Richard L. Kagan

Spanish Cities of the Golden Age: The Views of Anton van den Wyngaerde

In the sixteenth century Spain was at the height of its glory, enjoying a period of exceptional power, wealth, and artistic splendor. In 1561 Philip II commissioned Europes leading topographical artist, Anton van den Wyngaerde, to prepare cities and towns of his Golden Age empire. Van den Wyngaerde spent most of his time traveling in Spain from 1561 until his death in 1571, preparing views--many the earliest known depictions--of no fewer than sixty-two cities and towns, including Barcelona, Valencia, Zaragoza, Granada, Coroba, Seville, Toledo, Burgos, and Madrid. These drawings not only record Spains cities during the most glorious moments in their history but also depict them with a precision that can almost be described as photographic.

Philip II and the Art of the Cityscape

Philip II and the Art of the Cityscape As mundane as they may seem, city views occupied an important place in the art and architecture of the Renaissance. The number and variety of these views multiplied rapidly during the first half of the sixteenth century, and, by 1550, the cityscape had developed into an independent genre, claiming numerous artists for whom the representation of cities was a particular speciality. Underlying this development was a growing demand for urban panoramas of various types. Cityscapes, along with maps, became a popular form of wall decoration; popes, monarchs, nobles, and burghers alike commissioned artists to adorn their residences with portraits of cities, either alone or in series. An even larger market existed for cheap, single sheet engravings of individual cities, and another for city atlases, the most ambitious of which endeavored not only to publish views of European cities, but also those of Africa, Asia, and the New World. Yet, despite their number and appeal, city views have attracted relatively little scholarly attention. In general, they have been interpreted as a response to the growth of European cities and towns, as well as one facet of the growing interest in geography sparked by the discovery of the Americas. They have consequently been considered as a demonstration of European interest in mapping the world as faithfully and accurately as possible. Yet city views had other uses. In some cases they served as expressions of local patriotism and regional pride; in others, they were used as demonstrations of suzerainty, both secular and spiritual. However, the personal and political uses of these views have rarely been considered, and this is the principal concern underlying this article, which focuses on a series of commissions offered by Philip II of Spain (1556-1598) to Anton Van den Wyngaerde (c. I512-I571), a Flemish artist who specialized in topographical views.

The Duke of Alcalá: His Collection and its Evolution

Fernando Enriquez Afan de Ribera, third Duke of Alcala (1583-1637), was an important statesman and art collector and a member of a leading noble family of Andalusia. His artistic and literary interests are partially recorded in scattered references in Pachecos Arte de la pintura. He is also known to have been a patron of Jusepe de Ribera. The discovery of an inventory of the contents of his palace in Seville, the famous Casa de Pilatos, now permits a fuller reconstruction of Alcalas collection of painting and sculpture. Compiled shortly after the dukes return from his tenure as viceroy of Naples (1629-31), the inventory not only lists the works but also furnishes some indication of when and where they were acquired. A second inventory made after the dukes death documents a further stage in the formation of a collection that contained pictures attributed to important Spanish and Italian painters, including Velazquez, Pantoja, Reni, Arpino, and Artemisia Gentileschi, among others.

‘Official History’ at the Court of Philip II of Spain

Many products of medieval and renaissance culture – literature, music, political ideology, social and governmental structures, the fine arts, forms of devotional piety, and also the social, political and literary self-representation of rulers – found their best expression in the context of the courts of greater and lesser princes. This second volume on princes and princely culture between 1450 and 1650 – the first was published in 2003 as volume 118/1 in this series – contains twelve essays. These are focused on England under Edward IV, Henry VII and Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, and under James I and Charles I. The late fifteenth-century imperial court is treated in a piece on Matthias I Corvinus. The courts of Italy are represented by chapters on those of the Po Valley, the Medici of Florence, the Papal courts of Pius II and Julius II, and of Naples. Spanish court culture is discussed in contributions on Charles V, Philip II, and on Philip IV.