History of Azulejos

See the Azulejos gallery

"Azulejo" is a word used in Spain and Portugal to designate a glazed tile: a terracotta tile covered with an opaque glazing. In these two countries, azulejos have been frequently used since the 13^th century to cover and decorate walls, fountains, pavements, ceilings, vaults, baths, or fireplaces.

Etymology

This word comes from Arabic  الزليج   "al zulaycha" that means little polished stone, and not "azul" blue, as it is often said. It is true that there are many blue azulejos, and that can explain this confusion, but, historically, the first glazed tiles that appeared in Spain in the 13^th c. where mainly green, brown, and yellow.

Why "little polished stone"? Because the idea was first to reproduce the Greco-Roman mosaics from the Middle East or North Africa, not by assembling small pieces of polished marble ("tesserae"), but fragments of coloured glazed tiles. Understandably, it takes less effort to cut a local handmade tile, than to polish pieces of marbles coming from distant places!

Those familiar with Morocco have necessarily seen zellige, a type of mosaic made with small pieces of coloured glazed tiles. In this country, "zellij" are still produced to cover floors, walls, swimming pools, bathrooms, etc. This ancient craft is still very much alive in Morocco, most artisans being in Fez. Moroccan "zillij" and Hispanic "azulejos" share the same etymology, and the same parentage with mosaic.

Oriental origins

The first known glazed tiles come from Egypt and Mesopotamia. In 2620 BC, Pharaoh Djoser, founder of the 3^rd dynasty, built in Saqqarah by his architect Imhotep a pyramid whose galleries leading to the funerary chamber are covered by green glazed tiles with yellow lines imitating papyrus stems. Glaze, sometimes called "enamel", which is a thin glass coating rendered opaque, is therefore an ancient discovery. However, in antiquity, this technique was exclusively oriental, and in fact, was subsequently lost: the Greco-Roman world did not of know it. To decorate surfaces, Greeks and Romans developed several techniques such as painting on wet plaster ("fresco"), or stucco, or mosaic.

The rediscovery of opaque glaze

In the 9^th century, the Sassanid Persians rediscovered the use of tin as an opacifyer for glass, and they started to produce once again glazed tiles with an opaque glazing. Their Abbasid neighbours - Baghdad was their capital - also started to master this technique, which later on diffused throughout the Arab-Muslim world, from the gates of Constantinople to Spain. Under the Fatimids, Egyptian potters decorated with tiles many walls of palaces, tombs, or mosques, in Cairo.

Europe through Spain

It is therefore the Arabs who brought this art to Europe from the Middle-East. The first use of glazed tiles consisted of geometric assemblages of pieces of cut tiles ("alicatado"). Beautiful examples can still be admired in place at the Alhambra in Granada. The patterns used are complex and reflect the taste for geometry in the Islamic world. However, alicatado is a process that remains expensive because it requires a lot of manual work for cutting tiles. And the process of cutting generates a significant waste of tiles. To overcome these drawbacks, the craftsmen eventually imagined applying coloured glazes directly on clay tiles, but separating zones to avoid the mixing of colours.

These separations are made by drawing the contours with a fatty substance mixed with a black pigment (manganese oxide). This mixture turns into a black thin line after baking. This process is called in Spain "cuerda seca". The tiles produced by this method have mostly Moorish patterns, similar to compositions made with alicatado. Patterns have often a beautiful radial style; sometimes they have what we would now call a cubist effect.

Around 1500, the process of cuerda seca was replaced by two similar techniques. With arista tiles the partitioning is made by fine clay ridges. With cuenca tiles, it is done with furrows. In both cases, a wood mould carved with the pattern is used to stamp the soft clay tile. Therefore there is no more black line between the elements of different colours. These two techniques were intended to produce low cost alicatados. The main centres of production in Spanish were Malaga, Seville, Valencia (Manises and Paterna), and Talavera de la Reina.

The influence of Italian majolica

In 1492, Granada, the last Islamic state on the peninsula, fell into the hands of the christian kings; that was the end of the Reconquista. That, and the influence of the Renaissance coming from Italy, produced fondamental changes in the evolution of art and architecture, and in particular, in the azulejo. In Italy the technique of majolica had appeared; dishes and vases were produced with elaborate and colourful decoration: scrolls, foliage, characters, grotesque, etc. The city of Faenza, in central Italy, became an important production centre. So much so, that the name of the city gave the word « faïence » in French. There, tiles began to be decorated with an elaborate decoration.

