In ancien régime Europe, which was largely illiterate, images were an extremely important means of communication. This fact was highly relevant to the transmission political of messages, which was based on emotional appeal rather than reasoned argumentation. To enlist support for their positions, rulers and opponents in all fields produced a quantity of images never before witnessed in the history of the continent. Owing to their very nature, images provided a means of communication that crossed political boundaries and gave rise to messages that were intelligible in diverse cultural traditions. This phenomenon was particularly notable in the amalgam of nations that made up the Catholic Monarchy. The book examines in depth the status of images in the Modern Age, exploring their functioning and effectiveness as well as their reception.

Joan Lluís Palos is a lecturer in Modern History at the Universitat de Barcelona. He has conducted research on the political relations between Catalonia and the Habsburg monarchy and is currently preparing a book on the political messages conveyed by the iconographical schemes of the frescoes in the viceregal palace in Naples.

Diana Carrió-Invernizzi, who received the special PhD award for her thesis Entre Nápoles y España. Cultura política y mecenazgo artístico de los virreyes Pascual y Pedro Antonio de Aragón (2006), is a lecturer of Art History at the UNED. She has published El gobierno de las imágenes. Ceremonial y mecenazgo en la Italia española de la segunda mitad del siglo XVII (2008).