ANECDOTES OF EMINENT PAINTERS IN
SPAIN,
&c.
VOL. I.
ANECDOTES OF EMINENT PAINTERS IN
SPAIN,
During the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries; WITH CURSORY REMARKS UPON THE PRESENT STATE OF ARTS IN THAT KINGDOM.
BY RICHARD CUMBERLAND.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
LONDON: PRINTED FOR J. WALTER, CHARING-CROSS. M.DCC.LXXXII.
ANECDOTES OF EMINENT PAINTERS IN
SPAIN,
&c.
SPAIN has given birth to so many eminent Painters, of whom there is no memorial in the rest of Europe, and abounds with so many admirable examples of their art, dispersed in churches, convents and palaces, where the curiosity of modern travellers rarely carries them, that I persuade myself it will not be unacceptable to the public to have some account of men and works so little known and yet so highly worthy to be recorded. I am not aware that this has been professedly attempted by any Spanish writer, except by
Palomino;
who in an elaborate treatise on the Art of Painting, in two folio volumes, has inserted the lives of two hundred and thirty-three Painters and Sculptors, who florished in Spain from the time of
Ferdinand the Catholic
to the conclusion of the reign of
Philip the Fourth;
of these materials I have principally availed myself in the following sheets, but not without due attention to other authorities, that interpose accounts differing from his, or extend to particulars, which he has failed to enumerate. He is said to have written with a competent knowledge of his subject, as an art, of which he was himself a professor; and in rules for the practice of painting he is very diffusive: If he had been more communicative or entertaining in those matters, for which I chiefly consulted him, I might have needed less apology for the present publication: Many particulars however have been furnished to me from tradition, which help out the sterility and dryness of his catalogue; and I must not omit to acknowledge the assistance I drew from the treatise of
Pacheco,
a book now become
extremely rare and hardly to be obtained. I know there was an English abridgement of Palomino's Painters published in the year 1739, but the original is in very few hands; so that, unless some Spanish biographer shall speedily be found with public spirit to engage in the task of rescuing the fame of his ingenious countrymen from approaching extinction, their histories at least will soon be lost, whatever may be the fate of their works. The world is in possession of many memoirs of the artists of Italy, France and Flanders; and the Painters, who distinguished themselves in England, have by happy fortune found a biographer, whose entertaining talents will secure to them a reception with posterity; whilst of all the Painters, to whose memory I have dedicated this slight attempt, scarce a name is heard without the limits of Spain, except those of
Velasquez, Murillo,
and
Ribeira:
The paintings of the latter it is true are very generally known, many excellent performances of his being dispersed through Europe: Some respectable remains of
Velasquez
are to be found in Italy, but the principal exertions of his pencil were reserved for his own country, and the Sovereign, who entertained him in his service; these, we may naturally suppose, can never be extracted: And as for
Murillo,
although some pieces of his have in time past been extracted from Seville, yet I think I may venture to say, that not many of them, which pass under his name, are legitimate; and in a less proportion can we find amongst such, as are true pictures, any of so capital a rank, as to impart a competent idea of his extraordinary merit.
The candid reader will observe, that I do not profess to give the Lives of the Painters, who are treated of in this catalogue, for which my materials do not suffice; nor shall I hazard many criticisms upon their respective works, for which more science would be requisite than I can pretend to; still I hope there will be sound sufficient novelty to amuse such of my readers, as can endure to hear of paintings, as they strike the feelings of an ordinary observer, without presuming to dissect them in the learned jargon of a Virtuoso: It will be remembered therefore that I offer nothing more to the public than Anecdotes of the Eminent Painters, who have florished in Spain during the two centuries last past; and in this description I include all such illustrious foreigners, as have resorted to Spain for the display of their talents under protection of the Princes or Nobles of that kingdom; these are a pretty numerous class, and in treating of them, I shall study to avoid repeating what may have been better told by others; but even of these perhaps some local anecdotes will occur, which may at least be supplementary to the accounts already in existence. My residence in Spain, and some advantages incident to my peculiar situation there, gave me repeated access to every thing I wished to see; almost every religious foundation throughout the kingdom contains a magazine of art; in resorting to these nothing will be found, of which a stranger can complain, unless of the gloominess of some of the edifices, and the unfavourable lights, in which many capital paintings are disposed: In private houses it is not unusual to discover very fine pictures in neglect and decay; thrown aside amongst the rubbish of cast-off furniture; whether it be, that the possessor has no knowledge of their excellence, or thinks it below his notice to attend to their preservation; but how much soever the Spaniards have declined from their former taste and passion for the elegant arts, I am persuaded they have in no degree fallen off from their national character for generosity, which is still so prevalent amongst them, that a stranger, who is interestedly disposed to avail himself of their munificence, may in a great measure obtain whatever is the object of his praise and admiration: As for the royal collections at Madrid, the Escorial and elsewhere, he will meet a condescension so accommodated to his curiosity, that the one is as little likely to be exhausted as the other; the facility of access to every palace in possession of His Catholic Majesty is only to be equalled by the gratification it produces.
THE Arts, which revived in Italy during the 14th century, did not reach Spain till the time of
Ferdinand the Catholic; Antonio Del Rincon,
a native of
Guadalaxara,
may be considered as the father of the Spanish school; he studied in Rome, and, returning to his native country, was taken into the service of
Ferdinand,
who bestowed on him the Order of
Santiago,
and made him Groom of his Chamber. There are two portraits of
Ferdinand
and
Isabella,
painted by him, still to be seen at
Toledo,
in the church of
San Juan de los Reyes,
and several pictures by his hand perished in the fire, that destroyed the palace of the
Pardo
in the year 1608. This artist died in the year 1500.
The unhappy catastrophe of
Torrigiano,
the Florentine, followed in the year 1522: After having enriched the cities of
Andalusia
with several pieces of sculpture, not unworthy the disciple and rival of
Michael Angelo;
he was condemned to death by the Inquisition, and expired in the prison of
Seville
under the horrors of an approaching execution: The story is as follows;
Torrigiano
had undertaken to carve a Madona and child of the natural size, at the order of a certain Spanish Grandee; it was to be made after the model of one, which he had already executed; and promise was given him of a reward proportioned to the merit of his work. His employer was one of the first Grandees of Spain, and
Torrigiano,
who conceived highly of his generosity, and well knew what his own talents could perform, was determined to outdo his former work; he had passed great part of his life in travelling from kingdom to kingdom in search of employment, and, flattering himself with the hope, that he had now at last found a resting-place after all his labours, the ingenious artist with much pains and application compleated the work, and presented to his employer a matchless piece of sculpture, the utmost effort of his art; the Grandee surveyed the striking performance with great delight and reverence; applauded
Torrigiano
to the skies; and, impatient to possess himself of the enchanting idol, forthwith sent to demand it; at the same time, to set off his generosity with a better display, he loaded two lacqueys with the money, that was to defray the purchase; the bulk at least was promising, but when
Torrigiano
turned out the bags, and found the specie nothing better than a parcel of brass maravedi, amounting only to the paltry sum of thirty ducats, vexation at this sudden disappointment of his hopes, and just resentment for what he considered as an insult to his merit, so transported him, that, snatching up his mallet in a rage, and not regarding the perfection, or (what to him was of more fatal consequence) the sacred character of the image he had made; he broke it suddenly in pieces, and dismissed the lacqueys with their load of farthings to tell the tale: They executed their errand too well. The Grandee in his turn fired with shame, vexation and revenge, and assuming, or perhaps conceiving, horror for the sacrilegious nature of the act, presented himself before the Court of Inquisition, and impeached the unhappy artist at that terrible tribunal; it was in vain that poor
Torrigiano
urged the right of an author over his own creation; Reason pleaded on his side, but Superstition sate in judgement; the decree was death with torture. The Holy Office lost its victim; for
Torrigiano
expired under the horrors, not under the hands of the executioner: That he was of a fierce impatient spirit we may well believe from what is related of his maiming the great
Michael Angelo
by a violent blow on the sace; the heretical reader perhaps will think this blow a more inexcusable, offence, than that, for which he suffered; and an enthusiast in the arts will scarce lament the punishment, which by a just transition fell upon him; for my part, I lament both his offence and his punishment; the man, who could be so frantic with passion, as in the person of
Michael Angelo
to deface one of the divinest works of heaven, might easily be tempted to demolish his own; and it has been generally observed, that hearts, so prone to anger, have on occasion been as susceptible of apprehension and fear; it is to be supposed, that
Torrigiano
's case was not better in the eyes of the Holy Office for his having been resident in England and employed by King
Henry the Eighth:
Whether they considered him as tinctured with the heresy of that Royal apostate does not appear; I am inclined to believe he more resembled Henry in temper than in opinion: At least, if we are to credit his assault on
Michael Angelo
and try him on that action; since the days of Diomed few mortals ever launched a more impious blow.
The arts, being thus transplanted from Italy into Spain, found a ready naturalization in a country, then abounding with genius: The province of Andalusia took the lead on this occasion, and has in all times been productive of extraordinary talents; it was the cradle of most of the Spanish painters; it's natives continue to be remarked for quick and volatile parts, differing much in manners and disposition from the Castilians. Certain it is that Spain has many local qualifications for becoming a nursery of Painters, which other countries are in want os: It enjoys a clear and vivid sky, with a dry and healthy air, favourable to the preservation if not to the production of works of art; the human countenance there is in general of a grave historical cast; the intermixture of the Jewish and Moorish tribes have marked the lower classes with a strong peculiarity of features; the forms of the children, till they attain the age of eight or ten, are good, and oftentimes their faces beautiful; the eyes of the women black and piercing, and, as they use much action when they converse, and are universally addicted to the Moorish modes of dancing, which almost every peasant can accompany with his voice and instrument, their groupes become extremely picturesque: To these may be added the character of their dress, particularly that of Andalusia, which both in male and female is uncommonly antique and graceful; the cloak alone may be folded twenty different ways for different applications, and each attitude presents a specimen of drapery worthy the study of an academy. The Painters have availed themselves of this, Italians as well as natives, and the
Capa
will be found frequently upon their canvasses, even where the scene does not lie in Spain. In speaking of Spain, as a country favourable to Painters, I think it is just to except painters of landscapes; in these it has neither excelled nor abounded; and the general want of trees and verdure readily supplies a reason: Groves and rivers and scattered habitations, emblematic of rural tranquillity, which furnish the most pleasing subjects to the imagination of the scenist, are there but thinly spread; the face of Nature is adust and frowning.
The Emperor
Charles,
though not very cordially attached to his Spanish subjects, nor over partial to their country, cultivated notwithstanding the genius of their Painters; and this he effected not only by sending them to study under the Italian masters, but also by inviting the Italian masters into Spain; the fertile genius of
Titiano
might have been alone sufficient to illuminate a kingdom, and there were many others in the like employ;
Julio
and
Alexandro,
Italians of the school of
Juan de Udine,
a disciple of
Rafael,
were artists of great eminence;
Charles
employed them in a royal work, the beautifying the Alhambra of Grenada; they enriched the Hospital of
Santiago,
in the city of
Ubeda,
with many noble paintings, and the famous Duke of Alva found employment for their talents.
Alonso Berruguete,
a Castilian, educated in the school of the great
Michael Angelo,
the friend and contemporary of
Andrea del Sarto, Bachio Bandinello
and others, returned into Spain an eminent proficient in painting, sculpture and architecture; deeply skilled in the theory of his art, he exhibited to the world a new system of human symmetry and proportion, differing at once from the rules of
Pomponio Gaurico, Philipo de Borgona
and
Alberto Durero,
over whom he finally triumphed both in principle and practice; leaving many illustrious monuments of his excellence in all the branches of his study, both at Madrid, the Pardo and the Alhambra of Grenada; for which he was suitably honoured and rewarded by the Emperor
Charles,
and died full of years and replete with fame and fortune, in 1545, in the city of Madrid. I should observe in this place, that in the choir of the cathedral in
Toledo,
there are an innumerable number of beautiful carvings by
Berruguete; Philip de Borgona
executed one side of the choir, and
Berruguete
the other.
The success of this artist was an encouragement to others, and the school of
Michael Angelo
was eagerly resorted to by
Baptista Bergamo
and
Gaspar Becerra,
of
Baiza
in
Andalusia;
these illustrious students returned together to Spain, and were immediately taken into the protection of the Emperor. The arts, which
Rincon
had transplanted into Spain, which
Berruguete
had so prosperously advanced, they (but especially
Becerra
) pushed into maturity; this man, who even in Rome (at that period in her zenith) had attracted general admiration, excelled in sculpture, equally as in painting; in the latter art his mode of colouring, and his management in the relief of his figures, greatly improved the practice of the Spanish school, and taught his countrymen to look upon their first manner with contempt: As a statuary, he seems to have found ample field for the exercise of his talents; the altars now began to wear a different form; instead of the distorted barbarous shapes of Gothic masonry, crucifixes, saints and virgins now took place, in all the grande gusto of
Michael Angelo.
The churches of
Astorga, Zamora, Burgos
and
Salamanca
contended which should first engage him in their service; he executed all these commissions to the satisfaction of the Fathers, and, when they had equipped his images in wide hoops and furbelowed petticoats, they applauded the artist, and adored his manufacture. It was not so easy to satisfy the caprice of
Isabella
of
Valois;
she commissioned him to carve a wooden image of our Lady of the
Solidad,
for the convent of
San Francisco de Paulo; Becerra
received her Majesty's commands, and addressed himself with diligence to the work; after the labour of a year he compleated an image to his intire satisfaction; he presented it to the Queen with an assurance of success, but in vain; his image did not reach the ideas of the Queen; the expression did not please her; and he was commanded not only to make a better, but to take less time in making it: He executed his order a second time, and produced an image to the admiration of all beholders; even the Fathers of the Convent acknowledged it to be a perfect and exact representation of nature; it was again submitted to the Queen, and again condemned for falling short of her Majesty's conceptions of our Lady of the
Solidad;
the unhappy artist was threatened to be superseded in the commission by some abler master; but, anxious to preserve his pre-eminence, and fulfil her Majesty's ideas, he again applied himself with ardour to the task; he racked his imagination without ceasing to frame some visage, and devise some form, that
Isabella
might confess bore a resemblance to the image in her mind: Wearied out with the tormenting investigation, the exhausted artist one day fell into a profound sleep; whilst this was passing, he saw, or thought he saw, a female figure presenting herself at the feet of his bed; he looked, in hopes perhaps to have obtained a model for his image; but the lady unluckily concealed her face; at length, addressing him in the most courteous stile, she desired him to open his eyes, get out of bed, and take the log, that he would find burning on his hearth, and set to work upon it, and he would find an image to his mind;
Becerra,
overjoyed, lost no time in following her advice; he found the log, quenched it; 'twas a convenient piece of timber; and with this supernatural aid compleated a figure to the heart's content of
Isabella;
the Monks, whose prayers assisted the execution, received the miraculous image with joy; it was erected on the high altar of the convent in
Valladolid,
with all proper ceremonials fitting the solemnity; it was habited in the weeds of Queen
Joanna,
widow of
Philip the Handsome,
and remains to this day, not indeed a monument of
Becerra
's art (for no part of that is to be seen) but of his patience; and proves, that, however eminent might be his talent for sculpture, if it had not been for his faculty of dreaming, he would have made a shameful shipwreck of his fame. Happy had it been for poor
Torrigiano,
if he had had
Becerra
's discretion, or
Becerra
's dreams.
