Part 6

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“Biblioteca de Autores Españoles,” in three big volumes of poetry and prose, while many of his compositions were left unpublished.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_.

Emilia Pardo de Bazan deplores the decay of the literary circles and salons for which the city was once renowned; “of literary gatherings at private houses or in splendid palaces we might say there are none.” Circles there are, it is true, she adds, but few of them of greater circumference than a tea-table. Yet young writers still seek Madrid, bringing with them plays or novels, which, in most cases, are never given to the public. “There are in Madrid,” continues this authoress, “more producers than, in proportion, consumers, and the proletariat of the pen suffers the bitter consequences of this painful position.”

The first newspaper printed in the city was the “Gaceta de Madrid,” which was founded in 1661. It was first issued annually as a news-sheet, but in 1667 the journal appeared each Saturday. The title of the paper was frequently changed, and at one time it was the official organ of the Court, and sold on the account of “the king our lord.” Later, the “Gaceta” was issued twice a week, and in 1808 it was made a daily publication. With one or two interruptions, the “Gaceta” has been printed in Madrid since 1661.

The pioneer of modern journalism was Don Francisco Mariano Nifo, who started the “Diario” in 1758. Nifo sold the journal in 1759, and the title was altered to the “Diario noticioso Universal,” and later, to its present title, “Diario official de Avisos de Madrid.” In 1825 the “Diario” became an official newspaper by royal decree.

The establishment of political journalism dates from 1806; the “Imparcial” was then founded, as well as many other journals which had short histories. The present “El Imparcial” dates from 1867, and “La Correspondencia” and “El Dia” began to be issued about the same time. “La Epoca” was born in 1848.

The more solid reviews published in Madrid are the “Lectura,” and the “Ateneo.” “España Moderna,” “Nuestro Tiempo,” “Cultura,” and “Blanco y Negro,” a well illustrated magazine, are produced in Madrid. The city has certainly given birth to a very large number of periodicals, for from 1865 to 1878 no less than 1130 issued from the press.

Students of the literary history of Spain will find many interesting links with the past in the National Library. Here are numerous editions of “Don Quixote,” and a collection of old manuscripts, including a beautiful Visigothic work of the tenth century, and the “Siete Partidas” of Alfonso the Wise. There are several autographs of Lope de Vega and other Spanish authors in the collection.

VI

CHURCHES AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS

Among the monumental remains of Madrid there is scarcely a memory of the Moorish days. In the church of San Pedro we shall find an example of _Mudejar_ architecture, that is, the work of the “reconciled” Moriscos, who remained in Spain down to the final expulsion. San Pedro dates from the fourteenth or fifteenth century, and is the oldest church in the city. The tower is square and plain, in the Moorish form, with small windows.

The Gothic church of San Jeronimo el Real was built in 1503, and restored in 1879. During the French invasion the treasures of this church were despoiled. Here the ceremony of taking the constitutional oath by the heir-apparent is celebrated, and in this church was performed the marriage ceremony of the present king of Spain.

The Capilla del Obispo has a fine carved retablo, or altarpiece, in the Renaissance style, and several interesting statues and marble tombs. There is also a beautifully carved doorway to the chapel.

Antonio Sillero designed the Convent of the Descalzas Reales, which was founded by the Princess Juana, daughter of Charles V. A part of the original building remains, dating from 1559. In the chapel is a statue of the foundress by Leoni. The front of the present church was designed by Diego Villanueva.

The church of the Convent of the Incarnation is of the time of Philip III., the classic façade representing the style of architecture at the Escorial Palace. Within are some paintings by Carducho. San Francisco el Grande is undoubtedly the finest church in Madrid. The building is partly modelled from the plan of the Pantheon at Rome; and the objects of interest are the fine carved doors, the sculptured figures within by Benlliure and Bellver, and some modern fresco paintings.

San Isidro is named after the patron saint of the city, and was erected in the years between 1626-51. The interior is exceedingly ornate, with gilt carvings, and niches containing images of saints. There are some noteworthy paintings in this church, including works by Rizi, Morales and Palomino, and a putative Titian. The picture by Morales, “Jesus and St Peter,” is considered one of the finest examples of this artist’s skill.

