The production cycle of marmor in the Iberian peninsula
since Antiquity III: Use and reuse.
For millennia, ornamental stones
have been the depository of values of power,
luxury and political legitimacy.
The physical characteristics of marmora, their colour, hardness
and ability to make any surface shine,
have elevated their use as a forceful channel
for conveying messages of social and economic status.
However, marmora, as a stone resource,
have also been used throughout History
as a humble building material
in the areas closest to the quarries from which they were extracted.
Thus, marble and limestone, used as ornamental stones
of great aesthetic and symbolic value
on the façades and interiors of buildings and monuments,
were also used for more functional purposes
such as street pavements, road surfaces,
kerbs, shelters for shepherds
or boundary walls between properties.
The proximity to the quarry areas explains
the massive use of marmor ashlars
in the construction of many military and civilian buildings.
This is the case of the magnificent tower of Estremoz Castle,
built in the mid-13th century
with marble ashlars from this part of the Alentejo,
or the façade of the Campany Palace-House in Tortosa,
built in the 18th century
with dressed blocks of broccatello limestone.
In both cases, in addition to the privileged access to stone
provided by the proximity of the respective quarries,
we must, no doubt,
contemplate the prestige bestowed on the buildings
by their owner’s capacity
to employ stones of ornamental value as building materials.
However, the most common use of marmora in architecture
is decorative,
used in the cladding of walls and the pavement of floors,
and in the creation of columns, pilasters, jambs and cornices.
We are in an exceptional place for the study of ancient marmora,
in Seville, in the House of the Countess of Lebrija,
who was an aristocrat dedicated to Archaeology,
an exceptional case in the history of Spanish archaeology.
In the early 20th century, she beautified this house;
she bought the house and paved the entire ground floor
with materials from the Roman site of Italica,
here, near Seville.
The most unique feature is the series of opus sectile,
a whole series of mosaics made from fragments of marble
from very different sources
among the main quarries of the Roman Empire
which, taken from Italica, were used to pave
this exceptional palace
within the history of marble collecting in Spain.
This technique of marble work
applied to the cladding and paving of interior spaces
continued after the Roman period.
This is the case of the Gasparini Room,
part of Charles III's suite of rooms
in the Royal Palace in Madrid.
It is an example of the integration of the arts,
in which Italian and German artists worked together
in the second half of the 18th century.
The grand rococo setting
is the result of the European artistic avant-garde
and the cosmopolitan spirit,
evidenced by the chinoiserie of the stuccoed vaults.
The cohesive element of the room
is the very expensive marble floor with its sinuous lines
that combine with the rest of the decoration:
the marquetry furniture,
the silks on the walls and the stuccoes on the ceiling.
The marmora selected for this pavement
-designed by the painter commissioned by Charles III,
Matthia Gasparini-
came from Spanish quarries
and were selected to showcase the natural richness of the Kingdom.
Among the architectural elements made of marmor,
columns may fulfil
structural or purely decorative functions.
Usually consisting of base, shaft and capital,
their final placement within a building
is the result of a laborious production process
that begins in the quarry itself
-where each of the forms is roughed out-
and ends on site, where the sculptor,
aided by a series of marks and guidelines, completes his work.
There is an interesting archaeological record, for example
from the cargoes of shipwrecks
or the materials abandoned in quarries,
which displays a wide range of physical marks
such as incised lines, cavities,
sometimes even serial numbers,
which are telling us about the processes surrounding
the production of the elements
from the quarry itself, from the extraction of the material,
to the place of destination in the building.
In many cases, this also shows us how,
diachronically, over time,
the technology and the processes evolve.
In a large part of the Roman Empire, what we find is how,
for example, the shafts of the columns
were made almost to completion in the quarries,
they were sent practically standardised
to their destination, while other elements
such as the bases of the columns or the capitals
were finished on each site,
allowing them to be better adjusted to the needs
and modules of the work and the project.
Along with these guidelines,
there are marks that reveal the particular tools used
in the final stages of the work
and in the assembly with the rest of the elements of the building,
as well as a range of acronyms and monograms
that made it easier for the teams of workers
to keep track for accounting and payment.
