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Visual History of the World
(CONTENTS)
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The Early Modern Period
16th - 18th century
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The smooth transition from
the Middle Ages to the Modern Age is conventionally fixed on such
events as the Reformation and the discovery of the "New World,"
which brought about the emergence of a new image of man and his
world. Humanism, which spread out of Italy, also made an essential
contribution to this with its promotion of a critical awareness of
Christianity and the Church. The Reformation eventually broke the
all-embracing power of the Church. After the Thirty Years' War, the
concept of a universal empire was also nullified. The era of the
nation-state began, bringing with it the desire to build up
political and economic power far beyond Europe. The Americas,
Africa, and Asia provided regions of expansion for the Europeans.
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Proportions of the Human Figure by Leonardo da Vinci (drawing, ca.
1490)
is a prime example of the new approach of Renaissance
artists and scientists to the anatomy of the human body.
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Spain and Portugal
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1500-1800
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Voyages of discovery and merchant shipping made Portugal and Spain
the leading sea powers of Europe during the fifteenth and sixteenth
century. Under Philip II, Spain also became the major force behind the
Counter-Reformation. A rapid economic and political decline took place
in Portugal after 1580 and in Spain after 1600, accelerated by the often
weak and conservative governments. This decline lasted until around
1750, when reforms associated with enlightened absolutism elsewhere were
carried out in both countries. In the wake of the French Revolution,
both countries fell under Napoleon's control.
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Spain under the First Bourbons
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As the Habsburg dynasty died out, the new Bourbon line temporarily
brought Spain under the influence of France. Under mentally ill monarchs
Spain lost territories and influence.
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In 1700 Charles II, the last Habsburg, who had no heir, bequeathed
the Spanish throne to his great-nephew 2
Duke Philip of Anjou, the grandson of Louis XIV of France.

2 King Louis XIV proclaims the
Duke of Anjou to be king of Spain
The Austrian Habsburgs countered this with their own claims to the
throne. They were supported by the British, who feared French hegemony.
In the War of Spanish Succession, the two sides fought for their claims.
However, when the Habsburg pretender Charles III succeeded his brother
Joseph I as Holy Roman emperor, his erstwhile allies began to fear an
increase in Habsburg power. In the end, the inheritance was divided: The
grandson of Louis XIV was recognized as King Philip V of Spain in
1713-1714 by the treaties of Utrecht and Rastatt but was forced to
renounce his and his descendents' claims to the French throne. The
Habsburgs also received the Spanish possessions in the Netherlands and
Italy, while Great Britain gained Minorca and Gibraltar.
The psychologically unstable 1
Philip V (ruled 1700-1746) was heavily influenced by his second wife
4 Isabella Farnese, princess
of Parma and Piacenza, who wished to secure crowns for her own sons.
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1 Philip V by Jean Ranc
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Philip V
king of Spain
also called (until 1700) Philippe, Duc (duke) d’Anjou
born Dec. 19, 1683, Versailles, Fr.
died July 9, 1746, Madrid
King of Spain from 1700 (except for a brief period from January to
August 1724) and founder of the Bourbon dynasty in Spain. During his
reign Spain regained much of its former influence in international
affairs.
Philip was a son of the dauphin Louis (son of Louis XIV of France)
and of Marie Anne, daughter of Ferdinand, elector of Bavaria. Philip’s
whole career was influenced by the fact that he was a grandson of Louis
XIV of France and a great grandson of Philip IV, king of Spain. Philip
held the title of duc d’Anjou until 1700, when he emerged as a person of
political importance. In that year Charles II, the last Habsburg king of
Spain, who died without issue, left Philip all his possessions (Spain,
Spanish America, the Spanish Netherlands, and parts of Italy). The
refusal of Louis XIV to exclude Philip from the line of succession to
the French throne resulted in the War of the Spanish Succession. The
Treaty of Utrecht, signed in 1713, deprived Philip of the Spanish
Netherlands and of the Italian possessions of the Spanish Habsburgs, but
left him the throne of Spain and Spanish America.
