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[Illustration: FRONTISPIECE
SANTIAGO CATHEDRAL.
PORTICO DE DA GLORIA.]
SOME ACCOUNT
OF
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE
IN
SPAIN.
BY GEORGE EDMUND STREET, A.R.A.,
HONORARY MEMBER OF THE IMPERIAL ACADEMY OF THE FINE ARTS, VIENNA.
[Illustration: SEGOVIA, FROM THE ALCAZAR.]
“The old paths, where is the good way.”
JEREMIAH vi. 16.
_SECOND EDITION._
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1869.
_The right of Translation is reserved._
TO
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE,
_&c. &c. &c._,
THIS WORK IS INSCRIBED
AS A TESTIMONY OF THE AUTHOR’S RESPECT
AND ADMIRATION.
PREFACE.
The book which I here commit to the reader requires, I fear, some
apology on my part. I feel that I have undertaken almost more than an
artist like myself, always at work, has any right to suppose he can
properly accomplish in the little spare time he can command.
Nevertheless, I have always felt that part of the duty which every
artist owes to his mother art is to study her developments wherever they
are to be seen, and whenever he can find the opportunity. Moreover, I
believe that in this age it is only by the largest kind of study and
range of observation that any artist can hope to perfect himself in so
complex and difficult an art as architecture, and that it is only by
studying the development of Gothic architecture in all countries that we
can form a true and just estimate of the marvellous force of the
artistic impulse which wrought such wonders all over Europe in the
twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries.
In a day of revival, such as this, I believe it to be necessary that we
should form this just estimate of bygone art; because I am sure that,
unless our artists learn their art by studying patiently, lovingly, and
constantly the works of their great predecessors, they will never
themselves be great. I know full well how much hostility there is on the
part of some to any study of foreign examples; but as from my boyhood up
I have never lost any opportunity of visiting and studying our old
English buildings, and as my love for our own national artistic
peculiarities rather increases than diminishes the more I study the
contemporary buildings of the Continent, I have no hesitation in giving
to the world what I have been able to learn about Spanish art.
What I have here written will no doubt be supplemented and corrected by
others hereafter; and much additional light will, I hope, be thrown upon
the history of Spanish buildings and their architects. It will be found
that I have referred to many Spanish authorities for the historical
facts on which the dates of the buildings I have visited can alone be
decided. Of these authorities none is more useful to the architect, none
is more creditable to its authors, than the ‘Notices of the Architects
and Architecture of Spain, by D. Eugenio Llaguno y Amirola, edited with
additions by D. Juan Agustin Cean-Bermudez,’ in four volumes, compiled
about the beginning of this century, but not published until A.D.
1829.[1]
This work, full of documentary evidence as to the Spanish architects and
their works, appears to me to be far better in its scheme and mode of
execution than any work which we in England have upon the buildings of
our own country; and, though it is true that neither of its authors had
a very accurate knowledge of the art, they seem to have exercised great
diligence in their search after information bearing on their subject,
and to have been remarkably successful.
Mr. Ford’s ‘Handbook of Spain’ has been of great service to me, not only
because it was the only guide to be had, and on account of the charm of
his style, but because it had the rare excellence (in a Guide-book) of
constantly referring to local guides and authorities, and so enabling me
to turn at once to the books most likely to aid me in my work.
The other works to which I have at some pains referred are mainly local
guides and histories, collections of documents, and the like. Of these a
vast number have been published, and I cannot pretend to have exhausted
the stores which they contain.
Unfortunately, so far as I have been able to learn, no one of late
years has taken up the subject of the Mediæval antiquities of Spain in
the way in which we are accustomed to see them treated by writers on the
subject elsewhere in Europe. The ‘Ensayo Historico’ of D. José Caveda is
very slight and unsatisfactory, and not to be depended on. Passavant,
who has published some notes on Spanish architecture,[2] is so
ludicrously wrong in most of his statements that it seems probable that
he trusted to his internal consciousness instead of to personal
inspection for his facts. The work of Don G. P. de Villa Amil[3] is very
showy and very untrustworthy; and that of Don F. J. Parcerisa,[4] and
the great work which the Spanish Government is publishing,[5] are both
so large and elaborate as to be useless for the purpose of giving such a
general and comprehensive idea of the features of Gothic architecture in
Spain as it has been my effort to give in this work.
