Paper short abstract:

Considering the historical meaning of maritime discoveries within the establishment of the Portuguese empire, this study aims to analyse the role of the emblematic figurations of water displayed by Lusitanian royal entries in the 17th century, according to the principles of the repraesentatio maiestatis.

Paper long abstract:

Maritime discoveries made Portugal widely known and constitute the central theme of the national epopee, celebrating the powerful people that "submitted Neptune and Mars", according to Camões.

The conquest of the oceans and the establishment of the Empire Overseas is definitely one of the most famous episodes in the Lusitanian history. Consequently, the research on the allegorical figuration of water as a mode of representation of power during the early modern period becomes particularly meaningful, concerning its role in Portuguese culture and political propaganda. Taking this particular social context into consideration, the present work aims to analyse printed and manuscript sources (namely descriptions, engravings and emblematic compositions), in order to study the logo-iconic representations of water, oceans and rivers displayed by Portuguese royal festivities during the 17th century. The comparative reading of the accounts related to the ephemeral architecture hold at different moments of that century will focus on the relation of watery elements with the image of rulers, selecting the most significant events from the royal entry of King Filipe II (1619) to the funeral ceremony of the Queen Maria Sofia (1699), including the festivities in honour of the recently empowered Braganza dynasty.

This way, we intend to shed a new light on the role played by representations of water under such important circumstances, discussing the relation of the selected emblematic devices with the Portuguese rulers' image. After all, similar to Neptuno, they had control over a huge maritime empire.