gners--monks and artists--as
crowded to Spain in search of Spanish gold.

These artists (it is true that some, and perhaps the best of them, were
Spaniards) did not work for the people, for there was no _bourgeoisie_.
They worked for the wealthy prelates, for the aristocracy, and for the
_caciques_. These latter had sumptuous chapels decorated, dedicated an
altar to such and such a deity, and erected a magnificent sepulchre or
series of sepulchres for themselves and their families.

This peculiar phenomenon explains the wealth of Spanish churches in
lateral chapels. Not a cathedral but has about twenty of them; not a
church but possesses its half a dozen. Moreover, some of the very finest
examples of sepulchral art are not to be found in cathedrals, but in
out-of-the-way village churches, where some _cacique_ or other laid his
bones to rest and had his effigy carved on a gorgeous marble tomb.

These chapels are built in all possible styles and in all degrees of
splendour and magnificence, according to the generosity of the donor.
Here they bulge out, deforming the regular plan of the church, or else
they take up an important part of the interior of the building. There
they are Renaissance jewels in a Gothic temple, or else ogival marvels
in a Romanesque building. They are, as it were, small churches--or
important annexes like that of the Condestable in Burgos, possessing a
dome of its own--absolutely independent of the cathedral itself, rich in
decorative details, luxurious in the use of polished stone and metal, of
agate and golden accessories, of gilded friezes, low reliefs, and
painted _retablos_. They constitute one of the most characteristic
features of Spanish religious architecture and art in general, and it is
above all due to them that Iberia's cathedrals are museums rather than
solemn places of worship.

But the Spanish people did not erect them; they were commanded by vain
and death-fearing _caciques_, and erected by artists--generally
foreigners, though often natives. The people did not care nor take any
interest in the matter; so long as the village saint was not insulted,
nor their individual liberty (_fuero_) infringed upon, the world, its
artists and _caciques_, could do as it liked.

This insensibility helped to hinder the formation of a national style.
Besides, as the duration of the Spanish nation was so exceedingly short,
there was no time at hand to develop a national art school. In certain
loc