Isidro Velázquez Designs

Spanish 18th & 19th century

Architectural Sketches &c.

Alzado de la Fuente de Narciso

Elevation of the Fountain of Narcissus (Aranjuez, Spain)

Media planta y alzado de la Fuente de Ceres

Media plan and elevation of the Fountain of Ceres*

(*Roman Goddess of agriculture)

Alzado de la Fuente de Venus

Elevation of the Fountain of Venus

Planta de la Fuente de Venus

Plan of the Fountain of Venus

Alzado de la Fuente de Hércules y Anteo

Elevation of the Fountain of Hercules and Antaeus*

(*Antaeus, in Greek mythology: giant son of Poseidon and Gaia)

Planta y alzado de la Fuente de Apolo

Plan and elevation of the Fountain of Apollo

Arabesco de una ventana de las logias de Rafael en el Vaticano

Window arabesque by Raphael from the Vatican Loggia

{Groteskology has some recent photographs}

Templo de Vesta en Tívoli Descripción del Templo

de Vesta Vulgarmente Llamado de la Sibila

The Temple of Vesta^ at Tivoli, Italy

said to be dedicated to The Tiburtine Sibyl^

Embarcadero del estanque grande

del Retiro. Fachada al Estanque.

{?} Waterfront retreat with

pond/moat water level overlay.

Embarcadero del estanque grande del Retiro.

Fachada a los Jardines

{?} Waterfront retreat:

garden-side profile.

Embarcadero del estanque grande del Retiro. Corte transversal.

{?} Waterfront retreat cross-section.

Embarcadero del estanque grande del Retiro

{?} Waterfront retreat

Diseño de uno de los tres Templos que subsisten en la antigua 

Ciudad de Pesto la que anteriormente pertenecía a la Provincia de la 

Lucania y hoy á Salerno Ciudad del Reyno de Napoles

~Design of one of the three remaining temples in the ancient city of 

Pesto which previously belonged to the province of Salerno 

and today Lucania Town Kingdom of Naples

Proyecto del Salón para el Congreso de Cortes. 

Secciones transversales hacia la tribuna y hacia el dosel del trono

~Project for the Congress Hall of Cortes:

cross sections of the grandstand and canopy seating

Fachada principal de la Casa del Labrador^

Main facade of the Casa del Labrador

(looks like an early design sketch)

[all these cropped images have been moderately cleaned of background stains}

Isidro González Velázquez (1765-1829) was a Spanish architect (and second son of the painter Antonio González Velázquez). According to the inclinations of the artistic dynasty to which he belonged, Isidro joined the studios of the Architecture Academy of San Fernando as a disciple of Juan de Villanueva.

Isidro Velázquez finished his training in 1790 and, supported by Carlos IV, travelled through France, Italy and Greece, studying the objects and monuments of classical antiquity before returning to Spain in 1795.

In 1799, Isidro Velázquez worked as an academic and was listed as the 'Deputy Chief Architect of the royal palaces and country houses of the King'. He is thought to have been responsible in ~1803 for the external decoration of the new royal residence at Aranjuez: the Casa del Labrador^ {see last image above}. Velázquez engaged in further work for the King by contributing to the Royal Canal project in the Madrid sections of the Mazarenes river.
[Paraphrased from a garbled translation of the Wikipedia article: there is more to his story - he designed theatres / obelisk etc - but the translation breaks down hereabouts]

• The Velázquez images all come from *Collection of 18th Century Architectural and Ornamental Feature drawings*, Biblioteca Digital Hispanica, as part of Biblioteca Nacional de España. There are about 40+ drawings available. [if that's not a perma-link, search on "Velázquez, Isidro" here] {also available via Europeana}
• Collection homepage of the Biblioteca Digital Hispánica.
• The Velázquez sketches are alternatively available via this portal: Biblioteca Digital del Patrimonio Iberoamericano [launched in Sept. 2012, it allows access to the digital collections from the national libraries of Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Panama so far]
• The Wikipedia article is sourced from a piece in the Spanish language web publication, 'Great Encylopaedia Rialp'.
• Previously: architecture -<>- Spain.