CATHOLIC GRANADA 67 



representations of their faces, forms, and costumes : 

 behind Ferdinand is the victorious banner of 

 Castile, while the absorbing policy for which both 

 lived and died the conquest of the Moor and the 

 conversion of the infidel are embodied beneath 

 them in singular painted carvings ; these have 

 been attributed to Felipe Vigarny, and are certainly 

 of the highest antiquarian interest. In that 

 which illustrates the 'surrender of the Alhambra, 

 Isabel is represented riding on a white palfrey 

 between Ferdinand and the great Cardinal 

 Mendoza, who sits on his trapped mule, like Wolsey. 

 He alone wears gloves ; his pinched aquiline face 

 contrasts with the chubbiness of the king and 

 queen. He opens his hand to receive the key, 

 which the dismounted Boabdil presents, holding 

 it by the wards. Behind are ladies, knights, and 

 halberdiers, while captives come out of the gates 

 in pairs. Few things of the kind in Spain are more 

 interesting. The other basso-relievo records the 

 ' Conversion of the Infidel ' ; in it the reluctant 

 flock is represented as undergoing the ceremony 

 of wholesale baptism, the principal actors being 

 shorn monks. The mufflers and leg-wrappers 

 of the women the Roman fascia are precisely 

 those still worn at Tetuan by their descendants." 

 These reliefs are unquestionably more vigorous 

 and artistic, and also more in harmony with 

 the structure generally, than the gorgeous Renais- 



