An Architect's Note-Book in Spain Part 13

SEVILLE CASA DE LOS ABADES

MDW 1869]

PLATE LVIII.

_SEVILLE._

ARCHES FROM THE CASA DE LOS ABADES.

THE architectural style of this very pretty house, No. 9, in the Calle de los Abades, is much purer, that is more Italian in its Plateresque, than is usual in other houses in Seville in which the hand of the skilful Moorish operative is to be distinctly perceived. This is to be accounted for by the fact, that although the mansion existed as a house of importance at the commencement of the fifteenth century,[27] the architectural features which now meet the eye were all executed for the rich Genoese family of the Pinedos about 1533. If it were not for the peculiar engrailed double edging to the arches, the thinness of the marble central window shaft, and a few oriental turns here and there given to the foliage, and enrichments of the mouldings, one could almost believe that this architecture was regular Genoese cinque-cento. It is possible however, that although here in the midst of ordinary Spanish Plateresque one is tempted to cry out "Oh! how Italian this is!" if one could only meet with a precisely similar building in Genoa; one would be quite as much tempted to exclaim, "Oh! how Spanish this is!" The fact of course is, that it exhibits a mixture of the two styles, produced under the exceptional circ.u.mstances to which I have alluded.

After pa.s.sing from its Genoese owners, it was inhabited by certain Abades, rich members of the Cathedral Staff, who left behind them their name, but no very popular odour of sanct.i.ty,

"En la calle de los Abades, Todos han Tios, y ningunos Padres."[28]

So runs the jingle Ford quotes, with manifest glee, adding as a sequel to bring the matter home to the right offenders,

"Los Canonigos, Madre, no tienen hijos; Los que tienen en casa, son sobrinicos."[29]

Possibly it may have been some of these very "sobrinicos" who hindered my sketching by many small practical "chistes," for as the Patio served as a play-ground to a tumultuous little boys' school, I found it by no means conducive to that state of mind which facilitates elaborate sketching. I fear also that such an occupation of its graceful galleries may not prove conducive to the preservation of the noses, and possibly even of the heads, of the "Caballeros de mucha consideracion," who fill the medallions of the spandrels of the princ.i.p.al arches of the Patio.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 59

CASA DE LOS ABADES

SEVILLE.

MDW 1869]

PLATE LIX.

_SEVILLE._

VIEW IN THE PATIO OF THE CASA DE LOS ABADES.

IN spite of all the habits of reckless extravagance, in the days when America poured its countless riches into the mother-country, described by travellers; and in spite of the quant.i.ty of money which must have been lavished on building by n.o.bles and superior ecclesiastics, (as in the case of the extremely elegant Renaissance "Casa de los Abades" which forms the subject of our fifty-eighth sketch,) the home-life of Spain never approached the contemporary plenty and comfort which obtained in Italy, France, and England. In spite of the occasional prodigality of wedding feasts, such as that of Camacho in Don Quixotte, and in spite, perhaps, of a little occasional "gourmanderie" on the part of the "Senores Abades" of this Calle, neither cooking nor service appear to have been carried to much perfection. It is in fact very curious, in wandering over any fine old Spanish house, to observe how little provision appears to have been made in them architecturally for the kitchen and its service. Ornament appears to have been much more general in the public parts of the richest houses than good fare in the interior and private parts. Nor was there any such movement towards excess in this particular, as usually accompanies the pa.s.sage of a wealthy and powerful people from wealth and power, through laziness, to poverty and weakness.

So late as 1775, the year in which Philip Thicknesse[30] travelled through part of Spain, and whilst it was yet a comparatively unbroken-up country, domestic luxury had reached but a little way beyond the satisfaction of the simplest wants of nature in the simplest way. "The people of fashion in general," he says, "have no idea of serving their tables with elegance, or eating delicately; but rather, in the style of our forefathers, without spoon or fork, they use their own fingers, and give drink from the gla.s.s of others; foul their napkins and cloaths exceedingly, and are served at table by servants who are dirty, and often very offensive. I was admitted, by accident, to a gentleman's house, of large fortune, while they were at dinner; there were seven persons at a round table, too small for five; two of the company were visitors; yet neither their dinner was so good, nor their manner of eating it so delicate, as may be seen in the kitchen of a London tradesman. The dessert (in a country where fruit is so fine and so plenty) was only a large dish of the seeds of pomegranates, which they eat with wine and sugar. In truth, Sir, an Englishman who has been the least accustomed to eat at genteel tables, is, of all other men, least qualified to travel into other kingdoms, and particularly into Spain."

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 60

SEVILLE

MDW 1869 A PEEP INTO AN ORDINARY PATIO]

PLATE LX.

_SEVILLE._

A PEEP INTO AN ORDINARY PATIO.

