Near Madrid, five years earlier, Philip IV's theatre at his palace of El Buen Retiro was built by an Italian architect, Cosimo Lotti. This was as amazingly advanced as the Schouwburg in Amsterdam was backward. While not competing in scale with theatres in Italy, it embodied all the latest devices, including sliding flats and box partitions on the axes of the sight-lines.

In: TIDWORTH, Simon. Theatres; an illustrated history. London: Pall Mall Press, 1973, 224 p. ISBN 02-690-2833-1. Available from: http://amzn.com/0269028331. p. 76

Author: Simon Tidworth