Antonio Flores,
and
Fernando Gallegos
(the one of Seville and the other of Salamanca) were Painters of great merit, and much in the favour of the Emperor, particularly the latter; they formed themselves in the school of
Alberto Durero,
and
Gallegos
copied the manner of his master so closely, that many of his pictures cannot be distinguished from
Durero
's: Some of his works remain at Salamanca, but most of them so impaired by time, and by the cloister where they hang, that they are become scarce visible. Charles the Vth also brought with him into Spain, out of Italy, the celebrated
Pedro Campana,
a Fleming by birth, who had studied twenty years in the school of
Rafael Urbin:
When Charles made his entry into
Bologna,
in the year 1530,
Pedro Campana
devised the grand triumphal arch, under which he passed:
Campana
soon after came into Spain, residing chiefly at Seville. In the chapel of the Purification in that city there is still to be seen a capital painting by this master on the subject of the ceremony, to which the chapel is dedicated; a Descent from the Cross and a Nativity, both celebrated pictures, are yet to be seen in the church of
San Lorenzo;
and in the convent of
San Pablo,
in a small chapel adjoining to the Chapter-house, there is a picture by
Campana
on the subject of the Circumcision; all which are much extolled by
Pacheco
in his treatise on the Art of Painting.
Campana
died in the year 1570 at Brussels, where his portrait is still to be seen in the Consistory.
It was this visit made by the Emperor Charles to Bologna in 1530, which brought about an event of the first importance in the history of the arts in Spain; I mean the introduction of the works of
Titiano,
and some time after of
Titiano
himself; that great master was in Bologna, when Charles made his entry, and like Charles was then in the full lustre of his fame; scarce a character of eminence in Europe, but was to be found on the canvass of
Titiano;
to be delivered to posterity in the glowing colours of his pencil seemed an object of general ambition, and in some degree an anticipation of immortality;
Alonso de Ferrara, Federico Gonzaga
(Duke of Mantua)
Francisco Maria,
(Duke of Urbino) the
Marquis del Basto, Pescara, Alva, Francisco Sforza, Antonio de Leyva, Diego de Mendoza, Arretino, Bembo, Fracastorio, Ferdinand
(King of the Romans) and his son
Maximilian,
both afterwards Emperors, the Popes
Sixtus
IV,
Julius
II, and
Paulus
III, the great Emperor
Soliman
and the Sultaness
Rosa
were amongst the illustrious personages, who had been painted by
Titiano:
The Emperor sate to him at Bologna, as he passed through that city in the year above mentioned; he was in the meridian of life and, though he could not be said to inherit the beauty of
Philip the Handsome,
he was nevertheless of a majestic comely aspect; the portrait pleased him well and, though so weak an ingredient as vanity was not to be found in Charles's composition, yet he was not insensible to impressions, and henceforward determined never to commit his person to any other limner than
Titiano.
He was a lover of arts, not an enthusiast; he knew the force of their effects, and reverenced them for their power, without-being captivated by their charms; to men of eminence he was liberal without familiarity; in short, his affections in this particular, as in every other, were directed regularly to their object by reason, not driven impetuously by constitution or passion: Upon this principle he rewarded
Titiano
for his portrait with a thousand golden scudi, consulting thereby no less his own magnificence, than the artist's merit; he paid him 200 ducats for a small piece; and, upon
Titiano's
presenting him with a picture of the Annunciation, for which his countrymen the Venetians had refused to pay him more than 200 scudi, Charles rewarded him for the present with a thousand. He invited
Titiano
into Spain, and pressed him to comply, using many promises and some intreaties; anxious to wrest the palm of glory from the brows of his rival
Francis
in arts, as well as arms, he perceived there was no other living merit but
Titiano
's, which he could oppose to that of
Leonardo da Vinci. Carlos Rodolfi,
the biographer of
Titiano,
says he never came into Spain, but he is mistaken; it was not however till the year 1548 that he complied with the Emperor's invitation; from that period till 1553 he resided in Spain; during this residence he composed many admirable works, and received many princely rewards; Charles gave him the key, the order of
Santiago
at Brussels, and in 1553 constituted him a Count Palatine of the empire at Barcelona by an instrument worthy to be recorded; viz. Carolus V. divinâ favente clementiâ Romanorum Imperator augustus ac Rex Germaniae, Hispaniarumque spectabili nostro et imperii sacri fideli dilecto
Titiano
de
Vecellis,
sive equiti aurato, et sacri Lateranensis palatii, aulaeque nrae et imperialis consistorii comiti gratiam Caesaream et omne bonum.
Cum nobis semper mos fuerit, postquam ad hujus Caesariae dignitatis celsitudinem divis auspiciis evecti fuerimus, vos potissimum, qui singulari fide et observantiâ erga nos et sacrum Romanum imperium praediti egregiis moribus, eximiis virtutibus et ingenuis artibus industriâ
que
clari et excellentes habiti sunt prae caeteris benevolentiâ, favore et gratiâ nostrâ prosequi. Attendentes igitur singularem tuam erga nos, et sacrum Romanum imperium fidem et observantiam, ac praeter illas egregias virtutes tuas et ingenii dotes, exquisitam illam pingendi et ad vivum effigiendarum imaginum scientiam, quâ quidem arte talis nobis visus es, ut meritò hujus saeculi Apelles dici merearis, &c. Motu igitur proprio et certâ nostrâ scientiâ, animo deliberato, sano quoque Principum, Comitum, Baronum, Procerum et aliorum nostrorum et Imperii sacri dilectorum accidente consilio, et de nostrae Caesareae potestatis plenitudine te praenominatum
Titianum
sacri Lateranensis palatii, aulae
que
nrae, et Imperialis consistorii comitem fecimus, creavimus, ereximus, et comitatus Palatini tititulo clementer insignivimus: Prout tenore praesentium facimus, creamus, erigimus, attolimus et insignimus ac aliorum Comitum Palatinorum numero et consortu gratanter aggregamus et adscribimus, &c.
These favours alarmed the jealousy of the nobles both of Germany and Spain, but their envy drew no other answer from Charles, than that he had many nobles in his empire and but one
Titiano;
the artist, who was at some distance, employed upon a picture, overheard the retort with conscious satisfaction and, as he made his reverence to the Emperor, dropt a pencil on the floor; the courteous monarch took it up and, delivering it to him confounded by this second mark of his condescension, added,
that to wait on
Titiano
was a service for an Emperor.
Charles did not only grace this eminent artist with the splendid ornaments and titles above mentioned, he gave him more solid marks of his favour, appointing him rents in Naples of two hundred ducats annually each, besides a munificent compensation for every picture he executed:
Palomino
says, that Charles regarded the possession of a capital piece of
Titiano
more than he did the acquisition of a new province to his dominion; but
Palomino
was a painter, and more familiar with the pictures of
Titiano,
than with the politics of the Emperor: This would have been a caprice unworthy of any prince; but Charles's character was not the sport of caprice; whilst to the very moment of his life, when he resigned his dominions, it was evident that ambition was his ruling passion; had he been capable of that preference, which
Palomino
ascribes to him, he would hardly have taken such pains to the last hour of his reign to persuade his brother Ferdinand to make a sacrifice of his succession of the empire, nor have retired into the unfurnished cell of his convent with his puppets and his birds without one consolatory remembrance of his favourite author to cheer his solitude, or to enflame his devotion: I can hardly be persuaded, that Charles's abdication of his empire was any proof of caprice; he plainly enough perceived his health was gone, and he was not willing that his fame should follow it.
Titiano
had quitted Spain, before Philip took possession of the throne; the arts however had rapidly advanced: Charles had made some improvement to the royal edifices, but all with a view to accommodation rather than magnificence; he had fronted the old palace of Madrid, beautified and repaired the venerable Alhambra of Grenada, planted and disposed the walks and avenues of Aranjuez in the Flemish taste, and built the Pardo at two leagues distance from the capital in a retired situation and in a stile by no means imperial; it is a square building of moderate dimensions, flanked with four small towers at the angles, and environed with a foss exactly on the scale of a nobleman's seat in his native country: Superstition soon engaged Philip in a more important undertaking and, having made a vow upon the victory of St. Quintin to dedicate a church and monastery to
San Lorenzo,
he began in the midst of a solitary and frightful desart to displace the rocks and compel them to take the shape of an edifice: on the feast-day of St. George with much temporal and spiritual pomp he laid the foundation-stone of the monastery of
San Lorenzo,
called the Escorial, with the following, Inscription:
Deus O. M. operi Aspiciat! Philippus II. Hispaniarum Rex a fundamentis erexit MDLXIII.
Joan
Baptista Architectus IX Ka. MAII.
So much has been said on the subject of this extraordinary edifice, and the Spanish writers make such a pompous display of its magnificence, that I might appear to affect a singularity of opinion, if I was to offer freely what my imperfect judgment suggests on the matter; to such of my readers, as have seen the Escorial, what I should have to say would have little novelty; and in their opinions, who have not seen it, and been taught to respect it, it might have too much. The scale undoubtedly is magnificent, though the mass is graceless; as a monastery it is vast and aweful, fitly calculated to entomb the living and the dead; as a palace, it is justly emblematic of its founder, who on the summit of the superincumbent mountain was accustomed to sit and survey his rising fabric in silent contemplation and delight.
Francisco de los Santos,
the monk, who wrote a pompous
escription of the Escorial, ob
erves that the sensation, which a
pectator feels upon entering the
reat court, is the same as at sud
enly hearing a delightful concert;
he soul,
says he,
in both cases is
bsorbed in extasy—
what then must
ave been the sensations of Phi
ip, as he sate upon the top of the
ountain, where at one glance he
ook in the whole birds-eye of the
difice? Certainly, if the good Fa
her heard a concert upon his en
ering only one of the courts of
he monastery, His Catholic Ma
esty, when stationed on the moun
ain, must have enjoyed a full cho
us of musical extasy: For my
art, taking into consideration the
crupulous performance of his vow, I am inclined to believe his chief pleasure consisted in observing how exactly he had made the building correspond to the
gridiron
of
San Lorenzo;
this he did in honourable commemoration of the martyrdom of the Saint above mentioned: He also took the pious precaution of disposing a number of relics in the balls of the cupolas, crosses and different parts of the building, to preserve it from fire, storm, or any other injury: These holy preservatives have not been very successful in their office, for great part of the edifice, with not a few of the relics in charge, were consumed by a dreadful conflagration: Nor is this the only element at war with the Escorial, the furious gusts of wind, that occasionally sweep from the impending mountains, surpass description: The Escorial is placed in the very eddy of these furious gusts; as neither man, nor beast, nor carriages can stand before them, a subterranean passage is cut through the rock, under the area of the court, for a communication with the town, which is better sheltered from the blast: The massy walls of the building are proof against the violence of the storms, but the covering of the roof, though fortified with all possible care against the attack, continually exhibits melancholy proofs os its insufficiency; whilst the architect, by disposing the windows to resist the wind, seems to have forgot, that one part of their office was to admit the light.
If the architect however finds something to condemn, the painter will find much to admire: It is undoubtedly a repository of noble arts. As soon as Philip had conceived the idea of enriching the royal convent with every thing suitable to the magnificence of its scale, and which the mines of America, that flowed in upon his treasury, could procure, he cast his eyes towards his father's favourite painter
Titiano,
then returned into his own country: Whether he solicited him to come again into Spain does not appear; but he had certainly given him several commissions for pictures: In a letter, which Philip writes to
Titiano
of the 13th of July 1558 from Ghent, he acknowledges the receipt of one from
Titiano
of the 19th of the preceding month, and expresses the satisfaction it gave him to hear, that he had compleated his picture of Calixtus and one also of Diana bathing: He tells him that
he had wrote to Garcias Fernandez at Genoa to forward these pictures for Spain, and desires Titiano himself to superintend the backing and to direct the cases, that no other of his valuable productions might be again exposed to the like misfortune, as had befallen his painting of the Christ, which had been ruined by the way:
He earnestly
equests of
Titiano to restore that
loss by another of the same composition, which he shall highly prize, as coming from the hand of so great a master:
In conclusion he expresses his regret
to hear that the rents, settled upon him in Milan and Naples, had fallen into arrear,
and tells him that
he will put those payments in such train, that there shall be no cause of complaint in future.
This in effect he performed by a peremptory mandate to his governor of Milan, directing him to satisfy the
arrears due to Titiano from the date of the grants in
1541
and
1548,
and put the same in regular course of payment for the future, either from the Ducal chamber, or such other funds as might be more conveniently applied to that purpose.
This mandate bears date the 25th of December 1558, and at the foot of it the King writes these lines with his own hand:
You know how I am interested in this order, as it affects Titiano; comply with it therefore in such a manner, as to give me no occasion to repeat it.
The King had the further attention to continue to him the grant of his Key, and nominated him First Painter of the chamber.
The pictures, which
Titiano
made in Spain, and those he sent into Spain, form of themselves a large and magnificent collection; the catalogues of the Escorial and Madrid give some idea of them, but do not nearly reach the amount; to particularize their respective merit is not the object of this work, and would be an undertaking far above my hands: In a posthumous publication of
Antonio Rafael Mengs,
printed at Madrid in 1780, there are some observations on
Titiano
's pictures in the palace at Madrid; I could wish, for the reader's better gratification, that more had been said by
Mengs
upon the subject; and in general it is to be regretted, that he had not entered into a fuller description of the Madrid collection, of which he professes to give an account: But it is not in these collections of the Escorial and palace of Madrid, as I before observed, that we can find the sum of
Titiano
's works in Spain; many capital pictures are dispersed, many perished in the deplorable fire, that destroyed the Pardo, some have been by late decree exiled for their dishonesty, and some condemned and executed in the flames: Amongst the pictures, that perished at the Pardo, many portraits of the Austrian family were lost, together with one of
Titiano
himself, painted by order of Charles V. a celebrated work, in which the painter is represented, holding in his hand the portrait of Charles; transferring by this courtly device the honour of the representation from himself to the Emperor. On the subject of the exiles and martyrs above mentioned I am unwilling to enlarge, it will suffice to say, that being most in the
nude,
their crime will in some people's judgment appear their recommendation; certain it is that the unparalleled and inestimable figure of the sleeping Venus, which was given by Philip the IVth to our Charles the First, when Prince of Wales, upon the visit he made in Spain, and which, after the death of that unhappy monarch, was purchased by the Spanish ambassador in England, has been rescued from execution by the address of
Mengs.
