This exhibition, aspires to prove the influence of the pieces conforming the Madrid Royal Armoury on the court portraits that date back to the 16^th and 18^th centuries.

The excellent quality of Madrid’s Royal Armory funds, one of the most important in its genre, which come from the best workshops of the German, Italian and Flemish Renaissance, is easily understood when bearing in mind the territorial dominion of the Spanish crown during the 16^th and 17^th centuries over a vast part of the European territory. It was Philip II of Spain’s decision to start this collection –continued by his successors- from the armoury he had inherited from his father, Charles V, and those of his ancestors.

In the Middle Age and Renaissance’s ideological world, weapons soon acquired a symbolic nature that reflected the whole system of rules and attitudes of the nobility and those days chivalric world’s military power, as well as the mentality and main activities of the European court’s life between the 15^th and 19^th centuries. During the Renaissance and Baroque, European knights asked painters to represent them wearing armours, as a way of embodying the ideals and traditions they felt made them different form the rest. Some of them, such as the parade armour or the ones used in jousts and tournaments, had a characteristic decoration that symbolized the fashion trends of the moment.

Until the beginning of the 17h Century the armours of the portraits belonged to members of the Royal House and were related to different events of their life, both public and private. After the 17th Century, the spectrum widened and other characters entered the scene. Armours were therefore used to represent other subjects such as those mythological or historical. In those times portraits were done by painters such as Titian, Rubens, Velázquez, Van Dyck, Sánchez Coello, Pantoja de la Cruz or Gaspar de Crayer, among others.

The exhibition searches head-to-head confrontation between the Royal Armoury’s funds and the portraits and other paintings of diverse thematic in which the very Royal Armoury is represented. An introduction of the history of the Royal Armoury opens the exhibition, followed by the precedents of the appearance in Spain of the portraits representing the court wearing armours and the changes that the arrival in Spain of the House of Habsburg brought, especially regarding chivalry customs. A set of funds from the Royal Armoury is presented next along with some of the tapestry that will allow the public to understand the symbolic importance of luxury weapons, thus transmitting the image of power that lies in the very raison d’être of the armoury. It is at that moment when this type of portraits consolidates and its diffusion begins. In the 17th century, models continue and from the second quarter of the century changes start taking place. This exhibition ends with an analysis of the Royal Armoury’s influence in the late 18^th century on this pictorial genre and its subsequent disappearance.

Álvaro Soler has selected for this exhibition approximately 50 pieces of the Royal Armoury and 30 portraits and tapestries from the most important public and private institutions in Europe and America.

This exhibition, aspires to prove the influence of the pieces conforming the Madrid Royal Armoury on the court portraits that date back to the 16^th and 18^th centuries.

The excellent quality of Madrid’s Royal Armory funds, one of the most important in its genre, which come from the best workshops of the German, Italian and Flemish Renaissance, is easily understood when bearing in mind the territorial dominion of the Spanish crown during the 16^th and 17^th centuries over a vast part of the European territory. It was Philip II of Spain’s decision to start this collection –continued by his successors- from the armoury he had inherited from his father, Charles V, and those of his ancestors.

In the Middle Age and Renaissance’s ideological world, weapons soon acquired a symbolic nature that reflected the whole system of rules and attitudes of the nobility and those days chivalric world’s military power, as well as the mentality and main activities of the European court’s life between the 15^th and 19^th centuries. During the Renaissance and Baroque, European knights asked painters to represent them wearing armours, as a way of embodying the ideals and traditions they felt made them different form the rest. Some of them, such as the parade armour or the ones used in jousts and tournaments, had a characteristic decoration that symbolized the fashion trends of the moment.

Until the beginning of the 17h Century the armours of the portraits belonged to members of the Royal House and were related to different events of their life, both public and private. After the 17th Century, the spectrum widened and other characters entered the scene. Armours were therefore used to represent other subjects such as those mythological or historical. In those times portraits were done by painters such as Titian, Rubens, Velázquez, Van Dyck, Sánchez Coello, Pantoja de la Cruz or Gaspar de Crayer, among others.

The exhibition searches head-to-head confrontation between the Royal Armoury’s funds and the portraits and other paintings of diverse thematic in which the very Royal Armoury is represented. An introduction of the history of the Royal Armoury opens the exhibition, followed by the precedents of the appearance in Spain of the portraits representing the court wearing armours and the changes that the arrival in Spain of the House of Habsburg brought, especially regarding chivalry customs. A set of funds from the Royal Armoury is presented next along with some of the tapestry that will allow the public to understand the symbolic importance of luxury weapons, thus transmitting the image of power that lies in the very raison d’être of the armoury. It is at that moment when this type of portraits consolidates and its diffusion begins. In the 17th century, models continue and from the second quarter of the century changes start taking place. This exhibition ends with an analysis of the Royal Armoury’s influence in the late 18^th century on this pictorial genre and its subsequent disappearance.

Álvaro Soler has selected for this exhibition approximately 50 pieces of the Royal Armoury and 30 portraits and tapestries from the most important public and private institutions in Europe and America.