The DevouT hanD The DevouT hanD Women, Virtue, and Visual Culture in Early Modern Italy patricia rocco McGill-Queen’s University Press Montreal & Kingston • London • Chicago © McGill-Queen’s University Press 2017 ISBN 978-0-7735-5138-1 (cloth) ISBN 978-0-7735-5219-7 (ePDF) ISBN 978-0-7735-5220-3 (ePUB) Legal deposit fourth quarter 2017 Bibliothèque nationale du Québec Printed in Canada on acid-free paper McGill-Queen’s University Press acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Rocco, Patricia B., 1967–, author The devout hand : women, virtue, and visual culture in early modern Italy / Patricia B. Rocco. Includes bibliographical references and index. Issued in print and electronic formats. ISBN 978-0-7735-5138-1 (hardcover).–ISBN 978-0-7735-5219-7 (ePDF).– ISBN 978-0-7735-5220-3 (ePUB) 1. Art, Italian–Italy–Bologna–16th century.  2. Art, Italian–Italy–Bologna–17th century. 3. Women artists–Italy–Bologna–History–16th century.  4. Women artists– Italy–Bologna–History–17th century.  5. Bologna (Italy)–Intellectual life–16th century.  6. Bologna (Italy)–Intellectual life–17th century.  7. Women artists–Italy–Bologna– Intellectual life–16th century.  8. Women artists–Italy–Bologna–Intellectual life–17th century.  9. Bologna (Italy)–History–Papal rule, 1506-1797.  I. Title. N6921.B7R63 2017 709.454’110903 C2017-904250-5 C2017-904251-3 † CONTENTS Figures vii Acknowledgments xi Colour section following page 124 Introduction 3 1 Bologna as Exemplary Counter-Reformation City: An Intellectual History of the City and Its Scholars 18 2 Tridentine Visual Reform in Paleotti’s Discorso: The Modes of the Artefice Cristiano in Theory and Practice 44 3 Stitching for Virtue: Women’s Work in Embroidery for the Conservatori of Bologna 92 4 Felsina Pittrice: Elisabetta Sirani, Her Students and Circle, and the Maniera Devota 119 5 Veronica Fontana and Giuseppe Maria Mitelli: Prints, Piety, and Science in the Work of Sirani’s Students and Colleagues 155 Conclusion 198 Appendices 204 Notes 213 Bibliography 251 Index 273 † FIGuReS i.1 Lavinia Fontana, Self-Portrait, 1577 4 i.2 Elisabetta Sirani, Self-Portrait, 1658 6 i.3 Giuseppe Maria Mitelli, Interior view of the Museo Cospiano, 1677 8 i.4 Pietro Perugino, The Crucifixion with the Virgin, St. John, St. Jerome, and St. Mary Magdalene (Galitzin Triptych), 1481–85 11 1.1 Agostino Carracci (attributed), Portrait of Ulisse Aldrovandi, 1600 20 1.2a Jacopo Ligozzi, Fig Branch with Two Birds, 1600 22 1.2b Jacopo Ligozzi, Bird of Paradise and Exotic Finch on Fig Branch, 1600 23 1.3 Lavinia Fontana, Cleopatra, 1604–14 33 1.4 Lavinia Fontana, Minerva in the Act of Dressing, 1613 34 1.5 Lavinia Fontana, Portrait of the Daughter of Pedro Gonzalez (Antonietta Gonzalez, the Hairy Girl), 1580s 37 1.6 G.B. Coriolani, Puella Pilosa (The Hairy Girl), 1642 38 1.7 Lavinia Fontana, St. Francis Adoring the Crucifix, 1580 40 1.8 Lavinia Fontana, St. Francis Receives the Stigmata, 1579 41 2.1 Lavinia Fontana, Dead Christ with the Symbols of the Passion, 1581 54 2.2 Lavinia Fontana, The Annunciation, 1576–77 56 2.3 Lavinia Fontana, The Virgin Adoring the