The baptistery contains early mosaics, a monument of one of the Doges of Venice; and the stone upon which John the Baptist is stated to have been beheaded is kept here.
“The Legend of San Marco” is the design in the Cappella Zen, adjoining the baptistery. Here are the tomb of Cardinal Zen, a Renaissance work in bronze, and a handsome altar.
In his rapturous description of the interior of San Marco, Ruskin continues: “The mazes of interwoven lines and changeful pictures lead always and at last to the Cross, lifted and carved in every place and upon every stone; sometimes with the serpent of eternity wrapt round it,sometimes with doves beneath its arms, and sweet herbage growing forth from its feet.”
Venetian architecture has a character of its own. We find the Oriental influence in most of the buildings of Venice; the ogee arch is commonly used, and the square billet ornament is a distinguishing mark. The first Church of San Marco was built in 830.
The Palace of the Doge is in the Piazza. Its architecture has been variously described and classified. It has strong traces of Moorish influence, while in many respects it is Gothic. The decorated columns of the arcades are very beautifully designed. Archangels and figures of Justice, Temperance, and Obedience adorn the building, and there is an ancient front on the south side. Enter through the Porta della Carta, and you will find a court of wonderful interest, with rich façades and the great staircase, which is celebrated as the crowning-place of the Doges.
The architecture of the interior of the palace is of a later date than that of the exterior. In the big entrance hall are Tintoretto’s portraits of legislators of Venice. From here enter the next apartment, which contains a magnificent painting of “Faith” by Titian. In anotherhall are four more of Tintoretto’s works, and one by Paolo Veronese. The Sala del Collegio is one of the principal chambers of the palace and its ceiling was painted by Veronese. Here is the Doge’s throne.
Tintoretto and Palma were the artists who executed the paintings in the Hall of the Senators. The adjoining chapel is decorated with another of Tintoretto’s pictures. Pass to the Hall of the Council of Ten, where the rulers of the city sat, and note the gorgeous ceiling by Paolo Veronese.
A staircase leads to the Hall of the Great Council below. From the window there is an inspiriting view. The walls are hung with portraits, but the glory of this hall is Tintoretto’s “Paradise,” an immense painting.
Before leaving the Palace of the Doges, I will devote a few lines to the Schools of Venice of the sixteenth century. Unfortunately most of the works of Giorgione, the most characteristic painter of Venice, have disappeared. He was the founder of a tradition, and the teacher of many painters, including Palma, while his work influenced a number of his contemporaries. Titian, born in 1477, was one of Giorgione’s admirers, and his early work shows his influence.The pictures of the great Venetian master are one of the glories of the city. Some of his paintings are in the Academy, in the Church of Santa Maria dei Friari—where there is a monument to the artist—in the Church of Santa Maria della Salute, and in the private galleries of the city.
In the Academy collection, in a large building in the square of St Mark’s, are Titian’s much-restored “Presentation” and the “Pieta,” among the finest specimens of the Venetian School of painters. The celebrated “Assumption” has been also restored.
“There are many princes; there is but one Titian,” said Charles V. of Spain, who declared that through the magic of the Venetian painter’s pencil, he “thrice received immortality.” Forty-three examples of the art of Titian are in the Prado Gallery of Madrid. Sanchez Coello, Court artist to Philip II. was one of the students of the Italian master; indeed several of the great painters of Spain were influenced by Titian, and none of them revered him more than Velazquez.
Tintoretto’s “Miracle of St Mark” and “Adam and Eve” are two instances of his genius for colour, in the Academy, calling forspecial study, and another of his works is to be seen in Santa Maria della Salute. We have just looked at a number of this painter’s pictures in the Doge’s Palace.
It has been said that Tintoretto inspired El Greco, whose pictures we shall see in Toledo. Tintoretto was a pupil of Titian, basing his drawing on the work of Michael Angelo, and finding inspiration for his colour in the painting of Titian. He was a most industrious and prolific artist.
Paolo Veronese, though not a native of Venice, was one of the school of that city. He surpassed even Tintoretto in the use of colour, and adorned many ceilings and altars, besides painting canvases. The “Rape of Europa” and others of Paolo’s mythical subjects display his gift of colour and richness of imagination.
Among the later Venetian painters, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo is perhaps the most remarkable. His conceptions were bizarre, and his fanciful style is manifest in his picture of the “Way to Calvary,” preserved in Venice. Canaletto may be mentioned as the last of the historic painters of Venice.
The work of Bellini must on no account be forgotten before we leave the subject ofVenetian art. His “Madonna Enthroned” is in the Academy, among other of the masterpieces of his brush; and one of his most exquisite paintings is in the Church of the Friari.
Let us also remember the splendid treasures of the art of Carpaccio, as seen in the picture of “Saint Ursula” in the Academy, and in the delightful paintings of San Giorgio, which moved Ruskin to rapture.
The many churches of Venice contain pictures of supreme interest. Most of them are in a poor light, and can only be examined with difficulty. San Zanipolo is a church of Gothic design, built by the Dominicans, abounding in tombs and monuments. San Zaccaria has Bellini’s altarpiece “The Madonna and Child.”
Many of the palaces, especially those of the Grand Canal, are exceedingly beautiful in design, whether the style is Renaissance or Byzantine-Romanesque. Among the oldest are the Palazzo Venier, the Palazzo Dona, and the Palazzo Mesto; while for elegance the following are notable: Dario, the three Foscari palaces, the Pesaro, the Turchi, and Ca d’ Oro, and the Loredan.
Some of these historic houses are associatedwith men of genius of modern times. Wagner lived in the Palazzo Vendramin Calergi. In 1818 Byron resided in the Palazzo Mocenigo, and Browning occupied the Palazzo Rezzonico.
Robert Browning and his wife had a passionate love for Venice. As a young man the poet visited the city, and returned to England thrilled by his impressions. Mrs Bridell Fox, his friend, says that: “He used to illustrate his glowing descriptions of its beauties—the palaces, the sunsets, the moonrises, by a most original kind of etching. Taking up a bit of stray notepaper, he would hold it over a lighted candle, moving the paper about gently till it was cloudily smoked over, and then utilising the darker smears for clouds, shadows, water, or what not, would etch with a dry pen the forms of lights on cloud and palace, on bridge or gondola, on the vague and dreamy surface he had produced.”
