Allégories et hiéroglyphes : l’iconographie du ministre chez Giovanni Palazzi (1671)

Abstract

Glorifying ministers as essential instruments of monarchical government is also a way of extolling royal power. In the first volume of a history of the Empire which the Venetian Giovanni Palazzi published in 1671, the perfect minister is depicted in both words and pictures, with the latter devised or adapted for the purpose of the demonstration. Text and illustrations interact in different ways. Here are found hieroglyphics that, through a deciphering process referring the pictures to the text, are aimed at praising the merits of Michel Le Tellier or Hugues de Lionne. The virtues of Colbert or Séguier, on the other hand, are exalted in allegorical portraits where use is made of echoing cross-references between text, picture, and heroic motto.