Patio from the Castle of Vélez Blanco
by Unknown Artist, 1506
Details
- Year
- 1506
- Medium
- Marble of Macael (Sierra de Filabres)
- Size
- 33 × 63 × 44ft. (10.06 × 19.21 × 13.41) Other (pilaster fragment, wt. confirmed): 71 lb. (32.2 kg) Other (Cornice fragment, wt. confirmed): 217 lb. (98.4 kg) Other (Unused marble fragments weight 170-384 lbs): 384 lb. (174.2 kg)
A complete Renaissance courtyard patio measuring 33 feet high, 44 feet wide, and 63 feet long. Don Pedro Fajardo, first Marqués of Vélez, commissioned it between 1506 and 1515 for his castle in Andalusia, Spain. The marble comes from Macael in the Sierra de Filabres. Carved motifs include classical masks, sphinxes, dragons, vases, and birds eating berries.
George Blumenthal, president of the Met, bought the patio in 1913 and installed it as the centerpiece of his Park Avenue mansion. After his death in 1941, it was donated to the museum. The blocks sat in storage until curator Olga Raggio spent five years researching and reconstructing it, finally installing it in 1964.
It blends Spanish Gothic structure (asymmetrical layout, gargoyles, segmental arches) with Italian Renaissance decorative carving. A Flemish tapestry, The Triumph of Fame, hangs on its east wall. It's at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
