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+ margin-bottom: 0em; + text-align: justify; + font-size: 1em; + line-height: 1.4em; + text-indent: 1em; + } + + p.title {text-align: center; + text-indent: 0; + line-height: 1.4em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + + p.noindent {margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: 10%; + text-align: justify; + font-size: 1em; + line-height: 1.4em; + text-indent: 0; + } + + hr.hr65 { width: 65%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 17.5%; + margin-right: 17.5%; + clear: both; + } + + hr.hr95 { width: 95%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 2.5%; + margin-right: 2.5%; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + margin-top: 1em; + empty-cells: show; + } + + .tdc {text-align: center;} + + td.chapnum {text-align: right; vertical-align: top;} + td.chaptitle {text-align: left; padding-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;} + td.page {text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;} + + .pagenum {/* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: 75%; + text-align: right; + } + + .blockquote {margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 5%; + margin-top: 1% + } + +.br {border-right: solid 2px;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold; + text-align: center; + text-indent: 0em; + margin-top: 0;} + +/* Images */ + +.figcenter { + margin-top: 1em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px; + margin-top: 1em;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + + /* Poetry */ + + .poem-container {text-align: center;} + + .poem {display: inline-block; + text-align: left; + } + + .stanza span, + .stanza div, + .stanza p { + display: block; + line-height: 1.2em; + margin-left: 2em; + text-indent: -2em; + margin-top: 0; + } + + .poem br {display: none;} + + .poem .stanza {padding: 0.5em 0;} + + .poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; + } + + .poem span.i2 { + display: block; + margin-left: 2em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; + } + + h1.pg { margin-top: 0em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + font-weight: bold; + font-size: 190%; } + h3.pg { font-size: 110%; } + hr.full { width: 100%; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + height: 4px; + border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; } + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44392 ***</div> +<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Arts and Crafts of Older Spain, Volume II +(of 3), by Leonard Williams</h1> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10"> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Note: + </td> + <td> + Project Gutenberg has the other two volumes of this work.<br /> + <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44391/44391-h/44391-h.htm">Volume I</a>: see http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44391/44391-h/44391-h.htm<br /> + <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44393/44393-h/44393-h.htm">Volume III</a>: see http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44393/44393-h/44393-h.htm + <a href=""> + </a> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/frontispiece.jpg" width="339" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="Frontispiece" id="Frontispiece"></a> +<p class="caption">SAINT FRANCIS</p> +</div> + +<p class="title"><span style="font-size: 125%;"><br /><br />The World of Art Series</span></p> + +<h1>The Arts and Crafts<br /> +of Older Spain</h1> + +<p class="title">BY<br /> + +<span style="font-size: 150%;">LEONARD WILLIAMS</span><br /> + +<span class="smcap">Corresponding Member of the Royal Spanish Academy, of<br /> +the Royal Spanish Academy of History, and of the<br /> +Royal Spanish Academy of Fine Arts; Author<br /> +Of “The Land of the Dons”; “Toledo and<br /> +Madrid”; “Granada,” etc.</span><br /><br /> + +<i>IN THREE VOLUMES, ILLUSTRATED</i><br /><br /> + +<span style="font-size: 125%;">VOLUME II</span><br /></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_03.jpg" width="100" height="99" + alt="title-symbol" + title="title-symbol" /> +</div> + +<p class="title"><span style="font-size: 125%;">CHICAGO<br /> +A. C. McCLURG & CO.</span><br /> +EDINBURGH: T. N. FOULIS<br /> +1908<br /><br /><br /> +AMERICAN EDITION<br /> +Published October 10, 1908</p> + +<hr class="hr95" /> + +<h2>CONTENTS OF VOLUME TWO</h2> + +<table summary="TOC" cellpadding="4"> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td class="page">PAGES</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="title"><a href="#FURNITURE"><span class="smcap">Furniture</span></a></td> + <td class="page">1–86</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="title"><a href="#IVORIES"><span class="smcap">Ivories</span></a></td> + <td class="page">89–108</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="title"><a href="#POTTERY"><span class="smcap">Pottery</span></a></td> + <td class="page">111–220</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="title"><a href="#GLASS"><span class="smcap">Glass</span></a></td> + <td class="page">223–263</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<hr class="hr95" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span></p> + +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<p style="text-align: center;"><i>VOLUME TWO</i></p> + +<table summary="LOI" cellpadding="2"> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum"> </td> + <td class="tdc">FURNITURE</td> + <td class="page"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">PLATE</td> + <td class="chaptitle"> </td> + <td class="page">PAGE</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum"> </td> + <td class="chaptitle">St Francis of Assisi; Toledo Cathedral</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#Frontispiece"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">I.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Mediæval Chair</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_10.jpg">10</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">II.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Gothic Chair</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_11.jpg">12</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">III.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Spanish <i>Arcón</i> or Baggage-Chest</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_16.jpg">16</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">IV.</td> + <td class="chaptitle"><i>Arca</i> of Cardinal Cisneros</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_18.jpg">18</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">V.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Armchair; Museum of Salamanca</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_20.jpg">20</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">VI.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Chair and Table; Salamanca Cathedral</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_22.jpg">22</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">VII.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Chairs upholstered with <i>Guadameciles</i></td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_24.jpg">24</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">VIII.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">The Sala de la Barca; Alhambra, Granada</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_26.jpg">26</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">IX.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Door of the Hall of the Abencerrajes; Alhambra, Granada</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_28.jpg">28</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">X.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Moorish Door; Detail of Carving; Hall of the Two Sisters, Alhambra, Granada</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_30.jpg">30</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">X.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Door of the Salón de Embajadores; Alcázar of Seville</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_32.jpg">32</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XII.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">The same</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_34.jpg">34</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XIII.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Alcázar of Seville; Façade and Principal Entrance</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_36.jpg">36</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XIV.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Door of the Capilla de los Vargas, Madrid</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_38.jpg">38</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XV.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Mudejar Door; Palacio de las Dueñas, Seville</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_40.jpg">40</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XVI.</td> + <td class="chaptitle"><i>Celosía</i>; Alhambra, Granada</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_42.jpg">42</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XVII.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Carved <i>Alero</i></td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_44.jpg">44</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XVIII.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Carved <i>Zapatas</i>; Casa de las Salinas, Salamanca</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_46.jpg">46</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XIX.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Carved <i>Zapatas</i>; Museum of Zaragoza</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_48.jpg">48</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XX.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Carved <i>Zapatas</i>; Museum of Zaragoza<i>Alero</i> and Cornice of Carved Wood; Cuarto de Comares, Alhambra, Granada</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_50.jpg">50</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XXI.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">“Elijah Sleeping”; Statue in Wood, by Alonso</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_52.jpg">52</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XXII.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Saint Bruno, by Alonso Cano; Cartuja of Granada</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_54.jpg">54</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XXIII.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Saint John the Baptist; San Juan de Dios, Granada</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_56.jpg">56</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XXIV.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Choir-Stalls; Santo Tomás, Avila</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_58.jpg">58</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XXV.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Carved Choir-Stall; Toledo Cathedral</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_60.jpg">60</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XXVI.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Choir-Stalls; Burgos Cathedral</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_62.jpg">62</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XXVII.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Choir-Stalls; San Marcos, León</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_64.jpg">64</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XXVIII.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Detail of Choir-Stalls; León Cathedral</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_66.jpg">66</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XXIX.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Choir-Stalls; Plasencia Cathedral</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_68.jpg">68</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XXX.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Detail of Choir-Stalls; Convent of San Marcos, León</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_70.jpg">70</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XXXI.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">“Samson”; Carved Choir-Stall; León Cathedral</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_72.jpg">72</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XXXII.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">“Esau”; Carved Choir-Stall; León Cathedral</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_74.jpg">74</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XXXIII.</td> + <td class="chaptitle"><i>Retablo</i>; Seville Cathedral</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_76.jpg">76</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XXXIV.</td> + <td class="chaptitle"><i>Retablo</i> of Seville Cathedral; Detail of Carving</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_79.jpg">78</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XXXV.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Detail of <i>Retablo</i>; Museum of Valladolid</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_80.jpg">80</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XXXVI.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Detail of <i>Retablo</i>; Chapel of Santa Ana; Burgos Cathedral</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_82.jpg">82</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum"> </td> + <td class="tdc">IVORIES</td> + <td class="page"> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XXXVII.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Ivory Box; Madrid Museum</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_90.jpg">90</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XXXVIII.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Ivory Casket; Pamplona Cathedral</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_92.jpg">92</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XXXIX.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Ivory Box; Palencia Cathedral</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_94.jpg">94</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XL.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Hispano-Moresque Ivory Casket; Royal Academy of History, Madrid</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_96.jpg">96</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XLI.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Ivory Crucifix; Madrid Museum</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_98.jpg">98</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XLI<span class="smcap">A</span>.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Back View of same</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_99.jpg">98</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XLII.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Byzantine Crucifix</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_100.jpg">100</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XLIII.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">“The Virgin of Battles”; Seville Cathedral</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_102.jpg">102</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XLIV.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Spanish Mediæval <i>Baculus</i></td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_104.jpg">104</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XLV.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">“A Tournament”</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_106.jpg">106</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XLVI.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Ivory Diptych; The Escorial</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_108.jpg">108</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum"> </td> + <td class="tdc">POTTERY</td> + <td class="page"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XLVII.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Amphoraic Vases and other Pottery; Museum of Tarragona</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_116.jpg">116</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XLVIII.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Dish; Museum of Granada</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_118.jpg">118</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">XLIX.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Hispano-Moresque <i>Tinaja</i></td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_120.jpg">120</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">L.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Coarse Spanish Pottery (Modern)</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_126.jpg">126</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">LI.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Door of the Mihrab; Cordova Cathedral</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_134.jpg">134</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">LII.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Mosaic of the Patio de las Doncellas; Alcázar of Seville</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_138.jpg">138</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">LIII.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Andalusian non-lustred Ware; Osma Collection</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_140.jpg">140</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">LIV.</td> + <td class="chaptitle"><i>Cuenca</i> Tiles; Alcázar of Seville</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_142.jpg">142</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">LV.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Altar of the Catholic Sovereigns; Alcázar of Seville</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_148.jpg">148</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">LVI.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">The Gate of Wine; Alhambra, Granada</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_154.jpg">154</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">LVII.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Tiles of the Decadent Period</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_158.jpg">158</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">LVIII.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Hispano-Moresque Lustred Plaque</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_168.jpg">168</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[x]</a></span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">LIX.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Hispano-Moresque Lustred Vase; Alhambra, Granada</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_170.jpg">170</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">LX.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Hispano-Moresque Lustred Vase; Madrid Museum</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_172.jpg">172</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">LXI.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Lustred Tiles; Osma Collection</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_174.jpg">174</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">LXII.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Hispano-Moresque Lustred Ware; Osma Collection</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_176.jpg">176</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">LXIII.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Hispano-Moresque Lustred Ware; Osma Collection</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_178.jpg">178</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">LXIV.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Hispano-Moresque Lustred Ware; Osma Collection</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_180.jpg">180</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">LXV.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Hispano-Moresque Lustred Ware; Osma Collection</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_182.jpg">182</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">LXVI.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Hispano-Moresque Lustred Ware; Osma Collection</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_184.jpg">184</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">LXVII.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Hispano-Moresque Lustred Ware</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_186.jpg">186</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">LXVIII.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Dish; Osma Collection</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_190.jpg">190</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">LXIX.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">An <i>Alfarería</i> or Potter's Yard; Granada</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_192.jpg">192</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">LXX.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Talavera Vase</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_198.jpg">198</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">LXXI.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Ornament in Porcelain of the Buen Retiro</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_208.jpg">208</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">LXXII.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Room decorated with Porcelain of the Buen Retiro; Royal Palace of Aranjuez</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_214.jpg">214</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">LXXIII.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Porcelain of the Moncloa Factory</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_218.jpg">218</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum"> </td> + <td class="tdc">GLASS</td> + <td class="page"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">LXXIV.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Vessels of Cadalso Glass</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_234.jpg">234</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">LXXV.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Vessels of Cadalso Glass</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_236.jpg">236</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">LXXVI.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Glass of the Factory of San Ildefonso</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_254.jpg">254</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="chapnum">LXXVII.</td> + <td class="chaptitle">Glass of the Factory of San Ildefonso</td> + <td class="page"><a href="#img_258.jpg">258</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<hr class="hr95" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="FURNITURE" id="FURNITURE">FURNITURE</a></h2> + +<p>Whether the primitive Iberians ate as well as +slept upon their cave or cabin floor, or whether—as +some classics call upon us to believe—they used +a kind of folding-chair (<i>dureta</i>) and (more advanced +and comfort-loving than the Andalusian rustics of +this day) devoured their simple meal from benches +or supports constructed in the wall, is not of +paramount importance to the history of Spanish +furniture. The statements of those early authors +may be granted or rejected as we please; for not +a single piece of furniture produced by prehistoric, +or, indeed, by Roman or by Visigothic Spain, has +been preserved. But if we look for evidence to +other crafts, recovered specimens of her early gold +and silver work and pottery show us that Roman +Spain grew to be eminently Roman in her social +and artistic life. This fact, together with the statements +of Saint Isidore and certain other writers of +his day, would seem to prove that all the usual<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> +articles of Roman furniture were commonly adopted +by the subjugated tribes, and subsequently by the +Visigoths;—the Roman eating-couch or <i>lectus +triclinaris</i>, the state-bed or <i>lectus genialis</i>, the +ordinary sleeping-bed or <i>lectus cubicularis</i>, made, +in prosperous households, of luxurious woods +inlaid with ivory, or even of gold and silver; +lamps or candelabra of silver, copper, glass, +and iron<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>; the <i>cathedra</i> or chair for women, +the <i>bisellium</i> or seat for honoured guests, the +<i>solium</i> or chair for the head of the house, the +simpler chairs without a back, known as the +<i>scabellum</i> and the <i>sella</i>, and the benches or +<i>subsellia</i> for the servants. Further, the walls +were hung with tapestries or rendered cheerful +by mural painting; while the fireplace<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> and +the brasier (<i>foculus</i>) have descended to contemporary +Spain.</p> + +<p>Advancing to a period well within the reach of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> +history, we find that early in the Middle Ages +Spain's seigniorial mansions and the houses of +the well-to-do were furnished in a style of rude +magnificence. Roman models, derived from +purely Roman and Byzantine sources through +the Visigoths, continued to remain in vogue +until the tenth or the eleventh century.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> Then, +as the fashion of these declined, the furniture +of Christian Spain was modified in turn by +Moorish, Gothic, and Renaissance art; or two of +these would overlap and interact, or even all the +three.</p> + +<p>During the Middle Ages the furniture of the +eating, sleeping, and living room which formed +the principal apartment in the mansion of a great +seignior, was very much the same throughout the +whole of Christian Europe. Viollet-le-Duc has +described it in the closest detail. The dominant +object, looming in a corner, was the ponderous +bed, transformed into a thing of beauty by its costly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> +canopy and hangings.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> Throughout the earlier +mediæval times the Spanish bedstead was of iron +or bronze. Wood, plain at first, then richly carved, +succeeded metal towards the fourteenth century, +and with this change the bed grew even vaster +than before. Often it rose so high above the +level of the flooring that the lord and lady required +a set of steps to clamber up to it. These steps +were portable, and sometimes made of solid silver.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> +I quote herewith a full description of a mediæval<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> +Spanish bed, extracted from an inventory of the +Princess Juana which was made upon her marriage +with the Count of Foix, in 1392. The same bed +had formerly belonged to Juana's mother, the +Princess Martha, at her marriage with King Juan +the First. It had “a velvet canopy with lions +of gold thread, and a dove and a horse confronting +every lion. And each of the lions and doves and +horses bears a lettering; and the lettering of the +lions is <i>Estre por voyr</i>, and that of the doves and +horses <i>aay</i>, and the whole is lined with green +cloth. <i>Item</i>, a counterpane of the said velvet, +with a similar design of doves and lions, and +likewise lined with green cloth. <i>Item</i>, three +curtain-pieces of fine blue silk, with their metal +rings and cords of blue thread. <i>Item</i>, three +cushion-covers of blue velvet, two of them of large +size, bearing two lions on either side, and four +of them small, with a single lion on either side, +embroidered with gold thread; with their linen +coverings. <i>Item</i>, a cloth of a barred pattern, with +the bars of blue velvet and cloth of gold upon a +red ground; which cloth serves for a state-chair +or for a window, and is lined with cloth. <i>Item</i>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> +another cloth made of the said velvet and cloth of +gold, which serves for the small chair (<i>reclinatorio</i>) +for hearing Mass, and is lined with the aforesaid +green cloth. <i>Item</i>, two large linen sheets enveloping +the aforesaid canopy and counterpane. A +pair of linen sheets, of four breadths apiece, +bordered on every side with a handbreadth of silk +and gold thread decoration consisting of various +kinds of birds, leaves, and letters; and each of +the said sheets contains at the head-end about +five handbreadths of the said decoration. <i>Item</i>, +four cushions of the same linen, all of them adorned +all round with about a handbreadth of the aforesaid +decoration of birds, leaves, and letters. <i>Item</i>, +two leather boxes, lined with wool, which contained +all these objects. <i>Item</i>, five canvas-covered +cushions stuffed with feather, for use with the +said six coverings of blue velvet bearing the said +devices. <i>Item</i>, three large pieces of wall tapestry +made of blue wool with the same devices of lions, +horses, and doves, made likewise of wool, yellow +and of other colours. <i>Item</i>, five carpets made +of the aforesaid wool, bearing the same devices. +<i>Item</i>, three coverlets of the same wool, and with +the same devices, for placing on the bed. <i>Item</i>, +a coverlet of red leather bearing in its centre the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> +arms of the King and the Infanta. <i>Item</i>, another +coverlet made of leather bars and plain red +leather. <i>Item</i>, a woollen coverlet with the arms +of the Infanta.”<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + +<p>Another corner of the room was occupied by +the dining-table,<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> spread at meal-times with a +cloth denominated by Saint Isidore the <i>mappa</i>, +<i>mápula</i>, <i>mapil</i>, <i>mantella</i>, or <i>mantellia</i>; and laid +with the <i>mandíbulas</i> or “jaw-wipers” (<i>i.e.</i> napkins; +see Du Cange), plates (<i>discos</i>), dishes (<i>mensorios</i>, +<i>messorios</i>, or <i>misorios</i>), spoons (<i>cocleares</i>, +<i>culiares</i>), though not as yet with forks,<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> cups of +various shapes and substances, with or without +a cover (<i>copos</i>, <i>vásculos</i>, and many other terms), +the water-flagon (<i>kana</i>, <i>mikana</i>, <i>almakana</i>), +the cruet-stand (<i>canatella</i>), and the salt-cellar +(<i>salare</i>).</p> + +<p>This table also served to write upon, while in +its neighbourhood would stand the massive sideboard,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> +piled with gold and silver plate, and vessels +of glass or ivory, wood or alabaster.</p> + +<p>Besides the bed and table in their several corners, +the chamber would contain a suitable variety of +chairs and stools, mostly surrounding the capacious +fireplace. Members of the household also sat on +carpets spread upon the floor. The great armchair +of the seignior himself was more ornate than +any of the rest, and was provided somewhat later +with a lofty Gothic back (Plates <a href="#img_10.jpg">i</a>. and <a href="#img_11.jpg">ii</a>.). A +chair with a back of moderate height was destined +for distinguished visitors. The back of +ordinary chairs reached only to about the sitter's +shoulder, and coverings of cloth or other stuffs +were not made fast, but hung quite loosely from the +wooden frame. This usage lasted till the sixteenth +century, when the upholsterers began to nail the +coverings of the larger chairs and benches.</p> + +<p>Owing to the oriental influence brought back +from the Crusades, the furniture of Europe, not +excluding Spain, grew ever more elaborate and +costly, while further, in the case of this Peninsula, +the native Moorish influence operated steadily and +strongly from Toledo, Seville, Cordova, Valencia, +and elsewhere. Tapestries of Eastern manufacture +(<i>alcatifas</i>) were now in general use for decorating<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> +floors and walls. The bed grew more and more +gigantic, and its clothes and curtains more extravagantly +sumptuous, until the florid Gothic woodwork +harmonized with canopies and curtains cut +from priceless skins, or wrought in gold and silver +thread on multicolor satin and brocade. And at +the bed's head, like some jewel marvellously set, +rested, in every noble home, the diptych or the +triptych with its image of the Saviour or the +Virgin Mary.</p> + +<p>Under the influence of the Renaissance this +love of luxury continued to increase among the +royal and the noble families of Spain. In 1574 an +inventory of the estate of Doña Juana, sister of +Philip the Second, mentions a silver balustrade, +weighing one hundred and twenty-one pounds, +for placing round a bed. The inventory (1560) +of the Dukes of Alburquerque contains a great +variety of entries relative to the furniture and +chamber-fittings of the period. We find here +mentioned, Turkey carpets and the celebrated +Spanish ones of Alcaraz, linens of Rouen, green +cloth of Cuenca, Toledo cloths, hangings of Arras +and elsewhere, tablecovers of damask and of +velvet, gold-fringed canopies (<i>doseles</i>) of green or +crimson velvet or brocade, a “canopy for a sideboard,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> +of red and yellow Toledo cloth, with the +arms of the La Cuevas in embroidery, together +with stripes and bows, and repetitions of the letter +I (for <i>Isabel Giron</i>, the duchess), also embroidered +fringes of the same cloth, and cords of the aforesaid +colours.” We also read of a <i>sitial</i> or state-chair +of crimson satin brocade, and “a small +walnut table covered with silver plates, bearing +the arms of my lord the duke and of my lady the +duchess, and edged with silver stripes.”<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> The +bedstead, fitted with hangings of double taffeta +and scarlet cloth, was no less sumptuous than the +other objects.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_10.jpg" width="380" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_10.jpg" id="img_10.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">I<br />MEDIÆVAL CHAIR<br /> +(<i>Carved with the arms of Castile and León</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>A popular and even an indispensable piece of +furniture in every mediæval Spanish household +was the <i>caja de novia</i> or “bride's chest.” The use +of this, as well as of a smaller kind of box, was +common both to Moors and Christians. No +matter of what size, these objects were essentially +the same. They served innumerable purposes;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> +were made of all dimensions—from the tiniest +casket (<i>arcellina</i>, <i>capsula</i>, or <i>pyxide</i>; see vol. i., +p. 45 <i>et seq.</i>) to the ponderous and vast <i>arcón</i>,—and +almost any substance—ivory or crystal, +mother-of-pearl or glass, gold, silver, copper, +silver-gilt, jasper, agate, or fine wood; and we +find them in every part of the Peninsula, from +the dawn of the Middle Ages till very nearly +the end of the eighteenth century.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_11.jpg" width="208" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_11.jpg" id="img_11.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">II<br />GOTHIC CHAIR<br /> +(<i>15th Century</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>According to the Marquis of Monistrol, the +larger boxes or <i>arcones</i> constitute by far the +commonest article of Spanish furniture all through +the earlier portion of this lengthy period. The +same authority divides them broadly into seven +classes, thus:—</p> + +<div class="blockquote"><p>(1) Burial-chests.</p> + +<p>(2) Chests for storing chasubles, chalices, +candelabra, and other objects connected +with the ceremonies of the church.</p> + +<p>(3) Archive-chests, for storing documents.</p> + +<p>(4) Chests for storing treasure (<i>huches</i>).</p> + +<p>(5) Brides' chests.</p> + +<p>(6) Chests for storing arms.</p> + +<p>(7) <i>Arcones-trojes</i>, or chests of common +make, employed for storing grain in +country dwellings or <i>posadas</i>.</p></div> + +<p>The decorative richness of these quaint <i>arcones</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +varies according to their date of manufacture, or +the purpose they were meant to serve. Commonly, +in the earliest of them, dating from the sixth or +seventh century, the iron clamps or fastenings +form the principal or only ornament. Such are +reported to have been the two chests which the +Cid Campeador loaded with sand and foisted as +filled with specie on his “dear friends” Rachel +and Vidas, the Jewish though trustful usurers +of Burgos, in return for six hundred marks of +gold and silver. Tradition says, moreover, that +the chest now shown at Burgos as the “coffer +of the Cid” is actually one of these. It is certain +that the archives of the cathedral have been +deposited in this chest for many centuries. +Evidently, too, it dates from about the lifetime +of the Cid, while the rings with which it is fitted +show it to have been a kind of trunk intended to +be carried on the backs of sumpter-mules or horses.</p> + +<p>After the Roman domination in this country, the +Latin term <i>capsa</i> was applied to every kind of +chest; but at a later age sepulchral chests or coffins +were denominated <i>urns</i>, in order to distinguish +them from <i>arcas</i> and <i>arcones</i>, which were used for +storing clothes or jewellery. Excellent examples<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +of Spanish mediæval burial-chests are those of +Doña Urraca, preserved in the Sagrario of the +cathedral of Palencia, and of San Isidro, patron +of Madrid. The former, mentioned by painstaking +Ponz, and by Pulgar in his <i>Secular and +Ecclesiastical Annals of Palencia</i>, is of a plain +design, and really constitutes a coffin. The sepulchral +chest of San Isidro, dating from the end of +the thirteenth century, or the early part of the +fourteenth, and kept at Madrid in a niche of the +<i>camarín</i> of the parish church of San Andrés, is +in the Romanic style, and measures seven feet +six inches in length. It has a gable top, and is +painted in brilliant colours on plaster-coated +parchment, with miracles effected by the saint, +and other scenes related with his life; but much +of the painting is effaced.</p> + +<p>Another interesting sepulchral chest would +probably have been the one presented in 1052 +by Ferdinand the First, together with his royal +robe and crown,<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> to the basilica of Saint John +the Baptist at León, to guard the remains of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +Saint Isidore. This chest was covered with thick +gold plates studded with precious stones, and +bore, in enamel and relief, the figures of the +apostles gathered round the Saviour, and medallions +containing figures of the Virgin, saints, and +martyrs. According to Ambrosio de Morales, +the gold plates were torn off by Alfonso the +First of Aragon, who replaced them by others +of silver-gilt. The same monarch, regardless of +the church's fierce anathema pronounced on all +who dared to touch her property,<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> is accused by +his chronicler of having appropriated a box of +pure gold studded with gems, enshrining a crucifix +made of the true Cross, and which was kept in +some town or village of the kingdom of León. +Doubtless as a chastisement for Alfonso's impiety, +this precious box was captured from him by the +Moors at the battle of Fraga.</p> + +<p>Among the reliquary chests, the oldest specimen +extant in Spain is the <i>arca santa</i> of Oviedo +cathedral. This object, which is purely Byzantine +in its style, is believed to have been made at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +Constantinople. It was improved by Alfonso the +Sixth, who added <i>repoussé</i> plates to it, with Arabic +ornamentation in the form of meaningless inscriptions +of a merely decorative character, but which +are interesting as showing the kinship existing at +this time between the Spanish Christians and the +Spanish Moors.</p> + +<p>Equally important is the coffer which was made +by order of Don Sancho el Mayor to enshrine the +wonder-working bones of San Millan, and which +is now at San Millan de la Cogulla, in the +province of La Rioja. The author of this chest, +which dates from <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1033, is vaguely spoken of +as “Master Aparicio.” The chest itself consists +of a wooden body beneath a covering of ivory +and gold, further enriched with statuettes and +studded with real and imitation stones. It is +divided into twenty-two compartments carved in +ivory with passages from the life and miracles of +the saint, and figures of “princes, monks, and +benefactors,” who had contributed in one way or +another to the execution of the reliquary.</p> + +<p>I have said that the “coffer of the Cid” was +made for carrying baggage. A very interesting +Spanish baggage-chest, although more modern +than the Cid's by several centuries, is now the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +property of Señor Moreno Carbonero (Plate <a href="#img_16.jpg">iii</a>.). +This very competent authority believes it to have +belonged to Isabella the Catholic, and says that it +was formerly the usage of the sovereigns of this +country to mark their baggage-boxes with the +first quartering of the royal arms and also with +their monogram. Such is the decoration, consisting +of repeated castles and the letter Y (for Ysabel), +upon this trunk. The space between is painted +red upon a surface thinly spread with wax. +Strips of iron, twisted to imitate the girdle of Saint +Francis, are carried over all the frame, surrounding +the castles and the letters. This box was found +at Ronda.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_16.jpg" width="500" height="302" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_16.jpg" id="img_16.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">III<br /><i>ARCÓN</i><br /> +(<i>15th Century</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>A handsome <i>arcón</i>, dating from the same period +as this baggage-chest of Isabella the Catholic, +namely, the end of the fifteenth century, is stated +by its owner, Don Manuel Lopez de Ayala, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +have belonged to Cardinal Cisneros (Plate <a href="#img_18.jpg">iv</a>.). +The material is wood, covered inside with dark +blue cloth, and outside with red velvet, most of +the nap of which is worn away. The dimensions +are four feet six inches in length, two feet in +height, and twenty inches in depth. The chest, +which has a triple lock, is covered with <i>repoussé</i> +iron plates representing twisted columns and +other architectural devices, combined with Gothic +thistle-leaves. A coat of arms is on the front.</p> + +<p>Such is an outline of the history of these +Spanish chests. Most of the earlier ones are +cumbersome and scantily adorned. Then, as +time proceeds, we find on them the florid Gothic +carving, unsurpassed for purity and charm; then +the Renaissance, with its characteristic ornament of +urns, and birds, and intertwining frond and ribbon; +and finally, towards, and lasting through the +greater portion of, the eighteenth century, the +tasteless and decadent manner of Baroque. Yet +even in the worst and latest we descry from time +to time a flickering remnant of the art of Moorish +Spain.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_18.jpg" width="500" height="290" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_18.jpg" id="img_18.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">IV<br /><i>ARCA</i> OF CARDINAL CISNEROS</p> +</div> + +<p>These Spanish Moors, obedient to the custom +of their fellow-Mussulmans throughout the world, +employed but little furniture. They loved, indeed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +bright colours and ingenious craftsmanship, but +rather in the adjuncts to their furniture than in the +furniture itself; in costly carpets, or worked and +coloured leather hung upon the wall,<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> or spread +upon their <i>alhamies</i> and <i>alhanías</i>; in fountains +bubbling in the middle of their courts and halls; +in doors, and ceilings, and <i>celosías</i> exquisitely +carved, and joined with matchless cunning; in +flower-vases placed in niches; in bronze or silver +perfume-burners rolling at their feet; but not +(within the ordinary limit of the term) in furniture. +Upon this theme the Reverend Lancelot Addison +discourses very quaintly. “The host here,” he +wrote of “West Barbary” in 1663, “is one Cidi +Caffian Shat, a grandee, reported to be an Andalusian,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +one of the race of the Moors bansht (<i>sic</i>) +Spain…. We were called to a little upper +Room, which we could not enter till we had put +off our shoes at the threshold: not for Religion, +but Cleanliness, and not to prevent our unhallowing +the floor, but defiling the carpets wherewith +it was curiously spread. At the upper end of the +Room was laid a Velvit Cushion, as large as +those we use in our Pulpits, and it denoted the +most Honourable part of the Room. After we +had reposed about an hour, there was brought in +a little oval Table, about twenty Inches high, which +was covered with a long piece of narrow linnen; +and this served for Diaper.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> For the Moors, by +their law, are forbidden such superfluous Utensils +as napkins, knives, spoons, etc. Their Religion +laying down the general maxim, that meer +necessaries are to be provided for; which caused +a precise Moor to refuse to drink out of my dish,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +when he could sup water enough out of the hollow +of his hand.”</p> + +<p>The same author proceeds to relate his experiences +at bed-time. “Having supp'd and solaced +ourselves with muddy beverage and Moresco +music, we all composed ourselves to sleep: about +twenty were allotted to lodge in this small chamber, +whereof two were Christians, three Jews, and the +rest Moors; every one made his bed of what he +wore, which made our English constitutions to +wish for the morning.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_20.jpg" width="346" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_20.jpg" id="img_20.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">V<br />ARMCHAIR<br /> +(<i>17th Century. Museum of Salamanca</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>Among the Mussulmans all this has undergone +no change. Do we not find their present furniture +to be identical with that of distant centuries?—a +characteristic scarcity of portable articles of +wood; the isolated box (<i>arqueta</i> or <i>arcón</i>) which +serves the purpose of our clumsier chest of drawers +or wardrobe;<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> carpets and decorated leathers; the +tiny, indispensable table; the lack of knives and +spoons; ornaments to regale the eye rather than +commodities which the hand might seize upon +and utilize? Such was, and is, and will continue<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> +to remain Mohammedan society throughout the +world; and these descriptive passages of life in +seventeenth-century Morocco might have been +penned with equal truth in reference to the Spanish +Muslim of a thousand years ago.</p> + +<p>The furniture of the Moorish mosques was also +of the scantiest. “They are,” to quote once more +from Lancelot Addison's amusing little brochure, +“without the too easy accommodations of seats, +pews, or benches. The floor of the Giámma is +handsomely matted, and so are the walls about +two feet high. If the roof be large and weighty, +it is supported with pillars, among which hang +the lamps, which are kept burning all the night.” +At one point of his expedition the reason for such +paucity of furniture was vividly expounded to our +tourist. A Moor indignantly exclaimed to him +that it was “a shame to see women, dogs, and +dirty shoes brought into a place sacred to God's +worship, and that men …; should have chaires +there to sit in with as much lascivious ease as at +home.”<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + +<p>Nevertheless, a pulpit in the mosque, and a seat +of some kind in the palace or the private house, +were not to be dispensed with. We learn from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +Ibn-Khaldoun and many other writers, that the +throne of the Mussulman sultans was the <i>mimbar</i>, +<i>takcht</i>, or <i>cursi</i>. Each of these objects was a +wooden seat. The first of the sultans to use a +throne was Moawia, son of Abu-Sofyan. The +princes who came after him continued the same +usage, but displayed a constantly increasing +splendour in the decoration of the throne. This +custom spread, in course of time, from east to west +throughout almost the whole dominion of the +Muslims. The Beni-Nasr princes of Granada +are also known to have used a throne, but this +is believed to have consisted simply of some +cushions piled one upon another. This inference +is drawn by Eguilaz Yanguas and other +Arabists from the old <i>Vocabulary</i> of Fray Pedro +de Alcalá, who renders a “throne” or “royal +seat” by <i>martaba</i>, a word equivalent to “cushion.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_22.jpg" width="500" height="349" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_22.jpg" id="img_22.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">VI<br />CHAIR AND TABLE<br /> +(<i>17th Century. Salamanca Cathedral</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>Cushions, too, became symbolic, even with the +Christian Spaniards, of a seat of honour; both +because they lent themselves to rich embroidery +or leather-work, and because they raised their +occupant above the level of the persons seated +positively on the carpet or the floor. In the +painting on the ceiling of the Hall of Justice in the +Alhambra, ten men are congregated in Mohammedan<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +costume, each of them seated on a cushion. +Some writers, including Argote de Molina, Diego +Hurtado de Mendoza, and Hernando del Pulgar, +believed these figures to be actual portraits of the +sultans; others maintain that they depict the +<i>Mizouar</i> or royal council. In either case, however, +the cushion here is clearly an honourable +place. We have, besides, abundant evidence that +the Spanish Christians viewed the cushion with +as marked a liking as their rivals. Alvarez de +Colmenar relates that at the very close of the +seventeenth century the Spanish women sat at +meals in Moorish fashion. “Un père de famille +est assis seul à table, et toutes les femmes, sans +exception, mangent par terre, assises sur un +carreau avec leurs enfants, et leur table dressée +sur un tapis étendu.” The same work says elsewhere +that “lorsque les dames se rendent visite, +elles ne se donnent ni siège ni fauteuil, mais elles +sont toutes assises par terre, les jambes en croix, +sur des tapis ou des carreaux.”