splendid Church and
Monastery was the second great establishment of the Order in Valladolid
completed within the space of about ten years. Cean Bermudez tells us
that the Cardinal Don Juan Torquemada caused the Church of the Convent
of St. Paul to be erected, which, with its facade of excellent
architecture, was finished in the year 1463.

The work at Saint Gregory lasted about eight years, a very short time,
considering not only the quantity and extent of labour involved in the
mere construction, but the amount of intricate and elaborate sculpture
which decorates the facade of the Church. Its architect, Macias
Carpintero, of Medino del Campo, is placed by Llaguno y Amirola upon a
footing, as to merit, with the celebrated architects Siloe and Cruz of
Cologne, who introduced extraordinary elaboration into the ornamental
carving of Spain. The fate of Macias was a sad one, since on the last
Saturday in July, in the year 1490, while working himself, and directing
this great architectural work, he committed suicide, infinitely to the
surprise and regret of the monks and their fellow-citizens.

Some idea of the scale upon which the Patio of San Gregorio is worked
out, may be derived from a knowledge of the facts, that the lower arcade
is about twenty feet high, and the upper fifteen feet. The open space
enclosed by the arcading is very large, and the distance from centre to
centre of each of the pillars about nine feet.

[Illustration: PLATE 5

VALLADOLID.

PATIO DE SAN GREGORIO.

MDW 1869]

PLATE V.

_VALLADOLID._

SMALL PATIO DE SAN GREGORIO.

IN that material--stucco--which we of the nineteenth century affect to
despise, and in the use of which both the Romans and the Great Masters
of the Renaissance, under Raffaelle's guidance, excelled, the Moors
delighted. By its use they were able, with speed and accuracy, to supply
the redundancy of conventional ornament essential to contrast with the
rigid geometrical setting out of lines and compartments which formed a
fundamental law of their beautiful style of design. Their aptitude in
the manipulation of this material did not desert them when their talents
were called into operation by their Christian Masters. Of this the
pretty window which forms the chief feature of the sketch under
consideration, offers an agreeable proof. At the first glance, one might
have fancied that this window was of earlier date than the gothic stone
arch beneath, and indeed a reli