VISIT TO THE MUSEUMS OF SEVILLE IN 1822.

SPAIN has furnished a brilliant epoch in the history of painting, and amongst the various schools that flourished in that country none occupied a more deservedly distinguished rank than that of Seville. But the glory of Spain, with regard to the Fine Arts, has been long on the wane, and, instead of witnessing the creation of new chefs-d'œuvre in painting, she has for some time back been fated to deplore the loss of those left her by her gifted children of former days. The long-protracted ravages of the destructive war into which she was goaded by Napoleon have occasioned her greatest losses in this way. An immense number of pictures fell, either by fair or foul means, into the hands of the French marshals and generals, and other powerful amateurs, who, through motives of curiosity or profit, followed the head-quarters of the French armies. A not inconsiderable number has been purchased by English travellers, which are now dispersed over England, and serve to add another charm to the splendid country mansions of Great Britain; where it is to be hoped they are secure from such rapacious wholesale collectors as those who despoiled Spain, at least until the Holy (lucus à non lucendo) Alliance shall have more fully matured its philanthropic plans.

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However, notwithstanding these multiplied losses, Seville is, of all the cities in Spain (not excepting Madrid), the one which still possesses the richest pictorial treasures. God and the French army only know if she will long have this remnant of her glory to boast of! If the nanimous leader of the French deliverers should, in the intoxication of unaccustomed triumph, remember that the walls of the Louvre are but scantily and scurvily covered, poor Seville may be forced to furnish the necessary canvass, and this in the course of events may lead to a second stripping of that long gallery; and so the eternal wheel goes round.

In the possibility of such an event, let us here record the most remarkable paintings, which were to be seen at Seville in 1822 and the commencement of 1823. This unpretending list may enable those of our readers who may visit Seville in 1824 to denounce the robbery. Let our first visit be, as Christians, if not good Catholics, to the Cathedral, where are assembled the productions of the principal masters of the Sevilian school. A short time back there was placed in the sacristy one of the most remarkable works of Pedro de Campagna-a Descent from the Cross, which formerly adorned the church of Santa Clara. Campagna was born at Brussels in the commencement of the sixteenth century, and came to reside at Seville in 1548. His style appears to have been partly modelled upon the works of Michael Angelo; but in the simplicity of his composition, his colouring, and the stiffness of his figures, he resembles the painters of the old German school. On each side of the crucifix, which occupies the middle of the picture, Joseph of Arimathea and another person are mounted upon ladders, and employed in gently lowering down the body of our Saviour, whilst Mary Magdalen and Saint John are at the foot of the Cross endeavouring to console the Virgin Mary, who is in a half-kneeling posture,* with the

*This is a very common attitude with the Irish female peasantry during the celebration of mass, or at the graves of their relatives, by which they endeavour to reVOL. VI. No. 33.-1823. 31

body inclined backwards. It is on tradition that the celebrated Murillo used to remain for whole hours absorbed in admiration of this picture; and that on one occasion, the sacristan, having lost all patience, roughly demanded of him what kept him from quitting the church? To which the enthusiastic artist replied-" I am waiting till these holy men have lowered the body of our Saviour." Murillo is buried in the church of Santa Clara, under the very spot where he was accustomed to stand whilst contemplating this picture. This is a glorious instance of the "ruling passion strong in death," and a fine practical illustration of the line " even in our ashes live their wonted fires." It was an act of sacrilege against the divinity of genius to have removed this picture from the church of Santa Clara. The Cathedral contains also several fine pictures of Louis de Vargas, who was born and died at Seville, but who during a sojourn in Italy studied under the great masters of the time. Raphael appears to have been amongst the number, for traces of his instruction are sometimes discernible in the beautiful colouring and expression of Vargas's pictures, which also exhibit something of the grand and severe style of Michael Angelo. There is in a little sidechapel an Adoration of the Shepherds by Vargas. The Virgin is clothed in white, with her face towards the spectator; she is pointing out the child in the crib to the shepherds, some of whom are on their knees offering presents, and others behind them bending forward in an attitude of respectful curiosity. Another of his pictures is known under the name of La Gamba (the leg), from a very beautiful leg which the painter has conferred upon Adam, and of which Perez de Alesio said, when finishing his Saint Christopher, that this leg was infinitely more precious than the whole body and limbs of his Saint. The defect of this picture consists in there not being enough of light thrown upon the principal group. Another subject treated by Vargas is the Presentation in the Temple. The Virgin in this picture is represented with the same celestial expression of countenance as that which characterises the Virgin of the first-mentioned picture. It is evident that both have the honour of no very remote degree of relationship with the Madonnas of Raphael. The Saint Christopher of Pedro de Alesio, of which we have just spoken, is a colossal figure forty feet high, so that the compliment paid to Adam's handsome leg was by no means a trifling one. This enormous Saint was painted in fresco, but the colours being now altogether faded, it is only with the eye of faith that we can form any opinion of its merit. Pedro de Alesio studied under Buonarotti; he died at Rome in 1600. Another pupil of Buonarotti's, Ferdinand Sturm, furnished the pictures which decorate the chapel de los Santillanos. Amongst them is a Resurrection, and several Saints. But the tints have become as brown and swarthy as the holy originals would have become, had they lived ever since under the burning sun of Andalusia. A minor altar in this chapel

