The enjoyment of foreign travel is so largely dependent upon the sympathetic appreciation of the charms and treasures of the place visited that a tour may be wholly marred by an indifferent or ignorant guide; and so rarely is that charming companion to be found whose local knowledge is co-extensive with his artistic instincts, that one has perforce often to pursue one's journeys in search of the picturesque unattended. In such circumstances the Mediæval Town Series fills the breach, furnishing a guide whose knowledge is that of an authority, whose descriptions do not weary us with their garrulity, and whose opinions we may treasure in the safety of our coat pocket; to which, also, we may always refer with pleasure when we wish to revive faded recollections.
Artist and author have both made the objects and scenes described the subject of careful personal observation, and are consequently able to impart to their work that charm of local colour which lends vitality to their pictures; every old-time thoroughfare and weather-beaten fabric supplies some legend of saint or hero, and as the story of these mediæval towns progresses, the reader's imagination is kindled until the very spirit of the past pervades the page.
* * * This page is set in the type of the series.
FOOTNOTES:
[A] This and other interesting pictures may be seen by applying to the owner of the collection.
[B] In Sevilla Histórica the names of Juan Norman, Alonso Rodriguez and Gonzalo Rojas are mentioned as architects employed before 1507.
[C] See chapters on 'the Churches' and upon the 'Artists of Seville.'
[D] There is an excellent Catalogue, with a short historical memoir of each artist, which can be purchased at the entrance of the Museo, for the trifling sum of one peseta. It is, of course, in Spanish.
[E] The titles of the pictures are given in Spanish in order to facilitate their identification in the Catalogue.