his hand, and
listening to the melody of a violin, played near bis
ear by an angelic visitor. The countenance of the
saint beaming with devout ecstasy, and the graceful
figure of the angel, were finely conceived and no less
carefully executed ; and in the colouring there was
much of Bibera's strength, with a superadded soft-
ness and delicacy of tone. Next came San Diego of
Alcald, kneeling in the act of blessing a copper pot
of broth, which he was about to dispense to the
poor at the convent door. A poor woman and her
children, and a knot of ragged beggars and urchins,
a group which might be studied in every street,
and in which the artist may himself have figured
as an expectant when he wrought for the Feria,
were painted with all the lifelike truth and accuracy
REIGN OF PHIUP IV.
99S
of detail which distinguished the early studies of
Velazquez. Of the third and fourth pictures/ Cean
Bermudez does not name, and, perhaps, could not
divine the subjects; but both, he says, contained
some excellent heads and draperies, and in one a
distant landscape was flooded with light from a
globe of fire, in which the soul of Philip II. was
supposed to be ascending to heayen.' The fifth,
one of the finest of the series, represented the death
of S^ Clara, an Italian nun, whose locks were
shom^ and whose veil was given, by the hand of the
blessed St. Francis himsell' Amongst a sorrow-
ing group of sisters and friars, she lay with her
dying eyes fixed on a vision of glory, wherein
appeared the Saviour and Our Lady, attended by
a train of vii^ns, bearing the radiant robe of her
coming immortality. Yandyck himself might have
painted the lovely head of S^ Clara; and the
beauty of the heavenly host contrasted finely with
the wan nuns and coarse -featured friars beneath.
Of the remaining six, Cean Bermudez only informs
us that one was a composition of two figures, and
that another, in size a companion piece to the S^
CH. xa.
StauClanu
^ One of these pietares miut have been the San Diego and five other
fignzes now in the Mns^ at Tonlonae.
* It was St FranciB's Chariot of Fir& See Mrs. Jameson's Legendi
of the Monadic OrderM, 8to, London, 1850, p. 373.
> Yill^gas, Flat Sanetonim, p. 387.
996
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XII.
The rapt
cook.
SanGQ.
The two
Friars.
Clara, represented a Franciscan, seized with a holy
rapture, when engaged in cooking for his convent,
and kneeling in the air, whilst a flight of minister-
ing angels performed his culinary functions.^ The
latter bore the signature of the artist, " J5"»«« Steph^
de MurillOf anno 1646, me.fJ' Another, mentioned
with high praise by Ponz, was a composition of six
figures, representing San Gil, patron of the green-
wood,* standing in a religious ecstasy in the pre-
sence of Pope Gregory II. It found its way into
the gallery of the late Marquess Aguado, and is now
in England.' Soult gutted the convent and carried
oflf all Murillo's pictures, with the exception of one,
which, being too stiff to be rolled up, was left be-
hind, and now adorns the collection of Mr. Ford.*
It represents a holy Franciscan, praying over the
body of a dead grey friar, as if about to restore him
to life; and it is painted in a strong Bibera-like
style.^ For once we may forgive the military robber.
^ Ponz, torn. iz. p. 97. It is known in Soult's gallery as " La cuitine
cileste."
' Villegas, Flos Sanctorum, p. 426.
* It was in the possession of Mr. Buchanan, of Pall Mall [now in the
collection of Philip W. S. Miles, Esq., King's Weston, Gloucestershire.
Curtis, Velazquez and MuriUoy M. No. 309]. It has been engraved for
the series of prints known as the Galerie Aguado, by Tavemier, who,
like a true Frenchman, has mis-spelt eyeiy second word of the inscrip-
tion.
^ At Heyitre, Devon [now in the collection of his son, Francis Clare
Ford, Esq., London. Curtis, M. No. 40a]
" [Curtis {ydazquez and Murillo, 8yo, London, 1883, M. No. 2681 p.
225) gives a full list of these pictures and their owners.]
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 997
for great part of the stripped convent was destroyed
by fire in 18 10, nothing being left standing but the
church and some of the arches and three hundred
marble columns that supported the cloisters.^
The fame of these pictures getting abroad, the
Eranciscan convent was soon thronged with artists
and critics. A new star had arisen amongst them ;
a painter had appeared, dropping as it were from the
clouds, armed with a pencil that could assume at
will the beauties of Bibera, Vandyck, and Velazquez.
From the squalid stalls of the Feria, a poor and
friendless youth had stepped, at once, into the fore-
most rank of the artists of skilful and opulent Seville.
From the moment that his works were placed in the
Franciscan cloister, the name of Murillo began to
rise in popular esteem, and to eclipse the time-
honoured names of Herrera, Pacheco, and Zurbaran.
The public was loud in his praise ; and priors and
noble patrons overwhelmed him with commissions.
One of the first fruits of his sudden burst of repu-
tation was a picture of the "Flight into Egypt,"
executed for the fime Convent of Mercy, a house
rich in the productions of the best pencils and
chisels of Seville.
In 1648, his worldly circumstances were sufficiently
thriving to enable him, not only to marry, but to
^ J. Herrera Davila, Guia de Sevilla, seg. parte, p. 47.
CH. XII.
Murillo*!
Marriage.
998
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XTL
Mode of
Ufa.
obtain a rich and noble wife, Doiia Beatriz de
Oabrera y Sotomayor, bom and possessing property
at Filas,^ a village five leagues south-west from
Seville. Of this lady's life no fact or even date has
been recorded; nor have her features and person
survived in any known portrait But the fortunes
of her husband and children afford fair evidence
that her domestic duties were faithfully and ably
fulfilled.
By this alliance the social position of the success*
ful artist was improved and determined ; his means
of hospitality were enlarged ; and his house became
the resort of the brethren of his craft, and of the best
society of the city. As the name of Murillo is not
to be found in the gossiping treatise of Facheco,
it is probable that his success may have been re-
garded with some secret uneasiness by that busy
veteran, jealous not only of his own fame, but of that
of his son-in-law Velazquez. There can be no doubt,
however, that the young painter appeared in the
literary and artistic circle which assembled under
the roof of Pacheco, at whose death he seems to
have reigned in his stead as the judicious and
courteous leader of his order.
^ In a " Life of Murillo," in Owmber^M EdMbvrgh JoumcU, May 2, 1846^
p. 278, we are told that the artist first saw his wife at Pilas, where he was
IMunting an altar-piece for the church of San Geronimo, and thai he gained
her affections by pourtraying her as an angel in that composition (p. 279).
I know of no Spanish, or indeed any other, authority for this stoiy.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
999
Soon after his marriage, Murillo changed his style
of painting, forsaking that which the connoisseurs
have called fixst or cold (frio) manner, for that which
they designate his warm (calido) or second style.^
His outlines became softer and his figures rounder ;
his backgrounds gained in depth of atmospheric
effect, and his whole colouring in transparency.
Reynolds, borrowing the ancient criticism passed by
Euphranor on the Theseus of Faxrhasius,^ remarked
that the nymphs of Barroccio and Bubens appear
to have fed upon roses.* So a Spanish critic, less
elegantly, perhaps, bnt not less justly, said of
Murillo, that his flesh tints now seemed to be
painted con sangre y leche^ with blood and milk.
The earliest work in this second style, noticed by
Gean Bermude^, hung in the Franciscan convent,
among the masterpieces of the first manner. It
was a picture of Our Lady of the Conception, with
a friar seated and writing at her feet ; and it was
painted in 1652, for the brotherhood of the True
Gross, who placed it in the convent, and paid the
artist 2,500 reals.
Three years afterwards, in 1655, by order of
Don Juan Federigui, Archdeacon of Carmona, he
GH. XIL
HisMoond
■tyle.
Piotaras
for the
Cathedral
' Handbookt p. 263.
* Plinii Nat Hut., libu zzzr. cafk. 40^ 10 vob., Lipsue, 177&-1791, vol.
iz. p. 512.
' Works of Sir J. Reynolds, J Yols. sm. 8yo, London, 1839, toL iL p. 235.
lOOO
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. xa
San
Loandro.
San
Isidoro.
executed the two famous pictures of St. Leander,
and St Isidore, now in the great sacristy of the
Cathedral. These saintly brethren, natives of Car-
thagena, flourished in the sixth and seventh cen-
turies ; each in turn filled the archiepiscopal throne
of Seville ; and they had a third brother who was
Bishop of Ecija, and now enjoys a place in the
calendar, as San Fulgencio. Murillo has painted
them in their mitres and white robes, and seated
in great chairs. In Leander the elder, he has pour-
trayed the features of Alonso de Herrera, marker
of the choir.^ The mild and venerable counte-
nance, full of blended dignity, meekness, and intelli-
gence, agrees well with the character ascribed by
ecclesiastical history to the good archbishop, who
gained over King Leovigild and his Arian Goths to
the Catholic faith, by his gentleness and patience.'
It bespeaks a life moulded on the precepts of St.
Paul, and might pass for the true likeness of some
holy Borromeo or Bedell.
The learned Isidore, a busy prelate, and an un-
wearied student, is represented as a younger man,
' **Apuntador del coro^** the Oxford pric]c-biU, an officer whose bud-
neas it was to register the attendance of the canons and other fanction-
aries at times of service ; for which, says Mr. Bavies, Life of Muritto,
p. 58, note, he receiyed in the good old times ;f 1,500 a year, jnst £yio
more than the revenue now allowed by the state to the Archbishop of
Toledo. Widdriogton's Spain and the Spaniards, voL ii p. 295.
* Villegas, Flos Sanctorum^ p. 642 ; Gibbon, voL vL p. 282, ed. 1838,
however, donbts the fact of Leovigild's conversion.
REIGN OF PHIUP IV,
lOOI
with a noble but less benignant countenance ; he is
yet in the vigour of life, and not troubled with any
thought of his Transit, so finely painted by Eoelas ; ^
the book in his hand bears an inscription announc-
ing one of his favourite doctrines, *' obebitb o oobi
CONSUBSTANTIONEM DEI ; " and he has the threaten-
ing eye of a keen controversialist, ready to slay or
be slain for any jot or tittle of his dogmatical creed.
The real owner of this fine and highly intellectual,
though somewhat stem, face, was the licentiate
Juan Lopez Talaban. As if to mark more distinctly
the difference between the two men, it is executed
in a harder manner than its companion. The heads,
hands, and all the accessories of these two noble
portraits are all finished with admirable effect ; but
each figure is somewhat short, an error into which
Murillo sometimes fell.
About the same time, or soon after, he painted
for the Chapter another large picture, the " Nativity
of the Blessed Virgin," which hung behind the high-
altar of the Cathedral, until in due time it became
the prey of Soult. It was one of the most pleasing
specimens of his second style, and the skill of the
composition left nothing to be desired. In the
foreground, a graceful group of women and angels
were engaged in dressing the new-bom babe; and
OH. XIL
NatiTity of
the Virgin.
VOL. III.
^ Sapra, chap. viL p. 524.
lOOJ
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. xn.
San An-
tonio de
FMlna.
the baie left aim of one of the ministering maidens
was the envy of the ladies of Seville for its round-
ness of form and beanty of colonr, and rivalled in
public admiration the leg of Adam in the famous
picture by Vargas/ Beyond, St Anne was seen in
bed« with St Joachim leaning over her; above, in
the air, joyful cherubs hovered near the auspicious
scene; and the distance was closed by a pleasant
landscape.
Appreciating the genius of the great artist, the
Chapter gave him another order in the following
year, 1656, in compliance with which he painted,
for the price of 10,000 reals, a large picture of
St Anthony of Padua, one of his most celebrated
works, and still a gem of the Cathedral, hanging in
the chapel of the baptistery. Kneeling near a table,
the shaven grey-frocked saint is surprised by a visit
from the infant Jesus, a charming naked babe, who
descends in a golden flood of glory, walking the
bright air as if it were the earth, while around him
floats and hovers a company of cherubs, most of
them children, forming a rich garland of gracefol
forms and lovely faces. Gazing up in rapture at
this dazzling vision, the saint kneels, with arms
outstretched, to receive the approaching Saviour.
On the table at his side there is a vase containing
' Sapra, chap. vL p. 365.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1003
white lilies, painted with such Zeuxis-like skill, that
birds, wandering amongst the aisles, have been seen
attempting to perch on it and peck the flowers;^
and to the left of the picture an arch discloses the
architectural perspective of the cloister. Palomino
has an improbable story, that the table and other
accessories were put in by Vald^s Leal.' In 1833
OH. XII.
^ A cayiller might object, that the oompliment thus unooiiflcioasly
paid to the lilies reflected no credit on the saint Zenzis made a
similar remark when he saw a bird peck the grapes carried by a boy in
his picture. Plin. Nat, Hist,, lib. zxxv., chap. 36, vol. iz. p. 449. But
birds in Spain used to be on very familiar terms with the monks, if we
are to believe Mr. Thicknesse, who says that he saw a wild songster
taking the bread out of the mouth of a hermit at Monserrat — Tr<tveU m
France and Spain, 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1777, vol. i p. 189. The Seville
story appeared in print eleven years before Murillo's death, when there
were persons, we are informed, ready to depose to having seen "nn
paxaro trabajar por assentarse en el (ie., the bufete or table) a picar las
flores que salen de una jarra, en forma de azucenas." — Fiestas dela S.
Iglesia metropolitana y patriarcal de SeviUa, al nuevo culto del Sefior
Bey S, Fernando, por de Fernando de la Torre Farfan, presbytero, fol.
Sevilla, 1671 (with 6 preliminary leaves, pp. 343, and 20 plates, besides
the saint's portrait, engraved after Murillo, and not found in all copies),
p. 164. For a similar triumph achieved by Sanchez Cotan, see chap. vii.
p. 509. The pre-eminent modem Zeuxis, however, was Mignard, whose
portrait of the Marquise de Gouvemet was accosted by that lady's pet
parrot with an affectionate **Baise mot, ma maitreese.** — Vie de Pierre
Mignard, par TAbb^ de Monville, i2mo, Amsterdam, 1731, p. 57. There
was more credit in deluding a parrot than even a Philip IV., chap. ix.
p. 729.
* Palomino, torn. iii. p. 625. I am informed, by my friend the author
of the Handbook, that the table painted here and in other works of
Murillo is the antique meea de h^rraje, so called from its iron legs, still
to be found in the old mansions of Sevill& The top is usually a single
massive plank of mahogany. The Marquess de las Amarillas had a very
fine one. Don Fran®* Romero Balmaseda has one which belonged to the
painter Juan de Vald^ The slab of mahogany— black as ebony, and
of a single piece— is 8 feet 11 inches long by 4 feet i\ inches wide,
Spanitih measure. The finely-carved trestles which support it are also
1004
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XII.
Piotaret
for church
of S«*.
Maria la
Blanca.
this noble work was repaired, which in Spain means
repainted, so that many a delicate touch of Murillo's
pencil has disappeared. Enough, however, is left
to show the genius of the original design, and the
splendour of the original colours.^ Over it hangs a
smaller picture by the same hand, representing the
Baptism of Our Lord : a work fresh and pleasing in
tone, but somewhat defective both in composition
and drawing.
The same year saw the renovation of the small
but ornate church of S*^ Maria la Blanca, once a
Jewish synagogue, and now a chapel of ease to the
Sagrario of the Cathedral.* The canon Don Justino
Neve y Yevenes, a great friend and patron of Murillo,
employed him to paint for this church four large
pictures of a semi-circular form, two for the nave.
mahogany, but there are long serpentine bars which spring from the
lower rail of these trestles and meet in a block placed under the centre of
the table, and being of iron, give the name herraje.
^ Of this picture, M. Viardot, Mtuies cTEspcigne, ftc., p. 146, note, tells
a marvellous tale on reverend authority. ** Une chanoine," says he, "qui
avait bleu voulu me servlr de dcerone, me raconta qu'apr^ la retraite
de FraD9ais, en 18 13, le Due de Wellington avait offert d'acheter ce
tableau pour 1* Angleterre en le oouyrant d'onces d'or ; * mais * TAngleterre
a gard^ son or, et Seville le chef-d'oBuvre de son peintre." The canvas is
probably 15 feet square, which, aU owing each golden ounce to be worth
£$, 6s., and to cover a square of i^ inch, brings the Duke's offer to at
least ;f 47,520. Captain Widdrington, Spain and the Spaniards in 1843,
voL i. p. 246, was informed that "a lord" had declared himself ready to
give ;f 40,000 for the picture. The Handbook, p. 256, rejects the story
with contempt It is, nevertheless, still told and believed at Seville and
Paris, where nothing is too monstrous for deglutition.
* Ponz, tom. ix. p. 84.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1005
and one for each of the lateral aisles. The two first
were to illustrate the history of the festival of Our
Lady of the Snow, or the dedication of the church
of S^ Maria Maggiore, at Borne. In the days of
Pope liberius, says the legend,^ there dwelt at
Rome a certain senator named John, whose wife,
a rich and noble lady, bore him no offspring. He-
signed to the will of heaven, and being no less
pious than opulent, the childless pair determined
to adopt the Blessed Virgin as their heir; and for
that purpose they daily besought her to declare
her pleasure as to the investment of their wealth.
Moved by their supplications, the Queen of Heaven
at last appeared to each of them in a dream on
the night of the 4th of August, and accepted the
inheritance, on condition of their repairing next
day to the Esquiline Hill, and there, on a piece of
ground which they should find covered with snow,
erecting a church in her honour. When day broke,
the sleepers having compared their dreams, went
to submit the case to the Pope, whom they found,
however, already informed of the matter by a re-
velation from the Virgin. Having received the
pontifical benediction, and attended by a retinue of
priests, and a great throng of people, they next pro-
CH. XII.
Legend of
N*. Sefi*
delaNiere.
^ Bibadeneira, Flevr des Vies des Saints, torn. u. p. 1 14. Circa, A.D.
36a Handbook, p. 735.
ioo6
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XII.
The sena-
tor's
dream.
InteiTiew
with the
Pope.
ceeded to the Esquiline, found a portion of it white,
beneath the August sun, with miraculous snow, and
marked out thereon the site of a church, which
when finished they endowed with all their sub-
stance, and called by the name of their celestial
legatee. Thither was brought, after many ages,
the adored manger-cradle of Our Lord ; and there
arose the meretricious temple of Rainaldi and Fuga,
which, however, records in its proud title the piety
of the senator and his spouse, who first dedicated
a church to the Mother of the Saviour within the
walls of the Eternal City. In his delineation of the
first part of the story, Murillo has represented the
Boman lord dreaming in his chair over a great book,
and leaning his head on a table, with deep sleep
written in every line of his noble countenance and
figure. His dress of black velvet is, like that of
Pareja's St. Matthew,^ the costume of a Spanish
hidalgo. The lady lies asleep on the ground ; above
them appears, seated on a cloud and surrounded by
a glory, the Virgin, one of the loveliest of Murillo's
Madonnas. In the next picture, the devout pair
relate their dream to the Pope liberius, a grand old
ecclesiastic, like one of Titian's pontiffs. Near the
throne stands a white-robed friar, applying a pair of
spectacles to his nose, and scrutinising the not very
^ Supra, chap, x p. 85a
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
X007
interesting dame in a manner more usual with his
doth than proper to his calling. Far in the distance,
the procession is seen approaching the snow-patch
on the Esquiline. In the Dream, the finest of the
two pictures, is noticed the commencement of his
third or vapoury (vaporoso) style, in which the out-
lines are lost in the light and shade, as they are in
the rounded forms of nature. Both were carried oS
by the French, and placed in the Louvre,^ but they
were happily rescued at the peace. They now hang
in the Academy of San Fernando, at Madrid, in
tawdry Parisian frames, absurdly decorated at the
upper comers with plans and elevations of the
ancient basilica and of the present church of S*^
Maria Maggiore. The remaining pictures, a Virgin
of the Conception adored by churchmen, and a figure
of Faith holding the elements of the Eucharist and
likewise worshipped by various saintly personages,
were not recovered from the gripe of the Oaul. To
the church of S^ Maria la Blanca, which, at one time,
possessed, besides these pictures, an excellent Mater
Dolorosa, and a St John by Murillo, there now re-
mains but a single work of his, a Last Supper, painted
in his early style,* but at what period is not known,"
OH. XIL
Murillo's
third ftyle.
^ Notice des Tctbleaux expoHs dans le grattd solan du MusH Boycd^
i2mo, Paris, 1815, p. 73, where they figure as Nob. 83 and 84.
* Handbook [1843], p. 269 [third edition, 1855, p. 198].
' Ortiz de Zoiiiga, Anaks de SemUa^ ap. p. 817, has a notice of &**■
ioo8
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. xn.
Founda-
tion of the
Academy
ofSeraie;
tint meet-
ing.
In 1658, Mnrillo was, in some degree, diverted
from the labours of his studio by a scheme which
he had conceived, of establishing a public Academy
of Art. The design was a bold one, and encom-
passed with difficulties, which, at Madrid, had baffled
not only the artists in the last reign, but even
Philip IV., whom the interests of art, beyond all
other objects, were likely to arouse from his mag-
nificent indolence on the throne.^ The Sevillian
painter, however, succeeded in effecting what the
absolute monarch had found impracticable. By his
address and good temper he obtained the concur-
rence of Vald^s Leal, who believed himself the
first of painters, and of the younger Herrera, who
had lately returned from Italy, with his natural
Andalusian presumption greatly improved by travel.
The conflicting jealousies of his rivals being thus
reconciled or quieted, the academy was first opened
for the purposes of instruction, in one of the apart-
ments of the Exchange, on the evening of the
1st of January 1660. On the nth of the same
month, twenty-three of the leading artists met to
draw up a constitution for a new society.* It was
Maria la Blanca, and mentions Mnrillo. A book also appears to haye
been written by La Torre Farfan.
* Snpra, chap, viii pp. 598, 599.
' The following are the names appended to the minnte of the meeting :
— D. Francisco de Herrera, Bai-tolom^ Mnrillo, D. Sebastian Llanos y
Vald^, Pedro Honorio de Palencia, Jnan de Vald^ Leal, Gomelio Schnti
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1009
then agreed that its affairs should be managed by
two presidents, of whom Murillo was the first, and
Herrera the second; by two consuls, Sebastian de
Llanos y Vald^s and Pedro Honorio de Palencia;
a fiscal, Cornelius Schut ; a secretary, Ignacio Iriiiprte ;
and a deputy, Juan de Vald^s Leal. The duties
of the presidents, who were to act on alternate
weeks, were to direct the progress of the pupils,
resolve their doubts and settle their disputes, im-
pose fines and preserve order in the school, and
select those whose skill entitled them to the rank
of academician. The consuls, fiscal, secretary, and
deputy formed the council of the president ; the
consul seems to have been his assistant or substi-
tute ; and the business of the other three officers
was to collect the subscriptions and fines, and to
keep the accounts. The expenses of coal, candle,
models, and other necessaries were defrayed by a
monthly subscription of six reals, paid by each of
the twenty members ; while scholars were liberally
admitted for the purposes of study, on the payment
of whatever fee they could afford. The rules were
few and simple. Each disciple, on admission, was
Ifni&cio de Irikrte, Madas de Arteaga, Matias de Carbajal, Antonio de
Lejalde, Jnan de Arenas, Jnan Martinez, Pedro Ramirez, Bemab^ de
Ayala, Carlos de Negron, Pedro de Medina, Bernardo Arias Maldonado,
Diego Diaz, Antonio de Zarzoza, Juan Lopez Carrasco, Pedro de Cam-
probin, Martin de Atienza, Alonso Perez de Herrera.
CH. XIL
Office
bearers;
their
dattos.
RnlM.
lOXO
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XII.
Erents of
the first
year.
to profess his orthodoxy in these words — "Praised
be the most holy Sacrament^ and the pure Concep*
tion of Our Lady " {Alahado sea el Santisimo Sacra-
mento y la limpid, Concepcion de Nuestra Senora).
Conversation on subjects not belonging to the busi*
ness of the school was prohibited, and the offender
was fined if he persevered in it after the president
had rung his bell twice. A fine was likewise ex-
acted for swearing, profane language, and offences
againdt good manners.
These particulars are derived from the original
records of the academy, formerly in the library of Don
Francisco de Bruna y Ahumada, at Seville, and, in
great part, printed by Cean Bermudez.^ In the first
list of subscribing members, dated on the nth of
January 1660, the name of Francisco de Herrera
stands first, and that of Bartolom^ Murillo second.
In February the society gained one new member,
and in March four more. Two, however, fell off in
April; and on the ist of November sixteen only
remained. President Herrera being amongst the
deserters. Some little change had, meanwhile,
taken place in the ofiSices and office-bearers; for
in the minute of the meeting, held on the last-
mentioned day, Vald^s appears, not as deputy bat
as alcalde^ or chief of the art of painting, with
^ In the Appendix to his Carta tobre la Eietula Sevillana.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. loxi
Matias de Carbajal for a coadjutor, and Falencia,
not as consul but as alcalde of the gilders. At this
meeting, Pedro de Medina Valbuena was appointed
mayor-domo, or steward, to manage the money
matters of the academy. And as the expenses were
now to be divided amongst a smaller number of
members, the monthly subscription payable by each
was raised to eight reals; and it was voted that
each pupil should pay sixteen maravedis for every
night that he attended the schooL
During the second year of its existence, 1661, the
academy seems to have been directed by Murillo;
but, some leaves of the Bruna manuscript being lost,
it does not appear who succeeded him as a president
in 1662. Llanos y Vald^s became president in 1663,
with Carbajal as steward; and, in 1664, Juan de
Yald^s, having ingratiated himself with his brethren,
was elected for four years to the first office, and
Cornelius Schut to the second. Some dispute,
however, arising, Vald^s retired from the chair and
the academy on the 3rd of October 1666, and was
succeeded by Llanos, Martinez de Oradilla being
made steward. Medina Valbuena was president in
1667-8, and Llanos, for the third time, the year
following. Juan Chamorro was chosen in 1670;
Medina was re-elected in 1671 ; and in the two
next years the chair was filled by Schut. The aca-
demy was now fairly launched, and sailing before
CH. XII.
Frognm
and sno-
IOt2
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. xn. prosperous breezes. Its members had greatly in-
creased in number, and several men of rank were
enrolled amongst them. The meeting of the 5th of
November 1673, ^^^ 1^* ^^ which a minute is found
in the Bruna manuscript, was attended by forty-
three academicians, and by Don Manuel de Guzman,
Manrique de ZuiLiga, Marquess of Villamanrique,
who had succeeded the deceased Count of Arenales
as their " most noble protector."
Results. Although Murillo may be considered the founder
of the academy, it is evident that the jealousy of
envious rivals, or the calls of his own studio, soon
prevented him from taking any active part in the
conduct of its affairs. But the constitution laid
down during his rule underwent but little change.
The president and mayor-domo were the only officers
elected by the whole body; each president being
free to choose his own consuls and assistants ; and
the practice of having two presidents at the same
time appears to have been discontinued. The
course of instruction pursued was intended not
for mere beginners, but for those who had already
acquired some knowledge of art ; there being no
drawings to copy, the studies were made entirely
from the living model or from the lay-figure ; and
colours were largely used by the scholars, a prac-
tice laid aside, says Cean Bermudez, in the later
academies. It cannot be said that this institu-
REIGN OF PHILIP IV, 1013
tion exerted any great influence on Sevillian paint-
ing, like other and even royal academies, it never
produced any painters of first-rate merit; nor did
it arrest the decay of taste in the next reign. But
without it perhaps that decay might have been
more fatal and final; it, at least, afforded an
asylum for traditions of the great masters ; and to
Murillo himself there must have been a virtuous
satisfaction in the thought that he had provided
for the young artists around him some of the ad-
vantages of which he had himself felt the want
twenty years before.
In 1668, the Cathedral chapter-room being under
repair, Murillo was employed to re-touch the alle-
gorical designs of Cespedes,^ and to execute eight
oval half-length pictures of saints, and a full-length
Virgin of the Conception. The saints are pleasing,
but not of very high merit.* Those on the right
side are Hermenegild, Isidore, Archbishop Piu9, and
Justa ; those on the left, Rufina, King Ferdinand,
Leander, and Archbishop Laureano, whose head,
being cut oflf, retained the faculty of speech.' The
Virgin is a magnificent dark-haired Madonna, with
the usual accompaniment of lovely cherubs bearing
^ Sapra, chap. vL p. 388. ' Ponz, torn. ix. p. 4S.
» Villegas, Flos Sanctorum, p. 679. Fr. Diego Tello, Vida milagroa y
martyrio del gloriossissimo Arzohispo de SevUla, San Laureano, 4to,
Eoma, 1722, p. 127.
CH. XU.
Pictures
for the
Cathedral.
I0I4
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XII.
Hospital de
la Coridad.
Thephilan-
thropist
Maiiara.
palms and flowers. For the sacristy of the chapel
de la Antigua he also painted, about this time,
the infants Christ and St. John, and the *' Repose
of the Virgin," works which have disappeared,
probably by French agency.
We now approach the most glorious period of
Murillo's career. There existed, at Seville, a pious
corporation of considerable antiquity, known as the
brotherhood of the Holy Charity,^ and possessing
the hospital of San Jorge. About the middle of
the seventeenth century, however, this hospital
had fallen into great poverty and decay. By the
negligence or knavery of the guardian-guild, its
property had dwindled to nothing, the fabric was
a mouldering ruin, and the church a roosting-place
for pigeons. Its forlorn condition attracted, about
1 66 1, the attention of Don Miguel MaiLara Vicentelo
de Leca, knight of Calatrava, whose life and fortune
were dedicated to works of piety and devotion,*
1 The records of the Hermamlad de la Santa Caridad reach hack only
to 1578 ; hut it IB supposed then to have existed for more than a centuiy.
It seems to have heen originally instituted for the purpose of giving
Christian hurial to malefactors. Ortiz de Zufiiga» Annates de Smrille,
p. 551.
* There is a curious life of this good man, entitled Breve Selaeion
de la muerte, vida y virtvdea del venerable cabaUero D. Migtul MaHara
Vicentelo de Leea, caballero del orden de Calatrava^ hermdno mayor de
la Santa Caridadj escrivi61a el P. Juan de Cardenas de la comp. de
Jesus, para consuelo de los Hermanos de la Santa Caridad, Sevilla, 1679,
4to, pp. 192 and 7 preliminary leaves, with portrait hy Lucas de Vald^
Bom in 1626, he married early in life a lady of the house of Carillo de
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 1015
As a member of the guild, this pious gentleman
took upon himself the task of raising the funds
necessary to restore the hospital to a state of pros-
perity. At the outset, his scheme did not find
much favour with the nobles and rich traders of
Seville, and the first contribution which he received
Mendoza. The circnmstanoes under wbioh he became a devotee resemble
a passage from the life of one of our own Methodists. Some hams, sent
to him as a present from the country, being detained at the gates of
SeTille until ^e dues should be paid, he sallied forth in a fit of anger to
scold the official concerned in the delay. He had gone but a few paces,
when the Lord, says Father Cardenas, " poured a great light upon his
mind " (p. 7). From that moment religion became the sole business of
hiB life. Being a man of pure and blameless morals, he had no fleshly
lust to mortify, saye a fondness for chocolate, a beverage from which he
accordingly refrained from the day of his conversion, even when offered
as a refreshment by his friends the Carthusians (p. 102). His humility
and devotion, his munificence in almsgiving, and his favour with the
saints, soon became famous in Seville. Every August it was his custom
to lay in two stores of wheat, one for his own family, and another for the
poor. In a certain year of scarcity, his granary being empty long before
the time came for refilling it^ his steward found it one day replenished
with a miraculous supply of grain (pp. 48-50). His influence and example
induced many of the nobility of Seville to join the brotherhood of
Charity ; he often became the channel of the bounty of others (pp. 32>3) ;
and his reputation as an almoner stood so high, that a certain Don Ft^'
Gomez de Castro devised to him his whole estate, to the value of 500,000
ducats, to be applied to charitable uses (p. 53). Ma&ara was the author
of a religious treatise, entitled Ducurso de la Verdad. In his portrait
by Vald^ he holds this book in his hand ; his countenance is meagre
and severe, betokening fasting and melancholy. In the original picture
his left hand rests on a skulL There is another print of Mafiara, by
J. Ballester, in the Begla de la muy humUde y Real Hermandad de la
Caridad de SevUla, 4to, Madrid, 1785. At his death (9th of May 1679),
he left his whole fortune to the hospital, except some trifling legacies to
servants, his "ivory Christ" to his confessor, and *'the Christ painted
ou a cross at the tester of his bed," perhaps a work of Murillo, to his
sister (p. 178) ; and he ordered that he should be buried exactly in the
fashion of the poor of the hospital, at the church door beneath a slab,
CH. XII.
ioi6
KEIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. xiL was from a mendicant named Lois, who gave fifty
crowns, the savings of his life, to the service of
God and the poor. Bat his perseverance and his
own generous example finally overcame all obstacles ;
donations and bequests flowed in, and, before the
close of his usefdl life, in 1679, he had completed
with this inscription — Aqui yazen lot huemu y eenitcu del pear htmbrt
que a ofoido en el munda. Ruegen d Dioe per el (p. 176). His funeral
wai, notwithstanding, oelebrated with great pomp; he was buried in a
▼aolt of the chorch, and praised in a long Latin epitaph as the best of
men ; and a eopy of this epitaph was placed in his very coffin, difTering
from that above ground, inasmuch as it contained honourable mention
of his abstinence from chocolate (p. 188). 80 the temptations, not always
successfully resisted, of a Fellow of Oriel, in respect of roast gooee and
buttered toast, may be found narrated in his curious journal. Remains
of Rev, R. ff, Froude, M.A., 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1838, toL l pp. I5i
Mf 3fh 37> 49> printed by grave Oxford divines, who profess (p. vii.) that
*' they are best consulting the wishes of the departed by publication,"
an excuse which Father Cardenas does not plead for his revelatioDS.
Two months after interment, the body of Mafiara was found to be
incorrupt ; and by the touch of some papers which had belonged to bim
a knight of Santiago was cured of a headache, as by the application of
his shirt a licentiate was made whole of a calenture (pp. 170-1). See
also Ortiz de Zufiiga, AnncUes, pp. 776-777.
Since the above note was first printed, a later edition of Cardenas'a
Life of Mafiara has fallen into my hands, 8vo, SeviUa, 1732, with which
there is bound up the Discurso de la Verdad^ dedicado d la alta imperial
magestad de Dioa, compuesto por de Miguel Maftara Vioentelo de Leca,
Cab. del ord. de Calatrava y hermano mayor de la Santa Charidad de
N«' Soft'' Jesus Christo, 8vo, Seville, 1725. The licenses to print, aflSxed
to this work, being dated so early as 167 1, it probably was first published
before the author's death. Maliara paints the nothingness of life, and
the vanity of human hope and strife, in a style of picturesque eloquence
that may remind the English reader of Jeremy Taylor, or the Spanish
artist of Vald^ (infra, chap. xiv.). His thoughts are ever fixed on the
tomb ; he warns the monarch that the dust of Julius C«sar, **dead and
turned to clay," is perhaps afifording nourishment to pot-herbs in a garden
(p. 4), and the noble dame, ** sitting in sUken attire in her balcony,"
that her plumed and jewelled head must one day lie undistinguished
Printed by Wiitmann Paris.
CHURCH OF THE HOSPITAL OF CHARITY AT SEVILLE
Printed by Wiitmann Pari*.
CHURCH OF THE HOSPITAL OF CHARITY AT SEVILLE
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
X017
his pious work at the expense of more than half
a million of ducats.^ On the slender foundation
laid by the noble-hearted beggar, he reared the
present beautiful church of San Jorge, with its
rich altars and matchless pictures ; and the hospital,
with its marble cloisters and spacious halls, and
the train of priests, domestics, and sisters of mercy,
maintained to minister to the necessities, in the
words of the annual report of the guild, of ** their
masters and lords the poor." '
CH. XII.
amongst skulls that wore the ooimtry hood, or surmounted the shoulders
of beggars (p. 18). The book also contains a letter addressed by Mafiara
to the Brotherhood of Charity at Antequara (p. 38), a sonnet composed
by him (p. 48), a short discourse, pronounced in his own hospital on
Christmas Eve (p. 52), and Tarious pious inscriptions for its walls. This
later edition of Mafiara's Life wants the portrait by Lucas de Vald^, en-
graved from the original picture by Juan de Valdds, which hangs in that
part of the hospital called the Infirmaxy of the Viigin, a noble gallery
with a row of light columns running down its centre to support the lofty
arched roof, and an altar at the end with a carved image of Our Lady ;
the portrait hangs opposite the altar, at the further end from the entrance
door. In the Sala del Cabildo (where the Hermandad meets) there hangs
a Tery fine portrait of Maftara, by Juan de Vald^. He is seated at a
table covered with black velvet laced with gold, and having on it a cross
of rustic wood (wood with knots or places where the branches have been
cut off)- A book is before him on a small reading-desk, and he appears
to be reading aloud, giving eflfect to his discourse by gestures with his
right hand. On the other side of the table a charity-boy, or niflo de
eoro, with a smile in his merry eyes, and his finger on his lips as if
enjoining silence, sits on a low stool with a book on his knees. A
similar table, with the identical cross and reading-desk, stands below
the picture; and immediately under the picture hangs the sword of
Mafiara in a black case — a long, slender Toledo, with a basket hilt. In
the portrait he looks much younger, and less lean and sad than in the
engraved picture.
^ Cardenas, Belaeion^ p. 43.
* '* Nuestros amos y sefiores los pobres,'* Dublin Eevieto, vol. xviii.
VOL. ni. K
ioi8
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XII. The hospital was rebuilt, in the Greco-Romano
Bmiding. style, by the architect Bernardo Simon de Pineda.^
The front has little beauty ; but the cloister is grace-
ftil, and finely proportioned. The interior of the
church is one of the most elegant in Seville.* It
consists of a single aisle, widening beneath the
lofty and richly-decorated dome,' and terminated by
the high-altar, a vast and florid fabric of twisted
columns and massive cornices, entirely gilt,^ and
raised on a platform of several marble steps above the
rest of the marble pavement. For this sumptuous
structure, Mailara provided lamps and candelabra,
p. 480, where the following faets eonneoted with this nohle iostitiition are
narrated. Below stairs are upwards of 100 beds, and always 100 patients;
above liye twelve venerahUs, or aged infirm priests, in comfortable apart-
ments ; in each ward there is an altar, where mass is regularly said ;
and there is an outer hall opening on the street, with door unbarred all
night, where any beggar or poor wayfarer may find bed, light» and supper.
In 1844 the confraternity forwarded, or assisted on their journeys, 165 poor
people ; gave ecclesiastical burial to 70, the number of deaths in the
house having been 43; carried i6a to the hospitals, and distributed
dothee and alms to others; and 17,398 large loaves of bread, besides
abundance of meat, fruits, vegetables, chocolate, cakes, wine, &a, were
consumed in the establishment.
1 Ortix de Zufiiga, AnnaleSt p. 767. The Sevilia Fintcresca, p. 392,
has the name Ftmda,
* The accompanying sketch is taken from near the side-door, the usual
entrance.
> The dome is painted with eight angels in the eight compartments
(like the divisions of a melon) into which it is divided, and in the comers
between the four arches are the four evangelists — all in fresco, and
attributed to Juan de Vald^ Leal.
* The ground is black, but scarcely seen for the golden enrichments.
The pretty cherubs, which in pairs support the columns, bracketwisc,
and the graceful figure of Charity, and the angels above, are painted
"proper."
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 1019
plate and other ornaments of fitting splendour ; and c h. xil
he commissioned his friend,^ Murillo, to paint no less JJ^^'*
than eleven pictures. Three of these pieces, repre-
senting the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgiui the
Infant Saviour, and the Infant St John, still adorn
the lateral altars, and elsewhere would be considered
as gems. The remaining eight, treating of scriptural ^^^}^
subjects proper to the place, are the finest works of chantj.
the master. Ere the coming of the French spoiler,
four hung on either side of the church; "Moses
striking the Bock," the '' Betum of the Prodigal,"
"Abraham receiving the Three Angels," and the
" Charity of San Juan de Dios," on the left or gospel
side ; and the " Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes,"
"Our Lord healing the Paralytic at the Pool of
Bethesda," "St. Peter released from Prison by the
Angel," and " St. Elizabeth of Hungary tending the
Sick," on that of the epistle. On these works Murillo Prfoe*.
seems to have been employed during four years ;
and in 1674 he received the following prices : for
the Moses, 13,300 reals ; for the Loaves and Fishes,
15,975; for San Juan de Dios and its companion-
picture St. Elizabeth, 16,840; and for the four
others, Abraham, the Prodigal, the Healing the
Paralytic, and St. Peter, 32,000; making in all
the sum of 78,115 reals, or about ;^8oo. Five were
^ Ponz, torn. ix. p. 149.
X030
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XII.
<* MoBes
striking
the Rock."
carried off by Soult, who gave one to the imperial
Louvre, and retained four for his own sale-rooms.
Happily for the hospital and for Seville, the two
colossal compositions of Moses, and the Loaves
and Fishes, still hang beneath the cornices whence
springs the dome of the church, ** like ripe oranges
on the bough where they originally budded." ^ Long
may they cover their native walls, and enrich, as
well as adorn, the institution of MafLara ! Both are
painted in a light sketchy manner, and with less
than Murillo's usual brilliancy of colour. In the
picture of the great miracle of the Jewish dispensa-
tion, the Hebrew prophet stands beside the rock in
Horeb, with hands pressed together and uplifted
eyes, thanking the Almighty for the stream which
has just gushed forth at the stroke of his mysteri-
ous rod. His head turning slightly to the right,
with its horn-shaped halo and full silver beard,
is noble and expressive; and his figure, in a
pale yellow robe and flowing violet mantle, majestic
and commanding. Aaron, in his sacerdotal mitre
and mystic breastplate, and robe of subdued white,
appears behind his brother; but in the counte-
nance of the high-priest the gratitude seems not
unmingled with surprise. Immediately around them
are grouped fifteen figures, men, women, and chil-
^ Handbook [1843], p. 263 [third edition, 1855, p. 191].
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
I02I
dren, absorbed in the business of quenching their
thirst, whence the picture has been called ^^ La Sed"
Amongst them there is one introduced with great
dramatic effect, a mother drinking eagerly from a
jug, and "forgetful of her sucking child," ^ turning
aside her head to avoid the outstretched hand of
the clamorous infant in her arms. The water, falling
from the rock, forms a stream, to the left of which
there is a smaller group of nine figures, of which the
most striking feature is the woman who, with one
hand, holds a cup to the lips of the youngest boy,
and with the other restrains the eagerness of his
elder brother. Here rises the head of a camel,
patiently awaiting his turn; there a white horse,*
laden with jars, applies his nose to an iron pot newly
filled from the fountain ; and sundry dogs and sheep,
mingled with the people, lend variety to the com-
position. The sunburnt boy on the mule, and the
girl, somewhat older, near him, holding up her
pitcher to be filled, are traditionally called portraits
of the painter's children.' In the background another
CH. XIL
^ Isa. xlix. 15.
> The point is doubtful, perhaps, for the foreshortened head does not
allow one to judge of the length of the ear ; but the tul is too bushy for
a mule's, and the quarters and legs, though lean, are more equine than
asinine. I have frequently, when travelling, been for a moment at a loss
to say whethier a muleteer's beast was horse or mule.
' History of the Spanish School of Painting ^ by the author of Tramels
through Sicily^ &c, fcap. 8vo^ London, 1843, P- ^^ ^^^ ^^^ & notice of
this work, see Preface to first edition.
I023
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. xn. company of people, with their beasts, are seen,
in a bright light, descending a rugged path to the
spring; and rocky hills close the distance. As a
composition, this wonderful picture can hardly be
surpassed. The rock, a huge isolated brown crag,
much resembles in fonn, size, and colour that which
is still pointed out as the rock of Moses by the
Greek monks of the convent of St Catherine, in
the real wilderness of Horeb. It forms the central
object, rising to the top of the canvas and dividing
it into two unequal portions. In front of the rock,
the eye at once singles out the erect figure of the
prophet standing forward from the throng ; and the
lofty emotion of that great leader, looking with
gratitude to heaven, is finely contrasted with the
downward regards of the multitude, forgetful of the
Giver in the anticipation or the enjoyment of the
gift Each head and figure is an elaborate study ;
each countenance has a distinctive character; and
even of the sixteen vessels brought to the spring, no
two are alike in form. A duplicate, or large sketch
of this picture, stolen from some other collection,
hangs, or once hung, in the staircase of Soult's
receiving-house at Paris.^ Part of the grouping, and
^ Bevtie de Paris, 1835, torn. xxi. p. 5a [CartiB (Vekuquez andMuritto^
M. No. 14) sayB, '* The only picture of this sabjeot in the Soult catalogue
was by Herrera the younger, perhaps the painting formerly in the Arch-
bishop's palace at Seyille," p. 123.]
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1023
even some of the figures, appear to have been sug-
gested to Munllo by the fiine work, by Boelas, on
the same subject, now in Madrid.^ Its authenticity,
however, is questionable, as it is not mentioned by
Gean Bermudez, who notices a study of the woman
giving her child drink, which once hung in the
convent of Barefooted Carmelites at Seville.
The '^ Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes '' is not
equal to its twin-picture. The principal figures in the
foregroimd are arranged in two independent groups,
leaving a great open space between, disclosing the
multitudes clustered on the distant uplands. Our
Lord and His disciples on the one hand, and the
knot of spectators on the other, form, therefore, two
distinct pictures, which might be separated without
much injury to their significance. The head of the
Saviour is inferior in dignity to that of Moses ; His
position is not sufficiently prominent. The Saviour
is seated in the act of blessing one of the loaves,
with His right hand raised, and looking to heaven ;
His robe is grey violet. His mantle dark blue. To
the right stands St. Peter, with his bald head, in a
yellow robe, and to his left another apostle, in dark
olive green, bending forward, holds the basket of
bread. Further to the left is another apostle with
grey hair, in a green robe, talking to the lad and
CH. XIL
"Mineleof
Loayetand
Fishet."
^ SapnK chap. yiL p. 528L
I024
REIGN OF PHILIP IV,
CH. xn.
"Charity
ofSanJuAD
de DiM."
handling the fish. Nor are any of the ap
remarkable for elevation of character. The yonng
woman with the child in her arms, and the old bitter-
faced hag who looks on with incredulous wonder
at the proceedings of the master of the miraculous
feasty and the beggar in crimson drapery, leaning on
his staff behind, are full of life and finely contrasted ;
and the lad with the loaves and fishes is an admirable
study of a Sevillian urchin. Of this picture, as well
as of its companion, Soult has, or once had, a large
repetition of considerable merit.^ The small original
sketch is in the rich collection of Mr. Munro.'
