Chapter X: Café Life of the Madrileños 166 (2)

According to this very entertaining authoress, Don John was of middle height, handsome, with “a most manly countenance.” His address was polished and kindly, and he was reputed to be well learned in the arts and sciences. He “took a great pleasure in the Mathematicks.” Madrid at this time was renowned for the purity of its air and water. The water was “so good and so light that the Cardinal Infante would drink no other when he was in Flanders; and he caus’d it to be brought by Sea in Earthen Jars well stop’d.” The streets of the city were poorly paved, so that the horses often sank up to their knees and the coaches to the butts of the wheels. There were no fortifications to Madrid at this period, and the gates were not defended. Still, even at this time, there were long and wide streets and many great houses. Eating houses abounded, where the chief dishes were beans, garlic, leeks, and broth. There was very little drunkenness. Men drank less than half a pint of wine during the day, and the majority of women abstained altogether.

At this date it was the fashion to retain a large number of domestic servants. The Duchess of Osuna kept about eight hundred attendants, and every room seemed full of them. Only titled persons were allowed to drive teams of four mules. If a commoner dared to appear on the streets with such an equipage, he was liable to a fine, and the traces of his carriage would be cut. The king’s team consisted of six mules.

The daughters of high families in Madrid were often placed in a sort of service to friends of their relatives, who employed them in embroidery and other needlework, for if the young women remained at home they spent their time in idle chatter. The farthingale was worn, and it was often of a huge size, and exceedingly troublesome to the wearers and to other persons. Some women of fashion wore as many as a dozen skirts and petticoats, except in the hot months, when they contented themselves with seven or eight, some being of satin and others of velvet. As the dresses were cut low, it was the custom to rouge the shoulders as well as the cheeks.

The ladies of Madrid society used at this time to sit upon the floor, with their legs crossed in the oriental fashion. They played ombre, took but little outdoor exercise, toyed with their needles, and read very little. At Mass the women carried enormous muffs, and each one had a fan, which was used both in hot and cold weather.

The author who records these impressions of Madrid was the Countess d’Aulnoy. It is the opinion of some modern Spanish chroniclers that her accounts of the manners and customs of that period are over-coloured and often incorrect.

It was in the reign of Philip III. that the first part of Cervantes’ “Don Quixote” was printed in a house in the Calle de Atocha, by Juan de la Cuesta, and the great satire was published in 1605. Philip III. removed the Court to Valladolid, where it was maintained for about four years and then reinstated at Madrid. During the rule of Philip, the Plaza Mayor was built.

The reign of his successor was inaugurated by the public execution of the unfortunate Calderon, whose fall has been the theme of many romances.

The marriage of the Infanta Maria, sister of Philip IV., to Charles of England was arranged to be celebrated in Madrid, in March 1623. Charles stayed in the Convent of San Jeronimo, and afterwards at the Royal Palace, where he remained for five months, and was entertained with bull-fights, _fêtes_, and balls. The English prince was, however, prevented from marrying the Princess Maria through hindrances of a political nature.

Philip IV. built the Palace of the Buen Retiro at Madrid, inspired by the example of Fontainebleau. In this new royal residence many balls were held, and much money expended upon festivities of a very luxurious character. Meantime, the scaffolds of Madrid flowed with noble blood, as a result of the abortive conspiracy to place the House of Braganza on the throne of Spain and the Duke of Medina Sidonia on that of Andalusia.

Madrid suffered from the general distress which spread over Spain at this period. In the surrounding villages the people were at the point of starvation, and the food supply in the city was seriously threatened. The outlook was so menacing that, in 1664, the President of Castile was sent with a military force to compel the farmers to send their produce to Madrid. In 1680 there was much destitution and suffering in the city, and the people rose and formed bands for the purpose of pillage. Beggars swarmed in Madrid, and desperate gangs of robbers prowled in the surrounding country.

The change from the Austrian to the Bourbon rule proved the salvation of Madrid. Charles III. was an enlightened sovereign, honest in his convictions, and vigorous in his measures of reform. He improved the army, and raised the position of Spain to a first-rate power. His policy in regard to the American colonies was liberal and conciliatory. Charles repealed unjust taxes, stood champion to the poor man, and advocated humane principles of government. He encouraged the sciences, art, and letters of Spain, he protected the press, and gave printers immunity from military service. During the rule of Charles III. schools and colleges were founded. He improved and adorned Madrid, though at one time he entertained the idea of transferring the seat of government to Seville; and caused parks and promenades to be laid out. Under the direction of this monarch, canals were constructed, roads made, waste lands reclaimed, and industries stimulated.

The people of Madrid have every reason to respect Charles III. To his initiation they owe the fine Customs’ House, the Prado Gallery, the General Hospital, the Alcalá Gateway, the Observatory, the Botanical Gardens, and the Natural History Library. These and other institutions and public buildings were established and erected during the reign of this excellent king.

The history of Madrid becomes merged in that of the kingdom. The lead taken on the “Dos de Mayo,” 1808, when the Puerta del Sol and the adjoining streets were held with dauntless but futile courage by the people of Madrid against the French, was the signal for the uprising of the whole country against the intruder. The capital had well deserved its headship by its vindication of the nation’s dignity and independence. Every episode in its troubled history since that memorable day has been described vividly and inimitably by the great epic novelist, Galdós. Throughout the nineteenth century, the city had its full share in the vicissitudes and discord, which so happily terminated with the accession of King Alfonso XII. and the establishment of the strongest and most enlightened government Spain had known for centuries.

