The Industrial Arts in Spain Part 46

Quiros, Juan Jose, 1802.

Rimini, Carlos, 1759.

Romero, Juan Bautista, 1800. Flowers and fruit; appears in lists of 1802.

Rubio, Joseph, 1799 to 1808.

Semini, Francisco, 1759.

Soriano, Joaquin, 1799. Landscape painter in 1800; continues in 1808.

Sorrentini, Josef, 1756, probably from Capo di Monte. In 1802 he asks for a retiring pension.

Sorrentini, Fernando, 1759.

Sorrentini, Pablo, 1764 to 1808.

Sorrentini, Gabriel, 1769 to 1808.

Sorrentini, Manuel, 1785 to 1802.

Torre, Joseph de la, 1759.

Torre, Nicolas de la, 1759. In 1802 asks for a retiring pension.

Torre, Raphael de la, 1759.

Torre, Juan Bautista de la, 1759 and 1808.

Torre, Josef de la, 1785 and 1802.

Torre, Francisco de la, 1796 to 1808.

Torre, Julian de la, 1802.

Velasquez, Castor, 1807, and continued in 1808. Born in Madrid in 1768 and obtained a prize at the Academy in 1787.

VARIOUS ARTISTS EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTORY.

Agreda, Manuel, Sculptor, a brother of Esteban Agreda; he superintended the making of biscuit china; born at Haro in 1773; won prizes at the Academy; and was employed at the Manufactory from 1805 to 1808.

Bautista, Juan, employed to make porcelain flowers from 1785 to 1808.

Bautista, Francisco, appears in 1802 as maker of porcelain flowers.

Bautista, Sebastian, appears in 1802 as a maker of porcelain flowers.

Chevalier, Pedro, mounter of snuff-boxes from 1759, and continued to work at the Manufactory in 1763.

Escalera, Josef, mounter of snuff-boxes from 1781, and continued to work at the Manufactory in 1808.

Perche, Jaime Victor, French workman brought from Paris to prepare porcelain, from 1803 to 1809.

Vivien, French workman, brought from Paris to prepare porcelain, from 1803 to 1809.

At the same time that porcelain was made at Retiro and Alcora, other manufactories of a similar kind were established in Spain; but none of them could compete with these. The most important was established at Sargadelos, Galicia, in 1804. One of the finest specimens which have reached us of this manufactory is a large bas relief representing the ma.s.sacres of the Spaniards by the French in Madrid on the 2nd of May, 1808.

GLa.s.s.

Since the South Kensington Museum purchased the largest collection of old and modern Spanish gla.s.s in Europe, the taste for and study of this branch of industry has increased to a very great extent. It is evident that this manufacture attained great importance during the three last centuries, and possibly existed at an earlier period; and that gla.s.s objects made in Spain possess a special and distinct character, different to those made in other countries. Before the objects at the Kensington Museum were collected, the existence of this industry in Spain was comparatively unknown.

The earliest mention of gla.s.s works in Spain will be found in Pliny, who, while explaining the proceedings which were employed in this industry, says that gla.s.s was made in a similar manner in France and Spain: "Jam vero et per Gallias Hispaniasque simili modo harenae temperantur."--L. x.x.xVI. cap. 66.

The next allusion to this industry will be found in the works of San Isidoro. This eminent man lived in the 7th century, and after quoting the observations of the Roman author, gives us to understand that this industry existed before his time in Italy, France, and Spain: "Olim fiebat et in Italia, et per Gallias, et Hispaniam arena alba mollissima pila mola que terebatur." [Divi. Isid. Hisp. Etymologiarum, I. XVI. cap.

16.] It is evident, therefore, from this pa.s.sage, that gla.s.s was made to a large extent in the Spanish Peninsula during the Roman period. This is confirmed by the number of specimens which are constantly found in ruins. We learn also that the manufacture had ceased to exist in the seventh century.

Gla.s.s vessels of the Roman period found in Spain are similar in form and manufacture to those which we know were made in France and Italy. This is not to be wondered at, if we remember that the Romans imposed their artistic forms on the countries they conquered. It is impossible to cla.s.sify the specimens of this industry into determined localities. The study of the gla.s.s paste may, at some future period, give materials for such a cla.s.sification.

One special characteristic of Roman gla.s.s may be taken into account to be applied to Spanish gla.s.s of a later period. We find ancient specimens constantly ornamented with a sort of thread or line which runs all over the vase. These lines are sometimes made of transparent gla.s.s, and sometimes of white opaque gla.s.s, termed in Italy _latticinio_ from its milky whiteness. When the industry of gla.s.s making was revived in Europe during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, cla.s.sical forms were copied in this as in other industries; this line ornamentation was copied on a much smaller scale in Italy than in Spain, where it const.i.tuted the chief and constant characteristic of gla.s.s making. It is an interesting fact that objects of a traditional Moorish form have the greatest amount of lines of this style of ornamentation. We cannot, until this subject is more thoroughly investigated, do otherwise than infer either that the tradition of this industry was preserved in Spain, or that the Arabs imported this style of decoration from the same localities from which it had been copied by the Romans centuries before.

The comparison of these different styles of gla.s.s making can be carried out in a most satisfactory manner in London by examining the fine specimens of gla.s.s in the British Museum (Slade collection), and the old Spanish gla.s.s at South Kensington.

