3-053-498 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Spanish Sketches: the fruit market, Malaga, 1873. 'The seaport city of Malaga, on the south-east coast of Spain, is situated in a land which enjoys the richest advantages of soil and climate. The sun is very kind to this district of Granada, ripening its Muscatel grapes for sweet wine or raisins, its oranges, figs, olives, and almonds - nay, more, its semi-tropical produce of coffee, cocoa, sugar, and cotton. These are for the export trade of Malaga, which also includes iron, lead, and other metals from the mountains behind. Fruits of various sorts, exposed for sale in the town market, tempt the native palate, and their luscious pulp is delicious to the parched mouth in summer. The scene which our Special Artist has sketched has a thoroughly Spanish character; any traveller in that country will recognise its figures; the free and lively damsels or dames of the market; the slow-pacing citizens, gentlemen be-cloaked as usual, ladies with their long veils, officers in uniform, and loungers asleep on the bench; the appearance of much talking and staring, but little real business, which is remarkable in the sunny South of Europe'. From "Illustrated London News", 1873.