Azulejo , or azulejos ( port. Azulejo ), sometimes also azulejo - the name of the Portuguese tiles . The traditional Portuguese Azulejo is a painted clay tile, most often square, fired, glazed , measuring 14 cm by 14 cm.
Content
Origins
Initially, the word zulaycha or zuleija ("small polished pebble") came into Portuguese from Arabic . Ceramic tiles were made in the ancient East and used for wall cladding. The Arabs brought with them glazed tiles ( zuliaj ) to Spain (where it became known as “ asulejos ”) and Portugal (where the same word was pronounced “azulejos”).
The oldest azulejos in Portugal ( Royal Palace in Sintra , Conceisan Monastery in Beja ) came from Seville and date back to the 15th century. Their surface relief, partitions and grooves prevented undesirable mixing of colors. The ornament , according to Muslim tradition, consisted mainly of stars.
Further Evolution
In the XVI century, the Italians adopted the technique of majolica with the application of paints on a flat surface covered with zinc glaze. New themes also came from Italy , for example, scenes from ancient myths . The motives of painting - partly ornamental, partly naturalistic - became more diverse and colorful.
Since the mid-17th century, changes in the Azulejo technique have been associated with increasing imports from the Netherlands . Instead of the usual multicolor, artists began to use exclusively the contrast between white and cobalt blue, and preferred to use genre compositions as subjects. During the Rococo period (second half of the 18th century), azulejos again became polychrome with a predominance of gentle tones (for example, in the Kelush Palace ).
This art became truly folk in the middle of the 19th century thanks to mass industrial production. Since that time, not only palaces and churches, but also the external and internal walls of various buildings [1] begin to decorate with glittering tiles.
Azulejo Museum
In Lisbon, there is a museum of ceramics , which clearly shows the development of the tiled art so characteristic of Portugal from the initial stages to the present day. One of the exhibits is a panorama of Lisbon 40 meters long, executed in 1730 and showing what the city was like before its destruction during the earthquake of November 1, 1755.
Azulejo in the palace of Kelush
Facade of the Pena Palace in Sintra
Notes
- ↑ Azulejo - Portugal, Lisbon. Here a man is happy (Russian) (May 22, 2017). Date of treatment July 11, 2017.
Links
- Azulezhu.rf Mini-portal about azulezhu
- azulejos.fr History and gallery of azulejo