PRETTY, OR PRETTY NAFF?
Cordoban painter Julio Romero de Torres is much loved in his home town, and around Spain - his works, which you`ll see on posters everywhere, have adorned postage stamps and bank notes, and inspired songs and films. However he is widely derided by both art critics and feminists for being kitsch, and demeaning to women. His favourite subjects were the classic stereotypical Andalucian clichés: bullfighters, gypsy women and flamenco dancers, as well as lots of nudes; you can see some of his most famous works, Naranjos y Limones, La Chiquita Piconera, and Cante Hondo, in his family home, now a museum adjoining the Museo Bellas Artes (his father was its director). The smaller portraits of Cordoban women are worth a look, interesting for their subject matter and details rather than their hyper-realistic style.
- Fact 1 - None of the (pilfered) pillars used to build Mezquita were the same height, which presented a technical challenge to its architects.
- Fact 2 - Torture and leather- not a kinky movie, but a taste of a couple of less well-known Cordoba museums
- Fact 3 - Sentimental and chocolate-boxy or lyrical and sensuous? Cordoba's most famous artist still provokes debate
- Fact 4 - Poets, philosophers and men of great learning - Cordoba produced some of history's greatest scholars
- Fact 5 - A historic square with a new flamenco centre in a medieval inn