Furniture
There are more than 18,000 pieces, with furniture from the 18th and 19th centuries standing out for its great artistic quality
With more than 18,000 works, the furniture collection ranges from the 16th century to the first third of the 20th century, with a few earlier pieces such as the 14th century chest from the Monastery of Santa Clara in Tordesillas. The furniture from the 18th and 19th centuries stands out for its great quality and diverse types.
A remarkable steel writing-desk from Germany dates from the time of Charles V, around 1545. Philip II brought superb examples of woodwork to El Escorial: There are five doors with marquetry in the Mannerist style by Bartholomeus Weisshaupt and Wendel Dietrich (1567); two folding scissor chairs, made in China by the Ming dynasty (around 1570) and the superb bookshelves of the El Escorial Library (1589-1592). The monasteries of Las Descalzas Reales and La Encarnación have preserved a Japanese Namban-style ensemble from this period, as well as two Mexican lacquerware pieces that follow oriental models. The furniture types created during the previous century were repeated during the 17th century with a baroque style.
The reign of Philip V is marked by French and Italian influences and their reinterpretation by Spanish artists. The console, the chest of drawers, the bureau and the sofa would be the eighteenth-century objects par excellence, with, of course, seats with the most diverse shapes and purposes. The Sicilian architect Filippo Juvarra designed the bedroom of King Philip V and Elisabeth Farnese for the Palace of San Ildefonso in 1735, now the Hall of Charoles, the walls of which are covered with Chinese lacquer panels from the Kangxi period. There was a new type of dining table with a marqueted board and two folding wings, which was removed once the monarch's public or private meal was over.
Charles III saw the rise of the Rococo style and the founding of the Royal Workshops for Cabinetmaking, Bronzes and Embroidery. The Throne Room of the Madrid palace, designed by the Neapolitan painter G.B. Natale, was decorated with twelve consoles with matching mirrors, carved by Gennaro di Fiore, representing the four parts of the world, the four seasons of the year and the four cardinal virtues of the monarch. The chairs and mirrors designed by Mattia Gasparini and made by José Canops and his workshop are masterpieces of courtly cabinetmaking in the Rococo style. Gasparini also designed the Rococo panels and furnishings of the monarch's three offices adjoining the previous one, the so-called "Cabinets of Indian Woods" (around 1761-1777), which were later moved to other rooms of the palace.
Charles IV's interest in the decorative arts has left us beautiful Neo-classical and Directory style sets, culminating in the exceptional Platinum Cabinet of the Royal House of El Labrador in Aranjuez, an Empire-style masterpiece designed by French architect Charles Percier (1800-1806). Another exceptional ensemble of the Royal Cabinetmaking Workshop includes the Fine Wood Rooms in the Palace of the Bourbons in El Escorial, begun in the early 1790s by cabinetmaker Teodoro Oncell and completed by Angel Maeso years later.
With Ferdinand VII, the Empire style prevailed. There are important decorative collections in the Hall of Charles III in the Royal Palace of Madrid or the Audience Chamber of the Palace of the Bourbons in El Escorial, in the neo-Gothic style and designed by Angel Maeso. Among the French pieces of furniture, the Sèvres porcelain candlestick stands out, a work by Dévelly from 1826 which depicts the coronation of Charles X. During these years there was an attempt to revive the crafts through the first exhibitions of Spanish industry.
The reign of Isabella II was marked by eclectic tastes. Mechanical marquetry is a feature of the furniture in the Queen's bedroom in the Royal Palace. It is the work of French cabinetmaker Hyppolite-Edmé Pretot, made before 1855 and currently in the Palace of Aranjuez. Upholstered furniture became fashionable: the bourne, a circular divan for the centre of a room, the confidante, capitone chairs and the tasselled ebony chairs in the Philippine style. The remarkable Russian-made malachite table and armchair from the House of El Labrador in Aranjuez were gifts sent to the Spanish court by Prince Anatoly Demidov in 1852 and 1853.
The Alphonsine Restoration tackled important reforms of eclectic taste in the Royal Palace of Madrid between 1879 and 1885. Its main figures were the Palace's chief architect, José Segundo de Lema, and the Count of Valencia de Don Juan, as historical-artistic advisor. The works affected the Gala Dining Room, in the French Neo-baroque style of the Second Empire; the adjacent room with neo-plateresque carving, the Billiard Room of Gothic rationalist style in the manner of Viollet-le-Duc, the oriental Smoking Room and the Hall of the Council of Ministers that recreates a Spanish Neo-renaissance atmosphere.
The throne chair of Alfonso XIII is preserved, a replica of that of Carlos III with the effigy of the monarch on the occasion of his coronation as King of Spain in 1902. Numerous works in the English style of Louis XV and Louis XVI were commissioned with Spanish, English and French furniture makers for the Private Rooms and the eastern wing of the Madrid palace, especially on behalf of his wife, Queen Victoria Eugenie.