Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

Royal exequies in the Spanish-speaking Americas are a derivative of the European tradition, both in the form and the contents included in this type of mournful celebrations. In the case of deceased queens, in the majority of instances the exequies wind up being a kind of praise in order to render tribute to the monarch, whether currently reigning, as in this case, or the heir to the throne. These solemn festivals are a window display of a symbolic expression that reveals the utilization of European repertories inherited from the European and Spanish tradition. One of their most prominent features are the hieroglyphs that constitute a deeply rooted tradition in funeral exequies, as a way to praise and glorify the life and actions of the deceased. These hieroglyphs are based on the emblematic repertory that has manifested itself over the course of centuries in all the European and American territories. In this case I study the eighteenth century figure of Isabel de Farnesio and the celebrations that took place in Guatemala City.

This article offers an interpretation of the possible meanings present in the ancient altar-piece or reredos of Saint James the Apostle in Algemesí [province of Valencia], painted by Francisco Ribalta between 1603 and 1610. It studies the different iconographical types that formed the altar-piece and their underlying literary tradition by means of an interpretation of the ideological discourse manifested in the diverse narrative and conceptual images, as examples of conversion, preaching and virtue as a path to perfection in Christian life.

This article is a study, from the viewpoint of Emblematics, of the meaning of the painting by Lorenzo A. Castro The Battle of Actium, 2nd September 31 B.C., in the collection of the National Maritime Museum in London. I interpret the painting based on the allegory of Fortune, which originates in the pictura of an emblem by Alciato. In the painting it is depicted on the figure-head of Cleopatra’s galley, which flees the battle, an episode considered as the turning point in the fate of the famous queen of Egypt.

En 1731 vieron la luz las Empresas Políticas Militares de Juan Antonio Pozuelo, manual de conducta ejemplar para el estamento militar en el ejercicio de su profesión. El libro está compuesto por 55 empresas que se ajustan a la característica disposición tripartita del emblema. En su recorrido por las virtudes y vicios que debe tener presente el militar, el autor se sirve continuamente de motivos que gozan de tradición emblemática, claro ejemplo del agotamiento del género. Es posible detectar no obstante un reducido grupo de empresas que reviste mayor grado de originalidad, lo cual supone una aportación personal del autor a la enseñanza que quiere transmitir. Y, en ocasiones, los objetos escogidos para ilustrar el asunto se encuentran estrechamente relacionados con el mundo de la milicia, en un intento por parte de Pozuelo de adecuar el universo simbólico-emblemático a los destinatarios del libro, el cual merced a las reiteradas citas a obras y autores de temática castrense adquiere en ocasiones un sesgo de tratado militar. En este artículo se analizan las empresas creadas por Pozuelo, explicando sus fuentes y significado.