Seeing, then, how complete is the ignorance which up to the present time
we have laboured under, as to the true history and nature of Gothic
architecture in Spain, I commit this volume to the reader with a fair
trust that what has been the occupation of all my leisure moments for
the last two or three years,--a work not only of much labour at home,
but of considerable labour also in long journeys taken year after year
for this object alone,--will not be found an unwelcome addition to the
literature of Christian art. I have attempted to throw what I had to say
into the form which has always appeared to me to be the right form for
any such architectural treatise. The interest of the subject is
threefold--first, Artistic and Archæological; secondly, Historical; and
lastly, Personal. I have first of all, therefore, arranged the notes of
my several journeys in the form of one continuous tour; and then, in the
concluding chapters, I have attempted a general _résumé_ of the history
of architecture in Spain, and, finally, a short history of the men who
as architects and builders have given me the materials for my work.
To this I have added, in an Appendix, two catalogues--one of dated
examples of buildings, and the other of their architects, with short
notices of their works; and, beside these, a few translations of
documents which seem to me to bring before us in a very real way the
mode in which these mediæval buildings were undertaken, carried on, and
completed.
CONTENTS.
CHAP. PAGE
I. IRUN, SAN SEBASTIAN, BURGOS 1
II. BURGOS 12
III. PALENCIA, VALLADOLID 56
IV. SALAMANCA, ZAMORA, BENAVENTE 78
V. LEON 105
VI. ASTORGA, LUGO, LA CORUÑA 129
VII. SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELLA 140
VIII. MEDINA DEL CAMPO, AVILA 160
IX. SEGOVIA 180
X. MADRID, ALCALÁ, GUADALAJARA, SIGÜENZA 195
XI. TOLEDO 209
XII. VALENCIA 259
XIII. TARRAGONA 273
XIV. BARCELONA 291
XV. GERONA, PERPIÑAN, S. ELNE 318
XVI. MANRESA, LÉRIDA 339
XVII. HUESACA, ZARAGOZA 362
XVIII. TARAZONA, VERUELA 376
XIX. TUDELA, OLITE, PAMPLONA 391
XX. SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN
SPAIN 409
XXI. GOTHIC ARCHITECTS IN SPAIN 448
APPENDIX.
PAGE
A.--Catalogue of dated examples of Spanish Buildings, from the
tenth to the sixteenth century inclusive 467
B.--Catalogue of Architects, Sculptors, and Builders of the
Churches, &c., mentioned in this volume 471
C.--Documents relating to the construction of the new Cathedral
at Salamanca 482
D.--Royal Warrant for the payment of the Master of the Works
at Santiago 489
E.--Memoir of the construction of the Cathedral at Segovia, by
the Canon Juan Rodriguez 490
F.--Catalogue of the subjects carved on the screens round the
Coro of Toledo Cathedral 495
G.--Agreement between Jayme Fabre and the Sub-prior and
Brethren of the Convent of San Domingo at Palma in
Mallorca 500
H.--The Reports of the Junta of Architects assembled at Gerona
to decide on the mode of building the nave of the Cathedral 501
I.--Contract between Guillermo Sagrera and the Council of the
Fabric, for the erection of the Exchange at Palma in Mallorca 514
INDEX 517
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
(THE FULL-PAGE ENGRAVINGS ARE NUMBERED IN ORDER.)
Frontispiece. Santiago Cathedral, Portico de la Gloria.
Vignette on Title-page, Segovia from the Alcazar. Page
Compartment of Nave, Burgos Cathedral 14
1. Burgos Cathedral, North-west View (from Fergusson) 25
Varieties of Crockets, Burgos Cathedral 28
2. Burgos Cathedral, Clerestory of Choir 29
3. Burgos Cathedral, View of Cloisters from the roof 30
Carved Capital, Burgos Cathedral 33
Transept Chapel, Las Huelgas 35
4. Las Huelgas, Burgos, north-west view 38
5. San Esteban, Burgos, Interior looking west 49
San Esteban, Burgos, Iron Lectern 50
6. San Gil, Burgos, Iron Pulpit 51
Prie-Dieu, Palencia Cathedral 59
Steeple of San Miguel, Palencia 62
Cloister, Sta. Maria l’Antigua, Valladolid 67
7. Salamanca Old Cathedral, Interior of Lantern looking east 80
8. Salamanca Old Cathedral, Exterior of Lantern 82
