THE RISE OF THE COURTIER-ARTIST: THE POLITICAL CAREERS OF PETER PAUL RUBENS AND DIEGO VELAZQUEZ IN PHILIP IV'S SPAIN A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Guelph by NICOLE GRIEVE In partial fulfillment of requirements For the degree of Master of Arts January, 2008 © Nicole Grieve, 2008 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-41824-6 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-41824-6 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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Canada ABSTRACT THE RISE OF THE COURTIER-ARTIST: THE POLITICAL CAREERS OF PETER PAUL RUBENS AND DIEGO VELAZQUEZ IN PHILIP IV'S SPAIN Nicole Grieve Advisor: University of Guelph, 2008 Professor S. Humble-Ferreira This thesis is an investigation of the political involvement of Peter Paul Rubens and Diego Velazquez at the court of Philip IV in seventeen century Spain. It argues that Rubens and Velazquez were participants in a movement begun in fifteenth century Italy to improve the status of artists in society and provide painters with new opportunities to exhibit their political prowess. Although their initial court appointments were as artists, over time both Rubens and Velazquez came to occupy important political appointments as well and became key figures in several of Spain's foreign policy endeavors. As such, Velazquez and Rubens played an important political role in the affairs of the Spanish state, both through their completion of political paintings for Philip IV and Olivares, and through their diplomatic and civil duties. Acknowledgements First and foremost I would like to thank all the friends, family members, and educators for their inspiration and support. I would like to especially express gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Susannah Humble Ferreira, for her continual encouragement and guidance, without which this thesis would not have been possible. Specifically, I also want to thank my parents for instilling in me a thirst for knowledge and for guiding me through my education thus far. Special thanks to Joe for her artistic advice and my cousin Danielle for her translation assistance. Most importantly I want to acknowledge my fiance Chris, whose support was instrumental. Thank you for listening to my endless babbling about subjects that bore you, traipsing acr.oss Europe and somewhat patiently waiting for me outside numerous museums and galleries, and especially, for reminding me that even the most unsuspecting airport can be a distinguished king. Last, but not least to Harley, for keeping my lap warm and my hands clean. i Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter One 22 Chapter Two 43 Chapter Three 68 Conclusion 98 Bibliography 103 n Introduction During the Early modern period, and especially during the seventeenth century, artists occupied a unique position in society. For the elite few, such as Rubens, and Velazquez, they were no longer restricted to life as mere craftsman, but became courtier artists and were able to involve themselves in the realm of politics. Over the course of their careers, they not only became successful court artists, but accomplished politicians as well, serving the monarchy in various diplomatic and domestic posts. Consequently, they reached a position of high social standing from which they had intimate access to Philip IV and other important courtiers and were granted important titles and knighthood. All of these aspects of their political and artistic careers demonstrate that Rubens and Velazquez were successful political agents who occupied a uniquely prominent position in the Spanish court of Philip IV. Until recently the study of pre-French Revolution courtly society in Europe has been largely neglected, with the exception of its artistic dimension. In part, this was the result of the dominance of liberalism during the nineteenth century which simply labeled the ancient regime courts as paternalistic and despotic. Then, for much of the twentieth century, the supremacy of Marxist and Liberalist history meant that the courts were still virtually an academic taboo. For the most part, they only received scholarly attention as an agent and expression of monarchical absolutism, and as centers of artistic patronage and propaganda.1 Furthermore, it was generally only sociologists, anthropologists, and political scientists who carried out this research, with little or no work done by historians. Although historians began to focus on the political structure of court society, and to reject ' John Adamson, "The Making of the Ancient-Regime Court: 1500-1700," in The Princely Courts of Europe, edited by John Adamson (London: Seven Dials, Cassell & Co., 2000), 9. its absolutist depiction towards the end of the twentieth century, it is only since the start of the twenty-first century that the perception of the court as a center of propaganda and political absolutism had been challenged by historians. The first thorough study of court history came when the sociologist Norbert Elias first published The Court Society in 1969 in German.2 Although the majority of his arguments are disputed today, his study broke the stigma of the court as a historical non­ entity carrying politically offensive associations. Relying heavily on the Memoires of the Due de Saint-Simon (1607-1693), Elias used Louis XIV's court at Versailles to argue that the court served to centralize power in the hands of an absolute monarch. Furthermore, he saw the French court as an example of a European wide pattern. According to Elias, Louis XIV was able to rule France by controlling the court, which was principally done through etiquette and ceremony that was carefully designed to enhance the power and prestige of Louis XIV. From this viewpoint, competition for status, prestige and the king's favour - which was dependent upon following etiquette - kept courtiers from joining forces against the king, and public confirmation of the king's power became a value in its own right.3 Overall, Elias argued that court society was an important step in the formation of modern society because it resulted in the emergence of a centralized state under the king, which reduced the power of the political elite.4 This was one reason why Elias' position became so popular; it agreed with the perspective of nationalist 2 It was first published in English in 1983 3 Norbert Elias, The Court Society, trans. Edmund Jephcott (New York: Basil Blackwell Publisher Limited, 1983), 71, 117,134. 4 Ibid., 1. 2 historians who also argued that the court was important because it contributed to the rise of the modern state by limiting the power of the nobility and upper ranks of society.5 Although after Elias' work was published the court was increasingly studied, it was still not a popular subject for historians, and the 'myth of Versailles' continued to hold influence. Instead of studying the court's political structure, a tradition of aulic history with a strong partiality for conceptual ornament developed; the meaning of ceremony was seen as more worthy of scholarly attention than the concrete forms of ceremony themselves or the daily routines of the court. As a result, aulic history emerged as a specialized domain with a strong cultural bias dominated by scholars from history of art, music, theater, architecture, and anthropology. Even work done by historians on court society during the 1970s continued to support many of Elias' claims. A.G. Dickens' compilation, The Courts of Europe, also emphasized that the court was the centre of aristocratic culture, and that ceremony was an important part of royal dominance. Furthermore, similar to Elias, Dickens and the other authors within the volume argued that dominance was also achieved through propaganda that suggested power and stability.7 Although this thesis does not agree with the strength these early authors gave to these argument, it does concur with the general principle that courts were centers of artistic patronage and that art contained a political message. Furthermore this thesis offers additional perspective to the growing body of literature that specializes in patronage networks and the position of clients in society. This viewpoint began in the mid-1980s, in particular with Sharon Kettering's Patrons, 5 Jeroen Duindam, Vienna and Versailles: The Courts of Europe's Dynastic Rivals, 1550-1780 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 8.