Palau del Marqués de Dosaigües, Valencia

Palau del Marqués de Dosaigües is a Rococo palace that now houses Valencia’s González Martí National Museum of Ceramics and Decorative Arts. Its lavish alabaster entrance, created by Ignacio Vergara from a design by Hipólito Rovira, turns the family’s title into sculpture: flowing water pours from vessels beside figures representing the Turia and Júcar. Above them, the Virgin of the Rosary occupies a niche, accompanied by allegorical figures of prosperity and justice, while an angel proclaims the grandeur of the marquisate.

The present image is a plaster version made by Francisco Cano Molineli; the original polychrome wooden statue by Vergara disappeared. Look across the entrance for the family shield, guarded by mace-bearing wild men and surrounded by emblems of several noble lineages. The palace began as a Gothic mansion belonging to the Rabassa de Perellós family, whose wealth grew through commerce and public revenue contracts.

A radical renovation in the eighteenth century gave the building its exuberant Rococo character, with Rovira, Vergara and Luis Domingo shaping its decoration. Today, the state owns this historic mansion, and its rooms hold the museum’s collection of ceramics and decorative arts.