Death of the Count of Villamediana in Sol. Painting by Manuel Castellano (1868) in Museum of History of Madrid.
On 21st August 1622, the Count of Villamediana left the Alcázar (now the Royal Palace) in his carriage, heading for his home in Calle Mayor. They probably went via what is now Plaza del Oriente, Plaza de Isabella II and Arenal. As the carriage passed the Church of San Gines on Arenal, a man approached the carriage and attacked the Count with a large knife, or perhaps a crossbow. The wounded man was taken to Palacio de Oñate, where his father lived (the site currently occupied by Café Mallorquin) in Sol, where he was given the last rites. He died two days later. Ironically, the steps of St. Philip’s, which can be seen in the background of Castellano’s painting leading to Calle Mayor, were known as the gossip centre of Madrid, “where you heard the news before the events themselves”.
Villamediana was Postmaster General for Philip IV; he was the son of Philip III’s Postmaster General, who had travelled to England to negotiate the Treaty of London for Philip III in 1603. His assassination was never explained, but has variously been ascribed to his supposed dalliance with Philip’s wife, Isabel of France; his involvement with a homosexual ring then under official investigation; and his salacious and caustic writings about several powerful nobleman of the Court. Quevedo wrote of him: “neither in life nor in death could he do anything that was not a sin”.
Castellano’s painting was bought by the Government of the First Republic in 1873, and was eventually transferred to the Museum of Madrid History in Calle de Fuencarral for its opening in 1926, where it can be seen today.