William Sharp—from whose “Life of Browning” I cull the passage just quoted—tells us that his friend selected the palace on the Grand Canal as a corner for his old age. Browning was “never happier, more sanguine, more joyous than here. He worked for three or four hours each morning, walked daily forabout two hours, crossed occasionally to the Lido with his sister, and in the evenings visited friends or went to the opera.”
In 1889 Robert Browning died in Venice, on a December night, as “the great bell of San Marco struck ten.” He had just received news of the success of his “Asolando.” The poet was honoured in the city by a splendid and solemn funeral procession of black-draped gondolas, following the boat that held his body. Would he not have chosen to die in the Venice that he loved with such intense fervour?
Among the statuary in the streets is the image of Bartolomeo Colleoni on horseback, “I do not believe that there is a more glorious work of sculpture existing in the world,” writes Ruskin of this statue, which stands in front of SS. Giovanni e Paolo. In the Piazzetta by the Palace of the Doges are the two columns, which everyone associates with Venice, bearing images of the flying lion of St Mark, and of St Theodore treading upon a crocodile.
One other public building must be seen by the visitor. This is the beautiful library opposite the Doge’s Palace, an edifice that John Addington Symonds praises as one of the chief achievements of Venetian artists. The cathedral,the ducal palace, the library, and the Academy of Arts are certainly four impressive and splendid buildings.
If you have seen the old roofed bridge that spans the river at the head of the Lake of Lucerne, you will have an impression of the famous Rialto of Venice. The historic bridge is charged with memories of the days when “Venice sate in state throned on her hundred isles,” and citizens asked of one another, in the words of Solanio, inThe Merchant of Venice. “Now, what news on the Rialto?” The bridge is mediæval in aspect, and romantic in its associations. You cannot lounge there without an apparition of Shylock, raving at the loss of the diamond that cost him two thousand ducats in Frankfort.
All around this “Queen of Cities” are places of supreme interest to the student of architecture and the lover of natural beauty. Padua, and Vicenza, with its rare monuments of Palladio, Murano, Torcello, and other towns and villages with histories are within access of Venice. But do not hasten from Venezia. It is a town in which one should roam and loiter for long days.
AWHITEtown, perched high on a bleak hill, is one’s first impression of Perugia. The position of the capital of Umbria is menacing, and without any confirmation of history, one surmises that this was once a Roman fortified town. After being built and held by the Etruscans, Perugia was taken by the Roman host, and called Augusta Perusia. For centuries the town was the terror of Umbria. Its citizens appear to have been a superior order of bold banditti, continually making raids on the surrounding towns and villages, and returning with spoil.
Mediæval traditions of Perugia are a romance of battle within and without the town. At one time one faction held sway, at another a rival faction gained the upper hand, and the natives spent much time and energy in endeavouring to kill one another. The story is perhaps more melodramatic than tragic. It reads almost like a novel of sensational episodes, related bya fertile and imaginative writer in order to thrill his readers.
Pope Paul III. was the subduer of Perugia. He dominated the town with a citadel, now destroyed, and broke the power of its martial inhabitants with the sword and the chain.
The surroundings of the town are bare, except for the olive groves which give a cold green to a landscape somewhat devoid of warm colouring. You either climb tediously up a long hill to the city, or ascend in an incongruous electric tramcar. Entering the place, the chances are that your sense of smell will be affronted somewhat rudely, for Perugia is not very modern in its sanitary system.
Assisi is seen in the distance, bleached on its slope, and there are far-off prospects of high mountains. The Prefeturra terrace is over sixteen hundred feet above the sea, and is a fine view-point.
The setting of Perugia makes no appeal to the lover of sylvan charms. It stands on an arid height, constantly attacked by the wind, and in dry weather the town is very dusty. But there is hardly a narrow street nor a corner without quaintness and beauty for the eye that can appreciate them. Almost everywhere are glimpses of elegant spires and tall belfries.
The cathedral, dedicated to San Lorenzo, is a fourteenth-century edifice, with an aged aspect, and not much beauty in its decorations. In the Chapel of San Bernardino is “The Descent from the Cross,” by Baroccio. This artist was a follower of Coreggio, fervent in his piety, and devoted to his art. He was born in Urbino, and painted several pictures in Rome. The example in the cathedral is one of his best-known paintings. Signorelli designed an altarpiece for this church. Three popes were buried here, Innocent III., Urban IV., and Martin IV.
Close to San Lorenzo is the Canonica, a palace of the popes, a huge, heavy building. The fortress-like Palazzo Pubblico is still used as the town hall. Its history is stirring. Many trials have been held in its halls, and we read that culprits were sometimes hurled to death from one of the windows.
The upper part of the Palazzo is a gallery of paintings, the works representing the Umbrian School. Here we may study Perugino, Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, Bonfigli, and other masters of the fifteenth century. Perugino instituted a school of painting in the town. In the Sistine Chapel,in Florence, we may see some of his frescoes. We shall see presently examples of his works in other buildings in Perugia.
Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, Bonfigli, and Pinturicchio are represented in the secular buildings and churches of the town. An altarpiece by Giannicola, one of Perugino’s pupils, should be noticed.
But perhaps the most important of the paintings are Fra Angelico’s “Madonna and Saints,” “Miracles of San Nicholas,” and “The Annunciation.”
Perugino’s frescoes in the Exchange (Collegio del Cambio) are very beautiful, depicting the virtues of illustrious Greeks and Romans.
“Perugino’s landscape backgrounds,” writes Mr Robert Clermont Witt, in “How to look at Pictures,” “with their steep blue slopes and winding valleys are as truly representative of the hill country about Perugia as are Constable’s leafy lanes and homesteads of his beloved eastern counties.”
In the museum of the University, we shall find a number of antiquities of pre-Roman and Roman times. The Church of San Severo must be visited, for it contains a priceless early work by Raphael.
The Piazzi del Municipio was the scene of many conflicts in the troublous days of Perugia. Here the austere Bernardino used to preach, and here were held the pageants of the popes upon their visits to the town. Around this piazzi is a network of narrow, ancient thoroughfares, with many curious houses.
The Piazzi Sopramuro is one of the oldest parts of the town. In this vicinity is the ornate, massive Church of San Domenico, with a magnificent window, and the Decorated monument of Benedict XI.
Passing through the Porta San Pietro, we approach the Church of San Pietro, considered to be the oldest sacred building in the town. It has a splendidly ornamented choir, and in the sacristy are some remarkable works of Perugino. The belfry of this church is of very graceful design.
