Three of the brothers Vandergoten were already dead in 1774. Cornelius alone was alive. In the same year the Spanish artists, Antonio Moreno, Domingo Galan, Tomas del Castillo, and Manuel Sanchez were placed at the head of these works, under the superintendence of Sanchez, who continued there until his death in 1786, when he was succeeded by his nephew, Livinio Stuck. This manufactory was much neglected at the end of the last century; it was destroyed by the French in 1808, and was rehabilitated in 1815 under the direction of a son of Stuck. This family continues to work there in the present day. The carpets made at the manufactory of Sta. Barbara are of the highest excellence and artistic order.
Very fine tapestries have been made at this manufactory during the last century, some after original cartoons of excellent painters and others reproductions of ancient Flemish ones belonging to the royal collections. During the years 1721 to 1724 the tapestries representing pastoral subjects after Teniers were woven there, and a series of hunting subjects which still exist at the Pardo and palace of Madrid. The excellent copy of the series of tapestries representing the conquest of Tunis, after cartoons by William Pannemaker were made partly at Seville and partly at Santa Isabel and Santa Barbara. The tapestries representing scenes from the life of Don Quixote, designed by the painter Procaccini, were also made at the looms of Santa Barbara.
Fine carpets in the Turkish style were made there under the superintendence of Cornelius Vandergoten, who excelled in this special industry. Carpets also in the French style of the Gobelin manufactory were made at the same time. The best specimens of carpets and tapestries of the manufactory of Santa Barbara, will be found at the palaces of the Escorial, the Pardo, and Madrid. The series made from cartoons of Teniers and the Spanish painter Goya are extremely interesting. A complete collection of photographs of the foreign and Spanish tapestries at the palace of Madrid will be found in the Art Library of the South Kensington Museum.
LACE.
IT is not easy to give a clear idea of the history of the manufacture of ancient Spanish lace; the principal reason being that this industry was carried out by private persons, who never formed themselves into Guilds or corporations, as was the case during the middle ages and Renaissance period with those who devoted their time to other arts and industries. We find in the Royal Ordinances constant references to weavers, silver and goldsmiths, tailors, etc., but in none do we find the manufacture of lace mentioned. The most important Ordinances relating to Spanish industries are those published at Toledo and Seville in the 15th and 16th centuries, and at Granada in the 16th and 17th centuries, and in none of them do we find lace even alluded to. In the innumerable laws which appeared from the middle ages until the 18th century for the object of reforming costumes and checking their excessive luxury no mention is made of lace; when it is referred to, it is only when puntas or entredoses, edgings or insertions, are mentioned in which gold and silver are introduced. We never find any allusion in contemporary writers to the fine heavy thread lace, sometimes called Point d'Espagne or Point de Venise, the origin of which has been a source of so much doubt to collectors of the present day.
The only thing which we can do therefore at the present, until this subject is more fully investigated, is to assert that lace of different kinds has been made from the very earliest times in Spain, and do our best to classify the different kinds by the differences which we observe in those of other localities.
Father Fr. Marcos Antonio de Campos in his "Microcosmia y Gobierno Universal del Hombre Cristiano," [Barcelona, 1592, p. 225,] says: "I will not be silent and fail to mention the time lost these last years in the manufacture of cadenetas, a work of thread combined with gold and silver; this extravagance and excess reached such a point that 100 and 1000 of ducats were spent in this work, which, besides destroying the eyesight, wasting away the lives, and rendering consumptive the women who worked it, and preventing them from spending their time with more advantage to their souls, a few ounces of thread and years of time, were wasted with so unsatisfactory a result. I ask myself, after this fancy has passed away, will the lady or gentleman find that the chemises that cost them 50 ducats, or the basquiña (petticoats) that cost them 300, are worth half their price, which certainly is the case with other objects in which the material itself is worth more." This quotation is interesting as proving that lace was made during the 16th century. The friar, in following the prevalent fashion of preaching against luxury and extravagance, shows us that this industry must have reached to a great height in order to be an object of censure.
From the 16th century until the end of the 18th we find this manufacture continued in Spain, but that foreign lace of different kinds was likewise imported to a great extent, although we may affirm that black lace especially was made in Spain during the whole period.
We find lace mentioned by ancient Spanish authors under the following names: punta, randa, cadeneta, entredos, red, deshilado, franja, blonda, and encaje, which may be translated as edging, or points, réseuil, chain stitch, insertion, netting, ravelling, fringe, blonde, and lace.
M. H. de Cocheris in his introduction to "Patrons de Broderies," Paris, 1872, says that "gold and silver laces were made at Paris and Lyons." The four books which are reproduced in this volume mention Lyons as being a great centre of this particular branch of industry. Gold and silver lace was, however, also made and copied in Spain during the 17th century. We find in the "Pragmatica y Nueva Orden cerca de los Vestidos y Trajes, asi de Hombres como de Mugeres," [fol. Madrid 1611, p. 5,] "May we be allowed to border or edge the said silken materials with thread lace, which are not to be made of chain stitch, or gold or silver, and when these laces are mentioned we should understand they are exclusively for women's use." We also find in an Ordinance of the time of Philip III., dated 1623, that gold and silver lace was prohibited, and that "simple edgings, and curls, and fraises for women were enjoined for women's use." In the "Fenix de Cataluña, compendio de sus Antiguas Grandezas y Medio para Renovarlas," Barcelona, 1683, by Narciso Feliu, the author states, p. 75, that "edgings of all sorts of gold, silver, silk, thread, and aloe, is made there with greater perfection than in Flanders."