Buen Retiro Research Articles

A Zurich monument toppled: The (post-) colonial case of Swiss industrialist and entrepreneur Alfred Escher (1819–1882)

ABSTRACT This study discusses Swiss industrial pioneer and entrepreneur Alfred Escher (1819–1882) from Zurich in the context of Switzerland’s rising awareness of colonial entanglements. When it became known in 2017 that Escher’s uncle Friedrich Ludwig had owned the Cuban coffee plantation “Buen Retiro” near Artemisa, including 87 enslaved men and women, it launched a public debate that was intensified and broadened in the summer of 2020 by the murder of George Floyd and the ensuing Black Lives Matter movement. The statue of Alfred Escher in front of Zurich's main railway station has become a symbol not only of Switzerland’s complicity in the crimes of colonialism, but also of the debate over representations of the colonial in public spaces.

Abraham with his son Ishmael •

The titles previously given to Rembrandt etching B 33 are not convincing: it is problematic to identify the boy as “Isaac” or even as “Benjamin”, and the use of the verb “caress” is also imprecise.For all their shared intimacy, the two protagonists in the etching were depicted by the artist in different physical and emotional states: the old man is tense while the child is calm; the feet of the former, turning to the right, suggest preparing to depart, while the posture of the latter hints that he is going nowhere. With regard to their close physical proximity, because of the gesture Abraham makes with his left hand, and owing to the telling positions of their feet, the two figures are closely connected to the “banishment of Hagar and Ishmael”. The work depicts Abraham and Ishmael immediately prior to their parting and after the feast celebrating Isaac’s weaning. Ishmael’s supercilious smile and the apple in his hand allude to the argument with his half-brother and also to the Old Testament. It is at this moment that Abraham hears the voice of God, instructing him to send his loved ones away; the tension in his eyes is directed towards God. Every sinew of his body and soul is strained by the ambivalence of the situation: what he has to accept is the unacceptable. It could well be that just an instant earlier he was caressing Ishmael’s chin without a care in the world, but now he gently starts to turn the child’s head in the direction of the voice, while at the same time, the blessing he is about to bestow on his son is already present in his left hand. Ishmael’s position nestled in Abraham’s lap may also refer to his legitimate descent, to the fact that he too is regarded by Abraham as his heir, as the firstborn “of his flesh”.The work is a nuanced pictorial exegesis of Genesis 21:8–13; it may have been made in the same year, 1637, in which Rembrandt produced etching B 30, depicting the banishment of Hagar and Ishmael.Luca Giordano also painted Abraham with his firstborn son, Ishmael, in a canvas that once adorned San Juan del Buen Retiro in Madrid.

Tres representaciones de Arte y Geología en el reinado de Carlos III: el Vesubio, la mina de Gualgayoc y la Gruta de Posillipo

During the reign of Charles III, the search for information about the different places in his kingdom was constant. The compilation of images culminated, on many occasions, in the commission of artistic objects that were not only limited to the decoration of rooms, but also had the function of transmitting information to their observers. This occurred within the spirit of the Enlightenment, so this information was, in many cases, not easily available the observers. Sometimes the artists in charge of their representation would not have first-hand access to these natural phenomena or landscapes, so they would have to make use of images made by others in order to carry out their commissions. This is the case of the paintings Vista de la erupción del Vesubio by A. Carnicero, Quadro de Historia Civil y Geográfica del Reyno del Perú by J.I. Lequanda and L. Thiebaut and La gruta de Posillipo en Nápoles by the Real Laboratorio de Piedras Duras del Buen Retiro. The three works analyzed in this work, and belonging to Madrid collections, show the interest that geological nature aroused in various artists of the time.

John Huxtable Elliott (1930–2022)

John Huxtable Elliott (1930–2022)

A Tale of Two Anteaters: Madrid 1776 and London 1853

In 1776, the first living giant anteater to reach Europe arrived in Madrid from Buenos Aires. It survived 6 months in the Real Sitio del Buen Retiro before being transferred to the newly founded Real Gabinete de Historia Natural. In 1853, 77 years later, a second anteater was brought to London by two German showmen and exhibited at a shop in Bloomsbury, where it was visited by the novelist Charles Dickens. The animal was subsequently purchased by the Zoological Society of London, which classed it as one of the most important additions to the menagerie since its formation in 1828. Drawing on recent work in animal biography, this article assesses the reception of the two anteaters and considers their cultural and scientific significance. I examine the logistics of the exotic animal trade and trace the transatlantic networks that permitted anteaters-and knowledge about them-to move between continents. I also study the modes of representation, from painting to taxidermy, that enabled the anteaters to reach new audiences. By focusing in detail on the lives of two exceptional anteaters, the article illuminates understandings of the species more broadly and shows how different spaces and places shaped the creation and dissemination of zoological knowledge. I emphasise, in particular, the tensions that emerged between imperial and colonial science and the competing knowledge regimes of the natural history museum, the menagerie, and the field.