About three miles from Perugia, towards Assisi, are some Etruscan tombs, with buried chambers, a vestibule, and several statues. This monument is of deep interest. It is a family cemetery of great antiquity, and the carvings are of exquisite art.
Firenze la bella, the pride of its natives, the dream of poet and painter and the delight of a multitude of travellers, lies amid graceful hills, clothed with olive gardens and dotted with white villas. In the clear distance are the splendid Apennines. Climb to the terrace of San Miniato, and you will gain a wide general view of this great and beautiful city of culture and the arts. The wonderful campanile of Giotto rises above the surrounding buildings, rivalling the height of the cathedral; the sunlight glows on dome and tower, and the valleys and glens lie in deep shadow, stretching away to the slopes of the mountains.
Very lovely, too, is the prospect from the Boboli Gardens, and finer still the outlook from Fiesole, whence the eye surveys the Cathedral, the Baptistery, the Campanile, the noble churches of Bruneschi, the Pitti Palace, and many fair buildings of the Middle Ages.
Gazing over Florence from one of the elevations of the environs, a vast pageant of historyseems revealed, and men of illustrious name pass in long procession in the vision of the mind. How numerous are the great thinkers and artists associated with the city from Savonarola to the Brownings! We recall Dante, Giotto, Boccaccio, Michael Angelo—the roll seems inexhaustible. Almost all the famous men of Italy are connected with the culture-history and the political annals of Florence. The city inspires and holds us with a spell; we are impelled to wander day after day in the narrow streets, to linger in the fragrant gardens, to roam in the luxuriant valleys of the surrounding country, and to climb the hill of classic Fiesole.
Rich and beautiful is the scenery between Florence and Bologna, with its glimpses of the savage Apennines. The glen of Vallombrosa is one of the loveliest spots in the vicinity, where the old monastery broods amid beech and chestnut-trees. It was this scene that Milton recalled when he wrote the lines:
“Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooksIn Vallombrosa....”
“Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooksIn Vallombrosa....”
“Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooksIn Vallombrosa....”
FLORENCE. PONTE SANTA TRINITA, 1832.FLORENCE.PONTE SANTA TRINITA, 1832.
The history of the city is of abundant interest. Florence was probably an important station in the days of the Roman Triumviri. Totilathe Goth besieged and destroyed the town, and Charlemagne restored it two hundred and fifty years later. Machiavelli states that from 1215 Florence was the seat of the ruling power in Italy, the descendants of Charles the Great governing here until the time of the German emperors. In the struggle between the Church and the State, the city took sides with the popular party for the time being. There were, however, constant factions within Florence, due to the quarrels of the Buondelmonti and Uberti families. Frederick II. favoured the Uberti cause, and with his help, the Buondelmontis were expelled. Then came the remarkable period of the Guelfs and the Ghibellines, the former standing for the Pope, and the latter siding with the Emperor. Florence favoured the Guelfs, and the Ghibellines resolved to destroy the city; but the Guelf party again won ascendancy in Florence. The trouble was, however, not at an end. For years Florence was disturbed by the conflicting aims of these intriguing parties.
Grandees and commoners warred in Florence in the fourteenth century, and efforts were made by the aristocratic rulers to curtail the liberties of the people. This was frustrated by thecommoners, and the government was reformed on a more democratic basis. Peace followed during a period of about ten years, but calamity befell Florence in the form of the pestilence described by Boccaccio. Ninety-six thousand persons are said to have died from the ravages of this plague.
As early as the twelfth century there were many signs in Florence of intellectual liberty. The doctrine of the eternity of matter was openly discussed, and on to the days of Savonarola civilising forces were at work in this centre of culture.
Girolamo Savonarola arose at the end of the fifteenth century, and his reforming influence soon spread through Italy. “The church is shaken to its foundations,” he cries. “No more are the prophets remembered, the apostles are no longer reverenced, the columns of the church strew the ground because the foundations are destroyed—in other words because the evangelists are rejected.” Such heresy as this brought Savonarola to the stake.
Greater among the mighty of Florence was Dante, born in a memorable age of art and invention. “The Vita Nuova,” inspired by the gentle damsel, Beatrice, was written when Dantehad met his divinity at a May feast given by her father, Folco Portinari, one of the chief citizens of Florence. Beatrice died in 1290 at the age of twenty-four. Boccaccio states that the poet married Gemma Donati about a year after the death of Beatrice. Dante died in 1321, and was buried in Ravenna.
For me the chief appeal in Seville, Antwerp, or any old Continental town is in the human associations. In Florence, roaming in the ancient quarters, the figure of Dante, made so familiar by many paintings, arises with but little effort of the imagination, for the streets have not greatly changed in aspect since his day. The atmosphere remains mediæval.
Can we not see the moody poet, driven from his high estate by the quarrels of the ruling houses, pacing the alleys, repeating to himself: “How hard is the path!” Can we not picture him in company with Petrarch, who, after the merry-making in the palace, remarked that the wise poet was quite eclipsed by the mountebanks who capered before the guests? And do we not hear Dante’s muttered “Like to like!”
Two great English poets, Chaucer and Milton, made journeys to Florence.
Giovanni Boccaccio was born in 1313, inCertaldo, a small town some leagues from Florence. He spent a few years in France and in the south of Italy, returning to Florence at the age of twenty-eight. Boccaccio was the close friend and the biographer of Dante, and a contemporary of Petrarch.
In the time of Lorenzo de Medici, Florence was a prosperous city and a seat of learning. Machiavelli writes of Lorenzo: “The chief aim of his policy was to maintain the city in ease, the people united, and the nobles honoured. He had a marvellous liking for every man who excelled in any branch of art. He favoured the learned, as Messer Agnola da Montepulciano, Messer Cristofano Landini, and Messer Demetrio; the Greek can bear sure testimony whence it came that the Count Giovanni della Mirandola, a man almost divine, withdrew himself from all the other countries of Europe through which he had travelled, and attracted by the munificence of Lorenzo, took up his abode in Florence. In architecture, music, and poetry, he took extraordinary delight.... Never was there any man, not in Florence merely, but in all Italy, who died with such a name for prudence, or whose loss was so much mourned by his country.”
Machiavelli, the Florentine historian, lived for a while in retirement in the outskirts of Florence. We may gain a little insight into his character and tastes from a passage in one of his letters in which he mentions that it was his custom to repair to the tavern every afternoon, clad in rustic garments, where he played cards with a miller, a butcher and a lime-maker. In the evening he dressed himself in the clothes that he wore in town and at court, and communed with the spirits of the “illustrious dead” in the volumes of his library.
