'In her own interior Spain had an arduous problem to solve—she had to overcome the old energetic resistance of a whole people—the tolerably numerous descendants of the former lords and conquerors of the country who still adhered to the Arabian manners and language, and even in part professed the doctrines of the Mohammedan.'—Schlegel, Philosophy of History.
SEVILLE in the sixteenth century was at the height of its prosperity. We have seen how the discoveries of Columbus, Magellan, and the brothers Pizarro enriched the city, brought vessels to the port with costly store, and opened a vast foreign trade. In every quarter of the town the hum of industry was heard. The Morisco artisans, who had become 'reconciled' to the Christian creed, laboured in stone and metal, and there were silk weavers, leather workers, potters, and gold and silver smiths. One hundred and thirty thousand persons worked at the looms, which were numbered at sixteen thousand.
Learning and the arts benefited by the increase of the city's wealth. The university, founded by Alfonso the Learned, was extended; the cathedral library was enlarged, and Seville became famous for its poets, historians, romance writers, and playwrights. Pacheco, painter and poet, had his circle of gifted artists and men of letters; and the doors of the Casa Pilatos, the beautiful mansion of the Dukes of Alcalá, were open to all the lovers of learning and the students of art. Sculptors and painters were constantly employed upon works of art for the royal palace, the cathedral, and the churches. The Mudéjar architects and builders were engaged by rich dons, who had prospered by the discovery of the New World, to design and erect sumptuous residences in the Morisco style. Charitable institutions, such as the Hospital de la Caridad, were founded and liberally endowed, and an asylum for foundling children was built in the Calle de la Cuna. The highly ornate Casa de Ayuntamiento, or City Hall, was designed by Diego de Riaño, and Hernan Ruiz built the upper part of the Giralda.
The Emperor Charles V., one of the wisest rulers of Spain, occasionally made his residence at the Alcázar during the palmy days of Seville, though he favoured Segovia and Valladolid. The marriage of the monarch with Isabella, daughter of Emanuel, King of Portugal, was celebrated in the Alcázar of Seville with much splendour, and the ceremony was followed by feasts and diversions. Isabella of Portugal was a gifted woman, and extremely beautiful, and the union proved very happy. Charles was at this time highly admired in the city; but at a later date even the loyal Sevillians showed their displeasure with the Emperor. Certain of the merchants of the town disregarded the royal command that all the bullion brought in by the India fleet should be stored in the warehouse of the Board of Trade, and kept there in case the Government required to raise funds quickly for war expenses. The owners of the gold naturally preferred their shipments to the Government bonds promising repayment. They therefore secretly removed the bullion to their own houses. This action angered Charles, as the same practice enraged Philip at a later date, and the Emperor ordered the culprits to be put in chains, sent to prison, and to be deprived of their possessions. The command was heeded at once; and the merchants, and the officials who had connived at the misdemeanour of removing the bullion, were conveyed under a strong guard to Simancas. One of the offenders was put on the rack and died under torture. The gold was, however, never recovered by the State.
The gorgeous Salón de Carlos V. was constructed in the royal palace during the reign of the Emperor, who also laid out the gardens on a new plan, and built the handsome pavilion in the grounds.
Philip II. had been on the throne for many years before he paid his first visit to the southern metropolis. The King loved his mountain palace, the Escorial, where he passed his days in writing records of his reign, sending dispatches, and shooting with the gun and crossbow. Prescott says: 'It was a matter of complaint in the Cortes that he thus withdrew himself from the eyes of his subjects.' Even in his visits to Madrid, Segovia and Seville, Philip avoided society, and shut himself up in his closet with a great heap of papers on his table. When he travelled, the King rode in a close carriage, and tried to avoid the gaze of his subjects. As he grew older he developed a still stronger aversion to being seen abroad.
In 1570, at the time of the preparations for the great war with the Turks, the recluse-King came to Seville. His entry was made the occasion of a splendid ceremonial and a demonstration of loyalty on the part of the inhabitants. Philip came from Córdova, and was met on the outskirts of the city by the officials and soldiery. Taking his oath to respect the privileges of the city, the Sovereign rode through the crowded streets in pomp, accompanied by knights and guards. A splendid canopy was held by the chief justices over the King's head as he proceeded to the Cathedral to take part in a solemn service. The monarch then took up quarters in the Alcázar, which he occupied for a fortnight. During his stay in Seville, Philip appeared at the fêtes which had been arranged for his entertainment. To show their homage to the King, the people of the city subscribed a hundred thousand ducats as a donation towards the cost of Philip's marriage with his fourth wife, Anne of Austria.
The heavy expenses of the war in the Netherlands and with Turkey led to a despotic method of obtaining pecuniary supplies. Philip needed money, and to secure it as quickly as possible, he ordered that the officials of the Casa de la Contratación at Seville should seize the cargoes of gold and silver that had just arrived in the port. This action aroused much indignation in the city, and the people grew incensed when the command was again given to confiscate the bullion consigned to merchants of Seville. When a number of treasure ships were on their homeward journey, the King sent Admiral Alvaro de Bazán to the Azores to intercept the vessels; and immediately upon the arrival of the fleet at San Lucar, the whole of the shipment was sent to Santander, and from that port to Flanders.
Under Philip II. the Church in Seville rose to great power, and increased in wealth. The Archbishop of the city received an income of eighty thousand ducats a year, and the minor clergy profited by the King's patronage of the Church. It is not surprising that many of the sons of families of rank and position crowded into the profession of priest, and that the number of persons in holy orders soon swelled enormously. Arts and handicrafts were not considered gentlemanlike pursuits; the industry of the city was relegated to Spaniards of low birth, to the Mudéjares, and to aliens. The caballero of Seville aspired to join the Church Militant, or to enter the army. When Philip III., the Good, came to the throne there were no less than fourteen thousand chaplains in the diocese, while a hundred clerics were on the staff of the Cathedral alone.
FOUNTAIN IN BATH, ALCÁZAR.
FOUNTAIN IN BATH, ALCÁZAR.
The oppression of the Moriscoes in the city became severer in the days of Philip II. Doubt was cast upon the genuineness of belief among the 'reconciled' Moors, and they were bidden to cease reading books in the Arabic language, to abandon their ceremonies, to change their mode of dress, and to speak in Spanish. The public baths, built by the cleanly Moriscoes, were destroyed in every city, and the Mudéjares were even forbidden to bathe in their own houses. These mandates exasperated the Moriscoes throughout Andalusia. They rebelled and fought desperately; but after frightful bloodshed and suffering, they were quelled and broken down, never to regain their ancient sway. The suppression of the heretics was complete by the time of Philip III. And at this time began the decline of Seville's prosperity.
