BAYONNE.- As part of the Donostia - San Sebastian 2016 European Capital of Culture project, Bayonne is hosting Peace Treaty - The Ingenuity of Art: A depiction of peace in the history of art, a large-scale, double exhibition that runs from 3 June to 25 September 2016. On one side of the River Adour, the Bayonne History and Basque Museum presents 1660 - The Peace of the Pyrenees: Politics and Family, while on the other side, DIDAM is offering 1808 - Abdication in Bayonne: Ornament and Crime.

Through a selection of masterpieces, paintings, engravings and drawings which have been loaned from the most prestigious museums in Europe from the Prado to the Louvre, as well as the Palace of Versailles Museum, the Museums of Fine Arts in Chartres, Le Mans, Orléans and Valencia, the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Madrid), the National Library of Spain, the French National Archives, etc. the exhibition sheds light on the end of a long conflict which enabled two states, France and Spain, to get closer to one another in 1660.

In the DIDAM, contemporary art reinterprets history, providing a playful and landscape-focused interpretation of tragic events: the forced abdication of the legitimate sovereigns of Spain in Bayonne in 1808 and the dawn of a bloody war of independence.

1660 – With the Peace of the Pyrenees. Politics and Family
Bayonne History and Basque Museum
In 1659, Cardinal Mazarin, on behalf of Louis XIV of France, and Don Luis de Haro, on behalf of Philip IV of Spain, signed the so-called Treaty of the Pyrenees on Pheasant Island. A few months later, early in June 1660, the two kings met on the same island to seal the peace with the marriage of Louis XIV and Maria Theresa of Spain, daughter of Philip IV. That treaty and that wedding, which ended four decades of war between the French and Spanish crowns, were of immense significance to Spain’s future history, given that they were key to putting the Bourbon dynasty on the throne from the early eighteenth century to the present.

This exhibition sheds light on the political context in which the treaty came about, and shows the weight of the “family” story and personal vicissitudes behind it, as the peace was achieved through the strengthening of kinship ties. This treaty conditioned the life and the feelings of many of the people who were directly involved in it.

The exhibition also invites visitors to reflect on the great paradox inherent in the fact that the place where the idea of the “border” between two monarchies was enacted was in reality a territory united by strong cultural, linguistic, economic, and blood ties. The curators of the exhibition Javier Portús and Olivier Ribeton write: “But that moment of brilliance took place against the backdrop of a critical situation. A profound political, dynastic, territorial, and economic crisis was underway in Spain in the 1650s. In 1649, he king, who had no male heir, had married his cousin Mariana, and the years that followed were marked by tension as the queen failed to produce a son. Indeed, the birth of Philip Prospero in 1657 paved the way for the marriage between King Philip’s first-born, Maria Theresa and the King of France. At the same time, the Spanish monarchy had to deal with several war fronts, including the conflict with France and another with Portugal, which ended up declaring its independence. All of this in the midst of economic crisis.”

Velázquez is known to have played an important role in organising this ceremony, an exhausting undertaking that ultimately lead to his death. Many works from his school are included in the exhibition, as the great Sevillian artist spent his final years on this intense task of “marrying” the Infantas of Spain through portraits.

Exhibition itinerary and an overview of a few works

Historical context
The exhibition explores the triple context of war, family and territory that formed the background against which the treaty was negotiated. A series of objects such as medals, engravings and prints attest to the bitter military conflict between the French and Spanish crowns. It was a protracted war, largely played out within the internal borders of the two countries, particularly in Catalonia. Indeed, the partial modification of some of those borders was one of the consequences of the war.

1660 - With the Peace of the Pyrenees. Politics and Family

Politics and Family in the XVIIth century
The exhibition shows the extremely close links between family and politics in Europe in the modern age, the role of artworks as diplomatic tools and as a device for the representation of power. The protagonists of this story were closely related : Philip IV was the brother of Anne of Austria, who was in turn the mother of Louis XIV. His first wife, Elisabeth of France, was the sister of Louis XIII, who was Anne’s husband and Louis’ father. Maria Theresa and Louis XIV were thus cousins and, incidentally, their marriage required a papal dispensation. Both were born in 1638, and they had many ancestors in common. This situation was not unusual, given that the number of monarchies in Europe was limited and marriages were always conceived as a means to establish or strengthen political alliances. The result was an extraordinarily high level of royal endogamy.

The members of the various royal families had accepted their status as pawns on the chessboard of European politics, which strongly conditioned their personal lives. When Philip IV and his sister Anne met at Pheasant Island, they had not seen each other for forty-four years.

