The subculstory "Granada – A Painter’s Paradise" is written by Granada-based artist Daniel Fermor-Smith, host of
The Alhambra Painting Experience - A 5-Day Art Retreat in Granada, Spain.
The beautiful Spanish city of Granada, in southern Spain’s Andalucia
region, has long since been a magnet for artists, most notably for its
magnificent Alhambra, the finest surviving example of a fortified medieval
Muslim palace in Western Europe. I myself came to live in Granada in
2005 in large part drawn to it for its aesthetic beauty, never having
forgotten the view from the Alhambra over to the historic Albaicín quarter
on the slopes opposite from my first visit.
UNESECO world heritage site: View of the historic Moorish quarter of the Albaicín from the Alhambra
So what is Granada’s attraction for artists?
I think a visit to the Alhambra, an overview of the explosion of artistic interest in the Alhambra in the first half of the 18th century, and a little walk through its streets and squares, gardens and about its slopes, should answer this question. But first, let’s start with a little context, a little history to explain the Granada we can see today…
The region around present-day Granada has been populated from at least the 8th century BC. It has been home to Phoenician, Greek, Punic, Roman and Visigothic settlers. And then in 711 the Moors (a collective term to describe an Arab elite, a Berber majority and numerous other north Africans) conquered large parts of the peninsula and established Al-Andalus – the Muslim controlled territories of the Iberian peninsula. It wasn’t, however, until the early 11th century following the collapse of the Caliphate of Cordoba that Zawi ibn Ziri, son or nephew of Ziri ibn Manad, founder of the Zirid dynasty in the Mahgreb (modern day Algeria), established the independent Zirid Taifa (Muslim kingdom) of Granada. He subsequently moved his capital from below the Elvira mountains across the vega (plain) to present-day Granada and developed it as a fortified city with the Alcazaba as its fortress on the Sabika Hill.
This map shows the Taifas, or independent Muslim kingdoms, around 1050 A.D.
Later in 1232, the Nasrid dynasty was established by Muhammad I ibn Nasr, also known as Al-Ahmar ("the red") for his red beard, and this saw the beginning of the construction of the Nasrid palaces that we can see today and perhaps come to mind first when we think of the Alhambra. The Nasrid dynasty was to reign for the next two hundred years until the Catholic Kings Isabela I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon jointly conquered Granada in 1492.
You can loosely think of the Alhambra complex today as a ship with the Alcazaba as the bow. The perimeter wall is punctuated by various towers, each with their own history, while Inside the walls are: The Alcazaba (fort), the Nasrid Palaces, the renaissance Carlos V Palace, the church of Santa Maria de La Alhambra (built in the 16th and 17th centuries on top of the mosque of the Alhambra) and a Parador (built on what was originally a Nasrid palace then a convent). Further up the hill the sultan’s retreat – the Generalife – sits white and aloof as it looks down on the Alhambra.
Court of the Lions of the Nasrid Palaces, built by Muhammad V in the second half of the 14th century
So when did Granada and the Alhambra really catch the imagination of artists?
Although there are various paintings of the Alhambra from 1500 to 1800, as well as works of fiction and drama, such as John Dryden’s famous tragedy "The Conquest of Granada" (1672), it wasn’t until the nineteenth century that interest in the Alhambra as an artistic and cultural jewel went viral. This can be put down to a fusion of the two late 18th century movements of Romanticism and Orientalism to establish what is referred to as Romantic Orientalism, and perhaps one publication in particular. The Alhambra pushed all the right buttons for those drawn to these worlds: It was both exotic in its encapsulation of the mysterious East, and exciting in its representation of a romantic Spanish culture.
The Alhambra: Nasrid palaces and Alcazaba
Then, in 1826, the French writer and diplomat François-René de Chateaubriand published his novel The Last of the Abencerrajes set in Granada in the 16th century and featuring the Alhambra, and it is said that this book subsequently influenced the book that was to light the touch paper for all things Alhambra and Granada:
Washington Irving’s seminal work, Tales of the Alhambra, published in 1832.
In the book, Irving, an American traveller, writer and diplomat gives a personal account of his stay in the Alhambra itself in 1829, along with recounting historical legends set in the Alhambra and embellished Spanish folklore. The book was nectar to those who craved a portal onto a romantic and exotic world that was within geographical reach in Western Europe. In the book Irving laments the state of disrepair of the Alhambra while at the same time painting a picture of its past splendor and romantic atmosphere.
