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 2

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 int roduction

Edited by
Maya Corry | Deborah Howard | Mary Laven

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 Published on occasion of the exhibition
‘Madonnas and Miracles: The Holy Home in Renaissance Italy’
The Fitzwilliam Museum • 7 March–4 June 2017

Published in 2017 by Philip Wilson Publishers

An imprint of I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd
London • New York
www.philip-wilson.co.uk

Copyright © 2017 Maya Corry, Deborah Howard and Mary Laven

The rights of Maya Corry, Deborah Howard and Mary Laven to be identified
as editors of this work have been asserted by the editors in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC)
under the European Union’s fp7 Ideas programme (grant agreement no. 319475)

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof,
may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Every attempt has been made to gain permission for the use of the images in this book.
Any omissions will be rectified in future editions.

ISBN: 978 1 78130 053 4

A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: available

Designed and typeset in Bembo by E&P Design

Printed and bound in China by 1010 Printing

Frontispiece: Plaque with The Virgin with Sts Roch and Sebastian, c.1500–10
(Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum)

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 int roduction

Contents

Foreword vii
Acknowledgements viii
iii. PRACTICES OF PRAYER
Contributors ix How to pray 91
The rosary 94
Reading at home 98
INTRODUCTION 1
Devotion to the Sacred Monogram of the Name of Jesus 104
Praying for protection 110
The pious body 122
i. Family Life
Devotional space in the home 9
The family 14
iv. MIRACLES AND PILGRIMAGE
Daily devotions 16 Shrines and miracles 137
The life cycle 26 Supernatural interventions 140
Childhood 35 Ex-votos 145
Personal and ritual items in Italy’s Jewish homes 40 Pilgrimage 148

ii. THE MADONNA, v. REFORM AND RENEWAL

CHRIST AND THE SAINTS
The Catholic Reformation 157
The Madonna 47 New modes of piety 159
The image of Christ 52 Religious art in the age of reform 162
The saints 63 Heterodox devotion in the Italian Renaissance home 166
Religious images in the eye of the beholder 66
Materials and their meanings 76 Summary catalogue and image credits 175
The economy of sacred objects 82 Bibliography 181
Index 189

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 fig. 1
Vittore Carpaccio,
The dream of St Ursula, c.1495
Venice, Gallerie dell’Accademia

vi

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Foreword
T his visually and intellectually stimulating book is
designed both to complement and to serve as a per-
manent record of the exhibition Madonnas and Miracles:
The Holy Home in Renaissance Italy, which will be on view at
The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, between
March and June 2017. It includes contributions by distinguished
historians of art, history, culture and religion, as well as early-
career scholars producing cutting-edge research in the field.
The volume and the exhibition itself represent two of the most
significant outputs of the four-year European Research Council-
funded Synergy project, ‘Domestic Devotions: The Place of
Piety in the Renaissance Italian Home’ – an unprecedented
collaboration within the university between the Faculty of
Architecture and History of Art and the Department of Italian
(both within the School of Arts and Humanities) and the
Faculty of History (within the School of Humanities and
Social Sciences).
The Fitzwilliam is the flagship of the University of
Cambridge Museums consortium, with world-class holdings
of Italian Renaissance art and material culture, and inter-
nationally regarded experts in the field on the curatorial staff.
We were therefore delighted to be invited to play host to the
principal public-facing element of the Domestic Devotions
project, the Madonnas and Miracles exhibition, assisting with
the selection of exhibits (including many from our own
holdings), leading on the design and layout of the exhibition,
and contributing scholarly entries to this catalogue. The co-
involvement of Dr Victoria Avery (Keeper of Applied Arts)
as in-house curator of Madonnas and Miracles, and Dr Mary
Laven (Faculty of History and Museum Syndic) as one of
the external curators from the Domestic Devotions team,
recalls their earlier fruitful collaboration with two other
members of the Faculty of History, which resulted in the
critically acclaimed Treasured Possessions (Fitzwilliam Museum,
March–September 2015). I am sure that Madonnas and Miracles
will prove equally successful, and encourage further inter-
disciplinary collaborations between Cambridge University
scholars, be they employed in a curatorial or academic capacity.
Madonnas and Miracles prelims AW.indd 7
int roduction
Madonnas and Miracles is the first show to open after the
Museum’s bicentenary year, and provides another splendid
opportunity to recontextualise a selection of our marvellous
Italian Renaissance holdings from across four of our five dep-
artments (Applied Arts; Coins and Medals; Manuscripts and
Printed Books; Paintings, Drawings and Prints). A significant
number of exhibits were selected from the reserve collections,
and have been specially cleaned, consolidated and conserved for
inclusion by our in-house conservators as well as by colleagues
at the Hamilton Kerr Institute. Look out, for example, for
the dazzlingly bright Virgin and Child tondo by the studio of
Botticelli or the wonderfully naïve earthenware group of the
same subject from an Umbrian potter’s workshop, both in
pristine condition, following conservation. Such conservation
and cleaning of objects for display is just one area in which we
have benefited from the generosity of our sponsors, without
whose support this exhibition would not have been possible.
The generous financial backing of the European Research
Council has permitted many exceptional and intriguing items
to be borrowed from museums and churches in Italy and
elsewhere: the extraordinary group of ex-votos borrowed from
three different churches is a particular highlight, as they record
such beguiling miraculous interventions and have never before
left Italian soil.
Sincere thanks are also due to all the museum staff in-
volved in this book and exhibition, above all: Mella Shaw
and Dr David Evans (Exhibitions Managers), David Packer
(Museum Registrar) and Mike Jones (Chief Photographer) and
their teams, and Dr Victoria Avery and her team in Applied
Arts (especially Helen Ritchie, Research Assistant, and Nik
Zolman, Collections Manager). I would also like to extend
heartfelt thanks and congratulations to the incredibly indust-
rious Domestic Devotions team – Dr Maya Corry, Professor
Deborah Howard and Dr Mary Laven (lead external curators of
the exhibition), Dr Abigail Brundin, Irene Galandra Cooper,
Dr Marco Faini, Dr Alessia Meneghin, Zuzanna Sarnecka,
Katherine Tycz and Rachel Burgess (project administrator) –
without whom this splendid publication would not exist.
Tim Knox
Director and Marlay Curator, The Fitzwilliam Museum
vi7i
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 Acknowledgements
A
great many institutions and individuals have helped with the planning
and realisation of this book and the accompanying exhibition Madonnas
and Miracles: The Holy Home in Renaissance Italy (Fitzwilliam Museum,
Cambridge: 7 March–4 June 2017).
First and foremost, our thanks go the European Research Council for its
award of a Synergy Grant to fund ‘Domestic Devotions: The Place of Piety in
the Renaissance Italian Home’. Madonnas and Miracles is the culmination of that
four-year project, undertaken by nine researchers all based at the University of
Cambridge: Abigail Brundin, Maya Corry, Marco Faini, Irene Galandra Cooper,
Deborah Howard, Mary Laven, Alessia Meneghin, Katherine Tycz and Zuzanna
Sarnecka. Both the exhibition and the catalogue offer an invaluable opportunity
to share with the public some of the physical objects that lie at the heart of our
research.
For granting us that opportunity, we are immensely grateful to the staff of
The Fitzwilliam Museum, to the former Director, Timothy Potts, who first
agreed to the idea of an exhibition, and to the current Director, Tim Knox,
for his enduring support. Victoria Avery, Keeper of Applied Arts, has steered the
planning of the exhibition from the Museum end and has been an endless source
of expertise and practical advice together with Helen Ritchie, Research Assistant,
Applied Arts. Mella Shaw and David Evans, Exhibitions Managers, have exhibited
enthusiasm, skill and wisdom in turning our ideas into reality, while David Packer,
Registrar, has handled a rather complicated set of loan requests with unerring calm.
Particular thanks are also due to Lucilla Burn, Kate Carreno, Camay Chapman-
Cameron, Rob Dennes, Margaret Greeves, Mike Jones, Amy Jugg, Elenor Ling,
Anna Lloyd-Griffiths, Jane Munro, Stella Panayotova, Julia Poole, Adi Popescu,
Suzanne Reynolds, Rachel Sinfield, Miranda Stearn, Helen Strudwick, Henrietta
Ward and Nik Zolman; also to the staff of the Hamilton Kerr Institute, especially
the Director Rupert Featherstone, Spike Bucklow, Mary Kempski, Christine
Slottveld Kimbriel and Kari Rayner. We also warmly thank conservators Richard
Farleigh, Jo Dillon and Penny Bendall. It is an extraordinary privilege to have
a world-class collection of Italian Renaissance artworks just a five-minute walk
away from our team office. We are delighted to be able to display some of the
paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, decorative objects and manuscripts from
the Fitzwilliam and to place them in dialogue with other items from collections
around the world, including items of devotional significance rarely exhibited
in the UK.
Our debt to those institutions and private collectors who have lent objects,
books, prints and works of art is equally profound. For facilitating the loan of
objects and the provision of images, we thank Katia Adamoli, Mauro Alberti,
Luisa Ambrosio, Lord Balniel, Gabriele Barucca, Simonetta Castronovo, Lucy
Cheng, Diletta Clery, The Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, Thierry Crépin-
Leblond, Lloyd de Beer, Valentina Catalucci, Domizio Cattoi, Emily Dourish,
Luca Fabbri, Rita Fioravanti, Guillaume Fonkenell, Carlos Garcia-Minguillan,
Mons. Francesco Gasparini, Elisabetta Gherardingher, Laura Giallombardo, Paola
Giusti, P. Massimo Giustozzo osa, Alessandra Guidone, Revd James Hanvey sj,
vi i i
Madonnas and Miracles prelims AW.indd 8
Colin Harrison, Andreas Heese, Alice Howard, Nick Humphrey, Zsombor
Jékely, Zsófia Kancler, Hannah Kauffman, Kirstin Kennedy, Daragh Kenny,
Dagmar Korbacher, Manuela Krüger, Lothar Lambacher, Rachel Laufer,
Kathrin Lindemann, Enrica Lozzi, Lorenzo Maione, Valentina Mazzotti,
Kathryn McKee, Maria Grazia Merendi, Giovanna Mori, Peta Motture, Mark
Nicholls, don Silvano Rampo, Claudio Paolinelli, Antonio Perticarini, Justin
Raccanello, Jenny Ramkalawon, Vanessa Remington, P. Alessio Maria Romano
op, Monica Ruffini, Orlando Ruffini, Lois Salter, Madre Chiara Laura Serboli
and the Sisters of the Convent of the Sorelle Povere di Camerino, Desmond
Shawe-Taylor, Don Walter Sommavilla, Anna Sheppard, Parveen Sodhi, Gioia
Perugia Sztulman, Dora Thornton, Chiara Torresan, Simona Tozzo, Sarah
Turner, Timothy Wilson, Jill Whitelock and Grant Young. Rachel Burgess,
project manager for the Domestic Devotions team, has played a key role in
organising the loans for this exhibition: for her efficiency, persistence, good
humour and all-round brilliance, we are eternally grateful.
While it is impossible to list all the friends and colleagues who have helped with
the planning and conceptualisation of Madonnas and Miracles, the following people
deserve special mention: Jaynie Anderson, Riccardo Artico, Annalisa Battina,
Elena Bellina, Melissa Calaresu, Andrea Caracausi, Diletta Clery, Donal Cooper,
Carlo Corsato, Paul Davies, Flora Dennis, Christina Farley, Iain Fenlon, Stan
Finney, Stephen Fliegel, Giulia Foladore, Donato Gallo, Giulia Giulianelli, Paola
Giusti, Cristina Guarnieri, Gianmario Guidarelli, Anita Gunadi, Lydia Hamlett,
Stefan Hanß, Emma Jones, Debra Kaplan, Craig Langton, Caroline Marks,
Alexander Marr, Valentina Mazzotti, Maria Grazia Merendi, Amanda Mikolic,
Giovanna Baldissin Molli, Laura Moretti, Zuleika Murat, Andrew Nethsingha,
Rebecca Norris, Nicholas Penny, Pepe Ragoni, Maria Cristina Rodeschini,
Lyndal Roper, Mariaclara Rossi, Ulinka Rublack, Katherine Rudy, Anna Maria
Savini, Anne Jacobson Schutte, Jason Scott-Warren, Silvana Sciarrotta, Laura
Smoller, Nick Terpstra, Tom True, Jeremy Warren and Edward Wickham.
During the course of our research, staff at the following libraries, archives
and collections have been particularly generous with their help: The Accademia
Carrara, Bergamo; Biblioteca Alessandrina, Rome; Biblioteca Casanatense, Rome;
Biblioteca Estense Universitaria, Modena; Biblioteca Comunale Mozzi Borgetti,
Macerata; Biblioteca Marucelliana, Florence; The British Library; Cambridge
University Library; Civica Raccolta Stampe Bertarelli, Castello Sforzesco, Milan;
Capodimonte Museum, Naples; Communal Archives of Cingoli, Jesi, Tolentino,
Urbania; State Archives of Arezzo, Bergamo, Fano, Fermo, Macerata, Milan,
Padua, Urbino and Venice.
We should also like to record our gratitude to our project’s advisory board: Victoria
Avery, Guido Beltramini, Iain Fenlon, Patricia Fortini Brown, Christiane Klapisch-
Zuber, Brian Richardson, Alexandra Walsham, Evelyn Welch and Gabriella Zarri.
Finally, thanks to Anne Jackson, Clare Martelli and Alice Orton at Philip Wilson
Publishers, to our copy editor Henry Howard and to Ian Parfitt for designing this
beautiful book.
14/12/2016 17:19

Contributors
[vja] Dr Victoria Avery is Keeper of Applied Arts at The Fitzwilliam Museum,
Cambridge, having been an Associate Professor in the History of Art Department,
University of Warwick. She has published extensively on Italian Renaissance
sculpture, and was awarded the Premio Salimbeni 2012 for her British Academy-
funded monograph, Vulcan’s Forge in Venus’ City: The Story of Bronze in Venice,
1350–1650 (2011).
[ab] Dr Abigail Brundin is Reader in Early Modern Literature and Culture in
the Department of Italian, University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of St Catharine’s
College. She has published on many aspects of Renaissance print culture,
including literary production by women, devotional literature and censorship.
[mc] Dr Maya Corry is a postdoctoral researcher in the History of Art at the
University of Cambridge and has been appointed Stipendiary Lecturer in History
at the University of Oxford. She has published on beauty in religious art, angels
and Renaissance religiosity. A monograph that explores the intersections between
ideas about male beauty, sexuality, art and spirituality in the Sforza court of Milan
is forthcoming with Oxford University Press.
[mf] Dr Marco Faini is a postdoctoral researcher in Italian at the University
of Cambridge and has been appointed Andrew W. Mellon Fellow at Villa I Tatti,
The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies. His work focuses
mainly on religious history, Christian epic, and the tradition of comic literature
from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. He is co-editing a Companion to Pietro
Aretino (Leiden and Boston, Brill).
[igc] Irene Galandra Cooper is completing her PhD at the University of
Cambridge. Her research explores the materiality of devotion in sixteenth-century
Naples. Previous to her PhD, she worked for the Wallace Collection, the National
Gallery in London, and The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. She has published
on practices relating to small devotional objects such as rosaries and Agnus Dei.
[dh] Prof. Deborah Howard is Professor Emerita of Architectural History,
Director of Research in the Faculty of Architecture and History of Art, and a
Fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge. She has published widely on the art and
architecture of Venice and the Veneto, the relationship between architecture and
music, and cultural exchange in the Eastern Mediterranean. 
[dk] Dr Debra Kaplan is a social historian of the early modern period at Bar Ilan
University. She writes about Jews and Christians during the Reformation, Jewish
autobiographical texts and Jewish women’s economic activities. She received her
doctorate in history from the University of Pennsylvania, and holds a BA from
Barnard College.
Madonnas and Miracles prelims AW.indd 9
introduction
int roduction
[mrl] Dr Mary Laven is Reader in Early Modern History at the University
of Cambridge and a Fellow of Jesus College. She has published on many different
aspects of Renaissance religion and co-curated the exhibition Treasured Possessions
from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment at The Fitzwilliam Museum in 2015.
[am] Dr Alessia Meneghin, a social and economic historian, was educated at
the Universities of Rome La Sapienza, Leeds and St Andrews, and specialises in
social mobility, consumption of the lower orders of society, and the Arti Minori
in fifteenth-century Florence. As a Research Associate in History at the University
of Cambridge, she has focused on the social and economic aspects of devotion.
[jp] Dr Julia Poole was formerly Keeper of Applied Arts at The Fitzwilliam
Museum. Her publications include Italian Maiolica and Incised Slipware in The
Fitzwilliam Museum (1995), English Pottery (1995), and more recently articles in
the Bulletin de la société archéologique et historique du Limousin (2014) and Amici di
Doccia (2015). She is preparing a catalogue of the Fitzwilliam’s Limoges painted
enamels.
[zs] Zuzanna Sarnecka is completing her PhD at the University of Cambridge
on glazed terracotta sculpture in the Marche and the religious significance of this
medium. She has recently been appointed to a lectureship in the History of Art
at the University of Warsaw. Her publications include ‘The Identity of Wooden
Crucifixes in the Culture of fifteenth-century Umbria’, Arte Medievale (2014).
[dt] Dr Dora Thornton is Curator of Renaissance Europe and the Waddesdon
Bequest at the British Museum. Her many publications include The Scholar in his
Study (1997), Objects of Virtue (2001, with Luke Syson), the Catalogue of Renaissance
Ceramics in the British Museum (2009, with Timothy Wilson) and Shakespeare and
his World (2012, with Jonathan Bate). In 2015 she curated a new gallery for the
Waddesdon Bequest at the British Museum.
[kt] Katherine Tycz is completing her PhD in Italian at the University of
Cambridge. Her research focuses on the spiritual, apotropaic and intercessory
qualities of the material text in early modern Italian devotion. She has published
on early modern material culture, particularly on women’s use of objects inscribed
with prayers.
[jw] Jeremy Warren is a specialist in sculpture and works of art of the European
Renaissance. Among his publications are the Catalogue of Medieval and Renaissance
Sculpture in the Ashmolean Museum which was Apollo Magazine’s Book of the Year
in 2014, and most recently the Wallace Collection’s Catalogue of Italian Sculpture.
He has also written numerous articles on Italian and Northern sculpture and
on the history of collections.
ix
9
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 plate 1
Child injured by scissors, late 15th century
Lonigo, Madonna dei Miracoli,
Museo degli ex voto

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 Introduction
I n the piazza of an Italian town, a family drama unfolds
(plate 1). A little boy with curly hair and rosy cheeks sits
on his mother’s lap clinging to her and demanding to be
comforted. The father – a tall young man, dressed in black
– stands behind his wife and looks down on his son and heir
with palpable fear. The cause of the family’s distress is obvious:
blood gushes from a wound in the child’s neck; in his hands,
we can see a large pair of scissors with bloody blades. The
father takes charge. He carries his son, who still brandishes
the scissors, in his arms to another mother, the Virgin Mary,
who appears miraculously just across the piazza. The Madonna
is seated with her own baby on her lap. She is the same size as
the other characters in the drama and – despite her halo and
the rays of light that emanate from her – she seems human and
approachable. The father kneels on one knee, and holds up his
son to the Virgin. The Christ Child reaches out to him in the
gesture of a blessing. We know that, thanks to the intervention
of the Madonna of Miracles, the injured boy will survive.
These events, from the late fifteenth century, are recorded
in a small painting at the shrine of the Madonna dei Miracoli,
‘the Madonna of Miracles’, in Lonigo in the Veneto. It is one of
hundreds of Renaissance ‘ex-votos’ – offerings left at shrines to
give thanks for miracles granted by the Virgin Mary and saints
– that are preserved in churches across the Italian peninsula.
Other examples allow us to glimpse inside the Renaissance
home, a frequent site of miracles. Some depict acts of domestic
devotion, as supplicants call out from their dwellings and offer
prayers up from their bedsides (plate 2). Like the image of the
boy with the scissors, these colourful domestic scenes testify to
the centrality of miracles and the proximity of the Virgin and
saints in the day-to-day lives of ordinary Italians during this
period.
 and entertaining would be the presence of a prie-dieu (plate
Madonnas and Miracles reveals the significance of the home as
a site of religious experience in this period. From visionary
‘living saints’, who conversed with the divine in their
chambers, to ordinary laypeople who prayed the rosary before
bed, to those who read heterodox books by the hearth, men,
women and children practised religion in the home in a variety
of ways. Not that domestic devotion was entirely unregulated.
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 1
Churchmen and authors of treatises and handbooks on spiritual
practice were remarkably consistent in the instructions that
they issued regarding household piety. Whether we focus
on the enduringly popular Meditations on the Life of Christ,
written by a Franciscan around the middle of the fourteenth
century, or the sermons preached by the Dominician friar
Girolamo Savonarola at the end of the fifteenth century, or
the proclamations of the great reforming Archbishop Carlo
Borromeo in the later sixteenth century, we find the same key
principles: by the repetition of memorised words and by the
meditative contemplation of holy truths, all Christian laypeople
were exhorted to pray in their homes every day. While parents
were expected to instruct their children in the proper forms of
worship and heads of household might lead their families and
servants in prayer, individuals were encouraged to pursue their
devotions in quiet and seclusion. In order to enhance their
concentration and guide their worship, laypeople were urged
to focus on an approved text, image or object.
For the poor, these moments of piety were generally
snatched at dawn, dusk or during the working day. Those
who could afford inexpensive rosaries, cheap prints and rough
crucifixes, or who were given or bequeathed them, cherished
these simple but powerful religious aids. For the better off,
the luxury of leisure meant that more time could be spent
in devotion in the home, and a richer variety of objects was
available to help ease the transition from worldly worries to
celestial contemplation. Across Italy, inventories indicate that
many laypeople heeded the advice laid down by preachers,
priests and authors and kept items designed to facilitate
domestic devotions in their homes.
If we imagine ourselves in the camera of a relatively well-
off household in the mid sixteenth century, one of the most
obvious signs that this was a space for prayer as well as sleeping
4).1 Made by the same craftsmen who produced beds, chairs and
tables, these kneeling stools were often decorated with secular
motifs, and shared in the general aesthetic of Renaissance
interior furnishings. Unlike other pieces of furniture, however,
they were deliberately designed for devotion. Upon rising in
the morning or before bed, a young mother might emulate the
Virgin as she appeared in so many Annunciation scenes (fig. 2),
kneeling at her prie-dieu for periods of reading and reflection.
14/12/2016 17:20
 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s

plate 2
Sick man in bed prays with rosary, attended
by wife and children, 16th century
Naples, Il Museo degli ex voto del
santuario di Madonna dell’Arco

plate 3
Book of hours, 1460–70
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum

Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 2 14/12/2016 17:20


Inside the drawers and compartments of the stool her treasured
religious items were carefully stored.
Daily reading was encouraged by texts such as a book of
hours (plate 3). These were often handed down over the years:
a reader updated the book illustrated here by the crossing
out of a previous owner’s name from an intercessory prayer.
The text would have asserted its beauty and spiritual value
even when closed, for it was decorated with ornate enamel
and niello clasps featuring the Virgin and Child and John the
Evangelist. The tiny image of St John blessing a cup of wine
recalled the ritual practised on his feast day of 27 December.
Members of the household would gather to share wine that had
been blessed and speak to each other words of benediction that
drew parallels between their familial bonds and the special love
that had united Christ and the Evangelist.
As well as containing books, the kneeling stool might face
a small table on which stood a crucifix. Christ’s lifeless form,
delicately worked in bronze and suspended from the cross,
invited feelings of sorrow and compunction and provided
a focus for meditation (plate 7). The head of the household
was responsible for leading his wife, children and servants
in prayer, but he was also urged to make time for his own
private communion with God. An older man, whose status
and respectability are conveyed by his rich robes as well as his
devout attitude, concentrates his gaze on the crucified Christ
in a portrait that clearly communicated his piety to all who saw
it (plate 8).
Other trappings, many of them stored out of sight for
most of the day, helped to transform ordinary domestic space
into a place of sanctity. Items were treasured for their aesthetic
value, their rich materials, and sometimes their exoticism as
well as for their religious meaning. To illuminate the crucifix
in the hours of darkness a candle could be lit in a beautiful
inlaid Mamluk candlestick (plate 5). Many merchants and
plate 4 fig. 2
Prie-dieu, 1580–1600 detail from Carlo Crivelli,
The Annunciation with St Emidius, 1486
London, The Victoria and Albert Museum
London, National Gallery
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 3
int roduction
pilgrims returned home with objects like this one, which was
probably made in Damascus around 1423. Its Italian owners
could personalise it by having their coats of arms inscribed on
a space left empty for this purpose. The candlestick’s Islamic
ornament (alla moresca or all’arabesca) suggested links with the
Holy Land, rather than to an alien faith, and the flickering
effects of candlelight on the richly decorated surface created an
evocative atmosphere for worship. Alongside the candlestick
might stand a sandglass in an ivory frame (plate 6), used by the
paterfamilias to measure periods of meditation. The timepiece
could also serve as a reminder of the finite duration of life and
thus prompt reflection on the ars moriendi, or the art of dying
well.
Watching over the family’s devotions was the Virgin. A
painting of the Madonna and Child such as the early fifteenth-
century example attributed to Pietro di Niccolò da Orvieto
would have been kept and treasured throughout the years
(plate 9). Its potency was not confined by its small size; rather,
the dramatic close-up presentation of the two figures invited
intimacy, as the Virgin made eye contact with those who spoke
their daily prayers to her. With her radiant halo surrounding
her in dazzling golden light she is simultaneously Queen of
Heaven and a human mother, who expresses her tenderness
for her child by gently resting her cheek against his head. The
little Christ Child grasps her finger in a babyish gesture, but his
solemn countenance indicates his divinity. The painting evokes
both an Eastern icon, with its gold ground and flattened forms,
and the Renaissance move towards naturalism, in the figures’
flushed cheeks and the modelling of their faces, as well as in
their loving interaction. Its sweet beauty would have attracted
the attention of children, while its iconographic and stylistic
sophistication provided food for adult contemplation. A fictive
painted marble panel on the reverse of the image indicates
that it would have been handled, perhaps kept in a chest or
plate 5
Mamluk (probably Syrian) candlestick, c.1423
London, British Museum
14/12/2016 17:20
 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 6
Sandglass, 16th century
London,
The Victoria and Albert Museum
hung with its face to the wall for most of the day, and then
brought out or uncovered for moments of devotion. Its abstract
coloured patterns may have helped to focus meditation.2 Ties
of affection, reverence and familiarity bound members of a
family to their household Madonna, who provided them with
succour and comfort over the years.
 with their exceptional value.5 Instead we include works in a
Looking through the keyhole into the domestic space of
a past age is a challenging task. We not only have to try to
travel backwards in time, but we also need to intrude on the
private realm of the home. Up to now, studies of religious
art in Renaissance Italy have concentrated mainly on works
commissioned for churches, convents and confraternities, since
these are better documented, usually larger in scale and more
likely to be exhibited in museums. This trend in art historical
research has intensified the idea that, south of the Alps, piety
was concentrated in public religious and institutional contexts,
whereas the ‘pious home’ has become associated by historians
with the northern lands of the Protestant Reformation.3 This
exhibition challenges that narrative, and seeks to explore the
ways in which Italian Renaissance men, women and children
used material objects and works of art in their private devotions
within the seclusion of their homes.
As prosperity increased and commerce expanded, rising
standards of living made objects and images more accessible
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 4
plate 7
After a model attributed to Guglielmo
della Porta, The Crucifixion, c.1570–1600
London,
The Victoria and Albert Museum
to a wider social range.4 This book looks at everyday articles
owned and treasured by relatively modest families, as well
as works of art by well-known artists and luxury items. We
go beyond the hierarchy of genres inherited from Vasari that
views painting and sculpture as superior to what we now call
‘the applied arts’. It is to satisfy our desires that curators choose
to display eye-catching pieces that will dazzle the viewer
wide variety of media, including many that are small in size
and have long remained hidden in museum stores or private
collections. Objects that were used and treasured in the home
often suffered from wear and tear, but these signs of damage
can give a fascinating indication of how they were employed in
private rituals of prayer and devotion.
General textbooks on the Renaissance still focus on the
burgeoning enthusiasm for the culture of ancient Greece and
Rome; indeed, the word ‘Renaissance’, meaning ‘rebirth’,
refers in essence to the revival of interest in the antique. But
the modern connotations of the word ‘humanism’ as a form of
atheism have skewed our view of the humanistic learning of
the Renaissance by regarding it as an ungodly phenomenon.
The enduring stereotype of the Renaissance as a ‘secular age’ is
in part the legacy of the Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt, who
in his classic work of 1860, The Civilization of the Renaissance
in Italy, described a people who were marked out by their
individualism, worldliness and scepticism, and for whom ‘the
need for salvation’ had receded.
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 int roduction

plate 8
Man at prayer before a crucifix, 1562
Treviso, Musei Civici

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s

plate 9
Attr. Pietro di Niccolò da Orvieto,
Virgin and Child, first half 15th century
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum

Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 6 14/12/2016 17:20


This preoccupation with the rebirth of antiquity has been
intensified by the tendency to study the patronage of social
elites, among whom humanistic study flourished. In practice,
works of art with classical subjects appear only rarely in Italian
domestic inventories of the period, and are found almost
exclusively in upper-class homes. The dramatic increase in
consumption in Italy from the fourteenth century onwards
had a broad impact; the ‘rain of non-necessities’ so memorably
described by John Hale did not fall only on the noble few.6
It is of course easier to rehearse what we know about the
spending habits of the rich and famous than to scurry around in
archives in pursuit of account books and receipts generated by
the unknown. Nevertheless, the historians, art historians and
literary scholars who have curated Madonnas and Miracles are
united in their determination to shed light on the devotional
and material lives of Renaissance Italians across society.7
We contend that the Renaissance was a much broader,
more inclusive kind of rebirth, in which the excitement of
artistic virtuosity, geographical discovery, economic growth,
the expansion of commerce and new technologies, not to
mention humanistic learning and religious reform, were
grafted onto the rich culture of the late Middle Ages. It was
also a phenomenon that ‘happened’ all over Italy, not just
in Florence, Rome and Venice. In this exhibition we try to
suggest that the preoccupation with this ‘golden triangle’ has
skewed our view of the period, especially when it comes to
consideration of the lives of ordinary families. We therefore
look beyond these great cities to embrace three contrasting
regions: Naples and its immediate surroundings, the Marche
and the Venetian terraferma.
These three areas offer an intriguing range of geographical
contexts and cultural affiliations. Naples, the capital of the
verso of plate 9
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 7
int roduction
south, and the largest city of the time – not only in Italy but
in the whole of Western Europe – enjoyed multiple political,
cultural and commercial connections with the Western
Mediterranean, especially Spain. The Marche, by contrast,
had no dominating metropolis, but consisted of a number of
small urban centres separated by hilly countryside. Its ports,
such as Ancona and Pesaro, had important commercial links
across the Adriatic Sea to Dalmatia, Venice and the Eastern
Mediterranean. The Venetian terraferma eventually stretched
across northern Italy from Bergamo, just east of Milan, to
Udine in the Friuli; this region was dominated by important
provincial cities, such as Verona, Vicenza, Padua and Udine,
which were subject to a sophisticated system of metropolitan
government from Venice. Strong trading links across the
Brenner Pass and other transalpine routes to Northern Europe
resulted in the diffusion of Protestant reformist ideas across the
region during the sixteenth century. In all three regions local
shrines – including the celebrated ‘Holy House’ of the Virgin
Mary at Loreto – aroused deep popular devotion and became
the cherished focus of local pilgrimage. This book, and the
exhibition upon which it is based, present ex-votos from each
of these three regions to illustrate the religious concerns and
daily lives of ordinary people with vivid immediacy.
By juxtaposing the startling imagery of Italian ex-
votos with devotional books, decorative objects, sculptures
and painted works of art from the home,  Madonnas and
Miracles  exposes a side of the Renaissance that is normally
hidden from view.  The personal piety of individuals from the
distant past will always lie to some extent beyond our grasp.
And yet by exploring this rich array of objects, we can come
closer to understanding how the divine permeated the Italian
Renaissance home. mc | dh | mrl
See: Ajmar-Wollheim and Dennis 2006; C. Campbell 2009; Didi-Huberman
1995; Fortini Brown 2004; Goldthwaite 1993; Hale 1993; Hamling 2011; Palumbo
Fossati Casa 1984; Roper 1989; Syson and Thornton 2001; Walsham 2016.
1. Also known as a kneeling stool or prayer desk, or inginocchiatoio in Italian.
2. Didi-Huberman, 1995.
3. Roper, 1989; Hamling, 2011; Walsham, 2016.
4. Two formidable publications serve as a launch pad for our investigations:
Ajmar-Wollheim and Dennis, 2006; and Fortini Brown, 2004.
5. The tendency to privilege elite owners can be found in Syson and Thornton,
2001. See also the exclusively noble focus of the Courtauld Institute exhibition,
‘Love and Marriage in Renaissance Florence’, C. Campbell, 2009.
6. Goldthwaite, 1993; Hale, 1993, p. 173.
7. See, for example, Palumbo Fossati Casa, 1984, pp. 109–53.
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i
Family life
Devotional Space in the Home
Peering into the seclusion of the Italian Renaissance home,
we can begin to catch glimpses of the intimate devotional
practices that punctuated daily life. All the same, it is not easy to
reconstruct historical domestic space. The home is defined by
its privacy, and each Italian Renaissance household organised
its family life in its own way. There were many variations in
the composition and size of the famiglia, which often included
other residents such as attendants, servants and apprentices as
well as family members. Even rituals followed no standard
practices within the confines of the home. Unlike worship
in the church, domestic rites could not easily be monitored
by the religious authorities, and expressions of personal piety
therefore varied widely from one home to another. Similarly,
the houses themselves had no standard layout, but depended
on regional tradition and social class. A further obstacle to
visualising the Italian Renaissance home is that most houses
of the period have been altered many times over the centuries,
especially in the interior.
Despite local and economic variations, however, different
types of evidence in both text and image can help to build up
a composite picture of piety in the Italian Renaissance home.
Household inventories are rich sources of information on the
religious objects owned by private individuals, although this
evidence needs to be treated carefully.1 Inventories were often
compiled in the confusing aftermath of a death, when items
were moved around. Besides, a woman’s inventory might list
only her own personal possessions rather than those shared by
other members of the household, and no mention was made of
built-in furnishings.
Visual evidence, too, can throw light on private worship
in the home. Paintings of the Annunciation often display the
Virgin as a virtuous woman at her devotions, caught unawares
plate 10
Attr. Diana Scultori, after Giulio Romano,
The birth of St John the Baptist, c.1570–85
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 9
int roduction
by the Angel Gabriel’s appearance (fig. 2). Domestic interiors
appear in some religious art works such as depictions of the
Birth of the Virgin (see plate 32) or the Birth of the Baptist
(plate 10), while ex-voto panels, commissioned to give thanks
for a domestic miracle, may show the pious family at prayer
inside or outside the home (plates 11 and 12).2
Private chapels
Only the most elite families, such as the Medici in Florence
or the d’Este in Ferrara, worshipped in their own chapel
or oratory within the house, and indeed, as the Counter
Reformation progressed, Church authorities were to become
ever more suspicious of private chapels.3 Nonetheless, before
the restrictions imposed in the 1560s, the presence of a private
chapel was a sign of status and respectability among wealthy
families. Elite members of society had the space to assign a
specific room as a chapel and the means to decorate it, as well
as the power to obtain a personal concession for the altar rights
and to retain a priest. For those with humanist interests, the
existence of a family shrine or lararium in the ancient Roman
house offered a revered antique precedent, described in the treat-
ise of Vitruvius.4 Because ancient religion involved devotion
to ancestral figures, this space was the forerunner of the family
oratory in the privileged Christian household.
Country villas were more likely to contain a private chapel
or oratory than urban palaces, not least because spiritual re-
generation was one of the perceived functions of a rural retreat.5
Furthermore, the closeness to nature heightened the awareness
of the effects of natural disasters on farming, and hence the
sense that divine forces impinged on daily life. Wealthy land-
owners often had a chapel in a separate building on their estate,
sometimes doubling as a parish church for the local community,
while others used a room in the house as a consecrated chapel.6
As in the city, family chapels sometimes opened on to a court-
yard or street, where they were accessible to other worshippers,
but there were many gradations of privacy. As in the Palazzo
Medici in Florence, the family chapel in a villa might occupy
a dedicated room with a consecrated altar on the piano nobile,
but it could also be a very tiny oratory at the most secluded end
of a private apartment intended mainly for personal devotion.
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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 11
Woman with a rosary supplicates the
Madonna of Lonigo on behalf of a sick
woman, 1510
Lonigo, Madonna dei Miracoli,
Museo degli ex voto
The camera
The evidence of inventories suggests overwhelmingly that the
bedchamber or camera was the preferred location for domestic
worship in most households. In most middle-class and elite
households, at least one image of the Virgin and Child – such
as a painting, a print or a relief – was typically to be found near
the bed in the main living chamber, frequently listed along-
side small-scale depictions of saints. Nearby, further devotional
articles such as candlesticks, a crucifix, a holy water stoup
and perhaps a kneeling stool added to the aura of piety. In
other words, a prayer space near the bed created a sacred zone
of meditation – conceptually if not physically separated from
everyday life.
We must, however, be careful not to interpret the camera as
the bedroom as we know it today. This room served as a private
living space by day as well as by night. In a large house, it formed
the heart of the Renaissance ‘apartment’: a suite of rooms for
each important family member, graded in privacy from the
more public sala to the seclusion of the innermost studiolo.7 The
number of rooms in a private apartment could be expanded or
contracted according to the wealth of the occupant and the size
of the house, but the camera was the most essential component.
When houses later became subdivided by inheritance, the
apartments could be rearranged to suit each generation. In a
small artisan’s dwelling, the camera would be a single space,
rather than a unit in a suite of rooms. In simple homes in both
town and country, the camera was more secluded and formal
than the kitchen, although lesser members of the family such
as children or apprentices might sleep in the kitchen. At both
ends of the social spectrum, however, domestic devotion seems
10
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 10
plate 12
Family kneel in prayer in front of their house,
first half 16th century
Lonigo, Madonna dei Miracoli, Museo degli ex voto
to have been concentrated in the camera. Shrines or religious
alcoves could also be found in a private courtyard or garden.
(Devotional tabernacles in the street or in the fields are not
considered ‘domestic’ in the context of this book.)
Spaces for prayer
The experience of prayer was multi-sensory. Sound, in the
form of chanting prayers or singing devotional laude (ver-
nacular religious songs), perfumes from scented oils or incense,
and tactile actions such as kissing icons, statues or books or
fingering a rosary, figure prominently in domestic rituals and
added to the range of sensory perceptions. In some homes,
devotees kept holy water stoups, often of Near-Eastern Islamic
origin (plate 14), complete with an aspergil for sprinkling,
typically hung beneath a devotional image (see fig. 1).8 Their
Islamic craftsmanship and ornament seemed to confer biblical
‘authenticity’ because of the origin of such articles in the Holy
Land. Similarly, inlaid metalwork candlesticks of Syrian origin
(see plate 5) invested the devotional aedicule or table with
connotations of biblical lands.
The unveiling or handling of a religious image formed part
of the ritual of domestic worship: inventories often mention
curtains or shutters over a holy picture such as a Madonna, and
some images were painted on both sides, suggesting that they
were handled during prayer (see plate 9). The painted curtains
framing the Virgin and Child by the Master of the Castello
Nativity (see plate 89) underline the theatricality of the act
of revelation of the sacred image.9 In several cases, inventories
mention a candleholder attached to the picture frame (see
fig. 1). The presence of a mirror in the area around the bed
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plate 13
Sick man with a beret in his hand,
first half 16th century
Lonigo, Madonna dei Miracoli,
Museo degli ex voto
not only served the needs of personal grooming, but also
encouraged meditation and helped to reflect light from candles
or lamps. Smaller religious items such as missals, rosaries,
jewellery and paxes (see plate 105) were commonly stored in a
chest or box (see plate 21), not only for safekeeping but also to
heighten their impact when they were unpacked.
House altars
The mention of a table to serve as an altarino in some household
inventories raises the question of the perceived ritual correctness
of domestic worship. The fifteenth-century humanist Francesco
Grapaldi insisted that an altar table in a domestic chapel should
face towards the east and should be made of marble – or, at
the very least, it should have an inset marble slab.10 Before the
impact of the Tridentine reforms of the 1560s this consecrated
pietra sagrata could be portable, to indicate the concession of the
altar rights to the owner wherever it was set up. A specific area
of a room could be thus made sacred at certain times of day for
the purposes of worship, returning to normal use afterwards.
Until the restrictions of the Counter Reformation, the prayer
space did not have to be physically separated from everyday life.
The house altar would be expected to have an altar cloth and
frontal as well as candlesticks, incense burners and a crucifix,
to create a fitting atmosphere of sanctity when in use. At the
same time, the gathering of members of the household around
an altarino for private worship invested the owner’s domestic
space with social status as well as piety. Even in the absence
of a priest, a messa secca or ‘dry mass’ without the consecrated
Host could be performed, as on board ship. In more modest
dwellings, simpler family prayers were carried out by kneeling
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 11
int roduction
fa m ily lif e
plate 14
Holy water stoup, first half 14th century
Treviso, Museo Diocesano di Arte Sacra
before a religious image or crucifix without a table or pietra
sagrata.
Because of the personal nature of private devotion and
the huge range of family circumstances there was no standard
spatial layout, but broad patterns emerge to help us to imagine
how Renaissance Italians – rich and poor – used their homes in
worship (plate 13). dh
See: Ajmar Wollheim and Dennis 2006; Bossy 1970; Curatola 1993; Guillaume
1994; Henry 2011; Lillie 1998; Mattox 2006; Moretti 2012; Morse 2007; Nevola
2006–7; Palladio 1570; Palumbo Fossati Casa 2012; Thornton 1991; Vitruvius 1999.
1. Morse, 2007; Palumbo Fossati Casa, 2012, pp. 18–35.
2. See below, ‘Ex-Votos’, p. 144.
3. Mattox, 2006, pp. 671–2; Moretti, 2012, pp. 216–221.
4. Vitruvius, 1999, Book 6, ch. 3.5, p. 79.
5. Palladio, 1570, Book ii, p. 45.
6. Lillie, 1998.
7. Thornton, 1991, pp. 284–319; Guillaume, 1994, pp. 7–10.
8. Stefano Carboni, ‘Secchiello in ottone’, in Curatola, 1993, pp. 313–14, cat. 180.
9. See below, ‘Master of the Castello Nativity, Virgin adoring the Child’, p. 93.
10. Mattox, 2006, p. 662.
11
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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s

plate 15

Filippo Lippi
Virgin and Child, St John the Baptist and St Ansanus, c.1435

Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum

This small triptych (a painting with a central panel and two

moveable wings) was painted c.1435 by Fra Filippo Lippi, a
Carmelite friar in the convent of Santa Maria del Carmine in
Florence.1 The order to which Lippi belonged had originated
with hermits living on Mount Carmel, and dedication to a
life of solitude amid nature remained a cherished ideal.2 This
may have stimulated the iconography of the central panel,
which shows the Madonna seated directly on the grass. This
type of representation is called the Madonna of Humility, to
emphasise that she is not enthroned.3 However, four attentive
angels hold a richly decorated cushion behind the Virgin to
keep her comfortable. The central group of the Virgin and
Child is placed in front of the architectural space suggested
by three stone columns in order to encourage communication
with the viewer.
The Christ Child emerges from the folds of the Virgin’s
mantle to touch the donor’s head with his left hand and bless
him with the right. The two saints depicted on the wings are
St John the Baptist holding a scroll with an inscription ‘ecce
agnvs [dei]’ (Behold the Lamb of God) and St Ansanus, a
fourth-century martyr carrying a white banner with a red
cross.4 While John the Baptist was the patron saint of Florence,
Ansanus was one of the saintly protectors of Siena; the two
most important Tuscan cities, therefore, are recalled in this
painting. Despite this and other clues such as the motto on the
scroll with an inscription ‘.penses.biem. [sic]’ (think carefully),
the identity of the donor remains unknown.
Placed on a table or in a niche located in front of a kneeling
stool, this painting might have once formed a part of a domestic
altar. Its owner could have manipulated the wings to open
them at a desired angle during prayer to heighten the impact
of the image. Because of the gilded, wooden base supporting
the central panel, the wings were not crucial for the stability
of the object when placed upright, unlike other simpler
triptychs. Moreover, as it seems that the original owner and the
presumed patron of the painting had connections with both
Siena and Florence, the triptych format would have permitted
him to shut the wings and protect the precious image whilst
travelling. zs

See: Argenziano and Bisogni 1990; Goodison and Robertson 1967; Holmes 1999;
Johnson 2005; Kaftal 1952; Williamson 2009.

1. Holmes, 1999, p. 59; Goodison and Robertson 1967, pp. 85–87, cat. 559.
2. Johnson, 2005, p. 201.
3. Williamson, 2009.
4. Kaftal, 1952, coll. 59–62; Argenziano and Bisogni, 1990, pp. 95–115.

12

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fa m ily lif e

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
The Family
Unlike today, when the average UK home has 2.3 inhabitants,
the Renaissance household was often complex and sprawling.
Parents and children lived alongside widowed grandparents,
unmarried siblings, stepchildren and other kinsfolk in house-
holds that were fluid and permeable. Elite children were sent
out to wet nurses, noble girls were reared and educated in
convents, poor children were dispatched to live and work in
other homes as apprentices or servants, fathers travelled on
business, relatives came and went, rents lapsed and families
moved. Nonetheless, whatever its circumstances, each and
every domestic unit had spiritual significance (plate 17). The
well-ordered family was believed to be the basis of a well-
ordered society. The spiritual wellbeing of the Christian
community thus depended on the piety of the members of a
household, which in turn was the responsibility of its head.
With this in mind, Renaissance authors considered there
to be no more significant choice for a man than his selection
of a wife. Men who secured women of virtue – who were
modest, prudent, faithful and good-tempered – would inhabit
homes that the Bishop of Verona Agostino Valier described as
‘truly houses of God, lodges of peace and concord’.1 A wife,
acting under the influence of the Holy Spirit, ought to be both
subservient to her husband and exert a loving influence over
him, recalling him to his familial and spiritual duties.2 Alberti
urged readers of his I libri della famiglia to ‘recall … how often
profligates and hopeless prodigals have been restored to a better
life by the presence of a wife in the house’.3
As a result of these beliefs, women in hope of a husband
were prompted to advertise their virtue to potential suitors.
Young women often sported jewellery with religious meaning
in portraits commissioned in celebration of their marriages. In-
scriptions on the front and back of a portrait of a young woman
now in Berlin (fig. 3) highlight the sitter’s devout nature and,
by extension, her suitability as a wife: piety and attractiveness
were intertwined. A pendant now in the British Museum, very
like the one worn by the young woman (plate 16), would have
signalled the wearer’s status and enhanced her natural beauty,
but the design also communicated her faith. Inscribed on its
back, to be worn secretly next to the skin, are the holy words
‘Verbum caro’ (the word made flesh).4 Alluding to Christ’s in-
carnation, which was revealed to Mary at the Annunciation,
they can be interpreted to suggest the wearer’s hopes of preg-
nancy. Many of the Virgin and Child paintings that adorned
14
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 14
Italian Renaissance homes were wedding gifts given to a
bride. They too indicated the hope that she would mirror the
Virgin’s virtues, and, like her, in short time produce a healthy
baby boy.
Once a child was born, parents had responsibility for
bringing him or her up to be a good Christian.5 The Holy
Family was held up as an ideal exemplar of domestic harmony,
and devotional texts embellished the information found in
the Bible to describe the home life of the divine family (see
plate 57). They included relatable details, such as the little Jesus
aiding Mary with the housework during his childhood, laying
the table and making the beds.6 Readers were encouraged to
imagine the home life of the Holy Family, and to consider how
their own relations and routines could be modelled on this
example:
Consider this family, blessed above all others, small but very
excellent, leading a poor and humble life … consider the
three of them eating at table every day, not delicate meals
but scanty and sober ones. And afterwards they speak, not
in vain and idle words, but all full of wisdom and the Holy
Spirit, so that they nourish themselves not less in mind than
in body. And after some revelation they turn away and back
to prayer in their beds. They had a small, not large, house.
Reflect on the three beds in one small room, as humble and
simple as that of any poor man …7
Similarly, images of the Holy Family in Renaissance homes
focused on Joseph’s paternal authority and the Virgin’s dom-
estic virtues. An engraving (plate 18) depicts a homely scene
that has no basis in any Bible story. The young John the
Baptist aids his elderly mother St Elizabeth as she winds a
ball of wool on to a winding stick. The Virgin gazes at her
carefully swaddled, sleeping child while Joseph watches over
them all. No markers of divinity distinguish these holy figures.
Their contemporary appearances suggested what the readers
of treatises on the family already knew well: that ordinary
Italians ought to emulate the Holy Family in their domestic
activities and relations. How far this ideal reflected the reality
of family life of course varied, but the association of the divine
and the domestic was a powerful one that reverberated through
paintings, prints, books, furnishings and the experience of
family life in the Renaissance. mc
See: Alberti 1969; Bornstein 1998; Cavallo and Evangelisti 2010; Frigo 1985;
Grubb 1996; Ragusa and Green 1961; Romano 1996; Valier 1575.
1. Valier, quoted in Romano, 1996, p. 22.
2. Ibid.
3. Alberti, 1969, p. 113.
4. For discussion of the potency of holy inscriptions see below,
‘Praying for Protection’, p. 110.
5. See below, ‘Childhood’, p. 35.
6. Ragusa and Green, 1961, p. 101.
7. Ibid., pp. 101–2.
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 int roduction

plate 16 fig. 3
Jewelled cross pendant, c.1510–30 Agnolo di Domenico Mazziere,
Portrait of a Young Woman, c.1490
London, British Museum
Berlin, Staatliche Museen

plate 17
A family stricken by illness, 16th century
Naples, Museo degli ex voto del
santuario di Madonna dell’Arco
plate 18
Giacomo Francia, The Holy Family with
St Elizabeth and the infant John the Baptist,
c.1510–30
Fitzwilliam Museum

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s

Daily Devotions

And in the morning when you awake, I would like you to

make the Sign of the Holy Cross and say the Pater Noster
[Our Father], the Ave Maria [Hail Mary], with the symbol
of the Apostles … In the evening when you are just about
ready to rest, make the same Sign with the Pater Noster,
the Ave Maria and the prayer, Visita quaesumus domine
habitationem istam [Visit, we beseech Thee O Lord, this
dwelling].1

Devotional routines permeated the daily lives of Renaissance

Italians. From the moment they arose, prescriptive literature
and preachers called for devotees to recite prayers and remember
their faith. In these instructions written by Giacomo Oliva
for the good Christian, the Benedictine abbot recommends
beginning and ending each day by crossing oneself and saying
the Our Father and Hail Mary.
Remembering the lessons they learned at church and from
their parents, Renaissance men, women and children would
have been prompted to engage in pious acts during their
quotidian activities.2 Utilitarian objects and images served as
prompts to devotion throughout the day.

