EMBROIDERY

see captionXPRIEST'S ROBE; SPANISH(Embroidered in Gold on Green Velvet. About A.D. 1500)

XPRIEST'S ROBE; SPANISH(Embroidered in Gold on Green Velvet. About A.D. 1500)

Townsend wrote, precisely at the same time as Bourgoing: “Segovia was once famous for its cloth, made on the King's account; but other nations have since become rivals in this branch, and the manufacture in this city has been gradually declining. When the King gave it up to a private company, he left about three thousand pounds in trade; but now he is no longer a partner in the business.[34]In the year 1612 were made heretwenty-five thousand five hundred pieces of cloth, which consumed forty-four thousand six hundred and twenty-five quintals of wool, and employed thirty-four thousand one hundred and eighty-ninepersons; but at present they make only about four thousand pieces. The principal imperfections of this cloth are, that the thread is not even, and that much grease remains in it when it is delivered to the dyer; in consequence of which the colour is apt to fail. Yet, independently of imperfections, so many are the disadvantages under which the manufacture labours, that foreigners can afford to pay three pounds for thearrobaof fine wool, for which the Spaniard gives no more than twenty shillings, and after all his charges can command the market even in the ports of Spain.

“In the year 1525, the city contained five thousand families, but now they do not surpass two thousand—a scanty population this for twenty-five parishes; yet, besides the twenty-five churches, together with the cathedral, they have one and twenty convents. When the canal is finished, and the communication opened to the Bay of Biscay at Santander, the trade and manufactures of Segovia may revive; but, previous to that event, there can be nothing to inspire them with hope.”

Swinburne had written of the same city tenyears earlier (1776): “The inhabitants do not appear much the richer for their cloth manufactory. Indeed, it is not in a very flourishing condition; but what cloth they make is very fine.”

see captionXIPRIEST'S ROBE; SPANISH(Embroidered in Gold on Green Velvet. About A.D. 1500)

XIPRIEST'S ROBE; SPANISH(Embroidered in Gold on Green Velvet. About A.D. 1500)

The Ordinances of Granada (a.d.1532), from which we learn that cloth was also manufactured at that capital, contain the usual dispositions relative to the stamping of this product by the city officers. The stamps were in a box which was kept in a corner of the cathedral and closed by two keys, guarded severally by a councillor and an inspector of the trade, orveedor. On every day except a public festival, between the hours of ten and eleven of the morning, and three and four of the afternoon, it was the duty of these two authorities to proceed to the Alcaicería, and ascertain if any cloth required stamping. If so, the stamps were fetched forthwith from the cathedral, the cloth was marked, and the stamps were solemnly restored to their chest beneath the double key.

Among the woven fabrics other than those of silk, and which are specified in the Ordinances of Granada relative to thetundidoresor shearers, are cloths of Florence, Flanders, London, Valencia,Zaragoza, Onteniente, Segovia, and Perpignan;velarte(a fine cloth manufactured at Granada), redburel(kersey) of Baeza, black kersey of Villanueva and La Mancha,ruan(Roan linen), fustians, friezes, andcordellate(grogram) of Granada, Valencia, Toledo, Segovia, and Cuenca. According to Capmany, cloths of the commoner kind, and which were popular about this time, were thegranas treintenasand black cloths of Valencia, the white or yellowveintiseisenocloths of Toledo, the white cloths of Ciudad Real, the greenpalmillasof Cuenca, and greendieciochenosof Segovia, thecontrayesof Cazalla, and thepardillosof Aragon. Spanish cloth was also manufactured at Vergara, Cordova, Jaen, Murcia, Palencia, Tavira de Durango, and Medina del Campo.

see captionXIIEMBROIDERED CHASUBLE(Palencia Cathedral)

XIIEMBROIDERED CHASUBLE(Palencia Cathedral)

Laborde says: “In the archives of the Crowns of Aragon and Castile there is a notice of the duties paid from the thirteenth to the end of the seventeenth century for foreign cloths sold in Spain, and for other articles of consumption coming from abroad. The principal cloths came from Bruges, Montpellier, and London; the velvets from Malines, Courtrai, Ypres, and Florence. This trade became so injurious to Spain, thatFerdinand and Isabella thought themselves bound to limit it entirely to the stuffs required for ornaments of the church, which of itself was a considerable quantity. Their prohibition is the subject of the rescript of September 2nd, 1494, for the provinces of the Crown of Castile. Even so far back as the Ordinances of Barcelona in 1271, mention is made of the taxes levied on the cloths of Flanders, Arras, Lannoy, Paris, Saint Denis, Chalons, Beziers, and Reims.”[35]

see captionXIIIEMBROIDEREDMANGAOR CASE OF PROCESSIONAL CROSS(Early 16th Century; Toledo Cathedral)

XIIIEMBROIDEREDMANGAOR CASE OF PROCESSIONAL CROSS(Early 16th Century; Toledo Cathedral)

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.”

