LETTER XVII.

PAINTINGS

GENERAL TASTE FOR PICTURES MURILLO

HIS PAINTINGS IN

THE CARIDAD-IN THE CATHEDRAL OF SEVILLE-ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE OF THAT CELEBRATED ARTIST.

SEVILLE, OCT. 1809.

FEW places in Europe, with the exception of London and Paris, contain so many good pictures as are to be found in this city. About one hundred and seventy years ago, some of the best painters resided here, especially Murillo, Velasquez, Zubaran, Spagnolete, and Cano; and such was its celebrity as a school for painting, that several eminent masters, from other countries, resorted hither for improvement in their profession. Spain made considerable progress in the art of painting during the reign of Charles the Fifth, and it was the general custom among the Spanish nobles, who attended that monarch in his visits to Italy and the Netherlands, to purchase and send home to this city, then the capital of Spain, the best pictures they could procure; some of them have been retained by private families, and others were given to the different churches and con

vents.

Our unhappy sovereign Charles the First, when Prince of Wales, contributed to increase the taste for this art in Spain by the love he

manifested for the profession, by the honour he paid to the artists, and by the liberal price he gave for their works. He purchased some excellent pictures for his collection, and left directions for some of the best pictures in Madrid to be copied; especially the works of Titian in the royal palaces. Miquel de la Cruz, an artist of considerable eminence in the court of Philip the Fourth, was occupied several years in copying the best pictures for our unfortunate monarch, which were not all completed when he met his untimely fate.

The best ancient pictures are mostly upon subjects connected with religion; some of them are portraits of saints and martyrs, whose names as well as sufferings would perhaps have remained unknown, were they not immortalized by the genius of the artist. A great number of excellent paintings have been accumulated here, and indeed a general taste for the 'art has been established for ages. Most of the well informed men are connoisseurs, and more especially the priests and monks, who, from habitually contemplating, in their churches, the finest specimens of the art, acquire a correctness in their notions of painting, which renders them good judges of even those paintings that are unconnected with religion.

A general fondness for the art prevails in this capital, and most people, particularly the ladies, have in their apartments the best pictures of the Holy Virgin, or some favourite saint, which their circumstances can afford. To these they are much attached, and retain them with care, even when reduced by poverty to sell every thing else. I was yesterday at the house of a lady, the widow of an officer, to see some pictures which necessity compelled her to sell, but

which decent pride forbade her to part with to any except a foreigner. In her chamber was a crucifixion, which I admired, and asked if it were to be sold; "No, Señor, lo tengo por mi devocion;" she then asked with surprise, "Are you a Christian?" On my answering

Yes," and that I respected the saints, she expressed herself delighted that, among the English whom she had been told were all Protestants, she had found one who was a Catholic; for, though she appeared a woman who had moved in a respectable sphere, she had no conception that Christian and Catholic were not precisely synonymous; and I was too intent on her pictures to find time to correct her vocabulary.

It is scarcely right in relating any thing to commence with the best; and perhaps I should be wiser were I to delay writing about the pictures of Murillo, till I had described those of some inferior artists; but, as it happens, I am just returned from inspecting his works in the chapel of St. George, in the Caridad: I shall therefore begin my account with them. The pictures of Murillo which have been brought to England are of small size, and generally contain few figures, so that you can form but a very imperfect idea of the powers of this distinguished artist; but the pictures of this painter in the Caridad are about eighteen feet in length, and twelve in breadth. One of them, representing the Queen Isabella attending the sick, and washing the wounds on the head of a beggar boy, while a crowd of other invalids are waiting round in expectation of similar relief, is considered, and I think justly, one of the best compositions of that great master: the pious countenance of the queen, and the anxious looks of the expecting group, are admirably depicted. Another painting, by the

same master, is the miracle of the loaves and fishes, in which the figures on the foreground are finely conceived, and the light and shade admirably managed.

The picture of the angels appearing to Abraham is finely painted; but as the idea prevailing in Spain is, that those three angels were the three persons of the Trinity, the artist has thought proper to shew the unity in the Trinity by painting all the three angels with exactly the same countenance: notwithstanding this whimsical conceit the picture is a fine one, and the scene of the tent of the Arabian patriarch is most exquisitely painted.

Moses striking the rock is a most wonderful production; the anxious countenances of the Israelites, all eagerly crowding to the water, are exact representations of what might be supposed the expressions of people in such a state: the figure of the mother with an infant, eagerly stretching out her hand to catch a few drops for her child,"another lamenting the delay in obtaining a supply, and a boy mounted on a horse, stretching forward to the stream, are esteemed the best figures, while the countenances of all discover gratitude to God for this unexpected supply. I never felt so much pleasure from the contemplation of any work of art as from this picture; but, notwithstanding the admirable expressions of the countenances, I could not help admiring the shadow of the rock from which the water gushes out. A passage in the sacred writings mentions as a luxury "the shadow of a great rock in a desert wilderness ;" it is here.displayed most admirably; the rock is high and large; within its shade the people appear protected from the rays of the sun, which ⚫ seem to diffuse a burning heat over every other part of the scene.

There is a fine painting of St. Peter in Prison; but as there are only three figures, that of the Apostle and the two Angels, the subject appears uninteresting by the side of the more busy scenes, which the other pictures of this artist display.

The cathedral of Seville contains some paintings by Murillo, but in my judgment very far inferior to those at the Caridad; the best are on the altar of Baptistery; representing St. Anthony of Padua, the Baptism of Christ; and the Birth of the Virgin, in the chapel dedicated to St. Paul. Besides these, almost every convent and church in Seville is adorned with some of this master's productions. I have had the good fortune to meet with some of his sketches, and an admirable portrait of his son, which, if I get them to England, will please you, though they give but a very faint idea of his great powers.

The following short account of his life, will be interesting to you. Bartholomew Stephen Murillo was born in Seville in January 1618: having discovered an early inclination for drawing, he was placed under the care of his relation, Juan de Castillo, from whom he learnt to draw, and afterwards to paint in a style somewhat approaching to that of the Florentine school, which Luis de Vargas and Pedro de Villegas had recently introduced at Seville. Having early established himself at Cadiz, he was employed in painting such pictures as could be most easily sold, and readily conveyed to the American settlements. During this period he considerably improved his skill; and some good paintings from his pencil, of this date, still exist, particularly a Conception belonging to the convent of the Franciscans at Seville.