Chapter I: AM induced to give this one little specimen of what the Spaniards call

"Churriguerismo" for these reasons: 1stly, because it is a prettier example than usual of the style practised early in the eighteenth century by the fashionable José Churriguerra--the William Kent of Spanish architecture; 2ndly, because it affords a good specimen of the comfortable house of a rich Barcelonese merchant of the last century; and 3rdly, on account of the singular arrangement of the jointing of the masonry, which converts the apparently double arch into very little else than one tolerably stable spanning of the whole space.

In describing my eighty-fifth sketch I alluded to the fact that the trade of Spain gradually fell into the hands mainly of foreigners, and especially at first of the Genoese, the difference between them and the native Spanish merchant being that while the former were crafty, industrious and dishonest, the latter were stupid and lazy, but (except in the matter of smuggling) strictly honest. Plenty of witness is borne by different writers to both facts. Quevedo, for instance, abounds in hits at the Genoese and other Italians. "Give an Italian to the Devil," he says in his "El Alguazil Endemoniado," "and the old gentleman won't try to take him, for an Italian would take away the Devil himself."[64] Elsewhere in the same satire he cautions his readers telling them that they are bound to know "that in Spain the mysteries of the accounts of the Genoese are disastrous for the millions that come from the Indies, and that the cannons of their pens are batteries for purses. There are no incomes which, if they once get into the strokes of their pens, and the inkholders of their inkstands, escape without drowning."[65]

The poco-curante honesty of the Spaniard on the other hand, (the "poco-curanteeism" at least an inheritance from the East,) kept business in his hands which, but for his reliability, ought according to every recognised law of probability in trade, to have left him before it did. Laborde, a writer by no means inclined to take too favourable a view of the national character, confesses that "Spanish probity is proverbial, and that it conspicuously shines in commercial relations. Good faith and punctuality are generally prevalent among merchants, the instances of deception, negligence, fraudulent dealing and non-fulfilment of engagements, so general in the trading world, being unknown to and not practised amongst them." As an illustration, Laborde mentions some coined silver sent home in the year 1654, which was paid away by the Spanish merchants, and was subsequently discovered to have been debased. Not only were the Spanish merchants eager to make good the loss to those who had dealt with them, but having discovered the culprit they obtained his conviction, and the wretched man was publicly burnt alive. In spite of honesty, however, trade and commerce will not thrive in any country in which they are looked upon as degrading. A Catalonian might work, since he was but half a Spaniard. A Castilian, however, was quite willing to pay any one who would work for him, and as with his increase of wealth his wants became more and more artificial and luxurious, the swarms of foreigners he harboured about him to do his bidding, increased to an unprecedented extent. The Countess D'Aulnois gives a capital account of the state of things in this respect in her time (circâ 1679).

"Spain," she says,[66] "cannot well be without commerce with France, not only on the frontiers of Biscai and Arragon, where it hath been almost ever permitted, but through the whole country where it is prohibited, for Provence hath ever had correspondencies in the kingdom of Valentia, by its necessity of the others commodities; and for the same reason Britaign, Normandy, and other parts on the ocean have continually sent theirs to Cadiz and Bilbo. I speak not of corn and stuffs of all sorts brought from that country, but even of ironwork and swords; by which it appears a mistake to think that in these dayes the best come of Spain. No more being now made at Toledo, few but forrain are used, unless a very small quantity that come from Biscai, which are excessively dear.

"It is, moreover, hard to imagine how much Spain suffers for want of manufactures. So few artificers remain in its towns, that native commodities are carried abroad to be wrought in forrain countries. Wools and silks are transported raw, and being spun and weaved in England, France, and Holland, return thither at dear rates. The land itself is not tilled by the people it feeds. In seed time, harvest, and vintage, husbandmen come from Bearn and other parts of France, who get a great deal of money by sowing and reaping their corn, and dressing and cutting their vines. Carpenters and masons are (for the most part) also strangers, who will be paid treble what they can get in their own country. In Madrid there is hardly a waterbearer that is not a foreigner, such are also the greatest part of shoomakers and taylors, and it is believed the third of these come only to get a little money and afterwards return home; but none thrive so much as architects, masons, and carpenters. Almost every house hath wooden windows (here being no glass), and a balcony jutting into the street."

