მამნე ოქრომჭედლის უცნობი ნამუშევარი მთის წმ. გიორგის მონასტრიდან და მისთვის დამახასიათებელი უნიკალური იკონოგრაფიული დეტალი

Author(s): Nikoloz Zhghenti / Language(s): Georgian Issue: 7/2022

According to some materials Mtis St. George’s Monastery owned at least 14 antiquities of the ecclesiastic and liturgical use. Only three of them survived till our days, as others were lost during the soviet anti-religious movements of 1920-es. Nevertheless, these antiquities are still researchable according to the old descriptions. This article examines one of the survived icons of the Monastery – small silver goldened icon of horseman St. George slaying the dragon. This icon is kept at the Kutaisi State Historical Museum. The Icon has no inscription which could mention the name(s) of the ktetor(s), or the date of its creation. Still, there are some old Georgian letters which can be read as “St. George”. The palaeographical characteristics of these letters appeared to have a lot in common with the inscriptions of Sadgeri and Barakoni pre-altar crosses, made by the famous goldsmith of 16th century – Mamne. Apart of this fact, other general and detailed visual similarities can be found between this St. George’s Icon and Mamne’s other works. Finally, a unique iconographic detail – human’s (Diocletian’s) profile harmoniously combined in the wing of the dragon, which can be seen only on the Monastery’s St. George’s Icon and on the icon of Sadgeri pre-altar cross, made it clear, that the Icon I’ve been working on also belonged to Mamne’s artworks. Even though the Sadgeri pre-altar cross is widely known in scientific literature, this unique detail – an outstanding novelty of Mamne’s brilliant mind – remained unnoticed.

QADAR/SINA´AT – KARAKTERIZACIJA NEKIH SUŠTINSKIH OKCIDENTALNOVESTERNIZIRANIH POGLEDA NA TRADICIONALNI ISLAMSKI KREATIVNI IZRAZ

Author(s): Mehmed A. Akšamija / Language(s): Bosnian,English Issue: 1/2022

The intention of this analysis is to continue the discussion (from the previous issuees) of some parts of the history of what is declared or titled „Islamic art”, within the critical and theoretical framework of both OccidentalWestern and (some) Muslim perspectives. The analysis and establishments of limits in line with the prevailing authorities will contribute to the vital modalities of qadar/ṣināʿat discourse which are resolutely Islamic and in line with their source (ar. al-marjaʿ or al-maṣdar). Particular attention is drawn to advocating differences, due to Occidental-westernized academic efforts to ignore the spirit of unity and the self-reflective Islamic constants of qadar/ṣināʿat discourses and impose the artificial dichotomy of the sacral and profane, and due to paradigmatic views on the evaluation of the aestheticized achievement of the originator/designer of representation, (i.e. homo islamicus) as absolute western ownership. Finally, it should be noted that the Occidental-westernized manner of academic thinking in this area, and of any other theories applied within the borders of index order and taxonomy, including the concept of current globalization, also represent systematic patterns of authority, control and evaluation, and thus exclusion of others. However, such a form of imposing a linear or cyclic way of interpretation still faces very real challenges typical of writing a global “history of art” and the complete absence of understanding other and different forms of creative expression.

From Wastelands to Homelands: Travelling Maria Mazziotti Gillan’s ‘Open Road’ and Signifying Resistance in When the Stars Were Still Visible

Author(s): Elisabetta Marino / Language(s): English Issue: 27/2022

Maria Mazziotti Gillan is probably one of the most famous and thought-provoking contemporary artists of Italian descent. She is the author of numerous poetry books and has recently started a parallel career as a painter. By focusing on her most recent poetry collection entitled When the Stars Were Still Visible (2021), this essay sets out to explore the strategies she has articulated to heal her individual and collective wounds (as an Italian American), while resisting the annihilation of her cultural background. Throughout her life, she has been compelled to cross several emotional wastelands, eventually managing to carve her own path to multiple places (both physical and imaginary) she could call “home”.

