THE ALHAMBRA

He who Sevilla has not seen
Has not seen a marvel great;
Who to Granada has not been
Can have nothing to relate.

Spanish Popular Rhyme.

Signature: Albert F. Calvert

THE
ALHAMBRA

BEING A BRIEF RECORD OF
THE ARABIAN CONQUEST OF THE
PENINSULA WITH A PARTICULAR
ACCOUNT OF THE MOHAMMEDAN
ARCHITECTURE AND DECORATION
B Y A L B E RT F. C A L V E R T

LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD
NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY, MCMVII

E. Goodman and Son, The Phœnix Press, Taunton.
TO
HIS MAJESTY KING ALFONSO XIII.
Sire,

The great interest your Majesty has evinced in the Moorish Monuments which adorn your Majesty’s loyal and noble country, and the gracious appreciation with which you were pleased to regard my first work on The Alhambra, inspired me with the presumption to solicit the honour of your Majesty’s August Patronage for this volume, which is humbly dedicated to your Majesty agreeably to your gracious permission, by

Your Majesty’s humble Servant,
Albert F. Calvert.

PREFACE

ALTHOUGH the admission may be construed by the censorious as betraying a lack of becoming diffidence, I am tempted to believe that no apology will be demanded for the publication of this volume by that section of the reading public for which it has been chiefly compiled. My temerity goes even further, and I anticipate with some confidence that visitors to the Alhambra, and pilgrims to that glorious Mecca of Moorish workmanship will recognise in this book an earnest attempt to supply a long-felt want. When I paid my first visit to Granada some years ago, I was surprised and disappointed to find that no such thing as an even fairly adequate illustrated souvenir of this “city of the dawn” was to be obtained. Many tomes, costly and valuable (not necessarily the same thing), have been written to place on record the wonders of “the glorious sanctuary of Spain,” but these are beyond the reach of the general public. Many beautiful pictures have caught odd ecstasies of this superb and perfectly harmonised palace of art, but these impressions are not available to the ordinary tourist.

What is wanted, as I imagine, is a concise history and description of the Alhambra, illustrated with a series of pictures constituting a tangible remembrancer of the delights of this Granadian paradise

“Where glory rests ’tween laurels,
A torch to give thee light!”

The Alhambra may be likened to an exquisite opera which can only be appreciated to the full when one is under the spell of its magic influence. But as the witchery of an inspired score can be recalled by the sound of an air whistled in the street, so—it is my hope—the pale ghost of this Moorish fairy-land may live again in the memories of travellers through the medium of this pictorial epitome.

I desire, however, to submit an explanation—or excuse—for the unusual form in which this volume is issued. At the commencement of my work I experienced no little difficulty in collecting the requisite illustrations, for most of the obtainable photographs were ill-chosen and but carelessly developed, and I was compelled to press my own cameras into the service of my scheme. But when my designs became known, I was inundated with offers of pictures of every description until the embarrassment of artistic treasures entirely upset the original purpose of my book. Artists placed their studies at my disposal; collectors begged me, with irresistible Spanish courtesy, to regard their galleries as my own; and students directed my attention to little known publications on the subject.

Don Mariano Contreras, Conservator of the Alhambra, the son of the gifted Raphaël Contreras, who devoted thirty-seven years of his life to the restoration of the Palace—gave me the benefit of his knowledge of this unique treasure-house of art; and I have also laid under contribution the beautiful plates of Owen Jones, who disposed of a Welsh inheritance in order to produce his great work on the Plans, Elevations, Sections and Details of the Alhambra. Jones’s Grammar of Ornament, which has been described as “beautiful enough to be the horn-book of the Angels,” also contains the result of his researches in the Alhambra, which occupied him for the greater part of eleven years. A selection of these illustrations is here rescued from the obscurity of public libraries and the inaccessible recesses of private collections. The inclusion of John F. Lewis’s drawings, and the reproduction of a series of pictures by James C. Murphy, who spent seven years in the study of the artistic marvels of the Alhambra, I do not feel called upon to defend. The photographs, several of which were placed at my disposal by Don Rafaël Garzón, represent the buildings as they appear to-day; the drawings were made before the Palace was damaged by the disastrous fire of September, 1890.

For the historical portions of the description contained in the letterpress I have levied tribute on a variety of authors. The History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain, by the learned Spanish Orientalist, Don Pascual de Gayángos; Raphaël Contreras’ Etude Descriptive des Monuments Arabes; Richard Ford’s reverent appreciations; Dr. R. Dozy’s history; Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole’s The Moors in Spain; Washington Irving’s fascinating writings; and The Alhambra Album, presented by Prince Dolgorouki in 1829, containing the autographs, poems and thoughts of succeeding generations of visitors to Granada, these and many others have been drawn upon in the following pages.

But the multiplicity of my illustrations convinced me that if I adhered to my idea of furnishing an amount of letterpress sufficient to “carry” the blocks, I should only end in producing a book that would tax the physical endurance of my readers by reason of its bulk, and exhaust their patience with a tedious superabundance of minute descriptive pabulum. I resolved, therefore, to give pride of place to the pictorial side of the volume; to abandon the traditions regulating the proportions of prose to pictures; and make my appeal to the public by the beauty and variety of the illustrations I have collected, and the immensity of elaborate letterpress which I have not written.

A. F. C.

“Royston,”
Hampstead, N.W., 1904.

PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION

THE compilation of a book of this kind reveals in the author a refreshing optimism which does not always survive the ordeal of publication, and it is perhaps out of sympathy with the misgivings that assail him as he approaches the bar of public and critical opinion, that convention cedes to him the privilege of making some apology for the faith that is in him. In his preface he is permitted to explain himself, and this apologia or justification, call it which you will, stands as the last word in his own defence. But the demand for a further edition is the outcome of an amiable conspiracy on the part of the public, and it is not required of the author to explain, justify, or excuse an issue for which he is not directly responsible. Any revision or amplification, however, which is to be found in a second impression, may be briefly referred to, and at the same time tradition allows him to express the feelings of gratitude and gratification that the occasion inspires. It has been my ambition to acknowledge the favour with which this book has been received, by having this edition produced with the greatest care on special paper, and by the addition of a number of new illustrations, including some half-tone and coloured plates reproduced from the Monumentos Arquitectonicos de España and others, which I have acquired since it was first produced. It will be seen that several of the coloured pictures illustrate designs which are common to the Arabian ornamentation to be found in Cordova and Seville, and as being representative of the Moresco work of the period, they also appear in the companion volume on “Moorish Remains in Spain,” but it may be stated that the whole of the plates reproduced here are from photographs and drawings secured, or specially made to illustrate The Alhambra. In its pictorial appeal it has been my ambition to make this edition as worthy of its subject as means and ability permit, and I offer this assurance as an earnest of my sincere appreciation of the generous manner in which the Press and public rewarded my previous effort.

A. F. C.

List of Illustrations.

List of Coloured Illustrations.

“ANDALUS” is the name given by the Moors to that part of the Spanish Peninsula wherein they were all-powerful for eight centuries. Andalus comprehended the four kingdoms of Seville, Córdova, Jaen, and Granada. (Los Cuatro Reinos de Andalusia.)

About the year 403 of the Hegira (A.D. 1012) Granada first acquired importance. Záwí, the African chief who then ruled in Andalusia from Malaga to Almeria, declared himself independent, and transferred the seat of government from Elvira[1] to Granada. Little by little the whole population migrated to the new capital, so that Elvira dwindled to an insignificant village, whilst Granada rose to be a magnificent city, culminating in grandeur and importance during the reigns of three enlightened sovereigns of the Beni Nasr dynasty—Mohammed the First (Al-ghálib-billah, A.D. 1232-1272), who commenced the Alhambra;[2] Yúsuf the First (A.D. 1333), who added greatly to its beauty, and is regarded as the monarch who completed the building; and Mohammed the Fifth (Al-ghaní-billah), son of Yúsuf, who succeeded to the throne upon the assassination of his father in 1354, and who finished the decorations of many of the Courts and Halls of the Palace.

One of the earliest extant references to Granada is contained in the MS. of Ibnu Battúttah, the Moslem traveller, who wrote in the fourteenth century. About the year 1360 Ibnu Battúttah journeyed from Morocco to Andalus, and visited Granada, which he thus describes: “Granada is the capital of Andalus, and the husband of its cities; its environs are a delightful garden, covering a space of forty miles, and have not their equal in the world. It is intersected by the well-known river Sheníl[3] (Xenil) and other considerable streams, and surrounded on every side by orchards, gardens, groves, palaces, and vineyards. One of the most pleasant spots in its neighbourhood is that known by the name of ’Aynu-l-adamar—the fountain of tears—which is a spring of cold and limpid water placed in the midst of delightful groves and gardens.” The suburb of Granada here referred to, preserves to this day its Arabic name corrupted into Dinamar, or Adinamar. It is a pleasant and much-frequented spot, close to Granada.

The city of Granada was held in the highest estimation by Andalusian poets. One ancient eulogist says: “If that city could reckon no other honour but of having been the birthplace of the Wizír Ibnu-l-khattíb, that alone would be sufficient. But Granada has not its like in the world: neither Cairo, Baghdád, nor Damascus can compete with it; we can only give an idea of its worth by comparing it to a beautiful bride, of whose dower it should form part.”

