and his son Francisco, Francisco de Baena, Alonso Casas, Alonso del
Castillo, Luis de Cordoba, Sebastián de Cordoba, Cristóbal de Escalante,
Juan Gonzalez, Diego Fernandez, Diego Hernandez Rubio (son of Sebastián
de Cordoba), Rodrigo de León, Gómez Luque, Ginés Martinez, Melchor de
los Reyes (silversmith and enameller), Andrés de Roa, Pedro de Roa,
Alonso Sanchez, Jerónimo Sanchez de la Cruz, Martin Sanchez de la Cruz
(Jerónimo's son), Pedro Sanchez de Luque, Alonso de Sevilla, Juan
Urbano, and Lucas de Valdés.
Not much is told us of the lives and labours of these artists. The best
reputed of them as a craftsman was Rodrigo de León, who stood next after
Juan Ruiz, _el Sandolino_. Ramírez de Arellano, from whom I have
collected these data, publishes a number of León's agreements or
contracts, which from their length and dryness I do not here repeat. In
1603 we find him official silversmith to the cathedral, under the title
of "_platero de martillo_ ("silversmith of hammered work") _de la obra
de la catedral desta ciudad_."
Francisco de Alfaro, although a Cordovese by birth, resided commonly at
Seville. In 1578 he received 446,163 _maravedis_ for making four silver
candlesticks for use in celebrating divine service. These candlesticks
are still in the cathedral.
Sebastián de Cordoba was one of the foremost artists of his age. He died
in 1587, leaving, together with other children, a son, Diego, who also
won some reputation as a silversmith. Ramírez de Arellano publishes a
full relation of the property which Sebastián de Cordoba bequeathed at
his decease, as well as of the money which was owing to him. Among the
former, or the "movable effects," we read of "Isabel, a Morisco woman,
native of the kingdom of Granada; her age thirty-four years, a little
less or more." The same inventory includes a curious and complete
account of all the tools and apparatus in Sebastián's workshop.
But the quaintest notice of them all, though it does not apprise us of
his merit as a silversmith, is that concerning Cristóbal de Escalante.
Cristóbal suffered, we are told, from "certain sores produced by humours
in his left leg; wherefore the said leg undergoes a change and swells."
He therefore makes a contract with one Juan Jiménez, "servant in the
Royal Stables of His Majesty the King," and duly examined as a herbalist
("licensed," in the actual phrase, "to remedy this kind of ailments"),
who is to heal his leg "by means of the divine will of the cure." As
soon as Cristóbal shall be thoroughly well, "in so much that his ailing
leg shall be the other's equal in the fatness and the form thereof," he
is to pay Jiménez five-and-fifty _reales_, "having already given him ten
_reales_ on account."
Probably, as Señor Ramírez de Arellano facetiously supposes, Cristóbal,
after such a course of treatment, would be lame for all his life. At any
rate, he died in 1605, though whether from the gentle handling of the
stableman and herbalist is not recorded in these entries.
Still keeping to the sixteenth century, in other parts of Spain we find
the silversmiths Baltasar Alvarez and Juan de Benavente, working at
Palencia; Alonso de Dueñas at Salamanca; and Juan de Orna at Burgos,
about the same time that the foreigners Jacomi de Trezzo and Leo Leoni
were engaged at the Escorial. Cuenca, too, boasted three excellent
silver-workers in the family of Becerril, mentioned by Juan de Arfe in
company with other craftsmen of the time of the Renaissance.[52]
Stirling says of Cuenca and the Becerriles: "They made for the cathedral
its great _custodia_, which was one of the most costly and celebrated
pieces of church plate in Spain. They began it in 1528, and, though
ready for use in 1546, it was not finished till 1573. It was a
three-storied edifice, of a florid classical design, crowned with a
dome, and enriched with numberless groups and statues, and an inner
shrine of jewelled gold; it contained 616 marks of silver, and cost
17,725-1/2 ducats, a sum which can barely have paid the ingenious
artists for the labour of forty-five years. In the War of Independence,
this splendid prize fell into the hands of the French General
Caulaincourt, by whom it was forthwith turned into five-franc pieces,
bearing the image and superscription of Napoleon."[53]
[52] "_Con estos fué mi padre en seguimiento
Joan Alvarez tambien el Salmantino,
Becerril, que tambien fué deste cuento,
Juan de Orna, y Juan Ruiz el Vandolino._"
[53] _Annals of the Artists of Spain_, vol. i. pp. 161, 162.