I frequently visited this matchless deity in her hiding-place, where I found her miserably lodged, though respectably attended by an Atalanta in the race by
Guido,
divinely executed, a Helen and Paris by
Rubens,
and three Graces of the same master, coloured to a miracle, but much more
embonpoint
than their principal. To attempt any description of this sleeping Venus appears to me as impossible, as it would be to condemn such perfect and withal such modest beauties to the flames; a graceful turn of the neck gives the full countenance to the spectator, in which the master-artist has displayed beauty and sweetness of the divinest sort, with the most perfect innocence of character; the limbs are elegantly and decently disposed, the hues are glowing and transparent, the outline round and glittering, and the local lights and shades produced by those tender and imperceptible touches, that form the
magic
of
Corregio;
in short it is a miracle of art, and was so decidedly the
chef d'oeuvre
of the master, that, after several efforts to rival his own matchless work, he quitted this self-emulation in despair. It is to the honour of
Don Antonio Mengs,
that he saved it from destruction: It had another escape from the flames of the Pardo, which fatal accident being reported to Philip the IVth, then on the throne, he instantly demanded, if the
Titian-Venus
had escaped the conflagration; the messenger assured him that it was saved,
then
replied the King
all other losses may be supported:
I cannot dismiss this enchanting object without observing, that, by testimony of all the best judges of its merit, it yields in no particular to the Venus of Medicis, but in the weaker nature of it's material: twice rescued from the flames, it still exists in perfect condition: May no future age of the world produce a hand to raise an ax against the one, or to construct a funeral pile for the other!
There are several paintings of
Titiano
in the Madrid collection upon fabulous subjects, and in particular a Tarquin and Lucretia so naturally executed, that, what between the excess of chastity in one prince, and the notorious abuse of it in the other, it must be owned the lady has had an escape. But of all his pictures upon subjects of this description, the most beautiful are two celebrated companions, the one a groupe of Bacchanals, the other of Cupids, in the apartments of the Princess; the figures in each are of the third part of the natural size. In the fore ground of the groupe of Bacchanals there is a young female votarist asleep, of which
Don Antonio Mengs
in his critique above mentioned speaks with rapture; he says that he never saw it without that striking novelty of delight as if he had never discovered it before: The colouring of this figure he observes is in
Titiano
's clearest manner, and the degradation of tints through the whole groupe, (which is all in the
nude,
and which with an infinite variety of nice discriminations composes one uniform tone) is wonderfully contrived; and constitutes such a model in the art of colouring, as he never met with in any other example; he concludes his remarks on this picture by observing, that all the harmonious accompaniments of sky, variegated soil, with deep and tender shades of the trees, form such an assemblage of beautiful objects in nature perfectly imitated, that a better picture in this stile he does not think the world can produce: The other picture represents a very numerous groupe of beautiful Cupids, disposed in a wonderful variety of attitudes, employed in puerile sports, under a grove of apple-trees, the fruit of which they have scattered about the ground, and are playing with in the most gay and natural manner: The same curious degradation of hues in the carnations of the flesh and colours of the hair obtains in this picture, as in the former, and to an equal degree of excellence; the same remarks therefore, as I have quoted in that case, are applicable to this:
Don Antonio Mengs
adds, that these pictures were formerly in the Ludovici palace at Rome, and were a present to the king of Spain:
Sandrart
reports of this groupe of Cupids, that it served for a study to
Dominiquino, Pousin
and
Flamenco; Albano
has transcribed a part of this groupe into a composition of his painting, and there are two copies made by
Rubens
of these pictures to be seen in the palace; the ingenious author above quoted adds with rather too much critical severity,
that these copies of Rubens are like an elegant author translated into Dutch, where the sentiments of the original may be guest at, but all the grace is vanished.
Of scriptural subjects, treated by the hand of this great master, the Escorial presents a host of valuable examples; not a few art also to be found in the palace at Madrid; the celebrated picture of the Last Supper in the refectory at the Escorial has been repeatedly described, and is known to all Europe as a miracle of art: In a letter of
Titiano
to Philip, which is preserved, he informs the King, that he had been seven years employed in painting it; this must surely be understood with latitude as to other intermediate compositions; for, although the artist, as it is well known, lived to a very uncommon age, yet the life of a Patriarch would scarce suffice to warrant undertakings of such labour, nor would the reward of 2000 golden scudi, which the King sent him by way of Genoa, and which was in fact a magnificent price in those times, be a proportionable compensation for the dedication of so great a portion of his time.
The composition, which is called
la gloria de Titiano,
that of Christ in the garden and the Santa Margarita with the Dragon, would claim some description, if much more capable judges had not already passed the due encomiums on these excellent performances; the scrupulous sanctity of the monks was offended at some liberties taken by Santa Margarita in tucking up her robe and discovering part of a very graceful leg; a thing not seemly to be done, when in company with a Dragon; especially as all Dragons have not the prudence and good faith of that, which was in keeping by the Hesperides: But
Jordan
's rapid pencil pieced the petticoat, which now, like Raphael's wings,
Her feet
Shadows from either heel.
Titiano
was born in 1480, and consequently was 68 years old when he came into Spain; he staid there five years and, after Charles's abdication, painted many pieces for Philip; it is to be expected therefore, that there will be found some tokens of natural decay in his later works, and certain it is, that though his colouring is always good, some pictures there are in the royal collection of another pencil from his Venus, and far less bright than his slumbring Bacchant: He prattles sometimes with the privilege of old age; but still it is the prattle of Nestor.
It is not to be understood that all the pictures of
Titiano,
that are in the royal collection, were painted by him, whilst he was King's painter to Charles and to Philip: Many are of his earlier and better age, and were either presented to the Crown, or purchased in Italy after the death of
Titiano:
An instance of this occurred in the case of the famous pictures above-mentioned extracted from the Ludovice palace, which were a present to Philip: There is also in the sacristy of the Escorial a San Sebastian in his best manner, which was given by the
Conde de Benavente,
and several pieces of
Titiano
were collected by the great painter
Velazquez
in his excursion to Italy by order of Philip the IVth. Whilst Philip the IId. was thus solicitous to enrich his royal convent of
San Lorenzo
with the valuable works of
Titiano,
extracted out of Italy, his own kingdom of Spain offered to his choice many eminent professors and disciples in the art; the residence of that great master in Spain, and the emulation of contemporary genius, roused into action by the study of his brilliant compositions, as well as by the introduction of other distinguished foreigners, engaged in compleating and adorning that vast fabric, operated to produce an Augustan age in Spain. I shall proceed to name some of the principal painters, as well foreigners as natives, who were employed in furnishing and adorning the Escorial.
Juan Fernandez Ximenez
of Navarre, commonly called
El Mudo
or
the Dumb,
and generally acknowledged as the
Titiano
of Spain, was born at
Logrono,
of a respectable family; the defects of nature (for he was deaf as well as dumb) were in some degree compensated to him by most quick and brilliant sense in the remaining faculties. He was first instructed in the art of painting by
Fray Vicente de Santo Domingo,
a monk of
Santo Catalina
in a convent at Talavera in Castile, of the order of Geronimytes; his early marks of genius were such, that
Fray Vicente
proposed to the parents of
El Mudo
to send him into Italy, which being accordingly done, he travelled to Florence, Venice, Milan and Naples, visiting many of the most famous academies; but principally forming himself in the school of
Titiano:
He soon established so general a reputation in Italy, that Philip, being apprized of his fame, recalled him into Spain and appointed him one of his painters at the Escorial; after having given some sketches of Prophets in black and white, in the adornments of the sacristy, as samples of his art, he proceeded to compositions of greater consequence, and painted the Baptism of our Saviour in the Prior's cell; he was after that employed in several paintings for a chapel, which King Philip caused to be erected in the wood of Segovia; these paintings were removed to the upper cloyster of the Escorial, and in one of these, which represents the beheading of Santiago,
El Mudo
has inserted the portrait of Santoyo in the character of the Executioner, in revenge for some ill offices, which that minister had done him. Santoyo complained to the King, making suit that the figure might be expunged, and his person not delivered to posterity in the disgraceful occupation of a hangman; the King, who probably knew the cause of the offence, did not disapprove of the nature of the revenge, and, excusing himself to
Santoyo
on account of the excellence of the performance, would not allow the picture to be defaced. The Twelve Apostles on the great pillars of the church next to the high altar are also painted by
El Mudo.
When
Titiano
's famous painting of the Last Supper arrived at the Escorial,
El Mudo
was employed, and upon Philip's proposing to cut the canvass to the size of the pannel in the refectory, where it was destined to hang,
El Mudo
to prevent the mutilation of so capital a work made earnest signs of intercession with the King to be permitted to copy it, and reduce it to the size of the place allotted, offering to do it in the space of six months; upon the King's expressing a hesitation on account of the length of the time required by
El Mudo
for the work, and proceeding to put his design in execution,
El Mudo
repeated his supplications in behalf of his favourite master with more fervency than ever, offering to compleat his copy in less time, than he at first demanded, tendering at the same time his head, as the punishment of non-compliance, laying his hand on his breast as a sign, that he claimed the order of
Santiago
as his reward if he should succeed; the offer was not accepted and execution was performed upon
Titiano,
accompanied with the most distressful attitudes and distortions of
El Mudo.
He died soon after at the Escorial to the great regret of Philip, at the age of 40, in the year 1572, generally intitled the
Titiano
of Spain, and was honoured with an epitaph by
Fra. Lope Feliz de Vega Carpio.
El Divino Morales
was born at Badajoz in the province of Estremadura, in the beginning of the sixteenth century. He was instructed at Seville in the academy of
Pedro Campana,
a disciple of
Raphael;
from his constant choice of divine subjects and the extreme delicacy of his pencil he acquired the appellation of
El Divino,
and is known to the present age by no other name than that of
El Divino Morales.
All his paintings are upon board or copper, and almost generally heads of the crucified Saviour; no instance occurring of his having executed any composition or figure at full length. His heads are finished off with infinite care and laboured to the utmost, yet not so as to diminish the force of the expression; for I have seen some examples of his
Ecce Homo
of a most exquisite and touching character; also some heads of the Christ bearing the cross approaching very near to the Saviour in the famous
Pasmo de Sicilia.
Though
Morales
never fails to impress the countenance with the deepest tints of human agony, I never met with any instance of his doing violence to our ideas of the divinity of the object he represents: His conception of the countenance seems to be original and his own, more resembling however the face of the Christ in
Raphael
's picture above-mentioned, than any other; and worked, as it appears to me, after the manner of the highly-finished heads of
Leonardo da Vinci.
He was undoubtedly an artist of a very limited invention and design; in aerial perspective and the clearobscure I have sometimes found him evidently deficient, nor has he any tincture of art or academy in grouping his figures and disposing his attitudes; every thing is left to a simple expression of affecting nature: His
Mater dolorosa
is the very extreme of sorrow; nor is he anxious to maintain any trace of beauty amidst his expressions of affliction: I am of opinion that no imagination, which had not been aided by the spectacles of exhausted nature, which a nunnery exhibits, could have devised an object so extremely woe-begone: It is in short the aggravated portrait of an emaciated devotee expiring in her vigils. It may readily be believed in a country, where paintings of this sort are amongst the objects of devotion, and where every private house is furnished with its oratory and its altar, that the pictures of
Morales
must have been in general request; it has been for the same reason extremely difficult for travellers to extract out of Spain any piece of this author; and as he worked very slowly and was not very industrious or interested in his art, his pictures are both very rare and very permanent in their stations
Since this book went to the press, I have received out of Spain an
Ecce Homo
by
Morales,
painted upon stone, which was affixed to a private oratory in the house of the Duque de Osuna, and transmitted to me by the favour of that distinguished Grandee.
. Enough may be had of illegitimate or suspicious pretensions, but in general they are easily to be distinguished. One would expect to find in
Morales
's private life a character in unison with his studies; but the contrary of this appears from his history. When
Morales
was summoned to the Escorial by Philip, he left Badajoz at the King's command, and putting himself in the best array, that his whole substance could procure, presented himself to the sovereign more like an Ambassador upon the delivery of his credentials, than a rural artist, called to labour at his profession for hire: Upon the King's remarking on the unexpected splendor of his appearance, he answered with an air of national gallantry that, being resolved to dedicate every thing he possest by nature, or by fortune, to the service of his sovereign, he had presented himself in the best condition and attire, that his means admitted in obedience to his summons. It does not appear, that his reply displeased, neither was the King dissatisfied with his performances, for which he liberally rewarded him: However, when upon completion of his undertakings he returned to Badajoz, he seems to have carried home the same spirit of extravagance; for, when Philip passed through that place in 1581 on his way to take possession of the kingdom of Portugal,
Morales
presented himself in a far different condition, reduced by poverty and age, for he was then 72 years old;
Morales,
says the King,
methinks you are grown very old, since last I saw you. True, Sen̄ or,
replied he,
and also very poor.
Philip, (of whom the arts at least have nothing to complain) directly turning to the city treasurer ordered him 200 ducats, telling him it was to purchase him a dinner
—and a supper too?
said
Morales; No,
answered the King,
give him a hundred ducats more:
a fortunate rencounter for poor
Morales:
He survived this event some years and died in 1586. Some of his paintings are preserved at Cordova and Seville; and at Madrid in the chapel of
our Lady of the Soledad,
belonging to the convent of the Trinitarians, I have been shewn a
Santa Veronica
by his hand: There is also an
Ecce Homo
in the convent of the nuns of Corpus Christi, which with other specimens I have met in private cabinets, confirm to me his title to the appellation of
El Divino.
Miguel Barroso,
(a disciple of
Becerra
) and
Domingo Beltran
the Jesuit, a native of Victoria, were men of eminent talents; they were both excellent architects and of great erudition: The former was employed at the Escorial in painting part of the principal cloyster, the latter, who had formed himself in Italy, executed some statues in the great church of admirable workmanship, and in the grande gusto of
Michael Angelo. Beltran
also carved a crucisix for the high altar at the Imperial college, lately occupied by the Jesuits at Madrid, a work of infinite merit and expression; there is another on the high altar of the college at Alcala de Henares, which I have not seen, but which is no less celebrated: Both these ingenious artists died in the year 1590, both were men of amiable manners, great candour and remarkable modesty.
The same year was also fatal to
Teodosio Mingot
the Catalan, (a disciple of
Michael Angelo
) and
Luis de Carvajal
of Toledo, both eminent painters, and both employed at the Escorial: Part of the principal cloyster is painted by
Carvajal,
and amongst the paintings in the church specimens of a respectable sort are to be found of both these masters.
But amongst the principal artists, employed by Philip in the paintings of the Escorial, the Elder
Coello
was one in the chief favour and esteem of that sovereign, who in his letters stiles him
Titiano Portugues
(for he was of that nation) and addresses him by the affectionate appellation of my beloved son
Alonso Sanchez Coello.
He studied at Rome in the school of
Rafael de Urbino,
and compleated himself in his art under the instruction of
Antonio Moro
in Spain; he passed from Spain into Portugal, and was in the service of Don Juan, and afterwards of his widow Donna Juana, sister of Philip the second: Upon the retirement of Antonio Moro, the King of Spain solicited his sister to supply the loss of that great artist by sending him
Coello;
upon his arrival at the court Philip lodged him in an apartment near at hand, with which he had a private communication, for the purpose of visiting him, whilst he was at work: On these occasions he treated
Coello
with great familiarity and condescension; he was in such favour with all the Royal family, that his apartment became at times their general rendezvous; and in these visits
Coello
made several portraits of Philip on foot and horseback, and of all the Royal or distinguished personages, that composed the court: In short he became considered as a man in such high degree of favour, that his protection was lookt up to by the Courtiers and Grandees and his house and table frequented by the first persons in the nation, not excepting Cardinal Grambela, Don Gaspar de Zueroga, archbishop of Toledo, and Don Rodrigo de Castro, archbishop of Seville:
Coello
was no less in favour with Pope Gregory the XIIIth and Sixtus Quintus, with the Dukes of Florence and Savoy, Cardinal Farnese and many other illustrious characters of that time. After endowing a charitable foundation for the reception of poor orphans at Valladolid,
Coello
died in the sixty-fifth year of his age in 1590; an aera fatal to the arts in Spain.
