Dead Infants, Cruel Mothers, and Heroic Popes: The Visual Rhetoric of Foundling Care at the Hospital of Santo Spirito, Rome<sup>*</sup>
Diana Bullen Presciutti
The fresco cycle painted at the behest of Pope Sixtus IV in late 1470s main ward hospital Santo Spirito rome comprises an extended pictorial biography Sixtus, prefaced by scenes representing legendary foundation his predecessor Innocent III. legend, which tells how established as a foundling response to discovery victims infanticide Tiber River, positions pope savior city's unwanted children. This article elucidates construction and renovation is presented generative product papal will, with care foundlings situated integral part image both Father Church restorer past glory city Rome. While frescoes engage widespread conventions for commonplace notions social value caring abandoned children, I demonstrate that ideologically potent visual rhetoric was also flexible, could be adapted meet specific needs particular institutional patronal context.
Renaissance Quarterly|Open Access at Essex (University of Essex)|PubMed