La Alhambra, Granada

Richard Harpum

My wife and I are regular visitors to Andalucia in southern Spain and we often visit Grenada. In 2011 we visited the Albacin, a medieval Moorish district of the city that rises on a steep hill on the east side of the city above the Assabica valley.
While we were there, we spent a pleasant couple of hours at a lovely outdoor restaurant that offered spectactular views of the Alhambra Palace, which is perched on a small plateau south of the valley of the Rio Darro. In the distance, we could see the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the peaks of which are permenantly covered in snow. As the sun started to go down, it bathed the landscape in a luminous orange light, which I was able to capture in a series of photographs that formed the basis of this painting.
Dating back to before the 11th century, the Alhambra is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Granada's most famous monument. It consists of a fortress, the Alcazaba (to the right in this painting), with a variety of other buildings, including the Moorish Nasrid Palaces. To the left of the complex are the beautiful palace, gardens and orchards of El Generalife.
Both the Alhambra itself and El Generalife are well worth visiting but these days vistors need to make advanced bookings on the Internet.

  • Media: Acrylics
  • Subject: Landscape or Woodland Scene, Townscape or Streetscene
  • Size: 39inch x 16inch
  • Price: £4990For sale

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