Andalusian tilework. The art of ceramic decoration

163 Pages·2018·95.589 MB·English

by  Carlos Giordano Rodríguez, Nicolás Palmisano Sosa

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Andalusian tilework
THE ART OF CERAMIC DECORATION
PHOTOGRAPHS: CARLOS GIORDANO RODRiGUEZ AND NICOLAS PALMISANO SOSA
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Contents
Origin.sand THE 14TH TO 15TH CENTURIES THE 15TH TO 16TH CENTURIES
evolution Mudejartilework Isabelline and
page 006 pageo36 Renaissancetilework
pageoso
THE 16TH TO 17TH CENTURIES THE17THT018THCENTURIES THE 19THTO 20TH CENTURIES THE 20TH TO 21STCENTURIES
Painted tilework Baroque tilework Historicist tilework Modernist and
page 074 page 102 page 130 Costumbrist tilework
page150
ANDALUSIAN TILEWORK
Origins and
Standing out amongst the numerous artistic traditions that have taken root in
Andalusia throughout history are its stunning azulejos. the vitrified ceramic tiles
used to adorn walls and floors that constitute one of the main signs of identity in
evolution
Andalusian art and architecture. Distinguished for combining aesthetics and func
tionality, this type of decoration has its most distant origins in Mesopotamia and
ancient Egypt, civilizations to which the first known glazed bricks are attributed.
The application of glazed ceramic work on architectonic surfaces was taken up and
continued by the Persian Empire, and it received its definitive impulse with the
blossoming oflslamic culture. In fact, the actual word azulejo is believed to derive
from the Arab term az-zylayj which means "small brick". The Muslims not only
rapidly assimilated pottery making skills from the regions of the Middle East and
North Africa that came under their dominion from the seventh century, but they
also promoted the development of new techniques that were able to exploit the full
artistic potential of vitrified ceramic work, in an attempt to emulate Greco-Roman
and Byzantine mosaic work. The Islamic world's latest innovations started to take
hold in Andalusia due to the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula from the
Saints Justa
eighth century, though the use of tilework really blossomed during the Nasrid peri
and Rufina
The patrons of the cer od, between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. It was then that the foundations
amist union appear on were laid for an artistic technique that would develop even further with the passage
a side of the 17th centu
of time in order to maintain its validity, incorporating various stylistic influences
ry altar in Seville's Fine
Arts Museum. and technological advances.
006