Artistic Patronage at San Cosimato
Title
Description
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 of works of art, but more like willing receivers, happy to take whatever was offered to their community. Franciscan and papal resources would lead to the support of the church through diverse works of art, leading to a heterogeneous collection of works. At least two or three notable works at San Cosimato were not created for the convent, but ultimately found a resting place there by chance or happenstance.
One example is the most prominently displayed work at San Cosimato: a late 13th-century panel called Madonna and Child. This depiction of the Virgin Hodegetria gesturing toward Christ was thought to be a miraculous work, painted either by Saint Luke or an angel. The Madonna and Child first hung in the basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican City, where it was adorned with gold and precious stones. A manuscript account from the 16th century tells that during the time of a pope called Leo, thieves stole the panel, pilfered the gold and stones, tied the panel to a large rock, and tossed it into the Tiber River. Legend tells that the panel miraculously refused to sink, and that the Virgin appeared to Pope Leo in a dream, providing him instructions to find the missing panel. After the pope found it under the Ponte Senatorio (also known as the Ponte Rotto), it was housed in two different chapels before ultimately being placed in San Cosimato, where it is displayed on the center of the apse today.
In discussing artistic patronage at the convent, Lowe details six artefacts: two panel paintings, two parts of frescoes/secco works, a tomb slab, and a marble sculpted monument, describing how the stories of their paths to the convent are just as diverse as the mediums. A lack of details about commissions makes it difficult to securely assess the nature of patrons. However, it is clear that proof of female patronage only exists in one instance, and no evidence exists for the commissioners being nuns or their families -- this provides a contrast to comparable convents in Venice and Florence, for instance. It is possible that the Sack of Rome led to artistic losses that might refute these claims, but the documented works of art prove that external patrons found the nuns of San Cosimato to be deserving recipients of works of art. These nuns accepted the wide variety of works offered to them, regardless of the original reason for the creation of each piece, or whether or not the piece was suitable. It was only at the end of the sixteenth century that a vast change began to occur, with the nuns accruing sufficient financial means to commission works of art for themselves.
Creator
Source
Brentano, Robert. “The Spiritual Family.” in Rome Before Avignon, a Social History of Thirteenth Century Rome. 211 – 260. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1991.
Dalarun, Jacques. Francis of Assisi and the Feminine. New York: Franciscan Institute Publications, 2006.
Krautheimer, Richard. Rome: Profile of a City, 312-1308. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000.
Lowe, Kate. Artistic Patronage at the Clarissan Convent of San Cosimato in Trastevere, 1400-1600. 273 – 297. Rome: Papers of the British School at Rome, Vol. 69, 2001.
Mondadori, Francesco. “San Francesco a Ripa.” in Trastevere, Guida ai Luoghi Dove Iniziò il Cristianesimo a Roma. 57 – 68. Rome: Sant’Egidio, 2015.
O’Gorman, Edmund. St. Francis for Today. Trowbridge: Redwood Books, 1996.
Pyrds, Darleen. “Lady Jacopa and Francis: Mysticism and the Management of Francis of Assisi’s Deathbed Story.” In Dying, Death and Mysticism: The Ecstasy of the End, edited by Thomas Cattoi and Christopher M. Moreman, 15-30. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2015.
Robbins, Deborah King. “A Case Study of Medieval Urban Process: Rome’s Trastevere (1250-1450).” Ph.D.diss. University of California, Berkeley, 1989.
San Francesco a Ripa Grande: Shrine, Convent and Parish. “Saint Francis and Rome,” “The Monastery of San Francesco a Ripa,” “Room of St. Francis,” and “Friar Jacopa.” Accessed May 22nd, 2017. http://en.sanfrancescoaripa.com.
Thomas of Celano. St. Francis of Assisi: First and Second Life of St. Francis with Selections from the Treatise on the Miracles of Blessed Francis. Translated by Placid Hermann. Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1988.
Weinstein, Donald & Bell, Rudolph. Saints and Society: The Two World of Western Christendom, 1000-1700. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010.