Archivolt, San Martin, Salamanca 91
9. Zamora, Bridge over the Douro 91
10. Zamora Cathedral, Interior of Nave looking east 92
11. Zamora Cathedral, Exterior from the south-west 94
Choir Lectern, Zamora Cathedral 96
Monument, la Magdalena, Zamora 98
San Vicente, Zamora 99
12. Benavente, East End of Sta. Maria 102
13. Leon Cathedral, Interior of Aisle round the Apse 108
Bay of Choir, Leon Cathedral 113
Interior of San Isidoro, Leon, looking north-east 123
14. Leon, South Transept of San Isidoro 126
15. Lugo Cathedral, Interior, looking north-west 132
Sta. Maria, la Coruña 137
16. La Coruña, Church of Santiago 138
17. Santiago Cathedral, Interior of Lower Church 147
Exterior of Chevet, Santiago de Compostella 149
18. Santiago Cathedral, Shafts in South Doorway 150
Inscription on South Door, Santiago Cathedral 151
19. Santiago Cathedral, Interior of South Transept
looking north-east 152
Central Shaft of Western Doorway, Santiago Cathedral 154
20. Medina del Campo, the Castle 160
Puerta de San Vicente, Avila 163
21. Avila Cathedral, Interior of Aisle round the Apse 164
East End, Avila Cathedral 165
Stone Roofing, Avila Cathedral 168
22. San Vicente, Avila, north-east view 170
23. San Vicente, Avila, Interior of Western Porch 172
24. Segovia, Interior of the Templars’ Church 184
25. San Esteban, Segovia, south-west view of Church and Steeple 187
26. San Millan, Segovia, north-west view 188
Capital in Cloister, San Martin, Segovia 190
Organ, Alcalá de Henares 200
Domestic Window, Alcalá de Henares 201
27. Guadalajara, Palace of the Duke del Infantado 203
28. Sigüenza Cathedral, Interior of Nave and Aisles
looking north-east 204
San Cristo de la Luz, Toledo (from Fergusson) 215
29. Toledo, Interior of Sta. Maria la Blanca (from Fergusson) 218
Knocker and Nails on Door, Toledo 222
San Roman, Toledo 225
Sta. Magdalena, Toledo 226
Puerta del Sol, Toledo 230
Stone Roof of Outer Aisle and Chapels, Toledo Cathedral 239
30. Toledo Cathedral, Interior of Transept, &c., looking north-west 241
Diagrams of Vaulting, Toledo Cathedral 243
Chapels of the Chevet, Toledo Cathedral 245
31. Toledo Cathedral, Interior of North Aisle of Choir, looking east 246
32. Valencia Cathedral, North Transept and Cimborio (from Fergusson) 263
The Micalete, Valencia Cathedral 264
Puerta de Serranos, Valencia 268
33. Valencia, Exterior of the Casa Lonja 270
Ajimez Window, Valencia 270
Apse of Choir, Tarragona Cathedral 277
Newel Staircase, ditto 278
34. Tarragona Cathedral, View across Transepts 280
35. Tarragona Cathedral, Interior of Cloister 282
Sculptured Abacus in Cloister, Tarragona Cathedral 284
West Front of San Pablo, Barcelona 293
36. Barcelona Cathedral, Exterior of Chevet 298
37. Barcelona Cathedral, Interior of West End of Nave 301
38. Barcelona Cathedral, View of the Steeples, &c.,
from the Cloisters 304
Lock on Screen in Cloister, Barcelona Cathedral 305
39. Sta. Maria del Mar, Barcelona, south-west view 308
Interior of Sta. Agata, Barcelona 312
40. Barcelona, the Casa Consistorial 314
Ajimez Window, Barcelona 315
41. Gerona Cathedral, Interior looking east 322
Altar, Gerona Cathedral 327
Wheel of Bells, ditto 328
42. San Pedro, Gerona, Exterior from north-west 330
Spire of San Feliu, Gerona 334
43. Manresa, Interior of the Collegiate Church 342
Wheel of Bells, Manresa Collegiate Church 345
44. Lérida Old Cathedral, View from Steeple 353
Cornice of South Transept Doorway, Lérida Old Cathedral 355
45. Lérida Old Cathedral, South Porch 356
Pendentive, &c., under Lantern, Lérida Old Cathedral 357
Interior of San Pedro, Huesca 366
46. Church at Salas, near Huesca, West Front 368
Cloister, Tarazona 381
47. Tarazona, Campanile of La Magdalena 382
48. Abbey of Veruela, Entrance Gateway 384
49. Veruela Abbey Church, Interior 386
Chapel Altar, Veruela 387
Entrance to Chapter-house, Veruela 388
50. Tudela Cathedral, Interior of Choir 392
Angle of Cloister, Tudela 397
Castle, and Church of San Pedro, Olite 400
51. Pamplona Cathedral, Exterior from the north-east 402
GROUND PLANS.
