Church decoration and the politics of reform in late-sixteenth and early-seventeenth-century Bergamo

grantor: University of TorontoThe relationship between religious reform and the arts during the later sixteenth century has long been debated by historians. One model for understanding the course of tridentine reform is one of simple opposition between the invasive authority of Rome, and local churches dedicated to defending their historical prerogatives. This view risks reducing Rome's dependencies to homogeneous communities, unified in their opposition to reform. Through a case study of three churches in the north Italian city of Bergamo (the cathedral of S. Vincenzo, S. Maria Maggiore and S. Alessandro in Colonna) I examine the process by which reform was transposed into the terms of local interests, traditions and conflicts. Tridentine initiatives were advanced by groups when they conformed with other problems and ambitions of longer standing. Chapter one examines a situation of direct and open antagonism: the attempts to rebuild S. Vincenzo following the 1561 demolition of the city's second cathedral, the 'basilica alessandrina'. The conflict that resulted in opposition to one of the agendas of reform was between two groups of cathedral canons fighting for primacy within the context of the city. Chapters two and four address painted decorative cycles commemorating local saints. Although no doubt devoted to their respective saints, I argue that the two groups of canons at the cathedral, as well as the rulers of S. Alessandro in Colonna, tried to channel the new importance of Early Christian saints that had developed around that time into the effectuation of their own particular goals. Chapter three discusses S. Maria Maggiore, engaged at this time in a patronage strategy aimed at consolidating its position as the city's most popular church. Ruled by a lay confraternity and exempt from episcopal control, its rulers nonetheless oversaw a comprehensive redecoration that conformed closely with the ideals of Carlo Borromeo. S. Maria Maggiore also became a powerful symbol of Bergamo's residual autonomy under Venetian rule. Its redecoration was devoted to articulating themes related to its important symbolic role as civic representation.Ph.D