Socialist Realism: An Instrument of Class Struggle in Ukrainian Fine Arts and Architecture

Author(s): Oleksii Oleksiyovych Rohotchenko,Tetiana Zuziak,Andrii Markovskyi,Olga Lagutenko,Oksana Marushchak / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2022

The article contains the conceptual vision of socialist realism as one of the key characteristics of art, transformed in the postmodern cultural era. Social realism is a cultural manifestation of the historical development of Soviet republics, including the Ukrainian SSR. The essence of socialist realism is seen as a manifestation of ideology in the Soviet conditions. Besides, the article considers the phenomenon in the context of postmodernism, relying on the findings of various scholars, and describes the interaction between postmodernism and socialist realism. Despite the general view that postmodernism (literally “coming after modernism”) emerged in the United States and Western Europe in the 1960s-1970s, there could be another way this movement evolved in fine art and architecture. The fact that the artists from the post-Soviet space managed to adapt to the global cultural field of postmodernism so swiftly proves that the totalitarian system failed to eliminate the plurality of opinions. A post-Soviet variant of postmodernism was largely defined by the influence of socialist realism. The recently proclaimed era of post-truth that allegedly started after the new millennium produced fascinating political and artistic experiments in the post-Soviet space. Hence, it would be logical to assume that some previously developed mechanisms were activated there. Post-truth as an instrument of politics in that sense resonates with the socialist realism used as an instrument of class struggle. Research methods include description, synthesis and analysis.

Ion CÂRJA, BENKÖ József, Maria Alexandra PANTEA, Iulia BOȚOGHINA (coordonatori), De la ,,amurgul imperiilor” la România Mare. Românii din Austro-Ungaria în Primul Război Mondial. Documente vizuale

Author(s): Florin-Corneliu Popovici / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 61/2022

Review of: Ion CÂRJA, BENKÖ József, Maria Alexandra PANTEA, Iulia BOȚOGHINA (coordonatori), De la ,,amurgul imperiilor” la România Mare. Românii din Austro-Ungaria în Primul Război Mondial. Documente vizuale, Editura Argonaut, Cluj-Napoca, 2018.

Philosophical and Cultural Analysis of Oksana Chepelyk’s Art Project “Refraction of Reality”

Author(s): Svitlana Stoian,Iryna Maslikova / Language(s): English Issue: 18/2022

The article carries out a philosophical and cultural analysis of the creative works by Ukrainian artist Oksana Chepelyk on the example of her art project “Refraction of Reality”. Ukrainian artist tries to reflect on the problem of modern human’s existence in a technocratic world. The artist actively uses latest media technologies to visualize the total inclusion of a person in the technocratic reality. Despite the criticism of many modern thinkers, among whom the most radical position about modern art is taken by Jean Baudrillard, the authors this research justify necessity of improvement reality via new media technologies. The modern person, in particular the creative person, is clearly aware that it is impossible to change the surrounding reality with all its innovations, and it is only possible to adapt to these changes, using technologies to their advantage, minimizing their harm as much as possible.

«ПАЛОМНИЦТВО В ДУНЬХУАН» – З НАГОДИ 30-РІЧЧЯ АКАДЕМІЇ ЖИВОПИСУ ГАНЬСУ

Author(s): Xiao Luo / Language(s): Ukrainian Issue: 41/2022

The aim of the work is to describe «the Pilgrimage to Dunhuang» as an art project organized on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Gansu Academy of Painting. The research methodology included the use of general scientific principles of descriptiveness, systematicity and objectivity. The general scientific research methods are used in the work: analysis, synthesis, induction and deduction. Chronological and retrospective methods have become important for our study. The genetic method was used to trace the development of individual schools and artists and the state of contemporary Chinese art. The method of abstraction, which involves the transition from general statements to specific conclusions, has also become important. Scientific novelty. The article highlights the main achievements and results of the Dunhuang Pilgrimage project, which allowed us to rethink the heritage of contemporary Chinese art. Conclusions. The Gansu Academy of Arts, established in the early 1990s, has become one of the most important centers of artistic culture in the region. This institute promotes Chinese cultural achievements and research in various fields. In particular, the academy organizes various scientific lectures, seminars, art exhibitions, creative talks and other educational activities. One such project was the «Pilgrimage to Dunhuang». On a Chinese-wide scale, it has made it possible to accomplish several important tasks. In particular, during the first period of the project, special art exhibitions, lectures and scientific seminars were held, which contributed to the promotion of Chinese cultural achievements. In addition, the main emphasis was on the study and preservation of traditional Chinese culture. At the same time, some attention was paid to highlighting the artistic ties between Chinese and foreign cultures. The second stage involved the introduction of specific mechanisms for managing various artistic events - artists were able to realize their own ideas, to work freely on various projects. Thus, this project has demonstrated high efficiency and value in acquainting society with China's cultural heritage.

