reach the Capilla de San Andrés, the burying-place of the ancient
family of Guzman. Behind the chapel of Nuestra Señora de las Dolores is
the fine Sacristia de los Calices. It is the work of those who built
the Sacristia Mayor. It contains several fine paintings--the Saints
Justa and Rufina (patrons of Seville) by Goya (among his finest works),
the “Angel de la Guarda” and the “St Dorothy” of Murillo, the “Death
of a Saint” by Zurbarán, the “Trinity of Theotocopuli” (El Greco),
a triptych by Morales, and “The Death of the Virgin”--an old German
picture. This crucifix over the altar is one of the most admirable
productions of Montañez.
The next chapel (de la Santa Cruz) is adorned by a fine “Descent from
the Cross” by Fernandez de Guadelupe (1527). The Puerta de la Lonja
has a fresco, painted in 1584, of “St Christopher carrying the Infant
Jesus across a River.” A representation of this saint is to be found in
nearly all Spanish cathedrals, owing to a curious superstition that to
look upon it secures the beholder for the rest of that day from an evil
death. This fresco, which measures thirty-two feet high, is opposite
the “Capilla de la Gamba” (or, of the leg--of Adam). Here we find “La
Generacion”--Luis de Vargas’s masterpiece. “The picture,” says Herr
Schmidt, “is wholly in the Italian style, and one of the best examples
of this phase of the Spanish Renaissance.”
The large chapel of the Antigua contains the fine tomb of Archbishop
Mendoza, by Miguel Florentin, erected in 1509. Here is also a very
ancient mural painting, after the Byzantine style, of the “Madonna and
Child,” which was placed here in 1578, and is of unknown and rather
mysterious origin. The retablo is distinguished by marble statues in
the baroque style by Pedro Duque Cornejo. The small sacristy behind
this chapel contains pictures by Zurbarán, Morales, and others.
The Capilla de San Hermenegildo has a good statue of the saint by
Montañez, and a fine sepulchral monument to Archbishop Juan de
Cervantes (1453), by Lorenzo Mercadante de Bretaña, the master of Nufro
Sanchez. The Capilla de San José contains “The Espousals of the Virgin”
by Valdés Leal, a “Nativity of Christ” by Antolinez, and an inferior
retablo (“The Massacre of the Innocents”). The Capilla de Santa Ana
possesses a Gothic retablo, dating from about 1450, and divided into
fourteen sections. It comes from the old Mosque-Cathedral. The lower
part of the work, illustrating the life of St Anne, dates from 1504,
the artists having been Hernandez and Barbara Marmolejo. From beneath
the tribune a staircase leads to the Archives, which escaped demolition
at the hands of the French, through having been sent to Cadiz. The
last chapel in the south aisle (San Laureano) is dedicated to a saint,
who, like St Denis of France, having been decapitated, performed the
unusual feat of walking away with his head under his arm. Here is the
tomb of Archbishop de Ejea, who died in 1417.
On the west side of the Cathedral are five small chapels. The
Nacimiento chapel contains an admirable “Nativity with the Four
Evangelists” by Luis de Vargas, and a “Virgin and St Anne” by Morales.
To the right of the Puerta Mayor is the altar of Nuestra Señora del
Consuelo, with a “Holy Family,” the masterpiece of Alonso Miguel de
Tobar (1678-1738), esteemed the ablest of Murillo’s pupils. Facing this
is the little altar of Santo Angel, with a “Guardian Angel” by Murillo.
The altar of the Visitation has a good retablo by Pedro Villegas de
Marmolejo (1502-1569), and a statue of St Jerome by his namesake,
Geronimo Hernandez.
Near the north-western corner of the church the Puerta del Sagrario
leads into the Sagrario or Parish Church. This was built between 1618
and 1662 in the Baroque style by Miguel Zumarraga and Fernandez de
Iglesias. The width of the single arch of which the roof consists is
believed to endanger the safety of the edifice. The rich statues that
adorn the interior are by Dayne and Jose de Arce. There is a notable
retablo by Pedro Roldan which came from a Franciscan convent now
suppressed. The wall of the sacristy is faced with beautiful _azulejos_
of the Arabian period, and in one of the side-chapels is a noteworthy
statue of the Virgin by Montañez. In the vault beneath this impressive
church the Archbishops of Seville are buried.
Returning to the Cathedral, we find on the left the Capilla del
Bautisterio or of San Antonio. It is famous for one of Murillo’s finest
works, “St Anthony of Padua’s Vision of the Child Jesus.” This is the
picture which was stolen in 1874, conveyed to New York, sold to a Mr
Schaus for £50, and by him returned to the ecclesiastical authorities.