<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> + +<p>Therefore, until two centuries ago, the women +of Christian Spain were suffered to take their +seat on cushions of brocade or damask. Only +the men made use of stools or chairs, according<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +to their rank. To “give a chair” (<i>dar silla</i>) to +a visitor of the male sex was to pay him a valued +courtesy;<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> and even now the wife of a grandee +of Spain goes through the honourable though +irksome ceremony, at the palace of Madrid, of +“taking the cushion.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_24.jpg" width="500" height="352" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_24.jpg" id="img_24.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">VII<br />CHAIRS UPHOLSTERED WITH <i>GUADAMECILES</i><br /> +(<i>17th Century</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>Another usage with the Spaniards of the +seventeenth and immediately preceding centuries +was the “dais of honour” or <i>estrado de cumplimiento</i>. +This was a platform very slightly +raised, and separated by a railing from the rest +of the room. The curious manuscript discovered +by Gayangos, descriptive of court-life at Valladolid +in 1605, contains the following account of one +of the occasions when the Queen, following a +common custom of a Sunday, dined alone, in +sight of all the aristocracy. “The table was laid +upon the dais (<i>estrado alto</i>), beneath a canopy of +brocade that overhung the whole of it. The +queen sat at the head of the table, and three ladies, +standing, waited on her; two uncovering the +dishes as they came,<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> and the third carving. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +dishes were brought from the dining-room door +by the <i>meninos</i>, who handed them to the ladies. +Other ladies of the royal household, wives or +daughters of grandees, stood leaning against the +wall in company with gentlemen who, on such +occasions, sue for leave beforehand to attend on +Lady So and So, or So and So. Commonly +there are two such cavaliers to every dame. If +the queen asks for water, one of these ladies takes +it to her, kneels, makes an obeisance, kisses the +goblet, hands it to her majesty, and retires to her +appointed place. Behind the queen was one of +her chamberlains. Many of the Englishmen +were witnessing the meal. They always put the +English first on such occasions; and as they are +such hulking fellows (God bless them!) I, who +was at their back, scarce noted anything of what +was passing, and only saw that many plates went +to and fro.”</p> + +<p>Solid and expensive furniture continued to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +used in Spain throughout the sixteenth and the +seventeenth centuries; the ponderous chest, the +ponderous brasier, ponderous stools, ponderous +armchairs with massive nails and coverings of +velvet or of decorated leather (Plates <a href="#img_20.jpg">v</a>v., <a href="#img_22.jpg">vi</a>., and +<a href="#img_24.jpg">vii</a>.). Upon the wall, the tapestry of earlier +times was often replaced by paintings of a sacred +character, or family portraits. The comedy titled +<i>La Garduña de Sevilla</i>, written about the middle +of the seventeenth century by Alonso del Castillo +Solorzano, describes the interior of a rich man's +dwelling of this period. “Upstairs Rufina noted +delicate summer hangings, new chairs of Moscovy +cowhide, curiously carved buffets, and ebony and +ivory writing-desks; for Marquina, though a +skinflint towards others, was generous in the +decoration of his own abode…. When dinner +was over, he took her to a room embellished with +fine paintings, and with a bed whose canopy was +of some Indian fabric…. Paintings by famous +masters were plentifully hung about the house, +together with fine Italian hangings, various kinds +of writing-desks, and costly beds and canopies. +When they had visited nearly all the rooms, they +opened the door of one which contained a beautiful +altar and its oratory. Here were a great array<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> +of costly and elaborate Roman vessels, agnuses +of silver and of wood, and flowers arranged in +various ways. This chamber, too, was full of +books distributed in gilded cases.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_26.jpg" width="391" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_26.jpg" id="img_26.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">VIII<br />THE <i>SALA DE LA BARCA</i><br /> +(<i>Before the fire of 1890. Alhambra, Granada</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>A characteristic piece of Spanish furniture was +at this time the solid-looking cabinet known as the +<i>vargueño</i>, so denominated from the little town +of Vargas, near Toledo, formerly a well-known +centre of their manufacture. These cabinets, +whose origin, according to the Marquis of Monistrol, +may be traced to a fifteenth-century form of +<i>huche</i>, or chest provided with drawers for guarding +articles of value, and which opened in the centre, +are commonly made of walnut. The front lets +down upon a massive wooden rest supported by the +legs, and forms a folding writing-table containing at +the back a number of drawers or compartments for +storing documents, or other things of minor bulk.</p> + +<p>The woodwork of these cabinets is often without +carving; but generally in such cases their bareness +is relieved by massive and elaborately ornamented +iron fastenings and a decorative key.</p> + +<p>The Ordinances of Granada tell us that in +1616 the making of defective furniture had grown +to be a scandal in that town. The cause, it +seems, was partly in the wood itself, proceeding<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> +from the Sierra de Segura, Pinar del Duque, and +the Sierra de Gor. “Divers of our carpenters +and joiners cut their walnut and other woods +while yet the moon is crescent, whereby the wood +decays and spoils. Others there be that make +and sell chairs, desks, beds, and other furniture +of green unseasoned wood which warps and +loosens, insomuch that within some days the +article is worthless. Therefore we order that +all walnut wood and other woods for making +furniture be only cut at the time of the waning +moon, and be not used until they shall have +seasoned thoroughly, so as not to warp; and that +they be approved by the inspectors of this trade, +under a penalty of six thousand <i>maravedis</i> for +each of the aforesaid Ordinances that be not +complied with.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_28.jpg" width="390" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_28.jpg" id="img_28.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">IX<br />DOOR OF THE HALL OF THE ABENCERRAJES<br /> +(<i>Alhambra, Granada</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>The municipal laws of the same city relative +to the “chair-makers who make hip-chairs to sit +in, and leather-covered chests,” were cried, in +1515 and 1536, “in the street of the chairmakers +and carpenters.” Fettered by irksome regulations +of this kind, we cannot wonder that the arts and +crafts of Christian Spain were fated to decline.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +Owing to the “false and faulty workmanship” prevailing +in Granada, it is provided by these statutes +that the wood employed in making chairs must +be bought by the manufacturers in public auction +only, held “in the little square where dwell the +chairmakers.” It must be thoroughly dry and +free from flaws, and of sufficient stoutness to +sustain the decorative marquetry. The chair +which lacks these requisite conditions must be +seized and burnt. The four nails which fasten +the seat of the chair to the legs must traverse the +frame completely and be hammered back upon +the other side, unless the surface of the chair +be inlaid, in which case they need not pass +completely through. The leather for the seats +and backs of chairs must be good in quality and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +well prepared and dressed, besides being strongly +sewn with flaxen thread. Chairs of all sizes +must bear the official city mark, stamped by the +authorities at a charge of one <i>maravedi</i> for each +of the large chairs and a <i>blanca</i> for each of the +small.</p> + +<p>Makers of the leather-covered chests are +ordered to use the hides of horses, mares, or +mules, and not the hides of oxen, cows, or calves, +because, if covered with this latter, “the chests +grow moth-eaten and are destroyed much sooner.” +The craftsman who transgresses this command +must lose the faulty piece of furniture, and pay four +hundred <i>maravedis</i>, while under a further penalty +of two hundred <i>maravedis</i> the hinges must be +fixed inside the chest, and not to its exterior.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_30.jpg" width="500" height="383" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_30.jpg" id="img_30.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">X<br />MOORISH DOOR, DETAIL OF CARVING<br /> +(<i>Hall of the Two Sisters, Alhambra, Granada</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>I have omitted hitherto all mention of the +furnishing of humbler Spanish houses in the olden +time. The following passage from the Ordinances +of Granada shows us, referring to an inn, an +unpretentious lodging of about four hundred +years ago:—</p> + +<p>“<i>Item.</i> If the innkeeper have a parlour or +alcove that fastens with a lock, and therein a +bed of the better class, with hangings round +about it, and a canopy above, and on the bed a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +counterpane, friezed blanket, and pillows; also a +bench with its strip of carpet or striped benchcloth, +a table with its service of tablecloths and +all that be needful, besides a lamp of brass or +ware, all of the best that he is able to provide—for +such a bed and room he may demand twelve +<i>maravedis</i> each day; whether the room be taken +by one guest, or two, or more.”<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> + +<p>Nor was the Spanish inn more comfortable in +the seventeenth or eighteenth centuries than in +the sixteenth. “On entre d'ordinaire dans les +Hôtelleries par l'écurie, du moins dans de certaines +Provinces; on vous mène dans quelque chambre, +où vous trouvez les quatre parois, quelquefois un +bois de lit; pour chandelle on allume un grand +nombre de petites bougies, qui font assez de +lumière pour voir ce que vous mangez; et afin +que l'odeur and la fumée de tant de bougies +n'incommode pas, on vous apporte, si vous le +souhaitez, un brasier de noyaux d'olives en +charbon. Quand on monte, on trouve au haut de +l'escalier, la <i>Señora de la Casa</i>, qui a eu le tems +de prendre ses beaux habits de dimanche pour +vous faire honneur et s'en faire à elle-même.” +(Alvarez de Colmenar, in 1715.)</p> + +<p>It is interesting to compare these passages with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> +Lancelot Addison's account of a Morocco inn +towards the middle of the seventeenth century; +bearing in mind that <i>fonda</i>, the current Spanish +term for <i>hostelry</i>, is common both to Spain and to +Morocco:—</p> + +<p>“In later years, every town of traffic hath +erected a sort of Inns called <i>Alfándach</i>, which +affords nothing but House-room for man and +beast, the market yielding provision for both. +Those that farm these <i>fandáchs</i> cannot exact +above a Blankil a night both for man and beast, +which is in sterling money about two pence. The +horses lodging costing equally with his Rider's.”<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> + +<p>Similarly, the keeper of the older Spanish inn +was not allowed by law to traffic in provisions. +“Nothing but house-room” was available for wayfarers, +and the weary visitor, as soon as ever he +arrived, must sally forth to do his marketing.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_32.jpg" width="385" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_32.jpg" id="img_32.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XI<br />DOOR OF THE <i>SALON DE EMBAJADORES</i><br /> +(<i>Alcázar of Seville</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>“Quand on arrive aux Hôtelleries, fut il minuit +passé, l'on n'y trouve rien de prêt, non pas même +un pot sur le feu. L'hôtel ne vous donne que le +couvert et le lit, pour tout le reste, il le faut envoyer +chercher, si vous ne voulez prendre la peine +d'y aller vous-même. On donne l'argent nécessaire,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +et l'on va vous chercher du pain, du vin, +de la viande, et généralement tout ce que +l'on souhaite, si tant est qu'on le puisse trouver. +Il est vrai que cette coutume a son bon +côté.</p> + +<p>“Le prix de toutes ces choses est réglé, l'on +sait ce qu'il faut payer, et un hôte ne peut pas +friponner. On vous apprête votre viande, et l'on +donne une réale et demie, ou deux réaux pour le +<i>servicio</i>, comme ils parlent, et autant pour le lit, +ce qui revient environ à quinze sous de France. +Si l'on se trouve dans quelque grande ville, on +aura une nappe grande comme une serviette, et +une serviette grande comme un mouchoir de +poche; dans d'autres endroits il faut s'en passer.</p> + +<p>“Les lits ne sont pas fort ragoutans; quelque +matelas, ou quelque paillasse, ou tout au plus une +couverture de coton; à la campagne il faut passer +la nuit sur le carreau, ou bien sur quelque botte +de paille, qu'on doit avoir soin de faire bien +secouer, pour en chasser la vermine.”</p> + +<p>The statements in this passage relative to the +lack of food in Spanish hostelries are confirmed, +nearly a century later, by Townsend, who records +that on reaching a certain village his first proceeding +was to turn his steps, not to the <i>fonda</i> or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +<i>posada</i> where he would engage his bed, but to +the butcher's, wine-seller's, and so forth, “to see +what was to be had, as I had travelled all day +fasting.”</p> + +<p>It is beyond the province of this work to dwell +upon the foreign taste in furniture which invaded +Spain from France upon the advent of the +Bourbon dynasty, and so I limit my notice of the +eighteenth century to quoting from Laborde the +following comprehensive passage:—</p> + +<p>“If the Spaniards,” this traveller wrote in +1809, “take many precautions against heat, they +take scarcely any against cold; it is very uncommon +to find doors or windows that shut +close, and the rooms are very little and very +ill-warmed. The use of chimneys even is very +uncommon, and only prevails in the houses of +such Spaniards as have travelled. Brasiers of +copper or silver are generally employed, which +are set in the middle of the apartment, filled +with burning charcoal, and round which the family +place themselves.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_34.jpg" width="391" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_34.jpg" id="img_34.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XII<br />DOOR OF THE <i>SALON DE EMBAJADORES</i><br /> +(<i>Alcázar of Seville</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>“The beds in Spain are hard. They are only +made of mattresses, more or fewer, laid on paillasses +which rest upon a boarded bottom; for +neither sacking nor feather beds are known. No<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +bolsters are used, but in their place little, short, +flat pillows are heaped up, sometimes to the +number of six or eight. The sheets are in +general short and narrow; and napkins scarcely +as big as a small pocket handkerchief.</p> + +<p>“The furniture of the houses is usually very +simple. The floor is covered with a matting of +<i>esparto</i> in winter, and of rushes or palm leaves in +summer. A matting of the same kind, a painted +cloth, or painting in panels, covers the walls +from the floor to the height of four or five feet; +above, the wall is bare, painted white, and adorned +with pictures of saints and a kind of ornamented +metal chandeliers; these are covered with a glass, +surrounded with a border of gilt ornaments; and +a little branch of gilt copper proceeds from them +forming zig-zags or festoons, on which the candles +are placed; they are called cornucopias; they are +from one to three feet in height, and give the +apartment the air of a coffee room, or billiard room. +Mirrors are placed between the windows, and a +lustre of clear glass in imitation of crystal is suspended +from the middle of the handsomest +saloons. The chairs have straw bottoms; in +some provinces, as Murcia, Andalusia, and +Valencia, they are of different heights; those on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +one side of the room being of the common height, +and the others one third lower. The latter are +intended for the ladies. In some of the principal +cities one also sees chairs and sofas of walnut +wood, the backs of which are bare, and the +seats covered with damask; usually crimson or +yellow.</p> + +<p>“Luxury begins, however, to show itself in +these objects. In the chief cities many hangings +are of painted paper or linen; even hangings of +brocades, of one and of three colours, and of +various other kinds of silk; large and beautiful +mirrors, and a number of sofas may be seen. +The houses of the grandees in Madrid are +magnificently furnished, but usually with more +cost than taste. Hangings of silk, velvet, and +damask, adorned with rich fringes and gold embroidery, +are very common, and the seats are of +corresponding magnificence. Many houses in +Barcelona, Cadiz, Valencia, and Madrid are +decorated with equal study and elegance.</p> + +<p>“The custom of painting the walls is of late +introducing itself into Spain. They are covered +with representations of men and animals, with +trees, flowers, landscapes, houses, urns, vases, or +history pieces, divided into compartments, adorned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> +with pillars, pilasters, friezes, cornices, and arabesques; +the effect of the whole is often very +agreeable. This kind of decoration was imported +from Italy.”<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_36.jpg" width="417" height="600" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_36.jpg" id="img_36.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XIII<br />ALCÁZAR OF SEVILLE<br /> +(<i>Façade and principal entrance</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>In this account we clearly trace each various +and successive influence that had permeated older +Spain, leaving her, at the close of every period, a +nation that produced illustrious artists, but never +a nation deeply versed in, or devoted to, the arts. +The beds and brasiers of these modern Spaniards +were derived from ancient Rome; their general +dearth of comfortable furniture, together with the +lower, and therefore more humiliating, seats for +women, from the Spanish Moors; the typically +ponderous hangings from mediæval Spain herself; +the fresco wall-paintings, such as may still +be seen in many a Spanish country home, from +classic or Renaissance Italy; and the finicking +gilt, rococo cornucopias from France; while the +use of mirrors and of lustres in hideous combination +with straw-bottomed chairs, almost reminds us +of the days of Visigothic barbarism.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p> + +<h3>LEATHER</h3> + +<p><i>Guadamacilería</i>, or the art of decorating leather +with painting, gilding, and impressions in relief, +is commonly believed to have crossed from Africa +to Spain at some time in the Middle Ages. +According to Duveyrier, the word <i>guadamecí</i> or +<i>guadamecil</i> is taken from Ghadames, a town in +Barbary where the craft was practised long ago; +but Covarrubias gives it an origin directly +Spanish, supposing that the title and the craft +alike proceeded from a certain town of Andalusia. +However this may be, the preparation of these +leathers grew to be a most important industry in +various parts of Spain, and spread, as time went +on, to Italy, France, and other European +countries.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_38.jpg" width="325" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_38.jpg" id="img_38.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XIV<br />DOOR OF THE CAPILLA DE LOS VARGAS<br /> +(<i>Madrid</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>In the Peninsula, the principal centres of this +work were Cordova, Seville, Lerida, Barcelona, +Ciudad Real, and Valladolid. Cordova, however, +was so far ahead of all the rest that leathers +decorated in this style were known throughout +the world as <i>cueros de Córdoba</i>, or “Cordova<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +leathers.” Another name for them is said to +have been <i>cordobanes</i>; but possibly the application +of this latter word was less restricted. +Bertaut de Rouen wrote in the seventeenth +century of Ciudad Real:—“C'est une ville située +dans une grande plaine, et dont l'enceinte est +assez grande, qui estoit mesme fort peuplée +autrefois, mais elle est quasi deserte à present. +Il ne luy reste plus rien sinon que c'est là où l'on +appreste le mieux les peaux de <i>Cordouan</i>, dont +on fait les gans d'Espagne. C'est delà aussi d'où +elles viennent pour la pluspart à Madrid. J'en +achetay quelques-unes.”</p> + +<p>In 1197 Alfonso the Ninth presented the town +of Castro de los Judíos to León Cathedral and +its bishop, confirming at the same time the +tribute which the Jews who occupied that town +were bound to render upon Saint Martin's day +in every year, and which consisted of two hundred +<i>sueldos</i>, a fine skin, and two <i>guadamecís</i>. This +tribute had existed since the reign of Ferdinand +the First: that is, towards the middle of the +preceding century.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p> + +<p>None of these primitive leathers now exist, and +consequently the details of their workmanship<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> +have perished with them. Ramírez de Arellano +mentions two small coffers in the Cluny Museum, +which date from about the fourteenth century +and are decorated with the forms of animals +cut from leather and overlaid on velvet. Other +<i>guadamecís</i>, though not of the oldest, are in +the South Kensington Museum. “The earliest +<i>guadamecileros</i>,” says Ramírez de Arellano, speaking +particularly of this art at Cordova, “were accustomed +to imitate brocade upon their leathers, +employing beaten silver together with the colours +red, green, blue, black, white, and carmine, +applied in oils, or sometimes (although the law +prohibited this) in tempera. Gold was not used +till 1529, when Charles the Fifth confirmed +the Ordinances of this industry. The leather-workers +tanned the hides themselves, stamping +the pattern from a wooden mould, and then +(if we may call it so) engraving on them. +The hides were those of rams. The spaces +between the decoration were either coloured +red or blue, or simply left the colour of the +skin; or else the pattern would be wrought in +colours on the natural hide. Gold, which at a +later epoch almost totally replaces silver, was +introduced between 1529 and 1543, and was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +applied as follows. The artists smeared with oil +the parts they wished to figure in raised or sunk +relief, and laid the beaten gold upon the oil. +They then applied a heated iron or copper mould; +the pattern in relief was stamped; and the gold, +superfluous shreds of which were wiped away with +lint, adhered upon the leather. The irons required +to be moderately hot, because if overheated +they would burn the hide, or, if not hot enough, +the fixing of the gold would not be permanent.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_40.jpg" width="349" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_40.jpg" id="img_40.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XV<br />MUDEJAR DOOR<br /> +(<i>Palacio de las Dueñas, Seville</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>The importance of this industry in Spain may +be judged of from the fact that towards the close +of the Middle Ages the <i>guadamacileros</i> of Seville +occupied nearly the whole of an important street—the +Calle Placentines. Similarly, at Cordova +they filled the quarter of the city known as the +Ajerquía. “So many <i>guadamecíes</i> are made here,” +wrote Ambrosio de Morales, “that in this craft no +other capital can compare with her; and in such +quantities that they supply all Europe and the +Indies. This industry enriches Cordova and +also beautifies her; for since the gilded, wrought, +and painted leathers are fixed upon large boards +and placed in the sun in order to be dried, by +reason of their splendour and variety they make +her principal streets right fair to look upon.”</p> + +<p>We owe to Rafael Ramírez de Arellano most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +valuable and recent information respecting this +ancient Spanish-Moorish craft.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> He has discovered +the names of nearly forty <i>guadamacileros</i> +who lived and worked at Cordova, principally in +the sixteenth century. It is not worth while to +repeat these names alone, but one or two +particulars connected with a few of them are +interesting. In 1557 four of these artificers, +named Benito Ruiz, Diego de San Llorente, +Diego de Ayora, and Anton de Valdelomar, signed +a contract to prepare the cut and painted <i>guadamaciles</i> +for decorating a palace at Rome. This contract, +which is most precise and technical, is +published in No. 101 of the <i>Boletín de la Sociedad +Española de Excursiones</i>. The only further notice +which Señor Ramírez de Arellano has discovered +relating to any of these four craftsmen, tells us +that nine years after the signing of the document +just mentioned, Diego de Ayora leased some +houses in the Calle de la Feria for a yearly rental +of twenty-two ducats and three pairs of live hens.</p> + +<p>Another interesting contract is dated April +17th, 1587. By it the <i>guadamacilero</i> Andrés<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> +Lopez de Valdelomar agreed, in company with +Hernando del Olmo of Marchena, and with +Francisco de Gaviria and Francisco Delgado, +painters, of Cordova, to make a number of pieces +of <i>guadamecí</i> for the Duke of Arcos. The work +was to be terminated by July of the same year. +Valdelomar was to receive from the duke's agent +three <i>reales</i> for each piece, and the painters two +<i>reales</i> and a half; this money to be paid them by +instalments as the work proceeded.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_42.jpg" width="351" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_42.jpg" id="img_42.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XVI<br /><i>CELOSÍA</i><br /> +(<i>Alhambra, Granada</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>On August 26th, 1567, before the mayor of +Cordova and the two inspectors of this trade, Pedro +de Blancas was officially examined and approved +in “cutting, working, and completing a <i>guadamecí</i> +of red damask with gold and silver borders on a +green field, and a cushion with green and crimson +decoration and faced with silver brocade.”</p> + +<p>The Ordinances of Cordova also tell us much +about this industry. The oldest of these city laws +which deal with it are dated 1529. Those of 1543 +were ratified by a Crown pragmatic early in the +seventeenth century, and at this later date we +learn that the craft had much declined, the leather +being by now “of wretched quality, the colouring +imperfect, and the pieces undersized.” The +Ordinances published in the sixteenth century<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> +provide that every applicant for official licence to +pursue this craft and open business as a <i>guadamacilero</i>, +must prove himself, in presence of the +examiners, able to mix his colours and design with +them, and to make a canopy together with its +fringe, as well as “a cushion of any size or style +that were demanded of him; nor shall he explain +merely by word of mouth the making of the same, +but make it with his very hands in whatsoever +house or place shall be appointed by the mayor +and the overseers of the craft aforesaid.”</p> + +<p>It was also provided by these Ordinances that +the pieces of leather were to be dyed, not with +Brazil-wood, but with madder, and that their size, +whether the hide were silvered, gilt, or painted, +was to be strictly uniform, namely, “the size of +the primitive mould,” or “three-quarters of a yard +in length by two-thirds of a yard, all but one inch, +in width.” The standard measures, made of iron +and stamped with the city seal, were guarded under +lock and key; and the Ordinances of 1567 establish +the penalty of death for every <i>guadamacilero</i> who +shall seek, in silvering his wares, to palm off tin +for silver.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_44.jpg" width="500" height="343" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_44.jpg" id="img_44.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XVII<br />CARVED <i>ALERO</i></p> +</div> + +<p>These leathers served a great variety of +purposes, public or private, sacred or profane.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +They were used upon the walls and floors of +palaces and castles, as table-covers, counterpanes, +bed-hangings, cushions, curtains for doors, linings +for travelling-litters, coverings of chests and +boxes,<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> and seats and backs of chairs and +benches (Plate <a href="#img_24.jpg">vii</a>.). In churches and cathedrals, +especially throughout the sixteenth century, we +find them used as tapestry and carpets,<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> altar-fronts +(such as one which is preserved in the +chapel of San Isidro in Palencia cathedral), or +crowns for images of the Virgin.<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> As time +advanced, gold and a coat or so of colour was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +succeeded by elaborate painting. Thus painted, +they were often cut into the forms of columns, +pilasters, or friezes in the Plateresco or Renaissance +style,<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> until the growing popularity of wall-pictures, +together with the importation of French +fashions at the death of Charles the Second, +crippled and ultimately killed the decorative +leather industry of Spain.</p> + +<h3>CARPENTRY AND WOOD-CARVING</h3> + +<p>The artistic carpentry of older Spain produced +as its most typical and striking monuments, three<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> +groups of objects which may be included generally +under Furniture. These are the <i>celosía</i> or +window-lattice, the door of <i>lazo</i>-work, and the +<i>artesonado</i>-ceiling which adorns a hall or chamber, +corridor or staircase.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_46.jpg" width="500" height="350" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_46.jpg" id="img_46.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XVIII<br />CARVED <i>ZAPATAS</i><br /> +(<i>Casa de Salinas, Salamanca</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>These happy and effective styles of decoration +came originally from the East. Their passage +may be traced along the coast of Africa from +Egypt into Spain; and they flourished in Spain +for the same reason which had caused them to +flourish at Cairo. “When we remember,” says +Professor Lane-Poole, “how little wood grows +in Egypt, the extensive use made of this material +in the mosques and houses of Cairo appears very +remarkable. In mosques, the ceilings, some of +the windows, the pulpit, lectern or Koran desk, +tribune, tomb-casing, doors, and cupboards, are +of wood, and often there are carved wooden inscriptions +and stalactites of the same material leading +up to the circle of the dome. In the older +houses, ceilings, doors, cupboards, and furniture +are made of wood, and carved lattice windows, or +meshrebiyas, abound. In a cold climate, such +employment of the most easily worked of substances +is natural enough; but in Egypt, apart +from the scarcity of the material, and the necessity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> +of importing it, the heat offers serious obstacles +to its use. A plain board of wood properly +seasoned may keep its shape well enough in +England, but when exposed to the sun of Cairo +it will speedily lose its accurate proportions; and +when employed in combination with other pieces, +to form windows or doors, boxes or pulpits, its +joints will open, its carvings split, and the whole +work will become unsightly and unstable. The +leading characteristic of Cairo wood-work is its +subdivision into numerous panels; and this +principle is obviously the result of climatic considerations, +rather than any doctrine of art. The +only mode of combating the shrinking and +warping effects of the sun was found in a skilful +division of the surfaces into panels small enough, +and sufficiently easy in their setting, to permit +of slight shrinking without injury to the general +outline. The little panels of a Cairo door or +pulpit may expand without encountering enough +resistance to cause any cracking or splitting in +the surrounding portions, and the Egyptian workmen +soon learned to accommodate themselves to +the conditions of their art in a hot climate.”<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_48.jpg" width="500" height="346" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_48.jpg" id="img_48.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XIX<br />CARVED <i>ZAPATAS</i><br /> +(<i>Museum of Zaragoza</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>These valuable and interesting observations<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +apply with equal justice to the decorative woodwork +of the Spanish Muslims. A further point +of interest lies in the fact that window-grilles and +ceilings of the kind referred to, grew to be extremely +fashionable through the whole Peninsula. +Carried by Moorish or Mudejar craftsmen far +beyond the frontiers of the Mussulman sultans of +this European land, we find to-day surviving +specimens in every part of Spain—most of them, +it is true, in sultry Andalus; but many also in the +old seigniorial mansions of Castile, or even in +the cold and humid towns and cities of Cantabria.</p> + +<p>The man who did this kind of work was not a +common carpenter. Such work was largely practical +and prosaic, but also it was largely decorative +and poetical. Probably, both in his own and in +his customer's regard, the decorative quality was +set before the practical. Therefore, beyond the +dry, comparatively facile details of technique, this +workman studied, with an artist's reverence and +zeal, the inner, subtler, sweeter mysteries of line +and form; harmonies of curve and angle; patterns, +now geometrical, now floral, now these two combined +with magic ingenuity; steeping himself in +the æsthetic sense; making, indeed, his work the +literal fact or fitting of prosaic application that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> +was indispensable; but also, and as if upon some +loftier initiative of his own, a miracle of art for +people of a later day to come and stand before +and wonder at.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_50.jpg" width="383" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_50.jpg" id="img_50.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XX<br /><i>ALERO</i> AND CORNICE OF CARVED WOOD<br /> +(<i>Cuarto de Comares, Alhambra, Granada</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>Indeed, whether because Our Lord had practised +it, or from some other motive, carpentry was +always well esteemed among the Spaniards. The +Ordinances of Seville eulogize it, in conjunction +with its sister-work of masonry and building, as +“a noble art and self-contained, that increaseth +the nobleness of the King and of his kingdom, +that pacifieth the people, and spreadeth love +among mankind, conducing to much good.”<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> The +same Ordinances divide these honourable craftsmen +into half a dozen classes and sub-classes; +carvers or <i>entalladores</i>, carpenters who kept a shop +(<i>carpinteros de tienda</i>), <i>carpinteros de lo prieto</i>, +and <i>carpinteros de lo blanco</i>. The latter are the +class we are considering here, and these, in turn, +were subdivided into <i>lazeros</i> or makers of <i>lazo</i>-work, +<i>non-lazeros</i> or those who did not make it, +and <i>jumetricos</i> or <i>geómetricos</i>. The statutory<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> +examination was severe in all these branches. +Thus, the <i>lazero</i>-carpenters of Seville were required +to make a chamber of octagonal <i>lazo</i>-work, +including its pendentives at the corners; while +the wood-carvers of the same city were required +to be experienced draughtsmen and to make +and carve “artistic altar-screens with decorated +columns, pedestals for images, and tabernacles (<i>i.e.</i> +the part of an altar where the cibory and the Host +are kept), as well as tombs and chambranles +with their covering, tabernacles of the utmost art +(<i>de grande arte</i>), and rich choir-stalls.”</p> + +<p>Nor was the making of artistic ceilings, doors, +and window-gratings carried out exclusively by +men of Moorish blood. Tutored by these, the +Christians practised it with great success. Prominent +among these last we find, early in the +seventeenth century, the name of Diego Lopez +de Arenas, a Christian-Spaniard and a native of +Marchena, who held the licensed title of master-carpenter +and lived for many years at Seville.<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> +In a lucky moment it occurred to Lopez de +Arenas to write and publish for the benefit of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +fellow-craftsmen a book upon this decorative +oriental woodwork that had passed into the +Spanish national life. This book, <i>Carpintería +de lo Blanco</i>,<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> appeared at Seville in 1633, and +fresh editions were printed at the same city +in 1727, and at Madrid in 1867. As in the +Ordinances of Granada, Seville, and Toledo, +Arabic terms, too copious and too complicated for +elucidation here, are constantly repeated in this +book.<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> Much of the general information which +we gather from it is, however, of great interest. +Thus, we are told that with the Spanish artists, +as in Egypt, the wood most often used, no doubt +as being the cheapest, was pitch pine, parcelled +and put together in the most elaborate decorative +schemes. Such was the characteristic <i>alfarge</i><a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> +ceiling of the Moorish, Morisco, and Spanish-Christian +<i>carpintero de lo blanco</i>. Its many fragments +were secured upon the frame by long,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +small-headed nails, or by these nails combined +with glue. If we observe the ceilings from +close by, as when, for instance, they are taken +down to be restored, the workmanship appears +to be coarse, inaccurate, and hasty; the myriad +pieces to be clumsily and loosely joined; the nails +to be driven in without method, or even awry. +Nevertheless, this false effect betrays the calculating +genius of the craftsman. He planned his +work for contemplation by a certain light and at +a certain elevation; and therefore, as the ceiling +is removed again to its appointed distance, it +seems to re-create itself in proud defiance of an +error of our own, and grows at once to its habitual +delicacy, harmony, and richness.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_52.jpg" width="347" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_52.jpg" id="img_52.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XXI<br />“ELIJAH SLEEPING”<br /> +(<i>Statue in wood, by Alonso Cano</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>I have said that the decoration of these ceilings +is sometimes floral, sometimes geometrical, sometimes +a combination of the two.<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> Sometimes the +wood is plain, or sometimes silvered, gilt, or +painted. Sometimes it is employed alone, or +sometimes variegated and inlaid with plaster +points and patches. By far the commonest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +motive is the <i>lazo</i>—an ornamental scheme composed +of infinite strips that turn, and twist, and +intersect, describing in their mazy passage many +polygons. One of these polygons determines, +in a way, the scheme of the entire ceiling, which +is denominated as consisting of “a <i>lazo</i> of eight,” +“of ten,” “of twelve,” etc., from this particular. +The most attractive and most frequent is the +scheme “of eight.” Among the decorative details +used to brighten and enhance the <i>lazo</i> +proper are <i>mocarabes</i> or wooden lacery for relieving +cubes and joists or surfaces, and <i>rácimos</i> +or “clusters”; that is, hollow or solid wooden +cones or prisms, disposed along the side and centre +panels of the ceiling like (in Arenas' ingenious +phrase) the buttons on a jacket, and contributing +to the massive aspect of the whole. These +clusters, too, were sometimes in the stalactite and +sometimes in a simpler form, and show, both in +the quantity and richness of their ornament, a +limitless diversity.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_54.jpg" width="324" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_54.jpg" id="img_54.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XXII<br />SAINT BRUNO<br /> +(<i>By Alonso Cano. Cartuja of Granada</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>Magnificent Spanish-Moorish, Spanish, and +Mudejar ceilings still exist in Spain. Such are +the marvellous domed ceiling in the Hall of +Comares (or of Ambassadors) in the Alhambra, +those of the Castle of the Aljafería at Zaragoza<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +and of the archbishop's palace at Alcalá de +Henares, the Arab <i>alfarge</i> ceilings in the +churches of San Francisco and Santiago of +Guadix, that of the Hall of Cortes in the Audiencia +of Valencia, that of the Sala Capitular of Toledo +Cathedral, that of the Chapel of the Holy Spirit +of the Cathedral of Cuenca (considered by many +to be the finest <i>artesonado</i> ceiling in all Spain), +or those of the churches of Jesus Crucificado, +El Carmen, and San Pablo at Cordova. The +ceiling of the Sala de la Barca, in the Moorish +palace of the Alhambra, was almost totally destroyed +by fire in 1890, but a good photograph +had previously been taken, and I reproduce it +here (Plate <a href="#img_26.jpg">viii</a>.). One of the later <i>artesonado</i> +ceilings is at Cordova, in the parish church +of Santiago. Covered with a <i>bóveda</i> or vault +of cane, it is in excellent preservation, and was +made in 1635 by the master-carpenter Alonso +Muñoz de los Ríos, who received for his labour +fourteen thousand <i>reales</i>.<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> The <i>artesonado</i> ceilings<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +which Diego Lopez de Arenas tells us in his +treatise that he made for the church, the choir, +and the <i>sobreescalera</i> of the monastery of Santa +Paula at Seville, as well as a ceiling which he +made for the church of Mairena, are all extant +to-day. Other remarkable examples of this craft +are the ceilings of the rooms constructed to the +order of, and which were actually occupied by, +Charles the Fifth, within the precincts of the old +Alhambra. Upon these half-Italian, half-Morisco +ceilings and their frieze we read the words, “<i>Plus +Oultre</i>”; and the inscription, “<i>Imperator Cæsar +Karolus V. Hispaniarum rex semper augustus pius +fœlix invictissimus</i>.” In one of the same apartments, +known as the “chamber of the fruits,” the +ceiling has octagonal <i>artesones</i> of superb effect, +though even richer is that of what is called +the Second Sala de las Frutas, conspicuously +influenced by Italian art, and believed by Gómez<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +Moreno to have been designed by Pedro Machuca +and executed by Juan de Plasencia.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_56.jpg" width="369" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_56.jpg" id="img_56.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XXIII<br />SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST<br /> +(<i>San Juan de Dios, Granada</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>Marvellous in conjunction with the thousand +lighted lamps which served to manifest its beauties, +must have been the primitive ceiling (<i>as-sicafes</i>) +of the mosque of Cordova, of which an Arab poet +sang; “Look at the gold on it, like the kindled +flame, or like the lightning-stroke that darts +across the heavens.”<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> Our notices of this ceiling, +barbarously hacked to pieces by Christian architects, +are neither numerous nor clear. We are +told, however, that it was nearly finished in the +reign of Abd-er-Rhaman the First, and terminated +altogether by his son Hixem. New ceilings were +added on the enlarging of the mosque by Abd-er-Rhaman +the Second, while fresh additions were +made by Al-Hakem the Second and Al-Manzor. +Ambrosio de Morales gives a quaint description +of the earliest, or an early, ceiling of this temple. +“The roof of the whole church, made of wood +painted and adorned in divers ways, is of incredible +richness, as will be seen from what I am about to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +say. It is of larch throughout, odorous, resembling +pine, which is not found in any part but Barbary,<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> +whence it is brought by sea. And every time +that a part of this temple was thrown down for +new constructions to be added, the wood removed +was sold for many thousand ducats for making +guitars and other delicate objects. The ceiling +was built across the church upon the nineteen +naves thereof, and over it, covered likewise +with wood, the roofs, nineteen in number also, +each with its ridge atop, drooping to one and +other side.”<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p> + +<p>Three pieces made of common pine, and which +are thought to have belonged to the original ceiling +of this mosque or to an early replica, are +now in the National Museum at Madrid, but the +carving of these fragments is so simple that in +the opinion of Rodrigo Amador de los Ríos the +decoration of the wood itself was purposely subordinated +in this instance to the richness and +variety of the painting.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_58.jpg" width="398" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_58.jpg" id="img_58.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XXIV<br />CHOIR-STALLS<br /> +(<i>Santo Tomás, Avila</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>Three types of decorative doors were made in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +older Spain. In the earliest and simplest (<i>lacería +en talla</i>), the <i>lacería</i> or <i>lazo</i>-work is carved directly +on and from the solid plank which forms the body +of the door. In the second type, the carver's art +is delicately blended with the joiner's—<i>lazo</i>-work +with <i>ensamblaje</i>. In the third type the <i>lazo</i>-work +is <i>sobrepuesta</i>—that is, attached to, not elaborated +from, the planking.<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></p> + +<p>As in the case of ceilings, many and excellent +examples of these doors exist to-day in Spain. +Among the most remarkable are several in the +Moorish palace of the Alhambra, such as the two +(dating from the end of the fourteenth century or +early in the fifteenth) belonging, respectively, to +the famous Hall of the Abencerrajes (Pl. <a href="#img_28.jpg">ix</a>.), and +to the Hall of the Two Sisters (Pl. <a href="#img_30.jpg">x</a>.). Apparently +it was the former of these doors which Bertaut de +Rouen wrote of in the seventeenth century as +“une porte aussi grande et aussi épaisse comme +celles de nos plus grandes églises. Elle s'ouvre<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +des deux costez, et est toute de pieces rapportées, +et d'un bois de differentes couleurs, comme les +beaux cabinets et les belles tables qui coustent si +cher.”<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p> + +<p>An early Mudejar door proceeding from the +church of San Pedro at Daroca in Aragon is now +in the National Museum. This door, which is +of larch, and measures nearly fourteen feet in +height by nine in breadth, is of a simple design and +represents a horse-shoe door described within the +door itself. It was originally painted vermilion, +with other decorative painting of a simple character +in black, white, and red, and is fortified with +massive iron braces. It is believed to date from +earlier than the fourteenth century.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_60.jpg" width="500" height="398" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_60.jpg" id="img_60.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XXV<br />CARVED CHOIR-STALL<br /> +(<i>Toledo Cathedral</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>The mighty doors of the “Hall of Ambassadors,” +in the mediæval royal residence of Seville (Plates +<a href="#img_32.jpg">xi</a>. and <a href="#img_34.jpg">xii</a>.), are quite the finest to be seen in Spain. +Although a widespread superstition assigns their +manufacture to a period close upon the Moorish +conquest, it has been proved conclusively that +they were made by Mudejar craftsmen of Toledo +at the time when the whole Alcázar was erected +more or less upon the ruins of the old, by Pedro +the First of Castile, denominated, according to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +the prejudice with which we view his character, +“the Cruel,” or “the Just.”<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></p> + +<p>These doors, which under a pretence of restoration +have been mutilated more than once, are +made of larch, and measure sixteen feet in height +by thirteen feet (including both the leaves) in +width. The upper part of either leaf consists of +geometrical and floral ornament in exquisitely +tasteful combination, executed in the scheme known +technically, from the angles at the central polygon, +as <i>lazo de á doce</i>—“<i>lazo</i>-work of twelve.” The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +decoration of the lower part is more minute, and in +the scheme of <i>lazo de á diez</i>—“<i>lazo</i>-work of ten.” +Inscriptions in Arabic and Latin, many of which +are quoted from the Psalms, are distributed on +both sides of the woodwork, and confirm our other +evidence that the doors were made during the +reign and in obedience to the orders, of Don Pedro.