Men at work
plate 19

The great proponent of orthodox devotion in the era of Cath- Box with The Annunciation, c.1500–1600
olic Reform, Cardinal (later St) Carlo Borromeo, specified that London,
‘when trading at the market, or working, try to occupy your The Victoria and Albert Museum
mind with something spiritual, like that which Our Lord
Christ or other saints said or did, or by reading the Psalms, or
by singing spiritual things’.3 A box made of cypress or cedar
wood and carved in the intaglio technique with a scene of the
Annunciation (plate 19) may have assisted in such daily spirit-
ual pursuits. The unique shape of the compartments inside
suggests that they were made specially to hold the scales and
weights necessary to the merchant’s trade. Delicate details on
the figures that adorned it were highlighted with ink and the
background was punched to create a scene worthy of contem-
plation as the merchant occupied himself with mundane tasks.
Typically, Annunciation scenes depict only the two main
figures of Mary and the Archangel Gabriel (see plate 27);
however, on this particular box another woman is present,
spinning from her distaff. On the cover, the Angel appears
on the left, the Virgin Mary can be identified as the woman
on the far right who sits before a book on a lectern, and the
spinning woman in the middle may be the Virgin Mary’s
mother, St Anne. However, the scene shares similarities with
the fourteenth-century fresco by Giotto di Bondone in Padua
depicting the moment when St Anne herself received the news
that she was pregnant with Mary, despite her advanced age
(fig. 4). In Giotto’s scene, the Angel presents the mature Anne
with the news as her handmaiden continues her spinning un-
interrupted. fig. 4
Boxes of this kind were commonly made in Northern Giotto di Bondone,
Italy; however, inside the box the inscription ‘in Sassoferrato’ (a Annunciation to St Anne, 1303–6
town in the Marche region), points to the widespread dispersal Padua, Scrovegni Chapel

16

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plate 20
Attr. Giovanni di Nicola di Manzoni dal
Colle, inkstand with The Nativity, c.1510
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
of these items. Below the name of the town, the initials ‘A +
M’ may refer to the box’s owner or serve as a prompt to recite
the prayer ‘Ave Maria’. The cross was perhaps a reminder to
make the Sign of the Cross while working. The praying Virgin
and the spinning woman represent the contemplative and active
sides of devotion respectively, indicating the importance of both
types of piety – an important message for a merchant or trader.
A three-dimensional depiction of the Nativity on a
maiolica inkstand also operated as both a devotional and a
useful object during the workday (plate 20).4 Underneath the
manger, the donkey and ox stand watch patiently over the
Christ Child who lies on the floor. Mary and Joseph observe
the scene from the sides – the Virgin’s hands are clasped in
prayer as Joseph raises a hand to his face in dreamy adoration.
Perhaps the man of the house used this inkstand in his study
or in his shop, and, following the advice of Borromeo, would
recall the Holy Family with every dip of his pen.
Women at home
While these two objects – the inkstand and small box – may
have been used by a male family member, similar objects
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 17
int roduction
Fa m ily lif e
also belonged to women. Commemorative inkstands were
occasionally purchased during the courtship process for the
ceremonial signing of marriage documents.5 Used while keep-
ing track of household accounts, penning notes or devotional
poetry, or while teaching children their letters and prayers, an
inkstand decorated with the Nativity brought the Holy Family
into the household.
Small boxes were also common courtship and marriage
gifts. Depicting a variety of mythological, classical and re-
ligious designs, the imagery on caskets was meant both to offer
entertainment and to serve as moral reminders to the box’s
owner. The sides of a pavilion-topped yellow cofanetto (little
box) (plate 21) are embellished with raised white pastiglia
(paste) decoration, also named pasta di muschio (musk paste)
after the scent added to the substance, which may have emitted
a pleasant aroma when touched, adding a sensory experience
when handling it.6 The various sides of the box depict a legend
from ancient Roman history, a chivalric scene of knights in
battle, and the Old Testament story of the legendary fight
between David and Goliath. It shows the moment when the
underdog, the young David, triumphantly lifts the severed
head of the gigantic Philistine warrior. Images from the Old
Testament like the scene of David and Goliath on the cofanetto
17
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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 21
Cofanetto with David and Goliath, c.1510
London,
The Victoria and Albert Museum
provided families with aesthetically pleasing, entertaining im-
ages and examples of virtue.7
Boxes decorated with religious imagery often held jewell-
ery with spiritual significance. The fifteenth-century preacher
Bernardino of Siena suggested that a woman should remember
that her ‘beauty and fine grace are given to her by God, if only
she uses them well … [she should] be adorned and delicate, but
with discretion in all things, and modestly’.8 Bernardino also en-
couraged women to lessen the time they spent at their toilette
saying ‘if they spent as much of it on their soul as they do on
beautifying their bodies, they would turn into Saint Catharine’.9
Larger chests, called cassoni, were also associated with
marriage; they were used to carry the bride’s possessions
and trousseau (corredo) to her new house, where they would
become treasured furnishings. While the colourful painted
fifteenth-century Florentine cassoni are well known, another
type of chest produced in the Veneto region, decorated in the
same technique as the small box with the Annunciation scene,
was also popular. A typical cassone (fig. 5), probably used to
store linens and personal possessions, illustrates another way
in which instructive religious imagery was present within the
household. Incised on the front panel between decorative bands
of hunters chasing animals in typical courtly imagery, a variety
of scenes unfolds. In the centre of the front panel a fountain
is set in a field of scrolling floral and vegetal patterns, which
evoke the Garden of Eden and the Virgin’s emblematic role
as the hortus conclusus (enclosed garden).10 The fount of water
represents the Fountain of Life. Based upon a description in the
Song of Songs of a ‘fountain of gardens, a well of living waters’,
it became a symbol of the Virgin and her chaste nature.11 To the
left of the fountain on the cassone, the Virgin and Christ Child
18
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 18
fig. 5
Cassone with the Adoration of the Magi,
The Fountain of Life and Martyrdom
of a female saint, c.1400–20
London,
The Victoria and Albert Museum
are enthroned under a baldachin and St Joseph sits faithfully
by their side. The three Magi kneel before the Virgin and
Child in adoration and angels play music overhead. To the
right, a female martyr, possibly St Catharine, kneels before a
king as the executioner swings his sword at her head. This
moment of saintly martyrdom is matched with an image of
Christ’s suffering etched on the underside of the lid. Christ
is depicted emerging from his tomb as the Man of Sorrows
accompanied by the mourning Virgin and St John the Baptist.
As the woman opened this cassone during her daily chores, she
would be reminded to pray and reflect on Christ’s suffering by
the symbolic imagery underneath the lid (see also fig. 39).12
The family gathered
When the family gathered together to dine, pious practices
were also required. In his discussion of the proper Christian
way to educate children, Silvio Antoniano recommended that
It is a good and holy practice, that the child blesses the table
at the beginning [of the meal], and gives thanks at the end
… he must be at least reverent and attentive while the father
blesses the table, and responds ‘Amen’, and says the Our
Father. Take note that when arriving at the table he does not
run quickly.13
The objects that populated the table might serve as reminders
to complete such blessings. A maiolica bowl of a type that re-
mained broadly unchanged over centuries (plate 22) depict-
ing the Arma Christi – the instruments of Christ’s Passion –
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plate 22
Two-handled cup with the Arma Christi,
c.1250–1350
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
plate 23
Bowl with Cross, c.1470–1520
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
plate 24
One-handled cup with St Francis,
c.1500–1600
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 19
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encouraged the diners to humble themselves by recalling their
own salvation, achieved through Christ’s suffering and death, as
they began their meal. A later ceramic slipware bowl depicting
a simple cross reminded the user to bless their food with a sign
of the Cross and a prayer prior to eating (plate 23), a practice
also encouraged by Giacomo Oliva.14 The cross stands atop a
mound representing Mount Calvary, also known as Golgotha,
the place of Christ’s Crucifixion. The three lines highlighted
with green represent the points at which the three nails pierced
Christ’s hands and feet when he was crucified.15
The family was encouraged to gather together to engage
in pious activities. Cardinal Borromeo advocated that ‘every
evening you must read a little of some spiritual book after
supper, in place of entertainment: either a life of the saints,
maxims of the saint of that day, and discuss them a little to-
gether afterwards with zeal and care to acquire any of the
virtues from these examples the saints’.16 The importance of the
saints was evident throughout the Italian Renaissance home
from the walls (see plate 68) to the table.17 A tiny maiolica cup
depicting St Francis praying the rosary (plate 24) used during
supper might be recalled during the evening’s lessons and
serve as a model for the family’s devotion.
A devotee’s day might end as Giacomo Oliva recommend-
ed, with a Sign of the Cross, an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and
a prayer extracted from the Night Offices calling for the Lord’s
protection over the home’s inhabitants as they slept: Visita
quaesumus domine habitationem istam (Visit, we beseech Thee O
Lord, this dwelling). kt
See: Ajmar-Wollheim and Dennis 2006; Antoniano 1584; Bayer 2008; Borromeo
1578; Falkenburg 1994; Krohn 2008b; Krohn 2008c; Matthews-Grieco 2006;
Musacchio 2008 Oliva 1571; Origo 1962; Poole 1995; Stokstad and Stannard 1983;
Tinagli 2000.
1. Oliva, 1571, pp. 15–16 (our translation).
2. See also ‘Childhood’, below, p. 35.
3. Borromeo, 1578, 16v (our translation).
4. Maiolica is tin-glazed pottery, characterized by an opaque, smooth white
surface onto which colourful decoration was applied. Its name derived from the
finest examples, which arrived to Italy in the fifteenth century from the Spanish
island of Majorca.
5. Matthews-Grieco, 2006, pp. 107–8 and Poole, 1995, p. 243. Poole suggests
that the larger pot has been modified since the piece’s original inception.
A similar inkstand in The Victoria and Albert Museum (396-1889) has the
same configuration of figures and inkpots.
6. Krohn, 2008b, pp. 108–10.
7. Tinagli, 2000, pp. 269–70.
8. Bernardino of Siena, quoted in Origo, 1962, p. 47.
9. Ibid. pp. 49–50.
10. Stokstad and Stannard, 1983, p. 20, p. 156 and Falkenburg, 1994, pp. 9–10.
See also the discussion of plate 27, ‘Comb with The Annunciation’ below,
pp. 24–5.
11. Song of Songs, 4.12 and 4.15 and Falkenburg, 1994, pp. 9–10.
12. While more studies have focused upon the talismanic and erotic functions
of the reclining nudes or cavorting putti depicted on the interior lids of Florentine
cassoni, any imagery on the interior lid – whether mythical, sensual or devotional
– called for more private contemplation when the chest was opened. See discussion
in Krohn, 2008c, pp. 134–5 and Callmann, 1977, p. 177.
13. Antoniano, 1584, p. 132v.
14. Oliva, 1571, pp. 15–16.
15. Poole, 1995, p. 514.
16. Borromeo, 1578, pp. 28v–29r (our translation).
17. See below, ‘The Saints’, p. 63.
19
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plate 25
Four knives inscribed with musical notation,
16th century
Écouen, Musée de la Renaissance
These four knives with ivory or ebony handles and etched steel
blades show how music could enhance devotion in the Italian
Renaissance home. Each one is inscribed on the blade with
the name of a voice part (‘Superius’, ‘Contratenor’, ‘Tenor’ and
‘Bassus’) and the words and music of a Benediction on one
side of the blade and a Grace on the other. They are among at
least sixteen surviving examples of such knives in collections in
Europe and North America, which can be arranged into sets to
make up compositions in simple choral polyphony.
The inscription of a sung Benediction and Grace on table
cutlery shows how effectively devotion infiltrated daily life.
Musical members of the household could join in the sung
graces, using the knife as a prompt, even if the tunes may have
been familiar to many diners. Because of the associations of
communal eating with the Last Supper and the Eucharist, a
family meal could thus be invested with religious significance.
Maiolica dishes decorated with musical notation for individual
voices were also produced in this period, and may have served
a similar purpose.
In order to read the music, the singer had to hold the knife
in the left hand, whereas most people use the right hand for
cutting.1 Thus the holding of the knife for the Benediction
and Grace is likely to have formed part of a specific ritual of
bodily actions, which involved switching the knife from one
hand to the other. The knives may in fact not have been used
for everyday eating because of their high status and devotional
purpose. The delicate ornament incised in niello on the ivory
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 21
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fa m ily lif e
handles suggests that the knives were luxury objects for use
by higher-class families. The place of their production is not
known, although they may have been made in France for
Italian clients. Different artisans probably crafted the blades
and the handles, before their assembly by the cutler. The ebony
handles were perhaps intended for use during Lent, although
they may be later replacements.
Family music-making was a popular domestic recreation,
as we know from the frequent presence of musical instruments
in household inventories. The publication of music instruction
books in the period and the popularity of home music lessons,
as well as the invention of music printing, allowed music-
making to filter down the social scale. By the sixteenth
century polyphonic sacred motets were performed in elite
homes alongside secular madrigals, but simpler families were
more likely to sing sacred laude and familiar parts of the church
litany, in unison or simple improvised polyphony.
As in the church, musical performance added an extra
spiritual dimension to religious devotion through the power of
music to inspire emotion, but this potential could also arouse
suspicion. The Dominican preacher Girolamo Savonarola, for
example, objected to elaborate Renaissance polyphony because
of its evident appeal to the senses and its capacity to give
earthly pleasure. Nevertheless, through the singing of sacred
texts and mealtime graces in the home the family could engage
in recreational social activity and share in family worship at the
same time. dh
See: Bouvet 2003; Dennis 2010; Howard 2012; Macey 2015.
1. Dennis 2010, p. 173
21
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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 26
Attr. to Giovanni di Nicola di Manzoni dal Colle
The Annunciation to the Shepherds and the Adoration of
the Magi, c.1509–15
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
This maiolica group shows two episodes from the Nativity
described in the Gospels: the Annunciation to the Shepherds
(Luke, 2.8–18) and the Adoration of the Magi (Matthew, 2.9–
12).1 The artist carefully characterised each protagonist, and
gave them memorable poses; from St Joseph sleeping by the
Virgin’s side, to one of the Magi who seems to be scratching
his head, perplexed and mesmerised by the scene that unfolds
in front of his eyes. Another striking aspect of this group is the
number of boys (including putti) depicted. This might suggest
that this object was once owned by a family, where healthy,
male heirs were the main preoccupation.
The group is modelled as a sculptural object, but much
of its expressive quality depends on the vivid colours skilfully
and imaginatively applied to the white tin glaze covering the
surface of the biscuit-fired earthenware. The object was in-
tended to be viewed all around and each side offers delightful
details. Despite its considerable weight (6.2 kg) the piece
22
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 22
welcomes physical interaction, and would perhaps have been
contemplated whilst a paterfamilias narrated the sacred history.
The animated views of horses with elaborate, empty saddles
enhance the sense of movement, as do the sheep and dogs,
placed on the edges of the group, seemingly slipping towards
the centre of the composition. The narrative character of the
representation is also communicated through the figure of the
Christ Child, who, in the scene of the Adoration of the Magi,
is depicted seated on the Virgin’s lap and then again on a cloth
in a manger adored by the Wise Men.
The inscription on the scroll held by an angel, despite the
abraded first letter, seems to read: ‘Dono vobi[s] gradiom [sic]’
(I give you grace). This could be a reference to St Paul’s words
in the concluding section of the first letter to the Corinthians:
‘Gratia Domini Iesu vobiscum’ (‘The grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ be with you’, 1 Corinthians, 16.23). It may also indicate
the influence of Franciscan piety. The sharing of grace and
peace when entering a household was promoted by St Francis
in his Rule.2 Moreover, Franciscans played an important role
in popularising three-dimensional representations of the
Nativity.3 The text reinforces the visual message that the
newborn Christ enters each individual home to pour blessings
onto the family.
Three-dimensional maiolica groups of this kind are
extremely rare and the Fitzwilliam example has for a long time
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been associated with a group of Nativity inkstands, attributed

to Giovanni di Nicola di Manzoni dal Colle (see plate 20).4
There are various thematic similarities between the group
from the Fitzwilliam and an inkstand from the Budapest
Museum, which has nearly identical figures of the Magi on
the back, with dogs and sheep placed on the sides (fig. 6).5 The
Budapest inkstand also bears an inscription with a passage from
the Gospel, referring to the Magi’s return from Bethlehem:
‘P[er] Aliam Viam Reversi Sunt Inregionem Suam [sic]’ (They
returned to their own country by another road: Matthew,
2.12).6 However, unlike other works by Giovanni di Nicola,
the Fitzwilliam group is an independent sculpture, destined
primarily for personal devotion rather than a functional object
with religious subject matter. zs

See: Balla and Jékely 2008; Brooke 2006; Cserey 1973; Francis of Assisi 1666;
Poole 1995; Rackham 1935; Wilson and Sani 2007.

1. Rackham 1935, cat. 2180, p. 283.

2. Francis of Assisi, 1666, ch. iii, p. 9.
3. Saint Francis supposedly invented the Christmas crib during the Mass at
Greccio in 1223, and this became a mainstay of Franciscan piety. See Brooke, fig. 6
2006, pp. 309–10. Giovanni di Nicola di Manzoni dal Colle,
4. Poole, 1995, cat no. 325, pp. 244–5. Nativity inkstand, c.1510
5. Cserey, 1975, p. 90.
6. Balla and Jékely, 2008, cat. 1.51, pp. 98–9. Budapest, Iparmuvészeti Múzeum

23

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 27
Comb with The Annunciation, c.1450–1500
Berlin, Kunstgewerbemuseum
Delicately carved on this double-toothed ivory comb, a girl
kneels in prayer at a prie-dieu in her bedchamber as the words
‘ave gracia’ unfurl towards her on a scroll. With these words
the Archangel Gabriel, who appears on the right, announces
to the Virgin Mary that she is pregnant with the Christ Child
(as recounted in Luke, 1.26–38). A vase containing a lily at
the centre of this Annunciation scene serves as a symbolic re-
minder of the Virgin’s purity. Floral borders further emphasise
Mary’s everlasting virginity by referring to her association
with the hortus conclusus (enclosed garden; see fig. 5).
A suitor might give to his beloved objects decorated with
scenes such as the Annunciation (see plate 130) to encourage
her to reflect on Mary’s chastity, humility and piety during
daily routines. Andreas Capellanus, in his De arte honesti amandi
(The Art of Courtly Love), listed combs, mirrors, perfumes
and jewellery, which were intimately tied with beauty rituals,
as appropriate courtship gifts.1 Made from ivory or boxwood,
since lead combs were believed to darken the hair, luxury combs
were often decorated with carving or painting and were pro-
duced and marketed across Europe.2 Extant ivory combs depict
a variety of secular and sacred subjects, including moralising
tales from the Old Testament and mythology. One comb
illustrates the Old Testament story of David and Bathsheba on
one side, and the mythological Judgement of Paris on the other
(fig. 8), scenes that further link these objects to courtship.
A comb might appear in a bride’s trousseau (called a corredo
in Italian). When Lisabetta Parenti married Piero Altoviti in
1483 in Florence, the corredo portion of her dowry listed the items
fig. 7 
Restello, early 16th century
New York,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
fig. 8 
Ivory comb, c.1530–35
London,
The Victoria and Albert Museum
24
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 24
she brought with her to her new home, including devotional
objects, such as a book of hours with silver clasps and coral and
pearl paternosters, as well as an ivory comb, a mirror and two
small chests.3 Wealthy Venetian women suspended their carved
ivory combs and brushes from hooks on their mirror frames,
known as restelli (fig. 7).
Once married, women were expected to become mothers.
Fittingly, the comb’s reverse depicts the fulfilment of the
angel’s pronouncement to the Virgin – the birth of Christ. In
this scene from the Nativity story, which is as finely carved as
the Annunciation, with careful hatching to create depth and
realism, shepherds kneel before the baby Jesus in adoration,
while the Virgin Mary watches over her sleeping newborn
child, a maternal exemplar for the user to emulate.
While Catholic priests also tidied their hair with double-
toothed ivory combs decorated with Biblical scenes before
they celebrated Mass, as a joint iconographic programme the
Annunciation and the Adoration of the Shepherds functioned
as didactic and religious images fit for the domestic lives of
brides-to-be and future mothers.4 In conjunction with its
purpose as an aid for female beauty, this comb’s religious
character would have reminded its owner of her devotion to
the Virgin Mary. While arranging her hair, the user might
have been prompted to recite a prayer to the Virgin by the
images on the comb and the words carved on the scroll in the
Annunciation scene, an abbreviated form of Gabriel’s Angelic
Salutation and the beginning of the prayer, Ave Maria, gratia
plena (Hail Mary, full of grace). igc | kt
See: Bayer 2008; Bardiès-Fronty et al. 2009; Camille 1998; Cavallo 2006;
Krohn 2008a; Musacchio 2003; Sherrow 2006.
1. Cited in Camille, 1998, p. 51. See also the discussion above, ‘Daily Devotions’,
p. 16.
2. Krohn, 2008a, p. 106.
3. Musacchio, 2003, p. 192. On the distinction between rosaries and paternosters
see ‘The Rosary’, pp. 94–7 below.
4. Sherrow, 2006, p. 93.
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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 28
Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli,
Virgin and Child, mid 16th century
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
fig. 9 
Vittore Carpaccio,
The birth of the Virgin, c.1504
Bergamo, Accademia Carrara
26
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 26
The Life Cycle
In contrast to our lives today, in Renaissance Italy the main
events of the life cycle – birth, marriage and death – all took
place within the home. Childbirth scenes (plate 29; fig. 9)
depict the mother surrounded by other women relatives or
attendants, including the midwife and perhaps a wet-nurse.
In an emergency a sickly baby could be baptised at home by
the midwife to avoid the horrible danger of Limbo. More
commonly, a few days later, the newborn infant would be taken
to the local church or baptistery by the father and godparents
to be baptised by a priest at the font. In most households the
mother played a pivotal role in the upbringing of the child – in
comportment, moral behaviour and religion. Artists sometimes
made informal drawings of family scenes that illustrated the
close bond between the mother and child, such as the tender
red-chalk sketch by Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli (plate 28).
Before the introduction of formal catechism at Sunday schools
in the Counter Reformation, the Church played relatively
little direct part in the religious education of children.1 It was
up to the parents or godparents to give them sacred books (see
plate 35) and toys such as holy dolls (see plate 90). Children
could even be encouraged to perform make-believe masses at
home as a pastime or game.2
Until the decrees of the Council of Trent in the 1560s,
marriage was a secular contractual arrangement designed
to ensure the consolidation of wealth and the legitimation
of lineage, rather than a religious rite.3 In well-to-do social
groups, marriage took place in a sequence of three ceremonies.
The initial betrothal involved a legal contract between the
plate 29
Childbirth scene: Woman’s husband appeals
to the Madonna dell’Arco, St Joseph and
St Leonard, late 16th century
Naples, Museo degli ex voto del
santuario di Madonna dell’Arco
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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s

fig. 10 plate 30
Woodcut illustration from Girolamo Dying woman attended by a priest and a
Savonarola, Predica del arte del bene morire female relative, late 15th/early 16th century
Florence, c.1502 Lonigo, Madonna dei Miracoli,
Museo degli ex voto

two families (without the bride present) drawn up through

a notary to determine the dowry and counter-dowry. At the
second stage, often many months later, the couple pronounced
the marriage vows and exchanged rings in the house of the
bride. Although the vows followed the wording laid down
by the Church there was no need to have a priest present at
the ceremony. Finally, some days later, accompanied by the
marriage chests containing her trousseau (see fig. 39), the bride
would be escorted in a procession through the streets to the
house of the groom’s family, for the wedding festivities in-
cluding feasting and dancing. In poorer families, marriage
more likely consisted simply of the exchange of rings before
a notary or priest, in this case perhaps in a church or even
in the open. Marriages could even be contracted simply by
the exchange of promises between the couple, followed by
consummation.
A good death, however, required the participation of a
priest, who would come to the house to allow the dying person plate 31
to make confession and receive the last rites (plate 30). The Bottle case for holy oils, 15th century
prelate would bring consecrated oils in a portable container
London,
such as the small leather case (plate 31) divided into three The Victoria and Albert Museum
compartments designed to hold the Oleum Catechumenorum,
Sanctum Chrisma and Oleum Infirmorum. The last rites were
essential to allow the dying person, as well as the grieving
relatives, to feel confident in the prospect of Christian salvation
after death (fig. 10). dh

See: Bamji 2013; Bossy 1970; Chojnacki 2000; Klapisch-Zuber 1985; Labalme et
al. 1999; Musacchio 1999; Musacchio 2008.

1. Bossy, 1970, pp. 64, 68. fig. 11 

2. See below, ‘Childhood’, pp. 35–6. Master of the Osservanza, Birth of the
3. On the impact of the Council of Trent see below, ‘The Catholic Reformation’, Virgin with other scenes from her Life,
pp. 157–8. c.1428–39
Museo di Palazzo Corboli, Asciano

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plate 32

Master of the Osservanza

The Birth of the Virgin, c.1440

London, National Gallery

The story of the Virgin Mary’s birth and parentage is nowhere

to be found in the Bible but first appeared in the second century
in the apocryphal ‘Infancy Gospel of St James’. The narrative
of the ageing parents, Joachim and Anne, who were granted
the miracle of a daughter, clearly drew on the Old Testament
story of Hannah, who conceived her son Samuel in old age; it
was picked up and elaborated in medieval texts and popularised
in the thirteenth century by its inclusion in the Golden Legend
– a compilation of saints’ lives written by Jacobus de Voragine
and a source often used by Renaissance painters.1
The painted triptych, by the Sienese artist known as the
‘Master of the Osservanza’, draws us into a prosperous home.
St Anne, who is certainly not a young woman, is propped up in
a comfortable bed, complete with fashionable headboard and
a golden yellow coverlet with embroidered border.2 She is
being looked after by a team of female attendants, who wash
the baby in the foreground and prepare warm nourishing
food on the fire. The scene evokes the rituals surrounding
childbirth, as practised in wealthy Italian homes during the
fifteenth century. This was a period of repose for elite women,
who had the money to hire wet-nurses and lying-in maids.
But it was also a time of female sociability, when friends and
kinswomen visited the new mother and brought her food,
sweet wine and other gifts.3 Traditionally, the husband was
excluded from the birth room for the whole of the lying-in
period, so the depiction in the left-hand panel of Joachim and
a male companion, who receive the news of the birth of Mary
from a young child, reflects contemporary expectations.
The Birth of the Virgin was a popular theme in altarpieces
devoted to Mary and was also depicted on birth trays and
maiolica bowls of the kind that were given as presents to new
mothers (see plate 33). There is less evidence of paintings of the
Birth being produced for the domestic context. The old lady at
prayer with her rosary, in Leandro Bassano’s portrait, is shown
kneeling beneath a framed painting which may depict the
same subject (see plate 87), although it also recalls scenes of the
Birth of the Baptist (see plate 10). Bassano’s painting-within-
a-painting can be identified by its iconographical features: the
bath for washing the newborn baby, the fireplace and of course
the mother resting on pillows. The Master of the Osservanza
painted another far larger triptych of the Birth of the Virgin,
with additional scenes from Mary’s life (fig. 11). Our smaller,
simpler painting with its foldable wings may well have been
commissioned for domestic use and would have been a suitable
focus for female devotion. mrl

See: De Voragine 1993; Musacchio 1999; Nixon 2004; Thornton 1991.

1. De Voragine, 1993, vol. 2, pp. 151–2; Nixon, 2004, pp. 11–20.

2. On Renaissance beds see Thornton, 1991, pp. 111–67; Musacchio, 2008,
pp. 98–99 and 105–115 (and passim).
3. Musacchio, 1999. See overleaf, ‘Milan Marsyas Painter, bowl cover with
The Holy Family from an accouchement set’, pp. 32–3.

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plate 33

Milan Marsyas Painter or Francesco Xanto Avelli da

Rovigo (possibly), bowl cover with The Holy Family
from an accouchement set, c.1531

Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum

In Renaissance Italy, momentous family events were often cel-

ebrated with special objects. Childbirth was a time of anxiety
as well as joy; the mother and newborn would be confined
to a chamber adorned with objects that provided comfort to
the mother and welcomed the child. In well-to-do households,
beautiful objects and festive foods procured by the father
would display the status of the family to visitors, usually female
friends, family and neighbours, who might offer gifts of cakes,
textiles or silver spoons.1
Made as a part of a servizio da impagliata or da parto (ac-
couchement or birth set), this object once played a role in these
celebrations. In the treatise I tre libri dell’arte del vasaio (Three
Books of the Potter’s Art), Cipriano Piccolpasso explains
that maiolica birth services might be made of five or nine
pieces (fig. 12).2 While no complete set is known to survive,
various components do, like this tagliere (tray). Labelled ‘2’ in
Piccolpasso’s drawing, the tagliere functioned as both a tray and
See: Musacchio 1999; Paciaroni 2002; Piccolpasso 1980; Poole 1995; Poole 2003.
cover.3 Often decorated with domestic, religious or myth-
ological imagery, maiolica birth sets were comparable to other 1. Musacchio, 1999, p. 46.
commemorative childbirth objects, such as deschi da parto (birth 2. Piccolpasso, 1557, f. 11r., facsimile in Piccolpasso, 1980.
trays) or taffierie da parto (birth bowls). These objects would 3. Poole, 1995, p. 334.
4. One desco da parto illustrates a confinement chamber where the mother receives
have been used to serve healing and nourishing foods to the food and gifts on trays as the child is swaddled in the foreground: Musacchio,
mother, such as chicken or delicate capon.4 1999, pp. 40, 59–89.
While the visual programme of the complete maiolica 5. Paciaroni, 2002, p. 177 and Poole, 2003, p. 93. On the Monti di Pietà see below,
‘The Economy of Sacred Objects’, pp. 82–3.
set is unknown, some clues to its significance can be garnered 6. Musacchio, 1999, p. 130.
from this surviving piece. On one side the tagliere is decorated 7. Poole, 1995, p. 335, fig. 28.
with a coat of arms flanked by the letters ‘ELI’ and ‘PYA’, a 8. A dish at The Walters Art Museum (48.1487), made in Faenza and dateable to
c.1530–40, reproduces the engraving more faithfully.
symbol to enforce the continuity of family lineage made 9. See above, ‘The Family’, p. 14.
possible by a birth. These have been linked to Eliseo Piani,
an official of the Monte di Pietà in Urbino.5 Two jovial putti,
possibly talismans to encourage the health and well being of
the new child, accompany the heraldic shield.6
On the opposite side, the haloed Madonna, St Joseph
and another female saint, possibly Elizabeth, watch as a nurse
or midwife places the Christ Child in his cradle. Based on a
design by Parmigianino, the image circulated in the form of
an engraving made by Giovanni Giacomo Caraglio.7 In this
maiolica adaptation, the scene has been simplified, as the
maiolica painter cut out extraneous figures and focused the
composition on the key figures of the Holy Family.8 St Joseph,
a model for new fathers, is now an active participant in the
adoration of the Christ Child, no longer tending to the animals
in the background.
While the Holy Family served as a model for Renaissance
families, this maiolica tagliere might also be interpreted as a
visual prayer to the Holy Family for the Piani family and its
future.9 Decorated on both sides with familial and religious
imagery, the object was not only functional, but also decorative,
devotional and dynastic. kt fig. 12
Cipriano Piccolpasso, Li tre libri dell’arte
del vasaio, f. 11r, c.1556–9
London, Victoria and Albert Museum

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plate 34
Antonio Lombardo,
St John the Baptist, c.1505–10
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum

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Childhood

Over a period of several years in the early sixteenth century,
Martino, a Venetian, wrote a series of letters to his brother
Zuan Batista, who was at sea, to update him on the progress of
the latter’s little son Zuan Francescho:
He’s visibly growing: if he lives, please God, he’ll be a fine
figure of a man …
He has become the sweetest and most beautiful little boy
you could ever hope to see, and is marvellously intelligent …
he knows the Our Father and the Hail Mary, the Creed, the
Salve Regina, the Qui [h]abitat and many other prayers
which his mother has already taught him …
If you could see him, nothing would give you greater
pleasure than his dancing and capering …
Zuan Francescho has chosen for himself a poor fellow to
whom he gives alms every Friday for your sake, and every
day he says a lovely prayer to Our Lady for you, and the
prayer to Saint Sebastian to protect you from the plague …1
way that adults were not. As a result, parents had to ensure that
their children were correctly shaped in a Christian image from
birth. A plethora of treatises on childrearing provided advice
on how to set about doing this. Repeated physical actions such
as kneeling, signing the cross, and joining hands in prayer
were recommended for the very young, to be followed by
the speaking of prayers once a child was old enough. Adults
clearly heeded such advice: young Zuan Francescho is reported
to have commenced regular charitable giving, and daily spoke
the prayers his mother had taught him. A child did not have to
understand these words and gestures for them to have spiritual
effect. Even if he lacked comprehension, his memorisation and
repetition of the holy words ensured the safety of his soul.

The letters paint a revealing picture of childhood in

Renaissance Italy. The boy’s youth is celebrated, as he dances,
capers and ‘prattles’ away. His uncle’s words highlight the joy
he takes in his nephew’s childishness, and the ties of love that
bound adults to young family members. These feelings were
heightened rather than diminished by awareness that the first
few years of life were precarious, with no guarantee that a child
would reach adulthood. As a result, the spiritual education of
the young was all the more important. Alongside affectionate
reports of Zuan Francescho’s growth, his uncle included details
of his religious progress. Evidently, this was something his
absent father was keen to be kept abreast of.
Fathers held ultimate responsibility for their children’s
moral upbringing, and were expected to instruct them in faith
before anything else.2 A father’s paternal authority reverber-
ated through the structure of a child’s life even in his absence:
little Zuan Francescho held Zuan Batista in his prayers, and
did good works in his name. Meanwhile, mothers were tasked
with creating a pious home, teaching children common pray-
ers, and the bodily aspects of devotion (such as how to kneel
and make the sign of the cross), and – in better-off households
– how to read and write.3 Domestic artworks depicting the
Virgin instructing her son provided a model that would have
resonated with contemporary mothers and children (see plate
38). There were numerous tools available to parents to aid
them in their pedagogy: short texts that included all the basic
knowledge necessary for a child’s religious learning were
popular (plate 35).
Despite the different roles assigned to mothers and fathers,
both parents were expected to set a good example, not to
behave in an impious or shameful manner, and to lead the
family in daily devotions.4 It was imperative that parents model
good Christian behaviour in the home, for the young were
believed to be highly impressionable.5 ‘This age’, explained
plate 35
the Dominican Cardinal Giovanni Dominici, ‘is like soft wax
that takes whatever imprint is put upon it’.6 Children were Giardinetto di cose spirituali, 1585
considered malleable and receptive to outside influence, in a Rome, Biblioteca Alessandrina

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
Children were not only shaped by action and prayer, but
also by their interactions with objects. Erasmus, placing great
emphasis on the child’s pliable nature, explained that virtuous
examples ‘must be fixed in his mind, pressed in, and rammed
home. And they must be kept fresh in the memory in all sorts
of ways … they must be carved on rings, painted in pictures …
and presented in any other way that a child of his age enjoys, so
that they are always before his mind’.7 Simply by being worn,
a child’s ring inscribed with talismanic Biblical names would
have provided a permanent protective influence (plate 36).8
The amuletic nature of the ring made it an appropriate birth or
baptismal gift.
Artworks were deemed particularly efficacious tools for
shaping children in a holy manner. Unlike text, they could act
upon a child from birth. Dominici explained to parents that
‘The first rule is to have pictures of saintly children or young
virgins in the home, in which your child, still in swaddling
clothes, may delight’.9 The Dominican recommended paint-
ings of the Virgin and a nursing or sleeping Christ Child,
reflecting the idea that children would respond best to images
in which they could recognise themselves. As a child grew
older, he or she should be presented with images of saints of a
comparable age, male ones for boys (plate 34) and female ones
for girls: ‘let the child see himself mirrored in the Holy Baptist
clothed in camel’s skin, a little child who enters the desert,
plays with little birds, sucks the honeyed flowers … it is desir-
able to bring up little girls in contemplation of [female saints,
so as to] … give them with their milk love of virginity, and a
longing for Christ’.10 These concepts drove the production of
plate 36
Child’s ring, 15th century
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum
36
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 36
artworks featuring childish saints of various ages, sometimes
engaging in playful behaviour with devout overtones (plate
37).
Throughout all the advice on childrearing, although the
young were supposed to mimic their parents, there was no
sense in which they were expected to act as miniature adults.
Authors recognised that it was better to capture a child’s
attention with something appealing, than to try and enforce
pious behaviour through discipline. Equally, the childish prop-
ensity towards play could be usefully directed to pious ends.
Dominici advised parents of little boys, who were naturally
full of energy, to guide them away from play-fighting and
instead ‘make a little altar or two in the house … he and the
other children can … make garlands of flowers with which to
crown Jesus and adorn the picture of the Blessed Virgin. They
may light and extinguish little candles, light incense, keep
clean, sweep, prepare the altars, [they can] … sing as well as
they know how, [and] play at saying Mass’.11 Little girls were
encouraged to decorate pretend altars with their embroidery,
and to say prayers before them.12
Not all parents would have heeded the advice of auth-
orities such as Dominici and Erasmus, and doubtless many
children were naughty and impious on occasion. Nonetheless,
contemporaries would have judged such a child’s behaviour in
the light of the expectations laid down by these authors, and
by what they heard in the pulpit. They understood that from
birth throughout childhood, age was no barrier to devotion,
and that this was a critical life stage for determining future
character and piety. mc
See: Chambers and Pullan 2001; Dominici 1860; Decor puellarum, 1471; Erasmus
2003; Valier 1575; Kasl 2004; Tommasi 1580.
1. Chambers and Pullan, 2001, p. 267.
2. See for instance Tommasi, 1580.
2. See for instance Valier, 1575. See also ‘The Family’, above, p. 14.
4. See ‘How to Pray’, below, p. 91.
5. For a more detailed explanation of these processes see below, ‘Religious Images
in the Eye of the Beholder’ pp. 67–8.
6. Dominici, 1860, p. 137.
7. Erasmus, 2003, p. 10.
8. For a more detailed discussion of the role of inscriptions on religious objects
see below, ‘Praying for Protection’, pp. 110–21.
9. Dominici, 1860, p. 131.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid., p. 146.
12. Decor puellarum, 1471, translated at Kasl, 2004, p. 68.
plate 37
Marco d’Oggiono, The Infant Christ
and Saint John embracing, c.1500–30
London, Royal Collection
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plate 38
Pinturicchio, Virgin and Child with St John the Baptist,
c.1490–5
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
The role-model of the Madonna as a mother and educator of
her children is underlined in works that portray her teaching
the Christ Child to read. This painting by Pinturicchio depicts
the baby Jesus like a human infant in a yellow smock and
rope sandals, seated squarely on a checked cushion. Holding
the sacred book, Christ links the Word of God with his human-
ity. While he reads, the Virgin exchanges gazes with the
young Baptist, whose importance as the forerunner of Christ
would have been familiar to viewers. St John holds a banner
inscribed ‘ecce agnus dei’ (Behold the Lamb of God). Just
as the Virgin represents ideal motherhood, the little Baptist
provides a model for devotion by young children. Contem-
plating such an image, women and children alike could im-
agine the infancy of Christ and emulate the idealised holy
family.
The picture was presumably painted for the purposes of
private devotion. Bought in Italy by a British collector named
Faulkner in the nineteenth century, it has always been accepted
as a work of Pinturicchio.1 The Umbrian painter is now best
remembered for his large fresco cycles in Rome and Siena –
he enjoyed the illustrious patronage of popes and cardinals –
but his smaller devotional works indicate that he also received
numerous commissions from private individuals.
This work is one of a series painted by Pinturicchio
depicting the Christ Child in a yellow tunic with black em-
broidery, with the same Virgin in a red robe and dark greenish-
blue cloak, with or without the Baptist. These variants show
fig. 13 fig. 14
Pinturicchio, The Virgin and Child, , Pinturicchio, The Virgin teaching the
c.1470–90 Christ Child to read, c.1494–7
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum
of Art
38
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 38
the child at different ages, so that one can observe him growing
up. The embroidered yellow tunic perhaps alludes to the robe
made by the Madonna that miraculously expanded as he grew,
until it was finally rent at the Crucifixion.2 The dress may
be based on a real garment worn by one of the artist’s own
children. A slightly smaller work in the Ashmolean Museum in
Oxford (fig. 13) portrays the Christ Child in the same garment,
with similar sandy-coloured corkscrew curls, rising from his
mother’s lap. The child and his mother each raise one hand in
blessing, as if to confer divine favour on the household.
In the version in Philadelphia (fig. 14) the Christ Child –
here grown even taller, but still wearing the same yellow robe
and sandals – stands upright on an ordinary domestic wood-
en stool and writes in an illuminated book. A vignette of the
Flight into Egypt appears in the left background, while the
young Baptist sets off into the wilderness in the landscape on
the right. By the act of writing, Christ has become an active
‘author’, thereby gaining in ‘authority’ as the ‘word made flesh’.
According to the Meditations on the Life of Christ, it was during the
seven years spent in exile in Egypt that the Virgin laboured by
sewing and spinning to support the Holy Family. This familiar
and popular text urged the believer ‘to kneel before them, and
take leave of them with tears and deep sympathy, for they were
exiled and driven away from their country for no reason’.3
All three images offer beguiling glimpses of domesticity and
family intimacy – a model for earthly comportment as well as
a vision of divine peace and harmony. dh
See: Dominici 1860; Goodison and Robertson 1967; Musacchio 2008;
Ragusa and Green 1961; Scarpellini and Silvestrelli 2003.
1. Goodison and Robertson, 1967, cat. 119, pp. 133–4. The letter recording
its acquisition at the ‘Palazzo Tolomei’ (probably in Florence) is still pasted to the
back of the panel. Our thanks are due to Christine Slottved Kimbriel and the staff
of the Hamilton Kerr Institute in Whittlesford for the chance to see the picture
during its recent restoration (2016).
2. Carlo Corsato (personal communication, 20 April 2016) pointed out that the
black embroidered patches resemble the deacon’s tunic worn by Saint Stephen
in Carpaccio’s The Sermon of St Stephen (Paris, Musée du Louvre). Interestingly
both St Bernard and Dominici objected to children being dressed in embroidered
clothes. See Musacchio, 2008, p. 43.
3. Ragusa and Green, 1961, p. 76.
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Personal and Ritual Items

in Italy’s Jewish Homes

On 3 April 1648, a notary compiled an inventory of the estate

of Leone Modena, a rabbi and influential Jewish author who
resided in Venice’s ghetto. The inventory comprises household
items and clothes, and lists the almost 60 Hebrew and 60 Italian
and Latin books that had belonged to him.1 The size and scope
of Leone’s large library reflects his scholarly pursuits, but it was
common for Jews in Italy to own at least a modest number of
books. As Shifra Baruchson has demonstrated in her study of
books from nearby Mantua, one of the most popular books
owned by Jews was the siddur or prayer book.2 Books and other
ritual items were used by Jews on a weekly basis, on holidays,
or during life cycle events. These reflect the myriad Jewish
practices that took place in homes or were centred on the
family, as well as the unique culture of Italian Jewish life in
this period.
Jewish homes were frequently the locus for ritual and
religious acts. Although public worship took place in the
synagogue, many Jewish commandments were celebrated in
domestic space. Thus, for example, while special services were
conducted weekly on Saturday in the synagogue, the Sabbath
was ushered in when the woman lit Sabbath candles at home.
Contemporary depictions highlight women, sometimes acc-
ompanied by their daughters, lighting the candles (fig. 15).
Similarly, the havdalah ceremony, which marked the con-
clusion of the Sabbath, was illustrated taking place in the home
in various contemporary Jewish custom books. Havdalah, which

fig. 15
plate 39
‘Jewish woman lighting Sabbath candles’,
woodcut illustration from Book Jewish spice box, 1640–80
of Customs
London,
Venice, 1593 The Victoria and Albert Museum

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plate 40
Amulet with Hebrew blessing,
16th century
Jerusalem, Hebrew Museum
plate 41
Jewish wedding ring, 15th century
Jerusalem, Hebrew Museum

literally means separation, was a ritual that marked the end

of the Sabbath by distinguishing between the holiness of the
Sabbath and the rest of the week. During the ceremony a short
Hebrew prayer was recited, followed by blessings over wine,
aromatic spices, and a candle forged of at least two wicks.
A seventeenth-century Jewish spice box (plate 39) is char-
acteristic of those that would have been used in the havdalah
ceremony. The tower shape of the spice box is somewhat rem-
iniscent of a Catholic reliquary, for although each held very
different materials, they functioned in similar ways.3 Indeed, in
some German areas, goldsmiths referred to the havdalah spice
box as a Judenmonstranz, a term that likened the Jewish con-
tainer to the Catholic monstrance that held the Eucharist.4 The
physical similarities between these two very different objects
emphasises that Jews and Christians were familiar with one
another’s ritual items, and that as neighbours they often crossed
paths and shared certain cultural elements.
In the context of Renaissance Italy, the intersections
between Jews and Christians and between Jewish and Christian
culture is all the more noteworthy, given the demographic
realities of Jewish communities at that time. From the sixteenth
century on, Italian Jews were largely confined to ghettos. The
first Italian ghetto, that of Venice, was established in 1516, while
the ghettos of Rome and Florence were built in the early 1550s,
as part of papal policy during the Catholic Reformation.5 The
ghetto policy restricted Jewish residence to one specific area,
which was at times in an undesirable location. In addition, the
confinement of the Jews facilitated policies such as forcing Jews
to listen to Catholic sermons. Despite these restrictions, there
were nevertheless multiple forms of cultural exchange between
Jews and Christians during this period.6 Leone Modena, who
was a well-known preacher in the Venetian ghetto, notes in
his memoir that Christians, including priests, would attend
his sermons in the ghetto.7 In addition, Modena composed
the book Historia de’ riti hebraici, which described Jewish rituals
to a Christian audience. His Italian original was subsequently
translated into various other European vernacular languages.
Jews were also steeped in the culture of the Renaissance,
including the fields of art, music and literature. Contemporary
plate 42
Jewish artwork includes multiple small bronze pieces that re-
flect Renaissance themes and styles. One of the most popular Servius de Levis, mortar, 16th century
Jewish forms of the small bronze was the hanukkiyah, the oil Jerusalem, Hebrew Museum

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plate 43
Hanukkiyah lamp, 16th century
Jerusalem, Hebrew Museum
lamp that was kindled by Jews for eight days during the festival
of Hanukkah. These lamps, which would have been lit in
Jewish homes on each night of the festival, have eight slots
for oil. On the first night of the holiday, a light was kindled,
with an additional light lit on each subsequent night. A gilded
brass hanukkiyah (plate 43) features Renaissance-style cherubs.
Other contemporary hanukkiyot include themes that appeared
on contemporary Renaissance door-knockers, mortars and
coats of arms.8
The amulet illustrated in plate 40 is another example of
Renaissance-style bronze work found in a Jewish home. The
writing on it is taken from Psalm 91.10, ‘May no evil befall thee’.
The hook for hanging it is fashioned out of two dolphins whose
tails are intertwined, another image common in Renaissance
artwork.9 While the amulet did not serve a specific liturgical
or ritual role, its presence in a Jewish home indicates how a
decorative wall-hanging could reflect religious folk tradition.
Some Jews were themselves involved in bronze work.
Servius de Levis was the bronze caster who cast the mortar
(plate 42), which is signed by him. He was the nephew of
Joseph de Levis, a well-known artist and bronze caster in
sixteenth-century Verona.10 Although Joseph, his sons, and all
of his nephews other than Servius converted to Christianity,
Servius remained Jewish throughout his life. The mortar itself
features a seven-branched candelabrum, and is marked by the
Hebrew letters mem and resh, each of which has a dot above the
letter. This is likely an abbreviation for ma’asei rofe, Hebrew for
‘physician’s craft’. The mortar, used for mixing medicines, was
probably commissioned for use by an Italian Jewish physician
in that year. Indeed, the only location during this period in
which Jews were officially permitted to study in medical school
was in the University of Padua.11 The mortar thus reflects
Jewish activity in both the arts and medicine.
42
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 42
fig. 16
‘A woman praying on Yom Kippur’,
marginal drawing from a siddur
London, British Library
Italy was home to Jews from many different regions. Not
only was there a native Italian Jewish community, with its own
customs, that had resided in Italy since the first century, but
additional migrants came to dwell there, particularly during
the late medieval and Renaissance periods. Jewish migrants
from France and the Holy Roman Empire relocated to Italy, a
migration that increased in the wake of the expulsion of Jews
from those areas from the fourteenth century onwards. These
Jews, known as Ashkenazim, maintained their own customs,
and many spoke Yiddish (or Judeo-German) at home. Jews
who had been expelled from the Iberian Peninsula also made
their way to Italy. Known in Italy as Ponentines, these Jews
from the West, referred to more broadly as Sephardim, spoke
Ladino. Later in the period, Jews from the Middle East made
their way to Italy as well, and were known as Levantines, as
they came from the Levant.12 All of these different groups of
Jews resided side-by-side in the ghettos of Italy, and although
they maintained their own languages and cultures, they were
also exposed to one another. The coexistence of these different
traditions in Italy is reflected in the title page of the haggadah
(see plate 45), which notes that the text contains the laws of
the Passover seder as observed both by the Ashkenazic and
Sephardic communities.
The wedding ring illustrated in plate 41 is another example
of the ethnic diversity within Italian Jewish communities. Cast
in bronze, it bears the shape of a house with cut-out apertures,
and is marked by the Hebrew letters sameh and tet, an acronym
for siman tov, literally translated as a good sign. The first known
ring of similar design was fashioned in the early thirteenth
century in Weissenfels (Halle) Germany.13 This ring, from the
fifteenth century, is from Northern Italy and likely reflects the
influence of the Jewish-German immigrants who resided in
that region. Because Jewish law requires that a simple circlet
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be given to the bride by the groom as the legal symbol of

their marriage, the exact use of this ring is unclear. Rings
such as these were used either as betrothal rings, or they were
borrowed by couples for use during the ceremony and for the
celebratory week following the wedding, and then returned to
the community or to the family that owned the ring.14 Scholars
debate the exact symbolism of the house set atop the ring. One
interpretation of the house is that it symbolised the Temple,
for the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem was ritually
commemorated during the wedding ceremony. An alternative
explanation is that the house symbolised the ‘faithful house-
hold’ which the couple sought to build together.15
Marriage presented an occasion for the use of ceremonial
objects such as the bronze ring, and also offered an opportunity
for gift-giving. Gifts between the bride and the groom and
their families were often exchanged, and symbolised the union
of the two families.16 The ornate silver cover for a prayer book
(plate 44) was given to a woman as a present. The prayer book
itself could have been used by its owner in the synagogue and
at home (fig. 16). The small size of the book rendered it easy
to carry from one place to another, and its elaborate cover
highlighted the importance of this devotional object.
In his book on Jewish rituals, Leone Modena noted that
due to the biblical prohibition against graven images, Jews ‘have
neither Figures, Images, nor Statues, in their houses; much less
in their Synagogues, and Holy places … Notwithstanding, in
Italy, many take the liberty of having Pictures and Images in
their houses; especially if they be not with Relief, or embossed
work, nor the bodies at large’.17 Indeed, Modena’s comment
on material culture resonates with the items discussed here.
Jewish men and women owned and used various ritual items in
the course of prayer, religious ceremonies, holiday celebrations,
and life cycle events, many of which were kept in their homes.
They similarly commissioned decorative pieces such as the
mortar and the amulet for personal use, though these items
had no specific ceremonial role. These various items reflect the
plate 44
richness of Italian Jewish culture during this period, influenced
both by the various Jewish communities within Italy and by Cover for a prayer book, 15th century
the Renaissance culture of which Jews were a part. dk Jerusalem, Hebrew Museum

See: Baruchson 2003; Benjamin 1987; Berger and Di Castro 2008; Cohen 1998;
Kayser and Schoenberger 1955; Mann 1986; Mann 1989; Modena 1650; Ravid
2001; Ravid 2007; Raz-Krakotzkin 2007; Ruderman 1992; Ruderman 2001;
Shatzmiller 2013; Siegmund 2005; Sperber 2008; Stow 2001; Weinstein 2005.

1. Ravid, 2007, pp. 133–5.

2. Baruchson, 2003, p. 59.
3. Mann, 1986, pp. 390–1.
4. Shatzmiller, 2013, p. 1.
5. Ravid, 2001, pp. 3–30; Stow, 2001; Siegmund, 2005.
6. Ruderman, 1992.
7. Cohen, 1998, pp. 95–6.
8. Mann, 1989, p. 52.
9. Benjamin, 1987, pp. 263–4; Berger and di Castro, 2008, p. 84.
10. Mann, 1989, p. 53.
11. Ruderman, 2001, p. 115.
12. Ravid, 1991, p. 223.
13. Mann, 1989, p. 311.
14. Benjamin, 1987, p. 333; Berger and di Castro, 2008, p. 83;
Kayser and Schoenberger, 1955, p. 152.
15. Sperber, 2008, pp. 158–65.
16. Weinstein, 2004.
17. Exodus, 20.3; Modena, 1650, part i, ch. ii, 3.

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 45
Haggadah, 1561
Cambridge, St John’s College
The festival of Passover commemorates the exodus of the
Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. The holiday, celebrated
for seven days in the Holy Land and for eight days in all other
locations, includes several domestic rituals. To commemorate
both the poverty the Jews faced as slaves in Egypt as well as the
biblical story in which the Jews departed from Egypt hastily,
leaving their bread no time to rise, Jews eat unleavened bread,
called matzah, on Passover.1 Moreover, Jewish tradition forbids
eating or even owning any leavened grains during the holiday.
In preparation for Passover, Jews cleaned their houses and
ritually purified their utensils to remove traces of prohibited
foods items (fig. 17).
The highlight of the festival is the Passover seder, a meal
conducted in the home that commemorates the exodus from
Egypt (fig. 18). Special foods, including bitter herbs, salt water,
and four cups of wine, are consumed because they symbolise
the transition from slavery to freedom. At the seder, Jews read
from the liturgical text called the Passover haggadah which tells
the story of the exodus though texts, songs, prayers and ritual
acts. Medieval haggadot were often illuminated with pictures.
Some were didactic, and instructed participants when and
how to eat the various symbolic foods, while others depicted
biblical stories.
Italy became a centre for the production of haggadot with
fig. 17
‘Family conducting ritual search for
leaven on the night before Passover’,
woodcut illustration from Book
of Customs
Venice, 1593
44
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 44
the advent of print. This edition of the Passover haggadah con-
tains the standard liturgy as well as the commentary of Don
Isaac Abrabanel, the noted Jewish exegete who relocated to
Naples after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. The
haggadah was printed in 1561 in Riva di Trento on Lake Garda,
by a press owned by the cardinal Bishop of Trent, Cristoforo
Madruzzo. In Italy, Christians were often involved in printing
Jewish texts. Some, such as Madruzzo, were publishers, while
others worked as censors during the Catholic Reformation.2
Madruzzo permitted the printing of Jewish books after the
Jewish press in Cremona had been shut down in 1559.3
This particular copy of the 1561 haggadah possesses a rich
history of Jewish-Christian interactions. The volume was
owned by the cardinal Domenico del Caretto, and was sub-
sequently purchased by St John’s College Library in 1635 along
with thirty other Hebrew books.4 Such Christian interest in
Hebrew and Judaica, known as Christian Hebraism, was com-
mon in this period. Fuelled by Renaissance humanists’ interest
in reading texts in their original language and by the belief
that Jewish texts could be read to prove the truth of Christ-
ianity, Hebraists collected Jewish texts such as the haggadah.
Although this particular volume was owned by Christians,
most haggadot were used in Jewish homes at the seder, as attested
to by the many wine stains that can be found on their pages. dk
See: Coudert and Shoulson 2004; Epstein 2011; Hacker and Shear 2011;
Raz-Krakotzkin 2007; Yerushalmi 2005.
1. Deuteronomy, 16.3.
2. Raz-Krakotzkin, 2007.
3. Jewish printing at Madruzzo’s press was initiated by Dr Jacob Marcaria,
a former resident of Cremona. See Yerushalmi, 2005, plate 27.
4. www.joh.cam.ac.uk/library/special_collections/early_books/pix/provenance/
dolben/dolben.htm.
fig. 18
A family around the seder table, with the
master of the house making the blessing
over the second cup of wine, c.1450–1500
London, British Library
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 int roduction

ii
The Madonna,
Christ and the Saints

The Madonna

Renaissance Italians often felt the Virgin Mary to be a

powerful presence in their homes. The huge popularity of
images depicting the mother of Christ is confirmed both by
surviving artworks and by numerous references in household
inventories. Representations of the Madonna ranged widely
in terms of their iconography and even a simple image of her
with the Christ Child had numerous variants.1 The images
were informed by the dual role of Mary as both a virgin
and a mother; the unique position unattainable by any other
woman.2 Artists depicted the loving relationship between the
Virgin and Christ Child by stressing her role as a caring mother
and an educator, while portraying her also as an intercessor.3
A small painting by Lorenzo Monaco shows the Virgin
enthroned with her divine son with the figures depicted
against a golden background to emphasise the heavenly setting
and icon-like character of the representation (plate 46).4 The
flickering light of candles against the gold would have created
an alluring aura for the worship of the Virgin. Lorenzo Monaco
further emphasised the Madonna’s role as the Queen of Heaven
by the inclusion of four angelic figures. A pair carved in stone
towards the upper section of the throne prostrate themselves
gently in adoration, while their counterparts in the lower
section lean against the throne, gazing at the Virgin, the angel
on the left with his mouth slightly open in awe.
From the early sixteenth century, maiolica panels of the
Virgin and Child became increasingly popular, as affordable
and visually compelling counterparts to traditional panel
paintings. Popular compositions were copied, appearing in
many different versions (plate 47). In this case an artist from plate 47
Forlì, a city near Faenza in Emilia-Romagna, produced a After Antonio Rossellino,
version after a famous local stucco composition that was known panel with Madonna del Molino, 1550
to work miracles (now attributed to Antonio Rossellino and in UK, private collection

plate 46
Lorenzo Monaco,
Virgin and Child enthroned, c.1400–03
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum

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 plate 48
Virgin and Child, 1410–30
London,
The Victoria and Albert Museum
the Pinacoteca Civica, Forlì). The artist captured the intimate
and light-hearted spirit of the original stucco with the Virgin
gently touching Christ’s naked belly and looking at him
affectionately. The palette is limited to blue and white, with
skilfully applied highlights giving a sense of volume to the
draperies. The figures are set against a deep blue background
and framed by a festoon.
Often mass-produced through the use of moulds, terra-
cotta reliefs could be personalised to enhance their special sig-
nificance to the family and to express individual devotional
tastes (plate 50). This rectangular plaque has two holes at the top,
which seems to suggest that the image originally hung on a
wall.5 The animated pose of the Virgin as she wraps the Christ
Child in her sinuous veil inspires empathy. The bright colours
of the maiolica would have captured the attention of the
worshippers who once prayed in front of this tender Madonna.
Young women often asked the Virgin for intercession
during childbirth, and reliefs of the Madonna embracing her
healthy son were commonplace features of Italian Renaissance
bedchambers.6 A small relief of the Virgin and Child (plate 48)
with the voluminous folds of the Madonna’s robe wrapped
around Christ’s body epitomises motherly tenderness and love.7
In all likelihood, the original relief would have been painted,
while the prominent haloes are probably later additions. The
polychromy would have made the figures more lifelike and
without the haloes the identification of the faithful devotee
with the loving Virgin would have been more straightforward.
48
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 48
plate 49
Virgin and Child, c.1350–1450
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
A strikingly early, if somewhat damaged, example of a
small three-dimensional statuette of the nursing Virgin is pre-
served in the Fitzwilliam Museum (plate 49).8 The Madonna
is shown supporting the Christ Child who holds her naked
breast. This theme, although popular in painting, was very
rarely treated in devotional sculpture, perhaps out of fear of
indecency. The perfect white glaze with faint ornamental lines
emphasised the Madonna’s purity, while her very prominent
eyes, though schematically painted, fill her face with an ex-
pression of memorable and reassuring authority. The figure is
a rare surviving example of the type of lower-end production
that would have been available to less well off consumers. It is
easy to imagine one of the faithful directing his or her prayers
to the small statuette, while gazing into the loving eyes of the
Madonna. zs
See: Goffen 1999; Goodison and Robertson 1967; Jameson 1890; Johnson 2001;
Levi D’Ancona 1957; Poole 1995; Pope-Hennessy 1980; Rubin 2014; Williamson
2006; Warner 1976.
1. Jameson, 1890; Warner, 1976; Levi D’Ancona, 1957.
2. Goffen, 1999, p. 35.
3. Rubin, 2014.
4. Goodison and Robertson, 1967, pp. 90–1, pl. 14. On icons see below,
‘Religious Images in the Eye of the Beholder’, p. 69.
5. Poole, 1995, cat. 283, p. 209.
6. Johnson, 2001, pp. 135–161.
7. Pope-Hennessy, 1980, p. 65, fig. 25; Williamson, 2006, p. 888, fig. iii.
8. Poole, 1995, cat. 131, p. 77.
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plate 50
Virgin and Child, c.1600–1700
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum

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plate 51

Studio of Sandro Botticelli, Virgin and Child, c.1480–90

Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum

Eyes lowered to the devotional text open beneath her, the

Madonna tenderly cradles her chubby son, who reaches his
little arms up around her neck to press his face to hers. The
scene is an emotionally expressive one, concentrating on the
bond of love between mother and child.
This painting is one of numerous tondi (round-format
panel paintings) that were produced in Florence in the second
half of the fifteenth century. Demonstrating that taste could
be highly localised, these artworks were particularly popular
in Tuscany. Botticelli painted numerous tondi for domestic
contexts. Indeed, from around 1470 he made hardly any
traditional rectangular works of the Virgin and Child, and
his workshop was busily occupied in the following decades
producing round panels for affluent Florentine clients. Unlike
many types of painting for domestic devotion, tondi were the fig. 19
preserve of relatively wealthy patrons. Their size alone dictated Studio of Sandro Botticelli,
that they would be lavishly framed and hung in grand rooms in Madonna and Child with the young St John the Baptist,
Florentine palazzi and public buildings. c.1490
Of course, a tondo painted by Botticelli’s workshop, such private collection, sold Christie’s London,
as this one, cost less than a work largely by the hand of the 2 December 2008
master: in 1477 Botticelli completed a tondo for a Florentine
merchant banker for the lavish sum of 40 large gold florins,
whereas one of the Madonna with Angels by one of his pupils
fetched the equivalent of 6 florins.1 The workshop production
of tondi meant that upwardly mobile individuals could purchase
fashionable artworks with elite associations for display in their
homes, at more affordable prices. Working from designs of
individual figures and faces, popular compositions were swiftly
reproduced by artists in Botticelli’s workshop. This resulted in
a corpus of tondi with shared features: the leftward-tilted head
of the Virgin and her full, triangular form appear in several
other works, as does the motif of the pressed cheeks of mother
and child (fig. 19).
Although these works lacked the complex compositional
power and gold embellishments of Botticelli’s finest tondi, their
devotional potency would have been undiminished in the eyes
of their owners. Usually displayed on walls above eye level, fig. 20
Madonnas in works like this one cast benevolent and maternal Woodcut illustration from Girolamo Savonarola,
eyes down over the household. Their spiritual influence was Predica fatta il 2 Novembre 1496 raccolta da Lorenzo
constant, but it could be evoked with more urgency at times of Violi dell’arte del ben morire
crisis. A contemporary woodcut depicts a young man lying on Florence, after 1497
a daybed in a well-appointed Florentine home (fig. 20).2 He is
dying, and devils wait to take possession of his soul. But above
him is a tondo, from which the Madonna gazes down and the
See: Evans 2016; Lightbown 1989; Vasari 2008;
little Christ offers a blessing. The painting’s ability to call forth Zöllner 2005.
divine protection is made manifest in the winged angels that
hover above the bed, echoing those depicted in the work of 1. Lightbown, 1989, p. 70; Vasari, 2008, p.228.
art. They wait to fend off the devils and escort the man’s soul 2. This woodcut illustrated a printed version of
the Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola’s sermon
to heaven. The sacred power of the image is clear, and to its on the art of dying well, which emphasised the
original owner this would have been just as important as its significance of images to a good Christian death.
association with magnificence. mc The fiery Dominican dominated Florentine life in
the 1490s, and some of Botticelli’s paintings from
this period show his influence.

