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Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 The Pope, the Papacy, and the Church
2 The Pope and the King: Alexander VI and Charles VIII of France
3 The Pope and the City: Leo X and the Conservators of Rome
4 The Pope and the Emperor: Leo X, Clement VII, and Constantine the Great
5 The Pope and His Family: Paul III and the Farnese
6 The Pope and Secular Power, Muslims and Heretics: Pius IV, Pius V, and Gregory XIII
Epilogue: The Pope and the Past
Notes
Bibliography
Index
“This engaging publication by de Jong offers a broad look at the way certain images were used as papal propaganda during the 15th and 16th centuries in Italy. This was a time when the church was presented with extreme challenges both from within and from secular forces. The book offers five case studies of artistic responses in a rough chronological sequence: the decoration in the Castel Sant’Angelo, the Conservators’ Palace on the Capitoline Hill, the Hall of Constantine in the Vatican, the Farnese Palace in Caprarola, and the Vatican’s Sala Regia. The unifying theme among all these cycles is the use of visual propaganda to exalt the status and significance of the papacy and promote its claims of supreme authority within the church. . . . Since many of these decorative cycles are relatively understudied, the book provides a welcome contribution to their study. It is well illustrated, with solid notes and index and useful scholarly appendixes.”
—A. V. Coonin, Choice