Over the entrance to the Casa Guidi is the inscription: “Here wrote and died Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who, in the heart of a woman, combined the learning of a scholar and the genius of a poet. By her verse she wrought a golden ring connecting Italy and England. Grateful Florence erected this memorial in 1861.”
Mrs Browning passed away in the Casa Guidi just before dawn, in June 1861. Her remains lie in the beautiful grounds of the Protestant cemetery.
Fierce old Walter Savage Landor lived for a time in Florence, and for a longer period in Fiesole, where the Brownings often visitedhim. Swinburne came just before Landor’s death to see the poet.
Shelley was in Florence in 1819. A son was born to him here, and he records the event in a letter to Leigh Hunt. The poet writes of the Cascine Gardens, where he loved to walk and to gaze upon the Arno. Florence seems to have impressed Shelley almost as powerfully as Rome. “Florence itself,” he writes upon a first visit, “that is the Lung Arno (for I have seen no more) I think is the most beautiful city I have yet seen.” With this tribute from the poet, we will begin our survey of Florence.
In a magnificent square stands the cathedral, the baptistery, and the belfry. The oldest of the edifices is the baptistery, reared on the ground whereon stood a temple of Mars. Parts of the building are said to date from the seventh century. The glories of the baptistery are many, but perhaps the most appealing of the external decorations are the reliefs of the bronze door, which Michael Angelo so greatly admired. They illustrate scenes from the life of John the Baptist. The exterior of the Duomo or cathedral is the work of several great artists, including Giotto andAndrea Pisano. A modern façade was added in 1875-1887.
The Porta della Mandoria, one of the most beautiful doorways in existence, is surmounted by a mosaic of Ghirlandaio, “The Annunciation.” There is not much to claim attention within the cathedral, except Michael Angelo’s incomplete and last work, the “Pieta,” behind the chief altar, a statue of Boniface VIII., and a painting of Dante reading his “Divina Commedia,” by Michelino. Savonarola preached in this church.
The triumph of Giotto, the famed Campanile, adjoins the duomo. The work was begun in 1335, and the structure and its decorations are a superb achievement of Giotto’s genius. Ruskin has written a glowing passage upon this wonderful example of “Power and Beauty” in decorative architecture. The edifice is of variously coloured marbles, adorned with splendid bas-reliefs, depicting the growth of industry and art in many ages. Another set of bas-reliefs represent Scriptural scenes. The statues are the work of Rosso and Donatello.
Giotto was born in the neighbourhood of Florence, and died in the city. He was the friend of Dante, who wrote an eulogy upon his supremacy as a painter. The bell-tower ofFlorence is his finest work in architecture and the most treasured of all the monuments in the city.
Fra Angelico is intimately associated with Florence, and many of his pictures are preserved in the city. He was born in the vicinity of Florence, near the birthplace of Giotto. Vasari says: “Fra Giovanni was a man of simple and blameless life. He shunned the world, with all its temptations, and during his pure and simple life was such a friend to the poor that I think his soul must now be in heaven. He painted incessantly, but would never represent any other than a sacred subject. He might have been rich, but he scorned it, saying that true riches consisted in being content to be poor.”
The Academy of Arts in Florence contains many of Fra Angelico’s masterpieces. There are six of his paintings in the Uffizi Palace, and several in the Convent of San Marco. In this collection of pictures are numerous works of the fourteenth and fifteenth century painters, all claiming diligent study.
The Uffizi Palace and the Pitti Palace are rich storehouses of some of the most famous of the world’s pictures, and of several great statues. The chief pictures cannot even beenumerated. Let me only mention Raphael’s “Madonna and Child,” Michael Angelo’s “Holy Family,” Titian’s “Venus,” Durer’s “Adoration of the Magi,” Andrea del Sarto’s “Assumption,” Ruben’s “Terrors of Wars,” and Velazquez’s “Philip IV.” These are but few indeed of the treasures of these two noble palaces of art.
The wonderful Venus de Medici, one of the greatest of classic works of art, is in this collection. In the seventeenth century the statue was unearthed in the villa of Hadrian, near Tivoli. It was in eleven pieces, and it was repaired and set up in the Medici Palace at Rome. In 1680 Cosmo III. had the treasure removed to the Imperial Palace at Florence.
In the north-eastern part of the city there are three buildings of historical interest. One is the Church of Santissima Annunziata, founded in the thirteenth century, but restored in modern times. Here will be seen sacred pictures by Andrea del Sarto, in the court, while in the cloisters is the “Madonna del Sacco.” The tomb of Benvenuto Cellini is here.
San Marco is now a repository of works of art. It was the monastery of Savonarola, and the edifice is haunted with the spirit of the zealous reformer. The fine frescoes by Fra Angelicoadorn the cloisters, and in the chapter house is his “Crucifixion,” one of the largest of the friar’s pictures.
Three of the cells were inhabited at different times by Savonarola, and contain memorials of the pious ascetic, a coat of penance, a crucifix, and religious volumes.
Sir Martin Conway writes, in “Early Tuscan Art”: “In Savonarola’s cell there hangs a relic of no small interest—the handiwork of Fra Angelico himself. It is stowed away in so dark a corner that one can hardly see it. Eyes accustomed to the gloom discover a small picture of the crucified Christ, painted on a simple piece of white stuff. When the great preacher mounted the pulpit, this banner was borne before him. In those impassioned appeals of his, that electrified for a time the people of Florence, collected in crowded silence within the vast area of the newly finished cathedral, it was to this very symbol of his faith that he was wont to point, whereon are written the now faded words,Nos predicamus Christum crucifixum.”
In the church of San Marco are the tombs of Sant Antonino and the learned Pico della Mirandola.
Among the other churches of note is Santa Trinita, originally an example of the art of NiccoloPisano, but it has been modernised. It contains a monument by Luca della Robbia, and some splendid mural paintings, depicting the career of St Francis, by Ghirlando. There are more paintings by this master in the Franciscan church of Ognissanti.
Santa Croce is a great burial-place, rich in monuments of illustrious Florentines. Michael Angelo’s tomb is here, and near to it is the resting-place of Galileo. A monument to Dante, the tomb of Alfieri, by Canova, the memorials of Machiavelli, Aretino, Cherubino, and many others are in this building. My necessarily scanty description of the splendours of this church are offered with an apology for want of fuller space to describe them.
