Ortega and Maravall on Velázquez: How to Define Hispanic Baroque

Abstract

The paper explores the reflections in the work of the philosopher Ortega y Gasset that may have most influenced one of his disciples, the historian José Antonio Maravall, in his definition of the Hispanic Baroque. While he is one of the most influential authors in explaining this historical and artistic period, which he understood as a historical structure, Ortega's reflections are not as well known and appear as an aspect of his work and of the history of art and artistic styles yet to be explored. These focused on the creations of Velázquez, as well as highlighting the importance of the Spanish Golden Age for the dissemination of this style. Both are key to understanding many of the aspects that Maravall would later develop. Maravall, however, added his own ingredients, such as the need to avoid Iberian exceptionalism in order to understand and define the Hispanic Baroque in all its complexity.

Keywords: Hispanic Baroque, Ortega y Gasset, Maravall, Velázquez, Art historiography