El Greco is typically, passionately, extravagantly Spanish, and with his advent, Spanish painting laid aside every trace of Provincialism, and stepped forth to compel the interest of the world. Neglected for many centuries, and still often misjudged, his place in art is an assured one. It is impossible to present him as a colourist in a work of this nature, but the author has got together reproductions of no fewer than 140 of his pictures--a greater number than has ever before been published of El Greco’s works. VELAZQUEZ A BIOGRAPHY & APPRECIATION. WITH 136 PLATES DIEGO RODRIGUEZ DE SILVA Y VELAZQUEZ--“our Velazquez,” as Palomino proudly styles him--has been made the subject of innumerable books in every European language, yet the Editor of this Spanish series feels that it would not be complete without the inclusion of yet another contribution to the broad gallery of Velazquez literature. The great Velazquez, the eagle in art--subtle, simple, incomparable--the supreme painter, is still a guiding influence of the art of to-day. The greatest of Spanish artists, a master not only in portrait painting, but in character and animal studies, in landscapes and historical subjects, impressed the grandeur of his superb personality upon all his work. Spain, it has been said, the country whose art was largely borrowed, produced Velazquez, and through him Spanish art became the light of a new artistic life. THE PRADO A GUIDE AND HANDBOOK TO THE ROYAL PICTURE GALLERY OF MADRID. WITH 220 PLATES This volume is an attempt to supplement the accurate but formal notes contained in the official catalogue of a picture gallery which is considered the finest in the world. It has been said that the day one enters the Prado for the first time is an important event like marriage, the birth of a child, or the coming into an inheritance; an experience of which one feels the effects to the day of one’s death. The excellence of the Madrid gallery is the excellence of exclusion; it is a collection of magnificent gems. Here one becomes conscious of a fresh power in Murillo, and is amazed anew by the astonishing apparition of Velazquez; here is, in truth, a rivalry of the miracles of art. * * * * * _UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_ VALLADOLID, OVIEDO, SEGOVIA, ZAMORA, AVILA AND ZARAGOZA A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT, WITH 413 PLATES The glory of Valladolid has departed, but the skeleton remains, and attached to its ancient stones are the memories that Philip II. was born here, that here Cervantes lived, and Christopher Columbus died. In this one-time capital of Spain, in the Plaza Mayor, the fires of the Inquisition were first lighted, and here Charles V. laid the foundation of the Royal Armoury, which was afterwards transferred to Madrid.