Donatello’s “Crucifixion” is in the north transept, and the Capella Peruzzi and the Capella Bardi are decorated with frescoes by Giotto. Agnolo Gaddi’s paintings are in the choir. Reluctantly, one leaves this great treasure-house. A mere catalogue of its works of art would fill pages.
We have glanced at two of the palaces. Let us now visit the stern Palazzo Vecchio, once the Senate House of the city. The building dates from the thirteenth century, and was the homeof the Medici. Verrochio’s fountain beautifies one of the courts. Inside the palazzo are mural paintings by Ghirlando.
Another of the interesting buildings is the Bargello, an important museum. Michael Angelo’s “Dying Adonis” and “Victory” are in the court, and there are more works of the great artist within. Dante lectured in one of the halls of the Bargello. Benvenuto Cellini’s design for “Perseus” is in one of the rooms, and there are reliefs by Della Robbia.
The Riccardi Palace is redolent with memories of Lorenzo. It stands in the Piazza San Lorenzo, and in the same square is the church named after him, containing some very beautiful monuments. Donatello was buried here, and a stone marks the grave of Cosimo de Medici. Lippo Lippi’s “Annunciation,” and Michael Angelo’s works are the glories of this church. The New Sacristy contains Angelo’s “Day and Night” over the tomb of Giuliano Medici, and that of Lorenzo de Medici adorned with statues of “Dawn and Twilight.” These are among the most magnificent examples of Michael Angelo’s statuary.
Near to the railway station is the Church of Santa Maria Novella, a glorious specimen ofGothic architecture, with a fine façade. In this church are paintings by Orcagna, Lippi, Cimabue Ghirlando, and other artists. The frescoes in the Strozzi Chapel, and the Spanish Chapel of this Dominican church are of great interest. Orcagna’s paintings in the Strozzi Chapel are of the fourteenth century. The chapel was dedicated to St Thomas Aquinas, who was greatly honoured by the Dominican order.
Modern Florence is a bright populous city, with wide main streets, squares, and pleasant gardens.
AMIDsurroundings of great beauty, in a northern corner of Italy, with a huge mountain barrier in the rear, and not far from the Lake of Garda, is the old city of Verona. Shakespeare called the place “fair Verona,” and made it the scene ofRomeo and Juliet, while the city is again the background of drama inThe Two Gentlemen of Verona.
VERONA, 1830.VERONA, 1830.
Shall we not see, leaning from one of the old balconies, the lovely Juliet? Do Romeo, Mercutio, and Benvolio no longer roam these twisted ancient streets? And where shall we find Julia and Lucetta, and Valentine, and smile at the pleasantries of Launce, with his dog, Crab, on a leash? Shakespeare has peopled these courts and cloisters for us with characters that we knew when we were young. We resent the bare hint that there never were in Verona a fervent youth named Romeo and a gentle maid called Juliet. Verona is the home ofRomeo and Juliet, and for this we haveknown the town since we first turned the magic pages of Shakespeare.
One wishes that there were a better word than “picturesque.” How hackneyed seem adjectives and phrases in describing these old towns. Verona then is very beautiful; it is certainly one of the loveliest cities of Europe, both in its surroundings and within its confines. You will not soon tire of the Piazza della Erbe, with the flying lion on its column, the charming fountain, and the stately Municipio. Here you will watch the life of Verona of to-day, and reflect that it has not wholly changed since the time of the Scaligers, the mighty rulers of the city. There is, of course, the modern note. But the old buildings stand, and in their shade people in the dress of olden days pass continually. It is inspiring and a trifle unreal when the moon lights the square, and the silence of night lends mystery to the scene.
In Verona everyone strives to live and work in the open air. The streets are thronged on days of market, stalls are set up in the narrow lanes and in the piazzas, vegetables and fruit come in great store. The eternal garlic scents the street, but we learn to love its odour. In Spain a market is quiet and solemn; here the scene is gay and noisy. Voices are raised, and there is lively bartering of wares. There are subjects at every turn for the brush of the painter—stern old buildings, winding alleys, and groups of garishly dressed peasants.
Diocletian’s glorious amphitheatre is the chief wonder of Verona. Few Roman monuments are so well preserved; the lower arches are almost perfect, and the stonework has been restored.
Great gladiators fought here during hundreds of centuries. The tiers had thousands of seats for spectators of all classes; and in later times the knights of chivalry contended in the circus. There is a fine view from the highest tier, overlooking the city and the varied landscape.
The structure is of a dull red marble, and signs of decay have been removed by repeated restoration, for the people of Verona take great pride in this monument. “The amphitheatre,” writes Goethe, “is the first important monument of the old times that I have seen—and how well it is preserved!”
Fra Giaconda designed the Palazza del Consiglio, and his fine arches and statuary deserve close inspection. The Tribunale and the Palazza della Ragione, both interesting,should be visited; the tombs of Scaligers in the Tribunale are Gothic work of great beauty.
There are several important churches in the city. The cathedral was begun in the twelfth century, and is adorned with a number of exterior images and reliefs. One of the chief works of the interior is Titian’s “Assumption.” San Zeno Maggiore has a beautiful façade, with Theodoric the Goth as one of the carvings, and a doorway of noble decorations. The interior of this church is very impressive.
The Church of Sant Anastasia dates from the thirteenth century, and is one of the most striking buildings in Verona. In the Cavilli Chapel are some old frescoes, and there is a splendid statue of the last of the Scaliger rulers, Cortesia Sarega, on horseback.
San Giorgio has some famous paintings. Let us inspect first the great picture of Paolo Veronese, “The Martyrdom of St George.” Paolo Caliari, born in 1528, was a native of Verona, and came to be known as “The Veronese.” His model was Titian, and he excelled in colour effects, and in the brilliance of his scenes. Several of his chief works are in Venice, but theexample in this church is considered one of his greatest achievements. More of his pictures will be seen in the gallery of the Pompeii Palace. The art of Paolo Veronese appealed strongly to Goethe, who admired more than all his work in portraiture.
Jacopo Robusti, called Tintoretto, was the founder of the Venetian School. Like Veronese, he followed the method of Titian. He was a prolific painter. Venice abounds in his works, and there are several of his paintings in Verona. In San Giorgio is “The Baptism of Christ,” and Goethe refers to one of this artist’s pictures, called “A Paradise,” in the Bevilague Palace.
