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The Arts and Crafts of Older Spain
The Arts and Crafts of Older Spain
BY LEONARD WILLIAMS Corresponding Member of the Royal Spanish Academy, of the Royal Spanish Academy of History, and of the Royal Spanish Academy of Fine Arts; Author Of “The Land of the Dons”; “Toledo and Madrid”; “Granada,” etc. IN THREE VOLUMES, ILLUSTRATED VOLUME I CHICAGO A. C. McCLURG & CO. EDINBURGH: T. N. FOULIS 1908 AMERICAN EDITION Published October 10, 1908 Dedicated BY SPECIAL PERMISSION TO THEIR MAJESTIES KING ALFONSO THE THIRTEENTH AND QUEEN VICTORIA OF SPAIN...
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PREFACE
PREFACE
In preparing these volumes, it has been my aim to give a clear and fairly complete account of the arts and crafts of older Spain. It seems to me that there is room for a work of this design and scope, and that there is no reason why so attractive a subject—or rather, group of subjects—should be perpetually ignored by persons who travel through, or who profess to feel an interest in, the country of the Cid and of Don Quixote. My account of Spanish pottery is guarded, and yet I trust acceptable. T
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GOLD, SILVER, AND JEWEL WORK
GOLD, SILVER, AND JEWEL WORK
The hyperbolic language of the ancients spoke of Spain as filled throughout, upon her surface and beneath her soil, with precious stones and precious metals. Old writers—Strabo, Pliny, Aristoteles, Pomponius Mela, and Diodorus Siculus—declare that once upon a time a mountain fire, lighted by shepherds in the Pyrenees and fanned into a conflagration by the wind, heated the earth until the ore within her entrails came bubbling to the top and ran away in rivulets of molten gold and silver, spreadin
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IRON-WORK
IRON-WORK
The ancient iron mines of Spain were no less celebrated than her mines of silver and of gold. Nevertheless, the history of Spanish iron-work begins comparatively late. Excepting certain swords and other weapons which require to be noticed under Arms , and owing to the commonness and cheapness of this metal, as well as to the ease with which it decomposes under damp, few of the earliest Spanish objects made of iron have descended to our time. [61] Even Riaño pays but little notice to this craft i
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BRONZES
BRONZES
The earliest objects of bronze discovered in this country are comparatively few. As in other parts of Europe, they consist mostly of weapons, such as spear-heads and hatchets (which will be noticed under Arms ), or bracelets, necklaces, and clasps or brooches. Earrings ( inaures ), brooches ( fibulæ ), and other objects of a similar purpose dating from the Roman period have been discovered in Galicia, while plates of the same alloy [85] which imitate a shell were used as personal ornaments by th
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FIREARMS
FIREARMS
Cannon of a primitive kind were used in Spain comparatively early. A large variety of names was given to these pieces, such as cerbatanas , ribadoquines , culebrinas , falconetes , pasavolantes , lombardas or bombardas , and many more; but the oldest, commonest, and most comprehensive name of all was trueno , “thunder,” from the terrifying noise of the discharge. This word was used for both the piece and the projectile. The Count of Clonard quotes Pedro Megía's Silva de Varias Lecciones to show
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SADDLERY AND COACHES
SADDLERY AND COACHES
Probably no relic of the former of these crafts in Spain is older or more curious than the iron bit (Plate lvii ., No. 8), inlaid with silver dragons' heads and crosses, and attributed, from cruciform monograms which also decorate it, to the Visigothic King Witiza (who died in 711), or sometimes to the conqueror of Toledo, Alfonso the Sixth (eleventh century). The spurs or acicates (Plate lvii ., No. 9) of Ferdinand the Third of Castile, who conquered Seville from the Moors, are also treasured i
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The Arts and Crafts of Older Spain
The Arts and Crafts of Older Spain
BY LEONARD WILLIAMS Corresponding Member of the Royal Spanish Academy, of the Royal Spanish Academy of History, and of the Royal Spanish Academy of Fine Arts; Author Of “The Land of the Dons”; “Toledo and Madrid”; “Granada,” etc. IN THREE VOLUMES, ILLUSTRATED VOLUME II CHICAGO A. C. McCLURG & CO. EDINBURGH: T. N. FOULIS 1908 AMERICAN EDITION Published October 10, 1908...