Footnotes:[27]Colmenares, who wrote a history of Segovia down to the reign of Philip the Second, says that in his time the clothmakers of this town were “true fathers of families, who within and without their houses sustain a multitude of persons (in many cases two and three hundred), producing, with the aid of other people's hands, a great variety of finest cloth: an employment worthy to be ranked with agriculture, and that is of the utmost profit to any city, or to any kingdom.”[28]An amusing passage in Fernandez Navarrete'sConservación de Monarquías(a.d.1626) tells us that most of the costlier dress-materials used in Spain about this time proceeded from abroad, and that they were “of so fine a texture that the heat of an iron scorches them and wears them out in a couple of days; while a great number of men employ themselves in the effeminate office of dressing collars, who, ceasing also to be men, forsake the plough or warlike exercises; for it is certain that when the Spaniards kept the world in awe, this land produced a greater number of armourers, and less persons who busied themselves with looking after womanish apparel” (p. 232).[29]This recalls the statement made, centuries before, by Alonso de Cartagena at the Council of Bâle: “And if the English should vaunt the cunning of their cloth-makers, then would I tell them somewhat; for if our country lack the weavers to make a cloth so delicate as the scarlet cloths of London, yet is that substance titledgrana(the kermes, or scarlet grain), from which the scarlet cloth receives its pleasantness of smell and brilliancy of hue, raised in the kingdom of Castile, and thence conveyed to England, and even to Italy.”—Larruga,Memorias, Vol. XIV., p. 167.[30]“The weight of anarrobais twenty-seven pounds. The average price is from twenty-three to twenty-sevenlivresthearrobaof unwashed wool of the best quality, which pays fivelivrestensolsof export duty. Thearrobaof washed wool pays double.”[31]“It has been calculated that Spain, about this time, paid annually to England two million pounds sterling per annum, solely on account of her woollens.”[32]“His Majesty maintained this factory by a monthly payment from his treasury of one hundred and fifty thousandlivres; an exorbitant amount, which very possibly would not be covered by the sales of cloth.”Townsend wrote in 1787 “Royal manufactures and monopolies have a baneful influence on population: for, as no private adventurers can stand the competition with their sovereign, where he is the great monopolist, trade will never prosper. The Spanish monarch is a manufacturer ofBroad cloth, at Guadalajara and Brihuega;China, at the palace of the Buen Retiro;Cards, at Madrid and Málaga;Glass, at San Ildefonso;Paper, in Segovia;Pottery, at Talavera;Saltpetre, at Madrid and various other places;Stockings, at Valdemoro;Swords, at Toledo;Tapestry, at Madrid;Tissue, at Talavera.He has the monopoly of brandy, cards, gunpowder, lead, quicksilver, sealing-wax, salts, sulphur, and tobacco.”—(Journey through Spain, Vol. II., p. 240.)[33]“It is made from wools of Buenos Aires and Peru. The wool of the former of these regions is the longer, but the Peruvian is the more silky.”[34]A report presented by the Council of Commerce to the Marquis of la Ensenada, put forward, in 1744, the absurd pretence that the king of Spain maintained his factories “not for any State convenience orad lucrum captandum, but in order to augment our own products, and diminish those which are imported from abroad.”—Larruga'sMemorias, Vol. XV., pp. 70 and 247. Also see the conference delivered by the Count of Torreánaz in 1886, in the Royal Spanish Academy of Moral and Political Science; p. 27, note.Several of the Spanish Crown factories were finally taken over by the association—immensely wealthy at one period—known as the Five Chief Gremios of Madrid (Los Cinco Gremios Mayores de la Villa de Madrid), and it is clear that the investment of a large amount of capital, subscribed by many shareholders, would of itself be calculated to destroy the narrow ideals and what I may term the individually greedy spirit which hitherto had ruled within the craftsman's private family. Private interests, in short, were superseded by the larger interests of a powerful company. That which I have mentioned was composed of the fivegremiosof the capital of Spain which subscribed the largest sums in taxes to the national exchequer; namely, the drapers, haberdashers, spicers and druggists, jewellers, cloth-merchants, and linen-drapers. For many years this association administered, on government's behalf, thealcabalas,tercias, andcientosof the town and district of Madrid, and subsequently (a.d.1745) themillonestax, together with other important dues, and ultimately, as I have stated, took over, on a liberal scale of purchase, the royal cloth and silk factories of Talavera de la Reina (a.d.1785), San Fernando, Guadalajara, Brihuega, Ezcaray, and Cuenca. The decay and downfall of the company was due to gross mismanagement, and indeed, the idiosyncrasies of the Spanish character render this people, even at the present day, but little fitted to embark upon commercial schemes requiring competent directors, heavy capital, and confident assistance, moral and material, from a large body of investors. Spaniards, as I have insisted elsewhere, do not pull well together; and so, early in the nineteenth century, the association of the five greatgremios, which had possessed at one time many millions ofpesetas, suspended payment of all dividends. It is fair to add, however, that this collapse was partly owing to the wars between France and Spain.[35]In the reign of Francis the First, the importation of Catalan cloth into France was prohibited altogether.—Levasseur,Histoire des classes ouvrières en France, Vol. II., p. 73.Among the various cloths (exclusively or chiefly of the less expensive kinds) which were manufactured in the capital and country of Cataluña, we read of those of pure scarlet, scarlet tinted with light or dark purple, ash-coloured, carmine, and rose; of cloth of combed wool,medias lanas(half-woollens), serges, andcadinasorbanyolenchs. But before the close of the fifteenth century the production of these fabrics had suffered a serious decline caused by the tactless government of Ferdinand the Catholic, and above all, by the introduction of the Inquisition into Barcelona. A privilege of Ferdinand, granted on November 4th, 1493, to the Barcelonese clothmakers, admits that this was the foremost and most useful local manufacture (“no y ha altre art ni offici que mes util done”), adding, however, that it had fallen into a state of sad prostration “owing to the indisposition of these times.” (Capmany,Memorias, Vol. II.,Doc.ccxliv).This was undoubtedly the case; for in a report of the city council drawn up in 1491, it is stated that good cloth can only be manufactured from good wool, but that this had now become a difficult matter at Barcelona, because the clothmakers were without the money to purchase such wool. In consequence, they appealed to the city (then even more resourceless than themselves) to help them.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 thatthe merchants who departed because of the Inquisitionmay return, and continue in the service of their God, their king, and of the general welfare of the city aforesaid.”