When Philip V. reigned, the sixteen thousand looms of the city had been reduced to less than three hundred, and the population was thinned to 'a quarter of its former number of inhabitants.' In the fruitful district around Seville the vineyards and olive gardens were in a state of neglect, and fields once fertile became wastes. Trade declined rapidly with the extirpation of heresy. The industrial population was deprived of its most skilful and industrious members when the last band of Moriscoes quitted the city. In the seventeenth century Andalusia suffered fearful poverty. Whole villages were deserted, the land was going out of cultivation, and the tax-collectors were enjoined to seize the beds and such wretched furniture as the indigent peasants possessed in their cheerless houses.
When Philip II. died, loyal Seville honoured the departed King by a magnificent funeral service in the Cathedral. A monument, forty-four feet square, and forty-one feet in height, was designed by Oviedo, at a cost of fifteen thousand ducats. Montañes, the famous sculptor, whose work is to be seen in several of the Seville churches, produced some of the statuary to adorn the monument, and the young Pacheco, then unknown, assisted in the decoration. On November 25, 1598, the mourning multitude flocked to the dim Cathedral. While the people knelt upon the stones, and the solemn music floated through the long aisles, there was a disturbance among a part of the congregation. A man was charged with deriding the imposing monument, and creating a disorder in the holy edifice. He was a tax-gatherer and ex-soldier of the city, named Don Miguel de Servantes Saavedra. Some of the citizens took his side, for there was a feud between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities of Seville, and the tax-gatherer had merely shown public spirit. The brawler, whom we know as Cervantes, was expelled from the Cathedral with his companions, and order was restored. But he had his revenge. He went to his room and composed a satirical poem upon the tomb of the King, which was soon published and read everywhere in the city. Here is one of the English translations of the poem:—
TO THE MONUMENT OF THE KING AT SEVILLE.
| 'I vow to God I quake with my surprise! |
| Could I describe it, I would give a crown— |
| And who, that gazes on it in the town, |
| But starts aghast to see its wondrous size; |
| Each part a million cost, I should devise; |
| What pity 'tis, ere centuries have flown, |
| Old Time will mercilessly cast it down! |
| Thou rival'st Rome, O, Seville, in my eyes! |
| I bet the soul of him who's dead and blest, |
| To dwell within this sumptuous monument |
| Has left the seats of sempiternal rest! |
| A fellow tall, on deeds of valour bent, |
| My exclamation heard. "Bravo!" he cried, |
| "Sir Soldier, what you say is true, I vow! |
| And he who says the contrary has lied!" |
| With that, he pulls his hat upon his brow, |
| Upon his sword hilt he his hand doth lay |
| And frowns—and—nothing does, but walks away.' |
The discovery of the New World, with its opulence of treasure, and the expulsion of the Moriscoes, did not yield a permanent prosperity to Seville. Even before the death of Philip II., the few far-sighted and reflective men doubted whether a great influx of gold and silver, and the annihilation of freedom of thought, were likely to benefit Spain, either in the material or spiritual sense. The gold fever seized like a frenzy upon the avaricious, and the early colonisers turned their backs upon any country that lacked precious minerals. Nothing save gold and silver was considered valuable. As a consequence these minerals became redundant, and in the meantime the cultivation of the land at home and abroad, and the development of manufactures, were neglected. No one had the enterprise to prevent the silting up of the tidal waters of the Guadalquivir, and so Seville lost its importance as a busy port.
While nobles were fighting for gold, and harrying heretics, briars and weeds were spreading over the fields that the patient Moors had tilled and made marvellously fertile. The establishment of the alcavala tax upon farming produce and manufactured articles hastened the decline of agriculture and of crafts in Andalusia. Finally, under the Bourbons, Cadiz became the rival of Seville, and the Council of the Two Indies was removed to the southern port in 1720. In good or ill fortune Seville remained loyal, winning for itself the title of: Muy noble, muy leal, muy heroica é invicta, i.e., 'Very noble, very loyal, very brave and invincible.'
Some interesting pictures of Seville at the close of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries are to be found in the Letters from Spain, by D. Leucadio Doblado, written in 1824. Doblado is the pseudonym of Blanco White, son of the British Vice-Consul at Seville in those days. White was born in the city in 1775, brought up as a Spaniard, and sent to the University. His parents were very austere Catholics, but reading and study developed a sceptical tendency in young White's mind, and he subsequently came to England and was well-known in Unitarian circles.
In his Life, Blanco White describes the quaint ceremony of entrance into the University of Seville. 'Every day of the week preceding the admission, the candidate was obliged to walk an hour in the principal quadrangle of the college, attended by one of the servitors, and his own servant or page—a needy student who, for the sake of board, lodgings and the cast-off clothes of his master, was glad in that humble capacity to go through the course of studies necessary for the profession—Divinity, Law or Medicine—which he intended to follow.' The custom of the caravanas was a trying ordeal for the student. He was compelled to run the gauntlet of the gibes of a mob of spectators, as a trial of his patience. No physical violence was permitted, except when a candidate lost his temper. An irascible victim was speedily ducked in the basin of the fountain of the quadrangle. Ladies came to see the sport. When White passed through this ordeal, he was dressed in fantastic garments, and led by his tormentors by a rope.
In 1800, Blanco White saw the outbreak of yellow fever that ravaged the city. The plague began in Triana, and the infection was said to have been brought from Cadiz by seamen. As in previous instances of pestilence, there was no enforced isolation of the diseased, and no relief of the suffering poor. Prayers were offered for succour in the Cathedral and the churches, and a special service of the Rogativas, used in the times of severe affliction, was performed on nine days after sunset. One of the choicest relics of the Cathedral, a piece of the True Cross, or Lignum Crucis, was exhibited as a charm on the Giralda Tower. Many persons advised that a wooden crucifix, in one of the chapels of the suburbs, should be also employed. It had been of great service in the plague of 1649, staying the epidemic after half of the inhabitants had been destroyed. A day was fixed for the solemn ceremony of blessing the four winds of heaven with the True Cross from the Cathedral treasury. The great fane was crowded with supplicants. As the priest made the sign of the Cross, with the golden casket containing the Lignum Crucis, a frightful clap of thunder made the Cathedral tremble. In forty-eight hours the deaths increased tenfold. The heat, the polluted air of the Cathedral, the infection that spread among the worshippers, and the fatigue of the service caused a great spread of the fever in the city. Eighteen thousand persons perished from the pestilence.
