Porch of an Ancient Mosque, Cordova

Romantic Spain David Roberts and Genaro Pérez Villaamil CATALOGUE Publishers Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (RABASF) Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica (CEEH) Instituto Ceán Bermúdez (ICB) Editor Claudia Hopkins Authors Claudia Hopkins (CH) Antonio Gámiz Gordo (AGG) Antonio Jesús García Ortega (AJGO) Andrew Ginger (AG) Celia Jiménez Bellido (CJB) Briony Llewellyn (BL) Matilde Mateo (MM) Krystyna Matyjaszkiewicz (KM) Luis Ruiz Padrón (LRP) Carlos Sánchez Díez (CSD) Danielle Smith (DS) Martin P.Sorowka (MPS) Coordination and production Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica Translation Jenny Dodman (texts by AGG, AJGO, CJB, CSD, MM and LRP) Copy editing Angela Koo and Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica Indexing Marisa Barreno Rodríguez Design and layout PeiPe Diseño y Gestión Colour separation Museoteca Printing Advantia Comunicación Gráfica Binding Sucesores de Felipe Méndez First published by Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando C/ Alcalá, 13 (Madrid) Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica C/ Felipe IV, 12 (Madrid) Instituto Ceán Bermúdez C/ Ruiz de Alarcón, 13 (Madrid) © Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, 2021 Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica, 2021 Instituto Ceán Bermúdez, 2021 © Texts: the authors, 2021 © Translations: the authors, 2021 © Images: see Photo credits ISBN: 978-84-18760-03-7 Depósito legal: M-25512-2021 Printed and bound in Spain All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any storage or retrieval system, without the prior permission in writing from the copyright holders and publisher. Cover image Genaro Pérez Villaamil, View of the Giralda from the calle Borceguinería (cat. 2.10). 1833. Oil on canvas, 82×62 cm. Leopoldo P.de Villaamil Alfaro. Front flyleaf Genaro Pérez Villaamil, Patio of the Archbishop’s Palace at Alcalá de Henares (cat. 5.13). C. 1840. Ink and wash on paper, 305×360 mm. Instituto Ceán Bermúdez, Madrid. Back flyleaf David Roberts, Alcalá de Guadaira (cat. 2.1). 1833. Pencil, watercolour and gouache on paper, 251×356 mm. Instituto Ceán Bermúdez, Madrid. 240 | Romantic Spain: DaviD RobeRtS anD GenaRo péRez villaamil Setting off from Madrid, Roberts arrived in Córdoba on 12 or 13 January 1833 with the intention of spending about three weeks in the city before leaving for Luque, Alcalá la Real and Granada.1 During those years important English travellers visited the capital of the former Caliphate and also made drawings: Richard Ford and John Frederick Lewis, though not at the same time.2 Roberts produced a large number of views at different scales, ranging from landscapes to architectural interiors, mostly of the Mosque-Cathedral. Some are little known today and others were reworked to be published as engravings or lithographs. Significant examples are these two images, which Roberts entitled ‘Porch of an Ancient Mosque’. They represent a porch with three equal-sized archways, one walled up, featuring reused capitals (a frequent practice in late medieval Córdoba). The porch leads into a gallery with a plasterwork portal that might seem Islamic though it is actually mudéjar: it includes a semi-circular arch with a rectangular panel, a common sight in Christian Córdoba of the late Middle Ages.3 The artist used the term ‘ancient mosque’ to refer to this old building, which has been identified as a stately home in Córdoba4 known as Casa de las Campanas (House of the Bells) and dated to the fourteenth or fifteenth century. It is located at number1 on Calle Siete Revueltas and was designated a monument of cultural interest in 2001.5 The first image, a drawing in pencil and watercolour, is dated 22 January 1833 (cat.4.5). The vertical proportions are somewhat exaggerated, as in other works by the artist. When Roberts visited this palatial house, it was already a collective dwelling inhabited by humble folk, who are shown here together with their household objects. The human figures are drawn at a small scale and make the building seem considerably larger. Nevertheless, the drawing is faithful to reality and is of considerable documentary value for the future reconstruction of the stilted semi-circular side arches, which were capriciously replaced by lobed arches in the second half of the nineteenth century. The height of the current paving does not David Roberts, Porch of an Ancient Mosque, Cordova. 