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LEATHER
LEATHER
Guadamacilería , 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 guadamecí or guadamecil 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 pr
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CARPENTRY AND WOOD-CARVING
CARPENTRY AND WOOD-CARVING
The artistic carpentry of older Spain produced as its most typical and striking monuments, three groups of objects which may be included generally under Furniture. These are the celosía or window-lattice, the door of lazo -work, and the artesonado -ceiling which adorns a hall or chamber, corridor or staircase. XVIII CARVED ZAPATAS ( Casa de Salinas, Salamanca ) These happy and effective styles of decoration came originally from the East. Their passage may be traced along the coast of Africa from
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SACRED STATUARY, SILLERÍAS OR CHOIR-STALLS, AND RETABLOS
SACRED STATUARY, SILLERÍAS OR CHOIR-STALLS, AND RETABLOS
The genius of the wood-carvers of older Spain is manifested chiefly in three groups of objects—sacred statuary, choir-stalls, and retablos . 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 alone, or as an accessory to a larger article of sacred furniture, such as a pulpit, or a sillería , or an altar-screen. So powerful, in fact, has bee
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IVORIES
IVORIES
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
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ANCIENT
ANCIENT
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 vesse
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HISPANO-MORESQUE NON-LUSTRED POTTERY
HISPANO-MORESQUE NON-LUSTRED POTTERY
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 some bowls and plates, all more or less imperfect, which are ascribed by experts to about the year 1000. These objects, which
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MOSAIC-WORK AND TILES
MOSAIC-WORK AND TILES
The art of colouring and glazing earthenware was practised by various peoples of the ancient eastern world, and passed, in course of time, through Egypt to Phœnicia, Greece, and Rome, and, later still, to Mussulman peoples of north-western Africa. 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 sma
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HISPANO-MORESQUE LUSTRED POTTERY
HISPANO-MORESQUE LUSTRED POTTERY
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 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. U
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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.
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.
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 chapter. Their production still continue
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GLASS
GLASS
It is chiefly in the form of imitation gems that specimens of the earliest Spanish glass have been preserved until our time, [104] although the characteristic of old Roman glass which is known in Italian as the lattocinio 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. Rico y Sinobas says that the rules for cutting glass by means of
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The Arts and Crafts of Older Spain
The Arts and Crafts of Older Spain
BY LEONARD WILLIAMS Corresponding Member of the Royal Spanish Academy, of the Royal Spanish Academy of History, and of the Royal Spanish Academy of Fine Arts; Author Of “The Land of the Dons”; “Toledo and Madrid”; “Granada,” etc. IN THREE VOLUMES, ILLUSTRATED VOLUME III CHICAGO A. C. McCLURG & CO. EDINBURGH: T. N. FOULIS 1908 AMERICAN EDITION Published October 10, 1908...
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Our earliest intelligence respecting textile fabrics of old Spain derives almost exclusively from Moorish sources, and shows, together with the silence of Saint Isidore, that until the subjugation of the Visigoths, the occupants of the Peninsula attached no great importance to this industry. Under the Moors, the south and east of Spain grew rapidly famous for the manufacture of all kinds of textile stuffs, and in particular those of silk. The origin of these silks, or of the most luxurious and a
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SPANISH SILK
SPANISH SILK
A very fair idea of the magnitude of the craft and trade of Spanish silk in bygone epochs may be formed by tracing chronologically the production and treatment of the raw material in various parts of the Peninsula. During the centuries of Moorish rule, Spain's principal silk-producing centre was the kingdom of Granada, which then embraced a large extent of coast, together with Málaga and other thriving ports. In proof of this, and in his interesting memorial on the silk factories of Seville, [13
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CLOTHS AND WOOLLENS
CLOTHS AND WOOLLENS
Although the history of Spanish cloths and woollens is not of great importance, I think it well to briefly sketch their history. Sails and other fabrics of the coarsest kind are said to have been made, almost in prehistoric times, at Sætabi (the modern Játiva) and at Saguntum (Murviedro). From the thirteenth century cloths of good quality were made at Barcelona, Lerida, San Daniel, Bañolas, Valls, and other towns of Cataluña. A privilege of Alfonso the Learned, dated May 18th, 1283, contains the
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EMBROIDERY
EMBROIDERY
The art of embroidering, and especially of embroidering with the aid of gold and silver thread, was communicated to the Spaniards by the Spanish Moors, who doubtless had derived it from the East. By about the thirteenth century, the needle of the Spanish embroiderer had become, in the picturesque phrase of one of his compatriots, “a veritable painter's brush, describing facile outlines on luxurious fabrics, and filling in the spaces, sometimes with brilliant hues, or sometimes with harmonious, s
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TAPESTRY
TAPESTRY
There is a dim tradition, derived from or supported by a Latin poet (“Tunc operosa suis Hispana tapetia villis”) that carpets or tapestries of some kind were made in the Spanish Peninsula in the time of the Romans. Undoubtedly this craft was practised by the Spanish-Moors, particularly in the regions of Valencia, Alicante, Cuenca, and Granada. This statement is confirmed by two laconic notices which occur in the Description of Africa and Spain of Edrisi, a Mohammedan geographer of the twelfth ce
