CASERTA THE ROYAL PALACE

Cue (NZERS), Issue 2, 30 June 1944, Page 6

CASERTA THE ROYAL PALACE

(By

N.Z.M.C.

THE Royal Palace of Caserta takes its name from the tiny village of that name, four kilometres from the modern town, which was founded by the Lombards in the 9th Century and was for some centuries the seat of the Conte di Caserta and also an Episcopal See. • k

In 1734 the brief • Austrian dominion over the old kingdom of the two Sicilies came to an end and the Bourbon King Carlo HI soon found occasion to exile Prince Michel di Sermoneta who owned the wide estates around the site of modern Caserta, then known as Le Torre. The king was also determined to complete a palace which would bear favourable comparison with the magnificence of his French rival at Versailles and with the more sombre majesty of the Escorial, near Madrid. In 1750 his former adversary the Prince di Sermoneta, having made an act of submission, he was in honour constrained to pay for the property on which he was already planning to build his new palace, and some 489,348 ducats (about, L 240,000 sterling) was the cost of this honourable gesture. TIME OPPORTUNE. The times were opportune for the scheme of palace building. The taste of the day had turned against the extravagances of the Baroque and there were many excellent examples of royal residences to study elsewhere in Europe Versailles, St. Petersburg, in Spain, and elsewhere. There were also examples to avoid. In 1751, Luigi Vanvitelli was-entrusted with the task of designing the palace for Caserta and so rapidly did he work that on the 20th January, 1752, a royal procession walked the bounds of the future building and laid the twin foundation stones. Luigi Vanvitelli had two leading assistants, one of whom was

immediately entrusted with the lay-out of the immense park which stretched some three kilometres from the lower slopes of ,Monte Virgo to the north facade of the palace. The palace and its grounds being planned as a whole, work was proceeded on both simultaneously and one of the first major tasks was to provide the water supply for the grandiose series of cascades, fishponds and ornamental lakes, richly adorned with statuary, which were to be a prominent feature of the park. When Carlo 111 ascended the Spanish throne work on the palace was slowed down, but by 1762 the aqueduct bringing water 40 kilometres from Taburno was ready. It crossed three valleys and at one point is carried on a triple arch sixty feet high across a gully near Maddalene. WORK HALTED. In 1764 the work came to a standstill as the result of plague and famine, and the unfinished palace» was used for the housing of refugees. Work re-commenced in 1765 and, as before, was assisted by the labour of numerous Moslem prisoners and slaves from the Tripoli coast, and of convicts, from the galleys. The , new King Ferdinand I retained an immense confidence in his architect and during ' the latter’s absence at Milan in 1770 all work was suspended on the palace and diverted to the completion of the ornamental lake and fishpond in the Giardino Inglese. - By this time the theatre at the west end of the palace was .com-

plete and the first performances had been given. After the architect’s death in 1773 work was carried on by his son. Only the work above the cornice remained to be completed, though the interior decoration, of course, was largely unstarted. Then commenced . a period of delays. Political tension, lack of funds and other difficulties led to a modification of the plan and the present palace is the outcome of these changes. At this point a . few measurements are - not out of place. It is on six floors, 110 feet in total height exclusive of the basement floor. The facade is 803 feet in length with three doorways, the central of which opens directly into the atrium and vestibule, while the other two open centrally .. to the southern courtyards. The centre and extremities of the facade are set slightly forward to break the line and these forward elements are accentuated by four columns. The style is pleasing and simple, while its exact nature is a subject of architectural dispute. The Italians claim that it is'not /Neoclassical, that it certainly is not influenced by Versailles and that it is inspired by the well proportioned simplicity of the Italian renaissance style. 1 * ORIGINAL DESIGNS. Vanvitelli originally intended an octagonal cupola to surmount the central vestibule, and four short towers at the angles of the building. He also intended two further floors above the present level. The avenue was to have stretched in a straight line to .Naples, while the . circular piazza between the present railway and the palace was to have been bounded completely by. a - continuation of the crescent of barracks which occupy its northern flanks. Soon the park and approaches to the palace, which had from the beginning received equal attention with that of building, began to outstrip the progress elsewhere. At the express invitation of the Queen, John Andrew Graf er was summoned from England to super-