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 52
Madonna and Child, Christ crucified and
St Anthony appear to two men praying
in a bedroom, first half 16th century
Lonigo, Madonna dei Miracoli,
Museo degli ex voto
The Image of Christ
Empathetic identification with the suffering Christ was one
of the most powerful devotional tools available to believers in
this period. Repeatedly advocated by preachers, priests and
theologians as a sure-fire way to purify one’s soul and move
closer to God, this kind of worship was ideally suited to the
domestic realm (plate 52). In privacy and seclusion believers
were encouraged to focus on the events of Christ’s Passion,
using meditational aids that vividly brought these to life.
Over the course of the Renaissance there was an explosion of
printed books (see plate 57), prints and paintings that catered
to this devotion, encouraging worshippers to enter into deeply
personal relationships with Christ.1
In making images of Christ there were certain rules of
representation that Renaissance artists had to follow, but
within these bounds they were free to innovate in the effort
to communicate spiritual truth. While many patrons desired
works characterised by artistic invention, there also existed
continuing demand for older forms. Icons were painted in a
stylised manner that made no attempt at naturalism, instead
rendering figures flat and often depicting them against a gold
ground. With their aura of age and associations with the East
(and therefore the Holy Land), they were believed to hold
special potency.2 In a delicately painted pair of icons, Biblical
scenes are laid out in narrative form (plate 54). Their tiny
52
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 52
size and careful composition encouraged close looking, with
Christ’s form singled out by the artist for special focus. These
portable icons could have been carried on journeys and kept
close, allowing their owner to create a sacred space for prayer
at will.
Other artworks took different approaches. Instead of lay-
ing out the Passion scene by scene, a print of the Man of Sorrows
(plate 55) collapsed boundaries of time and depicted the sym-
bols of the narrative in a single image, centred on the dead
Christ. The weeping angel who cradles Christ’s lifeless form
provided an emotional cue for the beholder. As the viewer’s
eyes moved around the print, taking in the tools of Christ’s
suffering and humiliation, he or she would have been contin-
ually drawn back to contemplation of his ultimate sacrifice for
humankind.
Feelings of humility, wonder and sorrow were also elicited
by paintings such as the Christ Crowned with Thorns attributed
to Perugino (plate 53). These works, which thrust beholders
into intense encounters with an almost life-size Christ, became
extremely popular in Northern Italy from the late fifteenth
century onwards. Here, Christ looks out at the viewer, en-
gaging him or her in a powerful exchange of gazes.3
It was not only through contemplation of Christ’s pain
that religious transcendence could be achieved. Artists such as
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plate 53
Attr. Pietro Perugino,
Christ crowned with thorns, 1500–05
London, National Gallery

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s

plate 54
Pair of Christological icons,
early 16th century
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum

Michelangelo also explored the spiritual significance of the

ideal beauty of the holy body (see fig. 62). This too could be
the focus of meditation. Numerous devotees had a crucifix
within the home, to which they directed their daily prayers
(see plates 7 and 8). In some cases, the beauty of the sculpted
form of the crucified Christ communicated his divine per-
fection, prefiguring the glory of his Resurrection: the example
illustrated in plate 56, in smooth ivory, was intended to prompt
feelings of love and reverence alongside those of sorrow and
pain. mc

See: Evans 2004; Lymberopoulou and Duits 2013; Trusted 2013.

1. See also below, ‘Religious Images in the Eye of the Beholder’, pp. 66–75 and
‘Reading at Home’, pp. 98–103.
2. Evans, 2004; Lymberopoulou and Duits, 2013.
3. See also below, ‘Religious Images in the Eye of the Beholder’, pp. 66–75.

plate 55
The Man of Sorrows with an angel and the
instruments of the Passion, c.1490–1520
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum

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 int roduction

plate 56
Giovanni Antonio Gualterio,
corpus for a crucifix, c.1599
London,
The Victoria and Albert Museum

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plate 57
Bonaventure (Pseudo-Bonaventure),
Meditationes vitae Christi. Le devote meditatione sopra
la passione del Nostro Signore, c.1478
Cambridge, Cambridge University Library
This beautiful printed and hand-illuminated copy of the
Meditations on the Life of Christ, in Italian, has been heavily
used by two readers, both nuns, who have highlighted and
annotated the text throughout, as well as adding ownership
inscriptions and personalised hymns to the front and back of
the book (pictured above). From these marks and additions
we can learn a great deal about how the book was used by its
original readers.
The Meditations, written in Latin in the thirteenth century
by an unknown Franciscan author (although attributed to Bon-
aventure in contemporary tradition) and originally addressed
to a nun, is a vivid text that leads the reader on a series of guided
meditative exercises, teaching her how to use empathetic en-
gagement to relive the gospel stories in her own imagination
and thus embed Christ’s example into her daily life and habits.
One of the nuns who owned the book, Alexia, has a well-
educated hand, and tells us that the work was a gift from her
uncle: ‘This book belongs to Sister Alexia, given by her uncle
brother P[i]etro of Mantua of the Order of Preachers on 25
September 1528’. Most of the annotations are hers, and they
demonstrate that she has read the work closely from beginning
to end, and has added manicules (little pointing fingers) next
to passages of particular importance. These include a number
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 57
int roduction
of moments in the text when attention is drawn to specific
models for imitation: Mary who weeps at Christ’s feet; Christ
himself who weeps in the New Testament but is never depicted
laughing. A Latin hymn, also in Alexia’s hand, is added
beneath the ownership inscription at the end of the book and
tells of a girl named Alexia who was highly born into a noble
family, and joined the companions of St Ursula. The Alexia
who accompanies Ursula on her journey, one of the 11,000
virgin martyrs from the saint’s legend, is clearly paralleled with
Alexia, the owner of the book. The emphasis in this hymn and
another one added earlier in the book is on female role models
for pious emulation.
The other nun who owned the book, Teofila, has made
fewer additions to it. A simple ownership inscription is crudely
written: ‘this book belongs to Sister Teofila Guadagna servant
of Jesus Christ. I believe in God’. Perhaps Teofila received the
book as a gift from her fellow nun, or was bequeathed it after
her death. Alexia’s annotations would have helped to guide her
own reading, as would the small illumination depicting Christ
as Man of Sorrows that decorates the book’s opening, which
provides a compelling visual focus for meditation. The sharing
of the book by the two nuns, and their careful inscriptions,
indicate the high value of this treasured personal possession. ab
See: Oates 1954; Potten 2014.
57
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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 58
Crucifixion above a prayer against earthquake
and sudden death, woodcut, 16th century
Milan, Civica Raccolta Stampe A. Bertarelli
Set against a starry sky, this woodcut depicts a complex icon-
ography that illustrates something like a Crucifixion, but is
visually distinct. Remarkably, there is no crucified Christ on the
cross, but here he is substituted by the Veronica. The Veronica
was named after the woman who offered Christ a cloth to
wipe his face on his way up towards Mount Calvary, where-
upon a miraculous image of his visage was left behind. The
name is also anagrammatically tied to Vera Icon, or the true
image, that was forever impressed onto it.1 Held in St Peter’s, the
Veronica cloth, imprinted with Jesus’s true likeness, has always
been one of the Catholic Church’s most holy and revered relics
(fig. 21). From the fifteenth century, the indulgence which
meant that those who visited the relic would have punishment
for their sins remitted was extended to all its reproductions
(see plate 146), creating a huge demand for copies that, in turn,
were revered like relics themselves and could be kept in the
home.2
During the Renaissance, single-sheet woodcuts such as
this one were printed and distributed in great numbers. They
were amongst the cheapest devotional objects that one could
take home. Devotional woodcuts could be pasted onto walls
(see plate 117), kept in a box to be consulted at will, or folded
and carried close to the body (see plate 115).3 Throughout Italy,
devotional broadsheets could be acquired from street sellers
(fig. 22) or at sanctuaries and pilgrimage sites.
In its simple style this woodcut was intended as an aid
 fig. 21
58
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 58
for daily meditation on the Passion of Christ. Alongside the
Veronica, the image is packed with objects associated with
Christ’s Passion. Some are known as Arma Christi, or the
arms of Christ, and are the objects used during his torture
and Crucifixion, such as the crown of thorns, the whips, the
spear, the dice, the ladder and the column of the Flagellation.
Numerous Renaissance domestic items and portable devotional
objects were decorated with the Arma Christi, testifying to their
importance as a visual substitute for text describing the suffer-
ing and death of Christ (see plates 22 and 128). In addition,
this woodcut presents the viewer with objects that recall other
moments of Christ’s Passion, such as St Peter’s denial of Christ
and Judas’ betrayal, signalled by the cockerel and the purse.
The attention of the viewer is thus drawn not towards a single
holy image, in this case the body of the crucified Christ, but
towards the instruments responsible for his suffering.4
Along the bottom of the print runs the inscription:
Santissima Croce sopra la morte improvvisa ed il terremoto (The
Most Holy Cross against sudden death and earthquake).
Although the owner of this print might not have been able to
read the text, its presence on the print might have prompted
its acquisition in the first place. The text adds another layer of
meaning to this devotional woodcut: at a time when natural
calamities were devastating (see plate 116), the faithful sought
objects that could engender sacred and supernatural protection
for themselves and their homes. igc
See: Areford 2010; Cooper and Denny-Brown 2014; Hamburger 1998;
Karr Schmidt 2002; Niccoli 2011; Salzberg 2014.
1. Hamburger, 1998, p. 317.
2. Karr Schmidt, 2002, p. 101.
3. Salzberg, 2014, p. 336.
4. Cooper and Denny-Brown, 2014, pp. 1–20.
Detail of Ludovico Lazzarelli,
Pope Sixtus iv shows the Veronica in
St Peter’s during the Jubilee of 1475,
16th century
Yale, Beinecke Rare Book
and Manuscript Library
fig. 22 
After Annibale Carracci, Street seller
of rosaries and pious prints, 1660
London, British Museum
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plate 59

Cameo with The Blood of the Redeemer, late 15th century

London, British Museum

Christ is here shown as the Man of Sorrows, his hands held out
wide in supplication.1 He stands before a large crucifix, from
the ends of which hang the scourges used to whip him in the
Flagellation. Either side of Christ are the grieving figures of the
Virgin Mary and St John, behind them two more women and,
at far left and right, two angels bearing further instruments of
the Passion, each holding out a chalice to receive blood from
the wounds in Christ’s hands. The design can be appreciated
best when the cameo is back-lit, making use of the translucent
properties of the onyx. Although on such a small scale and
employing the difficult technique of hardstone carving, the
execution is of a very high quality, as seen in the subtle folds of
the draperies, and the convincing sense of space.
The Man of Sorrows theme was popular across Europe
from the thirteenth century onwards.2 The cameo depicts a
variant iconography, known as the Blood of the Redeemer, in
which angels are seen gathering Christ’s blood into chalices.3
The cameo appears to derive from the upper part of a terracotta
relief in The Victoria and Albert Museum (fig. 23), in which
the same scene is depicted upon an altar, within a church
interior. Below the altar are the praying figures of Sts John the
Baptist and Jerome, and an angel who gathers Christ’s blood
into two chalices, as it flows from the wounds in his feet.4 The
iconography appears to be exceptional, since in other renderings
of the Blood of the Redeemer the blood is invariably shown
flowing from the wound in Christ’s side.5 It is conceivable that
the terracotta relief, with its unusual iconography and highly
emotive grieving and praying accompanying figures, was made
as a small altarpiece for a confraternity in Padua or Venice
with a special devotion to the Holy Blood. In this case the
onyx might have been made for the personal use of a member,
perhaps mounted to make it more easily portable.6 jw

See: Braham et al. 1979; Dalton 1915; Kris 1929; Manion and Sutton 2015;
Pope-Hennessy 1964; Rubin 1991.

1. Dalton, 1915, no. 19; Kris, 1929, pp. 42, 159, no. 128, pl. 28.
2. Rubin, 1991, pp. 308–10.
3. The theme reflects a bitter theological dispute between the Dominican and fig. 23
Franciscan Orders over the divinity of Christ’s blood between the Crucifixion The Blood of the Redeemer,
and the Resurrection. See Braham et al., 1979, p. 11. terracotta relief, c.1500
4. Inv. 1195–1903. Pope-Hennessy 1964, vol. 1, p. 340, fig. 367.
5. For example Giovanni Bellini’s The Blood of the Redeemer in the National London,
Gallery, London, NG1233. The Victoria and Albert Museum
6. See for example a Crucifixion scene, probably also an onyx cameo, depicted
in one of the margins of the Rothschild Prayer Book, f. 210. Manion and Sutton,
2015, p. 55.

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plate 60
Ring with St Anthony, 17th century
London, British Museum

plate 61
Bowl with St Jerome in the Wilderness, c.1575–1625
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum

plate 62
Charger (piatto da pompa) with St Roch, c.1500–50
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum

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The Saints

While Christ and the Virgin were the mainstays of Catholic

religiosity, believers also had recourse to the pantheon of saints.
These figures acted as intercessors, role models, civic patrons
and personal guardians, and provided targeted help for spec-
ific issues and problems – devotees could turn to St Apollonia
when they had toothache, St Margaret during childbirth,
and St Christopher if embarking on a journey. Some saints
were early Christian martyrs, gruesomely slain by the
Romans. Others were unusually pious, recently deceased con-
temporaries whose cults had sprung up within their lifetimes.
For Renaissance Italians the year was measured by the pass-
ing of saints’ feast days, and it was often possible to tell where
someone was from because they bore the name of their local
patron saint. Hagiographical texts (ranging from cheap, ver-
nacular publications to learned, humanist writings in Latin)
were enormously popular. They provided exciting narratives
of saints’ lives, and simultaneously encouraged emulation of the
virtues embodied by these figures. Numerous pilgrimages were
carried out to sites of significance for particular saints, and rel-
ics of these holy personages were collected with enthusiasm.
It is easy to see how some believers forgot that whilst
they owed veneration to the saints, these individuals were
not supposed to be worshipped as if they were divine. Martin
Luther criticised the Catholic cult of saints, claiming that it
distracted believers rather than moving them closer to God.
For detractors, there was no more damning evidence of this
reality than the visual ubiquity of the saints in Italy. Depictions
of saints appeared in churches, on the walls of cities and houses,
on processional banners, and on everyday objects, such as a
maiolica cup with St Francis (see plate 24) or a ring with the
figure of St Anthony (plate 60).1 Objects like these reminded plate 63
people of their spiritual aspirations and obligation to emulate Bartolomeo Ramenghi,
the behaviour of these pious figures, and depending on the Virgin and Child with St Catherine,
figure depicted, they could also carry political and civic early 16th century
overtones. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
St Jerome (see plate 64) was one of the most popular saints,
and his image appeared on a vast array of maiolica ware. He
was commonly represented praying with a rosary in front See: Farmer 1992; Tait 1984; Goodison and Robertson 1967; Poole 1995.
of a crucifix. High demand for such items is confirmed by
inventories of maiolica workshops in the Marche, which list 1. Tait, 1984, p. 301.
2. Archivio di Stato di Pesaro, Notarile di Pesaro, Giambattista Germani, vol. 364,
numerous plates, bowls and cups depicting the ascetic saint 1532–3, c. 662v.
(plate 61).2 The plague saints Roch (Rocco in Italian) and 3. Farmer, 1992, pp. 420–1, 429.
Sebastian were also popular, due to the belief that they would 4. See below, ‘Praying for Protection’, pp. 110–21.
5. Goodison and Robertson, 1967, p. 19-20, pl. 44.
guard against this most devastating of diseases (plate 62).3
As well as providing models of pious behaviour, saints
were believed to have been admitted to heaven before the Last
Judgement, meaning that they could act there as intercessors.4 A
painting of the Virgin and Child with St Catherine by Bartolomeo
Ramenghi shows the female saint in the foreground lifting her
eyes piously to the Virgin (plate 63).5 The devotee is encouraged
to emulate St Catherine in paying devotion to the Virgin and
Child. The inscription on a stone with a bronze Agnus Dei in
the lower left requests: ‘Pour forth prayers on my behalf ’. This
text prompts believers to pray for the soul of the patron, and
stresses the belief that salvation would result from God’s mercy,
via the intercession of the saints. mc | zs

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 64
Attr. Filarete, plaquette of St Jerome in the wilderness,
mid 15th century
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
Plaquettes are small-scale, light-weight, low-relief images,
normally cast in a durable material such as bronze, and fre-
quently designed for domestic contexts. Invented as a new
genre of sculpture around 1440, plaquettes appear to have
developed from ancient coins, gems, cameos and intaglio carv-
ings, as a way of meeting market demand from collectors
unable to acquire antique originals. Judging from the number
of surviving examples, they were hugely fashionable in Italy
for a century or so, but by the later sixteenth century their
popularity had waned. While the earliest examples portrayed
pagan subjects, plaquettes with Christian iconography were
soon sought after, especially images of individual holy figures,
such as Christ, the Virgin, and the saints (see plate 76), as well
as narratives from the Bible and popular devotional literature
such as Jacobus de Voragine’s Golden Legend of 1275 (see plates
77 and 91). Some plaquettes, like this one of St Jerome, are
known today in only one cast, and were probably the result of
a specific commission; others were mass-produced for spec-
ulative sale.
Some plaquettes were destined for incorporation into
larger objects as decorative elements, for example, sword pom-
mels, book bindings, and writing caskets.1 Others were de-
signed as independent, portable works of art, to be held in the
hand, and closely scrutinised. Plaquettes could be the focus
of animated conversation between friends in the studiolo or
over the dinner table, or, in the case of religious examples,
the object of intimate private contemplation, meditation and
prayer. Renaissance inventories reveal that religious plaquettes
were often kept in bedchambers, no doubt to aid devotions
at the beginning and end of the day. In such cases, they often
performed similar functions to a pax (see plate 105), and were
reverently touched, stroked and kissed.
When not being contemplated, religious plaquettes could
be secreted away in bags, drawers, caskets, cabinets or cup-
boards, or – if small enough – carried around on the body as a
protective talisman, normally in a pocket, where they were safe
yet easily accessible.
The presence of cast-in frames (as can be seen on the pre-
sent example) proves that many plaquettes were intended for
display, often alongside portrait medals and paternosters. Most
plaquettes are uniface (unlike medals, which are normally also
decorated on their reverse) and so could be laid flat on the
top of a desk, chest or bedside table. Alternatively, plaquettes
could be propped up on shelves, suspended from them, or hung
on walls, doors or cabinet interiors. Indeed, many plaquettes
have suspension holes or loops through which fine silk ribbons
could be threaded, and then looped around small hanging rails,
hooks or rings. This particular method became very popular in
the Renaissance as it gave greater prominence to the plaquette,
and permitted it to be easily lifted up and turned to catch
the light.2 From the mid sixteenth century onwards, some
collectors mounted their plaquettes, individually or in sets, in
specially designed gilt-wood frames.
64
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 64
This plaquette shows St Jerome, the fourth-century
theologian who famously translated the Bible into Latin (the
Vulgate, the official Bible of the Roman Church). Jerome was
highly revered in Renaissance Italy; his scholarly pursuits
made him a favoured saint with the intellectually-minded.
Jerome’s popularity led to his frequent portrayal by artists. He
was shown either as an erudite theologian, anachronistically
dressed in a cardinal’s attire, and seated at his desk, surrounded
by books and writing paraphernalia (fig. 63); or as a penitent,
half-clad, ascetic hermit in the wilderness, beating his breast
in contrition, and kneeling before a crucifix, with a skull,
hourglass and book close to hand. Jerome is often shown
accompanied by a lion in the desert, although according to the
Golden Legend, the beast only appeared after the hermit had left
the wilderness and was living in the monastery at Bethlehem.
In addition to depictions in large-scale altarpieces and fresco
cycles made for ecclesiastical settings, monastic communities
and lay confraternities, smaller-scale images of St Jerome
abounded in the home, from high-quality panel paintings (see
plate 68), exquisite miniatures in illuminated manuscripts (see
plate 100) and bronze statuettes, to mass-produced, inexpensive
maiolica crockery (see plate 61) and plaquettes.3
The iconography of this plaquette is somewhat unusual:
the saint’s customary loincloth has been replaced by a garment
more akin to a friar’s habit; the barren desert by a fertile if
craggy landscape filled with fruiting trees and flowering
bushes; the books, skull and companionable lion by a ferocious
pack of creatures – two lions, a wolf, bear, serpent, crab and
scorpion.4 We do not know who made this characterful re-
lief but Ulrich Middeldorf plausibly suggested it might be
by Antonio di Pietro Averlino, better known as Filarete, the
fifteenth-century Florentine architect, sculptor, medallist and
architectural theorist.5 Neither do we know for whom the
plaquette was made but its comparatively large size, its in-
tegrally cast, classical architectural frame with Corinthian-style
pilasters and Latin identifying inscription (‘s. hieronymvs’),
its high-quality modelling and casting, and its seemingly
unique status all indicate that it was probably commissioned to
embellish the home of a wealthy, erudite and discerning patron
as well as to aid his or her private devotions. vja
See: Avery 2011; De Voragine 1993; Hobson 1989; Leino 2007; Leino 2013; Luchs
1989; Middeldorf 1973; Rice 1985; Syson 2002; Thornton 1997; Warren 2006;
Warren 2014; Williams 2006.
1. Hobson, 1989; Thornton, 1997, pp. 146–50; Avery, 2011, pp. 127–141.
2. Syson, 2002; Warren, 2014, pp. 760–7.
3. See for example Moderno’s late fifteenth-century plaquette, known in many
versions, such as that in the Ashmolean (wa 1888.cdef.b618): Warren, 2014,
cat. 295, p. 839.
4. Perhaps the artist was familiar with the passage from the Golden Legend in
which Jerome recounts that ‘All the company I had was scorpions and wild beasts’:
De Voragine, 1993, vol. 2, p. 213.
5. Middeldorf, 1973, pp. 75–86, fig. 220.
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Religious Images
in the Eye of the Beholder
When we think of Renaissance art, inevitably works by mast-
ers such as Michelangelo and Leonardo come to mind. These
illustrious figures did produce images intended for private
devotion (see fig. 62), but the majority of domestic images
were made by people whose names we will never know. These
artists, who far outnumbered those winning major com-
missions from elite patrons, made their livings largely by doing
decorative work and producing relatively affordable images
for domestic devotion. They supplied a growing market:
despite significant regional variation, over the course of the
Renaissance the number of households that contained at least
one devotional painting or print increased dramatically.1
Some religious paintings were commissioned to com-
memorate a particular occasion, such as a marriage, or in thanks
fig. 24
Attr. Pietro Facchetti,
The Petrozzani family at prayer,
second half of 16th century
Mantua, Museo di Palazzo Ducale
66
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 66
for divine aid. Others were of standard iconography that was
then personalised by the inclusion of a favoured saint or donor
portrait. The majority, though, were ‘off-the-peg’ paintings
sold directly from artists’ workshops, or by mercantile middle-
men, in towns across Italy. Some were high-quality works by
celebrated masters, but more commonly these were relatively
inexpensive productions, certainly affordable to the pro-
fessional classes: around the year 1500 such a painting could be
bought for a few lire (by comparison an altarpiece normally
cost hundreds of lire).2 Those who could not afford a painting
could display religious prints in their homes. The explosion of
commercial presses in the sixteenth century meant that prints
were widely available at a range of prices; the cheapest could
be bought from pedlars at fairs, markets and from church steps
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(see fig. 22).

It is not always obvious whether a religious painting was
intended for a private home or a place of worship, although
scale, iconography and style all provide clues. Works that were
produced for the market rather than commissioned could end
up in a range of places, including those that straddled the
domestic and the institutional, such as hospitals, foundling
homes, workshops and monastic houses. In some instances,
paintings that had originally been in homes were left by their
owners to local churches in their wills, and thus moved from
one space to another. Despite these ambiguities, the market
in these images was driven by sales to individuals rather than
institutions. Similarly, although later in the sixteenth century
collectors coveted prints after works by famous artists, most
religious engravings and woodcuts were bought for their
spiritual potency. As a result, analysis of the most popular
forms and iconographies of domestic devotion can reveal much
about what lay consumers sought from the religious works they
bought for their homes.

Contemplating paintings in the home

In spiritual terms, images in the home functioned in three

quite distinct ways (although a single work could fulfil all three
purposes). When on constant display they conferred divine
protection over domestic space (see fig. 20). Members of the
household went about their business in the knowledge that
their particular Madonna (or Christ or saint, although most
commonly it was the Madonna) was watching over them, both
figuratively and literally. This sense of the painted figure as
active and alert was why a little boy could call on his household
Virgin to protect him when he was in danger of drowning, and
she would come to his aid.3 It was also why a man who beat his
wife would curse and spit at the image of the Madonna in his
home as well, for she too was sentient.4
Images also acted as a focus for shared, communal worship
(fig. 24). The household could gather around a work of art to
say prayers at certain points in the day, or on special feast days
or moments of crisis. By doing so its members affirmed their
unity, orthodoxy and adherence to approved social and moral
codes of behaviour. Even when no one was venerating it, the
image signalled that this was a devout home inhabited by pious
people, and communicated as much to both inhabitants and
visitors.
Members of a household also engaged with works of art in
more private and personal ways. Since the Second Council of
Nicaea in 787, the Western Church had affirmed the value
of images to devotion. This doctrine was restated in the face
of the Reformation, as the Council of Trent proclaimed that
‘human nature is such that it cannot easily raise itself up to the
meditation of divine realities without external aids’.5 Without
the guidance offered by texts and images, worshippers were
informed by authorities that ‘conjectures and observations
often mislead us, and we discover little’.6 Ideally, contemplation
plate 65
Man kneels before an image of the
Madonna of Lonigo, late 15th century
Lonigo, Madonna dei Miracoli,
Museo degli ex voto
of these ‘external aids’ ought to take place on a daily basis in
a quiet and private space, in imitation of the monastic model.
In the seclusion of the domestic sphere, one could ‘shut out
the clamour of the world, as it is written, “Commune with
your own heart, and in your chamber, and be still” (Psalm 4.4)
… In silence and quietness the devout soul makes progress’.7
Although the realities of daily life might have made this
difficult, images in the home held the potential to be viewed
in calm retreat from the world, regularly, and with proper
attention (plate 65).
Beholding the image
In the endeavour to penetrate ‘divine realities’, works of art
were as valuable as texts. Images schooled the illiterate in
doctrine and Biblical narratives, but they did far more than
this. Pictures were believed to gain access to the soul with an
immediacy and force that words lacked, and as a result could
act with greater spiritual clarity.8 By harnessing the power of
the visual and aesthetic they engaged imaginations and elicited
emotional responses in viewers. In doing so, they could prompt
spiritual transformation.

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 66
Nikolaos Tzafouris, Icon triptych,
late 15th century
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum
Renaissance understandings of vision, perception and cog-
nition were very different from today. In this period, processes
of reading, listening and viewing were thought to depend on
the absorption of sensory data into the body. All the senses
conveyed information to the cognitive apparatus, but sight was
widely agreed to be the most powerful and elevated mech-
anism for doing so. Ideas inherited from the classical and
Arabic worlds taught that when the gaze fell upon an object, its
imprint transferred itself into the eye.9 By this process, as the art
theorist Leon Battista Alberti explained, ‘the images of things
impress themselves in our minds’.10 From Aristotle onwards,
the metaphor of an imprint in wax had been used to explain
how such images left impressions in a beholder’s memory and
soul. To gaze upon something was thus to absorb it into oneself
in an active process that had profound implications.
The conviction that vision could cause transformation
permeated Renaissance culture. A meeting of glances resulted
in disruptive feelings of love and desire; a witch’s gaze caused
sickness and harm; pregnant women were at risk of giving birth
to deformed children if they looked at something terrible and
frightening. Works of art were equally potent: the fifteenth-
century Lombard humanist Maffeo Vegio suggested that
parents keep an appropriate religious picture in view during
conception to ensure the birth of a well formed child, and
advised parents not to let children see images of the devil.
The same rationale meant that works of art featuring pious,
68
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 68
plump little boys were placed in the bedchambers of expectant
mothers (see plate 37). The belief that images could imprint
themselves into a person’s mind, soul and matter also shaped
spiritual practice. Ocular communion, when the Sacramental
bread was elevated during the Mass, reflected the conviction
that worshippers could ingest the Host via sight, rather than by
consuming it orally.
As these examples show, the powerful action of sensory
stimuli on the body and soul could have both positive and
negative consequences. It was possible to harness this potency:
if a religious picture captivated the senses of the beholder,
then it could leave an imprint of itself in their mind and soul
that caused spiritual transformation. Works of art that were
contemplated frequently and with rapt attention would leave
the firmest impressions – meaning that those in the home
could have the most forceful effect.
Artistic strategies for guiding the gaze
Artists were well aware of the power of their productions,
and of the requirement that religious images should appeal to
customers and guide them in their devotions. In response, they
adopted a variety of strategies to help to direct the minds and
shape the souls of beholders. The most successful of these were
mainstays of domestic devotional imagery.
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fig. 25
Marco Marziale,
Madonna and Child with a devotee, 1504
Bergamo, Accademia Carrara
plate 67
Willem Basse, after Titian,
Virgin and Child in a landscape attended by
St Catherine, a male saint and a donor,
second quarter 17th century
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
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Icons
Icons forcefully suggested to beholders the need to shift their
attention from the material, human realm, to the immaterial,
celestial one. In the Basilica of San Marco in Venice was a
Byzantine icon of the Madonna and Child, one of those said to
have been painted by St Luke himself. This miracle-working
image made no attempt at naturalism, but instead presented
flat, stylised, otherworldly figures against a gold background.
The iconographic power of Eastern Orthodox icons, with
their mystical beauty and links to distant holy times and places,
made them popular with Western consumers. As a result, a
hybrid artistic style developed which married Eastern iconic
forms with Italianate themes. A tiny triptych by the Greek icon
painter Nikolaos Tzafouris, who was active in Venetian Crete,
indicates the appeal of such works (plate 66). The subjects are
familiar: a Pietà, and Sts Francis and Mary Magdalene. Probably
produced for a patron with Franciscan sympathies, the form of
this portable little work of art invited contemplation of both the
pathos of Christ’s suffering and death, and the transcendental
nature of the core Christian mysteries.
The spiritual power of icons was obvious: it derived from
mystical prototypes – from images formed by divine contact
(such as the Veronica), or portraits of holy figures painted
by saintly hands. Art historians have argued that this means
that icons functioned very differently from the naturalistic
images that formed the bulk of works made for domestic
devotion in Italy in this period.11 Yet naturalism was no barrier
to mysticism, and these pictures also successfully invited
meditation and opened channels to the divine sphere. They did
this in a number of ways, anticipating the attention of viewers
in the home.
Donor portraits
One of the most obvious ways in which naturalism in Ren-
aissance art aided worshippers in their devotions was by the
inclusion in images of donor portraits. Necessarily, these had to
identify the person depicted, and although this could be done
through clothing, inscriptions or coats of arms, increasingly
patrons wanted true likenesses of themselves. While donor
portraits in altarpieces served as public records of virtue and
generosity, those in domestic images functioned differently.
These works indicate donors’ desires to make visible
an encounter with the divine. Although fifteenth-century
devotees are often depicted in prayer as if unaware of the holy
personages in the picture plane behind them (see plate 15),
sixteenth-century images are more likely to show moments
of true interaction, with patrons sharing the same space as
divine figures and making eye contact with them (fig. 25).
These images testified to the interior experience of personal
devotion. They also allowed individuals to pray in front of
images of themselves receiving divine acknowledgement. In
addition, family members could contemplate a scene in which
their relative (usually the male head of the household) was
blessed with divine favour. This was especially potent when a
father was absent or deceased, and the portrait stood in for his
presence. His family and descendants would have recognised
that in order to receive grace they had to emulate the exemplary
piety of their depicted relative, and hold him in their prayers.
The appeal of pictures that included donor portraits is in-
dicated by a print after a painting by Titian, which features a
69
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plate 68
Circle of Giovanni Bellini,
St Jerome reading in a landscape,
late 15th/early 16th century
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum

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male supplicant being presented to the Virgin and Child by

his patron saint (plate 67). Whilst its owner may have regarded
the print as a record of Titian’s artistic greatness, it is possible
that he might also have identified with the kneeling man.
Support for this notion is offered by the fact that while in
Titian’s painting the saint is Dominic, in the print the figure
wears Franciscan robes instead of Dominican ones, suggesting
a change that would have made the image more effective as a
devotional tool for someone with Franciscan sympathies.

Landscapes, backgrounds, and mental pilgrimage

Reflecting a focus in devotional texts on meditative withdrawal
from the sensory world and its temptations, images of ascetic
saints grew in popularity over the period. As the Imitation of
Christ said of those early Christians who had entered the
wilderness, ‘they never ceased from mental prayer … They often
forgot even their bodily needs in the great sweetness of con-
templation’.12 Whilst most devotees could not achieve such
heights of corporeal denial, an image of St Jerome in the desert
(plate 68) served as a reminder to make time for periods of
private prayer, and to be on guard against sensory temptation.
The artist chose to depict the saint not in the Syrian desert,
but in the contemporary Venetian terraferma. The familiarity of
the landscape indicated to viewers that they too could retreat
from the world around them, even if only for brief periods.
The saint’s mental absorption, suggested by the darkness in the
rocky outcrop that frames him, signalled the mode of attention
that was required of the beholder as he or she contemplated
the image.
Other domestic works harnessed naturalism to evoke
specific places rather than generalised settings. In 1607, the
friar Lino Moroni and the artist Jacopo Ligozzi visited the place
where in 1224 St Francis had retreated for a period of fasting
and meditation, and had received the stigmata. Subsequently, the plate 69
artist made a series of drawings which were then engraved to Jacopo Ligozzi, View of the monastery of
illustrate Moroni’s guide to the pilgrimage site, the Descrizione La Verna: the road leading to the monastery,
del Sacro Monte della Vernia. The publication was intended as c.1607–12
much for those who could not make the journey to Mount Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
Verna as for those who could use it to retrace a journey they
had undertaken. The drawing illustrated here was one of three
that made up a large pull-out scene of the road approaching the
holy site (plate 69).13 It gives a clear sense of a real place, one that
the beholder can imaginatively enter. The viewer’s eye follows
the road upwards from the plodding traveller and laden horse
to the church tower and soaring birds above – suggestive of
the sometimes wearying road to God that ultimately leads the
soul heavenwards. This spiritual journey could be undertaken
without ever leaving one’s home, in an act of mental pilgrim-
age. Like the imagined asceticism prompted by the painting of
St Jerome in the wilderness, this image was likewise created in
full awareness of its role as an aid to domestic meditation.
A picture did not have to prompt introspection so ob-
viously for it to encourage meditative attention in a beholder.
Many images focused on a central group of holy figures, but
included small, background details that reinforced, nuanced
and informed the work’s meaning. An engraving by Benedetto plate 70
Montagna, an artist active in the Veneto in the early sixteenth Benedetto Montagna,
century, features the Madonna and Child and infant John the The Holy Family with the infant
Baptist in a landscape (plate 70). A figure who can be interpreted St John in a landscape, c.1500–20
either as Joseph or as a donor portrait, inhabiting the space Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 71
Hans Rottenhammer,
Virgin and Child with the infant
St John the Baptist, 1591–1606
London,
The Victoria and Albert Museum
between the beholder and the picture plane, invites the viewer
to contemplate these holy figures. Behind them, an elaborate
scene encompasses a lake or sea, a pair of swans, a castle, bridge,
inhabited buildings, ruins, a hilltop structure and a couple of
tiny figures. Such detail was common in Northern Italian re-
ligious paintings and prints made for viewing in the home. These
elements encouraged close looking, provided visual variety,
captivated the attention and were often imbued with spirit-
ual meaning. Rather than being strictly symbolic or didactic,
these details encouraged consideration of God’s presence in all
aspects of creation, as the eye wandered over the image.
Pleasure in beauty
In order to penetrate beholders’ souls and leave lasting im-
pressions there, works of art in the home had to maintain their
appeal. Like detail and variety, aesthetic beauty also encouraged
repeated looking, and stimulated the senses in a spiritually
licit way. The reforming Archbishop Gabriele Paleotti praised
‘the great sensual pleasure’ that derived from contemplating
religious pictures, and argued that while learning from
books ‘can be acquired only with great effort and the greatest
travail, images instead teach us with the utmost sweetness and
lightness’.14 He emphasised that the first duty of the painter was
to ‘provoke delight’ and only then ‘to instruct and move the
emotions of the observer’.15
72
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 72
plate 72
St Sebastian, c.1470–85
London,
The Victoria and Albert Museum
Paleotti would have approved of a miniature (now encased
in an eighteenth-century frame) by the German artist Hans
Rottenhammer, who was active in Rome and Venice in the late
sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries (plate 71). Painted on
quartz, the work encourages close looking and inspires wonder
at the way in which the artist has incorporated the beauty of
the gemstone into his depiction of the holy figures. The deli-
cate sweetness of the young Virgin and embracing children
would have ‘supplied delight’ to the beholder, prompting them
to treasure this little artwork and turn to it often in admiration
of its loveliness.
Focus on the spiritual value of beauty was not a new,
Counter-Reformation phenomenon. A lengthy theological
tradition had emphasised not only the importance of pleasure
stimulated by religious artworks, but also the extraordinary
beauty of holy figures themselves.16 This physical loveliness
was understood to be an outward sign of inner purity, and
was often credited with stimulating feelings of love for the
divine in worshippers. An ivory and marquetry panel invited
contemplation of St Sebastian’s corporeal perfection (plate 72).
Its attraction lay in both the material appeal of the smooth,
unblemished surface of the ivory, and the parallel beauty of the
lithe young saint’s form, here unpierced by the arrows of his
martyrdom. In works like this, aesthetic and spiritual effects
were inextricably bound together.
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The Holy Face
One of the most popular iconographies of domestic devotion
was that of Christ’s face. There were numerous variants,
existing in hundreds of works that were especially popular
in Northern Italy – the Ecce Homo, Salvator Mundi, Christ
carrying the Cross, Christ at the Column, Cristo Benedicente,
the Redentore. These had certain features in common. Christ’s
form, usually just his torso or face, filled the picture. Viewers
were invited to concentrate on him alone – on his pain, his
majesty, his humanity and his divinity – in works that were
devoid of narrative details that would have located the ex-
perience in a far-off time or place (plate 73). Spatial and
temporal boundaries were collapsed; Christ was present and
real, often life-size, emerging from a dark background into
dimly lit domestic space and the beholder’s vision.
These were powerful images, expressly designed to aid
meditation in the home. As the devotional text Vita Christi
affirmed, ‘How will anyone be unsuccessful in keeping his
plate 73
Master of the Pala Sforzesca,
Salvator Mundi, c.1490–94
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 73
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senses from wandering in prayer, if he is sure that he is present
before God’s eyes?’17 Here viewers were not only present before
Christ, they were also encouraged to perceive themselves in
Christ – to look at the image as if in a mirror and see their inner
self reflected back. Aquinas argued that the contemplative act
was ‘the act of seeing God in oneself ’, in part because man
was made in God’s image.18 The humanist Marsilio Ficino
similarly explained that the soul ‘considers itself by con-
templating the face of God … which shines within itself ’.19
Concentrated and repeated contemplation of such an artwork
could conclude with the beholder’s spiritual transformation
into the holy image, as they absorbed it and their soul was
shaped in its form. Bonaventure, quoting Augustine, explained,
‘the soul itself is an image of God and a likeness so present to
itself that the soul … potentially is capable of … being a par-
taker in Him’.20 As a result, for the most pious beholders, the
ecstatic conclusion of successful meditation on an image such
as this was nothing less than union with the divine. mc
See: Alberti 1950; Alberti 2004; Aquinas 1921; Belting 1993; Bolzoni 2010;
Bonaventure 1978; Bouché and Hamburger 2005; Bynum and Porter 1993; Caciola
2003; Carman and Hendrix 2010; Carruthers 2008; Cavallo 2000; Corry 2013a;
Corry 2013b; Falkenburg et al. 2007; Fantoni et al. 2003; Ficino 1985; Gaston
1985; Guerzoni 2012; Kemp 1971; Kemp 1998; Kempis 1952; Kessler 2000; Krüger
2005; Landau and Parshall 1994; Miles 1985; Mills 2002; Moroni 1612; Morse
2006; Nagel and Wood 2010; Nelson 2000; O’Malley and Welch 2007; Paleotti
2002; Palumbo Fossati Casa 2004; Ragusa and Green 1961; Rosser 2012; Sanger
et al. 2012; Schroeder 1978; Scrase, 2011; Shell 1995; Summers 1987; Trinkaus 1970.
1. Venetian inventories of the latter half of the sixteenth century indicate that 70
per cent of non-elite homes contained at least one painting (Palumbo Fossati Casa,
2004, p. 478). Another analysis indicates around 90 per cent of sixteenth-century
Venetian homes had an image of some sort (Morse, 2006, p. 60). The significance
of regional variation is highlighted by the fact that in sixteenth-century Turin,
15 per cent of women’s wills and 25 per cent of men’s included artworks (Cavallo,
2000). Households in rural areas were less likely to contain paintings than those
in cities.
2. In Milan c.1500, small-scale devotional works of art had an average value
of around 6–8 lire, although one example was valued at less than one lira (Shell,
1995, p. 171). However, estimating ‘average’ prices for artworks is somewhat
futile. Prices were determined by a complex and fluid combination of the cost
of materials, time taken, an artist’s reputation, personal relationships and the
size and nature of the work, as well as economic forces of supply and demand.
3. Miracoli della Gloriosa Vergine Maria historiati (Venice, 1551), ch. 35.
4. Archivio Storico Diocesano di Napoli, Fondo Sant’Ufficio, 57.667, 1586,
Processo contro Gio. Battista Santacroce. My thanks to Irene Galandra Cooper
for sharing this material with me.
5. Schroeder, 1978, p. 147. See also below, ‘Religious Art in the Age of Reform’,
pp. 162–5.
6. Kempis, 1952, p. 30.
7. Ibid., p. 51.
8. See for instance Paleotti, 2002, p. 74.
9. As Alberti acknowledged, authorities disagreed as to whether this took place
via visual rays emitted by the object (the theory of intromission), or by those sent
out from the eye (extramission).
10. Alberti, 2004, p. 40.
11. Belting, 1993; Nagel and Wood, 2010.
12. Kempis, 1952, p. 46.
13. Scrase, 2011, pp. 383–4.
14. Paleotti, 2002, p. 74.
15. Ibid., p. 70.
16. See Corry, 2013b.
17. Vita Christi, part ii, ch. 6, iii: 41.
18. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, 1.3.5.
19. Ficino, 1985, p. 90.
20. Bonaventure, 1978, p. 81.
73
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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 74
Fra Angelico, The Dead Christ, c.1432–4
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
This delicate and moving drawing by the Florentine master Fra
Angelico was probably made to be viewed in private devotion.1
It depicts the dead Christ at the moment of the Deposition,
when his mourning followers removed his body from the
Crucifix to prepare it for burial. The drawing repeats the figure
of Christ from Fra Angelico’s Descent from the Cross altarpiece,
now in the Museo di San Marco in Florence (fig. 26). Reduced
from the monumental scale of the altarpiece, and isolated from
the narrative elements and outdoor location of the Deposition
scene, the drawing is an entirely different work, one that invites
quietly contemplative and meditative attention.
In it, Christ appears suspended, floating in the neutral space
of the paper. His figure is described in brown ink and wash,
with the anatomy of his arms and torso skilfully represented.
Carefully defined contrasts and subtle shading suggest the
fall of light upon his body. The work is sorrowful but serene:
Christ’s form is frail, but not bruised and broken. The drawing
is punctuated by flashes of brilliant red wash that vividly call
to mind the piercing of the Saviour’s flesh. This Christ is one
who had shed blood and died a human death, but his peace-
ful expression and weightlessness suggest his transcendental
nature, hinting at the imminent Resurrection.
Very few drawings by Fra Angelico survive, and none is
attributed to him with absolute certainty. Partly as a result,
we cannot be sure of the original function of this drawing. Its
highly finished nature suggests that it was not a study for the
Descent from the Cross altarpiece, but was a work in its own right.
Its intimate and intense air of spiritual pathos point to it being
a tool for meditation, an image to be contemplated in private
by one seeking to penetrate the Christian mysteries. Support
See: Kanter and Palladino 2005; Rudy 2011; Scrase 2009; Scrase 2011; Vasari 2008.
1. Scrase, 2011, p. 12–14
2. Rudy, 2011.
3. Vasari, 2008, p. 172.
fig. 26
Fra Angelico,
The descent from the Cross, c.1432–4
Florence, Museo di San Marco
74
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 74
for this notion is offered by the fact that certain areas of the
drawing are marked and abraded, possibly through the actions
of touch and kissing, which were common means by which
devotees interacted with religious texts and images in this
period.2 Notably, these points of contact – around the figure’s
feet and on the right of the torso – seem to correspond with the
places where Mary Magdalene and John the Evangelist touch
and kiss Christ’s body in the Descent from the Cross altarpiece.
This suggests that the drawing was made after the painting,
allowing a worshipper to transport the figure of Christ into
their home. The image may have allowed its original owner to
enact his or her desire to imitate these saints in making loving,
physical contact with Christ’s form.
Possibly the drawing was made for a member of the wealthy
and powerful Strozzi family who commissioned the Descent
from the Cross altarpiece, initially from Lorenzo Monaco, and
then after his death from Fra Angelico. The ability to concen-
trate one’s private prayers on the figure of Christ drawn from
the altar of the family chapel would have held a special appeal.
Fra Angelico also produced many works for monastic audiences,
and the drawing’s spare and meditative aspect would have been
ideally suited to prayerful contemplation in a monk’s cell. The
artist was himself a member of the Dominican order, but over
the course of his career he produced many works for private
devotion for both monastic and lay patrons: Vasari remarked
with astonishment on the number of images by the painter
that he had seen in Florentine homes.3 No doubt the spiritual
clarity and beauty of his works made them popular objects of
domestic devotion, qualities that are powerfully apparent in
this drawing. mc
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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s

Materials and Their Meanings

Early in March 1571, Zanetti Sartoris de Fidelibus, a wealthy
citizen of Pesaro in the Marche, passed away. His nephew
Bartolomeo, with the assistance of a notary, inventoried all
the moveable possessions in his uncle’s residence. In a long
document we find a breathtaking variety of religious objects: a
figurine of the Virgin in gilded stucco; another figurine of the
Virgin in gilded wood; an image of St Job; a painting of the
Last Supper; a wooden base to display an Agnus Dei; a mirror
in a golden frame hanging next to a painting of the Virgin on
canvas, with a small container for the holy water underneath;
a wooden crucifix; two amber and crystal rosaries; and finally
the Office of the Blessed Virgin in a white binding with gilding.1
All these things were left to Bartolomeo.
This and many other similar inventories of Renaissance
households attest to the huge variety of materials that were
used to represent the sacred. From oil paint on canvas, to
ink on paper, polychrome wood, worked metal, carved
semi-precious stones, and organic materials such as coral or
mother-of-pearl, artists employed their skill to satisfy the
desire of believers to domesticate the holy. Different materials
carried different symbolic meanings. At times materials such
as gold, bronze or stone were questioned because of their
connotations with pagan practices or for fear that they would
encourage idolatry.2 The colour of materials was significant
and a chromatic canon was established in the Middle Ages and
adopted by Renaissance artists.3 Religious decorum guided
artistic choices and some materials were seen as particularly
suitable for certain devotional forms: for instance, domestic
crucifixes were commonly carved from wood, in imitation of
Christ’s own cross. Various artists, such as Donatello, designed
religious compositions that were successfully reproduced in
different materials, while others, most notably artists from the
Della Robbia family, promoted the agency of a single medium,
glazed terracotta, which they employed with ingenuity to
create a range of domestic devotional objects from statuettes to
tondi.
images, which depended both on skill, and sometimes on an
artist’s education and personal devotion, which could inspire
reverence in those praying in front of the image.5 This point
was clearly expressed at the end of the sixteenth century by
the reformer Gabriele Paleotti, who commented on the
importance of the religious instruction of artists. He wrote:
‘they are certainly unable to capture in figures this devotion,
which they themselves lack’.6 Paleotti believed that artists had
to transmit their own faith into an object, in order to produce
a powerful image, either for the decoration of a church or for
a private household. Artists’ religious affiliations and personal
devotion have sometimes been overlooked in scholarship, with
important exceptions including Lorenzo Lotto, Michelangelo
and a few celebrated artist-friars such as Filippo Lippi and Fra
Angelico (see plate 15 and 74).7 Yet artists were clearly sensitive
towards the devotional expectations of their patrons. Thus
an analysis of the materials used for devotional objects in the
home provides a unique insight into the religious expectations
of Renaissance believers, as well as into the artistic practices of
those who shaped and catered to their specific needs.
Ivory
One of the most precious materials used for creating religious
objects was ivory, brought to Europe by traders mostly from
West Africa and India.8 Particularly appreciated for its off-white
colour, it can be found frequently in inventories of well-to-
do Renaissance people.9 Figurines and reliefs carved in ivory
were alluring to the faithful as their small scale and smooth,
organic surface appealed to the sense of touch. Moreover, the
rarity and exotic provenance of the material made it uniquely
suitable to represent the wondrous and otherworldly character

The religiosity of the artist

In commissioning and choosing domestic religious objects,

consumers sometimes took into account the materials and
methods of production as well as the status of the maker.
For paintings, the fifteenth century marks the flourishing of
miracle-working images, which, unlike similar images in
previous centuries, did not derive their power from being
acheiropoieta, images made without, or not entirely through,
human agency – but were rather miraculously transformed
following their creation by human hands.4 The same can be
said about the religious efficacy of more ordinary Renaissance

fig. 27
Madonna and Child with an angel,
early 1500s
Los Angeles, Getty Center

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plate 75
St John the Baptist, c.1500
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum
of the sacred.10 Ivory was used to create narrative plaquettes
or more utilitarian objects such as combs, which reminded
their owners of the stories described in the Bible as they went
about their daily activities (see plate 27).11 Ivory was used for
figures of the beautiful, swooning Virgin holding her Child,
in which the form of the religious sculpture was dictated by
the shape of this organic material.12 Similarly, the Crucified
Christ (see plate 56) was carved in ivory to convey through
precious matter the venerable character of the Saviour’s body,
sacrificed for humankind on the Cross. Considering the cost of
the material, ivory became a statement of the piety and wealth
of those families who could afford such religious items.
Other materials were sought after for their connotations of
purity and holiness. A relief of the Madonna and Child with an
Angel (fig. 27) shows how an anonymous Venetian artist chose
the purest area of chalcedony to carve the head of the Virgin.
The semi-precious stone of small dimensions was a dazzling
object, which could easily have been held in the hand, and the
radiant face of the Virgin would have inspired great personal
devotion. A vein of intense red, a product of the pollution of
the cryptocrystalline mineral with iron oxide, runs through
the cross held by the Christ Child.13 This further proves the
importance of the symbolism of colours and the artist’s skill
in using the properties of this mineral to convey religious
meaning. An onyx cameo with Christ as the Man of Sorrows
similarly demonstrates the symbolic possibilities offered by a
particular material (see plate 59). The fine carving shows white
figures against a translucent background, perhaps an allusion
to Christ’s transition from his human, physical life on Earth
towards the immaterial, heavenly realm in the future moment
of the Ascension.
Terracotta
Terracotta was another important material for representing the
holy in the Renaissance home. According to the Bible, God
created man from earth, hence terracotta had important spiritual
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 77
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fig. 28
St John the Baptist, c.1500
Naples, Museo di Capodimonte
connotations and was popular even in its plain, biscuit-fired
state (without polychromy or colourful glazes). The renewed
popularity of the medium in the first decade of the fifteenth
century played an important role in expanding the market for
religious sculptures produced for those who could not afford
more expensive materials. Terracotta was a natural choice for
devotional sculpture in regions such as Emilia-Romagna or
the Marche, which are naturally rich in clay repositories, but
lack stone or marble quarries.14 In these two regions strong
local ceramics traditions resulted in the popularity of glazed
terracotta sculptures, often of small dimensions.15
Two devotional busts of the young John the Baptist belong
to this type of artistic production (plate 75; fig. 28). Busts of the
youthful John the Baptist made in various materials contributed
to the devotional atmosphere of the Italian Renaissance home.
At the very beginning of a description of his personal studiolo,
Fra Sabba di Castiglione lists a bust of St John the Baptist, aged
about fourteen, deemed ‘very beautiful’.16 Though Fra Sabba’s
sculpture was made from Carrara marble and not terracotta,
the account confirms that figures of St John were contemplated
by scholars and friars in their private study spaces. Moreover,
in the early fifteenth century, Giovanni Dominici promoted
similar images for the devotional education of children,
who were encouraged to emulate the young saint.17 The
downward gaze of St John suggests that these busts could have
been displayed from a high vantage point, perhaps over the
door to a chamber, from where the brightly coloured glazed
terracotta would have been more visible than a polychrome
stucco or wooden figure. Because of this assumed position, the
prominent hole in the head of the saint, which appears in the
top of both busts, seems perplexing, as the sculptures could
hardly have functioned as containers for relics, which would
have not been visible for veneration. The edges of the bust
from the De Ciccio Collection in Naples (fig. 28) are smooth
and the opening seems to have been made before the firing. It
is conceivable that the busts had detachable haloes, although
this would have been unusual; Renaissance busts of the young
St John the Baptist were more commonly created without
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fig. 29
Virgin and Child, early 16th century
Naples, Museo Duca di Martina
haloes, enabling those contemplating the image to identify
more directly with the saintly figure.
Scholars tend to identify the bust from the Ashmolean
(plate 75) as Tuscan or, more specifically, from Montelupo,
while it has been argued that the De Ciccio bust is from
Faenza.18 However, it is possible that both busts were cast
from the same mould in the same workshop, as is suggested
by their nearly identical sizes.19 A comparison with surviving
maiolica mirror frames excavated in Montelupo might imply
that the busts came from this artistic milieu.20 On the other
hand, the characteristic green strokes against the yellow
background, which define the animal fur and the hair of St
John in the bust from Naples, are close to the decoration of
small maiolica figures of animals recovered during excavations
in Faenza, dated to the beginning of the sixteenth century.21
Both busts of St John have the same pronounced modelling of
the eyelids and eye sockets, as well as a striking solution for
the lips. These are not painted, as might be expected, with
manganese red; instead, in this area the white glaze is finer
and allows the warm colour of the terracotta to come through,
giving them a natural effect. The juxtaposed blue and orange
in the fur of the bust from the Ashmolean is very close to that
in the hair of a horse from an inkstand in Écouen, thought to
have been produced in a Faenza workshop and datable to the
end of the fifteenth century.22 The label inside the bust from
Naples identifies the sculpture as belonging in the nineteenth
century to Vincenzo Funghini’s collection in Arezzo, where it
was attributed to Faenza, possibly on the basis of the location
where the bust was acquired.23 At this stage it is impossible to
78
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 78
plate 76
Based on a model by Luca della Robbia
or Michelozzo, plaquette of the
Virgin and Child, c.1450–1500
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
determine with certainty where these two busts were created,
but the survival of an example in a Neapolitan collection at least
testifies to the presence of this type of representation beyond
Central Italy. Moreover, the striking differences in the quality
of the finish between the two examples seem to point to the
demand for these sculptures at different levels of Italian society.
Maiolica was a versatile medium, one which was suitable
not only for sculptural busts of John the Baptist, but also for
smaller reliefs of the Virgin and Child, such as an example also
in Naples (fig. 29). This relief is remarkable because of its small
dimensions, only 19 cm high. It has been suggested that this
work was based on a prototype by Luca della Robbia, which
can be seen repeated in a terracotta relief now in the Bode
Museum in Berlin.24 The striking blue of the contours and
internal modelling of the figures contrasts with the brownish-
orange glaze of the haloes. It seems that the artist wished to
imitate the effects of lustre, but perhaps was not skilled enough
to achieve the metallic sheen through the third firing in a kiln
filled with fumes and instead used a simple, orange tin-based
glaze to imitate the effects. There are no holes anywhere in
the relief, which suggests that it was not meant to be hung on
a wall, while the back is covered with a smooth white glaze
and bears no signs of being plastered for fixing to a wall at any
stage. From the facial outlines of the Virgin and Child, and
from the very high protrusion of Christ’s left hip it is possible
to recreate the viewing point of this small relief. The faces
look much more natural when seen from above. Perhaps the
relief was meant to be looked down upon while held in the
hand during prayer, in a similar fashion to small scale bronze
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plaquettes showing the Virgin and Child, such as one from

the Fitzwilliam Museum which is possibly also related to
a Florentine model (plate 76).25 Here we might observe the
relationship between maiolica and bronze, although these are
two seemingly extremely different media.26

Bronze

Bronze was suitable not only for devotional images of the

Virgin and Child but also for multi-figure narratives. Andrea
Riccio’s Entombment (plate 77) shows a study of human despair
at the moment when, after the Crucifixion, Christ’s lifeless
body was being placed in a grave. A woman in the foreground
on the left covers her face in her hands, while on the right the
Virgin faints from unbearable suffering. The sense of religious
drama and tension is reflected not only in the gestures but also
in the agitated folds of the draperies, which echo the emotional
anguish of the depicted characters. The very fine lines of the
robes contrast with the smooth body of Christ and the highly
polished surface of the tomb in the centre of the composition.
The desperate need to preserve the physical presence of Christ
is movingly expressed in St John the Evangelist’s embrace of
the Saviour’s torso. Despite the small size of the plaquette, and
a great accumulation of figures, the variations in relief and
differences in the level of polish make the scene very legible to
the beholder. This clarity contributes to the strong devotional
charge of the representation and the emotional response it
stimulates. Bronze, like maiolica, was used for a wide range of
domestic religious objects. Artists employed bronze to create
three-dimensional crucifixes, as well as larger reliefs and small
plaquettes (see plate 64). While bronze was one of the more
costly materials, especially when compared with terracotta, the
many surviving examples confirm that it was a hugely popular
medium, used for both narrative scenes and images of single
figures. Moreover, bronze, which could have been polished
or roughened with a chisel, its surface covered with a dark –
almost black – or lighter, warm orange patina, was suitable for
creating highly personalised items, and shows a wide range of
expectations of various believers towards the same medium.
Colour played a very important role in the selection of
the material from which a certain devotional object was to be
made. For instance, ivory was treasured for its beautiful off-
white colour, while tin-glazed terracotta gained popularity
thanks to the vividness and brilliance of its surfaces. Other
materials, such as bronze, were appreciated for their texture,
which, depending on the level of polish, could have rough
and smooth surfaces to animate the representation through
subtle variations in light and shade. Caroline Walker Bynum
has observed, in relation to arts from earlier periods, that
materials and iconography cannot be separated, and it seems
that in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the materials from
which a work was created formed another layer of meaning.27
Analysis of different materials used for devotional objects
in the home reveals the ways in which materials shaped and
stimulated certain practices and did not merely ‘translate the
immaterial’.28 Hence, their role goes beyond the conveying of
meaning through form and composition, to take on the agency
of active matter. zs
plate 77
Andrea Briosco, known as Il Riccio,
plaquette of The Entombment, c.1520
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
See: Alinari 1986; Anderson et al. 2015; Arbace 1996; Avery 2011; Bailey et al.
2013; Baxandall 1988; Brandt 1983; Bynum 2011; Collareta 2011; Dominici 1860;
Ferrari 1958; Hess 1988; Holmes 1999; Hood 1993; Lehmann 2009; Lehmann 2015;
Lowden 2013; Maniura 2003; Molajoli 1957; Nagel 2011; Paleotti 2002; Panzanelli
2008; Paolinelli 2014; Pastoureau 2006; Ravanelli Guidotti 2014; Rublack 2013;
Swartwout 1932; Thornton 1997; Viviani and Pasqui 1925; Warren 2012; Warren
2014; Wilson 1995.
1. Archivio Notarile di Pesaro, Notary Andrea Lucchini, vol. 1166, 1571, c. 37r–41v.
2. Nagel, 2011, pp. 149–50.
3. Pastoureau, 2006, pp. 7–19.
4. Maniura, 2003, p. 95.
5. Baxandall, 1988, pp. 17–27.
6. Paleotti, 2002, p. 5.
7. For Lotto see Collareta, 2011, pp. 145–146; on artist-friars see Swartwout, 1932;
Hood, 1993; Holmes, 1999; see also the author’s forthcoming article ‘Luca della
Robbia and his Books: The Renaissance Artist as a Devotee’, Artibus et Historiae,
no. 74 (2016), pp. 291–301.
8. Bailey et al., 2013.
9. For instance, a small ivory plaquette (‘item una conecta de avorio’) listed among
the properties of Antonio Carafa in Carvizano in 1493, Archivio Filangieri, busta 46.
10. Lowden, 2013, p. 11.
11. See above, ‘Comb with The Annunciation ’, pp. 24–5.
12. Lehmann, 2009, pp. 41–60.
13. Panzanelli, 2008, cat. 24, pp. 143–4.
14. Brandt, 1983, p. 66.
15. Paolinelli, 2014.
16. Thornton, 1997, pp. 106–7.
17. Dominici, 1860, p. 131. See above, ‘Childhood’, pp. 35–39.
18. Warren, 2014, cat. 117, pp. 434–438; Molajoli, 1957, p. 91; Ferrari, 1958, p. 22.
19. Hess, 1988, p. 54; Wilson, 1995, pp. 45, 50, fig. 5; Warren, 2014, cat. 117,
pp. 434–8.
20. Alinari, 1986, pp. 264–5.
21. Fragments of animals from Faenza, Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche,
inv. 32353.
22. Ravanelli Guidotti, 2014, p. 43, fig. 7a.
23. Through consultation of Funghini’s diaries preserved in the Archivio di Stato
in Arezzo it was not possible to trace the place of the acquisition of this specific
bust, but we know that the collector acquired maiolica mostly from Faenza,
Deruta, Gubbio and Pesaro. For more on Funghini’s collection see Viviani
and Pasqui, 1925, p. 184.
24. Arbace, 1996, p. 24.
25. Attributed either to Luca della Robbia or Michelozzo.
26. Warren, 2012, pp. 127–143.
27. Bynum, 2011, p. 82.
28. Lehmann, 2015, p. 22.