During the Peninsular War, Soult's troops did considerable damage to parts of Seville. The church that contained the bones of Murillo was pillaged by the soldiers, and the tomb of the great painter was destroyed. On February 1, 1810, the city surrendered with all its stores and arsenal, and Joseph marched in. The French force had appeared before Seville in January 1810. 'In Seville all was anarchy,' writes Sir W. F. P. Napier, in his History of the War in the Peninsula; 'Palafox and Montijo's partisans were secretly ready to strike, the ancient Junta openly prepared to resume their former power.' It was a time of revolt in the city; mobs went through the streets, calling for the deposition of the Junta, and vowing violence against the members. Seville was besieged for the last time in 1843, at the time of Espartero's regency. An account of the siege is given in Revelations of Spain, by an English Resident, who writes: 'I saw full twenty houses in different parts of the city—this was about the entire number—which Van Halen's shells had entirely gutted. The balls did limited damage—a mere crack against the wall, for the most part a few stones dashed out, and there an end. But the bombs—that was indeed a different matter! Wherever they fell, unless they struck the streets, and were buried in the ground, they carried destruction. Lighting on the roof of a house, they invariably pierced through its four or five floors, and bursting below, laid the building in ruins.' Probably not more than twenty lives were lost through the bursting of the shells. Most of the men of the city were defending the walls, and the women took refuge in the churches. The Cathedral sheltered a large number of women and children, who slept and cooked there. The Junta of Seville occupied the Convent of San Paolo during the siege.
Edward VII. of England, when Prince of Wales, paid a visit to Seville, and spent several days in the city, in 1876.
We have now briefly surveyed the more interesting events in the history of the city and noted incidents in the lives of eminent Sevillians from the time of the Goths until the present century.
'I have never entered a mosque without a vivid emotion—shall I even say without a certain regret in not being a Mussulman?'—Ernest Renan, Islamism and Science.
IN the year 1171, Abu Yakub Yûsuf, the conquering Moor, began the building of a mighty mezquita, or mosque, in the captured city of Seville. The important work was given into the hands of a famed architect, one Gever, Hever, or Djâbir, the correct spelling of whose name has puzzled the historians. Gever is said to have been 'the inventor of Algebra.' Whether he really designed the Mosque is difficult to determine. Some Spanish writers have asserted that the first stage of the Giralda Tower was commenced in the year 1000 of the Christian era 'by the famous Moor, Herver.' From the discovery, at a great depth, of certain pieces of Roman masonry, it is supposed that an amphitheatre once occupied the ground now covered by the Cathedral, the Giralda, and the Court of the Oranges.
There is no doubt that the Mosque of the Almohade ruler was a vast and noble building, resembling in most of its characters that of Córdova. The minaret, now called the Giralda, is certainly one of the most ancient buildings in the city. It is recorded that the Moorish astronomers used the tower as an observatory. Probably the minaret served the double purpose of praying-tower and astronomical outlook. In building the tower the remains of ruined Roman and Gothic structures were used by the Moors, just as the Christians afterwards employed portions of the mosques and palaces for building their temples. The original minaret was about two hundred and thirty feet in height. At each corner of the minaret stood four huge brass balls, which were thrown down in the earthquake of 1395.
If we enter the precincts of the old Mosque by the Puerta del Perdón, in the Calle de Alemanes, we shall see the bronze-covered doors which may have formed one of the entrances to the building. The bronze has been spoilt by paint, but one can note the distinctly Moorish character of these great doors. This gate was reconstructed by Alfonso XI. after the victory of Salado. In its present state it dates from 1340. Bartolomé López added the plateresque ornamentations about 1522. The sculptures over the doorway are statues of St. Peter and St. Paul, an Annunciation and the Expulsion of the Money Changers from the Temple. Before the Lonja was built, the merchants of Seville used the court within as an exchange. Hence the relief of the Expulsion, a fine piece of carving by the Italian, Miguel, representing Christ chastising the money changers from the Temple. Miguel of Florence was one of the early Renaissance sculptors who came to Spain.
Under the archway of the Gate of Pardon is a modern shrine. At almost all hours of the day sin-stricken supplicants, chiefly women, may be seen kneeling on the stones before the altar.
Through the gateway we enter the quiet retreat of the Patio de los Naranjas, or the Court of the Oranges, which formed the courtyard of the ancient Morisco temple. The lofty Cathedral is before us; on the left towers the imposing Giralda, and to the right hand is the Sagrario, or parish church. There is a beautiful Moorish fountain in the centre of the court, with an octagonal basin. Every Morisco patio had its fountain, orange and lemon trees, and marble seats. In the walls of the Sacristry of the Sagrario, we shall find further traces of the Moorish decoration in the form of azulejos which belonged to the original Mosque.
The patio is smaller than that of the mezquita of Córdova, and with the exception of the few relics which I have described, there is not much suggestion of former grandeur.
But imagination calls forth the figure of a Mueddjin upon the minaret, chanting the Adyân, or call to prayer, as the sun tints the sky at its setting. The worshippers repair to the baths to purify themselves for devotion by washing their bodies. 'Regularly perform thy prayer at the declension of the sun,' says the Sura, 'at the first darkness of the night and the prayer of daybreak; for the prayer of daybreak is borne witness unto by the angels.' Five times during the day the pious Mohammedans spread their mats here, and prayed to Allah.
The Crescent has vanished from the Giralda. A figure of Christian faith stands there in its stead, and from the Cathedral issue the strains of the choristers and the swelling of the organ. For long centuries this spot in the heart of Seville has been dedicated to worship. Romans, Visigoths, Moors and Catholic Christians each in their day of power have bent the knee to their deities upon the ground which we are now treading. It is a strange, composite fane! The lower part of the Giralda is Moorish, the upper part Christian. In the middle of the Court of the Oranges we have the Moslem fountain; and in the wall is a stone pulpit from which many eminent Catholic divines have preached against heresy. The Giralda, incorporated with the Cathedral, dominates all, but it is the most Moorish feature of the great pile.
We must now inspect the minaret. Our way is through the Capilla de la Granada of the Cathedral. Here we may see one more monument of the Moors, a horseshoe arch, once a part of the Mosque. Within, suspended from the roof, is a huge elephant's tusk, a bridle, said to have belonged to the Cid's steed, and a stuffed crocodile, a present from the Sultan of Egypt, who sent it to Alfonso el Sabio, with a request for the King's daughter as wife.
The ascent of the Giralda is not laborious. We can walk up the inclined plane without losing breath; and at each window of the stages there are lovely peeps of the city and the vast plain of the Guadalquivir. From these windows there are fine outlooks upon the Cathedral, and the details of its wonderful buttresses can be well studied as we ascend stage by stage. The stages, or cuerpos, of the tower are all named.
