A MELANCHOLY PICTURE OF THE STATE OF THE FINE ARTS IN SPAIN.

A most interesting article on the present state of the fine arts in Spain, may be found in the Appendix to Sir Edmund Head’s Hand-Book of the History of the Spanish and French schools of Painting. On the 13th of June, 1844, a Royal ordinance was issued, establishing a Central Commission “de Monumentos Historicos y Artisticos del Reino,” with local or provincial commissions, to act in concert with the former body. The chief object of the Commission was, to report upon the condition of works of art, antiquities, libraries, etc., contained in the numerous convents and monasteries, which had been suppressed, and what measures had been adopted for their preservation. The members of the Commission were divided into three sections, one for libraries and archives, another for painting and sculpture, and a third for architecture and archæology.

The first annual report of the Central Commission to the Secretary of State for the Home Department is printed in pamphlet form, and embraces the proceedings of the Commission from July 1st, 1844, to July 1st, 1845.

“Nothing can be more melancholy than the picture of Spain drawn by this Commission. They tell us that the most valuable contents of the conventual libraries had been thrown away or mutilated, and that thousands of volumes had been sold as waste paper for three or four reals the arroba, and had been exported to enrich foreign libraries. A hope had been entertained of forming collections in each province, of pictures and other works of art; the Commission was soon undeceived as to the possibility of effecting this. Baron Taylor and a host of foreign dealers had in some provinces carried off all they could lay their hands upon; in others the Commissioners tell us, ‘Many of the most esteemed works of art, the glory and ornament of the most sumptuous churches, had perished in their application to the vilest uses; in others scarcely any record was preserved of what had been in existence at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries, and no inventory or catalogue of any kind had been made.’ Our only consolation perhaps is that these books and works of art will be better appreciated in other countries, and we may derive comfort from the views expressed by Madame Hahn-Hahn.[A]

“It is clear that in such a state of things the plunder and destruction of pictures must have been enormous. In the summary of the proceedings of the Commission with reference to pictures, which I shall proceed to give, the reader will see that all sorts of obstacles to any claim of the central government were raised by the local authorities; such a course was sometimes no doubt the result of genuine Spanish obstinacy, strong in local attachments, and hating all interference; but it too often probably originated in the desire to conceal peculation and robbery on the part of the alcalde, or the parish priest, or the sacristan, or the porter of a suppressed convent. Let us remember that in all probability no one of these functionaries ever received the salary which was due to him, and that the unfortunate monks turned out of their convents had neither interest nor duty in protecting what had ceased to be theirs. If they did not (as it may be hoped) themselves carry off what they could, they would abandon it to the first plunderer. Added to which, the habitual feeling of every Spaniard is, that what belongs to the government is fair game, and may be stolen with a safe conscience.

“When all this is considered, it will not appear surprising that bribery and robbery should have stripped the deserted convents, and scattered the memorials of Spanish art and literature. It is greatly to be feared too that the ignorance of the local commissioners will cause many an interesting picture of early date to be thrown on one side as barbarous and rude, and that few such valuable records as the altar of the time of Don Jayme el Conquistador, mentioned as rescued at Valencia, will be preserved at all; indifferent second-rate copies, or imitations of the Italian and Flemish masters, will probably pass current as the staple article in most of the provincial museums, even where such institutions are finally formed. At any rate, as a picture of the state of Spain with reference to the Fine Arts, and as a sort of guide to tourists, it may be useful to give, in alphabetical order, as they are enumerated in the report, an abstract of the general result as to the number of paintings got together in each province.”

Here follows the result of the labors of the Commission in forty-eight provinces, alphabetically arranged, presenting a sorry picture indeed. Only a few of them can be given here, which may be taken as specimens of the whole:

“Almeria.—Here the existence of any local collection was denied, but accidentally a catalogue was discovered containing a list of one hundred and ninety-six pictures, which had been got together in 1837, and had apparently disappeared.

