Though numerically by no means imposing, the Spanish pictures at the
Louvre form an exceedingly interesting section of the great French
national collection, comprising, as they do, characteristic examples of
the art of practically all the most prominent figures in the evolution
of Spanish painting. Compared with the schools of Italy and Flanders,
that of Spain was tardy in its development and very much dependent
upon foreign influences. The activity of Flemish and Italian masters
in Spain—we need only mention Starnina, Dello Delli, Rubens, Luca
Giordano—and the visits of several eminent Spanish masters to Italy,
could not fail to leave their clear mark on the art of the Peninsula,
the renaissance of which was almost entirely due to the stimulus
received from abroad. The short visit of Jan van Eyck to Portugal in
1429 also had a profound influence on the art of the Peninsula. But
the local conditions, the strict rule of the Church and the tyranny of
the Inquisition, the stiff ceremonial of the Court,—the only rival of
the Church in the patronage of the arts,—and especially the sombre,
passionate character of the Spanish race,—all helped to transform the
imported styles into an art of definite national stamp, an art that
is marked by sombreness, asceticism, dramatic intensity, and deep
religious feeling. Throughout it is dominated by realistic tendencies
and rude strength rather than by the striving for grace and beauty and
rhythm which characterise Italian art.