Part 2
Frieze of the Staircase in the Monastery, representing the Battle, Siege, and Capture of St. Quintin, and the Foundation of the Monastery, by L. Giordano, 190
‘La Santa Forma,’ the Masterpiece of Claude Coello. (Sacristy of the Escorial), 191
The Resurrection, by Peregrino Tibaldi. (The Cloister of the Escorial), 192
The Interment of Christ, by Tintoretto. (Chapter Hall of the Escorial), 193
Jesus at the Pharisee’s House, by Tintoretto. (Chapter Hall of the Escorial), 194
The Resurrection of Our Lord: Florentine School, Grey Painting. (Chapter Hall of the Escorial), 195
The Birth of Our Lord, by Tintoretto. (Chapter Room of the Escorial), 196
The Annunciation, by Paul Veronèse. (Chapter Room of the Escorial), 197
Porus brought before Alexander the Great, by Carlos van Loo. (Monastery of the Escorial), 198
The Crown of Thorns, by Jerome Bosch, on Wood. (Chapter Hall of the Escorial), 199
Triptych, by Jerome Bosch. (Chapter Hall of the Escorial), 200
Triptych, representing the Terrestrial Delights, and the Punishment of Sin in Hell, by Jerome Bosch. (Chapter Hall of the Escorial), 201
Portrait of Charles V. at the age of 47, by Juan Pantoja. (Chapter Hall of the Escorial), 202
Christ bringing forth the Souls of the Saints: Florentine School. (Chapter Hall of the Escorial), 203
The Washing of Feet, by Tintoretto. (Chapter Hall of the Escorial), 204
The Nativity, by Josef Ribera. (Chapter Hall of the Escorial), 205
The Last Supper, by Titian. (The Escorial), 206
St. Christopher (on Wood), by J. Patinier. (Chapter Hall of the Escorial), 207
Jacob receiving Joseph’s Coat, by Velazquez. (Chapter Hall of the Escorial), 208
The Penitent Magdalene, by L. Giordano. (Chapter Hall of the Escorial), 209
Mummy of Charles V., by V. Palmaroli. (The Escorial), 210
Jacob guarding the Flocks of Laban, by J. Ribera. (Chapter Hall of the Escorial), 211
The Satyr Marsyas flayed alive by Apollo, by L. Giordano. (Chapter Hall of the Escorial), 212
Lot and his Family, by A. Vaccaro. (Chapter Hall of the Escorial), 213
The Adoration of the Magi, by Veronèse. (Chapter Hall of the Escorial), 214
The Chastisement of Arachne, by L. Giordano. (Chapter Hall of the Escorial), 215
Alexander conquering Darius, by F. Solimena. (Monastery), 216
St. Maurice and other Martyrs, by El Greco. (Chapter Hall of the Escorial), 217
Queen Esther, by Tintoretto. (Chapter Hall of the Escorial), 218
The Annunciation, and the Birth of Christ, by Coxcis. (Chapter Hall of the Escorial), 219
The Holy Trinity, by J. Ribera. (Chapter Hall of the Escorial), 220
Vision of Jesus to His Mother, by P. Veronèse. (Chapter Hall of the Escorial), 221
The Carnation Gardener, by F. Bayeu. (Tapestry in the Palace), 222
The Water-seller, by F. Bayeu. (Tapestry in the Palace), 223
The Young Bull at Carabanchel de Abajo, by F. Bayeu. (Tapestry in the Palace), 224
Promenade of Las Delicias, by F. Bayeu. (Tapestry in the Palace), 225
The Pork Merchant, by F. Bayeu. (Tapestry in the Palace), 226
Departure for the Hunt, after P. Wouwerman, by Gines de Aguirre. (Tapestry in the Palace), 227
Descent from the Cross. (R. Van der Weyden), 228
Child riding a Sheep, by F. Goya. (Tapestry in the Palace), 229
A Lady and her Cavalier, by F. Goya. (Tapestry in the Palace), 230
Country Dance, by F. Goya. (Tapestry in the Dining Hall of the Palace), 231
Casting of Bullets in a Forest, by Goya. (Casa del Principe, Escorial), 232
The Kite, by F. Goya. (Tapestry in the Escorial Palace), 233
The Washerwomen, by F. Goya. (Tapestry in the Palace), 234
Young Man with a Bird, and a Bagpiper, by F. Goya. (Tapestry in the Palace), 235
A Promenade in Andalusia, by F. Goya. (Tapestry in the Palace), 236
The China Merchant, by F. Goya. (Tapestry in the Palace), 237
Dogs in a Leash, by F. Goya. (Tapestry in the Palace), 238
The Little Giants, by F. Goya. (Tapestry in the Palace), 239
The Grape-sellers, by F. Goya. (Tapestry in the Palace), 240
The Card-players, by F. Goya. (Tapestry in the Palace), 241
The Wood-cutters, by F. Goya. (Tapestry in the Palace), 242
Children picking Fruit, by F. Goya. (Tapestry in the Palace), 243
Children climbing a Tree, by F. Goya. (Tapestry in the Palace), 244
