Museo del Romanticismo

Museo del
Romanticismo
Itinerary
Museo del
Romanticismo
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As a museum-mansion it invites the visitor to learn about aspects
of a society and of the Romantic period –which in Spain coincided with the reign of Isabel II (1833-1868)– while showing
details of everyday life in the period: tastes; decorative trends,
fashion, beliefs, social hierarchies, recreation, technology, etc.
The exhibition offers several layers of information via two basic
tours, one geared to thematic criteria, and focusing on historical
and political issues as well as art, and the other examining the
atmosphere of the period, as exemplified by decoration and signs
of daily life.
The recent renovation has encompassed both the building and
the exhibition project, including the interior itineraries, the
services, and even the name to the Museo del Romanticismo,
to underline its roles as a place for public enjoyment dedicated
to the comprehensive appreciation of an era, by means of new
historiographical and museological approaches.
Its founder, Benigno Vega-Inclán (Valladolid 1858-Madrid
1942), carried out numerous cultural projects, and in 1924,
with the support of such leading intellectuals as José Ortega y
Gasset, he opened the Museo Romántico, initially displaying his
personal collection, which included not only painting but also
furniture and decorative items.
he Museo del Romanticismo, the cultural and political
movement that reached its peak in the early 19th C.
and signified a new view of the world, is housed in a
new-classical mansion built in 1776, under the direction of the
architect Manuel Rodríguez.
The Museo
del Romanticismo
ITINERARY
On both sides of the staircase we are welcomed by the key players in
this story: the nouveau riche, portrayed in two imposing life-size portraits painted by the Cádiz-born Ángel María Cortellini, in which we
glimpse lavish interiors, not unlike those we can admire in the Museum
itself. In their eagerness to mimic the nobility, show off their wealth,
and become a new elite, the bourgeoisie began to commission portraits
and to collect art to adorn their mansions, highlight their social distinction, and cultivate their tastes.
The mansion was a separate world forbidden to all but a select few, and
adorned with symbols of power and wealth: objects, furnishings, and
decoration were all for show. and were densely arranged, with little
room between them.
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n the entrance hall is the staircase leading to main suite of the building, with a central platform where the musicians once played during formal soirées.
The Staircase
From the thematic viewpoint there is an explanation of the problems
arising over the rights of succession of Isabel II, who was only three
years old at the death of her father, King Fernando VII, in 1833, and
who began her reign under the regency of her mother, Queen María
Cristina. To make this possible, the late king had nullified the Salic
law, which banned succession to the throne by women. But controversy over the succession set off the so-called Carlist Wars, waged by the
supporters of the King Fernando’s brother Carlos María Isidro, who
also claimed the throne.
The home was also a place for recreation,
conversation, gossip, music, and the complex rituals of formal visits. The decoration
of this area is sober and the furnishings include many pieces that are
characteristic of the Romantic period: the chairs, the pedestal table,
pendulum clock, etc.
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he vestibule is the entrance hall to
the finer parts of the house. As the
first space seen by the visitor, it is
intended to summarise some of the innovations and features of the Isabelline home, as
distinct from those of the previous Fernandine era. It was more densely furnished and
decorated, and also “softened” by the abundance of cushioned furniture and fabrics. It
featured an eclecticism that drew indiscriminately on older styles, foreign items, and
a diversity of aesthetic trends.
The Vestibule
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From the antechamber we reach
the finest part of the house, the
Great Ballroom with two smaller
spaces at each side, where the
most opulent furniture and decoration are displayed, including cloth wall coverings, crystal chandeliers, tasselled drapes, damasks, gilded porcelain, and large mirrors
that reflect the light form the lamps and multiply the images, creating the sensation of a larger and more open space. In these precincts,
appearances prevail over intimacy, and each room opens directly to the
next one, without hallways, so there is an uninterrupted view of the
entire house, from one extreme to the other.
Thematically, this room now focuses on the maturity of Isabel II.
There is an outstanding portrait of
the queen by Charles Porion, who
portrayed her as chief of the army,
accompanied by her generals and
her husband, Don Francisco de
Asís, reviewing the troops.
