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{46} 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,{47} 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{48} 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.{49}’
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.
in an adjoining small apartment there are many treasures, curiosities, and objects of art. this collection was despoiled by the french soldiery, but a considerable number of relics have been preserved. among them is a manuscript by st. augustine concerning the christening of children, dating from early in the seventh century. st. teresa of avila, who was a guest at the escorial, wrote the four works which are kept here. one of the volumes is an autobiography of the saint, and another is a work upon the road to perfection. the two other books are codes and regulations concerning the religious houses which santa teresa founded.
the full title of the celebrated spanish saint is maestra serafica madre santa teresa de jesus. she was born in 1515, and took the veil in her youth. philip ii. collected and preserved her writings at the escorial, and philip iii. urged the canonisation of the saint in 1622. at the death of the patroness of spain, the souls of{50} thousands of martyrs appeared at her bedside. santa teresa’s writing-desk and ink-bottle, and an autograph of the saint are among the most treasured relics preserved in the escorial.
among the sacred relics are a portion of the gridiron of san lorenzo, a piece of his clothing, and the veil of st. agata.
the statue of san juan is by nicolas. a jar which was placed here in the time of philip ii. is reputed to be one of the original vessels which held the wine at the marriage feast of cana.
there are several pictures of the french and flemish schools in this room, including ‘san geronimo,’ by holbein. bassano and zuccaro are represented, and there are a few paintings in the florentine style, but none of especial merit. maëlla, a spanish painter, who worked between 1739 and 1819, had some reputation as a fresco designer, and became a court artist under charles iv. at the time when goya was producing some of his finest pictures. goya subsequently took the place of mariano maëlla as the king’s painter. in this room there is an ‘immaculate conception’ by maëlla.
a brother of the order of san geronimo painted the ceiling, and another monk carved the figure of their patron saint upon the altar screen.{51}
portraits of the fathers of the monastery are hung in the upper prior’s chamber. the paintings are mostly by minor spanish artists and italians who worked at the escorial. sanchez coello’s portrait of padre sigüenza, the earliest chronicler of the monastery, has been copied and hangs here. in an ante-chamber are oil-paintings by giordano and copies of pictures by reni, raphael, and rubens. the ‘conception’ is by francisco bayeu, a contemporary of maëlla, who painted frescoes in many of the castilian churches. bayeu’s daughter, josefa, was the wife of the brilliant goya.
the prior’s oratory contains portraits of charles iii. and maria of saxony and an old german picture of saints. there is also a sculpture of the ‘conception.’ the lower prior’s chamber or cell has the one work of francisco urbino to be seen in the escorial, a fresco of some interest. there is a picture by pantoja, a portrait of the emperor charles in his youth. the portraits of maria luisa and of charles iv. are copies from goya’s works. vicente lópez, who painted the portrait of maria, wife of ferdinand vii., was a painter of some eminence and a contemporary of goya. lópez executed one of the best portraits of goya.{52}
the carreño portraits in this apartment are good examples of the work of this artist, who belonged to the school of madrid. carreño de miranda was a pupil of pedro de los cuevas, and a follower of velazquez, who obtained for him a commission to paint pictures of the royal palace of madrid. carreño was made a court painter after the death of the great velazquez, and many of his pictures are to be seen in the churches of spain and at the escorial.
doña luisa roldan’s figure of san miguel is in the vestry. this is a specimen of the wood carving for which the sculptors of spain were famous. the art of carving effigies in wood was revived successfully in andalusia by martinez montañéz, who died in 1649; and among his followers were pedro roldan and hernandez, who produced a large number of carved images for churches and for exhibition in religious processions. doña luisa roldan, a daughter of pedro, owed her inspiration to the master of this art, but her achievements fall short of the perfection which he attained.
there is a story concerning this señora’s work in the escorial. it appears that after a tiff with her husband, luisa roldan carved the figure of san miguel, and represented her own seraphic{53} countenance in that of the saint, while the scowling demon at his feet exhibits the features of the irascible husband. the pictures in the vestry are mostly copies of titian and tintoretto, but the ‘martyrdom of san pedro’ is said to be an original work of caravaggio.
in the four minor cloisters are several pictures. one is an anonymous work, a landscape, and the others, of no great merit, are portraits of saints. the crucifix to be seen here was the work of an indian convert to christianity.
the spacious refectory has dining tables of wood on stone pillars. over the foundation stone is the prior’s seat, and there are two pulpits in the hall. the kitchens, wine cellars, and other domestic offices are in this part of the monastery.
the real monasterio is the most characteristic portion of the huge pile of the escorial, and its austerity and atmosphere of contemplation and piety testify to the religious and ascetic spirit of the royal recluse who founded it. this is no palace of mere delight and of luxury. it is a temple and a retreat, a sanctuary from the world of strife and unrest, and an asylum for the penitent and the devout. it is a monument of the catholic faith, built with the devotion of{54} artists and labourers inspired by a deep zeal for religion, erected without regard to the immense cost of its construction and furnishing, and dedicated in the name of the pious san lorenzo to the worship of god and the holy virgin. truly a strangely interesting memorial.
here, in the odour of piety, surrounded by friars and monks, philip ii. lived the life of renunciation and of calm meditation. this tabernacle in the wilderness is a symbol of the mind of spain in the days of her power, the manifestation of her profound faith, and a tribute to the seriousness and quietism which were the ideals of one of the most remarkable and complex of her rulers. we feel that the very stones of the building reveal the nature of philip, the king who would be saint, the ambitious patriot who longed for power and vivid life, and yet realised that the placid existence in the cloister is more excellent than the fevered life of courts.
