A Hand-Book for Travellers in Spain, and Readers at Home

Abstract

Targeted at both intrepid travellers and 'readers at home', this two-volume account of Spanish history, topography and culture by Richard Ford (1796–1858) combines the rigour of a gazetteer with the humour and pace of a private travel diary. First published in 1845, as part of John Murray's series of guidebooks, the work made an immediate impact upon the reading public, and it was celebrated in the press as the 'most comprehensive and accurate account of that country' hitherto produced. Starting in the Kingdom of Leon, and again using a series of hand-picked routes, Volume 2 leads readers to the pilgrim shrine of Santiago de Compostela and through Galicia and the Basque provinces, introducing them to castles, universities, art collections and the 'inhospitality of Madrid'. The result is an engaging account that will be of interest to modern tourists and historians alike.

Stirling, Ford, and Nineteenth-Century Reception of Goya: The Case of theSanta Justa and Santa Rufina: 'Abomination' or 'Appropriate Composition'?

“…Justa and Sta. Rufina, England happily excepted' (Ford, 1966(Ford, , p. 1113suppressed 1845, p. 722). In making a link between Neoclassicism and revolution, Ford suggested they were two aspects of a dangerous movement, which had spread throughout Europe, due to the French, threatening the survival of distinct national characteristics which he believed were otherwise permanent and unchangeable.…”

“…Vargas is known to have represented the saints in his series of now-disappeared frescoes on the Giralda in 1558 (Valdivieso, 1986, p. 84 (Ford, 1966(Ford, , p. 1114. For Ford, then, Goya was perhaps, after all, the last survivor of a distinctive Spanish school of art.…”

“…For Ford, then, Goya was perhaps, after all, the last survivor of a distinctive Spanish school of art. 13 Ford was also complimentary about a group of paintings by Goya in the Royal Academy in Madrid: 'Some little pictures by Goya are among the best productions of modern Spanish art' (Ford, 1966(Ford, , p. 1096 Viardot did not mention the Burial of the Sardine, which may mean it was not on display when he visited, while Ford, curiously, did not mention the clothed or naked Majas (now in the Prado), though they had been in the Academy since 1815-16 (Glendinning, 1977, p. 11).…”

“…Stirling's opinion of Goya as a printmaker who was 'highly skilled in the use of the graver' was a point of even greater disagreement with Ford, who had commented that Goya's 'unmechanical countrymen' had made 'a slight mistake' in thinking him 'a combination of Hogarth, Rembrandt, and Callot' , vol. IV, p. 1478Ford, 1966Ford, , p. 1114 23 This is the copy now in Glasgow University Library, which according to Stirling's note on the flyleaf, he bought in Seville 'for 10 or 12 dollars'. He perhaps purchased it by or through the writer and bibliographer, Bartolomé José Gallardo (1776-1852), whom he met in Seville, and who provided him with memoranda, which he pasted into the front of the copy, of the type which had been circulated with a number of the early copies of the Caprichos (Glendinning, 1977, pp.…”

El marqués de Campo y sus estrategias de promoción social en el Madrid de finales del siglo XIX. Una visión artística a través de la prensa

“…obviamente el estudio de los inventarios y testamentaría del patrimonio del Marqués sería la forma más objetiva de cuantificar su labor como patrono de las artes, pero, siguiendo la línea documental que trazamos al inicio del presente texto, nos centraremos en diversas noticias que nos hacen replantearnos la afirmación anteriormente expuesta. también debemos hacer notar que investigadores como gil Salinas opinan que, a pesar de que la nobleza de origen valenciano era una de las que poseía un nivel intelectual más elevado 45 , es difícil utilizar este término en muchos casos y, en otros, nos encontramos con vacíos significativos en el número de fuentes para su estudio 46 .…”