Biodeterioration of Salón de Reinos, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain

The Salón de Reinos, a remnant of the 17th century Palacio del Buen Retiro, was built as a recreational residence under the reign of Felipe IV between 1632 and 1640 and was the main room for the monarch’s receptions. This Salón owes its name to the fact that the coats of arms (shields) of the 24 kingdoms that formed Spain in Felipe IV’s time were painted on the vault, above the windows. In addition, the ceiling shows an original decorative composition. The painted ceiling and window vaults showed deterioration evidenced by fissures, water filtration, detachments of the paint layer, and black stains denoting fungal colonization related to humidity. Ten strains of bacteria and 14 strains of fungi were isolated from the deteriorated paintings. Their biodeteriorative profiles were detected through plate assays. The most frequent metabolic functions were proteolytic and lipolytic activities. Other activities, such as the solubilization of gypsum and calcite and the production of acids, were infrequent among the isolates.

El escenario del valido: el conde-duque de Olivares y el Palacio del Buen Retiro

El palacio del Buen Retiro fue uno de los grandes símbolos del valimiento del conde-duque de Olivares, además de una de las grandes empresas constructivas y decorativas del reinado de Felipe IV. Comenzado a construir de forma discreta a partir de 1629, en este real sitio el valido concentró buena parte de sus energías y de los numerosos recursos que estaban a su alcance con el objetivo de crear un gran escenario en el que la majestad de Felipe el Grande brillara de múltiples maneras. Gracias a nuevo material inédito, profundizaremos sobre cómo don Gaspar de Guzmán utilizó el real sitio que tanto admiró a cortesanos y embajadores de toda Europa para ejercer y afianzar su valimiento exaltando la figura de Felipe IV y la Casa de Austria y vinculando a su fama y poder, su nombre y el de su linaje.

Nuevos datos acerca de las follas de entremeses del Siglo de Oro

La denominada folla de entremeses es uno de los espectáculos teatrales más desconocidos del Siglo de Oro. Esto se debe en buena medida a la poca atención que le ha prestado la historiografía, y derivado de ello, a la aparente escasez de fuentes documentales que den noticia de en qué consistían y cómo, cuándo y dónde se representaban. En el presente trabajo se documentan puestas en escena de follas de entremeses hasta ahora desconocidas, que se representaron ante los monarcas en el Real Alcázar y en el Buen Retiro. Con ello se pretende un mayor conocimiento sobre este espectáculo.

Un impreso lujoso de Duelos de amor y lealtad, de Calderón: la boda entre la infanta María Luisa de Borbón y el archiduque Pedro Leopoldo de Austria

Entre los diversos actos organizados en la villa de Madrid durante el mes de febrero de 1764 para la celebración del casamiento entre la infanta María Luisa de Borbón y el archiduque Pedro Leopoldo de Austria, la Corona exigió al Ayuntamiento de Madrid la organización de dos «Fiestas de teatro» en el Coliseo del Buen Retiro. En la primera de ellas se representó Duelos de amor y lealtad, de Calderón de la Barca, de la que se ha conservado un impreso lujoso, con encuadernación muy cuidada y con un formato de impresión excelente. En este trabajo, además de dar a conocer este peculiar impreso y mostrar sus particularidades, se pretende indagar en el posible encargado de su impresión. No presenta pie de imprenta, pero mis investigaciones me han llevado a proponer el nombre de Antonio Sanz, uno de los impresores más reputados del momento. Por último, se pretende destacar la relevancia de este testimonio para la transmisión textual de la comedia.

Dictionaries, Corpora and Variation in the Court of Philip IV of Spain: The Case of propriedad~propiedad and Related Words

This paper forms part of a larger project concerning the preparation of documents in the court of Philip IV of Spain. The document examined constitutes letters patent issued in September 1658 to the Marquis of Heliche, granting him temporary governorship of the Palacio de Buen Retiro. While both drafts of these letters employ the form propriedad, the final version removes the second >r>: propiedad. My purpose here is modest: to investigate the vitality of these variant spellings in Spanish at this time. To do so, I have consulted relevant dictionaries and various linguistic corpora. The attempt to determine the relative vitality of these competing forms in seventeenth-century Spain will, of course, also allow us to draw some conclusions regarding the usefulness of the tools employed.

