Treść książki
Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
10
VÍCTORMÍNGUEZ
ofRenaissanceandBaroquefestivitiesthatinvadedstreetsandsquaresof
courtcities,mainviceroyaltycapitalsandhundredsofsmallercities,inthe
contextofroyalfestivitiesthatpubliclycelebratedtheeventsconnected
withimperialorroyalfamilies.
Importantcourtartists,suchasPeterPaulRubens,JoséBenitode
Churriguera,DiegoVelázquez,orLucaGiordano,designedsomeofthe
ephemeralarchitectureandscenes,aswellasproducedpaintingsandhi-
eroglyphs,embellishingurbanspaceduringthepublicceremonies.Te
contributionofthesearchitects,painters,andsculptorstothefestiveart
wasessentialtocreatetheimageofcommonlyrecognizedSpanishEm-
pire(moreappropriately,theSpanishMonarchy)thatistheunionofthe
realmsruledfromMadridbytheSpanishHabsburgs.Tenarrationspub-
lishedofeachroyalfestivityandtheirillustrationsspreadtheiconography
ofCharlesVandhissuccessorsuptothetimesofCharlesII,settingmod-
elsforartistsandcrafsmenallovertheEmpire.
Althoughthefestiveartworkshavenotsurvivedduetotheirtempo-
rarynature,thepublishedstoriesprovideawrittentestimonyofthem,
andinsomecasesalsoavisualone.Tisabundantliterarygenre,descrip-
tiveandapologeticinnature,thatallowsustocurrentlyrecallwhatthe
Habsburgfestivitieswere,containsseveralessentialbooksofthesymbolic
cultureofBaroque.Myintentioninthischapteristooleranitinerary
throughaselectionoftwenty-onefestivalbooksthathadbeenpublished
attheserviceoftheHabsburgHouse,truemilestonesofthefestiveuni-
verseofthe15thand16thcenturies,printedindilerentcourtcitiesofthe
Empire:Brussels,Valladolid,Mexico,Madrid,Lisbon,Antwerp,Naples,
Valencia,Seville,Palermo,andLima,andalsoRomeasaspacerepresenta-
tiveoftheSpanishpower.
Temodernfestivalsfrstappearedinthe15thcenturyinthehuman-
istcourtsofsmallItalianrepublics,combiningclassicalmodels,medieval
traditionsandnewformalandiconographicartisticlanguagesthatorigi-
natedduringRenaissance.Initsorigin,theywereconfguredasapublicity
mechanismthatincreasedtheprestigeofitspromoters.TemodernEu-
ropeanstatesthatemergedduringtheRenaissanceturnedthesefestivals
intoexercisesofpower,whichreachedanastonishingdimensionduring
thetimesoftheSpanishEmpire.Teephemeralarttransformedcities
withtheirsquares,streetsandfacadesintogreatceremonialtheatres.Sym-
