page_title: Real Fábrica del Buen Retiro
section_title: 1700s
hierarchical_section_title: Real Fábrica del Buen Retiro / History / 1700s
caption_attribution_description: Español: El Estanque Grande del Retiro (h. 1816). Temple sobre sarga, conservado en el Museo de Historia de Madrid. Puede verse a la izquierda el Embarcadero Real y al fondo la Real Fábrica de Porcelana del Retiro, ambas construcciones desaparecidas.
context_page_description: Real Fábrica del Buen Retiro was a porcelain manufacturing factory in Spain. It was located in Madrid's Parque del Buen Retiro, Madrid on a site near the Fuente del Ángel Caído.
  The factory began by moving the Capodimonte porcelain factory from Naples in 1760, after its founder there had inherited the Spanish throne as Carlos III of Spain. He took the equipment and about 40 key workers, including Giuseppe Gricci, the main modeller, and nearly five tons of porcelain paste. Since the paste, the main artists, and the fleur-de-lys factory mark, were all used by both factories, distinguishing between their products from the years around the move can be very difficult. The factory continued to make soft paste porcelain until 1803, when it switched to hard-paste porcelain; some pieces made were in fact creamware, an English style of fine earthenware.
  The factory concentrated on figurines, especially of classical subjects, but also made tablewares and decorative vessels such as vases and pots. Porcelain rooms were installed at three royal palaces.
context_section_description: The factory was founded in 1760 on a site in the Buen Retiro park which at that time was the private gardens of a royal palace on the outskirts of Madrid. It was an initiative of Carlos III of Spain, who succeeded to the Spanish throne in 1759, and his wife, Maria Amalia of Saxony.
   
  Prior to becoming King of Spain, Charles reigned as King of Naples and Sicily.  A similar factory, the Porcellana di Capodimonte, had been established by the royal couple in Naples.  Maria Amalia died in 1760, a year after moving to Madrid with her husband, but she was an important influence on both the Naples and the Madrid factories.  53 specialized Italian craftsmen from Naples came to Madrid, along with three shipments containing the necessary equipment and special paste, to establish a factory to produce royal porcelain in Madrid. Gaetano Schepers was in charge of the factory and ten Spanish artists were also associated with the manufacturing. The porcelain's quality was internationally recognized, and its manufacturing techniques were kept a state secret.  Buen Retiro porcelain was one of the products that drove mercantilist royal policy during the Spanish Age of Enlightenment.  There were other factories in the Madrid area producing luxuries such as tapestries, glass etc.
caption: The factory in the Buen Retiro Park, centre, beyond the lake
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