The Story of Seville Part 6

_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 Visitacion, with pictures by Marmolejo and Jeronimo Hernandez. By the princ.i.p.al door is another altar, that of Nuestra Senora 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 Jacomes, the Capilla de San Leandro, and the Capilla de San Isidoro.

They may be pa.s.sed 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 Jose_ contains a notable work by Juan Valdes 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 Montanez, and the tomb of Archbishop Juan de Cervantes by Lorenzo de Bretana. 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.

Pa.s.sing through the _Capilla de los Dolores_, which is unimportant, we come to the splendid _Sacristia de los Calices_, built by Riano and Gainza in the years from 1530 to 1537. Diego de Riano, 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 a.s.sisted Riano in much of his work.

The Crucifix is the work of Montanez. 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 h.o.m.o_, the Virgin, and St. John, the work of Morales; St. Dorothy by Murillo; a painting of Fernando de Contreras by Luis de Vargas; Pieta and Death of the Virgin by a German artist, and a picture by Juan Nunez 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 Sacristia by his painting of St. John.

_The Sacristia Mayor_ is in the Renaissance style. It was built by the designers of the Sacristia de los Calices about the year 1532. Campana'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 princ.i.p.al 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 Sacristia Mayor. In this chapel is the great altar-piece of Pedro Campana, 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 Riano 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 Cespedes. 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 Concepcion 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 Cordova 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 Panteon 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 Riano'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 Riano, 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 Riano. We may now inspect the stained-gla.s.s 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 gla.s.s into Seville. Until 1504 stained gla.s.s 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 Bartolome 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 Bartolome 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 facade; 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 Colon, son of Cristobal Colon (Columbus). The slab is engraved with pictures of the discoverer's vessels. An inscription runs: '_a Castilla y a Leon mundo nuebo die Colon:_' _i.e._, 'To Castile and Leon 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 _Mudejar_, the Fleming, the Italian, the German and the Spaniard are here represented in masonry, decoration, stained gla.s.s, 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 Campana 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.

Domenico Theotocopuli, 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 wors.h.i.+pped. Martinez Montanez, or Montanes, 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 Montanez, 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 Zumarraga, 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 Montanez. There is an important image of St. Clement by Pedro Duque Cornejo. The statue of the Virgin is the work of the devout Martinez Montanez.

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.

CHAPTER VI

_The Alcazar_

'How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp Abode his destined Hour, and went his way.'

RUBaIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYaM.