Since Antiquity, the personification of water, as rivers or seas, is one of the recurrent elements in the iconography related to power. From Tigris to Ganges, from the Mare Nostrum to the Atlantic Sea, water seems to be an essential element in the visual display of powerful monarchies and empires. After the American epopee, oceans started to play an extraordinary role in the allegorical representation of the two main Empires involved, so to speak, Spain and Portugal, but not solely.

This panel seeks to approach water iconography, with special attention to Oceans, as a mode of representation of power throughout modern Era and deals with its role in politics and culture. We are interested in arts, music, and literature, and how they relate to the iconography of water and its relation with power, with cross-disciplinary contributions, proposals that address different cases studies in a comparative way and studies focused in ephemeral architecture and theatrical context :

– Ephemeral art : celebrations of victories, king’s birthdays or even religious events were the perfect context for the representation of water as the image of rulers.
- Prints, emblems and propaganda : How the topic relates to the rulers propaganda.
- European powers and the new Geography : How monarchies and sovereigns assumed the discoveries into their own image of power.
– Odes, poetry and epic : How literature used the image of Oceans and Rivers to glorify the rulers and how it related to the visual arts.

More information and program