Picturesque Sketches in Spain: The Mosque, Cordova (1837): Art, History and Details

Picturesque Sketches in Spain: The Mosque, Cordova (1837) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Thomas Shotter Boys (British, 1803–1874); David Roberts (Scottish, 1796–1864); Hodgson & Graves, 6, Pall Mall, London.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This print shows the Mosque of Cordoba, in Andalusia, southern Spain, being used as a Catholic cathedral. The site was a mosque from 785 through 1236, when it was converted into a cathedral under the Christian kingdom of Castile. Today the building includes both Islamic and Christian architectural elements. The scalloped archway recalls the period in which the Moors, a Muslim cultural group, ruled parts of Spain and Portugal. An altar with a crucifix is visible, and the Christogram IHS (an abbreviation of the first three letters of Jesus’s name in Greek) can be seen on one priest’s shoulder.

Object facts

• Title: Picturesque Sketches in Spain: The Mosque, Cordova
• Date: 1837
• Creator attribution: Thomas Shotter Boys (British, 1803–1874); David Roberts (Scottish, 1796–1864); Hodgson & Graves, 6, Pall Mall, London
• Culture: England, 19th century
• Type: Print
• Technique: lithograph
• Dimensions: Sheet: 55 x 37.4 cm (21 5/8 x 14 3/4 in.); Image: 40.9 x 28.6 cm (16 1/8 x 11 1/4 in.)
• Collection: PR - Lithograph
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 2012.266

A detail from the museum

The Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Collection credit

Bequest of John Bonebrake

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.