The mention of the celebrated Wizír, Ibnu-l-khattíb, brings to mind a particularly interesting figure in the history of the Alhambra, for to him we owe the composition of many of the poems inscribed upon its walls. He flourished A.D. 1313-1374. Amongst other works of the highest value, of which he was the author, is a biographical dictionary of illustrious Granadians. At an early age he attracted the notice of Yúsuf I., who promoted him through many offices of the State, until he became that Sultán’s Grand Wizír, in which capacity he served his master faithfully and long. After the death of Yúsuf, he retained his high office of Wizír under Mohammed V. for twenty years, when the hostility of his foes brought upon him the suspicion of disloyalty. He was thrown into prison, and strangled by order of Mohammed. “Thus,” says an admiring biographer, “perished the phœnix of the age, the prince of poets and historians of his time, and the model of Wizírs.”

The unfortunate Ibnu-l-khattíb possessed, in the highest degree, the faculty of improvisation. It is related that he was sent on an embassy by Mohammed V. to implore the aid of Fáris, Sultán of Fez, against the Christians. On entering the Hall of Audience, and before he delivered his message, he uttered some verses which called forth the admiration of all present, and were so much approved by the Sultán, that before listening to what the Ambassador had to say on affairs of State, he exclaimed: “By Allah! I know not the object of thy visit; but whatever it may be, I grant the request.” In concluding the anecdote, the narrator adds: “This circumstance elicited from the celebrated Kádí, Abú-l-kásim Ash-Sheríf, who formed part of the embassy, the very just remark that never until that time had there been an ambassador who attained the object of his mission before he had made it known!”

The Mohammedans in Spain, whether considered as the enthusiastic warriors whose victorious arms spread terror and consternation, or as the cultivated race who acted as the pioneers of art, letters, and civilisation, are entitled to a prominent place in the annals of Europe. But, instead of being commended to the gratitude of succeeding ages, as they assuredly deserved to be, the Arabs have been too frequently charged with corrupting the infancy of modern literature; and this, in the face of the verdict of a high authority on the literature of the Spanish Moslems, who has declared that the material he cites proves the superiority of the Andalusians to every other nation.

Spanish historians have always manifested contempt for the writings of the Arabs. Rejecting the means afforded them by abundant Moorish records, they have compiled their histories from one-sided national authorities, disdaining to cast a glance on writings of the enemies of their country and religion. The effects of such illiberality need scarcely be pointed out. The history of Spain, during the Middle Ages, has been, and still is, notwithstanding the labours of modern critics, a tissue of fable and contradiction.

Nevertheless, it was reserved for a Spaniard—Don Pascual de Gayángos—to give to the world the true history of the Mohammedans in Spain. He fixed upon the manuscript account of Ahmed Ibn Mohammed Al-makkarí, which gives an uninterrupted narrative of the conquests, wars, and settlements of the Spanish Moslems from their first invasion of the Peninsula to their final expulsion; and Don Pascual so enriches his author’s text with a mass of notes and illustrations that the work forms, if not the only, certainly the most valuable history of the Arabs in Spain—even the recondite production of the German savant, the late Dr. R. Dozy, of Leyden, Histoire des Musulmans d’Espagne, yields on the score of usefulness.

Al-makkarí wrote at the close of the sixteenth century. His life was spent in literary pursuits, and in the society of the learned. He appears to have resembled our own John Aubrey in his genius for taking the greatest pains to collect his material from the most authentic sources at his command; and, if he sometimes falls into slight inaccuracies, his editor—Don Pascual—promptly sets the matter right in a note of profound and judicious scholarship. That portion of Al-makkarí which most concerns the present volume is contained in the second part of his work, and consists of extracts from various Arab authors relating to the history of the kingdom of Granada. In a note upon the etymology of the name “Andalus,” Al-makkarí derives it from Andalosh, a Moorish corruption for Vandalocii (Vandals), with which attribution Don Pascual seems to agree. Al-makkarí concludes his history with a pious ejaculation for the re-occupation of the country: “May Allah restore it entire to the Moslems!”

It is to be lamented that an ungenerous spirit actuated the authorities in Madrid at the time Gayángos was preparing his monumental work (circa 1840). In his own land, the assistance he had every right to expect, was withheld! He tells us that he petitioned the Ministers of Her Catholic Majesty for permission to visit the Library of the Escorial, and he finds himself called upon to disclose a fact very painful to his feelings. Don Pascual’s own words are: “Strange to say, notwithstanding repeated applications, and the interference of persons high in rank and influence, my request was positively denied, professedly on the plea that the Library could not be opened, a contention having arisen between the Government and the Royal Household as to the possession of it!” Under the enlightened rule of King Alfonso XIII. such treatment has become impossible: all that remains of the literature, the splendid monuments of Arabian architecture, indeed everything which exhibits memorials of the graceful people who have passed away, is now open to the antiquary or the artist, and zealously guarded with the most reverent care. No longer is there danger of wanton spoliation of the ancient palace of the Moorish Kings of Granada. The effort now is to retard the inevitable process of decay. The late Señor Raphaél Contreras occupied himself for thirty-seven years in an attempt to restore the defaced or partially-destroyed arabesques of the Alhambra. In the course of his labour of love, it was his good fortune to be rewarded, from time to time, by the discovery of inscriptions which had long lain hidden; and his exertions were further recompensed by the happiness of lighting upon and replacing parts of mutilated ornament and portions of the edifice itself which had become dislodged by accident or rapine, thus saving somewhat from the deluge of time.

The result of his research and discovery Don Raphaél placed before the public in a scholarly work, entitled, Etude Déscriptive des Monuments Arabes, published at Madrid, and which reached its fourth edition in 1889.

A separate, or supplementary volume was promised, which should treat of Arabic Inscriptions remaining in Seville, Córdova, and more particularly in Granada, belonging to the most important period of the Mohammedan Domination in those parts of the Peninsula. It is greatly to be hoped that the work may make its appearance under the auspices of his son, Don Mariano Contreras, the present Conservator of the Alhambra.

That portion of the Alhambra, called the Casa Real, or Royal House, appears to be but a very small part of the ancient Palace of the Moorish Kings of Granada. It is to be regretted that no traces exist at the present day by which its limits can be accurately defined; but we may judge, from the gallery of

PANELS AND INSCRIPTIONS IN THE ALHAMBRA.

two stories at the southern end of the Court of the Fish-pond, which still remains, that the part of the Moorish building destroyed to make way for the Palace of Charles V., must have been of considerable consequence. No traces of the numerous apartments, which must have been required for guards and attendants, now exist; and a most important feature—the hareem—is wanting.

The Alhambra, occupying the plateau of the Monte de la Assabica, is situated at one extremity of the city of Granada, above which it rises like the Acropolis at Athens. The usual entrance is by the Gate of Justice. From the Gate of Justice we pass the Puerta del Vino, or Wine Gate, to the large square called the Plaza de los Algibes, or Place of the Cisterns. On the right is the Palace of Charles V.; beyond, but without revealing any indication of its internal beauty, is the Casa Real; on the left of the Place of the Cisterns is the Alcazába—Kussábah, the citadel—long used as a place of detention for convicts. There are several ruined towers here, which are, perhaps, the remains of the most ancient part of the fortress.

The severe and striking aspect of the towers with which the walls of the fortress are studded, arouses no suspicion of the art and luxury enshrined within; they are formed to impress the beholder with respect for the power and majesty of the King; whilst within, the fragrant shrubs and running streams, the porcelains, Mosaics, and gilded stucco work, and particularly the pious inscriptions which are in such profusion upon the walls, constantly reminded the sovereign how all that ministered to his happiness was the gift of Allah.

The inscriptions are of three sorts—“ayát,” i.e., verses from the Korán; “asjá,” pious or devout sentences not taken from the Korán; and, thirdly, “ash’ár,” poems in praise of the builders or owners of the Palace. Those belonging to either of the first two classes are generally written in the Cufic character, and the letters are often so shaped as to present a uniform appearance from both sides, and make the inscription readable from the right to the left, and vice versa, or upwards and downwards.

The innumerable sentences abounding everywhere in the Alhambra are so harmonious and interweaving—producing such cross-lights of poetry and praise, merging naturally and gracefully when the mind is torpid or indifferent to them, into mere surface ornament—that they are never out of place, but present always an unsatiating charm. Once, at least, an inscription in the Palace has settled a dull controversy respecting the use of the many small, highly-decorated recesses which are seen in the apartments. On each side of the ante-room of the Hall of the Ambassadors is one of these recesses resembling the piscinæ of our cathedrals. Blundering wise men insistently averred that these niches were used by suppliants as receptacles for their slippers before entering to an audience, until an Arabic scholar pointed to an inscription round the aperture, which reads: “If anyone approach me complaining of thirst, he will receive cool and limpid water, sweet and pure.” Any Spaniard ought to have known that here were the places of the Alcarraza, or porous earthen bottles common to all comers, even as they may now be found in the halls of some Andalusian gentlemen.

Such a niche and water-vase are represented in this volume at page 77.