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s

plate 78

Workshop of Andrea della Robbia,

The Christ Child, c.1490–1510

London, The Victoria and Albert Museum

This statuette matches the description of a similarly glazed See: Klapisch-Zuber 1985; Leino 2013; Marquand
white terracotta figure of the Christ Child that appears in the 1912; Marquand 1920; Mozzati 2002; Musacchio
2006b; Domeniconi 1965; Pope-Hennessy 1964;
list of objects from a camera of Fra Franceschino from Cesena, Radcliffe 1992; Thornton 1997.
the keeper of the Biblioteca Malatestiana in Rimini. The
inventory, drawn up on 18 August 1489, includes ‘a child made 1. Archivio di Stato di Cesena, Fondo Archivio
in terracotta with a white glaze, holding a sphere and with Notarile Mandamentale di Cesena, Atti di Novello
Borelli, 1489 no. 108. For a general discussion of
rosary beads around his neck’.1 the inventory see Domeniconi, 1965, pp. 171–189;
Perhaps this statuette at some point also had a removable Thornton, 1997, pp. 84–85; Leino, 2013, pp.
rosary around its neck and the sphere described in the inventory 179–180.
2. Klapisch-Zuber, 1985, pp. 310–329; Musacchio,
could have been similar to the round object held by the Child 2006b, pp. 128–130.
in his left palm. The archival reference prompts us to consider 3. Marquand, 1912, cat. 31, pp. 89–90; Marquand,
this type of glazed terracotta statuette outside the context of 1920, pp. 210–211; Radcliffe, 1992, cat. 11, pp. 96–99;
Pope-Hennessy, 1964, vol. 1, cat. 217, pp. 225–226.
motherhood and female spirituality, and to think about the 4. Mozzati, 2002, cat. 106, pp. 361–362.
ways in which male devotees engaged with such figures. Unlike
some wooden statuettes of the Christ Child (see plate 90), this
terracotta figure with a realistically painted porphyry base and
a green plant serving as a rear support was meant to be viewed
rather than, for instance, cradled.2 The glazing of the sculpture
reveals the tendency to show the warmth of the terracotta
through the fine layer of white tin-based vitreous paste. This
enhanced the sense of corporeality of the Christ Child and
helped guide the beholder to contemplate the mystery of the
Incarnation.
The striking quality of the glazed terracotta statuette,
painted almost exclusively in white, points to the artistic
audacity of the Della Robbia workshop, which proved that
a highly restricted palette could create aesthetically and
spiritually compelling effects. White glaze became the vehicle
for the most brilliant earthly light through which God could be
perceived. The connection between light and Christ was made
explicit in other white figures by the Della Robbia family. In
various reliefs the Christ Child holds a scroll with a fragment
of text from the Gospel of St John, 8.12 and 9.5 in Latin: ‘Ego
sum Lux Mundi’ (I am the Light of the World). By visually
evoking impressive materials such as jewel-like enamels, exotic
porcelain or ivory, Luca della Robbia’s introduction of purely
white glazed figures could prompt pious contemplation of
God’s immaterial perfection.
The statuette was probably made around 1490–1500, based
on stylistic similarities with other figures of children, such as
a urinating boy from the Bode Museum in Berlin, a boy with
a dolphin, or a boy playing with a squirrel.3 However, unlike
the boys typically ascribed to this group, this statuette is highly
finished on the back and does not seem to have formed part of
a larger structure, such as a tabernacle or a wall fountain. After
1500, in contrast to this piece, statuettes of the Christ Child
from the Della Robbia workshop seem to have found their
inspiration from the celebrated figure from the tabernacle in
San Lorenzo by Desiderio da Settignano (fig. 30).4 zs
fig. 30
Desiderio da Settignano,
The Christ Child, mid 15th century
Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts

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The Economy of
Sacred Objects

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Italian Catholicism

was conspicuously a religion ‘of things’.1 The cult objects that
played such a prominent part in churches and sanctuaries (as
well as chapels and oratories) were supplemented by a pro-
liferation of devotional matter within the home. In parallel
to the practices and liturgies of the Renaissance Church, the
laity engaged in their own domestic devotional rituals – rituals
that were developed around objects and which were in turn
embellished by memories and imbued with emotions.
One of the most striking phenomena of this period is the
domestication of the sacred by the laity. As we can establish
from the evidence of inventories and wills, paintings of sacred
themes, crosses, rosaries, reliquaries and Agnus Dei are among
the religious objects that could be found in the home. An
increase in the use of devotional items was the consequence
both of promotional campaigns by the clergy and of lay in-
itiatives. From the second half of the fifteenth and the first half
of the sixteenth centuries, the increase was also the result of
renewed experimentation with techniques and materials that
led to a boost in the production and sale of portable objects.

plate 79
Rich and poor Rosary, c.1550–1650
Diocese of Trent
The Customs Registers (Dogana di Terra) of fifteenth-century
Rome, which recorded the payment of duty on goods im-
ported into the papal city, are a good source for the study of
the types of devotional items that were available at reasonable
prices, and to some extent mass-produced for pilgrims. They
also reveal much about objects imported for rich people,
which were both more highly priced and more highly taxed.2
Among the thousands of goods that entered the Papal city were
large numbers of items with devotional significance, ranging
from paintings of the Madonna to portable altars, candles and
rosaries.
While wealthy nobles, merchants and prosperous people
in general might spend gold florins and ducats on the most
expensive devotional items listed among the products imported
to Rome, most people were of course far more restricted in
what they could acquire. The importance of certain objects,
such as paternoster beads, to the daily rituals of prayer led
even poor folk to spend their few spare coins on devotional
things. For those who lacked cash, barter was another means of
obtaining the commodities that were crucial to lay religion. At
the same time, the poor or those who had fallen on hard times
were often driven to pawn their devotional objects for a few
pennies. The records of the Monti di Pietà, charitable pawn
institutions which proliferated in Italy during the late fifteenth
and especially the sixteenth century, record that people in
financial difficulties regularly brought in their rosaries or little
crosses as security for low interest and even interest-free loans.
Just as revealing is the tendency of the majority of those same
plate 80
people to return to the Monte a year or so later in order to
redeem their devotional items, although a good percentage Rosary, c.1550–1650
did not return and left their religious items behind. These Diocese of Trent

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records attest to the overall low value of many of such objects,

which were often made of coarse materials (wood, stone,
earthenware) and which were described by the Superintendent
of the Monte as torn, old or broken (logoro, vecchio, rotto). These
humble religious items were sometimes pawned over and over
again by their owners in order to generate funds to live on.3
Rosaries were among the most popular devotional items,
and were frequently brought to the Monti di Pietà. They were
used in prayer by men and women, rich and poor, nobles and
craftsmen. The artist Cesare Vecellio described sixteenth-
century Neapolitan women as always having rosaries around
their necks or tied around their waists (fig. 31).4 Rosaries were
bought and sold in high numbers across Italy. In Treviso at the
end of the sixteenth century, ‘22 crystal paternosters’ (single
strings of beads), gilded and valued at the considerable sum of
5 lire and 8 soldi each, in all worth 118 lire and 16 soldi, are listed
in the dowry of the noblewoman Maria, along with a large
sum of money and various items of jewellery.5 Conversely, in
Padua in 1472, in the house of the poor fisherman Lazero in
the district of San Biagio, items of more modest quality were
found, including a ‘coral paternoster … [and] a bag of amber
paternosters’ valued at only a few coins.6 Similarly modest
examples made of ordinary glass paste, probably intended to
replicate the appearance of gemstones (plates 79 and 80), give
us an idea of the kind of devotional objects that might have
been found in the home of an artisan with few pretensions.7
In order to put these prices in context, let us consider the
income and expenditure of an average wage-earner. In Venice
in the 1590s a shipbuilder working at the Arsenal earned
333 lire per year, calculated on the basis of 260 days of work
excluding festivities. We know that 100 kg (c.220 pounds) fig. 31
of wheat would cost roughly 22 lire.8 Shopping for food was Woodcut illustration from
of course the priority of workers in this income bracket and Cesare Vecellio, De gli habiti antichi,
cereals, used principally in the making of bread but also in the et moderni […]
preparation of soups and polenta, constituted the basic staple Venice, 1598
of the Italian Renaissance diet. It is clear, therefore, that the
cost of a single string of paternoster beads alone represented a
substantial investment for menial workers. It is small wonder viii in 1300. At that time, pilgrims who had travelled to Rome
that the devotional items of these people were not only poorer began to wear them in the hope of being granted indulgences
in quality than those of individuals of greater wealth and status, (remission from sins).9 It is from the mid sixteenth century
but were also characterised by simple designs, since elaborate onward that the activity of specialised Roman craftsmen,
decorations forced up prices. the medal-makers or medagliari, also known as coronari, can
be documented. These craftsmen worked under commission
from religious institutions, sanctuaries, monasteries and noble
Medals families, but were also involved in the production of vast
quantities of cheap devotional medals, manufactured for special
Alongside rosaries, devotional medals, often moulded in lead celebrations such as the canonisation of new saints. In form
or pewter, were present in large numbers in the home and (if not in scale), these devotional medals emulated classicising
were frequently worn by the faithful (plate 81). They could be portrait medals, much favoured by humanist patrons across
bought together with pins, crosses and rosaries, in memory of Italy. Many of these medals were cast in bronze using the cera
visits to shrines and pilgrimages, to be worn on a daily basis persa (lost wax) technique, which permitted multiple versions of
hanging from the neck or the waist, or sewn on garments as the original model to be created from moulds.10 These methods
protective amulets. The practice of wearing such medals began of mass replication were appropriated for the manufacture of
in the late Middle Ages, probably during the first Jubilee year, devotional medals, with Loreto, and the Marche in general,
a year of ‘Forgiveness of all sins’ proclaimed by Pope Boniface soon becoming a key production centre.

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s

plate 81
Metal medallions, various dates
Italy, private collection

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plate 82
Agnus Dei pendant, c.1500
London, British Museum
Agnus Dei
Another ubiquitous object in the homes of the devout was
the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God).11 From the sources it is not
always easy to grasp the exact meaning of the term ‘Agnus Dei’,
which sometimes refers to wax discs impressed with the image
of the Lamb of God, but more often than not to their cases.12
It was probably containers for Agnus Dei that were imported
into Rome in large quantities in the 1470s: a consignment of
1,200 copper Agnus Dei costing an estimated total of 23 ducats
was shipped from Naples, to be sold on the Roman market.
Similarly, the merchant Francesco Datini from Prato traded
extensively in such objects at the beginning of the fifteenth
century. The material used to make the container for the holy
wax disc, whether of gold, silver, silk, enamels, or decorated
with precious or semi-precious stones, attested to the wealth
of the owner. To this end, very elaborate Agnus Dei are found
in the 1492 inventories of Lorenzo de’ Medici, such as the
example ‘with around 9 little pearls, on one side one crystal
on which was written “Christ”, on the other side one crystal
with a Madonna and Child’, estimated at 2 florins.13 One of
Lorenzo’s masterpieces, worth 200 florins, was the ‘gold Agnus
Dei bearing on the front a cross with 5 diamonds, 4 round and
clear pearls and, on the reverse carved a ruddy enamel Agnus
Dei’.14
An example in silver with traces of gilding (plate 82) was
doubtless valued as a precious piece of jewellery as well as for
its devotional function. It was probably worn attached to a hat
or garment, as is suggested by its small size (2.8 cm), or carried
on the person of its owner. It may have been similar in value
to the ‘Agnus Dei of the Pope, silver covered’, belonging to
Giuliano di Pasquino, a wealthy craftsman resident of Salerno
in 1575.15 We also find Agnus Dei in the 1597 inventory of
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 85
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the late Lorenzo Vanzo, a miller of Treviso, but these were
primarily made of ordinary local materials, such as the ‘two
walnut Agnus Dei’, also said to be ‘of the Pope’.16
Northern paintings in Italian homes
Alongside the rosaries, medals and Agnus Dei that were key to
devotional practice in the home, laypeople also interacted with
images and icons displayed on the walls. Ranging from cheap
paintings to the work of internationally renowned artists,
images of the Virgin, Christ and the saints were commonplace
items in people’s homes. Although the majority of these images
were produced in Italy, not all were. A painting of the Virgin
and Child by Joos van Cleve is representative of a Northern
type that was popular in Italy, and greatly sought after (plate
83). It depicts a smiling Virgin wearing a brilliant red cloak
elaborately embroidered in gold on the outer edges and lined
with fur. She is seated before a parapet, with a bucolic landscape
visible behind her. She holds Jesus in her lap and offers the
sleeping child her breast. Joos van Cleve was a highly regarded
Flemish painter, who created numerous religious works. He
was active mainly in Antwerp from 1511 until his death in
1540/41. With workshop assistance, he produced multiple
versions of sweet, emotionally-charged Madonna and Child
paintings.17
Refined Italian patrons valued Netherlandish paintings
such as this one extremely highly; in the fifteenth century
the work of Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden was
especially esteemed, and was sometimes said to surpass that
of any Italian artist. Wealthy Italian merchants and bankers
brought Northern works back with them from their travels;
Netherlandish artists found employment in cultural centres
such as Urbino in the Marche; and powerful rulers in Naples
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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 83
Joos van Cleve, Virgin and Child,
c.1525–30
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
and Milan sent their court artists to train with masters in the
North, so that they could produce images in a similar style on
returning to Italy. Underpinning this taste for Netherlandish
painting was the conviction that it had a particular religious
efficacy. The terms devoto and pientissimo cropped up often
in Italian discussions of its appeal, and the emotional ex-
pressiveness and naturalism of Northern painting were highly
prized for their spiritual force. Vittoria Colonna was not alone
in thinking that ‘Flemish painting seems … more devout than
that in the Italian manner’.18
Maiolica
Providing further evidence of the movement of devotional
goods across Europe to satisfy the demands of discerning con-
sumers, a small earthenware vase bearing the Sacred Mono-
gram ‘IHS’ is depicted in the Joos van Cleve painting.19 The
jar is made of tin-glazed earthenware, known as maiolica, or
sometimes as faience (from ‘Faenza’, a major centre of Italian
production). This type of ceramic owes its origins to the
Islamic world; however, it is thanks to Spanish workshops that
it became favoured in Renaissance Italy and was later produced
throughout Europe. During the Renaissance the Italian
86
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 86
production of ceramics increased rapidly, but there was also an
ongoing demand for the most refined and costly lustred maiolica
from Spain, particularly among those of higher status looking
for elegant articles as props for their refined conviviality. In
fact, in the first half of the fifteenth century, if a wealthy Italian
wished to decorate the most public chambers of his house with
spectacular ornaments, he would have instructed his agent to
buy Spanish lustreware.20 These objects were often produced
to commission, sometimes bearing owners’ coats of arms, and
were exceptionally expensive.21 A splendid Valencian lustre-
ware jar (plate 84) must have been one such item.
Several places in central Italy specialised in maiolica
production from the end of the fifteenth century onward.
Manufacture was concentrated in the medium-sized town of
Faenza in Emilia-Romagna and in small towns such as Deruta
(Umbria), Castel Durante and Urbino (Marche), Montelupo
(Tuscany) and Castelli (Abruzzi). Pesaro in the Marche was also
a flourishing centre of production during the second half of the
fifteenth century. The Italian artisans in these workshops, who
by the end of the fifteenth century had perfected the skills
needed to make highly complex luxury maiolica products, en-
joyed the opportunity to increase their earnings. They may
also have driven demand for certain types of commodity, and
stoked the trade in decorative as well as devotional objects.
In 1490, for example, Lorenzo de’ Medici wrote to Galeazzo
Malatesta, Lord of Rimini, to thank him for a gift of some
locally produced maiolica, indicating how highly such items
were thought of.22
The increased productivity and prestige of some Italian
workshops is exemplified by the career of Maestro Giorgio
Andreoli, a well-known potter who had moved to Gubbio
from his native Lombardy by 1495.23 His workshop, which had
started by creating everyday items (and which probably con-
tinued to produce low-end goods for poorer customers),
began to specialise in the production of elite objects from
c.1515. A maiolica dish decorated with the Agnus Dei (plate
85) was probably crafted during a particularly fruitful and
well-documented period (1530–50), characterised by intense
experimentation and collaboration between different crafts-
men. From 1525, Maestro Giorgio employed in his workshop
a certain Federico, a potter from Urbino, and the painter Gio-
vanni Luca from Castel Durante. Federico would undertake the
creation of the pots, which would be fired in a kiln, after which
the tin glaze was applied, and then the coloured decoration
painted by Giovanni Luca. After a second firing Maestro
Giorgio would apply the lustre which after the final firing left a
thin layer of metal fused to the glaze on the pottery.24 Techno-
logical development converged with lay piety to create a new
world of richly decorated artefacts.
For devotional objects, two major types of production
developed to meet the needs of clients: a public type, destined
for churches and public places, where religious orders played an
important role in the commissioning of artworks; and a private
kind, destined to enrich collections of devotional goods in
the homes of the laity. In terms of production for the private
market, demand was not only widespread among the wealthy,
but also among those of more modest means. A plethora of
materials and production techniques evolved to create a highly
differentiated market that allowed subtle gradations of status to
register in the sphere of domestic religiosity. am
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plate 84
Hispano-Moresque jar, c.1430–80
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
plate 85
Workshop of Maestro Giorgio Andreoli,
bowl with the Agnus Dei, c.1530–50
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
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See: Ajmar-Wollheim and Dennis 2006; Avery 2011; Biganti 2002; Cipolla
1975; Collier Frick 2002; Esch 1995; Fiocco et al. 1998; Fusco and Corti 2006;
Gallamini 1977; Leeflang 2015; Lightbown 1992; Malanima 2002; Mattei and
Cecchetti 1995; Moretti and Tonitato 2001; Spallanzani 2006; Spallanzani and
Gaeta Bertelà 1992; Vecellio 1590; Bynum 2011; Wilson 1993.
1. Bynum, 2011.
2. Esch, 1995, pp. 72–87.
3. An essay by the author that deals specifically with the theme of devotional
objects and the Monti di Pietà will be published in Ricerche Storiche, 2017.
4. Vecellio, 1590, p. 255v.
5. ‘Paternostri di cristalli con la coperta d’oro [in] numero 22, valued lire 5 e soldi
8 l’uno in tutto lire 118 e soldi 16’, Archivio di Stato Treviso, Notarile i, b. 1116,
f. 94v. The lira, consisting of 20 soldi, was a unit of account, used to facilitate trade
and commerce, rather than an existing coin. On currency values in Renaissance
Italy, see Cipolla, 1975, pp. 47–76.
6. ‘paternostri de corali [… et] una sacha de paternostri de ambro’, Archivio di
Stato Padova, an 2986, b. 2986, ff. 109-13v.
7. On glassmaking techniques in Renaissance Italy see Moretti and Tonitato, 2001.
8. On price series see the synthesis by Malanima, 2002, p. 402, p. 420. Although
some Italian cities have provided sufficient data (especially for wheat) to construct
homogeneous price series, estimates still suffer from the lack of a general
framework.
9. Gallamini, 1977, pp. 39–50.
10. On the production of bronze in Italy during this period, see Avery, 2011.
11. For further discussion of Agnus Dei, see below, ‘The Pious Body’ and
‘Silver-gilt Agnus Dei’, pp. 122–3 and 130.
12. On Agnus Dei containers as pieces of jewellery see Lightbown, 1992.
13. ‘Uno agnusdeo chon 9 perluzze datorno, da uno lato uno cristallo schrittovi
uno Cristo battuto dipinto, dall’altro lato uno cristallo chon una Madonna chol
bambino’, Spallanzani and Gaeta Bertelà, 1992, p. 45.
14. ‘Uno agnusdeo d’oro, da ritto una crocie di diamanti, 5 pezzi, 4 perle tonde
e chiare, da rovescio intagliato uno agnusdeo smaltato di roggio …’, Ibid., p. 54.
To have an idea of what 200 florins represented in terms of wealth in fifteenth-
century Florence, we can bear in mind that 100–200 florins was the annual
earnings of a bank manager, and that 200–500 florins was the estimated annual
wage of a successful lawyer or a famous university professor; see Collier Frick,
2002, p. 97.
15. ‘uno Agnus Dei dello pappa [sic] coperto de argento’, Archivio di Stato
Salerno, Protocolli Notarili 4854, folios unnumbered.
16. ‘doi agnusdei del papa in noghera’, Archivio di Stato Treviso, Notarile i,
b. 1039, fasc. b, folios unnumbered.
17. Leeflang, 2015.
18. Nuttall, 2004, p. 231. See also below, ‘Tutte le rime …’, p. 172.
19. See below, ‘Devotion to the Sacred Monogram of the Name of Jesus’,
pp. 104–9.
20. For the arrangement of ceramics in the Renaissance home see Ajmar-Wollheim
and Dennis, 2006.
21. Spallanzani, 2006.
22. Fusco and Corti, 2006, p. 314.
23. On Maestro Giorgio see Mattei and Cecchetti, 1995 and Biganti, 2002.
24. Fiocco et al., 1998. For a discussion on the development of lustreware in Italy
see Wilson, 1993, pp. 119–263.
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plate 86
Workshop of Giacomo Mancini,
panel with The Crucifixion, 1556
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
By 1500 Deruta, a small hill town a few miles south of Perugia,
was the most important Umbrian centre for the production of
maiolica, and was renowned for its blue and gold lustreware.
Throughout the sixteenth century maiolica painted with class-
ical ornamental motifs and scenes from mythology and Roman
history was the height of ceramic fashion, but much of the
output of the Deruta workshops was decorated with religious
images. They occurred most commonly on domestic objects,
including drinking cups and small bowls (see plate 24), cruets,
and the large decorative dishes (piatti da pompa) which were
Deruta’s most characteristic products (plate 62). A few Deruta
reliefs and votive panels have survived from the early sixteenth
century, but it was not until the 1540s that their production
increased significantly, and it was to burgeon in the seventeenth
century.1
On an unusually large Crucifixion panel, Mary Magdalene,
the Virgin and St John are depicted standing below the
Cross, surrounded by Roman cavalry and foot soldiers, one
of whom holds a pennant charged with a scorpion, a symbol
of treachery referring to Judas’s betrayal of Christ. It was
made in the workshop of Giacomo Mancini, known as ‘El
Frate’ (the friar), who was active from about 1540 until the
1570s.2 The panel is not signed, but can be attributed to him
on the basis of similarities between the figures and horses
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Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 88
and those on several istoriato dishes which he signed and dated
in 1541 and 1545. Its execution, however, is more assured, and
by the 1560s his style was to become closer to that of Urbino
maiolica painters.3 A panel of comparable size showing the
Virgin and Child enthroned with Sts Anthony Abbot and Sebastian is
in the Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche, Faenza.4
Maiolica panels with religious images were often set into
the interior or exterior walls of churches, or elsewhere out of
doors, such as over wall fountains. But, although repaired,
this example has no plaster on its back and little surface wear,
which suggests that it was hung indoors. A panel with an
elaborate istoriato subject would have been commissioned, but
whether its destination was a lay home, a convent, or perhaps
the chapel or meeting place of a lay confraternity, is impossible
to say.5 Hung in the bedchamber it could provide a focus for
daily prayers, as more costly painted panels or sculpted
images did. While contemplating it, a devotee could have im-
agined that they too were present at this world-changing
event, and would have confessed their sins, and prayed fervently
for redemption. Death was ever-present in the sixteenth cen-
tury, whether from illness, childbirth or accidents, and the
need to repent of their daily misdoings would have been
uppermost in many people’s minds before they retired to bed.6
jp
See: Ajmar-Wollheim and Dennis 2006; Busti and Cocchi 1997; Busti and Cocchi
1998; Busti and Cocchi 2004; Fiocco and Gherardi 1984; Fiocco and Gherardi
1988; Fiocco and Gherardi 1994; Fiocco and Gherardi 1995; Poole 1995;
Watson 1986.
1. A relief of St Sebasian dated 1501 is in The Victoria and Albert Museum:
see Busti and Cocchi, 2004, pp. 100–1, no. 15; and a votive panel of 1505 in
the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, see Watson, 1986, pp. 76–7, no. 27.
For the development of devotional and votive panels in Deruta, see Busti and
Cocchi, 1998.
2. Fiocco and Gherardi, 1984; Fiocco and Gherardi, 1988, pp. 111–14, 125–36;
Fiocco and Gherardi, 1995. Busti and Cocchi, 1997, pp. 69–70.
3. Fiocco and Gherardi, 1995, pls. i and iii, dishes decorated respectively with
Mucius Scaevola and Parnassus, dated 1564.
4. Fiocco and Gherardi, 1984, pl. cxiv; Fiocco and Gherardi, 1988, pp. 322–3,
no. 269 and colour pl. xxiv.
5. Istoriato maiolica is tin-glazed earthenware painted with a scene from a story
that filled most or all of the available surface. The use of perspective gave these
scenes, which derived from Biblical, mythological, and textual or graphic sources,
a new sense of realism.
6. Ajmar-Wollheim and Dennis, 2006, pp. 194–6.
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 plate 87
Leandro Bassano,
Woman at her devotions, c.1590–1600
UK, private collection

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iii
Practices of Prayer

mechanical nature of oral recitation – especially of prayers in

How to Pray
A few days before Christmas in 1577, following a devastating
outbreak of plague, Carlo Borromeo (1538–84), Archbishop of
Milan, addressed the people of his city in a small, inexpensive
manual.1 The publication was intended to provide practical
guidance to aid the population in turning to God, to give
thanks for their survival and at the same time to renew their
piety. Directed in particular at fathers, mothers, families and
all those with responsibility for the care or education of others,
Borromeo’s text surveys every aspect of daily living within
and outside the home, and offers programmatic advice on
how to inject spiritual devotion into domestic and commercial
activities. This includes detailed advice on when and how to
pray (plate 88). Notably, when domestic space is penetrated by
the sound of church bells ringing, this acts as a reminder of this
duty to pray, and thus home and church are sonically linked:
Never fail to pray, at least in the morning and in the evening,
and do it in all ways, whether in the company of others from
your neighbourhood at the church, or with your family at
home, or at work when you are there, or else alone. And
if you cannot do it when the bell calls you to, then do it
at another hour. And if you are alone, it is good to pray
mentally, if you know how, and if not then at those moments
recite the seven penitential psalms or the litanies, or say a
rosary, or other spoken prayers.2
Latin that might be poorly understood – nonetheless official
advice directed at the wider population privileged this type
of spoken prayer that was easier to regulate and observe. Thus
the rosary came to be established by the end of the sixteenth
century as one of the principal forms of Catholic prayer. In
Bassano’s beautiful portrait (plate 87), a pious woman dressed
in widow’s weeds has assembled all possible aids to successful
prayer, including a rosary, a small book (probably a book of
hours) and an image, in this case a painting of the Birth of
the Virgin (or perhaps of the Baptist), which help to direct her
thoughts to the correct subject as she prays.3 ab
See: Ajmar-Wollheim and Dennis 2006; Atkinson 2013; Borromeo 1578; Niccoli
2011; Niccoli 2014.
1. Borromeo, 1578.
2. Ibid., f. 13r. See Atkinson, 2013, pp. 57–84.
3. On the identification of the background painting’s subject as the Birth of the
Virgin, see Donal Cooper, ‘Devotion’ in Ajmar-Wollheim and Dennis, 2006,
pp. 190–203, at p. 202. See above, ‘Master of the Osservanza, The birth of the
Virgin’, pp. 30–1.

It is noteworthy that Borromeo includes in his little book advice

to pray ‘mentally’, but only ‘if you know how’. Mental prayer,
that is, a personal and unregulated interaction with God, while
considered a superior form of prayer for the educated, was
increasingly regarded as a problematic practice for the masses
in Italy after the Reformation. Despite concerns about the

plate 88
Follower of Federico Barocci, Studies of
hands clasped in prayer, later 16th century
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 89
Master of the Castello Nativity,
Virgin adoring the Child, c.1460–65
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
plate 90
Attr. Domenico Indivini, The Christ Child,
wooden doll, c.1484–90
Camerino, Monastero Santa Chiara
In this period, it was possible for those who were especially holy
to experience extraordinary but apparently real encounters
with divine figures, during which they could see, hear and
touch them. The fourteenth-century saint Bridget of Sweden
was on a pilgrimage to Bethlehem when she was dazzled by
a vision of the Virgin adoring her divine son on the ground
after his birth. In the fifteenth century, the Marchigian mystic
Camilla Battista da Varano similarly saw the Madonna ‘kissing,
holding and nursing’ the Christ Child ‘with great tenderness’.1
Disseminated in printed form, the visionary experiences of
women such as Camilla and Bridget spread far and wide and
helped to shape the religious experiences of other Christians. A
painting by the so-called Master of the Castello Nativity alludes
to Bridget’s vision (plate 89). Camilla’s divine encounters took
place through the agency of this wooden doll (plate 90).2 The
doll and painting testify to the central role played by artworks
in shaping and mediating mystical experiences, as well as to
the close bonds that existed between Renaissance devotees and
the Christ Child.
The wooden bambino was initially the object of Camilla
Battista’s private devotions, and the reality of her encounter
with Christ was no doubt enhanced by the artist’s efforts at
naturalism. Subtle variations in the depth of the relief around
the eyes and cheeks bring the face to life, and polychromy
further animates the figure. Through parted lips a pink tongue
can be seen: it is not hard to imagine Camilla in conversation
with the ‘tender and delicate’ Child.3 Many women in
Renaissance Italy possessed similar dolls, often given to them
at the moment of marriage, or entry into a convent.4 These
little figures were dressed and undressed, handled and kissed,
cradled and venerated, in emulation of the Virgin’s maternal
bond with Christ. They were material objects that helped
believers to achieve the loving devotions recommended by the
Meditations on the Life of Christ: ‘kiss the beautiful little feet of
the infant Jesus who lies in the manger … Pick him up and
hold him in your arms. Gaze on his face with devotion and
reverently kiss him and delight in him.’ 5
92
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 92
Camilla’s relationship with the Christ Child not only in-
formed the interactions of other worshippers with their dolls,
but her bambino itself became an object of veneration. From the
late fifteenth century, in the town of Camerino, the congreg-
ation of the faithful queued up to kiss it on the feast of the Epi-
phany.6 Equally, accounts of Bridget’s vision shaped the icon-
ography of the Virgin in Adoration, in paintings such as this one.
Depictions of this episode were especially popular in fifteenth-
century Florence. Filippo Lippi, who strongly influenced the
Master of the Castello Nativity, depicted the scene in an altar-
piece for the private chapel of the palace of Cosimo de Medici,
and it appears in many other Tuscan works of the period.
This particular composition was one that found favour
amongst the Master of the Castello Nativity’s patrons, for,
as with other popular iconographies for domestic devotion,
it was repeated in several versions (fig. 32).7 Its appeal lay in
the atmosphere of peaceful and tender piety that suffused the
scene and in the use of brilliant colours, with the blues, reds
and golds of the foreground contrasting with the more muted
vegetation of the landscape behind. Recalling the form of a
wooden doll, the newborn baby lies naked on his mother’s
robe, barely seeming to make contact with the neatly pleated
fabric. Joseph and the other elements of the Nativity scene are
absent: those who owned these paintings clearly sought works
which focused on the Madonna as a model of attentive and
loving devotion. The artist emphasised this aspect of the work
by the inclusion of shining brocade curtains that have been
parted behind the mother and child. Their placement implies
that the viewer is privileged to share in the intimate space in
which the Madonna kneels; like Bridget, the devotee can enter
the realm of the sacred and enjoy a profound and personal
relationship with the Virgin and Child. The painted fabric also
points to actual practices of prayer, since devotional paintings in
Renaissance homes were often covered with draperies.8 When
unveiled, their mystical power was activated, and members of
the household were prompted to loving devotion of the baby
Christ, in emulation of Mary. mc | zs
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fig. 32
Master of the Castello Nativity,
The Adoration of the Christ Child with John the Baptist,
c.1465–70
Livorno, Museo Civico

See: Battista da Varano 1958; Capriotti 2006; Lachi

1995; Luzi 1989; Klapisch-Zuber 1985; Previtali
1970; Ragusa and Green 1961; Schmidt 2007.

1. Battista da Varano, 1958, p. 330.

2. The Master of the Castello Nativity is named after
a painting by him that was originally in Castello,
Tuscany, and is now in the Galleria dell’Accademia
in Florence.
3. Battista da Varano, 1958, p. 330.
4. Klapisch-Zuber, 1985.
5. Ragusa and Green, 1961, p. 38.
6. Capriotti, 2006, pp. 73–4.
7. See above, ‘Studio of Sandro Botticelli,
Virgin and Child’, pp. 50–1.
8. Schmidt, 2007, pp. 191–213.

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
The Rosary
The English word ‘bead’ derives from the Old English ‘bede’,
meaning ‘prayer’, and the association of touching beads with
devout meditation goes back centuries before Christ.1 In the
early Christian period, the desert fathers used pebbles and
knotted string to keep track of their unceasing prayers. But it
is not until the thirteenth century that we find evidence of the
commercial production of prayer-beads for use by the laity.2
Meanwhile, more intricate forms of devotion to the Virgin
Mary and Christ were evolving and the custom of greeting the
Virgin in the manner of the Archangel Gabriel (‘Hail Mary,
full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among
women’) became popular. The prayers that were offered up to
the Virgin were visualised as verbal roses that could be woven
together to form a crown – hence the use of the word corona in
Italian to describe rosary beads.3
It was largely as a result of a campaign by the Dominicans
that devotion to the rosary surged in the late fifteenth century.
The Virgin Mary was said to have appeared to a friar named
Alanus de Rupe in 1460 and charged him with the renovation
of her rosary, which had ‘through neglect and through the
scarce devotion of Christians, been forgotten’.4 When Alanus
set off to preach the Virgin’s word, he reportedly ‘carried in his
hand a cord of paternoster beads, which had five large beads that
signalled the Our Father and fifty small beads that represented
the Hail Mary, and he always held this tightly in his hand’.5 The
Dominicans set up lay companies or confraternities dedicated
to praying the rosary, first in Germany and then across the
Alps in northern Italy. From these beginnings, the new lay
associations – which demanded no fees and were open to both
fig. 33
Gentile Bellini,
The Miracle of the True Cross at San Lorenzo, c.1500
Venice, Gallerie dell’Accademia
94
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 94
men and women – rapidly spread across the whole of Europe.
The physical format of a rosary was made up of a closed
‘loop’ of five groups of ten small beads, which allowed the
devotee to count each decade of prayers, with a larger bead in-
terspersed between sets that prompted the devotee to say the
Our Father, and with a pendant or cross to mark the beginning
and end of a cycle of prayers. Sometimes the word ‘paternoster’
was used interchangeably with ‘rosary’. However, a paternoster
could also indicate a set of prayer beads strung in a single line of
ten or eleven beads, also called a decade or decina. In the corner
of a large painting by Gentile Bellini that depicts a miracle
taking place by the bridge of San Lorenzo in Venice (fig. 33),
two noblewomen and a girl are shown intently praying with
their rosaries. Each string of beads is wrought of contrasting
colours: golden pearls, black amber (or perhaps jet) and coral. In
the black and coral examples, the division between the run of
smaller beads and the larger ‘paternoster’ beads is clear to see.
The physical experience of touching and counting the
beads of the rosary was key to the brand of piety promoted
by the Dominicans. An illustrated rosary manual, written
by the Venetian friar Alberto da Castello and published in
1522, shows priests, friars, popes and members of the laity
conspicuously praying with their beads, while the marginal
decorations incorporate women holding rosaries (plate 93).
Moreover, the miracle stories in the final section of the book
frequently cite the use of rosary beads and visual evidence
of this practice is often provided by contemporary ex-votos
(plate 92). In one of Alberto’s miraculous tales, Lucia, a young
Spanish noblewoman, captured by Moors and forced to give
plate 91
Plaquette of The Coronation of the Virgin, 1573
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
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of pr ay e r

plate 92
Sick man in bed, attended by his wife
and three daughters, late 16th century
Naples, Museo degli ex voto del
santuario di Madonna dell’Arco

plate 93
Alberto da Castello,
Rosario della gloriosa Vergine Maria, 1522
Cambridge,
Cambridge University Library

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s

plate 94
Coral rosary with a pomander, c.1570
birth alone in a stable, clutched at her paternoster beads and
Budapest, Iparmuvészeti Múzeum
started to say the rosary. In response to her prayers, the Virgin
Mary herself appeared to perform ‘the duties of a midwife’ and
even cut the umbilical cord of Lucia’s baby boy.6
The tactile qualities of the rosary are suggested by a pla-
quette representing the Coronation of the Virgin, in which
winged seraphim coquettishly invite us to trace with our fin-
gers the long strings of beads that they trail (plate 91). Equally
strong in its sensory appeal is a dazzlingly bright set of coral
beads, dated 1570, which includes a pomander to emit a sweet
scent alongside the roses offered to the Virgin (plate 94). mrl

See: Alberto da Castello 1522; Dubin 2006; Mitchell 2009; Winston-Allen 1997.

1. Dubin, 2006, pp. 79–81.

2. Winston-Allen, 1997, p. 112.
3. Ibid., pp. xi–xii.
4. Alberto da Castello, 1522, f. 11r.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid., f. 329.

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plate 95
Rosewood and bone rosary, c.1550–1650
Diocese of Trent
This string of fifty-six prayer beads, worn and slightly chipped
as they are, gives us a sense of the look and feel of a relatively
inexpensive rosary in the sixteenth century. We cannot be sure
if the rosary – preserved in a church collection in Trent in
northern Italy – survives in its original form. The beads, made
of rosewood and bone, may have been restrung many times,
and there is no documentation to prove that the combination
of these two materials is authentic. The yellow and red beads,
however, approximate the vividness of amber and coral,
more expensive materials much favoured in the production of
rosaries. At the same time, the sweet smell of the rosewood
served as a cheaper alternative to the pomanders of perfume
often attached to fashionable paternoster beads (plate 94).
Evidence from the archives suggests that rosaries were
among the most common personal possessions of Renaissance
Italians. When notaries came to itemise the contents of a
household, they would often note not one but several strings
of paternoster beads of varying lengths. Luxury and piety
were not necessarily in conflict and a wealthy devotee might
own rosaries made of pearls, coral, crystal and silver.1 More
affordable options made of glass or glass paste – including a
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 97
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intsroduction
of pr ay e r
high lead content and coloured to imitate gemstones – were
also available (see plates 79 and 80). In 1461, Lorenzo di
Marco, who sold his devotional wares from a stall outside the
famous shrine at Loreto in the Marche, had eleven pre-strung
black rosaries in his workshop as well as a box full of pater-
noster beads in white and red. Most of his rosaries were
comparatively cheap and made of glass, but he also sold pewter
and garnet beads.2 In Rome at the end of the late fifteenth
century, shipments of 2–3,000 glass beads from the Venetian
island of Murano or from Germany were regularly listed in the
customs registers.3
During the sixteenth century, the range of possibilities
grew ever wider, as materials were imported from beyond
Europe. In the south of Italy, rosaries of ‘osso di Spagna’
(Spanish bone) were commonly mentioned in inventories; these
beads were made from the stones of a fruit that grew on plants
in distant Haiti, known by European travellers as ‘paternoster
trees’.4 Inventories also cite rosaries made of ‘lacrime di Giobbe’
(tears of Job) – the seeds of an East Asian plant, subsequently
cultivated in the Americas.5 The rosewood used in this example
most likely originated in India or Southeast Asia. mrl
See: Alberto da Castello 1522; Bevere 1897; D’Orey 1995; Esch 1995; Gabotto
1906; Galandra Cooper and Laven 2016; Grimaldi 2001; Ramusio 1563–74.
1. Gabotto, 1906, pp. 266–76.
2. Archivio di Stato di Macerata, Notarile di Recanati, 116, ‘Inventario dei beni
di Lorenzo di Marco, aromatorio, custoditi nella casa e bottega di Loreto, presi in
consegna dagli esecutori testamentari e tutori del figlio Alessandro’, cc.209–214
(211v, 212r–v); reproduced in Grimaldi, 2001, pp. 490–91.
3. Esch, 1995, pp. 77, 93–84. See above, ‘The Economy of Sacred Objects’, pp. 82–3.
4. Ramusio, 1563–74, book viii, ch. v, p. 145; ‘Dell’albero de paternostri, & del
sapone’. Discussed in Galandra Cooper and Laven, 2016.
5. Bevere, 1897, p. 633, ‘Immagini sacre ed altri oggetti religiosi soliti a tenersi
nella stanza da letto’. My thanks to Irene Galandra Cooper for this reference.
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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 96
Book of hours, second half 15th century
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
Reading at Home
Numerous handbooks were published in the Renaissance on
how to lead a good Christian life, and all of them recommended
pious reading as a regular household activity. Cherubino da
Spoleto, for example, in his Regola della vita matrimoniale (Rules
for Married Life), first printed in Florence in 1477, instructs
the man of the house to keep appropriate pious books and
read them to his wife and family on a regular basis: ‘so too,
if you could have some spiritual books in the vernacular to
read to your family, this would only be a good thing’.1 In a
later text, Essercitio della vita cristiana (Exercise of a Christian
Life), printed in Venice in 1569, Gasparo Loarte describes in
detail the method of pious reading to be employed: ‘it is useful
to have some devotional books, containing sound doctrine,
which you will read at your leisure, not rushing through many
pages but pausing on every sentence you read to ponder it, and
derive from it both devotion and profit’.2 Devotional reading
should be interwoven into daily activities in a pragmatic way:
texts frequently advise against reading for too long, in case
it becomes tedious or difficult. Some manuals even advocate
writing key religious formulations on the walls of the house,
for example the words of the Psalms, so that they can be read
and recited aloud as the members of the household pass by.3
Many handbooks, such as Cherubino’s, are addressed to
the paterfamilias, who reads aloud at set times to a gathered
group of family members and servants. Reading is clearly the
preserve of the man in these examples, but other writers in the
98
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 98
period make an effort to address the question of what and when
women should read at home. Juan Luis Vives’ handbook On
the Education of a Christian Woman, published across Europe in
the sixteenth century, advises women to read devotional works
continuously on feast days, and intermittently on other days:
It is excellent practice before going out to Mass to read the
Gospel and Epistle of that day at home and a commentary,
if you have one. After assisting at the Holy Sacrifice, when
you return home and have tended to your domestic cares, if
this is part of your duties, read something from the Scriptures
with a calm and tranquil spirit, if you know how to read,
and if not, listen. On some working days do the same thing
especially if it does not interfere with other domestic chores,
and, in particular, if the books are to hand and if there is a
longer interval than usual between feast days.4
Vives’ handbook is aimed at the highest echelons of the
European elite (he dedicated the work to King Henry viii’s
daughter Mary), but the advice seems more widely applicable.
The writer includes the participation of the illiterate in
household reading – ‘read […] if you know how to read, if not,
listen’ – and acknowledges the other, non-negotiable demands
on time around which reading must be fitted. He also points
to the importance of the connectedness between the domestic
space and the ecclesiastical calendar – feast days, when work is
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plate 97
Giovanni Andrea Vavassore,
Opera nova contemplativa de le figure
del Testamento vecchio, 1510
Cambridge,
Cambridge University Library
set aside, are particularly appropriate for reading, and reading
will also precede and follow the family’s attendance at Mass.
The kinds of texts that Vives recommends to his female
readers are carefully chosen for a well-educated woman. He
advises reading the gospels in preparation for attendance at
church, as well as Latin commentaries. Another way to order
one’s daily reading was through the use of the calendar con-
tained in a book of hours, as well as the selection of appro-
priate Latin texts it included (plate 98). We are familiar with
the beautiful manuscript books of hours containing fine
illuminations, which were commissioned by noble patrons
throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance. A Neapolitan
example (plate 96) is notable for the luxurious effect of its
purple-dyed pages with the prayer of St Anselm written in
gold, as well as for its small format, which allowed for a high
level of portability. Reading and praying in time with the
ecclesiastical calendar could thus happen at work or at home,
as required. Books of hours were also available in cheaper
printed formats (plate 99) from the late fifteenth century,
and thus penetrated households much lower down the social
scale. Lacking the coloured illustrations and luxury trappings
of earlier examples, printed hours nonetheless furnished a
clear and officially sanctioned means of coordinating private
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 99
int roduction
devotions so that they remained within liturgical parameters
and did not wander into superstitious practices.
Lay readers might also resort to other kinds of material of
a more literary kind to organise their pious reading. Gasparo
Loarte, in his manual, suggests consulting ‘all works that elicit
piety and devotion and also contain sound doctrine, books such
as the meditations, soliloquies and manuals of St Augustine,
some treatises that have been printed by St Bernard, St Anselm,
St Bonaventure, especially one on the life of Christ’.5 Loarte’s
recommendation of the Meditations on the Life of Christ as par-
ticularly suitable for household reading demonstrates the con-
tinued use of a thirteenth-century work three hundred years
later.
At the very cheapest end of the spectrum, small devotional
pamphlets of only a few pages could be purchased from street
vendors or at local shrines and churches. An example printed
in Brescia, a Most holy and useful work, presents 30 ‘documents’
detailing the manner in which a good Christian can establish
pious habits of mind (fig. 34). It also contains precise instruc-
tions about its use: the pamphlet should be read at least once
a month with the firm intention of following its recommend-
ations. At the end of the pamphlet, a prayer to St Augustine
offers the reader a form of intercessory aid: anyone who reads
99
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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s

plate 98
Officium Beatae Mariae Virginis secundum
consuetudinem Romanae Curiae, 1498
Cambridge,
Cambridge University Library

plate 99
Il Nuovo Testamento di Giesu Christo,
Signore et Salvator nostro, 1551
Cambridge,
Cambridge University Library

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this prayer each day for forty days, kneeling with a blessed
candle in their hand, will receive grace from the Virgin Mary.
Bible reading could also be conducted at home, all the
more easily via an available translation into Italian like the one
completed by Antonio Brucioli in 1532, which gave access to the
Bible to a new group of vernacular readers (plate 99). As with
printed books of hours, vernacular Bibles could be published
in small format, like this tiny book, easily slipped into a pocket
or bag and carried daily. The combination of Bible translations
such as Brucioli’s, together with innovations in printing in
the sixteenth century that allowed for small, portable and
affordable books and pamphlets, can be considered a form of
democratisation of spiritual knowledge that was ultimately
deemed incompatible with renewed Catholic piety in the wake
of the Reformation. Thus Catholic Italy’s relationship to Bible
translation grew increasingly fraught over the later decades of
the sixteenth century, and in 1559 Brucioli’s translation was
banned outright and placed on the Index of Prohibited Books.6
Translations were not the only way for those who could
not read Latin to access Bible stories. A long tradition of re-
tellings, in poetry and prose, remained popular throughout
the Renaissance. The Opera nova contemplativa de le figure del
Testamento vecchio (New work for contemplation of the figures
of the Old Testament) is an example of one way in which Bible
fig. 34
Opera santissima et utile a qualunque
fidel Cristiano
Brescia, 1538
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 101
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stories could be repackaged for different types of audience
(plate 97). In this case, the book contains summaries of Old
Testament stories, briefly recounted and accompanied by large
illustrations in which the drama of the particular tale is effect-
ively conveyed. The book works well for ‘readers’ with limited
or no literacy, as the clear intention is to convey the essentials
of the Bible stories via images as much as text. New Testament
stories were embedded within works such as Remigio
Nannini’s Epistole et Evangelii, which provided biblical passages
for meditation and contemplation before or after Mass (fig. 35).
In the wake of the banning of biblical translations, texts such
as this one, which was sanctioned by the Church, became for
many Italian readers the only means of access to the stories of
the Bible. ab
See: Cherubino da Spoleto, 1490; Corbellini 2013; Corbellini et al. 2015; Dondi
2003; Fragnito 1997; Il Salmista secondo la Bibia 1536; James 1912; Loarte 1569;
Morgan et al. 2012; Salzberg 2014; Vives 2000; Zardin 2010.
1. Cherubino da Spoleto, 1490, f. 2v.
2. Loarte, 1569. f. 60r.
3. Il Salmista secondo la Bibia, 1536, f. 32v.
4. Vives, 2000, p. 79.
5. Loarte, 1569. f. 60v.
6. See below, ‘New Modes of Piety’, pp. 159–61.
fig. 35
Epistole et Evangelii, che si leggono tutto
l’anno alle messe
Venice, 1601
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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 100
Book of hours, third quarter 15th century
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
This Latin book of hours was produced in Ancona in the
Marche in the third quarter of the fifteenth century. The illum-
inator was a Florentine painter, Antonio da Firenze, who
moved to Ancona in the 1440s.1 The work is richly illustrated
with three full-page miniatures and 31 further miniatures
contained in the lower borders. Recent research by curators at
the Fitzwilliam Museum has revealed that the owner was most
likely Leonardo Ferretti, a member of the ruling class from
Ancona, who had his arms included in the border decoration of
a page of his book, as well as adding his name to a prayer later
in the text: ‘Lord, bless your servant Leonardo’.2
The addition of these personalised elements to Leonardo’s
manuscript reminds us that books of hours, while very beauti-
102
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 102
ful, were also designed to be functional; they acted directly in
the service of an individual’s access to the divine. The different
elements of the book – the calendar, hours, Psalms, Office of
the Dead, Gospel sequences and prayers – could be adapted to
the needs of specific owners (through prayers to local or name
saints, for example, or images which included a donor portrait).
These aspects combined to create what Virginia Reinburg has
called an ‘archive of prayer’, which could shape and direct
spiritual life in the domestic context.3 In this way, the book
of hours acted as a bridge connecting church with home, by
bringing aspects of the official liturgy into the household for
private and family use. The book itself may have accompanied
its owner to Mass and back home again, gaining further
authority from its direct contact with the rituals and rhythms
of the official Church.
Books of hours were very popular throughout the Middle
Ages and Renaissance. While Leonardo Ferretti’s example
is a luxury item, the format was adapted and simplified to
meet the needs of other kinds of users with more limited
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funds. By the sixteenth century, printed books of hours were
common-place, including those in tiny formats that were
cheap and highly portable, and appear frequently in household
inventories much lower down the social scale (see plate 98).
Most of the texts contained in these books are in Latin, and not
all owners would have been able to ‘read’ the Latin prayers in
any straightforward way. The kind of literacy required to read
from a book of hours has been defined as ‘phonetic literacy’
– that is the ability to decode texts by pronouncing syllables
aloud, which would be possible with only minimal knowledge
of Latin.4 This would depend on recognising the Latin texts
from oral contexts, so that the written word acted merely as a
form of prompt. One can imagine this kind of reading relying
on a collective memory of prayers and other texts heard and
experienced outside the home. This required repetition and
practice. Vernacular rubrics could be included as further aids to
reading. The images would have served as additional prompts
to recite the well known liturgical texts. Notably, books of
hours often doubled as primers to teach young children to read,
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relying on the memorisation of standard prayers.
The vivid image of St Jerome in Penance accompanies a
prayer, called a Suffrage, addressed to the saint (ff. 99v–100r).5
We see Jerome bleeding and clutching the rock with which
he has been beating his breast, attended by the lion, which
lies cheerfully behind him. Jerome’s wounded breast echoes
the red wound on Christ’s body on the tiny Crucifix that he
contemplates, and this, together with the pious onlookers on
the opposite page, hands clasped in prayer, remind the viewer
of the correct spiritual attitude that regular engagement with
their book of hours will help them to adopt. ab
See: Mazzalupi 2014; Morgan et al. 2012 Reinburg 2012; Saenger 1989.
1. Mazzalupi, 2014.
2. Morgan et al., 2012, cat. 289.
3. Reinburg, 2012.
4. Saenger, 1989, p.142.
5. For more on St Jerome see above, ‘Attr. Filarete, plaquette of St Jerome in the
wilderness’, pp. 64–5.
103
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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s

Devotion to the
Sacred Monogram
of the Name of Jesus

Etched in the stone of the lintel of the doorway of Vittore

Carpaccio’s The Birth of the Virgin (fig. 37), the letters ISU are
visible, an abbreviation of the Name of Jesus (Iesu in Latin).
Along with other Christological symbols such as the Crucifix
and the Agnus Dei, devotion to the Name of Jesus increased
during the Renaissance, although it had long functioned as a
religious emblem. Instead of an abbreviation based upon the
Latin, the Name of Jesus was most often expressed as a mono-
gram derived from the Greek transliteration of Jesus (ih∑oy∑)
in the form of IHS (or ‘yhs’).1 In the fifteenth century the
Franciscan preacher St Bernardino of Siena transformed this
Sacred Monogram into a tangible material object. During his
sermons Bernardino held up a panel painted in blue and em-
blazoned with ‘yhs’ in gold surrounded by a sunburst (fig. 36),
encouraging devotees to focus their prayers upon the symbol
and to utilise it as a protective device instead of superstitious
amulets.2
As a result of the preaching of Bernardino of Siena and of
his followers, the Monogram of the Name of Jesus moved from
the piazze and parishes and entered the Italian Renaissance
home. Bernardino implored his audience to adorn their dom-
estic spaces with the Sacred Monogram saying: ‘Therefore I
beg you, for Christ’s Honour and His Reverence, keep it in
your homes, at the threshold and also at the doorway of your
rooms’.3 The success of this prescription is made clear by the ex-
tant material evidence which illustrates how the Sacred Mono-
gram’s popularity as both a devotional symbol and as a protect-
ive device increased in the decades following Bernardino’s
preaching. Like the doorway in Carpaccio’s painting, many
surviving Italian Renaissance domestic thresholds bear the
Sacred Monogram, such as one on the exterior of a sixteenth-
century palazzo in the city of Ascoli Piceno (fig. 38). Maiolica
fig. 36
Sano di Pietro, St Bernardino preaching
in the Campo of Siena, 1445
Siena, Museo dell’Opera del Duomo

fig. 37 fig. 38
Detail of fig. 9: Doorway with the Sacred Monogram
Vittore Carpaccio, The birth of the Virgin (IHS), 16th century
Ascoli Piceno

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plate 101
Workshop of Maestro Giorgio Andreoli,
Dish with the Sacred Monogram, 1530
London, British Museum

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plate 102
Bowl with the Sacred Monogram, 1530
London, British Museum

plate 103
Ring with the Sacred Monogram,
c.1400–1500
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum

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fig. 39
Cassone with the Sacred Monogram
(IHS), c.1540–60
London,
The Victoria and Albert Museum
plaques painted with the Sacred Monogram might be placed
above the threshold or set into the walls of the home, such as the
example illustrated in plate 104 displaying a stylised version of
the ‘yhs’ symbol set in a field of decorative geometric patterns.
Household objects adorned with the symbol also prolif-
erated. Tableware, such a blue Murano glass bowl (plate 102),
gilded with a pattern of scales on the outside and the sunburst
and ‘yhs’ on the inside, illustrates one type of luxury object
available to consumers. Others might choose a maiolica plate
with a metallic lustre that would catch the candlelight and draw
the devotee’s eye through the radiating sunburst towards the
holy symbol (plate 101). Larger household objects, for example
furniture, might also incorporate the Monogram into their
decorative scheme, as does a popular style of cassone (chest) from
the Veneto decorated with intricate geometric patterns (fig. 39).
Linked to the ritual of marriage, the cassone, inlaid with a design
of various luxury woods and bone, functioned as an object of
daily entertainment, with a chessboard decorating the top. The
IHS displayed in the underside of the lid could provoke a
moment of meditation upon the Name of Jesus when opened.
Bernardino further prescribed that one should wear the
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plate 104
Tray with the Sacred Monogram,
c.1550–1600
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
Sacred Monogram at all times, saying: ‘you should wear it
on your rosaries, and on your neck, since God gave to Him
the Name that is above every other name’ (see plate 124).4
Ren-aissance jewellery, such as Agnus Dei pendants with an
image of the Lamb of God on one side, occasionally depicted
the Monogram on the other side (see plate 82). Rings also
offered the opportunity for devotees to display their devotion
to the Name of Jesus (plate 103). Viewing the Monogram of
Christ on a piece of jewellery could provoke the wearer to
honour Christ in their thoughts in the way Bernardino and
his followers suggested, but its presence might also serve as an
amuletic force against danger. Inscribed inside the bezel of a
ring set with a bright gemstone, the symbol IHS accompanied
by the Three Nails of the Crucifixion would touch the wearer’s
finger (see plate 119). In the mid sixteenth century the Jesuit
order promoted the IHS, with a cross surmounting the H and
the Three Nails of the Crucifixion below, as a devotional
emblem. Even when hidden from view, the Monogram offered
protection to its wearer through contact with the body.5
From the walls to the table to the devotee’s body, the Sacred
Monogram permeated everyday life in Renaissance Italy. kt
See: Bernardino da Siena 1425; Michelson 2004; Mormando 1999; Thornton 1991.
1. Michelson, 2004, pp. 159–60.
2. On amulets see the following section, ‘Praying for Protection’, pp. 110–21, below.
3. Bernardino da Siena, 1425, pp. 179–80.
4. Bernardino da Siena, 1425, p. 180.
5. For further discussion of this ring and the significance of bodily contact with
religious symbols see below, ‘The Pious Body’, pp. 122–3.
107
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plate 105

The dead Christ and angels, Pax, late 15th century

London, British Museum

The pax depicts the half-length body of the dead Christ
supported by two angels in a frame in the form of a small
tabernacle in a classicising style, with an arched tympanum
at the top, within which is God the Father with two flying
angels.1 It is likely that the central Pietà scene is not original to
the pax: it is in copper rather than the silver of the tympanum
relief, and Christ’s halo has been cut down so that it fits into
the space. The original scene was nevertheless probably also a
Pietà, but in silver. The back has rivets with rosette studs and
an elegant scrolled handle.
The handle confirms that this is a pax – an object used
since the mid thirteenth century in place of the ritual kiss ex-
changed between Christians as a sign of fraternal love during
the Mass.2 From this date, owing to concerns over impropriety,
the congregants kissed the surface of the pax as it was passed
around, rather than one another. It is often challenging to
distinguish a copper or bronze plaquette (a small sculpted
relief panel) from a pax, as the same materials and designs were
used for objects made specifically for private devotion and
those used in liturgical practices (see plates 64, 76, 77 and
91).3 Moreover, the presence of ‘paci’ in various domestic
inventories suggests that these liturgical objects, and with
them the practice of kissing the body of Christ on the pax,
entered the Renaissance home.4 Various paxes included text,
which referred specifically to the passage from the Gospel
of St John, 14.27: ‘I give my peace to you’. Such an example
was made in the Marche in 1547, with an inscription ‘pacem .
meam . do . vobis’ (fig. 40). In the twelfth century Bernard of
Clairvaux observed the importance of spreading peace from
the ecclesiastical context to the home. He saw domestic peace
as being explicitly aligned with the civic: ‘The peace of a home
lies in the ordered concord amongst those living together,
between those who give and those who obey orders. Civic
peace is similar.’ 5
The half-length Pietà composition type was especially
popular in the Veneto. A version in bronze made by Donatello
for the Basilica of St Anthony in Padua in around 1450 was
the starting point for numerous painted and sculpted versions,
including plaquettes. The relief with the Dead Christ with the
Virgin and St John by Moderno (probably the Veronese gold-
smith Galeazzo Mondella) is found in numerous paxes, from
spectacular examples such as that in the Museo Diocesano in
Mantua, dated 1513 and documented from 1529 (fig. 41), to
more routine examples in bronze.6 zs | jw

See: Leino 2013; Thornton and Wilson 2009;

Venturelli 2012; Warren 2014.