Footnotes:

[27]Colmenares, who wrote a history of Segovia down to the reign of Philip the Second, says that in his time the clothmakers of this town were “true fathers of families, who within and without their houses sustain a multitude of persons (in many cases two and three hundred), producing, with the aid of other people's hands, a great variety of finest cloth: an employment worthy to be ranked with agriculture, and that is of the utmost profit to any city, or to any kingdom.”

[28]An amusing passage in Fernandez Navarrete'sConservación de Monarquías(a.d.1626) tells us that most of the costlier dress-materials used in Spain about this time proceeded from abroad, and that they were “of so fine a texture that the heat of an iron scorches them and wears them out in a couple of days; while a great number of men employ themselves in the effeminate office of dressing collars, who, ceasing also to be men, forsake the plough or warlike exercises; for it is certain that when the Spaniards kept the world in awe, this land produced a greater number of armourers, and less persons who busied themselves with looking after womanish apparel” (p. 232).

[29]This recalls the statement made, centuries before, by Alonso de Cartagena at the Council of Bâle: “And if the English should vaunt the cunning of their cloth-makers, then would I tell them somewhat; for if our country lack the weavers to make a cloth so delicate as the scarlet cloths of London, yet is that substance titledgrana(the kermes, or scarlet grain), from which the scarlet cloth receives its pleasantness of smell and brilliancy of hue, raised in the kingdom of Castile, and thence conveyed to England, and even to Italy.”—Larruga,Memorias, Vol. XIV., p. 167.