Date
Identifier
Spatial Coverage
Description
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 of works of art, but more like willing receivers, happy to take whatever was offered to their community. Franciscan and papal resources would lead to the support of the church through diverse works of art, leading to a heterogeneous collection of works. At least two or three notable works at San Cosimato were not created for the convent, but ultimately found a resting place there by chance or happenstance.
One example is the most prominently displayed work at San Cosimato: a late 13th-century panel called Madonna and Child. This depiction of the Virgin Hodegetria gesturing toward Christ was thought to be a miraculous work, painted either by Saint Luke or an angel. The Madonna and Child first hung in the basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican City, where it was adorned with gold and precious stones. A manuscript account from the 16th century tells that during the time of a pope called Leo, thieves stole the panel, pilfered the gold and stones, tied the panel to a large rock, and tossed it into the Tiber River. Legend tells that the panel miraculously refused to sink, and that the Virgin appeared to Pope Leo in a dream, providing him instructions to find the missing panel. After the pope found it under the Ponte Senatorio (also known as the Ponte Rotto), it was housed in two different chapels before ultimately being placed in San Cosimato, where it is displayed on the center of the apse today.
In discussing artistic patronage at the convent, Lowe details six artefacts: two panel paintings, two parts of frescoes/secco works, a tomb slab, and a marble sculpted monument, describing how the stories of their paths to the convent are just as diverse as the mediums. A lack of details about commissions makes it difficult to securely assess the nature of patrons. However, it is clear that proof of female patronage only exists in one instance, and no evidence exists for the commissioners being nuns or their families -- this provides a contrast to comparable convents in Venice and Florence, for instance. It is possible that the Sack of Rome led to artistic losses that might refute these claims, but the documented works of art prove that external patrons found the nuns of San Cosimato to be deserving recipients of works of art. These nuns accepted the wide variety of works offered to them, regardless of the original reason for the creation of each piece, or whether or not the piece was suitable. It was only at the end of the sixteenth century that a vast change began to occur, with the nuns accruing sufficient financial means to commission works of art for themselves.
Creator
Thomas Hiura (2017)Date
n.d.Coverage
1500sSource
Brentano, Robert. “The Spiritual Family.” in Rome Before Avignon, a Social History of Thirteenth Century Rome. 211 – 260. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1991.
Dalarun, Jacques. Francis of Assisi and the Feminine. New York: Franciscan Institute Publications, 2006.
Krautheimer, Richard. Rome: Profile of a City, 312-1308. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000.
Lowe, Kate. Artistic Patronage at the Clarissan Convent of San Cosimato in Trastevere, 1400-1600. 273 – 297. Rome: Papers of the British School at Rome, Vol. 69, 2001.
Mondadori, Francesco. “San Francesco a Ripa.” in Trastevere, Guida ai Luoghi Dove Iniziò il Cristianesimo a Roma. 57 – 68. Rome: Sant’Egidio, 2015.
O’Gorman, Edmund. St. Francis for Today. Trowbridge: Redwood Books, 1996.
Pyrds, Darleen. “Lady Jacopa and Francis: Mysticism and the Management of Francis of Assisi’s Deathbed Story.” In Dying, Death and Mysticism: The Ecstasy of the End, edited by Thomas Cattoi and Christopher M. Moreman, 15-30. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2015.
Robbins, Deborah King. “A Case Study of Medieval Urban Process: Rome’s Trastevere (1250-1450).” Ph.D.diss. University of California, Berkeley, 1989.
San Francesco a Ripa Grande: Shrine, Convent and Parish. “Saint Francis and Rome,” “The Monastery of San Francesco a Ripa,” “Room of St. Francis,” and “Friar Jacopa.” Accessed May 22nd, 2017. http://en.sanfrancescoaripa.com.
Thomas of Celano. St. Francis of Assisi: First and Second Life of St. Francis with Selections from the Treatise on the Miracles of Blessed Francis. Translated by Placid Hermann. Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1988.
Weinstein, Donald & Bell, Rudolph. Saints and Society: The Two World of Western Christendom, 1000-1700. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010.