If
Coello
cannot properly be considered as a native of Spain, he must be acknowledged to rank high amongst the chief artists, who have flourished in that kingdom: His paintings in the Escorial, which are chiefly of Saints affixed to the respective altars, do great honour to his memory; the portrait, that he made of the great patriarch San Ignacio, drawn from an impression of his face, taken in wax after his death, is much celebrated; and his original figures of Sisiphus and Titius, as well as his copies from
Titiano
of Tantalus and Ixion, now in the palace of Madrid, are noble specimens. His portraits of many royal and noble persons, which are spoken of as excellent, perished with many other of his capital works in the unfortunate fire of the Pardo; of all which survive, the principal in point of composition is preserved in the church of San Geronimo in Madrid, representing the martyrdom of San Sebastian; on the right hand of the Saint stands the figure of Christ, on the left the Virgin Mary, and lower in the front San Bernardo and San Francisco; above a glory and a figure representing El Padre Eterno; the whole is executed with great majesty of design, a bold relief and a strong and masterly expression: He colours in the stile of
Titiano
and seems to draw with great facility and freedom. He died universally regretted by the artists, lamented by Philip, who regarded him highly, and celebrated by the famous
Lopez de Vega
who wrote his epitaph.
Philip in the decline of fortune and life, by the death of
Coello
lost his best and perhaps only resource against the vexations of state and the intrusions of remorse: Haughty by nature and harsh through disappointment, there were still some moments, when his pride sought the relief of familiarity, and when his temper for a while relaxed into complacency: In those moments he would mount the ladder, (the only one he ever climbed without ambition or disgrace) that privately communicated with the painting-room of
Coello.
Philip had deserved well of the arts, and in company with them he found himself for once amongst his friends:
Coello
had discretion, good manners and much acquaintance with the world; if the King encouraged conversation,
Coello
knew every body and every thing, and out of those could chuse his topics suitably and treat them agreeably; if the King was disposed to silence during his visit, as was frequently the case,
Coello
pursued his work with fixt attention, he pressed his canvass into life with all the energy and spirit of his genius: The king sate by, contemplating the new creation, which the hand of art was forming in his sight, and for a while perhaps forgot the breaches he had caused in that of nature's producing: By the easel of
Coello,
if he was not defended from the cares, he was at least secure from the intrusions of Royalty. Whoever has been accustomed to look on during the operations of industry or art, must have experienced a repose of thought, an interval from worldly inquietude, that steals insensibly and gradually upon the mind, as sleep does on the body: If such are our sensations, whilst contemplating the labourer at his task, or the mechanic at his trade, how much do we improve the avocation, when the eye is called off from every other object and fixed upon one of the most pleasing and surprizing in the whole circle of human arts and inventions! We may naturally believe that Philip felt the benefits of this resource: In his council-chamber the defection of provinces galled his pride, and the dispersion of armadas thwarted his ambition: In his closet the injured Perez stung his conscience and the unhappy Don Carlos haunted his imagination; but in the academy of
Coello
he saw himself in his most favourable light, and perhaps the only one, which can reflect a lustre on his memory.
The great works, which Philip was carrying on at the Escorial, and the magnificent collection of paintings he was there amassing, attracted the attention of all the artists in Europe, whilst the wealth and munificence of the King held out ample encouragement to adventurers of merit. Spain at that brilliant aera was in possession of many native painters, who had they been happy enough to have found an historian to have done justice to their fame, would at this day have ranked with the most distinguished masters of the age in Italy; but their names are buried in the obscurity of time, and their works in that of cloysters and convents.
Philip pressed his favourite undertaking with such ardour, and the immeasurable walls of the convent of
San Lorenzo
offered such a field for emulation, that the harvest could not be reaped by natives only, however numerous; so that to conclude the work within the period of his reign it was necessary to call in the assistance of more labourers, and a great body of ingenious emigrants accepted the invitation: My design is to present the reader with a few local anecdotes relative to the principal characters of this description, the gleanings of their better history, which in general is so well known, as to make any more diffusive relation superfluous and impertinent.
In selecting these I shall principally follow the order of time, in which they flourished, for the present however confining myself to the reign of Philip the IId.
Antonio Moro
(Sir Antony More) the predecessor and preceptor of the elder
Coello
above mentioned, was born at Utrecht, where in the early years of his life he studied in the school of
Juan Escorelio;
from thence he passed into Italy, where he ultimately formed himself upon the models of the great masters
Michael Angelo
and
Rafael de Urbino.
He came into Spain 1552, Charles V. being then on the throne, under the protection of his countryman Cardinal Grambeli; he made a portrait of Prince Philip, and, being recommended by the Cardinal to the service of the Emperor, he was sent by him into Portugal to take the portrait of the Princess Donna Maria, then contracted to Philip: At the same time he painted John III. of Portugal and his queen Donna Catalina, Charles's youngest sister; by all which portraits he gave entire satisfaction, and was magnificently rewarded both by Charles and the Royal personages above-mentioned. Having succeeded so well in this commission, he was next dispatcht by the Emperor into England to the court of Mary, to take the portrait of that princess, previous to her espousals with Philip:
Moro
employed all the flattering aids of his art in this portrait, and so captivated the courtiers of Spain with the charms of Mary's person, that he was employed by his patron the Cardinal and many of the Grandees to make copies of his picture, one of which I have seen in possession of a noble family, and by which it should appear that
Moro
was not only a very good painter, but an excellent courtier. Having enriched himself by his embassy to England, he returned into Spain upon the conclusion of peace between that kingdom and France, and was eagerly received into the service of Philip II. then on the throne. His excellence in the painting of portraits supplied him with ample employ in this court, Philip, who made slaves of his friends and friends of his painters, treated
Moro
with extraordinary familiarity. This great artist had not all the courtly disoretion of his scholar
Coello,
and met the King's advances with the same ease that they were made; so that one day, whilst he was at his work and Philip looking on,
Moro
dipt his pencil in carmine, and with it smeared the hand of the King, who was resting his arm on his shoulder: The jest was rash, and the character, to which it was applied, not to be played upon with impunity; the hand of the Sovereign of Spain (which even the fair sex kneel down to salute) was never so treated since the foundation of the monarchy; the King surveyed it seriously a while, and in that perilous moment of suspence the fate of
Moro
balanced on a hair; the courtiers, who were in awful attendance, revolted from the sight with horror and amazement (could
Luca Jordano
have seized the groupe in that moment and dashed it off with his rapid facility, what a subject for a painter!) caprice, or I would rather say pity, turned the scale, and Philip passed the silly action off with a smile of complacency: The painter, dropping on his knees, eagerly seized those of the King, and kissed his seet in humble atonement for the offence, and all was well, or seemed at least so to be; but the person of the King was too sacred in the consideration of those times, and the act too daring to escape the notice of the awful office of the Inquisition; these holy and enlightened Fathers, maturely weighing all the circumstances of the case, learnedly concluded that
Antonio Moro,
being a foreigner and a traveller, had either learnt the art magic, or obtained in England some spell or charm, wherewith he had bewicht the King: Nor let the heretical reader treat this story as a fiction, or think that the Fathers according to the premises, on which their judgments then were and still are formed, reasoned much amiss; for a disbelief in witches is a species of criminal infidelity to the present moment condemnable at that sacred tribunal, of which I could give a late very notable example, if it was proper to make public a gentleman's disgrace, for which he has suffered punishment, and of which it is hoped he has duly repented. If
Antonio
had contended that he practised no other charms upon Philip, than those of his art, which over some minds has a kind of bewitching influence, such a plea would scarce have passed with his judges, whose hearts were far out of reach of such mechanical fascination; and as little would it have served his cause to plead the natural gaiety and good-humour of the Monarch, such an argument would have been fairly set down amongst those
quae non admittuntur;
so that his condemnation would have been inevitable; for as it is hard to suppose how any man could daub the fingers of a King of Spain with carmine, unless by the correspondence and conspiracy of the Devil, or some of his agents in witchcraft, no doubt the tragedy of poor
Torregiano
would have been revived on this occasion, had not the same Devil, in the shape of one of Philip's ministers, luckily snatcht
Antonio
from his fate, whilst the tortures were preparing to force out the impious secrets of his black and diabolic art: This same minister of Philip, or I should rather say of the Devil, spirited away his brother imp of darkness to Brussels without loss of time, upon the feigned pretence (which on such occasions is readily enough supplied to the wicked) of an immediate and pressing avocation. It was in vain that Philip moved him to revoke his resolution, in vain that he solicited him by letters under his own hand, expressed in terms the most kind and condescending, and declarations even of affection to his person, as well as of esteem for his talents; the terrors of a tribunal, from which even the Royal hand, that he had so familiarly treated, could not snatch him, weighed down all the caresses, all the solicitations of the King, and he departed, loaded with the rewards of Philip's munificence, and penetrated with the proofs of his complacency and indulgence. He left many portraits and some historical pieces in the Royal collection, but most of them perished at the Pardo.
As the elder
Coello
supplied the loss of
Antonio Moro
in the list of Philip's painters, so that of
El Mudo
was filled by
Luqueto,
or
Lucas Cambiaso,
or according to Spanish orthography
Cangiaso,
of Genoa, one of the most celebrated painters of his time: His principal work at the Escorial is the roof of the choir, for which it is recorded that he received the sum of 12,000 ducats; a work of infinite labour, consisting of a vast multitude of the blest, received into heaven, with a great host of angels surrounding the holy Trinity, placed in the center of the groupe: The disposition of these figures is void of all grace or art as to picturesque effect, being seated regularly upon benches one behind the other, a direct counterpart of the reverend Fathers below: The whole composition presents to the spectator's eye one living range of heads, amongst these the painter has taken the liberty of introducing his own and that of his friend
Fra. Antonio de Villacartin.
Considering it as a pavement of faces, worked by the square yard,
Lucas Cangiaso
has executed his commission like an able and honest mechanic; the honour of the design is due to certain Theologians of the time, who, regarding the beauty of effect with pious contempt, considered only how to dispose the assembly in decent form and order, most resembling, as I before observed, the congregation of the monks in the choir. King Charles the IId would have engaged
Luca de Jordano
to undertake the re-painting it to dispose it after his own fancy and design; but that painter excused himself from the task, probably for other reasons than the respect he pretended to entertain for the merit and superior excellence of the original.
Lucas Cangiaso
was accompanied out of Italy by
Lazaro Tabaron
and his brother
Horatio Cangiaso,
on whom Philip settled proportionable appointments.
Lucas
died at the Escorial much enriched by the munificence of the King, by whom he was highly favoured.
Mateo Perez de Alesio,
a Roman by birth, was amongst the many eminent foreigners, that migrated into Spain during the reign of Philip, though I do not find that he came thither by invitation of the King, or that he executed any thing at the Escorial: His great work was a magnificent fresco on the subject of St. Christopher in the cathedral of Seville, which those, who have visited that church, speak of with rapture. It will be sufficient for me to observe of this artist (whose history authors of better information have already recorded) that after abiding some time in Spain, where he was held in universal estimation, he departed for Italy, candidly declaring, that a country in possession of so great a living master as
Luis de Vargas,
then residing at Seville, of which place he was native, could not be benefited by his talents, nor needed his assistance; and so high was the opinion he conceived of
Vargas
's superior merits, that one day, whilst he was contemplating a picture by that artist of Adam and Eve, and observing upon the masterly foreshortening of some of the parts,
that single limb,
said he, pointing to the leg of Adam,
is more worth than my whole Saint Christopher;
alluding to the great fresco painting above-mentioned: On which artist of the two this testimony reflects most honour I leave with the reader to determine.
Federico Zucaro
is well known to all, who are conversant in the histories of the Italian masters; the dissatisfaction that his performances in Spain gave to Philip is no less notorious; insomuch that his works were removed out of the Escorial by order of that King, and his fresco paintings in the cloyster replaced by others of
Peregrino Tibaldi.
Whether Philip's expectations were raised too high by the report his emissaries in Italy had made of
Zucaro
's talents, or whether the vanity of the man disgusted him, which might well be the case, so it was, that of all the artists employed at the Escorial, he alone fell short in execution and failed of success. At the same time, that Philip dismissed him from his service, he compensated him in so princely a manner for his undertaking, that I am inclined to think upon the evidence of some letters, which passed between the King and his ambassador at Rome
Don Juan de Zuniga
and the
Conde de Olivares,
that the payments made to
Zucaro
were larger, than to any other painter, which came into Spain; but however he might profit in respect of interest, he certainly was a considerable loser in point of reputation by his adventure:
Sen̄ or,
says
Zucaro,
as he was displaying a painting of the Nativity for the great altar at the Escorial,
you now behold all that art can execute; beyond this, which I have done, the powers of painting cannot go:
The King was silent for a time, and so unmoved, that neither approbation nor contempt could be determined from the expression of his countenance; at last, preserving still the same indifference, he asked if those were eggs, which one of the shepherds, in the act of running, carried in his basket; the painter answered him they were:
'Tis well he did not break them,
said the King, and turned away; the picture was dismissed. Upon another occasion, when Philip expressed his dissatisfaction with a composition
Zucaro
had made upon the subject of the Visitation, he excused himself by saying it was painted by his scholars; Philip desired him to paint the same subject with his own hand; he did so, and the second work fell short of the first, and Philip remained still more dissatisfied than before. At length he gave him his dismission, paying him, as I before observed, with an extraordinary munificence.
Antonio El Obrero,
who had been instrumental in recommending him to the King, kissed his Majesty's hand on the occasion, and returned him thanks for his extraordinary bounty to
Zucaro: It is not Zucaro, replied the King, that is in
fault, the blame is their's, who recommended him. Peregrin Tibaldi,
or
Peregrin of Bologna,
was a copyist of the grand stile of
Michael Angelo,
and, as
Palomino
informs us, his scholar; but according to the testimony of
Zanoti,
whose authority is to be preferred, he studied under
Bagnacabalo.
