Art, Gender and Religious Devotion in Grand Ducal Tuscany focuses on the intersection of the visual and the sacred at the Medici court of the later sixteenth to early seventeenth centuries in relation to issues of gender. Through a series of case studies carefully chosen to highlight key roles and key interventions of Medici women, this book embraces the diversity of their activities, from their public appearances at the centre of processionals such as the bridal entrata, to the commissioning and collecting of art objects and the overseeing of architectural projects, to an array of other activities to which these women applied themselves with particular force and vigour: regular and special devotions, visits to churches and convents, pilgrimages and relic collecting. Positing Medici women’s patronage as a network of devotional, entrepreneurial and cultural activities that depended on seeing and being seen, Alice E. Sanger examines the specific religious context in which the Medici grand duchesses operated, arguing that these patrons’ cultural interests responded not only to aesthetic concerns and the demands of personal faith, but also to dynastic interests, issues of leadership and authority, and the needs of Catholic reform. By examining the religious dimensions of the grand duchesses' art patronage and collecting activities alongside their visually resonant devotional and public acts, Sanger adds a new dimension to the current scholarship on Medici women’s patronage.

In this guest-edited issue of Biblical Reception, edited by Diane Apostolos-Cappadona, contributors examine the reception of the bible in art. Most of the contributions focus on biblical women, or on encounters with women in the bible. The volume is roughly chronological in structure, beginning with two pieces on Eve, one of which compares representations of Eve with those of the Virgin Mary, the other which considers how Eve is presented in Islamic texts and images. Following a contribution on Esther and Sarah the volume moves on to consider New Testament texts, with notable focus on women at the peripheries of society (the woman with the hemorrhage in Mark's gospel and the woman of Samaria). Attention is also paid to representations of Mary Magdalene and of Judith and Salome. The volume concludes with a piece on apocalyptic imagery and the woman clothed with the sun of Revelation 12. Featuring over 50 high quality color images, this volume provides scholarship of the highest level on biblical art.

This work offers a detailed reconstruction of the campaigns for and trials resulting in the beatification (in 1626) and subsequent canonization in 1169 of the Florentine mystic nun, Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi (1566-1607). Clare Copeland places her findings in the wide context of the politics of saint-making at a time of particular significance for the history of Roman Catholic canonization. The Protestant Reformation had put the Roman Catholic Church on the defensive in this area of devotional practice and the period covered in this volume (ca. 1600-1669) saw far-reaching reforms in the ways in which sanctity was measured and adjudicated by Rome. Copeland shows how these developments need to be seen less in terms of a top-down attempt by the central organs of ecclesiastical control to impose a hegemony of holiness and more in terms of negotiation over the meanings of sanctity--and how it relates to canonization-between the various stakeholders.

IIn premodern Europe, the gender identity of those waiting for Doomsday in their tombs could be reaffirmed, readjusted, or even neutralized. Testimonies of this renegotiation of gender at the encounter with death is detectable in wills, letters envisioning oneself as dead, literary narratives, provisions for burial and memorialization, the laws for the disposal of those executed for heinous crimes and the treatment of human remains as relics.

In the first book systematically to give evidence of conjugal co-rule at an Italian Renaissance court, and the first full length scholarly study of Isabella d'Este and Francesco Gonzaga, Sarah Cockram shows their relationship in an entirely new light. The book draws on (and presents) a large amount of unpublished archival material, including almost unprecedented surviving correspondence between and around these Renaissance princely rulers. Using these sources, Cockram shows Isabella and Francesco's strategic teamwork in action, illuminating tactics of collaboration and dissimulation. She also reveals behind-the-scenes diplomatic activity; court procedures; sexual politics and seduction; gift-giving and network-building; rivalries, intrigues and assassinations. Several epistolary themes emerge: insights into the couple's communication practices and double-dealing, their use of intermediaries, and attention to security matters. This book's analysis of Isabella's co-rule with her husband, supported by other members of the Gonzaga dynasty, sees her sometimes in the role of subordinate partner, sometimes guiding the couple's actions. It shows how, despite appearances at times, the couple shared common diplomatic policy as well as human, material, and cultural resources; joint administration; and the exercise of authority and justice. Thus emerges a three-dimensional picture of the mechanisms of power and power sharing in the age of Machiavelli.

This book brings together a vibrant interdisciplinary mix of scholars – from anthropology, architecture, art history, film studies, fine art, history, literature, linguistics and urban studies – to explore the role of emotions in the making and remaking of the city. By asking how urban boundaries are produced through and with emotion; how emotional communities form and define themselves through urban space; and how the emotional imaginings of urban spaces impact on histories, identities and communities, the volume advances our understanding of 'urban emotions' into discussions of materiality, power and embodiment across time and space.

In early modern times, religious affiliation was often communicated through bodily practices. Despite various attempts at definition, these practices remained extremely fluid and lent themselves to individual appropriation and to evasion of church and state control. Because bodily practices prompted much debate, they serve as a useful starting point for examining denominational divisions, allowing scholars to explore the actions of smaller and more radical divergent groups. The focus on bodies and conflicts over bodily practices are the starting point for the contributors to this volume who depart from established national and denominational historiographies to probe the often-ambiguous phenomena occurring at the interstices of confessional boundaries. In this way, the authors examine a variety of religious living conditions, socio-cultural groups, and spiritual networks of early modern Europe and the Americas. The cases gathered here skillfully demonstrate the diverse ways in which regional and local differences affected the interpretation of bodily signs. This book will appeal to scholars and students of early modern Europe and the Americas, as well as those interested in religious and gender history, and the history of dissent.