We soon arrive at the Cuerpo de Campanas, where there is a peal of bells. Santa Maria is a ponderous bell which cost ten thousand ducats. It was set up in the year 1588 by the order of the Archbishop Don Gonzalo de Mena. This bell is vulgarly called 'the plump' by reason of its great bulk and weight. Its note is deep and resonant, and can be heard all over the city, and far away in the country, when the wind is favourable.
Another cuerpo is that of the Azucenas, or white lilies, so called on account of its architectural urns, with ironwork flower decorations. El Cuerpo del Reloj (the Clock Tower) contained the first tower-clock made in Spain. It was put in its place in the presence of King Enrique III. The present clock was the work of José Cordero, a monk, and it dates from 1765. It is said that portions of the old clock were used by Cordero.
Around the more modern part of the Giralda is an inscription in Latin: Turris Fortisima Nomen Domini. Each word of the motto occupies one of the faces of the tower. The Cuerpo de Estrellas, or Stage of the Stars, is so named in allusion to the decorations of its faces. Notice the ajimez windows as you ascend the tower. The fourth and last cuerpo is the Corambolas, or billiard balls, referring to the globes of stone in the decoration.
We emerge upon a gallery below the great statue of La Fé, thirteen feet in height, and made out of bronze by Bartolomé Morel, in 1568. This figure of a woman is a vane, which moves with every wind in spite of its size and weight. It is a wonderful piece of workmanship. The head of the Faith is crowned with a Roman helmet, and in the woman's right hand is the great standard of Rome in the time of the Emperor Constantine. In the left hand the figure holds a palm branch, a symbol of conquest. The true name of the statue is La Fé Triumfante; but in the common speech of Seville it is spoken of as Victoria, Giraldillo, Santa Juasma, and El Muñeco.
Don Alfonso Alvarez-Benavides, in his little book on La Giralda, published in Seville, tells us that the statue of the Faith has suffered several lightning strokes. One of these attacks severely scorched the upper section of the tower. In the afternoon of April 26, 1884, during a terrific thunder-storm, a shower of sparks fell upon the Giralda and caused much damage. Again, on the 18th of June 1885, lightning assailed the building. The work of restoration began in the year 1885, and was completed in 1888, under the direction of Fernandez Casanova.
It was in 1568 that Hernan Ruiz erected the highest cuerpo of the minaret by order of the Cathedral authorities. Ruiz was often employed by the Church, and his work may be seen in the restored mezquita of Córdova.
The Giralda is about three hundred feet in height. As the surrounding country is level, we can command a very wide expanse from the gallery below the statue of the Faith. Looking over the roofs and dome of the Cathedral, we see the Plaza de Toros, and the suburb of Triana, on the opposite bank of the Guadalquivir. Among the low hills beyond the Cartuja, to the right of Triana, is the ancient Roman amphitheatre of Italica, while in the extreme distance are blue mountains.
Beyond the Alcázar we note the Parque, the Delicias, the Prado de San Sebastian, and the red clay hills of Coria on the right bank of the broad river. Further away are the interminable marshes bordering the estuary, and beyond is San Lucar. Below us is the Archbishop's Palace and the gardens of the Alcázar. Seville is spread beneath us like a huge map. We look down on roof gardens, into patios, along the white, narrow calles, into the plazas, and across the housetops to the fertile land beyond the Roman walls.
It is a prospect that inspires the spectator. Fair, sunny, fruitful Andalusia stretches around for league upon league, under a burning blue sky. The air is clear; there is scarcely a trace of smoke from the myriad chimneys of the city. No town could be brighter and cleaner. We are above the brown hawks that nest in the niches of the Cathedral. They float on outspread wings over the buttresses. The passengers in the streets are like specks; the trees in the Court of the Oranges are but shrubs. It is one of the finest panoramas in Spain. One is reluctant to descend from this breezy platform, and to turn one's back upon the fine bird's-eye view of Seville and the surrounding landscape.
It is a misfortune that sun, wind and rain have almost expunged the frescoes that decorate the niches of the Giralda. They were the work of Luis de Vargas, who painted the altar-piece in the Chapel of the Nativity in the Cathedral. Vargas was a pupil of Perino del Vaga in Italy. One of the paintings on the Giralda represented the Saints of Seville, St. Justa and St. Rufina, who protect the tower from harm, and other subjects were scenes in the lives of saints and martyrs. Vargas also executed the fresco of Christ bearing the Cross, or the Calle de Amargura, on the outside of Patio de los Naranjas. The picture was restored by Vasco Pereyra, in 1594. We read of Luis de Vargas that he was extremely devout. He practised austerities and mortifications, and slept with a coffin by his bedside, to remind him of the insecurity of this earthly life. The ascetic artist was born in Seville, in 1502, and died there about the year 1568.
Like the monument of London, and many other high towers, the Giralda has often been used by suicides. A number of despairing persons have thrown themselves from its summit.
| 'How reverend is the face of this tall pile, |
| Whose ancient pillars rear their marble heads |
| To bear aloft its arched and ponderous roof, |
| By its own weight made steadfast and immovable, |
| Looking tranquillity.'—William Congreve. |
'LET us build such a huge and splendid temple that succeeding generations of men will say that we were mad.' So said the pious originators of Seville Cathedral, in the year 1401. After one hundred years, the temple was still unfinished, and to this day masons are at work upon the dome.
When San Fernando captured the city of Seville from the Moors, and made it his capital, the Mosque, which stood on the site of the Cathedral, was consecrated to the service of the Christian faith. It was used for Catholic worship until its disrepair became a reproach. Then the Chapter decided to erect a worthier fane, one which would astonish posterity. The Cathedral should be huge and magnificent, rivalling in its area all the other cathedrals of Spain. Toledo Cathedral is 'rich'; Salamanca, 'strong'; León, 'beautiful.' The Cathedral of Seville is called the 'great.'
In point of size the edifice ranks third among the cathedrals of Europe. It is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, larger than Cologne and Milan. The superficial areas of the great cathedrals are as follows:—
| St. Peter's | 230,000 | feet square |
| Córdova | 160,000 | " |
| Seville | 125,000 | " |
| Milan | 110,000 | " |
| St. Paul's | 84,000 | " |
In 1511, five years after the practical completion of the building, the dome gave way. It was re-erected by Juan Gil de Hontañon, an architect who subsequently designed the new Cathedral of Salamanca (1513). The original architects are supposed to have been of German nationality.[B] Earthquake shocks endangered a part of the structure at a later date, and Casanova, who restored the Giralda Tower, superintended the renovation, which was begun in 1882. Six years after Casanova's restoration, the dome again collapsed, and from that time until to-day the work of repair has proceeded.