Crosses or cruceiros became common
in the Iberian Peninsula from the 14th century onwards,
as a manifestation of popular Christian devotion
and they were placed at crossroads,
boundary markers or at specific locations
to commemorate certain events,
and to promote the piety of the traveller.
Made of marble, limestone or granite, these monuments
-consisting of a column topped by a cross-
were made by master stonemasons,
a profession similar to that of sculptors,
and that implied knowledge
of drawing and composition for their design
and technical expertise for their carving.
An essential part of the column is the capital,
which requires precise sculptural treatment;
among the most outstanding marble productions
are the “wasp’s nest” capitals of the Muslim or Andalusi period.
In the Andalusi period, there was a massive use of marmora,
mainly white marble, the most common.
The main typologies that have survived to the present day
are mainly those related to architecture,
religious architecture in many cases,
the most paradigmatic example being, of course, the mosque of Cordoba
where, in addition, there was
an important reuse of elements from previous periods,
both Roman and Hispano-Visigothic.
Among these pieces of white Andalusian marble,
the capitals stand out, of course.
The so-called “wasp's nest” capitals are paradigmatic,
characteristic of the Caliphate period,
especially the Caliphate period of al-Andalus.
They are a derivation from the classical Corinthian capitals,
which have evolved, transformed by the predominant use of the trepan
that creates strong contrasts of light and shade.
These pieces were mass produced
by the workshops of Cordoba, in the city of Cordoba,
and we can find them in many places,
both in the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa,
and even in some areas beyond the Iberian Peninsula, in Europe.
Although many elements
may be roughed out at the quarry,
the marble work is mainly carried out in the workshop,
where the different objects take their final shape and finish thanks
to the specialised labour of dozens of workers.
In this production area,
in addition to the varieties of marble extracted in the region,
elements for architecture, sculpture
or furniture are now made from ornamental stones
from different regions of Spain
and other countries in Europe, Asia or America,
giving the client access
to the most varied marmora currently exploited in the world.
Marble, limestone, porphyry, alabaster,
have been used as sculptural materials
par excellence for millennia.
In the Classical World, together with other stones,
the use of white marble was predominant,
although the sculptures would have displayed a final painted finish
in different colours lost with the passage of time.
Among the Roman sculptures, we may highlight the portraits.
It was essential that the portrait enabled
the identification of the portrayed person,
whether it was the Emperor himself or the members of his family,
magistrates or anonymous individuals
who could afford a commission of this type.
For large sculptures,
statues were usually made by joining several pieces together.
This is the majestic sculpture of seated Livia,
wife of the Emperor Augustus.
It was found together with a sculpture in Tiberius
in the Italian city of Paestum;
both are dated between 14 and 19 AD
and are held by the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid.
Many of these statues were designed and executed in parts
which were finally put together as if they were a jigsaw puzzle.
Sarcophagi were also sculptural products
in great demand by the Roman elite from the 1st century onwards.
Made predominantly from high quality white marble
from the main quarries of the Mediterranean,
they display a rich iconography
including mythological, military or hunting scenes,
and, from the beginning of the 4th century, Christian motifs.
The high demand for these objects
led to their production in workshops
in cities such as Rome and Constantinople
and their distribution among the elite throughout the Roman Empire,
making them one of the most important
symbols of status of the period.
The National Archaeological Museum
holds several examples that have recently been analysed
in order to determine the origin of the marble
from which they were made.
These studies have enabled us to learn more
about the workshops that produced these pieces:
workshops in Rome
that worked Carrara, Paros and Proconnesian marbles,
and Hispanic workshops that used marble from Estremoz.
The sarcophagus from Pueblanueva, in the province of Toledo,
is a sarcophagus that is different from all of the others
in the National Archaeological Museum.
Apart from being complete, it is an exceptional piece
from the point of view of the workshop in which it was produced.
In this case, it was made in a Hispanic workshop,
we think regional,
and we have also been able to analyse it recently,
identifying it as marble from Estremoz, in Portugal.
Characters from classical mythology and divinities
are also very frequent in Roman marble sculpture.
The Mithraeum of Mérida is a very important group of sculptures;
discovered in the first years of the 20th century
under the present-day bullring,
its sculptures and epigraphs are currently exhibited
in the National Museum of Roman Art, in Mérida.