Thematically, this room
serves to expound the historical and political antecedents of Spanish Romanticism, and particularly the
War of Independence, the
Constitution of 1812, and
the Fernando VII’s restoration of absolute monarchy
in 1814.
The furniture is in Fernandine style, derived from French Empire,
which arrived late to Spain because of the War of Independence. Outstanding is the divan with elegant lines, complemented by the chairs
with circular seats and legs ending in lion’s claws –symbol of power–
and the gentleman’s dressing table of mahogany. The importance of
music at social gatherings in the Romantic period is indicated by the
charming piano of rosewood marquetry, which won
a prize at the Paris Exhibition of 1844.
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he first anteroom adjoins the Great Ballroom and is lavishly
decorated. The impressive painted ceiling was also taken from
the Casino the la Reina and represents an Allegory of Night.
The Anteroom
The Antechamber
he antechamber is “the mirror of the house”, insofar as it is
intended to inform the visitor of the high social and economic
standing of the owners. The painted ceiling, designed to resemble that of an oriental pavilion, was brought from the Casino de la
Reina, a mansion which the City of Madrid had given to Queen Isabel
de Braganza, Fernando’s second
wife, who died in 1818.
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As regards painting, the emphasis in this room in on the portrait, a genre that reached its peak in the Romantic period. Female portraits tended to depict distinguished women dressed to show their social rank
or that of their husbands. Men, however, were normally depicted engaged in intellectual activities or about to leave their homes, reflecting
their more public nature. Family portraits were different from those
of ages past, since they were intended to show the links of affection
between their members. In royal portraits, though, the purpose was to
show the continuity of the dynastic line, along with certain symbols,
such as the crown or the sceptre.
The mahogany Isabelline chairs were originally owned by government
minister Antonio Maria Fabié, whose parlour had been the site of a literary salon attended by such luminaries as Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer and
Gómez de la Avellaneda. The console table, small tables and mantelpiece were perfect supports for the display of small objects and trinkets
–porcelains, lanterns, music boxes, clocks, etc.– which made up the
family’s souvenir collection. Music was plainly the protagonist in this
area: the harp signed by Sebastián Erard is a typical Romantic artefact,
bearing neo-Gothic adornment. The piano, showing the royal, coat
of arms on its lid, was built expressly for Queen Isabel II by Pleyel in
Paris, and the smaller pianoforte is a lovely English instrument anticipating the upright piano.
he ballroom was usually the largest and most lavish space in
Romantic-era mansions, and was used solely for entertaining.
Luxury and ostentation were the most obvious features. Gold
and silk shone from the great mirrors on the walls, while the sparkling
crystal chandeliers accented the fanciful ceiling, an Allegory of Dawn,
also from the Casino de la Reina and designed by the same person as the
others.
The Great Ballroom
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Thematically, this room addresses
some of the more serious political issues of the reign of Isabel II,
such as the Carlist Wars and the
war in Africa. On the front wall
is the Equestrian portrait of General
Prim by Antonio María Esquivel, a
hero of both these conflicts, and a
progressive who helped spearhead
the movement that ended Isabel’s
reign in 1868.
Thematically, Rooms VI, VII and VIII are dedicated to costumbrismo painting, picturesque depictions of social life and customs catering made
chiefly to satisfy foreigners’ tastes for the exotic and a domestic bourgeoisie that preferred to avert its gaze from real social conditions of the
lower classes. The Andalusian school of costumbrismo tended to prettify
and idealise its subjects, and was plainly influenced by Murillo. The diversity of regional Spanish dress was highlighted in these paintings, and
many scenes were set in inns or taverns.
In this atmosphere we see fewer signs of
the affectations of the bourgeoisie, and
the decoration is less formal. The chairs,
made of walnut and bulrush, are a good
imitation of the Empire style, with obvious English influence (Sheraton
type). In this period, industrial exhibitions helped popularise mass-produced furniture, such as the portable Vitoria chairs, with cane or straw
seats and a structure of turned wooden rods.
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aving visited the most lavish and
stately rooms of the mansion,
we now enter the more intimate and private quarters, though they were
also used to entertain trusted friends. Each
room had a different use and was used by
different people.
