SPANISH GARDENS 



gaiety, that gaiety which centuries cannot quench. 

 "Cipreses Dorados," with its marvellous drawing 

 and tones of pale violet, green, and gold, is one of 

 the most delightful of all these pictures. The light 

 of the setting sun upon this group of old trees en- 

 circling the silvery fountain and coloring all the 

 ground below, is transcribed here with surpassing 

 skill and charm. "Salon de los Reyes Catolicos" 

 (Aranjuez) gives noble decorative suggestions for 

 gardens of Florida or of California — a double ave- 

 nue of trees, apparently eucalyptus, reaching far 

 into the distance, these flanked beyond outer walks 

 by dense shrubberies, and the whole faced by a 

 charming parterre of low-clipped hedges. The 

 lines of green surround a broad basin of marble, a 

 group of marble figures as its centre. The little 

 formal garden of green outlines — there are as 

 many as four concentric circles of green hedge — is 

 punctuated at regular intervals by low balls of 

 what may be clipped box but is probably not that. 

 At all events, the beauty of this picture, its roman- 

 tic charm, and the splendor of its original concep- 

 tion as a decorative idea for a great garden are 

 things one would not have been content to miss. 

 What poetry in the painting "Granada de 

 Noche " ! The full moon, yet low over the moun- 



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