Resumen

AMELANG, James S.. The New World in the Old? The absence of empire in early modern Madrid. Cuad. hist. Esp. [online]. 2008, vol.82, pp.147-164. ISSN 0325-1195.

This article explores the question of the presence -or, to be more precise, the invisibility- of empire in the buildings, streets, and other spaces and loci of public display in the center of the early modern Spanish empire, the capital city of Madrid. It reviews some of the relatively few physical traces of the overseas colonies, particularly within semi-private venues such as royal and aristocratic collections of americana. It then goes on to suggest that the greatest presence of the New World in the Old was linked to the growing consumption of recognizably American goods within the domestic or private sphere. In the end, the degree of publicity -and the hierarchy of status contemporaries associated with European (especially Italian) as opposed to non-European cultural products- seems to have been the key variable affecting the display of colonial ties and possessions. The study closes by inviting further research along these and related lines.

Palabras clave : Madrid; Cultural imports from the America; Private places; Material culture.

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