During the first 13 years of Philip’s reign France had a dominant
influence on the Spanish court, and the French ambassador had a place on
the inmost council of state. After the death of his first wife (María
Luisa of Savoy) in 1714, Philip came under the influence of his second
wife, Princess Isabella Farnese, who was the niece and stepdaughter of
the duke of Parma. Because of Isabella’s desire to secure territories in
Italy for her sons, Spain became embroiled in conflict with Austria,
Great Britain, France, and the United Provinces but managed to secure
the succession of Philip and Isabella’s oldest son, Don Carlos (later
Charles III of Spain), to the duchy of Parma. Philip abdicated from the
Spanish throne in January 1724 in favour of his oldest son, Luis, but
was persuaded to become king again after Luis died of smallpox in August
1724. Philip’s reign is noted primarily for the governmental and
economic reforms instituted by his French and Italian advisers.
Philip had few intimate friends; his chief interests were religion,
hunting, and music. During the last years of his reign he often lapsed
into periods of insanity, and his wife largely controlled public
affairs.
Encyclopaedia Britannica
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Philip V by Hyacinthe Rigaud
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Philip V by Miguel Jacinto
Melendez
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First Marriage
Princess Maria Luisa of Savoy

Maria Luisa of Savoy
Philip V married his double-second cousin Princess
Maria Luisa of Savoy (17 September 1688 – 14 February
1714) on 3 November 1701 and they had four sons:
Infante Luis-Felipe of Spain (25 August 1707 – 31 August
1724)
Infante Felipe of Spain (2 July 1709 – 18 July 1709).
Infante Felipe of Spain (7 June 1712 – 29 December 1719).
Infante Ferdinand of Spain (23 September 1713 – 10 August
1759).
Second Marriage
He married Elizabeth, Princess of Parma, (25
October 1692 – 11 July 1766), on 24 December 1714, they had
seven children:
Infante Carlos of Spain (20 January 1716 – 14 December
1788).
Infante Francisco of Spain (21 March 1717 – 21 April 1717).
Infanta Mariana Victoria of Spain (31 March 1718 – 15
January 1781).
Infante Felipe of Spain (20 March 1720 – 18 July 1765) Duke
of Parma and founder of the line of House of Bourbon-Parma.
Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain (11 June 1726 – 22
July 1746).
Infante Luis Antonio Jamie of Spain (25 July 1727 – 7 August
1785), known as the Cardinal-Infante. Was Archbishop of
Toledo, Primate of Spain and Cardinal since 1735. In 1754,
renounced his ecclesiastical titles and became Count of
Chinchón. In 1776, he married morganatically Doña María
Teresa de Vallabriga y Rozas and had issue, but without
royal titles.
Infanta Maria Antonietta of Spain (17 November 1729 – 19
September 1785).
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Elisabeth Maria of Parma
by Giovanni Maria delle Piane
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Elizabeth, Princess of Parma (Isabella Farnese)
queen of Spain
Spanish Isabel de Farnesio, original Italian Elisabetta Farnese
born October 25, 1692, Parma, Duchy of Parma
died July 11, 1766, Aranjuez, Spain
Main
queen consort of Philip V of Spain (reigned 1700–46), whose ambitions to
secure Italian possessions for her children embroiled Spain in wars and
intrigues for three decades. Her capability in choosing able and devoted
ministers, however, brought about beneficial internal reforms and
succeeded in improving Spain’s economy.
Isabella was the daughter of Odoardo Farnese (died 1693), the eldest
son of Ranuccio II of Parma and Píacenza. She was the second wife of
Philip and arrived in Spain in December 1714, whereupon she dismissed
the resident royal favourite and quickly established an ascendancy over
her weak husband that she continued to exercise until his death in 1746.
Since Philip’s two sons by his first wife were in line to succeed
him, the ambitious Isabella sought to secure lands in Italy for the
children (four sons and three daughters) she bore the sovereign. This
quest dominated her reign, and in the end Spanish imperialism in Italy
achieved marked success. Isabella’s eldest son, Charles (afterward
Charles III of Spain), and his brother Philip both gained titles to
Italian domains.
Isabella favoured ministers who could acquire the resources needed to
advance her schemes, and the men she chose not only carried out her
foreign policy but also undertook useful economic, administrative, and
military improvements. After Philip’s death and the accession of her
stepson Ferdinand VI (reigned 1746–59), Isabella ceased to exert any
real influence and spent many of her later years away from court,
although she did act as regent between the death of Ferdinand VI (August
10, 1759) and the arrival in Spain of his successor, Charles III, in
December 1759.
