The life of the Gran Capitan is a chapter of moving romance. In the Spanish estimation he is almost as mighty and adorable as the Cid. Gonsalvo was over sixty when he died. He was a born commander, capable of judging character and of leading men, and possessed of extraordinary bravery and coolness in action. His manners were urbane and pleasing. The city is associated with at least three famous painters of the Andalusian school: Pedro de Cordova, Pablo de Céspedes, and Juan Valdés Leal. The Museo of Cordova is not a very important collection of paintings, but it contains some works of Céspedes, Zurbarán, and Ribera. Zurbarán’s best work is not to be seen in Cordova. Ribera’s ‘Rest on the Flight into Egypt,’ in the Museo, is a fine picture, but it is injured by the state into which it has fallen through neglect. It is deplorable that so many of the paintings in the collection at Cordova are in a condition of decay. During our visit to the city we were appalled at the indifference exhibited by those in charge of the pictures. There is evidence that Cordova under the Moors contained some works of the early Spanish schools of painting. Pablo de Céspedes, in an essay, states: ‘In the parish church of San Pedro, in our city of Cordova, on the right wall, there are many paintings of those times which escaped the barbarous fury of the Moors when they held that place, though they have not escaped the ravages of time and the neglect of those intrusted with the care of the church. The consequence is, they are scarcely intelligible from the injury which they have received and the dust which has accumulated upon them. This sort of painting, rude and savage as it is, appears to have been the ashes whence was destined to spring that fairest Phœnix of modern art which has since burst forth in such splendour and riches.’ The first painter of Cordova of whom we have a brief record is Pedro de Cordoba. In 1475 he painted the Annunciation, which is still to be seen in the Capilla del Santo Cristo of the Mezquita. The picture is representative of Gothic art; but it is in a poor light, and the canvas is in a condition of neglect. Cordova was ranked as the second centre of art in Andalusia; and the Italian influence, which succeeded the Gothic, was exemplified in the productions of the cultured and versatile Pablo de Céspedes, who was born in the city in 1538. This artist, who wrote a celebrated poem on the art of painting, is ranked among the writers as well as the painters of his nation. He studied in Italy, and became one of the canons of the Cathedral of Cordova. In Rome he painted frescoes after the manner of Correggio. ‘The Last Supper,’ and two pictures of ‘St. John’ and ‘St. Andrew,’ are in the Mezquita, and in these we see the intellectual quality of this painter’s art. Cean Bermudez, the Spanish critic, ranked Pablo de Céspedes high as a colourist, and especially in flesh-tints. Most of the pictures by Céspedes have perished.