1. Thornton and Wilson, 2009, 2 vols., London

2009, vol. 1, p. 104.
2. Fernand Cabrol, ‘Baiser’, in Dictionnaire
d’Archéologie Chrétienne et de Liturgie, ii, Paris 1910,
p. 118.
3. Leino, 2013, p. 5.
4. Archivio Filangieri, Busta 46, Inventario de’beni
mobili rinvenuti nelle case di messer Antonio Carafa
nella villa di Carvizano, 21 October 1493, carte n.n.
5. ‘Sermo’, 114, in Bernard of Clairvaux, 1867.
6. Inv. 197; Venturelli, 2012, pp. 36–41, no. 5, with
earlier bibliography. There is another silver version
in the Hermitage, St Petersburg, dated 1521; for
a bronze example see Warren, 2014, pp. 849–50,
no. 304.

fig. 40
Alessandro Coticchia, Pax, 1547
London, The Victoria and Albert Museum
fig. 41
Il Moderno, pax with The Dead Christ with the Virgin
and St John, early 16th century
Mantua, Museo Diocesano

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
fig. 42
‘Leone Otasso and his wife presenting
their sick son to Sts Aimo and Vermondo’
and ‘A crowd of lay worshippers giving
thanks in the Legenda Venerabilium
Virorum Aymonis et Vermondi’, c.1400
Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty Museum
110
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 110
Praying for Protection
A woman clasps her hands in ardent prayer while her husband
presents their sickly child to two saintly figures who hover
above them in a radiant cloud (fig. 42). The floating figures
are Aimo and Vermondo, brothers and the patron saints of the
town of Meda (near Milan). A page from an early fifteenth-
century manuscript illustrates the miraculous intervention of
these saints on behalf of the Otasso family. The narrative text
on the previous page identifies the man as Leone Otasso from
the village of Cantù and tells a well-known miracle story, later
recorded in printed form. According to the story, Leone and
his wife Conrada had suffered the loss of many children, but
they finally had a child who survived infancy. However, the
child became deathly ill, so his parents fervently prayed for a
cure. Sts Aimo and Vermondo visited Leone while he slept,
and the next morning the child was happy and healthy. After
Leone’s interaction with ‘these glorious saints, who appeared
to him in that moment of need … he became more devoted to
them’.1 The scene is constructed in a similar design to the ex-
voto panels which celebrate miracles and invites us to consider
further the intercessory requests that preceded miraculous
interventions.2 Images of family members beseeching holy
figures for their assistance were common and spoke to the
widespread belief in the power of these intercessors.
Devotees called upon holy figures in times of uncertainty,
illness and natural disasters, but also during the less dramatic
incidents of daily life, to offer preventative protection and to
intercede on their behalf with God (plates 106 and 107). Below
the scene depicting the miraculous healing of the Otasso
child, believers gather in prayer. The kneeling group includes
a mix of society from the wealthy and well-dressed to the
more average members of the lay community as well as nuns
and monks. The centre of the scene is dominated by a special
group of blind and disabled devotees. In addition to serving
as protectors of the community with the power to intervene
on behalf of its members, Aimo and Vermondo functioned as
patron saints for people who suffered from blindness or physical
disabilities, ready to advocate on their behalf and potentially
offer miraculous healing to the most devout.
Intercessors were called upon to mediate on behalf of
individuals, but their powers also extended to help the pious
person’s family. In Renaissance Italy, objects, images and
prayers functioned as links between holy figures and earth-
bound devotees. The devotee might call upon the Virgin,
well-known saints like Jerome (plate 108), or more local saints,
such as Aimo and Vermondo, to provide assistance and pro-
tection to the home and family, both routinely and in times
of special need. As the case of Aimo and Vermondo illustrates,
communities, groups of people, but also families often kept a
special saint (or saints) as their protector. For example, a man
named Girolamo would consider his name saint, Jerome, as his
personal protector. Girolamo might direct prayers for himself
and for his family to this saint and keep paintings and objects
decorated with the image of the saint in his home (see plates 64
and 68).
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plate 106 plate 107

Woman in bed, 1591
Naples, Museo degli ex voto del
santuario di Madonna dell’Arco
Woman in bed, attended by a doctor
and a serving woman, 16th century
Naples, Museo degli ex voto del
santuario di Madonna dell’Arco

plate 108
Workshop of Maestro Giorgio Andreoli,
Bowl with St Jerome in the wilderness,
c.1525–50
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 109 plate 110
Amulet ring, c.1300–1400 Signet ring with ancient Roman intaglio,
14th century
London, British Museum
London, The Victoria and Albert Museum
Personal protection
Personal protection was an intense concern for Renaissance
Italians, who regularly watched their neighbours, family and
friends suffer from a variety of ailments and physical disasters.
Wearable objects decorated with religious symbols or holy
words functioned not only as signs of devotion, but also as pro-
tective devices, harnessing the power of their sacred associa-
tions to safeguard and heal.
As common objects of adornment exchanged at weddings,
given as gifts, or passed down from generation to generation,
rings often incorporated holy and protective inscriptions or
images (see plates 60 and 103). A gold ring set with a toadstone
is inscribed with two Biblical verses, which functioned both
as devotional reminders and protective devices (plate 109).
Renaissance Italians thought toadstones grew in the head
of toads, and as with many other materials, they believed
this substance held special powers.3 Toadstones supposedly
offered protection against witches, cured kidney disease and
functioned as a charm for children and pregnant women.4 In
1589, Giovanni Maria Bonardo explained that a toadstone set
‘in a gold ring’ would alert the wearer if poison was near.5 The
holy inscription offered further protection. It begins on the
band with the symbol of the cross and the words from the
Gospel of Luke: ‘+iexvs avten transiens per med/iun
illorun ibat’ (+Jesus however, passing through the midst of
them, went on his way).6 These words tell of Christ’s escape
to Capernaum from a crowd that wanted to execute him in
Nazareth. Just as Christ had evaded this dangerous situation,
the inscription would also help the wearer to escape from
danger, especially while travelling, and offer protection
against thieves.7 The inscription continues from the band onto
the underside of the bezel with the words ‘et verbum caro
factum est et’ (And the word was made flesh and).8 Extracted
from the beginning the Gospel of John, these words refer to
the moment when God’s word became flesh in the form of
Jesus Christ (see plate 16).
Another ring employed a longer version of this phrase from
112
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 112
plate 111 
Orazioni with Crucifixion and the four Evangelists,
late 16th century
London, British Library
the Gospel of John: ‘+et verbu: caro. factu: e:et abitant:/
nob/’ (+And the word was made flesh and He dwelt among
us) (plate 110).9 The moment of the Incarnation is captured
here, but also the continuing presence of God’s word on earth
in the form of Jesus. Set with an ancient Roman intaglio red-
jasper gem engraved with clasped hands, the ring was used as a
personal signet. The Latin inscription around the gem identifies
the ring’s first owner: ‘The seal of Tommaso de Rogerii, priest
of Suessa’.10 While this ring was used by Tommaso as a seal,
its other inscriptions tell more about its function. Embossed
around the band in parallel rows are the words: ‘/+ xps vincit
x xps x regnat x xps: impera’ (Christ conquers, Christ reigns,
Christ rules). This inscription highlights the omnipotent role
of Christ in Christian belief. Taken literally, both inscriptions
reflect the Christian identity of the ring’s owner. However,
these two holy phrases also held the power to protect the
person in daily life and from a variety of ailments.11 The red
jasper intaglio had long been used for protective and curative
purposes and also gained power from its ancient origins.12 In
combination with the jasper, the efficacy of these religious and
apotropaic inscriptions would have held great power for the
ring’s wearer.
Prayers written on paper and parchment might also func-
tion as both devotional aids and protective devices. In the
centre of a manuscript prayer sheet an image of the Crucifixion
appears with images of the Four Evangelists – John, Matthew,
Luke and Mark – with their attributes (eagle, angel, ox and
lion, respectively) and accompanied by texts from their Gospels
at the four corners (plate 111). Next to the image of John is the
first chapter of his Gospel, which reads, ‘In the beginning was
the word’ and concludes with ‘and the word was made flesh
…’. This large parchment sheet covered in tiny handwriting
contains a complex combination of orazioni (prayers). Marks
indicate that it would have been folded into a rectangle
(measuring about 7 by 4.5 cm) so that it could be carried.13 A
man named ‘Francisco’ is mentioned throughout the document,
which also explains that the prayers would be useful to him or
whoever ‘carried’ it, thus implying that it was perhaps worn
in a pouch for protection when not being used for prayer.14
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The popular protective Latin prayers surrounding the central

scene, such as the Seven Last Words of Christ and the Measure
of Christ [on the Cross], would have served as a focal point for
Francisco’s devotions drawing his attention to Christ’s suffer-
ing.15 The Latin prayers were accompanied by instructions in
Italian, which might have served as prompts to remember the
various prayers to be recited. Along with the holy images a
group of circular magic symbols and seals is illustrated in red,
purple and black ink.
Prayers that included suspect symbols and elements drew
the attention of Church authorities throughout the Renaiss-
ance, but received increased attention during the era of Cath-
olic Reform. In 1588, Giovanni Mion of Bassano was sus-
pected of superstitious practices and questioned by the Roman
Inquisition. One of the controversial items in Giovanni’s
possession was a ‘large piece of parchment … with three crosses
and there are other words and the four Evangelists are painted
with many circles, characters and unknown names’.16 Giovanni
Mion explained to the Inquisitors that he understood now
that it was wrong, but claimed that he had never shown it to
anyone, and had only looked often at the Crucifixion because
he thought it was a good practice. Documents suggest that the
case was never pursued any further.
Francisco’s prayer sheet may have been carried on his body,
and possibly opened and looked at, like Giovanni’s, during his
daily prayers. Sheets filled with prayers, holy words and sym-
bols that were meant to be worn were called brevi da portare
adosso (brevi to wear).17 Brevi were small sheets of paper covered
with prayers, which would have been placed in a small pouch,
occasionally along with other apotropaic and holy substances,
and sealed to preserve the power of their contents.
A printed prayer sheet called the Orazione de Santo Paulo
(The Prayer of St Paul) (plate 112) also shows evidence of folding
indicating that it may have been worn as a breve. Beneath a plate 112
woodcut image of St Paul trampling the dragon with his horse, Questa sie la vera Oratione de Santo Paulo,
the prayer begins with the words of the Sign of the Cross in 16th century
Latin and encourages the reader to cross him or herself. These Milan,
words are followed by lists of holy names, phrases and details Civica Raccolta Stampe A. Bertarelli
from Paul’s ministry, written in Italian, which would have been
more accessible to the average reader. In conclusion, the prayer
explains the type of assistance it offers and instructs the user
that, after saying an Our Father and an Ave Maria, they will be Protecting the home and family
safe and their family will be protected from rabid dogs, from
consuming poison or being bitten by a poisonous animal. The Following the tragic Black Death of 1348 and subsequent
prayer concludes with the same words as those inscribed on the devastating plague outbreaks, Italians feared the deadly illness
red jasper ring, ‘Christ conquers, Christ reigns, Christ rules’, and took steps (both spiritual and physical) to avoid succumbing
and continues ‘Christ, defend us from every evil. Amen’. After to this painful death. Protectors against the plague, such as Sts
the prayer, instructions (called a rubric) explain how a piece of Sebastian and Roch, were called upon to provide assistance.
Pietra di Santo Pauolo (sic) (Stone of St Paul) can be mixed with Sebastian had been shot numerous times with arrows by
water or wine and consumed to heal those afflicted by these Roman soldiers and survived this agony, only becoming a
dangers; this stone was probably sold as a healing substance martyr when he was eventually clubbed to death.21 During the
with the prayer sheet.18 More commonly known as terra sigillata Renaissance the suffering of the plague was associated with the
(sealed clay) or terra di Malta (Maltese clay), these miraculous agony caused by the arrow wounds that Sebastian endured and
stones came from Malta. According to a later tradition, St survived. Roch, a Frenchman, had famously provided medical
Paul, while in Malta, had bestowed upon the clay the ability assistance to Italian victims of the Black Death and, according
to function as an antidote to poison.19 The sheet concludes to legend, when he became ill he was cured by an angel while
with the explanation that prayer and stones are able to help his dog brought him food. Roch is often depicted with his
animals in addition to family members, adding a note that faithful canine as he lifts the hem of his shirt to show a bubonic
demonstrates the aggressively anti-Semitic sentiments of the sore on his thigh that represents his own suffering.22 Objects
time by excluding ‘dogs, pigs, and Jews’ from these benefits.20 with the images of these saints populated Italian Renaissance

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homes in order to protect the inhabitants. A small and fragile

mother-of-pearl disk is carved with an image of the Virgin and
Child Enthroned flanked by these two popular protective saints
(plate 113). Perhaps stored in a small box (see plate 21) when
not in use, a small devotional token like this might be taken
out and used as a focus during prayer, the iridescent surface
of the mother-of-pearl making the figures come alive in the
candlelight. As a devotee pleaded with the Virgin and these
saints for protection from the plague, he or she might rub the
raised surface of the carving with her fingers in order to come
closer both physically and spiritually to these holy figures.
Roch and Sebastian were often depicted together and were
very popular in Northern Italy, particularly in the Veneto.
Paintings, woodcuts or plaques with their images might be
displayed in the home both as a reminder to pray for their
intercession and as tokens of protection in themselves. A lead-
glazed earthenware (slipware) plaque from the region decorated
with an image of the Virgin and Child with Sts Sebastian and
Roch has a hook on top that indicates it was meant to be hung
on a wall (plate 114). Sebastian and Roch stand to each side with
the attributes of their suffering: Sebastian is tied to the tree as
he is pierced by arrows and Roch points to the sore on his leg. plate 113
However, in the centre, the Virgin holds her child in a tender Virgin and Child with St Sebastian
maternal embrace as angels soar above playing their horns and St Roch, c.1500–50
in a joyous celebration. The triumphant nature of the angels London,
indicates to the viewer that, through prayer to the Virgin and The Victoria and Albert Museum
Christ as well as these two saints, one can be triumphant over
death. Further, the inscription under the Virgin and Child,
‘ave regina celorvm’ (Hail, Queen of Heaven), celebrated the
Virgin and along with the music-making angels might have
served as a reminder to greet the image of the Virgin orally,
since these were also the first words of a familiar song.23 The
plague saints on the plaque had the power to protect against
disease and to comfort those already suffering from the illness,
but the pious were reminded that even if they succumbed to an
earthly death, heavenly salvation awaited them.
In addition to physical ailments, natural disasters, bad
weather and fire also presented dangers for the home and
family. Ex-votos often celebrate the miraculous survival of
families during such perilous events, such as one depicting
how the successful prayers of the Viadana family to St Nicholas
of Tolentino helped save their home during an earthquake
(plate 116). Along with prayers, devotional objects might be
placed within or on the walls of the home as a preventative
measure, but also as protection during calamitous events.
Holy images, symbols and prayers might safeguard the home
itself. For example, the woodcut image of the Crucifix with the
Instruments of Christ’s Passion (plate 58) claimed that it could
defend the house from earthquakes and its inhabitants from
sudden death.
Despite the negative attention directed by the Church
towards some of these practices, the application of sanctioned
prayers to the body or home was not prohibited, and in many
cases was accepted or even encouraged. A tiny paper breve
covered with prayers dedicated to two important saints also
shows evidence of folding so that it could be worn (plate 115).
One side of the prayer sheet displays the personal ‘Breve of St plate 114
Vincent Ferrer against Fevers’ (right column), an image of an Plaque with The Virgin with Sts Roch
angel (centre top), and a communal ‘Breve against Thunder, and Sebastian, c.1500–10
Earthquakes and Pestilences’ (left column) with accompanying Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 115
Breve di S. Vincenzo Ferrerio contro la febre,
16th–17th century
Milan,
Civica Raccolta Stampe A. Bertarelli
prayers in Latin. On the opposite side St Anthony of Padua
prays at an altar, holding the lily, the symbol of his virginity,
in his hand. Below, St Anthony’s ‘Responsorio’, a chant in
the form of a responsory and antiphon, is printed. As part
of a practice sanctioned by the Church and promoted by the
Franciscans (the order to which St Anthony belonged), people
who had lost items or been the victim of a theft chanted this
responsory as a way to ask for the saint’s help to find their
possessions, since he was the patron saint of lost things.24
Inscribed with Biblical phrases or prayers, decorated with
the Virgin, Christ and the saints, objects and images often
carried layers of meaning for viewers. Renaissance Italians
relied on these material prayers for their ability to heal a variety
of ailments or for protection during daily life. Intended to be
worn on the person or displayed in the home, these objects
not only functioned as tools to encourage mediation and
spiritual fulfilment, but also served devotees as they prayed for
protection. kt
See: Barker 2007; Baronti 2008; Boecki 2000; Bonardo 1589; Bonfil 1994; Burke
1972; Bynum 2011; Campbell 2009; Duffy 2006; Giles 2009; Ingrassia 1576;
Jolly 2002; Kren and Barstow 2005; Lodi 1629; Merback 2007; Robinson 2011;
Rothenberg 2011; Scarisbrick and Henig 2003; Sensi 1984; Skemer 2006; Ward
et al. 1981.
1. Lodi, 1629, pp. 37–8.
2. See below, ‘Ex-Votos’, p. 144.
3. Baronti, 2008, p. 216. In fact, toadstones came from the fossilised teeth of the
Lepidotes fish.
4. Ibid., p. 218 and M Campbell, 2009, p. 75.
5. Bonardo, 1598, f. 21r. The finger wearing the ring would become very hot.
6. Luke, 4.30. The correct Latin rendering of the verse is ‘Iesus autem transiens per
medium illorum ibat’.
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Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 116
7. Duffy, 2006, p. 94; Scarisbrick and Henig, 2003, p. 8; Skemer, 2006, pp. 89–90.
8. John, 1.14. The presence of the two ‘ET [and]’ indicates that neither inscription
came first and they should instead be read cyclically.
9. John, 1.14. The unabbreviated Latin reads: ‘et Verbum caro factum est et
habitavit in nobis’.
10. Ward et al., 1981, pp. 66–7, cat. 135. Owned by Tommaso of Suessa, the ring
never travelled far from its original home as it is said to have been found in the mid
nineteenth century in the church of Santa Maria in Commedia in Sessa [Suessa]
Aurunca, a hamlet near Naples.
11. Skemer, 2006, p. 90.
12. Robinson, 2011, p. 114. Red jasper resembled blood and amongst other
applications, it might be employed as an amulet during childbirth.
13. Skemer, 2006, p. 214.
14. Ibid.
15. Bynum, 2011, pp. 94–9 and Skemer, 2006, p. 143.
16. Archivio di Stato di Venezia, Sant’Uffizio, Pezzo 61, fasc. 14, c. 1–2.
17. These amuletic texts and the sachets that held them might also be called segreti
(secrets).
18. Sensi, 1984, p. 345. Another version of the instruction portion of the prayer
sheet can be found in Camerino’s Archivio Capitolare. While the Bertarelli sheet
was composed for ‘Magistro Jo. Angelo’, the Camerino version was composed for
‘Maestro Giovan Pietro della Gratia de Santo Paulo’.
19. Ingrassia, 1576, p. 39 and Sensi, 1984, p. 345.
20. Sensi, 1984, p. 345. This statement is also present in the Camerino version.
For more information on anti-Semitism in this period Europe see Merback, 2007
and Bonfil, 1994.
21. Barker, 2007, pp. 95–100. Sebastian developed into a patron against plague
during the fourteenth century. Jacobus de Voragine’s Golden Legend (1260) appears
to be the first text that describes Sebastian as having the ability to help people
suffering from illness. Voragine based this on a previously forgotten account by
Paul the Deacon, which described Sebastian’s intercession during plagues in Rome
and Pavia in the seventh century. With the dissemination of the Golden Legend, over
the course of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries Sebastian developed into a
patron against pestilence, a process that was accelerated by the 1348 plague outbreak.
The 1330 chronicle of Pavia by Opicino de Canistris is another early source that
describes how devotees called upon Sebastian for protection from plague.
22. Burke, 1972, p. 151 and Boecki, 2000, pp. 57–8.
23. Rothenberg, 2011, pp. 123–5. ‘Ave Regina Caelorum’ was a long-established
Marian antiphon; in the fifteenth century Walter Frye’s votive chanson (to a
different text) became enormously popular across Europe.
24. Giles, 2009, p. 102–3.
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plate 116
The Viadana family prays to St Nicholas to
save them from an earthquake, 16th century
Tolentino, Museo di San Nicola

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 117
The Virgin enthroned suckling the infant Christ,
surrounded by angels, woodcut, c.1450
London, British Museum
In 1884, during the demolition of timeworn buildings in the
town of Bassano, workers uncovered a trove of early Ren-
aissance woodcuts in a fifteenth-century house. An image of
the Virgin Mary nursing the Christ Child was one of the best
preserved of these mid fifteenth-century Italian prints.1
Formerly pasted to, or above, the door of the house, this early
woodcut attests to the domestic devotion of the home’s long-
forgotten inhabitants.2
Two roundels on the top of the woodcut depict the scene
of the Annunciation, a narrative that appeared frequently on
a range of domestic objects (see plates 19 and 27). In the left-
hand roundel the Archangel Gabriel presents the Virgin Mary
with the lily representing her purity, while the humble Virgin
receives his message of her pregnancy on the opposite side.
Bedecked in a resplendent robe of blue, Mary dominates
the central portion of the composition, sitting enthroned as
she nurses the swaddled Christ Child, in fulfilment of the
Archangel’s announcement in the scene above. The maternal
theme of these two scenes was fitting for the domestic setting,
where they could have functioned as a didactic and devotional
focus for the home’s inhabitants.3
Four saints attend the nursing Virgin. On the viewer’s left,
two female saints present their attributes to her. St Catharine of
Alexandria holds the wheel of her martyrdom symbolising her
dedication to her chastity and faith. Behind her, St Lucy carries
her eyes on a tray, to indicate both that she was blinded for
her faith and her role as the patron saint of the eyes. The two
male saints on the right are more difficult to identify due to
the fragmentary nature of the woodcut; however, the staff and
pouch carried by the saint in the foreground might indicate a
pilgrim saint, possibly St James of Compostela (see plate 151).
Although relatively few hand-coloured Italian woodcuts
survive, various extant examples demonstrate how woodcuts
functioned in a similar manner to paintings.4 While some rare
fig. 43
The Last Supper, late 15th century
Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett
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Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 118
later examples were printed in multiple colours (see plate 134),
many more woodcuts were ornamented with hand-colouring,
like this example.5 Consumers might request personalised col-
ours or purchase pre-coloured examples to enliven the black
and white designs. Although evidence exists that early wood-
cuts were given as tokens at pilgrimage sites or during special
celebrations, such as saints’ days, the large size of this example
and the hand-colouring indicate that it may have been cust-
omised for the purchaser. The artist’s attention to detail is
evident in the delicate folds of the Virgin’s mantle, which
are highlighted in a lighter blue paint, as well as the effort to
illuminate the haloes with metallic lustre, traces of which are
evident in a raised white pigment.6
A renowned coloured woodcut, the miraculous Madonna
del Fuoco (Madonna of the Fire) in Forlì, survived a fire which
destroyed a schoolteacher’s house in 1428.7 Subsequently, the
Madonna del Fuoco metamorphosed from an ordinary devo-
tional, domestic and didactic image into a legendary miracle-
working object and a focus of pilgrimage. Similar in size and
style to the British Museum woodcut, the popularity and
miraculous nature of the Madonna del Fuoco probably inspired
more devotees to decorate the walls of their homes with images
of this kind.8
The woodcut of the Virgin Enthroned could offer a focus for
the family’s prayers. Working in unison with the other wood-
cuts, such as a scene of the Last Supper, also found pasted on the
walls of the same home in Bassano (fig. 43), the Virgin Mary,
Christ Child and saints formed part of a devotional programme
that provided prompts to prayer and offered protection to the
dwelling and its residents. The home’s inhabitants would have
passed by the woodcut, located near the threshold, on a daily
basis, greeting it with the words ‘Ave Maria’, uttered by the
Archangel Gabriel at the moment of the Annunciation depicted
at the top of the print. kt
See: Areford 2010; Cobianchi 2006; Heitz 1933; Matthews-Grieco 2000;
Miller 2006; Pon 2015; Poole 1995; Schreiber 1926; Stijnman and Savage 2015.
1. Areford, 2006, pp. 3–4; Hind, vol. 2, p. 430. At least nine other more
fragmentary woodcuts dated to about 1500 were found on the door and are
now in the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin. Their subject matter ranges from the
Last Supper to the Salvator Mundi and includes other examples of the Virgin and
Child; for more information see Schreiber, 1926, vol. 1. nos 23, 166, 167, 338, 636
and vol. 2, nos 948, 1020, 1045, and 1127.
2. Pon, 2015, p. 48 and p. 226, n. 144. The exact location in the home was not
documented, although various sources report that it was located in close proximity
to the doorway, particularly on or above the door.
3. Matthews-Grieco, 2000, pp. 285–99.
4. Pon, 2015, p. 49.
5. Stijnman and Savage, 2015, p. 13.
6. Areford, 2010, p. 4.
7. Pon, 2015, p. 1; Poole, 1995, p. 335, fig. 28.
8. Ibid., pp. 46–9.
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plate 118

Leather reliquary box, c.1550; drawing c.1627

London, The Victoria and Albert Museum

During the Renaissance, boxes of all shapes and sizes, decor-

ated in tooled and coloured leather, held a variety of precious
household objects from books to writing sets to cutlery and
combs.
When closed, this wooden box, shaped as a book with an
embossed leather lid ornamented with geometrical and floral
designs, concealed its devotional content from view. Only
when the lid was lifted did the box reveal its pious function as a
reliquary. Pasted on to its wooden base is a drawing. Two labels
explain that when the sarcophagus of Sts Faustino and Giovita
was reopened in 1627, the painter Francesco Chinello was
commissioned to produce this representation. Framed in red
ink, the haloed skeletons of the two patron saints of Brescia, a
Northern Italian city, are depicted exactly as they were found,
lying next to each other.
Sts Faustino and Giovita were two noblemen converted
to Christianity by Apollonio, bishop of Brescia, and martyred
between 120 and 134 ce. Proclaimed patron saints of the city
in 1438 following their miraculous apparition on the castle of
the city on 13 December of that year, until their rediscovery
in 1455 their bodies had been thought to be lost. The cult of
the local saints was important in the construction of the civic
identity of Brescia.1
It is likely that the box contained a contact relic of the
two saints, possibly a piece of cloth that had touched their holy
and miraculous bodies and thus carried their sacred power.
The grooves along the sides of the box suggest the presence
of a now lost glass panel. Easily removed to retrieve the con-
tact relic, glass has always been a favoured medium for use
in reliquaries, as it allows the viewer to see the relics while
maintaining their security. In this case, however, the beholder
was called to a more intimate relationship with this object
of devotion. Every time the owner of this box opened the
wooden lid in order to pray for the saints’ intercession, he or
she relived the experience of those who had recently reopened
the sarcophagus. In fact, a manuscript label at the saints’ feet
describes how the sarcophagus had been opened, allowing the
relics ‘with reverence, and much holy consecrated proof ’ to be
seen again.
A further label lists drops of blood, earth and coins from
Venice, Mantua and Monferrato, and a bone of St Benedict,
all of which would have augmented the beholder’s devotions
by recalling the saints’ martyrdom as well as the votive tokens
they might have expected in return for graces. mf | igc

See: Bagnoli et al. 2011; Bowd 2010; Cotti 2013.

1. Bowd, 2010.

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The Pious Body

Previous sections of this catalogue have explored the various

ways in which the sacred entered the home and shaped its
devotional spaces and routines. Alongside explicitly devotional
items such as representations of the Madonna and saints or
printed prayers or pious books, furniture, tableware and objects
of personal care could also be stamped with words or images
of religious significance, and served to sacralise and protect
Renaissance households at all levels of society (for example
plates 25 and 27; fig. 5).
At the same time, Italian archives and extant objects testify
to a diverse array of devotional items that people wore close
to their bodies. During religious conflicts between Protestants
and Catholics in the sixteenth century, devotional jewellery
sometimes served as a marker of Catholic faith, although port-
able religious objects may also have been acquired and owned
because they were beautiful and fashionable.
Since antiquity, rings have been a favoured item of
personal adornment.1 During the Renaissance, gold, silver,
silver-gilt and gilt-bronze rings, often set with gems prized
for their beauty and apotropaic powers, adorned the hands of
both men and women.2 A portrait by Fra Filippo Lippi shows
an aristocratic Renaissance lady (fig. 44) whose hands are
covered with rings of all sorts, amongst which is a golden ring
set with a shimmering pink stone. This resonates strikingly
with a sixteenth-century gold and enamelled ring set with a
topaz or a pink ruby (plate 119). This luxury object carries a
hidden significance: concealed from view, the back of the ring
reveals an enamelled IHS, or name of Jesus, surmounted by a
cross and the Three Nails of the Crucifixion, a Jesuit symbol.3
The physical proximity of these emblems to the wearer not
only demonstrates an intimate relationship with the sacred, but
also suggests that during the Renaissance modern dichotomies
between luxury and piety were not so strongly perceived.
What might appear to be a straightforward symbol of wealth or
fig. 44
Filippo Lippi, Portrait of a woman
with a man at a casement, c.1440
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art

plate 119
Ring, 16th century
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum

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plate 120
Agnus Dei, 15th/16th century
London, British Museum
taste could simultaneously bear the imprint of the individual’s
faith.
The close relationship that could exist between fashion,
display and spirituality was not unproblematic. Christian
preachers and theologians often inveighed against the osten-
tatious display of vanity, commonly associated with female be-
haviour, and yet Renaissance writers recorded a variety of views
on the matter. The Florentine historian Ricordano Malespini
reported the outrage of Gregory x during the Council of Lyon
of 1274, when the Pope ‘forbade superfluous ornaments for
women throughout the Christian world’.4 In the same cent-
ury, Thomas Aquinas had wondered whether there could be
virtue and vice in relation to outward apparel, coming to the
conclusion that: ‘It is not in the outward things themselves
which man uses that there is vice, but on the part of man who
uses them immoderately’.5 Following Aquinas’ teachings, and
in line with the Catholic Church’s focus on spiritual renewal,
ecclesiastical authorities in the sixteenth century did not en-
tirely forbid the wearing of devotional, and at times, luxurious,
objects. Simultaneously, however, the same authorities kept a
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 123
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close eye on how the faithful interacted with the spiritual items
that they owned and wore. The boundaries between religious
conviction, vanity and belief in the supernatural, were, in fact,
very blurred.6
Agnus Dei
Among the many forms of religious items that were worn or
carried on the person, Agnus Dei were especially widespread
and popular. Originally made from the remains of the Paschal
candle at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Agnus Dei were wax
tokens blessed by the Pope and distributed to the faithful to
take home.7 Their Latin name means ‘Lamb of God’, an image
of which was impressed on the front of the wax medallions
from a mould (plate 123). The fronts of the medallions usually
bore the year and the arms of the Pope who blessed them
(plate 121). As the wax was too fragile to be carried around as
a whole, the faithful tended to carry small pieces of the Agnus
Dei medallions, and in order to protect the holy wax from
123
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plate 121
Agnus Dei, 16th century
Oxfordshire, Campion Hall,
Lyford Grange

plate 122 plate 123

Agnus Dei, 15th century Agnus Dei mould, 12th/13th century
London, British Museum London, British Museum

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wear and tear, the smaller bits were encased in containers.

These were made of a variety of materials in order to be afford-
able to consumers of different social levels.8 As reminders of
the sacrificed Lamb, and therefore of the body of Christ,
Agnus Dei pendants became one of the most popular portable
devotional objects in Renaissance Italy, appearing often in
sixteenth-century post-mortem inventories. Hanging from
chains and worn close to the body, Agnus Dei pendants were
yet another reminder of the sacred in people’s daily lives. The
Latin inscription on the wax medallion, ‘Lamb of God who
takes away the sins of the world’, was believed to ward off
evil as well as to protect women during the risky adventures
of pregnancy and childbirth, adding an apotropaic function
to these small devotional pendants.9 Caterina de’ Medici, for
example, wore the Agnus Dei she received from Pope Sixtus v
throughout her pregnancy close to her body in order to receive
its spiritual solace and to ensure her baby’s safe delivery.10
In imitation of the luxurious expense of gold, the two Agnus
Dei pendants illustrated here are framed in more affordable
gilt-copper and silver-gilt. Their thickness indicates that they
probably contained a piece of the blessed wax medallion.
The recto of the first example (plate 122) bears an Agnus Dei
imprinted onto a piece of white shell, that evocatively suggests
the white wax that might have been enclosed, and is inscribed
with the Latin text; the verso has a niello decoration of a
knotted cross. Although the imprinted white shell indicates
the involvement of a highly skilled artisan, both the niello
decoration and the blotchy way in which it was encased on the
verso suggest that more than one craftsman was involved in the
production of the pendant. The recto and verso of the second
Agnus Dei container (plate 120) are decorated in niello, the
former with the all-familiar Lamb of God, and the latter with
a cross rising from a highly decorative script of the IHS. Both
these little devotional pendants show signs of frequent rubbing
by their original owners, for devotion and protection.

Rosary beads

A portrait at the National Gallery in London by Bartolomeo

Veneto, dated to the first decade of the sixteenth century,
depicts a lovely young woman with dark hair and pale skin
wearing a long and beautiful necklace (plate 125). She is clothed plate 125
in an elegant black dress with slashes on the sleeves that reveal Bartolomeo Veneto, detail from
her voluminous white shirt, decorated with what might have Portrait of a young lady, c.1500–10
been her family emblem. Her curly hair falls loosely on her London, National Gallery

plate 124
Rosary (partial), 16th century
Berlin, Kunstgewerbemuseum

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
fig. 45
Rosary beads, c.1500
Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art
shoulders, and is adorned by a delicate golden diadem fashioned
in the form of a leafy branch. Her necklace, however, is more
than it at first seems. Closer inspection reveals that the beads
that ornament her cleavage are in fact hexagonal enamelled-
copper rosary beads, decorated with the symbols of Christ’s
Passion.11 Moreover, the painter did not simply hint at the
devotional purpose of the beads by reference to some generic
type of rosary. He clearly wanted the onlooker to grasp their
significance more fully, by faithfully reproducing a specific
set of prayer beads, presumably owned by the sitter. The
presence of such costly, yet devotional, beads would suggest
that this portrait was linked to a marriage contract and served
to confirm the piety and virtue of the sitter.12 In this period,
personal adornment was thought to reflect inner or abstract
moral value.13
The beads depicted in the portrait, although knotted
at a greater distance from one another on a black string, are
remarkably similar to a set of eight hexagonal gilt copper with
champlevé enamel beads now in Berlin, which have subsequently
been reconnected by metal hooks (plate 124).14 Some of the
facets display the same symbols of Christ’s Passion: the ladder,
the nails, and the cross, as well as inscriptions such as ‘REX’
and ‘IHS’, which link them to the Passion. In its entirety, this
rosary may well have been as long as the necklace worn by the
126
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 126
woman in Bartolomeo Veneto’s portrait. The beauty of each
bead derives both from its material and its devotional ornament-
ation. Copper gives the beads luminosity, which is enhanced
by enamelling that results in a jewel-like appearance. Another
fifteen similar beads exist (fig. 45), and of these, thirteen are
small and hexagonal, and two are large and olive-shaped. It
seems that these beads were once part of a rosary, as the big
beads signalled the recitation of the Pater Noster, and the small
beads the recitation of the Ave Maria.15 The recurrence of floral
designs alongside the words and the instruments of the Passion
made this ornate and luxurious object a veritable rose-garden
of prayer to the Virgin, to whom the words of the rosary were
addressed.16 Although it is unlikely that the girl in the portrait
would have been constantly aware of the pious significance
of the beads that touched her young body so delicately, when
fingering the beads she was reminded of her faith and belief.
Italian post-mortem inventories attest to a great variety
of jewelled rosary beads, and note multiple examples made in
rock crystal (pure quartz). Rock crystal was a highly valued
material, more resistant than glass but equally luminous. It
carried potent religious meaning, having strong associations
with divine light, spiritual vision and the immaterial mani-
festation of the divine in the material world.17 In the thirteenth
and fourteenth centuries it was often used to create altar crosses
plate 126
Rosary, 16th century
Turin, Museo Civico di Torino
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and reliquaries: the translucent material allowed for a direct

view onto the relics.18 This decorative technique was revived
in the sixteenth century during the era of Catholic reform and
renewal.
A 1593 inventory drawn up by the notary Di Gennaro
in Naples listed ‘a big rock-crystal rosary, with rock-crystal
paternosters and a rock-crystal cross’.19 The description cor-
relates quite closely with the rosary now held at the Palazzo
Madama Museum in Turin (plate 126). Crafted for a person of
great wealth, the rosary is composed of thirteen rock-crystal
beads of varying sizes, and a double-sided pendant cross decor-
ated with the Crucifixion on one side and the Assumption of
the Virgin on the other. Each bead consists of two hemispheres,
individually decorated, and tied together by a silver-gilt
twisted mount. When seen in its entirety, the rosary appears
to be made of a group of transparent balls decorated in gilt
silver. Remarkably, however, when twisted on their sides, the
thirteen beads reveal their delicately luminous scenes in gilded
glass on each hemisphere. In order to encourage meditation
upon the ‘Sorrowful Mysteries’, five beads are decorated with
ten miniature scenes of Christ’s Passion and Resurrection,
whereas the remaining eight show a pair of saints in each
hemisphere. To make the rosary beads, gold leaf was layered
onto the glass and the desired image was scratched into it, using
a technique called sgraffito. Then the design was coloured with
red and green paint.

Crosses and reliquary pendants

The spiritual potency and beauty of rock crystal meant that it
was also employed for other items of religious jewellery. Dated
to the beginning of the seventeenth century, the rock-crystal
cross illustrated here has been skilfully crafted into a jewel-
like pendant (plate 127). The edges of the arms of the cross are
covered in gold with blue and green enamels and decorated
with small hanging pearls. A three-dimensional golden body
of the Crucified Christ is attached to the cross. Although the
rosary chain of pearls strung together by a golden twisted chain
is a much later addition, probably dating to the late eighteenth
century, it indicates how such treasured items continued to be
worn over the centuries.
Pendant crosses were the most obvious outward sign of a
wearer’s faith. They were fashioned in a wide variety of mat-
erials so as to be available to devotees according to their finan-
cial means. Contemporary Renaissance household inventories
attest to crosses in silver, silver-gilt and gold, or pendant crosses
encrusted with precious gems such as garnets and pearls (see
plate 16). The 1586 probate inventory of Margaret of Austria,
for example, lists eight pendant crosses made in gold, pearls,
ebony, ivory and diamonds amongst her household possessions
in Ortona, within the Kingdom of Naples.20
Alongside standard jewellery crosses, those with the means
could also aspire to own pieces with more powerful spiritual
status – those that contained relics. Reliquary pendants were
worn from the tenth century and became popular in the late
fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries.21 Enamelled reliquary
crosses were very costly objects: the sacred value of their con-
tents meant that their containers tended to be of a high level
of craftsmanship (plate 128). Against a black enamelled back-
plate 127
Crucifix, early 17th century;
rosary, c.1750–1900
London,
The Victoria and Albert Museum
ground, this cross is ornamented with gold instruments of
Christ’s Passion on both sides, and has hinges on the top seg-
ment that allow for its opening. Inside, there is a set of com-
partments, the contents of which are described in the inscrip-
tions that are engraved on the underside of the lid: relics of
the apostles Peter and Paul, a drop of the Virgin’s milk and the
much revered fragment of the True Cross. The cross-shaped
form of the pendant and the presence of the Arma Christi on the
outside would have augmented the wearer’s engagement with
Christ’s Passion and communicated the concealed presence of
the small fragment of the True Cross.22 Though clearly designed
as a pendant, back in the privacy of the owner’s chamber this
cross could have also been held in the palm of the hand, its lid
opened and the relics venerated, and possibly even removed
and kissed, while praying or meditating upon Christ’s death.
The great diversity of devotional objects on sale during the
Renaissance suggests that men and women of the time did not
see devotion and consumption in opposition to each other.23
The materiality of their devotion was essential to their spiritual
journey. Not only the household, from its entrance to its
private chambers, but the body, too, could be a place of piety.
Renaissance bodies, like Renaissance homes, accommodated
a complex range of objects that signified devotion, protection,
wealth and personal taste. igc

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See: Bagnoli et al. 2011; Bertini 2014; Bonardo 1591; Cherry 2003; Davies and
Kennedy 2009; Gerevini 2014; Laven 2015; Lev 2012; Taylor and Scarisbrick 1978;
Penny 2004; Venturelli 1996.

1. Taylor and Scarisbrick, 1978, p. 5.

2. See the previous section, ‘Praying for Protection’, pp. 110–21, above.
3. See above, ‘Devotion to the Sacred Monogram of the Name of Jesus’,
pp. 104–9.
4. Istoria fiorentina di Ricordano Malespini coll’aggiunta di Giachetto Malespini e la cronica
di Giovanni Morelli (Florence, 1718), pp. 181–2, cap. 199.
5. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, 2–2q, 169a.
6. See above, ‘Praying for Protection’, pp. 110–21 and ‘Silver-gilt Agnus Dei’,
below, p. 130.
7. See ‘Silver-Gilt Agnus Dei’, below, p. 130.
8. Cherry, 2003, p.171.
9. Bonardo, 1591, p.55.
10. Lev, 2012, p. 52.
11. Penny, 2004, pp. 10–14. Discussed in Galandra Cooper and Laven, 2016.
12. On the significance of young women of marriageable age displaying their
virtue through such items see also ‘The Family’, above, p. 14–15.
13. Davies and Kennedy, 2009, pp. 229–64.
14. Ibid., as first noted by Nicholas Penny, see Penny, 2004, pp. 10–14.
15. See above, ‘The Rosary’, pp. 94–7.
16. Galandra Cooper and Laven, 2016.
17. Gerevini, 2014.
18. Thomson, 1960, pp. 113–14.
19. Bevere, 1897, p. 627.
20. Bertini, 2014.
21. Davies and Kennedy, 2009, p. 111.
22. On the Arma Christi see above, ‘Crucifixion above a prayer against earthquake
and sudden death, woodcut’, pp. 58–9.
23. Laven, 2015, pp. 239–40.

plate 128
Reliquary cross, c.1600
London,
The Victoria and Albert Museum

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 129
Silver-gilt Agnus Dei (recto) and Veronica veil (verso),
16th/17th century
London, British Museum
Three hooks identify this silver-gilt medallion as a pendant.
A filigree silver rosette window on the front of the pendant
reveals a piece of red velvet, a later addition. A similar, though
earlier, French pendant, suggests that these objects were pur-
posefully created to show off their contents (fig. 46).1 The
Latin inscription that surrounds the rosette offers a clue to the
origin and meaning of this object. The inscription reads, in
translation: ‘Lamb of God, have mercy on me, and take away
[my] sins’. It is a variation on the penitential text introduced
into the ordinary of the Mass in Catholic liturgy around the
eighth century.2 The inscription ties this little pendant to
Christ, often conceived of as the Lamb of God. In the Old
Testament, Christ was prefigured as the sacrificial lamb who
spared the Jewish faithful from God’s wrath when they painted
its blood on the doors of their houses.3 Christ’s fulfilment of
this prefiguration is sealed in the New Testament by John the
Baptist, who addressed Christ with the words: ‘Behold the
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world’.4
The pendant’s function in nurturing piety to Christ is
reinforced by the image of the Veronica engraved on the back
of the pendant. Veronica was the name simultaneously given
to the woman who wiped Christ’s sweat and blood onto a
cloth, and to the cloth itself, forever imprinted with Christ’s
true image and preserved in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome.5 The
pendant’s openwork rosette and references to Christ suggest
that it would have originally contained a piece of a blessed wax
Agnus Dei.6
During the Renaissance, the wax medallions were made
and blessed on the first Saturday after Easter of a pope’s pon-
See: Bonardo 1591; Cherry 2003; Kelly 2003; Lightbown 1992; Musacchio 2006a.
1. While the British Museum example has one openwork side, the French example
has windows on both sides.
2. Kelly, 2003, pp. 184–6.
3. Exodus, 12.1–28.
4. John, 1.29.
5. See also ‘Crucifixion above a prayer against earthquake and sudden death, woodcut’,
above, pp. 58–9.
6. Cherry, 2003, pp. 171–83.
7. Bonardo, 1591, p. 29.
8. Musacchio, 2006a, pp. 139–156; Bonardo, 1591, p. 55
130
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 130
tificate, and then every seventh year after that, as well as during
high holidays and Jubilees. A 1567 print of Pius v blessing the
Agnus Dei (fig. 47, overleaf ) shows the various stages of the
blessing that closely recalled the Baptismal rite, as the wax
cakes were dipped into basins of holy water.
The Agnus Dei were among the most revered of the
Catholic sacramentals – objects or rites instituted by the
Church and deemed to sanctify the faithful. Everything
about them, from colour to shape, reminded the beholder
of the presence of Christ. The faithful were invited to bring
the blessed wax discs home, and once inside to burn them
so as to release the smell produced by the added Baptismal
balsam, although clearly many recipients preferred to treasure
them.7 Among the protective virtues ascribed to Agnus Dei
in contemporary treatise literature were warding off evil, the
protection of women during childbirth (hence their ubiquitous
presence in Renaissance dowries and household inventories)
and defence against all natural calamities and diseases, as well
as from sudden death.8
Aware of the ephemerality of wax, Church officials
granted efficacy both to unbroken and broken blessed wax as a
response to the impracticality of keeping the Agnus Dei intact.
The pendant may have contained a fragment or whole wax disc,
blessed by the Pope in Rome; its luxurious casing made it a
particularly costly form of pilgrim souvenir, though much
cheaper versions circulated in Europe throughout the Ren-
aissance. Like a treasured relic worn on the body, the Agnus
Dei encouraged its owner to contemplate Christ the Saviour
while offering supernatural protection. igc
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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s

fig. 46
Openwork pendant, c.1300
private collection,
sold Sotheby’s London, 3 July 2012

fig. 47
Bartolomeo Faleti,
Pope Pius v Consecrating Wax ‘Lambs’,
1567
London, British Museum

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 130
Coral pendant, 16th century
London, British Museum
Coral is traditionally credited with talismanic properties and the
power to ward off evil. Pliny the Elder recorded that ‘[Indian]
diviners look upon coral as an amulet endowed with sacred
properties, and a sure preservative against all dangers: hence it
is that they equally value it as an ornament and as an object of
devotion … Branches of coral, hung at the neck of infants, are
thought to act as a preservative against danger’.1 Renaissance
paintings and extant objects testify to the enduring belief that
coral should be worn as a protective amulet in Jewish as well
as Christian traditions (figs 48 and 49). Coral branches served
as teethers for babies; a parrot carved in coral in The Victoria
and Albert Museum, which was probably made in Trapani in
the late sixteenth century, may once have served this purpose
(fig. 50).
This small devotional coral pendant is carved in high relief
on both sides, and the artisan who decorated it has attempted
to work within the branch’s natural shape, hence its lopsided
appearance. A scene of the Annunciation is carved on one
side; this was a very popular theme in Renaissance Italy and
was depicted on numerous small-scale domestic objects (for
example plates 19 and 27). The other side represents a New
Testament subject less often depicted on either small or large-
scale devotional objects in sixteenth-century Italy: the Return
of the Holy Family from Egypt (Matthew, 2.21). In this
charming carved relief, the Christ Child holds his mother’s
fig. 48 fig. 49
Amulet, 17th century Detail of plate 63:
Bartolomeo Ramenghi,
London, Virgin and Child with St Catherine
The Victoria and Albert Museum
134
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 134
hand and Joseph points to the Dove of the Holy Spirit hovering
above.2
The pendant was intended to be suspended from the loop
carved in the coral, now hidden by a later mount. It could
have been turned in the hand from one scene to the other, and
felt beneath the fingers so as to structure prayer, perhaps when
worn on a rosary. Another double-sided coral pendant from
Sicily (fig. 51) is carved with the Madonna on one side and the
infant Christ on the other, and is still attached to a fine onyx
rosary.
Fished in the Mediterranean in great quantity, and in a
variety of shades, from white to pink to black, coral was one
of the most sought-after materials for Renaissance jewellery.
Recalling oxygenated blood, red coral was thought to protect
the wearer from miscarriage, heavy menstruation or difficult
labour.3 Moreover, coral was associated with Marian worship
and the Incarnation, the role of the Virgin as mother and inter-
cessor, and with the redeeming Blood of Christ.
The presence of the Virgin on both sides of the British
Museum pendant, represented before and after becoming a
mother, might suggest that it belonged to a woman, given to
her during her pregnancy, and treasured throughout her life.
On both sides of this pendant the most prominent elements of
the reliefs are now smooth and very shiny – possibly the result
of frequent rubbing during prayer. igc | dt
See: Di Natale and Abbate 1995; Hansmann and Kriss-Rettenbeck 1966;
Klapisch-Zuber 1985; Lightbown 1986; Musacchio 1999; Musacchio 2006a; Pliny
the Elder 1982; Rackham 1945–7; Tait 1986; Trachtenberg 1977; Vannini 1981.
1. Pliny the Elder, 1982, book 32, ch. 11.
2. Tait, 1986, p. 212, no. 527.
3. Musacchio, 2006a, pp. 139–156.
fig. 50 fig. 51
Amulet, c.1600 Coral pendant, c.1550–1600
London, Trapani,
The Victoria and Albert Museum Treasury of the Madonna of Trapani
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 plate 131
Gentleman (Giacomo Adana[n]son)
wounded by a firearm, 1523
Tolentino, Museo di San Nicola

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iv
Miracles and Pilgrimage
Shrines and Miracles
As the French essayist and travel writer Michel de Montaigne
made his way back up through Italy after his visit to Rome,
on a well-trodden pilgrim route, he stopped off at the shrine
of Loreto, in the Marche region of Italy (see plate 147). He
described the small hilltop settlement which had grown up
around the church as teeming with pilgrims, priests and the
many tradesmen who profited from the cult: ‘to wit, sellers of
wax, of images, beads, Agnus Dei, Salvators, and such wares’
(see plates 144 and 145). The inns were ‘rather dirty’, he re-
marked.1 But this did not deter pilgrims from flocking to the
holy site, and leaving ex-votos for the Virgin Mary, in thanks
for the miracles that she had granted them.2
A dense and expanding network of shrines criss-crossed
Italy during the Renaissance. Sites renowned for miracles
were often the recipients of considerable patronage and the
objects of major building programmes as well as commercial
development. Successive popes poured money into the build-
plate 132
Sick man in bed depicted next to a shrine,
16th century
Naples, Museo degli ex voto del
santuario di Madonna dell’Arco
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 137
int roduction
ing of Loreto, while other shrines were the focus of fund-
raising and publicity campaigns, promoted by the religious
orders that cared for them. The great urban centres of Italy
boasted multiple churches, famous for miraculous images or
healing saints. Writing at the start of the sixteenth century, the
Venetian diarist Marin Sanudo counted eleven churches where
‘daily miracles’ were experienced.3 New sanctuaries were just
as likely to shoot up outside the big cities, often as a result of
an apparition experienced by a peasant or a miracle involving
a wayside image of the Virgin Mary. In 1450, just north of
Mount Vesuvius, to the east of Naples, a painted Madonna,
placed in an arch, began to bleed when a young boy threw a
ball at it. By the end of the sixteenth century, the ‘Madonna
dell’Arco’ was renowned for her healing miracles (plate 132).
mrl
See: Montaigne 1983; Sanudo 1980; Davies et al. 2013.
1. Montaigne, 1983, pp. 106–110.
2. See below, ‘Ex-Votos’, p. 144.
3. Sanudo, 1980, pp. 48–9.
137
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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 133
Attr. Mancini/Petrini workshop,
Madonna della Marina, c.1600
private collection
On the afternoon of 24 June 1508 a terrible storm ripped
through the port of Chioggia, near Venice. The local people
prayed in their homes, while the fishermen who were at sea
cried out in terror for their lives. Towards evening the storm
abated, and an old peasant went down to the seashore. There
he was astonished to receive a vision of the Virgin, dressed in a
black mantle and sitting on a tree trunk, cradling the bleeding
body of her son in her lap. She spoke to him, admonishing
the local people for their insufficient piety, before departing
on a boat. Afterwards, the fishermen were found to have been
delivered miraculously from the danger of the storm. Later,
an icon washed ashore that depicted the very same Madonna
that had appeared to the old man. As news of these miracles
spread, local people flocked to the site to pay their devotions.
Soon, the bishop ordered that a church be built to house the
miraculous image and the log upon which the Madonna had
appeared, and receive those who were making pilgrimages to
visit them. In 1585, the Santuario Beata Vergine della Navicella
was consecrated. Today, devotees still visit the church of San
Giacomo in Chioggia to see the miracle-working icon and tree
trunk, which are on display there (figs 53 and 54).
The story of the Madonna della Marina is revealing. It
highlights the very local nature of devotion, whereby a specific
miracle or vision could lead to a new cult springing up, driven
by the enthusiasm and concerns of the local community. In this
case, the Madonna was responding to fears over the potentially
devastating effects of terrible storms, and perils of work as a
fisherman. Once the residents had heeded her call to revive
their piety, they could be safe in the knowledge of her ongoing
protection. This is attested to by the numerous ex-votos that
fig. 52
Ex-voto, 18th century
Chioggia, Museo Diocesano
138
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 138
were left to her in thanks for grace received, which often depict
deliverance from storms at sea (fig. 52). The story also points
to how swiftly the Church sought to intervene, legitimise and
control these local manifestations of spiritual fervour, which
sprang up across Italy in vast numbers over the course of the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.1 Of course, the ex-votos
alone attest to the inability of authorities fully to regulate the
power of the icon, which manifested itself through continued
miraculous activity.
This maiolica group features the Madonna della Marina
in her distinctive black mantle and with her dead son in her
lap, as she appeared in the ex-votos that surrounded her shrine.
The seated Virgin, of monumental size in comparison with her
son, gently inclines towards him. Through skilful modelling
the artist has highlighted the contrast between her animated
presence and Christ’s limp, lifeless body. In emulation of
its iconic prototype, holes fired in the piece indicate where
the figures would originally have been adorned with holy
jewellery. Made in Deruta, nearly 200 miles from Chioggia,
this emotionally expressive sculpture attests to the specific
adoration of the devotee who commissioned it.2 Through the
work, the power of the Madonna della Marina would have
radiated throughout his or her home. As well as transferring
the miraculous potency of the original icon into the domestic
sphere, the sculpture also testified to its owner’s piety, as it
declares itself to have been made per sua devozione – in devotion
to the Madonna della Marina. It provides compelling evidence
of the ways in which, through artworks, devotions that were
communal, local or parochial entered the home and shaped
religious experience on a domestic level.3 mc
See: Garnett and Rosser 2013; Holmes 2009; Maniura and Sheperd 2006;
Thunø and Wolf 2004.
1. Garnett and Rosser, 2013.
2. One suggestion as to the identity of the patron is Girolamo Mancini,
called Diruta; Justin Raccanello, personal communication, May 2016.
3. See also above, ‘Fra Angelico, The Dead Christ’, pp. 74–5.
fig. 53
Zocco di legno (wooden log),
early 16th century
Chioggia, Chiesa di San Giacomo
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fig. 54
Madonna della Navicella, early 16th century
Chioggia, Chiesa di San Giacomo