This chapel is also remarkable for its _pila_ or font, the work of
Antonio Florentin, and Giralda windows. Next to it is the Capilla de
las Escalas, with two pictures by Luca Giordano, “strong in character,
drawing, and colour,” and the sepulchre of Bishop Baltasar del Rio
(about 1500); then comes the Capilla de Santiago, with paintings by
Valdés Leal and Juan de las Roelas, a stained-glass window with the
richest tones, and the tomb of Archbishop Gonzalo de Mena (1401);
and the Capilla de San Francisco, with another fine window, and an
ambitious “Apotheosis of St Francis” by Herrera el Mozo.
Separated from this chapel by the Puerta de los Naranjos is the
Capilla de la Visitacion (or Doncellas). The Puerta is furnished with
two altars, one, the Altar de la Asunción, the other, the Virgen
de Belén. The former has a painting by Carlo Maratta, the latter a
“Virgin and Child” by Alonso Cano. The Capilla de los Evangelistas
has an altar-piece in nine parts by Hernando de Sturmio (1555), which
shows us the Giralda as it was before the present upper part had been
added. Crossing before the Puerta Lagarto we reach the little chapel
of Nuestra Señora del Pilar, with a notable “Madonna and Child” by
Pedro Millan. The altar-piece of the Capilla de San Pedro, between
this chapel and the Capilla Real, has paintings by Zurbarán, hardly
distinguishable in the dim light. On the other side of the Capilla Real
is the Chapel of la Concepcion Grande, containing pictures relating to
the Immaculate Conception, and a crucifix attributed to Alonso Cano.
Here is also a fine modern monument to Cardinal Cienfuegos.
OTHER BUILDINGS OF THE FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CENTURIES
Close to the Church of San Marcos is the Convent of Santa Paula with a
chapel dating from about 1475. The house, which is of the religious of
St Augustine, was founded by Doña Ana de Santillan and the Portuguese
Donha Isabel Henriquez, Marqueza de Montemayor. This illustrious lady
and her consort, Dom João, Constable of Portugal, are entombed in the
Capilla Mayor in separate niches. The portal of this church is one of
the richest in Europe. It is magnificently decorated with white and
blue _azulejos_, over the arch being seven medallions representing
the birth of Christ and the life of St Paul, encircled with garlands
of flowers and fruit, and the figures white on a blue ground. In the
tympanum of the arch are displayed the Arms of Spain in white marble
on a field of blue tiles, supported by an eagle, and flanked by the
escutcheons of the Catholic sovereigns. The _azulejo_ work was jointly
executed by Francesco Niculoso of Pisa and Pedro Millan. The interior
of the church is in the sixteenth-century style, and, except for the
tombs of the Marqueses de Montemayor, not specially interesting.
In 1472 Maese Rodrigo founded a college, which afterwards became the
seat of the University of Seville, and is now a seminary. Attached
to it is a chapel built in the first years of the sixteenth century.
It is a fine example of the late Gothic style. The retablo exhibits
good painting and carving by unknown artists. The front of the altar
displays fine specimens of Andalusian ceramic art. “The students of the
seminary,” says Ford, “wear a scarf of brilliant scarlet upon a black
gown.”
The most important monument of this period in Seville is the Casa
Pilatos. It illustrates the fusion of the Moorish and Renaissance
styles, almost to the effacement of the former. In the architecture
of this period we usually find an Arabic groundwork nearly obscured
by ornamentation of the newer style. In the schemes of decoration the
conventional floral designs and geometrical patterns remain, while the
inscriptions, which figured so largely in earlier work, disappear. The
stucco and _azulejos_ no longer cover the whole walls, and the windows
and doors become larger and less graceful. As Herr Schmidt remarks,
effect was no longer sought for in the innately elegant but in bold,
monumental compositions.
Mr Digby Wyatt (“An Architect’s Note-Book in Spain”) indicates as
the two special points of architectural value possessed by the Casa
de Pilatos, “the entirely moresque character of the stucco-work at a
comparatively late date, and the profuse use of _azulejos_ or coloured
tiles. It is ... in and about the splendid staircase that this charming
tile lining, of the use of which we have here of very late years
commenced a very satisfactory revival, asserts its value as a beautiful
mode of introducing clean and permanent polychromatic decoration.”
