A little-known Corkman had a big role in bringing the glories of the Alhambra into popular culture, writes Michael Parsons
The Alhambra is Spain's most visited monument, a Unesco World Heritage Site and favourite day-trip destination for tourists in the Costa Del Sol. But few visitors are aware of an important Irish influence in its elevation to international fame.
When al-Qaeda bombed Madrid last year the organisation's website called for the restoration of the Caliphate, a Muslim empire that once stretched from Baghdad to Seville. Spain had been colonised during the Middle Ages by invading Moors from north Africa who ruled for centuries until eventually being ousted by the Catholic Reconquista in 1492. The fabulous Alhambra in the city of Granada once symbolised Moorish domination and is the world's greatest surviving example of Islamic imperial architecture. While some fundamentalist jihadis may now regard the palace as a taunting symbol of lost greatness, most Europeans regard it a timeless architectural gem.
In 1802, an extraordinary Irishman arrived in Spain with a mission to explore and document the country's Islamic heritage. Corkman James Cavanah Murphy was an accomplished travel writer and artist whose work helped to revive European consciousness of the Caliphate.
Murphy is arguably one of Cork's foremost historical figures. He was also a quintessential Renaissance Man, yet he is now largely forgotten, even as his home city celebrates its status as European Capital of Culture.
He was born in 1760, the son of a bricklayer, in the Cork suburb of Blackrock. Though records of his early years are scarce, he is said to have displayed an early talent as a draughtsman. By the age of 15 he was spotted by a local aristocrat and sent to the Dublin Society's Drawing Schools.
His first recorded job was with Gandon's architectural team on a portico extension to the Irish House of Lords on College Green. At the tender age of 26, he just failed to be appointed Head of the Dublin School of Architectural Drawing.
The intervention of a new patron led to his departure from Ireland. In 1788, he was commissioned by William Burton Conyngham of Slane, Co Meath, to go to Portugal to make drawings of the renowned Dominican monastery at Batalha, which had been built to commemorate the victory of the Portuguese over the Castilians at the battle of Aljubarrota in 1385. This has also been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Batalha is a few kilometres from Fatima, one of the world's most sacred Marian shrines since 1917, when three children claimed to have seen apparitions of the Virgin Mary. Many Irish pilgrims also visit the monastery, continuing an association with the area, which was first established by Murphy.
He travelled in Portugal for three years and painted a series of watercolours depicting Roman antiquities and other aspects of Portuguese architectural heritage. Back in London, his drawings and description of the Monastery at Batalha appeared in 1795 to public acclaim. Subsequent publications included Travels in Portugal and A General View of the State of Portugal, rare examples of early travel guides and a unique visual record of Portuguese culture at the end of the 18th century.
But it was in neighbouring Spain that Murphy's reputation was sealed. He lived there from 1802 to 1809, where he created a series of drawings that depict the splendour of Spain's principal Moorish architectural sites at Cordoba and Granada.
Murphy was warmly welcomed in Granada, where he later recorded, "The Governor of the Alhambra, desirous that the knowledge of its splendid architectural remains should be accurately transmitted to posterity, obligingly facilitated the author's access to that royal palace, at all hours of the day; while he was employed in the agreeable task of measuring and delineating its interior works."
He returned to London in 1809 and spent the ensuing years preparing this mammoth work for publication.
MURPHY DIED AT his central London home in 1814 at the age of 54. But his life's work was done and his masterpiece, The Arabian Antiquities of Spain, was published posthumously in 1815. In the introduction, he hoped that, ". . . the very high state of excellence, to which the Spanish Arabs attained in the Fine Arts, while the rest of Europe was overwhelmed with ignorance and barbarism".
The book, along with other works by an elite group of fellow-travellers, had a huge impact on 19th-century public imagination; creating a revival of interest in Europe's forgotten Islamic heritage and launching an enduring appreciation of the "arabesque style".
Elaborately decorated theatres named Alhambra or Granada, which conjured up a world of slightly risqué escapist fantasy, soon became fixtures in many cities. Some, including Ireland's first music hall, the Alhambra, which opened in Belfast in 1872, later became cinemas but retained the old names. And the Alhambra name still lingers in popular culture as fans of Coronation Street will have noticed in a recent storyline involving Vera Duckworth's bingo parlour.
The designs and motifs of the Alhambra were especially popular in the decoration of public Turkish baths, a distinctive feature of city life in the Victorian era.
Hollywood later embraced the Arabian Nights look - most notably in the Sinbad films, thereby cementing the Alhambra's status as the emblem of Islamic architecture.
In literature, the most famous reference to "The Spain of old Araby" can, by curious coincidence, be found in an Irish novel - as Molly Bloom evocatively recalls her early years in Andalucia and dreams about "those handsome Moors all in white and turbans like kings".
But what of Murphy's more tangible legacy? Copies of his books are, happily, in the collection of the National Library of Ireland. Occasionally, a copy of the most desirable, The Arabian Antiquities of Spain, is offered for sale by dealers in antiquarian books. Sims Reed Ltd in London currently has one copy priced at £8,500 (€12,321) and has sold "a few" over the years. Spokesman Tim Byers says, "The book appeals to many different types of collectors. Apart from its obvious Irish interest, it also appeals to collectors of books on Spain, travel or architecture."
IN RECENT YEARS a significant new group of collectors has emerged. "Copies are now keenly sought by Middle Eastern collectors for the exquisite renditions of Islamic architecture."
Murphy's original drawings and watercolours are now very rare. Many are in public ownership, mostly in London, in collections held by the British Museum, the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The National Library of Ireland has acquired an album of 36 watercolours and prints made in Portugal, thus ensuring that at least some of Murphy's original work is now in Irish public ownership. But there are no examples of his work in Cork's public libraries, museums or art galleries.
More alarmingly, some of the important original drawings and watercolours from the Spanish project are unaccounted for. An antiquarian book dealer in London came into possession of a portfolio containing 75 of these some years ago, which he "sold for £95,000 (€137,731) to a buyer acting for the Gulf State of Qatar".
The wealthy Persian Gulf state plans to transform Doha, its capital city, into a major destination for tourists by building a number of museums including one dedicated to Islamic art. The ruling Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifah Al-Thani, has established a national council for culture, arts and heritage, charged with acquiring a vast collection of art. He appointed his cousin Sheikh Saud bin Mohammed Al-Thani as chairman.
Sheikh Saud is the world's biggest art collector who, over the past decade, has been on a massive spending spree - estimated at well over one billion euro - to purchase a wide variety of Islamic art, mostly from dealers and at auctions in London and Paris. As well as purchasing for the state, he is also believed to be building a separate, personal art collection.
Earlier this year, Britain's prestigious Art Newspaper revealed that Sheikh Saud had been arrested in Qatar having been summarily dismissed from his post. The authorities are investigating an alleged misuse of public funds.
The Qatar Embassy in London has not responded to a request for information about the possible whereabouts of the Corkman's artwork.