Many artists and oriental scholars visited the Alhambra in the twenty years after the publication of Irving’s classic. Some of them, like David Roberts, one of the first professional British landscape artists to visit the Alhambra in 1833, were not afraid to romanticize and exaggerate the grandeur of the Alhambra in his engravings and lithographs; from oversized interiors, as in "Hall of the Abencerrages" and "Courtyard of the Lions", to his painting of the Alhambra from a distance (commissioned in 1837 by the Marquis of Lansdowne) which features a dramatic backdrop of the Sierra Nevada and palm trees (see below). In the foreground of this painting you have Spanish people in traditional costume dancing, a recurring feature of a composition of this time.
Painting by David Roberts: "Fortress of the Alhambra" (1836)
One has to remember that these pictures were made to be reproduced as prints to indulge an audience that wanted to look upon the most dramatic of romantic visions, and transport themselves to that "other world" in mind even if they could not physically go there themselves. You can imagine such prints adorning the walls of Victorian interiors. And it has been said that Roberts in true romantic style sought to capture the spirit of the Alhambra and Granada rather than an accurate depiction of it.
The Orientalist artists of the first half of the 19th century paved the way for those who came in the second - and many came - from all corners of Europe and beyond. And, at the same time, the popularity of the Alhambra grew greatly amongst Spanish painters. These included well-known Spanish painters such as Mariano Fortuny, Santiago Rusiñol, Antonio Muñoz Degrain, Joaquin Sorolla and Manuel Gomez-Moreno amongst others.
The Catalan painter Santiago Rusiñol (1861–1931) was particularly captivated by the gardens of the Alhambra and the changing light, especially at dusk. He first visited Granada in the autumn of 1887 and thereafter was to return four more times up to 1922 to paint its gardens, carmens (derived for the Arabic, karma, meaning "garden/orchard/vine") in the Albaicin, gypsies in Sacromonte and the fertile plain of the vega.
The Swedish painter Anders Zorn visited Granada the same year of 1887.
"Gateway of the Alhambra" by Anders Zorn (1887)
Then in the twentieth century great international artists such as John Singer Sargent and Joaquin Sorolla joined local Granadino artists José MarÍa Lopéz Mezquita, Rodriguez Acosta and Gomez Moreno in their appreciation of the Alhambra for the aesthetic inspiration it offered.
Court of the Myrtles by Joaquin Sorolla (1909)
Joaquin Sorolla, "the painter of light", from Valencia, would visit the Alhambra numerous times, most notably in 1909, 1910 and 1917, and his great contemporary, John Singer Sargent, at least four times, the first as a child in 1868, and the last being in 1912.
Of those many painters from Granada, among them were Jose Maria Rodriguez Acosta and Manuel Gomez-Moreno, the carmen foundation of the former, and the institute of the latter, sit together on the top of the Hill of Mauror today overlooking the neighborhood of Realejo in Granada and are well worth a visit.
Above: The Rodriguez Acosta Foundation sitting on the Hill of Mauror.
Below: An interior courtyard of the foundation.
José María Rodríguez-Acosta (1878-1941) was lucky enough to be born into a wealthy Granadino banking family and therefore was able to pursue his painting without financial concerns. In the early years of the 20th century, he developed a style that combined modernism and symbolism and won awards at national and international exhibitions.
Between 1915 and 1930 he greatly reduced his artistic output and dedicated himself to the construction and decoration of his Granada carmen, which he conceived as an embodiment of aesthetic ideals steeped in modernity. Today it houses the foundation he established in 1941 with its library and various collections of art objects open to the public.
Jose Maria Rodriguez-Acosta "The Siesta" (1904)
Next door is the Gomez-Moreno Institute which houses the legacy of the painter and amateur archeologist. This legacy comprises paintings and artefacts collected by Gomez-Moreno.
A short walk away along the top of the hill and past the Impressive Hotel Alhambra Palace, a good place for a coffee and a view over Granada and the Sierra Nevada, is the beautiful Carmen de los Martires, home to peacocks and beautiful fauna, it’s round pond a popular place to paint and meditate.
The round pond of Carmen de los Martires
Across the way on the next hill sits the Alhambra, and within its precinct the renaissance palace built by Carlos V (started 1527) has played host to the Fine Arts Museum of Granada (Museo de Bellas Artes Carlos V) since 1958. As well as paintings dating back to 15th century you can see modern paintings, including those of Mariano Fortuny, López Mezquita, Rodriguez-Acosta and Gomez-Moreno. One such picture is the painting by Manuel Gomez-Moreno (c.1880) of the last Nasrid ruler of the Alhambra, Muhammad XII (often referred to simply as Boabdil) taking leave of the Alhambra. It’s a poignant picture and monumental at 250 cm by 371 cm in size.
