Part 1
THE SPANISH SERIES
GRANADA AND THE ALHAMBRA
THE SPANISH SERIES
_EDITED BY ALBERT F. CALVERT_
GOYA TOLEDO MADRID SEVILLE MURILLO CORDOVA EL GRECO VELAZQUEZ THE PRADO THE ESCORIAL ROYAL PALACES OF SPAIN GRANADA AND ALHAMBRA SPANISH ARMS AND ARMOUR LEON, BURGOS AND SALAMANCA VALLADOLID, OVIEDO, SEGOVIA ZAMORA, AVILA AND ZARAGOZA
GRANADA AND THE ALHAMBRA
A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ANCIENT CITY OF GRANADA WITH A PARTICULAR ACCOUNT OF THE MOORISH PALACE BY ALBERT F. CALVERT WITH 460 ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY MCMVII
Printed by BALLANTYNE & CO. LIMITED Tavistock Street, London
TO H.I.M. THE EMPRESS EUGÉNIE THIS SOUVENIR OF THAT FAIR GRANADAN HOME FROM WHICH SHE CARRIED THE CROWN OF SPANISH BEAUTY TO GRACE THE THRONE OF FRANCE IS DEDICATED IN ACCORDANCE WITH HER MAJESTY’S GRACIOUS PERMISSION
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION
Although the admission may be construed by the censorious as betraying a lack of becoming diffidence, I am tempted to believe that no apology will be demanded for the publication of this volume by that section of the reading public for which it has been chiefly compiled. My temerity goes even further, and I anticipate with some confidence that visitors to the Alhambra, and pilgrims to that famous Mecca of Moorish workmanship, will recognise in this book an earnest attempt to supply a long-felt want. When I paid my first visit to Granada some years ago, I was surprised and disappointed to find that no such thing as an even fairly adequate illustrated souvenir of this “city of the dawn” was to be obtained. Many tomes, costly and valuable (not necessarily the same thing), have been written to place on record the wonders of “the glorious sanctuary of Spain,” but these are beyond the reach of the general public. Many beautiful pictures have caught odd ecstasies of this superb and perfectly harmonised palace of art, but these impressions are not available to the ordinary tourist.
What is wanted, as I imagine, is a concise history and description of the Alhambra, illustrated with a series of pictures constituting a tangible remembrancer of the delights of this Granadian paradise
“Where glory rests ’tween laurels, A torch to give thee light!”
The Alhambra may be likened to an exquisite opera which can only be appreciated to the full when one is under the spell of its magic influence. But as the witchery of an inspired score can be recalled by the sound of an air whistled in the street, so--it is my hope--the pale ghost of this Moorish fairy-land may live again in the memories of travellers through the medium of this pictorial epitome.
I desire, however, to submit an explanation--or excuse--for the unusual form in which this volume is issued. At the commencement of my work I experienced no little difficulty in collecting the requisite illustrations, for most of the obtainable photographs were ill-chosen and but carelessly developed, and I was compelled to press my own cameras into the service of my scheme. But when my designs became known, I was inundated with offers of pictures of every description, until the embarrassment of artistic treasures entirely upset the original purpose of my book. Artists placed their studies at my disposal; collectors begged me, with irresistible Spanish courtesy, to regard their galleries as my own; and students directed my attention to little-known publications on the subject.
Don Mariano Contreras, Conservator of the Alhambra, the son of the gifted Raphaël Contreras, who devoted thirty-seven years of his life to the restoration of the Palace--gave me the benefit of his knowledge of this unique treasure-house of art; and I have also laid under contribution the beautiful plates of Owen Jones, who disposed of a Welsh inheritance in order to produce his great work on the _Plans, Elevations, Sections, and Details of the Alhambra_. Jones’s _Grammar of Ornament_, which has been described as “beautiful enough to be the horn-book of the Angels,” also contains the result of his researches in the Alhambra, which occupied him for the greater part of eleven years. A selection of these illustrations is here rescued from the obscurity of public libraries and the inaccessible fastnesses of private collections. The inclusion of John F. Lewis’s drawings, and the reproduction of a series of pictures by James C. Murphy, who spent seven years in the study of the artistic marvels of the Alhambra, I do not feel called upon to defend. The photographs, several of which were placed at my disposal by Don Rafaël Garzón, represent the buildings as they appear to-day; the drawings were made before the Palace was damaged by the disastrous fire of September, 1890.
