Theotocupuli, called El Greco (the Greek), worked for years in the city.
Mystery encompasses the strange character of El Greco; we know not when
he was born, but we learn that he died in Toledo, in 1614, and that he
was a native of Crete. While a youth he was a pupil of Titian; but he
was chiefly influenced in his art by Tintoretto. About the year 1576,
Theotocupuli came to Toledo, where he was employed in adorning the
church of Santo Domingo, securing one thousand ducats for his eight
pictures over the altars.
In character El Greco was independent to the point of obstinacy. His
mind was sombre and pietistic, and his imagination bizarre and vivid.
Men said that he was mad, but his alleged madness was the originality of
genius. "His nature was extravagant like his painting," wrote a
contemporary, Guiseppe Martinez. "He had few disciples as none cared to
follow his capricious and extravagant style, which was only suitable for
himself."
We read that El Greco loved luxury, and that he hired musicians to play
to him while he took his meals. He was, however, retiring, almost morbid
in his desire for quietude; and there are many matters concerning his
life and his personality that will always remain enigmas. For a very
long period the work of El Greco was scarcely known beyond the borders
of Spain, and indeed his rare merit was hardly recognised in that
country except by a few students.
His name now arouses interest among the cultured in every part of
Europe, and there are admirers of his art who would place him on the
highest pedestal. But the more temperate discern in El Greco a
powerfully intellectual painter, not without defects and mannerisms, a
master of colour, with a curiously modern method in portraiture.
In the Provincial Museum at Toledo there are several paintings by "The
Greek." The portraits of Antonio Covarrubias and of Juan de Avila give
example of El Greco's capacity for seizing the characteristics of his
sitters. Covarrubias has a fine, rugged, thoughtful face. The canvas
seems alive. Very strange are the pictures of "Our Saviour," "St Paul,"
"St Peter," and other saints in this collection. The figures in many of
the artist's paintings are curiously lean and attenuated, the faces long
and pinched. In the picture of "Our Saviour" the hands are large, the
fingers remarkably thin and pointed.
The most fantastic of El Greco's pictures is "The Assumption" in San
Vicente at Toledo, in which the ascending figure seems literally flying
in the air. "The Burial of Gonzalo Ruiz," in the Church of Santo Tomé,
is another splendid composition, revealing amazing skill in
portraiture, for each of the figures in the row of Castilian caballeros
was drawn from life. The sixth figure, from the right-hand side, is the
artist himself. There are technical faults in the picture; there are
mannerisms and extravagances; but the work is strongly individual, and
we may echo the words of Ponz, the historian, who states that "the city
has never tired of admiring it, visiting it continually, always finding
new beauties in it."
"The Expolio," in the cathedral, we have already seen. If the work of El
Greco begins to arouse a desire to study more of his paintings, a day
may be spent in visiting the gallery and the churches that contain
examples of his different periods. "San José and the Child Jesus" is in
the Parish Church of St Magdalen. "Jesus and St John" in St John;
portrait of Tavera, in the Hospital of St John; In Santo Domingo there
are four pictures by El Greco. The museum has twenty paintings from his
brush.
"Very few paintings interest me so much as those of El Greco," writes
Théophile Gautier, "for his very worst have always something unexpected,
something that exceeds the bounds of possibility, that causes
astonishment, and affords matter for reflection."
Toledo expresses Castile, as Seville reflects Andalusia. For, like its
stern surroundings of rocky sierras, the city is austere, even gloomy.
Heavy iron gates protect the courtyards, bars screen the windows of the
ancient houses, high, stout walls and towers guard the frowning town.
The natives are reserved, a little proud in their demeanour, but not
inhospitable to the strangers who come and go constantly, and lose their
way in the tortuous streets, in spite of plans and guide-books.
Persistent beggars hang about the cathedral, and squat, blinking in the
sun, along the ramparts. The children pursue the visitor, uttering a few
words of broken English, French, and German, asking for a copper in the
English tongue, and thanking you for it in French or Spanish.
