Chapter VII: Introduction (4)

Although it has become fashionable in some quarters to deny that
the Inquisition contributed in a sensible degree to the decline of
Spanish arts and industries, the following passage, quoted from the
municipal archives of Barcelona, places the fact beyond all
argument as far as this locality is concerned. The city councillors
declared in 1492 that "by reason of the Inquisition established in
this city, many evils have befallen our commerce, together with the
depopulation of the said city, and much other and irreparable
damage to her welfare; and as much more harm will occur in the
future, unless a remedy be applied, wherefore the said councillors
entreat of the king's majesty that of his wonted clemency he order
the said Inquisition to cease; or else that he repair the matter in
such wise that _the merchants who departed because of the
Inquisition_ may return, and continue in the service of their God,
their king, and of the general welfare of the city aforesaid."

In 1809 the same author remarked: "The kingdom of Valencia produces little wool, yet there are five manufactories of woollens and coarse and fine cloths: they are at Morella, Enguera, Bocairente, Onteniente, and Alcoy. The small woollen stuffs are principally made at Enguera; nothing but the coarsest cloths are made at Morella, Bocairente, and Onteniente. The manufactory at Alcoy is the most considerable: the cloths, though finer, are generally of an inferior quality. The woof of them is thick, with little nap upon it. The finest are scarcely superior to the beautiful cloths of Carcassonne."

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, softly-graduated tones which imitate the entire colour-scheme of Nature." Nevertheless, it was not until the fifteenth and the sixteenth centuries that this art attained, in the Peninsula, its topmost summit of perfection.

It is not at all surprising that embroidery should have made great progress among a people so devoted to the outward and spectacular forms of worship as the Spaniards; nor have the chasubles, copes, and other vestments of the Spanish prelacy and priesthood ever been surpassed for costly splendour[36] (Plates x., xi., xii.). But generally where the Spanish embroiderer excelled was in the mere manipulation of the needle. In fertility of design he was far outdistanced by the Germans and Italians, and was even to a large extent their imitator; for Spanish embroidery, as occurred with Spanish painting, was influenced, almost to an overwhelming degree, firstly by northern art, and subsequently by the art of the Renaissance.

[36] The cathedrals of Toledo and Palencia are particularly rich in
sets of magnificently embroidered vestments. "Each set," says
Riaño, "generally includes a chasuble, dalmatic, cope, altar
frontal, covers for the gospel stands, and other smaller pieces.
The embroideries on the orphreys, which are formed of figures of
saints, are as perfect as the miniatures on illuminated MSS."

These tendencies or characteristics will be found in nearly all the masterpieces of Spanish embroidery that have been preserved until to-day, of which perhaps the most remarkable specimens are the _manga_ or case of the great processional cross presented by Cardinal Cisneros to Toledo cathedral, and the "_Tanto Monta_" embroidered tapestry belonging to the same temple. The _manga grande_, known as that of the Corpus (Plate xiii.), is in the Gothic style, with reminiscences of German art, and consists of the following four scenes arranged in panels thirty-seven inches high, and hung successively about the handle of the cross:--

(1) The Ascension of the Virgin Mary, who is supported by six angels.

(2) The Adoration of the Magi.

(3) San Ildefonso in the act of cutting off a piece of the veil of
Santa Leocadia, patron of Toledo.

(4) The Martyrdom of San Eugenio, another patron of the city of Toledo.

The ground of this elaborate "sleeve" is a fabric of rich silk, on which the embroidery is worked in gold and silver thread and coloured silks, principally blue and red, combined in delicate, harmonious tones. The figures are outlined with fine gold cord, which forms a kind of frame or fencing to confine the stretches of smooth silk. The careful copying of architectural detail is stated by Serrano Fatigati to be strongly characteristic of Spanish industrial art in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and even sixteenth centuries. The same writer considers that this "sleeve" was executed towards the year 1514, when embroiderers of great renown, such as Alonso Hernández, Juan de Talavera, Martin Ruiz, Hernando de la Rica, Pedro de Burgos, and Marcos de Covarrubias were engaged on similar work in the venerable city of the Tagus. Two out of the four panels, says Serrano Fatigati, may possibly be from the hand of Covarrubias, who was a famous craftsman of his time, and held the post of master-embroiderer in Toledo cathedral. In any case, the four panels are evidently not all by the same artist, nor do they appear to have been executed at precisely the same period.

The gorgeous embroidered tapestry which also belongs to this cathedral (where it serves as a hanging or _colgadura_ for the altar on the day of Corpus Christi), and which is known as the "Tanto Monta" _tapiz_, is stated by some authorities to have been the _dosel_ or bed canopy of Ferdinand and Isabella, and to have been purchased, in the year 1517, for 900,000 _maravedis_ by Alonso Fernández de Tendilla, steward of those sovereigns. Riaño gives the following account of the same object:--

"As a fine specimen of embroidery on a large scale, must be mentioned the _dosel_ or canopy called the tent of Ferdinand and Isabella, which was used in the reception of the English envoys, Thomas Salvaige and Richard Nanfan, who were sent in 1488 to Spain to arrange the marriage of Prince Henry with the Infanta Doña Catalina." The ambassadors describe it in the following manner: "After the tilting was over, the kings returned to the palace, and took the ambassadors with them, and entered a large room; and there they sat under a rich cloth of state of rich crimson velvet, richly embroidered with the arms of Castile and Aragon, and covered with the device of the King which is a ... (blank in original),[37] and his motto, written at length, which is 'Tanto Monta.'" ("Memorials of King Henry the Seventh," Gairdner, London, 1858, p. 348).

[37] The device of Ferdinand the Catholic was a yoke; the sheaf of
arrows, that of Isabella. (See Vol. II., p. 147, etc.).

