The Escorial and San Ildefonso

The Escorial; The Royal Palace at la Granja de San Ildefonso by Juan de Contreras y Lopez de Ayala Marques de Lozoya, translated by James Brockway, 156 pages

Philip II commissioned the Escorial to serve many purposes - a tomb for himself, his father, and their descendants; a monument to the glories of the Habsburgs; a palace for the reigning Spanish monarch; and a monastery and church where they would be uplifted in prayer both before and after death.  The spiritual vision which unites these purposes is exemplified by the patronage of St Lawrence, the third century Roman deacon renowned for his service to the poor, and is reflected in the design of the entire complex in the form of a grid, evoking the griddle on which the saint was martyred.  For Philip, rulership was service to the common good, and a kind of martyrdom, a dying to self.

This is not a point stressed in the little text of The Escorial and San Ildefonso (the latter being, in many ways, the more ostentatious and less impressive Bourbon equivalent of the Habsburg Escorial), although it is a truth proclaimed by the plentiful images.  It is unfortunate that almost all of these are in black and white, which only accentuates the severe design of the building by subtracting the vivid colors of its decoration.  It is likewise regrettable that more space is not devoted to its tapestries, furniture, and clerical vestments, which further tie together all aspects of its internal life in their Baroque expressiveness (although tapestry is an area where the section on San Ildefonso shines).