I must not forget that there is another Toledan more widely known than
El Greco, and that is Lope de Vega, the dramatist, the most prolific
writer of Spain, for it is said that he wrote three thousand plays. We
are told that the playwright would compose a comedy in one night. His
plays were often topical, and many of them must be regarded as ephemeral
and poor; but De Vega's stage-craft was excellent, though few of his
works are great in a literary sense. Cervantes styled the dramatist "a
monster of nature," and envied him as "sole monarch of the stage." Lope
de Vega probably wrote for a space of fifty-two years, for he died at
the age of seventy-two, and during that period he produced not only
plays, but epic poems and twenty-one volumes of miscellaneous writings.
Cervantes, by the way, spent some time in Toledo, where he lodged in an
inn, and wrote industriously. Some historians have claimed Cervantes as
a Toledan, but his birthplace was Alcala de Henares.
Berruguéte, the great sculptor, the favourite of Charles V., worked long
in Toledo, where he died, in the Hospital of St John the Baptist. There
are many of this artist's work in Toledo. The fine portal of the
hospital, and the monument within, to Juan de Tavéra, were designed by
him.
Alonso Berruguéte was born at Valladolid about 1480. He was a pupil of
Michael Angelo, and studied the arts of architecture, painting and
sculpture in Italy. Professor Carl Justi refers to the Italian influence
and the "Raphaelesque forms" in Berruguéte's pictures. But it was as a
sculptor that he excelled.
Writing of Toledo in the eighteenth century, the Chevalier de Bourguanne
describes the city in these words: "Houses out of repair, fine edifices
going to ruin, few or no manufactures, a population reduced from two
hundred thousand to twenty-five thousand persons, and the most barren
environs are all that now offer themselves to the sight of the traveller
drawn thither by the reputation of the famous city. Under the present
reign some successful efforts have been made to recover it from the
universal decay into which it is fallen."
About the time when the chevalier wrote this, the Alcazar was being
restored, and the silk industry in the city was reviving; but Toledo,
even to-day, is not a flourishing mart. It is a place of dreams and
memories, set upon a rock among savage hills.
The Tagus, which rushes through its rough gorge, was once made navigable
between Lisbon and Toledo, and in last century small boats sailed now
and then from the city to the sea. There are many fish in the upper
Tagus, and its tributaries provide trout for the markets. The
surrounding country is bare, and in many districts, savage and
unfrequented, the hills affording sparse pasturage for sheep and goats.
These desolate uplands were formerly haunted by bands of the most
bloodthirsty bandits in all Spain.
GRANADA
That which is lacking in sober Toledo is evident everywhere in glowing
Granada. The fiery Andalusian sun gilds and colours the city, and the
whitened houses cast a deep blue shade in the narrow streets. No
forbidding portals bar the way to the flowing patios, those courtyards
that are to-day one of the chief charms of the Andalusian towns. The
climate is soft and languorous; the air laden with the scent of blossoms
and roses, and the people gayer in their garb and bearing than the
natives of Castile.
On twin outlying hills stands Granada, divided into two parts by the
deep ravine of the Darro River, whose waters flow into the Genil at the
base of an eminence crowned by the noble Alhambra Palace and the old
mosque.
Around stretches a territory of singular fertility, where fruits of many
kinds are plentiful, and the earth yields lavish crops of grain, with
scarcely any period of inactivity. Grapevines and olive-trees flourish
here, and the orange, lemon, and pomegranate thrive. In the distance
gleam the snow-capped peaks and blue ridges of the Sierra Nevada, a
savage range, with foothills here and there under cultivation, glens of
exceeding beauty, and rocky streamlets that swell to torrents when the
snows melt. The vegas (plains) are dotted with hamlets and farms;
vineyards clothe the lower slopes; the ferruginous soil is well watered
by innumerable runnels from the hills, and so made richly productive.
Christianised Granada remains Moorish in aspect to this day, and so it
will remain until the end, a mighty "living ruin." We cannot escape in
modern Granada from signs of the Moslem influence; the architecture, the
decorations of the houses within, the utensils of daily use--everything
recalls the Moors. Before the coming of the North African hordes to
Spain, there was probably a city on the banks of the Darro and Genil,
called Illiberis, which was seized by the invaders. Rival tribes of
Moslems strove for Granada for centuries until Al Ahmar, a doughty
general and ruler, became the sovereign. It was he who began the
building of the splendid palace during his long sway. Al Ahmar was
succeeded by Mohammed, his son, in 1273, who, like his father, was
cultured, and an encourager of learning and the arts.