Plate
1. Burgos, Plan of Cathedral 34
2. Burgos, Plans of Las Huelgas, San Gil, and San Esteban 46
3. Palencia and Valladolid, Plans of three Churches 61
4. Salamanca, Plans of old and new Cathedrals and San Marcos 104
5. Leon, Plan of Cathedral 128
6. Leon, Plan of San Isidoro 128
7. Lugo, Plan of Cathedral 132
8. Plans of Churches at Benavente, La Coruña, Segovia, and Lérida 137
9. Santiago, Plan of Cathedral 158
10. Avila, Plan of Cathedral 168
11. Avila, Plan of San Vicente 170
12. Segovia, Plan of Cathedral 194
13. Sigüenza, Plan of Cathedral 208
14. Toledo, Plan of Cathedral 258
15. Tarragona, Plan of Cathedral 290
16. Barcelona, Plan of Cathedral 306
17. Barcelona, Plans of three Churches 310
18. Gerona, Plans of Cathedral, &c. 338
19. Manresa, Plan of the Collegiata 341
20. Lérida, Plan of the old Cathedral 358
21. Huesca, Plans of the Cathedral and San Pedro 366
22. Tarazona, Plan of the Cathedral 378
23. Veruela, Plan of the Abbey Church, &c. 390
24. Tudela, Plan of the Cathedral 398
25. Pamplona, Plans of Cathedral and of San Saturnino 408
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN SPAIN.
CHAPTER I.
IRUN--SAN SEBASTIAN--BURGOS.
So little has it been the fashion hitherto to explore the North of Spain
in search of artistic treasures, that it was with somewhat more than
usual of the feeling that I was engaged in an adventure that I left
Bayonne on my first journey West of the Pyrenees. Yet, in truth, so far
as I have seen there is little in the way of adventure to anticipate
even there in these matter-of-fact days; and, some slight personal
inconvenience excepted, there is nothing to prevent any traveller of
ordinary energy doing all that I did with complete success, and an
uncommon amount of pleasure. For if there are no serious perils to be
encountered, there is great novelty in almost everything that one sees;
and whether we wish to study the people and their customs, or to visit
the country and explore it in search of striking and picturesque
scenery, or to examine, as I did, its treasures of ancient art, we shall
find in every one of these respects so much that is unlike what we are
used to, so much that is beautiful, and so much that is ancient and
venerable by historic association, that we must be dull indeed if we do
not enjoy our journey with the fullest measure of enjoyment. Indeed the
drawbacks about which so much is usually said and written--the
difficulty of finding inns fit to sleep in, or food fit to eat--seem to
me to be most enormously exaggerated. It is true that I have purposely
avoided travelling over the well-beaten Andalusian corner of Spain; and
it is there, I suppose, that most English ideas of Spain and the
Spaniards are formed. But in those parts to which my travels have taken
me, but in which English travellers are not known so well as they are in
Andalusia, I have certainly seldom found any difficulty in obtaining
such creature-comforts as are essential. Somewhat, it is true, depends
upon the time of year in which a journey is undertaken; for in the
spring, when the climate is most enjoyable, and the country gloriously
green and bright with wavy crops of corn, the traveller has to depend
entirely upon the cook for his food; and has no other resource even
where the cookery is intolerable to his English sense of smell, taste,
and sight! But in the autumn, if he chances to travel, as I have twice
done, just when the grapes are ripening, he may, if he choose, live
almost entirely, and with no little advantage to his health, on grapes
and bread, the latter being always pure, light, and good to a degree of
which our English bakers have no conception; and the former tasting as
none but Spanish grapes do, and often costing nothing, or at any rate
never more than a merely nominal sum.
On the whole, from my own experience, I should be inclined to recommend
the autumn as the most favourable season for a Spanish journey, the
weather being then generally more settled than in the spring. But, on
the other hand, there is no doubt that any one who wishes to judge
fairly of the scenery of Old and New Castile, of great part of Aragon,
and of Leon, ought on no account to visit these provinces save in the
spring. Then I know no sight more glorious in its way than the sea of
corn which is seen covering with its luxuriance and lovely colour the
endless sweeps of the great landscape on all sides; whereas in the
autumn the same landscape looks parched and barren, burnt up as it is by
the furious sun until it assumes everywhere a dusty hue, painful to the
eye, and most monotonous and depressing to the mind; whilst the roads
suffer sometimes from an accumulation of dust such as can scarcely be
imagined by those who have never travelled along them. Even at this
season, however, there are some recompenses, and one of them is the
power of realizing somewhat of the beauty of an Eastern atmosphere, and
the singular contrasts of colours which Eastern landscapes and skies
generally present; for nowhere else have I ever seen sunsets more
beautiful or more extraordinary than in the dreariest part of dreary
Castile.