Encyclopaedia Britannica
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4 Philip V and Isabella Farnese and family, painting by Van Loo,
1743
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Through military and diplomatic pressure following the War of Polish
Succession in 1734-1735, the Habsburgs were forced to relinquish Naples
and Sicily. After the War of Austrian Succession in 1748, they lost
Parma and Piacenza as well.
Philip's attacks of depression soon escalated into phases of mental
breakdown and paranoia, and he spent much of the time in retreat at his
3 residences outside Madrid.

3 The gardens of La Granja de San lldefonso, Philip V's summer
residence
Meanwhile, the aristocracy, who under the last Habsburgs had already
made themselves largely independent on their country estates, blocked
all social reform to alleviate the situation of the majority of the
population who suffered from poverty and illiteracy.
In Philip's son Ferdinand VI, who succeeded him in 1746, the hereditary
depression intensified into chronic mental illness. As he was incapable
of governing, Chief Minister Marquis de la Ensenada ruled in his place.
While in office he reformed the Spanish finances, making Spain
independent of France, and began to introduce a range of
Enlightenment-inspired political reforms in the country.
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Ferdinand VI
by Angel Lopez Rodriguez
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Ferdinand VI
king of Spain
born September 23, 1713, Madrid, Spain
died August 10, 1759, Villaviciosa de Odón
Main
third king of Spain of the house of Bourbon, reigning from 1746 to 1759.
He pursued a policy of neutrality and gradual reform.
The second son of Philip V and his first wife, Marie-Louise,
Ferdinand was given no part in political life during the reign of his
father, who was much under the influence of his second wife, Isabella
(Elizabeth) Farnese. When Ferdinand succeeded to the throne in July
1746, he decided to avoid entanglements and was able to elude conflicts
throughout his reign. He relied on his father’s minister, the able
marqués de la Ensenada, who brought about administrative and financial
reforms.
Ferdinand was a patron of the arts and learning, founding the Academy
of San Fernando for the fine arts in 1752, as well as botanical gardens
and an observatory. The economic Societies of Friends of the Country
encouraged agricultural and technical advances. His queen, Maria
Bárbara
of Braganca, to whom he was devoted, shared his love of music and
patronized the opera.
In 1753 Ferdinand concluded a concordat with the papacy by which he
recovered rights forfeited under the last of the Habsburgs, Charles
II—notably the right to appoint bishops and tax the clergy. After the
death of Maria Bárbara in 1758, Ferdinand suffered from melancholia and
did not long survive her. They had no children, and the crown passed to
his half brother, hitherto king of Naples, Charles III.
Encyclopaedia Britannica
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Maria Bárbara
of Braganca
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Ferdinand was married in 1729 to Infanta Barbara of Portugal (4
December 1711 – 27 August 1758), daughter of John V of Portugal and Mary
Anne of Austria.

Maria Barbara de Braganza by Domenico Dupra
Maria Barbara de Braganza
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Farinelli
The Italian castrato singer, Farinelli, performed at the Spanish court
from 1737. Born Carlo Broschi in 170s in Italy, he first performed
publicly in 1721 and was soon a celebrated star around the opera houses
of Europe.
Under Philip V and Ferdinand VI, he initially sang for a
small circle of the illustrious—it is said that he was the only one who
could please the depressive Philip— but then rose to become the "maitre
de plaisir" and an esteemed political advisor in the Spanish court.
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Carlo Broschi "Farinelli"
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Farinelli
Italian singer
original name Carlo Broschi
born Jan. 24, 1705, Andria, Kingdom of Naples [Italy]
died July 15, 1782, Bologna
celebrated Italian castrato singer of the 18th century and one of the
greatest singers in the history of opera. He adopted the surname of his
benefactors, the brothers Farina.
