The Picturesque Antiquities Of Spain Part 17

In the playhouse not only is the event known beforehand, but also every incident by which it is preceded; whereas, throughout a _corrida de toros_ nothing can be foreseen. No one knows, during the present minute, whether the next will give birth to the direst of tragedies, or to the most exhilarating farce.

At Madrid the representations are inferior to those at Seville. They are able, it is true, to procure as fierce bulls; but they are brought from a considerable distance, and are much more expensive. The princ.i.p.al inferiority consists in the men, who at Madrid are wanting in the rapidity of eye, and careless courage of the Andaluz. On the entrance of a bull on the arena, whose att.i.tude gives promise of an animated course, almost all the Madrid _toreros_, (I have seen all,) will, at his first onset, disappear simultaneously over the _barrera_. The _barrera_ is the enclosure of stout planks, strengthened by posts, which separates the performers from the spectators. It is about six feet in height. At a height of three feet a projecting ledge runs round the whole, upon which, in vaulting over, the _toreador_ places his foot. Behind this enclosure an open s.p.a.ce of four feet in width is left, and serves as a refuge for those who are hard pressed. Very different is the graceful and careless att.i.tude with which the Andaluz awaits the approach of the infuriated brute, and quietly springs aside with a flourish of his mantle of silk, while he knows there are others at hand to draw off the animal's attention.

With the exception of the _Toros_ the public amus.e.m.e.nts of Seville are limited to the b.a.l.l.s at the Lonja during the Carnival, and to the opera.

The opera varies its own pleasures, while it distributes its favours between the two western capitals of the province. From midsummer to midwinter Cadiz receives her share of melody, and the remaining six months are bestowed on Seville. Xeres has, I believe, a company to itself, supplied by a different _impresario_.

The Rossi is an excellent _primera dama_, although wanting in animation; and Comfortini is by no means a bad tenor. The second tenor, Tosi, is said to be ambitious of displaying his somewhat exaggerated att.i.tudes on the boards of the Haymarket. There is a deficiency of _ensemble_, since the severe discipline necessary for obtaining that result does not accord with the genius of the place--or perhaps an unexceptionable _maestro de capella_ is too expensive a luxury to suit the Seville purses. However this may be, the easy inhabitants, who hear the same opera frequently six times in a week, and would hear it seven times had not the performers a holiday on Sat.u.r.day--may be taken grievous liberties with before they utter a complaint. They, in fact, look upon the performance chiefly as an excuse for resorting to this their habitual lounge.

The Barbiere di Seviglia should, however, be witnessed here by every amateur. It is only here that justice is done to the _libretto_ of Rossini's masterpiece. Figaro becomes a real barber, and scorns all velvets and finery; and Almaviva leaves his court-dress at home, and takes a good _capa_ of _pano pardo_ for his nocturnal excursions. The scenery represents the actual streets of Seville. Local customs are introduced, and local expressions interspersed in the Italian dialogue.

On this occasion one spirit animates boxes, lunetas, orchestra, and stage. At the opening note of the first melody the allegro, pa.s.sing like electricity from the corner of the page through the eye, brain, and arm of the leader, appears as though it spirted like wildfire from the extremity of his bow over stage, boxes, stalls, and galleries, lighting up in an instant all eyes with animation and pleasure.

In the scene of old Bartolo's discomfiture the melodies of the _maestro_ are totally extinguished beneath the din of overturned tables and chairs, and cracking furniture; and the joyous exclamations of the entire a.s.sembly, unite with the jibes of the actors, and seem to pursue the poor old guardian with one overwhelming peal of derision.

But it is only in this one instance that representations come off in such a manner. On the contrary, the company exhibit habitually all the aristocratic _nonchalance_ of larger capitals. Their business there is society. It is there that _les affaires de cur_ hold their Royal Exchange; and observation, conjecture, and speculation,--but usually without ill-nature,--sufficiently occupy those who are not actors in this general by-play. The youth of these climes do not put in practice the same arts of concealment and reserve as are adopted in colder cities; but each, unconscious of evil, makes for the box of his _enamorata_; or, if that is impossible, for the nearest vacant situation. Advise, therefore, any friend who may intend visiting Seville, not hastily to pay his visit of curiosity to the opera, but to wait, if possible, until offered a seat by some _habituee_ in her box.

This _Senora_ may possibly not have any _affaire_ of her own on hand; in fact the married ladies of course form an exception, if not in all cases, at least as far as regards such undisguised manifestations of preference:--in this case she will take delight in putting him _au fait_ of all those that are going forward.

