3-098-572 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Cervantes and his characters, 1887. A gathering of the characters from the principal novels by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616), appearing before their author as a testament to his fruitful reverie and a gesture of heartfelt homage and gratitude to his pen. In the courtyard of the Posada de la Sangre in Toledo, Miguel de Cervantes appears seated behind a large table, writing with a sombre and melancholic expression. Before him is a motley group of figures and various objects from the inn which would have served as inspiration for the protagonists of the "One-Armed Man of Lepanto" in his major works. Clearly standing out among them are the dishevelled and battered figure of Don Quixote, wrapped in a threadbare blanket, and his servant Sancho. The chivalric romances scattered on the floor also allude to Don Quixote, among them Amadís de Gaula, which lies in the foreground among the wineskins, mistaken by the hidalgo's fevered imagination for a reckless giant. In the background, a smoking pyre can be seen, where several books are being burned. This noisy spectacle is witnessed by a crowd gathered on the inn's upper gallery. On a chair on the left are his gentleman's clothes, hat, cape and sword and some shackles, alluding in all likelihood to his five-year captivity in Algeria.