He studied in Naples under Nicola Porpora, one of the leading
18th-century opera composers and the outstanding voice teacher of the
century. At age 15 he made his debut at Rome in Porpora’s serenata
Angelica, with a text by the 22-year-old librettist Pietro Metastasio;
the singer and the poet formed a lifelong friendship. Farinelli’s
reputation spread throughout Italy and to Vienna and London, and he was
admired for his pure, powerful voice, his technical proficiency, his
skill in florid embellishment, and his musical expression. In 1734 he
joined Porpora in London, appearing in his operas and, with the castrato
Senesino, in Johann Hasse’s opera Artaserse.
In 1737 Farinelli went to Spain, where his singing alleviated the
deep-seated melancholia of Philip V; nightly for nearly 10 years he sang
the same songs to the king. Philip died in 1746, but Farinelli stayed in
Spain under Ferdinand VI until 1759, achieving distinction as an
impresario and also taking an active part in public affairs. Though
dismissed from his post at court by Charles III for political
differences, he had accumulated great wealth and spent the rest of his
life peacefully in Italy.
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Spain during the Reigns of Charles III and Charles IV
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Charles III enacted reforms in the spirit of enlightened
absolutism. Under his son Charles IV, the chief minister, Manuel de Godoy,
presided over a political reconciliation with the French Republic.
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Francisco de Goya
Manuel Godoy, Duke of Alcudia, "Prince of the Peace"
1801
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Manuel de Godoy
prime minister of Spain
in full Manuel de Godoy Álvarez de Faria Ríos Sánchez Zarzosa, príncipe
de la Paz y de Basano, duque de Alcudia y de Succa
born May 12, 1767, Castuera, Spain
died October 4, 1851, Paris, France
Main
Spanish royal favourite and twice prime minister, whose disastrous
foreign policy contributed to a series of misfortunes and defeats that
culminated in the abdication of King Charles IV and the occupation of
Spain by the armies of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Born into an old but poor noble family, Godoy followed his brother to
Madrid in 1784 and, like him, entered the royal bodyguard. He attracted
the attention of Maria Luisa of Parma, wife of the heir to the throne,
and soon became her lover. When her husband ascended the throne in 1788
as Charles IV, the domineering Maria Luisa persuaded Charles to advance
Godoy in rank and power, and by 1792 he became field marshal, first
secretary of state, and duque de Alcudia. From then on Godoy’s hold over
the royal family, buttressed by his pliability, guile, and ingratiating
nature, rarely, if ever, weakened.
When Godoy was named prime minister in 1792, his first undertaking
was to try to save the French king Louis XVI from the guillotine. When
that failed, war broke out between France and Spain (1793). Initial
Spanish successes were followed by losses, and Godoy negotiated the
Peace of Basel (1795), for which he was given the title príncipe de la
Paz (prince of the Peace) by his grateful sovereign.
To strengthen ties with France, Godoy negotiated an alliance against
England in the Treaty of San Ildefonso (1796). War was soon declared,
and Spain suffered a major naval defeat off Cape St. Vincent. France
proved an unfaithful ally and showed little scruple in betraying Spanish
interests. In 1798 Godoy was removed from office, though in temporary
retirement he continued to enjoy royal favour and wield great influence.
When Godoy was reinstated in 1801, the war with England still raged and
Napoleon was dictator of France. Godoy yielded to French pressure and
collaborated in an invasion of Portugal, England’s ally, commanding
Spanish forces in the three-week War of the Oranges. After Portuguese
capitulation, Napoleon sacrificed Spanish interests in the Treaty of
Amiens, signed with England in 1802. An opposition party then began to
form against Godoy around the heir apparent, Ferdinand (later Ferdinand
VII), spurred by growing discontent over the conduct of national
affairs.
When war between France and England flared anew in 1803, Godoy
managed to maintain neutrality until December 1804, when he guided Spain
into joining France once again in declaring war on England. Ten months
later Spanish naval power was utterly destroyed in the Battle of
Trafalgar. Relations with Napoleon gradually improved, and in the secret
Treaty of Fontainebleau (1807), in which Spain and France agreed to the
partition of Portugal, Godoy was offered the kingdom of Algarve, in
southern Portugal. Several months later, however, Spain learned that
France planned to seize certain of its northern provinces. The court,
seeking to establish a government in exile, attempted to flee the
country, but at Aranjuez a mob, loyal to Ferdinand, nearly killed Godoy
and forced Charles IV to abdicate in his son’s behalf. Godoy was then
arrested by Ferdinand, and in May 1808 all three—Godoy, Ferdinand, and
Charles—were enticed across the border into France, where they became
prisoners of Napoleon. Godoy stayed with Charles in Rome until the
former king’s death in 1819. He then lived in obscurity in Paris on a
modest French royal pension until 1847, when Isabella II of Spain
restored his titles and returned some of his confiscated estates.
