Meanings and Functions of the Royal Portrait in the Mediterranean World (11th-15th cc.), intern. conference, Université de Fribourg, 12-13 March, 2019 (original) (raw)
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Journal of Mediterranean Knowledge, 2016
This paper aims to discuss the influence of interdependently effective political discourses and cultural differences in early modern Mediterranean regarding the motives for official state portraiture. Therefore, the paper will focus on the portraits of monarchs, foremost the depictions of Philip IV of Spain by the court painter Velazquez and works of Titian under the patronage of Charles V and Philip II in order to analyse, how the conservative portraiture culture was established and maintained during the so-called Siglo de Oro . In contrast to the western Mediterranean, the intercultural portraiture style of the Ottoman Emperor Mehmed II will be given to emphasize the significant role of political inclinations of monarchs on their portraits. A multi-layered approach lies therefore at the basis of full socio-political and cultural comprehension of the paintings to overcome a simple analysis and to contextualize the work of art within both macro and micro historical perspective.
The reign of the king of the Crown of Aragón, Jaime II, is one of the most politically and artistically interesting in the medieval Iberian Peninsula. Scholars in recent years have highlighted the way he used art as a tool of power, but there still remains a lot to be clarified, in particular the profound meaning of some of his commissions and their relevance beyond his own generation, the relevance of his kingship in Sicily to his visual culture before becoming king of Aragon, the reasons why there was a real aesthetic change during his kingship, the role of queens -if there were any- in this change, or the important relations between politic events and his promotion of the arts. Jaime II constructed his outward appearance and communicated it by means of a variety of rituals, object-types and media, as some of his predecessors did, and he used art to make visible a concise image of power and authority. As will explain, he was not merely the result of an existing trend: Jaime II marked a milestone in the use of art for propaganda purposes and, as history states, he was the rightful inspirer of some of his successors’ commissions, among others Pedro IV the Ceremonious (1337-1386). Roughly speaking, there are just under 70 effigies: 34 from illuminated manuscripts, 3 sculptures, 14 seal variants; and 15 different typologies of coin. Of course, the effigies belonging to seals and coins can be reduced in number: only 10 seals present any novelties, and just 2 coins are attractive from an iconographic point of view. However, this reduced number of pieces is still far from dissapointing: there are more than enough to analyse how he wanted to be portrayed in medieval society, in particular through those objects that had a high legal value and that must be understood as acting as a surrogate for the king’s physical presence. The same happens with sculpture: we have very few effigies, but they constitute a clear manifestation of power with a deep meaning that extended far beyond his own lifetime. Those depictions are directly associated with the king’s patronage, into contrast to most of the representations that we find of him in manuscripts, so it is interesting to study why this is and for what ends and uses we have his portrait -in a broad sense of the term- in their folios. To carry out this study, I will leave to one side the large bibliography published about the king, and will instead focus on other written sources such as documents issued by the king, the royal chancellery and chronicles, including three of The Four Great Chronicles. All these references and others such as the Descendentia dominorum regum Siciliae can be used to discuss the image of the king and in what forms, where, when and for what reasons his image was used by himself or by other institutions in the Medieval Crown of Aragon.
The aim of this study is to analyze the coronation ceremonies carried out in the Crown of Aragon throughout the Middle Ages. Although the pope granted most Western monarchies the right to hold these ceremonies in their own kingdoms in 1204, our study will address the mechanisms used to appoint kings both before and after the consolidation of these ceremonies, mechanisms which reflected the power struggles between the parties involved, that is, the prince and the Church. We will examine the elements that remained constant throughout this period but we will also pay particular attention to the alterations that were made and how these had important consequences that went beyond politics and entered religious terrain. Among the changes were the kings' e↵orts to participate in priestly orders, the promotion and consolidation of new liturgy with content intended to legitimize the kings, and the use of new iconographies with sacred references. As will be seen, these are only a small example of the mechanisms used by the sovereigns of the Crown of Aragon to re-emphasize their links with God, which had been weakened by the transformations to the anointing and coronation ceremonials and the resulting tensions with Rome, particularly during the times of Peter IV (1336-1387).
This study aims to show through various textual and iconographic examples how kings from the 13th to the 15th centuries were able to exploit public ceremonies and works of art for propaganda purposes. At the same time, it will also demonstrate the extent to which some medieval kings based their legitimacy on the memory of their predecessors through textual and iconographical initiatives. Furthermore, the study will show that out of all the various Christian kingdoms in the medieval Iberian Peninsula, one of the richest and most exemplary in this regard was the Crown of Aragon under the rule of Peter IV (1336-1387), also known as the Ceremonious. Este trabajo tiene como objetivo mostrar los distintos mecanismos que utilizó la monarquía para visualizar y legitimar su poder. Dentro de los distintos reinos peninsulares, uno de los más ricos y ejemplares en este sentido fue el protagonizado, en la Corona de Aragón, por Pedro IV que ha pasado a la historia con el merecido sobrenombre de el Ceremonioso (1336-1387). Este artículo tiene como objeto poner de manifiesto, a través de distintos ejemplos textuales e iconográficos, hasta qué punto el rey Pedro el Ceremonioso supo rentabilizar sus actuaciones públicas y promociones artísticas con un claro objetivo propagandístico, especialmente en los momentos de mayor dificultad, o de inflexión, de su dilatado reinado. Se evidencia también hasta qué punto parte de su legitimación está basada en la memoria de uno de sus más admirados antecesores, Jaime I el Conquistador (1213-1276), fascinación que puede rastrearse, más o menos veladamente, en todas sus iniciativas, tanto en las de carácter textual como en las iconográficas.