Théophile Gautier, writing of this splendid pile, states:
'The most extravagant and most monstrously prodigious Hindoo pagodas are not to be mentioned in the same century as the Cathedral of Seville. It is a mountain scooped out, a valley turned topsy-turvy; Notre Dame at Paris might walk erect in the middle nave, which is of frightful height; pillars as large round as towers, and which appear so slender that they make you shudder, rise out of the ground or descend from the vaulted roof, like stalactites in a giant's grotto.'
In Caveda's description of the Cathedral, we read: 'The general effect is truly majestic. The open-work parapets which crown the roofs; the graceful lanterns of the eight winding stairs that ascend in the corners to the vaults and galleries; the flying buttresses that spring lightly from aisle to nave, as the jets of a cascade from cliff to cliff; the slender pinnacles that cap them, the proportions of the arms of the transept and of the buttresses supporting the side walls; the large pointed windows that open between them, one above another, just as the aisles and chapels to which they belong rise over each other; the pointed portals and entrances—all these combine in an almost miraculous manner, although these are lacking the wealth of detail, the airy grace, and the delicate elegance that characterise the cathedrals of León and Burgos.'
It was during the long and exhausting endeavours of the Castilian Kings to expel the Moors from Spain, that gold and treasure was paid into the coffers of the Chapter for the cost of erecting the marvellous Cathedral of Seville. Bishops, deans and clergy forfeited one half of their stipends to meet the heavy charges of architects, artists, stained glass designers, masons, carvers, and innumerable craftsmen and labourers. An army of artists and mechanics was employed upon the vast work. During the century of construction, the Catholic kings who resided in the Alcázar, showed great interest in the undertaking, while the noble families subscribed liberally towards the cost, and the poor gave of their slender store of pesetas.
The exterior of the Cathedral is a type of the finest Spanish Gothic architecture, though the incorporated Giralda Tower is distinctly Morisco, and much older in style. Within the consecrated precincts, we may see traces of the Mudéjar handicraftsmen amid early Gothic and Renaissance architectural details.
The Cathedral consecrated ground contains within its confines the Moorish Patio de los Naranjas, the high minaret, the Columbus Library, offices of the Chapter, and the Church of the Sagrario. There are nine doors to the Cathedral proper, and a gateway with doors, leading to the Patio de los Naranjas, or Court of the Oranges.
From the Calle del Gran Capitan, on the west side of the Cathedral, one may gain a conception of the extent and the magnificence of the building. It is best to begin our inspection of the doors from this side. Here we shall find three entrances, or puertas. The chief door is in the centre. It is elaborately decorated, and is in fine preservation. Thirty-two figures stand in niches. Over the door is a beautiful relief of the Assumption by Ricardo Bellver.
Puerta Mayor. THE CENTRAL DOOR OF THE CATHEDRAL
THE CENTRAL DOOR OF THE CATHEDRAL
Puerta del Bautismo, or San Juan, is embellished with sculptures by Pedro Millan, which deserve careful inspection. The third doorway is the Puerta del Nacimiento, or San Miguel. This is also adorned by the sculpture of Pedro Millan. The upper part of the Cathedral viewed from this side is not of much beauty. It is modern, dating from 1827.
At the south side of the Cathedral is the Puerta de San Cristóbal, or de la Lonja, added by Casanova in 1887. As we make the circuit of the edifice, we shall see the turrets and numerous pinnacles of the roof. The effect is impressive and bewildering. Centuries of labour are here represented in noble form and beauty of outline. The flying buttresses are especially graceful and the great dome is majestic in its proportions. Cean Bermudez compares the Cathedral with 'a high-pooped and beflagged ship, rising over the sea with harmonious grouping of sails, pennons and banners.'
In the east façade are the Puerta de los Campanillas and the Puerta de los Palos. These doors are magnificently decorated with sculptures by Lope Marin, executed in the year 1548. There are three entrances on the north side. That leading from the Court of the Oranges is named the Puerta del Lagarto, from the stuffed crocodile which hangs from the ceiling. The Puerta de los Naranjas is in the centre of the court. This door is kept closed except on days of festival. The third door is the unfinished one bearing the name of the Puerta del Sagrario.
As we survey this immense monument of the Christian faith, we are led to muse upon the power of the early Catholic Church in Spain. It was no half-hearted belief that urged men of all ranks of society to deny themselves in contributing to the huge outlay that went to the planning, erection and decoration of this mighty Cathedral.
The dictates of the Chapter ruled the councils of the State and the conferences of kings and courtiers. When the throne lost power, the bishop's chair gained in authority. In the reign of Philip III. the Cathedral of Seville had no less than one hundred clergy on its staff. Dunham, in his History of Spain, states that 'half a dozen could assuredly have been sufficient for the public offices of devotion.' But there was no question of restricting the number of ministers and confessors in these days of perfervid devotion. It was considered heretical to even speak of stinting the wealth that was freely poured into the coffers of the hierarchy. To this devotion and liberality we owe the great treasure-house of art beneath whose broad shadow we stand. The painters, sculptors and craftsmen were under the patronage of the Church; they could not have subsisted without such patronage. And in most cases they gave their services gladly, for their heart was in their labours, and devotion inspired them. Few desired any other kind of employment; the highest service was that of holy religion.
A great faith, such as the Romish, inspires its devotees to the building of resplendent temples. The Christians would not merely imitate the Moors in the beauty and richness of their churches. They pledged themselves to excel the magnificence of the mezquitas, and to show mankind that God is honoured most devoutly by those who spare neither wealth nor industry in the setting up of fanes dedicated to His worship. We cannot grasp the Spanish character until we realise that its keynote in the past was profound piety and deep loyalty towards the Church and the Crown. The cathedrals of Spain are testimony to this devotion to the Christian creed. They are solemn historic memorials of faith.
Worshippers in the Seville Cathedral are reverential; there is no apparent insincerity in their responses and genuflexions. In Italy and France there is a less manifest reverence during divine services. But the Spanish temperament has remained religious through all the stress of heretical days and the changing fortunes of its dynasties. It is not only the women who are devout, for many men are present at the celebrations in the cathedrals and churches. Very imposing are these Spanish services in the half-light of the capillas:
| 'Dim burn the lamps like lights on vaporous seas; |
| Drowsed are the voices of droned litanies; |
| Blurred as in dreams the face of priest and friar.' |
The organ music is often superb, and the choristers are highly trained. Besides the organ, reed and string instruments are used to accompany the singing during important festivals. The smoke of incense mounts in the lofty naves and aisles; the altars glow with candle-lights, and the sweet, rich voices of the boys hover under the vaulted roofs. Rich and poor alike sit or stand upon the flagged floors. The preachers are often very eloquent, and they preach in the purest form of the Castilian language.