The Chevalier de Bourgoanne, who recounted his “Travels in Spain” in 1789, said that Madrid contained at that time eighteen parishes, thirty-five monasteries, thirty-one convents, thirty-nine colleges, fifteen gates, and about 140,000 inhabitants. The number of inhabitants now approaches 600,000. Since the eighteenth century Madrid has extended its confines on all sides, and grown into a modern city of the first rank.

The walls, never a very formidable defence, were taken down in 1868 to enlarge Madrid. At this time the new Plaza de Toros was erected, the Puerta del Sol widened, and the viaduct built across the Calle de Segovia. The streets are now well paved with stone or asphalte, and illuminated with gas and electric light. The chief market is in the Plaza de la Cebada, built in 1870.

In several of the squares and promenades there are fountains, statues, and monuments. One of the finest of the monuments is that erected in memory of the heroes of the Dos de Mayo (the Second of May). It is of granite, in the shape of an obelisk, surrounded by symbolical figures. This monument was designed by Isidro Velazquez. A marble group in front of one of the façades of the Museo del Prado represents Daoiz and Velarde, the gallant artillery officers who fell on that occasion in defence of the throne and country.

Madrid has always been a city of craftworkers and small traders, and even to-day there are very few large industries or factories. There are many small employers of labour and many persons trading with their own plant and stock, and finding employment for their own families. The number of well-appointed shops is steadily increasing, and there is an effort to compete with the large shops of Paris and London, as will be seen during a stroll through the chief thoroughfares radiating from the Puerta del Sol.

The arms of the city are a tree in leaf, with a bear climbing up the stem, and the escutcheon is surmounted by a crown. Madrid bears the title, “Imperial y coronada, muy noble y muy leal y muy heroica.”

III

THE COURT AND SOCIETY IN MADRID

Since the reign of Philip II. Madrid has been the _unica Corte_, or seat of the Court of Spain. Before the twelfth century, a Moorish Alcázar stood on the site of the present royal palace, which was built by Henry IV., added to by succeeding monarchs, and considerably enlarged by Philip III. The original architects were Herrera, Toledo, and other famous designers of the day; but this structure was burned down, and, in 1738, Giovanni Sachetti planned a still larger palace, which is said to have cost £3,000,000 in the building and embellishment.

The modern Palacio Real is rectangular, and stands on an eminence commanding a wide view of the undulating tableland and the distant mountains of Castile. It is built of granite and has wide wings. The chief façade is on the south side. The Princes’ Entrance is one of the several doorways of the fine façade. On the north is another portal of admirable design, leading to the great _patio_ or inner court. The court is surrounded by a piazza on thirty-six arches with the same number of arches above, forming a gallery; and in the square are statues of the Roman Emperors who ruled in Spain.

The grand staircase is of white and black marble, with an allegorical ceiling painting by the Italian Giacinto. In the sumptuous Throne-Room the appointments and decorations are resplendent, and on the ceiling is a picture representing the Majesty of Spain, painted by Tiepolo. Gasparini designed the beautiful hall that bears his name, where the ceiling is of porcelain, and the walls decked with satin upon which flowers are worked. The State Dining-Room of marble contains fresco paintings. The Royal Chapel has columns of marble, and above the altar is a painting by Mengs. Near the Sacristy are stored the holy relics; and in the Tapiceria there is a very fine collection of tapestries after Dutch artists. Attached to the Royal Palace are the Armoury, of which something will be said later, the Royal Stables, excellently appointed, and the sequestered and beautiful gardens.

Such is the principal residence of King Alfonso of Spain. The royal ceremonial is under the direction of the Master of the Household and the Lord High Steward. These officers are always persons of high birth, who are invested with the honours of the Order of Charles III. and the Golden Fleece. The Chief Equerry of the royal household takes the position of Master of the Palace when that functionary is absent, and controls the King’s hunt, and directs several minor officials of the Court.

The Chief Chaplain to the King is the Archbishop of Toledo. One of the principal members of the household is the Keeper of the Queen’s Wardrobe. Then come the Lords of the Bedchamber, Maids of Honour, and the Mayordomos de Semana (of the Week). The military officer in command is the General of the Royal Halberdier Guards, and this functionary presides over the ceremony of opening the palace doors at six in the morning and closing them at eleven at night. In Spain the royal residences are regarded as fortresses, and protected by troops.

The Intendant-General of the Royal House and Patrimony holds a responsible post, and administers the King’s estates and incomes. Other officials are the Private Secretaries, the Director of the Royal Stables, the Chief Physician, the Chief Chemist, the Chief Architect, the Secretary of the Signet, the Secretary of the High Chamber, Keeper of the Archives, the Chief Librarian, the Director of the Royal Armoury, and the Chief of the Tapestry Collection. The gentlemen of the Royal Household wear a badge of office in the form of a silver key, and are clad in special uniforms for various occasions.

Pomp and ceremony attend the movements of the Spanish sovereign, and there is an elaborate “Court Guide” embodying all the ordinances and regulations governing the life at the palace. The rigidity of etiquette in the Court of Spain has, however, been exaggerated in the accounts written by strangers since the time of the Countess d’Aulnoy, for a modern Spanish writer asserts that the Court is “more democratic than most European Courts.”

This writer says: “Almost all the points of etiquette observed at present by the persons who have access to the King and Queen and members of their family are merely formulas of pure courtesy, with which those who are aware of them comply, but which are not imposed at the Palace, nor even mentioned to those who do not know them. Taking the glove off the right hand in order to shake hands with the King; treating him as is his due; rising when he rises and not speaking to him except in reply to his questions; these are the chief points to be observed, and which courtiers themselves sometimes forget without any notice being taken.”

