Entre el libro de emblemas y el manual de conducta militar: las Empresas Políticas Militares de Pozuelo, obra crepuscular de la emblemática hispana.

Abstract

1731 saw the publication of a manual of exemplary conduct for the military class in the exercise of their profession: the EmpresasPolíticasMilitares, by Juan Antonio Pozuelo. The book is composed of 55 imprese,each of which conforms to the characteristic tripartite disposition of an emblem. In his enumeration of the virtues that must guide soldiers, and of the vices to avoid, the author resorts continuously to motifs from the emblematic tradition, a clear example of the decline of the genre. Nevertheless, it is possible to detect a small group of imprese with a greater degree of originality, which implies a personal contribution by the author to the lesson that he wants to transmit. And at times, the objects chosen to illustrate the theme are closely related to the military world, in an attempt by Pozuelo to adapt the symbolic-emblematic universe to the audience to whom the book is addressed. As a result, we are dealing with a book which, thanks to its repeated references to works and authors of military themes, acquires on occasion aspects of a military treatise. This study analyzes the imprese created by Pozuelo, explaining their sources and meaning.