IN several previous notices, I have described the uses of the Patios in olden times, and on a large scale, and the degree to which they have been made, as architectural contrivances, to fall in with popular manners and customs. It remains to notice the extent to which the Spaniards of to-day sympathise in this respect with their forefathers, and how essential the Patio still is to the happiness of domestic life.

It is at once cool and airy, and may be made quite private or semi-public at pleasure. With its iron gate to the street closed, and a screen drawn across it, it becomes private, and with its door opened it occupies in modern life exactly the position which the "Atrium" used to occupy in ancient cla.s.sical life. An awning, drawn across from side to side of the Patio, answers to the Roman Velarium, closing the Impluvium, and gives shade and softened light during the glare of mid-day, allowing the court of the house to be used as the ordinary sitting-room of the family. Theophile Gautier[31] gives a pretty picture of the facility with which the Patio may be converted at night into the "Salon," in which what answers to the Soiree of the French is usually given by the Spaniards. "The Tertullia," he says, "is held in the Patio which is surrounded by columns of alabaster, and ornamented with a fountain, the basin of which is encircled with flowers and ma.s.ses of foliage, on the leaves of which the trickling drops fall in small showers. Six or eight lights are suspended against the walls, chairs and sofas of straw or cane furnish the arcades; guitars are laid about here and there, and the piano occupies one angle and a whist-table another. The guests, on entering, salute the master and mistress of the house, who never fail, after the usual compliments, to offer a cup of chocolate, which may or may not be refused, and a cigarette which is generally accepted. These duties fulfilled, the visitor may attach himself to whichever group in the corners of the Patio he may consider most attractive. The family and the elderly guests play cards. The young gentlemen talk to the young ladies, and in fact, if they are so minded while away the time in innocent flirtation, or perhaps less innocent gossip and t.i.ttle-tattle."

The Patio thus becomes the stage on which the elegant senoritas display their most winning fascinations, and "spin cobwebs to catch flies" in the shape of "novios."

It is princ.i.p.ally in those cities in which cla.s.sical and oriental tradition is still strongest, such as Segovia, Toledo, Granada, and Seville, that the use of the Patio, as the Romans and Moors used their open air Cortiles, is chiefly affected. Our sketch was taken in Seville, but hundreds of similar sketches might readily be taken there, or elsewhere. There is nevertheless a special charm about these Seville houses, in spite of their remorseless whitewash, which makes life in them most pleasant. This has no doubt justified the old proverb, quoted in German, Latin and Italian by Berckenmeyern[32] "Wen Gott lieb hat, dem giebt er ein Haus in Sevilia." (To whom G.o.d loves he gives a house in Seville).

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 61

CADIZ CATHEDRAL

MDW 1869]

PLATE LXI.

_CADIZ._

INTERNAL VIEW OF THE CATHEDRAL.

SWINBURNE,[33] who visited Cadiz in January, 1775, and who certainly possesses the merit (so far as I can find out) of being the first Englishman who made any drawings from the remains of ancient architecture in Spain, found the Cathedral of that city, "la nueva,"

(intended to supersede the mean "la vieja," built in 1597,) in course of construction, and the following is his description of what he then saw.

"On the sh.o.r.e stands the Cathedral, a work of great expense, but carried on with so little vigour, that it is difficult to guess at the term of years it will require to bring it to perfection; I think fifty have already elapsed since the first stone was laid, and the roof is not yet half finished. The vaults are executed with great solidity. The arches that spring from the cl.u.s.tered pilasters to support the roof of the church are very bold; the minute sculpture bestowed upon them seems superfluous, as all the effect will be lost from their great height, and from the shade that will be thrown upon them by the filling up of the interstices. From the sea, the present top of the church resembles the carcase of some huge monster cast upon its side, rearing its gigantic blanched ribs high above the buildings of the city. The outward casings are to be of white marble, the bars of the windows of bronze; but I fear the work will be coa.r.s.ely done, if one may draw inference from the sample of a small chapel, where the squares are so loosely jointed and ill fitted, that in a few years the facing will be quite spoilt. It is unfair to prejudge a piece of architecture in such an imperfect state, but I apprehend the style of this will be crowded and heavy."

In spite of all Swinburne's forebodings the real effect of this Cathedral is now, internally at least, vast and stately, although in too florid a style as to detail to be quite satisfactory. The true cause of much of the delay, culminating in total stoppage in 1769, of which Swinburne complains, was the cupidity of certain Commissioners who appropriated to themselves the funds (a tax on American imports) allotted by the government for the work. To give a cover to their gross dishonesty, they laid blame on the designs of the architect, Vicente Acero,[34] which could not, as they averred, be completed. At last, in 1832, the scandal was wiped out by the zeal and liberality of Bishop Domingo de Silos Moreus who caused the interior to be completed, and the exterior partially so, mainly out of his privy purse.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 62

MALAGA

THE FOUNTAIN OF THE ALAMEDA

MDW 1869]