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                          THE BROCHURE SERIES
                     Spanish Wrought-Iron Screens
                    XII. Century Capitals from the
                    Benedictine Monastery, Monreale
                              MARCH, 1900


[Illustration: PLATE XIX      SCREEN, ROYAL CHAPEL, GRANADA CATHEDRAL]




                                  THE
                            BROCHURE SERIES
                    OF ARCHITECTURAL ILLUSTRATION.

                     1900.      MARCH      No. 3.




                     SPANISH WROUGHT-IRON SCREENS.


From earliest times the numerous iron mines which exist in Spain,
especially in the Cantabrian provinces, have been worked, and their
presence has developed in that country excellent objects of art in
metal at all times; but owing to the perishable character of iron, the
slight intrinsic value of the material, and the little care taken of
such fabrics, examples of very early specimens, with the exception of
a few interesting ones which have reached us from the Spanish Arabs,
have disappeared. The most interesting examples of Moorish manufacture
which have survived are some iron keys of most delicate tracery. Their
perfect state of preservation shows that they were used only as symbols
of cities or fortresses, and, on given occasions, offered to kings or
great people, and even in the present day in Spain this ceremony is
kept up, and a key signifying the freedom of the palace, is offered
to the foreign princes who stay at the royal residence in Madrid.
In a similar manner, as far back as the middle ages, keys have been
presented to Spanish sovereigns on occasions of their visits to such
towns as Toledo and Seville; and a ceremony of swearing them to uphold
the accorded privilege is gone through with,--a reminiscence probably
of what occurred when these towns were conquered from the Moors. One of
these keys at Valencia, belonging to Count de Trignona, measures nine
and-a-half inches long, and was originally gilt. Its handle is closed
and covered with delicate work in relief, and the wards are ornamented
in the same manner with a combination of several words written in
Cufic letters of difficult interpretation; but around the handle we
can read distinctly in arabic the name of the artist: "It was made by
Ahmel Ahsan." This key appears to date from the thirteenth or early
fourteenth century, and two similar ones exist in the Town Hall of
Valencia.

Worthy objects of iron work must have been made by Christian artists of
this period in Spain, for, although no specimens have come down to us,
we have historical information which confirms such a conclusion. In the
ordinances of Barcelona we find it recorded that the iron-smiths formed
an extensive guild in the thirteenth century, and that in 1257 four of
its members were officers of the Chief Municipal Council; and other
similar records substantiate the fact that this guild increased in
importance during the succeeding centuries. The ordinances of Seville
of the fifteenth century, which were reformed in 1502, and those of
Toledo, also revised in 1582, will give the student an idea of what was
done by workers of metals at this period, the method of workmanship
and other interesting details. The ordinances of Seville mention
_rejas_ made in Biscay, and give a good idea of the styles adopted by
the iron-masters there, and the ordinances of Granada repeat, almost
exactly, the former descriptions.

[Illustration: PLATE XX      SCREEN, "ALTAR DE LA GAMBA," SEVILLE
  CATHEDRAL]

The modern history of iron work in Spain begins, however, with the
second half of the fifteenth century. From this period on, the art
continued to progress, and in the sixteenth century Spain produced
works of art in wrought iron which were unrivalled in Europe.

The most beautiful and characteristic productions of the Spanish
iron-smiths were the openwork screens or grilles, especially the
_rejas_, or chancel screens, enclosing the chapels in the cathedrals;
and these last deserve special attention, from the beauty of their
forms, the quality of their workmanship and the intrinsic variety of
their models.

[Illustration: CHAPEL SCREEN      SEVILLE CATHEDRAL]

The interior arrangement of Spanish cathedrals differs somewhat from
that of churches in other parts of Europe. In Spain, the choir proper,
or _coro_, is transferred to the nave, of which it commonly occupies
the western half, and a passage, usually protected by low iron or brass
railings, leads from the eastern gate of the _coro_ to the screen in
front of the high altar. This arrangement is necessary because, as
the choir proper is deep, the people must be kept from pressing on
the clergy as they pass to and fro, during the service, in the long
passage from the altar to the _coro_. High metal screens or _rejas_ are
also placed across the entrance to the choir or "capilla mayor," as
its eastern part is called. Owing to this form of interior arrangement
the cathedrals and churches of Spain lent themselves admirably to the
construction of objects of all kinds in ornamental iron work; and from
the earliest times when such records were kept, we meet with many
names of iron-masters who were apparently attached to the different
cathedrals in the same manner as were the painters and artists.

One of the finest specimens of this artistic industry (and we place it
first because it is a typical example) is the splendid _reja_ which
divides the nave from the "Royal Chapel" in the Cathedral of Granada
(Plate XIX).

This Cathedral is, on the whole, the best Renaissance building in
Spain, and in plan one of the finest churches in Europe; and the "Royal
Chapel" is the most interesting feature of its interior. This Chapel
was erected in the late Gothic style, in 1506-17, for the reception
of the tombs of the "Catholic Kings," and was afterwards enlarged by
Charles V., who found it "too small for so great glory." Besides the
tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella it contains those of the parents of
Charles V.

[Illustration: PLATE XXI      CHAPEL SCREEN, SEVILLE CATHEDRAL]

The _reja_ which guards it was completed about 1522, by the celebrated
Bartolomé of Jaen, who also worked at Seville, and whom the records of
the time describe as "sculptor and iron-master." Its important size
enabled the artist to carry out a splendid scheme of ornamentation in
the "plateresque" style, combined with reliefs, on a large scale, of
figures of apostles and saints, terminating at the upper part with
a wide ornamental band of conventional floral decoration in relief,
crowned with a Crucifixion, with the Virgin and Saint John on either
side. The ornamentation was originally gilded and the figures painted
in oil colors. The balustrades and supports are forged with the hammer.
The figures and circular piers are formed of large plates, _repoussé_
and carved in a most admirable manner, and an examination of them will
give a good idea of the technical mastery over the material which the
artists of this time had attained long before the various mechanical
facilities of the present day existed.

This _reja_ at Granada is entirely of iron, which most Spanish
_rejas_ are not, and is the earliest specimen of anything like equal
importance in Spain. It has been chosen as the first specimen to be
here described, not only because of the early date of its construction,
but because it excellently illustrates the salient merits of the best
type of Spanish cathedral screen. The first of these merits is a
general transparency,--a highly important quality in a wrought-iron
screen so placed, for if such a screen be covered with sufficient
ornament to arrest the eye on its surface when viewing the interior of
the cathedral as a whole, it detracts from the general architectural
effect, serving indeed, to block the nave as a wall where no wall was
intended. In such a screen as the present one, however, the slight
vertical piers almost disappear unless the sight be focussed upon
them, while the ornamental portions seem apparently suspended in mid
air and do not in any way injure the general architectural scheme or
decrease the apparent space. The rectangularity of the design gives
great repose; and the division into departments, which allows of
the concentration of strength in skeleton lines, affords sufficient
constructional stiffness without involving too much formality.
The design is both beautiful and appropriate. At the summit the
crucifixion, below the leading incidents of biblical history, and, in a
central panel about twenty feet square, grouped in a decorative design,
the full heraldic insignia of the monarchs who repose in the tombs
which the screen guards. The lock bears a small inscription giving