Andalusian Costumbrista
Painters
The Anteroom
he last of the fine rooms is decorated to accommodate less
formal social gatherings, such as the tertulias or lively discussion groups that met regularly. The interior of the home became increasingly attractive and it was gradually altered for the sake
of comfort, a relatively new concept. Heavy furniture that could hardly
be budged was replaced by lighter pieces, such as the so-called "flying
chairs" that were normally placed against the wall but could quickly be
mobilised for gatherings. These are made of mahogany and originally
belonged to the writer and poet Juan Ramón Jiménez. They could be
combined with other light chairs to be placed around a card table, or
for more intimate conversations. The furnishings are completed by the
piano, built in 1827 in Madrid by José Colmenarejo, and decorated
with coats of arms and pictures of other musical instruments.
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Thematically, other Andalusian costumbrismo subjects are introduced,
such as the highwayman and the smuggler, of which foreign travellers
in Spain were so enamoured, along with the bullfighter and the mounted picador. The most Romantic of Spanish bullfighters was surely
Francisco Montes, nicknamed "Paquiro", who codified the rules of the
art in a book published in 1836.
But these “defects” could be traced to
Goya himself, as could much of the subject matter, for the Aragonese genius was
wont to depict the “upside-down Spain”, in which all is confusion, and
rational creatures behave absurdly. The subjects most often addressed
in these works are unequal marriage, the Spanish Inquisition, Scenes of
bandits, Masked balls, and humans behaving like animals, as in Alenza’s
Mono ermitaño [“Monkey monk”] and La crítica. The display also shows
the streets of Madrid in Alenza’s Caprichos and the works by Francisco Lameyer, which do not disguise the mediocrity and poverty of
everyday life.
These painters drew fire from academic
critics for several reasons, among them
their reliance on imagination or invention, which were then associated with
second-rate artists, and also their sketchiness and lack of polish. This, combined
with the apparent speed with which they
painted, was regarded as bordering on
“indecency” by academic critics.
n this small room we find samples of the Madrid school of costumbrista painting, whose exponents –Eugenio Lucas, Francisco Lameyer and Leonardo Alenza– found inspiration in Goya, and whose
work was more harsh and less sentimental than that of their Andalusian
counterparts.
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Madrid Costumbrista
Painters
Andalusian Costumbrista
Painters
ike the previous room, this space is furnished with a comfortable bulrush armchair and matching straight chair. Two showcases display an important collection of clay statuettes representing typical characters from Granada, Málaga and Murcia.
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Thematically, this space focuses on the landscape and paintings of architecture. Outstanding here is the work of Jenaro Pérez Villaamil
(1807-1854) who, inspired by the mists and dense atmospheres used in
the Spanish pictures of such English painters, became Spain’s most brilliant landscape painter. He prepared his famous album of lithographs,
España artística and monumental (The Spain of Art and Monuments), sponsored by Gaspar de Remisa (whose portrait hangs in Room XXII). Other
paintings, in keeping with this huge and lavishly illustrated travel book,
also depicted the public works carried out by the monarchy, and hence
are among the earliest examples of managed political propaganda.
he use of one or more spaces as private sitting rooms for the
entire family reflected the need for a less formal space in the
household. The term cuarto de estar or “living room” gained currency at mid-century. In the windows, heavy silk drapes painted dark
blue seem to indicate that the inhabitants were afraid that too much
sunlight might damage the furniture, or reveal their deepest feelings.
Two built-in showcases on the front walls, and a curious group of lithophanes –cast porcelain sheets with pictures that appear when light is
shone through them–.
The Nook
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Thematically, and in some relation to the previous room, here we
find something closely associated with the landscape: the ruin. Monuments of medieval art were used to evoke the ancient and lost spiritual
worlds, as well as human mortality.
At left is Fernando VII’s travel case and a pretty wooden bottle set, a
small dressing table, several toilet cases, and personal hygiene items
(on loan from the National Museum of Decorative Arts, Madrid) which
furnish a better idea of the matter at hand.
The showcase at the right contains King Fernando VII’s lavatory, originally placed in a small closet for royal use within what is today Room
39 of the Prado Museum, where the Goya paintings are displayed.