The history of this beautiful building is of singular interest. Its
erection was begun in 1500 by the _adelantado_ (governor), Don Per
Enriquez, continued by his son, Don Fadrique Enriquez de Ribera, first
Marqués de Tarifa, after his return from a two years’ pilgrimage in
the Holy Land, and finished by Don Per Afan, first Duque de Alcalá,
and sometime Viceroy of Naples, in 1533. Authorities differ whether
it received its name from its having been modelled on the House of
Pilate, seen by Don Fadrique, or from the relics presented to the Duque
de Alcalá by Pope Pius V. The ex-Viceroy was a liberal patron of the
arts. He enriched his house with priceless works of art and a fine
library--since removed to Madrid. He played the part of Mæcenas to the
Varros of his generation. Here the wits, the savants, and the virtuosi
of Spain were made welcome, and here they met together in a noble
coterie. Among the frequenters of the house may be named Pacheco the
painter, Céspedes, the Herreras, Góngora the poet, Jauregui, Baltasar
de Alcazár, Rioja, Juan de Arguizo, and (probably) Cervantes. Herr
Schmidt tells us that Seville did not stand alone among the cities of
Spain in boasting such a rallying-point for genius: “In Guadalajara,
the palace of the Mendozas, in Alba de Tormes and Abadia, the castles
of the Duque de Alba, in Madrid, the arts were treasured by Antonio
Perez; in Zaragoza by the Duque de Villahermosa, in Plasencia by Don
Luis de Avila, in Burgos by the Velascos. These and other families in
Spain followed the example set by the Medici in Italy.”
The ground-plan of the Casa de Pilatos is Moorish, with an inner court,
two storeys, guest-chambers, and high outer walls surrounding a garden.
The exterior is plain and dignified. The portal is of marble, and
over the arch is the text, “Nisi Dominus ædificaverit domum, in vanum
laboraverunt qui ædificant eam,” etc. To the left of the door is a
jasper cross fixed in the wall. In October 1521, the Marqués de Tarifa
returned from the Holy Land, and having traversed the path trodden by
Christ on His way from Pilate’s house to Calvary, he placed this cross
on the wall and counted thence the fourteen stations of the cross. The
last fortuitously coincided with the Cruz del Campo, raised near the
Caños de Carmona, in the year 1482.
The central _patio_ is markedly Moorish in character, and is encircled
with arcades of extraordinary symmetry and beauty. Pedro de Madrazo
calls attention to the harmonious variety and irregularity of the
arches and windows, comparing the effect thus produced to the admired
disorder of the forest and plantation. The decoration of the walls
and arches bears a general resemblance to that of the Alcazar, but
on closer examination the influence of the plateresco, Late Gothic,
and Renaissance styles is revealed. The fountain in the middle of the
_patio_ is adorned with dolphins and four huge statues belonging to
the best period of Roman art. The chapel is in the mixed pointed and
Moorish styles. In the vestibule the _ajaraca_, or trellis-work, the
_azulejos_, and the _ajimeces_, or twin-windows (now converted into
ordinary windows) recall Moorish art; while the ceiling is in the
plateresco style. The arch of the chapel is Gothic, and its walls are
laid with _azulejos_ and stucco. In the middle of the floor stands a
short marble column, a copy of the pillar at which Christ is supposed
to have been scourged, preserved at Rome; it was the gift of Pius V.
The room called the Prætorium has a fine coffered ceiling and good
tiling. The staircase is magnificent. Its walls are faced with
_azulejos_, and its ceiling is in the cupola or half-orange style
of the Salón de los Embajadores. Another room on the upper floor is
adorned with paintings by Pacheco, the subject being Dædalus and
Icarus. The view from the roof is perhaps the finest in the city.
The Casa de Pilatos, as might be inferred from the character of its
founder, is a veritable cabinet of antiques and precious objects,
marbles and fragments from Italica figuring largely in the collection.
A notable private residence, dating probably in its foundations
from the beginning of the fifteenth century, is the Casa de Abades,
sometimes called the Casa de los Pinelos. It passed into the hands of
the Genoese family from which it derives its second name, and thence
to the Cathedral Chapter (composed of _abbés_ or _abades_). In the
sixteenth century it became the property of the Ribera family, the
owners of the Casa de Pilatos. It is described by Madrazo as presenting
a fine example of the Sevillian Renaissance style, which would appear
to be compounded of all pre-existing styles. Mr Digby Wyatt, on the
other hand, thinks the house more Italian than Spanish. But the
beautiful _patio_, the dados of _azulejos_, and the _ajimeces_ looking
on the courtyard are distinctly Andalusian features. There are also
traces of Moorish geometrical ornamentation, covered with repeated
coats of whitewash.
