Document Type
Book Chapter
Date of this Version
2002
Publication Source
The Cambridge Companion to Velázquez
Start Page
68
Last Page
86
Abstract
In 1640 Diego de Saavedra y Fajardo, one of the most influential seventeenth-century Spanish writers, made a remarkably explicit reference to the effect that images of kings had upon their subjects as he recalled his own experience of viewing a royal portrait by Velazquez. In it Philip IV appeared "full of grace, august in his countenance ... [and] I was overcome with such respect, [that] I !melt down and lowered my eyes." The importance of the king's representation within a monarchy like Spain's, composed of a number of territories where the king was an "absent" ruler, is also evident in royal ceremonies celebrated in kingdoms distant from the monarchy's political center. In 1621, for example, the elites of the viceroyalty of Peru took oaths of loyalty to the new monarch, Philip IV, in a ceremony replete with symbols of obedience, loyalty, and adoration for the king. In the absence of the monarch himself, a portrait of Philip, framed in gold and "seated" on a throne, beneath a canopy, presided over the ceremony.
Copyright/Permission Statement
This material has been published in The Cambridge Companion to Velázquez edited by Suzanne Stratton-Pruitt. This version is free to view and download for personal use only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. © Cambridge University Press. http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/arts-theatre-culture/western-art/cambridge-companion-velazquez?format=PB&isbn=9780521669405
Recommended Citation
Feros, Antonio. (2002). ‘Sacred and Terrifying Gazes’: Languages of Power and Ideological Struggle in 17th-Century Spain. In Stratton-Pruitt, Suzanne (Ed), The Cambridge Companion to Velazquez, pp. 68-86. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Date Posted: 28 February 2017