In the church of San Andrés there are some fine marble carvings, and pictures by Carreño and Rizi. The Capilla del Obispo is behind this church. San Antonio is noted for its frescoes of scenes from the life of its patron saint, painted by Juan Carreño. The _baroque_ style is seen in the church of San Luis (1679)--especially in the carved retablo.

Close to the Puente Verde is the Ermita de San Antonio de la Florida, whose dome was decorated with frescoes by Goya. The satirical painter was engaged by the church to paint this dome with appropriate subjects, and in sombre jest he chose his models for pious characters among the _manolas_, or half-reputable women, of Madrid. The paintings are of exceptional interest, and well represent the spirit of the grimly facetious painter.

The finest specimen of baroque architecture in the city is the church of Santa Barbara, now adjoining the Palace of Justice, and formerly the church of a convent founded in the time of Ferdinand VI. The building is in the form of a cross, with towers, and an ornamental façade. The dome is decorated with frescoes, and the marble altarpiece is especially graceful. Olivieri carved the figures of St Ferdinand, St Barbara, and Faith and Charity on the retablo. The tomb of Ferdinand VI. by Sabatini is in the transept. There is also a monument to General O’Donnell, designed by Jeronimo Suñol.

San Ginés should be seen for the picture of the “Scourging of Christ” by Alonso Cano, and a statue of Christ by Vergara.

Madrid compares unfavourably with other capitals as regards buildings. Of late years a good many new edifices have arisen, but these are massive and pretentious rather than imposing.

The Plaza Mayor--originally the market-place of Madrid--is historically interesting as the scene of numerous autos de fé and bull-fights, while the architecture of the Casa Panaderia should be examined. The building contains pictures by Coello. In the middle of the square is the statue of Philip III. on horseback, cast in bronze, and the work of Juan de Bologna and his pupil Tacca.

A monument of the time of Philip IV. is seen in the offices of the Ministry of State, formerly a prison. It was designed by the Italian Bautista Crescenti, with figures by Herrera. The Town Hall is seventeenth century, with a good façade, and a fine staircase. In the oratory of this building are pictures by Palomino.

Very little remains of the old palace of the Buen Retiro, which has been converted into the Artillery Museum. The Palacio del Congreso (House of Commons), finished in 1850, is Corinthian in style. There is a fine allegorical group by Ponzano, who also designed the lions on the front. Within, there are frescoes of historic scenes.

The largest square in Madrid is the Plaza de Oriente, constructed by order of Joseph Buonaparte. There are fourteen immense statues of kings in this open space, and a beautiful fountain with lions in bronze. The equestrian statue of Philip IV. is by Tacca, from a painting by Velazquez; its equilibrium is said to have been determined by Galileo.

The Museum of Archæology, already mentioned, has many objects of antiquity dating from prehistoric times. There are a number of Roman remains, Moorish relics, treasures from China and Mexico, and curiosities of many kinds.

In “Castilla La Nueva” Don Jose Quadrado refers to the old door of the Monte de Piedad, in the Plaza de las Descalzas, as an interesting relic. It is surmounted with a very ornate bell, and there are two female torsos, and some good carving on the frontage.

Six miles from Madrid is the royal hunting lodge of El Pardo. The building was erected in the time of the Emperor, and reconstructed by Charles III. It stands on high ground in a fine park. The walls are adorned within with many interesting fresco paintings--the work of Velazquez, Bayeu, Ribera, and other less notable artists; and there are tapestries from designs by Goya and Teniers.

Aranjuez, thirty miles from Madrid, is a royal residence of very great historical interest, for it was here that Charles V. and Philip II. spent many hours of retirement. The palace contains pictures by Mengs, Bayeu, Maella and Lopez. The Gabinete de China is lavishly decorated with porcelain, and is a wonderful example of this style of ornamentation, introduced to Spain by the Italian Gricci.

The gardens at Aranjuez are exceedingly beautiful, some parts of them being formal, and others more wild. A fine avenue fringes the river, and there are fountains and statues in the grounds. The Countess D’Aulnoy, describing Aranjuez, writes: “I must confess the Gardens are too close and several of their alleys too narrow, but yet it ravishes one to walk there, and at our coming into them, I fancy’d myself in some enchanted Palace. The morning was cool, everywhere the Birds made a sweet melody, and the waters a pleasant murmuring Noise! the Trees and Hedges were loaden with excellent Fruit, and the Parterres were covered with most odoriferent Flowers; and I enjoyed all this in most pleasant Company.”

