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.
[Illustration: XV
EMBROIDERED ALTAR-FRONT, WITH THE ARMS OF CARDINAL MENDOZA
(_15th Century. Toledo Cathedral_)]
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."
[Illustration: XVI
EMBROIDERED ALTAR-FRONT
(_Palencia Cathedral_)]
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.
[Illustration: XVII
EMBROIDERED ALTAR-FRONTS
(_Palencia Cathedral_)]
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).
[Illustration: XVIII
WIFE OF WELL-TO-DO MERCHANT
(_Palma, Balearic Islands. About A.D. 1810_)]
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."
[Illustration: XIX
THE "GENESIS TAPESTRY"
(_12th Century; Gerona Cathedral_)]
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."
[Illustration: XX
_TAPIZ_ OF CRIMSON VELVET WORKED IN GOLD TISSUE
(_16th Century. Monastery of Las Huelgas, Burgos_)]
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.)