Sleeping Child, 1605–1610 66 2.4 Lavinia Fontana, Assumption of the Madonna, 1593 68 2.5 Lavinia Fontana, Madonna of the Assumption of Ponte Santo with Saints Cassiano and Crisologo, 1584 71 2.6 Lavinia Fontana, Noli me tangere, 1581 79 2.7 Lavinia Fontana, Christ and the Samaritan Woman, 1607 81 2.8 Lavinia Fontana, Apparition of the Virgin and Child to the Five Saints, 1601 83 2.9 Lavinia Fontana, St. Francis di Paola Blessing the Child of Luisa of Savoy, 1590 85 2.10 Lavinia Fontana, Judith and Holofernes, 1600 87 3.1 Lavinia Fontana, Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, 1580 97 3.2 Elisabetta Sirani, Holy Family with St. Teresa, 1664 99 3.3 Madonna and Child with St. Marta, seventeenth century 101 3.4 Detail of figure 3.3 101 3.5 Veronica Fontana, Frontispiece from Il teatro dell’ honore, 1675 105 3.6 Lavinia Fontana, Birth of the Virgin, 1590 107 4.1 Elisabetta Sirani, Baptism of Christ, 1658 122 4.2 Elisabetta Sirani, Virgin Addolorata with the Symbols of the Passion, 1657 124 4.3 Elisabetta Sirani, Mary Magdalene, 1660 126 4.4 Elisabetta Sirani, Liberation of the Possessed Boy of Constantinople by the Icon of Christ (Mandylion), 1659 128 4.5 Elisabetta Sirani, Judith Showing the Head of Holofernes to the Israelites, 1658 131 4.6 Elisabetta Sirani, Timoclea Tosses Alexander the Great’s Captain into the Well, 1659 132 4.7 Elisabetta Sirani, Cleopatra, 1650s 134 4.8 Barbara Sirani, Portrait of Elisabetta Sirani, 1665 140 4.9 Ginevra Cantofoli, Immaculate Virgin with the Christ Child (Madonna of the Rosary as the Immaculate Conception), 1650s 144 4.10 Antonia Pinelli, St. John the Evangelist Resuscitates the Earthquake Victims, 1614–1620 146 4.11 Ginevra Cantofoli, Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting, 1660s 150 5.1 Veronica Fontana, Christ Addressing the Apostles, 1682 158 5.2 Veronica Fontana and M. Odi, company emblem, from Il teatro dell’ honore, 1675 161 5.3 Veronica Fontana, Portrait of Ferdinand III, 1677 165 5.4 Veronica Fontana, Bronze oil lamp, 1677 166 5.5 Veronica Fontana, Bacchante figure, 1677 168 5.6 Matteo Borboni, Catafalque for Elisabetta Sirani’s Funeral (Tempietto d’onore), 1665 171 5.7 Giuseppe Maria Mitelli, St. Anthony of Padua Adoring the Christ Child, 1679 173 5.8 Giuseppe Maria Mitelli, Machina trionfale della venerabile confraternità di S. Domenico (the Mountain of Moses, closed), 1675 175 5.9 Giuseppe Maria Mitelli, Machina trionfale della venerabile confraternità di S. Domenico (the Mountain of Moses, open), 1675 177 5.10 Giuseppe Maria Mitelli, The Game of Truth, 1688 180 viii | figures 5.11 Giuseppe Maria Mitelli, The Game of Husbands and Wives, 1691 182 5.12 Giuseppe Maria Mitelli, The Unhappy Life of the Meretrice or Prostitute in Twelve Months, 1690s 187 5.13 Giuseppe Maria Mitelli, Le donne spesse volte hanno lunga la veste e corto intelletto, 1678 189 5.14 Giuseppe Maria Mitelli, Donna Superba, 1675 191 5.15 Giuseppe Maria Mitelli, Sad is that Home where the Chicken Crows and the Cock is Silent, 1678 193 5.16 Giuseppe Maria Mitelli, The Game of the Land of Cucagna (Cockaigne), 1691 194 figures | ix