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Joined: 13 Mar 2011
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 Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 8:36 pm Post subject: The Robillon |
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Oliveira was directly responsible for the "Ceremonial Façade" of the "corps de logis", the rectangular block which forms the nucleus of the palace, and some of the interior courtyards. His former tutor, the Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Robillon, was in charge of the gardens, many buildings, and the Rococo interiors. He in turn was assisted by Jean-Baptiste Pillement and other French and Portuguese artists. The "Ceremonial Façade" is the best-known view of the palace. With classical proportions, it is externally decorated by travertine rendering and delicately carved cartouches over the windows. It has been described as a "harmonious example of Portuguese Baroque".[9] This façade with its single-storey flanking wings forms a three-sided courtyard containing the "Hanging Garden"—so called because like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon it is on a raised terrace (see key 5).
The second major part of the palace is the great western wing, known as the Robillon wing or Robillon Pavilion, which illustrates better than any other the excesses of Baroque and Rococo architecture (see key 9). Completed in 1779, it has a doric colonnade which runs the entire length of its western and southern façades, the roof of which provides a balustraded balcony accessible from the floor above (see key 10). Owing to the topography of the site, the eastern side appears as a single-storey building, with only the upper floor visible above the ground in the "Hanging Garden". The balustrade on the roof of the Robillon wing is broken by heavy segmental pediments adorned with reclining statuary figures; the balustrade itself is also adorned with flambeaux, statuary and heavy armorial trophies (see illustration below).
The Robillon wing contains an entrance to the palace reached by flights of ingeniously designed graduated steps. Their design creates an illusion of a longer and higher perspective, centred on a corner of a terrace because of exigencies of the site, and divided mid-flight so as not to lead the eye and footstep towards an angle of the colonnade beyond. The steps are adorned with elaborate statuary (see key 11). The bays of the façade are stuccoed rose-pink, contrasting with the motifs and pilasters in natural stone (see illustration).Passages Malibu Program
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