Riaño also describes the mantle of the Virgen del Sagrario at Toledo. "It is completely covered with pearls and jewels forming a most effective ornamentation. This embroidery was made in the beginning of the seventeenth century, during the lifetime of Cardinal Sandoval, who presented it to the church." Señor Parro, in his exhaustive work _Toledo en la Mano_ (Vol. I., p. 574), gives the following account of it: "It is made of twelve yards of silver lama, or cloth of silver, which is entirely covered with gold and precious stones. In the centre there is a jewel of amethysts and diamonds. Eight other jewels appear on each side, of enamelled gold, emeralds, and large rubies. A variety of other jewels are placed at intervals round the mantle, and at the lower part are the arms of Cardinal Sandoval enamelled on gold and studded with sapphires and rubies. The centre of this mantle is covered with flowers and pomegranates embroidered in seed-pearls of different sizes. Round the borders are rows of large pearls. Besides the gems which are employed in this superb work of art, no less than two hundred and fifty-seven ounces of pearls of different sizes were used, three hundred ounces of gold thread, a hundred and sixty ounces of small pieces of enamelled gold, and eight ounces of emeralds."

As in other countries, embroidery in Spain was executed in the bygone time, both by paid embroiderers, and as a domestic occupation by the ladies of the aristocracy. The work of the professional embroiderer consisted principally of paraments or altar-fronts (Plates xiv., xv., xvi., xvii.), and ecclesiastical vestments. Among the former of this class of objects, nothing is finer than the _frontal_ of the Chapel of Saint George in the Audiencia of Barcelona. It is believed to have been wrought by Antonio Sadurni, a Catalan embroiderer who flourished in the middle of the fifteenth century. The scene represented is the combat between Saint George (patron of Cataluña) and the dragon. The saint has rescued a damsel from the monster's claws, and her parents are looking on from a _mirador_ of their palace. This central episode is surrounded with borders and arabesques of extraordinary richness.

Riaño gives a list, compiled from Cean, Martinez, Suarez de Figueroa, and other authors, of forty-seven Spanish embroiderers of the fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. More recently, Ramírez de Arellano has discovered, among the municipal archives of Cordova, the names of sixteen others, who resided at that city towards, or early in, the seventeenth century. The craftsmen in question were Diego de Aguilar, Juan Bautista, Bernardo Carrillo, Luis Carrillo de Quijana, Andrés Fernández de Montemayor, Hernán Gómez del Río, Diego Fabián de Herrera, Diego del Hierro, Diego López de Herrera, Diego López de Valenzuela, Antonio de Morales, Gonzalo de Ocaña, Mateo Sanguino, Manuel Torralbo, Cristóbal de Valenzuela, and Martin de la Vega.

Documents in the same archive contain additional particulars respecting two or three of these artificers. Thus, on February 10th, 1607, Hernán Gómez del Río engaged himself to embroider for the convent of the Trinity at Cordova, "a bordering for a chasuble and four _faldones_ for dalmatics, with their collars and _sabastros_ and _bocas mangas_. The said _bocas mangas_ to be four in number, and the collars two; also the _collaretes_ which may be necessary for the two dalmatics, and which I am to embroider in silk and gold upon white satin. The _collaretes_ also to be embroidered by me in silk and gold to match a bordering of white satin for a cloak in possession of the said convent." Further, the convent was to supply the artist with the quantity of white satin required, and pay him two hundred and ten ducats, secured by certain of the convent's revenues, for the gold, the silk, and the workmanship.

Manuel Torralbo contracted to embroider a velvet altar-front and its corresponding _fronteleras_ for the parish church of Luque, at a price of three hundred _reales_; and Cristóbal de Valenzuela (on September 25th, 1604) to embroider two frontals for the altar of the church of Obejo. One of them was to be of purple velvet worked in gold, and the other of "black velvet, with borders and _caidas_ embroidered in yellow satin and white satin, with skulls and bones embroidered in gold."[38]

[38] The skull and crossbones were a favourite design upon these
objects. The Church of the Escorial possesses four paraments so
decorated, which were shown, in 1878, at the Parisian Exhibition
of Retrospective Art.

Turning our attention to the embroidery which was executed, principally as a recreation, by highborn Spanish ladies of some centuries ago, the romance of _El Compte Arnau_, quoted by Miquel y Badía and written in Catalan and Provençal, contains the following lines:--

"¿ Ahout teniu las vostras fillas--muller leal?
¿ Ahout teniu las vostras fillas--viudeta igual?
A la cambra son que _brodan_--Compte l'Arnau
A la cambra son que _brodan_--seda y estam."

Isabella the Catholic presented to the Chapel Royal of the cathedral of Granada an ecclesiastical robe embroidered by her own hands for the festival of Corpus Christi. The material was black satin brocade, with a fringe of white silk, and the letters IHS in white damask.[39]

[39] Gómez Moreno; _Apuntes que pueden servir de historia del bordado
de imagineria en Granada_ (_El Liceo de Granada_; 6th year,
No. 18).

