Arte, coleccionismo y cultura nobiliaria en el Reino de València en tiempos de Felipe III

Resum

The main objective of this doctoral thesis is clear and concise: to analyse the collecting activities of the Valencian nobility during the reign of Philip III. In other words, from the set of aristocratic practices that defined their lifestyle -or ethos, behaviours and customs that differentiated the nobility from the rest of society-, we have chosen one of them, collecting, to try to unravel its scope in the configuration of the image of the Valencian nobleman during this period. In a parallel way, the approach to the nobility’s way of life and to the study of their movable assets has included the consideration of no less important habits, such as the artistic and religious patronage of the Valencian aristocracy, the construction and endowment of palaces, the use of heraldry, the acquisition and ornamentation of private chapels, etc.: any cultural or artistic manifestation which carried with it a clear desire to express power and social differentiation. Likewise, we have consciously preferred to examine paintings, sculptures, and tapestries, in this order and above the rest of the material culture, also influenced by current historiographical trends and in order to delimit an investigation that could have been as extensive as the movable heritage of the most illustrious Valencian lineages. As a result, one of the basic objectives of this doctoral thesis has been to determine whether the European cultural phenomenon of the “triumph of painting” -the creation of the first great pictorial collections- also took place in 17th century València. Thus, the work is structured in several sections: introduction; high nobility -with a special interest in the study of the Borja family-; middle nobility; low nobility and non-noble characters; foreign nobles in València and Valencian nobles in other places; patronage; the artistic legacy of the Duke of Lerma in the Kingdom of València; and conclusions. Finally, the research is accompanied by an extensive appendix of documents which transcribes inventories of goods, estate sales, appraisals, contracts of works and other valuable written sources on art and Valencian nobility during the lifetime of Philip III.