Legal visuality

Exegesis, Ambiguity, and Dissimulation of the Donation of Constantine in the Early Modern Period

Tita, Silvia

This study is the first to explore the reasons for the intriguing proliferation of the visual theme of the Donation of Constantine in the early modern period and the implications of the theme for the global politics of the papacy. The (in)famous Donation, a document forged in the eighth century, stipulated the endowment of the papacy with the entire “West” by the first Christian emperor Constantine the Great (306-37). Instead of looking at related visual material as application of the vivid politico-religious argumentation over the matter, the book demonstrates the significant and original contribution of images to this early modern debate on the Donation of Constantine (and its corollaries). Moreover, it interrogates both the presence and the absence of this controversial episode from Constantinian imagery. Departing from iconographic methodology, the study proposes political art and, what the author calls, legal visuality as the overarching concepts. The book deals with issues of intermediality, bridging over two centuries and over conventional geographical divides, situating Italian art in a larger European context especially through diplomatic art. It analyzes familiar artworks from new perspectives (like pieces by Raphael and Bernini in the Vatican or Rubens’ tapestry designs) as well as many little-studied but equally revelatory images (like prints, medals, and cabinets).