The romantic image of the Alhambra

Pedro Galera Andreu

ISBN: 978-84-86022-62-4

Year: 1992

Pages: 214

Illustrations: 213

Binding: hardcover with dust jacket

Size: 30 x 30 cm

Published by: Madrid, El Viso Editions

National Award for the best edited art book 1992.

The Romantic legend of the Alhambra, and by extension of Andalusia and all of Spain, was forged largely thanks to the stories published upon their return by the first English and French travelers who visited our country as tourists. These stories were often illustrated with prints inspired by the same myth-making spirit that dominates the texts. Pedro Galera Andreu offers us the conclusions drawn from the study of all this iconography and presents a wide selection of engravings, drawings, and some canvases related to Romantic travelers from within and, above all, beyond our borders. Among the most influential books were those by H. Swinburne and J.C. Murphy (The Arabian Antiquities of Spain). A. de Laborde (Voyage pittoresque et historique de l'Espagne), Th. Roscoe (The Tourist in Spain), J.F. Lewis (Sketches and Drawings of The Alhambra), Baron Taylor (Voyage pittoresque en Espagne), O. Jones and J. Goury (Plans, Elevations, Sections and Details from the Alhambra) and Ch. Davillier (L'Espagne), which range from archaeological description to the most furiously sentimental. Of the Spanish works, less fond of this kind of effusion, Pablo Lozano's The Arab Antiquities of Spain stands out.