GERONA OLD HOUSE NEAR THE ESTRELLA DE ORO.

MDW 1869]

PLATE XCVIII.

_GERONA._

OLD HOUSE NEAR THE ESTRELLA DE ORO.

IF my last sketch illustrated the regular rich merchant's house of the eighteenth century--symbol of peace and plenty, police and protection--the kind of residence I now submit to the reader's attention is cast in quite a different key. It is essentially a fighter's house, the only kind of structure in which (before the use of gunpowder) a family could hold its own for months of foreign siege or protracted street fighting. Gerona has always been, as we shall have occasion to recognize in examining its fine old walls, almost a frontier city, struggled for repeatedly by Christian and by Moor. The house I have sketched is one of the earliest and most complete of its class I have ever seen, the lower half alone having been materially altered from its original construction. It dates in all probability from the middle of the twelfth century, and yet stands strong and stalwart in a quarter of the city in which very little of anything not comparatively of yesterday meets the wandering visitor's eye. On comparing this sketch with that from a house at Barcelona (No. 96) erected at least three hundred years later, it will be found that the type furnished by the earliest in date had changed but little in the interval. Hence we may fairly infer that the conditions of insecurity affecting domestic life had scarcely varied in Catalonia during the whole of that term. In fact, it was not until the invention of printing spread abroad the elements of education, and brought about changes in social systems, that men began to dream of peace and security ensured by other preservatives from danger than heavy armour and fortress-like houses.

GERONA. UPPER PART OF OLD HOUSE. NEAR SAINT FELIX

MDW 1869]

PLATE XCIX.

_GERONA._

UPPER PART OF OLD HOUSE AND SPIRE OF THE CHURCH OF SAN FELIU.

THE west front of the Cathedral at Gerona stands at the top of a noble flight of eighty-six steps, and these ascended, platforms are reached on the west and south of the splendid pile from which fine views over the city and its environs are obtained. The sketch now under notice was taken from the southern platform, the wall enclosing which upon the west cuts off something like thirty feet in height of the fine old house which forms the principal object in the sketch. Its uppermost story, with its continuous arcade, has a symmetrical and agreeable effect, and appears to have been the only portion of the building really suitable for habitation according to modern views as to the value of abundant light and air. On the right is seen the cathedral well, the waters of which have no doubt alike served for the bodily and spiritual ablutions of Mahommedan and Christian, since cathedral, mosque, and then again cathedral, have existed in turn upon the same site from the days of Charlemagne to the present time. During the Moorish occupation in the eighth century the Christians were permitted to worship in the original church of San Feliu (Felix) the truncated spire of the successor to which appears in my sketch between the old house, and the south-west angle of the cathedral, shown on the extreme right. The present church, dedicated to San Feliu, dates probably from the early part of the fourteenth century. Its history has been clearly traced by Mr. Street from a comparison of the building with the particulars given and documents quoted in the "España Sagrada." "The steeple is said to have been finished in 1392. Pedro Zacoma having acted as architect as late as A.D. 1376." It was struck by lightning in the year 1581, and has remained ever since shorn of its fair proportions, as we now see it.

San Feliu, as he is popularly called, was an early Spanish Christian, deacon to San Narciso, the Martyr, Protector and "Generalissimo" of the See of Gerona.

GERONA OLD WALLS NEAR SAN PEDRO

MDW 1869]

PLATE C.

_GERONA._

OLD WALLS NEAR THE MONASTERY OF SAN PEDRO.

