“The splendori celesti of the San Sisto Icon (Rome): Intercession, Embellishment, and Female Agency,"
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2022
Abstract
The early medieval San Sisto icon in Rome, depicting the Virgin with hands outstretched towards the unseen figure of her son, emphasizes Mary’s role as an advocate for humankind. From its first documented location in Santa Maria in Tempulo and through its subsequent transfers to San Sisto, Santi Domenico e Sisto, and Santa Maria del Rosario, the icon has been closely linked to the female religious communities that acted as its caretakers. The San Sisto icon has occupied a uniquely liminal and gendered space as a protector of both Rome and the cloistered nuns who constituted its primary audience. This article will explore the materiality of the icon’s surface, the miracles and votive objects that reconfirmed its power, and its framing during the Renaissance and early modern periods to examine how the San Sisto icon helped to visualize the nuns’ presence and reinforce the religious women as intermediaries in intercession.
Original Publication Citation
“The splendori celesti of the San Sisto Icon (Rome): Intercession, Embellishment, and Female Agency,” Memoirs of the American Academy of Rome 67 (2022): 90-128.
Digital Commons @ LMU & LLS Citation
Noreen, Kirstin, "“The splendori celesti of the San Sisto Icon (Rome): Intercession, Embellishment, and Female Agency,"" (2022). Art & Art History Faculty Works. 50.
https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/artarhs_fac/50
