The Story of SevilleGallichan, Walter M. (Walter Matthew)
History
The Story of Seville
Gallichan, Walter M. (Walter Matthew)
Seville (Spain)
It is recorded that the martyrs incurred death for breaking a statue of
Venus. Tradition is hazy concerning the place of their burial. In one
account we learn that SS. Justa and Rufina were laid to rest in Burgos.
Another historian assures us that they were buried in Seville, while a
third story relates that their bones are in the mountainous Asturias, in
the North of Spain.
A big book might be written on the churches of Seville alone. There are
so many of those edifices, and few of them are devoid of interest to the
antiquarian, art lover, and student of ecclesiastical history. The
amalgamated Moorish and Renaissance elements in the Seville churches
lend a charm to the architecture and the adornments. This strange
combination of styles is only to be found in the Christian churches of
Spain. Almost everywhere we are confronted in Andalusia with this
seeming incongruity, the employment of designs for religious edifices
from the hand of the despised and detested _Mudéjar_. The phenomenon is
strange and instructive. The zealous Catholic kings, sworn to the
extirpation of the Moslems, allowed the Moors to build their churches in
the style of temples devoted to Allah.
The same monarchs who ordered the destruction of the beautiful Moorish
baths in Córdova and Seville were willing that Mohammedan genius should
have full play in the design, construction and decoration of Christian
temples.
But, after all, was it not a question of necessity? When a nation has
only two honourable professions, the military and the clerical, where is
the scope for a development of skill in the industrial arts? The
Moriscoes were martial, but they never neglected the peaceful
occupations. Sadly had Spain to learn that the neglect of culture and
the arts was the cause of her decline. Germans, Italians and Moors were
employed in the erection and adornment of ecclesiastic and civil
buildings. The Teutons Johann, and his son Simon, of Cologne, were the
chief architects of Burgos; and it is probable that German designers and
masons performed a large share in the building of Seville Cathedral. At
Burgos, Toledo and León we may note the influence of French architects.
The interiors of the churches of Seville are so dark that it is often
difficult to see the pictures clearly. Even on the brightest days the
sunshine penetrates imperfectly through the stained windows, and in some
cases the works of art are in the gloomiest chapel or recess of the
building. The sacristans are usually to be found in or near the
churches, and they are mostly courteous to the visitor, and anxious to
point out the most important paintings, statues and relics. But in their
desire to please, they sometimes ascribe the pictures to the wrong
artist. A daub by an unknown artist becomes a work of Zurbaran, if the
stranger appears to be greatly interested in that painter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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