Starozákonní motivy v habsburské reprezentaci doby barokní

The Old Testament served as an inexhaustible source of models to be reflected by royal representations in the Early Modern Age. Most Old Testament kings were given an archetypal nature, being closely associated with particular characteristics and representing a particular type of behaviour to be followed. Pious David, wise Solomon and the somewhat mysterious Melchizedek, a king and priest all in one, were viewed with particular interest. The relationship between the reigning Habsburg and his Old Testament model was emphasized not only in pictorial art, but also in literature, drama and even Old Testament‑style architecture (with Karlskirche in Vienna representing Solomonʼs Temple). The basis for this royal identification with biblical figures could already be observed in the early Middle Ages, and was only curtailed at the start of the Enlightenment, due to a structural change in the categories associated with royalty and the start of a new way of legitimizing it, resulting either from a change in the monarchʼs self‑conception or under pressure from external attacks by Enlightenment pamphleteers.