TOLEDO, Juan Bautista de - b. ~1515 Madrid, d. 1567 Madrid

Spanish architect, sculptor, and engineer. In 1547 he went to Rome and studied under the influence of Michelangelo. Afterwards the Viceroy, Don Pietro de Toledo, invited him to Naples and engaged him as architect to the emperor, Charles V. In Naples, he designed and superintended many important works, among others the church of San Giacomo degli Spagnuoli, the square bastions to the Castello Nuovo. and a number of fountains.

In 1559 he was summoned by Philip II to Madrid who appointed him architect-in-chief of the royal works in Spain. He restored the Alcazar de Madrid, Alcazar de Toledo and Convento de los Jerónimos de Madrid. He designed the frontage of the church de las Descalzas Reales He also performed architectural and public works in Casa de Campo de Madrid, Casa Real de Aceca and Palacio de Aranjuez.

In 1561, he was appointed “Arquitecto Real” responsible for the town planning of El Escorial: Monastery, El Escorial village and La Granjilla. He supervised architectural and public works in El Escorial (village), the surroundings of El Escorial (monastery) and La Granjilla de La Fresneda until his death in 1567. The Monastery was finished by Juan de Herrera in 1584.

Juan Bautista de Toledo was generally considered an architect of much merit, well-versed in philosophy, mathematics, and the belles-lettres, and endowed with all those qualities which Vitruvius considers necessary to form a good architect.

Aerial view

Italian Renaissance decorative elements first appeared in Spanish architecture at about the time of the unification of Spain and the expulsion of the Moors in 1492. There were three phases of Spanish Renaissance architecture: (1) the early Renaissance, or Plateresque, from the late 15th century until about 1560; (2) a brief Classical period, coexistent with the Plateresque from about 1525 to 1560; and (3) the Herreran style from 1560 until the end of the 16th century.

The Herreran was an extremely austere and cold style named after the greatest Spanish architect of the 16th century, Juan de Herrera. The finest example of the Herreran style is the palace-monastery of El Escorial (1563–84), which Philip II had built as a retreat outside Madrid. El Escorial was more than a royal palace, as it also contained provisions for a monastery and college. A city in itself, it was planned as a tremendous rectangle (205 by 160 metres), with a large church at the centre.

El Escorial was begun by the architect Juan Bautista de Toledo, who may be responsible for the planning, but the execution and architectural style were that of his assistant and successor, Herrera. Philip II himself reviewed the drawings for the palace, removing anything ornamental or ostentatious. On the exterior the architecture is very simple - a plain wall with a monotonous series of unadorned windows expressing the general monastic character of the whole. The only segment of the Classical Renaissance style on the exterior is at the central portal with two stories of giant Doric half columns supporting a triangular pediment. The church, at the centre of the complex, has two bell towers and a great dome set on a drum, which surmount the whole. The austerity is enhanced by the cold, gray granite of which El Escorial was built. On the interior a similar severity of manner is indicated by the lack of decoration.

View the ground plan of San Lorenzo de El Escorial.