The dim light of the interior of the Cathedral is a hindrance to the full enjoyment of the very numerous works of art that adorn the chapels. This gloom is characteristic of the Spanish cathedrals and churches. The best time in the day to inspect the pictures in Seville Cathedral is before eight in the morning. It is an early hour; but the light is then fairly good, and the chapels are usually quiet. I advise the visitor to spend several hours in the Cathedral, if he desires to study the inner architecture, carvings, pictures and statues. A mere ramble through the naves and a peep into one or two of the capillas will not suffice. It is well to select a portion of the interior for each day's inspection. Shun the loafers who offer their services as guides. They have no knowledge of the art treasures, and they possess a faculty of invention.
I trust that my description will assist the stranger in his tour of the Cathedral. The chief objects of art are indicated, or briefly described, in the remaining part of this chapter. The account is not to be taken as exhaustive. A thorough treatise on the architecture of the building alone would require more space than I have at my command, and it might prove somewhat tedious to the reader who is not acquainted with the technical terminology of architecture.
Enter by the Puerta del Lagarto, in the Patio de los Naranjas. One's first impression when within the Cathedral is that of its magnitude and the 'frightful height,' which struck Théophile Gautier. The length, exclusive of the Capilla Real, is three hundred and eighty feet; the width is two hundred and fifty feet. The nave is one hundred and thirty-two feet in height, and over fifty feet in width.
There is great dignity in the lofty columns, and a sense of vastness possesses us as we gaze upwards. The floor is of fine marble. It was laid in the years 1787 to 1795.
The Capilla de los Evangelistas is the first chapel near to the puerta. It has a fine altar piece in nine parts, the work of Hernando de Sturmio, containing a picture of the ancient Giralda. The paintings are on panel, and the brown tints are characteristic of the early Sevillian School of Art.
By the Puerta de los Naranjas, the great door on this side of the Cathedral, there are two altars. One is the Altar de la Asunción, and the other is dedicated to La Virgen de Belén. The Assumption picture as executed by Carlo Maratta. The face of the Virgin is clear, but somewhat dark in tone, and the light is not favourable for viewing the picture. On the other side of the doorway the light is better. The altar is adorned by a painting of the Virgin, from the brush of the famous Alonso Cano. It is a rather conventional presentment of Holy Mother, but the features are not without beauty. On the whole, the painting is not equal in merit to most of the works of the last Andalusian master. The hands and feet of the figure are finished with the care characteristic of Cano's art.
Alonso Cano has been called the 'Michelangelo of Spain.' He studied in Seville under Pacheco and Juan de Castillo, and painted pictures for some of the religious houses. Cano was also a sculptor and architect. He was forced to leave the city after wounding an antagonist in a duel. In 1651 he was appointed a Canon of Granada, and during his residence in the old Moorish city, Cano painted works for the churches. The artist was of an irritable disposition; but he spent the latter part of his life in religious exercises, and gave freely to the poor. He died in poverty, in 1667, and received alms from the Church.
Writing of Alonso Cano, in his Spanish and French Painters, Mr Gerard W. Smith says: 'Although he was never in Italy, his fine feeling for form, and the natural charm and simplicity of his composition, suggest the study of the antique, while in painting, the richness and variety of his colouring could hardly be surpassed.'
The Capilla de San Francisco is next to the altar of Alonso Cano. Here we may try to see a painting of the Glorification of St. Francis by Herrera el Mozo, and one of the Virgin and San Ildefonso, by Juan Valdés Leal. Herrera's picture is not of value. He was a much less capable artist than his father, Francisco Herrera el Viejo (the elder), from whose roof the mozo ran away to Italy. Upon his return to Seville, the young man was so conceited and affected in his painting that he failed to produce any fine work. The Glorification of St. Francis and the picture by Leal can be scarcely seen in the sombre shadows of the chapel.
The Capilla de Santiago adjoins the last chapel. There are two paintings here; one by Juan de las Roelas of St. James (Santiago) and one of St. Lawrence (San Lorenzo) by Valdés Leal. Roelas was painting in Seville at the time of Herrera the Elder. He is said to have studied art in Venice. The finest work of this artist is to be seen in the Church of San Isidoro.[C] In the Capilla de Santiago there is a dilapidated tomb of Archbishop Gonzalo de Mena, who died in 1401.
The Capilla de Escalas contains two pictures of note by Luca Giordano, strong in character, drawing, and colour. Over the tomb of Bishop Baltasar del Rio, who died in 1540, is an altar relief of the Day of Pentecost by a Genoese artist.
The Capilla del Bautisterio has one of Murillo's finest works, representing St. Anthony of Padua's Vision of the Child Jesus. Part of this picture was cut out and stolen in 1874. It was traced to New York, and restored to the Cathedral a few months later. The picture was originally painted for the Capuchin Convent in 1656, and afterwards came into the possession of the Chapter. A Baptism of Christ, also the work of Murillo, is above this painting. In this chapel is the font of holy oil, which is consecrated in Holy Week. This pila, or monument, was made by Antonio Florentin in 1545-1546. It is used for the exposition of the Host, and is exhibited near the Puerta Mayor in Easter Week. Originally the pila was a tall construction of three storeys on columns, with a large cross. Between the columns were coloured figures of saints. Some of the effigies were modelled in clay, and others were carved from wood. They were beautifully designed. In 1624 the building was altered and spoiled by the addition of another storey of the composite order. 'Its effect in the midnight service is superb,' writes Sir Stirling Maxwell, 'when blazing with church plate and myriads of waxen tapers it seems a mountain of light, of which the silver crest is lost in the impenetrable gloom of the vaults above.'
On the west side of the Cathedral, which we have now reached, is the Altar de la Visitación, with pictures by Marmolejo and Jerónimo Hernandez. By the principal door is another altar, that of Nuestra Señora del Consuelo, with a painting by one of Murillo's pupils, Alonso Miguel de Tobar. Close to the Puerta del Nacimiento we shall find some fine works by Luis de Vargas, the celebrated fresco artist. There are three capillas on this side of the building, called the Capilla de los Jácomes, the Capilla de San Leandro, and the Capilla de San Isidoro. They may be passed by, as they contain no important works of art.
At the Puerta del Nacimiento we reach the south aisle, and come to
The Capilla de San Laureano, with a tomb of Archbishop Alonso de Exea, who died in 1417.
The Capilla de Santa Ana is the next chapel on the south side. Here there is an interesting old altar, with several pictures painted in the early part of the fifteenth century.
