The institutions of the Kingdom of Navarre, particularly its Diputación, through their respective printers, paid for the largest illustrated business publishing house of the 18th century in the Comunidad Foral: the editions of the Annals of Moret and Alesón. internship Both for the first destroyed edition (1750-1757) and for the second (1766), the commission for the drawings and matrices fell entirely on an Aragonese master who went to Pamplona, the painter and engraver José Lamarca.

The alliance between the pen and the brush or the engraver's chisels was a commonplace internship in European history books since the previous century. Thus, M. de Mezeray, in his History of France of 1685, states in a very enlightening paragraph on the relationship between images and texts: "The history that I have undertaken is made up of two parts: the pen and the engraver's point are engaged in a noble combat over which will better represent the objects treated".

The fact that not only an abundant documentation has been preserved, but also all the preparatory drawings of the second edition, some plates and numerous state proofs, place us before a fund of first magnitude, not only in Spain, but also in Europe, for being able to reconstruct the creative process of the images, which ended up illustrating the headers of the different books into which the referred Annals are divided.
 

History and identity

The reprinting of the history of Navarre must be contextualized at a time when the kingdom's status was threatened by the centralist reforms of the Bourbons. In the previous century, the first edition obeyed a desire to counteract the centralizing attempts of the monarchy of Philip IV, rescuing a glorious past, as a foundation of a renewed "foralism", vindicating the historical report own, seriously altered by foreign authors, at a time when the fueros and ultimately written request, the very entity of the kingdom, seemed to be in danger. In plenary session of the Executive Council Century of Enlightenment, the "fueros" constituted the main sign of identity for Navarre, as a collectivity. That status constituted for some an uncomfortable archaism, especially in the reign of Charles III, when the attacks against the "fueros" became a permanent attitude and, in a very special way, from 1766 onwards, when the Count of Aranda came to power and Campomanes did not argue about specific matters of economic or military subject , but about the very foundation of the foral regime. The Diputación del Reino must have thought that the books by Moret and Alesón would be very useful as historical support in that status.

The publication was planned with images, so that propaganda and persuasion were, if possible, more assured. It must be taken into account that the topic of the images of the past, deeds and portraits of the monarchs of Navarre, in large groups, would not be treated again in the artistic figuration until exactly a century later, in another very different context but with some similarity. We refer to the decoration of the throne room of the Palacio de Diputación, a work that was undertaken when Navarre had passed from kingdom to province, after the convulsion of the Carlist War, when, by virtue of the Ley Paccionada (1841), numerous singularities were still preserved on the basis of a peculiar past, which would be worth remembering on the occasion of the visit of Queen Isabel II to Pamplona, which, by the way, was not carried out.
 

The illustrated edition of the Annals

The 1766 edition of the Annals was published by the printer Pascual Ibáñez at position between 1764, when he signed the agreement with the Diputación del Reino, and 1766, when it was published. The draughtsman and engraver chosen was the same of the ill-fated previous edition illustrated with engravings of the kings of Navarre, José Lamarca, whose work in the Aragonese capital is documented between 1759 and 1779. For Navarra he made some devotional prints of some importance, such as the engravings of San Fermín in his tabernacle, San Veremundo and the Virgin of Ujué. Taking advantage of his stay in Pamplona he made some commissions, such as the transverberation of Saint Teresa for the book Días y obras admirables de N. S., Madre Teresa de Jesús, by Roque Alberto Faci (Pamplona, Herederos de Martínez, 1764) and a plate of Saint Jude Thaddeus (1765). 

Lamarca's authorship of the drawings and plates is proven by the signatures on some of the engravings, as well as by numerous documentary testimonies, among which the detailed accounts of each work stand out. The cover of the edition was commissioned in Madrid to the prestigious Juan de la Cruz Cano y Olmedilla and some small ornamental and heraldic details were the work of the Pamplona silversmiths José Yábar and Manuel de Beramendi.
 