Religious services and festivals are strictly observed in the Palace of His Catholic Majesty, and attended by all members of his Court. The chief solemnities are the Festival of the Immaculate Conception and Nativity, Epiphany and Purification, Ash Wednesday, Annunciation and Incarnation, Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Ascension Day, Whit Sunday, Holy Trinity, Corpus Christi, All Saints, and the Patronage of our Lady. The public are admitted to the galleries of the Royal Chapel during the celebration of these festivals and services.

Uniform or court dress is worn by the King at these religious celebrations, the Queen always wearing a black or white _mantilla_, and a long train to her dress, which is borne by pages. The sovereign sits under a canopy, and the princes and princesses are on either side of the throne. Each grandee of the Court has his allotted seat.

The royal infants are baptized from a font in which St Dominic, the immortal founder of the Friars Preachers, was christened. In the Royal Chapel of the Palace the weddings of the princes and princesses are celebrated, but the Kings are married in the Church of the Atocha.

Foreign ministers are received in the Ante-chamber. There is an annual banquet for all the Diplomatic Corps. One of the court ceremonies is the conferring of the title of Grandee in the Ante-chamber.

Every night the Spanish monarch is guarded in his slumbers by the ancient corps of Monteros de Espinosa. These officers are bound to watch the King nightly, and after his death, until his body is sent to the Royal Panteon at the Palace of the Escorial.

The changing of the royal guard takes place every morning in the grounds of the palace, and is an interesting military spectacle, which attracts a large number of the natives of Madrid as well as visitors to the city. It dates from the time of Charles III. A regimental band plays during the ceremony under the windows of the palace.

The Queen Mother of King Alfonso XIII. is possessed of strong religious fervour, and is a pattern to Madrid society in the observance of the rules of the Church and the practice of charity. But piety is not one of the Madrileño’s conspicuous traits, and there is a notable want of restraint in his language! yet Valentin Gómez writes: “Religion is charity, love, and it cannot be denied that, in this respect, although the crust be hard and unsightly, the heart of Madrid is religious, and great and good work has sprung from its practical religion.”

Ecclesiastical festivals form an essential part of the life of Madrid. The Forty Hours is celebrated at thirty churches of the city. During Holy Week there are impressive services and solemn processions in the streets. Every one walks garbed in black; diversions of every sort and all except indispensable business is suspended. A solemn hush reigns over the feverish city. Traffic in the thoroughfares is forbidden on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, and the tramcars do not run during certain hours. On Maundy Thursday the King washes the feet of twelve indigent men and women in the palace, and the public attend the ceremony. Good Friday is a day of grace, when the King, at his discretion, exercises clemency towards criminals accused of capital charges.

A _romeria_ or pilgrimage is celebrated in the morning of Good Friday, when crowds visit the Cara de Dios, and afterwards promenade the streets. Imposing processions also take place on Good Friday, which are sometimes attended by the King and the Court dignitaries.

The Corpus Christi festivals are very important. A splendid procession is formed by the chief clergy, members of the court, and military officers. During these celebrations, fairs are held in the outskirts of the city. There is a curious ceremony in memory of St John during June. On the evening of June 23, the populace assemble in the Plaza de Madrid, and at the stroke of midnight the devout dip their hands in the fountain of Cybele, and scatter the water over the bystanders who are unable to reach the basin.

Advent is commemorated by the proclamation of an ecclesiastical decree in the streets of the city. This Bull refers to the Crusades, and is read by a dignitary of the Church, who is attended by guards and trumpeters. Upon Christmas Eve there is midnight Mass at many of the churches, followed by rejoicings in the streets, when the people sing, and beat drums, and make lively din with various instruments.

Madrid is an important military command, and members of the service are amongst the most fashionable sets in the city, as in other parts of Europe. In Spain, however, the uniform does not of itself confer social distinction, and officers continue to frequent the circles from which they were drawn. Military arrogance is not a characteristic of the Spaniard. Uniforms add to the brightness of the crowds in Madrid, and there is often the sound of regimental bands in the streets. At Caravanchel, eleven kilometres from the city, is a large camp and exercise-ground for the troops, where important reviews are held in the summer, attended by the King and his suite.

The Captain-General of the First Army Corps lives in Madrid, and directs two divisions of this body. Light infantry, cavalry, and artillery are quartered in or near the city. The chief barracks are the Montaña and the Queen Maria Cristina. The barracks of San Francisco are an old convent now utilised for military purposes.

The War Office is in Madrid at the Buena Vista Palace. The artillery and the engineers have their museums and laboratories, and there is a military casino, or club, in the city, containing a gymnasium, baths, fencing-room, and dining-hall.

The chief recreations of Madrid society are the bull-fight, the theatre, dancing, driving, and card-playing. The national pastime of bull-fighting demands a chapter to itself, and the theatre will be treated in another section of this volume. We may here devote a page or two to Spanish dancing, one of the favourite and most charming diversions of the country. Every province of Spain has its traditional dances, from the Jota Aragonesa of Aragon to the Seguidillas of Seville. Andalusia is the region of Moorish dances, survivals of the old days, descriptive of the passion of love. The Cachucha is said to be pre-Roman in its origin, and there is no doubt that most of the national dances are very ancient. Some of these dances are grave and slow, others gay and nimble, and all are marked by grace and charm. The Zarabanda, a Morisco dance of a voluptuous character, was at one period proscribed by the government, and was said to be the invention of the devil. The Fandango also came under reproof in former times.

