The Picturesque Antiquities of Spain: Described in a series of letters, with illustrations representing Moorish palaces, cathedrals, and other monuments of art, contained in the cities of Burgos, Valladolid, Toledo, and Seville.Wells, Nathaniel Armstrong
Islamic
The Picturesque Antiquities of Spain: Described in a series of letters, with illustrations representing Moorish palaces, cathedrals, and other monuments of art, contained in the cities of Burgos, Valladolid, Toledo, and Seville.
In the church of the Faubourg Triana, on the right hand after passing
the bridge, are some excellent pictures, particularly a Conception by
Murillo. The multitude of paintings left by this artist is incredible,
when to all those scattered through Spain, France, and England, are
added those preserved in this his native town. Almost all the good
houses in Seville contain collections of pictures; and all the
collections have their Murillos. There are no fewer than sixteen in the
gallery of the Canon, Don Manuel Cepero; but this is the largest of the
private collections, and the best, as it ought to be, since it is
contained in Murillo's house. It is the residence occupied by him during
the latter part of his life, and in which he died. Its dimensions and
distribution are handsome. At the back of it there is a garden of
limited extent, but in which not an inch of space is thrown away. Where
there remains no room for choice flowers and orange trees, the walls are
painted to prolong the illusion. The Canon possesses also several good
paintings by Italian masters. I counted likewise four Rembrandts, and
two of Rubens. Among the other private collections, that of the Alcalde
Don Pedro Garcia is one of the richest; it contains a Santa Barbara of
Cano, an exquisite picture. A Saint Joseph by Murillo, in the collection
of the French Consul (a native of Seville) is admirable.
In most of the churches there is sufficient of this sort of attraction
to make them worth a visit. In the convents nothing is left; in fact
they no longer exist as convents. There may be one or two remaining in
Seville, but I did not hear of them. The monastery of Jeronimites, and
the Chartreuse--both situated in the environs--were the most
considerable religious establishments of Seville. They are converted,
one into a school, and the other into a porcelain manufactory. This
last, the Chartreuse, contains in its church and refectory, plentiful
traces of its former magnificence. An Englishman has purchased the
monastery with three or four acres of ground, containing the immediate
dependencies; and he is occupied with the labours which necessarily
precede its appearance in its new character, replacing the butteries,
kitchens, storehouses, and cells, by rows of pudding-shaped
baking-houses.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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