The '' Charity of San Juan de Dios '' is the only
other piece of this noble series that remains to the
hospital. It hangs in its original place, on the
left wall of the church, near the great portal. The
good Samaritan of Granada' is represented carry-
ing a sick man on his shoulders by night, and
sinking imder the weight, of which he is relieved
by the opportune aid of an angel. Perceiving his
Divine assistant, he looks back towards him with an
expression of grateful awe. This picture is coloured
^ Bevue de Par%$, torn, xxi p. 5. [*' In tlie Soult sale, Xo. 87, a picture
of the ' Multiplication of the Bread ' by Herrera the younger, sold for 1,000
francs."— Curtis, M. Na 180, p. 192, who says it was quite different from
the picture referred to above.]
* At No. 113 Park Street, Grosyenor Square. [Sold by Christie^ June
I, 1878, £s^S' British Institution, 1832.]
* Supra, chap. viii. p. 669.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1025
with great power. The dark form of the burden
and the sober grey frock of the bearer are dimly
seen in the darkness, on which the glorious coun-
tenance of the seraph and his rich yellow drapery
tells like a burst of sunshine.
" St. Elizabeth/' the appropriate companion-piece,
although lost to Seville, happily is still preserved
to Spain. Bescued from the Louvre/ it was de-
tained, on some frivolous pretext, at Madrid, where
it now embellishes the Academy of San Fernando.
Elizabeth, daughter of King Andrew and Queen
Gertrude, of Hungary, is one of the most amiable
personages of mediaeval hagiology. Bom early in
the fourteenth century, her humility, piety, and
almsdeeds were the wonder of her father's court,
before she became the wife of Duke Ludwig of
Thuringia. As sovereign princess her whole life
was consecrated to religion and charity. She fasted
rigidly, rose at midnight to pray, walked in pro-
cessions barefoot and clad in sackcloth, and main-
tained a daily table for nine hundred poor, and an
hospital, where, in spite of the scorn and murmurs
of her ladies, she performed the most revolting
duties of sick-nurse. But her lord dying in Sicily,
of wounds received in the Holy Land, she was
OH. xn.
"St. Eliza-
beth of
HuD^fuy
tendiDffthe
Sick."
^ Notice des Tableaux [easpoeis done le grand aalon du Mtude Boy€d,
ouveri le 25 Julliet, 1814, i2mo, Paris, 1814], p. 74, No. 85.
I026
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. xn despoiled in a few years of her wealth and dignities ;
and, compelled to seek for that charity which she
had so munificently bestowed, it was sometimes
her lot to endure the insults of wretches who had
partaken of her bounties. All these slings and
arrows of her fortune the good Duchess sufifered
with angelic meekness. Entering, it is said, the
third Order of St. Francis, prayer and tending the
sick continued to be her daily employ, and com-
munion in visions with Our Lord and the Blessed
Virgin her only solace, till her death in her twenty-
fourth year. The miracles wrought at her tomb at
Marburg obtained her canonisation by Gregory IX.^
Murillo's composition in honour of this royal
lady consists of nine figures assembled in one of
the halls of her hospital. In the centre stands
'' the king's daughter of Hungary," arrayed in the
dark robe and white headgear of a nun, sur-
mounted by a small coronet; and she is engaged
in washing, at a silver basin, the scald head of a
beggar-boy, which, being painted with revolting
adherence to nature, has obtained for the picture
its Spanish name, "-EZ Tinoso.'*^ Two of her ladies.
^ Villegas, Flos Sanctorum, p. 794. Bibadeneira, Fleurs^ torn, ii p.
521. Vies des Saints, i2mo, Paris, 1837, p. 603.
' The very circuniBtanoe may have been snggeated by Yillegas, p. 795.
*' Pu8o junto consigo una ves la cabeza de un enfermoi &c./' an incident
which most readers will gladly dispense with, and which the corions
may seek for in the original.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 1027
bearing a silver ewer, and a tray with cups and a c h. xn .
napkin, stand at her right hand, and from behind
them peers a spectacled duefia;^ to her left hand
there is a second boy, likewise a tinosOf removing, with
great caution and a wry face, the plaster which covers
his head, a cripple resting on his crutches, and an old
woman seated on the step of the dais. More in the
foreground, to the right of the group, a half-naked
beggar, with his head bound up, leisurely removes
the bandage from an ulcer on his leg, painted with
a reality so curious, and so disgusting, that the eye
is both arrested and sickened. In the distance,
through a window or opening, is seen a group of
poor people seated at table, and waited on by their
gentle hostess. In this picture, although it has
suffered somewhat from rash restoration, the manage-
ment of the composition and the lights, the bril-
liancy of the colouring, and the manual skill of the
execution, are above all praise. Some objection
may, perhaps, be made to the exhibition of so much
that is sickening in the details. But this, while it
is justified by the legend, also heightens the moral
effect of the picture. The disgust felt by the spec-
tator is evidently shared by the attendant ladies;
yet the high-bom dame continues her self-imposed
^ Murillo was fond of these faehioiiable ornaments of the nose ; see
p. 1006 ; like Sanchex de Caatro, chap. iL p. 96, and Arias Femandex,
chap. z. p. 858. See also ohap. iz. p. 751, note.
I028
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. xn.
Smaller
piotnrei.
" Abraham
receiying
the
Angela."
task, her pale and pensive countenance betraying no
inward repugnance, and her dainty fingers shrinking
from no service that can alleviate the human misery,
and exemplify her devotion to her Master. The old
hag, whose brown scraggy neck and lean arms en-
hance by contrast the delicate beauty of the saint,
alone seems to have leisure or inclination to repay
her with a look of grateful admiration. The
distant alcove, in which the table is spread, with
its arches and Doric pillars, forms a graceful
background, displaying the purity of Murillo's
architectural taste.^
The four pictures, irretrievably carried off by Soult,
long waited for purchasers in the hotel of that
plundering picture-dealer. " Abraham receiving the
Angels," and the "ProdigaFs Betum," being sold
some years since to the Duke of Sutherland, now
enrich the gallery of Stafford House. In the first,
the Patriarch advances from the door of his tent,
which resembles the comer of a ruinous Spanish
venta, to greet the three strangers approaching with
uplifted staves. His turbaned head, and his figure
clothed in dark drapery, are grave and venerable;
^ [Mr. John L. O'Snlliyan of New York pofisesses the original (painted)
design or composition for this celebrated picture^ which he bought in
Lisbon about 1848, when Minister of the United States in PortngaL An
interesting oomparative study of this sketch and the larger picture, with
a small outline woodcut of the former and an engraving of the latter,
appeared in Earp€»*$ Magcudne, vol. 71, No. 426, for November 1885.]
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
X029
but the angels are deficient in dignity and grace, as
is justly remarked by Cean Bermudez, who likewise
objects to the want of that family likeness in their
faces which he commends in El Mudo's picture on
the same subject at the Escorial.^ In the "Prodigal's
Return/' a composition of nine figures, the repentant
youth locked in the embrace of his father, is, of
course, the principal figure ; his pale emaciated
countenance bespeaks the hardships of his husk-
coveting time, and the embroidery on his tattered
robe the splendour of his riotous living. A little
white dog leaping up to caress him aids in telling
the story. On one side of this group a man and
boy lead in the fatted calf; on the other appear
three servants bearing a light blue silk dress of
Spanish fashion, and the gold ring; and one of
them seems to be murmuring at the honours in
preparation for the lost one.
The " Healing of the Paralytic," lately purchased
by Mr. Tomline,' consists of five principal figures, Our
Lord, three apostles, and the subject of the miracle.
The head of the Saviour is one of the finest delinea-
CH. XIL
" Return
of the Pro-
digal Son."
" Healing
of the Para
lytic."
^ Sopra» chap. ▼. p. 304.
' It now adorns his mansion, No. i Carlton Honse Terraoe [now at
OrweU Park, Suffolk]. A French joumali Jan. or Feb. 1847, in announc-
ing its sale for 160,000 francs to an English collector, very fairly re-
marked that the Martehal Duke of Dalmatia, haying acquired it at a
Tery moderate price {ue, the trouble of stealing it), might surely have
afforded to present it to the Lonvre.
lOJO
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. TTT,
"Release
of St.
reten-
tions of manly beauty ever executed by Muiillo;
and the shoulder of the sick man, although too
youthful and healthy, as Gean Bermudez justly
remarks, for a paralytic of thirty-eight years' stand-
ing, is a wonderful anatomical study. Above in
the sky hovers, in a blaze of glory, the angel that
** troubled the water ; " ^ and the distance is closed
by an elegant architectural perspective with small
figures, the porch and expectant patients of Beth-
esda. In richness of colour this fine work is not
inferior even to the St Elizabeth. Our Lord's robe
is of that soft violet hue which Joanes and the
painters of Valencia loved;' while the mantle of
St Peter, who stands at His right, is of the deep
Sevillian brown, known as the negro de hueso,
because made by Murillo, as by the Andalusian
artists of the present time, from the beef-bones of
the daily oUa.^ The arcades in the background
may have been suggested by the beautiful cloisters
of the Convent of Mercy, now the Museum.^
The companion-picture, the "Release of St Peter,"
is the only piece of the series which remains unsold
on the hands of the plunderer.* Seated on the floor
1 Jobn Y. 4* * Snpia, ch«p. yL p. 421.
* Gatherings Jrom Spain, 8to» London, 1S47, p. laa
^ Snpra, chap, i p. 67.
' [It was sold at the Sonlt sale in 1852, Na 64, for 151,000 francs, and
is now in the Hermitage, St Petenhnig, Catalogw 1887, Ka 37s.]
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1031
of the dungeon, the apostle seems newly awakened
from slumber ; and his venerable countenance, full
of glad amazementt is lit up by the glory which
radiates from the graceful form of the angel, and
pales the ineffectual glimmer of the prison lamp
behind.
In these eight celebrated pictures, Murillo evi-
dently determined to leave to posterity an example
of the variety of his style, and of the full com-
pass and vigour of his genius. Of the relative
merits of each, it is very difficult to judge, as only
two of them, the Moses and the St. Elizabeth,
have been engraved.^ The most faulty is full of
beauties that would do honour to any painter.
Considered as an effort of mind, the Moses de-
serves the first place, being the subject which
presented the greatest difficulties to the artist,
and the widest scope for his invention. Both the
CH. XIL
Bemarki
on the
piotorM of
Charity.
^ The first was finely engraved at Madrid by Bafael Esteve, in 1839.
Of the second there are two lithographs, executed the one at Madrid and
the other at Paris. I take this occasion of calling the attention of the
Duke of Sutherland and Mr. Tomline, the possessors of three of the series,
to the fact that they have never been engraved, and that a fire at Stafford
House or Carlton Terrace might deprive the world of some of Murillo's
most important works. The graver, or the beautiful invention of Mr.
Fox Talbot, which, with still greater precision than the graver, "stamps,
renews, and multiplies at will," would not only preserve them for all time,
but would enable many humble lovers of art to enjoy their beauties, and
appreciate the genius of Murilla [A line engraving of **The Return of
the Prodigal Son," by T. Yemon, was published in London in 1872, at
the cost of Colonel Tomline. Curtis, M. Na 182, p. 193.]
I031 REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
caxiL Prodigal's Betnm, however, and the St Elizabeth,
are more perfect as works of art, being composed
with equal skill, and finished with greater care and
higher technical excellence. Cean Bermudez, who
enjoyed the advantage of seeing them all together^
each in the light and place for which Murillo painted
it, seems to prefer these two to all the rest. Soult,
the robber of churches and hospitals, has not only
deprived the critic of all opportunity of comparing
one with the others, but has infinitely marred the
moral significance of each of the exiled and scattered
pictures. On the walls of the Spanish Academy, or
of mansions in Paris or London, they have lost the
voice with which they spoke to the heart fix)m the
altars of their native church. No poor patient, ere
returning to the busy haunts of men, kneels now
before the " Healing of the Paralytic," in gratitude to
Him who stood by the pool of Bethesda ; no pale
sister of charity, on her way to her labours of love in
the hospital, implores the protection, or is cheered
by the example, of the gentle St Elizabeth. At
Seville, these pictures of charity were powerful and
eloquent homilies, in which the piety of Miguel
Mafiara yet spake through the pencil of his friend.
In the imfamiliar halls of the stranger they are now
mere works of art, specimens of Murillo, articles
of costly furniture, less esteemed, perhaps, and less
appropriate than some Idalian glade imagined by
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
X033
Albano, some voluptuous Pompadour garden-scene,
the offspring of Watteau.*
It was not only the interior of the Hospital of
Charity that was indebted to the pencil of Murillo.
In the florid front of the church are inserted five
CH. XII.
Pictures on
tUes.
^ The operations of the Dake of Dalmatia as a pictoie-collector, and
theix reanlts, are thus noted by a candid Frenchman, M. T. Thor^, in the
Betme de Paris, torn, xziii. p. 21 1, for September 27, 1835. ** Pendant que
Tempire promenait aes victoires en Europe, . . . nos armies, diiBona-le,
exero^rent partont nn pillaji^ organist Le g^n^ral commandant dans
I'Andalouflie s'appropria toutes lee toiles, qui Ini oonvinrent, dans lea
^lisee et lee oonvente de Seville ; mab il eut soin de rey^tir oette con-
iiacation d'ane apparence de Ugalit^, obligeant lee moinee h signer des
ventee simnl^es, et Ton assure que ses titres de propri^t^ sent parfaite-
ment en r^gle. Cette possession, dont la l^timit^ est an moins con-
testable, n'a pas m6me tonm^ an profit de Tart en France, bien qu'elle
semble tirer son origine de Tamonr de Tart Seville a perdu ses chefis-
d'oeuvxes ; les religieuses compositions qui excitaient dans les ^glises la
devotion des chr^tiens sont accroch^ maintenant au pied d'un lit bour-
gedfl, ou anx lambris d'nne antichambre, et depuis plus de vingt ans
qu'elles sont k Paris, Paris n*a pas eu la faveur de les examiner." The
Marshal, says the Handbook [edition 1843], P* ^53 [third edition, 1855,
p. 180], has or had a picture by Murillo on which, as he one day told
the late Ck>lonel Ourwood, he set a high value, " because it had saved
the lives of two estimable persons," — "whom," whispered an aide-
de-camp, <*he threatened to cause to be immediately shot unless they
gave up that very picture." The spoliations of this marauder had
been long premeditated. Spies preceded his army, disguised as travel-
lers, and furnished with Cean Bermudez's Dictionary, to mark out his
prey of plate and pictures. The aged prior of the convent of Mercy
at Seville told Mr. Ford that he recognised, amongst Soult's myrmidons,
one of these commia-voyagewrs of rapine, to whom he himself shortly
before had pointed out the very treasures which they were then about to
seize. Gatherings from Spain, p. 271. If a picture, worth the carriage
to France, be left to Seville, it is no fault of the French general. Hun-
dreds of pictures, intended for exportation, I am informed by Mr. Ford,
were left huddled together in the saloons of the Alcazar, when the gahacho
army evacuated the city. To strip dark churches and convents, it may
be said, was often to rescue fine works of art fit>m oblivion, or from decay
by monkish neglect But to despoil Mafiara's church of its pictures was
VOL. III. o
I034
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. xn.
large designs, wrought in blue glazed tiles or
azrdejos^ and said to have been executed from his
drawings.' They are fine, and glitter in the bright
sunshine like lazulite. The centre and largest piece,
of which the annexed woodcut * will convey some idea,
to rob, not merely SeTille of glorious heirlooms, but the poor of the charity
of str&ngers ivhich these pictures attracted to the hospitaL What shall
be said of the man who conmiitted this foul robbery, not because he loved
art, or the Louvre, but in order that he might found a picture-gallery
which might be more properly called, in transatlantic phrase, a picture-
store ? As Sergeant Soult, serving on the Rhine, may have filched a case
of Johannisberg from a castle cellar, or a sUver crucifix from a village
altar, for the purpose of selling them for a few livres to Ms captain, so
Marshal Soult, commanding in Spain, bullied or swindled the poor monks
of Seville out of their pictures, to dispose of them in time of peace to
crowned heads and miiarg AngkUs. The pillaging French army had no
provost-marshal to administer punishment to the former ; but history has
a pillory for the second. The Aguador de SevUla (chap. ix. p. 677) is a
trophy of which Wellington and England may justly be proud, while the
hotel of the " Plunder-master-general of Napoleon'* (Southey's Doctor,
voL iiL p. 38) is a disgrace to Paris. In France, finance ministers have
frequently proved themselves " smart men " on 'Change. Soult enjoys
the rarer distinction of having turned his Marshal's b&ton into the hammer
of an auctioneer, and the War Office into a warehouse for stolen pictures.
^ In Les Arts en Portugal; lettres (tddress^ d la soeUt4 artistigue de
Berlin, par le Comte A. RcMizjrnski [Prussian envoy to the court of Lisbon],
8vo, Paris, 1846, there is a curious notice, pp. 427-34, of the Portuguese
azulrjos, by the Vizconde de Juromenha, who says, "Le mot portugais
aztdejo derive du mot arabe azzalujo, provenaut k son tour du mot zcUlaja,
qui signifie uniet lasse.'* M. Raczynski derives the word from osuA blue.
His account applies equally well to those of Spain, which are now manu-
factured chiefly at Seville and Valencia. Handbook [edition 1843]. pp.
259, 450 [third edition, 1853, pp. 173, 305, 380]. The real derivation
of the word, says Mr. Ford, is from the Arabic zuleija^ a varnished
tile.
' Fonz, tom. ix. p. 151, notices them as being "bastante bien pin-
tadas," but does not mention the artist's name, nor the designezs.
The tradition, however, exists, and the style of liie drawing, I think,
justifies it
" From a sketch made for me, in 1845, by Don Jos^ Roldan.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
103s
represents Charity ; those on either side are Faith
and Hope ; and the knightly saints below, Santiago
sabring Moors, and San Jorge spearing the dragon.
CH. XIL
They are amongst the best existing specimens
of a style of architectural decoration originally
borrowed from the Moors, and long very common
at Seville. On towers, belfries, and gateways,
1036
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. Xlf.
OonToit
Gapnchi-
DOS "at
SeTiDe.
the effect of these tile-pictures, or bands of gay-
colomed tiles, is bright and cheerful, and the
material is enduring, and inaccessible to injury from
weather. Had the saints of Vargas been painted
upon this baked clay, instead of perishable plaster,
they might still have frowned or smiled from their
Moorish niches in the Giralda.^
Murillo was the chosen painter of the Franciscan
order. In a Franciscan convent he first achieved
his frtme;* and the brown-frocked Franciscan was
ever a favourite subject of his pencil. He was
probably yet working for Mafiara and the Hospital
of Charity, when he undertook to fiimish with
paintings the church of another convent of St
Francis, known as the convent of Capuchins, with-
out the city walls. Founded near the Carmona
gate, on a piece of ground once occupied by the
monastery of St. Leander, and the church of S*"-
Rufina and S^ Justa, this religious house was begun
so early as 1627 ;' but the building being carried on
with more than Spanish slowness, the chapel was
not completed till after 1670. The Capuchins, how-
ever, had no cause to regret the delay, which gave
them Murillo for a painter, instead of Herrera or
Zurbaran. Silver and gold they had none, but they
^ Supra, chap. vi. p. 366. * Supra, p. 993.
* Ortiz de Zufiiga, Annates de Sevilla, p. 647. It was built chiefly at
the expense of Juan Perez Yrazabal, a rich Biscayan noble.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 1037
had a large library of ecclesiastical folios,^ and in ch. xi l
the works of the great master of Seville they were
richer than any brotherhood in Spain.*
Upwards of twenty pictures were executed, in his Murfiio's
best time, expressly for these fortunate Capuchins,
and placed, under his own direction, in their other-
wise unimportant little churcL The retablo of the
high-altar was enriched with nine of these, the
" Virgin granting to St Francis the Jubilee of the
Porciuncula," ' the largest, says Cean Bermudez, but
not the best of the whole, "S**- Rufina and S*^
Justa," "St. Leander and St. Bonaventure,'* "St.
John Baptist in the Desert," " St. Joseph with the
Infant Jesus," " St Anthony of Padua," " St Felix
of Cantalicio" (these two half-length figures), a
charming " Virgin and Cfhild " (likewise half-length),
on the door of the tabernacle of the Host, and the
" Holy Kerchief of 8^ Veronica." A " Crucifixion,"
painted on a wooden cross, stood on its own stand
on the altar. Eight grand historical subjects adorned
the lateral altars ; the " Annunciation of the Blessed
Mary," the " Virgin with the dead Saviour in her
Arms," "St Anthony of Padua and the Infant
Christ," the "Virgin of the Conception," "St
* Jacob's Travels in Spain, p. 132.
* Mre. O'Neil, in her Dictionary of Spanish Painters, vol. L p. 257,
says, without citing her anthority, that Mniillo "dwelt in tliifl convent
almost three years, without quitting it"
* Supra, chap. vii. p. 504.
I038
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. xiL Francis embracing the crucified Redeemer," the
"Nativity of Our Lord," the "Vision of St. Felix,'*
and the " Charity of St. Thomas of Villanueva."
Besides these there was another "Virgin of the
Conception " of remarkable beauty, two pictures of
the Archangel Michael, a "Guardian Angel/' and
some smaller pictures in various situations. The
dingy and decayed chapel, stripped of these splendid
works, now serves as a parish church.* The bearded
Capuchins who used to linger in the cloisters and
^ The above woodcut is engraved from a sketch mode on the spot by Mr.
Ford, whose pencil is as facile and sparkling as his pen. The Capuchin
church is the building with buttresses on the left of the road. The dark
edifice adjoining the Moorish wall of the city is the Hermitage of St Her-
menegild, and is said to be the sanctuary in which the elder Herrera
took refuge from the myrmidons of the Mint Supra, chap. viL p. 53a
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1039
display their treasures to the stranger, relating the
legends of each picture, and themselves looking like
figures that had walked out of MuriUo's canvas, are
gone, never to return. One poor old friar, the last
of the brotherhood, keeps the keys of the church,
and points out, to the unfrequent visitor, the altar
where the masterpieces once hung, and a few
monkish portraits that yet moulder in the sacristy.
The immense {Jtar-piece of the Porciuncula, ex-
changed by the foolish monks for some modem
daubs for their cloister, some time before the disso-
lution of the convents, after passing through the
hands of several picture-dealers and the Infant Don
Sebastian, is now in the National Museum at
Madrid.^ The design is pleasing ; the Saviour and
the Virgin appear to St. Francis, who kneels on the
floor of his cavern, whilst a flight of lovely cherubim,
thirty-three of whom are distinctly visible, shower
down upon his holy head red and white roses, the
blossoms of the briars wherewith he scourged him-
self, thus inculcating the moral that as the roses of
mundane delights have their thorns, so the thorns
of pious austerity are not without their roses. But
as each possessor of the picture, that intervened
^ [Catdlogo 1889, No. 861.] It was already in the Infant's collection,
in 1832. Quia de SevUla, 1832, Seganda Parte, p. 60. He gave Don J.
Madrazo £^qo for it. For the adventures and wrongs of the picture, see
Handbook [1843], P- 77° [edition 1855, pp. 708, 709].
OH. XIL
Great
altar-
piece.
I040
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XIL
OBpaehin
pM^oras
now in the
ICoBeom At
Seiille.
finaand
Josta.**
" Nati-
Tity."
"S«^Lean-
derand
Bonayen-
ture."
betwixt the friars and the In£Emt, has done his part
in restoring and repainting it, the colouring belongs
to the modems, and nothing remains of Murillo
bnt the outline.
Happily, however, not all the Capuchin pictures
are lost to Seville. In the Museum seventeen of
them, gathered into one chamber, form a match-
less collection of the works of the great Sevillian
painter. Amongst these the " S*^ Kufina and S**-
Justa," with their usual palm-branches, pots, and
Giralda, deserve notice as the fairest delineation
which the city possesses of its favourite saintly
sisters.^ " St John Baptist in the Desert," and " St
Joseph with the Infant Christ," are noble studies,
taken from majestic models in the prime of manly
vigour. In the " Nativity," so highly extolled both
by Ponz * and Cean Bermudez, the Virgin, with her
sweet face illuminated by light streaming in the
manner of Correggio, from the new-bom Saviour on
her lap, is one of Murillo's loveliest Madonnas;
aroimd are grouped St. Joseph and the shepherds,
standing or kneeling ; and in the dim space above
hover two exquisite cherubs. In the picture of
St Leander and St. Bonaventure, the former holds
in his hands the model of a church, probably that
of his nuns, who had given place to the Capuchin
^ Supra, chap. iiL p. 143, vL 367.
> Tom. ix. p. 139.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1041
fathers.^ They are two rather commonplace priests,
but their white draperies are grandly disposed ; and
a lovely infant, bearing a mitre, and peeping archly
from behind the folds of the archbishop's robe,
gives relief and a charm to the picture. The " St.
Francis at the foot of the Cross," seems to com-
memorate a remarkable passage in the life of that
seraphic father,* when the crucified Redeemer ap-
peared to him, in his cavern on Mount Alvernus,
and sealed his palms, his feet, and his sides with the
stigmata of His own wounds. Fastened by one hand
to the cross, the Saviour, leaning, places the other
on the shoulder of the holy man, who supports Him
in his arms, and looks up into His face with ecstacy.
The foot of the saint rests on a globe, probably to
signify that he contemned the world and its snares,
and two pretty celestial choristers flutter overhead,
holding open a music-book.' There are two fine
pictures of St Anthony, with the infant Jesus, in
one of which the Divine visitor stands, and in the
other sits, on the open folio which the kneeling
recluse appears to have been perusing. A similar
picture represents the Blessed Virgin revealing her-
self to St. Felix of Cantalisi, an Italian Capuchin
^ Supra, p. 1036. ' Villegas, Flos Sanctonttn, p. 476.
' Two smaller works on the same subject by Mnrillo, apparently
sketehea for this picture, existed in 1794, one in the collection of Don
Pedro O'Cronley, at Cadiz, the other in that of the Marquess of Monte-
hermoeo, at Vittoiia. Muscn 0*Croulianei, p. 566.
CBL xn.
"St
Francis.*'
"St
Anthony.'
"St
Felix.*'
1 042
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH, XII.
"St.
Thomas of
Villa-
of singular holiness and austerity, in the sixteenth
century, an event which, we are informed by the
legend, took place only a few hours before his
death.^ Having embraced the infant Saviour, the
good friar, upon his knees, is replacing him in the
maternal arms, well-pleased and ready to depart
in peace.
The " Charity of St. Thomas of Villanueva," is,
however, the pearl of the collection ; * being more
important than any of the others, as a composition,
and more interesting in subject. Murillo himself
esteemed it above all his works, and was wont to
call it, says Palomino, " su lienzo," * his own picture.
The good Archbishop of Valencia* was one of the
saints who found especial favour with his pencil.
A picture, formerly at Seville, and probably in the
Augustine convent, representing him, as a boy,
dividing his clothes amongst some poor children,
is in the collection of Lord Ashburton.*^ Amongst
the best works of Murillo, at the Louvre,* is the
^ Ribadeneira, Fleurs des Viea des Saints, toxxL i. p. 614.
' [Seville Museum, No. S4.]
' Palomino, torn. iiL p. 624.
* Supra, chap. vL p. 413.
^ Sold, in 1 8 14 or 181 5, to lus lordship, then Mr. Baring, by Mr.
Buchanan. Memoirs, vol. iL p. 264. He likewise possesses the oiiginiil
sketch, purchased in 1832 from Don Julian WUliams, who picked it up
for a trifle in the Feria at Seville.
« Gal. Esp., No. 171. [Sold in 1853 for ;f 710 (Louis-Philippe collection,
Sale No. 498) to Thomas Baring, Esq., uncle of the present owner, the
Earl of Northbrook.]
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 1043
picture of the same worthy in sacerdotal vestments, o h. xu .
distributing alms at a church door ; and Mr. Wells ^
has another excellent work, similar in subject
although somewhat different in treatment, once in
a Capuchin convent at Genoa.* But for his friends,
the Capuchins of Seville, Murillo put forth all his
powers, and produced his most elaborate and most
successful composition on his feivourite theme. Robed
in black, and wearing a white mitre, St. Thomas
the Almoner stands at the door of his Cathedral,
relieving the wants of a lame half-naked beggar
who kneels at his feet. His pale venerable coun-
tenance, expressive of severities inflicted upon him-
self, and of habitual kindness and goodwill to all
mankind, is not inferior in intellectual dignity and
beauty to that of St. Leander, in the Cathedral;
it is a face that at once inspires love and confidence,
and befits the oflSce of a shepherd and bishop of
souls. A group of expectant poor surround the
holy prelate ; and in the foreground a lively little
ragged urchin gleefully exhibits to his mother the
maravedis which have fallen to his share.
^ At Redleaf, Kent [Sold i2tli May 1848, to the Marquis of Hertford,
^or ;f 2,992, lOB. Now in the collection of the late Sir Richard Wallace,
Bart]
* Imported in 1805 by Mr. Irvine, and bought by Mr. Wells for j^iooa
There were five other pictures by Murillo in this convent, sent to Eng-
land at the same time, and the six together realised ;^4i7oO' Buchanau's
Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 171.
I044
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. TTT,
••Conoep-
tion,"
•• Virgin of
the Nap-
kin."
The two pictures which represent the Mysteiy
of the Immaculate Conception are of unequal
merit. In the best of the two, the Blessed Mary
is pourtrayed in the bloom of girlhood, with long
fair hair and blue up-gazing eyes, and standing on
a throne of clouds upheld by a group of sportive
cherubs, each of them a model of infantine loveli-
ness. The other is similar in design, with the
addition of the Eternal Father, who is dimly seen
in the clouds above, and the evil one, who grovels
beneath the feet of the Vii^n, in the likeness of an
ill-favoured dragon.
The small picture which once adorned the taber-
nacle of the Capuchin high-altar,^ is interesting
on account of its legend, as well as of its extra-
ordinary merits as a work of art. Representing
the Virgin and infant Saviour, it is popularly known
in Spain as la Virgen de la Servilleta^ the " Virgin
of the Napkin," and the size of the small square
canvas lends some credibility to the story on which
the name is founded. Murillo, whilst employed at
the convent, had formed a friendship, it is said,
with a lay-brother, the cook of the fraternity, who
attended to his wants and waited on him with
peculiar assiduity. At the conclusion of his labours,
this Capuchin of the kitchen begged for some trifling
^ Supra, p. 1037. [Seville Museum, No. 52.]
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1045
memorial of his pencil. The painter was willing to
comply, but he had exhausted his stock of canvas.
OH. XII.
** Never mind," said the ready cook, "take this
napkin,"^ offering him that which he had used at
' This story is not told either by Palomino, Ponz, or Cean Bermudez ;
nor is it mentioned by Camberland, who indeed seldom gives us any-
thing which he did not find in Palomina It is not to be found in Udal
ap Rhys, Clarke, Twiss, Swinburne, Townsend, Jacob, or Santa Cruz,
all of whom treat of painting, in their travels. I have not seen it in print
in any earlier book than Davics' Lift ofMurUlo, p. 35, where it is related
in a note in the author's usual incoherent style. The Handbook, p. 265,
1046
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
ca xiL
*' Angel de
laGuarda."
dinner. The good-natured artist accordingly went
to work, and before evening he had converted the
piece of coarse linen into a picture compared to
which cloth of gold or the finest tissue of the East
would be accounted as " filthy dowlas." The Virgin
has a face in which thought is happily blended with
maidenly innocence ; and the Divine infant, with his
deep earnest eyes, leans forward in her arms, strug-
gling as it were almost out of the frame,^ as if to
welcome the saintly carpenter home from his daily
toil. The picture is coloured with a brilliancy which
Murillo never excelled ; it glows with a golden light
as if the sun were always shining on the canvas.
Of all the Capuchin pictures, this alone has been
engraved ; and the present woodcut, intended as an
illustration of the popular story, is taken from the
plate, executed with considerable skill, by Bias
Amettler, at Madrid.
The picture of the Guardian Angel is now in
the Cathedral of Seville. Presented by the Capu-
chin friars to the Chapter in 18 14, it was placed,
in 1 818, over the altar of the small chapel which
just alludes to it ; and it is prettily told in the Dublin BevietOf toL zriiL
p. 461, where it is said that Murillo was in the habit of visiting the con-
vent to enjoy spiritual converse with the monks, and that the napkin
picture was painted for the infirmary. I teU the story as it was told to
me at SeviUe by the keeper of the Museum.
^ Ponz, torn. ix. p. 138.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1047
bears its name.^ St. Isidore * considers the doctrine
that every human soul is watched over by a celestial
spirit established by the warning which our Lord
addressed to His disciples, ''Take heed how ye
offend one of these little ones, for I say unto you
that in heaven their angels do always behold the
face of my Father." To each man, says Dr. Alonso
Cano, one angel at least is given as a protector,
although, as it was revealed to S*^ Brigida, ten
might be allowed, so far do the heavenly hosts
outnumber the sons of Adam.' This doctrine has
been beautifully illustrated by Murillo. llie angel,
in a rich yellow robe and purple mantle, points
with his right hand to heaven, and with the other
leads a lovely child, the emblem of the soul pass-
ing through the pilgrimage of this world.* Never
CH. XIL
^ J. Colon y Colon, SeviUa Artistica, sm. 8to. 1841, p. 41.
* Isidori HispaL Episc Sententiarum libri iii. emend, et illnst. per
Garciani Lonyaa, 4to, Taurini, 1593. List, cap. xii. p. 27. Matt xviii.
10, &c., also Acts xiL 15. See also, on this subject^ Martin de Koa,
FieHcu i Santos de Cordoba^ 4to, Sevilla, 161 5, pp. 3, 15.
' Diat de Jar din , por el Dotor Alonso Cano y Urreta, 4to, Madrid,
1619, fol. 308, a rare and cnrious treatise on morals, full of marvelloas
stories, by a Murcian divine. Qnevedo, in his '* Vision of the Last Judg-
ment," introduces the guardian angels, waiting to give an account of the
manner in which they have discharged their functions. Visions^ made
English by L'Estrange, Svo, London, 1708, p. 78. A pretty cancion,
addressed to the "Angel de laGuarda,** will be found amongst ih^RimcLa
Saeras of Lope de Vega, Ohraa^ tom. xiii. p. 343.
^ Justerian de Ayula, Pictor Christianus ErudituSt p. 60. Murillo
has, for once, exactly fulfilled the law of religious painting, for Ayala's
description of the orthodox guardian angel, *' elegans nempe et alatus
juvenis, manu altera puerulum prendens, altera eidem ccelum common-
1048
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XII.
Murillo in-
vited to
CJourt.
was an allegory more sweetly told than in this
picture, which is painted with great lightness of
touch. The transparent texture of the child's
garment deserves remark, for diaphanous draperies,
although as old as the days of Polygnotus,^ and
much affected hy the early Italian and German
painters, are seldom to be found in pictures of Spain.
The engraving executed for the present work is the
first attempt that has yet been made to make one
of the gems of the Cathedral known beyond the
walls of Seville.*
Palomino has a story ^ that, about the year 1670,
a picture of the Virgin of the Conception, by
Murillo, being exhibited on the feast of Corpus
Christi, at Madrid, was received with transports of
applause by the public of that " most ancient, noble,
and crowned " * capital. King Charles II. having
seen it, expressed a desire that the author should
strans," might have been taken from this picture. A book called ilno
EspirUual, por Don Juan do Palafox y Mendo^a, Obispo de Oama, 8to,
Gante, 1656, has a title-page designed by £. Quellinns and engraved by
J. Pitou, in which there is a guardian angel leading a child, whom three
figures, representing the world, the flesh, and the devil, are endesTonring
to clutch and drag down into the flames of perdition.
1 Plin., NcU, Hist, lib. xxxv., cap. 35, vol. ix. p. 44a
> The plate was executed by Mr. R. C. Bell, from an excellent copy <rf
tiie picture, painted by Don Salvador Gutierrez, in 1809, and now at
Keir, Perthshire.
» Pal., tom. iii. p. 626.
* The formal title of Madrid. Geronimo Quintana, Historia de Madrid,
fol. Mad. 1629 ; engraved title-page, and passim.
EL ANGEL DC LA GUARDA
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 1049
enter his service, a desire which was forthwith com- ch. xii.
municated to Murillo by his friend Don Francisco
Eminente. The painter, in reply, expressed his
high sense of his Majesty's favour, but excused
himself from accepting of the offered employment
on the plea of old age. Eminente then com-
missioned him to paint a picture, that he might
present it to the King; but the artist requiring
more time than was agreeable to the impatience of
the courtier, the latter purchased one of his finished
works from Don Juan Antonio del Castillo, as an
offering to the Koyal Gallery. The price of the
picture was 2,500 reals, the subject, St. John in the
desert. Perhaps this may be the pleasing repre-
sentation of the boy Baptist, now in the Royal
Museum at Madrid.^ Palomino hints a doubt of the
truth of the story, on the ground that the King was
but nine years old in 1670, when he was supposed
to have given this proof of his taste for art. But
he declares that it was always said, in his own days,
that Murillo had refused an invitation to Court
on the score of old age ; a refusal which, however,
was generally ascribed to his modesty and love of
retirement. Perhaps the invitation may have been
given by the Queen-mother, or by Don Juan of
Austria, in his love of art a true son of Philip IV.
^ Catdlogo, No. 50.
VOL. in.
1 050
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. xn.
PictarasAt
••Loa
Voner-
ablea»at
SeTiUe.
Or it may have come at a later period from Charles
himself^ when the prince was old enough to appre-
ciate the painter, and the painter, to plead old age
to the prince.
In 1678, MuriUo was again employed by his
friend, the Canon Justino Neve. That churchman
having taken a leading part in building a new
hospital for superannuated priests, known as the
** Hospital de los Venerables," wisely determined to
entrust three of the pictures required for its decora-
tion to the pencil which had so gracefully embodied
the legend of S*^ Maria Ja Blanca in the church
of that name.^ Two were placed in the chapel of
the hospital; and they represented, the one, the
Mystery of the Immaculate Conception, which, for
beauty of colouring, Cean Bermudez preferred to
all MuriUo's pictures on that subject at Seville,
and the other, St.. Peter weeping, in which Eibera
was imitated and excelled. The third adorned the
refectory, and presented to the gaze of the Vener-
ables, during their repasts, the Blessed Virgin
enthroned on clouds, with her Divine Babe, who,
from a basket borne by angels, bestowed bread on
three aged priests. This delightful picture was, in
1787, considered by Mr. Townsend, a critic of no
mean skill, as the most charming of all .the workfi
^ Sapia, p. 1004.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1051
of Murillo.* It was doubtless carried oflf in the
baggage-wti^gons of Soult. In the Museum of
Cadiz' may be seen an indifferent copy, which is
sufficient to give some idea of the graces of the
original, and to show that the fine wheaten loaves
of Seville and Alcald have not undergone any
change in shape since the days of Murillo.
As a token of gratitude and esteem, Murillo about
the same time painted a full-length portrait of his
friend Neve, which long hung in the same refectory
to remind the Venerables of their benefactor. After
various changes of place and ownership, it is now
the property of Lord Lansdowne, and a worthy
ornament of the drawing-room at Bowood.' The
clear olive face of Don Justino is delicate and
pleasing, and bespeaks the gentleman and the
scholar ; his eyes are dark and full of intelligence ;
and his chin and lip are clothed with a small
beard and slight moustachios. As old Alonso de
Herrera, the St. Leander of the Cathedral,^ is a
1 Journey throuffh Spain in 1786 and 1787, by the Rev. Joseph
Towneend, 3 vola. 8vo, 1791, voL iii p. 297.
' Supra, chap. i. p. 67.
t Buchanan's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 193, erroneously call Neve, Faustino
Nivez. The picture was sold in 1804, at M. de la Hunte's sale, for 1,000
gnineas, to Mr. Watson Taylor, at whose sale it came into the hands of
Lord Lansdowne. Mrs. Jameson, Private Picture Galleries, p. 305. M.
QuUliet, who seems to have seen the picture in Spain, says of it, "Dans
le voyage que je iSs avec M. Lebrun, il me chargea d'offrir pour ce
aeul morceau 20,000 fr. ; on me ref usa net." Dictionnaire des Peintres
Espagnols, p. zoo, note.' * Supra, p. looa
CH. XIL
Portrait of
D. Justino
Neye.
1052
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XIL
Pictures at
the Auirus*
tine cou-
Tent.
model of the holy and somewhat superannuated
prelate, so is Neve a model of the decorous, bene-
volent, and active priest in the fall vigour of life.
He is seated on a red velvet chair, and wears a black
cassock ; on his breast hangs a gold medal, and in
his hand there is a small breviary, between the gilt
leaves of which he has inserted a finger, by way
of mark. Near him is a table on which stands a
small timepiece. His armorial bearings are sculp-
tured on the side of the stone portal behind him;
and at his feet reposes a little liver-and-white
spaniel with a scarlet collar, of that sleek rotund
form which befits the pet of a prebendary. The
whole picture is finished with perfect clearness
and care; Murillo having evidently put forth all
his skill in pourtraying his well-looking friend and
patron. The dog is so true to canine nature, that,
according to Palomino, living dogs have been known
to snarl and bark as they approached it^
About the same time, Pedro de Medina, being
engaged in repairing and re-gilding the high-altar of
the conventual church of the Augustines, induced
those friars to adorn it with pictures by his friend
Murillo. These were chiefly taken from the life of
the glorious doctor, their tutelar saint ; and two of
them are now in the Museum of Seville. In one, the
^ Palomino, torn. iiL p. 625.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1053
Virgin and Infant Saviour appear to the Bishop of
Hippo, and in the other he is represented sitting
alone writing. Another of the series ^ seems to have
got into the Louvre. It is founded on the story, that
the good prelate, walking on the sea-shore, came
upon a child who was endeavouring to fill a hole
in the sand with water which he brought in a
shell from the sea. To the bishop's inquiry as to
what he wanted to do, the child replied, that he
intended to remove into that hole all the water of
the ocean. '* It is impossible," said the divine.
"Not more impossible," retorted the little one,
" than for you to explain the mystery of the Holy
Trinity, upon which you are at this moment medi-
tating." »
This picture is not one of Murillo's most suc-
cessful works ; there is much dignity and good
painting in the head of Augustine, but the figure
is too short. Beside these passages from the life
of the glorious doctor, the convent possessed, as
specimens of the skill of Murillo, two alms-giving
CH. xn.
^ [Curtis {Velazquez and MuriUo) M. No. 260, p. 219, says the author
is probably mistaken in supposing that this picture was painted for the
Augustine Convent.]
' GaL £sp., No. 169. I am sorry to have no better authority to offer
for my legend than the notice in the catalogue, having searched Villegas
and Ribadeneira in vain. It was probably told to the Baron Taylor at
Seville by the monks or other parties who sold him the picture. [Sold
at the Louis-Philippe sale, No. 246, for £6Zq. Now in the collection of
Joseph T. Mills, Esq., Rugby, Warwickshire.]
I054
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XII.
Lut work
of Morillo.
scenes, already noticed,^ from the history of his
favourite St. Thomas of Yillanueva.
The last work undertaken by Murillo was a large
picture of the espousals of St^ Catherine, as an
altar-piece for the church of the Capuchin friars at
Cadiz.* For this, and four smaller paintings to fill
up the retablo, the price stipulated, between the friars
and the artist was 900 crowns. He commenced the
" St. Catherine," and nearly finished the figures of the
Virgin, the Infant Saviour, and the lovely mystical
bride. Mounting a scaffolding one day to proceed
with the higher parts of the picture, he stumbled
so violently as to cause a rupture in the intestines ;
an injury which his modesty, says Palomino," would
not permit him to reveal, and of which he never
recovered. The fatal picture, with its glory and
hovering angels added by Meneses Osorio, and its
principal group remaining as it was left by the
master-hand, may still be seen over the high-altar
in the chapel of the Capuchin convent, now an
hospital, at Cadiz. There too, according to tradi-
tion, the accident befell Murillo, and thence he
returned to Seville to die.*
' Supra, p. 1042.
* [An etching of this pictnre, hj £. Saint Raymond, which he went
from Paris to Cadiz expressly to make, is given at p^ 221 of V§lazquez
and Murillo, by Cartis.]
s Palomino, torn. iii. p. 626.
* Palomino does not say where the misfortune happened, nor does Poni^
REIGN OF PHILIP IV,
loss
Finding himself growing worse, the great painter
sent for his notary, Jnan Antonio Guerrero, and
with his assistance drew up his will; but the last
sands of life fled so rapidly that he was unable to
reply to the lawyer's formal question as to the
existence of any previous testament, or even to
sign that which had just been made. At six o'clock
on the evening of the same day, the 3rd of April
1682, he expired, in the presence of his second son
Gaspar Estevan Murillo, then a boy, and in the
arms of his tried firiend Don Justino Neve, and his
scholar Pedro Nuflez de Villavicencio,
Over an altar in the church of S**- Cruz, Murillo's
parish church, hung the famous picture of the
" Descent from the Cross," by the old Flemish master,
Pedro Campafia.^ This picture he had always held
in high admiration, and before it he was wont to
perform his devotions. As he lingered, day after
CH. XII.
Death.
FuneiBl.
torn. xriL p. 339, nor Cean Bermudez. Santa Gnu, Viage, torn. xiiL
p. 206, however, asserts that the picture was painted at Cadiz, and the
ffandbookf pi 211, concurs in that opinion, which is nnqnestional>ly
sanctioned hy tradition. But I think that probability is against it. If
Palomino's story be true, Murillo, thinking his injuries trifling, would
moot likely have remained at Cadiz, if he were there at all, in hopes of
recovery, till surprised by death, which, Cean Bermudez informs us, was
very sudden. The land journey to Seville could not have been under-
taken by a man so afflicted, and a voyage up the Guadalquivir, in those
non-steaming days, was very tedious. Therefore, as he probably died,
and certainly was buried, at Seville, it seems to me that the false step
which caused his death must have been taken in his own studio in
that city.