Boabdil and family taking leave of the Alhambra; Gomez-Moreno c.1880.
If we leave the Alhambra once more and walk down Cuesta de Los Chinos that flanks it on the northwest side we pass the two towers of the Infantas and the Cautiva and not long after as the path becomes cobbled and begins to descend more steeply we are greeted with fantastic views of the old neighborhood of the Albaicin on San Miguel Hill before us with its white carmens and cypress trees looking back across the ravine at the Alhambra. Aside from the Alhambra itself this is the view that always comes to mind for me when I think of Granada. It is the same view you have of the Albaicin from the ramparts of the Alcazaba and the quarters of the Nasrid palaces (this is the view in photo 1 of this article). If you then descend all the way and then climb the slope of the Albaicin to the Mirador de San Nicolas you are rewarded with the wonderful view of the entire Alhambra with its Sierra Nevada backdrop that is the fourth photograph of this article.
Coming down from the Albaicin towards the centre of the city we pass down Calle Caldereria Nueva which features many Moroccan style tea shops and tourist shops; it very much has the feel of a typical north African bazaar about it and you wonder is you are in a European city at all.
In Granada below there is much more to see, draw and paint. Just across the Gran Via avenue you have the magnificent Granada Cathedral that was started in the 1520’s and took 181 years to finish. Like many other cathedrals in Spain it was built after the reconquest in 1492 on the site of the main mosque during Moorish times. To the left of it is the old Moorish clothes market, the Zacatín, which to this day is still a network of small stalls mainly selling craftwork items and touristic souvenirs.
Granada Cathedral main facade
Then on one side of the market you have the beautiful Bib-Rambla square. The Arabic Bib-Rambla translates for the "gate of the sandy bank" for there once stool a big city gate there that was effectively on the bank of the River Darro, but which was covered over in the 1930’s and continues to flow under the street of Reyes Católicos to this day. The square is rectangular and dates back to Moorish times when it was used as a market and a place for public events. It was a stone’s throw away from the mosque, and on the north side was the Alcaicería, or silk market. After the conquest in 1492 the square continued to be used as a market, but also played host to bull fights and other public spectacles. In the centre of it now stands the La Fuente de los Gigantones, or Fountain of the Giants, or as it is sometimes referred to the Neptune Fountain as the god stands on top of the plate supported by the giants. Why this secular statue was moved there in 1940 is an interesting question. The square has beautiful proportions and has long been a popular subject for artists to paint.
Plaza Bib-Rambla in the centre of Granada dates back to Moorish times
Other beautiful squares include the nearby Plaza Trinidad, La Fuente de La Batalla and Mariana Pineda, as well as the Campo del Principe in the neigborhood of Realejo. These are all places that have been much painted and are beautiful places to sit and contemplate.
Plaza Trinidad, a short walk away from the cathedral and Plaza Bib-Rambla was outside the city wall in Moorish times, but after the conquest housed a convent and church and its name derives from the religious order that ran it, Los Trinitarios. The order built a church and monastery on the site which operated until the 19th century when liberal reforms saw church land and property ceded to the state and it was given to the city of Granada in 1893 for public use and then developed as a square. In 1947 it was redesigned to take on the radial configuration, benches and kiosks it has today.
Plaza Trinidad today
We finish our walk very near where we started, in Plaza Nueva, below the Torre de la Vela of the Alcazaba that you can see above the treeline in the photo below. The plaza, with the River Darro running beneath it (and down Reyes Católicos), sits in the centre of Granada at the foot of the old neighborhoods of the Albaicin on one side and Realejo on the other, the road winding its way north to Sacromonte, and Calle Reyes Católicos south into the Granada of the 19th and 20th centuries of today.
Plaza Nueva in the centre of Granada
And there we must end this little tour. I hope this has served to give you a taste for the aesthetic and historical treasure that Granada is. There is of course so much more to see and paint, from the old cobbled alleys of the Moorish and Jewish quarters, to church and monastery facades, to hidden courtyards and carmens, flamenco and the Sierra Nevada. But of course, to see all this, you will have to come and visit Granada for yourself.
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This subculstory is written by Granada-based artist Daniel Fermor-Smith, host of
The Alhambra Painting Experience - A 5-Day Art Retreat in Granada, Spain.
Daniel Fermor-Smith