now engaged, whose services proved also beneficial to the works. This
was Pierre Cloostermans, "a skilful man, well versed in the manufacture
of porcelain pastes, as well as in painting and decorating them."
Cloostermans, however, was much molested by the envy of the Spanish
workmen at Alcora, as well as by their typical intolerance in matters of
religion, although the Count, his master, behaved towards him with the
utmost kindness. Under his supervision, the quality of Alcora ware was
notably improved. Figures and groups of many kinds were attempted, and
even Wedgwood jasper ware was creditably imitated. In 1789, among other
pottery that was sent to Madrid were "two hard paste porcelain cups,
adorned with low relief in the English style." The most important one
was moulded by Francisco Garcés, the garlands and low reliefs by Joaquín
Ferrer, sculptor, the flowers on the covers by an apprentice, helped by
Cloostermans.
Dated in the same year (1789), Riaño quotes an interesting letter from
the Count of Aranda to Don Pedro Abadia, his steward. "I wish," he said,
"to export the porcelain of my manufactory, but chiefly in common
objects, such as cups of different kinds, tea and coffee services, etc.
These may be varied in form and colour, the principal point being that
the paste should bear hot liquids, for we Spaniards above everything
wish that nothing we buy should ever break. By no means let time be
wasted in making anything that requires much loss of time. The chief
object is that the pastes should be of first-rate excellence and
durability."
In 1793 Cloostermans was driven from the country by political
disturbances; but he was allowed to return in 1795, and resumed his
duties at the factory. All through these years Alcora continued to make
most excellent pottery. Essays were made with foreign earths, as well as
with the best that could be found in Spain. About this time kaolin was
discovered in Cataluña, and the Count was particularly anxious that this
native product should be utilised at Alcora. "The kaolin of Cataluña,"
he wrote in 1790, "may be good or bad, but it is acknowledged to be
kaolin, and if we do not employ it I must close my works."
The Count of Aranda and Pierre Cloostermans both died in 1798, and in
1800 the Duke of Hijar became the manager and proprietor of the
potteries. "Two hundred workmen were employed, and pottery of every
description was made, common earthenware, pipeclays in imitation of the
English ones, and porcelain in small quantities; common wares were made
in large quantities; the pipeclays were pronounced superior to the
English in brilliancy, but were so porous that they were easily stained.
A large number of snuff-boxes and other small objects belong to this
period."--(Riaño.)
In the early years of the nineteenth century Alcora ware deteriorated
not a little. This decline was further aggravated by the French
invasion; and although an attempt was subsequently made to revive the
industry by bringing craftsmen from the porcelain factory of Madrid, it
suffered fresh relapses and produced henceforward little but the
commonest kinds of ware. "This system," says Riaño, "continued until
1858, when the Duke of Hijar sold the manufactory to Don Ramón Girona,
who brought over English workmen from Staffordshire in order to improve
the wares. Many imitations of the older styles have also been made at
Alcora of late years."
Riaño appends instructive tables, which I copy in Appendix I, of every
kind of pottery manufactured at Alcora. He also believes that a great
deal of pottery which was formerly thought to proceed from French or
English factories is really of Alcora make, including "a great quantity
of objects of white pipeclay porcelain which have been found of late
years in Spain. They have hitherto been classified by amateurs as Leeds
pottery. We find, in papers relating to Alcora, that a decided
distinction is made between white and straw-coloured pottery. This
indication may be sufficient to distinguish it from English wares."
The celebrated Royal Porcelain Factory of the Buen Retiro at Madrid,
formerly situated in the public gardens of that name and popularly known
as the "Fabrica de la China," was founded in 1759 by Charles the Third,
who erected a vast edifice for this purpose, and filled it with a
multitude of workmen and their families, including two hundred and
twenty-five persons whom he brought over from his other factory of
Capo-di-Monte in Italy. He also transferred a great part of the
material.[101] The cost of the new works amounted to eleven and a half
millions of _reales_, and they were terminated in 1764. The cost of
keeping up the factory is stated by Larruga to have amounted to three
millions of _reales_ yearly. The first directors were Juan Tomás
Bonicelli and Domingo Bonicelli, and the first modellers-in-chief and
superintendents, possessing the secrets of the fabrication
(_secretistas_), were Cayetano Schepers and Carlos Gricci.
