(, ; from the Arabic ) is a form of Iberian painted tin-glazed ceramic tilework. They are an ornamental art form, but also had a specific function, such as aiding temperature control in homes. There is also a tradition of their production in former Portuguese and Spanish colonies in North America, South America, the Philippines, Goa, Lusophone Africa, East Timor, and Macau. Azulejos constitute a major aspect of Portuguese and Spanish architecture to this day, and are found on buildings across Portugal, Spain and their former territories. Many azulejos chronicle major historical and cultural aspects of Portuguese and Spanish history.
In Spanish and Portuguese, azulejo is the everyday word for (any) tile.
Etymology The word azulejo (as well as the Ligurian laggionCf. the Italian noun laggione on the Il nuovo De Mauro dictionary.) is derived from the Arabic (), zellij meaning "polished stone" because the original idea was to imitate the Byzantine and Roman mosaics.
History
13th to 15th centuries The Spanish city of Seville became the major centre of the Hispano-Moresque tile industry. The earliest azulejos in the 13th century were panels of tile-mosaic known as alicatados (from ),La Ruta de la Cerámica, Asociación Española de Fabricantes de Azulejos, Castellón, 2000 known as zellij in Islamic architecture. Tiles were glazed in a single colour, cut into geometric shapes, and assembled to form geometric patterns. There are many examples in the Alhambra of Granada.Les Métamorphoses de l'azur, Ars Latina, Paris, 1994 This tradition was continued for a time in Mudéjar architecture in Spain (e.g. in the 14th-century sections of the Alcázar of Seville), and has been perpetuated to this day in Morocco.
When former Moorish-controlled territories came under Spanish rule in Spain, new techniques of tile-making developed from the older Andalusi traditions. As wealthy Spaniards favoured the Mudéjar style to decorate their residences, the demand for mosaic tilework in this style increased beyond what tilemakers could produce, requiring them to consider new methods. Towards the late 15th and early 16th centuries, Seville became an important production center for a type of tile known as cuenca ("hollow") or arista ("ridge"). In this technique, motifs were formed by pressing a metal or wooden mould over the unbaked tile, leaving a motif delineated by thin ridges of clay that prevented the different colours in between from bleeding into each other during baking. This was similar to the older cuerda seca technique but more efficient for mass production. The motifs on these tiles imitated earlier Islamic and Mudéjar designs from the zellij mosaic tradition or blended them with contemporary European influences such as Gothic or Italian Renaissance. Following their development, arista tiles grew in prominence during this period due to the streamlined manufacturing process and their ability to more readily incorporate epigraphical works associated with the Reconquista. Prominent examples of these tiles can be found in the early 16th-century decoration of the Casa de Pilatos in Seville. This type of tile was produced well into the 17th century, and was widely exported from Spain to other European countries and to the Spanish colonies in the Americas.
The same techniques were introduced into Portugal by King Manuel I after a visit to Seville in 1503. They were applied on walls and used for paving floors, as can be seen in several rooms, especially the Arab Room of the Sintra National Palace (including the famous cuenca tiles with the armillary sphere, symbol of king Manuel I). The Portuguese adopted the Moorish tradition of horror vacui ('fear of empty spaces') and covered the walls completely with azulejos.
16th century Potters from Italy came into Seville in the early 16th century and established workshops there. They brought with them the maiolica techniques which allowed the artists to represent a much larger number of figurative themes in their compositions. The first Italian potter to move into Spain was Francisco Niculoso who settled in Seville in 1498.Morales, Alfredo J. – Francisco Niculoso Pisano, Arte Hispalense, Diputación de Sevilla, 1991 Niculoso's arrival led to the development of Sevillian tiles, often referred to as planos; and a new decorative technique known as pisanos, that incorporated maiolica technique with the new medium for azulejos. Examples of Niculoso's work are hosted in situ in the Alcazar of Seville. Numerous azulejos from this period—often influenced by Renaissance trends introduced by Niculoso and other Italian artisans— took the form of polychrome tile panels depicting religious and mythological themes, or hunting scenes.
Until the mid-16th century the Portuguese continued to rely on foreign imports, mostly from Spain, such as the Annunciation by Francisco Niculoso in Évora, but also on a smaller scale from Antwerp (Flanders), such as the two panels by Jan Bogaerts in the Paço Ducal of Vila Viçosa (Alentejo). One of the early Portuguese masters of the 16th century was Marçal de Matos, to whom Susanna and the Elders (1565), in Quinta da Bacalhoa, Azeitão, is attributed, as well as the Adoration of the Shepherds (in the National Museum of Azulejos in Lisbon). The Miracle of St. Roque (in the Church of S. Roque, Lisbon) is the first dated Portuguese azulejo composition (1584). It is the work of Francisco de Matos, probably the nephew and pupil of Marçal de Matos. Both drew their inspiration from Renaissance and Mannerist paintings and engravings from Italy and Flanders. A fine collection of 16th-century azulejos (azulejos Hispano-mouriscos) can be found in the Museu da Rainha D. Leonor in Beja, Portugal (the former Convento da Conceição).
