Capilla muzárabe de la catedral de Córdoba

Capilla muzárabe de la catedral de Córdoba  

Louis-Jules Arnaut after Genaro Pérez Villaamil, 1842 

Lithograph 

This is the only lithograph that Villaamil devoted to the Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba in the album España artística y monumental (1842-1850). The view depicts a lateral view of the mihrab, the sanctuary of the former mosque, and its title ‘Mozarabic’ (Christians under Muslim rule) refers to the Christian appropriation of the space. The location of the plate in the album—wedged between an image of a sixteenth-century figure in armour (who is identified as Charles V in the text) and an interior view of the church of San Esteban in Burgos—also works to embed the image into a Christian context.  

The accompanying text by Patricio de la Escosura praises the Umayyad patron of the building, Abd al Rahman I, as a magnanimous leader, a lover of the arts, a generous monarch, and a good Muslim, who had made Córdoba the Mecca of the Occident. He speaks of the caliphate of Córdoba as a sophisticated civilization on account of its progress in science, art, and manners. Echoing early nineteenth-century historians, he presents Muslim Spain as the point of origin for the dissemination of knowledge through the rest of Europe.     

Escosura also highlights the visual effects of the space resulting from the multitude of columns and the receding rows of arches, which create a sense of infinity. The view is close to a print in Monuments Arabes et Moresques de Cordoue, Séville et Grenade dessinés et mesurés en 1832 et 1833 (Paris, 1837-1839) by the French artist-traveller Girault de Prangey. Like Prangey, Villaamil takes certain liberties in the depiction of architectural details, and the figures are too large in relation to the columns.  

Title: Capilla muzarabé de la catédral de Cordoba | Chapelle Muzarabé dans la Cathédrale de Cordoue. 

Author/Artist: Louis-Jules Arnaut (1814-1882, lithographer) after a drawing by Genaro Pérez Villaamil (1807-1854). 

Technique and Material:  Lithograph, paper.  

Size: 380 x 280 mm (image), 525 x 375 mm (page).    

Published: Plate 41 from Genaro Pérez Villaamil and Patricio de la Escosura, España artística y monumental, Paris: A. Hauser, Volume 1. 

Date: 1842. 

Marks and Inscriptions: lower edge, left: ‘G.P. de Villa Amil dibujo’’ / A Paris chez A. Hauser, Bvd des Italiens’; centre: title as above; right ‘Lit. par Arnaut’ / ‘Imp. Lemercier, Bernard et Ce. à Paris’.   

Institution: Barry Ife Collection.