That's how it was...A court for the king. Charles III and the Royal Sites
From December 20, 2016 to February 26, 2017. Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando.
On the occasion of the commemoration of the third centenary of the birth in the capital, on January 20, 1716, of Carlos III, enlightened king and Madrilenian par excellence, the Community of Madrid, through the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage, organized this exhibition in collaboration with National Heritage and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, to publicize the influence exercised by the monarch in the architectural and urban innovation and adaptation of the Villa de Madrid and the Royal Sites. Carlos III was a fundamental king in the configuration of a Spain that had aspirations of modernity and homologation with Europe.
The monarch's reformist policy was expressed in a particularly clear way in the territory that the Community of Madrid currently occupies, which, during these years, acquired its definitive shape as a center of political power, since the king and his court lived throughout the year both in the Villa de Madrid and in the other Royal Sites. In reality, Carlos III only spent eight weeks a year in the Villa de Madrid, Easter and July. During the rest of the year, the king enjoyed the rest of the Royal Sites: Spring in Aranjuez, Summer in San Ildefonso, Autumn in El Escorial, Christmas in Madrid and Winter in El Pardo.
Consequently, the urban and architectural adaptation effort was not limited to the capital, but rather each of the four satellite towns was configured as a small model city, an example of what, for the ideals of the Enlightenment, the capital should be both like the country. The territory was equipped with infrastructures within a modern arrangement that today, in addition to constituting the base of the current roads, offers a series of monumental landmarks that are part of the identity of Madrid. Thus, the sense of capital overflows the framework of a locality and is related to a European reality manifested in other countries: the systems of Royal Sites around capitals. The latter become small versions of what the capital should be, becoming more perfect than the Villa and Corte itself.
A COURT FOR THE KING. Carlos III and the Royal Sites
The exhibition
A court for the king. Carlos III and the Royal Sites offered an approximation to the vision that the monarch had of Madrid, its territory and the architecture that should guide the construction of its cities, all through a tour in which the transformations of the Royal Sites according to the seasonal use made of them.
A fundamental part of the exhibition is the spatial and temporal journey through the "days" of the Spanish Court through the Royal Sites and during the four seasons of the year, which allowed the visitor to place a set of monumental pieces in the context of the Community: some that he could already recognize as such - palaces - and others that are no less so - walks, paths - and that he was used to considering as mere spaces “given” by nature or by modernity.
The exhibition allowed to contemplate a magnificent selection of works, some of them unpublished or never exhibited, from national and international institutions, as well as private collections. The pieces were donated by various institutions, among them National Heritage. The Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, the National Library of Spain, the Prado Museum, the Villa Archive, the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Spain, among others, are also providers.
It should be noted the presence of a gouache and two unpublished watercolors, as well as some pieces not previously exhibited, among which it is worth mentioning: View of the façade of the Royal Palace of Aranjuez. Drawing for the engraving of the series of Views of the Real Sitio, by Domingo de Aguirre; and the plate for the engraving on the drawing Facade of the Royal Palace of Aranjuez "Seen from the middle street that passes between the barracks of the Infantry Guards", also by Aguirre.
The gaps that all this historical documentation fails to cover have been addressed through an extraordinary work of graphic reconstruction, which allows us to contemplate as a whole the architectural program of Carlos III, the first king who articulated the territory of the current Community of Madrid .
Historical and contemporary graphic production coexists in the exhibition. Along with the use of drawing, which makes up a large part of the sample, especially with regard to historical designs prior to the realization of the monuments, an extraordinary work of graphic production has been carried out. In this way, it is possible to offer a global panorama of the architectural phenomenon in the territory of our region. In this sense, two videos are projected, at the beginning and end of the exhibition, in which the Royal Sites are toured from animation and they are recreated in 3D, respectively.
A court for the king. Carlos III and the Royal Sites
The court of such a prominent sovereign demanded a deployment of dignitaries and servants, and the government of the European monarchy with the largest overseas dominions required a developed bureaucratic structure.
A good part of that environment had to accompany His Majesty outside Madrid, which explains the development of the four court populations in the Royal Sites.
In this way, urban structures are conceived that shelter both buildings built by the Crown for its servants, as well as individuals who want to build houses, which, rented, will serve to house those who have to follow the king or want to do what.
The court of such a prominent sovereign demanded a deployment of dignitaries and servants, and the government of the European monarchy with the largest overseas dominions required a developed bureaucratic structure.
A good part of that environment had to accompany His Majesty outside Madrid, which explains the development of the four court populations in the Royal Sites.
In this way, urban structures are conceived that shelter both buildings built by the Crown for its servants, as well as individuals who want to build houses, which, rented, will serve to house those who have to follow the king or want to do what.
In the European monarchies, among which Spain occupied a prominent place, the sovereign changed residence throughout the year.
In France, since 1683, Versailles was the seat of the court and the government. The court traveled annually to Fontainebleau in the autumn, and used to make short stays in the palaces closest to Versailles, especially in Marly.
