Divine and Demonic Imagery at Tor de'Specchi, 1400-1500: Religious Women and Art in 15th-century Rome (Visual and Material Culture, 1300-1700)

In The Fifteenth Century, The Oblates Of Santa Francesca Romana, A Fledgling Community Of Religious Women In Rome, Commissioned An Impressive Array Of Artwork For Their Newly Acquired Living Quarters, The Tor De'specchi. The Imagery Focused Overwhelmingly On The Sensual, Corporeal Nature Of Contemporary Spirituality, Populating The Walls Of The Monastery With A Highly Naturalistic Assortment Of Earthly, Divine, And Demonic Figures. This Book Draws On Art History, Anthropology, And Gender Studies To Explore The Disciplinary And Didactic Role Of The Images, As Well As Their Relationship To Important Papal Projects At The Vatican. List Of Illustrations -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction: Demonic And Divine Bodies -- 1. Sancticity On The Threshold: Liminality And Corporeality At Tor De'specchi -- 2. Painted Visions And Devotional Practicies At Tor De'specchi -- 3. Dining And Discipline At Tor De'specchi: The Refectory As Ritual Space -- 4. The Devil In The Refectory: Bodies Imagined At Tor De'specchi -- Epilogue: Imagining The Canonization Of Francesca Romana -- Appendix: Statues Of Ordination For The Beata Francesca -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index. Suzanne M. Scanlan. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 203-216) And Index. This book offers the first English-language examination of art commissioned by religious women in fifteenth-century Rome. Detailed photographs show readers the impressive array of paintings commissioned by oblates for their living quarters, Tor de’Specchi. The book focuses primarily on the sensual and corporeal, as earthly, divine, and demonic figures occur throughout the imagery. The book uses formal analysis, theories of vision and anthropological models to explore the disciplinary and educational purposes of the images, as well as their relationship to important papal projects at the Vatican Contents List Of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction: Demonic And Divine Bodies 1. Sanctity On The Threshold: Liminality And Corporeality At Tor De’Specchi 2. Painted Visions And Devotional Practices At Tor De’Specchi 3. Dining And Discipline At Tor De’Specchi: The Refectory As Ritual Space 4. The Devil In The Refectory: Bodies Imagined At Tor De’Specchi Epilogue: Imagining The Canonization Of Francesca Romana Appendix: Statutes Of Ordination For The Beata Francesca Notes Bibliography Index

A richly illustrated and comprehensive discussion of all the explicit pictorial references in Nabokov's oeuvre and their bearing on the major themes in his novels