The Alhambra from the Albaycin

The Alhambra from the Albaycin  

James Duffield Harding after John Frederick Lewis, 1835 

Hand-coloured lithograph 

This panoramic view of the monumental complex of the Alhambra is depicted from the hill opposite. It invites the viewer to take in the spectacular topography of the scene, looking down over the lower residential area of the Albaicín into the valley of the Darro river, and looking up the Sabika hill, which supports the palatial complex of the Alhambra and the palace of Charles V, and the Sol hill with the summer palace of the Generalife.  

Lewis delineates distinctive features of the landscape: the aqueduct in the valley, the ravine between the two hills, the steep path leading to the Alhambra (Cuesta de los Chinos), and the Sierra Nevada in the background. In the foreground, Lewis conveys the impression of a slow-paced life in a hot climate: a man sits in the shade against the wall beside the path, a dog lies on the ground, a man with bare feet walks past, and a laden donkey carrying a female figure descends down the hill. An agave plant adds a note of the exotic, and a small cross on the right references Spain’s Catholic culture. This view was published in 1835 as the frontispiece of Lewis’s album of 26 lithographs devoted to the Alhambra. 

Title: The Alhambra from the Albaycin.  

Author/Artist: James Duffield Harding (1798-1863, lithographer) after John Frederick Lewis (1804-1876). 

Technique and Material: Hand-coloured lithograph, paper. 

Size: 255 x 365 mm (image), 550 x 370 mm (page). 

Published: Plate 1, Frontispiece, from Lewis’s sketches and drawings of the Alhambra, made during a residence in Granada, in the years 1833-4. London: Hodgson Boys & Graves, 1835. 

Date: 1835. 

Marks and Inscriptions: on the plate, bottom left: ‘The Alhambra from the Albaycin’; lower edge, left: ‘JFL 1835’; right: ‘JDH lith’. 

Institution: Barry Ife Collection.