DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.63330#0026
22
EELAZQUEZ
completed work. He also received an ecclesiastical sinecure, bringing in
three hundred ducats a year. The income from this he seems, however,
not to have enjoyed till three years later, when the preliminary dispensa-
tion required was granted by Urban VII. A further grant of three
hundred ducats for expenses was made shortly after his appointment,
and a private residence, valued at a rental of two hundred ducats, was
given to him in the city. The Crown at this time reserved to itself the
curious privilege of a right of occupation in the second story of private
houses. The custom dated from the time of Philip II., who had claimed
this concession as a set-off to the immunities enjoyed by those who
built themselves dwellings in the city. The right was not infrequently
enforced, and court officials, members of council and of foreign embassies,
were thus economically lodged by the sovereign. To evade the
infliction, many later buildings were planned with one story only.
Whether Velazquez lived in one house throughout the long term of his
career in Madrid is not certainly known, but existing records show that
in his fortieth year he was established in the house of one Pedro de
Yta, in the Calle de Concepcion Geronima, a street off the Calle de
Toledo, deriving its name from a convent of Hieronymite nuns, founded
by a noble lady of Madrid in 1504. The historic studio of the court-
painters, where Philip II. had paid surprise visits in his dressing-gown
to Antonio More and Sanchez Coello, was, however, in the palace itself,
and here the master painted all his finest works.
This palace, the famous Alcazar of the Hapsburg dynasty and once
the citadel of the Moors, no longer exists. It was a vast quadrilateral
building, enlarged and improved by successive sovereigns from Pedro the
Cruel to Philip IV., under whom it received its final shape. It first
became the king’s residence in the time of Philip II., who abandoned
the old palace, on the site of which his sister Joanna founded a convent
for the Barefooted Nuns. He enlarged it mainly by the addition of the
south facade, with its suite of state-rooms, which doubled the width of
the original south wing. He also added greatly to its imposing appear-
ance by the construction of the great square in front, now the Plaza de
Armas. This 'place still forms the approach to the chief entrance of the
modern palace built on the site of the Alcazar. The present armoury,
on a low site to the north of the existing palace, formerly belonged to
EELAZQUEZ
completed work. He also received an ecclesiastical sinecure, bringing in
three hundred ducats a year. The income from this he seems, however,
not to have enjoyed till three years later, when the preliminary dispensa-
tion required was granted by Urban VII. A further grant of three
hundred ducats for expenses was made shortly after his appointment,
and a private residence, valued at a rental of two hundred ducats, was
given to him in the city. The Crown at this time reserved to itself the
curious privilege of a right of occupation in the second story of private
houses. The custom dated from the time of Philip II., who had claimed
this concession as a set-off to the immunities enjoyed by those who
built themselves dwellings in the city. The right was not infrequently
enforced, and court officials, members of council and of foreign embassies,
were thus economically lodged by the sovereign. To evade the
infliction, many later buildings were planned with one story only.
Whether Velazquez lived in one house throughout the long term of his
career in Madrid is not certainly known, but existing records show that
in his fortieth year he was established in the house of one Pedro de
Yta, in the Calle de Concepcion Geronima, a street off the Calle de
Toledo, deriving its name from a convent of Hieronymite nuns, founded
by a noble lady of Madrid in 1504. The historic studio of the court-
painters, where Philip II. had paid surprise visits in his dressing-gown
to Antonio More and Sanchez Coello, was, however, in the palace itself,
and here the master painted all his finest works.
This palace, the famous Alcazar of the Hapsburg dynasty and once
the citadel of the Moors, no longer exists. It was a vast quadrilateral
building, enlarged and improved by successive sovereigns from Pedro the
Cruel to Philip IV., under whom it received its final shape. It first
became the king’s residence in the time of Philip II., who abandoned
the old palace, on the site of which his sister Joanna founded a convent
for the Barefooted Nuns. He enlarged it mainly by the addition of the
south facade, with its suite of state-rooms, which doubled the width of
the original south wing. He also added greatly to its imposing appear-
ance by the construction of the great square in front, now the Plaza de
Armas. This 'place still forms the approach to the chief entrance of the
modern palace built on the site of the Alcazar. The present armoury,
on a low site to the north of the existing palace, formerly belonged to