Widowhood and Visual Culture in Early Modern Europe

Allison Levy Allison Levy, Catherine Lawless, J. S. W. Helt, Marina Arnold, Joyce de Vries, Elizabeth McCartney, Michael E. Yonan, Holly S. Hurlburt, Laura D. Gelfand, Sara French, Stephanie Fink De Backer, Cristelle L. Baskins, Amelia Carr.

• Contents: Widow's peek: Looking at ritual and representation, Allison Levy; Representing widowhood: mourning models: 'Widowhood was the time of her greatest perfection': Ideals of widowhood and sanctity in Florentine art, Catherine Lawless; Memento Mori: Death, widowhood and remembering in early modern England, J. S. W. Helt; Mourning widows: Portraits of widows and widowhood in funeral sermons from Brunswick-Wolfenbuettel, Marina Arnold; Re-presenting widowhood: fashionable choices: Casting her widowhood: Contemporary and posthumous portraits of Caterina Sforza, Joyce de Vries; A widow's tears, a Queen's ambition: The variable history of Marie de Médicis's bereavement; Elizabeth McCartney; Conceptualizing the Kaiserinwitwe: Empress Maria Theresia and her portraits, Michael E. Yonan; Widowhood and representation: building memories: Individual fame and family honor: The tomb of Dogaressa Agnese da Mosto Venier, Holly S. Hurlburt; Margaret of Austria and the encoding of power in patronage: The Funerary Foundation at Brou, Laura D. Gelfand; A widow building in Elizabethan England: Bess of Hardwick at Hardwick Hall, Sara French; Constructing convents in 16th-century Castile: Toledan widows and patterns of patronage, Stephanie Fink De Backer; Widowhood and re-presentation: constructing histories: Trecento Rome: The poetics and politics of widowhood, Cristelle L. Baskins; Framing widows: Mourning, gender and portraiture in early modern Florence, Allison Levy; Contested narratives: Elisabeth of Austria and a relic of St Leopold, Amelia Carr; Afterword: Last rites: mourning identities (?), Allison Levy; Index.

Prize: Winner of the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women Award for a collaborative project published in 2003. 'These essays by promising young scholars open new angles of vision on the experiences and representations of widowhood in early modern culture. The collection is distinguished not only by its impressive chronological and geographical range; it also shows how little-known images and neglected objects shaped the accumulated meanings surrounding widowhood and public memory. Equally sensitive to both the historical and visual contexts, this book reveals with stunning clarity how death and remembrance in early modern Europe were informed by gender and power relations.' Sharon Strocchia, author of Death and Ritual in Renaissance Florence 'Through the exploration of an impressive range of forms of visual culture and mourning rituals this book draws attention to an unwritten chapter of the history of widowhood: the key role that the widow was called to play in the preservation and construction of her husband's social memory. ... a must-read not just for historians of gender but for all those interested in developing their understanding of the multi-layered role of images in early modern society.' Sandra Cavallo, Reader in Early Modern History at Royal Holloway, University of London 'Collectively, the essays illuminate the important contributions widows made to the production of visual materials and to the shaping of identity and memory. The volume is a useful addition to gender studies and the growing literature on the complex role of images in early modern society.' Choice 'The strength of this collection lies in its broad geographical and chronological scope and the interdisciplinary nature of its essays which reflect a diversity of critical approaches and examine widowhood and visual culture from multiple perspectives.' Marilyn Dunn, Renaissance Quarterly