A more reliable notice says that this _custodia_ was begun by Alonso
Becerril and finished by his brother Francisco. The third member of
this family of artists, Cristóbal, who flourished towards the end of the
sixteenth century, was Francisco's son.
[Illustration: XVI
GOTHIC _CUSTODIA_
(_15th Century_)]
Towards the close of the Gothic and during the earlier phases of the
Renaissance movement in this country, enormous quantities of gold and
silver began to be employed in making these _custodias_ or monstrances
of her temples; so that the fifteenth century may well be called, in
Spanish craftsmanship, the "age of the _custodia_." A century ago the
reverend Townsend, loyal to the Low Church prejudices of his day, spoke
of this object with something of a sneer as "the depository of the Host,
or, according to the ideas of a Catholic, the throne of the Most High,
when, upon solemn festivals, He appears to command the adoration of
mankind." Riaño's description is more technical. "The name of
_custodia_," he says, "is given in Spain, not only to the monstrance or
ostensoir where the Blessed Sacrament is exposed, but also to a sort of
temple or tabernacle, of large size, made also of silver, inside which
is placed the monstrance, which is carried in procession on Corpus
Christi day (Plate xvi.). In order to distinguish these objects one from
another, the name of _viril_ is given to the object which holds the
consecrated Host; it is generally made of rock crystal, with a gold stem
and mount ornamented with precious stones. The small tabernacles are
generally objects of the greatest importance, both from their artistic
and intrinsic value." A third description of the monstrance, written in
quaint and antiquated Spanish verse by Juan de Arfe, is truthfully if
not melodiously translated into English rhyme by Stirling:--
"Custodia is a temple of rich plate,
Wrought for the glory of our Saviour true,
Where, into wafer transubstantiate,
He shows his Godhead and his Manhood too,
That holiest ark of old to imitate,
Fashioned by Bezaleel, the cunning Jew,
Chosen of God to work His sov'ran will,
And greatly gifted with celestial skill."[54]
[54] _Op. cit._, p. 159, note.
Notwithstanding that the monstrance of Toledo, surmounted by a cross of
solid gold, turns the scale at ten thousand nine hundred ounces, and
that of Avila at one hundred and forty pounds, the weight of nearly all
of these _custodias_ is far exceeded by the value of their workmanship.
The style employed in their construction is the Gothic, the Renaissance,
or the two combined. _Custodias_ of the eastern parts of Spain are more
affected than the others by Italian influence, noticeable both in
decorative motives which recall the Florentine, and in the use, together
with the silver-work, of painting and enamels. In other parts of Spain
the dominating influence is the later Gothic. Among the former or
Levantine class of monstrances, the most important are those of
Barcelona, Vich, Gerona, and Palma de Mallorca; and of the others, those
of Cordova, Cadiz, Sahagún, Zamora, Salamanca, and Toledo--this last,
according to Bertaut de Rouen, "à la manière d'un clocher percé à jour,
d'ouvrage de filigrane, et plein de figures." _Custodias_ in the purest
classic or Renaissance style are those of Seville, Valladolid, Palencia,
Avila, Jaen, Madrid, Segovia, Zaragoza, Santiago, and Orense.
Juan de Arfe y Villafañe, who may be called the Cellini of Spain's
_custodia_-makers, was born at León in 1535. He was the son of Antonio
de Arfe, and grandson of Enrique de Arfe, a German who had married a
Spanish wife and made his home in Spain. The family of Juan, including
his brother Antonio, were all distinguished craftsmen, and he himself
informs us that his grandfather excelled in Gothic _platería_, as may
be judged from the _custodias_, by Enrique's hand, of Cordova, León,
Toledo, and Sahagún, and many smaller objects, such as incensories,
crosiers, and paxes.
The father of Juan, Antonio de Arfe, worked in silver in the Renaissance
or Plateresque styles, and executed in the florid manner the _custodias_
of Santiago de Galicia and Medina de Rioseco; but the training and
tastes of Juan himself were sternly classical. His work in consequence
has a certain coldness, largely atoned for by its exquisite correctness
of design and unimpeachable proportions. Arfe's ideal in these matters
may readily be judged of from his written verdict on the Greco-Roman
architecture. "The Escorial," he says, in the preface to his description
of the _custodia_ of Seville cathedral, "_because it follows the rules
of ancient art_, competes in general perfection, size, or splendour with
the most distinguished buildings of the Asiatics, Greeks, and Romans,
and displays magnificence and truth in all its detail."