In Naples Carlos III followed this example when undertaking the enormous royal palace of Caserta, although he did not finish it. Also, during his reign he had built several residences outside the capital where he spent much of the year. Turin is the most classic example of capital surrounded by a "crown" of country palaces for hunting and life in certain seasons. As in Madrid, these residences had been created in the XNUMXth century, but were developed in the XNUMXth with much more imposing architectures.
Since the Middle Ages, the kings of Castile enjoyed hunting rights in the mountains near Madrid and even somewhat further north of the city of Segovia.
Felipe II reaffirmed those rights through continued pragmatics by his successors, and created the El Escorial Royal Forest, the Casa de Campo in front of the Alcázar in Madrid and other smaller enclaves. It also consolidated this entire structure of country residences with the construction of the palaces of Valsaín and El Pardo and the ordination of Aranjuez. In these Royal Sites the Habsburgs spent three months a year and in Madrid the remaining nine.
Felipe V invested such distribution, living a complete season in each Site, and his son Carlos III followed that pattern. This circumstance implied improving the network of roads and bridges, so that the service to the needs of the Crown overlaps with the creation of roads.
A court for the king. Carlos III and the Royal Sites
Madrid, New Royal Palace
The urban improvement of Madrid carried out by Carlos III was decisive for cleaning the streets, their paving, the sanitation system and the lighting.
However, this reform was not accompanied by rethinking in the urban fabric, opening of new streets or squares or corrections in the road layout. On the contrary, the main interest of the monarch consisted in creating a comfortable exit towards his country residences by means of the slopes as smooth as possible, large structures and land clearings directed by Sabatini. Thus emerge the "new street" (Bailén), the slope of San Vicente and the walks of Florida and the Virgen del Puerto.
Madrid. Buen Retiro and Prado
The area of Madrid that becomes the image of the city of the reformist government of Carlos III is the Paseo del Prado. The need for its reform was raised not only because it was the main place for public recreation, but also because it was close to the Real Sitio del Buen Retiro. Conceived as a royal recreation place on the edge of the Villa, it was in the Retiro where the king spent his stays in the capital until the New Palace was completed in 1764.
In 1767 he undertook the reform of the adjacent Prado de San Jerónimo with the creation of the Prado Hall and its sources, according to plans by the architects José de Hermosilla and Ventura Rodríguez. Complemented by other works, from the Spring Garden and Puerta de Alcalá to the Royal Botanical Garden, the Paseo del Prado becomes the urban image of enlightened reformism.
The brown
El Pardo, winter hunting ground, was expanded by Fernando VI through the purchase of land from individuals and the Villa de Madrid. He also undertook the construction of a wall that closed the Mount.
Carlos III completed this purchase and closing operation. During his reign, the court spent the winter here, from January 7 to Easter, since in the great religious festivals it should be visible in the capital. Due to its proximity to Madrid, it was possible to travel to Pardo from the capital on the day to “make court” with the king on his birthday, January 20, and therefore it was the place where urban development was least necessary.
Aranjuez
Identified with spring since the Habsburgs, the Royal Site of Aranjuez, becomes with Carlos III the mirror of the ideal nation, constituting the most ordered and complete of these small court cities.
Carlos III added new tree-lined streets to the avenue system created by Felipe II, and expanded with Felipe V and Fernando VI towards the Long Bridge. The new streets have an ornamental character, but above all practical because they articulate the spaces destined to model crops such as those undertaken in the Real Cortijo, in the Campo Flamenco and in the environment of these economic experiments that have a model value for the country and image for the government.
La Granja of San Ildefonso
Although outside the Community of Madrid, the Royal Site of San Ildefonso in La Granja, created by Felipe V, cannot be disassociated from the Bourbon court cycle, having constituted the royal summer residence until the XNUMXth century.
Carlos III undertook a complete rethinking of the population. Its most visible landmarks were the Gates of Segovia and the Queen, the House of Infants, and the Glass Factory; but the greatest interest lies in the urban complex, which responded to the enlightened ideals of sanitation, placing the hospital and similar services outside the walls. Likewise, the king ordered in the Montes de Valsaín an operation similar to that of El Pardo, that is, the purchase of the forests and their incorporation into the Crown.
San Lorenzo de El Escorial
San Lorenzo, foundation of Felipe II, cannot be understood without its Royal Forest created by this monarch, and which Carlos III and Carlos IV maintained and consolidated, rebuilding the stone fence that limited it. El Escorial was a magnificent hunting ground for autumn, a season that the Court spent here, returning to Madrid on the day of the Immaculate Conception, an important feast for the Court and patron saint of the Order of Charles III. In El Escorial they also spent the night in mid-July, on the way to San Ildefonso.
The new plant population was designed by Juan Esteban in 1767, and not by the author of the best buildings that exist in it, Juan de Villanueva, who since 1768 was an architect of the Jerón community. It was also the prince of Asturias and the Infantes, for whom he built country houses. For his servants he built a building in front of the main facade of the Monastery, the Casa de Infantes; next to it that of the Minister of State, and other buildings in the town for the Crown and for individuals.
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