^ Supra, chap. iiL p. 139.
ios6
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XII. day, to gaze upon it, he would reply to the questions
of the sacristan or others, '' I am waiting till those
men have brought the body of Our Blessed Lord
down the ladder," ^ Beneath this fiavourite picture,
and in its chapel, in fulfilment of his own wish, his
body was laid, the day after his decease. His
funeral was celebrated with great pomp, the bier
being borne, says Joachim Sandrart, by two mar-
quesses and four knights,' and attended by a great
concourse of people of all ranks, who admired and
Tomb. esteemed the great painter. By his own desire, his
grave was covered with a stone slab, on which was
carved his name, a skeleton, and these two words,
VIVE MORITVRVS.*
In the Vandal reign of Soult at Seville, the
French pillaged this church and pulled it down, as
they had before razed the church of San Juan at
Madrid, which covered the ashes of Velazquez.* Its
site is now occupied by a weed-covered mound of
rubbish.* Between 1820 and 1823 the corporation
^ Ponz, torn. ix. p. 82.
' Joachimi Sandrart, a Stockau, Aeademia nobilusimcB Artis ptetaria,
foL, Norimberg, 1683, p. 397. I doubt, however, whether Honthorst'a
pupil be a trustworthy authority, for he informs us that MuriUo spent
some years in America and also at Rome.
* Ponz, torn. iz. p. 83.
* Supra, chap. ix. p. 794.
' It is now a little plaza, planted with acacias, and provided with seats.
On a wall at one side is a tablet in honour of Murillo.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
I0S7
of Seville caused a search to be made for the ch. xii.
painter's grave. After digging through the rubbish
a vault filled with bones was reached ; but no tomb-
stone or other identifying mark being found, it was
again closed, and the earth replaced.^
Doiia Beatriz de Cabrera, wife of Murillo, died wife.
before her husband. No authentic account of this
lady remains to us, nor is any portrait of her known
to exist.^ By her the painter left two sons, Gabriel chfldren.
Estevan, who was in the Indies when his father
died, and Gaspar Estevan, in priest's orders, and a
daughter, Francisca. A sister of Murillo, named siator.
Teresa,^ was married to an hidalgo of Burgos, Don
Joseph de Yeitia Linage, head of the house of
Veitia, knight of Santiago, and judge of the royal
tribunal of the colonies, a man of taste and letters, a
lover of the arts, and author of an esteemed work on
colonial affairs.^ Called after his marriage to Madrid,
^ For this infonnation I am indebted to Don J. M. Escazena.
' Supra, p. 998. Mr. Davies, Lift of JHurillo, p. IxxxviL, says he
brought to England portraits of Murillo and his wife, and also a minia-
ture of the latter holding a pink in her hand. He likewise mentions
(p. 100, note) a portrait of their daughter, Francisca, "tearing off her
yariegated dress previous to taking the yeil," painted by her father,
and existing in England.
* Palomino, tom. iii. p. 626, calls her Tomasa Josephs,
^ Norte de la Contratacion de las Indiaa occidentaleSf dirigido al exc^
teHor D. Gaspar de Bracamonte y Guzman, Conde de Pefiaranda, Ac,
Presidente antes del Consej'o supremo de las Indias, por D. Joseph de
Veitia Linage, Cay*' de la orden de Santiago, Sefior de la casa de Veitia,
del consejo de sn Magestad, su Tesorero, Juez official de la Real
ios8
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XIL
Gaspar
Munllo.
to fill the post of secretaxy of the council for the
affairs of New Spain, this gentleman so distinguished
himself by his talent for business, that he was
appointed chief secretary of state> on the death of
Eguya, in 1682.^ His interest at court enabled him
to obtain for Gaspar Murillo, during the life of the
painter, a benefice at Carmona, and afterwards,
before the youth was fourteen, a canonry at Seville,
of which he took possession on the ist of October
1685. Not having taken the oath of adherence to
the true faith within the required time, this juvenile
dignitary was fined one year's fruits of his stall,
amounting to 8,000 reals, which sum was spent in
repairing the monument of the Holy Week. Being
a lover of the arts, he became a tolerable painter,
imitating the style of his father; and he died at
Seville, on the 2nd of May 1709. Nothing appears
to be known of the life and fortunes of Gabriel, his
brother. Palomino asserts that the father's interest
obtained for this son a benefice worth 3,000 ducats,'
but neglects to state whether he took orders, or
on which side of the Atlantic his preferment was
Audiencia de la Casa de la Contratadon de las Indias; foL, Sevilk,
1672, Teith 17 preliminary leaves, iadadiDg engraved and printed titles,
pp. 264, and 36 leaves of index, &c The engraved title, carious in design,
is by M. de Orozoo. The work, being a rarity, onght to be seemed,
whenever met with, by collectors.
^ N. Antonio^ Bibliotheea Hispana Neva, 2 torn. foL Madrid, 1773,
torn. L p. 822.
* Palomino^ torn* iii p. 627 He calls him Josqfh,
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
I0S9
situated. The paintei^s dan^bter Franciaca
to have been older than the Canon Gaspar. She
relinquished her claim to inherit from her father, in
1676, on becoming a Dominican nun in the fine
convent of the Mother of God.^
Murillo, although the author of so many great
works, says Palomino, left only one hundred reals
in money, besides seventy crowns which were found
in a desk.' He certainly did not die rich; and
although he received prices which were at the time
respectable, Marshal Soult, the well-known French
dealer, has doubtless frequently pocketed, by the
sale of a single stolen picture, a sum larger than the
whole gains of the artist's laborious life.' But his
testament and inventory of eflfects, printed below,*
GE. XIL
Frandaoa
Murillo.
Fortune
and will
and inTen-
toryof
effects.
^ The nunnery of Madre de Dioe was bnilt by Isabella the Catholic,
and enlarged by Archbishop de Deza. In 1669 S^ Roaa was there
pleased to cure sister Sebastiana de Neve y Chayes of apoplexy, a mizaole
of which an account was printed. Ortiz de Znfiiga, Annates^ p. 756.
This favoured nun may have been sister or cousin to Murilio's friend,
the Canon Neve ; see p. S064, note i.
' Palomino, torn. iii. p. 626.
* Compare pp. 1019 and Z029, note 2. The gains of the robber, compared
with those of the painter, have too frequently been in the ratio of pounds
sterling to Spanish reals, or 240 to 2.35.
* For the following important documents, I am indebted to the kindness
of Mr. Ford. They are now printed, for the first time, from a transcript
made by him at Seville in 1832, from copies in the possession of Don
Joaquin Cortes, President of the Academy, which I have had the
advantage of collating with another made by Don J. M. Eseazena, an
eminent painter of Seville. The first b the will itself ; the second, or
DUigenda, is the history of the making of it, and o£ the testator's death ;
and the third, the inventory of effeets.
^ En el nombre de Dios, amen : Sepan quantos esta carta de testa-
io6o
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. HL
inform us tliat he died possessed of several houses
in the parish of La Magdalena, besides his wife's
oliye-farm at Pilas, of some money, plate, and
furniture, and of a number of pictures, some finished
and others in progress. The will begins with a
mento Tieren oomo yo Bartolom^ MariUo, maestro del arte de la PiIltu^^
yedno de esta dudad de Sevilla^ en la oolladon de S*** Cruz, estando
enfenno del cuerpo j sano de la yolontad y en todo mi acuerdo joicio y
entendimiento natural, cumpUda y buena memoria, tal qual Dies nuestro
Sefior ha sido servido de darme, y creyendo como firme y verdaderamente
creo en el divino misterio de la SantLsima Trinidad, Padre Hijo y Espirita
Santo, tree peisonas, realmente diBtintaw y nn solo Dios verdadero^ y en
todo lo demaa que tiene, cree y confiesa la santa madre Iglesia Catoliea
Romana» como Christiano deseando salvarme, y quiriendo estar prevenido
por lo que Dios nuestro Sefior faere servido de disponer y poniendo como
pongo por mi intercesora d la siempre Virgen Maria Senora naestra, con-
cebida sin mancha ni denda de pecado original desde el primer instante
de sn ser, otorgo, hago y ordeno mi testamento en la forma y manera
siguiente.
Primeramente ofifrezco y enoomiendo ml anima d Dios nuestro Sefior
que la hizo cri6 y redenii6 con el precio infinite de su sangre d quien
humildemente le suplico la perdone, y Ueve d el descanso de su gloria y
quando su divina magestad f uere servido de llevarme de esta presente vida,
mando que mi cuerpo sea sepultado en la dicha mi parroquia, y el dia
de mi entierro siendo hora y sino otro siguiente, se diga por mi alma la
misa de requiem cantada quees costumbre, y la forma y disposicion de mi
entierro remito i, el parecer de mis albaoeas. Item, mando se digan por
mi anima quatro cientas misas rezadas, la qnarta parte de eUas en la
dicha mi parroquia por la que le pertenece, y ciento en el convento de
Nuestra Sefiora de la Merced, casa grande de esta ciudad y las demas en
los conventos y partes que pareciere d mis albaoeas, y se pague la limosna
que es costnmbre. Item, mando d las mandas forzosas y acostumbradas
y casa santa de Jerusalem d cada parte echo reales. Item dedaro que
yo f ui albacea de Dofia Maria de Murillo mi prima, viuda de Don Fran-
Cisco Terron y paran en mi poder por bienes de la suso dicha, dos
candaleros de plata, dos cudiarras, quatro tenedores y seis hicaraa
guamecidas de plata cuyos bienes sabe y reconosce Don Gaspar Esteban
Murillo mi hijo, clerigo de menores ordenes, cuyos bienes quiero y es mi
voluntad, mis albaceas los vendan y su procedido se diga de missas por el
anima de la dicha Dofia Maria de Murillo, la mitad en el convento del
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1061
profession of the testator s adherence to the faith of
the Eoman Catholic Church, and it orders that his
body shall be buried in the church of S*^ Cruz, with
the usual chanted requiem, and that four hundred
masses shall be said for his soul, one-fourth in that
CH. XIL
Sefior San Antonio de la orden del seraphico padre San Francisco de
esta ciudad, y la otra mitad en el dicho convento de Nuestra Sefiora de
la Merced, casa grande de esta ciudad. Item declaro qne en mi poder
paran cinqnenta ducados de vellon, por via de deposito, los mismos que
dej6 y leg6 la dicha Dofia Marik de MnriUo, mi prima, para qne tomase
estado, Mannela Romero natnral de la villa de Bollullos, cuya cantidad
para en mi poder, para efecto de qne la snso dicha tome estado, declarolo
aai, para qne conste. Item mando & Ana Maria de Salcedo, muger de
Geronimo Bravo, qne a8isti6 en mi casa, cinqnenta reales de vellon los qnales
se le entregnen Inego qne yo fallesca. Item declaro qne me debe Andres
de Campo escribano de la villa de Pilas dos mil reales de vellon procedidos
de arrendimiento de quatro afios de nnos olivares, d precio de quinientos
reales cada afio, a cnya cnenta, me ha dado diez arrobas de aceite & precio
de diez y echo reales cada una, mando se cobre lo demas qne se me resta
debiendo. Item declaro qne me deben del arrendimiento de unas casas
qne tengo en La Magdalena la renta de seis meses d razon de echo dncados
cada nno de renta del aflo pasado, cuya escritura pas6 ante Pedro de
Galves escribano publico, de qne fue fiador de & quien arrend^ las dichas
casas de que no me acuerdo de su nombre Antonio Novela de esta ciudad,
mando se cobren. Item declaro que yo estoy haciendo nn lienzo grande
para el convento de los Capuchinos de Cadiz y otros quatro lienzos
pequefios y todos ellos los tengo ajustados en novecientos pesos y i cuenta
de ellos he recibido trescientos y cinqnenta pesos, declarolo para qne
conste. Item declaro que debo a Nicolas Olnasur (in Mr. Ford's copy
Osnasnr) cien pesos de d echo reales de plata cada nno qne me di6
y entregtS el afio pasado de mil seis cientos y ochenta y uno, y yo le he
dado, y entregado dos lienzos pequefios que valen treinta pesos cada nno,
que montan sesenta, con que rebajado esta cantidad, quedo deudor d el
snso dicho de quarenta pesos, mando se los paguen. Item declaro que
Diego del Campo me mand6 hacer nn lienzo de la devocion de Santa
Catalina martir, y se concerts en treinta y dos pesos, los que el snso dicho
me ha dado y pagado, por lo qual mis slbaceas den y entregnen al snso
dicho el dicho lienzo acabado y perfecionado. Item declaro que nn
texedor, de cuyo nombre no me acuerdo, que vive en la alameda, me mand6
bacer nn lienzo de medio cuerpo de nuestra Sefiora que estd en bosquejo,
io6a
REIGN OF PHIUP IV.
CH. XIL
church, one-fourth in the convent church of Mercy,
and the rest where his executors may appoint It
likewise mentions that the Capuchins of Cadiz had
already paid 350 crowns on account for his last
work, and provides for the payment of a few small
que todayia no esta ooncertado y me ha dado a cnenta, nneTe Taraa
de razo, mando que por defecto de no entregarle el dicho lienso se le
pagne el monte de dichaa nneve varaa de razo. Item dedaro qne habra
cosa de treinta y qoatro 6 treinta seis afioe que caa6 con Dofia Beatrix
de Cabrera fiotomayor, mi mnger dif unta y la enso dicha traxo £ mi
poder la cantidad que parecerd por la escritiira de dote que pas6 en nno
de lo8 oiicioB pnbllcos qne entonoee estaban en la plaza de San Fran-
oisoo y yo no truxe & el dicho matrimonio bienes ni hacienda ningona,
declarolo aai para qne conste. Item dedaro qne Dofia Francisea MuriUo
mi hija, monja profeaa en el convento de monjas de Madre de Dioe de
esta ciudad, la qnal d el tiempo de su profedon, renundd en mi sn legitima,
oomo en la escritnra de rennnda consta qne pafi6 antes el dicho Pedro de
Oalyes siete ti ocho afioe poco mas o menos, declarolo para qne oonste.
Item para pagar y cnmplir este mi testamento, y lo en el oontenido, dejo
y nombro por mis albaceas testamentarios d el sefior Don Jnstino de Neve
y Yerenes, prebendado de esta santa Iglesia y il Don Pedro de Villavi-
cencio caballero del orden del sefior San Juan, y il el dicho Don Caspar
Esteran MuriUo mi hi jo lb los quales y £ cada uno in solidum doy todo
mi poder camplido y facultad bastante para redbir y cobrar todoa mis
bienes y faadenda y venderlos y rematarlos en almoneda publiea 6 f uera
de ella, y de sn proeedido cnmplir y executar este mi testamento, nsando
de dicho cargo, aunque sea pasado d termino dd devecho y mucho mas,
y pagado y cumplido este mi testamento y todo lo en el contenido, d
remanente que quedare de todos mis bienes muebles raises ysemovientee,
deudas, derechos y acciones y otras cosas que me toquen y perteneacan i
d tiempo de mi falledmiento, dejo, iDstituyo y nombro por mis unices y
universales herederos en todos ellos £ Don Gabrid Muiillo ansente en los
reynos de las Indias y d d dicho Don Caspar Estevan Murillo.
DiUGENCiA.— En la ciudad de Sevilla en tres dias del mes de Avril
de mil seisdentos y ochenta y dos afioe, serian como las dnoo de la tarde
con poca diferencia que se me llam6 para haoer el testamento de Bar-
tolomi Murillo, Maestro pintor, yedno de esta dudad y estando lo
hadendo hasta poner la clausula de herederos que es d que esta eecrito
anteoedente y pregnntandole por d nombre del dicho Don Caspar Estevaa
Murillo su hijo y didio y pronundado el dicho su nombre, eon el otio
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 1063
debts and for the delivery of certain pictures. Some
trifling articles of plate, inherited from his cousin
Maria de Murillo, are directed to be sold, to pay for
masses for the benefit of that lady's soul, and a sum
of fifty reals is left to Anna Maria de Salcedo, his
piimero sn hi jo, reconoci se moria, por cansa de haberle preguntado en
prden d si habia otorgado 6 no otros testamentos para que qnedasen
revocados eomo se hace en los testamentos 7 no me respondi6 a ^Uo, con
que ^ breve lato ezpir6, y para que oonste lo pongo por diligencia, estando
presente d el dicho testamento Don Bartolom^ Garcia Bracho de Barreda,
presbitero vecino de esta ciudad en la colladon de San Lorenzo y Don
Juan Caballero, cura de la iglesia de Santa Craz, Greronimo Trevifio
maestro pintor, Tecino de esta ciudad en la collacion de San Esteban,
(in Mr. Ford's copy Santa Cruz) y Pedro Belloso vecino y escribano de
Sevilla que lo'firmaron. Don Bartolom^ Garcia Bracho de Barreda,—
Juan Caballero, — Geronimo Trevi&o, — Pedro BeUoso escribano de Sevilla,
— Juan Antonio Guerrero escribano publico de Sevilla.
Consiguiente i, la disposicion testamentaria precedente, por Don Gaspar
Estevan de Murillo se present^ peticion ante el seiior Teniente de
Asistente de esta ciudad, Don Policarpo de Miranda y Quifiones. sollci-
tando se le reciviese informacion de testigos y se declarase dicho testa-
mento por nuncupativo, cuya justiiicacion f ue admitida y dada por tres
testigos, recay6 providencia de dicho sefior juec d la presencia de didio
Don Juan Antonio Guerrero para la que declar6 por testamento las
diligencias preoedentes, interponiendo la autoridad y decreto judicial de
Bu ofidob cuya providencia fue dictada en quatro de Avril de mU seiscientos
y ochenta y dos afios.
£1 testamento que va copiado y las diligenciaa judiciales que se hallan
£ au contiuDuacion en que recay6 providencia para declarar por testamento
el que vd citado, obran ante el dicho escribano Don Juan Antonio Guer-
rero en la escribania publiea no. 3, que hoy usa Don Manuel Bodriguex
Qnesada en el aiio 183X
Iktentabio. — En la ciudad de Sevilla en quatro dias del mes de Abril
de mil seiscientos ochenta y dos afios, estando en las caaas de la morada
que fueron de Bartolomtf Murillo, que son en esta ciudad en la collacion
de Santa Cruz, ante mi Juan Antonio Guerrero escribano publico del
nnmero de esta dicha ciudad y testigos, pareciaron el sefior Don Justino
de Neve y Yevenes, prebendado de la santa iglesia de esta ciudad y Don
Pedro de Villavicencio caballero del habito de sefior San Juan y Don
Gaspar Estevan MurUlo, vecinos de esta dudad, albaceas testamentarios
CH. XII.
1064
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XIL
Honae.
servant. His two sons are the residuaiy legatees,
and the Canon Neve,* and Nnfiez de Villavioencio,
the execntors.
According to the tradition of Seville, the great
painter lived and laboured for some years in the
Calle de las Tiendas, a street in his native parish of
La Magdalena. The latter part of his life was spent
in the parish of S*^ Cruz, near the church, in a
house, now No. 3, in the Calle de Barrabas, con-
spicuous by its bold bay-window towards the street,
and close to the city wall. Over the reja^ or gate of
del dicho Bartolomtf Morillo, nombradoB por tales en el teatamento que
el 8U80 dicho hizo ante el presente esciibano pnblioo, en este presente afio
y dixeron que por sn fin y muerte habian qnedado diferentes bienes de
loB qnales querian bacer inventario solemne de ellos y lo hideron de los
bienes signientes. Primeramente nn escritorio de Salamanca con sn pie
grande oomo escaparate. Item an bofete de doe Tanu menos qnarta de
laigo, de caoba^ con sn herrage. Item otro bofete de caoba de Taia y
media de largo con sn herrage. Item tres lienzoe de dos varas poco menos
de laigo con bus moldoraa doradas, nno de arquitectnra y otros de historia
de la sagrada escritura, y todos los tres son copias. Item nn qnadro de tres
qnartas de largo con sn moldnra dorada, oopia de la cabeza de San Jnan
BantistA y dos fmteros de d media vara de laigo ain (in Mr. Ford's copy con
sns) moldnras, y por ahora se 8nspendi6 el dicho inventario para segoirloy
prosegnirlo como y qnando les convenga y lo firmaron de sns nombres en
este registro d los qnales yo el presente escribano publico doy fd, conoaco ;
siendo presente por testigos Pedro BeUoso y Francisco Martin Koldan
escribanos de SeYilla,~Don Justino de Neve,— Frey Don Pedro Nnfici
de Villavicencio, — Caspar Estevan de Murillo,— Pedro Belloso escribano
de Sevilla, — Juan Antonio Guerrero, escribano publico de Sevilla.
^ He is caUed, in Mr. Ford's copy of the will, Neve y Cluxives, while
Gean Bermudez {Ccarta^ p. 62, and elsewhere) calls him Neve y Yevenet,
Both may have been family names, see p. 1059, note i. A letter written
by the Canon to the Marquess de Paradas, on the death of Miguel Maliaia
(p. 1014, note 2), and printed in Cardenas's memoini of that worthy, p. 164,
is signed Justino de Neve only.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1065
iron trellis-work, leading from the vestibule into the
court, the present owner and tenant of the mansion,
the tasteful Don Manuel Cepero, Dean of Seville,
has placed a marble tablet, bearing this inscription.
CH. XIL
EN ESTA CASA
MURld B. E.
MURILLO.
Around three sides of the court there is the usual
Sevillian arcade, supported on white marble pillars,
above which the walls are painted in imitation of
red and yellow brick-work ; and in the centre, a
small marble fountain plays from a star-shaped basin
of glazed tiles, amongst pots of flowering shrubs.
MuriUo's studio, now forming part of the Dean's
picture-gallery, is on the upper floor; its windows
command a pleasant prospect beyond the Moorish
wall. Looking over a grove of orange trees, you see,
to the right, the long florid fa9ade of the royal to-
bacco factory, built after Murillo's time,^ and in front,
a wide expanse of rich com land, broken with olive
groves and ancient convents, and stretching away to
the uplands around Alcald. The back of the house,
represented in the woodcut,^ looks on a pretty garden,
^ Began in 1725, and finished in 1757. L09 Arquitectos, torn. iv. p. 108.
* From a sketch which I made on the spot in 1845, by the kind permis-
sion of Dean Cepera
VOL. III.
io66
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XII.
planted with citrons and cjrpresses, and closed by a
fountain built of rock-work, and a wall on which are
four faded frescoes of fanns and musical mermaids,
ascribed sometimes to the pencil of Murillo himself,^
and sometimes to that of Vargas*'
Portraits of
Murillo.
Amongst the finished pictures bequeathed by
Murillo to his sons, there was a portrait of himself
in his youthful days, supposed by Cean Bermudez
to be the picture which afterwards came into the
possession of Don Bernardo Iriarte. It is probably
identical with that which, sold by Don Julian
Williams to the King of the French, is now one
^ Noticta de Sevilla, 1842, p. 52.
* Handbook [1S45], p. 260 [3d edition, 1855, p. 188].
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1067
of the gems of the Louvre,^ and has been engraved,
for die third time,* for the present work. Accord-
ing to a whimsical fashion of the time, it affects to
be painted on a stone slab, carelessly placed upon
a block, along the edge of which a later hand has
inscribed the name of the painter, and diates of his
birth and death. Although wanting in the beauty
of feature and the high-bred air which distinguished
Velazquez, the countenance of Murillo is not un-
worthy of his genius ; the lips betoken firmness, and
above the keen intelligent eyes there rises a broad
intellectual brow. At a later period of his life, and
at the request of his children, he painted another
portrait* of himself, which was very finely engraved
at Brussels in 1682, by Richard Collin/ at the ex-
CH. XII.
^ Gal. Esp., N<x I S3. [Sold at the Louis-Philippe aale, 1853, and
subsequently Id the collection of Baron Sulliere, Paris (Curtk, M.
No. 46s, p. 295).]
*• It has been engraved at Paris by Blanehard and Sichling. An excel-
lent copy of this portrait, executed at Seville by Sir David Wilkie, and
now hardly inferior in interest and valne to the original, is in the collec-
tion of the Earl of Leven, at Melville House, Fifeshire.
* This picture seems to be the one in the collection of Earl Spencer at
Al thorp, exhibited in Manchester in 1S57. [Ancient Masters, No. 640.]
* Tlds rare print, which is 14 inches high by 9I wide, is signed "Michard
CoUin, Caleographtts Bcgis, setUpsit, BruxUliB, an, 1682." A pedestal
beneath the figure bears this inscription : — " Bartholomeus Morillus,
Hispalensis se ipsum dipingens, pro fiUorum votis ac precibus explendis.
Nicolaus Omazurinus Antnerpiensis tanti viri simulacrum in amiciti»
symbolon in aes incidi inaudavit, anno 1682." The portrait is in frame,
and leaning against a. sort of stone niche. I have never seen but one
proof, the fine one in the collection of [the late] Don Valentin Carderera at
Madrid. In Murillo's testament, where mention is made of this Flemish
friend (p. 106 1, note), it will be observed that the name is written Osnasur,
io68
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XII.
Character.
pense of a certain Nicolas Omazurino, a gentleman
who enjoyed the artist's friendship, and who, with
his wife, Isabel Malcampo, had been pourtrayed by
him in 1672. From this plate the head of Murillo,
engraved in 1683 in Sandrart's book,^ was taken;
and that head so closely resembles a bust-portrait
formerly in the Aguado collection, that the latter
portrait was probably either the original from which
Collin worked, or a copy of it. It represents Murillo
as a somewhat careworn man, of middle age, with
a falling collar, edged with lace, round his neck;
and it has been engraved.' There is still another
portrait of the painter, three-quarters length, which
appears to be a repetition, on a larger canvas, of
that in the Louvre : in his left hand he holds a
drawing of a seated naked figure, and his right a
crayon-holder; and it is known in Spain by the
indifferent engraving of Alegre and Carmona,* which
perhaps is all that remains of the picture. At
Florence, the gallery of Cardinal Leopold de Medicis,
although it boasts two portraits of Velazquez,* wants
that of Murillo.
All that is known of the personal history of
Murillo tends to the advantage of his fame. Gifted
^ Sandrart, Academia nobilisn'ma ArtU ptctorux, plate facing p. 392-
* In Paris, by Calaniatta, in the GcUerie Aguado,
' In the Espanoles Ilustres.
^ GaUrie ImpSriale et RoydU de Florence^ sm. Svo, Flor. 1837, p. 127.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 1069
with much energy and determination of mind, and ch. xi i.
great powers of application, he obtained by his
amiable and attractive manners a considerable in-
fluence with his fellow-men. His character bears
so close a resemblance to that of Velazquez, that
the great court-painter may have been his model,
both as a man and as an artist. Discreet and
conciliating towards friends and rivals, both of
these celebrated sons of Seville seem to have been
free from that proneness to boasting and self-
glorification, the besetting vice of Alonso Cano, and
one generally inherent in the Oriental blood of
Andalusia. The early history of the Sevillian
Academy^ affords evidence of the good sense of
Murillo, and of the moderation of his temper. Cean
Bermudez records a happy reply made by him to
his fellow-painter Vald^s Leal, a man too arrogant,
he was accustomed to say, to admit of rivalry. This
haughty antagonist having one day condescended
to ask Murillo's opinion of a work which he had
just finished, and of which the principal feature
was a rotting cqarpse, the painter — who had probably
not yet given an opening for a retort by painting
the Tifloso* — replied, "Compadre,* it is a picture
which cannot be looked at without holding one's
nose." Cean Bermudez was doubtless repeating
* Supra, p. 1008. • Ibid. p. 1026. • Compire, gossip.
1070
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XII. the tradition of Seville, when he relates that the
scholars of Murillo found him in all things the
opposite of the testy Herrera ; a gentle and pains-
taking master, and in after-life a generous and
&therly friend. One of them attended him in his
last moments, and Meneses Osoiio, Marqnez Joya,
Antolinez, and others of less distinction, lamented
his death as if they had been his children. The
friend of good Miguel Mafiara, and the yotary of
the holy Almoner of Valencia, he practised the
charity which his pencil preached ; and his frmeral
was hallowed by the prayers and tears of the poor
who had partaken of his bounties. His story
justifies the hortatory motto graven on his tomb ; ^
he had lived as one about to die.
Fame. Like Yclazquez, Murillo enjoyed a high con-
temporary reputation. The invitation to court was
not the most signal homage paid to his genius. He
had the pleasure of reading his own praises in the
''Memorial of the Festivals held at Seville on the
Canonisation of St Ferdinand," one of the most
beautiful books of Spanish local history.^ In that
work Don Fernando de la Torre Far&n proclaims
the renown of MuriUo's name, and the *' learning "
^ Snpra, p. 1056^
' Ibid. p. 1003, note. I am informed by Mr. Ford, who pooseases a
matchless copy of this rare Tolnme, with impressions of the plates
selected from five difTerent copies, that the work was printed at the
expense of the Chi^ter of Seville for presents.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1071
of his pencil; he asserts that he was a ^'better
Titian/' and that Apelles might have been proud to
be called the Grecian Murillo ; ^ and he remarks of
one of his beautiful delineations of the Immaculate
Conception, '* that those who did not know that it had
been painted by the great artist of Seville, would
suppose that it had liad its birth in heaven."'
Murillo was probably better known abroad than any
other Spanish painter, except Sibera and Velazquez.
His portrait was, as we have seen,' finely engraved
in Flanders the very year of his death, and the year
following his name was chronicled, with high honour,
and his life written with great inaccuracy, in the
ponderous Latin. folio of the German Sandrart,^ who
does not deign to notice any other Spaniard.
Eleven years later, in 1693, one of his genial pic-
tures of vulgar life was sold at Whitehall for a sum
which surprised the oak-loving squire of Wotton.*
His pencil was not unknown in the churches
and palaces of Italy, or in the conventual shrines
of the Netherlands.®
CH. XII.
^ Molifere spealcB still more handsomely of his own painter friend in
his "Gloire da Val-de- Grace," CSuvre9,.6 torn. Paris, 1824, torn, tl p.
451, wheze he talks of
" Jules, Annibal, Raphael, Michel- Ange,
Les Migncsrds de leur siMe."
' FiuUu de Sevilla, pp. 164, 202, 233, 325.
' Supra, p. 1067. ^ Ibid. p. 1056. ' Ibid. chap. L p. 55.
* In the Art Union, June 1841, toL ilL p. 109, there is a pleasant
I072
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH- ^OL Among the ecclesiastical painters of Spain Mniillo
8tji«. holds the same nnapproached pre-eminence that is
held by Velazquez amongst the painters of the
Spanish court. In variety of power and in mastery
of all branches of his art, the one excels Soelas^
Herrera, and Znrbaran, as much as the other excels
El MudOy El Greco, and Pereda. French rapine
and the dissolution of the convents having dispersed
over Europe a greater number of the masterpieces of
MuriUo, have given him perhaps a higher place in
public estimation. All the peculiar beauties of the
school of Andalusia, says Cean Bermudez, its happy
use of red and brown tints, the local colours of the
region, its skill in the management of drapery, its
distant prospects of bare sierras and smiling vales,
its clouds light and diaphanous as in nature, its
flowers and transparent waters, and its harmonious
depth and richness of tone,^ are to be found in full
anecdote of an altar-piece by Mnrillo, tamed to excellent acconnt by a
society of Flemish friars. A bold Briton "came, saw, and conquered"
this picture, for a considerable sum, and by the desire of the vendors
affixed his seal and signature to the back of the canvas. In due time it
followed him to England and became the pride of his collection. Bat
passing through Belgium some years afterwards, the purchaser turned
aside to visit his friends the monks, when he was surprised to find his
acquisition, smiling in all its original brightness, on the wall where he had
first been smitten by its charms. The truth was that the good fathers
always kept under the original canvas an excellent copy, which they
sold, in the manner above related, to any rash collector whom providence
directed to their cloisters. Would that Marshal Soult had had to do with
brethren of this knowing order !
* Carta, p. 123.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 1073
perfection in the works of Murillo. As a religious ch. xi i.
painter he ranks second only to the greatest masters
of Italy. In ideal grace of thought and in force and
perfection of style he yields, as all later artists must
yield, to that constellation of genius of which Rafael
was the principal star. But his pencil was endowed
with a power of touching religious sympathies, and
awakening tender emotions, which belonged to none
of the Italian painters of the seventeenth century.
Some of them doubtless display a more accurate
knowledge of the rules, but none have so efficiently
fulfilled the purposes, of art. He did not, because
he could not, follow the track of the great old
masters ; but he pressed forward in the true spirit
towards the mark of their high calling. The genius
of ancient art, all that is comprehended by artists
under the name of the antique, was to him ''a
spring shut up and a fountain sealed." He had
left Madrid long before Velazquez had brought
his collection of casts and marbles to the Alcazar.
All his knowledge of Pagan art must have been
gleaned in the AlcaU gallery, or, at second hand,
from Italian pictures. Athenian sculpture of the
age of Pericles therefore had, directly at least,
no more to do with the formation of his taste,
than the Mexican painting of the age of Mon-
tezuma. All his ideas were of home growth; his
mode of expression was purely national and Spanish ;
1074
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. xn.
Farourita
subject ;
The Im-
maeolAte
Concep-
tion.
his model, nature as it existed in and around
Seville.
The Mystery of the Immaculate Conceptioii is
one of his most frequent and favourite subjects.
His treatment of this delightful theme being
unrivalled in poetic grace and feeling, he has
sometimes been called, by pre-eminence, the painter
of the Conception.^ The spotless purity of the
Blessed Virgin, the opinion that she came into the
world sinless as her own Divine offspring, has
long been the darling dogma of the Spanish
Church. Its slender foundation of ancient autho-
rity is admitted, while excused, by Villegas, on the
ground that had it been made manifest at an earlier
time, men might have fallen into the error of wor-
shipping the Virgin as an actual goddess.' In fact,
it remained an open question, whereon belief and
speculation were free, until 1617, when the impor-
tunities of the Churcfi and crown of Spain drew from
Paul V. a bull which forbade the teaching or preach-
ing' of the contrary opinion. On the publication of
this bull, Seville flew into a frenzy of religious joy.
Archbishop de Castro performed a magnificent ser-
vice in the Cathedral, and amidst the thunder of
the organs and the choir, the roar of all the artillery
on the walls and river, and the clangour of all the
^ Handbook [1S45], P- 267 [3rd edition, 1855, Na 196].
> Villegas, Fio» Sctnetarwnf p. 576.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1075
bells in all the churches, swore to maintain and
defend the peculiar tenet of his see. Don Melchor
de Alcazar, doubtless the early friend of Velazquez
at court,^ gave a splendid entertainment in the
bull-ring, at which his fellow-nobles displayed their
liyeries and gallantry, and he himself and his dwarf,
attended by four gigantic negroes, performed pro-
digies of dexterity and valour.* There was no
church or convent that had not at least one picture
or statue of the Virgin of the moat pure Conception.
For the treatment of this important subject, the
directions of Facheco are very full and precise.'
The idea is borrowed from the vision in the Apo-
calypse> of the wondrous " woman clothed with the
sun and with the moon under her feet, and having
upon her head a crown of twelve stars."* **But in
this gracefuUest of mysteries," says the lawgiver of
Sevillian art, "Our Lady is to be painted in the
flower of her age, from twelve to thirteen years old,
with sweet grave eyes, a nose and mouth of the
most perfect form, rosy cheeks, and the finest
streaming hair of golden hue, in a word, with all
the beauty that a human pencil can express." * Her
eyes are to be turned to heaven, and her arms
CH. XIL
Orthodox
mode of
painting it.
^ Supra, chap. iz. p. 685.
* Ortiz de Znxiiga, Annalea de SeviUa^ pp. 624-629.
' Pacheco, Arte de la TitUura, pp. 481-484.
* Rev. zii. i. " Pacheco, p. 482.
1076
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XII. meekly folded across her bosom. The mantling
sun is to be expressed by bright golden light behind
the figure; the pedestal moon is to be a crescent
with downward-pointing horns ; and the twelve
stars above are to be raised on silver rays, forming
a diadem like a celestial crown in heraldry. The
robe of the Virgin, of course covering her feet with
decent folds, must be white, and her mantle blue ;
and round her waist is tied the cord of St. Francis ;
because in this guise she appeared to Beatriz de
Silva,^ a noble nun of Portugal, who, in 151 1,
founded a religious order of the Conception at
Toledo. About her are to hover cherubs, bearing
emblematic boughs and flowers ; the upper glory is
to reveal the forms of the Eternal Father and the
mystic dove ; and the clouds beneath the moon, the
bruised head of the great red dragon. These last
accessories, however, Pacheco does not absolutely
require ; and he is especially willing to forgive the
omission of the dragon, " which, indeed," says he,
" no man ever painted with good will." * No great
obedience was, however, paid to these rules by any
^ Compare chap. tL p. 417.
* PachecOk p. 4S4. Justezimn de Ayali, Pidtot CkrManiu Eruditui,
p. 193, has an ample dissertation on the Conception. See also Handr
book [1S45], P> 2^ iS^ edition, 1855, pp. 195-6]. Disqmsitions on the
Viil^Q*s stanry crown, and on the moon nnder her feet, may be found in
Andrea VittoivUi, Gionose MttmanedeilaBeaiisnma Verffine, 8to, Roiiia»
1616, pp^ 220-225.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1077
but the lawgiver himself. Koelas and Zurbaran,
for example, generally, though not always, place the
horns of the moon in the required downward posi-
tion, and put ever the cord of St. Francis, but they
frequently change the colours of the robes and
drapery from white and blue to violet and crimson —
colours which were more native to their palettes.
Perhaps J. de Vald^s, not a very happy painter
of Conceptions, is, after Facheco, the greatest purist
in working after the letter of the law.
Murillo is by no means exact in his adherence to
the letter of Facheco's laws. The attitude of the
figure and the colours of the drapery are the sole
points in which he exhibits habitual obedience.
The horns of his moon generally point upwards;
he usually omits the starry crown ; and in spite
of his predilection for the Capuchin order, he
commonly dispenses with the girdling cord of St.
Francis. His Virgin is sometimes a fair child
with golden locks, gazing to heaven with looks
of wondering adoration; sometimes a dark-haired
woman, on whose mature beauty "the sun has
looked,"* bending her eyes in benign pity on this
sublunar sphere. Of the pictures of the first kind,
one painted for the Capuchin convent, and now in
the Museum of Seville, and another in the Koyal
CH. XIL
Murillo'H
treatment
of the Con-
ception.
^ Canticles L 6.
I078 REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XII.
Gallery at Madrid,^ are perhaps the finest. For
these» in which the features are identical, the painter-s
daughter^ is traditionally said to haire served him
as a model. Seville also possesses the finest example
of his leBS orthodox Virgin of the Conception,
in the magnificent colossal picture in the Museum,
hanging where the high*altar formerly stood in
the convent-church. This work, painted for the
Franciscan convent, is said to have been condemned
by the friars, who saw it before it was raised to
its proper position, as an unfinished daub,^ a
hasty judgment like that passed by the stupid
canons of Courtray on Vandyck's "Elevation of
the Cross." * All, however, breathe the same senti-
ment of purity, and express; so far as lies within
the compass of the painter's art, that high and
perfect nature, "spotless without, and innocent
within," ascribed by the religion of the south to
the Mother of the Redeemer. Nurtured in this
graceful and attractive belief, and perhaps kneel-
ing daily before some of these creations in which
MuriUo has so finely embodied it, well might Sister
1- Catdlogo [1843], No. 219 [edition 1889, No. 878].
» Supra, p. 1059.
• Quilliet, Dictionnaire des Peintres Espagnoles, p. 99, note *•*•, tellr
this story of the Conception in the Cathedral chapter-room, p. 852; I
give it as I heard it at Seville.
^ Descamps, Peintres FlamandSj Jtc, torn. ii. p. 14.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1079
Ines de la Cruz/ the cloistered swan of Mexico,
exclaim in her passionate verse —
"Quien la v^ de Dios Madre que no discurra
Qae de quien la Luz nace, nunca fa^ obscura ?.
Qaien la mira en su boHo que no conozca
Que nunca fue pechera tan gran Senora ?"'
Think'st thou the Saviour's mother was ever aught but bright,
That darkness e'er polluted the fount of living light?
Her queenly throne in heaven, and' her beauty canst thou see,
Yet deem our glorious Lady a child of sin like thee ?
The celestial attendants of the Virgins of Murillo
are amongst the loveliest cherubs that ever bloomed
on canvas. Like Cambiaso,' he permitted no diffi-
culty of attitude or foreshortening to deter his facile
and triumphant pencil. Hovering in the sunny air,
reposing on clouds, or sporting amongst their silvery
folds, these ministering shapes give life and move-
ment to the picture, and relieve the Virgin's statue-
Uke repose. Some of them bear the large white
CH. XII.
^ A Mexican nun, who flourished towards the end of the seventeenth cen*
tury, and was authoress of an allegorical drama, called El Divino Nardso,
the name under which she introduced the spiritual Bridegroom of the
GospeL The third edition of her works is entitled Foenuxs de la unica
poetisa Americana^ Musa dezima'Soror Juana InM de la Ortiz; sacolas
a lu2 Don Juan Camaeho Gayna, Caff* de Santiago, 4to, Barcelona, 1691.
* PoemaSf p. 328. From the third of a series of " Villancicoa " (a kind
of hymn), sung in the Cathedral of Pnebla de los Angeles, at the feast of
the Conception, 1689. In defence of the Virgin's sinless nature many
reasons are adduced, one of the most curious of which, at least as regards
the way of stating it, is because
*' Era pundonor de Dios ennoblecer su fomilia " (p. 329).
* Supra, chap. iv. p. 239.
io8o
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XII.
Murillo's
"Virgin
and Child."
lilies, the symbols of her mysterious maternity;^
others, roses, sprays of olive, and palm-boughs, like
those which are still annually blessed in the churches,
and hung as charms on balconies and portals. Some-
times, but more rarely, one of the band holds a small
mirror, and another, a sceptre and a crown. All
these details, finished with exquisite beauty, show
the perfect skill of Murillo, and that the hand which
could so well delineate the mother of God, was
likewise
*^ in pratis studiosa florum, ct
Debits Nymphis opifex coronsB." *
In loftiness of character the Virgin of the Con-
ception is generally superior to the other Virgins of
Murillo. In his pictures of the " Mother and Child,"
of which those in the Corsini palace at Rome, and
the Royal Gallery at Madrid,* are the finest ex-
amples, the sinless Mary is commonly represented
as a dark-haired comely peasant dame, with the
ripened cheek and the soft repose of feature that
belongs to southern beauty, embracing her first-bom
darling with an expression of modest maternal con-
tent. So, also, in his delightful " Holy Family," in the
^ It was belieyed in the Middle Ages that eating the common lily
would make a woman pregnant See Mr. Ford's leanied and coriouB
essay on Spanish genealogy and heraldry, Quarterly RevieWy June 1838,
vol. Ixii. p. 130.
" Horat.p Car.^ lib. iii, ode xxviL 1. 29-3a
* Caidlogo [1843], No. 271 [edition 1889* No. 862].
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1081
Queen of Spain's collection, known as el Pajarito,
from the little bird which the Infant Saviour holds
aloft to arouse the attention of a small white dog, or
in that other, in the chapel at Belvoir Castle, the
countenance of the Virgin-mother betrays no con-
sciousness of the grandeur of her destiny. Except
in works whereof the purpose was to set forth the
mystery of her maternity, his desire seems to have
been to present her to the eyes of the faithful, not
arrayed in the glories with which fifteen centuries
have invested her, but as she may have lived and
moved in the humble home of the carpenter, and
the simple world of Nazareth.
The " Education of the Virgin, by her mother St.
Anne," is a passage in her history which Murillo has
delineated with singular grace, and which deserves
notice as a subject, of high popularity, yet of re-
cent origin, in Spanish art. According to Pacheco,
the germ of the idea was to be found in a carving in
the church of La Magdalena at Seville, where, about
161 2, a modem artist had placed a figure of the
youthful Virgin reading, beside an ancient sculpture
representing the venerable spouse of St. Joachim.
The hint was improved by Roelas, who painted for
the convent of Mercy a picture of the mother and
daughter, wherein the latter, in a rose-coloured
tunic, a blue starry mantle, and an imperial crown,
knelt at the knees of the former, and read from the
CH. xiu
The Virgin
leaming to
read.
VOL. ni.
io82
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XII. pages of a missal. Pacheco, after weighing both
sides of the question with his usual gravity, con-
demns this painting, and quoting St. Epiphanius,
asserts that the Virgin, being placed in the Temple
in her third year, must have owed her knowledge
of letters to the agency of the Holy Spirit.^ Never-
theless, the subject being attractive, if not orthodox,
daily grew in favour with painters, priests, and de-
votees. Murillo's picture, formerly in the chapel-
royal at St. Ildefonso, is now in the Queen of Spain's
gallery at Madrid.* As in the composition of the
canon of Olivares, the Virgin kneels by the side of
St. Anne, resting the book on her knees, and listen-
ing with affectionate attention to the discourse of
the good dame ; but the gorgeous attire is entirely
discarded, and the only ornament of the fair learner
is a white rose placed amongst her luxuriant golden
tresses. The head of St. Anne, with its becoming
drapery, is very noble ; and both mother and child
are evidently portraits executed with elaborate care,
perhaps of Dofia Beatriz and the young Francisca,
the wife and daughter of Murillo.'
As a painter of children, Murillo is the Titian
1 Pacheco, pp. 488-91. His view of the subject is taken by Inteiiau de
Ayala, Pietor Christianus Eruditus, p. 324.
> Catdlogo [1843], No. 310 [edition 1889, Na 872]. The original sketch
hangs in the same room, No. 214 [edition 1889, No. 873].
' Mr. Swinburne, who saw it at San Ildefonso, remarks that ** the girl
is the very picture of my little Patty." Courts of Europe cU the Clast
oftheLcut Century, 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1841, yoL i p. 105.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV,
1083
or Bubens of Spain. He appears to have studied
them with peculiar delight, noting their ways and
their graces in the unconscious models so abun-
dantly supplied by the jocund poverty of Andalusia.
Amongst the bright-eyed nut-brown boys and girls
of the Feria, he found subjects far better fitted
for his canvas than the pale Infants and Infantas
who engrossed the accurate pencil of Velazquez.
In pictorial e£fect, the velvet doublet and hose,
the satin fiounces and fardingales of the court
must yield precedence to the picturesque rags of
the market-place. These sketches from common
life are worked up by Murillo in his religious
pictures with consummate skill, and with a re-
finement that detracts nothing from the reality of
nature. Of this the "St John fondling a lamb,"
now in our National Gallery,^ and the "Good
Shepherd," a lovely auburn-haired boy, looking
to heaven with holy rapture, now in the posses-
sion of the Baroness de Rothschild,* may be
cited as charming examples. These pictures were
once companion gems in the Palais du Lassay,
and afterwards in the collections of Presle and
Eobit, and at the sale of the latter, in 1801, they
were acquired by the late Sir Simon Clarke.* His
* [CatcUoffuey 1889, No. 176].
