Cordova from the Calvary at the Gate of [Plasencia]

Cordova from the Calvary at the Gate of [Plasencia] 

Louis Haghe after George Vivian, 1838 

Hand-coloured lithograph   

The title given on the image itself is incorrect, confusing Plasencia with Palencia. The index of the album gives the title accurately as ‘Gate of Plasencia’.  

The lithograph depicts a view of Córdoba from the Puerta de Plasencia, a gate that was originally part of the eastern city wall built under the Almohad dynasty in the twelfth century. It was destroyed in the late nineteenth century. It was through this gate that the troops of King Ferdinand III entered when they conquered the city in 1236. The foreground is dominated by a monumental column supporting a cross, symbolizing Christianity. The crumbling masonry of the walls, the idle figures standing next to the columns, and the animals in the foreground encapsulate the picturesque backwardness that became associated with Spain.  

Title: Cordova from the Calvary at the Gate of Palencia [sic]. 

Author/Artist: Louis Haghe (1806-1885, lithographer) after a drawing by George Vivian (1798-1873, artist). 

Technique and Material: Hand-coloured lithograph, paper.  

Size: 270 x 410 mm (image), 550 x 370 mm (page).   

Published: Plate 3 from George Vivian, Spanish Scenery. London: P & D Colnaghi, 1838. 

Date: 1838. 

Marks and Inscriptions: on the plate, lower left: ‘Cordova from the Calvary at the Gate of Palencia’; right: ‘G. Vivian del[ineavit]. L. Haghe lith’. 

Institution: Barry Ife Collection.