[101] On September 11th, 1759, the king wrote to his Secretary of
State, Richard Wall:--"The workmen and utensils of the Royal
Porcelain Manufactory of Capo-di-Monte must also be sent from
Naples to Alicante, in the vessels prepared for this purpose, in
order to proceed from Alicante to Madrid. The necessary
conveyances are to be provided, and the expenses to be charged to
his Majesty's account."
Riaño says that every kind of porcelain was made at the Buen Retiro,
"hard and soft paste, white china, glazed or unglazed, or painted and
modelled in the style of Capo-di-Monte." A great many objects existed
imitating the blue jasper ware of Wedgwood, and they also made flowers,
coloured and biscuit, groups (Pl. lxxi.), and single figures, and
painted porcelain of different kinds. Great quantities of tiles for
pavements were also made there, which may still be seen at the Casa del
Labrador at Aranjuez: they are mentioned in the accounts which exist at
the Ministry of Finance for 1807 and 1808. We find in these same
accounts interesting details of the objects made monthly. In January,
1808, a large number of figures were made, including 151 heads for the
table centre which was made for the king, 306 objects ornamented with
paintings, 2506 tiles, 577 objects of less artistic importance, such as
dishes, plates, etc. The finest specimens which exist are in the
Neapolitan style, and are two rooms at the palaces of Madrid and
Aranjuez, of which the walls are completely covered with China plaques
and looking-glasses, modelled in the most admirable manner with figures,
fruits, and flowers. The room at Aranjuez is covered with a bold
ornamentation of figures in the Japanese style, in high relief, painted
with colours and gold with the most exquisite details. The figures unite
the fine Italian modelling with the Japanese decoration. The chandelier
is in the same style (Plate lxxii.). Upon a vase on the wainscot to the
right of the entrance door is the following inscription:--
JOSEPH
GRICCI
DELINEAV^{it}
ET
SCUL^{it}
1763.
This same date is repeated in the angles, and in some shields near the
roof we find,
"AÑO
1765;
probably the year the work was terminated."
[Illustration: LXXII
ROOM DECORATED WITH PORCELAIN OF THE BUEN RETIRO
(_Royal Palace of Aranjuez_)]
The earliest mark upon the Buen Retiro porcelain was a blue
fleur-de-lis, to which were subsequently added the letter M and a royal
crown. Still later, in the reign of Charles the Fourth, the mark used
was a fleur-de-lis with two crossed C's.
The object of the Buen Retiro Factory was almost wholly to supply the
Crown with costly ware, and would-be visitors were jealously excluded.
Townsend wrote in 1786: "I tried to obtain admission to the china
manufacture, which is likewise administered on the king's account, but
his Majesty's injunctions are so severe, that I could neither get
introduced to see it, nor meet with anyone who had ever been able to
procure that favour for himself. I was the less mortified upon this
occasion, because from the specimens which I have seen, both in the
palace at Madrid and in the provinces, it resembles the manufacture of
Sèvres, which I had formerly visited in a tour through France."
Laborde also complained that the factory was "wholly inaccessible: all
entrance to it is interdicted, and its existence is only ascertained by
the exhibition which is made of its productions in the royal palace."
The same writer refers to another class of work which was produced here,
namely, stone mosaic. "The process by which stone is wrought into
pictures is as delicate as it is curious: a selection is made from
marble fragments of various shades and dimensions, which are found, by
judicious assimilation, to produce no bad resemblance to painting." Jean
François de Bourgoing, French Minister at Madrid, was lucky enough, in
1782, to penetrate into the factory and view the process. "Le Monarque
actuel," he wrote, "a établi dans leur intérieur une fabrique de
porcelaine, dont l'entrée est jusqu'à présent interdite à tout le monde.