So far as the inns and food are to be considered, I do not think there
is much need ordinarily for violent grumbling. All ideas of English
manners and customs must be carefully left behind; and if the
travelling-clothes are donned with a full intention to do in Spain as
Spain does, there is small fear of their owner suffering very much. But
in Spain more than in most parts of Europe the foreign traveller is a
rare bird, and if he attempt to import his own customs, he will
unquestionably suffer for his pains, and give a good deal of
unnecessary--because fruitless--trouble into the bargain.
Spanish inns are of various degrees, from the _Posada_, which is usually
a muleteer’s public-house, and the _Parador_, which is higher in rank,
and where the diligence is generally to be found, up to the _Fonda_,
which answers in idea to our hotel. In small country towns and villages
a posada is the only kind of inn to be found; and sometimes indeed large
towns and cities have nothing better for the traveller’s accommodation;
but in the larger towns, and where there is much traffic, the Parador or
Fonda will often be found to be as good as second-rate inns elsewhere
usually are.
In a Posada it is generally easy to secure a bed-room which boasts at
any rate of clean, wholesome linen, though of but little furniture; and
in the remoter parts of the country--as in Leon and Galicia--there is no
difficulty in securing in the poorest Posada plenty of bird or fish of
quality good enough for a gourmand. The great objection to these small
inns is, that nothing but the linen for the beds and the face of the
waiting-maid ever seems to be washed. The water is carried to and fro in
jars of the most curious and pleasant form and texture, and a few drops
are now and then thrown on the floor of the comedor or eating-room by
way of laying the ancient dust; but washing in any higher sense than
this is unknown. It must be said also, that the entrance is common to
the mules and the guests; and that after passing through an archway
where the atmosphere is only too lively with fleas, and where the stench
is something too dreadful to be borne with ease, you turn into the
staircase door, and up the stairs, only to find when you have mounted
that you have to live, sleep, and eat above the mules; and (unless you
are very lucky), when you open your window, to smell as badly as ever
all the sweets of their uncleaned and, I suppose, uncleanable stables!
The kitchen is almost always on the first floor; and here one may stand
by the wood fire and see the dinner cooked in a mysterious fashion in a
number of little earthen jars planted here and there among the embers;
whilst one admires the small but precious array of quaint crockery on
the shelves, and tries to induce the cooking-maid to add somewhat less
of the usual flavouring to one at any rate of her stews! I confess, in
spite of all this, to a grateful recollection of many a Posada, to a
hearty appreciation of an _olla podrida_--a dish abused most by those
who know least about its virtues--and to some suspicion that many of
the humblest have treasures in their unsophisticated cooks for which one
longs in vain in our own English country-town inns, which of all I have
seen seem to me to be the worst, in their affectation of superiority,
and in their utter inability to support their claim with anything more
worthy than bad mutton-chops, doubtful beer, and wine about which there
is no kind of doubt whatever! So much for the Posada. In the Parador or
the Fonda the entertainment is generally very fair, whilst in many the
sleeping-rooms are all that need be desired. But even here the smell of
the stables is often so intolerable as to make it very desirable to find
other quarters; and about this there is seldom if ever any difficulty;
for in almost all towns of moderate size there are plenty of houses
where lodgers are taken in for a night; and in these one may generally
depend upon cleanliness, the absence of mules, and fairly-good cookery.
In all--whether inns or lodgings--it is well to eat when the Spaniard
eats, and not to attempt to do so at any other time, else much precious
time and temper will assuredly be lost, and with results entirely
incommensurate with the sacrifice. At whatever hour you rise the maid
will bring a small cup of chocolate and a vast glass of water, with some
sweet biscuits or toast. And you must learn to love this precious cup,
if you intend to love Spain: nowhere else will you get chocolate so
invariably well made; and if after you have taken it you drink heartily
of the water, you have nothing to fear, and may work hard without
fainting till you get your morning meal, at about eleven o’clock. This
is a dinner, and can be followed by another at sunset, after which you
can generally find in a café either coffee, chocolate, or iced lemonade,
whilst you watch the relaxation of the domino-playing natives.
Finally, there is seldom anything to quarrel with in the bill, which is
usually made out for the entertainment at so much a day; and when this
has been paid, the people of the house are sure to bid you God speed--_a
dios_--with pleasant faces and kind hearts.