Typical dances may be witnessed in two or three of the variety theatres of Madrid, but the best dancers are to be seen in the south, in Malaga and sunny Seville. Many ladies in society excel in the art of dancing, and at private gatherings they display their skill and lissom grace in beautiful movements to the accompaniment of the piano or guitar, and castanets. The hands and the trunk of the body play a no less important part than the feet in Spanish dancing.

Besides the characteristic national dances, there are the quadrilles and set dances of other countries which have been introduced into Spain. The minuet was at one time a part of the education of all upper class families in the Peninsula.

Dancing is often part of the entertainment provided at the _tertulias_, or evening gatherings, in fashionable society. It is the ambition of every handsome lady in Madrid to be famed for her hospitality and to shine as the centre of a _tertulia_, an institution suggestive in some measure of the _salons_ of France.

Shooting, horse-racing, pigeon-shooting matches, and the ball game known as _pelota_ are the principal out-door recreations of the leisured class in Madrid. The Spanish _cazador_, or sportsman, is usually a good shot, and capable of enduring severe fatigue in the pursuit of his game. Wild boars and deer are fairly abundant in the preserves of the old families, and these beasts of the chase are also found upon most of the wild mountain ranges. Hares and red-legged partridges afford sport within a league of Madrid, and the Montes de Toledo have always been famous for big game.

The Juego de Pelota is a popular game played in three or four courts in the city by professionals. Pelota is an old amusement of the countryside which has become a fashionable sport. The Basques and the Navarrese excel in this game. A protector for the hand is worn by the players, and the balls are made of india-rubber encased in leather. The ball is struck against a high wall, and hit so that upon the rebound it will fall into a court marked out upon the ground. In some respects _pelota_ resembles fives, and has also a similarity to lawn-tennis. It is a spirited and highly interesting game, and the finest players may be seen in the public _frontones_ of Madrid.

The Madrileños delight in frequenting clubs and cafés, but there is very little drunkenness in the city, although these places of resort are always crowded. Madrid is one of the soberest cities in Europe, and throughout Spain the word drunkard (_borracho_) is seldom used in polite society. Black coffee is the favourite beverage, to which a few drops of spirit are sometimes added. The wines of ordinary use are light clarets or white wines. A light lager is a favourite drink in the hot weather.

The popular cafés of the Puerta del Sol are used as clubs, where all classes resort to chat and smoke and to read the papers, or to play at billiards. These places are thronged in the evening, and often until the small hours of the morning one hears the buzz of conversation and the click of billiard balls.

As the centre of the Court and the residence of the reigning family, Madrid is, of course, the resort and the home of many members of the aristocracy. The Duke of Lerma, the Duke of Villahermosa, and the Osuna family had palaces in the city; and the first Duke of Alba lived in Calle de la Princesa, since renamed the Calle de Alba. The beautiful Liria Palace, designed by Ventura Rodriguez, is now the home of the young Duke of Alba and his brother and sister, Count de Montijo and Doña Sol.

The Liria Palace contains some fine tapestries, curious antique furniture, and valuable pieces of armour. There is also a collection of paintings in the possession of the family, containing many portraits of illustrious ancestors. The garden of the palace is extremely beautiful and sequestered.

The old Valencian family of Cervello own the palace in the Calle de Santa Isabel. The building stands in a garden, and it was restored some years ago. Very fashionable receptions, costume balls, and theatrical entertainments are held in this sumptuous palace.

The Duchess of Denia built the mansion in the Plaza de Colón. There is a magnificent Renaissance staircase at this palace, a chapel in the later Moorish style of architecture, erected by Arturo Mélida, and a fine reception hall.

The Portugalete Palace in the Calle de Alcalá belongs to the Castaño family. It is one of the most artistic houses in Madrid. In the Plaza de Castelar is the home of the Marquis of Linares, beautifully decorated within, and containing handsome carved furniture.

The Palace of the Larios is another imposing building in La Castellana. It contains a _patio_ in imitation of the Court of the Lions at the Alhambra Palace.

Calderon built the mansion in the Recoletos, which is now in the possession of the Marchioness de Manzanedo, who resides there. The Infanta Isabel has a splendid house in the barrio de Argüelles. The Marquis de Cerralbo, the Duke of Valencia, and the Count of Peñalver reside in elegant houses in the city. The late Conde de Valencia de Don Juan, who was Director of the Royal Armoury, was a noted collector of pictures, objects of art, and antiquities.

Other palaces of interest are those of the Duke of Nájera in the Calle de Alcalá, the old residence of the Countess de Pinohermoso, in the Calle de Don Pedro, the house of the Count de Agreda, and that of the Marchioness de Casa López, near the Puerta de Alcalá. The residence of the Marchioness de Squilache is the rendezvous of the eminent in politics, literature, and art. Artistic gatherings are held in the salon of the Marchioness de Bolaños and that of Don Enrique Peñalver.

IV

ART IN MADRID

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, during a pacific period following on the long conflict with the Moors, there arose a number of painters in Castile. Juan II., King of Castile, was a lover of the arts and of literature. We read that this king employed a painter of the Flemish School, named Maestro Rogel, who was reputed to be a pupil of Van Eyck. It was about this time that Flemish art began to influence the work of the Spanish artists, while the Italian style was especially followed by the painters of the Castilian School.

Antonio Rincon has been called the founder of the Castilian School of painting, and it is recorded that this artist studied in Italy before his appointment as court painter to Ferdinand and Isabella. Rincon’s portraits of his royal patrons were at one time in the Church of San Juan de los Reys at Toledo, but they were destroyed during the wars with France. In the Royal Gallery of Madrid, putative copies of these portraits are preserved, and they show great force and individuality. But many of the works of Antonio Rincon, in the mannered Italian style, are of mediocre merit.