In point of versatility Juan de Arfe was a kind of Spanish Leonardo. His
book, _De Varia Conmensuración_, etc., published in 1585, is divided
into four parts, and deals, the first part with the practice of
geometry, the second with human anatomy, the third with animals, and
the fourth with architecture and silver-work for use in churches.
[Illustration: IOAN DE ARFE]
This book is prefaced by the portrait of the author, given above. It
shows us--what he really was--a quiet, cultured, gentle-hearted man.
Indeed, while Arfe was studying anatomy at Salamanca, it gave him pain
to lacerate the bodies even of the dead. "I was witness," he records,
"to the flaying of several pauper men and women whom the law had
executed; but these experiments, besides being horrible and cruel, I saw
to be of little service to my studies in anatomy."
Arfe's workmanship of the _custodia_ of Avila cathedral, which he began
in 1564 and terminated in 1571, won for him an early and extended fame.
He also made the _custodia_ of Burgos (brutally melted during the
Spanish War of Independence), and those of Valladolid (finished in
1590), Lugo, Osma, and the Hermandad del Santísimo at Madrid. The
_custodia_ of Palencia is also thought by some to be his handiwork.
But Arfe's crowning labour was the Greco-Roman _custodia_ of Seville
cathedral (Plate xvii.). The chapter of this temple selected his design
in 1580, and nominated the licentiate Pacheco to assist him with the
statuettes. Pacheco also carried out his portion of the task with skill
and judgment. A rare pamphlet, written by Arfe and published at Seville
in 1587, gives a minute description of the whole _custodia_. In Appendix
C, I render this description into English, together with a similarly
detailed notice of the _custodia_ (1513 A.D.) of Cordova. This last,
which we have seen to be the work of Juan de Arfe's grandfather,
Enrique, is not to be surpassed for fairy grace and lightness, seeming,
in the eloquent metaphor of a modern writer, "to have been conceived in
a dream, and executed with the breath."
[Illustration: XVII
_CUSTODIA_ OF SEVILLE CATHEDRAL
(_By Juan de Arfe. Late 16th Century_)]
Spain in the seventeenth century had reached the lowest depth of her
decadence and impoverishment; and yet we find that century an age--to
quote a Spanish term--of "gallantries and pearls," in which a craze for
reckless luxury continued to prevail in every quarter. Narratives
innumerable inform us of the life and doings of that prodigal court and
prodigal aristocracy; their ruinous and incessant festivals; the
fortunes that were thrown away on furniture, and jewels, and costume.
True, we are told by Bertaut de Rouen that, except upon their numerous
holidays, the costume of the Spanish men was plain enough. This author,
who calls them otherwise "debauched and ignorant," says that their
clothes were all of "méchante frise," and adds that they continually
took snuff, "dont ils ont toujours les narines pleines, ce qui fait
qu'ils n'ont que des mouchoirs de laine, de toile grise, et peinte comme
de la toile de la Chine." The same traveller, attending an ordinary
reception in the royal palace at Madrid, was unable to distinguish the
nobles from the lower orders, except that, by the privilege peculiar to
this country, the former kept their hats on in the presence of the
sovereign. Even of Philip himself he says: "Le Roy d'Espagne estoit
debout avec un habit fort simple et fort ressemblant à tous ses
portraits"; alluding, probably, to those of Philip the Fourth by
Velazquez, in which the monarch wears a plain cloth doublet.
But when the Spaniard dressed himself for any scene of gala show, his
spendthrift inclinations swelled into a positive disease. The women,
too, squandered enormous sums on finery. The Marchioness of Liche, said
to have been the loveliest Española of that day, is spoken of by Bertaut
as wearing "un corps de brocard d'argent avec de grandes basques à leur
mode, la jupe d'une autre étoffe avec grand nombre de pierreries, et
cela luy fetoit fort bien." An anonymous manuscript of the period,
published by Gayangos in the _Revista de España_ for 1884, describes the
_fiestas_ celebrated at Valladolid in 1605, in honour of the English
ambassador and his retinue. In this relation the Duke of Lerma is quoted
as possessing a yearly income of three hundred thousand _cruzados_,
besides "as much again in jewellery and furniture, and gold and silver
services." At the state banquets which were given at that wasteful
court, even the pies and tarts were washed with gold or silver; and at a
single feast the dishes of various kinds of fare amounted to two
thousand and two hundred. At the banquet given by the Duke of Lerma,
three special sideboards were constructed to sustain the weight of four
hundred pieces of silver, "all of them of delicate design and
exquisitely wrought of silver, gold, and enamel, together with
innumerable objects of glass and crystal of capricious form, with
handles, lids, and feet of finest gold."
