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Juvarra's central section of the garden facade: the main garden axis seen from the top of the cascade
Juvarra's central section of the garden facade: the main garden axis seen from the top of the cascade

La Granja de San Ildefonso in the town of San Ildefonso (Segovia), eighty km north of Madrid, is the site of the baroque palace set in gardens in the French manner and sculptural fountains, that was built for Philip V of Spain. San Ildefonso, or La Granja, or La Granja de San Ildefonso, is a town and Municipality in the province of Segovia, Spain, situated Segovia is a city in Spain, the capital of the province of Segovia in Castile-Leon. Madrid (pronounced in English in Spanish and colloquially in Spain) is the Capital and largest city of Spain. Baroque art redirects here Please disambiguate such links to Baroque painting, Baroque sculpture, etc Philip V of Spain ( December 19, 1683 - July 9, 1746) born Philippe de France, Fils de France and duc d'Anjou

Contents

History

Due to their location on the forested northern slopes of the Sierra de Guadarrama, these were favourite hunting grounds for many Castilian kings. The Sierra de Guadarrama (for Spanish: Guadarrama mountain range) is a mountain chain spanning half of the Sistema Central (a Mountain range Kingdom of Castile was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. In the fifteenth century, Henry IV of Castile built the first hunting lodge on the site, along with a small shrine dedicated to San Ildefonso (Saint Ildefonsus), which gave this place its first name. Enrique IV (5 January 1425 - 11 December 1474 King of Castile, nicknamed the Impotent (ruled 1454-1474 was the last of the weak late medieval kings of Castile The Crown of Castile, as a historic entity is usually considered to have begun in 1230 with the third and definitive union of the two kingdoms of León and Castile Saint Ildefonsus or Ildephonsus (rarely Ildephoses; died 23 January 667) was the metropolitan Bishop of Toledo from 657

Isabella I of Castile granted both buildings to the monks of the Parral monastery in Segovia, who built a granja (farm) and an almshouse alongside.

The site was purchased from the monks in 1719 by Philip V, after his summer palace nearby at Valsain burned to a shell. Philip V of Spain ( December 19, 1683 - July 9, 1746) born Philippe de France, Fils de France and duc d'Anjou Beginning in 1721, Philip began building a new palace and gardens modelled on Versailles, built by his grandfather, Louis XIV of France. The Palace of Versailles, or simply Versailles, is a royal Château in Versailles, in France 's Île-de-France region Early years Birth and ancestry Louis XIV was born in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye on September 5 1638 and bore the Heir apparent Like Versailles it embraced a cour d'honneur on the approaching side, and formal gardens, with a main axis centered on the palace, that were surrounded by woodland in which further hidden garden features were disposed. Cour d'Honneur, sometimes literally translated as "Court of Honour" is the architectural term for defining a three-sided Courtyard Like Versailles, La Granja began as a retreat from the court but became a center of royal government.

For the architect, Philip began with an unpretentious project by the Spanish architect Teodoro Ardemans, incorporating a chapel centered on one facade, which was enlarged in a second phase, ca 1728-34 under Andrea Procaccini and Sempronio Subisati, who provided the courtyards in the flanks, then given its definitive character by Filippo Juvarra, who was brought from Turin, based on recommendations in the circle of Philip's second queen, Elizabeth Farnese,[1] and his assistant, Giovanni Battista Sacchetti. Andrea Procaccini ( January 14, 1671 -1734 was an Italian painter of the Baroque period active in Rome as well as in Spain Filippo Juvarra, ( March 7, 1678 - January 31, 1736) was an Italian Architect and Scene Elisabeth of Parma ( October 22, 1692 &ndash July 11, 1766) Queen consort of Spain, also known as Isabel de

When the King decided to abdicate in 1724, his intention was to retire to La Granja. Year 1724 ( MDCCXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Unfortunately Philip's heir, King Louis I, died that same year, and Philip had to return to the throne. King Louis I of Spain ( Spanish: Luis, August 25, 1707 &ndash August 31, 1724) born Luis Felipe of Spain Consequently, a place designed for leisure and quiet retreat thus became an important meeting place for the King, his ministers and the court. [2] The town of San Ildefonso expanded to provide housing and services to the courtiers who wanted a place near the king's favourite residence. Military barracks, a collegiate church (1721-1724, built to designs of Teodoro Ardemans, and dedicated to the Holy Trinity, 22 December 1723, and even a royal glass factory (1728) were built to provide for the palace. The glass factory, which had some initial successes from 1720 at Nuevo Baztan in the province of Madrid, was moved under the direction of its Catalan foreman, Ventura Sit, to San Ildefonso, where supplies of timber were plentiful, and a royal patron was near. The best glass of Venetian type produced in the works dates from the last quarter of the eighteenth century. [3] As La Granja de San Ildefonso, the glassworks continue today as a subsidiary of Saint Gobain.

