L'immagine del sovrano e le insegne del potere regale nei monumenti della città di Vijayanagara (1336-1575).

The aim of the study is to identify the characteristics of the royal iconography in the period when Vijayanagara was the capital of the homonymous kingdom (1336-1565). The analysis begins with two iconographic models that are placed at two chronological extremes: one is dated to the period immediately following the foundation of the city (half of the 14th century) and the other shortly before its abandonment in 1565. In outlining the characteristics of the image of the sovereign, a fundamental role is played by royal insignia, the objects which accompany the dynast in his public appearances and which, in the figurative field, constitute important iconographic attributes. Being aware of the risk inherent in what can be defined as the “genre effect”, i.e. the tendency of artist to represent, almost in a standardized way, the symbols that one expected to appear on a given occasion, and not those that actually appeared there, the iconographic analysis will also take into consideration the testimonies present in the numerous travel reports written by foreign ambassadors and merchants who visited the city of Vijayanagara between the 15th and 16th centuries. In these chronicles the figure of sovereign is described in great detail.