“Is the Alhambra,” asks Ford, “a palace of the Arabian Nights, or only a tawdry ruin bedaubed with faded colour? And what of the colour as it exists? Is it emeraldine or plaited flowers? No, in sober truth, the colour is dim and faded; buried in some places under white flaky icicles of whitewash, or blurred and besmirched as a dead butterfly’s wing. Here and

VARIOUS MOSAICS FROM THE ALHAMBRA.

there are revived bright scraps of azure, gold, and vermilion; but generally dull of outline, and dim in low, deep, shadow tone.”

Where the Moorish work is imitated, greens and purples obtrude, to demonstrate how inferior is modern decorative skill to the genius of the ancient Arabs. The dados, or low wainscotings, are of square, glazed tiles, which form a glittering breast-high coat of mail up to the lower third of the Palace

PANEL ORNAMENT IN THE ALHAMBRA.

walls. Here the colours are the same as those of the old Majolica ware. Sometimes these Azulejo tiles, with their low-toned enamel colours, are formed into pillars, or pave the floors in squares of fleurs-de-lis, or other heraldic emblems. In these dados, colour is seen in the shade. The Moors wanted shade in a country where the sun is solid fire—the colours deep, soft, and subdued as in an Arabian carpet.

The present pavement of the halls and courts of the Palace is either of white marble, as in the Hall of The Two Sisters and Hall of the Abencerrages, or of brick. Seldom, however, does it appear to be the original flooring, as in many places it is considerably above the ancient level, concealing the lower part of the Mosaic dados. On the pavement of one of the alcoves of the Hall of Justice are still to be seen painted tiles which seem to suggest a style of flooring more in harmony with the general decoration of the Halls and Courts than either those of marble or of brick. This deduction has been objected to by persons conversant with the manners and customs of the Mohammedans, who contend that it is impossible that these tiles—on which the name of God is written—should have been trodden under foot. But it should be borne in mind that the Arabs of Spain allowed themselves considerable laxity in observing the behests of the Korán—as is evidenced by the fountain in the Court of Lions, the bas-relief in the Museum of the Palace, and the paintings in the Hall of Justice.

For the student who desires to pursue exhaustively the history of the Moors in Spain, there are but two trustworthy authorities—Don Pascual de Gayángos, the Spanish Orientalist and historian, and Dr. R. Dozy, of Leyden. Don Pascual’s translation of Al-makkarí has been largely drawn upon in the compilation of the present volume, as also the “Handbook” and “Gatherings” of Richard Ford (1845 and onward), which form the bases of the indispensable Murray’s Guide. For the last days of the Moslems in Spain, Sir William Stirling-Maxwell’s Don John of Austria must be read. The fascinating volumes of Washington Irving will, of course, continue to delight so long as the English language endures, and no better companions can be wished for on the spot where they were written than his stories of The Alhambra and The Conquest of Granada. Mr. Henry Coppeé’s History of the Conquest of Spain by the Arab Moors, in two volumes, Boston (Mass.), 1881; Miss Charlotte Yonge’s Christians and Moors in Spain; Mr. H. E. Watt’s Spain from the Moorish Conquest to the Fall of Granada; the concise Rise and Fall of the Muslim Empire in Spain, by our fellow-subject, Muhammed Hayat Khan, Lahore, 1897; and Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole’s The Moors in Spain should be consulted.

ORNAMENT.

However much disguised, the whole ornamentation of the Moors is constructed geometrically.

FRET.—FIG. 1. FORMED BY THE INTERLACING OF LINES. THE NUMEROUS FRETS THROUGHOUT THE PALACE ARE FORMED UPON THE TWO PRINCIPLES EXHIBITED IN THIS AND FOLLOWING DIAGRAM.

It is probable that the immense variety of Moorish ornaments, which are formed by the intersection of equi-distant lines, could be traced through the Arabian to the Greek fret.

The Moorish system of decoration reached its culminating point in the ornament of the Alhambra. Owen Jones says: “The Alhambra is at the very summit of perfection of Moorish art ... every principle which we can derive from the study of the ornamental art of any other people is not only ever present here, but was by the Moors more universally and truly obeyed. We find in the Alhambra the speaking art of the Egyptians, the natural grace and refinement of the Greeks, the geometrical combination of the Romans, the Byzantines, and the Arabs.

FRET.—FIG. 2. FORMED BY THE INTERLACING OF LINES.

The ornament wanted but one charm, which was the peculiar feature of the Egyptian ornament—symbolism. This, the religion of the Moors forbade.”

The decoration of the Alhambra is peculiarly appropriate—the circumstances of the people rendered the ornament beautiful for that reason—when transplanted, though it loses nothing of its loveliness, it becomes inexpressive.

The Moors ever regarded what architects hold to be the first principle of architecture—to decorate construction—never to construct decoration. In Moorish architecture, not only does the decoration arise naturally from the construction, but the constructive idea is carried out in every detail of the ornamentation of the surface. A superfluous, or useless ornament is never found in Moorish decoration; every ornament arises quietly and naturally from the surface decorated.

PLAN OF GENERAL CONSTRUCTION OF CENTRAL ORNAMENT OF CEILINGS.

The general forms were first cared for; these were sub-divided by general lines; the interstices were then filled in with ornament again to be sub-divided and enriched for closer inspection. The principle was carried out with the greatest refinement, and the harmony and beauty of all Moorish ornamentation derive success from its observance. The greatest distinction was thus obtained; the detail never interfering with the general form. When seen at a distance, the main lines strike the eye; on nearer approach, the detail comes into the composition; upon yet closer inspection, further detail is seen on the surface of the ornaments themselves.

To the builders of the Alhambra, harmony of form consisted in the proper balancing and contrast of the straight, the inclined, and the curved.

SECTION OF THE COLUMNS AND ARCHES OF GENERAL CONSTRUCTION IN THE PALACE.

As in colour, there can be no composition in which either of the three primary colours is wanting, so in form, whether structural or decorative, there can be no perfect composition in which either of the three primary figures is lacking; variety and harmony in composition and design depend on the pre-dominance and subordination of the three.

In his monumental work on the ornamentation of the Alhambra, the late Owen Jones, who spent many years at Granada in collaboration with his friend, M. Jules Goury, the eminent French architect, studying the Palace of the Western Caliphs, furnishes diagrams in support of this conclusion, which are here reproduced; and, furthermore, says: “In

surface decoration, any arrangement of forms, as at A., consisting only of straight lines, is monotonous, and affords but imperfect pleasure; but, introduce lines which tend to carry the eye towards the angles, as at B., and you have at once an additional pleasure.

“Then add lines giving a circular tendency, as at C., and you have now complete harmony: in this case the square is the leading form or tonic; the angular and curved are subordinate.

“We may produce the same result in adopting an angular composition, as at D., add the lines as at E., and we at once correct the tendency to follow only the angular direction of the inclined lines; but, unite these by circles as at F., and we have harmony still more nearly perfect, i.e., repose, for the eye has now no longer any want that could be supplied.”

Still, compositions distributed in equal lines or divisions will be less beautiful than those which require a greater mental effort to appreciate them: proportions the most difficult for the eye to detect will be the most agreeable.

In surface decoration by the Moors, lines flow from a parent stem: every ornament, however distant, can be traced to its branch and root; they have the happy art of so adapting the ornament to the surface decorated, that the ornament as often appears to have suggested the general form as to have been suggested by it. In all cases we find the foliage flowing out of a parent stem, and we are never offended, as in modern practice, by the random introduction of an ornament set down without a reason for its existence. However irregular the space they have to fill, they always commence by dividing it into equal areas, and round these trunk lines they fill in their detail, but invariably return to their parent stem.

The Moors also followed another principle, that of radiation from the parent stem, as we may see exemplified in nature by the human hand, or in a chestnut leaf. When style becomes debased, neither of these laws is followed; as in Elizabethan ornament, where nothing is continuous, nothing radiates, all is haphazard.

All junctions of curved lines with curved, or of curved with straight, should be tangential to each other. The Oriental practice always accords with this principle. Many of their ornaments are on the principle which is observable in the lines of a feather and in the articulations of a leaf; and to this is due that additional charm found in all perfect ornamentation, which is called “the graceful.”

MISCELLANEOUS ORNAMENT IN THE ALHAMBRA

CORNICES, CAPITALS, AND COLUMNS IN THE ALHAMBRA. THE SPLENDID CORNICE AT THE RIGHT-HAND TOP CORNER IS FROM THE LOGGIA OF THE GENERALIFE.

CAPITALS FROM THE COURTS AND HALLS OF THE ALHAMBRA.

A further charm is found in the works of the Arabs and Moors from their conventional treatment of ornament, which, forbidden as they were by their creed to represent living forms, they carried to the highest perfection. They ever worked as Nature works, but always avoided a direct transcript; they took her principles, but did not attempt to copy her works.

It is true that the Arabs in Spain, as already pointed out, once or twice allowed themselves to disregard the behests of the Korán, as instanced in the Fountain of Lions, and the bas-relief which is now preserved in the Museum of the Alhambra; but the Mohammedan mosques of Egypt, India, and Spain, show everywhere the calm, voluptuous translation of the doctrines of the Korán: an art in unison with its imaginative and poetic teachings which led them to adorn their temples in a manner peculiar to themselves.

COLOUR.