The same usage continued in the seventeenth century. Countess d'Aulnoy says: "Young ladies of great beauty and of noble blood engage themselves to wait on ladies of the aristocracy, and spend most of their time embroidering the collars and sleeves of shirts in gold, silver, and coloured silk, although, if they be suffered to follow their liking, they work but little, and gossip a great deal." The same writer refers repeatedly to the sumptuous embroideries in use among the upper classes of the Spaniards of that time. Thus, the bed-pillows of the Princess of Monteleón were embroidered with gold. The sleeves of the coat of Charles the Second were of white silk, very large, opening towards the wrist, and embroidered with blue silk and jet, the rest of his costume being embroidered in white and blue silk. In the palace of the same monarch, the daïs of the throne-room was covered with "a wondrous carpet, and the throne and its canopy were embroidered with pearls, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and other precious stones." The cloaks of the chevaliers who belonged to the Military Orders of Santiago, Calatrava, and Alcántara were embroidered with gold. The gentlemen of Madrid covered their horses with silver gauze, and trappings embroidered with gold and pearls.[40] The same gentlemen wore coats whose sleeves were of coloured satin, embroidered with silk and jet, and even their lackeys, when they attended their masters in a procession, wore uniforms of cloth embroidered with gold and silver. Unmarried girls and brides wore gold-embroidered bodices. The chairs in which the ladies of Madrid paid visits were made of cloth embroidered in gold and silver, stretched upon the wooden frame. In the train of the Duchess of Terranova went six litters covered with embroidered velvet. "In the parish church of San Sebastián," wrote Countess d'Aulnoy, "I have seen a hand-chair made by order of the queen-mother, for carrying the Sacrament to sick persons in bad weather. It is lined with crimson velvet embroidered in gold and covered with hide studded with gilt nails: it has large window-glasses, and a kind of small belfry full of golden bells."

[40] A similar usage prevailed at Valladolid. The account of this city
as it existed in 1605, published by Gayangos in the _Revista de
España_, describes Don Juan de Tassis, Count of Villamediana, as
"riding in the finest clothes imaginable; his cloak, jacket,
breeches, shoes, and the trappings, harness, reins, etc., of his
horse, being all embroidered with the finest twisted silver thread.
Even his horse's blinkers were of the same material."

With the succession of a French line of sovereigns to the throne of Spain, a taste for French embroideries passed into the Peninsula, and these, in course of time, were imitated by the Spanish craftsmen.[41] "We find," says Riaño, "that Madrid was the principal centre of this industry, and that French designs were universally copied, as was the case in the whole of Europe. The splendid curtains and embroidered hangings for apartments which exist at the royal palaces of Madrid, the Escorial, and Aranjuez, are admirable specimens."

[41] The use of embroidery was, however, greatly curbed by sumptuary
pragmatics, issued early in this century (see Vol. I., pp. 287,
289). A similar pragmatic had appeared in 1622; but it is clear
from the passages I have quoted, that little or no attention was
paid to it.

I may mention here the embroidery, often of a rich and highly ornate character, which is, or used to be, applied to the regional costumes of Spain. Plate ix. is reproduced from a rare print in my possession, showing the gala dress, as it existed in the year 1777, of the _charra_ of Salamanca, with full, white sleeves ornamented in black embroidery with animals and other devices. A similar costume is still worn in that neighbourhood. Plate xviii., also copied from a print in my collection, dating from about the year 1810, shows the costume worn by the women of the well-to-do middle class of the island of Majorca. "Le jupon ou _guardapies_," says the manuscript description prefixed to this series of plates, "en mousseline, complete le costume de cette insulaire: il est orné au bas de riches broderies, mais assez court pour laisser voir un joli petit pied chaussé d'un bas de coton ou de soie et d'un élégant soulier de satin."

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 century. Of the town of Chinchilla, in Alicante province, he wrote,--"woollen carpets are made here, such as could not be manufactured anywhere else, owing to the qualities of the air and water"; and of Cuenca, "excellent woollen carpets are manufactured at this town."

"En Espagne," says Müntz, "l'industrie textile ne tarda pas à prendre également le plus brilliant essor, grâce à la conquête maure. Les étoffes d'Almeria acquirent rapidement une réputation européenne; il est vrai que c'étaient des brocarts, des damas, et autres tissus analogues, non des tapisseries: l'influence qu'elles furent appelées à exercer au dehors se borna donc au domaine de l'ornementation."

Of a similar composition to the foregoing fabrics specified by Müntz--that is to say, not genuine tapestries, although requiring for several reasons to be classed with these--is the celebrated "Genesis" (Plate xix.) of the cathedral of Gerona. This primitive yet complicated work of art, dating from the twelfth century, is embroidered in crewels upon linen, and represents the creation of the world. Its dimensions are about four yards high by four and a half yards wide; but the bordering has been torn away in places. The design is thus described by Riaño:--"In the centre is a geometrical figure formed by two concentric circles. In the lesser circle is a figure of Christ holding an open book, on which appear the words _Sanctus Deus_, and on each side _Rex fortis_, surrounded by the inscription, _Dixit quoque Deus, Fiat lux, Et facta est lux_. In the larger circle are the words, _In principio creavit Deus coelum et terram, mare et omnia quæ in eis sunt, et vidit Deus cuncta quæ egerat et erant valde bona_.

"The space between the two circles is divided by radiating lines into eight portions, in which are represented the Mystic Dove, the angels of light and darkness: the division of land from water, the creation of sun, moon, and stars, of birds, fishes, and beasts, and of Adam and Eve. In the angles outside the larger circle are the four winds, and the whole is surrounded by a border, imperfect in parts, containing representations of the months, and apparently of certain scriptural incidents, too much defaced to be clearly made out."