МИСТЕЦЬКИЙ ОБРАЗ УКРАЇНСЬКОГО НАРОДНОГО КОСТЮМА В ЖАНРОВОМУ ПОРТРЕТІ УКРАЇНСЬКИХ ХУДОЖНИКІВ (РОСІЙСЬКО-УКРАЇНСЬКА ВІЙНА 2022 р.)

Author(s): Svetlana Dolesko / Language(s): Ukrainian Issue: 41/2022

Purpose of Research. The purpose of the research is to determine the reasons and nature of the evolution of the female portrait in Ukrainian painting during the period of Russia's military aggression against Ukraine. Methodology. The work is based on a general scientific complex approach, which combined the methods of art history, cultural, philosophical and aesthetical. The methods of pictorial-stylistic, comparative and compositional-artistic analysis of the works were used. Scientific Novelty. The scientific novelty of the work is the first attempt to analyse the artistic image of the Ukrainian folk costume as a fundamental component of the image of a «beregyna» woman in Ukrainian painting during the war of 2022. It is proven that female images in Ukrainian folk dress has become the leading motif of patriotic painting. Conclusions. The research examines the characteristic features of the use of the artistic image of the Ukrainian national costume in female portrait painting during the period of military operations of Russia against Ukraine in 2022. It is highlighted that the complex of Ukrainian traditional clothing and its elements in artistic works is a symbol of the indomitability of the Ukrainian nation, its connection with the past and respect for folk culture. The works contain the «breathing» of the real world with its tragic events, the reflection of the psycho-emotional state of the society through female images, the combination of ancient and modern folklore, and an emphasis on national identity. A modern Ukrainian woman, dealt with the emotional direction of the work and the use of one or another element of the constume, appears as a Young Girl, Beregynya, Madonna, Warrior. So, we can state that the artistic image of the Ukrainian national costume in genre female portrait painting occupies a special place in the period of the psychological cataclysms in the Ukrainian society in 2022 and it is an effective tool to unite the Ukrainian nation and encourage the preservation of the territorial, spiritual, historical and cultural integrity of Ukraine .

РЕЦЕПЦІЇ МИКОЛИ ЛИСЕНКА У ВІЗУАЛЬНИХ АРТЕФАКТАХ МИТЦІВ ГАЛИЧИНИ

Author(s): Olha Kuznetsova / Language(s): Ukrainian Issue: 42/2022

The purpose of the article is to discover and reveal the symbolism of the artefacts by painters, sculptors, carvers, and other artists of Galicia, dedicated to Mykola Lysenko’s personality and achievements. The research methodology. The historical-retrospective method has been applied to find materials and documents about the existence of artefacts, determine the chronology and motivation for their appearance. The system-analytic method has enabled their systematisation by the types of visual arts and for analytical observations. The interdisciplinary method has been used to highlight the connections between music and visual arts through the embodiment of the composer's images by their representatives. The scientific novelty is that the topic is being considered for the first time. The Galician painters’ creativity was especially intensified before the celebration of Mykola Lysenko’s 35th work anniversary in 1903, and due to the composer’s 100th anniversary gala during the German occupation of Lviv in 1942. The peculiarities of the images of Lysenko by Ivan Trush, Osyp Kurylas and others, their stylistics and symbolism are considered. The problem also affects other artistic and visual gifts, which later became exhibits in the Lysenko room-museum at the Lviv Conservatory. Conclusions. Visual artefacts indicate piety to the founder of the national school of composers, his spiritual influence, which was spread not only among the musicians, but also the visual arts’ representatives. The Galician artists – painters, carvers, sculptors and architects, involved in artistic Lysenko Studies, were inspired by his bright image and purposeful service to the Ukrainian national culture. Most of them originated from Galicia (Ivan Trush, Osyp Kurylas, Yaroslav Pstrak, Mykhailo Parashchuk, Yulian Pankevych), others stayed and worked in Lviv for some time (Mykhailo Mykhalevych and Serhiy Lytvynenko). These artefacts became a kind of manifestation of the Artist-Patriot’ idealisation, his culture-creative mission.

