Pascual De Gayangos

This thesis analyzes Plans, Elevations, Sections, and Details of the Alhambra (1836-1842) by British Architect Owen Jones in relation to British conceptions of Spain in the nineteenth century. Although modern scholars often view Jones’s work as an accurate visual account of the Alhambra, I argue that his work is not only interested in accuracy, but it is also a re-presentation of the fourteen-century monument based on Jones’s ideologies and creative faculties. Instead of viewing the Alhambra through a culturally sensitive, historical lens, Jones treated it as an Imaginary Geography, as Edward Said called it, through which he could promote his interests and perspectives.

Although there were many British views of Spain in nineteenth-century, this thesis will focus on two sets of seemingly contradictory conceptions of Spain that were especially important to Jones’s visual and ideological program in Alhambra: Spain’s status as both the Catholic and Islamic Other, and its frequent interpretations through both romantic and reform-oriented lenses. Through a closer look at Arabian Antiquities of Spain by James Cavanah Murphy and the illustrations from The Tourist in Spain: Granada by David Roberts, I show the prevalence of these mindsets in nineteenth-century reconstructions of the Alhambra. Then, I compare portions of these works to plates from Jones’s Alhambra to illustrate Jones’s similar adaptation of these perspectives despite the visual peculiarity of his work as a whole.

RESUMEN
Pascual de Gayangos fue un personaje polifacético de una prolífica actividad intelectual: historiador, liberal, investigador, redactor, numismático, viajero, traductor, diplomático y uno de los mayores bibliófilos de España. Como afamado erudito y orientalista, está considerado como el padre de estudios modernos españoles árabes. Este artículo conmemora el bicentenario de su nacimiento. Sintetizando y el esplendor interdiscipli- nario de Gayangos, este tributo rehabilita su influencia en los procesos de construcción del “otro”, e intenta analizar su relación con la llamada “cuestión marroquí” en una dimensión política, histórica e intelectual para mostrar con ello cómo su labor debe ser contemplada en relación con la búsqueda decimonónica de una identidad nacional en un contexto internacional marcado por el colonialismo europeo en el Norte de África.
PALABRAS CLAVE: Arabismo, colonialismo, Magreb, Marruecos, Pascual de Gayangos.

The figure of Pascual de Gayangos is very important for Spain in a lot of senses. As orientalists, we have in Gayangos a reference, also for different reasons. From his different aspects of personality, and as orientalism history researcher I would like to talk about the importance of his work at the beginning of this science in Spain and about his library, today a reference for the people who work on this science. To this effect, two appendices are attached: the first aobut some of his manuscrits and the second about bibliography related to his library.

El libro de los estados (1327-1330) de don Juan Manuel es un texto castellano de contenido sociopolítico. El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar su consideración como objeto de estudio a través de sus dos primeras ediciones, realizadas ambas en 1860 por Antonio Benavides y por Pascual de Gayangos respectivamente. Partiendo del contexto de la historiografía española del siglo XIX, en el cual se consolidaron disciplinas como la historia y la historia de la literatura, veremos cómo el texto participa en el proceso de construcción de la identidad nacional. En el caso de Benavides, estudiaremos cómo su comprensión de El libro de los estados como texto histórico y de don Juan Manuel como personaje ilustre se insertan en un discurso conservador pro-monárquico. En lo que respecta a Gayangos veremos que reproduce una consideración generalizada del texto como un espejo de príncipes y de don Juan Manuel como autor didáctico, desprovista de connotaciones políticas. [gl] O Libro de los estados ...