The royal palaces of Spain and many of her noble houses have possessed, from about the fifteenth century, splendid collections of the costliest tapestries, consisting principally of _paños de Ras_, or "Arras cloths" (as they were called among the Spaniards, and especially in Aragon). Until a later period all, or very nearly all, these objects were imported from the Flemish workshops.[42] At the palace of a nobleman in Madrid, Bertaut de Rouen observed "les plus belles tapisseries du monde." The same author tells us that in the seventeenth century, when he visited Spain and wrote his entertaining _Journal_, it was customary for the walls of the royal palace to be hung with tapestry in winter, these hangings being removed for greater coolness in the summer months. In reading descriptions of Spanish life referring to the same period, one is struck by the craze which prevailed among the Spaniards for displaying tapestries and other gay-coloured fabrics in all kinds of places and on every possible occasion. Thus, Bertaut de Rouen relates that when he saw a play performed in the Alcázar, "le long de ces deux costez de la salle estoient seulement deux grands bancs couverts de tapis de Perse"; that the boxes at the bull-fights, both at Madrid and in the country, were "tapissées de brocatelle de soye"; and that the lower part of the dome in one of the chapels of Seville cathedral was decorated with the same material. At the haunted castle of Quebaro, on the road from Galareta to Vitoria, Countess d'Aulnoy saw upon the walls of a large chamber, some tapestries representing the amours of Don Pedro the Cruel and of Doña María de Padilla. "This lady was depicted seated, like a queen, among various other ladies, while the king crowned her with a chaplet of flowers. Elsewhere Doña María was reposing in a forest, as the king offered her a falcon. I also saw her dressed as a warrior while the king, in armour, offered her a sword. This set me thinking whether she had ever accompanied Don Pedro in one of his campaigns. All the figures in these tapestries were badly drawn, but Don Fernando assured me that all well-executed likenesses of Doña María de Padilla represented her to be a woman of rare charm, the loveliest of her century."

[42] "A côté de l'Italie, il faut citer l'Espagne, tributaire comme
elle des ateliers flamands. Les résidences royales regorgeaient
de ces précieux tissus, qui aujourd'hui encore, à Madrid ou à
l'Escurial, se chiffrent par centaines. Parmi les présents que le
roi de Castille envoya à Tamerlan ([dagger] 1405), on remarquait
des tapisseries dont les portraits étaient faits avec tant de
délicatesse, dit un chroniqueur persan, que si on voulait leur
comparer les ouvrages merveilleux autrefois exécutés par le
peintre Mani sur la toile d'Artène, Mani serait couvert de honte
et ses ouvrages paraîtraient difformes."--Müntz, _La Tapisserie_,
p. 172.

Pinheiro da Veiga says that at Valladolid in 1605, a banquet was celebrated in "a large gallery, completely covered with the richest silk brocade, as were most of the other apartments." He also says that cloths of similar richness were employed as street-awnings. "Upon the ninth was the Corpus procession, at which the king was to assist; and a proclamation was issued that none should promenade on horseback or in coaches. I found nothing remarkable in this procession, unless it were the hangings and the awnings to keep off the sun, which were of the richest damask and brocade." Of the same _fiesta_ Countess d'Aulnoy wrote in 1679: "The streets through which the procession has to pass are adorned with the finest tapestries in all the world, since in addition to those belonging to the Crown, many of the greatest beauty are displayed by private persons. The _celosías_ of all the balconies are replaced by elaborate canopies and hangings, and the whole roadway is covered with an awning to ward off the sun, and which, for the sake of greater freshness, is moistened with a little water." Nearly identical with this account is that of Alexander de Laborde, who wrote, a century and a quarter later than the Countess; "On Corpus Christi day there is a grand procession composed of the regular and secular clergy of Madrid, followed by the king, his ministers, and court, each bearing in his hand a wax taper. Magnificent awnings of tapestry are raised in the streets through which the procession is to pass; the balconies are decorated with splendid hangings; the seats are covered with cushions, and occasionally surmounted with a daïs; in some of the streets the face of day is darkened by canopies which stretch from one side to the other. Altars are placed at regular intervals; the balconies are thronged with ladies superbly dressed, who sprinkle scented water, or scatter fragrant flowers on the passing multitudes."

Pinheiro da Veiga also describes a set of remarkable tapestries, evidently Flemish, which he saw in the Chapter-room of the Convent of Cármen Calzado at Valladolid. "It was hung with the richest tapestry, silk, and paintings that had belonged to the Duke of Lerma. I greatly admired some cloths of green velvet, worked all over with the _Bucolics_ of Virgil, in _tarjas_ embroidered in silk and gold, as though they were _sebastos_[43] of ecclesiastical vestments, but these were old, of great value, and extraordinary merit. Finer still were certain cloths of recent workmanship, such as I had never seen equalled, of a white material painted in tempera, with the borders, dresses, and faces of the personages on them wrought in twisted gold. I never saw anything so brilliant or so novel. The cloths were eight in number, with four embroidered _guardapuertas_. The persons figured upon them wore belts of real pearls, rings set with diamonds and rubies on their fingers, and gold chains and medals studded with precious stones, just as living people wear them."

[43] A Portuguese word meaning a strip of silk upon the back of a
chasuble.

The fashion of collecting foreign tapestries seems to have reached its height at the Spanish capital in the first half of the seventeenth century. "Nowadays," wrote Fernandez de Navarrete, in his _Conservacion de Monarquías_, published in 1626, "gentlemen are not contented with hangings which a few years ago were considered good enough to adorn a prince's palace. The Spanish taffetas and guadamecíes, so highly esteemed in other provinces, are held of no account in this one (Madrid). The _sargas_ and _arãbeles_ wherewith the moderation of the Spanish people was satisfied in former days, must now be turned into injurious _telas rizas_ of Florence and Milan, and into costliest Brussels tapestry."

It is perhaps allowable to include among the oldest makers of Spanish tapestry the names of Gonzalo de Mesa and Diego Roman, who, in the year 1331, were paid respectively one thousand _maravedis_ and eighteen hundred _maravedis_, for decorating the tents of King Sancho the Fourth. There also exists the following entry, dating from the same period; "To Boançibre, master of the tents; XXX _maravedis_ for his food, for fifteen days."[44]

[44] Manuel G. Simancas, _Artistas Castellanos del Siglo XIII_ (_Boletín
de la Sociedad Española de Excursiones_ for January, 1905.)