On veut sans doute que ses essais se perfectionnent dans le silence,
avant de les exposer aux regards des curieux. Ses productions ne peuvent
encore se voir que dans les Palais du Souverain, ou dans quelques Cours
d'Italie, auxquelles il les envoie en présens. On travaille dans le même
édifice à certains ouvrages de marqueterie, qui sont encore peu connus
en Europe. J'y pénétrai un jour, sous les auspices d'un étranger
distingué en faveur duquel le Roi avoit levé la prohibition rigoureuse,
qui en exclut tout le monde. Je suis témoin de la patience and de
l'adresse avec lesquelles on taille and on rapproche divers petits
morceaux de marbre coloré, pour en former des tableaux assez compliqués,
qui en faisant à-peu-près le même effet que la peinture, ont sur elle
l'avantage de braver par leur couleur immortelles les ravages du temps,
qui n'épargnent pas les plus belles productions de cet art."[102]
[102] _Nouveau Voyage en Espagne_; Vol. I., pp. 232, 233.
This factory was not long-lived. Until 1803 it followed the styles of
the older establishment at Capo-di-Monte, uniting neo-classic motives
with the manner of Baroque. In that year it began to produce porcelain
imitating that of Sèvres, and two Frenchmen, Vivien and Victor Perche,
were brought from Paris to superintend this change. "Among the finest
specimens of this period," says Riaño, "are a splendid clock and four
vases, two mètres high, with porcelain flowers, which exist in one of
the state rooms of the Palace of Madrid. The vases are placed in the
four corners of the room. The clock is ornamented with large biscuit
figures. A large number of vases of Retiro china exist at the royal
palaces of Madrid, Aranjuez, and the Escorial. They are often finely
mounted in gilt bronze with muslin or porcelain flowers. The blue of the
imitations of Wedgwood is not so pure, nor is the biscuit work so fine
as the English. Gold is often added to these specimens."
[Illustration: LXXIII
PORCELAIN OF THE MONCLOA FACTORY]
Nevertheless, this manufacture was by now decadent. It had suffered
severely from the death of Charles the Third, and upon the French
invasion in 1808 was seized by the enemy and occupied by them for
several months. During the reign of the "_intruso_," Joseph Buonaparte,
porcelain was still produced to some extent; but by the time of the
Peninsular campaign the works had practically ceased. "Near this
quarter," wrote Ford, describing the Retiro gardens, towards the middle
of last century, "was _La China_, or the royal porcelain manufactory,
that was destroyed by the invaders, and made by them into a
fortification, which surrendered, with two hundred cannon, August 14th,
1812, to the Duke. It was blown up October 30th, by Lord Hill, when the
misconduct of Ballesteros compelled him to evacuate Madrid. Now _La
China_ is one of the standing Spanish and _afrancesado_ calumnies
against us, as it is stated that we, the English, destroyed this
manufactory from commercial jealousy, because it was a rival to our
potteries. 'What can be done (as the Duke said) with such libels but
despise them. There is no end of the calumnies against me and the army,
and I should have no time to do anything else if I were to begin either
to refute or even to notice them?' (Disp., Oct. 16, 1813.) These china
potsherds and similar inventions of the enemy shivered against his iron
power of conscious superiority.
"The real plain _truth_ is this. The French broke the _ollas_, and
converted this Sèvres of Madrid into a Bastile, which, and not the
pipkins, was destroyed by the English, who now, so far from dreading any
Spanish competition, have actually introduced their system of pottery;
and accordingly very fair china is now made at Madrid and Seville, and
by English workmen. At the latter place a convent, also converted by
Soult into a citadel, is now made a hardware manufactory by our
countryman, Mr Pickman. Ferdinand the Seventh, on his restoration,
re-created _La China_, removing the workshops and warerooms to La
Moncloa, once a villa of the Alva family on the Manzanares."
This factory of La Moncloa was founded in 1816, and it continued working
until 1849. A specimen of the Moncloa ware is reproduced in Plate
lxxiii.
Outside the royal palaces of Spain, the Buen Retiro porcelain is scarce.
The choicest collections which are not the property of the Crown belong,
or have belonged till recently, to the Marquis of Arcicollar, the Count
of Valencia de Don Juan, and Don Francisco Laiglesia.
[Illustration]
GLASS
Small vessels of uncoloured glass, belonging to the Celtic
period, have been discovered in Galicia; so that the origin of this
industry in Spain is possibly pre-Roman. After the conquest glass was
made here by the Romans,[103] who built their ovens with a celebrated
argil (potter's earth) extracted from the neighbourhood of Valencia or
Tortosa. The Roman glass was doubtless imitated by the native Spaniards:
at least we know from observations by Saint Isidore that this substance
was quite familiar to the Visigoths. "Olim fiebat et in Italia, et per
Gallias, et Hispaniam arena alba mollissima pila mola qua terebatur."
