Barcelona and the War of the Spanish Succession: From the Contemporary images to the historicist account

Engravings were a key element in the political strategy of both sides during the War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1715). They were also objects of great demand from the public all over Europe, which conferred upon them significant commercial value. Interest in the conflict, and especially in the siege of Barcelona of 1714, went on throughout the 18th century. There was only one exception: the Spain of Philip V, where very soon any reference to the war was forbidden. In Catalonia, the story took a new turn in the 19th and early-20th century, with the beginning of the Renaixença and political Catalanism. In this context, graphic representation of the events of 1714 was founded on new concepts of a romantic and historicist nature