LETTERS FROM SPAIN. 114 LETTER XVII. PAINTINGS GENERAL TASTE FOR PICTURES TVIURILLO HIS PAINTINGS IN' THE CARIDAD IN THE CATHEDRAL OF SEVILLE ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE OF THAT CELEBRATED ARTIST. SEVILLE, OCT. l80<). J EW places in Europe, with the exception of London and Paris, contain so many good pictures as are to be found in this city. About one hundred and seventy years ago, some of the best painters resided here, especially Murillo, Velasquez, Zubaran, Spagnolete, and Cano; and such was its celebrity as a school for painting, that several eminent masters, from other countries, resorted hither for im provement in their profession. Spain made considerable progress in the art of painting during the reign of Charles the Fifth, and it was the general custom among the Spanish nobles, who attended that monarch in his visits to Italy and the Netherlands, to purchase and send home to this city, then the capital of Spain, the best pictures they could procure ; some of them have been retained by private families, and others were given to the different churches and con vents. Our unhappy sovereign Charles the First, when Prince of Wales, contributed to increase the taste for this art in Spain by the love he