</p> + +<p>The Plateresco sixteenth-century doors of the +Capilla de los Vargas at Madrid (Plate <a href="#img_38.jpg">xiv</a>.) are +attributed by Cean Bermudez and by Ponz to an +artist named Giralte, who carved them in walnut +with various military and other scenes from Scripture, +alternating with shields and floral ornament; +the whole surrounded by an exquisitely delicate +and tasteful border. Lampérez remarks that the +errors of perspective recall the similar productions +of Ghiberti.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_62.jpg" width="500" height="369" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_62.jpg" id="img_62.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XXVI<br />CHOIR-STALLS<br /> +(<i>Burgos Cathedral</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>The <i>celosía</i> or decorative wooden window-grating, +imported by the Mussulman conqueror +from Egypt and the East, extended to all parts +of Christian Spain, and was particularly used in +convents. These gratings, identical in form and +workmanship with those of Cairo,<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> were attached<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> +to projecting windows, so that the women of a +household could look into the street without +themselves being seen, a custom which the Spanish +woman still recalls to us by peering, for hours at +a time, between the lowered <i>persiana</i> of her +balcony.<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> By the seventeenth century, which +may truthfully be called the age of Spanish +jealousy, and when the “Othello-like revenge of +the Moor” had eaten into the very entrails of +society, the <i>celosía</i> had become as indispensable +to houses as the door or window. “La,” wrote +Bertaut de Rouen of a residence on the outskirts +of Madrid, and obviously alluding to these +gratings, “il y avoit bien des Dames dans l'appartement +d'enhaut qui y demeurerent cachées, se +contentant de nous voir promener dans le jardin +par les fenêtres.”</p> + +<p>We know from the stone coat of arms which +is carved above the doorway of the “House of +Castril at Granada” that in the olden time the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +balconies of the Hall of Comares in the Alhambra +were fitted with projecting wooden <i>celosías</i>; and +Contreras says that in the Torre de los Puñales +of the same palace there used to be “a kind of +wooden <i>mirador</i> or <i>menacir</i>, covered with <i>celosías</i> +like those of Cairo, and many of which were still +to be seen in Granada early in the nineteenth +century.”</p> + +<p>I am not aware of any Moorish <i>celosía</i> remaining +to this day outside a Spanish building. In +such exposed positions weather and the natural +delicacy of the woodwork seem to have destroyed +them all. As an interior ornament, a single one +(Pl. <a href="#img_42.jpg">xvi</a>.) exists in the Alhambra. Nevertheless, +I hesitate to call this <i>celosía</i> purely Moorish. +Perhaps it is the work of a Morisco, or even of +a Christian-Spaniard, for we know that decorative +wooden fittings for the Alhambra were made in +the sixteenth century by Antonio Navarro and +other craftsmen. The grating, which is well preserved, +covers a window over the archway leading +from the Hall of the Two Sisters into the Sala +de los Ajimeces and the Mirador de Daraxa, and +consists of minute prisms and turned pieces in +the typical Egyptian style.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_64.jpg" width="500" height="348" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_64.jpg" id="img_64.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XXVII<br />CHOIR-STALLS<br /> +(<i>San Márcos, León</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>Other fittings for a building, wrought in wood<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +by Moorish artists and by these communicated +to the Christian-Spaniards, were balustrades and +cornices, <i>aleros</i> (decorative bands beneath the +eaves of a roof, Plate <a href="#img_44.jpg">xvii</a>.) and <i>zapatas</i> (gargoyle-looking +figures, often in human form, used to +support a roof or gallery). In the so-called “Patio +de las Asas” of the convent of Santa Catalina de +Zafra, at Granada, exists an interesting Moorish +balustrade<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> that seems almost untouched by time. +I reproduce an outline of it as the tailpiece to the +present chapter, and am glad to append the little +sketch in question, copied from a photograph I +took upon the spot three years ago, because it +is almost impossible to obtain admission to this +convent. Beautiful or uncouth and quaint <i>zapatas</i> +may be seen in the Casa de los Tiros at Granada, +and in many other places (Plates <a href="#img_46.jpg">xviii</a>. and <a href="#img_48.jpg">xix</a>.). +Much of the Moorish woodwork of the palace of +the Alhambra was destroyed by the fire of 1590, +but there yet remain the ample cornice and carved<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +<i>alero</i> of the façade of the Cuarto de Comares +(Plate <a href="#img_50.jpg">xx</a>.), which is often called in error the +Court of the Mezquita. This <i>alero</i> bears the +following inscription, allusive to the Sultan Mohammed +the Fifth:—“I am the place where the +crown is guarded, and on my doors being opened +the regions of the west believe the east to be contained +within me. Algami Billah charged me to +keep guard upon the doorway.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_66.jpg" width="330" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_66.jpg" id="img_66.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XXVIII<br />DETAIL OF CHOIR-STALLS<br /> +(<i>León Cathedral</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>Other remarkable <i>aleros</i> are in the Generalife +and in the Court of Lions of the Alhambra, while, +also in this last-named mansion, genuine Moorish +woodwork of elaborately inlaid ebony and larch +is in two niches near the entrance to the Sala de +Embajadores.</p> + +<h3>SACRED STATUARY, <i>SILLERÍAS</i> OR CHOIR-STALLS, AND <i>RETABLOS</i></h3> + +<p>The genius of the wood-carvers of older Spain +is manifested chiefly in three groups of objects—sacred +statuary, choir-stalls, and <i>retablos</i>. Among +this people, and probably by reason of its cheapness, +plain, or gilt, or polychrome painted wood has +always been a favourite material for the statues +of their temples, whether such statues were employed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +alone, or as an accessory to a larger article +of sacred furniture, such as a pulpit, or a <i>sillería</i>, +or an altar-screen. So powerful, in fact, has been +the vogue of this material here,<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> that even to-day +the Spanish people, making, in Symonds' happy +phrase, “representation an object in itself, independently +of its spiritual significance,” attempt to +elevate the most remarkable of their wooden,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +and by preference their coloured wooden, statuary +(typically defended by Pacheco's indigested tome), +to rank beside the noblest and the purest monuments +of bronze and marble; denoting, by this +reckless and uneducated partiality, a positively +national misconception of the true domain of art.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_68.jpg" width="386" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_68.jpg" id="img_68.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XXIX<br />CHOIR-STALLS<br /> +(<i>Plasencia Cathedral</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>It is outside the scope of such a work as this +to deal at any length with Spanish figure-sculpture. +However, it is only fair to recognize that +Spain produced a couple of score or so of admirable +carvers of wood-statuary. Among the +greatest of these craftsmen or <i>imagineros</i> were +Becerra, Berruguete, Juan de Juni, author of the +<i>Mater Dolorosa</i> (“Our Lady of the Knives”), of +Valladolid; Gregorio Hernández the Galician, +author of “Simon the Cyrenian,” “Santa +Veronica,” and “the Baptism of our Lord”; +Martínez Montañes, author of “San Jerónimo” +and of the “Cristo del Gran Poder”;<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> Solis, +Gaspar de Ribas, Juan Gómez, author of the +“Jesus” of Puerto de Santa Maria; Pedro +Roldan, with whom, according to Tubino, “the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +art of Seville closed its eyes”; and Alonso Cano, +master of Pedro and Alonso de Mena, Ruiz del +Peral, José de Mora, and Diego de Mora, and who +carved the exquisite “Elijah Sleeping” (Pl. <a href="#img_52.jpg">xxi</a>.) +now at Toledo, and also (as it is believed) the +famous statuette (Frontispiece to the present +volume) of Saint Francis of Assisi.</p> + +<p>The earliest centre of this branch of wood-carving +was Valladolid, where lived and laboured +Juni and Hernández. Nevertheless, although so +popular in every part of Spain, it had a short-lived +prime, originating in the two Castiles towards +the reign of Philip the Second, declining +steadily (with Seville for its centre now) all +through the seventeenth century, and flickering +out, despite the perseverance and the genius of +the Murcian Susillo, in the century succeeding.</p> + +<p>In decorative <i>sillerías</i> or sets of choir-stalls, +Spain has produced examples worthy to be set +beside the masterpiece of Vitry in the abbey of +Sainte-Claude, the best productions of Dürer and +his followers in Germany, or those of Donatello, +Brunelleschi, Valdambrino, Vechietta, and Verrochio +in Italy. Nevertheless, her most distinguished +<i>sillería</i>-makers were at almost every +moment inspired and directed by the foreigner.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +Germans or Flemings were her first preceptors in +this craft. These artists had been sent for, or +proceeded of their own accord, to Spain, and +settling in this country rapidly spread the technics +of their art among the Spaniards. In the +Peninsula the origin of this school or movement +may be traced to Burgos. Here, just as the +fifteenth century was drawing to its close, and just +before the breath of the Renaissance crossed the +Spanish frontier at its eastern side, was gathered +a small though influential group of eminent +workers in more crafts than one; painters and +sculptors, architects, embroiderers, carvers of +wood, <i>reja</i>-makers, and painters of cathedral glass. +Prominent among them all was a foreigner +named Philip Vigarny,<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> who is described by +Diego de Sagrado as “singular above all others +in the art of making statuary and sculpture; +a man of vast experience, general in his mastery +of the liberal and mechanic arts, and no less +resolute in all that is related with the sciences +of architecture.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_70.jpg" width="338" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_70.jpg" id="img_70.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XXX<br />DETAIL OF CHOIR-STALLS<br /> +(<i>Convent of San Marcos, León</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>Burgundy is said to have been the birthplace +of Felipe de Borgoña, but of his early history we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +have no tidings. In documents which bear +his signature he styles himself “<i>imaginario</i>, +resident at Burgos.” Three such documents +exist. On August 1st, 1505, he agrees, for 130,000 +<i>maravedis</i>, to make “such images as may be +necessary” for the altar of the high chapel of +Palencia cathedral, “he with his own hand to +carve the hands and faces, out of good smooth +walnut, without painting.” This document is +dated from Palencia. The other two are dated +severally, Burgos, December 6th, 1506, and +Corcos, September 6th, without the addition of +the year.<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> We also know this craftsman to have +made the great <i>retablo</i> of Burgos cathedral. +Such, from the fragmentary semblance we can +trace of him, was Philip Vigarny, the pioneer +of the wood-carvers of older Spain, and who, +aided by other craftsmen from abroad, communicated +all the secrets of his art to Spaniards such +as Gil de Siloe, Ruy Sanchez, Diego de la Cruz, +Alonso de Lima, and Berruguete.</p> + +<p>The typical <i>sillería</i> consists of two tiers; the +<i>sellia</i> or upper seats, with high backs and a canopy, +intended for the canons, and the lower seats or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> +<i>subsellia</i>, of simpler pattern and with lower backs, +intended for the <i>beneficiados</i>. At the head of all +is placed the presidential throne, larger than the +other stalls, and covered, in many cases, by a +canopy surmounted by a tall spire. When the +<i>sillería</i> belongs to a monastery, the higher stalls +are for the <i>profesos</i>, and the lower for the novices +and <i>legos</i>. Commonly the part that forms the +actual seat is hinged and rises to a vertical position, +being so contrived that when the occupant rises +to his feet, there remains a narrow ledge projecting +from the under surface. This ledge is called the +“seat of pity” or “of patience,” because the +worshipper is able to incline himself on it and +give his limbs some measure of repose without +appearing to be seated. There also is commonly +another piece, intended for him to rest his hands +upon in rising, which projects from the sides +of the stall and forms a part of the decorative +carving, as well as, somewhat higher still, the +carved support to rest his arms while he is on +his feet.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_72.jpg" width="345" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_72.jpg" id="img_72.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XXXI<br />“SAMSON”<br /> +(<i>Carved Choir-stall of León Cathedral</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>The earliest Spanish <i>sillerías</i> date from the +fourteenth century; but it is not until the century +succeeding that we find them at their very best. +Gothic or Plateresco <i>sillerías</i> of marvellous design<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +and workmanship are those of the Seo of Zaragoza +(begun in 1412), the Cartuja de Miraflores of +Burgos (1489), the monastery of Oña, Santa +María de Nájera (1495), the church of Santa +María del Campo, in the province of Burgos, +Santo Tomás of Avila (finished in 1493), and the +cathedrals of Oviedo, Segovia (1461–1497), +Ciudad Rodrigo, Tarragona (1478), Tarazona, +Toledo (begun in 1494), Zamora, Astorga, +Barcelona (1453–1483), and Seville (finished +in 1478).</p> + +<p>The Gothic choir-stalls of the Seo of Zaragoza +have lofty backs with arabesque Mudejar ornamentation, +small Gothic columns, and medallions +containing figures upon the arms of every stall. +The material is Flemish oak. The carving +was begun in 1412 by the Moors Alí Arrondi, +Muza, and Chamar, who earned a daily wage +of four <i>sueldos</i>. In 1446 Juan Navarro and the +brothers Antonio and Francisco Gomar were +working at the same stalls, and also, in 1449, +Francoy.</p> + +<p>The stalls of the Cartuja de Miraflores at +Burgos were carved by Martin Sánchez, who +received in 1486, and for the <i>mano de obra</i> alone, +the sum of 125,000 <i>maravedis</i>. The material,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +which was presented by Luis de Velasco, Señor of +Belorado, is dark walnut.</p> + +<p>The <i>sillería</i> of Santa María de Nájera, the +work of Maestro Andrés and Maestro Nicolás, +is Gothic merging into the Renaissance. That +of Santo Tomás of Avila (late Gothic) consists +of sixty oaken stalls, besides two larger ones +resembling thrones (Plate <a href="#img_58.jpg">xxiv</a>.), intended to be +occupied by Ferdinand and Isabella, founders +of this monastery, and whose arms they bear in +lace-like carving. The rest of the decoration is +composed of thistles, vines, trefoils, and pomegranates. +Owing to the fact that not a single +cross appears on any part of the <i>sillería</i> (although +this circumstance is not unusual in sacred Gothic +woodwork), there is a superstition that these stalls +were wrought anonymously by some Jew, condemned +to execute them by the Inquisition as +a form of punishment. This fable has no +value. Although the author's name is not upon +the stalls, they are identical in nearly every +detail with those of the Cartuja de Miraflores +at Burgos, known to have been carved by Martin +Sánchez in 1486. Hence it is extremely probable +that this craftsman was the author of both +<i>sillerías</i>.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_74.jpg" width="291" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_74.jpg" id="img_74.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XXXII<br />“ESAU”<br /> +(<i>Carved Choir-stall of León Cathedral</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>On many Spanish <i>sillerías</i> we find most spirited<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +reproductions of the life and manners of their +time; satirical allusions to contemporary vices, +allegories and caprices as fantastic, in the phrase +of Vargas Ponce, as “one of Bosch's nightmares,” +hunting-scenes or love-scenes, banquets, tournaments, +dances, battles, sieges, and even bull-fights. +Thus, on the stalls of the cathedrals of Zamora, +Oviedo, Plasencia, Astorga, and León are carved +such subjects as the following. A fox dressed as +a friar, preaching to a group of hens but slyly +abstracting their chicks (Zamora), men fighting +with their fists (Zamora), a hog playing the +bagpipes (León), the Devil in the garb of a +confessor, tempting a penitent (León), a woman +suckling an ass (León), a man armed with a +lance, fighting a woman (Astorga), a bird of prey +struggling with a crocodile (Astorga), card-players +(Astorga), a warrior on all-fours, whipped by a +woman (Plasencia), an <i>auto-de-fé</i> (Plasencia), +swine praying and spinning (Ciudad Rodrigo), +a fight between a tiger and a bull (Ciudad +Rodrigo), a monkey beating a drum (Ciudad +Rodrigo), and a monkey wearing a mitre (Ciudad +Rodrigo).</p> + +<p>The style of the lower stalls of Toledo cathedral<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +is good Plateresque. They were begun in 1494 +by Maese Rodrigo, one of the very best of Spain's +<i>entalladores</i>, and portray, in each successive stall, +the phases of the last campaign against Granada +(Plate <a href="#img_60.jpg">xxv</a>.); the sieges or battles of Altora, Melis, +Xornas, Erefran, Alminia, Baza, Málaga (two +stalls), Salobreña, Almuñecar, Comares, Beles, +Montefrío, Moclín, Illora, Loja, Cazarabonela, +Coyn, Cartama, Marbella, Ronda, Setenil, Alora, +Alhama, Nixar, Padux, Vera, Huéscar, Guadix, +Purchena, Almería, Rión, Castil de Ferro, Cambril, +Zagani, Castul, Gor, Canzoria, Moxacar, Vélez el +Blanco, Gurarca, Vélez el Rubio, Soreo, and +Cabrera.</p> + +<p>The upper tier of the same stalls belongs to a +later period, and will, in consequence, be noticed +subsequently.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_76.jpg" width="377" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_76.jpg" id="img_76.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XXXIII<br /><i>RETABLO</i><br /> +(<i>Seville Cathedral</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>The <i>sillería</i> of Barcelona cathedral was begun +in the middle of the fifteenth century by Matias +Bonafé, at the same time that the German +Michael Locher and his pupil John Frederic +worked at the canopies. It was finished thirty +years later. Upon the back (which otherwise is +plain) of every stall is a coat of arms distinct from +all its neighbours, marking the seat of one of +the princes or nobles summoned by Charles the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +Fifth to the Chapter of the Order of the Golden +Fleece, March 5th, 1519.<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a></p> + +<p>The splendid <i>sillería</i> of Seville cathedral is a +mingling of the Gothic with the Mudejar and +Plateresque. The material is oak and fir, and +the number of the seats one hundred and seventeen. +The <i>sellia</i> are surmounted by a graceful +running <i>guardapolvo</i>. Each seat is carved distinctly +from the rest, and further decorated in the +Mudejar style with inlaid woods of various kinds +and colours, imitating stone mosaic. Among +this labyrinth of design are groups of people, +angels, animals, and scenes from Scripture, as +well as, on the lower stalls, the Giralda tower, +which forms the arms of the cathedral. The +<i>sillería</i> is further embellished with two hundred +and sixteen statuettes, seventy-two of which are +ranged along the canopy or <i>dosel</i>, the remainder +being distributed between the seats.</p> + +<p>The authors of this splendid work of art +(judiciously restored some years ago by Boutelou, +Fernandez, and Mattoni) were Nufio Sanchez, +Dancart, and several other craftsmen, concerning<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +whom we know but very little. Sánchez' +name is carved upon the second stall of the +upper row, and on the side of the Evangelist, +as follows:—</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_78.jpg" width="500" height="217" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_78.jpg" id="img_78.jpg"></a> +</div> + +<p>The above inscription states that “this choir +was made by Nufio Sanchez, <i>entallador</i> (God +guard him<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a>), and finished in the year one thousand +four hundred and seventy-eight.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_79.jpg" width="311" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_79.jpg" id="img_79.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XXXIV<br /><i>RETABLO</i> OF SEVILLE CATHEDRAL<br /> +(<i>Detail of Carving</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>With the dawn of the sixteenth century, the +Gothic style runs rapidly into that of the Renaissance. +At about this time, and as Baron Davillier +pointed out, we sometimes find a triple influence, +namely, the Burgundian, the Italian, and the native +Spanish. Vigarny may be called the champion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +of the first of these, Berruguete (who studied in +Italy) of the second, and Guillermo Doncel of the +third. After this the purer Renaissance gives +place to the decadent, as in the stalls of Santiago, +Málaga, Cordova, and Salamanca.</p> + +<p>Sixteenth-century <i>sillerías</i> of note are those of +Burgos cathedral (Plate <a href="#img_62.jpg">xxvi</a>.), carved by Vigarny, +Avila cathedral, the Pilar of Zaragoza, the Minor +Friars of the Cartuja of Burgos, Pamplona cathedral, +San Marcos of León, Huesca, the <i>alta +sillería</i> of Toledo, and the walnut stalls—carved +in 1526 by Bartolomé Fernandez de Segovia, +and now in the Madrid Museum—of the Parral +of Segovia.</p> + +<p>The <i>sillería</i> of Avila cathedral is believed to +have been begun in 1527 by Juan Rodrigo, +although the greater part of it was probably +executed between 1536 and 1547 by Cornelis de +Holanda, who took for his model the stalls of +San Benito of Valladolid. The cost of the walnut +wood and of its workmanship amounted to 33,669 +<i>reales</i>.</p> + +<p>The upper stalls of Toledo cathedral were +carved by Vigarny and Alonso Berruguete in +collaboration, so that we find in them the northern +and Italian styles effectively and interestingly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +united. The Plateresque-Renaissance <i>sillería</i>, +described as “genuinely Spanish,” of the old convent +of San Marcos of León, containing statuettes +of biblical personages and of fathers of the +Church—Saint Isidore among them,—was finished +in 1542 by Guillermo Doncel, who added the +inscription “<i>Magister Guillermus Doncel me fecit +MDXLII</i>” (Plate <a href="#img_64.jpg">xxvii</a>.). We know, however, +nothing more about this excellent Spanish artist, +except that (on the unsupported testimony of +Cean) he worked at the façade of this convent +between the years 1537 and 1544.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_80.jpg" width="378" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_80.jpg" id="img_80.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XXXV<br />DETAIL OF <i>RETABLO</i><br /> +(<i>Late 15th century. Museum of Valladolid</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>The intricate <i>sillería</i> of the Pilar of Zaragoza, +containing almost every kind of subject—beasts, +birds and fishes, allegories, incidents of the chase, +or scenes of popular life—was designed by Esteban +de Obray, a Navarrese, and executed by him and +his assistants, Juan Moreto Florentino and Nicolas +de Lobato, between 1542 and 1548. That of the +Minor Friars of the Cartuja of Burgos was carved +at a cost of eight hundred and ten ducats by +Simón de Bueras, in 1558. That of Pamplona +cathedral dates from about the middle of the century, +and is the work of one Ancheta, who had +visited Italy and gathered inspiration from the +masterpieces of Siena. The material is English<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +oak. The stalls of Huesca, carved from oak proceeding +from an older <i>sillería</i> which had been +removed, were begun in 1587 and finished in +1594. The craftsmen were Nicolás de Verástegui +and Juan Verrueta de Sangüesa.</p> + +<p>Seventeenth-century <i>sillerías</i> are those of +Santiago, carved by Juan de Vila in 1603; Salamanca, +in 1651, by Alfonso Balbás; Orihuela, in +1692, by Juan Bautista Borja; and Segorbe, +carved in the same year by Nicolás Camarón; +while dating from the eighteenth century—a +period of manifest decadence in this beautiful but +short-lived craft—are the stalls of Lerida, by Luis +Bonifar y Masó (born in 1730), and Cordova, +executed between 1748 and 1757, at a cost of +913,889 <i>reales</i>, by Pedro Ciriaco Duque y Cornejo, +a son of Seville and a pupil of the Sevillano +Roldan.</p> + +<p>The least imperfect of these later and decadent +<i>sillerías</i> is that of Málaga, whose author, Pedro +de Mena, was, like his master, Alonso Cano, a +native of Granada.</p> + +<p>Mena's contract with two canons of the cathedral, +nominated by the bishop to prepare and sign +the stipulations, will be found in No. 134 of the +<i>Boletín de la Sociedad de Excursiones</i>.</p> + +<p>The stalls of Málaga number a hundred and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +one, carved in walnut, larch, cedar, and the heavy +Indian wood called <i>granadillo</i>. As happens with +many of the <i>sillerías</i> of this country, the costumes +of the figures are of great historical value. +Among the saints is San Roque, in pilgrim's +garb, attended by the dog who brought him day +by day a loaf of bread while men refused to +succour him.</p> + +<p>No less magnificent than these sets of choir-stalls +are the carved <i>retablos</i> or altar-screens,<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> a +gradual excrescence from the primitive and unpretentious +altar of the early days of Christianity. +Several kinds of craftsmen worked upon these +altar-screens, such as <i>tallistas</i>, <i>entalladores</i>, <i>imagineros</i>, +and even architects.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_82.jpg" width="373" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_82.jpg" id="img_82.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XXXVI<br />DETAIL OF <i>RETABLO</i><br /> +(<i>Chapel of Santa Ana, Burgos Cathedral</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>The Golden Age of the <i>retablo</i> embraces the +end of the fifteenth century and the whole of the +sixteenth. Notable examples belonging to this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> +period are the screens of the monastery of Santo +Tomás at Avila, San Martin of Segovia, the +Cartuja de Miraflores, the Colegiata of Covarrubias +in the province of Burgos, the cathedrals +of Avila, Toledo, Tudela, and Tarazona; several +in the churches of Toledo, two in the church of +San Lesmes (Burgos), two in Burgos Cathedral +(Plate <a href="#img_82.jpg">xxxvi</a>.), and three, including those of <i>Reyes</i> +and of <i>Buena Mariana</i>, in the church of San Gil +in the same city. Not one of these, however, +has the grandeur or variety of the altar-screen +of Seville (Plates <a href="#img_76.jpg">xxxiii</a>. and <a href="#img_79.jpg">xxxiv</a>.), which is +carefully described in Cean's monograph. “The +style is Gothic; the material, undecaying larch; +and the screen, which reaches nearly to the +vaulting, is the largest in the country, although +at first it spanned the presbytery only, not +including either side. It was designed in 1482 +by Dancat or Danchart, who began work upon +it as soon as his sketches were approved, and +worked at it till 1492, in which year he seems to +have died.</p> + +<p>“Dancat was succeeded by Master Marco and +Bernardo de Ortega, whose carving reached, by +1505, the canopy or <i>viga</i>, and who were followed +in their turn by Francisco, Bernardo's son, father<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +and teacher of Bernardino and Nufrio de Ortega, +his assistants. Some of the statues were carved +by Micer Domingo. The rest of the <i>imaginería</i> +was finished in 1526; and the gilding and painting +were done by Alejo Fernández, his brother, and +Andrés de Covarrubias.</p> + +<p>“So the screen remained till 1550, when the +Chapter decided to extend it, without altering the +style of decoration, to the sides of the presbytery. +By this time Spanish sculpture had improved, +and many of our best-known sculptors lent their +aid, of whom the earliest were Roque Balduc, +Pedro Becerril, el Castellano, Juan de Villalva, +Diego Vazquez, and Pedro Bernal. In 1553 the +Chapter appointed, to inspect the work of these +artists, Juan Reclid and Luis de Aguilar, both of +whom lived at Jaen. Henceforth the master-craftsmen +working at the screen were Pedro de +Heredia, Gomez de Orozco, Diego Vazquez the +younger, Juan Lopez, Andrés Lopez del Castillo, +and his sons, Juan de Palencia, and Juan Bautista +Vazquez. By 1564 the screen was quite concluded.</p> + +<p>“The Gothic work is of incomparable richness. +Ten groups of tall and narrow columns, resting +upon two pedestals or socles, divide the <i>retablo</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +into nine spaces, crossed by horizontal bands of +complicated carving, forming a series of thirty-six +niches, in four rows. Statues a little less +than life-size represent, in the first row, the creation +and fall of our first parents, and the mysteries +of the infancy of Christ; in the second, His preaching +and miracles; in the third, His passion and +death; and in the fourth, His resurrection, appearance +to the disciples, and ascension; also the +coming of the Holy Ghost. Upon the altar-table, +and resting in its niche, is the statue, covered +with silver plates, of Nuestra Señora de la Sede, +presented to this temple by Saint Ferdinand. +Above the <i>viga</i>, which has an <i>artesonado</i> ceiling, +rises a frontispiece containing thirteen canopied +niches with statues of the apostles, and in the +centre niche that of the Virgin Mary. Crowning +the whole <i>retablo</i> are statues larger than life-size, +and a Calvary standing in free space.”<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p> + +<p>Throughout these Spanish altar-screens the +influence which predominates is that of Germany. +They are essentially distinguished by a Northern art +(Plates <a href="#img_80.jpg">xxxv</a>., <a href="#img_82.jpg">xxxvi</a>.), not sentimental but material, +not tender but robust, not (like the art of the +Italians) retrospective or prospective, but prosaic,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +realistic, actual. Curiously enough, their presence +seems incongruous in Spain, and yet they made +themselves at home here; for Spanish art was ever +realistic, so probably on this account two widely +different nations found, at least in this particular +craft, a common bond of sympathy. Certainly the +Renaissance, while it seemed to cherish and encourage, +really undermined and killed this branch of +Spanish wood-carving. A similar phenomenon +attends the art of the Alhambra. In either case +the plenitude of power and of beauty is even more +ephemeral than the term of human life; and thus, +deluded by so brilliant and majestic a decay, we +fail to apprehend, or seek to grow oblivious of, +the imminence of their ruin.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_86.jpg" width="500" height="256" + alt="end of chapter" + title="end of chapter" /> + <a name="img_86.jpg" id="img_86.jpg"></a> +</div> + +<div class="footnotes"> + +<p class="noindent">Footnotes:</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Documents, quoted by the Count of Clonard, of Alfonso the +Second, San Genadio, Froylan, and the Infanta Urraca.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> According to Miquel y Badía, the <i>focus</i> of the Romans is the +present <i>clar de foch</i> of Cataluña; “a square platform of brick or +stone raised somewhat from the ground, surrounded by a bench +(<i>escó</i>), and large enough to serve for roasting beasts entire.”</p> + +<p>Swinburne wrote from Reus in 1775;—“we here for the first time +saw a true Spanish kitchen, viz., an hearth raised above the level of +the floor under a wide funnel, where a circle of muleteers were +huddled together over a few cinders.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> The <i>Codex of the Testaments</i>, preserved in Oviedo Cathedral, +contains some valuable illustrations of Spanish furniture of the tenth +century. Greatly interesting, too, is the chair of San Raimundo +(12th century) preserved at Roda in Aragon. It is of the “scissors” +or folding form (<i>sella plicatilis</i>, Ducange), and the arms are +terminated by heads of animals.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> The early nomenclature of the clothes and other fittings of a +Spanish bed is bewildering. We find in common use the canopy +(<i>almocalla</i>, <i>almuzala</i>; Arabic, <i>al-mokalla</i>, i.e. “haven of refuge in +all winds”—not always, possibly, a judicious term in the case of a +<i>cama de matrimonio</i> or “marriage-bed”); the cloth-lined skins for +chilly weather (<i>alifafe</i>, <i>alifad</i>; Arabic <i>al-lifafh</i>), such as King Juan +the First of Aragon provided for his daughter (“two leathers of +Morocco for the bed.” <i>Archive of the Crown of Aragon; +Registro 1906, fol. 42</i>); the parament or <i>dosal</i>; the <i>galnapé</i> or +topmost of the bedclothes proper (“<i>un lecho con guenabe</i>”; Fuero +of Cáceres, <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1229); the counterpane (<i>fatel</i>, <i>fatol</i>, <i>alfatel</i>, <i>facel</i>, +<i>farele</i>, <i>fateye</i>, <i>fatiro</i>; Arabic <i>fatla</i>); the linen sheets (<i>izares</i>, <i>lentros</i>, +<i>lentos</i>, <i>lintes</i>, <i>lincas</i>, <i>linteáminas</i>, or <i>lencios</i>); and the mattress, +pillow, and bolster, called, all three of them, <i>plumazo</i>, <i>plumario</i>, or +<i>plumaco</i>. Nearly or quite identical in meaning with these last are +<i>cúlcita</i> and <i>almadraque</i>. <i>Cúlcita</i> is corrupted into <i>colcedra</i>, <i>cocedra</i>, +<i>conzara</i>, <i>colotra</i>, and other more or less barbaric variations; while +<i>almohada</i>, <i>almuella</i>, <i>travesera</i>, <i>almofadinha</i>, <i>faseruelo</i>, and <i>aljamar</i> +also signify a pillow or a cushion.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> “E due haber encara héla entegrament, ses vestitz é ses joyes +é un leyt ben garnit del misllors apereylltz que sien en casa, é <i>una</i> +<i>escala d'argent</i> é una cortina.” Fuero of Jaca, <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1331, quoted +by Abad y la Sierra and the Count of Clonard.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Sanpere y Miquel; <i>Las costumbres catalanas en tiempo de +Juan I.</i>, pp. 83, 84.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Miquel y Badía believes that the Spaniards abandoned the +Roman usage of reclining at their meals towards the sixth century.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Forks were not introduced till later. It has even been questioned +whether they were known in Spain as late as the sixteenth +century. But Ambrosio de Morales mentions one in 1591, while +another is recorded in 1607 as belonging to the monastery of San +Jerónimo de Valparaiso, near Cordova. (See vol. i., p. 84.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> This kind of furniture was prohibited by a sumptuary pragmatic +of 1594. “No silversmith or other craftsman, or any person +whatsoever, shall make, or cause to be made, or sold, or sell himself +or purchase, whether openly or privately, buffets, writing-desks, +chests, brasiers, pattens, tables, letter-cases, <i>rejillas</i> or foot-warmers, +images, or any other object that has silver fittings, whether the +silver be beaten, stamped, wrought in relief, carved, or plain.” +<i>Suma de todas las leyes</i> (<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1628), p. 42.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Describing how the monarch made these presents to the church +when lying at the point of death, the <i>Chronicle of the Monk of Silos</i> +says: “<i>exuit regalem clamydem, qua induebatur corpus et deposuit +gemmatam coronam, qua ambiebatur caput</i>.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> The formula is worded thus: “<i>Quisquis ille fuerit qui talia +commiserit, sit maledictus coram Deo et Angelis ejus, mendicitas +et lepra prosapiam teneat suam et extraneus persistat a sancta +communione, quatenus cum Juda, Christi proditore, ardendus permaneat +in æterna damnatione.</i>”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> To keep the dust or rain from entering these trunks, they were +covered, when on the march, with stout square cloths called +<i>reposteros</i>, which were often richly worked and bore the owner's +arms or monogram. The same word subsequently came to mean +the tapestried or other decorative cloths displayed in Spain on gala +days from balconies of public edifices, or the mansions of the +aristocracy; but dictionaries which were printed at the close of the +eighteenth century still define the <i>repostero</i> as “caparison, a square +cloth with the arms of a prince or lord on it, which serves to cover +a led-horse, or sumpter-horse.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> The wood-carving and decorative leather-work of older Spain +will be described a little later on. As to the use of decorated leather +by the Moors, in the small chamber of the Alhambra opening into +the Mirador of Daraxa, and known as the Sala de los Ajimeces, is +a bare space about nine feet in height, which runs the whole way +round beneath the copious ornament of the remainder of the wall. +Contreras says that the Moorish sultans used to hang these spaces +with decorated leathers, tapestry, and armour. Sometimes the +tapestry or leather would be worked or painted with hunting-scenes +(<i>tardwahsh</i>—the chase of the lion, panther, or wild boar), or even +with portraits of the sultans. Among these latter is the celebrated +painting on the ceiling of the Hall of Justice, executed, as are its +companions at each side of it, upon a leather groundwork with a +plaster coating.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> I think this shows why to this day a Spaniard who professes to +be an educated person will often wipe his or her mouth upon the +tablecloth. Not many weeks ago I saw the elegantly dressed +daughter of a Spanish member of Parliament perform this semi-oriental +feat in an hotel at Granada. Montaigne would judge this +<i>señorita</i> with benevolence; not so, I fear, my compatriots. Similarly, +it is considered rude in Spain to stretch yourself; but not to +spit upon the dining-room floor, or pick your teeth at table.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Mr Cunninghame Graham, visiting a Caid's house in present-day +Morocco, noted, as the only furniture, “leather-covered cushions, +the cover cut into intricate geometric patterns; the room contained +a small trunk-shaped box.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> <i>West Barbary</i>, p. 150.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> <i>Annales d'Espagne et de Portugal</i>, vol. iii., pp. 324, 327.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> “Hónrale el Sr Roberto, alma del Rey, y <i>le ha dado Silla</i>, y le +tuvo á su lado.” Lope de Vega's comedy, <i>The Key of Honour</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> The covers would be fastened by a lock and key, as a defence, +not against poison, but against theft. “A little afterwards Don +Federico de Cardona, who had gone out to see how matters were +proceeding, returned, bearing a large silver vessel, the cover of +which was secured by a lock and key, as is the custom in Spain.”—Countess +d'Aulnoy's <i>Travels</i>. As late as the year 1792, Townsend, +in his “Directions to the Itinerant in Spain,” recommends (vol. i., p. +2) that the vessel to boil the traveller's meat should be provided with +a cover and a lock.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> The purpose of these Spanish city laws was in its essence unimpeachable; +namely, to guard the intensely ignorant Christian +populace—the same which fugitive Moriscos of the kingdom of +Valencia had readily prevailed upon to barter tons of brass and +pewter trash for sterling gold and silver coin—from being imposed +upon by manufacturers and merchants. But the power of discriminating +between a genuine or well-made object and a piece of +counterfeit or worthless rubbish is, among all peoples, better sought +for and developed by experience than by legislation; and there was +something noxiously prosaic in a code of city ordinances which +forbade the craftsman to prepare his own design, or choose his +own material, or establish his own prices. How violently, or at +least how primitively, hostile to the sense of art must not have been +these Christian sons of Spain to need—or think they needed—so +impertinent and tyrannous a system of protection!</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> <i>Ordenanza de Mesoneros</i>, titulo 54.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> <i>West Barbary</i>, p. 129.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Vol. v., pp. 301–304.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> “Spain lays claim to the invention of the art of gilding leather; +it is asserted that, after being discovered there, the secret was carried +to Naples by Peter Paul Majorano.”—Laborde, vol. v., p. 231.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Count of Clonard; <i>Memorias para la historia del traje español</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> <i>Boletín de la Sociedad Española de Excursiones</i>, Nos. 101, +102; Art. <i>Guadamacíes</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> The <i>Poem of the Cid</i> tells us of the two chests, covered with red +<i>guadamecí</i>, which the hero filled with sand to cheat the Jewish +money-lenders:—</p> + +<div class="poem-container"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“<i>Con vuestro consejo bastir quiero dos archas.</i></span><br /> +<span class="i0"><i>Incamosla d'arena, cá bien serán pesadas,</i></span><br /> +<span class="i0"><i>Cubiertas de guadamecí é bien enclavadas;</i></span><br /> +<span class="i0"><i>Los guadamecís bermeios é los clavos bien dorados.</i>”</span><br /> +</div></div></div> + +<p>Nevertheless, the “coffer of the Cid” at Burgos (see p. <a href="#Page_12">12</a>) does +not appear to have been thus fitted.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> The same usage obtained in Morocco. Lancelot Addison +wrote in 1669 that on the first day of their “Little Feast” the Moors +across the Strait “spread the floor of their Giammas with coloured +leather.”—<i>West Barbary</i>, p. 213.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> An inventory of effects belonging to the Hospital of San José at +Jerez de la Frontera mentions, in 1589, “clothes and trimmings for +the image of Our Lady. A crown of gilded <i>guadamecí</i>.”—Gestoso, +<i>Diccionario de Artífices Sevillanos</i>, vol. i., p. xxii, <i>note</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> A hall, says Ramírez de Arellano, would often be embellished +by surrounding it with arches wrought of leather in relief and +superposed on leather. As a rule the arches were gilt and silvered, +and rested upon pilasters or columns. When pilasters were used, +their centres would be ornamented with Italian devices such as +flowers, trophies, imitated cameos, and foliage. Landscapes with a +far horizon and no figures, known as <i>boscaje</i> or <i>pintura verde</i> were +painted on the space between the arches, so that the general effect +was that of a pavilion with arches on all sides, displaying everywhere +a wide expanse of fertile country. The arches rested on a +broad bordering of <i>guadamecíes</i>, and running round the lower part +was a <i>zócalo</i> or socle, commonly made of tiling.</p> + +<p>Such is the kind of decoration which was most in vogue in Spain +throughout the latter half of the sixteenth century; that which was +exported to Rome; and that which was commissioned by the Duke +of Arcos.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> <i>The Art of the Saracens in Egypt</i>, pp. 124, 125.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> <i>“Es noble arte, complida en sí; è acrescienta la nobleza del rey +y del reyno, si en ella pararen mientes, como deuen; è pone paz en +el pueblo y amor entre los omes, onde es carrera para muchos +bienes.”</i>—<i>Ordenanzas de Sevilla</i>, Part 1, p. 141.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Gestoso finds no record of him in the city archives; but from a +rough portrait of Arenas prefixed to his treatise, we judge that he +was born about the year 1580.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Arenas himself defines a <i>carpintero de lo blanco</i> as “he who +prepares and works upon the wood employed in building; also, he +who fashions tables, benches, etc., in his workshop.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> “His language abounds in Arabic words and phrases of uncertain +origin, whose meaning (since he wrote for men familiar with +this work) he makes no effort to explain.”—Editor's introduction to +the third edition of <i>Carpintería de lo Blanco</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> Arabic <i>al-farx</i>, a carpet, piece of tapestry, or anything that covers +and adorns.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> This mingled decoration is extremely common; and may be +studied in our country, in the carved panels at South Kensington +which are believed to proceed from the pulpit of the mosque of Kusun; +or in the thirteenth-century panels of the tomb of Es-salih Ayyub.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Cordova was a famous centre of this craft for many centuries. +Ramírez de Arellano has found and published a notice relative to +Lope de Liaño and García Alonso, two artificers of this city who +signed, on January 7th, 1572, a contract with the prior of the monastery +of the Holy Martyrs to build a ceiling for one of the chapels +of the same. The document, which is quoted <i>in extenso</i> in the +<i>Boletín de la Sociedad Española de Excursiones</i> for November, +1900, abounds in technical expressions, many of them partly or +entirely Moorish.</p> + +<p>The same writer publishes the names (hitherto completely unrecorded) +of thirteen other artist-carpenters who worked at Cordova +in the latter half of the sixteenth century and early in the seventeenth. +The craft, in fact, died hard, and ceilings of this kind, +replete with Moorish detail, were made in certain parts of Southern +Spain until the closing moments of the eighteenth century.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> That the Moors were proud of their mastery in woodwork is +proved by an inscription in the Torre de la Cautiva at Granada, +saying; “In the plaster and the tiles is work of extreme beauty, +<i>but the woodwork of the roof has vanquished them in elegance</i>.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Morales was probably mistaken. “On entering Aragon one +sees whole forests of ‘Spanish Cedar’ or <i>alerce</i>, some of the trees +so thick that they measure four feet in diameter.”—Bowles' <i>Natural +History of Spain</i>, p. 102.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> <i>Antigüedades de las ciudades de España</i> (<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1575), p. 123.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> José Amador de los Ríos mentions, as a good example of the first +of these types, a thirteenth-century door of the <i>claustrilla</i> in the +monastery of Las Huelgas at Burgos. Other doors in the same +monastery are illustrative of the second type; while all three types +are represented by the doors, described herewith, which close the +principal entrance to the misnamed Hall of Ambassadors in the +Alcázar of Seville.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> <i>Journal du Voyage en Espagne</i>, p. 85.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> The following words record the date of the construction of this +place and its doors, and may be read (Plate <a href="#img_36.jpg">xiii</a>.) upon the scroll +of tiles or <i>alizares</i> crowning the principal façade:—</p> + +<div class="blockquote">☩ EL ︰ MUY ︰ ALTO ︰ ET ︰ MUY ︰ NOBLE ︰ ET ︰ MUY ︰ +PODEROSO ︰ ET ︰ MUY ︰ CONQUERIDOR ︰ DON ︰ PEDRO ︰ +POR ︰ LA ︰ GRACIA ︰ DE ︰ DIOS ︰ REY ︰ DE ︰ +CASTIELLA ︰ ET ︰ DE ︰ LEON ︰ MANDÓ ︰ FACER ︰ ESTOS ︰ +ALCÁZARES ︰ ET ︰ ESTOS ︰ PALACIOS ︰ ET ︰ ESTAS ︰ +PORTADAS ︰ QUE ︰ FUÉ ︰ FECHO ︰ EN ︰ LA ︰ ERA ︰ +DE ︰ MILL ︰ ET ︰ QUATROÇIENTOS ︰ Y ︰ DOS ︰</div> + +<p>The observant Swinburne was not misled, like many travellers of +to-day, into believing the Alcázar to be of purely Moorish origin. +“Having read that the Moors built one part of this palace, I +concluded I was admiring something as old as the Mahometan kings +of Seville; but upon closer examination was not a little surprised +to find <i>lions</i>, <i>castles</i>, and other armorial ensigns of Castille and +Leon, interwoven with Arabesque foliages; and still more so, to +see in large Gothic characters, an inscription informing me that +these edifices were built in the fourteenth century, by the most +mighty king of Castille and Leon, Don Pedro.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> “The windows, which are chiefly composed of curious wooden +lattice-work, serving to screen the inhabitants from the view of +persons without, as also to admit both light and air, commonly project +outwards, and are furnished with mattresses and cushions.”