Das Feuerwerk der Linie

In 1637 Claude Lorrain made a series of etchings in which he depicted the elaborate fireworks organized by the Spanish ambassador in Rome in occasion of the election of Ferdinand III as King of the Romans. This article deals with the political and religious dimensions of the performative act as well as the complex aesthetic strategies of transferring the ephemeral event into the more lasting medium of print. Considering the Thirty Years’ War, Lorraine’s ‚explosive‘ prints functioned, I argue, as artistic devices to control the forces of fiery destruction, a crucial issue for the princely representation of Habsburg dignity, and to demonstrate the artist’s virtuosity and eruptive innovation.