Filips IV 1620 - 1664

Curator: Here at the Rijksmuseum we have an engraving, dating from between 1620 and 1664, titled *Filips IV*, made by Stefano della Bella. Editor: There’s a distinct contrast in textures, a tension between the rough scratching of the engraved lines forming the horse and rider, set against the formal inscription below. I wonder why? Curator: Consider the context in which images of monarchs like Philip IV circulated. Prints like these helped disseminate carefully curated portrayals. The stiff posture, the horse caught mid-prance... It's all calculated to convey authority. Editor: You're right, that's clear. It's quite flat, though. The way the shading articulates form, there’s a tension there as well. The stilted action of the horse seems strangely unconvincing, given the detail put into its musculature. It's an awkward balance of realism and stylization. Curator: Della Bella worked primarily as a printmaker. Prints served multiple purposes back then, of course. This piece likely functioned both as a portrait for the elite, and as a kind of… propaganda for the wider public? I mean the inscription seems to emphasize that duality, outlining Philip's virtues of justice, wisdom, and literary interests, but it also brags how he conquered Flanders twice and challenged the Pope. That’s an interesting way of managing Philip's legacy, shaping perception for a broad audience. Editor: Fascinating. Thinking about distribution, prints like these became tools of power and communication. Consider the materiality itself—the act of pressing the image onto paper allows for easy and wide dispersion. Curator: Indeed, these small engravings offer a glimpse into how power was visualized, consumed, and communicated in the early modern era. Editor: An interesting artifact that exists on many levels; that we've only started to unpack in this conversation.