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Supernatural Interventions

An early sixteenth-century woodcut, printed in colour, gives

us a glimpse into the Catholic imagination of this period (plate
134). The image celebrates the Virgin’s role as protector of
the Carmelites, a contemplative order founded in the twelfth
century. At the bottom of the woodcut, souls are depicted
burning in hell. Above them, the Virgin and the two lower
angels wield scapulars – the small devotional keepsakes, made
of cloth, promoted by the order among the laity. But it is the
marginal images surrounding the Virgin and Child that crave
our particular attention: eleven small pictures, each of which
represents a miraculous scene. Starting at the top centre image
and proceeding clockwise, one first sees a man miraculously
saved from the gallows; to the right, a woman is liberated from
demonic possession; then a man is set free from his enemies; a
house-fire is quenched; and a man is saved following a vicious
knife attack. Moving up the left-hand side, a young man falls
out of a large tree; another man is cured of knife wounds; the
crew of a ship is saved in a terrible storm; and finally, in the top
left-hand corner, an especially graphic representation shows
a man standing in front of his city, arms outstretched, as he
survives a direct strike by a lightning bolt. In contrast with the
fig. 55
images at the centre of the print (the Virgin, angels and flames
of hell), these marginal depictions are decidedly this-worldly: Ex-votos, various dates
their purpose is to remind the laity of the intervention of the Mantua, Santa Maria delle Grazie
Virgin Mary in their daily lives.

the next. The contents page of a collection of miracle stories

Miracles
Renaissance Italy witnessed an explosion of interest in the
miraculous. New cults devoted to Madonnas that wept or
crucifixes that bled spread across the peninsula.1 In Florence
alone, over forty cults dedicated to miraculous images came in-
to being between 1292 and 1600, with many more emerging in
the surrounding countryside.2 Such images could become the
sites of major sanctuaries, like Florence’s Santissima Annunziata
or the Madonna dell’Arco outside Naples. Just as powerful for
many were the neighbourhood shrines that stood on street
corners, like the Madonna of San Lorenzo in Milan; Urbano
Monte, who lived in the city, recalled that his wife had left a
silver image of their child by that Madonna, in gratitude for his
cure from a haemorrhage.3
Meanwhile, as new shrines were reconfiguring the sacred
landscape of Renaissance Italy, the power of the Virgin and
saints was starting to be recorded in the medium of print.
From the 1470s, compilations of miracle stories charting the
interventions of the Virgin Mary issued from the first Italian
presses. Prior to the sixteenth century, these stories tended to
be very generic and were often recycled from one edition to
published in Venice in 1490 includes among its entries: ‘how
the glorious Virgin Mary appeared to a sick woman’, ‘how a
knight who was devoted to the Virgin Mary was decapitated
but could not die without receiving the sacrament of penance’,
‘how a woman, through operation of the devil, tried to kill
her son-in-law and was liberated by the Virgin Mary’, and so
on.4 During the course of the sixteenth century, the trend was
towards more locally specific productions; hundreds of books
documenting the histories and miracles of particular shrines
were produced. As the Catholic Reformation advanced, in-
creasing care was taken to give the impression of historical
veracity, with names, dates and places all carefully included.5
Thus, in a late sixteenth-century miracle book, we learn how
on the Feast of All Saints, 1547, Domenico di Giusto Giusti,
Florentine baker at the sign of the cow, was buried under a
landslide of flour.6 Or, in another example, we are given a
precise list of the ailments – apoplexy, bloody fluxes, dropsy
and diseased eyes (‘one swelled up so much that it looked like
an egg, bursting out of its socket’) – of a Brescian woman,
Pausilia d’Acquafredda, wife of Lazzarino of Mantua, who
was miraculously healed by a local holy figure, the Blessed
Giovannibuono of Mantua.7

plate 134
The Virgin with the Christ Child as protector
of the Carmelites and scenes of miracles,
c.1500–30
London, British Museum

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 135
Healing of a woman from breast cancer, 1510
Lonigo, Madonna dei Miracoli,
Museo degli ex voto
Votive practices
At the same time that the printing press started to disseminate
stories about miracles, new visual and material media became
available to record and publicise the interventions of the Virgin
and saints. Building on the medieval tradition of leaving wax
ex-votos at shrines to give thanks for miracles, Renaissance
Italian patrons invested in life-size portrait effigies, made of
wax, cloth and wood, to commemorate the graces they had
received. At the shrine of Santissima Annunziata in Florence,
there were hundreds of full-size figures assembled in the
nave, side aisles and upper galleries, and suspended from the
ceiling. Among the grandest were the equestrian portraits
commissioned by noblemen.8 While none of the Florentine
waxworks remain, similar effigies have been conserved at the
church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, outside Mantua (fig. 55).9
A more widespread development in the late fifteenth
century was the proliferation of votive tablets: painted wooden
boards that narrated the stories of miracolati – those who had
benefited from miracles. The themes of these simple images
echo the stories that are recorded in print: men are attacked
by enemies (plates 131 and 136), women suffer difficult births
142
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 142
(see plate 29), houses catch fire (plate 137), children injure
themselves (see plate 1) or fall out of windows or down flights
of steps (plate 138). Above all, disease haunted the minds of the
devout. The intensity of feeling that lay behind the hope for
a miraculous cure is powerfully suggested by an ex-voto from
Lonigo that shows a woman baring her diseased breast to the
Virgin as she petitions her for help (plate 135). At least 40 per
cent of surviving ex-votos from the period depict a bedroom
scene, in which either the patient or a relative supplicates the
Virgin and/or saints (see plates 11, 17 and 140). These are
visual records of the fears and anxieties that beset Renaissance
families as well as testimony to the faith that ordinary people
put in supernatural interventions.
Challenges and criticisms
In the first decades of the sixteenth century, miracles of the
kind that were recorded in printed books and painted tablets
would increasingly come under fire. It was not that theologians
– of whatever doctrinal persuasion – denied the existence of
miracles. As stated clearly by St Augustine, the early Christian
authority on the subject, an infinite number of daily miracles
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– from the birth of children and the growth of plants to

rainfall – stemmed from the initial miracle of the creation.
Moreover, from the ‘seed’ of God’s creation there occurred
less usual manifestations of God’s power designed to instil awe
in the faithful.10 The miracles of Christ – such as the healing
of the paralytic, charmingly illustrated on a piece of domestic
maiolica (plate 139) – were of course scripturally attested and
beyond dispute. Far more controversial were the miracles that
appeared to have been directly effected by the Madonna and
saints. Indeed, the Protestant reformer Martin Luther targeted
the Catholic culture of the miraculous from the outset and
urged the laity to view saints as pious examples rather than as
healers and protectors.11
Catholic writers also criticised the transactional nature of
miracles. In the late fourteenth century, the Florentine Franco
plate 136
Sacchetti had poked fun at the cult of the Santissima Annun-
ziata in his own city. He told the tale of a woman who – having Gentleman attacked by a bandit at his table, 16th century
allowed a disreputable friar to drink her husband’s cellar dry – Naples, Museo degli ex voto del santuario di Madonna
left a wax image of a wine barrel at the shrine; in return, the dell’Arco
Virgin obligingly replenished the wine.12 Anticipating Luther’s
attacks on the Church by a few years, the Dutch humanist
Erasmus also satirised such practices in Praise of Folly, published
in 1511. The passage in which he castigates belief in miracles is
based on an evocation of ‘the votive offerings you see covering
the walls of certain churches right up to the very roof ’:

One man escaped drowning, another was run through by his

enemy and survived, another boldly (and equally fortunately)
fled from battle and left his fellows to continue the fight.
Another fell down from the gallows, thanks to some saint who
befriends thieves, and went on to relieve a good many people
of their burden of wealth. This one broke out of prison, that
one recovered from a fever, to the annoyance of his doctors;
yet another swallowed poison, but it acted as a purge and did
him good instead of killing him … Another upset his wagon
but drove his horses home unhurt, another escaped with his plate 137
life when his house collapsed and another was caught in the A man gives thanks to St Nicholas for having put out a fire
act by a husband but got away. Not one of them gives thanks in a cellar, 16th century
for being rid of folly.13 Tolentino, Museo di San Nicola

But Erasmus was wrong to dismiss the belief in the miraculous

as mere folly. It was the protective power of the saints that
made Catholicism such a powerful presence in the home (see
plate 116), and a tool for confronting the everyday tribulations
of the laity. mrl

See: Erasmus 1971; Ferrini 1593; Garnett and Rosser 2013; Getz 2013; Holmes
2009; Holmes 2013; Jacobs 2013; Lodi 1590; Miracoli 1490; Panzanelli 2011;
Sacchetti 1996; Ward 1982.

1. See also above, ‘Mancini/Petrini workshop, Madonna della Marina’, pp. 138–9.
2. Holmes, 2013, p. 39.
3. Getz, 2013, p. 6.
4. Miracoli, 1490, f. 32r.
5. See below, ‘The Catholic Reformation’, pp. 157–8.
6. Ferrini, 1593, fol. 94r.
7. Lodi, 1590, pp. 89–90.
8. Panzanelli, 2008, pp. 13–15. plate 138
9. Holmes, 2009, pp. 180–1.
10. Ward, 1982, p. 3. Parents give thanks to St Nicholas for having saved their baby
11. Soergel, 2012, pp. 36–9. daughter, who has fallen down the stairs, 16th century
12. Sacchetti, 1996, pp. 329–31.
13. Erasmus, 1971, pp. 129–30. Tolentino, Museo di San Nicola

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s

plate 139
Dish with Christ healing the paralytic,
1530–40
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum

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ex-votos

A smartly dressed young man kneels before a squat four-poster

bed, in which a sick woman, clothed in white, lies on her
back beneath a red bedspread (plate 140). The man faces away
from the woman. His gaze is lifted upwards towards a circle of
clouds in which the Virgin and Child and a tonsured male saint
appear to float serenely above the bed. At the foot of the image
in large capital letters are written the words: ‘ex voto’.
Ex voto is the Latin expression meaning ‘from a vow’. It
refers to the contract made between devotee and saint (or deity)
at a time of crisis. In this example, the supplicant beseeches
two saints – the Virgin Mary and St Nicholas of Tolentino
– to help him in his hour of need and promises (‘vows’) to
make an offering if his request is granted. The painted wooden
board, left at the culmination of a pilgrimage at the tomb of St
Nicholas in Tolentino, is itself the fulfilment of that vow.
Since antiquity, sick people and their relatives have visited
religious sites and left offerings in the hope of procuring
divine cures. Their gifts have taken a variety of forms, for
example, cash, grain, oil, wax for burning, discarded crutches
or anatomical models of diseased body parts. In Christian
Europe during the Middle Ages, wax votive models of ears,
eyes, breasts or limbs were particularly popular, while anxious
parents often left a block of wax of the same size or weight as
their sick child, in anticipation of, or gratitude for, a cure.1
Towards the end of the fifteenth century, in Italy, a new
kind of ex-voto became popular: painted wooden tablets,
usually in horizontal format and around 25 to 30 cm across,
which depicted a miracle or grace that had been granted.
These brightly painted boards were often serially produced plate 140
and formulaic. Whether crudely executed or finely wrought, Kneeling man by the side of his wife’s bed
however, their visual efficacy lay in their ability to convey a prays to the Madonna and Child and
narrative. Moreover, the inclusion of specific details (a partic- St Nicholas, 1582
ular garment, hair style or design of bed) and the intermittent Tolentino, Museo di San Nicola
addition of inscriptions (names, dates and brief accounts of
the miracle which had been granted) rendered these offerings
more personal than anatomical models or gifts of wax.
More than fifteen hundred votive tablets from the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries survive today at shrines across the
peninsula.2 This represents a small proportion of the tablets
that once lined the walls of Italian Renaissance sanctuaries.
However, these cheaply produced images remain a crucial
source for historians seeking to understand the place of religion
in the lives of the laity. From childhood accidents to obstetrical
difficulties to natural disasters, ex-votos allow us to glimpse the
moments in which ordinary people called on the Virgin and
saints to enter into their lives, and experienced a ‘miraculous’
outcome. mrl

See: Bynum 2011; Didi-Huberman 2006; Jacobs 2013; Panzanelli 2011.

1. Didi-Huberman, 2006, pp. 7, 15–17, 73; Bynum, 2011, pp. 112, 153.
2. Jacobs, 2013, p. 5.

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 141
Girl falls headfirst into a vat, early 16th century
Tolentino, Museo di San Nicola
It is often said that the fear of falling is one of only two fears
which are innate to the human species (the other being fear of
loud noises). Accounts of dangerous falls are prominent among
the stories recorded at miracle-working shrines in Renaissance
Italy. But if some fears are transhistorical, the recourse to the
Virgin Mary and saints reminds us that our coping mechanisms
are culturally specific.
Luca Ferrini, the Servite friar who wrote an account of 63
miracles that had taken place thanks to the intervention of the
miraculous image of the Virgin Annunciate – the ‘Santissima
Annunziata’ – in Florence, devoted five of his chapters to stories
of children falling. First there was Bartolomeo Manescalco
who, standing on top of one of the towers of the Florentine
city walls in order to get a better view of the palio (a civic race
or contest held on the Feast of St Barnabas in June) fell 60 feet
and was completely unharmed. His ex-voto was, appropriately
enough, a model of a tower. Then there was the little boy
Niccolòmaria Vandini, the son of an important Florentine
official, who fell from the family’s apartment in the Palazzo del
Podestà. The boy’s survival was especially miraculous given
that the floor below was made of stone and there was no hay
or earth to soften his landing (fig. 56). Maddalena, a girl of
noble family and great beauty, fell from the roof of her house
while bleaching her hair in the sun. As she fell, she cried out to
the Santissima Annunziata, who saved her life. The two final
See: Ferrini 1593; Lora et al. 2005; Gatta et al. 2005.
1. Ferrini, 1593, miracles 10, 22, 28, 59.
2. Lora et al., 2005, p. 160. I am grateful to Luca Molà for alerting me to this
possibility.
3. Gatta et al., 2005, p. 376.
fig. 56
Luca Ferrini, Coróna di sessanta tre
Miracoli della Nunziata di Firenze, 1593
Florence, Biblioteca Marucelliana
146
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 146
stories of children falling are domestic: Bastiano di Bartolomeo
fell into the hearth and Giuliano di Luzio Montaguti fell into
the latrine!1
The same preoccupation with falling is evident in painted
ex-votos that commemorate miracles. A number of tablets
from the shrine of the Madonna dei Miracoli in Lonigo, in the
Veneto region of northern Italy, depict well-dressed men and
women falling out of trees. The urge of adults to climb trees
may well reflect the prominence of the silk industry in this area.
A tablet dated 1584 bears an inscription which specifies that the
tree from which the woman has fallen is a mulberry; in her
hands, she clutches onto a white drawstring bag, presumably
full of freshly picked leaves on which to feed silkworms.2
But it is the fear of children falling that is so prevalent
in records of Renaissance miracles (plate 142 and see plate
138). A simple image of a girl falling headfirst into a vat of
wine captures our imagination (plate 141). There is no in-
scription to tell us who the girl is. We do not know the date
of the tablet, though the style suggests early sixteenth cen-
tury, and the curators of the collection hazard that this is a
scene from the wine harvest in September.3 The landscape is
empty. There are no witnesses to the miraculous intervention.
But the local saint, Nicholas of Tolentino, is there to help the
people of the Marche as they go about their lives in the fields.
mrl
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plate. 142
Boy falling from window, 1592
Naples, Museo degli ex voto del
santuario di Madonna dell’Arco

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s

Pilgrimage

The Holy Land

For nearly two millennia the vivid biblical accounts of the

places associated with the life of Christ have aroused the curi-
osity of believers as they read or listen to the Gospel narratives.
Each individual perceives the holy sites as a kind of mental
map, in which to imagine the miraculous events of the New
Testament and contemplate their significance.
The first Christian pilgrim to the Holy Land from Italy
seems to have been the Empress Helena, mother of the Emper-
or Constantine, in 326–7 ce.1 From that time onwards, pil-
grims from all over Europe undertook pious journeys to the
Holy Land to tread directly in Christ’s footsteps and follow
the events of his life in person.2 The authenticity of each site
depends on an accretion of popular belief and miracles, rather
than on archaeological or historical evidence.
During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the favourite
port of embarkation was Venice, which offered ‘package tours’,
including both the voyage in a pilgrim galley and the guided
visits to the sacred spots.3 The accounts of returning pilgrims
helped to amplify the appearance of the holy places in the
imagination of those unable to make the journey. Not only
were written narratives copied, recopied and widely circulated,
but the pilgrim could also share impressions in conversation
with friends and family members back home.
The motivations for pilgrimage were complex and varied.
Penitence provided the strongest impulse. Pilgrim handbooks
listed the indulgences that could be earned by visiting certain
holy places, allowing the visitor remission from their sins and plate 143
thus release from time in purgatory. The most important sites, Unknown artist,
such as the church of the Nativity in Bethlehem or the Holy Crippled pilgrim with a rosary, c.1520–40
Sepulchre in Jerusalem, earned the pilgrim a ‘plenary indul- Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
gence’, or a complete erasure of sins up to that moment.
Moreover, the imaginative dynamic re-enactment of
the events associated with Christ’s life allowed the pilgrim to holy places, relics of the bodies of saints, souvenirs of the
create a more immediate and believable framework in which Passion such as thorns and nails, and ampoules of holy oils pro-
to locate the Gospel narratives. Following the path of the Via liferated in Western European homes and churches. The sig-
Dolorosa in Jerusalem, for example, made the Passion narrative nificance of these objects depended on their perceived sanctity,
more believable. Many of the sites, such as the grotto of the rather than on their material value, but they were often
Nativity, were in underground locations or speluncae, where the displayed in precious reliquary containers.
descent into semi-darkness created an aura of mystery. Sombre The power of pilgrim souvenirs also extended to every-
places encouraged the worshipper’s concentration on the day items such as flasks and ribbons. During the late medieval
eschatological aims of pilgrimage – the search for redemption period, pilgrims developed a new fascination with ‘holy
and eternal life. Similarly, the hardships of the journey, shared measurements’. Travellers to the Holy Land brought back
by pilgrims of all classes, enhanced the focus on penance (plate tokens that measured the wound of Christ and visitors to shrines
143). Suffering on earth helped to prepare the pilgrim for the sometimes left as an offering a piece of wax of their own
desired eventual salvation. Pilgrimage affected all the senses, height or girth.5 The enduring concern with measurement is
whether in private prayer or more ritualised group devotions.4 evident in a strip of ribbon (plate 144) purchased in Loreto
in the seventeenth century, which records the dimensions of
the miraculous image of the Madonna and Child that was
Pilgrim souvenirs displayed in the church.
The purchase of a cheap lead badge (see plate 81) was
From the time of the discovery of the ‘True Cross’ by the another common way of recording a visit to a special place.
Empress Helena, the acquisition of relics was one of the princi- Sewn onto a hat or clothing, a badge could not only memorial-
pal aims of pilgrimage. Fragments chipped from the fabric of ise a visit but also make others aware of the owner’s devotion.

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plate 144
Pilgrim ribbon, 16th/17th century
Canterbury Cathedral,
Bargrave Collection

plate 145 plate 146

Pilgrim bowl with the Madonna of Loreto, Pilgrim badge with St Veronica holding
c.1700–1800 out the Vernicle, 15th century
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum London, British Museum

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s

For more private reflection small souvenirs such as badges

could be carried in a pocket, or fixed into a devotional book.
The more opportunistic travellers, especially merchants, often
acquired sacred trophies in bulk, for sale on their return.6 Many
pilgrimage souvenirs took the form of ordinary domestic items,
so that a sacred journey (whether undertaken or imagined)
could be remembered in daily life, for example during a meal.
A small bowl from Loreto is inscribed with the words ‘con
pol. di s. casa’ (made with the dust of the Holy House); the
pilgrim could therefore take home some of the very matter of
this most holy site (plate 145).
Pilgrims such as the German Dominican Felix Fabri in
1483 and the Milanese priest Pietro Casola in 1494 stressed
the importance of tactile contact with the sacred spots.7 Both
carried rosaries and paternosters belonging to others with
which to touch the holy shrines, so that the sanctity could
be transmitted remotely to the owners in a kind of surrogate
devotion.

Italian pilgrimage sites

Of course, Christian pilgrimage did not necessarily involve a

voyage to the Holy Land. Numerous pilgrimage destinations
grew up all over Europe at important shrines or sites of
miracles.8 Within Italy, Rome in particular attracted numerous
pilgrims, especially in Jubilee years, lured by the presence of
precious relics such as the remains of St Peter and the Veronica
(the image of Christ’s face on the handkerchief of St Veronica)
(plate 146).9
At the same time, pilgrimage could be a relatively local
devotional practice.10 Papal indulgences, conferred on a
particular site, could influence the extent and direction of
pilgrim traffic. Outside Rome, the shrine of the Holy House
of Loreto in the Marche was one of the most popular Italian plate 147
pilgrim destinations. Here the supposed house of the Virgin Translatio miraculosa ecclesie beate
Mary, apparently transported by angels from Nazareth, drew Marie Virginis de Loreto, after 1500
crowds of believers who sought to experience the simple Cambridge,
domestic life of the Virgin, as recounted in devotional books Cambridge University Library
such as the Meditations on the Life of Christ. Vincenzo Pagani’s
little picture of The Translation of the Holy House (plate 148)
records the miraculous passage of the Holy House through See: Bianchi and Howard 2003; Casola 2001; Coleman and Elsner 1995;
the Marche from its landing place in Ancona. The inscription Davies et al. 2013; Davis 2003; Fabri 1892; Howard 2000; Sumption 1975.
‘in civitate iustitae / domus mea’ (in the city of justice my
home) is wonderfully multivalent, as it can refer to the Holy 1. Coleman and Elsner, 2005, pp. 78–9.
2. Sumption, 1975.
House itself, to the town of Recanati, whose arms are displayed 3. Howard, 2000, pp. 189–216; Davis, 2003.
in the upper corners, and/or to the home in which it was 4. On mental pilgrimage see above, ‘Religious Images in the Eye of the Beholder’,
probably displayed. Within the home, devotion to the Virgin pp. 66–75.
5. Bynum, 2011, pp. 97–9.
and her shrine might be intensified by reading printed accounts 6. Bianchi and Howard, 2003, pp. 248–50.
of miracles enacted there (plate 147). 7. Fabri, 1892, p. 93; Casola, 2001, p. 205.
Real or imaginary, near or far, pilgrimage served as a 8. See above, ‘Shrines and Miracles’, pp. 137–9.
9. On the Veronica see ‘Crucifixion above a prayer against earthquake and sudden death,
metaphor for the whole Christian journey of life, following in woodcut’, above, pp. 58–9.
the footsteps of Christ and suffering hardship and sacrifice in 10. Davies et al., 2013.
search of eventual salvation. dh

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plate 148
Vincenzo Pagani,
The translation of the Holy House of Loreto,
mid 16th century
Recanati, Museo Civico

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 149
Model of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, 1600–1700
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum
The Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is believed to be the tomb
in which Joseph of Arimathea laid Jesus’s body, wrapped in
a shroud, after the Crucifixion. As recorded in the Gospels,
three days later the tomb was found to be empty; the risen
Christ subsequently appeared to various followers before he
ascended into heaven forty days later. The Resurrection of
Jesus lies at the heart of Christian belief.
A visit to the Holy Sepulchre therefore forms the climax
of Christian pilgrimage. Models of the shrine could be pur-
chased as souvenirs to remind pilgrims of their sacred journey.1
The models are thought to have been made in Bethlehem,
probably under the auspices of the Franciscans who were
the guardians of the Holy Places. Displayed in the homes of
returning pilgrims, such trophies helped other family members
and descendants to visualise the holy site and thus to perform a
‘mental pilgrimage’ as part of their private devotional practices.
Made of olive wood and inlaid with mother-of-pearl and
ivory or bone, the small model illustrated below (plate 150)
replicates the aedicule containing the tomb of Christ. The roof
of the apsed structure can be removed to reveal two internal
compartments: a small white tablet in the inner chamber rep-
resents the marble slab that sealed the rock-cut tomb. The open,
domed lantern turret over the tomb chamber serves as a symbol
of the descent of the Holy Fire, still celebrated every year on
Easter Saturday.2 The faithful could earn surrogate indulgences
by asking a pilgrim to carry a rosary or paternoster beads with
which to touch the tomb, as if to invest the object with sanctity
through tactile contact in their absence.
See: Bianchi and Howard 2003; Biddle 1999; Krautheimer 1942; Murphy
O’Connor 1998.
1. Most of the surviving models date from the seventeenth century or later.
2. This ritual perpetuates the tradition of the supposed miraculous emanation
of a bright flame at the Holy Sepulchre annually on Holy Saturday.
3. The Stone of Unction is the stone where it is believed that Joseph of Arimathea
prepared Christ’s body for burial by anointing it with oil.
4. Bianchi and Howard, 2003, p. 249.
plate 150
Model of the Holy Sepulchre aedicule,
1600–1700
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum
152
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 152
During its two-thousand-year history the tomb shrine has
been reconstructed several times. Destroyed in 1009 by order
of the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim, it was rebuilt by the Crusaders,
who probably added the rooftop lantern. The model shown
here depicts the shrine as rebuilt in 1555 by Boniface of Ragusa,
the Franciscan custodian of the Holy Land, but it was again
reconstructed in 1809–10 after an earthquake.
The tomb aedicule forms the innermost part of a large and
elaborate complex of buildings replicated in the larger model
(plate 149). In the early fourth century, under the Emperor
Constantine, the tomb was covered by a monumental domed
circular building with an adjoining basilica, which was later
extended and has been much altered over the centuries. The
church contains a sequence of shrines – including the Column
of the Flagellation, Calvary and the Stone of Unction, as well as
the Sepulchre itself – which create a devotional route, whether
in live pilgrimage or for meditation in absentia.3 Some of the
larger, more complex models of the whole church could be
dismantled like a puzzle to explain the intricate architectural
form (see inset).
Some pilgrims were not content with small-scale models
but constructed full-size replicas of the tomb aedicule on their
return. Examples survive in various parts of Europe, such as
the replica designed by Leon Battista Alberti in the Rucellai
chapel of San Pancrazio in Florence (fig. 57). Because the exact
dimensions were felt to embody the sanctity of the original,
pilgrims often carried ropes with which to measure the tomb
of Christ.4 dh
fig. 57
Leon Battista Alberti, Rucellai sepulchre, 1467
Florence, San Pancrazio
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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 151
Lorenzo Lotto, St James the Greater, c.1511–15
Recanati, Museo Civico
This tiny but exquisite picture shows the Apostle St James
the Greater, son of Zebedee and brother of St John the Evan-
gelist. Slain by the sword of Herod Agrippa i in 44 ce (Acts,
12.1–2), he is revered as one of the first Christian martyrs.
According to the Golden Legend, his followers in the Holy
Land took his body on to a rudderless boat, which drifted
until it landed in Galicia in Spain. After this miraculous trans-
lation, his tomb at Santiago de Compostela became one of the
principal pilgrimage destinations of Europe. The papacy en-
couraged the popularity of the shrine by conferring a plenary
indulgence (the complete remission of previous sins and hence
freedom from time in purgatory) on those who visited the
relics. Because of the growing cult, James became the patron
saint of pilgrims.
The painting shows St James trudging wearingly along a
path, with his pilgrim staff in one hand and a large open book
in the other. A plaited handkerchief dangling from the hook on
the staff seems to form the focus of the pilgrim’s gaze; indeed,
his tearful eyes and parted lips convey the intensity of his
meditation. The Golden Legend records that St James sent his
kerchief to a certain Philetus, a follower of the pagan magician
Hermogenes.1 Philetus realised his mistaken beliefs as soon as
he touched the cloth. Afterwards James cast out demons from
the angry Hermogenes, and gave the magician his staff to
protect him from devilish forces in the future. This miracle
of double conversion, specifically associated with the power of
the saint’s handkerchief and the staff, would have been familiar
to spectators of the time.
In the context of the Marche, the picture not only alluded
to the importance of Compostela as a far-flung pilgrim dest-
ination, but also to the popularity of local shrines such as
Loreto and Tolentino. The delicately painted coastal town in
the background bears a strong resemblance to the site of the
154
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 154
Marchigian port of Ancona.2 The ship in the right background
reminds the spectator of the miraculous translation of the saint’s
relics, as well as of St James’s dramatic casting of Hermogenes’
books of spells into the sea.
The artist has chosen a very low viewpoint to monu-
mentalise the saint’s body, despite the tiny dimensions of the
picture. St James appears silhouetted against the fluffy clouds of
the sky. Dressed as an Apostle, he wears a heavy robe of vivid
crimson with a deep blue cloak over his shoulders. His bare
feet on the stony path recall the sensory pain and sacrifice ex-
perienced by the pilgrim. On the ground is a grey pilgrim’s
hat, to which are attached the image of Christ’s face (held
by St Veronica or an angel) and a scallop shell (the emblem
of Santiago de Compostela and the most common symbol of
pilgrimage). Under the hat, the pilgrim’s bag of provisions and
water flask lie by the wayside, discarded as if to suggest the
unimportance of earthly sustenance.
Born in Venice around 1480, Lotto spent much of his
career in the Marche and Bergamo, perhaps to escape the
dominance of Titian’s reputation in his native city. In 1509
Pope Julius ii called Lotto from Recanati in the Marche to
Rome to work in the Vatican, but he had already returned to
the region by 1511. The evident influence of Raphael on the
bulk and classical grace of this figure has led to a suggested date
for this picture of around 1511–12, although some propose a
slightly later date.3
Because Lotto himself was a much-travelled artist who
faced setbacks and periods of depression, the painting has
been seen as a metaphor for his own professional and spiritual
journey. The identity of the saint, the pilgrim and the artist
are thus combined in this poignant figure, who encourages the
viewer to reflect on the path to salvation by empathising with
the ordeals of the traveller. dh
See: Barucca 2013; Dal Poggetto 2009; De Voragine 1993; Massa 2011; Poli 2011;
Zampetti 1981.
1. De Voragine, 1993, vol. 2, pp. 4–5.
2. It has been identified as the Porto di Recanati (Massa, 2011, p. 85; Barucca,
2013, p. 74), but the topography, fortifications and buildings also resemble early
views of Ancona. The stylistic affinity to the background of Raphael’s Madonna
di Foligno (the landscape perhaps painted by Dosso Dossi) has been noticed.
3. Barucca, 2013, p. 74. The painting is first recorded in the possession of the
Oratorio di San Giacomo in Recanati in 1620, but its small dimensions suggest
that it was always intended for personal devotion. A commission from the local
Fraternità dei Nobili has been suggested (Zampetti, 1981, p. 203), although it
may have been a private commission later given to the Oratorio.
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v
Reform and Renewal

The Catholic Reformation

Accounts of the Reformation normally begin north of the

Alps in the small German town of Wittenberg, where in 1517
an Augustinian friar, Martin Luther, challenged the author-
ity of the Roman Church and the theological foundations
on which it was built. But Renaissance Italy was already the
centre of religious ferment, bitter conflicts, programmes for re-
form and movements for spiritual renewal. As early as 1439,
the Italian humanist Lorenzo Valla deployed his philological
skills to question the secular authority of the papacy. Towards
the end of the fifteenth century, during turbulent years of
foreign invasion and political strife, Italy became a hotbed
of apocalyptic preachers and visionaries. Meanwhile, lay con-
fraternities proliferated and new types of devotion were en-
couraged by the availability of printed books (see plates 93
and 164).
In the wake of Luther’s attacks on the Church, institu-
tional reform gained momentum. The north Italian city of
Trent was the venue for the Council that met in three sessions
between 1545 and 1563 and which aimed to reform the Church
‘in head and members’ (fig. 58). Leading prelates like Gabriele
Paleotti (Archbishop of Bologna), Agostino Valier (Bishop of
Verona) and – most famously – Carlo Borromeo (Archbishop
of Milan) strove to make their dioceses models of discipline
and piety that would be emulated throughout Europe and
beyond. Italy was also the breeding ground for several new
religious orders, including the Theatines, renowned for their
austerity, the Oratorians, committed to working with the sick
and poor, and the Ursulines, a female order founded in Brescia
in 1535 and dedicated to the education of girls.1
Nor was Italy immune from the new ideas being nurtured
beyond the Alps. In 1580, the papal nuncio to Venice, Alberto
Bolognetti, reported that there were ‘in all some 900 Germans
living in Venice’, the great majority of whom were thought
plate 153
Holy water stoup, 1620
plate 152
London,
House altar, 1625–50 The Victoria and Albert Museum
London,
The Victoria and Albert Museum

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 fig. 58
Elia Naurizio, General congregation of the
Council in Santa Maria Maggiore, 1633
Trent, Museo Diocesano
to be heretics.2 When, four years later, north of Venice in the
foothills of the Dolomites, a miller named Menocchio was
tried by the Inquisition, a witness accused him of having ‘evil
ideas like those of the sect of Luther’.3 The Church responded
to such threats with repression and propaganda but at the same
time it nurtured new modes of devotion that appealed to all
the senses and worked on the emotions. By the close of the
sixteenth century, the homes of even poor Italian families were
full of the paraphernalia of piety: rosaries, cheap devotional
prints, candles and crucifixes (plates 58, 79 and 80). In central
Italy, maiolica workshops produced brightly coloured holy
water stoups for the pious laity (plate 153).
Wealthy families could of course afford more elaborate
items. A sumptuous house altar, wrought of fashionable ebony
and tortoiseshell, was the focus for devotion in an elite Roman
household (plate 152). Following the Council of Trent, Cath-
olic reformers were keen to supervise and – where possible –
curtail the presence of altars and chapels in houses. According
to new decrees, domestic chapels now had to be closed off
from the rest of the house; the use of incense and aspergils
(holy water sprinklers) was not allowed; Mass could not be
celebrated on major feast days, and music and sung Mass were
also prohibited. Nevertheless, the aspirations of elite families
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Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 158
to bring the church into the home were difficult to quell, and
‘altar rights’ were often granted to the rich and powerful.4
House altars therefore point to some of the contradictions
apparent in an age of Catholic reform and renewal. This
example testifies both to the prestige and the piety of the family
that commissioned it. The central panel, made of lapis lazuli
painted in oil colours, depicts the Holy Family fleeing from
Bethlehem to escape Herod, who had ordered the massacre of
all boys under the age of two – an emotive subject to place at
the heart of family devotions. mrl
See: Bamji et al. 2013; Brundin and Treherne 2009; Chambers and Pullan 2001;
Ginzburg 1980; Hsia 2005; Mattox 2006; Niccoli 1990.
1. Perhaps the most famous Counter-Reformation order was the Society of Jesus,
known as the Jesuits. While the first Jesuits met in Paris in the 1530s and were
of Iberian and French origin, by the time their order, the Society of Jesus, was
founded by papal bull in 1540, they had established their headquarters in Rome.
2. Chambers and Pullan, 2001, p. 330.
3. Ginzburg, 1980, p. 3.
4. Mattox, 2006, pp. 659, 665, 671–3.
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fig. 59
Soliani Workshop, A family at their
devotions, mid 17th century
Modena,
Biblioteca Estense Universitaria
New Modes of Piety
A woodcut now in the Biblioteca Estense, Modena shows
a rare picture of domestic devotion (fig. 59). The image is
divided into six scenes. The upper three take place inside a
church and prescribe a specific meditation for each part of the
day (on the Resurrection in the morning, the Passion in the
afternoon and the Incarnation in the evening). On the lower
level, we see three scenes of lay devotion. The motif of a clerk
holding a rope links each of the lower scenes to the one above
and reminds the beholder that daily rituals should take place
at fixed times, marked by the sound of the church bell.
Domestic devotions after Trent
The woodcut can be interpreted as a visual translation of the
texts that, in the aftermath of the Council of Trent, aimed
to regulate piety, giving precise instruction on everyday
prayer. In 1577 an Instituto dell’oratione commune da farsi ogni sera
in ciascuna casa con tutta la famiglia (Instruction on Common
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 159
r efor mint
a nroduction
d r e n ewa l
Prayer to be Performed by the Whole Family Every Evening
in Every House) was issued in Perugia.1 According to the
Instituto dell’oratione domestic devotion should be meticulously
organised. At the sound of the bell of the main church, the
paterfamilias would gather the whole family in a room to
pray. The text encouraged families to employ the rosary, sacred
images and religious books in their devotions. Among the
suggested prayers are the psalm Miserere mei and the hymn
Veni, Sancte Spiritus (Come, Holy Spirit). Pious readings and
orations should not exceed in length the duration of five Our
Fathers and five Hail Marys. While the question of whether
men and women in the household should pray together or in
different rooms was left to the father’s discretion, it was his
duty to ensure that everyone in the household pray at exactly
the same time. As head of the family he was responsible for the
spiritual salvation of the whole household, including servants
and employees as well as members of kin.2
Similar but more detailed instructions were handed down
by the Archbishop of Milan, Carlo Borromeo, in his Libretto
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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 154
Book of hours, c.1460–80
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
de i ricordi al popolo della citta et diocese di Milano (Little Book
of Teachings to the People of the City and Diocese of Milan,
1578).3 Borromeo stressed the importance of reading pious
works, of continuously praying throughout the day, especially
at prescribed times, whilst also instructing the faithful on how
to create a sacred space in the house. Houses should possess
an oratorio, a place to pray, and it was advisable to keep in the
bedchamber images of Christ, the Virgin, or other saints.
Borromeo also advised families to keep some holy water in the
house with which to cross themselves at the moment of going
to bed or waking up. Finally, he recommended the wearing of
an Agnus Dei.
In the second half of the sixteenth century, domestic
devotion became the object of dense regulation that aimed
to control not only the soul, but also the body, including
dietary prescriptions and gestures. In his Essercitio della vita
Cristiana (Practice of Christian Life), a bestseller that ran to
fourteen editions in the sixteenth century following its initial
publication in 1562, the Spanish Jesuit Gaspar Loarte rec-
ommended that as soon as the pious devotee woke up, he or
she should offer to God the first acts of every part of the body:
‘the heart, remembering He who created you and sighing to
Him; the eyes, gazing at an image of Him … the legs, humbly
kneeling in front of him, raising your hands to adore Him,
thanking Him with your mouth, saying some short orations
like the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Creed’.4 Lunch should
be frugal, in order not to hinder the subsequent time of prayer
or reading of some pious work.
These examples eloquently show the prominent role
of private piety in the Counter Reformation, alongside the
public display of religiosity. Indeed, if in the second half of the
century the Church promoted a heroic model of sanctity (often
160
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 160
associated with Catholic martyrs and missionaries), it is also
true that a softer, sweeter and more domestic form of devotion
took root. This latter trend can be found in the teaching of St
Philip Neri, who founded the Congregation of the Oratory
in 1575. The lives of four of his first followers, collected in a
manuscript now in the Casanatense Library in Rome, fully
demonstrate this new spirituality. Two of them were cobblers
and one was an illuminator, which testifies to the extent to
which new forms of spirituality reached the lower levels of
society. These hagiographies reveal a piety which is profoundly
domestic: the illuminator Vincenzo and his wife, the cobbler
Stefano from Rimini, and his colleague Mario Tosini all
lived in small houses where they practised assiduous prayer
and strenuous meditation. If Vincenzo’s house resembled
a monastery because of his and his family’s intense piety,
Stefano had visions and ‘lived alone in his tiny house, where
he enjoyed the greatness of the Heavens’.5 When Mario died in
1557 he appeared in a vision to St Philip, who saw him happily
walking towards Paradise. These exemplary figures suggested
a new, domestic pattern of sanctity that was expressed through
continuous prayer, virtue and visions. While the ecclesiastical
authorities had an ambivalent attitude towards such intense
expressions of lay piety, new forms of spirituality often took on
a life of their own.6
Concern and control
During the Counter Reformation, religious authorities sought
to tame the unregulated cults and beliefs that were spreading
throughout Italy. Books, both manuscript and printed, bear
traces of the continuities and changes in devotion. In the case
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plate 155
Confitemini della Madonna con le Letanie, 1553
Rome, Biblioteca Casanatense
of one particular book of hours, we can see a set of differ-
ent reactions to the text from different readers (plate 154).
Probably produced in Milan in the 1460s or 1470s, the volume
contained, among other things, an invocation to Sts Peter and
Paul and a prayer to All Saints for general protection. This
prayer is repeated three times throughout the text and has been
crossed out in each case. In two cases, a sixteenth-century
hand has added a note saying that the prayer could be tolerated
(cc. 49v–50v; 53v–54r), whilst in the last case, it has apparently
been replaced by a prayer to the Virgin written in the same
hand (c. 66r–v). The last annotation therefore suggests that the
reader found this prayer unacceptable. Was it because it begged
the Lord to repel every iniquity from His Church? Or was it
because the invocation to the saints was somehow redolent of
superstition? Yet the same prayer appeared acceptable in the eyes
of a different reader (or of the same reader at a different stage).
This book of hours testifies to the desire of readers to exercise
active control over their books and their forms of devotion.
Church authorities invested enormous amounts of effort
in the attempt to eradicate those practices that they considered
superstitious. In particular, prayers or rubrics, found in books
of hours or other works, that instructed the faithful on how to
perform orations in order to obtain supernatural effects, were
banned and censored. Yet folk beliefs were deeply rooted in
contemporary culture and the Congregation of the Index –
the official Catholic body tasked from 1559 with identifying
and censoring or banning heretical texts – frequently failed
in its attempts to control the print market. Histories, legends
and orazioni containing amuletic texts were issued throughout
the sixteenth century, long after they had been prohibited (see
plate 159).
The Confitemini della Madonna con le Letanie (plate 155) is a
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 161
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compelling example of how the perception of orthodoxy
changed over the century. Published in 1553, the book features
on a papal bull issued by Pius v in 1571 that lists those books
that should no longer be tolerated.7 The Confitemini grants
protection against plague to those who recite the litanies of the
Virgin. In addition, a rubric introduces a psalm meant to offer
consolation and help to a suffering friend. The psalm was to be
recited for seven days in a row in the morning, before having
any food, and whilst kneeling in front of an image of the
Virgin; each line should be accompanied by a Hail Mary. An
anonymous late sixteenth-century reader – possibly a member
of the Congregation of the Index – has erased some parts of
the text while making some notes such as ‘Devotion with foul
superstition’ or ‘Again, there is superstition’.8 Yet the book was
reprinted in 1694 with a prayer ‘Against charms, thunderbolts,
and flashes’.9 The Confitemini testifies to the resistance of pop-
ular religion: in fact, the Inquisition failed to eliminate the
folk beliefs that were ubiquitous and that lasted well beyond
the Renaissance. mf
See: Borromeo 1578; Caravale 2003; Confitemini 1553; Instituto 1577; Loarte 1569;
Verstegen 2015.
1. Instituto, 1577.
2. See also ‘The Family’, above, pp. 14–15.
3. Borromeo, 1578.
4. Loarte, 1569, c. 9v.
5. Rome, Biblioteca Casanatense, ms. 2068 (olim xx.vi.25), c. 41v.
6. On the spirituality of the Filippini and its domestic dimension see
Verstegen, 2015.
7. Caravale, 2003, pp. 76–7.
8. Confitemini, 1553, cc. Aiv, B1v.
9. Oratione devotissima del Confitemini della Madonna […] (in Ronciglione:
per il Menichelli, 1694, Con Licenza de’ Superiori), p. 13.
161
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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s

Religious Art in
the Age of Reform

… great profit is derived from all sacred images

With this statement, in 1563 the Council of Trent decis-

ively affirmed the value of religious art to Catholic devotion.1
Images, the Council agreed, communicated the divine truth of
the Incarnation to worshippers, provided them with exemplars
of ideal behaviour, and moved them to ‘adore and love God’.
In the face of strident criticisms from Protestant reformers
such as Calvin and Zwingli, the Council asserted that as long
as images were not worshipped in their own right, they had
enormous didactic and affective potency.
While the Council’s decree drew a clear line of distinction
between Catholic and Protestant attitudes, it did not in fact say
anything new or specific. Its advice on potential errors in works
of art was similarly vague: ‘superstition’ was to be removed,
‘lasciviousness’ avoided and ‘abuses’ abolished.2 No mention
was made of how to identify these abuses, or how to abolish
them. The decree on images, which was hastily put together in
the face of the looming conclusion of the Council, was certainly
not a detailed manifesto on Catholic art in the age of reform.
Yet over the course of the sixteenth century, serious con- plate 156
cerns were expressed in Italy about the creation and use of Giorgio Ghisi,
religious images. Churchmen who were heavily invested in re- The Crucifixion with mourning angels,
form wrote treatises in which they decried perceived errors, and c.1575–9
laid out prescriptions for the making of correct Catholic art.3 Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
Their worries tended to coalesce around imagery that failed
to draw clear distinctions between the sacred and the profane,
and works of art that strayed from historical and theological and seems about to rise – prompted the kind of powerful
truth. Although these voices within the Church pushed for emotional response advocated by reformers. Similar extant en-
greater policing of the ‘abuses’ identified in the Tridentine gravings (plate 156) reflect the demand from worshippers for
decree, in effect this was left in the hands of individual Christocentric images to contemplate in their homes. Simul-
bishops. In Milan, Archbishop Carlo Borromeo attempted taneously, however, many of the things that were deemed
to ensure that paintings in churches were easily decipherable, ‘disorderly or unbecoming and confusedly arranged … profane
and adhered to the Gospels.4 In Rome, Michelangelo’s Last … disrespectful’ by the strictest interpreters of the Tridentine
Judgement fresco was singled out for censure, and the nudity of decree continued to appear in religious images, and there
some of the figures duly covered up.5 But the Church could was no clear break that marked the end of the ‘Renaissance’
not extend control over all image-making, and there was no and the inception of ‘Counter-Reformation’ art.6 As ever,
systematic attempt to do so, in the way that there was for the the relationship between the official stipulations of religious
printed word. authorities and the realities of private devotion was one of
In the absence of any clear, official guidelines, artists re- negotiation, rather than prescriptive imposition. mc
sponded in distinct ways to the changing religious climate of
the period. Certain trends emerged: the direct and compelling
realism of Caravaggio and his followers; an increase in images See: Bamji et al. 2013; Borromeo 1577; Gilio da Fabriano 1564; Hall 2013;
O’Malley 2013; Paleotti 2002; Schroeder 1978.
of penitential saints such as Jerome and Mary Magdalene (see
plate 158); artworks that placed intense focus on Christ and his 1. Schroeder, 1978, p. 216.
Eucharistic significance. In an early seventeenth-century 2. Ibid., pp. 216–7.
painting by Marcantonio Bassetti (plate 157) dramatic lighting, 3. Gilio da Fabriano, 1564; Paleotti, 2002.
4. Borromeo, 1577.
the black marble ground, and Christ’s liminal state of being 5. Gilio da Fabriano, 1564.
– he is dead but somehow his body supports its own weight, 6. Schroeder, 1978, p. 217.

plate 157
Marcantonio Bassetti,
The Dead Christ supported by the
Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene, c.1616
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 158
Annibale Carracci, Mary Magdalene in a Landscape, c.1599
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
With a closed book and skull in her lap, Mary Magdalene
raises her brimming eyes heavenwards as a tear rolls down her
rosy cheek. Utterly absorbed in her sorrow she is unaware of
both the landscape in which she sits and the viewer’s presence.
Her deep blue robe has fallen away, revealing her breasts and
waist-length golden locks. Unlike so many artworks intended
for domestic devotion (for example plates 53 and 78) here the
beholder’s role is to observe, rather than interact with, the holy
figure.
Carracci depicts the former prostitute on her retreat into
the wilderness to meditate on her previous life of sin. This epi-
sode does not appear in the Bible, but was described in pop-
ular religious texts such as the Golden Legend. These accounts
emphasised the saint’s sincere penitence as she lived out her
days as an ascetic, renouncing the sins of her past. The popu-
larity of this iconography in the climate of Catholic reform
may seem surprising.1 Paintings like this one presented the
saint’s sensual charms in a way that is at first hard to reconcile
with the work’s moralising function. In direct contravention
of Counter-Reformation advice on verisimilitude, Carracci’s
Magdalene is not a wasted ascetic at the end of her life, but a
plump and beautiful young woman. However, characteristics
that to modern eyes seem straightforwardly erotic would have
evoked a more complex set of responses in original viewers.
The imagery of the beautiful, penitent Magdalene re-
flected changing religious currents as the reform movement
brought with it a new sense of moral urgency. Preachers thun-
derously condemned illicit sex and urged their listeners to
embrace the sacrament of penance. Strange as it may seem,
images that could stir erotic feeling in male beholders, whilst
simultaneously reminding them that such responses were to be
controlled and overcome, could hold special spiritual value.2
Magdalene paintings that emphasised the saint’s loveliness
were popular tools for private devotion amongst women, as
well as men.3 Vittoria Colonna, who was renowned for her
fig. 60
Titian, St Mary Magdalene,
c.1530–35
Florence, Palazzo Pitti
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Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 164
intense piety, owned a painting similar to the one by Titian
illustrated here in which the saint’s physical charms were
prominently on display (fig. 60).4 The image concurrently
confronts the beholder with the Magdalene’s former life of
sensuality – literally embodied in her luscious naked beauty –
and with her penitence – in her glistening tears and repentant
attitude. It vividly suggests that viewers ought likewise to
forsake the realm of the flesh for the spiritual life of the soul.
At the same time, the Magdalene’s beauty could bring
to mind the special depth of her love for Christ. Although
different positions on the moral value of beauty coexisted in
this period, the idea that internal spiritual purity would be
reflected in external loveliness was commonplace.5 In the figure
of the Magdalene this concept was conflated with the broader
cultural understanding that love and beauty went hand-in-
hand. Archbishop Federico Borromeo of Milan noted that by
depicting the saint ‘as a young woman of vibrant freshness’
artists were able to convey that she was ‘consumed with love’.6
Vittoria Colonna wrote poetry in which she celebrated ‘this
beautiful woman’ whose heart was ‘burning with love’ for
Christ, ‘her one true lover’.7 Colonna made the powerful
assertion that the Magdalene’s example proved that a woman’s
heart could be ‘more aflame and more constant’ than a man’s.8
The saint therefore embodied both the renunciation of sensory
sins, and a particularly potent and feminine bond of love with
Christ.
Not all beholders, though, would have been as educated,
pious or contemplative as Colonna. Contemporaries acknow-
ledged that in works like this one artists trod a fine line in
seeking to prompt ‘thoughts of pity rather than desire’.9 Less
devout viewers might admire the painting for its aesthetic
and sensory charms, and fail to heed its warning against these
seductive pleasures. After all, not all responses to religious art
conformed to the hopes and expectations of reformers and
Church authorities. mc
See: Benay and Rafanelli 2015; Borromeo 2010; Colonna 1558; Colonna 2005;
Corry 2013a; Corry 2013b; Erhardt and Morris 2012; Haskins 1993; Mosco 1986;
Vasari 2008; Weddigen 2012.
1. Mosco, 1986.
2. Corry, 2013a.
3. Weddigen, 2012, p. 197; Benay and Rafanelli, 2015, p. 159.
4. See below, ‘Tutte le rime …’, p. 172.
5. Corry, 2013b, pp. 568–70. See also above, ‘Religious Images in the Eye of the
Beholder’, pp. 66–75.
6. Borromeo, 2010, p. 155.
7. Colonna, 1558, sonnet 157; Colonna, 2005, pp. 76–7.
8. Colonna, 1558, sonnet 157.
9. Vasari, 2008, p. 505.
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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s

Heterodox Devotion in the

Italian Renaissance Home

On 30 December 1567, a wool-worker named Cipriano

Semprini was summoned by the Venetian Inquisitor. The
so-called ‘Holy Office’ had been investigating his family for
over a month as part of a broader inquiry into a large network
of dissent involving the nobleman Alvise Mocenigo. Among
other things, Cipriano confessed that recently, on a feast day,
he had gone to the Rialto with his brother Stefano to buy
some books of ‘Histories’ for the women of his household.
At the same time, he had purchased some heterodox booklets
among which was the La speranza del Cristiano. These books
were read out loud and discussed at home. The Semprini
brothers, two of whom, Stefano and Francesco, were dead
by the time of Cipriano’s trial, had been avid readers. Among
their possessions were a book by the heretic Antonio Brucioli
that Cipriano – the least literate of the brothers – kept hidden
behind a frame in the portego (main reception room) of his
house; a New Testament, that he used to carry with him; and
a copy of Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso.
Not only did the Semprini brothers and other members
of the family read heterodox books aloud together: they also
voiced contempt for the most common Catholic devotional
practices. Their mother Angela recalled that Francesco would
tear into pieces the images of St Francis and of other saints
that she kept in her house. Elisabetta, daughter of Angelo, a
cap-maker, and the former wife of Stefano, had denounced
her husband to the Inquisitor for reading the Gospel every
night whilst also going too far in discussing radical religious
ideas. Moreover, he had warned Elisabetta’s mother, a faithful
Catholic who recited the rosary and regularly went to church
to confess and take Communion, that she would do well to
abandon these practices, and to stick to the Gospel. Stefano
and Cipriano were influenced by the teaching of a Marchigian
priest, Fedele Vico della Penna. Among other questionable
beliefs, Fedele, who used to visit the Semprini household
regularly, pronounced that Communion ought to be taken
at home, and could be administered by laymen with a slice plate 159
of bread; and that the Our Father, the Hail Mary and other Oratione devotissima alla madre di Dio
common prayers had no effect whatsoever on the destiny of the trovata nel S. Sepolcro di Christo, undated
soul in the afterlife.1 Rome, Biblioteca Alessandrina

Printing and the spread of heterodox ideas

The story of Stefano and Cipriano was by no means un-
common in sixteenth-century Italy, especially in a city such as
Venice where Protestant ideas were widespread, fostered by the
impressive output of the printing presses. In 1549, the former
Bishop of Capodistria, Pier Paolo Vergerio, who had fled from
Italy to escape an inquisitorial trial, lamented that on feast
days, in the workshops and along the loggias of many Italian
cities, one could find a number of booklets containing histories
and legends of the saints, orations and other ‘superstitious’
Catholic texts. This certainly testifies to people’s enthusiasm
for devotional books, both as a central aspect of domestic
piety and because these texts were used as talismans to assure
protection against a number of troubles and illnesses (plate
159; see plate 155). However, as the story of Cipriano shows,
it is also true that it was easy to find in the bookshops and on
the stalls a completely different kind of work: books translated
from Latin or German, coming from Northern Europe, that
disclosed to Italian readers the ideas of the Reformation,
making available to a large public the works of Luther, Calvin
and Melanchthon. The penetration of such texts and ideas
was widespread, starting at least from the early 1520s. Their
appeal lay in the long-standing discontent of Italians regarding
the abuses of the Church and the ignorance of the clergy.
From a theological point of view, Protestant ideas on Grace,
salvation through faith and the role of good works converged

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with an Italian tradition, eminently expressed in the works of

the Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola. Prior to Luther,
certain Italian theologians had developed the radical view that
salvation was granted to everyone by God’s Grace, regardless
of merit or sin. This doctrine, centred on the importance of
having faith in God’s mercy, was far more consolatory than
those formulated north of the Alps and offered a ‘sweet’ way
to salvation.
Sweetness was indeed one of the keywords of the Italian
Reformation. The teaching contained in these books – esp-
ecially in the bestselling Beneficio di Cristo (see plate 164) –
offered consolation and solace, especially to the lower classes.2
People discovered in these works how God had granted
salvation to mankind through his Grace and through the
mystery of the Incarnation and death of his only child. As a
consequence, it was no longer necessary to resort to images or
any kind of objects that mediated access to God. The reading
of the Gospel, prayer and firm belief in salvation would grant
plate 160
eternal life. This turn towards a style of devotion that was
perceived as more intimate and profound accounts for the Kneeling woman prays for her family
by the sick bed, early 16th century
appeal of the new books. As Vergerio proudly stated, they
were relentlessly printed and circulated all over Italy, while Tolentino, Museo di San Nicola
authors and publishers resorted to a variety of expedients to
elude censorship and the Inquisition’s attention.
What were the titles of these texts? In addition to the
most successful of them, the Beneficio di Cristo, a reliable list
can be derived from Vergerio’s polemical pamphlet entitled Il
catalogo de’ libri (The Catalogue of Books, 1549). Written as a
response to the Index of prohibited books promulgated by the
Catholic Church, the Catalogo was intended as a confutation of
the arrogance (and, in Vergerio’s view, the ignorance) of both
the papal ambassador in Venice, Giovanni Della Casa, and of
the Inquisition. Vergerio sarcastically noted how the most read
books had escaped the Inquisitors’ attention; these included
‘the Medicine of the Soul, the Treatise on Oration by Cardinal
Fregoso, the Preface to the Epistle to the Romans, published
under the name of the same Fregoso but actually written by
Luther … the Apology of friar Baldo … the works by Girolamo
Savonarola … the Summary of the Holy Scripture … a most
useful book for those who cannot comprehend Latin’.3 To
these, one could add a number of satirical writings, scourging
the vices of the Church and ranging from Celio Secondo
Curione’s Pasquino in estasi (Pasquino in Ecstasy), to Alfonso de
Váldes’ dialogues (especially the Dialogue Between Mercury and
Charon) and Francesco Negri’s Tragedia del libero arbitrio (The
Tragedy of Free Will).
Addressing a vast readership of male and female, literate
and illiterate readers, these books were bought, borrowed,
copied, passed from hand to hand, treasured and carefully kept
in the house, often hidden in trunks, behind a frame, in some
cavity in the walls or in a secluded room. Their owners, who
varied in their levels of literacy, used either to meditate upon plate 161
them silently or to read them aloud in company. Inquisitorial Kneeling woman prays by a crib,
trials provide us with the names of cobblers, traders of clothes, late 15th/early 16th century
blacksmiths, carpenters as well as cardinals, well-off merchants Tolentino, Museo di San Nicola