Made of mahogany, the seat of this throne had an central orifice for
the royal business. The king’s lavatory was a luxurious device, duly
adorned and upholstered.
ere are displayed several items relating to masculine hygiene
(a theme that is completed in Room XXI). Gentlemen of this
period thought it unnecessary to retire to a special room for
their toilet, and used washbasins anywhere and even chamber pots,
when there were no ladies present.
The Corridor
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Thematically, this room is adorned with still lifes, which were the preferred genre in bourgeois dining rooms of the period. Above the mirror
on the opposite wall is one of the most emblematic paintings of the
Spanish Romantic period, La familia de Don Jorge Flaquer (The Family of
Don Jorge Flaquer), by the Catalonian artist Joaquim Espalter i Rull. The
Flaquer family was among the ancestors of the founder of this Museum,
and the painting provides us with invaluable insights into private domestic life in the period.
The ceiling, also taken from the Casino de
la Reina, is adorned with the coats of arms
of all Spanish provinces, and is illuminated
by a lovely crystal chandelier from the palace of La Granja (Segovia). The furniture
includes the obligatory marble fireplace,
the table (the same one at which General
Primo de Rivera entertained the Council of the League of Nations in
Madrid in 1929), the console table or sideboard, and the light chairs and
serving tables. The furniture, Parisian china tableware, and even the
manners, emulated foreign models, and especially the French.
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Thematically, in this
room and the adjoining
chapel we find nearly
all the religious painting in the Museum
collection, and which
can be divided roughly
into those influenced
by Spanish 17th C. baroque painting such as
that of Murillo and of
even gloomier painters,
featuring dramatic contrasts, and those that
depicted more contemporary scenes, but seen
through the prism of
costumbrismo, which was intended to show what was regarded as the
most characteristic and authentic aspects of daily life in Spain.
his little room leads to the family oratorio or chapel, and from
it we can view the magnificent Goya that presides over it. In
fact, it is an antechamber that also served as a small sitting
room. Most prominent among the furnishings is the sober divan with
matching chairs. In the centre is a very odd faux medieval Gothic circular pedestal table, whose white marble top is made from a tombstone
of the period.
The Chapel Nook
The Dining Room
n the Isabelline period, this room took on new importance within
the household. It was used principally for the evening meal, since
other meals could be served in the smaller breakfast rooms. Postprandial conversation with our without coffee or liqueurs could also
take place in other rooms. But the dining room was where the family
assembled to dine formally.
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In the centre, above the altar, is Francisco de Goya’s magnificent canvas San Gregorio Magno (Saint Gregory, the Great), which belonged to the
executor of the estate of the Museum’s founder, an early admirer of
the brilliant painter from Aragon, who is now regarded as a precursor
of Romanticism. It is flanked by a number of Baroque paintings with
the same origin, along with Romantic paintings that were inspired by
the Baroque Francisco Ribera’s chiaroscuros and well-shaped forms, or
Murillo’s soft, warm colours and beautiful female figures with sweet
expressions.
The neo-classicism of the plaster mouldings and the geometry of the flooring
reflected the dominant tastes of the late
18th C. Both the furniture –such as the
outstanding velvet-upholstered mahogany prie-dieu that belonged to
Queen Isabel II– and the religious sculpture and liturgical items, invite
meditation.
he oratorio or chapel –which
appears to have been used as such
since the mansion was built– was
the site of social events as well as family
worship. We know that the inhabitants
at the time, the family of the Count of
la Puebla del Maestre, embellished and
decorated this room, where the count’s
first-born son, the Marquis of Bacares,
lay in state on 24th April de 1816.
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The Children's Playroom
The Chapel
Portraits of children were very popular in the Romantic age, when
children were cherished. The genre also introduces us to other aspects of life, such as fun and games,
lessons, fashion, pets, hobbies,
etc. Other themes are the affection
between mother and daughter, or
the death of children, which was a
very common occurrence owing
to disease, and the still primitive
state of medical practice, and from
which not even the royal family
was spared.