The Capilla de San José contains a notable work by Juan Valdés Leal, the Marriage of the Virgin, and a poor picture by Antolinez.
The Capilla de San Hermenegildo is noteworthy for the image of the saint by Montañez, and the tomb of Archbishop Juan de Cervantes by Lorenzo de Bretaña. The marble of the tomb is much worn.
The Capilla de la Antigua is a larger chapel, with fourteenth-century decorations of the altar. There is also a fine monument to Cardinal Mendoza, executed in 1509 by the Italian Miguel. The figures are very quaint. Adjoining this chapel is the Altar de la Gamba, with the Generacion by Luis de Vargas, a famous picture described in the art chapters of this book. The immense painting opposite is St. Christopher, by Mateo Perez de Alesio, painted in 1584.
For painting the San Cristobal Alesio received four thousand ducats. The saint is quaintly clad in hose, and the figure is gigantic. Sir Stirling Maxwell draws attention to the fine colouring of the parrot seen in the distance. Mateo de Alesio, who was an Italian by birth, died in the year 1600.
Passing through the Capilla de los Dolores, which is unimportant, we come to the splendid Sacristía de los Cálices, built by Riaño and Gainza in the years from 1530 to 1537. Diego de Riaño, sculptor and designer, was often employed by the Cathedral authorities. He delighted in lavish and fantastic embellishment, and introduced the Italian methods of ornamentation. Martin Gainza was of the same school. He was an architect and sculptor of great repute, and he assisted Riaño in much of his work.
The Crucifix is the work of Montañez. It was removed from the Cartuja Convent. Murillo's Angel de la Guarda, or Guardian Angel, is in this sacristy. This picture was presented to the Cathedral by the Capuchins in 1814. It is one of the best of Murillo's works. Borrow much admired the Guarda, and Sir Stirling Maxwell describes the diaphanous drapery of the child's dress in terms of praise. The angel holds a child by the hand, and points to heaven. Notice the rich colouring of purple and yellow in the vesture of the angel.
On the same wall are the Ecce Homo, the Virgin, and St. John, the work of Morales; St. Dorothy by Murillo; a painting of Fernando de Contreras by Luis de Vargas; Pietà and Death of the Virgin by a German artist, and a picture by Juan Nuñez of the fifteenth century.
Goya's fine painting of St. Justa and St. Rufina is here. Elsewhere in this book I have told the legend of these guardian saints of the Giralda. Goya's conception of them is unconventional, and unlike that of Murillo, who represents the two maidens with halos around their heads. We have the figures of two charming potter-girls in Goya's picture, two creatures of earth, lovely, but not ethereal. The Holy Trinity of 'El Greco' (the Greek) is one of the interesting examples of this great Toledan artist's work. Zurbaran is represented in the Sacristía by his painting of St. John.
The Sacristía Mayor is in the Renaissance style. It was built by the designers of the Sacristía de los Cálices about the year 1532. Campaña's admirable Descent from the Cross is here, but the picture has been indifferently restored. There is also a work of Murillo, SS. Leandro and Isidoro.
The Cathedral Treasury is in this sacristy. One of the principal objects of interest is the splendid custodia, used for carrying the Host. It is the work of Juan d'Arphe, a celebrated gold-worker, who was born in Avila in 1535. In 1564 he constructed the custodia of that city, and in 1580 began a work of a similar character for Seville Cathedral. Many designs were submitted for the inspection of the Chapter, but Juan d'Arphe's was chosen as one unequalled in Spain. The custodia is about twelve feet high, round in form, with four storeys, each one supported by twenty-four columns. Some of the columns are Ionic; the rest are Corinthian and composite in design. Between the columns are a number of statuettes, and the base and cornices are profusely adorned with bas-reliefs. In the first storey there was originally seated a figure of Faith, but it was changed in 1668 for one of the Virgin of the Conception, when the custodia was restored by Juan Segura. The second storey is the repository of the Host, and in the third and fourth storeys are figures of the Church Triumphant and the Holy Trinity. Crowning the edifice was a small dome and cross, which was replaced in 1668 by a statue of the Faith. The custodia is of beautiful and simple design.
The Tablas Alfonsinas, a reliquary, given to the Church in 1274 by Alfonso el Sabio, are in the Treasury. Crosses, plate and sacerdotal vestments are among the treasures. The canonical robes date from the fourteenth century. The keys of Seville, yielded to Fernando el Santo on the day of conquest, are also shown here.
The Capilla del Mariscal adjoins the Sacristía Mayor. In this chapel is the great altar-piece of Pedro Campaña, restored in 1880. The work is in ten parts, representing scenes in the life of Christ, and containing portraits of Marshal Pedro Caballero and his family.
The Sala Capitular was the work of Riaño and Gainza. It was begun in 1530 and finished in 1582. The plateresque decorations are very beautiful. Note the fine ceiling, the marble medallions, and the pavement. Murillo's Conception is here, and the Four Virtues of Pablo de Céspedes. There is a picture of San Fernando by Pacheco, the father-in-law and instructor of Velazquez. The ovals between the windows were the work of Murillo. This sala is close to the Puerta de los Campanillas, and beyond this entrance, on the east side of the Cathedral, is
The Capilla de la Concepción Grande, containing a monument to Cardinal Cienfuego, a modern work. The other small chapel on this side is that known as
The Capilla de San Pedro. Here are nine pictures by Zurbaran, well worthy of notice, and a tomb of Archbishop Diego Deza, restored in 1893.
The Capilla Real is between the two smaller chapels of the east end. In design this chapel is Renaissance. The decorations are luxuriant and there is a high dome. Gainza began to build the chapel in 1541, and his work was carried on by Hernan Ruiz, who planned the choir of Córdova Cathedral, and afterwards by Juan de Maeda.
On the chief altar is a figure of the Virgin of the Kings, dating from the thirteenth century. It was presented to San Fernando by St. Louis of France. The fair hair is real; the crown that adorned the head was stolen in 1873. On each side of the doorway are tombs. One is that of Alfonso el Sabio, and the other is the tomb of his mother.
The shrine of the adored San Fernando is in front of an altar. In the Panteón are the coffins of Pedro el Cruel, his mistress Maria de Padilla, the Princes Fadrique, Alonso and Pedro, and others. Over San Fernando's coffin is the ivory figure of the Virgin of Battles, which the King carried upon his saddle when he went to the wars. The monarch's pennant and sword are also displayed.
Murillo's Mater Dolorosa is in the sacristy of this capilla. There are portraits of St. Ignatius and St. Francis Xavier, by Pacheco.