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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
or duchesses. In Naples in 1539, tanners used to gather and
discuss issues such as the power of the pontiff, the existence
of Purgatory and the relation between Grace and good works;
they also offered commentaries on Paul’s Epistles. Alarmed
descriptions of similar episodes emerge from dozens of docu-
ments and texts from all over Italy.4
Criticisms of Catholic devotions
How did these books shape the daily devotional practices of
Italian laypeople? In 1542, a short work appeared entitled Pio
et christianissimo trattato dell’oratione (A Pious and Most Christian
Treatise on Prayer) by the Cardinal and Bishop of Gubbio,
Federico Fregoso. In this work, dedicated to the Duchess of
Urbino, Eleonora Gonzaga, Fregoso taught that prayer must
be carried out in private, preferably in the most secluded room
of one’s home (see fig. 61). According to Fregoso, prayer was
an intimate communication with God and required absolute
concentration. There was no need, then, to resort to material
objects like paternosters, rosaries or books of hours. Fregoso
condemned all forms of prayer which were not directly
addressed to God as superstitious. His advice was founded on
Matthew, 6.6: ‘But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy
closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father
which is in secret’.5
Similarly, Vergerio in his Catalogo mocked both devotional
objects like Agnus Dei and paternosters (‘tiny, round pieces of
wood’) and the Pope who blessed them and thereby granted
absolution from all sins to those who recited their prayers
while touching those beads, even without minding their
words.6 Vergerio describes how often he had come across
noble women and great hypocrites (hipocritoni) who used to
carry the paternosters like jewels, ‘attached to a ring or to a
small chain; or how many fools and imbeciles’ crowded the
Venetian churches and would touch the paternosters displayed
on the altars to obtain salvation.7 Vergerio, one of the sharpest
polemicists of his time, attacked with special violence the cult
of (and pilgrimages to) the shrine of Loreto, in the Marche,
as exemplary of the corruption of the Catholic Church (see
plates 144, 145 and 147). In his opinion, the real cult attached
to Loreto was that of money, hence the donations of ‘cash,
rosaries, necklaces, rings and other gold and silver’.8 In Loreto
one could find nothing apart from a host of ‘innkeepers, pimps,
prostitutes, cheats, priests … and small rascals selling small
images, small rosaries and other similar small superstitions’.9
Thus wrote Vergerio in a work from 1554 entitled Della camera
et statua della Madonna chiamata di Loretto (Of the Chamber and
Statue of the Virgin Called of Loreto). Similarly, the miracles
depicted on the ex-voto tablets showing the Virgin appearing
with angels in the chambers of devotees were nothing but the
fantasies of ‘peasants, porters, innkeepers, laundresses or of
some other kind of old woman’ (plates 160–163).10
Historical evidence shows how Vergerio’s attacks were
rooted in a rapidly evolving reality. In October 1549, Carlo
Vannetti (the vicar of the Bishop of Gubbio) wrote that,
following the preaching of the heretic Bartolomeo della
Pergola, the people from Pergola (a village not far from Urbino,
in the Marche region) no longer cared for the Masses and Offici
of the Dead, and had stopped making charitable donations to
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Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 168
friars and priests. Another, anonymous letter to the Inquisitor
General denounced a companion of Bartolomeo, Pietro
Panfilo, for teaching heretical ideas, so that ‘every peasant
debated the Epistles of St Paul, the works, the confession and
the prayers for the dead, despising all of that’. For his part,
Pietro himself ‘dishonoured the saints, vituperated images and
said that Loreto is a devilish thing’.11 As late as 1571, Giovanni
Battista Codessa from Gonars, near Udine, in Friuli Venezia
Giulia, was tried by the local Inquisition. He was found to be
in possession of prohibited books, including Vergerio’s pam-
phlet on Loreto. Giovanni Battista was charged with being
a Lutheran: and yet he defended himself declaring that he
regularly performed perfectly orthodox everyday domestic
devotional practices: ‘I pray to the saints and honour them,
and I recite very often the Holy Office, and the seven Psalms
of David and other prayers that come from my Offici because
… in my house I have four copies of the Officio of the Roman
Church’.12
New beliefs and practices
Beyond the critique of traditional piety, heterodox devotion
was marked by some radically new ideas and practices. This is
the case with the Libretto volgare (A Vernacular Booklet, 1525),
a translation from a series of Luther’s short texts containing an
explanation of the Ten Commandments, the Creed and the
Our Father.13 The book warned believers against the practice
of necromancy, witchcraft, and any kind of superstition. Most
of all, it taught at length how God’s mercy is infinite, and how
He does not measure our deeds. However feeble our nature,
however tiny our merits, God’s benevolence will save us.
All God asks of us is to believe and never doubt that we are
predestined to salvation: to surrender our will and perform our
good deeds. These are not a means of obtaining rewards from
God: rather, they are a sign and a proof of authentic faith. The
text also puts a strong emphasis on mutual help and reciprocal
solidarity and support: among true Christians, everything
ought to be common. As the anonymous Sommario della Santa
Scrittura (Summary of the Holy Scripture), another widespread
work – originally printed in the Netherlands in 1523 – put
it, apart from hope and faith, the only other rule to follow
for Christians should be that of charity (‘to serve each other
out of sheer charity’).14 True Christians ought to pray for each
other and help those in need, sharing their possessions with
them. They should live according to the Gospel, because the
perfection of Christian life does not reside ‘in fasting, saying
orations with your mouth, staying awake, reading, singing,
bowing your head or kneeling down’, nor has it to do with ‘long
prayers, singing songs, burning candles, making pilgrimages’.15
The education of Christian children should rely on the reading
of the Gospels, the Epistles and the Old Testament instead of
books about chivalry or love.
The Sommario della Santa Scrittura was perhaps the most
widely circulated book within the heretical community of the
‘Brothers’, in the city of Modena. At least twelve out of some
thirty members (there were around 120 more sympathisers)
owned a copy of it. Studies of this community allow us to
understand the devotional practices of an Italian reformed
community. The Brothers were tied by bonds of mutual support
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fig. 61
Woodcut illustration to Alessandro
Caravia, Il sogno dil Caravia
Venice, 1541
plate 162
Kneeling woman prays to St Nicholas
to cure her sick husband, late 16th century
Tolentino, Museo di San Nicola
plate 163
Piergiovanni da Caldarola and his wife thank
St Nicholas for the healing of their son, 1516
Tolentino, Museo di San Nicola
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 169
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that overcame social divisions. They met in houses (sometimes
in attics), and workshops to discuss faith, predestination, free
will and the sacraments, and to read prohibited books. The
leading figures of the group owed their pre-eminent positions
both to their intellectual status (evident in their familiarity
with the Bible and with Protestant texts) and to their social
condition. Wealthy merchants and members of the urban
aristocracy supported destitute brothers with charity. The
Brothers believed that the Eucharist had merely symbolic
value. Yet, as the bread and wine symbolised Christ’s sacrifice
that won humanity’s salvation, the Brothers used to gather in
houses to celebrate the Eucharistic dinner, a practice which
also reinforced their sense of belonging to a community. The
Brothers believed that the mechanical recitation of everyday
prayers without actually understanding their content was a
form of blasphemy. Similarly, it was preferable to visit the
infirm rather than to recite the rosary. As for images of
the saints, the Brothers thought that it was unacceptable to
say the Our Father in front of them. Even images of Christ were
not to be admitted: rather, the devotees should bear the image
of Christ in their hearts. Among the ‘domestic’ consequences
of these ideas was that they regarded it as acceptable to prepare
banquets with meat and other prohibited food during Lent or
on official fast days.16
The home played a pivotal role in heterodox devotion not
only because of the obvious need to hide from the authorities’
eyes. The new type of reformed devotion that spread in Italy
from the 1520s was an intimate one, centred on mental prayer,
on reading and on meditation; it deliberately expunged the
materiality that was central to orthodox Catholicism. For this
generation of radical devotees, the house was an ideal space in
which to perform a daily, silent dialogue with God. mf
See: Al Kalak 2011; Ambrosini 1999; Buschbell 1910; Castaldo 1769; Fregoso
1542; Libretto volgare 1525; Bianco 1988; Vergerio 1554; Vergerio 2010.
1. On the Semprini family, Mocenigo and Vico see Ambrosini, 1999, ad indicem
(esp. pp. 234–6 for the Semprini) and Archivio di Stato di Venezia, Savi all’eresia
(Sant’Ufficio), b. 23.
2. See below, ‘Benedetto Fontanini da Mantova, Trattato utilissimo del beneficio di
Giesu Christo …’, pp. 170–1.
3. Vergerio, 2010, p. 264.
4. Castaldo, 1769, p. 74.
5. Fregoso, 1542.
6. Vergerio, 2010, pp. 271–2.
7. Ibid., p. 272.
8. Vergerio, 1554, c. Gvir.
9. Ibid., c. hiiiiv.
10. Vergerio, 1554, c. hviiv.
11. The letters are transcribed in Buschbell, 1910, pp. 317–19, at p. 319.
12. Archivio della Curia Arcivescovile di Udine, Fondo Sant’Officio, b. 1280,
fasc. 50, c. 149r.
13. Libretto volgare, 1525.
14. Bianco, 1988, p. 109.
15. Ibid., p. 128; p. 109.
16. On the Brothers see Al Kalak, 2011.
169
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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 164
Benedetto Fontanini da Mantova,
Trattato utilissimo del beneficio di Giesu Christo crocifisso,
verso i christiani, 1543
Cambridge, St John’s College Library
The Beneficio di Cristo was the most successful and influen-
tial Italian devotional book of the sixteenth century; it
reached an exceptionally wide audience and was soon trans-
lated into many European languages.1 According to Pier Paolo
Vergerio, in Venice alone over 40,000 copies of it were sold in
the six years following its publication in 1543. Unfortunately,
the book was sought after not only by Italian devotees, but
also by the Congregation of the Index – the Roman office
responsible for censorship of books. Only one copy of the first
edition survives, now held in the Library of St John’s College,
Cambridge.
Although the book was published anonymously, we now
know that the author of the Beneficio was a Benedictine monk,
Benedetto Fontanini, assisted by the humanist Marcantonio
Flaminio. Fontanini belonged to the reformed congregation
called ‘Cassinese’, also named ‘di Santa Giustina’ after the
Paduan monastery where it originated in the fifteenth century.
Whilst calling for a strict adherence to the rule of St Benedict,
in the early sixteenth century Cassinese monks elaborated a
theology centred on the notion of salvation of mankind thanks
to Christ’s incarnation and sacrifice. They argued that while
it was God’s Grace that saved believers, ‘good works’ (such as
acting charitably, performing devotional rites or going on a
pilgrimage) also played a role, despite not having efficacy per
se. Some of these ideas had already been expressed by Girolamo
Savonarola at the end of the fifteenth century: in fact, many
of his assertions on the relationship between Grace and good
works were echoed in the Beneficio almost verbatim.2 This
not only testifies to the long-lasting influence of Savonarola’s
170
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 170
teaching, but also to the existence of a peculiarly Italian
spirituality that developed alongside the Reformation.
The first edition of the Beneficio was a small octavo format
that made it both affordable and easy to carry (and to hide). Its
message offered solace at a historical moment when all hope of
reconciliation between the Protestant and Catholic Churches
had vanished, only a year after the establishment of the Roman
Inquisition. Originally composed and circulated in manuscript
form in 1542, the text was promptly recognised as ‘Lutheran’
by the Dominican friar Ambrogio Catarino Politi. At this
point, the text underwent revision by Flaminio, resulting in
the insertion of passages heavily influenced by Calvin’s ideas.
Whilst Flaminio seemed a firm adherent to the doctrine of pre-
destination (the idea that individuals are either destined to sal-
vation or damnation according to God’s pre-existing plan),
Fontanini believed in free will and in the importance of good
works. Most of all, however, he believed in the so-called ‘broad
way’ to salvation. Following Cassinese theology, Fontanini
affirmed that Christ’s sacrifice had healed man’s free will: faith
in salvation through Grace re-established our pristine inno-
cence and our similitude with God. Flaminio, by contrast,
had a more pessimistic view of human nature, as corrupted
by Adam’s fall.3 The ideas formulated in the Beneficio were
at the basis of the spirituality of the group known as the
Spirituali, including the poet Vittoria Colonna and the artist
Michelangelo Buonarroti. However, not all readers would have
comprehended the text’s theological subtleties: what many per-
ceived was a message of hope, joy and consolation, based on
the idea that Christ’s sacrifice had enabled salvation for all. mf
See: Benedetto da Mantova 1972; Ginzburg and Prosperi 1975; Lazzerini 2013.
1. For a modern edition of the Italian text as well as of its translations
see Benedetto da Mantova, 1972.
2. Lazzerini, 2013.
3. On the history of the composition of the Beneficio see Ginzburg and Prosperi,
1975.
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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
plate 165
Attr. Marcello Venusti (after Michelangelo),
The Crucifixion with the Virgin Mary and St John the
Evangelist, c.1555–60
Oxford, Campion Hall/Ashmolean Museum
plate 166
Tutte le rime della illustriss. et eccellentiss.
Signora Vittoria Colonna, 1558
London, British Library
See: Brundin et al. 2016; Colonna 2005; Forcellino 2009; Nagel 1997;
Ragionieri 2005.
1. Crucifix with Two Angels, London, British Museum, Department of Prints and
Drawings, inv. 1895, 0915.504. Pietà, Boston, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum,
inv. 1.2.0/16. The original of the drawing of Christ and the Samaritan woman
is now lost, but is known from engravings, such as the one by Nicolas Béatrizet,
Christ and the Samaritan Woman, Rome, Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica,
Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, inv. f.c. 69811.
2. In 1546 Cardinal Pole offered his copy of a Pietà by Michelangelo to Cardinal
Gonzaga, ‘because we can get another one from the Marchesa of Pescara’:
Forcellino, 2009, p. 86.
3. The argument has recently been advanced, based on new technical analysis,
that this work, and another painting of the Pietà, may be finished works by
Michelangelo himself, for which the drawings were preparatory: see Forcellino
in Brundin et al., 2016.
4. Cited in Ragionieri, 2005, p.165.
5. See above, ‘Bonaventure, Meditationes vitae Christi. Le devote meditatione …’,
pp. 56–7.
172
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 172
This small book (plate 166), published in 1558, contains the
poems of Vittoria Colonna, an aristocratic author whose spirit-
ual sonnets were extremely popular throughout the sixteenth
century. The poems were printed numerous times beginning
in 1538, and were frequently set to music. The 1558 edition
also provides a critical commentary on the verses by a young
scholar named Rinaldo Corso, an exceptional honour to pay to
the work of a woman writer in this period.
The book belonged to Michelangelo Buonarroti who has
signed his name on page 392 as ‘Michelagniolo Schultore’
– Michelangelo the Sculptor. Michelangelo had a particular
reason for wishing to own a copy of these poems, as Vittoria
Colonna had been his close friend for a number of years before
her death in 1547. As well as possessing this printed copy, he
also owned a manuscript of poems that Colonna sent to him
as a personal gift in around 1540, to be read and contemplated
as part of his private devotions. Colonna’s poems explore her
personal relationship with Christ, often described in highly
sensual and evocative language, and frequently allude to the
difficulties of maintaining a constant faith in the midst of doubt
and worldly distractions. This sentiment was profoundly shared
by Michelangelo and expressed in his own poetry, written
with his friend Colonna’s guidance.
In his turn, Michelangelo sent gifts to Vittoria Colonna
for her devotional use, namely three presentation drawings of
spiritual subjects: a Crucifixion (fig. 62, overleaf ), a Pietà, and
a drawing of Christ meeting the Samaritan woman at the well.1
All three drawings were copied numerous times by other art-
ists, often in other media. Colonna herself seems to have been
involved in sharing the works and encouraging their wider cir-
culation.2 One version in oil on panel is attributed to Marcello
Venusti (plate 165), a faithful copyist of Michelangelo’s work
who also completed a scale copy of the Last Judgement for
Cardinal Alessandro Farnese.3
When Colonna wrote to thank Michelangelo for her
drawing of the Crucifixion, she described the deep impression
that the work had made on her: ‘[it] has certainly crucified in
my memory all other pictures I have ever seen. One could not
imagine an image that was better made, more lifelike or more
finished’. She also alluded to the close manner in which she
had pored over the work, using every tool at her disposal: ‘I
have examined it closely with a lamp, a glass and a mirror, and
I have never seen a finer thing’.4 Colonna’s desire to see the
work in as much detail as possible is a clue to the manner in
which she would have used it in private, as a springboard for
pious meditation in just the way that was recommended in a
text such as the Meditations on the Life of Christ.5
The gifts of spiritual drawings and sonnets that Colonna
and Michelangelo exchanged as personalised tools for con-
templation and meditation might almost be termed a ‘domestic’
form of artistic production. Both artists drew on their great
talent, itself a divine gift, to produce work that could be used
in private, at home, to help a friend to strive towards a closer
relationship with the divine. ab
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173

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 fig. 62
Michelangelo Buonarroti,
Christ on the Cross, 1538–41
London, British Museum

174

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Summary catalogue
and image credits
• A ll works listed here as plates (i.e. works on display in the
exhibition) were correct at the time of going to press.
• Measurements refer to height, width and (if relevant) depth,
unless otherwise stated.
• The numbers of the ex-votos are taken from the catalogues
of the relevant collections:
i. Giardino, Antonio Ermanno and Michele Rak (eds),
Per Grazia Ricevuta: Le tavolette dipinte ex voto per la Madonna
dell’Arco (Pompei, 1983)
ii. Lora, Antonio, Guerrino Maccagnan, Nicoletta Nicolin
Tonelato, Attilio Tozzo and Simona Tozzo (eds), Le tavolette
votive della Madonna dei Miracoli di Lonigo (Lonigo, 2005)
iii. Gatta, Annalisa, Maria Giannatiempo Lopez and Stefano
Papetti, Per Grazia Ricevuta. Gli ex voto del Museo di San
Nicola a Tolentino (Tolentino, 2005)
Plates
1. Child injured by scissors. Italy, Veneto, late 15th century,
tempera on panel, 27.7 x 36.3 cm (including frame). Lonigo,
Madonna dei Miracoli, Museo degli ex voto (Lora et al., no. 9).
2. Sick man in bed prays with rosary, attended by his wife and children.
Italy, Naples (possibly), 16th century, tempera on panel,
28.7 x 43.8 cm. Naples, Museo degli ex voto del santuario
di Madonna dell’Arco (Giardino and Rak, no. 329).
3. Book of hours. Italy, Naples, 1460–70, manuscript with blue
velvet binding and silver clasps, 11.5 x 16 cm, thickness of spine
4 cm. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, ms McClean 71.
4. Prie-dieu (prayer desk, inginocchiatoio). Italy, 1580–1600,
possibly created 1860–80 using old and new parts, walnut,
88 x 70 x 63.5 cm. London, The Victoria and Albert Museum,
58-1892. Photo: © The Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
5. Mamluk candlestick. Syria, Damascus (possibly), c.1423,
cast brass, engraved and inlaid with gold and silver; black
highlights, 12.5 x 8.3 cm (base diam.). London, British
Museum, 1878, 1230.721. Photo: © The Trustees of the
British Museum.
6. Sandglass. Italy, 16th century, glass in turned ivory frame
with textile lashing and orange ‘sand’, 8.3 x 5 cm. London,
The Victoria and Albert Museum, 83-1880. Photo:
© The Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 175
int roduction
7. After a model attributed to Guglielmo della Porta
(c.1500–77), The Crucifixion. Italy, Rome, c.1570–1600, bronze,
24 x 19 cm. London, The Victoria and Albert Museum, 7440:
0-1860. Photo: © The Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
8. Unknown artist, Man at prayer before a crucifix. Italy, Veneto,
1562, oil on canvas, 107 x 76 cm. Treviso, Musei Civici, p 493.
9. Attributed to Pietro di Niccolò da Orvieto (Pietro di Nicola
Baroni, doc. 1437–84), Virgin and Child. Central Italy, first
half 15th century, tempera with gold on panel, painted with
feigned marble on the verso, 31.4 x 20.3 cm. Cambridge,
Fitzwilliam Museum, no. 1757.
10. Attributed to Diana Scultori (1535–87), after Giulio
Romano (c.1499–1546), The birth of St John the Baptist. Italy,
Rome or Mantua (possibly), c.1570-85, engraving, Bartsch 26,
47.2 x 30.7 cm (sheet). Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum,
p.6107-r.
11. Woman with a rosary supplicates the Madonna of Lonigo on
behalf of a sick woman. Italy, Veneto, 1510, tempera on panel,
20.5 x 28 cm. Lonigo, Madonna dei Miracoli, Museo degli
ex voto (Lora et al., no. 40).
12. Family kneel in prayer in front of their house. Italy, Veneto,
first half 16th century, tempera on panel, 38.6 x 32.8 cm.
Lonigo, Madonna dei Miracoli, Museo degli ex voto
(Lora et al., no. 49).
13. Sick man with a beret in his hand. Italy, Veneto, first half
16th century, tempera on panel, 21.5 x 32.5 cm. Lonigo,
Madonna dei Miracoli, Museo degli ex voto (Lora et al, no. 25).
14. Holy water stoup and aspergil. Egypt or Syria (probably),
first half 14th century, brass with gold and silver inlay, height
14.5 cm, diameter (widest point) 20 cm. Treviso, Museo
Diocesano di Arte Sacra, f690178. Photo: by kind persmision
of the Ufficio diocesano per l’arte sacra e i beni culturali della
Diocesi.
15. Filippo Lippi (c.1406–69), Virgin and Child (centre); St John
the Baptist (left); St George or St Ansanus (right). Florence, c.1435,
tempera with gold on panel, central panel: 41.9 x 26.7 cm; left-
hand panel: 41.9 x 11.8 cm, right-hand panel: 42.3 x 26.7 cm.
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, no. 559.
16. Jewelled cross pendant. Italy, 16th century (possibly), gilt,
set with a sapphire, rubies and pearls, inscribed on reverse
‘verbum caro’, height 2.8 cm. London, British Museum,
af.2907. Photo: © The Trustees of the British Museum.
175
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 m a don nas a n d m ir acle s
17. A family stricken by illness. Italy, Naples (possibly),
16th century, tempera on panel, 30 x 41.5 cm. Naples,
Museo degli ex voto del santuario di Madonna dell’Arco
(Giardino and Rak, no. 339).
18. Giacomo Francia (1486–1557), The Holy Family with
St Elizabeth and the infant John the Baptist. Italy, c.1510–30,
engraving, Bartsch 8, Hind 2, 22.7 x 25.6 cm (sheet),
Fitzwilliam Museum, p.6121-r.
19. Box with The Annunciation. Italy, Venice (possibly),
c.1500–1600, cypress or cedar wood, carved and punched
with inked decoration, 6 x 27 x 13.5 cm. London, The
Victoria and Albert Museum, 129:2-1907. Photo: © The
Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
20. Attributed to Giovanni di Nicola di Manzoni dal Colle,
inkstand with The Nativity. Italy, Tuscany, Colle Val d’Elsa,
c.1509–10, tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica), 15.8 x 21.5 x
17.1 cm. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, c.2179-1928.
21. Cofanetto with David and Goliath. Italy, workshop of
Moral and Love themes (possibly), c.1510, wood with moulded
white lead (pastiglia/pasta di muschio) decoration, partly gilded,
10.2 x 16 x 10.2 cm. London, The Victoria and Albert Museum,
5625-1859. Photo: © The Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
22. Two-handled cup with the Arma Christi. Italy, Orvieto,
c.1250–1350, tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica arcaica),
4.9 x 14.6 x 4.4 (foot diam.) cm. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam
Museum, c.99-1991.
23. Bowl with Cross. Italy, Veneto, Venice (probably),
c.1470–1520, lead-glazed earthenware (incised slipware),
5 x 10.5 x 5.6 (foot diam.) cm. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam
Museum, oc.8-1940.
24. One-handled cup with St Francis. Italy, Umbria, Deruta
(possibly), c.1500–1600, tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica),
4.5 x 13.3 cm x 10.8 (diam.) cm. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam
Museum, c.205-1991.
25. Four knives inscribed with musical notation. France
(possibly) for use in Italy, 16th century, steel blades inscribed
on recto with one part of a sung Benediction in simple
polyphony, and on verso Grace for the same voice part.
Sizes: Superius 29 x 3.3 cm; Contratenor 29.5 x 3.4 cm;
Tenor 29.5 x 3.4 cm; Bassus 29.2 x 3.2 cm. Écouen, Musée
de la Renaissance: [a] Superius (ivory handle) cl. 22.209;
[b] Contratenor (ebony handle) cl. 22.205 c; [c] Tenor (ebony
handle) cl. 22.205 a; [d] Bassus (ivory handle) cl. 22.207.
Photo: © RMN-Grand Palais (musée de la Renaissance,
château d’Ecouen)/Tony Querrec.
26. Attributed to Giovanni di Nicola di Manzoni dal Colle,
The Annunciation to the Shepherds and the Adoration of the Magi.
Italy, Tuscany, Colle Val d’Elsa, c.1509–15, glazed terracotta,
25.5 x 34.5 cm. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, c.2180-1928.
27. Comb with The Annunciation. Italy, France or Flanders
(possibly), c.1450–1500, ivory, 11.2 x 14.4 x 1 cm. Berlin,
Kunstgewerbemuseum, f1625.
28. Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli (1505–69/70), Virgin and Child.
Parma, mid 16th century, red chalk, brown ink and graphite on
paper, 16.3 x 14.8 cm. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, 2905.
29. Childbirth scene: Woman’s husband appeals to the Madonna
dell’Arco, St Joseph and St Leonard. Italy, Naples (possibly),
late 16th century, tempera on wood, 24.1 x 26.8 cm. Naples,
Museo degli ex voto del santuario di Madonna dell’Arco
(Giardino and Rak, no. 353).
176
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 176
30. Dying woman attended by a priest and a female relative. Italy,
Veneto, late 15th/early 16th century, tempera on panel,
31 x 37.5 cm (including frame). Lonigo, Madonna dei
Miracoli, Museo degli ex voto (Lora et al., no. 10).
31. Bottle case for holy oils. Italy, 15th century, moulded
leather (cuir boulli), decorated with a trefoil formed by an
interlacing band and enclosing a St George’s cross in the
centre and a rosette in each lobe, 9.8 x 9.7 x 9 cm. London,
The Victoria and Albert Museum, 103-1882. Photo:
© The Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
32. Master of the Osservanza (active c.1425–c.1450), The
birth of the Virgin. Italy, Siena, c.1440, egg tempera on panel,
31.9 x 50.9 cm. London, National Gallery, ng5114. Photo:
© The National Gallery, London. Bequeathed by Viscount
Rothermere, 1940.
33. Milan Marsyas Painter or Francesco Xanto Avelli da
Rovigo (possibly), Bowl cover with The Holy Family from an
accouchement set. Italy, Urbino, c.1531, tin-glazed earthenware
(maiolica), 1.9 x 19.2 cm. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum,
mar.c.60-1912.
34. Antonio Lombardo (c.1458–1516), St John the Baptist. Venice,
c.1505–10, bronze, height 13.9 cm. Oxford, Ashmolean
Museum, wa1963.38. Photo: © Ashmolean Museum,
University of Oxford.
35. Giardinetto di cose spirituali. Italy, Venice: Altobello Salicato,
1585. Rome, Biblioteca Alessandrina, misc. xv.f2.2.13.
36. Child’s ring. Italy (possibly), 15th century, silver
with niello inscription, 1.1 cm (internal diam.). Oxford,
Ashmolean Museum, wa1897.cdef.f759. Photo: © Ashmolean
Museum, University of Oxford.
37. Marco d’Oggiono (c.1475/77–1530), The infant Christ
and St John embracing. Italy, Milan, c.1500–30, oil on panel,
64.3 x 48.1 cm. Royal Collection Trust/© Her Majesty
Queen Elizabeth ii 2016, rcin 405463.
38. Pinturicchio (Bernardino di Betto, c.1452–1513),
Virgin and Child with St John the Baptist. Perugia, c.1490–5,
tempera on panel with oil glazes, 56.7 x 40.7 cm. Cambridge,
Fitzwilliam Museum, no. 119.
39. Jewish spice box. Italy, 1640–80, silver, c.14 x 5 cm.
London, The Victoria and Albert Museum, Dr W.L.
Hildburgh Bequest, m.427-1956. Photo: © The Victoria
and Albert Museum, London.
40. Amulet with Hebrew blessing. Italy, 16th century, gilt-
bronze, 6.6 x 5.6 cm. Jerusalem, Hebrew Museum, b86.0255;
103/958. Photo: © The Israel Museum, Jerusalem/Avi Ganor.
41. Jewish wedding ring. Northern Italy (possibly), 15th
century, gilt-bronze, 5 x 2.2 cm. Jerusalem, Hebrew Museum,
b86.0264; 102/110. Photo: © The Israel Museum, Jerusalem/
Avi Ganor.
42. Servius de Levis (1570–1605), Mortar. Italy, Verona, 16th
century, bronze, natural brown patina, decorated with seven-
branched candelabrum and Hebrew letters, signed ‘servius de
levis veronae f’, 14 x 15.5 cm. Jerusalem, Hebrew Museum,
b86.0233. Photo: © The Israel Museum, Jerusalem/Avi Ganor.
43. Hanukkiyah Lamp. Italy, 16th century, gilt-bronze,
18.3 x 16.6 cm. Jerusalem, Hebrew Museum, b83.0881.
Photo: © The Israel Museum, Jerusalem/Yair Hovav.
44. Cover for a prayer book. Italy, 15th century, silver, filigree
and niello, 13.7 x 8.5 cm. Jerusalem, Hebrew Museum,
b55.12.0950; 142/025. Photo: © The Israel Museum,
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Jerusalem/Ofrit Rosenberg Ben Menachem.
45. Haggadah (Hagadah). Italy, Riva di Trento: Ya’akov
Markariyah, 321 [1561], book, 68 leaves, 29 cm. Cambridge,
St John’s College, tt.2.23(2). Photo: by kind permission of
the Master and Fellows of St John’s College, Cambridge.
46. Lorenzo Monaco (c.1370/1–1425), Virgin and Child
enthroned. Florence, c.1400–03, tempera with gold on panel,
32.4 x 21.2 cm. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, no. 555.
47. After Antonio Rossellino (1427–79), Panel with Madonna
del Molino. Italy, Forlì, 1550, tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica),
43 x 28 cm. UK, private collection. Photo: © Lewis Foti.
48. Virgin and Child. Italy, Florence, 1410–30, terracotta,
35 x 21 cm, London. The Victoria and Albert Museum,
donated by the late Mr and Mrs H. Ingham, in gratitude to
England for giving them refuge from Nazi Germany, a.7-2003.
Photo: © The Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
49. Virgin and Child. Italy, Umbria, Orvieto (possibly),
c.1350–1450, tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica), 32 x 18 cm.
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, ec.2-1938.
50. Virgin and Child. Italy, Umbria, Deruta, c.1600–1700,
based on a design by Benedetto da Maiano (1442–97), tin-
glazed earthenware (maiolica), 46.5 x 37 x 3 cm. Cambridge,
Fitzwilliam Museum, c.2200-1928.
51. Studio of Sandro Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano
Filipepi, c.1445–1510), Virgin and Child. Italy, Florence,
c.1480–90, oil on panel, 80.7 cm (diam.). Cambridge,
Fitzwilliam Museum, m.9.
52. Madonna and Child, Christ crucified and St Anthony appear
to two men praying in a bedroom. Italy, Veneto, first half 16th
century, tempera on panel, 30.7 x 36 cm. Lonigo, Madonna
dei Miracoli, Museo degli ex voto (Lora et al., no. 85).
53. Attributed to Pietro Perugino (before 1469–1523), Christ
crowned with thorns. Italy, 1500–05, oil on wood, 40.3 x 32.4 cm.
London, National Gallery, ng691. Photo: © The National
Gallery, London. Bequeathed by Lt Gen Sir William George
Moore, 1862.
54. Pair of Christological icons. Italy, Otranto (possibly), early
16th century, oil on panel, 16.2 x 10.6 cm; 17.3 x 11.8 cm.
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, an1915.177 and an1915.178.
Photo: © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford.
55. Unknown engraver, The Man of Sorrows with an angel and
the instruments of the Passion. Italy, c.1490–1520, engraving,
25.4 x 17.1 cm (sheet). Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum,
p.184-1943.
56. Giovanni Antonio Gualterio (active 1580–1600), crucifix
figure (fragmentary) Italy, c.1599, partly painted ivory, 13.5 cm.
London, The Victoria and Albert Museum, a.68-1927. Photo:
© The Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
57. Bonaventure (Pseudo-Bonaventure), Meditationes vitae
Christi. Le devote meditatione sopra la passione del Nostro Signore.
Italy, Venice, Nicolaus Jenson (possibly), c.1478 (possibly),
[68] leaves, 17.4 cm (4to). Cambridge, Cambridge University
Library, inc.5.b.3.2[4321].
58. Unknown artist, Crucifixion above a prayer against earthquake
and sudden death. Italy, 16th century, woodcut and ink on
paper, 36.5 x 27 cm. Civica Raccolta Stampe A. Bertarelli,
uncatalogued. Photo: © Civica Raccolta delle Stampe Achille
Bertarelli, Castello Sforzesco, Milano.
59. Cameo with The Blood of the Redeemer. Italy, Florence, late
15th century, onyx, 4.1 cm. British Museum, 1867,0507.729.
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 177
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Photo: © The Trustees of the British Museum.
60. Ring with St Anthony. Italy (possibly), 17th century,
ruby, gold, enamel, diamond, 1.6 cm (bezel). London,
British Museum, 1978,1002.106. Photo: © The Trustees
of the British Museum.
61. Bowl with St Jerome in the Wilderness. Italy, Deruta,
c.1575–1625, tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica), 4.4 x 15.2 cm.
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, c.2196-1928.
62. Charger (piatto da pompa) with St Roch. Italy, Umbria,
Deruta (possibly), c.1500–50, tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica),
9 x 41.8 cm. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, c.45-1927.
63. Bartolomeo Ramenghi (1484–1542), Virgin and Child
with St Catherine. Bologna, early 16th century, oil on panel,
51.7 x 36.6 cm. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, no. 631.
64. Attributed to Antonio di Pietro Averlino, known as
Filarete (c.1400–69), plaquette of St Jerome in the wilderness.
Italy, Rome, Florence or Venice (probably), mid 15th
century, bronze, cast with integral frame with suspension
hole, inscribed, ‘s. hieronymvs’, 18.5 x 12.7 cm. Cambridge,
Fitzwilliam Museum, cm.777-2009.
65. Man kneels before an image of the Madonna of Lonigo. Italy,
Veneto, late 15th century, tempera on panel, 32 x 23.5 cm.
Lonigo, Madonna dei Miracoli, Museo degli ex voto
(Lora et al., no. 7).
66. Nikolaos Tzafouris (c.1487–1501), Icon triptych. Crete,
late 15th century, tempera on panel, 17 x 12 cm. Oxford,
Ashmolean Museum, an1915.180. Photo: © Ashmolean
Museum, University of Oxford.
67. Willem Basse (1613/14–72), after Titian (1489/90–1576),
Virgin and Child in a landscape attended by St Catherine, a male
saint and a donor. Italy/Netherlands, second quarter 17th
century, etching and engraving, Holstein 9, Bartsch 2 (oeuvre
of Titian), 18.5 x 26.8 cm. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum,
31.k.12-179.
68. Circle of Giovanni Bellini (c.1430–1516), St Jerome reading
in a landscape. Venice, late 15th/early 16th century, tempera
and oil (?) on panel; 26.6 x 21.7 cm. Oxford, Ashmolean
Museum, wa1899.cdef.p1. Photo: © Ashmolean Museum,
University of Oxford.
69. Jacopo Ligozzi (1547–1627), View of the monastery of
La Verna: the road leading to the monastery. Florence, c.1607–12,
pen and brown ink with brown wash on paper, 39.4 x 25.2 cm.
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, pd.52-1997.
70. Benedetto Montagna (c.1481–c.1555/8), The Holy Family
with the infant St John in a landscape. Italy, Vicenza (possibly),
c.1500–20, engraving, Bartsch 8, Hind 24, 14.4 x 21 cm (sheet).
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, p.213-1937.
71. Hans Rottenhammer (1564–1625), Virgin and Child with
the infant St John the Baptist. Italy, probably Rome or Venice,
1591–1606, oil paint on quartz; the frame: France, 1700–1720,
piqué work on tortoise shell; 17.5 x 14.5 x 3 cm. London, The
Victoria and Albert Museum, Griffin Bequest, m.179-1960.
Photo: © The Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
72. St Sebastian relief. Northern Italy, Mantua or Venice,
c.1470–85, carved and pierced ivory and horn with marquetry,
30 x 17.7 x 2.8 cm. London, The Victoria and Albert Museum,
219:1, 2-1865. Photo: © The Victoria and Albert Museum,
London.
73. Master of the Pala Sforzesca (active c.1480–1520), Salvator
Mundi. Italy, Milan, c.1490–94, oil on panel, 44.4 x 30.8 cm.
177
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Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, pd.4-1955.
74. Fra Angelico (c.1395/1400–55), The Dead Christ. Italy,
Florence, c.1432–4, pen and brown ink, brown wash, red
wash and lead white on paper, 35.5 x 27.4 cm. Cambridge,
Fitzwilliam Museum, pd.25-2003.
75. St John the Baptist. Italy, Faenza or Montelupo, c.1500,
glazed terracotta, 26.5 x 28 x 14 cm (diam.). Oxford,
Ashmolean Museum, wa1888.cdef.c408. Photo:
© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford.
76. Plaquette of the Virgin and Child. Italy, Florence, c.1450–
1500, based on a model by Luca della Robbia (1399/1400–82)
or Michelozzo (1396–1472), bronze, 8.4 x 5.5 cm. Cambridge,
Fitzwilliam Museum, cm.17-1933.
77. Andrea Briosco, known as Il Riccio (1470–1532),
plaquette of The Entombment. Italy, Padua, c.1520, bronze,
11.8 x 16.6 cm, Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, m.12-1933.
78. Workshop of Andrea della Robbia (1435–1525), The Christ
Child. Italy, Florence, c.1490–1510, glazed terracotta, height
45.7 cm. London, The Victoria and Albert Museum, 7702-
1861. Photo: © The Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
79. Rosary. Italy, Trentino, 1550–1650, 29 spherical and oval
beads of varying sizes, pierced, glass paste, 5.5 cm (diam.).
Diocese of Trent, Arco, Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta,
no. 978. Photo: courtesy of Museo Diocesano Tridentino.
80. Rosary. Italy, Trentino, 1550–1650, 50 spherical and oval
beads of varying sizes, pierced, glass paste, 11.5 cm (diam.).
Diocese of Trent, Arco, Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta,
no. 975. Photo: courtesy of Museo Diocesano Tridentino.
81. Metal medallions. Italy, various dates, various metals,
mixed sizes. Italy, private collection.
82. Agnus Dei pendant. Place of origin unknown, c.1500,
silver with traces of gilding, height 2.8 cm. London, British
Museum, af.2960. Photo: © The Trustees of the British
Museum.
83. Joos van Cleve (c.1485–c.1540), Virgin and Child.
Netherlands, c.1525–30, oil on panel, 61 x 45 cm. Cambridge,
Fitzwilliam Museum, no. 104.
84. Hispano-Moresque jar. Spain, Valencia, Manises
(probably), c.1430–80, tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica),
32.5 cm. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, c.21-1934.
85. Workshop of Maestro Giorgio Andreoli, bowl with the
Agnus Dei. Italy, Umbria, Gubbio, c.1530–50, tin-glazed
earthenware (maiolica), 5.8 x 24.7 cm. Cambridge,
Fitzwilliam Museum, c.106-1927.
86. Workshop of Giacomo Mancini (active 1541–54), panel
with The Crucifixion. Italy, Umbria, Deruta (probably), 1556,
tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica), 40 x 41.3 x 2.5 cm.
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, mar.c.57-1912.
87. Leandro Bassano (1557–1622), Woman at her devotions.
Italy, Veneto, c.1590–1600, oil on canvas, 105 x 88.5 cm.
UK, private collection.
88. Follower of Federico Barocci (1528/35–1612), Studies of
hands clasped in prayer. Italy, later 16th century, black, red,
white and brown chalks on blue paper, 28.4 x 23 cm.
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, pd.158-1963.
89. Master of the Castello Nativity (active mid 15th century),
Virgin adoring the Child. Italy, Florence, c.1460–65, tempera
with oil glazes and gold on panel, 87 x 59 cm. Cambridge,
Fitzwilliam Museum, m.14.
90. Attributed to Domenico Indivini (c.1445–1502), The
178
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 178
Christ Child. Italy, Camerino, c.1484–90, polychromed
wood, 45 x 15 cm. Camerino, Monastero Santa Chiara.
Photo: from Casciaro, Raffaele (ed.), Rinascimento scolpito:
Maestri del legno tra Marche e Umbria, Cisinello Balsamo,
Milano: Silvana editoriale, 2006, cat. 22, p. 161.
91. Plaquette of The Coronation of the Virgin. Italy, Venice
(possibly), 1573, bronze, 12 x 7.5 cm. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam
Museum, cm.m.119-r.
92. Sick man in bed, attended by his wife and three daughters. Italy,
Naples (possibly), late 16th century, tempera magra on wood,
36.3 x 58.3 cm. Naples, Museo degli ex voto del santuario
di Madonna dell’Arco (Giardino and Rak, no. 283).
93. Alberto da Castello, Rosario della gloriosa Vergine Maria.
Italy, Venice: Marchio Sessa and Piero di Rauani, 27 March
1522, 252, [4] leaves, 16 cm, 8vo. Cambridge, Cambridge
University Library, sss.18.13.
94. Coral rosary with a pomander. Italy, c.1570, coral and
silver-gilt, length: 49 cm. Budapest, Iparmuvészeti Múzeum,
inv. no. e 65.76. Photo: Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest/
Gellért Áment.
95. Rosary. Italy, Trentino, c.1550–1650, 56 pierced spherical
beads, bone and rosewood, 13.5 cm (diam.). Diocese of Trent,
Arco, Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta, no. 974.
96. Book of hours, use of Rome (in Latin). Italy, Naples,
second half 15th century. Parchment, iii paper and parchment
flyleaves + 233 fols + iv parchment and paper flyleaves,
10 x 6.7 cm (5.4 x 3.9 cm). Binding: 19th century, gold-
tooled vellum over wooden panels. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam
Museum, ms McClean 67.
97. Giovanni Andrea Vavassore, Opera nova contemplativa de
le figure del Testamento vecchio. Italy, Venice, 1510, book, 15 cm,
in 8 o. Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, sss.54.33.
98. Officium Beatae Mariae Virginis secundum consuetudinem
Romanae Curiae [Hours, use of Rome] (in Latin). Italy,
Venice: Johannes Emericus de Spira, for Lucantonio Giunta,
30 September 1498, book, in 16 o. Cambridge, Cambridge
University Library, sss.34.2.
99. Il Nuovo Testamento di Giesu Christo, Signore et Salvator
nostro [Bible, New Testament] (in Italian). France, Lyons:
Gryphius, 1551, translation by Antonio Brucioli, book, in 16 o.
Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, bss.245.b51.4.
100. Book of hours, use of Rome (in Latin). Italy, Ancona,
third quarter 15th century. Parchment, ii parchment flyleaves
+ 143 fols + ii parchment flyleaves, 11 x 7.3 cm
(5.7 x 4 cm). Binding: 16th century, brown leather over
pasteboards, sewn on three supports, rope-curl and gilt
foliate tooling (central panels only), surrounded by gold-
tooled red leather, edges gilt and gauffered, spine re-backed
in France, c.1800. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, ms 152.
101. Workshop of Maestro Giorgio Andreoli, Dish with the
Sacred Monogram. Italy, Umbria, Gubbio, 1530, tin-glazed
earthenware (maiolica) with lustre, 6.5 x 23.4 cm. London,
British Museum, 1878,1230.394. Photo: © The Trustees of
the British Museum.
102. Bowl with the Sacred Monogram. Italy, Venice, c.1500,
glass, enamelled and gilded, 6 x 15.5 cm. London, British
Museum, s.367. Photo: © The Trustees of the British Museum.
103. Ring with the Sacred Monogram. Italy, c.1400–1500,
silver and niello, 1.67 cm (diam.). Oxford, Ashmolean
Museum, wa1897.cdef.f417. © Ashmolean Museum,
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University of Oxford.
104. Tray with the Sacred Monogram. Italy, Tuscany,
Montelupo, c.1550–1600, tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica),
4 x 36.2 cm. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, c.189-1991.
105. Pax. Northern Italy, late 15th century, gilded bronze
with silver filigree, height 17.1 cm. London, British Museum,
1925,1006.1. Photo: © The Trustees of the British Museum.
106. Woman in bed. Italy, Naples (possibly), 1591, oil on wood,
29 x 33.7 cm. Naples, Museo degli ex voto del santuario di
Madonna dell’Arco (Giardino and Rak, no. 71).
107. Woman in bed, attended by a doctor and a serving woman.
Italy, Naples (possibly), 16th century, tempera magra on
wood, 27.2 x 36 cm. Naples, Museo degli ex voto del
santuario di Madonna dell’Arco (Giardino and Rak, no. 22).
108. Workshop of Maestro Giorgio Andreoli, Bowl with
St Jerome in the wilderness. Italy, Umbria, Gubbio, c.1525–50,
tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica), 3.5 cm x 16 cm. Cambridge,
Fitzwilliam Museum, c.72-1927.
109. Amulet ring. Italy, c.1300–1400, gold, toadstone,
2.8 cm (diam.). London, British Museum, af.1023. Photo:
© The Trustees of the British Museum.
110. Signet ring with ancient Roman intaglio. Italy, 14th
century, gold signet ring with an oval bezel set with a Roman
jasper intaglio with a fede device and the initials ccps/ipd, and
inscribed in Lombardic characters with religious passages and
phrases; intaglio: c.200-300 ce, red jasper, 2.4 x 2.6 x 1.9 cm.
London, The Victoria and Albert Museum, given by Dame
Joan Evans, m.275-1962. Photo: © The Victoria and Albert
Museum, London.
111. Orazioni with Crucifixion and the four Evangelists. Italy,
late 16th century, ink and wash on paper, c.45 x 31 cm.
London, British Library, Additional ms 15505, f. 22.
Photo: © The British Library Board.
112. Questa sie la vera Orazione de Santo Paulo (Practices of
Prayer to St Paul). Italy, 16th century, 20 x 30 cm, woodcut
on paper, Civica Raccolta Stampe A. Bertarelli, s.p. 31 50.
Photo: © Civica Raccolta delle Stampe Achille Bertarelli,
Castello Sforzesco, Milano.
113. Virgin and Child with St Sebastian and St Roch. Italy,
c.1500–50, mother-of-pearl relief, 6.9 x 6 cm. London, The
Victoria and Albert Museum, a.7-1922. Photo: © Victoria
and Albert Museum, London.
114. Plaque with The Virgin with Sts Roch and Sebastian.
Italy, Venice, c.1500–10, lead-glazed earthenware (slipware),
33.7 x 27.8 x 1.7 cm. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum,
ec.1-1938.
115. Breve di S. Vincenzo Ferrerio contro la febre, Breve contro i
tuoni tremuoti e pestilenze, & Responsorio di S. Antonio di Padova.
Italy, 16th–17th century, 11 x 9.5 cm (11 x 4 cm folded),
woodcuts on paper, Civica Raccolta Stampe A. Bertarelli,  130. Pendant. Italy, 16th century, coral, silver-gilt mount,
s.p. pp 25 172. Photo: © Civica Raccolta delle Stampe Achille
Bertarelli, Castello Sforzesco, Milano.
116. The Viadana family prays to St Nicholas to save them from an
earthquake. Italy, Le Marche, 16th century, tempera on panel,
20.5 x 26.7 cm. Tolentino, Museo di San Nicola (Gatta et al.,
no. 81).
117. Virgin enthroned suckling the infant Christ, surrounded by
angels. Italy, found in Bassano, c.1450, woodcut on paper with
stencil colouring, 53.6 x 41.2 cm. London, British Museum,
1895,0122.1187. © The Trustees of the British Museum.
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 179
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118. Leather reliquary box. Italy, Brescia, c.1550, cut, gilded
and painted leather and wood; with drawing c.1627, pen and
water-colour on paper, 5 x 33.4 x 24.9 cm. London, The
Victoria and Albert Museum, 103-1882. Photo: © The Victoria
and Albert Museum, London.
119. Ring. Italy, 16th century, gold, topaz or pink ruby and
enamels, 1.28 cm (diam.). Oxford, Ashmolean Museum,
wa1897.cdef.f477. Photo: © Ashmolean Museum, University
of Oxford.
120. Agnus Dei. Italy, 15th/16th century, silver inlaid with
niello and copper-gilt border, 3.38 cm (diam.). London, British
Museum, af. 2898. Photo: © The Trustees of the British
Museum.
121. Agnus Dei. Italy, 16th century, wax within a wooden
frame and glass, 17 x 13.7 cm, weight 236 g. Oxfordshire,
Campion Hall, Lyford Grange. Image © 2011 Jesuit Institute,
London.
122. Agnus Dei. Italy, 15th century, shell (?) and silver inlaid
with niello copper-gilt border, 1.6 cm (diam.). London, British
Museum, 1902,0527.26. Photo: © The Trustees of the British
Museum. Image © 2011 Jesuit Institute, London.
123. Agnus Dei mould. France (possibly), 12th/13th century,
bronze, 5.4 cm (diam.). London, British Museum, 1888,1110.1.
Photo: © The Trustees of the British Museum.
124. Rosary (partial). Italy or South Tyrol, 16th century,
gilt-bronze with white, red, black and green enamels, 17 cm.
Berlin, Kunstgewerbemuseum, f.3477.
125. Bartolomeo Veneto (active 1502–46), Portrait of a young
lady. Italy, Ferrara (possibly), c.1500–10, oil on panel, 55.5 x
44.2 cm. London, National Gallery, ng 2507. Photo: © The
National Gallery, London. Salting Bequest, 1910.
126. Rosary. Italy, 16th century, enamelled rock crystal beads
mounted in silver-gilt, length 38 cm. Turin, Palazzo Madama,
Museo Civico di Torino, v.o. 97-2984. Photo: Studio Gonella,
Torino.
127. Decade rosary chain and crucifix. Italy or Spain, early
17th century, rosary possibly 1750–1900, crystal with enamelled
gold and pearls, crucifix hung with pearls, 30.5 x 3.8 x 0.9 cm.
London, The Victoria and Albert Museum, given by Dame
Joan Evans, m.82-1975. Photo: © The Victoria and Albert
Museum, London.
128. Reliquary cross. Italy, c.1600, gold with black enamel,
6.9 x 4 cm. London, The Victoria and Albert Museum, given
by Miss L.M. Pacy, m.77-1979. Photo: © The Victoria and
Albert Museum, London.
129. Agnus Dei (recto) and Veronica veil (verso). Italy,
16th/17th century, silver, niello, gold and cotton, 5.2 cm
(diam.). London, British Museum, af. 2899. Photo: © The
Trustees of the British Museum.
height 4.3 cm. London, British Museum, 1965,0601.1.
Photo: © The Trustees of the British Museum.
131. Gentleman (Giacomo Adana[n]son) wounded by a firearm.
Italy, Le Marche, 1523, tempera on panel, 28.3 x 32 cm.
Tolentino, Museo di San Nicola (Gatta et al., no. 58).
132. Sick man in bed depicted next to a shrine. Italy, Naples
(possibly), 16th century, oil on wood, 18 x 36.1 cm. Naples,
Museo degli ex voto del santuario di Madonna dell’Arco
(Giardino and Rak, no. 147).
133. Mancini/Petrini workshop, Madonna della Marina. Italy,
179
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Deruta, c.1600, tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica), height
36 cm. UK, private collection. Photo: © Lewis Foti.
134. The Virgin with the Christ Child as protector of the Carmelites
and scenes of miracles. Italy, c.1500–30, colour-printed woodcut
on paper, 38.7 x 28.9 cm. London, British Museum, pd 1880,
0710.655. Photo: © The Trustees of the British Museum.
135. Healing of a woman from breast cancer. Italy, Veneto, 1510,
tempera on panel, 24.7 x 30 cm. Lonigo, Madonna dei
Miracoli, Museo degli ex voto (Lora et al., no. 41).
136. Gentleman attacked by a bandit at his table. Italy, Naples
(possibly), 16th century, oil on wood, 27.5 x 32 cm. Naples,
Museo degli ex voto del santuario di Madonna dell’Arco
(Giardino and Rak, no. 594).
137. A man gives thanks to St Nicholas for having put out a fire
in a cellar. Italy, Le Marche, 16th century, tempera on panel,
30 x 37 cm. Tolentino, Museo di San Nicola (Gatta et al.,
no. 84).
138. Parents give thanks to St Nicholas for having saved their baby
daughter, who has fallen down the stairs. Italy, Le Marche, 16th
century, tempera on panel, 20 x 23.6 cm. Tolentino, Museo
di San Nicola (Gatta et al., no. 82).
139. Dish with Christ healing the paralytic. Italy, Faenza, 1530–40,
formerly attributed to Baldassare Manara (active first half 16th
century), tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica), 23.2 cm (diam.).
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, wa1888.cdef.c485. Photo:
© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford.
140. Kneeling man by the side of his wife’s bed prays to the
Madonna and Child and St Nicholas. Italy, Le Marche, 1582,
tempera on panel, 23.7 x 19 cm. Tolentino, Museo di San
Nicola (Gatta et al., no. 102).
141. Girl falls headfirst into a vat. Italy, Umbria/Le Marche,
early 16th century, tempera on panel, 21.3 x 28 cm. Tolentino,
Museo di San Nicola, (Gatta et al., no. 25).
142. Boy falling from a window. Italy, Naples (possibly), 1592,
tempera magra on wood, 25 x 32.5 cm. Naples, Museo degli
ex voto del santuario di Madonna dell’Arco (Giardino and
Rak, no. 395).
143. Unknown artist, Crippled pilgrim with a rosary. Northern
Italy, c.1520–40 or later, red chalk on paper, 37.8 x 27.8 cm.
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, pd.8-1997.
144. Pilgrim ribbon. Italy, Loreto, 16th/17th century,
printed silk, 216 x 2.1 cm. Canterbury, Canterbury Cathedral,
Bargrave Collection. Photo: by courtesy of the Dean and
Chapter, Canterbury Cathedral.
145. Pilgrim bowl with the Madonna of Loreto. Italy, Le Marche,
Pesaro or Loreto, c.1700–1800, tin-glazed earthenware
(maiolica), 3.35 x 10.9 cm. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum,
c. 2244-1928.
146. Pilgrim badge with St Veronica holding out the Vernicle.
Italy, Rome (?), 15th century, brass, 3.35 cm (diam.). London,
British Museum, 1855,0625.16. Photo: © The Trustees of the
British Museum.
147. Translatio miraculosa ecclesie beate Marie Virginis de Loreto.
Italy, Rome: Eucharius Silber, after 1500 (possibly), printed
book with manuscript annotations, early 20th-century
binding, 13 cm, 8vo. Cambridge, Cambridge University
Library, inc.7.b.2.27[3660].
148. Vincenzo Pagani (1490–1568), The translation of the
Holy House of Loreto. Italy, Le Marche, mid 16th century,
oil on panel, 42 x 39 cm. Recanati, Museo Civico, Villa
180
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 180
Colloredo Mels.
149. Model of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem.
Israel [formerly Syria], Bethlehem, 1600–1700, olive wood,
mother-of-pearl, with dismountable pieces, 22 x 40 x 36.5 cm.
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, an2009.53. Photo:
© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford.
150. Model of the Holy Sepulchre aedicule, Jerusalem. Israel
[formerly Syria], Bethlehem (possibly), 1600–1700, olive wood,
ivory and/or bone, and mother of pearl, 8 x 10 x 3.3 cm.
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, an1887.3089. © Ashmolean
Museum, University of Oxford.
151. Lorenzo Lotto (c.1480–1556/7), St James the Greater. Italy,
Le Marche, c.1511–15, oil on panel, 20 x 15 cm. Recanati,
Museo Civico, Villa Colloredo Mels.
152. House altar. Italy, Rome, 1625–50, baroque frame
with ebony mouldings outlining panels of hardstone and
tortoiseshell, around a central panel of The flight into Egypt of
lapis lazuli painted in oil colours, 51 x 30.5 x 7.2 cm. London,
The Victoria and Albert Museum, 1556-1856. Photo: © The
Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
153. Holy water stoup. Italy, probably Urbino, 1620, tin-
glazed earthenware (maiolica), 38.5 x 23 cm. London, The
Victoria and Albert Museum, 1797-1855. Photo: © The
Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
154. Book of hours, use of Rome (in Latin). Italy, Milan,
c.1460–80, parchment, ii parchment flyleaves + 151 fols + iii
parchment flyleaves, 13.2 x 9.5 cm (6.8 x 5.2 cm). Binding:
19th century, blue velvet over pastepanel with panels ruled
in blind, edges gilt and gauffered, silk endbands. Cambridge,
Fitzwilliam Museum, ms 147.
155. Confitemini della Madonna con le Letanie. Italy, Venice:
Augustino Bindoni, 1553, 16 leaves, 8 o. Rome, Biblioteca
Casanatense, vol. misc. 25/2.
156. Giorgio Ghisi (1520-82), The Crucifixion with mourning
angels. Mantua, c.1575-79, engraving, Bartsch 8; Lewis 56 ii/iv,
31.9 x 22.2 cm (sheet). Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, 37.1–4.
157. Marcantonio Bassetti (1586–1630), The Dead Christ
supported by the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene. Italy, Verona,
c.1616, oil on black marble, 37.2 x 28.6 cm. Cambridge,
Fitzwilliam Museum, pd.11-2011.
158. Annibale Carracci (1560-1609), Mary Magdalene in a
landscape. Italy, Rome, c.1599, oil on copper, 32.4 x 43 cm.
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, pd.12-1976.
159. Oratione devotissima alla madre di Dio trovata nel S. Sepolcro di
Christo. Barcelona, reprinted in Venice, undated, 175 x 12 cm,
Rome, Biblioteca Alessandrina, misc. xiv.d.27.8. Photo: by
kind permission of the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività
Culturali e il Turismo.
160. Kneeling woman prays for her family by the sick bed. Italy,
Le Marche, early 16th century, tempera on panel with
trapezoid upper section, 22.2 x 22.6 cm. Tolentino, Museo
di San Nicola (Gatta et al., no. 31).
161. Kneeling woman prays by a crib. Italy, Umbria/Le Marche,
late 15th or early 16th century, tempera on panel with
trapezoid upper section, 26.8 x 22.6 cm. Tolentino, Museo
di San Nicola (Gatta et al., no. 34).
162. Kneeling woman prays to St Nicholas to cure her sick husband.
Italy, Le Marche, late 16th century, tempera on panel,
17.5 x 26.4 cm. Tolentino, Museo di San Nicola (Gatta et al.,
no.126).
14/12/2016 17:28