Chosen theme

The engravings appear at the head of the chapters, with historical themes of deeds corresponding to the different reigns. The message that underlies all the illustrations is multiple, always with the intention of highlighting some facts and, above all, some ideas about the different stages and reigns. In the first place, we find some images referring to the rooting of the faith, the foundation on the Church of all the reality of the Kingdom, even representing miraculous events, such as the finding of the body of San Fermin or the battle of Simancas. There is no lack of allusions to the geographical configuration of the Kingdom, the reconquest, the preeminence of the Christian kings over the Muslims, and even those that go beyond our borders, such as the participation in the crusades and, of course, the Navas de Tolosa. In other representations, the bravery of the Navarrese people is exalted, shown in battles, sieges of cities and other singular acts of arms and, of course, the love and respect of the people for their sovereigns, who are represented adorned with all the Christian and moral virtues. All these keys are discovered in the representation of certain facts, intentionally sought, which show the desire to sing glories and excellences of sovereigns, peoples and armies. Some emblematic themes could not be absent from the illustrations, since the symbolic culture of the Baroque extended until later dates, such as the reign of Charles III.
 

Surveillance of the edition and its images: from preparatory drawings to proofs and final printings

The Jesuit Joaquín Solano (Pamplona, 1723-Rome, 1803) was in charge of the supervision of the edition, who possessed a wide culture and good gifts as an orator and writer. Lamarca received several apostilles to the preparatory drawings, in order to correct from small details to more precise visualizations of miracles and historical facts.

The totality of the preparatory drawings and state proofs constitute one of the monuments of graphic art in Navarre and in Spain, to which must be added the conservation of several plates for the engravings of the headings of different books, which complete a truly extraordinary set in the history of the engraving of the XVIII century in the peninsula. The set of graphic work is conserved in the file Municipal de Pamplona and thirteen matrices in the file General de Navarra, together with the plate for the title page signed in Madrid by the prestigious Juan de la Cruz Cano y Olmedilla.

The observations and corrections that were imposed on the draftsman and engraver by the Diputación and Father Solano affect details in order to make the story narrated in the graphic composition more intense. On only one occasion was he ordered to make a new preparatory drawing, and in some cases a couple of options for the same passage have been retained. In only one case did the draftsman and engraver, José Lamarca, issue a warning. It is about the scene of the battle of Simancas, where he warns that "to signify clearly and distinctly the three bundles of the army, it is not convenient that they are all fighting, because it would be confusing as well as to signify the saints in the air, I have put the mitre, if you do not like it I will remove it".

We will quote some rectifications made from the preparatory drawings. In the scene of the beheading of St. Hermenegild, he is warned that the saint should look at the angels carrying the crown and the palm of triumph.

In the case of the finding of the body of San Fermín, he is asked for more rhetoric -angels, lightning ...etc- and the presence of the three almond trees of the miracle. Specifically, the indications that Lamarca received consisted of adding "some clergymen, many flowers, the earth moved, the brightness of the throne to the earth and erasing the pedestal, a country and three kinds of trees, one with flower, another with fruit buds and another with seasoned fruit, somewhat inclined branches with the weight of it" . In the scene of the battle of Albelda they demand "more harnesses and dead Moors", as talking elements of the victory of King Don Garcia. In the representation of the battle of Simancas, won by the Moors and illustrated in the tenth book of the Annals, on the other hand, many slaughtered Christians, men, women and children were asked to be added at the foot of the walls in order to increase the tragic message.

The detail of the dress was also subject to correction, in the case of the betrothal of Sancho III el Deseado and Doña Blanca, which sealed the peace between Castile and Navarre in the middle of the 12th century. The drawing presented to the Diputación was C with the following warning: "if the Infanta is dressed in the dress that was used at that time, the armies have many more people and weapons and some more tents, this drawing is approved". José Lamarca took into account these details and substituted the attire of the Infanta, in the drawing with a cuirass over the talar dress, and in the engraving without it and with a kind of habit with scapular and headdresses.

In the illustration of the thirty-sixth book glossing the battle of San Adrián in 1312, in which the Sangüesinos defeated the Aragonese and snatched the royal standard from them, José Lamarca was obliged to place armed people and convert the castle in the background to Shrine of Our Lady of Fair Love. It was also pointed out to him that in the scene of the liberation of Charles II, "some horses with two servants and two horses and two servants" should be added, something that the engraver did punctually.