In the later styles of the Capilla Real we may see examples of the Grotesque, or Estilo Monstruoso, with which the buildings of Seville abound. Diego de Riaño's work in the Ayuntamiento, or City Hall, is full of instances of this development of fanciful design and bizarre effect. Gainza, the collaborator of Riaño, is responsible for the articulations and curious, lavish adornment of the Royal Chapel of the Cathedral. The sacristy of the capilla was built and decorated by Gainza after plans by Riaño. We may now inspect the stained-glass windows, in which we shall find the influence of Italian artists. It must be noted that art in Spain has been profoundly influenced by Italy. Michelangelo is reverenced by Spanish artists. Many of the early Spanish painters went to Italy to study, and brought back with them new ideas and fresh methods of painting. 'Spanish artists,' writes Professor Carl Justi, 'did their best to Italianize themselves in the studios of Roman and Florentine masters.'
Cristobal Micer Aleman was the first to introduce the art of staining glass into Seville. Until 1504 stained glass windows had not been seen in the city, and Aleman was the designer of the first painted window of the Cathedral. Sir Stirling Maxwell states that in 1538 the Church paid Arnao of Flanders, Carlos of Bruges, and other artists the sum of ninety thousand ducats for staining the windows of Seville Cathedral. The work was not completed until twenty years later. The chief window pictures are the Ascension, Jesus and Mary Magdalen, the Awakening of Lazarus, and the Entry into Jerusalem. The Resurrection is the work of Carlos, and other pictures are by the two brothers Arnao.
The isolated Capilla Mayor has an altar-piece of wood, and a silver image of the Virgin by Alfaro. The painted scenes are from the Scriptures. Crowning the retablo are a crucifix and large statues of the Virgin and St. John. Dancart, the designer of the retablo, was of the Flemish school of decorative carvers. The work was begun about 1482 and finished in 1526.
Between the Coro (choir) and the Chief Chapel an enormous candelabrum is displayed during Semana Santa, or Holy Week. It is called the Tenebrario, and it was constructed by Bartolomé Morel, a sixteenth-century sculptor. The structure is twenty-six feet high, and it is ornamented with several small images. During the imposing celebrations of Semana Santa, the candelabrum is lit by thirteen candles. Twelve of these lights represent the apostles who deserted their Master; the thirteenth candle stands for the Virgin, and when the twelve have been extinguished, the thirteenth still burns as a symbol of Mary's fealty to the Saviour.
The Coro was much injured by the collapse of the dome. Two grand organs were destroyed at this time. One of the most interesting objects preserved in the choir is the facistol, or choristers' desk, of Bartolomé Morel, adorned with highly-finished carvings. The choir stalls were decorated by Nufro Sanchez, a sculptor of the fifteenth century, whose work suggests German influence. They are beautiful examples of carving.
The Coro is entered by either of the two doors of the front or Trascoro. There is a handsome marble façade; a painting of the Virgin by an unknown hand, and a picture said to be from the brush of Francisco Pacheco, the artist, author and inquisitor. The white marble frontage is adorned with bas-reliefs of the Genoese school, exhibiting fine feeling. Italian influence is manifest in the picture of the Holy Mother, which is highly decorative in style.
Close to the Coro, near the chief entrance on that side of the Cathedral, is the tomb of Fernando Colón, son of Cristobal Colón (Columbus). The slab is engraved with pictures of the discoverer's vessels. An inscription runs: 'Á Castilla y á León mundo nuebo dié Colon:' i.e., 'To Castile and León Columbus gave the New World.'
The student of architecture and painting will find ample examples of varied styles of art in this great repository of sculpture, frescoes and panel pictures. He will be able to trace the development of architectural design from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century, both in the exterior and interior of the immense Cathedral. The art of the Mudéjar, the Fleming, the Italian, the German and the Spaniard are here represented in masonry, decoration, stained glass, and upon canvas. Wandering designers and craftsmen of the Middle Ages looked upon Spain as a land of plenty. They came from Flanders, Italy and Genoa, and found favour with the wealthy Chapter of Seville. The artists employed to adorn the Cathedral range from Juan Sanchez de Castro, 'the morning star of Andalusia,' in 1454, to Francisco Goya, the last great painter of Spain.
Many of the so-called Spanish school of artists were aliens who settled in the country. Pedro Campaña was, for example, a native of Brussels. For twenty years he studied in Italy, and his Purification of the Virgin shows the Italian influence. Sturmio was probably a German named Sturm. Doménico Theotocópuli, called 'El Greco,' was a Greek. Mateo Perez de Alesio was an Italian, who lived in Seville, and died at Rome in 1600.
Luis de Vargas, the painter of the Nativity picture in the Cathedral, whose fresco work is to be seen elsewhere in the city, was a student of the Italian method. Vargas was a man of profound piety. He was born in Seville in 1502. After his death, scourges used for self-inflicted penance were found in his room, and by his bed was a coffin in which the ascetic painter used to lie in order to meditate seriously upon life.
The religious devotion of Luis de Vargas is exhibited in the spirit of his work. This reverential treatment of sacred subjects is characteristic of all the Sevillian painters. In their art they worshipped. Martinez Montañez, or Montañes, the sculptor, was a zealous Catholic. In his coloured statues we perceive a melancholy reflection of his sombre mind, a pathos expressing itself in realistic conceptions of a suffering Christ and a sorrowful St. Francis Xavier. These tinted statues appeal powerfully to the imagination of the Sevillian populace. Many of the images were made for the solemn processions of Semana Santa.
Among the artists employed in adorning the Cathedral there was not one more devoted to the Church than Pacheco. He was censor of art for the Inquisition, and in his writings we find precise counsels upon the fitting method of painting sacred pictures. To Pacheco the faith was of far greater moment than art. He was a close friend of Montañez, whose statues he sometimes coloured.
The Sagrario adjoins the Cathedral, and may be entered from the Court of the Oranges. The building serves as a parish church, and occupies the ground of the old Sagrario. It was begun in 1618 by Miguel Zumárraga, and completed in 1662 by Lorenzo Fernandez. The vaulted roof is remarkable. Pedro Roldan painted the retablo, which was formerly in the Francisan Convent. The convent stood in the Plaza de San Fernando, or Plaza Nueva, as it is sometimes called. Roldan was a contemporary and follower of Montañez. There is an important image of St. Clement by Pedro Duque Cornejo. The statue of the Virgin is the work of the devout Martinez Montañez.
Beneath the church is the vault of the Archbishops of Seville. The terra-cotta altar is exceedingly decorative. In the sacristy there are some splendid azulejos, which formed part of the old Morisco mosque.