Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III MODERN PAINTERS Spain of to-day is rich in painters. Indeed it would not be exaggeration to say very rich. It is not easy to account for the fact that very little, comparatively, is Painting. known of Spanish Art of the present day. In isolated cases the notable painters have been discussed and criticised in print, and this more especially in England and in America, but I do not know of any important work which treats, seriously and comprehensively, of the modern Spanish painters. And yet they are as interesting as they are, in style, varied. The world owes much to Spanish art of times past. To the exquisite charm of Murillo. To the sombre dignity and unrivalled naturalism of Velasquez. To the " call of the blood " of the superb incorrigible Goya ! For the life and the works of Goya are nothing less than an imperious " call " to those in whose veins flow " hot and rebellious liquors " ! Sevilla has good reason to be proud of her sons—in the world of painting as of literature. Bartolome' Estaban Murillo was a sevillano who never quitted Spain: who remained to the end the Spanish painter who was least touched by foreign influences. Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velasquez belonged entirely to the Sevilla school, though he was by birth a Portuguese. And in the present day Andalusia can boast of such masters as Villegas, Bilbao, Carbonero, and many others. In briefly considering the works of some of the modern Spanish painters it is necessary to look for a moment into the past in order to trace, if possible, the various sources from which this modern art has sprung. And three important sources immediately present themselves : Velasquez ; Goya ;the modern French school. And of these three the first and the third loom largest in our horizon. The " call" of Goya...