The Plus Oultra Writing Cabinet of Charles V: Expression of the Sacred Imperialism of the Austrias (original) (raw)

The ‘Cloister Life’ of the Emperor Charles V: Art and Ideology at Yuste

Hispanic Research Journal, 2013

In this article I consider the brief retirement of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in the Hieronymite monastery of Yuste, the paintings with which he surrounded himself, and how these have been understood by later scholars. While the Hieronymite Order was unique to Iberia, and Yuste was sited in a remote part of Spain, elements of Charles's living quarters may be connected to his childhood in Flanders. Focusing on the paintings of Titian and Michel Coxcie, especially in relation to Sebastiano del Piombo's works, I show how both Titian and Coxcie produced paintings that appealed to Charles's very particular religious sensibilities. I conclude by examining literary and painterly perspectives on Charles's retirement, particularly those from nineteenth-century Britain and Spain.

[2016] Charles V's death: Crafting words and images for the second Caesar

Many contemporary sources confirm that Charles V (1500-1558) was very fond of mental prayer and devotional images, especially during his retirement at Yuste. These works of art did not function as portrayals or replicas of something concrete, but rather like signs that sought to facilitate evocation through visualisation. By examining specific books, manuscripts and paintings, I will consider how visual and textual media interacted to activate the devout imagination of the Emperor so that he could experience the time, space and emotions of the sacred things depicted, and how he used them at the end of his life as a systematised 'Ars Moriendi'. In addition, I will analyse comparatively the funerary rituals of the Emperor and his wife, and the procedures of relocation of the royal bodies ordered by Charles V and Philip II, until their final rest in Granada or in the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial.

A Book as a Gift for Ferdinand I of Habsburg. An Unknown Bohemical Manuscript from the Collections of the Austrian National Library in Vienna, Historie – Otázky –Problémy 7, 2015, pp. 236–246

The history of the Austrian National Library in Vienna has been associated with a great many Bohemical manuscripts since their medieval beginnings. This situation arises from the close link between Austrian and Bohemian political and cultural history. Unfortunately, we lack primary sources for the history of the Imperial Court Library in the epoch after the death of Maximilian I until 1575, when Hugo Blotius was appointed the first official librarian. Individual acquisitions for the book collection connected with Ferdinand I of Habsburg are less well reconstructed in comparison with the Ambras library of his son Ferdinand of Tyrol. Other manuscripts could be identified on the basis of their personal dedications to Ferdinand I. Among those manuscripts is a tiny illuminated prayer book incorporated by librarian Hugo Blotius into Turcica (Cod. 11704). On the basis of the illuminations this prayer book can be newly identified as an unknown Bohemical manuscript. The decoration is dated and signed. It may be connected with the Prague Old Town guild painter Fabián Puléř (died after 15 December 1562), who has been known as the author of illuminated music manuscripts and contractually documented altar retables. The manuscript was written by Italian Johannes Cavalerius (1524–1580), chaplain and confessor of Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol, who dedicated the illuminated prayer book to Emperor Ferdinand I. There are documented contacts between Cavalerius and the Prague Catholic church representatives: he was quite close to the St Vitus and Vyšehrad prelates. We presume that the manuscript illuminated in 1557 may have been meant as a gift expressing Cavalerius’ gratitude for being appointed provost of Vyšehrad Chapter of Saint Peter and Paul. In fact, Cavalerius was appointed in 1557. The commission of such a specific manuscript completes the existing image of the relations in the court cultural circle, Catholic representatives of the Church, and the Prague community of guild painters from around the mid-16th century.

Reviews of Los Inventarios de Carlos V y la familia imperial/The Inventories of Charles V and the Imperial Family

Los Inventarios de Carlos V y la familia imperial/The Inventories of Charles V and the Imperial Family Fernando Checa Cremades (dir.), Bob C. van den Boogert, Friedrich Edelmayer, Dagmar Eichberger, Annemarie Jordan Gschwend, Jørgen Hein, Maria José Redondo Cantera, Miguel Ángel Zalama Rodriguez, Juan Luis González García (ed.), Los Inventarios de Carlos V y la familia imperial/The Inventories of Charles V and the Imperial Family . Madrid, Fernando Villaverde Ediciones, 2010. ISBN978-84-937083-1-3. Vol. ICarlos V; Juana I de Castilla, 1,197 pp.; vol. II, Isabel de Portugal, 1,125 pp.; vol. III, Margarita de Austria; Leonor de Austria; Isabel de Austria; Fernando I; María de Hungría; Catalina de Austria, 915 pp.