The Buen Retiro by Robert de Cotte in Madrid, the First Great Architectural Project by Philippe V (1708-1715)

Cuando llego al trono de Espana, Felipe V deseo una residencia de estilo frances. La eleccion se hizo en el Buen Retiro de Madrid, la residencia de placer de los reyes de Espana, cuyos edificios parecian anticuados e incomodos. Para establecer el gran arte monarquico frances, llamo al primer arquitecto de Luis XIV, Robert de Cotte, que dirigia la agencia «des Bâtiments du roi». El proyecto iba a asumir un caracter eminentemente politico porque la camarera mayor, la princesa de los Ursinos, era alli, como en cualquier parte, la intermediaria entre Madrid y Versalles. Robert de Cotte realizo no dos, como se dice a menudo, sino cinco proyectos, con variantes, entre 1708 y 1715. Para asegurar el seguimiento en el lugar, lo encargo a su colaborador Rene Carlier en 1711. El proyecto evoluciono con las circunstancias politicas y militares del momento. La llegada de la italiana Isabel de Farnesio al trono y la salida de los franceses, de los Ursinos y Orry, en 1715, llevaron a su abandono. Los 25 dibujos conservados en la Biblioteca Nacional de Francia confirman el caracter emblematico del proyecto. Se presenta aqui, por primera vez, un analisis preciso en relacion con las realizaciones francesas del momento.

On Tyranny and Succession: Rethinking Monarchical Legitimacy in Calderón's En la vida todo es verdad y todo mentira (1659)

On Tyranny and Succession:Rethinking Monarchical Legitimacy in Calderón's En la vida todo es verdad y todo mentira (1659) Harrison Meadows By early 1659, the Spanish crown faced the undeniable reality of declining political and military influence in Europe. Hope for victory in the Franco-Spanish War in Flanders was all but lost after strategic locations had recently fallen into French and English hands, which would force Felipe IV to agree to the unfavorable terms of the Treaty of the Pyrenees later in the year. Meanwhile, the war to recover Portugal for the Spanish crown showed no signs of abating. Nevertheless, the royal family maintained appearances through lavish royal celebrations, even though the coffers were long empty from the administration of a global empire and the unrelenting burdens of war. However, the lively festivities that took place at court during February 1659 for Shrovetide, while not an exception, came on the heels of events that offered reason for rekindled optimism. In December of the previous year, Mariana of Austria had given birth to Fernando Tomás, the second royal issue in as many years. He and his older brother Felipe Próspero renewed hope in Habsburg succession to the Spanish throne after over a decade without a legitimate male heir following the death of Balthasar Carlos in 1647.1 [End Page 257] As part of the entertainments for the Carnival season in 1659, Pedro Calderón de la Barca, a favorite playwright of the court, was commissioned to write a comedia to be staged for the king and queen at the Buen Retiro Palace. For the occasion, Calderón composed En la vida todo es verdad y todo mentira, a play that takes place during an especially chaotic period of contested succession in the seventh-century Byzantine Empire.2 As in many of his historical and mythological plays, Calderón applies poetic license liberally in fashioning the details of the historical narrative for his own dramatic purposes.3 In the opening scene, Focas, the emperor of Constantinople, arrives at Trinacria (modern-day Sicily), where he is greeted by Cintia, the queen of the island. In a lengthy opening monologue, Focas provides his backstory: he was raised by wolves in the mountainous landscape near Mount Etna, and later, the king of Trinacria—Cintia's father—had contracted him to defend the island from Mauricio, the emperor of Constantinople at that time. After killing Mauricio in battle, the treacherous Focas betrayed Cintia's father and usurped the imperial throne for himself, on which he has reigned for the twenty years leading up to the present moment in Calderón's work. In the political context of the seventeenth century, usurpers were considered tyrants, and therefore Focas would have been understood as such by a contemporary audience, irrespective of more modern notions of tyranny that focus almost exclusively on "the despotic or cruel exercise of public power" (Brincat 214). As a nuance to the modern view, classical notions of monarchical legitimacy viewed usurpation as the contravention of a divine plan, and a usurper's mismanagement of authority therefore was an expected consequence of someone other than the divinely appointed monarch sitting on the throne. Abuse of power flowed naturally—necessarily [End Page 258] even—out of the tyrant's false claim to the power afforded the position. When Cintia identifies Focas as "un tirano" (1.25) in an aside at the beginning of En la vida…, she not only highlights his reckless administration of royal power, but also the illegitimacy of his right to rule at all, having ascended to the throne through usurpation.4 In terms of the play's conflict, Focas's tyrannous reign constitutes a disturbance in the natural order, which can only be restored by his demise and the ascension of a legitimate king to the throne. On the one hand, staging the death of a tyrant is a politically cautious choice on the part of Calderón. Theatrical audiences have always been captivated by watching a threat to society's ideological commitments eliminated in theatrical space, and usurpation was universally condemned yet not an immediately pressing concern for the Spanish crown in 1659. On the other...