Philip sent for him to paint the lower cloyster of the Escorial in fresco, having expunged the unsuccessful attempts of
Zucaro; Peregrino
acquitted himself of this invidious task to the entire satisfaction of his royal employer; the figures are models of correctness, and drawn in a free and masterly stile, with great attention to truth and nature: In these paintings he has treated the subjects of the Purification, the Flight into Egypt, the Slaughter of the Innocents, Christ in the Temple, the Temptations in the Wilderness, the Election of the Apostles, the Resurrection of Lazarus, the Expulsion of the Money-changers out of the Temple and the various passages of the Passion and Resurrection of the Saviour, with other subjects of sacred history. The cloyster is of the conventual sort, sad and gloomy, and neither very spacious nor lofty; it was, when I saw it, very uncleanly, and I found it in the same condition upon repeated visits: The frescos have received great injury, not only from time and climate, but from actual violence and notorious want of care; their effect in my opinion is by no means pleasing, whether owing to the cause above-mentioned, or the dry harsh uniformity of the colouring, of a red and bricky hue, unrelieved by any accompaniment, or compartment, and the sizes disproportionate to the cloyster, which as I before observed is neither lofty nor wide: I have no doubt they would make a conspicuous figure as engravings, and the date of their existence might be thereby prolonged; but that I conceive will reach its final period without reprieve of this, or any other sort. Several paintings of
Peregrino
are to be seen in the great church, particularly a St. Michael with the Fall of the Angels, a Martyrdom of San Lorenzo and two very grand compositions of the Nativity and Adoration, which he executed to replace those of
Zucaro
on the same subjects, which Philip had rejected: The paintings in the Sagrario are by
Peregrino
on the subject of Abraham and Melchisedech; but what above all things else establishes his reputation in Spain is the cieling of the Library: In this composition the painter has personified the Arts and Sciences in different compartments; the four Doctors of the church, with several eminent antient philosophers, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Seneca, accompanied with all their proper attributes and insignia, interspersed with many beautiful groupes of children and figures in the nude, supporting the cornice and festoons, in various postures and foreshortenings of grand force and expression in the stile of
Michael Angelo,
in perfect drawing and admirable perspective.
Peregrino
was liberally rewarded by Philip and returning to Italy died at Milan in 1600, aged 73 years.
In the same year died
Romuh Cincinnato
the Florentine; he also was one of Philip's painters, and contributed to illuminate this aera of arts and sciences by a residence of many years in Spain, during which he made many excellent paintings, particularly in fresco, not only in the Escorial, but also at Guadalaxara in the palace of the Duque del Infantado, a grandee of an illustrious family. In the Escorial part of the great cloyster is painted by
Romulo Cincinnato;
in the church there are several of his paintings, particularly one of San Geronimo reading, and another of the same Saint, dictating to his disciples, and in the choir two fresco paintings, taken from passages in the life of San Lorenzo; also a picture in the chapel of San Mauricio, appertaining to that church: In the Jesuits' church at Cuenca there is a Circumcision of his painting greatly celebrated, particularly for the admirable effect in the foreshortening of one of the figures, which is represented with his back turned to the spectator; of this he was so conscious, that he is reported to have declared that he prized one limb of this figure above all his paintings in the Escorial. He died in the year 1600 in an advanced age universally esteemed and lamented.
In this year
Caesar Arbasia
came into Spain upon the invitation of
Pablo de Cespedes
canon of Cordova, with whom he had formed an intimacy at Rome: He remained in Cordova long enough to paint the cieling of the cathedral and returned into Italy.
Bartolome de Carducho
accompanied his master
Zucaro
into Spain and was employed in the Escorial: He was a native of Florence and of great eminence in his art; he was concerned with
Peregrin de Bolonia
in painting the famous cieling of the library; the figures of Aristotle, Euclid, Archimedes and Cicero are his, and do him high honour both for their execution and design: Part of the fresco in the cloysters is of his painting, and gave entire satisfaction to Philip, who rewarded him with two hundred ducats over and above his salary, and when
Carducho
was invited into France by order of his most Christian Majesty, Philip exprest such regret at the proposal of his departure, that he excused himself to the French Ambassador
n the handsomest manner he could, and continued in Spain. There is no doubt but
Carducho
passed some time at Valladolid, where several of his pictures are remaining; he painted also some pictures for the palace of Madrid, particularly one of the Last Supper, and another on the subject of the Circumcision, which is an excellent performance; but the picture, which of all others establishes his reputation in Spain, is a Descent from the Cross, which now hangs in a small chapel near the side door of the church of San Phelipe el Real in Madrid; a piece of such superior execution, that it may well be taken for one of
Raphael
's. In the church of San Geronimo in the second chapel on the right hand there is an excellent figure of San Francisco, the seraphic Patriarch, in which according to custom he is represented wounded; there is also in the chapel of the old palace at Segovia a very respectable composition of this painter on the subject of the Adoration of the Magi, and another over it with the supposed representation of the
Padre Eterno. Carducho
continued in Spain several years after the death of Philip the second, and was appointed by the succeeding King Philip the third to paint a gallery in the palace of the Pardo; the subject was to be taken from the life and actions of the Emperor Charles:
Carducho
begun the work, but died at the Pardo, aged 50 years, before he had made any great progress in the completion of it. His brother
Vicencio,
who had studied with him, undertook to finish the gallery, which he did, but took the history of Achilles instead of that of Charles the Vth.
Bartolome Carducho
was not only an eminent painter, but a statuary and architect; he was also a man of an exemplary character, patient and content with a little, a hard student and exceedingly industrious in his profession: He was much in favour with Philip the IId and his son, but he does not appear to have shared much of their liberality, though we hear of a gratuity from Philip the IId, of which I have already taken notice. He died in the year 1610.
I have now enumerated the most eminent painters employed by Philip the IId in the Royal monastery of San Lorenzo; it remains to say something of the contemporary artists, who were not engaged in his service at the Escorial; and of these one of the first in time and of the most distinguished in point of merit was the celebrated
Blas de Prado,
a Castilian, born in the neighbourhood of Toledo, and educated in the academy of
Berruguete.
Some of his paintings are to be found in the city of Toledo, particularly in the chapel dedicated to San Blas, but in general they have suffered great injury by length of time and unfavourable exposures; in the churches and convents at Madrid I have been shewn some compositions of
Blas de Prado,
particularly in the parish church of San Pedro a Descent from the Cross, which is evidently the work of a great master. In the early part of his life, he passed into Africa upon the solicitation of the Emperor of Morocco to take a portrait of his daughter, and passed some time at that court in high favour; returning into Spain much enriched by his expedition
Blas de Prado
died at the age of 60 in the year 1557 in the city of Madrid.
Sofonisba Angusciola
of Cremona, with her three sisters, passed some years in Spain in the houshold of Queen Isabella: I have seen a letter written by
Sofonisba
to Pope Pius the fourth, dated from Madrid the 17th of September 1561, transmitting a portrait of the Queen above mentioned, the receipt of which his Holiness acknowledges by an answer from Rome of the 15th day of the succeeding month, highly extolling her performance, and assuring her that he has placed it amongst his most select pictures, expressing at the same time much paternal affection for the illustrious lady, which it so exactly represents.
Palomino
thinks, that
Sofonisba
died at Madrid in 1575, aged somewhat more than fifty years; this circumstance he mentions doubtfully, but perhaps it is cleared up by
Vasari,
whose account of her I have not read. These examples will serve to shew that the fair sex had their share of fame at this illustrious aera of the arts; the religious orders also subscribed to the national stock of genius many eminent names; in particular Father
Nicolas Fattor,
a Franciscan monk, born in the city of Valencia;
Pablo de Cespedes
of Cordova, a dignitary in that church, Father
Francisco Galeas,
of the order of Carthusians, a native of Seville, and Father
Juan de la Miseria,
a Carmelite friar, by birth a Neapolitan; of these
Cespedes
was the most eminent, a man of such diffusive talents, that there is scarce a branch of literature in which he was not profoundly versed: He had a deep knowledge of the oriental and classic languages, and spoke several of the living ones: He composed many works, which his modesty withheld from the world, and some, that he published: Amongst the latter is a treatise on the antiquities of his church, proving it to have been a temple of Janus, and explaining many emblems and inscriptions in proof of his position. In the art of painting, whether in respect of theory or practice,
Cespedes
holds his rank with the very first names Spain has to boast of; in pursuit of this study he went twice to Rome, and formed his stile upon the model of the great
Michael Angelo,
not in painting only, but in architecture and sculpture also; in both which, by the happy fertility of his genius, he acquired great fame. It was his practice to model the heads of his principal figures, when he was engaged in any great historical composition, and several of these are yet to be found in his native city of Cordova. When he was at Rome he supplied a head to a famous antique trunk of his countryman Seneca in white marble, and acquitted himself so happily in this arduous undertaking, that he was generally thought to have excelled the original, and, in testimony of his triumph, the Romans caused to be engraved upon it the following words
—Victor it Spagnuolo.
He composed a treatise, in which he compares the antient and modern art and practice of painting: His contemporaries speak of this work in high strains, but it is unfortunately lost to the world, together with one in verse on the general subject of painting; for the talents of this extraordinary man, amidst the circle of arts and sciences, which they embraced, are reported to have excelled in that of poetry.
Cespedes
composed several pictures during his residence at Rome, and in the church of the Holy Trinity he was employed amongst the principal artists of the time, and left there some paintings in fresco of distinguished excellence: Amongst these artists
Federico Zucaro
was engaged, with whom
Cespedes
formed an intimate and lasting friendship; as I have been led to give some instances of
Zucaro
's vanity on a former occasion, I am more happy in recording, to the credit of his candour and modesty, that, when he was applied to by the Bishop and Chapter of Cordova for a painting of Santa Margarita, to be affixed to the high altar of the cathedral, he peremptorily declined the commission, giving for answer, that while
Pablo de Cespedes
was in Spain, there would be no occasion to send into Italy for pictures: Though the works of
Cespedes
are dispersed in Seville and the cities of Andalusia, it is in Cordova, that we must expect to find his principal performances, particularly his famous composition of the Last Supper in the high church:
Palomino
gives this picture great commendation for the nice discrimination of characters in Christ and his disciples, and relates a circumstance of the disgust, which
Cespedes
conceived from the silly adoration of some of his countrymen, who were so enchanted with the execution of some vases and jars of porcelain introduced into the piece, that they totally overlooked the superior parts of the composition, and, this being repeated upon several visits by the mob of spectators, which the fame of so great a work drew together, it angered him to that degree, that he would have proceeded to strike out all these subservient ornaments from his piece, is he had not been diverted from his purpose by the intreaties of his friends and the submission of these false and contemptible admirers. As a colourist, Spain never produced a painter superior to
Cespedes:
In anatomy, drawing and perspective he was peculiarly correct: His angels in the Martyrdom of Santa Catalina, a picture which he painted for the late Jesuits' college at Cordova, are touched with all the colouring and effect of
Coregio,
whom he much resembled in those particulars. This great man is no less celebrated for his extraordinary virtue, modesty and humility, than for the variety and extent of his genius; he died at Cordova in 1608, being turned of seventy, and is interred in the cathedral under a stone, on which the following words are engraved, viz.
Paulus de Cespedes, hujus almae ecclesiae Porcionarius. Picturae, sculpturae, architecturae, omniumque bonarum artium, variarumque linguarum peritissimus, hic situs est, obiit anno Dom. MDCVIII. septimo Kalendas Sextilis.
Of the other religious artists before mentioned Father
Nicolas Fattor
died in the year 1588, after being admitted to a conversation in person with our Lady of Atocha:
Francisco Galeas
died in 1614, and
Juan de la Miseria
two years after him: This last-mentioned person travelled into Spain, as a hermit, to visit the tomb of the holy apostle Saint James, and, coming afterwards to Madrid, was taken into protection of the court, and received into the house of
Alonso Sanchez Coello,
painter and favourite of Philip the IId, with whom he studied several years, and painted many excellent pictures, chiefly portraits; amongst these one, which he was admitted to draw of the person of Santa Teresa the nun, by which he gained great reputation; and another of the most blessed Virgin, with which he is said to have performed many miracles.
Luis de Vargas
was one of the greatest painters of the sixteenth century; he was born in Seville, and studied painting in Italy, as well as in his own country; he returned to Seville, after seven years residence at Rome, and, finding himself excelled in his art by
Antonio Florez
and
Pedro Campana,
he returned without delay back to Rome, and, after serving another apprenticeship of seven years to his art, returned so compleat a master, that the famous
Perez de Alesio,
contemplating his picture of our First Parents in the cathedral of Seville, exclaimed in rapture at the performance, that one limb of the Adam of
de Vargas
was worth more than the whole composition of his colossal Saint Christopher; and, returning into Italy soon after, gave that remarkable testimony of his own candour and the merit of
de Vargas,
of which we have before taken notice.
There are several paintings by
de Vargas
in the famous cathedral of Seville, particularly in the tower, which was his last work.
Luis de Vargas
was not less remarkable for his devotion, than for his talents, and, following the example of the great emperor Charles, he used at his private hours to deposit himself in a coffin, which he kept in his closet, and in that posture pursue his meditation upon death: This event, for which he used such edifying preparation, took place in the year 1590.
In endeavouring to apportion their due degrees of merit to the several Spanish painters of this aera, so fruitful in arts, I sensibly feel the insufficiency of description, and have more than once desisted from my work in despair of giving any thing to the world worth its notice and acceptance. The description of a picture, like that of a battle, rarely brings its object before the reader, though it be ever so scientifically executed: I know no method of speaking intelligibly on the subject of any particular Spanish painter, whose name and character are unknown to the rest of Europe, except by comparing him with some artist of general notoriety; and yet Spain has produced some, whose manner is so much their own, that it will not be illustrated by any known comparison; of this sort was the great artist whom I am next to mention,
Juan Baua . Juanes,
a native of Valencia; a man, whose celebrity would rank with that of the first artists of the age of Leo X, if his works laid in the track of travellers, or by happy emancipation could be set at liberty, and made to circulate through the cabinets of Europe.
Juanes,
like
Morales,
selected his subjects, without an instance to the contrary, from the most sacred passages of revelation; but his life, unlike that of
Morales,
was in unison with the purity and austerity of his taste; prepared by confession and fasting, he first approached the altar before he visited the easel; painting with him was an act of piety and devotion: The characters, which filled his canvass, were of the holiest sort, and, as he gave them life, he gave them adoration: As the exercise of his art was in him an office of devotion, so his moderation kept him from engaging in any private commissions with a view to gain; and I am inclined to doubt if any picture of
Juanes
is at this hour in lay possession: Both
Pacheco,
and
Laurentio Surio
give him high encomiums; these he most unquestionably merits, but credulity will never go such lengths upon their authority, or that of
Palomino,
as to rank him not only before
Morales,
but above
Rafael
himself: As there is much to be ascribed to national prejudice, so there is something to be excused in it: Certain it is, the pictures of
Juanes
are finished with astonishing truth, colouring and beauty; though they are laboured to a minuteness, that lets not even a hair escape, still their force is unimpaired, and the sublimity of design suffers no prejudice by the delicacy of its execution; as every work is the work of the heart, nothing is neglected or left, every figure is laboured into life, and the labour is the labour of love, not the task of the hireling: It is greatly to be lamented, that these precious remains are shut in the convents of Valencia, without any hope of delivery and that free display, of which the mortmain of superstition seems for ever to deprive them. In the sacristy of the church of
San Pedro
in Valencia there will be found a Christ by
Juanes,
a San Sebastian and a San Francisco de Paula in the convent of the last-named order: In the chapel of San Francisco de Borja there is a Santa Ines, and in the chapel of Santo Thomas de Villanueva, belonging to the Augustine monks of San Julian, there are three grand compositions by this master; that in the middle on the subject of the Nativity, with the Martyrdom of Santa Ines on one side and the Burial of a devout priest of that chapel, named
Moses Bauta. Agnesio
on the other side. As soon as you enter the cathedral of Valencia, on your left hand hangs a picture of the Baptism of Christ in the river Jordan by this artist; he has introduced the persons of some Saints, present at this scene, by privileged anachronism; as
Rafael
has done in his famous Madona del Pez in the Escorial: This composition of
Juanes
is entirely in the stile of the great master above-mentioned; the heads are excellent, the expression just and natural, and the execution delicate in the highest degree; the glory above, with the Padre eterno and the groupe of Seraphim is managed with infinite art and effect. That
Juanes
was a copyist of
Rafael
appears from the example of a Holy Family, painted by him, now in the cathedral of Valencia, in which the Nino Jesus is an exact transcript of that in
Rafael
's Madona del Pez, but touched with all the spirit of an original; many other paintings of
Juanes
will be found in Valencia; but care must be taken to distinguish his true pictures, as several of his scholars have passed their works under his name; that, for which he is chiefly celebrated, is his composition on the subject of the Immaculate Conception in the late college of the Jesuits in that city; this picture is the object of general veneration, and by the devout and credulous considered as an actual original, or very little removed from an original; for the tradition runs, that it was painted by the order of Father
Martin Alberto,
to whom the blessed Virgin condescended to appear on the eve of the Assumption, and required the holy Father to cause her portrait to be taken in the dress she then wore, which was a white frock, or tunic, with a blue cloak, together with the following accompaniments, viz. at her feet the moon, over head the Padre eterno and her most blessed Son, in the act of placing a crown on her head, with the Holy Ghost, in the form of a dove, hovering over the groupe.