Another great monarch of Granada, who added to the Alhambra, was Yusuf
I. He was murdered in the palace by a fanatic, and following him came a
line of Mohammedan rulers, all more or less distinguished in arms and in
the art of governing.
Granada was the last stronghold of the Moorish sovereigns in Spain; and
hither, in 1491, came the Christian host, led by the zealous Queen
Isabel, who camped within a few miles of the walls. No succour came
during the long siege for the imprisoned Moors, who at last besought
their leaders to make a sortie on the foe. This course was, however,
disapproved by Boabdil, the leader, and a treaty was made with the
Christians, in which it was enjoined that the city should yield within
two months. But the starving populace preferred to surrender at once,
and the last of the sultans in Spain went forth to bend the knee to
Fernando, the Christian king.
The capitulation of Granada broke the last link of the Moorish chain of
dominion in southern Spain. A Christian governor was appointed, and
soon the "reconciled" Moors learned that their conquerors were faithless
in their promises of toleration. Libraries of Arabian literature were
destroyed, and force was used in imposing the rites of the Christian
Church on the subdued Mohammedans.
"There was crying in Granada when the sun was going down,
Some calling on the Trinity--some calling on Mahoun."
To quell the Moorish malcontents, Cardinal Ximenes was sent to Granada,
with the royal permission to enforce baptism or to compel exile. The
Cardinal carried terror into the city. There was no more clemency for
the heretics and "heathen"; their temples were desecrated, and they were
coerced into acceptance of the Catholic religion. "The Knights of
Granada, gentlemen, though Moors," as the Spanish poets had written of
them, were treated with callous cruelty. Some fled to the fortresses of
the Alpujarras; others remained in ignominy in the city of their birth,
exposed to harsh exactions.
It was the humane Archbishop Talavera of Granada who opposed, with all
his courage and energy, the importation of the Inquisition into Spain.
Let it be clearly remembered that this tyrannous institution was
resisted by all the enlightened Spaniards, and that the mass of the
people regarded its introduction with horror. Many of the chief
Inquisitors went in fear of their lives through the hatred which they
aroused in the people.
Ximenes was of a very different cast from Talavera. He was sufficiently
powerful to have contested the establishment of the tribunal, but he
was, on the contrary, responsible for many of its worst excesses of
persecution.
The Moors in Granada, after the reconquest by Fernando, were commanded
to wear the garb of Christians, to speak the Castilian language, and to
abandon their ritual of cleanliness. Philip II. even destroyed the baths
of the Alhambra, to prevent the ablutions of the "infidels." The
beautiful Morisco painting and decorative work were plastered over with
whitewash. Christian vandalism ran riot in the fair city of the
art-loving sultans.
The Moors who sought refuge in the glens of the mountains soon began to
till the land, and to transform the wilderness into a garden. After a
spell of peace, and a recovery of some measure of wealth, the community
of refugees rebelled. Terrible is the tale of reprisal. Christians were
driven to bay and slaughtered ruthlessly. The Moors gained sway over the
district until their leader was slain by one of his own race. Then came
the final routing by the Christian soldiery by means of the sword and
firebrand, and Moorish might was for ever crushed in Andalusia.
For what counted all this bloodshed? The answer is written in the
history of Spain after the expulsion of the intelligent, industrious
Moriscoes. The lesson is plain. The fall of Granada was the beginning of
the decline of Spain, and not, as the Spaniards thought, the dawn of a
golden epoch. With the Moors went their culture, the arts and industry;
and only traditions in craftsmanship remained among the Spanish
artisans. The half million inhabitants at the time of the surrender of
Granada very quickly dwindled under the Catholic kings. To-day there is
scarcely a sign of industrial and commercial energy in this city of the
past. The population seem to subsist principally upon providing for the
continual influx of visitors, while there are hundreds of beggars in the
place.
The Alhambra was considerably marred by Charles V., who used it as a
residence. Philip V. and his consort were the last of the sovereigns of
Spain who sojourned in Granada. In the wars of 1810-1812, the French
troops were quartered in the Alhambra, and they are responsible for the
destruction of the mosque built in the fourteenth century.
