City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 2-2014 Maniera Devota/mano Donnesca: Women, Virtue And Visual Imagery During The Counter-Reformation In The Papal States, 1575-1675 Patricia Rocco Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/101 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] MANIERA DEVOTA/MANO DONNESCA WOMEN, VIRTUE AND VISUAL IMAGERY DURING THE COUNTER-REFORMATION IN THE PAPAL STATES, 1575-1675 by PATRICIA ROCCO A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Art History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The City University of New York 2014 ©2014 PATRICIA ROCCO All Rights Reserved ii This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Art History in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Professor James Saslow Date Chair of Executive Committee Professor Claire Bishop Date Executive Officer Professor James Saslow Professor Elinor Richter Professor Barbara Lane Supervisory Committee THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii Abstract MANIERA DEVOTA/MANO DONNESCA WOMEN, VIRTUE AND VISUAL IMAGERY DURING THE COUNTER-REFORMATION IN THE PAPAL STATES, 1575-1675 by Patricia Rocco Adviser: Professor James Saslow The history of women’s participation in religious movements during the Early Modern period in Europe has long been less commented upon in modern scholarship than that of their male counterparts. This project will enlarge our understanding of the participation of women in the visual program of the Counter-Reformation in the Papal State of Bologna.1 The study focuses on Bologna since the city had an unprecedented large group of active women artists as well as being a crucial site of Catholic reform. Knowledge of Bologna’s women is still incomplete; therefore this dissertation is structured as a series of interlinked case studies, some of which rescue forgotten artists, while others add a new dimension to better-known figures. This research thus takes a necessarily broad approach, combining aspects of iconography, patronage, gender studies, and reception studies; it also integrates media neglected in previous studies such as prints and embroidery. The goal is to insert these artists into the larger philosophical and theoretical context of the city’s intellectual history, first by investigating the links between religion, science, and naturalism; and second, by unpacking critical terms from the historiography of style that came to bear on their work. Lastly, the project explores the city’s concern with women’s virtue, as it is a constant thread woven into visual imagery of all media, 1 The Papal States in the sixteenth century: Rome, Bologna, Ravenna, Rimini, and Umbria. iv from the sixteenth into the seventeenth century. The synthesis of all this material will produce a wider view of the still understudied and ill-documented relationship between women, religion and the visual arts in the complex period of the Counter-Reformation. v Acknowledgements This labor of love is dedicated to the mani donnesche, cloistered in the conservatori, while sewing their way to virtue, as well as to those who guided and supported me throughout the long road of this journey: to my loving parents, Giovanni and Gilda, my friends and fellow students, especially Catherine, the Art History Department at the Graduate Center, and most of all to my life’s companion Erik, without whose love and support this project would not have been completed. It is also dedicated to my inspiring professors: Professor Elinor Richter, Professor Barbara Lane, and to my outside reader, Professor Babette Bohn. Finally my greatest and unending gratitude goes to my adviser Professor James Saslow, who played Virgil to my Dante and guided me through the Inferno and the Purgatorio with his wisdom, to finally reach the Paradiso at the end of this project. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS viii INTRODUCTION 1 Chapter 1. Bologna as Exemplum Counter-Reformation City: The Intellectual History of the City and Its Scholars 19 Chapter 2. Tridentine Visual Reform in Paleotti’s Discorso: The Modes of the Artifice Cristiano in both Theory and Practice 43 Chapter 3. Stitching for Virtue: Women’s Work in Embroidery for the Conservatori or Christian Houses of Reform in Bologna 100 Chapter 4. Felsina Pittrice: Elisabetta Sirani, Her Students and Circle, and the Maniera Devota 133 Chapter 5. Veronica Fontana and Giuseppe Maria Mitelli: Prints, Piety and Science in the Work of Sirani’s Students and Colleagues 173 CONCLUSION 217 APPENDIX 224 BIBLIOGRAPHY 230 ILLUSTRATIONS 251 vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1. Lavinia Fontana, Self-Portrait, 1577. Oil on canvas. Rome, Galleria dell’Accademia di S. Luca. Figure 2. Elisabetta Sirani, Self-Portrait, 1658. Oil on canvas. Moscow, Pushkin Museum. Figure 3. Giuseppe Maria Mitelli. Interior view of the Museo Cospiano. Etching. From Lorenzo Legati, Museo Cospiano, Bologna, 1677. New York, Metropolitan Museum. Figure 4. Raphael, Ecstasy of St. Cecilia, 1515. Oil on canvas. Bologna, Church of San Giovanni in Monte. Figure 5. Francesco Francia, The Virgin and Child with St. Nicholas and St. Cecilia, 1490s. Oil on canvas. London, Wernher Collection. Figure 6. Perugino, The Crucifixion (Galitzin Triptych), 1481-85. Oil on fabric transferred to wood. Washington, National Gallery of Art. Figure 7a. Hans Memling, Diptych of Maarten van Nieuwenhove, 1487. Oil on oak panel. Bruges, Memlingmuseum. Figure 7b. Jan van Eyck, Madonna of Chancellor Rolin, circa 1434-5. Oil on panel. Louvre, Paris. Figure 8. Lavinia Fontana, Portrait of Carlo Sigonio, 1578. Oil on canvas. Modena, Museo Civico, Sala Armi. Figure 9. Agostino Carracci, Portrait of Ulisse Aldrovandi (frame by Giovanni Valesio). Engraving. From Ulisse Aldrovandi, Ornithologiae hoc est de avibus historiae libri XII, Bologna, 1599. London, British Museum. Figure 10. Jacopo Ligozzi, Fig Branch with Two Birds. Tempera and watercolor. From Tavole di Animale, Bologna, 1600. Bologna, Biblioteca Universitaria di Bologna. Figure 11. Jacopo Ligozzi, Bird of Paradise and Exotic Finch on Fig Branch. Woodcut. From Ulisse Aldrovandi, Ornithologiae hoc est de avibus historiae libri XII, Bologna, 1599. Washington, Library of Congress. Figure 12. Jacopo Ligozzi, Branch with Bird. Tempera and watercolor. From Tavole di animali, Bologna, 1600, Bologna, Biblioteca Universitaria di Bologna. Figure 13. Jacopo Ligozzi, Branch with Bird. Woodcut. From Ulisse Aldrovandi, Ornithologiae hoc est de avibus historiae libri XII, Bologna, 1599. Biblioteca Universitaria di Bologna. viii Figure 14. Frontispiece. Engraving. From Ulisse Aldrovandi, Ornithologiae hoc est de avibus historiae libri XII, Bologna, 1599. Biblioteca Universitaria di Bologna. Figure 15. Jacopo Ligozzi, Self-Portrait, engraving. Figure 16. Cornelius Schwindt, Illustrations for Aldrovandi from Tavole di Animali, 1600. Figure 17. The Boncompagni Dragon. Woodcut. From Ulisse Aldrovandi, Monstrorum Historia, Bologna, 1642. Bologna, Biblioteca Universitaria di Bologna. Figure 18. Lavinia Fontana, Vision of Saint Hyacinth, 1599. Oil on canvas. Rome, Church of Santa Sabina, Chapel of Saint Hyacinth. Figure 19. Lavinia Fontana, St. Agnes, 1611-14. Oil on slate. Rome, Church of Santa Maria della Pace, Rivaldi Chapel. Figure 20. Lavinia Fontana, St. Cecilia, 1611-14. Oil on slate. Rome, Church of Santa Maria della Pace, Rivaldi Chapel. Figure 21. Lavinia Fontana, St. Catherine of Siena, 1611-14. Oil on slate. Rome, Church of Santa Maria della Pace, Rivaldi Chapel. Figure 22. Lavinia Fontana, St. Claire, 1611-14. Oil on slate. Rome, Church of Santa Maria della Pace, Rivaldi Chapel. Figure 23. Jacques Callot, engraved copy after Lavinia Fontana, The Stoning of St. Stephen, 1603-4. Original destroyed by fire in 1823. Oil on canvas. Previously Rome, San Paolo Fuori le Mura. Figure 24. Lavinia Fontana, Cleopatra, 1604-14. Oil on canvas. Rome, Galleria Spada. Figure 25. Mummified body of Caterina Vigri (1413-1463). Bologna, Santuario del Corpus Domini. Figure 26. Properzia de’ Rossi, Joseph Fleeing Potiphar’s Wife, 1525. Marble. Bologna, Museo di San Petronio. Figure 27a. Properzia de’ Rossi, Grassi family crest, early 16th century. Filigreed silver and peach nuts. Bologna, Museo Civico Medievale. Figure 27b. Previously attributed to Properzia de’ Rossi, Carved cherry stone with 100 heads, early 16th century. Gold, diamonds, enamel, pearls and cherry stone. Florence, Palazzo Pitti, Museo degli Argenti. Figure 28a. Diana Mantovana, The Feast of the Gods after Giulio Romano, 1575. Engraving. London, The British Museum, Prints and Drawings. ix Figure 28b. Lavinia Fontana, Minerva in the Act of Dressing, 1613. Oil on canvas. Rome, Galleria Borghese, Deposito. Figure 29. Lavinia Fontana, The Penitent St. Jerome in a Landscape, 1581. Oil on canvas. Rome, private collection. Figure 30. Diana Mantovana, St. Jerome, 1575. Engraving. Florence, Uffizi. Figure 31. Lavinia Fontana, Madonna and Child with St. Catherine, Cosmos and Damian and Scipione Calcina, 1589. Oil on canvas. Bologna, Chiesa di S. Giacomo Maggiore, Cappella Malvezzi-Ranuzzi. Figure 32. Aurelio Bonelli, The Martyrdom of St. Cordola. 16th century.