Magnificence in the Seventeenth Century: Performing Splendour in Catholic and Protestant Contexts

This volume explores the concept of magnificence as a social construction in seventeenth-century Europe. Although this period is often described as the ‘Age of Magnificence’, thus far no attempts have been made to investigate how the term and the concept of magnificence functioned. The authors focus on the way crucial ethical, religious, political, aesthetic, and cultural developments interacted with thought on magnificence in Catholic and Protestant contexts, analysing spectacular civic and courtly festivities and theatre, impressive displays of painting and sculpture in rich architectural settings, splendid gardens, exclusive etiquette, grand households, and learned treatises of moral philosophy.

Contributors: Lindsay Alberts, Stijn Bussels, Jorge Fernandez-Santos, Anne-Madeleine Goulet, Elizabeth den Hartog, Michele-Caroline Heck, Miguel Hermoso Cuesta, Jose Eloy Hortal Munoz, Felix Labrador Arroyo, Victoire Malenfer, Alessandro Metlica, Alessandra Mignatti, Anne-Francoise Morel, Matthias Roick, Kathrin Stocker, Klaas Tindemans, and Gijs Versteegen.