Encyclopaedia Britannica
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A reversal of conditions in Spain took place when Ferdinand VI was
succeeded by his half-brother 5
Charles III in 1759.
Charles III, on the Clergy:
"The Bishops have nothing to give away; everything they own belongs to
the poor;
therefore they should sell it and distribute it as alms."
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5 King Charles
III of Spain, by A.R.Mengs, 1761, Prado
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Charles III
king of Spain
born January 20, 1716, Madrid, Spain
died December 14, 1788, Madrid
King of Spain (1759–88) and king of Naples (as Charles VII, 1734–59),
one of the “enlightened despots” of the 18th century, who helped lead
Spain to a brief cultural and economic revival.
Early years
Charles was the first child of Philip V’s marriage with Isabella of
Parma. Charles ruled as duke of Parma, by right of his mother, from 1732
to 1734 and then became king of Naples. On the death of his half-brother
Ferdinand VI in 1759—after a useful apprenticeship of 25 years as an
absolute ruler—he became king of Spain and resigned the crown of Naples
to his third son, Ferdinand I. Charles III was convinced of his mission to reform Spain and make it
once more a first-rate power. He brought considerable qualities to the
task. In spite of a fanatical addiction to hunting, his frugality and
his application to the business of government impressed foreign
observers as well as his own subjects. His religious devotion was
accompanied by a blameless personal life and a chaste loyalty to the
memory of his wife, Maria Amalia of Saxony, who died in 1760. On the
other hand, he was so highly conscious of royal authority that he
sometimes appeared more like a tyrant than an absolute monarch. His
greatest quality, however, was his ability to select effective ministers
and continually to improve his government by bringing in men of
outstanding quality, notably the conde de Aranda and the conde de
Floridablanca. While conferring with them regularly, Charles was wise
enough to give them sufficient freedom of action. The survival of Spain as a colonial power and, therefore, as a power
to be reckoned with in Europe was one of the main objects of Charles’s
policy. His foreign policy, however, was not successful. Fearing that a
British victory over France in the Seven Years’ War would upset the
balance of colonial power, he signed the Family Compact with France—both
countries were ruled by branches of the Bourbon family—in August 1761.
This brought war with Great Britain in January 1762. Charles overrated
his own strength and prospects and those of his ally. Sharing in the
defeat, he lost Florida to England and revealed Spanish naval and
military weakness. In the American Revolution, Charles III was caught
between a desire to embarrass his colonial rival, which accounts for his
undercover aid to the American revolutionaries from 1776, and fear for
his own American possessions, which led him to offer his mediation in
1779. When Great Britain refused his conditions, he declared war, but,
at the same time, he refused to recognize the United States’s
independence. Charles was more successful in strengthening his own
empire.
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Commercial reforms, designed to open new routes and new ports for trade
between Spain and the colonies, were undertaken from 1765. Territorial
readjustments were carried out in the interest of defense, and a modern
administrative organization—the intendant system, of French
origin and already operating in Spain itself—was introduced. The
intendants, who had executive, judicial, and military power, improved
local administration and linked it directly with the crown rather than
with the viceroy. Released from the former commercial restrictions,
secured against attack, and with the prospect of better administration,
the Spanish empire under Charles III assumed a new look.
