Tributes for the Puberty of Young Charles II and the Accademia dei Velati's Ceremonies (1675)

This article discusses the importance of the perception of Spanish sovereignty in lands far from Madrid. The representative of the crown, in this case Emmanuel de Sesse, "Presede" of the Province of Abruzzo Ultra in 1675, decided to give concrete form to the king's image by commissioning a high-quality statue of him in L'Aquila. Even though his young age and his physical health problems meant that his likeness was not known in the city and its hinterland For this reason, Charles II was celebrated in 1675 by many literary works, ceremonies, and a sculpture in L'Aquila. With comparable pretenses, the artist Francesco D'Angelo completed a similar sculpture of the young king on the Fountain of Monteoliveto designed by Cosimo Fanzago two years earlier in Naples. In L'Aquila, the Accademia dei Velati intensely celebrated the King's entrance into puberty with orations, and cavalcades that reinforced the sense of loyalty to the Crown in a city, previously considered rebellious, empathically expressing its loyalty to the Hapsburgs, for whom it will stay devoted for some time to come.