Figure to assemble and paint
Ref.: 14 – GE
Weight: 150 grs.
Material: White metal
Number of Pieces: 16
Historical Review:

Pedro Pablo Abarca de Bolea. Count of Aranda – 1777

Pedro Pablo Abarca de Bolea y Ximénez de Urrea – 10th Count of Aranda, (Siétamo, Huesca, 1719 – Épila, Zaragoza, 1798). Among the chapters of his life in the service of four kings: Philip V, Ferdinand VI, Charles III and Charles IV, it is difficult to establish a scale of values that accurately measures this twice-great Aragonese of the 1st class, who became the youngest captain general of Charles III and who achieved, among other goals, ambassador to Portugal (1755-56), director general of Artillery and Engineers (1756-58), ambassador to Poland (1760-62), commander-in-chief of the army that invaded Portugal (1762-63), president of the High Military Court that tried the officers who lost Havana, conquered by the English (1764-65), captain general, president of the Audiencia and viceroy of Valencia (1765-66), President of the Council of Castile and Captain General of the same kingdom (1766-1773), Ambassador and Minister Plenipotentiary of Spain in Paris (1773-1787) and, finally, Acting Secretary of State or Prime Minister of Charles IV (1792), later continuing as Dean of the Council of State (1793-94).

The Count of Aranda was, above all, a soldier by vocation and profession. However, despite his active participation in the campaigns in Italy, where at the age of twenty-one he attained the rank of colonel in the infantry, and in Portugal, where he became captain general at the age of forty-three, his military career was a failure, as he was unable to pursue it due to being entrusted with other diplomatic and political positions. Thus, neither in the War of Morocco (1774), nor in the disaster of Algiers (1775), nor in the first siege of Gibraltar (1779-80), nor in the conquest of Menorca (1781), nor in the second siege of Gibraltar (1782) did he manage to get Charles III to call on him, despite his pleas, aspirations and even intemperance to achieve this end. This aspect of the count has not been properly appreciated, even though it is undoubtedly his most outstanding personal qualification. And although, as he himself stated, he was involved in many other activities: as a ruler, diplomat, industrialist (remember his ceramics factory in Alcora) …, he professed no love as great as that for his military profession, a passion that left us two works, still in force today, namely the Military Ordinances and the Royal Anthem, which he brought back as a gift from Prussia.
However, despite this extraordinary political and military record, which could be complemented by his honours, pre-eminence and twenty-three noble titles, the Count of Aranda remains largely unknown. Moreover, within the facile and false historiography of good and bad, winners and losers, the Count has been cast in the role of the “bad guy”. He is rarely mentioned except to recall his encyclopaedic and Voltairean character (with all the negative connotations this has in certain minds), his enmity towards the Jesuits, his friendship with the French revolutionaries or his alleged founding of Spanish Freemasonry; clichés that form a stereotypical portrait of Aranda and which, unfortunately, are still repeated ad nauseam today. This is, so to speak, the “official” image of Aranda. However, his true image is quite different, as he was not as impious or encyclopaedic as is claimed, nor was he a close friend of Voltaire, nor, of course, a grand master of Freemasonry, nor even an enemy of the Jesuits, but rather the opposite.
Of the three embassies he held, in Lisbon, Warsaw and Paris, his participation in the Third Family Pact and later in the negotiations that led to the independence of the American colonies and the constitution of the United States of America are particularly noteworthy.

There is evidence of his concern for preserving Spain’s overseas possessions, which was an obsession for Aranda and led him to propose a series of solutions that were not taken up, even though history would ultimately prove him right, demonstrating his prophetic vision of the future.

During the reign of Charles III, new ordinances were issued with the aim of summarising all those existing from previous reigns. General officers continued to wear the same insignia and were authorised to wear suede or white leather jackets and breeches for horse riding. The different ranks continued to be distinguished by the feathers on their hats, the embroidery on their jackets, the braiding on their lapels, sashes, etc.