A more powerful painter of Castile was Juan de Borgoña, who laboured with Rincon upon the jasper steps of the wonderful Gothic retablo in Toledo Cathedral. Some of Borgoña’s frescoes have perished; but in the Prado Gallery at Madrid there are several pictures, attributed to an unknown artist, which are probably the work of this painter.

Pedro Berruguete, father of Alonso Berruguete, the painter and sculptor, has been likened by Lord Leighton to Carpaccio. Very little is known of Pedro Berruguete. In the Royal Gallery of Madrid there are some paintings ascribed to this artist, representing scenes from the lives of Thomas Aquinas, San Pedro, and Domingo de Guzman, glowing with colour and painted with a strong hand.

Felix Castello, born in Madrid in 1602, was a painter of moderate ability. Two of his paintings may be seen in the Prado Gallery, one depicting “A Battle between Spanish and Dutch,” and the other “The Landing of General Fadrique de Toledo.”

The Titanic genius of Velazquez shone not only above all his predecessors of the School of Castile, but above the host of Spanish painters. Velazquez was born in 1599, and lived until 1660. He was a native of Seville, where he studied art under Francisco de Herrera and Pacheco. In 1623 his fame had reached the ears of the king, through the Duke of Olivares, and Velazquez was appointed royal painter in Madrid, and lodged in the princes’ quarters of the palace. Here he produced his greatest works, often watched while he painted by the king, who enjoyed the society of artists.

Besides his apartments in the royal palace, Velazquez had later a private house in the Calle de Concepcion Geronima. Velazquez was now at the zenith of his fame, the cynosure of an art circle, the acknowledged master of an enthusiastic following, the favourite of royalty, and the friend of _grandes_. “A taste for the arts, an intelligent appreciation and discussion of art topics, had at that time already become a matter of tradition in Madrid,” writes Professor Carl Justi in his “Diego Velazquez and His Times.”

The first painting of Velazquez seen by the people of Madrid was exhibited upon the door of the Church of San Felipe in the Calle Mayor. His progress from that hour was victorious, though he had to encounter the envy of the Italian painters who were then employed by Philip. Carducci speaks of “the detestable naturalism” of the new court painter.

In 1628, Velazquez met Rubens at Madrid. Next year he went to Italy, and upon his return to Spain, he worked with extraordinary industry upon royal portraits and historical scenes for the regal palaces.

In 1636, Diego Velazquez was appointed Wardrobe-Assistant to the King and Minister of Fine Arts. But the greatest honour was accorded to the painter in 1659, when he received the Cross of Santiago, the highest order of Spain. Two years after, Velazquez died at Madrid of a fever, which he had contracted through over-exertion in the conduct of an expedition in the north of Spain, when Philip met the King of France.

The masterpieces of Velazquez are stored in a fine _sala_ at the Museo del Prado[1] in Madrid. “Las Meninas,” a work proclaimed by many artists and art critics as the finest painting in the world, is in this priceless collection. Artists from every country have regarded the Prado Gallery as a Mecca. Wilkie came to Madrid, and spent long hours gazing at the paintings of Velazquez. John Philips modelled his style on Velazquez, and Manet, Furse, Sargent, Whistler, and Sir Frederick Leighton are among the pilgrims to the Prado. It was probably the painting of “Las Meninas” which gained for Velazquez the Order of Santiago.

[1] For a full description of the pictures in this museum, see “The Prado,” an illustrated volume in this series.

“The Forge of Vulcan,” a mythological subject treated in a realistic manner, is in the Prado among the splendid collection of pictures of Velazquez, besides the more generally esteemed “Los Barrachos” and “Las Lanzas.”

Velazquez had a host of successors among the painters of Spain, but he founded no school, for he stood alone and unapproachable. The works of his survivors may be studied in the Prado Gallery. One of these successors was Juan Bautista Martinez del Mazo, Velazquez’ son-in-law, and another, Juan de Pareja, his slave. Pareja’s talent was discovered by the king, who said: “A painter like you should not remain a slave,” and freedom was given to the Morisco serf of Velazquez.

In the work of Pareja the influence of his great master is naturally manifest, and this is seen in the picture in the Prado collection, “The Calling of the Apostle Matthew.” It is certain that many paintings ascribed to Velazquez are the work of his son-in-law Juan del Mazo, who was a zealous copyist of the master’s art.

Juan Rizi, sometimes called the Castilian Zurbaran, is represented by one picture in the Madrid Gallery--“St Francis receiving the Stigmata or Five Wounds of Christ,” a work of very considerable merit.

Antonio Pereda worked in Madrid under Pedro de las Cuevas, and became painter to the Court. Two of Pereda’s pictures are in the Royal Gallery, displaying fine colour, but yet possessing no power to convince.

The next artist in chronological order who was associated with Madrid was Carreño de Miranda, another pupil of Pedro de las Cuevas, and the Pintor de Cámara to the Court. His talent is most marked in his portraits of Charles II.; and his imitations of Velazquez though feeble in comparison with the powerful work of his exemplar, are of singular interest and merit.

Claudio Coello was a native of Madrid, and the son of a Portuguese sculptor. Many of his paintings are to be seen at the Escorial, where he worked for seven years upon the famous “Santa Forma” in the Sacristia. It is said that Coello died broken-hearted from the chagrin of being superseded by Luca Giordano, the facile Italian painter.

