European Art and Diplomacy in the Global Early Modern Period

by

Diana Carrió-Invernizzi

• LAST MODIFIED: 19 February 2025
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199920105-0185

Introduction

The history of diplomacy, which may be traced back to Herodotus and Thucydides, was systematized by Ranke in the nineteenth century. In more recent decades, this branch of historical study has been shaped by a shift toward the cultural facets of diplomacy, and since the pioneering historiographical work of Norbert Elias in the 1940s, increasing attention has been paid to its material, artistic, and performative dimensions. However, to a great extent, it continues to be indebted to Mattingly’s classic (1955) study, which established the idea that the origin of modern diplomacy may be traced back to early modern Italy and the emergence of Humanism and quattrocento art. This foundational alliance is understood to have been responsible for the modernization of diplomacy. Subsequently, permanent embassies went on to be established, and the role of the ambassador was increasingly governed by a range of conventions and regulations. Such theses are not exempt from Eurocentrism and a degree of teleologism: diplomacy inevitably developed into what it would be in the nineteenth century. The trend indebted to Mattingly was based on two views that have since been called into question: diplomacy is the antithesis of political conflict, and it is an art that flourished solely in times of peace. On the international stage of the early modern period, a range of objects were exchanged, often in a considerable volume, during times of conflict. Recent studies have questioned the notion of the primacy of European and Italian diplomacy by revealing how, long before European diplomacy came to play a significant role, sophisticated networks of trade and political alliances extended across China during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Mughal Empire, Safavid Persia, and the Ottoman Empire. Across these geopolitical regions, there were systems of diplomatic negotiation that were just as regularized and codified as those in Europe. The transformation of diplomatic studies owes a great deal to cross-cultural studies, and the understanding that between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, emissaries operated on both a local and a global scale. In addition, literary studies have made a significant contribution, and literary texts have been analyzed as a mode of constructing new diplomatic models during the early modern period. Another area of research that has proved itself to be especially relevant for diplomatic history is the exchange of gifts. Together, all these lines of inquiry have contributed to a renewed focus on the relationship of art and diplomacy.

The “New Diplomatic History” and the “New Diplomacy”

In 2000 Daniela Frigo used the label “new diplomatic history” to refer to a new phase of diplomatic studies. Since then, it has gained currency in the academic sphere and well beyond anglophone academic circles. For some, the label has now become somewhat outdated (Watkins 2008), yet it has played a valuable role in articulating the emergence of a promising interdisciplinary space for scholarship, one that embraces many fields, and not just art history or visual studies. Furthermore, it has enabled a deeper understanding of the complexities of early modern diplomacy and opened up new lines of inquiry on themes such as gender (Sluga and James 2016, cited under Women in Diplomatic Exchanges) and rarely studied issues, such as cross-confessional diplomacy (van Gelder and Krstić 2015). Set apart from the traditional history of international relations, which viewed diplomacy as a practice monopolized by states, the new diplomatic history has devoted attention to “non-state or informal actors” and ambassadors have been addressed as go-betweens or cultural brokers in a transnational world (Cools, et al. 2006). Attention has also been drawn to diplomatic networks and the practices and perceptions of diplomatic actors, as well as their strategies of persuasion, and also the staging of representations of power at foreign courts and the role these played in processes of knowledge exchange (Windler 2002). Considerable research has been devoted to issues of language and performativity, as well as Pierre Bourdieu’s analysis of “symbolic capital,” within analytical frameworks such as semiotics, symbolic communication, and material culture (Fletcher 2015). The historiographical shift, launched in Frigo 2000 and developed in Keblusek and Noldus 2011 and in Sowerby and Hennings 2017 among other works, has demonstrated that the role played by ambassadors cannot be reduced to their political briefs, as these were frequently affected by the cultural and artistic activities they took part in. Both spheres fed into and required one another. However, it must be asked, what is encompassed by the term “new diplomacy”? The early modern form of diplomacy that arose in the sixteenth century did not come into being with an intrinsic, idealized vision of the international community, but rather it emerged as a “competitive and functional organism.” It was not intended to consolidate national identities, nor ideas of social equality and progress. Instead, at times it contributed to the creation of transnational economic networks and structures. The Reformation put an end to both religious unity in Europe (the respublica christiana) and the ideal of a shared diplomatic community. It shattered the engrained ancient respect for a single supranational authority and diplomatic arbiter, such as the Holy Roman Emperor or Pope. In addition to the then-recently created Protestant states, other nascent states and dynasties, such as the Medici in Florence and the Braganças in Portugal post-1640, aspired to establish their legitimacy in order to assume new levels of sovereignty, and in conjunction this meant that the rituals of diplomacy became more significant and highly codified because they had to respond to new conflicts of precedence and legitimacy. The market, on the one hand, and the expansionist goals of the Catholic Church with its universal mission, on the other, multiplied the possibilities of diplomatic contacts on a global scale, above all with those who wielded power in Africa and Asia. The European and extra-European powers had to invent new protocols to manage their growing mutual relationships (Osborne and Rubiés 2016). A key example of the progressive emergence of a “new diplomacy” is the evolution of an autonomous artistic genre devoted to the representation of diplomatic events, and these artworks had severed any ties with modes of religious representation. An example of the consolidation of this artistic development may be traced to the creation of ceremonial spaces in the early seventeenth century. For example, in the Sala dei Corazzieri del Quirinale, the balconies were decorated with painted representations of ambassadors from different parts of the world. Likewise, dated to 1604, one of the earliest pictorial representations of a peace negotiation are the two versions of the painting, The Somerset House Conference 1604, which depicts the ambassadors who took part in this negotiation held in London (National Portrait Gallery, London, and the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich).

