VIDRIERAS. BANCO DE ESPAÑA

The stained glass windows of the Patio de Operaciones del Banco de España (Operations Courtyard of the Bank of Spain) is a set made by the Casa Maumejean with which this institution, pays homage to the world of labour and the different occupations.

The Casa Maumejean Hermanos whose workshop was founded in 1860, had locations in Paris and Madrid. In Spain it became the most important glass workshop of the XIX century especially after brothers José and Enrique Maumejean settled down there. From the Casa Maumejean there are several windows in various buildings in Madrid, such as the school Blanca de Castilla, the Prensa Española building and private homes of the Gran Via and Alfonso XII streets. Also the window of the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid ( Architecture school of the Polytechnic University of Madrid) already depicted in this series. In Barcelona and Cataluña there are also works of the Maumejean brothers such as the windows of the Caixa de Sabadell besides those of the Pérez Samanillo house and various Spanish cathedrals in which they have done restoration works in their stained glass windows. The work of the Maumejean brothers focused on the restoration of old windows and the making of new ones. These latter, done in various styles with the predominance of an eclectic aesthetic. The window depicted in this souvenir sheet is the work of Alberto Martorell, one of the best glass window artists of the XX century. The work doesn’t bear his signature since it was a rule of the Maumejean workshop that artists didn’t sign their works. Both the figures as well as the decoration, from its composition to the historical point of view, are those of the art nouveau and art deco style and follow a modernist aesthetic. The souvenir sheet and stamp depict a worker at a metal foundry. De esta hoja bloque se realizó una Prueba de Color .