Far clearer than these laconic excerpts is a document preserved in the library of the Academy of History at Madrid, in the form of a memorial presented to Philip the Second by a Spanish tapestry-maker of Salamanca, named Pedro Gutierrez,[45] and setting forth, in pessimistic language, the unhappy condition of this craft in the Peninsula. Pedro relates of himself that in twenty-four days he made for the Cardinal-archduke no less than a hundred and twenty _reposteros_; and that in order to exhibit his cleverness as a tapestry-weaver, he set up a loom in the royal palace (being officially the _tapicero_ to the Crown), and worked for forty days where all might criticise the product of his toil. Gutierrez also states that the township of Madrid had provided him with six hundred ducats to enable him to establish there a tapestry-factory for the space of ten years, together with six hundred and fifty ducats from the Cortes for supporting his apprentices, and a thousand ducats from the king to defray the cost of certain voyages he had made to Lisbon, Monzón, and Barcelona, and of removing his residence from Salamanca to the capital of Spain. He complains, however, that the house he dwells in at Madrid is not large enough to contain his loom, and replies to the objections of such persons as opposed his opening the tapestry-works at all (on the ground that this craft was practised better and more cheaply in Flanders), by asserting that Spanish makers of _reposteros_ were now accustomed to receive a daily wage of no more than three _reales_ and "a miserable meal." This, he urges, should render Spanish tapestries at least as inexpensive to produce as those of Flanders; although, upon the other hand, he admits that the colouring of the former is likely to prove inferior to the Flemish cloths in purity and durability. "Common tapestry," he says, "seldom keeps its colour upward of a couple of years, so that, if such were used in open sunlight on the backs of beasts of burden, or to cover carts, exposed to sun, wind, dust, and mire, or else for cleaning shoes upon, as now is practised with the _reposteros_, their imperfections would become apparent all the sooner."

[45] At about the same time that this petition was presented by
Gutierrez, another tapestry-maker named Pedro de Espinosa, a native
of Iniesta, was living at Cordova. On February 2nd, 1560, he
married Leonor de Burgos, and received as dowry from his bride the
sum of thirty-five thousand _maravedis_. (Ramírez de Arellano,
_Artistas Exhumados_, published in the _Boletín de la Sociedad
Española de Excursiones_.)

Mention of these typically Spanish objects known as _reposteros_,[46] induces me to quote an interesting notice relating to the visit of Philip the Second to Cordova, in the year 1570. The train of the Duke of Medina Sidonia, who journeyed to this city in order to receive his sovereign, consisted of a hundred and three mules covered with "new _reposteros_ of wool, and of six mules covered with _reposteros_ of purple velvet, embroidered with silver and gold, and bearing the duke's arms."

[46] "_Reposteros_," says Riaño, "is the ancient name given to the
hangings which are placed outside the balconies on state occasions
in Spain. Several splendid examples of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries may still be seen at the houses of Spanish
grandees, of which those belonging to the Conde de Oñate and
Marques de Alcañices at Madrid are the most remarkable for their
artistic design."

It is surprising that Riaño should insert so incomplete a
definition of this word, whose primitive and proper meaning,
according to the Dictionary of the Spanish Academy, is "a square
piece of cloth with the arms of a prince or Señor, which serves for
covering baggage carried by beasts of burden, and also for hanging
in antechambers." See also Vol. II., p. 16 (note) of the present
work.

If, as seems most likely, the woollen _reposteros_ above referred to were of woven work containing a device, this passage would demonstrate that the manufacture of the cloths in question was sometimes the province of the tapestry-maker and sometimes that of the embroiderer. Ramírez de Arellano, from whose instructive studies on the craftsmen of older Spain I quote the foregoing extract, says that the making of _reposteros_ constitutes a branch of craftsmanship distinct from embroidery of the common class, and that the men who produced them deserve to be included among artists of real merit. He gives the names of two, Hernán Gonzalez and Juan Ramos, who worked at Cordova in the middle of the sixteenth century. A document relating to the former of these men tells us that in those days the price of a _repostero de estambre_ measuring sixteen palms square, with a coat-of-arms worked in the centre, and a decorative border, was ninety _reales_.

Riaño says: "I do not find any information of a later date which suggests the existence of the manufacture of tapestries in Spain during the Middle Ages." Davillier, however, affirms that in the year 1411 two master-makers of tapestry were living at the court of the King of Navarre, and that other craftsmen, holding the same title, were established at Barcelona in 1391 and 1433. This notice is accepted by Müntz: "A la fin du XIV^e et au commencement du XV^e siècle, les Espagnols tentèrent de fonder dans leur patrie quelques ateliers de haute lisse. A Barcelone, en 1391 et en 1433, plusieurs tapissiers (_maestros de tapices_) firent partie du grand Conseil. Mais ces tentaves ne semblent pas avoir eu de résultats durables. Il était plus commode de recourir aux manufactures flamandes, si merveilleusement organisées. Peut-être même ce système était-il plus économique. Ne voyons-nous pas aujourd'hui jusqu'à l'extrême Orient tirer, pour raison d'économie, des fabriques de Manchester et de Birmingham les tissus courants dont il a besoin?"

The history of tapestry-making at Madrid may be said to date from the establishment in this town of a small factory by Pedro Gutierrez, whose petition to Philip the Second I have already quoted, and who received protection both from that monarch and from the queen, Doña Ana. In 1625 Gutierrez was succeeded by Antonio Ceron, who formally styled himself "tapicero de nuevo, sucesor de Pedro Gutierrez" ("maker of new tapestries, successor to Pedro Gutierrez"), and petitioned the king for the grant of a meal a day, "in recompense of having taught his trade to eight lads, and of having mounted eight looms in (the factory of) Santa Isabel." This factory of Santa Isabel was so called from the street in which it lay, and part of it is represented in the celebrated painting by Velazquez called _Las Hilanderas_ ("The Spinners," not, as it is translated in Riaño's handbook, "The Weavers." Plate xxi.).