• Cools, Hans, Marika Keblusek, and Badeloch Noldus, eds. Your Humble Servant: Agents in Early Modern Europe. Hilversum, The Netherlands: Verloren, 2006.

  A collection of eleven essays that address the role played by diplomatic agents, above all with regard to the role they played in terms of mediation and representation. The authors cover a variety of themes, including political and economic history, and the histories of both the book and art. At a time when the role of the diplomat had not become a clearly defined profession, many diplomatic missions were led by art dealers and booksellers.

• Fletcher, Catherine. Diplomacy in Renaissance Rome: The Rise of the Resident Ambassador. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2015.

  DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781316256541

  Fletcher examines the importance of the city of Rome for European diplomacy, its ceremonies, and the practice of gift exchange. She addresses a range of themes such as the roles played by residents and embassy staff, as well as the circulation of information.

• Freddolini, Francesco, and Marco Musillo, eds. Art, Mobility, and Exchange in Early Modern Tuscany and Eurasia. New York and Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2020.

  This book explores how the mobility of objects and people generated global interactions in early modern times. The Medici Grand Dukes expanded their political, commercial, and cultural networks beyond Europe, undertaking complex political relations not only with the Ottoman Empire for instance, but also with India and China. Diplomatic gifts, and also items of commercial exchange, were crucial for the Medici interaction on the global arena.

• Frigo, Daniela. Politics and Diplomacy in Early Modern Italy: The Structure of Diplomatic Practice, 1450–1800. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

  DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511523298

  Frigo analyzes the instruments, ceremonies, and forms of negotiation used in early modern Italian states. Her discussion of negozio is of special interest; this elastic concept often appears in early modern correspondence with reference to a variety of activities, such as the acquisition of property and the commission of artworks as well as the negotiation of treaties and the protection of military secrets.

• Keblusek, Marika, and Badeloch Vera Noldus, eds. Double Agents: Cultural and Political Brokerage in Early Modern Europe. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2011.

  This multiauthor volume analyzes the range of social figures that undertook diplomatic roles during the early modern period, ranging from merchants to missionaries, from artists to ambassador’s wives. In this book Keblusek’s essay distinguishes between embassies on the basis of their political challenges and their role in behind-the-scenes tasks such as purchasing artworks and guaranteeing their arrival in the destination court was staged correctly.

• Osborne, Toby, and Joan-Pau Rubiés. “Introduction: Diplomacy and Cultural Translation in the Early Modern World.” In Special Issue: Diplomacy and Cultural Translation in the Early Modern World. Edited by Toby Osborne and Joan-Pau Rubiés. Journal of Early Modern History 20.4 (2016): 313–330.

  DOI: 10.1163/15700658-12342502

  The introduction to this special issue and the articles that follow analyze the global processes that European diplomatic agents became increasingly involved in. Given Europe’s expanding connections with the ruling powers of the Near East, Asia, and Africa, its rules and diplomats had to develop a new symbolic and rhetorical language that could be shared between their diverse diplomatic agents. The result was a degree of cross-cultural commensurability.

• Sowerby, Tracey Amanda, and Jan Hennings, eds. Practices of Diplomacy in the Early Modern World c. 1410–1800. Routledge Research in Early Modern History. Abingdon, UK, and New York: Routledge, 2017.

  Sowerby and Hennings’s book analyzes early modem diplomatic practices and the processes of negotiating the cultural codes shared between a range of agents and political communities on a global scale. The first part focuses on who and what could claim diplomatic agency. Attention is then turned to the social and cultural contexts in which diplomacy was practiced, and the final section examines the role of material culture in diplomatic exchange.

• van Gelder, Maartje, and Tijana Krstić. “Introduction: Cross-Confessional Diplomacy and Diplomatic Intermediaries in the Early Modern Mediterranean.” In Special Issue: Cross-Confessional Diplomacy and Diplomatic Intermediaries in the Early Modern Mediterranean. Edited by Maartje van Gelder and Tijana Krstić. Journal of Early Modern History 19.2–3 (2015): 93–105.

  DOI: 10.1163/15700658-12342452

  The introduction to this special issue and the articles that follow address cross-confessional diplomacy and the agents who acted as intermediaries across the early modern Mediterranean. It underscores the importance of cultural mediation and questions notions such as the supremacy of European diplomacy over Mediterranean Islamic diplomacy.

• Watkins, John. “Toward a New Diplomatic History of Medieval and Early Modern Europe.” Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 38.1 (2008): 1–14.

  DOI: 10.1215/10829636-2007-016

  In this study, John Watkins deploys a methodology based on a “cross-disciplinary study of international relations,” which allows him to explore the interweaving of early modern European diplomacy through a range of cultural modes.

• Windler, Christian. La Diplomatie comme expérience de l’autre: Consuls français au Maghreb (1700–1840). Geneva, Switzerland: Librairie Droz, 2002.

  This study, devoted to a French consul and merchant based in Tunisia, is framed by the major historiographical shift that has defined the work of scholars exploring the role of subaltern agents in diplomacy. It addresses their perceptions, strategies of persuasion, and roles in knowledge transfer processes.