Description
Book SynopsisCaterina Vigri (later Saint Catherine of Bologna) was a mystic, writer, teacher and nun-artist. Her first home, Corpus Domini, Ferrara, was a house of semi-religious women that became a Poor Clare convent and model of Franciscan Observant piety. Vigri's intensely spiritual decoration of her breviary, as well as convent altarpieces that formed a visual program of adoration for the Body of Christ, exemplify the Franciscan Observant visual culture. After Vigri's departure, it was transformed by d'Este women patrons, including Isabella da Aragona, Isabella d'Este and Lucrezia Borgia. While still preserving Observant ideals, it became a more elite noblewomen's retreat.
Grounded in archival research and extant paintings, drawings, prints and art objects from Corpus Domini, this volume explores the art, visual culture, and social history of an early modern Franciscan women's community.
Trade ReviewNominated for the Hagiographic Society Prize 2019!
"Arthur’s fascinating study brings the story of the Poor Clares in Ferrara to an anglophone audience for the first time. She offers new insights into the visual culture of Observant Franciscan women in a crucial period of transition for the order. The author’s extensive archival research reveals the names and ages of many of the nuns at Corpus Christi, providing much new material for future scholars."
- Holly Flora,
caa.reviews, February 2020
"This study shows the fruits that can be won by connecting a gender study approach with the reconstruction of a religious community and religious tradition by means of a reading of visual and material sources. In doing so, it challenges implicit values that regulate academic research."
- Prof. Daria Pezzoldi-Olgiati, Ludwig Maximilians Univ., Munich,
Gender and Religion 9 (2019)
"Arthur's monograph is to be recommended as groundbreaking work on women's history, Observant Franciscan spirituality, and true "outsider art." There is the thrill of discovery in progress around such direct study of manuscripts still too little explored. In short, this is a superb work of scholarship as well as a fascinating read."
- Linda Burke, Elmhurst College,
The Medieval Review 19.09.38
"Arthur's book makes an important contribution to our understanding of female convents, Observant Franciscan piety, and religious women’s engagement with visual culture. By integrating Caterina Vigri’s written and artistic production into the social, spiritual, and visual context of the Ferrarese convent of Corpus Christi, Arthur enriches our perceptions of both Vigri’s devotional works and female piety."
- Marilyn Dunn, Loyola University Chicago
Renaissance Quarterly Volume LXXI I, No. 3
Table of ContentsList of Figures and Plates Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction 1. The Pious Women of Corpus Christi Bernardina Sedazzari’s House in Via Praisolo Leaders of the Community The Inventory of 1426: Ecclesiastical Vestments Relics, Devotional Objects and Altarpieces From ‘Urban Hermits’ to Cloistered Nuns 2. Building a Public Image of Piety San Guglielmo as a Poor Clare ‘Anti-model’ Building the First Church and Convent The Poor Clares Form of Life The Entombment and Adoration of the Host Altarpieces 3. The Sette Armi Spirituali and its Audience The Corpus Christi Community 1431-1456 Women’s Education in Ferrara, Mantua, and Urbino The Nuns’ Library and Lectio Divina The Sette Armi Spirituali and Teaching Novices 4. Drawing for Devotion: Sister Caterina’s Breviary Nun-artists: Aesthetic, Medium and Materials Structure and Provenance of the Kalendar and Psalter Personalizing the Breviary: The Temporale Poverty, Penitence, and Franciscan saints: The Sanctorale Vigri’s Man of Sorrows and the Gaude Mater Virgo Christi 5. Corpus Christi’s Later Religious and Civic Identity The Sette Armi Spirituali and Observant Devotion The Community and Casa Romei The d’Este Duchesses as Patrons Later Fifteenth-century Art and Vsual Culture Corpus Christi as a Pantheon of d’Este Women Conclusion Appendices Appendix I: The Pinzochere Inventory of 1426 Appendix II: Demographic Growth of Corpus Christi 1430-c.1500
