Élodie Baillot
The so-called Fortuny azulejo is a lusterware tile panel of very large dimensions, dated from the early 15th century and probably produced in Málaga under the reign of the Nasrid King Yusuf III, who ruled over the kingdom of Granada from 1376 to 1417 (Fig. 1). This magnificent tile panel has been known since its purchase in 1871 in Granada by the Spanish painter Mariano Fortuny y Marsal (1838-1974). Fortuny who had won the Prix de Rome in 1857 had settled in the Eternal city before relocating in Paris where he enjoyed considerable success while initiating his partnership with the art dealer Albert Goupil. In 1870, Fortuny left for a two-year stay in Granada in order to find new sources of inspiration. During his Andalusian stay he purchased several objects that have become iconic Islamic artefacts, most of them now preserved in private and public museums. Amongst these artefacts is the large lusterware tile panel. According to what he confided to friends at the time, he did not purchase the panel from an antiquarian or a collector but most likely from a small shopkeeper based in the Albaycín district, the Arab quarter of Granada, where the tile panel had been reused as a lintel for the door of the shop.

A small fragment, very similar in design, was also acquired by Fortuny at the same time. It belongs now to the Louvre (OA 6694) and suggests that there were originally two panels forming a pair, probably coming from the Alhambra palace even though there is no tangible evidence of such a provenance. Before entering Fortuny’s collection, the azulejo had probably already lived a life of reuse and undergone relocation and decontextualization.
A life in the studio: the artist-collector’s object
In 1871, the lusterware tile panel joined the painter’s collection who was also a collector. It marked a turning point insofar as the artist’s notoriety reflected on his collection which he completed over time with exceptionally rare pieces. Fortuny spent two years in Granada before returning to Rome in 1872 where his collection was to be displayed in his studio which was also a major hub of artistic sociability in the 1860s-1870s. As an artist, Fortuny considered his collection as a source of inspiration and study as can be seen in several paintings and photographs depicting the place. The azulejo occupies a prominent place in this setting, hanging on a wall surrounded by tapestries and lusterware plates (Fig. 2). The panel was probably framed by Fortuny to facilitate the display on the wall’s studio and the comparison with his own orientalist paintings. The artist was also known for his attempts at recreation of medieval artistic techniques which he experimented while in Granada, specifically the lusterware and forge techniques. He was very much interested in collecting these objects to emulate medieval artists and craftsmanship. For the Alhambra vase, one of the most famous artefacts of his collection acquired near Granada, he designed and forged a bronze base decorated with lion heads.