Burlesque Comedy of the Spanish Golden Age: Parody, Nonsense, and Carnival

This paper offers an approach to the main features and conventions of the burlesque comedy of the Spanish Golden Age, a corpus formed by about fifty parodic plays that were performed during Carnival and on St. John’s Day as part of the court festivals celebrated in the Royal Palace or in the Buen Retiro palace complex. These two features (theatre of Carnival and courtier theatre) are the main key when analyzing these plays. The primary function of these pieces is to provoke laughter within the aulic audience —the king and his noblemen. To achieve this goal, authors of burlesque comedies use all of the resources at hand, including both scenic and verbal humor. The plays are marked by an absurd wit, and they bring on stage a carnivalesque world turned upside-down in which everything (including characters, plots, literary motifs, and dramatic conventions) is grotesquely parodied, brutally degraded, and made comical.

Introduction: Shaw and Classical Literature—What You See Is Not Always What You Get

Introduction: Shaw and Classical Literature—What You See Is Not Always What You Get

Política y censura en una fi esta palaciega: Mentir y mudarse a un tiempo (Palacio del Buen Retiro, 1658)

Study of Mentir y mudarse a un tiempo, an almost unknown play written by Diego and Jose de Figueroa y Cordoba, spanish Golde Age playwrights. This play was written to be staged at the Buen Retiro palace (1658), in the presence of Felipe IV an his court; in fact, there are a lot of topical references in the text of the play (battles, political events…). Moreover, Mentir y mudarse a un tiempo is affected of some problems of textual criticism (there are big differences between the copies) and irregularities in the process of ensorship by the prosecutor Juan Navarro Espinosa. lt is preserved (BNE) in an original manuscript, although with several other hands taking part in the text (scenic shortcuts, adenda, some mistakes in the licenses). Finally, there are doubts concerning to the dates of its staging.

La huella de Guglielmo Della Porta en obras de marfil en España. Los talleres romano y del Buen Retiro de los Pozzo y un inciso sobre el de Saint Claude en el franco condado

The author analyzes the reverberations of the compositions of Guglielmo Della Porta on different ivory works located in Spain of varying chronology and their possible attributions to his known disciplues or contemporaries who worked in ivory, such as Jacob Cornelisz Cobaert, called Cope, or Nicolas Piper de Arras called Pippi. The diffusion of Guglielmo’s models in the workshop of Giovanni Battista del Pozzo during the 18th century is known. Giovanni was the father of Andrea del Pozzo, Director of the Spanish ivory workshop in the Buen Retiro, and so other works are analyzed in this context. Also included in this study are two small reliefs in a collection in Alicante, which originally belonged to a Via Crucis preserved in Boulogne sur Mer, here attributed to a Saint Claude workshop, given that stylistically they can be confused with Buen Retiro creations.

<i>Vejamen</i> de Alfonso de Batres para la Academia de 1638 (Manuscrito inédito). Estudio y edición crítica

During February 1638 the Fiestas de Carnestolendas were celebrated at the Buen Retiro Palace, Madrid. Among the programmed activities, a literary gathering was held, open to numerous poets and courtiers. From this gathering three vejamenes have been preserved: those of Alfonso de Batres, Antonio Coello and Francisco de Rojas Zorrilla. In this paper we analyze and annotate the vejamen that Batres read before His Majesties in the Royal Salon of the Retiro Palace on February 11, 1638.

The garden at night: Revisiting Madrid’s public landscapes in Valle-Inclán’s Luces de Bohemia and Baroja’s Noches del Buen Retiro

Abstract If nineteenth-century notions of order and decorum reached something of an apotheosis in realist representations of Madrid’s gardens, works such as Valle-Inclán’s Luces de Bohemia (1924) and Pío Baroja’s Las noches del Buen Retiro (1934) present gardens as an image of twentieth-century urban society’s excesses and limits. Valle-Inclán’s nocturnal garden with prostitutes and shattered glass suggests the bleakness of protagonist Max Estrella’s social orbit, while Pío Baroja’s vision of Madrid’s Jardines del Buen Retiro pleasure garden conceals hostility and alienation under the guise of nostalgia and social refinement. Both gardens symbolize the ‘degeneration’ of what Jo Labanyi has described as the object of the modernizing state: to define the private self through the assumption of publicly defined roles.

Corrado Giaquinto’s Medea Rejuvenating Aeson and Other Modelli for the Palacio Real of Madrid

Corrado Giaquinto’s <i>Medea Rejuvenating Aeson</i> and Other Modelli for the Palacio Real of Madrid

La verdadera identidad de Enrique de la Plutt, agente al servicio del II marqués de Castel Rodrigo

The biography of Manuel de Faria y Sousa, a former servant of the II Marquis of Castel Rodrigo, reveals unknown aspects of the identity of Enrique de la Plutt, the person entrusted by the Marquis to supervise the realization in Rome of the well-known cycle of landscape paintings for the Buen Retiro palace.