Observance is a multifaceted and complex reform movement of religious
orders. Promoted by the Church at the end of the 14th century,
Observance played a central role in the life of many cities during 15th
century and beyond. This broad artistic and historical study shed a
light on this neglected aspect of the Italian Renaissance: the
contribution of the Observance and its forms of devotion to the visual
culture of the Early Modern period. Focusing on Dominican Observance in
Venice, this book explains its role in the transformation of the
religious painting from an iconographical and formal point of view,
showing the role of the Dominican Observance in the development and
promotion of a more realistic religious painting in which the viewer is
actively involved. Based on archival researches, it gives an overview of
the reconstruction of the lost artistic and historical heritage of the
Dominican houses in Venice ? SS. Giovanni e Paolo, S. Domenico di
Castello, S. Pietro Martire at Murano and the Corpus Domini. A wide
range of artists including Giovanni Bellini, Titian, Lorenzo Lotto,
Giuseppe Salviati, Girolamo Savoldo and Fra Bartolommeo produced works
of art for these houses. They are analysed in individual chapters
according to three main themes: images for the nuns, images for the
friars' private devotion and images to define the Order's identity in
front of the political and religious representatives as well as the
faithful. The diachronic approach used by the author enlightens how the
Dominican Observance faced major religious movements such as those of
the Devotio moderna and the Reformation which promoted Christ-centered
and more direct and individual devotional practices.