Domestic reforms
In Spain Charles was concerned to make himself more absolute and
therefore better able to undertake reform. His ecclesiastical policy was
conditioned by his determination to complete the subordination of the
church to the crown. He allowed no papal bulls or briefs in Spain
without royal permission. He particularly resented the Jesuits, whose
international organization and attachment to the papacy he regarded as
an affront to his absolutism. Suspecting their loyalty and obedience to
the crown in the American colonies, he also chose to believe that they
were the instigators of the violent riots in Madrid and elsewhere in
1766. After a commission of investigation, he ordered their expulsion
from Spain and the colonies (1767). In 1773, cooperating with the court
of France, Charles succeeded in procuring from the papacy the complete
suppression of the society. But Charles’s opposition to papal
jurisdiction in Spain also led him to curb the arbitrary powers of the
Inquisition, while his desire for reform within the church caused him to
appoint inquisitors general who preferred persuasion to force in
ensuring religious conformity. Charles III improved the agencies of government through which the
will of the crown could be imposed. He completed the process whereby
individual ministers replaced the royal councils in the direction of
affairs. In 1787, with the assistance of Floridablanca, he coordinated
the various ministries by establishing a council of state whose regular
meetings could produce a concerted policy. He tightened crown control of
local government by stimulating his intendants and giving the Council of
Castile supervision of municipal finances. The objective of his
government was to create the conditions in which industry and trade
could improve. By the end of his reign, Spain had abandoned its old
commercial restrictions and, while still excluding foreigners, had
opened up the entire empire to a commerce in which all its subjects and
all its main ports could partake. Protected against foreign competition,
the native cotton industry grew rapidly, and the state itself intervened
in the production of luxury goods. Charles III’s agrarian policy,
however, timid in face of landed interests, failed to deal with the
greatest obstacles to agricultural progress and to the welfare of the
rural masses in Spain—large untilled estates and legally unalterable
succession in the inheritance of landed property. In fact, strength,
rather than welfare, was the aim of Charles III. Within these limits he
led his country in a cultural and economic revival, and, when he died,
he left Spain more prosperous than he had found it.
John Lynch
Encyclopaedia Britannica
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As king of Naples and Sicily since 1735, Charles had already initiated
social and economic reforms in southern Italy with the aid of his chief
minister Tanucci. The single-minded and industrious king now brought
enlightened absolutism to Spain. He began an extensive settlement
program to recultivate the rural regions that had been barren for
centuries, ordering modern techniques and new strains of plants for the
peasants.
Along with a number of 6 palaces and
hunting lodges, he built orphanages and workhouses for vagrants.

6 Royal palace of Madrid, designed by Juvara,
construction begun under Philip V and completed under Charles III
He improved roads, established banks and carefully controlled colonial
revenues. Charles III even took on the Catholic Church.
He ended the Church's monopoly over education and abolished the
9 courts of Inquisition.

9 Public humiliation of man condemned
by the Inquisition,
painting, 19th ñ
In foreign affairs, Charles formed an alliance with France in 1761 and
participated in the Seven Years' War against Great Britain, which was
allied with Prussia against France.
In 1767, he expelled the Jesuits from Spain, confiscated much church
property, and distributed it to the 7
peasants.

7 A Village Bullfight, traditional pastime of the peasants,
painting by
Francisco de Goya, ca. 1819
Charles III was succeeded in 1788 by his son 8
Charles IV, who left much of the affairs of government to his
energetic wife, Maria Luisa of Parma, and her protege, Manuel de Godoy, who as
chief minister from 1792 continued the policies of Charles III.
Initially Godoy had been an opponent of revolutionary France, but in
1796 he entered into the alliance of San Ildefonso with the French
Republic, which obliged Spain to take part in the war against Great
Britain. In 1805, the British fleet under Admiral Nelson destroyed the
French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar. As a result Spanish trade routes
were decimated.
In 1807, Godoy even attempted to negotiate with Napoleon over the
division of French-occupied territories in the hope of gaining southern
Portugal as part of the Spanish kingdom. In 1808, however, Godoy was
ousted from Aranjuez in a popular uprising. To prevent Spain from
defecting to the growing enemy camp, Napoleon forced Charles III and his
son Ferdinand to renounce the throne and installed his own brother,
Joseph, as king.
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8 Portrait of
Charles IV by
Francisco de Goya
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Charles IV
king of Spain
born November 11, 1748, Portici, Kingdom of Naples
died January 20, 1819, Rome, Italy
Main
king of Spain (1788–1808) during the turbulent period of the French
Revolution, who succeeded his father Charles III.