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LACE
LACE
Although the Spaniards have enjoyed, and still enjoy, a widespread fame for lace-making, their written records of this craft are unsubstantial. Originally, perhaps, they borrowed it from the Arabs or Venetians. Certainly, the earliest Spanish lace was such as is made with a needle, that is, point, not pillow lace. In this form, à la aguja , and in the sixteenth century, the Spaniards possibly conveyed the secrets of its manufacture to the Netherlands, receiving from the natives of this country,
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APPENDIX A
APPENDIX A
THE LEGEND OF SAN MIGUEL IN EXCELSIS Towards the year a.d. 707, when Witiza was king of Spain, there dwelt at the castle of Goñi, not far from the city of Pamplona in Navarre, a cavalier named Don Theodosio, whose wife, Doña Constanza de Viandra, was a lady of remarkable beauty. On one occasion Don Theodosio found himself obliged to quit his native country for a time, in order to command a military expedition against the Berbers, and before his departure he begged his father and mother to cheer
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APPENDIX B
APPENDIX B
JET-WORK OF SANTIAGO In former times the art of carving jet was largely practised at this town. The characteristic form was the signaculum or image of Saint James; that is, a more or less uncouth representation of the apostle in full pilgrim's dress. The height of these images, which are now dispersed all over Europe, varies between four and seven inches. They are fully described in Drury Fortnum's monographs, On a signaculum of Saint James of Compostela , and Notes on other signacula of Saint J
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APPENDIX C
APPENDIX C
DESCRIPTION OF THE CUSTODIAS OF SEVILLE AND CORDOVA The custodia of Seville cathedral is described by its author, Juan de Arfe, in the following terms:— FIRST ORDER The first order is in the Ionic style. The columns and frieze are adorned with vines containing fruits and foliage, and some figures of children holding spikes of wheat, to signify bread and wine. In the centre of this, the largest order, is Faith, represented by the figure of a queen, seated on a throne, holding in her right hand a
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APPENDIX D
APPENDIX D
THE IMPERIAL CROWN OF THE VIRGEN DEL SAGRARIO, TOLEDO This was the most elaborate and costly crown that had ever been produced in Spain for decorating an image of the Virgin. The following is a sketch of it:— Before it was enlarged to the imperial shape, this crown was executed by a silversmith named Fernando de Carrión, who finished it in the year 1556, and was paid for his labour 760,000 maravedis . It then consisted of a gold diadem adorned with rows of pearls, emeralds, rubies, and enamelled
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APPENDIX E
APPENDIX E
GOLD INLAY ON STEEL AND IRON The inlaying of iron or steel with gold is often thought to be a craft particularly Spanish, and to have been inherited directly by the Spanish Christians from the Spanish Moors. This work, however, although we may assume it to have been of Eastern origin in a period of remote antiquity, was quite familiar to the ancient Romans, including, probably, such as made their home in Spain. The Memoirs of Benvenuto Cellini contain the following notice of the work in question
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APPENDIX F
APPENDIX F
OLD SPANISH PULPITS According to Amador de los Ríos, sermons in those early times were delivered from the analogium only. Towards the twelfth century, the Isidorian liturgy was abolished in Spain, and the furniture of Spanish temples underwent some change. In the same century and throughout the century following, the Spanish Peninsula was invaded by the Order of Preachers, while, coinciding with, or closely consequent upon, this movement, the primitive ambo was succeeded by the jubé , and wood,
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APPENDIX G
APPENDIX G
SPANISH CUTLERS In former times excellent cutlery, such as knives, scissors, daggers, spearheads, and surgical instruments, was made in Spain, at Seville, Albacete, Toledo, Valencia, Pamplona, Ronda, Peñíscola, Guadix, Ripoll, Mora, Olot, and Tolosa. Rico y Sinobas has given an interesting description of the workshop and apparatus of one of these old Spanish cutlers—his graduated set of hammers, weighing from a few ounces to five pounds, his hand-saws, bench-saw, chisels, pincers, files, and dri
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APPENDIX H
APPENDIX H
SPANISH TRADE-GUILDS The gremios of Spain were copied from the guilds of France and other countries, and may be traced originally to the corpora and collegia of the Romans and Byzantines. The earliest which were formed in the Peninsula were those of Barcelona [64] and Soria, succeeded, not long after, by Valencia, Seville, [65] and Toledo. Prior, however, to the institution of these trade-guilds proper, whose purpose was pre-eminently mercenary, [66] there existed, in the case of several cities,
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APPENDIX I
APPENDIX I
CLASSES OF POTTERY MADE AT ALCORA (From Riaño 's Industrial Arts in Spain ) Towards the middle of the eighteenth century:— Vases of different shapes. Small pots (Chinese fashion). Teapots and covers (Chinese fashion). Cruets, complete sets (Chinese style). Entrée dishes. Salt-cellars (Chinese style). Escudillas (bowls), of Constantinople. Barquillos (sauce bowls), Chinese style. Bottles (in the Chinese manner). Cups, plates, and saucers of different kinds, with good painted borders in imitation
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The following is a fairly complete list of the works I have consulted for the preparation of these volumes. Abdón de Paz. La España de la Edad Media. Academia de San Fernando, Real. Colección de Antigüedades Arabes de Granada y Córdoba ; 2 vols. Alba, Duchess of Berwick and. Catálogo de las colecciones expuestas en las vitrinas del Palacio de Liria. Alderete. Antigüedades de España. Alzola y Minondo, Pablo. El Arte Industrial en España. Bilbao, 1892. Amador de los Ríos. El Arte Latino-Bizantino
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