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Artistic patronage at the Clarissan convent of San Cosimato in Trastevere, 1400–1600

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2013

Kate Lowe
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Papers of the British School at Rome , Volume 69 , November 2001 , pp. 273 - 297
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Copyright © British School at Rome 2001

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References

1 The first article appeared in Papers of the British School at Rome 68 (2000), 217–39CrossRefGoogle Scholar. I should like to thank the two anonymous readers of this second article for their very helpful suggestions and Elio Polegri for facilitating access to San Cosimato.

2 See Lowe, K., ‘Nuns and choice: artistic decision-making in Medicean Florence’, in Marchand, E. and Wright, A. (eds), With and Without the Medici: Studies in Tuscan Art and Patronage, 1434–1530 (Aldershot, 1998), 129–53Google Scholar.

3 See, for example, Rome, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale [hereafter BNCR], Fondi minori, Varia 5, 298v, for Formicini money paying for an Adoration of the Magi in 1600 or 1601.

4 See, for example, Wood, J., Women, Art and Spirituality: the Poor Clares of Early Modern Italy (Cambridge, 1996)Google Scholar, especially chapters 4, 5 and the epilogue.

5 This Madonna was restored by the Istituto centrale di restauro in 1951 and is at present in the collection of the nuns of San Cosimato on the Aventine.

6 This painting is not mentioned by Garrison, E., Italian Romanesque Panel Painting: an Illustrated Index (Florence, 1949)Google Scholar, nor in the updated version of this work by Joanna Cannon.

7 The three volumes are entitled: ‘Antichità del monastero di S. Cosimato’ ‘Antichità del monastero di S. Cosimato 2’ and ‘Notizie storiche del monastero di S. Cosimato’.

8 One unfortunate consequence of Benetti's sterling work is that the present-day nuns are understandably unwilling to allow anyone else to see their original documentation. This means that it is impossible at the moment to attempt dating on the basis of handwriting, or to verify transcriptions.

9 This might be the account by P.F. Santi de Orta taken in 1590 from a pre-existing account he found in the convent, or it might be the written account kept in or near the altar of the Madonna in the convent church. See Bombelli, P., Raccolta delle immagini della Beatissima Vergine ornata della corona d'oro dal Reverendissimo Capitolo di S. Pietro, 4 vols (Rome, 1792), I, 32Google Scholar.

10 It is entitled ‘Incomeza lo modo como fo trovata la imagine della gloriosa Vergine Maria, la quale sta nel venerabile monasterio de Sancto Cosmato in Trastevere’, and consists of 25 folios. It is printed in ‘Antichita del monastero di S. Cosimato’, 125–32.

11 Mancini, G., Considerazioni sulla pittura (ed. Marucchi, A.), 2 vols (Rome, 1956–1957), I, 56–7, 271, 286Google Scholar. Mancini's two texts were written between 1617 and 1624.

12 Urbani, G., ‘Schede di restauro’, Bullettino dell'Istituto Centrale del Restauro 7–8 (1951), 58Google Scholar.

13 Rome, Archivio di Stato [hereafter ASR], Diplomatico, SS. Cosma e Damiano, cass. 20, pergamena 460.

14 Even these dates are contested and may have been the dates at which the requests were granted rather than the dates at which the coronations were carried out. See Dejonghe, M., Orbis Marianus. Les madonnes couronnées à travers le monde. I. Les madonnes couronnées de Rome (Paris, 1967), 76 and 427Google Scholar; da Alatri, O. and Centese, A. da Reno, ‘L'incoronazione delle immagini Mariane’, L'Italia Francescana 8 (1933), 176Google Scholar; and Bombelli, , Raccolta delle immagini (above, n. 9), I, 31–2Google Scholar.

15 O. Panciroli, I tesori nascosti nell'alma città di Roma (Rome, 1600), 292; O. Panciroli, Tesori nascosti dell'alma città di Roma (reordered and enlarged, Rome, 1625), 581.

16 G. Severano, Memorie sacre delle sette chiese di Roma, parte prima (Rome, 1630), 316–17.

17 G. Alveri, Della Roma in ogni stato, parte seconda (Rome, 1664), 347.

18 Alveri, Della Roma in ogni stato (above, n. 17), 348: ‘B. MATER DEI INTACTA VIRGO GLORIOSA REGINA MVNDI INTERCEDE PRO NOBIS AN. SAL. MDCXXXIX. EX DEVOTIONE SOR. CONSTANTIAE ANDOSILLAE’.