If in a conversable humour she will do more. Commencing with the nearest, or the most conspicuous of the performers in these mute dramas, she will relate to him the vicissitudes of the respective histories up to the time then present, and the probabilities which each case may suggest for the future. Thus your friend, instead of having sacrificed an entire evening to the dubious amus.e.m.e.nt of following the plot of a single opera, which may have been a bad one, or interpreted by bad actors, will return to rest with some score of plots and romances filling all the corners of his memory--all possessing the zest of reality and actuality, as he will have contemplated the heroes and heroines in their mortal shape, and clothed in indisputable _capas_ and _mantillas_; besides, another advantage which these romances will possess over all the popular and standard novels--that of omitting the most insipid chapter of all, the one containing the _denouement_.

There only remain two public buildings worthy of notice; but they are such as to rank among the most remarkable of Spain. The Lonja (Exchange) was erected during the reign of Philip the Second, in the year 1583, by Juan de Herrera. At this period the excesses committed in all parts of Spain by the architects, no longer restrained by rule of any sort, had brought about a salutary effect, after a sufficiently lengthened surfeit of extravagance. Herrera took the lead in the reaction, and followed the more correct models of art.

Among the authors of some of the most lamentable specimens of aberration of style scattered throughout Spain, are found several names high in rank among the painters of the best period. These artists, desirous of emulating some of the great masters of Italy, who had attained equal superiority in architecture, painting, and sculpture, risked their reputation in these different pursuits with greater confidence than just appreciation of their peculiar genius. At the head of them was Alonzo Cano, one of the most distinguished painters of the schools of Andalucia; and who has been called the Guido of Spain. He may certainly lay a more legitimate claim to that t.i.tle than to that of the Michael Angelo of Spain, accorded to him by some of the less judicious of his admirers for no other reason than that of his combining the three above mentioned arts.

His paintings are characterized by a peculiar delicacy of manner, correct drawing, and exquisite finish. The sickly paleness of his flesh is sometimes unpleasing, and his personages are gainers by the addition of drapery, in the arrangement of which he approaches to the excellence of the best Italian schools. The life of this artist was varied by more adventure than usually falls to the lot of those of his profession. His talent as a painter had already become celebrated while he was still a monk, having taken the vows very early in life. He had been from the first an enemy to the subordination of the cloister, and at length a series of irregularities led to his expulsion from his monastery.

Alonzo was not, however, the original inventor of this eccentric style.

A Roman architect, Francis...o...b..rromini, the rival of Bernini, and of whom it was said, that he was the first of his time in elevation of genius, and the last in the employment of it,--is supposed to have first introduced it. Followers and imitators of these sprung up in great numbers, and Spain was speedily inundated with extravagancies: facades, moulded into more sinuosities than a labyrinth,--cornices, multiplying their angles like a saw, murderously amputated columns, and broken-backed pediments. Juan de Herrera was not, probably, possessed of more talent than the Roman; but of what he had he made a better use. His reputation was beginning to make rapid progress when he was selected, on the death of Juan Baptista de Toledo, to continue the Escorial. His task there was not the simple one of continuing the unfinished pile according to the plans already traced.

The religious fervor of Philip the Second was on the ascent, and during the progress of the building he had resolved to double the number of monks, for whom accommodation had been provided by the original plan. To meet this necessity, Herrera raised the buildings to double their intended elevation. His completion of this immense work, rendered more difficult than it would have been had the original design been his own, or even had that of his predecessor been persisted in (for various other modifications were commanded, especially with regard to the plan of the church,) fully established his fame; and the edifice would probably have gained, had Philip not, at the last moment, yielded to a new caprice, and called in another artist (the architect of the famous country-house of the Viso) to erect the great staircase.

The object of Herrera, traceable in all his works, was the re-establishment of antique art in all its purity. In cathedrals success was more difficult of attainment than in civil edifices; but the effort is easily discerned, striving against the difficulties inseparable from the system, which applies to the purposes of one creed the principles of art invented for ministering to other forms. His cathedral of Valladolid is an instance of this: the most unsuccessful portion of which (the tower) has fallen before the completion of the edifice. Should the works ever be continued, this would be a most fortunate circ.u.mstance, were it not that the future builders are sure to persist in the same course, and to disfigure the pile with another similar excrescence, in contempt of symmetry and rule.

The Lonja of Seville is a structure so perfect as to bid defiance to criticism. It might have been built by Vitruvius. The general plan is a quadrangle, enclosing a court surrounded by an arcade. There are two stories, ornamented externally by pilasters. The order is Tuscan, both above and below. The court, staircase, and various apartments, are decorated with a profusion of the rarest marbles. The whole is a specimen, almost unique, of chaste elegance and ma.s.sive solidity. In this edifice, the resort of wealthy traders during the period of the colonial prosperity of Spain, are contained, among the archives, the original despatches of Columbus: and, it is also said, those of Cortez and Pizarro.

The Ayuntamiento, or Town Hall, is an edifice of another sort. It is of the _plateresco_ epoch. But Seville, having been apparently preserved by especial favour from the introduction of specimens of bad taste; it is a building of extreme beauty. The facade is divided into two unequal parts. The smaller of the two is covered with sculpture, and contains an open porch or vestibule, decorated throughout with a profusion of ornament. I could not learn the name of the artist to whom these sculptures are attributed, but they are worthy of the chisel of John of Bologna. The other portion of the front is without ornament from the ground to the first story, along the whole extent of which runs a series of open arches supported by columns. These columns and arches are models of lightness and grace.

