When art makes diplomacy: The work of Joaquín Vaquero Palacios at the head of the Spanish Academy of Fine Arts in Rome and his role in the international projection of Francoist Spain

Abstract

The stay during ten years of the artist and architect Joaquín Vaquero Palacios at the Spanish Academy in Rome has always been underlined to show the importance it meant in the development of both his career as an architect and in his side as a plastic artist. However, the role as manager of Spanish Academy in Rome is something that has been relegated and in which, until now, it has not been researched too much. This article aims to value this activity, clarify what was his exact role at the head of the Academia in the years of the opening of the Franco regime and which were the figures and institutions with which he had the opportunity to interact during his time at the institution that in 2023 celebrated its one hundred and fiftieth anniversary. As a result of this research, we must highlight the role played by the Academy in cultural policy at the service of Francoist diplomacy, and the importance of Vaquero as an artist of modernity and a figure related to the regime as the right man to face this challenge.