ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book. This book presents the cultural relations between Spain and Rome in the early eighteenth century and study of delicate diplomacy and artistic nuance. Under Bourbon rule, literature and visual arts of Spain witnessed fundamental changes that were unprecedented in her history. Though the Bourbon succession primarily occurred on Iberian Peninsula, relations between the Spanish crown and Hapsburg court that it succeeded were played out largely by foreign diplomats in Rome, with papacy maintaining unpredictable role. Buildings do not travel particularly well either, except in descriptions and images, and therefore the transmission of architectural thought is always one of adaptation and reinterpretation. This is certainly true of eighteenth-century Spain, where French, Italian, and Spanish architectural traditions vied with one another for preeminence. In this sense one can say that buildings, like people, have temperaments, and architectural relations between Spain and Rome in eighteenth century certainly mirrored such relations.
