Siena in Rome: Traditions, Rituals, and Visual Culture of the Confraternity of Santa Caterina da Siena in Via Giulia (1519–1630)

Lilla Mátyók-Engel

This PhD project, concluded in 2023 at the Humboldt-Universität in Berlin, examines three main objects as outstanding examples of Sienese fraternal patronage in the Roman context in the period from 1519 to 1630. The focus is on the functional and performative context in which these objects were used in the public space of the city and in the church space of Santa Caterina da Siena in Via Giulia. Baldassare Peruzzi’s funeral bier (1520–1523), with painted head and foot panels, combined traditional and elite forms of Sienese funeral biers with the innovative representation of half-figural saints. The Resurrection Altarpiece (1522–1523) is Girolamo Genga’s most ambitious work in terms of both painterly quality and the pictorial concept. The processional crucifix by Rutilio Manetti (1625) was brought to Rome by the Sienese Fontebranda Brotherhood for the Holy Year of 1625. The crucifix can be understood as a catalyst for the cult of St. Catherine, which was gaining momentum and finding an ever-larger following during the period, eventually culminating in the official recognition of her stigmata in 1630 by Pope Urban VIII (1623–1644). The three objects shed new light on the role of material culture within the competitive relationships among Rome’s numerous lay confraternities and the multisensory processions and celebrations they organized. The thesis was partially funded by a BHMPI doctoral fellowship and has been granted the Hans Janssen Prize 2024 for outstanding research in Italian art history. A revised version will be published as volume 4 of the Hertziana book series Roma communis patria.