Close up theater - an innovation in stage art studies

Author(s): Dritan Boriçi / Language(s): English Issue: 21/2022

In this article we will try to offer a new perspective on the theater, and we will try to include the theater in other spaces to create artistic values, including digital technology. Since its beginning, the theater space has been a place to see, to watch, to present, to perceive, to understand. So, in a basic sense, theater has been and is a first pathway. At the core of the theatrical experience – as Peter Brook suggests – is the act of watching and being watched. Throughout the history of Western culture, the theater has been a primitive dance circle, a Greek amphitheater, a church, an Elizabethan stage, a market square, a garage, a street, a front stage theater, a Broadway theater, a theater house university, a restored warehouse or recently, even a digital platform on our laptop, computer, or mobile phone. Close-up theater is a continuation of the conceptual changes that took place with theater spaces – and therefore – with the way of watching theater. In the past decades, Jerzy Grotowski in Poland, Ariane Mnoushkin in Paris, Peter Shuman in Vermont and Peter Brook from Africa in Avignon, France, have organized the theater space in different ways to bring the audience and the actors as close as possible to each other. Peter Brook discovered one of the most significant axioms of future theater development by concluding: “I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks along this empty space while someone else is watching him, and that is all that is needed to be the starting point for an act of theater.” So, our computer screen is also an empty space where a man (actor) appears in front of us at a predetermined moment and we see him, a starting point for a theater act – recently labeled the theater of the relative plane. The signs of close-up theater can also be found in other performances, on the Albanian and world stage, but this way of making theater had its rapid development during the global quarantine imposed by COVID 19. Theaters all over the world interrupted the repertoire with their premieres. Until those moments, digital technology had contributed a lot to the process of advertising the show, being an important part of publicity. Facebook, YouTube, etc. they distributed posters, the processes of preparing a show, or interviews of theater makers, critical articles, various information, to stimulate the interest of the spectator. As a result, the elements of a close-up theater were born: 1. Demand for investment in digital technology 2. The necessity to rediscover virtual artistic forms. 3. Adaptation of the home environment to work environment for artistic production. 4. Elements such as mobile phone, computer, laptop, - internet for the realization of the production. 5. The whole process of tests is feasible including individual and collective tests. 6. The process of improvisation and mixing with live music is realized.

Tentativele de recuperare a modernității creatoare în muzica și artele vizuale din România la mijlocul anilor '60 ai secolului trecut

Author(s): Veronica Turcuş / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 2/2022

The insertion of Soviet models in Romanian culture after the Second World War and the imposition of socialist realism as a unique method of creation from 1948 were outclassed in the mid-1960s, when an attempt was made to revalue artists and writers' modernity and creative integrity. The phenomenon is also noticeable in the evolution of Romanian cinema, which now records a revitalization of co-productions with the participation of Western directors, actors and production houses, in parallel with the affirmation of the Epic of National Film's project, which represents the national reaction and delimitation of Moscow policy in the field of culture. The Romanian documentary film comes out of the tight strap of politics and subjects pertinent to socialist realism, choosing subjects from the fine and elitist universe of the arts; the fiction film begins to deal with sometimes awkward themes in the era, the controlled opening of the second half of the seventh decade also allowing for less rigid productions, which leaves room for interpretation. The gradual overcoming of ideological conventions is observable in action, adventure, love, comedy, western, detective, thriller, SF movies. After 1965 and in the '70s, comedy films, westerns or inspired by cape and sword films were made, in accordance with the filmography of the period in the West, and the Romanian musical presented other characteristics and sources of inspiration compared to the musical art proposed in USSR and in a number of Eastern European states, referring directly to classical productions of the genre in the West. In the mid-1960s, there was an evolution of music in the sense of modern forms (at that time symbolized by the dodecaphonism of the second Viennese school). In the field of visual arts, there was an emancipation of creative models and techniques, alternative art becoming a symbol of connecting the Romanian cultural process to Western Europe.

Модерното изкуство – двуликият Янус

Author(s): Valentin Angelov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2023

Russian Constructivists and “De Stijl” don’t make autonomic Art, but are looking for a universal principle for total reorganization of the human environment; in such way they hope to remove the chaos and ugliness. Beginning with enlarging the boundaries of Art, they are coming to the idea of Art without Aesthetics.

