This book offers a comprehensive survey of British travellers in Seville from the early eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. Well-known characters such as the poet Lord Byron, the artist David Roberts and the Hispanophile par excellence, Richard Ford, appear alongside other figures identified here for the first time, making up a group that is more varied in terms of gender, age, social class and ancestry than that which had previously served to define the British perception of Seville’s rich architectural heritage. Besides addressing the visual repertoire of the travel books of the period and their original drawings, this study sheds light on unpublished letters and diaries to give shape to a catalogue that brings together the experiences of some twenty travellers, including several women and a few young men whose itineraries and adventures were hitherto virtually unknown.

Half of the 340 drawings reproduced in this catalogue were located during the research that led to the book. This fascinating output, combined with the travellers’ written descriptions and the prints and paintings derived from them, provides a historical overview which covers aspects ranging from eighteenth-century antiquarian and Enlightenment interests to Romantic landscape painting and the Victorian taste for Gothic architecture and encompasses both professional artists and mere amateurs, highlighting the different backgrounds and skills of each. The analysis of their works can be read sequentially or consulted selectively, as the new perspective from which they are addressed presents them as a choral account but also serves as a reference book for anyone interested in particular travellers.

Martin Paul Sorowka holds an MSc in Architectural History from University College London (2004) and a PhD in Architecture from Seville University (2023, awarded cum laude), the thesis of which formed the basis for this publication. His research interests on British experiences in Enlightenment Spain, but also the architectural and artistic exchange between Andalusia and the Maghreb. He has presented papers internationally, and published articles in leading international journals on the themes of art and architectural history, and contributed to the exhibition catalogue Romantic Spain (CEEH, RABASF, 2022). He is Associate Fellow of the Royal Historic Society.