The Palacio de las Dueñas, more properly the Palace of the Dukes of
Alba, and sometimes called Palacio de las Pinedas, is a vast and once
splendid mansion, partaking of the mixed style of the two buildings
last described. It boasted at one time eleven _patios_, with nine
fountains, and over one hundred marble columns. A fine _patio_ remains,
surrounded by a gallery with graceful columns. The staircase, with its
vaulted roof, recalls that of the Casa de Pilatos. In the lower part is
a chapel of the fifteenth century, which has fared very badly at the
hands of restorers or rather demolishers. This palace was for a time
the residence of Lord Holland, an ardent admirer of Spanish literature,
and the author (1805) of a memoir on Lope de Vega and Guillen de
Castro.
Other notable residences of the nobility in Seville are the Casa de
Bustos Tavera, and the Palaces of the Dukes of Osuna and Palomares and
the Count of Peñaflor. These all date from what may be loosely called
Mudejar times.
The Church of the University of Seville is of interest. The university
itself was originally a college of the Society of Jesus, and was built
in the middle of the sixteenth century, after designs ascribed to
Herrera. Madrazo thinks it more likely that these were the work of
the Jesuit Bartolomé de Bustamante. The church forms a Latin cross, a
spacious half-orange dome covering the transept. The Renaissance style
is followed. Here repose the members of the illustrious Ribera family,
their remains having been transported hither on the suppression of the
Cartuja (Carthusian Monastery). The oldest of the tombs is also that
of the oldest Ribera, who died in 1423, aged 105 years. The finest is
that of Doña Catalina (died 1505), the work of a Genoese sculptor.
Other tombs are those of Don Pedro Henriquez, Diego Gomez de Ribera,
Don Perafan de Ribera (1455), and Beatriz Portocarrero (1458). Let into
the pavement is a magnificent bronze slab, to the memory of the Duque
de Alcalá, the owner of the Casa de Pilatos. Among the sepulchres are
those of the founder, Lorenzo Suarez de Figueroa, whose favourite dog
is sculptured at his feet, and Benito Arias Montano, a _savant_ who
died in 1598. Over the altar are three paintings: the “Holy Family,”
the “Adoration of the Magi,” and the “Nativity”; the first by Roelas,
the other two by his pupil, Juan de Varela. These, especially the
first, are among the finest pictures in the city. The statue of St
Ignatius Loyola by Montañez, coloured by Pacheco, is probably the only
faithful likeness of the Saint. In this church are also to be seen two
admirable works of Alonso Cano, “St John the Baptist” and “St John the
Divine.”
The Renaissance made itself felt in Spain during the reign of Charles
V., and was productive of the plateresco style. Seville contains two
imposing monuments of this type of architecture--the Ayuntamiento
(Town Hall) and Lonja (Exchange). The first-named was begun in 1527
by Diego de Riaño, and completed under Felipe II., about forty years
later. Madrazo considers the building “somewhat inharmonious through
the variety, a little excessive, of its lines, but admirable for the
richness of the decoration and for fine and delicate execution--a
merit of the first importance in structures of this style, where the
sculptor or stone-cutter ranked with the architect.”
The lower and older storey has three façades, all elaborately chased
and designed like silversmiths’ work. The central façade, facing the
Calle de Génova, bears the statues of Saints Ferdinand, Leandro,
and Isidoro--symbolical of the temporal and spiritual power. The
right façade is the purest and most regular of the three. The upper
storey, belonging to the reign of Felipe II., appears almost plain
in comparison with the tower. In the vestibule is a noble Latin
inscription relating to justice. The lower Sala Capitular is a
magnificent apartment worthy, as Madrazo remarks, of the Senate of a
great republic. It is adorned with the statues of the Castilian kings
down to Charles V., with a rich frieze designed with genii, masks, and
animals, and with appropriate legends. The upper Sala Capitular has a
magnificent _artesonado_ ceiling. Over the grand staircase are a fine
coffered ceiling and another in the form of a cupola. The archives of
the municipality contain several valuable historical documents, and the
embroidered banner of St Ferdinand.