For the historical portions of the description contained in the letterpress I have levied tribute on a variety of authors. _The History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain_, by the learned Spanish Orientalist, Don Pascual de Gayángos; Raphaël Contreras’ _Étude Descriptive des Monuments Arabes_; Richard Ford’s reverent appreciations; Dr. R. Dozy’s history; Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole’s _The Moors in Spain_; Washington Irving’s fascinating writings; and _The Alhambra Album_, presented by Prince Dolgorouki in 1829, containing the autographs, poems, and thoughts of succeeding generations of visitors to Granada, these and many others have been drawn upon in the following pages.
But the multiplicity of my illustrations convinced me that if I adhered to my idea of furnishing an amount of letterpress sufficient to “carry” the blocks, I should only end in producing a book that would tax the physical endurance of my readers by reason of its bulk, and exhaust their patience with a tedious super-abundance of minute descriptive pabulum. I resolved, therefore, to give pride of place to the pictorial side of the volume; to abandon the traditions regulating the proportions of prose to pictures; and make my appeal to the public by the beauty and variety of the illustrations I have collected, and the immensity of elaborate letterpress which I have not written.
A. F. C.
“ROYSTON,”
HAMPSTEAD, N.W., 1904.
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION
The compilation of a book of this kind reveals in the author a refreshing optimism which does not always survive the ordeal of publication, and it is, perhaps, out of sympathy with the misgivings that assail him as he approaches the bar of public and critical opinion, that convention cedes to him the privilege of making some apology for the faith that is in him. In his preface he is permitted to explain himself, and this _apologia_ or justification, call it which you will, stands as the last word in his own defence. But the demand for a further edition is the outcome of an amiable conspiracy on the part of the public, and it is not required of the author to explain, justify, or excuse an issue for which he is not directly responsible. Any revision or amplification, however, which is to be found in a second impression, may be briefly referred to, and at the same time tradition allows him to express the feelings of gratitude and gratification that the occasion inspires.
It has been my ambition to acknowledge the favour with which this book has been received, by having the present edition produced with the greatest care on special paper, and by the addition of a number of new illustrations, including some half-tone and coloured plates reproduced from the _Monumentos Arquitectónicos de España_ and other sources, which I have acquired since it was first produced. It will be seen that several of the coloured pictures in this book illustrate designs which are common to the Arabian ornamentation to be found in Cordova and Seville, and, as being representative of the Moresco work of the period, they also appear in the companion volume on _Moorish Remains in Spain_, but it may be stated that the whole of the plates reproduced here are from photographs and drawings secured or specially made to illustrate _The Alhambra_. In its pictorial appeal it has been my ambition to make this edition as worthy of its subject as means and ability permit, and I offer this assurance as an earnest of my sincere appreciation of the generous manner in which the Press and public rewarded my previous effort.
A. F. C.
PREFACE TO NEW EDITION
The generous appreciation with which my larger book on the Alhambra was received by both the Press and the public in Spain and America, as well as in this country, encourages me to hope that the present volume will prove a popular addition to this Spanish Series. Three years ago, when I published _The Alhambra_ to supply what my own experience taught me to be a real want, the scale and quality of the illustrations made it impossible to issue the work at a popular price. I am now enabled to present an inexpensive and, I trust, adequate souvenir of the fascinating city of Granada and its Red Palace. The text is no mere reprint of the matter which appeared in my former work, but embodies the results of a more critical, though not less appreciative, survey of the last monuments of the Spanish Moor. Bearing in mind, too, that the illustrations, being on a reduced scale, called for fuller explanation, I have endeavoured to condense as much detail and descriptive matter into the letterpress as the limits I had laid down for myself admitted. Those limits were still further encroached upon by the additional wealth of illustration which resulted from the decision to include the city of Granada in a work which, in previous issues, had been devoted entirely to the palace of the Alhambra, and the new pictorial matter so acquired threatened to annex all the space allotted for the text. But little as I liked the idea of further condensing the letterpress, I was even less inclined to neglect the opportunity of enhancing the pictorial value of the volume. In dealing with the Moorish art of Spain, I have always recognised that the popular want is for pictures rather than the printed word, and I venture to hope that the present volume, which surpasses its costlier predecessors in the number of the plates reproduced, will constitute a serviceable if not exhaustive guide to the beautiful Moorish capital, and an artistic remembrancer of its fascinating monuments.
