Did you know? Eugène Delacroix, the painter of Romanticism, walked the streets and squares of Cadiz long before las guiritanas. A visit little known to most, but fortuitous for him.
A chance encounter with Cadiz
May 1832, Delacroix, already renowned for “Liberty Leading the People” is stranded at the port of Cádiz, aboard “La Perle” coming from Tangier. A cholera epidemic is sweeping North Africa. Quarantine. A week—a long time.
Cadiz, Friday May 18. - Midnight strikes at the Franciscan church. A strange emotion in such a strange land.
Moonlight; white towers in the moonlight.Eugène Delacroix
97 pages of sketchbooks
Street corners, monks moving in prayer, women adorned with mantillas… Fascinated, Delacroix sketched and drew 97 pages of watercolors and drawings with a pen, capturing Andalusia from Cádiz to Seville.
Some of these would serve as the basis for his works: “Columbus and His Son in La Rábida”, on display at the National Gallery in Washington, set against the backdrop of the sacristy of the Santo Domingo convent in the Santa Maria district.
Historical errors
When Delacroix died, his precious sketchbooks—which had been kept secret—were sold at auction by his family. The hastily published catalog was riddled with errors: one watercolor was listed as “Plaza de San Francisco” instead of “A Street in Seville”. Another is titled “Inner Courtyard in Morocco” … located at number 6 on San Francisco Street.
As luck would have it, things worked out well once again: in the early 2010s, nearly 150 years later, the Cádiz-based historian Juan Antonio Vila Martínez was researching the works of the Orientalist painter Adrien Dauzats. One of the painter’s close friends was none other than Delacroix. The historian then took an interest in his watercolors. He discovered the existence of the sketchbooks and noticed in the watercolor “A Street in Seville”, two watchtowers, a trademark of Cádiz. These towers, placed on rooftop terraces by wealthy merchants, were a ruse to exceed the regulatory height limits for buildings. Towers to be on the front line of the horizon and to negotiate through signals and gestures with the merchant frigates arriving from the Americas. With the help of Google Maps, passionate locals from Cádiz, and his own children, Juan Antonio Vila Martínez sets out in search of this tower. Proof that Eugène Delacroix did indeed walk the patio at 6 San Francisco Street in Cádiz.
“I came across this work by chance; it was exhibited at the Thyssen Museum in Madrid in 2000 as part of an exhibition titled ‘Miradas sin tiempo’ from the collection of Jan Kruggier, who had his foundation in Geneva. It was titled ‘Courtyard in Morocco,’ but from the very beginning, I determined that it must be Cádiz due to the presence of two watchtowers. I searched the rooftops of Cádiz until I found the one on the left side of the composition, which is located on a building on what is now San Francisco Street.” Juan Antonio Vila – Excerpt from the interview “La voz de Cádiz,” Dec. 2019.
Putting Cadiz back at the heart of Delacroix's trip to Andalusia
Juan Antonio Vila Martínez will conductan 18-month investigation following in the footsteps of Eugène Delacroix, exploring the narrow streets, courtyards, and squares to correct inaccuracies, request that every erroneous title of the works be rectified (not all museums have agreed to this yet), and establish Cádiz as a major milestone in the painter’s creative development.
An investigation turned into a book:“Delacroix: Embrujo y Luz de Cádiz”
✅ Read it here ➽ Juan Antonio Vila Martínez - Ediciones Ende