The Widows' Might: Women's Identity and Devotion in the Brancacci Chapel
2005; Oxford University Press; Volume: 28; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1093/oaj/kci015
ISSN1741-7287
Autores Tópico(s)Historical and Religious Studies of Rome
ResumoThe famous early-Renaissance fresco cycle in the Brancacci Chapel in Florence has in the past been interpreted in relation to a fundamentally male paradigm. Using original archival research, this article contends that the frescoes, and the chapel itself, in fact have a feminine side. Several scenes of Saint Peter's miracles are informed by a late-mediaeval culture that idealised Christian charity in female terms, and reflect a culture of religious patronage and charity orchestrated by actual women living in the vicinity of Santa Maria del Carmine, where the Chapel is located. These women, all of them widows, participated as lay converts (commesse) in networks of neighbourhood charity connected with locally based lay confraternities. In relating this local culture to the frescoes, a new reading of scenes including Masolino's Raising of Tabitha, Masaccio's Distribution of Goods and St Peter Healing with his Shadow emerges. In the process, the article establishes a previously unknown link between the imagery of this most important yet elusive fresco cycle and the social soil in which it grew.
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