Imágenes de la periferia de Sevilla hasta 1850

Abstract

This doctoral thesis focuses on the study of the outskirts of Seville when it still maintained an essentially rural character, previous to 1850, through notable images - views and plans- in which this is depicted. It ranges from the periphery’s first known graphic testimonies of the 16th century to the mid-19th century, before the beginning of the major urban development and the occupation of the area by the contemporary city. The aim of this thesis is to gather and analyse these images and in doing so to develop a deeper knowledge of this territory. The methodology followed has been based on the finding and selection of relevant graphic documents, which were analysed in their historical context to identify the main elements of Seville’s periphery depicted in each, considering whether they were preserved, have been transformed or have been lost. These are classified as structural elements, suburbs and singular elements or architectural landmarks. After some early idealized views, in the second half of the 16th century there were important and quite credible images by Hoefnagel and Brambilla published in the Civitates Orbis Terrarum, and of by Wyngaerde. These were later followed by significant views with different framings by various authors such as Janssonius, Merian, Meunier, Baldí, Tortolero, Swinburne and others until the end of the 18th century. The first plan that completely and rigorously represented the outskirts of Seville, unpublished until now, was produced by Simondi (1810) during the Napoleonic occupation of the city. Also of great interest is the plan by Spinola de Quintana (1827) which was drawn up during the government of the mayor Arjona, who identified with precision abundant extramural elements that until then had been little known. Lastly, in the mid-19th century, various local painters such as Domínguez Bécquer, Barrón y Carrillo, Cortés y Aguilar, Cabral Bejarano, Rodríguez de Guzmán and others produced outstanding pictorial views of Seville's surroundings, establishing the image of Seville in the collective imagination. The conclusions of this research indicate that the numerous images dating from the end of the 16th century to the middle of the 19th century represent a great variety of extramural elements. The locations of the main viewpoints from which the images were produced have been identified, almost all of them in the surroundings of the Guadalquivir River or from an elevated position in the Aljarafe region. On the other hand, the important plans produced in the first half of the 19th century, which had a military, political-administrative and fiscal purpose, included with precision abundant details of the extramural surroundings never before depicted. Thus, this thesis highlights a valuable legacy of views and plans that document a great diversity of architectural and landscape elements. All this reinforces the identity of many peripheral neighbourhoods of the current city of Seville, as testimonies of the past that even nowadays are reluctant to disappear in this landscape in constant transformation.