In 1498, an Italian painter of majolica came to settle in Seville, Francesco Niculoso, called Niculoso Pisano because he was from Pisa. He introduced in Spain the majolica technique and brilliantly applied it to azulejos. Until then, mono-chromatic tiles were cut and assembled, the colours were bright and applied with a uniform intensity. With the new Italian majolica style, tiles are painted like a wood panel or a canvas. And a variety of colours are used: blue, light yellow, dark yellow, green, brown, white, black, purple... What is particularly revolutionary, is the use of chiaroscuro, a use of contrasts of colours to achieve a sense of volume. From an almost industrial repetition of patterns, we move onto an artistic creation. Alicatado or cuerda seca tiles were made by craftsmen; azulejo panels are now painted by artists. The style of the azulejos is completely transformed: large decorated panels represent figurative and narrative scenes. Established in Seville, Pisano's influence was enormous throughout the peninsula: he was imitated in Toledo, Valencia, Talavera de la Reina, and also in Portugal. And it is in Portugal that this art will most prosper to the point of becoming one of the most characteristic art forms of the country.

Another Italian majolica master had a significant influence on the art of tiles and architecture: Guido di Savino left Venice and settled around 1500 in Antwerp, in Flanders, then a Spanish province. Thanks to Guido di Savino, also known as Guido Andries, Antwerp became an important centre of production, and the majolica technique eventually diffused throughout Northern Europe (see www.delft.fr). The first French noted majolica maker is Masséot Abaquesne in Rouen. In the Netherlands, potters and majolica painters throve in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Haarlem, Makkum and, of course, in Delft.

Styles following their times

Styles of 16^th century art express by a wide diversity of subjects: religion, hunting, war, mythology, etc. Painters of azulejos are freely inspired by ornamental prints from all over Europe, especially the grotesque: secular motifs of ancient Rome reinterpreted by Raphael to decorate the Vatican Palace. These grotesque are "fantastic" in the literal sense, and this theme will be widely reproduced and mixed with religious themes in particular. This is the time of trading with Far East; inspiration also comes from India and China. Exotic fabrics inspire tile painters to paint tile panels for the front part of altars in many Portuguese churches.

At the end of the 17^th century, the Dutch tile painters paint blue and white tiles and panels under the influence of Chinese porcelain. Chinaware is very expensive but much appreciated throughout Europe. Potters are trying to compete, and this produce faience "chinaware", especially in Delft. Portuguese aristocrats commission blue and white Dutch panels for their palaces and churches. Some Dutch tile makers will eventually settle in Portugal: Willem van der Kloet and Jan van Oort in particular. This type of blue and white azulejo will have much success in Portugal and soon in the 18^th century, these panels will be imitated by Portuguese tile painters to the point that blue and white tiles will cover the entire country. This art was then at its peak, the mastery of azulejos painters is such that they often sign their panels. In the 18^th century, the frames become more and more invaded by the baroque style and the entanglements of festoons, angels, and architectural elements. Then appears the rococo style, with again complex ornamentation. The decors are often inspired by Watteau and his engravings representing gallant, pastoral, and bucolic scenes, and promenades of aristocratic couples.

After these frivolities, the 19^th century promotes a return to the virtue and simplicity of the antique world. The style is known as "neoclassical". Tile panels are inspired by prints of Robert Adam and his brother James. The frames of the panels are simplified. This style marks especially the return to a rich polychromy.

Art Nouveau in France

At the end of the 19^th century, Art Nouveau appears in France and gives a boost to architectural ceramics, with the use of frost-resistant earthenware. The subjects represented are usually vegetal, with undulating and feminine movements. The influence of the posters of Alphonse Mucha and Eugene Grasset is obvious. The Exposition Universelle held in Paris in 1900 celebrated these architectural ceramics. The cloisonné process returned after several centuries of abandon. House facades, shops and restaurants are adorned with decorative tile panels, or more simply with friezes, often floral, sometimes in relief.

Nowadays, there is no more homogeneity of style in the creations of tile panels. They are mostly the work of one artist, seldom a ceramicist, who expresses himself occasionally by this art. The Lisbon subway stations or the Casa da Mùsica in Porto (architect Rem Koolhaas) show that it is in Portugal today where the use of ceramic in architecture is particularly alive.