This factory was unsuccessful, and declined by degrees until it ceased completely, in spite of the efforts made to revive it in 1694 by a Belgian named Metler, and in 1707 by a Salamanquino, Nicholas Hernández.

A new tapestry-factory--that of Santa Barbara--was founded shortly afterwards in a building known as the Casa del Abreviador. The first director, engaged in 1720 by order of Philip the Fifth, was Jacob Van der Goten, a native of Antwerp,[47] who died in 1724, and was succeeded at the factory by his sons, Francisco, Jacobo, Cornelius, and Adrian. These craftsmen worked with _basse lisse_ looms till 1729, in which year a _haute lisse_ loom was mounted by a Frenchman, Antoine Lenger.

[47] The royal contract with the elder Van der Goten, dated July 30th,
1720, was the result of secret negotiations, and largely brought
about by the influence of Philip's minister, Cardinal Alberoni.

In 1730, when the court removed to Seville, a tapestry-factory was established at this city also. The director was Jacob Van der Goten the younger, assisted by the painter Procaccini. At the end of three years this factory closed its doors, and Van der Goten and Procaccini, returning to Madrid, established themselves at the old factory of Santa Isabel, from which, in 1744, they again removed to the factory of Santa Barbara.[48]

[48] "On Saturday, May 27th, passing through the gate of Saint Barbara,
I visited the tapestry manufactory, which resembles, and equals
in beauty, the Gobelins, whence it originally came. I found a
Frenchman at the head of it, who was civil and communicative.
This fabric was brought into Spain, and established here under
the direction of John de Van Dergoten, from Antwerp, in the year
1720. They now employ fourscore hands, and work only on the king's
account, and for his palaces, making and repairing all the tapestry
and carpets which are wanted at any of the _Sitios_, or royal
residences."--Townsend, in 1786.

"The elegant manufacture of tapestry is carried on without Saint
Barbe's gate, at the entrance of the promenade of Los Altos, or
Chamberi; it was established in 1720 by Philip the Fifth, at whose
invitation John Dergoten, of Antwerp, was induced to undertake its
superintendence, an office at present filled by his descendants.
The productions of this manufactory are carpets and tapestry, the
subjects of which are often drawn from fable or history; it
sometimes copies pictures executed by superior artists, and affords
daily employment to eighty persons, including dyers, drawers,
designers, and all its various branches."--Laborde (about 1800).

In 1774, when, with the exception of Cornelius, who was considered the most skilful of them all, the family of the Van der Gotens had died out, the direction of the Santa Barbara factory was entrusted to several Spanish artists, named Manuel Sanchez, Antonio Moreno, Tomás del Castillo, and Domingo Galan. Sanchez, who acted as general superintendent of the works, died in 1786, and was succeeded in this office by his nephew, Livinio Stuck, whose son resumed the directorship in 1815, after the factory had been paralysed by the invasion of the Peninsula, and destroyed by the French in 1808. Since then it has never ceased working, and descendants of the Stucks continue to superintend it at the present day.

The collection of tapestry belonging to the Crown of Spain is probably the finest in the world. As far back as the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the walls of the royal palace were hung with decorative textile cloths or _paños de Ras_, and among the officers in the household of their son, the youthful Prince Don Juan, we find included a keeper of the tapestry and _reposteros_. But it was not until the reigns of Charles the Fifth and Philip the Second that the royal collection was enriched with numerous sets of celebrated tapestries produced in Italy and Flanders--countries which were then subjected to the yoke of Spain. Frequent additions were also made throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, both from abroad and subsequently (when the Brussels industry declined) from the Spanish factories of Santa Isabel and Santa Barbara.

As early as the year 1600 a Spaniard wrote enthusiastically of "the rich and cunning tapestries belonging to His Majesty, to whom it would be easier to win a kingdom than to get them made anew."[49] At the present day it is impossible to estimate with any certainty the number of these tapestries, the greater part of which are locked away. Only on certain festivals, such as the days of Corpus Christi and the Candelaria (Purification), a few are unfolded and displayed in the upper galleries of the palace at Madrid. Their total number is believed to be not far short of one thousand pieces;[50] but Señor Tormo calculates that were they no more than five hundred, they would, if placed end to end, cover more than two miles of ground.

[49] Licentiate Gaspar Gutierrez de los Ríos, _Noticia general para la
estimación de las Artes y de la manera en que se conocen las
liberales de las que son mecánicas y serviles_.

[50] Riaño estimates them at this number. See his _Report on a
collection of photographs from tapestries of the Royal Palace of
Madrid_; London, 1875; and also _Tapices de la Corona de España_,
with 135 plates in phototype, and text by Count Valencia de Don
Juan; Madrid, Hauser and Menet, 1903.

Among the sets which form this wonderful collection, distributed between the palaces of Madrid, the Prado, and the Escorial, none is of greater merit or magnificence than the series of twelve cloths depicting the _Conquest of Tunis_ (Plate xxii.), designed for Charles the Fifth by his Court painter, Jan Vermay or Vermeyen, of Beverwyck, near Haarlem, and executed by William Pannemaker, of Brussels. It was agreed by Pannemaker in 1549 that the materials employed upon this tapestry should consist of the finest wool, Granada silk, and, for the woof, the choicest Lyons _fillet_--the very best that money could procure. The Emperor himself was to provide the gold and silver thread. Accordingly, Pannemaker was supplied with five hundred and fifty-nine pounds and one ounce of silk, dyed and spun in the city of Granada, where one of Charles' agents resided for two years seven months and twenty-five days, for the purpose of superintending its preparation. The cost of this silk, exclusive of the agent's expenses, amounted to 6,637 florins. Nineteen colours were employed in the dyeing, each colour consisting of from three to seven shades, and a hundred and sixty pounds of the finest silk were consumed in trying to obtain a special shade of blue.