concile their devotional respect with their love of ease; being apparently kneeling, while at the same time the weight of the body rests upon the upturned heels. It is also this attitude that Canova has chosen for his celebrated statue of the Magdalen, now in the possession of the Marquis de Sommariva, at Paris. This the finical petitmaitre posture-master Parisian critics call ungraceful and ignoble. They cannot see that it is finely and simply indicative of utter prostration of strength, and faintness from extremne anguish. They had never seen an opera-dancer kneel thus: therefore it was hors les règles du beau.

contains some works of Zurbaran; the principal of which is Saint Peter seated on a throne and clothed in pontifical robes. The good Saint must feel not a little surprised at being thus exhibited to posterity as a Pope. There are several little pictures surrounding this large one; representing various passages in the life of the Saint. Zurbaran displays but little imagination; he seems, however, to have been skilful in the technical part of his art. There is in the same church a picture by his master, Juan de las Roclas, representing Santiago or Saint Jaques mounted upon a huge white horse, equipped as a knight, and busily employed in belabouring and overthrowing the Moors in the battle of Clavijo. It is evident from this picture that the Spanish painters took as great liberties with costuming their Saints, as the priests of that country did and do with accoutring their images. Terror, rage, and despair, are depicted with great force and truth in the features and gestures of the prostrate Moors. Amongst them is a young Saracen who painfully endeavours to raise up his dying head and brave, at least with looks, the aspect and flaming sword of the Saint. This is a fine idea, and perfectly well realised by the painter. Pedro de Alesio has treated the same subject for the church of Saint Jaques, where it figures over the grand altar.

One of the finest pictures in the Cathedral is the Vision of Saint Antony, by Murillo. It is placed in the Chapel of the Baptistery. The Saint, in a moment of mystical ecstasy, stretches forth his arms and raises his noble countenance towards the infant Jesus, who is smiling on him from a couch of transparent clouds, which are painted with infinite art. Through the entrance of the cell is seen a Gothic cloister, the light of which is not the same as that of the cell. All the objects in this fine composition are executed with admirable truth and beauty.

To see the other chefs-d'œuvre of Murillo (whose merit can be justly appreciated only by those who have been at Seville), we must visit the Church of the Hospital de la Caridad, where his finest productions are, or rather were to be seen; for one of his four great pictures, after having been stolen by the French, was restored at the peace of 1815, and has since remained at Madrid, where it forms one of the principal ornaments of the Gallery of San Fernanda. The subject is Saint Isabella, Queen of Portugal, who devoted herself to the care of the poor, the sick, and the mutilated. Here Murillo sported in his own element; for, as it is well known, there never was a painter who shewed so strong a predilection for imitating the disgusting casualties and diseases of afflicted human nature. His beggars covered with filth, vermin, and ulcers, excite horror and loathing from the very fidelity and excellence of their execution. It is almost impossible to conceive how the artist could have so far conquered the natural repugnance excited by such hideous nastiness, as to enable him to copy with minute accuracy such objects. One is almost forced to think that to his ardent love of painting, must have been joined a mind inaccessible to human suffering. It is however much to be deplored that Murillo did not exercise his extraordinary talent for the imitation of nature upon more attractive objects: for, having given it this direction, his excellence "served him but as an enemy," and became "a sanctified and holy traitor to him,”

inasmuch as, the better he succeeded, the greater was the disgust excited. One of the other three pictures that are still to be seen in the Hospital de la Caridad, represents a San Juan de Dios, who is carrying on his back a sick man to the hospital, in which charitable office he is assisted by an angel. The second is our Saviour, in the midst of a beautiful country, feeding the multitude, who are skilfully disposed in groups. The third is Moses striking the rock, and causing a living stream to spring from it, to which a crowd of men and animals are hurrying to slake their thirst. In the principal figures of the two last pictures there is a want of character observable. They seem even to have been executed with a feeble pencil. Indeed the same may be said of the first picture, in which San Juan de Dios and the angel have nothing of the ideal about them. On the contrary, their features are rather harsh and vulgar. One is inclined to suppose that Murillo had blunted the fine tact of genius, by a too continued attention to the grosser and ruder models of nature, if the celestial features of his Saint Isabella did not triumphantly prove that he was complete master of the beau idéal, when he took the pains to seek it, or the subject inspired him.

