La couleur oubliée des cités historiques portugaises et le cas du palais de Queluz

We see what we learn to see. For many years, it was thought that the colour of the historical cities of Portugal could be divided into that of the Atlantic north, where the natural colours of materials predominate, and those of the Mediterranean south, favouring the white sensuality of mortar and wh...

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Main Author: José Aguiar
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centre de Recherche du Château de Versailles 2006-03-01
Series:Bulletin du Centre de Recherche du Château de Versailles
Online Access:http://journals.openedition.org/crcv/464
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spelling doaj-37c879ddbd734617956ddd622807035e2020-11-24T23:56:51ZengCentre de Recherche du Château de VersaillesBulletin du Centre de Recherche du Château de Versailles1958-92712006-03-0110.4000/crcv.464La couleur oubliée des cités historiques portugaises et le cas du palais de QueluzJosé AguiarWe see what we learn to see. For many years, it was thought that the colour of the historical cities of Portugal could be divided into that of the Atlantic north, where the natural colours of materials predominate, and those of the Mediterranean south, favouring the white sensuality of mortar and whitewash; as for the azulejos, they were more often than not seen as a nineteenth-century fancy. The difficulties of presenting the architectural particularities of an old monument to the public were long resolved by referring to this over-simplistic model. Today, the truth appears to lie elsewhere. Vestiges of decorative elements such as sgraffito, trompe l’œil, stucco, and colour are being discovered, in strata, throughout the country. The Queluz Palace, inspired by Versailles like many other palaces in Europe in the eighteenth century, is a typical example of this inability to ‘see’ monuments. The recent discovery of remnants of a dark powder-blue (smalt blue) colour challenges the commonly accepted idea that the palace’s facades had always been pink or yellow ochre.http://journals.openedition.org/crcv/464
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author José Aguiar
spellingShingle José Aguiar
La couleur oubliée des cités historiques portugaises et le cas du palais de Queluz
Bulletin du Centre de Recherche du Château de Versailles
author_facet José Aguiar
author_sort José Aguiar
title La couleur oubliée des cités historiques portugaises et le cas du palais de Queluz
title_short La couleur oubliée des cités historiques portugaises et le cas du palais de Queluz
title_full La couleur oubliée des cités historiques portugaises et le cas du palais de Queluz
title_fullStr La couleur oubliée des cités historiques portugaises et le cas du palais de Queluz
title_full_unstemmed La couleur oubliée des cités historiques portugaises et le cas du palais de Queluz
title_sort la couleur oubliée des cités historiques portugaises et le cas du palais de queluz
publisher Centre de Recherche du Château de Versailles
series Bulletin du Centre de Recherche du Château de Versailles
issn 1958-9271
publishDate 2006-03-01
description We see what we learn to see. For many years, it was thought that the colour of the historical cities of Portugal could be divided into that of the Atlantic north, where the natural colours of materials predominate, and those of the Mediterranean south, favouring the white sensuality of mortar and whitewash; as for the azulejos, they were more often than not seen as a nineteenth-century fancy. The difficulties of presenting the architectural particularities of an old monument to the public were long resolved by referring to this over-simplistic model. Today, the truth appears to lie elsewhere. Vestiges of decorative elements such as sgraffito, trompe l’œil, stucco, and colour are being discovered, in strata, throughout the country. The Queluz Palace, inspired by Versailles like many other palaces in Europe in the eighteenth century, is a typical example of this inability to ‘see’ monuments. The recent discovery of remnants of a dark powder-blue (smalt blue) colour challenges the commonly accepted idea that the palace’s facades had always been pink or yellow ochre.
url http://journals.openedition.org/crcv/464
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