Diary of Marie Bashkirtseff
CZENUKFR

Saturday, 29 October 1881

At last I have seen the Alhambra.1 I deliberately did not linger before what is most beautiful — first, so as not to become attached to Granada, and besides the guide who was leading us and my aunt disturbed my artistic enjoyment by their presence. I promise myself to see all of this again. Granada seen from the tower is of an admirable, complete beauty. The snow-covered mountains, the gigantic trees, the exquisite plants and flowers, the pure sky, and Granada itself with its white houses lying in the sun amid all those beauties of nature; [blacked out: the Arab walls, the towers of the Generalife] and the Alhambra! And in the distance a vast horizon — one would say the sea; indeed nothing is lacking but the sea for it to be the most beautiful country in the world. As for the palace itself, it is of a fantastic beauty — one must see those vaults [blacked out: illegible] varied, that finesse of workmanship, those walls that look like lacework, and those ceilings resembling marvelous stalactites2 supported by marble columns of inimitable elegance. One closes one's eyes and imagines these marvels inhabited. The types, the costumes of that time, the leaping fountains and the beautiful sultanas. [THREE-QUARTERS of two pages blank] Arab dress is certainly the most beautiful in the world. Nothing is comparable to the haughty elegance of those superb draperies. I am gripped by the late Boabdil3 and his Moors, whom I dream of walking through this palace unique in the world — but I still hold a grudge against the dry walls of Toledo, which left me with the impression of a Crimean village. Whereas Granada and the Alhambra!! In the afternoon I make a study in a small street and, having finished, inscribe on the wall: Here worked Andrey, 1881. Only the shadow on the right side of the study is of too warm a tone, which robs the light of its brilliance — and I am heartbroken. Do you know that it is cold and that my fingers grew so numb I was obliged to go and warm them in the sun — which does not encourage me to stay here. Since I cannot work in the open air, why should I

# Samedi 29 octobre 1881

languish here — bored to tears in the evenings, unable to sleep on these abominably hard beds, eating nothing all day but a soup and a piece of meat, with a cup of coffee in the morning. The thing is, I would so like to bring back at least one good study…

morfondre ici, m'ennuyer cruellement le soir, ne pas dormir sur ces lits d'une durete infame et ne manger par jour qu'un potage avec un morceau de viande en y ajoutant une tasse de cafe le matin. C'est que je voudrais bien rapporter au moins une bonne etude...

Notes

The Alhambra: the great Nasrid palace-fortress complex in Granada, built in the 13th–14th centuries; the finest example of Moorish architecture in Europe. ↩
Stalactites: Marie uses this word for the muqarnas, the honeycomb-like vaulting ornamentation of Moorish architecture, which resembles stalactites hanging from cave ceilings. ↩
Boabdil: Muhammad XII (c. 1459–c. 1533), last Nasrid sultan of Granada, who surrendered the city to Ferdinand and Isabella on 2 January 1492. He is said to have wept as he left, earning the epithet "el rey chico" (the little king). ↩