Black at the Court of the Habsburgs: between the European tradition of oak gall and the American innovation of «palo de Campeche»
Inés Viaña Morato
Universidad de Zaragoza
This study examines the use of the colour black at the court of the Habsburgs, based on various sources, with particular attention to its technical dimension. During the reigns of Charles I, and especially of Philip II, black was consolidated as the formal colour at the Spanish court, embodying not only an aesthetic tradition rich in symbolism but also a complex dyeing practice. In this context, the coexistence and use of the two main substances for achieving the highest quality black are analysed: the traditional oak gall, widely documented in dyeing treatises throughout Europe since Antiquity, and logwood, also known as «Palo de Campeche», found in Mexico and exploited and shipped to Spain by the conquistadors. This study proposes a nuanced re-reading of the coexistence of both dyeing practices in the courtly context of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a time when black became the perfect instrument of power.
