Courtesan Portrait as Expression of Monarchy in the Second Half of 17th Century and in the Beginning of 18th in Spain

Abstract

The article explores the influence of historical and political situation on the Spanish portrait tradition in the second half of the XVIIth and early XVIIIth century. The icono-graphical method was applied to the court portraits of these periods along with analysis of the historical and political tendencies. The author distinguished certain common features in the portraiture in the courts of Charles II and Philip V. The tradition of the Habsburg court portrait was continued in the reign of the Bourbon House. The state authorities of the last Habsburg and the first Bourbon exploited the portraits both as the manifest of their power and as the mechanism of representation of the rulers image.

Keywords

• retrato
• monarquía
• propaganda
• carlos ii
• mariana de austria
• felipe v