[112] Even so, however, the clear splendour of the sky of Castille must have cast a charm over the place. The dominant impression at Madrid to-day is, indeed, that of light and of open spaces, the Puerta del Sol in a radiance of sunshine, the Carrera de San Jeronymo going off apparently into space, the surrounding country far-seen and treeless, the clear blue mountains, and the sky from verge to zenith clothed with a brilliance of dazzling light so that “ogni parte ad ogni parte splende.”
[113] “La Montálvez” (1888) and “Nubes de Estío” (1891) are perhaps his weakest works. “Nubes de Estío” is rather wearisome till the Duque de Cañaveral arrives, “falling like a Jupiter among little gods.” “Al Primer Vuelo” (1890) is a novel of the Cantabrian coast, but without the full salt and vigour of “Sotileza.”
[114] M. Boris de Tannenberg speaks of “l’âpre saveur de sa langue, un peu rude et fruste, mais solide, musclée et haute en couleur.”
[115] The difference between these artists in prose may be best illustrated by quotation: “El Cura abrió la ventana y miró al cielo. Apenas brillaban las estrellas. Estúvose quieto y meditando, con los ojos fijos en la sombra de los montes. Bajo la bóveda de la noche, todos los rumores parecían llenos de prestigio. El ladrido de los perros, el paso de las patrullas, el agua del río en las presas, eran voces religiosas y misteriosas, como esos anhelos ignotos que estremecen á las almas en su noche oscura.” (Valle-Inclán, “Gerifaltes de Antaño.”) Here we have the clear thin outlines, the studied restraint of the admirer of El Greco. In the following passage, from León’s “Alcalá de los Zegríes,” we find the more sensuous glowing imagination of the Andalusian novelist: “Fué Alfonso hacia la ventana y apoyó la ardorosa frente en los cristales. Todo era silencio y soledad. Las estrellas oscilaban en el cielo; la ancha bóveda, oscura, estaba acribillada de lucecillas trémulas. Una fogata brillaba á lo lejos en el campo. Y en el silencio grave, en la callada sombra, las puertas de bronce del misterio se abrían de par en par.” In the hands of both writers Castilian yields a full measure of its magic.
[116] Señor Cossío published his well-known work, “El Greco,” 2 tom. Madrid, in 1908. The second volume consists of illustrations of El Greco’s pictures; most of the reproductions are, however, unfortunately somewhat indistinct. The reproductions from photographs in a little book, “El Greco,” by A. F. Calvert and C. Gasquoine Hartley. London: John Lane, 1909, are much clearer. The illustrations are excellent in “Le Greco.” Par Maurice Barrès et Paul Lafond. Paris: Floury, as also those of pictures by El Greco in Herr Meier Graefe’s “Spanische Reise,” Berlin, 1910. In October, 1910, appeared a short scholarly study, “El Greco en Toledo.” Por Francisco de Borja de San Román y Fernández. Madrid: Suárez. It contains eighty-eight original documents of great interest, especially the inventory of El Greco’s possessions (_vienes_), drawn up by his son, Jorge Manuel, on April 12, 1614, five days after El Greco’s death, the discovery and publication of which will, as the author says, give intense pleasure to all lovers of El Greco. This contains over 100 pictures by El Greco (some unfinished), 200 prints, 150 drawings, 15 sketches, 20 plaster models, 30 models in clay and wax, etc. Among the Greek books are Josephus, Xenophon, Demosthenes, Isocrates, Homer, Aristotle’s Politics and Physics, the Old and New Testaments, Lucian, Plutarch (bite di Plutarco), Æsop, Euripides. The Italian include Petrarca and Ariosto, but fifty more Italian books, with seventeen in romance and nineteen on architecture, are uncatalogued. The commonest articles receive a quaint dignity in the old ringing Castilian, as “quatro pares de escarpines” (four pair of socks), “un cajón grande de pino con cinco gabetas” (a large chest of pine with five drawers), “una alacena de madera grande” (a large wooden cupboard), “una espada y una daga con tiros y pretina” (a sword and dagger with their belts).
