the great dome rising above
and lighting the Capilla Mayor. The Spanish cimborio has at last reached
its fullest development in the Renaissance lantern.

The church is divided into nave and double side aisles, outside of which
is a series of externally abutting chapels. East and west it contains
six bays. The choir blocks up the fifth and sixth bays of the nave, and
in the customary Spanish manner it is separated from the high altar in
the Capilla Mayor by the croisee of the transept. Back of this, forming
the eastern termination, runs an ambulatory.

The vaulting, one hundred feet high, is carried by a series of gigantic
white piers consisting of four semi-columns of Corinthian order with
their intersecting angles formed by a triple rectangular break. The
vaulting springs from above a full entablature and surmounting
pedestals, the latter running to the height of the arches dividing the
various vaulting compartments. The church is about 385 feet long and 220
feet wide.

The choir is uninteresting; the carving of its stalls and organs in
nowise comparing with the "silleria" of Seville or Burgos. The Capilla
Mayor, the principal feature of the interior, is circular in form, and
separated from the nave by a splendid "Arco Toral." The dome, which
rises to a height of 155 feet, is carried by eight Corinthian piers. In
general scheme it is pure Italian Renaissance, of noble and harmonious
proportions and very richly decorated. At the foot of the pilasters
stand colossal statues of the Apostles. Higher up there is a series of
most remarkable paintings by Alfonso Cano and some of his pupils. Cano's
represent seven incidents in the life of the Virgin,--the Annunciation,
Visitation, Nativity, Assumption, etc. Though some of his carvings, and
especially the dignified and noble Virgin in the sacristy, are
admirable, still, to judge from this series, it was as a painter that he
excelled. They show, too, how essentially Spanish he was, like his great
master, Montanez. The careless, lazy quality of his temperament is
sufficiently apparent, but he cannot be denied a place among the great
masters of Spanish painting who immediately preceded the all-eclipsing
glory of Velasquez, Murillo, and Ribera.

The lights of the dome which rises over the paintings are filled with
very lovely stained glass, representing scenes from the Passion by the
Dutchmen, Teodor de Holanda, and Juan del Campo. On the two sides of the
choir below are colos