The Lives of Paintings: Presence, Agency and Likeness in Venetian Art of the Sixteenth Century

Description

In sixteenth-century Venice, paintings were often treated as living beings. As this book shows, paintings attended dinner parties, healed the sick, made money, and became involved in love affairs. Presenting a range of case studies, Elsje van Kessel offers a detailed examination of the agency paintings and other two-dimensional images could exert. This lifelike agency is not only connected to the seemingly naturalistic style of these images – works by Titian, Giorgione and their contemporaries, illustrated here in over 150 plates. It is also brought in relation to their social-historical contexts, meticulously unravelled through archival research. Grounded in the theoretical literature on the agency of material things, The Lives of Paintings contributes to Venetian studies as well as engaging with wider debates on the attribution of life and presence to images and objects. CONTENTS Acknowledgements Introduction At the Doge’s Palace: Setting the Parameters The Lives of Paintings Venice as a Case Study Set-Up of the Book A Modern Miracle: Christ Carrying the Cross in the Scuola di San Rocco Genesis and Early History ‘Che muove le lacrime à pietosi riguardanti’: The Painting as a Trigger of Response Frame and Other Sacred Objects Adaptations The Scuola di San Rocco and the Initiators of the Cult The Faithful The Changing Role of the Artist Conclusion: The Pious Painter A Portrait Defaced: The Donor Portrait of Broccardo Malchiostro in the Duomo of Treviso The Cappella dell’Annunziata Titian’s Annunciation Artistic Innovation as a Problem Donor Portraits Frontality In Search of a Culprit Image Destruction and Pictorial Mockery Image Destruction and Ritual Violence Iconoclasm and Christianity Conclusion: Malchiostro’s End Excursus: ‘… maledetto il saper vostro …’: Titian and Poetic Iconoclasm A Martyr of Painting: Irene di Spilimbergo, Titian, and Venetian Portraiture between Life and Death Irene di Spilimbergo, her Life and her Death The Washington Portraits of Emilia and Irene A Curious Genesis Titian’s Authorship Agency in the Art of Painting Paintings as Relics? The Poem Collection The Volume as Portrait ‘La mia vera effigie’ A Fragmented Image A Debate of Vital Importance: Irene di Spilimbergo Paints her Self-Portrait Nature Jealous of Art Conclusion: A Fruitful Afterlife? Politics, Portraits, and Love: Francesco Bembo, Bianca Capello and ‘the Most Beautiful Contemporary Painting in Venice’ ‘A Figure so Notorious for Evil’ A Daughter of Venice The Portrait Francesco Bembo, the Poet Bembo’s Frame A Civic Ritual Francesco Bembo, a Man in Politics Conclusion: The Politics of Portraiture Conclusion Epilogue: Life in the Collection Notes Bibliography List of Illustrations Colour Plates Index