Books
From Charles V by Titian to Felipe VI by Annie Leibovitz
Left: Hyacinthe Rigaud, Portait of Luis XIV. Right: Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingre, Napoléon Ier sur le trône impérial
The historian Pedro García Martín culminates his tetralogy on images at the same time that Annie Leibovitz’s portraits of the King and Queen of Spain are on display, and this happy autumnal coincidence triggers commentary on depictions of power. In September 2024, the professor of Modern History at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid published Ilusorias. Las imágenes del poder, following Icónicas. Una lectura cultural de las imágenes (2021), El paisaje pintado (2022), and Leyendas de los mapas. Una lectura geopoética de la cartografía (2022), concluding an extensive journey through the past and present importance of images; and in November, at the Bank of Spain in Madrid, the American photographer – recipient of the Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities, admired portraitist of celebrities, and former life partner of the author of On Photography, Susan Sontag – showed the portraits of Felipe VI and Doña Letizia commissioned by the financial institution, causing a deluge of reaction and attesting to the significance that pictures of those invested with power still have...
