UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME 



S EVI LLE 



A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT, 

 WITH 300 ILLUSTRATIONS 



SEVILLE, which has its place in mythology as the creation of Hercules, 

 and was more probably founded by the Phoenicians, which became 

 magnificent under the Roman rule, was made the capital of the Goths, 

 became the centre of Moslem power and splendour, and fell before the 

 military prowess of St. Ferdinand, is still the Queen of Andalusia, the 

 foster-mother of Velazquez and Murillo, the city of poets and pageantry and 

 love. 



Seville is always gay, and responsive and fascinating to the receptive visitor, 

 and all sorts of people go there with all sorts of motives. The artist repairs 

 to the Andalusian city to fill his portfolio ; the lover of art makes the pilgrimage 

 to study Murillo in all his glory. The seasons of the Church attract thousands 

 from reasons of devotion or curiosity. And of all these myriad visitors, who go 

 with their minds full of preconceived notions, not one has yet confessed to 

 being disappointed in Seville. 



The author has here attempted to convey in the illustrations an impression 

 of this laughing city where all is gaiety and mirth and ever-blossoming roses, 

 where the people pursue pleasure as the serious business of life in an atmosphere 

 of exhilarating enjoyment. 



UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME 



THE PRADO 



A GUIDE AND HANDBOOK TO THE ROYAL PIC- 

 TURE GALLERY OF MADRID. ILLUSTRATED WITH 

 221 REPRODUCTIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS OF OLD 

 MASTERS. DEDICATED BY SPECIAL PERMISSION 

 TO H.R.H. PRINCESS HENRY OF BATTENBERG 



THIS volume is an attempt to supplement the accurate but formal 

 notes contained in the official catalogue of a picture gallery which is con- 

 sidered the finest in the world. It has been said that the day one 

 enters the Prado for the first time is an important event like marriage, 

 the birth of a child, or the coming into an inheritance ; an ex- 

 perience of which one feels the effects to the day of one's death. 



The excellence of the Madrid gallery is the excellence of exclusion ; it is a 

 collection of magnificent gems. Here one becomes conscious of a fresh power in 

 Murillo, and is amazed anew by the astonishing apparition of Velazquez ; here is, 

 in truth, a rivalry of miracles of art. 



The task of selecting pictures for reproduction from what is perhaps the 

 most splendid gallery of old masters in existence, was one of no little difficulty, 

 but it is believed that the collection is representative, and that the letterpress 

 will form a serviceable companion to the visitor to The Prado. 



