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 Guiding the People is blocked in the port of Cadiz, aboard the " la Perle "from Tangiers. A cholera epidemic hits 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, the movement of monks at prayer, women adorned in mantillas... Delacroix, fascinated, sketched and penciled 97 pages of watercolors and drawings of Andalusia from Cadiz to Seville.
Some of these would serve as the basis for his works: "Columbus and his son in the Rabidaexhibited at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., set in the sacristy of the Santo Domingo convent in the Santa Maria district.
Historical errors
On Delacroix's death, his precious notebooks, kept secret, were sold at auction by his family. The hastily-edited catalog was riddled with errors: one watercolor mistook San Francisco Square for "A Street in Seville". "A Street in Seville".. Another is entitled "Interior courtyard in Morocco ... located at number 6, rue San Francisco.
As luck would have it, in the early 2010s, almost one hundred and fifty years later, the Gaditan historian Juan Antonio Vila Martínes was working on the works of the Orientalist painter Adrien Dauzats. One of the painter's close friends was none other than Delacroix. The historian became interested in his watercolors. He discovered the existence of the notebooks and noticed in the watercolor "A Street in Sevilletwo watchtowers, the hallmarks of Cadiz. These towers, installed on rooftop terraces by wealthy merchants, were a ruse to exceed the height regulations for buildings. These towers gave us a front-line view of the horizon, enabling us to negotiate with the merchant frigates arriving from the Americas, using signs and gestures. With the help of Google maps, enthusiastic gaditans and his own children, Juan Antonio Vila Martínez set off in search of this tower. Proof that Eugène Delacroix did indeed walk on the patio at 6, rue San Francisco, Cadiz.
"I found this work by chance; it was exhibited at the Thyssen Museum in Madrid in 2000 as part of an exhibition entitled "Miradas sin tiempo" from the collection of Jan Kruggier, who had his foundation in Geneva. It was entitled "Cour intérieure au Maroc", but right from the start, I established that it had to be Cadiz because of the two observation towers. I searched the rooftops of Cadiz until I found the one on the left of the composition, which is in a building on what is now Calle San Francisco." Juan Antonio Vila - Extract from the interview "La voz de Cádiz", Dec 2019.Gpeu
Putting Cadiz back at the heart of Delacroix's trip to Andalusia
Juan Antonio Vila Martínez will lead an 18-month investigation in the footsteps of Eugène Delacroix, scouring alleyways, patios and squares to correct any faux pas, ask for every erroneous title of works to be rectified (not all museums have yet accepted this) and have Cadiz recognized as a major stage in the painter's creation.
An investigation turned into a book: " Delacroix: Embrujo y Luz de Cádiz".
✅ Read it here ➽ Juan Antonio Vila Martínez - Ediciones End