The Capuchin Church de la Porta Macarera formerly possessed some of Murillo's paintings, but they are now dispersed. Since the suppression of the convents and other religious communities equally useless, if not hurtful, an excellent idea has been put in execution, that of depositing in one of the reformed churches a great number of the pictures that belonged to the ancient communities. The selection might have been more judicious; but even as it is, it has served to rescue from destruction or dispersion several masterpieces of the Spanish school. This collection is destined to remain stationary and serve as a provincial museum, if our Lady and the Duke d'Angoulême be not of a different opinion. Over the space formerly occupied by the grand altar of the church in which the pictures are exhibited, is placed a large painting by Zurbaran, taken from the College of Saint Thomas Aquinas, and representing his saintship, who occupies the middle of the piece. Over his head are seen the Saviour and the Virgin Mary, attended by angels and Saints Paul and Dominick. In the foreground is Charles V. in complete armour, and on his knees, and around him are several other personages. For the expression of the features, the chiaroscuro and the draperies, this is a chef-d'œuvre. The composition has nothing remarkable in it, but this is too often the case in those pictures which have been executed in Italy and Spain according to orders which had more of superstition than sound taste in them. Over this is a charming Madonna by Juan de Castello, remarkable for its colouring and purity of style, qualities which this artist seems to have borrowed from his brother Augustin de Castello. There are also in this new Museum several productions more or less remarkable of Valdes, Murillo, and Ribera. It possesses, moreover, a fine piece of statuary in terra cotta representing Saint Jerome. This is the work of Torregiano, an excellent Italian sculptor. It was executed for the Convent of Buenavista, near the city. Fortunately the artist did not behave so ungallantly to this Saint Jerome in terra cotta, as he did to a Madonna of the same fragile materials, which he had modelled for the Duke d'Arcos; for in a dispute with this Senore, the irritated artist dashed

the unoffending lady, instead of the insolent lord, to pieces. pieces. The hand that made her, marr'd her." Such a burst of passion and sacrilegious destruction, in the presence of a grandee of Spain, was a crime not to be forgiven; and the sculptor was immured, without examination or trial, in a prison at Seville, where he died in 1522.

Besides this collection of the Museum, there is not a church in Seville which does not possess one or more specimens of the first-rate Spanish masters-such as Campagna, Villegas, Vargas, &c. At Santa Maria la Blanca, there is a Virgin supporting the body of Christ, by Vargas on the borders of this picture are painted the figures of saints. The Hospital of San Lazaro, beyond the walls, possesses a Saint Lazarus robed as a bishop, by Villegas Marmotego. Thus to episcopalize Saint Lazarus is quite as anachronismatical a sin as clapping the tiara upon the unconscious head of Saint Peter: but we are inclined to pardon the painter's extemporal error, for the admirable manner in which he has painted the episcopal costume. Villegas is buried in the Church of San Lorenzo, at the foot of another of his pictures, representing a Madonna. It is a pity that the Last Judgment, painted on fresco, in the court of the Casa de la Misericordia, is in such a ruinous state, that in a short time it will be impossible to criticise it. The parochial church of Saint Isidore possesses a picture of the death of this saint, by Roclas. It is one of his best productions. The scene is a Gothic cathedral, in which the holy bishop is seen upon his knees, his head inclined, his hands joined, and his whole air and attitude indicating the flight of his soul to another and a better world. The expression of his countenance is extremely touching: he is supported by some attendant ecclesiastics; in the air are seen the Saviour, the Virgin, and a company of angels, hailing the departure of the Saint with voices and musical instruments towards this bright choir the dying bishop, though with head reclined in the languor of approaching death, directs a look of love and hope. The colouring of this picture approaches very near that of the Venetian school, upon which, in fact, Roclas had formed himself. The same resemblance may be traced in the Martyrdom of Saint Andrew, a large picture containing thirty figures as large as life.

A cloth-merchant of Seville has had spirit and taste enough to form a collection of paintings nearly as numerous as that of the provincial Museum. He has covered with pictures the walls, not only of his apartments, but of his staircase, his court, and even his shop. In this distribution, a very strict attention has not been paid to the lucidus ordo; but however there is much, and of what is valuable, to be discovered in this belle confusion. Amongst the Italian pictures, one is agreeably surprised to find an Adoration of the Shepherds, by Michael Angelo; it is of small dimensions, but of the most exquisite finish; also a Penitent Magdalen in a Grotto, by Titian, opposite to which is a picture by Murillo, representing the same subject. There is a Marriage of Saint Catherine, by Correggio, so exactly similar in all respects to a picture of the same master in the gallery of the Louvre, that it must puzzle the most acute connoisseur to determine which of the two is the original. Near this is a Dying Saint Agnes covering her bruised and wounded bosom with a part of her garments, by Guido Reni. In specimens of the Spanish schools, this collection is still richer, or at least contains a