The colours employed by the Moors on their stucco work were in all cases, the primaries—blue, red, and yellow (gold). The secondary colours—purple, green, and orange, occur only in the Mosaic dados; which, being near the eye, formed a point of repose from the more brilliant colouring above. It is true that, at the present day, the grounds of many of the ornaments are found to be green; it will readily be seen, however, on a minute examination, that the colour originally employed was blue, which, being a metallic pigment, has become green from the effects of time. This is proved by the presence of particles of blue colour, which occur everywhere in the crevices: in the “restorations” also, which were made by the Catholic kings, green and purple were freely used.

The colouring of the Courts and Halls of the Alhambra was carried out on so perfect a motive, that anyone who cares to make this a study, can, with almost absolute certainty, on being shown for the first time a piece of Moorish ornament in white, define at once the manner in which it was coloured. So completely were all the architectural forms designed, with reference to their subsequent colouring, that the surface alone will indicate the colours they were destined to receive.

Notwithstanding the fact that the Moors, in their marvellous system of decoration, worked on fixed rules, the effect of their infinite variety leaves the observer under the impression that they arrived at their amazing achievements by instinct, to which centuries of refinement had brought them. One person may naturally sing in tune as another does by acquired knowledge. The happier state, however, is where knowledge ministers to instinct, and this must have been the case with the Moors. Their poet exhorts us to attentively contemplate the adornments of the Palace, and so reap the benefit of a commentary on decoration; this invitation seems to imply that there was in their works something to be learned as well as much that might be felt.

Mr. Owen Jones admits that there is no authority for the gilding of the columns: wherever the columns are of marble, the shafts are always free from traces of colour of any kind. Gold, blue, and red are still seen on most of the capitals, and, in some cases, the plaster half-columns against the walls are covered by mosaic of a small pattern in glazed earthenware. Nevertheless, the eminent authority on decoration is strongly of opinion that the marble shafts could never have been, originally, left entirely white; and, furthermore, he thinks that the general harmony of the colouring above forbids such a supposition; but the conclusion seems to be erroneous, when it is remembered that the shafts of the columns are compared, in the graceful hyperbole of the Inscriptions, to “transparent crystal;” and, again, “when struck by the earliest beams of the rising sun, maybe likened to many blocks of pearl.” Therefore, in view of the poetic reference by Moorish versifiers, and the utter absence of any trace of colour on the marble, it has been thought befitting to omit the gilding of the shafts in the many reproductions in this volume from the beautiful coloured plates in the work of Owen Jones. It should be recorded here that the book alluded to is dedicated “To the Memory of Jules Goury, Architect, who died of Cholera, at Granada, August 28th, 1834, whilst engaged in preparing the original drawings for this work.”

Amongst the illustrations appearing on p. xlix. supra, which principally consist of cornices, capitals, and columns in the Alhambra, is a motto in Roman characters: TĀTO·MŌTA—Tanto Monta—pertaining to Ferdinand and Isabella, and which is somewhat out of place in a page otherwise devoted to Moorish ornament. The motto, of course, signifies tantamount, and is meant to express an equality in power between the two Sovereigns; Isabella zealously maintaining that her right of exercising the royal authority was equivalent to that of her royal consort: “Tanto monta Isabella que Hernando, Hernando que Isabella”—of equal worth are Isabella and Ferdinand. The motto appears in relief in the Court of the Lions.

Acknowledgment is made to the work of the late James Cavanah Murphy, Arabian Antiquities of Spain, Lond., 1815, to which source we are indebted for some of the illustrations to the present volume. Mr. Murphy faithfully delineated, and admirably engraved the arabesques and mosaics of the superb Courts and Halls of the Palace of the Alhambra at Granada.

For the rest, it may be said that a vast number of plates have been specially prepared for the present volume; and it is thought a confident expectation may be indulged of a favourable reception to an attempt at preserving the reliques of a romantic pile—the glory and the wonder of a civilised world.

“I pray you, let us satisfy our eyes
With the memorials and the things of fame
That do renown this city.”

Twelfth Night, Act III., sc. 3.

The Alhambra.

THE ancient citadel and residence of the Moorish monarchs of Granada is, indisputably, the most curious, and in some ways the most marvellous building that exists in the whole world. In its period, its architectural style, and artistic effect, it is not without its counterpart in Southern Spain; but the Alhambra was conceived and constructed on so colossal a scale that it is accepted as the last word in Arabian workmanship. From the outside it appears to be a forbidding fortress, and, indeed, its walls are of prodigious strength; but within it is a palace that was once the most voluptuous in the makings and imaginings of man, and in which everything was made subservient to luxury.

The singular fortunes of the Arabian, or Moresco-Spaniards, whose whole existence is a tale that is told, certainly forms one of the most anomalous, yet splendid episodes in history. Potent and durable as was their dominion, we have no one distinct title by which to designate them. They were a nation, as it were, without a legitimate country or a name: a remote wave of the great Arabian inundation cast upon the shores of Europe. From the year 710, when the Arab general Tarif landed at the port which bears his name, and plundered Algeciras, to be succeeded in the following year by a greater soldier, Geb-al-Tarik, whose name survives in the title of “The Rock”—a familiar designation very dear to Englishmen—the course of Moorish conquest from Gibraltar to the cliffs of the Pyrenees was as rapid and brilliant as the ancient Moslem victories of Syria and Egypt. Nay, had they not been checked on the Plains of Tours by Charles Martel, who that day gained his sobriquet—“The Hammerer”—all France, all Europe might have succumbed to the ravages of the Saracenic warriors as completely as the empires of the East were made to yield, and the crescent might have glittered on the fanes of Paris and of London.

Repelled within the limits of the Pyrenees, the mixed hordes of Asia and Africa that formed this great irruption, gave up the Moslem principle of conquest, and sought to establish in Spain a peaceable and permanent dominion. As conquerors, their heroism was only equalled by their moderation; and in

VIEW OF GRANADA, SHOWING THE ALHAMBRA AND THE SIERRA NEVADA.

both, for a time, they excelled the nations with whom they contended. Severed from their native homes, they loved the land given them, as they supposed, by Allah, and strove to adorn it with all that could minister to the happiness of man. By a system of wise and equitable laws they formed an empire unrivalled for its prosperity by any of the empires of Christendom, and diligently drew around them the graces and refinements that marked the Arabian empire in the East at the time of its

GENERAL VIEW OF THE ALHAMBRA FROM SAN NICOLAS.

greatest civilisation. If the superb remains of Moslem monuments in Spain; if the Mosque of Córdova, the Alcázar of Seville, and the Alhambra of Granada still bear inscriptions fondly vaunting the power and permanency of the dominion of the Moor; can the boast be derided as arrogant and vain? They were the outposts and frontiers of Islamism. The

PART OF THE ALHAMBRA, EXTERIOR.

Southern part of the Peninsula was the great battle-ground where the Gothic conquerors of the North, and the Moslem conquerors of the East, met and strove for mastery; the fiery courage of the Arab being at length subdued by the obstinate and persevering valour of the descendants of the subjects of Don Roderick. But century after century had passed away, and still they retained a hold upon the land.[4] A period had elapsed equal to that which has passed since England was subjugated by the Normans; and the descendants of Musa[5] and Taric might as little anticipate being forced into exile across the Straits traversed by their triumphant ancestors, as the descendants of Rollo and William may dream of being driven back to the shores of Normandy.

With all this, however, the Moslem empire in Spain was but

THE ALHAMBRA AND THE SIERRA NEVADA.

a brilliant exotic that took no fixed root in the soil it adorned. Severed from all their neighbours in the West by impassable barriers of faith and manners, and separated by seas and deserts from their kindred in the East, they remained an isolated people. Their whole existence was a prolonged and gallant struggle to maintain a foothold in a land usurped. The few relics of the miserable and proscribed race were ultimately expelled from the Peninsula, under the administration of the Duke of Lerma, during the reign of Philip III.—a measure which, by depriving Spain of a numerous and industrious population, inflicted a severe blow on her agriculture and commerce.

Never was the annihilation of a nation more complete. Where are they? The exiled remnant of a once powerful people became assimilated with the predatory hordes of Barbary and the desert southward. A few broken monuments are all that remain to bear witness to their power and dominion in Europe.

Such is the Alhambra; an epoch marking relic—a Moslem pile in the midst of a Christian land; an Oriental palace amidst the Gothic edifices of the West; an elegant memento of a brave, intelligent, and graceful people who conquered, ruled, and passed away.

L’Alhambra! l’Alhambra! palais que les Génies
Ont doré comme un rêve et rempli d’harmonies;
Forteresse aux créneaux festonnés et croulans,
Où l’on entend la nuit de magiques syllables,
Quand la lune, à travers les milles arceaux arabes,
Sème les murs de trèfles blancs!
Les Orientales, par Victor Hugo.

