DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61252#0221
INTRODUCTION.
177
Such, and so deep, was the impress of the church on
Spanish art. The influence of the court did not interfere
with this tendency, but well performed its part, by lavish-
ing honours as well as patronage on its professors. During
two centuries, the kings of Spain were distinguished by a
love of painting and painters; inherited, as it should seem,
from their ancestor, Charles V. The friendship of Philip II.
for Titian and Coello, that of Philip III. for Zurbaran and
Carducha; that of Philip IV. for Velasquez and Rubens,
and the admiration of Charles II. for Murillo, are matters
of history;* their familiar and confidential intercourse with
the artists of their courts, is the only interesting aspect
under which history has represented these bigoted and
degenerate princes.
My acquaintance with Spanish literature is too limited
to enable me to point out its affinity with Spanish art. As
far as I can judge, the poets of Spain have never been
illustrated by her painters; her painters owe little or nothing
to her poets. Calderon was the cotemporary of Murillo,
and the intimate friend of Alonzo Cano;f and his mystic
and religious comedies are very like the Spanish pic-
tures in conception, but not in treatment. Nothing can
be more simple than the style of treatment in the Seville
school; Murillo’s sins against good taste are frequent, but
never those of exaggeration or affectation: the reverse is
the general character of the Spanish literature of that time.
I never saw nor heard of a Spanish picture, of which the
subject was taken from Don Quixote or from Spanish his-
tory, except one or two royal progresses and battles, painted
for Philip IV. £ Velasquez in his portraits, and in some
* Charles III. by an edict prohibited the exportation of Murillo’s pictures from
Spain.
t The portrait of Calderon, by Cano, is in the Louvre.
t There are upwards of 400 pictures in the Spanish Gallery of the Louvre, of
which two only are of profane subjects, and both by Ribera. There are more
than fifty monks and martyrs by Zurbaran only.
i 3
177
Such, and so deep, was the impress of the church on
Spanish art. The influence of the court did not interfere
with this tendency, but well performed its part, by lavish-
ing honours as well as patronage on its professors. During
two centuries, the kings of Spain were distinguished by a
love of painting and painters; inherited, as it should seem,
from their ancestor, Charles V. The friendship of Philip II.
for Titian and Coello, that of Philip III. for Zurbaran and
Carducha; that of Philip IV. for Velasquez and Rubens,
and the admiration of Charles II. for Murillo, are matters
of history;* their familiar and confidential intercourse with
the artists of their courts, is the only interesting aspect
under which history has represented these bigoted and
degenerate princes.
My acquaintance with Spanish literature is too limited
to enable me to point out its affinity with Spanish art. As
far as I can judge, the poets of Spain have never been
illustrated by her painters; her painters owe little or nothing
to her poets. Calderon was the cotemporary of Murillo,
and the intimate friend of Alonzo Cano;f and his mystic
and religious comedies are very like the Spanish pic-
tures in conception, but not in treatment. Nothing can
be more simple than the style of treatment in the Seville
school; Murillo’s sins against good taste are frequent, but
never those of exaggeration or affectation: the reverse is
the general character of the Spanish literature of that time.
I never saw nor heard of a Spanish picture, of which the
subject was taken from Don Quixote or from Spanish his-
tory, except one or two royal progresses and battles, painted
for Philip IV. £ Velasquez in his portraits, and in some
* Charles III. by an edict prohibited the exportation of Murillo’s pictures from
Spain.
t The portrait of Calderon, by Cano, is in the Louvre.
t There are upwards of 400 pictures in the Spanish Gallery of the Louvre, of
which two only are of profane subjects, and both by Ribera. There are more
than fifty monks and martyrs by Zurbaran only.
i 3