Resumen de Tributes for the Puberty of Young Charles II and the Accademia dei Velati’s Ceremonies (1675)
This article discusses the importance of the perception of Spanish sovereignty inlands far from Madrid. The representative of the crown, in this case Emmanuel deSesse, “Presede” of the Province of Abruzzo Ultra in 1675, decided to give concreteform to the king’s image by commissioning a high-quality statue of him in L’Aquila.Even though his young age and his physical health problems meant that his likenesswas not known in the city and its hinterland. For this reason, Charles II was celebratedin 1675 by many literary works, ceremonies, and a sculpture in L’Aquila. Withcomparable pretenses, the artist Francesco D’Angelo completed a similar sculpture ofthe young king on the Fountain of Monteoliveto designed by Cosimo Fanzago twoyears earlier in Naples. In L’Aquila, the Accademia dei Velati intenselycelebrated theKing’s entrance into puberty with orations, and cavalcades that reinforced the sense ofloyalty to the Crown in a city, previously considered rebellious, empathically expressingits loyalty to the Hapsburgs, for whom it will stay devoted for some time to come.
