THE ART OF POWER : ROYAL ARMOR AND PORTRAITS FROM IMPERIAL SPAIN

At The National Gallery of Art for the first time, the exhibition brings armor together with closely related royal portraits and magnificent tapestries of the 16th and 17th centuries, when armor reached the height of its development and the House of Habsburg was at its zenith, with territories extending across Europe and the Americas. Some 75 objects are linked by the messages they convey—from the ideology of royal power to historical realities—at the courts of Spain and Europe during the Renaissance and baroque periods and on through the Bourbon dynasty in the 18th century
A dramatic installation of rare and finely crafted suits of battle, parade, and equestrian armor worn by the Spanish Hapsburg kings and their court, is set against stunning Renaissance tapestries that chronicle the age of chivalry in Spain and their territories, from the period spanning the European discovery of America to the emergence of the United States as an independent sovereign nation. Magnificent royal life-size portraits by such renowned artists as Velázquez, Rubens, and Van Dyck, depict these rulers in their many suits of spectacular armor. Swords, taken as Renaissance battle trophies, early medieval sets of Hapsburg armor, and an authentic collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece help weave the tale of chivalry and life at court in Renaissance Spain.