Instituto Moll. Center for research in Flemish Painting in Spain (Madrid) organizes together with the Leiden University and the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Madrid) the international conference “Magnificence in the 17th Century. Performing Splendour in Catholic and Protestant Contexts”

The conference will be celebrated on 7, 8 and 9 March 2019 in Madrid. The meeting will bring together more than 30 researchers from different European universities and institutions.

The conference reflects on the performance of the virtue of magnificence, defined by Aristotle as “a fitting expenditure involving largeness of scale”. The magnificent man had to spend according to the circumstances avoiding the vicious extremes of avarice and extravagance. Performing magnificence, therefore, was extremely difficult and was compared by Aristotle to the artistic process of creating a true work of art.

Along eight sessions, focused on ethics, politics, theatre, architecture, court ballet, painting and festivities, the conference participants will discuss how this virtue was expressed in 17th century Catholic and Protestant contexts.

PROGRAM:

Thursday, 7th March
Fundación Mapfre (Paseo Recoletos, 23)

15.00-15.15: Opening
15.15-15.45: Stijn Bussels (ULeiden) & Gijs Versteegen (URJC) - Conference Introduction
15.45-16.30: Michèle Caroline Heck (Univ. Paul-Valéry Montpellier III) - Keynote presentation: Magnificency,
between effect of power and power of effect

Coffee break

16.50-18.20: Session I. The Virtue of Magnificence

Jorge Fernández-Santos Ortiz-Iribas (URJC) - Oculus Regum est prudentia: Medieval Roots of the Habsburg Monarch’s Visual Uniqueness
Matthias Roick (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen) - Schooling Magnificence: Disputations on Ethics IV in Seventeenth-Century Protestant Universities
María Díez Yáñez (UAM) - Magnificence: the Classics Interpreted Through Modernity

Discussion

Break

18.40-19.40: Session II. Theatre
Klaas Tindemans (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) - The Libertine Subversion of the Masque. The Case of Rochester’s Lucina’s Rape
Victoire Malenfer (École Normale Supérieure, Paris) - To Have, to Perform, to Be: Magnificence as a Defining Aesthetic Category for Court Plays under the Reign of Louis XIV

Discussion

Book Presentation
Ana Crespo Solana (CSIC) and Ana DiéguezRodríguez (Instituto Moll) - El ceremonial de la Corte
de Bruselas del siglo XVII, by José Eloy Hortal (dir.), África Espíldora and Pierre-F. Pirlet (eds.)

Friday, 8th March

10.45-12.15: Session III: The Court
University Campus URJC (Quintana, 21)

10.00-10.45: Antonio Urquízar Herrera (UNED) - Keynote presentation: On the Limits of Magnificence

Anne-Madeleine Goulet (CNRS-CESR-ERC Program PerformArt) - Magnificence and Issues of Power in the
17th Century. Flavio Orsini and Marie-Anne de la Trémoille between Rome and Paris (1675-1686)
Jonathan Spangler (U. Manchester Metropolitan) - Budget Magnificence: The Dukes of Lorraine Restored, 1660 and 1698, and their Attempts to Rebuild Courtly Magnificence within Limited Means
José Eloy Hortal & Félix Labrador Arroyo (URJC) - The Magnificence of the Royal Household: the case of the Spanish Monarchy

Discussion

Coffee break

12.45-14.15: Session IV: Court Architecture
Stijn Bussels (ULeiden) & Bram van Oostveldt (UvA) - Building Magnificence: The Amsterdam Town Hall & Versailles
Frederik Knegtel (ULeiden) - The Case of Val-deGrâce. On the Interplay between Magnificence and Humility in French Royal Architecture during the Seventeenth Century
Elizabeth den Hartog (ULeiden) - Fit for a King! Gaspar Fagel’s Plant Collection at Leeuwenhorst (Netherlands)

Lunch

16.00-17.30: Session V: Court Ballet
Gerrit Berenike Heiter (ULeipzig) - Magnificence in Gold and Silver – The Display of Costly Costumes in French Court Ballet (1573-1651)
Kathrin Stocker (ULeipzig) - The Ducal Stage: Theatre Performance and the Display of Magnificence in 17th century Württemberg
Diana Campóo (UAM) - Dancing Gods in Human Shape”: Masques and Saraos in the Spanish Court of Philip III and Margaret of Austria (1599-1611)

Discussion

Saturday, 9th March
University Campus URJC (Quintana, 21)

9.30-10.30: Session VI: Religious Architecture
Anne Françoise Morel (KULeuven) - Magnificence Exemplified: the Restoration of the Old St. Paul’s London
Lindsay Alberts (Savannah College of Art and Design) - Maiestate Tantum: Heavenly Jerusalem at the Cappella dei Principi

Discussion

Coffee break

10.50-11.50: Session VII: Painting
Miguel Hermoso Cuesta (UCM) - Family matters. A new iconographic reading of the Salón de los Reinos
Ana Diéguez-Rodríguez (Instituto Moll-UBU) - The Magnificence beyond the interior of the palaces. The role of the urban and countryside settings for the Archdukes

Discussion

Break

12.10-13.40: Session VIII: Festivities
Alessandro Metlica (Università degli Studi di Padova) & Caroline Heering (UCLouvain) - The Most Serene and Magnificent Republic. Public Festivities in Venice During the Morean War
Alessandra Mignatti (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore - Univ. Bergamo) - Magnificence and Regality in Milan Funeral Sets, from the Age of Philip IV to the one of Charles VI
Borja Franco Llopis (UNED) - Constructing the Magnificence: The Expulsion of Moriscos and the Image of the Spanish Kings in the Royal Catafalques and Ephemeral Celebrations

Discussion

Closing Session
Concluding words by the Conference's Directors

The conference takes place in Madrid. On 7 March at the Fundación Mapfre (Paseo de Recoletos 23) and on 8-9 March at the campus of the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Calle Quintana 21).
Program: http://royalsitesheritage.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Triptico-Conference-Magnificence.pdf