PROVINCE OF SEVILLA.

There are many works of art in Sevilla´s Cathedral, such as the great High Altar (1482-1525) designed by Pyeter Dancart from Flanders.

In the Scalas chapel, the 15th c. altarpiece of the Virgin of the Pomegranate by Andrea della Robia, one of the great artists of the Florentine 15th century, is an exquisite work in terracotta.

In the San Hermenegildo chapel, there is the tomb of Cardinal Cervantes by Lorenzo Mercadante (1458), a remarkable monument of alabaster. In the main Sacristy, the Descent from the Cross by Pedro de Campaña is an outstanding painting on wood (1547).

In the Sacristy of Los Cálices, Martínez Montañés´ Christ of Mercy (1606) is a really beautiful carving of Christ on the cross, of Sevillian baroque. There is a large painting of St. Anthony by Murillo (1656) in the Baptism Chapel.

Behind the high altar, there is a sumptuously coloured Triumph of the Eucharist by Herrera el Mozo (1656). The Sacristy of Los Cálices also holds a large painting of Saints Justa and Rufina by Goya (1817).

There are three especially interesting Sevillian archaeological finds: Astarté, a figure of Trajan and Venus of Itálica. Astarté is a Phoenician bronze exponent of the feminine religious principle in the eastern Mediterranean.

Trajan is a figure of the emperor hero-god from Itálica (2nd c.). Lastly,Venus of Itálica (4th c BC) is an exceptional figure of Aphrodite Anadyomene with marine attributes, done in specially transparent marble (Archaeological Museum-Museo Arqueológico).

There are various paintings well worth seeing in Sevilla in the Fine Arts Museum-Museo de Bellas Artes. There is a splendid portrait of Jorge Manuel Theotocópuli by El Greco (ca 1605). St. Ildefonsus Receiving the Chasuble by Velázquez (ca 1623) is a remarkable painting of special intensity.

The magnitude and quality of the Apotheosis of St. Thomas Aquinas by Zurbarán makes it one of the emblems of baroque painting. There is the series from the monastery of Cartuja de las Cuevas also by Zurbarán. There is a Madonna by Murillo, which unifies the painter´s best features. The Cigar Makers by Gonzalo Bilbao (1915) is the synthesis of the impressionist and social realism tendencies of the end of the 19th century.

In the Hospital de la Caridad Valdés Leal´s Hierogliphs towards the End of Life (1671-72) is an impressive allegory on life and death in two remarkable paintings. The Apotheosis of Hercules is on a ceiling painting by Pacheco (1640), master of Velázquez, and it may be seen among a large collection of paintings by Sebastiano del Piombo, Pantoja de la Cruz, Carreño de Miranda, Van Loo, Lucas Jordan and an exquisite Goya with a bullfighting scene in Casa de Pilatos.

Carvings of religious images are prodigal in the art of the best baroque pathos, thus Jesús de la Pasión by Martínez Montañés (1610-15) and Cristo del Amor by Juan de Mesa (1618-20) are first class examples in the church of El Salvador ( Iglesia del Salvador), as are Jesús del Gran Poder, also by Juan de Mesa at the basilica in Plaza de San Lorenzo, and Cristo de la Expiración called El Cachorro by F. Antonio Gijón (1682), which is the object of deep popular devotion at the chapel of El Patrocinio.

There are also art treasures in the provincial towns, such as the processional monstrance by Francisco de Alfaro (1579-84), a real jewel of Sevillian silversmiths, which can be found in the church of Santa María at Carmona. The painting of the Calvary by Rivera (1625-26) done in Naples on order from the Duke of Osuna can be found at the Colegiata in Osuna and another painting by El Greco, the Penitent Magdalene, is in the church of San Eutropio at Paradas.

There is also a painting on wood said to be by Bernardino Luini, a disciple of Leonardo´s, in the church of Santa María de la Mesa at Utrera.