It is always a fortunate event for connoisseurs and scholars when an enlightened, ardent, and investigative mind takes up a little-known subject, considers it from its various points of view, and condenses it into a lucid summary supported by reliable documents. Such an effort lays the groundwork for a serious history where uncertainty and chaos once seemed destined to reign.
We therefore sincerely applauded the publication of M. Charles Davillier's work, titled Histoire des faïences hispano-moresques à reflets métalliques (History of Hispano-Moresque Faience with Metallic Luster). As this small but important book is perhaps not as widely known as it deserves, we believe it is our duty to introduce it to the readers of the Gazette, focusing especially on the aspects that most directly concern a journal dedicated to the fine arts.
Defining Hispano-Moresque Art
M. Davillier begins by discussing, with irreproachable logic, the proper terminology for the pottery he studies. "One must be careful," he says, "not to confuse the Arabs with the Moors in the history of Spain. The Arabs, of Asian origin, invaded Spain at the beginning of the 8th century and established themselves in the southern part. At the end of the 12th century, the Almoravids, coming from North Africa, drove them from the Peninsula, only to be driven out themselves shortly after by the Almohads, a dynasty of Moorish princes."
"It is true that the Arabs of Spain bequeathed their civilization, their sciences, and their arts to the Moors, and that the Moresque style derives from that of the Arabs; nevertheless, as the two styles offer very distinct differences, it seems important to me not to confuse them. One can cite, for example, as a type of the Arab style, the Mosque of Cordoba, founded in the 8th century, while the Alhambra of Granada, a palace begun towards the end of the 13th century, would be the type of the Moresque style."
The distinction is certainly an excellent one, which M. Girault de Prangey had already clearly indicated. One could say that in Arab art, the Moresque branch corresponds rather well to what is called Flamboyant Gothic in the pointed architecture of the West. It is the ultimate expression of a scholarly pursuit, the luxury of a fertile imagination exhausting its resources in the infinite combinations of an already rich foundation.