Page 10 - El arte del poder

Of the many artistic genres in the collections amassed over the centuries by the Spanish monarchy and now in the care of the Patrimonio Nacional, armor is one of the most fascinating. The increasing attention accorded to the art of armor in scholarly literature has provided a greater understanding of the technical complexities involved in making armor and of its importance as the symbolic embodiment of sovereign power and luxury. Recent studies have also considered the interrelationship of armor and other art forms. For the first time, The Art of Power: Royal Armor and Portraits from Imperial Spain brings armor together with closely related paintings and tapestries of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when armor reached the height of its development and the House of Habsburg was at its zenith, with territories extending across Europe and the Americas. What links the works of art in the exhibition are the messages they convey. The Art of Power explores the aesthetic and symbolic universe that made these objects essential vehicles for transmitting an ideology of power, reflecting the historical realities of Spain and Europe during the Renaissance and Baroque periods.
The Art of Power presents a unique opportunity to acquaint viewers with the significance of royal armor, particularly in terms of its complex iconography and the social and political contexts in which it was produced. Here visitors will view some of the finest examples from the Royal Armory of Madrid—a repository of worldwide importance—displayed in dialogue with paintings that extended the idea of armor as an essential attribute of majesty, mainly through portrait types that were developed in mid-sixteenth century Italy and Flanders by Titian and Anthonis Mor.
In bringing this unprecedented exhibition to the American public, two key Spanish institutions — the Patrimonio Nacional, responsible for the care of the works, and the State Corporation for Cultural Action Abroad (SEACEX), devoted to disseminating the best expressions of Spanish culture past and present—have joined with the National Gallery of Art in Washington. In this large-scale undertaking, we are grateful for the assistance of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and the Ministry of Culture in Madrid, the Embassy of Spain in Washington, DC, as well as the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. We are also deeply indebted to a host of museums for their important loans.
Through the generosity of lenders, the close collaboration of cultural institutions, and a common desire to promote greater understanding through art, these rare and magnificent works of art and armor are today on resplendent display at the National Gallery of Art.
Charo Otegui Pascual
President of the State Corporation for Spanish Cultural Action Abroad, SEACEX
Yago Pico de Coaña de Valicourt
President of the Patrimonio Nacional, Spain
Earl A. Powell III
Director of the National Gallery of Art, Washington