Sacred Celebration and Political Power: Iconography of the Austrians as Advocates of the Eucharist and the Immaculate Conception in Latin America

Abstract

In a Catholic monarchy, it is to be expected that religion played a transcendentally important role. Not just from a spiritual standpoint, however, but far beyond that, it came to be one of the basic premises of the political and dynastic identity of the Habsburgs. Based upon this, a complex theological conception of politics was constructed, and all the available means of rhetoric and persuasion in Baroque society were mobilized for propagandistic dissemination. In particular, art at the service of faith became a useful instrument as the «broadcaster» of all visually transmitted ideology. In this respect, the two pillars that supported the Pietas hispanica —distinctive signs and mystic unifying agents— carried special importance:  Eucharistic and Immaculist devotion professed by the monarchs of the House of Austria. By this means, the political-confessional and propagandistic complex discourse that irradiated from the heart of the Monarchs to American territory was articulated. This article will look at some of the most significant images in relation to this theme, integrating them into the political-religious discourse of the time.

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