' At Gnnnersbury, Middlesex [now Baron RothschUd].
' Bachanan, Memoirs of Painting, voL ii. p. 70. Sir S. Clarke paid
4,000 guineas for the two. At his sale, the " St John " brought 2,000, and
OH. ZIL
Christ and
St. John as
children.
io84
REIGN OF PHILIP IV,
CH. xn.
Virgin and
St. Ber-
nurd.
gallery being dispersed in May 1840, they were,
unhappily, separated. The Earls of Lovelace and
Wemyss possess a fine repetition, the first of the '' St.
John," * and the second of the ** Oood Shepherd." *
In the Boyal Gallery at Madrid, there is a beautiful
picture by Murillo of the Baptist and the Saviour,
in which the latter holds a shell of water to the
lips of the former, and which is therefore known
in Spain as los Ninos de la Concha^ the " Children
of the Shell." ' His studies of Christ and St. John,
generally with lambs by their sides,* are of very
frequent occurrence. At Seville, where it is an
Easter custom for each family to purchase a lamb
for the holiday feast, many a dark-«yed urchin,
playing in the sunshine with his Paschal pet,
attracts the eye of the lover of art, as the type and
representative of the children painted by Murillo.*
Of Murillo's larger religious compositions, a few
still remain to be noticed. "The Blessed Virgin
the " Good Shepherd " 3,900 gaineas. Mrs. Jameson, Handbook for the
Public Galleriei, p. 162.
^ At Ockham [East Horsley Towers, Leatherhead], Surrey.
* At Goeford Honse, East Lothian.
* Catdlogo [1843], Na 202 [edition 18S9, No. 866].
* Ihid., Nos. 46 and 50, [Catdlogo 1889, Nos. 864-5I are amongst the
host of these.
* Since this sentence was printed, I haye met with a similar remark
in a recent work hy a lively and pleasing lady-tourist, who does not permit
her name to emhellish her title-page : Journal of a Few Months* Besidenee
in PortugcU, and Glimpses of the South of Spain^ 2 vols. i2mo, London,
1847, YoL ii. pp. 104-128. See^also Handbook [1845], P* ^77 [3^ edition
1855, p. 205].
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1085
appearing to St Bernard/' in the Queen of Spain's
gallery,^ is a remarkable example of his skill in
treating with dignity and propriety a subject which,
in many hands, might have suggested opposite
ideas. The great Abbot of Clairvaux, seated
amongst his books, and with a jar of lilies on the
table, as an emblem of his devotion to Our Lady,
is surprised by a visit from that celestial personage.
As the white-robed saint kneels before her in
profound adoration, she bares her beautiful bosom,
and causes a stream of milk to fall from thence
upon the lips of her votary, which were from that
time forth endowed with a sweet persuasive elo-
quence that no rival could gainsay, no audience
resist.* Above and around the heavenly stranger,
cherubs disport themselves in a flood of glory ; and
on the ground lie the Abbot's crosier and some
folios bound in pliant parchment, like those which
once filled the conventual libraries in Spain, and
which Murillo has so often introduced into his
pictures. This noble work, remarkable for the
beauty of the Virgin, has been engraved by
Muntaner.
The same collection boasts another fine picture
by Murillo, on a similar subject, St. Ildefonso re-
ceiving the miraculous chasuble from the hands of
1 Catdlogo [1843]. No. 315 [edition 1889, No. 868].
* Villegaa, Flos Sanctorum, p. 403«
CH. XII.
Virgin ftnd
Stlldo-
foDao.
ioS6
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XII.
Legend of
theCbftr
suble.
Our Lady.^ This event is the proudest passage in
the history of imperial Toledo.' The holy arch-
bishop, says the legend, having written with great
unction in defence of the spotless virginity of the
mother of God, was entering his Cathedral at the
head of a midnight procession, when he perceived a
great blaze of light around the high-altar. He alone
of all the clergy venturing to approach it, found the
Virgin herself seated on his ivory throne, and sur-
rounded by a multitude of angels chanting a solemn
service from the Psalter. Bowing himself to the
ground, he heard himself thus addressed by his
heavenly visitor : " Come hither, most faithful ser-
vant of God, and receive this robe which I have
brought thee from the treasury of my Son." He
obeyed her orders, and as he knelt before her, she
threw over him a chasuble of heavenly tissue, which
was adjusted upon his shoulders by a band of angelic
choristers. From that night the ivory chair remained
unoccupied, and the celestial vestment unworn, by
any prelate, until the days of the presumptuous
Archbishop Sisiberto, who died in consequence of
1 Catdlogo [1843], No. 326 [edition 1889, No. 869].
* Yillegas, Floi Sanetorwnt p. 65a Antonio Qaintanadnellas, Santos
de la imperial ciudad de Toledo, foL Madrid, 165 1, p. 473. Lozano, Los
Reyes Nuevos de Toledo, pp. 65-75. A whole Yolnme has been written
on this subject alone, entitled, Libro de la Descension de Nuestra Seiiora
d la Santa Iglesia de Toledo, y vida de S, Ilde/onso Arfobispo delkiy per
el P. Francisco Portocarrero de la Gompania de Jesus ; 4to» Madrid, 1616.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV,
1087
sitting in the one, and putting on the other.
Murillo has represented the Virgin and two angels
about to invest the kneeling saint with the splendid
chasuble. Other angels stand or hover around, and
above; and behind the prelate there kneels, with
less historical correctness, a venerable nun bearing
in her hand a waxen taper. The Virgin, and the
angel on her left hand, are lovely conceptions ; and
the richly-embroidered chasuble is painted with all
the careful brilliancy of Sanchez Coello or Pantoja
de la Cruz. The reputation of this picture has been
extended by the excellent graver of Fernando Selma.
Murillo's picture of Rebekah and Abraham's
steward at the well, likewise in the Queen of Spain's
gallery,^ is one of the most delightful ever painted
on that favourite subject. It is a composition of six
or seven figures, about half the size of life. The
pilgrim, whose camels and servants appear in the
distance, is quenching his thirst from the pitcher of
Rebekah ; and that courteous damsel and her com-
panions, bathed in the golden light of a southern
sunset, form just such a group as may still be seen
gathered round a village fountain in Andalusia. It
is worth remarking, that the face of Rebekah fre-
quently occurs in the pictures of Murillo. He has
bestowed it on the Virgin of the Corsini palace at
CH. XII.
Rebekah at
the Well.
[Catdlogo 1889, No. 885].
io88
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XII.
Pictures of
low life.
Rome,^ on th« forgetful mother in the great picture
of MoseS)' and almost invariably on one of the sister
patronesses of Seville, S*^ Bufina and S**- Justa.
In England, and indeed generally on this side
the Pyrenees, Murillo seems to have at first become
known to fame as a painter of subjects of vulgar
life, of ragged boys devouring fruit, playing at
chuck-farthing, or ridding each other's heads of
the pediculose population. Fainted with his usual
technical skill, and with a genial sense of humour,
his works of this kind alone would entitle him to
a considerable reputation. Amongst these deserve
notice, the picture in the Louvre * representing a
ragged urchin hunting on his own person for the
" small deer " of dirt and poverty, and perhaps iden-
tical with that which was once famous in the palace
o£ Madrid umder the name of M PiojosOy the four ex-
cellent studies of boys, in the Pinacothek at Munich,*
and the charming flower-girl at Dulwich College.*
^ This is irrong. Rebekah is not the Corsini Virgin, bnt the Gonini
Vitgin occois amongst her attendant maidens. She and the Corsini Lady
are S**- Rufina and S^»- Justa.
* Sapra, p. 102 1.
' In the Long GaUery, l^les d'ltalie, Na 113a [CatcUognt 18S9,
No. 547.]
* Verzeichniss, Nos. 354, 363, 375, 376, 383. A fine repetition of the
first, "Boys eating Fruit,*' is in the collection of John Balfonr, Esq., at
Balbimie, Fifeshire. [Nos. 1305-8. Notes on the Principal Pictures in
the Old Pinakothek at Munich^ by Charles L. Eastlake, 8yo, London,
1884, pp. 148-50.]
* Catalogue [1880], No. 248. Mrs. Jameson, Public Galleries, p. 483.
From the cabinet of M. Randon de Boissy it was bought for 900 loais, by
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1089
Murillo's portraits, though few in number, are of
great beauty and value. Those of Herrera, Talaban,
Neve, and himself already noticed,^ show to what
excellent purpose he had studied in the school of
the great master of portraiture. For his friends,
the Franciscans of Seville, he painted a full-length
picture of the Archbishop Pedro de Urbina, a
brother and benefactor of the convent, and buried,
by his own desire, within its walls, in 1663.* This
picture was much injured in its removal by the
French. In the Cathedral, the sacristy of the
chalices has an excellent head, which he must have
painted from some earlier portrait of the venerable
M. de Calonne, at whose sale, in 1795, it was purchased by Mr. Desenfans
for ;f 672. The canyas has been pieced in several places ; it has been
engraved by Robinson. [See Curtis, Velazquez and ifurillo, M. No. 426,
pp. 281-2, and CatcUogtte of the Pictures in DuluHch College Gallery, by
Br. Richter and John C. L. Sparkes, 8to, London, 1880, pp. 99-100, in both
of which the history of the picture is given in detail. It has been etched
by M. Rajon, lor The Fort/olio.] The late John Procter Anderdon, Esq.,
of Farley Hall, Berks, possessed a large picture ascribed to Murillo, and
representiog an old woman eating porridge, and turning round to chide
a laughing urchin behind her. Mr. Davies, Life of Murillo, pp. Ixxxv.
97, mentions it with qualified praise, informing us that he had seen it at
Cadiz, in the collection of Don Manuel de Leyra, and that he was told
that it was the picture praised by Ponz, torn, xviii. p. 21, in the gallery
of Don Sebastian Martinez. The stoiy is repeated in the Art Union,
December 1846, vol. viii. p. 327. The design indeed agrees with the
description, but the execution is wholly unworthy of the eulogium of
Ponz, who asserts that it \b equal, if not superior, to some fine works of
the same kind by Velazquez. It is a coarse, harsh picture, possibly a
copy substituted by the Spanish dealers for the original, neither credit-
able to Murillo, nor worth the price, £202, 13s., for which it was sold by
Messrs. Christie & Manson» at Mr. Anderdon's sale, on the 15th May
1847, I believe to the late Duke of Wellington.
^ Supra, p. 105 1. * Ortiz de Zufiiga, Annales de Sevilla, p. 773.
1090
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. xiL mother Francisca Dorotea de Villalda, founder and
abbess of the Dominican nunnery of Nuestra Se&ora
de los Reyes ;^ a pale saintly lady kissing a crucifix,
and recalling, with her grey eye and "ypinched
wimple," Chaucer's good prioresse, in whom "all
was conscience and tendre herte." * To the same
class of pictures belong those of St. Ferdinand, in the
National Museum at Madrid, and in the Cathedral
library at Seville, of which the latter seems to have
been engraved by Arteaga, for La Torre Farfan's
volume.' In the collection of Don Julian Williams,
at Seville, there is, or was, a portrait by Murillo of
the good Miguel Mafiara. The Louvre has a fall-
length picture, painted in a forcible Velazquez-like
style, of a certain Don Andres de Andrade,* a per-
sonage chiefly remarkable for his prodigious crop of
coal-black hair and his bad legs, and attended by
a white mastiff yet uglier than himself. The old
woman, in the same gallery, known as the mother
of Murillo,^ and that other, bearing a pestle and
1 Ortiz de Znfiiga^ AnnaUs de Sevilla, p. 609. Her epitaph will be
found at p. 638^
' Prologue to the Canterbury TcUes, ▼. 15a
' Sapra, p. 1003, note i, and p. 1070, note 2.
* GaL Esp., No. 182. [Sold, 1853. to Thomas Baring, Esq., and now in
the poBsesBion of the Eafl of Northbrook. British Institution, 1S53 ;
Royal Academy, 1870.]
* Collection Standish, No. 122. The authenticity of the name is ^es-
tionable, as the portrait bears the date 1673. Maria Perez; according to
Cean Bermndez, was already dead in 1642, p. 831. It may, however,
have been painted from an earlier sketch, or from recollection. [Sta ndi a h
•ale, 1853, No. 231.]
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 1091
mortar, and called his servant,* perhaps Anna de ch. xn .
Salcedo, mentioned in his will,* are likewise works
which bear the stamp of truth in every wrinkle and
pucker of their time-worn faces. Mr. Sanderson^
has a fine portrait of a lovely woman, with long
auburn tresses and a loose white robe, who has
been called, on dubious authority, the painter's
mistress, a title which has perhaps often been be-
stowed on a very vestal, in order to lend a romantic
interest to a picture. At Madrid, the Royal Gallery
possesses two of his most brilliant and effective
studies of individual character; an ancient dame,
plying her distaff,* the very crone that you find in
every group of " knitters " in the sun or round the
posada fire ; and a nut-brown gipsy sibyl,* with a
white drapery thrown across her bosom, and wound
turban-wise round her head, who, wheedling you to
submit your palm to her inspection, smiles with all
the force of her pearly teeth and wild bright eyes.
Lord Heytesbury has a fine work of Murillo, for-
merly an heirloom in the ducal house of Almodovar.®
' Gal. Esp., No. 180. [Louis-Philippe sale, 1853, No. 326.]
' Supra, p. 106 1, note.
* At No. 46 Belgraye Square. [Sold in 1848, when it was acquired by
the author. It is now at Keir.]
« Catdlogo [1843], No. 324 [edition 1889, No. 892].
» Ibid. [1843], No. 313 [edition 1889, No. 893].
* The last Count in the direet line leaving only three daughters, the
succession was divided, and all restraints being removed by the new
constitution, the picture was bought, in 1823, by his lordship, then Sir
1092
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XII.
Well known at Madrid as las GallegaSj the Galician
women, it has been tolerably engraved by Ballester.^
It represents two women at a window, one still in the
bloom of her teens, and leaning on the sill, the other
declining into the " sere and yellow leaf" and half
concealed by a shutter. These fair Galicians, says
the tradition, were famous amancehadas^ of Seville ;
and the gallants who were lured to their dwelling
by the beauty of the younger frail one, frequently
became victims of that sort of deception which made
William A'Court, and BritlBh minister in Spain. It Ib now at Heytes-
bnry House, Wilts [British Institution, 1828, 1864].
* The plate bears the inscription, ** Quadro original de Bartohn^
Murillo que posee el Exc?^ S<^- Duque de Almodovar."
* Dunlop's Memoirs 0/ Spain, voL iL p. 384.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1093
the shepherd-patriarcli the unwilling husband of the
elder daughter of his maternal uncle.^ A repetition
of the picture is in the collection of Mr. Munro.*
As a painter of landscapes, Murillo has been
excelled by no Spaniard, excepting only Velazquez.
Diffident at first of his own abilities in this branch
of art, when he was employed by the Marquess of
Villamanrique, says Palomino,' to paint a series of
pictures on the life of King David, he applied to
Ignacio Iriarte to execute the backgrounds. That
painter, however, insisting that the figures should be
executed before the landscapes, while Murillo re-
quired that the landscapes should first be provided
to receive the figures, the latter determined to
undertake the whole himself. Taking the history
of Jacob instead of that of David, he accordingly
executed five large pictures, which were carried
to Madrid, and eventually were made heirlooms in
the family of the Marquess of Santiago** Dispersed
1 Gen. zxix. 25.
* [Now of Mr. Munro-Fergnson.] At Kovar, Ross-shire.
' Palomino, torn. iii. p. 627.
^ The Marquessate of Villanianriqne merged not in that of Santiago
bat in that of Astoiga, and these pictures,, had they been painted for
Villamanrique, would, probably, also have become the inheritance of the
great house of Osorio. It is most probable that they were originally
painted for the Marquess of Santiago, whose family name, being Man-
rique, may have misled Palomino. See Bemi, Los Titulos de CastillOf
foL, Madrid, 1769, pp. 235, 352. Cumberland saw them at Madrid, in
the Santiago palace, <'in the possession of a family which, by the pre-
caution of an absolute entail, has guarded against any future possibility
of alienation ! " Anecdotes, vol. L p. 125.
CH. XII.
Land-
icapes.
X094
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. xiL during the war of independence, two of these works,
** Jacob receiving the Blessing of Isaac," and " Jacob's
Dream,'' have found their way into the Imperial
Gallery at St. Petersburg.^ Another, ** Jacob placing
the Peeled Wands before the Flocks of Laban," a
magnificent picture, is in the possession of Lord
Northwick,' and a fourth, *' Laban seeking for his
gods in the Tent of Rachel," adorns the collection of
the Marquess of Westminster.* The latter is a large
composition in which Rachel, seated at her tent-door,
is the principal figure ; on one side are seen her
husband and father in high debate, and on the other,
the 'tender-eyed" Leah with the handmaids and
children. The backgroxmd is a cool grey landscape,
a broad valley bounded by hills, and covered with
the flocks and herds of the patriarch in their
different divisions. Although composed and painted
with great care and skill, this picture is filled
with coarse faces and forms, as if Murillo, contem-
ning the pastoral poets and all their fables, had
resolved to depict shepherd-life as it actually existed
in the wilds of Estremadura. The late Marquess
Aguado possessed several smaller works of Murillo,
illustrating the history of Jacob, three of which,
* Livret, ealle xli, Nos. 35 and 15, pp. 411, 405 [Catalogue 18S7, Nos.
359, 360, p. 127].
* At Thirlestane House, Cheltenham. [Sold July 26, 1859, No. 456; now
in the collection of Sir John Hardy, Bart, Danstall Hall, Staffordshire.]
* At Grosvenor House, Loudon.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1095
his dream, his wrestling with the angel, and his ch. xil
servitude with Laban, have been engraved by
Pannier and Kemot. In these the patriarch is
attired in the doublet, breeches, and hat that might
have been worn by any contemporary herdsman in
the marshes of the Guadalquivir. The Aguado col-
lection likewise contained many other landscapes
by MuriUo, more than were probably ever before
found under one roof. At Madrid, the Royal Gallery
has but one specimen, a lake vnth buildings,^ which
will not, however, bear comparison with the bril-
liant studies made by Velazquez at Aranjuez and in
Italy. The landscapes of Murillo, though graceful
in design, are generally pale and grey, and want
richness and vivacity of tone. The golden simlight
in which he loved to steep his religious composi-
tions, seldom glows upon his hills, or sparkles upon
his waters.
The drawings of Spanish masters are, in general, Drawings,
extremely rare, apparently because, in the absence of
engravings and other models, they were passed from
hand to hand in the schools until they fell to rags.
The only considerable collection of the sketches of
Murillo, of which any account has been preserved,
was that possessed by the Count of Aguila, in a
-book of drawings which, after his death, fell into
Catdhgo [1843], No. 288 [edition 1889, No. 899].
1096
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XII. the hands of Don Julian Williams. Twenty-two of
these are now in the Louvre.^ For the most part
of small size, and neatly j&nished, they are chiefly
executed in pen and ink, and washed oyer with a
solution of Spanish liquorice.* Mr. Ford* possesses
three excerpts from the precious Aguila volume.
One is an excellent sketch of "St. John and the
Lamb;" another a "Crucifixion," executed with
great care and effect, in coloured chalks, which is
probably the largest and most beautiful drawing
of Murillo now in existence. The third is a fine
impression of the rare etching, representing St
Francis adoring a cross, and about 3 inches high by
2^ wide, the single known specimen of Murillo's
Etching. skill as an engraver. It bears no signature or
monogram, nor was it usual with the artist to sign
his works; therefore the mark [iR^ which some
writers on the history of engraving have supposed
to belong to Murillo,* must remain of questionable
authenticity. Cean Bermudez possessed a pen and
ink drawing by Murillo, apparently made at Cadiz,
and signed with his name, which contained twelve
1 Collection Standish, Nos. 426-447. [Sold 1853].
* The facetious writer in Punch, vol. vi p. 200, who speaks of certain
sketches in the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1844, as " drawings in
stick-liquorice," probably little thought that that material was actually
employed by Murillo, a fact of which I am informed by the author of the
Handbook, on the authority of Don Julian Williams.
■ At Hevitre, Devon.
^ BruUiot, Dictionnaire des Monofframmes, part L p. 112.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV,
1097
studies of ships cleverly sketched from different
points of view.
In Murillo the artistic genius of Andalusia
blossomed into fiill beauty and perfection, as did
that of Castile in Velazquez. The ablest of their
successors are those who most closely followed in
their tracks, and reflected in their works the
greatest portion of their light. These great men
acquired their wonderful skill by the same means,
the close and earnest study of nature. The skill
so acquired, however, was applied by each to a
different purpose, and in each became modified
by the different circumstances of their lives. The
principal business of the court-painter being to
pourtray princes and grandees, to represent " the
tenth transmitter of a foolish face" to the best
advantage, judgment was the faculty which he
was forced most constantly to exercise. The
painter of the Church, who lived by the composi-
tion of altar-pieces, and in continual study of the
histories of the Virgin and St Francis, might
choose his models at will from the flower of
Sevillian beauty, and therefore had a greater scope
for the cultivation of his imaginative powers.
The one, living amongst connoisseurs in art,
and enjoying leisure and a fixed salary, was
obliged and was able to bestow much care upon
the execution of his works. The other, executing
CH. XII.
Murillo
compared
withVelas-
quec.
YOIm III.
1098
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CBL XII.
Opinion of
Wilkia.
large commissions for churches and convents,
had less time to give to the elaboration of details,
and, knowing that he was painting for ignorant
monks, was satisfied with less technical excellence.
The court-painter, whose pictures were the orna-
ments of palaces, has been less exposed to have
clumsy forgeries fathered upon him than the pro-
vincial artist whose works were scattered far and
wide amongst the convents of Andalusia. There
can be no doubt but that the example of Velaz-
quez had a great influence on the mind of
Murillo. But he admired without imitating him,
as he admired without imitating Campana.^ ** Their
styles," says Sir David Wilkie, " are so diflferent
and opposite, that the most unlearned can scarcely
mistake them ; Murillo being all softness, while
Velazquez is all sparkle and vivacity." * How well
Murillo, however, could imitate when he pleased,
may be seen in the portrait of Andrade, in the
Louvre,* which might be taken for the work of
Velazquez. His picture of St. James, in the Koyal
Gallery at Madrid,* an obvious imitation of the
style of Eubens, might pass for a production of
the Fleming, painted from the olla-prepared palette
of the Spaniard. It is Bubens translated into
^ Supra, p. 1055. • Z(/3j, toL iL p. 47a.
' Supra, p. 109a ^ Catdlogo [1S43], No. 189 [edition 1889, No. 865].
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1099
Spanish, and preserving much more of the spirit
of the original than he himself preserved in his
Flemish translations from Titian.^ Wilkie, in
comparing Velazquez and Murillo, indicates the
peculiar merits of each, without awarding the
palm to either. "Velazquez," says he, "has more
intellect and expression, more to surprise and cap-
tivate the artist.* Murillo has less power, but a
higher aim in colouring;' in his flesh he has an
object distinct from most of his contemporaries, and
seems, like Rembrandt, to aim at the general char-
acter of flesh when tinged with the light of the sun.
His colour seems adapted for the highest class of
art ; it is never minute or particular, but a general
and poetical recollection of nature.^ For female
and infantine beauty, he is the Correggio of Spain.^
Velazquez, by his high technical excellence, is the
delight of all artists ; Murillo, adapting the higher
subjects of art to the commonest understanding,
seems, of all painters, the most universal favourite." ^
In Andalusia Murillo holds a place in the affec-
tions of the people hardly lower than Cervantes.
Like Correggio at Parma, and like Rubens at
Antwerp, he is still the pride and idol of Seville.
When the great drama of Comeille was yet in the
^ Supra, chap. yiiL p. 63S.
» Life of Sir D, WUkie, voL ii p. 472.
« Ibid. p. 487. ' Ibid. p. 528.
» Ibid. p. 475.
• Ibid. pp. 475, 487.
CH. XII.
Murillo at
SoYille.
IIOO
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. xn. moming of its glory, it became a common expre^
don of piaise in France to say of anything admir-
able, that it was ^ beau camme le Cid" ^ In Castile,
when the most fertile and versatile of writers was
daily astonishing the literary world with some new
masterpiece, the word Lope came to be used in
common speech as synonymous with excellent* The
metaphor, in the course of time, has fallen into
desuetude in spoken French, and the epithet has
become obsolete in the Castilian. But at Seville,
to this day, they call any picture of extraordinary
merit, a Murillo; not that it may pass for one of
his works, but to express its beauty in a word which
suggests beauty more vividly than any other in that
copious language.^ Seville owes a monument to
her great painter, whose modest grave has been
desecrated by the fiiry of the French. Should the
proposed statue ^ ever be erected, may the glorioas
subject call forth the genius of some new Montafies
or Cano ! Meanwhile his works in the Cathedral,
and at the hospital of Charity, are noble and
sufficient memorials of that fame which has been
ratified by the common voice of Europe.
Sebastian Gomez, the mulatto-slave of Murillo, is
^ Fontenelle, in the life prefixed to the (Euvres de P. Corneillet la
tomes 8to, Paris, 182 1, torn, i p. 13.
' Holland's Life of Lope de Vegc^ p. 85.
» Life of Sir D, WHkie, vol. ii p. 516.
^ Supra, chap. L p. 67.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV, iroi
said to have become enamoured of art while per- ch. xn.
forming the menial offices of his master's studio. Sebaatun
^ Gomes.
Like Erigonus, the colour-grinder of Nealces, im-
mortalised by the Vasari of the ancients,^ or like
Pareja, the mulatto of Velazquez,* he devoted his
leisure to the secret study of the principles of
drawing, and in time acquired a skill with the
brush rivalled by few of the regular scholars of
Murillo. There is a tradition at Seville, that he
took the opportunity one day of giving the jfirst
proof of his abilities when the painting-room was
empty, by finishing the head of a Virgin, which
stood ready sketched on the master's easel. Pleased
with the beauty of this unlooked-for and Puck-
like interpolation, Murillo, when he discovered the
author of it, immediately promoted Gomez to the
use of the colours which it had hitherto been his
task to grind. *' I am indeed fortunate, Sebastian,''
said he, " for I have created not only pictures but a
painter." * For the church of the Friars of Mercy, work».
Gomez painted a picture of Christ at the column,
with St. Peter kneeling at His feet, and for the
Capuchins, pictures of St. Anne and St. Joseph.
The Museum at Seville possesses the latter of these,
^ "ErigonuB, tritor colomm Nealc» pictoris in tantum ipse profecit,
at celebrem etiam discipnlnm reliquerit Pasiam." — Plin., Nat. EibU,
lib. XXXV., c 36, voL ix. p. 534.
* Sapra, chap. x. p. 847.
' SemUa FirUare$ca, p. 381.
II03
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XIL
Jnaade
ZuDora.
Henrique
delas
Merinae.
or another work on the same subject; and like-
wise a more important specimen of the powers of
Gromez in the picture of the Vii^n appearing to St
Dominic. Faulty in composition, his works have
much of the rich harmonious colouring which be-
long to those of his master. He survived Murillo
only a short time, dying at Seville in 1682.
Juan de Zamora was living at Seville, near the
monastery of San Basilic, in 1647, and was dis-
tinguished as a painter of landscapes in the Flemish
style. The Cardinal-Archbishop Spinola employed
him to paint several pictures for the archiepiscopal
palace, representing the Creation, the Fall of Man,
and other passages of holy writ; of which Cean
Bermudez remarks, that although the figures were
not without merit, the landscape backgrounds were
the best parts. Zamora was a subscriber to the
Academy of Seville, and an attendant at its meet-
ings, from 1664 to i6yu
Henrique de las Marinas, bom at Cadiz in 1620,
became, from inclination and opportunity, so good a
marine painter that his family name has been merged
and forgotten in that which he derived from his
works. Sailors and painters, says Cean Bermudez,
were equally charmed by the skill and correctness
with which he delineated the shapes and riggings of
ships, and the soft shores and '' dark blue sea " of the
bay of Cadiz. His gains enabling him to travel, he
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1 103
went to Italy, and settled at Borne. There he for
some time practised his art with success, and died
in 1680.
Pedro de Medina Valbuena was a painter of some
note at Seville, about the middle of the seventeenth
century. The intimate friend of Murillo, he was one
of his most active associates in forming the Academy
of Seville ;^ and he was appointed, in 1661, the first
steward of that institution. In 1667 and 1671 he
filled the office of president, and in 1674 that of
consul ; facts which afford evidence that he enjoyed
the confidence and esteem of his fellow artists. The
chapter employed him in 1667-8 to repair Antonio
Florentines monument of the Holy Week,* and to
paint and gild the retablo of the Cathedral baptistery,
for which Murillo painted the great picture of St.
Anthony of Padua,® At the convent of St. Augus-
tine he likewise painted and gilded the high-altar,
and induced the friars to enrich it with the pictures
of his friend.* Being a dexterous painter in water-
colours, he executed in 1673-4 many flags for the
royal fleet of New Spain. The year of his death is
unknown.
Andres de Medina was a disciple of Juan del
Castillo at Seville, where he practised as a painter
CH. XII.
Pedro de
Medina
Valbuena.
Andres de
Medina.
* Supra, p. 1008.
* Supra, p. 1002.
* Ibid. chap, iii p. 124.
^ Ibid. p. 1052.
II04
REIGN OF PHILIP IV,
CH. XIL
Igpaeio de
Iriarte.
Marriages.
for many years. He drew correctly, says Cean
Bermndez, but his colouring was dry and hard. He
etched several sacred subjects; amongst others, in
1663, the image of Our Lady of the Mine, ''de la
Soterrana" revered in the church of St. Nicolas,
of which the original was revealed in 1392, by
the Virgin herseli^ to a shepherd, in the plains of
Ignacio de Iriarte was bom in 1620, at the inland
town of Azcoitia, in the province of Guipuzcoa, of
which his parents, Est^van de Iriarte and Magdalena
Zabala, were natives. Having gleaned some know-
ledge of painting at home, he came, in his twenty-
second year, to Seville, where he entered the school
of the elder Herrera. Under that choleric master he
became a proficient in the management of colours,
but he never learned to draw the human figure with
any spirit or correctness. He therefore devoted him-
self, with excellent judgment, to landscape painting,
a rarely-trodden path, in which he became the most
distinguished artist of Andalusia.
In 1646 he was residing at Aracena, a picturesque
town to the north-west of Seville, not far from the Por-
tuguese frontier, and pleasantly situated on the cool
^ This image vas likewise called Nuestia Sefiora de Nieva, from a
village near which it was found. Compendio HtsUfrieo en que se da naUda
de leu milagroscu, y devotas imagenes de la Beyna de delos y tierra Maria
santimma que se veneran en las mas celebres santuariae de EspaMa, por
Pad. Juan de Villafa&e, fol. Madrid, 1740, p. 364.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 1105
brow of the Sierra Morena. There he married Dofia
Francisca de Chaves ; and probably remained for a
while, studying the fine mountain scenery, and storing
his mind with images and his portfolio with sketches,
which he afterwards reproduced in his compositions.
Returning to Seville, he was soon left a widower,
a disconsolate state from which he extricated him-
self, without much delay, by marrying, in 1649, his
second wife, Dofia Maria Escobar. By the diligent
exercise of his pencil, he soon acquired considerable
reputation. An original member of the Academy of
Seville, he was appointed, in 1660, its first secretary, a
post which he again held from 1667 to 1669. He was
for many years the intimate friend and associate of
Murillo, who so highly admired his landscapes that
he was wont to say they were painted by divine
inspiration.^ Like Claude and Courtois, the two
artists frequently engaged in joint works, of which
MuriUo executed the figures and Iriarte the back-
grounds. This amicable partnership was at last un-
happily dissolved, in consequence of a dispute about
a series of pictures on the life of David ; in which
each artist insisted on doing his portion of the work
last.* Displeased with his friend's obstinacy, Murillo
finally resolved to dispense with his assistance
altogether, and accordingly painted the whole him-
1 Palomino, torn, iii p. 609. * Supra, p. 1093.
CBL XIL
Quarrel
with
Murillo.
iio6
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XII.
Worka.
self. Within the present century, the Santiago
collection at Madrid possessed a landscape, nearly
finished, by Iriarte, with figures, mostly sketched by
MuriUo, which was said to have remained untouched
from the time of the rupture,^ and which proves that
the Sevillian painter's demand was not always re-
sisted by the Biscayan. As Iriarte's name does not
appear in the records of the Academy of Seville after
1669, Cean Bermudez conjectures that his health
may have then declined, or that he may have
removed to some other part of Spain. Perhaps his
dispute with Murillo may have led to his withdrawal
from the institution, for he died in 1685, says Palo-
mino, at Seville.*
The works of Iriarte, though highly esteemed,
are of rare occurrence. The Eoyal Gallery at Madrid
possesses three of his best landscapes, with rocks
and water, and a few occasional figures.* In the
National Museum there is also a pleasing work, a
cataract dashing amongst brown crags and old trees,
with a meditating monk in the foreground, and a
range of blue mountains in the distance. The
Hermitage at St. Petersburg has a landscape with
cattle,* and the Louvre a composition on the subject
^ Qailliet, DicHonnaire des PetrUres Espagnolett p. 103, note **.
' Palomino, torn. iii. p. 610.
» Catdlogo [1843], N08. 515, 526, 532 [edition 1889, Nos. 745-8].
« Livret, salle xli No. 61, p. 417. [Cataloguet 1887, No. 388, p. 135]
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1107
of Jacob's dream.^ Sir Frederick Roe* possesses an
admirable specimen of smaller size, which formerly
belonged to Don Julian Williams. Its principal
feature is a ruined castle, embosomed in woods and
backed by grey hills ; in the foreground is a bank
covered with browsing shfeep, and a river broken
with a waterfall.
iriarte has been called the Spanish Claude Lor-
raine ; ^ but his style has a greater affinity to that
of Salvator Rosa,
the wilderness,
Like the Neapolitan, he haunts
CH. xn.
" Per xnezz' i bosclii inospite e selvaggi ; " ^
and he delights in depicting the headlong streams
and rugged glens of the Sierra Morena.'^ In one
respect, however, he resembled Claude, in his in-
capacity to design figures, which might, in general,
be expunged from his works without loss. He
sometimes painted fruit and flower-pieces, of which
two good examples adorn the gallery of the
Louvre.*
Cristobal Ferrado was bom at Anieva, a village
in the principality of Asturias, about 1620. His
CriBtobal JT
Ferrado. r
/
1 Gal. Esp., No. 121 [sold 1853]. « At 96 Piccadilly.
' Livret cU la Oal, Imp. de St Peterthvrg, p. 515.
^ Petrarca, son* cxliii.
' Widdrington, Spain and the Spaniards in 1843, toL i p. 205.
' GaL Esp., Na 122. Collection Standish, No. 106 [sold 1853].
iio8 REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. xii. parents were of honourable descent, and his brother
Agustin held the post of archpriest of the district.
Having determined to embrace the monastic pro-
fession, he took the Carthusian vows on the 2nd
of July 1 64 1, at the convent of S**- Maria de las
Cuevas, near SeviUe. There he applied himself to
the study of painting, in which he acquired con-
siderable skill, with the assistance perhaps of some
instruction from Zurbaran, the friend and guest of
the convent.* For one of the cloisters he painted
a picture of Michael the Archangel, and nine land-
scapes, with figures representing passages from the
lives of various Carthusian worthies. The great
cloister, the hospital, and the prior*s cell were like-
wise adorned with his works, representing Our Lord,
the Virgin, St. Jerome, and other sacred subjects.
Cean Bermudez found various entries in the con-
ventual books of sums disbursed for colours, pencils,
and canvas, for Father Cristobal, to whom he assigns
a respectable place amongst the artists of Andalusia.
His drawing was correct, and his composition skil-
ful ; and his colouring had considerable richness and
force. As a monk, he was a pattern of austerity
and devotion ; and martyred for many years by
the stone, he endured that painful disease with
exemplary patience. Being highly esteemed by
^ Supra, chap. xL p. 921.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1 109
his order, he was chosen procurator and rector of
the Chartreuse of Cazalla. It is possible, however,
that he never took possession of that post, for he
died within the walls of S**- Maria de las Cuevas,
on the 29th of April 1673.
Francisco de Herrera, the Younger, was the second
son of the surly and celebrated painter of the same
name.^ Bom at Seville in 1622, as he grew up in
his father's studio, he learned to imitate his style
with considerable success. But as he approached
man's estate, finding the paternal tutelage daily
more harsh and intolerable, he took occasion to
decamp with what money the house afforded, and
made his escape to Kome.* There he studied archi-
tecure and perspective, and painted "bodegones,"
especially fish, with so much effect, that he became
known amongst the artists as ^'il Spagnuolo degli
pesciJ' He bestowed little time or attention, how-
ever, on higher subjects, or on the great old models
of painting and sculpture ; nor did he aspire to be*
come anything better than a pleasing colourist.
When he received intelligence of the death of
his father, in 1656, he returned to Spain, and
established himself at Seville. For the Most Holy
Brotherhood of that city he soon afterwards painted
a large composition representing the four doctors
^ Supra, chap. viL p. 529.
• Ibid. p. 533.
OH. XIL
Franouoo
de Herrera,
el MoBO.
Flight to
Borne.
Return to
Senile.
IIIO
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XII.
RemoTal to
Madrid.
of the Church adoring the Host and the Immacu-
late Conception, which was placed in the Sagrario
of the Cathedral. He likewise executed for the
chapel of St. Francis, in the Cathedral, a picture of
that saint home to heaven hy angels. Of hoth these
works etchings were afterwards made hy Matias
Arteaga. The St. Francis, although wanting in
simplicity and repose, is one of the best produc-
tions of the artist He likewise painted portraits
with great success ; and Fsdomino speaks of one of
these, a Frenchman, in shooting costume, loading
his gun, as a "miracle of art."^ In January 1660
he was chosen second president of the Academy of
Seville, as the deputy or assistant of Murillo, but
his name was the first which was affixed to the deed
of incorporation.* He remained, however, but a
short time in the institution; caprice, or quarrel,
or change of residence, having led him to with-
draw himself before the month of November of
that year.
Jealousy of Murillo is supposed by Gean Ber-
mudez to have been the cause of Herrera's removal
to the capital. He settled at Madrid at the end of
1660, or early in 1661. The barefooted Carmelite
fiiars soon employed him to paint an altar-piece
for the high-altar of their church, on the legend of
1 Palommo, torn. iiL p. 610.
' Supra^ p. 1008, note 2.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
mi
St Hermenegild, the subject of his father's most cele-
brated work. Of this task he acquitted himself
much to the contentment of the Carmelites, and so
entirely to his own satisfaction, that he remarked
that the picture deserved to be carried to its destined
place to the sound of trumpets and drums. Succeed-
ing fathers, however, seem to have held it in less
esteem, for in the course of time it was removed
from the church to the staircase of the convent.
Herrera next painted some frescoes in the church
of San Felipe el Eeal, on the roof of the choir, which
were so highly admired, that his reputation reached
the Alcazar and the ear of the King. It being in
contemplation to paint the dome of the chapel of
Our Lady of Atocha, Philip IV. said to Sebastian
Herrera Bamuevo,^ that he had heard of a painter,
of his name, of ability sujficient for that work. The
friendly architect being willing to vouch for the
abilities of his namesake, the work was entrusted
to Herrera. He accordingly painted the Assump-
tion of the Blessed Virgin, with the Apostles
standing below, on the holiest roof of Madrid, the
roof which sheltered that celebrated image of Our
Lady—
" Morena, pero hennosa
Tan diyina 7 milagrosa
OH. XII.
^ Supra, chap. x. p. S65.
III2
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
ca xiL
Chosen
painter to
the King.
Que la atocha que pisaba
Convertid en lino y roea,** *
" Black bat comely," and endued
So by Him, who all disposes.
That the grass whereon she stood
Bloom'd with lilies and with roses, —
a venerable piece of statuary, carved, or at least
coloured and varnished, by St Luke himself.* This
fresco, being allowed to go to decay, was retouched
by Mufloz and Arredondo. Herrera likewise painted
some medallions and other ornaments in the presby-
tery of the church, which were afterwards altered
by Luca Giordano, by order of Charles IL
He was soon afterwards appointed painter to
Philip IV., a distinction which gained him much
patronage at court, and the honour of having one
of his pictures placed in the Admiral of Castile's
gallery of select works of the Spanish masters.* In
the next reign he received a key, as one of the
deputies of the Aposentador-mayor ; and in 1671,
he was appointed master of the royal works in the
room of Gaspar de Pefla. In the latter capacity he
^ Lope de Vega, Isidro de Madrid, canto Tiii. ; Obras, tom. zi p. 232.
Some say that the image was brought from AtUioeh, Antaquiat which the
vulgar changed into Atoeha " como parroquia en parrocha," p. 241 ; others
attribute the name to the bass-weed, cUocha, amongst which it was dis-
covered, after being hidden from the Moors by Garcia Ramirez.
' Villafafle, MUagrasas Imagenes, p. Sa Salas Barbadillo wrote a
poem in praise of this image, entitled La Patrona de Madrid restiiuida,
4to, Mad. 1609. See also Handbook [1S45], p. 773 [3rd edit, 1855, p. 711].
' Supra, chap. x. pp. S40, S41.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
"13
was sent to Zaragoza in 1677,^ ^ design and super-
intend the renovation of the Cathedral of the Pillar.
His plans were equally remarkable for the speed
with which they were prepared, and for the wretched
architectural taste which they displayed. During
his absence in Aragon the court-artists, Carreflo
and Filipin, being ordered to design a silver statue
of San Lorenzo for the Escorial, he chose to take
offence at their invasion of his province, and, on
returning to Madrid, revenged himself by writing a
lampoon. Nothwithstanding this saUy he was em-
ployed in 1680 to take the levels for a canal, to be
led off from the Jarama at Aranjuez for purposes of
irrigation.' He continued to reside at the capital
till his decease, which took place in 1685. Chagrin
at not obtaining the post of painter-in-ordinary to
Charles H. is said to have been the cause of his death.
He was interred in the parish church of San Pedro.
"From the hide come the straps,"' says a Cas-
tilian proverb, of which the younger Francisco
Herrera may have been cited as an apt illustration
by those who had known his eccentric sire. He
was a genuine chip of the old cross-grained Herrera
CH. XIL
Works of
architeo-
tare.
Charaoter.
^ Mandbook [1845], P* 9^ [3^ edition, 1855, p. 910]. Ponz, torn. zy.
p. 7, erroneously says 1686.
* Alvarez y Baena, Deseripdon de Aranjuez, p. 355.
* ''Del cuero salen las oorreas." The 'same idea is likewise given in
anoiher which more resembles our own, "De tal peda^o, tal retafa"
Nofiez, RefraneSt ^o^ 3X-2*
VOL. ni. T
III4
REIGN OF PHILtP IV*
CH. xa-
Aneodotes.
block. Ever jealous of his fellow-artists, he be-
lieved that they were all jealous of him. On the
dome of Our Lady of Atocha, he thought fit to
symbolise their reciprocal ill-will by modelling a
lizard gnawing the stucco-scroll upon which his
name was inscribed, whilst some laughing children
made the sign of the fig ; ^ thus turning a religious
work into a vehicle of malice and uncharitableness,
like a Rodriguez or a Warburton. In a picture of
San Vicente Ferrer, likewise, there was a dog
mouthing the jaw-bone of an ass, which was sup-
posed to convey some covert satire; and in other
works he frequently wrote his name on a piece of
paper which rats, meaning rivals, were tearing to
pieces. He stood much on his dignity, and was
ever ready to avenge an affirost by means of a carica-
ture. At a certain sale of pictures he was em-
ployed to select the best for the gallery of a grandee,
who, however, going to the place in person, saw fit
to reject those chosen by the artist for others of in-
ferior merit. Herrera immediately seized his pencil,
and, inspired by ofiended pride, produced a very
clever sketch of a monkey, grinning with delight,
as he gathered a thistle from a bed of roses. It
was his intention to present this agreeable allegoiy
to the great man at whom the ridicule was pointed.
* Palomino, torn. iil. p. 613— '*baciendo higaa"— see chap, ii p. 9h
note.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
i"5
A pradent friend, however, says Palomino, one Don
Antonio de Sotomayor, representing the possible
consequences of such a measure, got possession of
the drawing, and preserved the fortunes of the artist
at the expense, perhaps, of his reputation as a wit.^
Herrera, with much of the mechanical facility,
inherited little of the genius, of his father. He
coloured with some brilliancy, but his drawing is
strained, and his composition, for the most part, full
of flutter and affectation. His small " bodegones,*'
however, were well painted, and he excelled in
flower-pieces. The title-page of La Torre Farfan's
" Feasts of Seville " * was engraved from his design
by Arteaga. For the chapel of the Biscayans, in the
Franciscan convent at Seville, he designed the orna-
ments of the dome, which, however, were little more to
his credit as an architect than his doings at Zaragoza.
Fernando Marquez Joya was a painter of some
reputation at Seville in 1649, when he executed the
portrait of Cardinal-Archbishop Spinola, afterwards
engraved by Vauder Gouwen. He was a member of
the Academy from 1668 to 1672, when he is sup-
posed to have died. As an artist he was a toler-
ably successful imitator of the style of Murillo.
^ Palomino, torn. iii. p. 612, informs us that the collector who figured
as the monkey was no less a personage than the minister Olivares ; which
is impossible, as he was dead eight years before Herrera came to Madrid.
The thing may, however, have happened with Haro or his son Heliche,
or with the Admiral of Castile, a picture-collecting grandee, who pos-
sessed more cash than critical skilL ' Supra, p. 107a
CH. XIL
Style and
merits.
Fernando
MarquM
Joya.
iii6
REIGN OF PHILIP IV,
CH. XII.
Juan
Martinos
de 6ra-
dilla.
Bemab^de
Ayali.
Juan Martinez de Gradilla was a scholar of
Zurbaran at Seville. In the days of Cean Ber-
mudez, his sole surviving work was a fresco, ruined
by the "havoc of repair/' in the refectory of the
convent of Mercy. Being chosen, however, to paint
a conspicuous work in that fine convent, he was
doubtless an artist of consideration. He, was one of
the founders of the Academy, and one of its steadiest
supporters until 1673, which was probably the date
of his death. Twice Mayordomo of the society, he
on one occasion cancelled a debt which it owed him
on his accounts. He likewise presented to the
common stock, a donation of charcoal, and a portrait
of Philip IV. For two years he held the post of
consul or vice-president, of which the duty was to
place the models and overlook the scholars, an
appointment which affords evidence of the respect
in which his professional abilities were held.
