In the Bedroom of the Queen there is a tapestry and a ceiling by López, who also designed the ceiling of the dressing-room.
We have already noted the tapestries in the Apartments of the Princess. The Carved Rooms demand inspection, for they contain examples of rare decoration in woods. The carvings and the inlaid work of these rooms cost a very large sum. Woods of the rarest and finest were employed for the adornment of the apartments, and gilt and gold were lavished upon the walls. The pictures painted on copper are by Montalbo, and the ceiling painting was intrusted to Maëlla. Blue upholstery decks the seats. There are four of these sumptuously decorated chambers. The third of them has a ceiling-painting by Galvez. In the fourth room, Maëlla painted the ceiling, and the walls are adorned in green and gold. There are a few pictures here, but none of striking worth. The Oratory contains a tapestry of Spanish design. On the altar there is a picture by Giordano representing Santa Anna, St. Joachim, and the Holy Mother.
The Reception Room of this portion of the Palace is decorated with tapestry, and the ceiling is painted by López. In the Antechamber, Billiard Room, and the offices adjacent, there are more tapestries.
We have made our survey of this remarkable pile, which contains a treasure house of works of art, an institution of learning, a convent, a palace, and a church. Surely such a composite building is not to be seen in any other quarter of the world. Nor is there any other edifice of such importance and grandeur amid surroundings so savage and primitive. The Royal Monastery of the Escorial is indeed an unique structure, historically instructive, and of deep interest for the architect, the art student, and the philosopher. It is a reflection and a symbol of Spain and of Philip II.; the building, in its sombre setting of grey crags and shadowy woods, has an indefinable atmosphere, a potent fascination.
We have it on the authority of Padre Fray José de Sigüenza, the librarian of the Monasterio, and the first historian of Philip II., that the king desired the building at the Escorial to excel the majesty of Solomon’s Temple, and to astonish the whole world. When we consider that the edifice was erected and adorned with very little aid from machinery, we cannot but marvel at the expedition in carrying out the architects’ and designers’ plans. A great army of sawyers, carpenters, quarrymen, stonemasons, and craft-workers found employment upon this great pile. It is recorded that the labourers complained of the cold, searching winds in winter, and that they suffered from the scorching heat in summer.