This volume explores the concept of magnificence as a social construction in seventeenth-century Europe. Although this period is often described as the âAge of Magnificenceâ, thus far no attempts have been made to investigate how the term and the concept of magnificence functioned. The authors focus on the way crucial ethical, religious, political, aesthetic, and cultural developments interacted with thought on magnificence in Catholic and Protestant contexts, analysing spectacular civic and courtly festivities and theatre, impressive displays of painting and sculpture in rich architectural settings, splendid gardens, exclusive etiquette, grand households, and learned treatises of moral philosophy.
Gijs Versteegen, Ph.D., is lecturer in early modern history at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Madrid). He researched court philosophy and the reception of court culture in enlightened and liberal historiography, publishing the monograph Corte y Estado en la historiografÃa liberal: un cambio de paradigma (Madrid: 2015).
Stijn Bussels. Ph.D. (2005, Ghent University) is Professor of Art History at the Leiden University. He has published widely on the intersections between the visual arts, theatre and spectacle in the early modern Low Countries. He is the author of The Antwerp Entry of Prince Philip in 1549. Rhetoric, Performance and Power (Rodopi 2012).
Walter S. Melion is Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Art History at Emory University. He has published widely on early modern image cultures, on the art and art theory of the Low Countries, on scriptural image-making, on emblems and emblematics, and on Jesuit image theory.
Acknowledgements List of Illustrations Notes on the Editors Notes on the Contributors
Introduction
âGijs Versteegen and Stijn Bussels
Part 1: Traditions of Thought on Magnificence
1 Early Modern Readings of Aristotleâs Theory of Magnificence in the Ethics
âMatthias Roick
2 Medieval Background to Magnificence in Habsburg Spain: King Solomon as Enduring Exemplar of Divine Worship
âJorge Fernández-Santos
3 Magnificence between Effect of Power and Power of Effect
âMichèle-Caroline Heck
Part 2: The Court and Aristocracy
4 The Hall of Realms, a Space for Royal Magnificence
âMiguel Hermoso Cuesta
7 Educating Magnificence: Juan Eusebio Nieremberg on Ascesis and Splendour in his Manual for the Reales Estudios of the Colegio Imperial at Madrid
âGijs Versteegen
Part 3: Architecture
8 Building Magnificence in the Dutch Golden Age: the Amsterdam Town Hall
âStijn Bussels and Bram Van Oostveldt
9 Maiestate Tantum: Spiritual Magnificence at the Cappella dei Principi
âLindsay Alberts
10 Magnificence Exemplified: the Restoration of the Old St. Paulâs London
âAnne-Françoise Morel
11 Magnificent! Gaspar Fagelâs Plant Collection at Leeuwenhorst
âElizabeth den Hartog
Part 4: Performance
12 Magnificence and Atticism in Seventeenth-Century Venice
âAlessandro Metlica
13 Magnificence and Regality in Milanese Celebratory Sets: The Birth of Balthasar Charles and Exequies in the Epoch of Philip IV
âAlessandra Mignatti
14 The Ducal Stage: Festive Culture and the Display of Magnificence in Seventeenth-Century Württemberg
âKathrin Stocker
15 The Libertine Subversion of the Masque: The Case of John Wilmotâs Lucinaâs Rape
âKlaas Tindemans
16 Magnificence as Aesthetic Category in Court Plays: Molièreâs Les Amants Magnifiques (The Magnificent Lovers)
âVictoire Malenfer
Index Nominum
This volume is of interest to scholars, researchers and students in the fields of early modern (art) history and philosophy as well as performance studies. Keywords: magnificence, art, architecture, history, performance, ethics, aesthetics, philosophy, theatre, garden history, royal household, seventeenth century, nobility.