Bemab^ de AyaU, a Sevillian by birth, was a
promising scholar of Zurbaran, whose course of
instruction was unfortunately cut short by the re-
moval of that master to Madrid in 1650.^ He had
learned, however, to imitate his style with consider-
able felicity ; and, like Zurbaran, he excelled in
depicting draperies of brocade and other rich
stuffs, which he painted from the lay figure. His
^ Snpra, chap. xL p. 924.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1117
best works were executed for the church of San
Juan de Dios at Seville, and consisted of a picture
of the Assumption of the Virgin, over the high-
altar, a series of Apostles, and six other saints
in other parts of the building. An original member
of the Academy, he was a constant attendant at its
meetings ; and as his name disappears from its records
in 1673, ^^ ^s probable that he died in that year.
In 1660 Seville had no less than four painters
named Bamirez, who may have been brothers or
relatives* Of Pedro nothing is known but the
name. Felipe was a clever painter of small '' bode-
gones," generally representing dead game. Cean
Bermudez possessed a large drawing signed with
his name, carefully executed on paper, and repre-
senting the martyrdom of St. Stephen. He likewise
was the owner of the only specimen he had seen of
Cristobal Bamirez, a sketch of the Virgin, appearing
at the top of a holm-oak to an adoring Moor, with
a body of cavalry retreating in the distance. There
are two holy images of the Virgin of the holm-oak,^
one at Arciniega in Biscay, the other at Ponferrada
in the remote highlands of Leon, both found in the
old days of easy faith in trees of that kind, like the
CH. XII.
Pedro
Rftmirts.
FelitM
Bamires.
CristoUI
Bamires.
1 Villafsfie, Milagroscu Imctgenes, pp. 197, 201. Both are known as
Nuestra Sefiora de la Enclna. The first was a great protectress of
saUorSy and was found in a tree near the church which was afterwards
hnilt to her honour. The second was hidden by the Christian Goths,
"en una de las mas corpulentas " trees of the forest, where the Templars
xxi8
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XII.
Ger6iumo
Ramires.
Pedro de
Campro-
bin.
EDgTETers.
Juan Men-
dee.
enchanted lady in the ballad.^ The sketch probably
was founded on a legend of one or other of them.
Gerdnimo Bamirez was a scholar of Soelas, and
painted with considerable skill and resemblance to
the style of that master. In the church of the
Hospital de la Sangre, there is an altar-piece, painted
and signed by him, representing Pope St Gregory
surrounded by his cardinals, a work of some merit.
Pedro de Camprobin was a skilful painter of
flowers, and an original member of the Academy.
His flower-pieces were highly esteemed at Seville,
and twelve of them adorned a chapel in the con-
vent of San Pablo. The best are usually signed
Pedro de Ca/mprohin Pasano.
Juan Mendez was an engraver of some skill, who
flourished at Seville, and executed in 1627 an
architectural frontispiece, with Ionic columns and
various figures, designed by one Juan de Herrera,
for Rodrigo Caro's edition of the apocryphal chronicle
of Flavins Lucius Dexter.^ The art was likewise
discoYered her about laoo, when they were dealing the site for the town.
Handbook [1845], P- 595 [3rd edition, 1855, p. 538].
1 The pretty Romance de la Infantina, Grimm's SUva de romances
viefos, sm. 8yo, Vienna, 1831, p. 259.
" A cafar ya el cavallero a ca^ar como soUa
Los perros lleva cansados, el falcon perdido avia ;
Arrimara sea nn roble, alto es a maraviila,
£n una rama mas alta Tiera estar nn infantina," &c
Translated by Mr. Lockhart, Spanish BcUlads, 4to, London, 1823, p. 164.
^ Fkwii LucU D&dfi omnimodcs Histories, qws extant, fragmesUa,
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
1119
practised by Pedro de Campolargo, a painter of
some repute in j66o. At Cordoba, Pray Tomas
de los Arcos engraved, in 1633-4, two plates of
armorial bearings for medical books by Leyva and
Hermosilla,^ and Pray Jgnacio de Cardenas, about
1662, the arms of the families of Cordoba and
Pigueroa, and some prints of sacred images revered
in that city* By the latter there also exists a large
plate of the arms of the Count of Benevente, exe-
cuted at Granada, in a very ornate style,
A few sculptors closes the long array of Andalu-
sian artists in this reign. Gaspar de Bibas was the
scholar of Martinez Montanes, and carried on his
profession at Seville. He carved the retablo of Our
Lady of the Eosary, in the church of the nuns
of S**- Paula, for which he was paid 16,600 reals,
on the ist of August 1642. The design was in
tolerable architectural taste, and would bear com-
parison, says Cean Bermudez, with similar works
of Alonso Cano in the same church. Ribas had
two sons, Prancisco and Gonzalo, whom he in-
structed in his own profession. The first was a
carver of retablos, and, in conjunction with Alfonso
Martinez, executed those of the high-altar of the
cum ehr&nieo M, Mtueimi, ffeleca et S, Braulumis, ndu illustratett 4to,
Hiapali, 1627.
^ The sabjects are unpleasant, but the titles may be found in Antonio ;
Bib, NovOf torn. L pp. 436, 526. Dr. Fra de Leyva wrote also a treatise
against the use of tobacco, which was about as effectual aft the Counter',
blatU of our Scottish Solomon.
CH. xn.
Pedro de
Cunpo-
largo.
Fray
Tomas de
los Areoe.
Fray
Ignaolo
deCar-
denas.
Boulptora.
Gaspar de
Bibas.
Frandsoo
deBibot.
XZ30
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH. XIL
Gonsalo da
Riboa.
AlfonM
MftrtinoE.
convent of Mercy, and of the chapel of St. Paul in
the Cathedral In 1663 he was employed to carve
the great retablo of the Sagrario of the Cathedral,
erected at the expense of the Most Holy Brotherhood,
and designed by Sebastian de Ruesta, a painter of
some skill, and cosmographer to the India Board.^
Six years afterwards he executed another for the
brotherhood of the Biscayans, who placed it in their
chapel in the Franciscan convent, and paid the artist
110,000 reals for his labour. His retablos are in-
ferior, says Cean Bermudez, to those of his father,
and betoken the rapid decline of architectural taste.
Gonzalo de Ribas, an original member, and for ten
years a zealous supporter, of the Academy, was a
painter as well as a sculptor; and painted, in 1673,
the banners for the flagships of the royal fleet.
Alfonso Martinez was a distinguished scholar of
Martinez Montafies. He was at best, however, a
diligent imitator of that master's style, the graces
of which he never fully acquired. Amongst his
best works were the retablos of St. John Baptist,
St. John the Evangelist, and St. Augustine, in the
church of the nuns of San Leandro, with their
^ The office of ooamographer, co9mdgrafo de la easa de Contraiadon,
was held by two pereons, the business of the first being to read lectozea
on geography and practical navigation, whilst the second superintended
the construction of the maps and instruments. Ruesta seems to have
been second cosmographer, for he is mentioned as the author of a map
by Veitia Linage, Norte de la ContraUteion, p. 146.
REIGN OF PHILIP IV. 1121
statues, excepting those of the two Saints John,
which were carved by his master. The Baptist's
altar bore this inscription — A mayor gloria de dios
Y HONRA DEL MAYOR DB LOS NACIDOS LO MANDARON
HACER JUAN PENANTE DE NARVAEZ Y D^ ANA XIMENEZ
SU MU6ER PARA Sf Y PARA SUS HEREDEROS ANO DE
1662. He afterwards finished the chief rotable of
the nuns of San Clemente, an important work,
designed, contracted for at the price of 22,000
ducats, and begun by Martinez Montafies, many
years before, but stopped in 1625 by the Chapter
during the vacancy of the archiepiscopal throne.
Martinez being the intimate friend of the sculptor,
F. de Ribas, they constructed several retablos to-
gether, Ribas undertaking the architectural work,
and Martinez carving the statues. A Magdalene,
covered with real drapery, in the Hospital de las
Bubas, and several other sacred images in various
churches, are likewise ascribed to the chapel of
Martinez. He died on the 28th of December 1668 ;
was buried in the church of San Martin.
Josef de Arce, another pupil of Martinez MontafLes,
executed the eight colossal stone statues, the four
Evangelists and the four doctors of the Church, placed
on the balustrades of the Sagrario of Seville Cathedral,
and the saintly figures carved in wood, which adorned
the high-altar of the Carthusians at Xeres ; all of
them works of some merit. Juan Garcia, a disciple
CH. XIL
Josef de
Aroe.
II22
REIGN OF PHILIP IV.
CH, XIL
GiuBappe
MioaeT.
Goldsmith.
Juan Bau-
tista Fran*
of the same school, produced some good carvings,
especially a figure of Our Lady of Sorrows, in the
conventual church of Mercy, at Seville,
Giuseppe Micael, an Italian, was a sculptor of some
repute at Malaga. About 1631 ha began to carve
the statues of the choir-stalls in the Cathedral, a
work which, however, he did not finish. The bishop's
throne is attributed to his chisel. In 1635 he exe-
cuted the image of Our Lord at the column,
famous for its miracles during the plague in 1649,
in which, as has been already related,^ the artist was
himself carried o£El
The only goldsmith of note in Andalusia in this
reign was Juan Bautista Franconio, who wrought at
Seville about 1630, and was the friend of Pacheco.
^ Supra, chap. L p. 29.
<>
CHAPTER XIII.
REIGN OP CHARLES II. 1665-170O.
HILIP IV., after receiv-
ing, like Velazquez, the
last sacraments of the
Church, from the hands
of the Patriarch of the
Indies,^ and after being
solemnly exorcised by
his chaplains, died of a
malignant fever on the
1 6th of September 1665.* His body, ''clothed in a
musk-coloured silk suit," and with the head combed,
the beard trimmed, and the face and hands painted,'
lay in state for two days in the private theatre of
the Alcazar. Carried thence to the Escorial with all
the pomp befitting a King of the Spains and the
CH. XIIL
Death of
Philip IV.
^ Supra, chap. ix. p. 793. » Dnnlop's Memoirs, vol. L pp. 639n4a
' Lady Fanshawe's Memoirs, p. 221.
II24
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
cH.xin.
Qua
New World/ it was laid in the splendid Pantheon to
which he had, eleven years before, committed the
ashes of his ancestors.* Although his life had been
distinguished by few kingly actions or qualities, his
death was soon felt to be a national calamity. The
incapacity, the dissensions, and the disastrous policy
of those who swayed the sceptre of his infant son,
hastened and consummated the down&ll of Spain.
In the last Philip, with his regal mien, and envied
moustachios,' the house of Austria lost the sole
remaining prince who was worthy of the pencil
of Velazquez; the Gastilian court, a sovereign
of amiable disposition and cultivated taste; and
Castilian art, the most powerful, discerning, and
generous of patrons.
On the death of her husband. Queen Mariana
became Begent of the kingdom. In that high place
her chief object of anxiety was to keep at a distance
from public affairs Don Juan of Austria, the only
Spaniard who was fitted to conduct thenu During
her regency of twelve years, the machinery of govern-
ment at home was daily growing more rotten and
^ Deteripeion de Uu honrtu que se hiciiron d la Cathdliea MagcL de D,
Fhelippe Quarto Rey de las StpaMas y del Nuevo Mundo, por el Dr. D.
Pedro Rodrigaez de Monforte, Capellsn de S. M. (with many engrayings
by P. de Viliafranca), 4to, Madrid, 1666.
' Sapra^ chap. TiiL p. 604.
> « Qu^ hombre esU I " says Velez de Gueyara, speaking of Philip IV.,
" qae bizarros bigotea tiene, y como pareoeRey en la cara y en la artel"
Diablo Coxuelo, p. iio^ quoted by Donlop, Memoirs, p. 655.
REIGN OF CHARLES 11.
1125
unmanageable; while, abroad, the King of France
was possessing himself of the fortresses of the
Spanish Netherlands, and the buccaneers were ravag-
ing the fairest cities of Spanish America. No love
or patronage of literature or art in any degree atoned
for her political incapacity. Yielding perhaps to the
exigencies of the climate, she set the example which
female rulers in Spain have generally followed, of
dividing her confidence between her confessor and
her lover. The latter, a handsome Audalusian,
named Fernando Valenzuela, was introduced to her
notice by Father Nithard, a German Jesuit, who
performed the functions of the former.^ Neither of
these important personages were endowed with the
taste of Olivares. Valenzuela, however, the Queen's
duendo or fairy, as he was nicknamed, possessed a
certain portion of brains beneath his beautiful hair.
He wrote little dramatic pieces of some humour, for
the diversion of his royal mistress and the audience
of her private theatre. The few architectural works
undertaken during this reign by the Crown were
executed or planned in the short ministry of the
Queen's minion. At Madrid he rebuilt the Flaza
Mayor, great part of which had been destroyed by
fire; and he finished one of the towers and the
grand front of the Alcazar. Near the gate of Toledo,
CH. XIIL
FeroAndo
Valen-
luela.
1 Dunlop's Memoirs, yoL ii. pp. 108-122.
II26
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
CRxm.
Don Juan
of Austria.
he projected, and perhaps commenced, one of the
pompous bridges,^ of which a facetious envoy re-
marked, that they ought to be sold to buy water for
the Manzanares.^ Across this stream, which, although
called ''the driest in Europe/" has been a great
source of smart sayings, he likewise threw another
bridge near the palace of the Pardo. His vanity
and presumption, the arrogant mottoes and devices
by which he loved to proclaim himself on public
occasions the paramour of the Queen, soon, however,
became intolerable to the grandees, and removed
him from the post which enabled him to improve
and display his taste at the public expense. Degraded
from his dignities, and banished from Europe, the
rest of his life was passed in acting his own plays
at Manilla, and breaking horses at Mexico.
His fall took place in 1677, when the young King,
attaining the age of fifteen and his majority by his
father's will, wisely called Don Juan of Austria to
the chief place in his councils. This prince, the
bastard son of Philip IV. by the beautiful actress
Maria Calderona, is one of the few men who have
^ Dunlop, YoL ii. p. 114, says, "he oonstracted this bridge at the cost of
half a million of ducats." In Los ArquUedos, torn. iy. p. 57, we find that
it was not begun until 1682.
' Madame d'Aulnoy, Voyage^ torn, iii p. 9.
' EekUion de Madrid, p. 2. The author of Mimoirea de la Cow
cPEspagne depuis I'annSe 1679 ju3g[u*en 1681, i2mo, Paris, 1733, likewise
has his fling at this unfortunate river, p. 3. These memoirs seem to be a
compilation from Madame d'Aulnoy and others.
REIGN OF CHARLES 11. 1127
added fresh lustre to a name already famous. In ohjoil
military genius only was he inferior to the hero of
Lepanto. His youth had been passed in retirement
at Ocafia, and devoted to the cultivation of his
mental powers. No legitimate son of the house of
Austria could approach him in vigour of intellect,
or in variety of knowledge and accomplishments.
He spoke and wrote five languages well, and
understood others ; he was well versed in history
and the philosophy of the schools, and he took
great delight in chemistry, judicial astrology, and
the mathematics* Skilled in mechanical pursuits,
he was a turner, a goldsmith, and a manufetcturer
of arms ; and he could make and play upon almost
every kind of musical instrument.^ His father,
who loved him above all his children, assigned
him Eugenie de las Cuevas as his drawing master.
Under the instructions of that artist he acquired
a degree of skill seldom attained by an amateur;
and Juan de Carrefio remarked, on seeing a pic-
ture painted by him on porcelain, that if he had
not been bom a prince, he might have made his
fortune as a painter. The most accomplished
gentleman, Don Juan was likewise the ablest
commander, of Castile. His early successes in
^ Greg. Leti, Vita di Don Giovanni dP Austria, iimo, Cologne, 1686,
p. 63a
II28
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
caxm. the Two Sicilies and in Catalonia displayed con-
siderable military capacity, although the disasters
which afterwards attended his arms in Flanders
and Portugal prove that his genius could not
cope with that of Turenne or of Schomberg. It
was in consequence of these disasters that Queen
Mariana, who hated Don Juan for his influence
with her husband, at last succeeded in alienating
the affections of Philip IV. from his once favourite
son, and in depriving him of all share of power
during the minority of his brother. When called
to the administration, Don Juan retaliated by
placing the Queen-mother in honourable imprison-
ment at Toledo. His success in reforming the
abuses of the home government and the foreign
policy of Spain fell far below the expectations
which had been raised on either side of the
Pyrenees. The most important of his measures
was breaking off the King's marriage, projected
by his mother, with an Archduchess of Austria,
and providing for him a French bride in the person
of Maria Louisa of Orleans. This match was
hardly concluded, when the cares and chagrins
of ofl5ce brought on a fever, of which he died in
1679, in the fiftieth year of his age, and the
second of his ministry. He left the King his
heir, and he showed some magnanimity in be-
queathing some valuable pictures to his enemy
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
1129
the dowager Queen. In early manhood the friend ch.xiii.
of Bibera at Naples, he frequently sat for his
picture to that master, who made an equestrian
portrait of the young and handsome plenipotentiary
the subject of his finest etching.^ His later por-
traits, by Carrefio, convey a favourable impression
of his person. like the first Don Juan, he excelled
the legitimate sons of his house no less in
** Exterior fomi, outward accoutrement,'* «
than in the inward qualities of mind. To the
better features of his father's countenance, and
his dignified bearing, he added the rich complexion
and fine dark hair and eyes of the Nell Gwynne
of Castile.
Charles II. may be called the melancholy charieeiL
monarch, to distinguish him from his uncle and
namesake, the second Charles of England, who is
familiarly known to history as the merry one.
Feeble in body and imbecile in mind, he was a
martyr to despondency, the hereditary malady of
^ Supra, cbap. x. p. 905. This beautiful plate, the best and rarest of
the series, is 13]^ inches high by io| inches wide. At the top is the name
El S^' S«- Don Juan de Austria. The figure of the Prince is very
good, but the horse is somewhat stiff, and awkwardly placed, prancing
on the brink of a precipice overhanging the sea. The finely engraved
portrait by Nanteuil, though one of the most esteemed of that master's
works, is an efSgy of very doubtful authenticity. There is a better
Flemish print
* King John, act L sc i, 1. 211.
VOL. ni. u
II30 REIGN OF CHARLES IL
c H-^on . j his race. It was the selfish policy, both of his
mother and of Don Juan, to keep him in a state of
mental darkness and dependence, in order to pro-
long and secure their tenure of power. Their care
was, not to encourage, but to prevent the expansion
of a mind naturally narrow. In spite, however, of
the disadvantages of his education, some glimmer-
ing of the ancient taste of his house may be seen in
the last male descendant of Charles Y. He loved
pictures more than anything but his dog and gun,
or his beads. When a mere child, hearing that
Velazquez had been a knight of Santiago, he pro-
posed to confer the cross of that order on Carreno,
his painter-in-ordinary. His discernment in matters
of art was not indeed precocious, for before he had
seen his first Queen, he was enchanted with a
squinting miniature portrait of that ill-fated princess,
which greatly shocked the lively French countess,^ to
whom we are so largely indebted for our knowledge
of the court-gossip of his reign. He retained in
his service Carreilo, Coello, and Mufioz, the most
considerable Gastilian painters of the time ; and
he is said to have invited Murillo to remove fiom
Seville to Madrid.* His favourite artist, however,
was Luca Giordano, who, in point of merit, bore
^ Madame d'Aulnoy, Voyage, torn. iii. p. i68.
' Supra, chap. xiL p. 1048.
J
REIGN OF CHARLES 11.
1131
the same relation to those able Spaniards which
Zuccaro bore to El Mudo. Besides a large salary
and ample allowances, he gave this fortunate
Neapolitan the key of chamberlain; and provided
his sons with posts of honour and profit Accom-
panied by the Queen, he frequently visited him,
when at work in his studio, and on these occasions
used to insist that he should remain covered like
the best grandee of Castile. Two works of thi^
master he sent as a present to his father-in-law, the
Duke of Orleans; a compliment which that prince
acknowledged by contributing, in return, a "St.
John in the Desert," by Mignard, to the galleries
of the Escorial.^ Charles cordially hated France
and Frenchmen,* could not abide French poodles or
ragouts, and was wont to speak of the ambassador
CH. xni.
^ MouYUle, Vie de Mignard, p. 124.
' Lettres de la Marquise de VUlare, Ambassadriee en Espagne dans le
temps du mariage de Charles IL avec la Princesse Marie Louise d^Orleans,
i2mo, Amsterdam, 1760, p. 79. Marie Gigaolt de Belief ends, bom 1624,
died 1706, wife of Pierre Marquis de Villars, and mother of the Mar^chal
Dnc, the hero of Denain, is described by St. Simou {Nouveaux Mitnoires
de Dangeau, 8vo, Paris, 1818, p. 175) as "one bonne petite femme, s^he,
vive, mecbante comme nn serpent, de Tesprit comme un d^mon, d*excel-
lente compagnie." Her letters from Spain are addressed to Madame de
Conlanges, the correspondent of Madame de Sevign^, to whose circle she
belonged. They are very lively and pleasant, and as a record of the
manners of the Castilian courts of high historical value, though by no
meana flattering to the national pride. The fair writer disliked both the
country and the people from the firsts for Madame de Sevign^ {Lettres,
tom. vi p. 17), quoting an unpublished letter, written by the ambassa-
dress on her arrival at Madrid, says, " Elle dit qnll n'y a qu'k 6tre en
Espagne pour n'avoir plus d'euvie d'y b&tir des chAteauz."
ii3»
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
CH. xra.
Architae-
tunland
other
works.
of his most Christian uncle as a gahacho^ a com-
prehensive term of contempt long applied by the
Iberian to the GauL' But he was so pleased with
this picture that he immediately ordered two others,
of an indicated size and for a particular situation,
representing the classical fetbles of Apollo and
Daphne, and Fan and Syrinx,' themes to which
the soft pencil of Mignard was admirably qualified
to do justice.
The stately structures of the Austrian Kings of
Spain received but few embellishments from Charles
II. To the Escorial, which, in his reign, narrowly
escaped destruction by fire,* he contributed a silver
statue of St. Lawrence, weighing a quarter of a ton,*
and holding in its hand a bar, more precious than
gold, of that jocose martyr^s* veritable gridiron.
The rusty iron, perhaps, may still remain to the
monastery, but the splendid saint has not survived
the French invasion. The frescoes of Giordano, and
the altar of the Santa Forma ^ in the sacristy are the
sole memorials of Charles II. now in the Escorial.
New palaces, or new royal convents, were burdens
^ Mimoires de la Cour cTEspagne, Paris, 1733, p. 133.
* Some conoeiye the word to mean the dwellers on GatfeSy as many of
the French Pyrenean streams are called ; others, with more prohahility,
derive it from the Arabic eabaeh, filthy. Handbook [1845]. P- 975* ^^^
[3rd edition, 1855, p. 924].
• Vie de Mignard, p. 13a * Santos, Deeeripdon, foL 36.
' Ximenes, Deeeripcion, p. 2S4. ' Supra, chap. iv. p. 259-
^ Ibid. chap. x. p. 836.
REIGN OF CHARLES 11. 1133
not to be borne by the crippled finances of Spain, ch. xiii.
The treasures of Mexico and Peru were forestalled Financial
dutreseet.
and mortgaged long before they had crossed the
Atlantic, and the pressing exigencies of state were
supplied by the open and avowed sale of vice-
royalties and other great posts. The ministers
could hardly find funds for the annual visits of
the court to Aranjuez and the Escorial. OflScers of
the army begged openly in the streets of garrison
towns; and soldiers of the royal guard greedily
devoured the eleemosynary soup doled forth at the
convents of Madrid. Sometimes, in the Alcazar
itself^ the gentlemen of the chamber found their
table unserved, and the favourite English horses
of the Queen went without their com.^ The ex-
chequer, indeed^ was hardly rich enough, as the
French ambassador wrote to his Court, to pay for
an dla for the royal board.' The King himself,
careless of all display, and having no friends, had
happily no passion for building. Contented with
the shabbiest coach at Madrid,^ he had no desire
to enlarge what was already a noble palace. The
literary and dramatic glories of the court had passed
away with Philip IV. There was now no Calderon
^ Dunlop'B Memoirt^ yoL iL pp. 222, 369. Mimoire^ tU la Cour
(PEspciffne, p. 302.
* Le Maiqais de Louville, quoted by Ph. Cbasles, jStudes nir VEspctgne,
Bm. 8to, Paris, 1847, p. 82.
' Madame d'Anlnoy, Voyage^ torn. iiL p. 13.
"34
REIGN OF CHARLES 11.
CH. xni.
Poitnits.
to write the plays, no Lotti ^ to devise the scenery
and properties; the sun was represented by a few
lamps of oiled paper, and in a Pandemonium scene,
the demons clambered out of the bottomless pit
by means of ladders." The King cared for none of
these things ; his time being pretty equally divided
between the chase, his galleries, and the chapeL
When he was not shooting wolves in the Sierra,
or killing time in the studios, he was adoring
relics, assisting at autos-de-fe^ walking barefoot in
processions, chanting anthems, or submitting to
degrading penances.'
The countenance of this unhappy prince, as pour-
trayed by Carrefio, is the index of his character. As
a child, there is something to please the eye in his
pale pensive features and long fair hair, and the
projection of his lower jaw is hardly discernible.
In later pictures this deformity becomes apparent,*
as his face grows larger and leaner; his eyes are
lustreless, his complexion
*' From pale turns yellow, and his face receiyes
The faded hue of sapless boxen leaves," ^
and his general appearance is so dementate, that in
^ Sapra, chap. yiii. p. 66 1.
* Madame d'Aolnoj, Voyttge^ torn, iii p. 21.
< Dunlop's Memoirs, toI. iL pp. 2S4-5.
^ Spain under Charles IL, p. gg, where the poor king is graphicall j
described by Mr. Stanhope, in a letter to the Duke of Shrewsbury.
" Diyden, Falaman and AreiU, book ii.
REIGN OF CHARLES 11. 1135
those days of superstition almost any churchman,
hut the keen-sighted Primate Fuertocarrero, might
he excused for enforcing upon the dying monarch
the frightful ceremony of exorcism.^ Weak in mind
and diseased in body, weighed down through life
by constitutional melancholy, and cares of state
under which even a strong man might have suc-
cumbed, and tormented on his death-bed by in-
trigues for the succession, the last inglorious son of
Charles V. was one of the most unfortunate sove-
reigns ever cursed with an hereditary crown.
The first and favourite Queen of Charles II.,
Maria Louisa, daughter of Philip Duke of Orleans
and Henrietta of England, is perhaps the most in-
teresting personage of the Spanish house of Austria.
The Peregrina, the pearl of great price of the
Castilian crown,* never adorned a lovelier or purer
brow. Transplanted in the bloom of girlhood from
the brilliant court of France, and condemned by the
selfish policy of her uncle to the arms of an impotent
and half-idiot lord, the fate of this fair and gentle
creature was but too truly foreshadowed by the
omen of the broken^ mirror which fell to pieces at
her touch, to the great horror of the ladies of the
^ Dnnlop's Memoirs, yoL iL p. 299.
' *' Awaai grosse qa'ime petite poire," says Madame d'Aolnoy, Voyage,
torn, iii p. 219. The Queen wore it in her hat, at her entry to
Madrid.
CH. XIII.
Queen
Maria
Louiaa.
II36
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
CH. xm. palace.^ Never was splendid misery more hopeless
and nnhappy. Fresh from the revels of St Cloud or
Fontainbleau, she was shut up in the Alcazar, and
permitted neither to ride on horseback, laugh, nor
look out of the window ; * or she was taken by way
of recreation to see horses gored to death in the
bull-ring, Jews condemned to the stake at an atrfo-
de-f&y or wild animals shot down by hundreds in a
pen in one of the royal forests.* Knowing little
Spanish, she was forbidden to speak French ; fond
of society, she was left in sohtude, or in the more
irksome company of duefias ; * endowed with a heart
full of generosity and affection, it was her melan-
choly task to study the fancies of a feeble fool,
jealous he knew not of whom or of what,* and
detecting a rival sometimes in the French ambas-
sador, sometimes in a French beggar asking alms in
the street^ Yet no woman, however versed in affairs
and intrigue, could have borne herself more wisely
in the discharge of her difficult duties, than this
young and amiable princess. By a rare combination
of firmness and gentleness, she managed to remove
many of her chief grievances. She obtained the
* Ibid. p. 214.
* D'Anlnoy, Voyctge^ torn. iii. p. 213.
' MHnoirta de la Cour (TEspoffTie, pp. 196, 236.
* Ibid. p. 86.
" Lettres de Madame de Sevignd, 28th Feb. 1680, torn. vi. p. 181
* M6moire8 de la Courd'Espagne, p. 155.
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
"37
friendship and support of the Queen-mother. She
baffled, and finally ejected from office, her imperious
mistress of the robes, the Duchess of Terranova,
that most morose of dowagers, who had wrung the
necks of her parrots for speaking French.^ By
humouring her husband's whims and playing with
him for hours together at spilikens,' she succeeded
in gaining his confidence and affections, and a strong
influence over his mind ; and by a few words spoken
in season, she caused his ministers to fear and
respect her. Happy would it have been for Charles
and Spain, had she lived to close his eyes! But
Heaven early doomed " the bright fleur-de-lys to the
scythe."' After a reign of little more than nine
years, and in the twenty-seventh year of her age, she
was carried off by a sudden disorder, in 1689, dis-
playing in her last moments those Christian graces
which so justly endeared her memory to Spain.* In
the impoverished state of the royal finances, a Queen-
consort had little opportunity of befriending art
She chose a painter, however, of some repute, Leon
Leal, for her guardadamas ; ^ and her beautiful face
CH.X11L
^ D'Anlnoy, Mimoires, torn. iL p. 36.
* Villara, Lettres, p. 117. .
* Flores, Leu Reyruu Cathdliccu, torn. iL p. 983.
^ Noticuu historicUet de la enfermedad, muerte y exequias de nvettra
Catdliea Reyna L^ Maria Luisa tTOrUans, Borhan, Stuart, y Aiutria^
por Don Joan de Vera Tassis y Villaroel, foL Madrid, 1690, p. 11.
" SapiB, chap. z. p. 862.
"38
REIGN OF CHARLES 11.
CH. xin.
Qaeen
Mamna,
Other
patronaof
art.
Admiral
of Castile.
was the fEurest model which Garrefio found at
court.
In her successor, Mariana of Neuburg, a good-
natured German princess, Luca Giordano had an
admiring patron, but art in general cannot be said
to have found either a model or a protector. Nor
did her endearments obliterate in the breast of her
husband the image of his beloved Maria Louisa,
for one of the last acts of his melancholy life was
to open the tomb of his first wife, and hang over
her embalmed remains, in the sepulchral vault of
the Escorial.^
The love of art, although declining, was not
extinguished at Court and amongst the aristocracy.
The witty and handsome Admiral of Castile, with
the broad lands of the house of Henriquez, like-
wise inherited his father's fondness for collecting
pictures.* At Madrid, in his fine palace surrounded
by delicious gardens, he lived in luxurious re-
tirement, amusing himself with mistresses and the
composition of verses, an exercise at which he was
remarkably expert for a grandee.' He was a muni-
ficent patron of artists, and retained Juan de Al&ro
* Danlop's Memoirs, voL ii p. 307.
* Supra, chap, viii p. 623.
* D'Aulnoy, Minunres, torn. L p. 136. The French counteBs was quite
captivated by the gallant admiral, and pnuBes his manners and his person,
in spite of his age, which he himself thought a misfortune. " 11 iUA%^
she says, " inconsolable d'ayoir-d^jk dnquante-huit ans."
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
"39
as his painter, a selection which does no credit to
his taste, and justifies the contemporary suspicion,
that, in affairs of art, he had less knowledge than
zeal. His son-in-law, the intriguing Marquess of
Heliche and Carpio, son of the minister Haro,
and possessor of the rich collections of Olivares,
was somewhat of a MsBcenas, though more noted
as a Lothario.^ In early life the £riend and host
of the Italian painter Colonna,* he improved his
knowledge of art and enriched the halls of his
palace, during his unwilling residence at Some as
ambassador from Charles II.* He died Viceroy
of Naples, where he was equally distinguished
by the vigour of his administration and by the
interest which he evinced for artistic affairs. The
Count of Monterey, brother to Heliche, and heir of
one of the "Thieves" of the last reign, was like-
wise the possessor of an hereditary gallery and
taste.* Treasures of art still enriched the fine
mansions of Alba, Onate, and Fefiaranda, Ossuna,
CH. XIII.
Marquess
of Heliche.
Count of
Monterey.
^ His Marchioness was one of the finest women of her day ; Villars,
Lettrest p. 37 ; whence her lord's notahle saying, that if he had a mistress
as handsome as his wife, he wonkl be the happiest of men. Danlop's
Memoirs, voL ii. p. 180.
* Supra, chap. viiL p. 664.
• Miffhoirea de la Cour tTEspcigne, pp. 129, 130, where there is an amusing
story of a trick played him by the Pope, about a marriage dispensation,
a just reprisal for the many incivilities committed by the ambassador in
hopes of proYoking dismissal from Rome.
^ Snpra, chap. Tiii. p. 623.
1 140
REIGN OF CHARLES 11.
CH.xnL
Amatean.
DonFnn-
Antonio
EthenardL
Don Joan
de Valdea.
Coant of
Las Torres.
and that great teiritoiial lord, the Constable of
Castfle.*
Amatenr painters were still to be fonnd, of high
rank and respectable skilL Don Francisco Antonio
Ethenard 7 Abarca, bom at Madrid of a Gastilian
mother by a German knight of Galatrava, was
himself a member of the same order,' a captain in
the royal guard, and a painter and engraver as well
as an author. He wrote and published, in 1670,
a treatise ' on the use of arms, in which he likewise
showed his proficiency in the use of the pencil
and grayer, by designing and executing an orna-
mental title-page. Dying at Madrid, early in the
eighteenth century, he was buried in the church of
St. Gines, in his family chapel of the Conception.
Don Juan de Valdes, member of the Council of
State for home affairs, painted for his own amuse-
ment with considerable skill and intelligence.
Towards the end of the reign, the Count of Las
Torres was a tolerable amateur painter at Madrid.
^ Don Vinoencio Juan de Lastanosa, Se&or of Figamelaa^ dedicates his
scarce treatise on coins, Mtueo de las Medalku desconoddas E^aHoias,
4to, Hnesca, 1645, to Don Bernardino Femandei de Velasco, Condestable
de Gastilla 7 Leon, Dnqne Marqnes 7 Conde, senor tU mil y euatro eiaUot
Ingares.
' N. Antonio, Bibliotheea Nova, torn. L p. 402.
' Compendia de los fundamentoe de la verdadera destreza yJUctofta de
las armcu, 4to, Madrid, 167 1. Cean Bermudez gives 1675 as the date,
but I follow the professional bibliographer. He also mentions another
work b7 Ethenard, called. El diestro Italiano y Espaiiol, 4to, Madrid,
1697, not noticed b7 Antonio.
REIGN OF CHARLES 11.
1141
Geronimo Mascareilas, a noble Portuguese, was a
knight of Calatrava, usher of the curtain ^ to Philip
IV., and Bishop-elect of Leyria. The revolution in
Portugal, and his adherence to his Castilian sove-
reign, debarring him from that diocese, he received,
in exchange, the mitre of Segovia, and during his
residence there amused his leisure with the pencil'
He was chaplain and historian of the embassy to
Trent to fetch home Queen Mariana, which Velaz-
quez accompanied as far as Genoa.' A busy man
of letters, he projected and partly executed no less
than twenty-six works of history, biography, and
antiquarian research, of which he lived to publish
seven.* Fray Cristobal del Viso, of the Order of St
Francis, and commissary-general of the Indies, was
also a painter, and left to the Capuchins of Cordoba
a series of pictures of the canonised Franciscans.
Don Francisco Vera Cabeza de Vaca and Don Fran-
cisco de Artiga distinguished themselves amongst
the remote gentry of Calatayud and Huesca by their
talents for painting and architecture. At Seville,
we shall find Don Pedro Nunez de Villavicencio, a
military knight of St. John, amongst the ablest
^ Supra, chap. viii. p. 625, note 2.
> Palomino, torn. L p. 186.
' Supra, chap. ix. p. 752.
* A list of his intended works will be found in the Pr61ogo to his
Viage de la Beyna; his published writings are enumerated by Nic
Antonio, Bib. Nova, torn. iL p. 589.
CH. xin.
Bishop
Masca-
refiaa.
Fray Cris-
tobal dol
Viso.
Don Fran-
oisco Vera
Cabeaade
Vaca.
DonFran-
cisoo de
Artiga.
Don Pedr
Nafiea de
Villavi-
oenoio.
1 142
REIGN OF CHARLES 11.
CH.XIIL
DonSftlTa-
dor Boxaa.
DonEBte-
▼andeEB-
Don
NiooUade
'^miada.
Ladj
artifta,
Ducheaa of
Bajar.
Cotintem of
Villaum-
broea.
Dofia
Mariana
CuoTa
Benayidee.
scholars of Mnrillo; and Don Salvador Boxas y
Velasco, likewise a man of family, and amateur of
the pencil, was a constant student at the Academy,
and a subscriber to its funds. Don Estevan de
Espadafia, inquisitor in the Holy OflBce at Valencia,
indulged in painting as a recreation, and was a
patron of the Academy established by the artists of
that city in 1676. Even Murcia had its amateur-
painter in Don Nicolas de Villacis.
A few ladies of rank also were distinguished by
their skill in the fine arts. Dona Teresa Sarmiento,
Duchess of Bejar, probably daughter-in-law to the
ducal amateur of the last reign,^ under the inslxuc-
tions of the elder Bizi,^ upheld the artistic honours
of the house of Zufliga. She presented several
pictures, painted by herself, to various churches at
Madrid ; and Palomino extols a " Head of Our Lady
of Succour," • executed with infinite delicacy, on
glass, by her fair and noble hands. The Countess of
Villaumbrosa, an ornament of the court of Philip IV.,*
was likewise eminent in that of his son for her
skill in painting as well as for her wit.* Dofia
Mariana Cueva Benavides y Barr^as, wife of Don
Francisco Zayas, knight of Calatrava, distinguished
herself with her pencil amongst the ladies of Granada.
^ Supra, chap. TiiL p. 628.
* Palomino, torn, i p. 187.
■ D'Aulnoy, Mimoires, torn. L p. 146.
' Ibid. chap. z. p. 832.
* Supra, chap. viiL p. 629.
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
"43
Notwithstanding the poverty of the royal coffers,
the great nobles were still able to dazzle foreigners
with a show of almost barbaric magnificence. Their
ladies blazed with jewels of inestimable value, and
their sideboards were loaded with an amount of
plate which appears fabulous in these days of
general circulation of wealth. In the palace of the
Duke of Albuquerque, says Madame d'Aulnoy, at
the end of the great dining-hall rose a monster
buffet, tall as an altar, and covered with vessels of
gold and silver, amongst which the lackeys ascended
and descended by means of forty silver ladders. The
Duke of Alba possessed six hundred dozen of plates,
and eight hundred dishes, of silver, and conceived
that his service was rather modest than splendid
in character.^ The Prince of Stigliano, son of the
Duke of Medina de las Torres by a Sicilian heiress,
inherited his father's taste for sumptuous equi-
pages ; ^ for he caused to be constructed for his wife,
a daughter of the house of Toledo, a sedan chair of
gold and coral, which was so heavy as to be unfit
for use.' The grandees of the Church were still
lavish in their oblations of gold and silver to the
sanctuary. They still held, with S**- Teresa, that
while plate sparkled on their own tables, no meaner
oa XIII.
Splendour
of the
nobility
and the
Choroh.
^ D'Aulnoy, Voyage, torn. IL p. 173. ' Supra, chap. iz. p. 790.
* D'Aulnoy, MHnoires, torn. L p. 138.
1144
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
CH. XIII.
Foreign
artiats.
metal should be placed on the altar of the Lord.^
An Archbishop of Santiago, the son of a wealthy
Mexican family, entertained the magnificent design
of adding an entire chapel of pure silver to his
Cathedral; and when his more prudent Chapter
dissuaded him from setting up so great a tempta-
tion to the needy pilgrim, or pillaging inyader, he
erected, instead, an edifice of the most precious
marbles, still more costly, it is said, than the pro-
posed silver shrine.^ But although the bullion was
there, the cunning workmen in gold and silver and
brass were gone; the D'Arphes and Becerrils had
passed away with the Toledos and Herreras.
Madame d' Aulnoy, the most charming of historical
prattlers, informs us that Madrid, in this reign,
possessed no good painters, and that the few persons
who followed that unprofitable profession, were, for
the most part, Flemings, Italians, or Frenchmen.'
But the attention of the lively countess was directed
to obj ects rather of social than artistical research. She
loved better to study the costumes and the humours
of the Prado, to compare the ruffed and rapiered
cobbler* or euphuistic courtier* with the genteel cit
^ CkMritu d$ la serdJSea y myMiiea doeiara Santa Teresa de Jeeus, eon
noias del Sciior Dom Juan de Falafoa^ Obispo de Osma^ 4to, 9&rag09a,
1671. p> 331-
s Widdrington, Spam amd the Spaniards, toL iL p. 179.
* D*Aalno7, Foyaffe, torn, iii pw 12a
« Ibid»p^ 114. * lUd. p. 46.
REIGN OF CHARLES II,
1145
or ridiculous marquis of her native soil, than to
draw parallels between Carrefio and Mignard. The
truth is that there were fewer foreign artists than
usual at Madrid during this reign, at least fewer
whose names have survived. Amongst the latter, is
Dionisio Mantuano, a native of Bologna, who came
to Spain in 1656, as scene-painter to the royal
theatre at Buenretiro. Being also an architect, he
became, in that capacity, mixed up in some trans-
action, of which no particulars have been preserved,
but which sent him to prison, and had nearly ex-
posed him to a heavy fine. The friendship of the
papal muncio, however, not only delivered him from
durance and all costs, but obtained for him the post
of painter to the King, and the cross of the order of
Christ. Besides many scenes for the court theatre,
he painted the ceiling of the ladies' gallery at the
Alcazar; he executed, with Vicente de Benavides,
the fresco decorations on the front of the house of
the Marquess of Los Balbases, the heir of Spinola
and Spanish ambassador to the congress of Nimeguen;
and he painted various works for the Marquess of
Heliche, and for the church of San Isidro el Real,
At Toledo, he assisted Rizi and Carrefio in painting
the monument for the Holy Week, in the Cathedral.^
He died at Madrid in 1684, aged sixty years.
CH. xni.
Dionirio
Mantuano.
^ Supra, chap. x. p. 835.
vol*. III.
II46
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
CH.XIU.
Gioaeppa
Frandaoo
Loonar-
doni
Giuseppe Bomani was bom at Bologna in 16 16,
and became a scholar of Michel Colonna. It is
uncertain whether he came with that master to
Spain in 1656, but, if he did not accompany him,
he followed him soon afterwards. The Admiral of
Castile was one of his chief patrons, and employed
him to execute a variety of fresco decorations in
his palace and gardens. He was likewise engaged
in painting for various churches, amongst which
was that of Our Lady of Atocha, where he exe-
cuted figures of S**- Domingo, and St. Catherine of
Sienna. Dying at Madrid in 1680, he was interred
in the church of San Ildefonso.
Francisco Leonardoni was bom at Venice in
1654, and there studied painting with considerable
success. Expatriated for some unknown cause, he
travelled through various parts of Europe, and came
to Madrid about i68o. There he distinguished
himself by his portraits, especially miniatures, in
which style he had the honour of painting the King
and Queen. He also executed some large works on
sacred subjects, such as the Marriage and Death of
St. Joseph, for the church of the college of Atocha,
and a picture of the Incarnation, for the conven-
tual church of San Gerdnimo el Real. To him,
likewise, was attributed the principal picture of
the high-altar of the parish church of Leganes.
His colouring, says Cean Bermudez, was rich and
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
"47
effective, but his drawing deficient in correctness.
During the greater part of his residence at Madrid
he occupied apartments in the palace of Buenretiro,
where he died in 171 1. He was a man of amiable
disposition and polished manners, and no less re-
markable, says Palomino, who must have known
him, for his stately bearing, than for his great
stature and personal strength.^
Of the great foreign artists, whom the taste and
munificence of the house of Austria attracted to
Spain, Luca Giordano was the last, and, perhaps, in
his own time the most famous. He was bom in
the city of Naples in 1632, of a family which
Palomino asserts to have been an offset of that of
Jordan, an ancient and honourable name in the
Andalusian kingdom of Jaen.^ His father, Antonio,
was an indifferent painter, who earned his bread by
copying the works of Ribera ; and the name of his
mother was Isabella Imparato." At the early age
of five the inclinations of young Luca led him to
adopt the pencil as a plaything, and before a year
had elapsed he could draw the human figure with
surprising correctness. The painter Stanzioni, pass-
ing by his father's shop, near the public prison, and
CH.XIIL
Luoft
Giordano.
* Palomino, torn. iii. p. 725. ' Ibid. torn. iiL p. 686.
* Dominici, Vite de Fittori, Ac, NapoUtani, torn. iii. p. 394, whence I
have derived all the facts of Giordano's life which are not to be found in
Palomino or Cean Bermudez.
1 148
REIGN OF CHARLES 11.
CH. XIII.