[30]“The weight of anarrobais twenty-seven pounds. The average price is from twenty-three to twenty-sevenlivresthearrobaof unwashed wool of the best quality, which pays fivelivrestensolsof export duty. Thearrobaof washed wool pays double.”

[31]“It has been calculated that Spain, about this time, paid annually to England two million pounds sterling per annum, solely on account of her woollens.”

[32]“His Majesty maintained this factory by a monthly payment from his treasury of one hundred and fifty thousandlivres; an exorbitant amount, which very possibly would not be covered by the sales of cloth.”Townsend wrote in 1787 “Royal manufactures and monopolies have a baneful influence on population: for, as no private adventurers can stand the competition with their sovereign, where he is the great monopolist, trade will never prosper. The Spanish monarch is a manufacturer ofBroad cloth, at Guadalajara and Brihuega;China, at the palace of the Buen Retiro;Cards, at Madrid and Málaga;Glass, at San Ildefonso;Paper, in Segovia;Pottery, at Talavera;Saltpetre, at Madrid and various other places;Stockings, at Valdemoro;Swords, at Toledo;Tapestry, at Madrid;Tissue, at Talavera.He has the monopoly of brandy, cards, gunpowder, lead, quicksilver, sealing-wax, salts, sulphur, and tobacco.”—(Journey through Spain, Vol. II., p. 240.)

Townsend wrote in 1787 “Royal manufactures and monopolies have a baneful influence on population: for, as no private adventurers can stand the competition with their sovereign, where he is the great monopolist, trade will never prosper. The Spanish monarch is a manufacturer of

Broad cloth, at Guadalajara and Brihuega;China, at the palace of the Buen Retiro;Cards, at Madrid and Málaga;Glass, at San Ildefonso;Paper, in Segovia;Pottery, at Talavera;Saltpetre, at Madrid and various other places;Stockings, at Valdemoro;Swords, at Toledo;Tapestry, at Madrid;Tissue, at Talavera.

He has the monopoly of brandy, cards, gunpowder, lead, quicksilver, sealing-wax, salts, sulphur, and tobacco.”—(Journey through Spain, Vol. II., p. 240.)

[33]“It is made from wools of Buenos Aires and Peru. The wool of the former of these regions is the longer, but the Peruvian is the more silky.”

[34]A report presented by the Council of Commerce to the Marquis of la Ensenada, put forward, in 1744, the absurd pretence that the king of Spain maintained his factories “not for any State convenience orad lucrum captandum, but in order to augment our own products, and diminish those which are imported from abroad.”—Larruga'sMemorias, Vol. XV., pp. 70 and 247. Also see the conference delivered by the Count of Torreánaz in 1886, in the Royal Spanish Academy of Moral and Political Science; p. 27, note.Several of the Spanish Crown factories were finally taken over by the association—immensely wealthy at one period—known as the Five Chief Gremios of Madrid (Los Cinco Gremios Mayores de la Villa de Madrid), and it is clear that the investment of a large amount of capital, subscribed by many shareholders, would of itself be calculated to destroy the narrow ideals and what I may term the individually greedy spirit which hitherto had ruled within the craftsman's private family. Private interests, in short, were superseded by the larger interests of a powerful company. That which I have mentioned was composed of the fivegremiosof the capital of Spain which subscribed the largest sums in taxes to the national exchequer; namely, the drapers, haberdashers, spicers and druggists, jewellers, cloth-merchants, and linen-drapers. For many years this association administered, on government's behalf, thealcabalas,tercias, andcientosof the town and district of Madrid, and subsequently (a.d.1745) themillonestax, together with other important dues, and ultimately, as I have stated, took over, on a liberal scale of purchase, the royal cloth and silk factories of Talavera de la Reina (a.d.1785), San Fernando, Guadalajara, Brihuega, Ezcaray, and Cuenca. The decay and downfall of the company was due to gross mismanagement, and indeed, the idiosyncrasies of the Spanish character render this people, even at the present day, but little fitted to embark upon commercial schemes requiring competent directors, heavy capital, and confident assistance, moral and material, from a large body of investors. Spaniards, as I have insisted elsewhere, do not pull well together; and so, early in the nineteenth century, the association of the five greatgremios, which had possessed at one time many millions ofpesetas, suspended payment of all dividends. It is fair to add, however, that this collapse was partly owing to the wars between France and Spain.