The marble sculptures give us a good idea of what the this temple
for the worship of the Eastern divinity Mithras was like.
This was a cult that was spread in the western Roman Empire
by the army,
and was successful in the city in the middle of the 2nd century AD.
An extremely interesting fact:
we know that part of this group of sculptures
was made by an artist of Eastern origin,
a Greek-speaker we might say, called Demetrios.
At the base of the inscription
on one of the statues of Dadophoros of the cult of Mithras,
we can read "Demetrios epoiei",
that is, "Demetrios did it", in Greek.
It is very interesting to see a foreign artist
working with local materials,
marble from the Borba-Estremoz area,
which means that the local material
was appreciated by the first-class workshops.
The fact that the piece is signed
is also a detail to be taken into account since,
as we know, in the ancient world, artists did not sign their works.
However, in this case,
as in other sculptures from the colonial forum of Mérida,
the name of the artist appears ex professo: Demetrios.
He must have been a well-known and recognised figure in the Colony
around the second half of the 2nd century AD
and his workshop would undoubtedly have been renowned.
From the Renaissance onwards,
the figure of the artist became more common
than that of the artisan of previous periods;
the artist -as an illustrious and socially accepted figure-
became aware of his status as an individual
with his own value and personality and,
as such, signed the works that he produced.
This is the case, for example, of Felipe de Vigarny,
author, together with Alonso Berruguete,
of the choir stalls in Toledo Cathedral,
completed in 1543.
Made of walnut wood,
the chromatic combination with the yellow and reddish limestones
and the multicoloured conglomerates of Espejón
used in the arches of the upper choir stalls
make this one of the most outstanding examples
of the Hispanic Renaissance.
In the Workshop-Cooperative of marble sculptors,
installed since 1975
in the old public slaughterhouse of the city of Évora,
the Portuguese sculptor Eduardo Freitas
works with an electric saw
on the local Estremoz marble for his work "En.talho”,
in which he evokes both the carving of the stone
and the memory of the spaces used by the meat industry.
The dichotomy between artist and artisan
that has existed since Antiquity continues to exist today.
In workshops working with marble,
such as this one in Macael,
dozens of craftsmen, specialised in different tasks,
shape and finish a multitude of products
that are distributed worldwide.
The use of ornamental rocks
for the manufacture of pieces of furniture
has been common since Antiquity.
More exclusive than those made of wood and metal,
the use of marble, limestone, porphyry and alabaster
also ensured the functionality and durability
of certain objects such as fountains, clocks, consoles,
and table and kitchenware.
Mortars, made from high quality limestones and white marbles
-such as this one documented in the Roman city of Tarragona-
have not changed for millennia,
and their production constituted the first stage
in the training of the very young stonemasons
in marble areas such as Macael until the end of the 20th century.
Among the most exclusive marble objects are the so-called “deser”
table decorations, used
as centrepieces in gala banquets in palatial contexts
and made by expert European goldsmiths in workshops specialised
in lapidary, bronze work, gilding and repoussage and chasing.
These piece constitute
small monuments inspired by Antiquity:
temples, obelisks, columns, triumphal arches,
which, reduced to scale,
were made from the rarest and most prized marmora
and set on a base of marble inlay.
Of particular note is the deser of Charles IV,
acquired by the then Prince of Asturias in Paris in 1786.
Marble inlay, the origin of which, as we have seen,
can be traced to Antiquity,
became common in the production
of all types of furniture from the 16th century onwards.
Writing boxes and desks, chests, picture frames,
decorative columns, game boards and table tops
were made using this technique,
which was in high demand in European royal and aristocratic contexts.
The table of Don Rodrigo Calderón, in the Prado Museum,
was made in Rome around 1600.
The large piece of "tartaruga" or tortoise alabaster
that occupies the centre is flanked by "Turks firing artillery".
The magnificent tabletop was initially supported by
pedestals of Toledo marble.
Since at least the mid-19th century,
it has been supported by four of the 12 gilt bronze lions
commissioned by Diego de Velázquez on his trip to Italy in 1650
from the sculptor Matteo Bonarelli
and originally used to decorate the so-called
“Hall of Mirrors” in the Madrid Alcázar.