Visit to
Bomo.
seeing the child at work, is said to have predicted
that he would one day become the first artist of the
age. Before he was eight years old, he painted,
unknown to his father, two cherubs, in a fresco
entrusted to that artist in an obscure part of the
church of S*^ Maria la Nuova — figures so grace-
ful as to attract considerable public attention. This
feat coining to the knowledge of the Duke de
Medina de las Torres, the Viceroy, he rewarded the
precocious painter with some gold pieces, and a re-
commendation to Ribera, who accordingly admitted
him into his school, at that time the most celebrated
in Naples. There he spent nine years in close ap-
plication to study, and there, towards the end of
that time, he may have enjoyed the advantage of
seeing Velazquez, during the great Spaniard's second
visit to Naples.^
Having learned all that Ribera could teach, he
conceived a strong desire to prosecute his studies
in the capital of art. To this step, his father, who,
probably, could ill aflFord to lose his earnings,
steadily refused his consent. Luca, therefore, took
the earliest opportunity of absconding, and, in due
time, found his way to the Vatican. There he
applied himself to the study with his usual furv,
and having copied all the chief frescoes of Rafael
^ Supra, chap. iz. p. 757*
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
1 149
more than once, and the Battle of Constantine CH.xm.
twelve times, turned his dashing pencil against
the works of Carracci in the Famese palace. Mean-
while poor Antonio, divining the direction which
the truant had taken, followed him to Rome, and,
after a long search, discovered him sketching in
St. Peter's. They remained in the papal city about
three years, the father, who seems to have been a
helpless creature, subsisting by the sale of the son's
drawings. When their purse was low, the old man
would accompany Luca to the scene of his labours,
and even feed him whilst he painted, that not a
moment might be lost. At such times, ** Luca fa Niokname.
presto ! " being ever on his lips, the phrase became
a byword among the painters, and was fixed upon
the young artist as a nickname singularly appro-
priate to his wonderful celerity of execution. The
only memorable facts connected with his stay in
Bome are, that he invented an effective and expe-
ditious method of tinting his drawings with pounded
chalks, and that he studied for some time in the
school of Fietro da Cortona. He afterwards made TVayeis.
a journey, still accompanied by his father, through
Lombardy to Venice, and having sufficiently studied
the works of Correggio, Titian, and other great
northern masters, returned, by way of Florence and
Leghorn, to Naples.
The first public works which he executed in his
itso
REIGN OF CHARLES It
CH. XIIL
Return to
Naples.
Marriage.
Skfllin
foiging
pictures.
Various
works.
native city, were a picture of the Holy Rosary for the
church of S. Potito, three small frescoes on the life
of St. John Baptist for the chapel of S. Giacomo
della Marca, and some oil paintings for the church
of Santa Teresa, in which he imitated with success
the style of Paolo Veronese, Amongst the clergy
and friars he seems early to have become a fEtvourite,
and to have obtained a large share of their patronage.
He soon afterwards married Dofia Margarita Ardi,
a woman of great beauty, who served him as a model
for his Virgins, Lucretias, or Venuses.
Amongst his lay patrons was a certain Gasparo
Romero, who was in the habit of inflicting upon
him a great deal of tedious and impertinent advice.
For this he had his revenge, by causing his father
to sell to that connoisseur, as originals, some of his
imitations of Titian, Tintoret, and Bassano, and
afterwards avowing the deception. He managed,
however, to eflfect this pleasantry without sacrificing
his friend to his jest
In competition with Giacomo Farelli, an artist of
some fame, he painted, in 1655, for the church of
S*^ Brigida, a large picture of St. Nicolas borne away
by angels, a work of such power and splendour that
it completely eclipsed his rival, and established his
reputation at the early age of twenty-three. Two
years afterwards he was employed with Andrea
Vaccaro, by the Count of Pefiaranda, the Viceroy,
REIGN OF CHARLES It
"SI
to paint some pictures for the church of S*^ Maria
del Pianto. The principal of the suhjects which
fell to Giordano's share were the " Crucifixion," and
the " Blessed Virgin and St. Januarius pleading with
the Saviour for Naples afflicted with Pestilence,"
which he painted with his usual ability. He and
Vaccaro had, however, a dispute about placing their
pictures, which was decided by the Viceroy in favour
of the elder artist Giordano immediately gave way,
with so much grace and discretion, that he made a
firm fiiend of his successful rival. His master,
Bibera, being now dead, he soon stepped into the
vacant place of that popular artist. The religious
bodies of the kingdom, from the Barefooted Angus-
tines of Naples, to the rich Benedictines of Monte
Cassino, were all eager to obtain pictures from his
easel. Caressed by the viceroys, he soon became the
favourite of the Neapolitan nobles. The palaces
of Avellino Caracciolo, Montesarchio d^Avalos,
Bisignano Sanseverino, Mataloni Caxaffa, and other
princely families, were adorned with his works.
In 1678, on the conclusion of peace between
France, Spain, and Holland, he painted an immense
picture in commemoration of the event The upper
part of the composition showed the gods of Olympus
assembled to do honour to a majestic figure repre-
senting the Spanish monarchy, for whom Ganymede,
at the nod of Jove, filled a cup of nectar ; beneath,
CH. XIII.
Piotorein
honour of
the peace
and the
Viceroy de
LoeVelea.
lis*
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
CH. XIII.
Visit to
Florence.
Ineident
with the
Viceroy
Heliohe
and the
Jesuits at
Naples.
stood a concourse of assenting mortals, amongst
v^hom the Sicilian Viceroy, the Marquess of Los
Velez, pranced conspicuous on a milk-white chai^er.
This piece of adroit homage was doubtless not lost
on the powers that were, when the picture was ex-
hibited to the admiring populace in the street of
Toledo.
Invited in 1679 to Florence to paint the chapel
of S. Andrea Corsini in the church of Carmine,
Giordano was overwhelmed with civilities by the
Grand Duke Cosmo III., who honoured him with
several audiences, and hung a gold chain and medal
about his neck. While sojourning in that beautiful
city, he became acquainted with Carlo Dolci, then
an old man, who is said to have been so affected by
comparing the bold speedy style of the Neapolitan
with his own slow laborious manner, that he fell
into a profound melancholy, of which in a few days
he died. This circumstance, Dominici assures us,
Giordano long afterwards remembered with tears,
on being shown at Naples "a picture painted by
poor Carlino." ^
On his way to Florence, he had paid his respects
to the Marquess of HeUche, the Spanish ambassador
at Rome, and was graciously received ; but he
somewhat offended that nobleman, by declining an
^ Dominiei, torn. iii. p. 408.
REIGN OF CHARLES 11. 1153
invitation to his palace, given for the purpose of celxiil
seeing him paint Heliche was afterwards recalled
from the hated papal court/ and promoted to the
dignity of Viceroy of Naples. It happened in 1685,
that Giordano, who had established himself in
Ribera's fine house, opposite the Jesuit church of
San Francisco Xavier,' was employed by the fathers
to paint a large picture for one of their principal
altars. As the viceregal palace adjoined this church,
the Marquess took an interest in its embellishment,
and signified to the painter a wish that the work
should be completed by the approaching festival of
the patron saint. Giordano, however, was busied
about other things, and put off the execution of the
altar-piece so long, that the Jesuits began to be
clamorous, and the Viceroy to feel offended for the
second time. Determining to see for himself how
matters really stood, the great man paid an unex-
pected visit to the studio. The artist had barely
time to escape by a back door ; and Heliche, find-
ing the vast canvas as yet guiltless of the brush,
retired muttering complaints and menaces. Luca's
dashing pencil now stood him in good stead. On
his return home he immediately sketched the out-
lines of his composition, for which the first drawing
was hardly finished; and setting his disciples to
^ Supra» p. 1139^ and note 3. * Ibid. chap. x. p. 900.
"54
REIGN OF CHARLES 11.
CH.XnL
Affair with
the Duke
of Diano.
prepare his palettes, he painted all that day and
night with so much diligence, that by the following
afternoon he was able to announce to the impatient
fathers the completion of the picture. The subject
was the patron saint of the church, the great Jesuit
missionary St. Francis Xavier, baptizing the people
of Japan, a ceremony which he performed standing
on a lofty flight of steps ; behind him, in the dis*
tance, was a party of zealous converts pulling down
the images of their gods ; and beneath, in the fore-
ground, knelt St. Francis Borgia in the attitude of
prayer. It was immediately carried to the church,
and placed over the destined altar ; and the Viceroy,
whose anger was hardly cooled, was invited to visit
it Charmed with the beauty of the work, and
amazed by the celerity of its execution, he ex-
claimed, on seeing it, '' The painter of this picture
is either an angel or a demon." Giordano re«
ceived his compliments and made his own excuses
with so much address, that the Marquess, forgetting
all past ojSences, engaged him to paint in the
palace, and passed much of his time by his side,
observing his progress, and enjoying his lively con-
versation.
These honours, however, compelled him to neglect
and offend other patrons. One of these personages,
the Duke of Diano, being very anxious for the com-
pletion of his orders, at last lost all patience, and
REIGN OF CHARLES IL 1155
collaring him in public, threatened him with personal C ELxm .
chastisement. The Viceroy, being informed of this
insult, took up his friend's quarrel in a right royal
style. He invited the Duke, who affected connois-
seurship, to pass judgment on a picture lately painted
by Giordano for the palace, in imitation of the style
of Kubens. The unlucky noble fell into the trap,
and pronounced it a work of the Fleming. Seeming
to assent to this criticism, the Viceroy replied that
Giordano was painting a companion to the picture,
a piece of information which Diano received with a
sneer, and a remark on the artist's uncivil treatment
of persons of honour. Here Heliche tartly inter-
posed, telling him that the work which he had
praised was painted, not by Bubens, but by Giordano,
and, repeating the sentiment of several crowned
heads on like occasions,^ admonished him of the
reverence due to a man so highly endowed by his
Maker. " And how dare you,*' cried he in a louder
tone, and sei^sing the Duke by his collar, ** thus insult
such a man, who is besides retained in my service ?
Know for the future that none shall play the bravo
here, so long as I bear rule in Naples ! " This scene
passing in the presence of many of the courtiers,
and some of the witnesses of the insult offered to
the painter, the poor provincial grandee retired
^ Supra, chap. xL p. 942, note i.
II56
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
C?H.XIIL
Contmned
Count of
SantMte-
▼an.
InTitetion
to the court
of Madrid.
Journey,
andn
tion.
covered with mortification, and falling into de-
spondency, died soon after of fever.
The Marqness of Heliche died in 1688, in the
eighth year of his government. His successor,
Don Francisco de Benavides, Count of Santistevan,
was no less favonrahly disposed towards Giordano.
He purchased all his unfinished pictures, which had
been ordered by Heliche, and gave him many new
commissions, amongst which was one for a series of
works illustrative of Tasso's great poem. The fame
of the artist had now reached Castile, and the capital
of the monarchy. A Spanish grandee had ordered
a series of pictures for Queen Maria Louisa, and
fourteen were completed at the time of her sudden
death; an event of which Don Giulio Navarretta,
Marquess della Terza, took advantage to obtain them
for his own palace at Naples. But Don Cristobal de
Ontafion, a favourite courtier of Charles H., return-
ing from Italy, full of admiration for Giordano and
his works, so sounded his praises in the royal ear,
that the King invited him to court, paying the
expenses of the journey, and giving him a gratuity
of 1,500 ducats.
The painter, therefore, embarked at Naples, on
board one of the royal galleys, accompanied by his
son Nicholas, a nephew named Giuseppe Giordano,
his confessor Baldassar Yalente, and two scholars,
Aniello Rossi and Mateo Facelli, and attended by
REIGN OF CHARLES 11.
"57
three servants. Landing at Barcelona, and resting
there for a few days, he finally reached Madrid in
May 1692. Six of the royal coaches were sent to
meet him on the road, and conduct him to the
house of his friend Ontafion. On the day of his
arrival he was carried, by the King's desire, to the
Alcazar, and presented to his Majesty. Charles
received him with great kindness, inquired how he
had borne the fatigues of the road, and expressed
his joy at finding him much younger in appearance
than he had been taught to expect. The artist,
with his usual courtly tact, replied, that the journey,
to enter the service of so great a monarch, had
renewed his youth, and that in the presence of his
Majesty, he felt as if he were twenty again.^
"Then," said Charles, smiling, "you are not too
weary to pay a visit to my gallery;" and led him
through the noble halls of Philip II., rich with the
finest pictures of Italy and Spain. It was probably
on this occasion that the Neapolitan, pausing before
Velazquez's celebrated picture of the Infanta and
her meninas, bestowed on it its well-known name
of the "Theology of Painting/'* The King, who
OH. XIII.
1 Mignard made a still happier reply to Louis XIV. on a more difficult
occasion, " Yons me trouTez vieilli?** said the King on beginning to sit
for one of his later portraits. '' II est vrai, sire,'* answered the Lawrence
of Versailles, " que je vols qnelques campagnes de plus traces sur le
front de votre Majesty." Mouville, Vie de Mignard, p. 144.
* Supra, chap. iz. pp. 769-774.
II58
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
CH.xnL
Saooenfal
imitation
of Bosaano.
Works for
Buenro-
tiro,
had embraced the painter when first presented,
honoured him, at parting, with a kiss on the fore-
head, and with a key as gentleman of the royal
chamber.
One of Giordano's earliest works in Spain was a
clerer imitation of the style of the elder Bassano.
The King, during his audience^ had remarked with
regret that a certain picture in the Alcazar, by
that master, wanted a companion. Luca, therefore,
secretly procured a frame and a piece of old Vene-
tian canvas of the proper size, and by means of his
practised pencil, and a preparation of boiled gall
and soot, the required picture, with all the neces-
sary appearance of age, was speedily painted and
hung up. In their next walk through the gallery
the King noticing the change, heard the story
with great surprise and satisfaction, and laying his
hand on the artist's shoulder, said, "Long life to
Giordano."
The first large works on which he was engaged
for the King, were two pictures for the chapel-royal
of Buenretiro. One was the "Archangel Michael
vanquishing Lucifer," the other, St. Anthony of
Padua, "the strong hammer of heresy,"^ delivering
^ Vida y MUagrot delglorioto San Antonio de Padua, Sol brillante d€
la Iglesia, Lustre de la Religion serd^ficaf Gloria de Portugal, Honor de
EspaHa, Tesorero de Italia, Terror del Infiemo, Martillo fuerte de la
Heregia, entre loa Santos, por exceUnda, el Milagrero; esorita por el B.
P. Fr. Miguel Mestre, Geiona, no date.
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
"59
that celebrated sennon, which, despised by the un-
believing men of Bimini, found shoals of listeners
among the fish of the Adriatic.^ He was then sent
to the Escorial, and began his labours in the grand
staircase of the convent. On its vaulted roof he
painted the Most Holy Trinity, the heavens, and all
the powers therein ; taking care to give due promi-
nence to Hermenegild and Ferdinand, the Emperor
Henry, Stephen of Hungary, Casimir of Poland, and
other canonised kinsmen of the house of Austria^ and
to place, on the threshold of the empyrean, St. Jerome
in the act of introducing Charles V. and Philip II.
to the mansions of eternal bliss. He decorated the
walls with other frescoes representing the virtues
and the exploits of these two celebrated monarchs,
the battle of St. Quentin, and the foundation of the
building. Of these works the latter is the best ; its
colouring is brilliant and effective, and the figure
of Philip II. is carefully executed, after the fine
portraits by Titian. The staircase was finished in
seven months, a space of time which many artists
would have spent in making the necessary sketches.
The applause with which these frescoes were
received, led the King to employ Giordano to paint
some other subjects on the vaults of the church.
He commenced at the ends of the side aisles, taking
OH. XIII.
and the Ei-
corial;
Staircase.
Frescoes in
the church
of the Es-
corial.
^ Ribadeneira» FUurs, torn. i. p. 694.
ii6o
REIGN OF CHARLES 11.
CH.xni. for his subjects the "Fall of the Rebel Angels," the
''Immaculate Conception/* the "Incarnation," the
" Nativity,*' and the " Epiphany/* and the triumphs
of the spotless Virginity, and of the Church militant,
themes which he expanded into large allegorical
works. On the dome of the chapel of the high-altar
he painted the "Death of the Blessed Virgin," a
yast assemblage of angels, apostles, and other figures,
which, says Cean Bermudez, resemble rather an epic
poem than a mere historical composition. The
"Passage of the Red Sea," the "Fall of Manna,"
the " Overthrow of the Amalekites,'* " Samson extract-
ing Honey from the Carcase of the Lion," " Elijah
sleeping under the Juniper,'* "David taking the
Shewbread," and the " Last Judgment,** were likewise
treated by his hasty pencil in various parts of the
vaults. All these works, including those in the
staircase, and certain passages from the histories of
David and Solomon on the ceilings of the galleries
leading from the college and convent to the choir,
were completed within two years. Fray Francisco de
los Santos, prior and historian of the royal convent,
wrote a minute eulogistic description of them ^ as a
supplement to his larger work ; and Palomino, who
devotes several pages to the same object, pronounces
^ Descripcion de los excelentes pvnturas al fresco can que la MageHad
del Bey nuestro SerU)r Carlos IL (que Diosguarde) ha mandado aumemtar
d adomo del Beal Moncuterio de S. Lorenzo del Eseorial, 4to, N. D.
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
1161
Giordano to be far superior, as a painter of frescoes,
to Cambiaso or any other artist, native or foreign,
who had ever v^rought at the Escorial.^
Whilst Giordano was employed at the Escorial,
two doctors of theology were ordered to attend upon
him, to answer his questions and resolve any doubts
that might arise as to the orthodox manner of treating
his subjects. A courier was despatched every evening
to Madrid, with a letter from the Prior to the King,
rendering an account of the artist's day's work ; and,
within the present century, some of these letters
were still preserved at the Escorial. On one occasion
he wrote thus: "Sire, your Giordano has painted
this day about twelve figures thrice as large as life.
To these he has added the powers and domina-
tions, with the proper angels, cherubs, and seraphs,
and clouds to support the same. The two doctors
of divinity have not answers ready for all his
questions, and their tongues are too slow to keep
pace with the speed of his pencils." ^
CH. XIII.
^ Palomino, torn. iiL p. 698.
' Les Arts ItcUiens en Eapagne^ au histoire des artistes Itodiens qui
cofUnbttirent d embellir les CastiUes; foL Rome, 1824, p. 119, note 29.
This work, which appeared in the same form in the same year in Italian,
was puhlished by anthoiity and at the expense of the Academy of St.
Luke, to which body it is dedicated, and was written by M. Quilliet,
anthor of the Dictionnaire des Peintres Sspagnols^ 8vo, Paris, 1816 ; who,
indeed, in the preface to that volume (p. xi, note *) refers to his Diction^
naire des Artistes lEtrangers qui ont travailU en Espagne^ a book of
which I have been unable to find any other mention, and which, pro-
bably, was first published in. the above-mentioned form at Rome. The
VOL. IIL T
Il62
REIGN OF CHARLES 11.
CH. XIIL
FresooMat
Buenr»-
tiro.
Toledo.
Madrid.
Returning to Madrid, Oiordano was again em-
ployed at Buenretiro, in painting on the ceiling of
a great hall, a fresco history of the order of the
Golden Fleece. The antechamher also he embel-
lished with a composition representing Morning, and
with four large oil-pictures of the wars of Granada.
The King afterwards sent him to Toledo, to paint
the ceiling of the Cathedral sacristy, a work which
he is said to have undertaken with reluctance. The
subject was the Virgin bestowing the holy chasuble
on St. Ildefonso, the favourite theme of Toledan
pens and pencils,^ and one into which Giordano
contrived to introduce his own portrait, looking
out of a window. For the chapel-royal of the
Alcazar at Madrid, he painted various frescoes, and
some oil-pictures on subjects taken from the Old
Testament; he executed a variety of allegorical
subjects for the saloons at Aranjuez; he altered
and made considerable additions to the frescoes of
the younger Herrera, in the church of Our Lady of
Atocha,' and he painted the life of the Blessed
Virgin for the royal convent of St. Jerome. In
the church of San Antonio of the Portuguese, he
avtbor calls himself ^ Aneien oonservateiir des Monnmens des Arts dans
les Palais royaux d'Espagne,** and says that he lived for sixteen years in
Spain, and collected a large mass of materials for a history of Spanish arti
which was lost in the ront at Vittoria. The letters mentioned in the text
were shown to him by one of the monks of the EsooriaL
^ Supra, ohap. xii. p. 1085. * Ibid. p. iiii.
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
1163
retouched some decaying frescoes of Carrefio and
Francisco Bizi ; and he painted on the walls, in
imitation of tapestry, a series of the most remark-
able of the miracles of the patron saint. He is
said likewise to have been employed to veil some
of the nudities in the Escorial pictures which
offended the austere souls of Charles II. and his
monks. Besides piecing the robe of Titian's St.
Margaret,^ he is supposed to have metamorphosed
a picture, by that master, of Tarquin violating
Lucrece, into a whiskered and turbaned Turk bran-^
dishing a scimitar over the head of a Sultana
robed in ermine. Happily these audacious changes
were wrought in water-colours, and a damp sponge
applied in the present century recalled the rich
Venetian colouring to its original brightness.'
Notwithstanding these large and important under-
takings, he found time to execute a vast number
of pictures for other churches, as well as for the
palaces of the nobility. No labourer was ever more
constant to his task; and, to the scandal of his
more devout brethren, he was to be found at his
easel even on days of religious festivals. His daily
^ Sapra, chap. L p. 38.
* Les ArU ItaHena en Espagne, p. 115, note 6. This fine picture,
bought from the collection of Charles I. at Whitehall by Phihp IV.,
was stolen from Madrid by Joseph Bonaparte, and is now in the posses-
sion of William Coningham, Esq. [A picture of this subject by Titian
is now at Hertford House.]
CH.XnL
Industry.
II64
REIGN OF CHARLES 11.
CH.XIIL
Habits of
life.
Panimonj*
Success.
Claudio
Coello*B
envy.
habit was to paint from eight in the morning till
noon, when he dined and rested for two hours.
At two o'clock he resumed his pencil, and continued
working till five or six o'clock. He then took an
airing in the Frado, or along the dusty bed of the
Manzanares, in one of the royal carriages, which
was placed at his disposal. ^'If I am idle for a
single day," he used to say, "my pencils get the
better of me; I must keep them in subjection by
constant practice." Avarice, however, was supposed
to be the real cause of his intense application ; he
received great prices for his works; and to amass
a large fortune was his ambition. The King found
him in all the necessaries of life, and paid him 200
crowns a month. Of this salary he was never
known to spend a maravedi, except in the pur-
chase of jewels, which he considered a safe and
profitable investment, and with which he loved to
astonish his friends, as he did Palomino with a
magnificent pearl necklace.^
No painter, not even Titian himseli^ was more
caressed at court than Giordano. For ten years he
was the man whom Charles II. delighted to honour.
His brilliant success is said to have shortened the
life of Claudio Coello, the ablest of his Castilian
rivals. That painter, desirous of impairing bis
^ Palomino, torn. iiL p. 699.
REIGN OF CHARLES 11.
1 165
credit with the King, says the historian of Neapolitan
arty^ proposed that he should paint a large composi-
tion on the suhject of " Michael quelling the Arch-
fiend/' on a canvas fifteen palms high, in the
presence of his Majesty. Giordano at once accepted
the challenge, and in little more than three hours
produced a work, which, if of no great merit, was
sufficient to amaze and delight the royal judge of
the field. " Mirad homhre / " " Look here, man I "
said the latter to the discomfited Coello, and pointing
to Luca Fa-presto, " there stands the best painter in
Naples, Spain, and the world ; verily he is a painter
for a King." Both Charles and Queen Mariana of
Neuburg sate several times to him for their portraits.
They were never weary of visiting his studio, and
took great pleasure in his lively conversation, and
his exhibitions of artistic tricks. Whilst the Queen
was one day questioning him about his wife and
her personal appearance, he quietly painted her
portrait, and cut short further interrogation by
saying, ''Here, madam, is your Majesty's most
humble servant herself," an eflfbrt of memory or
imagination which gained Doiia Margarita a string
of pearls from the neck of her most gracious
sovereign. Sometimes he would lay on his colours
with his finger and thumb instead of brushes, and,
^ Dominici, torn. iii. p. 421.
OH. XIII.
Sldlland
celerity of
ii66
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
CH. XIII.
Charles II.
in this unusual manner, he executed a tolerable
portrait of Don Francisco Filipin, a feat over which
the melancholy middle-aged monarch rejoiced with
almost boyish transport It seemed as if he were
carried back to that delightful night when he first
saw his beautiful Maria Louisa dance a saraband at
the ball of Don Pedro de Aragon.^ His satisfaction
found Tent in a mark of favour, which had occurred
to none of his condescending ancestors, and which
not a little disconcerted the recipient. Semoving a
skull-cap, which the artist had permission to wear
in the presence, he kissed him on the crown of the
head, and pronounced him a prodigy, and further
caused him to execute, in the same digital style,
a picture of St. Francis of Assisi, for the Queen.
He sometimes said, that if he, as a King, were
greater than Luca, Luca, as a man especially gifted
by God, was greater than he, a sentiment somewhat
novel from . royal lips in the seventeenth century.
The Queen^mother, Mariana of Austria, was also an
admirer of the fortunate artist. On occasion of his
painting for her apartment a picture of the ** Nativity
of Our Lord," she presented him with a rich jewel,
and when he brought it home finished, with a
diamond of great value from her own imperial
finger.
1 Dunlop'B Memoin, toL ii. p. 216.
REIGN OF CHARLES 11.
1167
Charles II. dying in 1 7cx), Giordano remained for a
time in the service of his French successor, Philip V.,
who treated him with the favour to which he had
now become accustomed from crowned heads, and
ordered him to paint a series of pictures as a pre-
sent to his grandfather Louis XIV. The War of
the Succession, however, breaking out, the artist
was glad to seize the occasion of the Bourbon
prince's visit to Naples to return to his native land.
He accompanied the court to Barcelona in February
1702, but as Philip delayed his embarkation, he
proceeded on his journey by land. Passing through
Genoa and Florence, he was received with distinc-
tion, and left some pictures, in those cities. At
Rome he kissed the feet of Clement XI., and was
permitted, by special favour, to enter the papal
apartments with his sword at his side and his
spectacles upon his nose. These condescensions he
repaid with two large and highly-praised pictures of
the '^Passage of the Bed Sea," and '^ Moses striking
the Rock."
At his return to Naples he does not seem to have
relaxed in his industry and application. His renown
in Spain made him yet more famous at home. His
constitution finally gave way under the combined
effects of hard labour and high living, and he died
of a putrid fever in January 1705, in the seventy-
third year of his age.
CH. xin.
Death of
CharlM II.|
Giordano
returns to
Italy.
Death.
ii68
REIGN OF CHARLES 11.
CaXHL
Person and
ohantctar.
Wealth.
In person Luca Giordano was of middle height,
and well proportioned. His complexion was dark
and his countenance spare, and chiefly remarkable
for the size of its nose, and for an expression rather
melancholy than joyous. He was a man, however,
of adroit wit and jovial humour, and possessed
manners so engaging that he passed through life a
social favourite. His school was always filled with
scholars, and as a master he was in the main
kind and popular, although, on one occasion, he
acknowledged to having broken a handsome silver-
mounted maulstick, the gift of a fiiend, upon the
backs of his assistants.' Greediness of gain seems
to have been the blot of his character. He refused
no commission that offered, being wont to say that
he had three sorts of pencils, of gold, of silver,
and wood, and so made his pictures tally with his
prices. Yet he frequently painted gratuitous works
as pious offerings to the altars of poor churches
and convents. He died very rich, leaving I50,cxx)
ducats invested in various ways, 20,cxx) ducats'
worth of jewels, many thousands in ready money,
1300 pounds' weight of gold and silver plate, and a
fine house full of fine furniture. Out of this he
founded an entailed estate for his eldest son
Lorenzo, and bequeathed liberal provisions to his
^ Palomino, torn. ii. p. 44.
1
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
1 169
widow, two younger sons, and six daughters. His
sons and son-in-law enjoyed several lucrative posts,
conferred on them in the kingdom of Naples by
the favour of Charles II.
Perhaps no artist ever enjoyed so large a share
of contemporary fame] as Giordano. Possessed of
inexhaustible invention and a marvellous facility of
hand, which enabled him to multiply his works to
any required amount, he had the good fortune to
hit upon a style which pleased, while it still farther
corrupted, the declining taste of the age. It became
the fashion to admire everything that came from his
prolific pencil. At Madrid and at Naples every
work of his was received with acclamations of
applause, from his frescoes at the Escorial to his
portrait of himself sketched on a playing-card, and
enclosed in a letter to his anxious wife,^ from his
vast allegorical altar-pieces to his imitations of
Durer, Bubens, and Bassano. His works were as
eagerly purchased by Dutch burgomasters as by royal
and imperial collectors at Paris and Vienna; and
Prior, beneath the oaks of Burghley, sang the praises
of ''divine Jordain."* That he was a man of
genius there can be no doubt, and had he lived in
the better times of the sixteenth century, and acquired
^ Dominici, torn. iii. p. 441.
* Lines on a picture of Seneca, by Jordain.
OH.xni.
Popol&rity.
Faults of
his style.
iiyo
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
cH.xm.
Merita.
His pic-
tures in
Spain.
habits of accurate as well as diligent study, it is
probable that he would stiU have been remembered
as one of the greatest artists. Palomino has justly
said of El Greco that what he did well, no man
could do better, and what he did ill, was never done
worse.^ On Giordano, Cean Bermudez passes an
opposite, but equally true, judgment, that he has
left nothing that is absolutely bad, and nothing that
is perfectly good. His compositions always bear
the marks of the fdrious haste in which they were
painted, and they are disfigured in many cases by
an incongruous association of pagan and Christian
mythology, of history and allegory, a blemish as well
of the literature as of the art of that age. In his
groups and figures he delighted in strained and
affected attitudes ; in the management of light and
shade he loved glare and glitter ; and to the exhibi-
tion of his power of contending with difficulties of
drawing he too frequently sacrificed the harmony
and repose of his works. Still he deserves praise
for the fertility of his invention, for great force and
richness of colour, and for a certain grandeur of
conception and freedom of execution, which belong
only to a great master. The Royal Gallery at Madrid
possesses no less than fifty-five of his pictures — of
all sizes, and on every variety of subject — a selection
^ Palomino, torn. ilL p. 481.
REIGN OF CHARLES II. 1171
from the multitude which he left in the various ch.xiii.
palaces of Charles II. Andromeda on the rock,
Bathsheba at the bath, Erminia wandering in the
woodlands of Jordan, Samson, Tumus, Tancred, and
St. Anthony, are only a few of the personages whose
doings or sufferings his pencil has there recorded.
Besides original works there are a considerable
number of the imitations for which he was so famous,
large compositions painted in the manner of Rubens,^
and Bibera,' a portrait in the style of Bembrandt,'
smaller pictures on copper in the style of the minor
Flemish masters,^ and a group of boys cuffing one
another over a disputed point at cards, executed
with considerable care on the model of similar works
by Nuflez de Villavicencio.* Although these imita-
tive efforts axe not without merit, none of them are
sufficiently successful to deceive a practised eye.
Beneath the mask of Bubens or Bembrandt there is
always some indication of the features of Luca
Fa-presto.
Erancisquito was a Spaniard by birth, who became Fmncia.
quito,
the disciple of Luca Giordano, at Madrid. That achoiarof
^ Giordano.
master entertained the highest opinion of his
abilities, and was wont to say that he would one
» Catdlogo [1843], No. 890 [1889, No. 211].
s Ibid. Na 802 [1889, No. 203].
» Ibid. No. nil [1889. No. 233].
* Ibid. Noe. 823 and 824 [1889, NO0. 194-5].
> Ibid. Na 1620 [1889, No. 234].
II73
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
ciLxm.
Jxuok Van-
keteU
day become a better painter than himself. These
hopes, however, were never realised, for Francis-
quito died, in the flower of his age, in 1704, at
Naples, whither he had accompanied his master.
For the church of S*^ Lucia del Monte in that
city, he painted a picture representing Pope St.
Pasquale, a great church-builder and exhumer of
holy corpses ; ^ and he left behind him some draw-
ings, in pen and ink, much resembling, and hardly
inferior to, those of his master.'
Juan Yankesel was bom in Flanders in 1644,
and learned painting from his father, the eminent
flower-painter, whose name he bore^ and who had
been a scholar of David Teniers. He came to
Madrid in 1680. There, an historical picture and
some family portraits painted for a Flemish patron
residing in the Spanish capital, brought him into
notice, and gained him the favour of the court
After painting the portraits of various of the lords
and ladies of the palace, he executed that of Queen
Maria Louisa, in a style so highly satisfactory to her
doting husband, that he was appointed painter-in-
ordinary to the King on the 21st of April 1686.
By the Queen's desire he painted in the northern
^ RilMuleneiTa, Fleurs des Viet det SainU, torn. i. p. 602. Battista
Platina, Hutoria delle vite dei sommi PowUfici, nella volgar/avella da
Lueio Fauno tradoUa^ 4to, Yenetia, 1592, fol. lao.
s Dominici, torn. iiL p. 442.
REIGN OF CHARLES 11.
"73
gallery of the Alcazar a passage from the story of
Cupid and Psyche, representing the amorous god
leading his nymph into the bowers of celestial bliss.
Having been engaged on this work for a consider-
able time, he was at last required by the King
to fix the day for its completion. He asked for
six weeks, which, however, not proving sufficient,
the delay provoked Charles into punning and
sarcasm, for he remarked that Yankesel was still
more phlegmatic than Flemish,^ and seemed to
reckon by the weeks of Daniel, which the Jews
held to be eternal in duration. He afterwards
painted another scene from the same fable, Psyche
in the wilderness, which was more generally admired
than the other, because it contained wild animals
and a landscape, subjects in which he excelled.
He enjoyed the favour of Queen Mariana of Neu-
burg, whose portrait, as well as that of her lord,
he painted more than once. At the King's death,
in 1700, he accompanied the widowed Queen to
Toledo, with the intention of following her to
Bayonne, but illness compelled him to return to
Madrid. There he had the honour of painting the
portrait of Philip V., but had not the satisfaction of
fulfilling the expectations of the royal sitter. He
died soon afterwards, in 1708. He was an excellent
^ Flenieneo, phlegmatic ; Flamenco, Flemish, Palomino, torn, iii
p. 715.
OH. xni.
Charles 11.
perp«ii»tM
apuD.
"74
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
GH.XIIL
John CIoi-
terman.
painter of flowers and fruit, and he engraved one of
his own works, a portrait of Vii^nio Provenzali.
Notwithstanding his connection with the court,
there is no specimen of his skill in the Royal Gallery
of Spain. The Louvre has a portrait,^ attributed
to him, of the Queen-dowager Mariana in her
widow's weeds, and apparently sinking beneath the
cruel malady of which she died.* After being
painted in her youth by Velazquez,' and in her
comely matronly days by Carreilo,* this poor princess
found but an indifferent successor in Vankesel, at
the time when a skilful hand was most needed,
to restore somewhat of bloom to her cheek and
light to her eyes.
John Closterman ^ was son of a painter, and bom
at Osnaburg, in 1656. He set out on his travels
in 1679, and went to Paris, where he wrought as
an assistant to the historical painter Frangois de
Troy. Two years afterwards he came to England,
and executed the draperies for the portraits of
John Kiley. In 1696 he visited Spain, where he
pourtrayed Charles II., Queen Mariana of Neuburg,
some of their dwarfs, Stanhope the English am-
1 GaL Eap., No 453 [sold 1853].
* Flores, Reynas Cathdlicasy torn. iL p. 969.
' Supra, chap. iz. p. 774. * Infra, p. 1182.
B Descamps, Peintres Flamands, <!«., torn. iiL p. 351, calls Mm N,
CloysUrmanj but I prefer taking Walpole as my guide ; Work$t 5 vols.
4to, London, 1798, vol. iii. p. 373.
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
"75
bassador,^ and other personages, and likewise wrote
letters to Richard Graham,' describing the treasures
of art at Madrid. Returning to Covent Garden,
he had the honour of painting Queen Anne for the
Guildhall of London, and many other celebrities
of the day, amongst whom was John Dryden. In
praise of that poet's portrait, Elsum, one of the
dullest of the English followers of Martial, delivered
himself of a pointless epigram, of which the con-
cluding couplet may be taken as a specimen —
" CloBterman, 'tis confest, haa drawn him well,
Bat short of Abt'lom and AehitopheL" *
Although Closterman's colouring was heavy and his
style graceless, he was a favourite artist amongst
the wearers of "wigs of Marlborough's martial
fold," and no mean rival to Kneller himself. He
died in 1710, of grief, it is said, at being robbed
and deserted by his kept mistress.
Fray Nicolas Busi was a German sculptor, brought
to Spain by Don Juan of Austria. He was sculptor-
* Mahon's Spain under Charles II., p. isa
* Probably itte editor of the second edition of Dryden's translation of
Bufresnoy, 8vo, London, 1716^ and author of the appended account of the
most eminent painters, both ancient and modem.
' JSpigrams upon the Paintings of the most eminent Mcuters^ Ancient
and Modem, with Reflections upon the several Schools of Painting, by
J. E. Esq., 8vo, London, 1700 ; Ep. clxir. p. 126. The work is sometimes,
bnt most unjustly, ascribed to Evelyn. John Elsum was likewise author
of The Art of Painting after the Italian Manner ^ Svo, London, 1704 ;
but his prose is almost as heavy as his poetry.
CH.Xm.
Sculptor.
Nicolas
Bust.
IZ76
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
CH. XIII.
Painters of
Castile.
JuanCar-
refiode
Miranda.
in-ordinary to Philip IV., whose portrait he executed,
as well as that of his second Queen. Charles 11. gave
him the cross of Santiago and a handsome pension.
We come now to the native artists of Spain.
Juan Carrefio de Miranda was bom at the town of
Avil^s, in the principality of Asturias, on the 25 th
of March 16 14. His parents were both of noble
family, the name of his father being that which he
himself, in due time, made distinguished, and that
of his mother, Catalina Fernandez Bermudez. The
Carrenos were eminent amongst the knights and
nobles of Castile, so early as the reign of Don
Sancho lY. In 1326 that monarch granted to
Garci Fernandez Carreflo and his heirs for ever,
the dress worn on Holy Thursday by the sovereign,
a perquisite redeemed by the Emperor Charles V.
by an annual payment of 11,200 maravedis, which
was made within the present century to the Asturian
family of Carbayedos, in which that of Cairefio
had merged. The elder Carreno having a law-suit
on hand, and being, besides, a place-hunter and a
projector, repaired to Madrid in 1623, and in that
year, and 1626, he printed three memorials setting
forth a plan for improving the revenues of the
Crown-property. His fortunes in the precarious
life of a pretendiente ^ are not known ; but he seems
^ Supra, chap. ix. p. 809.
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
1177
to have remained for several years in the capital.
The yonng Juan, evincing an early inclination for
art, vf^as placed in the school of Pedro de las
Cuevas, where he learned to draw, and afterwards
in that of Bartolom^ Boman, from whom he derived
his instruction in the use of colours. In his
twentieth year he painted some pictures for the
cloisters of the college of DoiLa Maria of Aragon,
and for the conventual church of the Bosary, which
were favourably received by the public, rendered
critical and fastidious by such artists as Carducho,
Mayno, and Velazquez.
It is uncertain whether CarreiLo passed the most
active and important period of life, from twenty to
forty, in the metropolis, or in his native province.
In 1657, being chosen alcalde of the nobles in his
native town of Avil^s, he declined the office on the
plea of residence at Madrid. The year following,
Madrid elected him to the same municipal post, and
he was obliged to sacrifice a considerable portion of
his time to the discharge of its duties. Velazquez
becoming aware of the inconvenience to which he
was put, and being ever ready to do a brother artist
a good turn, obtained for him employment in the
palace, which exempted from further official drudgery.
In the hall of mirrors in the Alcazar, he began to
paint in fresco the fable of Vulcan and Pandora,
but being attacked by illness, the work was finished
VOL. m. z
CH.xnL
CiTio potts.
ObtftiiiB
good em-
ployment
at the
Alcasar.
XI78
REIGN OF CHARLES 11.
CH. XIIL
Aiypointed
painter to
the King.
Variont
worka.
by Rizi. Some years afterwards, however, the roof
of the hall being damaged by rain, he repainted the
story in oil, so much to the satisfaction of Philip IV.,
that he was appointed one of the royal painters
before the death of that monarch.^ Perhaps he
owed his promotion, in some degree, to a work
which he had painted in the vaults of Our Lady of
Atocha. The subject was the "Dream of Pope
Honorius III.," wherein that pontifiF beheld his
church of St. John Lateran tottering to its fall, but
miraculously supported by the holy Dominic and
Francis, a piece of visionary service for which he is
said to have confirmed the two famous monastic
orders still known by their names. The Bolognese
painter, Colonna,* was so struck with the genius
displayed by this fresco, that on being asked by
Philip IV. whom he considered the best painter at
Madrid, he gave his voice in favour of CarreiLo.'
He seems to have gained a considerable reputa-
tion as an artist in the capital before he obtained a
footing at court. The churches of San Martin, San
Juan, and San Gines, and the chapels of the Ber-
nardine, Franciscan, and Carmelite nunneries, and
* Cean Bennndei, departing from bis n^nal aocuney, infonnB ub tbat
Philip IV. » "le hiio la meroed de nombrarle sa pintor en 27 de Sep-
tiembre de 1669." Pbilip died in 1665. The appointment probably took
place in 1660, after tbe death of Velazqnez.
* Sapia, chap. tiiL p. 661. * Palomino, torn. iiL p. 619.
REIGN OF CHARLES IL 1179
many other convents, were adorned with his works.
To the chapel of San Isidro, in the chnrch df San
Andres, he furnished two large pictures, represent-
ing passages in the life of that holy husbandman, to
the illustration of whose history, in the same place,
the rapid pencil of the younger Kizi had likewise
contributed.^ The first represented the patron of
Madrid, like another Moses, opening a miraculous
fountain with his sheep-hook, to quench the thirst
of his master, Ivan de Vargas ; ' the second, the mani-
festation of the saint's precious and fragrant corpse
to King Alonso VIII.' Both have been highly
praised by Palomino ; * and the former was toler-
ably engraved by that historian's nephew, Juan
Palomino, in 1760. For the parish churches of
Orgas and Alcorcon, he painted two large pictures
of the Assumption of the Virgin ; and for the
chapel of the noble family of the Bracamonte,
in the church of PeiLaranda, a composition from
the exemplary life of S*^ Isabel, Infanta of Aragon
and Queen of Portugal, grand-niece and rival of
the holy Princess of Hungary.^ Carreflo's works
were not confined to the capital, but were to be
> Snpra, chap. z. p. 837. * YiUegas, Flos Sanctorum, p^ 843.
s Ibid. p. 845. * Palomino, torn. iiL p. 618.
' Supra, chap. xiL p. 1025. Joan. Tamayo Salazar, Anamnesis, sive
eommemoratio Sanctorum Hispanorum, 6 torn. foL Lugdnni, 1656, torn,
iv. p. 14.
CH. XIII.
iz8o
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
CH. XIII.
Works at
Toledo.
found at Almeida, AlcaM de Henares, Segovia,
and other towns of Castile. Pamplona also possessed
a fine specimen of his religious painting in a large
altar-piece in the convent of Trinitarian friars, which
being painted to be seen from a distance, was at
first condemned by the ignorant fathers, like the
great Virgin of Murillo by the Franciscans of
SeviUe.^
In 1665 Carrefio was employed, as we have
already seen,' in conjunction with Francisco Bizi,
in executing certain works for the Cathedral of
Toledo. For that venerable temple he likewise
assisted the same artist in 1671 to paint the monu-
ment for the Holy Week, and he was also his
associate in decorating with frescoes the dome of
the church of St. Anthony of the Portuguese at
Madrid. On the nth of April 1671, on the death
of Herrera-Bamuevo, he was appointed painter-in-
ordinary and deputy- Aposentador to the young King,
with whom he became a great favourite. He was
painting his Majesty's portrait one day in the
presence of the Queen-mother, when the royal sitter
asked him to which of the knightly orders he
belonged. "To none," replied the artist, "but the
order of your Majesty's servants." "Why is this?"
said Charles. The Admiral of Castile, who was
^ Supra, chap, zil p. 1078.
' Ibid. chap. x. p. 835.
1
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
xi8i
standing by, promptly replied that he should have a
cross immediately, and on leaving the royal presence,
sent CarreiLo a rich badge of Santiago, assuring him
that vehat the King had said entitled him to wear
it. The artist's diffidence and modesty, according
to Palomino,^ or some other cause, prevented him
from accepting the proffered distinction. His royal
master continued to treat him with unabated re-
gard, and, following the example of Philip IV. in
his conduct to Velazquez, would allow no artist
to paint his sallow countenance without CarreiLo's
permission.
Most of the distinguished personages of the first
half of this reign were pourtrayed by Carrefio. He
painted the King himself frequently in his boyhood,
and two of his early portraits are in the Royal
Gallery at Madrid, and there is one at Hampton
Court* which is probably from his easel. During
the negotiations for his Majesty's first marriage he
painted him armed and on horseback, to be sent to
France for the inspection of Louis XIV. and the
expectant bride. Mademoiselle d'Orleans, of whom
also he executed an equestrian portrait soon after
her arrival in Spain. He frequently pourtrayed the
fine face of Don Juan of Austria, of whom Lord
CH.xni.
Portndta.
^ Palomino, torn, iii p. 62a
* Where it is ascribed to Mrnillo, aa absud mistake» bat of a Idnd of
which that collection has many examples.
ii8i REIGN OF CHARLES IL
CH.xni. Clarendon^ possesses a good portrait by Carreflo.
The Queen-dowager Mariana was likewise often
his sitter, and, in his picture in the Queen of Spain's
gallery,* she is far more interesting in her widow's
weeds, than in the butterfly garb in which she
flaunts on the canvas of Velazquez. He also painted
her handsome paramour, Valenzuela, Marquess of
Villa Sierra; Benavides, Patriarch of the Indies ; and
Cardinal Sabas Milini, papal nuncio at the court of
Madrid. He was, likewise, fortunate in a subject
which did not generally fall to the lot of a Castilian
painter, in Bishop Peter Ivanowitz Potemkin, the
long-bearded ambassador of the Czar of Muscovy,
probably Feodor II., who appeared at Madrid about
1682, and whose full-length portrait, in red robes,
still exists in the Royal Gallery of Spain.* That
collection likewise possesses his curious study of a
female dwarf* of monstrous obesity, with her person
encased in a gaudy flowered dress, and with an
apple in each hand. This uncouth "bundle of
flesh," to borrow the graphic words of the Mar-
gravine of Baireuth,* is said, by Palomino, to
have served Carreiio as the model for the figure
of Bacchus, which, being popular, was multiplied
^ At No. I Grosyenor Ciescent. * Catdlogo, No. 85.
' Ibid. No. 517. * Ibid. No. 124.
' She deflcribes the two fat maids of honour of the MaignTine of
Erlangen, as ** deux paquets de chair.^ Memoires, torn. iL p. 74.
