Painted figures close-up

Painting a figure on a tile is a trade of transfer and speed. The V&A explains how Dutch tile makers copied the same decoration on large numbers of tiles by pouncing: an outline drawn on paper was pricked with small holes, the paper was laid on the biscuit-fired and glazed tile, and a porous bag of charcoal was dabbed on it, leaving a dotted outline. The outline was then painted with a fine brush and the tile fired again. The V&A also notes that the raw glaze absorbs pigment at once, so errors cannot be erased.

Visit Lisboa says that in the 17th century the tile painter became an artist and began to sign, a movement started by the Spanish immigrant Gabriel del Barco. The same source notes that the master known as P.M.P. kept his anonymity until his death. English Wikipedia adds that the monogrammist P.M.P. is credited with inventing the figura de convite, a cut-out, life-size figure placed in entrances to welcome visitors, a type found only in Portugal, and that his collaborators included Teotónio dos Santos and Valentim de Almeida.