The atmosphere of feminine influence was closely connected to the rooms used by the lady of the house. Their furnishings were less formal,
and diverse objects and trinkets were dispersed through the space and
in the showcases. The yellow walls identified the room as a happy and
practical place.
he greater presence of children on the house brought about
a change in intimate family life: the mother might share here
bedroom with little children, but the older ones now slept
in separate room. The children’s bedroom might also operate as the
playroom, as long as it could be reached independently, without disturbing the activities of the adults.
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Thematically, the room speaks
of some of the most characteristic aspects of the Romantic
feminine ideal: motherhood,
the nude –an uncommon genre–, which, along with seduction, was circumscribed to the
world of the engraving and to
certain female portraits that
managed to evoke the period’s
ideal of fragile, ethereal, and
elegant beauty.
Influenced by Paris fashions, the elegant lady could not do without her
our sitting room for visits from her closest confidantes. In the boudoir
she might also read, write, or sew in the informal setting, cluttered
with beautiful and precious things, which were symptoms of a woman’s
irrationality, changeableness and capriciousness. The showcases are replete with accessories and trinkets.
Thematically, this room refers to the family, the mother-child relationship, marriage, and the wedding.
In this refuge of memories and of large
and petty secrets, a portable writing desk
was indispensable, along with a dressing
table with its jars of skin lotions and perfumes, the "paje", a dressing mirror on
a high stand with a shelf for grooming
items, and the somno, a night stand with a cupboard for the chamber
pot. The bateau bed was made in the Empire style, and was covered by
a large canopy which helped keep it warm. The prevalence of upholstery in the room made it feel like a cosy refuge. Next to the bed is a
charming baby’s cradle in Fernandine style, and a corner of the room
was used for meditation and prayer, with a small prie-dieu and several
decorative elements with symbolic and emotional value.
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he lady’s bedroom had a special
symbolic power, since it is where a woman enjoyed the greatest
freedom, where she could engage in all
those “mysterious actions”, from keeping
a love letter or a special souvenir, to reading or grooming. The fact that a lady had
her own room indicated a greater awareness of individuality, personal life, and
the need to express this individuality in a
physical manner.
The Lady's Bedroom
The Boudoir
ere begins the tour of the rooms in which the lady of the house
was fully in charge, and she endowed them with a welcoming
air, as a centre of feelings and sentimental encounters, and a
spiritual haven from the more public spaces.
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Romantic literature was fraught with the theme of death, and especially
the idea of suicide. But not everyone was so entranced by this lugubrious
“fashion”. The painter Leonardo Alenza mocked it in his two small paintings –Sátiras del suicidio romántico (Satire of the romantic lover's suicide)–
which have come to symbolise the entire Romantic period in Spain.
This small room is dedicated to Mariano José de Larra (1809-1837),
who also used the pseudonyms Fígaro and El Pobrecito Hablador, and was
Spain’s greatest writer of literature
and journalism during the Romantic era. His sarcastic temperament
and bitter disappointment with his
country, aggravated by a turbulent
love affair with Dolores Armijo, led
him to commit suicide. In addition to
paintings and other objects belonging
to Larra –lent to the museum in 1924
by his descendants– this room focuses on books and newspapers, and on
the premature death by his own hand of Spain’s Romantic genius.
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Thematically, the room focuses on literature and the theatre, by way of the
portrait. Social gatherings and friendships involving artists of different genres
were quite common during the Romantic
age, which sought to break down traditional barriers between the arts. Writers
showed a new visual sensibility which,
in certain Romantic authors such as the
Duke of Rivas (Room IV) or Bécquer
(Room V), was wedded to a technical
and experimental knowledge of painting.
Meanwhile, literary themes –such as death, the maiden, or the devil–
also informed the visual arts.
Totally feminine is the lovely chest of drawers that belonged to the
poetess Carolina Coronado. In this period there was a slight change in
women’s status, and while reading, writing, and thinking continued
to be regarded as out of bounds for the female sex, there were many
exceptions.
he objects here are steeped in the affective and sentimental values, reflecting the relations of the people who dwelled in the
house and maintained with them an almost psychological relationship. Furniture also had a symbolic function: depending on where
and how it was placed, it indicated the different degrees of formality.