The See-saw, by F. Goya. (Tapestry in the Palace), 245
The Reapers, by F. Goya. (Tapestry in the Palace), 246
Tapestry after the Pompeian Style. (In the Palace), 247
Story of Telemachus: the Dance of the Nymphs. (Gobelin Tapestry in the Palace), 248
Story of Telemachus: Neptune wrecking Ulysses’ Vessel, (Gobelin Tapestry in the Palace), 249
Story of Telemachus: Calypso. (Gobelin Tapestry in the Palace), 250
Story of Telemachus: young Telemachus. (Gobelin Tapestry in the Palace), 251
Children playing at Bull-fighting, by F. Bayeu. (Tapestry in the Escorial Palace), 252
The Gardens of Buen Retiro. (Tapestry in the Palace), 253
St. Joseph and the Child Jesus. (Casa del Principe), 254
The Judgment of Solomon, by F. de Urbina. (Ceiling in the Prior’s Cell in the Monastery), 255
The Virgin, by Corrado. (Casa del Principe), 256
Woman reading a Letter, by D. Teniers. (Casa del Principe), 257
The Conversion of St. Paul, by L. Giordano. (Casa del Principe), 258
Apollo grieving over the Death of his son Phaeton: Buen-Retiro China. (Casa del Principe), 259
The Fall and Death of Julian the Apostate, by L. Giordano. (Casa del Principe), 260
The Bagpiper, by D. Teniers. (Casa del Principe), 261
St. John the Baptist, by Annibale Caracci. (Casa del Principe), 262
A Smoker, by D. Teniers. (Casa del Principe), 263
The Heliades, Daughters of the Sun, changed into Poplars, after the Death of their brother Phaeton: Buen-Retiro China. (Casa del Principe), 264
The Conception of the Virgin, by an unknown Artist. (Casa del Principe), 265
The Holy Family, by Raphael. (Casa del Principe), 266
Semiramis fighting the Enemy, by L. Giordano. (Casa del Principe), 267
The Rape of the Sabines, by L. Giordano. (Casa del Principe), 268
Allegory of America, by L. Giordano. (Casa del Principe), 269
Allegory of Asia, by L. Giordano. (Casa del Principe), 270
The Dream of Philip II., by El Greco. (Chapter Hall of the Escorial), 271
Effigies of the different Kings of Spain, 272
Effigies of the different Kings of Spain, 273
Effigies of the different Kings of Spain, 274
The Prince’s Room. (Escorial), 275
Pompeian Room. (Escorial), 276
Tower Room (Caseta de Abajo). (Escorial), 277
The Royal Palace and Monastery: plan and section, 278
THE ESCORIAL
I
PHILIP II. AND THE ESCORIAL
Buildings, like poems or pictures, reflect the character of those who conceive and produce them. The Escorial may be likened to a document or a painting revealing the temperament, the aspirations, and the philosophy of a powerful, sombre, and withal, fascinating personality. Its severe form and its restrained embellishment are stamped with the individuality of the monarch who devoted the leisure of thirty years of his life to the erection, extension, improvement, and internal adornment of an immense and costly pile, comprising within its walls a monastery, a church, a burial-fane, a palace, a college, and a gallery of the arts. The Escorial was a place of retirement, an imposing hermitage for the devout and moody Philip II. of Spain. It is a monument to his power, a revelation of his mind; and, if we study the edifice, we shall learn what manner of man he was who founded it.
Ferdinand and Isabella consolidated Spain into one great empire, and under their grandson, Charles V., the nation advanced in greatness, until it held sway over vast regions of the New World. When the Emperor Charles yielded sovereignty, in 1556, the sceptre passed to his son, Philip. Two years after, upon the death of the Emperor (Sept. 21, 1558), Philip II. became ruler over the whole of the Spanish dominion at home and abroad.
The heir of Charles V. was born at Valladolid on May 21, 1527. His mother was the Empress Isabella, daughter of Emanuel the Great of Portugal, and by his father he descended from Charles the Bold of Burgundy. Under the tutorship of Juan Martinez Siliceo, the young prince received his education at the celebrated University of Salamanca. He excelled in knowledge of the classics, and exhibited considerable linguistic talent, for he was able to write in Latin with facility and possessed an acquaintance with French and Italian. Architecture, painting, and sculpture interested the youth, and he studied mathematics.