After receiving these materials, Pannemaker kept seven workmen constantly engaged upon each _paño_ of this tapestry, or eighty-four workmen in all. As soon as any one of the pieces was concluded, he submitted it to experts who pointed out such details as they recommended for correction. The entire work required a little more than five years, and was therefore terminated in 1554. The price paid for it was twelve florins per ell, and the number of these was 1246, representing a total cost of 14,952 florins, while Pannemaker, subject to the Emperor's being satisfied with the work, was further promised a yearly pension of a hundred florins.[51]

[51] Müntz, _La Tapisserie_, pp. 217, 218. Wauters, _Les Tapisseries
Bruxelloises_, pp. 76, 77. Houdoy, _Tapisseries représentant la
Conqueste du Royaulme de Thunes par l'empereur Charles-Quint_.

Equally remarkable are the spirited design and the flawless execution of this series of elaborate cloths, recalling, in their swarms of armed figures and the lofty point of view, which reduces the sky to a mere strip, the vivacious war and camp pictures of Snyders. The titles of the subjects, forming, as it were, a pictured epitome of the expedition led by Charles in person against the Barbary pirates, are as follows: (1) A map of the Spanish coast; (2) The review of the troops at Barcelona; (3) The landing of the forces; (4) A skirmish; (5) The camp; (6) Foraging; (7) The capture of La Goleta; (8) The battle of Los Pozos, Tunis; (9) A sortie of the besieged; (10) The sack of Tunis; (11) The victors returning to the harbour; (12) The forces embarking.

According to Müntz, this tapestry has been copied at least on two occasions; once in the eighteenth century by Josse de Vos, of Brussels, and also, in the same century, in Spain, partly at Seville, and partly at the factories of Santa Isabel and Santa Barbara.

Other most valuable and beautiful tapestries belonging to the Spanish Crown are the series titled _The History of the Virgin_, believed to be from cartoons by Van Eyk, _The Passion_, from cartoons attributed to Van der Weyden, the _History of David_ and _History of Saint John the Baptist_, the _Mass of Saint Gregory_, and the _Founding of Rome_. All of these series date from the fifteenth century and early in the sixteenth. Belonging to a later period are the reproductions of rustic scenes and hunting subjects by Teniers and others, executed in Spain between 1721 and 1724, the _Scenes from Don Quixote_, made at Santa Barbara from Procaccini's cartoons, and the eminently national series produced at the same factory from designs by Francisco Goya y Lucientes. This latter group amounts to several dozen pieces, including the well-known _Blind Man's Buff_, _A Promenade in Andalusia_ (Plate xxiii.), _The Crockery-seller_, _The Grape-Gatherers_ (_Frontispiece_), and other spirited and charming scenes of popular Spanish life--"tout cela," as Lefort describes it, "spirituel, vif, pittoresque, très mouvementé, bien groupé, s'élevant sur des fonds champêtres ou baignant gaiement en pleine lumière."

Other tapestry collections of great merit belong to the cathedrals of Burgos, Zamora (where they line the walls of the Sacristy; Plate xxiv.), Zaragoza, Toledo, Tarragona, and Santiago. The first of these temples possesses the following sets, which are displayed to decorate the cloisters on the feast of Corpus Christi:--

(1) The History of Cleopatra and Mark Antony.
(2) The History of David.
(3) The Creation.
(4) An Historical Subject.
(5) The Theological and Cardinal Virtues.
(6) A series of five Gothic tapestries, which represent some
mystery or allegory, and seem to be of Flemish
manufacture. One other _paño_, of a similar character,
accompanies them.

All but the last of the above sets are marked with two B's separated by a shield, denoting Brussels workmanship. The _Theological and Cardinal Virtues_ were presented to the cathedral about the end of the sixteenth century. They are evidently executed from Italian cartoons, and the _haute-lisse_ craftsman who made them, in or towards the year 1571, was named Francis Greubels.[52]

[52] See an article on these tapestries by Señor Lamperez y Romea,
published in No. 55 of the _Boletín de la Sociedad Española de
Excursiones_; and also Nos. 156 and 157 of the same publication,
for an article on the Crown and other Spanish collections, by
Elías Tormo y Monzó.

The tapestries which belong to the cathedral of Zaragoza number some sixty or seventy pieces, including a series (fifteenth century) representing _The Life of Saint John the Baptist_, from designs by Lucas of Holland. Good tapestries were also the property of Valencia cathedral, but have been dispersed and sold in recent years. The convent of the Descalzas Reales at Madrid possesses a set from designs by Rubens. Ten pieces of this series formerly belonged to the Count-Duke of Olivares, who sent them to his town of Loeches; four passing subsequently to the Duke of Westminster's collection. The small though valuable collection formed by the late Count of Valencia de Don Juan (Plate xxv.), passed at this nobleman's death to his daughter, Señora de Osma, who has presented part of it to the Archæological Museum at Madrid. Another collector resident in Spain, Mons. Mersmann, of Granada, possesses a series of fine Brussels cloths representing scenes from _Don Quixote_, by Van den Hecke.

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, in exchange, the art of making lace by means of bobbins, including the characteristic "Flemish net," or _red flandés_.

Towards the sixteenth century the parts of Spain where lace was manufactured in the largest quantity were some of the Manchegan towns and villages, the coast of Finisterre, and nearly the whole of Cataluña. In La Mancha lace was made, and still is so, at Manzanares, Granatula, Almagro, and other places. That of Almagro (the celebrated _punto de Almagro_, resembling the lace of Cataluña), is mentioned by nearly all the older travellers. In _Don Quixote_, Teresa writes to Sancho Panza that their daughter Sanchita was engaged in making bobbin-lace at a daily wage of eight _sueldos_.