The Alhambra—the Acropolis of Granada—is, indeed, a pearl of great price in the estimation of all travellers, exciting in the breast of the stranger the most absorbing interest and concentrated devotion. To realise the full spell—the mystery and the magic of the Alhambra—one must live in the building by day and contemplate it—like the ruins of fair Melrose—by moonlight, when all is still. “Who can do justice,” says Washington Irving, “to a moonlight night in such a climate and in such a place! The temperature of an Andalusian midnight in summer is perfectly ethereal. We seem lifted up into

ASCENT TO THE ALHAMBRA BY THE CUESTA DEL REY CHICO—LESSER KING HILL.

a purer atmosphere; there is a serenity of soul, a buoyancy of spirit, an elasticity of frame, that renders mere existence enjoyment. The effect of moonlight, too, on the Alhambra, has something like enchantment. Every rent and chasm of time, every mouldering tint and weather-stain disappears; the marble resumes its original whiteness; the long colonnades brighten in the moonbeams; the halls are illuminated with a softened radiance until the whole edifice reminds one of the enchanted palace of an Arabian tale.”

BALCONY OF THE “CAPTIVE” (ISABEL DE SOLIS), OVERLOOKING THE VEGA, OR PLAIN, OF GRANADA.

Art and nature have combined to render Granada, with its Alps, Plain, and Alhambra, one of those few places which surpass all previous conceptions. The town is built on the spurs of the hills, which rise on the south-east to their greatest altitude. The city overlooks the Vega, or Plain, and is about 2,500 feet above sea-level. This altitude, coupled with the snowy background, renders it a most delicious residence; the bosom of snow furnishing a never-failing supply of water for

ALCOVE OF THE “CAPTIVE” (ISABEL DE SOLIS).

irrigation. Accordingly, the Vega supplies every vegetable production, and is a spot—said the Arabians themselves—superior in extent and fertility to the valley of Damascus.

The Alhambra is built on a crowning height that hangs over the River Darro; its long lines of walls and towers follow the curves and dips of the ground just as a consummate artist would have placed them; the wooded slopes, kept green by water-courses, are tenanted by nightingales, singing as if in pain at the tender scene of desolate beauty.

Granada, which, under the Moors, was populated by half-a-million inhabitants, knew no slow decline, but flourished until it toppled to its fall. The date of its ruin is 2nd January, 1492, when the banner of Castile first floated from the towers of the Alhambra. To the fatal influence of a beautiful woman—Isabel de Solis—may be attributed, in great part, the destruction of the Moslem cause. Isabel was the daughter of the Governor of Martos, a town of Andalusia to the north-west of Granada. In a foray by the Moors she was captured, and became the favourite Sultana of Abu-l-hasan, King of Granada. Her Moorish appellation is Zoraya—“Morning Star”—in allusion to her surpassing loveliness, on account of which Ayeshah, another wife and cousin of Abu-l-hasan, became jealous of her rival. This necessarily led to dissension; conspiracy was rampant, and the Moorish Court became separated into two parties. Of the most powerful families of Granada, the Zegris espoused the cause of Ayeshah; while the Beni Cerraj (Abencerrages) championed that of the “Morning Star.” In June, 1482, Abu-Abdillah (Boabdil), son of Ayeshah, dethroned Abu-l-hasan, his father. Thus the Moorish house was divided against itself at the very time when Castile and Aragon became united by the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella. On Boabdil’s defeat and capture at Lucena in 1483, the old king returned to Granada and was enthroned, but quickly abdicated in favour of his brother, Mohammed (XII.), called Ez-zaghal, the Valiant. Boabdil, later, was re-instated; but, becoming a mere instrument and vassal of Ferdinand, finally surrendered himself and his kingdom to the Christian king.

INTERIOR OF THE “CAPTIVE’S” (ISABEL DE SOLIS) TOWER.

For the true character of Ferdinand consult Shakespeare, who understood all things—“who didst the stars and sunbeams know.” He describes Ferdinand, by the mouth of our eighth Henry’s ill-fated queen, Katharine of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella:

“....Ferdinand,
My father, King of Spain, was reckon’d
The wisest prince, that there had reign’d by many
A year before: ...”

Henry VIII., Act II.

And of Katharine’s qualities, King Henry, in all things else unrelenting, speaks in high terms:

“....Thou art, alone,—
If thy rare qualities, sweet gentleness,
Thy meekness saint-like, wife-like government,
Obeying in commanding, and thy parts
Sovereign and pious else, could speak thee out,—
The queen of earthly queens.”

Henry VIII., Act II.

As to Queen Isabella, Ford is loud in her praise, regarding her as a pearl among women. She died, indeed, far from Granada, but desired to be buried here—in the Cathedral of Granada—the bright jewel of her crown. Isabella was the Elizabeth of Spain, the most effulgent star of an age which produced Ximenez, Columbus, and the Great Captain, all of whom rose to full growth under her smile, and withered at her death. She is one of the most faultless characters in history, one of the purest sovereigns who ever graced or dignified a throne; who, “in all her relations of queen, or woman,” was, in the words of Lord Bacon, “an honour to her sex, and the corner-stone of the greatness of Spain.” Then it was that Spain spread her wings over a wider sweep of empire, and extended her name of glory to the far antipodes. Then it was that her flag, on which the sun never set, was unfolded to the wonder and terror of Europe; while a New World, boundless, and richer than the dreams of avarice, was cast into her lap, discovered at the very moment when the Old World was becoming too confined for the outgrowth of the awakened intellect, enterprise, and ambition of mankind.

After receiving the keys of the fortress, Ferdinand remained for a few days in Granada, having entrusted the custody of the Alhambra to Don Inigo Lopez de Mendoza, Count of Tendilla.[6]

THE GOTHIC INSCRIPTION SET UP IN THE ALHAMBRA BY THE COUNT OF TENDILLA, TO COMMEMORATE THE SURRENDER OF THE FORTRESS IN 1492.

The fact is recorded in a Gothic inscription formerly placed over a cistern constructed at the command of that Governor, but now on a wall just within the “Gate of Justice.” The letters are incised upon a large marble tablet.

THE SURRENDER OF GRANADA BY BOABDIL TO FERDINAND AND ISABELLA, JANUARY 2ND, 1492.

The following is a translation of the inscription:

“The most high, most Catholic, and most powerful lords, Don Fernando and Doña Isabel, our King and Queen, conquered by force of arms this Kingdom and city of Granada, which, after their highnesses had besieged it in person for a considerable time, was surrendered to them by the Moorish King, Muley Hasen, together with its Alhambra, and other fortresses, on the 2nd day of January, 1492. On the same day their highnesses appointed, as Governor and Captain-General of the same, Don Inigo Lopez de Mendoza, Count of Tendilla, their vassal, who, on their departure, was left in the Alhambra with 500 horse and 1,000 foot; and the Moors were ordered to remain in their houses and villages as they were before. The Count, by command of their highnesses, caused this cistern to be made.”

It will be seen, by the style of the Gothic lettering, that the inscription was cut in the last decade of the fifteenth century. Whether the count of Tendilla dug the well or only constructed the cistern remains a disputable point; it is not important; but what is by no means clear is the strange statement that the keys were surrendered by “Muley Hasen.” Upon the capture of Boabdil[7] at Lucena by the Count of Cabra, he was conducted to Córdova, where he was received with much honour by Ferdinand, after the manner, in modern times, of the reception of Schamyl at the Court of St. Petersburg. Thereafter, Boabdil became the instrument of the Christians, and was allowed to return to Granada, where such confusion reigned at this time, that there were always two, and sometimes three kings in the Moorish capital of Andalusia. The antagonism of old Muley Hasen, his son Boabdil, and the brother of Muley, Ez-Zaghal, “the Valiant,” all posing as kings at one time, probably hastened the overthrow of the Moorish power.

There is much uncertainty respecting the date of Muley Hasen’s death. Some authorities state that when he was dethroned by his son Boabdil, “he retired to Malaga.” Others say that the king could not survive the misfortunes that his son’s rebellion brought upon the kingdom, and “becoming blind and mad, soon afterwards died.” One account gives his death as occurring in September, 1484, without, however, adducing evidence in support. Is it not just possible then, that when Malaga fell, the old king was discovered and rode in Ferdinand’s train, to deliver the keys of Granada, as so plainly set forth in the Gothic inscription of the Count of Tendilla?

The circumstances which attended the growth of the Spanish nation, and the expulsion of the Moor, were necessarily productive of an over-zealous spirit—a spirit which is ever the inevitable consequence of subjugation in the name of heaven, and under the immediate influence of religious feeling. How, then, could it fail to manifest itself in the Spaniards, who, only by a war lasting seven centuries, recovered their own country from the hands of the Moslem—the bitterest foes of the Christian religion—usurpers who justified their violence by retorting the opprobrious epithet “Infidels” upon the natives? A contest, so fierce and abiding, must have inseparably connected, in the minds of the Spaniards, every idea of honour with orthodoxy, and all that is discreditable and odious, with dissent from their creed. Small wonder, then, need be expressed that the degradation of the Alhambra dates from the very day of the Castilian Conquest, on which the removal of Moslem symbols commenced. Have we not seen the same principles rampant in England at the time of the Reformation, and again, throughout Puritan times; although, in our own case, the unreasonable iconoclasts professed the same faith?