The whole of Spain's nobility was congregated at these festivals,
"richly attired with quantities of pearls and oriental gems," while
everybody, young and old alike, wore "diamond buttons and brooches on
cloaks and doublets," feather plumes with costly medals, gold chains
with emeralds, and other ornaments. The ladies of the aristocracy were
also "clothed in costliest style, as well as loaded with diamonds and
pearls and hair-ornaments of pearls and gold, such as the women of
Castile lay by for these solemnities."
The Spanish churches, too, continued to be veritable storehouses of
treasure. The manuscript published by Gayangos says that in 1605 the
church of La Merced at Valladolid had its altars "covered with beautiful
gold and silver vessels, of which there are a great many in the whole of
Castilla la Vieja, and particularly here at Valladolid." Bertaut de
Rouen's notice of the shrine of Montserrat in Cataluña has been inserted
previously. In 1775 Swinburne wrote of the same temple:--"In the
sacristy and passages leading to it are presses and cupboards full of
relics and ornaments of gold, silver, and precious stones; they pointed
out to us, as the most remarkable, two crowns for the Virgin and her
Son, of inestimable value, some large diamond rings, an excellent cameo
of Medusa's head, the Roman emperors in alabaster, the sword of Saint
Ignatius, and the chest that contains the ashes of a famous brother,
John Guarin, of whom they relate the same story as that given in the
_Spectator_ of a Turkish santon and the Sultan's daughter.... Immense is
the quantity of votive offerings to this miraculous statue; and as
nothing can be rejected or otherwise disposed of, the shelves are
crowded with the most whimsical _ex votos_, viz., silver legs, fingers,
breasts, earrings, watches, two-wheeled chaises, boats, carts, and
such-like trumpery."
Many pragmatics from the Crown vainly endeavoured to suppress or
mitigate the popular extravagance. Such was the royal letter of 1611,
which forbade, among the laity, the wearing of "gold jewels with
decoration or enamel in relief, or points with pearls or other stones."
Smaller jewels, of the kind known as _joyeles_ and _brincos_,[55] were
limited to a single stone, together with its pearl pendant. The
jewellery of the women was exempted from these laws, though even here
were certain limitations. Rings for the finger might, however, bear
enamel-work, or any kind of stone. Enamel was also allowed in gold
buttons and chains for the men's caps, as well as in the badges worn by
the knights of the military orders.
[55] _Brinco_ (_brincar_, to jump or spring). These jewels were so
called from their vibrating as the wearer walked. The Balearic
Islands were famous for their manufacture; and the late Marquis of
Arcicollar possessed a case of valuable examples, most of which
proceeded from this locality.
"It is forbidden," continues this pragmatic, "to make any object of
gold, silver, or other metal with work in relief, or the likeness of a
person; nor shall any object be gilt, excepting drinking vessels, and
the weight of these shall not exceed three marks. All other silver
shall be flat and plain, without gilding; but this does not apply to
objects intended for religious worship."
"All niello-work is prohibited, as are silver brasiers and buffets."[56]
[56] _Suma de Leyes_, 1628, p. 116 (2).
What I may call the private jewel-work of Spain, largely retains
throughout its history the characteristic lack of finish of all the
Visigothic treasure found at Guarrazar. From first to last, until
extinguished or absorbed by foreign influences two centuries ago, it
strives to compensate in ponderous and bulky splendour for what it lacks
in delicacy, elegance, and taste. It is just the jewellery we should
expect to find among a military people who once upon a time possessed
great riches simultaneously with little education, and who, from this
and other causes, such as the strenuous opposition of the national
church to pagan sentiments expressed in fleshly form, were never
genuinely or profoundly art-loving. Long residence and observation in
their midst induce me to affirm that as a race the Spaniards are and
always have been hostile, or at least indifferent, to the arts; and that
their most illustrious artists have made their power manifest and raised
themselves to eminence despite the people--not, as in Italy, on the
supporting shoulders of the people.
