Emilio Sala y Francés: Expulsion of the Jews from Spain (1889)

(Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain)

A painting by the Spanish artist Emilio Sala y Francés (1850-1910). This painting shows a dramatic episode in the history of Spain: the Alhambra Decree. The Alhambra Decree was an edict issued on 31 March 1492 by queen Isabella I of Castile and king Ferdinand II of Aragon, joint Catholic Monarchs of Spain. The edict ordered the expulsion of practicing Jews from the Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon and its territories and possessions by 31 July of that year. As a result of the Alhambra decree over 200,000 Jews converted to Catholicism and between 40,000 and 100,000 were expelled. Some Jews offered money in order to avoid expulsion. The painting shows the powerful proponent Tomás de Torquemada (1420 –1498), Castilian Dominican friar and first Grand Inquisitor of Spain. bursting into the audience and throwing a crucifix on the table, exclaiming that the money offered by the Jew to avoid expulsion should not be accepted, and comparing it with the money for which Judas betrayed Christ. The Alhambra decree was officially revoked in 1968. Painting from 1889.