The grievous vandalism begun by Ferdinand and Isabella was carried on by their grandson, Charles V., who despoiled the palace, on an even more gigantic scale, of those artistic glories which he looked upon as “the ugly abominations of the Moor.” He attempted the impossible: he modernized and rebuilt portions of the Alhambra, put up heavy ceilings, blocked up old passages, or constructed new, and sought to convert the palace of an Oriental sybarite into a residence for a Western monarch. All was in vain: the last royal residents were Philip V. and his beautiful Queen, Elizabetta of Parma, early in the eighteenth century. Although great preparations were made for their reception, the stay of the sovereigns was but transient; and, after their departure, the place once more became desolate.

During the Peninsular War, when Granada was in the hands of the French, the Alhambra was garrisoned by their troops, and the palace was occasionally inhabited by the French commander. Washington Irving maintains that “with that enlightened taste which has ever distinguished the French nation—this monument of Moorish elegance and grandeur was rescued from the absolute ruin and desolation that were overwhelming it. The roofs were repaired, the saloons and galleries protected from the weather, the gardens cultivated, the water-courses restored, the fountains once more made to throw up their sparkling showers; and Spain may thank her invaders for having preserved to her the most beautiful and interesting of her historical monuments.... On the departure of the French, they blew up several towers of the outer wall, and left the fortifications untenable,” &c. This last act may well have been one of military exigence; but, on the other hand, Ford entirely disagrees with Irving, and asserts, with all the vigour of an extinct species of Tory John Bull, that the French are responsible for the most wanton destruction perpetrated during their occupancy. Whatever the truth may be, we confess to a strong fellow-feeling with the kindly American genius who has done so much to retard the decay of the edifice, which is still preserved to adorn the land, and attract the curious of every clime.

For centuries the antiquities of the Spanish Arabs continued disregarded or unknown. Prejudice—that sad inheritance of nations—was, alas! only too actively employed in demolishing the work of the polished and enlightened people, whose occupation of the Peninsula it was accounted piety to efface. It was not until the end of the eighteenth century that steps were taken to explore and protect the remains of Moorish monuments in Spain; when, in consequence of representations of cultured Spaniards, the Government commissioned the Royal Academy of St. Ferdinand to send two architects and an officer of Engineers to report upon the condition, and make drawings of the Palace of the Alhambra and the Mosque at Córdova. The result of their labours was published at Madrid, 1780, in an illustrated folio volume entitled Antigüedades Arabes de España.

It is only by the union of the graphic art with descriptions that we can hope to form an accurate estimate of the high state of excellence to which the Mohammedans in Spain attained in the Fine Arts while the rest of Europe was overwhelmed with ignorance and barbarism. The coin, for instance, represented on the opposite page is of fine gold, and is an example of art which would not dishonour a medallist of any epoch. The existence of a Royal Mint within the Alhambra may be admitted when we learn that the coin was struck by order of the Founder of the Alhambra, Mohammed I., surnamed Al-Ghalib-Billah—the Conqueror—who reigned in Granada from 1232 to 1272 A.D. The coin is one of the most cherished possessions in the cabinet of Alfonso XIII., King of Spain, at Madrid.

Description.

Obverse: Within the square, an Arabic inscription which reads: “In the name of God, the Merciful, the Forgiving. The blessing of God on Mohammed and his family. There is no Conqueror but God.” On the segments of the circle surrounding the square we read: “Your God is one God. There is no God but He, the Merciful, the Forgiving.”

GOLD COIN (OBVERSE AND REVERSE) OF MOHAMMED I., THE FOUNDER OF THE ALHAMBRA, WHO REIGNED 1232-1272 A.D.

Reverse. Within the square: “There is no God, but God. Mohammed is the messenger of God. Al-mahdi, Prince of the people of Granada.” On the segments of the circle surrounding the square: “The Commander of the Faithful, Al-Ghalib-Billah, Mohammed, Son of Yúsuf, Son of Nasr, whom God prosper.”

Mohammed, the Founder of the Alhambra.

TO Mohammed the First, the world is indebted for the beautiful and romantic Oriental monument, the Alhambra. This famous monarch was born in Arjou in the year of the Hegira 591 (A.D. 1195), of the noble family of the Beni Nasr, or children of Nasr, and no pains were spared by his parents to fit him for the high station to which the opulence and dignity of his family entitled him. When he reached manhood he was appointed alcayde, or governor of Arjou and Jaen, and gained great popularity by his benignity and justice. Some years afterwards, on the death of Abou Hud, the Moorish power in Spain was broken into factions, and many places declared for Mohammed. Being of a sanguine spirit and lofty ambition, he turned the opportunity to his own purpose, made a progress through the country, and was everywhere received with acclamations. In the year 1232 he entered Granada, and was proclaimed king with every demonstration of joy. Shortly afterwards he became the head of the Moslems in Spain, being the second of the illustrious line of Beni Nasr to sit upon the throne. His reign was such as to render him a blessing to his subjects. He gave the command of his various cities to those who had distinguished themselves by valour and prudence, and had recommended themselves most acceptable to the people. He erected hospitals for the blind, the aged and infirm, and all those incapable of labour, visiting the asylums frequently—not on set days, with pomp and form, so as to give time for everything to be put in order, and every abuse concealed, but suddenly and unexpectedly, informing himself, by actual observation and close enquiry, of the treatment of the sick, and the conduct of those appointed to administer to their relief. He founded schools and colleges, which he visited in the same manner, inspecting personally the instruction of youth. He introduced abundant streams of water into the city, erecting baths and fountains, and constructing aqueducts and canals to irrigate and fertilize the Vega. By these means prosperity and abundance prevailed in this beautiful city, its gates were thronged with commerce, and its warehouses filled with luxuries and merchandise of every country.

While Mohammed was ruling his fair dominions thus wisely and prosperously, he was suddenly menaced with the horrors of war. The Christians, profiting by the dismemberment of the Moslem power, were rapidly regaining their ancient territories. James the Conqueror had subjected all Valencia, and Ferdinand the Saint was carrying his victorious arms into Andalusia. The latter invested the city of Jaen, and swore not to strike his camp until he had gained possession of the place. Mohammed was conscious of the insufficiency of his means to carry on a war with the potent sovereign of Castile. Taking a sudden resolution, therefore, he repaired privately to the Christian camp, and made his unexpected appearance in the presence of King Ferdinand.

“In me,” said he, “you behold Mohammed, king of Granada. I confide in your good faith, and put myself under your protection. Take all I possess, and receive me as your vassal.” So saying, he knelt, and kissed the king’s hand in token of submission. Ferdinand, touched by this instance of confiding faith, determined not to be outdone in generosity. He raised his late rival from the earth, and embraced him as a friend, leaving him sovereign in Granada, on condition of paying a yearly tribute, attending the Cortes as one of the nobles of the empire, and serving him in war with a certain number of horsemen.

It was not long after this that Mohammed was called upon for his military services, to aid King Ferdinand in the siege of Seville. The Moorish king sallied forth with 500 chosen horsemen of Granada, than whom none in the world knew better how to manage a steed or wield the lance. It was a humiliating service, however, to draw the sword against brethren of the faith.

Mohammed gained but a melancholy distinction by his prowess in this renowned campaign, but achieved more true honour by the humane methods which he prevailed upon Ferdinand to introduce into the usages of war. When, in 1428, the famous city of Seville surrendered to the Castilian monarch, Mohammed returned sad, and full of care, to his dominions. He saw the gathering ills that menaced the Moslem cause, and uttered the ejaculation, often used by him in moments of anxiety and trouble: “Que angosta y miserabile seria nuestra vida, sino fuera tan dilatada y espaciosa nuestra esperanza!”—How straitened and wretched would be our lives if our hope were not so spacious and extensive!

Sad and dispirited, the conqueror approached his beloved Granada. The people thronged the streets with impatient joy: like to another Coriolanus, “the dumb men flocked to see him, and the blind to hear him speak;” for they loved him as a benefactor. Arches of triumph were erected in his honour; and as he passed he was hailed with acclamations as Al Ghalib, or the Conqueror. Mohammed shook his head when he heard the appellation.

“Wa la ghalib ila Alá!” exclaimed he—There is no conqueror but God! From that time forward he adopted the exclamation as a motto. He inscribed it on an oblique band—in heraldry, a Bend—across his escutcheon, and it continued to be the motto of his descendants.

Mohammed had purchased peace by submission to the Christians; but he knew that where the elements were so discordant, and the motives for hostility so deep and ancient, it could not be secure or permanent. Acting, therefore, upon an old maxim, “Arm thyself in peace, and clothe thyself in Summer,” he improved the interval of tranquillity by fortifying his dominions, by replenishing his arsenals, and by promoting those useful arts which give wealth and real power to an empire.

“WA LA GHALIB ILA ALÁ!”—THERE IS NO CONQUEROR BUT GOD!—THE FAMOUS MOTTO, IN KUFIC CHARACTERS, OF MOHAMMED I. AND HIS SUCCESSORS, WHICH IS INSCRIBED ON THE WALLS OF THE ALHAMBRA IN COUNTLESS REPETITION.

He gave premiums and privileges to the best artisans, improved the breed of horses and other domestic animals, encouraged husbandry, and increased the fertility of the soil two-fold by his protection, making the lovely valleys of his kingdom to bloom like gardens. He fostered, also, the growth and fabrication of silk, until the looms of Granada surpassed even those of Syria in the fineness and beauty of their productions. He caused the prolific mines of gold and silver, and other metals of the mountainous regions of his dominions, to be diligently worked, and was the first King of Granada who, as we have seen, struck money with his name, taking great care, moreover, that the coins should be skilfully executed.

