ABSTRACT
The reality of enlightenment in Spain becomes even clearer when we add another attribute to the list: a seriousness of purpose. It was an outstanding achievement of the eighteenth-century European printing industry and proof that the Spanish government's encouragement of printing had begun to reap its harvest. Fortunately, the intellectuals found in the Bourbon court and government a virtual fever of artistic devotion. No wonder neoclassicism, especially in architecture, became the virtual house style of Spanish enlightened reformers. Other provocative frivolities could be found across Spain's cities in the newly gained freedoms of wives in aristocratic and bourgeois households, as examined by Carmen Martn Gaite. Most, however, carried out their duties across Madrid or Spain, only occasionally having to put in an appearance, for example on gala days, in court dress. Thus, for the academicians, the court comprised the higher levels of government; the royal household, its administration and service of all kinds; and courtiers and servants of all ranks.
