no work dealing exclusively with the royal palace and monastery of the escorial, and purporting to give a full historical and descriptive account of that remarkable monument of philip ii. of spain, has hitherto been published in england. in this volume i have endeavoured to present, in condensed form, a history of the founding and building of the edifice, to deal in detail with the more interesting features of its architecture, and to describe the pictures, fresco paintings, illuminated missals, and other works of art contained in the several portions of this great composite pile.
the escorial reflects the genius of spain at the period following upon the final emancipation from the sway of the moors. it is an image, as it were, of the powerful monarch who founded it, and spent so many years of his life in superintending the construction and decoration of the building. the real monasterio de san lorenzo del escorial is a repository of many of the world’s masterpieces of art, a library of rare and costly manuscripts and volumes, a sumptuous hermitage, a college, and a sanctuary. it is one of the{viii} wonders of spain, and among the most historically interesting royal residences in europe. with the aid of the letterpress and the illustrations included here, those readers who have not visited the escorial will, i trust, be enabled to realise something of its massive grandeur, and to appreciate its significance in the history of the spanish nation; while those who propose to inspect this ‘leviathan of architecture’ will find these pages useful in directing their attention to the chief works of art and objects of interest.
in preparing this description, i have sought for historical facts amid the pages of don antonio rotondo’s large and admirable work upon the escorial, in the historia del escorial of father sigüenza, in the writings of prescott and dunham, and the volume of pedro madrazo on new castile. i am also indebted to c. gasquoine hartley for notes upon the artists of the escorial, gathered from her record of spanish painting, and particularly to mr. walter m. gallichan for his assistance in the compilation of the material.
many of the illustrations in this volume appear by the courtesy of señor don j. lacoste, who supplied the photographs and gave me permission to reproduce them.
a. f. c.
‘royston’
swiss cottage
n.w.