It was about this time, towards the middle of the thirteenth century, and just after his return from the siege of Seville (1248), that Mohammed commenced the splendid Palace of the Alhambra, superintending the building of it in person, mingling frequently amongst the artists and workmen, and directing their labour. He stored the gardens with the rarest plants, and with the most beautiful aromatic shrubs and flowers. Amid these scenes he delighted in reading histories, or in causing them to be related to him; and sometimes, in intervals of leisure, employed himself in the instruction of his three sons, for whom he had provided the most learned and virtuous masters. Mohammed ever remained loyal to Ferdinand, giving him repeated proofs of fidelity and attachment. When that renowned monarch died at Seville in 1254, Mohammed sent ambassadors to condole with his successor, Alonzo X., and with them a gallant train of Moorish cavaliers of distinguished rank to attend the obsequies. This grand testimony of respect was repeated by the Moslem monarch during the remainder of his life on each anniversary of the death of King Fernando el Santo, when a hundred Moorish knights repaired to Seville, and took their stations with lighted tapers in the Cathedral, around the tomb of the illustrious deceased.

Mohammed retained his vigour to an advanced age. In his seventy-ninth year he took the field on horseback, accompanied by the flower of his chivalry, to resist an invasion. As the army sallied forth from Granada, one of the adalides, or guides, who rode in the advance, accidentally shivered his lance against the arch of the gate. The counsellors of the king, alarmed by the circumstance, which was considered an evil omen, entreated him to return. The king persisted, and at noontide the omen, say the Moorish chroniclers, was fatally fulfilled. Mohammed was suddenly seen to fall from his horse. He was placed on a litter and borne towards Granada, but his illness increased to such a degree that they were obliged to pitch his tent on the Vega. His physicians were filled with consternation, and in a few hours he died; the Castilian prince, Don Philip, brother of Alonzo X., being by his side when he expired. His body was embalmed, enclosed in a silver coffin, and buried in the Alhambra, in a sepulchre of precious marble, amidst the unfeigned lamentations of his subjects, who bewailed him as a parent.

Such was the enlightened prince who founded the Alhambra, whose name remains emblazoned amongst its most delicate and graceful ornaments, and whose memory is calculated to inspire the loftiest associations in those who tread these fading scenes of his magnificence and glory.

Abu-el-Hejaj (Yúsuf I.), King of Granada, 1333-1354, who completed the Alhambra.

IN the royal Mosque, where the escutcheons of the Moorish kings hang side by side with those of the Castilian sovereigns—for the Mosque was, after the subjugation, consecrated as a Catholic chapel—perished the illustrious Yúsuf Abu-el-Hejaj, the high-minded prince who completed the Alhambra, and who, for his virtues and endowments, deserves almost equal renown with its magnanimous founder. Washington Irving was, perhaps, the first to draw forth, from the obscurity in which it had too long remained, the name of another of those princes of a departed and almost forgotten race, who reigned in elegance and splendour in Andalusia, when all Europe was in comparative barbarism.

To Yúsuf I. the Alhambra owes much of its splendour; he not only constructed the Gate of Justice and the Wine Gate, leading into the Palace, as appears from the inscriptions over their respective archways; but he must also have built, or decorated, many of the interior apartments, for his name appears frequently in The Hall of the Two Sisters, in that of the Baños, in the Court of the Fish-pond, and in the Hall of the Ambassadors.

Yúsuf ascended the throne of Granada in 1333. He is said to have been of noble presence, possessing great bodily strength united to manly beauty. He had the courage common to all generous spirits, but his genius inclined more to peace than to war; and, though repeatedly obliged to take up arms, he was generally unfortunate. Amongst other ill-starred enterprises, he undertook a campaign in conjunction with the King of Morocco, against Castile and Portugal, but was defeated in the memorable battle of Salado; a reverse which nearly proved a death-blow to the Moslem power in Spain.

A long truce, after this defeat, enabled Yúsuf to devote himself to the instruction and improvement of his people. He established schools in the villages, with uniform systems of education; he obliged every hamlet of more than twelve houses to have a Mosque, and reformed abuses which had crept into the religious ceremonies and festivals of the people. The Alhambra was now completed. Yúsuf constructed the beautiful Gate of Justice, forming the grand entrance, which he finished in 1348. He likewise adorned many of the Courts and Halls of the Palace, as may be seen by the inscriptions in which his name repeatedly occurs. He built also the Alcázar, or Citadel of Malaga, of which, alas! only crumbling traces remain.

THE WINE GATE, ATTRIBUTED TO YÚSUF I.

The genius of the sovereign stamps a character upon his time. The nobles of Granada, emulating the graceful taste of their monarch, filled the city with magnificent palaces, the halls of which were adorned with mosaics, the ceilings wrought in fretwork, and delicately gilded and painted, or inlaid with precious woods; they had lofty towers of wood or stone, carved and ornamented, and covered with plates of metal that glittered in the sun. So refined was the taste in decoration prevailing amongst this elegant people that, to use the simile of an Arabian writer, “Granada, in the days of Yúsuf, was as a silver vase filled with emeralds and jacynths.”

One anecdote will be sufficient to show the magnanimity of this generous prince. The long truce which succeeded the battle of Salado was at an end, and every effort of Yúsuf to renew it was in vain. His deadly foe, Alonzo XI. of Castile,

HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS FROM THE ENTRANCE DOOR, BUILT BY YÚSUF I.

took the field with great force, and laid siege to Gibraltar. Yúsuf reluctantly took up arms, and sent troops to the relief of the place; when, in the midst of his anxiety, he received tidings that his dreaded foe had fallen a victim to the plague. Instead of manifesting exultation, Yúsuf called to mind the great qualities of the deceased monarch, and was touched with sorrow—“Alas!” cried he, “the world has lost one of its most excellent princes; a sovereign who knew how to honour merit, whether in friend or foe!” The Spanish chroniclers, themselves, bear witness to this magnanimity: according to their accounts, the Moorish cavaliers shared the sentiment of their king and put on mourning for the death of Alonzo. Even those Moors of Gibraltar, which had been so closely invested, when they learned that the hostile monarch lay dead in his camp, determined that no aggressive movement should be made against the Christians during the observance of his obsequies.

THE SULTAN’S BATH, CONSTRUCTED BY YÚSUF I.

Upon the day on which the camp was broken up, and the army departed bearing the corpse of Alonzo, the Moors issued in multitudes from Gibraltar, and stood mute and melancholy, watching the mournful pageant. The same reverence for the deceased was observed on the frontiers by all the Moorish commanders, who suffered the funeral cortège to pass in safety with the body of the Christian sovereign, from Gibraltar to Seville.

Yúsuf did not long survive the enemy he had so generously deplored. In the year 1354, as he was one day at prayer in the royal Mosque of the Alhambra, a maniac suddenly rushed upon him and plunged a dagger in his side. The cries of the king brought his guards to his assistance: they found him in convulsions, weltering in his blood. He was borne to the royal apartments, and expired almost immediately. The assassin

COURT OF MYRTLES, OR THE FISH-POND, FORMED BY YÚSUF I.

was cut to pieces, and his limbs burnt in public, to gratify the fury of the populace.

The assassination of Yúsuf is described by an eye-witness in a letter addressed to Fárris, Sultán of Western Africa, which is printed by Pascual de Gayangos from the chronicle of Al-Makkarí—an elegant Moorish writer who flourished towards the end of the sixteenth century:—“As Abu-el-hejaj (Yúsuf) was performing the last prostration of his prayer, a madman rushed upon him and wounded him with a khanjar, or yataghán. The assassin was immediately secured. The Sultán, who had been mortally wounded, made some signs as if he wished to speak;

THE KORAN RECESS IN THE MOSQUE, THE SCENE OF YÚSUF’S ASSASSINATION.

but, after uttering some unintelligible words, he was carried senseless to his apartments, where he shortly died. The assassin, meantime, was given up to the infuriated mob, who slew him and burned his body. The Sultán was interred within the Alhambra. He left three sons: Mohammed, who succeeded him; Isma’íl, and Kays.”

The body of Yúsuf was interred in a superb sepulchre of white marble; a long epitaph, in letters of gold upon an azure ground, recorded his virtues: “Here lies a king and martyr, of an illustrious line, gentle, learned and virtuous; renowned for the graces of his person and his manners, whose clemency, piety and benevolence were extolled throughout the kingdom of Granada. He was a great prince; an illustrious captain; a sharp sword of the Moslems; a valiant standard-bearer amongst the most potent monarchs.”

The Mosque, which once resounded with the dying cries of Yúsuf, still remains, but the monument which recorded his virtues has long since disappeared. His name, however, yet abides among the ornaments of the Alhambra, and will be perpetuated in connection with this renowned pile, which it was his pride and delight to adorn.

The Towers, Courts, and Halls of the Alhambra.

“AS an Englishman approaches the Alhambra,” says Ford, “he rubs his eyes, for he finds himself in a park of real English elms. Delicious green roofs they form, but no more in keeping with the old Moorish Palace than Bolton Abbey would be with the Pyramids. But why English? Why; because this wood was the present of the Iron Duke, who had the estate of Soto de Roma, with its four thousand once pheasant-haunted acres given him reluctantly by the grateful Ferdinand VII., and who sent out these elms from England.”