One of the finest works of Mantegna is in Verona. This is the altarpiece “The Madonna with Angels and Saints,” in the Church of San Zeno. The figures and features of the Virgin are very beautifully presented. Mantegna was by birth a Paduan, but he worked chiefly in Mantua. His magnificent cartoons, painted for a palace at Mantua, are now in the Hampton Court Gallery, England.
In the Church of Santa Maria in Organo there are some fresco paintings by Morone, depicting a Madonna accompanied by St Augustineand St Thomas Aquinas. Dr Kugler, in his “History of Painting,” says that there is a “Madonna” by that painter in a house beyond the Ponta delle Navi in Verona.
Fra Giovanni designed the choir stalls in this church, and executed other decorations during his sojourn in the monastery of Verona.
From Santa Maria we may turn into the beautiful old Giusti Gardens, with their shady walks, their wealth of verdure, and ancient cypress-trees.
Besides the pictures in the churches, there is a collection of paintings in the picture gallery of the Palazzo Pompei. Here will be found examples of Paolo Veronese and other notable artists of his day. One of the Veronese School here represented is Girolomo dai Libri, who was a follower of Mantegna. His work is of a deeply religious character, and merits careful study.
The Church of San Fermo Maggiore should be seen for its handsome Gothic architecture, both in the exterior and interior.
There are one or two relics of the Roman period in the history of Verona, besides the splendid amphitheatre. The most noteworthy are the two gateways, the Arco dei Leoni, and the Porta dei Borsari.
A. E. Freeman, the historian, has admirably described the variety of interest in this old town: “There is the classic Verona, the Verona of Catullus and Pliny; there is the Verona of the Nibelungen, the Bern of Theodoric; there is the mediæval Verona, the Verona of commonwealths and tyrants; the Verona of Eccelius and Can Grande; and there is the Verona of later times, under Venetian, French, and Austrian bondage, the Verona of congresses and fortifications.”
AHOUSEin Seville is the reward of those beloved by the gods. In Toledo you are made reflective, perchance a little melancholy, while in Granada you are infected by the spirit of a past long dead. But in fair, sunlit Seville you live in the present as well as in the past; and your heart is made light by the pervasive gaiety of the people and the cheerfulness of the streets and plazas.
Climb the beautiful Giralda—the brown tower of the Moors that rises above the cathedral dome—and look around upon the vegas, and away to the blue mountains of the horizon, and you will know why Borrow was moved to shed “tears of rapture,” when he gazed upon this delightful land of the Blessed Virgin and the happy city, with its minarets, its palm-shaded squares, its luxuriant gardens, and broad stream, winding between green banks to the distant marshes, where rice and cotton grow, and the flamingo and heron fly over sparkling lagoons amid a tropical jungle.
Seville in spring is gay to hilarity. The great fair and the Easter ceremonials andfêtesattract thousands to the capital of Andalusia at the season when the banks of the Guadalquivir are white with the bloom of the orange-trees, and hundreds of nightingales make the evening breezes melodious; when the heat is bearable, the sky a deep azure, and the whole town festive, and bright with the costumes of many provinces. No blight of east wind depresses in early spring, and rarely indeed is the promise of roses and fruit threatened by frost in this region of perennial mildness and sunlight. “Only once have I seen ice in Seville,” said to me a middle-aged native of the place. It is only the winter floods, those greatavenidas, that are dreaded in Seville; for now and then the river swells out of normal bounds, and spreads into the streets and alleys.
SEVILLE, 1836. PLAZA REAL AND PROCESSION OF THE CORPUS CHRISTI.SEVILLE, 1836.PLAZA REAL AND PROCESSION OF THE CORPUS CHRISTI.
Seville is a white city in most of its modern parts. Lime-wash is used profusely everywhere, and the effect is cool and cleanly; but we wish sometimes that the natural colour of the stonework had been left free from thebrocha del blanquedor, or the whitewasher’s brush. Nevertheless, this whiteness hides dirt and dinginess. There are no squalid slums inSeville. The poor are there in swarms, but their poverty is not ugly and obvious, and for the greater part they are clad in cotton that is often washed.
This is the town of beautiful southern doñas: the true types of Andalusian loveliness may be seen here in the park, on the promenade, and at the services in the cathedral—women with black or white mantillas, olive or pale in complexion, with full, dark eyes, copious raven hair, short and rather plump in form, but always charming in their carriage. More picturesque and often more lovely in features are the working girls, those vivacious, intelligent daughters of the people, whose dark hair is adorned with a carnation or a rose.
The lightheartedness of Seville has expression in music, dancing, and merry forgatherings each evening in thepatios, when the guitar murmurs sweetly, and the click of the castanets sets the blood tingling. Everyone in Seville dances. The children dance almost as soon as they learn to toddle. In thecafésyou will see the nimblest dancers of Spain, and follow the intricate movements of the bolero, as well as the curious swaying and posturings of the older Moorish dances. These strange dramatic dancesmust be seen, and to witness them you should visit the Novedades at the end of Calle de las Sierpes.
Fashionable Seville delights in driving, and some of the wealthiest residents drive a team of gaily-decked, sleek-coated mules, with bells jangling on their bridles. Beautiful horses with Arab blood may be seen here. Even the asses are well-bred and big. But one sees also many ill-fed and sadly over-driven horses and mules. These people, so affectionate in their family life, so kindly in their entertainment of foreigners, and so graciously good-natured, have not yet learned one of the last lessons of humane civilisation—compassion for the animals that serve them.
Society in Seville takes its pleasure seriously, but the seriousness is not the dullness that attends the Englishman’s attempts at hilarity. The Spaniard is less demonstrative than the Frenchman, less mercurial than the Italian. Notwithstanding, the crowd at the races, at the battle of flowers, or watching the religious processions, or at the opera, is happy in its quiet intentness. The enthusiasm for bullfighting is perhaps the strongest visible emotion in Seville, the Alma Mater of the champions of the arena.At thecorridathe Sevillian allows himself to become excited. He loses his restraint, he shouts himself hoarse, waves his hat, and thrashes the wooden seats with his cane in the ecstasy of his delight, when a great performer plunges his sword into the vital spot of the furious bull that tears the earth with its foot, and prepares for a charge.