The trees in the avenue at Aranjuez are of great age, with immense trunks and dense foliage, testifying to the fertility of the soil. In the Garden of the Primavera flowers and fruits flourish, for the summer climate in this sheltered region is almost tropical, though the surrounding hills are bare and unfertile. Innumerable nightingales haunt the gardens and groves in the springtime.

THE ROYAL ARMOURY

If the Prado is surpassed by one or two other galleries, Madrid can boast a collection of arms and armour which is eclipsed by no other. The Imperial Armoury of Vienna can alone be compared with this magnificent storehouse of the triumphs of a forgotten craft, the inception of which is due to Philip II. The Emperor Charles, Lord of Germany and Italy, was able to command the services of the greatest armourers of his own or any age. By stimulating the rivalry of the famous Colmans of Augsburg and the not less celebrated Negrolis of Milan, he brought the armour-smith’s art to its highest pitch of development--and this, too, at a time when new tactics and artillery seemed likely to drive it for ever from the field. The reign of Charles marks the zenith of the craft. The sons of Vulcan ranked among the most admired artists of their time, and the most eminent exponents of the sister arts were proud to embellish and to wait upon the works of their hands.

Yet it was to supply the needs of no mere dilettante that the forges of Augsburg and Milan were kept glowing, that their anvils re-echoed unceasingly with ringing blows. Charles was a mighty War Lord. He used his armour in the tented field, his keen blade was waved aloft in the van of armies; and in times of peace, he yet loved to surround himself with the pomp and circumstance of glorious war. And when he laid aside the helmet for the monk’s cowl, he left his son the finest martial equipment any monarch had ever boasted before or since.

Less of a soldier than his father, Philip II. was not slow to recognise the intrinsic value of the heritage. He ordered a house to be built specially for its reception, thus forming the foundation of a collection, which was added to from year to year by him and his successors. The manufacture of defensive armour practically ceased at the close of the seventeenth century, and the spoils of war became, alas! rarer in the course of the next hundred years. In the uprising against the French in 1808, the Armoury was plundered by the populace in their frantic hunger for weapons against the detested invader, and a year or two later the collection suffered considerably at the hands of the _Rey intruso_.

In the forties, a complete re-arrangement took place by order of Queen Isabella II. A catalogue was issued in 1849, which was useful enough in its way, and made the priceless treasures it enumerated known to the world. But it displayed little critical or antiquarian skill, and perpetuated a score of picturesque and grotesquely misleading attributions. Different pieces were labelled as the sword of Bernardo del Carpio, the falchion of the Cid, the bit of Don Roderic, the helmet of Boabdil, the cuirass of Garcilaso de la Vega, etc. Doubtless in course of time the battle axe of Amadis de Gaul, the horn of Roland, and Mambrino’s helmet would have found their way into the catalogue. Luckily King Alfonso XII., soon after his accession, entrusted the collection to an antiquary of the new school, the late Count of Valencia de Don Juan. Years of labour and research, interrupted by a disastrous fire, resulted in a complete and admirable re-organisation and classification, and in the publication in 1898 of a catalogue which has conferred permanent lustre on the reputation of the erudite compiler.

The collection is in no sense national. Spain, a country famed, from the time of the Romans, all over Europe, for the excellence of its sword-blades and the martial temper of its people, is hardly represented in this knightly arsenal. The major portion of the exhibits proceeded from Italian and Bavarian workshops. Historically the collection is less valuable than our ill-arranged armoury at the Tower. It includes few pieces anterior to the last years of the fifteenth century, and none at all of the fourteenth. The student comes here to view not the evolution, but the highest expression of the armourer’s craft. Those who have the time will of course examine the exhibits piece by piece in the order they are described in the admirable but decidedly bulky catalogue to which I have referred. Those who regard the great armour-smiths as great artists--and such they were--will prefer to examine their works separately and so to familiarise themselves with the technique and style peculiar to each.