La imagen circulante del rey: el sello postal y las representaciones visuales de la nación en España (1849-1882)

Documents of value (coins, stamps, banknotes) carry images with identity references. They also have a political discourse regarding the Nation, Republic, Monarchy, Empire, Europe and so on that circulates among the population. This article aims to study this phenomenon in relation to the fixation of an image of the nation associated with the monarchy through the postal stamp. The dialogue between State, Monarchy and Nation through the image and text printed on the stamp allows us to study the consequences of these iconographic and textual elements on the political imaginary. The daily visualization of the monarchy through the postage stamp, with the head of the monarch and the national coat of arms, helped fix in the minds of the citizens the icon of the liberal nation of which the King and the Queen were symbols.