Long before the photo op, political rulers were manipulating
visual imagery to cultivate their authority and spread their
ideology. Born just decades after Gutenberg, the Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian I (1459-1519) was, Larry Silver argues, the first ruler
to exploit the propaganda power of printed images and text.
Marketing Maximilian explores how Maximilian used illustrations and
other visual arts to shape his image, achieve what Max Weber calls
"the routinization of charisma," strengthen the power of the
Hapsburg dynasty, and help establish the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A
fascinating study of the self-fashioning of an early modern ruler
who was as much image-maker as emperor, "Marketing Maximilian"
shows why Maximilian remains one of the most remarkable,
innovative, and self-aggrandizing royal art patrons in European
history.
Silver describes how Maximilian--lacking a real capital or
court center, the ability to tax, and an easily manageable
territory--undertook a vast and expensive visual-media campaign to
forward his extravagant claims to imperial rank, noble blood,
perfect virtues, and military success. To press these claims,
Maximilian patronized and often personally supervised and
collaborated with the best printers, craftsmen, and artists of his
time (among them no less than Albrecht Durer) to plan and produce
illustrated books, medals, heralds, armor, and an ambitious tomb
monument."
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