Matthew Digby Wyatt and the Alhambra

Illustration: Matthew Digby Wyatt. Stucco detail from Sala del Tribunal, Alhambra, 1872.

In 1872 the English architect, designer and critic Matthew Digby Wyatt published An Architect's Note-Book in Spain Principally Illustrating the Domestic Architecture of That Country. It covered an extensive journey that Digby Wyatt had made to Spain in 1869. He had never been to Spain before, but he was obviously intrigued and duly came back with many personally drawn sketches, one hundred of which were added to the book. In many respects, the published book of 1872, contains only brief text descriptions, which duly accompany the illustrative plates. Perhaps the author thought that the architectural heritage of Spain should largely speak for itself, or perhaps he felt that by 1872 enough had been said about the architecture of Spain and so he needed to add very little as an extra.

Digby Wyatt's tour was extensive and relatively intense. He visited most, if not all of the cities and regions of Spain, including Granada from which the four examples that illustrate this article were produced. Although some of his sketches tend towards the vague, it is perhaps his close up illustration work of details found at the Alhambra that are the most interesting and informative.

Illustration: Matthew Digby Wyatt. Stucco detail from the Hall of the Ambassadors, Alhambra, 1872.

Digby Wyatt was obviously intrigued, both intellectually and creatively, by the decorative work that had been produced across the whole Alhambra complex and paid due respect to the Islamic craftsmen involved in the task of internal decoration that took generations to achieve. Interestingly, he often either quoted or guided his readers towards Owen Jones and his 1856 publication The Grammar of Ornament. This particular book had keenly championed both the Alhambra complex and Islamic decoration in general, particularly that work which centred around the Islamic culture of Southern Spain and North Africa.

Digby Wyatt and Owen Jones were close friends and both shared a passion for the broader history of the decorative arts that spread much farther than the often more familiar but narrower confines of Europe. Digby Wyatt contributed the text towards two of Jones chapters in The Grammar of Ornament, as well as being involved in a number of Jones projects including the reassembly of the Crystal Palace after its dismantling at the end of the Great Exhibition in 1851. Digby Wyatt produced three of the popular guides, the Byzantine and Romanesque court, Medieval court and Italian court for the new Crystal palace complex at Sydenham. It seems only fitting therefore that Digby Wyatt dedicate the book concerning his extensive sojourn in Spain to his friend Owen Jones.

'My dear Owen,

The last book I wrote I dedicated to my brother by blood; the present I dedicate to you - my brother in art. Let it be a record of the value I set upon all you have taught me, and upon your true friendship. 

Ever yours M. Digby Wyatt.'

It was a very generous and selfless dedication by a man who had every right to be proud of his own achievements but was more than happy to demure to the knowledge accrued by his friend and colleague Owen Jones. Unfortunately, two years later Jones died at the relatively early age of sixty-five. That Digby Wyatt himself was to die three years later at only fifty-six is all the more tragic. These two individuals were key elements in both the design reform movement, but also in the much more scholarly pursuit of the advancement of knowledge concerning the extensive history of the decorative arts.

Illustration: Matthew Digby Wyatt. Mosaic from the Hall of the Ambassadors, Alhambra, 1872.

By trying to understand and through that extend their own personal acknowledgement of the achievement of complexes such as the Alhambra, Jones and Digby Wyatt helped to make Islamic decoration in Europe an informed and much more accessible subject to both study and admire.

One of Digby Wyatt's particular aims in visiting Spain was to try to record what he saw as the fast disappearing architectural heritage of a uniquely creative region of Europe. Through revolution, neglectful indifference and sometimes deliberate vandalism, the often complex and intertwined history of Christian and Islamic Spain was surrendering to the modern world of the later nineteenth century. Many books such as Digby Wyatt's An Architects Note-Book in Spain were not necessarily published by strident conservationists who wished to see the protection of architectural heritage in all regions of the world, but more a case of records or glimpses of the surviving elements of a shared cultural heritage that was swiftly passing into oblivion.

Illustration: Matthew Digby Wyatt. Detail of glass inlay from the Hall of the Ambassadors, Alhambra, 1872.

Many in the nineteenth century saw much of what the general public assumed as fixed and intransigent aspects of the landscape, as in fact vulnerable and dangerously transient. Industrial Europe was fast engulfing areas within industrial and city landscapes, demolishing generations of architectural heritage often in a matter of a few years. That much was irrevocably demolished with the often enthusiastic consent of local authorities and centralised governments, was all the more distressing for those interested in any form of historical concept. That such writers as Digby Wyatt would not recognise much of England today, let alone Spain says much about government collusion with the less than tangible ideal of industrial, rather than creative progress.

