Plate 7: The Marriage of Francisco I de Medici and Johanna of Austria, from Caspar Barlaeus, "Medicea Hospes" 1638

Editor: Okay, next up we have Plate 7: The Marriage of Francisco I de Medici and Johanna of Austria. Pieter Nolpe made this engraving in 1638, pulled from Caspar Barlaeus’ “Medicea Hospes.” It’s got such formality to it, wouldn’t you say? Stiff, yet clearly trying to impress with grandeur. What jumps out at you? Curator: It's a visual feast of power, isn’t it? This isn't just a wedding; it’s a declaration. Nolpe, though working from Barlaeus' record, distills that Baroque aesthetic into a powerful political statement. Notice how every figure seems positioned to emphasize status, with light catching the elaborate garments, the weaponry… even the children feel performative. Editor: Yes! And the architecture looms over everything! The columns feel as important as the couple. How do you think Nolpe achieved that sense of importance in a relatively small print? Curator: That’s where Nolpe’s skill shines. The tight composition, the way he leads our eye – it’s pure theater. He’s saying: the Medici’s aren’t just marrying well, they’re part of the grand historical narrative. Don’t you find the way that he focuses attention upon the couple creates a sense of almost voyeuristic intensity? Editor: Totally. A constructed intimacy, if that makes sense? All this public spectacle intended to create this… feeling. So different from our weddings today, huh? Curator: Though, who are we kidding? Maybe not THAT different, just amplified! Perhaps this piece isn’t about a wedding so much as about orchestrated spectacle and the power of appearances—the echoes of which we still see today, in a more democratized form of course, through media of all sorts. Editor: That’s really shifted how I’m seeing the piece now! From pompous, to deliberately… performative? Definitely food for thought!