—Lane's +<i>Arabian Nights</i>, vol. i., p. 192.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> It is strange that Ford should have confounded the <i>reja</i> with +the <i>celosía</i> (<i>Handbook</i>, vol. i., p. 153). However, he opportunely +quotes the Spanish proverb, <i>Muger ventanera tuercela el cuello si la +quieres buena</i> (“The remedy for a woman who is always thrusting +her head from the casement is to twist her neck”).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> Almagro Cardenas calls it “part of a <i>celosía</i>” (<i>Museo Granadino</i>, +p. 79); but as it can never have been a window-grating, this term is +incorrect. Gómez Moreno calls it, not too lucidly, “a wooden balustrade +forming squares and rectangular figures in the manner of a +<i>celosía</i>” (<i>Guía de Granada</i>, p. 421). Valladar (<i>Guía de Granada</i>, +edition of 1906, p. 117) calls it simply a balustrade, and this, it +seems to me, is the only term which truthfully describes the object.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> My readers are no doubt aware that every Spanish hamlet has +its wooden image of the Virgin, badly executed as a rule, and +rendered doubly hideous by a gaudy gown. Most of these local +images are believed to hold the power of working miracles, or at +least to have been fashioned and conducted to their present shrine +by supernatural agency—on which account the populace and their +pastors call these latter <i>imagenes aparecidas</i>, as distinct from <i>manufactured</i> +images. Such are the Virgins of Montserrat, Granada, +and numerous other cities, towns, or villages of this illiterate and +ill-starred Peninsula. The curious may refer for every kind of +detail to Villafañe's <i>Compendious History of the Wonder-working +Images of Spain</i>, which numbered in this author's day (his book +was published in 1740) one hundred and eighty-nine. But the most +extraordinary miracle of all was that which is recalled, with pious +gravity, by Bertaut de Rouen. Speaking of the gilt-wood image of +Nuestra Señora del Pilar at Zaragoza, he says:—“On y void quantité +de lampes d'argent et on m'en raconta un miracle qu'il me +fut impossible de ne pas croire. C'est d'un pauvre homme qui +ayant eu la jambe coupée pour une blessure, et s'estant bien recommandé +à <i>Nostra Señora del Pilar</i>, il se trouva un jour avec sa mesme +jambe qu'il avoit déja fait enterrer. Y'ay sceu l'histoire du chirurgien +mesme qui coupa cette jambe et de quantité de témoins de veuë. +Il n'y a que quinze ans que cela est arrivé, mais l'homme est mort +depuis peu.”—<i>Journal du Voyage en Espagne</i>, p. 203.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> It is due to Martínez Montañes to mention that in many of his +contracts he stipulated that the painters of his statuary should be +chosen by himself, “so as not to corrupt the outline and the +sentiment of the figures.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> In Spanish he is called Felipe de Borgoña, but Martí y Monsó +says that the proper spelling of the surname is Biguerny.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> Zarco del Valle, <i>Documentos Inéditos para la Historia de las +Bellas Artes en España</i>, pp. 161, 162.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> “The stalls of the choir are neatly carved, and hung with +escutcheons of princes and noblemen, among which I remarked the +arms of our Henry the Eighth.”—Swinburne.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> This kind of parenthetical remark or prayer is one of the many +Muslim phrases that have passed into the regular service of the +Spanish Christian.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> Wood is the usual material for these altar-screens, though sometimes +marble was employed, or stone, or silver. Of Genoese marble +is the <i>retablo</i> (end of the fourteenth or beginning of the fifteenth +century) of the Cartuja del Paular in the Lozoya valley; of stone, +those of the parish church of San Nicolás at Burgos (end of the +fifteenth or beginning of the sixteenth century), and of the “chapel +of the tailors” in Tarragona Cathedral; while a silver <i>retablo</i>, in the +Renaissance style, was that of the church, now demolished, of +Santa María at Madrid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> <i>Descripción de la Catedral de Sevilla</i>, pp. 27, 28.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr class="hr95" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="IVORIES" id="IVORIES">IVORIES</a></h2> + +<p>The story of Spanish ivory-work is shortly told, +for probably no craft, excepting glass, has been so +little practised in this country. The older Spanish +writers rarely mention it, although from time to +time this substance may have been employed for +carving diptyches and boxes, and Roderick is +stated to have entered the battle of the Guadalete +in an ivory car, by which is meant, perhaps, a +chariot of Byzantine make or pattern, covered +with ivory plates. However, properly speaking, +the history of this art as exercised in Spain begins +in the eleventh century, attains its prime towards +the fourteenth century, and ceases altogether at +the time of the Renaissance.</p> + +<p>Among the ivory objects now preserved in +Spain, and which were wrought by artists other +than Mohammedan, none is more interesting or +important than the consular diptych of Oviedo +cathedral. Although this valuable diptych was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +not made in Spain, but manifests Byzantine art in +all its purity, it well deserves to be described. It +consists of two ivory tablets measuring sixteen +inches and a half in height by twelve inches and a +half across both leaves. Each leaf has a simple +border of a triple form, and just inside each corner +is a circular floral ornament in relief, with a lion's +head in the centre. Another ornament, also circular, +is in the centre of each leaf, and contains, +carved within a graceful S-shaped border, a half-length +portrait of the Consul, who is represented +in the act of throwing down into the amphitheatre +his <i>mappa</i> or handkerchief<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> with his right hand, +while in his left he holds the sceptre (<i>scipio imaginifer</i>), +crowned with a small bust. His hair is +curled in the Byzantine fashion, and his costume +is a richly decorated toga.</p> + +<p>An inscription runs along the top of either +tablet, between the border and the circular devices +carved with flowers. It says:—</p> + +<p><i>Flavius Strategius Apion—Strategius Apion. +Vir inlustris Comes Devotissimorum Domesticorum +et Consul ordinarius.</i></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_90.jpg" width="500" height="327" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_90.jpg" id="img_90.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XXXVII<br />IVORY BOX<br /> +(<i>9th Century. Madrid Museum</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>We gather, therefore, that this magnate was a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +chamberlain at court, as well as ordinary consul.</p> + +<p>Diptyches were used among the Romans for all +kinds of purposes, such as to convey love-messages, +as invitations to a banquet, or to notify the celebration +of feasts and games. We find the diptych +also used in Christian temples from the time of +Constantine, serving to record church festivals or +names of saints and martyrs, as covers for a copy +of the gospel (<i>diptycha evangeliorum</i>), or as reliquaries +(<i>thecae reliquiarum</i>). Sometimes these +diptyches were wrought expressly for the church, +or sometimes they were consular diptyches that +had been preserved from former ages. This latter +class, when cleansed from pagan usage and devoted +to the ceremonies of the Christian faith, was +known as <i>diptycha mixta</i>.</p> + +<p>Such early objects as were wrought in ivory by +Spanish hands, consisting as a rule of circular or +oblong, square or oval caskets, were principally +carved by Moors or Mudejares. Among the +Spanish-Moorish boxes which are still preserved +are several of the greatest interest and beauty +(Plates <a href="#img_92.jpg">xxxviii</a>., <a href="#img_94.jpg">xxxix</a>., <a href="#img_96.jpg">xl</a>.). One of them, made +from pieces of an older casket believed to date +from earlier than the Moorish conquest, is in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +the National Museum. The decoration in its +present form consists of Arabic inscriptions in +relief, together with figures of the apostles. This +casket, which proceeds from the Colegiata of Saint +Isidore at León, measures seven inches in length +by five in depth and six in height, and has been +used as a reliquary.</p> + +<p>Another, dating from the middle of the eleventh +century and proceeding from the same temple as +the one just noticed, is also in the National +Museum. It was a present from the Emir Mohammed +Almotamid-Aben-Abed to his second +wife, Al-Badir (“the Moon”), and includes among +the decoration dogs and doves, symbolic of affection +and fidelity. The style of carving is what is +known as Persian-Arabic. We do not know, +however, whether the box was imported from the +East, or whether it was made in Spain by somebody +of Persian parentage or skilled in Persian +art. The material is a delicate <i>taracea</i> of sandal, +aloe, and cypress woods inlaid on larch. The +box, which was used at León as a reliquary, has +bronze clasps, and is inscribed along the top with +sentences from which we learn that it was made +by Aben-As-Serag.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_92.jpg" width="500" height="320" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_92.jpg" id="img_92.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XXXVIII<br />IVORY CASKET<br /> +(<i>Moorish; 11th Century. Pamplona Cathedral</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>In the cathedral of Pamplona is a magnificent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +ivory box (Plate <a href="#img_92.jpg">xxxviii</a>.) which was originally at +Sangüesa in Navarre. It measures, says Riaño, +fifteen inches long by nine and a quarter inches +wide. “It is completely covered with carvings +in relief, within circular cusped medallions, with +figures in the centres representing different +subjects; men seated, hawking, or struggling +with wild beasts, and numerous single figures of +lions, stags, and other animals. The intermediate +spaces contain an ornamentation of leaves and +flowers which is accommodated to the geometrical +style of Saracenic art. Round the upper part of +this box appears an Arabic inscription in fine +Cufic characters:—‘In the name of God. The +blessing of God, the complete felicity, the happiness, +the fulfilment of the hope of good works, +and the adjourning the fatal period (of death), be +with the Hagib Seifo daula (sword of the State), +Abdelmalek ben Almansur. This (box) was made +by the orders (of the said Hagib), under the inspection +or direction of his chief eunuch, Nomayr +ben Mohammad Alaumeri, his slave, in the year +of 395 (<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1005).’</p> + +<p>“In the centre medallion, on the opposite side +to the lock, is represented the standing figure of +a man who is attacked by two lions. He holds<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +on his arm a shield, upon which is engraved an +inscription, with the following religious formula: +‘There is no god but God,’ or a similar one, +for the characters are very illegible and confused. +In the centre of this shield may be read the words, +‘Made by Hair,’ undoubtedly one of the artists +who made the box. Another artist's name may +be read with difficulty in a similar inscription +which appears on one of the medallions on the +left side; it is written on the thigh of a stag, +which is attacked by a lion: ‘It was made by +Obeidat.’ Three other inscriptions of a similar +character appear in other parts of this box, which +probably give the names of other artists, but I +have been unable to decipher them.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_94.jpg" width="500" height="325" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_94.jpg" id="img_94.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XXXIX<br />IVORY BOX<br /> +(<i>11th Century. Palencia Cathedral</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>Other interesting boxes dating from the same +period are that of Santo Domingo de Silos at +Burgos, and several which are in the National +Museum at Madrid. The box which is preserved +at Burgos is made of ivory, and measures thirteen +inches and a quarter in length by seven inches +and a half in width and height. The decorative +work consists of hunting scenes, and also of an +inscription in Cufic characters which says: “Permanent +felicity for the owner (of this box). May +God lengthen his days. It was made at Medina …;<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> +in the year four hundred and seventeen (<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> +1025). It is the work of his servant Mohammed-ibn-Zeiyan. +May God glorify him.”</p> + +<p>There is also in the provincial museum of +Burgos a handsome ivory diptych which was +formerly at the convent of Santo Domingo de +Silos. It bears at each extremity—that is, four +times repeated—the following inscription:—“This +was ordered to be made by the Iman, servant +of God, Abd-er-Rhaman, prince of believers.”</p> + +<p>Among the rectangular boxes in the National +Museum is one of carved ivory, with an inscription +recording it to have been a gift from Prince Ali +to one of the favourites of his harem, and another +of the same material which was once upon a time +at Carrion de los Condes, in the province of +Palencia. This box is painted with a decorative +pattern in carmine and dark green. The lid, +which is imperfect, contains the following inscription +in Cufic characters, standing boldly out +against a green ground:—“In the name of +Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate. The +protection of Allah and an impending victory +for the servant of Allah …; and his wali Maad<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +Abu-Temim—the Iman Al-Moez …; prince of +believers (the blessing of Allah be upon him +and his sons the good). (This) was commanded +to be made for (celebrating) the fortunate +victory. It was made by …; Jorasani.” The +length of this box is eighteen inches, and its +height nine inches.</p> + +<p>A fine Moorish box (Plate <a href="#img_94.jpg">xxxix</a>.), now in the +cathedral of Palencia, is covered with elaborately +engraved and perforated ivory plates upon a +ground of gilt leather backed by wood, and +further ornamented with enamel-work upon a +copper surface. This box is fourteen inches +long, and has a gable top. The decoration +on the sides and lid consists of palm-leaves, +birds, and men engaged in combating and +chasing antelopes and lions in the characteristic +manner of Assyrian art. A lengthy Cufic inscription +tells us that the box was made at Cuenca +(<i>Medina Cuenca</i>) by Abd-er-Rahman ben Ziyan, +to the order of the Moorish princes of Toledo, +and that it dates from the year 441 of the Hegira.<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> +Vives has pointed out that Cuenca was evidently<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +a principal centre of this industry, and that +caskets executed here about this time exist in +Perpignan cathedral and in the provincial museum +of Burgos.</p> + +<p>Riaño mentions seven ivory boxes of particular +interest, which were probably made in Spain by +Spanish Arabs, or else by Eastern craftsmen +who had emigrated to this country. “On all +their carving,” he adds, “the names of Spanish +historical persons appear, and it is hardly possible +that they were ordered in remote countries, especially +as some of these objects are small and comparatively +unimportant.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_96.jpg" width="500" height="312" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_96.jpg" id="img_96.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XL<br />HISPANO-MORESQUE IVORY CASKET<br /> +(<i>13th Century. Royal Academy of History, Madrid</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>Two of these boxes are in the South Kensington +Museum. The one which is cylindrical in shape +and has a domed cover is thus described by +Maskell in his <i>Ivories, Ancient and Mediæval, +in the South Kensington Museum</i>:—“This beautiful +box is carved throughout, except the bottom +of it, with interlacing narrow bands forming +quatrefoils, in which, on the cover, are four eagles. +These have spread wings and stand erect; well +designed and most delicately executed. A small +knob serves to lift the lid.</p> + +<p>“Round the side, each quatrefoil is filled with a +star having a leaf ornament. The same decoration<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +is repeated in the spaces between the larger quatrefoils +on the cover.”</p> + +<p>“The whole is carved in pierced work, except a +band which forms the upper upright portion of the +box, round the side of the lid. This band has an +Arabic inscription: ‘A favour of God to the +servant of God, Al Hakem al Mostanser Billah, +commander of the faithful.’ He was a Caliph +who reigned at Cordova, <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 961–976.”</p> + +<p>The other box is oblong and rectangular. +“The cover and sides are carved with scroll +foliated ornament; the hinges and clasp are of +chased silver inlaid with niello. Round the sides, +immediately below the lid, is the following Arabic +inscription in Cufic characters:—‘In the name of +God. This (box) was ordered to be made by +Seidat Allah, the wife of Abd-er-Rahman, prince +of the believers. God be merciful and satisfied +with him.’” This inscription, adds Riaño, “must +allude to Abd-er-Rahman the Third, the first +Caliph of Cordova who bore the title of Emir, el +Mumenin. The formula ‘God be merciful,’ etc., +denotes that he was dead when it was written. +He died <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 961.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_98.jpg" width="314" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_98.jpg" id="img_98.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XLI<br />IVORY CRUCIFIX<br /> +(<i>11th Century. Madrid Museum</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>Another Spanish-Moorish casket, also at South +Kensington, and dating from the eleventh century,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> +is described by Maskell as “richly carved in deep +relief with foliage and animals in scrolls interlacing +one another, and forming larger and smaller +circles. The top and each side is a single plaque +of ivory; the sloping lid at the front and back has +two panels. On the two are two animals, like +doves; a large bird stands at the back of each, +attacking it with his beak. The sloping sides +have, in the large circles, men on horseback, and +animals fighting. The intermediate spaces are +completely filled with foliage, and smaller beasts. +Similar subjects are repeated in the circles on the +panels forming the lower sides of the casket, and +among them are two groups of men and women +sitting; one blowing a horn, another playing on +a guitar, another holding a cup in one hand and a +flower in the other.” Riaño adds: “There is no +inscription on this casket, but in one of the +medallions on the lid there is a bust, which is +carried on the back of a horse, and which is +probably a representation of the prince for whom +the casket was made.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_99.jpg" width="351" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_99.jpg" id="img_99.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XLI (<i>a</i>)<br />IVORY CRUCIFIX<br /> +(<i>11th Century. Back view. Madrid Museum</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>The <i>Letter of Testament</i> setting forth the +various objects bequeathed by Ferdinand the +First and his consort Sancha to the church of +Saint John the Baptist (or of Saint Isidore) at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +León, mentions an ivory cross (which will be +noticed presently), an ivory box fitted with gold, +and two ivory boxes fitted with silver, one of +them containing three other silver boxes, similarly +decorated.</p> + +<p>One of these boxes is described by Ambrosio +de Morales, and from his words we conclude it +to be the one which was adorned with gold, +“of which metal,” he wrote in 1572, “it has even +more than of ivory,” adding that it measured more +than half a yard in length, and enshrined the body +of Saint Vincent of Avila. He also tells us that +it bore the following inscription, carved upon a +golden frieze:—</p> + +<div class="blockquote">ARCULA SANCTORUM MICAT HAEC SUB HONORE DUORUM<br /> +BAPTISTAE SANCTI JOHANNIS SIVE PELAGII<br /> +CEU REX FERNANDUS, REGINAQUE SANTIA, FIERI JUSSIT.<br /> +ERA MILLENA SEPTENA SEU NONAGENA.<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a></div> + +<p>This <i>arca</i> has been much mutilated, and stripped +of all the precious metal. Morales' description +is therefore of especial value, as are the ivory +tablets (eleventh century), carved with Christian<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +themes, which yet remain upon the body of +the box.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_100.jpg" width="335" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_100.jpg" id="img_100.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XLII<br />BYZANTINE CRUCIFIX</p> +</div> + +<p>Dating from the thirteenth century is a Moorish +casket (Plate <a href="#img_96.jpg">xl</a>.), preserved in the Academy +of History at Madrid, and proceeding from +the Carthusian monastery of Val de Cristo at +Segorbe. It measures a foot in length by eight +inches in height and four and a half inches in +depth. The lid is deeply bevelled, and contains +on each of the bevelled sides shields with the +bars which constitute the arms of Aragon, painted +upon a gold ground, together with imperial eagles +painted in black upon a carmine ground. A +decorative device of leaves and stems is also +painted on the ivory.</p> + +<p>Rodrigo Amador de los Ríos believes that this +casket was captured in war by Jayme the First +of Aragon, remaining with successive princes of +his line until the reign of Don Martin, by +whom it was presented to the monastery. The +shields would thus be added to the primitive +Moorish casket by some Christian-Spanish +painter.</p> + +<p>The ivory crucifix (Plates <a href="#img_98.jpg">xli</a>. and <a href="#img_99.jpg">xli</a>. (<i>a</i>)), of +Ferdinand the First and Doña Sancha, made in +the first half of the eleventh century, and offered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> +by these sovereigns to the church of Saint John +the Baptist (or of Saint Isidore) at León, measures +twenty-one inches in length by thirteen inches and +a half in height. The figure of Christ recalls the +rigidness and rudeness of Byzantine craftsmanship, +such as is found in ancient crucifixes still +preserved in Spain (Plate <a href="#img_100.jpg">xlii</a>.). The pupils of the +enormous, expressionless eyes are made of jet. +We see the wound upon each foot, with wavy +marks to imitate the flowing blood, but no trace +of a nail. Nails, however, transfix the hands. +The arms are separate from the trunk, but the +<i>suppedaneum</i> on which the feet are resting is of +a single piece with the body of the figure.</p> + +<p>The surface of the cross, especially about the +borders, contains elaborate decoration, including +animals and foliage. Above the Saviour's head is +the inscription:—</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;">IHS NAZA<br /> +RENVS REX<br /> +IVDEORVM</p> + +<p>Above this is another figure of Christ seated, +crowned with a cruciform nimbus and holding a +Greek processional cross. Beneath the feet of +the larger figure is Adam in an uncouth posture,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +turning his head to gaze upward, and at the +lower extremity of the cross are carved the +words:—</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;">FERDINANDVS REX<br /> +SANCIA REGINA</p> + +<p>The lateral arms are carved with numerous +devices forming an effective whole, including +animals upon a tessellated band which seems to +imitate a groundwork of mosaic. Other subjects +represented are the Resurrection of the Flesh, +the ascent of the blessed to Heaven, and the fall +of the wicked to Hell.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_102.jpg" width="373" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_102.jpg" id="img_102.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XLIII<br />“THE VIRGIN OF BATTLES”<br /> +(<i>13th Century. Seville Cathedral</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>Upon the obverse side are pairs of quadrupeds, +birds, and serpents, among a maze of foliage, +together with the eagle, lion, lamb, and ox, as +symbols of the evangelists. The lion and the ox +have wings, and at the foot of the cross is an +angel.</p> + +<p>The carving of the Saviour's form is clearly +inferior to that of the decoration which surrounds +it. Amador de los Ríos seeks to account for this +by declaring that “the difficulty from the point of +view of art increases in proportion as the size of +the figure is required to be larger”—a statement +with which I wholly disagree. I believe, in +fact, that in this cross the figure of Christ and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +the surrounding ornamentation are not by the +same hand, and that the carver of the decorative +detail was simply the better craftsman of the two.</p> + +<p>Many of the statuettes of the Virgin which +are preserved in Spain were probably made in +France. One that is typically and unquestionably +Spanish is the celebrated “Virgin of Battles” +(Plate <a href="#img_102.jpg">xliii</a>.), now guarded, together with other +relics of Saint Ferdinand (see Vol. I., Plate <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44391/44391-h/44391-h.htm#img_64.jpg">xi</a>xi.), +in the Chapel Royal of Seville cathedral. These +statuettes, the use of which originated with the +Greek emperors, and which were called by the +Byzantines <i>socia belli</i>, consist of a seated figure of +the Virgin with a small door opening underneath +her throne, and served as reliquaries, and also as +a kind of talisman. Boutelou says that the Spanish +warriors of the Middle Ages were accustomed to +carry these images to war with them, fitted upon +a pin protruding from the left side of the saddle-bow. +The “Virgin of Battles,” made in Spain +in the early part of the thirteenth century, was +thus carried by King Ferdinand the Saint, resting +between his shield or <i>rodela</i> and his left arm, and +so protected, and protecting, in the brunt of war.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_104.jpg" width="346" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_104.jpg" id="img_104.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XLIV<br />SPANISH MEDIÆVAL <i>BACULUS</i></p> +</div> + +<p>The image is of ivory, and measures seventeen +inches in height. The style is primitive Gothic,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +not as yet emancipated from Romanic and Byzantine +art; and the expression of the Madonna and +her Babe is marked by an engaging sweetness. +Through lapse of centuries, myriads of diminutive +cracks have opened on the surface of the ivory, +and this has turned, in colour, to a brightish +yellow. The right arm of the Virgin was broken +off at some time prior to the sixteenth century, +and has been replaced by another one. Mother +and Child wear crowns of silver-gilt which probably +were added later, and the hair, lips, and +eyes have been badly painted or repainted with +discordant colouring. A four-sided hole bored +deep into the ivory served for holding the image +to the <i>perno</i> which projected from the monarch's +saddle-bow.</p> + +<p>A few elaborate <i>baculi</i> or pastoral staves +(Plate <a href="#img_104.jpg">xliv</a>.) exist in Spain, including one of the +fourteenth century, in ivory, which belonged to the +late Marquis of Monistrol, and is carved with the +Crucifixion and also with the Virgin contemplating +the Holy Infant as He is offered cups by angels. +Another interesting Spanish baculus, though not +of ivory, but copper decorated with turquoises and +bright blue enamel, belonged to Bishop Pelayo +de Cebeyra of Mondoñedo (<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1199–1218), and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +has been preserved, together with that prelate's +gilded shoes. In the celebrated processions of +Santiago, at which Alfonso the Sixth was personally +present, magnificent ivory <i>baculi</i> were borne, +not only by the archbishop (<i>eburnea virga pontificali +decoratus</i>), but even by the choristers.</p> + +<p>Between the eleventh and the fifteenth centuries, +Spanish craftsmen produced a fair quantity +of ivory boxes, reliquaries, diptyches, triptyches, +combs, and other less important objects. A +fifteenth-century ivory spoon, ten inches long, +whose handle is carved with six crocodiles, is in +the National Museum, and may be Spanish work. +In the same collection are one or two ivory +diptyches and leaves of diptyches, and a wooden +box (fourteenth century), with figures of carved +ivory representing passages from the life of Saint +George upon the body of the box, and from the Old +Testament upon the lid. A carved Renaissance +temple of the same material, with the Virgin and +Child in its interior, is probably Italian.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_106.jpg" width="600" height="368" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_106.jpg" id="img_106.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XLV<br />“A TOURNAMENT”<br /> +(<i>Carved lid of box in ivory; 14th Century</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>In the fortieth volume of <i>España Sagrada</i> it is +stated that four ivory diptyches (<i>quatuor dictacos +eburneos</i>) were offered in <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 897 to Lugo +cathedral by Alfonso the Third and his queen +Jimena. Other ivory diptyches were presented<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +in <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1063 by Ferdinand the Second to the +church of Saint Isidore at León. José Villa-amil, +in his study of an ivory statuette of the +Virgin, belonging to the nuns of Allariz (<i>Boletín +de la Sociedad Española de Excursiones</i>; nos. 76 +and 77), mentions a carved ivory box (<i>capsa +eburnea</i>) made in the year 1122 for Santiago +cathedral by order of Archbishop Gelmirez; +another which existed in the sixteenth century in +the church of Santa María at Finisterre; and a +third, used as a reliquary, which in 1572 was +opened by the monks of Samos in presence of +Ambrosio de Morales.</p> + +<p>During the Middle Ages portable altars (<i>altares +portátiles</i>) were widely used in Spain, and some +were made of ivory. It was the custom to open +them at the time of prayer, and as a rule +they rested upon <i>reclinatorios</i> or hung upon the +wall. The <i>imagen abriente</i> or “opening image” +was also popular in Spain throughout the twelfth +and thirteenth centuries. As the name implies, +these images opened in the manner of a triptych, +and were very often used as reliquaries. Specimens +are preserved in many parts of Europe, +but only one or two exist in Spain and Portugal. +That which belongs to the nuns of Allariz dates<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +from the end of the thirteenth century, and was a +present from Queen Violante. It is described +fantastically by Morales, and accurately by Villa-amil, +but the quaintest account is by the chronicler +Jacobo de Castro. It measures, Castro tells us, +“about half-a-yard in length and is one of the +fairest ever seen, since it opens downward from +the neck, discovering, on plates of half-relief, the +principal mysteries of Christ and of Our Lady. +The devotion towards it of the people in this +neighbourhood exceeds description, and God has +wrought a quantity of miracles through the +intercession thereof.”</p> + +<p>A fourteenth-century triptych carved in bone +with scenes from Scripture is in the National +Museum. It proceeds from Aragon, and is said to +have belonged to Jayme the Conqueror. The +Escorial possesses a handsome ivory diptych +(Plate <a href="#img_108.jpg">xlvi</a>.) which is either Spanish or Italian—probably +the former. It measures exactly a foot +in height by nine inches across both leaves, and +is deeply carved with passages from the life of +Christ. The style is late Romanic merging into +Gothic, and points to the second half of the +thirteenth century.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_108.jpg" width="387" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_108.jpg" id="img_108.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XLVI<br />IVORY DIPTYCH<br /> +(<i>13th Century. El Escorial</i>)</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnotes"> + +<p class="noindent">Footnotes:</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> <i>I.e.</i> as a signal to begin the sport. The same usage (except that +the handkerchief is waved, and not thrown down) is followed at this +moment in the Spanish bull-ring.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> At this break in the inscription Riaño professed to discover the +beginning of the word <i>Cuenca</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> Detailed accounts of this casket will be found in the <i>Boletín de +la Sociedad Española de Excursiones</i> for June 1893, and in the +<i>Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia</i>, vol. xx.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1059.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr class="hr95" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="POTTERY" id="POTTERY">POTTERY</a></h2> + +<h3>ANCIENT</h3> + +<p>Quantities of ancient common pottery have been, +and are continually being found in many parts of +Spain. Prehistoric cups, shaped with the fingers +and dried and hardened by the sun, are preserved +in the Museum of History at Barcelona. They +were discovered at Argar. Similar objects have +been extracted from the caves of Segóbriga, +Lóbrega in Old Castile, and El Tesoro in the +province of Málaga. Those which were found at +Segóbriga are divided by Capelle into six groups, +one of which includes a vessel resembling the +ordinary Spanish pitcher of to-day.</p> + +<p>Villa-amil y Castro has described in the <i>Museo +Español de Antigüedades</i> pieces of prehistoric +sun-dried ware discovered in Galicia, roughly +decorated with patterns imprinted by the finger. +In other instances a double spiral has been described<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +with a pointed instrument about the +vessel's neck. Similar fragments have been +found by Góngora in Andalusia. Celtic pottery +was found in 1862 by Captain Brome on Windmill +Hill at Gibraltar, in 1866 by M. Lartet in +the caves of Torrecilla de Cameros, and by +Casiano de Prado in a cave near Pedraza, as well +as at Navares de Ayuso and elsewhere. In +central Spain, vessels of the Celtiberian era have +been found in tombs at Prádena, and pieces of +red Saguntine ware, with dark red decoration, at +Otero de Herreros, close to vestiges of a Roman +mine. Lecea y García describes in his work on +<i>Old Segovian Industries</i> a Celtiberian plate of +reddish clay covered with black varnish, which +was dug up some years ago in a garden at that +town. This plate, measuring no less than four +feet in diameter, and containing two inscriptions +in characters believed to be Celtiberian, as well +as the figure of a warrior armed with a lance and +three javelins, was submitted to Heiss, who wrote +of it in the <i>Gazette Archéologique</i> and pronounced +it to be genuine. I have not seen the plate in +question. I have, however, met with cleverly +executed forgeries, also varnished black, of +primitive Spanish pottery.</p> + +<p>In 1899 quantities of Celtic ware, believed to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +date from the time of the Phœnicians, or even +earlier, were unearthed by M. Bonsor from tumuli +in the Guadalquivir valley. These objects are +ornamented in relief with complicated patterns +paler than the ground, obtained by using lighter-coloured +clay. “As similar Celtic pottery has +been found in Portugal, it will be understood that +the Celtic influence, having crossed the Pyrenees, +reached the south by the western seaboard. It +will thus be seen that long before the arrival of +the Romans a relatively high degree of civilisation +had been reached at least in the south of +Spain.”<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p> + +<p>In the summer of 1905 two German archæologists, +Messrs. Schulten and Könen, who had +obtained permission from the Spanish Government +to explore the site of old Numancia, filled four +large cases with the Celtiberian pottery they +extracted from the ruins. These cases were forwarded +to the University of Göttingen. I understand, +however, that they have been returned, +or are to be returned immediately, to Spain.</p> + +<p>Long before the Christian era, Greek colonies +existed on the Spanish coast at Rhodas, Denia,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +Emporium (Ampurias), Saguntum (Murviedro), +and elsewhere. Pottery of good design and workmanship +was manufactured at these towns, and +strongly influenced native art. Bowls and other +objects showing such an influence were discovered +by M. Bonsor in his recent excavations. Another +powerful influence was that of Rome. Roman +potteries existed in the suburb of Seville called +Triana, and in the provinces of Cáceres and +Badajoz. Mérida was also an important centre +of this industry, and vessels which were used in +sacred rites, such as the <i>aquiminarium</i>, the +<i>prefericulum</i>, the <i>simpulum</i>, and the <i>urnula</i>, were +discovered here not long ago. The name +“Saguntine ware” was given by the Romans to a +kind of pottery which seems to have been made +along the Spanish littoral extending southward +from Saguntum. Fragments of this pottery, +which closely resembles the Arezzo ware,<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +found in shoals upon the sites of Roman towns, +particularly Tarragona. These <i>barros saguntinos</i>, +or (as Hübner prefers to call them) <i>barros +tarraconenses</i>, have been divided into four classes, +namely, white, grey, red (covered with a dark red +varnish),<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> and yellow striped with red. This ware +is commonly adorned with garlands, animals, +hunting-scenes, divinities, games, or religious +ceremonies, and also bears, in nearly every case, the +potter's name or mark; <i>e.g.</i> <span class="smcap">ALBINVS F</span> (“Albinus +fecit”) or <span class="smcap">OF. ALBIN</span> (“officina Albini”). More +than two hundred marks have been discovered +which were used by potters of Ampurias alone.</p> + +<p>There seems to be no doubt that Saguntum<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> +and Emporium were principal centres of this +industry, and possibly, since these towns were +old Greek settlements, the <i>barros saguntinos</i> were +of Grecian origin. Pella y Forgas, describing in +his <i>History of the Ampurdan</i> the fine red ware +of this locality, says that parts of the decoration +were fashioned on the wheel, others directly by +the potter's hand, and others from a mould, while +the ornament of dotted lines was made by the +wheeled <i>roulette</i>.</p> + +<p>Among the commoner objects dating from +this time are amphoræ and small earthen lamps +(Pl. <a href="#img_116.jpg">xlvii</a>.). These lamps have been discovered in +great numbers, and, owing to the dryness of the +Spanish soil, in excellent preservation. They +measure about the size of the hand, and have two +holes, one in the spout or beak, to hold the wick, +and the other at the top, for pouring in the oil. +The top, which as a rule is slightly concave, is +often ornamented with devices in relief, such as a +chariot and its driver, or the emblem of a deity.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_116.jpg" width="600" height="393" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_116.jpg" id="img_116.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XLVII<br />AMPHORAIC VASES AND OTHER POTTERY<br /> +(<i>Museum of Tarragona</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>The typical amphora was a long, narrow vessel +(usually of earthenware; less frequently of brass +or glass), with an elongated handle at either side +of the neck, and tapering nearly to a point. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +served for storing honey, oil, or wine, and in order +to keep it upright the pointed lower end was +stuck into the soil, or rested on a perforated +wooden stand. In the spring of 1893 some fishermen +drew up in their nets, just off the coast of +Alicante, three large intact amphoræ thickly cased +with shells, and sold them for eight dollars each. +Other fine amphoræ, now in the collection of the +Marquis of Cerralbo, were washed upon the +beach at Torrevieja, and many more are in +museums. Vessels of this kind are known to +have been made at Rhodas (Rosas) and Saguntum, +and their use continued in Spain until the downfall +of the second empire.</p> + +<h3>HISPANO-MORESQUE NON-LUSTRED POTTERY</h3> + +<p>The statements of Saint Isidore, confirmed +by one or two discoveries in southern Spain, +prove that the pottery in use among the Visigoths +was principally Roman. Probably in this, as in so +many of her arts, the Moorish conquest brought +about a radical and rapid change. Remains of +pottery dating from this period are extremely +rare. The provincial museum of Granada contains<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +some bowls and plates, all more or less imperfect, +which are ascribed by experts to about the +year 1000. These objects, which were dug up in +1878 on the slopes of the Sierra Elvira, a few +miles from Granada, are coloured black and green +upon a white or whitish ground. The most important +is a dish which measures fourteen inches +in diameter, and is decorated with a falcon on a +horse's back (Plate <a href="#img_118.jpg">xlviii</a>.).<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> All of this pottery +shows the double influence of Byzantium and the +East. Among the designs upon the other pieces +are hares and stags surrounded by a bordering of +primitive arabesques. Riaño remarks that “it is +almost impossible to assert whether this pottery +was made in or imported into Spain.” Nevertheless, +Persians are stated to have settled in this +region early in the days of Muslim rule, while +these dilapidated specimens of ancient ware are +greatly similar in colouring and substance to the +common dishes and <i>barreños</i> which are still produced +throughout the province of Granada.</p> + +<p>Moorish potteries producing lustred or non-lustred<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +ware existed from an early date at Málaga, +Valencia, Toledo, Calatayud, Murviedro, Murcia, +and Barcelona. Another centre of this craft was +probably Granada; for though she is not mentioned +in this sense by any of the Moorish authors, the +late Señor Contreras discovered here the vestiges +of two ancient potteries, while one of the old +entrances was known as Bab Alfajjarin, or “the +potters' gate.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_118.jpg" width="500" height="402" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_118.jpg" id="img_118.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XLVIII<br />DISH<br /> +(<i>About A.D. 1000. Museum of Granada</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>The Ordinances of Granada contain provisions +which were evidently copied from the Spanish +Moors, relating to the <i>almadraveros</i> or tilemakers, +the <i>tinajeros</i> or makers of <i>tinajas</i>, and the <i>olleros</i> +or potters generally. The Ordinances which +concern the tilemakers are dated between 1528 +and 1540. The restrictions imposed upon these +craftsmen were irksome, foolish, and unnecessary. +All bricks and tiles were to be stamped in three +places with the city mark, and were only permitted +to be made between the first of April and the +thirty-first of October in each year, “since what +is made at other seasons is not good or perfect, +owing to the rain, and cold, and frost.”</p> + +<p>Another Ordinance, illustrating the lawlessness +prevailing at Granada in the times succeeding the +reconquest, complains that “many persons, including<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +labourers and hodmen, go forth into the +roads and streets, and seize the tiles and bricks +by violence from those who are conveying them, +and bear them to their houses, or to the work +which they are paid to do.”</p> + +<p>A picturesque, though cheap and unluxurious, +vessel of a thoroughly eastern character, and +which was very largely manufactured by the +Spanish Moors, is the terra-cotta <i>tinaja</i> or +gigantic jar for storing wine, or olive oil, or grain +(Plate <a href="#img_120.jpg">xlix</a>.). The use of these receptacles extended +through the whole Peninsula, and has continued +undiminished to this day. The principal +centres of <i>tinaja</i>-making were Toledo, Seville, +and Granada. The Ordinances of the latter town +embody Moorish rules relating to this branch +of pottery. These laws, revived in 1526, provide +that all <i>tinajas</i> must contain two kinds of earth, +one red, the other white, thoroughly compounded +in a trough of water. Before the potter removes +the clay from the trough, he must call the city +supervisor or <i>veedor</i> to look into the quality and +mixing of the mass. The vessel as it leaves the +oven must be white; otherwise, even although it +have no flaw, the inspector is to break it. The +potter is forbidden to coat his <i>tinajas</i> with a glaze<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +composed of eggs, blood, chalk, and other strange +ingredients; nor may he fire the glaze with +torches, “because the smell of the smoke clings +to the <i>tinaja</i>, and the wine or stum deposited +therein grows redolent of it, and it stays within +the jar perpetually.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_120.jpg" width="371" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_120.jpg" id="img_120.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">XLIX<br />HISPANO-MORESQUE <i>TINAJA</i></p> +</div> + +<p>Owing doubtless to their plain, domestic purpose +and their trifling market cost, early <i>tinajas</i> are +not often met with. A fine example in excellent +preservation is at South Kensington, and is +described by Riaño as “a wine jar, amphora-shaped, +and ornamented with an incised pattern +of vine leaves, and stamped diaper of a Gothic +character.” Several good <i>tinajas</i> have been discovered +of late years at Seville. Gestoso mentions +six, five of which are glazed. The first of these +was found in 1893, and has a bright green glaze +upon a ground of reddish earth. Both handles +and nearly all the neck are wanting. The decoration +consists of various bands or <i>fajas</i> round the +body of the jar, a series of archways, another of +leaves, and a central band of stars, three deep, +strongly imprinted from a mould. In every +ninth arch are stamped symbolic hands, such as +we see upon the Gate of Justice of the Alhambra.</p> + +<p>The second <i>tinaja</i> is similar to the one just<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +mentioned, except that it has the neck. It +was discovered in 1895, and is now in Seville +museum.</p> + +<p>The third <i>tinaja</i> is also in this museum, and +was discovered in 1901. It is in a very poor condition, +and Gestoso believes that it was originally +covered with a honey-coloured glaze.</p> + +<p>The fourth <i>tinaja</i> was found in a drain, in the +same year as the preceding one, and is inscribed +with words, including <i>Blessing</i> and <i>Felicity</i>, in +Cufic characters. Gestoso is unable to decide +whether this vessel was made at Seville or elsewhere.</p> + +<p>The fifth <i>tinaja</i> is in the collection of Don José +Morón, and possesses greater interest than the +others, both because it is in excellent condition, +and also because the decoration is entirely in the +Spanish-Christian style, without a trace of Saracenic +ornament. Small Gothic-looking shields surround +the body of this vessel, which is stamped +with pomegranates, and with the arms and emblems +of the Ponce de León and other families. +Between each pair of shields is an oval-shaped +medallion containing human figures.</p> + +<p>The sixth <i>tinaja</i> is unglazed. It was found in +June of 1893, and is adorned with repetitions of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +the words <i>Prosperity</i> and <i>Blessing</i>, as well as with +a series of deer and other animals in the act of +running; some of them with birds upon their +backs. These designs are very uncommon, and +Gestoso has seen no other <i>tinaja</i>, proceeding from +this region, similarly decorated.</p> + +<p><i>Tinajas</i> are still made in large quantities at +Toboso, Lucena, Colmenar de Oreja, and other +Spanish towns and villages.</p> + +<p>Other large objects of a thoroughly oriental +character were earthenware glazed <i>brocales</i> or +brims of wells, which, like the <i>tinajas</i>, were largely +manufactured at Seville and Toledo. Specimens +of these <i>brocales</i> exist in the museums of Toledo +and Cordova. Riaño describes one which is at +South Kensington. “It was bought at Toledo +for three guineas at a shoemaker's shop. It is +made of glazed white and green earthenware, +with ornamental Cufic characters in high relief +all round, which appear to be of the fourteenth +century. The inscription, which is repeated, is +imperfect, and all that I can decipher are the +words ‘the power, the excellence, and the peace.’”</p> + +<p>Gestoso describes two <i>brocales</i> and the fragments +of a third. All these objects were found +at Seville. The two which are intact, or nearly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +so, are cylindrical, and of a white ware. One of +them has a simple leaf decoration, and seems to +have been covered with a green glaze. The +other, which was discovered in 1894, is surrounded +by a triple band of inscription in African characters +which are illegible.</p> + +<p>Gestoso also describes some interesting baptismal +fonts, a class of object which he pronounces +to have been the most important of all that were +produced in the potteries of Triana, by reason +both of their large dimensions and of their elaborate +ornamentation. He states that three methods +were employed to decorate these fonts. The first +consisted in attaching to their surface small +moulded plates which bore the likeness of a saint, +flowers, monograms, or other devices. By the +second method the decoration was moulded directly +on the font; while the third method consisted in +a combination of the other two.