Court portrait of 18th Century Chilean elite: Artistic taste, style, and iconography of a changing society

Abstract

Starting in the 18th century, Chile experienced a change in taste and artistic trends, well attested by the development of court portrait as genre independent from religious portrait. It spread particularly among those elites of intellectuals, clerics, and politicians who wanted to express their individuality in relation to the Spanish Monarchy, and who found in portrait painting a vehicle to proclaim their emancipation.