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Saints and Sitters: The Curious Case of Crypto-Portraiture

Valdivia, Ariel
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Abstract
The Brescian Renaissance artist Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo is particularly noted for his portraits of individuals in the guise of saints. “Crypto-portraits” such as these remain an understudied topic in art-historical literature. To better understand the meaning and function of these images, this thesis engages in an in-depth exploration of the iconography present in Savoldo’s Portrait of a Woman in the Guise of Saint Margaret (ca. 1525, Pinacoteca Capitolina, Rome) in an attempt to discover the impetus behind the creation of such an image. The consensus in the scholarly literature is that the woman — whose identity remains unknown — is likely portrayed in the guise of her name saint. The “saintly disguise” would therefore be a result of onomastic motivations. This thesis, without denying that possibility, offers a re-interpretation of Savoldo’s canvas that takes into consideration the rich visual, literary, and devotional traditions associated with Saint Margaret and argues that the painting constitutes an act of sincere devotion towards the saint. Particularly when evaluated in combination with another painting by Savoldo, the Hampton Court Adoration, which depicts a female donor with a strong physiognomic resemblance to the Woman in the Guise of Saint Margaret, the motifs of childbirth and fertility become especially prominent. As such, this thesis argues that the two paintings were likely commissioned as a pair (or one shortly after the other) and that they shared a similar purpose as votive paintings or ex-votos invoking Saint Margaret in her role as the patroness of childbirth and aid to women in matters of fertility. The results of this thesis suggest that a knowledge of the saint’s iconography, hagiography, cultic history, and cultural importance may therefore be essential to understanding the function and meaning of portraits of individuals in the guise of saints. In contrast to most studies of Savoldo’s paintings, which remain heavily ensconced in stylistic analysis, this thesis also offers a profound engagement with the content of the artist’s painting and attempts to situate the work within its socio-cultural context.
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Master of Arts in Art History -- John Cabot University, Spring 2025.
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2025
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Gian Girolamo Savoldo, approximately 1480-, Renaissance painting
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Valdivia, Ariel. "Saints and Sitters: The Curious Case of Crypto-Portraiture". Master's Thesis, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy. 2025.
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