UNIV. OF

SPAIN

AS IT IS.

CHAPTER I.

CHURCHES-SAN JULIAN-SAN LUIS-SANTA PAULA-UNIVER

BLANCO-SAN ALBERTO-LA CARIDAD-THE FINEST MURIL

LOS IN SEVILLE.

THERE are a great many churches in Seville worth visiting for their architecture, and especially for the valuable paintings they contain; but those who are not interested in this subject, may pass on to the end of the chapter. Travellers should give their valet-de-place a list of those churches and sights they wish to see, as they know best when they are open.

In the Church of San Julian we saw a San Cris

VOL. II.

B

tobal, colossal as usual, by Juan Sanchez de Castro, painted in 1484, and therefore one of the oldest works of art in Spain. Unfortunately it has been restored, and is now again in a bad state, but the drawing is very good. In his belt are small representation of pilgrims, and a figure is looking up in amazement at the giant. They have also a Holy Family, by the same painter, which enjoys a high reputation for curing the sick, but unluckily it is now in the chamber of an invalid, and we could not see it. As the guide remarked, it might cause her death to remove it (Cosas de España). There is a little Conception, pretty, and somewhat in Murillo's style.

The façade of the Jesuit's church, San Luis, now a workhouse, is a rich specimen of the plateresque. The tower of the Church of St. Mark is Moorish, and ornamented with arches.

The Church of Santa Paula has on the portal leading to it a beautiful azulejos dado, representing a lady, four cypresses, and arms, pavements, &c., and the arch of the portal is pretty. The portico of the church is still more beautifully decorated with azulejos, Raphaelesques, and figures and angels. Two St. Johns, by Cano, were put by in a storeroom, the church being under repair.

The University was also erected by the Jesuits, after designs by Herrera. The court, with its marble columns is pretty, but the church is not

remarkable for its architecture. In a simple Corinthian retablo are three fine paintings, by Roelas, who was the painter of the Jesuits as Murillo was of the Franciscans and Zurbaran of the Carthusians. One is a Holy Family, in which there is a fine figure of a Jesuit in the foreground. The Madonna is very beautiful, and St. Joseph unusually so; the drawing of this painting is excellent, and the colouring extremely rich. This painting and the two others, the Nativity and the Adoration, are the finest paintings in Seville of this great painter, and deserve to be particularly studied. Above is a Holy Family, painted

by Pacheco.

In this church are two colossal statues of St. Peter and St. Paul, said to be by Montanes; also a fine Crucifixion, by the same artist, and a small painting of an infant, by Roelas. The tombs of the Duke of Medina Celis' family, removed from the Carthusian, are very fine. The columns, are covered with plateresque decorations. The figure kneeling before the open book, and the angel opposite, forming together what may be intended for the Annunciation, are very beautiful.

In the Church of San Salvador the San Cristobal, by Montañes, is fine. The legs are extremely good, but the light is so bad, the rest of the figure is imperfectly seen. This church was built on the site of a mosque, but the small court, planted with

oranges, and the fountain where the Moslems performed their ablutions, is all that remains of the ancient building.

San Pablo is large, with a gorgeous retablo; but the church is not in good taste, and is scarcely worth visiting. The large fresco in the transept, representing I think the apotheosis of some church dignitary, is by Lucas Valdes, who was born at Seville in 1661. The saints at each end of the painting are graceful, but the colouring is not good, and apparently injured. There are four large figures (frescoes) of the Evangelists, on the columns of the nave, which are finely drawn and well coloured. In the sacristy there are three subjects, painted on the roof by Arteaga, one of a family of engravers, who flourished at Seville in the seventeenth century. Our Saviour appearing to St. Paul, surrounded by a host of soldiers, is not bad; but the best is a group of angels, carrying up the saint

to heaven.

In the Church of San Antonio Aben there is a Christ, by Montañes, the head and hands of which alone are visible, and are very fine, though the silver ornaments with which it is loaded, destroy the effect. In another part of the church they showed us the large tortoise-shell cross, belonging to this figure, when it is carried during the processions of the Holy Week.

In the Church of San Vicente there is a tolerable

Deposition from the Cross, by Morales, and some indifferent, large paintings, by Francisco de Varela, who was born at Seville, towards the end of the sixteenth century, and was a pupil of Roelas; but, to judge from these paintings, not one of his best.

San Lorenzo is a curious old church, and the Conception, by Pacheco, is beautifully coloured and well drawn, and certainly the cleverest painting I have seen by this master. The retablo is good, and ornamented with excellent and richly-coloured sculpture, by Montañes, representing the life of the saint. I Nuestro Señor de Gran Poder, by the same artist, is an uncommonly fine statue, and full of expression.

The Church of San Clemente has a beautiful roof of alerce wood, with charming open-work, the great attraction of Moorish rooms. The retablo of the high altar is by Montañes, in the plateresque style; but the effect is rich, and some of the decorations, especially on the columns, are very elegant. There are numerous niches, filled with statues, crowned with a Christ and the Creator above; and all seemed to be by Montañes, and good. There is also, in a side chapel, a St. John the Baptist pointing to the Lamb on a rock, very excellent, by Pedro Delgado; and there are also two indifferent paintings of St. Ferdinand, by Pacheco.

The Church of Omnium Sanctorum has a Moorish tower, having formerly been a mosque, and in