With the advent of Giordano the essential realism of Spanish painting began to decline. “In Madrid, imitation was the death-blow of reality,” writes C. Gasquoine Hartley in her “Record of Spanish Painting.” Many minor artists arose in Castile in this period of decline. They were followers of Giordano and other Italians, and for the greater part devoid of originality. The influence of Mengs was another menace to the development of a purely national school of painting in Spain, and the unimportant work of Bayeu, Maella, Barnuevo and others shows the waning of Castilian art.

A revival came with Francisco Goya, an ardent genius, who sprang from the people, and came to Madrid as a student. Goya studied the masterpieces in the Madrid galleries, visited Italy, and returned to the Castilian capital at about the age of thirty. Up to this time, Goya had painted but few pictures. Now he began his revolutionary career as an artist, and won fame, which has spread throughout the cultured world since his death. He soon became popular in Madrid. His daring and his pungent satire rather attracted than repelled the King, the clergy, and the society of the city. He painted the life of his day with a vivid, unsparing brush; he took liberties with even sacred institutions, and derided ancient and effete traditions.

Under Charles IV., Goya was appointed Royal Painter. He was a favourite of Queen Maria Luisa, the Duchess of Alba, and the Countess Benavente, and he enjoyed the confidence of the King. And yet Goya was a rebel in his opinions and in his art, and his royal portraits are characterised by a brutal frankness. In his tapestry designs, his scenes of Madrid life, his bull-fighting incidents, his portraits, and his “caprichos,” he displays the versatility of a remarkable mind. Goya worked rapidly, and his output was enormous.

The celebrated “Dos de Mayo,” a terribly realistic war picture, together with “An Episode in the French Invasion,” may be studied in the Royal Gallery at Madrid. In the Prado collection there are several of Goya’s royal portraits--“The Family of Charles IV.,” with its unflattering realism; “Charles IV. on foot”; “Queen Maria Luisa”; “The Infante Don Carlos, son of Carlos IV.”; and others of great interest. More of Goya’s works may be inspected in the Academy of Fine Arts at Madrid. These include a portrait of the painter by himself, a bull-fighting scene, an episode of the Inquisition, a procession, and other characteristic pictures.

When Joseph Bonaparte ruled in Madrid, Goya took the oath of fealty, and painted the usurper’s portrait. In 1814, the painter became a courtier of Ferdinand, and was pardoned for his disloyalty on the grounds that he was “a great artist.” A few years later, his wife Josefa died, and Goya, who was deaf, and bereft of many of his friends, seems to have wearied of the life of the Court at Madrid, and yearned for change and travel.

In 1822, he obtained the royal permission to visit France. He went first to Paris, where he was hailed by the young French painters, afterwards residing at Bordeaux, where he stayed for nearly five years before returning to Spain. In 1828, his restless spirit passed away.

Perhaps the finest of Goya’s portraits are those of the king and queen on horseback. It was Gautier who remarked of Goya that at times “he paints with the delicacy of that delicious Gainsborough, at other times he has the solid touch of Rembrandt.” Goya was one of the first of the moderns, an artist who broke from cramping tradition, and forced his way to eminence and even to popularity in a few years.

There is a long gap in the art history of Spain between Francisco Goya and Fortuny. Mariano Fortuny was not a native of Madrid, but he came to the city in 1866. There are two of his pictures in the Museum of Modern Art in Madrid. One is a sketch for the “Battle of Tetuan,” and the other “The Queen Regent with Doña Isabel exhorting the Spanish Troops to withstand the Carlists.” Between Goya and Fortuny there are no links in the historic succession of artists, unless we regard Rosales and Galofré as national in the tendency of their art. There are two of Rosales’ pictures in the Museum of Modern Art in Madrid.

The National Museum of Painting and Sculpture, otherwise the Museo del Prado, was founded in the reign of Charles III., and planned by Villanueva. The work was interrupted by the war with France, and finished in the time of Ferdinand VII. Architecturally considered, the exterior of the museum is handsome and massive. Its chief defect is the poor quality of the light within. Its glory is the vast treasure of masterpieces of all the schools of Europe.

The works of the early Spanish painters may be here studied in the Long Gallery, beginning with Gallegos, whose pictures are catalogued as those of an unknown master. Pedro Berruguete shows the first example of the Italian influence. In the paintings of Luis de Morales we trace the natural Spanish style, and discern that note of dramatic gloom and religious sentiment that characterises the true painters of Spain. Juan de Juanes, much esteemed in his age, reveals an Italianised art. In the works of Navarrete there is visible the influence of Titian, who worked with him at the Escorial Palace.

El Greco, who was taught in Venice, stands alone. The picture of “Jesus dead in the Arms of God the Father” is a representative work of this weird genius, whose art was Spanish, in spite of his Cretan origin. El Greco’s art is also conveyed in all its power in “The Baptism of Christ.” Many of this painter’s canvases are in Toledo, two are at the Escorial, one in the Cathedral of Seville, and his portrait, painted by himself, is in the Museo Provincial at Seville. The Prado Gallery contains nine of El Greco’s works.

Ribera is an artist whose work is singularly modern as regards technique, though he lived from 1588 to 1656.

The collection at the Prado contains a large number of the paintings of Ribera, the predecessor of Velazquez and Murillo, whose virile influence is manifest in the productions of many of the Spanish schools of the later period.

Murillo is represented by about two score of paintings in the Prado, and by several pictures in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. The Prado contains the “Sacred Family,” “The Penitent Magdalen,” “The Adoration of the Shepherds,” and several other well-known paintings.