The same author speaks with admiration of coloured glass-work imitating
precious stones. "Tingitur etiam multis modis, ita ut hyacinthos,
saphirosque et virides imitetur et oniches vel aliarum gemmarum
colores"; and again; "Fingunt enim eas ex diverso genere nigro, candido,
minioque colore. Nam pro lapide pretiosissimo smaragdo quidam vitrum
arte inficiunt, et fallit oculos sub dolo quadam falsa irriditas
quoadusque non est qui probet simulatum et arguat: sic et alia alio
atque alio modo. Neque enim est sine fraude ulla vita mortalium." We
gather from these statements that coloured glass in imitation of the
genuine precious stone was freely manufactured by the Visigoths. Such
imitations, justifying by their excellence Saint Isidore's assertion
that "vera a falsis discernere magna difficultas est," may still be seen
upon the crowns and other ornaments discovered at Guarrazar (see Vol.
I., pp. 15-29), as well as upon triptyches and weapons. Indeed, a taste
for imitation jewels forms an inherent trait of Spanish character, and
is discoverable at all moments of the national history. Travellers have
constantly observed it, and the remarks, already quoted, of Countess
d'Aulnoy, are confirmed by other authors. "In the broken banks south of
the river," wrote Swinburne of the Manzanares at Madrid, "are found
large quantities of pebbles, called Diamonds of Saint Isidro. They cut
them like precious stones, and ladies of the first fashion wear them in
their hair as pins, or on their fingers as rings. They have little or no
lustre, and a very dead glassy water. The value of the best rough stone
does not exceed a few pence."
[103] "Jam vero et per Gallias Hispaniasque simili modo harenæ
temperantur."--Pliny, Bk. xxxvi; Chap. 66.
The chief centres of glass-making were Tarragona, several towns of
Betica (Andalusia), and the Balearic Islands.
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.
[104] The distinction which Riaño attempts to draw between glass and
glass paste is unsatisfactory. He remarks, too, that the
manufacture of glass _may_ have existed in Spain at an earlier
period than the last three centuries, but continues: "The earliest
mention of glass-works in Spain will be found in Pliny, who, while
explaining the proceedings which were employed in this industry,
says that glass was made in a similar manner in France and Spain."
Rico y Sinobas says that the rules for cutting glass by means of a
diamond or _naife_ (as it was once called) are embodied in a treatise
titled _El Lapidario_, originally written (perhaps in the fourth, fifth,
or sixth century) in Hebrew, and which was brought to Spain some two or
three hundred years later. This treatise was translated into Arabic by
one Abolais, who lived at some time previous to the thirteenth century,
and subsequently (in the year 1248, and by command of Alfonso the
Learned) into the Castilian language.
Mixed up with a great deal of fabulous and fantastic matter, this
treatise contains instructive and interesting notices of the composition
and the colouring of old glass, including that of Spain. One of such
notices is the following. "Of the eleventh degree of the sign of
Sagittarius is the glass stone, containing a substance which is a body
in itself (sand), and another which is added to it (salt), and when they
clean these substances and draw them from the fire, they make between
the two a single body. The stone thus made (glass) has many colours.
Sometimes it is white (and this is nobler and better than the others),
or sometimes it is red, or green, or _xade_ (a dark, burnt colour), or
purple. It is a stone which readily melteth in the fire, but which, when
drawn therefrom, turneth again to its former substance: and if it be
drawn from the flame unseasonably, and without cooling it little by
little, it snappeth asunder. And it receiveth readily whatever colour
be placed upon it. And if an animal be hurt therewith, it openeth as
keen a wound as though it were of iron."
The treatise also describes a stone called _ecce_, which was used in
glassmaking, saying that it was found in Spain, "in a mountain, not of
great height, which overlooks the town of Arraca, and is called
Secludes. And the stone is of an intense black colour, spotted with
yellow drops. It is shiny and porous, brittle, and of light weight ...
and if it be ground up with honey, and the glass be smeared with it and
submitted to the fire, it dyes the glass of a beautiful gold colour, and
makes it stronger than it was before, so that it does not melt so
readily, or snap asunder with such ease."