I have to acknowledge my obligations to Mr. E. B. d’Auvergne for his kind and valuable assistance in the compilation of the text, and for permission to reproduce many of the additional photographs I am indebted to the courtesy of Don Senan y Gonzalez, of Herr Ernst Wasmuth of Berlin, publisher of Uhde’s _Baudenkmaeler in Spanien und Portugal_, and of Herr Eugen Twietmeyer of Leipzig, publisher of Junghandel’s _Die Baukunst Spaniens_.
As I have remarked in the preface to the volume on Cordova, it may be thought that in the present work I have given an excess of detail of Arabian decoration and ornament, but it has been my aim to provide the last word on Moorish art--so far at least as the pictorial representation of it is concerned--wherever I have dealt with it in Spain. To the general reader these reproductions of tracery and elaborate detail may seem superfluous, but they will, I trust, lend to the book an additional interest in the eyes of students and artists, for whose delectation they are included here.
A. F. C.
CONTENTS
PAGE
THE CITY OF THE MOOR 1
THE ALHAMBRA 25
THE GENERALIFE 61
CATHOLIC GRANADA 65
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
TITLE PLATE
View of Granada, showing the Alhambra and the Sierra Nevada 1
General View of the Alhambra 2
View of the Alhambra from the Sacromonte Road 3
The Alhambra from the Moor’s Seat--La Silla del Moro 4
General View of the Alhambra from San Nicolás 5
View of the Gate of Elvira 6
A View of the Alhambra from the Albaicin (_Sketch_) 7
View of the Cathedral and the Alhambra from San Gerónimo 8
View of the Sierra Nevada from the Carrera de las Angustias 9
View of the Royal Gate 10
View from the Tower in the Alhambra 11
La Plaza Nueva 12
Monument to Columbus in the Paseo del Salon; the Sierra Nevada in the Distance 13
The Street of the Catholic Sovereigns 14
Arab Silk Market 15
La Casa de los Tiros 16
Church of Santa Ana 17
Limoges Enamel Triptych which belonged to the Gran Capitán. (Provincial Museum, Granada) 18
Altar in the Church of San Gerónimo 19
House in the Calle de Darro. The Palacio de Justicia 20
The House of Castril 21
Typical Gypsies and their Quarters 22
Gypsies in Front of their Dwellings 23
Gypsy-dwellings in the Sacromonte 24
General View of the Gypsy Quarters 25
Interior of a Gypsy’s Cave 26
Group of Gypsies 27
A Gypsy Family 28
Gypsies bivouacking 29
Gypsies 30
Gypsies clipping a Mule 31
Gypsies 32
Gypsies 33
Gypsy Dance 34
Interior of the Sacristy of the Cartuja 35
Interior of Cartuja: The Sacristy 36
Interior of the Cartuja Church 37
Saint Bruno, by Alonso Cano, at the Carthusian Monastery of Granada 38
Exterior of the Royal Chapel 39
The Gate of Pardon and the Exterior of the Cathedral 40
Façade of the Cathedral 41
Exterior Gate of the Royal Chapel 42
Detail in the Royal Chapel 43
Ancient Gothic Entrance to the Royal Chapel 44
General Exterior View of the Royal Chapel, Upper Part 45
General Exterior View of the Royal Chapel 46
Façade of the Cathedral. Exterior of the Royal Chapel 47
General View of the Interior of the Cathedral 48
The Cathedral. General View of the Interior 49
The Cathedral. View of the Principal Nave 50
The High Altar in the Cathedral 51
Altar-piece in the Royal Chapel, by F. de Borgoña 52
The Cathedral. Boabdil giving up the Keys of Granada to the Catholic Sovereigns. Fragment of the Altar-piece in the Royal Chapel 53
The Inner Choir of the Cathedral 54
The Cathedral. Tombs of the Catholic Sovereigns in the Royal Chapel 55
View of the Royal Chapel and Tombs of the Catholic Sovereigns, by P. Gonzalvo 56
Royal Chapel. Tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella 57
Vault of the Catholic Sovereigns at Granada 58
Tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella, Doña Juana and Philip the Handsome 59
Tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella, Doña Juana and Philip the Handsome 60
Sceptre, Crown, Sword, Mass-book, and Coffer of the Catholic Sovereigns 61
Relics of the Catholic Sovereigns 62
Royal Chapel: Statue of Queen Isabella the Catholic 63
Statue of Isabella the Catholic 64
Chapel of San Miguel in the Cathedral, Marble Sculpture 65
Plan of the Alhambra Palace at Granada 66
General Plan of the Alhambra 67
General View of the Alhambra from San Nicolás 68
The Red Towers from the Ramparts 69
View of the Alhambra from the Sacromonte 70
General View of the Alhambra and Algibillo Promenade 71
View of the Alhambra from the Cuesta del Chapiz 72
The Red Towers 73
General View of the Alhambra 74
The Tower of the Peaks 75
The Infantas’ Tower and Captive’s Tower 76
View of the Watch Tower and Granada 77
View of the Ramparts and the Watch Tower 78
The Aqueduct Tower and the Aqueduct 79
The Gate of Justice. Detail of a Door in the Court of the Myrtles 80
The Alhambra and the Sierra Nevada 81
Granada, from the Homage Tower 82
“The Queen’s Dressing-room,” at the Summit of the Mihrab Tower, with Distant View of the Generalife 83
The Gate of Justice, erected by Yúsuf I. 84
The Tower of the Peaks 85
The Captive’s Tower 86
Exterior of the Mosque, Private Property 87
Tower of the Aqueduct 88
Ascent to the Alhambra by the Cuesta del Rey Chico--Lesser King Hill 89
The Ladies’ Tower 90
Part of the Alhambra, Exterior 91
The Homage Tower. Ancient Arab Ruins in the Alcazába 92
Gate of Justice, the Alhambra 93
Gate of Justice (_Sketch_) 94
The Gate of Justice 95
Plan, Height, and Details of the Gate of the Law, commonly called of Justice 96
Elevation of the Ancient Gate of Justice 97
Portal commonly called the Wine Gate 98
Porch of the Gate of Judgment 99
Elevation of the Wine Gate 100
Transverse Section of Part of the Alhambra 101
Section showing Heights of the Alhambra 102, 103
Promenades at the Entrance to the Alhambra 104
The Hall of Justice and Court of the Lions 105
Hall of Justice. Left Side 106
Hall of Justice, showing Fountain of Court of the Lions 107
Section of the Hall of Justice (looking East) 108
Section of the Hall of Justice (looking towards the Court of the Lions) 109
Vertical Section of the Hall of Justice 110
Details of the Hall of Justice 111
Plan and Window of the Hall of Justice 112
Painting on the Ceiling of the Hall of Justice. No. 1 113
Painting on the Ceiling of the Hall of Justice. No. 3 114
Part of Picture in the Hall of Justice--The Moor’s Return from Hunting 115
Hall of Justice--The Death of the Lion at the Hands of a Christian Knight 116
Part of Picture in the Hall of Justice representing a Christian Knight rescuing a Maiden from a wicked Magician, or Wild-Man-o’-the-Woods 117
Part of Picture in Hall of Justice--Moorish Huntsman slaying the Wild Boar 118
Hall of Justice--Three Figures from the Picture of the Moorish Tribunal 119
The Mosque and Generalife 120
Court of the Mosque 121
Façade of the Mosque 122
Interior of the Mosque in the Alhambra 123
Interior of the Mosque 124
Elevation of the Portico adjacent to the Mosque 125
Detail of the Entrance Door of the Mosque 126
An Arched Window of the Mosque 127
An Arched Window of the Mosque 128
The Koran Recess in the Mosque, the Scene of Yusuf’s Assassination 129
The Mosque from Koran Recess 130
Details of Ornament of Koran Recess near the Entrance Door of the Mosque 131
Cornice and Window in the Façade of the Mosque 132
Vertical Section of the Mosque 133
Arab Lamp in Mosque 134
Details of the Front of the Mosque of the Harem 135
Details of Ornament in the Court of the Mosque 136