In Spanish society during the Enlightenment, the monarchy's public image extended to a multitude of facets of courtly life. In palace circles, it took the form of programmatic allegories in the different residences that were intended to glorify the virtues of their royal inhabitants. In the more public sphere it was achieved through a succession of prototypes of portraiture that were updated as the dynastic program evolved. The iconography exemplified in Spain's Century of Lights by Charles of Bourbon and Maria Luisa of Parma is one of the most fascinating, due to the longevity of their public life and the quality of the painters who depicted them. Through these portraits we can certainly investigate not only the evolution of Spanish painting at that time, but also the modernization of the political message the monarchs sought to project to their subjects. The profuse official documentation surrounding many of those canvases as well as their effect at court and on the ministers concerned with such matters, show how these commissions were often treated as matters of state.
Pedro IV was a king with a complex personality due to the diculties he experienced during his childhood, including physical limitations caused by being born two months premature. He overcame these conditions and, conscious of the pre-eminence of his rank and dignity, not only wrote his own chronicle but also ordered the drafting of ordinances for his house and court. The latter structured the order of ceremony, for example prescribing how and with what elements and actions the coronations of the kingdom of Aragon were to be carried out. This study is focused on the most important aspects concerning the king’s presence, how he describes his participation in all sorts of events, how these events were to be organized, and how they are corroborated by his iconography. In accordance with the general theme of this volume, special attention has been paid to his physical appearance, that is, his clothing and insignia, as well as to his environment, for example the stages and settings for the events in which he was involved, along with their architecture, furniture, and accessories. Through such means, Pedro IV was able to demonstrate in the eyes of his subjects the political theology he personified. Its visual manifestation during his reign marks a milestone in the saga of the kings of Aragon.
LIÑO 26. Revista Anual de Historia del Arte. 2020), 2020
El cardenal Ximénez de Cisneros (1436-1517), sin duda de las figuras más destacadas de la tem-prana Edad Moderna en España, es uno de los gobernantes más representados en el grabado. Nos interesa estudiar no sólo las representaciones de su persona en este medio técnico, entre los siglos XV y XVIII, sino también explicar las causas por las que fueron realizadas, de forma tan sostenida, en este período, así como los medios en que aparecen y los modelos iconográficos que presentan. El texto se ocupa brevemente de ejemplares bien conocidos, y se centra en otros hasta ahora no estu-diados, para ofrecer una visión completa del asunto y poner de manifiesto la importancia de estos retratos del cardenal, y sus diversas genealogías visuales. ABSTRACT Cardinal Ximénez de Cisneros (1436-1517), undoubtedly among the outstanding figures of the early Modern Age in Spain, is one of the most widely portrayed Spanish statesmen in engraving. This article examines not only the representations of the figure of Ximénez de Cisneros in this technical medium from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, but also explains why these engravings were produced in a sustained manner during this period, as well as the media in which they appeared and their iconographic models. The text deals briefly with well known exemplars, but especially with others never discussed until now, in order to offer a complete view of the case and highlight the importance of the cardinal's portraits, and their diverse visual lineages.
Monographic issue of the RSLR: Costantinopoli. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΑ e ΙΕΡΩΣΥΝΗ. Studi in memoria di Gilbert Dagron, Florence: L.S. Olschki, 2016
This essay on Armenian political theology focuses on the activity of Gagik Arcruni, the Armenian king (908–943/44) of Vaspurakan in the southeast of historical Armenia. During his reign, between 931 and 936, the Byzantine commanders of Armenian origin, John Kurkuas and Melias, supported by Gagik and other Armenian princes, conducted victorious campaigns against Arab emirates in the Euphrates valley and in Armenia. Whilst the Byzantine army was thus approaching his kingdom, Gagik addressed a Letter to the Patriarch of Constantinople Theophylaktos (933–956) and to Emperor Romanos Lekapenos (920–944), which is only preserved in Armenian. This Letter, which sought to facilitate reunion of the two Churches, demonstrates Gagik’s ability to understand the reasons of the detractors of his Church, whilst remaining loyal to it. Such an ability of distancing himself from one’s own religious tradition, without renouncing it, reflects the intellectual environment inaugurated by the Armenian-Byzantine council of Širakawan (862). This environment is also reflected in the iconography of the palatine church built by Gagik on an island in Lake Van between 915 and 921. The Arcruni family originated from a region lying to the east of the lake, where it was exposed to ancient Christian traditions transmitted in Syriac. Therefore, the idea of kingship articulated in the iconography of this church is examined with reference to Armenian and Syriac patristic and apocryphal sources, to fifth-century mosaics from Syria and to seventh-century Armenian and Georgian frescoes and their palæo-Christian prototypes. Adam, depicted at the centre of the east façade as the Giver of names to all living beings, is the prototype of every kingship. The eclectic character of this church’s iconographic programme and the particular attention paid by the artists to the outer walls of the building are indicative of the importance accorded to external observers. A number of its images were addressed not only to Christians but were also meant to arouse empathy in Muslim travellers. Tenth-century Arabic sources suggest that Muslims could reach this remote island in search of ‘wonders of the earth’ and of hospitality. Beholding the church mainly from outside, they could recognise on its walls personages and scenes familiar to them from the Koran and the Sunna. Several formal elements of the church’s figurative language have, besides, parallels in ancient figurative sources of Iranian derivation, later inherited by Islamic art, which had also to be familiar to the guests arriving from the east. The king with a goblet seated in an oriental way, in particular, represents a good householder and a generous host welcoming his guests to his dominion. Carved on the walls of the church, this and other images reflect Gagik’s awareness that the stability of his kingdom depended on establishing peace with his Muslim subjects and with the Islamic states adjoining it.