1S2L] 



State of tilt Fine Arts in Spain. 



347 



meutal doctrines of real Ciiristiauity, 

 Avhich draw a Hue of distiuelioa be- 

 tween tlie sj)irituiil power of priests and 

 that temporal authority wliicli Provi- 

 dence has placed in society, to order the 

 springs and wheels of its mechanism. 

 Lyon eniploj'ed his time and labour 

 in the investigation of religious truth ; 

 and the Spaniards will be freed from a 

 servitude expensive and prejudicial, 

 when they study and practise the 

 maxims contained in his work. 



For the plan of study in politics, the 

 €ortes have decreed, that the course of 

 constitutional palitics, published by M. 

 B. Constant, iu Paris, shall be assumed as 

 a given basis to proceed on, as competent 

 iu all its parts, to be scientifically 

 taught in the learned institutions, uni- 

 versities, colleges, &c. The wisdom 

 and policy of this measiire cannot be 

 arraigned, and it may pioduce abun- 

 dant advantages to the public service 

 of the state. Principles which go to 

 the humiliation of tyrannical power, 

 to the emancipation of young minds 

 from intellectual oppression, which ap- 

 pear to be sound and spirited, as in the 

 productions of Constant, ai-e well adapt- 

 ed to a country where a constitutioual 

 and representative government has 

 been established, 



Asto thepresentstateof the finearts in 

 Spain,their condition is not so deplorable 

 and degraded as may be thought ; there 

 are departments which demand applause, 

 and which, if distinguished in the true 

 point of light, would appear to great ad- 

 vantage. There are painters in that 

 country who display eminent abilities: 

 the names of the following may be given 

 as a partial specimen: — Gorga, Lopez, 

 Velasquez, Aparicio, Madrazo, Rivera, 

 for history ; Moutalvoand Sanchez for 

 landscapes and sea-pieces ; Paria and 

 Lacoma for flowers ; Rivellez, Galvez, 

 &c. for decorations. 



Connoisseurs may well appreciate tlie 

 knowledge and taste displayed by 

 (iines, Agreda, and Alvarez in sciilp- 

 tuie, each of whom liave been in Rome 

 for the sake of instruction and diligent 

 imitation. 



In architecture, Spain possesses men 

 of considerable intellectual endow- 

 ments; such are Perez, Agnado, Velas- 

 quez, and Moreno. In the line of en- 

 graving, Carmoua, Esteve, Amulleer, 

 and Blanco deserve particular attention. 

 A degree of concomitant merit may be 

 fairly assigned to Sepulvedaand Sagan, 

 as engravers in coins and medals. One 

 individual, Cardano has recently esta- 



blished a lithojraphical press; and in his 

 engraving appe;u's to nave exhibited 

 several correct coj)ies of hydrographical 

 charts. 



Schools of design are met with in all 

 the principal cities, where patriotic sor 

 cieties have been organized. In Madrid 

 there existed one attached to the Aca- 

 demy of Fine Arts, and known by the 

 name of San Fernando. To the praise 

 of extensive usefulness this has no le- 

 gitimate claim, being confined, at pre- 

 sent, to the imitating of antique models 

 with plaster, to copying models from 

 nature, to preparing colours, and select- 

 ing such as the ditl'erent subjects may 

 require. There is much, hovvever, to 

 commend in the two establishments 

 recently founded by the academy, and 

 superintended by its directors. These 

 liave been justly considered as vehicles 

 of instruction to a number of young 

 students, male and female, to whom 

 ingenious and excellent lessons are de- 

 livered alternately, (by professors highly 

 qualified for the task, in design, in the 

 elements of geometry as applied to de- 

 sign, in perspective and ornamental 

 drawing. 



To facilitate the study of painting, 

 Government has ])rovided a museum 

 near the promenade of Prado, open to 

 the public once a week. This valuable 

 acquisition has already received 332 

 paintings, by fifty-five Spanish masters 

 of eminence and authority, from the 

 beginning of the sixteenth century to 

 tlie present time. It will soon possess a 

 rich and original addition, from a recent 

 order of the King, that all theSpanish 

 originals in the Royal palaces of Madrid, 

 Aranjuez, Retiro, and some from royal 

 country houses, should be removed to the 

 loyal museum. The law which suppres- 

 sed the convents has appropriated to the 

 same de})6t, a number of fine paintings 

 belonging to monks of the first class, 

 Benedictines, Bernard ines, Hierony- 

 mites,Chartreux,Basilians,Pi'emonstra- 

 tensians, and Trappists. Philip II. had 

 compressed, within many of those con- 

 vents, and esj^ecially in that of the Escu- 

 rial, many paintitigs, affording the best 

 models ; and his successors built on his 

 substratum, by accumulating, with due 

 discrimination, all the best pieces of the 

 ancient Italian, Flemish, and Spanish 

 schools. 



At the head of this museum api>ears 

 M. Ensevi, painter in miniature to the 

 King, and duly capable of being a guar- 

 dian of the arts in this asylum. His 

 mind has been expanded by ideas ac- 

 quired 



