John Condren is assistant professor at the university of Nottingham. He is an expert in 17th and 18th century Italian #diplomacy. In his PhD thesis he looked at the role of the duchies of the Po plain within the context of Louis XIV foreign policy. We’re eagerly awaiting its publication which is due this summer! (3/10)
The construction of political power has always implied the need to generate a continuous flow of artefacts and actions. This matter is brilliantly analysed by Burke in The Fabrication of Louis XIV (1992). The construction of the king’s public image, linked to a sacred dimension, was the result of an unceasing collective production by painters, sculptors, engravers, poets, choreographers, masters of ceremonies, musicians, architects and tailors, among many others (all of them coordinated in a complex system organised by several ministers).