7. There are also many references to the stars as God’s work in
the Qur’an.
Articles on this subject: CONTRERAS, R. Ligero estudio sobre las
pinturas de la Alhambra. Madrid: Noguera, 1875 (Contreras worked
very closely with the paintings when he raised and converted the
roof) and, above all, BERMUDEZ PAREJA, J. Pinturas sobre piel en
la Alhambra. Granada: Patronato de La Alhambra, 1987. Other re-
ports on the technique are extrapolated from research carried out
by the IAPH (Andalusian Historical Heritage Institute) on wood,
leather, plant fibres, metallic elements, plaster, and painting mate-
rials, and the 2010 report on the restoration of the reverse side of
the vaults, by the Board of Trustees of the Alhambra.
9. In the Alhambra there are many examples of mural painting on
walls and in vaults: Torre de los Picos (Tower of the Points), bases
in the Patio del Harén (Harem Courtyard), etc. And, excluding the
paintings in the Partal Palace that do not have a wood or leather
base, all are frescos painted on lime and sand mortar (see RALLO,
C. Aportaciones a la técnica y estilística de la Pintura Mural en Castilla
a final de la Edad Media. Madrid: Fundación Universitaria Española,
2002).
10. This mixed technique, with the addition of oil, was very com-
mon in 14th century Christian altarpieces. Contreras incorrectly
states it was not used in this work, to support his theory that Chris-
tian techniques were not used: “...the paintings of the Alhambra
are not dissolved with linseed, as Christian ones were...”
11. RALLO, C., El cuero como soporte de la pintura en la Baja Edad
Media: el mundo cristiano y el islámico. Mil años del trabajo del cue-
ro. Cordoba: University, 2003, pp. 485-500. I would like to thank
Fernando Gutiérrez Baños, lecturer at the University of Valladolid,
for citing other examples, studied by him, of tombs where a parch-
ment and plaster primer were applied to a wooden frame as a base
for tempera painting: the tomb of the knight Sánchez Carrillo, in
Mahamud (Burgos), the tomb of the Infanta Doña Leonor at the
Royal Monastery of Santo Domingo de Caleruega and the façade of
Santa María del Monte, in Liesa, Huesca.
12. PAVÓN MALDONADO, B. Arte toledano islámico y mudéjar.
Madrid: Instituto Hispano-Arabe de Cultura, 1973, p. 265: “The ar-
tist who makes the paintings fulfils a task with which he has been
entrusted in exceptional circumstances: Moors and Christians of
the court mingle on equal terms. The result will be a true artis-
tic-historical message”. IBN JALDÚN, apud SIMONET, F.J. Influen-
cia del elemento indígena en los moros del reino de Granada. Tangier
1805, p. 56: “A people neighbouring another that is considerably
superior to it cannot but copy and imitate it to a great extent. This
happens today among the Andalusians because of their relations-
hip with the Galicians, seeing how they look alike in clothing and
attire, uses and customs, reaching the extreme of putting images
and imitations on the walls of their houses, in their buildings and
rooms. Whoever observes this with the eyes of wisdom cannot but
consider it a sign of foreign superiority and predominance. But the
empire belongs to God.”
13. BARKAI, R. Cristianos y musulmanes en el mundo medieval, el
enemigo en el espejo. Madrid: Rialp, 1984, p. 11 “The image is in-
deed the literal expression of reality.... It is not an objective descrip-
tion of reality but a reflection of the subjective ideas of those who
describe it.” Consequently, the subjectivity of the artists or their
patron in the creation of the paintings makes a contemporary in-
terpretation difficult.
14. RUIZ SOUZA, J. C. De la Alhambra de Granada al Monasterio
de El Escorial, Reales Sitios: Revista del Patrimonio Nacional 195,
2013, págs. 4-27, p. 26.
narrative clarity in favour of a cyclical reading. Si-
milarly, the compositions differ across the three
vaults but present a common radial structure.
The similar layout of the two lateral compositions
aims to give a sense of symmetry, harmony, and
balance to the whole, functioning as a frame, em-
phasizing and complementing the main, central
painting; the juxtaposition of their sense of mo-
vement against the rigidity of the central painting
aims to enhance it by contrast. At their zeniths,
all three have a representation of the firmament at
their centres, the axis of the three compositions;
celestial motifs are not unusual in other decora-
tions in the Patio de los Leones. A sky full of stars,
as an exponent of luxury and power, an abstract
and permanent, motionless, indifferent spectator
above the different scenes
7
.
Finally, the technique
8
chosen by the creator of
this work is also unique
9
: tanned leather plates
were nailed to a coniferous wood frame, like an
inverted boat, and a preparatory layer made from
plaster and glue was applied on top as a base for
colours in tempera grassa that are brighter and
longer-lasting over time
10
. Only a few, less im-
portant examples of this technique are known in
Christian areas; the most outstanding is the de-
coration of the Arca de San Isidro in Almudena
Cathedral in Madrid
11
. Did Sultan Muhammad V,
with this unique approach, want to compete with
the paintings that were being created at this time
in Christian lands? The paintings of the Cuar-
to de los Reyes can be considered the maximum
exponent of the assimilation, the cultural exchan-
ge, that existed between Christians and Muslims,
which was strengthened by border relationships
developed over centuries
12
.
We do not have the keys to interpret the works that
the people who admired these paintings would
have had in their time
13
, cultured people who en-
tered a private environment, rooms reserved for
the sultan, his family and his court; and, even «we
will never manage to know the scope of orality
in a mostly illiterate society»
14
. However, we can
venture a hypothesis that, while new, is based on
the idea stated above: the Cuarto de los Leones
complex is a response to a clearly defined wish, a
message born out of political design, the result of