3-021-027 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"Water-Carriers at the Well in the Alhambra, Spain," by T. R. Macquoid, in the General Water-Colour Exhibition, 1868. Engraving of a painting, '...a suggestive glimpse of modern Spanish life. The well...is in the Plaza de los Algibes, a large open space within the precincts of the Alhambra...the kind of awning, composed of esparto, or rush matting, stretched on poles, is a modern and common contrivance to exclude the burning sunlight, except the confined rays falling through the small apertures overhead, one of which rays the artist has taken advantage of to bring forward and give brilliancy to his foreground. He also shows us that inevitable figure in Spanish scenery, the water-carrier, so significant of the arid plains and scorching climate...Grouped with the water-carrier we must, of course, have his equally inevitable asses - large, sturdy, and often handsome beasts of burden...each bearing, slung pannier-wise athwart his rough sides, pairs of enormous earthenware water-jars. The costume of the men and the appointments of their beasts support the reputation for picturesqueness of the "lower orders" in Spain'. From "Illustrated London News", 1868.