Bullfights, gorgeous ecclesiastic spectacles, and dancing—these are the recreations of rich and poor alike in Seville to-day. In this city of pleasure you will see themajo, the Andalusian dandy, as he struts up and down the Sierpes—the only busy street of shops—spruce, self-conscious, casting fervent glances at the señoras accompanied by their duennas. Go into the meaner alleys and market streets, and you will see the very vagrants that Murillo painted, tattered wastrels who address one another as Señor, and hold licences to beg. Cross the Bridge of Isabella to the suburb of Triana, and you will find a mixed and curious population of mendicants, thieves, desperadoes, and a colony of Gitanos, who live by clipping horses, hawking, fortune-telling, dancing and begging.
Peep through the delicate trellises of the Moorish gates of the patios, and you will seefountains, and flowers, and palms, and the slender columns supporting galleries, as in the Alhambra and other ancient buildings. Very delightful are these cool courtyards, with their canvas screens, ensuring shade at noonday, their splash of water, and their scent of roses clustering on columns and clothing walls. Some of these courtyards are open to the visitor, and one of the finest is the Casa de Pilatos in the Plaza de Pilatos.
A pleasant garden within a court is that of my friend, Don J. Lopez-Cepero, who lives in the old house of Murillo, and allows the stranger to see his fine collection of pictures. Here Murillo died, in 1682, and some of his paintings are treasured in the gallery. The house is Number Seven, Plaza de Alfaro.
We will now survey the Seville of olden days. No traces remain of Seville’s earliest epochs. The Phœnician traditions are vague, and we know little indeed of the Hispolo of the Greeks, a town which was supposed to have stood on this ground. The Romans came here, and called the town Julia Romula, and the remains of that age, if scanty, are deeply interesting. Italica, five miles from the city, is a Roman amphitheatre, with corridors, dens for the lions,and some defined tiers of seats. At this great Roman station, Trajan, Hadrian, and Theodosius were born. For other vestiges of the Roman rule, we must visit the Museo Provincial, where there are capitals, statues, and busts. The Pillars of Hercules in the Alaméda are other monuments of this period of the history of Seville.
Vandals and Goths ravaged the Roman city. Then came Musâ, the Moor, who besieged Seville, and captured it, afterwards marrying the widow of the Gothic monarch. A succession of Moorish rulers governed the city for several hundred years. One of the greatest was Motamid II., under whose sway Seville became a prosperous and wealthy capital, with a vast population.
The Christians took the city in 1248, and expelled thousands of the Mohammedans. Under the Spanish kings, Seville remained, for a considerable spell, a royal city; and one of the most renowned of its Christian sovereigns was Pedro the Cruel, who, while democratic in some respects, was, on the other hand, a truculent tyrant. In administration he was jealous and energetic, and though called “The Cruel,” he has also been named “The Just.” Pedro livedin the Alcázar, the old palace which we shall presently visit.
The monuments of the Moors in Seville are numerous. In the Alcázar are courts of resplendent beauty, gilded and coloured in hundreds of fantastic designs; arcades with horseshoe arches and graceful columns, marble floors, fountains, and richly decorated doorways. The Giralda, which is seen from many open spaces in the city, is a magnificent specimen of the minaret, dating from 1184; and this tower, and the adjoining Court of the Oranges, are parts of an ancient mosque. The lower portion of the Golden Tower, by the Guadalquivir, was built by the Moors. Many of the churches are built in the Mudéjar, or late Moorish style, and most of them have elegant minarets, arched windows, and interior decorations of an Oriental character.
The power of Seville diminished under the domination of the Catholic kings, until the discovery of America by Cristoforo Colombo (Columbus), who sailed from the city on his bold expedition, and was welcomed with fervour upon his triumphal return. We think of the explorer setting forth for a second voyage, with vessels equipped at the cost of Isabella theCatholic, who profited so liberally by the conquest of the New World, and we picture him in the days of neglect, when he suffered the lot of those who put their trust in the promises of princes. It was Columbus who made the Seville of the fifteenth century. The commercial importance of the city, after the expulsion of the Moors, was re-established through the great trade opened with America.
The fortunes of Seville at this period were bound up with those of the revered Queen Isabel. Shakespeare styled her “queen of earthly queens,” and Sir Francis Bacon praised her. She was tall, fair, and of most amiable bearing, and she possessed many of the qualities of one born to command. Unfortunately for Seville, the young queen was under the domination of Cardinal Mendoza, and of Torquemada. It was Torquemada who urged her to purify Spain from her heresy by means of torture and the flame. Let it be said that Isabel did not comply willingly, and that she strove more than once to check the cruelties of the Holy Office. The first to suffer from the Inquisition in Seville were the Jews; then followed a long and bitter persecution of heretics of the Protestant faith, and a reign of terror among men of learning.
The Chapel of the Alcázar was built in the time of Isabel, and her bedroom is still to be seen.
Charles V. loved the retirement of the Alcázar, and his marriage with Isabella of Portugal was celebrated in the gorgeous Hall of the Ambassadors. He made several additions to the palace, and directed the planning of the exquisite gardens. Philip V. lived here for a time, and he also caused alterations, and added to the curious mixture of buildings within the walls of the Moorish palace.
There are so few signs of commercialism in the city that we gain an impression that Seville only lives to amuse itself, and to entertain its host of visitors. There are, however, industries of many kinds, and a considerable export trade in various ores, in olive oil, fruit, wine, and wool. The population is over one-hundred-and-fifty thousand. There are several factories, and many craftsmen working in their homes.
The illustrious natives are numerous. Velazquez, the greatest painter of Spain, if not of the world, was born here in 1599. Murillo was a Sevillian, and so were the artists Pacheco, Herrera, and Roelas, and the sculptor, Montañez.Lope de Rueda, one of the earliest Spanish dramatists, lived here. Cervantes spent a part of his life in Seville, and described the characters of the Macarena Quarter in his shorter tales.
The house of the gifted Dean Pacheco, in Seville, was the resort of many artists and notable men. This painter and cleric is chiefly remembered as the teacher of Velazquez. He wrote discourses on the art of painting, and trained a number of the Sevillian artists. The art of Murillo was influenced by Juan del Castillo, who also taught Alonso Cano. Castillo was born in Seville.
Francisco Herrera, born in 1622, studied in Rome, and upon his return to Spain painted many pictures in Madrid. The Cordovan painter, Juan Valdés Leal, lived for many years in Seville, and worked with Murillo to establish an academy of painting in the city. There are many specimens of his art in Seville. Juan de las Roelas was a Sevillian by birth (1558-1625) and his “Santiago destroying the Moors” is in the chapter of the cathedral, while many of the churches contain his pictures.