“Burgos.—The Commissioners say, ‘On seeing the small number of works of art in the province of Burgos, and after examining carefully the communication of the “Gefe Político,” dated in April, 1844, together with the inventory which accompanied it, containing only sixty-nine pictures and thirteen coins, deposited in the Literary Institution of the capital of the province, we could not refrain from signifying our surprise at finding so poor a museum in a province which was at one time one of the richest in Spain in monasteries.’

“Cáceres.—Here again the Central Commission could get no account of the works of art which were known to have existed, more especially in the magnificent Hieronymite Monastery of Guadalupe, near Logrosan. The Provincial Commission, acting on the authority of that in Madrid, proceeded to ascertain what still remained within the walls of the convent, when they were resisted by the ‘Ayuntamiento’ of the town of Guadalupe, who pretended that all that was in the church and convent belonged to the parish, and not to the state.

“Cadiz.—Those who first collected the pictures took care to catalogue them without giving the subjects or the sizes, and mixed up together paintings and prints, so that it was impossible to say what had been stolen. The report goes on to say that the sale of certain pictures was not less irregular and culpable in itself, than the lawfulness of the manner in which the produce of the sale was applied appeared doubtful. The Local Commission of Arts and Sciences thought it prudent to abstain from criminal proceedings against any one; but the pictures yet remaining were in such a state of decay that to protect themselves they caused a procès verbal to be drawn up, setting forth their condition.

“Cuenca.—All sorts of plunder had gone on here, as elsewhere, but the Local Commissioners seem to have exerted themselves to rescue and place in safety what could yet be secured. The head of the Priory of Santiago de Uclés resisted them. The number of pictures collected is not given.

“Gerona.—In August, 1842, the ‘Gefe Político’ reported the existence of certain pictures, as he said, of little merit; but, bad or good, they seem to have disappeared by 1845.

“Granada.—Here a museum was formed in 1839, and in 1842 a catalogue of eight hundred and eighty-four pieces of sculpture and painting was transmitted to the Secretary of State. By January, 1844, it would appear that some, probably many, of them had been stolen, and the report does not tell us how many remained.

“Guadalajara.—It appears that out of four hundred and thirty pictures, a few only were considered to be originals of any value, and were attributed to Ribera, Zurbaran, Carreño, el Greco, and others, for the most part Spanish masters. Twenty-five were completely ruined.

“Guipuzcoa.—The civil war in this province has been the cause and the pretext for the disappearance of many works of art. ‘Since,’ says the report, ‘whilst many have been destroyed on the one hand, on the other the state of affairs has thrown a shield over those who have profited by the confusion, and have unjustly appropriated the property of the state.’

“Jaen.—The Local Commission of Jaen in the course of nine months got together five hundred and twenty-three pictures, of which they reported two hundred and eighty-five as worthless, and placed two hundred and thirty-eight in the old Jesuit convent. The names of Murillo, Zurbaran, Alonso Cano, Castillo, Orrente, Melgar, Juan de Sevilla, Guzman, Coello, Titian, el Greco, and Albano, appear in the catalogue.

“Leon.—‘The necessity,’ says the report, ‘of quartering troops in the various convents of this province, and the scandalous tricks which we know to have been played with the works of art in the same, are the causes why the catalogue, which was framed in September of last year, appeared so imperfect and so scanty, since the number of objects was reduced to sixty-one pictures and three pieces of sculpture, deposited in the convent of the so-called “Monjas Catalinas.”’ No more favorable account seems to have been received at the time the report was drawn up.

“Lérida.—Here too the civil war is said to have caused the disappearance of most of the pictures in the convents; only eighteen of any merit had been collected in April, 1844, but some more were known to exist in the Seo de Urgel, where the local authorities however refused to give them up to the government. The Commission had not been able to obtain an accurate account even of the eighteen.

“Malaga.—A miserable return of six pieces sculpture and four pictures was all that could be obtained by the Central Commission, and they attribute this result to ‘the natural indolence and purely mercantile spirit of that district.’ Probably the facility for exportation had a good deal to do with the disappearance of the various works of art which the report affirms to have been once collected and deposited in various public buildings.”