A destiny determined by auctions

After the artist’s very sudden death in 1874, the destiny of the lusterware tile panel was again at stake during the sale of his collection a year later in Paris. It is known that the azulejo was highly coveted since it was reported by Spanish collector and art historian Juan Facundo Riaño, advisor to the South Kensington Museum, to its director Henry Cole, as absolutely unique. In view of the sale, organized by Baron Jean-Charles Davillier, a friend of Fortuny, collector and historian of lusterware ceramics, the translation of the Arabic inscription on the azulejo was entrusted to orientalist Charles Schefer, whose version connected the object to the reign of King Yusuf III and allowed a more precise dating (Fig. 3). This enhanced the value of the azulejo and Baron Davillier, who wrote the catalogue entries of Fortuny’s ceramic collection, even drew a symbolic parallel between the deceased Spanish painter and King Yusuf III who was known for embellishing the Alhambra palace and excelling as a poet and artist. Even though the inscription is dedicated to the Nasrid King, Fortuny’s last ownership of the azulejo largely overshadowed any other provenance in the shaping of the object’s history and critical fortune. Since Fortuny bought it in 1871, it is commonly referred to as the Fortuny azulejo.
The object was then purchased by Baron Davillier for 1 950 francs , allegedly on behalf of Fortuny’s widow who kept the azulejo in her collection. Even if the terms of the arrangement between the two parties remain unknown, it testifies to the sentimental attachment of the Fortuny’s family to the object. In comparison, the so-called Alhambra vase was bought by Russian collector Alexandre Basilewsky for 30 000 francs. This sale marked an important step in the “aestheticization of value” (Boltanski, Esquerre, 2017) of the azulejo not only because it fetched a significant price but also because the sale catalogue was conceived as a historiographical overview on lusterware ceramics, a field of research in which Davillier was a pioneer. As a matter of fact, Davillier probably capitalized on the success of the sale to give his research new relevance.
The museum object
The azulejo seems to have remained in Fortuny’s widow collection for several years before being sold at an unknown date to Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, Duke de Dino. Neither the price and the reasons of acquisition, nor under what conditions it was displayed while Dino owned it, are known. In any case, the collection of the Duke de Dino, one of the most important collections of arms and armors of the time, was sold after his death in 1894.
Considering the growing fame of Davillier’s publications since 1875, the Fortuny azulejo had become a masterwork from the Nasrid period and a brilliant artistic expression of Muslim Spain. It was commonly attributed by most scholars to a workshop in Málaga, where the Alhambra vase could have been produced too. This more accurate understanding of the technique and time of production of the object was even reinforced by the aura his previous owner, Fortuny, had gained since he had been elevated as the artistic genius of Spanish contemporary painting.
During the 1894 sale of the Duke de Dino’s collection, the azulejo was acquired by Guillermo de Osma y Scull and his wife, Adela Crooke y Guzmán, Countess of Valencia de Don Juan. This purchase is the result of the effectiveness of a loyal network of agents able to secure the object they were willing to buy at any cost. Some serious rivals were also on the line for the acquisition such as the South Kensington Museum, the Berlin Kunstgewerbemuseum and some major collectors. Guillermo de Osma and Adela Crooke y Guzmán managed to refrain Frederick Du Cane Godman from bidding after an arrangement with him. To deal with British collector George Salting, they let the bidding rise until he withdrew, ultimately acquiring the azulejo for 19 500 francs. To cover this considerable sum, Osma had to join forces with his father-in-law Juan Crooke y Navarrot, Count of Valencia de Don Juan.
The Fortuny azulejo thus entered a new private collection but this collection bears a specific meaning since the Counts of Valencia de Don Juan built a residence to house a museum and institute dedicated to the history of Spain and its arts that they created in 1916 (Fig. 4). The historicist neo-Moorish architecture and decoration of the building, located on Fortuny Street in Madrid, were designed as a setting alluding to the style of the objects exhibited inside.


Within the palace, the azulejo has a prominent place and stands today in a display case dedicated to Nasrid ceramics (Fig. 5). It faces another one of the few exemplars of the so-called Alhambra vases and embodies the reappropriation of the study of the material culture of Muslim Spain in which most of the successive directors of the Instituto Valencia de Don Juan distinguished themselves. The azulejo also illustrates the patriotic commitment of its last owners dedicated to the preservation and study of Spanish heritage. This aspect is even more tangible with the gift they made of their collection and institute to the Spanish nation. Since its purchase in 1894, the azulejo has not left Spain and is never loaned. An exception was made in 2018 for Mariano Fortuny y Marsal retrospective exhibition held at the Prado Museum, in Madrid.
Bibliography
Atelier de Fortuny : œuvre posthume, objets d’art et de curiosité, armes, faïences hispano-moresques, étoffes et broderies, bronzes orientaux, coffrets d’ivoire, etc…. dont la vente aura lieu les 26 avril et jours suivants…hôtel Drouot. Notices par MM. Édouard de Beaumont (armes), B[ar]on Davillier (faïences), A. Dupont-Auberville (étoffes), Paris, impr. J. Claye, 1875.
Élodie Baillot, « De palais à institut : architecture, décors et arts décoratifs espagnols à l’Instituto de Valencia de Don Juan », in Sandra Costa, Dominique Poulot, Mercedes Volait (eds.), The Period rooms. Allestimenti storici tra arte, collezionismo e museologia, Bologna, Bononia University Press, 2016, p. 179-188.
Élodie Baillot, Le baron Davillier. Un travailleur de la curiosité, Paris, Éditions de la Sorbonne, 2024.
Javier Barón (ed.), Fortuny (1838-1874), cat. exp. (Madrid, Museo del Prado, 21 de noviembre de 2017-18 de marzo de 2018), Madrid, Museo nacional del Prado, 2018.
Luc Boltanski, Arnaud Esquerre, Enrichissement : une critique de la marchandise, Paris, Gallimard, 2017.



