19 Another related problem is that there was probably a considerable number of depictions of the Virgin and Child in any largish urban convent; certainly there were in San Cosimato. See, for example, the report of the loss of an unspecified Virgin and Child from San Cosimato in 1849, Rapport de la commission mixte institutée à Rome pour constater les dégats occasionées aux monuments ou établissements artistiques pour les armées belligérantes pendant le siège de cette ville (Paris, 1850), 19Google Scholar. There is no space here to detail every reference to depictions of the Madonna or Madonna and Child.

20 ‘Antichità del monastero di S. Cosimato’ (above, n. 7), 32. The inventory of the church and convent runs from 31 to 52. An unknown hand of a later date has annotated the part about the written description, stating that it was no longer in place.

21 ‘Antichità del monastero di S. Cosimato’ (above, n. 7), 35.

22 Alveri, Della Roma in ogni stato (above, n. 17), 347–8.

23 BNCR, Fondi minori, Varia 5, 183r–v.

24 Solari, G., Il sacco di Roma (Milan, 1981), 137Google Scholar. On Schertlin, see the rather meandering entry by A. Stern, in Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, 56 vols (Leipzig, 1875–Munich/Leipzig, 1912), XXXI, 132–7Google Scholar.

25 BNCR, Fondi minori, Varia 5, 182v: ‘la Madonna della chiesa parata et con quei vezi di perle grosissime di quelle antiche baronesse’. On the place of the Sack of Rome in the convent's psyche, see Quondam, A., ‘Lanzichenecchi in convento. Suor Orsola e la storia tra archivio e devozione’, Schifanoia 6 (1988), esp. pp. 72–87Google Scholar.

26 ‘Antichità del monastero di S. Cosimato’ (above, n. 7), 49: ‘Nell'altar maggiore la Madonna SS.ma con cornice di legno dorato, il fondo di rame dorato, le guarnizioni di fogliame d'argento e sarà di peso d'argento libbre due’.

27 BNCR, Fondi minori, Varia 5, 161r–v. Formicini's informants about the original composition were the older nuns (‘quelle vecchie’).

28 BNCR, Fondi minori, Varia 5, 213v.

29 BNCR, Fondi minori, Varia 5, 250v: ‘li comandò che lo repingessi che era per l'umideza e antiquità tutta guasta’.

30 BNCR, Fondi minori, Varia 5, 253r–254r.

31 BNCR, Fondi minori, Varia 5, 254r–v.

32 Hoeniger, C., The Renovation of Paintings in Tuscany, 1250–1500 (Cambridge, 1995), 43Google Scholar found that ‘a large number of the renovations performed in the late Gothic and early Renaissance period in Tuscany, whether they involved simple retouchings or more extensive structural procedures, were carried out on images with a strong reputation for religious efficacy and were devotionally motivated’.

33 BNCR, Fondi minori, Varia 5, 299r.

34 On miraculous Madonnas in Renaissance Rome, see Howe, E., ‘The miraculous Madonna in fifteenth-century Roman painting’, Explorations in Renaissance Culture 8–9 (1982–1983), 1–21CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

35 I can find no published or unpublished photographs of these frescoes in books, articles or photographic collections.

36 I was alerted to the existence of these by the nuns of San Cosimato on the Aventine in 1997, and then re-alerted by the mention in K. Bull-Simonsen Einaudi, ‘II monastero di S. Cosimato in Mica Aurea: appunti di storia e di topografia’, in Lloyd, J. Barclay and Einaudi, K. Bull-Simonsen, SS. Cosma e Damiano in Mica Aurea: architettura, storia e storiografia di un monastero romano soppresso (Rome, 1998), 21–5Google Scholar. I finally saw them only in July 2000.

37 Bull-Simonsen Einaudi, ‘Il monastero di S. Cosimato in Mica Aurea’ (above, n. 36), 21–4.

38 Bull-Simonsen Einaudi, ‘Il monastero di S. Cosimato in Mica Aurea’ (above, n. 36), 25.

39 This fascinating letter was found by Lucos Cozza and published by Bull-Simonsen Einaudi, ‘Il monastero di S. Cosimato in Mica Aurea’ (above, n. 36), 25n.

40 On the legend of Saints Cosmas an d Damian, see Butler's Lives of the Saints. September (revised by Thomas, S. Fawcett), 12 vols (Collegeville (MN), 2000), 239–40Google Scholar; and de Voragine, J., The Golden Legend: Readings in the Saints (translated by Ryan, William Granger), 2 vols (Princeton, 1993), 196–8Google Scholar.

41 See the discussion on twins versus brothers in David-Danel, M.-L., Iconographie des saints médecins Côme et Damien (Lille, 1958), 161–2Google Scholar.