We have already referred to the pictures by Velazquez and Goya to be seen in the Prado collection. It now remains to briefly enumerate some of the great works of the Italian and Northern Schools. Among the Italian Primitives, we have examples of the art of Fra Angelico and Mantegna, and of the later school, there are pictures of Raphael, Andrea del Sarto and Correggio. The Venetians are exampled by Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese, and Tiepolo. There are nearly fifty pictures from the brush of Titian. Among his earlier achievements are “Fertility” and the “Garden of Loves.” Here also are the portraits of “Charles V.” and “Philip II.,” the painting of “St Margaret,” and the famous “Entombment.”

Among the other Italian and Venetian pictures are Raphael’s “Holy Family and the Lamb,” Andrea del Sarto’s “Madonna and St John,” and two early works of Correggio.

In the collection of paintings of the Northern School there are examples of Van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden, and though some of these are copies, there is an authentic picture by Van der Weyden. The triptych of Memlinc is in this portion of the gallery, and Holbein’s “Portrait of a Man.” Rubens, “the third glory of the Prado,” is well represented by about sixty paintings. There are also paintings by Jordaens and Van Dyck.

The work of Antonio Moro should be carefully noted, as the art of this painter, who was the master of Coello, was the foundation of the Spanish School of Portraiture.

In the Museo de Arte Moderna there are many pictures by contemporary artists, and several groups of statuary. Among the paintings are works of Madrazo, Lopez, Pradilla, Casado, and Villegas.

The Real Academia de Bellas Artes, built in 1752, has a picture gallery containing some of the works of Murillo, Ribera, Zurbaran, Alonso Cano, and Rubens. Some interesting Goya sketches formerly in this collection have now been removed to the Prado.

V

LITERATURE AND THE DRAMA

Madrid is the centre of the intellectual life of Spain. It contains a number of academies, colleges, schools, and libraries. The Royal Academy was not founded till 1713; but, as Bourgoanne pointed out in 1789, “there are undoubtedly in Spain more learned men who modestly cultivate the sciences; more men of erudition who are thoroughly acquainted with the history and jurisprudence of their country; more distinguished men of letters and a greater number of poets, who have energy and a fertile and brilliant imagination, than is generally imagined.”

Science and letters suffered after the period of Quevedo, Cervantes, Calderon, and Garcilaso, and there was a rapid decline in learning until the eighteenth century. Under Charles III. the cultured life of Madrid was revived. Charles was opposed to the clerical restrictions upon knowledge, and the banning of science was not a part of his policy. He withstood the reactionary forces of the country, and, being himself a man of scholarly tastes, he re-awakened the moribund respect for culture. To encourage the production of books, Charles III. freed all printers from military service. He renewed the universities, built new schools, and treated teachers and professors with fairness and respect, declaring that education is the most important of all social affairs.

This revival of learning and of literature was unfortunately transient, for under Charles IV. free discussion was almost impossible in Spain; authors were gagged, and the Inquisition was revived. The study of moral philosophy was forbidden in the universities of the country, for Charles declared that he had no use for philosophers.

The first large public library in Madrid was the San Isidro, founded by the Jesuits, and containing about 60,000 volumes. The National Library was built in 1712, but the books were removed to another building about thirty years after. There is a library in connection with the Royal Academy of History in the Calle del León, which contains several thousand books and a number of valuable ancient manuscripts. The University has its own collection of books. This institution was founded in 1508 at Alcalá, and brought to Madrid in 1836. There are about 8000 students.

The old Court of Castile had many poets and satirists from the days of Juan II. In the thirteenth century, Castilian became the polite speech of the nation, and the earliest ballads were written in this language. These ballads are the basis of much of the history of Spain, and this was the first form of literature in the city of Madrid. Under Alfonso X. of Castile, who was as skilled in letters as in the conduct of the State, the art of poetry reached a higher order than it had hitherto attained in Spain.

Francisco de Quevedo Villegas, the great satirical poet and prose author, was born in Madrid in 1580. His parents were of patrician stock, and his mother was one of the royal household. Quevedo was sent to the college of Alcalá de Henares, where he was instructed in several subjects, including law and medicine. A quarrel with a hidalgo, whom he seriously injured in a duel, caused the flight of the young student to Italy. Upon his return to his native country, Quevedo was arrested, and kept in prison for about three years. Later, he was again put into confinement for a satire upon the Count, Duke de Olivares.

Quevedo was a voluminous writer. His works have been collected in the “Biblioteca de Autores Españoles,” in three big volumes of poetry and prose, while many of his compositions were left unpublished. The “Visions” are perhaps his most popular work. They were translated into English in 1668, and published in London, and met with such success that the volume reached an eleventh edition in 1715. Since then there have been other editions issued in this country.

Calderon lived at number seventy-five in the Calle Mayor, formerly called the Calle de Almudena, and in the same street was born Lope de Vega, the most prolific of Spanish dramatists. In the Plaza de Santa Ana, near the Teatro Español, is a monument to Calderon erected in 1879. It is the work of Figuéras, and a figure of Fame stands by the dramatist; the base of the statue has reliefs from scenes in the plays.

Calderon was of noble blood, and found influential patronage in Madrid. We read that Philip IV. gave him the order of Santiago, and appointed him director of the theatre and public entertainments. Pedro Calderon entered the church at the age of fifty-two. He died in the year 1681.

At number fifteen Calle de Cervantes there is a memorial tablet to Lope de Vega, with the inscription that the writer set upon his house: “A small possession of one’s own is great; a great possession of another is small.”