</p> + +<p>Splendid examples of these Spanish fonts exist +in various churches of Andalusia and in private +collections. One of the finest is in the parish +church of Nuestra Señora de la Concepción, at +Laguna, Tenerife. It is suggested by Gestoso +that this <i>pila</i> of Laguna was made at Seville and +sent to the Canaries in the year 1479, when orders<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> +were issued by Ferdinand and Isabella for the +completion of the monasteries in those islands.</p> + +<p><i>Pilas</i> were also manufactured at Toledo, +although Gestoso says that the workmanship of +those produced at Seville was in every way +superior. Nevertheless, he has only found the +maker's name upon a single font, which is inscribed +with that of Juan Sanchez Vachero, and is now +preserved in the church of San Pedro at Carmona. +Another remarkable <i>pila</i> is that of the hospital of +San Lázaro at Seville.</p> + +<p>In course of time the Spanish Church forbade +the use of <i>pilas</i> made of glazed earthenware, and +ordered their substitution by fonts of stone or +marble. One of these dispositions, included +among the <i>Constituciones Sinodales</i> of the bishopric +of Málaga, and dated 1671, is quoted by +Gestoso. It enacts that the <i>pila</i> be of stone and +not of earthenware, and that if any of this latter +class remain, they are to be “consumed” (<i>i.e.</i> +destroyed) within two months.</p> + +<p>Returning to the Ordinances of Granada, those +which concern the potters or <i>olleros</i> generally are +dated 1530, and inform us of the price of glazed +and unglazed articles in common use, such as +<i>ollas</i> or pots (with and without glaze), <i>cazuelas</i> or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> +earthen vessels for cooking meat, plates of many +colours and dimensions, <i>jarros</i> (jugs), <i>alcuzas</i> +(vials), <i>cantaros castellanos</i> (Castilian water-pitchers), +<i>cantaros moriscos</i> (Moorish water-pitchers<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a>), +<i>morteros</i> (mortars), <i>lebrillos</i> (earthen +tubs), <i>candiles</i> (lamps with a green, white or +yellow glaze), <i>orzas</i> (gally pots), <i>botijas</i> (narrow-necked +jars), and <i>salseras</i> (saucers).</p> + +<p>The shape and colouring of many of these +common articles have been continued till to-day, +especially in Andalusia. I reproduce a photograph +of some (Plate <a href="#img_126.jpg">l</a>.), in which the influence of the +East is unmistakable. The smaller of the two +unglazed jars is used for carrying and cooling +water, and is made at Loja. The other, which is +often used for storing honey, is from Guadalajara. +The spherical vessel is a kind of bottle for <i>aguardiente</i>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> +It is glazed a brightish green, and is made +in various parts of Andalusia, as are the gourd-shaped +<i>calabazas</i>, which have a yellow glaze. +The smallest vessel, or that which has a funnel-shaped +and bulging mouth, is coated with a coarse +metallic glaze coloured in white and blue, and +proceeds from Granada.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_126.jpg" width="500" height="341" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_126.jpg" id="img_126.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">L<br />COARSE SPANISH POTTERY<br /> +(<i>Modern</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>So is the influence of the Spanish Moors, linking +the present intimately to the past, and +handed down by early craftsmen to the moderns, +and from Mussulmans to Christian Spaniards, +maintained and kept alive, not only by the city +ordinances I have quoted, but also by the more +occult yet no less permanent and cogent force of +local and unchronicled tradition. In the historic +quarter of Granada which is called the Albaycin, +survive a few <i>alfarerías</i> to this hour (Plate <a href="#img_192.jpg">lxix</a>.). +Here, on the potter's wheel or ranged about his +yard, may yet be seen the red Granada earth that is +believed to have inspired the vase of the Alhambra, +applied to-day to common crockery that notwithstanding +has a subtle, unfamiliar charm. And +towards the time of sundown, when the master +turns indoors to supper and his workmen have gone +home, when the last of the red light is colouring the +ancient city wall until it too looks like a mammoth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +monument of the potter's art of old Granada, it is +a strange experience to wander through these +desolate yards, among the files of ruddy Granadino +ware kindling with vivid memories of the vanished +Mussulmans of Spain, and bringing back to us +that spirited old poet of the East who also sang of +pottery:—</p> + +<div class="poem-container"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Listen again. One Evening at the Close</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of Ramazan, ere the better Moon arose,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">In that old Potter's Shop I stood alone</span><br /> +<span class="i0">With the clay Population round in Rows.</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And strange to tell, among that Earthen Lot</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Some could articulate, while others not:</span><br /> +<span class="i2">And suddenly one more impatient cried—</span><br /> +<span class="i0">‘Who <i>is</i> the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?’</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Then said another—‘Surely not in vain</span><br /> +<span class="i0">My substance from the common Earth was ta'en,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">That He who subtly wrought me into Shape</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Should stamp me back to common Earth again.’”</span><br /> +</div></div></div> + +<h3>MOSAIC-WORK AND TILES</h3> + +<p>The art of colouring and glazing earthenware +was practised by various peoples of the ancient +eastern world, and passed, in course of time,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +through Egypt to Phœnicia, Greece, and Rome, +and, later still, to Mussulman peoples of north-western +Africa.</p> + +<p>Glazed earthenware was possibly produced in +Roman Spain, although the specimens of it which +have been discovered are singularly and, indeed, +significantly few. Their colour is commonly green +or lightish yellow. Gestoso makes particular +mention of a small jar now preserved in the +museum of Seville, describing it as “of an +ordinary shape, but finely made.” He admits, +however, that no trace of glaze exists in any of +the broken Visigothic vessels (copied, as Saint +Isidore tells us, from the Roman-Spanish pottery) +that were found some years ago among the ruins +of Italica. Thus it is not decided whether the +Spanish potters learned to glaze, or whether this +development of their craft remained familiar to +the Spaniards of that period through imported +objects merely.</p> + +<p>As with glazed earthenware, the origin of +mosaic must be looked for in the East. Greece, +who had doubtless borrowed it from Egypt, +communicated it to Rome at least two centuries +before the Christian era, and from this time the +Romans used it freely in the decoration of their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +buildings. The Greek mosaic was composed exclusively +of stone. The Romans modified this +usage by the introduction of diminutive cubes of +clay, painted and baked like porcelain; and later, +in the reign of Claudius, dyed these cubes with +various colours.</p> + +<p>Roman mosaic-work (commonly in the tessellated +style and not the <i>opus sectile</i>) has been unearthed +in many parts of the Peninsula. Such are the +two “mosaics of the Muses,” discovered at Italica +on December 12th, 1799, and June 12th, 1839;<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> +other mosaics, to the number of some thirty, +discovered from time to time among the same +ruins; another, discovered at Majorca in 1833; +that of the Calle Batitales at Lugo (the Roman +<i>Lucus Augusti</i>), discovered in 1842; those of +Palencia, Gerona, Merida, Milla del Rio (near +León), Rielves (near Toledo), Duratón, Aguilafuente, +and Paradinas (near Segovia), and Carabanchel, +three miles from Madrid. The mosaic +found at Lugo is believed to have formed part of +a temple dedicated to Diana. The decoration is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +partly geometrical, and consists of the head of +a man between two dolphins, with other fishes +swimming along the border. Laborde describes +another mosaic which existed, early in the nineteenth +century, in a hall of the archbishop's palace +at Valencia. “The pavement of this hall demands +particular attention; it is formed of antique pavements, +discovered in the month of February, +1777, three hundred paces north-east of the town +of Puch, between Valencia and Murviedro; some +were entire, others were only fragments. They +were separated with care, and placed on the floor +of this hall, where they are carefully preserved. +They are different mosaics, formed by little stones +of three or four lines in diameter, curiously enchased. +They are distributed into seven squares +in each of which medallions and divers designs +have been drawn: their compartments are of blue +on a white ground. We observe in one of these +squares an imitation of the pavement of Bacchus, +discovered at Murviedro, and of which there remained +but very few vestiges; it was copied in +a drawing-book which a priest of this town had +preserved; it is executed with such art and exactness, +that no difference can be observed between +this modern work and that of the Romans. In<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +another we see Neptune seated in a car, in one +hand holding a whip, and in the other a trident +and the reins of the horses by which his car is +drawn: these appear to be galloping.”</p> + +<p>“In the same hall are also seen other pavements, +of which only fragments could be preserved. +Some serve for borders and ornaments to the +preceding pavements. On these are represented a +tiger, fishes, birds, houses, flowers, and garlands, +well executed. There are particularly five stuck +on wood and shut up in a closet; on these are +birds, fruits, and flowers, figured in different +colours, the execution of which is very curious; +they are perhaps the most precious of the +whole.”</p> + +<p>The same author says elsewhere: “In digging +to make a road from Valencia to Murviedro in +1755, at the entrance of the latter town a mosaic +pavement was discovered; it was entire, and of +such beauty that it was thought worthy of preservation. +Ferdinand the Sixth caused it to be +surrounded with walls; but the king's intentions +were not properly fulfilled; the gates were suffered +to remain open, and every one carried away some +part of the pavement, which consequently soon became +despoiled; it was rectangular, and measured<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> +twenty-four feet by fourteen. There are still +some fragments of it in several houses at +Murviedro. A priest of that town, Don Diego +Puch, an antiquarian, took a drawing of it, which +he afterwards had painted at Valencia on the tiles +fabricated there, and paved an apartment of his +house with them. It was likewise copied with +the greatest exactness, with small stones perfectly +similar, in an apartment of the library belonging +to the archiepiscopal palace, as we have already +stated.”</p> + +<p>Swinburne also mentions a mosaic pavement +which he saw at Barcelona, upon the site of what +he believed to have been a temple of Neptune. +In it were represented “two large green figures +of tritons, holding a shell in each hand; between +them a sea-horse, and on the sides a serpent and +a dolphin.”</p> + +<p>In October of 1901 a very important and +beautiful mosaic was discovered at Italica. It is +known as “the mosaic of Bacchus,” the worship +of which deity, says Señor Quintero, was probably +general in Andalusia, owing to her wealth of +vines. This mosaic was found at a depth of six +feet six inches below the surface of the soil, and +measures twenty-one feet square. It is believed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +to have formed the pavement of a Roman dining-chamber.</p> + +<p>Mosaic in the manner of the Greeks and +Romans seems in Spain to have disappeared with +the Visigoths. That it was known to these is +told us by Saint Isidore:—“Pavimenta originem +apud graecos habent elaboratae arte picturae, +litostrata parvulis crustis ac tesselis tinctis in +varios colores.”<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_134.jpg" width="389" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_134.jpg" id="img_134.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">LI<br />DOOR OF THE MIHRAB<br /> +(<i>Showing mosaic-work. Cordova Cathedral</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>It is impossible to affirm with any confidence +that glazed earthenware, whether in the form of +tiles or other objects, was manufactured by the +Spanish Moors during the Cordovese Caliphate, +or the period of the kinglings of Taifa. No trace +of it has been discovered among the scanty ruins +of Medina Az-zahará<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> and Az-zahira—ancient<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +palaces of Cordova—or in the marvellous mosque. +We know, however, that towards the seventh +century the Arabs borrowed from Byzantium +the mosaic-work of tessons known as <i>psephosis +fsefysa</i>, and this, or something similar, was used, +though probably to a small extent, among the +Muslims of the Spanish Caliphate. Although, +towards the middle of the thirteenth century, +the historian Aben-Said, a native of Granada, +recorded that in Al-Andalus “is made a kind of +<i>mofassass</i> which is called in the East <i>alfoseifesa</i>,” +remains of this elaborate product only exist to-day +at Cordova, where patches may yet be seen lining +the dome of the <i>mirhab</i> in the vast <i>aljama</i> +(Plate <a href="#img_134.jpg">li</a>.). The mosaic in question is stated to +have been a gift from the Byzantine emperor to +the sultan Al-Hakem, and was set in place by a +skilled workman, a Greek, who, like the offering +itself, proceeded from Constantinople.</p> + +<p>During his stay at Cordova this Greek was +helped by certain of the Sultan's slaves, who thus +acquired the secrets of the craft, and practised it +thereafter.<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a></p> + +<p>Rodrigo Amador de los Rios contends, however,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> +that this decoration is in no sense a true mosaic, +but just a tempera painting executed on the wall +and overlaid with cubes of glass. In any case, no +other specimen of such work has been discovered +in any part of the Peninsula.</p> + +<p>By the time of the Almohade invasion or very +shortly after—that is, towards the twelfth century,—the +Spanish Moors had grown acquainted +with glazed earthenware. Indeed, the Almohades +are believed by some authorities to have actually +introduced it. Gestoso, on the contrary, suggests +that Spain may have transmitted it to Africa. +However this may be, the Almohades used it +largely in the decoration of their homes and public +buildings in Andalusia; first as <i>aliceres</i> or bands +composed of smallish pieces running round a room, +and subsequently in the more effective and more +useful form of <i>azulejos</i> proper. The Spanish Moors +employed the word <i>almofassass</i> to designate both +<i>aliceres</i> and <i>azulejos</i>. Nevertheless, the two were +not identical, although Riaño takes them to be so. +He says: “The earliest tiles or <i>azulejos</i> made in +Spain are composed of small pieces let into the +wall, forming geometrical patterns.” These, in +fact, were <i>aliceres</i>. It is not so easy to define +an <i>azulejo</i>. We read in Aben-Said, quoted by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +Al-Makkari: “There is another kind of work +employed for paving houses. It is called <i>azzulechí</i> +and resembles <i>mofassass</i>. It has wonderful +colouring, and replaces the coloured marble +used by the people of the East to decorate their +chambers.”</p> + +<p>This definition is not completely clear. Those +of the Christian-Spanish writers are not more +satisfactory. Covarrubias calls these objects +“small bricks, square and of other shapes, used +for lining chambers in the mansions of the wealthy, +or in garden paths.” Nebrija calls them <i>tessela +pavimenticia</i>, adding that they bear the name of +<i>azulejos</i> because the earliest ones were of a blue +colour—a statement which Dozy supports by +instancing the Persian-Arabic <i>zaward</i> or “blue +stone.”</p> + +<p>Gestoso resolves the question sufficiently for +our purpose by showing that the term <i>azulejo</i> is +usually applied to square tiles of a largish size, +the length of whose sides varies between eleven +centimetres and eighteen centimetres, <i>aliceres</i> +being properly the smaller strips or pieces +(technically known as <i>cintas</i> or <i>verduguillos</i>) used +in a bordering or frieze. Other decorative pieces +of small dimensions, invented in the fifteenth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +century, were called <i>olambres</i> or <i>olambrillas</i>, and +served to lend variety to the red or yellow brickwork +of a pavement or a floor.</p> + +<p>The production of <i>azulejos</i> in Spain may thus +be traced to as far back as the twelfth century. +By far the most important centre of the craft +was Seville. Here, from the twelfth until the +fourteenth century, was made the glazed and +decorative tiling which consisted of small pieces +of monochrome earthenware—black, white, green, +blue, or yellow—cut one by one, and pieced +together in the manner of a true mosaic. This +process, says Gestoso, was lengthy, difficult, and +dear. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the +same mosaic would often take the form of a series +of narrow, white, ribbon-like strips, with coloured +interspaces. Specimens of this “ribbon-work +tiling” exist to-day in the Patio de Las Doncellas +of the Alcázar (Plate <a href="#img_138.jpg">lii</a>.). Towards the sixteenth +century the Sevillano potters discovered a simpler +way of making effective and artistic <i>azulejos</i>, which +they called the <i>cuerda seca</i> process. This novel +method consisted in pressing a wood or metal +mould upon the unbaked tile, in such a manner +that the outline of the pattern remained in slight +relief. This outline was next brushed over with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +a mixture of manganese and grease, which turns, +in baking, very nearly black. The body of the +pattern was then filled in with the various colours, +which the greasy line completely separated, and +thus prepared, the tile was rendered permanent +by firing.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_138.jpg" width="339" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_138.jpg" id="img_138.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">LII<br />MOSAIC OF THE PATIO DE LAS DONCELLAS<br /> +(<i>Alcázar of Seville</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>This process, in which the patterns are nearly +always geometrical, remained in general use until +about the year 1550, when it began to be superseded +by two others, known respectively as the +processes of “cuenca” and “Pisano”.</p> + +<p>The <i>cuenca</i> tile was simple and of excellent +effect. The pattern, stamped from a metal +mould, remained in bas-relief,—a characteristic +which caused these objects to be also known as +<i>azulejos</i> “<i>de relieve</i>”. The shelving border of +each hollow stamped into the tile thus formed +a kind of natural barrier which kept the colour +there deposited from mingling with its neighbours. +When of a larger size, and joined in pairs to form +between each two a single motive (<i>ladrillo por +tabla</i>), these <i>azulejos</i> were often employed for +decorating roofs and ceilings.</p> + +<p>The tiles which bear the name of their inventor, +Francesco Niculoso Pisano the Italian, who lived +and worked for many years at Seville, date from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +about the same time as the “cuenca” <i>azulejos</i>. In +the case of the <i>Pisano</i> tile, there is no indentation +caused by the imprint of a mould, the surface +being merely coated with a monochrome glaze, +painted upon and fired, the decoration thus +remaining flat all over. Commonly the ground +is white or yellow, with the colour of the pattern +shaded blue, or black, or deepish purple. This +process, which lent itself to most elaborate and +effective schemes of ornament, remained in vogue +until the eighteenth century, and was practised, +not only by Pisano himself, but by a long succession +of his pupils, followers, and imitators.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_140.jpg" width="600" height="353" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_140.jpg" id="img_140.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">LIII<br />ANDALUSIAN NON-LUSTRED WARE<br /> +(<i>A.D. 1480–1495. Osma Collection</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>Such were the processes in use among the +<i>azulejo</i>-makers of old Seville. Specimens of +their craftsmanship which yet survive and illustrate +the various styles and epochs may be thus +enumerated:—</p> + +<p>(1) Mosaic tile-work, such as appears in Seville +at the time of the Almohade invasion. A fragment +of this kind of work forms part of the collection of +Señor Osma, and proceeds from the church of +San Andrés. Tiles and smaller pieces of mosaic-work, +coloured in malachite green and white, +were also found in 1899 and 1900, in the upper +walls of the renowned Torre del Oro, or “Golden<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +Tower,” erected in the year 1220, and which is +popularly thought to derive its venerable title +from the sparkle of the sun upon its <i>azulejos</i>. +Another piece of primitive mosaic, measuring +rather less than a yard square, and containing +star-shaped geometrical devices, was found in 1890 +beneath the floor of the cathedral; while mosaics +of a later age, including the more elaborate <i>lacería</i> +patterns that resemble ribbon, are preserved in +the Patio de las Doncellas of the Alcázar, in the +Casa de Olea, and in the parish churches of San +Estéban, San Gil, and Omnium Sanctorum.</p> + +<p>(2) A small group of curious tiles, believed to +be anterior to the reign of Pedro the First, has +come to light some years ago, in the churches of +San Andrés and Santa Marina, and in the Claustro +del Lagarto of the cathedral. Those of San +Andrés are of white earthenware, glazed in the +same colour and stamped from a mould with the +figures of two wolves in fairly bold relief (see +tailpiece to this chapter). Traces of a glaze of +malachite green are on the bodies of these wolves. +The <i>azulejos</i> of the church of Santa Marina, also +discovered recently, are examined by Señor Osma +in his pamphlet <i>Azulejos sevillanos del siglo xiii</i> +(Madrid, 1902). They measure about three and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +a half inches square, and bear devices of a castle +and an eagle, stamped in the diagonal direction +of the tile, showing that this was fixed upon the +wall in lozenge fashion. The tiles are bathed +upon their surface with what is termed by Osma +“the semi-transparent, caramel-coloured glaze +peculiar to the pottery of Moorish Spain.”<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> Upon +this ground is stamped the decoration,—the eagles +in the blackish purple of baked manganese, the +castles without additional colour, so as to be +distinguished only by their outline from the +yellowish surface of the tile.</p> + +<p>The <i>azulejos</i> of the Claustro del Lagarto of the +cathedral are three in number, and were found in +1888. Two of them are stamped with a castle of +a single tower described within a shield, and the +third with a Greek cross. These are considered +by Osma to be the only tiles existing at this +moment which date from the latter third of the +thirteenth century. In fact, he places their manufacture +between the years 1252 and 1269.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_142.jpg" width="500" height="465" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_142.jpg" id="img_142.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">LIV<br /><i>CUENCA</i> TILES<br /> +(<i>Alcázar of Seville</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>(3) <i>Cuerda seca</i> tiles. Handsome <i>zocalos</i> or +dadoes of these tiles are in the Casa de los<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +Pinelos, and in the chapels of the palaces of the +Dukes of Alba and Medinaceli. Gestoso attributes +them to the end of the fifteenth century +or the beginning of the sixteenth. Detached +<i>cuerda seca</i> tiles are preserved in the municipal +museum of archæology, while a fine pair (Plate <a href="#img_140.jpg">liii</a>.) +of this class of <i>azulejos</i> belongs to Señor Osma, +who considers they were made between 1480 and +1495. They are thus coeval with the no less interesting +dish of the time of Ferdinand and Isabella, +of which a reproduction is given opposite page 190.</p> + +<p>(4) <i>Cuenca</i> tiles. Quantities of these, dating +from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, may +yet be seen in many parts of Seville; for instance, +in her churches or her convents, in her superb +Alcázar, or in the mansions of her old nobility. +Probably the most remarkable of all are those in +the gardens of the Alcázar, and lining the walls of +the Pavilion of Charles the Fifth. The devices +on these polychrome <i>azulejos</i> (16th century; +Plate <a href="#img_142.jpg">liv</a>.) are very numerous, including men and +animals, centaurs and other monsters, the Pillars of +Hercules, and imitations of elaborate dress fabrics.</p> + +<p>(5) <i>Pisano</i> tiles. Although some facts have +been unearthed concerning the Italian Francesco +Niculoso Pisano, we do not know precisely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +in what year he came to Seville, or in what +year he died. Davillier thought it probable that +he had studied at Faenza or at Caffagiolo. At +all events, it was Pisano who broadly launched the +art of the Sevillian potters on the stream of the +Renaissance.<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> I have stated that the tiles which +bear his name are painted on a white or yellow +ground. Consequently their surface is flat, +without the ridges and depressions of the <i>cuenca</i> or +the <i>cuerda seca</i> methods. We find <i>Pisano</i> tiles +applied to various objects, such as tombs, altars, +friezes, and archivolts. This artist, says Gestoso, +further introduced the use of two new colours,—violet +and rose. Several of his best productions +are still intact, including the doorway of the church +of the monastery of Santa Paula (in which he was +assisted by a Spanish master, Pedro Millan), and +the altar of the Catholic Sovereigns in the Alcázar. +Both these masterpieces were executed in the +year 1504, and bear Pisano's signature. The +doorway of Santa Paula is described by Gestoso +as consisting of a single body of masonry, +distinct from that of the building itself, though<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> +resting against it, and constructed of bricks of +uniform size, which show us, by their perfect +symmetry, how skilful were the masons of that +time, with whom the Moorish craftsmanship was +yet a living power. The doorway is formed by a +series of concentric Gothic arches resting on +slender pillars. The space which forms the outer +archivolt is most remarkable. Upon a ground +of <i>azulejos</i> which copy the colour of the brickwork, +we see a number of Plateresque designs of exquisite +beauty, painted in white and blue, with +occasional touches of other colours. Among +the devices are chimeras, war-trophies, volutes, +chaplets, parapegms, antelopes, masks, and others +which are characteristic of the Florentine Renaissance. +Upon this ground, and enclosed by circular +garlands in high relief, consisting of polychrome +fruits and flowers, are seven medallions containing +figures of male and female saints, except the one +which is upon the keystone, and which represents +the birth of Christ. In this medallion the figures +are enamelled in white upon a cobalt-blue ground, +recalling, as also do the garlands, the work of the +celebrated della Robbia.<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> In the rest of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> +medallions the figures are glazed in brilliant +colours. In the three medallions upon the left, +beginning with the lowest one, we see, upon the +first, Saint Helen; upon the second, two saints +in monkish dress; and upon the third, Saint Peter +and Saint Paul. On the medallions of the other +side are another saint dressed as a monk, San +Cosmé, San Damián, and San Roque. The +spaces on either side of the archivolt are covered +with tiles which represent a landscape. In each +of the upper angles is an angel holding a large +tablet with IHS in ornamental Gothic character +upon a black ground. These letters, and also +the angels and the frames of the tablets, are +enamelled in gold. Beneath each tablet is an +angel standing with extended wings upon a +bracket of lustred earthenware, and holding an +open book. The brickwork of the door is closed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +by a plain impost supporting a small battlement +covered with <i>cuenca</i> tiles, and crowned with a +cornice of flamboyant ornaments alternating with +the heads of cherubs glazed in white, and with a +white marble cross in the centre. The tympanum +is embellished by a superb shield carved in high +relief upon white marble with the arms of Castile, +León, Aragon, and Sicily, surmounted by a royal +crown and the eagle with the nimbus. Beside this +shield are two smaller ones of <i>azulejos</i> painted with +the yoke and sheaf of arrows, and the motto <span class="smcap">TĀTO +MŌTA</span>. The ground on which are executed these +three shields occupies the whole tympanum, and +is covered with Plateresque devices including two +tablets, on one of which we read the letters <span class="smcap">S.P.Q.R.</span>, +and on the other, <span class="smcap">PISANO</span>. Above the first of these +tablets is another of an oval shape, bearing the word +<span class="smcap">NICULOSO</span>. Lastly, at the base of the archivolt, +and on the left-hand side of the spectator, is a very +small rectangular tablet with this inscription:—</p> + +<p style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0;">NICVLOSO<br /> +FRANCISCO-I-<br /> +TALIANO-MEF<br /> +ECIT INELAGNO DEI<br /> +· 154 ·</p> + +<p>The altar in the Alcázar of the same city, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +which is known as that of the Catholic Sovereigns +(Plate <a href="#img_148.jpg">lv</a>.), is entirely covered with “Pisano” +<i>azulejos</i> measuring sixteen centimetres square. +Imbedded in the centre is a picture, also of painted +tiles, representing the visit of the Virgin to Saint +Elizabeth. This picture measures five feet in +height by three feet eight inches in breadth. Beneath +it is the figure of a patriarch resting his head +upon his hand. Boughs with large flowers issue +from his breast, and among the flowers are half-length +figures of the prophets, together with those +of Jesus and the Virgin, the whole of this decoration +forming a frame to the central picture. The rest +of the altar is profusely decorated with designs in +the Renaissance style, consisting of vases, animals, +genii, and the emblems of Ferdinand and Isabella. +In the centre of the tiling which forms the altar-front +is a circular picture made of <i>azulejos</i> surrounded +by a garland of fruits and laurel leaves, +and representing the Annunciation, garland and +picture being supported by two monsters with the +tails of dragons and the upper parts of women. +Large flaming torches rest between the out-stretched +arms of the monsters, and round about +or springing from them are flowers, animals,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +cornucopias, and other decoration. The entire +<i>retablo</i> is painted lightish blue and white upon a +yellow ground, except the larger picture and its +decorative border, which is of a deeper blue. A +small tablet beneath the Virgin's feet contains the +words <span class="smcap">NICULOSO FRANCESCO ITALIANO ME FECIT</span>, and +on the pilaster represented on the left hand of the +same picture is added the date, 1504. As Gestoso, +Davillier, and others have remarked, it is evident +that while the rest of the altar is pure Renaissance-Plateresque, +the pictures copied on the tiles are of +a northern school. Probably they were designed +for Niculoso by one of the various German or +Flemish masters who at that time were resident +in Seville.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_148.jpg" width="420" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_148.jpg" id="img_148.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">LV<br />ALTAR OF THE CATHOLIC SOVEREIGNS<br /> +(<i>Alcázar of Seville</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>Another altar which was formerly in the same +palace, but which has disappeared, was also +painted by this craftsman. It was described by +Cean Bermudez as containing scenes from the +life of the Virgin, the Trinity, and the two Saints +John, and bore the same date as the altar which +is yet existing, namely, 1504.</p> + +<p>Among the other works of Niculoso are the +altar of the church of Tentudia, the tomb of +Iñigo Lopez in the church of Santa Ana in the +quarter of Triana, and a tile-picture representing,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> +similarly to the one which forms the centre of the +altar in the Alcázar, the Virgin's visit to Saint +Elizabeth. This picture formerly belonged to +the kings of Portugal, and is now in the museum +of Amsterdam.<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a></p> + +<p>Such were the decorative <i>azulejos</i> which made +the potteries of Seville famous throughout Europe, +and which are known to have been exported to +Italy, Portugal, and even England.<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> The names +of several hundred mediæval and post-mediæval +makers of these Seville tiles have been exhumed +and published by Gestoso.</p> + +<p>The general title of the Spanish potter was +<i>ollero</i>, a comprehensive term which reaches from +the most ambitious <i>azulejero</i> to the maker of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +meanest kitchen-ware. The <i>olleros</i> of older +Seville produced for centuries, not only glazed +and coloured tiling by the processes already +indicated, but countless other objects such as +brims of wells, apothecary's jars, baptismal fonts, +and dishes of every shape and size. They used a +general mark (the tower of the Giralda) to stamp +their pottery; but private marks are nearly +always absent. The facts that have appeared in +recent years concerning these artificers are seldom +interesting. The mere mention of a name is +meaningless, or even perplexing, seeing that a +Moor or Mudejar would frequently assume the +name and surname of a Christian. Nevertheless, +Gestoso has brought to light important notices +concerning one or two, and in particular a document +dating from the reign of Ferdinand and +Isabella, relating to a celebrated potter of that +period named Fernan Martinez Guijarro. This +document, which is dated 1479, describes Martinez +as “a very great master in the art of making +<i>azulejos</i>, fonts, and all the things pertaining to +his trade, insomuch that none other in all this +kingdom is like unto him,” and subsequently, +“considering him to be so excellent a craftsman +that persons come hither from Portugal and other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +parts to purchase and to carry off his ware.” It +is further stated that Martinez Guijarro was in +wealthy circumstances (“hombre rrico e de mucha +rrenta e fasyenda”). His <i>talleres</i> or workshops +were in the <i>barrio</i> of Triana, and included (as we +learn from one of the documents copied by the +same investigator) a separate department for the +manufacture or storage of lustred ware.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately, even Gestoso is unable to point +to any piece of tiling or other pottery now existing, +as being unquestionably executed by this master.</p> + +<p>Another Sevillian potter of exceptional merit +was Cristóbal de Augusta, who worked in the +latter half of the sixteenth century, and left his +name upon the <i>azulejo</i> dadoes of the Halls of +Charles the Fifth in the Alcázar. The style of +these most brilliant tiles is pure Renaissance, and +forms a worthy continuation of the splendid work +of Niculoso. Augusta, indeed, is termed in the +Archives of the Alcázar “master of making tiles +in the Pisano manner” (<i>del pisano</i>).<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> Some tilemakers +of little note succeeded him, but even the +names of these are carefully recorded by Gestoso.</p> + +<p>Seville was thus the principal centre of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> +craft of decorative tile-making. <i>Azulejos</i> were +also made at Barcelona and other towns in Cataluña, +at Talavera de la Reina, Burgos, Toledo, +Granada, and Valencia, in several towns of +Aragon, and probably at Cordova. Riaño quotes +a letter written about the year 1422, from the wife +of the Admiral of Castile to the abbess of the +nunnery of Santo Domingo at Toledo, requesting +that a number of <i>azulejos</i> be sent to her. “She +alludes, in the same letter, to painted tiles, and +says she was expecting a master potter from +Seville to place the tiles in their proper places. +This shows us” (continues Riaño) “that it was +only in the province of Andalusia that the art was +known of cutting these tiles into geometrical sections +and mosaic patterns.”</p> + +<p>The meaning of this passage is obscure. Riaño +speaks of painted tiles and <i>azulejos</i> as though they +were distinct objects, and yet they are essentially +the same. Again, if only Andalusia was able to +produce such tiles, why did the Almirante's wife +order them from Toledo? Perhaps the faulty +English of Riaño's handbook is responsible, but, +as it stands, this passage tells us practically nothing. +In any case, abundant evidence exists to show<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> +that large quantities of Mudejar and Renaissance +tiles were manufactured at Toledo. In general +appearance, they are similar to those of Seville.</p> + +<p>Ramírez de Arellano believes that decorative +tiles were manufactured at Cordova in the fourteenth +and fifteenth centuries, and quotes, in proof +of this, the names of “maestros de hacer vidriado” +or makers of glazed ware, who resided at this +ancient capital. One of these craftsmen was +Alonso Rodriguez the younger, who, on June 7th, +1574, sold to a canon of the cathedral ten +thousand white and green tiles of a common kind +(<i>ladrillos</i>), probably employed for roofing. The +price was three ducats the thousand. On April +10th, 1598, Juan Sanchez engaged to supply the +same temple with the same quantity of glazed +tiles (<i>tejas</i>) for roofing, coloured white, green, and +yellow, at sixteen <i>maravedis</i> each tile.</p> + +<p><i>Azulejos</i> were certainly made at Granada in the +sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and probably +earlier.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_154.jpg" width="373" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_154.jpg" id="img_154.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">LVI<br />THE GATE OF WINE<br /> +(<i>Showing polychrome tiling. Alhambra, Granada</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>In a passage of the Alhambra palace leading +from the Patio de la Alberca to the Cuarto Dorado, +a space was laid bare not many years ago, +containing the original <i>mostagueras</i> or small tiles +used for flooring, glazed in two colours; and in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +same building, although in constantly diminishing +quantities, are large numbers of tiles which date +from the time of the Spanish Moors. There has +been a good deal of discussion as to whether the +roofs of the Alhambra were originally covered with +decorative tiles. Swinburne (who must not, however, +be taken as the safest of authorities) wrote +that “in Moorish times the building was covered +with large painted and glazed tiles, of which some +few are yet to be seen.”</p> + +<p>Indifferent Renaissance tiles, made in the reign +of Philip the Fifth, are still preserved in parts of +the Alhambra.</p> + +<p>Excellent polychrome <i>cuerda seca</i> tiles (fourteenth +century), in white, green, yellow, blue, and +black, are over the horseshoe archway of the Gate +of Wine of the Alhambra (Plate <a href="#img_154.jpg">lvi</a>.). According +to Gómez Moreno,<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> they were manufactured here, +as were the Moorish <i>azulejos</i>, yellow, black, white, +violet, and sky-blue, in the Mirador de Daraxa.<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +The archives of the Moorish palace also state +that towards the close of the sixteenth century +Antonio Tenorio, whose pottery was situated +in the Secano, and consequently within a stone's-throw +of the Casa Real, made several sets of +<i>azulejos</i> for the Hall of the Abencerrajes. Good +Morisco tiles, dating from the same period and +wrought by craftsmen such as Gaspar Hernandez, +Pedro Tenorio, and the members of the Robles +family, are in the Sala de Comares, and in one of +the rooms of the Casa de los Tiros.</p> + +<p>From the thirteenth century until the eighteenth, +excellent <i>azulejos</i> were made in Cataluña. Specimens +of every period exist in the collections of +Don Francisco Rogent and Don José Font y +Gumá, of Barcelona, and Don Luis Santacana, +of Martorell. The tiles belonging to these +gentlemen proceed from the cathedral and other +temples of Barcelona, and from the monasteries +or castles of Poblet, Santas Creus, Montserrat, +Marmellá, San Miguel de Ervol, Centellas, Torre +Pallaresa, San Miguel del Fay, and Vallpellach.<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a></p> + +<p>Another region which has long been celebrated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +for its <i>azulejeria</i> is the kingdom of Valencia. +Even in the eighteenth century, when this craft +was generally in a state of great decadence, +Valencian tiles were thoroughly well made, +although the patterns on them were defective. +Laborde pronounced them “the best executed +and most elegant in Europe,” and further said +of this locality; “the painted earthenware tiles +or <i>azulejos</i> are used in the country, but only a +small part of them; a great many are sent into +the interior of Spain as well as to Cadiz, where +they are shipped for Spanish America, and to +Marseilles, whence they are conveyed into Africa.”</p> + +<p>The same writer inserts an interesting account +of the manufacture of these <i>azulejos</i>. “It is at +Valencia that the tiles of earthenware are made, +with which they incrust walls and pave apartments: +those tiles are of a clayey earth, which is +found in the territories of Quarte near Valencia; +they harden the earth long after soaking it in +water; the tiles are formed in moulds, and are +dried in the sun; they are then beaten with a +piece of square wood of the dimensions of which +they are wanted. They are then put into the oven, +where they undergo a slight baking. As soon as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +they are done they are glazed, and are afterwards +painted in water colours with whatever subject +is intended to be represented. The tiles are +then replaced in the oven so as not to touch one +another, and that the action of the fire may +penetrate them all equally: as the colours change +by baking, the workmen apply them anew in +proportion to the changes that take place; the +red alone alters entirely. The varnish with +which they are glazed is made with lead, tin, and +white sand. These three substances are ground +in a mill to powder, which is mixed with water, +to form a paste, and baked in the oven; it is +again pounded and put into the oven, where it +crystallises: being once more reduced to powder +and diluted with water, it becomes varnish. +There are two kinds of it; one is whiter than +the other, though the same materials are used: +the mode of mixing alone makes the difference; +the whiter, the clearer the tiles. It takes a certain +number of tiles to form a picture: they are of +different dimensions; the smallest are three inches +nine lines, the largest seven inches nine lines. +The price varies according to the size of the +tile, the beauty of the varnish, and the variety of +the drawings: the lowest price is eight pesos +(25s.) a thousand, and the highest 100 pesos or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +£15, 12<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> There is a considerable demand +for them; they are superior both in beauty and +strength to those used in Holland.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_158.jpg" width="232" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_158.jpg" id="img_158.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">LVII<br />TILES OF THE DECADENT PERIOD</p> +</div> + +<p>Bourgoing, author of the <i>Nouveau Voyage en +Espagne</i>, described, in 1789, the same product in +the following terms: “L'industrie des Valenciens +tire d'ailleurs parti de toutes les productions de +leur sol. Il contient une espèce de terre dont ils +font ces carreaux de faïence colorée, connus sous +le nom d'<i>Azulejos</i>, et qu'on ne fabrique qu'à +Valence. On en pave les appartements, et on en +revêt leurs lambris; on y peint les sujets les plus +compliqués, tels par exemple qu'un bal masqué, +une fête de taureaux. La couleur rouge est la +seule qui ne puisse être fixée sur cette espèce de +faïence; elle s'altere entièrement par la cuisson.”<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a></p> + +<p>For the amusement of my readers, I insert an +illustration of common Spanish tiles of the decadent +period (Plate <a href="#img_158.jpg">lvii</a>.), displaying considerable +liveliness combined with reckless ignorance of +draughtsmanship. A class of these degenerate +tiles, made in large quantities at Seville in the +eighteenth century, is known as <i>azulejos de +montería</i> or “hunting-tiles,” since episodes of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> +chase form one of the favourite themes of their +design.</p> + +<p>Although it passed through a long period of +prostration, embracing the greater part of the +seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, at no time +has the manufacture of decorative Spanish tiles +succumbed completely. Of recent years it has +revived surprisingly at Seville, Barcelona, and +Segovia; and at the first of these cities the older +<i>azulejos</i>, and particularly those in the <i>cuenca</i> style, +are imitated to perfection.</p> + +<p>In the cheapest kinds of modern tiling, such as +is used for corridors and kitchens, a common device +is a series of repeated curves and dots which +evidently has its source in Arabic lettering. +Indeed, the ornamental and attractive written +characters of the Spanish Moors, rendered familiar +to their rivals through long centuries of intercourse, +seem to have constantly found favour with the +Christian Spaniards. The <i>fuero</i> of Jaca, dated +<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1064, tells us that a Christian prince of Spain, +Don Sancho Ramirez, was accustomed to write +his signature in Arabic lettering. Meaningless +inscriptions in the same language, and evidently +executed by a Christian hand, are engraved on +objects in the Royal Armoury; and Señor Osma<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> +describes in an interesting pamphlet (<i>Los letreros +ornamentales en la cerámica morisca del Siglo XV.</i>) +how, in the pottery of older Spain, a word in Arabic +such as <i>alafia</i> (“prosperity” or “blessing”) would +often be corrupted by Morisco craftsmen into a +motive of a purely ornamental character, and +which would only in this sense be comprehended +and appreciated by the Christian.<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a></p> + +<h3>HISPANO-MORESQUE LUSTRED POTTERY</h3> + +<p>Probably no pottery in the world possesses +greater loveliness or interest than the celebrated, +yet even to this day mysterious, lustred ware of +Moorish Spain. Our knowledge of the early +history of this ware is still imperfect. In modern<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +times, attention was first drawn to the lustre +process by M. Riocreux, of the Sèvres Museum. +In spite, however, of the subsequent monographs +and researches of Davillier and other authorities, +the origin of lustred pottery is yet a problem which +awaits solution. Until some years ago it was +believed to have had its source in Persia, where +many specimens have been discovered in the form +of tiles and other objects; but this belief was +afterwards shaken by Fouquet, who unearthed at +Fostat in Egypt, in the year 1884, specimens of +lustred ware which are known to date from the +eleventh century. Saladin, too, affirms that he +has seen upon the mosque of Kairuan lustred +plaques with inscriptions recording them to have +been presented, between <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 864 and 875, by the +emir Ibrahim Ahmed-ibn-el-Aglab.</p> + +<p>Whatever these facts may signify, it appears +from a statement by the geographer Edrisi that +lustred ware was made in Spain as early as the +twelfth century. “Here,” said the writer, speaking +of Calatayud, “is produced the gold-coloured +pottery which is exported to all countries.” The +next allusion to it is by the traveller Ibn-Batutah, +who visited certain parts of Spain in the middle +of the fourteenth century. “At Málaga,” he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +wrote, “is made the beautiful golden pottery which +is exported to the farthest countries.” These +passages refer respectively to Aragon and Andalusia. +The same ware was produced in Murcia. +Ibn-Said, quoted by Al-Makkari, mentions the +“glazed and gilded porcelain” of Murcia, Málaga, +and Almería, calling it “strange and admirable.” +It was also manufactured, probably in larger +quantities than in any other part of Spain, in many +towns and villages of the kingdom of Valencia, +such as Carcer, Alaquaz, Moncada, Quarte, Villalonga, +Traiguera, and Manises. In the <i>Excellencies +of the Kingdom of Valencia</i>, written by Eximenes +and published in 1499, we find it stated that +“surpassing everything else is the ware of Manises, +gilded and painted with such mastery that all the +world is enamoured thereof, insomuch that the +pope, the cardinals, and princes send for it, +astonished that objects of such excellence can be +made of earth.”