I have said that the power of a diamond to cut glass is referred to in
the same work, which further tells us that this gem "breaketh all other
kind of stones, boring holes in them or cutting them, and no other stone
is able to bruise it; nay more, it powdereth all other stones if it be
rubbed upon them ... and such as seek to cut or perforate those other
stones take portions of a diamond, small and slender and sharp-pointed,
and mount them on slips of silver or of copper, and with them make the
holes or cuttings they require. Thus do they grave and carve intaglios."
All these branches of glassmaking were therefore practised by the
Spaniards from an early period of their history. This people were also
familiar with the use of emery powder, of talc applied to covering
windows, and of rock crystal. We read in the translation of Abolais that
crystal at that time was "found in many parts, albeit the finest is that
of Ethiopia. The substance which composes it is frozen water, petrified.
And the proof of this is that when it is broken, small grains are
discovered to be within, that made their entry as it was becoming stone
(crystallizing); or again, in some of it is found what seems to be clear
water. And it possesses two qualities in which it is distinct from every
other stone: for when crystal is heated it receiveth any colouring that
is applied to it, and is wrought with greater ease, besides being melted
by fire; insomuch that it can be made into any shape desired; and if
this shape be round, and the stone be set in the sun, it burneth
anything inflammable that be set before it: yet does it not effect this
by any virtue of its own, but by _the clearness of its substance_, and
by the sunbeams which beat upon it, and by the roundness of its form."
We seem to foreshadow here, clearly enough, the application of this
substance to making glasses to assist the sight, especially when the
author of the treatise adds that on looking through the crystal, the
human eye discovers "details of the greatest beauty, and things that are
secreted from the simple (_i.e._ the unaided) vision."
Rico y Sinobas (who possessed a fine collection of antique glass,
Spanish and non-Spanish) inclined to think that in the time of the
Romans the finest and strongest glass, as well as the costliest and the
most sought after, was that which was manufactured in Spain. In early
times the chief centres of Spanish glass-making were situated in the
heart of the Peninsula (where now is New Castile), in the neighbourhood
of Tortosa, and in certain districts lying between the Pyrenees and the
coast of Cataluña, though subsequently the practice of this craft
extended through the kingdoms of Valencia and Murcia, and the valleys of
Ollería, Salinas, Busot, and the Rio Almanzora, forming a zone which
reached from Cape Creus to Cape Gata. Other regions in which the craft
was introduced, apparently at a later epoch, were those of the
Mediterranean littoral, Cuenca, Toledo, Avila, Segovia, and other parts
of New Castile, as far as the slopes of the Sierra de Guadarrama. In the
rest of the Peninsula there is not the slightest indication (excepting
an obscure reference by Strabo, to vessels and receptacles of _wax_)
that glass was made during the Roman domination of the country, either
in Andalusia, Lusitania (Portugal), or in the northern regions of
Cantabria.
Rico y Sinobas has described a Spanish glass-oven of those primitive
times. He says that such as were used for making objects of a fair size
consisted of three compartments resting one upon the other; the lowest
cylindrical, to hold the fire and ashes, the next with a domed top, for
concentrating the heat, and the third and uppermost, which also had a
domed top, for holding the pieces of glass that were set to cool by slow
degrees. The wall of the oven contained a number of openings, which
served, according to the level at which they were situated, for
controlling the fire, adjusting the crucibles, or extracting, by means
of metal rods, the lumps of molten glass, previously to submitting them
to the action of the blowpipe. The dimensions of such of these
primitive ovens as have been found in Spain or Italy, are nine feet in
height by six feet in diameter, and the material of which they are built
is argil, of a kind insensible to heat, and carefully freed by washing
from all foreign, soluble, or inflammable substances. The crucibles,
which were fitted in the oven two, four, or at most six at a time, were
of this argil also, wrought and purified with even greater care. Ovens
and crucibles of a smaller size were used for making diminutive objects
such as beads and imitation precious stones.[105]
[105] Rico y Sinobas, _Del Vidrio y de sus artifices en España
(Almanaque del Museo de la Industria_, 1870).