His royal mother died when Philip was twelve years old. Four years later the prince was betrothed to the Infanta Mary, daughter of John III. of Portugal and Catherine, sister of the Emperor Charles V. In 1543 this desired alliance with Portugal was confirmed by the marriage of Philip to his cousin, the Infanta, in the city of Salamanca. Shortly after the ceremony, the young pair went to reside in Valladolid, and here was born to them a son, Don Carlos, whose mysterious death in captivity at the age of twenty-three remains unexplained.
In giving birth to her first child, the princess lost her life. Before the rejoicings of the nation at the birth of a prince were at an end, the country was startled by the death of the young mother, and gaiety was suddenly changed to mourning. From the Cathedral of Granada, where the body of the Princess Mary was buried, the remains were afterwards removed to the stately mausoleum of the Escorial, the resting-place for the bones of the royal family of Spain, which was erected by Philip many years later.
In 1554 Philip II., not yet a sovereign, married Mary of England. The union was arranged by his father, Charles V., and for a time the prince lived in England with his bride. He was, however, called upon to attend the Emperor in Flanders, and was absent from Mary until 1557, when he again visited England. His stay was a brief one, for he was summoned in less than four months to the Netherlands. In the following year Queen Mary died.
Upon the accession of Elizabeth to the throne of England, Philip of Spain received her assurances of amity. Not many weeks after the burial of Mary, Philip directed Feria, his ambassador in England, to propose, on his behalf, a matrimonial as well as a political alliance with Elizabeth. The queen replied that she must consult Parliament upon the subject, and that ‘should she be induced to marry, there was no man she should prefer to him.’ Philip wrote an affectionate letter to Elizabeth, declaring that he longed for the success of his ambassador’s mission. The Protestant Reformation, which swept over England, was, however, a sufficient bar to the marriage of Philip and Elizabeth. Philip expressed his disappointment when the final answer was received from England, but he still protested his friendship for Elizabeth, and hoped that amicable relations would continue between the two nations.
In 1559 Philip married the Princess Elizabeth of France. It had been proposed that the princess should marry Don Carlos, the son and heir of Philip; but, for diplomatic reasons, it was considered more expedient that Elizabeth, who was only fourteen years of age, should wed with the king. The proposal came from France, and in reply to it, the Spanish envoys avowed that ‘notwithstanding their master’s repugnance to entering into wedlock, yet, from his regard to the French monarch, and his desire for the public weal, he would consent to waive his scruples and accept the hand of the French princess with the same dowry promised to his son Don Carlos.’
Tragedy attended the wedding festivities of Philip and Elizabeth of France. In the course of a tournament, arranged by Henry, father of the princess, a challenge was sent by that monarch to Lord Montgomery, a Scottish nobleman and captain of the king’s guard, renowned for his feats of arms. The queen begged the king to refrain from the encounter, but Henry commanded the unwilling Montgomery to prepare for the combat. At the first encounter the Scot pierced the visor of his opponent; the lance splintered, and a piece of it penetrated the eye of the king, who was borne from the arena by his attendants seriously wounded and unconscious. For ten days he lay in pain, and died on July 10, 1559, of his injury. His queen, Catherine de Medici, thus saw the fulfilment of her foreboding when she vainly besought the valorous Henry to abstain from further jousting.
The battle of St. Quintin, in August 1557, which saw the triumph of the Spanish arms over the French, was an event of extreme moment, and was the source of Philip’s resolve to erect the Escorial. In this engagement the Duke of Savoy, at the head of the Spanish troops, D’Egmont, in command of the Dutch and German horsemen and infantry, and Lord Pembroke with his force of British soldiers, defeated the army of France, and killed three thousand men. During the height of the battle, which was fought on the day dedicated to San Lorenzo, Philip besought the assistance of that saint, and vowed that if aid were vouchsafed, he would build a mighty and permanent monument to the deliverer.
The French general was the Duke de Nevers, who was assisted by the Constable of France, Montmorency. To Coligni, the great admiral, was given the task of augmenting the garrison of St. Quintin. The troops of France were nevertheless greatly outnumbered by the Spanish forces. Flemings, Englishmen, and Spaniards, in combined array, made desperate assault upon the defenders of St. Quintin. In a last rally the French formed squares, but the artillery of the Duke of Savoy broke up their ranks. Montmorency was among the prisoners who were seized by the Spanish, and it is recorded that he was treated with considerate courtesy.
It is probable that another motive in addition to gratitude to San Lorenzo actuated Philip II. in building the monastery of the Escorial. He was under an obligation by the will of Charles V. to erect a royal burial-place, and the example of his father in yielding the crown for the ascetic life of the cloister may have induced him to add a religious house to the mausoleum, and to provide a retreat for himself in the closing days of his reign. Whatever may have inspired the resolution, it is quite evident that the idea took passionate possession of the king’s mind, and that he spent vast treasure and much industry upon the work of rearing this extraordinary conglomerate pile.
