When Faraway is nearby: European travellers through Spain

Leading foreign artists in the Nineteenth Century elected Spain as a destination during their travels, in pursuit of an exotic land. The image of Spain was recreated through their memoirs, travel guides, novels, librettos and paintings. While these travellers encountered the Spain they dreamt about, national artists depicted a specific iconography about what it meant to live “in the Spanish style”, including the practice or the presence of music in their works.These art works included musical instruments to establish a dream of exoticism, even for the Spanish painters and writers. While these travellers discovered their own dreams about Spain, Spanish artists created a specific image of what “a la española” meant. The real world was transformed when the artist considered that it was not typical enough. In fact, they could be criticized if their canvas did not look “really Spanish”. These images allow us to analyze the representation of music as a significant recreation of national identity and its cultural and social significance.