Lope de Vega was born in Madrid in 1562. For a time he was secretary to the Duke of Alba, but, after wounding an opponent in a duel, he fled from the city. His power of production was marvellous, and it is said that he wrote a play of three acts, in verse, in twenty-four hours. He died in 1631.

Cervantes was intimately associated with Madrid, though Alcalá de Henares is claimed as his birthplace. The greatest author of Spain came to the capital in his youth, to study for one of the learned professions, and here he lived under the tutelage of Juan Lopez de Hoyos.

After serving as chamberlain in Rome to Cardinal Aquaviva, Cervantes, at the age of twenty-four, joined the expedition against Turkey, and for several years he passed an adventurous life on sea and land. Returning to Madrid, he lived with relatives, and began to apply his mind seriously to study, and to the cultivation of his literary gift. In Madrid he wrote a number of comedies and novels, but he left the city for Seville, where he obtained more lucrative employment as a government official. The first part of the masterpiece “Don Quixote” was published in Madrid in 1605.

Cervantes died in 1616 from dropsy, and his body was laid to rest in Madrid. In the Plaza de las Cortes is a memorial in bronze to the greatest of the romance writers of Spain. It was designed by Antonio Sola, and set up in 1835. There are reliefs on the pedestal of the monument depicting episodes from “Don Quixote.”

The Church of San Francisco el Grande, the National Pantheon, was built in 1784 on the site of a convent; but it was not established as a mausoleum until 1869. It has been decorated at great expense and with much taste, and is not altogether an unworthy repository for the ashes of the illustrious dead. Here are supposed to rest the remains of Guzman, Cervantes, Lope de Vega, and Velazquez, but the tombs have not been identified. In 1869 the ashes of Morales, Juan Mena, Quevedo, Calderon, the Great Captain, and other illustrious Spaniards were placed here, but all of these have since been restored to their original resting-places.

The Italian opera was introduced into Spain by Charles III. The country has not produced any very eminent operatic composers, though opera is a popular entertainment. In the drama Spain excelled at one period above all other countries. The plays of the nation were exceedingly numerous in the palmy days, ranging from sacred representations, or miracle dramas, to farce. Many of the subjects were historical; but with the decline of taste, the drama lost its Greek simplicity, and became the vehicle of complicated intrigues and artificial plots. Cervantes, as dramatist, endeavoured to check this corruption of taste, but the pressure of poverty forced him to follow the conventions of the hour, and to write on a level with the intelligence of his audiences.

Lope de Vega wrote about eighteen hundred plays. Much of his work is hasty, extravagant and bombastic. Calderon wrote with more directness and simplicity of style, and spent far more pains upon his compositions. Augustin Moreto produced thirty-six plays, which rank high from the literary point of view. De Castro, de Roscas, and de Solis are three of the more esteemed comedy authors of a later period, whose pieces were played in Madrid.

Galdos, who is the author of several novels and plays, resides in Madrid, in the Paseo de Areneros. Doña Emilia Pardo de Bazan, the most powerful of the women writers of Spain, says: “The life of the playwright in Madrid is more active, agitated, and arduous than other branches of the literary career, which languish and sleep for want of stimulus.” Most of the dramatists of the nation live in Madrid, or spend part of the year there. Among them are José Echegaray, now the leading playwright, Guimerá, Eugenio Sellés, Dicenta, Vital Aza, Abati Ricardo de la Vega, Garcia, and Paso.

Poets living in Madrid are Emilio Ferrari, Grilo, Manuel del Palacio, the Marquis de Cerralbo, the Duke de Rivas, Eduardo Benot, and Melchor de Palau. There are also several writers of humorous verse, such as López Silva, Pérez de Zúñiga, and Luis de Tapia.

The great novelist, Armando Palacio Valdés--who, in his novel, “Froth,” gives a true picture of Madrid manners--lives in the city occasionally. Here, too, reside Father Luis Coloma, Blasco Ibañez, Baroja, José Ortega Munilla, Antonio de Hoyos, and several other writers of fiction. Doña Emilia Pardo de Bazan lives in Madrid.

Among the celebrated journalists are Cavia, Kasabal, Azorin, Claudio Frollo, Luis Morote, Troyano, and “Zeda” (Sr. Fernandez Villegas).

The Madrileños appreciate the drama--in small doses--and support fourteen theatres, of which the most frequented are the Teatro Real, belonging to the State, the Español, belonging to the Municipality, the Princesa, Comedia, Lara, Apolo, and Zarzuela. As elsewhere in Spain, each performance consists of three or more short pieces or sketches--zarzuelas and saynetes--almost always dealing with aspects of popular life. To foreigners this persistent harping on the amours of the policeman and flower-girl and the vicissitudes of a chairmender’s career is a little surprising. The legitimate drama has been almost driven from the boards in Spain, despite the efforts of Señora Guerrero--the Spanish Bernhardt--to revive it, some years ago. This lady’s husband is the Marquis de Mendoza, who follows the same profession, to do which he required the special authorisation of the Council of State. Spain does not want for good actors and actresses, despite the loss of Vico, Calvo, and the ever-popular Emilio Mario. Maria Tubau is an able interpreter of Ibsen and Sudermann (when the opportunity presents itself), and the names of Thuillier, Pinelo, and Carmen Cobeña deserve mention. Naturalism has by no means asserted its sway over the Spanish theatre, and the entertainments, as the old play-bills used to say, are still largely frequented by ladies and children. Every one smokes during the performances, and talks frantically during the entr’actes. The theatres are comfortable and well upholstered. English visitors will be struck by the absence of programmes, the place of which is often taken by some such sheet as _Blanco y Negro_.