The journeys which I have undertaken in Spain have all been made with
the one object of inspecting the remains of Gothic building which I
either hoped to, or knew I should, find there. My knowledge of Spanish
scenery has therefore been very much limited, and it is only
incidentally that I am able to speak at all of it. Yet I have seen
enough to be able to recommend a great extent of country as thoroughly
worthy of exploration by those who care for nought but picturesque
scenery. The greater part of Catalonia, much of Aragon, Navarre, the
north of Leon, Galicia, and the Asturias, are all full of lovely
scenery, and even in other districts, where the country is not
interesting, there seem always to be ranges of mountains in sight,
which, with the singular purity of the atmosphere through which they are
seen, never fail of leaving pleasant recollections in one’s mind. Such,
for example, is the view of the Guadarrama Mountains from Madrid--a view
which redeems that otherwise forlorn situation for a great city, and
gives it the only charm it has. Such again are the mountain backgrounds
of Leon, Avila, and Segovia.
In my first Spanish tour I entered the country from Bayonne, travelled
thence by Vitoria to Burgos, Palencia, Valladolid, Madrid, Alcalá,
Toledo, Valencia, Barcelona, Lérida, and by Gerona to Perpiñan. In the
second I went again to Gerona, thence to Barcelona, Tarragona, Manresa,
Lérida, Huesca, Zaragoza, Tudela, Pamplona, and so to Bayonne; and in
the third and last I went by Bayonne to Pamplona, Tudela, Tarazona,
Sigüenza, Guadalajara, Madrid, Toledo, Segovia, Avila, Salamanca,
Zamora, Benavente, Leon, Astorga, Lugo, Santiago, la Coruña, and thence
back by Valladolid and Burgos to San Sebastian and Bayonne.
Tours such as these have, I think, given me a fair chance of forming a
right judgment as to most of the features of Spanish architecture; but
it were worse than foolish to suppose that they have been in the
slightest degree exhaustive, for there are large tracts of country which
I have not visited at all, others in which I have seen one or two only
out of many towns which are undoubtedly full of interesting subjects to
the architect, and others again in which I have been too much pressed
for time. Yet I hardly know that I need apologize for my neglect to see
more when I consider that, up to the present time, so far as I know, no
architect has ever described the buildings which I have visited, and
indeed no accurate or reliable information is to be obtained as to their
exact character, or age, or history. The real subject for apology is one
over which I have had, in truth, no control. The speed with which I have
been compelled to travel, and the rapidity with which I have been
obliged to sketch and take dimensions of everything I have seen, have
often, no doubt, led to my making errors, for which, wherever they
exist, I am sincerely sorry. In truth, the work I undertook was hardly
the mere relaxation from my ordinary artistic labour for which it was
first of all intended, and has been increased not a little by the
labour which I have undertaken in the attempt to fix by documentary
evidence, where possible, the ages of the various parts of the buildings
I have described.
It will be observed that I have not visited the extreme south of Spain;
and this was from the first a settled purpose with me. We have already
been treated almost to surfeit with accounts of the Moorish remains at
Granada, Seville, Cordoba, and other places in the south; but beside
this my anxiety was to see how the Christians and not how the Moors
built in Spain in the middle ages, and I purposely, therefore, avoided
those parts of the country which during the best period of mediæval art
were not free from Moorish influence. The pages of this book are the
best evidence I can give of the wisdom of such a decision, and I need
only say here that I was more than satisfied with the purity and beauty
of the Christian architecture of Spain, and that I have no hesitation in
the advice which I give to others to follow in my track and to make good
the deficiencies in my investigations, of which I am so thoroughly
conscious.
By this time travelling on the great high road through Spain _viâ_
Madrid is much easier than it was when I first made the journey. The
railway to Madrid is now either completed or all but completed, and it
is possible to travel from Calais to Alicante on an almost unbroken
line. It is a matter to be grateful for in most respects, yet I rejoice
that I made my first journey when it was still necessary to make use of
the road, and to see something on the way both of the country and of the
people.
It was after a hurried journey by night to Paris, and thence the next
night on to Bordeaux, that I arrived, after a few hours spent in that
interesting old city, at the end of the second day in Bayonne. Here my
first work was to furnish myself with money and places in the Spanish
diligence; and in both these matters I received my first lesson in one
peculiarity of Spaniards--that of using foreign words in another and
different sense from that to which we are accustomed. Napoleons are said
to be the best coin for use in Spain, and I furnished myself with them
only to discover, when it was too late, that in Spain a Napoleon means a
silver five-franc piece, and that my gold Napoleons were all but useless
out of Madrid. And again, when I asked for places in the coupé of the
diligence, I found that I was really trying to secure seats in the
banquette--the coupé being called the berlina, and the banquette the
coupé.
At Bayonne there is not very much to be seen beyond the cathedral, the
river crossed by the Duke for his attack on Soult, and a charming view
from the top of the cathedral tower of the lower ranges of the Pyrenees.