We have no specimens of gla.s.s of the Visigothic period. If, as is most probable, gla.s.s was used by the Visigoths, they may have imported it from the East, for the text I have quoted from the works of St. Isidore seems to prove that this industry had ceased to exist in his time. The gla.s.s paste of different colours must, however, be mentioned, which is set in gold in the Visigothic crowns found at Guarrazar, near Toledo. It imitates precious stones, and was very generally used during the Byzantine period; its occurrence here makes it appear probable that at any rate the tradition of this industry existed in Spain.

From the 8th to the end of the 15th century, during the Mahomedan domination, I infer that the industry of gla.s.s making became as important in Spain as that of pottery. No specimens, however, of the earlier period have reached us, and we must judge of what it was from the gla.s.s vessels in the Kensington Museum, belonging to the Renaissance period, which preserve their Oriental form, and are of a different style to that of Venice and other localities in Europe.

A most interesting fact, which confirms this theory, will be found in a translation made from Hebrew to Arabic of a work which treats of the virtues of precious stones, _Lapidario_ [MS. Biblioteca del Escorial], quoted by Rico y Sin.o.bas in "Almanaque de la Industria," 1873. We do not know exactly when the author Abolais lived, but in the prologue to this MS. it is mentioned that D^{n}. Alfonso el Sabio found this book at Toledo, and gave orders to a Jew called Juda Mosca, and a priest, Garci Perez, to translate it into Spanish. The translation was terminated in 1250. Technical details are given in this volume concerning the substances which are employed in gla.s.s making, and some of the minerals found in Spain which are used in painting or enamelling it, but as this work was written to explain the properties of minerals, as they were understood in the author's time, he does not enter into any interesting details, or describe the forms of these objects. Another allusion to gla.s.s making in Spain will be found in Al Makkari, the Arabian author of "Mohamedan Dynasties in Spain," [London, 1840, 2 vols. 4to], who quotes an Oriental writer of the 13th century, who says, "Almeria was also famous for the fabrication of all sorts of vases and utensils, whether of iron, copper, or gla.s.s." (Vol. I. p. 51.)

The tradition of this industry has been undoubtedly preserved at Almeria until the present day, for in this province, and in the adjoining villages of the province of Granada, we find that specimens are to be met with, which possess a marked Oriental form, and are completely free from the influence of Italian models which existed in other localities.

The most characteristic specimens consist of jars of two, four and eight handles, bowls with ribs and handles, pilgrim's bottles, etc., of which interesting examples exist at the South Kensington Museum. Woodcuts of several of these are given.

All these objects are decorated with a serrated ornamentation of b.u.t.tons, trellis-work, and the lines to which I have already 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 white clear gla.s.s, 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 Almeria 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GLa.s.s VASE.--SPANISH, 16TH CENTURY.]

I have been unable to find the gla.s.s industries of this period mentioned by any contemporary author, but I owe to the courtesy of S^{r}. Romero Ortiz some interesting details which have been taken from the archives of certain villages, which although of a more modern date prove that this industry existed in these localities. At about 14 miles from the Puebla de D^{n}. Fadrique, there is a locality called Pinar de la Vidriera, where traces of ovens and scoriae exist belonging to an ancient gla.s.s manufactory, which is likewise mentioned in doc.u.ments of the munic.i.p.ality as continuing to work in 1620. At Castril de la Pena, a manufactory yet exists where gla.s.s is still made, and which has existed from time immemorial in the village. The building itself is decorated with the escutcheon of the family of Hernando de Zafra, one of the secretaries of Queen Isabel, late in the 15th century, who must have purchased it with other lands which he possessed there, towards the year 1492. A gallery, one mile long, which exists at the entrance of the town from whence the sand has been extracted for this manufacture, gives an idea of the antiquity of this industry in this particular locality. It has been calculated that about two tons of sand were used at these gla.s.s works every month. At Royo Molino, in the province of Jaen, a very ancient building still exists, now half in ruins, which has been used until very lately as a gla.s.s factory. At Maria, in the province of Almeria, several gla.s.s manufactories have existed. The oldest, it is believed, was about two miles from the town, and is called traditionally "del Campo," but I have not found mention of it in any doc.u.ment. Three gla.s.s ovens existed inside the town: one was established by Vicente Botia, towards the year 1750, which lasted until 1790. Juan Martinez established at about this period an industry of a similar kind near the former one, which continued to work until 1854. The same green gla.s.s has been constantly made in these localities, the same forms have been copied, the only difference between the older and more modern specimens consisting in the coa.r.s.er and heavier quality of the gla.s.s.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PILGRIMS' GLa.s.s BOTTLE.--SPANISH, 17TH CENTURY.]

In treating of the gla.s.s manufactures in Spain, where Italian models were imitated to a very great extent, we find very few allusions in contemporary authors of the Middle Ages; it may be because gla.s.s vessels were chiefly used with wooden and pottery utensils by the poorer cla.s.ses, and metal utensils of all kinds by those who were able to afford them. At any rate, it is only towards the end of the Middle Ages that we meet with information concerning this industry, which continues uninterrupted until the present day.

Barcelona is one of the towns distinguished for the antiquity and excellence of its gla.s.s. In a munic.i.p.al edict of 1324, we find a special prohibition that the gla.s.s ovens should not be inside the city, owing to the danger they might cause to the rest of the population. In 1455, permission was granted to the _vidrieros_, gla.s.smakers, to form a guild under the patronage of St. Bernardino, and from this period some of its members figure as holding munic.i.p.al charges. Capmany, "Memorias," Vol.

I. p. 134. According to this author, the special Ordinances of this corporation are not known, but only those which were given by the munic.i.p.ality in 1659. He adds that the master _vidrieros_ required six years of apprenticeship and practice to be admitted to work.