Teoría de la magnificiencia y teoría de las señales en el pensamiento nobiliario español del siglo XVI

This study attempts to use the Spanish case for the assessment of the limits of the historical model of the “theory of magnificence” and propose a complementary “theory of signs” from the analysis of the humanistic revival of the classical doctrine on the image. In order to do so, the written knowledge on the meaning of the images that was available at the Spanish noble libraries of the Sixteenth-Century has been revised, with a particular focus on the texts about art theory, history and social theory. As happened with magnificence, historians and social thinkers also strove to systematize the available classical references and intended to create an autonomous discourse about the signs of nobility. Beside magnificence, the signs emphasized other attributes than wealth, intended to place distinction in terms of lineage and knightly honor, and pursued the social reproduction of ideological contents.