<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a></p> + +<p>Other writers on the same locality, such as Diago +and Escolano, author of the <i>Historia de la insigne</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +<i>y coronada ciudad y reino de Valencia</i> (Valencia, +1610, 1611), confirm this eulogy of Eximenes. +According to Escolano, Valencian ware was “of +such loveliness that in return for that which the +Italians send us from Pisa, we send them boatloads +of it from Manises.” One of the most recent of +authorities on lustred ware remarks that “in the +fifteenth century ornamental vases in the (Spanish-Moorish) +wares appear to have been commanded +from Spain by wealthy Florentines, as is evident +from the Medici arms and impresa in fig. 40; +others bearing the Florentine lily (fig. 41) seem +to have been ordered from the same city.” The +illustrations to which the author of this monograph<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> +refers, depict a vase and a boccale, both +in lustred ware, and which it is extremely probable +were manufactured at Manises.</p> + +<p>The same ware was also possibly made in +Cataluña, where pieces of it have been found +among the ruins of the village of Las Casas. <i>La +Alhambra</i>, a small magazine which is published +at Granada, contains, in the number dated +September 30th, 1901, an account of these fragments +by their finder, Joaquín Vilaplana.</p> + +<p>Some years ago the Balearic Islands were also<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> +thought to have produced this pottery. One of +the earliest and most fervent champions of this +theory, now definitely shown to be erroneous, +was Baron Davillier. This gentleman, in some +respects an excellent authority on Spanish ceramics, +relied too strongly on certain assurances +made him by a Señor Bover, and ended by declaring +that in the museums of Paris and London +he had himself seen lustred plates which bore the +arms of Ynca in the Balearics, proving them to +have been manufactured at that town.</p> + +<p>However, a Majorcan archæologist, named Alvaro +Campaner, refuted one by one Davillier's +points of argument, and showed beyond all +question that both the plates of Ynca and the +arms which decorated them were simply nonexistent, +and that the term <i>Majolica</i>, deriving +from <i>Majorica</i>, applies to pottery in general, +and not with any preference to lustred ware. +Campaner also suggested very ingeniously that +the word <i>Majolica</i> was probably applied by the +Italians to Catalan or Valencian pottery conveyed +to Italy in vessels themselves belonging to the +Balearics, and which were in the habit of completing +their cargoes in the ports of Barcelona<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +and Valencia, and he added that this suggestion +is supported by the fact that specimens of lustred +ware are far more often met with on the Balearic +coast than in the towns and villages of the interior. +It is only fair to state that Davillier frankly and +fully recognized the value of Campaner's refutation.</p> + +<p>As to the methods of producing lustred pottery, +the chemical investigations practised by Riocreux, +Brogniart, Carand, and others, have shown that +the metals used to produce the characteristic reflex +which gives the ware its name were copper and +silver, entering into the composition of an extremely +thin glaze extended over the surface of +the pottery, and employed, sometimes together, +and sometimes separately. It is obvious that the +lustre produced by copper would be deeper, redder, +and less delicate than that produced by silver, +while varying gradations would be obtainable by +the mixture of both metals. It is also beyond +doubt that the oldest specimens of this pottery +extant to-day are those which contain the palest +and most pearly lustre, and consequently the +largest quantity of the costlier metal. In those +of later date there is an evident inferiority, both +in colour, lustre, and design. In fact, two +separate, or nearly separate, epochs of this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +branch of Spanish pottery are pointed out by +Señor Mélida, who gives the name of <i>Mudejar</i> +to lustred objects manufactured at an earlier time +by Moorish artists working in the cities captured +by the Christians, and that of <i>Morisco</i> to the +second or inferior class produced by Morisco +craftsmen after the reconquest, and distinguished +by the coarser and degenerate lustre, colouring, +and draughtsmanship.</p> + +<p>The rarest and most beautiful examples of this +ware are naturally those which belong to the +former class, and consist of various kinds of plates +and other objects in which elaborate devices such +as lions, antelopes, and shields of heraldry, often +combined with foliage and inscriptions in Gothic +lettering, are coloured in bistre or pale blue,<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> and +rendered doubly beautiful by the delicate nacreous +lustre.</p> + +<p>In nearly every case it is extremely difficult to +determine with any certainty the date of manufacture +of these objects, as well as the locality. +Wallis says he is aware of “no example of Spanish +lustre pottery antecedent to those in the class to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> +which the large Palermo jar belongs, and they +are not likely to be much earlier than the end of +the fourteenth century. Happily the celebrated +plaque (Plate <a href="#img_168.jpg">lviii</a>.) formerly belonging to Fortuny, +and now in the possession of Excmo Sr. Don G. J. +de Osma, furnishes an early date, which, +according to its owner, is between May 1408 +and November 1417. Those who know the +original will remember that it is no less remarkable +for the quality of its golden lustre than for +the grace and elegance of its fanciful Oriental +design.” It is also believed by Señor Osma that +this plaque was manufactured in the kingdom of +Granada; <i>i.e.</i> either at Granada or Málaga.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_168.jpg" width="241" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_168.jpg" id="img_168.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">LVIII<br />HISPANO-MORESQUE LUSTRED PLAQUE<br /> +(<i>Early 15th Century. Osma Collection</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>A specimen of Spanish lustred ware more +celebrated even than Fortuny's plaque is the +“vase of the Alhambra” (Plate <a href="#img_170.jpg">lix</a>.), which rests +to-day in a corner of the Sala de las Dos Hermanas. +The history of this mighty jar is +interesting. Popular superstition affirms it to +have been discovered, filled to the brim with +gold, by the Marquis of Mondejar, first of the +Christian governors of the fortress of Granada. +Exposed for many years to every stress of weather +and to every mutilation at the hands of passers-by, +it stood, in company with other vases of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> +enormous size, upon a rampart which is now the +garden terrace known as the Adarves. Several +of the older travellers have described these vessels +or alluded to them. Marmol wrote of them as +far back as the sixteenth century, while the +journal of Bertaut de Rouen contains the following +notice;—“Sur la première terrasse par où l'on +entre, et d'où l'on a de la peine à regarder en +bas sans estre ébloüy, il y a deux fontaines jaillissantes, +et tout du long des murs du chasteau, des +espaliers d'orangers et de grenadiers, avec de +grands vases de terre peinte, aussi belle que la +porcelaine, où il n'y avoit pour lors, sinon quelques +fleurs en quelques-uns: mais où l'on dit que le +Marquis de Mondejar trouva quantité d'or que les +Mores avaient caché dans la terre, quand il y fût +estably par Ferdinand.” The priest Echeverría, +who forged the relics of the ancient Alcazaba of +Granada,<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> was careful to repeat this fable in the +twenty-sixth chapter of his <i>Paseos por Granada</i>. +The first edition of this work was published in +1764, under the assumed name of Joseph Romero +Yranzo. There were then two vases and part of +a third, all “lacerated, peeled, and maltreated.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> +The Englishman Swinburne wrote in 1776 that +below the Towers of the Bell, “on the south-side, +on a slip of terrace, is the governor's garden, a +very pleasant walk, full of fine orange and cypress +trees and myrtle hedges, but quite abandoned. +The view it commands is incomparable. Two +large vases enamelled with gold and azure foliages +and characters are the only ornaments left: these +were taken out of the vaults under the royal apartments.” +In the second edition of Echeverría's +<i>Paseos</i>, which was republished in 1814, it is +added in a footnote that only a single vase +remained, “in a room that overlooks the Court of +Myrtles.” Lozano, however, in his <i>Antigüedades +Arabes</i>, mentions two vases as existing at the +same period. Argote de Molina (<i>Nuevos Paseos +por Granada</i>, published about 1808) describes, +together with the wretchedly executed marble +statues in the Sala de las Ninfas, the “two or +three great porcelain jars whereof some pieces +only now remain,” and reminds us that according +to the old tradition these statues looked continually +towards the vases, which were full of treasure. +Argote, nevertheless, takes Echeverría sharply to +task for his absurdities upon this theme; and +Washington Irving, a diligent gleaner in Echeverría's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> +somewhat scanty field, makes use of the +same material for his well-known story.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_170.jpg" width="388" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_170.jpg" id="img_170.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">LIX<br />HISPANO-MORESQUE LUSTRED VASE<br /> +(<i>Alhambra, Granada</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>In the time of Owen Jones the one surviving +vase, now standing with a wooden rail before it +in a corner of the Hall of the Two Sisters, still +occupied the “room that looks upon the Court of +Myrtles.” Jones wrote of it in 1842:—“This +beautiful vase was discovered, it is said, full of +gold in one of the subterranean chambers of the +Casa Real. It is at present to be seen in a small +chamber of the Court of the Fish-pond, in which +are deposited the archives of the palace. It is +engraved in the Spanish work by Lozano, +<i>Antigüedades Arabes de España</i>, with another of +the same size, which was broken a few years ago, +and the pieces sold to a passing traveller. The +vase is executed in baked clay, with enamelled +colours and gold similar to the mosaics.”</p> + +<p>A more precise description is the following. +The vase, which measures four feet six inches in +height by eight feet two inches and a half in +circumference, is of common earthenware painted +with intricate devices fired after painting. This +was a difficult operation in a vessel of such size; +and here, in consequence, the colours have slightly +run and mingled. Besides these technical flaws,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> +the belly of the vase is broken clean in half, and +one of the handles is missing. The shape is +amphoraic, with a moderate downward curve. +About the middle, surrounded by leaf and stem +and geometrical devices effectively intertwined, +are two antelopes. The vase is coloured blue +and caramel upon a delicate yellow ground, and +has a faint metallic lustre.<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> An Arabic inscription +is repeated several times, and consists of the +words “Felicity” and “Welcome.”</p> + +<p>This vase is believed to date from the fourteenth +century; and if we judge from the colour +and composition of the earth employed, it appears +probable that it was made at Granada. Together +with the other vases which have disappeared,<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> it +was doubtless meant to serve as a receptacle for +water, and for decorating the chambers of the +palace, where it would rest in amphora-fashion +on a perforated stand, while smaller vases containing +flowers would fill the niches which may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> +yet be seen in various inner walls of the Alhambra. +The belief of Argote<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> and many other writers +that these niches were intended to receive the +slippers of the Moors is utterly unfounded.</p> + +<p>Until quite recently all published illustrations +of the great <i>jarrón de la Alhambra</i> were inaccurate, +and as a rule grotesquely so. Among +the very worst are those inserted in the handbooks +of Riaño and Contreras. I am glad to be +able to reproduce an excellent photograph, which +both corrects the atrocious cuts I have observed +elsewhere, and relieves me from giving a prolix +and possibly a wearisome description of the +decoration on the vase.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_172.jpg" width="346" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_172.jpg" id="img_172.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">LX<br />HISPANO-MORESQUE LUSTRED VASE<br /> +(<i>Madrid Museum</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>Several other lustred vases of large size are +still preserved in Spain and other countries. One, +proceeding from a Sicilian church, is in the +museum of Palermo. Wallis, who inserts an +illustration, describes it as “amphora-shaped, with +two large flat handles; pear-shaped body, long +neck, ribbed at lower part, canellated above, +moulded lip. Whitish body, tin glaze. Ornament +painted in gold lustre on white ground, +the pattern in parts almost obliterated. Hispano-Moresque.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +Height, one metre, seventeen centimetres.”</p> + +<p>Another of these great vases belonged to the +painter Fortuny, and was sold at his death to +Prince Basilewsky, for thirty thousand francs. It +was found by Fortuny at the village of Salar, +near Granada, and purchased by him at a low +price. “The neck and mouth resemble those of +the Alhambra vase. The ornamentation is distributed +about the body of the vase in four zones; +one of the two central zones has tangent circles, +and the other an inscription.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_174.jpg" width="318" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_174.jpg" id="img_174.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">LXI<br />LUSTRED TILES<br /> +(<i>Osma Collection</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>Another large lustred vase is in the museum of +Madrid (Plate <a href="#img_172.jpg">lx</a>.). It was found by a labourer +at Hornos in the province of Jaen, and passed +into the hands of the village priest, who placed it +in his church to support the font of holy water. +In course of time a dealer in antiquities, by name +Amat, happened to pass that way, observed the +vase, and made an offer for it to the <i>padre</i>. This +latter at first refused, but subsequently, stimulated +by an ignorant though well-intentioned and disinterested +zeal for bettering the temple, he stipulated +that if the dealer provided a new support +of marble for the font, and paid for white washing +the church, he might bear off the coveted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +<i>jarrón</i>. Fulfilling these conditions at all speed, he +mounted the precious vessel on an ass, and briskly +strode away. When he had gone a little distance +the villagers, missing their cherished vase, though +unaware, of course, of its artistic worth, swarmed +angrily about the purchaser, flourished their knives +and sticks at him, and pelted him with stones. At +this he called upon the mayor for protection; the +mayor provided him with two armed men for bodyguard, +and, thus defended, the indomitable dealer +reached Madrid and sold his jar to government +for fifteen hundred dollars. Its present value is +estimated at not less than thirty thousand.<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a></p> + +<p>One of the earliest and most interesting notices +relating to the preparation of this lustred ware is +contained in a description by one of the royal +archers, named Henry Cock, of the progress, +performed in 1585, of Philip the Second from the +court of Spain to Zaragoza.<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> Cock wrote of Muel, +in Aragon:—“Almost all the inhabitants of this +village are potters, and all the earthenware sold +at Zaragoza is made in the following manner. +The vessels are first fashioned to the required<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> +shape from a certain substance extracted from the +earth of this locality. They are next baked in a +specially constructed oven, and when removed +from this are varnished with white varnish and +polished, after which they are washed with a +mixture of twenty-five pounds of lead, three or +four pounds of tin, and as many pounds of a +certain sand which is found there. All these +ingredients are mixed into a paste resembling ice, +which is broken small, pounded like flour, and +kept in powder. This powder is mixed with +water, the dishes are passed through it, and after +being rebaked they keep their lustre. Next, in +order to gild the pottery, they take the strongest +vinegar mixed with about two <i>reales</i> of powdered +silver, vermilion, and red ochre, and a little wire. +When all is thoroughly mixed they paint the +patterns on the dishes with a feather, bake them +again, and their gold colour is now quite permanent. +I was told all this by the potters +themselves.”<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_176.jpg" width="500" height="378" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_176.jpg" id="img_176.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">LXII<br />HISPANO-MORESQUE LUSTRED WARE<br /> +(<i>A.D. 1460–1480. Osma Collection</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>Another most interesting account of the manufacture<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +of lustred ware was discovered in manuscript +by Riaño in the British Museum, and, +although it belongs to a later date (1785), is well +worth quoting fully. It consists of a report upon +the later gilded pottery of Manises, and was drawn +up by order of the Count of Floridablanca:—</p> + +<p>“After the pottery is baked, it is varnished with +white and blue, the only colours used besides the +gold lustre; the vessels are again baked; if the +objects are to be painted with gold colour, this +can only be put on the white varnish, after they +have gone twice through the oven. The vessels +are then painted with the said gold colour and +are baked a third time, with only dry rosemary +for fuel.</p> + +<p>“The white varnish used is composed of lead +and tin, which are melted together in an oven +made on purpose; after these materials are +sufficiently melted, they become like earth, and +when in this state the mixture is removed and +mixed with an equal quantity in weight of sand: +fine salt is added to it, it is boiled again, and when +cold, pounded into powder. The only sand which +can be used is from a cave at Benalguacil, three +leagues from Manises. In order that the varnish +should be fine, for every <i>arroba</i>, twenty-five pounds<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +of lead, six to twelve ounces of tin must be added, +and half a bushel of finely-powdered salt: if a +coarse kind is required, it is sufficient to add a very +small quantity of tin, and three or four <i>cuartos</i> +worth of salt, which in this case must be added +when the ingredient is ready for varnishing the +vessel.</p> + +<p>“Five ingredients enter into the composition of +the gold colour: copper, which is better the older +it is; silver, as old as possible; sulphur; red +ochre; and strong vinegar, which are mixed in +the following proportions: of copper three ounces, +of red ochre twelve ounces, of silver one <i>peseta</i> +(about a shilling), sulphur three ounces, vinegar +a quart; three pounds (of twelve ounces) of the +earth or scoriæ, which is left after this pottery is +painted with the gold colour, is added to the +other ingredients.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_178.jpg" width="500" height="381" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_178.jpg" id="img_178.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">LXIII<br />HISPANO-MORESQUE LUSTRED WARE<br /> +(<i>A.D. 1460-1480. Osma Collection</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>“They are mixed in the following manner: a +small portion of sulphur in powder is put into a +casserole with two small bits of copper, between +them a coin of one silver <i>peseta</i>; the rest of the +sulphur and copper is then added to it. When +this casserole is ready, it is placed on the fire, and +is made to boil until the sulphur is consumed, +which is evident when no flame issues from it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> +The preparation is then taken from the fire, and +when cold is pounded very fine; the red ochre +and scoriæ are then added to it; it is mixed up +by hand and again pounded into powder. The +preparation is placed in a basin and mixed with +enough water to make a sufficient paste to stick +on the sides of the basin; the mixture is then +rubbed on the vessel with a stick; it is therefore +indispensable that the water should be added very +gradually until the mixture is in the proper state.</p> + +<p>“The basin ready prepared must be placed in +an oven for six hours. At Manises it is customary +to do so when the vessels of common pottery are +baked; after this the mixture is scratched off +the sides of the basin with some iron instrument; +it is then removed from there and broken up into +small pieces, which are pounded fine in a hand-mortar +with the quantity of vinegar already +mentioned, and after having been well ground +and pounded together for two hours the mixture +is ready for decorating. It is well to observe +that the quantity of varnish and gold-coloured +mixture which is required for every object can +only be ascertained by practice.”</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the gilded ware of the kingdom +of Valencia had by this time deteriorated very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> +greatly. Formerly, from as far back as the reign +of Jayme the Conqueror, the other towns or +villages of this region which produced the lustred +and non-lustred pottery were Játiva, Paterna, +Quarte, Villalonga, Alaqua, Carcer, and Moncada. +Early in the fourteenth century fourteen potteries +were working in the town of Biar, and twenty-three +at Traiguera. Manises, however, maintained +the lead for many years. The notices of +Eximenes and other writers concerning the pottery +of this town have been already quoted. The +same ware is mentioned in the sixteenth and +seventeenth centuries by Diago (1613), Francisco +Jávier Borrell, Beuter, and Martin de Viciana. +Marineus Siculus, the chronicler of Ferdinand +and Isabella, adds that similar or identical pottery +(“<i>desta misma arte</i>”) was made in Murcia, whose +manufacture of it had been praised in earlier +times by Ibn-Said. Toledo also manufactured +gilded ware with blue or bistre colouring. García +Llansó says that in the sixteenth century this +capital produced plates which contain the arms of +Spain in the centre, the rest of the plate being +completely covered with minute geometrical or +floral ornamentation.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_180.jpg" width="500" height="488" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_180.jpg" id="img_180.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">LXIV<br />HISPANO-MORESQUE LUSTRED WARE<br /> +(<i>A.D. 1460-1480. Osma Collection</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>It is certain that during the fourteenth and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> +fifteenth centuries large quantities of lustred +pottery were produced in many parts of Andalusia, +Castile, Aragon, and Valencia. The oldest and +most valuable specimens of this pottery are those +which have the palest and most purely golden +lustre, combined with blue or bluish decoration in +the form of animals, coats of arms, or foliage. +The lustred ware of Manises began to deteriorate +about the time of the expulsion of the Moriscos, +when the leaves and fronds of a clean gold tone +upon a lightish ground are replaced by commoner +and coarser patterns, and the gold itself by the +coppery lustre which is still employed.</p> + +<p>After the seventeenth century the further decline +of this once famous industry may be traced +from the accounts of travellers. Towards the +middle of this century Bowles wrote that “two +leagues from the capital (Valencia) is a fair-looking +town of only four streets, whose occupants are +nearly all potters. They make a <i>copper-coloured</i> +ware of great beauty, <i>used for common purposes and +for decorating the houses of the working-people +of the province</i>. They make this ware of an +argillaceous earth resembling in its colour and +composition that portion of the soil of Valencia +which produces native mercury…. The objects<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +they fashion of this earth possess a glitter and are +very inexpensive, since I purchased half a dozen +plates for a <i>real</i>. Nevertheless, <i>this is not the +ware which has the highest reputation in the kingdom +of Valencia</i>. The factory which the Count of +Aranda has established at Alcora is not surpassed +in Europe, and is ahead of many in fineness of +substance, hardness of the varnish, and elegance +of form. It would be perfect of its kind if the +varnish did not crack and peel off so easily.”</p> + +<p>According to Laborde, early in the nineteenth +century Manises contained two potteries “of considerable +extent, which employ seventy workmen. +The people occupied in these possess the art of +producing a gold <i>bronze</i> colour which they carefully +keep a secret, never communicating it to any +person.” Elsewhere in the same book Laborde +is more explicit. “Manises is a village situated a +league and a quarter north of Valencia. It is +seen on the left coming from New Castile. It is +noted for its manufactories of earthen ware, which +employ thirty kilns, and occupy a great part of the +inhabitants. The women are employed in forming +the designs and applying the colours. There are +two large manufactories of a superior kind, the +earthen ware of which is tolerably fine, of a beautiful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> +white, and a moderate price. They also make +here vases worked with a great degree of delicacy.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_182.jpg" width="362" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_182.jpg" id="img_182.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">LXV<br />HISPANO-MORESQUE LUSTRED WARE<br /> +(<i>Late 15th Century. Osma Collection</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>“The society of these workmen possess the +secret of the composition of a colour which in the +fire takes the tint and brightness of a beautiful +gilt <i>bronze</i>. It has been unsuccessfully attempted +to be imitated; the heads of the society compose +the colour themselves, and distribute it to the +masters who take care of it; it is a liquid of the +colour of Spanish tobacco, but a little deeper.”</p> + +<p>The quantity of Hispano-Moresque lustred +pottery preserved in the public and private collections +of various countries is far from small, although +to classify it according to the place and date of its +production is nearly always a matter of extreme +difficulty.</p> + +<p>Among the earliest specimens are the vase +of the Alhambra, those which are now in the +museums of Palermo and Madrid, that which +belonged to Fortuny, and the plaque which once +was also his, and now forms part of the Osma +collection. Lustred Spanish tiles are scarce. A +few exist at Seville<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> and Granada, chiefly in altar-fronts,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> +along the archivolts of doorways, or, with +heraldic motives, on the inner walls of houses +of the aristocracy. Invariably, says Gestoso, +such tiles are coloured with combinations of white, +blue, and gold, since in the lustre process other +colours—black, or green, or deepish yellow—proved +unsatisfactory. Other lustred tiles of +exquisite beauty are owned by Señor Osma, +(Plate <a href="#img_174.jpg">lxi</a>.), and seem to have even gained in +brilliance by the centuries that have passed over +them. Riaño gives a list of the specimens of this +pottery which are at South Kensington, consisting +of bowls, vases, and plates. One of the vases is +particularly beautiful. It dates from the fifteenth +century, and is described by Fortnum as having +“a spherical body on a trumpet-shaped base, with +a neck of elongated funnel form, flanked by two +large wing-shaped handles perforated with circular +holes. The surface, except the mouldings, +is entirely covered with a diaper-pattern of ivy +or briony leaves, tendrils, and small flowers in +brownish lustre and blue on the white ground.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_184.jpg" width="361" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_184.jpg" id="img_184.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">LXVI<br />HISPANO-MORESQUE LUSTRED WARE<br /> +(<i>Late 15th Century. Osma Collection</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>Through the courtesy of Señor Osma I am<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> +able to give illustrations of a few of the finest +specimens of lustred ware in his magnificent +collection (Plates <a href="#img_176.jpg">lxii</a>.–<a href="#img_184.jpg">lxvi</a>.). The three small +vessels facing pages 176, 178, and 180 are of +Valencian workmanship, and date, according to +their owner, from between 1460 and 1480. The +two plates are also Valencian. The one with a +bull in the centre dates from between 1480 and +1500; and that which has a greyhound from +slightly earlier—say 1470 to 1490.</p> + +<h3>POTTERY OF SEVILLE, PUENTE DEL ARZOBISPO, +TALAVERA DE LA REINA, TOLEDO, AND BARCELONA; +POROUS WARE; PORCELAIN OF ALCORA +AND THE ROYAL FACTORY OF THE BUEN RETIRO.</h3> + +<p>We have seen that Seville was an early and +important centre of the potter's craft in Spain. +Her potteries were celebrated even with the +Romans, and probably have at no moment been +inactive. Fifty, established in the suburb of +Triana, were mentioned in the sixteenth century +by Pedro de Medina, and documents which tell +of many more have recently been discovered by +Gestoso. The excellence of the Seville tiles has +been described in a preceding section of this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +chapter. Their production still continues upon +a large scale; and the ware of the Cartuja factory, +which reached the zenith of its fame towards the +end of the eighteenth century, is considered by +Jacquemart and other authorities to rival with the +Italian wares of Savona.</p> + +<p>Pottery made in other parts of the Peninsula—particularly +that of Talavera de la Reina—is +known to have been imitated by the Seville potters +with embarrassing perfection. In the case of the +so-called “loza de Puente del Arzobispo,” it is +the Seville ware itself which seems to have been +imitated. Puente del Arzobispo is a small village +near Toledo. Mendez wrote of it in the seventeenth +century:—“Fine pottery is manufactured in +about eight kilns, which produce more than 40,000 +ducats yearly.” “In 1755,” says Riaño, “thirteen +pottery kilns existed at this place; they still +worked in 1791, but their productions were very +inferior in artistic merit.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_186.jpg" width="235" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_186.jpg" id="img_186.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">LXVII<br />HISPANO-MORESQUE LUSTRED WARE</p> +</div> + +<p>Not many years ago the name of Puente del +Arzobispo was connected by Baron Davillier with +certain polychrome non-lustred plates and other +vessels which are greatly esteemed for their rarity, +and of which a few specimens exist in the South +Kensington and other museums, as well as in one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +or two private collections, such as that of Señor +Osma.</p> + +<p>Gestoso says that the usual diameter of these +plates is either twenty-three centimetres or forty-two +centimetres. “Their decoration, betraying +at a glance the Saracenic influence, consists of +leaves and flowers, together with animals of a +more or less fantastic character: lions, rabbits, +and birds. In other specimens the centre is +occupied by a heart, fleurs-de-lis, or other fancy +devices, or yet, in some few cases, with the head +of a man or woman. These central designs are +surrounded with leaves and flowers. The draughtsmanship +upon these plates is of the rudest, and +the process of their colouring was as follows. +The figures were drawn upon the unfired surface +in manganese ink mixed with a greasy substance; +and after this the aqueous enamel or glaze was +allowed to drop from a hogshair brush into the +spaces which the black had outlined.”</p> + +<p>This will be recognized as the <i>cuerda seca</i> process, +so extensively employed in making Seville +tiles. Nevertheless, judging by certain marks upon +this pottery, Baron Davillier declared it to proceed +from Puente del Arzobispo. The marks in +question consist in one or two examples of what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +appears to be the letters A.P. or P.A.<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> Davillier, +however, affirmed that he had seen a plate fully +inscribed as follows:—</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_188a.jpg" width="347" height="350" + alt="inscription" + title="inscription" /> +</div> + +<p>The existence of this plate is now discredited; at +least, no trace of it can be discovered at this day.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> +Upon the other hand, Gestoso points to various +objects manufactured by the <i>cuerda seca</i> method, +and which undoubtedly proceed from Seville. +Among them are three shields, one of which, +containing the arms of Ferdinand and Isabella, +is of exceptional interest, for it is accompanied by +an inscribed slab, evidently coeval with the shield +itself, recording it to have been made in the year +1503, and by Jerónimo Suarez. This shield and +slab were removed from a courtyard of the old +Alhóndiga to Seville Museum, where they now +remain. Of the two other shields, one belongs +to Señor Osma, and the second, which is still at +Seville, adorns the tomb of Don León Enriquez +in the church of Santa Paula; and since it is unquestionable +that all these <i>cuerda seca</i> shields, +as well as quantities of <i>cuerda seca</i> tiles, were +made at Seville, Gestoso prudently suggests that +we should designate as “<i>cuerda seca</i> ware” that +pottery which has hitherto passed as specially +belonging to Puente del Arzobispo. In fact, +towards the end of the fifteenth century this +pottery is found extending northward from Seville +to Toledo, and Señor Osma assures me that Toledo +specimens are of a somewhat later manufacture +than those which were produced at Seville. One<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> +of the rarest and most interesting <i>cuerda seca</i> +plates in this gentleman's collection is reproduced +herewith (lxviii.). No other plate of similar +pattern is known to exist. Its date may be +placed between 1480 and 1495, and it gives a +curious illustration of the masculine headdress and +headwear in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella.</p> + +<p>The pottery of Talavera de la Reina was at +one time much esteemed. The earliest mention +of it, says Riaño, occurs in 1560, in a manuscript +history of this town, while another notice, dated +1576, says that here was produced “fine white +glazed earthenware and other pottery, which +supplied the country, part of Portugal, and India.” +More explicit are the observations of Father +Alonso de Ajofrín, who wrote, in 1651, a history +of Talavera. He says that “her pottery is as +good as that of Pisa, while quantities of <i>azulejos</i> +are made here to adorn the front of altars, +churches, gardens, alcoves, saloons, and bowers, +and large and small specimens of every kind. +Two hundred workmen work at eight separate +kilns. Four other kilns produce the commoner +kinds of ware. Red porous clay vessels and +drinking-cups are baked in two other kilns in +a thousand shapes to imitate birds and other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +creatures; also <i>brinquiños</i> for the use of ladies, so +deliciously flavoured that after drinking the water +they contained, they eat the cup in which it was +brought them.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_190.jpg" width="500" height="445" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_190.jpg" id="img_190.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">LXVIII<br />DISH<br /> +(<i>Andalusian non-lustred ware in the</i> Cuerda seca <i>style. +A.D. 1480-1495. Osma Collection</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>The following most interesting notice relating +to this town is also quoted by Riaño: “The +earthenware pottery made here has reached a +great perfection; it is formed of white and red +clay. Vases, cups, <i>bucaros</i> and <i>brinquiños</i> are +made of different kinds, dishes and table centres, +and imitations of snails, owls, dogs, and every +kind of fruits, olives, and almonds. These objects +are painted with great perfection, and the imitations +of porcelain brought from the Portuguese +Indies are most excellent. Everyone is surprised +that in so small a town such excellent things +should be made. The varnish used for the +white pottery is made with tin and sand, and +is now found to be more acceptable than coloured +earthenware; so much so, that persons of importance +who pass by this town, although they +have in their houses dinner-services of silver, +buy earthenware made at Talavera, on account +of its excellence. The sand which was used +to make the white varnish was brought from +Hita, and is now found at Mejorada, near<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> +Talavera. This sand is as fine and soft as +silk.</p> + +<p>“The red pottery made at Talavera is much +to be commended, for besides the great variety of +objects, and the different medals which they place +upon them, they have invented some small +<i>brinquiños</i> of so small and delicate a kind, that +the ladies wear them. Rosaries are also made of +the same material. A certain scent is added in +the manufacture of this pottery which excites the +appetite and taste of the women, who eat the +pottery so frequently that it gives great trouble to +their confessors to check this custom.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_192.jpg" width="500" height="371" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_192.jpg" id="img_192.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">LXIX<br />AN <i>ALFARERÍA</i> OR POTTER'S YARD<br /> +(<i>Granada</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>This porous pottery for keeping water cool +had been imported from America, and was chiefly +made in Andalusia, Portugal, and Extremadura. +It is still produced at Andujar and elsewhere. +Nearly all travellers in Spain describe it, and insist +upon the curious circumstance that it was eaten +by the Spanish women. “I have mentioned elsewhere,” +wrote Countess d'Aulnoy, “the longing +many women feel to chew this clay, which often +obstructs their bodies internally. Their stomachs +swell, and grow as hard as stone, while their +skin turns yellow as a quince. I also felt a +curiosity to taste this ware, that is so highly yet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +so undeservedly esteemed; but I would devour a +grindstone rather than put it in my mouth again. +Nevertheless, if one wants to be agreeable to the +Spanish ladies, one has to present them with some +<i>bucaros</i>, which they themselves call <i>barros</i>, and +which, as many deem, possess such numerous and +admirable qualities, since they claim for the clay +that it cures sickness, and that a drinking vessel +made of it betrays the presence of a poison. I +possess one which spoils the taste of wine, but +greatly improves water. This liquid seems to +boil and tremble when it is thrown into the cup in +question; but after a little while the vessel +empties—so porous is the clay of which it is +composed—and then it has a fragrant odour.”</p> + +<p>Similar accounts are given by travellers of a +later time. “I wish,” wrote Swinburne, “I could +contrive a method of carrying you some of the +fine earthen jars, called <i>buxaros</i>, which are made +in Andalusia. They are remarkably convenient +for water-drinkers, as they are light, smooth, and +handy; being not more than half-baked, they are +very porous, and the outside is kept moist by the +water's filtering through; though placed in the sun, +the water in the pots remains as cold as ice. The +most disagreeable circumstance attending them is,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +that they emit a smell of earth refreshed by a +sudden shower after a long drought.”<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a></p> + +<p>Laborde, who wrote a few years later, seems to +have copied some of his information from Bowles. +“The Murcians,” he said, “use in their houses +little jars called <i>Bucaros</i>, the same as those which +in some parts of Andalusia are called Alcarrazas.<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> +They have handles open at the top, are smaller at +the bottom than above, and bulge in the middle; +they are slight, porous, smooth, and half-baked; +they are made of a peculiar kind of clay. When +water is put into them, they emit a smell like that +sent up by the earth after a shower of rain in +summer. The water makes its way very slowly +through the pores, and keeps them constantly +moist on the outside; they are used to cool water +for drinking. The windows and balconies of all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> +the houses have large iron rings, with a flat surface, +on which they are placed at night, and the water, +oozing incessantly, becomes very cool.<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> In Andalusia +some of these jars are white, and others red; +in Murcia they have only white ones. They appear +to be in every respect of the same nature as +the evaporating vases of Africa, Egypt, Syria, +and India, of which so much has been said by +travellers, and on which the learned have made so +many dissertations.”</p> + +<p>The same vessels are noticed by Ford in his +description of a Spanish <i>posada</i>. “Near the staircase +downstairs, and always in a visible place, is +a gibbous jar, <i>tinaja</i>, of the ancient classical +amphora shape, filled with fresh water; and by +it is a tin or copper utensil to take water out with, +and often a row of small pipkins, made of a red +porous clay,<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> which are kept ready filled with +water, on, or rather in, a shelf fixed to the wall,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +and called <i>la tallada, el taller</i>. These pots, +<i>alcarrazas</i>, from the constant evaporation, keep +the water extremely cool. They are of various +shapes, many, especially in Valencia and Andalusia, +being of the unchanged identical form of +those similar clay drinking-vessels discovered at +Pompeii. They are the precise <i>trulla</i>. Martial +speaks both of the colour and the material of +those made at Saguntum, where they still are +prepared in great quantities; they are not unlike +the <i>ckool'lehs</i> of Egypt, which are made of the +same material and for the same purposes, and +represent the ancient Canobic κστατικα. They are +seldom destined to be placed on the table; their +bottoms being pointed and conical, they could not +stand upright. This singular form was given to +the <i>vasa futilia</i>, or cups used at the sacrifices of +Vesta, which would have been defiled had they +touched the ground. As soon, therefore, as they +are drunk off, they are refilled and replaced in +their holes on the shelf, as is done with decanters +in our butlers' pantries.”<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a></p> + +<p>I am only aware of one author who derides the +statement that this porous clay was eaten by the +Spanish women. According to Bowles, who certainly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> +describes and comments on it with intelligence +and scholarship, the neighbourhood of +Andujar contains “large quantities of the white +argil of which are made the jars or <i>alcarrazas</i> +which serve in many parts of Spain for cooling +water in the summer-time. In other parts of +Andalusia is found a red variety of this clay, employed +in making the vessels known as <i>búcaros</i>, +which serve to freshen the water as well as for +drinking it out of—a thing the Spanish ladies +love greatly. Both the white <i>alcarrazas</i> and +the <i>búcaros</i> as red as the blood of a bull are +thin, porous, smooth, and half-baked. When +filled with water they emit a pleasant smell like +that of dry earth rained upon in summer, and as +the water filters through the outer surface, remain +continually damp.” The same writer adds that +at that time (1752) the <i>búcaros</i> proceeding from +the Indies were of finer workmanship, and had +a more agreeable smell than those of Spanish +manufacture. “In the Encyclopædia,” he continues, +“and in the Dictionary of Natural History, +we read that Spanish ladies are for ever chewing +<i>búcaro</i>, and that the hardest penance their confessors +can inflict upon them is to deprive them +for a single day of this enjoyment.” Bowles,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +however, quotes these observations in a scornful +tone, and deprecates the habit of “believing writers +who without inquiring into things, concoct and +publish novels to divert the populace and rid them +of their money.”</p> + +<p>Turning our attention once again to the finer +kinds of Talavera ware, Gestoso adduces proofs +that this as well as Chinese porcelain was faultlessly +and freely imitated in the potteries of Seville. +Here, therefore, is a source of fresh confusion; and +probably a great proportion of the polychrome +ware which goes by the name of Talaveran is +really of Sevillian origin. It is further known that +at one period, which seems to begin with the second +half of the sixteenth century, potters who were +natives of Talavera were hired to work in Seville.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_198.jpg" width="420" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_198.jpg" id="img_198.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">LXX<br />TALAVERA VASE</p> +</div> + +<p>It has not been ascertained when Talavera herself +grew celebrated for this industry. García +Llansó supposes that at first, before it felt the +influence of Italy and France, her pottery was +partly Mudejar, and vestiges of oriental art survive +in fairly late examples. The characteristic colour-scheme +was either blue on white, or else the +decoration is more variegated. Riaño says:—“Although +we find by the remarks we have quoted +from contemporary authors that earthenware of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> +every description was made at Talavera, the +specimens which are more generally met with may +be divided into two groups, which are painted on +a white ground, either in blue, or in colours, in the +manner of Italian maiolica. The most important +examples which have reached us consist of bowls +of different sizes, dishes, vases (Plate <a href="#img_198.jpg">lxx</a>.), <i>tinajas</i>, +holy-water vessels, medicine jars, and wall decoration. +Blue oriental china was imitated to a vast +extent: the colouring was successful, but the design +was an imitation of the baroque school of the time, +and the figures, landscapes, and decoration follow +the bad taste so general in Spain in the eighteenth +century. The imitations of Italian maiolica are +effective. The colours most commonly used are +manganese, orange, blue, and green.”</p> + +<p>Talavera maintained her reputation for pottery +till nearly the middle of the eighteenth century, +supporting more than six hundred workmen +employed in eight large potteries.<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> From then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> +onwards the trade declined, and by the close of the +same century was practically dead, owing, Larruga +tells us, to the constantly increasing cost of prime +materials. Nevertheless, the Crown made efforts +to revive the craft, and met with some success till +1777, in which year four establishments (locally +known as <i>barrerías</i>) for making common pottery +were opened in the same town, and speedily +crushed their rivals. “The potteries of Talavera,” +wrote Laborde soon after this, “were greatly +celebrated for many years, and supplied a lucrative +and important branch of commerce. They are +evidently on the decline. The manufactories are +reduced to seven or eight. These productions no +longer exhibit the same delicacy of execution. +Their designs are also lamentably defective. The +material employed in them is a certain earth +which is found near Calera, three leagues from +Talavera.”</p> + +<p>The older Talavera ware, decorated, as a rule, +with horses, birds, hunting-scenes, or coats of +arms, is seldom met with nowadays. Although +it is not particularly choice, the drawing is firm, +and the colouring vigorous and agreeable.</p> + +<p>I have said that pottery continued to be made +in Aragon, at Muel, Villafeliche, and other places.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +In course of time these local industries were also +suffered to decay. Laborde says that early in the +nineteenth century the Villafeliche factory employed +thirty-eight workmen. “The ware is of a +very inferior sort. This article might be carried +to a greater extent. In several parts of the +province, earth is found of an excellent quality +for earthenware, particularly in Zaragoza and in +Tauste; the latter affords the best, which is very +fine, and of three colours, and would answer for +the making of porcelain.”