Alberto,
who was all obedience to the sacred visitor, communicated to
Juanes
the honourable office of fulfilling the commands, which he himself was unable to execute: the devout painter sate to work with extraordinary preparations for the task, and, having sketched a groupe after the description of
Alberto,
presented it to the Father for his opinion; the first design being found imperfect and unlike,
Juanes
was incited to address himself to the undertaking with fresh and more elaborate acts of penitence and contrition; no austerities deterred
Juanes;
whilst the Father assisted him with his prayers the work succeeded, for every touch was sanctified, and his pencil, like a sword blest and made invincible by the Pope, never missed its stroke. Some intervals there were, in which the work stood still, and then the painter would sit looking and pondering on his canvass, till the happy inspiration seized him and the prayers of Father
Alberto
gave him fortitude and vigour to resume the task.
Pacheco
relates an anecdote so much to the credit of the parties concerned, that it would be wrong to omit it; which is, that the pious
Juanes,
being one day seated on a scaffold at work upon the upper parts of this picture, the frame gave way, and the painter, being in the act of falling, the holy personage, whose portrait he had finished, stept suddenly forward out of the canvass, and, seizing his hand, preserved him from the fall: This being done, and
Juanes
safe landed on the floor, the gracious Lady with all possible composure returned to her post, and has continued there ever since, dispensing her favours to her supplicants and worshippers, and is universally believed, upon the testimony of
Alberto,
to be an exact counterpart of the original; and indeed, if we admit the circumstance of the rescue, I do not see how we can dispute the likeness, which I should guess, from the same circumstance, had not erred on the unfavourable side: With legends of this sort
Pacheco
's book is filled; a specimen or two will serve to shew the credulity and superstition of the time: I shall give this very sparingly, and I hope without offence to the opinions of any reasonable man. This great artist died in 1579, in the town of Bocairente in Valencia, after having painted the great altar of that church, which was his last work. In the year 1581 his body was removed agreeable to his last will and testament to the parish church of Santa Cruz in Valencia from that of Bocairente attended by a considerable train of secular priests and others. Reduced by religious austerities and mortifications, he died at the age of fifty-six years: By his piety he merited a place in the calendar of Saints, by his genius a name amongst the first class of his art; high in the school of
Rafael
at least, if not on a level with the great master himself.
Juan Labrador
a Spaniard, was a scholar of the
Divino Morales
and the best painter of fruits and flowers and of still-life in general, that Spain ever produced; he died in 1600 at Madrid at a very advanced age.
Juan Pantoia de la Cruz
was born in Madrid, and studied under the celebrated
Alonso Sanchez Coello,
whom he succeeded as painter of the chamber to Philip the IId; he chiefly excelled in portraits and died in 1610.
I have now nearly enumerated the principal artists, who flourished in Spain during the reign of Philip the second; that prince died in September 1598, at his favourite monastery of San Lorenzo in the most deplorable and loathsome state of misery, to which human nature can be reduced before its actual dissolution: It must be acknowledged he was a liberal protector of the arts; the great work of the Escorial, in which his pride and superstition engaged him, gave occupation and display to many eminent men: The genius; which this encouragement called up, appears to have lost none of its force during the reign of his son and successor Philip the IIId. Artists of distinguished abilities will be found in this period.
Bartolome Gonzalez,
a native of Valladolid and a disciple of
Patricio Caxes,
came to Madrid in 1606, and was made King's painter upon his arrival; he made many portraits of the Austrian family for the palace of the Pardo in a very excellent stile; though he was of an advanced age, when he entered into the service of King Philip the IIId. for he died at the age of sixty-three, in the year 1611, in the city of Madrid.
Juan de Solo
and
Juan de Chisinos
were natives of Madrid, both eminent artists and both died in the year 1620. In the same year died
El Doctor Pablo de las Roellas
of Seville, and the Cartusian monk
Padre Luis Pasqual Gaudin,
born at Villafranca in Biscay; the former of these was a scholar of
Titiano
's, and left many respectable monuments of his art at Cordova and Seville.
Phelipe de Liano
was born at Madrid, was a scholar of
Alonso Sanchez Coello,
and became so famous for portraits of a small size, which he executed with such spirit, that he got the name of
El Ticiano Pequino;
he died in 1625: This year was also fatal to the famous
Patricio Caxes,
a noble Florentine, in the service of Philip the IIId. who engaged him to paint the Queen's gallery at the Pardo in fresco. The story which
Caxes
chose was that of Joseph and the wife of Potiphar, a subject not very flattering to female delicacy, but it perished with many other works of art in the lamentable fire, which consumed that palace.
Dominico Teotocopoli,
commonly called
El Greco,
flourished in this aera; there are many remains of his art, both as painter, staruary and architect in the cities of New Castile. He came so near the manner of his master
Titiano,
that many of his pictures have passed upon the world under that character; this it seems was not fame sufficient for the vanity of
Dominico;
but in his efforts at originality he has exposed himself to the ridicule of all good judges: When he departs from
Titiano,
he departs from nature and substitutes in her stead an extravagance of design, with so faulty a mode both of colouring and drawing, that he is no longer the same master: Of this sort are his paintings in the convent of Donna Maria de Aragon at Madrid, and the picture which he drew for the Escorial by order of Philip the IId. on the subject of the martyrdom of San Mauricio and his companions: Philip was too good a judge not to see the extravagance of his composition, and refused it a place in his collection;
Dominico Greco
made humble suit to save the credit of his work, and it is likely was convinced of the errors, into which he had been led by an affectation of singularity, for he made some corrections; after which his picture was, with some degree of difficulty, admitted to a place, though not very conspicuous in the Sala de Capitulo; whilst
Romulo Cincinnato
was deputed in his stead to the more honourable task of painting an altar-piece for the chapel of the Saint above mentioned. In the cathedral of Toledo there are some pictures by
Dominico
in his best manner, which are admirable performances; particularly a grand composition on the parting of the raiment of our Saviour before his crucifixion, which hangs in the sacristy, and is so entirely in the stile and manner of
Titiano,
that his reputation could have suffered no injury by its adoption. In the same place are the twelve Apostles by the same master, but in an inferior stile. In the parish church of Santo Tomé is a very capital picture of
Dominico
's on the interment of
Don-Gonzalo Ruiz
of Toledo; this illustrious person, who was
Conde de Orgaz,
founded an Augustine convent under the title of San Estevan in the city of Toledo, in commemoration of which pious act
Dominico
has represented San Augustin and San Estevan in the act of placing his body in the tomb: This picture cost the Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo,
Don Gaspar de Quiroga,
two thousand ducats, a great sum in the year 1584, when it was executed at the suit of the parish priest of Santo Tomé and put up in that church, which, as well as the convent before mentioned, was founded by this noble and devout person: This picture, and that on the parting of our Saviour's raiment are the most capital performances of this author in Spain; there are various others however both at Toledo and Madrid, but chiefly at the former city, which would well repay the curiosity of a traveller: At Illescas, which is half way between the said cities, the church of the Hospital de la Caridad was designed by
Dominico,
and is, with its altars, carvings and paintings, a very respectable proof of his merit, in the several elegant arts which he professed: He was near eighty years old, when he died at Toledo in 1635, and was interred in the parish church of San Bartolomé.
Dominico Greco
was the first painter in Spain, who had the spirit to oppose the exaction of a royal tax upon the pictures painted and sold by living masters, which he litigated and obtained a favourable decree.
Diego de Romulo Cincinnato
was son and scholar of the elder
Romulo,
painter to Philip the IId; he entered into the service of
Don Fernando Enriquez de Ribera,
third Duke of Alcala, and went with him to Rome, when he was appointed ambassador extraordinary from Philip the IVth, for the purpose of doing homage to Pope Urban the VIIIth; he painted his Holiness three several times, and so much to his satisfaction, with such applause from all the artists at Rome, that he was rewarded with many handsome presents and made a Knight of Christ in Portugal, where the ceremony was performed by Cardinal
Trexo Parriagua,
a Spaniard: This was done in presence of the Duke of Alcala, his patron, in the house of the Cardinal before-mentioned, who gave him a gold chain and the medal of the order: This passed in December of the year 1625, and in the year following this ingenious artist died in the city of Rome, and was buried in the church of San Lorenzo, with all the ceremonials due to a Knight of the order and a man of so distinguished a genius. Philip the IVth of Spain had the consideration to solicit his Holiness to transfer the dignity of Knight of Christ to
Francisco
the brother of
Diego,
which was accordingly done.
Francisco
and
Juan Ribalta
were father and son, born in Valencia, and painters of such equal eminence, that it is exceedingly difficult to distinguish their respective hands; the father's pictures are however rather more finished than those of the son's, which, on their part, have the advantage in force and effect: In many of his pictures he appears to have proposed his countryman
Juanes
for his model, and sometimes paints so like his contemporary
Vicencio Carducho
the Florentine, as scarce to be distinguished from him; of this sort is his picture of the Last Supper on the high altar of the college of the Patriarch in Valencia, which, if compared with that of
Carducho
on the same subject upon the high altar of the church of the nuns of Corpus Christi in Madrid, will be found so exactly corresponding in stile and manner, that both might pass for the work of either master. One of the best works of
Ribalta
in Valencia is a dead Christ in the hall of the chapter-house of the Carmelitish convent, copied from
Sebastian del Piombo,
the original of which is in the Royal collection: In this same place are two other copies from
Piombo
of admirable execution. It is related of
Francisco Ribalta,
that, having painted a crucifixion for the Pope's nuncio in Spain, the picture was carried to Rome, and, upon being shewn to an eminent painter in that city, he immediately exclaimed
—O Divino Rafaelo!
judging it to be a capital performance of that master; upon being told of his mistake by the nuncio, he proceeded to examine it afresh with great attention, and concluded with a common Spanish proverb,
Que verdaderamente
donde yeguas hay patros nacen;
viz. Where there are mares there will be colts; importing, that all countries may at times produce extraordinary men.
Francisco Ribalta
died in Valencia in 1600, and his son in 1630; he had the honour of being the first master of
Ribera
called
Span̄ olet.
Adriano
of Cordova was a lay brother of the barefooted Carmelites; his works are few and confined to the city abovementioned; the chief composition is a crucifixion, in which he has introduced the mother of Christ, San Juan and la Magdalena, with other figures of half length, in the manner of
Rafael Sadeler,
to whom he was greatly attached; this picture is in the antichamber to the sacristy of the Carmelitish convent at Cordova, in which city
Adriano
died in the year 1630. This artist was so diffident of himself, that he used to deface or destroy his pictures, as soon as he had executed them; and so general was this practice with him, that his friends took occasion to intercede with him for the preservation of his valuable productions in the name of the souls in purgatory, knowing his attachment to the holy offices in their behalf: By this mode of exorcism, the destroying spirit, which his self-dissatisfaction had conjured up, was kept in cheek, and thanks to the souls in purgatory! some very valuable pictures were rescued from extinction by their influence and authority.
Vicencio Carducho,
a Florentine, the brother and scholar of
Bartholome Carducho,
was King's painter in the reigns of Philip the IIId and IVth: He was in singular esteem and favour with those princes and employed in many eminent works at the palace of the Pardo; the works of this master are to be found in all the cities of Castile, in Toledo, Salamanca, Segovia, Alcala and Valladolid, as well as in Madrid, where he died in 1638; this date is ascertained by the following memorandum, inscribed on a picture of San Geronimo, in the great church of Alcala de Henares
—Vincentius Carduchi Florentinus,
hic vitam non opus finin anno
1638. He died at the age of 70 years: He instructed the famous
Rizi,
who was painter to Philip the IVth and Charles the IId, and formed many other disciples in his academy.
Philip the IIId died and was succeeded in 1621 by his son Philip the IVth, a great patron of the arts, in whose time flourished men of very illustrious talents. In 1623 Charles Prince of Wales came to Madrid, upon a youthful sally of gallantry, to throw himself at the feet of the Infanta, sister of Philip, and conclude, as he believed, a treaty of marriage, which had been long in dependence and obstructed by many difficulties and delays: In this expedition he was accompanied by
Pedro Pablo Rubens
of Antwerp: This great master was then in his forty-sixth year; had concluded a long course of study in Italy, being in high estimation, upon his return to Flanders, and greatly in favour with the Archduke Albert and the Infanta Donna Isabel Clara Eugenia his spouse; he had painted several pictures by order of the Emperor and of the King of England, and had visited Paris, where, by order of Mary of Medicis, he had executed his famous paintings for the Luxembourg palace with great credit and success. Charles had an early passion for the arts, and was greatly attached to his fellow traveller; the honours, which the King of Spain lavished upon his Royal visitor with all the profuse magnificence, that Spanish gallantry could devise, extended themselves to the person of his ingenious companion. Olivares, then the minister of Spain, had splendor, and Philip was in possession of taste: Rubens was in turns caressed by both; the Royal collections of the Escorial, Pardo and Madrid opened to his view an inexhaustible magazine of arts. Mr. Horace Walpole is mistaken in thinking Rubens was in Spain, during the administration of the Duke of Lerma: This was not so. Rubens had studied
Titiano
and
Pablo Verones
at Venice with distinguishing attention; the cabinets of Philip now displayed such superb compositions of these masters, particularly of
Titiano,
as equally captivated both the painter and the Prince;
Rubens,
by order of the Catholic King, copied the Europa, the Baths of Diana, and several other pictures of
Titiano,
which Charles had particularly admired; when these copies were finished, it was expected, that Philip should present them to the Prince of Wales, and the compliment would surely have been a worthy one both to Charles and to his favourite artist; but the generosity of Philip meditated greater lengths, and in truth it scarce knew any bounds towards his princely guest: He retained to himself the copies and sent to Charles the originals. It is proper in this place to observe, that these valuable originals returned again to the possession of the King of Spain, when Charles, by the instigation of Buckingham, made occasion to dissolve his engagements with the Infanta: to reject the sister and yet to retain the presents of the Catholic monarch would have been a conduct irreconcileable to the spirit and principles of Charles; though his attachment to the arts was as ardent as any man's, he had the sentiments of a gentleman and pride of honour superior even to his love of the art of painting. In the event of things it has come to pass, that Charles, instead of taking from the Royal stock in Spain, has been the means of some additions to it of the highest value. Charles, having taken his departure for England, and the high punctilio of the Spanish monarch having supported ifself to the latest moment of his abode, by erecting a pillar on the spot, where they parted,
Rubens
at the same time returned to Flanders; and Philip, having now compleated his hunting-seat of the Torre de la Prada, in the neighbourhood of Madrid, applied to that artist for several pictures in character with the palace, with exact descriptions of the sizes of the canvasses and the rooms and positions in which they were to be hung; all these were executed by
Rubens,
and transmitted to the King, who highly approved of them: many of the dogs and other animals in these hunting-pieces were put in by his scholars
Azneira
and
Pedro de Vos,
who excelled in that branch of the art. About this time the
Conde Duque de Olivares,
Philip's minister, had compleated his foundation of a convent of barefooted Carmelites, at the little town of Loeches, in the neighbourhood of Madrid, now belonging to his Excellency the
Duque de Alba.
