Council of State

Although the origins of the Council of State date back to 1521, Charles V radically transformed it in 1526, in Granada, by favouring a majority of Spanish councillors over those from elsewhere in the empire; as a result, 1526 has therefore been taken as the starting point for the institution’s 500th anniversary. According to the emperor’s chronicler, Alonso de Santa Cruz: “At this time, the emperor decreed that a council be established in that city, to be called the Council of State, with which he could confer confidentially on all matters of great importance”.

In 1679, on the occasion of the arranged marriage between Charles II and Marie Louise d’Orléans, the Duke of Pastrana was sent as ambassador extraordinary to the Paris court, charged with an important international mission: to deliver the bridal jewels to the princess. In 1691, Charles II appointed him a member of the Council of State, a post he held until his death in 1693. According to Feliciano Barrios, a leading expert on the Council’s history, this was “a brilliant period for the Council, which was held in high esteem and regard by the monarch”.

In October 1622, Philip IV appointed Olivares to the Council of State. Years later, the Venetian ambassador Giovanni Giustinian highlighted his role in this advisory body, noting that “as the most senior member, he is also the first to express his views, which he defends with the utmost tenacity”. When his all-powerful favourite fell from grace in 1643, Philip IV announced his intention – never fulfilled – of taking personal charge of the government. To that end, he asked the Council of State to help him “bear this burden, as your zeal and attentiveness lead me to expect”.

“I am so well served by the Marquis of La Ensenada”, wrote Philip V in 1745, the penultimate year of his reign, “and owe him such particular gratitude for his successes, his zeal and his selfless service in the ministries of War, the Navy, the Indies and the Treasury […] that I have appointed him a Councillor of State”. Ensenada retained his posts under Ferdinand VI, but fell from favour in 1754. Ten years later, Charles III restored his honours and privileges as a Councillor of State and ordered that he be provided “with the salary, official residence and emoluments corresponding to this office”.

King Philip III was so pleased with the Duke of Lerma – his favourite and chief minister from 1598 to 1618 – that, just hours after the death of his father Philip II, he appointed him to the Council of State. Thenceforth, as reported by the Apostolic Nuncio Camilo Caetani, “the great favour he enjoyed soon became clear”. An immensely powerful figure, Lerma could afford to stay away from Council meetings. As the Venetian ambassador Ottaviano Bon observed: “The Duke hardly ever attends the Council of State […] all enquiries and deliberations being brought to his rooms”.

In 1797, Jovellanos was appointed Secretary of State and Minister of Grace and Justice, and by virtue of his new post automatically became a Councillor of State, as provided for in the decree that had re-established the Council’s functions in 1792. Although he left the Secretariat in 1798, Charles IV granted him “permanent membership” of the Council. In 1810, after years of exile in Mallorca and other vicissitudes arising from the French occupation of Spain, Jovellanos asked the Regency Council to relieve him of his post as Councillor, on grounds of ill health. His request was denied, and he was ordered – once recovered – to return to that institution “to contribute, with his renowned intellect, proven zeal and unalloyed patriotism, to saving the nation”.

The Count of Floridablanca was appointed Councillor of State by Charles III in 1777, yet his greatest political achievement was the creation of the Supreme State Junta, a body which – in the opinion of Manuel Godoy, Prime Minister to Charles IV – “effectively neutralised the Council of State”. Although the decree establishing the Junta (1787) expressly provided for the Council to be maintained, it ceased to meet until the Junta itself was abolished in 1792, following Floridablanca’s dismissal and exile. In that year, the Count of Aranda, his successor, agreed to assume power on condition that Charles IV “re-establish the Council of State, to ensure more effective management of the serious affairs of the Monarchy”.

When this portrait was painted, Seijas Lozano was Minister of Trade, Education and Public Works (1849); during his tenure, he founded the Royal Industrial Institute, the direct predecessor of today’s Schools of Industrial Engineering. The Foundation of the Polytechnic University of Madrid has established an award bearing his name in recognition of his work in support of industrial engineering in Spain. Like the Duke of Rivas, he served as President of the Council of State towards the end of his life (1866-68). Following the Glorious Revolution, he tendered his resignation to the President of the Council of Ministers of the Provisional Government, at the time General Serrano.

Víctor Balaguer had a distinguished literary and political career, and as a writer was the leading figure of the liberal wing of the Catalan Renaixença. Among many other posts, he served as President of the Council of the Philippines on three occasions, between 1885 and 1899, when the Council was abolished in the wake of the disastrous Spanish-American War of 1898. This undoubtedly explains why his portrait was painted by the Filipino artist Juan Luna. He was President of the Council of State in 1883-84, during the short-lived Dynastic Left government, and his vote secured a legal opinion against a free-trade agreement with Great Britain.

Six of the writers and poets featured in this 1846 group portrait were members of the Council of State at some point in their lives: Joaquín Francisco Pacheco, the Duke of Rivas, Javier de Burgos, Francisco Martínez de la Rosa, Ramón de Campoamor and Pedro de Madrazo. The Council’s links with the literary world do not end there; Donoso Cortés was another contemporary Councillor, while members in the latter half of the 19th century included writers Juan Valera, Gaspar Núñez de Arce, Pedro Antonio de Alarcón and Víctor Balaguer.

The many ups and downs of Martínez de la Rosa’s long and distinguished political career at times ran parallel to those of the Council of State. When he joined its ranks in January 1834, the Council was still governed by the regulations of 1792; when he left office two months later, it was superseded by its institutional successor, the Royal Council, of which Martínez de la Rosa served as Vice-President in 1851, 1853 and 1856. Finally, in 1858, the Royal Council was renamed the Council of State, and Martínez de la Rosa was appointed its first President.

Pedro de Madrazo, who hailed from a distinguished family of artists, enjoyed a long career in public service, starting out as a member of the Royal Council in 1845. He served as Secretary-General of the Council of State for two terms (1870-71 and 1875-80). As a writer and art historian, his most significant work is perhaps the Catalogue of the Paintings in the Museo del Prado (1843, with many subsequent reprints). He was a member of the Royal Spanish Academy and the Royal Academy of History, as well as director of the Royal Academy of San Fernando.

Although towards the end of his life he served for one year as president of the Council of State (1863-64), the Duke of Rivas is best known as a writer, and as a leading exponent of Spanish Romanticism. In one of his most famous historical romances, “A Loyal Castilian”, he provided a description of Charles V apparently inspired by the portrait of the emperor with which this itinerary opens: “Resting against his hip / His powerful right hand / Grasps two amber gloves / And an exquisite fly-swat, // And with his left he strokes / The thick, fleshy neck of / A very sturdy mastiff, / White with blond ears”.