EXC 2060 A3-14 - Visual concepts of sacrality in dynastic Europe (17th and 18th century)

The project focuses on the conflictual competition of the great dynasties in Central Europe in the century after the Thirty Years' War. This competition was particularly fought out in the field of religion, as was intensively reflected in the visual media. The Habsburgs and Bourbons in particular repeatedly emphasized the sacred validity of their monarchies, a concept that was also followed by dynasties such as the Wittelsbacher. Sacrality and the borderlines to its counter-concepts such as "the profane" are not ontologically fixed, but are based on historically contingent attributions. These ascriptions are constantly renegotiated in the respective context – also with regard to different actors, social networks and material cultures. Which concepts of sacredness become visible in different forms of visual media, which concern political legitimations and mobilizations? Thus the concept of sacrality is questioned in an epoch whose specific signature has so far been asserted primarily in the field of profane art (cf. for instance the castle of Versailles and courtly culture in the Holy Roman Empire). However, the image of the king or emperor as a powerful, magnificent ruler, victorious general and generous patron of the arts and promoter of culture cannot be understood without the artistic representation of the sacrality of the ruler. Furthermore, a closer view at the mobilization of religious emotions or the control of emotions in the service of a ruler's sacrality promises a considerable gain in knowledge.