The Spanish Royal Hunting Portrait from Velazquez to Goya

Abstract

At the Habsburg and Bourbon courts of early modem Spain, hunting served as an important regal pastime. It was regarded as both necessary training for warfare and an important court ritual. As a result, Spanish royal hunting portraits comprise a distinct geme of portraiture, one with its own set of conventions and iconography that encode monarchic power. This thesis investigates the evolution of Spanish royal hunting portraits from the reign of Philip IV (r. 1621-1665) to that of Charles IV (r. 1789-1808). It focuses in particular on works by Diego Velazquez (1599-1660) and Francisco Goya (1746-1828).