The first feeling which strikes a visitor on entering the Alhambra is one of amazement to find himself suddenly transported to fairly-land. Arches bearing upon pillars so slender that the wonder is they are able to sustain the superincumbent weight—the style differing from all regular orders of architecture—ceilings and walls incrusted with fretwork so minute and intricate that the most patient draughtsman finds it difficult to follow. Yet, although the patterns present so great variety, the compotent parts are, in their origin, the same; and it is by changing the colours and juxtaposition of the several pieces that the astonishing diversity is produced. This exquisite Moorish work appears to have been accomplished by means of moulds applied successively, the continuity of the design being preserved with greatest care. Amidst or around the complex forms are constantly disposed Arabic sentences of moral and religious tendency, the most oft-repeated homily being, “Wa la ghálib ila Alá,” that is, “There is no conqueror but God:” the sentence being sometimes enclosed within Cufic characters written twice, and forming the words signifying “Grace,” and “Blessing,” the letters so curiously interwoven that the text may be read from left to right, and from right to left.

PUERTA DE JUSTICIA—THE GATE OF JUSTICE.

The Gate of Justice has ever been the principal entrance into the fortress. Like all the other towers of the Alhambra, it is built of concrete, the jambs of the doorway being of white marble, and the elegant horseshoe arch and spandrils of brick.

The Gate of Justice was erected in 1338 by the Sultán Yúsuf, and was so called because (in accordance with ancient practice all over the East) the Kings of Granada occasionally sat under it to administer justice to every class of their subjects. The hand and key, which are seen in relievo upon the stone, have given rise to a variety of conjectures, more or less plausible.

The quaint open hand, carved over the outer arch, has a talismanic and Arabian Nights effect. Some authorities say it typifies the hand of God, the symbol of power and providence; others suppose it to be a type of the five commandments of Islam—to fast; to give alms; to smite the infidel; to make the pilgrimage to Mecca; and to perform purifications. But it is, in all likelihood, the old Roman talisman against the Evil Eye, such as we see in coral on Neapolitan lockets. The Evil Eye is especially dreaded by Orientals, and the Spaniards tremble at its influence even now.[8]

Over the inner arch is a sculptured key: there was an old legend believed in through the centuries anterior to the Expulsion, that the Christians would never take the “red castle” until the outer hand had grasped the inner key. It was also agreed that the key was an emblem of the Prophet’s power to open the gates of hell or heaven. The truth is, that the key was an old Cufic emblem, intimating Allah’s power to open the hearts of true believers. It was also a badge on the Almohades’ banners, and is seen in many Moorish castles.

THE GATE OF JUSTICE, ERECTED BY YÚSUF I.

Washington Irving says of these strange symbols: “According to tradition, the hand and key were magical devices on which the fate of the Alhambra depended. The Moorish king who built it was a great magician, or, as some believed, had sold himself to the devil, and had laid the whole fortress under an evil spell. By this means it had remained standing for several hundred years, in defiance of storms and earthquakes, whilst almost all other buildings of the Moors had fallen to ruin and disappeared. This spell, the tradition went on to say, would last until the hand on the outer arch should reach down and grasp the key, when the whole pile would tumble to pieces, and all the treasures buried beneath it by the Moors would be revealed.”

SALA DEL TRIBUNAL—HALL OF JUSTICE.

The Hall of Justice has three court-rooms, or apses, now blazoned with the royal Spanish badges of the yoke and the bundle of arrows, familiar to us as the badge of Katharine of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, the first queen of our much-married monarch, Henry VIII.

Of the many beautiful arches which adorn the Palace, the one forming the entrance to the central alcove, or divan, of the Hall of Justice is perhaps the most remarkable; the exquisite form of the arch and richly-ornamented spandril with the poetic inscription which encloses it—“May power everlasting and imperishable glory be the destiny of the owner of this Palace”—and the slender porcelaine columns from which it springs, exciting the deepest admiration.

In this Hall are the famous paintings on leather, ascribed to the end of the fourteenth century. The painting of a group of Moslems, apparently congregated in Council, merits close attention, as giving the veritable costume of the Moors in Granada of the fourteenth century, at which period the delineations were certainly made, and, in all probability, by an Italian artist working under Moslem direction. Other paintings portray various chivalrous or amatory subjects; or they may be taken to represent romantic episodes as legendary as the story of the Chinese lovers on a willow-pattern plate. One scene (see p. 47) represents a wicked magician, or wild man of the woods,

HALL OF JUSTICE AND COURT OF THE LIONS.

coercing a Christian maiden, who, nevertheless, is holding a docile lion by a leading chain; the compliant animal meanwhile permitting domestic fowl and other pretty wantons to play undismayed around him. A Christian warrior on horseback makes short work of the wild man; but, alas! for the maiden, a valiant Moor comes galloping up, at once transfixes the Christian rescuer with his spear, and presumably claims the beautiful captive as the reward of his prowess. This episode of a Moor killing a Christian may be taken as a strong presumption of the paintings being wrought under Mohammedan influence, as it appears most unlikely that it would have been so represented by a Spaniard after the conquest of Granada. Some spectators in the upper chamber of a tower in the background seem to heartily approve of the whole proceeding.

HALL OF JUSTICE.

However fantastic these pictures may be, they are at least unique, and, as such, must be regarded with the utmost interest. We may conjecture that the painter fell into the hands of the Moors by the fortune of war; or, on the other hand, came by invitation to Granada.

Much difference of opinion exists amongst writers who have described the Alhambra with respect to these three curious paintings on leather which are found in the domes of the alcoves of the Hall of Justice. It is said by many that they are not the work of Moorish artists, but were executed posterior to the Conquest of Granada by Spanish painters. This opinion is founded chiefly on the injunctions contained in the Korán, forbidding the representation of animated beings; but that this law was disregarded by the builders of the Alhambra is fully proved by the fountain of the Court of Lions, and the bas-relief which forms part of a fountain now in the Museum of the Palace.

HALL OF JUSTICE, SHOWING FOUNTAIN OF COURT OF THE LIONS.

There is evidently much more analogy between these paintings and the bas-relief than between them and the works of the Spaniards after the Expulsion; witness the bas-reliefs from the royal chapel of Granada, built by Ferdinand and Isabella, which represent their entrance into the Alhambra, and evidently belong to a later period of Art.

HALL OF JUSTICE.

HALL OF JUSTICE AND PART OF COURT OF THE LIONS.

HALL OF JUSTICE AND PART OF COURT OF THE LIONS.

HALL OF JUSTICE.—THREE FIGURES FROM THE PICTURE OF THE MOORISH TRIBUNAL.

The ornaments, moreover, which are introduced into these paintings are strictly of a Moorish character.

The subject on the centre alcove is considered by the Spaniards to represent a Tribunal, whence they have called this Hall. From the different colours of the beards and dresses of the figures, they would appear to represent the chiefs of the

PART OF PICTURE IN THE HALL OF JUSTICE REPRESENTING A CHRISTIAN KNIGHT RESCUING A MAIDEN FROM A WICKED MAGICIAN, OR WILD-MAN-O’-THE-WOODS. THE CHRISTIAN KNIGHT IS, IN TURN, SLAIN BY A MOORISH WARRIOR.

tribes of Granada. One head traced from this picture is given on page 48.

These paintings are of bright colours, but in flat tints, without shadow, and were first drawn in outline of a brown colour. They are painted on skins of animals sewn together, and nailed to the wooden dome; a fine coating of gypsum forming the surface to receive the painting. The ornaments on the gold ground are in relief.

PAINTING ON THE CEILING OF THE LEFT ALCOVE.

To determine whether the subject of this picture be legendary or historical is difficult. Christians appear to be engaged in hunting the lion and the bear, while the Moslems confine their attentions to the wild boar. The spoils of the chase are presented at the feet of both Christian and Moslem ladies—the humility with which the Christian knight, who is upon his knees, offers his share of the spoil to his lady, may be contrasted with the more commanding attitude of the Moslem, as finely exhibiting the estimation in which women were held by their respective nations. Many hounds—one of which has the luck to fall in with a stray fox—take part in the

HALL OF JUSTICE.—MOOR’S HEAD.

(From a tracing by M. Jules Goury, a celebrated French architect, from the painting representing a Moorish Tribunal.)

chase, and the ladies are attended by lap-dogs. The huntsmen are on horseback and on foot. When the wild boar is slain, he is hoisted on the back of a mule by attendants, and borne triumphantly home. A great variety of birds and trees—amid the branches of which monkeys partially conceal themselves—make up the various scenes. In spite of the want of perspective, there is much spirit in the details, and the female figures especially are most graceful.

That these unique relics should be taken from their present

FAÇADE, COURT OF THE MOSQUE, BUILT BY YÚSUF I.

“WA LA GHÁLIB ILA ALÁ!”—THERE IS NO CONQUEROR BUT GOD!—THE FAMOUS MOTTO OF MOHAMMED I. AND HIS SUCCESSORS. AN EXAMPLE FROM THE HALL OF AMBASSADORS.