Description
Book SynopsisLong before the photo op, political rulers were manipulating visual imagery to cultivate their authority. The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519) was, this title argues, the first ruler to exploit the propaganda power of printed images and text. It explores how Maximilian used illustrations and other visual arts.
Trade Review"Marketing Maximilian is an excellent study of the first ruler to exploit print for verbal and visual propaganda and an appropriately triumphant example of what can be achieved when, allowing the risk of anachronism, modern perspectives are applied to past problems."--Kevin Sharpe, Times Literary Supplement "Silver's book will be essential reading for anyone interested in the political culture of late medieval and early modern Europe."--Joachim Whaley, H-Net Reviews "[I]n its attention to detail and its interpretation of complex iconography, Silver's study of Maximilian and his artistic entourage makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of the early stages of the Habsburg imperium."--Lindsay Diggelmann, Parergon "One of the particular virtues of this intellectual biography is the way in which Silver illuminates connections between the intellectual and the spiritual, the visual and the physical worlds... He also makes accessible to English readers much previous research available only in German."--Susan Foister, Print Quarterly "Larry Silver's Marketing Maximilian is an invigorating contribution to the literature on Maximilian I from one of the foremost scholars on this topic. Silver's numerous articles on Maximilian's artistic patronage have formed a foundation for study of this major, yet idiosyncratic figure, and this book provides a comprehensive summation of Silver's decades of study. Yet the book reaches beyond his previous work as well, providing a larger, synthetic framework for understanding Maximilian's ideology and its visual representations as well as offering new information and insights into his various commissions."--Heather Madar, Sixteenth Century Journal "Silver's book makes important contributions to our understanding of Maximilian as a political actor... Silver ... provide[s] the finest study to date on Maximilian's efforts to reformulate political practice. Marketing Maximilian provides more than simply a study of Maximilian; it offers insights into the changing political culture in early modern Europe."--Darin Hayton, Austrian History Yearbook
Table of ContentsPreface vii Chapter 1: Introduction: Maximilian's Artworlds 1 Chapter 2: Family Ties: Genealogy as Ideology for Emperor Maximilian I 41 Chapter 3: Translation of Empire 77 Chapter 4: Caesar Divus: Leader of Christendom 109 Chapter 5: Shining Armor: Emperor Maximilian, Chivalry, and War 147 Chapter 6: Magnifi cence and Dignity: Princely Pastimes 169 Chapter 7: Conclusions: Dynasty and/or Nation? 215 Notes 237 Bibliography 289 Index 301
