The Industrial Arts in Spain Part 15

1731. Sanz, Pedro Sevilla.

18th cent. Sanz de Velasco, Toribio Salamanca.

1700. Simancas, Francisco de Burgos.

1716. Supuesta, Juan Madrid.

1731. Tamaral, Ignacio Sevilla.

1746. Torralvo, Sebastian Cordova.

1755. Torrijos, Lucas de Burgos.

1771. Urqueza, Domingo Madrid.

---- Valadrez Romero, Luis Sevilla.

1746. Vargas, Jose de Cordova.

---- Vega, Pedro de la Cordova.

1754. Vicente, Bautista Valencia.

1728. Vicente, Luis Valencia.

1734. Villa, Andres de Sevilla.

1713 to } Zurreno, Antonio Madrid.

1715. }

1799 to } Ximenez, Manuel Toledo.

1800. }

I owe to the courtesy of Baron Ch. Davillier the names of the following artists, which appear in his "Histoire des Princ.i.p.aux Orfevres Espagnols," Paris, 1879.

Perez de las Cellas, Antonio, a native of Saragossa; he worked at Rome in 1456

Ruiz, Alonso; he worked at Toledo in 1431

Ferrandez, Garci; he worked at Toledo in 1431

Pielagos, Juan Garcia, Burgos 1442

Fernai, Rodrigo, a Frenchman, who worked at Oviedo in 1368

Bells, Antonio, Barcelona 1458

Closes, Francisco, Barcelona 1464

Rodriguez de Villareal, Lope, Toledo 1466

Sano, Salvador, Barcelona 1475

Zobarola, Francisco, Banet 1480

Jujuce, a Valencian jew, Pamplona 1356

Freset, Perrin, } Frenchmen working at Olite, Navarre, in 1444 Rodez, Conrat de, } Bonte, Daniel de, a German, working at Olite, in Navarre about 1400

Valdubia, Maestro Ferrando, Rome 1525

Fuente, Gonsalvo de, Rome 1539

Alfonso, Rome 1546

IRON WORK.

Numerous iron mines have existed in Spain, especially in the Cantabrian provinces, and have been worked from very early times. They are mentioned by Pliny, lib. 34, cap. xii., and have given rise to the development of excellent metal works in the Spanish Peninsula: although in many localities this tradition has been continued until our days, the Basque Provinces have in all times excelled in this artistic industry.

The want of durability and the little care taken of objects of iron-work, owing to the insignificant value of the material employed, prevent us from being able to mention any important examples of a very early date. After drawing attention to some interesting specimens which have reached us from the Spanish-Arabs, we must begin the history of iron-work in Spain in the second half of the 15th century; it continues to progress in the 16th, and produced undoubtedly at that period works which were unrivalled in Europe. The _rejas_ or chancel screens enclosing chapels in the cathedrals of Toledo, Seville, Granada, Salamanca, and other churches in Spain, of which it is much to be deplored no drawings or photographs exist, deserve the especial attention of those who follow this industry in the present day, owing to the beauty of their forms, and the inexhaustible variety of models which they present to the manufacturer.

Besides specimens of Iron-work connected with arms which will be described in a separate article, the most interesting examples of Moorish manufacture which have reached us are keys of most delicate tracery; their perfect state of preservation shows that they have only been used as symbols of cities or fortresses, which on given occasions were offered to kings or great people. Even in the present day the ceremony is still kept up of offering a key to the foreign princes who stay at the royal palace of Madrid, and in a similar manner as far back as the Middle Ages, keys have been presented to Spanish sovereigns on their visiting such towns as Toledo or Seville, and a ceremonial is gone through of swearing to uphold their privileges, a reminiscence probably of what occurred when these towns were conquered from the Moors.

One of these keys at Valencia, belonging to Count de Trigona, measures 9 inches long, and was originally gilt; its handle or bow is closed, and covered with delicate work in relief. The wards are ornamented in the same manner with a combination of several words written in Cufic letters of difficult interpretation. Round the handle we can read most distinctly in Arabic the name of the artist: "It was made by Ahmed Ahsan."

This key appears to be of the 13th to 14th century. Two similar ones existed in the town hall of Valencia of a most monumental character; they were considered of great antiquity, but it has been ascertained that they were made in 1632, by the locksmith Juan Marti.

In the shrine of the Cathedral of Seville there are two interesting keys (_see_ woodcut); one of them is of iron, the other of silver, of a similar style. For further details see "Museo Espanol de Antiguedades,"

vol. ii., p. I. The first, which is represented to the right, is of genuine Moorish workmans.h.i.+p; the wards are covered with letters in Cufic characters, which several oriental scholars have tried to interpret, without coming to a satisfactory conclusion, probably owing to the confused, or double meaning of the letters. It is supposed with good foundation that this was the identical key which was given to King St.

Ferdinand, the conqueror of Seville, in 1248, the day he took possession of the city. The silver key, to the left of the plate, has traces of gold and niello work, representing in the upper part, s.h.i.+ps, castles and lions. Round the handle runs an inscription in Hebrew--"The King of Kings will open; the King of the whole Earth will enter." In the wards appear in delicate open work carving the following words in Spanish, "G.o.d will open; the king will enter. Dios abrira; rey entrara." It may be affirmed to have been made in the 14th century, and in that case, symbolizes some event of the life of King Pedro the Cruel, a great protector of the Jewish race. Five Moorish keys of a similar kind, but inferior merit, may be seen in the local Museum of Segovia, and the Archaeological Museum of Madrid.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MOORISH KEYS IN THE CATHEDRAL OF SEVILLE.]

