View of Bermeo
After 1783.Room 093
Inlaying, or embedding hard stones and marbles to create scenes, is an arduous technique that originated in Antiquity and was cultivated again in Rome in the mid-16th century. Denominated as commesso, this tradition of lapidary marquetry began with non-figurative compositions for table-tops and tables. In 1588, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinando de’ Medici, created in Florence the Galleria dei Lavori (later called Opificio delle Pietre Dure), from which the Prado has several tabletops or bureaus.
A century and a half later in Palermo, where Charles of Bourbon was crowned Charles VII of Naples and V of Sicily, he demonstrated his enlightened character in becoming a great patron of the arts, which led him to found the Laboratorio delle Pietre Dure in Naples in 1737 with craftsmen who had worked for the Florentine workshops. After his arrival in Madrid in 1759 in order to be proclaimed sovereign of the Spanish monarchy under the name Charles III, he likewise showed the same interest in the conservation and development of the arts. Beyond continuing projects previously started relating to the manufacture of tapestries and glass, he sponsored other royal factories, namely the Real Laboratorio de Piedras Duras y Mosaico (Royal Laboratory of Hard Stones and Mosaics) – founded around 1761 with a group of specialised professors – and which in 1763 was already organised and structured into two subdivisions: reliefs and cameos, led by Francesco Poggetti (or Francisco Poggeti), and mosaics and marble panels, led by Domenico Stecchi (or Domingo Stequi), both from Florence.
The Laboratory was set up in the facilities of the Porcelain Factory, in the Royal Site of Buen Retiro in Madrid, now the Retiro Park. Shortly afterwards it was established in that of the China Factory. In Spain, works with hard stone and marble had been carried out since the 16th century, but the production of ornamental works was centralized here and was led by several members of the Poggetti family. The last one of them was Luis (or Luigi), director of the Laboratory from 1786 until its closure in 1808. Shortly before its closure and during the Peninsular War, we know that the factory employed 35 workers.
The factory produced works in marble and console tables with rather remarkable hard stone tabletops, namely those kept in the Museo del Prado. Many of them are based on cartoons by Charles-Joseph Flipart (1721–1797) and depict landscape motifs. In addition to tabletops, the Factory produced ‘pictures’ made with this lapidary marquetry technique using paintings as their point of departure. The Museo del Prado has six of them, executed under the management of Luis Poggetti. One of the best ones, with a wide variety of colours, is this View of Bermeo, a highly sophisticated work reproducing with impressive accuracy the 1783 copper painting by Luis Paret (Museo de Bellas Artes in Bilbao).
In 1808, Poggeti headed to Alicante, and in 1811 he sailed to Cádiz, where the Council of Regency was located. He took five paintings saved from French plunder with him, including this View: five according to documentary evidence, although in the Prado, as previously mentioned, there are six. Some darkness surrounds Poggetti’s behaviour, who claimed that the five works had been executed under his management and who was rewarded for taking them under his custody. Nonetheless, when he was asked to return them shortly afterwards, he returned only four, claiming that one had been given as the guarantee for a loan. According to a document compiled by Pérez-Villaamil without indicating date or provenance, ‘the Regency reported the matter to the judge so that Poggeti could be prosecuted for having disposed of a Crown jewel, and the picture, which was View of Bermeo, was returned to the Government’. Poggetti became master draughtsman at the Alcora Factory in 1815.
The piece is mentioned in the Last Will and Testament of Ferdinand VII of 1834 and in the Prado manuscript inventory of 1857. It was exhibited at the famous Old Madrid Exhibition of 1926, where it was particularly highly valued. There is another hard-stone work inspired by a painting by Paret, Slave of Puerto Rico (private collection in Madrid).
Azcue Brea, Leticia, 'Real Laboratorio de Piedras Duras del Buen Retiro. Vista de Bermeo' En:. Paret, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2022, p.203-204 nº 52