FROM the date at least on which Charlemagne captured Gerona from the Moors, it has been a victim to the horrors of war; manned through all history, and under every circumstance of siege and occupation, by men and women of the sternest courage and determination it has been held with the utmost tenacity, as really even more than Figueras (the actual frontier town), the key to the easiest line of advance from France into Spain. Hence the strength and interest of its fine old walls, which in spite of every ancient and modern vicissitude, still retain more curious features of middle age defence than, to the best of my belief, any other city of Spain, with the exception of Avila. As will be seen from my sketch, the apse of the fine old Romanesque church of San Pedro, which actually forms a bulwark, has been raised so as to bring it into practical fighting order; and the covered galleries for marksmen, with bow and cross bow, matchlock and firelock, still extend from it to the north and to the south in easily to be recognised, and still fairly complete, galleries of well-sheltered communication. The present aspect of the north of Gerona forms a fair pendant to the description Charles Didier gives of its sister fortress to the side of France, Figueras. He says, "Tout a un air d'abandon et de désolation; les casernes sont magnifiques, mais désertes; les casemates spacieuses, mais vides; les longues herbes de la solitude croissent partout, et la seule partie des bâtiments qui soit aujourd'hui de première nécessité, l'infirmerie, n'est point terminée; les pierres à moitié taillées jonchent le sol et sont couvertes de mousse. J'errai longtemps seul dans ce silencieux désert sans rencontrer personne; de loin en loin seulement, j'apercevais quelque sentinelle perdue à la pointe d'une demi-lune et nonchalamment appuyée contre les canons et les mortiers; de gros rats rongeaient en paix les affuts; ils se sont si bien emparés du lieu, que mon approche les dérangeait à peine; je n'avais pas fait trois pas, qu'ils se remettaient à l'oeuvre. Voilà sous quels traits l'Espagne apparaît au voyageur qui vient de France, triste et frappante image d'une chute sans exemple et d'une misère sans terme."[67]

One would have preferred receiving from any other than a Frenchman so dreary a picture of the desolation mainly wrought by Frenchmen. Returning to Gerona, to which Didier's description applies (as I have already stated) nearly as well as to Figueras, in sight of which he may have written it, we shall find Mr. Street no less strongly impressed than I was with what Spain owes to France in the matter. "All this havoc and ruin is owing," he says, "like so much that one sees in Spain, to the action of the French troops during the Peninsular War." It is however but just to the French to add that the Spaniards are not, like them, endowed with wonderful recuperative energy.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Von P. L. Berckenmeyern. Hamburg, 1731.

[2] "The Frenchman like an eagle. The German like a bear. The Italian like a fox. The Spaniard like an elephant. The Englishman like a lion."

[3] Waring (John Burley) Architectural, Sculptural, and Picturesque Studies of Burgos and its neighbourhood. Folio. London. 1851.

[4] Examples of Architectural Art in Italy and Spain. Folio. London. 1850.

[5] "Viaggio in Spagna," quoted by O'Shea, page 498.

[6] Examples of Ornamental Heraldry of the sixteenth century. London, 1867. Privately printed.

[7] Given at length under the No. XXXV in the Appendix to the First Volume of the "Noticias de los Arquitectos y Architectura de España, &c.," por Señor D. Eugenio Llaguno y Amirola, &c. Madrid, 1829.

[8] Carefully illustrated geometrically in the "Monumentos Arquitectonicos." Madrid. Folio.

[9] See: "Historia de las ordenes Militares de S. Iago," por F. Caro de Torres. Madrid, 1629. Folio.

[10] O'Shea. Page 236.

[11] Ingenious and diverting letters of "A Lady's Travels into Spain," London, 1720, Vol. I, page 308.

[12] See Colmenar's description of the condition of the University in 1715.

[13] London 1771, Vol. II., page 24.

[14] There is much in this very town of Avila in the beautiful old church of San Vicente.

[15] Catálogo de la Real Armeria--siendo Director General, &c.--el S. D. José Maria Marchesi--Madrid, 1849, pages 188-89.

[16] Les Délices de l'Espagne et du Portugal--Leide chez Pierre van der Aa, 1706.

[17] See the true and topographical views given in the above work, and the artistic and considerably embellished one by David Roberts in Jennings' Landscape Annual for 1837.

[18] "Documentos," Vol. I. of the "Noticias" Appendix No. XXXVIII.

