Art, piety and conflict in early modern Spain : the religious and artistic patronage of Cardinal Bernardo de Sandoval between Toledo and Rome (1599-1618)

Abstract

This dissertation explores the modes of representation used by the ecclesiastical elites of early modern Catholicism to negotiate their roles as religious leaders, political ministers, cultural patrons and members of the aristocracy in the European courts. It examines the religious and artistic patronage of Cardinal Bernardo de Sandoval y Rojas (Aranda de Duero, 1546 – Toledo, 1618) during the reign of Philip III of Spain. Archbishop of Toledo, Inquisitor General and uncle of the king’s favourite minister, the Duke of Lerma, Sandoval was the leading ecclesiastic of the Spanish Monarchy and one of the richest and most powerful patrons of his time. Located at the crossroads between historical and art historical studies, this dissertation bridges this historiographical disjuncture by proposing an integrated approach that combines methodologies from the fields of art history, court studies and cultural history. The patronage of material and visual culture is here analysed as the result of the constant negotiation between Sandoval’s individual self and the wider contexts to which he belonged. Six chapters scrutinize a rich array of visual and material sources, together with manuscript and printed documents collected from over thirty archives, reconstructing the socio-political and religious contexts in which Cardinal Sandoval operated. In examining the family conflicts and political tensions encountered by post-Tridentine prelates, I demonstrate how the patronage of sacred art, holy relics, monastic institutions and religious texts operated beyond their fundamentally devotional objectives. This dissertation contributes to our understanding of early modern political culture by showing how religious and artistic patronage was a fundamental practice for shaping the rhetoric of piety with which ecclesiastical patrons negotiated their reputation.