Francisco de Sandoval y Rojas. I Duke of Lerma.
I will be analyzing the rhetoric of power that can be subtracted from the equestrian portrait painted by Rubens in 1603. The Duke was educated in the court of Philip II. Later on, he was able to become what is called the “valido” the favorite one of the king. He centered all the powers of the monarch in himself and was able to raise a fortune by controlling the traffic of influences as well as the sale of public charges to nobles in exchange for a considerable sum of currency. Among all his political and administrative actions, he moved the administration of the Spanish court to Valladolid as a result of his speculation acts and finally he returned the court to Madrid after gaining some benefits from the sale of the old lands in the Castilian territory. During his governing period, he hired Rubens, royal painter of the kings family of the moment, to perform the famous equestrian portrait where the horse of de Duke is directly facing the viewer and the light seems to have its origin in the main character of the scene.…show more content… Then we can observe the object that the Duke is holding in his right hand, a scepter of command, which can be understood as his figure being the one in charge of dictating and organizing military the reign while the current monarch not taking any decision at all, except the right to veto in any action decided by the favorite one.
Secondly, analyzing the location of the battle, the scene was painted by Rubens in Valladolid, during the period in which the Duke was profiting from his illegal administrative actions of sale of
