absolutism versus doceañista liberalism. the visual counterattack

The aim of this article is to identify some dominants themes within absolutists discourses and to sketch out how they are translated to images, in order to persuade against and to denigrate liberalism. Descriptions of public ornaments in events honoring king Ferdinand VII in 1814 and 1823 are used as the main reference sources. Absolutism is recognized looking for associations between images and words, resemblances, metaphors, symbols and iconographic matches. Visual imagery to achieve absolutist goal emphasized the primacy of the king, the rhetoric of vassalage, a strong motherland, the uniqueness of religion, and the exclusion of the political enemy. In order to totally eliminate the constitutional risk, the tradition was presented as a paradise of peace and happiness.