PRILOG ISTRAŽIVANJU BAROKNE FAZE CRKVE SV. LOVRE U POŽEGI

Author(s): Dora Novak / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 22/2022

The aim of this paper is to present the least researched stylistic period of originally medieval church of St. Lawrence in Požega – baroque. Church of St. Lawrence was donated by the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia Leopold I of Habsburg to the Society of Jesus at the end of the 17th century. The church was rebuilt in the spirit of post-Tridentine rebuilding. Interventions were carried out on the architecture of the church according to the instructions of Charles Borromeo, followed by the purchase of art equipment according to the guidelines of the last 25th convocation of the Council of Trent held in the year 1563. The church was decorated with the main illusionist altar with the altarpiece of St. Lawrence, the altars of the main nave dedicated to St. Joseph and St. Francis Xavier, altar of St. Cross in the side nave erected by the Brotherhood of St. Cross and the altar of St. Aloysius Gonzaga leaned against one of the arcade logs between the mane and side nave. To this day, only the altars of St. Joseph and St. Francis Xavier and the sculptural group from the altar of St. Cross were preserved as they were, after the abolition of the Jesuit order, transferred to the parish church of St. Mary Magdalene in Bebrina. Altar paintings of St. Joseph and St. Francis Xavier were replaced by sculptures of St. Joseph and the cave of Our Lady of Lourdes in the first half of the 20th century. As in most Jesuit churches throughout Croatia and the rest of Europe, St. Lawrence church in Požega had a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Loreto (the first chapel of Our Lady of Loreto in the Kingdom of Slavonia) which was demolished during the restoration of the church in the first half of the 19th century. In addition to the illusionist painting of the Loreto Chapel and the main altar of the church, the ceiling of the main nave of the church was also painted with scenes of the martyrdom of St. Lawrence and an illusionist dome (which marked the first appearance of illusionist painting in Croatia) modeled on that of the Jesuit church in Vienna by the famous Italian painter of the time Andrea Pozzo. The illusionist dome was unfortunately removed during later renovations of the church, so that only remaining relics of the Jesuit period are the sculpture of the so-called „Thallerova Gospa“ and the tombstone of Franjo Ksaver Pejačević. After the abolition of the Jesuit order in 1773, the Jesuits left Požega, and St. Lawrence church passed into the hands of the Pauline order from Lepoglava when its gradual decline began until the neo-Gothic restoration during the 19th and 20th century, and a complete renovation at the end of the 20th century after which the church of St. Lawrence became the Episcopal Chapel.

Zprávy Literárního archivu

Author(s): Petr Kotyk,Martin Firon,Helena Šebestová,Yvetta Dörflová,Milan Kodejš,Karol Bílek,Jarmila Schreiberová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 54/2022

Kierunki rozwoju najnowszej literatury dziecięcej w świetle zgłoszeń do Nagrody Żółtej Ciżemki (w roku 2021)

Author(s): Alicja Baluch / Language(s): Polish Issue: 4/2022

Alicja Baluch discusses recent developments in Polish small children’s literature on the basis of books submitted to the Yellow Ciżemka Award in literature, which has been awarded by the Krakow Library since 2017. Baluch emphasizes that among the entrants are many young authors, including graphic designers and illustrators, who are making their debut. The works she analyses are dominated by visual over verbal methods of narration as well as the forms of picture book and toy book. Among the new solutions, in both verbal and pictorial narratives, particularly noticeable are the interactive motifs of traces, threads, and canvases.

Брюсов и Хокусай: Заметка об одном эротическом образе

Author(s): Pavel Uspensky / Language(s): Russian Issue: 9/2022

This article concerns the likely source of an erotic image from Valery Bryusov’s hoax poem collection Stikhi Nelli (Nelli’s Poems). It shows that the image of an octopus copulating with a woman in the culmination of the poem “Nochnoi ropot” (“Night Murmur”), is related to Japanese erotic engravings (shunga), and originates from Hokusai’s woodblock print “The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife” (1814). Thus, the source established supports the idea that shunga inspired European modernist poetry in its search for a new erotic language.