</p> + +<p>In the eighteenth century Toledo, upon the +initiative of Don Ignacio Velasco, produced good +imitations of Genoese ware, while other kinds of +pottery were made at Teruel, Valladolid, Jaen, +Zamora, Segovia, Puente del Arzobispo, and in +the Balearic Islands. Another region which continued +to be a most important centre of the potter's +craft was Cataluña, where it had always been +encouraged by this thrifty and art-loving people. +As early as the year 1257 two potters occupied +a place upon the municipal council of Barcelona, +while the potters' guild was strictly regulated from +the beginning of the fourteenth century.<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> At the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> +same time two whole streets in the centre of the +town, as well as others in the suburbs, were +occupied by potters. The ancient names of these +streets are yet retained in the Calles Escudillers, +Escudillers Blancs (white varnished pottery), +Obradors (where many of the potteries were +situated), and Tallers (<i>i.e.</i> the potteries for producing +common ware).</p> + +<p>The pottery of Cataluña generally was largely +exported to Sicily, Alexandria, and other parts. +Among the places in this region which produced +it were Tarragona, Tortosa, and Villafranca. In +1528 the municipal council of the capital herself +forbade, as a protective measure, the introduction +into Barcelona of local pottery made at Malgrat, +La Selva, and other towns and villages of this +neighbourhood. In 1546 the Portuguese Barreyros +declared in his work <i>Chorografía de algunos +lugares</i> that the Barcelona ware surpassed all +other classes made in Spain, including the Valencian. +She continued to produce good pottery all +through the sixteenth century, and excellent common +ware until considerably later.<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a></p> + +<p>About the beginning of the eighteenth century<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> +Laborde mentioned as working centres of this +craft “manufactories of delf-ware at Avilés, Gijón, +Oviedo, Nava, and Cangas de Onis, in the Asturias; +at Segovia in Old Castile; at Puente del Arzobispo +and Talavera de la Reina in New Castile; at +Seville in the kingdom of that name; at Villafeliche +in Aragon; at Onda, Alcora, and Manises, in the +kingdom of Valencia; at San Andero in Biscay; +and at Tortosa in Cataluña…. The most +important of these potteries is the one at Alcora, +the delf of which is tolerably fine, though not of +the first quality. No china is made, except at +Alcora and Madrid: that of the former place is +very common, and inconsiderable as to quantity. +The china manufactured at Madrid is beautiful, +and without exaggeration may be considered as +equalling that of Sèvres. It is a royal pottery; +but it is impossible to give any description of its +state, because admission to the interior of the +manufactory is strictly prohibited.”</p> + +<p>Ricord states in his pamphlet relative to +Valencian industries that in 1791 factories of +high-class pottery were working in the kingdom +of Valencia, at Onda, Alcora, Ribesalves, Manises, +Eslida, and Bechí; and of common ware at San +Felipe, Morella, Manises, Murviedro, Alicante,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> +Moncada, Orihuela, Segorbe, and other towns +and villages of this locality. In all, there were +throughout the province eighty-seven of these +latter potteries, besides two hundred and twenty +tileries, and four factories of artistic tiles or +<i>azulejos</i> established at Valencia. The yearly +output of these <i>azulejerias</i> was 150,000 tiles, +20,000 of which were exported to Andalusia and +Castile.</p> + +<p>Although the pottery of Alcora only achieved +distinction at a later age, this craft had long been +practised in the neighbourhood. This circumstance +induced the Count of Aranda to found +here, in 1726, a large factory for producing costly +and artistic ware. Riaño obtained permission +to examine the archives of the family of Aranda, +with their mass of documents relating to this +enterprise. His notice of Alcora ware is therefore +most complete and valuable, and has been +copied, frequently without acknowledgment, by +almost every writer on the subject.</p> + +<p>It appears from these archives that the cost +of building and opening the factory of Alcora +amounted to about £10,000. The works were +placed beneath the supervision of Don Joaquín +Joseph de Sayas, at the same time that a Frenchman<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> +named Ollery was engaged at a good salary +and brought from Moustiers to act as principal +draughtsman. A couple of years later Count +Aranda paid Ollery the high compliment of saying +that “the fine and numerous models which he +has designed, have contributed to make my manufacture +the first in Spain.” He seems to have +retired in 1737, when the Count rewarded him +with a yearly pension of five hundred francs +besides the amount of his salary, “for his especial +zeal in the improvement of the manufactory, and +his great skill in directing the construction of every +kind of work.” Riaño adds that from this date +until the manufacture of porcelain in 1764, only +Spanish artists worked at Alcora.</p> + +<p>The products of this factory continued to +improve, and reached, in course of time, a yearly +total of about three hundred thousand objects. +The ordinances, which are dated between 1732 +and 1733, tell us that “in these works of ours no +pottery should be made except the very finest, +similar to the Chinese, and of as fine an earth. +The models and wheels should be perfect, the +drawing first-rate, the varnish and colours excellent, +and the pottery light and of the highest +quality, for it is our express wish that the best<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> +pottery should only be distinguished from that of +an inferior kind by the greater or less amount of +painting which covers it.”</p> + +<p>Not less interesting are certain communications, +copied by Riaño, which passed in 1746 between +the Spanish Tribunal of Commerce and +the Count of Aranda, in which it is stated that +“the perfection of the earthenware of Alcora +consists in the excellent models which have been +made by competent foreign artists, as well as in +the quality of the earth and the recipes brought +at great cost from abroad.” We learn from the +same document that “from the earliest period of +the manufacture, pyramids with figures of children, +holding garlands of flowers and baskets of fruits +on their heads, were made with great perfection; +also brackets, centre and three-cornered tables, +large objects, some as large as five feet high, to +be placed upon them, chandeliers, cornucopias, +statues of different kinds, and animals of different +sorts and sizes. The entire ornamentation of a +room has also been made here; the work is so +perfect that nothing in Spain, France, Italy, or +Holland could equal it in merit.”</p> + +<p>It is not necessary to follow in close detail +all the modifications and vicissitudes (extending<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> +over quite a hundred years) which affected the +Alcora factory. I therefore only take some +general notices from Riaño. In 1750 Count +Aranda transferred the works to a private company, +which remained in possession of them until +1766. In 1741 a Frenchman named François +Haly was engaged for ten years, and with a +yearly salary of rather more than a thousand +francs, under the following conditions:—</p> + +<p>“That the travelling expenses of his wife and +children should be given him, and that his salary +should be paid as soon as he made before the +Director and two competent judges the different +kinds of porcelain which he had undertaken to +make.” Haly agreed to surrender his recipes, +and it was promised him that he should have two +modellers and one painter working by his side, +and that if in one year his porcelain were satisfactory, +the Count would make him a present of a +thousand <i>tornoises</i>.<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a></p> + +<p>Porcelain was first produced at Alcora towards +the middle of the eighteenth century. A contract +was drawn up on March 24th, 1764, with +a German called John Christian Knipfer, who +had already worked there in the pottery section.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> +By the original agreement, which exists in the +archives, we find he was to prepare works of +“porcelain and painting similar to those made at +Dresden, during a period of six years, under the +following conditions:—</p> + +<p>“That the said Knipfer obliges himself to +make and teach the apprentices the composition +and perfection of porcelain paste, its varnishes, +and colours, and whatever he may know at the +present time, or discover during this period of six +years; he is not to prevent the Director of the +Works from being present at all the essays made.</p> + +<p>“The said Knipfer offers to make and varnish +porcelain, and to employ gold and silver in its +decoration, and in that of the ordinary wares; +likewise the colours of crimson, purple, violet, +blues of different shades, yellow, greens, browns, +reds, and black.</p> + +<p>“That Knipfer will give up an account of his +secrets, and the management and manner of using +them, in order that in all times the truth of what +he has asserted may be verified.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_208.jpg" width="364" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_208.jpg" id="img_208.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">LXXI<br />ORNAMENT IN PORCELAIN OF THE BUEN RETIRO</p> +</div> + +<p>In 1774 a Frenchman named François Martin +was engaged to make “hard paste porcelain, +Japanese faïence, English paste (pipeclay), and likewise +to mould and bake it: the necessary materials<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> +to be provided by the Count of Aranda.” Riaño +says that the combined assistance of Knipfer and +Martin went far to better the products of the factory.</p> + +<p>Martin died in 1786, and Knipfer left soon afterwards. +A Frenchman was now engaged, whose +services proved also beneficial to the works. +This was Pierre Cloostermans, “a skilful man, +well versed in the manufacture of porcelain pastes, +as well as in painting and decorating them.” +Cloostermans, however, was much molested by +the envy of the Spanish workmen at Alcora, as +well as by their typical intolerance in matters of +religion, although the Count, his master, behaved +towards him with the utmost kindness. Under +his supervision, the quality of Alcora ware was +notably improved. Figures and groups of many +kinds were attempted, and even Wedgwood jasper +ware was creditably imitated. In 1789, among +other pottery that was sent to Madrid were “two +hard paste porcelain cups, adorned with low relief +in the English style.” The most important one +was moulded by Francisco Garcés, the garlands +and low reliefs by Joaquín Ferrer, sculptor, the +flowers on the covers by an apprentice, helped +by Cloostermans.</p> + +<p>Dated in the same year (1789), Riaño quotes an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> +interesting letter from the Count of Aranda to Don +Pedro Abadia, his steward. “I wish,” he said, +“to export the porcelain of my manufactory, but +chiefly in common objects, such as cups of different +kinds, tea and coffee services, etc. These may be +varied in form and colour, the principal point being +that the paste should bear hot liquids, for we +Spaniards above everything wish that nothing we +buy should ever break. By no means let time be +wasted in making anything that requires much +loss of time. The chief object is that the pastes +should be of first-rate excellence and durability.”</p> + +<p>In 1793 Cloostermans was driven from the +country by political disturbances; but he was +allowed to return in 1795, and resumed his duties +at the factory. All through these years Alcora +continued to make most excellent pottery. Essays +were made with foreign earths, as well as with the +best that could be found in Spain. About this +time kaolin was discovered in Cataluña, and the +Count was particularly anxious that this native +product should be utilised at Alcora. “The +kaolin of Cataluña,” he wrote in 1790, “may be +good or bad, but it is acknowledged to be kaolin, +and if we do not employ it I must close my works.”</p> + +<p>The Count of Aranda and Pierre Cloostermans<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> +both died in 1798, and in 1800 the Duke of Hijar +became the manager and proprietor of the potteries. +“Two hundred workmen were employed, and +pottery of every description was made, common +earthenware, pipeclays in imitation of the English +ones, and porcelain in small quantities; common +wares were made in large quantities; the pipeclays +were pronounced superior to the English in +brilliancy, but were so porous that they were easily +stained. A large number of snuff-boxes and other +small objects belong to this period.”—(Riaño.)</p> + +<p>In the early years of the nineteenth century +Alcora ware deteriorated not a little. This decline +was further aggravated by the French invasion; +and although an attempt was subsequently made +to revive the industry by bringing craftsmen from +the porcelain factory of Madrid, it suffered fresh +relapses and produced henceforward little but the +commonest kinds of ware. “This system,” says +Riaño, “continued until 1858, when the Duke +of Hijar sold the manufactory to Don Ramón +Girona, who brought over English workmen from +Staffordshire in order to improve the wares. +Many imitations of the older styles have also been +made at Alcora of late years.”</p> + +<p>Riaño appends instructive tables, which I copy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> +in Appendix I, of every kind of pottery manufactured +at Alcora. He also believes that a great +deal of pottery which was formerly thought to +proceed from French or English factories is really +of Alcora make, including “a great quantity of +objects of white pipeclay porcelain which have +been found of late years in Spain. They have +hitherto been classified by amateurs as Leeds +pottery. We find, in papers relating to Alcora, +that a decided distinction is made between white +and straw-coloured pottery. This indication may +be sufficient to distinguish it from English wares.”</p> + +<p>The celebrated Royal Porcelain Factory of the +Buen Retiro at Madrid, formerly situated in the +public gardens of that name and popularly known +as the “Fabrica de la China,” was founded in +1759 by Charles the Third, who erected a vast +edifice for this purpose, and filled it with a multitude +of workmen and their families, including two +hundred and twenty-five persons whom he brought +over from his other factory of Capo-di-Monte in +Italy. He also transferred a great part of the +material.<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> The cost of the new works amounted +to eleven and a half millions of <i>reales</i>, and they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> +were terminated in 1764. The cost of keeping +up the factory is stated by Larruga to have +amounted to three millions of <i>reales</i> yearly. The +first directors were Juan Tomás Bonicelli and +Domingo Bonicelli, and the first modellers-in-chief +and superintendents, possessing the secrets +of the fabrication (<i>secretistas</i>), were Cayetano +Schepers and Carlos Gricci.</p> + +<p>Riaño says that every kind of porcelain was made +at the Buen Retiro, “hard and soft paste, white +china, glazed or unglazed, or painted and modelled +in the style of Capo-di-Monte.” A great many +objects existed imitating the blue jasper ware of +Wedgwood, and they also made flowers, coloured +and biscuit, groups (Pl. <a href="#img_208.jpg">lxxi</a>.), and single figures, +and painted porcelain of different kinds. Great +quantities of tiles for pavements were also made +there, which may still be seen at the Casa del +Labrador at Aranjuez: they are mentioned in the +accounts which exist at the Ministry of Finance for +1807 and 1808. We find in these same accounts +interesting details of the objects made monthly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> +In January, 1808, a large number of figures were +made, including 151 heads for the table centre +which was made for the king, 306 objects ornamented +with paintings, 2506 tiles, 577 objects of +less artistic importance, such as dishes, plates, +etc. The finest specimens which exist are in the +Neapolitan style, and are two rooms at the palaces +of Madrid and Aranjuez, of which the walls are +completely covered with China plaques and looking-glasses, +modelled in the most admirable manner +with figures, fruits, and flowers. The room at +Aranjuez is covered with a bold ornamentation of +figures in the Japanese style, in high relief, painted +with colours and gold with the most exquisite +details. The figures unite the fine Italian modelling +with the Japanese decoration. The chandelier +is in the same style (Plate <a href="#img_214.jpg">lxxii</a>.). Upon a vase +on the wainscot to the right of the entrance door +is the following inscription:—</p> + +<p style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0;">JOSEPH<br /> +GRICCI<br /> +DELINEAV<sup>it</sup><br /> +ET<br /> +SCUL<sup>it</sup><br /> +1763.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span></p> + +<p>This same date is repeated in the angles, and in +some shields near the roof we find,</p> + +<p style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0;">“AÑO<br /> +1765;</p> + +<p>probably the year the work was terminated.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_214.jpg" width="500" height="350" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_214.jpg" id="img_214.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">LXXII<br />ROOM DECORATED WITH PORCELAIN OF THE BUEN RETIRO<br /> +(<i>Royal Palace of Aranjuez</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>The earliest mark upon the Buen Retiro porcelain +was a blue fleur-de-lis, to which were subsequently +added the letter M and a royal crown. Still later, +in the reign of Charles the Fourth, the mark used +was a fleur-de-lis with two crossed C's.</p> + +<p>The object of the Buen Retiro Factory was +almost wholly to supply the Crown with costly +ware, and would-be visitors were jealously excluded. +Townsend wrote in 1786: <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span>“I tried to +obtain admission to the china manufacture, which +is likewise administered on the king's account, but +his Majesty's injunctions are so severe, that I +could neither get introduced to see it, nor meet +with anyone who had ever been able to procure +that favour for himself. I was the less mortified +upon this occasion, because from the specimens +which I have seen, both in the palace at Madrid +and in the provinces, it resembles the manufacture +of Sèvres, which I had formerly visited in a tour +through France.”</p> + +<p>Laborde also complained that the factory was +“wholly inaccessible: all entrance to it is interdicted, +and its existence is only ascertained by +the exhibition which is made of its productions +in the royal palace.” The same writer refers to +another class of work which was produced here, +namely, stone mosaic. “The process by which +stone is wrought into pictures is as delicate +as it is curious: a selection is made from marble +fragments of various shades and dimensions, +which are found, by judicious assimilation, to +produce no bad resemblance to painting.” Jean +François de Bourgoing, French Minister at +Madrid, was lucky enough, in 1782, to penetrate +into the factory and view the process. “Le +Monarque actuel,” he wrote, “a établi dans leur +intérieur une fabrique de porcelaine, dont l'entrée +est jusqu'à présent interdite à tout le monde. +On veut sans doute que ses essais se perfectionnent +dans le silence, avant de les exposer aux +regards des curieux. Ses productions ne peuvent +encore se voir que dans les Palais du Souverain, +ou dans quelques Cours d'Italie, auxquelles il +les envoie en présens. On travaille dans le même +édifice à certains ouvrages de marqueterie, qui +sont encore peu connus en Europe. J'y pénétrai<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> +un jour, sous les auspices d'un étranger distingué +en faveur duquel le Roi avoit levé la prohibition +rigoureuse, qui en exclut tout le monde. Je suis +témoin de la patience and de l'adresse avec +lesquelles on taille and on rapproche divers petits +morceaux de marbre coloré, pour en former des +tableaux assez compliqués, qui en faisant à-peu-près +le même effet que la peinture, ont sur elle +l'avantage de braver par leur couleur immortelles +les ravages du temps, qui n'épargnent pas les +plus belles productions de cet art.”<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a></p> + +<p>This factory was not long-lived. Until 1803 +it followed the styles of the older establishment at +Capo-di-Monte, uniting neo-classic motives with +the manner of Baroque. In that year it began +to produce porcelain imitating that of Sèvres, +and two Frenchmen, Vivien and Victor Perche, +were brought from Paris to superintend this +change. “Among the finest specimens of this +period,” says Riaño, “are a splendid clock and +four vases, two mètres high, with porcelain flowers, +which exist in one of the state rooms of the Palace +of Madrid. The vases are placed in the four +corners of the room. The clock is ornamented +with large biscuit figures. A large number of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> +vases of Retiro china exist at the royal palaces of +Madrid, Aranjuez, and the Escorial. They are +often finely mounted in gilt bronze with muslin or +porcelain flowers. The blue of the imitations of +Wedgwood is not so pure, nor is the biscuit work +so fine as the English. Gold is often added to +these specimens.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_218.jpg" width="500" height="368" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_218.jpg" id="img_218.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">LXXIII<br />PORCELAIN OF THE MONCLOA FACTORY</p> +</div> + +<p>Nevertheless, this manufacture was by now +decadent. It had suffered severely from the death +of Charles the Third, and upon the French invasion +in 1808 was seized by the enemy and occupied +by them for several months. During the +reign of the “<i>intruso</i>,” Joseph Buonaparte, porcelain +was still produced to some extent; but by the +time of the Peninsular campaign the works had +practically ceased. “Near this quarter,” wrote +Ford, describing the Retiro gardens, towards the +middle of last century, “was <i>La China</i>, or the royal +porcelain manufactory, that was destroyed by the +invaders, and made by them into a fortification, +which surrendered, with two hundred cannon, +August 14th, 1812, to the Duke. It was blown +up October 30th, by Lord Hill, when the misconduct +of Ballesteros compelled him to evacuate +Madrid. Now <i>La China</i> is one of the standing +Spanish and <i>afrancesado</i> calumnies against us, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> +it is stated that we, the English, destroyed this +manufactory from commercial jealousy, because it +was a rival to our potteries. ‘What can be done +(as the Duke said) with such libels but despise +them. There is no end of the calumnies against +me and the army, and I should have no time to do +anything else if I were to begin either to refute +or even to notice them?’ (Disp., Oct. 16, 1813.) +These china potsherds and similar inventions of +the enemy shivered against his iron power of +conscious superiority.</p> + +<p>“The real plain <i>truth</i> is this. The French +broke the <i>ollas</i>, and converted this Sèvres of +Madrid into a Bastile, which, and not the pipkins, +was destroyed by the English, who now, so far +from dreading any Spanish competition, have +actually introduced their system of pottery; and +accordingly very fair china is now made at Madrid +and Seville, and by English workmen. At the +latter place a convent, also converted by Soult +into a citadel, is now made a hardware manufactory +by our countryman, Mr Pickman. Ferdinand +the Seventh, on his restoration, re-created +<i>La China</i>, removing the workshops and warerooms +to La Moncloa, once a villa of the Alva family +on the Manzanares.”</p> + +<p>This factory of La Moncloa was founded in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> +1816, and it continued working until 1849. A +specimen of the Moncloa ware is reproduced in +Plate <a href="#img_218.jpg">lxxiii</a>.</p> + +<p>Outside the royal palaces of Spain, the Buen +Retiro porcelain is scarce. The choicest collections +which are not the property of the Crown +belong, or have belonged till recently, to the +Marquis of Arcicollar, the Count of Valencia de +Don Juan, and Don Francisco Laiglesia.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_220.jpg" width="202" height="250" + alt="end of chapter" + title="end of chapter" /> +</div> + +<div class="footnotes"> + +<p class="noindent">Footnotes:</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> Martin Hume, <i>The Spanish People</i>, p. 15 (note).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> “A ware exactly like that of Arezzo, called by some the red +Roman ware, and by others Samian, distinguished by its close grain +composed of a fine clay, and presenting, when broken, edges of an +opaque light red colour, whilst the inner and outer surfaces are quite +smooth, and of a brighter and darker red, is found in all places of +the ancient world to which the Roman arms or civilisation reached. +It is distinguished from the Aretine by its darker tone, stronger +glaze, and coarser ornamentation. Possibly, the whole passage of +Pliny in which he speaks of the earthenware of his day refers to this +red ware. Thus, for dishes he praises the Samian and the Aretine +ware; for cups, that of Surrentum, Asta and Pollentia, Saguntum and +Pergamus. Tralles and Mutina had their manufactories. Cos was +most esteemed; Hadria produced the hardest ware. That one of +these, that of Saguntum, was a red ware, is clear; that of Cumæ +was also of the same colour…. That the red ware is found +amidst the dense forests of Germany and on the distant shores of +Britain, is a remarkable fact in the civilisation of the old world. +It was apparently an importation, being exactly identical wherever +discovered, and is readily distinguished from the local pottery.”—Birch, +<i>History of Ancient Pottery</i>, pp. 560, 561.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> “It belongs to the class of tender lustrous pottery, consisting of a +bright red paste like sealing-wax, breaking with a close texture, and +covered with a siliceous, or, according to some, a metallic glaze. +This glaze is exceedingly thin, transparent, and equally laid upon +the whole surface, only slightly augmenting the colour of the clay.”—Birch, +p. 561.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> The falcon is one of the commonest devices on all Persian +pottery, and was, in fact, the national emblem of the chase. Its +importance for the purpose of pursuing and securing game is well +described in Sir John Malcolm's <i>Sketches in Persia</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> The watersellers' Ordinance of 1516 enacts that each of these +vendors shall carry a minimum load of six <i>cántaros</i>, and that the +cántaros themselves shall be “of the round shape, and not the +Moorish ones, as these have long spouts; each <i>cántaro</i> to be closed +with a cork.” The latter is the typical pitcher of Morocco. “As +we were talking, neighbours dropped in, in the familiar Eastern +way, and sat quiet and self-contained, occasionally drinking from +one of the two long-necked and porous water-jars, known as +‘Baradas’ or the ‘coolers,’ which stand, their wooden stoppers +tied to them with a palmetto cord, on each side the divan.”—Cunninghame +Graham, <i>Mogreb-el-Acksa</i>, p. 88.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> The latter, which was the finer of the two, was dug out by Don +Ivo de la Cortina. It has subsequently been allowed to go to pieces, +but a coloured plate depicting it will be found in the first volume of +the <i>Museo Español de Antigüedades</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> <i>Tessela</i> and <i>crusta</i> are defined by him as follows: “Tesselae +sunt e quibus domicilia sternuntur a tesseris nominata, id est quadratis +lapillis, per diminutionem.”</p> + +<p>“Crustae sunt tabulae marmoris. Unde et marmorari parietes et +constati dicuntur. Qui autem marmora secandi in crustas rationem +excogitaverunt non constat. Fiunt autem arena et ferro serraque +in praetenui linea premente arenas, tractuque ipse secante: sed +crassior arena plus erodet marmoris. Nam tenuis fabricis et +polituris accomodata est.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> Among these ruins, at five miles' distance from the city, pieces +of common brick have come to light; but no glazed pottery of any +kind, whether as <i>foseifesa</i>, <i>azulejos</i>, or mosaic.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> Dozy's version of <i>The History of Almagreb</i>, by Ibn-Adzarí the +Moor; p. 253.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> According to Gestoso, the colours in use among the Almohades +consisted of green, black, caramel or honey, and deep purple. These +colours underwent no change until the sixteenth century.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> Gestoso says that florid Gothic and Renaissance motives are +found occasionally in the older <i>cuenca</i> tiles. This was, however, +quite exceptional.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> A plaque belongs to Señor Gestoso which proceeds from the +demolished Mudejar church of San Miguel at Seville. It measures +fifteen inches high by ten wide, and is decorated with a representation, +in bas-relief, of the Coronation of the Virgin. The eyebrows, +eyelids, and lips of the figures are executed in cobalt upon a thick +layer of white glaze, and strongly recall the method of Lucca della +Robbia. Gestoso considers that this plaque was made in the latter +part of the fourteenth century. If so, it is antecedent to the work +of della Robbia (whose <i>Resurrection</i> upon one of the doors of the +Duomo of Florence dates from 1438) by a good many years. A +similar example, also by an unknown hand and representing the +Coronation, is in the chapel of the Sagrario of Seville Cathedral.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> Certain <i>azulejos</i>, signed by Niculoso and dated 1500, were +formerly existing in the palace of the Counts of El Real de Valencia +in the city of this name. These tiles were executed in relief, and +proved that Niculoso did not work exclusively in the Italian style.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> In Portugal, tiles which Gestoso believes to have been made at +Seville, exist in Coimbra cathedral, the church of San Roque at +Lisbon, and the two palaces of Cintra. In our own country, Seville +tiles are stated by Marryat and Demmin to line the walls of the +Mayor's Chapel at Bristol, whither they were doubtless conveyed by +one of the numerous English merchants who traded between Spain +and England, and who are known to have made their home at +Seville in the sixteenth century. Another tile of Seville workmanship, +proceeding from Haccombe Church, Devonshire, is in the +British Museum.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> The <i>pisano</i> process is believed by Gestoso to have succumbed +before the <i>cuenca</i>. He says he is aware of no <i>pisano</i> tiling which +can be dated from as late as the second half of the seventeenth +century.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> <i>Guía de Granada</i>; pp. 35, 36.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> Pure red is the rarest of the colours employed in Moorish tile-work. +It is, however, found in a single part of the Alhambra; +namely, among the superb tile-decoration of the Torre de la +Cautiva.</p> + +<p>Gestoso says that red was practically unknown among the +Seville potters. Sometimes, however, in coats of arms, a space that +should have properly been gules was left uncoloured in the actual +making of the tile, and painted red with oil-colour after firing.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> Coloured plates of Catalan and other Spanish <i>azulejos</i> are +published with García Llansó's text in the <i>Historia General del +Arte</i>; Vol. II.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> Vol. iii., p. 56.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> <i>Alafia</i> is written in Neshki, <img src="images/img_161a.jpg" width="100" height="50" alt="text" />, which word, says +Señor Osma, by suppressing the diacritical points and prolonging +some of the lines, was converted by the potter into the conventional +and exclusively decorative device:—</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/img_161b.jpg" width="150" height="54" alt="text" /></div></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> “<i>Sobre tot es la bellessa de la obra de manizes daurada é +maestriuolment pintada que ja tot lo mon ha enamorat entāt que lo +papa, é los cardenals é lo princeps del mon per special gracia la +requeren é stan marauellats que d'terra se puxa fer obra axi +excellent é noble.</i>”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> Wallis, <i>The Oriental Influence on Italian Ceramic Art</i>. +London; 1900.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> In lustred pottery these colours, and particularly blue, are far +the commonest. It has been found that other colours, such as +green and black, were ill adapted to the lustre process.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> I have fully described these forgeries in Chapters II and III of +<i>Granada: Memories, Adventures, Studies, and Impressions</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> This lustre is faint but quite distinguishable, and Rada y +Delgado was clearly in error in supposing that there is none.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> The lost jar mentioned by Owen Jones, of which a drawing has +been made, was of the same shape as the one which now remains; +but in its decoration were included the arms of the Nasrite dynasty +of Granada. It is this circumstance which has induced Gómez +Moreno to suppose that these vases were the work of Granadino +artists.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> “<i>Los nichos para chinelas</i>,” as he calls them, in describing the +Sala de Comares.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> J. R. Mélida, <i>Jarrones arábigos de loza vidriada</i>; published in +the <i>Boletín de la Sociedad Española de Excursionistas</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> <i>Relación del viaje hecho por Felipe II. en 1585.</i> Madrid, 1876.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> The village of Muel continued to be a centre of this craft. +Townsend, who travelled in Spain in 1786 and 1787, wrote of it:—“There +are many potters, who turn their own wheels, not by hand, +but with their feet, by means of a larger wheel concentric with that +on which they mould the clay, and nearly level with the floor.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> No direct proof has been found that lustred ware was ever +made at Seville; but a document copied by Gestoso, and which +I have already mentioned (p. 152), records that the famous <i>ollero</i> +of the time of Ferdinand and Isabella, named Fernan Martinez +Guijarro, reserved a department (“<i>tiendas del dorado</i>”) of his +premises for making or for storing lustred pottery.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> These, says Señor Osma, are doubtful in every case, and are +only found on plates which bear the figure of a lion. Two plates +in this gentleman's possession are thus marked <img src="images/img_188b.jpg" width="50" height="49" alt="symbol" />, and +another <img src="images/img_188c.jpg" width="47" height="50" alt="symbol" />.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> <i>Travels through Spain</i>; p. 305. Swinburne could have been +no lover of nature to speak in such terms of the smell of earth.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> One of the prettiest of the popular Spanish <i>coplas</i> has the +<i>alcarraza</i> for its theme;—</p> + +<div class="poem-container"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Alcarraza de tu casa</span><br /> +<span class="i0">chiquilla, quisiera ser,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">para besarte los labios</span><br /> +<span class="i0">cuando fueras á beber.”</span><br /> +</div></div></div> + +<p>“Dearest, I would be the <i>alcarraza</i> in your house; so should I +kiss your lips each time you drank from me.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> Laborde's translator adds: “These jars are very common in +Jamaica; they are of different sizes, from a pint to three pints. A +number of them are ranged at night in the balconies, to furnish a +supply of cool water. Coolers of a similar kind have been lately +introduced in England.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> “Those of the finest quality,” adds Ford, “are called <i>Bucaros</i>; +the best come from South America—the form is more elegant, the +clay finer, and often sweet-scented; many women have a trick of +biting, even eating bits of them.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> <i>Handbook</i>; Vol. I., p. 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> “On y fait,” wrote Alvarez de Colmenar, “des ouvrages +vernissés d'une façon ingénieuse, avec des peintures variées de bon +goût; on estime ces ouvrages autant que ceux de Pise et des Indes +Orientales, et on en fournit plusieurs provinces. Ce négoce rend +plus de cinquante mille ducats par an.”—<i>Annales d'Espagne et de +Portugal</i>; Vol. II., p. 187. This work is dated 1740, but my copy is +reprinted from another edition published earlier in the century.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> For a sketch of the origin and growth of the Spanish trade guilds, +see Appendix H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> <i>Historia General del Arte.</i>—Vol. II.: <i>Cerámica</i>, by García +Llansó.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> Riaño; <i>Handbook</i>; pp. 182, 183.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> On September 11th, 1759, the king wrote to his Secretary of +State, Richard Wall:—“The workmen and utensils of the Royal +Porcelain Manufactory of Capo-di-Monte must also be sent from +Naples to Alicante, in the vessels prepared for this purpose, in +order to proceed from Alicante to Madrid. The necessary +conveyances are to be provided, and the expenses to be charged +to his Majesty's account.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> <i>Nouveau Voyage en Espagne</i>; Vol. I., pp. 232, 233.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr class="hr95" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="GLASS" id="GLASS">GLASS</a></h2> + +<p>Small vessels of uncoloured glass, belonging to +the Celtic period, have been discovered in Galicia; +so that the origin of this industry in Spain is +possibly pre-Roman. After the conquest glass +was made here by the Romans,<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> who built their +ovens with a celebrated argil (potter's earth) extracted +from the neighbourhood of Valencia or +Tortosa. The Roman glass was doubtless imitated +by the native Spaniards: at least we know +from observations by Saint Isidore that this substance +was quite familiar to the Visigoths. “Olim +fiebat et in Italia, et per Gallias, et Hispaniam +arena alba mollissima pila mola qua terebatur.” +The same author speaks with admiration of coloured +glass-work imitating precious stones. “Tingitur<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> +etiam multis modis, ita ut hyacinthos, saphirosque +et virides imitetur et oniches vel aliarum gemmarum +colores”; and again; “Fingunt enim eas +ex diverso genere nigro, candido, minioque colore. +Nam pro lapide pretiosissimo smaragdo quidam +vitrum arte inficiunt, et fallit oculos sub dolo quadam +falsa irriditas quoadusque non est qui probet simulatum +et arguat: sic et alia alio atque alio modo. +Neque enim est sine fraude ulla vita mortalium.” +We gather from these statements that coloured +glass in imitation of the genuine precious stone +was freely manufactured by the Visigoths. Such +imitations, justifying by their excellence Saint +Isidore's assertion that “vera a falsis discernere +magna difficultas est,” may still be seen upon +the crowns and other ornaments discovered at +Guarrazar (see Vol. I., pp. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44391/44391-h/44391-h.htm#Page_15">15–29</a>), as well as upon +triptyches and weapons. Indeed, a taste for imitation +jewels forms an inherent trait of Spanish +character, and is discoverable at all moments of +the national history. Travellers have constantly +observed it, and the remarks, already quoted, of +Countess d'Aulnoy, are confirmed by other authors. +“In the broken banks south of the river,” wrote +Swinburne of the Manzanares at Madrid, “are +found large quantities of pebbles, called Diamonds<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> +of Saint Isidro. They cut them like precious +stones, and ladies of the first fashion wear them +in their hair as pins, or on their fingers as rings. +They have little or no lustre, and a very dead +glassy water. The value of the best rough stone +does not exceed a few pence.”</p> + +<p>It is chiefly in the form of imitation gems that +specimens of the earliest Spanish glass have been +preserved until our time,<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> although the characteristic +of old Roman glass which is known in +Italian as the <i>lattocinio</i> or “milk-white” ornament, +in the form of a thread or line carried all over +the surface of a vessel, remains until this day +a common feature of the glass of Spain, besides +being found in Spanish-Moorish glass-work.</p> + +<p>Rico y Sinobas says that the rules for cutting +glass by means of a diamond or <i>naife</i> (as it was +once called) are embodied in a treatise titled +<i>El Lapidario</i>, originally written (perhaps in the +fourth, fifth, or sixth century) in Hebrew, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> +which was brought to Spain some two or three +hundred years later. This treatise was translated +into Arabic by one Abolais, who lived at some +time previous to the thirteenth century, and subsequently +(in the year 1248, and by command of +Alfonso the Learned) into the Castilian language.</p> + +<p>Mixed up with a great deal of fabulous and +fantastic matter, this treatise contains instructive +and interesting notices of the composition and the +colouring of old glass, including that of Spain. +One of such notices is the following. “Of the +eleventh degree of the sign of Sagittarius is the +glass stone, containing a substance which is a +body in itself (sand), and another which is added +to it (salt), and when they clean these substances +and draw them from the fire, they make between +the two a single body. The stone thus made +(glass) has many colours. Sometimes it is white +(and this is nobler and better than the others), or +sometimes it is red, or green, or <i>xade</i> (a dark, +burnt colour), or purple. It is a stone which +readily melteth in the fire, but which, when drawn +therefrom, turneth again to its former substance: +and if it be drawn from the flame unseasonably, +and without cooling it little by little, it snappeth +asunder. And it receiveth readily whatever<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> +colour be placed upon it. And if an animal be +hurt therewith, it openeth as keen a wound as +though it were of iron.”</p> + +<p>The treatise also describes a stone called <i>ecce</i>, +which was used in glassmaking, saying that it was +found in Spain, “in a mountain, not of great +height, which overlooks the town of Arraca, and +is called Secludes. And the stone is of an intense +black colour, spotted with yellow drops. +It is shiny and porous, brittle, and of light +weight …; and if it be ground up with honey, +and the glass be smeared with it and submitted +to the fire, it dyes the glass of a beautiful gold +colour, and makes it stronger than it was before, +so that it does not melt so readily, or snap +asunder with such ease.”</p> + +<p>I have said that the power of a diamond to cut +glass is referred to in the same work, which +further tells us that this gem “breaketh all other +kind of stones, boring holes in them or cutting +them, and no other stone is able to bruise it; nay +more, it powdereth all other stones if it be rubbed +upon them …; and such as seek to cut or +perforate those other stones take portions of a +diamond, small and slender and sharp-pointed, +and mount them on slips of silver or of copper,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> +and with them make the holes or cuttings they +require. Thus do they grave and carve +intaglios.”</p> + +<p>All these branches of glassmaking were therefore +practised by the Spaniards from an early +period of their history. This people were also +familiar with the use of emery powder, of talc +applied to covering windows, and of rock crystal. +We read in the translation of Abolais that crystal +at that time was “found in many parts, albeit the +finest is that of Ethiopia. The substance +which composes it is frozen water, petrified. +And the proof of this is that when it is broken, +small grains are discovered to be within, that +made their entry as it was becoming stone +(crystallizing); or again, in some of it is found +what seems to be clear water. And it possesses +two qualities in which it is distinct from every +other stone: for when crystal is heated it receiveth +any colouring that is applied to it, and is wrought +with greater ease, besides being melted by fire; +insomuch that it can be made into any shape +desired; and if this shape be round, and the stone +be set in the sun, it burneth anything inflammable +that be set before it: yet does it not effect this by +any virtue of its own, but by <i>the clearness of its</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> +<i>substance</i>, and by the sunbeams which beat upon +it, and by the roundness of its form.”</p> + +<p>We seem to foreshadow here, clearly enough, +the application of this substance to making glasses +to assist the sight, especially when the author of +the treatise adds that on looking through the +crystal, the human eye discovers “details of the +greatest beauty, and things that are secreted from +the simple (<i>i.e.</i> the unaided) vision.”</p> + +<p>Rico y Sinobas (who possessed a fine collection +of antique glass, Spanish and non-Spanish) inclined +to think that in the time of the Romans the +finest and strongest glass, as well as the costliest +and the most sought after, was that which was +manufactured in Spain. In early times the chief +centres of Spanish glass-making were situated in +the heart of the Peninsula (where now is New +Castile), in the neighbourhood of Tortosa, and in +certain districts lying between the Pyrenees and +the coast of Cataluña, though subsequently the +practice of this craft extended through the +kingdoms of Valencia and Murcia, and the +valleys of Ollería, Salinas, Busot, and the Rio +Almanzora, forming a zone which reached from +Cape Creus to Cape Gata. Other regions in +which the craft was introduced, apparently at a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +later epoch, were those of the Mediterranean +littoral, Cuenca, Toledo, Avila, Segovia, and +other parts of New Castile, as far as the slopes +of the Sierra de Guadarrama. In the rest of the +Peninsula there is not the slightest indication +(excepting an obscure reference by Strabo, to +vessels and receptacles of <i>wax</i>) that glass was +made during the Roman domination of the country, +either in Andalusia, Lusitania (Portugal), or in +the northern regions of Cantabria.</p> + +<p>Rico y Sinobas has described a Spanish glass-oven +of those primitive times. He says that such +as were used for making objects of a fair size +consisted of three compartments resting one upon +the other; the lowest cylindrical, to hold the fire +and ashes, the next with a domed top, for concentrating +the heat, and the third and uppermost, +which also had a domed top, for holding the +pieces of glass that were set to cool by slow +degrees. The wall of the oven contained a +number of openings, which served, according to +the level at which they were situated, for +controlling the fire, adjusting the crucibles, or +extracting, by means of metal rods, the lumps of +molten glass, previously to submitting them to +the action of the blowpipe. The dimensions of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> +such of these primitive ovens as have been found +in Spain or Italy, are nine feet in height by six +feet in diameter, and the material of which they +are built is argil, of a kind insensible to heat, and +carefully freed by washing from all foreign, soluble, +or inflammable substances. The crucibles, which +were fitted in the oven two, four, or at most six at +a time, were of this argil also, wrought and purified +with even greater care. Ovens and crucibles of +a smaller size were used for making diminutive +objects such as beads and imitation precious +stones.<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a></p> + +<p>Almería was probably the most important centre +of Spanish-Moorish glass-making, and is mentioned +in connection with this craft by Al-Makkari. +The oriental shape of the older vessels which +were made in this locality is still preserved in +certain objects such as jars, bowls, flasks, and +<i>aguardiente</i>-bottles, which are still manufactured, +or were so until quite recently, throughout a region +extending from Almería to the slopes of the +Alpujarra. “All these objects,” says Riaño, “are +decorated with a serrated ornamentation of buttons, +trellis-work, and the lines to which I have already<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> +alluded, which were placed there after the object +was made, in the Roman style. The paste is +generally of a dark green colour, and when we +find these same features in vessels of clear white +glass, we may affirm that they are contemporary +imitations made at Cadalso or elsewhere, for they +are very seldom to be met with in the provinces +of Almería and Granada, and are generally +found at Toledo and other localities; it is, moreover, +a common condition of oriental art that +its general form complies with a geometrical +tracery, and we never find, as in Italian works +of art, forms and capricious ornamentations which +interfere with the symmetry of the general lines, +and sacrifice them to the beauty of the whole.”