[19] Printed at Alcala in 1514-15 in 6 vols. folio.

[20] España Artistica y monumental de Villa Amil y Escosura, Vol. I. page 82.

[21] Tome I., page 222. Bruxelles, 1837.

[22] The greater part of the above facts are verified by the inscription which was placed upon the bridge by Alonzo the Wise, in 1252, and the original of which is given by Cean Bermudez in his "Documentos" Vol. I. Number XXIV.

[23] Noticias de los Arquitectos, &c. Par Amirola y Bermudez, Madrid, 1829. Vol. I. page 41.

[24] Noticias &c. Vol. I. page 79.

[25] A Journey to Mequinez. London, Jacob Tonson, 1725.

[26] Probably a son of the great Henrique de Egas, who died in 1534.

[27] O'Shea states (page 410) that the Infante Don Fernando, uncle of Juan II., lodged in it in 1407.

[28] In the Street of the Abbots, all have _uncles_ none _fathers_.

[29] The Cathedral Canons have no _sons_, those they keep at home are _little nephews_.

[30] "A Year's Journey through France and Part of Spain," by Philip Thicknesse. Bath, 1777. Vol. I. pages 260-1.

[31] In his amusing "Tra los Montes." Bruxelles, 1843. Vol. II. page 44.

[32] Neu-vermehrter Curieuser Antiquarius. Hamburgh. 1731.

[33] Travels through Spain in the year 1775 and 1776, in which several monuments of Roman and Moorish architecture are illustrated by accurate drawings taken on the spot by Henry Swinburne, Esq. London. 4to. 1779.

[34] O'Shea adds the name of Cayon to that of Acero, describing the two as descending from the Salamanca school, founded by Churriguera and Tomé.

[35] There is a little discrepancy between Ford's and O'Shea's accounts, the former says that it was given by the Republic of Genoa to Charles V., the latter gives the facts as I have stated them.

[A] Miguel Mañara Vicentelo de Leca (1627-1679). Note of etext transcriber.

[36] See, especially for Spain, his "Monuments Arabes et Moresques de Cordoue, Séville et Grenade." Paris, 1832-3, and its continuation--"Monuments Arabes d'Egypte de Syrie et d'Asie Mineure," 1842-5, Paris. The above are essentially pictorial works, but in his "Essai sur l'Architecture des Arabes et des Maures," &c., Paris, 1841, he has discussed the whole subject historically with much ability.

[37] Plan section and elevation of the outer side of this Gateway, to a large scale, will be found on Plate II. of Owen Jones's great work on the Alhambra. I sketched the interior of this Gateway, mainly because that was the only part of it which he had not given.

[38] A pretty coloured view from this very point will be found in M. Girault de Prangey's "Choix d'Ornements moresques de l'Alhambra," Paris, 1842. Plate No. 3.

[39] An alabaster fountain probably occupied the centre of the Sala de Embajadores.

[40] It is but just to Señor Contréras to remark that the Poet's picture was sketched before the date of his admirable conservatorship. He is a true artist, and has done wonders in the way of restoration, completing and as little as possible interfering with the marvellous picturesque character of the noble old Palace.

[41] Calcutta, 1821.

[42] "A Journey to Mequinez, the residence of the present Emperor of Fez and Morocco, on the occasion of Commodore Stewart's Embassy thither for the redemption of the British Captives in the year 1711." London, Jacob Tonson. 1725. A very interesting old book, the descriptions in which carry the mind forcibly back to the Moorish occupation of Spain.

[43] For full information on the Glass of the Romans, the Byzantine-Greeks, and the Arabs, of Damascus especially, see Mr. Augustus Franks' account in Mr. J. B. Waring's beautiful work on the Manchester Exhibition, Mr. Alexander Nesbitt's "Historical Notice" Introductory to the Catalogue of Mr. Felix Slade's collection, M. Bontemps' "Guide du Verrier," and M. Labarte's "Histoire des Arts Industriels au moyen-âge et à l'Epoque de la Renaissance."