Space and Sequence: A Topography of Here

Author(s): Luka Bekavac / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2022

Richard McGuire’s Here, an “artist book disguised as a graphic novel”, follows a single viewpoint over a multimillennial timespan. Pursuing potential storylines on several apparently incompatible levels (gestural, historical, evolutionary, cosmic), this ostensibly simple concept provides a broad template for exploring non-linear narrative capacities of printed media: it could be examined as a non-anthropocentric visualization of a chronotope (Bakhtin), an SF staging of espacement (Derrida), an exemplary ergodic text (Aarseth), an exercise in tactile multimodality or collage fiction (Gibbons). The common ground of these perspectives is the material framework of a codex: the corner of a room depicted in the majority of Here’s pages structurally limits the potentially endless diversity of content, while also metonymically playing upon its own isomorphic relation to the book as a three-dimensional object. This disrupts the temporality of reading and storytelling in a variety of ways, and the article focuses on Here’s ambivalent position regarding the factors of sequence and simultaneity, narrative and spatiality.

THE ART OF PERESTROIKA: NEW MOVEMENTS IN GEORGIAN ART OF THE 1980s

Author(s): Ketevan Tsetskhladze / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2022

The study of Georgian art of the perestroika is very important, especially in the context of the history of art movements of the 1980s, linked to the establishment of the non-official art groups in Tbilisi. The aim of this article is to analyze the history of the establishment of the art groups Archivarius (1984) and Tenth Floor (1986) and to discuss the art movements of the 1980s in Tbilisi. The generation of Georgian artists involved in the nonofficial art groups fundamentally changed the art scene of that period and played an important role of the development of contemporary art in Georgia. Perestroika, associated with Mikhail Gorbachev’s policy of openness, contributed to a shift in political and sociocultural discourse throughout the Soviet Union and also played an important role in the artistic processes in Georgia. All the events that took place in the 1980s art scene of Tbilisi portray a vigorous willingness to hasten away from the Soviet dimension and maintain the memory of a historical discourse. Some artists found a way out through emigration; others discovered an intangible shelter via working collectively. Perestroika had clearly formed a special environment in which things that were previously unseen became visible. The Georgian avant-garde managed to create its own sui generis aesthetic and theoretical principles in just a decade, alongside expressing postmodernist hues at certain points.

Arts, crafts and industrial design in Silesia in the first globalization and their non-obvious genres, media and practices

Author(s): Ksenia Stanicka-Brzezicka / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2022

This paper aims to outline the processes of formation of industrial design on a concrete example of the art and industrial landscape of Silesia, with particular regard to the role played by non-obvious genres, media and practices. It is about processes of developing of instances of pluralism and areas of “non-obviousness” at the interface of artistic, economic and social aspects, i.e. areas and phenomena that overlapped or were only vaguely defined, in the late 19th and turn of the 20th century. It is reflected as a result of many developments that began during the industrial revolution and are still affecting the world today, politically, economically, socially and culturally.

„La difesa del ciel vince ogni sforza“ Symbolical Presentation of the Habsburgs’ Dynastic Situation in the Operas Il fuoco eterno custodito dalle Vestali (1674) and Costanza e Fortezza (1723)

Author(s): Irena Veselá / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2022

The subject of this study is a comparison of the symbolic messages of two festive court musical dramatic works. The first of these was performed in 1674 at the wedding of the Habsburg emperor Leopold I and his second wife Claudia Felicitas of Tyrol, and the second in 1723 at the Bohemian coronation of his son, Emperor Charles VI. The reason for the comparison of these two operas is the fact that both originated in times of an absence of male successors, when there was a real danger of the extinction of the Habsburg dynasty in the male line. The author believes that because of this fact, the two rulers abandoned the demonstration of strength and power and deliberately did not depict themselves on a symbolic level as gods of antiquity (Jupiter or Apollo) or as absolute rulers of the ancient Roman empire. On the contrary, the plot takes place in both operas in the period of the ancient Roman republic, which its citizens protect from enemy invasion. However, they can do this only through the intervention of the gods and the practice of virtues, not by force. The third common feature of both works is the rejection of offers of politically-motivated marriages between the Romans and enemy dynasties to maintain and protect the Roman state. Despite these common dynastic-political messages in both operas, each of the two monarchs presents a different solution to the unfavourable situation at a symbolic level: while Leopold I declares hope for the early arrival of male offspring, Charles VI, on the other hand, defends the Pragmatic Sanction.