Images of the Alcázar of Córdoba until 1850

Abstract

The Alcázar of Córdoba, an important construction with different usages and transformations throughout its history, has appeared in images which compose a rich and relatively unknown graphic legacy. This research tries, in the first place, to cast some light upon all these images, analyzing their historical context together with their architectural and landscape surroundings, while considering their point of view, the techniques employed and assessing their precision and artistic value. In addition, other historical and archaeological sources and the current preserved heritage. The images have been classified by their authorship and chronology up to mid 1800s, when photography emerged as documentary record: first symbolic images (from 1360); the first panoramic (Wyngaerde, 1567); the view of the Civitates (c. 1585-1617) and its plagiarism; the first plan (1662); distant views (Baldi, 1668 and Swinburne, 1779); the first plan of the city (Karwinsky and Rillo, 1811); the first interior view (Taylor, h. 1826-1832); Roberts (1833-37) and the plagiarism of him; details of general views (Ford, Girault de Prangey, Vivian, Chapuy and Meyer, 1833-1846); the first aerial view (Guesdon, 1853); and the first photographic views (Ferrier and Soulier, h. 1857).