Lacking qualities of leadership himself, Charles entrusted the
government (1792) to Manuel de Godoy, a protégé of the queen, Maria
Luisa of Parma. Their adherence to the First Coalition against
Revolutionary France led to a French invasion in 1794. In July 1795 the
conflict with France was ended by the Peace of Basle, which was followed
the next year by the Treaty of San Ildefonso, an alliance between Spain
and France against England. When Napoleon again occupied northern Spain
in 1807, Charles, threatened by a coup, tried to flee to America, but
was stopped and forced to abdicate by supporters of his son Ferdinand
(March 1808). The following May, Napoleon deposed both Charles and
Ferdinand, placing his brother Joseph Bonaparte on the Spanish throne.
Charles spent the rest of his life in exile.
Encyclopaedia Britannica
see also:
Francisco de Goya
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Portrait of the Royal Family
Francisco de Goya
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The baker on the corner and his wife, after they won the lottery!
Theophile Gautier on Goya's The Family of Charles IV
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Francisco de Goya
Charles IV and his Family
c. 1800
Museo del Prado, Madrid
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Did Goya want to caricature the king and his family? To criticize
them? To this day there are questions about the over three-meter
(11-feet)-wide painting of The Family of Charles IV. In May
1800,Goya traveled out to the royal summer palace at Aranjuez to
begin work on this major commission by painting several portrait
studies. The queen would have preferred to have done without the
boring sittings, but when she saw the oil sketches, she was
thrilled. Goya first painted each member of the family individually,
on canvas prepared in red. He only sketched the clothing,
concentrating completely on the expressions and facial features. The
studies of the six-year-old Infante Francisco de Paula are a
wonderful example of animation in a portrait study.
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Francisco de Goya
Portrait Study of the Infante Francisco de Paula
1800
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Velazquez
Las Meninas
1656
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The older members
of the family appear more distant, though they are by no means portrayed
as excessively ugly. Goya represents them unassumingly-as people, not
better looking, more reflective, or more important than anyone else.
They do not have the dignified, regal authority that usually
emanates from portraits of a royal house. Goya's attention to the
sparkling medals, the splendor of the jewelry and the clothes clearly
underlines this point. The composition of the family portrait was
planned very precisely. The task was difficult enough: thirteen
standing individuals, but grouped in such a manner that the
composition produced a well-balanced but not dull arrangement. At
the same time, it was necessary to depict the individual royal
personages according to their rank. In the center, clearly lit,
stands the 48-year-old queen in her sumptuous and fashionable
Empire-style dress, holding her youngest children with maternal
solicitude.
Slightly in front of the queen stands the
king. Counterbalancing him, the heir to the throne. Prince Ferdinand,
stands to the left, in a blue coat. As his future bride had yet to
be chosen, the young woman at his side, dressed exactly like the
queen, is turning her face away, as if by chance. On the right-hand
side of the painting, almost hidden behind the king, we see his
brother, Don Antonio Pascual, and the Infanta
Dona Carlotta Joaquina, and in front of them, the Prince of Parma and
his young wife, her baby son in her arms. In the semi-darkness to
the left, we see the artist himself with his large canvas. His head
is at the same level as those of the royal family - he is not
representing himself as a subject and courtier here, but as an
independent, sober observer and organizer of the event.
At the same
time, this is a reference to the foreground of
Velazquez'
Las
Meninas, where the painter places himself to the far left (opposite). This
most famous of Spanish group paintings shows the little Infanta
Marguerita surrounded by her maids of honor in a room in the Alcazar
fortress filled with paintings. As in Velazquez' painting, Goya's
court group also seems to be looking at themselves in a mirror while
the artist paints them.
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Francisco de Goya
Portrait of Queen Maria Luisa
1799
The queen, who was known for her vanity, is shown as a woman
elegantly dressed, wearing a black lace mantilla, high comb, and
fan. A dress like this, which cost thousands of reales, was the last
word in fashion and would have been worn by the women of the higher
aristocracy as well as (in simpler versions) by the prostitutes on
the streets of Madrid. The similarity with the Portrait of the
Duchess of Alba is plain-a comparison that was to the queen's
disadvantage
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Francisco de Goya
Portrait of Queen Maria Luisa
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Francisco de Goya
Portrait of Queen Maria Luisa
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Francisco de Goya
La Infanta Maria Isabel
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Francisco de Goya
El infante Don Carlos María Isidro
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Francisco de Goya
La infanta Dona María Josefa
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see also:
Francisco de Goya
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