Several of the Spanish Crown factories were finally taken over by the association—immensely wealthy at one period—known as the Five Chief Gremios of Madrid (Los Cinco Gremios Mayores de la Villa de Madrid), and it is clear that the investment of a large amount of capital, subscribed by many shareholders, would of itself be calculated to destroy the narrow ideals and what I may term the individually greedy spirit which hitherto had ruled within the craftsman's private family. Private interests, in short, were superseded by the larger interests of a powerful company. That which I have mentioned was composed of the fivegremiosof the capital of Spain which subscribed the largest sums in taxes to the national exchequer; namely, the drapers, haberdashers, spicers and druggists, jewellers, cloth-merchants, and linen-drapers. For many years this association administered, on government's behalf, thealcabalas,tercias, andcientosof the town and district of Madrid, and subsequently (a.d.1745) themillonestax, together with other important dues, and ultimately, as I have stated, took over, on a liberal scale of purchase, the royal cloth and silk factories of Talavera de la Reina (a.d.1785), San Fernando, Guadalajara, Brihuega, Ezcaray, and Cuenca. The decay and downfall of the company was due to gross mismanagement, and indeed, the idiosyncrasies of the Spanish character render this people, even at the present day, but little fitted to embark upon commercial schemes requiring competent directors, heavy capital, and confident assistance, moral and material, from a large body of investors. Spaniards, as I have insisted elsewhere, do not pull well together; and so, early in the nineteenth century, the association of the five greatgremios, which had possessed at one time many millions ofpesetas, suspended payment of all dividends. It is fair to add, however, that this collapse was partly owing to the wars between France and Spain.

[35]In the reign of Francis the First, the importation of Catalan cloth into France was prohibited altogether.—Levasseur,Histoire des classes ouvrières en France, Vol. II., p. 73.Among the various cloths (exclusively or chiefly of the less expensive kinds) which were manufactured in the capital and country of Cataluña, we read of those of pure scarlet, scarlet tinted with light or dark purple, ash-coloured, carmine, and rose; of cloth of combed wool,medias lanas(half-woollens), serges, andcadinasorbanyolenchs. But before the close of the fifteenth century the production of these fabrics had suffered a serious decline caused by the tactless government of Ferdinand the Catholic, and above all, by the introduction of the Inquisition into Barcelona. A privilege of Ferdinand, granted on November 4th, 1493, to the Barcelonese clothmakers, admits that this was the foremost and most useful local manufacture (“no y ha altre art ni offici que mes util done”), adding, however, that it had fallen into a state of sad prostration “owing to the indisposition of these times.” (Capmany,Memorias, Vol. II.,Doc.ccxliv).This was undoubtedly the case; for in a report of the city council drawn up in 1491, it is stated that good cloth can only be manufactured from good wool, but that this had now become a difficult matter at Barcelona, because the clothmakers were without the money to purchase such wool. In consequence, they appealed to the city (then even more resourceless than themselves) to help them.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 thatthe merchants who departed because of the Inquisitionmay return, and continue in the service of their God, their king, and of the general welfare of the city aforesaid.”

[35]In the reign of Francis the First, the importation of Catalan cloth into France was prohibited altogether.—Levasseur,Histoire des classes ouvrières en France, Vol. II., p. 73.

Among the various cloths (exclusively or chiefly of the less expensive kinds) which were manufactured in the capital and country of Cataluña, we read of those of pure scarlet, scarlet tinted with light or dark purple, ash-coloured, carmine, and rose; of cloth of combed wool,medias lanas(half-woollens), serges, andcadinasorbanyolenchs. But before the close of the fifteenth century the production of these fabrics had suffered a serious decline caused by the tactless government of Ferdinand the Catholic, and above all, by the introduction of the Inquisition into Barcelona. A privilege of Ferdinand, granted on November 4th, 1493, to the Barcelonese clothmakers, admits that this was the foremost and most useful local manufacture (“no y ha altre art ni offici que mes util done”), adding, however, that it had fallen into a state of sad prostration “owing to the indisposition of these times.” (Capmany,Memorias, Vol. II.,Doc.ccxliv).

This was undoubtedly the case; for in a report of the city council drawn up in 1491, it is stated that good cloth can only be manufactured from good wool, but that this had now become a difficult matter at Barcelona, because the clothmakers were without the money to purchase such wool. In consequence, they appealed to the city (then even more resourceless than themselves) to help them.

