Biblioteca Habsbúrgica. Semblanzas impresas de una dinastía

Exhibition at the Biblioteca Histórica UCM Marqués de Valdecilla in Madrid bringing together more than one hundred early printed works to examine how print spread the public image of the Habsburgs in Spain.

The display brings together more than one hundred items held in the library's own collections, a centre of the Universidad Complutense housed in the Noviciado building. The route through its rooms is organised around portraits, chronicles, biographies and ceremonial publications, which show how books created a visual and political identity for the dynasty that ruled Spain between 1518 and 1700.

The exhibition looks closely at the mechanisms of dissemination: the religious and political glorification of the monarchy, the memory of the ruling family, court rituals and the depiction of spaces linked to power, such as the Madrid court and the monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial. It also highlights the international reach of the house and its connections with other European and overseas territories.

The printed works sit alongside the painted tradition of artists such as Tiziano, Rubens, Velázquez or Van Dyck, whose work helped fix the dynastic image and which is shown here together with the graphic production that made it circulate. It is a visit designed for those interested in the history of the book, political history and the visual culture of the Renaissance and the Baroque.