Philip, to do a grace to his favourite and to make a merit with the religious of that order, commissioned Rubens for some pictures, which he executed in his grandest stile, and richest glow of colours: Two of these, which flank the altar, are of considerable dimensions, and, in point of execution, not to be exceeded by any of the master; the first is an allegorical composition on the Triumph of Religion, which he has personified and habited very gracefully: This figure is seated in a superb triumphal carr, drawn by four angels, with others in attendance, bearing the cross and other symbols, properly in character; four figures, that express the various characters of Infidelity, or Ignorance, over which Religion is supposed to triumph, follow the carr, like slaves or captives, bound with chains; whilst the piece is crowned with beautiful cherubims, that hover over the groupe, with chaplets of various descriptions in their hands, disposed with singular art and astonishing effect: The other, which companions it in size, is the Interview of Abraham and Melchisedech, who offers him bread and the tenth of the spoils; in the drapery of the priests, and the armour of the soldiers,
Rubens
has exhausted every resource, that his fund of colouring could supply; there are two other pictures in this small but precious collection of the same author, and of equal size and excellence with the above, that cannot be passed over in silence; they hang in the choir, that on the lefthand represents the four Doctors of the church with Santo Thomas, San Buenaventura and Santa Clara; its companion on the opposite side represents the Four Evangelists, with their proper emblems, compositions of unspeakable majesty and expression: The original sketch of this latter piece is preserved in the Sitio of the Buen Retiro, that of the Doctors in the palace of Madrid. It is painful to observe, that these magnificent performances are suffering daily for want of new straining and the obvious repairs, which, if not speedily applied, these monuments of art will be in ruin: In the nave of the church there are two other large compositions by Rubens, the one of Elias and the Angel comforting him in the desart, the other of the Israelites gathering manna; the fcenery in both these pictures is uncommonly beautiful, so is the sky in the latter: The drapery of Elias is finely disposed; but, as the painter has neglected to dreis the Prophet in the habit of a Carmelite, the holy Fathers, who claim him as the founder of their order, are not a little scandalized by the omission. I cannot inform myself upon what proofs these rigid devotees carry up the pedigree of their order to the asoresaid prophet; but, whatever, flaws a scrupulous enquirer might find in their title, this I am sure of, that the strength of their faith can make up for the weakness of the authority: The Angel in this piece is coloured to a miracle, and, as the Fathers do not claim to derive from him, there is no exception to the habit, which the painter has thought fit to give him. The figures in these pieces are above natural size.
The three great kingdoms of Europe (Spain, France and England) were at this time governed by the ministers Olivares, Richelieu and Buckingham; it was the reign of favourites: Buckingham, who had more caprice and less genius than either of his contemporaries, had nevertheless contracted a great esteem for
Rubens,
during their expedition to Madrid; this was not directed to his professional talents, but to those qualities and good conduct, which undoubtedly he had, and which Buckingham sagaciously enough determined to call forth, when any great occasion should present itself: Such was now in view; Buckingham was at Paris, negociating a marriage between Charles, who had lately succeeded to the throne, and the princess Mary, whom that prince had seen at Paris in his way to Spain, and of whose beauty and attractions we have such striking testimonials under the hand of
Vandyke.
Though Buckingham at Madrid had wantonly avowed eternal enmity to the minister of Spain, he now entered upon a correspondence with
Rubens
on the means of reconciling the kingdoms, and this produced the second visit, which that artist paid to Madrid in quality of ambassador extraordinary from the court of Brussels in the year 1628. He staid nine months in Madrid on this negociation, and, being at times confined to his chamber by the gout in his feet, he took the opportunity of working at his easel; in which time he compleated eight grand pictures for the great saloon of the palace, of which his famous Rape of the Sabines was one, and also his Battle of the Romans and the Sabines. In this period, such was the rapidity of his pencil, that he took five several portraits of King Philip, one of which is equestrian and grouped with several other figures; a magnificent performance, and for which he received a magnificent reward, with the honour of knighthood, of naturalization and the golden key, as gentleman of the chamber. He painted the Infanta a half-length, and the King of the same size by commission from the Arch-duchess Isabella; he made five or six other portraits of illustrious persons.
Superior to the little vain punctilios of his art, he returned with ardour to his task of copying the most capital works of
Titiano
in the royal possession, such as the Venus and Adonis, the Venus and Cupid, the Adam and Eve and many others, with several portraits, particularly of the Landgrave, the Duke of Saxony and the great Alva; he made a considerable addition to his grand composition on the Adoration of the Magi, which now holds so conspicuous a place in the Madrid collection; of all the crown of Spain possesses of the works of this eminent master, this picture of the Adoration appears to me the most superb and brilliant; and his dead Christ in the Sala del Capitulo of the Escorial the most touching and expressive: I have never yet sound any picture, that speaks so strongly to the passions as this last: Amongst the capital performances of
Rafael, Titiano
and others, this composition has attracted, and will probably continue to attract little notice or applause, but I am bold to believe every spectator, who shall review this wonderful collection with independent taste and determination not to be told what he is to feel, and where he is to admire, and will stop a while to contemplate the tragic spectacle of a mangled Saviour, surrounded by a groupe of such mourners, as seem to feel a sorrow, like the object, which creates it, more than human, will own with me that
Rubens
in this affecting piece has touched the passions with something more than a painter's, with a poet's hand. Contemplating this picture, I could not help calling to mind the bitterness of
Mengs'
criticism, when he is comparing
Rubens'
copy of
Titiano
to a Dutch translation of an elegant author; and in this train of thinking I could not avoid drawing a comparison in my mind between the piece before me and that, which
Mengs
himself has composed on the like subject: The scene is the same, the actors the same, and the catastrophe not to be diversified: But with
Mengs
all is lifeless, cold and flat; methodized by art and measured by rule; the groupe of an academy, sitters for attitudes and hirelings for sorrow; the dead body of the Christ is laid out and in like manner exposed to view in the one case as in the other, but what a contrast!
Mengs
has indeed laboured hard to make a beautiful corpse; he has rounded the muscles, and polished the skin, and given it such a hue, that it ceases to be flesh, and is a shining waxen figure with no trace of pain or sufferings past; look upon the other, and you contemplate, as it should seem, the very person,
who himself bore our sorrows on the tree, by whose stripes we are healed:
Yet
Mengs
is the author, whom courtly prejudice has put above comparison in Spain, whom not to admire is treason against state, and whose worship is become canonical, a part almost of the orthodox idolatry of their religion:
Mengs
is the critic, who, professedly treating of the collection of pictures in the palace at Madrid, can afford no commendation or description of
Reubens
's capital picture of the Adoration and records his name apparently with no other view but to make a needless sacrifice of it to that of
Titiano,
whom it seems he had had the temerity to copy.
It is hardly to be believed, that
Rubens
during these nine months finished several other considerable pictures, particularly his Martyrdom of the apostle San Andres, which now makes the altar-piece of the Flemish chapel, an enchanting composition. I have related that he arrived in Spain in the year 1628; on the 26th of April in the year following he took his departure, not without many distinguishing tokens of favour from his Catholic Majesty, by whose order the Conde Duque de Olivares presented
Rubens
with a ring worth two thousand ducats; he was also made secretary to the privy council at the court of Brussels for his life, with the succession to his son Alberto, a very considerable benefice. Having now attended him to the time of his leaving Spain, I shall commit him for the remainder of his career to his more professed biographers, observing only, that he formed a sriendship in Madrid with the great Spanish painter
Diego Velazquez de Silva,
which friendship was continued by a correspondence, that lasted many years.
Juan del Castillo
of Seville was a painter of eminence and in great repute as a master and instructor in the art; he had the double honour of being disciple of
Luis de Vargas,
and teacher of
Bartolome Murillo;
the famous
Alonso Cano,
and
Pedro de Moya
were likewise his scholars: He died at Cadiz, aged 56, in the year 1640.
At this period of time, under the fostering auspices of Philip the fourth, such a host of artists present themselves to my view, that, whilst I perceive the impracticability of recording all, I feel repugnance at omitting any; as I would not willingly present to the public a mere catalogue of painters and their works, so neither would I strain the truth of circumstances by endeavouring at variety. In this dilemma therefore I have judged it best to select some of the most eminent, and pass over the less interesting in silence; amongst the former
Eugenio Caxes
undoubtedly deserves a place, if it were only that he was found worthy to be of the list of King's painters, and to enter into competition with the celebrated
Velazquez
in the branches both of historical and portrait painting: Though he was a native of Madrid, yet his father
Patricio,
by whom he was educated in his art, was a Florentine: Philip the fourth sate in person to
Eugenio,
but what became of the picture, or whether it is in existence, I have not been able to discover; it was his fate, with many others, to be eclipsed by the superior lustre of
Velazquez
's talents, and from the time that artist entered into the royal service and employ,
Eugenio
principally employed his talents in painting for the convents and churches, who, in emulation of the court, held forth a very liberal encouragement to the arts: The convent of San Phelipe in the city of Madrid contained the chief collection of this master's works, where they perished by fire together with the convent itself in 1718: He was jointly engaged with
Vicencio Carducho
in the frescos of the Pardo, where the like fatal accident again consumed his labours with many others equally to be lamented: He died in 1642, at the age of sixty-five.
In the same year died
Pedro Orrente,
by others called
Pedro Rente,
born in Murcia, and Familiar of the Inquisition in that city, a disciple of
Bassan,
and protected by the minister Olivares, who employed him in the paintings, then collecting at the palace of the Buen Retiro: Many of his works are to be found in Valencia and Cordova, and some at Toledo, particularly a Santa Leocadia coming out of the sepulchre, over the door of the sacristy of the cathedral, and in the chapel de los Reyes nuevos belonging to the said church a Nativity, which companions an Adoration of the Magi by
Caxes
before-mentioned; both which are excellent compositions and finely executed: He coloured in the stile of his master, but in his choice of nature did not imitate his vulgarity of taste; in correctness of drawing he has been rarely exceeded: He was buried in the parish church of San Bartolome at Toledo, in which he died far advanced in years, and is deservedly to be numbered amongst the most eminent Spaniards of his profession.
Francisco Fernandez
and
Alonso
Vazquez,
were the favourite disciples, the one of
Carducho
and the other of the celebrated
Luis d
Vargas: Vazquez
was a native o
Ronda, and practised his art it the city of Seville: His figures in the nude are drawn with grea
truth and anatomical skill; they are slight and sketch-like, bu
executed with effect and force
whilst he was painting in Seville
Francisco Pacheco
(from whos
treatise some of these anecdote
are drawn) was keeping an academy in that city, with great reputation and success;
Velazquez,
wh
afterwards rose to such high honours and favour with his King
was a disciple of
Pacheco
's at thi
time,
Vazquez
and
Pacheco
wer
rival artists and painted some pictures professedly in competition for the cathedral of the convent of barefooted Carmelites, and other places; the manner of
Pacheco,
though learned and correct, was harsh and dry in the extreme, so that
Vazquez
was much the more popular painter of the two; and young
Velazquez,
who about this time married
Pacheco
's daughter, did not think fit to espouse his taste and formed himself upon other models. There is a little couplet upon a crucifix of
Pacheco
's, which satyrizes this harshness of manner with so much smartness, and such neatness of versification, that I present it in the original to the reader:
Quien os puso assi, Sen̄ or,
Tan desabrido y tan seco,
Vos me direis que el amor.
Mas yo digo, que Pacheco.
Nothing can be more musical than the chime of the words, but the idea cannot be well conveyed in English. It seems natural for academicians like
Pacheco,
who are so much concerned in the grammar of their art, to contract a stiff pedantic stile, as was the case, but his pictures are said to be good studies, and, if he was not a painter of the first manner, he appears to have been a great master and author in his art. He was a man of liberal sentiments, strict morals and uncommon medesty: He died in Seville in 1654, having survived his competitor
Vazquez
four years. As to
Francisco Fernandez,
who was unquestionably one of the first artists of his time, he died in 1646 at Madrid, of which place he was a native, being killed by
Francisco de Baras
in a sudden fit of passion, at the age of forty-two years, universally regretted.
Joses de Ribera,
known to Europe by the name of
Il Spagnoleto,
was a native of Xativa in the kingdom of Valencia; a country rich in natural productions and of a most happy temperature in point of climate: In this particular it has been frequently compared to Greece, and, like Greece, has been found uncommonly preliric in giving birth to men of genius and talents. How far the growth and culture of the human mind may, like vegetable nature, depend upon the skiey influences, there is no need at present to enquire; the seeds of genius, like those of any other tender plant, may well be supposed susceptible of nutrition, advancement or repression, by the operations of the atmosphere; and if this obtains in the general, I think we may conclude for it more strongly in favour of the particular art now under consideration, than of any other perhaps in the whole catalogue of human study or invention: Painting, which is an operation manual as well as mental, demands the joint vigour and exertion of body and mind; it should seem that there is in demand a force of atmosphere to brace the corporeal system and at the same time such a degree of genial warmth and relaxation of climate, as shall give imagination its full play and scope; these can only be obtained in those happy latitudes, where our scene is now laid. It is needless perhaps to observe, that there must be proper lights for the creation of the art and there should be a commodious temperature for their preservation and continuance: These are to be had in their highest perfection in Spain, as well as Greece. If the Icelander in his native climate ever should experience the impulse of a painter's genius, the year itself would not supply many hours in which his fingers could obey its summons; and in the other extremity of climate, where every fibre is unstrung by relaxation, all, who have experienced, know the inaptitude both of mind and body towards any action or employ of either; unfit alike for arts and arms, the emasculate and soft inhabitant sinks into sloth and slumbers away a life, that scarce deserves a better name than vegetation. Upon the whole I think we may admit, that there are some portions of the habitable earth, where nature has declared herself against the production of painters, and no portion yet discovered where an assemblage of more happy requisites ever centered, than in the climate and country, in which the artist now before us had his birth.