The notion that some furnishings are masculine and others feminine
underlines a social reality that was also evident in peoples’ dress and
customs.
The Literature
and the Theatre Room
Larra's Room
he activities corresponding to the two genders were carried out
in different rooms. Here we reach the masculine part of the
house, decorated more seriously and austerely: a sober armchair
(with the original upholstery) in Fernandine style, two chests of drawers
from around 1830 and with a specifically masculine function, and, in
the centre, a small and sober pedestal table of medieval inspiration.
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Thematically, this room gives us an opportunity to show the influence of Orientalism and exoticism on the Romantic movement. Egypt,
Morocco, and even Spain’s own Muslim past were now fashionable
throughout Europe, and this brought a wave of foreign travellers for
whom this illusory world, straddling the medieval and the picturesque,
and which they believed existed in Spain, was vital.
The smoking room was an innovation that supplied the pater familias with an atmosphere that was not so formal, but
that rather evoked sleepiness
and well-being. It was a place
where one retired in order to
smoke, and that invited one
to repose, a space for oneself
and one’s most trusted friends.
Oriental and particularly Arabic motifs were favoured in the
decoration. The restoration of
the Alhambra of Granada in
the 1860s fuelled this fashion
amongst the bourgeoisie.
As regards the thematic itinerary, the discourse continues here that was
begun in Rooms XVII and XVIII, dedicated to the artist in literature,
on this occasion showing the image of the visual artist, his new vision of
the world, and the concept of genius. Artists, emulating the bourgeois,
also asserted themselves through the portrait and the self-portrait, in
which they defined themselves and showed how they wished to be seen
by others. In this period the notion began to emerge that a man’s greatness lay solely in his qualities and the benefit conferred by as actions on
society as a whole, as merit began to supplant lineage in the prevailing
value system.
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he study –in the masculine domains of the house– was in fact
a room for receiving guests. Prevailing fashions dictated that it should be
full of a variety of furnishings with different styles and uses. Indispensable in this
“temple” of conversation and intimate
gatherings was the pianoforte, an instrument for entertainment par excellence. The
small tables took up a central zone of the
room, which also featured “occasional”
chairs, light and armless, and the chaise
voyeuse designed to be seated astride, facing the back, perhaps to watch
a card game or a music recital. The confidante –with two opposed and
facing seats– was the armchair of secrets, and was known in Spain as
the vis à vis. Chairs were made to imitate the oriental lacquered variety,
and the Philippine style was in fashion during Isabel II’s reign, along
with the pedestal tables and the three pretty console tables.
The Study
The Smoking Room
n this period tobacco was gradually invading public and private
spaces, as both witness and symbol of the masculinisation of social
life. We should recall that some physicians in the period believed
that smoke had healthful properties.
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The furnishings are much less
elegant and more practical: a
Carlos IV-style bed; a comfortable dressing table or basin
which saved space since when
closed its hygienic function was
not evident: a table for holding
grooming items; a chamber
pot; a night stand with water
bottle, and a full-length psiqué
or tilting mirror, with candle
holders so that it could be used
at night.
In this room male portraits are
shown, making up a small gallery of the varied prototypes
of the period, such as the Romantic “rebel”, with shades of the noble
bandit which, along with artists, comprised the great spiritual family of
visionaries, who, aware of their gifts, made of their own existence a
private adventure; the sailor, symbol of freedom and daring, with a life
beyond convention and routine: the dandy, obsessed by fashion; and
even “official” types, with political and social importance.
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Thematically, this room is a continuation of the human gallery that began in the previous one through a diversity of personages having to do
with the masculine prototypes of the age: military men, bankers, and
the nouveaux riches. A very common type was the monied bourgeois,
normally a businessman or high official. This type was often an intellectual, and a collector, sensitive to and remaining abreast of cultural
trends. His high social position was reflected in the atmosphere that
surrounded him.
Outstanding is the Fernandine-style mahogany office desk with marquetry around the keyhole and two secret
drawers at the sides. It once belonged to the Marquis of Remisa –who
is shown next to a portrait of himself– and was acquired from Isabel
Regoyos, window of the painter and director of the Prado Museum,
Aureliano de Beruete.