In the late 16th century, checkered azulejos were used as decoration for large surfaces, such as in churches and monasteries. Diagonally placed plain white tiles were surrounded by blue square ones and narrow border tiles.
17th century Shortly afterwards, these plain white tiles were replaced by polychrome tiles (enxaquetado rico) often giving a complex framework such as in the Igreja de Santa Maria de Marvila in Santarém, Portugal.
When the diagonal tiles were replaced by a repetitive pattern of horizontal polychrome tiles, one could obtain a new design with different motifs, interlacing Mannerist drawings with representations of roses and camellias (sometimes roses and garlands). An inset votive usually depicts a scene from the life of Christ or a saint. These carpet compositions (azulejo de tapete), as they were called, elaborately framed with friezes and borders, were produced in great numbers during the 17th century. The best examples are to be found in the Igreja do Salvador, Évora, Igreja de S. Quintino, Obral de Monte Agraço, Igreja de S. Vicente, Cuba (Portugal) and the university chapel in Coimbra.
The use of azulejos for the decoration of antependia (front of an altar), imitating precious altar cloths, is typical for Portugal. The panel may be in one piece, or composed of two or three sections. They were used in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Some antependia of the 17th century imitate oriental fabrics (calico, chintz). The golden fringes of the altar cloth were imitated by yellow motifs on the painted border tiles. Excellent examples can be found in the Hospital de Santa Marta, Lisbon, or in the Convent of Santa Maria de Almoster and the Convento de Santa Cruz do Buçaco.
During the same period another motif in friezes was introduced: floral vases flanked by birds, dolphins or putti, the so-called albarradas. They were probably inspired by Flemish paintings of flower vases, such as by Jan Brueghel the Elder. These were still free-standing in the 17th century, but they would be used in repetitive modules in the 18th century. Azulejos located in the Royal Monastery of the Descalzas Reales depicted various virtues and aspects of women of royal descent. These tiles are singular in nature, but reflect a marked shift—during the late 16th and early 17th centuries—away from geometric patterns to an emphasis on religious and colloquial depictions.
Azulejos dating from 1642 are in the Basilica and Convent de San Francisco de Lima, Peru. See section 12 in "Los azulejos de Sevilla" for a letter from Pedro Rodríguez to Marcos Ibáñez on payment for tiles. Azulejos in the Colegio Maximo de San Pedro contain numerous depictions of martyrs and prominent Catholic figures commissioned by Jesuit missionaries. These depictions served both devotional and symbolic purposes, and their inclusion was used to reinforce the Jesuit presence in Lima.
Another type of azulejo composition, called aves e ramagens ('birds and branches'), came into vogue between 1650 and 1680. They were influenced by the representations on printed textiles that were imported from India: Hindu symbols, flowers, animals and birds.
In the second half of the 17th century, the Spanish artist Gabriel del Barco y Minusca introduced into Portugal the blue-and-white tiles from Delft in the Netherlands. The workshops of Jan van Oort and Willem van der Kloet in Amsterdam created large tile panels with historical scenes for their rich Portuguese clients, such as for the Palace of the Marqueses da Fronteira in Benfica, Lisbon. But when King Peter II stopped all imports of azulejos between 1687 and 1698, the workshop of Gabriel del Barco took over the production. The last major production from Holland was delivered in 1715. Soon large, home-made blue-and-white figurative tiles, designed by academically trained Portuguese artists, became the dominant fashion, superseding the former taste for repeated patterns and abstract decoration.
18th century The late 17th and early 18th centuries became the 'Golden Age of the Azulejo', the so-called Cycle of the Masters (Ciclo dos Mestres). Mass production was started not just because of a greater internal demand, but also because of large orders came in from the Portuguese colony of Brazil. Large one-off orders were replaced by the less expensive use of repetitive tile patterns. Churches, monasteries, palaces and even houses were covered inside and outside with azulejos, many with exuberant Baroque elements.
The most prominent master-designers in these early years of the 18th century were: António Pereira (artist), Manuel dos Santos, the workshop of António de Oliveira Bernardes and his son Policarpo de Oliveira Bernardes; the Master PMP (only known by his monogram) and his collaborators Teotónio dos Santos and Valentim de Almeida; Bartolomeu Antunes and his pupil Nicolau de Freitas. As their production coincided with the reign of King João V (1706–1750), the style of this period is also called the Joanine style.
During this same period appear the first 'invitation figures' (figura de convite), invented by the Master PMP and produced in the 18th and 19th centuries. These are cut-out panels of azulejos with life-size figures (footmen, halberdiers, noblemen or elegantly dressed ladies), usually placed in entrances of palaces (see Palácio da Mitra), patios and stair landings. Their purpose was to welcome visitors. They can only be found in Portugal.
In the 1740s the taste of Portuguese society changed from the monumental narrative panels to smaller and more delicately executed panels in Rococo style. These panels depict gallant and pastoral themes as they occur in the works of the French painter Antoine Watteau. Fine examples are the façade and the gardens of the Palace of the Dukes de Mesquitela in Carnide (Lisbon) and the in the Queluz National Palace. The mass-produced tiles acquired a more stereotypic design with predominant polychrome irregular shell motifs.