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Arts & Communication Spanish art and its enemies

Citing the enemies of Spanish Catholic art as coming hostile, a few writers published work in defense. One such
from the Enlightenment period is a familiar issue in writer was Sir William Stirling Maxwell (1818 – 1878), the
the history of art, but also a limited one. More recent Scottish industrialist and collector who published in 1848
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scholarship has laid bare the pre-judices of 18 -century Annals of the Artists of Spain, a profoundly influential book
Spain itself with regard to the country’s own art history, that emphasized the importance of religious art in Spanish
which could even affect architecture. Writing about Spanish culture. Such open-mindedness was counterbalanced by
late 18 -century “aversion to what has come to be called the a review that appeared in Fraser’s Magazine, in which the
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baroque,” the expression “time of plague” was used by one writer J.W. Donaldson (1811 – 1861) asserted the popular
major 18 -century architectural treatise when referring criticisms of Spanish art, that it was too dark, too Catholic,
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to late 17 -century and early 18 -century designs 12(p.433) and specialized in a raw, repugnant realism. The major art
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Painted statues of the Virgin were condemned by the critic of the day, John Ruskin, whose writings on art is still
Spanish artist and historian Antonio Ponz (1725 – 1792) influential, could never bring himself to praise Spanish
as “ridiculous,” 13(p.54) mainly because the “common people” art and asserted: “Spanish painters” were “a thoroughly
who loved such things lacked a proper education. irreligious rascally set.” 16(p.150)
In Enlightenment Britain, however, such censure was Some of this disgust even existed in the popular travel
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less general with regard to the art of Spain. The 1 English literature of the late 19 and early 20 centuries, where
edition of the popular work by the artist and art historian Spain became inextricably linked to its art. Frances Elliot,
Antonio Palomino (1655 – 1726), entitled El Parnaso author of Diary of an Idle Woman in Spain, published
español pintoresco laureado appeared in London in 1739, in 1884, praised the Museo del Prado in Madrid as a
translated as An Account of the Lives and Works of the wonderful art gallery but could not admire the Spanish
Most Eminent Spanish Painters, Sculptors, and Architects; painters on display: “All the horrid dwarfs of Velazquez…
and Where Their Several Performances Are to Be Seen. This Such works degrade art, the realism is overdone. ”17(pp.89-90)
was followed by two further editions in English. This The raw naturalism of polychrome religious sculpture and
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book became popular reading among the educated British paintings that monumentalized wounded, dying religious
elite, who had begun to travel to Spain more frequently. figures, was a constant theme. “Artists in no other country
Here were stories about the Spanish artists that only a few have depicted the sufferings of Christ and the torture of
had been able to admire and the Sevillian painter, Diego martyrs with the same delight in detail,” wrote Mrs. Walter
Velázquez (1599 – 1660) became the hero of the whole Gallichan (C. Gasquoine Hartley, 1866/7 – 1928) in her
book. Nevertheless, Italian and Flemish artists were more 1921 art-historical travel book Things Seen in Spain. 18(p.64)
popular among British collectors, and these attitudes were Nineteenth-century articles and books in English that
succeeded by more controversial, even abusive reviews of attempted to foster appreciation of Hispanic art were often
Spanish art in 19 -century Britain. The Sevillian painter, written by those who reacted to public indifference to
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Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1618 – 1682), for example, Hispanic images. Richard Ford asserted in The Athenaeum
commanded much respect and competitive prices among in 1853: “Our Protestant pre-judices and pre-dilections
British collectors in the 18 century, but his prices and militate against subjects of a legendary, superstitious
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influence declined toward the end of the 19 century. 15 character.” 19(p.151) Perhaps because of this historical legacy,
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The 19 century was when anti-Catholic pre-judices the 2009 exhibition and its type of display also drew a
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were strongly debated in Britain. The history of the few reactions reminiscent of such historical biases. Just
reception of Spanish works of art at this time is one of before The Sacred Made Real opened in October 2009,
highs and lows, and the high points of positive opinion the Public Relations Department of the National Gallery
in Britain are found at the beginning of the century, even suggested limiting visitors to those over the age
following the British military intervention in Spain during of 18. 20(pp.84-86)
the Peninsular War from 1808 to 1814, when many works 4. A critical turning point in 1879: Goya and
attributed to Spanish artists were dispersed, looted,
bought, and often lost. British interest in Spanish art, his times
following the growth of tourism, was sometimes positive, The body of literature devoted to promoting the Spanish
but the positive attitudes have been explored far more than school of fine art has often been obliged to include references
the lows of hostility, dislike, and even repulsion. In the to the critical hostility which artists from Zurbarán to Goya
19 century, a profoundly negative image of Spain and the or, from the sculptor Gregorio Fernández to the Surrealist
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Spanish Catholic Church could also influence the reception Salvador Dali have drawn from posterity. This hostility
of Spanish art in Britain. While much of the reception was may seem no more than political or religious bias toward

Volume 3 Issue 2 (2025) 4 doi: 10.36922/ac.3604