Northwestern Spain
Northern and western Spain feature comparatively rarely in illustrated travelogues and albums of lithographs during the Romantic period, but those travellers who entered Spain via the western Pyrenees found much to admire. The Scottish painter David Roberts (1796-1864) travelled to Spain via France in 1832, arriving at Irún in October of that year. His acquaintance with northern and central regions was fleeting, although he remained in southern Spain for about eight months until September 1833.
By contrast, the English amateur artist-traveller George Vivian (1798-1873) appears to have restricted his first visit in 1833 to the northern half of the country. Vivian’s focus on the north may have been motivated by his interest in the Peninsular War: he visited Bayonne en route, where Napoleon had his headquarters during the conflict, and was one of several artists to depict the most decisive battlegrounds such as Vitoria.
The Spanish artist, Genaro Pérez Villaamil (1807-1854), was born in Galicia and, encouraged and mentored by David Roberts, went on to become Spain’s leading landscape artist. His vision of Spain offers a corrective to the British focus on southern Spain, with many fine views of the regions that received less attention from foreign visitors.
These artists viewed Spain through the aesthetic conventions of the Picturesque and the Sublime. Generally, low viewpoints are chosen to accentuate the grandeur of landscapes and monuments; small figures give a sense of scale and a flavour of local life; irregularity of form is preferred to straight lines; light, proportions, and angles are creatively manipulated in order to achieve dramatic impact or evoke a certain mood appropriate to the subject.
Irun, from the Bidassoa, Spain
David Roberts, circa 1833-36.
Barry Ife Collection.
Read the commentary
Azpeitia en Guipuzcoa desde el Camino de Tolosa
Adolphe Rouargue, 1850.
Barry Ife Collection.
Plate 125 from Genaro Pérez Villaamil and Patricio de la Escosura, España
Read the commentary
Yglesia de San Antonio Abad
Louis Philippe Alphonse Bichebois and Adolphe Jean-Baptiste Bayot, 1850.
Barry Ife Collection.
Plate 128 from Genaro Pérez Villaamil and Patricio de la Escosura, España artística y monumental.Paris: A Hauser, 1842-50. Volume 3
Read the commentary
Plains of Vittoria
Henry Wilkinson, 1838.
Barry Ife Collection.
Plate 2 from Henry Wilkinson, Sketches of Scenery in the Basque Provinces of Spain, with a Selection of Music, arranged for Piano-Forte and Guitar: Illustrated by Notes and Reminiscences connected with The War in Biscay and Castille. London: Ackerman, 1838. Date: 1838
Read the commentary
Vitoria
Louis Haghe, 1838.
Barry Ife Collection.
Plate 9 from George Vivian, Spanish Scenery. London: P & D Colnaghi, 1838. Date: 1838
Read the commentary
Plaza de Los Momos en Zamora
Louis-Jules Arnout, 1844.
Barry Ife Collection.
Plate 82 from Genaro Pérez Villaamil and Patricio de la Escosura, España artística y monumental. Paris: A Hauser, 1842-50. Volume 2
Read the commentary
Salamanca
James Tibbits Willmore, 1838.
Barry Ife Collection.
Plate [3] from Thomas Roscoe, The Tourist in Spain and Morocco. Illustrated from drawings by David Roberts. London: Robert Jennings & Co, 1838, facing page 80. Date: 1838
Read the commentary