163. Piergiovanni da Caldarola and his wife thank St Nicholas
for the healing of their son. Italy, Le Marche, 1516, tempera on
panel, 22.6 x 26.4 cm. Tolentino, Museo di San Nicola
(Gatta et al., no. 50).
164. Benedetto Fontanini da Mantova, Trattato utilissimo del
beneficio di Giesu Christo crocifisso, verso i christiani. Italy, Venice:
apud Bernardinum de Bindonis, 1543, 70 + 2 leaves, in 16 o.
Cambridge, St John’s College Library, o.51. Photo: by kind
permission of the Master and Fellows of St John’s College,
Cambridge.
165. Attributed to Marcello Venusti (1512/15–79), Crucifixion
with the Virgin Mary and St John the Evangelist. Italy, c.1555–60,
oil on panel, 105 x 88.9 x 28.8 cm (framed), 58.8 x 33.6 cm
(unframed). On Loan from the Society of Jesus, Campion
Hall, Oxford/Ashmolean Museum, li1442.1. Photo:
© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford.
166. Tutte le rime della illustriss. et eccellentiss. Signora Vittoria
Colonna, Marchesana di Pescara. Con l’espositione del Signor
Rinaldo Corso, nuovamente mandate in luce da Girolamo Ruscelli.
Alla illustriss. et eccellentiss. Signora Donna Isabella Gonzaga,
Marchesana di Pescara. Con Privilegii. In Venetia, per Giovan
Battista et Melchior Sessa Fratelli. Italy, Venice, 1558, book,
in 8o. London, British Library, c.28.a.10. Photo: © The British
Library Board.
Figures
1. Vittore Carpaccio (c.1465–1525/6), The dream of St Ursula.
Italy, Venice, 1495, oil on canvas, 274 x 267 cm. Venice,
Gallerie dell’Accademia, cat. 572. Photo: Cameraphoto Arte.
By kind permission of the Ministero dei beni e delle attività
culturali e del turismo.
2. Detail of Carlo Crivelli (c.1430/35–c.1494), The Annunciation
with Saint Emidius. Ascoli Piceno, 1486, tempera and oil on
canvas, whole painting 207 x 146.7 cm, detail of lower right
side only. London, National Gallery, ng739. Photo:
© The National Gallery, London.
3. Agnolo di Domenico Mazziere (1466–1513), Portrait of
a young woman. Italy, Florence, c.1485–1490, oil on panel,
45.4 x 34.8 cm. Berlin, Staatliche Museen, Gemäldegalerie,
cat. no. 80. Photo: bpk/Jörg P. Anders.
4. Giotto di Bondone (d.1337), The Annunciation to St Anne.
Italy, Padua, Scrovegni Chapel, fresco, 1303–6. Photo: © Mauro
Magliani for Alinari/Alinari Archives, Florence/Getty Images.
5. Cassone with The Adoration of the Magi, The Fountain of
Life and Martyrdom of a female saint. Italy, possibly Venice,
c.1400–20, cypress, carved and engraved, 58 x 108 x 46.5 cm.
London, The Victoria and Albert Museum, 49-1882. Photo:
© The Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
6. Giovanni di Nicola Manzoni, The Nativity, inkstand. Italy,
Tuscany, Colle Val d’Elsa, c.1510, tin-glazed earthenware
(maiolica), height: 30 cm, diameter: 23.5 cm. Budapest,
Iparmuvészeti Múzeum, inv. no. 69.1564.1. Photo: Museum
of Applied Arts, Budapest/Ágnes Kolozs.
7. Restello. Italy, Venice, early 16th century, carved poplar,
gilt, with orange bole, blue and red tempera, 78.8 x 72.3 cm.
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1975.1.2104.
8. Ivory comb with David and Bathsheba and The Judgement of
Paris. France, c.1530–35, carved elephant ivory, 12 x 16.2 cm.
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 181
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London, The Victoria and Albert Museum 468-1869.
Photo: © The Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
9. Vittore Carpaccio (c.1465–1525/6), The birth of the Virgin.
Italy, Venice, c.1502–4, oil on canvas, 126.8 x 129.1 cm.
Bergamo, Accademia Carrara, 81lc00235. By kind permission
of the Fondazione Accademia Carrara.
10. Deathbed scene. Woodcut illustration from Girolamo
Savonarola, Predica del arte del bene morire (Florence, c.1502).
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 25.30.95.
11. Master of the Osservanza (active c.1425–c.1450), The birth
of the Virgin with other scenes from her life. Italy, Siena, c.1428–39,
oil on panel, 220 x 162 cm. Museo di Palazzo Corboli,
Asciano. Photo: © Scala Archives.
12. Cipriano Piccolpasso (1523–79), Li tre libri dell’arte del vasaio.
Manuscript, c.1556–9. f. 11r. London, The Victoria and Albert
Museum. Photo: © The Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
13. Pinturicchio (Bernardino di Betto, c.1452–1513), Virgin
and Child. Italy, Perugia, c.1470–90, tempera (?) and gold on
panel; 41.3 x 30.2 cm. Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, wa1899.
cdef.p10. Photo: © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford.
14. Pinturicchio (Bernardino di Betto, c.1452–1513), The Virgin
teaching the Christ Child to read. Italy, Perugia, c.1494–7, oil
and gold on panel, 61.3 x 41.9 cm. Philadelphia, Philadelphia
Museum of Art, John G. Johnson Collection, 1917, inv. 1336.
15. Jewish woman lighting Sabbath candles. Woodcut illustration
from Giovanni di Gara, Book of Customs (Sefer Minhagim)
(Venice, 1593), f. 8v. The Bodleian Library, The University
of Oxford, Opp. 4o 1006.
16. A Woman praying on Yom Kippur. Marginal drawing
from a siddur. British Library, add ms 26957, fol. 74v. Photo:
© The British Library Board.
17. Family conducting ritual search for leaven on the night before
Passover. Woodcut illustration from Giovanni di Gara, Book of
Customs (Sefer Minhagim) (Venice, 1593), f. 19r. The Bodleian
Library, The University of Oxford, Opp. 4 o 1006.
18. A family around the seder table, with the master of the house
making the blessing over the second cup of wine. c.1450–1500,
British Library, Add ms 26968, f. 119v. Photo: © The British
Library Board.
19. Studio of Sandro Botticelli (c.1445–1510), Madonna and
Child with the young St John the Baptist. Italy, Florence, c.1490,
oil on panel, diameter 69cm. Sold by Christie’s London,
2 December 2008. Private Collection. Photo © Christie’s
Images/Bridgeman Images.
20. Deathbed scene. Woodcut illustration from Girolamo
Savonarola, Predica fatta il 2 novembre 1496 raccolta da Lorenzo
Violi dell’arte del ben morire (Florence, after 1497). Photo:
AKG Images.
21. Detail of Ludovico Lazzarelli, Pope Sixtus iv shows the
Veronica in St Peter’s during the Jubilee of 1475. Manuscript,
end 15th century. Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book
and Manuscript Library, Beinecke ms391 f. 41.
22. After Annibale Carracci (1560–1609), Street seller of rosaries
and pious prints. Bologna, 1660, etching from Giuseppe Maria
Mitelli, L’arte per via, 29 x 19.3 cm, Bartsch xix.301.118.
London, British Museum, 1850,0713.177. Photo:
© The Trustees of the British Museum.
23. The Blood of the Redeemer. Padua, c.1500, terracotta relief,
80.5 x 46 cm. London, The Victoria and Albert Museum, 1195:
1-1903. Photo: © The Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
181
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24. Attributed to Pietro Facchetti (1539–1613), The Petrozzani
family at prayer. Italy, Rome or Mantua, second half 16th
century, oil on canvas, 163 x 220 cm. Mantua, Museo di
Palazzo Ducale. Photo: Photo: by kind permission of the
Ministero dei Beni e delle attività culturali e del turismo
© DeAgostini/Getty Images.
25. Marco Marziale (active 1492/3–1507) Madonna and Child
with a devotee. Italy, Venice, signed and dated 1504, oil
on panel, 68.6 x 52.2 cm. Bergamo, Accademia Carrara,
81lc00158. Photo: by kind permission of the Fondazione
Accademia Carrara.
26. Fra Angelico (c.1395–1455), The descent from the Cross. Italy,
Florence, c.1432–4, tempera on panel. 176 x 185 cm. Florence,
Museo di San Marco. Photo: Photo © DEA/G. Dagli Orti/
Getty Images.
27. Madonna and Child with an angel. Italy, Venice, early 1500s,
chalcedony, 15.6 x 11.1 x 6 cm. Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty
Museum, 84.sa.666.
28. St John the Baptist. Italy, Montelupo or Faenza, c.1500,
tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica), 26 x 29 x 13 cm. Naples,
Museo di Capodimonte, no. dc 58. Photo: © Museo e Real
Bosco di Capodimonte. By kind permission of the Ministero
dei beni e delle attività culturali e del turismo. All rights
reserved.
29. Virgin and Child. Italy, Pesaro, early 16th century, tin-glazed
earthenware (maiolica), 19.3 x 11.7 x 3 cm. Naples, Museo
Duca di Martina, no. 360. Photo: by kind permission of the
Ministero per i Beni e le attività culturali e del turismo.
© Fototeca del Polo Museale della Campania.
30. Desiderio da Settignano (1428–64), The Christ Child. Italy,
Florence, mid 15th century, stucco with polychrome decoration,
60.6 x 26.4 x 15.2 cm. Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts/City
of Detroit Purchase/Bridgeman Images.
31. Neapolitan lady with a rosary. Woodcut illustration from
Cesare Vecellio, De gli habiti antichi, et moderni et diverse parti
del mondo libri due, fatti da C.V. e con discorsi da lui dichiarati
(Venice, 1590), London, British Library, 810.i.2. Photo:
© The British Library Board.
32. Master of the Castello Nativity (active mid 15th century),
The Adoration of the Christ Child with John the Baptist. Italy,
Florence, c.1465–70, tempera and oil on panel, 111 x 74 cm.
Livorno, Museo Civico Giovanni Fattori, inv. no. 12. Photo:
Photo library of the Federico Zeri Foundation. The property
rights of the author have been met.
33. Gentile Bellini, The miracle of the True Cross at San Lorenzo.
Italy, Venice, signed and dated 1500, oil on canvas,
323 x 430 cm, detail of lower left side showing ladies with
rosaries. Venice, Gallerie dell’Accademia, cat. 568. Photo:
Cameraphoto Arte. By kind permission of the Ministero
dei beni e delle attività culturali del turismo.
34. Opera santissima et utile a qualunque fidel Cristiano (Brescia,
1538). Padua, Biblioteca Universitaria, 112.b.147/2. Photo:
© Biblioteca Universitaria di Padova. By kind permission of
the Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali e del turismo.
All rights reserved.
35. Epistole et Evangelii, che si leggono tutto l’anno alle messe
(Venice, 1601). London, The Victoria and Albert Museum
Library, no. 86.t.100. Photo: © The Victoria and Albert
Museum, London.
36. Sano di Pietro (1406–81), St Bernardino preaching in
182
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 182
the Campo of Siena. Italy, Siena, 1448, tempera on panel,
162 x 102 cm. Siena, Museo dell’Opera del Duomo. Photo:
© 2016. Photo Opera Metropolitana Siena/Scala, Florence.
37. Detail of fig. 9, Vittore Carpaccio, The birth of the Virgin.
38. Doorway with the Sacred Monogram (ihs). Italy, Ascoli
Piceno, 16th century. Photo: © Katherine Tycz.
39. Cassone with the Sacred Monogram inside the lid (ihs).
Italy, probably Venice, c.1540–60, the front inlaid with
geometrical patterns in wood and ivory; on the lid a draughts
board, 47 x 122 x 47.5 cm. London, The Victoria and Albert
Museum, 7822-1861. Photo: © The Victoria and Albert
Museum, London.
40. Alessandro Coticchia, Pax. Italy, Ascoli Piceno, 1547,
silver-gilt with niello, 13.4 x 9.7 x 5.2 cm. London, The
Victoria and Albert Museum, m.35-1951. Photo: © The
Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
41. Il Moderno, Pax with The Dead Christ with the Virgin
and St John. Italy, Verona, early 16th century (1513?), silver,
partly-gilded, enamel, cameo, mother-of-pearl, ivory, bronze.
23 x 4 x 12.8 cm. Mantua, Museo Diocesano Francesco
Gonzaga, Inv. 197. Photo: Mirabilia Onlus, Mantua.
42. Attributed to Anovelo da Imbonate (active c.1400) Leone
Otasso and his wife presenting their sick son to Saints Aimo and
Vermondo and A crowd of lay worshippers giving thanks in the
Legenda Venerabilium Virorum Aymonis et Vermondi. Italy,
Lombardy, c.1400, tempera colours, gold leaf, and ink on
parchment, 25.6 x 18.4 cm. Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty
Museum, ms. 26. Photo: Digital image courtesy of the Getty’s
Open Content Program.
43. The Last Supper. Italy, Veneto, late 15th century, woodcut,
16.5 x 16 cm. Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett, no. 876-301,
Schreiber 167. Photo: © bpk/Dietmar Katz.
44. Filippo Lippi (c.1406–69), Portrait of a woman with a
man at a casement. Italy, Florence, c.1440, tempera on wood,
64.1 x 41.9 cm. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Marquand Collection, Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1889,
89.15.19.
45. Rosary beads. Italy c.1500, gilt-copper with champlevé
enamel, average height 24.5 cm. Cleveland, The Cleveland
Museum of Art, 1952.277. Photo: © The Cleveland Museum
of Art.
46. Openwork pendant. France, c.1300, gilt-copper with
champlevé enamel, closed including loop: 8cm. Sold by
Sotheby’s London, 3 July 2012. Photograph courtesy of
Sotheby’s.
47. Bartolomeo Faleti (d.1570), Pope Pius v consecrating wax
‘Lambs’. Italy, Rome, 1567, etching, 40 x 54 cm. London,
British Museum, ii,5.107. Photo: © The Trustees of the
British Museum.
48. Amulet. Italy, 17th century, copper gilt, set with a
suspension ring. There is a heart made of coral in the centre,
upon which are affixed silver-gilt Hebrew letters forming the
word ‘Shadai’ (Almighty); a crown made of coral immediately
above it, and two turned columns of coral on either side,
8.7 x 6 x 1.8 cm. London, The Victoria and Albert Museum,
18-1884. Photo: © The Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
49. Detail of plate 63: Bartolomeo Ramenghi, Virgin and
Child with St Catherine.
50. Amulet: coral parrot teether. Italy, c.1600, carved coral
mounted in enamelled gold filigree, 6.3 x 2.7 x 2.2 cm.
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London, The Victoria and Albert Museum, m.53-1952.
Photo: © The Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
51. Rosary (not shown) with double-sided coral pendant.
Italy, c.1550–1600. Trapani, Treasury of the Madonna of
Trapani, 5313.
52. Ex-voto of Seven sailors saved from a storm. Italy, Veneto,
18th century, oil on panel, 24.5 x 38 cm. Chioggia, Museo
Diocesano. Photo: by kind permission of the Archivio
Diocesano di Chioggia, 21.7.2016.
53. Zocco di legno. Italy, Veneto, early 16th century, glass,
wood, silk damask, 22.3 x 77.5 x 15.3 cm. Chioggia, Chiesa
di San Giacomo. Photo: by kind permission of the Archivio
Diocesano di Chioggia, 21.7.2016.
54. Madonna della Navicella. Italy, Veneto, early 16th century,
oil on canvas mounted on panel, gold, silver, precious stones,
110 x 75 cm. Chioggia, Chiesa di San Giacomo. Photo: by
kind permission of the Archivio Diocesano di Chioggia,
21.7.2016.
55. Ex-votos. Various dates, various media, Sanctuary of
Santa Maria delle Grazie, Curtatone. © 2016. Photo: Mario
Bonotto/Photo Scala, Florence.
56. Luca Ferrini, Coróna di sessanta tre Miracoli della nunziata
di Firenze (Florence, 1593). Florence, Biblioteca Marucelliana,
mag.6.a.xii.8, f. 55v. By kind permission of the Biblioteca
Marucelliana di Firenze, all rights reserved.
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 183
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57. Leon Battista Alberti (1404–72), Rucellai sepulchre.
Florence, San Pancrazio, Rucellai Chapel, 1467. Photo:
© Paul Davies.
58. Elia Naurizio, General congregation of the Council in Santa
Maria Maggiore. Italy, Trent, 1633 (from a Venetian engraving
of 1563). Trent, Museo Diocesano Tridentino, formerly in the
church of Santa Maria Maggiore.
59. Soliani workshop, A family at their devotions. Italy, Modena,
mid 17th century, woodcut on paper, 24.2 x 37.7 cm. Modena,
Biblioteca Estense Universitaria.
60. Titian (c.1488/90–1576), St Mary Magdalene. Venice,
c.1530–35, oil on panel, 84 x 69.2 cm. Florence, Palazzo Pitti,
Inventario Palatina, n. 67 (1912).
61. Man kneeling before a Crucifix. Woodcut from Alessandro
Caravia, Il sogno dil Caravia (Venice, 1541), f. g4v (=g3v:
pagination incorrect). London, British Library, 80.k.7/g.10755.
Photo: © The British Library Board.
62. Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564), Christ on the Cross.
Italy, Rome, 1538–41, black chalk on paper, 36.8 x 26.8 cm.
London, British Museum, 1895,0915.504. Photo: © The
Trustees of the British Museum.
63. Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449–94), Saint Jerome in his study.
Italy, Florence, 1480, fresco, 184 x 119 cm. Florence, Church
of Ognissanti. Photo: © Scala Archives.
64. Alternative folio from plate 93.
183
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Domenico Ghirlandaio,
St Jerome in his study, 1480
Florence, Chiesa di Ognissanti

184

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Page numbers in italics are figures and plates; aspergil–10 di Loretto (Vergerio)–168
with ‘n’ are notes. Augustine, St–73, 142–3 Descrizione del Sacro Monte della Vernia (Moroni)–71
Avelli, Francesco Xanto, Dialogue Between Mercury and Charon (Váldes)–167
bowl cover with Holy Family–32, 32–3 Epistole et Evangelii (Nannini)–101, 101
accouchement set–32, 32 Ave Maria (Hail Mary)–16, 17, 24, 114, 118, 126 Essercitio della vita Cristiana–160
acheiropoieta–76 Averlino, Antonio di Pietro (Filarete), Giardinetto di cose spirituali–26, 35
Adoration of the Christ Child with John the Baptist St Jerome in the wilderness (plaquette)–64, 65 Golden Legend ( Jacobus de Voragine)
(Master of the Castello Nativity)–92, 93 30, 64, 116 n.21, 154, 164
Adoration of the Magi (cassone)–18, 18 Haggadah–42, 44, 45
aedicule–10, 152, 152 badges, pilgrim–146, 149 heterodox–166–8
Agnus Dei–12, 38, 85, 85, 123, 123–4, 125, 168 Barocci, Federico, follower of–92 ‘Leone Otasso and his wife/Sts Aimo
maiolica dish–86, 87 Bartolomeo della Pergola–168 and Vermondo’–110, 110
mould–123, 123 Bartolomeo Veneto, Portrait of a young lady– Libretto de i ricordi al popolo della citta et diocese
openwork pendant–130, 132 125–6, 125 di Milano (Borromeo)–159–60
silver-gilt–130, 130 Baruchson, Shifra–40 Libretto volgare–168
Aimo, St–110, 110 Bassano, Leandro–30 Meditations on the Life of Christ–56–7, 57
Alanus de Rupe–94 Woman at her devotions–90, 91 miracle–140
Alberti, Leon Battista–68 Bassetti, Marcantonio, Nuovo Testamento di Giesu Christo, Il–100, 101
Rucellai sepulchre–152, 152 Dead Christ supported by the Virgin Mary Officium Beatae Mariae Virginis secundum
Alberto da Castello, and Mary Magdalene–162, 163 consuetudinem Romanae Curiae–99, 100
Rosario della gloriosa Vergine Maria–94, 95 Basse, William, Virgin and Child in a landscape–69, 71 On the Education of a Christian Woman (Vives)
altarpieces–30, 61, 64, 66, 69, 74, 92 beads–see paternosters; rosaries 98–9
altar rights–9, 11, 158 bedchambers (camere)–10 Opera nova contemplativa de le figure del
altars, house–11, 156, 158 Bedoli, Girolamo Mazzola, Virgin and Child–26, 26 Testamento vecchio–99, 101
amber–76, 83, 94, 97 Bellini, Gentile Orlando Furioso–166
amulets–41, 42 Miracle of the True Cross at San Lorenzo–94, 94 Pasquino in estasi (Pasquino in Ecstasy) (Curione)
coral–134, 134 Bellini, Giovanni (circle of ), 167
ring–112, 112 St Jerome reading in a landscape–70, 71 Pio et christianissimo trattato dell’oratione
Andreoli, Giorgio (workshop of ) Benediction–21 (A Pious and Most Christian Treatise on Prayer)
bowl with Agnus Dei–86, 87 Benedict, St–121, 170 168
dish with Sacred Monogram–105, 107 Beneficio di Cristo (Fontanini) (book)–167, 170, 171 Praise of Folly (Erasmus)–143
St Jerome in the Wilderness–110, 111 Bernardino of Siena, St–18, 104, 107 Predica del arte del bene morire (Savonarola)–28, 28
Angelico, Fra–76 Bible, Nuovo Testamento di Giesu Christo, Il–100, 101 Rosario della gloriosa Vergine Maria–94, 95
Dead Christ–74, 75 birth–see life cycle Sommario della Santa Scrittura
Descent from the Cross–74, 74 Birth of St John the Baptist (attr. to Scultori)–8, 9 (Summary of the Holy Scripture )–168
Anne, St–16, 16, 30, 61 Birth of the Virgin (Carpaccio)–26, 27, 104, 104 Tragedia del libero arbitrio–167
Annunciation–9, 14, 16 Birth of the Virgin with other scenes from her life Tre libri dell’arte del vasaio (Piccolpasso)–32, 32
comb–24, 25 (Master of the Osservanza)–29–31, 30 see also printing/printing presses; reading at home
coral pendant–134, 135 Black Death–114, 161 books of hours–
Annunciation with St Emidius (Crivelli)–3, 9 Blood of the Redeemer (cameo)–60, 61 2, 3, 91, 96, 98, 99, 100, 102–3, 102–3, 160, 161
Annunciation to St Anne (Giotto di Bondone) Blood of the Redeemer (terracotta relief )–61, 61 Borromeo, Carlo–157
16, 16 Bolognetti, Alberto–157–8 Essercitio della vita Cristiana–160
Annunciation to the Shepherds and the Adoration of the Bonaventure, St–73 Libretto de i ricordi al popolo della citta et diocese
Magi (attr. to Giovanni de Nicola)–22–3, 22–3 Boniface of Ragusa–152 di Milano–16, 17, 19, 91, 159–60
Annunciation (wooden box)–16, 16 Boniface viii, Pope–83 Botticelli, Sandro, studio of
Ansanus, St, Virgin and Child, St John the Baptist Book of Customs–40, 40, 44 Madonna and Child with the young St John the Baptist
and St Ansanus (Lippi)–12, 12–13 books–52, 60–1 50, 50
Anthony Abbot, St–88, 89 Beneficio di Cristo (Fontanini)–167, 170, 171 Virgin and Child–50, 51–2
Anthony of Padua, St–116, 116 Book of Customs–40, 40, 44, 44 bottle case for holy oils–28, 28
ring–62, 63 catalogo de’ libri, Il (Vergerio)–167, 168 bowls
Antonio da Firenze–102, 102 Confitemini della Madonna con le Letanie–161, 161 with Cross–19, 19
Apostles–16, 128, 154 Coróna di sessanta tre Miracoli della Nunziata with St Jerome–62, 63
Aquinas, St Thomas–73, 123 di Firenze (Ferrini)–146, 146 with the Madonna of Loreto–149, 150
Ariosto, Ludovico, Orlando Furioso–166 De gli habiti antichi, et moderni (woodcut) with Sacred Monogram–106, 107
Arma Christi–18–19, 54, 58, 60, 61, 126, 128, 129 (Vecellio)–83, 83 boxes
artists’ materials–76–9 Della camera et statua della Madonna chiamata Annunciation–16, 16

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cassoni–18, 18, 107, 107 Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem– Della Robbia workshop/family–76, 78
cofanetto with David and Goliath–17–18, 18 148, 152, 153 Christ Child (statuette)–80, 81
leather reliquary–120–1, 121 Cleve, Joos van, Virgin and Child–85, 86, 86 Descent from the Cross (Fra Angelico)–74, 74
Boy falling from window (ex-voto)–146, 147 Codessa, Giovanni Battista–168 Descrizione del Sacro Monte della Vernia (Moroni)
brevi–114, 115–16, 116 cofanetto with David and Goliath–17–18, 18 (book)–71
Bridget of Sweden, St–92 Colonna, Vittoria–86, 164, 170, 172 Desiderio da Settignano, Christ Child (statuette)–
Briosco, Andrea (Il Riccio), Entombment–79, 79 colour–76, 77, 79 80, 81
bronze–42, 78, 79 comb, Annunciation–24, 25 devotion
Brothers (community)–168–9 Confitemini della Madonna con le Letanie (book)– domestic–1, 9–11, 40–5, 159–60
Brucioli, Antonio–101 161, 161 heterodox–166–9
Buonarroti, Michelangelo–76, 172, 172 confraternities–94 and heterodox books–168
Christ on the Cross–54, 66, 172, 174 Congregation of the Index–170 items of–82–6, 122–9
Last Judgement–162 Congregation of the Oratory–160 and reading–98–103
Burckhardt, Jacob–4 coral–96, 96, 134, 135 routines–16–19, 21, 88
Bynum, Carolyn Walker–79 Coróna di sessanta tre Miracoli della Nunziata di Firenze see also prayer
(Ferrini) (book)–146, 146 Dialogue Between Mercury and Charon (Váldes) (book)
Coronation of the Virgin (plaquette)–94, 96 167
Calvin, Jean–162, 166 Coticchia, Alessandro, pax–108, 108 dolls, Christ–92, 93
cameo, with Blood of the Redeemer–60, 61, 77 Council of Nicaea–67 Dominicans–61 n.3, 71, 74, 94
Camilla Battista da Varano–92 Council of Trent–157, 159, 162 see also Dominici; Fabri; Politi; Savonarola
candles/candlesticks–10, 11, 36, 82, 158 Counter Reformation–9, 11, 26, 72, 160, 162, 164 Dominici, Giovanni–35, 36, 77
and Agnus Dei–123 cover for prayer book–43, 43 Dominic, St–71
in Jewish homes–40, 40, 41 Crippled pilgrim with a rosary (unknown artist) Donatello–76, 108
Mamluk–3, 3, 10 148, 148 donor portraits–69, 71
Carmelites–12, 140, 141 Crivelli, Carlo, Annunciation with St Emidius–3, 9 Dream of St Ursula (Carpaccio)–vi, 10
Carpaccio, Vittore crosses–see crucifixes Dying woman attended by a priest and a female relative
Birth of the Virgin–26, 27, 104, 104 crucifixes–3, 4, 54, 76, 79, 128, 128–9, 158 (ex-voto)–28, 28
Dream of St Ursula–vi, 10 Crucifixion above a prayer against earthquake and
Carracci, Annibale sudden death (woodcut)–58, 59, 115
Mary Magdalene in a Landscape–164, 165 Crucifixion and the four Evangelists (prayer sheet)– Emilia-Romagna–77
Street seller of rosaries and pious prints 112, 113, 114 Entombment (Briosco)–79, 79
(after Annibale Carracci)–58, 58 Crucifixion with mourning angels (Ghisi)–162, 162 Epistole et Evangelii (Nannini) (book)–101, 101
Cassinese monks–170 Crucifixion (panel from Mancini workshop)–88, 89 equestrian portraits–142
cassoni–18, 18, 107, 107 Crucifixion with the Virgin Mary and St John Erasmus–36
catalogo de’ libri, Il (Vergerio)–167, 168 the Evangelist (attr. to Venusti)–172, 173 Praise of Folly–143
Catherine, St crystal–126, 127, 128 Essercitio della vita Cristiana
Virgin and Child in a landscape (Basse)–69, 71 cults–140, 143 (Exercise of a Christian Life) (Borromeo) (book)
Virgin enthroned suckling the infant Christ (woodcut) cups 160
118, 119 Arma Christi (maiolica)–18–19, 19 ex-votos–1, 142, 145
chalcedony, Madonna and Child with angel–76, 77 one-handled with St Francis–19, 19, 63 at Santa Maria delle Grazie (Mantua)–140, 142
chapels, private–9, 11, 74, 92, 158 Curione, Celio Secondo, Pasquino in estasi Boy falling from window–146, 147
charger, St Roch–62, 63 (Pasquino in Ecstasy)–167 Child injured by scissors–x, 1
Cherubino da Spoleto–98 Dying woman attended by a priest and a female relative
chests–see cassoni 28, 28
childbirth–26, 32 David and Goliath (cofanetto)–17–18, 18 Family kneel in prayer–12
Child injured by scissors (ex-voto)–x, 1 Dead Christ and angels (pax)–108, 109 Gentleman attacked by a bandit at his table–142, 143
children/childhood–26, 35–6, 77, 103, 168 Dead Christ (Fra Angelico)–74, 75 Gentleman (Giacomo Adana[n]son)
Chinello, Francesco–120, 121 Dead Christ supported by the Virgin Mary wounded by a firearm–136, 142
Christ, images of–52–4 and Mary Magdalene (Bassetti)–162, 163 Girl falls headfirst into a vat–146, 147
Christ Child (statuette) Dead Christ with the Virgin and St. John (Moderno) Healing of a woman from breast cancer–142, 142
(Andrea Della Robbia workshop)–80, 81 (pax)–108, 108 Kneeling man by the side of his wife’s bed–145, 145
Christ Child (wooden doll) death–see life cycle Kneeling woman prays by a crib–167, 168
(attr. Domenico Indivini)–92, 93 De gli habiti antichi, et moderni (book) (Vecellio)–83, 83 Kneeling woman prays for her family by the sick bed–
Christ on the Cross (Michelangelo)–54, 66, 172, 174 Della camera et statua della Madonna chiamata di Loretto 167, 168
Christ crowned with thorns (attr. to Perugino)–52, 53 (Of the Chamber and Statue of the Virgin Kneeling woman prays to St Nicholas
Christ healing the paralytic (maiolica dish)–143, 144 Called of Loreto) (Vergerio) (book)–168 to cure her sick husband–168, 169

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Madonna Della Marina–138, 138
Man at prayer before a crucifix–3, 5
Man gives thanks to St Nicholas for having
put out a fire in a cellar–142, 143
Man kneels before an image of the
Madonna of Lonigo–67, 67
Parents give thanks to St Nicholas for having
saved their baby daughter–142, 143
Piergiovanni da Caldarola and his wife
thank St Nicholas–168, 169
Sick man in bed depicted next to a shrine–137, 137
Sick man in bed prays with rosary–1, 2
Sick man with a beret in his hand–11, 11
Viadana family prays to St. Nicholas–115, 117
Woman in bed–110, 110
Woman in bed, attended by a doctor
and a serving woman–110, 111
Woman with a rosary supplicates the Madonna
of Lonigo on behalf of a sick woman–10
Woman’s husband appeals to the Madonna dell’Arco,
St Joseph and St Leonard–26, 26
Fabri, Felix–150
Facchetti, Pietro, Petrozzani family at prayer attr. to
66, 67
faience–see maiolica
Faleti, Bartolomeo, Pope Pius v Consecrating Wax
‘Lambs’ (etching/print)–130, 132–3
falling, fear of–146, 147
family–14, 15
children/childhood–26, 35–6, 77, 103, 168
devotional gatherings–18–19
devotional space in the home–9–11
devotions–16–19
the Jewish family/ritual–40–5, 134
life cycle–26–34, 88
Family around the seder table–44
Family at their devotions (Soliani Workshop)–159, 159
‘Family conducting ritual search for leaven’
(woodcut)–44
Family kneel in prayer (ex-voto)–10
Family stricken by illness–15
Faustino, St–120, 121
Federico (potter)–86
Ferretti, Leonardo–102
Ferrini, Luca, Coróna di sessanta tre Miracoli
della Nunziata di Firenze–146, 146
Filarete–see Averlino, Antonio di Pietro
Flaminio, Marcantonio–170
Fontanini, Benedetto, Beneficio di Cristo
167, 170, 171
Francia, Giacomo, Holy Family with
St Elizabeth and the infant John the Baptist–14, 15
Franciscans–22, 61 n.3, 71, 116, 152
Francis, St–71
one-handled cup–19, 19, 63
triptych (Nikolaos)–68, 69
Fregoso, Federico, Pio et christianissimo trattato
dell’oratione (A Pious and Most Christian
Treatise on Prayer)–168
Gabriel, Archangel–94, 118
Annunciation to St Anne (Giotto di Bondone)–16, 16
comb with Annunciation–24, 25
Virgin enthroned suckling the infant Christ (woodcut)
118, 119
General congregation of the Council in
Santa Maria Maggiore (Naurizio)–157, 158
Gentleman attacked by a bandit at his table (ex-voto)
142, 143
Gentleman (Giacomo Adana[n]son)
wounded by a firearm (ex-voto)–136, 142
Ghirlandaio, Domenico, St Jerome in his study–184
Ghisi, Giorgio, Crucifixion with mourning angels
162, 162
Giardinetto di cose spirituali (book)–26, 35
gift-giving, Jewish–43
Giotto di Bondone, Annunciation to St Anne–16, 16
194
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 194
Giovannibuono of Mantua–140
Giovanni di Nicola di Manzoni dal Colle
Annunciation to the Shepherds and the Adoration
of the Magi attr. to–22–3, 22–3
Nativity (inkstand) attr. to–17, 17
Giovita, St–120, 121
Girl falls headfirst into a vat (ex-voto)–146, 147
Golden Legend ( Jacobus de Voragine) (book)–
30, 64, 116 n.21, 154, 164
Grapaldi, Francesco–11
Gregory x, Pope–123
Gualterio, Giovanni Antonio,
ivory corpus for a crucifix–54, 55
Haggadah–42, 44, 45
hagiographies–160
Hail Mary–see Ave Maria; rosaries
Hale, John–7
hanukkiyah lamp–41–2, 42
Healing of a woman from breast cancer (ex-voto)–142, 142
heterodox devotion–166–9
Hispano-Moresque jar (maiolica)–86, 87
Holy Family–14, 32
coral pendant–134, 135
Holy Family with the infant St John in a landscape
(Montagna)–71–2, 71
Holy Family with St Elizabeth and the
infant John the Baptist (Francia)–14, 15
Holy House of Loreto–7, 137, 150, 150, 168
Holy Land–3, 10, 148
and pilgrimage–148, 152, 160
Holy Sepulchre, model of–152, 153
icons–69
Pair of Christological icons–52, 54
triptych (Nikolaos)–68, 69
IHS–see Sacred Monogram
images
and devotion–66–73
and the Reformation–162
Index of Prohibited Books–101, 167
Indivini, Domenico, Christ Child (wooden doll)
attr. to–92, 93
indulgences–58, 83
and pilgrimage–148, 150
Infant Christ and Saint John embracing (Oggiono)–36, 37
inkstands
Nativity (attr. Giovanni di Nicola)–17, 17
Nativity (Giovanni di Nicola)–23, 23
Inquisition–114, 158, 161, 166–7, 168, 170
interventions, supernatural–see miracles
ivory–76–7, 79
corpus for a crucifix (Gualterio)–54, 55
St Sebastian–72, 72
see also models
Jacobus de Voragine, Golden Legend
30, 64, 116 n.21, 154, 164
St James the Greater (Lotto)–154, 155
Jerome, St–162
book of hours–102, 103
bowl–62, 63
plaquette–64, 65
St Jerome in his study (Ghirlandaio)–64, 184
St Jerome reading in a landscape
(circle of Giovanni Bellini)–70, 71
St Jerome in the Wilderness (Workshop of
Maestro Giorgio Andreoli)–110, 111
Jerusalem, Church of the Holy Sepulchre–
148, 152, 153
Jesuit order–107, 122, 158 n.1, 160
jewelled cross pendant–14, 15, 112
jewellery–11, 14, 107
see also amulets; pendants; rings; rosaries
Jewish ritual items–40–5, 134
‘Jewish woman lighting Sabbath candles’
(woodcut from Book of Customs)–40, 40
John the Baptist, St–77–8
Adoration of the Christ Child with John the Baptist
(Master of the Castello Nativity)–92, 93
Birth of St John the Baptist (attr. to Scultori)–8, 9
Holy Family with St Elizabeth and the
infant John the Baptist (Francia)–14, 15
Madonna and Child with the young St John the Baptist
(studio of Botticelli)–50, 50
terracotta busts–77–8, 77
Virgin and Child with the infant St John the Baptist
(Rottenhammer)–72, 72
Virgin and Child with St John the Baptist
(Pinturicchio)–35, 38, 39
Virgin and Child, St John the Baptist and St Ansanus
(Lippi)–12, 12–13
John the Evangelist, St
Crucifixion with the Virgin Mary and St John
the Evangelist (attr. to Venusti)–172, 173
Descent from the Cross (Fra Angelico)–74, 74
Entombment (Briosco)–79, 79
Kneeling man by the side of his wife’s bed (ex-voto)–
145, 145
kneeling stool–see prie-dieu
Kneeling woman prays by a crib (ex-voto)–167, 168
Kneeling woman prays for her family by the sick bed
(ex-voto)–167, 168
Kneeling woman prays to St Nicholas to cure
her sick husband (ex-voto)–168, 169
knives, inscribed with musical notation–20, 21
Lamb of God–see Agnus Dei
landscapes–71–2
Last Judgement (Michelangelo Buonarroti)–162
Last Supper (woodcut)–118, 118
Lazzarelli, Ludovico, Pope Sixtus iv
shows the Veronica in St Peter’s–58, 58
Leone Modena–40, 41, 43
‘Leone Otasso and his wife/Sts Aimo and Vermondo’
(illuminated page from manuscript)–110, 110
Levis, Servius de, mortar–41, 42
Libretto de i ricordi al popolo della citta et diocese di Milano
(Little Book of Teachings to the People of the
City and Diocese of Milan) (Borromeo) (book)
16, 17, 19, 91, 157, 159–60, 164
Libretto volgare (book)–168
life cycle–26–34, 88
Ligozzi, Jacopo, View of the monastery of La Verna–71
Lippi, Filippo–12, 12–13, 76, 92
Portrait of a woman with a man at a casement–122, 122
Virgin and Child, St John the Baptist
and St Ansanus–12, 12–13
literacy–101, 103, 167
Loarte, Gasparo–98, 99
Lombardo, Antonio, St John the Baptist–34, 35
Lorenzo di Marco–97
Lorenzo Monaco, Virgin and Child enthroned–46, 47
Loreto
Holy House of–7, 137, 168
Translation of the Holy House of Loreto (Pagani)
150, 151
lost wax technique of bronze casting–83
Lotto, Lorenzo–76
St James the Greater–154, 155
Luca, Giovanni–86
Lucy, St, Virgin and Child in a landscape (Basse)–
118, 119
lustreware–86
Crucifixion (panel from Mancini workshop)–88, 89
Hispano-Moresque jar–86, 87
Luther, Martin–63, 143, 157, 166, 167
Madonna–47–8
Madonna and Child with angel (chalcedony figure)
76, 77
Madonna and Child, Christ crucified and St Anthony
52, 52
14/12/2016 17:28

Madonna and Child with a devotee (Marziale)–69, 69
Madonna and Child with the young St John the Baptist
(Botticelli studio)–50, 50
Madonna del Fuoco (woodcut)–118
Madonna della Marina, ex-votos–138, 138
Madonna della Marina
(attr. to Mancini/Petrini workshop)–138, 139
Madonna della Navicella–138, 139
Madonna dell’ Arco–137
Madonna del Molino (maiolica panel)
(after Antonio Rossellino)–47–8, 47
Madonna of Humility–12, 12–13
Madonna of Loreto (bowl)–149, 150
Madruzzo, Cristoforo–44
maiolica–30, 86, 88
Agnus Dei dish–86, 87
Annunciation to the Shepherds and the Adoration
of the Magi (attr. to Giovanni de Nicola)
22–3, 22–3
birth services–32
Crucifixion (panel from Mancini workshop)–88, 89
dish with Christ healing the paralytic–143, 144
Hispano-Moresque jar–86, 87
holy water stoup–157, 158
Madonna della Marina (Mancini/Petrini workshop)
138, 138
mirror frames–78
one-handled cup with St Francis–19, 19
panels–47–8, 47
tray with the Sacred Monogram–107, 107
two-handled cup with Arma Christi–18–19, 19
Virgin and Child–78, 78
Virgin and Child (van Cleve)–86, 86
Malespini, Ricordano–123
Man at prayer before a crucifix (ex-voto)–3, 5
Mancini, Giacomo (‘El Frate’) (workshop),
panel with Crucifixion–88, 89
Mancini/Petrini workshop, Madonna della Marina
138, 139
Man gives thanks to St Nicholas for having
put out a fire in a cellar (ex-voto)–142, 143
Man kneeling before a Crucifix (woodcut)–168, 169
Man kneels before an image of the Madonna of Lonigo
(ex-voto)–67, 67
Man of Sorrows–18, 61
Blood of the Redeemer (cameo)–60, 61, 77
in Meditations on the Life of Christ–57
print–52, 54
Marche–7, 16, 77
book of hours–100, 102–3, 102–3
Loreto shrine–137, 150, 150, 168
and Lotto–154
maiolica production–86
medal–making–83
pax–108, 108
and St Nicholas of Tolentino–146
marriage–26–7
Jewish–41, 42–3
martyrs–63, 121, 160
see also Ansanus, St; Catherine, St;
John the Evangelist, St; Sebastian, St; Ursula, St
Mary Magdalene, St–68, 69, 162
Crucifixion (panel from Mancini workshop)–88, 89
Dead Christ supported by the Virgin Mary
and Mary Magdalene (Bassetti)–162, 163
Descent from the Cross (Fra Angelico)–74, 74
Mary Magdalene in a Landscape (Carracci)–164, 165
Marziale, Marco, Madonna and Child with a devotee
69, 69
Master of the Castello Nativity
Adoration of the Christ Child with John the Baptist–
92, 93
Virgin adoring the Child–10, 92, 93
Master of the Osservanza, Birth of the Virgin
with other scenes from her life–29–31, 30
Master of the Pala Sforzesca, Salvator Mundi–73, 73
materials, artists’–76–9
Mazziere, Agnolo di Domenico,
Portrait of a Young Woman–14, 15
medallions, wax–130, 132–3
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 195
int roduction
in de x
medals/medal-makers–83, 84 Our Father (Pater Noster)
Medici family 16, 18, 19, 35, 94, 114, 159, 160, 166, 168, 169
and Agnus Dei–85, 125
and maiolica–86
Meditations on the Life of Christ (book)– Pagani, Vincenzo,
56–7, 57, 92, 99 Translation of the Holy House of Loreto–150, 151
Melanchthon, Philipp–166 Paleotti, Gabriele–72, 76
Michelozzo–78 pamphlets, devotional–99, 101, 101
Middeldorf, Ulrich–64 Panofilo, Pietro–168
Milan Marsyas Painter, Parents give thanks to St Nicholas for having
bowl cover with The Holy Family–32, 32–3 saved their baby daughter (ex-voto)–142, 143
Mion, Giovanni–114 Pasquino in estasi (Pasquino in Ecstasy) (Curione)
miracles–94, 96, 137, 138, 142–3 (book)–167
Coróna di sessanta tre Miracoli della Nunziata Passover–44, 44
di Firenze (Ferrini) (book)–146, 146 paternosters–24, 64, 82, 94, 150, 168
dish with Christ healing the paralytic–143, 144 see also rosaries
Madonna della Marina–138, 138, 139 pawn institutions–82–3
Virgin with the Christ Child as protector of the pax
Carmelites and scenes of miracles–140, 141 by Coticchia–108, 108
see also ex-votos Dead Christ and angels–108, 109
Miracle of the True Cross at San Lorenzo Dead Christ with the Virgin and St. John (Moderno)
(Gentile Bellini)–94, 94 108, 108
miracolati–142 penance–148
mirrors–24, 24, 78 pendants
Mocenigo, Alvise–166 Agnus Dei–125
models Agnus Dei/Veronica veil–130, 130–1
aedicule of the Holy Sepulchre–152, 152 coral–134, 134, 135
Church of the Holy Sepulchre–152, 153 jewelled cross–14, 15, 112
Modena, Leone–40, 41, 43 openwork Agnus Dei–130, 132
Moderno, Pax with Dead Christ personal protection–112, 114
with the Virgin and St. John–108, 108 Perugino, Pietro, Christ crowned with thorns attr. to
Monaco, Lorenzo–74 52, 53
monogram of Jesus–see Sacred Monogram Petrozzani family at prayer (attr. to Facchetti)–66, 67
Montagna, Benedetto, Holy Family with the Philetus–154
infant St John in a landscape–71–2, 71 Philip Neri, St–160
Montaigne, Michel de–137 Piani family–32
Monti di Pietà–82–3 piatto da pompa (charger)–62, 63
Moroni, Lino–71 Piccolpasso, Cipriano, I tre libri dell’arte del vasaio
Descrizione del Sacro Monte della Vernia–71 32, 32
mortar (de Levis)–41, 42 Piergiovanni da Caldarola and his wife thank
mother-of-pearl disc, Virgin and Child St Nicholas (ex-voto)–168, 169
with St. Sebastian and St Roch–115, 115 Pietà–68, 69, 108, 109, 172
music–20, 21 Pietro di Niccolò da Orvieto, Virgin and Child
music-making–21, 158, 172 3–4, 6, 7, 14
pilgrims/pilgrimage–63, 148–50, 149, 152, 154, 168
Pinturicchio
Nannini, Remigio, Epistole et Evangelii–101, 101 Virgin and Child–38, 38
Naples–7 Virgin and Child with St John the Baptist–35, 38, 39
Nativity (attr. Giovanni di Niccola) (inkstand)–23, 23 Virgin teaching the Christ Child to read–38, 38
Nativity, The (attr. Giovanni di Nicola) (inkstand) Pio et christianissimo trattato dell’oratione
17, 17 (A Pious and Most Christian Treatise on Prayer)
naturalism–69, 71 (Fregoso) (book)–168
Naurizio, Elia, General congregation of the Council Pius v–130, 132–3, 161
in Sant Maria Maggiore–157, 158 plague–35, 91, 114–15, 161
Negri, Francesco, Tragedia del libero arbitrio–167 see also Roch, St; Sebastian, St
Neri, St Philip–160 plaque, Virgin with Sts. Roch and Sebastian–115, 115
Nicholas of Tolentino, St–145, 145, 146 plaquettes–64, 77, 108
Northern European paintings–85–6, 86 Coronation of the Virgin–94, 96
Nuovo Testamento di Giesu Christo, Il (Bible)–100, 101 Entombment–79, 79
St Jerome–64, 65
Virgin and Child–64, 78
Officium Beatae Mariae Virginis secundum Politi, Ambrogio Catarino–170
consuetudinem Romanae Curiae (book)–99, 100 poor people, and devotional items–82–3
Oggiono, Marco d’, Infant Christ Pope Pius v Consecrating Wax ‘Lambs’
and Saint John embracing–36, 37 (Faleti) (etching/print)–130, 132–3
Old Testament, Opera nova contemplativa Pope Sixtus iv shows the Veronica in St Peter’s
de le figure del Testamento vecchio–101 (Lazzarelli)–58, 58
Oliva, Giacomo–16, 19 Portrait of a woman with a man at a casement
On the Education of a Christian Woman (Vives) (book) (Lippi)–122, 122
98–9 Portrait of a young lady (Bartolomeo Veneto)–
onyx–60, 61, 77, 134, 134 125–6, 125
Opera nova contemplativa de le figure del Testamento vecchio Portrait of a Young Woman (Mazziere)–14, 15
(New work for contemplation of the figures of Praise of Folly (Erasmus) (book)–143
the Old Testament) (Vavassore) (book)–99, 101 prayer–91–116
Opera santissima et utile a qualunque fidel Cristiano how to pray–90, 91
(devotional pamphlet)–99, 101, 101 for protection–110–16
Oratione devotissima alla madre di Dio trovata nel and reading at home–98–103
S. Sepolcro di Christo (prayer sheet)–166, 166 rosaries–82, 83, 91, 94, 96
oratorio–160 Sacred Monogram–104, 107
Orlando Furioso (Ariosto)–166 see also prayer sheets
195
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prayer desks–see prie-dieu St Veronica holding out the Vernicle (pilgrim badge) Váldes, Alfonso de,
prayer sheets 149, 150 Dialogue Between Mercury and Charon–167
with Crucifixion and the four Evangelists salvation–166–7, 169 Valla, Lorenzo–157
112, 113, 114 Salvator Mundi (Master of the Pala Sforzesca)–73, 73 Vannetti, Carlo–168
Oratione devotissima alla madre di Dio trovata sandglass–3, 4 Varano, Camilla Battista da–92
nel S. Sepolcro di Christo–166, 166 Sano di Pietro, St Bernardino preaching Vasari, Giorgio–74
Orazione de Santo Paulo–114, 114 in the Campo of Siena–104, 104 Vavassore, Giovanni Andrea,
Predica del arte del bene morire (Savonarola) (book)– Santissima Annunziata (cult)–143, 146 Opera nova contemplativa de le figure
28, 28 Sanudo, Marin–137 del Testamento vecchio–99, 101
prie-dieu–1, 3, 3, 10 Savonarola, Girolamo–1, 21, 167, 170 Vecellio, Cesare,
printing/printing presses–142, 166–8 woodcut illustrations–28, 28, 50, 50 De gli habiti antichi, et moderni (book)–83, 83
prints, devotional–66–7, 69, 71, 158 Scultori, Diana, Birth of St John the Baptist attr. to– Venetian terraferma–7
protection (divine)–50, 67 8, 9 Venice–7, 83
and prayer–110–16 Sebastian, St–72, 72, 113, 113, 114, 115, 115 Jewish ghetto–40, 41
Protestantism–162, 166 Semprini family–166 Miracle of the True Cross at San Lorenzo–94, 94
shrines–137, 140, 143 and pilgrimage–148
Church of the Holy Sepulchre–152, 153 and Protestantism–166
quartz–see crystal and ex-votos–142 Venusti, Marcello, Crucifixion with the Virgin Mary
Holy House of Loreto–7, 137, 150, 150, 168 and St John the Evangelist attr. to–172, 173
Madonna dei Miracoli di Lonigo–1, 142, 146 Vergerio, Pier Paolo–166, 167, 168
Ramenghi, Bartolomeo, Madonna dell’Arco–137 on Beneficio di Cristo–170
Virgin and Child with St. Catherine–63, 63, 134 Sick man in bed depicted next to a shrine (ex-voto) catalogo de’ libri, Il–167, 168
Raphael–154 137, 137 Della camera et statua della Madonna
reading at home–98–101 Sick man in bed, attended by his wife and three daughters chiamata di Loretto–168
Reformation–91, 101, 140, 157–8, 162, 166 (ex-voto)–94, 95 Vermondo, St–110, 110
Reinburg, Virginia–102 Sick man in bed depicted next to a shrine (ex-voto)– Veronica cloth–58, 59, 150
relics–58, 63, 77, 148, 150 137, 137 on pendant–130, 131
reliquary box–120–1, 121 Sick man in bed prays with rosary (ex-voto)–1, 2 pilgrim badge with St Veronica
reliquary pendant–128, 129 Sick man with a beret in his hand (ex-voto)–11, 11 holding out the Vernicle–149, 150
Renaissance, as rebirth–4–7 silk industry–146 Veronica, St–see Veronica cloth
restello–24, 24 Soliani Workshop, Family at their devotions–159, 159 Viadana family prays to St. Nicholas (ex-voto)–115, 117
revelation of sacred images–10–11, 92 Sommario della Santa Scrittura Vico della Penna, Fedele–166
ribbon, pilgrimage–148, 149 (Summary of the Holy Scripture ) (book)–168 View of the monastery of La Verna (Ligozzi)–71
rings–107 souvenirs, pilgrim–148, 149, 150 Virgin adoring the Child
amulet–112, 112 Speranza del Cristiano, La (booklet)–166 (Master of the Castello Nativity)–10, 92, 93
child’s–36, 36 spice box–40, 41 Virgin and Child (Bedoli)–26, 26
with IHS/Three Nails of the Crucifixion–122, 122 Spirituali–170 Virgin and Child (bronze)–78, 79
Jewish wedding–41, 42–3 statuette, Virgin and Child–48, 48 Virgin and Child enthroned (Lorenzo)–46, 47
with Sacred Monogram–106, 107 stoups Virgin and Child with the infant St John the Baptist
St Anthony–62, 63 and aspergil–10, 11 (Rottenhammer)–72, 72
signet–110, 110 Holy water–157 Virgin and Child in a landscape (Basse)–69, 71
Roch, St–62, 63, 114, 115, 115 Street seller of rosaries and pious prints Virgin and Child (maiolica relief )–78, 78
ropes, carried by pilgrims–152 (after Annibale Carracci)–58, 58 Virgin and Child (Pietro di Niccolò da Orvieto)–
rosaries– Strozzi family–74 3–4, 6, 7, 14
82, 83, 91, 94, 96–7, 107, 125–6, 126, 150, 158 Studies of hands clasped in prayer Virgin and Child (Pinturicchio)–38, 38
coral rosary with a pomander–96, 96 (follower of Federico Barocci)–91, 91 Virgin and Child with St. Catherine (Ramenghi)–
Crippled pilgrim with a rosary (unknown artist)– Suffrage–103 63, 63, 134
148, 148 supernatural interventions–see miracles Virgin and Child with St John the Baptist
with Crucifix–128, 128 superstition–114, 166, 168 (Pinturicchio)–35, 38, 39
Portrait of a young lady (Bartolomeo Veneto)– sweetness–167 Virgin and Child, St John the Baptist and St Ansanus
125, 125 (Lippi)–12, 12–13
rock crystal–127, 128 Virgin and Child with St. Sebastian and St Roch
rosewood and bone–97, 97 taxation–82 (mother-of-pearl disc)–115, 115
Rosario della gloriosa Vergine Maria terracotta–77–9 Virgin and Child (statuette)–48, 48
(Alberto da Castello) (book)–94, 95 Blood of the Redeemer–61, 61 Virgin and Child (studio of Botticelli)–50, 51–2
Rossellino, Antonio–47 Christ Child–80, 80–1 Virgin and Child (terracotta relief ) (1410–30)–48, 48
see also Madonna del Molino Virgin and Child–48, 48 Virgin and Child (terracotta relief ) (1600–1700)
Rottenhammer, Hans, Virgin and Child Theatines–157 48, 49
with the infant St John the Baptist–72, 72 Three Nails of the Crucifixion–107 Virgin and Child (van Cleve)–85, 86, 86
Rucellai sepulchre (Alberti)–152, 152 ring–122, 122 Virgin with the Christ Child as protector of the Carmelites
Titian and scenes of miracles (woodcut)–140, 141
print after–69, 69, 71 Virgin enthroned suckling the infant Christ
Sabba di Castiglione, Fra–77 St Mary Magdalene–164, 164 surrounded by angels (woodcut)–118, 119
Sacchetti, Franco–143 toadstone–112, 112 Virgin with Sts. Roch and Sebastian (plaque)–115, 115
Sacred Monogram–104, 104–7, 107 tondi–50 Virgin teaching the Christ Child to read
Agnus Dei–124, 125 Tragedia del libero arbitrio (Pinturicchio)–38, 38
ring–122, 122 (The Tragedy of Free Will) (Negri) (book)–167 visionionary experience–67–8
rosary–125, 126 Translation of the Holy House of Loreto (Pagani)– Vita Christi–73
Virgin and Child (van Cleve)–85, 86, 86 150, 151 Vives, Juan Luis,
St Bernardino preaching in the Campo of Siena Trattato utilissimo del beneficio di Giesu Christo crocifisso On the Education of a Christian Woman–98–9
(Sano di Pietro)–104, 104 see Beneficio di Cristo Vulgate–64
St Francis (one-handled cup)–19, 19, 63 Tre libri dell’arte del vasaio
St James the Greater (Lotto)–154, 155 (Three Books of the Potter’s Art) (Piccolpasso)
St Jerome in his study (Ghirlandaio)–184 (book)–32, 32 wax medallions–130, 132–3
St Jerome reading in a landscape True Cross–128, 148 Woman at her devotions (Bassano)–90, 91
(circle of Giovanni Bellini)–70 Tzafouris, Nikolaos, icon triptych–68, 69 Woman in bed, attended by a doctor and a serving woman
St John the Baptist (Lombardo)–34, 35 (ex-voto)–110, 111
St Mary Magdalene (Titian)–164, 164 Woman in bed (ex-voto)–110, 111
saints–63 Ursula, St–57 ‘Woman praying on Yom Kippur’ (marginal drawing)
see also individual saints Ursulines–157 42, 43

196

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Woman with a rosary supplicates the Madonna of Lonigo
on behalf of a sick woman (ex-voto)–10
Woman’s husband appeals to the Madonna dell’Arco,
St Joseph and St Leonard (ex-voto)–26, 26
women, at home–17–18
woodcuts–58, 118
Crucifixion above a prayer against earthquake
and sudden death–58, 59
Madonnas and Miracles AW.indd 197
De gli habiti antichi, et moderni (Vecellio)–83, 83
Family at their devotions (Soliani Workshop)–159, 159
illustrations from Savonarola–28, 28, 50, 50
Last Supper–118, 118
Madonna del Fuoco–118
Man kneeling before a Crucifix–168, 169
Orazione de Santo Paulo–114, 114
Street seller of rosaries and pious prints
int roduction
in de x
(after Annibale Carracci)–58, 58
Virgin with the Christ Child as protector of the
Carmelites and scenes of miracles–140, 141
Virgin enthroned suckling the infant Christ s
urrounded by angels–118, 119
Zocco di legno (wooden log)–138, 138
Zwingli, Huldrych–162
fig. 64 (overleaf )
Image from plate 93: Alberto da Castello,
Rosario della gloriosa Vergine Maria, 1522
197
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