The historian Kate Lowe explains that the convent at San Cosimato has a unique history of artistic patronage during the 15th and 16th centuries. During this period, the sisters at the convent seemed to behave less like active buyers and commissioners…

In the 1230’s, just 25 years after the foundation of the Franciscan orders, the convent of San Cosimato was formed when Pope Gregory IX gave a male Benedictine house to the Clares. The convent was one of three female Franciscan convents in Rome. The…

Founded in the 10th century as a Benedictine monastery, the convent of San Cosimato came into the possession of the Franciscans in 1234, when Pope Gregory IV ordered the Benedictines to give the space to the Clares, an order of Franciscan nuns. San…

The frescoes in the San Sisto nun’s choir are divided into two parts. The first, painted in the style of Cavalini between 1295 and 1314, consist of scenes from the life of Mary, including the Presentation of the Virgin, the Presentation of Christ in…

In the early 15th century, the Roman building that is now the Venerable English College was the Hospital of St. Thomas of Canterbury. This particular hospital was famous for housing Margery Kempe at the beginning and end of her stay in Rome, from…

Near the Piazza S. Cosimato, a medieval portico juts out from the sides of a nondescript building. The portico leads to the outdoor atrium of the church of San Cosimato, a part of the former Monastery of S. Cosimato. San Cosimato began as a…