More modest in size and in the variety of stones
is this game board table top
from the National Museum of Decorative Arts.
This is a table made in the 18th century
using a tabletop made in Rome in the early 17th century.
This tabletop continues the extremely important classical tradition
of the opera sectilia workshops of the city of Rome,
which were revived during the Renaissance
and developed a whole series of monumental tabletops
for the European elites of the second half of the 16th century:
emperors, popes, kings and other great patrons,
commissioned this type of tabletop,
of which this is a small-scale example.
This piece tells us about the export of materials
from Spain, such as the broccatello of Tortosa,
which was sent to both Florence and Rome,
and resulted in these pieces being in high demand throughout Europe.
The workshops in Rome, Florence and Naples
were joined, from 1762 and under the patronage of Charles III,
by the “Royal Laboratory of Hard Stones”,
based in the Buen Retiro -in Madrid-
with the aim of promoting the construction and decoration
of the Royal Palace and the Royal Sites.
This laboratory,
which was originally staffed by expert Florentine craftsmen,
produced pieces of great technical and aesthetic quality.
In addition to the great range of ornamental uses, marble
-composed fundamentally of calcium carbonate-
has many other applications.
Blocks that are discarded for architectural or sculptural purposes
can be turned into grit, gravel, pebbles
or mortar for construction, or animal feed,
by means of grinding, crushing and micronising processes.
Among the stones of higher quality and whiteness,
micronised marble is used
for the production of cosmetics, medicines, toothpaste,
wine stabilisers and paint.
The value of marmora as a material in its own right,
and the pursuit of the durability
of objects made from ornamental stones,
have meant that repairs are frequent over time.
It is common to observe patches made from the same material
as that used for the original piece.
As well as repairs,
especially from the Late Antique period onwards,
the widespread reuse of marble materials
from previous periods is well-documented,
either used as they were
or reworked in a process known as spolia.
There is the question of spolia,
the reuse of material from the Roman tradition
in medieval buildings.
It is a very complex phenomenon
with many different aspects, and with very broad interpretations,
but, in general terms,
the interpretation goes far beyond mere pragmatism.
It is clear that there is a dimension of legitimacy:
Roman marbles were reused
to legitimise the present through the past.
It could be a political,
economic, social or religious legitimisation, of course.
From the Visigothic period onwards,
a paradigm shift took place in the use of ornamental stone,
with a clear decrease in the extraction of marble
compared to the Roman period,
in favour of the exploitation and use of limestone
in the decoration and liturgical furnishings of cult buildings.
The sculpture workshops
in the city of Mérida were an exception,
and they worked extensively during the 6th and 7th centuries
with the magnificent marble from the quarries of Estremoz,
which was used to produce new liturgical typologies
such as altar tables, door panels and lattice work,
among other elements.
Some of these marble materials
were reused, again, during the Muslim or Andalusi period.
This is the case of the pilasters
from dismantled Visigothic buildings,
which were reused in the decoration
of the cistern of the citadel of Mérida
in a demonstration of the legitimacy of the Amiral political power.
The Gothic façade of Tarragona Cathedral
is a magnificent example of the reuse
of a late Roman element.
Set into the façade of the medieval cathedral of Tarragona
is one of the most representative, most beautiful pieces
of early Christian Hispanic art, the Bethesda sarcophagus,
dating from around the end of the 4th century AD.
It expresses a complete iconographic repertoire,
on the theme of salvation,
in which different scenes are represented
of God’s works of salvation of humanity.
Political and religious legitimisation
is also behind the 17th century remodelling
of the so-called “oven” of Santa Eulalia de Mérida.
This is a Gothic chapel dedicated to the patron saint of the city,
commemorating the oven in which, according to tradition,
the martyr saint was burnt during the 3rd century persecutions.
The building incorporates Roman marble elements
from a temple dedicated to Mars,
as indicated in the epigraph repositioned
on the entablature of the chapel.
The journey through these examples,
across different periods and cultures,
enables us to understand the symbolic value
of the use of marmora in the Western world.
Its prestige is a legacy from the Ancient World
that continues to this day,
as it is the material par excellence
that has embodied the desire for immortality and glory,
as well as constituting an essential channel
for the transmission of messages of political and religious power.