Page:A Handbook for Travellers in Spain - Vol 1.djvu/224

124 tion à la Francaise, leaving Charles III., Charles IV., and Ferdinand VII. to finish it.

The palace is placed near the Tagus, at the Madrid end of the village. A bald Plaza de San Antonio, a sort of French Place du Carrousel, with a corredor and iron railing, affords space for dust and glare. The interior of the palace contains some indifferent pictures, and fresco ceilings by Jordan, Mengs, Maella, the poor Conrado Bayeu, and others. There are, however, three interesting pictures by Bosch (Jerome van Aeken), a painter of the beginning of the 16th century, almost unknown out of Spain. They represent fantastic subjects and allegories in the style of Brueghel, which were much praised by the authors of his time. China fanciers should particularly examine the porcelain gabinete, fitted up by Charles III., with the finest specimens known of Buen Retiro porcelain. The walls of this room are entirely covered with large plaques of porcelain, representing in high relief groups of Japanese figures; they are beautifully painted and modelled. The looking-glasses, made at La Granja, add to the effect. The frames are composed of fruits and flowers. The artist who painted and modelled this room was Joseph Gricci, 1763, who was one of the artists brought over by Charles III. of Naples, when he established at Madrid in 1759 the fabric of Buen Retiro which existed previously at Capo de Monte. This porcelain is marked with the Fleur de Lis in colours, or gold: look also at the room in imitation of Las Dos Hermanas of the Alhambra. The mirrors and marqueterie of this palace are fine.

The look-out on the gardens over the parterre, the Jardines del Principe y de la Isla, with its shady avenues of oriental planes and cascades, is charming. Here, in spring, all the nightingales of Spain seem collected: and how sweet is “the melodious noise of birds among the spreading branches, and the pleasing fall of water running violently.” The gardener will take the visitor round the lions of the Isla; one of the fountains was painted by Velazquez, but is not now to be recognised; the others are fine, and play on great holidays and royal birthdays. The best objects to observe are the Puerta del Sol, the Fountain of the Swan, la Cascada, Labyrinth, Swiss mountain, Neptune, Ceres, Bacchus, and the Tritons. The elms brought from England by Philip II. grow magnificently under this combined heat and moisture. They were the first introduced, says Evelyn, into Spain, where from their rareness they are as much admired as palm-trees are by us. One of them is shown, a gigantic tree, some 90 feet in girth.

The Casa del Labrador, or labourer’s cottage, is another plaything of that silly monarch Charles IV. This cottage is richly fitted up with china, marbles, tapestries, and platina-inlaid walls and doors. The walls of the back staircase are painted with scenes and subjects illustrating the costume, &c., at the time of Charles IV. The large saloon is painted by Maella. Obs. the malachite chair and table, a present from Prince Demidoff to the ex-Queen of Spain, Isabella. The chairs in the different rooms are worth notice. In one of these rooms there is an interesting collection of 20 ancient marble busts of Greek philosophers, brought hither by Charles III.

The Florera, or Jardin Ingles, was laid out by Richard Wall, an Irishman.

It was at Aranjuez, March 19, 1808, that Charles IV., in order to protect his wife’s minion Godoy, abdicated in favour of Ferdinand VII. Godoy, a vile tool of Buonaparte’s, was thus saved to consummate his guilt by signing the transfer of Spain to France.

The royal breeding establishments near Aranjuez, like those near Cordova, were almost destroyed by the invaders, but restored by Ferdinand