42 On the dress of Saints Cosmas and Damian, see David-Danel, Iconographie (above, n. 41), 181–91.

43 On the medical instruments carried by Saints Cosmas and Damian, see David-Danel, Iconographie (above, n. 41), 191–201.

44 For a general overview, see the entry by Casanova, M.L. in Bibliotheca Sanctorum, 12 vols (Rome, 1961–1969), IV, cols 225–37Google Scholar.

45 For some ‘representative’ fifteenth-century depictions, see Fra Angelico's predella to the Annalena altarpiece in the Museo di San Marco in Florence, and the main painting and predella of Saints Cosmas and Damian by the Master of the Rinuccini Chapel, now in the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC.

46 For a discussion of all the churches and oratories in Rome dedicated to these saints, see Pazzini, A., ‘Le chiese dei SS. Cosma e Damiano in Roma nell'alto medioevo e l'assistenza medica romana pre-ospitaliera’, Roma 11 (1933), 51–8Google Scholar; and the relevant entries in Armellini, M., Le chiese di Roma dal secolo IV al XIX, 2 vols (Rome, 1942–1960)Google Scholar.

47 This is illustrated in Paolucci, A., Antoniazzo romano: catalogo completo dei dipinti (Florence, 1992), 85Google Scholar.

48 Perugino is known to have painted Saint Sebastian eleven times. See Becherer, J. Antenucci, Pietro Perugino: Master of the Italian Renaissance (Grand Rapids (MI), 1997), esp. pp. 149–51 and 240–3Google Scholar; and Scarpellino, P., Perugino (Milan, 1984)Google Scholar.

49 For some comparative material on Dominican friars' dormitory decoration, see Hood, W., Fra Angelico at San Marco (New Haven/London, 1993), 195–253Google Scholar. The Dominican Constitutions specified that images of Christ crucified, the Virgin Mary or Saint Dominic were to be kept in each cell: Hood, Fra Angelico at San Marco, 196.

50 BNCR, Fondi minori, Varia 5, 134v: ‘dicevan le vecchie … che a tenpo loro, cioè della riforma, vi fu fatto il dormitorio … e che era … tutto dipinto di diversi sancti, e di ciò ne son rimase le vestigie sì como quella Nuntiata che sta i nel dormitorio del mezo e quelli santi Cosmo e Damiano e san Michele Archangelo e altri, i quali ancor vi stanno … Le monache … copersero tutti quelli sancti e lassorno quella gloriosa figura [the Madonna] sola con San Pietro e San Giovanni’.

51 For the chronicle's description of the plague, see BNCR, Fondi minori, Varia 5, 187r–193v.

52 BNCR, Fondi minori, Varia 5, 192v–193r: ‘[192v] Adorno dunque tutte insiemi la reverenda madre abadessa con le altre a far oratioe avanti quella figura di San Cosmo et Damiano qual sta nel dormitiorio di mezo … fu inspirata la reverenda [193r] abbadessa … di far un voto … che ogni anno cinque giorni avanti la festa di essi incliti martiri nostri advocati andar in processione dalla chiesa per fin alla detta inmagine dicendo le letanie de li sette salmi, et ad ogni cinque ‘sancti’ replicar tre volte: ‘Sancti Cosma et Damiano, orate pro nobis’, e questo finché durerà il monasterio. Et il giorno della lor festa celebrarà il loro offitio aventi detta immagine da cinque monache’.

53 BNCR, Fondi minori, Varia 5, 196v: ‘[La abbadessa] presa dunque fiducia in Dio et in essi gloriosi martiri, pensò subito recurere a loro patrocinio, et ingenochiata lei con tutte le altre avanti la detta inmagine del dormitorio, duplicho il voto’.

54 But see Freedberg, D., The Power of Images: Studies in the History and Theory of Response (Chicago/London, 1989), 136–60Google Scholar.

55 Gigli, L. (ed.), Guide rionali di Roma. V. Trastevere (Rome, 1987), 42Google Scholar.

56 Mancini, , Considerazioni (above, n. 11), I, 271Google Scholar.

57 ‘Antichità del monastero di S. Cosimato’ (above, n. 7), 31.

58 See Pepe, M.'s entry in the Dizionario biografico degli italiani 3, 556–7Google Scholar, and Pepe, M., ‘L'attività romana di Antonio da Viterbo’, Capitolium 39 (1964), 558–63Google Scholar.