The Ayuntamiento is situated in the Plaza de San Francisco; from one extremity of which a street leads to the cathedral: at the other commences the princ.i.p.al street of Seville, called the Calle de la Sierpe. Here are all the best shops, and the principle cafes. It leads also to the post-office, to the opera, and to the Plaza del Duque, so called from its containing the house of the Duke of Medina Sidonia; but it possesses, likewise, two other ducal residences, besides others of almost equal pretension. These mansions are scarcely ever occupied by their proprietors. It is a small irregularly formed place, and its ducal habitations, whatever they may be internally, by no means improve its appearance.

A few streets further on is the Alameda. This is a place magnificent in extent, but possessing no architectural merit. Its princ.i.p.al ornament is an avenue of elms, of about half a mile in length, at the head of which are placed the two antique columns and statues of the temple of Hercules. At the further extremity, on the left, is the church of the Jesuits, closed since the revolution.

THE END.

LONDON:

Printed by S. & J. BENTLEY, WILSON, and FLEY,

Bangor House, Shoe Lane.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The very polite individual alluded to no longer fills the post of Consul at Bayonne.

[2] The following inscriptions are placed at the feet of the respective statues:

"Aqui yace el muy Il.u.s.tre Senor Don Pedro Hernandez de Velasco, Condestable de Castilla, Senor del estado, y gran casa de Velasco, hijo de Don Pedro Hernandez de Velasco, y de Dona Beatriz Manrique, Condes de Haro. Murio de setenta y siete anos, anno de mil cuatro cientos y noventa y dos, siendo solo Virey de estos reynos por los Reyes Catolicos."

"Aqui yace la muy Il.u.s.tre Senora Dona Mencia de Mendoza, Condesa de Haro, muger del Condestable Don Pedro Hernandez de Velasco, hija de Don Inigo Lopez de Mendoza, y de Dona Catalina de Figueroa, Marqueses de Santillana. Murio de setenta y nueve annos, anno de mil y quiniento."

[3] The above woodcut may, it is hoped, serve as a guide to future travellers in their search for this head, of which it has no pretension to give an adequate idea.

[4] It will be seen that this letter was written shortly after the Queen's return to Spain, and previous to the publication of her marriage.

[5] It is probable that this threat, supposing it real, may have a.s.sisted in determining the Queen's resolution, since executed, of publis.h.i.+ng the marriage.

[6] The crown was valued in Cadiz at a hundred and sixty thousand pounds, of which the emerald, which supports the cross, represents forty thousand.

[7] She is of a wood, whether artificially or naturally, of a tint between the darkest mahogany and ebony.

[8] The Author has in every instance made use of the word Gothic, in preference to the employment of any sort of periphrasis; considering that the chief intention of a name is, not that its application should accord with its derivation, but rather that it should present to all who know it, or have dictionaries, an identical meaning, in order that the idea of the individual employing it may be speedily caught. Now the word Gothic having always been applied to this architecture, it is comprehended. A dismounted highwayman is termed a pad. The oblong area in the centre of Madrid is called a door. "What's in a name?"

[9]

"Who does a kindness is not therefore kind.-- Perhaps the wind has s.h.i.+fted from the East."--POPE.

[10] Feeling his powers as a draughtsman inadequate to do justice to this court, the author has inserted the above sketch merely to show the general architectural design.

[11] He had put to death the "Master of St. Bernard," a t.i.tle of those days possessed by the chief of that order appointed by the Pope. It was Urbano V, who, on the occasion of this act, resented at the same time various other offences.

[12] The above is gathered from the following pa.s.sage of Appia.n.u.s Alexandrinus. "Relicto, utpote pacata regione, valido praesidio, Scipio milites omnes vulneribus debiles in unam urbem compulit, quam ab Italia Italicam nominavit, claram natalibus Trajani et Adriani, qui posteris temporibus Romanum imperium tenuere."

Elius Sparcia.n.u.s, in the life of Adrian, says, "Origo imperatoris Adriani vetustior a Picentibus, posterior ab Hispaniensibus manat; siquidem Adria ortos majores suos apud Italicam, Scipionum temporibus resedisse in libris vitae suae Adria.n.u.s ipse commemorat."

[13] No other town is so placed as to accord with the description given by Pliny, who pa.s.ses it on the right bank of the river, and arrives at Seville lower down on the left: "Italica et a laeva Hispalis colonia cognomine Romulensis."

Lucas de Tuy, who wrote four centuries back, says, "Italica est Hispalis Antigua."

[14]

Hic fertur Apostolico Vates fulsisse tempore: Et praedica.s.se supremum Patrem potentis filii.