The choice of a situation for the building accords with all that we know of Philip’s trend of thought and feeling in middle life. He was not hasty in determining the position for the upraising of his monument. The place must be solitary, stern, and amid impressive surroundings, where nature is seen in a mood of perennial musing and melancholy. No doubt the king wandered often in the wastes of Castile, among the rocks, the treeless plains, and the mountainous surrounding of Madrid, in quest of a suitable site for his hermitage and sanctuary. It was necessary, in a material sense, that the district should produce an abundance of stone of a durable quality.
How Philip came to fix upon this spur of the bleak Guadarrama is not precisely known. Probably his conception of the Escorial was that of an austere and plain building, which should, so far as possible, resemble the natural surroundings, and suggest a part of them rather than a contrast to their sternness. The retreat was to be no palace of gilded luxury, but a grim and majestic building consecrated to devotion, penance, and solemn reflection. Where could a more appropriate spot be found for the retirement of a recluse than among the encompassing crags, defiles, and peaks of the Guadarrama Mountains?
In ancient times iron had been worked in this desolate wilderness of Castile. The _scoriæ_, or refuse of the mines, lay upon the hillsides, and gave the name of ‘Escorial’ to this shoulder of the range. After a search, which had lasted two years, Philip concluded that no better situation could be desired. In his decision he was assisted by experts in geology, the science of health, and the art of architecture. The site was distant eight leagues from Madrid, and close to a hamlet known as Escorial.
In the document written by Philip respecting the founding of the monastery, we read that, inspired by gratitude to God for His benefits, the king desired to establish churches and convents, and to build a place of burial for his royal successors. ‘For these considerations we are Founding and building the Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo, near the town of the Escorial, in the diocese and archbishopric of Toledo, and we dedicate it to the blessed San Lorenzo on account of the special devotion which we have to this Saint, and in memory of the victory which we gained on his feast-day. We Found it according to the Order of St. Jerome because of the affection and devotion we have for this Order, and which the Emperor and King, our Father, had for the same. Besides this we have decided that a college shall also be Founded, where the arts and theology shall be taught, and where some young men shall be brought up under the rule of a seminary,’ etc.
Philip purchased all the land required for the erection of the monastery before the work of clearing it was begun. He took up residence on the site, in rude temporary lodgings, and followed with closest interest every detail of the designing and construction. His chosen architect was Juan Bautista de Toledo, who had studied his art in Rome and Naples. Toledo was a native of Madrid, and in Italy he had made his reputation by designing a palace at Posilipo, and the celebrated Strada di Toledo. He was assisted in planning the Escorial by Lucas de Escalante and Pedro de Tolosa.
The first stone was laid on April 23, 1563. Toledo worked upon the Escorial till 1567, when he died. His scheme embraced the monastery for fifty Hieronymite monks, the royal residence, the burial-chamber, and the church. Juan Bautista de Toledo was succeeded by Juan de Herrera, who enlarged the convent and designed a bell tower. His assistant was Juan de Minjores, who had executed the church of the Alhambra, and planned part of the Alcazar of Seville.
Toledo’s plan was ambitious and eccentric. He was influenced by the Renaissance ideals, and he employed the Doric style in its severest examples. Philip would have no luxurious decorations, no flamboyant effects; everything must be plain to austerity. Some critics have asserted that the simplicity of the Escorial is impressive and noble, while others complain of its rigidity and sombreness. The plan of the building is in the shape of a gridiron, to commemorate, it is surmised, the fate of San Lorenzo, who was roasted on a grid. The handle of the gridiron is represented by the Palace of the Infantas; the monastery, the seminary, and the royal apartments represent the bars of the implement upon which the saint was martyred.
It is evident that the architects were not allowed perfect freedom in their designs. The king constantly inspected their plans, corrected or improved them according to his own ideas, and made numerous suggestions. From his youth Philip had displayed a love of architecture, and there is no doubt that he was personally the inventor of many features of the Escorial. It has been related that he somewhat hampered the designers by his frequent insistence upon severity of style, and by his interference in many details of the work.
The king often repaired to a rock commanding a view of the busy scene beneath, where he would sit for hours, watching the progress made by the great army of craftsmen and toilers. A fear, which was almost morbid, assailed him at the dread thought that he might die before his scheme was brought to its completion. His days were occupied in superintending the tasks of the architects, artists, and decorators, and in pious meditation in his retreat. Sometimes he would roam with his gun, in the surrounding grey wilderness, unattended, and buried in reflection. His relations with the favourite painters of his retinue were of the friendliest order, and he avoided the attitude of the mere patron. With Titian the king was very intimate, and he would sit by the easel of Coello, watching the picture that grew upon the canvas.
The studio of Coello adjoined the royal apartment, and Philip came frequently to converse with the painter. He delighted also in the society of Antonio Moro. To Titian he paid large sums for his services, and when the work was finished the king handsomely pensioned the artist. When Titian died, the pension was continued to his son.