59 Steinmann, E., Die Sixtinische Kapelle, v vols (Munich, 1901–1905), I, 108Google Scholar.

60 Pepe, ‘L'attività romana’ (above, n. 58), 562.

61 Steinmann, Die Sixtinische Kapelle (above, n. 59), 108.

62 Steinmann, E., Antonio da Viterbo: ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Umbrischen Malerschule um die Wende des XV Jahrhunderts (Munich, 1901), 26Google Scholar.

63 Debenedetti, E., ‘I della Rovere e due dipinti della quadreria Albani’, in Rossi, S. and Valeri, S. (eds), Le due Rome del Quattrocento: Melozzo, Antoniazzo e la cultura artistica del '400 romana (Rome, 1997), 260Google Scholar.

64 Toesca, I., ‘Due opere del Siciolante’, Paragone 16 (1965), 59Google Scholar.

65 Hunter, J.B., The Life and Work of Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta, 2 vols (Ph.D. thesis, University of Michigan) (Ann Arbor, 1983), I, 460–1Google Scholar; and Hunter, J.B., Girolamo Siciolante, pittore da Sermoneta (1521–1575) (Rome, 1996), 250–1Google Scholar, where the painting is included in a discussion of ‘attribuzioni erronee’.

66 For illustrations of these images, see Hunter, Girolamo Siciolante (above, n. 65), pls 89, 116, 90 and 78.

67 Alveri, Della Roma in ogni stato (above, n. 17), parte seconda, 348: ‘Nel secondo altare posto dentro una cappella, dove per una grata di ferro le monache sentono messa, si adora l'imagine di Cristo crocifisso’.

68 ‘Antichità del monastero di S. Cosimato’ (above, n. 7), 33–4.

69 This is recorded in the inscription on the monument: ‘EX MVNIFICENTIA ET PIETATE / ALDERANI EPISCOPI PORTVENSIS S.R.E. CARDINALIS CYBO / SERAPHICI ORDINIS SANCTI FRANCISCI / APVD SANCTAM SEDEM PROTECTORIS / GRATI ANIMI MONVMENTVM MONIALES POSVERE / ANNO DO[MI]NI MDCLXXXV’.

70 ‘Antichità del monastero di S. Cosimato’ (above, n. 7), 34.

71 ‘Notizie storiche del monastero di S. Cosimato’, transcribed from ms 84 of the Archivio Provinciale di Aracoeli in Rome, 266.

72 See n. 69, above.

73 Cannatà, R., Cavallaro, A. and Strinati, C. (eds), Umanesimo e primo rinascimento in S. Maria del Popolo (Rome, 1981), 44Google Scholar and pl. 76 (pl. 77 illustrates the drawing, now at Windsor Castle, for the original monument); and Vezzosi, A. (ed.), Leonardo e il leonardismo a Napoli e a Roma (Florence, 1983), 227–8Google Scholar.

74 A parchment copy of this will is apparently in the archive of the nuns of San Cosimato on the Aventine, but unfortunately at present they will not allow it to be examined, so my information on it comes from Suor Orsola Formicini's chronicle.

75 I checked for this will in the Archivio di Stato in Rome, but my search was unsuccessful. Only one document notarized by Ziani exists there, a will of 13 September 1540 of Bernardino Guidotti, ASR, Collegio Notai Capitolini 930, 604r–v.

76 BNCR, Fondi minori, Varia 5, 235v.

77 ‘Antichita del monastero di S. Cosimato’ (above, n. 7), 31.

78 ‘Notizie storiche del monastero di S. Cosimato’ (above, n. 7), transcribed from ms 84 of the Archivio Provinciale di Aracoeli in Rome, 1 and 37.

79 ‘Notizie storiche del monastero di S. Cosimato’ (above, n. 7), transcribed from ms 84 of the Archivio Provinciale di Aracoeli in Rome, 202.

80 ‘MARGARITA. THOME. MALETHI. PATRITIA / VERCELLEN[SIS]. AMISSO IN VRBIS. DIREPTION / CONIVGE. RELIQVM VITE SVE IN DEI / TIMORE CARITATE ET ELEMOSINIS / DVCENS. ALTARE HOC CVM ANVUALI / RESPONSION[E] EREGI CVRAVIT. VT / TERESTEM TRIONPHV[M] IN CELESTEM / CONMVTARET. AN[N]O. ETATIS SVE / XXXIII. DIE. XVIIII. DECE[M]BRIS. M. D. XXXVIII / OBIT.’

81 Formicini discussed the right-hand coat of arms in some detail, BNCR, Fondi minori, Varia 5, 236v.

82 There is one example mentioned in the chronicle of a nun bringing a painting of Christ's Passion with her upon entrance to the convent, BNCR, Fondi minori, Varia 5, 201r. It is unclear whether she had painted the image herself or had commissioned it.