[44] Of course alluding to the ceiling, which is even more beautiful in the same style, than that of the Hall of the Abencerrages, which, my colleague, Mr. Owen Jones so perfectly reproduced in the Crystal Palace at Sydenham.

[45] "The Kiblah is the point in the horizon towards which Mahommedans turn in their prayers marking the place where Mecca stands. The Mihrab is the enclosure before the Kiblah."

[46] See Mr. J. B. Waring's masterly sketches of the details of these works of art.

[47] Who also states that in his time the drawings of the design by Diego Siloe were yet extant, "Noticias de los Arquitectos y Arquitectura de España." Madrid. 1829. Vol. I. page 199.

[48] "History of the Modern Styles of Architecture," by James Fergusson. London. 1862. page 135.

[49] Mr. Street in referring to the usual practice in good mediæval iron screens observes that in such "the ornament is reserved for open traceried crestings, with bent and sharply cut crockets, for traceried rails, and for the locks and fastenings." He mentions a very fine iron screen, thirty feet high, as existing at Pamplona, the general design of which seems to have a good deal in common with that of the "Reja de los Reyes" at Granada. It appears, however, to be of earlier date, and consequently more decidedly Gothic in character.

[50] "Varia Commensuracion." Sixth Edition, pages 221-222.

[51] Casts of these sculptures I caused to be placed in the surbase of the Renaissance Court of the Crystal Palace.

[52] Viage de España. Vol. XV. page 79.

[53] "Gothic Architecture in Spain," page 270.

[54] "Marcos Obregon por el Maestro Vicente Espinel." Madrid. 1804. Pages 40-41. (note of etext transcriber: sagon should read razón.)

[55] "History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic." New York. 1845. Page cxi.

[56] Navagiero--"Il Viaggio fatto in Spagna." Venice. 1563. Page 3.

[57] "Recuerdos y Bellezas de España," por F. J. Parcerisa escrita y documentada, por P. Piferrer y J. Pi y Margall. Cataluña. Tome II., page 222.

[58] "Travels through Spain and Part of Portugal." Sherwood Collection. London, 1818, page 281.

[59] Ponz, Antonio, "Viage de España." Third Edition. Madrid. 1787. Vol. I. page 54.

[60] "A View of Spain." Translated from the French of Alexandre de Laborde. London, 1809. Vol. IV., pp. 371-3.

[61] Even better known as "El Vandolino."

[62] "Varia Commensuracion para la escultura y Arquitectura, sexta impresion." Madrid, 1773. Page 222.

[63] "Travels through Spain and Part of Portugal," by the Rev. G. D. Whittaker in 1803. Sherwood's Collection, London, 1813, page 279.

[64] "Days al Diablo un Italiano, y no le toma el Diablo, por que ay Italiano que tomara al Diablo."

[65] "Y haveys de saber que en España los misterios de las cuentas de los Ginoveses, son dolorosos para los millones que vienen de las Indias, y que los cañones de sus plumas son de bateria contra las bolsas, y no ay renta que si la cogen en medio el tajo de sus plumas, y el jarama de su tinta no la ahoguen." (The reader will observe the double meaning which points Quevedo's sarcasm--"cañones" express at the same time quills and cannons.)--"Sueños y Discursos por Don Francisco de Quevedo Villegas Zaragoza." 1627. Page 19.

[66] "Letter of a Lady's Travels into Spain." London. Ninth Edition.

[67] "Une Année en Espagne," par Charles Didier. 1837.

[*] This should read: "¿Cuántos monumentos como el que acabamos de examinar dejarémos nosotros en herencia à nuestros nietos?" (note of etext transcriber.)

[Etext transcriber note:]

Vicente Acera was corrected to Vicente Acero

The name of the city Alcalá (acute accent) de Henares is very often printed ALCALA DE HEÑARES. (tilde on the N)

Duque is consistently printed Duqué (acute accent)

Guadalajara and Guadalaxara are used

Mih-ràb (grave accent) and Mih-ráb (acute accent) are used

Bosque (forest/woods) is printed bosqué (acute accent)

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