Excellent4.8 out of 5On Trustpilot
  1. Christian Living/
  2. Christianity and the Arts

Bookmark this item

In the Courts of Religious Ladies

Art, Vision, and Pleasure in Italian Renaissance Convents

  • Hardback
  • 336 pages
  • Publisher: Yale University Press
  • 22.7 x 28.8 x 2.7 cm

£29.61

Save 38% | Free UK Delivery

Available - Usually dispatched within 4 days

Buying for a school or church? Upgrade to a FREE Eden Plus Account

Bookmark this item

Free delivery on orders over £15

This fascinating study considers the poetic and mythological artworks made for elite female monastic communities in Renaissance Italy. Nuns from the patrician class, who often disregarded obligations of austerity and poverty, commissioned sensually appealing, richly made artifacts inspired by contemporary courtly culture. The works of art transformed monastic parlors, abbatial apartments, and nuns' cells into ornate settings, thereby enriching and complicating the opposition of religious and worldly spheres. This unconventional monastic and yet courtly decoration was a new form of art in the way it entangled the sacred and the profane. The artwork was intended to edify both intellectually and spiritually, as well as to delight and seduce the viewer. Based on extensive new research into primary sources, this generously illustrated book introduces a thriving female monastic visual culture that ecclesiastical authorities endeavored to suppress. It shows how this art taught its viewers to use their eyes to gain insights about the secular world beyond the convent walls.

  • Title

    In the Courts of Religious Ladies

  • Author

    Giancarla Periti

  • Book Format

    Hardback

  • Publisher

    Yale University Press

  • Published

    January 2016

  • Weight

    1502g

  • Page Count

    336

  • Dimensions

    22.7 x 28.8 x 2.7 cm

  • ISBN

    9780300214239

  • ISBN-10

    0300214235

  • Eden Code

    4570526