IMGR40 (2)

GILDING AND TECHNIQUES OF DECORATION

ccnain (kac. inkialły at kast. Moorish artists were largely responsible fot thcse dcwlop-mcno. Ic may, howera, be taken foc grantcd that there were not wanting Icathcr-drcum. ai&mm, designer* and paintcrt in Ibcria, ready co cxploit cha prcvailing uiu and pro-vtde srimulus fot furthcr dcwłopmcnc. Men of Moorish dcsccnc no doubt continued n play a dominant part in thii nade, perhaps as entreprencurs. dcctcasing as rcligiow imolcrancc. chc strait-jackct of stringent and shoct-sighccd rcgulatiom and che desire for ncw a«d less compctkiw markets, began co drivc them away, umil che finał eacodus in 1610. by which ci mc commumtics of guadatnecileros, in which che Moorish demem buih havc wora chin. cacistcd in at kast nine ccntres.¹ But the great days of che Spaniih induucy were ovtr. Early scwncecnch-cencury ratificaciom of carlicr ordinanccs rcveal chat ali kinds of malpeactkes had developcd. fashions were changing and - perhaps chc principal ficto* - production abroad was now widespread, notably in Flandcrs, wherc soinc Moon had alrcady setcled by ehe fburtcenth cencury and wherc there was greaccr freedom: no doubt many moriscos cmigrated there. There was another factor in Gdcdoha (and perhaps elscwhere) wherc, in 1650, the few cemaining guddamcciUros were nearly wi ped out by bubonic plaguc.

Up to the end of the suctcemh cencury the sourcc of most ofchc principal devdopmcmt in gfh hangings was Spain, and the outsidc world*s ccrms 'Gocdovan* and "Spantsh’ had somc juscificauon. Spanish coOcctions claim aa native products soinc of the carlicst known eacamplcs of plasc embossed leather hangings and there is no rcason co qocsuon soch aartbubooa. Ic ń unłikdy thac the country which had built up such a large and prosperous ca port crade (particularly to the Spantsh-American colonies)¹ would be importing simihr products, anyway prior to the dcciinc of its own industry. And fet somc scven-•wnh-centufy design* and nyles famfliar in Spain arc also found in Bdgian ooOecdom. bu* with the parsem reversed as a result of copying, and are daimed aa Flcmish work. The truth peobnbły is chat some design? were in fact madę in both connuies.

¹ See Appcndbi B.

¹ Sc«*qpeoe j Curiaw. J., Hiturh M Ux» y łt Iu Ityet mMWrfo dt Etpatio, Madrid, 178S, II. p*4<>-