Between Heaven and Earth: Ecclesiastical Patronage in Europe, 1400-1600
Third Annual Renaissance Postgraduate Symposium

In recent years, the artistic commissions of ecclesiastic and lay patrons – both individual and collective – have been a fruitful area of scholarship. Research addressing issues of sacred space, devotional practice, and the materiality of extant objects has generated new insights into the artistic provisions made for patronal commemoration and salvation. Often, however, the interests of lay and ecclesiastical patrons have been considered separately, with a lesser focus on how the differences in their status mediated a shared pursuit of commemoration in death. Clerical patronage of art in Renaissance Europe allowed for an expression of political identity and dynastic power during life, but how did their status and role in society affect their choices for the afterlife? Were ecclesiastical patrons more acutely aware of a pressing need to make provision for their personal salvation than their lay counterparts? If so, was this reflected when commissioning commemorative or devotional art? Was the desire to secure a wider intercessory audience expressed more consciously or emphatically in the art of the clergy?

This conference seeks to shed light on the ways in which ecclesiastical patrons utilised devotional and commemorative art. Was there a dialogue between their individual selves and the institutions in which they chose to locate their foundations? Crucially, how do these foundations comment on ecclesiastical life and afterlife? By examining a category of patrons that was highly aware of devotional and commemorative practice, this conference seeks to gain a better understanding of art commissioned for churches by those appointed to participate in and lead them.

Organised by Joost Joustra and Lydia Hansell with Guido Rebecchini (The Courtauld Institute of Art)

Ticket/entry details: £16 (£11 students, Courtauld staff/students and concessions)

BOOK ONLINE: http://ci.tesseras.com/internet/shop Or send a cheque made payable to ‘The Courtauld Institute of Art’ to: Research Forum Events Co-ordinator, Research Forum, The Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN, stating ‘Renaissance Postgraduate Symposium’.

For further information, email ResearchForumcourtauld.ac.uk

PROGRAMME (09:30 - 17:30)

09.30 – 10.00 REGISTRATION

10.00 – 10.15 Welcome

10.15 – 11.35 Session 1: Creating Ecclesiastical Sites (Chair: Lydia Hansell)

Richard Nemec (Universität Bern): ‘De Reformatione ecclesiae’... Council and Architecture: A normative language of architecture?

Claudius Weykonath (Bibliotheca Hertziana): The Sacro Monte di Varallo Sesia in its paraliturgical function

Filip Malesevic (Université de Fribourg, Switzerland): Rome Unveiled: Cardinal Cesare Baronio and the Iconographic Programme in S. Giovanni in Laterano during the Post- Tridentine Papacy

Discussion

11.35 – 12.00 TEA / COFFEE BREAK (provided – seminar room 1)

12.00 – 13.20 Session 2: Boundaries between Lay and Ecclesiastical Patrons (Chair: Harriette Peel)

Katharina Weiger (Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz): Robert of Anjou and the idea of the ‘Ecclesia Neapolitana’

Emma Capron (Courtauld Institute of Art): ‘Mater Omnium’: Lay Patronage and Clerical Intentions in the Cadard Altarpiece

Francesco Marcorin (IUAV, University of Venice): ‘Supra Ossa Sanctorum’: An unusual case of double patronage in 16th century Verona

Discussion

13.20 – 14.00 LUNCH (not provided)

14.00 – 15.20 Session 3: Depicting the Ecclesiastical Patron (Chair: Joost Joustra)

Elizabeth Dwyer (University of Virginia): Portraits and Visions in Renaissance Flanders: The Paradigm of Rogier van der Weyden

Cloe Cavero de Carondelet (European University Institute, Florence): Seeking Intercession for the Afterlife: The Double Portraits of the Converso Cleric Luis de Oviedo and Cardinal Sandoval y Rojas

Christel Theunissen (Radboud University, Nijmegen): Reserving a seat (on earth and in heaven): Patronage of Choir Stalls in Europe

Discussion

15.20 – 15.45 TEA / COFFEE BREAK (provided – seminar room 1)

15.45 – 17.05 Session 4: Commemorating Status (Chair: Bryony Bartlett-Rawlings)

Adrian Bremenkamp (Freie Universität Berlin): Making the Queen’s Saint: The 15th century Altarpiece of San Vincenzo Ferrer from the Church of San Pietro Martire in Naples

Anna Wyszyńska (Jagiellonian University, Cracow): Depicted for Posterity: Jan Długosz’s ‘Catalogus archiepiscoporum gnesnensium. Vitae episcoporum cracoviensium’ illuminated by Stanislaus Samostrzelnik

Lara Langer (University of Maryland): Sculpture as Spectacle: The Promotion of Patron and Artist within the Church

Discussion

17.05 – 17.30 Closing remarks

17.30 RECEPTION

The Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, Strand, London, WC2R 0RN
www.courtauld.ac.uk