The architecture of the Alhambra is of a late Morisco order. If we enter
by the Puerta de Judiciaria we shall see the inscription of Yusuf I.,
who built the gateways and the towers. There are two arches to this
entrance, the inner one is smaller than the outer, and both are of
horseshoe design, with decorations above the curves. The inner side of
this portal is an extremely beautiful example of Moorish art.
The several buildings enclosed within the walls form the Alhambra, the
palace itself being only a comparatively small part of the whole. Towers
guard the walls, and starting from the eastern side of the puerta,
before which we now stand, we come to the Prisoner's Tower. The next
tower is known as Siete Suelos, and the others, in their order, are
Agua, Las Infantas, Cantivá, Candil, Picos, Comares, Puñales, Homenage,
De-las Armas, Vela Guardia, and Polvora.
The Palace of Charles V. was reared in the midst of these Morisco
surroundings, and to the injury of the Alhambra. It is, however, a fine
quadrangular building, with richly decorated puertas. Around the centre
court are a number of apartments. At the back of the palace is the fish
pond, overshadowed by the imposing Comares Tower, and from here we enter
the Court of the Lions, so called from the twelve lions supporting the
fountain in the centre. This beautiful court dates from the time of
Mohammed V. It is surrounded by an arcade with very delicate columns and
horseshoe arches.
Writing of the lions, in "The Soul of Spain," my friend Havelock Ellis
says: "I delight in the Byzantine lions who stand in a ring in the midst
of the court which bears their name. No photograph does justice to these
delicious beasts. They are models of a deliberately conventional art,
which yet never becomes extravagant or grotesque. They are quite unreal,
and yet have a real life of their own."
The Sala de los Mocarabes is approached from this court. Its walls are
decorated in the vivid colours used by the Moors, and it has a ceiling
of later Gothic style.
The Hall of the Abencerrages has fine stalactite arches, and a
bewildering wealth of decoration. The wooden doors are beautifully
ornamented, and the whole effect is fairylike and enchanting. A fountain
plays in the centre of the chamber.
The Hall of Justice has been likened to a grotto. It is one of the most
wonderful of these apartments, approached by a range of exquisite arches
from the Court of the Lions. The pictures on the walls are said to be
portraits of the sovereigns of Granada. There is a brilliant centre
painting on the ceiling, with quaint Moorish figures, and the gilding
and colouring of the arches and alcoves are gorgeous. The Apartment of
the Two Sisters has a marvellous roof of honeycomb pattern, the walls
are decorated with blue tiles, and the floor is of marble. This was the
room occupied by the brides of the kings of Granada.
The inscriptions in this chamber are numerous, and I quote two
specimens:
"Look upon this wonderful cupola, at sight of whose perfection all other
domes must pale and disappear."
"How many delightful prospects I enfold! Prospects, in the contemplation
of which a mind enlightened finds the gratification of its desire."
The Hall of the Ambassadors was built by Yusuf. It is domed, and the
roof is exquisitely carved, while the decorations here surpass those of
any apartment in the Alhambra, and are of an infinite variety of design.
From the windows there are fine views of Granada. Many of the patterns
on the walls of the palace are really inscriptions ingeniously employed
as decorations. The reproduction of animal forms in the adornment of
buildings was prohibited by Mohammedan law.
The Council Chamber (the Mexuar) has been restored. The palace proper
contains, besides the apartments described, the Bath Court, the Court of
the Reja, and the Court of Daxara, a very charming patio, shaded by
trees, with apartments surrounding it.
The mosque was reconsecrated by Charles V. and used as a Christian
chapel. There is a fine carved roof, and superb colouring on the walls,
with an inscription, extolling the power of Allah.
An oratory adjoins the chapel. The court of the mosque is elaborately
embellished, and has graceful columns and arches.
Several of the towers are provided with chambers, and those of Las
Infantas were occupied by the princesses of the Moorish rulers. This
tower was erected in the time of Mohammed VII. Within, Las Infantas
Tower is delightfully decorated. The interior of the Torre de la Cautiva
is even more brilliantly adorned.