Further reading links:
Matthew Digby Wyatt: The First Cambridge Slade Professor of Fine Art: An Inaugural Lecture
Fine Art; A Sketch of Its History, Theory, Practice, and Application to Industry
The Italian Court in the Crystal Palace (Crystal Palace Library Guides)
***RE-PRINT*** The history, theory, and practice of illuminating
The Byzantine and Romanesque Court in the Crystal Palace, Described by M.D. Wyatt and J.B. Waring
The Mediaeval Court In The Crystal Palace (1854)
Notices Of Sculpture In Ivory: Consisting Of A Lecture On The History, Methods, And Chief Productions Of The Art (1856)
**REPRINT** An architect's note-book in Spain : principally illustrating the domestic architecture of that country ... with one hundred of the author's sketches, reproduced by the auto-type mechanical process
Alhambra
The Alhambra (Wonders of the World (Harvard University Press))
ALHAMBRA OF GRANADA
The Alhambra

French Wallpaper Designs of the 1840s

Illustration: French wallpaper design for a drawing room, 1849.

French wallpaper design during the mid nineteenth century, it is fair to say, was not on the scale of that being produced in Britain. However, although the scale of production in Britain was one that was difficult to compete with, this did not necessarily mean that the standard of design was also competitive. Britain could be proud of the fact that its wallpaper retail trade was by no means elitist, and in fact supplied a relatively cheap product to a large proportion of the general public. However, there were particular problems when it came to the standard of pattern work achieved on many examples sold in Britain and this became more acute when compared to those being produced at the same time in France.

The three examples illustrating this article are French derived wallpapers that were imported and then sold across Britain in about 1849. It was a relatively common practice in Britain to sell both home produced and foreign sourced wallpapers. The first two examples were imported by W B Simpson and the third by Jackson & Graham, both companies trading from London.

Illustration: French wallpaper design for a bedroom, 1849.

Most imported wallpapers would have been French. To a certain extent this would have been for the long standing reason that in Britain, France had a long and illustrious reputation for high standards in interior decorative accessories and therefore anything French would have sold well as far as the British retail trade was concerned. However, the reputation was not an idle one as French decorative work was considered to be consistently of a higher standard than the British equivalent. This became more acute when the industrial revolution took over the process of interior accessory production across Britain, where most of the hand produced work disappeared leaving only a very small niche market for those that could afford any form of hand production. Although industrial processes were also widespread in France, detailed hand production still survived as did the French reputation for quality over quantity.

Interestingly, the first two French examples in this article were produced using both machine and hand block printing. All of the first example which was produced ideally for a drawing room, was produced using a cylinder printing process, except for the gilding which was applied by hand block printing. Ironically, the hand-produced gilding actually detracts from the pattern work and seems crudely applied, which is a shame as the pattern itself is very finely tuned and seems almost effortless in its composition.

Illustration: French wallpaper design for a bedroom, 1849.

The second example, produced ideally for a bedroom, had a machine produced background, with a block printed foliage inspired pattern. The industrial process has been limited to a background filler and took no part in the more obvious pattern process. This combination of machine and hand production was a relatively successful process that perhaps should have occurred to British manufacturers as a viable option, particularly when considering the low standards being regularly achieved by British companies using full automation.

In the third example a certain amount of hand block printing was used, though it is unclear if it was entirely hand produced and could well have been a compromise production of both hand and industrial process, as in the first two examples. Whatever the case, it is a fine example of quality production from France, even though the same industrial process as was used extensively in Britain was still part of its manufacture.

This does not necessarily imply that hand production should always be seen as superior to that produced by industry. However, it certainly does imply that the human creative process should be uppermost when considering mass production. When the human element is extracted from the industrial process, leaving little or no room for genuine intuitive flair and creativity, the result is flawed and by its very nature, monotonous. This genuine Achilles heal within the industrial process would ultimately be picked up and intensely highlighted and criticised by the Arts & Crafts movement in particular. Ultimately, it should be remembered that whatever factory or industrial process is used to produce mass manufactured goods, all of those goods will eventually end up in the hands of a human individual. In that respect, understanding the point and usefulness of a product should always have the human element firmly in the centre of its being.

Further reading links:
French Scenic Wallpaper 1795-1865
Wallpaper: The Ultimate Guide
Wallpaper in Decoration
Wallpapers of France, 1800-1850
Off the Wall: Wonderful Wall Coverings of the Twentieth Century
Wallpaper, its history, design and use : with frontispiece in colour and numerous illustrations from
WILLIAM MORRIS WALLPAPERS AND CHINTZES.
Wallpaper in America: From the Seventeenth Century to World War I
Fabrics and Wallpapers for Historic Buildings
French Interiors of the Eighteenth Century
Parisian Interiors
Parisian Interiors: Bold, Elegant, Refined
Victorian Interior Decoration: American Interiors : 1830-1900
Victorian and Edwardian Furniture and Interiors: From the Gothic Revival to Art Nouveau
Hints on Household Taste: The Classic Handbook of Victorian Interior Decoration
Principles of Victorian Decorative Design

The Textile Blog Video Library

Just to let everyone know that from today a new page has been added to The Textile Blog. The Video Library will feature many interesting videos from across the numerous subjects covered by The Textile Blog these will include all of the by now familiar subjects of printed and woven, rug, tapestry, embroidery, lace, wallpaper, decoration and ornament, tile and mosaic, stained glass and book and manuscript design.

