Weitere ähnliche Inhalte Kürzlich hochgeladen (20) 6. In 1842, military commander Eusebius
Furtado ordered inmates in the Castelo
de São Jorge, a Lisbon prison, to cover
its courtyard with a zig‐zag pattern of
tiles. The design used on that floor was
a simple layout, but for the time, the
work was somewhat unusual, causing
the Portuguese chroniclers to write
about it and attracting so much
attention, not only in Portugal, that it
was the subject of one of the world’s
earliest photographs by Louis Daguerre.
Castelo de S. Jorge, 1842 by Louis Jaques Daguerre
LIVING TRADITIONS IN URBAN ART, PORTUGAL, JULY 2013artfully
10. Until the early 20th century, designs were made by the
craftsmen themselves, the "calceteiros", that were
inspired by traditional motifs like armillary spheres, ships,
compass roses, ropes, crosses, crowns, crests, emblems,
ocean waves, seaweed, starfish, anchors, stylized animals
and birds, dolphins and crabs. In the fifties designs began
to be made by architects and artists.
LIVING TRADITIONS IN URBAN ART, PORTUGAL, JULY 2013artfully
18. Tiles (called azulejos) are
everywhere in Portugal. They
decorate everything from walls of
churches and monasteries, to
palaces, ordinary houses, park
seats, fountains, shops, and
railway stations. They often
portray scenes from the history of
the country, show its most
ravishing sights, or simply serve as
street signs, nameplates, or house
numbers.
LIVING TRADITIONS IN URBAN ART, PORTUGAL, JULY 2013artfully
23. The term azulejo comes from the Arabic
word az‐zulayj, meaning "polished stone."
The Moors brought this term to the Iberian
Peninsula, but despite their long presence,
their influence in early Portuguese azulejos
was actually introduced from Spain in the
15th century, well after the Christian
reconquest. No tile work from the time of
the Moorish occupation survives in
Portugal.
King Manuel I was dazzled by the
Alhambra in Granada (Spain), and decided
to have his palace in Sintra decorated with
the same rich ceramic tiles. The first ones
were imported from Seville, and in
accordance to Islamic law, they portrayed
no human figures, only geometric patterns.
LIVING TRADITIONS IN URBAN ART, PORTUGAL, JULY 2013artfully
25. LIVING TRADITIONS IN URBAN ART, PORTUGAL, JULY 2013artfully
Gradually the Portuguese painters weaned
themselves off ornamental decoration and
employed human or animal figures in their
designs. The dominant colors were blue,
yellow, green and white, but in the 17th
century, large, carpet‐like tiles used just white
and blue, the fashionable colors at the time of
the Great Discoveries, influenced by the Ming
Dynasty porcelain from China. They now
portrayed Christian legends, historical events,
and were not only decorative, but also
protected against damp, heat and noise.