The Lonja or Exchange dates from Felipe II.’s reign. The Patio de
los Naranjos was formerly frequented by the merchants and brokers of
Seville for the transaction of business, and this practice interfering
seriously with divine worship in the Cathedral, the Archbishop,
Cristobal de Rojas, petitioned Felipe II. to follow the precedent just
established by Sir Thomas Gresham and to build an Exchange or Casa de
Contratacion. The preparation of the plans was confided to Herrera, and
the building, under the direction of Juan de Minjares, was finished
in 1598--at precisely the time, as Ford remarks, that the commerce of
Seville began to decline. The Lonja in its stern simplicity reflects,
like the Escorial, the temper of Felipe II.--a sovereign, unpopular
though he may have been, in whom it is impossible not to recognise
the elements of greatness. The edifice forms a perfectly regular
quadrangle, and the sobriety of the decoration affords a striking
contrast to the gorgeous profusion of the Ayuntamiento. The inner
court is noble and severe with its gallery of Doric and Ionic columns.
The dignity of the whole has been impaired by later additions and
restorations. Here are deposited the archives of the Indies (_i.e._
South America), the documents being arranged in handsome mahogany
cases. They have never been thoroughly gone through and examined.
The business men of Seville soon abandoned their Exchange, and it is
chiefly to be remembered as the seat of Murillo’s Academy of Painters,
founded in 1660.
In connection with the American traffic of Seville it should be
mentioned that in the village of Castilleja la Cuesta, near the city,
is the house where Hernando Cortés died in 1547. The place has been
acquired by the Duc de Montpensier, by whom it has been converted into
a sort of museum. The Conquistador’s bones rest in the country which,
with such intrepidity, he won for the Spanish race.
The Civil Hospital of Seville, otherwise known by the ghastly
designation of the Hospital de las Cinco Llagas or del Sangre (of the
Five Wounds or of the Blood), was designed in 1540 by Martin Gainza.
It is a massive stone edifice of two storeys, the lower Doric and
the upper Ionic. In the central _patio_ is the chapel in the form of
a Greek cross, the façade exhibiting a tasteful combination of the
three Grecian styles. The altarpiece is by Maeda and Alonzo Vazquez.
The pictures of saints are by Zurbarán, and the “Apotheosis of St
Hermenegild” and the “Descent from the Cross” by Roelas.
BUILDINGS OF THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES
About the middle of the seventeenth century there lived at Seville
a young gallant, Don Miguel de Mañara by name, whose excesses and
escapades horrified even that lax generation. Marriage with the heiress
of the Mendozas did not sober him. Of him, at this period of his life,
this much good may be said, that he patronised and encouraged Murillo.
But one day something happened: quite suddenly the rake changed into
a devotee, an ascetic--a saint in the seventeenth-century acceptation
of the word. The wine-bibber forswore even chocolate as too tempting a
beverage.
What had happened to produce this startling reformation? Accounts vary.
Some say that Don Miguel, traversing the streets in insensate rage
against some custom-house officials, was suddenly and vividly made
conscious of the enormous wickedness of his life. A more picturesque
version is the following: Returning from a carousal one night,
the Don found himself absolutely unable to discover his house or
the way thither. Wandering desperately up and down distressed, and
in perplexity of mind, he perceived a funeral cortège approaching.
Impelled by irresistible curiosity, he stepped up to the bearers of
the bier and asked whose body they were carrying. Came the reply: “The
corpse of Don Miguel de Mañara.” The horror-stricken prodigal tore
aside the pall, and lo! the face of the dead man was his own. The
vision disappeared, and the same instant the Don found himself at the
door of his own house. He entered it a changed man.
The church and hospital of La Caridad are the existing fruits of
Don Miguel’s conversion. As far back as 1578, there had existed at
Seville a confraternity, the objects of which were to assist condemned
criminals at their last moments and to provide them with Christian
burial. To this association the reformed rake turned his attention.
He converted the chapel into a hospital for the sick, the poor, and
the pilgrims of all nations, and liberally endowed it out of his ample
resources.
The edifice is in the decadent Greco-Roman style, and was designed by
Bernardo Simón de Pereda. The Baroque façade is adorned with five
large blue faïence designs on a white ground, the subjects being Faith,
Hope, and Charity, St James, and St George. Tradition has it that these
were made after drawings by Murillo at the _azulejo_ factory of Triana.
The church hardly appears to us to warrant the description “one of the
most elegant in Seville,” applied to it by Sir W. Stirling-Maxwell.
Under the High Altar is buried the founder, Don Miguel. His own wish
was to be buried at the entrance to the church, with the epitaph: _Aqui
yacen los huesos y cenizas del peor hombre que ha habido en el mundo_
(Here lie the bones and ashes of the worst man that ever lived in
this world). His sword, and his portrait painted by Valdés Leal, are
preserved in the Hospital.