This video library will be ongoing and will therefore have regular updates. As the library takes the form of a youtube channel, it can be found by either using the Video Library page of The Textile Blog, or the youtube badge at the left hand side of the blog. Feel free to subscribe to the channel.

Let Glasgow Flourish by Ann Macbeth

Illustration: Ann Macbeth. Let Glasgow Flourish embroidered banner, c1910.

Embroidered banners were a particular favourite of different social, political and religious groupings throughout Britain during the nineteenth and into the twentieth centuries. Most, if not all were produced by women and a number have survived into our own contemporary era.

Ann Macbeth, one of the leaders of the Glasgow based revival of embroidery skills during the very last years of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, was involved in a number of these embroidered banners. The example shown in this article was produced by her in about 1910. It contains the coat of arms of the city of Glasgow with its motto 'Let Glasgow Flourish.' The full motto is in fact 'Lord, let Glasgow flourish by the preaching of the word' in commemoration of St. Mungo who is said to have preached these words from his newly founded monastery built by the fishing hamlet of Glasgow in the sixth century. The fishing hamlet specialised in salmon, hence the representation of the two fish. The coat of arms has a number of different features and symbols each of which is tied to the story, both real and mythical, of early Glasgow. A good comprehensive guide to the coat of arms can be found at the Rampant Scotland website.

Although the Let Glasgow Flourish banner is by no means a particularly dynamic version of early twentieth century Scottish embroidery skills, and does not necessarily reflect the creative work that Macbeth was producing during this period, it does give an indication of her public persona in the city. The banner itself was presented by the city of Glasgow to the city of Lyons and therefore in many respects it gave its tacit approval to both the high standard of skills base that had been achieved largely through the localised Glaswegian Arts & Crafts movement, as well as that of Macbeth herself. 

It is perhaps difficult today to recognise other personalities within the Glasgow decorative arts movement of the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century, other than that of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Although Mackintosh clearly had a creative reputation that was deserving, there were a number of other creative artists, designers and crafts people that were his contemporaries and just as disciplined, professional and committed to new creative horizons as himself. Many were women and they were involved in a cross section of craft disciplines including metal, glass, wood, jewellery, and textiles as well as craft work that bordered and often crossed over into fine art. That many have been either forgotten or marginalised could well have more to do with twentieth century repercussions due to their gender rather than their creative skills base.

Ann Macbeth had a dynamism and lifelong passion for the promotion and expansion of the history as well as that of the contemporary craft skill of embroidery. She was particularly effective in the use of education, being a vital member of the embroidery department of Glasgow Art School during the very early years of the twentieth century, when arguably the art school had reached the apex of it power and influence. Macbeth was also involved in the educational promotion of embroidery as a viable employment skill to young Scottish women. To this effect, she had a working relationship with the Scottish Education Department. In some respects, it was Macbeth's relationship and contacts with the political structure in Scotland that landed her with the Let Glasgow Flourish commission.

The ex-Lord Provost of Glasgow, Sir William Blisland who was a particularly keen supporter of the Glasgow Arts & Crafts movement as well as that of Macbeth and her educational promotion of embroidery, commissioned her to complete an embroidered banner that was to be presented to Lyons in exchange for their initial presentation of an example of their famous silk work given as a gift to Glasgow.

Although much of the effort expended by Macbeth was to fast disappear in the twentieth century, particularly after the trauma of the First World War, it does not negate the fact that despite the loss of the wide-scale attraction of embroidery as a contemporary and potentially financially rewarding craft, Macbeth did much to promote the idea of craft as a viable option and one that could enthusiastically as well as practically be accepted and promoted by politicians as a integral part of the state. It was important for Macbeth to see craft development as one that could be implemented through state education and through the political system of the day. 

Any viable relationship between the creative world and that of politics and the state is perhaps a dimension that we have either lost or are incapable of understanding in the contemporary world we live in. A world which is now dominated by politicians who hope to negate their intrinsic responsibilities to the state by endlessly outsourcing to private companies who have neither the inclination or resources to promote any form of creative educational expansion on the scale that Macbeth attempted and thought was necessary. We are ultimately the poorer for it.

Further reading links:
Educational Needlecraft (1911)
The country woman's rug book (Paragraph Press reprint series of craft & hobby handbooks)
Embroidered and laced leather work
The playwork book,
The Glasgow Style: Artists in the Decorative Arts, Circa 1900 (Schiffer Book with Values)
Doves And Dreams: The Art of Frances Macdonald And J. Herbert Mcnair
Textiles from the Archives of the Glasgow School of Art
The unbroken thread: A century of embroidery & weaving at Glasgow School of Art
The Flower and the Green Leaf: Glasgow School of Art in the Time of Charles Rennie Mackintosh
Movements of Modernity: The Case of Glasgow and Art Nouveau
GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART EMBROIDERY, 1894-1920.
Glasgow 1900: Art and Design
Glasgow Girls
Art Nouveau (Midsize)
Taking Tea with Mackintosh: The Story of Miss Cranston's Tea Rooms