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
1 183
by copyists, and seems to have been attributed to
Velazquez.^
Carreno died at Madrid, in September 1685, aged
72, and was buried in the conventual church of San
Gil. He was greatly regretted, as well by his fellow-
artists and numerous disciples as by the King, who
continued his allowances &om the privy purse to his
widow, Dofia Maria de Medina. With the post he
seems to have been endowed with the kindly dis-
position of Velazquez. The following anecdote,
preserved by Palomino, exemplifies his ready good-
nature. One Gregorio Utande, an obscure artist of
Alcaic de Henares, had painted for the Carmelite
nuns of that town a picture of the " Martyrdom of
St. Andrew." The price which he demanded, 100
ducats, appearing exorbitant to the prudent sister-
hood, it was agreed that he should take the work
to Madrid, to be valued by Herrera-Bamuevo and
Caireiio. On reaching the capital, however, the
cunning artist called on the latter, and, without
explaining the object of his journey, begged him to
accept of a jar of honey and retouch his St. Andrew.
Carreno kindly complied, and in fietct repainted the
picture, which, to his astonishment, he was a few
days afterwards called upon to value. He, therefore,
declined the task, on the plea of his intimacy with
CH. XIII.
Death and
character.
AneodotM.
^ Sapra, ohap. iz. p. 732, note 3.
xiS4
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
caxm. the author, and left the matter to Herrera, who
pronounced the fair price to be 2CX3 ducats. Utande
went his way rejoicing, and appears to have received
the money and divulged his trick, for the picture was
long known at Alcald and in the nunnery as la Canr
tarUla de miel, or " the jar of honey." Lampooned
by Herrera the younger for performing a duty which
that turbulent artist chose to consider as an infringe-
ment of his rights,^ Carreiko displayed all the for-
bearance and equanimity of Murillo.^ No man,
indeed, was less disposed lightly to take offence.
Palomino was one day in company with him at the
house of Don Pedro de Arce, when a discussion
arose as to the painter of a certain copy of Titian's
St. Maigaret, which hung in the room, and which
all present voted execrable. '^It at least has the
merit," said CarreiLo quietly, "of showing that no
man need despair of improving in art, for I painted
it myself when I was a beginner.'* * An anecdote is
also told of the abstraction of mind with which he
pursued his labours. Being at his easel one morn-
ing with two friends, one of them, for a jest, drank
the cup of chocolate which stood untasted by his
side. The maid-servant removing the cup, Caireflo
remonstrated, saying he had not yet breakfasted.
^ Supra, ohap. xiL p. 1113.
* Palomino^ torn, iii p. 62a
* Ibid, pi 1069.
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
1185
and on being shown that the contents were gone, ch.xiii.
appealed to the visitors. Being gravely assured by
them that he had actually emptied the cup with his
own lips, he replied : " Well, really I was so busy
that I had entirely forgotten it."^ Palomino has
a story of a different complexion, in which he seems,
by a slip of the pen, to have substituted the name
of Garrefio for one of the hot-tempered Herreras.
In his remarks on the maulstick,' he cautions his
professional readers against having that implement
made too thick, because Carreiio once broke a
scholar's arm by a blow of the heavy staff, which
he used like Giordano,' for the double purpose of
supporting his wrist and maintaining order in his
school When the lad's father complained of this
more than Spartan discipline, the good-natured
absent artist is said to have aggravated the outrage
by seeking to excuse himself by a pun.'
Garrefio deservedly held a high place amongst the style.
artists of this reign. His religious compositions
were highly esteemed, and he was particularly sue-
^ So Dr. Stalcely, a wag of the Royal Society, ate up Newton's roast
fowL "How absent we philosophers are/' said Sir Isaac, uncoyering
the dish which contained the bones ; *< I really thonght I had not dined ! "
Sir David Brewster's Lift of NewUm^ sm. Svo, London, 1831, p. 341,
note.
* Palomino, torn. ii. p. 44. * Supra, p. 1168.
^ "I was yery unlucky/' he said, ''for the blow was given with the
greatest tientOf caution." Tienio also means maulstick.
ii86
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
CH.xin.
Diego Gon-
salesdela
Vega.
cessful in his delineations ^ of the Immacnlate Con-
ception,' that fascinating mystery in honour of
which the Castilian ambassador chastised a Moorish
cavalier in the Alhambra,' and the first book, printed
in Spain, issued from the press of Valencia.* His
portraits are easy and life-like, and not unworthy
of the walls gemmed with the productions of
Velazquez. He drew correctly, and coloured in a
style which recalls the soft and harmonious tints
of Vandyck. A print of St. Anthony of Padua,
with the Infant Jesus, about six inches high, has
been ascribed to his graver. A portrait of Carreno,
painted by himself, was in the collection of Don
Gaspar de Jovellanos, and was engraved by a pupil
of Juan Falomina
Diego Gonzalez de la Vega was bom in 1622,
at Madrid, where he learnt to paint under Francisco
Rizi. After marrying and becoming a widower,
he took priest's orders, but without relinquishing
the use of his pencil. For the Society of Advocates
he executed two large pictures, representing Our
Lord going to Calvary, and His descent from the
cross, which were placed in the Imperial College.
^ Palomino, torn, iii p. 62a ' Sapra, chap. ziL p. 1074.
> Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella, toL L p. 418.
^ Certamen poetieh en lohor de la Coneecio, 4to, VaL, 1474, for an
acoount of which see Fray Franciaco Mendezi Tj^pographia Espatiola,
8yo, Valencia, 1786, p. 56.
REIGN OF CHARLES 11.
1 187
He painted other works for the Franciscan friars,
and for the nuns of Don Juan de Alarcon; but
the principal part of this picture which he left
behind him belonged to the convent of the
Saviour, in which he resided for a considerable
time. Thence he removed to the hospital of the
Italians, where he was remarkable for his strict
performance of his religious functions, and where
he died on the 23rd of June 1697. I^ ^^^ convent
of the Saviour he founded a chaplaincy of fifty
ducats yearly, of which the fathers allowed a sister
who survived him to enjoy the fruits during her
life. His works are feeble, wanting energy both
in drawing and colouring.
Alonso del Arco was bom at Madrid in 1625,
and was generally known as el Sardillo of Pereda,
because he was bom deaf and dumb, and because
he learned to paint in the school of that fine
master.^ Benefiting, perhaps, by the system of
instruction invented by Bonet, the forerunner of
L'fip^e,* he acquired, as he grew up, the power of
articulating words, but his utterance was always
slow, and painful both to himself and those whom
he conversed with.' He displayed considerable
fidelity and skill in portraiture; and he executed
^ Supra, chap. z. p. 839. ' Ibid. chap. v. p. 300, note 2.
* Palomino, torn. iiL p. 67a
CH.XIIL
Alonso del
Arco.
xi88
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
CH.xnL his works so rapidly that he was much employed
in painting those ephemeral pictures which adorned
the triumphal arches erected for royal entries,
churches during canonisations, or catafalques at
great funerals. His studio, which was managed,
says Palomino, by his wife,^ was a busy manufactory
of such works, executed by his scholars from prints,
and finally retouched by himsel£ In his old age
his business declined, and he died in I7cx> so poor,
that the Marquess of Santiago made a proyision
for his widow, and placed his two daughters in a
nunnery. His works, in general very hastily exe-
cuted, and possessing little merit, were so numerous
in the convents of Madrid, that the curious can
hardly fail to find some of them in the National
Museum. In the sacristy of the church of St
Justo y Pastoral, AlcaU de Henares, there is a small
and poor picture by him representing " Our Lady of
the Conception ; " and the Academy of San Fernando
at Madrid has a better specimen of his skill in a
picture of the infant Saviour asleep on a cross,
perhaps the same which once hung in the cell of
Father Flores in the convent of St Felipe el Real.
The portrait of the deaf painter, executed by him-
self, was formerly in the collection of Don Bernardo
Iriarte.
^ Palomino, torn. iiL p. 671
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
X189
Antonio de Castrejon, bom at Madrid in 1625,
was a scholar of Francisco Fernandez, and a painter
whose colouring possessed some merit His best
works were of a small size, although he sometimes
executed large altar-pieces, such as the '* Martyrdom
of S*^ Lucia/' the Sicilian maid of Zaragoza who
owed her martyr^s crown to the spite of a rejected
lover,^ which hung in the church of St. Felipe el
Beal until the fire of 1 718. He occasionally painted
the figures in the architectural pictures of Boque
Ponce, a decorative artist of some repute, and some-
times executed small subjects within flower-garlands
by Gabriel de la Corte. Dying at Madrid in 1690,
he was buried in the church of San Louis.
Francisco Perez Sierra was son of a gentleman
of Gibraltar, who followed the career of arms in
the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and married the
daughter of the governor of Calabria. Bom at
Naples in 1627, he discovered an early inclination
for art, and was placed in the school of A niello
Falcone, the battle-painter, where he spent all the
time he could spare &om his duties as page to
Don Diego de la Torre, secretary to the council of
S*^ Clara. He afterwards followed this patron to
Madrid, where he became the disciple of the military
artist Juan de Toledo.' Having thus learned to
^ YillegaB, Flos Sanctorum, p. 58a
* Sapia, chap. xL p. 973.
CH.Xni.
Antonio de
CMtrejon.
Francisco
Peres
Siena.
1 190
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
CH.XIIL
Works.
paint battles and landscapes with facility, he quitted
the service of La Torre, and, marrying Dofia Monica
de los Rios, established himself as a painter.
The younger Bizi, and Carrefio, esteeming his
abilities, obtained for him some employment in the
palace of the Marquess of Heliche, and in the church
of the nuns of San Placido. Don Diego de la
Torre, besides causing him to make a number of
copies from works of Bibera, which he had brought
from Naples, employed him to paint a series of saints
for a chapel which he had founded in the conventual
church of the Angels. For that church he likewise
executed the paintings of a grand temporary monu-
ment and of a triumphal car, constructed in honour
of the admission of S*^ Rosa of Lima to the honours
of the Calendar in 1671. This flower of sanctity,
"whose fragrance has filled the whole Christian
world," * is the chief patroness of America, the S*^
Teresa of transatlantic Spain. Her story, presenting
many scenes attractive to the pencil, soon became a
favourite subject with friars and painters. Not even
Nicolas Factor was more ingenious in the art of self-
torture. Her usual food was a herb bitter as worm-
wood, and she frequently prefaced her meals by
anointing her palate with gall. When compelled by
* Vtda de la Gloriosa Virgen Dominicana Santa Rosa de 5** Marian
Natural de Lima, i patron principal de las Americas, escrita por el
Sefior Dr. D. Joa6 Manuel Bermudez ; 4to, Lima, 1827, p. 5.
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
1191
her mother to wear a wreath of roses, she so adjusted
it on her brow that it became a crown of thorns.
Rejecting a host of suitors, she destroyed the lovely
complexion to which she owed her name by an
application of pepper and quicklime.^ But she was
also a noble example of filial devotion, and main-
tained her once wealthy parents, fallen on evil days,
by the labour of her hands. She died in 161 7, in
the third order of St Dominic, and in the odour of
sanctity.* Perez Sierra afterwards painted another
altar, erected for a similar purpose, in the church of
the Franciscans, on occasion of a festival in honour
of their patron saint.
Appointed under Charles II. to the office of
general manager of prisons, he relinquished art as
a profession, but he continued to amuse his leisure
by painting flowers, for which a garden, attached to
his house in the Calle de las Infantas, afforded a
ready supply of models. These flower-pieces became
popular with the public at Madrid, and some of
them found their way into the galleries of Buen-
retiro. Diego de Naxera wrote a poetical romance
in their praise, in which he professed his inability
to decide on the relative merits of Nature's floral
* Vida de la Gloriosa Virgen Dominicana Santa Rosa de S*^ Maria,
Natural de Lima, % patron principal de las Americas, escritA por el
Sefior Dr. D. Jos^ Manuel Bermndez ; 4to, Lima, 1827, pp. 44, 45.
' Interian de Ayala, Pictor Christianus Eruditus, p. 344 ; and Bio-
graphic Universelle, torn, xzxix. p. 16.
CH.XIIL
Flower-
pio
1 192
REIGN OF CHARL£S IL
CH, zm.
Claudio
CkMUo.
7onthfta
industry.
productions, and his friend's.^ In his old age he
was seized with palsy, which incapacitated him
during the last years of his life from using the
pencil, and finally carried him off in 1709. He
was buried in the church of the Capuchins of La
Paciencia, whose chapel of Our Lord he made his
heir, a chapel which already possessed two of his
works, his own portrait, and a picture of '* Our Lady
of Solitude,"
Claudio Coello, one of the last of the great artists
of Castile, was bom at Madrid, in what year is un-
certain, but probably between 1630 and 1640. He
was the son of Faustino Coello, a Portuguese sculp-
tor in bronze, who, wishing for his assistance in his
own craft, sent him to leam drawing in the school
of Rizi the younger. Struck by the ability of this
foreign scholar, Bizi persuaded the father to allow
him to devote himself to painting ; and, in a short
time, the young Portuguese, possessing no less
industry than talent, outstripped all his compeers.
His master used to find him hard at work with his
pencil, both late and early, and was wont to say
that he needed the rein rather than the spur. A
friar, to whom he had been dilating on the merits
of Coello, onc6 remarked that the lad's countenance
showed little genius. " Ah ! father," said Rizi, " the
^ Palomino, torn, ill p. 71 8w
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
IL93
metal before the stamp ! '' And the event justified
his expectations. Still, says Palomino, the £riar was
partly in the right, for although he had an ample
brow, and eyes full of thought and speculaition, his
face was not pleasing, but rather heavy and melan-
choly. Whilst still in the school of Bizi he was
employed to paint various altar-pieces for the nuns
of San Placido, the possessors of Velazquez's " Cruci-
fixion," ^ and for the parish churches of San Andres
and Santa Cruz. Those for the latter church, repre-
senting the Incarnation of the Word, and John the
Baptist and his father Zacharias, were so highly
esteemed by Bizi, that he offered to let them pass
for his own, that they might command a better price.
This ofier Coello, however, honourably declined, pre-
ferring honest fame to filthy lucre.
He afterwards formed an intimate friendship with
Carreiio, who, aft^ painter to the King, was able to
procure for him permission to study in the galleries
of the Alcazar. There he spent some time in copy-
ing various works of Titian, Bubens, and Vandyck,
an exercise which greatly improved his style of
colouring. He next entered into an artistic partner-
ship with Ximenez Donoso, a painter who had just
returned from Italy. Amongst the jpint works
which they undertook at Madrid, were frescoes, in
OH. XUL
Friendship
of Carrefio.
^ Sapra, chap. ix. p. 727.
VOL. m
2 A
1194
REIGN OF CHARLES 11.
CH. xin.
Queen
Maria
LoULMt'l
entry to
Madrid.
the church of S*^ Cruz, which, with some other
works of Coello, perished by fire early in the
eighteenth century ; and other frescoes in the chapel
of Our Lord and St. Ignatius in the church of San
Isidro el Real, and in the churches of the Trinity
and St. Basilio. In the Alcazar they painted the
ceiling of a hall in the Queen's tower. At Toledo
they executed the frescoes on the roof of the vestry
of the Cathedral; and the Carthusians of Paular
employed them to paint a series of pictures illus-
trative of the history of the order for the conventual
chapter-room.
On occasion of Queen Maria Louisa's public entry
into Madrid, they had the honour of superintending
the artistic arrangements for that ceremonial, which
may still be beheld in the graphic pages of Madame
d'Aulnoy.^ From the palace of Buenretiro to the
tapestried court of the venerable Alcazar, the way
was spanned by many triumphal arches, painted with
allegories and trophies, and bordered with galleries
and pavilions gay with gilt statues and emblematical
pictures. As the young Queen rode along, radiant
in beauty and diamonds, through bands of nymphs
scattering flowers in her path, her eye fell on figures
representing the virtues of her character, and on
pictured scenes of the Golden Age which was sup-
^ Voyage, torn. iiL pp. 214-220.
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
"95
posed to be returning in her train. Ooello's most
elaborate works were a great arch on the Prado and
the pavilions between which it was approached,
works which were considered of sufficient value to
be commemorated by the graver. His paintings
which adorned these edifices represented the king-
doms and provinces of Spain offering votive crowns
and garlands to the royal bride. He likewise gave
designs for a series of pictures of the labours of
Hercules, which were executed by Francisco de
Solis.
In 1683 he was called to Zaragoza by the Arch-
bishop Francisco de Gamia to paint the vaults and
dome of the collegiate church of the Augustines,
a work which occupied him a year. At his return
to Madrid he was appointed, on the 24th of March
1684, to the post of painter to the King, vacant
by the death of Dionisio Mantuano.^ At first no
salary was attached to this distinction. But on the
23rd of January 1686, he succeeded the younger
Herrera as painter - in - ordinary, with the usual
emoluments, and also received the key of cham-
berlain, and the monthly allowance of 20 ducats
formerly enjoyed by his friend Carrefio de Miranda.
The post of deputy-Aposentador was afterwards
conferred upon him, with certain allowances from
CH.XUI.
Viaitto
Zaragoso.
Made
Pointer to
the KiDg.
* Sapra, p. 1145.
1196
REIGN OF CHARLES U.
CH. XIIL
Piotare of
the "Ado-
ntion of
the Santa
Forma "at
theEs.
ooriaL
the privy purse, and a pension of 300 ducats was
granted to his son Bernardino.
At the death of the younger Rizi, in 1685, the
altar of the Santa Forma in the great sacristy of the
Escorial was left unfinished. The legend of this
wondrous wafer has been already related.^ By
some it is said that Charles II. erected its altar in
token of gratitude for John Sobieski's victory over
the Turk beneath the walls of Vienna, by others,
in expiation of the violence done to the sanctuary
of St. Lawrence, when Valenzuela was dragged from
his lurking-place behind the wainscot of the prior's
cell.' Bizi had completed the paltry retablo, and
he left a sketch for a picture to serve as a veil to the
sanguifluous Host. This sketch Coello was required
to finish ; but on expressing his dissatisfaction with
the plan, he was permitted to lay it aside and com*
mence an original work. The difiiculties with
which he had to contend were considerable. His
canvas was six yards high by only three wide, and
his subject nothing more nor less than Charles II.
and his court receiving the sacerdotal benediction at
the dedication of the altar. From these unpromis-
ing materials he produced a work of great power
and splendour, and one of the most interesting
^ Supra, chap. x. p. 835.
' Sapra, p. 1126 ; Dunlop's Memoirs^ vol. ii. p. lao.-
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
1197
pictures which has been spared to the desolate
Escorial. The King and his principal courtiers are
represented kneeling before the altar adoring the
holy Host, which is held up by the officiating prior.
Around that dignitary are grouped his assistant
priests; in the distance are seen the Jeronymite
friarsi drawn up in processional order, the students
of the college, and the boys of the choir, chaunting
under the orders of the chapel-master, while above
hover three allegorical figures, representing Reli-
gion, Piety, and the house of Austria, in contem-
plation of the splendid scene. The picture contains,
it is said, no less than fifty portraits, to most of
which, unfortunately, there now exists no key. The
King himself, gazing at the mysterious relic with
a face of foolish awe, is evidently pourtrayed to the
very life. Near him kneel the Duke of Medina-
celi, a prime minister almost as weak as his master,
his rival the Duke of Pastrana, grand-huntsman,
the Count of Bancs, master of the horse, and the
Marquess of La Puebla, gentleman of the chamber.
The astute-looking prior is said to be Francisco de
los Santos, the historian of the Escorial. Nothing
can be more brilliant and masterly than the exe-
cution of the rich robes of the churchmen, and the
more sober suits of the laity. The latter do not
wear the rufi", a fact which marks, says Cean
Bermudez, the epoch at which that time-honoured
CH. xm.
lips
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
CH. XIIL
Other
works.
piece of a Castilian hidalgo's costume began to
yield to the Transpyrenean cravat. In spite of the
King's anti-Oallican prejudices this innoyation
seems to haye had its origin on his own most
Catholic person, for Madame d'Aulnoy records that
a cravat of fine lace was one of the earliest gifts
of his French Queen, and that when he wore it at
their first interview, its adjustment did no credit to
his valet.* The portable organ of Charles V.,* the
crucifix, the candlesticks, and the other accessories
of the ceremonial, are all painted with great care,
and are, many of them, interesting as records of
precious things that were before the coming of the
Gaul.
The picture was received vrith great applause.
The King being highly satisfied with his portrait,
by the advice of the Count of Benavente, had named
Coello to the place of painter-in-ordinary, as has
been already related,* before the completion of the
work. The careless haste of Rizi not having de-
scended to his disciple he was employed on this
elaborate altar-piece for more than two years. Fart
^ VoyagCf torn. iiL p. 212.
* He is said to have carried it with him in his expedition to Tunis.
In 1787 the author of Vathek was charmed with the delidoas sweetness
of the tones which he drew from it^ in spite of the forbidding looks of
"the sonr-Tisaged prior." Beckford's LeUers, fcap. Sto^ London, 1S4Q,
p. 323 [2 vols. 8vo, London, 1834, vol. ii. p. 320}
» Supra, p. 1 195-
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
1 199
of that time, indeed, he passed at Madrid, designing
a fresco for the ceiling of the northern gallery of the
Alcazar. The subject was the fable of Cupid and
Psyche; his assistant, chosen by himself, was his
future biographer, Palomino. Having executed cer-
tain portions of the work together, Palomino carried
it on alone, and Coello returned to the Escorial.
For some years Coello reigned supreme amongst
the artists of the court and capital. He had the
honour of pourtraying the Queen-dowager, Queen
Mariana of Neuburg, and most of the great person-
ages of the realm, and he was besides the keeper of
the royal picture-galleries. In 1691, the Chapter of
Toledo appointed him to the post of painter to that
Cathedral. The year following, however, brought a
mortification which more than counterbalanced these
honours, a triumphant rival in the person of Gior-
dano. The painter of the *' Adoration of the Santa
Forma" conceived, with some justice, that to him of
right belonged the glory of embellishing the vvalls
and domes of the Escorial. On finding himself
eclipsed by the Neapolitan, he threw aside his pencil
in disgust; and it was only at the urgent entreaty
of Father Matilla, the King's confessor, that he
consented to finish a " Martyrdom of St. Stephen,"
which that Dominican had ordered for his convent
at Salamanca* This picture, Coello's last work, was
carried by some of his friends to the Alcazar, where
CH. XIII.
Suooeai.
Eclipsed by
Giordano.
I2O0
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
CH. XIII.
Death.
Style and
merits aa a
painter.
it was highly admired by the courtiers, and by Luca
Fa-presto himself. Not even a rival's praise, how-
ever, "Could heal the wounded spirit of the Castilian,
who, naturally of a jealous temper,
" Bore, like the Turk, no brother near the throne,"
or, at least, had been too long the chief favourite to
be content with the second place. Disappointment at
length engendered disease, and he died on the 28th
of Ajml 1693. He was buried in the church of San
Andres, and his pension from the privy purse was
continued to his widow, Dofia Bemarda de la Torre.
Don Cristobal OntaiLon, before his friend Gior-
dano appeared at Madrid, remarked to Coello, that
when he came he would teach the Castilian artists
how to get rich. " Yes," said Coello, " and also how
to be content with our faults and get rid of our
scruples," a reply which showed how correctly he
appreciated the style of his dashing rival. He him*
self set a quite opposite and far more wholesome
example to his brethren, sparing neither time nor
labour on his works. His reputation, says Cean
Bermudez, has suffered by his frescoes, which were
generally painted hastily, and in conjunction with
artists of inferior abilities. But his oil-pictures
exhibit the most anxious care, and with much of
Cano's grace in drawing, they have also somewhat of
the rich tones of Murillo, and the magical effect of
REIGN OF CHARLES 11.
I20I
Velazquez. The picture in the altar of the Santa
Forma at the Escorial, is, without question, his
masterpiece. The Royal Gallery of Madrid has, like-
wise, two large compositions of great merit. One ^
represents the Blessed Virgin, enthroned and sur-
rounded by impersonations of the virtues, and pre-
senting her Divine babe to the adoration of the
Baptist, St Francis, St. Michael, and St Anthony of
Padua. In the other,' which is the finest, the Blessed
Mary, seated beneath a portico, receives the homage
of St. Louis, St Isabel, and other saints. The royal
crusader lays his sword at the feet of the Virgin, and
the good Duchess of Thuringia ^ offers a basket of
fruit and flowers to the Infant Redeemer. Near
them are two beautiful singing cherubs, and the
picture is rich with draperies of gorgeous stuffs.
The sketches of Coello, chiefly executed in black
crayons, or with the pen, were highly esteemed by
artists and collectors. A few of them may be
seen in the Louvre.* He was the author of three
etchings from his own works, portraits of Charles II.
and one of .his Queens, and a Crucifixion, with
the Virgin, S*^ Monica, and her son St Augus-
tine standing at the foot of the cross, from a
CH. xni.
Sketches
and en-
gniTiiiga.
^ Catdlogo [1843I No. 224 [edition 1889, No. 701].
' Ibid. No. 306 [edition 1889, Na 702].
' Supra, chap. xii. p. 1025.
« Collection Standish, Noa 384-387 [sold 1853].
1202
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
CH. xm.
Joan
Ximenei
DonoBo.
His works.
PaiatiDg.
picture in the church of the Augustine nunnery
at Madrid.
Juan Ximenez Donoso was bom at Gonsuegra
in i628» and was taught painting by his fatheii,
Antonio. Visiting Madrid, he studied for a short
time in the school of Francisco Fernandez.^ At
the death of that master he went to Rome, and
acquired the art of painting in £resco, but more
especially devoted himself to architecture, in which,
doing as the Bomans did, he imbibed the declin-
ing taste of the times. In seven years he returned
to Madrid, and finished his artistic education by
practising oil-painting for a while in the school
of Carrefio.
He afterwards went to Valencia, where he painted
two large pictures for the shod fiiars of Mercy,
and thence to Segorbe to paint a series of works
representing Our Lady, the Adoration of the
Kings, Christ betrayed in the Garden, St. John
Baptist and St. Bruno, for the Chartreuse of Valde-
cristo. On his return to Madrid he married Dona
Isabel Moraleda, and formed an intimate friendship
with the painter Claudio Coello, with whom he
painted in the chapel and at Toledo the joint works
which have already been enumerated.^ Many
works, however, he executed alone, such as the
* Supra, chap. x. p. 846.
• Snpra, p. 1193.
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
1203
picture of the high-altax of the church of San Felipe
Neriy afterwards demolished, six pictures for the
cloisters of the Benedictines of San Martin, repre-
senting passages from the life of the patron saint of
their order,
^ MoDastioo pimeipe y monarea
De todo el Occidente patriarca,'' ^
and a "Virgin of the Conception" for the church
of San Nicolas, which Palomino considered his best
work.'
Great part of Donoso's time was devoted to the
practice of architecture, in which he seems to have
possessed as bad taste as Herrera the younger, and
to have met with still greater success. At Madrid
he designed the portal of the church of S*^ Cruz,
the tomb of the Marquess of Mejorada in the
Recolete church, the cloister of the college of St
Thomas, the high-altars of the churches of Victory
and the Trinity, works which obtained him so
much credit that he was appointed, on the 13th of
August 1685, master of the works to the Cathedral
of Toledo. And the day after, the Chapter enhanced
the obligation by naming him their principal painter
in the room of the deceased Francisco Kizi.* Not-
CH. XIII.
Ardhiteo-
tare.
^ Fr. Nicolas Bravo, Benedictina, en que irata la milagrosa vida del
glorioao S, BenitOy canto i, 4to, Balamanoa, 1604, p. 2.
' Palomino, torn, iii p. 629.
' I may here correct one of the few slips of Cean Bermndez's pen. He
I304
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
CH. XIII.
Writings.
Aneodotos
of bim.
withstanding these appointments, Cean Bermudez
does not notice any contribution, either in painting
or architecture, made by Donoso to the venerable
Cathedral* His last work was the plan of the
church of San Luis at Madrid, for which he was
painting a fresco in the chapel of the noble family
of Canillejas, when he was struck with apoplexy.
Carried to his own house, he died shortly after-
wards, intestate, on the 14th of September 1690,
and was buried in the church of San Gines.
He left, says Palomino, a manuscript work on the
art of hewing stone, and many papers on archi-
tecture and the theory of perspective, which, never
having been printed, have doubtless gone the way
of many better things. One of Donoso's chief
troubles in life was, that he could not get appointed
painter to the King, a disappointment under which
he adopted the philosophy of ^sop's grape-rejecting
fox. Being asked one day if he had yet obtained
that honour, he replied, ** I am not quite fallen so
low as that, and I hope that you will not think so
meanly of me as to suppose it." Palomino, who
loves a pun or conceit, preserves another jest of the
day, at the expense of the painter. Calling one
day on Claudio Coello, and not finding him at home.
says, Diceionario, torn. tL p. ii» that the place had remained unfilled
since the death of Rizi, in 1653, a statement contradicted by himself in
his life of that artist, tom. iv. pp. 204, 206.
REIGN OF CHARLES IL 1205
he left bis name with the maid, who forgot it before c h. xii i.
her master returned. All she could remember was
that it began with JDon, and ended with the name
of a wild beast Coello suggested Icon, tigre, and
at last 080 f bear. " Si, Senor" said the damsel, *' Oso
con Don ; " and Donoso was accordingly nicknamed
amongst his familiars Don Oso or Sir Bruin.^
Francisco de Solis was bom in the parish of San Frandaoo
^ deSolia.
Gines, at Madrid, in 1629. His father, Juan, had
acquired, from Herrera of Segovia,* some knowledge
of painting, which he imparted, as an amusement, to
his son. Having views, however, for the youth in
the Church, he gave him likewise a learned educa-
tion, in the course of which he is said to have dis-
played considerable aptitude for Latin and philo-
sophy. But his inclinations pointing the other way,
he eventually obtained leave to forsake theology for
painting, and when he was only eighteen, he had
made sufficient progress to execute an altar-piece for
the Capuchin friars of Villarabia de los Ojos. Ex-
hibited in the convent of Patience, at Madrid, this
work attracted the notice of the connoisseurs, and,
amongst the rest, of Philip IV., who was so struck
with the excellence of the performance, and the
youth of the artist, that he gave directions that his
name and age should be inscribed on the picture.
^ PalominOi torn. iii. p. 630. ' Sapra, chap. t. p. 344.
I206
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
CH. xuL With BO fair an introduction to public favour, and
with Velazquez at hand as a friend and counsellor,
Solis might have become one of the stars of his pro-
fession. But he seems to have been in easy circum-
stances, and of a somewhat indolent disposition, and
being neither compelled to work, nor vexed by " the
last infirmity of noble minds," he preferred collecting
pictures to painting them. Some of the conventual
churches, however, at Madrid, Alcali, and Valladolid,
were adorned with his works, of which the most
famous was a ''Virgin of the Conception," belonging
to the Capuchins of the Frado. On occasion of the
entry of Queen Maria Louisa into the capital^ he con-
tributed to the properties of the procession a series
of paintings representing the labours of Hercules,
which he executed from the designs of Claudio
Coello.^ For many years he maintained in his house
an academy of design, where the amateur artists of
the court used to congregate to draw from the living
model. He was also engaged in writing the lives
of the Spanish painters, sculptors, and architects, for
which he had even engraved several portraits. It is
much to be regretted that he did not live to publish
this work, and still more that his manuscript eluded
the search of Palomino,* for he appears to have
possessed not only opportunities for collecting facts,
^ Supra, p. 1 195.
> Palomino, torn. iiL p. 602.
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
1307
but also taste and leisure for the undertaking, which
did not fall to the lot of that well-meaning but
wearisome biographer. He was painting some pic-
tures for the Dominican friars of Marchena, when
he died, at Madrid, on the 25th of September 1684.
His wife, Do£La Luisa Barragan, having inherited a
family vault in the conventual church of St. Martin,
his bones were there deposited in the keeping of
Our Lady of Good Delivery.* He left books, prints,
and drawings, which Palomino assures us were
worth 6,ocx^ ducats, a statement which Cean Bermudez
considers very credible, for even in his time the
autograph of Solis was frequently met with on fly-
leaves and margins. His pictures were chiefly
remarkable as agreeable pieces of colouring. They
are unknown in the Royal Gallery, but some may
probably lurk in the National Museum at Madrid.
Matias de Toires was bom at Espinosa de los
Monteros in 1631, and was invited to Madrid, as he
grew up to manhood, by his uncle, Tomas Torrino,
an obscure painter. Having learned what little this
relation could teach, and having gleaned some in-
CH.xnL
l£atia8 de
Torres.
^ In 1598 a devout Castilian redeemed an image of the Virgin, for fifty
maravedis, from an irreligions German, who was carrying it through the
streets in a very disrespectful manner. Our Lady soon afterwards repaid
the obligation by performing the part of Lucina to her deliverer's wife.
Hence, in 1602, the chapel and name of Nuestra SeHora del Buen Aluni'
hramientOy a miraculous image much trusted in by the Empress Maria,
the Infanta who refused to be Princess of Wales. Villafafie, Milagroscu
Imagenes, p. 3a
I308
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
CH. XIII.
Solis's
pleasantry.
struction in the schools of the younger Herrera and
other artists, he established himself as a painter,
and obtained a reputation and fortune beyond his
merits. He bad a son named Gabriel, bom in 1660,
who under his tuition became a skilful painter of
illuminations, and brought him considerable gains.
This artist, however, and a brother who followed the
same craft, died young. Other misfortunes overtak-
ing the elder Torres, reduced him in his old age from
affluence to extreme penury. Falling sick, and
being carried from the house of a fiiend, who had
given him shelter, to the public hospital, he died on
the way, and received a pauper's burial, in 1711.
His productions were generally large and coarse
pictures, hastily executed for processional decora-
tions, once exhibited, and then as speedily forgotten.
Sometimes he painted pictures of greater pretension
for the churches, but even these displayed little
merit. Affecting the forcible style of Caravaggio,
his compositions were half veiled in thick impene-
trable shadows, which concealed the design, and
sometimes left the subject a mystery. Standing
before one of these, representing some passage in
the life of San Diego, and placed in the church of
Victory, at Madrid, the painter Francisco de Solis
was asked to explain the subject depicted. "It
represents," said Solis pleasantly, " San Brazo," St
Arm, nothing being distinguishable but the arm of
REIGN OF CHARLES 11.
1209
a mendicant in the foreground. In painting land-
scapes and battles, however, Torres was more suc-
cessful ; and he left many works of this kind, of con-
siderable merit, in the collections of Madrid. Two
of his small cavalry skirmishes have found their way
to the Imperial Hermitage at St. Petersburg,^ which
likewise possesses a picture of the ** Presentation of
Our Lord in the Temple," attributed to him.* His
sketches, ** of moderate merit and small use," were
also, says Cean Bermudez, a drug in the studios.
Josef de Ledesma, bom in 1630 at Burgos, after
acquiring some knowledge of painting in that city,
came to Madrid and the school of Carrefio. His
principal works were a composition representing the
Blessed Virgin, St. John, and Mary Magdalene, with
the body of Our Lord, in the Recolete convent, and
pictures of the three persons of the Godhead, and
various saints, in the convent of the Holy Trinity.
They were pleasing in colour, and gave promise of
future excellence which the author, dying in 1670,
did not live to fulfil.
Juan Antonio Escalante, son of Alonso de Fonseca
and Francisca Escalante, was bom at Cordoba in
1630. Being sent, however, at an early age to
CH. XIII.
Josef de
Ledesma.
Juan
Antonio
Escalante.
^ Livret, pp. 421 » 422. SaJle zlL Nob. 78, 81. [These do not appear in
the CcUcUogue of 1887.]
' Ibid. No. 98, p. 426. [No pictore aBcribed to Torres appears in the
Caialogue of 1887, but a " Presentation " is catalogued among the works
of unknown artists, No. 437.]
VOL. in. 2 B
I2IO
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
CH. xiTL Madrid, he belongs to the school, not of Andalusia,
but of Castile. His master, the younger Bizi, one
of the painters to the King, obtained for him the
privilege of frequenting the royal galleries, where he
copied many of the works of Tintoretto, and formed
for himself a style of a somewhat Venetian cast
Before he was twenty-four years old, he attracted
the favourable notice of the public by a series of
pictures, for the cloister of the shod Carmelite friars,
on the life of San Gerardo, an Archbishop of Braga
in the eleventh century, gifted with the formidable
faculty of causing demons to take possession of the
sinners who contemned his authority.^ These works
were so highly esteemed that the artist, for the rest
of his life, found constant employment for his pencil.
He was afterwards engaged in assisting his master
in painting the monument for the Holy Week, in
the Cathedral of Toledo.* His death took place at
Madrid in 1670. The Boyal Gallery of Spain pos-
sesses two of his works, one representing the Holy
Family,' the other the infants Christ and St. John.^
The latter is the more pleasing. The two children
are seated on silken cushions and bright carpets,
with a lamp and a basket of flowers near them,
accessories which well display Escalante's skill in
^ Quiutanaduefiaa, Santas de Toledo, ik 344. Tamayo Salazaz; Mar-
tyrologium Bispanum, torn. vi. p. 355. ' Supn, chap. x. p. 835.
* Catdlogo [1843], No. 185 [edition 1889, Na 711]-
< Ibid. [1843], No. 201 [edition 1889, No. 712].
REIGN OF CHARLES IL 1211
imitating the rich colouring of Venice. But they caxni.
suffer by comparison with the charming *' Children
of the Shell/' Murillo's picture on the same subject,
hanging upon the same wall/
Juan Fernandez de Laredo, bom at Madrid in juanFer-
1632, became, under the instructions of Francisco La^do. *
Bizi, an excellent painter in distemper. He assisted
his master in painting the scenery for the theatre
of Buenretiro, and, at his death, succeeded him in
its management On the 24th of January 1687, he
was iBtppointed painter -in* ordinary to the King.
In 1689 he was a candidate, with Claudio Coello,
Bartolom^ Perez, Vicente Benavides, and other
artists, for the honour of designing the catafalque
for the obsequies of Queen Maria Louisa, in the
church of the Incarnation ; but his plans, like theirs,
were rejected in favour of those of the extravagant
Churriguera.* He was killed in 1692, by a fall in
his own studio, feJling on his head, whilst retouch-
ing a high picture, from an insecure seat. Palomino
informs us that he was a man of much humour,
citing, as an example, an occasion on which he won
a breakfast of a foolish friend, by undertaking to
cool wine or water without snow, and effecting his
purpose with ice.*
Pedro Ruiz Gonzalez was bom at Madrid in
1 Supra, chap. xiL p. 1084.
* Vera Tassifl, Notidas htsiorialesy p. 14a * PaL, torn. iiL p. 649.
I2I2
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
CH.XIII.
P«droBiiis
1633. Unlike most other painters, he does not
appear to have turned his attention to art till he
had attained the ripe age of thirty, when he hecame
the scholar of Escalante. On the death of that
master he passed into the school of CairefLo, under
whose instructions he acquired considerahle skiU
with the penciL Amongst his earlier works were
three good altar-pieces for the church of San Millan,
which unfortunately perished by fire in 1720, and
two processional banners for the guilds of that
parish and of the third order of Franciscans. In
1699 he painted, for the convent of Mercy, an
excellent .picture of one of the worthies of that
beneficent order, San Pedro Pasquale, a bishop of
Jaen, who wrote against astrology and Mahomet,
and was martyred by the Moors, and to whom,
during his captivity at Granada, the Saviour Himself
vouchsafed a visit, in the form of a young Christian
slave.^ His drawings in crayons and water-colours
were executed with great care and neatness, and, in
the opinion of Cean Bermudez, might have passed
for sketches of some of the best Venetian masters.
It was invariably his practice to inscribe his name
on all his works, the slightest as well as the most
important. A bantering friend once inquiring why
he was thus scrupulous, Gonzalez adroitly replied.
^ j^iiintanadnefias, Santos de Toledo, p. 353.
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
X2I3
" Because I do not wish that my faults should be
attributed to other people." Towards the close of
an exemplary and pious life, he was afflicted with
partial paralysis and loss of sight He died at
Madrid in 1709^ and was buried in the church of
San MiUan.
Juan Martin Cabezalero, bom at Almaden in
1633, was one of the most promising of the scholars
of Carrefio at Madrid. His pictures, representing
scenes from the Passion of Our Lord, and various
sacred subjects, in the Franciscan monastery, the
nunnery of St Flacido, and other religious houses
of the capital, are favourably noticed by Cean Ber-
mudez, who conceives that his death in 1673 alone
prevented him from taking a distinguished position
amongst the painters of Spain. The chapter-room
of the Carthusians at Paular was adorned with one
of his works, a passage from the life of St. Bruno,
forming part of a series of which the larger portion
was furnished by Coello and Donoso.
Juan Giachineti Gonzalez was the son of a Bur-
gundian jeweller settled at Madrid, and was bom
in that capital about 1630. Where he acquired his
knowledge of painting is not known, but he is said
to have been a great admirer of Titian, and a dili-
gent copyist of his works. By this means he became
a portrait-painter of considerable merit. His works
were not very common at Madrid, so that he pro-
CH. xm.
Joan
liartinCa-
btnlero.
Juaa
Giachineti
GoDEales.
X2I4
KEIGN OF CHARLES IL
cH.xni.
Lorenso do
Soto.
bably removed rather early in life with his father to
Italy, where he was known as the ** Bui^ndian of
the heads/' U Borgognone dalle teste, from the spirit
with which he painted them. He died at Bergamo
in 1696.
Lorenzo de Soto, bom at Madrid in 1634, became
a tolerable painter, under the instructions of Agilero.^
The chief subjects of his pencil were landscapes,
into which he introduced figures of saints and
eremites. But he sometimes likewise painted large
altar-pieces, of which he furnished one to the
church of Atocha, representing a passage in the
history of S**- Bosa, the Dominican flower of Lima.*
He had gained a respectable place amongst the
artists of Madrid, when a new attempt was made, in
1676, by the revenue officers, to levy a tax upon
works of art.' Lidignant at this attack on his order,
of which the resistance of El Greco * and Carducho *
ought to have prevented the recurrence, he adopted
the singular revenge of relinquishing his profession,
and retiring to Yecla, a town in the kingdom of
Murcia, where he obtained the post of collector of
the royal rents. During his residence of some years
there, he occasionally amused his leisure by making
sketches of the surrounding country, some of which
^ Sapra, chap. x. p. 868. ' Supra, p. 119a
* Palomino, torn. L p. 109. ^ Supra, chap. v. p. 343.
" Ibid. chap. viL p. 494.
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
I2IS
he presented to Palomino, who mentions^ with pecu-
liar praise, a view of a romantic rock, known as that
of the Magdalene of Yecla. This desultory practice
did not suffice to preserve his skill in its perfection.
Returning, when above the age of fifty, to Madrid,
he found that having been so long out of sight,
he was also out of the public mind. Nor, in
resuming his profession, did he ever regain his
popularity or skill, but, falling into extreme indi-
gence, picked up a miserable livelihood by selling
the daubs of his declining years in the public
streets, in front of the Alcazar, or near the gate
of Guadalajara. Dying in 1688, he was buried in
the church of S. Justo y Pastor.
Bartolom^ Perez, bom at Madrid in 1634, was
scholar and son-in-law of the flower painter, Arel-
lano, whom he excelled as a draughtsman, and some-
times assisted, by painting the figures in his works.
In the delineation of drapery and curtains he was
particularly successful, and so distinguished himself
by some works of this kind for the theatre of Buen-
retiro, that he was appointed painter to the Eling,
on the 2nd of January 1689. His flower-pieces were
likewise highly esteemed, and were to be found as
well in the royal saloons of Buenretiro as in the town
houses of the nobility. In 1693, ^hile painting a
ceiling in the palace of the Duke of Monteleon, he
was killed, like Fernandez de Laxedo the year
CH. XITL
Bartolom^
Peres.
I2l6
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
CH. XIII.
Mateo de
Cereao.
before,^ by a fall from a scaflFold. Taunting one of
his scholars with cowardice, because he would not
walk across a giddy and tottering plank, he proceeded
to set the example, and paid for his rashness with
his life." He was buried in the church of St.
ndefonso.
Mateo de Cerezo was bom at Burgos in 1635.
His father was an obscure painter of the same
name, whose chief occupation was to execute
copies of that wondrous Crucifix of the Capuchins,
which sweated every Friday for the edification of
the pious, in the most richly appointed shrine at
Burgos.' Some of these copies were afterwards
ascribed to the more famous pencil of his son, whom
he instructed in painting up to the age of fifteen,
and then wisely sent him to Madrid, to the school
of Carreno. Under that master, young Cerezo
devoted himself to diligent study, drawing from life
and copying pictures, with great perseverance, for
five years. That period being expired, he began to
exercise his profession on his own account. The
^ Sapra, p. 121 1.
' Such is the story as told by Palomino (torn. ilL p. 650), who was at
Madrid when the accident happened. M. Hoard, who perhaps knew
better, having inquired into the matter in 1838, at Paris, informs na that
'* Perez en se reculant poor jnger de son effet, ne s'apper^ut pas qn'il
posait ses pieds dans le vide, il fit une effroyable chute et on releva
mort" Vie compUte des Peintret Espagnols, part ii. p. 166. For a
notice of this superficial book, see Preface [to the first editiou].
> D'Aulnoy, Voyage, torn. i. p. 122.
REIGN OF CHARLES 11. 1217
" Virgin of the Conception " was one of his favourite c h. xii l
subjects^ and his delineations of that popular mystery
soon came to be in request in the religious houses in
and around Madrid. One of them found its way to
the Chartreuse of Paular, together with a picture of
St John writing the Apocalypse. From the number
of his works which once existed at Valladolid, part
of his life seems to have been spent in that city.
The Franciscan friars possessed two of them, large
pictures of the Virgin, in one of which she was
represented sitting in a cherry-tree, and adored by
St. Francis. This unusual throne may perhaps have
been introduced by Cerezo as a symbol of his own
devout feelings, his patronymic being the Castilian
word for cherry-tree. The convents of San Barto-
lom6 and Jesus Maria likewise possessed many of
his pictures. But Bosarte, who visited Valladolid at
the beginning of the present century, could discover
only two specimens of his pencil, a "Crucifixion,"
and "Our Lady of the Cherry-tree," both in the
Cathedral.^ From Valladolid, Cerezo proceeded to
Burgos, where he painted an excellent " Crucifixion "
for the Cathedral, and the "Flight into Egypt'* for
the Dominican church of San Pablo. The latter
picture represented the Virgin and Infant Saviour
seated upon their ass, with St. Joseph and an angel
* Bosarte, Viage, pp. 142-3.
I2l8
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
CH.xm. going beside them, and it is highly praised by
Bosarte for the skill of the composition.^ The
painter appears to have paid only a short visit to his
native city, whence he returned to establish himself
for life at Madrid. There he found constant employ-
ment for his pencil in the churches and convents,
and had the honour of assisting the younger Heirera
in his fresco on the dome of Our Lady of Atocha.
