Equestrian Portrait of the Count-Duke of Olivares
Title
Equestrian Portrait of the Count-Duke of Olivares
Description
Philip IV’s reign in Spain is also marked by attempts to centralize power, as was the trend in other European nations (most notably France behind the leadership of the Cardinal Richelieu). The man most associated with this centralization is Don Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares, the king’s longtime advisor. The image above is a rendering of the duke by the famed painter Diego Velázquez.
When King Philip, aged 22 at the time, was three years into his reign, Olivares laid out his absolutist ideology in a document directed to the young king titled Instructions on Government (1624). The document explains the different levels of the socioeconomic hierarchy of Spain and gives the king instructions on how to handle its members. For instance, he suggests restricting the grandees, who were noblemen of the highest rank, by preventing them from communicating with other grandees or government ministers (Cowans 154). Olivares also recommended that King Philip create rivalries between grandees and the rest of the aristocracy by “[making] it clear that you esteem some of the titled lords as much as the grandees” (Cowans 155). Olivares also mentions “punishing [the people]…and intimidating them so that they do not get out of control” (Cowans 156). The intention of the Instructions on Government is to remove potential threats from to power and make the entirety of the Spanish state dependent on the king. Olivares sought a strong monarchy that could effectively collect tax revenue and raise a unified army, which was important for the continuation of Olivares’ war-reliant foreign policy designed to make Spain a dominant European power again. To do this, the crown would have to reduce the autonomy of the different provinces of Spain. These reforms caused revolts in Catalonia and Portugal that heavily hindered Spain’s success in European warfare (Bradbury 11).
When King Philip, aged 22 at the time, was three years into his reign, Olivares laid out his absolutist ideology in a document directed to the young king titled Instructions on Government (1624). The document explains the different levels of the socioeconomic hierarchy of Spain and gives the king instructions on how to handle its members. For instance, he suggests restricting the grandees, who were noblemen of the highest rank, by preventing them from communicating with other grandees or government ministers (Cowans 154). Olivares also recommended that King Philip create rivalries between grandees and the rest of the aristocracy by “[making] it clear that you esteem some of the titled lords as much as the grandees” (Cowans 155). Olivares also mentions “punishing [the people]…and intimidating them so that they do not get out of control” (Cowans 156). The intention of the Instructions on Government is to remove potential threats from to power and make the entirety of the Spanish state dependent on the king. Olivares sought a strong monarchy that could effectively collect tax revenue and raise a unified army, which was important for the continuation of Olivares’ war-reliant foreign policy designed to make Spain a dominant European power again. To do this, the crown would have to reduce the autonomy of the different provinces of Spain. These reforms caused revolts in Catalonia and Portugal that heavily hindered Spain’s success in European warfare (Bradbury 11).
Creator
Diego Velazquez
Source
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Count-Duke_of_Olivares.jpg
Bradbury, Ian. "OLIVARES." Teaching History, no. 43 (1985): 9-11. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43256344.
Olivares, Count-Duke of, “Instructions on Government (1624)” in Early Modern Spain: A Documentary History, ed. Jon Cowans. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003.
Date
1636
Contributor
Elliot Cahn
Rights
Free Re-use
Original Format
Painting
Physical Dimensions
313 cm by 239 cm
Citation
Diego Velazquez, “Equestrian Portrait of the Count-Duke of Olivares,” HIST 139 - Early Modern Europe, accessed August 6, 2026, https://earlymoderneurope.hist.sites.carleton.edu/items/show/189.