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 thatthe merchants who departed because of the Inquisitionmay return, and continue in the service of their God, their king, and of the general welfare of the city aforesaid.”

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 costlysplendour[36](Platesx.,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.

see captionXIVEMBROIDERED ALTAR-FRONT

XIVEMBROIDERED ALTAR-FRONT

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 themangaor case of the great processional cross presented by Cardinal Cisneros to Toledo cathedral, and the “Tanto Monta” embroidered tapestry belonging to the same temple. Themanga grande, known as that of the Corpus (Platexiii.), is in the Gothic style, with reminiscences of German art, and consists of the following four scenes arranged in panels thirty-seveninches 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.

see captionXVEMBROIDERED ALTAR-FRONT, WITH THE ARMS OF CARDINAL MENDOZA(15th Century. Toledo Cathedral)

XVEMBROIDERED 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 orcolgadurafor 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 thedoselor bed canopy of Ferdinand and Isabella, and to have been purchased, in the year 1517, for 900,000maravedisby 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 thedoselor canopy called the tent of Ferdinand and Isabella, which was used in the reception of the English envoys, Thomas Salvaige and Richard Nanfan, who weresent 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).

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 workToledo 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.”

see captionXVIEMBROIDERED ALTAR-FRONT(Palencia Cathedral)

XVIEMBROIDERED 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 (Platesxiv.,xv.,xvi.,xviixvii.), and ecclesiastical vestments. Among the former of this class of objects, nothing is finer than thefrontalof the Chapel of Saint George in the Audiencia of Barcelona. It is believed to havebeen 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 amiradorof 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 additionalparticulars 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 fourfaldonesfor dalmatics, with their collars andsabastrosandbocas mangas. The saidbocas mangasto be four in number, and the collars two; also thecollareteswhich may be necessary for the two dalmatics, and which I am to embroider in silk and gold upon white satin. Thecollaretesalso 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.

see captionXVIIEMBROIDERED ALTAR-FRONTS(Palencia Cathedral)

XVIIEMBROIDERED ALTAR-FRONTS(Palencia Cathedral)

Manuel Torralbo contracted to embroider a velvet altar-front and its correspondingfrontelerasfor the parish church of Luque, at a price of three hundredreales; 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, andthe other of “black velvet, with borders andcaidasembroidered in yellow satin and white satin, with skulls and bones embroidered in gold.”[38]

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

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]

see captionXVIIIWIFE OF WELL-TO-DO MERCHANT(Palma, Balearic Islands. About A.D. 1810)

XVIIIWIFE 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 embroideredwith 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.”

With the succession of a French line ofsovereigns 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.”

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 thecharraof 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-domiddle class of the island of Majorca. “Le jupon ouguardapies,” 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.”

Footnotes:[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.”[37]The device of Ferdinand the Catholic was a yoke; the sheaf of arrows, that of Isabella. (See Vol. II., p.147, etc.).[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.[39]Gómez Moreno;Apuntes que pueden servir de historia del bordado de imagineria en Granada(El Liceo de Granada; 6th year, No. 18).[40]A similar usage prevailed at Valladolid. The account of this city as it existed in 1605, published by Gayangos in theRevista 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.”[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.

Footnotes:

[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.”

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

[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.

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

[40]A similar usage prevailed at Valladolid. The account of this city as it existed in 1605, published by Gayangos in theRevista 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.”

[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.

There is a dim tradition, derived from or supported by a Latin poet (“Tunc operosa suisHispana tapetiavillis”) 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 theDescription of Africa and Spainof 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.”

see captionXIXTHE “GENESIS TAPESTRY”(12th Century; Gerona Cathedral)

XIXTHE “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” (Platexix.) 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 whichappear the wordsSanctus Deus, and on each sideRex 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 ofpaños 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 entertainingJournal, 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 andin 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.”

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 asstreet-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 samefiestaCountess 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. Thecelosíasof 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 processionis 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 theBucolicsof Virgil, intarjasembroidered in silk and gold, as though they weresebastos[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 themwrought in twisted gold. I never saw anything so brilliant or so novel. The cloths were eight in number, with four embroideredguardapuertas. 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.”

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 hisConservacion 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). Thesargasandarãbeleswherewith the moderation of the Spanish people was satisfied in former days, must now be turned into injurioustelas rizasof Florence and Milan, and into costliest Brussels tapestry.”

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