Mash Up

We had an experience of a 16th century "mash-up" yesterday at the Palace of Pilate in Seville. (The name derives from the location of the Palace on Pilate Square, rather than any association with the Pilate who judged Jesus.)

The term "mash-up" is used today in popular music to describe combinations of digitally manipulated recordings of various artists' work put together (mashed up) to make a new recording. You might hear a familiar rhythm from a Michael Jackson hit, repeated over and over again like a bass line, mashed up with electronic music and original rapped lyrics, creating something entirely new, yet familiar.

After the Reconquista, wealthy Castillian nobles still saw the aesthetics and architecture of the despised "Moors" they had driven out of Seville as the mark of refinement and the height of beauty in designing their palaces. However, in the 16th century these nobles also had the opportunity to travel to Italy and experience the Renaissance and be captivated by their architecture and their re-discovery of the aesthetics and art of ancient Greece. They were collectors, not only of ancient art, (notably sculpture) but also of the best works from the painters of their own period.

Over three generations, one family mashed up all these influences together into one house, with an Arab style courtyard decorated with exquisite tile. The corners of the courtyard are guarded by Greek statuary of the gods, brought back from Naples. You can view this courtyard from the second floor rooms surrounded by 16th century paintings beneath a Renaissance ceiling design covered with carved wood in floral designs from craftsmen schooled in Arabian design.

It was an aesthetic experience at one disorienting, thrilling, and strangely harmonious.
Today we go to the Alcazar, a mashup of another kind, but one that even more clearly than the Palace of Pilate, reveals how deeply the Muslim aesthetic penetrated Spanish Christian culture.

One mysterious footnote to our visit to the Palace of Pilate: reading between the lines of the tour guide notes, we realized that the family who built the Palace was able to acquire the valuable land and the water source it sits on because it was confiscated (probably from Jews) during the beginning of the Inquisition. It's a tragic political mashup so familiar: a place of extraordinary beauty is able to be built because of oppressive acts that create immense suffering for a family or an entire people.

If you're interested in reading more from the book that inspired this journey, look at "The Ornament of the World" by Maria Rosa Menocal. It's an easy' enjoyable read.