Visual memory of a dynasty. Pedro IV the Ceremonious and the rhetoric of images in The Crown of Aragon (1336-1387)

Abstract

Throughout his reign Peter IV of Aragon made use of all kinds of media, from chronicles and sermons to pictures, with an almost obsessive goal of preserving and promoting the glorious memory of his royal descent. Apart from the intrinsic value of each and every one of these manifestations, it should be pointed out that on certain occasions they even design multimedia spaces by means of a smart interaction of different communication systems. I believe that this happened in the Saló Tinell Room of the Royal Palace of Barcelona and in the Royal Pantheon of Poblet Monastery, two scenes where the contemplation of comprehensive and figurative programmes ad gloriam maiorem of the Catalan- Aragonese dynasty was simultaneous at the reading or audition of literary pieces created for the same purpose. The result was the creation of extraordinary show locations of the monarchy, places charged with rhetoric that emphasized the legitimate and symbolic meaning of these monuments.