History of Dutch tiles

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From Italy to Antwerp

Around 1500, three Italian potters moved to Antwerp. They were painters of maiolica, the famous tin-glazed pottery of the Italian Renaissance, an earthenware with bright colours, frequently depicting historical and legendary scenes. The city of Antwerp, located on the estuary of the Scheldt river, was already one of the leading seaports of Europe. This city was also becoming a great cultural and artistic centre. The most famous of these three Italian artisans was Guido di Savino, known in Antwerp as Guido Andries. Native to Castel Durante (Duchy of Urbino), Andries learned his craft of painting ceramic wares in the Venetian workshops. He will go on to train his sons and other local potters to the Italian majolica technique. He teaches them how to manufacture, glaze, and paint all kind of ceramic wares: not only tableware, apothecary jars, maiolica chargers, but also tile panels and tiles for floorings. Enthusiasm for these vivid maiolica pavement is great; Andries and his sons are commissioned to create tiles for stately homes, castles, and abbeys in Flanders, England and France.

From Antwerp to the United Provinces

In 1576, Antwerp was looted by mutinying Spanish soldiers. Later on, in 1585, the city was besieged and seized by the Habsburg. Many of the city's potters took refuge further north, in the so-called United Provinces taking with them their savoir-faire. Ceramic workshops and studios then flourished in Haarlem, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and of course, in most famously Delft. It is this small town that finally will give its name to the production of ceramic ware, pottery, and tiles, made throughout the area: Delftware. Once independence was gained from the Habsburgs during the 17^th century, the ceramic tile industry experiences considerable growth thanks to the reconstruction of cities. Tiles have indeed a great advantage from a practical, hygienic and aesthetic point of view, and are then incorporated into every part of this grand reconstruction.

Fighting against the made in China

Production of earthenware glazed ceramics also helped competing Chinese porcelain. Chinaware was massively imported by the Dutch East India Company, whose headquarters is precisely in the port of Delft. It is under the influence of Chinese porcelains that local potters will start painting blue and white ceramic pieces and tiles. Throughout the 17^th and the 18^th centuries, kings and aristocrats will ornate their palaces throughout Europe with Dutch earthenware tiles. The demand is very high and the Netherlands become major producers and exporters of glazed tiles. They will decorate walls and façades in Versailles ("Trianon de Porcelaine"), Munich (Nymphenburg Palace), Saint Petersburg (Menshikov Palace), and in Portugal. In this country, as in Spain, tiles known as azulejos have been commonly used to ornate walls and floorings since the Moorish period (see: www.azulejos.fr). Portuguese aristocrats started commissioning tile panels from Dutch tile studios in the late 17th century. Two Dutch faience painters, Willem van der Kloet and Jan van Oort, will eventually settle in Portugal to answer numerous local commissions. It is under this influence, that Portuguese azulejos became mostly blue and white during the 18th century.

Delft tile: a generic name

As a result of this success, imitations of Delft tiles began to be manufactured in Germany, England, Belgium, and northern France. Thus, the term "Delft tile" refers more to a style than to an origin, because ultimately only very few of these tiles were produced in Delft itself. Each European language has a similar expression: carreaux de Delft (French), Delft fliesen (German), azulejos de Delft (Spanish and Portuguese), Delftse tegels (Dutch), piastrelle di Delft (Italian), kafle z Delft (Polish), Delft klaken (Swedish), πλακάκια Delft (Greek), Делфт Плитка (Russian)... The name "Delft" also remains attached to blue colour, chosen to imitate Ming porcelain, and used as a single tone. The most famous painter from Delft is Frederik van Frytom (1632-1702) who decorated wall plaques with extremely fine landscapes in blue shades. Although other colours have been used according to the times, Delft remains for many associated with blue. Delft tiles are characterized by their ornamental composition. The simplest are a central motif, framed in the angles by 4 corner motifs. The main themes are landscapes, boats, biblical scenes, characters, childrens' games, flowers, animals... Workshops in Rotterdam such as Jan Aalmis (1674-1755) or Cornelis Boumeester (1652 - 1733) have also produced ceramic panels on a larger scale representing marine scenes, landscapes, amorous or religious scenes, bouquets, etc.. The success of the "Delft" tile was so great that in the 18^th century, they were used to decorate the Bardo palace in Tunis, palaces in Lisbon, and convents in Salvador de Bahia.