The church was selected as his burial site by Philip, marking a break with his Hapsburg predecessors. The frescoes by Giambattista Tiepolo, completed by Francesco Bayeu, were badly damaged in a fire of 1918. See also Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (or Giandomenico Tiepolo) or Lorenzo Baldissera Tiepolo, both sons of Giovanni Battista [4]

Philip's successor Ferdinand VI bequeathed the royal site of San Ildefonso, with all it contained, to his father's second wife, Isabel, as she was in Spain, Farnese. Ferdinand VI, ( September 23, 1713 &ndash August 10, 1759) King of Spain from 1746 until his death second son of Philip At her death in 1766 it reverted to the Crown in the person of Charles III. Charles III ( January 20, 1716 – December 14, 1788) was King of Spain 1700–88 (as Carlos III King of Naples and

For the next two hundred years, La Granja was the court's main summer palace, and many royal weddings and burials, state treaties and political events took place within its walls.

Currently this royal site forms part of Spain's Patrimonio Nacional, which holds, and maintains many of the Crown's lands and palaces. Patrimonio Nacional (National Heritage is a Spanish state agency under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister of Spain, that administers the sites owned by the Spanish

Royal Gardens at La Granja - fountain and music temple.
Royal Gardens at La Granja - fountain and music temple.

It is a popular tourist attraction, furnished with a collection of paintings, with some good portraits, and a new and important Museum of Flemish tapestries. Tapestry is a form of Textile art. It is woven by hand on a vertical Loom.

The gardens

Extending over 1,500 acres, the gardens around the palace are one of the best examples of 18th-century European garden design. The French designer from the official French royal offices of Robert de Cotte, René Carlier,[5] used the natural slope from the mountains to the palace grounds both as an aid for visual perspective and as a source for sufficient head to make water shoot out of the twenty-six sculptural fountains that decorate the park. Robert de Cotte (1656 &ndash 15 July 1735) was a French Architect -administrator under whose design control of the royal buildings of France Of the elaborate "Baths of Diana", focus of several garden axes, the chronically depressed Philip remarked, "It has cost me three millions and amused me three minutes. "

Sculptors arrived from Paris to execute designs on the site; they included René Frémin (1672-1744, at La Granja until 1738), to whom the execution of many vases and sculptures was attributed in eighteenth-century inventories, Jean Thierry, and others who are little more than names in archival references.

All of the fountains represent themes from classical mythology, including Greek deities, allegories and scenes from myths. The word mythology (from the Greek grc μυθολογία mythología, meaning "a story-telling a legendary lore" Greek mythology is the body of stories belonging to the ancient Greeks concerning their gods and Heroes the nature of the world and the origins and significance See also List of deities A deity is a Postulated Preternatural or Supernatural Being, who is always An allegory (from αλλος allos "other" and el αγορευειν agoreuein "to speak in public" is a figurative mode of representation The word mythology (from the Greek grc μυθολογία mythología, meaning "a story-telling a legendary lore" They are cast in lead to prevent corrosion, and painted over to simulate bronze, a nobler material, or lacquered over white oxydised lead to imitate marble. Characteristics Lead has a dull luster and is a dense, Ductile, very soft highly Corrosion means the breaking down of essential properties in a material due to Chemical reactions with its surroundings Bronze is any of a broad range of Copper alloys, usually with Tin as the main additive but sometimes with other elements such as Phosphorus A group of richly sculptural vases have been attributed to designs by the "dazzling maverick" Gilles-Marie Oppenord,[6] which were probably forwarded through the offices of Robert de Cotte, overseeing French royal building projects as intendant des Bâtiments du Roi. Gilles-Marie Oppenordt, also spelled Gilles-Marie Oppenord (1672&ndash1742 was a celebrated French designer at the Bâtiments du Roi, the French royal Robert de Cotte (1656 &ndash 15 July 1735) was a French Architect -administrator under whose design control of the royal buildings of France The Bâtiments du Roi (Buildings of the King was a division of Department of the household of the Kings of France (the " Maison du Roi " in Bruno Pons noted in the sculptural vases "an almost excessively brilliant style, quite distinct from French royal taste and showing an undeniably superior understanding of ornament"[7]