In 1877, at the Exhibition of Sumptuary Arts which was held in Barcelona, a magnificent lace _toca_ was shown, which was affirmed by its possessor, Señor Parcerisa, to be the work of a Spaniard of the later part of the fifteenth century, and to have belonged to Isabella the Catholic. The cathedral of the same city owns three thread-lace albs of sixteenth century workmanship, and the South Kensington Museum other pieces of Spanish lace of a comparatively early date, probably made by nuns and subtracted from the convents during the stormy scenes of 1835.

Dating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, we have a number of notices, though scrappy and inexplicit as a rule, relating to Spanish lace. One of the more complete and interesting is quoted by Riaño from the _Microcosmia y Gobierno Universal del Hombre Cristiano_ (Barcelona, 1592) of Father Marcos Antonio de Campos. "I will not be silent," wrote this austere _padre_, "and fail to mention the time lost these last years in the manufacture of _cadenetas_, a work of thread combined with gold and silver; this extravagance and excess reached such a point that 100 and 1000 ducats were spent in this work, in which, besides destroying the eyesight, wasting away the lives, and rendering consumptive the women who worked it, and preventing them from spending their time with more advantage to their souls, a few ounces of thread and years of time were wasted with so unsatisfactory a result. I ask myself, after this fancy shall have passed away, will the lady or gentleman find that the chemises that cost them 50 ducats, or the _basquiña_ (petticoat) that cost them 300, are worth half their price, which certainly is the case with other objects in which the material itself is worth more?"

Several of the other notices relating to the lace-makers' craft are from the pen of Countess d'Aulnoy. Of the Countess of Lemos this writer says: "Her hair was white, but she carefully concealed it beneath a black blonde"; and of another Spanish lady, Doña Leonor de Toledo, that she wore "a green velvet skirt trimmed with Spanish blonde." In the apartments of the young Princess of Monteleón the countess saw "a bed of green and gold damask, decorated with silver brocade and Spanish blonde. The sheets were fringed with English point-lace, extremely broad and handsome." The countess also says that the petticoats of the Spanish ladies were of English point-lace,[53] and that these ladies, when they visited each other, wore on their heads "a _toca_ of the richest English black point-lace, half a yard broad, forming points like the antique laces, beautiful to look at, and very dear. This head-dress suits them rarely."

[53] Upon the other hand, a notice dated 1562 says that at that time
Spanish-made black lace was largely used at the Court of England.

According to Balsa de la Vega, whose interesting articles on Spanish lace (published in the newspaper _El Liberal_) are worth perusal by all who are interested in this craft, about the middle of the seventeenth century the custom originated in Spain of making lace in broader pieces, dividing the pattern into a number of strips or _fajas_ which were subsequently sewn together. In Belgium, on the contrary, the design was cut out, following the contour of the floral or other decoration.

In former ages gold and silver lace was made in France, and also at Genoa. I think it possible that Genoese merchants, many of whom are known to have settled in Granada and other Spanish cities, may first have introduced this branch of lace-making among the Spaniards. The sumptuary laws of Aragon, Castile, León, and Navarre would seem to show that lace of these materials, known as _punto_ or _redecilla de oro_ (or _plata_) was manufactured by the Spanish Jews between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries. During the seventeenth century and part of the eighteenth, the quantity produced in the Peninsula was very large. In his _Fenix de Cataluña_, a work which was published at Barcelona in 1683, Feliu de la Peña says that Spanish _randa_ or _réseuil_, of gold and silver, silk, thread, and aloe fibre, was better made in Spain than in the Netherlands. The journal of Bertaut de Rouen contains the following notice of this silver lace: "Le Roy y envoya le Lieutenant du Maistre des Postes, avec huit postillons, couverts de clinquant, et quarante chevaux de poste, dont il y en avoit huit avec des selles et des brides du Roy où il y avoit de la dentelle d'argent, que Monsieur le Mareschal fit distribuer à environ autant de gens que nous estions, sur une liste qu'il avoit envoyée quelques jours auparavant."

It is impossible to mention Spanish lace without recalling that most graceful article of headwear, the _mantilla_, the use of which is gradually dying out. At present we understand by this word a black or white head-covering of lace alone (the white being more conspicuous and dressy), but about a hundred years ago the _mantilla_ was made of a variety of fabrics. Also, it was worn in an easier and more _negligé_ manner than nowadays, retaining a closer likeness to the _velo_ or _manto_ with which the Spanish women of the seventeenth century were able, at their pleasure, to completely mask their faces (Plates xxvi. and xxvii.). Indeed, as late as the early part of the nineteenth century the _mantilla_ was sometimes thrown over the face (Plates xxviii. and xxix.). The same usage is referred to by Townsend, who describes the _mantilla_ as "serving the double purpose of a cloak and veil."[54] To-day it is worn, not hanging loose and open, but a good deal bunched up at the bosom. The hair, too, is dressed to an unusual height, with a tall comb, and over this the delicate lace covering should droop a little to one side. A flower or two (roses or carnations by preference) may be worn at one side of the head, and where the _mantilla_ is caught up at the breast.

[54] "Pour les femmes, elles ne sortent point qu'emmantelées d'une mante
noire comme le deüil des dames de France, et elles ne se montrent
qu'un [oe]uil, et vont cherchant et agaçant les hommes avec tant
d'effronterie, qu'elles tiennent à affront quand on ne veut pas
aller plus loin que la conversation."--Bertaut de Rouen; _Journal
du Voyage d'Espagne_, p. 294.