The objects of iron-work made by the Christian artists of this period in Spain must have been good, for although no specimens exist, we have at any rate historical information which confirms this. In the Consistorial Ordinances of Barcelona, Capmany, "Memoirs," vol. i., we find that ironsmiths formed an extensive guild in the 13th century; in 1257 four of its members formed part of the chief munic.i.p.al council; this guild increased in importance in the following centuries. The Ordinances of Seville of the 15th century, which were reformed in 1502, and those of Toledo, also re-enforced in 1582, give an idea of what was done by workers in bronze, the methods of workmans.h.i.+p and other details of interest. The Ordinances of Seville mention _rejas_ made in Biscay, and give a good idea of the styles adopted by the iron-masters there. The Ordinances of Granada repeat almost exactly the former prescriptions.

The Cathedrals and large churches in Spain lent themselves in an admirable manner to the construction of objects of all kinds in iron work, especially the railings enclosing the side chapels, or sepulchres, and the double screens required for the _Capilla Mayor_ and _Coro_, owing to the ancient Spanish custom of constructing the choir in the centre of the princ.i.p.al nave of the cathedral. Hence we meet with names of the iron-masters, _rejeros_, mentioned in early doc.u.ments as attached to the different cathedrals in the same manner as painters and architects. We find Bartolome Morey working at Palma de Mallorca in 1389 to 1397. He was succeeded by his son Juan, from 1401 to 1407. See Piferrer, "Recuerdos y Bellezas de Espana." Maestro Basil worked at Burgos, and Maestro Pablo at Toledo and its dioceses towards the end of the same century. Maestro Juan Frances worked at Toledo in 1482. By this same artist is the beautiful _reja_ of the Capilla Mayor of the _Colegiata_ of Alcala de Henares; it is signed, "Maestre Juan Frances, maestro mayor de las obras de fierro en Espana." From this time the names of iron-masters are well known and numerous; we may safely affirm that those who lived in the 16th century have left us the most important works.

One of the finest specimens of this artistic industry is the splendid _reja_ which divides the nave at the royal chapel of Granada. Its immense size has enabled the artist to carry out a splendid ornamentation in the "plateresque style," combined with reliefs on a large scale of figures of apostles and saints, terminated at the upper part with a wide band of ornamentation of leaves and flowers, crowned with a Rood, with the Virgin and St. John on either side. The splendid bal.u.s.trades and supports are forged with the hammer; the figures and circular piers are formed of large plates, _repousse_ and carved in the most admirable manner, and give a good idea of the difficulties of this work, which the artists of this time had overcome, long before the various technical facilities of the present day existed. The ornamentation of this _reja_ was originally gilt, and the figures are painted in oils. It was made about the year 1520 to 1530; in the lock, formed as a Gothic pinnacle, is a small inscription, "Maestro Bartolome me fec." This same artist worked at Jaen and Seville. Cean Bermudez calls him "sculptor and iron-master."

Two most important specimens of iron-work exist also at the cathedral of Toledo, enclosing the _Capilla Mayor_ and _Coro_. The _reja_ of the Capilla Mayor is 42 feet wide by 19 inches high; it rests on a pediment of marble ornamented with masks and bronze work, upon which rises the _reja_, which is divided horizontally by means of a frieze of ornamentation, and this again vertically in five compartments. In each vertical division there is a pilaster of four sides formed of _repousse_ plates, carved with a fine ornamentation in the renaissance style, this is again terminated with life-size figures in high relief of bronze. The second compartment rises upon the band which divides it in an horizontal sense; it follows the same decoration in its pilasters, and is terminated by a series of coats of arms, torches, angels, and a variety of foliage which finishes the upper part. Upon the centre, hanging from a thick chain supported from the roof, is suspended a life-size Rood, of admirable effect, which completes the decoration. In several spots there are labels with mottos in Latin; in one of them appears the following inscription, and the date of 1548 when this splendid work was finished: "Anno MDXLVIII. Paul III. P. M. Carol. V. Imper. Rege. Joannes Martinez Siliccus. Archipiscopus. Tolet. Hispaniae. Primat." The railings of this _reja_ are silvered, and the reliefs and salient points gilt. The artist who made it was Francisco Villalpando, a native of Valladolid; this model was chosen among those of several artists, who presented their plans in compet.i.tion before the ecclesiastical authorities; it is calculated that ten years elapsed before it was finally finished in 1548. Villalpando was greatly distinguished likewise as a sculptor and architect. In 1563 a book was printed after his death of a translation he made of the work on architecture by Sebastian Serlio. Other remarkable bronze works of art, which will be described further on, were also by him.

The _reja_ of the coro, which is placed opposite that of the Capilla Mayor, is almost exactly similar in size. It is less rich in ornamentation, but so pure and sober in its general lines, and its ornamentation is so perfect, that it is perhaps superior to the other.

This _reja_ consists of a single architectonical body, divided in six vertical compartments, covered with bas reliefs of such delicate work that they appear rather to be by the hand of a silversmith than by an iron-master. An innumerable number of figures are combined with the ornamentation in the base, terminations of the columns and coronation; in the same manner it is full of banderoles with Latin mottos, and gilt and silvered; it was finished in 1548, as we see by the inscription.

This _reja_ was made by Domingo de Cespedes, a native of Toledo, with the help of his son-in-law, Fernando Bravo; the design was also chosen by compet.i.tion, and it was finished in seven years. Both these admirable models of iron-work belong to the best productions of the renaissance school, and contain models which might be adapted with great advantage to ironwork of every description in the present day.