intend the work in accordance with the best traditions of the landscape gardening so much in vogue in the 18th century. The Caroline Aqueduct assured an excellent water supply and Grater was determined that the garden setting of the palace should be like that for a good jewelsomething • which enhances the beauty without distracting the attention. By 1779 the Dolphin Fountain, Aeolian Bridge and the Diana groups around , the Bascino . della Cascata were on their present site, ■while' four years later the Fountain of Venus and . Adonis was commenced. The Giardino Inglese was .in its prime, a model by which the 18th century landscape garden could be judged. It soon acquired a remarkable collection of trees and botanical curiosities which were then qf the greatest rarity, and even today are uncommon in Europe. They include the breadfruit, ginkgo, araucaria, Arabian coffee and many rare orchids. To the north end •of this garden are groups of original and replica classical statues. The work of completing the interior was largely delegated by Carlo Vanvitelli to [Neapolitan sculptors and painters, most of whose workor its models remains. Some had, however, found its way to the museums in Naples. • • Shortly afterwards events in Europe led to the flight of the Bourbons to Sicily protected only by a miserably small British force and some unreliable Sicilian troops. British command of the sea prevented this ' usurper, Joachim- Murat, from taking possession of the rest of the kingdom. KING DISPLEASED. During his short reign, Murat did much to embellish the palace and added some very fine work in the Imperial style to a suite or rooms now known by his name. Unfortunately some of the ' new work displeased Bourbon on his return “in 1815 and any painting of design recalling the French occupation was removed.

By a curious caprice he kept the rich ' cloth woven with the Napoleonic Bees but added his own cipher to each Bee. A few. more buildings were added* here and there, including the Castellucia, an octagonal «fortlike» structure erected on the west side of the park not far from the present American Hospital. - It was for the use, amusement and training of the /little princes in the arts of war, 9 . ' By 1818, the great period of construction was over and with occasional minor additions and completion of the throne room (1845) little other -than maintenance was required. In 1859 Ferdinand II died at Caserta of a contagious disease and a year later Garibaldi drove the Bourbons from Italy. GREAT HARMONY. ■ The main work at Caserta was completed between 1752 and 1790, thus giving great unity and harmony to the style of both buildings and decoration, none a of which is appreciably out of keeping with the style, originally planned. Unfortunately the use to which the- palace is at present put does not permit uninvited inspection of many of the better rooms and in any- case a description of them is both beyond the scope of- the article and competence of the writer. The .Royal Stairway usually excites a just admiration, both for its proportions and the skilful blending of the quiet toned material employed. The three statues at the head of the first flight are models. They are by Solari (who also designed the Venus in the park), Salomone (right) and Violani (left). The subjects are obvious. The lions are also to the design of Solari. > LIKE VERSAILLES. The chapel is, despite Italian opinion, in many ways reminiscent of that at Versailles. It has the ornate double Corinthian columns supporting, with the aid of numerous cherubs and . angels, the curved roof, the hexagonal cassetoni decorations. The.altar, quri-

ously enough, is a model, the original being in the ;( Naples Museum, while the Ciborium is also a model in wood. The best Neapolitan painters of the day designed and executed the, murals and hanging lanterns in the chapel. ‘So rich are the materials employed and so ornate is the decoration that it impresses rather than inspires, for there is no real focus on which the undistracted eye can rest. Of the other rooms, that of the Halberdiers and the Bodyguard are more simple and more to the average « Anglo-Saxon taste. Those commenced by Murat in the Imperial style are also among the more attractive, particularly the well executed panels in bas-relief 'in the so-called rooms of Mars * and Astrea. They reproduce the old colouring in yellow and green to great perfection. 0 v The furniture in the bedchamber where Ferdinand 11-died in 1859 is entirely a reproduction, the original having passed officially through the disinfestor. GREATER REALISM. Reference has already ' been made to the theatre completed as early as 1769. The backstage was originally in stone but was removed in 1772 in order to give greater realism to the fire scene in the last act of Metastasio s «Dido.» Later, a movable backstage was added to allow for the showing of real woods where such were demanded by the script. ; This is but another example of the persistence of that extraordinary sense of the dramatic, and the keen search for realism, which has been maintained from the Rome of Nero to the Italy of Mussolini. The Palace of Caserta, well sited, well conceived, brilliantly started yet never completed, typifies the last period of royal palace building in Europe. Designed with its park as a whole, even in its incompleteness it seldom fails to impress and to that extent it has fulfilled one of the main objects of its Bourbon creators. - ,