The Trois Couronnes is the most conspicuous peak, and its outline is
fine; but here, as generally in the distant views of the chain which I
obtained, there is a lack of those snow peaks which lend so much beauty
to all Alpine views. The exterior of the cathedral has been almost
entirely renewed of late, and a small army of masons was busy in the
cloister on the south side of the choir. It is to be hoped that the
stoppage of the funds so lavishly spent upon the French cathedrals may
happen before the Bayonne architects and masons have come round to the
west end. At present there is a savage picturesqueness about this which
is beyond measure delightful, whilst the original arrangement of the
doorways and porches on the west and south, with enormous penthouse
roofs over them, is just so far open to conjecture and doubt as to be
best left without very much alteration. The general character of the
interior of the cathedral is only moderately good, the traceries of the
lofty traceried triforium and the great six-light windows of the
clerestory in the nave being unusually complicated for French work. The
choir is of late thirteenth century work, very short, with five chapels
in the chevet.
In the afternoon we followed the stream and drove to Biarritz. A
succession of vehicles of every kind, crowded with passengers, gave
strong evidence of the attractions either of the place or else of the
Emperor and Empress, who had been there for a week or two; and the mob
of extravagantly dressed ladies, French and English, who thronged the
bathing-places and the sandy plain in front of the Villa Eugénie,
accounted for the enormous black boxes under which all the vehicles
seemed to groan. The view from the cliffs on the western side of
Biarritz is strikingly beautiful, embracing as it does the long range of
the Pyrenees descending to the sea in a grand mass above Fuenterrabia,
and prolonged as far as the eye could reach along the coast of Biscay.
The next morning we left Bayonne at four o’clock for Burgos. We had
seats in the coupé, the occupants of the berlina on this journey being a
son of Queen Christina, with his bride. In Spain every one seems to
travel by the diligence; you seldom meet a private carriage; there are
no posting arrangements; and owing to the way in which the diligences on
the great roads are crowded, it is very difficult indeed to stop on the
road without running great risk of indefinite delays in getting places
again.
The drive was very charming. The sun rose before we reached St. Jean de
Luz,[6] and we enjoyed to the full the lovely scenery. Crossing the
Bidassoa at Irun, the famous Ile de Faisans was seen--a mere stony bank
in the middle of the stream, recently walled round and adorned with a
sort of monument--and then ensued a delay of an hour whilst our luggage
was examined and _plombé_ in order that it might pass out of Guipuzcoa
into Castile without a second examination.
There is a rather characteristic church of late date here. It stands on
ground sloping steeply down towards the river, and has a bald look
outside, owing to the almost complete absence of window openings, what
there are being small, and very high above the floor. The plan is
peculiar: it has a nave and chancel, and aisles of two bays to the
eastern half of the nave, so that the western part of the nave
corresponds in outline very nearly with the chancel. There is a tower at
the west end of the south aisle. The groining is many-ribbed, and
illustrates the love of the later Spanish architects for ogee
surface-ribs, which look better on a plan of vaulting than they do in
execution. The east end is square, but the vaulting is apsidal, the
angles of the square end being cut across by domical pendentives below
the vaulting. The most remarkable feature is the great width of the
nave, which is about fifty-four feet from centre to centre of the
columns, the total length not being more, I think, than a hundred and
fifty feet. The church floor was strewed with rushes, and in the evening
when I visited it the people stole in and out like ghosts upon this
quiet carpeting. This church was rebuilt in A.D. 1508, and is of course
not a very good example of Spanish Gothic.
Fuenterrabia is just seen from Irun in the distance, very prettily
situated, with the long line of the blue bay of Biscay to its right.
From Irun the road to San Sebastian passes the landlocked harbour of
Pasage: this is most picturesque, the old houses clustering round the
base of the great hills which shut it in from the sea, between which
there is only a narrow winding passage to the latter, guarded by a
mediæval castle. Leaving this charming picture behind, we were soon in
front of San Sebastian. Here again the castle-crowned cliff seems
entirely to shut the town out from the sea, whilst only a narrow neck of
land between the _embouchure_ of the river on the one side, and a
landlocked bay on the other, connects it with the mainland. We had been
seven or eight hours _en route_, and were glad to hear of a halt for
breakfast. Whilst it was being prepared I ran off to the church of San
Vicente on the opposite side of the town to the Fonda. I found it to be
a building of the sixteenth century--built in 1507--with a large western
porch, open-arched on each face, a nave and aisles, and eastern apsidal
choir. The end of this is filled with an enormous Retablo of Pagan
character, reaching to the roof. The church is groined throughout, and
all the light is admitted by very small windows in the clerestory. The
aisles have altars in each bay, with Retablos facing north and south.