The original waterworks and piping are still functional. They rely purely on gravity to project water up to the forty-meter height of the fountain jet of Perseus and Andromeda. Gravitation is a natural Phenomenon by which objects with Mass attract one another An artificial lake, El Mar, "the Sea", lies secluded at the highest point of the park, and provides a reservoir and water pressure for the whole system.

Today, only a few fountains are active each day. Twice a year, on the feast days of San Fernando (Saint Ferdinand) and San Luis (Saint Louis), all twenty-six fountains are set to play, providing a memorable show. Saint Ferdinand III (July 30 or August 5 1199 &ndash May 30, 1252) was the King of Castile from 1217 and King of León from 1230

Notes

  1. ^ His first consort had been Maria Luisa of Savoy from the House of Savoy, the great patrons of Juvarra, but the court style during her lifetime was resolutely French
  2. ^ Yves Bottineau, L'Art de Cour dans l'Espagne de Philippe V 1700-1746 (Bordeaux, 1965) sets the construction of La Granja in the broader context of court art. Maria Luisa Gabrielle of Savoy or Maria Luisa Gabriella di Savoia in italian ( September 17 1688 - February 14 1714) was the first The House of Savoy (Casa Savoia was formed in the early eleventh century in the historical Savoy region
  3. ^ Frank Gibson, "La Granja Glass" The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 39 No. 225 (December 1921), pp. 304, 308-309.
  4. ^ Xavier Bray, "The Iconography of Francisco Bayeu's Frescoes for the Colegiata at La Granja de San Ildefonso" The Burlington Magazine 139 No. 1133 (August 1997, pp. 543-547), p. 543; José Manuel de la Mano, "Tiepolo's Commission for the Collegiate Church of the Holy Trinity at La Granja de San Ildefonso" The Burlington Magazine 139 No. 1133 (August 1997), pp. 536-543)
  5. ^ Carlier died in 1722, having laid out the main structural features, it is assumed. Esteban Boutelou continued in his place. The main source for information on the gardens is still Jeanne Digard, Les jardins de la Granja et la sculpture décorative (Paris) 1934.
  6. ^ Bruno Pons, "Oppenord and the Granja de San Ildefonso" The Burlington Magazine 131 No. 1034 (May 1989), pp. 337-341, based on drawings at the Victoria and Albert Museum and among Robert de Cotte's papers at the Bibliothèque Nationale. The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design housing a permanent collection The discovery in Spbain of an Oppenord sketchbook of iconography opens the possibility that Oppenord travelled to Spain. (Pons 337, note 7)
  7. ^ Pons 1989:340.

External links


Spanish royal sites Coat of Arms of Spain
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Palacio Real de Madrid | Zarzuela | El Escorial | El Pardo | Aranjuez | La Granja | Riofrío | Alcázares de Sevilla | La Almudena
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Descalzas Reales | La Encarnación | Sta. The royal sites ( Spanish: reales sitios) are a set of Palaces monasteries, and Convents built for and under the patronage of the A palace is a grand residence especially the home of a Head of state or some other high-ranking Public figure. El Escorial is one of the Spanish royal sites and functions as a monastery royal palace museum and school The Alcázar of Seville (Spanish "Alcázares Reales de Sevilla" or "Royal Alcazars of Seville" is a royal palace in Seville, Spain. This article concerns the buildings occupied by monastics. For the life inside monasteries and its historical roots see Monasticism. Clara de Tordesillas | Las Huelgas | Valle de los Caídos
Sanctuaries under royal patronage:
Panteón de Hombres Ilustres | San Pascual | Sta. The Valle de los Caídos (in English Valley of the Fallen) is a monumental memorial in the municipality of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, erected at Cuelgamuros Valley Isabel | Colegio de Doncellas Nobles

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