</p> + +<p>None of the original Moorish glass of the +Alhambra has survived till nowadays. Most of it +was destroyed by the explosion, in the year 1590, +of a powder factory which lay immediately beneath +the palace and beside the river Darro. In the +Alhambra archives, particular mention is made +of the circular glass windows or “eyes,” only +the corresponding holes of which remain, in the +baths of the same palace. This glass, which may +have been in colour, was also destroyed by the explosion, +as were the windows, “painted in colour<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> +with fancy devices and Arabic lettering,” of the +Sala de Embajadores,<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> those of the Hall of the +Two Sisters, and certain windows, “painted with +many histories and royal arms,” belonging to the +church of the Alhambra.</p> + +<p>Excellent glass, reported by some authors to +have equalled that of Venice, was made at +Barcelona from as early as the thirteenth century. +An inventory of the Crown of Aragon, dated A.D. +1389 and quoted by García Llansó, mentions as +manufactured here, glass sweetmeat-vessels, cups, +and silver-mounted tankards blazoned with the +royal arms. The guild of Barcelona glassmakers +was founded in 1455, and later in the same +century Jerónimo Paulo wrote that “glass vessels +of varying quality and shape, and which may well +compete with the Venetian, are exported to Rome +and other places.” Similar statements are made +by Marineus Siculus and Gaspar Barreyros.</p> + +<p>Other centres of Spanish glass-making were +Caspe in Aragon, Seville, Valencia,<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> Pinar de la<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> +Vidriera, Royo Molino (near Jaen,) El Recuenco +(Guadalajara), Cebreros (Avila), Medina del +Campo, Venta del Cojo, Venta de los Toros de +Guisando, and Castiel de la Peña in Castile. The +glass-works of Castiel de la Peña were founded by +the intelligent and indefatigable Hernando de +Zafra, secretary to the Catholic sovereigns, +Ferdinand and Isabella. “It has been calculated,” +says Riaño, “that about two tons of sand +were used at these glass-works every month.”</p> + +<p>More important than the foregoing was the +famous factory of a village in Toledo province +called Cadalso, or sometimes, from the nature +of its only industry, Cadalso (or Cadahalso) de +los Vidrios. The glass made here is mentioned +in terms of high praise by various writers of the +sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, such as +Marineus Siculus and Mendez Silva. The former +of these authors says in his work upon the +<i>Memorable Things of Spain</i>: “Glass was produced +in several towns of Castile, the most important +being that of Cadalso, which supplied the whole +kingdom.” Ewers and bottles of Cadalso glass<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> +are mentioned in the Alburquerque inventory. +Mendez Silva says that the number of ovens was +originally three, and that their coloured glass +was equal to Venetian (Plate <a href="#img_234.jpg">lxxiv</a>.). This was +towards the middle of the seventeenth century. +Larruga tells us that by the end of the eighteenth +this local industry was languishing. One of the +three ovens had been abandoned. The other two +produced inferior glass, as well as in diminished +quantities.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_234.jpg" width="349" height="500" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_234.jpg" id="img_234.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">LXXIV<br />VESSELS OF SPANISH GLASS<br /> +(<i>South Kensington Museum</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>The glass of Cataluña maintained its ancient +reputation all through the fifteenth and sixteenth +centuries and part of the seventeenth, and at +this time was still compared with the Venetian by +observant travellers (Plate <a href="#img_236.jpg">lxxv</a>.). Besides the +capital, the principal glass-works in this province +were at Almatret, Moncada, Cervelló, and Mataró. +In 1489 a Barcelonese, by name Vicente Sala, and +his sons applied to the City Council for leave to +construct an oven at Moncada “in order to pursue +the craft of glass-making, <i>lo qual a present aci se +obre axi bellament e suptil com en part del mon</i> +(seeing that the glass we manufacture in this +neighbourhood competes with any in the world +for subtlety and beauty).”</p> + +<p>A document is extant from which we learn that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> +the City Councillors of Barcelona made strenuous +efforts to prevail upon Ferdinand the Catholic to +abolish a certain monopoly or other form of +exclusive privilege which he had conceded to a +local glass-maker. The result of this appeal is +not recorded. In 1503 Ferdinand presented his +consort with two hundred and seventy-four glass +objects made at Barcelona, and Philip the Second +possessed a hundred and nineteen pieces proceeding +from the same locality.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_236.jpg" width="500" height="308" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_236.jpg" id="img_236.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">LXXV<br />VESSELS OF CATALAN GLASS<br /> +(<i>From Drawings by the Author</i>)</p> +</div> + +<p>An important development of this craft was the +manufacture of coloured glass for churches and +cathedrals. In the Peninsula, the earliest introducers +of this branch of glass-making were principally +natives of Germany, France, and Flanders, +who came to Spain at the beginning of the +fifteenth century.<a name="FNanchor_108_108" id="FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> Many of the oldest windows +executed by these foreigners, or by the Spaniards +who were taught by them, are still existing in the +cathedrals of León, Toledo, Burgos, Barcelona,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> +and the Seo of Zaragoza. León has several +windows which date from as far back as the thirteenth +century, and in which the glass is in small +pieces, arranged as though it were mosaic. Some +of the later and larger windows in the same +cathedral are thirty-five feet high, and one, dating +from the sixteenth century, is believed to have +been presented to this temple by Mary of +England, prior to her marriage with Philip the +Second.</p> + +<p>It was, however, in the twelfth and thirteenth +centuries that the custom became general, in +Spain as in other lands, of colouring the surface +of white glass by partial fusing—a process which +is mentioned in the treatise of Abolais, to which I +have referred repeatedly. Between the eleventh +and the thirteenth centuries the coloured windows +of Spanish temples were still composed of pieces +of glass united in the manner of mosaic, forming +ornamental patterns of stars and similar devices; +but subsequently to this period the decorative +themes are said to be painted <i>en caballete</i>, and +consist of figures, or the representation of scenes +from Scripture. In Spain, and dating from the +twelfth century, the workshops for preparing this +coloured glass were commonly situated within the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> +precincts of important temples, such as Toledo +cathedral, or else, as was the case at Burgos, in +separate buildings and <i>dependencias</i>. Here, in +the square ovens characteristic of that age, and +before it was mounted in the ponderous leaden +frame, the glass was coloured with exquisite +solicitude and patience by the hand of the master-craftsman, +sometimes with a colour upon one of +its surfaces alone, sometimes with the same colour +upon both, or sometimes with a different colour +upon either surface. The cartoons from which +such windows were constructed, and which were +often designed by painters of renown, were +usually three in number. The first contained, +upon a reduced scale, a coloured outline of the +window; the second, drawn to the exact scale of +the window as it was to be, was composed of all +the pieces cut out and numbered according to the +various colours; and the third, also of the projected +size of the window, was kept complete, to +serve as a pattern in case the window should +suffer any accident, and require to be restored or +mended. Not one of these cartoons is known to +be preserved to-day, but Rico y Sinobas points out +that from the strong and simple character of their +colouring and outline, the illuminated illustrations<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> +of Spanish thirteenth century manuscripts, such +as the <i>Cantigas</i>, and the <i>Book of Chess</i> of Alfonso +the Learned, may well have been utilized for, or +else be copied from, glass windows of that period.</p> + +<p>As soon as the cartoon was finished, the +window-painter traced it upon the surface of the +glass. This was in square pieces, fitted conveniently +together, with sufficient space between +the pieces to allow the passage of the leads. +Before being laid upon the glass and being submitted +to the fixing action of fire, the colours were +mixed with honey, urine, vinegar, and other fluids +or substances which served as mediums to attach +the colour to the glass. Thus prepared, and in +the form of powder, the colours were allowed to +dry for two or three days before the glass was +placed in the oven. Yellow, which was the +strongest colour, and that which penetrated +deepest beneath the surface of the glass, was +made from certain combinations of silver and +nitrate of potash, while oxides or other forms of +copper, lead, iron, tin, silver, and manganese, were +used for making black, white, red, green, blue, +purple, violet, or flesh-colour. These colours +penetrated the glass to the depth of about half a +millimetre; but sometimes, after the colour had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> +been applied, the craftsman would submit the +glass to friction by a wooden polisher or wheel, +thus giving it an appearance of greater clearness +and transparency at any spot he might +desire.</p> + +<p>Among the artists who produced the coloured +windows of León cathedral were Master Joan de +Arge (<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1424), Master Baldovín, and Rodrigo +de Ferreras. Those of Toledo date from early +in the fifteenth century, and were made by Albert +of Holland, Vasco Troya, Luis Pedro Francés, +Juan de Campos, and others, including the +eminent Dolfín, who, according to Cean, began to +work here in 1418, by order of the archbishop, +Don Sancho de Rojas. The documents collected +and published for the first time by Zarco del Valle +tell us that on March 22nd, 1424, Dolfín received +from Alfonso Martinez, treasurer and superintendent +of works, two hundred gold florins and +certain other moneys on account of his total +payment of four hundred gold florins for “the +eighth window he is making for the head of the +cathedral.” Other certificates of payment relating +to Maestre Dolfín (as he always signed himself) +are included in the same collection. By 1427 +he was “defunct, God pardon him!” and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> +windows he had left unfinished were terminated +by his assistant Lois (Louis).<a name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a></p> + +<p>In 1458, and also at Toledo, a friar named +Pablo began to repair the painted windows of the +<i>crucero</i>. His pay was fixed by the “abbot and +superintendent of works” at fifty <i>maravedis</i> each +day, and that of “his lads, Ximeno and Juanico,” +at one half of this amount. Other artists engaged +in the same work were Pablo (not the friar just +referred to), Peter, a German, and “Master +Henry,” who was also German. Pablo received +authority to purchase ten and a half <i>quintales</i> and +thirteen pounds of coloured Flemish glass, at two +thousand <i>maravedis</i> for each <i>quintal</i>. By a contract +dated 1485 (he died between 1487 and 1493), +Master Henry was handed by the cathedral +authorities a sum of 150,000 <i>maravedis</i> “to +proceed to Flanders or any other part he may +desire, and where good glass is to be found, +white, blue, green, scarlet, purple, yellow, or +blackish (<i>prieto</i>), equal in thickness to the sample +which he bears, and bring us thence such quantity +as he has need of for the windows of our cathedral.”</p> + +<p>It is evident from this notice that Spain was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> +then unable to produce the finest quality of +glass. With such as he brought with him from +abroad, Henry engaged to fashion “every kind +of figure, image, scroll, and other object whatsoever +be commanded him, according to the place +it is to fill; the colours of the glass to be well +mingled and distributed.” He was also to make +“the leaden casings stout and deep, so as to +embrace and hold the glass aforesaid, that it may +resist the air and wind.” In return for this, he +was to be supplied with an erected scaffolding, +with all the chalk and iron he might require, and +with the proper number of assistants, receiving, +in payment of his labour, one hundred and fifteen +<i>maravedis</i> for every square palm of glass the +preparation of which should satisfy the superintendent +and examiners of works.</p> + +<p>One of the witnesses to this document was +Henry's wife, María Maldonada, who came forward +to affix her signature “with the license and +pleasure of the aforesaid Master Enrique, her +husband.”</p> + +<p>In 1433, Master Juan (perhaps the same as +Joan de Arge, already mentioned) began to work +at the windows of Burgos, where, later in this +century, he was succeeded by Juan de Valdivieso<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> +and Diego de Santillana. We learn from the +<i>Documentos Inéditos</i> (pp. 159, 160) that Santillana +lived at Burgos, and that, on May 31st, 1512, he +contracted to make three “historical windows” +for the monastery of San Francisco, at a price of +ninety-five <i>maravedis</i> for each palm of glass, +this to be “of good colours and shades,” and +“measured by the Burgos standard.” Two other +contracts are preserved, signed by the same +craftsman and both relating to Palencia. By one +of them Santillana is to receive for six “storied +windows,” the subjects of which are specified, +ninety-five <i>maravedis</i> the palm, besides the +scaffolding and his house and coals.</p> + +<p>Arnao de Flandes (Arnold of Flanders) was +appointed master glass-painter to Burgos cathedral +in 1512. Other glass-painters who worked here +in the sixteenth century were Francisco de Valdivieso, +Gaspar Cotin, Juan de Arce, his son Juan +and grandson Pedro, and, in the seventeenth +century, Valentin Ruiz, Francisco Alonso, Simon +Ruiz, and Francisco Alcalde. Most of the +windows made by all these men have been destroyed +by time and weather, and have been +replaced by barren panes of white; but a few fine +specimens of the original work may yet be seen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span> +in the chapels of the Presentation, the Constable, +and San Jerónimo. Perhaps the most remarkable +of any is the rose-window, above the Puerta del +Sarmental.<a name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a></p> + +<p>Other good cathedral windows prior to the sixteenth +century are those of Avila, which date +from about the year 1497, and were executed by +Diego de Santillana, Juan de Valdivieso, and other +artists; those of the Seo of Zaragoza, by the Catalans +Terri and Jayme Romeu (1447); and some +at Barcelona, painted in 1494 by Gil Fontanet.</p> + +<p>It is, however, in the sixteenth century that +Spanish ecclesiastical window-glass attains its +highest grade of excellence.<a name="FNanchor_111_111" id="FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> Dating from this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> +century are windows in Toledo cathedral, painted +in 1503 by Vasco de Troya, in 1509 by Alejo +Jiménez, in 1513 by Gonzalo de Córdoba (these +are considered by competent judges to be the +finest of any), in 1515 by Juan de la Cuesta, in +1522 by Juan Campos, in 1525 by Albert of +Holland, in 1534 by Juan de Ortega, and in 1542 +by Nicolás Vergara the elder.<a name="FNanchor_112_112" id="FNanchor_112_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> In 1537 Ortega +was engaged to repair the damaged or broken +panes at a yearly salary of 11,250 <i>maravedis</i>. +Where the panes were wanting, he was to replace +them by new ones painted by his hand, receiving, +for each <i>palmo</i> of new glass so painted, an extra +payment of ninety <i>maravedis</i>.<a name="FNanchor_113_113" id="FNanchor_113_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a></p> + +<p>In the same century the windows of Seville +cathedral, begun some years previously (Cean says +in 1504) by Micer Cristóbal Alemán (“Master<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> +Christopher the German”), were continued by +Masters Jacobo, Juan Juan Vivan, Juan Bernai, +Bernardino de Gelandia, Juan Jaques, Arnold of +Flanders (1525), Arnao de Vergara (1525), Charles +of Bruges, (1557), and Vicente Menandro (1557).<a name="FNanchor_114_114" id="FNanchor_114_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> +In 1562 Diego de Valdivieso, and in 1570 Pedro +de Valdivieso and Gerald of Holland, painted +windows for Cuenca cathedral. In 1542 the +same work was done at Palencia by Diego de +Salcedo, and in 1533 George of Burgundy, +“master in the art of glass,” then resident at +Burgos, proceeded to the same town and engaged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> +to renew the cathedral windows at a cost of a +hundred <i>maravedis</i> for every palm of coloured +glass, and fifty for every palm of plain.<a name="FNanchor_115_115" id="FNanchor_115_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a></p> + +<p>In 1544, sixty-two windows in the nave of +Segovia cathedral were filled with painted glass +prepared chiefly at Valladolid and Medina del +Campo, though some was brought from Flanders. +The remaining windows were left unfilled till +1676, in which year a canon of the cathedral, +named Tomás de la Plaza Aguirre, succeeded in +rediscovering a formula for the practise of this +craft, and the panes yet needed were made and +coloured at Valdequemada by Juan Danis, under +Plaza Aguirre's supervision. Thirty-three additional +windows were completed from this factory. +According to Lecea y García, the chapter of +Segovia cathedral possess, or possessed for many +years, two curious manuscripts relating severally +to <i>The painting of glass windows</i>, by Francisco +Herranz, and <i>Glass-making</i>, by Juan Danis—the +same who owned and worked the factory at +Valdequemada. These interesting treatises were +examined by Bosarte, who has described them. +He says that the one on glass-making consisted +of twenty-three sheets of clear writing, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> +one on glass-painting of eight sheets; both manuscripts +being in quarto size. The latter contained, +distributed beside the text, sketches of +the various instruments required for this craft. +The other and longer monograph consisted of the +following chapters:—(1) How to draw upon +glass. (2) How to cut glass. (3) How to paint +and shade glass. (4) Of the substances and +ingredients for painting glass. (5) How to give +a flesh-colour to glass. (6) How to give a yellow +or golden colour to white or pale blue glass, +but no other. (7) How to fire glass. (8) How +to make the glass-oven.</p> + +<p>Windows were painted in the cathedral of +Palma de Mallorca by Sebastián Danglés in 1566 +and by Juan Jordá in 1599, in that of Málaga by +Octavio Valerio in 1579, and in those of Tarragona +and Avila respectively, by Juan Guasch in +1571, and by Pierre de Chiberri in 1549. This +craftsman was undoubtedly a foreigner. The +following entry which concerns him is quoted by +Rosell de Torres from the <i>Libro de Fábrica</i> of +Segovia cathedral: “By order of the Canon Juan +Rodriguez, on the twelfth day of August, I paid +to Pierre de Chiberri, master-maker of window-glass, +the sum of 56,560 <i>maravedis</i>, 34,960 for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> +the casings of seven large windows with their +side-windows—in all twenty-one casings—besides +ten casings for the windows of the lower chapels, +containing altogether <span class="smcap">MMMCCCCXCVI</span> palms, amounting +at ten <i>maravedis</i> the palm to the aforesaid +34,960 maravedis: also 19,125 <i>maravedis</i> for +<span class="smcap">CCCLXXII</span> palms of glass for the said chapels at a +<i>real</i> and a half each palm, plus 2476 <i>maravedis</i> +for certain glass which had yet to be measured +because it was in the skylights. The total sum +amounts to the aforesaid 56,560 <i>maravedis</i>.”<a name="FNanchor_116_116" id="FNanchor_116_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a></p> + +<p>During the seventeenth century, glass-work of +various kinds continued to be produced upon a +large scale at Barcelona, Mataró, Gerona, Cuenca, +Toledo, Valmaqueda, and Seville. In 1680 the +Duke of Villahermosa established a glass factory +at San Martin de Valdeiglesias, and placed it +under the direction of a native of Namur named +Diodonet Lambot, aided by various other artists +from the Netherlands. In 1683 Lambot was +succeeded by Santiago Vandoleto, who proved +incompetent, and caused, in 1692, the total stoppage +of the factory.</p> + +<p>I have said that glass was made at Medina del<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> +Campo, in the province of Valladolid. Pinheiro +da Veiga's <i>Pincigraphia</i>, written at the beginning +of the seventeenth century, contains an interesting +notice of this glassware. “Really, the glass-work +of Valladolid is most beautiful, and worth going +to see if only for the pleasure of its contemplation. +There are objects of considerable size, such as +(glass) pitchers of every form and colour. Others +are called <i>penados</i>, and are of a syphon shape, +pouring out water in small quantities.<a name="FNanchor_117_117" id="FNanchor_117_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> Besides +this there are all manner of cunningly contrived +retorts such as we never see in Lisbon, and yet +in Valladolid their cost is only moderate…. +The principal shops for selling these and porcelain +are two in number, and the prices are the same as +in Portugal.”</p> + +<p>Two very important Spanish glass factories +were founded in the eighteenth century. The +first, which was under Crown protection, was +established by Don Juan Goyeneche in the +year 1720 at a place called Nuevo Baztán, in the +province of Toledo. The royal privilege allowed +this factory to produce “all articles of glass up to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> +a height of twenty inches, working and polishing +the same, embellishing, and coating them with +metal; to make looking-glasses and similar ornaments, +glass vessels of all descriptions, white +glass for window-panes, and glass objects of any +kind or shape, whether already known to us, or +that may be invented in the future.”</p> + +<p>The factory of Nuevo Baztán continued working +for some years, and turned out excellent glass +for exportation to America and other parts; but +it was killed eventually by the rising price of +fuel, and above all by competition from abroad. +“When the foreigners,” says Larruga in his +<i>Memorias políticas y económicas</i>, “saw that the +factory was in full swing, they conspired to bring +about its ruin, and begged their ambassadors to +communicate against it with the ministers; but +finding this of no avail, and recognising the +importance to themselves of overthrowing this +manufacture, they decided to sell glassware at +a price at which it would be impossible to sell +the products of Nuevo Baztán. The amount of +this reduction was the one-third part of the entire +value. By this means the foreigners made it +impossible for the factory to support itself, since +the objects it produced were laid away and found<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> +no purchaser for years. This, and the cost of +the wood required to keep the ovens burning day +and night, not excepting feast-days (for to stop +the fires for a moment would have meant the +spoiling of the oven), induced the downfall of this +celebrated factory, as soon as the fuel of all the +neighbouring forests had been consumed.”</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, upon the closing of these works, +one of the experts who had been employed there, +a Catalan named Ventura Sit, attracted by the +forests of Valsain and the excellent and abundant +sand obtainable in this locality—principally from +near the villages of Espirdo and Bernuy de +Porreros—decided to open another glass-works at +La Granja. Here is the royal summer residence +of San Ildefonso, and Sit was fortunate enough to +secure at the outset—that is, in 1728—the firm +protection of Philip the Fifth and of his consort, +Isabel Farnese. Instructed by the sovereigns to +make some mirrors, he produced these objects of +a moderate size at first, increasing it, after the +year 1734, to a maximum length of 145 inches by +85 in breadth. Larruga says that these mirrors +were the largest produced anywhere at that time, +and they continued to be made until very nearly +the end of the century. They are often referred<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> +to in the narratives of travellers. Swinburne +wrote in 1776: “Not far from Carthagena is a +place called Almazaron, where they gather a fine +red earth called Almagra, used in the manufactures +of Saint Ildephonso, for polishing looking-glasses. +In Seville, it is worked up with the tobacco, to +give it a colour, fix its volatility, and communicate +to it that softness which constitutes the +principal merit of Spanish snuff.”</p> + +<p>Describing the royal palace at Madrid, the same +author says that the walls of the great audience-chamber +“are incrustated with beautiful marble, +and all round hung with large plates of looking-glass +in rich frames. The manufactory of glass is +at Saint Ildefonso, where they cast them of a very +great size; but I am told they are apt to turn out +much rougher and more full of flaws than those +of France.”</p> + +<p>According to Townsend (1786), “The glass +manufacture is here carried to a degree of perfection +unknown in England. The largest mirrors +are made in a brass frame, one hundred and sixty-two +inches long, ninety-three wide, and six deep, +weighing near nine tons. These are designed +wholly for the royal palaces, and for presents from +the king. Yet even for such purposes the factory<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> +is ill-placed, and proves a devouring monster in +a country where provisions are dear, fuel scarce, +and carriage exceedingly expensive.”</p> + +<p>Laborde wrote of the same factory a few years +later: “There is also a glass-house, in which +bottles are wrought of a superior quality; and white +glasses, which are carved with much ingenuity +(Plates <a href="#img_254.jpg">lxxvi</a>. and <a href="#img_258.jpg">lxxvii</a>.). Near this glass-house +has been founded a manufactory for mirrors, in a +large and well-arranged edifice. There are two +furnaces, and a considerable number of stoves, in +which the plates are left to cool after they have been +precipitated. They are of all dimensions, and the +largest that have yet been fabricated. They are +sometimes from a hundred, a hundred and thirty, +or a hundred and thirty-five inches in height, to +fifty, sixty, or sixty-five inches in breadth: they are +expanded in the hand. The process for polishing +them is performed by a machine;<a name="FNanchor_118_118" id="FNanchor_118_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> they are then +transported to Madrid, for the purpose of being +metallised. It is not uncommon to see tables of +bronze, on which mirrors are extended, a hundred +and sixty inches in length, and ninety in breadth.”</p> + +<p>These tables are described by Bowles: “The +largest measures a hundred and forty-five inches<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> +in length by eighty-five in breadth, and weighs +four hundred and five <i>arrobas</i>. The smallest +measures a hundred and twenty inches in length, +and seventy-five in breadth, and weighs three +hundred and eighty <i>arrobas</i>.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_254.jpg" width="500" height="351" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_254.jpg" id="img_254.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">LXXVI<br />GLASS OF THE FACTORY OF SAN ILDEFONSO</p> +</div> + +<p>The best account of any is contained in the +<i>Nouveau Voyage en Espagne</i> (1789) of Bourgoing. +This author wrote: “A côté de cette +Fabrique naissante de première nécessité” (<i>i.e.</i> +the royal linen factory at La Granja) “il y en a +une de luxe qui remonte au regne de Philippe V; +c'est une Manufacture de glaces, la seule qu'il +y ait en Espagne. On s'étoit d'abord borné à +une Verrerie qui subsiste encore, et donne des +bouteilles d'une assez bonne qualité, et des verres +blancs qu'on y cisele avec assez d'adresse. J'en +ai rapporté quelques-uns où l'on a gravé des chiffres, +des lettres, et jusqu'à de jolis paysages. Cette +Verrerie étoit un acheminement à une entreprise +plus brillante. La Manufacture de glaces de +Saint Ildephonse est comparable aux plus beaux +établissements de ce genre; on en peut voir les +dessins dans les Planches de l'Encyclopédie. +L'édifice est vaste et très bien distribué; il contient +deux fourneaux et une vingtaine de fours où l'on +fait refroidir lentement les glaces après les avoir<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> +coulées. On y en coule dans toutes les dimensions +depuis les carreaux de vitres jusqu'aux plus +grands trumeaux. Elles sont moins blanches +et peut-être moins bien polies que celles de Venise +et de St-Gobin; mais nulle part on n'en a encore +coulé d'aussi grandes. L'opération du coulage s'y +fait avec beaucoup de précision et d'ensemble. +Monseigneur Comte d'Artois eut la curiosité d'y +assister; la glace qu'on y coula devant lui avoit, +autant que je puis m'en souvenir, cent trente-trois +pouces de long, sur soixante-cinq de large, et l'on +m'a assuré qu'il y en avoit encore de plus grandes. +On les dégrossit à mains d'hommes dans une longue +galerie qui est attenante à la Fabrique, et il y a à +un quart de lieue une machine que l'eau fait mouvoir, +et où on acheve de les polir; on les porte +ensuite à Madrid pour les étamer. Le Roi consacre +les plus belles à la parure de ses appartements; +il en fait des cadeaux aux Cours qui ont +des relations intimes avec lui. En 1783, S.M.C. en +fit joindre quelques-unes aux présens qu'il envoyoit +à la Porte Ottomane, avec laquelle elle venoit de +conclure un traité. C'est une idée agréable pour un +cosmopolite tolérant, de penser qu'en dépit des +préjugés de religion et de politique qui divisoient +autrefois les Nations, la main des arts a établi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> +entr'elles un échange de jouissances d'un bout de +l'Europe à l'autre, et que les beautés du serrail se +mirent dans les glaces coulées à Saint-Ildefonse, +tandis que les tapis de Turquie sont foulés par des +pieds François. Ce qui sort d'ailleurs de la Manufacture +de Saint-Ildefonse est vendu, pour le +compte du Roi, à Madrid et dans les provinces; +mais on sent bien que ce profit est trop mince +pour couvrir les frais d'un établissement aussi +considérable qui, le bois excepté, est éloigné de +toutes les matières premières qu'il employe, qui est +situé fort avant dans l'intérieur des terres, au sein +des montagnes, et loin de toute rivière navigable; +aussi doit il être compté parmi ces fondations de +luxe qui prosperent à l'ombre du Trône, et qui +ajoutent à son éclat.”<a name="FNanchor_119_119" id="FNanchor_119_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a></p> + +<p>A few more details are added by Swinburne: +“Below the town is the manufactory of plate-glass +belonging to the crown, carried on under +the direction of Mr Dowling; two hundred and +eighty men are employed. The largest plate they +have made is one hundred and twenty-six Spanish +inches long; the small pieces are sold in looking-glasses +all over the kingdom; but I am told the +king makes no great profit by it; however, it is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> +a very material point to be able to supply his +subjects with a good commodity, and to keep in +the country a large sum of money that heretofore +went out annually to purchase it from strangers. +They also make bottles and drinking-glasses +(Plates <a href="#img_254.jpg">lxxvi</a>., <a href="#img_258.jpg">lxxvii</a>.); and are now busy erecting +very spacious new furnaces to enlarge the works. +To provide fuel for the fires, they have put the +pinewoods under proper regulations and stated +falls; twenty-seven mule-loads of fir-wood are +consumed every day; and four loads cost the king, +including all the expenses of cutting and bringing +down from the mountains, about forty reals.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/img_258.jpg" width="500" height="331" + alt="see caption" + title="see caption" /> + <a name="img_258.jpg" id="img_258.jpg"></a> +<p class="caption">LXXVII<br />GLASS OF THE FACTORY OF SAN ILDEFONSO</p> +</div> + +<p>In 1736, the first factory which had been +established at San Ildefonso was nearly destroyed +by fire; but the damage was repaired, and the +factory placed under state control. Its finances +were at no time prosperous. In 1762 Charles the +Third granted a privilege reserving to it the +exclusive sale of glass within a radius of twenty +leagues from Madrid and Segovia; but the sales +did not improve. In spite of this, the monarch, +a few years later, erected a new and costly +factory from designs by Villanueva and Real. +There were two departments in this ample +building. One, for the manufacture of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> +plainest glass, was directed by a Hanoverian, +named Sigismund Brun; and the other, devoted +to smaller and more elaborate articles, by Eder, a +Swede. “The greater number of the objects +made at these important works were of transparent, +colourless glass, possessing a marked +French style, and were either richly engraved and +cut, or gilded, or sometimes (though less often) they +were made of coloured and enamelled glass. At +this time, too, were manufactured mirrors for the +royal palaces, as well as candlesticks and chandeliers +of great beauty, following the Venetian +method, and embellished with coloured flowers.”<a name="FNanchor_120_120" id="FNanchor_120_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_120_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a></p> + +<p>In spite of all these efforts, the works at the dawn +of the nineteenth century were in a moribund +condition. In 1829 they passed into the hands<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> +of private persons, who also failed to make them +pay, and subsequently, owing to the ineptitude of +Spanish governments and the severity of foreign +competition, have definitely closed their doors.</p> + +<p>“In Catalonia,” wrote Laborde, towards the +year 1800, “are two glass houses; but the glass +blown in them is dark, and destitute of lustre. +Aragon has four, one at Alfamen, one at Peñalva, +one at Utrillas, and one at Jaulin, which is the +largest; but the quality of the glass is not superior +to that of Catalonia. The glass-house at Utrillas +produces both flint and common glass. Glass +houses are also established at Pajarejo and at +Recuenco in Castile, which manufacture the most +beautifully white and transparent glass.”</p> + +<p>In 1791 there were six glass-ovens in the +kingdom of Valencia, situated at Valencia, Alicante, +Salines, Olleria, and Alcira. They turned +out 2100 pieces in this year, some of which were +exported to Castile and Aragon.<a name="FNanchor_121_121" id="FNanchor_121_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a></p> + +<p>Early in the eighteenth century the glass of +Barcelona was praised by Alvarez de Colmenar +(“Il s'y fait de belles verreries”), and we know<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> +that all through this period her <i>forns de vidre</i> +continued to produce good work, including holy-water +vessels of uncoloured glass relieved with +blue or with the fine white <i>latticinio</i>, the local +<i>arruixadors</i> or <i>borrachas</i>, and the typical <i>porrón</i>. +The former of these vessels is of small size, and +has several spouts. Commonly it is filled with +scented water for gallants to sprinkle on girls at +dances in the public square. The <i>porrón</i> invariably +excites the curiosity of foreigners,<a name="FNanchor_122_122" id="FNanchor_122_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_122_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a> and is often +thought to be of purely Spanish origin. This is +not so. Upon a Roman lampstand in Naples +museum is a figure of Bacchus riding on a tiger +and “holding in his hand the horn from which +the ancients drank, using it as, among some other +peoples, do the modern Catalans—that is, not +placing the vessel in their mouth, but holding it +aloft and thus imbibing it; a method which +requires no small amount of practice.” In fact, +there is reason to believe that the <i>porrón</i> is derived +from a similar vessel in use among the ancient<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> +Persians, who poured their liquor from it into the +hollow of the hand, and thence imbibed it in the +fashion called, in Cataluña and Valencia, <i>al gallet</i>. +For just as a certain class of American displays his +marksmanship in spitting, so does the Catalan +who is accomplished in the art, amuse himself +and others by causing the ruby wine to spout from +his <i>porrón</i> on to the very apex of his nose, continuing +from this point, in the form of a fine and +undulating rivulet, over his upper lip and down his +throat.</p> + +<p>Windows of Spanish houses were seldom glazed +until about one hundred years ago. When Bertaut +de Rouen travelled here in 1659, this fact impressed +him disagreeably. Even in the royal palace at +Madrid he found that there were chambers “qui +n'ont point du tout de fenestrés, ou qui n'en ont +qu'une petite, et d'où le jour ne vient que d'enhaut, +le verre estant fort rare en Espagne, et la pluspart +des fenestrés des maisons n'ayant pas de vitres.” +In 1787, Arthur Young was no less horrified at +the glassless condition of the houses in Cataluña. +“Reach Sculló; the inn so bad that our guide +would not permit us to enter it, so he went to the +house of the Curé. A scene followed so new to +English eyes, that we could not refrain from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> +laughing very heartily. Not a pane of glass in +the whole town, but our reverend host had a +chimney in his kitchen; he ran to the river to +catch trout; a man brought us some chickens +which were put to death on the spot…. This +town and its inhabitants are, to the eye, equally +wretched, the smoke-holes instead of chimneys, +the total want of glass windows—the cheerfulness +of which, to the eye, is known only by the want.”</p> + +<p>However, as an exception to this doleful rule, +the town of Poeblar had “some good houses with +glass windows, and we saw a well-dressed young +lady gallanted by two monks.”</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> + +<p class="noindent">Footnotes:</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> “Jam vero et per Gallias Hispaniasque simili modo harenæ +temperantur.”—Pliny, Bk. xxxvi; Chap. 66.</p> + +<p>The chief centres of glass-making were Tarragona, several towns +of Betica (Andalusia), and the Balearic Islands.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> The distinction which Riaño attempts to draw between glass +and glass paste is unsatisfactory. He remarks, too, that the manufacture +of glass <i>may</i> have existed in Spain at an earlier period +than the last three centuries, but continues: “The earliest mention +of glass-works in Spain will be found in Pliny, who, while explaining +the proceedings which were employed in this industry, says +that glass was made in a similar manner in France and Spain.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> Rico y Sinobas, <i>Del Vidrio y de sus artifices en España +(Almanaque del Museo de la Industria</i>, 1870).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> Oliver, <i>Granada y sus monumentos árabes</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> The inventory (<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1560) of the Dukes of Alburquerque mentions +“a white box with four small bottles of Valencia glass containing +ointment for the hands.” Other objects specified in this inventory +are “a large glass cup, with two lizards for handles, and two more +lizards on the cover”; “three glass cocoanuts, partly coloured +and with gold blown into them, together with their covers”; and “a +large glass cup, of Barcelona, blown with gold.” The value of these +cups, if they existed now, would not be less than two or three +hundred pounds apiece.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> Before this time, however, Aymerich had written, in or about +the year 1100, that sixty large windows in Santiago cathedral were +closed by glass, which probably was coloured. We also hear of +Francisco Socoma, who made or fitted windows of coloured glass at +Palma, in the island of Majorca, in 1380, and of Guillermo de +Collivella, who, in 1391, fitted at Lerida the glass which had been +coloured for the cathedral of that town by Juan de San-Amat.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> <i>Documentos Inéditos para la Historia de las Bellas Artes en +España</i>, p. 282 <i>et seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> In the monastery of Miraflores, near this city, the queen of +Ferdinand the Catholic built, at her expense, a rich pantheon to +guard the ashes of her parents and her brother. The coloured glass +was made by Simon of Cologne. One day, while visiting Miraflores, +Isabella noticed upon the windows of this sanctuary the shield +of a gentleman named Martin de Soria. Furious at the liberty +thus taken with a fabric of her own, “afferte mihi gladium” she +called in Latin to one of her attendants, and, raising the sword, +dashed the offending window into a thousand pieces, crying that in +that spot she would allow no arms but those of her father.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_111_111" id="Footnote_111_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> Señor Lázaro, who has recently made at Madrid windows for +León cathedral imitating those of the fourteenth and fifteenth +centuries, remarks that with the sixteenth century the process grew +more complicated, patterns composed with pieces of a single colour +being replaced by glass containing a variety of tints. He has also +discovered the following usage of the older Spanish craftsmen: +“By way of furnishing a key to their arrangement, all the pieces +used to be marked with the point of a diamond, and this mark +indicates the tone the glass requires for such and such a part of the +design. The signs most often employed were three, namely X, L, +and V, for red, blue and yellow respectively, intermediate tones being +shown by combinations of these letters—XL, LV, XV, with “lines +of unities” placed before or after to indicate the necessary gradation +in the tone.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_112_112" id="Footnote_112_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> This artist painted a series of magnificent windows representing +scenes from the life of San Pedro Nolasco, for the convent of +La Piedad, at Valencia.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_113_113" id="Footnote_113_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> Zarco del Valle, <i>Documentos Inéditos, etc.</i>, pp. 339 <i>et seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_114_114" id="Footnote_114_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> According to Cean (<i>La Catedral de Sevilla</i>), Menandro painted +in 1560 the conversion of Saint Paul on a window in the Chapel of +Santiago, in 1567 another window with the scene of the Annunciation, +over the gate of San Miguel, and in 1569 the companion to it, +representing the Visitation, over the Puerta del Bautismo. “In all +these windows,” wrote Cean, prejudiced, as was customary in his day, +in favour of the strictly classic style, “the drawing, pose, and composition +are good, <i>although</i> in the draperies and figures we observe +the influence of Germany.”</p> + +<p>In Cean's own time—that is, towards the close of the eighteenth +century—the coloured windows of Seville Cathedral amounted to +ninety-three, five of which were circular, and the rest with the +pointed Gothic arch. The dimensions of the latter are twenty-eight +feet high by twelve feet broad, and the subjects painted on them +include the likenesses of prophets, patriarchs, martyrs, confessors, +and virgins, or scenes from the New Testament, such as the rising +of Lazarus, Christ driving the merchants from the temple, the Last +Supper, and the anointing by Mary Magdalene.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_115_115" id="Footnote_115_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> Zarco del Valle, <i>Documentos Inéditos</i>, p. 159</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_116_116" id="Footnote_116_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> Isidoro Rosell de Torres, <i>Las Vidrieras pintadas en España</i> +(published in the <i>Museo Español de Antigüedades</i>).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_117_117" id="Footnote_117_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> “<i>Penado.</i> A narrow-mouthed vessel that affords the liquor +with scantiness and difficulty.” Connelly and Higgins' Dictionary; +<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1798.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_118_118" id="Footnote_118_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> This machine was invented by a Catalan named Pedro Fronvila.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_119_119" id="Footnote_119_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> Vol. I., pp. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44391/44391-h/44391-h.htm#Page_144">144–147</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_120_120" id="Footnote_120_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> Breñosa and Castellarnau; <i>Guide to San Ildefonso</i> (1884), +p. 53. Rico y Sinobas observes that in the objects produced at the +factory of La Granja, the glass itself is inferior to the engraving or +cutting with which it is adorned. This leads him to infer that the +foreigners brought over by the kings of Spain to superintend the +factory, were cutters and engravers of glass, rather than skilled +glass-makers. He also draws attention to the fact that the Spanish +monarchs chose these foreign craftsmen from too limited a class, +entrusting the most important posts at all the royal factories to +Frenchmen who were stated to descend from the old nobility of +their native country. In this manner the progress and welfare of +the craft itself was sacrificed to an insane prejudice in favour of the +aristocratic origin of the craftsman.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_121_121" id="Footnote_121_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> Ricord; <i>Noticia de las varias y diferentes Producciones del +Reyno de Valencia, etc.: segun el estado que tenían en el año 1791.</i> +Valencia, 1793.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_122_122" id="Footnote_122_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> “The mode of drinking in this country is singular; they hold +a broad-bottom'd glass bottle at arm's length, and let the liquor +spout out of a long neck upon their tongue; from what I see, their +expertness at this exercise arises from frequent practise; for the +Catalans drink often and in large quantities, but as yet I have not +seen any of them intoxicated.”—Swinburne.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr class="hr65" /> + +<p class="title">PRINTED BY<br /> +NEILL AND COMPANY, LIMITED,<br /> +EDINBURGH.</p> + +<hr class="hr65" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;"><b>Transcriber's Note</b></p> + +<p>The original spelling and minor inconsistencies in the spelling and formatting have +been maintained.</p> + +<p>Inconsistent hyphenation and accents are as in the original if not marked as a misprint.</p> + +<table summary="corrections"> + <tr> + <td><b>The table below lists all corrections applied to the original text.</b></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>p. x: LIX → LIX.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>p. 23: avec leurs enfans → enfants</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>p. 32: feu. L'hôte → L'hôtel</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>p. 33: choses est règlé → réglé</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>p. 39: fort peuplée autresfois → autrefois</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>p. 71: pp. 161, 162 → pp. 161, 162.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>p. 72: <i>León Cathedral</i> → <i>León Cathedral</i>)</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>p. 96: peintures variées de bon gôut → goût</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>p. 98: on the cover. → on the cover.”</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>p. 104: (see Vol. I. Plate xi.) → (see Vol. I., Plate xi.)</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>p. 132: appear to be galloping. → galloping.”</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>p. 139: and “Pisano.” → and “Pisano”.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>p. 139: “<i>de relieve</i>.” → “<i>de relieve</i>”.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>p. 159: les plus compliqúes → compliqués</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>p. 159: qu'un bal masqúe → masqué</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>p. 169: the journal of Bertant → Bertaut</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>p. 180: Quarte, Vilallonga → Villalonga</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>p. 183: degree of delicacy. → delicacy.”</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>p. 188: says Señor Osmo → Osma</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>p. 188: and another <img src="images/img_188c.jpg" width="47" height="50" alt="symbol" /> → <img src="images/img_188c.jpg" width="47" height="50" alt="symbol" />.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>p. 213: style of Capo-di-Monte. → Capo-di-Monte.”</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>p. 225: in France and Spain. → Spain.”</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>p. 228: albeit the the → albeit the</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>p. 236: VESSELS OF CATALAN GLASS → LXXV VESSELS OF CATALAN GLASS</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>p. 254: GLASS OF THE → LXXVI GLASS OF THE</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44392 ***</div> +</body> +</html> |