The Escorial / A Historical and Descriptive Account of the Spanish Royal Palace, Monastery and Mausoleum

by Albert Frederick Calvert

On the south side of the church is the Patio de los Evangelistas, the Court of the Evangelists, a square of 166 feet, with two-storied cloisters in the Grecian style. The Hieronymite Order of Monks have always regarded the cloisters of their abbeys with the same reverence as the interior of the buildings, and the galleries of the Court of the Evangelists are resorts for quiet meditation and devotion. An ornamented, vaulted ceiling is supported upon arches and pillars; there are windows of tinted glass, and wall pictures, and a series of niches for altars. In each of the niches or ‘stations’ the walls are adorned with paintings. Monegro’s statues of the Apostles are in the court, and there are four fountains of marble and beds of flowers.

We have read that Philip II. desired his edifice to serve as a monastery for the Order of San Geronimo, or St. Jerome, who was the father confessor of the great warrior, El Cid. Charles V. had spent the closing years of his life among the monks of San Geronimo at Yuste, near Plasencia, and his son, Philip, deemed it appropriate that the brothers of that order should inhabit and rule the Escorial. The first band of monks lived in a temporary monastery while the big religious house was being constructed. One of the most famous of the brothers was Villacastin, who placed the last stone of the edifice on September 13, 1584, and saw the first stone laid twenty-two years before the final ceremony of consecration. Father Sigüenza was the priest who officiated at the first Mass in the new church. He died in 1606, about three years after the death of the venerable Villacastin, who reached the age of ninety.

The Convent of San Lorenzo adjoins the Court of the Evangelists. Running from the old church to the annexe of the Sacristy are the Salas Capitalares, comprising two large halls and an ante-chamber. Two paintings by Titian are in the halls: one of ‘San Geronimo in the Wilderness,’ and the other ‘Devotion in the Garden.’

The painted ceiling is by two Italian artists, Granelo and Fabricio, and the pictures on the walls are by artists of different nationalities. Navarrete executed ‘Abraham and the Angels’; and Ribera’s ‘Birth of Christ’ and ‘Æsop’ are here. But more important than these is the work of Velazquez, the ‘Sons of Jacob,’ the only picture of the great master among the Escorial collection. This was one of three pictures which Velazquez painted at Rome and sent to his father-in-law, the versatile Pacheco, artist, canon, and historian.

The pictures by Bassano were probably among those brought from Italy by Velazquez when he went on a mission for Philip.

In the Prior’s Hall there are several examples of the work of the Italian illuminators, some of which came from the collection of Charles I. of England. There are an ‘Entombment’ and ‘Christ in the House of the Pharisee’ by Tintoretto. Three of Titian’s works adorn the hall: ‘Our Lady of Grief,’ the ‘Last Supper,’ and the ‘Prayer in the Garden.’

The original church has an altar of marble, with paintings by Titian of the ‘Adoration of the Magi’ and ‘Ecce Homo.’ The ‘Entombment’ is a copy of Titian’s picture in the Prado Gallery at Madrid. Many of the paintings have been removed from the old church to the Prado, but among the notable canvases remaining are the ‘Martyrdom of St. James,’ an ‘Annunciation,’ by Paul Veronese, and Zuccaro’s ‘Birth of Christ.’ The most important is perhaps the picture by El Greco of ‘St. Maurice.’

On the handsome staircase there are more pictures from the brush of the facile Giordano, one of the most rapid of painters. One of these frescoes represents the founding of the Escorial, and it has a figure of Philip II. inspecting the designs of the architects, Juan Bautista de Toledo, Herrera, and Antonio Villacastin. There is also a portrait of the king’s jester, D’Antona. San Lorenzo and the Virgin are depicted in the centre of the dome, and there are portraits of Charles V., San Fernando, and San Geronimo in the group. The portraits of the Emperor Charles, Philip II., Charles II., and other royal personages are said to be excellent likenesses.

The Upper Gallery of the Cloisters is decorated with several paintings by Barrocci, Giordano, Carducci, Juan de Gomez, Navarrete, and Sebastian Herrera. Navarrete’s works are of principal interest; they are ‘San Geronimo,’ the ‘Birth of Christ,’ and the ‘Appearance of Christ to His Mother.’

The Lecture Hall contains a ‘Resurrection,’ painted by Paul Veronese, and some copies of Titian and Rubens. Navarrete’s ‘Burial of San Lorenzo’ is a fair instance of this artist’s manner, and may be considered the most interesting picture in the room.