His best work was a picture of the risen Saviour and
the two disciples at Emmaus, painted for the refec-
tory of the Recolete firiars. Seated at a table,
beneath a porch like that of a Castilian wayside inn,
Our Lord is represented in the act of blessing and
breaking the bread, so opening the eyes of Qeopas
and his undisceming companion. Of four other
figures, the principal are a country girl seated on
the right of the picture, and a peasant on the left
bearing in a bundle of sticks on his back. In the
distance, the three travellers are seen approaching
from Jerusalem, a curious example of adherence to
that method of painting a story which obtained
amongst the elder Vandycks and Hemlings. Of
this picture Palomino remarked that its merits
exceeded ''all human powers of ponderation," '
whilst an Italian critic was content to observe, as
the Venetian magnifico had observed of Yigamy's
* Bosarte, Fto^e, p. 33a
s Palomino, torn. iiL p. 567.
REIGN OF CHARLES 11.
I3I9
sculptore^^ that, for a Spaniard, it was not bad.
Truth and Cean Bermudez, however, reject both
of these opinions, and allow to the picture the
praise of graceful composition and agreeable colour-
ing. It was etched in 1778 by Josef del Castillo.
The best, it was likewise the last work of Cerezo,
or, in the words of the figure-loving Palomino, his
swan-like death-song. He died at Madrid in 1675,
aged forty.*
Cerezo certainly deserves a place amongst the
ablest painters of this reign. His success in life
seems to have been hardly commensurate with his
abilities. There is in his works a chaste richness of
colour, a roundness of form, and an absence of out-
line, which together produce an effect that recalls
to the mind the style of Vandyck and Murillo. The
Queen of Spain's gallery possesses three of his
pictures, a large '' Marriage of St Catherine,"'
a " St. Jerome Meditating," with his meagre limbs
wrapped in rich purple drapery,^ and a fine
^'Assumption of the Virgin," in which the Blessed
Mary is borne to heaven by a band of ministering
spirits, and the apostles are seen below grouped
' Supra, chap. lii. p. 146.
' Cean Bennudes says 1685, bat as he giyes forty as his age at his
decease, and 1635 as the year of his birth, one or other of these dates
most contain a misprint, unintentionally omitted in the list of errcUcu
* Catdlogo [1843], No. 541 [edition 1889, No. 700].
^ Ibid. [1843I No. 48. [This picture does not appear in the Cataloffue
of 1889].
CH.xm.
Style.
I220
REIGN OF CHARLES 11.
CH. XIII.
Vioente
BeiutndM.
lBid6ro de
Burgos.
axoond her floriferous tomb.^ His small bodegones,
painted with great skill and spirit, were rare and
highly esteemed. Cean Bermudez possessed a
curious sketch by him, executed with soot, and
representing the dead Christ in the arms of the
Virgin, and attended by St John and the Maries.
Vicente Benavides was son of an officer in the
army, and was bom in Barbary, in the garrison of
Oran, in 1637. He studied painting at Madrid,
under Francisco Eizi, whom he assisted in execut-
ing the scenes of the theatre of Buenretiro. He
likewise painted, with Dionisio Mantuano,* the
frescoes on the front of the palace of the Marquess
of Los Balbases, and some others, by himself, in
the conventual church of Victory, and in the her-
mitage of Our Lady of the Angels, near Getafe.
Charles n. appointed him, on the nth of Septem-
ber 1 69 1, one of his painters, but without salary.
He died at Madrid in 1703.
Isiddro de Burgos y Mantilla, probably a relative
of the pupil of Velazquez,' painted, in 1671, a series
of portraits of the Kings of Spain, from Henry H.
to Charles II. inclusive, to adorn the apartments
allotted to guests at the Chartreuse of Paular.
They are designed with grace, says Cean Bermudez,
^ Catdlogo [1843], No. 57 [edition ^1889, Na 699].
" Supra, p. 1 145. • Ibid. chap. x. p. 867.
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
I22X
and agreeably coloured. The painter was likewise
a poet, and printed a romance in honour of the
statue of San Miguel, carved by Dona Luisa Boldan^
for the Escorial,
Francisco Palacios, bom at Madrid about 1640,
entered the school of Velazquez, and early gave
indications of talent for portraiture. But the death
of his master, in 1660, leaving him without an
instructor, he never attained to any distinction in
art. Only one of his works fell under the notice
of Gean Bermudez, a picture of the hairy St.
Onophrius,' in the church of the female peniten-
tiary. He died in 1676.
Gabriel de la Corte was bom at Madrid in 1648,
and studied painting under his father Juan, whose
death, however, left him an orphan in his twelfth
year. Prom that time he supported himself by
copying the flower-pieces of Mario and Arellano,
or by painting garlands as borders for the works
of Castrejon' or Matias de Torres.* He painted
flowers with considerable skill, but with little profit
to himself, for he died poor in 1694. He was buried
in the church of St. Sebastian, at Madrid.
Francisco Ignacio Buiz de la Iglesia was bom at
Madrid about the middle of the seventeenth century.
CH. XIIL
Franciseo
Palaoioe.
Oabriel de
la Corte.
Francisco
Ignacio
Ruisde la
Igleeia.
^ Infra, chap. xIt.
> Supra, p. Z189.
' Supra, chap. xii. p. 989.
* Ibid. p. 1207.
1332
REIGN OF CHARLES 11.
CH. xm. He studied painting first under Camilo, and next in
the school of CarretLo, where he formed an intimate
friendship with his fellow-disciple Gabezalero/ and
imitated his style, with advantage to his own. But
being afterwards employed with Donoso in painting
the decorations for the public entry of Queen Maria
Louisa, he adopted the somewhat hard and affected
manner of that master. Still he enjoyed consider-
able credit ; and being entrusted with the execution
of a fresco in one of the Queen's ante-rooms in the
Alcazar, he acquitted himself so well that he was
made painter to the King on the 30th of December
1689. On occasion of the young Queen's death, he
executed a good engraving of Churriguera's frightful
catafalque,' erected for her obsequies in the church
of the Incarnation, and six plates of emblems, for
the historical notice of Maria Louisa's last illness
and funeral rites. These plates axe signed with
his initials, thus,
On the King's second marriage, he was again
employed to paint a variety of decorative pictures
for the entry of Queen Mariana of Neuburg, and to
prepare some new scenery for the theatre of Buen-
^ Supia, p. 1213.
' [Supra, p. 1 21 1.]
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
1223
retiro. He had been just promoted to the rank of
painter-in-ordinary/ when death closed his royal
master's melancholy career. Philip V. confirmed
the appointment, and also made him deputy- Apo-
sentador. He had the honour of painting several
portraits of the new sovereign, for various public
buildings, but none of them possessed much merit.
In compliment to his adopted country, the French
prince caused himself to be painted in the ruff of
Castile, as the ultra-Spanish Charles assumed the
Parisian cravat to please his Bourbon Queen.' Buiz
de la Iglesia attended his new lord to Barcelona in
1 70 1, and attempted to follow him to Italy. The
ship, however, had hardly left the port, when he
was seized with sea-sickness of so desperate a char-
acter, that they put back and left him behind. He
at first endeavoured to prosecute the journey by
land, but failing in this, he returned to Madrid, and
entered the service of the Queen-dowager. During
his pangs on shipboard, his system had received a shock
from which it never recovered, and he died in 1 704,
and was buried in the church of San Felipe Neri,
where he had been a punctual attendant at religious
rites. That church possessed a picture of St. Joseph
OH. XIII.
^ Pintor del Rey seems to have been an honorary title largely bestowed ;
the Pintor de Cdmara, or, as I have hitherto translated it, painter-in-
ordinary, was a person of higher dignity, and a member of the royal
household.
' Supra, p. 1 198.
1224
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
CELXni
DiaoMeof
the kidneys
cured bja
miradei.
painted by him ; the church of San Gines had the
dome of a chapel painted in firesco ; in the convent
of barefooted Carmelites were some portraits of
friars, and in the hospital of Monserrate, a variety
of frescoes, besides portraits of Philip V. and his
first Queen, Maria Louisa of Savoy.
EQs friend Palomino concludes his life with an
anecdote, '* which," says he, '^ I must on no account
omit, for the honour and glory of God and the
saints/' ^ Buiz being afflicted with a severe pain
in the kidneys. Palomino advised him to commend
himself to St. Zoilus, the tutelary averter of nephritis,
and procured for him, from Cordoba, some water
from a well into which that particular portion of the
martyr^s own intestines had been thrown, thirteen
centuries before, by his Pagan tormentors.* This
holy water cure proving perfectly successfrd, Buiz
distributed the healing lymph amongst his friends,
and Madrid soon rang with the praises of its medi-
cinal virtues, and its pleasant smell, like that of amber
water. This latter property, however, awakened
the suspicions of Palomino, who had often drunk
of the fountain itself at Cordoba, without being
sensible of any peculiar sweetness of savour. He
therefore privately sought out the carrier, and
1 Palomino^ torn. iiL p. 71X.
* Tamayo Salazar, Martyr, Sisp,, torn. iiL pp. 640-2, where there is a
short Latin hymn descriptive of this cruel martyrdom.
J
REIGN OF CHARLES 11.
1225
brought him to confess, how, having broken the
bottle on the road, he had supplied its place with
a flask of amber water of similar size, "which
indeed shows," says the historian, "what can be
done by good faith, and fervent devotion towards
the saints/'
Isidore Arredondo was bom at Colmenar de Oreja,
in 1653. Having received some instructions in
painting from one Juan Garcia, whose temper he
found intolerable, he passed into the school of
Francisco Bizi, where he speedily distinguished
himself. His master, conceiving a great affection
for him, married him to Doiia Maria Veguillas, his
adopted daughter, and at his death, in August 1685,
left him his books, drawings, and other appliances
of his studio. A few weeks previous to the latter
event, Arredondo had been appointed, probably
through Sizi's interest, honorary painter to the
King. On the nth of October, he had the usual
salary of the post granted to him; and he after-
wards became a great favourite with his royal
master, who frequently made him presents from
his privy purse. His principal works in the Alcazar,
were two frescoes in the northern gallery, repre-
senting passages from the eternal story of Psyche,
and the adornments of a cabinet in the Queen's
apartments. He likewise painted some similar
works at Buenretiro, and various decorations in
CH. XIII.
Iiidoro Ar-
redondo.
VOL. III.
2 O
J226
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
CH. XIII.
Sebactaaa
Mo&oc
distemper, for the entry of Queen Mariana of Nen-
burg, and other royal personages, into the capital.
The church of San Salvador possessed two pictures
by him, from passages in the life of St. Eloy, Bishop
of Noyon, a miracle-working worthy of Limoges.^
He died, while being bled, in 1 702.
Sebastian Mufloz was bom at Navalcamero in
1654. His first master waa Claudio Coello, in whose
school he greatly distinguished himself, especially
in pictures in distemper. His works in that style,
on the arches and pavilions prepared for the entry
of Queen Maria Louisa, were highly admired, and
produced him a sufficient sum of money to defray
the expense of a journey to Bome. There he
entered the school of Carlo Marratti, and devoted
himself, with considerable advantage, to the usual
course of study in the galleries and academies. Be-
tuming to Spain in 1684, he took the road to Zara-
goza, where he found Claudio Coello engaged on
his works in the collegiate church for the Arch-
bishop.' Towards these Mufioz lent his assistance,
and painted a fresco for the chapel of St. Thomas of
Villanueva. Master and scholar afterwards returned
together to Madrid.
On his reappearance in the capital, Mufloz was
' Ribadeneira, Fleun du Viet det ScUntes, torn. iL p. 568.
' Snpra, p. 1195.
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
1237
receiyed with considerable attention, and obtained
many orders. In the Alcazar he was soon called
to paint, on the ceiling of the Queen's cabinet, a
fresco on the subject of Angelica and Medoro,* with
a border of architectural decoration, the latter of
which was designed in the worst taste of the time.
He was next employed in the northern gallery, and
was there seized with a .severe illness, in which he
receiyed much kindness and some pecuniary aid
from their Majesties. On his recoyery, he painted,
in 1686, an oil-painting of "Cupid with Psyche,*'
and also the portraits of the Queen and some other
personages of the courts with great success. He
was appointed painter to the King on the 30th of
August 1688.
He afterwards painted eight pictures on the life
of St. Eloy, which were placed in the church of San
Salvador, on occasion of a festival held there by the
goldsmiths in honour of that holy bishop, the patron
of their craft. For the barefooted Carmelite friars
he executed a large " Martyrdom of St. Sebastian,"
which was exhibited to the public in the streets on
the feast of Corpus Christi, and in due time enriched
the walls of the Louvre of Napoleon.^ It is now the
pride of the National Museum of Madrid, and re-
markable, not only for its rich and splendid colour-
on. xiii.
Works at
Madrid.
Piotnres of
St. Eloy,
St. Sebai-
tian.
^ Notice des Tableaux, 1815, Na 80, p. 7a
1338
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
CH.xnL
and Qaeen
Maria
Loniia
dMd.
Works at
the Al-
and church
of Atocha.
ing and the lofty beauty of the martyr, but as the
latest work of first-rate merit produced by the pencil
of Castile. On the death of Queen Maria Louisa,
he was employed by the shod Carmelites to paint
her portrait, in her coffin, as she lay in state beneath
her canopy in the church of the Incarnation. This
difficult subject they rendered yet more trying, by
requiring the coffin to be placed exactly in the
centre of the canvas, and at right angles to the plane
of its surface, so that the foreshortening of the figure
demanded all the skill of a Cambiaso. Mufioz was
not successful in depicting the beautiful dead, or at
least in satisfying the friars, who would not have
admitted the picture to its place on their walls but
for the suggestion of another artist, that the portrait
of the living Queen should be painted on a medal-
lion upheld by cherubs in one comer of the canvas.
This addition Mufioz accordingly made, and the
work was accepted by the Carmelites, from whose
desolated cloisters it has passed into the National
Museum.
On the King^s second nuptials, Mufloz was
appointed to paint, from a design of Coello's, a
fresco in the unfruitful marriage-chamber of the
mourning bridegroom. He was afterwards chosen
to restore the frescoes of Herrera on the dome of
the church of Atocha, and he was thus employed
on Monday in Holy Week 1690, when he fell from
REIGN OF CHARLES 11.
1339
the scaffolding, and was taken up dead. Unlike
Our Lady of Nieva, who restored life to a painter
that had met with a similar calamity in her service,^
the swart Virgin of Atocha left him to his fate,
perhaps because of his breach of a holy day. The
monks of the convent, however, buried him with
great pomp in their chapter-room, and the King
gave his widow five-and-twenty doubloons, to buy
mourning, and an annual pension for life. His
fellow-scholar, Buiz de la Iglesia, finished a pic-
ture, of which he had only executed the outline,
the " Martyrdom of St. Andrew," for the church of
Casarubios. A portrait of Muikoz, by himself^ a
dark pleasing head, is the sole specimen, in the
Boyal Gallery of Spain,' of the last Castilian pencil
that promised to maintain the fame of El Mudo
and Velazquez.
Juan Cano de Arevalo was bom at Valdemoro
in 1656, and became a scholar of Francisco Camilo.
His forte lying in designing small figures and
groups, he became a painter of fans. The fashion-
able world, however, of Madrid thought, as the
English Fontaine afterwards sung, that
" Gay France Bhonld make the Fan her artists' eaie,
And with the coetl j trinket arm the fair." '
CH. xni.
Death.
Juan Cano
de Arevalo.
1 Yillafafie, Milagrauu Imagenes, p. 372.
> CcUdlogo [1843I No. 312 [edition 1889, Ka 853].
* Gay, The Fan, book iiL
laj^
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
CH. xni. Cano was therefore forced to win his way by stra-
tagem. Shutting himself up in his studio for a
whole winter, he brought out his accumulated
labours, with the swallows, as an assortment of
fans fresh from France, a trick perfectly successfrd,
and doubtless often practised by ingenious artists
at Paris, since Spanish fans became the rage with
Transpyrenean ladies. The truth, however, soon
oozed out, but his wares, having become popular,
continued to find purchasers, and he was even
appointed fan-painter, ahaniqtierOy to the Queen.
Being an expert master of the rapier, as well as
of the miniature pencil, he wasted much of his time
in fencing, and in the company of ruffling idlers.
Quarrelling with one of these about a seat at a bull-
feast, at Alcald de Henares, he sent him a challenge
when the sports were over. The parties met, each
attended by his second, and Cano proved himself
the more dexterous swordsman. But his adversary,
apprehending this result, had provided two ruffians,
who rushed from their ambush at the critical
moment, and in spite of the fan-painter^s gallant
defence, inflicted upon him a severe thrust in the
chest. His friend conveyed him to the inn, where
the wound was sufficiently healed to admit of his
removal to Madrid. But mortification ensued soon
after his return home, and he died in 1696.
Although his chief excellence lay in miniature
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
133^
painting, he sometimes executed larger works. At
Alcallt he assisted a brother artist in some altar-
pieces for the Jesuits' college and the church of
S^ Maria/ that being the business, perhaps, which
led him to his fate. He also furnished some works
in distemper to the parish church of his native
Valdemoro. At the death of Queen Maria Louisa,
he designed a strange allegorical picture which re-
presented that princess as a glorious winged spirit,
surrounded with a halo of rays, each containing a
text allusive to one of her many virtues. It was
hung like a canopy over the coffin, within Churri-
guera's grotesque catafalque, and was afterwards
engraved by Gregorio Fosman for the work of Vera
Tassis.^ The plate bears Cano's artistic mono-
gr«^™ t.iKO* But neither these nor his oil-
pictures equalled his feats upon £eins. The latter
were so exquisite in their fibiish, that Palomino
assures us he carefully preserved a fan, presented
to his wife, by Cano. When too old to be worn
by the lady at church or on the Frado« it became a
" precious jewel* in the cabinet of her husband."
OH. XIII.
^ Six of his pictares Btill remain in the high-altar of the church of
S^ Maria at Alcald de Henares, though in a ruinous and ragged
condition. They represent the Adoration of the Kings and of the
Shepherds, ** Our Lord presented in the Temple," " The Annunciation
of Our Lady," the << Visitation of Elizabeth," and the ''Birth of Our
Lady." The last ia the best» though all are poor.
* [Supra, p. 121 1, note 2.] ' Palomino^ tom. liL p. 665.
1234
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
CELXm.
Joan
Bautiflta
Medina, or
Sir John
Medina of
Scotland.
allegorical figures in the clouds, which was engraved
in France by Edelinck. He designed the cata&lques
erected in the church of the Incarnation for the
funeral honours of the Dauphin in 1711, and of
Queen Maria Louisa of Savoy in 17159 and he gave
plans for the collegiate church and high-altar, and
great part of the palace and gardens, of San Ude-
fonso, in 17 19, and for the church of San Millan, at
Madrid, in 1722. He was likewise an author, and
published at Madrid, in 17 19, remarks on an archi-
tectural work by Juan de Torija,^ and in 1724 a
treatise on matters connected with civil engineer-
ing.^ Lastly, he furnished in 1725, to Palomino, an
encomiastic preface prefixed to his second volume,
in which he has the efirontery to praise his prosy
friend for the terseness of his style.
The catalogue of the Castilian painters during
this reign must close with the name of an artist
whose life was passed entirely in foreign climes.
The father of Juan Bautista Medina was a Spanish
captain, a native of Asturias, and settled at Brussels,
where the son was bom in 1659, and instructed in
1 Dedaradon y extention aohre las ordenaneas de Madrid^ que eseribid
Juan de Torija y de Uu que ee practicaban en Toledo y Sevilla, eon
algunas advertencUu d las alarifes. Madrid, 17 19. Torija's original
work ifl entitled Tratado bf'eve sobre las ordenaneas de la Villa de
Madrid ypolida della, 4to, Mad. i66z.
* Fluencias de la tierra y eurso subterrdneo de las aguas^ Mad. 1724.
Neither of these works are mentioned by Nic. Antonia
REIGN OF CHARLES U. 1235
painting by Dnchatel/ While still young he married C H.xm .
a Flemish wife, named Joan Mary YandaeL In
1686 he came to England, and having painted por-
traits there for some years, he was invited to Scot-
land, in 1688 or 1689, by David, fifth Earl of Leven^
who procured for him promises of business beyond
the Tweed to the value of ;^500. "He went
thither," says Walpole, " carrying with him a large
number of bodies and postures to which he painted
heads," as sitters offered themselves. By this sum-
mary process, in less than a quarter of a century,
he had limned, as it was called, half the nobility,
and scattered his works over most of the country
mansions of Scotland. The Earl of Leven alone,
the descendant of his early patron, possesses no
less than twenty of his portraits. Amongst these
are three of the fifth Earl, two of his C!ountess Lady
Anne Wemyss, and one of his jGeither, George, first
Earl of Melville, Secretary of State for Scotland
after the Kevolution.* Of the beauties of the
family, for whose fair heads Medina had the honour
of finding bodies, the most pleasing are a pretty
Lady Balgonie, of the house of Northesk, and the
lovely Margaret Murray, wife of Lord StrathaUan
slain at Culloden, and herself imprisoned in Edin-
» Walpole, Works, voL iii. p. 375.
' At Melville Hooae, Fifeshire. See also 8iipra» chap. xii. p. 1067, note 2.
X236
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
CH.XIII. burgh Castle for her Jacobite loyalty.^ The first
Duke of Ai^ll was also one of his patrons, and he
painted a large and excellent picture of that noble-
man, with his two sons, both Dukes in their turn,
John, who claimed the yictory of Sheriffinuir, and
lives in the lines of Pope and the romance of Scott,
and Archibald, better known as Lord Hay, and
Walpole's Viceroy beyond the Tweed. The High-
land heads of these chieftains Medina fitted upon
Roman bodies, and he represented the sire, in boots
of lustrous brass, giving a laurel wreath to his eldest
boy, thus vindicating his claim to the national
faculty of second-sight, as ''he stands pictured
amongst his armed ancestors " ' at Inverary. Medina
also painted a large family-piece for George, first
Duke of Gordon, the "gay Gordon" who held out
Edinburgh Castle for James IL It contained
that gallant nobleman himself, who has been de-
scribed by a contemporary as "a very fine gentle-
man, handsome, and made for the company of ladies,
but somewhat finical,'*' his son, Lord Huntly,
and his daughter, Lady Jane, wife of the Duke of
Perth of 1 71 5. At Edinburgh, where he resided,
he executed the indifferent portraits of the members
^ Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, by J. P. Wood ; 2 vols. foL, Edin.
1813, voL ii p. 552.
' Jeremy Taylor, Holy Dying ; Worka^ vol. It. p. 342.
* Macky, Hiit of Rebellion, quoted by Douglas, Peerage ofScotiand,
YoL L p. 654.
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
"37
of the College of Surgeons, which may still be seen ch. xm.
in their hall. Amongst these, the witty physician
Pitcaime has the only remarkable name, and George
Dundas the most pleasing physiognomy. Knighted
by the Lord High Commissioner Queensberry, Sir
John Medina was the last man upon whom the
honour was conferred in Scotland before the union.
He afterwards paid a short visit to England, when
he most probably designed his twelve plates for
the fine but inaccurate edition of Milton's '' Paradise
Lost,*' published by Tonson, in 8vo, in 1705. In
these he displayed no very high powers of appreciat-
ing his author, but they were thought worthy of
being reproduced in a smaller form.^ He likewise
drew some illustrations for Ovid's '' Metamorphoses,"
which were not, however, engraved.
Ketuming to Scotland, he died on the 5th of i>eath.
October 17 10, and was buried on the north side of
the Grejrfriars' churchyard at Edinburgh, where no
stone has yet been raised, nor line carved to his
memory. By his will, still extant,' it appears that wui
Lady Medina survived him, and that he left by her
two sons and four daughters ; so that if Walpole be
^ Ajb in Tonson's ismo edition, 171 z.
* For the copy of it from which I have extracted these portieulara, I
am indebted to the kindness of Mr. David Laing, of the Writers to the
Signers Library at Edinburgh. It has enabled me to give Medina's full
Christian name and the name of his wife, and also to correct Walpole's
error in stating 171 1 as the year of his death.
12SS
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
caxnL collect in his assertion that he was the father of
twenty children, fourteen of them most have gone
before him to the grave. His whole property,
including his furniture and wardrobe, which is mi-
nutely catalogued in the will, from his silver tankard
and silver-handed sword, to his "peuther stoups"
and *'pair of boots, very old," is valued at ;^ 13, 130,
168. 8d« Scots, or somewhat less than ;^ 1,100 ster-
ling. Many of his noble employers, amongst whom
were Lords Erroll, Rothes, and Blantyre, owed him
small sums, and he held the bond of his patron Lord
Leven for £1$^ sterling. His studio contained a
considerable number of pictures, and the sums
attached to each enable us to judge of his prices.
The highest, a portrait of the Countess of Gravrford
and son, is valued at j^io sterling, the lowest are
copies of his own works, which are numerous, and
seldom exceed /^^ Several pictures on historical
subjects are also entered in the inventory, such as
" Adam and Eve driven out of Paradise," " Venus
and Adonis," " Lucretia," " Rosamond with a Cup,"
and the like. The portrait of Sir John, a pleasing
countenance embowered in a flowing wig, may be
seen at Florence, amongst the effigies of painters
painted by themselves. It was presented to the
Grand Duke by the Duke of Gordon.* Another,
^ It is engraved amongst the BUratii dei PiUari^ of which it f onns
No. 192.
REIGN OF CHARLES 11.
"39
painted in 1708, exists in the Surgeons' Hall at
Edinburgh, and was badly engraved for Walpole
and Pinkerton.^ Lord Wemyss possesses a picture of
two of Medina's children, painted by their father,
a boy and girl, rather plain than pretty, leaning oyer
an open book.
Medina's abilities as an artist were considerable,
and he was certainly the Kneller of the North. His
ladies are offcen pleasing and graceful, and his lords
have some variety of expression, in sp^ of their
wearisome sameness in panoply and periwig. He
painted hands, however, very ill, and his works are
very unequal in merit, perhaps because, like Oior-
dano»* he took pains with each according to the
price he was to receive. Or perhaps his reputation,
like that of Morales, has suffered by the daubs of his
son and grandson, both of whom bore the name of
John, and followed his profession of limner.' Neither
of these artists rose above mediocrity. They both
died at Edinburgh, the first on the ist of December
1 764,* the second on the 27th of September 1796.
The latter resided some time in London, and was
an exhibitor at the Boyal Academy, in 1772 and
1773.'
CH.XnL
style.
HiBsonand
grandaoo.
^ Pinkerton'8 Scottish Gallery, 8vo, London, 1799.
* Supra, p. 116S.
* Supra, chapw ▼. p. 277.
^ Scots Magcusine^ 1764, p. 633.
' Edwards' Antcdotet ofPamting^ 4to, London, 1S08, p. a4a
184^
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
CH.XnL
Oragorio
The art of engnving did not boast of any remadt-
able professor daring this reign. Gregorio Fosman,
or Fortsman, was perhaps the best. Amongst his
earlier works were a title-page to the ** Life of St
Domingo de Silos,'' published by Fray Ambrosio
Gomez de Salazar in 1653,^ and a portrait of Archr
bishop Manso de Zufiiga, to whom the Tolnme was
dedicated; and a retablo title to Ximena's *' Catalogue
of the Bishops of Jaen," published in 1654.' In
1677 he produced a yery elaborate title-page for
Gandara's Tolume on the glory of the Church in
Galicia;' and in 1680, a print of the AutO'de-fS,
held in the Flaza-Mayor of Madrid, in the presence
of the King, on the 30th day of June in that year.
He likewise executed, in 1690, one of the plates
for the work by Vera Tassis on the obsequies of
Queen Maria Louisa;^ and a print of St Francis
Xayier; and in 1697, the portrait of Cardinal
Henrique Norris, whom he represented as offering
his book, called ''Vindicis Augustinian®,'' to St
Augustine seated in a car drawn by eagles.
Marcos de Orozco was a priest, who resided at
^ El Mauen Segundo, nuevo Redenior de EspalU^ nuutro Padre Sonic
Domingo Maneo^ clamado Santo Domingo de Syloe; tu vida vittudeg y
milagoe; fol. liadrid, 1654.
* Catdlogo de lo* Obiepoe de lae Igleeiaa CdihedraUe de la dioeeeis de
Jaen y anncUee eedesiatiicos de eu obiepado, foL Madrid, 1654.
* El Cime oeeidenUU gw eanta ku palmas y triui^fin eocleeUuticoi de
GalidOf 2 torn. 1677.
^ Supra, p. 1 138.
REIGN OF CHARLES II. 1J41
Madrid, and there practised the art of engraving c m. xii l
with great industry and considerable talent. His Marcoade
name appears more frequently than that of any
other artist on the ornamental title-pages of books
published in this reign. For Veitia Linage's work
on the West Indian colonies,^ he executed in 1671
a very curious one. At the top of the page are
seated, on one side, the Catholic sovereigns Fer-
dinand and Isabella; on the other, their reigning
descendant Charles II., and his mother the Queen-
dowager ; and beneath there is a view of the ocean
and shipping, with Chimborazo in the distance,
closed at the sides by pillars, between which are
posted Columbus and Cortes in complete armour.
Coats of arms and texts from the Vulgate garnish
the whole. The execution of this plate is inferior
to that of the title-page to Ortiz de Zufiiga's ** Annals
of Seville," published in 1677, which is probably
the best work of Orozco's graver. In 1680 he exe-
cuted a title-page containing the royal arms, and
the curious folding plan, for the authorised history
of the great Auto-de-fSj at Madrid.' In 1682, he
engraved a Crucifix and angels bearing shields
charged with episcopal devices, designed by Ximenez
Donoso, and prefixed to an official account of the
^ Supra, chap. xii. p. 1075.
' BdaeUm hist&rica del AiUo general de F6^ que se eelebrd en Madrid
este arU) de 1680 ; 4to, Madrid, i68a The plan faces p. 144.
VOL. III. 2 D
1243
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
CH.XIIL
Boolpton.
Eag«nio
Qutierras
deTorioes.
synod held at Toledo in that year. Eight yeats
later, in 1696, he executed a title-page, containing
effigies of the seven first canonised bishops of Spain,
for Don Pedro Suarez's ''History of the United
Sees of Guadix and Baza;''^ and in 1697, '"Our
Lady of the Forsaken/' and the arms of Archbishop
Bocaberti of Valencia, for Don Felipe Fermin's
treatise of minor benefices.* He was likewise the
author of many devotional prints, such as the
portrait of St Francis of Sales, executed in 1695,
and that of Bishop Crespi de Borja of OrihueIa>'
in 1664, one of his poorest and probably earliest
works.
The few sculptors of Castile in this reign re-
main to be noticed. Fray Eugenio Gutierrez de
Torices, a native of Madrid, became a fiiar of the
Order of Mercy in 1653. He beguiled the tedium
of the cloister by modelling figures, flowers, and
fruitS) in coloured wax, an art in which he arriyed
at a high degtee of perfection. The painters,
Colonna and Mitelli, visited him in his retreat,
and pronounced him, says Palomino, ''a mirade
of nature/' * a favourable opinion to which he owed
^ HiHoria d€l Obitpado de Chtadix y Baaa.
* Tractaius de CapeUaniu^ teu benefidis minonbus. Neither of these
works are mentioned by N. Antonio.
> Afterwards prefixed to his life, Vida del Venerable Senior D. Litis
Orespi de Boija^ per el P. IV. Tomas de la Resorrecdon ; 4to, yalencia»
1676. ^ Palomino^ torn. iiL p. 672.
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
"43
much notice and patronage at court He died very
old, and with a high reputation for sanctity, in
his convent in 1709. The sacristy of the present
chapel-royal attached to the palace at Madrid pos-
sesses, or once possessed, a group of his, represent-
ing Our Lady of Mercy appearing to the founder
of the Order, and an oratory at the Escorial, a
figure of St Jerome.
Josef de Churriguera was a native of Salamanca,
where he studied sculpture and architecture to such
excellent purpose, that after-times have agreed to
call any work, in either of these arts, Chur-
riguresque, which is especially preposterous and
extravagant. Being a favourite with the doctors
of the learned city, he came, strongly recommended
by them, to Madrid about 1688. On the death of
Queen Maria Louisa, in 1689, he was a candidate,
with Claudio Coello and many other artists, for
the honour of designing the catafalque for her
obsequies, in the church of the Incarnation ; and
his plan, being preferred, was executed under his
own eye. It was an edifice of three storeys, a con-
fused mass of fantastic pillars and broken cornices,
surmounted by the figure of Death sitting astride
on a globe, from which he cuts with his scythe a
crowned fleur-de-lys, emblematic of the Queen. On
the dome which overhung the coflSn, was spread
out Cano de Arevalo's allegorical synopsis of her
OH. xin.
Jooef de
Churri-
guera.
"44
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
CH. XIII.
•Catalonia
and Ara-
gon.
Fray
Joaquin
Juncosa.
virtues,^ and the exterior was adorned with skulk,
crossbones, and skeletons, and other ghastly trophies
of the tomb. It was engraved by Buiz de la Iglesia
for the work of Vera Tassis y Villaroel. Chur-
riguera was appointed assistant draughtsman in the
office of royal works in 1690, without salary, which
favour was conceded to him in 1696. In the
capital, he built a new portal to the church of St
Sebastian; he began the church of San Cayetano,
and he built a palace for Don Juan de Goyeneche
on the site now occupied by the Academy of St
Ferdinand. He executed various pieces of sculp-
ture for altars of churches and convents, of one
of which, a statue of St. Augustine in San Fehpe
el Beal, Cean Bermudez remarks that it has been
abused more than it deserves. He died in 1725,
opportunely for his reputation, while engaged in
building the church of Santo Tomas, for soon after
that the work had devolved on his sons Geronimo
and Nicolas, the dome fell, and crushed many of
the workmen, and worshippers whom a festival had
attracted to the unfinished temple.'
Catalonia and Aragon, as usual, have few artists
of importance. Joaquin Juncosa was bom in 1631
at Comudella, near Tarragona. He was the son of
one Juan Juncosa, an indifferent painter, who had
> Supra, p. 1231.
* Los ArquUectot, torn. iv. p. 103.
REIGN OF CHARLES II. 1245
studied at Jaen, and Mariana Domadel, a native of ch. xni.
that city. Learning from his father all that he could
teach, he speedily excelled him in his art, and early
acquired so high a reputation for decorative paint-
ing, that the Marquess of La Guardia employed him
to execute four large pictures, on classical sub-
jects, for the municipality of the town of Cagliari,
in Sardinia. On the 21st of September 1660, he
became a lay-brother in the Chartreuse of Scala Dei.
There he painted, for the chapter-room, a series of
Carthusian worthies, and the Nativity and Coro-
nation of the Virgin, and other works, for the
church, in which he displayed so much skill, that
his prior. Fray Jayme Cases, sent him to study at
Bome. He returned in due time with considerable
improvement, and painted many works for his own
monastery, for the hermitage of Reus, the Char-
treuse of Montealegre, and other religious houses.
The Prior Cases seems to have allowed him, in con-
sideration of his artistic skill, many indulgences
which his successors were not disposed to continue.
Teazed with perpetual interruptions, he was so pro-
voked on one occasion by a summons to the choir,
while giving vent to the fine frenzy of composition,
that he threw off his robe and fled to Rome. The
Pope gave him absolution for the offence, and per-
mitted him to live, unmolested by his brethren, in
a hermitage without the walls, where he died in
X246
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
OELXm.
Dr. Joaeph
Jnnoofla.
1708. Cean Bermudez notices, as one of the best
of his works, a picture of St. Bruno reading the
rules of his order to his first monks, which hung in
the hospice maintained at Barcelona by the Carthu-
sians of Scala Dei. He praises the correctness of
his drawing, and the strength and brilliancy of his
colours.
Joseph Juncosa, cousin of Fray Joaquin, was like-
wise bom at Comudella, and instructed in painting
by Juan Juncosa, his uncle. He also devoted him-
self to the study of theology, and took priest's
orders; he obtained the degree of doctor; and
he preached, with considerable unction, in the
Cathedral of Tarragona. Preferring the easel to
the pulpit, he was still better known by his pictures
than by his sermons, and perhaps left behind him
more of the former than any other artist of Catalonia.
In 1680, he assisted Fray Joaquin in painting the
hermitage of Beus, and afterwards in various works
at Scala Dei, Two years afterwards the canon
Diego Giron de BeboUedo employed him to paint a
series of frescoes representing the life of the Virgin,
in the chapel of the Conception, which he had just
founded in the Cathedral of Tarragona, and paid
him 400 doubloons for his labour. These frescoes
disappeared, however, in six years, in consequence
of the dampness of the church, or the badness of
the materials with which they had been executed.
REIGN OF CHARLES Ih 1247
and Juncosa was paid 274 Catalonian pounds for c h, xii l
repainting the subjects on canvas. The Archbishop
Josef Sanchis ordered him to paint for the chapel
of S*^ Tecla, in the cemetery, the martyrdoms and
other passages in the life of that celebrated virgin.
Tecla was a beautiful girl of Iconium, who was con-
verted by St. Paul, and thereupon refused to marry
her betrothed lover. Condemned to die for her
contumacy, fire would not bum, wild beasts devour,
nor vipers sting her ; and after a life of solitude and
miracles, she died a maid in her ninetieth year.*
By the order of the Archbishop, Juncosa also painted
various pictures of San Pedro Nolasco, and other
companions of hia order, for the convent of Mercy.
He died early in the eighteenth century at Tarragona,
His works, especially his portraits, were not without
merit ; but they are less esteemed by Cean Bermudez
than those of Fray Joaquin.
About the end of the century, Palma, the capital Baatard of
M • Palma.
of Majorca, had a painter named Bastard, who
painted a large picture, not without merit, and
representing Our Lord served by angels in the desert,
for the Jesuits' college. No record has been pre-
served of any other work of his pencil, or fact of
his life.
Fray Salvador Ilia, a Carthusian at Scala Dei, who
^ Villegaa, Flos Sanctorum, p. 455. See also Handbook [1845], p. 475
[edition 1855, P* 403]*
1248
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
ca xiiL
FraySalya-
dor Ilia.
Frandaco
VeraCa-
beaade
Yaca.
there took the vows in 1684, and died in 1730,
carved the columns of the high-altar, and executed
some figures of prophets, in white stone, for the
sacristy of the conventual church^
Francisco Vera Cabeza de Vaca was bom of a
distinguished family at Calatayud about 1637, and
began life as page to Don Juan of Austria, at
Zaragoza. The example of this tasteful master,^
and the instructions of Josef Martinez,^ made him
a skilful amateur painter, especially of portraits*
When Don Juan went to Madrid to assume the
reins of government, Cabeza de Vaca did not accom-
pany him thither, but returned to his native city.
There he spent the remainder of his days in the
practice of piety, and in painting pictures to adorn
his own mansion or the houses of his friends, or by
offerings to the poorer churches. By his alms-deeds
and godly deportment, and his devout habit of
preparing himself for artistic labour by confession
and the Eucharist, he gained a high reputation for
holiness. It was said that the Blessed Virgin her-
self stood by his easel and unveiled her celestial
charms, that he might pourtray her in a picture of
the Holy Family, which was afterwards jealously
preserved and ardently adored in the convent of the
Sepulchre. This is the last time that the Queen of
* Supra, p. 1 1 27.
> Ibid. cbap. x. p. S84«
REIGN OF CHARLES IL
"49
Heaven is recorded to have vouchsafed a visit to the
studios of Spanish men. The favoured artist died
at Calatayud in 1 700*
Francisco de Artiga, a gentleman of Huesca, was
a good mathematiciaui and an excellent amateur
architect, painter, and engraver. He designed the
plan and superintended the construction of the
University of Huesca, a building with a florid
portal and an octagonal Doric court, of which he
also executed an engraving; and he engraved in
1 68 1 the plates for his fellow-townsman Lastanosa's
treatise on the coins of Aragon,^ besides several
devotional prints. Amongst the latter there is a
graceful representation of S^ Orosia, whose holy
dust is the pride and Palladium of Jaca, with a view
of that dull old city and the impending peak of Feiia
de Oroel in the distance. A monument of his skill
as an engineer still exists in the great dam at Pan-
tano, by which the waters of the Huela are dis-
tributed over the corn-lands and olive-groves which
lie between Huesca and the lower Pyrenees. He
likewise wrote a treatise on fortification, a work on
mathematics, an essay on Spanish eloquence, and a
comedy, none of which has ever been printed. His
death took place in 171 1, at Huesca, in whose uni-
versity he founded a mathematical professorship.
^ Tratado de la Moneda Jaquesa y de otrcu de oroypkUa del reyno de
Aragon, 4to, Zaragoza, 1681.
OH. XIII.
Francuco
de Aztiga.
1250
REIGN OF CHARLES II,
CH.xnL
Engrayer.
Juande
Benado.
G«r6nimo
Secano.
Fraj An-
tonio Mar-
tines.
Bartolomi
Vicente.
Juan de Benedo was an engraver of some merit
who flourished at Zaragoza, and engraved^ in i666»
a bold title-page, adorned with heraldic and alle*
gorical devices, for Sayas's " Annals of Axagon/' *
Ger6nimo Secano was bom at Zaragoza in 1638,
and acquired a knowledge of painting, partly there
and partly at Madrid, He painted with great
success at Zaragoza, where his best works adorned
the church of San Pablo and the city hall At fifty
years of age he turned his attention to sculpture^
and practised that art also with reputation till his
death, in 1710,
Fray Antonio Martinez was son of Josef Martinez,
painter to Philip IV.* Bom in 1638, at Zaragoza,
he studied painting, first with his father in that
city, and afterwards at Borne, On his return he
assisted his father in many of his works* In 1690
he took the habit and vows of a lay Carthusian, in
the monastery of Aula-Dei, where he painted some
creditable pictures from the life of St. Bruno, and
died.
Bartolom^ Vicente was bom near Zaragoza about
1640, and studied painting in the school of Carreno,
at Madrid, He is said to have spent no less than
^ Analet de Aragon deade el aHo 1520, hasta el de 1525 ; eserivialos
Don Fran^* Diego de Sayaa Rabanera y Ortabia, Chr6nista delRey ; fol.
Zaragon, 1666.
* Supra, chap. x. p. 8S4.
REIGN OF CHARLES 11. 1251
seven yeaxs iu copying pictures at the Escorial, and o h. xm .
to have formed his style upon the works of the
Bassanos. Returning to Zaragoza at a mature age,
he passed the rest of his life in painting easel pic-
turesy especially landscapes, with great taste and
reputation, and in studying mathematics. He some*
times also painted in fresco, and a specimen of his
skill in that hranch of art, executed for the conyent
of barefooted Augustines, was held in high estima*
tion. Some of his works found their way to the
cloisters of the Jeronymite friars at the Frado, near
Valladolid. He died at Zaragoza in 1700.
Francisco Flano, a native of Daroca, flourished Pmnrfsco
Piano.
as a painter towards the close of the seventeenth
century, at Zaragoza. His works were chiefly
architectural decorations, executed in fresco or dis-
temper, with so much taste and spirit that Palomino
pronounces him not inferior to Colonna and Mitelli
on their own ground.^ Fonz notices some paintings,
in distemper, by him, in the sacristy of the church
of Our Lady of Portillo, at Zaragoza ; and an altar-
piece in oils, representing the battle of Clavijo, in
the church of Santiago at Daroca.'
Juan de Eebenga was a gentleman of Zaragoza souiptor.
Juan de
of good family, who studied sculpture at Rome Robenga.
^ Palomino^ torn. iiL p. 680.
' Ponz, torn. xv. pp. 57, 241. In the latter passage he erroneously
styles Mm Amlnvtio,
1252
REIGN OF CHARLES 11.
CH.XIII.
Mignel
Serraof
Maneilles.
for some years, and afterwards established himself
at Madrid. Choosing to play the man of fashion,
however, rather than to work as an artist for his
bread, he soon spent his moderate patrimony, and
at last died in a public hospital, in 1684. His
works were generally modelled in wax, and of
a small size ; the largest and most important being
the graceful figure of Our Lady, hewn in stone, and
placed over the door of the church of the Angels'
nunnery, at Madrid.
One painter, Miguel Serra, remains to be noticed,
who owed his birth to Spain, but spent his life and
displayed his genius chiefly in France. Bom in
Catalonia about 1653, he ran away, when only eight
years old, from his mother's house, which her bad
temper and third marriage had rendered intolerable.
He found his way to Marseilles, and means, at first,
of becoming the scholar of an indifferent painter
in that city, and afterwards of seeking better
instruction at Rome. At the age of seventeen he
returned to Marseilles, and established his reputa-
tation by executing an altar-piece, representing St.
Peter Martyr, for the church of the Dominican ftiars.
From that time he was largely employed by the
clergy of Provence, and began to grow rich and
famous. He sent a picture to the Academy of Paris,
and was immediately elected a member of that body,
and appointed painter to the King. Like Giordano,
//
REIGN OF CHARLES 11. 1253
his fancy and his brush were equally ready and c h. xm .
nimble ; and it is related that some country church-
wardens calling on him one morning to order a
picture for their high-altar, he invited them to stay
to dinner, and, leaving them to take the air in his
garden, executed the required altar-piece before the
meal was served. .Some of his best works were
painted for the nunnery of S**- Claire and the
church of S**- Madeleine at Marseilles, others for the
Carmelite firiars of Aix, and many more for private
persons.
In 1720 and 1721, memorable in the annals of ^u^^^S^'
Provence as the years of the great plague, ^^^l
'* When natnre sicken'd and each gale was death," ^
the Spanish painter earned a fame, which genius
cannot give, by the noble devotion with which he
walked in the footsteps of " Marseilles' good bishop,"
Henri de Belsunce. Amongst scenes of horror, such
as that which the pencil of Gerard has delineated
in the city hall, he played the part of the good
Samaritan, tending the dying, burying the dead,
and giving the savings of his life to relieve the woes
of the widow and the orphan. When the calamity
was past, he painted two pictures on the firight-
fiil subject, and sent them to Paris, to his son, for
^ Pope, Essay on Man, £p. iy. y. 108.
"S4
REIGN OF CHAKLES IL
CH. xm. presentation to the Regent, Philip Duke of Orleans.
The youth, however, basely betrayed the trust re*
posed in him, and sold them for his own profit
at the £Edr of St. Germain's, a proceeding which,
amongst the artists of the capital, injured the repu«
tation of the unconscious sire. The latter died soon
afterwards at Marseilles in 1728.
BALLANTYNB PKBSS 2 BDIKBUSGH AND LONDON.
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