To illustrate the mix of politics and family, the exhibition makes extensive use of portraits, particularly paintings but also prints and medals. These images introduce us to the main protagonists of the story and are a reminder of the extent to which personal affairs influence the fate of nations. Portraits were also important instruments in the process that led to peace, a fact that has never before been highlighted in an exhibition.

Art as a diplomatic instrument
During the war between France and Spain, with diplomatic relations broken, Anne of Austria commissioned family portraits as one of her first attempts to try and bridge the gap between her position and her brother’s. In 1653 she asked for a portrait of her niece Maria Theresa, and the following year she commissioned nineteen portraits of members of the Spanish royal household, including Philip IV and his two wives. Similarly, numerous portraits of the French royal family were received in Madrid in 1655, including one of Louis XIV. Several of these works have been conserved: those that were sent to France are now at the museum of Versailles, and those that were sent to Madrid are kept at the Museo del Prado. This exhibition brings together six of the Prado portraits for the first time, including those of Louis XIV, his parents, and his brother Philippe, painted by artists such as Philippe de Champaigne, Jean Nocret and the Beaubrun family. The Spanish royal family is represented by paintings from various sources, mainly related to Velázquez and his circle.

During the war between France and Spain, with diplomatic relations broken, Anne of Austria commissioned family portraits as one of her first attempts to try and bridge the gap between her position and her brother’s. In 1653 she asked for a portrait of her niece Maria Theresa, and the following year she commissioned nineteen portraits of members of the Spanish royal household, including Philip IV and his two wives. Similarly, numerous portraits of the French royal family were received in Madrid in 1655, including one of Louis XIV. Several of these works have been conserved: those that were sent to France are now at the museum of Versailles, and those that were sent to Madrid are kept at the Museo del Prado. This exhibition brings together six of the Prado portraits for the first time, including those of Louis XIV, his parents, and his brother Philippe, painted by artists such as Philippe de Champaigne, Jean Nocret and the Beaubrun family. The Spanish royal family is represented by paintings from various sources, mainly related to Velázquez and his circle. The selection also includes works by other artists who painted some of the protagonists of this story. The portraits show the significant differences between French and Spanish fashions at the time: Maria Theresa, for example, had to swap her pannier for a French dress at Saint-Jean-de-Luz.

1808 – For the Abdication of Bayonne : Ornament and Crime DIDAM
Napoleon arrived at the sous-préfecture in the centre of Bayonne, an uncomfortable place, and demanded decent quarters. He was taken to the Château de Marrac, and gave orders for it to be furnished by the imperial Garde-Meuble. He then invited the Spanish sovereigns to dine. On 5 May 1898, Napoleon brought together the kings of Spain, Ferdinand VII, who was staying at the Hotel Dubrocq, and Charles IV, who lodged at the Hotel du Gouvernement. He secured the abdication of the Bourbons and placed his brother Joseph on the Spanish throne. After a fire in 1825, the Château de Marrac was reduced to rubble. The remains of the former decoration were scattered. The story of the Abdication of Bayonne is also the story of the dwelling and decoration of its palaces. Over the past few years several exhibitions have focused on the events surrounding the Abdication of Bayonne, an incident that is of questionable legitimacy but resulted in the first Constitution given to the Kingdom of Spain. In spite of these exhibitions, there still remain arguments to be explored. Here we focus on one of these, which may appear anecdotal but nonetheless sheds a particular light on these specific events. The handicrafts that the princesses of Spain practised in their palace exile in France – tapestrymaking, flower arrangement, gardening – allow us to explore a certain Frenchified cultural world: decoration as a refuge from the failure of the Enlightenment project.

The curators Olivier Ribeton and José Ramón Ais have focused on one of the latter’s projects, The Garden of the Spanish War of Independence, to structure the project: “botanical expeditions travelled around the colonies in search of raw materials that could be used for their economic development. Each new discovery had to be named and catalogued in the spirit of the Enlightenment ... the protagonists of the Abdication of Bayonne and the wars against the French have their botanical equivalents: their names were given to new botanical species, such as the Mexican Giant Daisy Tree, which was named Ferdinanda emines in honour of Ferdinand VII.” The garden has been designed as a kind of landscape-essay that works conceptually and generates different areas of study and experimentation. Areas of reflection include violence, colonialism, and imperialism throughout history, seeking to transfer and highlight related issues in the present. The project also seeks to transform a field of political conflict into a space for contemplation and leisure, where the entropy of nature neutralises “official histories”. An anti-monument that represents neither the victors nor the vanquished.