THE ALHAMBRA 51 



The most competent critics have now arrived 

 at the conclusion that these paintings are of the 

 fourteenth century, and therefore executed under 

 the Muslim sovereigns, in defiance of the precepts 

 of the Koran. Whether they were the work of a 

 Mohammedan it is not so easy to say. Gayangos 

 has pointed out remarkable similarities between 

 these paintings and those in the Campo Santo at 

 Pisa ; and on the whole it is probable that they 

 were executed by an Italian artist, whom the 

 Muslims may not have scrupled to employ to 

 do a thing for them unlawful. A parallel instance 

 of casuistry is that of London Jews, who on cer- 

 tain feasts employ Christians to perform forbidden 

 menial offices. It should also be said that in 

 the opinion of some modern Muslim doctors the 

 prohibition of sculpture and painting is not to 

 be taken as absolute. 



In the Sala de la Justicia was found a basin 

 for ablutions, now in the Museum, on which are 

 interesting reliefs of lions, deer, and eagles. 

 According to the inscription, this was designed in 

 1305 for the service of the mosque, a fact which 

 seems to support the view of the authorities 

 just mentioned. 



It was in this hall that Ferdinand and Isabel 

 caused Mass to be celebrated after the Reconquest, 

 and here that the cross was set up by Cardinal 

 Mendoza. The devices of the Catholic sovereigns 



