Le virtù delle regine consorti e la celebrazione asburgica nei Symbola di Jacobus Typotius

Typotius’ Symbola provide a unique series of devices belonging to empress and queen consorts (and spouses of ruling princes), who are related to the Austrian and Spanish branches of the Habsburgs for the most part. Several devices appear to be the result of interpolations and inventions, whose goal is to define the ideal image of the royal consort in the light of the Habsburg values of the time. Besides, ‘production’ and visual presentation of these queenly devices are also of functional importance in celebrating the Habsburg power, since they serve to underline the superiority of the Domus Austriae against their main competitors, England and France, in an implicit or explicit way.