Dazzle and show monopolized, and to a great extent monopolize still, the
preference of this race. The Spanish breast-ornaments of the seventeenth
century, preserved at South Kensington and reproduced by Riaño on pages
37 and 39 of his handbook, are strongly reminiscent of the Visigothic
ornaments. Who would imagine that a thousand years had come and gone
between the execution of the new and of the old? As late as the reign of
Charles the Second the culture of a Spanish lady of high birth was
little, if at all, superior to a savage's. "False stones enchant them,"
wrote Countess d'Aulnoy. "Although they possess many jewels of
considerable value and the finest quality, it is their whim to carry on
their person wretched bits of glass cut in the coarsest fashion, just
like those which pedlars in my country sell to country girls who have
seen nobody but the village curate, and nothing but their flocks of
sheep. Dames of the aristocracy adorn themselves with these pieces of
glass, that are worth nothing at all; yet they purchase them at high
prices. When I asked them why they like false diamonds, they told me
they prefer them to the genuine as being larger. Indeed, they sometimes
wear them of the bigness of an egg." Even where the stones were real,
the Spanish taste in setting and in wearing them was no less execrable.
The Countess says: "the ladies here possess great stores of beautiful
precious stones, and do not wear, like Frenchwomen, a single article of
jewellery, but nine or ten together, some of diamonds, others of rubies,
pearls, emeralds, and turquoises, wretchedly mounted, since they are
almost wholly covered with the gold. When I inquired the cause of this,
they told me the jewels were so made because the gold was as beautiful
as the gems. I suppose, however, the real reason is the backwardness of
the craftsmen, who can do no better work than this, excepting Verbec,
who has no lack of skill, and would turn out excellent jewels if he took
the trouble to finish them."
"In the neck of their bodices the ladies fasten pins profusely set with
precious stones. Hanging from the pin, and fastened at the lower end to
the side of their dress, is a string of pearls or diamonds. They wear no
necklace, but bracelets on their wrists and rings on their fingers, as
well as long earrings of so great a weight that I know not how they can
support them. Hanging from these earrings they display whatever finery
they may fancy. I have seen some ladies who wore good-sized watches
hanging from their ears, strings of precious stones, English keys of
dainty make, and little bells. They also wear the _agnus_, together with
little images about their neck and arms, or in their hair. They dress
their hair in various ways, and always go with it uncovered, using many
hairpins in the form of coloured flies or butterflies of diamonds,
emeralds, and rubies."
Book-worm authorities, addicted to "dry bones" of letters, are prone
just now to doubt this visit of Countess d'Aulnoy to the capital of
Spain. But if such patient doubters will compare her narrative with
those of other foreigners, _e.g._ Bertaut de Rouen, or the manuscript
description of Valladolid, written by a Portuguese, and now in the
British Museum library, their scepticism will--or should--be done away
with on the moment. The letters of the countess make it plain by copious
inner testimony that she actually performed her Spanish visit; and
though from time to time she over-colours or misreads the truth, it was
the very usages of Spain that were absurd and out of joint, and not,
except in isolated instances, the sprightly and observant Frenchwoman's
account of them.[57]
[57] But on the other hand I much suspect that the following passage in
Alvarez de Colmenar's _Annales d'Espagne et de Portugal_
(vol. iii. p. 326) is stolen from Countess d'Aulnoy. "Elles ne
portent point de colier, mais en échange elles ont des bracelets,
des bagues, et des pendans d'oreille, plus gros que tous ceux qu'on
voit en Hollande. Telle est la diversité des gouts des nations
différentes, en matière de beauté. Il y en a même quelques-unes,
qui attachent quelque beau joli bijou à leurs pendans d'oreilles,
quelque ornement de pierreries, par exemple, ou d'autres choses
semblables, selon leur quantité ou leur pouvoir."
Elsewhere the Countess says: "Utensils of common metal are not employed
here, but only those of silver or of ware. I hear that a little while
ago, upon the death of the Duke of Alburquerque, six weeks were needed
to make out an inventory of his gold and silver services. His house
contained fourteen hundred dozen plates, five hundred large dishes, and
seven hundred of a smaller size, with all the other pieces in
proportion, and forty silver ladders for climbing his sideboard, made in
grades like an altar in a spacious hall."
These statements have been proved in later years. Dating from 1560, an
inventory of the ducal house of Alburquerque was found not many years
ago. In it we find the detailed list of gold and silver; cups and
dishes, bowls and basins, plates and salt-cellars, trenchers, wine and
water flagons, sauce-spoons, salad-spoons, conserve-spoons, and
innumerable other articles. Here, too, we find, upon the mighty
sideboard mounted by its forty silver stairs, such objects as the
following:--