The Generalife, the "Palace of Recreation," or, as other authorities
have it, "the Garden of the Architects," was originally an observation
tower, and was used afterwards by the sultans as a villa. This summer
residence is separated from the Alhambra by a gorge, and approached by a
path through a garden. The Acequia Court is one of the most beautiful of
the patios in the buildings comprising the Alhambra. A gallery surrounds
it, supported by tall pillars and arches, most richly ornamented. We
look between the slender columns upon a lovely Oriental garden, with a
series of fountains playing in jets. The gardens of the Generalife are
delightful; the trees are luxuriant from the moisture of the soil, and
the flowers grow in riotous profusion. Here the very trees are aged, for
the cypresses were planted in the days of the sultans. There is an
expansive and impressive view from the belvedere adjoining.
Unfortunately most of the internal beauties of the Generalife have
suffered decay, and the brush of the whitewasher has coated the walls.
But the cypress court, the curious gardens, the fountains, and the
beautiful arches and pillars must be seen.
The Darro that flows beneath the hill of the Alhambra contains gold, and
it is said that when Charles V. came with his empress, the inhabitants
presented him with a crown made from the precious grains collected from
the bed of the stream. A little silver has been found in the Genil into
which the Darro flows.
Looking back at the magnificent Alhambra on its proud summit, we can
imagine the distress of the Moors when their city was captured by the
army of Fernando. We leave this monument behind, and, as we descend to
the Cathedral, our thought turns to the period of Christian domination,
and of the triumph of the old faith of Spain.
The first architect was Diego de Siloe, and the work was continued by
his pupils, and by the renowned Alonso Cano, who designed the west
front. As a specimen of Renaissance work, the Cathedral of Granada is
one of the most splendid churches of Spain. The dome is vast and
magnificent, there are five naves and many side chapels, all containing
splendid works of art. Over the principal doorway are relief carvings,
dating from the eighteenth century. But a finer portal is that of Del
Perdon, where we shall see some of Siloe's characteristic decoration.
Alonso Cano, painter and sculptor, was buried in the choir. This artist
was a native of the city, and the only great painter that Granada
produced. Before his day, the artists of Spain painted with an intensity
of religious seriousness, to the end of leading men to worship God and
the Virgin. Their work was sombre and dramatic. Alonso Cano struck a
secular note; he had a relish of the life of this world, and his fervent
temperament found expression in depicting love episodes, and portraying
the women of his day in the guise of saints and madonnas. His "Virgin
and Child," in the Saville Cathedral, expresses his emotional art. Cano
has been called "the least Spanish of all the painters of Spain."
He was born in 1601, and the register of the Church of St Ildefonso
records his baptism. In his sixty-sixth year he died. As a lad he
studied painting in Seville, in the studio of Pacheco, at the time when
Velazquez was a student, and afterwards he learned the methods of Juan
del Castillo. He was patronised by Philip IV., and he painted many
pictures for the cathedrals of his country, among others at Madrid,
Toledo, and Granada. Alonso Cano was made a priest, and afterwards a
prebendary of Granada, where an apartment was assigned to him in the
cathedral.
In the Capella Mayor the frescoes of the cupola are by Cano, depicting
episodes in the life of the Virgin. The paintings are joyous in temper,
and brilliant in colouring. "The Purisima," one of his most finished
statues, is in the sacristy, and among other examples of his carving are
the wooden painted figures of "Adam and Eve"; and "The Virgin and Child
with St Anna" is most probably the work of Cano. "St Paul," in the
Chapel of our Lady of Carmen, is also one of his pieces. The pictures in
Granada from Cano's brush are in the Capella Mayor, the Church of the
Trinity, the altar of San Miguel, and in the Chapel of Jesus Nazareno.
His carved work is seen in the lectern of the choir, the west façade,
and the doors of the sacristy.
El Greco, whose work we have seen in Toledo, is represented by a picture
over the altar of St Jesus Nazareno, "St Francis." The other pictures
are by Ribera. Montañez designed the crucifix in the sacristy.
In the Chapel Royal we trace late Gothic work. There is a beautiful reja
here (lattice or grating) by Bartolomé, and the altar is adorned with
statues of Ferdinand and Isabella. The ornate memorial of these
sovereigns is by an Italian, Fancelli.