Carpiniello, Matteo (2019) Bartolomeo Montagna: business, art and mobility in Renaissance Veneto. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The artistic career of Bartolomeo Cincani, better known as Bartolomeo Montagna (1447?-1523), the caposcuola of the Vicentine school of painting, has been widely investigated by scholars, who have taken pains to pin down the strengths and weaknesses of his pictorial language. They have also focused on problems of attribution and on the chronology of his works. However, scholars have neglected a crucial aspect of Montagna’s career as an artist and a businessman: his business mindset both in his artistic and real estate activities. An analysis and comparison of the painter’s revenue from painting and landownership, as well as of its impact on his socioeconomic status, has not yet been made. This thesis is divided into three chapters. Chapter One is concerned with the shortcomings of the Venice-oriented approach to terraferma artists taken by modern scholars, and with the genesis of this approach in Venetian art theory of the Cinquecento and Seicento. I also stress the artistic centrality of Renaissance Vicenza in the Venetian mainland, Montagna’s mobility and original handling of artistic otherness, and his Vicentine commissioners’ aesthetic needs and taste.1

Chapter Two is a study of Montagna’s private devotional paintings, among which I attempt to identify those likely made on commission or for speculative sale. I shall also focus on the religious and social context in which these works were painted, and on the market-determined artistic output of Montagna’s workshop.

Chapter Three is an analysis of Montagna’s socioeconomic status in light of his revenue from landownership, which I place in its historical and economic context, of his social ties and deep connection with Vicenza and the Vicentino. By availing myself of published archival documents, I shall also reconstruct his investment trends and money-lending practice, which I compare with contemporary lending policies, such as those of the Jews and the Monti di Pietà.

1 My choice of the word “commissioner” instead of “patron” stems from the fact that, as noted by Francis Haskell, “[...] the modern meaning of the term patronage [...] implies by necessity a concept of art as autonomous field, with intrinsic values and processes, usually associated with a peculiar and affectionate attitude of munificence. The true, authentic patronage should imply a personal relationship between the patron and the artist and the development of a sense of respect and protection, which is not related to the interest in obtaining this or that single artwork.” On this, see Francis Haskell, ‘Mecenatismo e patronato,’ in Enciclopedia Universale dell’arte, 16 vols (Novara: Istituto Geografico De Agostini, 1958), vol. 8, pp. 939-956, especially 940. As regards the distinction between “commissioner” and “patron”, see also Salvatore Settis, ‘Giorgione e i suoi committenti,’ in Giorgione e l'umanesimo veneziano, ed. Rodolfo Pallucchini (Florence: Olschki, 1981), p. 373.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	C Auxiliary Sciences of History > CB History of civilization N Fine Arts > ND Painting
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Montagna, Bartolomeo, approximately 1450-1523, Montagna, Bartolomeo, approximately 1450-1523 -- Paintings. Selections, Renaissance -- Italy -- Venice
Official Date:	May 2019
Dates:	Date Event May 2019 UNSPECIFIED
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of History of Art
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Bourdua, Louise, 1962- ; Tagliaferro, Giorgio
Sponsors:	University of Warwick. Centre for Arts Doctoral Research Excellence
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	xxxii, 371 pages : illustrations
Language:	eng

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