Art History: Rosemarie Mulcahy's Philip II of Spain: Patron of the Arts is a generously illustrated collection of her major art-historical essays written over a period of 25 years on the core theme of Philip II's patronage of the visual arts, writes Peter Cherry.
The author is an acknowledged expert in the field, who is best known in the English-speaking world for her previous book, The Decoration of the Royal Basilica of El Escorial (Cambridge, 1994). The present volume is more wide-ranging in character and explores the aesthetic, religious and political motivations of Philip II's lavish patronage of Spanish, Italian and Flemish visual art.
Dr Mulcahy recounts that her research was first inspired by Abraham and the Three Angels (see picture above) by Juan Fernández de Navarrete, "El Mudo", in the National Gallery of Ireland and admits she has always worked from the particular to the general. Indeed, one of the distinguishing scholarly strengths and most enjoyable aspects of the book is the author's engagement with works of art as primary evidence, that takes it far beyond other mere accounts of the king's "taste".
Her thought-provoking analysis of the role of portraiture in the construction of the king's identity is a model of this approach; not only does she decipher the inscrutable conventions of Habsburg portraiture, but is realistic in recognising the role of studio participation in the manufacture of royal images, while also championing the use of X-radiograph photography as an aid to clarifying authorship.
While it is never an easy task to translate into words the subtle and complex sensations and meanings aroused by visual art, Mulcahy writes with enviable sensitivity, precision and eloquence about the works of art commissioned and owned by Philip II. Highlights of the book include discussions of the Venetian style of Navarrete's oil paintings, of the technical accomplishment of the monumental bronze sculptures of the high altar of the Escorial, and of the king's interference with the iconography of Federico Zuccaro's paintings through a study of his drawings.
Much of the religious art dealt with by Rosemarie Mulcahy is unfashionable today. However, she provides a deeper appreciation of this through an understanding of its functions. She exposes the "black legend" of Philip II's morbid religiosity, for instance, with reference to the king's abiding belief in the power of art to serve the needs of the Roman Catholic faith. The factor of the king's personal piety is discussed in relation to devotional art in a sensitive, unembarrassed manner.
Beauty and artistic skill were not enough for Philip II and the book provides the best discussion of the aesthetic values of devotion and decorum that were all-important keys to the success of visual art for Spanish patrons but that today act as major obstacles to the wider appeal of this art, especially in northern Europe.
Philip II is the main player in this book and is revealed by Mulcahy in rich human complexity through his intense personal involvement with art and his dealings with artists. With her deep knowledge of the period and its cast of characters, the author unveils the absorbing human stories that lie behind the art and reminds us that art is made by people for other people, often for particular reasons and particular contexts.
One of the most interesting chapters concerns the life and painting of Navarrete, the deaf mute "El Mudo". A gripping account is given of the trials and tribulations of casting the monumental bronze figures for the high altar of the Escorial in the Leonis' Milanese workshop, as seen through the eyes of a young Flemish assistant, Adriaen de Vries. The essay on the use of gifts of art to secure political influence is particularly fascinating and the story of the Florentine Medici's gift of Cellini's Crucified Christ to Philip II dramatically illustrates the contrast between the sublime intentions of the artist and the all too worldly desires of his handlers.
Scholarship of the range and quality demonstrated in this book is, of course, testimony to the author's high standing in the field of Spanish art history. Illustrations of a number of original documents caused the present writer to recollect the thrills of archival research that provide the solid foundations of this volume of essays. It is proof of both the dynamic progress of research in Spain and the generosity of Spanish colleagues towards foreign scholars that many of the essays in this volume were first published in Spanish translation. Their original English versions, revised and updated for this occasion, now allow a wider readership to avail of Mulcahy's inspiring scholarship. The clarity and vitality of her narrative style will ensure its appeal to specialist and general reader alike. While this book is guaranteed to take its place as a seminal study of patronage and art in 16th-century Spain, the author also communicates a passion for her subject and a deep affection for the adopted country that is the mark of a true Hispanista.
Peter Cherry is lecturer in the history of art at Trinity College, Dublin. He is co-curator of the exhibition Luis Meléndez: Still Lifes at the National Gallery of Ireland, which opens on June 16th.
Philip II of Spain, Patron of the Arts. By Rosemarie Mulcahy, Four Courts Press, 350pp. €65