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he office was the work room, so
its decoration was very limited
and serious. The very Englishlooking wallpaper had sober motifs, and
the furniture combines the austere Fernandine style with Isabelline pieces at
the opposite extreme and which sought
comfort through cushioning and fluffy
surfaces, along with a certain degree of
ostentation, though this did not manage
to conceal the gradual impoverishment of
materials and techniques.
The Office
The Gentleman's Bedroom
he master bedroom has a more serious and severe aspect. The
walls are decorated with a wide baseboard painted to resemble
the wooden ones we can see through openings made in the wall.
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In this atmosphere of exclusively masculine entertainment its was common to adorn or even line the walls with exclusively female portraits,
for such a room afforded a splendid opportunity to display a gallery of
such a Romantic genre. Today they afford an opportunity to see how
fashions –hairdos and accessories– developed and evolved, along with
the ideal of beauty, in the course of the century.
The three-piece suite is in the Isabelline style and was made around
1860. It features soft curves, symbolising the new religion of “comfort”
and the armchairs seem to discreetly envelope the person who sits in
them. It might be said that they are deliberately curved, in keeping
with this concept of welcoming amiability.
nother space for male socialising
was the billiard room, normally
situated near the main drawing
room and the dining room –the game
was often played after lunch during the
long afternoons off–. Modern billiards
reached Spain with the Bourbon dynasty
and was a game associated with the aristocracy. The billiard table became known
as the mesa de trucos or “trick table”. This
one was made by the most famous manufacturer of the day, Francisco
Amorós of Barcelona, who also wrote a major book entitled Memoria
sobre la construcción de mesas de billar (Report on billiard table construction).
Along with the table we see the cue rack, a bridge for cues, and several
sets of cues, along with the abacus or counter.
The showcase at the left
contains delicate milky
glass made at the Real
Fábrica de La Granja in
Segovia, (on loan from
the National Museum
of Decorative Arts, Madrid), and the one on the
right holds curious pieces
of painted china made after the then-fashionable
English tecnique in Cartagena, Sargadelos, the
Pickman plant in Seville,
etc. Rounding off the
decoration are some lovely oriental porcelains and attractive Frenchinfluenced stools.
love of plants and nature was a important feature of the Romantic age. The idealisation of country life by city dwellers
implied the earliest criticism of the modern city. Consequently
the estufa or “hothouse”, for which the French word serre was often
used, was de rigueur in city mansions, and contained numerous plants,
especially exotic ones to delight the curious and enhance the reputation
of the owners. In addition, the conservatory provided a refuge from the
clamour of urban life.
A
The Conservatory
The Billiard Room
A
XXIV
XXIII
I
The attic floor was reserved for the servants’ sleeping quarters, and the
ironing and sewing rooms. The servant’s rooms were, like the servants
themselves, were kept out of sight to every possible extent. The minimum number of servants for a large house was ten, but family members often lived with them. They had their own staircase at the rear,
extending from the cellars to the attic floor, while the main staircase
ascended from entrance hall to the principal floor.
On the main floor were the most important rooms, including reception rooms, formal sitting rooms, the ballroom, the dining room, and
the master bedrooms.
We end with a large model of the museum building in which we can
take a peek at how daily life proceeded in some of its rooms. Such mansions were normally divided into territories and distributed by levels,
so activities were separated vertically. The ground floor was entered
by means of a large hall, with a gate for carriages, as we can see in the
model. This floor was used mainly for services –the kitchen, pantry,
cellars, servants’ hall, laundry, firewood, tackle room, etc–.
n the two last rooms on our tour we reach the end of the Museum’s
permanent exhibition and come to a zone in which we can learn
more about some of the themes touched upon during the tour.
By examining original prints from the period, along with book, monographic catalogues, and using the computer, we can expand their
knowledge or play a variety of interactive games.
The Interactive Room
and the Virtual Stage
XXV and XXVI
Written by Begoña Torres González
Illustrated by Estudio G_cero
Please
leave this copy
on the reception
desk
San Mateo, 13 28004 Madrid