There is little or no work of much architectural interest here; but it
was almost my first Spanish church, and I had my first very vivid
impression of the darkened interiors, lighted up here and there by some
brilliant speck of sunshine, which are so characteristic of the country,
and as lovely in their effects as they are aggravating to one who wants
to be able to make sketches and notes within them.
Leaving San Sebastian at mid-day, we skirted the bay, busy with folk
enjoying themselves in the water after the fashion of Biarritz. The
country was wild, beautiful, and mountainous all the way to Mondragon.
At Vergara there was a fair going on, and the narrow streets were
crowded with picturesquely dressed peasants; everywhere in these parts
fine, lusty, handsome, and clean, and to my mind the best looking
peasantry I have ever seen. In the evening the villages were all alive,
the young men and women dancing a wild, indescribable dance, rather
gracefully, and with a good deal of waving about of their arms. The
music generally consisted of a tambourine, but once of two drums and a
flute; and the ball-room was the centre of the road, or the little
_plaza_ in the middle of the village. At midnight there was another halt
at Vitoria, where an hour was whiled away over chocolate and
_azucarillos_--delicate compositions of sugar which melt away rapidly in
water, and make a superior kind of _eau sucré_; and again at sunrise we
stopped at Miranda del Ebro for the examination of luggage before
entering Castile.
Close to the bridge, on the opposite side of the Ebro to Miranda, is a
church of which I could just see by the dim light of the morning that it
was of some value as an example of Romanesque and Early Pointed work.
The apse, of five sides, has buttresses with two half-columns in front
of each, and an arch thrown across from buttress to buttress carries
the cornice and gives a great appearance of massiveness to the window
arches with which it is concentric. The south doorway is of very fine
Early Pointed style, with three shafts on each jamb, and five orders in
the arch.
On the road from Miranda to Pancorbo there is a striking defile between
massive limestone cliffs and rocks, through which the Madrid Railway is
being constructed with no little difficulty, and where the road is
carried up, until, at its summit, we found ourselves at the commencement
of the arid, treeless, dusty, and eminently miserable plain of Castile,
whilst we groaned not a little at the slow pace at which the ten or
twelve horses and mules that drew us got over the ground. These Spanish
diligences are certainly most amusing for a time, and thenceforward most
wearying. They generally have a team of ten or twelve animals, mostly
mules. The driver has a short whip and reins for the wheelers only; a
boy, the _adalantero_, rides the leaders as postilion, and with a power
of endurance which deserves record, the same boy having ridden with us
all the way from San Sebastian to Burgos--twenty-five hours, with a halt
of one hour only at Vitoria. The conductor, or _mayoral_, sits with the
driver, and the two spend half their time in getting down from the box,
rushing to the head of one of the mules, belabouring him heartily for
two or three minutes till the whole train is in a mad gallop, and then
climbing to the box to indulge in a succession of wild shrieks until the
poor beasts have fallen again into their usual walk, when the
performance is repeated. I believe that for a day and a half our
_mayoral_ never slept a wink, and spent something like a fourth of his
time running with the mules: though I am bound to say that subsequent
experience has convinced me that he was exceptionally lively and
wakeful, for elsewhere, in travelling by night, I have generally found
that the mules become their own masters after dark, walking or standing
still as seemeth them best, and seldom getting over much more than half
the ground they travel in the same number of hours of daylight.
A few miles before our arrival at Burgos, we caught the first sight of
the three spires of the cathedral; and presently the whole mass stood
out grandly, surmounted by the Castle hill on the right. One or two
villages with large churches of little interest were passed, the great
Carthusian Convent of Miraflores was seen on the left, and then, passing
a short suburb, we stopped at the Fonda de la Rafaela; and after an hour
spent in recovery from dust, dirt, and horrid hunger, betook ourselves
to the famous Cathedral, with no little anxiety as to the result of
this first day of ecclesiologizing in Spain.
The railroad, which is now open to Burgos, follows very much the same
line as the old road. As far as Miranda the scenery is generally very
beautiful, and here there is a junction with the wonderfully-engineered
railway to Bilbao, which is continued again on the other side until it
joins the Pamplona and Tudela Railway near the latter city. It is
therefore a very good plan to enter Spain by the steamboat from Bayonne
to Bilbao, to come thence by railway, join the main line at Miranda, and
so on to Burgos, or else by the valley of the Ebro to Tudela and
Zaragoza. The passage of the Pancorbo defile by the railway is even
finer than by the road; and for the remainder of the distance to Burgos
the traveller’s feeling must be in the main one of joy at finding
himself skimming along with fair rapidity over the tame country, in
place of loitering over it in a tiresome diligence.