1833. Pencil and watercolour on grey paper, 245×400 mm. Instituto Ceán Bermúdez, Madrid Inscribed: Lower right: ‘Roberts 1833’; on a sheet hanging on the right: ‘porCH of an anCient MosQue at CordVbae jan22 1833’; label (verso): ‘Bill Thomson Albany Gallery London 1Bury Street St James’s London swiy6ab’ and, inscribed by hand, ‘6621’. Provenance: Bill Thomson Albany Gallery, London; private collection, Madrid, Invent.23; Sotheby’s London, 5July 2016, lot325. Bibliography: GuiterMan and llewellyn 1986, p.108, no.88; GáMiz Gordo and GarCía orteGa 2015. Exhibitions: David Roberts, Barbican Art Gallery, London, 1986–87, no.88. William Gauci after David Roberts, Porch of an Ancient Mosque, Cordova. 1837. Hand-coloured lithograph, 290×400mm, from Picturesque Sketches in Spain Taken During the Years 1832 & 1833, London, Hodgson & Graves, 1837. Instituto Ceán Bermúdez, Madrid Bibliography: roberts 1837 (pl.xxi); Cabra loredo 1994, fig.28e; GáMiz Gordo and GarCía orteGa 2015, p.380. Córdoba. Arab Courtyard. C. 1905. Postcard (callotype), 140×90 mm. Colección Antonio Gámiz Gordo 4.5 4.6 4.7 1 GáMiz Gordo 2010. 2 GáMiz Gordo and GarCía orteGa 2018. 3 jordano barbudo 2003. 4 GáMiz Gordo and GarCía orteGa 2015. 5 Junta de Andalucía, Decreto 213/2001, of 18 September, whereby the Casa de las Campanas in Córdoba is designated Property of Cultural Interest, classified as a Monument. AF Roberts y Villaamil (FERROS)_INGLES.indb 240AF Roberts y Villaamil (FERROS)_INGLES.indb 240 3/12/21 12:063/12/21 12:06 CEEH | 241 match that shown in Roberts’s drawing. The vertical proportions of the ensemble have been altered and the bases of the columns have disappeared or been buried since Roberts’s times. The beautiful capitals depicted are still preserved. These significant changes are reflected in the photo of a painting by Arturo Nogales in 1899 and in a postcard dated around 1905 (cat.4.7).6 The above images show small openings with latticework that still exist above the doorway; the plasterwork framing them was also depicted in detail by Roberts, though there are discrepancies between the drawing, the lithograph and their current appearance. Openings of this kind were common in late medieval palatial architecture of Córdoba and facilitated ventilation and the entrance of light. Roberts also simplified the intricate ornamental details of the door with its horseshoe arch. Today the arch is semi-circular due to the alteration of the door jambs. It should also be pointed out that the ensemble was later modified to create the two large openings that now flank the central entranceway opposite the side arches of the porch; these side openings are not found in any of the abovementioned images and are out of keeping with the style of architecture. The entrance door led into a semi-lit space with elongated proportions – a traditional arrangement in the palatial architecture of medieval Spain, consisting in a sequence of spaces laid out along a compositional axis, which juxtaposes a rectangular room, porticoed gallery and a courtyard. This layout originates from the palaces of Medina Cat.4.5 6 Both images belong to the Colección Antonio Gámiz Gordo. tHe searCH for tHe exotiC AF Roberts y Villaamil (FERROS)_INGLES.indb 241AF Roberts y Villaamil (FERROS)_INGLES.indb 241 3/12/21 12:063/12/21 12:06 CEEH 242 | Romantic Spain: DaviD RobeRtS anD GenaRo péRez villaamil Azahara (tenth century) in Córdoba and is found in all the architecture of al-Andalus.7 It is therefore difficult to see why Roberts thought he was in the courtyard of an ancient mosque. The architecture depicted in W. Gauci’s lithograph (cat.4.6) practically coincides with that of the watercolour. The few differences suggest that the artist may have made other drawings of this courtyard or sketches that are unknown to us. What appears to be the trace of a constructional element above the wall on the right of the composition is consistent with the type of architecture mentioned previously. The deterioration of the walled-up arch is accentuated on the left, and additional features are included, such as a crucifix and an inscription on its base, and the bench in the lower part has been replaced by a table covered with a cloth. Other differences between the two images seem to be more anecdotal or respond to purely compositional criteria in the scene enacted by the various characters, as is the case in other drawings by Roberts, which were subsequently converted into lithographs or engravings. AGG and AJGO 7 alMaGro Gorbea 2008. Cat.4.6 Cat.4.7 AF Roberts y Villaamil (FERROS)_INGLES.indb 242AF Roberts y Villaamil (FERROS)_INGLES.indb 242 3/12/21 12:063/12/21 12:06 CEEH | 243 AF Roberts y Villaamil (FERROS)_INGLES.indb 243AF Roberts y Villaamil (FERROS)_INGLES.indb 243 3/12/21 12:063/12/21 12:06 CEEH