It may be proper to observe, that, although there cannot be found amongst the Spanish painters a greater instance of poverty in the extreme, than what
Ribera
experienced, yet his pretensions in respect of family were as high and his blood as pure as most in Spain: This pride of pedigree is there to the full as much at heart, and as ceremoniously maintained amongst men in the last degree of worldly misery, as it is with the rich and great. To enumerate a line of ancestors, unadulterated with Moorish or Jewish blood, and not made vile by any ignoble and dishonourable trades, is the glory of an old Castilian, though in rags and wretchedness: The house of
Ribera,
tho' it had branched into Valencia, was in its original rooted in the pure terra firma of Old Castile; and I dare say his parents would as soon have brought up their son to the occupation of a hangman, as apprenticed him to the trade of a shoemaker: This is amongst the occupations, which an old Spaniard calls
dishonest,
and by which he would as effectually pollute his blood, as an Indian would forfeit his cast by eating hog's-flesh out of the unclean platter of a Portuguese: To be a mender of shoes, or in vulgar phrase a cobler, is no degradation to a Spaniard's dignity; but to be a maker of them in the first instance is corrupt and vile, and such an artisan cannot consort or intermarry with the persons, that are uncontaminated with any thing but poverty and ver min.
With these principles, and no other earthly possession for his inheritance young
Ribera
entered himself a disciple of
Francisco de Ribalta,
as I have already related; how long he continued, or how far he proceeded to form the peculiarities of his taste under the tuition of this master, I cannot precisely ascertain; he was certainly very young, when he first went to Rome, because it was there he first received the puerile appellation of
Il Spagnoleto,
or the Little Spaniard; and that this was in early time is also manifest from other reasons: As for his singularity in chusing subjects of terror and expressions of pain, that was not owing to the infusions of precept, or the effect of imitation, but was in him at once characteristic and original. He had a strong mind hardened by adversity and naturally superior to those passions, which, though soft and enervating, have operated to produce the beautiful in art. In the sublime and terrific
Ribera
stands forth as a great master: In tragic compositions, the distortions of agonized nature, and in the strong and horrible reliefs of the deepest lights and shades he is eminently distinguished: England is in possession of so many examples in this cast of the author, that I shall not enter into a minute description of his works in Spain; but I cannot dispense with myself from observing, that he is capable of expressing his ideas with uncommon elegance and delicacy: Some of the characters of his Baptist, some Magdalens and Madonas, which I have met, are equal in grace and tenderness of expression to the best heads of
Guido
and
Guercino:
I confess my surprize was great in discovering him in a character, which was new and unknown to me before I went to Spain; at the same time in a private closet at the Escorial, where there is an altar belonging to the Prior, and to which admittance is rarely allowed, I felt equal surprize and delight at being shewn a small Holy Family by
Michael Angelo Bonarota,
finished and coloured to a miracle. In this inestimable little piece the face of the Madona is of a most singular cast, such as I had never before seen; extremely beautiful, but not by the result of the correctest symmetry of seatures; for the face is lengthened beyond its proportion, by which and other means, with a peculiar action of the eyes and muscles an expression is obtained, which at the same time that it exceeds nature, does not violate it; appearing to be at once above, and yet within it.
Young
Ribera,
though suffering the extreme of poverty, felt within himself such powers of genius, as were superior to depression, and in the school of
Ribalta
meditated an excursion to Rome, there to receive the last finishings of education in his art: Thither he repaired, and, enlisting himself in the academy, pursued his studies with an industry, which knew no remission, but whilst he was in pursuit of the scanty necessaries for the demands of life; these he obtained by the sale of some of his sketches and drawings in the academy. Without friends and at times almost without food or raiment, he persisted in his course with a stubborn virtuous perseverance, which nothing could divert from its object; if such a mind and imagination are found to delight in images of savage greatness and terrific sublimity, it is little to be wondered at, and a greater proof of his excellence cannot be given, than the high estimation, in which his pieces of the character above-mentioned continue to be held, notwithstanding the false effeminate delicacy of modern taste and fashion in pictures, now prevailing in England, which discourages all attempts at tragedy in painting and shrinks from an
Ugolino
and
Prometheus
with as much dread and horror, as a modern petite maitresse would from the spectacle of a bullfight. Such an academician as young
Ribera
could not long remain undistinguished in the mass of common students; Rome was not a place, where merit could be long hidden, nor was his merit of a sort, that could be concealed any where; his fellow-students and teachers soon discovered the superiority of his talents, and
par excellence
gave him the name of
Il Spagnoleto;
and a certain Cardinal, one day passing in his coach, observed a tattered figure employed in painting a board, affixed to the outside of one of the ordinary houses in the streets of Rome; the youth and wretchedness of the spectacle engaged his pity, and the singular attention, with which he pursued his work, attracted his curiosity. It was
Il Spagnoleto
in the act of earning his bread, of which his appearance made evident he was absolutely in want. The Cardinal called him to his coach-side and, ordering him to his palace, immediately domiciliated the lucky youth. Here he lived in ease and affluence; but that virtue, which the frowns of fortune could not shake, was no proof against her caresses: Young
Ribera
became a slave to pleasures, of which he had not before even speculative, enjoyment; but his virtue, though repulsed, was not subdued; his apostacy from the purity of his native principles pressed upon his conscience, and the ruin, which his genius was now menaced with, alarmed his pride of nature; with one gallant effort he burst the shackles of temptation, and, sallying out of the palace of the Cardinal, reassumed his dignity of soul, and poverty at once: Perhaps the history of human nature will afford few examples of so strong an act.
He had now all his former miseries to encounter with the aggravating contrast of experienced delights: In addition to all these he was to suffer the reproaches of his protector, who, occasionally meeting him, upbraided his ingratitude in the severest terms: The virtuous Spaniard made a suitable reply, and, cheering himself with the resources of his art and the applauses of his conscience, persisted in his poverty. The clear obscure of
Caravagio
became his favourite manner, and in the language, tho' not with the motives, of Doctor Young's Zanga he might have said that
horrors now were not displeasing to him.
The meagre encouragement he found in Rome determined him to seek his better fortune at Naples: For this place he set out in a ragged jacket, having pledged his capa for a viaticum. In Naples he let himself out to a common painter for hire: This man however had great humanity and some science; the abilities of
Il Spagnoleto
surprized him; he clearly saw how superior his talents were to the low occupation he had engaged in; a further acquaintance opened to him the singular virtues and good qualities he was possessed of, and he soon conceived the design of converting his servant into his son-in-law: He had an only child, a daughter; the girl being exceedingly handsome, and the father very rich, an abundance of suitors presented themselves to the choice of her parents, but, the moment which Providence had decreed for rewarding the virtues of poor
Ribera
being now arrived, all their pretensions availed nothing with the father, who had determined upon his part and, calling
Ribera
aside, proposed at once to bestow his daughter with the better part of his means immediately upon him; a proposition so totally above expectation or hope staggered his belief, and he entreated his master not to make his misery and ill fortune the object of his raillery and ridicule; he was at a loss to think what presumption could have escaped him to merit this rebuke; he was not conscious of having conceived or entertained a thought, that aspired to a match so totally above his reach; with some difficulty the father conquered his incredulity, when young
Ribera,
transported with joy and gratitude, was in one moment from being the poorest made the happiest of beings. Behold him now occupying a whole floor the palace of the Viceroy, with all the comforts of life and the conveniencies of his art in abundance around him; at the height of his fame, in request of all the great and eminent in Europe, and honoured by his Holiness the Pope with the knighthood of Christ. A new choice of subjects now presented themselves to the world, and people saw, with a terror partaking of delight, martyrdoms, executions and torments expressed to the truth, nay in some cases even aggravated beyond it: He selected all that sacred or classic history afforded in the terrible; all that the pagan theology or the poetical hell had represented to appall the guilty was to be found on the canvasses of
Ribera;
a martyred San Bartolome, stript to the muscles, became a study for anatomists: Cato of
Utica
in the act of tearing out his bowels brought the horror of self-murder to the eyes and hearts of men: Hercules struggling in the throes of death and all the tortured in the fabulous realm of Pluto were now exhibited, like Eschylus's suries on the stage of Athens, and in some instances with the same effects; for it is related, that a certain lady of Amsterdam named Jacoba de Usfel having miscarried upon seeing some paintings of Sisyphus, Tantalus and Ixion by
Ribera,
her husband's gallantry induced him to dispose of them, and being carried into Italy they were purchased on the part of His Catholic Majesty and transported into Spain, where they are now preserved in the palace of the Buen Retiro. Many other pictures of this master were collected by the Viceroys of Naples for the King and also for particular Grandees and brought into Spain: In the royal collections of Madrid and the Escorial there are many; the great altar-piece of the church of Santa Isabel on the subject of the Conception is by
Ribera,
and the head of the Virgin is the portrait of his daughter. He died at Naples in 1656, aged 67 years, leaving only one child above mentioned, whom he married to a man of distinction in Naples. He left behind him a tract in manuscript on the principles of the art of painting, which is reported to have been a most elaborate and excellent composition.
Luis Tristan,
a disciple of
Dominico Greco,
was born in a small village near the city of Toledo: He certainly exceeded his master in correctness of drawing and purity of taste. It does not appear that
Dominico
had any of the jealousies of his art about him in his treatment of
Tristan,
whilst he was under his tuition; on the contrary he took early notice of his talents, and brought them into practice and display with all the advantages in his power to give; the monasteries of Spain, as I have elsewhere observed, were in that period considerable patrons of the elegant arts of painting and sculpture; most of these religious Societies are rich, and those, whose funds did not enable them to set the artists at work, found benefactors amongst the great, whose devotion or vanity disposed them to beautify and enrich the churches and altars, which they frequented, and where such donations would be accepted in the way of atonement, or recorded as acts of voluntary piety and meritorious munificence: The monks of La Sisla in the neighbourhood of Toledo had applied to
Dominico Greco
for a picture of our Lord's last supper to be painted for their refectory, in the manner that
Titiano
had adorned that in the monastery of San Lorenzo.
Dominico
being obliged to decline the commission on account of indisposition, recommended his young pupil
Luis Tristan
to the undertaking; the monks accepted his services, and upon delivery of the picture were with reason satisfied with the performance; nothing remained to be adjusted but the price, and the demand of the artist being for 200 ducats was deemed exorbitant; the Fathers referred themselves to
Dominico,
who being then in a fit of the gout was put into a coach and conveyed to the convent; as soon as he arrived there and had deliberately surveyed the piece, he turned suddenly to his disciple and with a menacing tone and air, lifting up his crutch, exclaimed against
Tristan
for disgracing his art and all who professed it, by demanding 200 ducats for the picture in question. The triumph of the Fathers upon this testimony of their umpire, so decidedly as it seemed in their favour, was however soon reversed, when
Dominico
directed his disciple to roll up the picture and take it away with him to Toledo, for that he should not leave it there for five hundred ducats; then, launching out into rapturous encomiums on the performance, he began to put his decision into execution: Vexation and surprize now took possession of the convicted
monks, their murmuring and complaints were changed to intercessions, and, after sufficient atonement on their part, the money was paid and the picture surrendered to the refectory and oblivion: Certainly it is a capital composition, and whenever the Fathers shall repent of the bargain made by their predecessors, there is not a collector in Europe but will give them their principal with ample interest upon their purchase.
Tristan
died at Toledo in the year 1649, at the age of fifty-four, with the honour of being imitated by the celebrated
Velazquez,
who declared himself his admirer and, quitting the precepts of
Pacheco,
professedly modelled himself after the stile and manner of
Luis Tristan.
Juan Baptista Mayno,
a monk of the order of the Predicadores, was a contemporary of
Tristan
and a disciple also of
Dominico Greco:
In the convent of San Pedro the Martyr at Toledo there is an altarpiece in four compartments representing the subjects of the four Pasquas, viz. the Nativity, the Resurrection, the Descent of the Holy Ghost and the Mystery of the Holy Trinity: There is in the same church a Saint Peter weeping, of which many copies are dispersed through Spain; an affecting natural idea of that zealous yet offending disciple in the moment of recollection and remorse. The college of San Estevan at Salamanca contains some works of this master, whose excellence as an artist and whose irreproachable sanctity gained him universal esteem and promoted him to the honour of being drawing-master to Philip the IV th. who was not only a lover of the arts but a proficient.
Mayno
was employed by the King at the palace of the Buen Retiro, where he painted a fine battle-piece, in which the Conde Duque de Olivares is introduced animating the troops to action by presenting to their view a portrait of King Philip, a brilliant thought and a courtly compliment to both parties.
Mayno
died in his sixtieth year, in the city of Toledo, in 1654.
In the same year died
Pedro Nun̄ ez
a native of Madrid, of whose celebrity there needs no better testimony, than his being one in the following groupe of artists, recorded by the famous
Lope de la Vega
in the following lines:
Pero porque es razon que participe
L'el Laurel la pintura generosa
Juntos llegaron a la cumbre hermosa
Sulcando varios mares.
Vincencio, Eugenio, Nun̄ ez y Lanchares.
INDEX TO THE FIRST VOLUME.
ANTONIO del Rincon
Page
10
Torrigiano 11
Julio and Alexandro 22
Alonso Berruguete
ib.
Baptisia Bergamo 24
Gaspar Becerra
ib.
Antonio Flores 30
Fernando Gallegos
ib.
Pedro Campana 31
Titiano 33
Juan Fernandez Ximenes, commonly called El Mudo, the Dumb 69
Morales, El Divino 74
Miguel Barroso 82
Domingo Beltran
ib.
Teodosio Mingot 84
Luis de Carvajal
ib.
Alonso Sanchez Coelio, the Elder, 84
Antonio Moro, (Sir Antony More) 95
Lucas Cambiaso, or Luqueto 105
Mateo Perez de Alesio 108
Federico Zucaro 110
Peregrin Tibaldi, or Peregrin of Bologna 114
Romulo Cincinnato 118
Caesar Arbasia 120
Bartolome de Carducho
ib.
Vicencio de Carducho 124
Blas de Prado 125
Sosonisha Angusciola 126
Nicolas Fattor 128
Pablo de Cespedes
ib.
Francisco Galcas
ib.
Juan de la Miseria 128
Luis de Vargas 137
Juan Bautista Juanes 140
Juan Labrador 151
Juan Pantoia de la Cruz
ib.
Bartolomè Gonzalez 153
Juan de Solo
ib.
Juan de Chisions
ib.
El Docter Pablo de las Roellas 154
Padre Luis Pasqual Gaudin
ib.
Phelipe de Liano, (or El Titiano pequeno)
ib.
Patricio Caxes
ib.
Dominico Teotocopoli, or El Greco 155
Diego de Romulo Cincinnato 160
Francisco and Juan Ribalta 162
Adriano of Cordova 165
Vicencio Carducho 167
Pedro Pablo Rubens 169
Juan del Castillo 199
Eugenio Caxes 190
Pedro Orrente 192
Francisco Fernandez 193
Alonso Vasquez
ib.
Francisco Pacheco 194
Josef de Ribera, or Il Spagnoletto 197
Luis Tristan 218
Juan Baptisia Mayno 223
Pedro Nun̄ ez 225
END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.