The piece of the month of October 2005
EPISODES OF THE PAMPLONA BLOCKADE
A forgotten image of the contemporary history of Pamplona: the "Episodes of the blockade", drawn by Nemesio Lagarde, published in La Ilustracion Española y Americana.
Ignacio J. Urricelqui Pacho
Chair of Navarrese Heritage and Art
It was in the last third of the 19th century when the press began to recognize the importance of the image as an informative element that not only served to support the news but also helped to complete it and to form in the reader a clearer idea of what was being commented on. The development of the lithographic technique greatly favored the incorporation of images in the press and the appearance of illustrated magazines, among which La Ilustración Española y Americana occupied a prominent place both for the great issue that it incorporated and for the quality of the images. This magazine, like others, had a team of graphic correspondents who were in charge of traveling to different places sending drawings related to the news published. These materials, once they were received at essay, were reworked by the cabinet artist, who composed the scene that finally served the lithographer to prepare the plate final to be used in printing. In this way, a work team of three professionals - the graphic correspondent, the cabinet artist and the engraver - was created. Gradually, the graphic correspondents became specialized until they formed an important group of workers. It goes without saying that all of them had knowledge of drawing, often learned in academies, and sufficient capacity to capture the reality of the news in a few brief notes.
Among them, the graphic war correspondents who emerged for the first time in the Crimean conflict (1853-1856) gained special prominence, being used by The Illustrated London News due to the impossibility of employing local artists, as it had done so far in similar circumstances. In Spain, it would be the last Carlist War that would confirm their presence, being especially important the figure of José Pellicer who worked for La Ilustración Española y Americana with numerous drawings taken in the same battlefield. However, along with him many other authors emerged who, although with less technical quality, developed an important work and helped to disseminate a current image of the reality of each area of the country. Many times they were soldiers with artistic skills who sent their drawings from the same place of the conflict. The value of these materials is, therefore, unquestionable given their immediacy and veracity.
"Episodes of the blockade of Pamplona", by Nemesio Lagarde.
The work of the month that we propose is a good example of this internship, applied to the case of the blockade of Pamplona, which took place during the last Carlist war (1872-1876), between the months of August 1874 and February 1875, and of which this year is the 130th anniversary. As some texts of the time relate, this blockade, although it did not have excessive warlike consequences, caused enormous evils to the local population, who were forced to face the harsh winter with a shortage of food and fuel. B . Such was the Degree need that some people ate cats and rats, and even had to burn the window frames to be able to cook and heat their houses. In addition, there was no lack of clashes in the vicinity of the city between the garrison of the city and the Carlists who marauded it, as well as some internal riots, especially in the market, on the occasion of the sale of food. The city, under the direction of the Military Governor Don Manuel Andía y Abela, endured the presence of the enemy troops and after suffering lack of food and fuel, lack of hygiene, epidemics and other evils, it was liberated on February 2 by the troops of General Moriones.
Given the length of time it remained blockaded, it is not surprising that the Navarrese capital attracted the attention of the illustrated press of the time, which on several occasions reported on what was happening, including some images in its pages. The author of the material that we publish is the Pamplona-born Nemesio Lagarde, a liberal soldier, who remained in the place during the Carlist siege and who sent to the magazine La Ilustración Española y Americana some sketches taken from life of various events that he experienced.
The page in question, which appeared in the issue of January 8, 1875, includes five scenes related to the blockade, whose sketches, as we have said, were sent by Lagarde to the magazine's essay . Later, they were used by Ricardo Balaca for the elaboration of the definitive drawings and by the engraver Gastón Marichal to make the lithographic plate. However, the fact that Lagarde is mentioned as the author of the original drawings, something that was not always usual, is test of the evaluation that was given to his work.
The page is made up of five illustrations presented with the degree scroll "Episodes of the Pamplona blockade". The five are numbered, with each issue referring to a text at the foot of the page specifying the event illustrated. In the first of them, with the degree scroll "Los mosquetes de parapeto", three soldiers appear behind the city wall. One shoots, another loads his rifle and the third, who looks like an officer, observes with binoculars in the direction of the enemy. The second illustration sample to the "Lumberjacks of the place harassed by the Carlists", in allusion to something that was habitual during the war episode coinciding with the exits to the surroundings of the city in search of firewood. The third image sample shows the Artillery Corps of the Redín bastion cannonading the enemy stationed on Mount San Cristobal. The text, "A good shot", expresses the success of the projectiles, which is celebrated by several witnesses waving their hats in the air. The fourth image, "The purchase of meat", sample one of many altercations that occurred in the city's market on the occasion of the sale of food, where there was no lack of blows, pushing and shoving and some fainting. Finally, the fifth scene, the largest of all, located in the lower part with horizontal format, is entitled "An interrupted walk" and sample to a family of Pamplona who are surprised by a Carlist party, which is repulsed by the body of shooters.
In final, the page that we present is one of the best works made for the prestigious magazine La Ilustración Española y Americana centered on the blockade of Pamplona. financial aid perfectly to understand the work of the graphic correspondents of war whose work was fundamental during the referred conflict and, equally, financial aid to bring to light a figure until now unknown, as it is the pamplonés Nemesio Lagarde which, by the way, has been object of a study, at the moment in press.
bibliography
BASTIDA DE LA CALLE, Mª D., "José Luis Pellicer, artistic correspondent in the last Carlist war", in Espacio, Tiempo y Forma. Serie VII: Historia del Arte, n. 2, 1989, pp. 343-376.
IDOATE, F., "[BALLESTA, Mariano] Diario del bloqueo puesto por los carlistas a la place de Pamplona desde el 27 de agosto de 1874 a 2 de febrero de 1875", in Príncipe de Viana, n. 84-85 (1961), pp. 217-231.
TUDURI, J. M., "Fotografía y segunda guerra carlista en el País Vasco", in Los carlistas. 1800-1876, Vitoria, Fundación Sancho el Sabio, 1991, pp. 331-352.
URRICELQUI PACHO, I. J., "Diario gráfico de la última guerra carlista en Navarra", in press.