Pedro de Alcántara Téllez-Girón y Fernández Santillán, (Cádiz, 1812-Biarritz, 1900) succeeded as the 13th Duke of Osuna in 1882 when his first cousin, the 12th Duke of Osuna, died. He was the son of Pedro de Alcántara Téllez-Girón y Pimentel (1787-1851), Prince of Anglona, and x Marquis of Javalquinto (the child who appears seated on a cushion, in the portrait of the 9 Dukes of Osuna and their children), director from the Prado Museum 1820-1823,68 Governor and Captain General of Cuba in 1840, Lieutenant General of the Royal Armies, Senator for life, 1st Vice President of the Senate 1848-1851. His mother, María del Rosario Fernández de Santillán y Valdivia, daughter of the Marquises of La Motilla, of Valenciana, and Counts of Casa-Alegre, was a Dame of the Queen Noble Dame of the Order of Queen María Luisa.
The thirteenth Duke of Osuna was a gentleman of the chamber with exercise and servitude of the kings Isabel II, Alfonso XII and Alfonso XIII. He was a knight of the Royal Maestranza of Seville, a senator of the kingdom in his own right, Grand Cross of Carlos III, and a knight of the Military Order of San Fernando for war merits. He married Julia Dominé and Desmasieres. He inherited from his father the Anglona palace in Madrid and certain rights of use in the Jabalquinto palace in Baeza, where he inherited a large amount of property. In Biarritz he built a small palace which he called Jabalquinto, with a large garden and excellent views of the Biarritz beach, on whose façade the Osuna coat of arms shines. After his death, this mansion was purchased by the Biarritz City Council.
The thirteenth Duke of Osuna succeeded his father as Prince of Anglona and Marquis of Javalquinto, and his cousin Mariano in the House of Osuna and in that of Benavente, which came to them through his paternal grandmother Josefa Alonso Pimentel, being Count Duke of Benavente, Duke of Gandía, and its added houses.
He died in his palace in Biarritz on September 3, 1900. His only daughter, María Dolores Téllez-Girón y Dominé, died without succession. The House of Osuna passed to the grandsons of his brother Tirso de él, Luis María and Mariano Téllez-Girón Fernández de Córdoba and Fernández de Santillán, who succeeded as the fourteenth and fifteenth Dukes of Osuna.
From December 27, 1882, he was Duke of Osuna due to the death of his first cousin Mariano Téllez-Girón, XII Duke of Osuna. He also holds the titles of XVIII Count and XV Duke of Benavente, XVII Duke of Gandía, XVI Duke of Béjar, X Marquis of Jabalquinto. He was born in Cádiz on September 4, 1812. Son of Pedro de Alcántara Téllez-Girón, IX Marquis of Jabalquinto, youngest son of Pedro Téllez-Girón, IX Duke of Osuna, and María del Rosario Fernández de Santillán. He married in Jabalquinto (Jaén) in 1857 with Julia de Dominé Desmaisieres. Children: 1st Pedro de Alcántara Téllez-Girón Dominé; 2nd María del Rosario, both died as children; 3º María de los Dolores, succeeding her father in the titles of Benavente, Gandía and Jabalquinto. She was also the Marchioness consort of Llombay.
Pedro de Alcántara Téllez-Girón y Fernández Santillán well deserved his nickname "Don Magnifico". Collector, man of letters, acquaintance of monarchs, friend of artists and the Biarritz people, he was an eccentric, man-about-town and a big spender. In 1866, he set up his sanctuary on the high ground above the Plage de l’Impératrice, opposite the imposing entrance and overlooking the gardens of the imperial palace. Château Javalquinto, an Italian-style castle with a Gothic touch, was the scene of the most Baroque parties to be held in Biarritz.
In 1852, Pedro de Alcántara Téllez Girón y Fernández de Santillán appeared in the photographic world in an article by journalist Richard W. Thomas published in the English magazine The Art Journal, where he was named as one of the most enthusiastic members of the Roman School of Photography. This group, made up of renowned sculptors, painters and noblemen with a great fondness for photography, called themselves “the photographer-painters” and met at the Caffé Greco on Via Condotti, in Rome, and had adopted the calotype to portray landscapes, buildings and corners of European cities and used salted paper to print. Pedro lived dedicated to photography, painting and the protection of art until he died in Biarritz.
When the Duke died in 1900, his heirs and debt guarantors were hounded by bailiffs… it presented an opportunity for Joseph Petit, Mayor of Biarritz since 1919, to purchase Javalquinto and install the town hall there. The building was vast, comfortable and ideally situated with a view of the sea beyond the sublime gardens of the Victoria Hotel. In 1924, after 3 years of negotiations with the Duke of the Infantado, Javalquinto became the town hall, and remained so until 1953 when new offices were established in the former Bon Marché department store.
In 1985, employees discovered some magnificent stained glass windows in the villa’s cellars. They were panels, inspired by Grimm’s fairy tales (1882) representing elves, Snow White and Cinderella, which had been removed from the stairwell in the Domaine de Françon manor house prior to wartime occupation and which were replaced by works of art requisitioned by the Nazis. Today, the villa is home to the town’s tourist board and convention department.
No comments:
Post a Comment