The Provincial Museum has an instructive collection of paintings of the Andalusian Schoolas well as the works of many artists of other traditions. Murillo is represented by several paintings. There are some fine examples of the art of Zurbaran, a sombre and realistic artist whose work conveys the mediæval spirit of Spain, and is esteemed by many students as more sincere than the art of Murillo. His finest pictures are, perhaps, “San Hugo visiting the Monks,” “The Virgin of Las Cuevas,” and “St Bruno conversing with Urban II.”
In the Museo is a portrait by El Greco, supposed erroneously to be the painter himself. This is often appraised as the chief treasure of the collection. Among the most admirable of the Spanish primitive painters is Alejo Fernandez, whose work is to be seen in the cathedral, in the churches of Seville and Triana. Fernandez is scarcely known out of Spain, but art students will delight in his work, and everyone should see the beautiful “Madonna and Child” in the Church of Santa Ana in Triana, and the large altarpiece in San Julian.
The sculpture of Montañez merits very careful attention. His figure of “St Bruno” stands in the Museo Provincial, and “St Dominic” is in the south transept. “The Virgin and Child” and “John the Baptist” are in this collection. In the sacristy of the cathedral is Montañez’ “Statue of the Virgin.” This artist died in 1649, after a busy life. He carved many images for the Church, and founded a school of wood-carving. Among his pupils was the gifted Alonso Cano. The single figures by Montañez are considered finer art than his groups. Most of his effigies are lavishly coloured.
The cathedral is a magnificent building, the largest in Spain, and greater than St Paul’s in London. Gautier said that “Notre Dame de Paris might walk erect in the middle nave.” There are seven naves with monstrous columns, the loftiness of the interior conveying a sense of vastness which has been often described by travellers. More than a hundred years were spent in the building of this great church, and several architects planned the various parts during that period. Ruiz and Rodriguez designed the greater portion, and the last of the architects was Juan Gil de Houtañon, who planned the cathedral of Salamanca. The chief front is finely decorated, and has three portals, with statue groups and reliefs. There is so much of beauty and interest in the interior that I can only write briefly of a few of the mostnotable objects. The stained windows number over seventy, and they are chiefly by Aleman, a German, and by Flemish artists of the sixteenth century. The choir altar has pictures, and a handsome plateresque screen. There are splendidly carved stalls, and a notable lectern. The sacristy is near the chief façade, with a high dome, several chapels, and some interesting statues. The retablo is by Roldan, a follower of Montañez.
Murillo’s “Vision of the Holy Child” is in the Capella del Bautisterio. In the Royal Chapel, which is interesting Renaissance work, richly ornamented, there are the tomb of Alfonso the Wise, and an old figure of the Virgin. Pedro Campaña’s altarpiece, in the Capilla del Mariscal, should be seen. In the south transept is the noted “La Gamba,” a painting by Luis de Vargas. The ornate Sala Capitular has the “Conception,” by Murillo, and a painting by Pablo de Céspedes, who was a sculptor, poet, and painter, born at Cordova, and made a canon of the cathedral in that city. Céspedes was a fine portrait painter, and has been described as “one of the best colourists of Spain.”
The Sacristy de las Calices of the Capilla de Nuestra Senora de las Dolores contains Goya’s well-known painting of Saints Justa and Rufina, the potter-girls who were martyred by the Romans. Here also will be seen a picture by Zurbaran; “The Trinity,” by El Greco, the crucifix carved by Montañez, and a “Guardian Angel,” by Murillo. The Capilla de Santiago has paintings by the early artists Valdés Leal and Juan de las Roelas.
Close to the cathedral is the semi-Moorish Alcázar, with its strangely mingled styles of architecture. The buildings are in part a fortress, while within the walls are portions of a palace of the sultans and a residence of Christian kings. The rich frontage of Pedro’s palace is composite, and probably only the gate is purely Moorish. In the Court of the Maidens there is much gorgeous decoration. As in the Alhambra, we see the characteristic gallery with delicate columns, and arches with ornamental inscriptions. The Hall of the Ambassadors is the pride of the Alcázar. Here again we shall notice several orders of architecture, but the effect is impressive. The portals are sumptuous, and the whole place and decorations suggest the opulence and might of the early Catholic kings.
I like the old gardens of the Alcázar, with their tiled walks, their clustering roses, theiralcoves and arbours, and quaint fountains, all enclosed by an ancient wall. Here sultans dreamed, and kings retired from the cares of government, to breathe the scented air of evening. Quiet reigns in these flowery courts, only the voices of birds are heard among the orange-trees and tangled roses.
There are many beautifully adorned chambers in this palace of delight. Alfonso, Pedro, Isabel, Charles, and Philip all reconstructed or added to the wonderful pile first erected by Yusuf. The old buildings once stretched to the river, the Golden Tower forming one of the defences. Before the Moors came to Seville, a Roman prætorium stood on this ground, and it was in 1181 that the Morisco architects began to plan the Alcázar. Much of the present building is of Mudéjar, or late Moorish, origin. The details that should be studied are the pillared windows, the marble columns, the fine stalactite frieze, the arches, the azulejos of dazzling colour, the choice decoration of the doors, the marble pavements, and the half-orange domes—all representative of the art of the Mudéjares.
We must now inspect some more of the monuments of Seville. King Pedro’s Church,Omnium Sanctorium, is an example of mixed Christian and Mohammedan architecture, with a minaret and three portals. The Ayuntamiento is an exceedingly flamboyant building in the Plaza de la Constitucion, with two façades, one of them fronting the Plaza de San Fernando. The older and finer front was designed by Riaño.
The Archbishop’s Palace, which dates from the seventeenth century, is not a good example of the plateresque style. The only picture in Seville by Velazquez, a much restored canvas, is in the palace. The Lonja (Exchange) was built by Philip II., and finished about 1598. It is a square, imposing structure, but scarcely beautiful in form or decoration. A splendid doorway, very luxuriantly decorated, is that of the Palace of San Telmo, where there are very lovely gardens.
The modern life of Seville concentrates in the two principal plazas, in the Calle de las Sierpes, and in the Park of Maria Luisa. Very pleasant are the palm-shaded squares and the walks by the Guadalquivir. In the tortuous white alleys you come unexpectedly upon charming wrought-iron gates, through which you catch glimpses of cheerful patios.Some of these lanes are so narrow that a pannier-mule almost bars your road. And above this fair city the sun shines almost perpetually, while the smokeless air has a wonderful clarity.